tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-150673552024-03-13T07:58:27.238-07:00Slightly DramaticAutumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-77483993368078143282021-08-16T23:53:00.005-07:002021-08-16T23:53:46.835-07:00<p> Soooo I just found this blog after approximately 8 years of being away from it. A lot can happen in 8 years... </p><p>I never got the Mayor from Halloween Town finished. Hes been cut out of plywood and sitting in my garage this whole time. Suffice it to say its been a busy 8 years. </p><p>Since my last post here, my husband passed away. I am a Widow. Worst thing I have ever had to endure was telling each of my kids that their father had died. It was a literal trauma in and of itself. It seems self centered writing that I feel pain thinking of my childrens pain but that's exactly what it is. They have each endured through this loss in different ways and none of them enviable. But we are pushing through, together, even though some days are a lot more of a struggle than others. </p><p>I see somehow that this blog has been looked at almost 300 times in the past few months which I can only presume has to do with my Nightmare Before Christmas Halloween tutorials. For this reason I may upload whats going on at the house this year, though its not likely to be NBC related. (It might be, but the Frightful fountain has lost both its base as well as the green straw "vomit" and I havent checked on Jack Skellington in a few years. One of my sons basically tore through the garage and a lot of my decorations were ruined in that process. I will hopefully repair them at some point, but probably not this year. </p><p><br /></p>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-91982719464370829532013-08-06T05:35:00.000-07:002013-08-06T05:36:04.038-07:00Only 86 days until Halloween!That time has come once again for me to decide what this year's project is going to me. This year I don't really have too much of a choice in the matter as by popular request from previous years Trick or Treaters, I will be making the Mayor of Halloweentown. <br />
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Me? I am so honored!!</div>
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The number one reason I hadn't made him before was that I simply could not think of a way to make him three dimensional and to be able to store him somewhere. Our Halloween collection has begun to take up a considerable amount of space in our garage and the Frightful Fountain I made last year is large and in no way able to be broken down and stored in any way. I hesitate to even admit this, but it rained last Halloween and I ended up dragging him inside to dry out by a window in the office and uh, he may still be standing there today. I can always tell who has seen the Nightmare Before Christmas when they visit our home as I either hear, "Oh my gosh, is that from the NBC?" OR "Oh my gosh, WHAT IS THAT? Is it choking itself?" :) </div>
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Back to Mr. Mayor. Because of the storage concerns and also due to where I plan to place him in my yard, I decided to make him out of plywood. Yes, he will be flat. *sad trombone* But, I will paint both sides and obviously do his dual faces. I'm still trying to decide if I want to be able to spin his head. (I do, I'm just not sure how to accomplish this exactly) October is a windy, rainy month where I live. </div>
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The other thing I plan to do is to build more Halloween fencing. I only had time to make two panels last year and I need about 20. I should be able to get a decent amount made this year since I don't think the mayor will take up too much time. </div>
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More soon! </div>
Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-74080630621721507062012-10-21T09:29:00.002-07:002021-08-16T23:42:12.030-07:00Frightful Fountain - Halloween 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every year I let my kids choose which character they want me to attempt to make from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Last Halloween they chose the Frightful Fountain and so what follows is my best attempt at a tutorial on how I made mine. Here is a picture of a small Disney replica of it:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My biggest concern was figuring out what to use for his head. Every year we buy this big plastic barrel of packets of Halloween pretzels from Costco. The brand is UTZ and I think we paid around $15 for all the pretzels. The shape and size worked out perfectly for his head.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Whenever I am recreating a character, I take the one object that isn't changeable size wise, i.e. this bucket for its head or in the case of the Jack Skellington gates, the hula-hoop/pumpkin face. I print up a photo of the character, measure each part and then I do a mentally taxing math process which tells me what size to cut all of the other parts. Example, if the head measures 2 inches on the paper and the actual head is 24 inches, then I know for every inch I measure on the paper character translates to one foot on the piece I am building. Of course it NEVER works out to one paper inch equals one foot of character which is why I describe that whole process and mentally excruciating. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is the head after I cut off the top lip and part of the sides to create the mouth. I cut a hole in the bottom just wide enough to fit the PVC in and then its held into place with a T connector. I cut short lengths to go into either side of the T to stabilize the head. