Long time no see!

Hi everyone!

Long time no see, I know it's been a few days, but I've been kinda busy. For starters, I've been hanging out in a site I found. LOLOL... it rocks. I've been having so much fun with them, people that appreciate good photography, scrapbooking, the usual stuff.

I'll give you a hint.. think pizza, scrapbooking, and cats... not to *totally* give it away. Watch for good old "bananapeels" and we'll hang ppl! Please DO COME BY... awesome and we share all the funniest war stories, pictures, pages, and good times!

I keep forgetting to tell you. I went to Weight watchers, gained less than a pound, which I was not surprised by. I had gained like 5 pounds in water weight and got most of it back off.. and as sure as I expected, friday morning I woke up 2 pounds lighter. *very annoying*. so around 13 off now. Very happy with that number, my mom even noticed that i look better. (she does too. she's lost 20 pounds! go mom!)

Tried to be good over the weekend, but it's labor day so I'm goign to have a "few things", but mainly, just tried to pick healthier choices (baked potato instead of fries, etc).

Friday night, went out with some girls I graduated with.


Had to post 2 pics because I didn't know Shelly got left out of the top one. We had a really good time. Wonderfuly people they are. They talked me into going back up to the bar and hanging out. I stayed a couple hours and went home. I'm not much of a drinker and we had to get up early so I didn't stay out too late. I did get to see some other ppl from my class, one guy I hadn't seen in 15 years (and we went to art class every day for 4 years together), so that was really awesome seeing him (and everyone).

I missed the "official" reunion. That's ok, because I got to spend time with my family.

We decided to just jump on the bike and go visit some friends and family. Perfect bike weather. Not too hot, no rain, AWESOME. Seems like everyone and their dog was out on their bikes this weekend. Good times.

Going to Amber's party tonight in a bit. She is having a "garage warming" party. heh. They're so proud of their new garage they built themselves. and I AM proud of them too. Amber was even up there roofing with Cole. I'm impressed, she doesn't look like the roofing type girl.

Went to santacaligon days. We had a pretty good time. I bought some jewelry. (which I'll take some pics later, I forgot), and a couple xmas gifts, I also bought a very cute little picture for the bathroom (the one we're remodeling). Nothing major, but we had fun anyway. It got HOT in those tents. well, not hot as much as there was no air moving through. After our very bleh lunch I felt at one point like I was gonna pass out and had to go outside. I was ok but I was scoping out trash cans in case I had to ralph. LOL. Public ralphing. ew.

Gene's gonna put in my sink tomorrow. I'M SO HAPPY

That's the extent of the weekend so far! I'm sure I'll share more pictures later.

OHhh.. and if you're wondering, the knuckle tattoo is really just a photoshop job (der) LOL. I'd think even a caveman could figure that one out. But thanks for all those that worried about my fingers. They are same as always, tattoo-free, sportying nails and fine jewels LOL

More tomorrow probably!

I gots skillzz..

Well, I decided to give up on the 365 project. I was not having fun, and it felt really forced. I felt like I had to do something really creative every single day, and I just wasn't feeling that. (sometimes you don't want to have to think about it ya know?).

I am going to continue the 100 strangers project. I just haven't found anyone yet that strikes me enough. I take that back, I did happen across this drop dead beautiful younger woman, and would have asked her but I didn't have my camera with me!!! I was at walmart. Yeah, sometimes they have beautiful women there :p

I decided not to go to my class reunion this weekend. I have too much other stuff going on. I am going to meet with some of the chicks from my class on friday night - going out for dinner. They're going to the bar after, but I'm not interested in that. Saturday I go to Santacaligon with my sisters/mom and then we're going to go visit a friend of ours that freaking cut off his finger!! (circular saw).

Weird thing is, it was the day after I got the miter saw and I just kept having these obsessive flashes all day of cutting my hands, and my hair. I get that once in a while, but not like this. The next day, he cuts off (pretty much) one finger, cuts up 2 other really bad. So we're gonna go visit and say "what the hell is wrong with you???" lol. We're going to call him gimpy or stubby. Maybe 3 finger Jake. We haven't picked a nickname yet.

Going to WW in a bit. Hope I at least stay the same. I've been on track all week (maybe a little loose on the weekend, but not over my flex points) and 2 days ago I was up 5 pounds!! I obviously was retaining water like a camel because I got up to pee no more than SIX TIMES last night. No really. I think that's a record. It couldn't be *all* that watermelon I ate yesterday. Today, I'm back down 4.5 which is not good enough for me. We'll see.

Must be off. Gotta shower so my hair will dry.. it only takes *forever* to dry.

Latest flickr inspiration...

