I have been a bad blogger. How is it that a week has past by already? More than a week...it's practically Tuesday. Heck, it is Tuesday somewhere.
I really have absolutely nothing to talk about. (*surprise*) We've been up to nothing except for a evening visit last week from our pastor, my good friend having a baby, regular work stuff, and the ranch. Lord help me...could the ranch be done sometime soon? Not that that will mean anything will change around here I guess. Just more work! But don't get me wrong, it's a good thing. It's hopefully going to get me out of my go no where lame job. So for that, I am thankful. It's just been a long haul that's all.
We're also gearing up for Halloween on Wednesday. Since we moved to this neighborhood we have hosted trick-or-treating for the family. Pete has 3 sisters, they all live here in town, and all have kids. So everyone comes over here for dinner and trick-or-treating. We always have a really good time. But this year because of work and stuff...it's just kind of hectic. I usually try and make dinner...like actually make it, not order out! And I usually do something special for the kids..like last year I made them some gooey punch or you know, something like that. I just can't do it this time..so we're getting pizza! Who doesn't like pizza anyway? So, it should be fun.
As soon as Halloween is over then I gotta get my butt in gear and pack for Seattle! I can't wait!! People at work are saying "oh, so your going to go see your 'Internet friend'" Like, I'm special...if you know what I mean. I just laugh at them. I'm thinking I'll wear a big sign that says I *heart* Scrapbooking! so Chrissy will recognize me in the airport. What do you think?
One more thing before I go...
So there's this guy in my building..he's on the 2nd floor. He's a total butt. I've tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but after today, I'm convinced he is a huge @$$. About two weeks ago I get on the elevator on the 10th floor. I'm riding down with another woman from my floor and she has her hands full. I mean, FedEx box, mail, her purse..all kinds of junk. She can barely hold it all. We stop just short of the ground floor on 2. A man gets in. @$$ man. Now, normally all the men in the building are like, OVERLY chivalrous. Like if I'm standing at the back of a full elevator, they will all part ways to let me, the lady, get off first. Or they will run up behind me just to get to the door to open it. Super nice and polite. But this @$$ man guy...I have no idea what planet he is from, but he is just SO rude. So anyways, me, him and the lady with her hands full get to the bottom floor. He rushes out as fast as he can..but little hands full lady is right behind him. He opens the door, and just keeps walking and the door literally slams right in her face and he doesn't even look back! So I rush up, open the door for her and then say loud enough for him to hear it, "well, wasn't that NICE?!"
I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt that day..maybe he was really in a hurry, or maybe he didn't notice her right behind him...or maybe he didn't see that her hands were full (yeah right). But then today, he did the exact same thing to me! I'm not one of those girls who expects you to open a door for her, or let her get off an elevator before you. I'm not. But it's just not nice to let a door close in someones face. It's just not. Didn't his mother teach him anything? He must have been born in a barn.
The end.
Peace out. Hold a door open for someone tomorrow. :)

You know your a redneck when...

Your brand new plastic, yet fancy, salt and pepper grinders are now held together by duct tape.(at least I used black duct tape, right!?) Yeah, plastic doesn't hold up well on the stove top when you've got the oven on underneath it. Nope. And yes, I just bought these yesterday. Where they expensive? No. Could I go back to Costco and buy more? Yes. But that would be wasteful. And besides that I'm cheap. :| Which leads me to this thought:
Since when do you go to Target to buy $30 dollar jeans? Seriously! Don't get me wrong...Target is probably one of, if not my favorite store. I go there for just about everything. But I also go there for a deal AND I expect somewhat better quality than say something you would find at WalMart or even (blah!) K-Mart. But, that being said, I still expect to go into Target and get some basic jeans for $20 bucks. Am I asking too much? I mean, I could go to Old Navy and get some less than basic jeans for $25, or GAP outlet and get some for $40 bucks. So, why don't I go to those places and get them? Duh...Convenience! It is way more convenient to go to Target than go all the way across town to a different "better" store. Is that what I'm paying $30 dollars for? Convenience? Is it worth it? mmmmm Sometimes. But in the case of these jeans, probably not.
Why did I buy jeans at Target anyways? The answer is quite pathetic. Thursday at work we find out from our really cool boss that we get to have casual dress day on Friday! Woo hoo! Well, the bad thing for me was that I actually didn't even have any jeans at home that I would wear out of the house, let alone to casual day at work. As I'd mentioned before, my jeans were falling of my butt, not to mention the nice holes that had appeared in places, well, that just are not appropriate! LOL! So anyways, at lunch I had planned on going to Target anyways for some necessities and decided to just pick up a decent pair of jeans to wear the next day. So, I got me a pair for $30 bucks (a size smaller than normal!) and guess what? I totally need a belt, cuz these new ones actually still might be too big. Can you believe it? I'm not even trying to lose weight....just still watching what I eat, and still no soda :)But even without a belt, they're pretty cute jeans.
This is totally all I've got! Can you believe an entire post revealing just how cheap I really am?

