Electronic Issues - Good News & Bad News

It's always something. Last week, Tim's computer died. I mean, it fried. It was old and he had been band-aid'ing it for a looooong time. Thankfully, he had everything backed-up on a separate hard drive (yeah!!). He went and bought a brand new computer - rather than the refurbs he usually gets. Only problem is... most of the new computers are coming with MS Vista OS. Many programs that we've been using for years are not compatible with the Vista OS. This includes the software that came with our scanner. I guess the good news for me is that the large-scale scanner is now on my desk. Bad news is... it takes up a LOT of room. We'll figure it all out, though.

Johanna had a sleep-over this weekend and they had a GREAT time! We went to see Coraline 3D. I can't believe I am almost 47 years old and I had never seen a 3D movie. It was really cute! The girls had a blast. I think we're going to have a sleep-over again in a couple of weeks when Tim & Caitlin are out of town. At one point I heard Payton say, "Johanna, I love your mom. Er, I REALLY like her." LOL THAT is what it's all about.

Miss C is doing a lot of volunteer work with a local group that supports people who have had severe brain injuries. I am so proud of her for that. Now she is getting me involved, which is very cool, too. They make a lot of cards. The center wants me to come and give them some help with what they can do more/differently. I'm looking forward to getting involved with that.

Valentine's Day was nice. The girls each got a gift, as did I. I got Tim something I thought was really cool. I found these four stalks of bamboo that were shaped into two hearts. This particular bamboo is supposed to be "lucky bamboo." Tim had a few bad days right before Valentine's Day, so I figured it was the perfect gift to turn his luck around. :-) Here is a picture of it.

Isn't that COOL?

Until my scanner is fixed, that's about all I have to share. Hopefully, Tim will have me all hooked-up tomorrow night. Take care and thanks for visiting!!

Im"poster"

Last weekend, Tim and Caitlin went to a motorcycle trade show. Miss C has always been a daddy's girl, so it's no surprise that she shares his passion for the sport. What was particularly funny, though, was that she was mistaken (repeatedly) for a pin-up model. She was in a booth of Tim's friend. They had this poster with a scantily clad model (as usual). Caitlin was wearing an "Exhibitor's" badge, so many of the men stopping by the booth thought the girl was Caitlin! They even asked her to sign their posters... which she did! LOL!! Here is a picture of Caitlin looking at someone's badge so that she could personalize her autograph. OY!!

How HILARIOUS is that!? Guess what I'll be scrapping next?? :-)

This weekend they'll be at it again. They're going to a show in Indy. Next, they're going to a race in Indy at the end of the month. Don't they know they are SERIOUSLY cramping my scrappy schedule? LOL Just kidding! (Sort of.)

That's about all for now, I guess. Johanna is having a sleep-over on Sunday/Monday because of the holiday. I'll be taking her and her friend scrapping, which should be loads of fun! Then, Monday, we will go to the movies again. This time, I'm toting the camera!

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Blahs

Clearly I have some catching up to do. I think the brutal cold, snow and ice are taking their toll on me. We've been stuck at home so much that there's really not much to tell either.

Today, it almost felt like spring around here. I opened the curtains and blinds in our bedroom, opened the window a bit, and cleaned my arse off in there. I even guilted Tim into helping me. ;-) It had become a bit of a dumping ground for things without a "home," and today we reclaimed our space. I threw out a LOT of stuff. I vaccumed the heck out of everything that didn't get out of my way. I almost forgot how huge that room is!

I've started a home improvement project - the guest (girl's) bathroom. The wallpaper has been peeled off and the new paint has been purchased. Oh, and Tim rescued a light fixture that actually might work in there. I'm really excited about getting it done. We've got some big framed mirrors around the house, so we're going to replace the early 80's sheet of mirror with a nice, decorative one. I'm usually very good at finishing a project I start around the house. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty obsessive about it. One thing was stopping me, though. I **HATE** the vanity and floor in there. I want to switch both out but have NO IDEA how much that will cost. So, tomorrow morning I am going up to Home Depot to pick out what I like and find out what it would cost to have it installed. If it's reasonable enough, I'll see if I can get Tim on board. We'll see.

I made a layout with the picture I posted below. I'm really happy with how it turned out, but I'm not happy with how it scanned. The page is so bumpy and bulky, a lot of it is blurry. Here it is anyway...

