16 june 2011

We had our first big storm last night. It was after Ryan went to bed. He did wake up and cuddle but he doesn't remember it today.

At the pool. Andy is swimming. Ryan is wandering about.

I decided to take a different approach to POTD. I decided to use one of the daily prompts I get. The one from Capture Your 365 was about a good mess; in the garden, washing dishes. I had Calliope picking a carrot. I could only find one carrot. I think that it all I have. I wish I could buy more but they are not available at Lego.

I worked on 2008 photos and finished February.

I looked up to see Ryan bending down behind three teenage girls lounging by the pool. They noticed him and turned but didn't say anything to him. He walked back and they giggled quietly. I don't think he heard or noticed. I asked him what he was doing but he didn't respond.

A mother and her 2 girls and 1 with gorgeous red hair. They are pale and freckled.

Pat came by and invited me back to the exercise group. Maybe. She is nice.

Lunch, gas, groceries.

I spent $102 at Publix. What the heck? Chocolate milk is at $6.15 gallon. Thank goodness they don't eat a lot of snacks.

Had to nap.

Made a card.

Posted POTD.

Worked on Disney photos and March 2008.

Had popcorn for dinner.

Explained a joke to Ryan. He is reading Brain Droppings
">Brain Droppings by George Carlin. He was reading it in the car. He repeated the joke to me. JFK's administration shouldn't have been called Camelot. It should have been called Come-a-lot. I asked if he understood and he said no. I told him Come-a-lot referred to sex and did he want to know. No. Later he asked about it. I had to explain what come meant and what an orgasm was. I also had to explain about JFK. George Carlin may not be appropriate for my 12 year old but his jokes bring up conversation that might not otherwise happen.

More photo editing. I see that I must have just grabbed the great photos and worked on them leaving the rest. I will have lots to scrap about. And I have been purging loads of poor and meh images.

15 june 2011

I took some Lego photos in case I didn't get any good shots while we went mall exploring. Is there a cool name for it like spelunking?

West Shore Plaza. Ryan wanted to go exploring. Drove me a little nuts. We went up the escalators to the movie theaters. Ryan wanted to go in but didn't want to watch a movie. Well, he would have been happy to see 5 or 10 minutes just to get inside. We went back down then walked around the mall. The lighting is awful. Sometimes it is bright but mostly it is dark. I didn't want to bring in my big flash but I would have been better off.

We went into Macy's. We went up the escalators to the third floor. We walked around and to the elevator. We were in the elevator and we heard a big clunk. An employee was in the elevator with us and said that there is a freight elevator behind the passenger elevator. Andy said, "This is a death trap!" because he heard Gluse say that. Oh joy. Ryan went into a woman's fitting rooms. He wanted to go in all of them. I said he could go into the Men's fitting rooms. He walked away. He took pictures of everything. He wanted to go up and down the escalator and elevator too many times. I would tell him to stop and he kept going. What the heck? I was getting angry and Ryan ignored me. Andy stayed back because he doesn't like it when I get angry. Which would make me more angry. I looked at iPhone cases and Ryan decided he wanted one for his iPod Touch. I bought him a shiny green one that will probably break soon.

We went to Game Stop. The boys don't play with the wii nor do they play with Nintendo DSs. Ryan found NASCAR 2011 for the xbox. I asked about it for the wii. They had a copy. Ryan didn't want it. He said he wasn't ready. Fine with me. It was $50.

Went to lunch: McDonalds then Chick Fil A.

Ryan wanted to go to a bookstore. There are none in the malls anymore. We went to Barnes & Noble. Ryan said he wanted a book even though he just got 2 through iBooks. I can't say no to books. Which is why my house is full of books. I got an ice chai. Yum.

Ryan wanted a George Carlin trilogy for $22. The book is $15 at amazon. He said he would wait. But then he went and got one of the books now. Andy splurged and got two books. I am too nice. Then again, Andy never asks for expensive books and rarely more than one.

We got to the International Plaza and Ryan wanted me to park in the parking garage. The boys took off for the elevator. They met me inside. Someone asked why I had my camera. I said because I don't like leaving it in the car.

We walked around. Gap has opened up here after years of saying they wouldn't. No matter, I don't shop there anymore. We went into the Disney store. Ryan took pictures, Andy took video. Ryan tested my patience.