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I found this stuff at Home Depot, its like those foam sleeves you by to put over your exposed outdoor pipes in the winter except much thinner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here is a side by side comparison of the foam sleeves and the backer rod. I used an exacto blade to slice halfway down the backer rod so that I could then slide it over the exposed edges of Frighty's mouth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's hard to see in this photo but I am just sliding it right over the exposed edges of what will be the mouth. I used styrofoam glue to adhere it and some pieces of tape to hold it in place while the glue dried. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I used some of the same backer foam to create the eyes. The horns are two foam wands that I found at Target in the Halloween department for $1 each. They are called foam glow wands and they had a green glow stick in each one. I cut the bottoms off and pulled out the glow stick part. My goal is to keep everything as light as possible as I am concerned that too heavy a head could cause the PVC frame to bend. The teeth are cut from white foam board ($1 for a poster board size sheet of it) The neck is PVC and then covered with a swim noodle (called a Funoodle, used for swimming) The funoodles were also $1 each because I bought them at the end of summer. I used two of them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is where I would like to suggest that you WAIT to glue the teeth until AFTER you have painted the inside of his mouth black. In the movie, Frighty's teeth are white but have black sides and black gums so after I got black spray paint all over the teeth, I just went over them with some white paint.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next I assembled the PVC for his arms (pictured left) and the wings (pictured right) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wire bent to shape the wings and then duct taped to the PVC. I then covered the entire wings with duct tape and glued the foam backer rod onto the wings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here is the basic frame of the FF. Next step was adding the foam swim noodles and also the foam pipe insulation and more duct tape. I used an entire roll of duct tape on this guy because I did not want any part of him expanding from underneath the papier mache. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here he is after I wrapped him in the foam and spray painted the inside of his mouth with flat black spray paint. If you think he is not looking too good at this point, I completely agree. I went back to my paper photo and did more measuring (and more math, ugh) and realized I needed to add more mass to his neck and abdomen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next up, papier mache! I was really nervous about this step because I had never done papier mache before but thanks to the ingenious Scott Stoll from <a href="http://stolloween.com/">Stolloween.com</a>, I followed his tutorials and used his master recipe and it was so much easier than I expected it to be. Easier, but also a lot more time consuming than I realized. Papier Mache is a patient man's art. Above is the head after a few layers and below is the body. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While I waited for the layers to dry, I started work on the green stream of vomit he spews out. Beautiful imagery, no? The best idea I could come up with was to cover a gift wrap tube with parchment paper and then I began the process of hot gluing straws together around the tube. I bought 100 light green and dark green straws from Walmart and then a huge box of clear straws from Costco. Total straw count 350. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Before I started gluing the straws, I mixed some bright green acrylic paint with water and poured it down through a bunch of straws that were rubber banded together. Acrylic paint dries pretty fast so I just kept pouring it through until I got the amount of coverage I wanted and then sat them in front of a fan to dry completely. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once I finished gluing them all together, I hooked the end of the green Christmas lights onto the end of the cardboard gift wrap tube and then pulled the tube out from the opposite end. If you're careful, you will now have a hollow tube of straws with a string of green lights inside! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You will also likely have hundreds of thin long dried glue strands all over your green straw tube making it look messy. Get out your hair dryer and go over them and they will melt away into oblivion! Not TOO hot though or you'll melt the glue that's holding your tube together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More layers of papier mache and then a layer of cardboard scales that I cut out of empty cereal boxes. I ended up using hot glue to anchor the cardboard down and also to go over any seams or edges of newspaper that were sticking up. While that was drying, I added a coat of grey primer to the head, painted the teeth white and added some shading around the eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Papier Mache complete and after a few coats of BEHR paint and primer in Cathedral Grey. The hands were made using the backer rod foam, wire and some hot glue.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NGzBNRaC0vg/UIQf8AVzTtI/AAAAAAAAAf0/7VVE5pbZk0o/s1600/CELLPHONEFFprimered.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NGzBNRaC0vg/UIQf8AVzTtI/AAAAAAAAAf0/7VVE5pbZk0o/s640/CELLPHONEFFprimered.jpg" width="508" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next up, a can of Rustoleum stone texture spray paint in Stone Grey. I could still see the paper lines from the newspaper and the hot glue so I thought textured paint would remedy that. This stuff is a bit pricey, $10 for one can. (I don't know why picture is sideways)</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HULK_vFdk_0/UIQg5ChPnKI/AAAAAAAAAf8/V9owEn3J8aM/s1600/CELLPHONE2+046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HULK_vFdk_0/UIQg5ChPnKI/AAAAAAAAAf8/V9owEn3J8aM/s320/CELLPHONE2+046.