Think Outside the Box

Well we're Movin' on Up!

2009-06-09T21:49:00.003-05:00

Well we're Movin' on Up!
To the east side!
To a dee-luxe apartment in the sky.
We've finally got a piece of the pie!

Translation:

I'm moving on Over!
To WordPress!
To a new website.
I've finally got a piece of the www!

Ok, so this was a real bad attempt at being quirky and fun. If you didn't get the gist of things, this blog is moving effective, well, today. Adjust all those bookmarks out there to: www.thinkoutsidethebox2.com. Blogger was great while it latest but I found myself frustrated by some limitations which made me realize I had outgrown what they had to offer. No dissing of Blogger here, just reality. I'll keep this site up for awhile but will be moving some of it over to my new home labeling them as classic posts. My frequency of posts should improve, although your breath on that one. I'm still juggling too many hats to allow me to post on a regular basis. Just continue to view my posts as a nice surprise. A little gift from me to you!

Insomniacs.

2009-04-17T20:35:00.004-05:00

Ok, so a friend of mine (lovely childhood friend that I reconnected with thanks to Facebook) and I have started a virtual book club. We have named it: Insomniacs. I found the site, she came up with the name. Such a perfect team. I love the name because I have so enjoyed reading the past several months because I do suffer from sleep deprivation. Apparently she does too. Did I say such a perfect team? Anyway, the site is public which means anyone can join. Details of how it will be handled are still in development but basically it's a for fun site, one where anyone can post books they have read, discuss books they are reading and get information on books they may want to read in the future. We will post a book that we recommend everyone reading (book of the month so to speak) to give us all a chance to be on the same page (sorry, couldn't help it!). This is of course optional and over time as we get more members we can choose the book by voting. Since it's just Suz and I at this point we have gone ahead and chosen the first book. Since we are into vampires as of late (again, no pun intended) we have decided on The House of Night Series book 1, Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. Depending on how we like it we may know what next months book will be (book 2 in the series?).

Right now Insomniacs is a baby site but I'm hoping it will grow and eventaully take on a life of its own. So, if you are a book reader, or are ready to begin reading again, check it out: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/17451.Insomniacs We'd love to have you join us!

If you are not able to gain access from this link, please let me know. I will do some research and promptly get back to you with how to access.

ItsDeductible.

2009-04-07T23:02:00.002-05:00

Working on taxes. Seems like I was just doing this yesterday (and that post was from two years ago!). Since I have taxes on my mind I thought I'd share a little tax tip with you free of charge.

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A TAX PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS SIMPLY A TAX TIP FROM SOMEONE WHO IS EXHAUSTED FROM DOING THEIR OWN PERSONAL TAXES AND IS LOOKING FOR A BREAK OF ANY KIND.

I use TurboTax and a few years ago I received along with my tax software another software called ItsDeductible. ItsDeductible allowed me to enter in all the items we had donated to charity and it assigned a value to it and to be honest, the value it assigns is higher than I was using (by what I considered a significant amount). Yeah - love it when that happens! This year I didn't receive the software and was a bit bummed. After doing a little bit of research I quickly discovered that they have eliminated the desktop software and moved everything online - you can check it out here. Now, I thought I was special because it was free for me but it appears, according to their website that this is free to all!

To use it you simply logged in with your account information (and if you don't have an account you can set one up for free) and then click on the ItsDeductible link. At this point you must decide if you are going to work on 2007 (review previous data), 2008 or 2009 data. I chose 2008 since that's what I'm working on right now. I simply pulled out my receipts and notes and was able to enter what we had donated fairly fast. It's a simple point and click type of set-up which makes it really nice. When I was done with 2008 I decided to go ahead and enter the 2009 donations we've already made (we make a lot of donations, I get so tired of stuff lying around!).

Here's a picture of the donation page:

If you have set-up an account, your data is saved when you exit. This is nice because you can access the data throughout the year. I went ahead and created a shortcut on my toolbar to this page so I can update it after each trip to our local Goodwill.

Now here's the bonus beauty of this little tool. Since I use TurboTax I was able to download all the data in just a few steps. I was prompted to enter my username and password for my account and then I clicked the Import Now button. Viola, it was in Turbo Tax in a matter of seconds. A lot of data entered with very little effort on my part. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Now, if I could only get this automated with all other aspects of my taxes. One of my New Years Resolutions should have been to actually use Quicken! Is it too late?

P.S. I believe you can use ItsDeductible without establishing an account. The data just wouldn't be saved for future use.

Dual Monitors.

2009-03-30T15:45:00.009-05:00

I have recently discovered the joy of dual monitors and thought I'd share some of the bits of wisdom I have learned about setting these up.

I happened to have an extra flat panel monitor at home that I decided to try hooking up to my laptop. It was a really simple process once I understood the basics of what I had to do. To hook up the monitor I simply plugged the monitor into the open blue port on the back of my laptops docking station. If you don't have a docking station, you would just plug the monitor into the open blue port on the back of your laptop. Don't forget to turn on the power. Once that's done it's settings time. Using Windows XP you simply:

Right click on the desktop and go to Properties.

In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.

Click the monitor icon labeled 2, and then select the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor checkbox.

If necessary, drag the monitor icons so that they are arranged in the same way as the monitors on your desk. Click the Identify button to indicate which monitor is 1 and which monitor is 2. (I put my second monitor to the left of my laptop. This requires me to drag the monitor icons so monitor #2 is listed first on this screen).

If necessary, click the icon #2 and change the screen resolution to your liking.

That's it. Now you can open different applications and leave them displayed for reference on your second monitor. Here's a picture of a laptop with a secondary monitor. This is not a photo of my set-up. It's a pictured borrowed from Flickr.

However, while using this set-up I quickly found out that the task toolbar (the bar at the bottom of the screen) from my laptop did not extend onto the second monitor. This is not a huge deal but did become a bit problematic. After some quick googling I found the MultiMon Task Bar which can be downloaded for free (a pro version is also available if you want more capabilities for a fee).

I've been using this set-up for a couple of months and it works great. So great that I've been wanting to hook up a second monitor at the office so my productivity could sky-rocket! Over this past weekend I was finally able to secure a second, flat panel monitor which I promptly took to the office and tried to set-up in a similar fashion to how I described it above. Unfortunately, my desktop only had one blue monitor plug and with the desktop configuration I ended up having two that need to be plugged in. What I quickly found out is if the computer doesn't have two blue ports on the back then your video card doesn't support two monitors and you have to purchase a new video card. Uggh! Oh, and don't be fooled by one of these little devices:

I too thought this would work. It's a 2-Port VGA Video Splitter. While this does allow you to hook up two monitors to a desktop, using only one port, it only provides a mirrored image on both monitors. If you really want to see double of everything, this would be the way to go. Unfortunately, this was not my intention. So I have now purchased this little beauty as instructed by Dell:
I thought it was going to have two ports but now I'm thinking it will only have one and I will add it to the computer I currently have. Keep your fingers crossed it all works according to plan!

What is my purpose out here in blog land?

2009-03-13T18:43:00.009-05:00

I've been thinking about this blog lately:

What is it's purpose?

Why am I doing it?

Should I keep it going?

Is there anything I can contribute to the masses that may be of interest to someone? Anyone?

I had hoped when I started this blog 2 1/2 years ago that over time I would be able to answer those questions. I had hoped that this silly little blog would evolve into something of importance [to someone]. Although I still can't answer those questions I have realized that this silly little blog is important to me. I like the fact that it has taken the form of an online scrapbook. I've used it several times already to go back and find a photo, a date or the details of a story... So having said that I've decided to keep it going, for a little while longer anyway. The only change I'm going to provide more substance, sharing information that I personally find useful. Hopefully you will too.

Crazy Times.

2009-01-31T11:04:00.003-06:00

This is on the Domino website:

dear readers
It is with very heavy hearts that we say farewell. Over the last 4 years, in 28 issues, we have done our best to create a great magazine. We started with a real idea—that style is for everyone—and tried to carry it out with stories that provide inspiration and empower you to act on it. From your tremendous response, we know that we were onto something. In this tough economy, however, we simply weren't able to get the advertising support we needed.
As domino evolved, we never lost sight of our original democratic premise. Looking back at the manifesto we published in the premiere issue, the first tenet of domino is still the truest: Home should make you happy. We hope we have played a part in making this come true for you.
Love,All the editors of domino

I was very surprised to hear the news. Especially since I started receiving this subscription because another subscription I had closed it's doors. This was my replacement, and I really liked it. The website will be up for a few more weeks.

2009-01-01T12:56:00.009-06:00

I hope everyone had a great (and safe) New Years Eve. I'm not sorry to say I'm happy to have said goodbye to 2008. I'm looking forward to all the good that 2009 will bring to everyone!

We spent last night (as we have the past +/- five years) with our neighbors. We house hop year after year, all bringing food, drinks and the ever so popluar Catch Phrase. And this year was the first year that everyone didn't run out at 12:05. We waited until at least 12:15. So proud.

Today is a day of rest and relaxation. I'm not even putting pressure on myself to take down the tree, a task I'm waiting until Saturday to do. But, the task of removing and storing my decorations has gotten easier thanks to this little beauty:

Santa had brought the boys one each last year and I was able to grab another one this year so I can store each of the boys ornaments in their own box and the remaining (mom and dad) ornaments in ours. This way, many, many years from now when the boys decide they must move onto their own place and start their own traditions, I will be able to hand them their own nicely stored boxed of ornaments. I can only hope they continue with the hodge-podged ornament trees instead of the theme related trees so many do these days but it will be their decision at that point. Let's change the subject shall we...

It's been a long time since I've read a book. I believe the last book I read was Harry Potter - how many years has that been? I decided our time in Florida was a good opportunity to read again so I picked up Nicholas Sparks: The Choice. You just can't go wrong with Nicholas Sparks, seriously. It was very good and satisfying. I was able to finish it during the week, a proud accomplishment for me. :-) I wasn't ready to read anymore until we got in the car to head back home, an 18 hour drive. While at the store I ended up picking up a second book in case I needed an alternate selection. I surprised myself when I chose Stephenie Meyers: Twilight. I sucummed to the buzz about the book I'll admit it. I knew the movie was out. Although I am not into vampires, would have never dreamed of ever reading a book about them, I decided to commit and give it a try. Know what? It was really good - the buzz was correct! I read for about 14 hours straight, not even getting car sick, and I finished the entire book before we got home. I'm now ready to go out and see the movie and I'm already on chapter 3 of the second book in the series: New Moon. What's so exciting for me about this series is it's already out there, and in paperback too! With Harry Potter, I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them evolve book after book, but I hated waiting for each book to come out and when it did being forced to buy the hardback copy which is more expensive and hard to hold (can't snuggle up with a hard back booked as easy!). The benefit to me for the Twilight series is I'm way behind the curve. There's something to be said for not being in the know.

One of the Christmas Gifts I had asked for this year was the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. Thanks Dad & Ione for getting it for me! I wanted it to help with photo manipulations but turns out there is so much more you can do. Here's one of Chad's masterpieces:

Not too shabby is it?! I can't wait to take the time to really sit down and get a better understand of everything this little beauty can do. Going to be a lot of fun! Another gift I got was one of these cuties:

Boring right?! No, it really isn't! I was using it a little bit this morning and it was great! I enter a ton of numbers into my laptop and I really missed not having a 10-key pad. I just hate those numbers at the top of the keyboard, they are so unnatural for me. This little baby connects to my laptop via USB. I know will be a life saver. Thanks boys and JB!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years Eve. I expect nothing but the best for everyone this year. I have a feeling it's going to be a great one!

No snow for Christmas.

2008-12-23T11:17:00.002-06:00

(Random photo courtesy of Flickr)

I was a bit concerned that I might be sad having Christmas without snow or cold but as we get closer to Florida the weather has changed from 7 degrees when we left to now 72 degrees and I must say it's not at all bad! Our first time out of the car with the warmer weather was wonderful. We are listening to When My Heart Finds Christmas by Harry Connick Jr. and I'm in the front seat hoping my internet connection keeps so I can finish this post. My ds is driving beautifully! Although he's about ready to come up to a very serious decision he is going to have to make. As an early Christmas gift I got some antlers and a big red nose that goes on my car. We haven't put them on yet because we were afraid the excessive highway driving would ruin them but as we get closer to the house we are going to put them on so we can make a grand entrance. The issue is when I got them and initially put them on the car he said he would never drive the car with those on. The decision he is going to have to make is whether or not he will drive the car with them on as we pull up to the house, because he really wants to be the one driving when we arrive. I can't wait to see how this goes. At this point he is saying he is not going to pull over to put them on, but he has another thing coming if he thinks that's not going to happen.

This trip has been so much fun. The 18+ hour drive has been relaxing. I've even pulled out my iPod and been listening to music I haven't heard in a very long time. I've spent a majority of the trip listening to a weird, variety of music; MIKA, Amy Winehouse and Darius Rucker specifically. MIKA is just fun and funny. Amy Winehouse has such a unique voice I really like and Darius Rucker is one of my favorites. I have always liked Hootie and the Blowfish and was very happy to hear he had his own album out now. I made sure I grabbed that before coming on this long trip.

DH has adapted well to the boys and my road rules. He is normally the one "in charge" on these trips because its just easier that way but since the boys and I made this trip without him earlier in the year we are the experts. He wasn't to sure of Mandy (our TomTom GPS) at the beginning of the trip but now he understands how accurate and good (at least for this trip) she really is. We love our Mandy. He's now cat napping - you go DH.