1. Untitled, 2. vanessa30, 3. Your friendship brightens my life like a beautiful flower :) Happy Saturday!, 4. making hay, 5. Picture 99, 6. Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. Bride with Groom in Bgnd, 9. Red Leaf Studios, 10. Kenny Brown and Groomsmen, 11. Untitled, 12. look at those feet, 13. valentine's long hair, 14. Tiger Shark, 15. Untitled, 16. Untitled, 17. a minor defeat, 18. let's go together, 19. downtown., 20. Macy, 21. AKNACER JAGER, 22. {{contemplation}}, 23. 36 weeks, 24. touch of gold, 25. Untitled, 26. day196/not angry, just sunny, 27. sheer, 28. Explored! # 347! Thank you all! :), 29. Collaboration, 30. a tisket, a tasket, 31. The *Cupcake* Baby, 32. Tutu n Boots, 33. little girl,, 34. wrapped up in you, 35. Grab my hand, we are going on an adventure of a lifetime, 36. I am colorblind

*knock knock*

Door is "done". Did all that by myself (well, Tanner helped a bit the first day). I still have to wood putty the nail holes and varnish it, but I need to find the right color of wood putty first, and that's a trip to st. joe.

Nothing else to report... almost dinner time, hubs is on his way home!

BOO!

Well, 2:38 p.m. and got some things accomplished today.

- Put away all yesterday's dishes, which was a lot, because I was unable to wash dishes for several days due to plumbing.
-Finished up laundry
-Went to the bank and deposited a ginormous insurance check. Wish we could keep it all and have that 3 week honeymoon to Italy/England/Scotland/Ireland *after all*.
-Went to wally world and FORGOT THE BREAD. DOH. He's gonna be annoyed at me. LOL. I just realized the main thing I needed I forgot. Oops. LOL. He loves me, (and the bread) so he'll pick up a loaf on the way home.
-Mailed off the girls last package of stuff. Nothing major, just needed it out of the house.
-Paid my taxes so that I can get my car license renewed. I hope they don't make me get new plates. I hate the new plates.
-Wasted a whole trip to Sutherlands - as they did not have *one single* thing I wanted.

Yesterday, got the house pretty clean compared to the CSI crime scene it was. I also started the baseboard trim in the bathroom. I'm at a stopping point until that sink gets installed which I was PROMISED this weekend. I would start it myself, but there's some plumbing I don't want to tackle (there's a clean out tube that's gonna kick our ass).

I still have the door to stain which I'm going to do here in a bit, then I'm going to put the bathroom doorknob on. I'll share a pic when I'm done.

I'm very pleased with this bathroom. It's going to look so nice when it's done. The theme of the bathroom is a western theme, and I've collected some items along the way for the walls. Some I've had for years. We're even going to use an antler that gene had from someplace as a towel holder. I suggest, it will rock.

Nothing else exciting. Just my ho-hum life.

Michaels 40% off your entire purchase accident coupon

COUPON NO LONGER VALID
For this week's coupon go here

Michaels accidentally released this coupon. It was supposed to be 40% off one item, but someone fubared, so it was 40% off your entire purchase. They are honoring this coupon! You will probably have to point out that it's an entire purchase coupon and not a one item coupon.

If they give you a hard time, remind them that HQ sent an email out stating they were to honor it despite their mistake. And they're to do it with a smile.

Click on the coupon to get a larger/clearer version.

print 12. Give them to your friends - give them to strangers.

I will probably make it there one day this week. I can think of a whole host of things I'd buy if they were 40% off. :)

An explore.. in your own back yard

Yes, it's clothesline day - and I have a clothesline story in my head, but contemplating that later.

In the meantime, I distracted myself with the critters in my own back yard. I've proven so far that we have things like racoons and my nose says there's a skunk somewhere close by. But do you ever consider the other critters that are around? Just because they are small, doesn't mean they're lesser.

I contemplated this idea, at the clothesline, while the bees buzzed around my feet. (we have a lot of clover). In fact, last week, while hanging out my laundry, I sat my laundry basket on top of a bee and he buzzed like crazy until I lifted my basket. Along he went like there was nothing more important than pollen and nectar.

Why do we try to define "beautiful" in such a small parameter? "Visually appealing" I don't know the answer to that. One thing is beautiful, and something other is not.

Evenly trimmed green grass is beautiful. "Grass" filled with clover is not. ?
I disagree. I love that our yard is kinda raggedy. It is the country, it's not meant to be perfect, and if it was nothign but pretty green grass, I'd have to mow it constantly, and there'd never be any butterflies and bees. Speaking of butterflies and bees, butterflies are beautiful? and bees are scary? I never get this. Bees could care less about you, they go on their merry way, pollenating their flowers and collecting nectar.... yet butteflies have this scary long tongue and bulging eyes. No really (see later).

I guess my point is, don't discount something that you think is ugly, only because you're told it's ugly. I like to find beauty in the little things that aren't "beautiful".

