January 5, 2010

Over at TheDiaperDiaries there is a carnival going on where everyone lists their top ten iPhone or iTouch apps. Since I just got an iTouch this was right up my alley! So here are the top ten apps I currently use:

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1. Where's Waldo?- this was the first app I actually purchased. It was 2.99 and worth every penny. This is perfect for keeping the kids entertained during long waits.

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2/3.White/Yellow Pages- Ever need a phone number and you aren't home to look it up? Here's your solution! This saves me a lot of time.

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4.MapQuest- I have no problem getting around here in town, but when I need to head into the city this app is amazing! Since I need wi-fi to use it I just pull up the info I need before I leave the house.

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5.Virtual Villagers 3- I just love these little people!

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6/7. Twitter & Facebook- Where would I be without these two apps? I just wish my iTouch had come with a phone so I could post pics to go with some of my updates. A lot of things would probably make more sense.

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8. TMZ- I am really addicted to people magazine but the people app wasn't free. TMZ was though! Some things on TMZ need skipped but overall its ok.

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9. Sudoku- I love sudoku!

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10. Scrabble- I just got this app last night. So far I've played three times and won twice. So I'd say this ones a winner!

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If you have any good app suggestions please leave me a comment letting me know what you like.

The time. It's gotten away from me.

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The days have blended together in a whirlwind of schoolwork, trips to the pool, grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, cleaning and millions of little errands. Oh, and a few classes thrown in there for good measure. I'm feeling a little tired.

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I have dozens of blog posts floating around in my mind and hopefully soon I'll have a chance to get a few transferred to the computer.

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Until then, enjoy this little clip.

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June 25, 2009

Tuesday was Regan and Ryan's first day of camp. They attended the 'Under The Sea' camp at our local gym. They had a pirate/mermaid theme and played games, swam and did crafts. The camp lasts three days with today being their last day. As you can see from the picture above Ryan is completely wiped out by the time camp is over. Doesn't he look comfy?

This afternoon I'm dropping the kids off at camp and heading over to Julianna's house to do some sewing. I STILL need to get the binding sewn on to Danyelle's birthday quilt. I have the binding cut and sewn together so it should only talk a little bit to get it finished. *crossing my fingers*

May 1, 2009

Yesterday afternoon Devon went into the laundry room to switch the clothes from the washer into the dryer. She stepped in a puddle of water and yelled to me "The washers leaking!" It turns out the pump and some other thing quit working.

That is not something I wanted to hear. I was already behind on laundry and the idea of hauling everything down to the laundromat while waiting for the washer to be repaired...well, I almost cried just thinking about it.

So this morning Michael and I went looking at washers and found one that was both pretty and industrial. They delivered it this afternoon AND they hauled away the old one! I'm still not caught up on the laundry but the kids think the new one is fun so I have plenty of volunteers!

April 30, 2009

Can I whine just a little bit? Yes? Oh, thank you.

I took the kids and myself on down to the gym today. We all decided the pool was the place we wanted to be. After playing with the younger ones I the kiddie pool, I left Devon in charge of Payton and Ryan (with Michael supervising from the sidelines) and took Regan over to the 'big' pool for some practice. I worked on bobs and floating with her for about 20 minutes then sent her back with the other kids. Since we got there too late for me to join the hydro works class I thought swimming 10 laps would be good enough for one day.

I made it through three. Barely. When I got out of the water my legs were shaky. I think its going to be a few weeks (months) before I can make it ten laps.

Oh, isn't that the cutest picture of Payton? I took it when she was going down the slide yesterday. Can you see her chipped teeth? She fell outside on the sidewalk last summer and chipped three of them.

April 29, 2009

Regans school has a lot of end of the year events. I looked at my calendar this morning and i think there are about two a week through the end of May. May 29th is her last day.

Todays activity was a family picnic. We met at the school at 12, picked up our kids and met over at Riverside Park. The kids had a great time playing and I really enjoyed having the chance to chat with the other moms.

When we left the park we took Michael and Payton home for naptime ;-) and I took the other three down to the gym to get them tested for swim lessons. Regan did pretty well and is ready for the big pool. Ryan freaked out a little when he was asked to put his face in the water. After playing in the water for a few minutes he relaxed and started doing bobs and trying to float on his stomach. So, I think he'll go into kinder 2. Regan will start in kinder 3 but might move quickly into level 1.

Tomorrow morning will be my first water aerobics class. I'm a little nervous. I haven't worn a bathing suit since I looked good in one.

January 14, 2009

A-Z Me Meme

Here is another meme that I found over at Heather's Hodgepodge. Please feel free to join in. Be sure to let me know if you do so I can go check your list out!

A: Attached or single? Attached. It will be 8 years in May

B: Best friends: probably Julianna

C: Cake or pie? Cake. I'm not a big pie fan.

D: Day of choice? Friday

E: Essential item? Hmm...my laptop?

F: Favorite color? Blues and purples

G: Gummy bears or worms? Both. As long as they aren't sour.

H: Hometown? Orland, CA

I: Favorite indulgence? Fabric

J: January or July? My birthday is in January but I prefer the warmth of July

K: Kids? Four. And I am done.

L: Life isn't complete without....? Family

M: Marriage date? May 18, 2001

N: Number of brothers & sisters? I have one brother and two step brothers.