The company that maintains our property really screwed up with the snow removal. We have about a 4' pile of ice and snow in front of our house. They literally piled all that on top of our boxwoods. I'm sure at least six of them are toast. Now we're going to have to submit an invoice to the Board of Managers and see if we can get reimbursement to replace them in the spring. Yeah, right. Wish us luck with that one. Here's the pile where our boxwoods are buried.


And here is a picture of Johanna on top of the pile.


Needless to say, Tim is NOT a happy camper! Who can blame him?

Well, I've got to get up early in the morning, so I'd better wrap up for now. Thanks for stopping by. I'll try to be better and keeping my posts current.

Super Bowl Sunday!

Super Bowl Sunday is finally here! It's half-time now. I'm sad that the black and gold are winning, though. Still hanging my hopes on the red and white.

Anyway, I'm going to quickly post a few more pictures from yesterday because, well, Johanna was just so stinkin' cute!!

The trees were truly beautiful. Thank goodness we didn't lose our power, though.

And here is the ice on our holly bush.

I'd better get back to the game. I'll have some layouts to post tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

What A Week!

Exhausting. That is the word of the week. :-) The kids were home four days this week due to ice and snow... and a LOT of it! We were virtual prisoners in our own home (only a slight exaggeration). Caitlin was a little like a caged animal. LOL Johanna was just bored and mommy needed to "entertain" her. The temps were so cold that I couldn't even let her play outside very long. It hovered around -7 wind chill all week. The bright side... we didn't lose our power.

Today, the temp went up a bit and the wind died down. While I was gone for awhile, Tim took Johanna outside to build an igloo. Here is a pic from the day. I'll finish some more and post them later.

My "Ice Princess." :-)

I'm really looking forward to the Super Bowl tomorrow. I'm praying for an upset and that the Cardinals will win. I'm thinking they are no match for the Steelers dirty tactics, though. I'm sure they'll mame a key player in the first quarter. Boooo! Thugs. I'm not bitter. ;-)

Due to the recent imprisonment, there's not much else to tell. I'll post more pics from today later on and I'm sure I'll have a few thoughts to share about the big game. Thanks for stopping by!

A Breath of Fresh Air

I make a concious effort to keep politics off my blog. I will say, though, that this has been a very emotional inaguration and transfer of power. I am very optimistic for this country's future.

Obviously, I did watch the inaguration on Tuesday. As a matter of fact, I got so caught up in it, I was taking pictures of the TV screen as it was happening. I can be such a loser. LOL Anyway, I was surprised to see the Representative from our District, John Boehner, walk in to the ceremony directly in front of President Obama. Not only is he our Representative, he is our neighbor; literally. He lives about a mile away from us and Tim knows him. How cool is that? That's like -- one degree of separation from the most powerful man in the world! I didn't realize until the next day, when I sat down to get the pictures off our camera, that Congressman Boehner was standing directly behind the President as he took his oath of office. Here is the photo...

He is the gentleman just to the left of President Obama's right hand in the picture.

I really liked the Lincoln "theme" to this inaguration, too. My only real concern was the amount of money that was spent on this lavish day. I know it was an incredibly historical event, but I'm not sure we couldn't have had a meaningful ceremony that didn't cost quite so much. But, enough about politics.

I have to get the kids off to school now. I'll be back later on with more. Thanks for stopping by!

Blast from the past...

When I was in Jr High School, there was a "must read" book called, "Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret." It's primary focus was dealing with the changes in an adolescent girl. In my world, it really was a "must read." EVERY teen girl had read that book. Anyway, I digress. For some reason, this book title made me think of a title for a layout about Miss C. I want to call it, "Are you there, God? It's me, the mother of a teenager."

I need to know how to survive the next year and a half. I wasn't 18 until April of my Senior year. My best friend wasn't 18 until the second month of college. My dear teen will be 18 years old one month after the beginning of her senior year of high school. How does the mother of a teen manage that? One week she wants to quit golf. The next week she wants to transfer to the other district high school after the golf season. The next week, she wants to graduate early. Truth is, she can do whatever she darn well pleases at that point. In all honesty, I want my mom. I need her guidance. I need her wisdom. She figured out how to deal with my independent nature. God knows how she put up with me. So, here I am... the mother of a teenage daughter without my mom to tell me what to do. [sigh]

Johanna, on the other hand, is still easy. Today was a holiday from school, so she had a friend over for a sleep-over last night. She and Payton had a great time! They had fun until about 11:30 PM, slept in, had pancakes for breakfast, and then we all went to a movie and lunch. We went to see Bedtime Stories. It was really cute. Lunch was a blast. We have another date for a sleep-over for President's Day next month.