Thank goodness it's over!

This past week has been an absolute nightmare! While I did not end up putting in as many hours at work as I had planned, I ended up with a stomach bug. It's kinda hard to work when you're expected to be on the phone to take calls and you in the bathroom every 15-30mins... Not fun! I'm feeling much better this afternoon though. :) Yesterday I think I was awake for a total of 5, maybe 6 hours!

Time for me to get caught up on everything. My school work, while not ahead, at least I'm caught up at the moment, which is a very good thing.

My daughters prom is coming up soon. Or maybe it's homecoming. lol! I've been feeling so bad, I'm not 100% on which it is. This is what I do know, there's a big dance coming up in the middle of October. And in my sick stupor, we did manage to get to Joann's craft store while they were having their $0.99 pattern sale for all Butterick patterns. SWEET! She picked out a pattern, but there's going to be alterations made to it. We're making the white one. But not in white. The colors haven't been picked out yet. In my sick stupor, I believe she said something about a blue polka dot?!? That's exactly why we didn't get material that day.

1) she wants a BIG waist bow in front added, like this one from TROPHY Clothing out of Denver

2) she wants it just above the knee length 

3) she wants the skirt gathered and attached at random spots like this "Modern Gallica" skirt from Anthropologie

So, while I have a pattern to go by, I kinda don't. lol

Onto the garden/farm. I have not had a chance to do jack-squat! Hubby did manage to pick up a really nice ride on lawn tractor for $100. It does need a bit of work though. I went to get him for dinner the day we bought it, he looked so cute covered from head to toe in grease! He had it standing up on end working on the underside of it. I'm lucky I caught me one that actually knows how to work on things and make them to work when he's done! LOL!

I did, however, manage to start a full tray of Cherokee Purple organic heirloom tomato seeds. A full tray. That's 231 tomato seeds. Sometime this evening or tomorrow, I've got to get a full tray of Creole tomato seeds planted up as well. I'm not sure what else... I'm actually kinda debating the Creole's. I'm thinking I may go with a different variety simple because the Creole's do excellent in this horrid Florida heat and humidity that I may want to save them to start in Spring time. I don't know...

Oh, I forgot to mention, the volunteer tomatillo plant that was doing so well in the large planter out front, it kicked the bucket after almost a week with not a drop of rain... Yup, you guess it, I forgot to water it at all... Oh well. I've got to get out there and pick all those little fruits off and see if there's any in those paper husks. I'll let you know what I find.

What have you all been up to?

Holy Cow!!!

Sorry for the disappearing act. Work is sooo swamped that they allowed any and all overtime AND are giving incentives of $ 75 per day that an employee works for at least an 8hr shift!!! YOWZA! So, with that said, I'm putting in 54.25 hours this week and am currently scheduled for 45.75 hours for next week. I can't afford to NOT take advantage of that! That's not mentioning my college work that is starting to get behind a bit... Nothing like pulling serious overtime as well as an overtime full schedule at college!?! I've got 5 classes this semester. Fun times! ROFL!!!

Speaking of college classes, I have off from work from now until 7pm and TONS of school work to get caught up on. So, I'm outta here for the time being. Maybe if work is a bit on the slow side tonight, I'll pop back and update more on the farm and life going-ons.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far! Remember to smile! : )

I LOVE This Book!

I just have to say, I received this book in the mail just the other day and I absolutely LOVE it!

You can buy it through Amazon through the link (plus I will receive a few cents when you do! Thank you!)

It is full of wonderful recipes, hints, and tips. It even has information for growing your own fruits and veggies! I'll post an update about the book the further into it I get. So far, I've only made it part of the way through chapter 1 with my hectic work and school schedule.

Enjoy your day! SMILE  : )

Macro Flower Saturday

I stumbled upon Maia's blog, Macro Flower Pictures, the other day and decided to join her Macro Flower Saturday Meme.

I love taking macro shots and even though I couldn't grow a flower to save my life, unless it's on a veggie plant, I still love to photograph them.