That's me... antidisestablishmentarianism - which is not the correct usage of that word, but I really wanted to say it. :p



That's the shot I went for. Well, I actually went for that shot tack sharp, but they don't call them busy bees for no reason. He was in no mood to sit still for a close up.

Then, I got distracted by these little flying flowers. I can't believe how many butterflies we have. Thousands. We have 1.25 acres that we just let grow, and there's clover and queen ann's lace and some purple thistle or something in there. Which they *love*. You can just sit and watch the grass move with purple, yellow, orange there's so many.

This shot is specifically for Cheyenne.

Cheyenne: This is why I told you we don't touch butterflies. See their teeny tiny little feathers/fur? That breaks when you hold them. :(

Here's the full image

Here's the crop. You can see the highlight of the sun off of his tongue. I find that utterly amazing and could look at that picture for hours. *that* is why I love macros.

I love the bokeh (that's the blurry bits).

What are you lookin' at???

{someone has an attitude}
{Must be hard to look tough when you're a butterfly}

The original image

The crop. See his curly tongue? He was patient with me, and let me get really close.

But, there's more than butterflies. There's these guys. Lots of them. Kind of a scary monster. But pull up the full sized image (click on photo). You can see the tiny "hairs" on his legs. I want a lens strong enough that I can see what one of those tiny hairs looks like.

The home of *something*. Terribly fresh. This was shot shortly after I discovered the hole, the dirt was fresh.

Remember the robin? Here's their home. I don't know if anyone is there anymore. Tanner said he heard flapping noises from the tree over the weekend, and I suspect that someone learned to fly. Robins grow up fast. *heavy fake sigh*

The grass felt so good today. I went to the line in bare feet and you could almost feel the energy of the grass saying "ahhhhhhhh". We had some rain, and you could feel the cool spots. Feels so much nicer than the hot crunchy grass from before.

It's starting - the corn is dying. :(

Every year this makes me sad, because I know it's the end of another summer. This summer is the saddest it makes me because this has been our privacy fence for several months now. It will be foreign to look out and be able to see the neighbors again.

We've been under the protection of our own little "acreage" for months now. 2 acres surrounded and protected by 200 acres of corn. Towering over us and taking care of us - shielding us from the wind and the eyes of everyone around us. Nothing but an army of bees humming and working all their day long while the world rotates one more time.

Good bye summer :(

So what's next?

What do I plan on doing today?

Well, there's the usual. It's monday after all. I'll wash laundry, and clean house. Try to reassemble it to something livable after it was torn to shreds in the plumbing process.

It's already started. Make the water so hot that you can't put your hands in it and let last night's dinner melt itself off. There's one load on the line, on in the washer and one on deck. Then that's done. There's a load of dishes in the sink, soaking, because that's how I roll.

I suppose I'll stand at the clothesline, contemplating the rotation of the earth and where exactly it's going next. I'll write a 'tale from the clothesline' in my head, and then I'll come back inside, and decide if I'm going to actually write it down or not. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes the moment passes and that little glimpse of knowledge is gone forever. That's ok sometimes.

I have some emails planned for today too, catching up with some ppl I love, and that love me back (i'm pretty sure of that anyway).

And I suppose I'll just sit. And think. And let it go.

I smell a skunk.

No.

Really.

Apparently we're downwind. I won't be able to sleep with a skunk wafting through the air. when I lived in town, it never failed, I'd smell a skunk in the middle of the night at least 2-3 times a week. It would wake me up. Bleh this is stronger, wonder who ticked off the skunk. LOL.

Gene got the plumbing done today... well, back up... it's done except for things like insulating the pipes and strapping them down. Other than that it's done. We also got a whole house filtering system, because I'm so not interested in having a big filter on my sink faucet and he's a germaphobe. He also filled all the little holes around the pipes. we never realized how many there where until you looked at the floor and saw daylight. No wonder we had a couple little furry visitors last winter.

Tanner made his awesome as usual sunday dinner.

Got my trim around the doors done. Finally. One piece kicked my butt hard, but I tamed it. Next, stain. Then I'm going to start straightening up the bathroom so we can seal the tile (finally, it's only be a year) and fix the holes they drilled in the grout after the flood.

Nothing else to report.

See you tomorrow!

Ode to the toilet

I'm glad I didn't promise I'd be back. :p

Tanner and I went on an explore today, while Gene started the finale of the plumbing. *get this*. We'll be able to pee in *two* bathrooms. No really I'm serious. :p Anyway, we hit some garage sales, which was a bust, and then head off to St. Joe where we picked up some ink for the printer, some paper, that I got an unexpected $10 off. (score), some mouse food and a new doornob for the bathroom.

Speaking of the bathroom door, it's almost done. All I have left to do, is to stain it and install the knob. Then fill the nail holes. I'm so proud of myself. I did it myself! It looks *so nice*. I also have the scrapbook room door almost trimmed out. I have one piece on the inside that I have to cut... AGAIN cuz I farked it up ... TWICE. LOL. Ooops.

