Ready to take over the world

They're done! My Easter Bunny Ear Cupcakes are done. YAY! And, I must say, they don't look half bad--of course they don't look as fabulous as the one's from the Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle blog, but not bad for a first. After the prep work on Friday, we got down to the decorating Saturday. The Royal icing came out great (couldn't get it any stiffer, I had to scrape it off the whisk), and Katie really enjoyed decorating the cookies we made from the dough we didn't need for the ears.

After the cupcakes were done, I noticed that I didn't have any black decorations for the bunny eyes, so they ended up pink--maybe the bunnies have springtime allergies :D
Anyway, here is the bunny army ready to take over the world. These are the good ones, I have another plate with the 'zombie' bunnies that didn't come out so good.

And here are some of the cookies we made too.

Can't you just taste all that sugary goodness? Happy Easter everyone!!

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Back to School - Yay!

So, I was spending some time on Pinterest--okay, A LOT of time! It's hard to just look around a bit, because it's so darn fun and you always find something interesting, fun, cute and stuff you think must have, that I usually end up spending hours pinning and re-pinning. If you haven't tried it, go check it out. It's great.
Anyway, one of the pins that caught my eye was about organizing school papers. Wait, what? I NEED that, like, NOW!  So, off I went--following that pin to a wonderful blog called iHeartOrganizing, where I promptly spent several hours looking around and ending up planning all sorts of projects to organize my house.
Ok, back to the article on Organizing School Paperwork; it's a neat way to file all those papers you're constantly looking for (hmmm, which pile did I put that in?) and the article is sooo well written and also has great pictures to show the process. And, if that wasn't enough, you can download the templates for the Labels and cover sheet.
I couldn't find any of the nice file boxes locally and was too impatient to order them online and wait for them. BUT, I did find 1/2 boxes at Office Max which are super cute and don't look like filing/storage boxes at all. Take a look, what do you think?

I scanned in all the school pictures for both my kids, a task I had planned to do anyway, so now I had a good reason to move that up on my To-Do List. I downloaded the template and opened  it up in Photoshop. Since I had seven pictures to process, I decided to place the first image as a Smart Object on a new layer and then clip the layer to the template (background) and mask out everything but the picture. After printing the first sheet, preparing for the next one is easy. You just right-click the picture layer (the Smart Object), select Replace Contents and pick the next picture when prompted. You may need to adjust your Layer Mask a bit and you'll need to change the Teacher's name and school info as needed.

I could stop here and call this project finished, but I wanted to be able to quickly know which binder is which, so I used the template for the folders and changed the dimensions to make it narrow to fit the spine for the binder. I also removed all information except for the name and--voila--individually marked Binder Spines!


I saved the Photoshop file for the Spine-sheet as a template and would like to share it, but I will contact iHeartOrganizing first to ask if she would mind--it was her original template after all. :D

So, that's it--on to the next project.

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Contest Time at iHeartFaces

I haven't been entering contests over at iheartfaces lately; don't know why really. I think I've been doing way too much multi-tasking. I'm very impulsive when it comes to information. I see some new technique or inspiration for a picture and I'm off to try it; even if I'm in the middle of two or three other projects.

But, this week's challenge was wind and I knew I had a good picture. Here's a small version of it. You can click on the thumbnail and go over to my photoblog for the full post.

Katie singing in the wind

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Princess for a Day

On Saturday morning, Katie announced that she wanted to dress up in last year's Halloween costume (a pink princess outfit complete with tiara) and have a Tea Party. She spent some time trying to decide which ones of her stuffed animals to invite, since she only has four chairs.
Well, you don't have to tell me twice, I know how to spot an opportunity to grab the camera to try to capture this event (emphasis on try :D). Of course, I only managed a couple of shots, mainly because her highness didn't want to hold still and the whole event lasted just about under 15 minutes before we declared the party over and is was decreed that we wanted to watch a video *sigh*. I so envy the professionals who used to come to Katie's daycare--Li'l Angels Photography. They always got the best, most natural smiles out of both my kids. I can't seem to get them to stop long enough to try to focus :P
I did, however have the perfect pages on hand--Quickpages (also known as Ploppers) at that. So, all the work of the Layout has already been done and all one has to do is plop pictures into the placeholders. These particular ones are freebies from Vera Lim (vlim_itsmydayqp6 and qp1_antje), so these came together pretty fast.

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Nick is Ten!

