=sum(M3:Y0)

Um, I know that doesn't make any sense... I was going for an Excel equation that had a 'me' and a 'you' in it... or at least maybe sortof looked like it might.

Why? Because I have a long lost, and recently rekindled, love affair with spreadsheets. I love them. I love making them. I love updating them, color coding them, complicating them.... I would marry them! And since my days working in an accounting department have long been over and my funds to purchase my own copy of Microsoft Excel have diminished (and my attempts to beg borrow and steal copies, real and fake, have failed) I have missed my spreadsheets so so much. And then I was told of a program I could download that would replace Microsoft Office. Oh My! And it was free! And it works. I can even save the files in MS formats and open old docs and spreadsheets from the good ole days... It's like I'm whole again! (it's OpenOffice.com by the way)

Why am I gushing on and on about spreadsheets? Because I love them. And because now I have a spreadsheet for everything I've been meaning to keep up on lately... Bills, budgets, projects, plans, etc. And I think I'm actually being more productive. To me a spreadsheet is like a list having an orgasm! And I love love love me some lists... so spreadsheets are kinda like my wildest dreams come true. (I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one out there with these feelings.)

So I have a Project spreadsheet. And one of the pages, or sheets, is for photo projects. And my largest project is my kids photo albums. I haven't kept up n them in a very long time. I have an album for each, four pictures for each month of their lives. Logan's are all in black and white and Nola's are all sepia tones. I've been working for about three days on getting caught up. And today I finished! Seventeen months worth of photos, four per month (roughly) per kid... I ended up with 136 pictures selected, edited and uploaded... and yes, there was a check mark to be made for the completion of each of these steps on my spreadsheet. Of course I won't be ordering them now because I have no online deals for Shutterfly at the moment. I tend to get 50 free print emails from time to time, so I will wait for one of those if I can stand it. But here are some of them for you to see....
























Oh! And on a side note (seeing the pull-ups in the picture above reminded me), Logan is now being potty trained and is wearing big boy underwear! Or little boy superhero underwear. It's only been about a week but we've already had a few accident free days!

Beany & Buster

I've been working my butt off trying to finish this photo book for the kids by tonight. It's now 2am and it's DONE! Uploaded, put together and ordered! And FREE! Woo Hoo! The name of the book is:

Beany & Buster
The Adventure of the Magic Wand

Here is the link to the book on Shutterfly:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=2ActHLFm3asmVL


Enjoy!
I'm going to bed...

Pictures Pictures Everywhere!

I have photo albums dedicated solely to each kid. They are the size where four pictures are visible when the pages are open and I have it laid out so each open page (4 pictures) holds a month in the life of that child. Nola's is all in sepia, Logan's is black and white.
What usually happens is that I work really hard on keeping up with these albums for a few months... then nothing. I honestly can't remember when I last worked on their albums. I have to go back through pictures, narrow an entire month down to 4 pictures each, then move them to Photoshop to crop and edit, upload them to Shutterfly or Snapfish, and then order them and wait for the mail to come...
The way it's been going for over a year now is that I wait until I get one of those wonderful coupon emails from a photo-upload site that offers a really good deal on prints. I was JUST thinking about the kids' albums the other day, and damned if I ALMOST didn't start the selection process. But of course I put it off. Then I received an email coupon for 50 free prints which expires in a week or less. So now I have to find the time to get through this whole process ASAP so I can get the 50 free deal!

And Shutterfly decided to surprise me the same day with a free 8x8, 20 page hardback photo book coupon! This one expires in three days! And I have no idea what to create a book of.... Last time I received this offer I complied a bunch of my black and white photos and just made a book. I don't need to do that again because it just sits somewhere, not even sure where it is.... So I was thinking about trying to make a story book for the kids. Either with pictures or my drawings. But I have to really get on top of this idea and get moving... I only have THREE DAYS!

