Rants and Raves

It’s been a month and I haven’t made much progress in losing weight, however, I do have new a new habit of walking most days. Last week I started Weight Watchers. I like it. I have lost 2 lbs and wasn’t hungry and ate what I wanted including birthday cake and wine. It didn’t take too much effort in planning. This is something I can live with and stay on forever. Soup is going to become a staple in this house and luckily we all like it. The kids always ask for more.

I miss Colorado. I’ve been pondering why I want to go back, what difference does it make where we live? I can suck up the weather, I’ve already made lots of new friends, what is it? I think it’s my perception of quality of life. Things are more laid back and easy going and slower in Colorado. People here in VA seem very uptight, in a hurry and driven. I’m not driven anymore and have no desire to be that way ever again. It has taken me years and years to learn how to relax and just chill. I’ve had tons of physical ailments that I know were caused by stress and am not interested in any of that.

The concern is that this drive and all or nothing attitude that I perceive is being passed onto my children. Quinn at 10 yrs. old is terrified of failing 4th grade, then he’ll have to repeat it and then he won’t get into college. Really? No one cares about what your grades were in 4th grade when you get to college - and he’s doing just fine. I was sharing this with a neighbor who told me she tells her 3rd grader he needs to be more serious if he wants to go to college. I wholeheartedly DISAGREE!!! Kids should be kids! Not little grown ups with filled schedules.

My husband seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. He keeps scheduling the kids for stuff and talking about getting them “involved” and signed up for activities. Ugh. We live across the street from a park - that is always packed with kids - they can go out and play. Boy Scouts didn’t work out - too religious and too much like school. He did basketball, now he’s taking tennis lessons. One activity is fine, but I’m not driving them all over town. Vivi has a few weeks more of swimming lessons then she’s free.

I’m going to send Quinn to summer camp for 2 weeks this summer where he can run around like and just be a boy with other boys. Overnight camp, in NJ, all boys. He’ll love it. He drives me crazy with his “I’m bored” all the time. He needs to learn to just be.

Vivi keeps herself busy and has lots of friends. She never says I’m bored. They are so different.

I have to stay grounded, no getting caught up in the rat race. I’m not in a hurry, none of this is life or death, they are too young to be talking about college and each day is a mystery and an opportunity. I will keep creating the space to just be. And stop daydreaming about moving back to Colorado!

Random stuff from an email my mother sent me

DID YOU KNOW . . .

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won’t have to
pick the little “stringy things” off of it. That’s how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.
If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.
It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.
It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of
spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints
in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste
of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them
in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350
for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low
and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on
the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing
it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer
for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes
with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in
a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food
moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,
put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-
get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not
get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can’t see easily.

No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.
It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.
The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel
roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in nar-
row openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt
or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.
Place pin in seam of slacks and … ta da! … static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.
Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such
as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of
your car . When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside,
just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals
easily.
Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s cheaper than shaving cream and
leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you
bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar
and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the
cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants =
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants They eat it, take it “home,” can’t
digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works
and you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to thedryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material … I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like. Well … the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn’t go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. It’s what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free … that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box … well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it … the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn’t any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

HGC Day 13

HCG Day 8

HCG Day 5

Taking the Photoshop ACE Exam

I decided that today was a good day to take an exam. I had enough sleep, ate a good breakfast and figured I was primed for being able to concentrate. DH said I should study, find some guides online, take sample tests, blah, blah, blah. I said - if I can’t pass this exam after using the program for 20 years then I’m an idiot

I called the testing center, no answer.

So, I jumped in the car and went over there. I paid my $150 and got all set up on a laptop for the test (I had to hand over my purse, first). It was hard. The questions were crazy. They were all multiple choice, all text - no screen shots or graphics at all.

It took me about 35 minutes to complete the 74 questions. I passed. It wasn’t easy. I should have at least read through the PDF from Adobe - Product Proficiency Exam Bulletin for Photoshop CS4. But, I didn’t.

I highly recommend a little studying. I know I’ll be studying for the Dreamweaver and Illustrator tests when I’m ready to take them!

Now, I can use this cool little logo everywhere!

Link to Photoshop Tutorial

Let’s try this again!

New Photos

Here are some photos as promised. We have a foundation for the house! It’s very exciting. The backyard is lower than I expected, about 6 ft. from the door, meaning we probably need a deck. I’m not happy about that. I wanted it to be more level so I could do a nice patio with stamped concrete or something.  The yard itself is actually small. The trees are only about 10-12 feet from the house - less grass to keep alive and mow. The front yard is going to be huge. It’s a 1/2 acre lot, so there is still plenty of grass on the sides and front.

There is an old fence in the back by the trees with barbed wire - they need to remove it. It’s long and goes all the way back to a clearing past our property. Chuck and I checked it out last week, in addition to muddy shoes, we both had several ticks on us. We are not happy about the prospect of someone contracting lymes disease. 

We had a party for Vivi on Sundy. She had a unicorn pinata full of candy. The weather sucked  and hasn’t gotten any better this week. Cold and rainy. I don’t mind rain, it’s the cold that needs to go! And, the mud. We never had mud in Colorado. Even when it rained it would dry out very quickly. 

Vivi’s favorite toys are Littlest Pet Shop animals. She got a bunch and a little day care play house for them.

We found a house to build

Here is a picture of the elevation I’ve chosen. I really don’t like colonials, but that’s about all you can get out here in VA. This photo doesn’t do it justice. The inside is great. It has all of the fancy wainscoting (which I’m not crazy about) in the foyer, office, living room and dining room - I’m going to find something fun for that, like wallpapering just the inside boxes or something. The kitchen is to die for… it’s massive. I’m building a Florida room off the kitchen - like a sunroom and we are adding a master suite - it’s very cool. We are on a 1/2 acre lot backing to trees with a park out front for the kids. 

this looks more interesting than plain white - send me ideas! Mine isn’t going to be this fancy. 

New domain, new blog

Here is my new blog. I’m in the process of selling PhotoBookMemories.com and needed a new space - so here it is. I’ll be customizing the templates soon for a unique lookk