Manny Oh Manny!!!!

This just in...Manny Ramirez traded to the Dodgers?!?!?! I have a lot of mixed emotions about it all. I know he didn't have the best "work ethic", but, but...WOW!! We are all kind of in shock here. You know we hear this Manny talk each year get nervous and nothing happens. So we didn't really think he'd go this year either. I guess that's part of being a fan.

(I got the pic from Boston Dirt Dogs site.)

Parental Pause

Okay, this is going to be a short one. I just have to vent a bit. Tuesday C was wearing pants! It's hot. I asked her why she's not wearing shorts. "They are dirty." I just did laundry Mon. To make this short, she is down to 2 pairs of shorts, one of which needs to be ironed. I thought we just went to the store, bought pants. I know she doesn't have a lot of clothes, but she has enough. Where'd the others go...is she growing that fast...I don't want to go clothes shopping again...how can I budget that in, again...

On anothe note, our swamp cooler may be dieing. Yesterday, we smelled smoke (like a campfire). The cooler wasn't working right it got up to 85 in the house. I just turned cooler off. R came home did his magic and got it going again. Last night we smell it again. R says someone's grilling. I sure hope so. I do know that I am ready for it to cool down, so we can cool down. On any given day our house is 75 or more.

I was supposed to keep this short! Hi Michele!

Freebie

Who wants a freebie?? Monica Evan at Digi Keepsakes is giving out a Beautiful freebie! All you have to do is leave a comment and she'll pick a winner from there! Is that easy or what? Here's here link: http://digikeepsakesbymonica.blogspot.com/

Challenge

Do you want a chance to win this awesome kit? Do you love a challenge? Well, if you... Without further ado, Geri, one of the CT Members at Digi Keepsakes, has offered to host the challenge this week. This week it will be a quote challenge and Geri is hosting the challenge on her blog. You can find it here. The winner of this challenge will also win a free download of my Go Fly A Kite kit.

There will be a new challenge every Wednesday! I can't wait to host mine!!

Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Speed Scrap

Oh man! I just did a speed scrap at Scrap Matters. (a speed scrap is where the host tells you what to do, get 3 solid paper, etc, every 10 min for 1 hour. Then you have 15 minutes to post it.) Tonight was the hardest, except the first one I've done. However, I really like the results. We had to use complimentary colors. That was our main objective.

It's late I need to go!! Good night!

The count down is on

Though it's still hot, summer's almost over here. School starts Aug 11th. BUT for C & J it's Aug. 4th!! They are not happy about starting 1 week early, but I want to get a jump start. It's only one week.

Also, sorry I don't have any Tools For Tuesday for ya!

Hello Dolly

I know that I've already posted way too many times today! But I just took this and had to share it with you. A minute later it looked totally different. This is what we got of Hurricane Dolly.

Went right through the paint!

Man, I was putting away the groceries today, and went to take the few trash bags out and throw the box away to replce it with a new one, when I noticed it was all wet. One thing led to another. One of our concentrated cleaners got a hole in it! I don't know how long it was leaking but only after a few seconds the new trash bag box was all yucky and the paint was off. After cleaning everything off, wiping it down, I noticed that it ate through the paint on the selves!! I think I'm going to have to take the self outside a squirt it down. Every time I wipe it, it soaps up and more paint comes off. Had to throw away some food stuff and other items.

But I did good at the grocery store today, the sun is out, the heat it back (people were in pants and light jackets yesterday!!!). We got a lot of rain, but no flooding like a LOT of places aroung us! Thank God. I should go. Just thought I'd do a quick post.

Mmmm Monday

Welcome to Mmmm Monday, where I talk food!! From recipes, tips and yummy food stories, this is sure to satisfy your taste buds!

Today I don;t have a recipe, but I have a great free recipe source! Kraft Foods
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/registration/contextualsignuplogin?RegistrationActivityID=1237
If you go to this site you can sign up for their free magazine full of recipes that are kid friendly and down to earth. I have made many recipes from these mags. Some where hits others where not, but there is enough that you should be able to find what suits your family. The web site also is loaded with recipes and tips. Hope you sign up today!

Also, I just wanted to share with you what I spent at the grocery store yesterday. We only have two places to shop for food here, there's no double coupons, etc, so food shopping can be a pain sometimes. Anyway, I spent $25.02 on 3 gallons of milk, 2 cartons of strawberries, lettuce, 5 kiwi, broc, 24 eggs, 2 lb carrots, 2 pkgs hot dogs, 3 lbs apples, cabbage, 1 lb onions, 8 sm oranges, 2 lb bananas! I don't know about you, but that was a great deal! As everything has gone up, I am really trying to find the best deals. I had to dig through the produce to find good ones, but it was worth it!