And on top of that I've started another photo project (so far it's mostly just in my mind). My sister Cayce is, and has been, making a quilt for me from Nola's baby clothes. It's technically for Nola but I may not let her touch it until she's grown. So my plan... I always seem to have a plan... is to get pictures of Nola in all the clothes, or outfits, that have gone into the quilt. Then I would like to make a photo book, in digital scrapbook style, of baby Nola wearing the clothes with the quilt squares as the backgrounds and frames. And of course pictures of the actual quilt... and maybe Cayce quilting it. I want it to be a really good memory book. In order to do this I have to really pull out the archives and sift through thousands of digital jpegs to find the outfits and pieces of clothing. It will be a ton of work. Plus I have to photograph the quilt squares and turn them into digital scrapbook papers and frames. It may be an ongoing project for quite some time! But I know it will be worth it in the end.
What I picture is me handing a large, beautifully wrapped box over to my pregnant daughter someday. She opens it and sees the quilt that was put together from her own baby clothes that she can now pass on to her own daughter. We can look through the book that shows her wearing all the different squares at all the stages of her early life. I see smiles, memories, tears... yep, it will all be worth it.
(if she has only boys... well then I'll just give it to her to pass down to her own first granddaughter) Memories here, people! We're making memories!

So, needless to say I have lots of photo-related jobs ahead of me, two of which I should be working on RIGHT NOW! So I'mma get to it!

Oh! Here is a picture of the quilt, not put together, just laid out:

My New Apron

A while ago I asked Cayce (on Facebook) to make me an apron I saw on one of my favorite blogs: Black&White Delight. I love black and white things... and I love toile... and this apron was both!

Here is the original picture of the apron that I thought was so super cute I couldn't stand it:




And much to my surprise, because I was kindof joking, she started making me an apron. And not only did she make me one, but she made a matching one for Nola too!

Here is her blog post of the aprons:
Black & White & Cute All Over

If I get around to it I may put up a picture of me in the apron... I just don't have one right now.

But a Woo Hoo and a Thank You to Cayce - my very own personal seamstress!

Seasonal Projects

I keep adding new projects onto my mental to-do list... I think it's a mile long already! I just spend too much time online looking at what other people are doing (projects, art, sewing, recipes, etc.) and I want to do them all myself!

I tend to spend more time gardening and reading in the the Spring. Planting new seeds, uncovering last years beds, planning new beds and dreaming of vegetables. And this Spring I really started reading again, much to my liking. It had been way too long since I read more than one book in a several month span. And the beginning of this year has seen at least 15 books!

The Summer gets so hot and the kids want to be outside all the time. The plants are all planted and there isn't much to do but wait and harvest... So this year I started painting. I hope to keep it up, even if it becomes a smaller hobby once my current project is finished. But I already have part of my room set up for it, so I might as well keep it that way. And my reading binge has come to a halt. There's something not so appealing about trying to loose yourself in a book while covered in mosquitoes and dripping sweat. But I do have the harvest to look forward to - lots of cooking and freezing for the Winter.

The Fall is when I really start cooking and getting out the yarn. There are so many things to make to stay warm and make the house all good smelling. And candles! Fall is a great time for burning candles all over the house. Maybe this year I will try to maintain my habits of reading and painting into the Fall as well. Fall is also when I start scouting out the locals for a pregnant person to make a baby blanket for.... This year, so far, I don't have a candidate.

And Winter is all about staying inside and crocheting something, blankets, scarves, whatever - I just love to have the warm fuzzy project in my hands. This year I have several ideas piled up. I want to make some dolls for the kids... also possibly for other people's kids if they aren't too hard to make (hello! Christmas presents!).
(side note to all crafty folk out there: I found this awesome blog that stemmed my ideas for the dolls. It's called Dolly Donations. If you have it in you to be crafty and like making things, you should totally check this out! Or just check it out anyway and maybe it will inspire you to be crafty and generous as well.)

And there are the ever-ongoing-never-finished projects. I have photography ideas that could go on forever. Hopefully these will pan out and either turn into some sort of income earning source or if nothing else, more Christmas presents for friends and family.

Right now I have the photo projects I'm working on and the paintings for Cayce's house. I should probably be working on those instead of typing here...

New Photo Project!

While surfing the net for images for a totally separate project I came across this image that made me SO WANT to do a project like this!

Check it out HERE.

I really, really want to do this... So if you see me on your doorstep soon with my camera, please don't call the police... I'm just collecting 'door' pictures....

Patio Progress

Before we begin with the story of the patio this year, let me remind you of last year. If you don't have time, read on. If you have a few minutes please look back at these links to past posts of the Patio Progress:

Another Project in the Yard (June 9, 2009)
Garden & Patio Update (June 15, 2009)
The Harvest is Coming (July 8, 2009)
A Jumble of Stuff (August 2, 2009)


And now onto this year...