Ryan want to go into Nordstrom's. He walked towards the restroom. The men's restroom is on the second floor but the men's clothing is on the first floor. They do have a family rest room on the first floor. Ryan would not come in. I told him to wait. When Andy & I were done, I went towards the elevator but Ryan said he already went up to the restroom and came back. Grrr. I warned him that the next time he takes off he will lose his iPod. that worked for 5 minutes. We went back into the mall. I went up the escalator, Andy went up the elevator, and Ryan ignored us both. Grrr. I wanted to sit him down and read him the riot act but I don't want to upset Andy because it takes too long to calm him down.

Ryan was ready to go. But Andy really didn't have much of chance to do what he wanted. He had picked the mall but Ryan led the way. So I told them to me me at the Apple store. How can I visit the mall and not go to the Apple store? Not that I needed anything but it just feels so good to be there. Ryan stayed with me and Andy went to the lower level via the glass elevator. Ryan and I got there first and we walked inside. After a while, Ryan was ready to leave. Andy was standing by the front door. We went to gather him and I realized he had been waiting for us there and did not go inside. I let him go inside while Ryan and I waited in the mall. Ryan started to fuss about his low battery on his iPod. Of course it was low, he was taking lots of photos. And he also had just about every app still open. He never force quits them so they slowly suck battery life and memory. I gave him the keys to the van and I waited for Andy. He was playing on the computers meant for kids.

I let Andy choose the route home. Ryan graciously said he approved. Oh man. We stopped at Nutrition S'mart so I could get some raw honey. I let the boys stay in the car.

I worked on photos for over two hours. I did a quick scan through the ones I took today. I posted POTD then worked on photos from 2008. I was also working on the March 2008 POTD and found that I had already deleted a photo that was poor. I am not even sure why I posted it to begin with.

We had dinner and then I did a card and finished up the POTD layout.

14 june 2011

Flag day. Why didn't I do something with my legos? I sort of feel like the writers on SNL. I don't know how to end this series so it keeps going past the laughs.

I got father's day cards out. I went to ask Andy to sign the card to his godfather, his door was open but it should not have been. I really need to post some rules for him. Naked four year olds are cute. Naked 14 year olds, not so much.

I did another month of POTD. I am putting of doing editing the biking photos from Disney.

Layout of Andy at the pool last week. The template is from Template Tuesday at Jessica Sprague. I hate to straighten up the photos and some other items. I just don't like to tilt my photos.

I asked Ryan about going somewhere tomorrow. He said yes but didn't know where. I said it was Andy's turn. He agreed. I asked Andy and he didn't know where we should go. So I gave him some choices; a park, downtown, or a mall. He chose International Plaza because he wants to go up and down the escalators and elevators. Ryan said he wants to go to Westshore Mall. I said we can do both since they are near each other. West shore is only a one story building. At least as I recall. It has been years since we have been there. That is the other place for Old Navy and the drive was worth not having to go to Slug Mall.

Card of the day.

I have been getting very lazy about logging my calories for the day. I think I have been OK but I know I probably am not. No weight change so I am still eating too much.

13 june 2011

Got the Downtown Disney photos done. Now onto the biking event.

At the pool. They are still working on the deck so we are sitting on the other side. The side is behind me so there is no glare. Six year old boy with Mohawk and center is dyed brown and pink. Really?

Busy day today with two extra stops. Andy has been drinking a lot of juice and Target hasn't been carrying to stuff he likes.

We went to the chiropractor. I can never relax when the boys are there. I am always worried they will do something they shouldn't.

We stopped at Publix to get juice. Ryan pushed the cart and hard to go up and down an extra aisle just because. I am too indulgent sometimes.

We were leaving Target and Ryan stopped pushing the cart, walked through a check out lane and then to the end and scooted outside. He was trying to avoid someone but I do not know whom. He said he could not remember their name.

I talked to Bonnie for a while. She was working while her kids were home with her husband. I had given her a challenge to do 30 layouts this weekend at her crop. She did 33. Showoff.

I downloaded a new app for my iPad called Palimpsest. It culls interesting articles from magazines. I read a rather long article about Percy Fawcett. Of course now it says I have 54 articles to read and the badge teases me.

Card of the day.

Photo of the day.

Layout, January 2008 photo of the day.

12 june 2011

Mary Grace's birthday. I hope she likes her gifts. More importantly, I hope she has a good day.

I did get a card done this morning. For some reason, I just don't want to look at photos. Probably burned myself out with all the layouts and organizing I have done. I did manage to get my POTD done.

I started reading some fiction last night. I am way behind in my book challenge for the year.