Have a great day!

New LO's

Here are a couple LO's I've done recently. The first one I used "Go Fly a Kite" by Digi keepsakes. The second was for a challenge where you could only use paper no elements, etc. Credits here: http://scrapmatters.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0 Can you tell I love green?

They got mixed up, the first is the second and vice verse.

Singing in the Rain

Good morning! The smell of pepper crusted bacon, whole wheat, wheat germ pancakes cooking on a buttery pan fill the air. The soft steady rain kept us slumbering in our beds until 8:00! Some even later! Though we have things to do we don't want to do them. We want to sit and watch the rain, play in it, etc. It looks like it's going to be a wet one all day! Which is just fine with me. I just wanted to share this weather report with you before I do the bills.

Have to start somewhere

I forgot to tell you that I am still doing the FlyLady thing. I am not totally up and flying, but I am fluttering and it is helping. Also, some of you may know that I have never been a runner. If someone tried to get me, they probably would! Anyway, I have wanted to take up running for a good while now. So I have started out small, very small. I run maybe 1/2 a mile in our neighborhood. It is usually the first thing I do each morning. It's almost better then coffee as far as a wake up goes. It only takes me five minutes. But I already feel a difference. My lungs always hurt me bad when I've tried to run before, my knees aren't the greatest. Now my lungs are much better, my knees don't hurt that much. I can't wait to add more to my run, but I want to get this down first, so I don't get discouraged. I have been riding my bike at least three evenings a week for a 2.5 mile rectangle. Will be adding length to that here soon.

So whatever your goals are, do them, start somewhere!

Theory Thursday

Welcome to Theory Thursday where I share with you what books I'm reading, thoughts I have, homeschool info, etc.

Today, I wanted to tell you about the books I am currently reading. The first one is by Barbara Johnson, aka the Geranium Lady, called He's Gonna Toot and I'm Gonna Scoot. It's a real, yet light hearted book about looking forward to Jesus's return. Waiting for Gabriel's Horn! Barbara is one of my favorite authors. She quotes songs/hymns, jokes, stories, etc. Here's a small sample of her book: "He is our comfort today as well as our hope for tomorrow. 'This is a strange journey we walk,' one friend wrote me, 'full of peaks and valleys. but since God is in both places, we walk unafraid.'" I found this gem at my favorite thrift store.

Second, I am reading two books about Johnny Cash. I know, I am not a fan of his, but when we were in Carlsbad R & I watched part of "Walk the Line" on one of those shows that show you a snip-it and then talk about it. Anyway, it got me interested. So, the two books are I Walked the Line by Vivian Cash, Johnny first wife. Cash by the editors of Rolling Stone. I just checked these two out at the library yesterday afternoon so I haven't done much more than look at the photos.

Have a nice day!

Challenge

Okay all of you scrappers!! There's a template challenge going on at Digi Keepsakes. Monica is giving away some free stuff too! So hurry on over to check it out!http://digikeepsakesbymonica.blogspot.com/

Here's the template and what I did with it. (you can find the credits @ http://scrapmatters.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0) Good Luck to you all!

Digi Keepsakes new kit

Monica has another new kit (too be released soon)! It's called "Go Fly a Kite". I used it today in a speed scrap at Scrap Matters. Here is the preview and the LO I did with it.

Tools for Tuesday

Time for Tools for Tuesday where I feature a product or item that I use, love and want to share with you.

Affresh is a MUCH needed item if you have a front loading washer. Ours began to get mold. I called the company. They told me since the front loaders are sealed so tight that mold starts go grow, etc. So, if you have a front loader that has no mold or smell, you can use one tablet per month. If your washer has mold and smells you need three tablets per month until mold is gone. Each package comes with three tablets. I found ours online as no store here carries them. The price varies from place to place. So shop around.

Have a great day!

Freebie!!

Ihave "met" a great lady (lgrag) through digi scrapping and she has started designing her own kits. She is offering this one for free. You can link to it here: http://scrapmatters.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1334

Also, here's a picture of her kit and a LO I just did with it. The LO is for a challenge at another site.

Mmmm Monday

Mmmm Monday, where I give you my "famous" recipes, tips or anything food related.
Today, I have a recipe that is one that when the kids ask me what's for dinner they get excited. It's great for Robert to take leftovers to work and is different everytime. Well, what is it you ask!! It's called Cheap Chili on the recipe card, but we call it Pistilli Chili as we got it from our dear friends!
So here you go. (Remember these are printable!)

