Here's one of his presents:
He didn't really appreciate it but dad and I sure thought it was funny. He likes these soups and while grocery shopping I happened across this big box of them. Only .25 each! Can't pass that up. LOL! He said he'd share.
Here's a couple photos of Oscar and Alex playing together (and yes Oscar did contribute to the hole in Alex's pants!):
I've been horribly busy and haven't had a chance to even think about blogging this week. I was going to do one long post to make up for my lack of content but it's not letting me add all the photos I wanted to. As a work around I'm going to have to do a couple different posts. So, here goes with the first one. It's a photo of the picture frame I "tweaked" that I think I made reference to in a previous post. Our neighbors were moving (great people!) and we had a culd-e-sac photo in front of their home. I found the frame at HomeGoods (great store!) and changed it around a bit. I like how it turned out considering I used supplies I had on hand:
Here's a close-up of the top portion. My first rub-on directly on a photo. Love how it turned out!
Here's a close-up of the bottom portion - sorry it's a bit blurry. Dh wasn't crazy about the placement of the "S" but I just told him to Think Outside the Box and get over it .
So what is Enterprise Village? Well, it's a mini village or town that the kids participate in. They make it come to life! And when I say mini town it truely is that. There is a City Hall building, a bank, a tv station, a radio station, a restaurant, a financial district, a print shop, a children's hospital, a business district, retail stores (sports store, build-a-bear store, cingular), a realtor, utility companies and a warehouse. Prior to showing up the students have all already been assigned jobs. Earlier this month they had to review job descriptions and submit applications. The teachers reviewed all of the students applications and decide who will work where. They have been busy learning how to write checks and deposit slips. They will go to work and take breaks to run to the bank and shop. It's so much fun!
Although the kids do everything, they do require volunteers in each area to help keep the kids on task and help the kids with anything they might need. I got my assignment today when I went and it's so cool - I'm going to be in Build-A-Bear! And guess what - - - they have a real bear stuffing machine! Now, I did find out that for this they normally have a JA worker handling the stuffing machine because she said it gets to be a bit much doing it all. But, those who know me know I'm going to have to get my hands on the stuffing machine and do at least one myself!! I'll take pictures because you really won't believe this. It looks like an actual Build-A-Bear store. LOL! In our shop we have a Business Manager, a Bookkeeper and a couple of Sales Associates. Each has their own job responsiblities and it's all very serious! The bookkeeper has to write the first checks out for the phone bill because a phone installer comes to collect the money and install the phone. Someone from the electric company will stop by and check on the furnace filter, the realtor needs to collect rent checks. This is only a small part of what goes on!
So Chad comes home today and I knew he was assigned jobs today. He got Financial Advisor! How cool is that?! (His dad is one!) They call it Financial Consultant but I told him was an Advisor! He will sell stocks. LOL! I think he gets to wear a tie also - they provide the shirts and stuff.
I'll take lots of pictures to share. It's such a neat experience.
I liked this next one because it emphasizes the fact that HE stopped the puck!
This one was cool also. I like the blurred effect for the other players.
Fun times had by all.
No photos to share at this time. Haven't had my camera out all week! Sorry.
As I got closer I kept remembering what it was like to go to Walmart in IN when I did my grocery shopping there. I remembered back then thinking how odd it was (and not quite right) to be doing grocery shopping at Walmart. But, it was so convenient and the food was just fine. I didn't always shop there but if I needed more items (other then groceries) it became a very convenient place to go. As I continued to drive and think about the past good feelings started filtering in. Feelings of being independent and grown-up. Feeling like I could be who I wanted to be or find who I was because we had no pre-conceived notions of who we were anymore having left home and not knowing anyone. (I know all of this just going to pick up zippers - go figure!)
Then I was there. It's jam packed - after all it's the weekend. My normal senses would have prevented me from attempting this on a weekend but I had to get out of the house so this wasn't a bad thing. I walked in and immediately felt a tad bit better - because of the greeter. He made a point of looking me in the eye - actually following my eye as I walked past - to say this very long but nice greeting to me. Something normally I wouldn't have paid much attention to but quite honestly needed it at that very moment (sad I know - LOL!). I felt a little better but then decided that was quite silly afterall this was just Walmart. People hate them afterall. So I continued. I grabbed a kart all the while noticing how this was a pretty nice Walmart. Didn't look dirty and questionable people there. The items were looking pretty up to date. What's up with this Walmart? I realized at that moment that it's been A LONG TIME since I've been to one.
