Solarizing for Grandpa

What Happened to Spring Break?

This has got to have been the least momentous spring break ever.  We started out the week with a poor sick Fefe.  Monday I cleaned my bathrooms.  Tuesday I detailed the inside of my van (I have this crazy obsession with making it look brand spanking new a couple times a year - made easier by my lovely spotbot).  

Wednesday we drove around for an hour in the morning trying to replicate the power steering noise that needs fixing.  The van was then in the shop till Thursday.  This complicated the trip to the doctors office with Brother B on Thursday for a variety of ailments.  Luckily J could stay home that day.  It was quite a relief to pick up the van that afternoon.  I have to take it back in on Monday to get the actual repair done, but they at least figured out what has to happen.  Sad that it took two days.  Thursday night I stayed up till 2:30am trying to figure out how to get my monitor to display my pictures correctly.  My pictures have been consistently underexposed from costco so I finally decided something had to be done.  After all that, I called my expert photographer friend who told me she just holds the print up to the screen to calibrate.  No fancy software or hardware.  

Friday we headed out to get some long needed shopping done.  After driving an hour to the running shoe store, I realized that I forgot my orthotics.  Then we headed to Toys R Us to do something about the money burning a whole in Ephant's pocket.  After walking around the whole store she realized there was nothing worth buying and decided to save up her money for an Ipod Nano.  Then it was off to Costco to pick up my first correctly exposed picture.  I also caved and bought Photoshop Elements.  I've been using Paintshop Pro forever, but it doesn't have everything I want.  Someday, if I'm feeling rich, I'll buy CS4.  Friday night we watched Short Circuit for movie night.

Saturday morning I had the joy of attending a two hour training by our Area 70 on ward missionary work.  Afterwards I met Jenn for lunch at the Mad Greek. Mmmmm, Gyros....  The only downside was the onion breath for the next few hours. While I was gone J drove the kids into Portland to pick up some Cherry Ply for the bathroom cabinet he is redoing.  

The best part of the week has been taking pictures with my second flash.  Here are some samples:

I think the kids were all relieved when I packed up the gear this evening.  I have to take a break so I can focus on our Relief Society B-day dinner this Wednesday and a baby shower this Friday.  I really need to take a class someday, but hopefully with all this practice I won't get too lost when I finally do.

Doctors and Development

Fefe had her 18 month checkup this week and in honor of that she decided to start saying "no".  It is truly a sign of her personality how much she says it now (that or how often she hears it).  When I dropped her off at nursery today she immediately clutched me tight and said "no, no!".  It really is nice to see her learning to communicate.  I'm so sad to see her grow, but at the same time it is so fun.  The poor girl had a bit of a fever today, probably from her Dtp shot, so there was a lot of shrieking interspersed with "no" this afternoon.  It is a good thing the child is so cute.

Another Year, Another Birthday

Amidst all the other Saturday events, we somehow found time to celebrate Ephant's 9th birthday.   Her two favorite presents were a Hannah Montana purse from Aunt Marv and a digital camera from Aunt Carol.  Conveniently the camera fits very nicely in the purse.  Hannah Montana ruled the evening.  We also gave her Dance Dance Revolution, but it definitely paled in comparison to the purse.  Fefe thought the whole present opening was pretty exciting, luckily she didn't try to open them.  

Ephant also had her first piano recital that evening.  My camcorder ran out of tape so you'll have to wait for that video till I can get it from Uncle Robert.  She did really well playing A Whole New World.  She is quite the little performer.

The purse:

The excitement over DDR startled Fefe a bit:

Not on my watch, son:

Ephant was so happy with her chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard cake from Dairy queen:

Song Time

One of our big events this week was the Obama Love Fest...  I mean spring concert at the elementary school.  It was a patriotic theme and quite a few of the songs had to do with how great Obama was.  One line said "now the future is looking bright".  Tell that to the 53% of the country that thinks we are about to hit the great depression.  Besides the blatancy, the kids did great.  Brother B sang more than I've ever seen him sing and he seemed to enjoy it more than usual.  Ephant was her typical dramatic self and loved every minute of it.

1.  OBAMA (to the tune of Bingo)

2.  Hail to the Chief (preceded by Obama Love)

3.  Rap of the Presidents (Yes we can!)

Let the Fun Begin

This last week was probably the craziest one I've had in a while.  I had something to do practically every day and night.  My TMJ has been acting up terribly because I've been clenching my teeth so much.  At least I have a nightguard now so my teeth won't get worn down. 

One of our new ward members is teaching yoga every tuesday night.  That has been so nice, partially because of how relaxing it is.  I've always loved yoga, but haven't been willing to find the time to do it.  This last week I took Ephant with me and she had a great time.  I wondered whether she would want to do it again, butt I think partially she likes doing a big girl thing with her momma.