I saw this cool technique in the latest Photoshop User Magazine by Corey Barker (of Planet Photoshop) that I just had to try. It's called Light Beams Through Text and it uses TEN as the text. When I saw that, I immediately thought of Nick, who just turned ten! (OK, wasn't much of a stretch)
What a great excuse to try out a new technique. :D It was pretty easy, but looks really cool. I even had a picture of Nick I could use for the silhouette.
Now I just have to think of a Page Layout to put it on.

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Good Night Sweet Prince

After selecting a picture to use for the i ❤ faces "Sweet Dreams" Photo Challenge, I still had the other 6 pictures I had identified as candidates. The challenge is over, but I couldn't help it, I had to pick another one of my favorites. This is Nick at about 16 months taking a nap in his 'sling'. I loved that thing; once I had him in it, I could get so much work done and he'd just be happily snoozing along. I tried to schedule my trips to the grocery store around nap times and I remember getting the stink-eye from other mothers with screaming kids in the cart :O

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Sweet Dreams

i ❤ faces: "Sweet Dreams" Photo Challenge

I love this week's challenge, because it brought me back to those first few months after bringing ouradopted son, Nick, home in 2000. He's 8 months old in this picture and we'd just had him for 2 months. Naturally, we were taking pictures every chance we got. I have several of the falling asleep with the bottle pictures, but I had to pick just one (not an easy task). so here it is.

Check out the other entries for this week's challenge.

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26 shopping days 'till Christmas

Well, Thanksgiving is over, the turkey carcass is resting comfortably in the trash (we got a little one this year--so not too many leftovers) and we brought the Christmas decorations up from the basement including the four pieces that make up the Christmas tree. Yea, I know, I used to be a purist too--only real trees; the smell, the atmosphere, yada, yada; but we decided to go green a couple of years ago. Ok, that and we didn't want to put up with the pine needles, watering, disposal--takes all the fun out of Christmas.
Although we didn't brave the elements for Black Friday (I am NOT a Morning Person), we managed to do some online shopping for Christmas gifts and by Saturday when we did go out, there were still plenty of good sales (so there).
We got Nick and Katie to do their Letters for Santa, although Nick, who is almost 10, titled his letter To Mom and Dad pretending to be Santa. I had to have a little talk with him to make sure he didn't let Katie hear him talk like that. At 4 (almost 5) she'll still want to do leave Cookies for Santa and we can still, hopefully, use the prospect of coal for bad behavior.
All in all, I think we're doing better than last year when we finally managed to get the tree up a week before Christmas. Who knows, maybe we'll even do Christmas Cards this year.

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Pink Katie

i ❤ faces: Pink Week Photo Challenge

This is my first entry for this site and I am honored to participate. I have (fortunately) not had anyone in my immediate family who was suffering from Breast Cancer.
Finding pictures for this theme was hardly challenging, as pink is Katie's favorite color. What was, and forever is, challenging was to find pictures where she was holding still long enough to not look like an eyewitness picture of proof of aliens or Sasquatch.
Although this isn't the sharpest picture, I really like Katie's expression. I was supposed to take a picture of Nestor (the bird), which I dutifully did. She wasn't so happy two minutes later, when I told her I had enough pictures of Nestor and wanted to take some pictures of other things. :)

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Mommy, can I have a Mac too?

