crafty Keli

I made mittens out of sweaters with the "big kids" that I watch in Ashburn,VA.. or correction.. I tried to make mittens out of sweaters...here is a list of what to do.. and what not to do..

DO
 go to a thrift store and ask if they have any sweaters that they don't want that they are just going to give away anyway.. smaller thrift stores have to donate their stuff to bigger thrift stores that have the means to send that stuff to other countries or dispose of it..
so I went to a thrift store in Leesburg and they gave me two large sweaters that they were not going to sell..

DO
Have scissors that will actually cut through a heavy sweater.. I did not.. and well.. that was a problem

DO
have one of those fabric pencils that will mark on fabric.. I did not and that was a problem


Do
make a mitten pattern on a piece of paper and pin it to the sweater and cut it out.. I did not and that was a problem..

Do
have a needle and thread that the kids and you can use that will actually sew through heavy fabric.. I did not and that was a problem

DO NOT
try and hot glue the sweater mittens together.. because they might not fit you and well I did and it was a problem

DO
let the kids continue to think that this project is succesful and let them cut as many things out of the sweater and try and sew as many things for as long as they want to.. I did this and it was not a problem!
 

reading Keli

Almost every Saturday night I baby-sit some "big kids" in Ashburn, VA. I have two choices.. I can let them bounce off the walls and shout and carry on.. or I can plan activities for them..
............I plan activities for them.. some of my activities go really fast.. so I thought what else can I do.. so I thought that I could read out loud to them..

I started with reading to Lena age 13, Corey age 12 and Ari who just turned 9 at the end of December.

Ari is the only one that stayed of the whole book..

I decided to read them the Little House books they were and are some of my favorite books.

We started with Little House in The Big Woods.. and Ari LOVED it so much .. when she has questions we look up things on google images to explain what they are so that she can picture it..

We now want to visit Pepin, WI for Laura Ingalls Wilder days in September and we want to make Charlotte rag dolls... we are really into it..

Next week when I go over we will be starting Little House on The Prairie.

Dating Keli

A little over a year ago my friend Linda's daughter, Amber who is 18 and a senior in HS started dating a guy named Cody. They are such a cute couple. I often see pictures of them on FB looking cute, smiling being happy. Cody is 18 or 19 and graduated HS in 2012.

I celebrate some of the holidays with Linda's family so I was looking forward to meeting Cody after seeing so many pictures of him on FB I felt like I already knew him. ... I also felt like he was such a cute teen! I thought he is so cute, I would love a guy my age that looked like him.. like if I had to draw a picture of a guy that is my type then that would be it..

but I am not into teens.. and I am not into people that already have girlfriends that they are going to marry and have their name tattooed on them.. ( yes Cody has Amber's name tattooed on him)

So when I walked in on Thanksgiving 2012 and saw Cody I said " is that Luke Bryan!" even though the only thing that he has in common with Luke Bryan is dark hair and dresses the same and has the same sort of body.. and is country..

As the day progressed I got to talking to Cody and Amber and at one point.. Cody said something about how they had to go to his dad and his moms house that day...

WAIT a minute his dad AND his mom's house.. like they have different houses.. like they are not MARRIED...

I said "is your dad single?" He said yes.. I said " um how old is he?" He said "42" I said " does he look like an older version of you?" He said " yes" I said like have people ever said " you look just like your dad?" he said " yes" I said " OMGOSH I NEED TO MEET HIM!!!! "

so I basically admitted I think a TEEN IS HOT.. hahahahahhahahaha but no he is a cute BOY.. if his dad is a 42 version of that.. well then that is a MAN.. like a man MY AGE.. that I could go on a date with !!!!

My friend Linda was like " you don't want his dad!!!" You would be inheriting three kids, Cody and he has a brother in HS and a sister in middle school .. I said .. EVEN better.. because Cody is already out of he house and the other two are not far from it.. I mean they are big.. that is fine.. and besides I have nothing against dating guys that have kids and I have several times in the past...

then Linda was like "well 42 is too old for you isn't it?" I mean.. how old are you.. I said that I was 38.. I said 42 is not too old for me.. Cody said " she is definitely not too young for my dad because my mom is 38....

I said "well where does your dad work?" I forget where he said but he said that he makes " a lot of money " AND  he said he drives a jeep.. I said that is good. I love jeeps and trucks and stuff like that..

Linda said don't you want a guy that drives a BMW or a Mercedes or something.. and I said no.. no no.. that is not my type.. I want a guy that drives a truck, or a SUV or a jeep something like that.. that is my type.. I like country guys...

Linda said well you need to come up to Faquier County where we live and you will find one.. I said WHERE.??? finding a guy my age that is SINGLE is hard enough to find.. I said what am I supposed to do just STAND in the tractor supply and HOPE that someone sees me and asks me out???

She said that was an idea...

I said that I did not need to do that because I already found one.. Cody's dad...hahahhaahah

I told Cody can you please tell your dad that you have found a girlfriend for him.

I also asked more about him.. he said that his dad drank.. I said " does he get drunk every night" he said "no but he might have a beer every night"

whatever that is fine.. I mean no one is perfect..

then he said his dad used to get really mad at him and one time he beat his butt with a hair brush..

