All the "Smart" I felt the other day is gone.....

On Tuesday I took the passenger side door of my '92 Blazer apart because the power window would not roll up....

I tried to help it along by having my son press the botton while I pulled up on the window in the hope we would get past the "sticking point". When that did not work i called my husband .. who really didnt know what to tell me from 2000 miles away, but said when he got home he'd have to take the door apart and look at it. So there I was faced with duct tape and plastic... or take the door apart myself. So I called my husband back and asked just how the does the door come apart? armed with a screw driver, a socket set and one last nerve, I began dismantling the door. Really it wasn't difficult, I have dismantled lots of things. I figure if I can take it apart and i pay attention to where everything is as I do so, then chances are I can put it back together. (Bear in mind I have a healthy dose of engineering and mechanically inclined genetics coursing through my bloodstream) So I took the nicey nice panel off the door, revealing the metal guts... and the window mechanism... after some trial and error I finally spotted the problem.. the window jumped the track on the front.

So after some swearing under my breath, and another call to my husband to see if his best friend  could come over by any chance and help me put the window back into the track, it occured to me how the window jumped the track and how to put it back.  When I put the window down  and it stopped working correctling it went down at a funny angel, back too hight front low.. and due to the shape of the window at this time the window did not fill the track and the front popped out...  i removed the window from the clamp that holds it to the  little piece of track that the roller rides in that is attached to the arm, that attaches to the gear that drives the arm up and down that opens and shuts the window. I tilted the window , mauvered it back into the track and then slid it all the way up and shut, securing it with a piece or wire for a moment. Then i checked to see that the arm had its full range of movement back, and proceeded to put everything back together.

Voila! the door is fixed

 

 

But today, I cannot get these photo tiles to work correctly so I can complete the orders I have for them. All the smart I felt on Tuesday is gone and I am terribly frusterated.

c80003e0.jpg

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QotD: Can't Get You Out of My Head

What song or lyrics are stuck in your head at the moment?  What album is it from?
Submitted by Lox Ly. 

there are no strings on me... from Pinocchio.... because the kids have been watching it...

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QotD: The Best Way To Reach Me

• What's your favorite way to keep in touch? Phone, snail mail, email, text message, Vox, _____ ?

The Phone and Email. I love to get to chat on the phone, I can accomplish so much more conversation is such a shorter amount of time than email since I type so slow. I was never good at writing letters I'd start them and not finish or not ever get a stamp on them. :P

 

really though I want a Kimmunicator... hooked up to everyone i know....

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peach buckeyes

who knew? if you peal a  buckeye out of its protective fruit before its ready, its peach, not brown. And all of it is peach the tan circle is too.... And it seems to turn brown on patches rather than a whole skin darkening at the same rate, we have a few that look like pinto buckeyes. Really, Who knew??

 

although the ones i opened earlier today are darkening.. must be exposure to the air.

 

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QotD: Home Sweet Home

What is your browser's default home page set to?
Submitted by Kelev T. Cat.

Google... it loads fast on the dialup and I usually pop open a window to look at gmail or to look for info :)

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Favorite Scenes

I think it is quite telling what a persons favorite scenes in movies are...

My favorite scenes in the last two movies I have watched are actually a couple of single line deliveries.

A League of Their Own

My favorite Scene in this movie is whan the Teams and the Cut List are posted after try-outs for the League, and after everyone else has sat down with their team, there is one player, Shirley (Ann Cusack) still looking at the lists. The Manager asks her if she is on a team or on the cut list.. and she looks sad, confused and on the verge of tears, when Helen (Anne Ramsay) jumps up from sitting with everyone else and asks her  "can you read honey?" when Shirley says no, Helen helps her find her name.  It really does bring tears to my eyes everytime, It was a small act of kindness, but it gets me everytime... Its followed closely for favorite scene by Kit and Dottie refusing to keep going with the scout if he doesn't take Marla.

 

 

 

 

A Knight's Tale

In this movie my favorite Scene really is one line, delivered by Prince Edward, "Your men love you, if I knew nothing else about you that would be enough." I like the whole scene int eh stocks.. but that line makes the scene for me.. and defines Prince Edward for me. My other favorite scenes are actually the joust against Prince Edward, when he knows who he is and the joust against him when he doesnt.

