Bible Verse of the Day

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

End of Major Painting Achieved

If you've been following the saga of my efforts at painting my son's new store, you'll be thrilled to know that I have finished painting almost all of the bricks onto the wall. Whew! I thought it would never end!


There are really only two walls in the front room that needed to be painted and this stitched-together panorama shows the majority of those two walls. There's a little bit more to the left side of the photo. If I knew how to make the middle part the same brightness or whatever, it would be a better looking photo, but anyhoo...

The big empty spots are where display panels, similar to the big one on the left, will be hanging. I even got the remaining three pegboards painted, which you can see in the center foreground. Their mounting frames are those rectangles on the right. There will also be a yellow home-run line running across the top of the wall. I still have to add vertical mortar lines at the bottom, right above the vinyl baseboard, and at the top, between the last course of bricks and the home-run line. DS also wants to have foul pole and screens in the corners, but if I can just get away with painting a couple of metal poles yellow and attaching them to the wall somehow, that will have to do.

Hopefully it will be more or less ready for the soft opening on Saturday.

Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

You Tube Gems

As a computer professional with utmost disdain for Microsoft, this You Tube clip I found on a local reporter's blog is undeniably funny and pretty close to true:




This other one was sent to me by a friend and I find it amazing. Louis Armstrong's "A Wonderful World" is one of my favorite songs. What this guy does with it is really cute:



Enjoy!

Monday, August 27, 2007

How Hot Can It Get?

I have to say that we have been very fortunate to have such cool weather, relatively speaking. Here in Texas we haven't hit 100 degrees, yet, but it's trying. What makes us doubly blessed is that our A/C went out at home during this mild summer. It could have been much worse. Our unit is 22 years old and every October we breathe a sigh of relief that A/C season is over and we made through another one without a failure. Last year, it would have been very bad since nearly every day was over 100 degrees.

Anyway, fixing it may be on hold because of DH's dufus boss and our dufus accountant. The accountant filed an extension with the IRS on our personal stuff and we found out last week that we owe a LOT of money. The boss is running the company out of business, so DH may be out of work real soon now. They always say bad things run in threes. NO MORE!!! We're at our QUOTA!!!

Today is the first day of school. The last first day of high school for our younger son, our baby. I should be weeping with longing for his childhood, but I can't seem to work up the tears. I'm proud of him and glad he's doing so well. I guess we have a whole school year of last-times now. I think it's going to be a blast!

Later!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

It's A Miracle!

I was at the store last night, painting away, skipping choir practice, and DH showed up after choir practice to check on me. He had come by earlier after work to visit before going to church and then came back by and saw I was still there. I had finished taping the walls, except for a small section where I ran out of tape, and had started painting. I really wanted to get the horizontal lines painted and then I could come back and work on the vertical lines, since those are not quite as simple. Well, he asked how long I'd be since it was already 10 PM and he didn't want me to stay too long. I told him that when I ran out of paint in the small pan I was using, I'd be done. He figured it would take all night and then some and went to get a brush and started helping (GASP!).

Even the small part that he did was very helpful. I didn't run out of paint, but we did leave by 11:15 or so. I'll be back tonight to do some more. DS wanted it finished by this morning, but timeline was moved up from Sept. 1. Turns out he had a vendor coming in this morning to demonstrate some equipment and wanted to at least show progress. I hope he got the trash picked up!

I'll have more picture tonight, I'm sure.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Over Extended And Not Just Money

I got a pop-up reminder this morning that I had a doctor's appointment in 15 minutes. Not a problem if I'm on my way, but I was 45 minutes away and had forgotten to check my calendar this morning or yesterday for today. I dropped my car off at a garage near my office downtown to get the oil changed, so if I had remembered the appointment, my engine would have been rattling all the way there. The office was so kind to reschedule it, though.

Tonight I'm double booked again: choir practice or painting the store. I had a meeting at church last night that I had forgotten about until I got a reminder call on Monday night. I had planned on working on the store and helping DS get his Internet access working. I was at least able to go by and help with the Internet problem (we hadn't done the proper registration, yet). This was the fourth time AT&T had been contacted about the connection not working, but the first time anyone bothered to ask if we had registered the DSL box. All the others kept saying it was a firewall problem and couldn't really help. I had gone through every firewall on the computer and the router, but nothing fixed it.

While I was there, DS announced that he needed the store finished by Thursday morning. Ha! I'm not even through taping, much less painting. Then it would be okay if we got two display pegboards up. Well, only one of the four has been painted. So then it was, can we get the one on the wall so he can start displaying merchandise? Sure, that took all of 20 minutes. Here's what it looks like:


It's starting to look a little bit like a store now! (Oh yeah, that's my 6'5" 20-year-old entrepreneur standing there.)


