Kimberly Gibson, Rest In Peace.

There are moments in our life when time stops...sometimes for happiness--when I had my children, when I said, "I do" to Mr. Chad, finally graduating from college, but yesterday morning, in a moment that I can not explain...it stopped for all the wrong reasons.

My cousin, my friend, passed away unexpectedly. She just isn't here now. I have cried til I'm sick and when I think I can pull it all together, I think of her mom and start crying again. I hear the words over and over, "Kim is no longer with us." What? Yes, she is I keep thinking...I talked to her yesterday on FB. We were making fun of hippies and planning our trip in September. What is going on? Where? How? Why?

I start crying again.

I have 2 cousins, that along with me, considered ourselves the black sheep. Gina, Kim, and I just always marched to a different drum. (We have bigger mouths and normally didn't refrain from using them.) We just always know what is best...for us...and probably for you.Being right so much was hard...LOL. It is no doubt the reason we bonded so well.

Kim has lived in NY for about 8 years. She left the mountains about the time I got sucked back in...and she still couldn't believe that I came back. Over the past year, we really started talking and getting closer after she found me on FB.

A few months ago, we decided we were going to have a BIG TIME at her place. Labor Day Weekend was going to be a party to remember. We were planning excursions, Thousand Islands. We were planning fun, karaoke. We were planning food, lots of carbs.
And now she is not here.

I can't stop crying.

I just don't understand. For the past few months, she has been putting her health as top priority. She hired a trainer. Worked out. Lost weight. She was probably in the best shape of her life. I just don't understand.

When we talked about the trip, we worried about Gina "not having the money" (she always says that...LOL). I said V, our other cousin, would say she was going until the last minute then something would come up (she always says that...LOL.) But me, I told her, "you know me, I'm always ready for a trip. I promise I'm coming to see you."

Yet here I am, not ready for THIS trip, but I promised I was coming to see her...and I will.

Kim, I love you and miss you.

I want to be smarter!

I want to be smarter, like really smarter.

(Of course saying it that way probably supports my argument...LOL!)

The hubs and I, mainly the hubs, like to watch the (Sc)ience Channel. Sometimes when I watch it though, I get lost...wwaaaayyyy lost. For instance, I can wrap my head around the LHC, the Large Hadron Collider, but not around the mind's processes used to create it. Does that make sense? Finding the God particle--that moment when matter starts--amazes me, but is hard for me to grasp.

*(Thanks, Dan Brown for alerting me to crap I did not need to know...LOL, but still glad to have learned something new...and thank you (Sc)ience Channel, too... for feeling a show on this would enlighten your viewers...LOL.)

I teach, so I am always learning something new...always teaching younger minds something new, but to be a physicist...what kind of mind do they start with? Learning, for me, is like going 0 to 60 in a few seconds, but learning on their level is allowing your brain to go 0 to 600 or 6000 in the same amount of time. My hubs can do this...learn quickly and envision stuff that's not even there...theories...made up "stuff" that COULD exist or happen, but may NOT.

So for me, I am smart enough, and much smarter than the average person, but I know I could be smarter...and if I was smarter, I could figure out how...LOL.

CBB

Toy Story 3 and a surprise!

It was a long, hard, and disappointing day...to start, but totally ended on a high note.

After everyone got home from working, testing, Nana's...we hit the movies to see Toy Story 3. We had been planning to see it all summer, but just got around to having time today. It was a super movie, maybe my fave of the franchise...and my movie-surfer family agreed.

When we left, I REALLY wanted Smash Burger, but somehow we ended up at LJS (Long John Silvers). I can't complain, I was craving tartar sauce for some odd reason. Pulling out from LJS's, the hubs says, "want to try to find that geocache at the county line on Long Fork?". Catarina was not with us, so I felt bad doing it, but then Claudia enjoyed it just as much...so, I'm glad we stopped.

