Long time no see.

Wow! Has it been5 days since I posted? I can explain.

The laptop cd-rom does not work at all so I haven't been able to download the new Nikon software onto it so I can't put my pictures there. I have been going to Brian's office to do anything with pictures and, as you can imagine, this is not in any way convenient. We have several computers that we are not using at the office but they have been sitting here at home useless because we have a nearly incompetent guy that works on our computers. (I wish he would get David Dean to do all of our computer-related stuff. Hi David! Thanks for helping Brian over the phone the other day.) None of them were working.... at all. So, after enough hen-pecking, complaining, belly-aching from me, Brian finally got the guy to "fix" one of them and that is what I am working on at the moment. Except that this reeeeally cheap keyboard is clacking and crashing with each stroke and the space bar doesn't work well and I had to take 10 minutes to change the screen resolution and it locks up every 20 minutes...

You get the idea.

Anyhow, I am hoping I can get back to some semblance of regularity on this here blog again.

I will post again tomorrow, hopefully. But right now I need to go help June Bug with homework, wrap 5 Christmas presents for the kids' teachers, decide what to make for dinner, go get a birthday present for a friend of Cuddle Bug's and then I need to collapse.

See ya later.

"Little" Brother

He'll hate me for saying it but, even though he's 8 inches taller than me, he's still my little brother. And he's 33 years old today! He's the one in that picture there wearing those fab green shorts. And that other little brother is probably the one that scratched out my face in the picture. But I'm not holding a grudge or anything.

Anyhow, that guy in the green shorts now resides in South Korea and is a teacher. !!! Who knew?! I miss him lots and can't wait to see him in a couple months. He's coming here - I only wish it was me going to see him. He's quite an accomplished traveller by-the-way. A couple of summers abroad in Spain and Chile and far-off Maine (or was it in New Hampshire?), time spent in Ireland and London and to states and cities I haven't seen yet.

He has two bachelor's degrees and is an avid reader and movie buff.

This is starting to sound like an on-line dating profile isn't it? Sorry, ladies, he's had a sweet steady gal for almost 6 years now. She's the reason he's in South Korea... grrrrr. (Just kidding, Erin!) (kind of)

Anyhow, I don't get to tease him in person so this post will have to do for the time being. I love you, Paul and

Happy Birthday!!!

Sweet Dreams

Lady Bug and Baby Bug had fallen asleep in the car last week and I sat with them in the car while they snoozed. They were asleep for over an hour! I love that if you look close enough there is a sticker on her shirt that says "Subluxation". Her chiropractor daddy will really appreciate that considering the posture she is in.

I haven't submitted anything to i heart faces in quite awhile. Mostly because I was so mad at my old camera and it seemed nothing was good enough. Notice I said "old camera"? For those of you visiting from Angie and Amy's site I've gotten a new camera and am loving the difference and have only just begun to explore it's possibilities. Now if only I could edit them! Crazy "computer guy". And I'm using that term very loosely. Hopefully, by next week I'll be able to load my pics onto a computer here at home where I will have photo editing software available. At the moment, I am having to take everything to Brian's office and loading them there but that's as far as I can get with them. It really stinks. Soon, though, soon.

And I'm sorry if this is the second time you've been here today; I don't usually post twice in one day. I might have to post a third time to link up to Chatting at the Sky for Tuesdays Unwrapped.

Just kidding.

Pioneer Woman in Atlanta

Have I mentioned before that I'm a big goober? Last night I turned into my worst nightmare...a drooling, incoherent groupie. I kicked myself all the way home (which was hard to do since I was driving). I may or may not have said something about Joey McIntyre. Yes, it was THAT bad! I think someone should write the book "The Idiot's Guide to Speaking to Semi-famous People Without Turning into Beavis or Butthead."

But I had a great time before all that happened!

On my way up to the 2nd floor of Border's I looked down and saw Kelli and Katie coming in for the signing too! So I didn't have to spend the whole night pretending that I was okay with being by myself! Hooray! Of course, I've never met a stranger and I'm certain I would have made a few new friends if already-established-friends had not shown up. We got our wristbands and then walked across the street to Target to eat; they have a Pizza Hut/Cafe Thing upstairs. Then we came back and Kelli and Katie watched I Love Lucy episodes from her iphone

and Kelli and I introduced Katie to Jen Yates (a.k.a. Cake Wrecks Fearless Leader). Katie and her husband make amazing cakes by-the-way. I'm certain none of their creations will be showing up on Cake Wrecks!

The four hours that we waited passed pretty quickly this way. I had been reading the posts from Dallas bloggers and was worried that I might not be getting home until the wee hours of the morning but I was determined that if I was going to the signing at all then I was DEFinitely coming home with my book signed. I am nothing if not stubborn. As it turns out, we left the premises a little after 10 p.m. and I was home before Brian fell asleep. He says the kids were awful at the office (I had to leave them with him for an hour at work) but that they were fine once they got home. Uh-oh. I hope this won't make it harder for me to get some more "Me-Time" the next time around.

There were lots of ladies and lots of mommies with their kids and a few brave men waiting to meet Ree. These girlies in front of us were such cuties!

Hooray! The end of the line! K and K were up first. They had brought these cute aprons to wear for their picture with P-Dub.

Isn't that adorable? It has the I Love Lucy scene from the chocolate factory on the pocket!

Then it was my turn. I must have left my brain on the shelf when I put away the books we had been looking at. Borders, if you find my brain will you please send me an e-mail and I'll be sure to pick it up some time this week.

Thanks, PW, for coming all the way out here to the ATL ...

and for not calling security to come and get me.

UPDATE: ... here.

What a difference a D makes.

Here are some early samples of what my new Nikon D60 can do. Look how crisp! Look at the balanced color! Look how it will focus off to the side and not just in the center! I'm so happy and this is only the beginning. I've only played with it in Automatic mode, No Flash, and in a few of the preset modes like Portrait. All of these images are SOOC (straight out of camera) with no editing done to them. I hope you can tell the difference in the quality of these pictures versus the ones I've taken in the past; I sure can. Oh, by-the-way, that is a bird's nest in one of the rose bushes. Poor little birdies; I kept walking by to take pictures of things in the backyard and they had to scatter every time I came by.

What a bargain! Can you throw in the sign as part of the deal?

Y'all er gonna luv this...
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Wayt fer it...
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Waaayyt fer it...
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BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHHAAHAHAAAA!!!!

Oh boy! (wiping away tears) That's classic. Happy Tuesday. Love y'all so much.