Just Messin'

Things I've Been Doing--Videos

... or watching.


My son, Nate was in a play along with Brandon Jenkins this past weekend. The play was written by one of his classmate, Greg Rojano, and selected to be performed along with 8 other plays written by HS students. It's a out 10 minutes of a pointless, but humorous, story about two ants. Los Ants!

You'll have to turn up the volume because it was recorded on my iPhone.

Los Ants by Greg Rojano from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

Also, there were two nights of Winter Concerts. I didn't get a video clip of Caleigh's night (because I was accompanying).


The second night I also accompanied but had some free time to video. Caleigh videoed too--it's a little shaky when she does it.

Madame Novec was performed by the French 2 Class and Madame Novec is none other than my very own Jennah.

Madame Norbec from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

Jennah was also featured on the sleigh bells in the piece the band played. They band ranges from 4th graders to 12th graders (the downfall of a small school).

Sleigh Balls featuring the sleigh bells from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

Basketball...
Nate's number 20--THE AGGRESSIVE ONE. The crowd is aggressive too--hahaa

Nate playing ball from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

Nate missed his lay up and Brandon took a charge.

basketball BHS vs. Mercy from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

A little rehearsal time for 50 Million Frenchmen

Let's Step Out from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

There were also a few volleyball games! But I'll spare you those clips. But if you are REALLY enjoying this...

HERE'S A BONUS VIDEO--Lizzy and Jennah dancing at home (you may catch a glance of me in there, dancing while making dinner and briefly comforting Lizzy who was hit in the head by her sister with the lemonade container) Ah Good times!

Lizzy and Jennah's dance from Karen Hochstedler on Vimeo.

Memories and Exciting Prospects

I'm very excited. It looks like we may be hosting an exchange student for the school year. So far it seems that it may be a 15-year-old girl from Germany, but nothing is definite yet. In fact, the people from the organization may come to the house for the face-to-face interview and run away screaming, "NOOOoooooooo! Shut it down. SHUT IT DOWN!!!!" The inteview could go well, but then they could even stumble upon this blog and black list us forever!!!

I was rummaging through the old posts looking for some photos of the house (mandatory photos for this extensive application). The thought occurred to me that I could use some of the photos I've posted on my blog in the past. Photos of the amazing organizational talents I possess would be perfect!!! LOL. I stumbled across quite a few laughs.

Remember this lovely piece of twisted artwork? I thought I would repost this photo-memory for a little chuckle (all for you Ginger! all for you).

There was one vlog I posted a while ago called piano snippets which was ridiculous, but maybe I will make a new one. Anyone remember the lisp? LOL!!! But first...
This lovely dear I've owned for about 6 years now... well, I've so enjoyed it (on and off) but it has some problems that require a bit of work that I'm not willing to have done. The work isn't imperative for someone who wants to have a piano to tinkle around on, but for the pianist who plays regularly or gives lesson etc., the work should be done. Anyway, a wonderful situation has opened up for me to trade my Yamaha for a Knabe. I'm going to DO IT!!! TOMORROW!!!! woot woot. I'M SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!

Maybe I will try VLOGGING again, and even play AND sing for you a bit... maybe. Aren't you ever-so-excited?!!!

There's So Much to Say that Basically I've Got Nothin'...

Many things have being going on over the past month which have kept me from blogging regularly. I haven't gotten to anyone else's posts much either... and I just don't know what to blog about at this point. I feel like I can't skip over everything that's happened, and yet... it would be boring to go back and give you a bunch of old news... but then again, you probably couldn't care less if it were old or new... Honestly, I don't know if anyone even visits to read about my Kool Daze anymore. I've become so boring. Blah blah blah.

Blogging everyday helps to dig deeper and come up with some real nuggets. But all I've been doing is playing catch up. Not my favorite way to blog.

I miss those good ol' daze at bloggerville, for sure. Aaahhh, but modern technology and cybertrends continue to lead us all on to the next webfad. It's all so adventurous and exciting. I must admit that all things technological continue to get me into trouble (in very ridiculous ways). This time my trouble had to do with youtube. WHAT.EVER. Why people like to head hunt and find ways to knock others down, especially when they are supposedly on the "same side" is beyond me. It's STUPID, is what it is. And discouraging. I won't bother going into all of that.

My blog-rages. back in the day, were so spicy and fun, weren't they?

Ok. One thing I skipped over, which was around Luke's graduation, was Terry's parents visiting... and Luke having his 18th birthday. Nate was in Argentina (still is) so Luke was getting all the attention.
Luke received a few birthday gifts from us. He got towels and a new comforter for college and a LOT of tools from the grandparents and us ($$)--because it's a requirement for his course study. The tools are worth enough money that the college suggests we put them on our homeowners insurance policy. YAH. They were big time presents.
Here are three Hochstedler generations, Verl, Luke and Terry. Caleigh asked me the other day where Luke was going to live when he got married and had children. HAHAH. I told her, probably the junkyard. :-D

I just wonder if Luke'll always sport the butt crack. These fads don't always fade easily... or ever, when it comes to the male specimen and their clothing preferences.

Here I am--cute as ever! LOL.

How many people does it take to clean a pool? Well it depends if the pool vacuum is cooperating or not. Looks like we're all stumped here. And we were.

My mom and Terry's mom always enjoy each other's company when they are able to see each other. I'm glad they got to all visit at the same time. Mine come from Florida while Terry's come from Indiana. They get along great.

Here are both our dads. We love them all very much!

The girls had some amazing face painting done at the Greek Festival. I think it's beautiful, but this took place while we were in Ireland.

