"I Don't Believe In Ghosts...

...I don't believe in monsters. I believe in ponies!", proclaimed Eve after a triumphant and uneventful trip to the bathroom. Potty safety is always important, but obviously is a big psychological barrier for 5 year-olds who think their are things lurking up the stairs. I don't know how ponies are helpful, but in Eve's mind they are some kind of patronus.

::::::::::::::::::A Little Fun With Elvis, or::::

Elvis is in the building! This one is for my mom...who loves Elvis. She took me to an Elvis concert for my birthday. He died shortly after...I had nothing to do with it! I didn't enjoy the concert and my mom regrets taking me instead of her neighbor, Donna.

This is created from a freebie at Christina Renee's blog called Authentic Artistry
I thought it would be fun to play along with the challenge at Christina Renee's blog. http://www.christinareneedesigns.com/authenticartistry/?p=59
Velvet Elvis paintings are not just for the Ramada Inn Showrooms they have gone digital.


Credits: Christina Renee: Art Gallery I and II freebies
Paintings from the internet

::::::::::::::::::::::::Spiral Frog Download of the Week::::::

"Work That" by Mary J. Blige

I liked the song, so I looked up the lyrics: Work your thing out
Work your thing out
Work your thing out
Work your thing out

Theres so many-a girls
I hear you been running
From the beautiful queen
That you could be becoming
You can look at my palm
And see the storm coming
Read the book of my life
And see I've overcome it
Just because the length of your hair ain't long
And they often criticize you for your skin tone
Wanna hold your head high
Cause you're a pretty woman
Get your runway stride home
And keep going
Girl live ya life

I just wanna be myself
Don't sweat girl be yourself
Follow me
Follow me
Follow me
Girl be yourself
That's why I be myself
And I'm gonna love it

Let em get mad
They gonna hate anyway
Don't you get that?
Doesn't matter if you're going on with their plan
They'll never be happy
Cause they're not happy with themselves

Na na work what you got
I'm talking bout things that I know
Na na work what you got
It's okay show yourself some love
Na na work what you got
Don't worry bout who's saying what
It's gonna be fine
Work what you got

Feelin great because the light's on me
Celebrating the things that everyone told me
Would never happen but God has put his hands on me
And aint a man alive could ever take it from me
Working with what I got I gotta keep on
Taking care of myself I wanna live long
Aint never ashamed what life did to me
[Work That lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

Wasn't afraid to change cause it was good for me
I wanna...

I just wanna be myself
Don't sweat girl be yourself
Follow me
Follow me
Follow me
Girl be yourself
That's why I be myself
And I'm gonna love it

Let em get mad
They gonna hate anyway
Don't you get that?
Doesn't matter if you're going on with their plan
They'll never be happy
Cause they're not happy with themselves

Na na work what you got
I'm talking bout things that I know
Na na work what you got
It's okay show yourself some love
Na na work what you got
Don't worry bout who's saying what
It's gonna be fine
Work what you got

Work that
Work that
Work that
Girl don't hold back
You just be yourself

Na na work what you got
I'm talking bout things that I know
Na na work what you got
It's okay show yourself some love
Na na work what you got
Don't worry bout who's saying what
It's gonna be fine
Work what you got

Work that
Work that
Work that
Girl don't hold back
You just be yourself

Work that thing out
Work that thing out
Work what you got

::::::::::::::::::::Recommendation Friday::::::::::::



These are the best paper towels. I have been buying these for a couple of years now. I can clean up with one towel what takes most towels 3 to 5 sheets of other brands. I thought it was pretty cool that my cake decorating instructor told our class that other decorators swear by Viva for helping them smooth out the frosting on their cakes. They take a brand new roll of Viva and put it in a ziploc to keep lint off, then when their cake frosting has crusted a bit they put the paper towel on the cake. Then, they use the heat of their hand to smooth the cake and since their is no design on the Viva it's perfect for the task.
As my favorite science guru, Bill Nye, says: "Now YOU know!"

:::::::::::::::::::Health update:::::::

My throat is feeling better. Michael hopes to get a good night sleep some time early next week. It appears my snoring, tossing and turning has been a bit of a problem for him, as well.

Smiles!