Pistilli Chili (great doubled)

1 lb. ground meat (any will do) cooked and drained well (can do w/o too)
1 can pinto beans (I used kidney beans when I was out of pinto)
1 can white or yellow hominey (Robert prefers white)
1-2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 envelope Chili mix (hot or mild, up to you)
1-2 small cans tomato sauce

You can stretch it with more sauce or beans.
Optional - Add chopped onions, mushrooms, chopped potatoes (canned work great)

Put it all together, boil, simmer, and serve.
Toppings: shredded chesse, extra onions.

Serve with cornbread, over rice or mashed potatoes.

Can use leftonvers for chilidogs.
Freezes great too.

Hope you enjoy this dish! Have a great day~

P.S. If there's a recipe that you'd like, please ask for it in the comments!

Outreach!!

We had an awesome outreach in Tulie yesterday. 74 visitors!!!! B. L. senior rapped. I wanted to highlight what the teens (preteens) were doing, mainly C. The girls are getting bolder. They witnessed to a few of the girls their age, a bit older actually. Then I caught this scene!!! They prayed with some girls. Here the girls are filling out converts cards! When the girls started to witness C was one of the first to want to go. She also street preached Friday night!!! It is so awesome to see out kids live for God. I wish I could put more pictures on here, but I'd have to blur so many faces! The youth are really on fire!

I won again!

Just wanted to share with you that I won another challenge! You had to do a LO about a talent you have. I get to pick a template pack. I will post it here when I pick one out. C took the picture. Here it is. Click here for credits: http://scrapmatters.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=10639&pos=3

Check out my Slide Show!

Freebie, Challenge Alert

For those of you who leave a comment at http://digikeepsakesbymonica.blogspot.com/ on this blog for this date, out of that group in two days time Monica will choose a lucky person to get the entire Love My Jeans Kit for free. From now on, whenever she offers a freebie, if you leave her a comment you will be placed in a drawing to win a free download to her new release kit. So in review. On freebie days, you leave her a comment on her blog and you could win a free download of her latest new release! What Fun!!!

Kits

I also wanted to highlight a couple of kits. The first by DigiKeepsakes by Monica Evan "Love My Jeans" which is availible at Scrap Matters. This is the Lady I CT for. Then Ellie Lash's "Dulcet". Ellie Lash is one of my favorite designers and you can see why. I'll have to show you two LOs I did with each of these kits some time! You'll just have to keep coming and watching for them!

I won!

I won another $5 coupon to SunshineStudioScraps! The LO isn't even one that I really like, but I'll take it! Here's the LO I did and the kit I got.

Photo part3

Picture 1 (In this post)

Select Soft Light

Picture 2 Go to Photo Effects and click Sepia.

Picture 3 You can click as many of the tints as you like. Hint: see the eyeball (you have to love that!!), when you click on it it takes away that layer so you can see how it looks without it, without deleting it.

There you go. it's easier than it looks! It's Christine Do-able!!

P. S. This doesn't work with every picture. Just try it, if not just try the old Auto Smart Fix under Enhance. Good luck! Let me know how it works for you!!!

Photo part 2

I'm going to have to do this in parts. I hope it works better that way.

Pictire 1. (after opening PSE)

Click the photo you want to work on.

Picture 2. In the layers section right click on the photo layer and select Duplicate Layer

Picture 3. In the layers sections still click on the arrow by Normal. A long window will come up.

Photo Enhancement

A dear friend asked me to do this. Do here it goes. The pictures aren't the greatest but I think you'll get the idea. Also, this is using Photoshop Elements.

How to get your pictures from Pictures A to Picture B.

Tools for Tuesday

Welcome to Tools for Tuesday where I share products/items that I use, love or just want to talk about!

Today I have for you "Hey Tom" Dryer Cleaner. It's not something I use all of the time. In fact, I have never cleaned out a dryer before. But these facts had me cleaning our dryer:

1. A lot of house fires start from an unclean dryer. (That was really all I needed.)

2. Dryers should be cleaned every two years.

I ordered this kit from the Flylady for under $20. I'm sure there are more out there. I also looked up our dryer for more detailed cleaning instructions. It was quick and pretty easy. If I could do it, you can do. It's Christine Doable!!! (is that how you spell that word?) You know, our dryer wasn't really that dirty, but I feel much better knowing that it's clean.

Well, that's all folks!!

