Vacation

I wish I could have the week between Christmas and New Years off every year, I am so enjoying myself.  It will be a few years before my turn to have it off comes around again (I am completely okay with it, we are a great group of coworkers because of how well we work together). I have been feeling a little guilty about how much staying-up and sleeping-in I'm doing and so I set my alarm to get up around 9 this morning.

And still I did AB.SO.LUTE.LY nothing all day. Unless you count "making" breakfast (reviving leftover sausage gravy, popping a biscuit tube, and making scrambled eggs (that miraculously didn't stick to the pan!!! cue the angel's chorus, I was dreading the egg stick)).  Or maybe you could count the 1-1/2 loads of laundry and the dishes I washed - by hand! Or dinner. Meh, I'm still counting it as a lazy day.

A glorious lazy day.

I watched a punch of TV with Carus, played Diablo II, and then I broke out my stocking gift (hello Vodka), installed Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 12 and pulled up one of the hummingbird photos I've gotten recently.

It's not exactly the shot I was going for (I want the wings to be frozen and they're still a little blurred) but I'm fairly happy with it.  And I have other images to go through yet as those little birds are incredibly fast and it's a bit hard to get the shot composed, metered, focused and shot before they buzz off again.



(A before & after editing comparison is available here.)

7 days: The Finale

Good bye 7 dayers. Thank you for welcoming me and my family into the group. I will miss you all greatly.

I was viewing my first 7 days photo (here) while Carus and I continue our Harry Potter moviethon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all.  We had a lovely day that began with opening gifts and ended with pie.

I hosted this year, and made lasagna with Carus's help (see below).  Carus got some makeup this year and some nice makeup brushes so she did her eye makeup festive green and red.  I think she did a really great job.


(Ignore the dirty underside of the microwave, I didn't realize it was so gross.)

Carus helping me make lasagna. She can do it all on her own, and usually asks to, but it was a very large lasagna and I wanted to get it done quickly so we worked together.

We had enough for us and in-laws, and we shared some with our frieghbors (friends/neighbors), and put the rest in the fridge for lunch or dinner later this week so I can enjoy my vacation.

Earlier, when I was slicing the apples for apple crisp using my mandolin to save time I sliced my middle finger.  It was the first time I cut myself on it, and hopefully the last.  I've had that mandolin for a year and every time I use it Robert reminds me to be careful lest I cut myself, cause he cut himself easily the first time he used it.  He is not accident-prone; I am.  It wasn't a horrible cut, but the location is right on the tip of my middle finger, which I use for typing.  OUCH!  I'm glad I have the rest of the year off work for one more reason!

Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve

7 days, day 3

Carus is watching movies next to me while I work. All the Harry Potter movies shall be watched this week, I think. I get to see bits and pieces between work and she gets to hang out with me which keeps big brother from complaining she is bugging him.



7 days, day 4

Happy Christmas Eve

We were watching a movie - Santa Clause (with Tim Allen, I love Tim Allen).

Then I ended up staying up until 1 am finishing up the pillow cases I made for Robert, Adam, and Carus.  Robert was trying to get me to hurry up on Carus's (when I was trying to hide I was in the middle of working on his) and come to bed and then he saw his and clued in...too bad it was after his surprise was ruined.  He still liked them.

He and his mom have problems with keeping surprises secret.  They both give out the right amount of clues or sly smiles that clue you in on things; and Robert seems to be extra good at sussing out his surprises - mostly by being in the right place at the wrong time like last night.  He was hovering.  I was trying to convince him I was okay sewing by myself and he should go to bed while trying to hide the pillowcase evidence from him and then he came over to me - the exact opposite of what I wanted him to do - and looked down.  He slyly hid that he figured me out and left the room. (Well, he thought he hid it but when he looked down, looked at me, shut up and then went to bed with his cat like I had been telling him to, I pretty much figured it out. I'm a smart one like that.)

He let me "surprise" him, and I let him believe that he let me surprise him.  And for that, I love him.

Santa dogs

The result of my crocheting project - a Santa hat for Leia.


My 7 days photo - putting it on Leia.



The alternate - I think Robert was taking pictures at this point though instead of me using the remote.



I'm not happy with the lighting.  Meh. Maybe I'll try again...maybe I won't.





Of course we had to get Timmy in some pictures.











Good dogs and kitty. (The other cats were not interested. At all.)

Final 7 days

The final run of 7 days has begun.

I'm going to miss the group of 7 dayers, but thankfully we can still keep in touch - yay for internet!

I was working on a crotchet project while watching TV. It's for a surprise project that you will see tomorrow, if it works out as well as I think it working out.

The rest of my 7 days posts are here.

Adam and the band

Last week Adam told us he had a band concert coming up.  He didn't remember what day or time though.  We reminded him for 2 days that he needed to find out but before he could remember to do that his teacher sent us the below link.

Apparently the newspaper did a little piece on the band and their upcoming concert.

And Adam makes an appearance in the video. Twice.

Check it out:
http://videos.oregonlive.com/leader/2013/12/forest_grove_high_school_symph.html

(Adam is the second tromboner seen at about 0:44 and again at 2:13.)

PS: The day we got the email, he came home still unable to tell us when the concert was. Silly kid.

New Laptop!

Hello from New Laptop.

New Laptop is nice and shiny and pretty.  Sometimes the keys stick though - which may be because it's new so I'm not going to be mad at New Laptop yet.

Yet.

New Laptop came pre-loaded with Windows 8. Robert HATES Windows 8.  When I'm playing on New Laptop and Robert notices, he starts mumbling about Windows 8 and how horrible it is.  It's a little amusing.  He is very insistent that he can replace it with Windows 7 in no time, but I'm being stubborn in insisting trying out Windows 8 first.  I'm trying out/hanging onto Windows 8 because I really didn't think I would mind it (and so far I don't really mind it) and partly because I didn't want to wait for sweet beautiful full internet usage again.

And now mostly I'm hanging onto it (because I don't care either way) because it annoys him and guarantees he doesn't try to take my shiny New Laptop.  Not that he really would as he loves His Computer, but I'm feeling possessive of New Laptop.

But enough with amusing myself.  Well, at the end of this week.  I don't NEED Windows 8, and a few software programs I have might not be compatible with it anyways (haven't checked yet) and I'll let Robert switch it this weekend.

Maybe ;)