mama's world

so, what have i been up to

Can't tell by looking here now can you? 

We've been dealing with some behavior issues with P-nut.  Nothing major, but still troubling.  I think we may have the bulk straightened out, but positive thoughts are much appreciated.

I spent a good bit of my spare time last week cleaning up my digital supplies.  I took a bit more time looking at my back-up EHD and found that the back-ups for the drive that died were still there (YEAH!) I just hadn't been looking in the right place for them. 

So I copied all of them to a brand spankin' new portable EHD and started the loooong process of going through the files and deleting a bunch of stuff I'll never, ever use.  I freed up over 30GB by doing that and I'm not done.  Now I need to move some stuff from the other portable EHD to there and I'll be in business.  Ready to tag some more in ACDSee.

I did manage to get a LO in (and will have at least two more a some point this week).  First, take a look at the kit:

Charmed by Micheline Martin.  Gorgeous, isn't it?!

And here is what I came up with:
 
Full credits can be found HERE.

I haven't given up on Project 365 either.  I did miss a few days (and took some extras), but I haven't given up.  I just need to get the photos on here.  Maybe tonight or tomorrow night.

I also finished the first sock for a late Christmas giftie for one of my BFF's.  It'll likely be the weekend before I get a photo though.  Need to wait for some decent light.

days 12 and 13

Yeah, I forgot again.  I thought about taking a photo last night and then forgot.  Bummer deal.  So today I took two and they relate to each other.

day 13

This, this is sweet.  It's our new all-in-one.  In November, I realized that our flatbed scanner had died.  Have you looked for one lately?  I had...I've known for months it was on it's way out (nice little white artifacts in scans) and I priced them earlier this year.  Very limited options.  I also priced all-in-ones and I just couldn't justify the difference.  I have a 4 year old HP photosmart 7950 that still prints beautifully.  Why get an all-in-one.  So, after the holidays, I started the hunt again and realized that I'd have to go online if I really wanted a flatbed.  After shopping around, I found this all-in-one for a steal.  It's the Canon PIXMA MP610 and I got it for 1/2 price since they are discontinued (the newer model was released).  I read the reviews online and they were all great.  I hooked it up on Saturday and the prints are SWEET.  Better than my HP (which, btw, is going up on Craigslist soon).

day 12

My trusty HP.  I bought this when P-nut was about 2.  We weren't ready to upgrade the camera yet (old Kodak digital from 2000... 1MP...lol) so I decided to upgrade the printer.  I was a good buy.  Great photos...even the Kodak's photos came out a bit more crisp on this.  I wasn't ready to retire it, but the all-in-one has won me over.  Goodbye, dearest Photosmart; you will me missed.  Well, at least remembered fondly.

days 9, 10 and 11

These photos were taken on the correct days...I just didn't get around to uploading them.

I'm tired, so I'll be back tomorrow with narrative for the photos.

day 11
Ahhh...P-nut loves her LPS toys.  I'd have thought she'd have grown out of them by now, but no...even this past Christmas/Birthday she was asking for more.  In the past 2 or so months, she has taken to taking one of her LPS play sets and setting up all of her LPS pets in/around it.  She will then ask me for my camera (I let her use the P&S sometimes) and snap picture after picture of her pets.  A few months ago I did a LO about it; you can find it HERE if you are interested.

day 10
P-nut started girl's basketball in November.  She was very interested in signing up, but since it is 5-6 y.o. girls and most (including her) don't know how to play it has been mostly being patient and learning so far.  She is bored...lol  I have a feeling we won't be signing up for this next year...but I could be wrong.  "Games" start this coming weekend so we'll see how she feels about it then.

day 9
Ah!  This was the day I pulled my stupid trick.  Yup...all me...I can't blame it on anything or anyone else.  I decided to move my digital kits from the laptop's hard drive to the portable EHD.  I even thought far enough ahead to do it through ACDSee so I didn't loose the categories on the few kits I have managed to tag so far.  When it prompted me that the items were too large for the trash bin did I want to delete I didn't hesitate.  Yeah, then it "finished".  It didn't occur to me to make sure it really did finish.  I happily went along and deleted the files from the HD (I had copied instead of moving).  It wasn't until a few minutes later that I realized it hadn't copied all of the folders...Only about 1/2.  Argh!  Not one of my brighter moments.

day 8

This....this is the knitting project I am afraid to speak of.  I am afraid to put it in writing because then it will be real.  Then people will know and I will be accountable for this craziness.

This is the mack-daddy knitting project for me.  It all started as my friend Ruth and I walked passed the Hunt Valley Cashmere booth at Stitches East.  The feel of the cashmere was heavenly, but I could have walked on.  Then Ruth inquired on their advertised  (and displayed) Square of the Month club.  She had been wanting to make The Great American Afghan and she had been wanting a special cashmere project to treat herself.  How cool that she could have both.  I'm still not sure how I got sucked in, but I do recall it didn't take much persuasion on her part.  We decided we would do better with a partner to cheer each other on.  Um, yeah.

