Busy Busy

I had a quite a busy day today. I drove to Owensboro to a camera shop in search of some good quality film to shoot at a couple of weddings. Now, I haven't shot any weddings before, so this could get interesting. And since I haven't taken the plunge into the digital world yet, that just ups the fun factor. The camera shop I used to frequent doesn't do retail any more. He and his wife retired, but they still do camera repair. It was just an hours drive away, which is close in terms of this area. The next closest is the place I went today, and another one in totally the opposite direction. I returned home with a bag full of film and a new lens :) This little Minolta 50mm 1.7 was calling my name.

Today's two peas challenge is: 10 unfinished projects hanging over my head
1. Finish our Caribbean cruise album from 2006
2. Work on and complete Jonah's chipboard car album
3. Work on and complete Jonah's 8x8 baby album
4. Complete cleaning out and organizing the scrapbook/genealogy area
5. Scan and organize old family photos and put on cds
6. Scan and organize pictures of our family
7. Organize photos and negatives using archival materials
8. Get everything ready for a yard sale and then have it
9. Paint scrapbook/genealogy room
10. Make time to relax and enjoy one day doing nothing before school starts

Birthday Girl!

24 years ago today at 4:09pm, a precious baby girl named Chanel entered the world. She's grown up alot in those years and I'm proud of the young woman that she has become. She's a beautiful, loving, thoughtful, smart, considerate, caring, adventurous person. What else could a parent ask for? I didn't really have to worry about the choices that she made throughout school. Her head is screwed on pretty well :) She was, and is, always respectful of others, her parents included. Although, she always seemed to persuade her brother into helping with cleaning up her room... with the promise of helping him when they were done with her room. I think she owes him some serious cleaning time :) When we brought home younger siblings, there wasn't any jealousy. Instead she was a little mother to them. I knew that one day she would make a great mom, which she is. If I could be like someone else, I think I would have to pick my daughter as a role model.


Happy Birthday Chanelly Belly!
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The two peas challenge for today is: What is your favorite size to scrap?

I've pretty much done 12x12 los all along. I've got an album or two of 8x8 that I want to do in the near future. I like the roominess of the 12x12 and that you can fit quite abit on there. I do have a couple of 8.5x11 albums going for some people that I work with.

Random musings

4th of July parade
Jonah turned 2 in May and he's growing and maturing by leaps and bounds. One of his favorite people, besides mom and dad, is Papaw. You can tell he thinks the world of him and I think the feeling is quite mutual. He's talking alot more now which is really fun :) Learning two languages slowed has him down a little bit, but just for a short time. He's catching up quickly :) He's such a sweet little boy and we wouldn't trade him for anything. He reminds you that there are good things in this world and it makes everything worthwhile.

News from down under
I've swiped a couple of pics again courtesy of Stacy. Thanks Stacy! She and Bret went to Port Hills near Christchurch. They rode the gondola up and then hiked around quite abit. The area is beautiful from what they said. Bret still hasn't sighted a kiwi yet. The animal... not the fruit :) They did encounter some sheep while hiking that day.




There is so much to see and explore down there. I hope they get the chance to experience as much of it as they can.

Just wasn't meant to be...

... for me to have a good day. This first picture here is from story #2 after I picked up Bret's car. I was awaiting the knights to return with the car trailer. I think my car is stalking me. She looks kinda sad don't you think?

I just knew it was going to be "one of those days". Do you ever get that feeling in the morning and then that's exactly what happens? I was just lounging away checking e-mails and other important stuff and saw that I got my statement from my bank. I open it up and cruise through the various debit charges and there are 3 that I don't recognize. What!! What the heck is this book club for kids and skype?? I print out my statement and start checking this out. First I call the bank and talk to a very helpful guy named Nathan. He gives me a phone number for the book club which I promptly call.