At the top of the mountain, it was there! A "mini-cache" the hubs called it. It was tiny and the prize in it was not really a prize. You just left your date and name. So yeah, we found one...but boo, we were disappointed with the prize...but yeah, we found one...LOL. We stopped at one of the previous spots that we went to with Catarina, but had shorts on so we didn't dig around too much there, even though we knew what we were looking for...poison ivy or oak is not considered a token...LOL.

The day ended with the hubs watching the race at his parents and Claudia and I watching Castle.
It was a good day!
CBB

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hey, Mom.

Happy Birthday!

If you followed my blog...you'd see this today.

Love you.

CBB

Making Rock Candy

Rock candy is not quite as easy to make as the internet directions may lead you to believe.

Not only does the stuff have to grow for a week or longer...you need 8 hands to do it.

We attempted. We failed.
We are going to try again.

Quick, funny story though. A few weeks ago we were making suckers, pretty easy to do, but our thermometer was broken--on the inside, and we had no idea. Needless to say, nothing came out except runny, strawberry liquid.

Wanna guess what came out trying to make rock candy?
Yep...runny, strawberry liquid...LOL.

Children, do not try this at home...let the adults do it, it makes for a funnier story!
CBB

In loving memory of my Granny!

Dear Granny,

If you were with me, we'd be celebrating your 93rd birthday today.

In fact, the whole family would be celebrating with you.

You'd say, "no party or presents",

but then be mad if it didn't occur.

( A trait most of your kids and grandkids share...LOL.)

You were such a wonderful woman.

You were a light to so many of us.

I am the woman I am today because of the woman you always were.

I miss you now more than I have since you've been gone,

not sure why.

Maybe it's my new job,

or that Catarina is a senior in high school,

or that Claudia keeps asking to come visit your resting place?

All I know, is that I wish you were here...for all of us.

I love you,

Christy Daryl

SIGG H2O Bottle...just for me.

I have to admit until I read about them on my friend Faiza's blog, I had no idea what a SIGG H2O bottle was...LOL. I mean, maybe I had seen them before, but didn't realize there was a difference in aluminum drinking bottles. Well, guess what? There is!...LOL.

SIGG is a Swiss company that promotes the use of water bottles to cut back on plastic that ends up in landfills. I think they say it best on their website (http://www.mysigg.com/):

•We make bottles to the highest standards of Swiss quality and craftsmanship.

•We make bottles that are ecologically sound, reusable and ultimately, easily recycled.

•We make bottles that are as fashionable as they are functional.

•The future we see is green and clean, sleek and stylish.

I mean, really...how cool is that?!

Anyway, see above for the bottle my husband just bought me. (Thanks, babe.)

Of course, he also stated that if he saw me drinking anything other than tap water he was kicking my, well, you know...LOL.

Here's to healthy drinking...via SIGG.

CBB

French Wallpaper

I am not sure if I am a fan of wallpaper. My luck with it, in the past, has not been what you would call, let's say, good...LOL. In fact, on my last attempt with it, I got it up--the whole wall--and was very pleased, only to come back to work on it the next day and it was all, with the exception of one strip, laying in the floor...sitcom style.

However, I have discovered, in my old-er age, you get what you pay for! A friend of mine recently bought a new house...a beautiful, very expensive, new house and I have fallen in love with many of the design elements used throughout. One of which, is wallpaper.

Now, for the most part, the wallpaper is used in small areas with very busy patterns. It is fabulous and thus, inspired me to attempt to use wallpaper again. I decided too, that if I am going to invest my time in doing this, I'm "going big or going home". I am getting what I want. I am not going to the local wallpaper store and buying something from what they have to choose from; I have the internet, I can get what I want from wherever I want, and I want French wallpaper. I do not want wallpaper with "French" things on it. I want it made in France!

Have you ever seen French wallpaper? The beautiful designs. The level of classiness. Ooh la la! I am excited just perusing the world wide web looking for it. I sit here and imagine walking in a shop, somewhere in Paris, and looking at all the glorious wall coverings and fabrics.