I am over thinking. Again. I want to put my POTDs on a layout. I thought I wanted it all on one page but that makes the photos small. I thought about a double page layout which makes more since but should I use a grid? Do I want all my photos or just the best? I even spent too much time making up a new grid.

While I was fixing lunch, I thought maybe one page with all and one page with my favorites so they could be bigger.

Ryan was having trouble with his computer. It is old. He wants to watch race buddy on NASCAR but it requires flash 10.3. His iBook cannot not install the latest flash. I offered him the use of my computer but he doesn't want that. He wants his computer to work like he thinks it should.

Now he wants to live in Europe because he says it is better. He cracks me up and drives me batty all at the same time.

Another 2 hours spent at the computer working on a layout for my POTD. I like how it turned out. I am not sure if I need to do any journaling. It is all on my blog. I did spend some time looking for a 365 brush. I may have to make one up.

Savi came over to get some camera tips. She has to take some group photos. I also showed her some podcasts. Savi is going away for a couple of weeks. She asked Ryan if he would miss her and he said no. Oh man, Ryan is just too honest sometimes.

I read a book this evening, Faking It
">Faking It. It was OK. It made me cry because I am a wuss and hate conflict.

11 june 2011

I got my POTD done and uploaded but that was all I could do this morning.

Hopefully Bonnie has all my creative mojo this weekend because I have none. It took my over two hours to make a simple layout this afternoon. (No link since it includes kids that are not mine.) It was a struggle that I have not had in a long time. The card was not inspring either.

Looking at some PDFs from Masterful Scrapbook Design inspired me to to do some more photo organizing. At one time, I had collections of my POTD images chronologically. But some corruption happened and it was lost. I have meant to go back and recreate those collections but there always seemed something better to do. I started POTD in 2008 and since I am working on those photos, I am organizing the POTD collections too. Maybe I will even scrap them and make a book. Maybe.

10 june 2011

I filled up a trash bag full of stuff in my office. Not even a dent. I hate throwing away things that are still good, but I know I will probably never get around to organize them. These are bits of pieces I either have as leftovers or samples I got when I was in business. Stuff I can sell is going into baskets and boxes.

I did POTD. I was sleepy this morning and had no idea what to shoot.

I finished organizing 2007 photos. Now onto 2008. I thought they were organized. And they are for the most part. They are rated and key worded but file names are not consistent.

I took a survey and won a collection pack from Basic Grey. How funny since I don't use paper anymore. I could ask for a digital kit but am going to give it to Bonnie instead. She is off scrapbooking this weekend so I won't hear for a while.

I made a digi card.

I had leftover pizza for lunch. I heated it up in the oven. Times like this I wish I had a toaster over but we have a microwave instead. No room for both.

I have been looking at online classes for scrapbooking. I really don't need them. I like the challenge of getting things done. I need a clean your space challenge like I did years ago on Two Peas.

09 june 2011

At the pool. Hot in the sun. Cool breeze in the shade. Crowded today.

I worked on my 2007 photos. They are mostly done. I am renaming some to be consistent. Klean Kanteen is having a photo contest. I brought some legos and my small orange Kanteen. I also remembered my camera. I am sure I probably looked like a dork with my macro lens and flash. And I may not even enter since the contest runs through Facebook. (The photos are OK, I will process them tomorrow.)

We forgot to bring in the pool bag on Tuesday. Things were still damp bit not stinky yet.

When we got home yesterday, it was about 2:00. I Checked the mail and the box was empty. Today as we were leaving, I noticed the box on the stool next to the front door. I forgot to look there yesterday. It is my layouts from Persnickety Prints. I can start a 2011 album. Ryan wants me to start 2008-2010 first. (The photos look good. I will order more when I win the lotto.)

I am noticing Ryan notice girls. Especially pretty girls.

We did our lunch and grocery thing. The boys helped bring in the groceries. Actually, they brought most of them in. They are becoming more helpful.

My friend came over to use the Internet and I ordered pizza. Andy ate most of a medium cheese pan pizza by himself. We talked and all of a sudden it was 7:58 and Andy was wondering why Savi was still here. I went to take care of Ryan and she left.

I did a quick card and POTD posted.

