Rain or Shine

I must give props where props are due. My husband is often asked to critique my layouts, which is brave, indeed. I know I ask, but that can be a slippery slope for a husband caught unawares. Luckily, Michael set ground rules for offering his, constructive, critism. Yesterday, I asked him a few times what he thought. His observations were very helpful. He also helped me use the smudge tool to get the reflections in the water the way I wanted. Just add this to the list of reasons he is "The Best Wife I Ever Had"!


<sub>My daughter, Rachel, playing in the huge puddles after a brief rainstorm at Niagara Falls.


Brand new kit by Dawn Inskip "WEATHER STATION" available in the following stores Friday, April 18th.

Also her Type Cast Alpha, and Midnight Clear alpha,

NDISB http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=58

Treasures to Scrap http://digistore.treasurestoscrap.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=20

ScrapScandiStyle http://shop.scrapscandistyle.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=43

also: Kate Hadfield: Skinny and Tall alpha,
with Tiff Brady: Wordy Bits Basics, Vacation Wordy Bits,</sub>

::::::::::::::::::Book Club:::::::::::

I was invited by my friend, Kim, to join the book club with some ladies in our ward. We discussed the book Austenland by Shannon Hale. This was my first meeting and I was told this was considered very light reading from some of their past works. I, thoroughly, enjoyed this book and we had a lively discussion with prompts prepared, by Kim, on slips of paper. There were 12 of us and everyone got a chance to comment. There was a range of liked a lot to didn't like and it was fun to hear everyones' take on the book. At one point I got a moment to defend Mr. Darcy's character. That was fun...do you think Jane Austen we be smiling? They are a great bunch and I look forward to our next book and meeting!

:::::::::::::::::Introduction to Lawn Mowing:::::::

Grandpa Jim picked Aaron up, yesterday, to take him to mow the lawn of one of our friends. She plans to pay Aaron sometimes and other times he will use the lawn mowing as service hours for Scouts. Grandpa Jim showed him how the mower worked and how to be safe, then how to make even rows. Michael showed up to pick Aaron up and gave him pointers, as needed. Aaron did a great job from Grandpa's report. Unfortunately, the cold he has is kicking his, proverbial, rear end and he felt yucky when he got home and he skipped bowling league today. He asked to get a reading assignment so he could lay down. He is upstairs reading a kid's version of Julius Ceasar. Since we have watched the BBC version he should follow the play without a problem. I hope he gets well soon. He has to take the CRCT, starting Monday.

:::::::::::::::::Looking Forward To::::::

"Alice in Wonderland" this weekend put on by the local high school. Rachel and I are going with her Girl Scout troop. Fun girls, so I'm looking forward to the performance.

Take care!

The New Family Reading Book is:

Here is a link to the website for theSisters Grimm.

This series was recommended to me by my friend Kim and is rather good at letting me know about great books. We are only through a chapter and a half and the kids want me to keep reading. Noah insisted that he didnt' fall asleep during the attack of the pixies, so I would keep reading. I told him that we would pick up reading where he left off tomorrow night.
The characters already show the menacing edge that you see when you read about the Baudelaire orphans and the crazy folks that would be their "guardians" in A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book also has the Sisters Grimm parentless, which drives Michael kinda nuts. This is our second orphan book in a row, too. Anyway, the book has a rich history from which to mine its characters. The creative possibilites are endless and it appears Micheal Buckley has done a superb job. Here is a review bySondra Eklund.



:::::::::::::::::::Check-up:::::::::

Eve goes to Dr. Maron for a check-up on her gum where he had to pull her tooth last week. She loves to see him, so the visit should go well.


:::::::::::::::::::Hand of Death::::

an explanation on this term as it pertains to Rachel. Unfortunately, for the tadfrogs and Rachel, the two tadfrogs she picked up to get a closer look died shortly after being held. Rachel was devastated by the turn of events. She decided to add a spider and a worm to another terrarium to find that both were dead when she got home from school. I hope she uses this as an opportunity to learn about species in their own habitats.

::::::::::::::::::::Noah's Question of the Day::::::::

When was Bubble Wrap invented? Well, here is the scoop on that: Bubble Wrap website.



Do you want to relieve some stress? Try this: Click ME!



Smiles!

Service Day

Grandpa Jim and Aaron in their work outside attire.




Stumped!





Aaron working on the tree stump with some other young men.




Aaron with a big leaf rake.



Grandpa Jim and Aaron went to help out with an Eagle Scout project for one of the young men from Troop 129. Many of the recent Eagle projects from Troop 129 have been to do various improvements to the inside and outside of my brother's school in DeKalb for the developmental disabled. Members of our Church also went to assist the young men as part of a clean up day. They are creating an area where planter boxes can be accessed by those in wheel chairs. Here is a first hand account of the day from my stepdad's blog.




I'm really proud of Aaron for giving service and what he received in return was a sense of charity and making new friends.

::::::::::::::::::The BFG::::::::::::::

Erica asked about my thoughts on The BFG, so here are a few thoughts. Roald Dahl's characters are young people in undesirable life circumstances and put into fantastic scenerios. The word that fits my impression of his works it chimerical. (Etymology: chimera
1 : existing only as the product of unchecked imagination : fantastically visionary or improbable
2 : given to fantastic schemes).

I also enjoy reading books with different dialects that differentiate the characters by location, experience, and education. I love, as I read out loud, to drop into the BFG's dialect and then back to Sophie's little polite voice. Dahl's ability to create hilarious sounding words like scrumdiddlyumptious is a riot, too. The chapter entitled Frobscottle and Whizzpoppers had Aaron and Rachel laughing out loud. From now on I believe their discussions about their own flatulence and that of others will be peppered with the phrase whizzpopper with a conspiratorial giggle!