Here's my shot of the day. The original SOOC and a version that I edited just because. I hope you enjoy them!

SOOC

Edited with PS CS3

I hope you enjoy!

It's Macro Friday! YAY!

I just love playing around with macro shots. The camera I use all the time is hubby's. He did buy me one, that is "nicer" than his, but guess what? I don't think it takes better macro shots, even though it's 10mp's and his is only 6. Soooo, I "traded" with him. :)

Onto to today's Macro Friday with Laura from Blogging From Bolivia. She takes stunning photos. I specially love the contrast photos and macro shots she takes. Check it out. Heck, why not join in? Come on ~ It's FUN!

Onto my photo for Macro Friday. I took this photo yesterday while wandering around outside with the camera. I'm giving you a before and after. Why? When I've shown only my edited photos, I've had some people ask to see the before photo. So, why not?  : )

SOOC Shot

I completely desaturated the green from the leaves in the background, added some more blues to make the center pop a bit, and brought on the sunshine. :)

A Canon PowerShot S3IS was my weapon of choice and PS CS3 my destruction tool.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to SMILE!

Property...

We went back out to the formerly rental property yesterday. I cannot believe how high the grass and weeds are already!?! YIKES! I'm wondering if goats will be able to keep the grass down or if I should be thinking sheep instead... On the positive side of thinking, the soil should not need too much, if any thing, added to it, to get it up to par for veggie growing. And no, I'm not talking about garbage like miracle grow or any other non-organic garbage like that. I was thinking that we were going to have to have truck loads of compost and stuff dumped to make the soil good for growing.

I was highly disturbed though by what we found when we were out there... The old tenants were out there again!!! Now, keep in mind, they moved out about 3 months ago!!! We have a big burn pile on the back of the property. I guess they decided that they could just add to it! On top of that, there's a shed on the property, we stuck all the stuff that they left in the mobile out there and locked it up when they left. They unscrewed the hinge to get around the lock and took SOME of their stuff... I know that it wasn't someone looking for stuff to steal, because they left some expensive stuff out there and took some stuff that I was going to toss into a dumpster soon.

We really need to finish the fence and get a dog... Hmmm, maybe I'll look into one of those invisible fences so I don't have to worry about the dog going over the fence when we're not there.

On another note, after thinking about the laying chickens I'll have out there, I'm considering how to change half of the shed into a coop with a little flap door leading outside into a run/pen for them. For the meat chickens I really like the chicken tractors that Jessie's hubby from Rurally Screwed made for theirs.

I have got to get some tomato seeds started if we're going to have a tomato patch out there. Yes, you read that right, a tomato patch. lol

Time for me to say bye for now. I'm working for 10hrs today, plus I have a ton of school work that needs to get finished up so I can turn it in on time. I hope you all have a great day! Remember, SMILE!  : )

Before and After Blog Hop Thursday

I'm really enjoying these photo blog hops! The photos are all so beautiful! Some are very touching as well.

Today is the Before/After Blog Hop with Pixel Perfect. If you haven't checked out Monica's work yet, you really must. Her photos are stunning.

My photo this week is just a photo of a flower that I took yesterday and was practicing on having a single item in color with the rest black and white. In no way did I edit the color of the flower, yes they are that bright and beautiful! Each open flower is only about 1/2" at it's widest point.

This is my SOOC shot taken with my Canon PowerShot S3IS.

This is my edited version for today. I enjoy playing around in Photoshop CS3. That is my program of choice for editing photos for myself and in designing websites.

I love the way the color of the flower is so bright and just pops out at you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Have a great day everyone and remember to smile!!!

Black & White Wednesdays

I stumbled across a wonderful blog about a family at The Long Road to China.The stories - touching, the photos, stunning! Anyhooo, Lisa hosts Black & White Wednesdays and I've decided to join them. This will be my first linking up with them.

