[summer break in 80 days] day 72

8:03 Get up earlier next week? I think it's time I started going to bed earlier even though I enjoy the time when both boys are asleep.

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9:40 No gardening motivation today. I did go out but didn't get much done. I was working on the north bed which is moslty muck and weeds at the moment. The sprinkler head had come unscrewed and was flooding the area. There is soil erosion.

I had to sit and pull weeds as my tools wouldn't work with the muck. I would stop a moment and contemplate what to do with this bed. There are 2 hibiscus plants under the windows. There are 3 indian hawthorn by the short fence. But those hawthorn grew too big. I didn't know there was more than one variety and these are the bigger ones.

I was thinking it would be nice to extend the patio to the end of the house and get rid of the short fence. This might be a nice place for one of those covered swings. I would then want to extend the walk between the houses. And have a proper patio laid out in front of the dining room window. If I hadn't had that one palm planted so close to the drive, I would extend the walk there.

Of course I am just fantasizing.

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1:56 Was just closing my eyes adter lunch when UPS came to the door. They dropped off KI Memories and I had to open it up right away. KI is one of favorite scrapbook companies but not everyones loves them. We didn't have enough interest to get anything from the last show. I had to locate Bonnie to see what she wanted from this order. She is on her way to a 3 day crop. She has decided to not crop so much but work in organizing photos in Lightroom. Instead of a laptop, she took her desktop with the 24" screen!

I have uploaded the new product and deciding what to do next. It's turned into a cloudy rainy day which makes me very lethargic.

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8:22 Uh oh, I sat in that chair again. The next thing I know it's 5:00 and I have little to show for the day.

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[summer break in 80 days] day 71

9:44 At the park making the boys let me take photos of their hands. I had been trying to get then unaware but they actually let me pose them. Too bad I only need 3 more shots and I had few ideas. Ryan asked about next week's theme. I always forget to look until it's too late. Why don't I have the list except on my blog? Oh sure if I had an iPhone instead of just an iPod Touch... (It's ABC or 123 and I did put the list on my iPod so I don't need wifi to check)

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11:30 In the car. The boys have switched spots. Then Andy wanted to sit next to Ryan & Ryan complains. School can't start soon enough.

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Both Gail and I were blonde when we were little. I expected the boys to be blonde. They were born blonde but have quickly darkened to brown. Hmm...

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There is the cutest girl at Chick Fil A. She is a cross between a young Katherine Hepburn and Ann Margaret. Skinny as heck but so pretty in a perky way and I love her auburn hair.

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The best part of baking cookies is giving them away to the staff at the chiropractor. Paula and Yvette especially love the chocolate crinkles.

I forgot the backpacks full of school supplies do I will have to go next week. What cookies should I bake? (Martha has a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies, looks yummy.)

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I had to deposit money into my checking account. Last year it would be instant but now it takes a day. I had only $12 for groceries. I oulled out my emergency stash and that was only $86. The groceries came to $73. It feels weird to pay with cash.

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3:37 I just got done weeding today's photos. 263 down to 89. I will do another pass later then label an keyword them. Even though I don't love the weeding as my 3 year old computer is slow to render 1:1 view, I love being able to shoot as much as I want without cost. With a film camera, I would have really had to think about my photos and no way would I fill up a roll let alone 20! I would have gotten some OK shots but probably nothing special. I consider it a miracle when I get a sincere smile from Ryan now. Imagine only being able to shoot a half dozen shots.

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Ugh. My popcorn did not come out well. The bag was sealed shut so not much room to expand and some kernals are scorched.

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6:45 Poor Andy has the hiccups. I suggested he jump on the trampoline but that didn't help. I usually hold my breadth but getting him to understand is another matter. I told him to pretend he was swimming underwater but he didn't get it.

[summer break in 80 days] day 70

7:50 This is third day in a row Andy has lost his recorder. He will say, "I have to look for it." Which really means "Go find my recorder because I don't know how to look." And it drives me batty.

