06 august 2011

Saturday.

Breakfast: eggs, peach

POTD prompt is a favorite room in your home. I don't have a favorite room. A favorite room would be one that is all my own. I have always made the whole house open to the boys. I have never shut them out. But if I did have my own space, it would have a comfy chair or sofa, some iced tea, my favorite books, music, and some Lego. I thought about building a room in one of the Lego home I have had. But the rooms are too small. Or not easy to shoot. I opted to build a new vignette. I see all these cool vignettes at Flickr and want to do something similar. But I don't have the right pieces. I used what I have and I like the result.

I need to get out and over to the market. I need more fruit!

Probably could have skipped the market. I walked right past my favorite vendor. Then as I walked back, resigned to by from the other produce people, I saw them. But she had little to sell but tomatoes, small cucumbers and peppers. I got some tomatoes and cucumbers. Then I walked and got some caramel corn. This vendor is only here on the first Saturday. Someone else is there on the third Saturday but only sells kettle corn. I ate about a quarter of the popcorn on my way home.

Lunch: grilled cheese. And caramel corn. Yep, I ate the whole bag.

Watched Coraline. Good movie.

I got the Gelaskins for my iPad and my iPhone. I like the way they look. But I am not sure about the iPad. It came with a sticker that fits on the front. I put it on and took it off a minute later. It was distracting. I wish the one for the iPad would wrap around the edges. Without the case, the iPad slips if I try to prop it up.

Card of the day. Ryan was off the computer so I got on and made a card. No motivation to do much else.

I built another Lego apple tree house. I opted for the town house but had loads of bricks leftover. Instead of the garden play area, I made a studio which used up a lot of the roof bricks.

I listened to Marc Maron talk to Andrew Dice Clay. I never cared for Dice. He was too vulgar for me. But now hearing him, I find that was all a persona.

Dinner: corn, tomatoes, cucumbers & cheese. I had corn on the cob which was supposed to be sweet. It was not. But in my salad it didn't matter. I had the last peach. It wasn't good. Peach season is too short.

05 august 2011

Friday.

POTD prompt was a favorite time of the day. One of my favorite times is when the bus comes. As much as I love my boys, I love those times when I don't have to worry about them. I don't have a Lego bus and didn't feel like building one (if I could) so I just set up the scene as waiting for the bus. Ryan came in when I was shooting and knew what it was right away. But he also noticed that I used the short legs on him. Not that he is short but he is shorter than Andy. He wanted boys of the Lego to have the same legs. I made both have long legs.

I wasn't paying attention to time so I left late for the Dragon Boat Races. I hadn't even gotten on the interstate when Doyle called. He was already there. He said that spot was great for seeing the whole race. Those there was some glare because of the sun. I did not have my polarizing filter which might have helped.

The weather was hot but we kept ducking into the parking deck, in the shade. The races did not last long but they also did not happen every few minutes. After about an hour, we both had over 500 images and we ready to go.

We planned to go to Tijuana Flats but when we got there, saw that it was now Stacked Burgers. We decided to try it. It is pretty good. But huge burgers. Huge! The sweet potato fries were good. They serve them with maple syrup but they were sweet enough without it.

Got home and put in my card to upload.

Ryan got off the computer and I started going through my photos. I went from 500 to 100. I did edit a few. I am glad I kept my shutter speed at 640. At one point I dropped it to 250 and every shot was blurry.

Ryan is back on the computer. It is dinner time and I am still not hungry. My throat hurts.

Card of the day. Ryan got off the computer so I made a quick card. Then I made popcorn for dinner.

Watching a video from MSD.

04 august 2011

Thursday.

Got the laundry done early because Andy wanted me to start his last night. He didn't get to turn on the dryer for my laundry (he was in his bedroom most of the afternoon) so I asked him for his clothes.

POTD prompt was a favorite person. I interpreted that to mean a favorite minifigure. I put away some ones I had used and looked at all of the them. I decide the jester was my favorite since not only is he fun, in many cases he was smart too. At least in Shakespeare's plays. The jester could get away with taunting the king as long as he did it in rhyme or prose. He is the only minifigure I have really given much character.

I downloaded the Lego software and started building a house. But I need to figure out sizes and if I want to include a basement or not.

At the pool. Man it is hot and humid. Not nice at all.

