[summer break in 80 days] day 56

11:41 Lots of gurgling from my tummy. Must be close to lunch time!

I was setting up my zenfolio site and I realized I need to upgrade. The level I have will bring me no money. No point in that!

12:05 I just realized I forgot to put out the boxes to be mailed. I blame Bonnie for calling me this morning and throwing off my whole day!

6:46 I have been trying to eat starchy carbs at dinner just once a week, usually on the weekend. But I had a craving for spaghetti tonight. I used whole wheat spaghetti and it was so good.

[summer break in 80 days] day 55

9:34 Only a short gardening session today. I weeded the front beds. All that stooping and bending has left me more dizzy than usual. The aphids have taken over the crape myrtles. It's my only complaint (OK, there are more but my only one today). I should have realized it when I saw the few yellow leaves two weeks ago and sprayed. Now the trees are covered with sooty mold and the wasps are happy. I have to remember not leave anything under the trees as they get sticky real fast.









Laundry, meal prep, editing photos and pulling 3 orders. Not very exciting today. But I did get inspired to take some more macro shots. I have been thinking about those photographers who do a series or study of something. Dozen of shots of the same subject with different angles, lighting, etc. I am not sure I can focus for that long.










8:01 Bath time! Well, no. We are skipping it tonight because a thunderstorm has popped up. I have had Ryan on my lap for most of the evening. It wasn't bad, just long lasting.

[summer break in 80 days] day 54

7:28 Add this to strange kitchen items disappearing, I am missing a set of measuring spoons. So odd!

9:36 At the park.

Always check your camera settings! (Unless you are one those really lazy people who never take it off auto.) i just realized that my camera was on manual focus while taking those rainbow shots. I may be OK because they were so far away, then again. UGH. (edited to add: They are OK. Not great, but OK.)

Hazy day with high humidity. The only thing saving us is the realtively low temp of 81 degrees.

I made more photo templates this morning but didn't get them posted.



12:40 Bother! BB&B did not have any airbake pans.

1:45 Home. Target had the two pack of the airbake pans, medium & small. So I got one. Then I get home and there is another coupon from BB&B. I now have 3 and nothing I really need.



6:59 I spent much of the afternoon uploading photo templates, editing photos and making a mosaic of our trolley ride so I could post it for Mosaic Monday. I also started setting up a zenfolio site to try and sell some photos. I'll post the link when it is live. Eggs for dinner, yum.

[summer break in 80 days] day 53

8:24 Breakfast is done. Andy recorded the meal. I hope I didn't say anything self-incrimminating.

I had meant to turn on the sprinklers last night but forgot. So I turned them on this morning. We haven't had any significant rain since last Monday. (edited to add: we got lots of rain today!)

9:27 I finished reading The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship. It was an interesting book. I expected more of a novel but it has a journalistic narrative. (Who am I kidding but myself. Journalistic narrative? I have no idea what I am talking about. I am not an lit major, not even close.)

11:19 Cookie dough is made and chilling in the fridge. Unsulpured molasses smells horrid!



I edited a few more aquarium photos and posted them in my blog. I think I am done with the aquarium, shooting fish is hard! Not enough light and the little buggers keep moving.

1:57 OK so I starting reading a new book, Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum: A Parent's Guide to the Cognitive, Social, Physical, and Transition Needs ofTeenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and I dozed off. Ryan told me to wake up. Why? Wake up! Why? Do you need something? It. What? That. ... Wake up!

Now I am attempting to bake the molasses cookies. They are sticky and smell bad. I can only roll a few before they are too sticky and back to fridge the batter goes. And the are big. (Martha loves her cookies big!) I can only fit 4 on a smaller pan. And each batch takes 17 minutes to bake. I might be at this a while. I think I need to go to Bed Bath & Beyond and get some bigger sheets. (No, I have not located the missing cookies sheets.)

2:13 Thought I was being smart by rolling extra and putting then on a sheet of parchment paper. But as they warm, they spread and don't come off of the paper easily. Damn you Martha! You make it look so easy.

2:24 The cookies are VERY good.




3:53 Last batch is in the oven. The recipe said 2 dozen cookies and I got 31.

