Thursday, January 29, 2009
A sad state for our schools
I just got home from a budget crisis meeting held at Trevor's school, I don't even know where to begin. The school is in a budget crisis because of our state, nothing that the school had done wrong. I don't follow the news much (I know I should) so while I know that things in general are not good, I did not realize the impact that this unbalanced budget will be having on our schools. Long story short, the Oakley Unified School District needs to reduce their budget by almost 4 million dollars for the next fiscal year. Being new in the district, I have to say that I was very impressed with the Superintendent who did the presentation and feel very confident that our kids are at the top of the priority list as they are making decisions on what cuts need to be made. I guess it will all be public knowledge tomorrow so he did not want to go into details of how many teachers are being told that they will not have jobs for the next school year, and of course this is all based on "proposals" so they were giving us information based on information that could change tomorrow. Nothing is set in stone and the decisions that they have to make on who to give notice to can all be reversed if things to end up better than expected . . . it just makes me sad. Our kids are our future but their education is at the bottom of the list as far as the state is concerned.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Some days I love Photoshop
and some days I don't! Although the more I play the more happy days I have! Here is a before and after of a picture I took yesterday, totally on a whim, in manual mode, but forgot to change my white balance. (The pitfall of manual, always always always gotta check your settings)
uummm, yea, just a little on the blue side cause my camera was sent to indoor lighting not outdoor lighting, I guess white balance really does make a difference.
And the reason that I'm loving Photoshop today is in my trustee new book I learned that I could edit my JPEG photos in the RAW editor. That may not seem like a big deal, but after a minute or two of some simple edits I got this ~ this is way better than I could have gotten just using my levels.
now I realize that this isn't the best picture in the world, but like I said, I'm trying to learn, so when I do get that great shot and it is way to blue, I might be able to fix it!
While we were outside (and after I got my white balance problem fixed) Meghan found some bugs, yuck!
for some reason this girly love rolly pollies ~
We were actually outside waiting for Trevor to come back from walking the dog. I'm trying to do an All About Trevor layout and I wanted to get a picture of him walking down the street walking the dog, since that is a big part of what he gets to do these days. I made the mistake of telling him to let me know next time he was going out so I could get a picture, apparently that was a big mistake, because he went flying out the garage door, without telling me of course. So I went flying out the front door trying to catch him, well, he was already to the corner, laughing hysterically. So I told Meg we would hide and catch him when he came back around the corner, well we didn't hide good enough and he saw us before he rounded the corner, and if you know Meghan that shouldn't be a surprise to you! So, this is the picture I ended up with of Trev walking Max ~
I told him in 20 years when he says that I didn't love him as much as Meghan because there are so many more pictures of her than him to remember this day! Can you even see him, yes, the little dot almost in the middle of the picture, yep, that's him!
uummm, yea, just a little on the blue side cause my camera was sent to indoor lighting not outdoor lighting, I guess white balance really does make a difference.
And the reason that I'm loving Photoshop today is in my trustee new book I learned that I could edit my JPEG photos in the RAW editor. That may not seem like a big deal, but after a minute or two of some simple edits I got this ~ this is way better than I could have gotten just using my levels.
now I realize that this isn't the best picture in the world, but like I said, I'm trying to learn, so when I do get that great shot and it is way to blue, I might be able to fix it!While we were outside (and after I got my white balance problem fixed) Meghan found some bugs, yuck!
for some reason this girly love rolly pollies ~
We were actually outside waiting for Trevor to come back from walking the dog. I'm trying to do an All About Trevor layout and I wanted to get a picture of him walking down the street walking the dog, since that is a big part of what he gets to do these days. I made the mistake of telling him to let me know next time he was going out so I could get a picture, apparently that was a big mistake, because he went flying out the garage door, without telling me of course. So I went flying out the front door trying to catch him, well, he was already to the corner, laughing hysterically. So I told Meg we would hide and catch him when he came back around the corner, well we didn't hide good enough and he saw us before he rounded the corner, and if you know Meghan that shouldn't be a surprise to you! So, this is the picture I ended up with of Trev walking Max ~
I told him in 20 years when he says that I didn't love him as much as Meghan because there are so many more pictures of her than him to remember this day! Can you even see him, yes, the little dot almost in the middle of the picture, yep, that's him!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
It's Monday again . . .
