Project 365 Layouts – Weeks 3, 4, and 5

Ugh. I suck at blogging lately. But we have been SO busy. Between snow days, me commuting to the office again, a bunch of illnesses right after the other, and normal everyday stuff, my head is swimming. LOL! For a summary of the past few weeks, read the layouts below. (LOL!)

I’ll be back with a REAL post soon! I swear!

Week 2 Layouts for Project 365

Here’s one of my layouts for week 2.

I really like the way week 1 and week 2 look next to each other (which is how they’ll be in the photo book I plan on printing at the end of the challenge).

I also decided to use the free downloads from Becky Higgins to make layouts each week that allow me to make the photos a bit bigger and journal a bit more. Here are my first two weeks:

Days 3, 4, and 5

I’ll be back later with a real post, but I wanted to get my Project 365 photos on here for days 3, 4, and 5. Lots to talk about later!

Day 2/365

Trying Again…

Well, I’ve decided to set myself up for failure yet again and attempt Project 365. I SO admire those of you that started it in 2008 and actually finished it. I could post all sorts of excuses as to why I stopped doing it 90 days or so into it, but the bottom line is that I didn’t finish it. So I’m determined to actually make it through all of 2009. I may fail again, but at least no one can say I didn’t try, right? LOL!

So here it is. My first photo for Project 365 – 2009. It’s Grace playing our Hannah Montana game for the first time on the Wii. I hate to admit it, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun and all of us love it. (Well, except maybe Steve. He didn’t see us playing it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I came downstairs in the middle of the night one night and caught him busting a move.)

I’ll probably post most of my photos here on this blog as I go, but I also started another blog dedicated only to the Project 365, where I have no intentions of posting anything other than the photo every day. You’re all more than welcome to add that blog to your blog readers, check it out here and there, etc. You can find that here. I’ll make a fancy blog header and all that later, but for now, I just wanted to get things rolling. :)

 

Jambo!

Did you know that to greet people in Swahili, you say "Jambo!" How much fun would that be? I mean, "Hi" and "Hello" are so boring compared to "Jambo!" I can just see yelling it as loudly as possible. It just seems so exciting! "JAMBO, Tink!" LOL! I think today I'll just go around yelling "JAMBO!" at people. I can probably get the kids in on it too. So we'll either make people smile and laugh, or we'll be committed to the looney bin. [shrug] It's all good.

Yesterday's weather was AMAZING! Sunny, hot, perfect for hanging out outside after the kids got home from school and Steve got home from work. Steve decided to smoke the turkey he shot the other day. Did I post the picture of that here? I probably didn't, thinking I'd offend someone or gross someone out. But too bad. I'm posting it now. Just because I think it's funny that my 4-year-old has no problem posing next to her daddy, who is holding a dead bird upside down that is larger than her. And that fact that she has a camo hat that matches her daddy's hunting clothing makes it that much better. Ahhhh... I love the redneck life.

Anyway, while Steve smoked the turkey, we all just hung out in the yard by the pavilion, taking pictures (me) and playing baseball (the rest of the family). I got some awesome shots that I'm excited to start editing. I did manage to edit a few last night.

This is Steve throwing Hannah around, which is easy to do considering her size.

Then this one is Grace, fascinated with the feather she found (which happened to be from when Steve cut up the turkey on Monday, but I didn't have the heart to tell her).

And this, my friends, is possibly my favorite picture I've taken to date. It totally cracks me up and is so typical of Grace. Makes me laugh every time I look at it. I'm totally getting it printed out and I'm framing it and hanging it the living room. It's my photo for Project 365 for yesterday.

And now, I must go shower or something. We have more T-ball games and softball games today. Sigh. I'm getting a little sick of being at the ball field, but the girls have fun, so I guess that's all that matters, huh? I'm secretly hoping it starts raining before the games, but I'll deny that if my kids ask. Later, gang!

Quote of the Day:
Progress depends on people knowing they'll be able to profit from their ideas.
--Deborah Neville

Week # 2 Layout

Here's my layout using week 2's photos. And now it's on to week 3... :)

Some Project 365 Comments...

Hey gang. So, I've been reading a lot of comments from those of you who decided to participate. I've seen them here, on other blogs, on message boards, in emails to me, etc. about how some of you are already having a hard time thinking of what to take photos of everyday. I'm here to urge you to think about it in some different ways.

