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.

27 july 2011

Wednesday.

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

Awake at 5:00 with Ryan. I got out of bed at 6:30 when Ryan wanted to turn on the TV an watch the same spiel that Disney provides. He has seen it about three dozen times.

When the boys are awake, they play musical beds.

We have run out of juice. Luckily Andy is more flexible when it comes to drinks. He will drink apple juice from McDonalds or CFA. I am looking forward to some caffeine today.

Ryan has been OK without his computer. He has the Internet but without Flash which his favorite sites use.

Lesson: Bring more juice than you think. Half liter of juice is $2.59.

8:14. Sitting at the guitar pool. Andy wanted to swim at the Piano pool. Ryan took off wandering and I had to goto Melody Hall to recharge his card an get some juice for Andy. Also got two pins for my collection. (I need to put them all up!) I got a pressed penny for Vera. Maybe I will send them one day.

Day is quiet and overcast.

At 8:30 I decided to walk to the other pool. I didn't like Andy swimming on his own. Ryan was there pacing. I did not yell, I remained calm. Andy was not swimming but waiting for me. Ryan said he had to rest. Then I made him take the apple juice back to the room.

Ryan just does not understand the need to tell me where he is. Sigh.

Andy is swimming. I am sweating.

They power wash portions of the pool decks each week day. Disney has their own street sweepers. Explains the high cost of staying there.

Still loads of young teenage girls in short shorts, tank tops and pink backpacks. The pretty ones stay together. As do the plainer ones. Interesting.

Sick of social apps. Not much else to do whilst watching Andy swim. Miss home and the ability to do something else. (Yeah, I know I just used whislt instead of while.)

A women just got into the pool with a swimsuit two sizes too small. Why am I ashamed to wear a suit that actually fits?

10:16 Andy is still swimming. No sign of Ryan yet. We will have go back to the room at 10:30. We have to be out by 11:00. Not that anyone will be standing at the door but I am bored and want to get going.

We got back to the room and Ryan was not there. Andy opened the door and said, "There is something wrong." I assured him Ryan would come back and we would wait for him. We started to pack and I saw that Andy had already packed him stuff before we went swimming. He is such a good boy.

Ryan came back only after a few minutes. We packed up and left.

Ryan picked a long route to Downtown Disney but I had to nix that because I needed gas. Funny how food costs so much more in Disney but gas is actually cheaper than surrounding areas.

We went to Lego store. Ryan put together three minifigures and filled a small cup. I quickly filled my large cup so I switched Ryan to a large cup and filled the rest. Andy got a Cars Lego set. I could have spent much more time in there. I think I need to go without the boys.

We went to World of Disney. Andy had to use the restroom. Ryan wandered away. I told him to not leave the building without us. I waited for Andy and we walked around. He found a folding brush that he wanted. We looked for Ryan and found him soon enough. Ryan didn't want anything. He was ready to go. I paid for the brush and we left.

Again, we ate at McDonalds and CFA. Ryan had Navigon give us the routes to home. But Navi only included the quicker routes and Andy wanted to go back the northern route. Ryan did not want to go that way. Neither did I but it was Andy's choice. We got home about 2:30. The boys helped unload the car, said hello to poppa and quickly disappeared into their rooms for a couple of hours.

I put together my Brickley kit and took some photos for POTD. The prompt was out of focus but I just didn't feel it. I had taken a photo of the very large Brickley at Downtown Disney and made another Diptych.

I have uploaded my photos but have not looked at them. I will have to find something to post for yesterday's POTD. The prompt was curve and I did take some photos thinking of that.

So glad to be home. I did some laundry. I had a salad and fruit for dinner. I am so tired of fast food and eating with my fingers in the car.

Ryan wanted to use the computer so I went and built the Lego Mill Raid. Kind of cool knowing who designed it. That said, as an architect, some of the details are just ugly. Oh well. I think I am one of the few who pays too much attention to the details.

I am behind with my card making and scrap booking. I am not concerned about catching up. Things will get done.

26 july 2011

Tuesday.

Back pain. Should have gone to the chiropractor yesterday.

Feel like I didn't sleep. Bed was two small.

Ryan up at five making lots of noise even though he tried to be quiet. I got out of bed at 7.

Ryan now he says he wants to go to Disney Hollywood Studios. He never showed interest before. Tickets are $82 for each person. I said we have to plan and save some money to go to any of the parks.

Filled the cooler with ice. I didn't get the fridge. It isn't worth $10/day.

At the pool. I put money on Ryan's arcade card but cannot find Ryan. He veered off in another direction. Andy is in the water. There is a breeze and it is nice.

9:18. Ryan just showed up. He said he was checking out stuff.

At 10:00, the lifeguards along with two guests woke up the Three Caballeros with lots of noise. The fountain started working after that.

Andy just walks and swims around. Ryan is still in the arcade. I am not so worried about him this time. Also, lazy.

