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Saturday, December 19, 2009 Hoover Dam
Yesterday we got to go to the Hoover Dam!!! It was soooo fun. The panorama above is facing the water opposite of the dam. I didn't even think of getting a panorama on that side... To post all the pics I took I turned them all into collages... It's easier that way. :-) The first one is all the pictures (well not all... I got rid of some) that I took when we dropped my dad off at a bike trail. Sorry these backgrounds are white. I was having such a hard time not freezing up the computer any time I tried something that I finally gave up. :-p
 Then after that we went to the library. It was so nice. Every few inches there was another old book. I love old books and our librarian has admitted to us that our library keeps up with the newer books. :-p So I got a ton of them. This collage is random pics from the library. Somewhere in the mess of pics is a picture of a book quilt that was hanging in there. It was so neat looking!
After the library, we went to a small museum. The lighting wasn't the best for pictures so I didn't get very many good ones... I liked it because it was a hands on museum and you were allowed to touch everything. :-)
Then we stopped back at the bike trail, ate lunch and picked up my dad and we all headed to the dam. It's hard to see how big it is until you see the worker's cars down at the bottom. They were tiny! The bottom right hand picture here is a bunch of men in a cage hanging over the bridge being built. That bride is almost more interesting than the dam! To me at least. :-)
The trip ended with this last picture on the way home. Notice the for sale sign behind the bush on the right. Want to come live out here? It comes furnished! (see the chair?) We'd love to have you.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Clouds and Projects
The other morning (I think it was Sunday) I went outside and got a few pictures of the huge clouds and the rainbow that showed up. It was a full rainbow but I couldn't get the whole thing in a single picture... The pictures weren't the best but who cares...  This first is the sunrise. Where we live, it is very hard to get a nice sunrise picture this time of year. There are too many power lines, houses, and other things... :-
Then there is a picture in the other direction.
And that rainbow. There is another annoying power line in the picture...
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Monday, December 14, 2009 Why waste time with titles?
I took this picture last week when Elisabeth was standing on her desk. (probably not a good habit...) She was pretending to be a model. I think she just needs to improve the look. She looks to happy. :-p Oh, and she isn't standing on her toes...
My new way of eating noodles is with butter, garlic powder, parmesan cheese and a handful or two of mozzarella cheese. It's soooo good! Another good way is to just put on butter and salt. I didn't think that way would taste very good so I didn't try it for a while but once I did, I enjoyed it. I suppose that noodles aren't a very healthy/filling meal but they're good anyway.
There isn't much news around here except that I've made quite a few more dolls in the past few days (except for heads and hats... I ran out) and that we finished our last Jonathan Park episode. Yesterday we listened to four or five and did the last one today... It's a good thing we can re-listen to them! :-) Oh, and we got to watch the Felicity DVD by American Girl. We borrowed it from a friend and couldn't wait till Mom let us watch it! I loved the behind the scenes!
Later this week we're going to get to somewhere that I've wanted to go for a loooong time! But you'll have to wait till later to find out where it is. :-) |
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Friday, December 11, 2009 Dolls
I got an early birthday present from my dad this week. I kept having to ask him if I could borrow batteries for my camera (mine had died) and he finally decided that he wasn't going to wait till my birthday to get me those batteries! We've used this brand before and we know they're really good. It's been great to be able to use the camera any time I want again! :-)
Next is my newest additions in the doll family. I had orignally heard about these dolls from Breezy Tulip who mentioned Salley Mavor's book, Wee Felt Folk. I checked it out at the library a while ago and I've made quite a few dolls! I think the number is around 27 or 28... Most of those were given away though so I only have about 11. I tried beads on their dresses and I like how they turned out! (sorry for the bad lighting, and the crooked pictures...)
The one with the blue jumper and red hair has two braids, and the other one has a really long pony tail. I can take it out though and turn it into braids later. On all the dolls that I made before, I used wool, for hair, but you can't play with them much when they are like that because the wool starts to come apart... So this time I used embroidery thread. I think that they are fine like that and will probably make myself a few more. You might notice that they both have red hands and red/green socks... I had gotten tired of black shoes and skin colored hands so they're wearing socks and mittens. :-) I also made a toddler/baby doll that was only about 1" tall but I didn't get a picture of her. Mom things she looks kind of like an ice skater because I gave her a really round skirt that's kind of poofed out. It's really cute!
The project that I mentioned last time kind of died.. I got stuck so I might post pictures of what I had completed all ready and attempt the rest later...
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Monday, December 7, 2009 Before..... and after!