Had a nice weekend, didn't do a whole lot which I enjoy a lot! Daryl took the kids to the show Saturday afternoon to see Mall Cop, they all really enjoyed it, even Meghan, although she really wants to see Hotel for Dogs, so I guess that will be next on our list. Although for as much as we go to the movies (and the for the price of actually going to the movies) we should just buy the DVD when it comes out, I'm sure it will only be a month or so until it's released!
Sunday afternoon I even got a nap in, I love Sunday afternoon naps, or any day naps for that matter. Daryl took Meghan to go to the pet store to get food for Max and stopped by his sisters house and ended up hanging out over there for several hours. Meghan was having a great time playing outside with her cousins and the little girls that live in their court, until the down pour anyway, but I guess all the little ones were huddled under a huge umbrella while it poured rain, then they were back to playing. Two afternoons of some quiet time, it was very nice and needed.
I've been officially released from the oral surgeon, finally. I was back and forth to the dentist all last week for them to pack my gums. When I went in on Friday she said it was my choice as to weather or not she packed it again for the weekend. Well, after my last weekend I decided to pack it one more time for good measure. She said not to worry if it fell out and I was to go back in today for them to pull it out. So yesterday it was bugging me and I figured if they were not going to re-pack it on Friday I'll just help it along and avoid one more trip to the surgeons office. Well, they didn't seem very happy that I had taken matters into my own hand and still made me come in, to make sure I got all the packing out, (duh, it's a strip of gauze all sewed together, trust me, it's all out). So I get 32 questions on how it fell out and that I could have used my little syringe to poke it back in, lalalalala . . . so the assistant looks at it and says she'll clean it out and re-pack it, NO!!!! I'm done having gauze in my mouth! So she cleaned it out, poked around a bit (ouch!) and decided to take an X-Ray, just to make sure there was nothing left . . . ok, whatever, I'm telling you, there is NO GAUZE left in there. The X-Ray confirmed what I had said all along, but hey, what do I know! So the doctor came in, suited up (cracks me up, they put on gowns, maskes, googles, gloves, all to look in my mouth for 11 seconds) and confirms that I am not in a lot of pain and that we are good to not re-pack it and that she is closing my file ~ yipee! Now I'll just continue to gargle with warm salt water (apparently I should have been doing this all along) and wait for the whole in my gum to fill up, should only take about 2 months.
Had another successful coupon trip to Raleys, it is worth it to read the ads, and a friend sent me the link to sign up for special on-line coupons from Raleys, I ended up saving 52% on what I bought today, I got all of this for $42.00
You can't tell that I had 2 gallons of milk, 7 cans of frozen juice, 4 cake mixes (those were free for buying 2 tubs of frosting), 2 boxes of cereal, cheese sticks. Even the checker commented on how much I had saved using on-line coupons and some special coupons that they had in the newspaper.
ok, time to get off the computer fold some laundry and head to bed, maybe I can get up on time and get me and Meghan out and not be late for work, yea, we'll see!
Sunday afternoon I even got a nap in, I love Sunday afternoon naps, or any day naps for that matter. Daryl took Meghan to go to the pet store to get food for Max and stopped by his sisters house and ended up hanging out over there for several hours. Meghan was having a great time playing outside with her cousins and the little girls that live in their court, until the down pour anyway, but I guess all the little ones were huddled under a huge umbrella while it poured rain, then they were back to playing. Two afternoons of some quiet time, it was very nice and needed.