* Take photos of your favorite things. The other day, I wasn't sure what to take a picture of. I was cooking dinner and picked up the pewter salt and pepper mills my FIL gave us for Christmas and came to the realization that probably in the next year, those suckers will be one of my photos. I LOVE those things.

* Don't try to get too caught up in the photography aspect of it. Think of it as more of a journaling of year of your life. For example, today Grace had her first day of her indoor soccer league. I ended up not using one of those photos for my project today. But, if I was stuck on a what to take a picture of today and I had forgotten to take my camera to her soccer practice, I would've taken a picture of a soccer ball, so next year, when I saw that photo, I'd remember that today was the day that the league started.

* Try to think of it in your children's eyes. Now all kidding aside, how COOL would it be as adults, if OUR parents had done something like this. I'd LOVE to have a year of our lives documented in photos. If my kids start drawing on any particular day, I take pictures. If one of the girls helps me cook dinner, I take pictures. If Hannah is particularly proud of one of her infamous "outfits" she's put together while getting dressed that day, I take pictures. Try to look at it through the eyes of your kid(s) and ask yourself the type of things they'd want to remember years from now. Is there something you do every night before bed with them that they'll remember (i.e., read a bedtime story, say a prayer, etc.)? If so, take a picture that represents that.

* Realize that even the things that seem insignificant now may be fun to look back at later on. Have a favorite pair of shoes? A favorite purse? A favorite place to eat? A favorite brand of coffee? Take a picture of it. Twenty years from now, you may look at the picture and either laugh about how dorky it was, look at it and get sentimental, or both.

* Have a favorite band you listen to or CD you play on repeat non-stop? Take a picture of it.

* Do you have a habit or addiction? Snap a picture one day of something that represents that habit or addiction. Even if it's something as "silly" as that favorite brand of ice cream that you eat every night.

* Try to think outside the box a bit. The other day, I used one of my Christmas gifts (an Aeropostale giftcard) to order a bunch of stuff online. I snapped a photo of my computer screen with my shopping cart full. That was the night that Hannah needed stitches, so I ended up using that photo instead, but my point is that I had taken a picture of what I had ordered online that day. Your photo doesn't always have to be something "deep" or meaningful. It just has to be something you did/ate/tried/drank/laughed about/etc. that day.

* Your pictures don't have to be deep or meaningful or artsy or anything even remotely close to that. Just TAKE the picture. Are your nails painted that day? Take a picture of them. Are you feeling particularly cranky? Take a picture of that bigass cup of Starbucks coffee that helped lift you out of your funk. Did you just organize your closet? Take a picture of it after you're done.

Do y'all see what I'm trying to say. I know a lot of you are already grasping what to photograph every day, but I find myself trying to decide between 5 or 6 things everyday to use for that day. Try not to think too much about it is my point. And at the same time, think about it a lot. LOL! Since starting 11 days ago, I've started to look at my daily life in a totally different way. I wake up and start wondering what that day's photo is going to be. I look at things in totally different ways (like the salt and pepper mills I mentioned earlier). I think about the things I want myself or my kids to remember next year and then try to think of something I can photograph to represent it.

It's NOT about what other people think or the quality of the photos. It's about YOU. You and the people in your life. You and the things that make you who you are. You and the things that make you tick.

I'm sure there will be days over the next year where I don't think about it much. Or days when it seems like a chore to try to photograph something. But I know that next year, I'm going to have a BLAST looking back everyday to see what we did/saw/thought/experienced exactly one year earlier. Don't think of it as much about the photos, but instead look at it as the journey of your life over the next year.

I know I often find myself without my camera when something happens one day that I'd like to remember. Now that I've started this project, when something like that happens, I immediately start thinking about what I could take a picture of that would spark that memory years from now. For example, the night Hannah needed stitches, I might not have thought to take pictures when we got home. But beyond taking pictures of her stitches, I also took pictures of the doorknob she bashed her head open on. A few years from now, I can look at the picture, and even if Ididn't have pictures of her actual stitches, I'd see that photo of the doorknob and be able to say, "Remember when Hannah split her head open on that sucker?"