Okay, so there needs to be a little more work on the display itself, but we were just putting stuff on the wall. I'll be heading back over tonight to finish what I can. I'm also going to need more tape! I've gone through eight rolls of 1-1/2" tape and 3 rolls of 3/4" tape and I still have to do the vertical grout lines. If I could figure out how to make a decent foam stamp that's 1/2" wide and 4" long, I could whip those lines out in no time.

Suggestions? Share them in a comment.

I'll get pictures of the rest of the walls and post them tomorrow.

Friday, August 17, 2007

The Inkblot Test

I saw this on Carol's blog and thought I'd give it a try. I've never taken an inkblot test, so I wasn't sure what to expect. If you do it, plan on taking a little time with it. It's not your typical blog-fun quiz. Here are my results:

Karen, your subconscious mind is driven most by Peace


You are driven by a higher purpose than most people. You have a deeply-rooted desire to facilitate peacefulness in the world. Whether through subtle interactions with love ones, or through getting involved in social causes, it is important to you to influence the world.

You are driven by a desire to encourage others to think about the positive side of things instead of focusing on the negative. The reason your unconscious is consumed by this might stem from an innate fear of war and turmoil. Thus, to avoid that uncomfortable place for you, your unconscious seeks out the peace in your environment.

Usually, the thing that underlies this unconscious drive is a deep respect for humankind. You care about the future of the world, even beyond your own involvement in it. As a result, your personal integrity acts as a surrogate for your deeper drive toward peace and guides you in daily life towards decisions that are respectful toward yourself and others.

Though your unconscious mind is driven most strongly by Peace, there is much more to who you are at your core.

One thing to note is that the "more" costs $9.95 to find out about.

I've Been Tagged!

This is the first time I've been named in a tag, so here goes! Thanks, Tammy!

Write 8 of your blog friends names in a unique way and post them. Then come back over and let me know. You must write the blogger's name that tagged you, then add 7 others. Be creative! This is a great place to do the names.

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Cranking Away

I've been cranking away on DS#1's store painting. Between a bout of being sick, a whole string of busy times, I've figured out that I've got Tuesdays and Thursdays to get the room painted. I spent from about 6:30 PM to 10:45 last night working on it. Of course he doesn't help, much. But we did get one of the display panel frames hung last night. It's starting to shape up. I still need to put a bunch of vertical lines between the horizontal lines to make it look like bricks instead of red and sand stripes. Of the four major wall panels, I've got the first one about 80% done and the second one about 30% done. Tomorrow will be another big push to get more done. We'll see how it goes.

I was going to take pictures last night, but it was so late that I just cleaned up and left. I'll show you some later.

Have a great day!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Another Scrapbook Success

Yesterday was UMYF (United Methodist Youth Fellowship) for our kids. The same ones who went to HEB camp, as mentioned in a previous post. I was invited to do another HEB Camp Scrapbooking event, so I packed up all the paper supplies that we used at camp, picked out a few appropriate dies and the cutter, piled on the stamps, inks, pens, and scissors, stopped at the Dollar Tree on the way to get glue sticks and headed to the church. I had even made an album to put the pages in. Never mind that I didn't have pictures to scrap.

So there are two things going on here. First was just getting the event going, second is our interim youth director is overwhelmed. I had asked her to get the pictures, since she has easy access to the account to pay for them and asked her to let me know whether she was getting them. That was Monday. When did I get the answer? Between services on Sunday. So I started picking pictures from the 150 or so that were on Snapfish. I finished picking at about 3:30 and knew that I had to get them sent to Walgreen's for processing or they wouldn't be ready for MYF. I got the e-mail back that said they would be ready at 5:55. 25 minutes after the start of MYF. I stopped by there at 5:20 on the off-chance they'd be ready, but no, they were next in line to print. They'd be ready in 15-20 minutes. I went on over to the church to start setting up and hoped I could find someone to go pick them up. Thankfully, Marsha offered to go back to get them and brought them in time for the kids to have finished snack supper and start crafting.

So back to the first problem. There were only five kids that showed up. Two of the missing kids were my own dear son and the youth director's son. There were eight adults! What's wrong with this picture? If you pray, please pray for our youth minister and youth ministry.

