[summer break in 80 days] day 46

8:30 Oh what a night. I finally fell asleep about one and woke up at 3. That was the extent of my sleeping. Damn caffiene! Today is official napping day.



9:00 Breakfast is done. I was hoping to convince Andy to have bagels today but he wasn't falling for it. We had waffles & sausage. And I ignored my vow of last night to skip breakfast because of last night's dinner. The waffles were too good.



8.56 pm. I really expected to nap a lot today. I have been dragging but my eyes never got heavy enough to close. If fact, they are the only thing awake as my body and brain are total sloths.



I got a few photos edited. Just no motivation. None of the photos seem like much. Well, nothing to submit for the contest.

I talked to my niece Ashlee. She is pregnant and due in February. Yay!

[summer break in 80 days] day 45

Scott Kelby's Second Annual World Wide Photowalk



2:18 and my first entry for the day. I got everything done I need to get done and am just waiting for 3:00 and Rachel. It's too be patient especially when I want some tea and need some gas because I forgot on Thursday. I will probably be late for the walk but there is not much I can do. Dunedin is not that small, I will find them.

10:45 Home. Tired & wired from a lot of tea. Not that many shots as I expected but we had a good time. Felt a bit shy but did introduce myself to RC and he made it seem like we are old friends. Expensive day. I gave Rachel $100. I am too generous. Should shower and go to bed.

Recap. Rachel got here at 10 minutes to 3, yay! I didn't chat long and headed out. (When did I become such a talker? It must be from hanging out with 2 boys who don't really converse and builds up inside me.)

I got my tea lattè and some gas. I didn't fill up since that Shell station price gouges. I think it was $2.57 and I saw some closer to the cost for $2.39!

I decided to let Garmin direct me. It took me through the center, not an option with google maps. And I got there earlier.

RC was a bit late as he was racing around town with 2 other photowalks and then home to shower. I hated the bulk my rain jacket was taking in my bag and it didn't look like rain so I put it back in the car. But then were done with the orientation and walking to the pier and the sky got dark. I got my jacket in time but then I was sweating so much that it didn't make much of a difference.

We waiting out the rain in the gazebo. It didn't take long. I tagged along with RC and soon he was treating me like an old friend. I am really glad I signed up for his walk first and didn't wait for Scott or Matt.

There was all kinds of gear. Most had much better stuff than me. I don't mind but I realize I am a "baby" when it comes to collecting gear. RC was talking to another photog that he knew about getting together for a shoot. And he said I should come too and he told the guy (was his name Frank?) "She can shoot. She knows her camera." Love it! I hope I do get invited and can go.

There were some great colors on the building walls. Myra had on a royal blue shirt and red hair so she got turned into a model. She was embarrassed but followed RC's directions.

With so much prize gear on the line, some were shooting for that one shot in hopes of winning. I was just shooting what I liked. I don't expect to win or even get close. The photowalk was the goal in itself.

We walked by a bar and there was a guy playing a banjo, Casey Jones III. And 3 younger people sitting at the picnic table with him. Soon everyone saw the great photo opportunity. I got Casey a beer for his generosity. He was cool and cute in a stoned kind of way.

I asked RC about shooting mixed skin tones and he said it was best/easiest to handle in photoshop. Others agreed sine the alternative would be gels on flash and I know Bonnie doesn't want to do that.

Finally it was time for dinner. RC saved a seat for me and we also sat with Paul who is the IT guy for NAPP. Paul needs an architect so I said I would contact Robbie for him.

I didn't intend to eat so much. I ate only one chip, it wasn't good. I ordered a bean burrito and it was huge. I ate slowly (for me) and chatted with Paul and RC but soon my plate was empty. Oh I was stuffed.

We went back to the docks in hopes of a sunset. It was too cloudy. RC gave a mini class on flashes. Looks easier than I thought but flashes are not cheap and I would rather have some lenses first.

We finally broke up about 9 pm. (RC gave me a hug!) and silly me headed to Starbucks for another Tea Lattè. Oh but they taste so good! And as if I didn't have 4 or 5 glasses of iced tea at dinner!

[summer break in 80 days] day 44

9:53 I was so tired this morning (ryan's to blame) but I forced myself to garden. That crape bed just seems endless. Now that the crapes are pruned, there are more ground weeds to pull. And I see more bare/dead jasmine vines to prune. A breeze! I tried digging out that huge weed. I even used the chomper but I don't have the strength nor stamina to work it out. What can I use to kill the root? Andy came out and I asked him to carry the full bags to the front. They are light but he acts as if he has no muscles. I told him to try one at a time and that was better but he still dragged them all the way there.

I saw two small frogs hanging out in the ladybug house. Glad it's getting some use. I will try to remember photos later when there is more light. If they are still there.