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9:34 Short gardening session today. One bag only half full but very heavy. Getting the weeds and racking brings a lot of dirt. I am too lazy to separate so it all goes. Ryan and Andy came out and played for about 5 minutes. Yep, it's too hot.

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11:18 Andy's sneakers came today. There isn't much room and I got a half size larger than what I thought he needed. Good thing they were on sale. I might get the next size or 2 now since the slip-on sneakers are hard to find in the winter.

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3:42 Chocolate Crinkles are my favorite cookie. They are messy & gooey and take while. But they are SO worth it. I used to use a recipe similar to this one by Betty Crocker. Did you know that the original non-pc name was Widow Faces? Martha calls hers Chocolate Crackles and they are the better version. This is one recipe where I actually get less cookies than Martha calls for. I prefer to use the cookie scoop. (I just realized while Martha calls hers crackles, because they are like crack! So addictive!)

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Someone came to our door while I waa getting the cookies out. Andy opened the door and it was a solicitor. WTH?! There is no soliciting in this development and there are signs posted. But no one cares. She goes on to tell me who she met with like that would change my mind. No! Please leave! I try to be polite. They keep talking as I say no and shake me head and start to close the door. I am amazed that they don't stick their foot in the door!

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4:53 I deserved that last cookie. I just spent the better part of an hour helping (?) Andy clean his room. He did some but needs to be prodded along. I let him use the grabber but he was taking so long that you would have thoight he was playing the arcade game for a prize. I still have to dust and vacuum. The recorder is not in there.

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I like looking out at the back yard these days. The beds I can see are clear and it gives me a peaceful feeling. I am proud that I did it myself and didn't soend the money to have someone else do it.

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8:24 I actually started to pick up the playroom in hopes of finding the recorder. It wouldn't have bothered me for it to be lost for a while but since we are going out tomorrow, Andy will need something to listen to. And since his iPod headphone jack is broken, that leaves his recorder. Andy was going to set the timer for an hour since I found it but I said it was too late. I cannot give him the recorder at 9:20 when he should be in bed. He can wait until tomorrow. He thought about it and was OK with it, "Then I should just go play."

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Though I do love my chocolate chip cookies, they just don't taste as good knowing there are chocolate crinkles in the house. This has to be my best batch yet. I used Dutch process cocoa which left them flat like I recall. Crispy on the outside and soft and gooey inside.

[summer break in 80 days] day 69

8:21 Day 69... you know what that means? We are heading into the home stretch! Yay! Next week I will set my alarm to 6:00 and bounce out of bed and get dressed for the day. No more dragging myself into the dark kitchen to grab some tea and then wake up by the light of the computer. I will have to get breakfast ready at 6:30 so Andy has enough time to eat before the bus comes. After the bus picks him up at 7:30, I will have some time to relax until 8:30 when Ryan's bus will come. It will be odd and confusing have to separate schedules. We haven't had to deal with that since 2002.

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The photo I posted of Ryan may be a bit over processed. But I love his freckles. Maybe I will try it again and no over boost.

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The dishes came out clean! And one of the plates had dried egg! I ran Finish through today and the dishwasher sounded so much better. The racks slide easier and it is less yellow. The bottle was tossed out of the silverware crate so not all of the liquid got out. I just tipped it over and am running a light cycle again. (I prefer Dishwasher Magic, it doesn't smell like Finish does.)

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My left ring finger still hurts. It only hurts when I grip something or close my hand. An excuse not to garden?

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9:48 I did weed. I only felt a twinge of pain once so it's good that I didn't allow my flimsy excuse to take hold. The east bed is as clean as it is going to get. The ants were in full force today. I killed 2 I saw crawling on my gloves. One did manage to get me on the inside of my elbow. And just as the other bites were finally settling down. sigh

I sprayed more round up on the south bed and on the north bed. Andy walked right through in his bare feet. ugh! I told him to wash then so he walked in the back door, through the house, out the front door to where the watering can is sitting. big sigh

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3:01 Orders are pulled. I could be more productive, but...