08 june 2011

I probably give Ryan too much authority in this house. But it makes more easier living. At least that is what I keep telling myself. Every morning he bounces back into bed at 6:30 in order to wake me up, kick me out and watch tv. And most mornings I ask him what we are doing today. His typical answer is "stay home." Today he surprised me. He said he would tell me in 10 minutes. He left the bedroom, went out into the garage and intro the van to get his atlas. After a few minutes, he came back and said Alafia River State Park. OK. We have never been there. It is south of Plant City. I just looked it up and it is mostly for off-road biking. It should be interesting.

2006 is done. I had some trouble with LR crashing every time I tried I tried to look at two specific images. They weren't great so I deleted them. Everything worked fine after that. I have key-worded and organized over 1800 photos. I threw away a lot. I think this is enough for now.

I did some Lego shots then we got ready to go. The park is about an hour away. It is mostly a park for off road bike trails. Ryan wandered a bit and took photos. Then he complained that there weren't any trails to walk. I explained that there is a multi-use trail but he wouldn't go on it. He said he wanted to just go to the playground. Then he saw a sign and went off to read it.

The following is from my notes that I typed while all of it went on. I am nerdy that way. And it kept me from showing how upset I was to Andy.

12:05 I am so angry right now. Ryan took off on his own. I do not know which direction he went. I do not know if he is OK. For someone who must obey the rules, he disobeyed a big one. He has no map. No water. No ID. I do not know how long the trail is. I do not know if it is safe. There is no park ranger here. I want to beat him for making me feel like this. (I say I want to beat home a lot. I never do. I am all talk.)

It has been about 20 minutes. I hate waiting. Not knowing.

There are two picnic pavilions. They are nice. Their roofs are metal and they have ceilings. So as the metal heats up, he expands and makes a sound like thunder.

There are 3 horse riders going on the trail. They are going to freak Ryan out.

I hate this!

Just saw one ranger who couldn't get off the phone to help. Another ranger came up and said the trail would "take a bit." What the f*** does that mean? She finally said about 45 minutes. She and the guy on the phone finally went driving down the trail.

Ack. I couldn't even remember what Ryan was wearing but I looked at the photos I had and saw the striped shirt. I showed Catherine. Signals are weak here. Hope the phones will work.

I have a headache.

11:43. Rangers came back without him. They have gone off on foot this time. Biker has also gone back. This really sucks.

11:49. A third ranger showed up. He showed more urgency. He took off in his truck on the trail.

11:58 Third ranger came back alone. He seems like an ass. He is standing at the trail head.

Wish I had someone to call. I have to be calm for Andy though he knows I am upset.

12:01. Two rangers. No Ryan. I want to cry.

12:15 Finally went to the car to get something to drink. Catherine said not to worry. Easy for her to say. The trails are marked in the trees with red. I didn't know and I doubt Ryan does. They say it is easy to jump from one trail to another. Catherine also said we should stick with country parks which have paved trails. (D'uh!)

12:25 Ranger 3 came back, his name is Coy. They are trying two other ways. If no luck then they call EMS. Awful dread... They found him.



Actually he came back on his own. He got mixed up and was on the bike trail (the trails are NOT marked well). He saw some bikers who said they were looking for him. Then he saw the ranger as he neared the trail head.

I tried to stay angry and calm at the same time. I needed Ryan to know how wrong he was. But I couldn't yell or it would get Andy upset. All Ryan cared about was his iPod. I said he could have it back after I calmed down. He kept asking about which made my ire continue. We went to get lunch in Brandon.

I finally gave Ryan his iPod when we stopped at Chick Fil A. I couldn't stand to listen to him complain. I wanted to yell but knew it wouldn't help. A few (dozen) deep breaths and I did feel better.

I came home and uploaded photos. There were less than 100 and only about a dozen I wanted to keep. I did the first half of a layout and also a card for my nephew.

07 june 2011

A day at home. Ryan went out to get the trash can on his own. I love that my boys are finally getting the hang of chores.

Last night I came up with an idea for a back to school Lego shoot. But had to struggle to come up with something for today's POTD.

I keep running out of podcasts to listen to. I subscribed to 2 new ones but I am on the fence. Both are from Maximum Fun. The first one, My Brother, My Brother & Me is not my style. Too many voices and I can't tell them apart. Stop Podcasting Yourself is a bit better but maybe because I picked episodes where I know the guests.

I had planned to work on my Disney photos but felt like I wanted to get 2006 cleaned up. I am purging more unsharp photos. I really thought I took more photos. Going through these photos, let's just say 2006 was the year of the slob. I am almost done with 2006 photos.

Dinner was salmon salad and really sweet tomatoes. Yum.

I have to stop eating so much cheese. Enough said.