[summer break in 80 days] day 16

Breakfast: Bagels for the boys, oatmeal for me.

Gardening: I cleaned up another bed. I found 2 indian hawthorn shrubs under weeds. I thought about transplanting the one but decided not to. It was small and not great. The other was clearly dead as I didn't need to dig it out. I finally dug out the weed that my dad mistook for ornamental grass. One benefit to cleaning out this bed is that the jasmine has traveled over here and is blooming. Every brush of the vine brought out its musky scent. Ahh. I moved the blocks over to the bed by my bedroom window. Now this is no longer a bed and can be mowed with the rest of the lawn.

Amazingly, I had a bit of energy left and dug out some more weeds by the ligustrum. These had long roots and I could not pull them by hand. I trimmed a bit more from the ligustrum until my pruners broke. Bother! The spring either broke or came lose. I could not find it. Oh well, these pruners have served me well considering how much I have abused them. Now I have to find another pair. Amazon has them but not under their store so no free shipping. I did find some at Gardener's Warehouse. I hate paying for shipping.

Smoothie then shower time. I try to let the boys wear what they want. But Ryan had on red plaid shorts and a striped shirt. The colors really didn't go and the shorts are a bit short. So I made him change. He grumbled but did put on some denim shorts.

Lunch & the bank. Then we went to Muvico. The boys wanted to play a video game before we went in. They each played the NASCAR race. They aren't used to using gas & brakes. Ryan did pretty well and won.

UP! was good but kind of sad too. It's not the kind of movie I associate with Pixar. It seems older than the usual pre-school fodder. Ryan enjoyed it, especially the action scenes. Andy couldn't sit still and lost his shoe at one point. Sigh.

After the movie, the boys played more video games. Ryan loved the air hockey even though I didn't let him win. Final tally: $20.50 for the movie, $10 for games. Thank goodness they don't eat popcorn!

We drove by the somewhat new Rec Center. The skate park looks kind of cool. It was empty. Then off to Lowe's for Round Up and barrier cloth. Ryan wanted to walk through the entire store. After following him through a through aisles, I told him enough. Well, I let him walk through the store with Andy and I looked at some patio furniture.

We got home and Ryan turned on the TV. He watched American Gladiators on ESPN Classic.

Dinner: Chicken nuggets for the boys; Fried Eggs followed by cauliflower for me. (I ate them like 2 mini meals.)

I have been thinking about "the light" in photography. I am not able to go when the light is best. But I need to try. I looked up the twilight times in PhotoCalc. (PhotoCalc is a cool iPhone app) Tonight's twilight is 8:29 to 8:52. Well, Ryan goes to bed at 8:30 and Andy goes to bed after 9 so maybe I can do it. Anyway, I went out and took some shots after dinner but before baths. About 8:20, I noticed a warmer glow outside and grabbed my camera. I only had 5 minutes so I did what I could. After I put Ryan to bed, I noticed the light was cooler. Perhaps the PhotoCalc works for those areas that see the sun set. Here, the sun goes behind the trees so we never see it touch ground or water. One thing I did realize that I didn't like, the damn bugs! I guess I need to prepare next time and put on some bug balm. Or maybe get out in the morning instead of stumbling to me computer to check email.

[summer break in 80 days] day 15

Breakfast: Sausage & biscuits for Andy. Oatmeal for me. Cookies for Ryan.

Ryan doesn't want us to do aerobics. He diesn't want to swim alone. So we made a plan. Andy will swim with Ryan for the first 30 minutes. Then I will do aerobics with Andy for the next 30 minutes.



These shrubs are planted around the fitness building at the clubhouse. I love the little yellow flowers. Yellow is one of my favorite colors in the garden. I may have to figure out what they are and plant some at home. They do get tall, about 4 or 5 feet. It's hard to tell since these are pruned regularly.

We went to the playground before the pool. It's hot. I got some shots of Andy in his Rappin' Raffi glasses. Yo!