If y'all want, I can try to think of a little "theme" every week that all of you participating can use on one of the days you can't think of something to take a picture of. They'll be simple and easy and won't require much thought. But if it helps some of you in a slump, I'm more than willing to give it a whirl.

What the hell. Let's start now. In the next week, IF you can't think of something for the project one day, take a picture of whatever's in your purse that day. Empty the contents of it onto a table and take a picture of it. Even what's in your purse is a little glimpse into your life this year, and I think that's kind of cool. :)

OK. I've rambled enough. I'm tired and need to head to bed. I just don't want to see anyone discouraged or stressed out over the whole concept. It's supposed to be fun, and I, for one, am having a blast!

Another hot day...

OK. So "hot" is pushing it. But in these parts, the 60-degrees that it was today is INSANE for January. Just absolutely insane. So Hannah and I once again, spent most of the day outside. We walked down the street and around the corner to the gas station to  grab some candy. Then we walked back home (stopping to admire the creek) and had a little "candy picnic" on the bench in our backyard. So that leads us to my Project 365 photo for today...

 

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Hmmm... what else? Oh! Got an email from my sister today saying her work email address has now been switched back to her maiden name. I had no idea she was even going to switch back, but good for her. If you're going to make a break, you may as well make a clean one. Her husband was also served with his divorce papers while at work today. Lovely. LOL! I have to say, I really admire her. It was a VERY hard decision for her to make. Her life has completely changed since deciding to leave him. She had to sell their house and now lives with my parents. That alone would make me think long and hard about the decision. But she has shown a great strength and I'm really proud of her. And one HUGE benefit of her now living with my parents is that now, every Saturday when the girls sleep at my parents' house, they're spending a lot of time with Aunt Kristin. My sister's starting to learn that all children aren't the spawn of the devil. And her and Grace in particular have become extremely close, which I think is awesome. So that's cool.

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I just want to say here that I think that my fellow blogger and friend, Tink, looks AMAZING in her newly purchased wedding gown. She doesn't have it posted anymore because her fiance shouldn't see the dress before the wedding. But trust me when I say that she's going to be one of the most beautiful brides I've ever seen. Now as long as I see a picture of her on her wedding day in that dress while also chugging a beer, I'll be a happy camper. ;)

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I'm on a Daughtry kick the past few days. I'm not sure if that makes me cool or lame, but whatever. Hell, it may prompt another couch-jumping session, so it's all good.

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I've decided I've got a bleeding heart. (Not literally.) But over the past few weeks, I've found myself wanting to help out as many people as I can... wanting to settle some differences I've had with people in the past... somewhat longing for some old friendships that have faded over the past few years... etc. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. But it does make one think a little "deeper" than one would sometimes like to. I feel like I've been told I have 2 months to live and I need to do all of those things I need to do to make peace with myself. I'm NOT dying (that I know of), but that's how I'm acting. As much as I like being a bit more compassionate lately, it's also taking a lot more energy and I'm not sure I've got it in me. LOL!

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I have a friend, Kelly, who has entered a photo contest. If y'all could click on over to http://www.merakohblog.com/ vote for her (Photo #1), that would kick ass and I'd really appreciate it. :)

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Uhhh... I think that's it. More tomorrow. The girls both have "school" and Steve's working, so I'll be home alone. Last week, that prompted the couch jumping session. Who the hell knows what could happen tomorrow. LOL! ;)

Another long one...

So tell me... how does one go from blogging once a week, to rambling on a daily basis. Weird.

Anyway, today was crazy warm. And I use the term "warm" relatively. It was all of 12-degrees last week. Today, it was almost 60. To people who live in warmer states, 60-degrees would have them all bundled up in winter coats and scarves. For us Northeasterners, 60-degrees has some of us outside in short sleeves, or (in my case) in just a hoodie. It was too warm not to take advantage of it, so while Steve was at work and Grace was at school, Hannah & I spent the entire day outside playing. It was awesome! And it prompted my photo for Project 365.

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Speaking of Project 365, I've been working on something for the past week. I decided that it would be really cool for me to put together a scrapbook of all of my photos for the project. I just think it will be awesome to look back next year (or any year after that), and on any given day, know what I did exactly one year earlier just by looking at my photo for the Project that day. Like, next year on January 5th, I'll know that one year before, I watched the Steelers lose the playoff game by one point (which totally sucked). And on January 6th, I'll know that one year earlier, it was fairly warm for us around here and Steve pegged Grace with a snowball. LOL! I also think it would be the kind of thing that my kids would think was pretty cool when they're grown up and I'm like, dead or something. LOL!