All in all though, since I decided to use an 8x8 format, instead of the 12x12 from last year, we managed to get 22 pages made. I figured it would be less intimidating to fill the smaller page and sure enough, one of the girls made about five pages alone! I made the album to put them in and the who project came together quite well. I'm hoping the local scrapbook store has single 8x8 page protectors because I only need one more.

When I get enough time, I'm going to photograph at least the cover and maybe some of the more interesting pages to post in my 123-scrap gallery. I'll put up a link when I do.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

I Made It Through The Day!

My last post was kind of whiney, so let me try to make up for it here. I finally made it out of the office with only enough time to get to the studio. I actually left early because I couldn't change the appointment and they appeared to have had the problem worked out. I arrived just after DH and DS did. I didn't get the patches completely sewn on the jacket (scrapbook adhesive doesn't work between cloth and leather, let me tell you!), I was running behind, DS forgot a comb, and I was generally flustered. I was so concerned that it wasn't going to be any fun for him, that I was near tears.

Well, he got changed into his first outfit and we used the jacket. As long as he wasn't wearing it and we only showed one sleeve, it would be all right. He borrowed a helmet from his uniform and brought along the glockenspiel that he marched the parade with in the spring. The pictures the photographer took took my breath away and I was near tears for another reason. I can't wait to see the proofs.

Anyway, he took his yearbook photo, the cap and gown photo, and another casual outfit photo and we were done. I was starving by then because I'd only had a granola bar at 9:00 in the morning and it was now 6:00 PM. I don't know if you have a Culver's where you live, but that's what I had. It's not usually convenient for me because of its location, but we were there. A Butterburger with cheddar cheese and a chocolate malt. M-M-good! Their softserve custard is to die for!

I made it home and found a photo I had ordered from last year's state drumline competition. I promptly set out to make this page:

Click here for credits

There still something missing because both DH and DS didn't realize that the definition at the bottom is for the "Together" at the top. This one is subject to update.

Here I Am At Work

It's Saturday afternoon and I've been at my Monday-Friday 8-5 job for 4-1/2 hours with no end in sight. Frustrating because we were supposed to be done half an hour ago and I can't just leave. I'm taking DS#2 for his Senior Portraits this afternoon, I just hope I can get home in time to help him get ready. The big issue is going to be his hair.

Must..keep...working...

Talk at y'all later!

Monday, August 6, 2007

Busy Weekend

Saturday was our second choir rehearsal since coming off hiatus at church. We still didn't sing on Sunday, but after a month off, there are some rusty voices that need to get going again! So Saturday morning it all started. After choir practice, we picked up DS#2 and went to lunch, then to Office Depot because I needed to make more band booster membership cards and I had run out of business cardstock. While we were there, we found that they were having a sale on backpacks for back to school. 15% off the backpack and everything you could put in it! Since he needed a new backpack, I took the opportunity to load up on pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, and a few other things that I needed, too. I really like sales!

After that we went to Game Stop so he could get a game and reserve another on that's coming out two days after his birthday. I'd already told him I'd get it for his birthday. I forgot about it until he reminded me. Nothing like getting the shopping done early, right? DH and I waited in the car and when he finally came out, he not only had a game, but a job application. He doesn't like busing tables at the restaurant and he'd really rather work at Game Stop. Hopefully it will work out better for him. At least he wouldn't come home smelling like a stale kitchen.

I spent the rest of the afternoon printing the membership cards and sorting through the pictures I took at HEB Camp. I whittled the count from 650 to 365, but that's still way too many. They're loaded at Snapfish and when you are looking at them, there's an option to purchase the whole album. I didn't realize just how many there were until I looked at the cost: $43.80! WAY too many pictures!

Then on Sunday, we had our Financial Peace University and church, then lunch at the County Line. It's a regional restaurant that's okay. I'm not fond of it, but DH loves it. Our family meal was interrupted by a family who was being seated at the table next to us, but moved to a booth, with about a 2-3 year old daughter that wanted to put her toy stroller and bunny in a baby-carrier hold just like her baby sister was getting. She screamed and cried for about 10 minutes. Daddy finally took the stroller away back to the car. Normally crying children don't bother me because I've been through that, but in this case it disgusted me that mom and dad were just telling her to be quiet and not explaining to her why she couldn't have what she wanted. All they did was fuss at her.

After lunch we went home and lounged around and/or napped. When it was time for MYF, I needed to go, but DS#1 didn't want to. So here I am, an adult with a youth, going to youth fellowship by myself. I'm providing the activity for next week, scrapbooking HEB Camp from last week. It was a hit when we did it last year. I hope it's as much fun. This year I'm making the book itself and just need to find 8x8 page protectors. And I need to figure out which 50 or so pictures to print.

