Blog Olympics

Watching the Olympics for the past week and a half has caused me to develop a loser complex. Those olympians are amazing...I saw a story about one of the swimmers who won the first ever gold medal for her country 4 years ago. When she returned home from Greece, people were NAMING THEIR BABIES AFTER HER. And then there's Phelps with gold comming out his wazoo...and women more than 10 years older than me who are chisled like greek statues and running for miles and miles...you get the point.
Well, it's MY TURN NOW! I got my first ever blog award from
amy !!!
And since this allows me to award someone else, I am hereby awarding my friend andi . If you havent stumbled upon her blog yet, let me tell you, this is good stuff. Andi is a super green mom...she just began using cloth diapers...she is such a great recycler and she only sends about 1/5 of the trash bags that I send to the dump each week...PLUS, she has some great stuff for sale on etsy...AND rumor is that her husband (known to the blogging world as "B") cooks dinner every nite (*collective "oooH, ahhh"*).
The frustrating thing is that even though I've been awarded, I can't get this thing to show the links to amy and andi's sites. Guess I'm not really a blog olympian...I'll just show them the old school way...
http://amyclary.blogspot.com/
http://my-scraps-of-life.blogspot.com/

Things We Make Fun of...#3

I've thought long and hard about wether or not to chose this as a topic...but 99% of the time I'm writing on here I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing...maybe I should just start writing whatever I want and not worry. Sheesh.
I have to post this one...because last nite it had me laughing so hard that I couldn't even go to sleep. Tim was SO annoyed! Without futher ado...the 3rd installment of "Things We Make Fun of" :

OLD SCHOOL WORSHIP SONGS

There are 2 old worship songs that particularly get us going. I really don't know how this started for us...these songs are really never played anymore (at least not anywhere I've been lately).
#1 is "Horse and the Rider"
#2 is "King of Kings"

Here's a cut of "Horse and the Rider"

"I will sing, unto the Lord, for He, is glorious.
The horse and rider thrown into the sea.
The Lord, my God, my strength, my song,
Is now become my victory

The Lord is God and I will praise Him,
The Lord is God, and I will exalt Him!
This is my God and I will praise Him,
Just like my fathers, I will exalt Him!"

These words aren't exactly the ones I remember (but I am famous for not being able to hear the words right, making up my own, singing the song wrong for years...) I really thought that it was "I will sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously" ANYWAY, that doesn't matter. When Tim and I start joking about this song it absoluely has to be combined with the official "Horse and the Rider" dance. I should video myself doing it so you can see. Basically you stand in one spot and alternate kicking your legs in and out. If you are really cool, you put those hands up too.
My favorite thing to do with "Horse and the Rider" is to sing "I will sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously, the HORSE AND THE RIDER THROWN INTO THE SEA, bum-bum-bum-bum-BUM-BUM-BUM!" while doing the dance. This is exactly what i was doing in the hallway last nite at 10 pm, while Tim was yelling "you'll wake the baby up!" (nothing ever wakes the baby up).

Moving on to "King of Kings"

If you attended just one church service between the '80's and '90's I am SURE you heard this ditty. It was a hot one back when flowered dresses with shoulder pads and stirrup pants were in. Here's a cut:

" He is the King of Kings
He is the Lord of Lords,
His name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, JESUS! OOOOOHH! He is the King"

When you really got going with this one, you'd hold out the "OOOHHH!" as long as you could while spinning in a circle with your hands up...once you were about to hurl, you'd end it with a good, loud "He is the KING!"

For some reason, these popped into my head last nite and I just couldn't stop. Tim just wanted to go to sleep...he had a big day ahead of him...and there I was dancing and singing. I shut up for a few minutes...he probably though I was finally going to let him go to sleep. Then, I said to him,
"did you see the most recent headline on MSN?"
"No" says Tim.
"The Horse and the Rider were thrown into the sea!" I say.
LOL!

