Hate HTML

I adopted a new Blog page today and was extremely frustrated in working to enable all my personal things to show. I never did find a calendar that I could adapt to my blog. Will have to visit other blog sites to find how they are set up. HTML is extremely confusing to my poor brain. I understand the basics. But in attempting to find the code for a horizontal line? It's horrible. Ordered my camera today. I am getting the Canon Powershot S2 IS 5MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom; I KNOW I said I would never purchase another Canon, but in researching all the data on the cameras, this is the best of a bad lot. Focus problems, shutter recovery problems, stabilization problems...they all have them. If I don't like it within the first few weeks, back it goes! Well, I'm tired now. Last night I stayed up until late to IM my lovely daughter. Miss those kids so much.

Pucker Up, Baby

Earlier today, Isabelle and I were outside as it was SO warm..about 56 degrees & partly cloudy. We both heard a far away noise, and stood there waiting for it to come closer. It was the honking of geese! We stayed on the deck, both of us craning our necks to watch them overhead; both of us holding very still. Watching the geese high in the sky, honking, flapping their wings, flying in a "V" formation. Awesomely beautiful against the blue cloudy sky! A perfect Spring day! I then came out of my reverie and ran for my camera...too late. They had already passed us, and gone beyond the tree tops! I scrapped this page from pictures we had taken last night. Kelsey wanted photos of us smiling, so I plopped down on Greg's lap and started snapping. Only thing was, he was so tired and couldn't smile too much. But this was a good one.

Barnes & Noble & High Speed Internet

So I mis-placed my latte yesterday. I finished one, then when I went to start on the other one, it was nowhere to be found. Curious. Must be the early onset of Alzheimer's. Yet I remember how to spell correctly and remember where I live and my phone number...sometimes. Found it this morning on the library shelf. I must have put it down when I was re-arranging my scrap magazines.

Greg and I went to Wal-Mart to get a few things. Got the kids some surprises for Easter. I got my thumb nail fixed and a pedicure while we were there. However, I got the "mini" version of a pedicure because they were to close at 8pm instead of 9pm as I had thought. Now will have to go back over to get the full treatment one day because my feet are so dry, dry, dry.

At Barnes & Noble...I took our pictures, which turned out quite well. Purchased a couple of books on Adobe Photoshop so that I may learn the program more thoroughly. What software! Now I can believe that Victoria's Secret models are not what they are look like in the magazine...stretch out their asses; add in fake boobs; accent with color for the overall "tan" look. BIG NEWS ~~ I found out that there is High Speed Internet Access at Barnes & Noble! Yippee. Go in, have a coffee, soak in the beautiful seats and overall great atmosphere, and download my digi-kits! Yippee. "talked" to Kelsey last night on IM for a while. Hello, which is supposed to be on-line instant sharing of pictures...did not work. The pictures we sent each other through IM were slow. So we finally switched over to www.SLIDE.com. Which is the neatest tool. I really NEED to sit Greg down to get his website pictures on SLIDE. There is a countdown to April 15, income tax filing deadline...and I am so depressed this year about it. Usually I have our taxes done by now. But I am procrastinating this year.

Spring, It Is SO Spring Like!

There is a spring in my step, there is a spring in my mattress, there is a spring feeding the well of love in my heart.

Sounds like a song, huh?

Well, SPRING is here! Yippee!

Sounds Great!

But obviously somebody hasn't told Northern Idaho that Spring is here because it is still SNOWING. I hate that frigging word. Snow. I want to move somewhere else! Somewhere WARM! Is there ANYBODY in Italy that wants to trade homes with us PERMANENTLY?

Up All Night

Greg worked in the shop last night until 1AM. Then came home and watched mindless TV for 1 hour; Carson Daly & Leno & IMF...Then retiring for bed at 2:30. So we got up late this morning. The upstairs alarm clock read 7:30am. BUT...it was actuall 11:30am. Wow. It was weird. Seems like the day just rushed by! I scrapped a little; shopped at some digital shops; learned more Photoshop techniques; and bought...SHOES~ Baby Phat's Bonita and Diba's Brie. This weekend is the one that I WILL buy a new camera! Maybe.

storyofamilitarywife.blogspot

If you haven't seen this yet, it is an excellent site. Most people don't think about the women that are behind the men in our military. These women are young, funny, and fresh. My daughter is one of the bloggers at this site!

She is actively doing so much. I am SO proud of her!

Proud of Matt

Proud of BOTH of them!

I called the UK today to talk to her and left a message on the answering machine. She called back later and we talked quite a bit. Don't you just feel that you HAVE to hear their voice sometimes? Probably that mothering instinct in me!

Raining & cloudy here the past 2 days; but the snow is receding (just like Greg's hairline).