Sleepy. I strews reading Black & White by John Batdorff. It more beginner than I want.

Lunch: CFA southwest salad, sans chicken.

Design Your Life Week 5. I decided to skip the Gimme 5 layout from Week 4. I just don't see my family cooperating if Cathy couldn't get her own to do it. Week 5 is about space, white space. I did the first layout about the tree that fell down a couple of years ago.

Snack: hummus, crackers, carrots

Catching up on the Internet while Ryan uses the computer.

Dinner: salmon, crackers, peaches

Card of the day. The birthdays are starting up again. Today, I made a card for my sister in law.

I organized more of my digi kits. I am trying to be good and only buy things way on sale, no more than $1. I only spent $4 at Jessica Sprague's One Buck Wednesday.

03 august 2011

Wednesday.

Didn't sleep well. The house was too warm. I thought it was the late rain that cooled off the house so the AC didn't need to run. But I woke up and it was still warm. The AC was not on. I went to check it out. (Not sure why as I am not a mechanic.) But seeing it reminded me of the condensation drain and as soon as I pulled on the shut off valve, it started running. Oh, I guess that needs to be cleaned out. That I can handle. There is no money involved.

Also in the mix, Ryan kept waking me up after he got up. "the Internet is blocked!" It was not blocked but he could not remember the password. About 30 minutes later, he could not find his iPod and proceeded to talk about his world ending and wake up the rest of the house.

Can we start over?

Breakfast: eggs & peach.

POTD prompt was a favorite place. I chose to use one the Lego Cabins to represent the cottage. There were times I love being there, and times I felt like a prisoner. I enjoyed it more when I got my wave runner and had something to do rather than sit and watch my nieces and nephews. Though I did take them for a lot of rides. I never know how these scenes will be received. I have had dozens of views but no comments or favorites. Oh well. While I was thinking of this, I got the idea to building my childhood home out of Lego. I wonder if I should get the Lego software to help me plan it out?

We went downtown to the Tampa Bay History Center. Dark clouds threatened but we managed to avoid them. The boys like the museum and they were well behaved. There were very few people there. I had forgotten that I could not use my flash inside the museum. I had to shoot at iso 800 to get anything. Which means most of the shots were too dark, or blurry. I came home and processed my photos. I even made a layout. Now to get the rest of summer done.

Lunch: McDonalds for Ryan, Starbucks for me, Chick Fil A for Andy.

I let Ryan use the computer while I caught up with the Internet.

Snack, carrots & hummus. I really wanted crackers and all we have are Club crackers. I finally pulled out a slice of bread.

Dinner: tuna, tomatoes, peach

Card of the day.

The order from LL Bean came. Ryan said the backpack was for hiking. It really isn't but it is a different style from the ones he has had for for the past ten years. But he picked it out. I ordered another pair of denim shor

I started putting together my layout for POTD July 2011. I finished it once the boys had gone to bed.

02 august 2011

Tuesday.
POTD prompt is a favorite number. My favorite number is eight. I thought about what I could do and settled on Eight is Enough. I decided on this sometime during the night. And every time I woke up, I tried to think of the names. David, Mary, Susan, Nancy, Joanie, Tommy, and ? But I knew there were five girls. I remembered Nicholas name when I woke up. Then, while drying my hair, I realized that there were two redheads, Joanie and Susan. I was mixing up Elizabeth for Joanie. David, Mary, Joanie, Susan, Nancy, Elizabeth, Tommy & Nicholas. Did you know Mark Hammil was supposed to play the role of David? But then he got this movie, Star Wars, and Grant Goodeve got the part.

At the chiropractor. I am sleepy.

Good adjustment. Man my neck cracked a lot.

Pasco Motors for an oil change. Then they found that my cabin filters were filthy. Only $39 for the set. I said OK. I could have saved $10 getting my own but then I would have had to install them. And I doubt that is easy.

I wanted Mexican for lunch but didn't feel like driving to Tijuana Flats. I thought I had seen Five Guys in Zephyrhills. Maps could not find it. Navigon said Whataburger was near. I had never been there but thought I would try it. On the way, I saw Five Guys and went there instead. I knew I had seen it.

This Five Guys was busy and full of older people.

Went to Shannon's and got some peaches and corn.

Talked to Doyle about the Dragon Boat Races. They start tomorrow.