To make a could be very long story short, I had a very pleasant experience there. I will be back. I will buy groceries there. I won't go all the time but I definately will go a lot. The key I believe is the Super part of Walmart, and that it's NEW. AWESOME.
To exist is to change; to change is to mature; to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
Henri Bergson, philosopher
If not now, then when?
The Talmud
Everything is connected... no one thing can change by itself.
Paul Hawken, Environmentalist and author
It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.
Anais Nin
There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
Anais Nin
If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.
Charles Kettering
I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.
Georg C. Lichtenberg
The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.
Gloria Steinem
If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?
Gloria Steinem
Just because everything is different doesn't mean that everything has changed.
Irene Peter
The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.
James Yorke
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy
This is Alex's insulin pump. We just received a replacement pump in the mail because this one is beginning to act up. The buttons are not always acknowledging the input - not a good thing! Although the warranty is up in just a few months at which time we will be getting a much awaited new sleek pump such as this one or maybe this one. We can't go a few months with a pump that is not working properly.
I just completed inputting Alex's current basal rates and settings from the old pump into the replacement pump so he would be all set while we are gone. I popped the old pump into the return envelope while thinking about the next thing I need to do. Right as I was closing it a sudden wave of emotion came over me. I quickly realized what was going on, taking the pump back out of the package. I held it in my hands, my eyes filled with tears. This little item, this very one, has kept my son alive since he was diagnosed. It's not an attractive pump (sorry Animas!), it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that I think Alex could benefit from but it does a lot. It's held up to a lot and it's kept my son alive. To that, I thank Animas and I thank this little pump. Although you will be gone, you will never be forgotten! This quick snapshot is one proof of that!
Ok, time to pull myself together. My To Do list is still awfully long!
The first funny photo is the dash of the car. When I put it in reverse it shows me what is behind me. Chad had his face REALLY close to the camera. LOL! Sooooo funny. Here is a better picture of him:
It's an awesome feature of the car. I'm having so much fun with it it's crazy. I feel like I'm 16 again and can't wait to go anywhere. I was driving down the highway to go to a Mall that I don't normally go to and I ended up missing the exit because I was having so much fun. I also forgot my cell phone and to take something I needed to return - all because I was so excited to get in the car and go.
My camera is still dead and I can't take a new picture of it. Will do so ASAP.
This is not going to count towards my Photo of the Day, but my actual photo may be delayed because my camera needs to be charged.
Just in case you aren't sure which photo I'm talking about (because I'm still trying to figure out how to label each of them) I'm posting it below (LOL - I think I'm going to pee in my pants - LOL!!):
Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Ours has been so far. Will share soon.
EDITED: Appears I may have figured out at least how to show an album.
Didn't get a lot accomplished this past weekend. Been feeling like I'm running in circles lately. Focus, I've got to focus! We went and looked at new cars on Saturday after Chad's hockey game - which they won by the way! My little goalie is doing so good. Didn't get one though, still processing. I'm considering going from a Yukon XL to a Nissan Murano. Significant size difference and although I'm excited about the possibilities I'm worried where my crown molding will go. I've always had a car I could put just about anything in. Makes me nervous that I now have to plan and possibly borrow someone or yikes have to pay someone to deliver something. I'm getting the itching to work around the house again and yes, put up some crown molding. If I have the Murano, how exactly will I bring it home?
Yesterday was the Nascar equivilent of the Superbowl. DH and his dad and uncle watched it from our house with John's new toy, TrackPass PitCommand. This was his Valentine's present which he really liked (he had given me a hint whether he knew it or not). I made them White Chicken Chili and then went upstairs and dabbled with design ideas for our Study. I'm so frustrated with this whole process. I'm not going to pay for what I really want but if I don't get something that will work I will regret it. The cabinets I can live with don't come in the depth I really need so I need to go back to the store and take a closer look at their next line up. Of course that will mean more money and if I'm going to pay more money shouldn't I get something I really like? Then there is the flooring. If I do this I really need to get different flooring. But, I'm not in the market for flooring. Eventually I want hard wood through the whole first floor. If I get it for the study now and flooring for the rest of the first floor later I run the risk of it not matching and that could be a problem. Am I over thinking all of this? So, I'm in the same place I have been for the last couple of months - sitting in the study with no cabinets. Uggh. When will the maddness end?! LOL!