We are a pretty geeky family, as evidenced, I think, by the ratio of people to computers in our house. We have wireless coverage all over the house and into the garage and the garden out back. We've had computers as early as PC's were available for the masses to purchase (and more or less affordable--which means you only had to take out a small loan).
Anyway, after much deliberation (well, maybe more of "I'm tired of fighting Vista, I wanna Mac") we both got Macs (see previous blogs) and have been very happy with them. For example, at work when I get in, I start up my PC (XP) and wait for the login stuff to come up. Meanwhile, I take the MapBook Pro out of my bag, plug in the power cable, open the lid , wait, oh about 2 seconds, and I'm ready to go.
Not so on the PC side. While I'm putting my bag away and get out my notebook, the login screen finally comes up. I log in and wait another 5 or so minutes for everything to load. But wait, that's not all, I also need to open Outlook to check mail and calendar--which takes another 5-7 minutes. One reason to sync my calendar with my iPhone is that, if I have any early meetings, at least I get a reminder, 'cause I I'd be sure to miss anything waiting Outlook.
So, what has all this to do with the title of this blog, you ask? Well, nothing, really, I just wanted to get that off my chest. :D
So, back to the computer count. There's the two Macs, then Nick has my old Dell Inspiron 8600 and Katie has Mark's (really) old Dell Inspiron 3700. Then we have the server. We had another (really really) old Dell desktop, but we finally retired that.
Both of our Kids have been using computers since they were about two. Nick, who is 9, is getting pretty good at looking for games online, so we have to make sure he doesn't start downloading a bunch of junk. We used the IE parental controls for a while, but it got to be such a hassle when we have to approve every single page that pops up (that means you Disney!!). So we told him to let us know when he downloads something so we can check it out.
Anyway, it's been a while since we've checked his laptop and it had gotten slower and slower and he kept complaining about it. Then today he kept getting popup windows in IE, which I thought we had turned off. So we took a look at it and found that we had another default search setting, toolbar, etc, which had probably attached themselves to the last downloads. So, I went into the control panel and uninstalled them. Then I downloaded and set up FireFox for him, which we like better anyway.
So, Nick is happy and starts to go to his favorite Lego site when he keeps getting popups (in FireFox) with Windows Internet Explorer in the title bar--huh? At this point we decided it was time to just wipe everything out and re-install XP. Wen I first gave him the laptop it had all my apps uninstalled, but still had some utilities from when I used it, so we figured we might as well start over. For him, this would be like (almost) getting a new laptop.
Except of course we had forgotten how long and painful this whole 'new PC setup from scratch' was. That one of the reasons we got Macs. Well, long story short--ha! Too late, I guess. It took just about the whole day to re-install and set up the OS and we're still not done installing all the apps again. Nick, of course, is complaining how he can't do anything because all the cool websites use flash and we haven't installed it yet. This is when he says "Mommy, can't you just buy me a Mac, too?" Believe me, Kid, if I had the extra cash, I'd love to avoid wasting a weekend plus to get your OC back to where you had it, just to have the next Windows Update/Patch mess something up again!

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A day on the couch

Monday started out as a normal day, except that Mark told me at the last minute that he was staying home to finish some work uninterrupted. So right away I’m rushing to get the kids and me out the door more or less on time.
Nick’s drop-off was first. We went to the school where the Lights-Camera-Action summer camp is held and, since there was just one adult for this trip, everybody got out to drop Nick off (even though it’s just in front of the door and takes only 2 minutes, I never leave Katie alone in the car. So, off we went inside. So far so good; I bend down to sign him in, I get up, turn to Nick to say good-bye and --whammo-- MY BACK IS OUT OF WHACK. No warning, no pop, no nothing.
So, I slink back into the car with Katie and manage to drop her off at Daycare. At least she’s getting old enough to unbuckle herself and climb out of the car without my having to lift her. I spent the rest of the day at work sitting in my chair without moving too much. Boy, was I glad when it was time to go home. I retired to the couch and stuck one of those heat-pillows on my lower back.
The next morning I woke up and did a fish-flop maneuver to try to get out of bed, which I managed to do, but the way I was slinking around, there was no way I would make it to work. So it was back to the couch with the laptop and everything else within reach and off to work (virtually speaking).
Man, it sure sucks getting old--one false move and you’re out of commission for a couple of days.

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How to make a Sandbox in a day (and a half)

With the weather as great as it was for the 4th of July holiday, we wanted to spend some time outside this year. That and trying to get the kids away from the computers, DSs, Vtechs, Leapsters, etc. So, of course, there had to be something to do outside, or we’d never hear the end of “I’m sooooo bored, what can we do,” etc. etc.

We figured we could whip up a sandbox in a day--how hard can it be? Actually, not very, it turns out. Better yet, when we added on to the house a few years back, I elected to dismantle the old deck (instead of letting the contractor demolish it). All that wood was just in a pile next to the toolshed. So in the spirit of “we better use it or throw it out”, which we adopted this year, we went through it all and found enough material to build the box--all that was left to buy was the boards for the seat and the sand of course.

With a general idea--and I mean general, as in “let’s make it about 5x7 feet, it’s just a box after all”, we measured (twice of course) and cut and deck-screwed (I had left-overs) the box together in just about a day. We dug down a bit to even the ground and put down some landscape-fabric to keep the weeds out, and put the box in place. Then we added the sand. We had to get bags--all the other places that had sand on bulk were closed for the holiday--the nerve of these people :)

When I say ‘we added the sand’ it sounds pretty easy, right? Well, it is, except for the schlepping 40 bags of 50 lbs sand from the truck to the sandbox! Good exercise though.