I said "well he probably just needs the love of a good woman..." I said " when we were coming up that was called disciplining your child" that is now called "child abuse"

so people at the table started giving me suggestions.. like

"isn't there anyone at your church that you could date"

....um they obviously don't read this blog.. because I continue to TRY and date guys at my church..

and
" have you thought about going on the Internet"

and " have you thought about not being so picky"

ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE AT THE TABLE EITHER
1. got married when they were between 18 and 20
or
2. are around that age and have a serious BF..

I said listen I did not expect to be this age and single and it sucks and YES I have tried everything.. and I keep trying.. I can't tell you why it is not working...

and they did not get it.. I was not looking for anyone.. like I was not so desperate that I am just picking up on anyone.. Cody is a cute, nice kid... and if his dad is a 42 year old version of that then I would like to go on a date with him!!!!!

So I dropped it..then that night I called my friend and told her this story and she said " Keli, leave that poor boy alone! and I said " look him up on FB" and she did and then she said .. " never mind, I see why you were bothering him.. I could see you with an older version of him.." I said SEE.. I know!
 
so Christmas came and I walked in and there was Cody and he said," I talked to my dad for you".. I said
"WHAT!!! what did he say???"
He said that he as kidding that he had not talked to his dad...
I said well you need too.. 
Cody said " you don't want him he is like a troll in a dungeon" and Linda said " Keli, I have seen Cody's dad he is not an older version of him"

I said " well you may not have seen some of the guys my age and what I have to choose from"...

I said "let's settle this right now, do you have a picture of your dad on your phone and I can make a choice if I want to meet him or not.. and Cody looked but did not have one..

Cody and Amber said that they were going over to his house that day .. and I CONSIDERED GOING.. but .. I did not.. I mean it was Christmas I did not want to bust up in this guys house .. HELLO!!!

then the day after I saw that Amber posted on her FB that her and Cody and and her dad were at Fair Oaks Mall and I was like " oh his dad is there ... I better head over" hahahahahhaha

but I didn't ...

BUT I do feel like this needs to be settled..that I need to at least MEET THIS MAN.. and then well we could go on a date.. or whatever.. but yeah I need to at least meet him and make a choice..

because it is hard to date when you are this age.. and I will go for almost any sliver of a chance that I might meet a cool man that I can...

besides I already spend holidays with his son.. he can just join.. hahahahhahah

Holiday- Black Friday 2012

I think that I worked a Black Friday way back when I was like nineteen .. that was almost twenty years ago.. I don't remember even how that WAS.. was Black Friday crazy back then?? Did It start on Thanksgiving?? Did it go all night?? I don't remember...Then another time when I worked at the hardware store in Utah I worked a Black Friday.. but the owner there just opened on time and closed on time.. and we were busy.. but yeah we did not have any crazy hours or anything..
THIS year though.. this year..omgosh.. I worked the real deal a Black Friday RETAIL.. at A MALL...
I worked at the Guess store and my manager said that we were going to call it a "green friday" because we were going to make "that much money"
So my boss hired all sorts of extra people to work.. and we had a meeting for what it was going to be like the Sunday BEFORE Black Friday.. they told us we had to wear red shirts.. and that there was going to be "crowd control" and all this other stuff..like that we could not park at the mall we had to park at a middle school or an elementary school and take a shuttle bus over.. and that we could not tell people that they looked "good" or "cool" we were given a booklet with all these words that we were supposed to tell customers instead..
one of those words was "sexy" I said I am NOT telling male customers that they look sexy because if that is not inappropriate IDK what IS.. ( I would tell a female customer that because we sold clothes to MAKE women look sexy.. )

So I went to bed on Thanksgiving night at about seven PM and I woke up at 2 something.. and headed over to where I needed to park... I got in the shuttle bus with some lady that worked at BCBG and her daughter that was home for the holidays and going to work there..

When we arrived over at the mall it was hopping .. it was crazier than it is in the middle of the day in good weather.. they let us off and we had to walk in some back.. way

there were SO MANY PEOPLE it was crazy.. like I mean CRAZY.. I bumped into someone before I even got to Guess and this lady was like " WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING"... like um I am sorry since it is like 3:30 AM and I am not totally ALERT...

I got to Guess early because I did not want to be late so I did not know what the traffic would be like..

My boss said that she would have " all sorts of stuff for breakfast for us there".. she had NOTHING for breakfast unless you consider two boxes of cheap granola bars all sorts of stuff...

I then worked from 3:45 AM to 4:15 PM.. I still don't know how I made it through that day I really don't.. I guess I can attribute it to the fact that I was wearing a cute outfit and leggings.. there was NO WAY I was going to wear tight jeans that day..also we were allowed to wear whatever shoes we wanted that day.. so I got to wear my really comfortable flip-flops so that was nice too...

and people bought and bought and bought.. and then people returned and returned and returned.. I had no idea about this but apparently people impulse buy on Black Friday...we had returns starting that day.. at one point my boss said NO MORE RETURNS TODAY...!

and it was so surreal people out and about in the early EARLY morning hours like it was the afternoon.. just chatting on their cell phones like it was completely normal to be chatting on your cell phone at four AM..