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Close up of the textured spray on the scales:</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ie4rxG2BNF4/UIQg5hqdIlI/AAAAAAAAAgE/3eDMo2UBmJg/s1600/CELLPHONE2+049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ie4rxG2BNF4/UIQg5hqdIlI/AAAAAAAAAgE/3eDMo2UBmJg/s400/CELLPHONE2+049.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And a closer shot of the head, hands and neck:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next up is the base of the fountain! I got a really late jump on starting this guy so I was pressed for time. As a result, the exterior pool part of the fountain is painted cardboard. I wanted to make it out of foam blocks and ultimately will but it just won't be on this years display. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> I will be back to add more photos later! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-13503439886182641772012-10-21T05:53:00.001-07:002021-08-16T23:43:00.470-07:00Jack Skellington's Gates <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m6nV1pzhwlk/UIPmnbPZ5PI/AAAAAAAAAaU/nMLx8C3JYEM/s1600/jacksgate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m6nV1pzhwlk/UIPmnbPZ5PI/AAAAAAAAAaU/nMLx8C3JYEM/s1600/jacksgate.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The inspiration</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For Halloween 2011 I decided to attempt to make Jack Skellington's gates from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas. My plan was to make them entirely out of PVC pipe and then build a wood stand to hang them off of. I will attempt to write a tutorial on how I did this but unfortunately, I am always forgetting to stop and photograph my steps. Luckily, there isn't a whole lot that is really needed visually to explain how I made it as it is a pretty simple build. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The supplies needed are PVC pipe (I used half inch as I wanted to keep the weight as low as possible) PVC connectors, a child's hula hoop, adhesive for the PVC, hot glue gun & sticks, empty water bottles, black pipe cleaners and about 4 cans of flat black spray paint. (I use the .97 cent ones sold at Walmart as I think it is the best spray paint in that price range and I prefer it over Home Depot and Lowes generic brands) You will also need something to hold up the gates - I used two 2x4s and bungee cords to attach the gates temporarily to my stone pilars but if you want it free standing in your yard, you'd need more wood than just two. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Somewhere I have my original design plans with the exact number of connectors, PVC pipe, the lengths of each piece, etc. When I get a little more time, I will come back here and edit that information in. If you're reading this and plan to build the gates, post a comment below and I will make sure to get them added (because if its 2013 and the info isn't here, it's because I forgot to come back and add it) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I am going to sum up the process of the build because its basically just like tinker toys, you piece all the connectors and PVC together. For the eyes and the top triangles, I used 3 pipe cleaners twisted together, hot glued and then spay painted. Use black pipe cleaners. You can see I used orange because I ran out of black and it was a real chore to get the paint onto every little fiber to make it black. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The mouth was made out of water bottles that I cut the tops and bottoms off of and rolled them into tubes and hot glued them to stay. I threaded some wire in the center, hot glued the ends and attached them to the hula hoop. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Note that the hula hoop is child sized. A regular hula hoop would have either made the gates humongous or the face would have been out of proportion to how the official gates look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I will add more pictures of the hinge mechanism (again, all PVC) and the stands that I built.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Due to the curved top of the gates, I wasn't able to use PVC connectors to join the vertical bars that connect to the curved top. My solution was to cut those bars at an angle and then hot glue the seams. So far they have held up great. (I did the same process for where the other vertical bars met the bottom of the pumpkin circle)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The gates are 8.5 feet tall, not hung. Once hung, they are just over 9 feet tall. They are operational and I sort of wish I could leave them up year round. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The cats were something I made in a hurry because I ran out of time (I always run out of time with Halloween stuff) They are made out of black foam board and wire.</span><br />
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<br />Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-15138078845437705052012-02-19T04:59:00.001-08:002021-08-16T23:35:45.649-07:00Haunted DollhouseMy latest project is something I have wanted since I was a little girl. It's a dollhouse. But wait! It's not just any dollhouse, it's a HAUNTED DOLLHOUSE *dramatic music* I wasn't quite cool enough as a kid to have wanted a haunted dollhouse, back then, I just wanted the Strawberry Shortcake house or a Barbie dreamhouse but somewhere along my aging and over 100+ trips inside the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, I came up with the idea to turn a dollhouse into a haunted one. <div style="font-weight: normal;">