I think next I'll tackle the trim around my scrapbook room window, to see how that looks then I'll move back to the bathroom. Hopefully gene will have the new vanity installed and I can finish up. Each little thing had to be done, before the next step could be done, and the door *HAD* to come first before the rest of the trim could come up. I've discovered that one of the walls in the bathroom is grossly unplumb. Bleh. It is behind the door, so it's not that noticable. I only noticed when I went to put the corner trim in, and there's a 1/4" gap at the bottom and 1/2" at the top. Oops. I also had to rip out a small strip of paneling behind the door because it was screwing up my door trim. That door trim took me the WHOLE DAY on friday, and I still didn't get it done.

Woke up last night to a thunderstorm, oh and Mr. Grumptacular pitching a bitch. Ugh. Didn't get back to sleep until 4:30 a.m. That SUCKED. I slept until 9:30 a.m.

I had to share this picture.

Every time we swim, we disrupt the little robin family in the tree about 15 feet away. Seems we spook him enough that he'll sit there for 45 min with a worm in his mouth patiently waiting for us to get out of the pool. Seems they're raising their brood kinda late. They need to hurry! Weather seems like it will be turning soon. (the corn is starting to die *insert really sad face here*).

accomplishments - schmaccomplishments!

I'm going to have to quit saying "more later" when I repeatedly do not make it back by the evening. I could have probably posted again, but I was on a roll so I decided to just run with it.

I accomplished a lot yesterday. Here's my biggest accomplishment:

I installed this door in our bathroom! I got it going, and then when tanner got home, he helped me finish it up. We had to cut the door down by 1/8" which was a gigantic PITA.

I also had a big accomplishment at WW. I officially lost 2 pounds which in their books put me at 11 lost total. At home I'm always around 1.5 more than what they show. I'm very happy with that number. 2 pounds a week is 104 pounds a year. wow. I could be done in 4 short years! LOL. :p

It took everything I had not to stop while I was at WW and take some more really cool macros of wet spider webs outside the door. I'm sure they probably already think I'm weird.

I stopped by the storage unit when I was in town, and took some pics of some crap I have in storage so I can get rid of that unit before winter. I have 2 small units right now, and one is only half full, there needs to be some reduction, and some re-arranging and I'll cut that bill in half. Anyway, got some of the bigger stuff listed online for sale.

I also worked in the evening on the girls albums. We started an album called "Today I..." and they would use a pic of what they did that day. It was a nice little craft project, but I couldn't imagine doing that with 15 little girls. 3 was hard. Anyway, it didn't get finished while they were here, so I told them I'd finish them and mail them. I'm wanting to get that last box of junk mailed out tomorrow. Only 3 more pages to go, and then I think I'll put on some page protectors for the pages - a cover layout and I'm DONE.

Today, my goal is to finish trimming out the doors. I have my door on my scrapbook room, but the trim hasn't been put on because no one wants to hassle with assembling the miter saw. LOL. So I'm gonna give that a go today, install all the trim and then probably stain it this weekend.

I also want to get some more items listed on ebay and such, get caught up on emails - then I need to work on my photo website as I have cards to give out with the url, and yet, no website is there. *I hate it when someone does that*. Bad form. At the very least I need a page that says "under construction - visit here" (pointing to the blog).

OK, need to get moving, I started out kinda late cuz I overslept!

I'll *try* to post later. LOL. we'll see.

Happy Thursday to you.

Oh rain, you fickle bitch beauty, you. Why you gotta be like this baby? I know we complained in may, about how much you "shared" with us, but sometimes less is more. And sometimes less is less. Thank you for popping by. Could you stop back by tomorrow? I'll put out something nice for ya... like a plant, or a bucket.

I love macro. *love love love* it. If you could make a million $$ selling macros, I'd be there. I suppose you can, but how many macro photographers do they need... really? to me it's amazing to look at this *thing* and take a photo, and when you upload it, there's a whole other world.

Like the droplet on the blade of grass. There's 2 little "antennea" on the droplet. I couldn't see that when I took it. Like on the droplets, you can see reflections of the trees. click on the photo to see the full image to really appreciate the picture. Several are cropped to focus on one area of the photo, so they would be deemed unprintable, but I just wanna look at them is all.

All of these were taken with my kit lense, which most ppl toss in the garbage, but since I'm not rich, I make due with what I have. I *really* want a good macro, but first, the money lense for portraits. Make some $$ from portraits and then get my macro lense :) Win-win?

But daddy I want it nooooooooow.

Off to Weight watchers in like 5 min, so I probably outta put some makeup on so I don't scare the masses. We'll see what the official tally is. I know it will be pretty decent as I can feel it. My summer capris are all loose now, and I can wear my skinny jeans that I outgrew over the winter. (one size smaller thankyouverymuch).

