Fruity Pebbles-Thou art the Devil

How is it that I can sit and eat about 6 bowls of Fruity pebbles and STILL not feel full??



And for the record: It is completely possible for a family of four to go through an entire box of fruity pebbles in ONE DAY.

fruity pebbles, why are you so utterly delicious?

Hollywood got it right

Hollywood got it right. Heath Ledger won for best supporting actor. An award that was SO UBER deserved. YES YES YES!!!
And honestly I dont think he won because he died. He won because he WAS the Joker.
His character was so bone chilling and maniacal, just so beautifully thought out and portrayed. It was incredible genius...and it blew everyone else out of the water. No one stood a chance.
And his familys acceptance speech was really beautiful.

See HERE for one of the best scenes from dark Knight (the hospital scene)
and you will agree that he is amazingly talented.

RIP Heath Ledger. Your genius will be missed.

Screw You Sean Penn,( ya jerk.)

Yes, Sean Penn won an oscar last night.
Congratulations. Now be quiet.



Here is the problem I see with him.
He gets on his high horse and starts spouting off politics and acts like a complete know it all jerkface, making me really despise him.

I understand he is passionate. I understand he is liberal.

What I dont understand is how he thinks he can force the world to accept something that is against their religion. I dont appreciate his lecture in front of millions of viewers. Granted I am not protesting with signs or picketing anything, but it was still directed at everyone who believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Here is the thing. I have no problem with homosexuality. Every person has free agency to choose to do with their life what they will. I know people who are gay. I have had, and still have, gay friends. However I have a religious belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. I believe in the Bible and that it is the Word of God.
My friends know this and respect me for it. I show them respect and they return it. They understand and it is not an issue or a big deal. They understand my position on Gay Marriage. We have no beef or issues about it.


But, back to Sean Penn.
His opening quip was kind of funny: ""You commie, homo-loving sons of guns".
However, when some guy who used to be Jeff Spiccoli is now an expert in Iraq, brings his own photographer to take pictures of him helping "rescue" Katrina victims in his little canoe starts telling me my kids will be ashamed of me because I dont believe in Gay marriage...well thats where I MUST draw the line.
(although he did make mention to the fact that he has on many occasions made it hard to like him. True, True)


My Children will not be ashamed. I am a grown woman. If they choose to have a different political view when they get older I would respect them as well. If they choose to vote to change policy, then so be it. But until then I can be true to who I am and true to my beliefs. I dont see any shame in that, and hopefully i will raise my children in such a way that they can think for themselves and make the right decisions based on their beliefs, not based on what some guy who used to be married to Madonna tells them to do.

Just because Hollywood makes gobs of money for doing practically nothing, well screw them. Just because they think they rule the world because they had some uppity nobody from a movie studio vote for them, screw them. And when they start lecturing me for my beliefs, telling people that whoever doesnt support a certain someone or something should be ashamed...triple screw them.
I dont have to go see your movies. I dont have to spend money at the theater.



When I was 13, I bought a Madonna CD, Like a Prayer. My parents were furious and took it away. I couldnt understand why. There were no bad words, there were no bad songs. So why were their panties in a bunch? Because they did not like HER. They did not like what she stood for, they did not like her stunts, and her promiscuous behavior. They did not want to financialy support something that they did not believe in spiritually.
Of course, being 13, I thought they were totally old fashioned and stupid and were just being ridiculous.
However I can see their point now.



So a fair warning.
If you start telling me how I MUST vote and how I MUST act and how I MUST believe, then so help me I will go totally Christian Bale on you. Just because you are a celebrity, that does not give you the right to tell people what to do. No one comes to see your movies to hear you spout off about your political and moral beliefs. Celebrities just need to STFU and do what they do best. Act. No one gives a crap what you actually think.(at least I dont). I go to the movies to get lost. I go to the movies to see a good story. I do not go to the movies to get berated about my religious views on Gay Marriage, or the evilness that was George Bush or the war on Gun Control Issues or Right to Choose/Right to Life. I go to the movies to get away from all of that.

I watch the Oscars for the outfits and for Hugh Jackman. I really dont give a crap one way or the other how you vote, who you vote for or what you believe. So just accept your award, say thank you to who you need to say thank you to and SIT DOWN.



And as a personal note to Trey Parker and Matt Stone...If you guys make another Team America World Police, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE skewer Sean Penn mercilessly.



Thank you for listening.

Spelling is important

Like the title? When I proofread it it said "spelling is imprortnant"

Oh, irony. You never fail to make me look like a dummy.

This gave me a laugh.