</div><div style="font-weight: normal;">My awesome husband bought me this dollhouse kit at Hobby Lobby so this is the model I will be attempting to construct. It is the Alison Jr. model and you can use the 40% off coupon for it!</div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710832945048959538" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-igUUY76b1Ik/T0D0TmU9ujI/AAAAAAAAARw/p4K7fs4grn4/s320/dollhousepinkalisonjr.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 227px;" /><div style="font-weight: normal;"> Mine will not be pink. When I got online (God I love the internet, you under 25 year olds have no idea how isolated life was for us over 25s growing up. We had to go to the library or magazines for information and then spend time outside doing stuff instead of getting to read 3,000 pages of tutorials and cat pictures and finding other hilarious people that like the same weird stuff you like) </div><div style="font-weight: normal;">
</div><div>On that note, I was quick to find out to my surprise that I am not the only person on earth to have the genius idea to make a haunted dollhouse. In fact, Jenny Larson, a.k.a. The Bloggess, has one! If you're reading this and you don't know who she is, click <b><a href="http://thebloggess.com/?s=dollhouse">here</a></b> and go there because she's really funny and her dollhouse is amazing. </div>
<div>So, that's what I am up to craft wise these days. I hope to take pictures as I build it, starting with tonight. </div>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-35055330184456282922007-05-10T04:28:00.000-07:002009-01-17T19:42:31.372-08:00Funny pictures that make me laugh<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062896732996575794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMFwRi_IjI/AAAAAAAAAC0/dl3axPX1UO4/s400/recognize.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>For your enjoyment (since you are<em> clearly</em> bored to have ended up here on my once a year updated blog, LOL) I present totally random pictures that I have on my hard drive that always at least make me smile, if not giggle. In no particular order: </div><div><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062894692887110130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMD5hi_IfI/AAAAAAAAACU/-EEQ1HG1VkM/s320/35bs7ec.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062894332109857250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMDkhi_IeI/AAAAAAAAACM/ys68dFVgsCk/s320/2ymc7pk.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062893275547902386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMCnBi_IbI/AAAAAAAAAB0/5uiSeMyEd84/s320/presidentandbaby.jpg" border="0" /><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062894117361492434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMDYBi_IdI/AAAAAAAAACE/SNoT7QP7-ok/s320/01hammertime.jpg" border="0" /></div><div align="center"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062895564765471250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMEsRi_IhI/AAAAAAAAACk/YnoQak1ckg4/s320/lightningkayci.bmp" border="0" /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Struck by Lightning Halloween Costume</span><br /><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062897248392651330" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RkMGORi_IkI/AAAAAAAAAC8/mMVnIz_yrUQ/s320/1162258768559.jpg" border="0" /> </div>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1728144927681893272007-02-13T16:57:00.000-08:002007-02-13T17:02:05.934-08:00Lainey Neutron, Baby Genius<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RdJeu9zeXDI/AAAAAAAAABM/_WoxC6Oyu0g/s1600-h/zlaineyneutron.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031187894683720754" style="WIDTH: 188px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 241px" height="266" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RdJeu9zeXDI/AAAAAAAAABM/_WoxC6Oyu0g/s320/zlaineyneutron.jpg" width="188" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RdJe4tzeXEI/AAAAAAAAABU/OnUSCU8k3S0/s1600-h/JN.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031188062187445314" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RdJe4tzeXEI/AAAAAAAAABU/OnUSCU8k3S0/s320/JN.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Separated at birth: Lainey and Jimmy</span> </span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#6600cc;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#6600cc;"><span style="color:#333399;">Note: I didn't make her hair look like that for the picture, her hair <em>always</em> looks like that unless I make it not.</span> </span> </div><br /><br /><div></div>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-87809367538049708342007-02-11T15:33:00.000-08:002007-02-13T17:03:27.635-08:00Merry February Christmas!<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RdJhCNzeXFI/AAAAAAAAABk/Y4LOOcnYBgM/s1600-h/100_1601.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031190424419458130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RdJhCNzeXFI/AAAAAAAAABk/Y4LOOcnYBgM/s400/100_1601.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="color:#660000;">Christuary? Ah well look it takes me forever to upload photos because I am super busy. And also lazy. Here's a picture of my little one in her Santa suit. (She had booties that matched too)</span> </div><br /><div></div>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-49771552032257707332007-02-03T22:54:00.000-08:002008-07-27T00:46:49.713-07:00I hate you Nicolas Cage!You bastard. I will never get those two hours back that you robbed me of watching that horrific "movie" you called The Wicker Man. I'm seriously mad.Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-65733269751842285402007-01-13T16:42:00.000-08:002008-08-08T03:26:21.898-07:00So yeah, I've been MIA...<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RamaLH9gwXI/AAAAAAAAAAY/Ic9mH7lQDho/s1600-h/vwhoarethesekids.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019712775587414386" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/RamaLH9gwXI/AAAAAAAAAAY/Ic9mH7lQDho/s320/vwhoarethesekids.