Plumbing issues again. Gene gets to do that when he gets home.

Blah.

He'll be growly.

More later!

101 Things...

I was reading my friend Laurie Ann's blog the other day, and she had a post of 102 things about her. I thought it was fun, so decided I'd do it too!



1. I'm married to an awesome guy, Gene, (looking at watch) around 6 weeks.
2. I have 2 boys, Seth is almost 19, Tanner is almost 14.
3. I just bought a house in the country last year.
4. I'm currently unemployed
5. I have 2 cats. Mack and Jingles
6. I'm the middle child of 5.
7. I've known my best friend Stacy since we were 14.
8. I have a natural tan for the first time in my life.
9. My favorite color is pink.
10. I used to be a teddy bear artist.
11. I won the CK scrapbookers hall of fame the first time I tried (2001).
12. I could probably afford to buy a new car, but I don't because my old car (2000 dodge neon) is the *best car ever made*.
13. I wear false nails.
14. Sometimes I wear false eyelashes too.
15. I used to be a body builder wannabe.
16. I can legpress over 600 pounds.
17. My favorite food is probably LaBonita taco salad.
18. I prefer silver/white gold over yellow gold.
19. I love photography.
20. I have to read all my blogs every day - there's around 12.
21. I still love to scrapbook - I have my own room.
22. I've owned this computer since 2002
23. My first job was washing laundry at a care facility
24. I have a huge spice drawer, but would be ok with just salt and pepper.
25. Sometimes I think Gene and I are psychic.
26. I believe in past lives (and I think I'm really old).
27. I love celebrity gossip - but NEVER buy the tabloids.
28. My favorite places on earth are England, Utah and the california redwoods.
29. People say that I'm creative, and I feel like I"m not good enough to warrant that opinion.
30. I kill plants (not on purpose)
31. I really like socks - they have to be really snug
32. I wear said socks wrong side out.
33. I collect pottery.
34. I have a bear collection I don't add to anymore.
35. I also have a mini metal lunch box collection.
36. My favorite candle is hazelnut cream from walmart.
37. I love old lady garage sales.
38. I love LOVE vintage embroidered tableclothes - but don't like to use them.
39. My wedding dress looked like an american flag.
40. I think the 3 most beautiful women in the world are Angelina Jolie, Tyra Banks and my sister Amber. In that order.
41. I've seen the movie 16 candles around 40 times.
42. I love corn fields.
43. I hate the taste of corn.
44. I can cook pretty well, but don't like to.
45. I rarely listen to music.
46. If I do listen to music, my 2 favs are Faith Hill and Lynard Skynard.
47. I'm a night owl
48. I drink diet coke instead of coffee
49. I HATE being interrupted while speaking.
50. I love pink tourmaline.
51. My favorite tv show is American Idol.
52. I listen to court shows all day long.
53. I hate clutter
54. I wish I had a garage.
55. I love to vacuum.
56. Gene and I installed all our own wood floors.
57. I'm proud of the life I lead and the things I've accomplished.
58. I'm supposed to wear glasses but havent since 2001.
59. I pick peaches at the grocery store by smelling them (so if I don't buy it, my nose has touched it... sorry).
60. I think the 3 most handsome men are Matthew McConahey, Big Paul Tuttle Sr and my husband. In that order.
61. I want to own a log cabin someday.
62. I plan on moving to England at some point in my life, if just for a couple years.
63. I love anything sparkly.
64. Finding Nemo is probably my favorite movie.
65. I eat cereal in bed every morning.
66. I'm clausterphobic
67. I don't have a degree, and wish I did.
68. I'm a windshield savant.
69. I don't do weekly shopping trips. I buy bits and bats as I need them.
70. I hate walmart.
71. I do almost all my shopping at walmart.
72. I sleep to a sound machine - a babbling creek.
73. I'm proud of my mom.
74. I feel sexy in flip flops.
75. I like alone time.
76. I have a tattoo of tigger from winnie the pooh on my ankle.
77. I want a tattoo of our monogram on my left wrist.
78. My favorite flowers are pink gerbera daisies.
79. I always cry at weddings, proposals and those stupid on-star commercials. LOL.
80. Tanner has 3 mice, but I take care of them when he's gone - so they are my mice too... and they're cute.
81. I love to blog.
82. I like to guess where planes are flying to that I see streaking across the sky.
83. I have a dead bat framed in my scrapbook room.
84. I believe in God.
85. I don't keep any secrets from Gene (well, nothing big ;)
86. I have a collection of antique cameras
87. I love old melamine dishes
88. I have a magazine and scrapbook album addiction.
89. I prefer men with facial hair
90. I hate being late, and I think it's disprespectful if you are late to something I invited you to.
91. I love wrapping presents.
92. My favorite holiday is Halloween.
93. I'm a republican
94. I love getting snail mail.
95. I have over 10,000 photographs
96. I also used to collect antique baby photos
97. I recycle.
98. We are completely remodeling our home on our own.
99. I kiss Jingles at least 10 times a day.
100. g is the prettiest letter in the alphbet (lower case)
101. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my whole life.

