Happy New Year 2019

Happy New Year 

I hope y'all had a good New Year's.

If the study at Duke University regarding 
your New Year's eve experience 

rings true...

 ...it might not have been your best.

Survey says:

83% of people are usually disappointed with New Years Eve.

And they had a formula to make the study look legit...

 I just love a formula.

This year the Dukies would have to put us in the other 17% of the study.   

I went outside my self imposed pop/country box 

and saw a show that Bri was calling a 

“mini Newport Folk Festival.”  

(Thanks Tom and Beth for the idea and making the trip to Nashville). 

selfie gone askew

All three artists were amazing...
(over-used word…but fits.)

Iris deMent, 

Nathaniel Raitliff and The Night Sweats,

cool name and cooler band 
and

John Prine. 

John Prine is for sure the ultimate storyteller.

A man with a song that begins “I am an old woman” is an interesting dude.

The show went for 5 hours...until the first hour of 2019. 

This Kat was getting tired 

so I would have thought Prine would have been plum tuckered out. 

Did I need to remind John Prine..

he is an old woman.

Anywhoooooo

How are your resolutions going?

Here’s another who-cares? fact for you.

40 percent of us make resolutions.

Hence the long lines this week for salads and the jammed gyms.

 Don't worry folks, 
you'll get your favorite treadmill back in about a month.

Maybe you didn’t make any resolutions…like Oprah. 

What a slacker.

Oprah says that instead...she commits to staying in the moment 

and can literally cry over a leaf.

I could too…if it was a wet leaf and I slipped on it.  

I love nature and all, but it would have to be an amazing leaf.  

Maybe one where you could see the Virgin Mary in it.  

I think that would get me to cry.  

Otherwise I just be raking it up in a compost pile.

I try not to set myself up for failure and aim too big with my resolutions.

People like Bill Gates who resolve to use technology 

to eradicate polio and study Alzheimers are well intentioned and needed but …

he might need to dial it back and give himself some slack...

like Oprah who is in the corner 
crying over leaves.

In an effort to keep my resolutions within reach…

I decided to only make resolutions that rhyme with 2019.

So if it don't rhyme with "nineteen"…it will be unseen.
.

Here we go:

Eat foods that are clean.
Be twixt and Be tween.
Get some boots at LLBean.
Be lean and mean.
Be a good human bean being.
Play the tambourine on a trampoline.
Be heard and not seen.
Refrain from making a scene.
Tolerate a movie about a Woverine.
Avoid breaking phone into smitherene.
Learn to wave like a queen.

I’m looking forward to 2020  

No hurry tho

when my resolutions rhyme with twenty...

Eat more Good and Plenty.

Have a great 2019!

Acting Chops

Some actors work their entire careers

hoping to sink their acting chops into a 

larger-than-life role. 

We have a member in our family who has had such a
tasty role.

Exit stage left:  Meryl Streep

Enter stage right: Brianna

Brianna’s larger-than-life role?? 

Baby Jesus

.

Anywhoooo.....

It was many Christmases ago
in a small town in Connecticut...
our church was casting for the annual
Christmas pageant.

The church director had casted 

Chelsea, age 5, as an angel…

and Colinboy, age 3, as a sheep herder (under-rated role). 

After seeing Sweet Wishy, 

the director was immediately interested in her for

Baby Jesus.

Brianna had all the attributes needed to play the role. 

She was a director’s dream. 

She could sit up without slumping forward. 

Her temperament was calm and serene. 

She had the face of a cherub, 

with the most beautiful peaches and cream complexion…

and her best attribute for the role of Baby Jesus?...

she was a baby. 

Brianna was 6 months old.

I was the typical stage mom…of course. 

Doting on my child
and demanding special privileges; 

front pew seats for my family and friends…

special products in her dressing room; 

extra Huggies and baby wipes, 
blankets and booties.

 I know I was a little over the top with all the demands 
but…

Come on folks…

we are talking the Baby Jesus.

I was so proud of Sweet baby Wishy. 

She did a great job of 

sinking her chops into the role…

especially with only 
two teeth to work with.  


And I might add...

I have the perfect suggestion
for the role of
Jesus as an adult.

Enter Stage Right:  Colinman

a huge step up from sheep herder.

Lifecycle of a Ping Pong Table

'Tis the time of year for holiday commercials 

cleverly designed

to tug at your heart strings.

When I saw the sweet Dick's Sporting Goods commercial 

about a family and a ping pong table

"a gift that lasts forever"

it had me at

Awww....
then....
Wait....this sounds familiar.

I had written a blog about the lifecycle of a ping pong table

8 years ago.

Hmmm...someone must have been reading my blog

(HaHa...right Kat, like that would happen)

or great minds think alike.

Anywhooooooo.......

Here goes my blog from 2010.

When your children reach the age of nine or ten,

 a back-and-forth decision regarding 
a ping pong table purchase
can come in to play.

Should we or shouldn't we? 
Should we or shouldn't we?

The kids beg for a ping pong table for Christmas....

say they really want one…

will really use it…all the time,

 really. really. really. REALLY.

pleeasse

Sweet visions of the family pinging and ponging together come to my mind.

(Besides...doesn't the family that pings and pongs together stay together.) 

So the bearded big guy delivers.

The ping pong table is an instant SMASH on Christmas morning.

We clear space in the basement, set it up, 

and the play begins..

The kids play with it for hours and hours...

challenging each other to games.

We all play our ping pong hearts out ....
(picture a montage of family fun 
to an emo soundtrack 
playing in the background)

It's a hit...
for a couple of months.

Then it sits. sad. and lonely.

Over the next months...

the ping pong table is reduced to a 
large piece of dark green plywood 

taking up space. 

To keep it in play...

