Project 365 Day 17...

I am finding new "pictures for the project 365! No, it's not taken from a camera.. I created this on a website located at http://www.wordle.net/. There is no end to the creative possibilities that you can use this for! I actually have used it to let the kids type in their spelling words so that they could come up with "artwork" with their words - learning them so much faster! Give it a try, I promise you will love it. Thanks to the makers of wordle!

Project 365 day 16

Did I mention that I HATE CRAVINGS????

No honestly. I can eat and I don't even get it digested and I am finding MORE things I want to eat. Crazy right? Even more crazier is that one of the cravings I had was something I have not had in more than 20 years... Caramel Corn! This was my first attempt and I will tell you I will not be making as much popcorn as what they had in the recipe for this again. I like mine all sticky, with caramel thick and the popcorn actually soft under all of that caramel. I will have to find the recipe while I am cleaning up the mess I made (really not to bad of a mess considering I made this in two pots on the stove). Now I have a snack for tonight's viewing of Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters.

Don't it look good? Tastes wonderful!

Project 365 day 15

Steven, Katelyn, Bandit

It's raining cat's and dog's. Well not realistically but it was raining and the dogs were stinky and smelly. They were invited to come in and get a bath. Fireman had to pick up the 100 pound Bandit - a Black Lab - and put him in the bathtub. He is very hyper after the bath and I am surprised that he sat for this photo. This was the best out of the bunch... I think he is camera shy. We have him crated when he is not able to participate in the family ordeal or if he is outside then he has the back yard that is fenced in. We are considering moving his crate into the living room so that we may be able to get him to start listening to more than just Fireman. He loves his crate and when he feels the need he goes back to the door and begs to go in there for the quiet. We are starting to let Jackie back into the main part of the house, hoping that she will be once again the watch dog over the house, but so far all she wants to do is lay near me. I am her Alpha Dog... she can't sit still if I am moving about the house. She has to know EVERYTHING I am doing and she has to be involved. She was huddled up under my computer chair but in the hour and half she has been left up here since the bath she has made it to where if I swing my legs she is right there! She is a really good dog, just very overprotective of me!

Jackie curled up under my chair

Project 365 Day 14

Kitties strung up on Cat nip. This was amazing as yes we have seen Theo (black and tan) the king of the house doing this many a time after being cat nip induced... but what is rare is Smokey. He almost NEVER lays down to a good buzz o' the nip! After about a 5 minute delay with a nap, he decided to crawl up and ask dad for rubbings. Here's Smoke with the rubbings:


So now Smoke has gotten to the point with fireman that he is now climbing up and laying next to Fireman, I am even astonished that I have even caught him laying on Fireman's lap. Yessss.... he was feeling pretty good between the rubbings and the Kitty Nip!!!

Project 365 day 13

I was bored, did not really want to do anything.. I started a Granny Square blanket. I am thinking August is going to be a hot time of the year and too hot for a thick blanket for a newborn. This is the start of the blanket and I hope to show you the final blanket completed.

Just going through a Brain Fart...

Hi Everyone,
I really am going to catch up on my pictures. I have recently had a lot I am dealing with and it's just been really hard for me to find things that interest me that you may enjoy also.

The emotions with this pregnancy are running full tilt, and are really crazy. I have been trying to look at the brighter side of things, it's just not working. I think once I get in to see the doctor I'll settle down. I am not used to being pregnant again, not used to juggling a really busier household, a (full) part time job and just trying to maintain the house so it's almost presentable. I have friends who have more than 3-4 children and they are holding it together what seems so much better than I am - and right now I just don't have the energy to take everything on. This is a big thing me admitting all of this! Right now, I am actually taking care of me. I am not used to this.. I usually put my family first. I have actually been so tired starting around 7 - 7:30 that I can't keep my eyes open so if fireman is here is is nice enough to take over and put the kids to bed.

Another couple of weeks and I am hoping to be out of this phase and back to my busy self! Hang in there and I will try to post something to keep my blog alive and well...