Our speaker at MYF was Katherine Adair, a young woman who wrote a book at 17. It's Christian fiction called "Saving Hollywood." She's a very dynamic person with a strong sense of what God is calling her to do. She's got a great story and related well with the kids that were there, as well as with the adults. I enjoyed it! Even better, I won a copy of the book and she signed it for me.

After I got back home, I spent several hours sorting out the mess in my paper scraps and a bunch of letter and number stickers that Tammy sent me (thank you, Tammy!!!). We were using them at camp and they got a lot out of order. I'm not sure why I bothered because I'll be taking them back next Sunday. I'll just have to sort them out again, I'm sure.

I actually was able to do a scrapbook page last week. I was definitely in need of some therapy and found a photo that I had pulled out some time ago that I wanted to scrap. I like to put a lot of pictures on each page because I hate wasting paper and all of the pictures deserve to be preserved (that's how it works in my head). But this was just a single 4x6 and I felt it deserved its own page. It's a picture of my parents and grandmother from my brother's first wedding. My mother and grandmother are gone now, so it's an especially meaningful picture. I used a sketch from Pam at 123-scrap.com and coordinating papers from a slab to come up with this:


The flowers are cut out from one of the papers. Thought it just looked so vintage, like the elders of my life.

Y'all have a great week!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Contest Alert!

I just entered contest to win a 37" Flat-Planel LCD TV at 5 Minutes for Moms. You can enter to win at their blog. It's being given away by Best Buy. Thank you Best Buy! And Thank you 5 Minutes for Mom! Be sure to enter, because as they said over there, someone has to win, it might as well be you!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

I Have Been Remiss

I hope that you, my dear readers, will forgive my absence. I was out from Thursday through Sunday taking our church youth group to HEB Camp, our annual pilgrimage into the wilds of the Texas Hill Country. And it was so depressing that I have only now felt like doing anything other than brooding and feeling sorry for myself.

The beautiful Frio River in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

Don't get me wrong. I love HEB Camp. Our group gets the most primitive campsite available, which has a kitchen, bath house, and four cabins. Three of the four cabins look like they're about to fall down and have these horrid cots in there. The fourth one has fairly decent bunkbeds. I suspect it was built when the original fell down. I'm hoping that they replace the other three sometime soon. So our camp experience is in beds with showers, but no A/C, no phone, no TV, etc. We get no cell phone coverage because we are in the bottom of a canyon with the Frio River.

It's a beautiful site and it reminds me every year of the blessings of God and His wonderful creation. It's the closest I get to nature throughout the entire year. But we had our issues. The program wasn't as well organized as it used to be, but I think that's due to the inexperience of our new youth director. Continuity of the retreat was broken two years ago when the youth director left right before camp, then we had a brand new one last year who had never been and was only able to stay one day because her other part time job wouldn't let her off. Then this year, she left in the middle of planning and we pretty much had to start over.

You know how it feels when something you've done the same way every year is different? It feels kind of disorienting and in my case depressing. I took over 600 photos of the weekend and I have barely felt like going through them. I'll share a few here, but I still have to upload them somewhere to get prints made and prepare for a scrapbooking evening with the youth.


One of our classic clowns posing.


Swimming in and jumping into the Blue Hole


Full moon over Texas


The traditional group photo. They love getting their t-shirts.

This week is also extremely busy getting ready for the new marching season. This is my last year in the band boosters and I'm in charge of chaperones and fund-raising, which includes the spirit items we sell at the football games. I'm behind in ordering things to sell and this morning I couldn't find the bag with all the information in it. I'm actually triple-booked for tonight: Sr/Jr band student registration, the district booster organization meeting, and choir practice. We haven't had choir practice in over a month and I'm missing the first one back. I'm not too happy about that, either. Registration continues tomorrow and Friday night, too.

In addition to all that, I have to get my Sr student's picture taken. It was pre-scheduled for 4:30 on a Wednesday afternoon. Two problems, though. One, it's our anniversary and we planned to take off the afternoon and go see The Simpsons Movie. Two, it's 1-1/2 hours after he finishes band rehearsal for the day and he'll have to take a shower and get ready and be there after a 30 minute drive to get there. I think I'm going to have to reschedule that one.

I'm still trying to get my hormonal systems back in order after being messed up for a couple of months. I'm not on anything right now, so I'm very emotional. I hope that things get better really soon. I covet prayers for getting my mind straight.

Have a great rest of the week.