Photoshop note: Melanie, I will send you an email :)

Another cool one..

Well, I think so anyways. I totally have a scrapbook page in my head using this pic. We'll have to see what comes of it. I had a few inquiries about the actions and links and such. So I will post some here in the next day or so. I'd do it right now, but um...well there's a pile of other stuff that I keep conveniently avoiding that I need to do.
More soon. Peace out.

Pranks, photoshop and other stuff

So, our house got egged. Yeah. Our pretty little red house got egged. And apparently it happened like 3 weeks ago and I just noticed it today. (LOL!) That's what happens when your driveway is in the rear of your house and not the front. My mom, Jake and I went out front today as my mother was doing her yard work at my house. (Luv U Mom!) Anyways, I turn around and see this huge dried up eggy mess running down the front of my house. So me, being a red head and all...I start ranting..."Our house got egged?! Stupid, freaking! GrHA! What the heck!!!" Apparently my kind neighbor heard me (I was so embarrassed!)and came over and told me that it did infact happen about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was random as about 5 other houses were hit. It was a drive by egging...by some teenage girls. Girls! Gaww I hate girls sometimes. They're so mean. You know, I might have actually seen the humor in it if they had TP'd my house. I've been known to roll a few houses here and there in my youth. But egging? That is just not funny. I mean, we're going to have to paint over that spot. There's no getting it off. It's egg. Dried egg does not come off. So yeah, I'm kinda pissed. And kinda really embarrassed that I didn't notice it until now!
In other news...not a whole lot to report. Jake ended up being really sick last week. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and he had an ear infection. And sice he had an other one less than a month ago, he's on some pretty heavy meds. He and Megan both still have bad coughs, but thankfully, they seem to be doing better. Thank goodness because I seriously need a break. I honestly don't know how I could handle being home all day every day. Megan is into everything. And I mean everything. All. The. Time. There is constatly a string of stuff all over the entire downstairs, all. the. time. I'm in the kitchen picking up everything she threw on the floor at breakfast, and she's in the dinning room pulling everything off my scrapbooking table. It's a never ending cycle and it makes me insane. And then I get mad, and really it's no one's fault, but it just makes me crazy.
Photoshop: So in the past week or so in my "spare" time I've been kind of messing around with Photoshop. I have PSE5. After doing some research I found out that you actually can run actions in PSE. And I found several free ones to download and I've been playing ever since. It is so addicting and just so fun! Here are some examples:
You may remeber this photo from way back in March:

And now here it is again after I cropped it and added a "soft focus" action:

I think it kind of has a dreamy look to it.
I also found a pretty neet but basic color popping action. Here is the before:
And here is the after: cool, huh? Just subtle enough to notice.

And here's one more just for fun...Pumpkin Patch Guy before:

Pumkin Patch Guy after:

Neat.O.
So do you guys wit DSLR's shoot in RAW or JPEG? Just wondering. Because I don't really know the difference, and during my research I saw several people saying it was better to shoot in RAW. But like I said, I don't really even know what that means. Less resolution?
Anyways, off to put these crazies in bed. Have a great week!