:::::::::::::::::::Slideshow Project:::::::::

I am almost finished with a slideshow project for a gentlemen in Troop 129. He went to Philmont along with his son and some other young men from their Troop. I helped him do a slideshow for his eldest son's Eagle project, so he asked if I would do a video for his Philmont trip. I finished the pan and zoom edits and I will be adding music this week. I hope it turns out the way he envisions.

::::::::::::::::::Poison Ivy Update:::::::::

I am close to being healed of the tell tale signs of this nasty experience. Aaron recoils less when he touches my legs. I should have little to no scarring. But as I was healing the poison ivy was growing, so it looks like there will be a rematch. ****High Noon Gun whistling music**** I don't hold out much hope for me coming out unscathed in such a hideous reunion.

::::::::::::::::::Short Attention Span Theatre:::::::

In this episode of Short Attention Span Theatre we meet Noah Taylor who can be sitting at the table during a prayer and then 2 minutes later wonder why everyone is eating because the prayer hasn't been said. Whereby everyone else responds, "We just said it! Weren't you listening?!?!"


:::::::::::Digital Converts:::::::::::

My friend Kim is very interested in playing with pixels, so I hope to see her creative talents in a few months when she gets a chance to get some software and learn this craft.

::::::::::Let's Go Fly a Kite::::::::::::
...up to the highest heights...Come, let's go fly a kite!

We are off to fly a kite with Eve at Stone Mountain. She has wanted one desperately since she played with one a week ago and I saw a cool one at Target. Eve kissed the kite when I gave it to her. Hmmm...I think she appreciated it.

Smiles!

"When I Grow UP"...

I promised to scrapbook some of my favorite Shel Silverstein quotes, so here is the first one:




_{Background paper: IOD Grass Stain
Notepaper: Lemon Grass by IOD
Torn note paper: Gina Miller "bbyob Kit"
Pointing finger: Weird is wonderful by Maya
Bust Cream, Magnifying glass, fingerprint and microscope from the internet
Staple: Scrap Artist
Font: Pea Lis, Ash94
Alpha: Board Book Alpha by Mo Jackson, Surprise Alpha by Carrie Stephens, Boho Chic alpha by Michelle Coleman, Crepe paper alpha by Mo Jackson
Measuring tape and journal: Mo Jackson
Doodles: Angie Briggs and Amy Martin}

Quote by Shel Silverstein: “Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”


Some Things I want to be:
1.I want to be a detective like Nancy Drew when I grow and catch the bad guys!
2.It would cool to be a scientist. I could look at wiggly stuff in a microscope.
3.Maybe I could be a vet!
Some things I don't want:
I don't want b@@bs! They look uncomfortable and I couldn't sleep on my stomach any more!


::::::::::::::::::::::::
Speaking of Shel Silverstein...Sister Hall from Church suggested I check out his cd of Where the Sidewalk Ends that has him reading his poetry. The girls were especially excited to hear them read aloud by the author. I pass on the suggestion to listen to Shel read his stuff aloud. He is hilarious...he even cracks himself up!

::::::::::::::::::::::::

After orientation day at school for Rachel and Noah we went and picked up my mother for a trip to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. Fernbank is currently running a special exhibit on Chocolate. While we were there we got to have a creature encounter with 1 of their 4 millipedes. The thick little dude was kind of cool...and BONUS...he wasn't crawling around my house! We got to touch his back and legs. We found out he was a detravore...which means eats dead and decaying things and they have 2 legs on each side of their segments. This particular millipede had 400 legs. They are not venomous like centipedes.
The kids had a blast on the upper level where they keep an interactive room with sensory games that use optical illusions, creating your own giant bubbles, sound pipes that you put your ear to and listen for the movement of air like when you listen to a sea shell. You also get to pretend to be doing a weather report in front of a green screen.

We then traveled to Zestos, a cool diner establishment, for lunch. They have kickin' chocolate malts! So yummy! During the meal my mom tried to pick up Noah's styrofoam cup, and preceded to stick her thumb right through the bottom of the thin side and douse herself with cold Sprite! After a ton of napkins I had helped her clean it up...and her dress soaked up most of the drink (nothing like those absorbent gauze summer dresses to clean up any spills) Noah demanded a new Sprite. The other kids were willing to let him sip theirs, but Noah had listened to Dr. Lamb's lesson on GERMS in Kindergarten at the end of last year, and would have none of the sharing business. My mom asked if he would drink the Sprite if she gave him a new straw, but he said if Rachel drank out of it it had germs. My mom relented and bought him a new Sprite and that is when Noah informed us, "I am germ free!"...
"I am working to make everyone germ free!" This little germ free moment included a demonstration, for my mother, on the proper two handed method of gently picking up a styrofoam cup! We were laughing so hard people were looking at us!

On the drive home Rachel and Noah were arguing in the back of the minivan and Rachel yells..."Mom, Noah said he hates me!"
Noah immediately responds,..."I meant I hate you in a GOOD way!"
Well, now that is cleared up your a bizarre little twit (Just my thoughts...though I hear they can condemn you...drat!)

:::::::::::::::::::::::

In digital scrapping news...I was selected at random from the gallery posts during the Iron Orchid Design chat to receive 4 free packs their designs of my choosing. I'm just waiting for the password to be able to download the files. I had a good time discussing different topics, none of them scrapping related. If you look at my layout above you will see the denim jacket that everyone thought was groovy during the evening chat.