12 august 2011

/

Friday

Breakfast. Eggs, cherries

Andy wanted some help looking for his iPod. I set the timer for 10 minutes, within 4 minutes, he found it under his bed. It still would not show up in Find My iPhone.

POTD prompt is a favorite walk. Today is all the weekly prompt for bridges. I combined both. But I am not sure about posting tote weekly group. They are making it too complicated.

Finished organizing my kit previews. I see I have more than enough kits. More than enough.

Card of the day.

Lunch: grilled cheese & carrots.

Andy & I went to see Winnie the Pooh. We got to the theater and tried out the D-box seats that move and rumble with the action. It was kind of cool but I wouldn't pay extra for it. We sat down and we were the only ones there for a while. The movie started 15 minutes after the posted time. It was a cute movie. It was less than an hour long.

We stopped by McDonalds for fries on the way home.

Fell asleep. Woke up to Ryan bouncing a matchbox car on my desk. And he couldn't hear me telling him to stop because his headphones are on and the music is loud enough enough for me to hear the words in the other room.

Snack: chai tea with almond milk. EL Fudge cookies. ( the broken ones because Ryan won't eat them.)

Realized it is getting warm in hear. I check and it is 81 with the AC running. Oh joy. Why do these things happen on Friday afternoons?

No one had noticed the heat. Dad wondered why he didn't need his sweater. The boys don't seem to mind. It is just me that is too warm.

The inside temp hit 83 and I had to call. No one else was bother. The repairman showed up just before 8. I had dad talk to him so I could deal with the clean up & baths. Eight three feels a lot better than 90 and humid.

The repairman changed the filter and flushed the drain. He thought it needed freon but checked a second time and the pressure was back up. So $140 later, he left and the house is slowly cooling down. I mentioned the larger filter and he said he would look into it.

The filter we need is 5" thick. I cannot find any that size in the stores and it has to be ordered. I have been using the standard 1" and they do OK but move around. I looked online for a trion filter and found them at amazon. What can't you get from amazon? Then we were confused about merv ratings. We finally figured that out and did another search. I found a cheaper source and epinions gave it good ratings. A few complaints but there will always be some.

I forgot to eat dinner and now I that I am not so hot, I am hungry.

11 august 2011

/
Thursday.

The sun is shining! Ryan is in a good mood.



POTD prompt is favorite place outdoors. I love the idea of the outdoors, I just don't like the bugs. I had my park built so I used it with the fisherman and the gnomes.

Finally got to packing Bonnie's paper. I have forgotten what she ordered. And not all of it will fit in the box. I will have to ship another box next week.

Andy has lost his headphones again. It is so frustrating.

Hungry. Forget the salad. I need meat!

Andy has decided to go to the movies tomorrow. He wants to see Winnie the Pooh. Of course, Ryan does not want to go.

Saw Mike when we got home. He has a new job teaching at a charter school. We talked for a while. Ryan came out. Then Andy came out. Andy had cleaned his room but could not find his headphones. Mike went in, it was hot. Ryan wanted to trim the crape myrtle. He pulled out the lopping sheers which was overkill. I let him cut a few branches and I cut up the rest. We still need to clean up the mess, but it was hot. As we walked in the garage, we saw Andy's earbuds. I don't know how they ended up there.

I came in and ordered a MacBook Pro for Ryan. I opted for a refurbished model. I saved $180. It should be here by Tuesday.

Snack: chai with almond milk

Cleaned & purge some scrap stuff. Started another box for Bonnie.

Dinner: salad, banana

Card of the day. I used a digi template meant for a 12x12 page. I like Kay Miller's templates but they are too fussy. Even for cards. I eliminated most of the elements and shrunk the template to 6x6.

Andy kept talking about find my iPhone. I asked him if he lost his iPod but he said no. I decided to see if I could locate it. I used Find My iPhone on my iPad. Andy's iPod could not be located. I asked him about and he did say he could not it. So frustrating.

10 august 2011

/
Wednesday.

Another grey day. Already the thunder can be heard. I have a headache caused by dad. Last night, my shoe caught on part of the shower curtain as it is old and needs replacing. I pulled one out last night and set it on the bench. Dad got up this morning and picked it up. "Should I replace this today?" I can do it later. "It's easier when it is dry." I got up to help. And by help I mean do it myself. While dad opened the package, I took the old one down. Then he handed me the new shower curtain and took the old one out of the room. I put up the new one. The constant reach and looking up gave me a headache. Also the PVC smell. I got done and saw that he had folded the old one. Given the chance, he would keep it for some future use. I will throw it away. The new curtain looks like bubble wrap. I hope the boys don't try to pop it.

Breakfast: eggs, tomato

POTD prompt is favorite game. I thought tetris would be easy. It was. But it was also boring. So I made a hopscotch game in front of one the houses. I had to us a glue dot to keep the girl upright.



Design Your Life layout. I finally got the MOSI photos done.

The rain has finally stopped and the sun is trying to break through the clouds.