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6:33 I didn't get around to making cookies. I lost my momentum right around 3:01. I did get my blogs updated to wordpress 2.8.3. Of course I forgot about the old google analytics plugin and once I reactivated got a fatal error. At least I knew how to fix it quickly. I switched the front page to a simpler theme with just 2 columns. I am thinking about switching this and the photo of the day as well. I just need to decide how/where to put the links. I do not like it when the links colums goes on forever and is longer than the posts. I sometimes wish I knew code and could design my own.

[summer break in 80 days] day 68

9:00 Andy turned down the volume on the radio so Ryan woke up late. Not a good way to start the day. I had to fight Ryan all night from rolling into me, I am tired and dragging.

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I ran Dishwaher Magic. I hope this works and I can put off buying a new dishwasher for a while. (While the insides are not white, too much rust, the trays slide effortlessly once again and it does sound better.)

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9:55 At the park. Ryan is driving me nuts today. We had words. He refused to brush his teeth because he woke up late. And he won't wear his rash guard shirt because Andy has one. He think it makes them look like twins. I'd had enough and made him brush his teeth and cry. Sometimes I just have to prove to myself I am in charge. In control... not so much.

There is a too tan woman at the pool. She got in the water with a magazine?! What does she think she is in her bathtub? At one point, she was doing some weird moves like she was having siezures. I think she might have been doing some kind of exercise but it looked goofy. When she got out, I managed to look just as she was bending over. Ack! Lady! Put those buns of flab away! She is neither small nor young.

11:06 Done with swimming. Andy is drying off. Ryan is whining about Andy looking at him and which direction Andy is sitting. Ryan was fine when Andy was swimming and I took countless photos of him playing Trains.

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11:45 In the car. Altoids Cinnamon are hot! And these are just the smalls. I cannot imagine eating a regular sized one. (Yes, I blog & tweet at red lights. At RED lights.)

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2:16 We pulled into Target and Ryan said he wanted to go to Lettuce Lake Park. Huh?! We don't go to the park on Monday. I though about it for a second and saw that it was 95 and I only had on sandals. I was not prepared for the park. I said we could go Thursday but that's not good enough. Luckily the pout only lasted until we got in the store.

I saw a Blue's Clues - Blue's Biggest Stories and showed Andy. He got excited and started singing "Steve is going to college..." So I let Ryan pick out a DVD and he chose You're A Good Sport, Charlie Brown.

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3:48 Good grief another wedding invitation! Can't these people spread them out through the year? No, we aren't going but gifts cost money.

[summer break in 80 days] day 67

9:39 Being a homeowner sucks. I hate the repair and maintenance. I need a new dishwasher. For months I have listened to it slowly dying. Not that you could really tell but the sounds just haven't been the same. But the dishes were getting clean so I ignored it. The dishes are no longer getting clean.

I went to Consumer Reports (thanks Stephanie!) and checked on appliance repair. Basically anything over 8 years old (except higher end models) should be replaced. This dishwasher is 9 1/2 years old. CR has 3 models they reccommend. One is a Bosch and I have heard good things about them. I looked online at Famous Tate and Sonny's. Both are local chains and they both use the same appliance web site. They have contact forms where someone will contact you. Cool. I just wish I didn't have to spend the $600+. I still haven't had the dryer repaired.

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5:53 I can't seem to teach the boys how to looks for things like a lost recorder. Even with their great memories, the don't understand how to think back to last place they had something. They draw a blank. So maybe the solution is to teach then to keep their rooms clean then a dropped object can be easily seen. Or perhaps they won't even just drop something when they are done with it but out it away. OK I am obviously delirious. I shouldn't have skipped my nap.

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9:14 I decided at 7:30 to start my mosaic. I cropped all my photos and adjusted the white balance in Lightroom then moved them over to Photoshop. None of the changes came over. I think it is because they were jpegs to begin with. Oh well, I made it work.