Lindsey sent it to me via email a few weeks back and when i am feeling blue I pull it out and have a good laugh.

what an unfortunate word to misspell.

my experiment

This is also on my other blog. I did a cut and paste because I am lazy.

We(women in general, i think) focus tooooo much on a chart number when it comes to our weight. We see those rows and columns and feel like failures because we cant cookie cutter ourselves to fit within the data. Doctors tell us we are overweight, or obese because our bodies dont conform to the numbers where THEY think we should be.

Never mind that you are a size 10.

Never mind that you are healthy and feel good and can keep up with your kids and peers and exercise

The charts say you should be 165, and if you weigh 180, then by golly you are a fat cow.

Is it really worth it? Are the chart numbers the end all and be all of who we are?

do we really have to fit in that chart to feel worthwhile?

A few months ago I watched a documentary called SUPER SKINNY ME. Two reporters put themselves through the paces to see if they could get down to the elusive size zero.It was really kind of interesting.

I am going to do the same thing. But instead of getting down to a size zero I am going to see if it is possible for ME to get within my range.

SO I am trying an experiment. According to all the height/weight charts I should weigh an average of 165 pounds. This is for someone 5'11", with large frame. REALLY?? REALLY??

I havent weighed 165 pounds since I was in 11th grade and was a size 9/10 and my mom thought I was too skinny. I ran varsity track, and whittled away to practically nothing. You could see my collar bones sticking out and my elbows were practically bursting through my skin.

Finally I started loading up on carbs and extra junk to put some weight back on so I wouldnt look like Skeletor from He-man.(and to keep my mother from threatening to send me to an eating disorder clinic)

But here I am, 17 years, 3 kids, a load of stress and a gazillion pounds later. Is it REALLY possible for someone of my frame and age to get down to where the "experts" say I should be?

So a few weeks ago I started running. It was a running training program called couch to 5k.basically you start running 25 to 30 minutes a day. You start out by running for a minute and walking for 90 seconds. You alternate for 20 minutes. The best part is, it is only 3 days a week.then as the weeks progress you run farther and farther as you build endurance and stamina.so in the past month I have lost 9 pounds just running and not changing anything else. I still eat at McDonalds, if I feel like a shake from chick-fil-a, then so be it. So I know my metabolism is working just fine. Plus I was able to keep the 9 pounds off after a week of not exercising and not being super careful about what I ate.

Well I will dedicate myself, including a change in food lifestyle. If I want this experiment to be successful I REALLY have to do it. I want to prove that you dont have to be a number. Now I will not be using any stimulants or weight loss aids. Just diet, exercise and vitamins. No hydroxycut, metabolife, herbalife or stuff like that.So here are my new rules/.

No pop, at all.(which really isnt hard for me. I no longer even crave it)
nothing to eat after 6pm
get 7-8 hours of sleep a night
drink plenty of water
take my multi vitamins
limit myself to 2000 calories a day. For extreme fat loss I can eat up to 2200, but am using 2000 as it is a nice, round number.
continue my exercise 3-4 times a week.

I will weigh in /measure weekly and post results on Mondays.
I will log in every few days with updates and calorie counts
So wish me luck on my quest to fit into my appropriate row and column.

photoshop(again)

About a year ago I came into possession of Photoshop CS3. It has been so much fun and I recently discovered ACTIONS. Basically you can create different effects on Photoshop, save the whole step by step in a file and just press play to do them on any photo of your choosing. So instead of having to go through layer by layer, adding various filters and whatnot, you can just hit one button and it does it for you.

You can even record actions and share them with others.

So here is my first foray into the world of "action sharing" This action that I am sharing is a Vintage Photo Effect.

Here are the two originals from our Apple Picking Excursion to Granddads Apples in Hendersonville, NC.

Here are the same photos after this action:

There are lots of "vintage photo" tutorials out there, but I wasnt happy with any single one. So I took a few elements from some of the best and combined it to make this action.

You can Download the action here. (it is on a free file storage so you may be asked to wait 10 to 30 seconds before downloading.)

just download it to a file thats easy to find. Then go into Photoshop and open WINDOW>ACTIONS. A small box will pop up and in the top right corner is a tiny down arrow. Click on this and go to LOAD ATIONS. Just choose your file and voila.

TO USE:

Open a picture of your choosing. Go to WINDOW>ACTIONS and click on the little arrow next to Vintage Effect. Click on Vintage photo and press the play button at the bottom of the actions box.

At the end of your completed action you can go to IMAGE>ADJUSTMENTS>BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST and play with the sliders until you get it to just the right proportions.