So anyway, I've decided to have 12 pages that have all of the photos from each month, and then 52 pages that have a week's worth of photos on them, complete with short blurbs that explain why I took the photo, or what the photo is, etc. This is what I've come up with.

This will be the monthly pages. Nothing fancy. Just each photo from each day on one page. (It will look much cooler once all of the squares are filled in. LOL!)

This will be the weekly pages. On each page, I'll switch out the backgrounds and move the frames around a bit. And I might vary the things I list like "Favorite Photo This Week", "Most Memorable Moment" etc. to be other things. And I'll add some more other scrapbooking stuff here and there, but for the most part, here's what they'll look like. I'm excited to see it when it's all done. :)

If any digital scrapbookers out there want that first template (the monthly one), let me know. I created that from scratch and even made the numbered stickers, so I can send it to you if you want it. Just comment or email me (if you have my email) and I'll send it off. I'd offer up the weekly one too, but I made that using stuff I purchased from designers, so I'm afraid you're on your own on that one.

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Let's see... what else? Oh, does ANYONE else that reads this blog watch "October Roads?" If not, you should. Best. Show. Ever. Like, for real. OK. So maybe not ever, but close. It's a REALLY good show and I need someone else who watches it to discuss it with me on Tuesday mornings after they watched it the night before. Please? Pretty please? Tonight, I cried (when Ikey pleaded his case) and then LMAO (when the guys karaoked to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf). And as hot as Catalda is, I want to punch his effing face in every week. [sigh] PLEASE tell me someone else watches it. Please?

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I have a 6-year-old up for adoption if anyone wants her. Just for a few days/weeks/months/or years. It depends on when she loses the attitude, starts listening to me when I tell her to do/not do something, and doesn't purposely try to get me so pissed off I'm ready to escape to an exotic island and not tell anyone where I am. If interested, contact me please. Once she returns to her normal sweet, sensitive self, I'd like her back. Thanks.

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I'm giving a shout-out to Kelly, who was awarded Pink Ink Studio's "Photo of the Day" honor for one of her Project 365 photos. Kelly and I love Pink Ink Studios, and I know she's too humble to tell the world about it, so I am. Leave her some love AND check out Pink Ink. Their Flickr group is amazing to browse though and gives me tons of inspiration for my photographs. :)

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I guess that's it for now. More tomorrow, my friends. :)

Uhhh...

I don't really have much to say, surprisingly enough. LOL!  Steve and I were bummed (OK... pissed) that the Steelers lost their playoff game last night, but I will say that it was a kickass game! I LOVE games that have you glued to the TV until the final seconds because it could go either way.

Today was kind of a lazy day. The girls were at my mom's house until almost 2:00. And then as soon as they got home, we all went outside to get some fresh air. It's been around 12-degrees here the past week or so, so today when it hit 46, it felt like spring to us. So Steve took the girls for a walk/hike up in the field behind our house, where they both found "treasures" which consisted of some rocks, an old bike wheel, about 20 golf balls (hit into the field by Steve... Shhhh!), and they each found an animal bone. Lovely. LOL!

Then we just sort of ate dinner, sat around, and went to bed. LOL! I LOVE days like that.

Anyway, here's my photo for Day 6 of Project 365. Grace kept telling Steve she wanted to have a snowball fight (with what little snow is still on the ground), so Steve obliged. It was TOTAL luck that I snapped this photo right as the snowball hit her and exploded. Thankfully, she thought it was hilarious and kept asking for him to throw more. (Freak.)

I'll be back tomorrow with a few layouts I've been working on. :)

Just popping in...

...to share my photo for Project 365 from yesterday. I have to go shower and pick up the girls from my mom's house. But I'll post later. :)

DAY # 5

What our kitchen countertop looks like after a Pittsburgh Steelers game.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.... (And some eyebrows for Emma).

Yeah. I changed my blog template again. I've had about 8 different ones over the past 48 hours, but finally settled on this one. Nothing fancy. Nothing extravagant. Just me, my family, my words, and my photos. Sweet.