Snack: chai with almond milk.

Dinner: salad, apple.

Card of the Day.

Listen to iTunes celebrity playlist with Alice Cooper. I like Alice but not his music.

01 august 2011

Breakfast: eggs, kiwi

Monday.
Ready for the pool. Never got today's prompt nor The list for August. Made a layout and a card while waiting. My sites will not load. I guess I will post the card when I get back.

They announced the World Wide Photo Walk today. Scott's walk is already filled up. Larry Becker has a walk in Lakeland. Sherry signed up for that. I am waiting to see what other walks there are. (Bridget signed up for the walk in St. Petersburg. I did too. I can always change my mind later.)

Lunch at CFA: salad. I took my own dressing. Much better.

McDonalds. In the drive thru lane. A car pulls up along us. I roll down the window. "I can fix that dent." I see he has a magnet on his door "Dent King" I tell him it is more than just a dent. The auto function no longer works. "I can fix that too." I look unsure. "You don't even want a price?" I ask him for a card. "Dent King dot com!" And as he drives away, I see the long dent along the passenger door and rear quarter panel. Right. I'll be calling him right away!

I checked and saw the POTD August List was up. I was a little disappointed in it. (Then I realized how hard these lists are to make.) I already had in my mind to photograph the Lighthouse. It is red and white and red is my favorite color. In the end, not much red showed because I saw Brickley and had to use him in the scene. POTD.

The doorbell rang. I should know better but I went and saw that it was a solicitor. He was selling handy work for the outside of the house. We do need work done and I took the flyer. Then he said they would be in the area going door to door. I said soliciting was not allowed in the neighborhood. He looked confused. He said something about just talking and I said that was soliciting. He walked away like I was nuts. I think I need to print up some definitions to hand out. People just don't get it.

Card of the day.

Snack: maple almond butter on bread. Banana. I don't really care for the almond butter. It is OK and I might eat it again only because it is good for me.

Nice rain storm. Andy had taken apart part of the Lighthouse and I caught him. I did not yell. But he does know not to take it apart again.

Dinner: salmon, carrots, apple

Downloaded The Digi Files. Another disappointing month. But better than last month. I also downloaded the Masterful Scrap Design files. I like that it was all in one spot and easy to download video. I have them on my iPad.

31 july 2011

Sunday

POTD prompt is from the hip. Of course I have to twist the meaning back to the original. I have a cowboy and gun but no proper backdrop. We do have a Lego Toys Story 2 Sheriff set so I started to build it. I had to leave it unfinished to go to "church."

Starbucks. Chilly! Ice chai is good. Listening to Join Us by TMBG. Got a roasted tomato panini for lunch. I love them. They are half the calories than a similar panini at Panera.

Went to Nutrition Smart. Got some tomatoes, cucumbers, kiwi and bananas. I am also trying almond milk. I am still not sold on soy as a replacement for cows milk. They carry Justin's Nut Butter but did not have the chocolate almond pack to try. The chocolate peanut butter tastes good but I know almonds are more nutritious than peanuts. I tried almond butter once before and hated it. It had to be stirred but was so hard to stir.

Went to McDonalds for the boys.

Came home and finished building the Lego set for POTD. Edited it and posted it.

Worked on purging May 2009 photos.

Made a snack with chocolate peanut butter and granola bar. Later I made chai with vanilla almond milk. It was OK. It didn't seem as creamy as the soy.

Organized some kits and forgot about dinner. So I had the other half of my snack.

Card of the day.

Saw that Ryan played with the Toy Story Lego set. He put Stinky Pete in jail.

30 july 2011

Breakfast: egs and peach.

I need to get more produce. I was hoping not to leave the house today but I have one peach left. So I either go out today or pay twice as much tomorrow at Nutrition Smart.

POTD prompt was look away. I thought of having someone look out the window and use window light. I had to use my flash to get enough light through the small window. I think it turned out well but I don't expect many comments.

Lunch: grilled cheese, carrots, apple.

Ryan was on the computer and I had no motivation to clean. I changed to go to Shannon's. I came out of my bedroom and Ryan was off the computer. So I stayed home and did a layout for Design Your Life. I also made new wallpapers and blog headers.