***After the brief conversation and her apologizing profusely, she tells me the books have already been shipped and to just keep them when they arrive. I know some people would, but I wouldn't feel right about that so I tell her that I'll send them back when they arrive. This one was $16.80, which is small from what I've heard about these hacked charges.

***Now onto the other charges, which the hacker into my account needed two of those it seems. $18x2=$36. I found a website for this skype and after awhile find a number to call, but that's just if you bought one of their products. She was kind enough to give me the email addy for customer service. Now I don't know about you all... but if I can't resolve something while talking to an actual human being, then I'm a bit worried about what the outcome will be. So, I send along the e-mail like a good little consumer and start the waiting game with them. The bank assures me that I'll get my money back. That's one card that got cut up so they can't get the rest of my hard earned money.

And if that wasn't entertainment enough for you, the real begins! I was on my way to work, just traveling down the road singing along to the radio and the tachometer reves up pretty high. I let up from the gas and then press down lightly with the same affect. Not good. I get off of the highway and call hubby. Luckily he's with his brother who is a mechanic. After waiting about a 1/2 hour with only one truck pulling over to check on me, they arrive. We get the car back to his garage and the car doctor starts his examination. It's not looking good... sounds like transmission problems to him. Transmission problems=$$$$.

I did, however, take a few pics while relaxing in the car awaiting my knights in a shining red Ford 4x4 to arrive. My views from a stranded car...
To the left... cornfields and a highway
Straight ahead... coal mine buildings
To the right... a trailer and Case equipment
...and off she goes with hubby and his brother...aka the knights in a shining red Ford 4x4

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day :)

I haven't gotten lost :)

It's been awhile since I've posted anything and I really am still alive :) Our ds and his gf arrived safely in Christchurch, NZ but without their luggage. The flight from O'Hare was delayed 2 hours and so they barely made it to their connecting flight in LA. From there it was onto a 12 hour flight to Auckland, NZ and then another couple hours to their final destination of Christchurch. It was 5 days before Bret got his luggage and Stacy received hers a day or so before that. I'm glad that he's a boy scout and used to roughing it lol. They spent the first week or so exploring their new home for the next semester and then checked into their classes. According to Bret, mullets are on the comeback. Ugh! He said alot of people wear their clothes really tight there, tighter than he would be comfortable with. Bret enjoys being "comfy in a 21 year old kinda way" :)
They made it!
Gorgeous
Thanks to Stacy for the pics that I hijacked from her facebook page :)

While I've bee neglecting my blog, I have been traipsing through some cemeteries snapping pictures of headstones for people. I take headstone pics for people that are working on their family history and want copies for their records. One of the sites that I'm registered on is findagrave.com and the other is RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness). Findagrave is mainly requests for headstone pictures, while at RAOGK you search for someone that volunteers in the county in which you're researching. Click on the "making a request" and when it takes you to that page, you'll need to scroll all the way to the bottom to locate a volunteer. Each volunteer has specific things that they will research for you and many ask reimbursement for costs, such as copies and postage.

I tell ya, finding dead people can be very addicting! Actually, believe it or not... I find it to be very relaxing. Sometimes I find myself calling out to a stone that I'm looking for.
"Oh Mr. Sinclair... where are you hiding at?"
And the good thing is that he doesn't talk back to me. If he did, I'd run as fast as my chubby legs will carry me lol.
Until tomorrow :)

Scrapbook supplies

The challenge at 2peas today is..
What scrapping supplies can you not live without and why?
*I don't have to have all the fancy smancy tools if it came right down to it. But I'd like to have some of them :P I guess if I really had to pick a few, it would have to be a good trimmer/cutter, adhesive, scissors, marking pencil, and some good cardstock. These are just the basics and truthfully I could get by with just them if I had to.

Our son and his gf are flying out to New Zealand today for a semester to study abroad. I'm going to try and not cry too much at the airport lol. I'm excited for them and will miss them both greatly while they're gone. It's going to be a long semester until we get to see him again. Please keep them in your thoughts as they travel.