Hola!

self portrait 4/365

Good Wednesday morning!

Good day so far. Tanner is off to school. And I know, even tho I say "YAY" I'm just kidding because he's only a pest about 60% of the time. JUST KIDDING! He's actually a very good kid, a joy to be around. He didn't seem upset that school was getting ready to start. When I was a kid, I remember always being super excited for my first day, and about 3 weeks into summer, I was ready for school.

singing: "In the shape of an L on her forehead..."

I have some good-ish news.

I've neglected to say anything, because I didn't want to jinx it, but I'm hoping I'm past the jinx stage. I have unofficially lost 12.5 pounds! It will be official when I go to weight watchers meeting tomorrow. It will probably be a little less as their scale and my clothes throw me off a bit, but that's on my own doctor's scale *at home*.

I have done something already, I haven't accomplished in around 5 years, I've broken the 10 pound barrier! I would get to 2 weeks and 9.5 pounds and *pffft* that was it. I'd have a setback.

I have already noticed that my clothes are fitting looser, and some pants that I "outgrew" last winter, I'm already back into. Yay for not having to buy clothes!

I talked about this at the beginning of the year. No, I didn't make my goal of 40# by the wedding, for some reason, I'm totally OK with that. I guess it was just too much all at one time to handle. And, I think that I was still pretty on my wedding day. Anyway, I still think that with some serious hard work, I could meet the year end goal of 65#. I'd be thrilled with 40. Right now, I'm just focusing on 5 pounds at a time, so I don't care about the big picture, just the little picture. Next goal. 15#.

I have some goals, that is to follow what I did last time I lost *a lot* of weight. First, I just went to weight watchers for a while and followed the eating plan. I lost 25-30 then started walking and exercising. I got up to 65#, and then hit a plateau, so I switched to body for life and got buff and lost around 20-25 more pounds.

I just wanna find *her* again. she's there, I'll find her.

Circa 2002

I may veer from my plan a bit, and start working out sooner as the weather is cooperating at the moment. (which sucks IMO!).

Working on a few things today, photo related, house wise and just some fun stuff. I'm hoping I'll make it back this afternoon!

Meet the meeses.

Pepper

Oreo.

I mentioned that Salty died :( Tanner got a couple more mice for company, but they don't get along at the moment because the 2 new ones are still small. No pics of butterscotch (I didn't want to overwhelm you all at once ya know).

Thought I'd share a couple mousey pics. I'll update tomorrow with some stuff. I was busy today, and now I'm tired and getting ready for bed.

School starts tomorrow!!
:)

Monday updates

Well, weekend is out of the way, Monday morning with things to get done like pay bills (bleh), mail a package or more (bleh bleh), catch up on emails (bleh bleh bleh). So basically, nothing actually *fun*. There is laundry.

I tried to do some laundry yesterday, Gene's clothes were soooo muddy from being under the house, that I had to wash them twice. Then I put them on the clothesline at like 5:00 p.m. and at 8:30 they were still damp. oops.

August has been a big wussy so far this year. It came in with a bang and at this rate will run out, with a wimper and a tail between it's legs. I'm *so not ready* for cool weather.

We went swimming last night, and I was educated on the difference between arm warm, and leg warm. so if you wanna test the pool temp, put in your leg first, not your arm. LOL. It only took 40 min of shivering to warm up :p

Gene's parents came up yesterday and we had a nice time. We had king crab and steaks (both were yummy)... Gene's mom had never had it, and decided that it was ok, but not her favorite, but she love the steak and potato. I on the other hand, really dug into the crab because seafood = low fat (tradtionally) and it was yummy. Too bad you dip it in butter. lol.

Mom leaves for alaska today. My uncle (her brother) lives there through the summer and so she's going up to visit him for 11 days. She's taking a friend with her. She's always wanted to go. Did I mention my mother gets super bad motion sickness. I'm kinda feeling sorry for her friend LOL.

Tanner starts school on Wednesday. (*secret quiet YAY*). He's a good kid and a helper, but I admit I love my alone/quiet time.

OK, I need to get on my tasks so that I can come back later and rant a bit. Maybe not so much a rant, but some "advice" that I have in my head that you know, I have to share.

the things ya see.

Over the past year, I have "collected" funny stuff with my camera phone. You know, funny signs, things that shouldn't be, but yet *are*.



Thought I'd share a few of my favs.






There should be plenty of hicks around here to make that happen.

That sign was up a *long time*.

Get em while they're hot!

This.was.just.wrong.

she had to be pushing 65-70, had striped short shorts knee high socks and a 1974 hair style. *sigh*. Wonder if she's blind and her family hates her.