At the pool. Finally connected to the internet. But the signal is so weak. Why do I keep trying? Ah well, it's too hot so I am getting in the water. The challenge will be not to go under. I washed and dried my hair before we left & it's looking pretty good.

I sat on the edge and the boys swam and played and came over to me and then. The pool is getting more crowded each week.

At 10:30, Ryan goes to get his pool toys and Andy and I join the aerobics group. Andy is more distracted and keeps leaving and coming back. I stay because I need the exercise. Ryan played with his torpedos and throws then too close to the other swimmers. So fun to have to split your attention 3 ways.

When we are finally done exercising, a woman approaches to tell me about Ryan. She says she understands. Really? I am skeptical. Then she says she has experience with autism (she whispers it like people used to whisper cancer 100 years ago). Her son will be 45 next month and has autism. Oh. Glad I kept my mouth shut. Her son lives alone in Wisconsin and has a job. She said he had his things mean self-stimming behaviors but for the most part hides his disability. He grew up in a time when autism was cause for shame. Not that it is great now but it is getting better.

The problem with me in the pool is that I don't get any shots. I may have to swim less on Mondays.

Lunch: Wendy's for Ryan, CFA for Andy and me.

Errands: Bank & chiropractor. Good adjustment. My neck made a lot of noise. And Paula loved the cookies.



We see this poor guy on our way to the chiropractor. Though he looks kind of happy strumming the foam guitar. But it's 95º and that straw hat can't help much.

Ryan wanted to drive by Busch Garden so we did that on the way to Publix. You can see the roller coasters from the street. There is one that has a big drop. Andy said, "I'm afraid." I say he didn't have to go on any rides that might scare him. "We can't go there." Do you want to go? We can go as a family. "I can go with my family." Ryan, do you want to go as a family? "Yes!" Oh dear! Looks like I need to save some money & lose some weight so I can fit into those seats.

Nice to be home and after I check my email, twitter and have a cookie, I need a nap.

Dinner: Chicken nuggets for the boys; Cottage cheese, tomato & cucumber salad for me.

The cookies are gone. I might try a pound cake or cupcakes next. Martha Stewart has a new book out called Cupcakes. I don't make them enough to justify the purchase. I think I will look at it next time we go to the bookstore.

[summer break in 80 days] day 14

Breakfast: bagels for the boys, oatmeal for me.


(summer 2002, weird crop but I had to leave Duffy in)

Gardening: I attacked the ligustrum today. I bought this years ago for $250. It was 5' tall. I wanted a small shade tree to view outside the kitchen window. Ligustrum is actually a shrub which can be shaped into a tree. The nursery had begun the training and all I had to do was continue the process which meant trimming off any low branches as they sprouted. Many people prune ligustrums into a half round ball. Though I think it's kind of cool, I prefer a more natural look. Yes, I see the irony of pruning a shrub into a "natural looking" tree. The tree did well. Then came the 5 years of neglect. Last year it was really dry and my sprinklers were not working. I though we were going to lose the tree. A year later and it does look really sad. I trimmed away most of the lower branches. I couldn't find my lopping shears so I did what I could with my hand pruners. I pulled a lot of moss of the tree. Though many trees can handle some moss, weak ones will only get weaker. I thought ligustrum was drought tolerant and just read that it isn't. Oops. (I'll get some photos later of the hack job.)

Lunch: Grilled cheese for everyone. I added baby carrots & sunchips to mine. I finally had to get the individual packs of sunchips to keep me from eating half the bag. Works, but I wish they had a pack with just plain. I am not too keen on the bad breath from sour cream & onion.

Took a nap.

Worked on getting some favorite photos of the boys in Lightoom. I made 3 more templates in Photoshop and will use them to make album pages from the family. Sure beats doing 32 separate scrapbook pages.