I snapped a photo of this little guy perched on a stray branch of a bush cherry plant. I snapped many at the time, just to ensure I got at least one that I liked. When I first seen this on the computer screen, I immediately imagined what it would look like in black and white reversed. So, I played around with it in PS CS3 and here's the result. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I'm outta here. I'm working for 30 more minutes then I'm off to school for my Intro to Software Development class. Enjoy your day everyone and remember to smile!   : )

I can't believe it's already Tuesday!

It's once again Tuesday. And that means it's time for photo blog hops: Sweet Shot Tuesdays with Life with my 3 Boybarians as well as Touch Up Tuesday with The Bonnie 5.




Considering that the 10th is my Grandma's 76th birthday, I'm dedicating this post to her.

Yesterday, my kids and I went to spend the day with her. We got her a pretty, delicate, silver necklace with a charm that says: "I Love You". She thought it was wonderful! I would have gotten her more, but times are very, very lean here... We also got her one of those huge cheesecakes with the different flavors in place of a birthday cake, because she LOVES cheesecake but doesn't buy it for herself. Ever.

My Grandma. While she holds fast to some of the beliefs that she grew up with, she is first and foremost my Grammy. She was there for me when no one else was. You see, right before my 2nd birthday, my father got my mother pregnant again. But he claimed there was no way it was his and they started a sticky horrible divorce. My father feared that my mother would gain sole custody of me, so what did he do? He took me from Long Island, NY and ran down here to Florida...

His parents immediately uprooted their entire lives in New York and proceeded to follow my father down here to make sure that I was well taken care of. We all lived together, my Grammy, Grandpa, father and myself, for less than a year. My father got up, got ready for work like normal, left a note in my crib and left.

We did see him off and on throughout my life. Normally it was when ever his latest girlfriend kicked him out and he needed a place to stay. Other than that, we hardly seen him. My Grandparents raised me from the time I was 2 until I grew up and moved out at 18yrs old. When I was 14, my Grandpa passed away from heart problems.

My Grandpa was Grammy's world. He passed away 20 years ago, and to this day, my Grandma has yet to even go out on a date with another man.

She's been through a lot in her life. I hope that she realizes how appreciative I am for all she has done for me in her life. Now that I'm an adult, we disagree on many things, but no matter what, she will always be my Grammy and I will always love her!

Grammy, I love you!

SOOC Shot

Taken with my Canon PowerShot S3IS and edited lightly with PS CS3 to touch up the skin tone and add highlights.

Macro Mondays

In my latest blog hopping, I stumbled across Lisa's Chaos. I love her blog and photos!!! I also noticed she's hosting a Macro Monday Blog Hop. Guess what? I decided to jump in.

www.LisasChaos.com

While out in my "garden" here at home, that is basically weeds that are waist high from our non-growing time of summer, I stumbled across this guy!!! At first he scared me half to death! Then, when I realized that he wasn't going to move, after I kept nudging the basil plant that he is perched on with the weed wacker, I ran inside to get my camera. Guess what? He was still there. Shocker I know. lol

Now, just so you can appreciate this guys size, those leaves are about 2.5" long!!! Yes, this guy is a whopper!

Todays Whole Living Challenge

Whole Living ~ Have One Last Summer Hurrah ~ Throw a final barbecue, or have some friends over for an end-of-season swim. Don’t plan anything elaborate -- just focus your senses on the lingering feeling of summer.


Am I going to do this one? Yes. Am I going to do this one any time soon. No. Why? Because here in Florida summer time doesn't really ever end... Sigh.

Take winter time for example. We have 2, 3 or if we're lucky 5 or 6 days of weather that drops to 30* at night. The next day after the cold front passes us, we're right back up to 80* + days... We pull out sweaters for a couple of days, only to stick them back in the back of the closet for the next 3 weeks. Not very wintry. Specially when everyone is wearing tank tops and shorts and sweating like a dog on Christmas Day...