"Lorelai" ....the soundtrack

My friend is taking a bunch of the pictures from Lorelai's 1st year and making a....well, I don't know what the official name would be...I suppose a slide show set to music.
I chose the pictures easily...the music....well, I kinda put that off for awhile...I was afraid it would be too hard! I'm funny about music...I have all sorts of tastes in music. If I hate a song, I really hate it. Songs and smells are kind of the same to me...just like a certain perfume can take me back to a vacation or phase of life, a song can "take me back", motivate me, depress me, or make me feel good. I know that this view is probably true for everyone, but I really think that I am especially sensitive to it. I can listen to a song now that I was a big fan of at a certain time in my life and it can drum up all the things I was feeling at that time...good and bad....it's like hoping in a time machine!
Sometimes a song will become a mascot of sorts for a particular time in my life...but the words in the song will not line up with that particular time...but it doesn't matter, because, in my head, it drums up all the right emotions...here's an example (since you are so confused and ready to see what other blogs were updated today):
When Tim and I made our grand entrance at our wedding reception we had the DJ play Boston's "More Than A Feeling". The title sounds right, but if you actually know the song, you'll know that it's about a guy who sounds pretty depressed...he keeps thinking about Maryanne...but the darn chick "slipped away"....perhaps she left the dude....the lyrics are vague...she could have died for all I know. BUT, if you've ever heard this song, you'll know it's SO full of energy! It's happy-rockin'-sunshine-omigod i think I'll run and extra mile today! When Tim and I were dating, he introduced me to Boston (popular in the 70's). I remember blasting their music when we'd be driving somewhere on a sunny summer day, windows and moon roof open, in Tim's black Jetta.
So, I knew that the music I'd pick for Lorelai's video might not be your typical baby music. Without further ado...
1. "Where You Lead I Will Follow" Carole King
Well, this one is an obvious choice if you're a Gilmore Girls fan...it's the theme song! The original version of the song is really about a woman and a man, but at some point she re made the song with her daughter and changed the lyrics to suit that relationship.
2. "Lorelei" Styx
Tim and I were pulling out of the driveway one day...this song was playing, and I said "I like the name Lorelei...maybe if we have a girl one day we can name her that." Obvious choice for that reason alone...here's a cut of the lyrics:

"when i think of lorelei, my head turns all around, as gentle as a butterfly, she moves without a sound, i call her on the telephone, she says be there by eight, tonight's the night she's moving in, and i can hardly wait, the way she moves...ooo ooo ooo, i gotta say... lorelai lets live together, brighter than the stars forever"

the style of the song instantly causes visions of polyester bell bottoms in your head...i guess it's not your typical lullaby...but hey.

3. "Time After Time" Cyndi Lauper
With a chorus that states:
"if you're lost you can look--and you will find me
time after time
if you fall I will catch you--I'll be waiting
time after time"
you can't deny it's a good one to include in a loving tribute to your kid...however, I'll admit that I have no idea what the rest of the song means....here are some more lyrics:
"sometimes you picture me--
I'm walking too far ahead
you're calling to me, I can't hear
what you've said--
Then you say--go slow--
I fall behind--
the second hand unwinds"

HUH?

"after my picture fades and darkness has
turned to gray
watching through windows--you're wondering
if I'm OK
secrets stolen from deep inside
the drum beats out of time--"

WHAT? Maybe you should get a restraining order, some thick curtains, and a metronome?

4. "Everyday See You" Jessica Simpson
This song does not fit Jess' typical mold...I don't want to get into it here, but not all of her songs are exactly like the ones you hear on the radio. This song is soulful...it always made me feel good and warm. The lyrics aren't deep for sure, but the feeling of the song is like the sun breaking though the clouds.
Chorus:
"But I got the sun when I need it
(I got the sun)
I got the moon
I got someone I can talk to
'Cause I get to everyday see you"

We all know that sometimes the only person that can cheer us up is our kid, right? So, this one fits well.

It was fun picking the songs...hopefully someday Lorelai will appreciate my choices.