I looked out and saw the rabbit in the yard. I have no precious plants out there so I let him have free reign. He mostly eats the weeds that pretend they are lawn. I took some shots from my bedroom so there is a window and screen blurring the image some. I even got out my longer zoom & used my tripod but the images were not much better than good.



Dinner: Chicken nuggets for the boys. Spaghetti & sauce, tomato & cucumber salad for me.

There was a lot of rumbling and lightning but little rain. It mostly passed to the west of us. But Ryan wanted to skip baths. Ryan couldn't find his cup and I let him get another one. I looked and couldn't find it either. The problem is that Ryan only drinks chocolate milk. If left too long, the milk goes sour and the cup needs to be thrown away. We switched to thermoses last year which help keep the milk colder, longer. So now instead of replaces a $4 straw cup, we have to spend $15 on a thermos. I finally checked my office and found it there.

[summer break in 80 days] day 13

I slept really well until 3 am. Then I was awake until 5:30. 6:15 came too quickly.

Last night I put the cookies in the cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind? Not really but I did resist.



I attacked the other 2 indian hawthorns. The middle one was basically survivng. I may take it out all together if I find some energy. My dad had some round-up in the shed. I sprayed the front beds and used a lot. (By 6 pm, there was more brown than green in the beds.)

I made a father's day card for my dad and took some photos of the cookies.



The rest of the day was filled with work, laundry, routine meals, photo editing, getting Ryan to stop picking on Andy... the same boring stuff I have been posting for 13 days now!

[summer break in 80 days] day 12

I worked on Monday Mosaic today. I finally learned how to make a template in Photoshop. It's pretty easy and I can see myself making more. I used a Deluxe Cuts colorblocking template to copy. I am thinking of doing these for the pages I need to make for the family. I can make one and have copies printed! Oh I can see myself doing digital scrapbooking if I ever get back to scrapbooking that it.

We got to the pool early so we went to the playground. We were the only ones there. Ryan tried out the sand digger. He didn't like the feel of sand in his sandals or on his hands.



The sign says the playground is for ages 5 to 12. There are baby swings. But Andy shows why the age limit is 12. He is touching the shade. (And you can see why I have to work hard to remove the green cast from everything.)



At 10:00, we went to the pool. Just as we walked into the gate, the lifeguard walked into the bathroom. Rude. Ryan had to get the key and change in the other bathroom.

We were trying to wash off our feet in the weak shower and L & her kids came in. (I didn't recognize her at first.) So instead of water jogging, I talked with L and played with Ryan. He gets so jealous of my divided attention. I was hoping that Ryan would want to play with E & M but that didn't happen. Maybe we will see them again and Ryan will warm up to them. Andy was happy to swim by himself.

Wendy's, bank, Chick Fil A, Target & home. Andy got some sunglasses at Target so he can be like Raffi when he "raps.". Andy walked around Target saying "yo!" like a very white, middle-aged Canadian children's singer.

I spent too much time catching up on Twitter when I got home. There is so much about what is happening in Iran. It makes me feel sad & helpless. And afraid of what I would do if anything like that happened here. I know why I stay away from reading & watching the news.

I finally made the cookies. Oh they are so good! Oatmeal chocolate chip is one of my favorite cookies and the nutella just adds a bit extra. I should have used the smaller scoop & made more cookies. Martha must love big cookies! I'll take some photos today if I don't eat them all. I ate 6 cookies last night instead of dinner.

B called. She is having so many problems with Lightroom. I think we might have figured it out. I hope so. She has spent so much time organizing that she hasn't had time to edit her photos.

[summer break in 80 days] day 11

Woke up at midnight when Andy climbed in bed. What? Ryan was going to leave but I made him stay. Soon Andy left. He says he had a bad dream.

Waffles & sausage for breakfast. The milk I bought 2 weeks ago and had an expiration daye of June 9 was still good. Odd.