(Warning: all pictures are NOT cropped, enhanced, or prettied up in any way for your benefit, sorry.)

So here is the paver patio from Wednesday morning, still in much shadow. It was mostly completed last year. This year I have just put in the back planting bed (not all the way finished as you can see the two end stones yet to be put in the ground).


Here is that back bed, planted with a few basil plants and some perennials. All will be green and purple. This is just planted, it will fill in as it grows. Good news, the little wall has stopped the rain/mud from draining onto the patio when it rains.


Here is the side by the driveway, full of ground covers and my newly planted gladiolas along the fence. I hope that the creeping jenny (the yellow green ground cover) takes over and fills all the way around.


And now we are up to speed on the current project: putting in an arbor between the patio and the lawn. My green beans, lima beans and black eyed peas will grow on it this year, freeing up more garden plot area. Here is the space, dug up and level, ready for the underground contraption to keep the arbor from toppling over on my children.


And Uncle Scott helping Kirk get the whole thing into place. (Notice the other side of the paver area filled with herbs and more ground cover... oregano, thyme, mint and more creeping jenny.)


The whole thing, almost done...



After it was put into place and the stability thing buried I readjusted some of my herbs and rocks since they were so stepped upon....


And here's Cayce! I think she might just be America's Next Top Model - go ahead and apply Cayce, you can use this as your entry photo...


And a kid shot. It was bright so we have no faces but at least they stood together for a second.


And thus completes the Patio Arbor Project. I will keep posting as I plant the ground under and around it (beans and more ground cover). Also I will be planting the rest of the paving stone area, between the stones, this year with more elven thyme. By the time I was ready for it last year they had stopped selling it. But it did good and came back so I will be buying a ton of it this year at the Farmer's Market.

You know, by the time I'm all done with this yard and happy with the way it looks we will probably move... how sad....

Outdoor Progress

I've been very busy (ok, we've been very busy) in the back yard... Spring has been rather productive. It's amazing how much more you can get done when both your kids can walk by themselves and actually want to go play without you. Granted, a large box full of dirt helps this out quite a bit. Go Dirt Box!

So far this spring I have planted about 50 or so bulbs in the back yard, gladiolas and lilies. The gladiolas, which should get around 4 feet tall are along my chain link fence. They are going to be red/orange/yellow colored, named firecrackers. Hopefully they will make a good screen for the chain link.
I have dug up my remaining three hosta from the front flower bed and replanted them in the back, leaving two as they were and splitting the third into 5 plants. My original five hosta have now become a whopping 15 plants.
We have our landscape wall that was made from my blood, sweat and tears (Kirk calls it the Great Wall of Overland). This year I opened up two spaces in it on either side of the yard to act as entry ways into the back, shady area. I also created a rock bed around all my hosta that line the wall. And Kirk dug out our last remaining stump from the yard. The kids now play in the shady area under the honeysuckle tree. I have moved their little table back there and we hung some garden gnome/elf guys from the branches. Nola calls it their house, or her jungle.
On the paver patio that I made last year I have now put up the back 'wall' from halves of pavers and made a bed behind them. I lined one of the chain link fence sides also with firecracker gladiolas.
We were about to go buy some lattice to make an arbor for my future green beans. My neighbors were outside chatting it up with us and mentioned that they had an old arbor that they were going to throw out - did we want it? Ummmm YES! A real, metal arbor opposed to some crap-job creation I would have made on my own out of lattice? Again, YES! So now we have an arbor, and it looks great. It even had gates on it. We still need to make a platform to secure it into the ground, but I'm working on that.
I guess that's about it. There's more, but I'm coming up blank. I will try and take some pictures in the next few days and post my little projects.
Oh! I almost forgot! The vegetable garden is almost ready to be planted! Ground turned over and new compost put in... just need to level it out and put in the little seedlings.... Summer veggies, here we come!

The Harvest Is Coming!

Sorry if you're bored with my garden updates... but here comes another....

Here is my veggie garden on July 1st:

It's a little overgrown for the space I have... I should have planted fewer things, or less of each. Either way there is little room to groove in there. But the harvest is coming! I have had about 5 tomatoes so far - yummy yummy. I've been picking them as soon as they start to orange out and letting them ripen on my window sill. I just don't trust those evil bunnies. But there are other things starting to grow - it's very fun to watch each day as things pop out and get bigger. The best part is going out every day with Nola and 'hunting' through the leaves for new veggies. She helps me water and pick weeds... She's a veggie gardener in training. My little shadow.

