The Crazee Chick's View of Life

Mo's playing basketball! And not only does that mean that we get to go cheer her on, it also means that I have a new excuse to take pictures. I like it....

I began my love affair with Mr. Photoshop Elements a number of years ago. Actually, it was a voyeuristic affair; I liked to watch what he did to other people's pictures but I was never able to have him do anything to mine. I bought a book that was supposed to help me subdue and conquer Mr. Elements but the book didn't bring us closer together... In fact, it tore us apart. The book was bulky, pushy and overwhelming. It caused me to fear Mr. Elements, and of course, Mr. Elements with it's lack of friendliness, did nothing to assuage the intimidating nature of Mr. Book. So, in my despair, I turned away from Mr.PSE to a certain degree. I only allowed him into my life to surround my photos with borders or titles...but I feared the commitment of hue/saturation, flattening layers, unsharping masks, dodging and burning. Our relationship, the love affair between Mr. PSE and me, was, for all intents and purposes just a shell of what could have been. We weren't using...

Is it possible for anyone in my family to strike a normal and decent pose for a picture? Hmm...let's see... Nothing here... Or here... or here, although I must say, Kiki's ability to almost lick her elbow is worthy of an entry into the Guinees Book of World Records. Hubby+Christmas Picture=Bad Role Model With parents like us, there's absolutely no chance of our kids being normal... Even the cousins are crazy! Can't I get a decent picture of anyone? Please?  Pretty Please?  Just one? Thank you...oh, thank you. 

Buns:  Homemade and HUGE! And more buns.... Some ice cream sundae's to wash the bunz down with... And finally, no fattening hut would be complete without bubbles and little boys...so I'm bringing these along too! Man, my girls are gonna LOVE the fattening hut but right now they're busy hanging out with Sumi... I'll eat their share of bunz and ice cream.  No worries. Bring on the food!  Momma's got some tube tops to stretch out!!

See this beautiful building? This is a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is almost finished completion and is due to be dedicated on May 2, 2010. The granite is on, the scaffolding is down, the angel Moroni sits atop beckoning all to come, the sign 'House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord 'has been etched into the building above the entry way doors and the baptismal font, supported by the gorgeous oxen, is situated in it's place. Some of the special touches like the gold leafing on the ceiling, the beautiful windows and the chandeliers are also done. The other night I was honored to be asked to go inside the temple to hang crystals on the chandelier. What an amazing experience!  Just to see the temple fills me with the Spirit, but to actually go inside of it...well, let's just say that words can't describe it.  Despite the drywall dust, the power tools, the ginormous fans, the blueprints and the wooden walkways, it was easy to f...

Last night as I sat here eating chocolate, I was disturbed from my solace by the sound of grunting and music blasting. It was my Hubby. Working out. As I popped another bon-bon into my pie-hole, I contemplated the absurdity of the situation.  There I was, in my stretched-to capacity yoga pants, eating junk food, while my Jack Sprat-ish husband was downstairs doing copious amounts of ab crunches and pumping weights. So I vowed to do something about it. Eventually. Right after I finish that last chocolate. And after I have my nice toasty hot bath and read a book. And after this cold/pneumonia goes away. And after I write my exam. Then, watch out people, 'cause I'm going to get BACK into the groove!  I'm gonna find that mojo that I lost back in November, and I'm going to regain and surpass my 'peak' performance.  I've lost a ton of ground (no pun intended) on my running progress; where I once could do 60 minutes non stop, I can barely do 15 no...

Over the Christmas holidays, the kids and I made cinnamon buns (and, yes, I AM talking about Christmas in January. I'm a little behind)and they were so yummy and extremely low fat. (NOT!) After the dough had risen for over 24 hours, we took it out and flattened it. The kids got a little carried away with this and began smacking that little ball of dough with all the gumption they could muster.... After awhile of smacking that dough, it smacked back and some little hands felt the pain... We rolled that poor dough out into a rectangle and began to work our magic on it.  First we added some butter... Can't you just FEEL your arteries hardening?  Of course, no cinnamon bun is complete without an extra heaping helping of brown sugar, so we added that next. Mmmm...looking good.  Just about read to roll.... Sliced and diced and awaiting a warm oven.  At the top you'll see a Christmas tree formation?  Yeah, that sooo didn't work.  Those cin...

There are smiles all around at our house tonight. My kids get their mother back. My husband gets his wife back. My house gets it's slave back. Why? Because I'm DONE! I finished the second half of my course in record time. When I set out my accelerated 6 week schedule for the second half of my course, I worried that the goal was a pretty lofty one. So I got started on it right away. I concentrate, I focused, I ignored friends and family and I dedicated 10-12 hours a day and... you know what? I finished the course not in 6 weeks, not 4 weeks, not even 3 weeks.. Nope. I finished it in ONE! Oh yeah!! Yes, I'm bragging, and yes, I'm hurting my shoulder from patting myself on the back, and yes, I'm feeling bullet proof, Because I did it. I set a goal...and I blew it out of the water! That's a first for me. Honestly. All through my life I have had a tendency to set unrealistic goals that usually result in failure. F.A.I.L!! Not this time! ...

This is me. I am tired. I ache. My eyes shake everytime I pick up my textbook. I have worn nothing but sweats, yoga pants, snuggies and housecoats this week. But I'm almost done. A couple more days!! (maybe I should invest in a 2L of coke?)

Well if this doesn't completely rock your socks then I don't know what will: Taylor Lautner AND Tom Cruise staring in a movie.. together l  And it's about airplanes!   It's TOP GUN all over again people!  I'm just too excited for words. Now, yes, I admit, Tom did crash and burn in my books after the couch incident on Oprah; and after marrying Katie whats-her-name, but all in all, I still like him.  As long as he doesn't open his mouth except to speak his lines in a movie. And Taylor Lautner.  I know, right?  What a beauty!  I don't have a crush or anything on him (puhlease, I could be his MOTHER!) but my eyes do appreciate the view when he's on the screen.  Yes, my eyes, and ONLY my eyes.  Now, as far as crushes go, you need to talk to my daughter.   Taylor adorns practically every inch of her bedroom walls. So, depending on the rating of this movie, I think daughter and mother will go together and both of us will drool.... ...

Yeah, I'm breaking my rule.  But only for a moment. Learned a new word today. Actually, I re-learned it.  I read it a couple of years ago, found the definition and then used it three times in a sentence and thought it was mine forever.  Apparently not because when I saw it today it was like, 'hmm, I recognize THAT word.  Isn't that the one that was supposed to be mine forever?  Where's it been all this time?  Haven't I had a time when I could have used that?'  (as you can see, I ask a lot of questions of myself, which really doesn't mean I'm crazee or anything.  Unless I answer back.  Which I often do.  So, I guess you know what that means....) Ugh...digressing already and I'm only on my first post of 2010 (okay, technically my 2nd post because the first was telling you how I wasn't going to be on here anymore.  Which, we all knew, wasn't going to last long.) Ugh...digressing again. And, no, for your information, the word ...

I'm still here. I survived 2009!  Looking forward to 2010 and all it's adventures. The next 6 months are going to be a blur...not sure how much blogging I'm going to get done.  I know for sure that there will be very, very little for the next month and a half because I'm trying super hard to get my course finished (will tell you all about it when I pass the exam!). I promise I will write something either introspective and philosophical or witty and sarcastic about 2009 and the passing decade, but right now I just can't. Stay tuned though...I promise I'll be back. I will write a notification in Facebook to let you know when I've posted something on here for you to read. Thanks guys... Love ya, Lisa