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Isabelle is well on her way to recovery. She has recovered her appetite and has been visiting the shop nightly with Greg. Tonight she met another pooch down there. They played and had a ball! She came back with snot flung all over her face, so you just know that she had fun.

Shoes, Scrap Journaling & Adelphia Cable

As my husband and daughter can attest, I really like shoes. New shoes make me happy. The taller the heel, the better. Since I am relatively short, high heels make me appear taller, and make my legs longer. I love the stride that I can achieve with heels. I was even comfortable wearing high heels until my last month of pregnancy!

So. I found these in www.WindsorStore.com

as there was a catalog in the mail for Prom dresses...addressed to me.

Now...I am a little bit too old to be thinking about a prom, but they have some fabulous dresses there. Don't be put off that they are modeled by about 16-17 year old girls...the dresses are just beautiful. A few of these would be wonderful for the annual Christmas party.

And one other thing I would like to insert here b4 I move on...I never went to my high school senior prom. Besides HATING high school...no guy asked me and I had no confidence to go by myself. I did not enjoy the people at school. Was not part of the popular crowd so I probably would not have had fun anyway. And I just want to comment that you guys were ASSHOLES. You just could not recognize good prime Grade A meat when you saw it. I asked Greg if he went to prom or asked anybody out. He answered..."No". When I asked why?

He just gave me this dumb look. So I explained

to him that if he had not had a current girlfriend,

there were LOTS of girls out there (that didn't have dates or boyfriends)

to take to a major event

like that.

Then he tried the quick save..."Well, if I had known YOU in high school, I would have asked YOU out".

Duh.

After struggling with taxes for a while today, I finally had to relieve my headache and scrap for a bit. I also emailed my daughter about her outstanding journaling over at A Cherry On Top. Her gallery page is called

His Mistress

Checking on it, found that she has 19 comments on it so far.

The kid should have been a journalist! Frustration abounds as I washed the white washcloths that were no longer white! Using them have turned them to a dull, dusty brown. Just not the thing I want to wash my face with first thing in the mornings. So I gathered them up and bleached them THREE times. They are still not a pure white as if they were new, but they are a brighter dusty brown. Oh, well. Purchased the James Blunt Back to Bedlam CD (over Greg’s vigorous objections~I told him it was either this, or he took me to see Brokeback Mtn. He caved-in immediately!) and She Wants Revenge She Wants Revenge self-titled album. Both are very good. Oh, and even though we were NOT talking about internet speeds and connections, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Dani at www.DesignByDani for her St. Patrick’s Day digital freebie. I finally got it downloaded on our satellite service which is sometimes almost slower than dial-up! I am still praying for a cable company to wake up to the profits to be made and run it by our home…did you hear that Adelphia?

Blah, Blah, Blah

Yesterday, Greg took the day off to run around and visit his machinist in Sandpoint to drop off some designs to fabricate. He also made a visit to Garwood Wrecking and Richie Cole's. While at Richie's, Isabelle was "forbidden" to play with Dobie (Richie's mini-doberman pinscher) as she had been bathed on Sunday afternoon. It is amazing how clean and beautiful this dog is after a bath. All the colors in her coat are clearly visible reds, soft browns, golden, and tan; she is the SOFTEST thing ever! Greg compared her coat to Kelsey's hair color. Kelsey has a deeper red, Isabelle is golden. Made the extremely long haul to Spokey-Joe for beautification for my fingernails. Costco for necessities and gasoline; Wal-Mart for groceries. It rained once we got on the interstate, but promptly stopped. However, storm clouds hovered around the entire time we were over there. I am having a hilarious time learning Adobe Photoshop. Flipping back and forth from tutorial to program. Playing with brushes, downloading items, and getting partially frustrated. It is very similar to the time 3 months ago when I learned Paintshop 9. Isabelle has been responding wonderfully well to her anti-biotics. She seems like a different dog. This illness came upon her so suddenly that we hadn't realized she was sick. Now we know that the tiredness, listlessness, and whining were part of her illness. We had just thought she was picking up some extremely odd habits all of a sudden. Poor little dog; she can't tell us, and suffered in silence. The last couple of days she prances around, has more energy, and is holding her tail curled up again! Wow. While shopping, Greg and I looked at some more cameras at Costco and Wal-Mart. My goal is to have a decision made by this coming weekend because... Greg had to make a brief trip to Sandpoint again to drop off parts at his Machinist. When we were returning from Sandpoint on the Long Bridge, Greg pointed out 3 American Bald Eagles sitting in a tree overlooking the lake. They were incredibly huge and beautiful. Majestic. Even tho I had the camera, there was no way I could have gotten it out and turned it on in time. Besides...the zoom does not work as the focus is not working. I can zoom, but it will not focus on the zoom... Greg also stopped on the way up at Tri-Con Bolt. While he was inside, Isabelle and I had a short walk around a portion of Lake Cocolalla. The lake is once again frozen and beautiful, but the pics I shot were unfocused...and the sun was not shining. We passed a poor poochie tied up with a chain...but when sniffing noses...the male dog decided to begin barking which scared poor Izzy. She jerked back and was quite upset emotionally...her friendship had been rebuffed. In other notes...Ebay sent us a 10% off coupon to use as we have a birthday membership coming up. This will be great for Greg when he purchases his automotive parts. Good for up to $25 off.