If I don't post before Christmas I hope everyone has a wonderul Christmas no matter where you are. Merry Christmas and looking forward to a very Happy New Year!

Love this photo.

2008-12-14T23:15:00.002-06:00

I love this photo. This was taken last weekend after all my attempts at getting "proper" photos failed. It was cold outside, the boys were not cooperating and dad was acting crazy at an event being held at the Central West End. We had not planned on attending and the boys were not interested in sitting on Santa's lap or at the very least next to him in his sled. So, this was my attempt at the next best thing and I liked the result. This was a spontaneous photo taken of the boys reacting to their dad's silly antics. It's honest and fun.

King Tut.

2008-12-03T19:10:00.003-06:00

Had to share this beauty. Chad made this for a school project out of clay. Go figure a big block of clay could turn into this:

Yeah Chad!

Thank goodness for the internet!

2008-11-26T21:30:00.002-06:00

Thank goodness for the internet. I mean, really, years ago, how would one at 9:30 at night, the evening before Thanksgiving, look up how long they must cook their 20 lb turkey. Seriously, I love the internet! Yeah Google and Butterball.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

My BFF.

2008-11-22T09:15:00.005-06:00

Ok, so it's been another long spell since I've been blogging. My bad - again. Remember this photo?:

Well it still applies. But not necessarily in a bad way. I've been working in the office for the past couple of months (I usually work from home) and I've been doing two + jobs at the same time which is challenging but I'm actually having a blast. The office is so much fun, lots of laughs and good things happening. I'm making some new friends along the way which is always a good thing.

I'm also doing some work with FORCE. Wish I could do more but I can only do so much - so I keep telling myself. My goal is to in the next few months have freed up some of my time to really devote some serious time to FORCE. Fingers crossed! Having said that I did just get done writing a short article to acknowledge their 10 year anniversary. 10 years - wow! The article focused on what FORCE has meant to me and about Previvor. Although it only a short article one would think I was writing a novel with how long it took me to pull it all together. Obviously, from my blog postings, I'm not a writer at heart!

To add to my list of to do's, I'm also gearing up in my mind to carve out time to work on a design portfolio and study for some testing I want to take, design wise. Really getting excited about this. Things that have been swirling in my head for a long time are finally coming together and I'm putting together some missing pieces. Still a long road ahead but one I'm starting to move on which is very exciting.

I'm now, today, getting ready for Thanksgiving. Have some wonderful people coming to our home, specifically My BFF:

She's the one on the left for those not in the know.

I got to spend some quality time with her last night which was so much fun. We met at the mall, had a couple glasses of wine and shopped. I was able to secure a great birthday present for dh, something I've been searching for and haven't been able to find (can't share in case he is reading - will share later). We discussed Thanksgiving and how she is going to come early to help and spend the night. We are going to play games and hang out. I can't wait!!

I have a lot to complete before then so Ibetter get going. I'm slowly starting to hyperventilate (did I spell that right?) as all of a sudden a million to do's have started popping up in my mind. So, on that note, I'd better go! If I don't *talk* to everyone before then Happy Thanksgiving! I'm going to leave you with this idea:

I wish I had the nerve to try this (accomplished by strategically placing pieces of aluminum foil molding appropriately). Let me know if anyone has the nerve - and share pictures! LOL.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Did you?

2008-11-04T21:34:00.002-06:00

No matter the outcome I'm proud I woke up early, waited in line 1 hour and voted. Did you?

Meet Bob.

2008-10-26T19:49:00.013-05:00

This is Bob.

Bob is handsome and mighty.

The only thing is...

Bob likes to taste young children.

Seriously.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent - or not so innocent in this case.

Life or Death? The Emperor's Proposition - The Answer

2008-10-18T10:15:00.011-05:00

You are a prisoner sentenced to death. The Emperor offers you a chance to live by playing a simple game. He gives you 50 black marbles, 50 white marbles, and 2 empty bowls. He then says, "Divide these 100 marbles into these 2 bowls. You can divide them any way you like as long as you use all the marbles. Then I will blindfold you and mix the bowls around. You then can choose one bowl and remove ONE marble. If the marble is WHITE you will live, but if the marble is BLACK... you will die."
How do you divide the marbles up so that you have the greatest probability of choosing a WHITE marble?

The Answer:
Place 1 white marble in one bowl, and place the rest of the marbles in the other bowl (40 white, and 50 blacks). This way you begin with a 50/50 chance of choosing the bowl with just one white marble, therefore life! BUT even if you choose the other bowl, you still have ALMOST a 50/50 chance at picking one of the 49 white marbles.

So how did you do? What would you have done? Can you image being in a position to make a choice like this? I stumbled upon this yesterday in the mail from Duke University TIP Program and knew immediately that I wanted to share this with you. It wasn't until I was typing the answer that I realized why this particular brain teaser resonated with me so much. See I was once faced with a 50/50 proposition and I knew the answer to my "teaser" would also change my life significantly. The possibility of an untimely death was also involved.

In December, 1999 I discovered that the breast cancer gene BRCA1 was in my family and that it was probable that my mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 31, had this gene. It was explained to me by a certified genetic counselor that this meant I had a 50/50 chance of having it. If I fell on the good side of 50/50 I would have a normal population of breast cancer risk. But if I fell on the wrong side, I would be at high risk for not only breast cancer but ovarian cancer as well. It was my choice whether or not I wanted to undergo genetic testing to find out which side I fell on. What would you do?

Life or Death? The Emperor's Proposition

2008-10-18T10:07:00.004-05:00

Been Busy. Very Busy.

2008-09-28T22:50:00.007-05:00

This is where I'm at right now. Keep your fingers crossed I'll be able to be back soon.

WhzzzzzUP?

2008-09-13T21:54:00.003-05:00

Too much - that's what! Some of what I've been up to lately includes (but is not limited to):

Working in the office (this is a temporary situation but one taking up most of my time lately)

Nutrisystem. So far so good, fingers crossed. DH and I appear to have made it thru the hardest part (Friday and Saturday!) We ate out twice but we had salads both times and this evening we even shared one. Kudos to us! I did have sips of diet drinks today (not a favorite of mine!) but I couldn't go to McDonalds and not have a soda. Have you ever tried a McD salad? Surpringly good. I never thought I'd say that! I've only been on Nutrisystem since Monday but I feel better already. Good experience so far. Hope we can keep it up. DH and I are totally getting into trading since we are realizing that our food is basically the same. For the most part I really like the food but there are some things I'm just not a fan of and vice versa. It's kind of exciting like the rush you get when you trade cards or collect beanie babies. That of course was when I did those types of things - LOL!

BMX Racing. The Redline Cup which is the 2008 Central Finals was in our backyard this weekend and we got to spend some of our day today there watching family. I had cousins from Tulsa in to race so we got to spend some quality time with them. Sad to say but this was the first time my boys got to meet one of their cousins. Ok, it's a second counsin once removd minus four. LOL. My own little joke, sorry about that. It was my cousin and his son. So I think Nick (Rick's son) and the boys are second cousins, right? If my Grandmama was still with us she would be able to tell us. She was so good at all of that!! No matter, we still had a great time seeing them. And to top it off Nick got 1st both last night and today in his group. Way to go!

Potential Haircut. I'm getting antsy and a bit anxious for a change and it's leading me towards a new haircut. I really want to end up with this but my hair is too short so I think I'm going to have to start off with a short inverted stacked bob so it could grow out to this (with slight bangs). I'm just not sure until I lose weight if the tweener look would work for me.

Design. Been having fun in my spare and very limited time to help my step-mom with some custom bedding. We've been looking at fabric and design styles. Fun. Wish I had more time for things like this. It's so enjoyable and relaxing.

Holiday Season. Can't believe it but I'm starting to think about this. I believe it all stems from the fact that DH and I are going to stay on Nutrisystem until Thanksgiving at which time we will eat and drink (yes wine!) normal. So I'm already really looking forward to Thanksgiving and the thought of mash potatoes. Then I start thinking about Christmas because that's the next time I'll get to eat for real because we will continue back on Nutrisystem in December. Then this leads to thinking of Christmas, gifts and plans. I'm kind of excited. Fun times ahead!

Home Improvements. Our coffee table broke again. It broke about a month ago and I was so fed up with it I had the boys carry it to the basement to retire it. Having gone a month without one I'm now ready to tackle it again and re-attach the top to the base. Last night I had a dream about how I could fix it. I really want to do this. I also need to finish sewing window treatments for the kitchen. Very simple treatments but still need a good block of time. Although I haven't been up to finishing these projects I have been up to thinking a lot about each of them. Does that count?

Speaking of design, I'm going to end this post with an inspirational photo for me. I just love the shelves, how they are positioned and displayed. Unique and definately thinking outside of the box.

Off to find pictures of hairstyles!

The lobsters have arrived!

2008-08-28T21:54:00.003-05:00

The lobsters have arrived. That's what Alex told me earlier today. Actually he said something along the lines of, "Come home and eat all your lobsters!" If he only knew. See, DH and I are taking a BIG step and are trying Nutrisystem. So unlike us. So crazy. But necessary. Our lives are too busy and our waist lines keep growing, significantly, so we are going to try this. Both of us, at the same time. The boys, although happy about us trying this and supportive, are worried they will never eat again. When first told what we were going to do Alex made the comment about how they were going to get nothing while we ate nothing but lobsters all the time. LOL! Today, dh's box came but mine has yet to arrive. I peeled open his box and started reading all the food. What was obvious was the portion sizes. DH couldn't wait and tried a bag of honey pretzels. LOL. I had to remind him that we have a lot to learn about portion sizes. A LOT TO LEARN obviously by the size of these portions. But, we (I'm) open minded about this whole new direction. I did have to make the disclaimer that if he ate all of his 28 days of food in 15 days that he was going to starve for the remaining 13 days. And I'm serious about that! We have nothing to lose but weight so we are going for it. I'll post pictures of the boxes soon. Keep your fingers crossed that we become healthy and small!

Am I Cheating?

2008-08-22T10:27:00.005-05:00

I'm feeling a little guilty and I think I need to confess. See, I'm a PC girl at heart but I finally gave into the prompts to download Apple's Safari. I've ignored it not wanting to give in to the temptation but this morning I had a weakness. In order to install a new gadget to my iPhone (see I've already started to turn apple-ish) I had to update my iTunes (again, another apple-ish product) and Safari was lumped in there with the download. I just didn't take the time to sort out only what I needed and I let it all download. Of course once it was sitting on my computer the temptation to open it up and try it was just too much for a PC girl to bare. So, I did it. I opened it - see the proof below:

A pretty sleek looking site. Now I'm curious. I already had a feel for what Apple can provide with my iPhone. And, I have to admit that Chad and I went into the Apple store to pick up an accessory for my phone and we did stop and dare I say touched the MacBook Air. Nice. And when I see on TV shows the iMac, my heart skips a beat a little bit. I've even found myself giggling at those ridiculous Apple/PC commercials where Apple is so simple and PC so not. But NO, I'm a PC girl! I am waaaaay too invested in the PC. 15 years of learning all about the PC, messing with it, purchasing software. I'm way too emotionally and financially invested in PC, so is my family - all PC lovers. Plus, I don't want to be out of the loop with my family. We all need to communicate. We all need to be compatible. It is for these reasons I will remain with my PC. I've heard rumors that Apple is much more PC friendly these days and there might be ways to work thru this. But for me I'm sticking with PC. I'll just continue to dabble with the "accessories". Play with Safari browser. See how it goes. But hey you Apple people you. If you are ever looking for a loyal PCer to test your MacBook Air or iMac give me a call, email me or post on this blog. I *might* be tempted to give it a test drive.

And who knows, if you're as good as you claim to be, there is a huge line of PCers I know that could be converted.

MIA - Again.

2008-08-04T09:20:00.004-05:00

My bad. Been busy - doing a little bit (or rather a lot of bit) of everything. Going in many different directions at one time and starting to wish this wasn't the case. Doing too many things, means I'm not a master of any! Got to change that!

Getting ready to take a short trip to Chicago for a work conference. Wasn't too excited to go. I've been to Chicago a bunch of times and I'd rather stay home and work some unfinished design projects, like our master bedroom. I'm stuck because I'm trying to find a unique duvet cover so I can finalize my color pallet, but that is easier said then done. I really, really like the bedding shown in the movie P.S. I Love You. (Ignore Hillary Swank in her bra - really just look at the bedding!). Unfortunately I have discovered this bedding was a prior years collection of John Robshaw Textiles and is no longer available. Bad news. As a side note, check out what's on the wall behind her bed. Isn't that cool?! Reminds me of some of Jennifer Bertrand's art on the walls used in some of her designs. I'm loving swirls, in home design and scrapbooking. I'm pretty sure something like this will show up in our master bedroom somewhere. I might have to take out some fabric paint and make my own duvet with these swirls. Hmmmm, that could be interesting!

I also want to finish our kitchen cabinets. Remember they've been painted but I need to finish the top with a build up of crown moulding and then over/under cabinet lighting. Once this is done I can move onto tiling the backsplash. I've resolved I'm not going to be getting a double oven anytime soon so I need to just finish it with the current design. The problem, I can't find the one piece of moulding I need. Here is a picture:

This is a piece I picked up about four years ago at Lowes and of course they no longer carry it. It was just an average in-stock piece! They have apparently changed their distributors (last year) and no one can tell me who carried this piece. I want to use this on the bottom of our cabinets and at the top, upside down. I would then build up the top to add crown moulding (either regular or cove moulding) at the very tip top. I have already spent significant time trying to track down this piece and no such luck, visiting local woodworking companies, other home improvement stores, numerous websites. My next step is to call Lowes headquarters to see if they can provide me any direction what so ever but I'm not holding out much luck. Any suggestions?