Saturday, December 5, 2009 Crafts Part 2 & Yesterday's fun
I decided I'd better post these pictures soon because I've been busy making more! :-) First there are those felt strawberries that I mentioned earlier. Some of you are getting snow, but here our strawberry tree is just starting to give the juiciest strawberries ever! (yeah, I know, strawberries don't grow on trees!) You'll notice that one of the strawberries doesn't have any seeds... That's because I got bored of sewing them. I actually made 4 but only three got in the picture. The strawberries are actually bright reds and greens, but I set my camera for different colors.
What is this?
Would another picture help?
Now can you figure it out? We were driving home from church last Sunday and I saw a guy with a similar pillow on his headrest. I attempted to make one that afternoon and this is the result. I think I'll take it on our next car trip. It could also be used when you are in an airport. Strap it to your forehead and you can lean back on the wall comfortably. ;-) JK, I don't think that would be a very practical use...
And lastly, here is my new blanket. You take two pieces of fleece and cut a fringe around it. Then tie the two pieces together! It is a wonderful lap blanket, and it's just the right size to throw around my shoulders.
I'm trying to decide if I should spend $1.75 for the patterns for the project I'm working on right now... I've got most of it done without the pattern though so I don't know... But I'm not telling what it is until it's finished.
Yesterday we went the park to have an early birthday celebration for Elisabeth with friends. It was very cold and a little windy, but we all had fun anyway. here is Betsy with one of her presents:
And then last night, we met some friends at Sam's Club, (we don't have a membership so we have to meet them there) and ate pizza. Then we got one of the big flat bed carts and Mackenzie, Betsy and Emily rode on it while I pushed. We found many items in the toy section to covet after... :-) This horse is one of them. Here's Mackenzie as a cowgirl.
Well this post definitely got long! If I got rid of the pictures it would help, but the pics are the fun of the post! :-) Hopefully I'll get my other project done soon and be able to post pictures!
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Wednesday, December 2, 2009 This week's crafts
This morning I got up and took a very fast shower, (Betsy wanted to get in the shower at exactly 7 o clock) and then I did devotions and photography at the same time. I took my bible and camera (and a blanket) outside. It was very cold. But I wanted to get a photo of the sunrise and I was going to do anything to get it. It turned out that the sun is coming up in the wrong spot to get photos. We have a bunch of neighbors and telephone wires in the way. So I went to our porch on the west side of the house and got a picture of the moon instead. (it's full tonight! I'm going to attempt a picture of it rising) I did get one but I had to use digital zoom (more wires and houses) so it's not the best quality.
Then after breakfast I took pictures of all the things I made this week. First of all there is the cupcake. Will you join me at my tea party this afternoon? It didn't turn out as good as I wished, but it was a first try. Next time the frosting pieces will be smaller and the middle strip of cup cake will be smaller too.
Then we pause from the crafts to get a picture of our glorious marbles. ("but you only posted about one craft so far!" I can hear you saying it. Sorry!) They are soooooooo fun! Especially when you convince your older sister Alison to play with you. :-) We have tons of marbles around here but a few of us are talking about buying more...
I decided that even though I had a jar for my marbles I needed a bag too. :-) So I made myself this. Since the drawstring is ribbon, sometimes it slips through which results in a few marbles sneaking out. I have learned to keep it sitting upright. (the flat bottom of the bag helps with that)
I'm afraid that I'll have to save the rest for later because this is getting too long... Actually, it's good because I'll know what I'm going to post next time! I'll make sure you don't wait too long though.
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Friday, November 27, 2009 Trip, pics, and felt projects
Happy Thanksgiving! We are having our turkey dinner today because yesterday the turkey wasn't thawed out... We went to California for a few days this week. We got there Monday morning, and left Wednesday night but even though it was short trip, it was soooooooo fun! On Wednesday we had the big family picnic at the park. We've done that for quite a few years, and it's always really fun! This year there were about 25 people! Here is a collage with a few of my favorite photos from the trip. I think the only picture that was taken at the picnic was the group photo and the rest were elsewhere.
While we were on our trip I took over 300 pictures, 93 of them being at the picnic. But when we got home I deleted a few blurry ones.
On Monday and Wednesday my dad took Alison and me on bike rides along the man made rivers to the park that most of the above pictures were taken. Alison also rode on tuesday, which made her milage for the trip about 40 miles! I don't think I went anywhere as close. I was riding my grandma's bike though and it doesn't have pedal breaks--only hand breaks, so that can be interesting if you aren't used to them. :-) Thankfully only once I tried to pedal backwards, but no one got hurt.