So we finished about a half hour before it got dark and the kids got to play in it for a bit before we covered it up with a tarp. We’ll have to build a cover next, ‘cause we don’t plan to provide a nice kitty-outhouse for the neighborhood.

Even though the kids went to bed around 10 that night, they were still up early the next morning to get back in the box. It only took us about an hour or so to add the seat. I’ll still have to do some sanding around the edges, but it’s pretty much done and looks mahhvellous, if I do say so myself.

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Ahhh, technology

Wow, I just noticed that is has been a while since I added something to the blog, so here goes.
Well, it's Saturday and that means cleanup time in our house, since we both work and by the time we get home from work, had dinner, got the kids to bed, etc. we're usually too pooped to do much in the way of housework. Ok, except for maybe the dishes--we gotta eat, ya know; and that, of course, requires clean dishes, silverware, etc.
Anyway, back to Saturday. As I'm cleaning the kitchen and as I pick up stuff and toss it into the trash, it reminds me that I really should take out the trash, 'cause the can is kinda full and it IS getting a bit stinky! Which also reminds me that I saw an ad from Costco for one of those tall metal trashcans that open and close when you wave your hand in front of it and I really wanted to check it out next time I went to Costco; but, of course, last time I was in there I was, as usual, in a hurry to just get what I need and get back home (I normally get to shopping after work, which is around 6:30 PM!).
Anyway, long story short (ha, too late I think), as I was telling my son Nick about the trashcan, his eyes get really wide and he says "Wow, Mom, technology is great, isn't it?"
I had to laugh at that and thought, hey, I should really write this stuff down; I'm always trying to remember some cute, funny, interesting thing one of the kids is uttering, which might lend itself to a blog entry or even a nice scrapbook layout. But by the time I get ready to do those things, I usually can't think of one (geez, I must be getting old), which brings me back to today's blog entry. Wow I managed to tie that all in, didn't I? :)

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We're ba-ack!

Well, we're on the road after landing at Portland Airport at about 1:30 PM. We had a little trouble remembering which airport parking service we had used, but managed to get it in the end. First thing I did was call my mom to let her know we landed. Then we got gas and stopped at the first Starbucks. We'll see how we'll handle the time shift over the weekend. Nick goes back to school on Tuesday and we're off to work again. That means we may have to take two vehicles again, or figure out another way to handle school pickups and work.

I discovered that it was fairly difficult to keep up the blog entries. First, because my mom doesn't have internet access, and second, that, even though my sister does, she also has a very large dog, which Katie was deathly afraid of. So, every time we went over there, one of us had to carry her around.

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Heidelberg

We´re off to Heidelberg. Still looking for the elusive power converter... We almost had one in Frankfurt, but we couldn't find a parking space--my sister rented a mini-bus (seats 9) and now we're having a hard time parking anywhere. Most parking garages have a maximum height of 2 meters and the bus is just a bit over. In the meantime, we'll keep charging it in the car. We're doing enough driving, anyway. And we thought they drove weird in China! They are just as crazy here--except here they yell a lot more.

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Sunshine

Yesterday was cloudy and rainy. Today, the sun came out again. We´re off to a Lego show in Darmstadt--Nick will like that. We´re still looking for a power converter/extension, so until we get one, I`m going to charge the laptop batteries in the car.

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We're Here!

We´re still looking for power converters--my batteries are out. We did bring some, but the outlets are recessed, so the converters don´t fit. We all had enough sleep now and are planning our trips. Still need to upload some pics. We went to Francesco´s yesterday. It´s a pizza place that was there when I left (1980). We talked to the owner and took some pictures and he invited us into the kitchen area where the brick oven is for more pictures with Nick and Katie making their pizza.

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Last night

Everything is packed and in the car. I printed a few 12x12 layouts to take with me, cause nobody has a large printer at home. The kids are in bed and asleep. After this post, I'll shut down my laptop and charge the batteries for tomorrow. All we have to do tomorrow is load our carry-on, pack some snacks for the drive to the airport and GO!

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Down to 1 Day

Packing is pretty much done. We just need to finish our carry-on's, clean up the house, and we're ready to go!

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2 days and counting...

I'm starting to pack. Just checked the Lufthansa web site to make sure we're not filling up the suitcases to capacity and have them end up too heavy. I'll have to break out the scales to double-check.

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