[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.

[summer break in 80 days] day 6

Oh man! I am not sleeping well. I think I know what or who the probably is. But I don't know how to solve the problem. At least wuthout causing other problems.

I get super sleepy after breakfast. It could be my pills kicking in or could be that I am waking up every couple of hours at night when someone rolls into me. I asked Andy to let me doze until 9 am and then next thing I know it's 10 am. Oops.

The boys wanted to go out and ride their bikes. I was not in the mood to garden so I grabbed my camera instead. I got a new polarizing filter for my short zoom and put it on. It's hard to manipulate it with the lens hood on. I really don't like lens hoods. But they are a must on sunny days.

I tried taking some shots of the crape myrtle blooms with the sun behind. But the polarizer makes the sun flare spread to an ugly mess. I did one good shot with sun flare and a bee. You can see it here. Then Andy stood in front of the palm tree and I took some shoots with the high behind him. I prefer the backlighting to the sun flare. I want to try some silhouettes. But I know the boys will not cooperate. I may try the woodlings but they are very unstable and topple over with the slightest breeze. Professional photographers make it look much easier.



Grilled cheese for lunch. Yes, everyday we are home it's what we have. There was a time, years ago when they would peanut butter & jelly but no more.

Ryan is getting bored and bugging Andy more. I have to intervene then comes onto my lap to bug me. High need indeed.

I finally enrolled in a month of Kelby Training and I watched Rick Sammon go over digital cameras. It was really a beginner lesson but I did learn a few things about metering and I finally found my blinkies! I wish they had more classes on photography. I did find an Olympus class at BetterPhoto.com. But it's $198 for 8 weeks. Not bad but I just can't afford it right now. Rick's video were good but I find myself getting fidgety too soon.

Guess what the boys had for dinner? Yep, Tyson Southern Style Chicken
Nuggets. I had pizza and I think I had the oven up too high. It's been so long so I have made any that I couldn't remember if it was 425 or 450. I opted for 450. It was still yummy. Some of the cheese was a little too brown.

A pretty unproductive day. Oh well, 74 more to go.

[summer break in 80 days] day 5

I wonder when I can do repeats because our days our so predictable?

Today is Monday, our other swim day. The Monday & Thursday schedule started 3 years ago when I just had too much work to swim every weekday. I have the time now but Ryan does not want to alter the schedule.



Last year I did not swim. I was too uncomfortable in a swim suit. No, I am comfortable now but at least the suit fits me again. And swimming feels so good. Almost every ache and pain is gone in the water. The only bad part is getting out when your body feels twice as heavy as it did before the swim.



And because I wanted to come home to shower & get dressed, this really changed things. Andy seemed OK until we were home again. It will take some getting used to. One thing I knew not to change was lunch. First to Wendy's and then to Chick Fil A.

Our final destination was Target. I let the boys lead the way until we got to the groceries. They walked through books, video games and toys but asked for nothing. Yeah, I know I am lucky. Ryan continues to stress me with his grocery cart driving skills. It didn't help that he saw a young father jump on the back and go gliding through the parking lot.

Home is the typical, boys on the computers, boys playing with their cars, boys drinking too much milk (ryan) and juice (andy). Ryan tends to get on Andy's nerves. Andy doesn't know how to tell him to stop so he whines. Andy's whines get on my nerves. I am trying to teach Andy to say "leave me alone Ryan." But I also need to teach Ryan to listen. Andy is catching on quicker than Ryan.

The one really nice thing about swim days, the boys goes to bed quickly.

They announced the new iPhone today. I would love to have but don't need one. I asked Ryan if he ever earns an iPod would he want my iPod Touch. No, he wants an iPod Classic like Andy's. OK, Andy's does hold a lot more movies but the iPod Touch has a much bigger screen. And all of the fun apps. Weird kid. Maybe Andy would want the iPod Touch?

[summer break in 80 days] day 4

Seems my body is trying to catch up on sleep. After getting up out of bed, I dozed in the chair for another hour and a half. Why didn't I just stay in bed? Because the boys see this as an invitation to jump up and join me. Every bounce jostles me awake so no rest can be had.

Sundays is our day for waffles and sausage. Andy eats 2 waffles and 4 pieces of sausage. He used to eat more sausage but learned that he can them later in the week if he saves them.

I am getting caught up with the laundry but then is that even possible? It's like doing the dishes, there is only a short reprieve until the next batch.

Today is the Pocono 500. This means that the tv is on from 8 am until the race is over at about 6 pm. Coverage for the race starts about 1:30 pm but Ryan flips between ESPN and the other sports channels while he waits. I find that I can't concentrate to read with the TV on. Unfortunately there is no other comfy chair to read to I split my time between making cards, laundry & dozing.

I did make it outside briefly to take some shots of the clouds. This week's theme for photo of the day is backlighting/sun flare. You can see the shot I got here. I am not a big fan of sun flares. I don't care for all of the ghost dots. I guess it's something I need to work on.

It looks odd with no tree here, you can see all those weeds I need to clear out. But then I can see more great storm clouds which is a plus.

[summer break in 80 days] day 3

Storms rolled through about one am this morning lots of lightning and thunder but no rain. They were south of us and caused a bit of damaged. Ryan stirred but didn't wake.

Ryan asked to ride his bike this morning. He remembered that our typical storms come in the afternoon causing them to miss their riding. So I finally planted the jasmine. I got too much so I planted some around one of the crape myrtles and in front of the dwarf pampa grass.

Weeds continue to grow in the front beds.

Lunch at home is always the same, grilled cheese sandwiches. Ryan eats one quarter, no crusts and some Wavy potato chips. Andy waits until the sandwiches are cool before he eats.

The rest of the day is pretty ordinary. Ryan teases Andy, Andy whines. I try to tune it out but eventually I lose control. Only one "HEY!" and calm discussion helps things out for a while. Why must they play in my bedroom?

I did laundry and made some cards. Took some naps and read some.

I went in my studio bedroom to take some photos for photo of the day. The boys soon followed.