Burberry did not open to six.. they had a huge line..a couple people got cold standing in the line and came in and bought coats from us..so that was good..

My boss said she would have a "huge lunch for us" and it would be " all the left overs that she had from Thanksgiving and a ton of other food"
I guess the for Thanksgiving her family ate regular and BBQ Lays Chips and cheap hamburger buns and cheap lunch meat and provolone cheese because that is all we had back there .. and some Coke and some water...I was grateful for that though...

I only got a break long enough to sit down and eat a sandwich and that is it.. It was that crazy.. I only got that long of a break all weekend.. anytime that I worked...
 
My one boss worked from 3 to 3 so every hour I counted down the hours that we had left to work.. he did not like that I did not.. because he said that it made the day seem longer.. but well it made it seem SHORTER to me..

I am so grateful that I was at the register.. I for real don't think I could have dealt with it if I were on the floor that whole time..I really don't ..

and if you think all of that sound tiring and crazy.. well my brother worked seventeen hours at Sports Authority!!

Dating Keli

For several weeks my friend had told me about a guy at institute that she thought was "really hot"...

I don't even listen to my friends when they say that anymore because I have realized that my friend's version of "really hot" and MY version of "really hot" are two very different things..

Which is OK because we are all different people.

So I go to institute and this guy is teaching and my friend is like "THAT IS HIM!!!" I said "who?" She said" that guy I was telling you about!! " She said "all the women want him here"

I said "um..OK"

so this guy was teaching and it was possibly one of the most boring lessons I have ever sat through..he talked at an octave that I was straining to hear him .. and I felt like raising my hand and saying " can you please speak up" .... I have become that old that I almost made the comment "can you please speak up" but seriously this guy talked SO QUIET.. he for real needed a microphone or needed to project or do SOMETHING besides talk in a quiet monotone..

Plus he never even got to the subject of the lesson he spent so much time building up to what it was supposed to be about that he never got to the actual SUBJECT

So after institute this guy, the teacher called ME over.. and said  " Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself, are you new here, I have never seen you? " I said.. "um I just have not been here for awhile" and he was like "well I know that you were listening to my lesson and it was just so nice to be teaching and looking out and seeing you look back at me and know that you were taking it all in and listening..."

I was thinking... OH NO!! I was sitting by my friend that thinks he is hot and he is talking to me.... OH NO!!!

So I said "well thank you"

He asked me where I worked " I said at  a retail store"

He was standing with a friend and the friend is on my FB and I said " I am sure he sees my updates about it on FB.. I update about it frequently"

His friend smiled and said " you got to watch out for Keli" she will give you a hard time:) " and he smiled....

I then said to the guy.. "everyone knows me on FB because I update like 25 times a day..except when I have to work.. then well that work is just such a PAIN! it totally gets in the way of my social media!!!"

the teacher guy started to back away and he was like " why do you update your FB 25 times a day"

omgosh he thought I was serious.... ( Ok maybe some days..I do)

so there you go I had two strikes
1. I work retail
2. I apparently am addicted to social media...(OK I am)

....................I am sure that this guy has NO VICES at all...

so I tried to make small talk with him.. I found out that he is a lawyer and he works in DC.. but he was clearly NOT interested in talking to me.. ANYMORE...just like that.. that quick.. he was not interested in talking to me anymore...

my friend however was interested in talking to him.. she came up to him and had a conversation with him...

so later my friend and I were talking about getting my record expunged ( I have a record you all!!) and she said to go ask this guy because " he is really nice" and he is a lawyer...I said he is not that kind of lawyer he has never been in a  court room.. I would need someone that has been in a court room.. that is not him.. My friend is like "No, he will know.. he is a lawyer" I was hesitant.. because I felt like no, he is not that kind of lawyer

but I went up to this guy and I was like " my friend ( right my friend) has a record and needs to get one thing she did a "long time ago" off it .. do you know anything about that...he said well...


and looked away.. and looked over at another man.. and said...well I am waiting to talk to that man.. and I don't want to miss him ... this other man was deep in a conversation with yet ANOTHER man.. and they were joking and laughing and carrying on..I said well that man is IN a conversation.. with that other man .. and they seem to be enjoying themselves talking.. so you can talk to me...

he said I know .. but I am to worried that if I start talking to you that, that man will be available.. and then I will miss him and I will be sad if I miss him because he is a cool man and I really need to talk him...

I said HE IS IN A CONVERSATION WITH THAT OTHER MAN!!! you are STANDING RIGHT HERE.... YOU DON'T NEED TO INTERRUPT THEM!!!

he said well if I just stand quietly then I can wait...He then said he was not that kind of lawyer.. and that I would have to go before a judge... and he started to say a bunch of other stuff but I realized that was all fluff and filler and I could get more information by GOOGLING this so I said thanks anyway...

and the whole time he could not take his eyes off this conversation that these other two men were having.. and he could not focus on talking to me..

I said " you know what, if I was a single man in my .. what are you ? mid- to late 30s??"  and I drove here after working ALL day from DC.. and someone of the opposite sex wanted to talk to me... I would totally turn her down.. so I could WAIT to talk to someone of the same sex... that is ENGAGED IN A CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE ELSE!!!!!

that makes perfect sense to me"

I said " oh well I am basically like the most boring person you will ever meet .. so you didn't miss anything..."