Oh, I did order a poster sized print of my boys so I can cut it down and place in my 10"x10" mat. I'm so excited! I ordered it from Walgreens.com. I did make a decision to finish my shelving of photos. I will post a picture of this when I'm done - hopefully by the end of this week. Still searching for photos to fill a couple more frames. It's looking good so far though.
Decided today to create my own sixdegrees.com charity banner for my blog. Check it out ---------------------------------------------------------->.
Such a good idea! (Wish I had thought of it!)
Before 
After Isn't that better?! Did you check out the size of our old monitor?! LOL! This was our extra older computer - the one that I reformatted and put Windows XP on it. Plus, black is my all time favorite color. Also check out my little bendy dude. I can't draw but I wanted him anyway. My ds used him for a project at school. I absolutely refused to allow him to glue anything to him. Can't mess up little bendy dude!
Yes I did get my little Crackberry - oops, Blackberry. It truely is addicting! I totally don't mind being hung up in traffic, long lines at events, waiting for my boys hockey games to start... Anytime there is downtime I can surf. It takes a little bit of getting used to but it's awesome! I was so enjoying waiting forever to get my oil changed at Firestone the other day. No problem, I think I'll check out Two Peas message boards. I've set Google as my homepage because I love them - everything about them. Have you ever checked out their employment page to see behind the scenes of what they do and how they treat their staff. It's great!
I've been scrapbooking a lot (for me anyway) lately. I would like to finish our New York album sooner then later. This first photo is of course of the Statue of Liberty. She is so beautiful and amazing to look at. I was surprised by how special she would feel to me. What she stands for gives me goose bumps and looking at all the details, the folds in the material... it's just perfect. That's why I titled that page "It's all in the details" I tried to draw your eye into the details causing one to look a little bit closer by stacking a smaller photo on top of the larger one. Eventually I will go back and reprint the one photo that is a little bit darker then the rest - so those details don't get lost. But, by the time I finished this up I wasn't in the mood to do further tweaking.
This is my two-page spread on Ellis Island. I used an Ali Edwards two-page spread as inspiration for this. I wanted to break out of my box like layouts which I have done on a few other pages. I wanted something linear but something I could still use several photos on. I love having a printer that I can quickly print multiple size photos on. I find I'm using less and less 4.6 photos. I'm still working on using my computer for journaling. I'm from the old Creative Memories days (used to be a consultant) where journaling in your own handwriting is important. I agree with the importance of that but I'm really ok with more computer jouranling. It's cleaner looking and quicker for me to do. 
This is the last page I finished last night. All the photos were dark but bright colors pop throughout because of all the neon lights. New York is filled with neon lights! The picture in the center opens up where it lists the description of each photo. I stamped the corresponding number on each photo. I'm going to put a clip with a ribbon on it to use as the page turner for the center photo but I didn't want the page/book to get too bulky. I'm using embellishments carefully because I don't want bulky albums - if I can help it. It will be fun to see if this changes. As you can tell I really like using multiple photos on my pages. Although I am setting aside individual photos that I really like that I will use to create special pages, some which I've already used. I'm finding I can look at one photo and have it generate different feelings. Hmmmm, my wheels are spinning...
I LOVE having my own room to create. I realize now one of the reasons I never got anything done was because by the time I got everything out it was time to leave to do something. The stuff would lay where ever (dining room table or worse the kitchen table) for a couple weeks until I couldn't stand it there anymore. Then I'd pack it all back up and the cycle would continue until I just never took anything out anymore. This way when I have a spare minute or at night when everyone is snuggled in bed I can quickly go in there and get some things done. When I have to stop I can just leave everything there and close the door. Plus, I love knowing where everything is. I just LOVE it.
I have to give kudos to Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking for giving me a guideline to use for setting up my albums into specific categories. I have purchased multiple albums that I like (yes - Creative Memories) and have already put in my refills and all pages have page protectors on. I have labeled each album to cover what I want it to reflect. Then I create the pages and just slip them in the pages where they belong. I don't adhere them to the pages because this gives me the ability to rearrange where they go. Eventually I will adhere them so they don't move around but for right now it gives me the flexibility and freedom I needed to allow me to really get going.
That's enough for now. Gotta go to Hockey!
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