Seriously?

A whole week has gone by already again??? How is that even possible. I spend so much time on this dang computer, one would think that I should be able to keep up with this blog better, right?
Well, the photography course is out. I called them up and the lady literally talked me out of it. It's just a beginners course and she doesn't think I need it. Now the professional course would be a different story, but I will have to think about that. She suggested I find a hands-on class somewhere, but those are hard to come by around here. She thought that maybe I should move to New York. Yeah, right, good-bye kids and hubby, see you when the course is done LOL. I think not!
I have this nice room, it's sort of an addition with windows on three sides. I keep the birds' cages in there, it was supposed to be for the kids to play computer games etc. but they never use it at all. I was thinking I might make that into a little studio room. Does anybody have any input on that? Would that be workable? I need to learn how to use lights and all that good stuff, I have never done anything like that. My girlfriend already suggested props, like I am going to be for hire :) Would be fun though, on a very small base...we'll see what happens.
Boy, it's miserable here today, rain and more rain....symptoms of what is going to come. Yuck!

Saturday we have to go to Bellefonte for a Karate tournament that Gabrielle is competing in. Boy, I don't want to go.... then in the evening we have the Black Belt dinner, starting at 5 PM. I have no idea how I am going to make both things, that place is like two hours away. Well, she'll compete and we'll leave, that's the way it's going to be. I will not be judging or anything like that.

Yesterday she sparred with Sabomnim, that was really cool, she went right after him, no fear or anything. Of course he could have killed her, but she wasn't bad at all! How fun!

I worked on my 365 pages again, I am only a month behind LOL

Another page from the party at Britz's

then I found this old picture of Michael, how cute he was

A little introspection, I often think about that stuff...

That's the car I fell in love with, boy, if I didn't have kids, this would be it!!

no words needed :)

jumping ahead a little. Actually I made this for a submission, but they didn't want it, so I can post it now

and that's all the pages for this week. I made a couple more that I submitted, if they don't get chosen, I'll post them here in a couple of weeks.

Rachel needs to use her little rubber bands on her braces more, she simply won't do it and the dentist told me the other day that he will take the braces off in a couple of months, because we are not gaining anything and run the risk of getting marks on her teeth. She is such a lazy bum.... I have to stand with a whip behind her in almost everything she does, argh! Kids!

Well, time to put them to bed again, this seems to be the time of day for me to be posting, I need to change that....

Photo shoot

Gabby and I had the best time the other day. I probably mentioned this before but a friend had asked me to take her daughter's senior pictures and since I don't have the slightest clue we went out to practice a little bit. Awkward to say the least! I didn't really know what to tell her in regard to poses, but I just tried some stuff. Here are some results. I have the photos ready, since I had to fix them for her Facebook account. She has already used several for her avatar... makes me proud

Now Rachel wants me to take her pictures too! Who knows, maybe I'll become a photographer some day. In fact I might sign up for an online class by the New York Institute of Photography. Sounds interesting. I really want to get good at this, it's still a lot of hit and miss and photoshop work. It might be that way for most people but I would love to be able to take a picture just with the settings and have it look good.

I already made some pages using these pictures

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/ideas/showphoto.php?photo=139415&ppuser=2922

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/ideas/showphoto.php?photo=139314&ppuser=2922

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/ideas/showphoto.php?photo=139461&ppuser=2922

I did a couple of 365 pages I don't think I posted before. I really need to do some serious catching up with those....

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/ideas/showphoto.php?photo=138972&ppuser=2922

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/ideas/showphoto.php?photo=139050&ppuser=2922

The other day I got these shots of TG, she is so adorable and sweet! She is always affectionate, rubbing up against me, wanting to be petted. Love that cat!

and then I went back to scrapping some pictures from Bedford again. Gotta love Photoshop, the spot healing brush tool is simply amazing! There were these heavy cables all over my photos and I got them out with no problem at all! What a cute little town, they really should bury all their utility cables, they are very disturbing when you take pictures!

A couple more pages from the beach, they are already in the book I had printed (which btw. turned out pretty nice, although I only used pages I had already done and tried to match them as best as I could)

This coming Monday is a big day. First off, it's Michael's 11th birthday and of course he is all excited. We will have his birthday party on Sunday, we had planned Saturday but it's our day for Karate bootcamp and he'll get really ticked if we don't show up again!

But the Big Day is Our Silver Anniversary!!!!!

How can that be??? I thought that happened only to our parents! Well, I suppose our kids won't be throwing us a party, so we'll have to figure something out, maybe go out to dinner (again....) I can't even believe we have been married for 25 years, yikes!!! We must be doing something right LOL.

It has warmed up again and I am loving it! These early spring days were the pits, way too cold for my taste. I dread winter with every fiber of my being! Gabrielle has the chance to join the ski club, that might be something fun for her, at least something to do in the winter!

She didn't do too good on her last geometry test. It's going to take her some time to get used to. She was really good with Algebra, this is so different...argh! I feel so bad for her, I know it's not for lack of trying. She spent hours doing her math homework yesterday (turns out she did today's homework too LOL)

Okay, time to put the kids to bed, it's way too late already again!!!