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>WOW did I forget how time consuming a newborn is!! (File this under the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">category</span> of Things Only a Moron Doesn't Know)<br /><br />We were, unfortunately, hit with some sad news about six days after my daughter's birth. Our sweet baby girl tested positive for a genetic disorder called Medium chain <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">acyl</span></span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">CoA</span></span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">dehydrogenase</span></span> or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">MCAD</span></span> for short. Since I'd feel strange NOT talking <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">incessantly</span> about her disorder and at the same time I don't want to turn this blog into a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">MCAD</span></span> site, I decided to start a separate site regarding her condition that you can link to at: <a href="http://newbornscreening.blogspot.com/">http://newbornscreening.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />As of right now, that site is pretty much barren since I have had no time to devote to anything but my four children.<br /><br />I may also disable this site completely and start up a new blog over on Yahoo. Basically, I am a barely functioning computer blogger and I know very little about page/web building etc. I need idiot proof page building features and Yahoo seems to have a few things that this one does not.<br /><br />That all said, I must close and attend to my baby girl. Thank you to all of you reading that have sent me your prayers and continued wishes for my baby girls continued health.<br /><br /><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)">xoxo</span></div>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1162551959764585122006-11-03T03:01:00.000-08:002007-01-13T16:56:55.816-08:00MY GIRL<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/Ral_pH9gwWI/AAAAAAAAAAM/SKkyqplWQpI/s1600-h/Elainasmile2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5019683604169539938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bSlfAqiEz2c/Ral_pH9gwWI/AAAAAAAAAAM/SKkyqplWQpI/s320/Elainasmile2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/Elainajustborn.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><p>SHE'S HERE!!! After a long (for me) labor - 11 hours of solid back labor, my beautiful baby girl and fourth child is here! </p><br /><p>At 2:09am on October 28th, 2006 this 7 pound 11 ounce baby girl was born. Stretching out a lengthy 20 inches, she is tiny enough to fit inside a shoebox! (and no, I didn't try it) </p><br /><p></p></div>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1162551619108523162006-10-24T02:58:00.000-07:002006-11-03T03:00:19.130-08:00Waiting...Tick Tock Tick Tock... When will she be here? MAH BACK HURTS!!!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/9monthspgresz.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/9monthspgresz.jpg" border="0" /></a>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1160306165283571982006-10-08T04:03:00.000-07:002021-08-16T23:29:52.415-07:00LOOK AT ME!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/idea.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/idea.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a>
<span style="color: #330033;">It's 4 something am and I cannot sleep. Yet another fun tidbit of the final weeks of pregnancy, no position is comfortable, can't fall asleep yet I am constantly exhausted. Ah well at least I can get a good nights sleep once I give birth, right? Or not. Oh well.
I have been having contractions off and on since Tuesday. Nothing regular but the past two days I have been having low backache so whatever that means.
My husband is switching jobs next week! We are all about making all our life altering changes all at once over here. Seriously though, this new job was really too good to pass up, its a bit more money with a lot more opportunity for advancement. The company that recruited him and kept offering more and more to entice him to come over, including two weeks paid off paternity leave after only working there probably a week!
This is a bit embarrassing to admit but as the birth of my fourth baby approaches, I find myself actually really nervous and scared about making it through labor and delivery. I honestly have no idea why, but there it is. My first I was not allowed an epidural and that birth was nightmarish. The second I got an epidural, but I was literally at 10 cm by the time he pushed the meds in. (I had been prepped and had it inserted but he was tied up in a C-section so by the time he got back to me they were breaking down the bed and the nurse told him to nevermind. God bless that man because he gave me the meds anyway and my first born son came into this world without my feeling any pain!) My third... the guy pretending to be skilled in anethesia tapped my spinal fluid... Ugh, it was not a fun time. That birth physically really tore me up and it was a long recovery. Five years later (and older), I am starting to remember why I am a tad afraid of this next one.</span>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1158983828790776552006-09-22T20:48:00.000-07:002006-09-22T21:02:09.816-07:00Blog... OH YEAH I DO HAVE ONE!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/preggosign.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/preggosign.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Well what do you expect? I'm 8.5 months pregnant and have the memory of Dory from Finding Nemo. Honestly, I think I actually forgot I had a blog until the other day.