He said " well I don't know if you are boring or not" I just really need to talk to that man" I said well... I guess you wont find out if I am boring or not.."

and I walked off....

 

Holiday- Christmas Eve 2012

I did not quite know what to do with myself Christmas Eve because
1. I planned to shop.. and one of my jobs did not pay me.. so that was basically OUT...:(
2. I planned to work.. but I quit my job at Guess.. so well I was kind of at a loss..
so I just stayed home and read my book.. and cleaned and shopped a TINY bit with the TINY bit of money that I had..

My friend Amy brought me an amazing bag of cookies..My Bishop and his wife brought me an amazing plate of cookies..

Then in the evening I headed over to my friend Elaine's parent's house in Leesburg, VA I called Elaine from Sterling,VA and she said to " drive safe" I thought um.. OK?? Then when I got to Ashburn. VA I saw a little bit of snow on the ground then when I hit Leesburg there was a lot of snow on the ground...

Elaine's neighborhood was on the verge of needing to be plowed..it was super slippery.. It was a white Christmas in Leesburg,VA!...I thought THIS IS WHY SHE TOLD ME TO DRIVE SAFE!!

We ate some antipasto with her parents and her brother Tim. We then enjoyed some fish and some broccoli and lots of other yummy things..

Then I settled in for my annual watching of It's a wonderful Life.. This year one line that stuck out to me was at the beginning when they are telling the angel Clarence about George Bailey and he says " Is he sick and they say, no worse.. he is discouraged" .. that part really got me.. I know so many people that seem discouraged.. and they are right sometimes that is worse than being sick.. and that was really poignant to me..

Other than the movie, and the great food the most amazing part of my night was that Elaine's dad had this HUGE nutcracker that was bigger than me..I had a lot of fun taking pictures with him and posting them on FB.. My friend Tami commented .. " I love a man in uniform.. especially one that comes bearing CANDY"

awesome..

I left Elaine.. and once I got out of her neighborhood the roads were OK.. and once I got out of Leesburg there was no issue at all.. it was like it had never snowed..

It was a great Christmas Eve and I am grateful that Elaine invited me over and her family were gracious hosts.

Field Trip

Last night I went the Washington DC LDS temple and saw the Christmas Lights..
THEY WERE SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! I am so glad that I was able to go. We got there early and were able to see all the Nativities with out there being a line.
Then we stood in line and got tickets to see the Pachecho Family, a musically talented family from Chantilly,VA one one side of us was a family from the Chantilly Ward and on the other side of us was a family from the Herndon ward.. It was Oakton Stake's night to REPRESENT I guess!!!
The Pachecho family did a little variety type Christmas show...beautiful piano music..bassoon music and lots of fun singing..
We also watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas. I have not seen that in years and I really enjoyed it I mean who does not like Jimmy Stewart at this time of year.
After the temple, we went and saw The National Christmas tree.. well we drove by it.. I was glad to finally see that.. and then we drove home..
GREAT NIGHT LOOKING AT LIGHTS!!!!

My Mom's birthday 2012

My mom turned 69 this year.. which means next year she will need a BIG party.. but that is NEXT year... and that is a LONG time away!

This year, my mom, my brother and I went to The Golden Corral in Manassas, VA. That was where my mom wanted to go..

They had a salad bar.
a seafood bar
steak and lots of other meat
an Asian area
a Mexican area
an "American" area
a LARGE dessert area which included a chocolate fountain.

The food was good..we had a great time and afterwards we went to the Best Buy in Manassas and I got two movies for my mom ..

I got her Brave.. which she enjoyed.. Spike did not like it so much because when the bear started growling he BURST into the room.. to see what was going on..

I also got her Magic Mike.. which she has still not watched.. I guess she is afraid that once she watches it she wont be able to stop watching it.. IDK...

Keli eats

Last night I went to Hops restaurant in Alexandria, VA. I had never been there and was a bit reluctant to try it because I thought that it's main focus was on beer... which I do not drink.. but.. I was delightfully wrong.
When you sat down at the table they gave us SIX of these croissant like scone type thins that were DELICIOUS.. and covered with some sort of creamy yummiess..and that is just for sitting down...

I ordered a raspberry lemonade.. which tasted like water with not a lot of flavoring in it.. more than lemonade..but then again their focus is beer.. so next time... I might just stick with water...