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My left ring finger is really achy today. I have no idea why. It hurts at the joint where it meets the hand. Arthritis?

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9:28 When I saying goodnight to Ryan he said, "Your shirt is different." it has stripes whereas everything else is solid. I was putting away a couple of the new shirts that are still a bit snug and found a few older shirts that used to be very snug. I pulled them out and the fit again!

[summer break in 80 days] day 66

7:33 Well crud! I was doing some blog stuff and noticed the date, 8/8/09. 8/8... oh it's Katie's & John's anniversary! I didn't make them a card, crap! Why wasn't I notified? On my desktop, the date is correct. On my iPod the date is wrong. UGH! When will Apple learn how to sync correctly?!

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9:44 Hot & moist.
I decided I had too many bites to go back to the south bed so I worked on the east bed. Since I cleared up the jasmine the sun has been able to get to the grown and weeds have popped up. I weeded and raked half the bed today. At one point I sat to rest and watched all the lizards darting around looking for food. This would be a good place to set up the camera and watch.

I saw one lizard that flesh colored and his tail was a bit stubby. Was it an albino? I have never seen one like that before. It kind of creeped me out.

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Andy has taken a disliking towards shirt tags. Gap and Lands' End have moved towards printed info on the inside of the shirt but there are a few left with tags. Today's shirt is from Target, a halloween shirt I bought last year. It didn't bother him last fall. But reading about adolescents and autism, some sensory issues can increase because of all the hormones.

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10:58 I put on another shirt from LL Bean. This one is form fitting and fuschia. I don't know if I will ever be ready to wear something form fitting outside of the house.

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2:06 On Thursday, I saw a billboard stating that it was peek honeydew season and Publix had them. So I got 2 melons later than day. I finally sliced one up and they were correct, a delicious melon. I had to use two bowls to store it in. I grabbed the less full one to eat a few bites while reading some more Understanding Close-up Photography: Creative Close Encounters with or without a Macro Lens. I wasn't paying attention and ate the whole thing, about 4 cups full.

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6:24 One benefit to the headphones is that Ryan doesn't hear much of the storm that is coming through right now. He is under a quilt to hide him from the lightning. Oh that boom was louder but he is still on the couch and not on my lap.

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[summer break in 80 days] day 65

8:07 I got the old iPod fired up for Ryan. He is happy to walk around with it in his pocket. I only worry that the headphones he is using will make his ears stick out.

I started to go through the pictures from yesterday. Most of the ones from Ikea are crap. I never used to look at my photos at 1:1 and it's rather pathetic what that P&S does indoors.

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9:42 Done with gardening. I know I should probably say weeding since that's all I seem to be doing. But that would make me more depressed to admit to that. Three bags full and at least 2 ant bites. On my arm this time. There may be more behind my knees and thighs or it could have been grass rubbing and making me itch. (There are 6 behind my knees!)

The south bed is going to take me the rest of the break. Maybe longer. There is so much and I am limiting myself to 5-6 bags between trash pick ups. I found another elm tree in there. This one is about 7 feet tall. I don't know where it is growing from until I can clear more out. I am afraid it night too close to the back fence and it will have to come out.

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Andy has recorded all these sound bites of his favorite YouTube users saying Macy's. It's quite good considering he is doing it old school, recording from his computer to the digital recorder and just hitting the buttons at the right time.

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6:28 Ryan has listened to the iPod all day excrpt for the hour to charge at lunch time. Then Andy wanted to listen to mine but he doesn't like the controls.

[summer break in 80 days] day 64

9:12 Andy is out riding his bike. Ryan is putting away his clothes. I just finished my grocery list.

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9:39 At the playground. Andy is wearing his rash guard shirt. He likes the feel of it and the color. Ryan chose not to wear his. He says he will wear it on Monday. He likes to make up rules.

It feels cooler today. Just a bit and there is a breeze.