I've been officially released from the oral surgeon, finally. I was back and forth to the dentist all last week for them to pack my gums. When I went in on Friday she said it was my choice as to weather or not she packed it again for the weekend. Well, after my last weekend I decided to pack it one more time for good measure. She said not to worry if it fell out and I was to go back in today for them to pull it out. So yesterday it was bugging me and I figured if they were not going to re-pack it on Friday I'll just help it along and avoid one more trip to the surgeons office. Well, they didn't seem very happy that I had taken matters into my own hand and still made me come in, to make sure I got all the packing out, (duh, it's a strip of gauze all sewed together, trust me, it's all out). So I get 32 questions on how it fell out and that I could have used my little syringe to poke it back in, lalalalala . . . so the assistant looks at it and says she'll clean it out and re-pack it, NO!!!! I'm done having gauze in my mouth! So she cleaned it out, poked around a bit (ouch!) and decided to take an X-Ray, just to make sure there was nothing left . . . ok, whatever, I'm telling you, there is NO GAUZE left in there. The X-Ray confirmed what I had said all along, but hey, what do I know! So the doctor came in, suited up (cracks me up, they put on gowns, maskes, googles, gloves, all to look in my mouth for 11 seconds) and confirms that I am not in a lot of pain and that we are good to not re-pack it and that she is closing my file ~ yipee! Now I'll just continue to gargle with warm salt water (apparently I should have been doing this all along) and wait for the whole in my gum to fill up, should only take about 2 months.
Had another successful coupon trip to Raleys, it is worth it to read the ads, and a friend sent me the link to sign up for special on-line coupons from Raleys, I ended up saving 52% on what I bought today, I got all of this for $42.00
You can't tell that I had 2 gallons of milk, 7 cans of frozen juice, 4 cake mixes (those were free for buying 2 tubs of frosting), 2 boxes of cereal, cheese sticks. Even the checker commented on how much I had saved using on-line coupons and some special coupons that they had in the newspaper.ok, time to get off the computer fold some laundry and head to bed, maybe I can get up on time and get me and Meghan out and not be late for work, yea, we'll see!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monkey Bread . . .
is it supposed to look like this?
I think that I shouldn't have used the entire bag of rolls! I couldn't find my recipe so I looked up a few on-line and improvised, I cracked up when I looked in the oven and found one had fallen off!
Here is the recipe I used:
Monkey Bread
1 package frozen rolls (24 to be exact)
1 small package of vanilla pudding (not instant)
1 Cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
1 cube butter, melted
1. Spray the bundt pan with non stick.
2. Mix the cinnamon & sugar together and pour over the rolls while still in the bag, shake to coat.
3. Put rolls around bottom of bundt pan, pour 1/2 the pudding and brown sugar over the rolls, put another layer of rolls in pay and then the rest of the pudding and brown sugar.
4. Pour melted butter over the top. Put a damp cloth over the top and leave overnight to rise.
5. Pre-heat oven to 350 and bake for about 30 minutes.
Even though they looked funny, they were very yummy!
So after breakfast we headed off to the opening of the park by our house, finally, we've been waiting for months for this park to open, so nice that it is walking distance from our house. Trev was so excited because there is also skateboard ramps, so Cole spent the night so he could come with us to the opening too. Well, I think that they boys must have been a little, no, a lot intimidated by all the kids there, they didn't even go near the ramps!
Meghan decided that the washers needed to be tightened while we were walking home, too funny!
And I didn't get any pictures of the boys at the park, I guess I was to busy trying to keep up with Meghan! But here they are cleaning off their shoe because they decided to climb the dirt hill in the BMX area, well, since it's been raining for the last several days it was pretty muddy. Trev wore his brand new "white"shoes . . . ummm . . . yea, he must be 12!
I think that I shouldn't have used the entire bag of rolls! I couldn't find my recipe so I looked up a few on-line and improvised, I cracked up when I looked in the oven and found one had fallen off!