Oddly enough this movie is the only context in which I like the song "low rider" why I even like in this movie I dont know.. must have something to do with the training scenes being fun to watch. *shrug*

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QotD: Best. Villain. Ever.

Who's your favorite movie villain?

both are animated! Hades from the disney's animated Hercules.. made the movie for me.. and prince John from the old animated Disney Robinhood.

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Walnut Stain

real walnut stain. We have a bunch of Black Walnut trees on our property.. I think 20 or so.. (and about 10 buckeye trees, maple and some assorted other trees.) I picked up a walnut "fruit" looks like a lumpy green apple, and pealed it open for the heck of it.. it bled dark yellow all over me, it was incredibly juicy, and I thought, hmm.. that might make great natural dye.... (yep... this was a duh kind of thing) I went inside washed the yellow from my hands til i could see no more.....and forgot about it.

 

 

... now my fingers are brown anyway.

 

OOPS!

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QotD: I Just Made That Up

Remember sniglets?  Do you have any favorites?  Have you ever made up your own word?  (Now's as good a time as any.)

my favorite was the term Wonder-icide. the act of massacring a soft piece of bread with cold butter....

I cant think of anyothers that became part of my vocabulary like that one did.

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$150 in uniform clothes later....

and I'm sure we will need another pair of pants and at least one or two more shirts :P But if the kids grows as slow as he has the rest of his life he will be wearing these until 4th grade.... (ok that is an exageration.. but he did just finally outgrow 3t pants this past spring.. poor kid he's about to be 6)   I got him the shortest smallest size.. and I wont be suprised if he can wear them next year too. I wont be suprised if he actually grows either. It has to happen sometime right?  The blue polo shirt I picked up is long sleaved.. :P I meant to get all short sleaved shirts to start with.. *sigh* thats what I get for not paying attention. I did get two white shirts for the boy.. frankly i think that is a bad idea..... I think maybe my best bet for him to look reasonable clean is to dress him all in navy....  everyday .. in spite of that I got the kid red shirts and tan pants too, along with the white :P and i'm washing it all before tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow is Ian's first day of school... PreKindergarten.  I still have missed feelings about holding him back.. he will be 6 in September and next year when he goes to Kindergarten he will be 7 at the beginning of the year... While I was young in my class, I was far from youngest.. there where a 4 people younger..  My younger brother was the youngest by far in his class and you could tell.... you still can tell. I love my brother but.... yeah...

So, I dont want my son to be scocially behind everyone else.. but jeepers as it was for preschool he had the first birthday of the year. and i think he might have been the oldest child. Additionally, his cousin, T,  is the same age.. (two days older) and he is getting signed up for Kindergarten, but he has to have the screening test his school does, and I'm kind of hoping he doesnt get into Kindergarten just because I dont want to have the "if we are the same age, why aren't we both in X grade" discussion *sigh* and I really dont want to have to explain it to the cousin D who is 9, because he never forgets.. and if you dont explain something to his satisfaction he never lets the subject die.  aurg...

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I'm such a nerd because...

What's the nerdiest thing about you?

I think it is probably too hard to pick just one thing..... Maybe someone else could answer that for me :P

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QotD: Teacher's Pet

What was (or is) your favorite subject in school?

The Sciences, and the Arts....and Math to some degree. I enjoyed the cultural  discussion in language classes but no matter how hard I try I dont seem to be wired to learn languages, and English..  hours dicussing dangling participles? :P bleh  And history... double bleh.. dates and allies and politics... arg.... I had to fight hard to keep what I needed to pass  in my head...

Yeah Science, Arts and Math

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QotD: In Heavy Rotation

What albums are in heavy rotation for you right now?

Lately I have dug out a few old favorites that I haven't listened to for awhile, the most rotated right now is US by Peter Gabriel, but also in rotation  is Union by Yes, Soundtrack from the Mask,  Violator by Depeche Mode; Always in regular rotation is Josh Goban (self title and Closer) and anything by Chris Rice...

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QotD: My First Car

Tell us a little something about your first car.  Do you have any photos you can share? 
Submitted by tamara.