I dozed in the chair and woke up with the phone ringing. The boys had been building tracks and placed some under the entended leg rest on my chair. Nice.

I finally got the cards photographed and posted. And I took some photos of the boys stuff. I had to up the ISO to 800 and use the tripod. I just hate using the flash.



I was listening to my neighbor mow his lawn. The motor stopped then the rain started. I wonder if he got everything done? The rain only lasted about 10 minutes but it was heavy.

I was going to bake cookies. I was pulling out the ingredients, the butter was room temperature. I have no brown sugar. No molasses either to make my own. So I covered up the sugar in the mixer and put the other stuff in the fridge until tomorrow. I thought about asking my neighbor but it was raining again.

Two hours later, Ryan asks why the oven taking so long. Huh? Oh crap! I never turned it off.

Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.

The boys think it was funny that I know the words the first time we saw the commercial. I didn't tell them it's 30 years old and just has a new beat.

Watched the NASCAR race. (Did I have a choice?) Great finish with leader Jimmie Johnson running out of gas on the last lap. He finished 22nd! Second place Greg Biffle also runs out of gas and Mark Martin comes from behind to win! But NASCAR is complicated and Jimmie Johnson wins a tons of points for leading so many laps. I don't know all the rules. I don't care enough.

I try to play a game of Trains and the sound of the horn brings Ryan to my side. As soon as I am done, he is reaching for it. He has the high score. I have to make sure I never get past it.

[summer break in 80 days] day 10

Seems I am not so sleepy today. I have been waking up less at night. Oh good grief! I am sounding like my mother!

My grandmother lived just a few houses down from us but on the other side of the alley. You could see her dining room window from our back bedroom upstairs. My mom would call Marne every morning, "How did you sleep?" Marne would respond then ask my mother the same question. It used to annoy me.

I did get out and do some gardening. I still don't know how to tackle the front beds. I am ignoring them for now.

I pruned and weeding on the side yard. There wasn't much to do since Larry weeded earlier this spring. The azaleas are not vrowing too much which is good. There is only 10 feet between the houses on this side.



I moved to the back yard. The jasmine as rebloomed so I will leave that alone for now. I decided to prune a bit of the Indian Hawthorne. I may have gotten carried away. This plant was almost as big a2 the the 2 to the right. (yes, that is 2 plants which have merged into one) the problem is all the grassy weeds which were growing under and through the shrub. I could see them it but I couldn't reach them until I pruned some more. I saw I was hacking the plant and decided to take it all the way down. It will grow back. Next week I will tackle the other 2 shrubs.

This reminds me of the cassias I had. One of them I planted at the corner of this fence. I was told they would grow to about 3 feet tall. (I realize now that the nursery misread the meters for feet!) So I got several and places them around the yard. They bloom a beautiful yellow in October. Since we do not have a typical fall, this fall like color was more welcomed.



The problem was, these plants grew quickly to 3 feet and beyond. I pruned one down to the ground and watched it grow back 1 foot each week! Because I planted these in places for small, 3 foot shrubs, we finally had to dig them all out. Now that I have that back corner empty, perhaps a cassia might be nice there.

I purchased Trains for the iPod Touch. I got to play it once then I made the mistake of showing Ryan. He played it until the battery ran too low. Only 99¢ for a limited time.

I am glad my week of backlighting and sun flare is over. I can't see after I try for the sun flare. Next week is all boy. Though mine are not the typical boys, they are still boys.

I realized today that I will need to go back to school no matter which path I take. I never worked on CADD and would need to learn it to go back into architecture. But I would rather spend that time and money on something I would enjoy more and with a possibly better future like photography.

[summer break in 80 days] day 9

Oops, I slept through the gardening time. Darn caffeine!

I finally returned my latest Netflix disc. It was Kinsey and definitely not one safe for the boys. I hadn't watched it yet and knew I would get around to watching until the boys went back to school.