I'd also like to design and build a couple pieces for our outdoor living area. I want an island for cooking and a buffet table to put food and utensils on. I have ideas in my head, just need to go gather some of the pieces from a local architectural salvage store and start building.

So, with all of these design things swirling around in my head, I see the time we are going out of town as a great opportunity for uninterrupted design work at home. But, I have to be a good spouse and go on this trip, reluctantly. But then this morning I realized that our hotel is located not too far from the Chicago Merchandise Mart. Be still my foolish heart, a design meca right around the corner. I've always wanted to go there and in looking at our iteniary I should have some significant time to peruse it. And, I should be able to get into the designer only areas. This trip might not be so bad afterall!

You talking to me?

2008-07-11T11:44:00.002-05:00

Birthday Bash.

2008-07-10T19:49:00.003-05:00

First there was this:

Then there was this:

And let me tell you, there has been a lot of that over the last few days! My baby is now 15 and driving with a permit. He is offering to go everywhere he knows I like to go, as long as he gets to drive of course. lol. Despite gas prices, we are getting in the car a lot and taking back roads (which means longer drives) so he can get experience. I'm already anxious for him to get good enough to be able to drive on more traveled on roads. He's doing really good, although at times he forgets it's not the same as driving his old kart.

No Alex. You do not accelerate at the apex of a turn! I know you had to do that in your kart so you could get the most from the turn but you do not do it now! It took me several turns to figure out what the heck was happening. LOL.

Alex's hat in the first picture is actually Oscar's birthday hat. We celebrated his birthday a couple days earlier so it was already out. Later that evening Alex had some friends over for a movie on the deck. I think they had a really good time.

And to wrap things up, fireworks just for him.

Ok, not just for him but we like to think so. These are my horrible attempt at photographing fireworks. I need to figure out how to master this skill. Kind of hard when you really only get to practice once a year.

Smooch.

2008-07-10T12:04:00.011-05:00

Look how handsome and strong Oscar looks.

I think I must take a closer look...

Oh, he's so smoochable. Maybe just a bit closer so I can really study his handsomeness. Is that a word?

I wonder what he's thinking? I can't get over those crooked teeth. So unique. So him. Very smoochable, and I'm not the only one wanting a closer look as you can plainly see.

I dare you to look this close into his handsome face without feeling the urge to follow it up with one of these.

See, I'm not the only one thinking he's smoochable. Oscars got a face not only a mother should love.

My new baby.

2008-06-26T12:37:00.010-05:00

Saved up my pennies (with a little help from an early birthday gift) and got *her*. I stuck with Canon since I already had two other lenses from my 35mm days and I really do *heart* Canon. She is the newest arrival from Canon and is literally the baby of the dslr bunch. She is smallest and lightest of them all, so petite is she! (I should have put a pink bow on her darn-it!) As I did my research I realized that the weight issue ended up being a big deal for me with how I wanted to use the camera. I'm not a professional, although I wouldn't mind being a prosumer someday. I believe this camera will take me to where I need to go even as my needs change. And, to make it even better, she was the least costly model (even though this newest arrival apparently has significant upgrades from the previous one). Yeah!

I'm having fun trying new things and looking forward to taking a couple classes on how to use it from Creve Coeur Camera. I decided to go to the pro's when getting this baby so I would have more support and direction then I've ever gotten before. Best Buy, although a great store, just doesn't care too much once you've left the premises.

Just as with any new baby you have to buy cute clothes. So, I'm looking closely at one of these:

and also this:

The strap I can swing now, but the uber cool camera bag will have to wait. So, which strap do you think?

History.

2008-06-20T19:44:00.001-05:00

This truck makes me happy. Someday I will have something like this. Although I'd love to have the wooden rails on the back. So who's truck is this? No idea. I did meet the man that restored it but we didn't swap names. He came out of Lowes when my family was admiring it. From his reaction I don't think it was the first time something like this had happened. I like this truck because it has character, it has history... it's simple.

The past couple of weeks I've been spending a lot of time with my grandfather-in-law. I have learned a lot from him. Do you know how to cook soft-boiled eggs? I do now, thanks to him. (And they are good!) And, did you know that you can buy from the post office envelopes that have your return address already printed on them with pre-printed postage? And, did you know you can buy "forever" stamps that can always be used no matter if the postage changes? I've also learned a lot about organization and have a solid understanding of the phrase - a place for everything, and everything in it's place. Grandpa's house is amazing. Grandpa has character. Grandpa has history. Grandpa is simply amazing.

Meet Annabelle.

2008-06-09T14:36:00.004-05:00

Bloggers, meet Annabelle. Annabelle, meet bloggers.

Photo courtesy of Alex (14)

Photo courtesy of Chad (13)

You see those white circles? Look hard, move your monitor around so you can get a clear shot. Yep those. Well that's Annabelle, or rather the orb of Annabelle, or Annabelle's orb. You get the picture. I hope you can see them. I didn't want to lighten up the pictures at all at the risk of messing with the Orb, so this is sooc (straight out of the camera).

This is a picture of the back courtyard of the Crescent Hotel, taken from the Lounge balcony (about 4 stories up) around 11:00 pm the second night we were there. You can see the walking (white) path and the green grass. Our family was on the lounge balcony hanging out talking, laughing, enjoying each others company and my boys were shooting away. (Incase the Crescent Hotel is reading this, food was still being served so it was ok our boys were hanging out with us!). Out of about 500+ photos that we took [of the wedding, the hotel and the entire weekend], these are the only two photos that have an orb in them. We were so excited! This is really the only *experience* we had the entire time we were there.

A few nights after these photos were taken, Alex and I went on the Ghost Tour and this is when we learned that Annabelle was one of the many ghosts that stay there and she insisits that she been *pushed* off her balcony to her death in this courtyard around 10:30 pm one evening. And yes I did say *insists*. Apparently some ghosts are very picky about the stories that are being told about them! This is the reason we believe this is Annabelle. Now whether it's her spirit or an energy transfer of some sort that is to be debated. Some believe orbs are not actual spirits, instead they believe they are the energy that is being transferred from a source (ie: power lines, people, batteries...) to the spirit so they can manifest. Since no one was down there at this time, I *believe* (if I were to believe) it is Annabelle. Plus, it made it a whole lot more fun!

We do have two more photos that have significant streaks in them and a shadow in one of them, which as our tour guide told us could be something. I'm not convinced it is anything more than Alex moving the camera on a slower shutter speed with the shadow of the guy standing next to the door he was shooting. But, then again it could be! Alex was taking photos of a door to the room where a lot of activity happens. Two out of the three photos he took, while standing right next to me, were streaky. Very interesting! There is a definately shadow of someone there.

The boys acted tough but I'm not sure they got much sleep while we were there. Today they slept until 11:00, which is rare for them! I let them sleep late since I'm the one that made them stay in a haunted place for the last three nights. They are such troopers. Plus, they let me take some more photos of them. Check this one out!:

Notice Chad isn't especially happy here. He had a rough night. He wasn't too happy after hearing all the ghost stories Alex and I had to share when we returned after the tour. No matter, I love the photo and them there boys. This was the last photo taken as we left out of town. Once we got to the outskirts of town we said, "If there are any ghosts with us we want to thank them for the fun time but they are not to travel home with us. So, go home ghosts, go home." Our tour guide told us to do this because they can travel with us, and that would be something we wouldn't want. Whether one believes or not, it sure doesn't hurt to be on the safe side!

Boo.

2008-06-05T23:03:00.003-05:00

We are getting ready for bed, our first night at the haunted Crescent Hotel. We have not yet had any experiences with ghosts and the boys (13 and almost 15) are not too happy this evening. Not because they haven't had an experience yet but rather because they are worried they will! They found out the room right across the hall from us is one of the two rooms that gets haunted frequently, apparently. They are afraid something, which they do not necessarily believe in, will make a wrong turn into our room. I on the other hand am taking picture after picture hoping to see an orb but nothing so far. Will keep you posted and will add pictures soon.

Yum.

2008-05-28T10:13:00.006-05:00

Isn't he pretty? I pumped up the colors with photoshop for fun. Took this with my iPhone, in a hurry, so it's not the best but I wanted to try to capture this little guy. His actual color and *design* on the side of his shell was very inspiring to me. I'm thinking these colors might be what I'm needing for my bedding in our master bedroom. Funny where inspiration will hit you! So, after admiring him for a bit I ate him. Yep, sure did. And, with no guilt. He was yum!

We were invited to 21st Annual Crawfish Boil put on by the St. Louis chapter of the LSU Alumni Association. Too much fun! I have always wanted to do a crawfish boil but I didn't know how to eat them. Had heard horror stories. Yuck. But, dh and I got into it. And, there is a process one must follow to ensure you get your share. Table must be clear, best with lots of newspapers layered on the table. Guests must stand back and cheer loudly when the man carrying the HUGE dripping pots of yum comes by. If you get his attention he will dump a good amount from the pot in the middle of the table. Then it's up to you to get in there and grab your crawfish, corn, hotdogs/sausage, onions and/or garlic that you want to eat. No plates. Lots of papertowels and spray butter. Yum! Fun! Must. do. it. again! Seriously thinking of trying this at home.

You know there's something liberating about being at a function where table manners are not encouraged.

Thanks St. Louis chapter for a great night. Hope to see you next year!

Weekend fun.

2008-05-20T08:02:00.016-05:00

NOTE: I have having a HARD time with the spacing on Blogger. Please excuse it's mess. It isn't me!

This weekend was fabulous. DH, myself and DH's Aunt "Honey" went estate sale shopping. Well, actually, dh went to one estate sale and then Honey and I promptly dropped him back off at home and we went back out. Love him but he isn't much fun to go out with because he doesn't like driving around. He wants all the sales to be next door to each other, like garage sales. lol. So, he stayed home and helped the neighbors with their individual sales - it was our subdivision garage sale weekend. I can barely stand going to garage sales anymore. Estate sales and auctions give me the thrill I'm searching for. (Although having said that I did attend a neighbors sale because I heard she was selling power tools. Another fav of mine. I picked up a Dewalt scroll saw for a very sweet price! Seriously sweet.).

This weekend I changed things up a bit and used our TomTom instead of printing out directions on MapQuest. It worked beautifully!

- First, I circle in the newspaper the sales I want to attend.

- Second, I input the addresses in the TomTom.

- Third, I go into each addresses using TomTom and find out how far away they are from my current location. I mark that information on the actual ad itself. If some are too far away I will re-evaluate the ad to see if it's one I still want to go to.

- Fourth, I mark on the ad's the order that I want to go to, starting with the one furthest away. This way when I'm out I don't have to think. I just follow the #'s indicated. When we are leaving a sale I just navigate quickly to the new address. What's great about this system is the TomTom always knows where I'm at. So when I'm at sale #3 and want to go to sale #4 I just pick the address of sale #4 and it gives me door to door driving instructions from sale #3. It's AWESOME! And with my system, by the time we reach the last sale, we are close to home.

I wish I could tell you I found that special piece but I didn't. Picked up a few wire baskets and a couple date stamps but that was it. Here are a few pictures from the trip of houses we went to and items I looked at but didn't want to pursue:

To finish the day off I went to Three French Hens. I've never been there before and had always wanted to go but was never really sure where it was. When I ran into it I knew I was going to have to make a stop. While I was there I caught my eye on these two pieces. These can be custom made to size and I've been thinking of something like this for our TV. A really long and low piece. I wonder if I can make it? Hmmmm. Maybe I could use my scroll saw.

And, as a follow-up. A few days ago I expressed my feelings for our local DMV office. Such a dreary, ugly place... yet, there is a very large, gold, ornate frame of the Gov. Blunt which I found so out of place. I did have to go back and this time taking a picture of it was a priority (I'm sure the guy standing behind me wondered what the heck I was doing!). Here it is:

Isn't that funny? Normally I crop my photos - I prefer close-ups. But, in this case, I wanted to show the contrast. Actually, this wall is the nicest in the whole place. You should see the door they cut out of the wall (on the wall to the left of this picture). They literally cut the door out and have not trimmed it. Nor did they make a neat, clean cut. Such an inspiring place to work I'm sure.

He takes after me!

2008-05-19T08:34:00.006-05:00

My son is in Washington, DC right now. He's on a non-sponsored, non-school trip with his school; three teachers and about 42 students. We had to have him at the airport Saturday morning at 4:00 am. He has been going non-stop since then. They get going in the morning around 6:00 am and don't get back to their hotels until around 9:30 pm each and every night. It's an incredible itinerary, kind of jealous!

When packing for him to go I asked him if he wanted to take our unused, small digital camera to take or would he rather just have a disposible camera. He picked disposible. Didn't seem he was going to be taking too many pictures and didn't want to be responsible for hanging onto a good camera. Not a problem. I reminded him of his phones ability to take pictures. If he decided it was too much to carry around the camera, just use his phone. Good to go.