So here are a few pix of the newly emerging fruits of my labor:

A very tiny watermelon (do you see it? - it's on my second finger) And it already has stripes! This one has been named... Stripes:


A second very tiny watermelon! Look how fuzzy and cute it is...
This is Fuzz Bucket:


And yellow squash... there are about 4-6 little guys growing:


And the Maters! Lots of bright, white-green tomatoes just waiting to ripen on the vine for my BLT pleasures:


Bad picture, but this is a baby cucumber (right below the flower). There are about 4-6 of these as well.. all very tiny:


And in the first picture of the whole garden - these are the bean vines growing up and over and across the fence... the plant has done great but so far no beans - until a few days ago when they finally started showing up! Here are a few of the beginners:


And the broccoli - there is a ton of broccoli. But I have no idea what do with it or what to expect out of it - I just threw in the seeds and let it go... here's what I have so far:


And the paver area... Can you say the word, Forever? Cause that's how long it's going to be before I finish this damned project! As you can see the back stones are just in place, not set in the ground or leveled... But I have been able to get out there and do a few stones a day... I have 10 left... that's at least 3-4 days work.


So that's it I think... hopefully I will be eating lots of veggies on my new patio very soon!

Garden & Patio Update

First, the garden...

Here it was on June 1st:


And here it was on June 12th:


I now have tomatoes growing (I've even picked and eaten 2), tiny green beans, tiny cucumbers, budding bell peppers, giant zucchini and squash plants and even the onions, okra and watermelon plants are coming along nicely. The herb section is doing great. I need to remove some zucchini and squash plants before they take over the herb garden....



And then we have the patio (or stone garden as I will call it if it turns out nicely).

This is a before shot (again). I have one paver placed in the bottom right corner:


This shot has the first row, or step, placed and leveled... and my back breaking progress of leveling out the rest of the space:


Here it is, all level and ready to be made into something pretty!


Second row set in! And the rest of the pavers in their places:


And I did set about two more rows of pavers before quitting that day. Then the next day I set a few more stones and shoveled most of the excess dirt to another area of the yard because there was a chance of rain and I didn't want it all back in the paver area....

Today the rain came... Oh did the rain come! It rained and rained and rained. I went out to see my lovely patio area turned into a waterfall! Of course I grabbed the camera and took some shots.... Here is the down pour:


It's like a waterpark!


It was really rushing into the main patio from the paver area and the driveway.... how sad....


Still raining, but not a down pour here... You can see that the water had made more work for me when the time comes to get back to work... BUT the pavers I set in are still there and level. I even went out later and walked on them and they feel very sturdy. I will just have to dig out the back row or so... But over all it wasn't as much destruction as I thought it would be when the water was pouring over the sides.


So hopefully we will have a few dry days in the near future for me to finsih this up and get some things planted between the stones... I have some Corsican Mint waiting for me at the Farmer's Market next Saturday so I hope to plant-ready by then. And I will cross my fingers that planting will stop some of the waterfall affect we saw today....

Another Project in the Yard

We removed the old shed from the front corner of the back yard. It left a 9 x 8 foot square of dirt and sand. So I feel obligated to do something more than just throw out some grass seed and expand our yard. We have enough lawn, we don't need 9 more feet of it. Here is the empty space that will hopefully become a really pretty new area of the yard.



There were concrete pave stones under the old shed and in various other spots in the yard... so I'm going to reuse those and try to create a patio of sorts. In trying to keep with my mostly free landscaping I don't want to have to buy any more so it will not be a solid floor. Here is my idea for the design, roughly laid out:

(the first row of pavers is already set and level, making a first step up to the new area)


Here is a view from back in the yard, towards the house. You can see it's a big ole mess! I would like to add a trellis and some flowering plants to grow up it on the fence by the trash cans. Also to hide the yard from the driveway side and the driveway from the yard side. Maybe some other pretty plants and flowers along the fence and a birdbath or statue of some kind...



Here is the pattern a little closer up. Obviously the area isn't level yet and the stones need to be lined up just right. I plan on planting something low growing between the stones so it will all be level and walkable...