We ordered and got:

a wedge salad.. which I am really into right now..
you get a wedge of lettuce and that has diced tomatoes and bacon bits on it and bleu cheese crumbles and then that is saturated with bleu cheese dressing.. We shared the salad and it was GONE in a matter of minutes...

a side of mushrooms which I had to spit out because they were so gross!

and some pub chips with bleu cheese crumbles and some bleu cheese melted fondue on it.. they were like home made chips and they were SO GOOD!!!

our server George was super nice...

and now I am ready to go back and eat there some more. here is their website

http://www.hopsrestaurants.com/home/openmenu.asp

random Keli

I have a male co-worker at my retail job named Brenden he is 18 years old.
I decided to start telling customers he was my son...
Because, I wanted people to say:
"omgosh you look so young!"
or
" wow, you don't look old enough to be his mom"

Brenden said this was  silly because,
1. who cares about how old I am, his parents had him when they were in their 30s and they are now in their 50s..
2. I am obviously just fishing for compliments

...........well....yeah...

so when he would say things to customers I would be like "that is my son"
or when I was at the register and I rang people up and they were like " Brenden helped me" I would be like "that is my son"

I told Brenden.. when or IF I have kids.. I will never get to hear.. anything like
"wow you must have been YOUNG!"
or
" I thought that was  your BROTHER"

no in fact there is a chance people may think that I am my children's GRANDMA.... :(!

Brenden said it doesn't matter how old I am when I have kids ... or what people say.. and I don't need to hear those things..

so after me telling me IDK ... A LOT of customers " that is my son"  or " oh I am glad my son helped you..."

and every single time EVERY SINGLE TIME .. the customer just said

"oh" ...like "OK.. AND"... that is ALL...

I started realizing.. um... I guess I just need to face the facts I look OLD enough to have an 18 year old child....

and that Brenden is one wise 18 year old

...I hope I get to be a mom one day .. and I hope that when I have an 18 year old.. that I can say " that is my son and he will be smiling in a suit and tie with a name tag on as missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints.

 

field trip

a couple of weeks ago my friend Dawn and I went to the MeadowLark Gardens Winter Wonderland walk of Lights in Vienna, VA..

It was the first year that they had it so it was not to crazy crowded like the experience I would have like a week later at The Bull Run Festival of Lights.

Dawn and I drove down and got there right after it opened, it cost us around $13 to go..

we paid to go in then we walked on a marked path path through the park looking at really beautiful light displays .. some of which were set to music..

at the end they had a bonfire and we bought some hot apple cider and sat and drank that.

Going to these things reminds me how some of our greatest blessings are often our greatest trials.. like I would love to have a husband... yet some men would complain about the cost and see this as a pointless boring activity and not see the beauty and wonder in it..

I would also love to have children, children would LOVE to go to something like this...but sometimes kids are a handful at these things..

As for 2012 when I don't have either of those things.. I am happy that I have good friend like Dawn who took some amazing pictures and posted them on FB and tagged me in them for anyone to see..

 

dating Keli

I love to take kids to pumpkin patches. So in October 2012 I took Julian to one in Great Falls, VA..

Julian was with me and I was wearing a University of Chicago long sleeve t-shirt.. and a pair of old jeans I had on no make up and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail...

remember when I got asked out at the Reston Library.. I was wearing a Utah State shirt and old jeans and almost no make up and my hair was in a ponytail and Julian was with me...

what have I learned from this? that wearing a college tshirt with my hair in a ponytail and no or very little make-up is a good look for me..

So back to this story ... Julian and I are exploring the pumpkin patch and this guy that worked there kept on talking to me.. He said he was not married and not dating anyone.. I said " well we should hang out sometime" He said "I would like that.. I could take you out to dinner"

this is what I learned when I was at the pumpkin patch
1. His name is Bill ( but his mom that was there called him Billy)
that was ALMOST a dealbreaker.. who wants to date someone with a name like BILL .. or BILLY .. that is MY DAD's NAME and my dad is like seventy NINE...
...ok in reality.. I am not going to give up true love because of a name...

2. He said he had no FB.... great.. now how am I supposed to stalk him or find out anything...

3. He lives at his parents but he has a bachelor pad all to himself in the basement

4. He works for UPS and has a rt. in Fairfax and Fairfax City..

5. He is glad that he does not have the rt. that goes to the outlet mall or for that reason any mall because his buddy  told him " those stores at the mall get a lot of boxes and some are way heavy"
He asked me if I had got to know or ever talked to the UPS guy that works the outlet mall... I said um... no...because a manager opens the door and scans all that stuff in .. I am not a manager .. I just an associate...

6. That he is Republican and he is voting for Mitt Romney... or well he DID...him and his mom went on and on about what an amazing man Mitt Romney was .. and how he was going to win since the night before he had won the debate... so well yeah.. as history has often proves just because you win the battle .. you don't ALWAYS win the war...

7. that he was TWENTY-EIGHT which is at least TEN years younger than me.. depending on when his bday is.. he was like how old are you like thirty.. um yeah.. like thirty EIGHT.. but anyway...

8. that he was just " hanging out with his mom while she worked at the pumpkin patch... he must lead an exciting life

so he asked for my number and I gave it to him and I said I need to charge my phone it is dead.. of course it was my phone dies all the time.. but yeah it will be charged and then feel free to call...