12.32 I got an email from Mpix announcing 50% off 8x10s this weekend. It was just the incentive I need to get that last photo mosaic done and the files uploaded.

5:32 The afternoon has been pretty lazy. After a nap, I edited some more photos and got my blog posted. Then I have not been doing much of anything but laundry.

[summer break in 80 days] day 43

8:38 Showered, shaved and fed. No quite dressed yet.

8:55 I started reading a new book today, The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship.

9:35 At the park. I wish we didn't have to do water aerobics today. Would rather not even swim. Oh well, I am dressed for it and I know I will feel better after we are done.



9:45 I just realized that our trip through University of Tampa was a photo walk. And we are walking through USF today. i should have brought the other cameras for the boys. Andy would just want to take video.

9:50 I just asked Ryan if I should get the cameras and he said no. I'll try to remember the P&S so Andy can take video, next time.

I just realized this morning that I promised Ryan a new bike for his birthday. Expensive birthday.



11:15 Done with swimming & aerobics and waiting for Andy to get changed. Fat man with black speedo was here. The last half hour, he was walking around the pool slowly. What?

11:29 At the bank. Oh those fries smell good but I can hold out. What I really want is something to drink.



2:22 Done with our mini tour of USF. We saw only 3 art pieces. Ryan would have loved to have had the full tour of the library. Another time. I saw some great places I want to come back to without kids. It rained poured as we were leaving.

This is the communications building. I like the architecture.





The boys wanted to go inside.



This is the first sculpture we found. It's called Solar Rotary and on the summer solstice lines up perfectly with the circle below. It was hard to get a good shot of the whole thing.



What is with Libraries and that classic architecture of the forties and fifties? We will have to come back and tour the whole building. And they have an Starbucks inside!



This one called Unspecific Gravity but looks like a bunch of Mickey head balloons.



We got back in the car and drove to the other end of campus. We ended up parking at Moffitt. It brought back some memories.



This is called Maze and well, it was more like a maze to find it. They are building next to it and it seems lonely.



The boys really wanted to go up another elevator. Se we went back to mid-campus and found the parking garage. It's 8 stories tall and we parked on the roof. The boys were happy to go up and down and it was not crowded so we didn't bother anyone. I think Andy would have been happy to walk up and down the stairs as well.



4:56 home and relaxing. This time I uploaded my photos right away. 375 down to 175. Still quite few that might need some noiseware software.

8:52 L came over and bought some garage sale stuff for a friend of hers who missed it on Saturday.

Andy has been bugging me about his new recorder. I told him I couldn't order it today but that was wrong. The check has to clear first so it will tomorrow. He is a little upset that he has to wait until Tuesday. Will he understand he can't abuse his things? Probably not. I would love to get him another video camera but he just drops things too much.

I was SO good today. I had only ONE cookie for dessert after dinner.

[summer break in 80 days] day 42

9:48 Gardening done. Three bags again. I got a better look at the weed. The base is about 4" across and not easily dug up. I tried after I filled my bags and may have been too hot and tired by then. I need to get to root chopper as one of the roots is at surface level. The only other thing is try some vinegar and salt poured on/in the trunk and careful not to let it spill onto the crape. Then I need to bag or bundle the largest branches and thoroughly weed the bed. I also need to trim up all the bare and dead jasmine vine. And maybe cut some lower vine so it will grow up the fence again. The only leaves are at the top of the fence.

85 feels like 95. No wonder I am dripping.

11:19 Where did my energy go?

I finished another album page. I did this one just on summer. Only 2 to go!

3:34 I finished reading Good Calories. It reads a bit like a conspiracy theory that government and medical experts have been giving us the wrong information for decades by prescribing low fat-high carb diets. A lot of the science makes sense that all the refined carbs are making us fat and sick. But I am not I buy into the whole eat only protein and fat and let your body go into ketosis for it's brain food requirements. I wilk be trying to cut back on more sugar and flour but I won't be increasing my meat consumption.

And on that note, I decided to make some cookie for the chiro staff. I have just enough cinnamon for snickerdoodles. While waiting for the butter to soften, I got another album page done.



I started to make the cookies and could not find my cookie pans! Where did they go? I ended up using my half size sheets but still kept looking for the other ones. I used them a month ago but where did I put them? I checked every cabinet, even the ones too small. So weird.

5:50 One more batch of cookies to bake. The recipe said 20 cookies but I got 30. Martha might have every size scoop imaginable. I only have 2.