Project 365 Day 12

As the wife of a fireman, I see many aspects from the fireman/EMT's view. I have seen the heartache that comes from not being able to save a house, a person, a child. This photo was not something from my own camera, but it is a reality to me in my life. Often times a Fireman cannot share his feelings, cannot show the hurt anger, frustration that he often goes through. Those who do not share these feelings do not live with the fears and the feelings that these Brave men and women carry on their shoulders.

The angel with her head upon his shoulder... there have been times that I know my husband must have had an angel right there with them. Fireman has had some close calls. I know his Angel was there.

Many of today's men and women put their lives on the line to help serve protect and give services to the people in the area. Their pays are sometimes null, or very close to none. Their pay is actually that they are serving their fellow man and it is always a good day when their deeds have saved lives or property.

There are days that they do not get to spend time with their own families- whether it be a regular day, a holiday, 3 AM or 6 PM, giving up their nice warm dinners for those that were saved in the microwave for them.

Yes this photo has meaning. Probably more meaning to those fire and EMT personnel that deal with their jobs on a day to day basis. I still wanted to share, because sometimes people just a little reminding.

Project 365 day 11

My project for the day - to tackle this disaster of a mess! Accomplished.. well I am down to a 1/2 box of things that need to be put away, thrown away or re-homed. I am also down to a plastic box of paperwork, sorted through and organized together. I also have 1 small box of receipts I need to go through and separate by month and file. All in all I think it was a good day. I think I would have been able to finish the task if I did not have this bad migraine sitting right behind my eye... We will make it through the paperwork... 15 minutes at a time!

Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Sweet Roll Dough

1 Package regular or quick-acting active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1/2 lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 - 4 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a 2 1/2 quart bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, shortening, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased 2 1/2 quart bowl, lightly vegetable oil top of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until dough doubles, about 1 1/2 hours.

Cinnamon Rolls

(makes 9 large or 18 smaller- for smaller use half of dough per 9- I like mine larger) The following is for 1/2 the dough so double sugar and cinnamon if making larger)
sweet roll dough.
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Flatten dough into 9 x 15 rectangle on a lightly flour dusted surface. Spread margarine on top of dough. Working with the longer side, roll up tightly. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal well. Stretch roll to make even. cut into 1 1/2 inch rolls (bigger if you like them, bake time still same). Place slightly apart in a 9X9 greased pan or in a muffin pan. Let rise and double 40 minutes before baking. Heat oven to 375 degrees, Bake until golden brown, 25 - 30 minutes. Spread rolls with glaze while warm

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix above ingredients until desired consistency. If too thick, add more milk, if too thin add a little powdered sugar.

Project 365 Day 10

This was a project I have wanted to do for months- and I completed it today. I was hoping to have them ready for the kids to eat before bedtime, but at least they will have something for breakfast to go to school on. It's been years since I had a homemade Cinnamon Roll. I think that the last time I have had one I was still in school and living with my parents. Mom would make these and I really did not understand how long they took! These were the first ones I have made on my own. Brianna was excited to help with the project.

Project 365 day 9

We had to pick up a prescription today from Walgreens. Imagine my surprise when I opened the bag to check the medication to make sure everything was okay, and to see the pink bottle cap above! I
immediately thought about the blog. I have a friend that I have made online that is now a 3 year survivor and I thought about her along with all of the other breast cancer victims and I was very happy to have this cap on my prescription. I am actually thinking about saving this cap and using it on any other bottles it fits on so that every time I use that bottle I will think about Tammy and others and how breast cancer has changed their lives. If you would like to know more about Tammy and how she survives with probably the most devastating event in her life, please check her site out at Pink Stinx.

We currently had something going on with Face book that we sent emails to our gal friends on the site and everyone put in the color of their "boulder holder's" to support breast cancer awareness. From what I understand there was a story about it on the news on a television news show. If I can find out more information about it I will share it here.

My heart goes out to Tammy and all of the other survivors. They live knowing that everyday they live, they work, they see their children grow and it is a blessing and may not have happened without the support of all of those who are searching for the cure.