ho hum

Feeling kind of blah right now. Feeling like I kind of want to scrap, but that might take too much energy. Feeling like I need to start some laundry, but don't really want to wake Megan up right now, you know, since her room is right next to the laundry room and all. Thinking, maybe I should mop the floor. Maybe I should clean my bathroom. Maybe I should just sit here and write another boring blog post.
See, this is what happens when I get locked up for...what?...four days now. I lose all ability to do anything but veg. I hate admitting that I'm lazy to all of you. Well, today I'm lazy anyways.
It sounds like an infirmary in here.
Jake has the bug now too. He started looking all glassy-eyed yesterday and I took his temp. Yep 101*. But he's acting just fine. Coughing, yes, but acting like the same old Jake. So we're staying home another day. We're missing church and a friend of the family's wedding today. That's kind of sad...to miss out on something as wonderful as a wedding. But these kids really need to get better. They both sound horrible. I've always had a really bad sounding cough, so it doesn't really surprise me that the kids do too...but man, they both sound like little baby seals barking away. If the coughing and fevers don't subside by tomorrow, they are both going back into the doctor. I hate going to the doctor and being told, "don't worry, it's just a virus, give them lots of rest and fluids, put a humidifier in their room." and then just knowing 2 days later it's an ear infection or something like that. I know that antibiotics aren't the end all cure all, but it's like, could you please give me something to make them feel better?? Not only for their sake, but for my own? That sounds bad. Selfish. But it's true, as a mother you just hate to see your kids sick or hurt. Anyways...
Halloween is coming up soon. Jake could not be more excited about it. Everyday he's asking me if it's Halloween yet. And he remembers last year and our neighbors decorating with "bone hands" and ghosts. "Membo dat momma?!" Jake is going to be Spiderman this year (of course) and I still don't know what Megan is going to be. I thought it would be really cute if he was Spiderman and she was Wonder Woman. I found a really cute WW costume, but it was just too big for her, and with the weather being chilly like it has been, I think it will just be too cold anyways. So I still don't know what she's going to be. Any thoughts?
Uggghhhh, I hear her. She's up already from her nap.

Lovely, huh? This is what I've been dealing with the last 3 days. The girl is sick. I picked her up Wednesday evening and thought she felt warm. When we got home I took her temp and it was 102*! It just kind of came out of no where. So far it's just a virus..no ear infection or bronchitis or anything...yet. I'm supposed to bring her back Tuesday if she still has a fever. Tuesday?? That seems like a long time to wait to me. But anyways, so we basically been shut-in's the last few days. It's making me and both of the kids go insane. Sometimes I question my ability to be a SAHM if I really got to be one. I mean I love it, but at the same time it just makes me goofy. I CAN NOT stand the crap that just accumulates everywhere. It's like a never ending battle. It's like I pick up stuff all day long but at the end of the day there's still a huge mess. It makes me crazy. But what can you do? I'm not a neat freak by any means. But I do appreciate tidy-ness. Something I just can't seem to achieve these days!
I realized today I really need some new clothes. Ok, when does a woman not need new clothes? But really I do. I mean...it's pretty bad when your skinny jeans don't even fit you anymore...cuz they keep falling off my ass. I guess that should be a good thing. It IS a good thing! But I'm sure it looks pretty funny when I'm constantly pulling them up. I just need to break down and buy some that fit. I used to be able to wear jeans everyday, but at my job it's business casual, so it's all about the khaki's. I've procrastinated long enough, I need a pair of weekend jeans that actually fit me. I also noticed today I don't have much winter/warm stuff. I couldn't even find a decent sweatshirt to put on.
Isn't this the most funnest post ever? (enter sarcasm here)This is what happens when you lock me in the house for 3 days! Ok, obviously I have nothing exciting to talk about so I'll sign off for now.
Hey, what are your kids going to be for Halloween?