Yesterday, I'm checking in with him [loving unlimited text messaging by the way!] and he expressed his concern that he didn't have enough money. (We didn't send him with too much. The whole trip was paid for, including food. We gave him a little extra to buy some souvenirs and more food if he wanted). He said that he had already used two disposible cameras and they were expensive there. If he bought one a day he wouldn't have enough money to buy a shirt or hat. He said he had already used up his phone but it didn't take too good of pictures and his memory was almost full. I was shocked. Didn't know what to do. How did dad and I miss the mark so badly on this one?! And who knew he'd actually be into taking this many photos. [Yes!] So, dad and I did some magic phone calling and it turned out the gift shop in the hotel would allow us to not only purchase some cameras for him over the phone but also add some additional cash to the bill. I contacted Alex to find out how many camera he wanted, 2 maybe? His response, "No, four!" Four. Four! LOL - you don't know how happy this makes me. This means he is enjoying his trip and he is enjoying taking pictures! I do believe he takes after me on this one.

Will post a picture of two once he returns. Of course since it's not digital you'll have to wait for the drop off/developing/pick up delay. Boy do I love digital!

Feels Good. Real Good.

2008-05-16T10:02:00.006-05:00

Late *late* last night I finished a pending project, the organization of all my digital photos. I had started this project a little over a year ago, and had a made a really good start on it back then but, it still needed some work. So, last weekend I decided I needed to tackle this so I went out and got some needed supplies;

matching binders, divider tabs, 8 1/2 x 11 photo paper packs (buy 1/get 1 free), slim CD cases and and CD labels.

I store all my photos in year/month order in folders on my external hard-drive. Once the month is over, I create an index sheet of all the photos in that folder and place in a binder that is filed in the same year/month order. I also create a CD back-up of the folder which is stored in a pretty little box, again filed in the same year/month order.

Of course this process (which sounds lengthy but really isn't!) should be done monthly. But, in reality can be done whenever one gets around to it - as long as you understand the risks of not having back-ups of your photos.

One thing that had been bugging me about my system from last year was I had not taken the time to get nice binders for my index sheets and I really needed dividers in between all my CD's. So, I went out and bought a bunch of $5 recycled binders from my local office supply stores. I love the look of them and it makes me feel *green*. I put my tabs in there by year and printed and placed all the index sheets up to this month! Yeah! I then went in and make CD back-ups of all my photos up to this month and created simple tags to seperate the CD's. Ok, my simple tags are index cards poorly written on. But, I have my eye on these babies.

This is my back-up system and one way to locate photos on the fly. I'm going to invest additional time (eventually) back into a software Organziation system where you tag photos and can quickly search but for now at least I know I'm backed up. Feels awesome! Here are some photos:

Now, I'm onto my next project - my negatives! I picked up some additional *green* binders for them and some negative sleeves. This will be easy because 75% of all my negatives area already in sleeves. These are NOT being put in any order. I'm not that crazy!

Oops.

2008-05-14T13:09:00.004-05:00

I use Photobucket to upload many of the photos I post here. Unfortunately I haven't paid much attention to my organization of those photos within my account. Today I decided to quickly fix this. Unfortunately, this *quick* fix has resulted in a mess. I should have known it would *remove* all my photos. Uggghhhh! So, if you see a message THIS IMAGE OR VIDEO HAS BEEN MOVED OR DELETED. PHOTOBUCKET. just know is a result of my *oops!*. It will be corrected. Looks like I will be busy late this evening!

Economic Stimulus Payment.

2008-05-13T17:22:00.004-05:00

Have you received your money yet? If not you can go to the IRS Where's My Stimulus Payment? website. Enter the requested information and you will find out when you will get your money. It worked for me!

Juliet Romeo.

2008-05-13T14:51:00.003-05:00

Interested and qualified candidates are encouraged to contact Juliet Romeo (xxx)xxx-xxxx.

I've had Monster.com sending me information on jobs in the design field for sometime so I can get an idea of what is available in the market. I've learned that they come across few and far between, however, Monster seemed to think the one referenced above might be of interest to me. It wasn't, but while glancing at it I couldn't help but notice the contacts name. Juliet Romeo. Do you think that is a real name? If so, what do you think her parents conversation was like when they were deciding on names for their little girl. "Our last name is Romeo, what if... "

Imagine all the interesting names those lucky fellows working at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) get to see. I've been there the last two days and I must say the Missouri DMV's are exceptionally depressing places to be. Actually, all the Missouri State offices I've been in are sad, ugly places. That should not be allowed. Maybe if the spaces were nicer, a lot nicer, the people who work there would smile more. This would promote good will and happy customers. Seriously, it should be a law!!!! I did think it was quite humerous that there was a fairly huge *proper* photo of Governor Matt Blunt hanging on the ugliest white wall (flat, inexpensive chalk like white) in a very thick, ornate, gold frame. I wanted to take a picture of it but I wasn't able to because two windows opened up at the same time. Darn the luck. But, I'm happy to say [with a sarcastic tone] that because they failed to provide me with the correct information yesterday, I get to go back there next week. I will try again to capture a shot if it. Quite funny.

So much on my mind!

2008-05-11T21:52:00.005-05:00

First, Happy Mothers Day to all mothers out there. And, here is my pick of flowers for each and every one of you. These are from Martha Stewart, the Martha Stewart Lotus Pod Bouquet. Very unique and special if you do ask me!

I have had a very good day. First, opened wonderful, heart felt cards from my boys and enjoyed the most beautiful flower arrangement from them. Then we went to church. We haven't been in a couple of weeks (broke our record for attending!) and was happy to be back. We are learning about Song of Soloman and I'm sure you have never experienced anything like this in church before! It's amazing and quite educational. The boys are hearing everything with us. Quite interesting conversations on the way home and I'm expecting this upcoming week as well.

Then, lunch. I love lunch. I love eating. It makes me happy. Our great friend joined us for both church and lunch. Happy times. After dropping him off my boys all took me to Creve Coeur Camera to give me hands on look at their digial SLR's. I have the itch and that's going to be a problem! We were *supposed* to do my Mothers Day shoot today but it rained all day (or most of the day) so this was postphoned. So, if I wasn't using a camera today I decide I would look at new cameras. I've had a 35mm Canon Rebel S since maybe 1991 which I've loved. It's been on the shelf since digital came out and I have to say I'm totally in love with digital. I have close to 8000 photos on my hard drive just over the last few years. I started with Kodak Point & Shoot. Quickly realized I needed more. I upgraded to my current Sony DSC-H1 which has been great. Have gotten great photos out of it. But, I need more. I find I need (and want) much more control of my photos in the editting process. I also, need to learn more about, and have more control, over my lens. Since I'm a Canon girl at heart (and have a couple Canon lens already) I'm looking at the Canon Xsi or the Canon 40D. I'm really leaning towards the Xsi because from what I read it's brand new (only two weeks old) and is giving the 40D a run for it's money. It's less expensive than the 40D too. Hmmmm. I'm processing...

Then we came home and I took a very long, deep, not waking up kind of nap. It was wonderful! When I finally did wake up (3 hours later!) I ate a bunch of junk, watched movies and TV with my family and played on my laptop - surfing the internet. It has been a total no responsibilities kind of day, which I love and doesn't happen all that much.

So, what's on my mind besides cameras. Basically in a nut shell, living life the way you want, finding out what you are passionate about and finding your way into it. We have had a death in the family recently and that has helped be a catalist for going forward on some things I continue to put on the back burner. Will share more details later but some things are in the works. Happy.

Impromptu photoshoot.

2008-05-04T13:03:00.006-05:00

How could one not take good photos with these sweet models? Makes me smile and warms my heart that their family! Thank you *Miss* Charlie and Lizzee for your sweetness.

Photos were enhanced using Photosh0p Elements 4.0 (downloading 6.0 as I type this!) with JinkyArt & Scrapping Pro plug-ins. Lost a little resolution I see when I saved this set of photos for "web" use. Still on that learning curve.

Absent blogger. My bad.

2008-04-24T10:47:00.005-05:00

I know, I know. My bad. Been busy living life, working and hockey. Here's a few photos I like from last weekends out of town tournament:

This photo was completely unexpected. This wasn't the look I was going for but it turned out pretty cool. Hockey (and especially this team) is soooo fast, this photo is appropriate. I especially like how it's framed. Unfortunately it was completely by accident and I was messing around with my settings. Sometimes the best or most interesting shots are by accident. This reminds me of one of my favorite photos of Chad when he was goalie for a game which I thought I had posted by can't find it. Will post either a link or the photo later.

I like the balance on this photo and everyone watching. This has not been edited with any photo software which it badly needs. Actually none of these have been tweaked at all. It's extremely hard shooting hockey; horrible, horrible lighting, plexiglass between you that either has a reflection of someone watching or you pick up the many scratches from the pucks. Plus, again, the boys are so darn fast. The picture I want is gone by the time the shutter releases. I basically find a good place to capture a photo, when I see someone start to come in the frame I press the button, holding my breathe and closing my eyes hopoing it was a good shot. lol.

This needs to be lightened up but I like it just as well. Unfortunately this is not our team and is a picture of one of our strong rival teams goalie. But the fact that it turned out pretty neat outweighs the fact that I normally wouldn't want to show it. I was testing settings again on my camera.

I ended up taking about 70 photos all together and they are not where I want them to be. I am really struggling with the settings. Makes me think of Tammy and her new baby. I told dh someday I want a new baby with classes that go along with it. I really feel restrained with my current camera because I haven't had any instruction with is specifically and the owners manual is one of the worse I've ever seen. Hmmmm. My birthday is coming up. Maybe I'll just ask for money to save for a new baby like Tammy. See Tammy what you did!

Back @ HOME.

2008-03-31T11:29:00.003-05:00

Spring Break is over and so is our trip to Florida. I quit providing updates because I didn't think Dad was viewing what I had already published but turned out he finally was. Anyway, we had a great time. I'm sunburnt and missing the warm weather but other than that it went very well. I have lots that I could share but to prioritize this is the most special. Chad's birthday was while we were in Florida so Dad missed it. It was sad but in the way JB always does things he did something really fun and special for him. Attached is the eCard Chad received the morning of his birthday:

This was thanks to JB spending lots of time creating the "words" and bluemountain.com for providing the card. Prior to leaving I had just re-established my account with bluemountain.com and for some reason shared that news with JB. He decided to take advantage of it and ended up sending us 4 of these beauties! It was so fun. We laughed so hard!!!

I don't believe there is a way to save it to my computer, it's saved in our account with bluemountain.com. But, I wanted to share and to keep it for us to remember always so I taped it with our handy dandy flip. I guess I'll find out if this was a no no or not. Until then, enjoy it!

Day 2 - Georgia on my mind.

2008-03-22T20:25:00.004-05:00

Day 2 consisted mostly of driving thru Georgia. Not my favoriate day. I thought St. Louis was bad right now with all the highway improvements it was doing but it's basically the entire state of Georgia ungoing it's improvements. This added on at least 1 hour of travel time. Sitting in traffic going 3 miles per hour is not fun. Then once we got going the speed limit kept changing - 70 miles per hour, 50 miles per hour, 60 miles per hour, 70 miles per hour... It was crazy! Note to Georgia, decide what the speed limit is going to be and keep it consisitant. 70 miles per hour is my vote! Although while undergoing this torture I did come up with a new idea, cars should have programmable buttons on the steering column (similar to radio buttons) where one can program several different cruise control speeds. That way I would have just had to hit the appropriate button insteading of fiddling with the current cruise control set-up. Do you think I could make a million with this idea?

Ok, so we are now in Lake City, FL. I believe I previously said we were stopping in Gainesville, FL but it's actually Lake City. Here we are crossing over into Florida:

Our hotel is better then last night, although I do have a question about something in the bathroom. Will discuss in a seperate post with a photo if I remember to take it. The boys have their playstation plugged in and we are watching Blades of Glory with Will Ferrill (a family favorite actor). Everyone has showered and we are happy. We have already eaten at a lovely little place down the road. Chad wanted seafood and the town isn't too big so there wasn't much choice. Below is a video of the boys eating a favorite:

Did you hear the music? How could you miss it right?! Although they were good, they were way too loud. It was very challenging holding a conversation. Crab legs in Florida is much more reasonable cost wise and tasty then in St. Louis - imagine that!

Getting ready to go to bed because we have our remaining 5 hours of driving tomorrow.

Love you JB - dad. Miss you.

Day 1 - Chadanooga, TN

2008-03-22T09:10:00.005-05:00

Day 1 of our trecking across the country (ok, only to FL) without dad. We arrived in Chattanooga, TN, which Chad has renamed to Chadanooga. Pretty clever I thought! We used our TomTom the whole way and it was wonderful until it ran out of battery life. Thank goodness we had our mapquest paper directions as back-up. Note to self, always have backup! We had a minor mishap while passing thru Nashville. We blew a fuse and didn't have any power in our electrical outlet. This is why TomTom ran out of juice. Wasn't until this morning that I was able to run over to a local Nissan dealership and had them fix us. Not only are we fixed but now we have three extra fuses, and I know how to change them! Thanks Moutain View Nissan Dealership!

Last night the boys and I ate at Big River Grille and Brewing Works which was great! They said it was an 1 1/2 hour wait for a table. I told them inside or out was fine. We left to walk around downtown Chattanooga and within five minutes we received a phone call that an outside table was available. Five minutes! We ran back, ate and had a great time. The whole time Alex was spying the horse and carriage rides passing by. He was especially fond of the man with the top hat and the dalmation dog that was so calmly sleeping on the seat next to the man. If you haven't guessed, we ended up going for a ride. Did you know dalmations are so soft?!