Lunch: grilled cheese and carrots

Instead of falling asleep, I went out. I went to Shannon's for produce. Then to Publix for LemiShine and cheese. The rain started again and I Got pretty wet getting to my car. Deposited some money into the bank. Stopped at Starbucks for some green tea latté and mini carrot cake. I am really trying to like the match a green tea. But I think it is the honeydew they add that throws me off. But maybe I just need more time. I remember only tolerating the chai when I first started drinking it.

I put all my buttons in my Waterford biscuit jar. I have more buttons than will fit properly. I took all the leftover bins and will use them for my Lego pieces. I need to sort more small pieces so they are easier to find.

Dinner: salad, banana

Dad cracks me up. He will ask if I am caught up with my laundry. Laundry is like dishes, if I do them everyday, it is not a big task. Too bad I cannot convince myself the same of housework.

Turns out the shower curtain has a cut in it. I suspect it was something that happened when unboxing it at the store since it is on a seem. Andy's finger found it right away. Dad wants to get a repair kit. I told him it isn't worth it. I don't even remembering buying it.

Card of the day. I used Cosmo Cricket's Honey Pie which I bought for $1 today. I love Jessica Sprague's One Buck Wednesdays.

09 august 2011

/
Tuesday.

Breakfast: eggs & tomato.

Rainy and grey today.



POTD prompt was a favorite toy. Too easy. I decided to use my favorite Toy Story characters in Cowboys versus Aliens.



Rain kept Ryan hiding so I took advantage of the free computer and processed my dragon boat race photos. I even made a layout with the photos.

Lunch: grilled cheese, carrots

Surfed the web then decided I had to move. A group of photographers has decided to do a weekly challenge. I gave up the ClickinMoms challenge because of lack of interest from others. I gave up the Project52 challenge because the themes were too esoteric. We are to post on Google+ by Fridays. The first week is bridges. Instead of going out, in the rain, I built a Lego bridge. I built a park as well while listening to a podcast.

Snack: iced chai with almond milk.

Dinner: popcorn.

Card of the day.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow so we might skip Wednesday Adventure Club. We got over 4" of rain today. The frogs are very happy.

08 august 2011

/
Monday.

Two weeks until school starts. Hard to believe summer break is almost over. Back in June, 81 days seemed so long.



POTD prompt was favorite pair of shoes. Lego minifigures don't have feet let alone shoes.



Went to the pool with Andy. Too hot. At iPod was behaving and showing all my playlists correctly.

Thunder so we had to leave the pool just before 11. Andy was upset but stayed calm. At first he wanted to just go back home and get in his jammies. I convinced him to go to lunch. But he would not go in so we did drive through. Ryan was surprised we were home so early.

I edited a couple more photos from last night. I just wasn't feeling it. I would rather should architecture and things. But there is no money in that. I worked on Lego Digital. It is harder than it looks. Not the program but thinking about what goes where and planning it for it. Designing on paper would be easier.



I listened to a couple of the videos for MSD. Sometimes they are interesting. Tomorrow's POTD prompt is favorite toy.



I started making a card but Ryan was hovering. He had. Left the computer when the storms came back. The storms had gone and he wanted to get back on. Sigh.

Dinner: salad; cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, cheese



Card of the day. I have been organizing my kits and trying to use some that I have not used before. I have also purged a few which were free and not really my style. I have to be more discerning. Since digi kits never get used up, there is no real reason to buy another kit. But the kits are so fun. I have to budget myself.



The storms came back and Ryan kept walking around and muttering to himself. He did sit with me for a while and we looked at the weather radar. There was a severe weather alert until 8:00 pm. And it did calm down but he still skipped his bath.

07 august 2011

/
Sunday.

Breakfast. Waffles. Andy has been eating slower lately. It is a good thing, I think.

POTD prompt is favorite vegetable. My favorite vegetable is potato but I try not to eat them often because they are fattening. Lego only makes a carrot. Carrots are OK but not my favorite. I do not like them cooked. I opted for humor.

Starbucks. On my way, iPhone showed no music. I started back home and tried rebooting the iPhone. I can get my music by clicking on Now Playing or by going through Songs or Artists but there is nothing in the playlists. Weird.

Kathy sent an email about dues. I thought I had paid but cannot find a record of it. Nothing in my journal or momento. And my cash info only goes back to July. Oh well, it is only $5.

Lunch: panini from Starbucks & vanilla cone from McDonalds.

Ryan wasn't on the computer so I got and got some stuff done. I made a layout for Design Your Life.


I made a birthday card for Leslie. I used the same papers from The Daily Digi.


Strobist photo shoot with reflectors only. I am leaving early so I don't have to rush. And to get some tea.

Starbucks was out of tomato & cheese paninis. I got a chicken chipotle on flatbread. It was OK but messy, the sandwich was slipping apart.

We met at the park. Lots of photographers and only a few models. I followed Doyle around because I didn't know anyone and I really don't get into model shoots. I like portraits because there is a personal agenda. Shooting models is too impersonal. (I know I like to shoot inanimate objects, but I don't have to tell the lego what I want them to do.) One of the models was in a tree. We came up around her from the side. Doyle shot her foot. She had a nasty rash on her ankles. And she looked older. I did not want to shoot her.

Doyle's kids are coming home this Wednesday so no more playtime for him.

I uploaded my photos but did not look at them. I just sat and caught up on the interwebs.

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.