Just as we got home from Ireland, my sister Jane came up from North Carolina with her two youngest sons--Max (11) and Sammy (18). She was coming to meet her oldest son's in-laws-to-be. We hosted a couple family get togethers while they were all here, and it was great fun. I have those pictures too--but I just don't feel like it... Here's two simple shots. Jane at the grill (above) and Jane with Kris's soon-to-be family (below).

My sister is in the middle. Jamie is on the right. She's engaged to Kris. And Aggie is on the left--that's Jamie's mom. Great times. We love Jamie and her family.

Side note: In the same way as my Suburban... I'm no longer the only person using my camera. My suburban was brought home yesterday completely out of gas. Wouldn't start this afternoon as I was planning to go go the post office!!!! ARgh!!! Anyway, I have my two girls always grabbing my Nikon now, and my husband also helps out with picture taking. My dad has a nice camera, too, and passes along any photos I'd like to have on my own computer. So, all of these photos posted today are from a variety of photographers. No one cares who gets the credit. I think I didn't take very many of these.

...one last thing. My brothers, David, Russ and John, took a bunch of the family out para... paratrucking. David bought a parachute off eBay last summer and uses it for good times on the beach. He attaches a 400' rope from the parachute harness to the truck. Whoever wishes to get in the harness gets pulled along the beach and the parachute goes up up up for a ride and then down down down as he slows the truck down. I thought I'd post a video clip of Luke's perfect ride. I wasn't there to watch so I only got to see the clips. It's my parents and sister jib jabbering on the video. I haven't seen Luke's video, yet, taken from above. He's such a show off. I can't imagine where he gets it from.

I figured it out

I know I look R E A L L Y G O O D here... but I figured out why I don't "really" look THAT great in a hat! It's because I have no visable eyebrows... and I'm too lazy to wear make-up. Well, I'm not exactly lazy... I just don't have time for that kind of stuff.

So, now that we've established that I have no eyebrows to speak of... what's with the mustache?

Below is a video... it's mainly of Anika in the beginning. She's in the red, gray and white coat. But if you look closely, you can also see me in the distance heading toward a jump. I had no speed and was planning to just make it to the top of the pitch and glide over... but I didn't make it and ended up going backwards back down the slope into a heap. It was all in good fun (although my cell phone put a mongo bruise on my hip). Next you'll see Nico in the tan coat and then Nate sitting there with the astronaut googles. Next is Luke in the blue checkered pants and then you'll see a bunch of snow (you may get motion sick from watching) and finally, you'll kind of see a few of them taking the jumps. Terry was filming. The clip is nothing great. Just a glimpse of our good times.

I have bragging rights--although no one got it on film.

BJ and I took advantage of the race course for much of the second day. There was an announcer at the top at the starting gate, which triggered the timer for each racer, and there was a camera finish at the end to give proper run times. Well! T and I raced 5 times against each other and I beat him 4 out of 5. YESSSSS!! He even waxed his skis. He then went down alone and beat all of our times... so he has bragging rights for that. And I also raced Mike twice. He beat me fair and square the first time, and the second time by a mere .02 of a second, but was disqualified for going through my finish flags. HAHHAA. SO I WON!! I think he was trying to take me out at the finish! But I'm too swift.

As you can tell... we're not very competitive.

When I got home from the retreat, Nicki brought over an amazing cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory!!! YUM! and today one of the youth members, Samantha, brought over dinner. You GUYS ROCK!!!

The Hand Washing Nazi

My six-year-old daughter is the youngest of six. She has this misconception that she rules the household. It can be described best by her tendency to police every member of the family's hand-washing habits after using the toilet. Just the other day I used the bathroom and she was knocking on the door before I was finished. When I exited, I was merely getting a towel from the closet and heading back in to take a shower, but she was scolding me about not washing my hands. She even went into the other room to announce it to anyone else who would listen. "Mom used the bathroom and didn't wash her hands!" Tattle tale.

(ok, the vlog is only a re-inactment--Caleigh was a little giggly). And the resolution isn't very good. I still have somethings to learn. Maybe a better USB cable? I need to refer back to an old post of Mark's.

But here it is... in it's simplest form.



Oh... and speaking of POLICE... I have tickets!!!! Tickets to a police concert in August!!!! WOOHOO!!!! SOOOOO PSYCHED!

A Lame-o Vlog

Well, it's not too terribly bad, but don't feel that you must torture yourself for the duration. It's nearly 10 minutes. The video is really more for Ma and Pops to see their youngest granddaughter on her birthday. Anyway... I'm not so energized to be "the great entertainment" these days. I've been way too busy. blah blah blah

So here it is...

Presenting: Caleigh's Birthday Video

ok... I ended up getting obsessed with the project and now I'm quite proud of it! haha

Piano Snippets

This is a first for me. Video Blogging aka vlogging <--which sounds so stupid to me.

Anyway, I've been inspired by the few remaining people, who are still presently blogging... *ehem* to spice it up a bit. (No one told ME, per se, to spice it up. I just learn from example). I guess we have to make bloggerville more interesting to even want to stick around ourselves (aghhh the ADHD generation).

Ok. My camera made this video project a complete chore! I could only take 30-second shots at a time. But at least, now I know that I have a movie maker program on my computer, and it's pretty darn easy to use. I got a little out of hand--on purpose--because I wanted to see what varieties were in the "tool shed" of that program. Some of the piano parts could not be spliced properly based on lack of footage! Thus the title: Piano Snippets.



Awwww... the ending cut off. It said, "Good bye, have a good day." in SLOW MO! heee. I'm so proud of myself.