This morning we ate the City Cafe Diner which was hooked up to our hotel. It was good food, good price. Chad enjoyed the atmosphere. We are getting ready to check-out and head out of town towards Gainesville, FL but we wanted to get this out there first. Following is our first video podcast of our trip - all for you dad! We will get better at taking and posting them. Also, we will work on better backdrops and more energy as we speak. This is all new for us. Enjoy!

Love you dad (JB)!

Taxes

2008-03-18T19:57:00.001-05:00

Ick.

First Love.

2008-03-18T08:06:00.003-05:00

My heart is broken because my son's heart is broken. He is experiencing his first love's breakup. Lots of hugs, lots of words and even more hugs.

Verandah - here we come!

2008-03-16T11:12:00.003-05:00

Spring Break is next week and the boys and I are getting ready to drive to Florida to celebrate! We've never done this before but since my parents are now officially snow birds we are going to join them for a week. We are taking our time getting there, taking three days. Going to stay in Chattanooga, TN for one night, possibly going to see an imax movie that evening. Next night we are staying in Gainesville, FL. The third day we are possibly stopping in Tampa for lunch with a friend of mine. Then after we get to Fort Myers, Florida, will get to see our best friends who will be in Sanibel at the same time. Sanibel is only about 30-40 minutes away from where we are. The boys can't wait! Crazy that our friends have two boys the exact same age. So cool. Last time we saw them was when we went to New York City.

Been creating our game plan, making hotel reservations and pulling out our summer clothes. Hope to have lots of pictures to share.

So, verandah - here we come!

Random and completely unrelated.

2008-03-14T23:33:00.007-05:00

A few photos I have captured over the past month that have tweaked my interested:

Love the floors, love the open floor plan, love the windows, love the colors and contrast, just plain love it.

This reminds me of my mom so I love it. Been toying with the idea of creating a real terrarium with moss and stuff. Have I ever told you how much I love moss? It's odd I know but I had a moss encounter when I was little and going thru some tough times that meant a lot to me. Will share in another post. (Have I peeked your interest?)

Glancing around ebay trying to get inspiration and a possible great deal on something I could turn into a one of a kind table for our deck. This does not in anyway meet the needs of what I'm looking for but thought this was pretty neat for the right setting and the right place. I just picture good friends having a grand time around this set. Especially love the "lift" feature.

Told you random and completely unrelated. This is a book that keeps popping up for me and since I believe in signs I'm thinking I should be reading it. This was mentioned in church the other day (with a disclaimer that it is fictional) and I stumbled upon it on a scrapbooking blog of all things. So, I'm thinking I might have to pick this up before the boys and I go out of town. Oh, out of town you say? Will have to share that also in another post. Ohhhh, cliff hanger....

Enjoy. Relax. Design. Appreciate. And whatever else makes you smile.

Makes my heart beat fast.

2008-03-10T20:57:00.007-05:00

Besides my dh and my boys, here are a few things lately that make my heart beat fast. These little gems were discovered by The Kitchen Designer at The Architectural Digest Home Show.

<----------------- Look at these tiles! Seriously, I love them. I have a thing for trees and these colors are wonderful. These are made by Natalie Blake. Beautiful!

Then there was this Barnell Stone Works. Check out their photo gallery. Yummy wall panels, brick, stone, wood. Check out the ceiling beams on their site. All faux and all super. Seriously, I love them. Have I already said that?

Lovely. I have a feeling my dreams tonight will involve designing with these materials. Fun!

Weekend.

2008-03-09T19:44:00.007-05:00

What's up with the photo? I wasn't in the mood to post without one and I didn't have anything new so I decided to pick one of my favorite oldies of Chad. Wasn't this so sweet?! I have another super cute one of him winking too that I'll have to share another time. Now onto the real post...

Wow we had a busy weekend! Two hockey games, won both - yeah! Community service, church and then a party of sorts at our house all day today. Oh, and then out to dinner and Fritz's for ice cream with our neighbors. Fun but boy am I tired!

The highlight of the weekend had to be the community service we did. This is something we had been wanting to do for sometime as a family and the stars lined to make it possible. We participated with our church and initially was assigned a nursing home downtown. We were to talk and sing if we wanted with the residents. Ok, so how do I say this... this facility was not what one would consider a top of the line nursing home if you know what I mean. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on and to talk with the people. John took to it right away, he can be so chatty. He started talking with some men sitting at one table. The boys and I made our way to another table where another volunteer was. We talked with a man who was holding a deck of cards and another women who was very spirited. She was a character and we quickly learned she loved Pepsi and she LOVED Michael Jackson and his song Beat It. Before we left we had the pleasure of hearing her sing it as well as a couple lines from an Elvis song. lol. Chad really liked that part.

We actually didn't stay here long because we immediately realized that we had more volunteers then the space really held. So our family got to travel to South County and volunteer with Burmese refugees at a church. Wow - what an experience. I can't say that we really did anything to help but we got to see who they were and try to understand what they are going thru. From what I understand, most of them have lived in refugee camps their entire lives. It is unknown how many can even read and write their own language, and we know they don't know english. They have a place that the government has arranged for them but that's about it. We were told that most of them would be killed if they returned and many had seen many horrible things.

When we first got there we saw it was a medium sized room with a pool table in it and three small groups of people in circles. Children were running in and out of the room, some moms were holding small children in the halls. Around the pool table were young boys. Alex and Chad were asked to play pool with the boys. It was explained that the children understood english better then the adults so chances were higher that they might understand what the boys would be saying. If not, just talk anyway. Off they went together. I was so proud of them, and so happy there was an activity like that to help get them started.

John and I were put into two of the circles, apart. In my circle there were two men and three women, one with a small child. I got to sit next to the small child which was fun because we played peek-a-boo. In our group the main volunteer was trying her best to ask them basic questions. Because we arrived late I am not sure the purpose of these questions but it was interesting none-the-less. We learned that two had all been farmers and one a plumber, they do call home once a month to speak with their families, they do know American Idol and the weather where they were from was warm, and it rained. I missed where they were from specifically and how long this particular group had been in a refugee camp. Since they said they were farmers and a plumber I'm assuming they did not grow up in the camp but then again...

After the small group, they moved into a large group for a lesson on leasing apartments. During this time I tried to play with this little boy who was just wanted his fathers attention. His father, however, was trying his best to listen to the speaker and understand what he was saying. (The speaker spoke in both english and their language). What to do. The little boy was quickly becoming a distraction to everyone. I glanced around and luckily found a small train. I picked it up and waited until the boy glanced in my direction. I pointed to him and the train. I then rolled it on the floor away from his father. The little boy immediately ran to the train and began playing with it. Yes it was a little noisy but ended up being much less of a distraction, so I felt I had succeeded. At one point I even had him rolling it back and forth to me. Of course that didn't last long but we got a good 4 or 5 rolls back and forth which I thought wasn't bad. Afterwards pizza was delivered. Many of them had never had pizza before. The boys loved it. They couldn't believe it and enjoyed watching them try something so basic to us for the first time. John even played pool with one man. It was really neat.

When we left both boys said they really enjoyed the day and especially liked seeing the refugees. They both want to go back and really try to help. Next time we go we are going to be prepared. We will go there first thing in the morning to get our assignment and hopefully get to work more one on one with a family. The program is only three months old and they don't yet have a structure of what they are doing. It seems volunteers can help in many different ways. If we go again I'm going to make a trip to the teacher supply store ahead of time and get some flash cards and worksheets. They said at this point teaching them anything is better then nothing. Working with their names, addresses and currency is a great start. Can you imagine being placed in a foreign country without the ability to speak the language and little support?

This experience made me wonder why I didn't know about this. I'm assuming I just haven't paid attention. I don't read the paper and I watch the news so sporadically. It made me think about how I feel about this and I don't have an answer, partly because I know so little about why they are here. What I do know is they are here and if they are here they do need help. They do need to know how to live, how to support their families while merging in with our culture and laws.

Whooo, what a weekend!

Oh so handsome.

2008-03-05T08:42:00.004-06:00

Took this picture this morning - oh how handsome. We are working hard on the smile thing. Captured this one by having him say "cheese", a tried and true method I usually forget to have them do. I think we'll have to use it more often because this turned out well. Love him.

Stuff.

2008-03-04T23:02:00.011-06:00

Today was a snow day and this came in the mail. Unfortunately I did work a lot today and wasn't able to sit down and read it until this evening but it was well worth the wait. I highly recommend this book. Happy to say I'm not "toooooo" far off from what she recommends. Need to let what I've read process and see what changes I may want to make.

What I really like is that she has developed a system that once in place it allows photos to flow thru it to be pulled out and used in a flexible manner. Some photos will be scrapped, some will not (archived but available to be pulled back out and put back into pending mode). It made me realize that scrapbooking is a process of documenting our lives (I know that's be said 100 times) and although I may get get "done" with some of my photos, but I will always have photos. I will never be 100% done. So why not set-up a system that allows this process to happen in a creative and flexible way. The best part, is if I decide for awhile to take a break from doing actual pages, I would still have a good place to store my photos for those moments when I'm ready to pick it back up again.

On a sidenote, ran into HomeGoods the other day and snapped a couple pictures of pieces that caught my attention. I just *heart* HomeGoods. Love rounding the corner of each aisle to see what goodies I might find. This first piece would be a wonderful addition in a large scraproom as a worktable. It's basically standing height which I can't believe but I'm warming up to. I do not need this, nor do I have space for it, as I'm using my huge, old drafting table that I found at an estate sale now as my work surface which is working out very well. But, this is the first alternate table that has me drooling. If only I had that HUGE loft workspace I have designed in my head. This would be perfect for another work station!

Isn't it special?! Oh, and this for our backyard would be lovely. Unfortunately it's a bit costly and it wouldn't fit the space anyway but I snapped a shot of it for inspiration:

Stay warm.

Deliberate. To-the-Point. Powerful.

2008-03-03T16:36:00.004-06:00

Three words that have a lot of meaning for me lately (and yes, I'm counting to-the-point as one word). Ali Edwards is big into words and I think of her when I repeat these words over and over in my head. I have to do something with these three words soon, especially Deliberate and Powerful. They are always in the front of my mind each and every time we leave church. The way they run everything there is amazing and the more I learn about who they are the more I admire what they have done, and the way they have done it. The way in which they go about handling everything is such a great model for both life and business. Some other words I've heard described about this church; creative, energetic, real, different, addicting. Our class on Monday evenings is close to the end and it has been so powerful it wouldn't be unrealistic to take the class a second time. DH and I have already used a lot of what we have learned outside the church buildings. Yeah for us!

Deliberate. To-the-point. Powerful. Yep, those are my words. And, one other... Awesome!

Winter Storm Warning.

2008-03-03T13:00:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was in the 70's and today we are finding out we are supposed to receive ice storms and 5-9 inches of snow by tomorrow this time. Unbelievable! And we are all wondering why everyone's still sick. Here's a photo from the first ice storm of the year:

eiCrate.

2008-02-25T18:09:00.002-06:00

Now, the makers of the eiCrate are definately Thinking Outside the Box or in this case, the Crate. Crates are an eyesore, I'm always trying to find clever ways to hide ours. If there is a next time around I might have to give this a closer looksy!

A few random pet peeves.

2008-02-23T12:34:00.007-06:00

When I go to get my nails done and the person that comes in after me gets called before me. (And, they didn't have an appointment or request a specific person!)

When the nail salon keeps telling me it will be only five more minutes. Please, I've had my nails done for over ten years. I know what stage your at and the length of time it takes to get it done!

That Brittany Spears hair somehow has grown a lifetime lengths in no time. I understand that she probably has hair extensions but how did her hair even grow fast enough to the proper length to get hair extensions? Do you think it's a wig?

Hope it doesn't sound like I'm in a bad mood, actually I'm in a really good mood - just some random thoughts and events that happened to me this morning. I'm off to scrapbook before going to get my hair done today. I have a new goal of creating 5 pages a week. I'm onto page 4. Yeah! Will post pictures once the five are done.

Think Outside the Box in your kitchen.

2008-02-23T07:24:00.006-06:00

Love this. One of my favorite blogs, The Kitchen Designer, shared her new involvement with Hansen Living and their line of kitchen and bath cabinets. These cabinets were designed by Danish Architect, Knud Kapper MAA MDD. Susan Serra, CKD of Susan Serra Associates, Inc. (and The Kitchen Designer) will represent Hansen Living in New York.

I love the clean, sleek, yet strong look of these pieces and I especially like this one:

Makes me wonder how I would live and like this type of refrigerator. Interesting and exciting! Makes me go hmmmmm and to reconsider some of the features in my own kitchen.

Too Funny. Enjoy!

2008-02-21T08:36:00.003-06:00

I'm happy to share this advertising. This made me smile:

Warning Long Post.

2008-02-20T08:00:00.006-06:00

I've been once again a blogger slacker. What have I been doing? Nothing ground breaking or anything, just living life and making an effort to slow down. I've thought about blogging many times but it didn't make it past that because then I realized I really needed to download my photos and that takes time so in the spirit of simplifying I just waited. For some reason this morning seemed like a good time to tackle this. So here goes...