Elvis is Dead, but I Saw Him Once:

While taking Rachel to her College for Kids class today we were listening to the radio and the I started to think about some of the concerts I attended. There aren't that many because I'm annoyed by how rude people act in a crowd situation, but here are the concerts I recall:

1977 Elvis (I'm not dead, yet...sat in the very back and hated every second of it!)
1985 Amy Grant
1988 INXS (Front row, but they refused to do an encore because the fire marshal made them mad)
1988 Air Supply (free tickets...I repeat...free tickets)
1988 Al Jarreau (Fun concert, but he refused to sing any of his old stuff)
1989 Peter, Paul and Mary (All their stuff is old stuff and fun to sing along)
1990 Crosby, Stills and Nash (Really cool effects on screen for Wooden Ships)
1991 Peter, Paul and Mary
1991 Sting (Michael and I got to usher at the Fox Theatre for free tickets, but had to babysit pot smokers through most of the concert)
1997 Chrissy Hind and the Pretenders/ B52s (Great concert, but sat near silly, balding, drunk guy that kept dancing into Michael)


:::::::::::::::::::College For Kids::::::::

Rachel is through with her second day of her author class. She has made a friend named Kendal. This year we have a parents' response section, so we have homework along with Rachel. YEAH...? Grandpa picked her up for day 1 and Michael gets the honor to hang out with Rachel for the rest of the week.

:::::::::::::::Raingutter Regatta::::::::::
I finally got around to this layout...only 8 months later:






Text: Noah lost all of his heats during his first Raingutter Regatta. He thought that if he blew harder that his boat would go faster, but it forced the sail sideways and thus got no air and it ran into the side of the gutter. Aaron and Michael tried to show him how to angle the straw and blow softer, but he was to excited to listen.

_{Background paper from Oil Paint by Gina Miller, Pipecleaner Arrows, Vehicles 2 doodles by Kate Hadfield, Cluster Frames (modified) by Nancy Comelab, White edge overlay by Meredith Fenwick, Scribbly Doodle Alpha by Sandra Boddington, Teeny Tiny Tags by Jessica Bolton, Small Alpha by Traci Reed, Say It journal blocks by Dani Mogstad, Hand Stamped Alpha by Michelle Coleman, Label it Alpha by the Powers Sisters, Mo's Medley Two by Mo Jackson, Fonts: Mistral, DJB Michelled, DB Michael, DJB Jen2, Ash94, Backwards staples by Jenn Patrick, Grunge Alpha by Birgit, Date Tag by Taran Conyers, Ribbon by Natalie Braxton}

:::::::::::::::::::::Finished My Current Book:::::::::

Theories For Everything


This was a fascinating read.
Here are the subjects by chapter: Introduction - Bruce Stutz
The Heavens - Andrea Gianopoulos
The Human Body - John Langone
Matter and Energy - Bruce Stutz
Life Itself - Bruce Stutz
Earth and Moon - Andrea Gianopoulos
Mind and Behaviour - John Langone
Here is the book description from Amazon.com: Book Description
"Theories for Everything highlights the rich, compelling stories behind science's greatest discoveries and the minds and methods that made them possible. Authoritative, entertaining, and easy to follow, it provides indispensable information on our current theories about the natural and physical world as well as a concise overview of how those ideas evolved.

Filled with illustrations, topical essays, and sidebars, these fascinating pages cover every major topic imaginable—astronomy, the human body and its inner workings, the nature of matter and energy, genetics and evolution, and the complex relationship between mind and behavior. Broken down by subject, the book provides readers with a thorough examination of each set of related theories as they are tested and refined and introduces all the major figures in the history of science, including Aristotle, Archimedes, Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Pascal, Newton, Edison, Pasteur, Darwin, Pavlov, Curie, Einstein, Freud, Feynman, and Hawking. The lives of more than 45 scientists are captured in special time lines that add depth and detail to the running narrative.

Each discovery is presented as a detective story: the narrative focuses on how inquisitive investigators posit, revise, and improve upon their descriptions of nature. And like any first-rate mystery, it entices its readers, inviting them to match wits with the scientific sleuths whose theories for everything have unraveled nature's riddles and reshaped how we see our world."

It is sad that those who truly follow the scientfic method throughout history have been considered as subversive as opposed to beings trying to understand their place in this world and how it works. I, also, found it interesting that there have been so many instantances in time where scientists were jailed, called heretics, killed and driven mad and then years later to have their work taken as common knowledge. I don't know if any of them would say they had the right answers, but they would say this is what I have observed consistently. I'm glad there are people out there striving to learn how this world works and how are bodies work, too.

:::::::::::::::::::::Two New Books On the Agenda:::::::::

I have one I found at the library about the submarine accident of the S-class sub 5 in 1920 off the Atlantic. The second book is the one my mother gave me for my birthday by William Wilberforce.

:::::::::::::::::::::My Skin Hurts:::::::::

must...find...lotion...must...sleep...turn...over...OUCH!...No...rest...for...the...weary!

Smiles! (Atleast my lips aren't sunburned!)