Kassey's Chronicles: 2010

Thursday, September 23, 2010

I've Been Saved By The Grace of Southern Charm...

Well after a long day, its finally time to sit down, relax, and write. Due to the fact that the past week has been pretty normal, this blog will be a short one. Today was cleaning and laundry day, and for some reason it always seems that it does by twice as fast as any other day, because I can never get everything done that needs to be done. I did manage to cook an awesome supper of fried chicken, potatoes au gratin, turnips, black eyed peas, cornbread, and for desert...strawberry shortcake!

Working on my Cookies & Cream Brownies I made a few weeks ago...another batch of Fudge Brownie mix went on top!

Working on my Strawberry Shortcake

"The Lazies": Starring Michael & Delta

Dusty Likes Cake...

Yum!

Troy vs UAB 2010

Michael and I had planned a few months ago to travel to the Troy vs. UAB game that would be at Legion Field in B'Ham. We had planned to go up the night before to hang out with friends, but Zion Chapel's (my alma mater) homecoming was that Friday night, so we decided to just go up the morning of the game and come home afterward. We left Troy that morning and made it to the stadium around 1:00 p.m. and waited for the 3:00 kickoff. We were ahead the entire game until the last 10 seconds of the game when UAB came back and scored a touchdown to tie it up...then kicked a field goal for the win. Along with the ridiculous penalties that the refs called on Troy (13, for a loss of 119 yards, with UAB only having 3), the final touchdown was pretty much the result of the refs active imagination....and apparently that is all that is needed in college football nowadays. Needless to say, the ride home was not a celebratory one...BUT, we still had fun and look forward to them coming to Troy next year!! Victory will be ours! Go Trojans!

Legion Field

Joel at the game

Michael and I roasting at the game...

Scoreboard before the game began

UAB Blazer band

Sound of the South!

Touchdown? I think not...

Kassey Bein Krafty

At the moment, the only thing that's really been going on for me is work, crafts, and football... I've taken up crafting as an inexpensive hobby and have put a few of the things I've made up for sale on Etsy.com, which is a site dedicated to helping to sell homemade or vintage items. I really like the site, because you can find alot of one of a kind gifts ideas. I've only made one sale so far, but I'm sure that will change once I find my niche and figure out exactly what I'm doing! lol. The following are some example of things that I've been fiddling with. Some, I'm pretty proud of, others, not so much...:)

My "Funky" Bag Clips - made out of clothespins, scrapbook paper, and Modge Podge

"Classic"

"Zebra"

"Musical"

"Au Courant"

"Blossoms"

Wall Hangings made of recycled CD cases, scrapbook paper, and ribbon - "Mod"

These were made with jute..."Vintage Flowers" - I love using things that would normally be thrown away...

"Plaid"

14 in Yarn Wreath / Blue & Brown

14 in Autumn Yarn Wreath

Italy 2010 - Day 10

On our last full day in Italy, we said goodbye to our new friends. It was a bittersweet day, as we were soon to be coming home to see our families, but felt as though we were leaving a family behind... We took out group pictures, packed our things, and began our trek back to northern Italy, with a stop in Mantova. We performed at a church ran by Mirco and Paola. After our show, we still had a long drive back to San Lorenzo, were we would rest until our flight very early the next morning. We arrived in San Lorenzo at approximately 2:30 a.m. and had to leave for the airport at about 6:30 a.m. So I basically used that time to stay awake (to prepare myself to sleep on the plane), put my notes of the trip together, and watched the sunrise over the mountains... Amazing!

Vasto Group

Italy 2010 - Day 9

The ninth day was actually the only day that we went to what we would consider a department store. It was sort of like a mall on one side and a Wal-Mart on the other. I had to get a new battery for my camera since it had died the day before. We stopped a McDonald's for lunch. It was actually pretty amazing considering we had not had any "American" food for the past 9 days (not that the Italian wasn't wonderful!).We made our way down to San Cevera, which was an area like no other we had been to. It was still pretty, but it had more of a nervous type atmosphere. You could tell right away that we would not be as welcome there as we had been everywhere else. We were fed by some of the ladies of the church there....8 courses! We then performed in front of a clothing store on a small square area. After our show, we all thought we were going to die for a moment when they began their fireworks show. They used real gun powder and too much of it Everyone was much too close for the amount of fireworks they were using. You could feel the shock waves from each explosion. SCARY!

Yumm....chicken nuggets!

Performing

The crowd

Heart of Hearts skit

Michael as the Macho Man

Me as the Hypocrite

Italy 2010 - Day 8

And the 8th day...became a day for play! We ate a hefty lunch of tuna bowtie pasta, fishsticks, and plums. Then we headed to the beach! We went down to Vast's beach and played in the Adriatic Sea for most of the afternoon. We played water volleyball and shell searched. It was an amazingly beautiful beach! We also took a walk through Old Vasto. That night, one of the ladies that we met while in Termoli (who happened to own a pizza parlor) fed us with take out pizza.

Vasto Beach!

The coastline

Michael and I on the beach

Oh how I miss it!

Old Vasto

The beach from the cliffs of Old Vasto

Michael and the Italian policia

After an already busy day, we went to the Vasto Beach plaza to perform. We had a very large crowd! We were also allowed to go to some of the shops that were lined up in the area. We also saw an Italian band playing a lot of American songs at a cafe nearby. They even played Sweet Home Alabama!

Italy 2010 - Day 7

The next day we completely skipped out on breakfast, simply because we were all pretty much exhausted. For lunch, our cook (who happened be an actual chef) prepared a new dish consisting of pasta, sausage, egg, and cheese. I love it! Michael wasn't so crazy about it. We went back to the children's park where Michael got to do puppets and a gospel illusion! Jake the Snake is now international...lol.

That night we went into Montenero and performed in Giovanni plaza. One Voice performed their songs, Michael played his trumpet, and the Italian youth performed the Heart of Hearts skit. After the show, we sat near a cafe and began to talk to some of the local people. This night was also mine and Michael's 4th wedding anniversary. Of course the Italians had to celebrate with us. They bought a bottle of champagne and everyone congratulated us and toasted our marriage! It was an amazing night! Not to mention that the bartender heard Michael playing and asked him to play some more. When Michael told him he needed to go get his trumpet, the bartender reached behind the bar and loaned Michael his to play....and of course he was spot on!

One Voice in Giovanni Plaza

Michael playing the bartender's trumpet

The cafe where we spent our 4th anniversary!

Our Anniversary celebration!

One Voice

Italy 2010 - Day 6

Due to the late night before, (we got back to the place where we were staying at about 2:30 a.m.) we slept in a bit on day 6. Breakfast was cookies, coffee, and juice (the Italians really don't do breakfast like we Americans do). Lunch was more PASTA, salad (olives, olive oil, mozzarella cheese, basil, and rocket). We practice for a while and then went to a local park with our new Italian friends, as well as out new English friends Stephanie and Ivan.

Yum! Salad!

Michael, Jean Luca, Luca, & Sonya

Bart, Trent, Stephanie, Joelle, Ivan

Jean Luca talking to the kids at the park

Stephanie doing the story of Elijah

Colt and Nicole were the fierce winds...lol.

Oh no!


The kids loved singing songs

After the park we ate an AMAZING meal of porkchops, potatoes, salad, and watermelon. We then drove down to the coastal town of Termoli and performed on their town square. It was a very beautiful city! After the show, we walked down the street for gelato and then spent another hour walking amongst the old city, which included a fortress! It was sooo beautiful, but once again we were out pretty late...