Visitors since 10/1/2010
I followed the link from Lee's blog and created my own wordle.
The best thing about it? The colors!
This cute, fast Blogthing is making its way around the various blogs I read. My friend, Andrea is a red crayon, as is Lissa. Lee and I are Purple and Michelle is Green. So, if you haven't taken the short quiz, what's holding you back?
You Are a Purple Crayon |
 Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors. You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful. People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you. And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off! Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you. |
Imagine if you may - a Toyota Corolla with an adult driving and two children in the back. Upon closer inspection, you see that all passengers appear to be singing along to a tune on the radio. You see their mouths open wider and wider, with their eyes starting to bug out. Then you see what appears to be a scream - mouth wide open, eyes squeezed shut, neck craned upwards.
That would be us attempting to sing The Phantom of the Opera's namesake song "Phantom of the Opera". And the ending (high E for goodness sake!) doesn't sound so great (that's when we are screaming).
Erica watched the movie adaption of the musical on TV last weekend and was completely enthralled by the whole thing. Scott and I loved the musical back in the 90's, so we already own the original London Cast recording and the sheet music. So we pulled it out for Erica to enjoy. By "enjoy" we mean play over and over and over and over again. She seems highly partial to the "Phantom of the Opera" song, because that's all she wants to listen to. It has even toppled Taylor Swift off her pedestal of most listened to artist in the car.
But we are all having fun. Things don't start sounding like a wailing cat in heat until the very end, when we are attempting to sing (screech) notes above G. After the high C's and E's, we all burst out laughing because, well, we sound like wailing cats in heat. Erica has been adamant about keeping the windows rolled up on the car as we drive through town - smart girl!
Seriously, Erica has a very nice voice and if she sang more and was standing up, she could probably get to the point where she could hit the high E.
And if Phantom comes to Chicago, we need to go see it.
Why stay in bed when you can go outside and take in the sunrise?
Coming to you live from the cornfields of Illinois.....(gotta love that WIFI access)
Brian has successfully tested for 2nd Degree Recommended Black Belt!
He had been working on this for a year now - you must complete 5 midterm tests and then break a series of three boards at the testing.
Brian broke 2 out of the 3 boards on the first try, and nailed the 3rd one on the second attempt!
He was also named Black Belt of the year (we had no idea this was coming!).
We are proud of you Brian - way to go!
Pictures will come later.....
I snagged this from Cyn, who snagged it from Lee, who snagged it from Lissa, who snagged it from Dawn.
As promised, some pictures from our trip to Cedar Point:
Lake Erie serves as the backdrop to the giant wheel and the Wicked Twister Coaster.
Erica poses with Snoopy in front of their new Planet Snoopy attractions: (you are never too old to pose with Snoopy!)
One of the spires on the Wicked Twister - Erica and Scott are in the 2nd to the last car, and heading towards the top of the structure.
Another aerial view of the park (taken from the Giant Wheel) - the steep coaster in the far background is the initial drop of the Millennium Force Coaster - 310 feet high. The large structure up front is the Power Tower. (a free fall tower)
Erica and Scott ready to be launched on the Top Thrill Dragster: this crazy ride launches you from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds, directly up 410 feet, crest the top of the ride and back down the other side (and the track twists on the way up and down).
It is very entertaining to watch people as they are about to experience this ride - the anticipation and nervousness of first time riders and the excitement of experienced riders. Heck, Erica still looks apprehensive, and this will be her third time!
Anyways, the ride is a MUST DO - the view from up top is awesome!
Taking things a little slower - Brian drives an antique sports car.
What a weird weather day....
We woke up this morning to the rumbling of thunder (and it woke us up during the night, too). Pouring rain ensued:
We received almost 2 inches, according to Froggie:
The rain subsided, and I decided to weed around the pond - weeds are much easier to pull out of the ground when the earth is moist - right after a good rain is the best time. Plus, the weeds are simply out of control:
The end result, three hours later - I did some general pruning, weeded the beds in the front year and cleaned the water lilies out of the pond. I haven't worked out in the garden in at least a month (hence the weeds) and it felt good to smell the earth and get all dirty.
By noon, the sky was blue, the sun shining and any traces of the morning's rain forgotten - it felt like a normal July day. The water lilies enjoyed soaking in the sun:
And like any normal Saturday, there was laundry to do: [Erica wanted me to include the smiley ball with the laundry baskets]
And I journeyed out to the grocery store to acquire food for the coming week. The best thing about summer is the luscious berries available, and this week, even the blueberries were on sale:
But even with stuff on sale, the week's grocery bill topped $100. Last year our average weekly bill was around $80. [And I don't even want to talk about how much it costs to fill up the Tahoe these days]
Around 4pm, as I was getting ready to light the grill and put on the flank steak for dinner, the weather turned again - the black clouds gave way to more thunder, whipping winds and downpours again. We received another inch of rain! I ended up broiling the steak inside.
Hannah watched the rain on the pond from her perch in the family room.
Brian enjoyed some popcorn while watching Alvin and the Chipmunks
I spent a little time finishing up a layout from Easter of 2007. My scrapping space has changed a little - I have a little more table space, thanks to an old island counter top. It was the original counter top for our kitchen island, and back in 2002, we replaced it with a bigger top. The old counter top then took up residence in the garage for the next 6 years. I tried to sell it at the garage sale, and when it didn't sell, I decided to place it on top of my existing 6' table. The top is much wider than the table underneath, and it gives me much more working space. Plus the surface is nice and smooth (and not that ugly brown from the 80's). So I am enjoying the little upgrade:
That's all for today - we are expecting more thunderstorms tonight, and I hope they aren't too loud!
Elaine posted this link to Jessica Sprague's blog, which has a cool PhotoShop technique to add some POP to your pictures. Jessica calls it "SHAZAM", and I really like the effect.
Basically, you take your picture and make two additional layers, one will be a Screen and the other will be an Overlay. Play with the opacities and see what you get. Here is my Before shot:
And my After shot (well, I did straighten it, too)
Cool, eh? You should try it too!
Go to the link above, where Jessica outlines the technique in more detail.
Happy picture taking!
PS - I'll be back later today to post my 12 on 12 pictures!
After 10 days of not having to cook, not having to make / pack the kids' lunches, not having to think about what time the kids' activities are, sleeping in, reading the paper at a leisurely pace, completing 3 books, and generally relaxing, we are back to reality.
I guess it had to end sooner or later....
Some of the highlights:
Erica and I have officially ridden all of "Major Coasters" at Cedar Point - 5 new rides for us this year, 15 out of the 17 coasters at the park (the remaining two are kiddie coasters - I'm too tall to ride them). I can't wait to ride some of them again.
4th of July Fireworks in Manlius - they put on a nice show.
Dinosaur BBQ in Syracuse - a great place for BBQ.
The kids trying out Grandma's new lawn tractor. As good as an amusement park ride!
Hopefully, I'll get the pictures downloaded off my camera soon..... but for now, I need to go to the grocery store!
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