I dont think that this will work on Photoshop Elements. You can try. If you dont have photoshop you can download a free 30 day trial here. (you willneed to create a free ccount with Adobe. It is their new CS4 version too!)

this makes a great action for retro style digital scrapbooks.

enjoy!

Fatty Fatty two by four

So I have my other blog back up and running again. My last post was June 19th. YIKES Im am a slug.
It is my personal workout/weight loss blog.
hopefully it will be inspiring to someone out there!!

if anyone is interested it can be found HERE.
I love encouraging comments to keep me motivated and going!!

I am taking a personal day

So this morning I woke up with a super throbbing headache.
I know I slept decently, yet feel as if i barely got any.
I looked around my house and realized how messy and cluttered it is.
Laundry, although washed, has to be folded and put away.(the bane of my existence)
I have to make sugar cookies for activity day girls for tonight.
I have to pay bills and get other things done, like putting the bins of Christmas decorations back under the house that have been sitting in my da** family room for almost 3 weeks now, waiting for CHARLES to put them away. (oh and as i type he is outside opening the crawldoor to under the house. HE IS PUTTING THEM AWAY FINALLY!!! Maybe he has "mad wife ESP" or maybe he knew I was going to blog about him not putting away the bins and decided to get to it.)
I have to try and find someone to watch my boys after school one or two days a week and I am just kind of overwhelmed.
I am just not feeling pincurls and roller sets today. AT ALL.

So I am calling in sick to school and getting everything done that I SHOULD have gotten done this weekend...but didnt.
I hate doing it, that way, but feel as if I have no choice.

and maybe a little nap on the side wouldnt hurt either. Maybe if I can get even a few things crossed off my list I wont be so stressed out.

serenity now.

A Redneck Segway

A few days ago someone in the neighborhood put a green plastic lawnchair out on their curb to be picked up by the trash men. Now there was nothing wrong with this chair, I guess they decided they didnt want it anymore. In fact it was one of those things that charles asked "want a green plastic lawn chair for the porch?"(yes he is a trashpicker) We decided against said green chair and went on our merry way.

Enter two neighborhood youths and a pair of skateboards.

If you go all the way down our street and turn right there is a hill that goes down and winds around. As Charles and the kids and I were heading out yesterday, we were making the turn and saw two kids, about 12 or 13 years old, with this chair. They had the right two legs balanced on one skateboard and the two left legs balanced on another skateboard. The bigger of the kids was obviously trying to talk the scrawnier one into sitting on the chair and rolling down the hill.
As we passed Charles kind of slowed down and stopped and wanted to see this disaster in action. Unfortunately there was someone behind us and there wasnt any room for them to go around.
So we kind of watched in our rearview mirror as the scrawny kid sat in the chair and the bigger of the two was the "pilot" and they made a slow practice run down the hill.
We laughed and wished we had a video camera.

As we were driving back from the Y this morning we passed the house with the green lawnchair sitting out on the curb. This chair was busted and cracked all the way through and scuffed, like it had been dragged under a bus. i am thinking the two skateboard enthusiasts have since learned their lesson and will no longer be chair boarding down this hill.

There are days i wish I had a time machine and could transport myself back with a video camera and hide in the bushes and watch these two and their brilliant idea.

sad thing is I probably would have thought to do the same thing when I was younger too.

My newest photoshop trick

Ok so I am TOTALLY an idiot and never realized I could do this with Photoshop.

I should have known I could, but for some reason i didnt have my "aha" moment until today.

This is the Horsehead Nebula. I made it on CS3 with 2 tools and 20 seconds of time.

All I used was a rainbow gradient and a special brush that I downloaded for free HERE. (Then I loaded the brushes to my brush library.)

Super Easy.

So for those of you who are still playing with Photoshop, here is a quick and easy tutorial...(and for those of you already past this easy stage, WHY DIDNT YOU LET ME KNOW A YEAR AGO I COULD DO THIS??)

FOR THE PHOTOSHOP CHALLENGED:

start with a new document, size of your choosing, (this is a 6x6 with 72 resolution in RGB mode )

I picked a rainbow gradient and filled the background with the gradient.

Then I opened a new layer on top of it and filled it with black.I went to my brushes and pulled up the Horsehead nebula brush, made it the size I wanted and set mode to CLEAR. So then when I positioned it to where I wanted It, I clicked and voila, the brush burned through the black, down to the rainbow gradient underneath.

I NEVER KNEW I COULD DO THIS!!! I have totally been doing everything the hard way.