Speaking of safe for boys. Andy has been watching Thomas & Friends on YouTube. George Carlin is one of the narrators. I started hearing George Carlin talk about religion and knew they found something else. Ryan said it was "When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?" On YouTube? No, they found it from my shared iTunes Library. Oops.

Andy played with the trains. He was replaying the stories that he knows by heart. He left and Ryan put everything away. Huh?! Ryan, the one who would leave a train track out for months if I let him? Then he built his own set up. Oh, I see.

It feels like a lazy day. I've done laundry, made some cards, read a lot. But the day just seems to drag. Must be the contrast from yesterday's schedule.

I realize that I haven't done Wednesday Weigh-in. Well, the scale hasn't been moving much. I have stopped eating meat except when we go out. I was concerned that I wasn't getting enough protein since my average totals tend to be around 10%. But I just looked at Dr Weil's site again and confirmed that I am OK.

[summer break in 80 days] day 8

Getting ready to go to the pool. Andy talks about leaving his hat at home. Ryan decides to wear his just to annoy Andy. Andy is upset but he is trying not to be. Ryan can be such a brat.

I made the mistake of getting in the pool before Ryan. I did ask before he left to get changed but as usual, he didn't answer me. He was upset and said he couldn't swim. I had to get out so he could get in. Sigh.

Right away, Andy gravitated towards the water aerobics group. I had to join to keep him from bumping into them. This leaves Ryan alone which can be trouble. He needs attention. If I leave Andy alone, he inches closer to the women, if I leave Ryan alone, he joins us and jumps on Andy. Joy!

So I drag Andy away for a while to appease Ryan's squeaky wheel. At least until Andy gets tired of being jumped on, dunked, pulled and pushed by his little brother and he escapes to the aerobics group. Ryan is OK after that.

(I wonder when the clubhouse will figure out the wifi. I can connect but there is no internets. Grrr... )

They built an outside bathroom for people using the pool. They want you to use it if you are wet. The pool capacity is 55. One bathroom is not enough and there seems to be a line anytime you look. Ryan is not patient so he went to use the other bathroom to change.



When the aerobics class is over, I get out. Ryan is changed and wants to leave but Andy would love to stay in the pool for hours. I let him until Ryan complains again.



We do our lunch thing and a stop in the bank in between. Then we are off to Copeland Park. I pull out my iPod Touch where we have downloaded the map. But there is a map of Washington DC. Seems Ryan downloaded another map after this. Nice. (I learned later than the park map was still there, I just didn't know how to access it.)



We find the park after pulling into the wrong driveway. This whole park seems a bit convoluted and the signage is not great. We see the playground and some boys playing basketball and park the van. The boys play a bit and then I get bored and want to walk. They do too and we follow the paved path around a field to another playground. This one is older but shaded. There is also a group of kids that just came from either the school or the rec center. Without being racist, we are the 3 whitest people at the park. We continue our walk.





The paved paths seem to twist and turn back on each other and perhaps they run parallel. We really aren't sure where we are as we have no map for the park. At one point, there is a worn path in the greenery and a small hill and Ryan has to look. Andy has to join him. I ask Ryan what he sees but he doesn't answer and starts to go down the other side. I have to yell at him to come back. Who knows what could be there! Andy continues and I almost have to go chase him before he finally comes back. Good grief!



It's 95 degrees and after that, I am hot. I want to get back in the van and drink the rest of my tea. We continue and see some houses and then a road. We see a street sign which says 19th. We started at 15th. Hmm, where are we? We continue to walk and see only 3 people walking. One is on her cell phone. The path turns again and we see another road. 109th Avenue. The streets run north and south and the avenues run east and west. We keep walking and soon see the playground where we started. I cross over the grass but Ryan does not follow. He wants to continue. UGH. We discuss the options. I tell him we can come back. He hates leaving things unfinished.