<br /> <br /><br />Things around here have been so flipping busy that I don't even have time to update them all with a synopsis. Well maybe I do - My husband is having issues with his work sending him out of town CONSTANTLY and then making him work 16 hour days with NO days off. I am going batty carting three kids back and forth to school at three separate starting times and dismissal times and then on Thursdays, its a whole DIFFERENT schedule! Honestly, with my memory at the end of the day if I have three kids in the house, I'm congratulating myself. My only solace at this point is that the fourth one is in utero so I can't lose her but I seriously fear misplacing her once she's free. I swear I did homework while in school and college yet every night I sit down with the kids to do hours more. Really gets old after a while. <br /><br />Normal typical daily mothering stuff complaints go here. <br /><br />My friend who was due three weeks before I am had her baby yesterday so I am officially on notice that I have 3-5 weeks before the same fate befalls me. I have to get all the stuff I have been putting off! (diapers, blankets, binks, nursing pads, nursing bras, washcloths, you name it...) <br /><br />Hopefully I will be back with updates assuming I don't get lost and/or forget again.Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1156363600992655962006-08-23T13:06:00.000-07:002006-08-23T13:19:36.460-07:00Can you hear this?<table width="'350'" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="center"><tr><td bgcolor="'#AABBAA'" align="center" style="'font-family:"><div id="'head'">You are in your twenties</div></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="'#EEFFEE'" style="'font-family:"><div id="'text'">You can still hear reasonably well and you can play this without my old fart colleagues hearing it which makes you feel kinda good.<br /><br />The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is <a href>15.8kHz</a></div></td></tr><tr><td bgcolor="'#CCDDCC'" style="'font-family:">Find out which <a href="'http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/'"><a href="http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/">ringtones</a></a> you can hear!</td></tr></table>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1152000156536934182006-07-04T00:52:00.000-07:002021-08-16T23:27:47.074-07:004th of July potato salad<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/potatobuddy.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/potatobuddy.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a>
<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/potatobuddy.jpg"></a> So I made homemade potato salad tonight for tomorrow's 4th of July dinner. Without naming every step involved, I was at the part where I add all the ingredients together, including the red onions (chopped fine in the food processor) except that the onion fumes were so strong that it felt like they lit my eyes on fire.
My husband offered to come in and stir them in for me so I thanked him and let him stir while I went back to making the lasagna. (I know, LASAGNA on the 4th of July? Well my son wanted it so...) Anyway, my husband tells me he thinks its pretty well mixed and I walk over to see a ginormous bowl of mashed potato salad. ?? What? One does not attack the potatoes, one simply stirs them! He stirred them with such veracity that he basically mashed them into this pulverized mass that seriously looks more like mashed potatoes than potato salad. sigh.
The good news, however, is that since I am five and a half months pregnant, I will be eating it anyway.Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1149659151086282132006-06-06T22:06:00.000-07:002006-06-06T22:55:08.510-07:00Super Patient!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/tinybaby.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/tinybaby.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Countdown to sex! Er, the baby's sex that is.<br /><br />Had my checkup at the OB today and found out I gained 5 pounds. Always a fun feeling. All my OB said was, "You've gained weight" no further comment. Hmmmm. I'm up a total of 6 pounds at almost 19 weeks which is pretty good so far for me, especially considering how much weight I put on with #3. (He was my ice cream baby) At the appointment prior to today, I had only gained one pound from my pre-pregnancy weight and he told me my weight gain was good. I guess that means 5 pounds in a month = not so good. (shrugs)<br /><br />I had my AFP blood draw today and I go for my ultrasound next week on the 13th! We are finding out the sex because I have no patience whatsoever and I am just dying to know if my final baby is going to be my second baby girl or my third son.<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/superpatient.gif"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/superpatient.gif" border="0" /></a><br />Oh and I voted today and I got a cool sticker to prove it. It's on my shirt right next to the giant circle that says "Super Patient!" that the nurse at the lab stuck on my shirt. I actually found that amusing since I am pretty much anything but <em>super</em> patient. (I am, however, quite a superb patient so I wore it with pride :)<br /><br />I have never understood how women can wait to find out the baby's gender. Don't get me wrong, I don't think anything is wrong with that, I just know that I could never, ever have the will to wait and be surprised. I guess I don't see the difference between being surprised at the ultrasound or at the delivery... Well, except that at the ultrasound its SOONER which to me, of course is better.<br /><br />Feel free to make a guess as to the baby's gender in the comment section!Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1148201435969237012006-05-21T01:38:00.002-07:002021-08-16T23:25:49.360-07:00I'm oldHad my birthday this week. 28 isn't really OLD is it?<br />
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Bad news of this week is that I have had a migraine for three days. I was really hoping I would stop having them once I got pregnant but so far, not so good.<br />
<br />
The good news is that I finally felt the baby kick!!! On my birthday of all days too which was an extra nice gift. (16 week old fetus and he/she is already thoughtful <em>and</em> giving!)<br />
<br />