He did not call.. I thought oh well... so a few DAYS later he texts me

Hi
and I said
oh hey what is up? how are you how is work?

you know to start a conversation...

he texted me back for the rest of the day.. and what I mean by that was it would take him anywhere between a HALF HOUR - THREE HOURS to text back and never an explanation to explain..like oh I am at work.. or whatever..

and he did not really make conversation.. like I still did not know anything about him...

so he said he wanted to go to Famous Dave's ... oh no.. I am sorry but I can not do Famous Dave's we had that all the time for free when I worked at Qwest and I have bad memories of that mediocre, messy food... I said can we PLEASE go somewhere else? He said sure how about Carabba's I said sure..

so he does not say a time or anything.. and then he text me a FEW DAYS later and was like " well I am broke, because I have not got paid yet.. so can you pay for your own meal" .... OH NO!!!!!!

your financial situation is NOT something to discuss.. when you barely know someone... I said no, we can wait until you get paid.. or we can go somewhere else that you CAN afford... he said OK.. how about Chipotle.. in Reston.. I said that was fine..

My boss Will was like AWKWARD!!!! and said that if that happened to him he would just SUGGEST another restaurant.. and not say why.. I said same here.. like maybe it is OK at 28 to tell a woman you are broke.. but NOT at 38... (even if you are broke)

so then the whole day that were supposed to go to Chipotle it was just awkward.. and did not flow and I just kept on not feeling good about it.. Like I can't do this to this man.. I can't meet him at Chipotle when I am not interested in him and I felt like I was not going to be nice to him..Like I was just so annoyed that every time that he contacted me it was like HOURS in between and then when he did he had NOTHING to say.. like we had not really had a conversation.. like sometimes I am just not in the mood to keep the whole conversation going.. and to be witty and entertaining the whole night...

and he kept changing the time because he did not know when his route ended.. and blah blah blah and I did not want to hang out in Reston or drive back to Chantilly then come BACK to Reston and on and on and on...

So I felt HORRIBLE about this BUT... I just text him and said " tonight is not a good night for me.. and he text me back IMMEDIATELY and said OK....
Immediately when all the other times took HOURS....

then nothing so I thought that was over then like two weeks later I checked my phone on my break at Guess and I saw that he had texted me, I opened the text and it said

Hi.. I thought no, I can't do this again.. I can't go through all of this again.. where I text him back and we have NO CONVERSATION and I wait for HOURS for a text back.. and then that text says basically nothing.. and yeah... I just did not text back and I felt soooo bad... but I think that I would have felt worse if I had led him on

dating Keli

So I wrote about this guy in August and I thought that would be the end of the story ...BUT NO... I got MORE!!!

so to refresh your memory http://imobykeli.blogspot.com/2012/08/dating-keli_29.html


go there and read that and then you will be like OH YEAH !!!... him...so that story is from like JULY...( or maybe August)

so I thought I would never hear from him again.. and I barely ever go to anything at the Potomac Ward so yeah...

then Labor Day Saturday I am on the phone with one of my friends when I see that he is calling me....

WHAT?????

I told my friend.. I have GOT to answer THIS...

so he was like " Hi Keli, so um do you want to go out in my boat." .................................................................... Like he just had to keep that commitment.. he HAD to take me on his boat because by now summer was ALMOST over.. and well .. I felt like, he felt like if he did not take me then I MIGHT talk trash about him..( it was too late for that.. if you read the above blogpost)

So I said " can we go to Tim's?"  Tim's is this place that you BOAT in and eat dinner... I have this goal in life that at some point in time I want to BOAT in to somewhere and eat dinner.. because I think that would just be SO COOL!!!

He said " TIm's riverfront? sure"

So I had to go ..because one of my life's goals is to boat in somewhere and eat..

So he was like can you go right now.. ( I was not even out of bed, and I live an hour from where you launch the boat) I said no..

He said that he had another date during the afternoon but he could then take me when he was done with that date in the evening...
 

Like well.. um I hope your afternoon date is not a success because it would suck to have to leave that and take me out on your boat...

So evening comes and I start driving to the place and he text me and said he would be late.. I said that was fine because I would be late also.. he was like yeah.. my date is going longer than I thought it would...

So I meet him at the Marina and I said how was your date? and he said "well we were on a double date and we went kayaking and well I really hated it.. and it was lame .. and I am not really into that.". I said then well then why did you go? or why didn't you say is there anything else we could do...

He said that he thought " he might as well give kayaking a try but it is really lame"  well it was good you gave it a try at least..

He said he was sorry that he was late but they were trying to convince him to go out to dinner with them ( it was a double date) .. and he wished that I could have met earlier because it was hard for him to get done with kayaking and then go to the marina... I thought BUT if I had came earlier.. than it would have been hard to quit boating and go kayaking .. whatever...

so we walk over to the dock and he has his boat stored there and they have to get it out and then they put it in the water.. ... all the guys that worked there knew him and knew which boat was his... none of those guys even LOOKED at me or spoke to me.. and they were all friendly and had good customer service... I personally think that they did not look at me or speak to me because well dude has brought SO MANY WOMEN there that.. well ...um ...yeah.. and they don't know he is LDS.. they don't know what he is doing out there on the boat...

so we get on the boat.. and it is a MESS... like wet towels, wet life jackets that were starting to MOLD... all over the place.. and there was trash everywhere.. like water bottles and chip bags and food wrappers.. and there was a girls tank top on the seat beside his.. I said "who does this belong to?" you might want to give it back to her.." he said he had no idea.. because.. He has had so many girls on his boat.. I opened up this compartment to put it away and there were GIRLS sunglasses in there... I said there are also a pair of sunglasses in here .. he said yeah .. those belong to someone else.. I have no idea who.. there was no where for me to put my stuff because there were wet towels and wet life jackets and TRASH all over and in every available spot that there could be.. ..