O: Oranges or apples? Apples.

P: Phobias? Heights. The kids getting hurt.

Q: Quotes: My favorite quote would depend on my mood at the time.

R: Reason to smile? I have a million

S: Season? Spring

T: Tag 5 People: Amy, Marianna, Jess (in CO), Jill and you!

U: Unknown facts: As a teenager my life goal was to become a politician.

V: Veggie? Cucumbers and jicama

W: Worst habit: Laziness. Is that considered a habit?

X: X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound.

Y: Your favorite food? I really love Mexican food.

Z: Zinc or sunscreen? Sunscreen

January 7, 2009

I found this over at Heather's Hodgepodge.

Copy and paste it to your own blog if you'd like to do it too.

Just boldface the items that you HAVE done, and leave the rest normal.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29 Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33 Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41 Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60 Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64 Donated blood, platelets, or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66 Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67 Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

January 4, 2009

One of my resolutions for the new year is to do more sewing. I have so many ideas floating around in my head that I really want to work on. So today I set my sewing machine up on the dining room table and brought out a few projects.

The fabric squares in the front of the picture are going to be a lap sized rag quilt for my nephew Kyle. His birthday is later this month.

The quilt in the back is Ryans. I still need to finish stippling it but my machine is acting odd and doesn't want to cooperate. Do a straight stitch its just fine but when I change my foot to the free motion foot the thread on the back makes giant loops. Does anyone know how to fix that?

If you look closely between those two fabric groups you can see a little of the fabric I'm using to make some notebook covers. Skip To My Lou sells a really cute pattern using Steno notebooks.

Timing Is Everything

The last month or so we have been having some serious problems with our modem. It just wasn't keeping us connected to the Internet. Every time it disconnected we would have to go unplug it and the receiver and do the whole rebooting dance which took at least half an hour. Half an hour of waiting for the little green lights to stop blinking. It was lots of fun.

So yesterday I headed up to exchange our dead modem for a new one. (Which is much prettier) After trying and trying to get everything installed correctly I ended up having to call the help line to get things going. It turned out that the new modem hadn't been registered to us before they handed it over. A little snag. Not a big deal. At least they hadn't given us a dud.

So now I have a fast connection. Life is good. Oh, and I woke up this morning to LOTS of snow. I don't drive in snow. So its a good thing I got the new modem yesterday instead of putting it off for today.

Michael and Devon bought me an early Christmas present last night. Two baby Lovebirds!

For our first anniversary Michael bought me a parakeet. I had never had a bird before and had no idea how much I would love them. So for the next four years Michael bought me another parakeet on each anniversary. When we moved into my Moms house I gave my birds to my Mother in Law who also has parakeets. I missed having birds but life was pretty busy so it was ok.

So now I have two new babies! They are so cute! They cuddle and kiss each other all day. The kids are so excited to have them and ask constantly to have them on their shoulders. Well, except Ryan. He is so ticklish he can't handle having them on his shoulder so he puts on a stocking cap and carries hem on his head.

I have been tagged by a few people to do the Thursday Thirteen meme. Every Thursday you write a list that tells people thirteen things they most likely don't know about you. I think every Thursday is a little much for me (plus-you'd get bored quick!) so I am going to do the Thursday thirteen once a month.

13 Things You may Not Know About Me

1. My name was going to be Paris Renee

2. Or Carmelita Anjanette.

3. I'm glad its Chelsea.

4. For my first concert I saw Damn Yankees in Key Arena.

5. Ted Nuggent winked at me!

6. Tommy Lee Jones is one of my top 5 favorite actors.

7. Jennifer Esposito is one of my top 5 actresses.

8. I really don't like movies by Quentin Tarantino. He kinda freaks me out.

8. I get the wintertime blues.

9. I have a horrible sense of balance. I blame it on my Mom.

10. I had WAY too many bags of sunflower seeds this summer. And Fall. And most likely winter.

11. What can I say? I like sunflower seeds.

12. I think moving to Washington was one of the best decisions I ever made.

13. Marrying Michael was THE BEST.

Have I ever introduced you to my new baby? I bought her in June from a wonderful lady I found through Craigslist.

This is a Baby Lock Quilters Choice. It came with 14 extra feet, an extra wide quilting table, more stitches than I will ever use AND the instruction manual. She also included the original receipt and records from every time she had it serviced.

I have had SO much fun with this machine! I just love it and all the fancy little things it does.

Lesson Learned

I was going to title this post "The Dangers of Mowing in a V-Necked Halter Top" but it was too long. So I'm going with "Lesson Learned" instead. Cause that's what I did. Learned my lesson.

The past two weekends have been either too hot or too busy for me to get out and mow the weeds so I decided that I better get it done this week or my neighbors might start a petition. Wednesday was promising since it was both cooler and there was a nice breeze. I went upstairs and put on some shorts and a halter top (hoping to get some color on my pale, pale skin) and got started on the side yard.

I remember mowing over a few mole hills and other than being irritated at the dirt under my contacts I didn't think much about it. It wasn't until much later that I was getting ready for bed that I realized that the dirt had left its mark on me. In the place where I would normally have underwires I had two crescent shaped lines of dirt.

Nice.