The last few days I stepped back into my scrapbook/craft/whatever room to clean it up and to finish organizing our families photos and memorabilia. Since before Christmas this room had become a catch all and it was time I saw my floor again (all my doing by the way). I'm happy to say I was able to accomplish both - what a great feeling! Here are some photos of the finished project:

The plan was to group all the photos and memorabilia into bundles that can be pulled out and scrapbooked without much effort. I was finding I was getting stuck because I would find a photo and knew I had memorabilia somewhere to go along with it but it would take me too long to find it. Once I did, hours would have gone by and it was time to quit. That's just crazy in a bad way! I've since taken notes from Stacy Julian from Big Picture Scrapbooking (theme albums) and some tips from Cathy Zielski (school year albums) and Two Peas (bundling photos) on setting up my scrapbook room and scrapbooks. I no longer am trying to scrap in order. This has been so freeing for me! If you haven't checked them out I highly recommend you do if you are stuck in your mounds of photos with no idea of what to do. Stacy Julian has a new book coming out, which I can't wait!, which should give more tips on organizing.

So what motivated me to finish this? My family room bookshelves. We recently got our family room re-painted and for the first time I concentrated on how to display objects on the bookshelves. As I was working on this I realized that I had no books to put on there which was a problem because bookshelves with only tchotchke's and whatnots doesn't work - at least not for this space and the look I was wanting to accomplish. Since this is already a busy wall, I needed to soften the look and create something pleasing to the eye (best as possible), yet have it be functional too.

Now, I could go out and buy faux books to make the shelves work (all with matching spines for unity) but I don't like doing that. I really wanted to use what we already have. I'm working hard on eliminating stuff I don't need from our lives, keeping only the things we want or need, things with meaning and purpose. That's when I decided to bring down all our scrapbooks and see what that was like. I'm in the process of converting most of them to one color and that would look nice on the shelves. Here's a picture of the semi-finished result:

I'm pretty pleased with it. I've got artwork from our boys, pictures that mean something to us, scrapbooks that will eventually have more meaningful pictures in them and they are ready to be viewed and shared instead of stashed upstairs for no one to see. And for the most part the tchotchke's all have meaning to us (sand and shells from special vacations, a shadow box my mom made of my grandparents...) Makes me happy each and everytime I walk by. Still have some tweaking to do, need to finish the bottom of the shelves. I'm going to get some baskets to fill the bottom two rows and this is where I will store our CD's, DVD's, and magazines...

I now need to focus on creating more scrapbook pages to put into those albums! Unfortunately, most of the albums have A LOT of blank pages in each one. I've finally got myself set-up to really begin to accomplish getting pages done. The scrapbooks are set-up in themes (thanks Stacy!) and I've got page protectors already in place for each page. When I have time I can now go into my scrapbook room, pick out a bundle I want to do, complete the page and then go downstairs and immediately slip it under the page protector in the album it needs to go into. I'm no longer tacking them down into the album page so it gives me the freedome to change the order around or move them to different albums if I need to later. I've also decided that I might just complete a few 8 1/2 x 11 pages instead of my standard 12x12 pages. And, I'm breaking my old rule where I'm now planning on putting these smaller pages IN my 12x12 albums. Who cares! And further, I have decided to let go of my need to create each boy there own album along with our own albums. They will eventually get their pages but when I don't know yet, and that's ok. I know for sure they will get their pages after I die. If I'm nice I might give them to them before then, when they are married or whatever. Heck, I might decide to make color copies of the pages to give to them and I'll keep the orginals! I'm not sure how I will handle that but I've taken that pressure off of me! So go me!

Before I go, I wanted to share a couple funny pictures of our animals from the past couple days:

This was Zoe sleeping on our coffee table. This is the ONLY table she is allowed on (long story that I will spare you). Look how comfy she looks - so sweet.

Here's Oscar boy. I rounded the corner and spyed him sitting here so happy and content. (He's always happy and content!). Couldn't help but grab my camera when I realized he actually had his legs crossed. LOL - too funny!

Valentines Gift.

2008-02-15T09:53:00.001-06:00

JB and I decided to give each other a Valentines Day gift of getting the family room/kitchen painted. I'm kind of mourning the purple, I loved it so, but the room was too dark and purple didn't really go with my drapes anyway. After much debate (with neighbors and all) we finally agreed on a gold. The good news, it' really lightens up the space! The bad news, now the ugly floor sticks out like a sore thumb, JB even agrees! I told him I was perfectly content with the way things were, he was the one that pushed this. Now, not only does the floor not look right but the kitchen doesn't look finished. This means some more "tweaking". Yeah for me. I have been given official authorization to begin researching floors and the other tweaking I'm wanting to do. Do you think we can declaw Oscar boy because wide planked, distressed, reclaimed hard wood floors would look awesome in there!

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T19:58:00.002-06:00

Great day, and still going. Our family got a FLIP video camera for Valentines Day and we've all been having a grand time with it, videos to be posted eventually I'm sure. Made Almond Encrusted Tilapia again this evening, yum! Watching Pursuit of Happiness right now and spending time together. Having a great time. Sorry no photos, soon!

Hope you are having a great Valentines Day too!

Sick AGAIN.

2008-02-05T12:45:00.000-06:00

Full blown sick; body chills, aches, fever, sneezing, coughing, runny/stuffy nose. Chad started us off the end of last week and then JB and Alex started coughing over the weekend. I thought I had been spared but no such luck. For the past two days Alex, JB and I have all been laying on the couch. Poor Chad, he's back at school. I think he felt a little left out that he was sick by himself. Does anyone know if St. Louis Bread Company delivers chicken noodle soup?

This is the 3rd time I've been really really sick this year. Never in my life have I had so many bouts of the flu, and I even got the flu shot! In talking with other people, it's looking as if those that got the flu shot this year are the ones getting sick. A lady at church said she had also been sick three times this year. What's up with that? I need to start taking vitamins and continue with my slowing down pace.

Going back to bed!

Sun Therapy.

2008-01-22T21:19:00.002-06:00

It's only January and I found out I have a Vitamin D deficiency, again. It appears, it's getting worse. Last time I only needed to take Vitamin D pills for maybe 5-6 weeks. This time it's 20 weeks. That's a long time! In doing some research it turns out Oscars sun therapy ritual is actually beneficial to him. I'm thinking I need to give it a try. Many years ago I used to be a sun worshipper, but after finding out I was high-risk for cancer, with a possible elevation of skin cancer risk, I've stayed out of the sun. Last year I almost caved and layed out. I regained my senses and didn't do it. But, now, I'm strongly considering making a visit to the sun gods once again, but reasonably this time. No more laying out on blacktop with a bottle of baby oil and aluminum foil!

So sad. I couldn't believe when I heard Heath Ledger had died. One of my all time favorite movies was A Knight's Tale. Kind of had a crush on Heath (please don't pay any attention to the age difference!) Seriously, very sad. I really liked him (aside from Brokeback - although the movie has grown on me as a love story).

Got report cards the other day. Very happy with my boys. They are both doing very well and turning into very nice young men. I love them so much and am so proud of them. Alex is getting ready to do some career counseling in 8th grade. 8th grade! Can't wait to see what happens.

Life is slowing down and I'm trying to keep it that way. Trying to do things that mean something to me and my family. Trying to get and remain organized. Trying to bring back the old me, with a little bit of wisdom and newness thrown in.

iSo happy.

2008-01-19T12:40:00.001-06:00

iSo happy because I got one! Yep, the iPhone. I LOVE it. So happy with it, it's crazy. Been saving my pennies and got close enough that dh was fine with going and getting it. Super easy to set-up and operate. It has a lot of features that will save me time and effort in trying to receive or send information. Plus, it saves room in my purse because I use it as my photo album, ipod, phone and appointment book. I love that I can listen to music with or without the headphones and it saves me money. Not sure how this happened but I am now paying $30 a month LESS for this dataplan then I was for my blackberry and I now have text messaging. I really liked my blackberry but I already LOVE my iPhone. I need to come up with a name for it. Any suggestions?

iAlso so happy because my youngest son had a successful sleepover with 3 of his friends last night. iGot some sleep, and so did they. They were all very respectful and full of fun. Goodtimes. Darn it, why didn't I take any pictures?

My other iSon and iDH are at the Blues game for the day, enjoying quality time with each other and the Blues. They love that.

iHave the fireplace on, getting some scooby snacks out and getting ready to attempt to transfer some old video tapes of the boys to DVDs. No pressure on myself to get it all done - or even done perfect, just going to give it a whirl.

ToniGht, going to see about having some neighbors over for a game of cards or something else. No pressure, just come casual and a bag of chips - or not.

iSo happy today. Hope you are too.

Too funny.

2008-01-16T16:05:00.000-06:00

I was up late last night doing some work and had the TV on. A show came on after all the talk shows, showing a video clip count down for the year. I was half watching, giggling a bit as I continued to work. But then the following video was shown. For some reason this struck a cord with me and I laughed so hard no sound came out. The kind of laugh where your stomach hurts bad and you really can't breathe. So, I decided I really needed to try to find this on YouTube and share this with you. But first, I wanted to see if I still thought it was as funny as last night, or was it just lack of sleep? ... Nope, just as funny. Now, before you watch just remember, I'm quite sure someone was hurt in the making of this video. I feel bad for this guy, but man is it funny:

Robbie Seay Band.

2008-01-08T22:48:00.001-06:00

Ok, before this gets crazy out of hand I want to state for the record that our family is way into the Robbie Seay Band, with our favorite song Song of Hope (Heaven Come Down). This is the song playing on the website. I picked up their CD several weeks ago at Church because our family loved one of the songs performed that day. Every since then our entire family has been singing and listening to the CD. Then the other day, I heard Song of Hope on the radio - while on our way to church. Then, an American Idol commercial was on and I was stopped in my tracks because I thought I recognized Robbie Seay Band as the music playing. Surely not... I must just have them on the brain. Then Chad told me he heard it and saw Robbie Seay Band on the screen. Then, I went to their website and it confirmed it! So, before they become so totally popular I wanted to state we loved them way before (a whole month before)!

Sidenote, Robbie Seay Band is apprently "friends" with our church and they played a concert there right after we began attending. I considered going but our lives are so busy, just going on Sunday is a really good thing. Now I so wish we would have gone. Maybe they'll be back!

What I think is a good tip.

2008-01-08T22:15:00.002-06:00

I really like Cracker Barrel for breakfast - yum! I LOVE to get the egg sandwich (over-medium) which comes with a hashbrown casserole for not much cost. It's not a huge meal but fills me up just perfect. We have begun going there after church on Sundays which is such a treat. As we were leaving this Sunday I spide a rack of audio books which were available to rent in the corner. One of those things where I immediately think WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?! What a GREAT idea! Our family really gets into the audio book thing for long travels. We have checked them out at the library prior to traveling but they are always with us, even after you have read them - kind of getting in the way. With the Cracker Barrel system you travel across country and when you are done you return the tape to whatever local Cracker Barrel you come across. Since Cracker Barrels are becomming as popular as McDonalds you don't have to travel to far between stores which is the beauty of this. Hmmm... maybe it's time for a road trip.

While the cat is away...

2008-01-04T22:13:00.001-06:00

... the mouse will continue status quo.

DH is out of town and I had grand plans of getting a lot accomplished while he is gone, but that hasn't been the case. I've spent two days building a coffee table base for our clawfoot antique table. I had planned for this to take me a couple of hours, not a couple of days! I carefully removed the original base (storing that in the basement) and built a new lower base. I attempted this yesterday but used too short of nails and it didn't hold together. Zoe (our cat) jumped up on the table and the whole thing fell apart.

Take 2... today I got the proper nails, and that along with some gorilla glue it appears we are good to go. Still need to do some final work (setting a few nail heads and staining) but it's useable now. As a matter of fact, I'm using it now for as a foot stool. I'm going to wait until next weekend to finish it. I want to make sure it stays together. Oh good, Zoe just jumped on it and it's still together. That's a good sign!

Was supposed to go to the doctor today for yearly screening and get some work work done but neither of those occurred afterall (sorry Tammy!). Rescheduled both. Tomorrow Chad and I are taking time out to go the Movies. Not sure what we are going to see but we will have fun. Love snuggling in the movie theatre with those I love and a bucket of popcorn. Alex is not joining us, he is going paintballing tomorrow with his friends. Afterwards some picking up of the house (namely cleaning up my mess from my latest projects) and then picking up DH and his father from the airport tomorrow evening. The time has flown by and can't say I got any rest but that's ok. I'm happy with our table!

Brainteaser answer.

2008-01-04T22:06:00.001-06:00

"I will die by shooting." If they shot him, that would be true, so he would have to die by hanging - but that would make his statement false. Unable to reconcile the two, the bandits gave up and let him go.

Courtesy of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader - LOL.

Brainteaser.

2008-01-04T21:49:00.001-06:00

"Once in Asia," said Uncle Gorden, "I was captured by bandits. They told me: 'Make a statement - if you speak the truth, we'll hang you... if you say something false, we'll shoot you.' I thought it over for a minute, and then uttered a phrase that confused the robbers so completely that they let me go."

What did he say?

Ponder this teaser, I'll post the answer tomorrow.

The Gratitude Campaign.

2008-01-04T10:20:00.000-06:00

This is a great short clip and something our family will begin to do immediately. It doesn't matter your position on the war, it's about so much more. It's so simple and powerful: http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/shortmovie.php

2008

2008-01-01T16:03:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it's 2008! Hope everyone had a great and safe evening last night.

Thanks Hostess with the Mostess - Fabulous Finds for Contemporary Entertaining for the graphic.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T17:58:00.000-06:00

Hoping everyone has a safe and happy New Years Eve! We are going to our neighbors, putting in my 4 doz stuffed mushrooms in the oven in a few minutes. Enjoy!

I'm supporting NaNaDaMo. How about you?