I said before, you take a girl out on your boat.. you MIGHT want to make sure that other stuff that girls leave on your boat is all put away...

He said "oh yeah that might be good.. "

I said what is going on here .. like why is this so messy?? He said that he had a whole bunch of people from the Potomac ward on his boat and that it started to rain and well they did not want to be out in the rain so they just jumped off the boat and did not clean up.. wow...I am sure they had NO WARNING.. I bet it just started raining...

so I had to wear a damp life jacket that smelled HORRENDOUS... then I was like nope can't do this.. I will just do with out...

He said " well I take everyone that comes on my boat to Georgetown and we see the monuments and stuff like that.. but IDK if I will be able to get there and back before it gets dark" I said well... I don't want to go to Georgetown.. I have already been to Georgetown on a boat.. I have even driven a boat to Georgetown.. I REALLY want to go to Tim's..."

He said " how do you even KNOW about Tim's" I said because I am FROM Northern, VA and I have dated other guys that have boats.. and I actually go places and do things.. I know about things..

He said " do you really want to go there" because all the other girls want to go to Georgetown.." I said well I am not the other girls.. and I would really like to go to Tim's"

so we started off and he was like see all those... those are crab pots.. I hope I don't hit any with my boat because that would be really bad and it is hard to navigate this way because I don't know where all the crab pots ARE.. and what if I hit some it is getting dark...

then we got to Tim's that place was ROCKING.. and it was like15 minutes or less from where we got in the boat.. I was like YAY..

and he said well there is Tim's.. and he DROVE RIGHT PAST IT AND TURNED AROUND......................................... I said WAIT arn't we going to STOP...

He said oh you actually wanted to eat there????

O M GOSH ... I said well yeah... he said that he would call them so he did and he said that they had a hour wait.. and he was NOT going to wait that long for a "greasy hamburger" and that place was too crowded and that we needed to go somewhere else... he had no idea I wanted to actually EAT there he thought I just wanted to see it... wow... just wow...He said he had to get back because WHaT IF HE HIT A CRAB POT!!!!!!!!????

So we left and once again I have gone on a date with a guy in a boat and we did not boat in and eat!!

So he was like " where should we eat around here?" and I said " I have no idea but I can google it" he said " why don't you know? I said because I am not from this area.. I live like an HOUR from here..

I googled restaurants and I said jokingly " there is a taco bell" he said " OK" I said NO I am NOT going to Taco Bell... I thought I just drove an HOUR out here wasting gas that I have put in my car to go to my family reunion tomorrow.. so um no we are not going to taco bell plus I already went on a date with that one guy to Taco Bell this year...remember that?? so no....so he said.. well I don't want to go to Taco Bell either I would rather eat my shoe than Taco Bell" I said then why did you say OK"... why didn't you just SAY you would rather eat your shoe"

so I said this is a very populated area we can just drive around and find somewhere..

so we drove to this one shopping center and it looked so shady .. it was all pawn shops and gun shops and places where you can get payday loans and laundromats and stuff.. and there was one place there that MIGHT have been a restaurant .. all I saw were pool tables.. and a bunch of Hispanic men outside smoking cigarettes and a bunch inside drinking beer..I said NO I am not going there.. he said why not.. I am said " I am all for dives but that is just TOO MUCH FOR ME... " I mean I am sorry but that and THIS WHOLE SHOPPING CENTER LOOK SHADY SO NO.....

so we drove down the street to another place all lit up in blue.. and it said was a "lounge" which we all know is another word for bar..and it looked so rundown.. I said NO..

Then he tried to take me to Popeyes....no

. and I said..Listen I don't think that we are in a good part of town.. but we can't be in the bad part of town for that long.. we just need to drive a few more minutes and we will find SOMETHING

and we did we found this Hibatchi buffet place.. it was really cool... like a Golden Corral but Asian food...I got a whole plate full of different sushi to try... just writing this kinda makes me want to go back...

he got a whole plate of filling food..and then he started to talk about his ex-wives.. he said IDK how much this place is but it can't cost me more than my ex-wife cost me... I said NO.. we are not going to talk about your ex-wives.. so then he did not know what to talk about and I asked him about his family and that was not the most happy story and then I felt kinda bad...

so after he had two whole plates of filling food .. and dessert..AND got a fortune that said " your future is sitting across from you"...........................................

He said " well you can just grab some dessert on the way out.. because we have got to go..."  I was not even full I had been getting little things to try them... but I did not say anything...

when we got back in his truck he said he had to get home because he had a date in the morning to take someone ELSE out on his boat.... ahahhahahahahahahah

I said " are you just like calling all the people that you have met and told them you would take them out on your boat.. and taking them out on your boat..."

He said "yes" that he thought he could get all the people in before he needed to put his boat up for the winter..." He said he thought that he might sell his boat though.. because well it is just too much trouble and he only bought it because he had spent so much time paying other womens bills that he was ready to buy something for himself..He also said he might move because his job was annoying him and was a bunch of BS... so he might move...