Soooo... I don't really have much to say today. LOL! I was ready to give both children up for adoption early this evening. Sure I'd miss them. But I would've asked for them back after they got rid of their damn attitudes, disrespect and horrible tempers. I'll tell you what... nothing makes you feel like Mother of the Year more than having an all out screaming match with your 6-year-old. Yup. Some proud moments this evening in our home. [sigh] Perhaps next time when she ticks me off, I'll just slam my MP3 player headphones into my ears, crank up "Crazy Bitch" and start jumping on the couch. And then when she tries to start jumping too, I'll yell at her and tell her only adults are allowed to do it. That'll teach her.

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So let's talk about eyebrows. I notice people's eyebrows. I'm not really sure why since I have no other weird obsession with them. I've never plucked, waxed, shaved, or did anything else to my eyebrows in my life. I don't need to. They're thin, very light in color, and practically non-existent. I guess I'm lucky? I dunno. Steve, on the other hand, has an abundance of eyebrow hair. I once told him it looked like he had two squirrel tails taped on his forehead. We laughed for (literally) hours over that one. I guess guys can get away with it though. I don't think the poor guy ever thought about it until I pointed it out to him. His dad has them. His brother has them. And I think Grace is going to have them too. ((((Grace)))) About a year ago, I opened up a photo of him in Photoshop and showed him what he'd look like if he had them waxed. The transformation was amazing. LOL! He says all the time he wants to go get them waxed. But it hasn't happened yet. Now before y'all go getting all "Love him for who he is..." on me, I'd like to make it very clear that I honestly don't give a rat's ass about the man's facial hair. He's hot regardless. It's more of a joke between us than anything. So no need to comment on my insensitivity, OK?

I've also noticed my SIL's eyebrows. Emma will be thrilled to see I'm finally posting a photo of the infamous "comma brows." I've been a little paranoid up until now to post it. Right around the time I first mentioned it on the blog, we gave her and my BIL our old computer. I had deleted things, rechecked things, etc., and the girl didn't even know how to turn the damn thing on when I gave it to her. But I had nagging thoughts that she'd become a computer genius and somehow pull up an old link to this blog and see what I had said about her. I had nightmares about it because the family feud that would ensue would not be pretty. But I'm pretty sure that at this point, I'm safe. I figure I've said stuff about her since then and nothing's come out of it, so I'm guessing if she would've found me here, she would've done it by now. (Side note: If anyone in my family ever finds this blog, I'm afraid Planet Alien will be permanently laid to rest. This girl needs a place to vent without anyone who shares my last name or who gave birth to me or grew up with me knowing about it. But I digress...)

I first noticed her eyebrows about a year ago. I'm not sure if they always looked the way they did that night and I hadn't noticed it, or if it was a new little experiment she was conducting on her face. Regardless, she's still doing it. Not every time I see her, but more often than not. It's kind of weird. I have no problem with chicks wearing makeup, waxing various body parts, etc. But isn't the key for it to look as natural as possible so people don't know you're faking it? I dunno. Maybe my thinking is twisted. But for real. Tell me what exactly she's doing when she does this to her eyebrows... (This is the only picture I have that really shows them. Sorry about that.)

 

I can totally see filling in your brows with a little makeup to make them appear fuller/better shaped/etc. But what's with the weird shape? And the perfectness. I tried to look closely (inconspicuously of course) that day to try to figure out exactly what she's doing. At the conclusion of my super secret spy mission, I've decided there's only one explanation. She has a stencil. There has to be an eyebrow stencil somewhere in her home. I'm convinced. She tapes the little stencil on her forehead in the correct position. Then she dips some sort of brush into some sort of goopy makeup with the consistency of brown lipstick and applies the makeup onto the stencil. I just don't get it. Eyebrows are made up of hair right? They aren't perfectly symmetrical shapes that end in a perfectly straight horizontal line, right? Shit. Maybe I'm the freak and I've looked like an idiot for the past 20+ years. Am I?

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'm already afraid she has some sort of automatic Google search set up to scan the Internet every 4 minutes that will alert her if anything online contains the words "Jen" and "eyebrows."

So with that, I'm out of here. I'm having another beer, possibly another cigarette or two, and then I'm heading to bed. It's a busy day tomorrow my friends.