I might post a few other pictures from our trip later but for now I think I'll go back to making felt strawberries. I found a really simply tutorial here and had to try it out. My other project was a felt cupcake, (tutorial here) but mine didn't turn out quite right... Someday I'll get around to posting pictures. :-) I love using felt! |
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Saturday, November 21, 2009 Philo Dough and Fabric
Today we went to a friend's house and watched her demonstrate making a few things with her Pampered Chef equipment. I got to help and it was soooo fun! We used Philo (I've also seen it spelled Phylo, so I'm not sure what way is right...) dough and that stuff is awsome! It's almost as if you're using tissue paper to cook with. :-) The first dish she made, I didn't help with, but it had quite a few layers of the dough with melted butter in between, then some sliced cheese, and then some more dough, and butter, and on top there were Sesamy seeds and Black Caraway seeds sprinkled. That was soooooo good! In the next item we made I got to help, they were sooooooo tasty! After those were done baking, we ate lunch and us kids played tag outside for a while.
I love picking out fabric's for my nighties, because I can pick out some wild print that I would never wear in public, but it doesn't matter on a nighty. :-) My summer nighty this year was pink with green frogs, (I loved it!) and now my mom just finished my winter nighty, which is a dark blue with sea creatures on it. And on both of them, I've put a gigantic button, because I love gigantic buttons. :-)
Go over to Alison's blog to see how NANOWRIMO is going for her! |
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Friday, November 20, 2009 Today
| We had a very very very fun day at the park today. Beside my sisters and I there were 10 other children from our home-school group. We played tennis, store, house, tag, hide and seek, and more tag. :-) And then all of us went to the library, where I got 6 of the Redwall Series, by Brian Jacques. They are all about 1 and a half inches thick so they'll last me a little while. :-) We didn't get any pictures that I know of though... :-p if I had brought my camera, I'd probably have about 200 pictures. :-) Then we came home, and Alison gave her violin student a lesson, (and during that we played more tag with her brother) and then we watched some of the Leave It To Beaver show, on YouTube. Someone has done a great job of sorting all the episodes and so we've watched tons of them! Now we're waiting for my 3 sisters and Dad to get home so we can have pizza! I think I hear them now so I'd better go. I know this was a boring post, but I just felt like posting. :-) |
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Thursday, November 19, 2009 Today's Vocabulary
| Dave walked from the office to his car. It had been a grueling day at work. He had been assured that he wouldn't have to fill out extra forms, but the guy who was supposed to do them was sick and he ended up having to do it any way. Then the coffee machine quit working, his chair broke, and the power went out, forcing him to write his business letters by hand. When the power came back on, a multitude of phone solicitors started calling trying to get him to donate to some great cause, and making him feel like a miser because he could only afford to give ten dollars. Dave started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. He called the car repair spot to see how long it would be before his wife's car was done. The newbie employee put him on hold and he had to listen to three minutes and twenty-seven seconds of monotonous "music" before the employee returned and resumed the call. When he got home, his two kids were fighting and his wife was mumbling something about what in the world they'd have for supper. Dave walked up to his wife, told her that they'd have pizza for supper and afterward they would go for a walk and enjoy the serenity of the beach. The children resolved their problem and returned to his and her own pursuits. The day concluded happily. |
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Random Happenings
*screams* I had a post all written out (well, all most) and somehow it just disappeared when I tried to add a pic. Oh well. I just had said that we went to the nursing home. Oh, and the ambulance went to the dentist with sirens raging. Hmm... Any other news? Oh yes. We got to watch some yard work people at the nursing home cut a brick. It was pretty neat! Have you ever laid bricks? I haven't but I've always wanted to. Along with building a house. And a bunch of other activities that boys get to do. :-p
Hmm... I guess that's it. Except that we had to buy more milk last night. :-) (see post below) We're probably going to the park on Friday, so I might be back with pics soon.
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Monday, November 16, 2009 Milk
Milk is a great substance. Thanks to me, our family goes through almost 1 gallon of milk a day. (that's about as much as the Duggars!  ) I just love milk! You can drink it with everything---even pizza, all though my dad says that you should drink kooliade with pizza. (I'm not a koolaide fan) I drink about 5 or 6 glasses of milk a day. Usually I have one for breakfast, or I have a bowl of cereal with milk in it. Then for lunch I usually have 2 glasses, and 2 for supper also. Sometimes I have one with a snack in the afternoon. Alison says I shouldn't drink so much, but milk gives you strong bones, right?  We have a friend who doesn't like milk. She says it makes her gag. She can drink chocolate and strawberry milk but not regualr. She definantly is missing out. Alison said that I should've had my username be "LecheLover" instead of "booklover". :-) I don't know about that... I'd much rather have books than milk. How much milk do you drink? |
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Monday, November 16, 2009 Wanna win some boots?