7:40 We just got done playing with the water hose. Ryan was outside and asked for the water. I realized he has never played with the hose. We have been on water restrictions so he never got the chance. I was kind of surprised that the hose was still good. I was going to let him play with the watering can but there was something white in there. Did dad use it for mixing up Round Up? I called out Andy to try. He stayed cleared of Ryan, he doesn't trust him. Then Ryan got it back and would have loved to have unwound the entire hose and gotten everything soaked. But we are still on water restrictions so I had to show some limits. Ryan dropped the water sprayer and the thing is so old it went off and got all of us wet. Oy!

The snickerdoodles are really good. I never used to like them when we were growing up. These are better than moms. And I have no self control.

[summer break in 80 days] day 41

8:46 So sleepy today. I am definitely getting rid of all the cupcakes and muffins today. I should confess that I have been only eating the muffin top and throwing away the rest. I was taught not to waste food but under the circumstances, I think it's OK.

9:42 Gardening done for the day. Three bags filled. Probably one more day to clear the crape myrtle. But there a huge weed, and by huge I mean the trunk is 2" in diameter, right next to the crape. It will be tough to dig it out. On the bright side all 4 crapes are showing new growth since I have pruned them. I might not see new blooms this year but that is OK. I also found some mint. At one time the entire bed was filled with rampant mint. (It's supposed to keep away the aphids.) And it had spread to the neighboring yards. Every time my neighbor cut his lawn, we got a wonderful smell of mint.

11:44 Blog up and showered. Still so many photos to edit but there is no rush.

Silly: Ryan got up and dressed in a royal blue shirt and red shorts. Andy gets dressed and chooses a blue shirt and red shorts. I go to grab clothes and the next shirt on the pile is a navy blue shirt and I grab it. I open my shorts drawer and see the red ones on top. I hesitate a second and grab them. We are staying home so our matching outfits won't cause any snickering.

I packaged up some more paper packs for a future garage sale. I also made room in the store to put garage sale boxes. Two years ago I was expanding the space, now it is contracting. I don't expect to keep the store going into 2011 if sales do not pick up.

I worked on another album page for the family. Photo mosaics are so much easier & quicker than doing 8 scrapbook pages. For some reason I have problems with mass producing things like cards or album pages. They all have to different and even that gets boring using the same photos.

7:13 Relaxing, sort of. The boys are watching Blue's Clues on the laptop. That would OK except Andy like to replay certain spots. Hard to tune that out.

9:08 Google Reader has 243 unread items. It was over 500 when I started at 8:30 tonight. No, I don't read that fast but I mark all as read for the computer tech stuff I know I won't get to. Learning to let go is good.

[summer break in 80 days] day 40

8:19 We are halfway there! Though we realized yesterday the count was off. School starts in 6 weeks.

Bonnie called. Her SIL had a baby yesterday. She was only at 29 weeks and her water broke. Bentley Kai was born at 16 1/2" and 3 pounds. Bonnie would love to be there every day but cannot.



9:44 At the MPII playground. Sticky this morning. Ryan finally managed to make it across the monkey bars. These swing which are more difficult.

10:55 I am in a bad mood and Ryan is making it worse. He has to be the first in the pool, fine. But has to be the first out and got upset when I wanted to get out and take some pictures. The water was cooler than it has been and felt good. But I was in no mood to exercise. I read recently that it is better to acknowledge and accept your bad moods. Once I told Ryan I was in a foul mood, he was somewhat better.

11:59 Camera battery is dying and I forgot to bring the other one. I told Ryan we have to drive home and would have thought that I told him I was taking away his toys. Ugh.



Andy is a tourist. I don't know where he learned this from. Every time I went to take a photo, he would stand himself right in the middle. He has never done this before. Funny.


Ryan is happiest when he has a map and can be the leader.

Walking around University of Tampa was nice but hot. I found that the name of the sculpture I posted for yesterday's POTD is Sticks of Fire which
Is what Tampa means. There are a couple of old cannons in the park and Ryan did not want me to get near them. Even after I explained they do not work. "It's too dangerous!"



There weren't many people around. And the river was dirty. Last time I was there, January 2008, you could see the bottom of the river. You couldn't see anything today.



Of course the boys had to walk along the seawall. I was nervous but had to let it go. It is something I would do.

We walked through Plant Hall. It used to be a hotel and the veranda is really nice. The boys ran up and down the stairs a couple of times and we continued on our tour. Ryan said he was hot. Are you ready to go? "As ready as I'll ever be."

Then we drove through downtown and onto Harbour Island. I forgot that the island is basically one big gated area and if you don't belong, the road returns back to downtown.

We went on Davis Islands (is it more than one?) and drove through to the airport. The boys didn't want to get out so I only took a few shots.

Then we went to Target where I used up the garage sale money on presciptions and chicken nuggets.

My camera is not acting right. I tried to turn on Live View and it only blinks. I wonder if this has anything to do with me trying to find total shutter counts the other day. I haven't use Live View since. Everything else seems to work OK. (I did a reset and it seems OK.)