The boys are swinging now. Should I even try to get some shots? Oh well, by the time I typed this and looked up, they had stopped and moved on to something else.

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I downloaded Instapaper for my iPod. I can read web articles when I am not online. Cool! But I sometimes use Instapaper as a bookmark when I am on my laptop because I don't have Evernote on there. (I need to upgrade to Leopard for Evernote.). The free version of Instapaper only allows for 10 articles at a time. The Pro version allows for 250 articles. The Pro version is only $4.99.

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11:03 Our water aerobics leader was not here again. Renee led the group but she forgot some exercises. It was a small group and less than enthusiastic.

Renee's grandsons, Jacob and Sean, were here too. They don't understand personal space and get way too close to my boys.

The new rafts are a hit with the boys.

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12:01 Wendy's is slow. Hopefully I wasn't overcharged.

Ryan wants my iPod in the car. What? i think he wants to listen to Geogre Carlin. (bad mommy!)

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3:09 Home.

Ikea was fun and I spent NO money. Lots of ideas and lots of photos (I just took my point & shoot). Ryan was happy to walk aound following the map and finding short cuts. Andy just wanted to ride the escalator and elevators. But they make it more of a one way thing. Once you are done, you have to leave the store. But if you have a map, you can back track and find a short cut back to the beginning.

I think I would like to get the boys loft beds and then put their desks underneath. They would each have their own room and Poppa could have the big room.

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6:17 The thrill is gone. Yep, before I even consider a second visit to Ikea, I have a new love. Actually, it's not a new love. I have been in love for over 20 years. But except for a couple of years in the early 90s, ours has been a long distance relationship. That is until I looked and saw that Crate & Barrel has opened in Tampa! Luckily, it's not too close but still close enough to go visit all those cool kitchen gadgets in person!

I read recently where some one called Ikea, "The Swedish Walmart." is it not so? Cheap prices in a big blue box. Furniture that is not meant to last a lifetime, sometimes called apartment furniture. Then I equate Crate & Barrel with Target. Well, no, the quality is better than that. But there are a lot of pieces that you assemble. But they are sturdier than the things you can buy at Ikea. I'd put Crate & Barrel between Ikea and Poverty Barn. And it's been so long since I have been in one that I can't wait! I love the look of the stores. Full of eye candy but not overwhelming.

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I looked into Andy's iPod. The headphone jack will probably have to be replaced. If I felt capable, I could try it myself for about $30-$40. Or I can use iResQ who will fix it in a day and charge $89 which includes shipping. I think this is a decent price since a new iPod Classic will cost $249, a new iPod Nano is $149. Still, it will have to wait a few more days, or weeks.

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KI Memories sent me some sample product from their new line. Unfortunately, it's Toy Box, not one of the lines I partitulatly like. I would have been much happier with Flourish. But I sure I can find some cards I need to make with free product.

[summer break in 80 days] day 63

9:42 Losing the motivation to garden. Could be I am tired, it's hot or that I have reached the south bed and it is really scary.

Andy comes out after I am done and waits for me to go in the house. He also checks on me when I am gardening. He likes to know where everyone is. Does he think I might wander away?

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Ryan said he wants to go to Ikea tomorrow. I am not going to buy anything! I am not going to buy anything! I am not going to buy anything! I am not going to buy any... unless the boys want something. I'll go back another time without them.

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11:24 I don't like these shirts from LL Bean. The fit is quite a bit smaller than the ones I have from Lands' End. The fit too closely for comfort. A few more pounds and I can wear them out of the house.

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A storm is coming. Ryan was on my lap. Andy asked to play the piano. Ryan left to watch. Does Andy play loud enough to drown out the thunder? Oh he's back.

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6:45 The storms this morning left little rain for us. It was moslty noise.

I "wasted" most of the afternoon talking to Bonnie. I did order Andy some shoes for school. His feet are now bigger than mine.

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Ant bites. Current count 4. One is on my neck.