It was great

The chat I mean, I think I pulled it off okay. I can't believe it's been a whole week already again, where does the time go? I hope people liked what I had to say, the hour went by so fast, I couldn't even get all the information out there. I did post all my links in the forums though, although it was very minimalistic. At least the inspiration pieces are there....
The rest of the week is a blur again... Sunday was Gabrielle's birthday and she wanted to go to Red Lobster for dinner. Seems like they all like it there (except for Michael) Our friends from Altoona came over and joined us and so did her friend. We brought a cake I had bought and the servers were very sweet, putting the candles on and singing to her. The candles were trick ones and kept re-igniting. The poor girl kept blowing and blowing and laughing. We had such a great time with that. I didn't do any pages about that day yet, but I will. Marc had the girls in stitches the whole time, he can be really funny! She was happy with her presents, especially the Ipod she had wanted for so long. The MP3 players I had given them before just weren't up to par at all...

The rest of the week just flew by with all the usual stuff, Karate, piano, school, homework etc. Nothing much exciting. It has gotten really chilly out there, the leaves are turning and I am dreading the cold weather.

The slow leak in the pool still hasn't been fixed, the whole in the deck is still there, so I can't really close the pool yet either. He called last week telling me they would be there Tuesday and Wednesday. Guess what! It's Saturday and I haven't seen anybody. He told me he wanted us to enjoy the nice weather, because he would have to drain the water down to the repair area, that's why he hadn't been around. I mean, does he think I am an idiot??? He must! Never again....

Gabby is making some new friends at school, I am so glad for her. One girl lives very close by and she has been over a couple of times. She is very preppy, not at all what Gabby is used to, we'll see how that will work out. It makes me laugh, she is kind of funny and cute, but really not like Gabby at all. More like Rachel. She needs some different influences in her life though, it will be good for her. Plus she has somebody in the neighborhood to hang with. Of course there is lots of homework all the time, Math is Geometry now, which is giving her frustrated moments. She liked Algebra, but that's the way it goes. Rachel is doing okay, Michael seems to be doing better this year so far too. Gotta crank out that whip!

Wednesday I went to Bedford to meet up with an online friend. Some of you know her as Whatnext (Phylis) She was taking a mini vacation at a B&B there and we hung out for a few hours. We took a nice stroll through town, I had no idea this place was so cute, gorgeous buildings around there. Then we sat on the porch of the house and chatted. She was a lot of fun to be with, very well read and I found we think alike about a lot of things! I hope to meet her again real soon. I already used some of the pictures from that day and made them into pages, so you can see her too

we were walking around and took a bunch of pictures of the beautiful homes

I saw this cute bench in the front yard of the B&B and just had to take a picture of it

Then we go back to the Britz's house from the weekend before :) 

and another picture of that sweet baby :)

these pictures were taken yesterday with my 90 mm macro lens. I really wanted to catch the pollen on that bee, I didn't even notice it until I used that macro lens and got close enough. I was really thrilled with the shots!

Gabrielle showed me the webpage of this local photographer the other day. He takes a lot of the senior pictures for the Highschool. Man, is he good, I am so jealous! Let me see if I can find a link, that is the kind of stuff I want to do, to be good like that and have that kind of setup...my dream! Okay, found it, here is the link. Look at the light.... swoon! He has a blog too, it's really worth looking at if you like photography. I will get some pointers to use for Gabby's pics when the time comes. I do plan on doing them myself (somehow :)) I need to practice a lot... I would love to have a little studio with lights and all that good stuff, I really need to read more about it. Oh well, one can dream, right? I got this info from a photography school in NewYork. They have online classes, I might just take one, just for the fun of it!

Well guys, I guess that is it for today. We are going to head for Monroeville today, just to the mall there. They have an awesome bookstore and a Chico's :)

Talk to you all soon!

ETA: I fixed the link to STeveRays photography. Thanks Barb!

Don't forget

Not only is tomorrow a day we all should never forget and keep in our hearts forever, but it's also the day of the DD chats and I am on at 9AM!!!! (I know I shouldn't have mentioned those two things in one sentence, but it just came out like that) I'll have a cute little freebie to give away, I think you'll like it! I did a lot of writing and have a lot of links to share, so stop by!

I can't believe last weekend was Labor Day already, I guess summer is really over now, yuck! I am so not ready to give up on the warmth and sun. I was just watching this little robin in our yard today. He was just hatched a few weeks ago, I made that page about him. Today I saw him partially out of the nest and tried to take a picture, which scared him so much, he jumped out of the nest. I guess he was supposed to get out anyway, Mom was waiting for him with grub. :) Anyway, my thought was that it was kind of late for a robin to lay eggs now with winter coming and all... I hope he'll be okay.

Our pool is finally nice and clean and of course way too cold to be using it now, typical. I know I will never ever use our dear neighbor for any work around here ever again. Is that said strong enough? I am so ticked off it's not even funny. We still have an open deck where the leak is and he hasn't been back for over a month. I know of a few choice words I could use for him.... happy thoughts!