7:10 I looked up to see a beautiful rainbow outside. I rushed to get my CF card, my camera and change the lens before it disappeared. I really have not seen many rainbows since we moved down here. It was sprinkling but I didn't care. I only wish I had a wider angle lens so I could have gotten the whole thing. I came in to tell the boys and got no response. I made Ryan come out and you would have thought I was leading him to slaughter! He ran back in as soon as I let go.

[summer break in 80 days] day 52

9:26 Feels like another lazy day. No gardening. I should be making a card. That was my excuse. That and I am weary of all the bug bits. Need to let these heal before I go get more.



10:51 Finally made a card for Bonnie. Only two birthdays in July and I can't seem to get them done on time. I got her box ready and put it out on the bench. Then I noticed my crossandra are wilting. I haven't been out the front door in a while since Andy has been getting the mail. I have to stop being so lazy.



2:53 Bonnie called so I got some more photos processed and finally posted to my blog. The post was done last night but I always like to add a photo, or eight.



I am almost done with card for RC. Just waiting for the glue to dry.



Andy likes to turn on the washer and dryer. I have to call him to do it and he doesn't always hear me. It would be easier to turn them on myself but I like to see him happy.



6:43 Dinner is done and I have eaten my one cookie for the day. Being good is hard work.



9:38 I just realized that I never changed the Saturday Sales at the store. I just deleted the note from last week's sale. Saturday Sales are not generating business, no need to continue them.

[summer break in 80 days] day 51

12:26 Finished lunch, doing laundry, baking cookies, eating cherries and trying to catch up on tweets. Did I mention I took a two hour nap this morning. Good grief!

1:16 Cookies are done. I broke down and had one. I immediately had another cherry so I wouldn't want another cookie. And speaking of cherries, I have never had rainier cherries before. I grew up in Michigan and we have dark sweet cherries. When I saw the rainier in the store, the looked odd and I was thinking they might be tart. But decided to get some this week and they are buy one get one free at the Publix. I am really liking them.





2:38 shaved today with a new razor. Cut myself but I never felt a thing.

Rainier cherries are not sitting so well. My stomach feels too acidic.

I keep thinking it is Saturday.





5:00 Snacking on granola. Yum.

The boys want to listen to same audiobook. The problem is that they like to bounce around and listen to some parts over and over again and skip others. Ryan was listening in the bedroom on Andy's iPod. Andy made him stop. Ryan asked if he could listen on my computer. OK. But now Andy is upset that Ryan gets to listen to it on my computer. He wants to be the one to listen to it on my computer.

And because it's from audible.com, I can't just put it on each computer. It has to go through iTunes and each comptuer has to be authorized. You can even use iTunes sharing, the books don't show up.



10:07 Off to bed.

So what do you think about having photos not related to the text inserted at random?

[summer break in 80 days] day 50

9:47 At the playground. There are little girls here. The boys were swinging along the girls. I caught Andy pulling his pants down. What?! I yelled and he got angry.

11:12 Hungry. Andy and I did water aerobics for 40 minutes. Ryan was chased by a little boy. I was finally met 2 of the women. Coletta runs the group exercises. Peggy invited me to lunch but it's August 8th, a Saturday and I can't afford another babysitter just yet.

3:53 Home again.

After lunch, we went to aquarium and paid for an annual membership. I am glad I asked about the $6 parking I paid and that was rolled into the cost.

The aquarium was crowded but the boys did a good job of sticking close especially as I was taking quite a few pictures. (There are 795 uploaded right now. 795?! I didn't know my card could hold that many.) We only stayed an hour and Ryan did not want to go into the play area. There are misting fans and he hates to get wet.

The boys wanted to go on the trolley so we walked over to get all day passes. But we had to get cash first and the atm charged $2.25 fee! It's been years since I used just any atm. What happened to $.50? It's a cool ride but costly since Ryan only wanted to go Ybor and back to the car.

(I have finally reduced the 795 photos down to 233 and added keywords. Only one has been processed. You will likely see more in the next few days.)

[summer break in 80 days] day 49

8:08 Weird PMS symptom, dizziness.

10:04 Gardening done. I didn't mean to trim more jasmine, just only get the dead vines. But pulling those left holes so I had to trim. I uncovered two iron crosses I had forgotten I had. I'll need to move them to someplace they won't be covered in vine.