Don't get me wrong...it is beautiful.  Both the cashmere yarn and the photos of the finished afghan.  If I take my time and knit with care, it will be a beautiful project---an heirloom project.

But tell me this...I am not June Cleaver.  I clean when I have to...lol.  I have a 90# retriever.  I have a 6 y.o. child.  I am married to a "jeans and t-shirt guy" who loves to work in the yard, get dirty.  He's a firefighter.  He works construction.

What am I going to do with a huge, cream-colored afghan knit in a luxury yarn (read:  hand wash)?  What I ask you?

day 7

Rainy, wet, pressure, pain.  This is what I woke up to today.  Thankfully, after about an hour, I realized that I had to take something before my head imploded (gotta love sinuses, huh?).  It was an hour before I felt the tiniest bit of relief and two before I felt nearly human.  Thanks to:

Not the best picture I've taken, but with symptoms still lingering that's it for today.

day 6

I debating about using this photo today.  It doesn't highlight any of my strengths (photographic or otherwise) and it doesn't reflect well on P-nut or I, but the photos should represent life right?

 
This is a bike.  A very small bike that little dolls might be able to "ride" on.  P-nut had this tonight.  I didn't recognize it, but I also didn't think too much about it until she volunteered a story about how it was in my car.  Next to her booster seat.  Yeah, um, I've never seen it before tonight so that didn't make sense.  She also was not in my car at any time today.  It took a few minutes of her insisting and me explaining just how I knew it wasn't the truth before she came clean.  She found it on the floor at school today and decided to bring it home.  We had yet another discussion on lying that may have ended with a threat to both smack her bottom and take away the Wii if we catch her lying again.

I don't get it.  She does this over the stupidest things and usually on stuff that is so obviously a lie.  Argh!

days 4 & 5

I did take a photo yesterday, but we had dinner guests and I just never made it onto the computer.

day 4
This is my newest toy and I love it.  I'm still a bit surprised that we bought it.  Apparently DH has been wanting it too (and the pasta attachment that I still need to pick up) and we agreed to use my Christmas bonus on this (and a scanner that is currently making it's way here since the old one up and died last month).  I managed to get what I wanted in both and not spend more than the bonus (well, okay, the sales tax on the Kitchenaid threw me a tiny bit over).  Isn't it SWEET?!
 
day 5
This is a cute little snowman we left out from the Christmas decorations.  Unlike the 1/2 dozen other things I have come across that we forgot to put away, this was left out intentionally.  He's just so cute.  And it still is winter so why not?

days 2 & 3

In typical me fashion, I missed day 2.  Yeah, go figure.  I knew earlier on in the day that I needed to do this, but decided I wanted to think about what to photograph.  It was today before I remembered.  YIKES!

So, I decided to "cheat" a bit and use one of the several photos I took on day 1.  Sue me.  (I wanted to insert a sticking-my-tongue-out smiley here, but the dang software keeps crapping out.  You are going to have to use your imagination)

Day 2
 
P-nut helping me vacuum.  Not bad for a kid who used to be afraid of the vacuum cleaner.  She doesn't like loud noises and, while it kicks butt, Dyson is not the quietest machine.  She still isn't thrilled with the vacuum, but apparently we have progress.

Day 3

My sock.  This is the first time I am entering the monthly Sockdown on Ravelry and I am very excited as I am also doing their January Mystery pattern which includes beading.  Unfortunately, the beading is hard to see in the photo since I picked clear beads.  I had ordered clear and a color, but the color was too dark for the yarn (which is BMFA STR in the Nyame colorway for anyone wondering).

day one

Goal = a photo a day

Today I took about 10.  And just now as I uploaded them to the computer to post here they disappeared.  Yup, some glitch in the import has them lost and my ACDSee is set to delete items from the card after upload.  Yeah, I may be rethinking that setting.  *sigh*

Now it's a few minutes later.  I went upstairs in search of something to take a photo of for today and came up with this:

It's a photo of the home made ravioli Daddy-o, P-nut and I made tonight to add to the 100+ Daddy-o made with is buddy yesterday.  He's having friends over (just the guys) Saturday night.  That's okay.  The leftovers are mine!  *insert evil laugh here*

When I came back to upload this photo, I realized that my "lost" photos weren't really gone.  I had mis-clicked and put them somewhere I didn't mean to.  WHEW!

My photo for today was suppose to be this:

That is P-nut loving on the doll I grew up with.  She wanted nothing to do with it for years until the other day (scroll to the bottom if you click on the link).  Go figure!

Frame from Amethyst by Blythe Evans.