aaaaah! 12 of 12 for August!!

let's start off my post by saying that the bonus word for this month was HOT. (and if you don't know what 12of12 is, check out Chad Darnell's blog - link in the column to the right). now anyone knows that California is hot pretty much all summer. in fact, last week we were at 110!! so this bonus word should have been easy!!! but it wasn't!! I have had the windows open in the house for the past 2 days because it hasn't gotten hotter than the mid 80s!!! with that......we begin our journey into my not-hot day! lol!!

the first photo is of the S and J bears I bought at Starbucks over the weekend. hey, they were half off and don't they look just like J and me?!?!? currently they are cuddled up on J's pillow!


the monthly odometer shot! I have driven 582 miles this past month. not many....but still not sure where I drove them all to!! (see the temperature - totally NOT HOT!)


and another monthly shot (won't my kids just LOVE all these weird and quirky photos I take each month?!?!) of the price of gas. this is the same station just the sign on the other side! down 8 cents since last month.....and it was $2.89 the week before. how sad when you get so excited to see gas less than $3/gallon!!

and while at the above Safeway, I got myself a lovely frapp and muffin for breakfast. should have gotten my coffee hot, huh?!?!? oh well....the frapp sounded really good! I have been rather good and haven't gone to Starbucks in over 2 weeks. aren't you impressed??? also while I was there I got oodles of Lean Cuisine panini sandwiches. they are on sale so I am stocking up! both J and I really like them!!

at my desk, on my rolodex, lives my stress penguin. I am supposed to squeeze him when stressed out. see those bulging eyes?!?!? they weren't like that when I got him. okay, okay....actually they were! if I actually squoze (sp??) this poor guy when I was stressed, he would be in a million pieces all over my desk. instead he just looks at me all day! doesn't everyone have a stuffed penguin in their office???

lunch.....the previously mentioned panini. this is my current favorite: steak, cheese, and mushroom! YUM!!! and thanks to the mocha this morning, I had water for lunch. and yes, lunch at my desk. Thursdays are my early days so even though I still CAN I always feel guilty if I take a real lunch.

J called!!!! yep! talked to him for an entire 4 minutes and 22 seconds! WOW!!! and while the icon says he is calling from home, it is really his cell. I use that icon for everyone because I am too lazy to go change them! lol!

this is a house we drive by every day. one day last week they painted in ORANGE! and this photo really doesn't do it justice. it isn't as calm or dark as it looks in the photo. painting the trim brown hasn't improved it much either. maybe I should have gone back later when the house wasn't all shaded?!?! see that little part at the bottom where it is brighter? yeah.....imagine the whole house looking like THAT!!! sooooooooooooo not-hot! lol!!

mail time!!! little package waiting for me......or more accurately waiting for R! too bad he isn't here. guess I get to keep whatever was inside for myself! lol!! (just JOKING!!!!)

it was time to drop off the old dvd at Blockbuster and get a new one. I am more than halfway through the first season. not quite addicted to it, but enjoying it none-the-less. I kinda like being able to see multiple episodes in a row.

Thursday night is chiropractor night (right now). so we made our trip for adjustments. I was really tight. I probably should have gone in earlier in the week for an extra visit.

tonight was also Taco Tuesday night. yes, I am totally aware that it isn't Tuesday. but that is when the tradition started. then it got moved to Wednesday because it made more sense for us. we would go on the way home from the chiropractor. then when we moved the dr visit to Thursday to accommodate summer bowling league, we moved taco night too. the boys even still CALL it Taco Tuesday! lol! and, oh yes, I had to grab some HOT sauce! because....well.......because I needed my hot bonus picture!! (oh, and can you see LM on the computer screen in the background? yep! having a big album sale! had to stock up!!!)

I enjoyed dinner in front of the tv......watching All My Children. usually I don't get anywhere near the tv weeknights, so this was a total treat!

that was my day......somewhat! I didn't get a picture of the 3 motorcycle cops lined up on the main street waiting to ticket speeders. it would have been really cool but I probably would have crashed trying to get the shot! lol! and lucky you, I also didn't take a picture of the HUGE bruise on my thigh from running into my desk at work. it hurt so much when I did it that I thought I was going to be sick to my stomach!! and now it is nasty looking and swollen.....just YUCK!!!

hope you had a great July 12th!!

wow! you really need to read this.....

Dianne's post about friends

bring your Kleenex!!

12of12 REMINDER!!! (Stephanie)

not that I am naming names or anything......

but tomorrow is the 12th!! charge those batteries....check that memory card!

and if you have no clue what I am talking about.......click over to Chad Darnell's blog (on that list to the right of the screen)

live near Reno????

if so......whatcha doin' August 25th???

don't know why they don't have my picture up.....I sent them one! I have seen what I am teaching and have to say that they are WAY cute!!! definately going to have some fun with them!!

something to keep me warm at night.....

not like I actually NEED to be kept warm at night thanks to the 100+ temps around here! heck, it was 90 when we went to bed last night!!!

anyway.....over the weekend I was doing moving things around in my scraproom....formerly the computer & craft room! lol!! we took a bookcase out of the room and moved it into the living room and then I rearranged things in my room. definately more user friendly now and with more storage for scrap stuff! course, still by the end of it all I was at that point of just putting things places to be done with it all! lol! I will have to go back and work on that some more.

so.....dh came in to check it out and said that he thought we should think about moving D down to that room and let me have his room for my scraproom since it is bigger! so nice that he is willing to displace one of our children to give me more room to work! but doesn't he realize that like the goldfish, my stash will just grow to whatever amount of space he gives me?!??! and really.....there is no way I want to carry all my stuff up and down the stairs whenever I go away for a crop or whatever. but......it would mean that there would be enough room to set the boys up with a corner of their own for crafts. currently they have placed a card table OVER their Heroscape game so they can scrap! lol!!

but while I won't be moving, it gives me that nice marshmallow-y feeling to know that my dh values my scrapping to want more space for me!

land that I love....

this week's theme over at LM. my turn to write the article and I talked about patriotism, both of country and of ethnic background.

I really love the different feel of all the layouts done this week: land that I love

in other news....we survived the 4th. went and saw fireworks on the 3rd so that we could let the boys sleep in afterwards. the show we saw was AMAZING and LONG.......and CROWDED!!! but, we will go back next year!!

then yesterday we spent a good portion of the day at the waterpark. OMG it has been SOOO hot around here!! I was smart this time and took a hat so my part didn't get burnt. but I spent most of the day floating around in the lazy river. it was just too hot not to! but it wasn't as crowded as I truly expected it to be. we have figured out that about 5 hours is our limit there. even the boys are ready to head home after that.

today is all business. back to work and school. blech! the phone dude supposedly comes this afternoon to hook us up with wireless. now I will be able to cruise the internet from a tub filled with ice cubes! lol!!!

the Berg Effect

yes, it exists. and I need to do a layout about it.

basically it is a principle of human attraction to a place such as a restaurant, store, or movie. we can go to anyplace and have the people tell us this is the slowest day they have had in a week, month, year, whatever. however, the minute we are there is becomes PACKED with people. we often joke that we should warn them when we come in the door.

it happened tonight at In & Out. really. we parked right by the front door. then we had a choice of 3 or 4 different sets of seats (really unheard of at I&O). but, smarties that we are, we sent R&D over to grab a table. sure enough, by the time the dude behind the counter took our order, 4 more groups of people showed up. by the time our order was ready there was a line to the door. and it stayed that way until we walked out the door.

tonight R joked that we should rent ourselves out to help places get more business.