Weather here stinks... it was 100 degrees for three days. In May. I am going to die this summer being pregnant in this heat. At least I have that kick butt gazebo thing finally built. Thankfully I didn't attempt doing it by myself because it was about 854221587 pieces and took my husband and two of our children to get it built. It should keep the swarms of yellow jackets away from me and allow us to eat dinner outside should we ever get hungry around 2am when it finally dips below 80 degrees.<br />
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My husband and I also decided against using the name Ava if this baby is a girl. I still LOVE the name but it has gotten SO popular that we decided to at least consider some other names. We both agreed we liked two names but they seemed more nicknames than grown adult woman names. Turns out that I found a name that I think is really beautiful and both nicknames could be used from the one name! We agreed not to tell anyone because ever since we told people about the name Ava, several pals sent me a notice every time anyone had a baby with that name and well, not that they ruined it but it just seems more fun to announce it when she is born and remove any chance that someone will make fun of it or tell me there is a really bad person with the same exact name.Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1148204641583663052006-05-16T11:28:00.000-07:002012-10-20T06:53:12.541-07:00My mothers day gift from my sonMy son filled in the blanks to this form at school. His answers are in all CAPS.<br />
<br />
My mom's name is <strong>JOLIE</strong>. She is <strong>33</strong> years old and weighs <strong>120 LBS</strong>. Her hair is <strong>RED A LITTLE</strong> and her eyes are <strong>BROWN</strong>. She cooks <strong>SMOOTHES</strong> the best. (Smoothies, and for the record, I don't really cook them)<br />
<br />
She doesn't like <strong>BUGS AND RATS</strong> very much. She likes to watch <strong>AMSTROG AND GEDEY</strong> on T.V. My mom spends a lot of time <strong>WASHING</strong>. I bet my mom would like to have a <strong>KAKE</strong> for Mother's Day.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<strong>NOLAN</strong><br />
<strong></strong><br />
This is my favorite Mother's Day gift ever. I literally LOL that he wrote I spent a lot of time washing! He meant laundry and wow is that ever true. I am always behind on laundry. Oh and the show he said I like to watch is <a href="http://www.kste.com/pages/aandg.html">this</a>. Armstrong and Getty. I love those guys and Tivo them every day and listen to it while I fold laundry.<br />
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I also cannot believe they asked seven year olds to guess their mother's weight! He could have just as easily guessed 220 pound or 720 pounds but how glad I am he guessed 120! How did he know my EXACT weight? (Give or take 30 pounds) LMAO.Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1147491612990527062006-05-12T20:24:00.000-07:002021-08-16T23:23:43.291-07:00The love/hate blog relationship<span style="color: #663366;">Sooooooo the non updated blog entries finally got to me and I ended up pulling them all off one night because I felt like I had nothing of interest to blog about, yet it drove me bonkers seeing it neglected. </span>
<span style="color: #663366;"></span>
<span style="color: #663366;">Not a whole lot has been going on here while at the same time, I am always busy with something child related so it sure seems like I am busy, just not accomplishing much. </span>
<span style="color: #663366;"></span>
<span style="color: #663366;">The wasps... I am still in an ongoing battle with those little bastards. Every few days, a new nest is somewhere yet my traps hang empty! I think they are mocking me. My husband sprays the nests and the next day we knock them down so they haven't won control of the yard but it would be so much easier if they would just fly into the traps and kill themselves. I hate wasp nests -- for the obvious reason of the wasps but I mean that I actually cannot stand to LOOK at one. I don't know why but all the holes... shudder. It grosses me out completely. </span>
<span style="color: #663366;"></span>
<span style="color: #663366;">Mother's Day is in two days and when my husband asked what I wanted to do that day, I told him I wanted to buy some flowers and plant them in the backyard and have a BBQ. I'm not sure why I asked for this since right now my allergies are so bad that even being outside for very short periods has my throat burning, itching and my head completely pounding but I do love spending the day out in the yard with my husband and my kids. Except for the periods of rock throwing, whining, complaining and fighting between the children, its a lot of fun for us to be out there and playing with them. I am still amazed at how all three children at their different ages can each seemingly have the time of their lives running through a sprinkler. It's probably something that one day I am going to look back on and wish I spent more days out there with all of us together, wasps and allergies and all.</span>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1145826930942234782006-04-23T14:09:00.000-07:002006-05-12T20:44:51.160-07:00My Sunday of procrastination and wasp death<img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/zwaspspray.jpg" border="0" />Not going to comment about the gazebo, suffice it to say that it still remains in its unbuilt form. I do have somewhat of a rational excuse though as while I was out there, I came across a baseball sized hornet/wasp/yellowjacket (whatever those Satanic beings are called) Beasts flying everywhere, frightening my children, etc. I was too chicken to get close enough to take a photo of it but I <em>did</em> manage to spray the bejeezus out of it with this amazing can that shoots like 20 feet of wasp poison at the nest. (and I wore rubber gloves so no poisoning of the fetus) I actually think those suckers could be used as self defense for women... 