Hmm.. first car that I bought? was a small black two door plymouth horizon... had a "moon roof" and a small faux hood scoop so it was like the poor mans sports car...  It took me a long time to remember what that car was... what i think of as my first car was the four door silver Plymouth horizon that i drove to college and then after i bought the black car I drove the silver one when I went back to college. (My Dad was afraid the black one wouldn't make the 4 hour drive to school. then after that my Dad kept the black car and i kept the silver one.. so when I got married the car went with me.  That is what I think of as my first car.... I'll have to look for a picture of it.

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I would leave my husband in a heartbeat if....

...Orlando/Harrison/Mel/Tom/Sean/Johnny/Whoever showed up at my door. 

This sentiment has always bugged the hell out of me.... I have always wondered what the "husband" thinks in this case.. Does he laugh it off and think I know all your secrets and trust me Orlando would not put up with your habits.... or  hey if Harrison wants you he can have you! Or does the "husband" sit down and think gee.. what if Mel really showed up at the door.. would she leave?  Or does it just hurt their feelings, but they wont admit it?

And frankly.... why would Orlando/Harrison/Mel/Tom/Sean/Johnny/Whoever want to marry an obsessed fan who wasn't capable of seeing them as anything but a glossy magazine cover......

Hollywood worship and obbsession has always bugged me a bit, but this sentiment above all actually bugs me most, and frankly it scares me when someone utters it in my presence.  Maybe is has to do with being out of touch with reality...  or maybe it has to do the obvious selfishness of the statement..  I dont know.... really I dont know.

I wouldn't even break a lunch date with my husband for Josh Groban.. now.. he'd be welcome to tag along and meet my hubby... but really...  sorry dear it was Josh.. and well you, you are just my husband...

*shakes head and wonders*

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Vox Hunt: Earn Your Stripes

Take a photo of something striped.

This was an easy and a hard first submission.. I like stripes! the first pic is my toss stuff in it and head out the door bag.. It's a gardening bag I bought at Target this spring to use for horse brushes and stuff.. but i liked it too well to do that with it. :P

 

 

August06 326 copy

and the second pic here is my little ones Blankie.. I bought it because i liked the stripes on it LOL it was $5 or so on clearance after halloween.. he got to use it one nigth soon after i bought it and its been his ever since :) i used the stripes in one of my coloring contest submissions.

August06 324 copy

 

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QotD: Here Comes The Bride

What was the last wedding you went to?  Were you in the wedding?

the last wedding I went to was CandiedGingers wedding. and nope I wasn't in it.. rather I got to be more of the Mother of the Bride in the planning and prep for it. My boys were the ring bearers.

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QotD: Is This Thing On?

When was the last time you had to speak in front of a group?  How did you feel?

Over the past year I have been the craft comittee member for a Mother's group and i've had to explain to teh group what we are doing.. same with the group this year. I'm always a hair nervous just because while i know what i'm doing sometimes I dont articulate it as well as I can :). In April I'll be doing a 30 minute talk about taking pictures of your kids.. or taking better pictures of your kids.. and I'll probably be a touch nervous then too.. :) but I think i'll start by writing it now .. lol

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I had a great title a moment ago...

...but I misplaced it! I dont even know what I was going to write about....  How flaky is that?

I'm sure I was going to wax poetical about some fabulous topic... I must be going to save it for later...

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It was Drama and Ka-flop

Every other website I frequent for any other reason lately has had some bit of drama lately. People claiming pictures as theirs when they aren't, people missing, policy changes accounced at a bad time, asking for feedback the powers that be didnt really want. and I have read pages upon pages of it.. and I'm done.. no I didnt finish I give.. It isnt worth my time or effort to read through and stress about things i dont control.

Breathe Deep, Seek Peace.

I have no energy to write about anything and the QotD didnt seem to inpire much out of me....

 

Update on the great Chimney Swift Rescue, the chimney is much quieter for the last day and a half I expect the bigger babies have flown the nest and the lone voice I can still hear is the youngest baby, who is not ready to leave just yet. When he goes I'll have to remove the nest and fix the damper. or I'll go to light a fire this fall and there will be all kinds of entertainment.

 

There must be something in the alignment of the planets or somesuch the kids are just picking on each other like nobodies business.... I'm thinking I'll ship them to Canada.. Large boxes with air holes marked "Live Animals" ...  (no I wouldn't really, so stop thinking you should call the child welfare office) I just want to use the bathroom without a child hunting me down for that 90 seconds...