I said " when we went out the last time you chatted with me for several hours and then when I saw you at institute you totally ignored me to talk to that one woman... why did you totally ignore me..he said " oh well I don't like that woman.. and I don't want to date her because we have too much in common.." I said I did not ask that .. and I don't care if you if you want to date her or not" .. I asked why did you ignore me...after talking to me for three hours a few nights previously.. He said he did not "see me" I said HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE ME...?? YOU SAID HI TO ME...."

He said he did not realize that was me.. but it did not really matter because he did not want to date that other woman because they had to much in commen... ANYWAY.....

Then he said he had to get home to get some sleep before his date in the morning.. I said OK... I mean he could not keep me talking because I already said I was not going to listen to another word about his ex-wives.

I told my friend about this and she said that she knows of like FOUR other girls he has taken out on his boat to Georgetown... and that is that we KNOW of...

so I never heard from him again..my friend asked me once did he ever call again? I said " why would he ever call ME again...
he has taken me out on his boat...
I told him I did not want to hear about his ex-wives..
and we did not make out.. or even come CLOSE..
so what incentive is there to call me....

I have also not even SEEN him and neither has my friend.. no idea if he MOVED.. or if he sold the boat..or anything..




 

field trip

I went to the Bull Run Festival of Lights in Centreville, VA with my friends Michelle and Kellie on Saturday night.. so did a LOT and I mean a LOT of other people..
we went to Cafe Rio for dinner at seven PM and the lights festival closed at ten PM we never thought it would be an issue getting in to the lights festival on time...
we barely made it on time..

We drove to Centreville and then sat in a long and I mean LONG line of traffic and I think that we waited almost TWO HOURS.. to go through the it took forever.. I seriously thought we were never going to get through that line.. and I don't know what they can do to make that situation ANY BETTER in the future.. the line was just SO LONG..

It cost $20 per car to go through...we split the cost ..

and we finally, FINALLY got through.. they did only let a few cars in at once and they spaced it so you had time to look at the lights.. and were able to see them on BOTH sides of the car..

I don't have any pictures because we were not able to stop or slow down..

The lights were pretty cool...so I am glad I went.. all though I think I will probably skip it next year..

at the end of the lights festival there was a carnival and apparently Santa's enchanted workshop...

we did not get out for either of those things because it was cold.. and they were winding down if not closed .. because we got through the lights so late..

We then drove around Centreville and South Riding, VA and looked at the lights..

I am grateful that I have good friends.. because all in all it was a good evening and I am glad that we were all together to laugh and joke around :)

 

Keli cooks

OK even though it is almost 2013.. I am still new at this whole putting a picture on my blog thing... I will just blame it on the fact that my computer is so slow and outdated...that it makes learning anything on it very annying.. so anyway.. over the weekend, Corey age 11 and Ari age 8 and myself made this funfetti cakemix chex mix and I am going to tell you how and post a link so that you can see where I got the idea this stuff can be made so fast and is YUMMY

FUNFETTI CAKE MIX CHEX MIX


dump 5 cups of rice chex into a big bowl
melt some vanilla bark (which is all Harris Teeter in Ashburn had) in the microwave.. it melted just fine with no shortening.. I just followed the package directions it was that easy..
drizzle the bark over the cereal.. explain and then show what drizzle means if the kids do not understand that word...
gently mix with a large spoon.
dump 1 and a half cups of funfetti cake mix and a half cup of powdered sugar over the cereal and gently mix until all the cereal is covered with a large spoon..

there you go .. you are done!!!
this is so easy that when 13 year old Lena came home from a friends, 8 year old Ari was able to tell her how to do it and Lena made some for herself and her friends..

I got the idea off this blog.. http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/02/chex-funfetti-cake-batter-buddies.html
 

Thanksgiving Craft 2012

I wanted to do some sort of  "thankful" craft this year with the big kids that I watch.. and I finally found one on Pinterest...it was a good idea..and I actually COULD have posted a picture here..but I am not going to because it was a bit of a FAIL... so ...
I bought some plates at the $ store and some markers that you write on plates with at Jo-Ann's and with Lena age 13 and Corey age 11 we wrote what we were thankful for in 2012...
Then we had to let them dry for a certain amount of time..which I did and then bake them in the oven for 20 minutes at 325.. which I did... and well..
.......then SOME of the letters came off...when I washed it in the dishwasher.. even though this these pens were $6 and said that was what you did to make them dishwasher safe..

I went through the whole process again.. and same results .. I am not going through the whole thing again..but it was a good idea right...

flashback Keli

 This is a picture of me at my friend Carrie's wedding. That is her mom Lorraine, me then her big sister Colleen and her little sister Kim and her neices ( Colleen's daughters) Emillee and Taralee..

I have a lot of mixed emotions about this picture but I wanted to post it because when they came out of the Logan temple I said to Carrie " how did you know you wanted to marry your husband??" She said to me, " Keli, he is the nicest man I know" ....................I hope to one day be able to say that... let me be a little more detailed...
it would be nice to walk out of the TEMPLE as a MARRIED woman and say that..
............and I would not mind if it were the Logan temple either :)
........picture circa summer 2005