Here is the recipe I used:
Monkey Bread
1 package frozen rolls (24 to be exact)
1 small package of vanilla pudding (not instant)
1 Cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
1 cube butter, melted
1. Spray the bundt pan with non stick.
2. Mix the cinnamon & sugar together and pour over the rolls while still in the bag, shake to coat.
3. Put rolls around bottom of bundt pan, pour 1/2 the pudding and brown sugar over the rolls, put another layer of rolls in pay and then the rest of the pudding and brown sugar.
4. Pour melted butter over the top. Put a damp cloth over the top and leave overnight to rise.
5. Pre-heat oven to 350 and bake for about 30 minutes.
Even though they looked funny, they were very yummy!
So after breakfast we headed off to the opening of the park by our house, finally, we've been waiting for months for this park to open, so nice that it is walking distance from our house. Trev was so excited because there is also skateboard ramps, so Cole spent the night so he could come with us to the opening too. Well, I think that they boys must have been a little, no, a lot intimidated by all the kids there, they didn't even go near the ramps!
Meghan decided that the washers needed to be tightened while we were walking home, too funny!
And I didn't get any pictures of the boys at the park, I guess I was to busy trying to keep up with Meghan! But here they are cleaning off their shoe because they decided to climb the dirt hill in the BMX area, well, since it's been raining for the last several days it was pretty muddy. Trev wore his brand new "white"shoes . . . ummm . . . yea, he must be 12!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Happy Birthday Trevor!
I can't believe that Trevor is officially 12! We had a low key celebration tonight, we were going to go out to dinner but ended up at Mimi & Grampie's for yummy ribs and pasta, thanks for having us over, Cole came with us too!
We had dinner, opened presents and then had pie and ice cream, Trevor's request, I would have picked Chocolate Cake!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration Day
I noticed this flag, tied to a steak in a vineyard that I drive by everyday, last week and have been wanting to stop and take a picture of it. I don't know what it is but it catches my eye every time I drive by it, something about the American Flag, hanging in a not so common place, I thought that it would be the perfect picture for today.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Back to the dentist
So it ends up that needing to take about 40 motrin over the course of 2 days means that there IS something wrong and that I should have called the oral surgeon on Saturday and not suffered all weekend. Well, now I know. I have been in terrible pain since I woke up Saturday morning, I guess I lost the blood clot that protects the where the tooth was extracted, that equals PAIN! So they packed it (which was more painful than the pain I'd been in all weekend) with some packing material, I get to go back on Wednesday for them to re-pack and then again on Friday to do it one more time. At least I haven't had to take anything for the pain, aahhhh feeling so much better. I just have to keep poking the packing back into the socket, fun.
So the boys, Trevor & Daryl and Cole & Scot went to the Warriors Game today as part of Trevor's birthday, he picked doing that over having a party. I sent the camera and there were about 35 pictures taken, 12 of them were of the score board, but hey, at least I have a few pictures to document their day!
Trevor took this picture of the "Wonder Bread" truck and asked that I put it on my blog . . . not sure why he took this picture or why he wanted me to put it on my blog, but here you go Trev!
So the boys, Trevor & Daryl and Cole & Scot went to the Warriors Game today as part of Trevor's birthday, he picked doing that over having a party. I sent the camera and there were about 35 pictures taken, 12 of them were of the score board, but hey, at least I have a few pictures to document their day!
Trevor took this picture of the "Wonder Bread" truck and asked that I put it on my blog . . . not sure why he took this picture or why he wanted me to put it on my blog, but here you go Trev!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Happy Birthday . . .
to Mimi and Grampie. Mimi's is today and Grampie's was on Friday!!!
I'm sure I'll be in trouble for posting this picture, I took it last month, and of course mom doesn't "like it". But since she doesn't ever like pictures of herself, I'm taking the chance and posting it. This is supposed to go on their church web-site. I thought that this picture actually turned out really good!
Happy Birthday!
I'm sure I'll be in trouble for posting this picture, I took it last month, and of course mom doesn't "like it". But since she doesn't ever like pictures of herself, I'm taking the chance and posting it. This is supposed to go on their church web-site. I thought that this picture actually turned out really good!Happy Birthday!
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