Still no decent picture of the praying Mantis.. I have tried a few times and I guess i'm just not going to get one, the bugger moves everytime I get her in focus, and she is so long I cant get all of her in focus. This would not be too big a deal if everytime I got her face in focus she didnt move so all I had was a leg.  Maybe I will try again today, but I have a few other projects i'm tinkering with the last couple days.

 

Like this picture and some of its friends for a group to use as postcards and such. I was trying to think of something crafty to do with it to use in a gifty manner for a few people.. but i'm so very out of ideas lately.

squaredaisy.jpg

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QotD: Howdy Neighbor!

How well do you know your next-door neighbors?

Not very well actually, they live down and across the road. I haven't been over to visit tham but my hubby has... I know the gal 2 miles down the road the other way, but its because she boarded her horses here for a bit.

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Who gave these people me email address

and why do they think I want to e"nlarge my p"enis... why do they think a have one in the first place???

 

and really do i need viagra, prozac and ambien all together at a discounted rate?

 

 

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The Great Chimney Swift Rescue

Yesterday, for the first time I heard a great chattering in my fireplace/chimney area. Frankly my first thought was some dumb sparrow built a nest on top the chimney and it fell down.... or the dumb sparrow fell itself. Or maybe there where Bats in the chimney roosting, except bats prefer a crevice.

Then about 10:30 there was a flapping in the fireplace, and upon investigation it was a small grey fledgling bird clinging to the side of the chimney in a bat-esque way. (you should note here that I am unable to kill animals, even mice, it just does not happen) And so killing the poor creature or tossing outside where its parents would never find it and it would starve is not an option.

And so I go got my trusty yellow bucket. The bird bucket. I use it to trap birds who have gotten into the house. (4 since we moved in in January, not countlng this recent adventure) And on one horrible stormy spring night the bucket housed a fledgling Robin that fell from its nest, could not yet fly, and was about to have a blessedly hard night. (See I could not even leave the robin out and "hope for the best")

Back to the bucket.. tossed a couple old towels in and then introduced the bird to his temporary sanctuary. It did finally occur to me I had seen in a bird field guid of my dads a pirture of a grey bird flying to a chimney. And I finally realized what my noisey little friend must be... and he had siblings. Because there was more noise up the chimney. One was sitting right on the flue/damper part that opens and closes.. so I donned a glove and gently removed him. I wondered if they where from the same family the second one was much younger.. and them I could here two more in the chimney .. plus i discvered the sticky wad of sticks on the damper.. that was the nest.Next I pulled the nest out.. then while the other two babies clung to the side of the chimney just above the damper I sat down to search the net for ideas on mounting a rescue.

What did I learn?

They Winter in Peru.. they wont spend the winter in my chimney! yay!!

The parents wont find them if they are not in the chimney, so no going outside with them..

Towels are bad, they get those long claws for hanging on the wall caught in them. (oops)

Only the juveniles make that terrible racket, and only for the last couple weeks before they leave the nest.

and sometimes you can put the nest back!!! (Hooray)

 

But there wasn't much left of the nest. and the best advice was to tape it to a broom and wedge it up in the chimney. I found an alumanim pole but I could figure out how to secure the nest to it so all 4 babies would fit. I got a big butter tub and thought about using it but it wouldn't fit throught the damper. So in a move that will delight my husband... I removed the damper piece that opens and shuts. next I wandered out to the shed to find something suitable to strap the nest to. I found a 1/4"x 4"x36" board. Then a sacraficed a tshirt. I cut off the sleaves and taped on to the top of the board then I used the second one to make a pocket to put the nest in. then I taped it up so it was stiff enough to hold the weight of a parent bird.  I was pretty proud of myself... i was too tired to even think about taking a single picture.

Then I removed the two babies still in the chimney.. and if one baby sounds the alarm they all do. I waited for them to quiet a bit and then one by one I put each little trouble maker into the nest.. they tried to crawl right out.. up that tshirt covered board. so I tokk to putting one in and holding my hand over them until they found a place to cling in the nest. after the three older ones where in I went to putting the runt in .. he was hardest to get to let go of my glove... they are strong little buggers. after they where all int eh nest I took a quick break so they could all calm down.

Then I gently pushed the board up the chimney until the bottom of the board was resting in the top of the flue. I nudged the board to see if it was secure, and then at 2am I went to bed. Today I can hear them Chirping at fairly regular intervals.. my hope is that it is when the parents are coming to feed them. I figure if I am serenaded for a week or two it is a good sign that the parents are feeding and they will leave after a time.  Hooray!