So that's my new project. I think I will cry over this backyard when we eventually do move.... Oh well, I like to do things out there and it will look so much better when it's all done.... IF it ever gets all done! I will keep pictures coming as the project comes along.

Photoshop Landscaping

We've been doing lots of stuffing the backyard and there is tons more to do - but no matter what we do to the yard, the ugliest part is looking back at the house from the back of the lawn... SO... my next major project, after putting in my veggie garden, will be to pretty up the back of the house. It's a small brick house, not much going on except all of our crap piled up beside it....

Here is a shot from yesterday- kids playing and all...

Notice the gas grill we never use (cause it's currently not working) and the riding lawn mower that has killed all the grass around it's parking spot...

Well, here is what I did in Photoshop last night... It's not and exact representation of what I want but its pretty close with my PS capabilities.


The veggie garden will be behind the picket fence, the blobs are flagstone and will extend into a walkway to the way back of the yard, and I have no idea what plants will go in, but most likely roses or something else climbing....

reduce.REUSE.recycle

I been trying to reuse things lately, so as not to be so wasteful... and so I don't have to spend money on things I can "upcycle" - yeah that a new term that just means turn something you would throw out into something you can use. I've found a few good uses for things this week. We put away all of our holiday decorations the past few days.
I used old baby formula cans to store some holiday ornaments and a larger one to store my new snow globe I got this year (it didn't come in a box). I've already turned others into a piggy bank, a crayon holder, and a grease can for the kitchen...
I also took all the cards we received this year and cut them up into gift tags for next year. I actually got a lot of really cute tags to put on presents, and a whole baggie full. It may not be a lot, but it's a least $5 saved for the next couple of holidays. And they are WAY cuter than store bought ones.
And finally, I decided to make a large blanket out of Logan's little receiving blankets. He's way too big for them and we had so many. They were barely used and all still so soft... And he doesn't have a comforter for his bead, so voila! Cayce is being ever so gracious to loan me her sewing skills (okay, she's sewing the whole thing for me... but I don't have a machine and I'm NOT doing it by hand!). We took pictures of the textures/patterns and with Photoshop I designed a plan for the blanket:


Then Cayce started cutting out the squares. She brought them over and we cut the rest of the blankets up and layed out the two sides. It will be squares on both sides. I had two packs of 3 coordinating receiving blankets, so I kept them on separate sides so it will be reversible. One side is more blue, it has stars, stripes and camo. The other (shown below) has more green in it and is brighter with stripes and polka dots.


Cayce is currently sewing the squares together. Then we will quilt it somehow and then sew up the sides. I'm excited! It's a very good 'REUSE'. I will post more pictures as it gets completed.

Projects Update - November

• Loosing Weight - In Progress - No effort going into this these days... but I am still loosing a pound or two here and there... at least I'm not gaining them!

• Starting Roses from Clippings - In Progress - Still haven't put those suckers into real dirt yet - but I have new branches and leaves growing from the vase... I'm scared to kill it with dirt.
  
• 365 Project - 154/365 - In Progress - I'm still at least a week behind in photos and its getting worse... Holidays, doctor appointments... other projects... I'll catch up eventually
  
• Paying Off Debt - In Progress - well - this just isn't happening anymore. We obviously still pay our bills so technically we are paying off our debt, but my 3 year plan is out the window!
• Being 'Greener' - OnGoing - I bought a reusable grocery bag at Target... lame. I've started recycling all my formula can (even though half of them are on top of my fridge... I think I'm going to buy a composter for the kitchen... baby steps.
  
• Learning About my Camera - OnGoing - just taking pictures, no real effort here either. I need to take a photography class someday.

New Projects:

• ABC Photos - I'm trying to create a photo libraby of alphabet pictures. For my self and to give as gifts, and hopefully someday to sell. See this post to see what I'm talking about.
• De-cluttering my home - I need to get rid of things! I've become somewhat of a packrat! I think it's because I'm cheap (or frugal, or whatever you want to call it) but I have too much crap I will never use again! This will be a process! And I will need help!
• Potty Training! - oh the fun! It will be slow at first, but hopefully she will catch on and it won't be too hard.

And here's a picture - because posts are more fun with pictures:

American Idol - get ready!
And all you white toddler rappers,"Watch Out, Here I Pumm!"

Finished a Blanket!

I finished the blanket I'm making for my upcoming niece. My brother in law and his wife will be here for Thanksgiving so it's just in time!

Here it is: