What a wonderful Fourth of July!

We had a fantastic Fourth here at the Krohmer household. The Boise Krohmers (sans Kent) came down for a lazy day of hiking, board games and feline entertainment. (With a 1.5 month kitten in the house, its ALWAYS entertaining!) We feasted on hamburgers (thanks Kurt!) AND fresh fruit salad, baked beans, potato salad and four bean salad! Yummy, yummy, yummy!

And the fireworks--OH, the fireworks! Kurt and I discovered last year that we have the perfect viewing place from the empty lot next to our apartment. No crowds and practically in the comfort of our own home. How cool is that!?! It is definitely my favorite way to celebrate the fourth and quickly on its way to becoming a family tradition!

Hope everyone else's Fourth was just as wonderful!

Happy Mother's Day!

This weekend I get to spend some just-us-time with my mom. Yay! I love my mom. For those of you who have met her I'm sure you can see why. She's simply wonderful. =0) I'm excited to just talk with her--not have to worry about what needs to happen around the house, or what is waiting to get done, but to get to just sit and talk about whatever. So Momma, if you read this in time, know that I love you and I'm excited to see you tomorrow!

I really do think my body hates me.

After waking up at 5am with fever, chills and an upset stomach, I'd say that pretty much proves it. Especially since I already had the mother of all stomach flus earlier this year. -sigh- And of course there is no way I can miss school tomorrow, so look out kids! Here comes your slightly feverish music teacher. All I can say is they had better be nice to me.

For Charlie

I met Charlie my summer in Africa. We were both working with Overland Missions. I was a sheltered Idahoan whose world had been blown wide open. He was a South African, searching for his place, I think, but very content to follow where he was lead. He was a doer, a man of patient action. It's very strange, how quickly you can become attached to people.

I knew him for maybe a month and a half, but still every year I feel the ache in my heart. I don't know his last name--not that I could pronounce it if I did. I'm not even sure of the exact day he left us, but still it hurts. I almost feel selfish in a way. What right do I have to miss him, to wish he was still here? I ache for his family, knowing that if I can feel the loss, how much more do they--those that have real, life-long memories of him?

The memories I do have are precious, but so precarious at the same time. I push them away so often, not wanting to feel the pain and tears that follow, that I become worried that I'm forgetting. Then, when I least expect it, they come flooding back, bittersweet and lovely, reminding me why. And so I ache; waiting, longing for the day when I see him again.

I am thankful for that pain because it means I knew him, that I have the memories to make me feel. But I resent it in a way. It reminds me that there aren't anymore memories, that there won't ever be. And that hurts.

How can you not...

absolutely love a shopping trip like this:

While shopping for shoes with Kurt, I found a pair of heels that I really liked--comfortable and all! Even on sale, though, they were just too much money for the enjoyment I would get out of wearing them.

5 Minutes later and ONE store down the mall...

I find the exact same shoes for half the sale price at the other store! YAY! (Now I can afford both the shoes and some longer pants that won't make me look like a goon in high-waters.) =0)

New Music

One of my greatest joys is discovering new songs and artists that feed my inner muse. It's almost a sickness. I start out on Pandora (if you haven't discovered pandora yet, you need to. Type in an artist you like and it will play artists that have a similar style and sound. LOVE it!) Once I find an artist I like there, I go to iTunes and listen to clips from an album. If the album passes inspection, I head over to Ruckus to download it so I can listen to the entire song. Then, if I REALLY like it, I go back to iTunes and download it to my ipod. See, its a sickness.

So in an effort to give myself something to write about other than work or the cat, I've decided to start posting about the new music I've discovered that week. Take a listen and let me know what you think! (aka Leave comments please!)

This week I'm being haunted by the song Samson by Regina Spektor. It's a beautifully haunting song--the type that you're afraid to stop listening to in case the melody falls out of your head. While I was looking online for the lyrics, I found an amusing chat about "what the words mean." Some people were certain it was about Sampson and Delilah, while others were certain it was Regina writing about her desire to find a man who would trust her enough to let her cut his hair. HA! I thinks its a beautifully redone version of the Sampson and Delilah story--not biblical, but still a VERY beautiful song. Hope you like it!

(I'm working on getting a music player on our blog. I'll get there someday. =0)

Wow...we're lame.

Our last blog post was in October. I really do have things going on, but so much of them revolve around work and the cat that I feel really lame always posting about them. Kind of like I'm a workaholic cat lady....which I'm not........yet. So to give you an update:

Work is going well for both of us. I'm getting my kids ready for their Christmas Concert in 2 weeks. We are overly prepared. You know its bad when after telling the class that you're working on Christmas music they say "Do we have to?" and you think "Yeah, do we have to?" But it should be one great concert, so if you're in the Twin Falls area on December 17th, come on down!

Sadly, Christmas rehearsal overload has affected my holiday spirit and there is NOTHING suggesting holiday cheer up in our apartment. No, not true. I did buy a let it snow window cling, that's up. And I did put up the nativity (complete with hippos) and our little miniature Christmas tree...which Maybe promptly took down 5 minutes later.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We spent the holiday in Boise and it was just a fun, relaxing vacation. Kurt brought the Wii with us, so the boys spent the whole time playing video games. I watched them play and savored the fact that there were no students around! I love my kids, but by Thanksgiving break I was tired of looking at them! Christmas will be spent in Idaho Falls with the 'rents, sister and bro-in-law. I'm very much looking forward to having my two favorite women under one roof again! Yippee!!

Kurt's birthday was on the 30th. Yep, he's the big 2-3 now. He made quite the birthday haul--power drill and bits, Wii Play, Lego Batman and Castlemania. Lots of big boy toys...=0)

So all in all, we've had a very fun and full couple of weeks. Now bring on the Christmas festivites!