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I posted today's photo over on my Project 365 blog, but I'll post it here again too. It's pretty boring today in comparison's to yesterday's, but here is the Student Profile we had to fill out and send back to school so everyone knows a little bit about their Student of the Month." :)

OK. I'm back.

The kids still aren't in bed yet, but they're occupied for the moment, so here I am. Let's get talking...

1) Steve worked yesterday for the first time in months (concrete work isn't always possible in the dead of winter), and called in his two employees. One of them is a total freak. Good guy. Served in the war for a few months, etc. But a freak. He takes pictures of the ODDEST things with his cell phone (you seriously don't want details), and is basically a male whore. Sleeps with strippers on a regular basis, has a lot of one-night stands, etc. So anyway, Steve gets home yesterday and tells me that the guy screwed some chick and the chick wanted to film it. So he whipped out his cell phone and proceeded to record their entire um, "session". Complete with close-ups. Of their "parts". Ewwwww! The Ew Factor mostly applies to the fact that he came to work and showed his boss and co-worker. Would you show your boss your um,"parts"? I think not. Truthfully, the whole thing totally cracks me up. More power to him, I guess. But every time I hear the song "Crazy Bitch" now, I think of Steve's employee. Having sex. Ick.

2) So it's been cold here the past few days. REALLY cold. Last night, around 10:00, I grabbed another beer from the back porch (we're rednecks like that who keep their alcohol cold outside in the winter), and it was half-frozen. Beer slushees really aren't very enjoyable. Anyway, someone in my family brought a 2-liter bottle of diet soda on Christmas. Steve and I don't drink diet soda, so it must've been either my sister or my mom. Since we don't drink it, we just had it sitting on the back porch to give to my sister the next time she swung by. Well, when it's 12 degrees outside, liquids tend to freeze. And when liquid freezes, it expands. Yeah. So around 8:00 this morning, I walked outside to smoke a cigarette and was greeted by an exploded bottle of soda all over the back patio and on part of the house. Sweet. Soda slushees anyone? LOL!

3) Grace got off the bus this afternoon all smiles. She proceeded to tell me she was chosen as "Student of the Month" this month in her class. She's so stinking proud of herself, and we're proud of her too. See? Even freaks like me can raise somewhat decent kids. And you all doubted me. ;)

4) Couch jumping! WOOHOO! I had to take my photo for Project 365 today. Last night, after everyone else was sleeping, I was on the computer and listening to my MP3 player. I was jamming out (quietly), and half dancing around whenever I had to stand up for some reason (like to pee or grab another beer slushee). I knew if it hadn't been 2:00 in the morning, and the other people in the house weren't sleeping, I would've done a whole "Risky Business" thing and just danced around the living room, jumping on things, playing air guitar, etc. (fully clothed however). So today, after everyone else left the house, I did just that and took my photo for the Project. I must say, it was kind of fun. LOL! It's always nice when as a mom, you can do the things you tell your own kids not to. WOOHOO! So here it is -- my photo for January 3, 2008. WHHEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

Lots to share again...

I can't type much right now, but I'll be back later to elaborate. On the agenda for discussion:

1) Steve's employee's "homemade porno" that he recorded on his cell phone and then brought to work to show to Steve and the other employee. (Eh?)

2) The 2-liter bottle of soda that exploded ALL OVER our back patio and back of the house.

3) Grace's honor she received at school today.

4) Couch jumping. WHEEEE!

Anyway, I'll be back later. The kids are here, dinner is soon, etc.

Long one today...

For some reason, it seems like the days I do the least in terms of productive tasks are the days that I have the most to blog about. I don't know if I'll ever figure out how that happens, but hey, we'll roll with it.

First of all, I'm LOVING that so many of you have decided to jump on the Project 365 bandwagon! It's soooo cool looking at everyone's photos everyday! I get excited to see everyone's new entry the next day. I've posted my second day's photo over on my Project 365 blog, and I've linked all of your project blogs in the sidebar too if any of the rest of you want to go browse. :) Today, I took a photo of exactly what $205.05 gets me at the grocery store. It kind of looks like a lot, but it's really not. In the photo, there are only 2 packs of meat (one pack of chicken breasts and one pack of T-bone steaks), so that's only two meals. Then there's veggies, some fruit, and some snack type stuff. And like 8 billion things to drink... milk, chocolate milk, juices, and smoothies. All of that will last us about 5 or 6 days. It's not unusual for us to spend up to $400 a week on groceries. It's because we buy 90-95% organic and all-natural food. Holy inflated grocery bill, Batman! Anyway, it's on my project blog, but I'll post it here too.