Seriously

I'm getting really tired of looking at scrapbooking message boards and galleries. It's almost all I do every day. Sad, isn't it? Pathetic, really. You'd think I'd find something better to do with my time. But, since my access is limitted at work, they let me look at the SB stuff, so i guess I should be happy about that. But I've gotten to the point where I LOVE looking at my friends stuff and I HATE looking at everyone elses. I feel like I've seen it all before. Instead of inspiring me, it's actually kind of like overkill. My brain feels dead to it. I never thought I'd feel that way. And there's really SO much good stuff. Especially on SIS. I mean really overwhelming. The message boards are all about contests that I did not enter because #1 I just don't have the time, and #2 because I'm just not too much of a contest person. And I'm just sick of hearing about it. And people getting all worked up about winning and not winning. I'm not competitive. On that note, I did submit a few pages (which I've never done before) just on a whim. I thought, you know, what the heck. (I'm a hopeless wishy-washer!) We'll just see if anything comes of it. *I hardly think so* I think my lack of intrest right now is all just a phase that will fade shortly. Scrapbooking is my thing and I'm really not ready to let it go.
Some things that have been going on lately at home:
The ranch: Is still coming along. Pete works his butt off. He really, really does. I am so proud of how dedicated and commited he is. But dang, the kids and I do miss him. You can really tell the kids do. They both RUN to him, arms out ready to embrace him every time he comes home. It's so cute! He loves it.
Megan: She's everywhere now. The girl runs everywhere she goes. And sometimes, for that extra bit of aerodynamicy (yes, I made that word up), she puts her arms back so she can get just a bit more speed. She likes to follow Jake everywhere, and loves to be in his room. He has a little tent in there that we keep up all the time and she thinks it's great to go in there and hide from me. She doesn't quite get that to hide, you need to be quiet. She thinks she's SO funny. She also LOVES the cat. Well, this is really nothing new. She's always loved the cat. But now that she is really mobile, she runs after her and then"pets" her. When I say "pet her", I really mean "beat her". She's not trying to be mean, she just doesn't quite get the whole gental thing yet. Poor Miss Kitty. But actually, she does't seem to mind too much. She'll just go hide under something if she gets too annoyed. Megan is not talking too much. She says a few things like "Hi" and what sounds like "brother" when ever she's near Jake...though I never call him brother, I just use his name. She also says "mow, mow" whenever she see's the cat. It's so cute! She loves to be picked up and she kicks her legs like a little frog in excitement. I love it! She also does a little bit of baby sign language. Like, 'more' is her arm streached out and her little hand making a grabbing motion.The girl mostly screams for everything. She's VERY impatient (I wonder where she gets that???) and screams if you're not quick enough with the food or the milk. She also really likes to "do it herself" when it comes to eating. If you try to spoon feed her, she shakes her head no. Little punk! We've been working on the spoon feeding though, and that does seem to be better this week. Oh yeah, and she HATES to be told "No". Oh boy, she throws a major fit. I love toddler-hood. If she wasn't so dang cute, I might go crazy! I do love her so much. Pete and I constantly give each other a look like "oh boy, this one is going to give us a run for our money!" LOL! She's a fiesty little thing for sure. She sure brings a lot of life and love to our family. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have her here.
Jake: He's been REALLY into learning lately. He's a really good "know-er" you know! It's like all of a sudden he just knows stuff. We came home from Hawaii and all of a sudden he can recognize a lot of letters in the alphabet, and numbers. A few months ago he couldn't even recognize the difference between letters and numbers. He is also gettting really good at writting his name. And all of a sudden yesterday he can write the letter H perfectly. He asks Grandma every day if he can do pre-school. He just loves doing it. And I love watching him. He's so precise about everything and follows directions really well, you can see him concentrating. He'll sit and color something for an hour. Just strokes of a crayon or marker up and down, up and down. He'll color a whole paper from top to bottom not leaving any white space left. He also loves to paint. The uninhibited mind of a child is amazing. He's just such a good kid. He's very sweet and kind, loves to snuggle and read books and of course, watch movies. Oh and he loves to "capbook" with me too! He used to be just like Megan when he was her age too! He sang us a "pecial song" tonight, all about Jesus. It was so cute.
Home: I'm thinking about hiring a housekeeper. I'm away from home at least 12 hours a day. Honestly, I just don't feel like cleaning all weekend. AND it seems impossible to keep up on it when there is constantly someone right behind you messing it right back up again. I'd just like someone to come in and do the heavy cleaning, once or twice a month. Then, I think I could keep up on the rest. What do you think? Any of you have a housekeeper? You know what's really funny? I have about 4 or so friends that are all SAHM's and they ALL have a housekeeper! And here I am gone all day and I don't. I'm not saying that you SAHM's work any less than I do. Heck no! Right now, ya'll are working 100 times more than I am! I just wish I could be HOME to keep up on stuff.
Me: I'm getting ready to go meet my girl Chrissy in real life! I'm so excited! I've never been to Seattle, never really been anywhere by myself before, AND no kids and no husband for a whole weekend! Just girls. I can't wait. We're also hoping to meet up with Nicole there too! She and her cousin are coming in for CKC. Seriously, it's gonna rock! I wish all my blog friends could come too! :( Wouldn't that be fun?
oh, and before I sign off here...I just want to apologize to some of my friends...I haven't been leaving a lot of comments lately on some blogs. Beleive me, I am reading, but at work I can't leave comments, and by the time I get home, I just have a hard time finding the time. SO, if you haven't heard from me in a while, I'm sorry and you will soon!
Take care!