Want a chance to win a pair of WHOOGA boots? Even if you don't win, you get a 15% discount just for entering! Head on over. (but don't enter--I don't like the competition.)
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Stuff
Yay! I got my template finished! One thing I like about it is that I can post my pictures bigger than before. I might change a few things someday but for now it's good enough. :-) This is the first template I've ever had that I used an image map for the header. It was lots of fun!
Later today we're going to the park with a friend. We'll bring our tennis rackets and balls. We're hoping that the firefighters aren't playing though, because I don't think I've ever gone to this park and they haven't shown up... And then after that, we are going to the library.
And lastly, here is a random photo that I took a few months ago at a park in CA. There was a whole family of ducks swimming around in the pond. The ducklings were sooooooo cute and fluffly that I wanted to pick them up and cuddle them, but of course that isn't allowed. :-) The mother duck probably wouldn't have been too happy with me...
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Saturday, November 7, 2009 "Please Mom?"
That is what mom hears when I find another free download of a photoshop program.  So far, I have Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 (yes, it is really old...) and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8 (another older version), Adobe's Artweaver, and now Picasa. The other day I found out what neat things Google's Picasa can do. So I downloaded it. (if you do download it, be warned that it can be a headache and you might end up reinstalling it because you did it all wrong...) Probably my favorite feature is the handy "collage" button. You select the photos, and in one click you have a collage. It takes a few more clicks to get the settings right though. This collage was mady with 250 photos, or something close... The only problem is that with so many photos it makes them really really tiny! Well, they aren't tiny until you resize it... But there was no way I was putting a picture that was abut 5000 pixels wide on my blog!
Here is another one I made with only pictures of Elisabeth's face.
Speaking of faces, Picasa has the neatest feature where it can sort faces! Its really hard to explain, so if you'd like to read about it, go here: http://picasa.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=93773 Its really good at it too! Only once did it think that Alison was me. :-) Even the computer thinks we're twins! LOL!
This last one is just a few random pictures that I've taken that I really like. I'll probably make quite a few more collages with my pictures! It's really fun!
I've learned a few things about Picasa the hard way, but now that have figured a few things out not to do, I'll never never NEVER do them again! LOL!
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Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Tennis Practice
The crowds cheered wildly as I sentt the ball flying back across the net to my dad. Wait--the "crowds" were the high school kids playing soccer, and they weren't cheering for me--they were cheering for their friends. Oh well.  The other day a friend of ours let us have his tennis equipment for a while. Today, after an exciting visit to the high school, (read Alison's post about this) we finally got the key but at the time, people were using the courts. So this afternoon we got Dad to take us to play. Well, you can't really call it playing. We had never played before. So dad taught us how. We still aren't very good but it was lots of fun! I can't wait till we get to go again! Sorry there aren't any pictures. Our mom didn't come along with the camera and I was either chasing balls, or hittng them.
I might not change my template soon after all. I think I'll make the header over again. So, keep checking back! |
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Monday, November 2, 2009 Announcement
| My blog might look crazy for a few days... I'm going to attempt a new template that has an image map in it--something I've never really tried before. So if it looks like a disaster, ignore it. I might start blogging soon, and I don't really like the template I have... |
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009 giveaway
Saturday, June 13, 2009 giveaway
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This is the "dog".
Time for a picnic!
It's perfect for some fruit!
definitely needed to be organized. As you see in the picture below, I couldn't even shut the lid! So I dumped everything out on the floor and neatly put it back in. You can't really see it in the picture but w
hat takes so much space is a big box of wool... If that wasn't in there, the lid would always be able to go on right! :-) I must say that that finished product looks a big better... Even if the lid does bulge out a little. ;-) In that box there is two wrapped shoe boxes with beads and acorn caps, a lot of felt, a box with an unfinished sock money inside, a little basket with finished people, and many other misc things... That little yellow container has seed beads in it. I'm going to try embroidery with beads one of these days... I've seen pictures of it and it always looks really neat!
I had done m
ost of my desk yesterday and Saturday night so there wasn't much left. You can see many interesting imprints in the dust there. It shows that I haven't dusted my desk in... who knows how long its been! The picture on the left is the whole corner that my desk is in. The flower in the corner is actually on Betsy's desk but it stuck into the picture... 