Aaahhh, I better get to gettin' and find what I want... b/c when the hubs finds out French wallpaper is NOT $25 a roll, he may try to stifle my creativity...LOL.

CBB

Happy 5th Birthday, Postcrossing!

Happy 5th Birthday, Postcrossing!

(www.postcrossing.com)

Over the past year, I have been involved with this wonderful site.

Sending and receiving postcards from all over the world.

I have made a few pen pals, but nothing has made me happier

than the way it has given my daughter and I something in common.

As any one out there, parenting a teenager, knows.

communication at this juncture is primarily for

money, more money, gas money...

and did I say money.

LOL.

Now, the 2 of us can talk about postcards, stamps,

countries our postcards are traveling to, postcards we are getting.

It may not be a lot, but we at least get to talk...about something.

It truly is a wonderful thing.

So, Postcrossing...Happy Birthday.

Hope your wishes come true like mine has; Catarina and I appreciate it!

CBB

an evening with John Mayer...

It is so hard to listen to John Mayer knowing what a tool he is in real life! Yet, when I do these days I am overwhelmed with happiness and love. Wanna know why? Let me share ONE reason.

My children and I love music in the car. (I prefer to drive in silence when I drive alone, but with them, it is all about performing.)

At the Unclaimed Baggage Store, Catarina picked up Mayer's Room for Squares. It is, for me, his best album, but more so now that it has become a part of "our" summer. From Claudia, hitting the high notes on No Such Thing to all of us singing Why Georgia to me getting lost in Not Myself. This post is about a moment in time, that was not planned, and created a magical memory for all of us.

The night of Jordan's graduation party, on our return from Pikeville, there was nothing on the radio...so we went to our go-to-guy, John Mayer. We laughed and giggled while Claudia, along with Catarina and I, sang. "I want to scream at the top of my lungs," just like John does--borderline annoying...LOL. It was funny and you could feel the good karma alive in the Jeep, but it was nothing compared to what happened next.

About 10 minutes from the house, Why Georgia came on. Catarina was tapping her hand on the door, Claudia started snapping and something just happened. I wish I could explain it. The song comes on and I start singing and the girls chime in with harmonies and back-up, IT WAS AMAZING!

I didn't say anything at the time, but several days later, I mentioned something about it and Catarina was like, "Oh Mom, I totally felt it. I agree. I was thinking the same thing. " etc. Looking back, it was like a visit into Heaven for me; My girls and I singing, driving along, just being together. It was something that I can not put into words, but so beautiful I wanted to try to share it.

When I write these things, I can only hope others get to share these types of moments with their families, friends, neighbors. It truly is what life is all about.

Ladies and Gentleman, a round of applause for Mr. John Mayer.

CBB

House, you're Sherlock Holmes?

I am the biggest House fan I know, besides my husband. I was not one of those people that watched it from the time it came out. I happened to catch an episode and thought to myself, "This is the kind of doctor I would llloooovvveee to be." Well, minus the drug addiction, but my OCD could compensate for that...LOL. (Instead, I am sure I will be one of those bleeding heart saps doing at least one year with Doctors Without Borders, but I digress.)

Recently, I was talking about the movie Sherlock Holmes and was told that the character of House was based on Holmes. WTH? Really?

Turns out IT IS, and I am soooo aggravated that I did not see the similarities before someone told me, because they are so "in your face" there.

For example, House is another word for Holmes (Homes). They were both addicts. Wilson the sidekick...Watson the sidekick. OMG, I can not believe I didn't see this! (You totally need to google this.) One fights deadly diseases, the other deadly criminals. Both arrogant. Deductions from observations; my absolute favorite trait in both of them.! They were both musicians. And until recently, had the same address...No coincidence, I can promise you. It's so amazing to read about this, which in turn makes me want to go back and read more Sherlock Holmes.

I love days when I learn something that, well, quite honestly, kinda blows my mind a bit...in a fun, good way.
CBB