2007-12-27T18:51:00.002-06:00

Desire to Inspire is a website I frequent often and today I clicked thru to May December Home Accessories and stumbled upon this... their announcement of NaNaDaMo. This translates into National Nap a Day for a Month. Here's a blurb from her blog:

I'm talking New Year's. That wonderful time of year when we get to take stock of our lives. Reassess where we are and where we're going. That time when we make resolutions and take on new challenges...

I say, stuff that! I'm tired. I need a nap. A whole bunch of them.

In fact, I need an entire month of naps. And I can't be alone on this one. So here's what I propose.

I declare January to be National Nap a Day Month or NaNaDaMo.

The rules are simple. Every day for the month of January, you take a nap. While I'm hoping to snooze at least a couple of entire afternoons away, ten minutes with your feet up and your eyes closed will do.

Personally I think this idea is brillant. I'm TIRED too. I'm out of synch and just plain pooped. So, in the spirit of Thinking Outside the Box I am supporting NaNaDaMo and personally I can't wait! I think I need to get some practice in and begin now. Wanna join us?

P.S. Had a great holiday and looking forward to New Years Eve where we spend our time with our neighbors. Still unwinding from all the hustle and bustle and enjoying the time spent with close family and friends. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Santa came!

2007-12-25T08:18:00.001-06:00

Gotta love Santa!

Merry Christmas to all. Have a wonderful day!

Is Santa here yet?

2007-12-24T08:30:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve to all.

It's time for some Oscar love.

2007-12-22T21:14:00.002-06:00

This is one of my new favorite photos of Oscar. (My other favorite will be shared in a few days). Chadster took this with my little ole camera. He's been showing interest in taking photos and I love it. Oscar looks so bully there doesn't he? He's so sweet!

Another photo Chad took. I love that Oscar just layed there, not too interested in the camera. When I try to take a photo he always trys to eat the camera. LOL!

Sun Worshiper. He seriously has his eyes closed, that wasn't a blink catching photo. He LOVES sitting in the sun at the front door everyday. He sits like a little old man and soaks up as much as he can get. In the summer, when it's hot, he'll be laying there panting so much until he absolutely can't take it anymore. I hope you stored up a bunch of sun buddy because winter is here and sun will be at a premium!

Merry Christmas to me!

2007-12-22T21:03:00.001-06:00

It's Sunday morning (a few Sunday's back) and dh wakes me up telling me I must come downstairs at that very moment because my gift came from my Aunt. How odd I thought... it's Sunday and she always sends flowers. Why must I go downstairs for that at this very moment? (Don't get me wrong I love the flowers but I love my sleep too). He kept insisting so I get out of bed and begin stumbling down the stairs to see what was going on. He grabs my hand and leads me to the dining room where I find these - eight beautiful chairs I had spied a month earlier. How did this happen? Where did these come from? When I went to bed they were not there, I was so confused yet very happy! Busting with pride dh explains that he snuck back up to the store after I refused to purchase them on the spot (dh's laptop had just crashed and we had to buy him a new one). He decided we did need these and he ordered them as a surprise. The crazy thing was they were delivered on a Sunday morning and I slept thru the whole thing big loud truck and two delivery men and all! I love them and my guests will love them to. I feel so grown up now, real dining room chairs! Merry Christmas to me. Dh is a keeper!

Before and After.

2007-12-22T20:25:00.001-06:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

What a HUGE differance! I have been working day after day on this and today I finally finished it, this stage at least. I LOVE it. The old thorn in my side has been removed. The critical design mistake has been painted over. When we picked out everything for this house I was not in my "design" mode but rather my "how are we going to start a new business and build a house" mode. I have learned many lessons since picking out the wrong cabinets to begin with, and the latest was how to paint over them! I'm not done but will take a break for awhile and enjoy the holidays now. Still on the to do list:

Order and install crown moulding to the top of the cabinets and a base trim moulding under the cabinets.
Install base moulding around the base of the island.
Have installed lighting both over and under the cabinets.
Address overall kitchen lighting, possibly designing and building a new light over the island.
Window treatments.
Backsplash tile (already picked out).
New faucet.

Later on I'd like to:

Consider new decorative hood over the range and built-in oven, microwave and warming drawer where the kitchen desk is now. (I already have the nook design in my head!).
New sink?
New countertops? The ones I have now don't necessarily bother me but I need to think about this before tiling. Love soapstone and granite. Yum!

Thought today I might be on the road the getting new floors when dh and dog spilled LOTS of red wine on the carpet. Came out though, darn the luck.

I will post more detailed photos of the paint project later. Just wanted to share what I've been up to.

Dog & Cat Diaries.

2007-12-18T11:20:00.001-06:00

Dog Diary

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite!
11:00 am - Went to the vet. Bummer.
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite!

Cat Diary - Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for these rations perfectly clear, I never-the-less must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomited on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies". I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow - but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now.

Drool.

2007-12-18T08:36:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I finally got to play with one. Awesome, just like I thought. I love that it has everything including a camera and an iPod. In the real world though I was disappointed to find out that you can't mass delete emails, it's one by one. And then further, once it goes to the trash can you have to delete them once again, one by one. How odd is that?! I've been told inquiries have been made, numerous calls and it is true, this is by design - as of right now. Have they not heard of spam? No matter, I still want one and love it.

Someday. Someday.

And check out these awesome camera bags - look like purses don't they? Wouldn't the camera above look beautiful in one of these? And of course if you have the camera you would need a fun camera strap (Sorry all sold out now for Christmas. Check back after the New Year).

w00t for previvor!

2007-12-17T08:47:00.004-06:00

After a little digging I have also found out that previvor was one of 20 words under consideration for the New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year for 2007. Unbelievable! Locavore ended up winning but we were in the running which is absolutely amazing.

Locavore was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Other regional movements have emerged since then, though some groups refer to themselves as “localvores” rather than “locavores.” Kudos to them.

So, I then checked Merriam-Webster.com to see what was up over there. Their Word of the Year for 2007 was w00t. The defininition is of expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word "yay". An example of how to use it could be, "w00t! I won the contest!" I also discovered that previvor was submitted anonymously on Sept. 15, 2007 to their open dictionary and from another source discovered that it was actually their Word of the Day on Sept. 18, 2007. w00t for that! (Sorry, couldn't wait to use it!) Apparently Merriam-Websters process for choosing the words is a voting process which this year was from May, 2007 thru December 7, 2007. This means previvor could not have been in the running since it had been submitted during the time the voting was open. So, fingers crossed for next year, or following years. Afterall, w00t was submitted back in 2005!

I would love to eventually see previvor in the dictionary, both Merriam-Webster and the New Oxford American. w00t! That would be terrific!

Time Magazine.

2007-12-16T00:16:00.002-06:00

Just found out that Time Magazine has put together lists of Top 10 Words (Buzz-words) for 2007 and #3 is previvor. It will come out in the December 24, 2007 issue, but is online now:

All of their Top 10-lists (look under pop-culture)
Previvor (Top 10 Buzzwords)

I had a direct involvement with the previvor initiative I'm actually the one that verbalized (or created a challenge) for the need for a label for our portion of the high-risk community, the non-cancer people. Sue immediately understood and saw the bigger picture of what this would mean. She knew that having a label would help unifiy our community and would provide credibility to our needs. Not only did she understand but she acted upon it. A name was chosen and she began using it, our community began using it and then the high-risk medical community began using it. This is our first glimpse that this is going beyond us, and into the public world, without our prompting.

I had the need and the dream, Sue had the vision and action, and our community embraced the word. And now look at where we are. Time Magazine. I'm speechless.

Note: I go by Jordan on FORCE message boards.

Hello from San Antonio.

2007-12-14T08:23:00.000-06:00

Quick post to say hello from San Antonio. Been here since Wednesday for the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference. A lot of fun and feels great sharing information on FORCE. Being here reminds me of why dh and I are in the process of redefining our families priorities. It's an amazing experience to see all the researchers and doctors who are here for breast cancer. Further, to see all the work being done for the high-risk group is amazing as well. It grows and grows at each conference.

There are five of us here; our executive director and three other outreach coordinators (from Houston, LA and Chicago) - plus myself. What's amazing in itself is three of us are pre-vivors. Normally I'm here with mostly cancer survivors and it's challenging because pre-vivors have our own set of issues. It's great to sit and talk with other women who completely understand everything you have gone through and different challenges we still face. I had never met the other women (with the exception of Sue, our executive director) but you would never know it. As soon as we meet, we share our stories and from that moment on it's as if we've always known each other. It's very surreal. We have been sharing what we have done in our communities and exchanging ideas of what we might want to do going forward.

It's awesome!

Important to note.

2007-12-07T22:56:00.001-06:00

Lesson learned... medical bag (ie: blood glucose monitor, glucagon, infusion set, batteries and quick sugar juice) do NOT hold up well under car tire. Ironically I was leaving to drive to Walgreens to pick-up his glucose strips. Since the monitor was now crushed, made an executive decision to NOT pick up the strips. Luckily we had a back-up unit (different model and different strips). Happily, ds called Accu-check and said company is sending out a replacement unit free of charge. DS now knows not to place his medical bag near car tire when car doors are locked and he has to run back into the house. I was just happy it wasn't Oscar I ran over. Ouch!

Design. Kitchen. Holiday Shopping. Peace.

2007-12-03T21:59:00.000-06:00

These are all things on my mind lately, not in any particular order. I have decided this holiday season is not going to get the best of me. I refuse to let things get out of control. Although I have made a tentative Christmas gift list and begun shopping I haven't really done it justice yet. The end of this week (and *gasp* weekend) will be the time most of it will be done (I think). Next week will be mostly a wash because I'm going to be out of town for four of the days - going to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference to represent FORCE. Such a great time, feels good to help make a difference. Most everyone I'm shopping for doesn't "need" anything - my boys included. I asked for a Christmas list and believe it or not they had a hard time putting one together. Seems like I'm the only one not having a hard time this year. LOL!

Our family just bought our first - how do I say? - religious cd. Was that politically correct? Makes my soul smile that Alex has already downloaded it to his iPod and while Chad did ALL his homework tonight (3 days worth - he missed last week) we had to listen to Track 2 (Song of Hope) of the Robbie Seay Band too many times to count and way to loud for him to adequately get his homework done. This song was sang at our Sunday service and obviously made an impression on our entire family. So fun to be going down this path together. The boys are enjoying it as much as dh and I are. Yeah for us!

Finally made a dent in my kitchen project this weekend - getting 98% of the trim work done. Not going to worry about lighting or crown molding trim, that can be done later. I have to run out in the next couple days and get a few more pieces of trim to finish up. Then onto staining and painting. That will be the easy part compared to what I just did. Seriously. All I have to say is I'm loving our table saw - yes, I think I have a good grasp on how it works now. Been ripping some boards baby! And, my absolute favorite tools are my numatic nailer (with air compressor) and my bitty baby pry bar. Now, Oscar doesn't have the same fondness for the numatic nailer. He still doesn't "get it" and barks every time I bring it out - which is a lot! (Oh, can't forget my other favorite tool - the bitty hammer my dh made when he was in tech ed in either junior high or high school. This has been "my" hammer for too many years to count. Such a favorite of mine I used to tell him that if we ever got divorced this was the only thing of his I wanted. LOL! Really that is meant as a compliment!).

Only complaint I have right now is our home office tech (work) did some "configuring" of my computer and my keyboard is "off". I'll be typing a way and my cursor will end up a paragraph or so above where I'm typing. Really messes things up. I have no idea how to fix it either. Any suggestions?

Happy holidays to all - and best of luck shopping to each and every one of you. Enjoy the season!

Design Heaven.

2007-11-30T10:36:00.000-06:00

Look at designer Kenneth Brown's new place in Hollywood, CA. Oh how I would love a loft. Check out those windows and the beautiful floor. Brick, lots of huge windows, loft... can't ask for much more then that. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Love, love, love this!

2007-11-28T13:49:00.000-06:00

Happy holidays! Click the link below and enjoy:

http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swf

Oscar...

2007-11-28T13:24:00.001-06:00

... is working with me today.

External Harddrive.

2007-11-27T12:30:00.000-06:00

Did you know? Did you know? Did you know?... that if your computer crashes but your harddrive is still working you can, yourself retrieve the data off the harddrive? Did you know that you can actually take this harddrive out of the computer and make it into an external harddrive that you can use as back-up, or to carry around your photos and stuff? Did you know this? I didn't, but now I do and I am loving this!

We have two laptops that have died recently (the motherboards). This was confirmed by techies who do this sort of stuff for a living. These same techies however didn't inform me of the above. It wasn't until my dh asked one of his clients about retrieving data off one of these laptops did this little bit of information come out. I was concerned that we wouldn't be able to see the data because the video portion of this laptop wasn't working. The screen would go black and not come back up. How in the world would we get the data? When I spoke with him I mentioned my concern. He said he could pull the harddrive out of the laptop and install it in a device he has that when connected to another computer it shows up as an external drive. We then could just copy the data we need from the device onto the new computer. Awesome!

But then I began thinking... if he can do this why couldn't I? Was this something only those in the biz could do? I would really like to have the ability to recover the data we needed as we needed it instead of having to make sure our initial visit together I copied everything at that time. I began googling and found this. Bingo. I immediately ran to Best Buy (couldn't wait for an internet purchase at a cheaper price point) and got this. This morning I turned on my fireplace, got out my tools and began disassembling my old crashed Gateway laptop. I found the harddrive, popped it in the enclosure case and plugged it in my kids desktop and it worked! The computer immediately recognized it as a new external drive, and there the files were. YEAH! The process was sooooo easy. It actually took me longer to gather the tools, unscrew all the screws and to locate the harddrive (I've never been inside a laptop before). I am definately on my way back to BestBuy to buy another one for the other laptop. The best thing is I'm doing it myself, I'm doing my version of recycling (going green you know) and I now have two more devices to work as additional drives for anything I need.