Last Monday we went to Hollidaysburg to see our friends' newly adopted kids. Four of them to be precise, all under the age of 13. What a great crew, they seemed perfectly at ease, calling them Mom and Dad and fitting right in with them. We all pitched in and bought them a laptop to share. Boy, I can't even imagine how big an adjustment that has to be for everybody, good thing they have a big house :)
Here they are, don't they make a great family, they look like they belong together anyway

We had a good time, there was lots of food and great companionship. The kids got to use their pool, because they have a heater that actually works (ours doesn't, different problem), so they had a good time. Rachel couldn't believe the big cornfield behind their house, she was right away thinking about scary movies and scarecrows coming out to get you or something to that extend. I can't believe their Dad let's them watch scary movies like that when I am not around.....:)

Life is a blur as usual. Gabrielle likes Highschool so far, it's challenging, but she tries hard. She got a 92 on her first spanish test, so she was thrilled, it didn't come easy... I think I just might study it with her, with my background in italian, it shouldn't be too hard.

Saturday was our first Bootcamp Karate lesson. Sabomnim holds these special classes for people who will be testing in November and they are very intense. They are perfect if you like to get yelled at for two hours. I had trouble walking up and down the steps the rest of the day. They are worth it though, I always learn so much! We will be skipping tomorrow (and he will be mad) because there is an annual Arts and Crafts thingy that we never miss. It's the only one I really like and I plan to take lots of pictures. It's called Mountain Craft Days and they have people demonstrate their crafts, like loghouse building, pottering (sp?), butter churning and all kinds of other stuff. I love it! I am not going to miss that so I can get yelled at LOL. Plus tomorrow are the chats too, I want to be able to attend as many as I can.

Okay, let's get to the pages :)
I finally did another 365 page, so much to catch up on....

Here is the robin page I was talking about earlier

A little Michael conversation :)

Being the photographer all the time, the girls caught me by surprise. Those dang cell phones :)

Look at that little sweetheart. That picture was taken at the party too. I have a bunch more of him

No explanation needed

That was at the party, see the cornfield behind them? :)

click here

Rachel took this photo with her cell phone. She has it all figured out, if she gets enough light, she blows out her features and gets this cool look. I should try that, get rid of the wrinkles that way :)

Find it here

There is lots of new stuff coming to the store this weekend and the whole store is 30 % off, so don't miss out. I wouldn't advertise if I didn't really love the stuff :)

You can look at all my pages in my gallery if you are so inclined. 

I got my hair done today, nice red highlights and taken an inch off the back. I like it!

The girls went to a HS football game tonight, I hope they won't freeze their behinds off, it's really pretty chilly out there. Should be fun for them though. Gabby's friend is with them too. Well, I better get moving, don't forget about tomorrow!

Today would be....

my Dad's birthday! Happy Birthday in Heaven, Dad!

Remember the photos from last weekend? I got all the baby photos fixed up and put on a CD for them. I was a little proud of myself, I thought a lot of the pictures came out really well! Nothing like good light!
Of course I had to put some on pages, here they are. Look at that face:

Here is one from the shower

Aren't they just adorable? They will have the cutest baby and they will be the most wonderful parents!

I just finished this one about Gabby's first day. It was fun to do, pointing out the differences in uniforms for this year. She has adapted really well already, got herself organized, is finding her way around and has made a few acquaintances who befriended her on facebook. Today she actually walked home from school with a girl who lives up the street a little bit. I am so happy for her! Right now she is at the movies with her best friend so I have the privilege of picking them up afterward and driving her friend home. Aren't I lucky?

I was a little worried about the schedules, about how to manage driving and picking both sets of kids up from school. I have been lucky so far that Phil has been taking one set in the morning and has been home early enough to pick one of them up too. It's so much easier for me, although I could do it.

The other two seem to be doing well so far, it's not a big change for them, back to the old routine. We'll see how things go.

Wednesday night at Karate we did these take-downs with wrist blocks and I was training with Rachel. I had to lift her and flip her and she made herself like a dead lead balloon. Pulling her up I could feel my arm turn to agony, argh! I had just started feeling better after the shot I got and then that! I called him yesterday, no answer. Today his wife called me back and told me I had to wait a week if I needed another shot, but it's actually better again today. He did make me come down to pick up a sample of Pennsaid, it's supposed to be something fairly new, just some topical pain killer. I am okay though, it was just bad yesterday.

Tomorrow we are starting another bootcamp class in Karate in preparation for our SamDan test in November. He will go over everything with a fine-tooth comb. I actually like those classes, I just wish he didn't have them on a Saturday, it ruins the whole weekend!

I just heard that our friends have been approved to adopt this set of siblings, four of them!!! I am so so happy for them! This has been going back and forth for a while, the father hadn't relinquished his parental rights yet, but I guess now he did and they have the kids already! Life will never be the same, but they will make wonderful parents (again, they already have two themselves) I can't wait to meet all of them!

Well, this was just supposed to be a quick update, I can't believe I babbled this much :)

Have a great weekend!