20 feet away and that stuff comes soaring out of the can!<br /><br />Unfortunately, I think the wasps were not home when I bombed them because going out there today, they are all sorts of them basically just errantly flying about the backyard. ??!?! NO! I need giant netting surrounding my property. Or hey, I could build the dang gazebo and then hide out in there since it has netting.<br /><br />Since I enjoy wasting time (and effectively putting off building of the gazebo) I went to Lowe's and bought two of these gems: <img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 94px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="294" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/400/ztrap.jpg" width="94" border="0" /><br /><p>So now of course the goal is for me to get these hung up without spilling ANY of the yellowjacket ATTRACTANT onto my person. Surprisingly, more difficult for me that it would appear as while agile and strong in many areas, I have the amazing ability to cause injury to myself in the most ridiculous manner possible. Spilling attractant upon myself and then running from wasps just seems to fit. </p><p></p>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1145477263881847012006-04-19T13:01:00.000-07:002006-05-12T20:45:10.566-07:00My new projectOver the past two nights I have gotten about 9 hours of sleep. Yesterday I did a ton of yardwork in the front. Today I am going to try to build the new gazebo by myself. This is what is <em>should</em> look like when I am done: <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/gazebo2.jpg"></a><br /><br /><p><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/gazebo2.0.jpg" border="0" /><br />Aaaand with my current level of patience, this is probably what its going to to look like about an hour or so into it: </p><p><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/burning.jpg" border="0" /> </p>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1145331183756629972006-04-17T19:10:00.000-07:002021-08-16T23:21:38.767-07:00Random things:Easter morning my four year old asked me if grown ups can see the Easter eggs. :o)
The smell of hard boiled eggs makes me want to hurl.
<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/vcough.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="136" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/vcough.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 88px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 108px;" width="133" /></a>
I think that people that go out in public for pure entertainment purposes while sick should be not only shunned and shamed into leaving, but probably also pelted with rocks. You don't HAVE to be at the train museum with your hacking phlegmy coughs, spraying millions of your contagion around others, you selfish jerks!
I think my children have collaborated to never allow me to get a decent photo of any of them. I am going to have albums full of half closed eyes, totally closed eyes, blurs from turning heads or just plain non smilers. When cameras aren't around, they are actually happy so I don't get it. Must be the photographer.
<p><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/xmas1shot.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" />
I have a personalized license plate on my vehicle even though as a general rule, I find them to be stupid. I have to get a new one after this baby arrives since my current one makes reference to the number of people in my family. The ones I want are taken so I either have to track those people down and force them Sopranos style to give up the plate or get a regular, non personalized one. Christopher Moltisanti should expect a call from me in about 4 months. </p><p><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/400/vchristopher.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /><br /></p><p></p><p>
</p>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1144815324286056112006-04-11T20:19:00.000-07:002006-05-12T20:45:59.450-07:00It's attacking the Enterprise<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/babyno4.0.jpg"></a>Anyone remember that episode of Friends where Phoebe? had an ultrasound and the guys couldn't make heads or tails out of it? At one point Chandler says, "Well whatever it is, I think its attacking the Enterprise." (insert laugh track)<br /><br />So with that I give you my unborn fetus first ultrasound photo:<img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/320/babyno4.0.jpg" border="0" /><br />Despite Emily's twin jinx working on my Sim, you will note there is only one baby in there! Since I have no patience whatsoever, we will be finding out the baby's gender somewhere around June I think.<br /><br />Off to go watch American Idol!Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15067355.post-1144582930197919292006-04-09T04:38:00.000-07:002006-05-12T20:46:11.136-07:00Sims 2 and pregnancy<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/1600/snapshot_0e60ea40_6e621c5d.jpg"></a><span style="color:#330033;">I play Sims 2 - just for fun one night I built a Sim house that is basically to scale of my actual house and made a family that looks like mine. I couldn't give them the same names as my family members though because that would just wierd me out if one of them died.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm now pregnant so I had to go knock up my replica Sim. You can't choose which gender baby your Sim will have so I thought it'd be at least vaguely entertaining to see whether my Sim had a girl or a boy:</span><br /><br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" height="293" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4163/1383/200/Snapshot.jpg" width="394" border="0" /><br /><br /><span style="color:#330033;">GREAT. One of each gender. I hold Emily completely responsible for this.</span>Autumnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13579667686051101747noreply@blogger.com2