Canine Cooter Lift

I reviewed and have not posted in about a week. Here it is Thursday, and I have finally found some time to detail what has been happening. Poor puppy. Isabelle got a bladder infection and we took her to the vet. She is on bed rest and anti-biotics. I have been taking care of her this past week. Worse than a little kid! The vet said that she is overweight, but I doubt that. There is no extra fat on her, but she is a solid, muscle bound dog. However...the vet did note that she has a "poochie" around her pee area. These dogs are know for having "extra skin" everywhere. So the poochie area is causing dirt and mess to stay in that area which might lead to an infection. The final upshot on this is that I have to wipe her down there to make sure she stays clean. Or the vet mentioned a canine vagina lift. Like a stomach lift they perform for humans, go in cut out the fat, and pull the skin together. Oh, heavens. I also applied for a scrapbook Creative Design team. Am hopeful, but not getting too excited. Greg has applied for a different job-cable splicer and seems optimistic.

Italy, Andrea, & Snow

Yummy. I was scrapping today while listening to the new CD that Greg purchased for me as a surprise. Andrea Bocelli-Amore. What an amazing voice. Then there is the duet with Christina Aguilera who has the best female voice. Ever. Period. That girl is SO multi-talented. So much better than the idiots that are out there that can't sing. Went in and had my hair highlighted & conditioned. It snowed another foot on Wednesday, March 8. I will have to do another layout wherein I detail how much I hate snow and cold. I am now working on Greg to move to Italy when we retire. So we can be warm all the time. This is a scrap layout swap pic I did with Theresa H over at ScrapKitchen. I was outstandingly happy with this layout.

Hal, The Super Computer, aka CHAD

Going to pick up our super computer, which I have nicknamed Chad (Chad is Bad) or as Kelsey refers to it...Hal. Ty has told us it is 250GB RAM which with the external hard drive of 100 GB, should be OK for now. I'm only going to state this one people, then never discuss it again. DON'T EVER BUY DELL. We have had 2 Dell computers and they were both krap. Also, Dell has krap customer service. They have out-sourced their customer service and the people are rude and will not help with anything. When we received the computer, only the front 2 USB ports worked, all 6 in the back did not do anything. The computer should have been returned and repaired, but Cust Serv refused to authorize it. I took it to the local computer expert, and he said that nothing could be done to repair it, unless it was returned to the factory under warranty. I called the Cust Serv from day one, and they refused to do anything. In other matters, we were scrap swapping pics at the Kitchen and I was unable to get hold of Theresa for a couple days. So, in the forum, I jokingly said I should do a "missing" poster. She was confused and thought she was supposed to send her pics to Beck, and I finally got them. But yesterday I still went ahead and did the WANTED POSTER.

Moose Part 2

Well, it looks like the moose family has moved in to the area. Greg was at the shop tonight when they strolled by about 6:00pm. Adorable- - Mom, and 2 babies. God. They are over 6 feet tall. Babies... Isabelle has been going crazy all day barking at unknown noises. While doing dishes, laundry, and vacuuming, I also managed to clean her bed. The dog is shedding like mad since Spring is almost upon us. Bath for that big baby = tomorrow! Scrapped this page of me using Tania's freebie from her Blog-o-rama.

MOOSE

Isabelle was standing on the back deck intently staring at something. She cautiously started down the stairs, obviously on point, ending at the edge of treeline. With her eyes still glued to something in the woods, she was quietly making noises-not a growl, not a bark, just noises. Greg walked over to another angle in the foot deep snow to see her line of vision, when "something" moved. He told me that there were 3 HUGE MOOSE not 15 feet from where we were standing. Of course, my friggin' damn piece of crap Canon SD110 (don't EVER buy Canon products-This is my WARNING) decides to not work. It has "issues". Mainly the issue of the focus not working. There is a known problem in the focus sensor. NOW I'm lucky enough to buy a new camera TOMORROW. So the best pic I got was a blurry one. Which I am hereby sharing.

Wasted Days

Not much going on here. Just wasting my time away. Walking dog, shopping, Interneting. Same old. Same old. Talked to the kid on IM Tuesday, Feb 28. Can't believe it is already March! Probably need to start on taxes, huh?