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Missing person.. FOUND!!!

Steve

 

I dont figure it can hurt to pass the info along.

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Quotes

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea. ~Isak Dinesen

Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they are already asleep. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I'd call them Freaks, but to them, that's like saying "Good Morning".

"Support the fine arts, shoot a rapper"

QotD: Weekend Goal Follow-Up

So, how did do with that weekend goal? No goal? What did you do this weekend?

Didn't have a weekend Goal really... There are a few things I figured would get done but they are things Scott has to do. (put a new muffler on the blazer) I will have to learn to use the lawn tractor apparently, since that isn't getting done often enough. The grass is tripping me, its so long. I didnt have any goals that I could actually do. ( I could mow the yard if he started the mower and showed me how it all worked I suppose.) But last I talked to Him before the weekend he was trying to get a load out of Utah, then he was stopped in Nevada on Sunday fixing something. And today? I have no idea where he is. The point: he did not make it home for the weekend.

So, On Friday we went to my adorable nephew, Samuel's First Birthday Party. And then we just stayed the weekend at my Mom and Dad's house. On Saturday we went to the Pool, and On Sunday  We went to Church and to play with the cousins.  It was a nice weekend.. mostly relaxing. 

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QotD: My life is taggable

• What are the 5 words that best describe your life right now?
  Question submitted by mojito

 

Mother

Wife

Creative

Content

Crazy

:)

 

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QotD: Reality TV Star

If you could be on any reality TV show, which one would you pick and why?

I dont watch reality TV :P I get enough reality at home :) but  Motheroftwo answered Extreme Home Makeover.. and ours could certainly use the work... LOL.. it was built in the 1850's, the 8x8 support beams in the basement are ax hewn. and the last time the dining room floor was redone... the 40's there is newspaper under the  flooring... from the 40's...  LOL   yeah we could use a home makeover ... there are just lots of more deserving folks out there.

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A couple more

Voxhenna

Voxxed

i couldn't resist

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the beyond addictive vox coloring contest

 

Oh my.. I could be cleaning the house.... but I'm not. Do you think my husband will buy the excuse that I was entering the vox coloring contest?

 

 

Voxsunset

 

Voxsunsetreverse

So this is what I have come up with I made the peachy loking sunset first then the "reverse" of it. I think I like the first better..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voxhydrangea

 

Voxhydrangeareverse

Then I just started playing with any picture I had... this  picture i took so i could play!

Voxpink

 

Voxgreen

 the stripes where a new adventure for me.. I have a bunch of digital scrapbook pappers.. but i hadn't ever tried to make my own.. I feel so smart and so stupid.. it was so easy, why didn't i try it before now?

Voxphotostrip

 

 

Voxautumn

I love the filmstrip but coding it so people could add their own pictures to it could be a nightmare.. ( I dont code what do I know)  and the autumn leaf.. I was thinking seasonal themes would be fun...

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morbid fascination

So, I still have the preying mantis and I have developed a morbid fascination with the beastie..  I can feed him things that bother me.. (providing I can catch them)  Yesterday and today  it has eaten 5 flies and 2 moths and one cricket. Since its capture, ten days ago? eleven? it has slipped its skin once. Very cool... and now it has little wing buds... I'm assuming those will grow longer, how long should depend on whether it is male or female. It does have a boken leg, when it slipped its skin the lower third of of one of the hind legs stayed in the skin.  Early this spring there was a little green mantis in one of our windows inside, and I wonder if it was this one, it was much smaller then. I took a picture of the little greenie.. but no picture of this one yet. I think i might get to it today.

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QotD: Desktop Show and Tell

What is your current computer desktop image? Let's see it!

AutumnSmall

this is my current peice of serenity. it came with the compy.. but I really like it... I may trade up for one of my own pictures or a collage of pictures I have takes one of these days.. but I like this one.

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QotD: Can you hear me now?

What's your cell phone's ringtone? What made you pick it?

a thousand miles by vanessa carlton.. assigned to my hubby, he drives thousands upon thousands of miles.. we own a semi

i'm feelin' you - michelle branch.. its catchy and it is assigned to the other person who calls me most often

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