I'm so proud.

Something tells me, notsomuch.

2/365

Self portraits. 2 of 365.

here was version one. The sky had those fluffy clouds, with a bright blue field and I just couldn't resist. Got out my brollie (umbrella) that I love and snapped me. I was actually in the front yard, I couldn't set the time and make it all the way to the mailbox so I just stuck me in there manually.

Anyway, version one is bright and sunny and cheery... then I played and came up with..

Version 2. Which is what I decided on. desaturated the background, really popped the saturation on me, put on another layer of brown and scratched it up

Done. 10 min slap together jobby.

Gotta run, hubs is taking me out to dinner. No movie tonight, he still has some plumbing he wants to get done. Maybe more later!

Edited to add:

I couldn't stop. It was lacking so I added another layer of burnt yellow. This is what I ended with.

I can't sleep

I feel kinda like i have stalkers here. You realize, that in around a month, I've had 2500 views of this blog? no really. Now either 2 ppl are hitting refresh 30 times a day (entirely possible) or there's some regulars here. who you are, I don't know (i know a few), but no one ever comments so I don't know for sure.

Now I'm not complaining - don't get me wrong. In a way, contemplating the comments section, there's part of me that considers just turning it off. There's a sort of exhibitionist quality, to putting it all out there, and never knowing for sure who's {looking} at you. I can speak, and say what I please, but never have to hear an answer. I like it.


A couple months ago, I whined about wanting a "project". Something like the "this day in may" that I did in '06. I wanted a project so I made up the May project which essentially, the "rules" were, that I had to take 25 pictures a day, with my camera phone and at least one picture had to be of me. I did it! I picked May because so much was going on that month, I saw gene (twice I think), a friend came to visit, went to torrie's bachelorette party, other stuff I can't remember LOL.


Anyway, I loved it, but it was a lot to stay on top of. Everyone was cool with it, and really supportive. Well, I've been itching for something else.

I've decided on 365 days AND 100 Strangers.

365 Days is a self portrait challenge. Take a picture every day of yourself and share it with the group. I'm up for a challenge. This one will take a *year*, dude that's big.

Here's my first entry. I actually took this *before* I decided to join in. Then I figured it was fate so I decided that it was meant to be, that I should go for it. I think I'll probably share here too.

This one, I just did because I wanted to see if I could do it. It's harder than you think to pose, hold the camera still, get it centered correctly and have it in focus. I took 28 pics. this was my favorite - and I had to crop it. LOL. Man I have kick ass hair. ;)

The second project is {scary}.

100 strangers.

Just like the title says, you have to approach and photograph 100 strangers. This might take a while. I'll share that here too of course. That also means toting my camera way more than I do now, oh, and it also means that I should get a smaller sturdy camera bag.

Got *something* accomplished today. No really I didn't spend the *entire* day on flickr. (i'm going to have to get an egg timer to keep it in check).

I got those dishes done. *that's big*. There wasn't a lot, it's just that the kitchen plumbing is unhooked at the moment, and so I had to tote water. It's harder than you might think to do it that way.

I also unloaded a bunch of dollhouse stuff and some scrapbook stuff. Oh, and I zoomed a garage sale and decided to stop. Found a vintage can of Lincoln logs.. almost left because there was no price, and I kid you not, it took more than 5 min for them to go find someone to tell them how much it was *this was an adult* *eyeroll*.

50 cents? Sold.

Get home, they sell for around 20 bucks on ebay.

Score.

Going to go and try to find some of those other goodies tomorrow. If I can make myself sleep. I'm still not all that tired!

New flickr favs

1. jessproof78, 2. Taylor_0133se, 3. Taylor_0066-2, 4. Untitled, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. grateful..., 8. Don't Look Down, 9. hint of light textured, 10. downtown, 11. Untitled, 12. My buddy, 13. Untitled, 14. 08Aug09-A-321, 15. Follow the Rainbow, 16. 080608-AJE-IMG_0827-Edit, 17. Untitled, 18. misc aug 08 009, 19. Girly room, 20. Jared Storyboard, 21. Flying Tyler, 22. Raios de Luz, 23. everyday life, 24. baby zebra, 25. Bookshelf baby, 26. belly, 27. 2008*feet, 28. Maternity portrait, 29. Thank You, 30. Untitled, 31. Untitled, 32. 1, 33. ISABEL, 34. her royal kittiness, 35. one more, 36. MSU Gardens

TGIF

good morning!

Well, I think we're all back to being well. I'm pretty sure. Gene and I both caught a bit of a bug. I got it first I think, although he said the guys at work had it too, so he obviously was the silent ninja carrier. Essentially, you're doing great and as the day progesses the more tired you get and Ugh the sore tummy!! Mine was about 4-5 days. Gene's was fast and furious. No time to be sick with him. gottaworkgottawork.