My dad is thrilled, he wasn't aware of this either. And from the information found at that website, you can do the same thing from harddrives from desktops. The only difference is the size of enclosure you need; 2.5" for laptop harddrives and 3.5" for desktop harddrives.

I'm so happy!

Think Outside the Barrel.

2007-11-26T18:15:00.000-06:00

My latest project - our Christmas tree! Decided to forgo the traditional Christmas Tree skirt this year and I LOVE the result:

I decided to use a wine barrel which I picked up from a local winery for a reasonable price. We ended up getting a full barrel and cut it in half. This ended up being a huge project because we didn't have the right tools and then the barrel fell apart as we were cutting it. Took two days and five people to help put the barrels (2 - 1/2 barrels) back together but we got it done. One half is dedicated as a permanent Christmas Tree stand and the other half is going to be used as our coffee table on the deck. I was looking for something unique and this will do perfect!

Here are some more photos of this project:

Now I no longer have to worry about the dog and cat drinking the tree's water or always messing with fixing the skirt. Yeah!!!

My thoughts and prayers.

2007-11-25T03:46:00.001-06:00

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Lyon's family. May peace be with them as they go through this difficult time. I've been following this family's difficult journey since I was made aware of their blog via a link from Ali. My heart goes out to them this holiday season and on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T12:41:00.002-06:00

Have a great day!

My colors.

2007-11-20T23:04:00.000-06:00

Fall is my season. Fall is my color choice. My house lends itself well to this season. Realizing this as I'm trying to get ready for Thanksgiving - which has not been an easy task. Something always gets in the way of my plans. Today, Alex was sick - again. His diabetes trying to kick his..., and it almost got him. This is the second time in recent months that he has been sick. The doctors and I believe his insulin pump is to blame, which is why we are in the works for a new one. I've said it before but we were soooo close to going to the hospital. This time it took until 5:00 pm to get him under control and we had to bypass his insulin pump and do shots. Shots. We haven't done shots since he was diagnosed four years ago. After a brief freak out session in the other room, I composed myself and went in to just "get it done". And, we did just that. I worked all day with the doctors office (every two hours calling in) to get him under control and his diabetes wasn't cooperating. Then, 5:00 pm hit and all of a sudden, his numbers were normal and he only had trace ketones. He goes from large to trace like that! So odd. Still doesn't make sense to me. So what does he do at 5:30? Run out the door to play hockey that's what (with doctors approval and strict observation on our part). Diabetes (type 1) is unpredicable and every changing. It was a stressful day for mom, to say the least, and it totally threw off my entire schedule. As a result, I just got back from the grocery store (11:00 pm). Actually, it's not bad shopping this late.

Here are a few things I've been working on for Thanksgiving. I'm having an impossible time finding a table runner for our 8' dining room table. I don't have time to make one from scratch so I decided to semi-make one. I found at Tuesday Mornings some really great place mats that I'm going to hold together by some fancy ribbon I picked up at Walmart this evening. Here's a picture of it (although the color of the ribbon is a bit off):

And, here's a picture of the table setting (work in progress). I've been struggling with what type of center piece I want for this table. I finally decided on Hurricane lamps. I chose four with a cranberry candle. I used nuts as the filling around the candle. I love doing this and can't wait to keep filling it up with different goodies as the seasons change. I picked up the Hurricane lamps at Pier One. Here's a close-up of the Hurricane lamp. Notice the cut little acorn salt and pepper shakers. Got those at JCPenneys Home Store for only $6.00. Love a bargin!

Thinking I should have angled the camera the other way for the first shot. Oh well, still learning.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving. Having some of John's family over, my best friend, her sister and boyfriend and another great friend who is coming in from out of town. Keeping our fingers crossed the weather doesn't go crazy because I would love to crank up the firepit as soon as it gets dark out.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Photo shoot today.

2007-11-18T21:31:00.001-06:00

Completed a Senior photo shoot session today at Babler State Park. It was a lot of fun! I still have a lot to learn about photography but with the resources we have available to us today it's not too difficult to fix a photo. The original photo colors were a bit blah so I tried tweaking them using Photoshop Elements and some purchased plug-ins. I think they turned out much more interesting. Here are a few of the shots:

And here are three of the same photo - different color pops:

Once we were done with Casey, I turned my attention to capturing my boys, my bff and her family. I was able to capture some fun moments, memories to last a lifetime. Here are a few of these shots:

Interestingly enough, the only picture I had to add a "blur" feature on was Bec and mine. Does that mean we are getting old?

Thanksgiving Prep.

2007-11-14T10:07:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving for 7-12 people at our home. Beginning to prepare my list and get things in order for the big day. I'm beginning to feel better and will take things easy best I can so I don't go backwards and get sick again. Here's a start to my To Do's:

Order 20 lb fresh turkey. Check.
Find Mashed Potatoe Bake recipe online. Check.
Dig out my favorite stuffing recipe. Check.
Decide if I'm going with canned cranberries (tradition) or try a new cranberry recipe. Decided to go off the board and follow a new recipe. Check (sorry can't find it online).
Decide if I'm going to go with the traditional Green Bean Casserole or venture out and try a new one. Decided to try a new one. Check.
Decide what dessert(s) I will serve. Pending.
Order bread from Panera Bread Company. Pending.
Plan for table decorations. Pending.
Get games and puzzles ready. Pending.
Determine if I need to run out and get some coordinating serving dishes. Pending (and likely! Yeah for me!).
Plan cooking schedule and delegating job schedule. Pending.
Decide how I'm going to cook the turkey this year. Pending - have decided though against using the turkey fryer. I think a 20 lb turkey is too big for that way, although a bit sad about that. Last time we did it, I loved it!

I really enjoy Thanksgiving and I'm weird but I totally prefer doing the whole thing by myself. This year I'm getting smart and am preparing recipes I can make ahead of time (up to two days prior for a couple of them). Oh no, just got a call, maybe two more people. Might need to add a couple more side dishes. Fun!

Under the weather.

2007-11-12T07:33:00.001-06:00

I'm still under the weather. Coughing now with a tad bit of wheezing. Going back to the dr today and when I begin feeling better will post more. Didn't do a lot this weekend due to my condition. Getting tired of this stuff. A week is long enough already! Yuck!

EDITED: I now have Bronchitis, completely unrelated to the other two infections I had earlier in the week. We have now switched anitibiotics. Keep your fingers crossed this one works and nothing else pops up. I think it's time for my immune system to be rebooted.

Oscar is rude.

2007-11-06T15:51:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I have a problem with my nose. I have a pretty ugly staph infection but from what I understand it's not that bad staph infection where my nose is going to fall off. (At this point I wouldn't be opposed to that). I got this after being sick the end of last week. It's horrible and definately far from pretty. Today, while I was working, Oscar was sitting next to me I swear staring directly at my nose. I told him, "You looking at my nose? You looking? Stop-it. Not nice. Stop-it". Keeping his body in the same position he turned his head away as if to say, "I'm not looking. Nope, nooootttt looking..." Then, after a perfect pause, only his eyes turn back to me (not his head or his body) and again stared directly at my nose. I swear he was saying, "Ok, I'm looking and by the way, that is way worse then my butt!"

And, speaking of Oscar, Oprah is having Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog on today. Check it out. We are making Oscar watch too.

Such a novice.

2007-11-06T14:04:00.000-06:00

Too funny. Ok, I'm working all day today and while I'm waiting for stuff to load I keep bouncing back and forth checking out Bloglines to see what blogs I subscribe to have recently been updated. It's becoming a bad habit I'm afraid but I regress... Donna Downey (a scrapbooker and artist) was having 5 give-aways today and I thought it would be fun to participate (seeing as I've never done this sort of thing before). After all I love free things and how hard could this be? The deal was every hour, on the hour, she would post it was time for the give-away and the 36th person to post a comment would win. As simple as that! Ok, I will periodically check and participate by making a comment, and maybe I'll be a lucky winner.

So, I go back to work and after a bit I remember this is going on. I check and all of a sudden I have missed 3 of the give-aways. What? What has happened? Then I realize, there must be a delay since I'm accessing her blog through Bloglines. Normally this isn't an issue, however, when time is this important I need to be directly on her page! I check the clock and realize it's only 7 minutes before the next give-away. Ha. I'm so ontop of this now! I pull up her site, refresh. wait. refresh. wait. work. refresh. work. refresh. wait. refresh. wait. refresh. Ah Ha, it's there. The new posting with 0 comments. I decided to go ahead and post a comment as a test comment because posting this early surely I'm going to be commenter 3 or something like that. I put my quick comment, press post and all of a sudden I'm like commenter 50ish. What the ________???? I look back at all the times and there are a ton at 3:01. Everyone is doing what I'm doing.

Ok, so obviously I didn't win. Bummer. I then begin to think, how many people are just hanging out waiting for her posts? Insane. No wonder her dh is working with her now. I'd love to have a business where people are just hanging out, waiting for my next word. You go girl! I mean, I know free products are a draw but seriously that's amazing! Ok, only 42 more minutes to go until the last round. What do you think my odds are?

Here are the photos.

2007-11-05T09:04:00.000-06:00

Last post I said I would fu with photos - here they are. This has been put together based on need, not a lot of thought has gone into it. All the stuff on the walls and in the shelves were just in the room on the floor - getting in my way. I finally had to break down and hang things up so I could walk in the room and get shelves to try to be better organized.

This is the wall of items that have special meaning to me for one reason or another. Artwork created by my mom, myself, my boys. Scissors for scrapbooking, my vintage cat clock from when I was a little girl, a pretty frame that adds interest. I'm just going to keep adding to this wall. It makes me smile when I walk in and see it.

Here is my cork board wall, created out of FLOR carpet squares that I got at Target. Started out I was going to just do a section of six squares over the table and frame it out with molding. But then, I decided to go bold and do the entire wall. Turned out the solid colors that Target had matched really well with the drape fabric I had previously picked out. Right now I just pinned up items that have been floating around the room.

Here's a close-up of the wall. I'm really liking it. I had a hard time determining which wall to do this on. I think I made the right decision. Looks good when walking up the stairs and glancing into the room. Not sure how I'm going to like it once I have added all my stuff.

Here's the fabric I want to get:

Turning out to be a geometric room isn't it?

Have to say I have a whole new appreciation for photographers who photograph rooms. It's not easy to do. My photos never turn out to look like what I see when I look at the room.

Feeling better = Sunday project.

2007-11-04T20:37:00.001-06:00

Ok, feeling better - not 100% but much better. Having some residual issues from being sick (which I will spare you the details) but that didn't stop me from working on a Sunday project while the boys were gone for 3 hours today at skating school. I completed my version of an inspiration board - well in my case an inspiration wall. I turned one entire wall in "my room" into a cork board. Unfortunately, I haven't taken pictures yet because I'm still cleaning it up. I also added a couple bookcases in there and hung up some stuff on the other wall. I do not have drapes in there yet but have picked out the fabric I will be using, which matches my inspiration wall perfectly. It will all make sense once I can attach some photos.

Also, was able to attend church this morning. Since we are new, we don't know anyone yet, so that made it really easy to attend and leave without worrying about talking with anyone when not looking my best. It was a great service but very sad. When we left dh asked Alex if mom was crying the entire time. He said, "Of course!" (We didn't sit by each other). It was about troubles in life and how we deal with them. They told the story of a young boy in our community who was a top ice hockey player and was in a simple car accident on the way to school (in carpool) and he was the only one injured. So much so he is still in a coma five months later. They go to this church and the boys father got up on stage and talked to everyone. It was amazing, so sad but so much hope.

Resting now, getting ready for a day of work tomorrow. Have some phones to get installed at the office and some work that needs to get done that I wasn't able to get to last week due to fil in hospital and then my being sick. Here's to a productive week to all!

Achooo.

2007-11-03T12:34:00.002-05:00

I've got the flu - so I suspect. Have had it for a couple days now and can tell (fingers crossed) I'm in the getting better phase now - thankfully! Yesterday was the worse of it; full body aches, chills, fever, runny nose, stopped nose, sore throat, cough... About 3:30pm yesterday my fever broke and I started to feel better. Today I'm taking it easy, I'm still in bed but much more alert. Chad is sick too, Alex and dh have been missing in action. It's not good if they get sick so I'm glad they've been keeping busy and staying away. My boys and I did get the flu shot the other day but it appears I got it a little too late. I haven't been sick this bad in about five years. Here's to no more flu symptoms!

November = New Background

2007-11-01T11:22:00.000-05:00

Like my new background? It's a little busy yes but unique don't yah think? It's Rhonna Farrer scrapbook paper. Still playing around with the look of the blog - enjoying it.

Had a good Halloween night last night, again hanging out with our neighbors. But, it was cold, even with the fire pit. As a result, both Chad and I are a tad bit under the weather. Chad so much so he stayed home today and is doing a movie marathon on the couch. I would have sent him but he just wouldn't quite coughing after he woke up, not to mention his frequent trips to the bathroom to blow his nose. Looks like I will NOT be going to the hospital again today. I do not want to bring anything in to compromise fil's low immune system. So, sending warm thoughts to him today instead.

Have a little bit of work to do and then going to sit by Chad and snuggle.