Project 365 day 8

Only after a short couple of days later this is the same table from a couple of photo's back. There is more snow - as there should be with all of the snow they predicted we would get- but not as much as we thought we would get from the storm. I noticed that this photo has snow on the seats in this photo too. I am surprised that no one played in the snow here.

Sick and tired of putting that tag in?

Last night while I was attempting to put photos on the blog, I was running into problems. I could not understand how in the world it would not let me click to open up the box to put the photos in the post. Here, come to find out- it was already opened but I could not see it because it was under about 3 other windows I currently had open. At first I was frantic- Did I already take up all of the space I have for my blog? After calming down and actually pulling my tag off several posts, I found the box to add, closed it, went back into my post, clicked the button and wow! Hey! It worked. Duh....

Anyways, my friend Am, was talking to me over Yahoo instant messenger while I was attempting to get things done. She led me to Photobucket. Photobucket is actually a free site where you can store your photos and instead of downloading them onto the site itself, you can actually open the little picture box and it gives you the option of taking your photo off the web and adding it into your blog, saving (I am hoping!!) room on your blog to actually blog more. I am relatively new to blogging - only been playing with it for a little over a year- and I am still learning about it!

Anyways, I was curious as to how to set up my blog to automatically add my tag into the blog so that it is one less photo I have to find and actually put into the blog. There is a way to do it! It's actually under settings, then the boxes underneath is there for formatting. I clicked on formatting, went down to almost the end of the page, and it has a place you can actually add in how you want the post set up. I went to my photobucket page, hovered with my mouse over the tag photo, and it gives you a box underneath the picture. I clicked on the B emblem (for blogger) and it opened another box with options. I then clicked on "GET LINK CODE", showing 7 different codes. I went and copied the code under "Direct Link for Page Layouts" and then went back to the formatting page box I needed to put it in, and pasted it there.

So from now on, my tag line should be in every post I have that will be published! The only way it may not happen is if I move the tag, which I have no intentions of doing.

I certainly hope that this helps other new bloggers and I hope I have explained good enough for others to understand! If I understood HTML better I am sure I can use this formatting method better, but for now it's doing what I need it to do and that's all that matters, Right?

Project 365 day 7

This I thought was a really cool photo.. It's actually snow coming down and it's night. The flash actually captured the snow, but something to my surprise is the "smoke". This comes from my daughter opening the door to the house and the heat actually dispersed into the cold air and this is what was created. I love watching it snow. We are in the middle of a snow storm that they are predicting to last from 2:00 PM today all the way into Saturday at 10 AM. I want to capture the kids sled riding down the hill in front of our house for one of the next photos. I think we can possibly get some good fun in the photos.

Project 365 day 6

Our project day 6 photo came thanks to mother nature!

Okay I cheated I took this on the 7th, not on the 6th. Oh well get over it. At least I am keeping my promise and coming up with photos. I look out my kitchen window and see this table with all of the snow on top.. The snow keeps the dog off of it so she can look into the window and see what I am doing. The small mound was once a snowman that the kids made... one of the many snowmen! I was hoping to have this snow for Christmas as my Aunt, Uncle and cousin were in town- It waited until the day they left to start snowing. I love the snow, I hate the cold... Go figure! LOL

project 365 day 5

My wonderful investment- The front loader washer and dryer!

This is a Fridgadaire model set. I actually checked with someone who I know to be trustworthy on these and they said this is a really good set. It's actually part of the makers that actually designed these many many years ago, and while they are a different name basically they fall under the original patent. I was checking out others in the process and I am very happy I went with this set. I find that I can keep up with wash much more efficiently than I was before. They are easy to keep clean and they use 1/2 the water than a top loader. I find that they get stains out of clothes that a top loader would never be able to attempt to get out and that I use less detergent. It fluffs the laundry really well and spins it out so much better and then the dryer does not have to work harder to dry them. Over all I would recommend to anyone, especially with a baby or children to purchase a set for their homes. Just the savings in the water, the savings of the electric and both at the same time pay for these! I have seen a $75.00 a month drop in my electric bill since I bought them. Check them out!! Oh and they are even really good entertainment for the cats- They can sit for hours and watch them during laundry sessions!