We've had a few days here and there of nicer weather and since the kids aren't so obsessed with the Wii anymore they don't fight me about going out to play. Fefe put these boots on over the shoes she was already wearing:

 I bought a pretty cheap bubble machine from Target a few weeks ago that works surprisingly well.

Last Sunday I went to my friend's ward to take pictures of their 10 Virgins performance.  I brought my tripod along since I knew it would be low light. The setup worked out great.  I had to slow down the shutter speed pretty drastically, but with the tripod and remote I managed to get some pretty decent pictures.  One of these days I reallly need to take some photography classes, I'm sure there are some tricks to the trade that would make my life a lot easier.  I did order a second flash off of ebay so now you can look forward to some more test shots from my two light setup soon.  These ones below are just 1 light.

This lighting is called Rembrandt lighting because of the triangle on the cheek.  I think it looks pretty cool:

Looking to heaven for relief:

Don't Laugh at Me

A month or so ago, Ephant lost her voice from the cold she had.  It was the same cold that sent Loofa to the ER for croup.  I caught that cold, but my voice was fine.  Now I have a new cold and this time I did lose my voice.  I sure hope no one calls me today.  I've been mostly whispering so Loofa automatically does it too when he talks to me.  I keep having to tell him that he doesn't have to whisper too.

It's been pretty cold here, but yesterday the sun really started warming up during the day.  The kids are excited to start playing at the park again.  We usually get shopping done during the 3 hour block of gymnastics on Wednesday, but it'll be nice to run over the park during that time instead.  Especially if Loofa doesn't forget his shoes...  I had to carry him and Fefe into each store yesterday.

Speaking of stores.  I've been rereading one of my favorite series "The Wheel of Time" in preparation for the release of the final book in the fall.  I'm missing the last book and the prequel.  I ran into the Dollar store yesterday for a gift bag and when I passed the book section I was bowled over when I saw they had both those books, hardcover and brand new.  I couldn't believe I only paid a dollar for them.  To be honest, I couldn't remember if I had the last book or not at the time, but I figured $1 was worth getting it even if I did have it.

Next week I'm throwing a baby shower for a friend.  If any of you have a game you can recommend please let me know.  I'm sure I could find something good on the internet, but I'd love to hear your ideas.

100 Days Update

I forgot to mention, Brother B won the poster contest for his 100 Days project.  

What Have We Been Up To?

Two weeks ago we finally picked out new carpet for the back room.  Against my initial aversion we went with a shag type carpet (frieze).  I love it!  It is so cushy.  The sale-lady kept saying it is so soft you could sleep on it.  I tried that out, it is not true, but it is definitely a pleasure to walk on.  Everytime I walk in the room I just want to savor it.  I highly recommend the type of nylon it is made out of too, Tactesse.  It is not scratchy at all.  To save money we did all the removal.  It was amazing how much sand was collected underneath the carpet. We painted the room before the carpet came in.  J wasn't huge on the color, but it was my turn to pick.  I think it looks fabulous.  It so nice to walk in this room and not smell cat pee anymore.  Now I just have to make sure Rush doesn't sneak in and mark the place up.

J wasn't happy with me putting all the furniture back by myself.  Thanks to Marv, I had some furniture sliders which made it so much easier.  The computer was unhooked for about 24 hours and it nearly killed me being disconnected.  Maybe I need therapy :)

By the way, it did snow again last week.  I think that is the fifth time this year.  I laugh in the face of global warming.  Isn't it rich how they call it Climate Change now?  I believe that climate change is a natural process last I checked.  Last month there was a global warming protest in DC and they were snowed out.  The big question is, what will they latch onto next?

Re-discoveries

Fefe had a lot of fun sliding the other day.  Ephant was catching her so she wasn't scared to slide down on her own.

The next day, Loofa decided he wanted to try catching.  Each time she came down he was knocked over.  In case you are wondering, the blue is from the gatorade he was drinking earlier.

Mouser

I remembered a picture the second time:

They were chewing on the cat food under the stairs again, so good riddance.  Hopefully he got them all.

Heaven in a White Box

A couple weeks ago we were in Portland to pick out carpet.  J decided we would stop by Papa Haydns so I could pick up my favorite dessert.  A late Valentines I guess.  This was only the second time I've had it.  The first time was probably 7 years ago.  One slice costs $8 so I savored every bite.  It was a pretty big slice.  I could only eat 2/3 of it and by the time I got to it the next day it was soggy :(  I still ate it though.  So, if you are wondering what is called... Bocconi Dolce.  I attempted to make it once, but didn't have much success.  The layers are meringue, whip cream, chocolate, strawberries and bananas.