I got all the paneling up in the bathroom but not the trim. Did I mention that my husband bought me a miter saw last xmas? No? Well, he did, how awesome is that. I wanted it. And it's specifically for doing trim in this house, but miter saws are awesome, I've always wanted one.

I'm contemplating dragging it out today so that I can get the trim done in the bathroom. There'll be several things going on in there including a new medicine chest I plan on making myself, some baseboard (needs routered first tho), some trim around the top and corners, and then a shelf that goes all the way around the room. I'm gonna be a regular trim master I swear. I figure if I screw it up, it's so small no one is gonna know, or I can rip it out easy enough. But I've been putting off unpacking and assembling that miter saw!

yesterday, got quite a bit of my old dollhouse furniture listed. *sigh*. I decided it was something that I probably won't ever get to do again. Dollhouses take up a *lot* of space. I have 3 that are in storage right now. and I have one kit that will take up the space of all 3 of those houses combined. I decided that I really should *move on*. Plus it doesn't fit into the scheme of my life anymore. When tanner graduates and goes off to college, it's game on for me and Gene. We've already agreed that will be pulling up stakes and going whereever the wind blows us, and well, that's kinda hard to do when you're dragging dollhouses behind you.

I see some little girls in the future that will probably end up with some houses!

I also put up some scrapbooking/stamping stuff. I *still* have a ton of stuff to go through. I am selling it off fairly quickly tho. Too bad you'll never get back out of it what you have in it. Again, see "pulling up stakes" section of this post.

Today, going to really get on that scrapbook room. At least get the stuff that needs sorted over to the sides as I have 3 albums I have to finish for the girls and I need to mail them. I'd like to finish those tonight so I can mail off the rest of their stuff tomorrow.

I also have to wash dishes, which seems innocent enough, but I have to haul water from the bathroom to do it. LOL. I feel like Laura Ingalls. (yeah, she hauled heated water from her indoor toilet, I forgot that part). No wonder they only took a bath once a week back then!

OK, I'm off.

I shall leave you with "a study of a peach". Which just so happens to be my lunch yesterday, which just happened to be sitting next to a wine goblet, so, I took it's picture. It was so pretty, who could resist.

{tasted great too}

oh Hai.

more cat pictures

It's like being at my house. Only, with less racoons.

What it's like to be me.

Accompished this today. We've not been feeling well, so it took me a while. Around noon all I wanted to do was sleep.

*****

A conversation with myself today... while painting.

Me 1: I'm down.
Me 2: whats up buttercup?
Me 1: that never gets old with you does it?
Me 2: not really. Sorry, what's wrong.
Me 1: I'm down.
Me 2: I know. You said that. why?
Me 1: I don't know why. I just feel depressed.
Me 2: That's a lie. You know why.
Me 1: I do?
Me 2: Yes. You wished on it.
Me 1: Oh yeah. That.
Me 2: You wished on a star, on something 99% of ppl wouldn't.
Me 1: Yeah, but I really want it to happen, and well, I'm superstitious.
Me 2: Ya think? It's still weird.
Me 1: I know. I was hoping it was just "girl stuff".
Me 2: Girl stuff?
Me 1: Yeah. *girl stuff*
Me 2: Probably.

Me 1: I'm down.
Me 2: yeah... you said that already.

*washing my brushes out*

Me 1: It's almost a full moon.
Me 2: That explains some crap.
Me 1: Shut up.

Senior Storyboard

Last night I stayed up for a while and worked on this:

It's a senior storyboard and apparently all the "rage" at the moment I think I'll offer something like this for my seniors. This one is an 8x10. I have a hard time imagining someone wanting a 24 x 30 of themselves but hey, whatever they want!

Yesterday got a lot accomplished and unaccomplished. Gene called, said he wasn't feeling good, that he'd pick up my beadboard on the way home then he was going to bed.

LIE.

about 10 min before he got home, I heard a pipe burst under the house (thank god I was here) so I shut off the main to the house and he "got to" spend a couple hours fixing that. I felt bad for him, because I know he didn't feel well. I have water again, but only in the master bath! I have to carry water for a couple days until all the plumbing is completely finished this weekend. *it's ok*

Yesterday I also tried to socialize some mice together. Tanner has 3, and 2 are new (salty died about 2 weeks ago :( ), when we tried to introduce them, Pepper the older mouse kept biting the tails of the other mice. Well, yesterday I got out a big rubbermaid tub and made a playground and put them all in it. they did well most of the time, but Pepper was still being a bitch so I did more research. Come to find out, you need to wait until they are all the same size. The 2 new ones must be fairly young as they are smaller than Pepper. So maybe a month or 2 we'll try again.

Today, going to try to install that beadboard *by myself* :) I'm pretty positive it won't be a huge deal. Just getting it cut down to size will be a PITA tho, as it's very wobbly and loosey goosey. It'll look good when it's done tho!