Project 365 day 4

PAPERS, PAPERS & MORE PAPERS!

I chose this photo for today because I needed a reminder that this is what I need to work on for 15 minutes every day. I also need to remind myself that after the piles are gone and dealt with I need to continue to work for 15 minutes a day to maintain it.

Important? Yes! I need to be able to find everything in these piles. You know what it's like trying to keep up with everything when you can't find anything? Exhausting!

So this is what's on my to do list for the week. Wish me luck!

Project 365 day 3

Ordinary picture... with lots of happiness behind it. Please let me explain... Every night after the kids are all down and in bed, Smokey the cat comes out of sleep and loves to rub and play with Hubby. Usually though the cat never jumps up on Hubby, so this pic is pretty rare. He actually got his "Rubbings" on Fireman's lap instead of either laying on the couch or on the floor, where the feet actually do the rubbing. Fireman was impressed tonight!

Project 365 Day 2

Day 2 of Project 365...

A lit candle. A candle brings me calmness. It brings a feeling of Peace. A lit candle gives the sense of hope. It warms the house and my heart. It sets a tone of the house. The scented ones bring scents that are also calming. I love candles!

Okay, so I cheated on this one, but it is so I can post them for the next day for everyone. Happy New Years Everyone!! Light a candle for the hopes of an awesome 2010.

Project 365 day 1

Day one of the 365 Project. This is the photo chosen. It is important to me. It is the very first step to getting back into Flylady mode. What is flylady? It's an organization/house cleaning method used by many people on how to keep your home clean and tidy, and lots of hints and tips on how to maintain your house in 15 minute increments with a timer. I actually have a group of ladies who get online and either Facebook or Yahoo Instant message in a conference room and we help motivate each other to get the chores we have set for ourselves done in a timely manner.

The kitchen sink is like a launch pad. For me, I have found I am much more motivated to get up and actually work in the morning rather than dreading getting up and getting the things done that I need done. It is such a nice feeling to have it all nice and shiny and sparkling clean!

This is not the best photo in the world, but to me it is a reminder of how things can be if we all work together and not procrastinate.

For more information regarding the FlyLady, please go to this site: www.flylady.net

Thanks Amber for my Tag!

Happy New Years, 2010

Yes, I have neglected my site, and yes I just found plans to keep it interesting once again. But before I get into what the interesting thing will be on the website, I'll bring you up to date with my surprise.

Fireman and I just found out in December we are expecting #4. I guess there is just no other way to say it. The new "Mann" is scheduled to arrive August 9, 2010 (yup, 8/9/10) go figure. I doubt I will go all the way to the due date, and since I am due in August and there are only boys from sis and I that are born in August, I am kind of leaning that this will be a boy. It would be breaking the rule of the boy birthdays in August. August is a really busy birthday month for us. Probably 3/4 of the family on my side were born in August. It should prove interesting this year. Due 2 weeks before fair. I am debating about the kids putting breeding rabbit projects in the fair this year because of this. I am thinking it's going to be awfully difficult transporting 3 kids and a newborn back and forth to the fair grounds early enough to actually have the cages cleaned by the required 9 AM that the barn sets.

Now, onto the the interesting possibilities for my website...

One of my schoolmates on face book mentioned about a project they are starting today... It's called Project 365. For more information and also to accredit where I got the information here are websites for you to read up on about this project.

http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

http://annoyinglyboring.com/

Basically, it's a picture a day and it needs to be something of interest to me. Then I will post it here for basically a whole year of photos of interest that will help me understand things I find interesting, to find something out about myself, or to give me a better outlook on life. I think it will be interesting to me, and hopefully to you also.

I may just add some blogs in about the baby also, so you may find some things in between that may not exactly fit into the project 356, but at least with the new addition maybe I will have some interesting photos. This should be fun and if you decide to participate is project 356 leave me a message so I can check yours out too!