The crape myrtles are growing nicely. No frogs in the ladybug house today.

Years ago I had placed patio blocks in a winding path from the arbor to the back garden. The grass had grown around them and somewhat obscured them. I liked it like that. The lawn service came on Monday and I think they had someone else doing the trimming as he trimmed along each one of the dozen blocks. It doesn't look good.

More photos from the Photo Walk processed. They might appear here or you can see them on my Flickr stream.

1:56 Looking at going to the Florida Aquarium tomorrow. We used to go when the boys were little. Costs have gone way up! $50 for the 3 of us. A year membership is $140 and includes free parking. We could use that and take the trolleys to other parts of downtown. I had suggested Ikea which might have been cheaper.

3:54 Granola is in the oven. I don't know why I don't make it more often, it's so easy. Maple Nut Granola from Eating Well

I didn't have any pumpkin seeds so I doubled the sunflower seeds. I don't really like pecans so I doubled the almonds. No cranberries so I doubled the raisins. I also added a half cup of choclate chips while it was still warm. They melt and coat the oats. Yum! My only probably is eating just a serving. A half cup has 255 calories!

I ordered new backpacks for the boys. I really like the ones from LL Bean. They are rugged and come in a variety of sizes for pre-schoolers through adults.

7:05 The light looked kind of cool so I grabbed my camera and went outside. There are dark clouds all around us but we still have the sun. It's breezy and kind of cool, for summer. Andy followed me out then Ryan followed him. I took some shots of the ligustrum against the dark clouds. The tree is starting to look healthy again and there is a lot of new growth. There were no frogs in the ladybug house. Did my pruning chase them away?







9:27 The itching is getting bad. Time for a HOT shower and bed.

[summer break in 80 days] day 48

9:52 Done with the gardening. No breeze. I think I got an ant bite on my neck. Or maybe he was just getting ready which means it will only itch for a day or two. (ETA Yep, 2 bites on my neck, 2 on my left arm, one on my right.)

I think the scale may be showing some signs of progress. Weird thinking of all I ate this weekend. But it could be the company. I heard Deepak Chopra talk about how out bodies metabolize foods differently depending on our moods. So eating even fattening foods but enjoying good company, your body will process them differently. You should not eat when you are angry or upset because good foods can be processed poorly.

I pulled the 2 orders that I had and finally did my sales taxes. So sad to see the decline in sales. The second quarter I did only $4000 in sales. Last year I did $18,000.

3:29 Processed a few more photos from Saturday. I doubt I could ever be a wedding photographer as I get bored too easily with the same subjects.

The boys seem to be hanging out in the play room these days so I am free to read in a quiet space. I usually fall asleep.

[summer break in 80 days] day 47

9:46 Now the caffiene is gone and I can't keep my eyes open. And it's raining, double whammy.

1:53 We missed swimming because of the rain. Andy was pretty upset. He was whining about missing his bike ride until it dawned on me that he doesn't usually ride on the days we go swimming. I reminded him but that didn't help much. UPS arrived with our amazon order a day early and Andy got his new recorder. That made him happy.

The 8x10s arrived from Mpix. I love how quick they are and how great they look. Now to trim and mount on cardstock. And mail.

7:22 Distracted earlier. We went to lunch then to Oliver's to see what was on sale. No kids bikes on sale, figures. The salesman suggested an adult size bike but I won't do that. I know our parents bought us bigger bikes that we could grow into but it's not safe. Ryan picked out a white mirraco bike, Icon Intro. White?! So we put a down payment on it as he can wait until his birthday. Andy got a handlebar bag that also was not on sale. Nice sale.

I spent most of the afternoon talking to Bonnie and working on the blog for Baby Thompson. I ended up doing it twice since I wasn't thinking and did not install it in the root folder. The second installation and set up went much quicker.

Andy is still wearing his recorder though he isn't using it.

9:46 We also got a new book today, Taking Care of Myself: A Hygiene, Puberty and Personal Curriculum for Young People with Autism. It's geared towards those with autism and has some great info and ways of explaining growing up and such. Already Andy put on his robe after took off his clothes so he didn't run through the housed nekked. I have been trying to get him to do just that but I guess he needed to see it in print.

Really feeling tired tonight, yawn.