Today is family time. I'm off to spend the day taking my kids to visit with their Great-Grandma. She's going to be 76 on the 10th and she is still a fully functioning, self reliant, independent person. This woman raised me, with my Grandpa who passed when I was 14, from before I was 2yrs old, until I moved out when I was 18. My Grammy and Grandpa were my parents.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Make sure to take some time out of your busy life to spend some time with, even if it's just a phone call, those in your life that you care about. You never know when life will happen and your chance to talk to them will be gone...

Todays Whole Living Challenge

Whole Livings ~ Makeover Your Lunch ~ Use "real" foods and pack in reusable containers.

Well, considering I'm home for lunch and cannot remember the last time I ate lunch anywhere else, I don't have to worry about how my lunch is packed. As far as what I eat... Well, that's a different story...

My typical choices for lunch are: a salad (loaded with shredded cheese, croutons and dressing), fresh veggies cut up with dressing to dip them in, cold cereal with milk (you know, the "good" kinds like Lucky Charms, Froot Loops, and Frosted Flakes, yes, I'm serious), or my favorite, tortilla chips with salsa and sour cream... Sooooo, I guess there's room for LOTS of improvement on my food choices. The problem being, I don't want to change what I eat...

I've been through a lot in life (2x cancer survivor, told that I would never walk again, multiple horrific car accidents, among other things), I don't smoke, do not take medications (I do take a few herbs like Ma Haung for my asthma, Echinacea to help me fend off colds, and Black Cohosh for being a female), rarely ever drink (and when I do, I have 1 or 2 Mike's Hard Lemonade)... So what do I do? I eat.

And I make sure that I enjoy what I eat! Now, don't get me wrong I eat and enjoy a LOT of fresh food, specially the ones I grow myself in my garden. Yes, I grow a bunch of our own food. Things that I don't grow, I try to stock up on when they are in season and either can or freeze a lot so we have it available to us when not in season locally.

What about you? What is the thing you treat yourself to?

Yesterday's Vocabulary Words

I never did get around to letting you know the words I learned yesterday. Sorry about that! It was a hectic day for sure.

Algorithm ~ clear, step-by-step instructions listed in sequential order that performs a task
Sequence Structure ~ a set of program statements that are executed in the order in which they are written
Pseudocode ~ key and regular wording used to do a mock write up of a program with no coding or rules

Soooo... Do anyone want to do the rest of my homework for Intro to Software Development? Hmmm? lol

Macro Fridays

While reading over Robin's blog ~ Playdough in My Carpet ~ I came across Macro Fridays by Laura at Blogging from Bolivia and just had to join! I love taking macro shots! I have to admit, they are my favorite type of photo to take. 

I wanted to add a photo that I took earlier this week of the banana tree leaf glittering with water droplets from the early morning rain.

Whole Living Daily Challenge

This is something new I'm starting. Whole Living has a Daily Challenge that they send to your email every day. It's called Whole Living Daily Challenge. Look in the left column, it's under the heading "Today's Challenge".It is something to help you live a "fuller" life by challenging you to different things. I figured I might as well share my challenge here with you all. Plus, it will help to keep me focused. :)

Today's challenge is: Learn three new words today; for a boost, sign up for Word of the Day at wordthink.com.

While I'm not going to sign up for the Word of the Day (I already get too many emails to keep up with), I am going to learn 3 new words today. How do I know this? Because I have vocabulary words that are due for my Introduction to Software Development class that I need to finish. Later on, I'll share those with you. :)

Before and After Blog Hop

This is my first time I'm joining in on the Before and After picture Blog Hop with Pixel Perfect. There are so many wonderful photographers linked up with Monica. You should stop by there and check them out!

http://www.pixelperfectblog.com/

This is my SOOC shot of Simba, my big (27lb) cat in our backyard. I wasn't crazy about the tone of the colors. He looks washed out... The camera used was a Cannon PowerShot S3IS. The editing program was Adobe Photoshop CS3. What did I do? I can't say. lol. I played around with the contrast, color depth, and other things until I thought Simba's colors were an actual representation of him.

SOOC Shot (Straight Out Of Camera)

After