How long have I had photoshop and been playing around with it?? Forever. Why did it take me this long to figure out this trick?? No idea. It isnt in any of those tutorials. I guess it is one of those things that everyone should know, so they dont bother to tell you how to do it because they think you would already know how to do it.

I spent the weekend playing with my new brushes and patterns and finding out new and fun things I could do. It is amazing!!

Here are some places you can go to download brushes, patterns and gradients. most are in zip files so you will need to extract them before loading.

http://www.brusheezy.com/

http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/

http://www.brushking.eu/

those were just two other things I did. I had a super fun time playing.

So hopefully I was able to teach someone out there a new trick and save them the same frustration I had.

Really I am a smart woman, sometimes it takes me longer to figure out things that everyone else already knows.

TGIF

SERIOUSLY.

Thats all I have to say. I am sooooo ready for the weekend.
I just have a lot on my plate and am looking forward to putting the boys in front of the Wii tomorrow morning so i can sleep in.

On the plus side Charles starts his new job today. I dont care much for the new schedule he will have for the first little while, but am willing to make the sacrifice for a steady income and insurance. Some things in life are more important than my selfish needs.
(Plus it is NOT the mortgage industry, which is an even bigger plus)

Have a great weekend!

"Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear–It's the #1 Killer of Women."

Friday February 6th is NATIONAL WEAR RED DAY.
Everyone can participate to help spread the word. Wear you favorite red tie, shirt, dress, socks...anything. Bring awareness to Heart Disease, the #1 killer of women. So be loud, be proud and wear your red!! Dont let Heart Disease rear its ugly head. Learn more at The American Heart Association.

\So like last years post, i am adding a few things and little accessories and doo dads from etsy...all int he spirit of National Wear Red Day. These are my list of must have's to celebrate a Day of Red in style.

This GORGEOUS red wrap dress with obi style sash.
It is from BlackRabbitNYC. How Beautiful is that?

In a few months after I lose more of my joey pouch I would totally buy that and wear it every day. So this stylish dress teaches us to exercise so we can wear it and not show the world all our junk.

These wonderful Halo earrings are from EmilyGrayJewels.

so beautiful and refined and classy, yet modern at the same time.

It looks like ear candy doesnt it?? So these earrings tell us it is OK to wear candy, just not eat too much of it.

This is a set of 2 crochet heart shape face scrubbies.

Courtesy of Mattscraftywife.

cotton thread in a bold red color reminds us to take care of our tickers as we are washing our face!

This super adorable dress comes from Cinderellascache.

Never to young to start teaching kids the importance of healthy heart care. Those ribbons tied at the shoulders are adorable! And that little fabric heart...perfect!

How cute are these zombie Mary janes?? EmandSprout

created these bad boys to scare us into walking faster to get that ticker pumping!

Yes, the Marie Antoinette Hair Feathers. She didnt die of heart disease(sadly that may have been the better alternative for her). so these red feathers remind us to keep our head(get it) and be smart about Heart Health. (Sheesh I am STOOPID sometimes. ) But seriously, the feathers are awesome.These are from royalcostumes

And Last but not least, my personal favorite. RED VELVET CAKE!!! granted, this may not be the most heart healthy snack or treat, but it is DARN TASTY I bet. All that red velvety goodness packed into a jar and delivered right to your house. Thanks to cupcakesinjars! The red cake reminds us that a little treat is Ok and that with diet and exercise, everything is good in moderation. These little jar sized cupcakes are the perfect moderation for me!!

Mother Nature is a B****

So Mother Nature has done it again...

we are snowed in. Unexpectedly.

Charles took Peter to Chapel Hill this morning for a biopsy, and it took him 40 minutes to get to the Concord exit to get onto 85. Usually I can do that in less than 20. But he said it was starting to clear up, so hopefully the next 125 miles will go a little faster for them.

Finn is home from school, I am home from school.

He is begging to go outside and play.

I dont think he realizes that it is only 19 degrees outside, and that snow is not wet packing snow. It is dry icy snow that is no fun.

stupid global warming. I blame you Al Gore.

Good Job cardinals

Ok so the Cardinals didnt win, but they sure played a hell of a game. Coming back from a 20-7 deficit to overtake the lead, yowza it was exciting! But in the final minutes Pittsburgh came back with a touchdown to clinch it. It was a well deserved win for them. I am not happy about it, but there is nothing I can do.
Having been born in Cleveland, I am genetically predispositioned, if not obligated, to despise the Steelers. It is the way things are and will always be. Kind of like the UM and OSU rivalry. It will always be there.

So although I offer a ( limp noodle ) handshake to them, I am, in my heart, saying "suck it Pittsburgh"