No Such Thing As a Bad Picture

Really....there is no such thing as a bad picture! Something can always be done to fix what you think isnt a perfect photo. I'm totally in love with picnik. com for enhancing my photos. I know that not everyone likes the look of a photo that has been played around with...but I do. If you saw some of my favorite scrapbook pages, you'd see that my style is somewhat vintage or perhaps antique. One of the reasons I like this style is that you simply CAN'T screw it up. Often, I add brown ink to the edges of my paper to antique them or even purposely crinkle up the paper. I've found a real freedom in this style of crafting. No more agonizing over whether edges are perfectly straight and pictures perfectly spaced. No more frustration over not having perfect handwriting but rather embracing the fact that my handwriting infact is MINE alone...and that my children will appreciate seeing it preserved many years from now.
I think that the more accepting of myself and my abilities I am at the time I am crafting, the better things come out AND the more fun I have doing them...such is life!
Maybe someday I'll take pics of some of my favorite pages and post them for you.
Anyway, the point of this post was to just show you how you shouldn't ever give up on your photos...here are some examples:

Before:

Perhaps this isn't a highly flawed picture...but it is blurry...and there is a shadow cast on the wall which a professional would probably not care for. Lorelai looks a little sad...and her dress and the stool kinda clash (if you're a stickler like that).
After:

How cute is this? No more worries about clashing...the sepia tone wipes that out. Now Lorelai's serious look complements the antique look of the photo. Her name at the bottom adds some interest and highlights what I think is the mood of the photo.

The next example is much more dramatic. Hopefully Jesse and Amber don't mind me posting this! I really love taking photos...but I didn't want to get in the way with my camera. I decided I'd just take a few pics from my seat and make them work.
Before:

I kind of panicked when I saw this photo...I was hoping to get something really nice that I could pass on to the family for their albums...now that's one good looking wedding party...no problems there! But, obviously the picture is far away...there's an exit sign in the photo (not too romantic if you ask me).
After:


I just LOVE the feeling of this suped-up version...it looks like a movie! It really conveys the feeling of a wedding ceremony to me...the wedding party is looking on and it really does feel like a snapshot of a movie-like moment of time! It's still not a "perfect" photo, but it's so alive and real...this is what their family saw as they were getting married...and those are the memories you want to look back at and cherish.

My Six Unspectacular Quirks

Finally answering the fact I was tagged...

1. I have to have our Brita water pitcher overly full all the time. I look at it when it is empty and think "if we suddenly lost access to water, we'd die in about 3 days....we'd better keep this thing stocked up! It would buy us a couple extra days!"

2. I hate pushing a cart at the store (the exception is grocery shopping for a large amount of things). I'll cram as much stuff as possible into one of those hand baskets just to avoid pushing a darn cart.

3. I personally hold it against people when they are in my way when I am shopping. I'm like mentally shooting daggers into their heads when this happens. Furthermore, it seems like there is always a stock boy either totally blocking off the cheese or the yogurt section when I go to shop. Yesterday, I went food shopping...oh BOY I really think the stock boy could read my mind...I was coming up to the yogurt, he looked at me and proceeded to park his cart so that it blocked off the whole yogurt section.

4. When I go shopping and I DO use a cart, I always have this battle in my head about what to do with it when the groceries are loaded in the car and I'm finished with the cart. We took this parenting class, and I remember discussing how we need to show our kids how to be good stewards of stuff...one of the examples was putting your cart back in the cart coral when you're done shopping. It really stuck with me for some reason...when I was pregnant with Lorelai, i was like the "cart-coral-user queen"....but now that I have Lorelai with me on shopping trips, it's hard...If the cart coral is like a parking spot or two away from me, I'm ok with walking over there...but I refuse to walk across the parking lot to put the cart back while my kid sits alone in the car. When I leave the cart in another parking spot, I have this mental battle that plays out in my head...I have to justify my actions to myself...I'm close to busting out for all that can hear "I know this is wrong, but I can't leave my child alone in the car!" OH brother.

5. I just plain hate telephones. If you notice, I make most of my plans over email. I have a really hard time talking to people on the phone. I think I rely heavily on body language or something...I really feel like I'm only getting about 1/2 of what people say to me over the phone...sometimes after I hang up, I fear that they have told me something spectacular and I didn't even hear it. I find myself just saying "uh huh...oh yes" without even hearing what the person has said.

6. Unlike most women (so I hear) I don't feel the need to wash new clothing before I wear it. What's the point? Do we think that the people at the factory actually have the time to try on the underwear while they are packaging it?

Look What I Can Do

Incase you haven't discovered it yet...picnik.com!!! I had every intention of becoming proficient at photoshop.
I gave up! That telephone book-like manual sent me over the edge!
This free website has done all the work for me...so I can just have fun!
Here are 3 pictures I edited in about 5 minutes.
You can also upgrade to premium for $25 per year...but I haven't found the need to yet!