Geek Squad Alert!!

Watch out ya'll Robert & I are now (unoffically) on the Geek Squad! We have been figuring out so much compurt stuff here in the last week that I think we qualify! We are now up and running computer wise. We are protected, EHD scanned (clean), etc. Yeah!!! This whole virus thing helped us learn more and want to learn more.

Flyer

Okay, so I don't have a recipe. But you know you really came to hear me babble!!! Today was a busy day, grocery shopping, laundry, etc., etc.... But I had to fit this in today. I made a flyer for a concert with the church's band Remnant. I only have one scrap kit to play with right now so it was a challenge. But here it is! (everything from AWP "Vineyard" kit.) It's not the greatest, but with out my EHD I'm kind of limited.

We are in revival Sunday - Thursday with Evang. Fussel!!! He has to be one of my faves! Not only because he looks like my father-in-love. (just read that term & love it) He's an awesome preacher. He has already given right on words to 4 people. Our neighbor came out Sunday night! She needed healing and he was praying for the sick. She can't tell if she's healed yet, but she said she liked it and would let us know. Please pray that she comes again and gives her whole life to God.

Well, I had better get. I still have laundry and things to do!! Have a great day!

P.S. Be sure to check out the slide show a few posts down if you haven't already!

Aggggghhhh......! And a story.

Aggghh...we got a virus! Thursday, while I was on the computer everything shut down and went crazy. We somehow got a BAD virus that took over our computer. It didn't totally take over, but did enough to make us get a new hard drive. Thank God we have an EHD and we pretty much saved everything onto that before this happened. We are functioning with two computers set up as one. So it's pretty crowded on our desk. I can't access out EHD to put a flower here for ya! Robert wants to scan it before we connect it back to the computer. Also, I need to find out how safe doing all of this digiscrapping and downloading digiscrap stuff is before I do more. If any of you know, PLEASE tell us!!
We had our first full day of sun today. It was nice to see the sun, though we stayed in most of it. We are (Robert's) cleaning out the office, getting it ready for homeschool. In doing so we found a shoe box full of great pictures!! It's always so fun to look at the "old" days. A lot were of Colleen when she was about twoish.
Here's a story for you. This evening J found a baby bird in the yard. It was old enough to fly, but wasn't. The parents were right there on the fence sqwaking and sqwaking at J to get away and to the baby bird. Watching the mother and father bird encourage (sounded more like yelling) their baby, I couldn't help but think about God. Sometimes we are the baby bird who should be able to fly but for some reason can't. God is there the whole time telling us "Come on, you can do it!" All the while keeping predators away. The birds didn't leave the baby, yet were far enough for the baby to get up and do it itself. The baby bird called out to it's parents, it knew they were there to help it and protect it, just like us and God. Needless to say the baby made it. The yard is much quieter and somehow I saw God today in those birds.

Theory Thursday

Okay, Theory Thursday time!! This is about books, music, thoughts, politics, etc. Today I am going to talk about one more thing my dear friend Anne helped me with. Studing your Bible. For me I try and try to remember verses, the content that I read but have a hard time remembering it. This has really helped me. Okay, I'll just show you what I mean.

Say you're in Psalms (start wherever you are), get yourself a small notebook, one you can carry around easily. You're going to read a chapter then pick three/four words that summarizes the chapter.

Here:

Psalms 68 - Let God arise

Psalms 69 - Vinegar to drink (I know this talks about the Crucifixion)

Psalms 73 - Then I understood their end (talking about life being unfair and sinner prospering)

From Psalms 73-83 I made a note as to who the author was.

When I got to Psalms 119, I wrote three/four words for each of the Hebrew alphabets.

Example:

Psalms 119 Aleph - Seek w/ whole heart

Psalms 119 Beth - won't forget your word

and so on. I also use index cards for writing down verses that I want or need to remember.

I hope this has helped!

Happy Wet Thursday!

Yeap, it's still raining! Can you believe it!! It's been raining/wet for about 4/5 days now and is still in the forcast. I love rain and it has been nice to have cooler weather. It's just that we're not used to this everyday. Right now it's a light drizzle. Everything's wet, looks so clean.
About the slide show. It's a new addon that I'm trying out. I want to get it to the side or bottom of my page so it's there all of the time. But until I figure it out I'll just put new ones in the posts. You can click on the video. You can out music to the slide show. The only chistain music they had was in video form, sorry. You can make it smaller by clicking the x I think. Well, I'm off. Have running around to do. Have a great day!

Check out my Slide Show!