Waiting in line at the pharmacy after picking up Matthew from D&D club. I find the permanent “both lanes open” sign ironic considering that the outside lane has been out of order for several months.
I tried to snap a picture of Matthew while we were waiting, but he was not cooperating. We’d given a friend of his a ride home as well and they’d decided to ride in the very back, which made it a bit easier for him to hide from me. So I snapped a cheesy self portrait instead. :)
A-HA! Gotcha! :)
Up in Illinois, we slipped away for a few hours for a return trip to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. It’s a very cool museum, but mainly Mark wanted to see their Ghosts of the Library show again, which uses an old magic trick as the basis for its presentation. We all saw the show once, and then Kaylee and I looked at the gown exhibit and hung out in the kids interactive area while Mark and Matthew saw it two more times.
I needed a photo for the Lilypad newsletter announcing the start of my guest spot, and I decided to do a new one, since the one I’ve been using for these types of things is from 2007. :b I realized too late that I’d waited too long, and the decent light in the house was gone, and going outside wasn’t a good option thanks to the auto-tinting sunglasses in my new lenses. So after a few quick flash shots (which I usually try to avoid), and a whole lot of Photoshop, I finally came up with something I could use.
I tried to set it up to let you mouse over the image and see the original in all its unedited glory, but Blogger stripped out the script, so here’s much less dramatic side-by-side. :b
Hmmm… I look much younger in high-key black and white. Maybe I should see if I can figure out a way to create that illusion in real life. LOL
We had some Speed Zone gift cards, so we headed across town to check it out today. This roller coaster simulator was definitely one of the kids’ favorites. They rode it several times.
Other hits were air hockey…
mini-bowling…
and putt-putt golf!
It was more than a bit on the hot side for the golf, but fortunately most of the holes had trees where we could grab some shade while waiting our turns. Although Matthew did pretty well, Mark ended up winning. I kept putting too hard and overshooting. Kaylee kept turning her club around backwards, putting from the left-handed side of the ball, and reversing her grip. It’s amazing she ever got the ball in the hole. LOL
My new glasses finally arrived! Kaylee went with me to pick them up and was a bit disconcerted at the style change. She kept saying “You don’t look like my mom; you look like a teacher!!!” LOL
It’s going to take me a while to get used to the progressive lenses. Right now I get dizzy when I turn my head too fast!
About a year overdue for new glasses, I finally got to the point where I couldn’t handle not being able to read books and papers and such without bringing them right up to my nose, so off the eye doctor I went for an exam and a new prescription. Don’t I look cool in my disposable sunglasses? ;)
New glasses (my first bifocals – woo hoo!) should arrive in about a week.
Kaylee’s yearbook will have a section for family snapshots this year. We hadn’t done one in quite a while, so I set up the tripod and used my remote trigger to snap a few before Mark and Matthew had to run off to the magic workshop. We took a few silly shots at the end. :)
(No, this one was not submitted for the yearbook. I had Kaylee choose a somewhat less crazy one to send for that. LOL)
End of a tedious day finalizing the yearbook cover design. Kids long ago in bed. Mark out late after his magic club meeting. I should have been heading to bed, but decided I needed to unwind by catching up on a little TiVo instead. So it was me in my socks and Christmas pj’s, too tired to pick up Matthew’s abandoned shoes in the middle of the floor. Chillin’ with an episode of “What Not to Wear”, and then dozing off during “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” before giving up and calling it a night.
Yesterday was my dad’s birthday. With all the chaos of trying to get ready for Matthew’s friends to come over, we didn’t get a chance to call him before they arrived, so we did a belated birthday video chat this evening. The kids were a bit wound up and being silly, but I managed to grab a photo in between them playing with the webcam’s special effects and squishing me while trying to get into frame. Happy belated Birthday, Dad! :)
Step 1: List a bag off the stacks and open it into wheelbarrow.
Step 2: Break up insulation. Matthew was not allowed to karate chop them anymore after he accidentally karate chopped my wrist. :b
Step 3: Load hopper. Sweat. A lot. Mark is in the attic on the other end of that green hose.
Step 4: Take break to breathe, drink water, and groan in agony. These shots were early on. We looked much worse later.
Repeat steps 1 through 4 for the 6½ hours that it took to blow in 80 bags of insulation. (We returned 20.)
We do not have a shot of the time the hose, which we had duct taped to the blower because it had the wrong fittings, came off after about the third bag, exploding insulation all over the wall and everything that was sitting by the wall. Fortunately, the blower was relatively empty at that point or it could have made a much worse mess. I put heavy duty plastic zip ties over the duct tape once I got it put back together, and, thankfully, it held up through the rest of the process.
The initial plan was to have Kaylee help with breaking up the insulation, but wearing a dust mask freaked her out, so she hid out behind the stacks of insulation. I gave her the camera and told her she could take as many shots as she wanted. I knew about the shots above (I took the one of Mark; I think she took the rest), but I was surprised to find the ones below. LOL
Eventually, Kaylee went inside, coming out whenever she heard the blower shut off, to clean up the empty bags and bring us water or whatever else we needed. She was a terrific helper. :)
I have to say I can’t remember the last time I sweated that much, did that much physical labor, or hurt that bad. I was a total pretzel for the next two days. It was an agony I hope to never repeat. But we got through it. And it does seem to have helped with the air conditioner being able to keep up and keep the house more comfortable on these hot Texas summer afternoons. :)
Day 2 in Iowa. We took Great-Grandpa over to the next town to run some errands. Unfortunately, the usual back road routes were plagued with badly marked detours, so we spent a lot of more time than we planned going in circles and looking at the Iowa countryside.
And driving through fun things like this.
Fortunately, we all survived and didn’t need to take advantage of this.
(This totally cracked Mark up, and he insisted we take a picture. Blame him if you’re offended. LOL)
We all made it safe and sound (if a little late) back to Great-Grandpa’s. :)
On average, I probably only get my hair cut about twice a year, and that’s a generous estimate. In between, I trim my bangs myself up until shortly before I think I’m ready to go in for a real cut. I had planned to do just that… about two months ago. This week I finally got to the point where putting up with the hair in my eyes was annoying enough that I absolutely couldn’t take it anymore. So I snapped a quick holding-the-camera-out-in-front-of-me shot, grabbed a coupon I’d gotten in the mail, and buzzed over to a new little chain salon that recently opened just down the road a bit. Forty-five minutes later I’d left half my hair on the floor of the salon and my vision was restored! A ten-dollar miracle! LOL
Mark had a Red Lobster gift card that was about to expire, so we decide to run out for lunch. I still feel weird pulling the camera out in “unusual” locations, so I just snapped a few quick shots on our way back to the car… in between hiding from the people who were walking by. LOL And look, there’s my reflection in Mark’s glasses… and it’s more than my hand! :-b
We played a game of In a Pickle in between rounds of Mario Kart this weekend. We laugh a lot playing this game. Apparently, either Mark or Matthew must have come up with something especially silly at this moment. :D
A couple of bonus shots for those not familiar with the game… Kaylee making a play on her turn. (Olympics on TV in the background.)
And Mark, Kaylee and I voting on a challenge to one of Matthew’s plays. (He made it through. LOL)
(And look, I’m in another photo! I wonder if I can make it through the whole year only having my left hand in any of the photos. LOL)
We have family game nights when we can. Lately we’ve been on a Mario Kart kick. If everyone is done with their homework and Matthew didn’t have late karate, we often sneak in a few races between supper and the kids’ bedtime. That’s me – Player 3 (signified by the position of the blue light on my controller). I’m pretty terrible at the game; I usually finish last. But it’s still a fun way to end the day together. :)