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I think I may be going to hell. Not that it was really in question before, but today really sealed the deal. So there are some Jehovah's Witnesses that swing by once a month or so. They're a lovely couple and they really aren't pushy at all. They stop, they chat, they ask about the kids, they hand me literature, and they leave. But sometimes, I just don't feel like talking to them. Not because they're Jehovah's Witnesses. Just because I don't feel like talking to anyone sometimes. So anyway, I happen to glance outside and see them pulling into our driveway this afternoon. It was one of those days I just wanted to be left alone and not smile politely and nod my head. So I ran upstairs before they got out of the car. The thing is, my car was in the driveway, all of the inside lights were on, and I had a Buck Cherry CD BLARING, and had no time to turn any of that stuff off. Um, oops. I have no doubt they could hear the music outside. And as luck would have it (my luck anyway), they happened to be knocking when song #7 was playing. Song #7 is "Crazy Bitch." The uncensored version. For those of you who don't know the lyrics, they go a little something like this...

Hey, you're a crazy bitch but you f*ck so good I'm on top of it...

When I dream of doing you all night, scratches all down my back to keep me right on.

And they continue along that same theme. Oh my. [sigh] Yup. They left when I didn't answer the door and I'm pretty sure they won't be back again. Either that or they will be back to try to save my soul. I'm sorry Jehovah's Witnesses. I didn't mean to subject you to my devil music today. Please forgive me.

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Dear Steve,

I'm so glad you love our children and enjoy having fun with them. But for the love of all things holy, can you PLEASE stop playing "bullfighter/bucking bronco" with them in the living room 5 minutes before bedtime, resulting in two very hyperactive children who have no intention of settling down anytime soon. And if you don't stop doing such things, I'm going to kick you in places daddies don't like to be kicked in.

Love,

Me

PS: If you ever forget it's garbage day again before you leave for work, leaving me to drag 4 big ass garbage cans down our fairly long and currently icy driveway in 20-degree weather with whipping winds, I'm also going to kick your ass.

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My kids' new favorite TV show is "Full House" which comes on Nickelodeon at 8:30. I laugh every time they watch it because I remember watching it when I was a kid and loving it. And when Hannah was little, several people told me she looked like the Olson twins when they were babies on Full House. And the truth is, she really did. LOL! I'll have to post some side-by-side photos tomorrow if I can dig some up. I'm not sure if I hope she grows up and looks like them, or dread it. They're hot, so maybe she could become famous and fund us in our old age. But if she's that hot, she might become a little hussy or something. LOL!

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OK. I think that's it for now. I'll be back tomorrow. :) Don't forget! There's still time to join in Project 365! Hell, it's only day 2. Cheat and take 2 photos today and go from there. We won't tell. LOL!

And so it begins...

I've decided to start a whole separate blog for my 365 Project. I'll still post my photos here too, but I wanted someplace where ALL of my photos for the project are in one place, without other stuff thrown in there too. I'm actually really excited about the whole thing. So if you decided to participate too, I'd love for you to link me up to your photos. If you decide to start a separate blog specifically for the project too, let me know and I'll link you up in my sidebar over there. :)

So without further ado, here's my first photo. I'm sure there will be some days where I just post the photo and don't write anything about it. But there will be days where I "journal" about the photo too, mostly for my own personal reasons. Today's, I think, is self-explanatory. Grace planted one on me, right when I was trying to take a picture of the two of us. Gotta love that kid...

Something to Do in 2008

So I've decided that this year I'm going to take part in Project 365. You take a photo a day. I practically do that anyway, but this project is going to make me pay more attention to exactly what I'm photographing. I'm going to try to take pictures of things that will let me look back at the end of the year and let me remember something I did or someone I met or whatever on any given day of the year. I'd love if some of you joined me in the adventure. It could be fun! :)

I'll be back later today to post my fist photo. :)