Doyle called. He can't make it on Friday.

10:31 Ryan came out with a handful of tickets. he went back to redeem them and play more games.

We left the pool at 11:00. Ryan decided we should go to CityWalk. We got lunch on the way. I was surprised when we got to CityWalk and found that parking cost $15!

We walked around. The NASCAR Cafe is now the NASCAR Sports Grille. The do not use the upstairs and the restaurant is now downstairs where the gift shop used to be. The gift shop is tiny and only half dedicated to NASCAR with other half to other sports. Ryan found a Cheerios hat. It is yellow. Now I can find both boys easily. Very few yellow hats.

We walked around and Ryan was hot and tired. He and Andy sat down while I walked around some more to take photos. Then we left, about an hour after we arrived.

Back at the hotel cooling off.

4:50 The boys have gone out for a walk. I asked Andy earlier if he wanted to go swimming and he said "I don't know." I am in the room alone with extremely frizzy hair.

Dinner at CFA & McDonalds. I am really tired of chicken. At least chicken nuggets. We watched cartoons at McDonalds.

We all went to bed at 8:30. Seemed like the best solution when we knew Ryan would be waking us up at 5:00.

25 july 2011

Monday

POTD prompt diptych which is two photos side by side. I used the marina. Ryan wanted to leave at 11:30. And he wanted to use the computer, so I started to build part of the Lego Mill Raid. I got the mill built.

I started to get ready and soon the boys were helping me load the car. We left just after 11.

Ryan chose the long way, SR 50 east to Claremont. We stopped at McDonalds in Groveland then CFA in Claremont.

We got to the hotel at 1:30 and luckily the lobby was empty and we got to check in early.

We got to the room and I went to hook up the wi-fi. It requires charging on room keys. So I had to walk back to the lobby. Ryan came with me. We both took photos along the way. He used his iPod touch.

We hung around the room. Ryan watched some TV, Andy watched videos on his iPod.

We went to dinner at CFA & McDonalds. We stopped at McDonalds last so Ryan could watch cartoons.

We came back to the hotel. Andy wanted to walk around. Ryan stayed in the room. Andy took video and I took photographs. We walked by each hotel. At the Rock Inn, there was a group taking photos. I offered to take their photos. They had three camera. Andy was trying to sneak in. I told him to get put but the guy said he could come in. So Andy was front and center. I let Andy ride one of the elevators as we are on the first floor again.

The boys bathed and showered and Ryan went to bed early. I am in Andy's bed so Ryan can get to sleep. Andy is watching videos on his iPod quietly.

24 july 2011

Sunday.

Ryan snagged the computer while I was eating breakfast. I usually go on after I eat to do some backups on my devices but I have to wait until after I get home. I took photos for POTD.

At Starbucks. Got a green tea latte. It takes like regular milk, not soy. The latte was NOT mixed well. All the matcha was at the bottom. Gross!

Lunch: Justin's Nut Butter, waffle, melon.

I noticed the packets of Justin's Nut Butter at Target. I got one of each of Chocolate Hazelnut and Maple Almond. The packets are expensive but good if you want to try them out or for camping. The chocolate hazelnut was not as creamy as Nutella. But Justin's uses all natural and organic products where possible. Nutella contains HFCS. I liked Justin's and
will get a jar soon.

POTD prompt uncluttered.

I got the luggage out and packed my clothes. The boys helped. And by helped I mean Andy brought me some wadded up clothes and Ryan brought his items one at a time. Sigh.

Card of the day.

Dinner: salad, peach

I noticed that Andy had packed his backpack. He brought it out and said it wouldn't zip. I looked at and saw that he had 10 books as well as his favorite stuffed toys as well as his Cars cars. I got him a duffle for the plush toys. I live that he did this without being told.

I read about someone having their google account deleted for breaking the TOS. He claims he did nothing wrong but it doesn't matter. He cannot access all of his mail, his contacts, his documents, etc. He relied completely on google and without a backup. I realized that I was relying on google for my mail. I checked how to backup and the only way is to use a desktop email client. I opened up Mail and downloaded thousands of messages. I had stopped using Mail a few years ago when it stopped working with one of my google accounts. It was a pain to use both the desktop apparent and the web to check my email. So I moved everything over to google. I had all my accounts filter into one. It was easier to read it all but not good to save. And google doesn't play as nicely as Apple apps. I also downloaded Sparrow since I have heard good things about it. I will miss googles spam filters but as I don't use my MobileMe address for a lot, I don't get too much spam with it.

Andy kept bringing out more toys. His bag was full and I told him he had to leave some toys here. He was OK with that. Then I found out he wanted to bring his iPod Nano because Jason Mraz was on there but not on his iPod Touch. I fixed that but he will probably bring the iPod Nano as well and his Olympus Digital Voice Recorder.

I am not sure if I will be posting the next couple of days.