Had some iced chai made at home. Listened to Cathy's presentation for Week 4 of Design Your Life. Dad just left for church so time to put together another Lego set. I put together the Lighthouse Island. It had a block that lights up. Very cool. Then I put together Andy's Cars 2 Tokyo Racing set.

Dinner: salad, peach.

Card of the day.

Layout using a free template and made another layout. This was the first time I used a photo as the background. I like it especially since the photo areas are kind of small.

29 july 2011

Friday.

Called the mechanic. The keys were locked in the car so I had to call OnStar to open the doors.

The mechanic called me back. It is a broken shift cable and should could cost about $200. It should be fixed this afternoon.

Card of the other day.

Sorted the pick a brick Lego. I need more storage.

Worked on POTD. Prompt was candid.

Lunch. Grilled cheese and carrots.

1:00. Arnold's called, car is ready. Andy did not want to go. Ryan didn't want to go either. They agreed to stay home alone!

Car fixed. JD was nice. Has spittle between his lips, made me sick.

Ryan called and hung up then called again. Silly boy.

iPhone battery draining since update. Not just me.

Bed Bath & Beyond. Got a new Brita 35214 Base Faucet Filtration System
. (I got the one in chrome. I have had similar ones in the past, the indicator fails after a while.) I was also looking for Calphalon Contemporary Nonstick 8-Inch Omelet Pan but they only had them in a set.

Target. Generic meds finally reduced in price to under $100! It's about time. Got plenty of underwear for Ryan and a cookie monster shirt.

Starbucks. The nice barista was not here. I wish they wore name tags. Seems unfair when they ask for customer names. I got an iced soy chai and a carrot cake mini cupcake.

I try not to look at my site stats too often. I did look today and the numbers were way up. For me anyway. I wonder if it is for real or robots?

Home. Caught up on Internet stuff. Ryan jumped on my computer. Why didn't he use when I was gone? "I was busy."

Dinner: salad. Peaches

Got my computer back so I made two cards to catch up.
Card of yesterday. Card of the day.

Updated the iPad and iPhone. I hope this helps the battery life.

Got the school supply list. Ryan and I marked off the items we already have. The list called for a calculator with a square foot function. We think they want the square root function.

28 july 2011

Thursday

POTD prompt was six.

I post my POTD for Tuesday. Now I just have cards to make to catch up.

It is swim day which means more fast food. Then the boys have haircuts which means even more fast food. Ugh.

Allen decided to meet us tomorrow. I live how he has to do the housework before he can come out and play.

At CFA. Could not find my debit card. I had forgotten it in the card. When we were at Disney, I kept my debit card and money in my pocket instead of my wallet. Oops. I am glad it was in the card instead of home.

I chose a booth in the back because that is where Andy usually ends up. A family with a high chair blocked us in. Andy is upset that I am making him sit I stead of wander about. Sigh.

Talked to Bonnie. She thought we would be visiting the other resorts at Disney. I didn't know that we could. She says she would love to het photos of all the gingerbread houses at Christmas. Maybe I will do that for her and make a book.

Came home and made two quick cards; celebrate & make a wish

Now at Salon Nohea. The boys are getting haircuts. Haircuts fine. Had to change my appointment for next month.

At the bookstore. Ryan wants to leave because of the potential rain. Sigh. I made Ryan stay a little longer. He went to look at the Tampa books. I saw the Disney tour books and found one on Hidden Mickeys.

We paid for the books and left. I backed up the van to get out of the parking space. Then I put the car in drive and the gear shift kept moving. I turned off the car and tried to restart it but it would not start with the gear stuck in drive. I called dad to come and get the boys then called for a tow.

Ryan got upset and caused Andy to get upset. Dad got the boys and took them to eat. I waiting for the tow.

And waited.

And waited.

Meanwhile, my iPhone battery was on the red. And my backup battery was dead. So I doodled and wrote in my paper journal.

Two hours later, Ricky showed up. Ricky has the most amazing blue eyes. He said it was probably broken linkage and not usually expensive. He asked me where I was going and I said the dealer. He told me it was too expensive but we never found a mechanic down here. We really haven't needed one either. He gave me the name of a place. Then he drove me home and took my car to the mechanic.

I got home just after 7. I saw that Andy did not eat much and dad said he stayed in his room since he got home. I talked to him and he felt better and then ate.

I caught up on my tumblr reads and feedly reads. Will be staying home tomorrow to catch up on more. sigh.