Andy has lost the battery door to his recorder and it won't work without it.

Ryan's new sticker book is missing half of the stickers.

4:06 Finally home.

I sat and recovered before getting to my photos. I had taken 495 and did manage to get it down to 249 to keep. So far I have edited 7.

[summer break in 80 days] day 39

8:40 Breakfast is done. Ryan and I are talking about silly things. Mostly about Alphabutt and why she named her daughter Panda.

I told Ryan he had to put the stuff away in his bin. He left and was done quickly. But then there were a few things left in the bin. "I can't put them away." Do you want a dollar? "No." What? Ryan doesn't want money?

This week's POTD theme is public art. Hmm... I am not going to be able to do this one. WC has no art and I am not sure I can get the boys (Ryan) into take a drive downtown.

4:20 I think someone drugged my lunch. I fell alseep and gad the hardest time waking up. In fact I was sleeping in my dream and not bring able to wake up. Ugh.

Dark clouds are moving in. We haven't had rain in a few days, I hope we get it today as I am too lazy/forgetful to remember to water my plants.

We got some rain. Not much but enough to knock a lot of the crape myrtle blooms to the ground. Crapes are similar to lilacs in the appearance and fraility of their blooms but without the fragrance.



I went out and took some photos in the front. It looks like something is eating the jasmine. It looks like they have been snipped. But the jasmine under the crape are growing.





7:44 The pain in the bum customer who cancelled her order hours after placing it has sent me another email. She wants to order and has the money. Do you think she found the $12 under the cushions? Or maybe she reads this blog and feels guilty?

Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) is quite interesting. I have gotten through the chapter where he talks about high protein low carb diets. I do think that refine carbs has helped in making me fat. (And all the baked goods in my house this past 2 weeks have been evil.) But I am skeptical that high protein diets work or that they are safe. I don't think they have been looked at in the long term.

9:42 This week's POTD theme is water, not public art. Oops.

[summer break in 80 days] day 38

7:01 Backing up my drives. I have a reminder that pops up every Saturday but I ignore it most weeks. Taking care of things right now.

11:32 Every one is gone. Not that many people but I still managed to make $200. Every one left with a box full and it didn't make a dent. Only a few brownies were eaten after I whined a bit. Ryan hid until only our neighbor Dixie was here.

12:14 One wants to go out to lunch, the other one doesn't and is causing problems. sigh

I had to stop at Starbucks. Lisa forgot what I wanted and brought me a chai lattè. I appreciate it but I had the taste for tea and I am not a fan of chai. It took a while to have it made and the barista (he was a man, are they called baristas?) decided to fill the time to talk to me. I was talked out at the Garage Sale. I have no more conversation left in me.

LifePointe church was out at the corners giving out cold water. Nice intent but do we need all those plastic bottles?



1:21 I just put a sheet over the folding table so the boys have a hide out. Autism knows no age limits for simple pleasures.

4:13 Andy has "moved" to poppa's room. He has been sleeping there so I moved his iHome so he can hear his alarm.

6:37 Some customers are more work than they are worth. One place an order for $6 + $6 for shipping, a whopping total of $12. Then she cancels a few hours later. Deleting the order isn't so bad but then I have to go back and manual mark the items back in stock. There is no profit in her orders as she buy only clearance items.

[summer break in 80 days] day 37

9:58 The family room is clean. OK, clean enough. I have to figure out the best place to set up the tables. I only have over head lighting in the kitchen. There is good light coming from the windows. It will be awkward at best.

10:55 I set up one 6' table in front of the glass doors. The doors are 8' wide so there is still room to get out. I am hoping that I can just use this table and my kitchen table since there is little room to set up more.

I walked into the train table. Ow! I hit my knee pretty hard and said "ow!" a few times rather loudly. Only Andy came to check out the noise. I asked him to kiss it and make it feel better. He did and I was happily surprised the pain instantly disappeared.

3:33 Taking another break. I made snickerdoodle cupcakes. I filled them to full. But they take so good. Next time I will make 30 instead of 24.



Everything is set up for the sale. Then UPS comes with 5 huge boxes for Bonnie. Oh well, an uncluttered house would be too much to ask for, right?

I told Andy to restrict the trains to the train table. He rhen proceeded to fill the train table with trains. There are still more trains.



I was wondering how many images I have taken with my camera. I googled but it wasn't an easy search. On the third search I found the trick and it reads like some video game hack. Anyway, I have take 30,686 in 2 years.

7:01 It's times like these that I really miss Gail. He never minded washing floors and I hate doing it. It's all I have left to do. Mostly. Tomorrow I will probably pull more paper and make sets. I wasted time talking to B for a couple of hours.

8:02 Bath time! One down, one to go.