We get back in the van to go to the rec center. Ryan wants to see the computer lab. I tell him that it won't be as nice as what he has. "Just forget it." Oh I hate this defeatist attitude. We drive around the park and see the pool has some cool splash features.

Our trip to Publix is uneventful. I have started giving Andy a few items to get. I have to show him where the are and what they look like so soon he can do them on his own. I think Ryan wants a list as well but he drives the cart so he is with me and not off wandering. I do have to convince Ryan that he only needs one pack of cookies to last him until Monday. Of course, I need to convince myself that a bag of Sunchips is really 11 servings and not 3 or 4. (This is progress, when I first purchased them, I was lucky to get 2 servings out of a bag.)

The boys are getting better about helping with the groceries. I didn't even have to remind them today!

I came home and checked out google maps. The route turns out to be only 3/4 mile. It felt like 6 miles. Also, there appears to be a lake in the middle of the park. Google maps show it dried up but this is probably a shot taken in winter. We will have to go back at some point.

I don't know if the boys are getting along better or if I am getting better at tuning them out. I did some pruning of the photos I uploaded today. 295 photos down to 119. There are a handful I want to develop further. I will be happy when this week is over, I am not a fan of the sun flare. Probably because I cannot not get one that looks great. Next week's theme is all boy. I think I can handle that one even if my boys are not that typical.

As usual, the boys go to bed earlier on the days we swim. But I am a bit wired since I drank some caffeine. I figure I can work on my blog. Wordpress came out with 2.8. I saw the notices to upgrade this morning but ignored them for the most part. I just don't want to deal with problems right now. A few people twittered that they upgraded without issues. So I clicked the button and started the process. It seems to go fine but then I have to log back in and fatal error! I can't get back in and I am not sure how to solve the problem. The problem is with google analytics. The plug-in is old and possible outdated. I delete the plugin and get back in. I decide to wait to upgrade the other blogs I have and go to bed.

(I just looked at the word count, 1199! Good grief! I am lucky to get 500 words. Must have been the caffeine.)

[summer break in 80 days] day 7

I may be getting bored with this already. In the past 6 days, I started my entry earlier in the day and added to it throughout the day. Today I am starting after Ryan is in bed. Thinking back...


(this boy LIKES to help with chores)

I did get some gardening done today. I feel like I am fighting a losing battle with the front beds. Weed today and more weeds show up tomorrow. I am afraid I might have to resort to chemical help to control the problem. I wanted to get the front done before I went to the backyard but...

Ryan did not come out and ride his bike. I don't think he was feeling well. He hung out in the playroom most of the day. At one point, he laid down on the sofa for about 15 minutes. He didn't have a fever but this is very unusual for him. The TV was not on and he just covered himself up with the blanket.

I pulled the 3 orders I had. Business is SO slow. I have some new product coming in next week which might help a bit.

I made a couple of cards. I decided to do some hand sewing to one. Why I do this, I do not know. I love the way it looks but it makes my hand ache and my fingers go numb. I need to make myself practice on my sewing machine.

I had Ryan pick a park for us to visit tomorrow. He chose one in an area that may be described as ghetto. I guess I should have pre-screened the parks.

I was looking at iPhone apps. I saw some sports quiz apps for 99¢. I asked Ryan if he wanted baseball or NASCAR. He didn't want either. Andy wanted NASCAR. Ten minutes later, Ryan comes back and asks where it is. Why is he so afraid to ask?

Speaking of Ryan. The tooth fairy forgot to visit. I just went know to switch the tooth with the money and the tooth was gone. He took it out of the baggy and put it under his pillow. The way he thrashes around, he would surely lose the tooth and/or the money. I took the tooth and then put the money in a new baggy on the fridge.

I have recently discovered the joy of fried eggs for dinner. I love fried eggs sandwiches but those 2 slices of bread double the calorie count. I've tried the wraps but it's not the same. Just the eggs, OK, and a bit of cheddar are so lovely. Good thing my cholesterol levels have always been low.