I use it as a gift wrapping station.

Later, it becomes the perfect place to work on school projects

and a place for stuff.

After a couple of years, there is renewed interest in playing.

Our basement becomes the new hot spot 

with a totally rad ping pong table 

for middle-schoolers. 

Colinboy and his buddies 

love the competition of pinging and ponging...

which quickly leads to 

ball whacking and smashing 

followed by 
pulling the rubber off the paddles...and  throwing ...

leaving holes in the ceiling and walls. 

just preadolescent boys having some ping pong fun.

Then again, it goes ping pong silent.

The table sits and gathers dust...

 gets broken down and shoved into a corner.

The table seems to be approaching the end of its useful life. 

We think about giving it away, 

but deep down we hope for its return.

After a few more years there is renewed life...

Game On.

Colinboy and his peeps come home from college..

and pull out the table for 

pong.

This game, however, requires a different skill set...

and is played with 

Bud, Miller, Stella, Sam, 

and the ever so buxom St. Pauli Girl.

Word of Warning:  
If you are considering purchasing a ping pong table for some family fun…

please consider the ENTIRE lifecycle of a ping pong table.

Anywhooooo2

And don't let Dick's Sporting Goods 
with its sweet commercial 

pong you 
into purchasing one

 until you consider the

entire lifecycle of a ping pong table.

Happy Birthday ONEderful Ansley

Happy 1st Birthday 

to our 1st grandchild...

The 1 the only

The 1 in a million

Sugar and spice and everything nice…

all rolled up in 1

Miss OneDerful 

Ansley Mary Hyatt

Anywhoooo.......

It's hard to believe it's been a year 
since we all anxiously awaited the birth of Ansley...

and soon under a rainbow of fun we will have a 
big birthday celebration...
1 that Ansley won’t remember 
but 1 her parents won’t forget.

Today Chelsea and Austin celebrate 365 days of parenthood with their sweet little angel. 
The first year of firsts...smiles, roll overs, sitting up, babbles, pulling up etc...

along with diapers and more diapers.
did I mention diapers?

Let's face it...babies are a lot of work.  
Through the 365 days of diapers and duties...
there are also so many rewarding days of watching her grow...
and seeing her little personality emerge.

Before Ansley (aka B.A.)
Austin and Chelsea had more nights out on the town and 
getting in the car to do an errand was a LOT faster and easier..

but nothing compares to the snuggles and 

giggles of Ansley.

As for me(me) and granPaul...
we continue to watch the milestones 
of our children.

Our 1st baby girl's

proud daddies

1st birthday with her baby... 

and many, many, more firsts to come.



It's been an amazing year with this precious baby...full of love and wonder.
I look forward to the next 365 days 
of Ansley

who will always have my heart.

Happy Birthday
 Miss ONEderful

and 


LOVE LOVE LOVE
to all the Hyatts
on this special day.

Charlie too 

Michael Jackson's 60th Birthday

Today Michael Jackson would have been 

60 years old.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 9 years since he passed…

leaving behind a legacy of 

unparalleled music and unforgettable performances.  

(You might have guessed it, I’m a Michael Jackson fan).

I will always remember his 1993 Super Bowl Halftime performance…

not sure what teams were playing, 

not really google worthy 

but it was a performance that made the 

Super Bowl halftime show the event it has become today...

something to stay on the couch and watch.

(Bri you were 1.5 years old.)  

Before Michael Jackson,

most halftime performances included marching bands

and was the time for 

a beer run, 

a bathroom run, 

and a run to the oven to check on the food.

Michael Jackson't entrance onto the Super Bowl stage, 
was beyond amazing.
really google worthy

One moment it looked like 
he was on top of one Jumbotron...then a second Jumbotron...
and then...
he was catapulted onto the middle of the stage…
where he stood for 90 seconds like a statue…
frozen…
not moving a muscle... 
until he turned his head then stayed that way for another 90 seconds…
before he performed. 
It was EPIC.

If Twitter was around in 1993, 

he would have crashed the internet…

and he didn’t even have a Kim Kardashian booty.

Anywhoooo.....

Whenever you hear Michael Jackson songs,

you want to “Get On The Floor” and “Shake Your Body.”

It doesn’t matter if you’re “Black or White”,

“Ben”, “Dirty Diana”, or some “P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)”,

you feel like you “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin."

With a groove like Michael Jackson’s,

it’s only “Human Nature” you want to get on the floor and dance.

 If you’re like me you “Don’t stop til you get enough.”  

You just can’t “Beat It.” 

We each “Remember the Time”

when we first heard Michael sing and dance with the Jackson 5;

a young MJ who easily took the stage and limelight without any nerves or “Butterflies.”

 From early on, Michael  never had any privacy and 
I’m sure there were countless times he

wanted to “Scream” and yell “Leave Me Alone.”

Michael Jackson was loved around the world. 

His music found a way to bring people together and to “Heal the World.”

Those of you who also love Michael Jackson know that “You are Not Alone.”

When it came to the “Man in the Mirror”…

Michael had become a controversial figure over his latter years. 

Some thinking he was “Bad”, “Dangerous”...maybe a “Smooth Criminal"

and others thinking he was a brilliant artist and music icon.

Regardless of your position, his amazing talent and artistry earned him the title

‘King of Pop.’

Not only was his music "Workin' Day and Night"…

but his music videos were always a “Thriller”

with their innovative and “Off The Wall” revolutionary approach

to telling a story and creating a short film.

As one of his millions and millions of fans “I Can’t Help It”…

but I miss him "For All Time."

 Michael Jackson still had a lot of music left to give and was “Gone Too Soon."

Michael.....

Whenever we hear your songs...
we still wanna “Rock With YOU.”