"Way Back When" - Wednesday

On New Years Eve I purchased a photo scanner.  I want to be able to scan and share old photos and keep the past alive for my girls and other family members.  The name "A Blast from the Past" was mentioned, but I think "Way Back When" seems to fit the feel I have for resurrecting these old photographs.

Today's WBW photo features the birthday girl, my niece, Taryn.  Happy Birthday - (March 1st, I know I'm a little late, but I did send her a birthday email on the correct day).  She's the blonde cutie in the middle.  The other two ballerinas are my two oldest girls, Amanda & Meghan.  I do have some pictures of her alone, but not easily accessible since I'm just in the beginning stages of this monumental project.

Look at the skinny legs.

 

Tea for Me

My hubby loves tea, he drinks several cups a day and can be seen browsing the beverage isle for new blends yet to be discovered.  My husband's favorites are: Stash - Green & Whtite and Tazo -  Zen Green Tea. 

Chamomaile is my personal favorite and I received this tin of it in it's very basic form last October.  It took me a while to find the mesh tea infuser, so that I could properly steep the tea.  I know that you can use cheesecloth and I had some on hand, but it's very unappealing to see what looks like a dirty dishcloth soaking in the cup you're about to drink.  I can vouch for the fact that yes, steeping the little flower heads of the dried chamomaile flower is far superior to the flavor you'll get from an ordinary tea bag.  And I happen to know someone who makes the best cup of chamomaile ever - sorry I refuse to name the source.  I'm doling this tin of tea out for special times, when I need a pick me up or when I'm not feeling well.  And occasionally when I just want to pretend that I'm in Maine cuddled up on the couch with two of my grandkids, sipping the best cup of tea ever made.

"Way Back When"

More scanning of photos today.  It's faster now that I know a little bit more about what I'm doing, but it's still a process.  Some need to be cropped or made larger and some are faded and need adjusting.  Still others will need to go through Photoshop where I can repair them even more, because they have actual cracks or spotting on the pictures, but that process will have to wait til later.

This may become a weekly event, called "Way Back When - Wednesdays!"  Eventually I'd like to put these photographs on discs for family members who are interested or at least upload them to Kodak so others can access them.

Here's a photo of our Mom and us kids.  Left to right is Dawn (youngest), Dolores (Mother), Steaven (seond oldest sibling), Martha (oldest) & Doris (kid number three).  Dawn lives in Florida and must have been up to visit and we had a get-to-gether.  It's not dated, other than our goofy glasses and the short-shorts.  My guess is that it was taken about 18 years ago.

I'm mad at Dr. Oz!

Every one of you knows who Dr. Oz is, right? He's the guy who started out on Opray and now has a show of his own.  He gives great medical advice and everyone loves him.  Well I watched his show a couple days ago on heart disease in women and what we can do to prevent it.  Did you see it?  He had the three paper bags and  he chose a member of the audience to help him.  He asked the woman what she knew about blood pressure.... and she said "Well I have one".  Forgive me, back to why I'm mad at Dr. Oz.

One bag contained dental floss.  Flossing prevents inflamation and inflamation can cause heart disiease, so we all need to floss more.  Okay, I can do that.  I floss pretty regularly, but daily....nope I get lazy about it, some nights I'm just to tired.  Last night, I was a good girl, I flossed and while I was flossing I was thinking about my next check-up and how I'm hoping for good news, because I've been way better with swishing with the anti plaque concotion.  Man oh Man.  I was way off in oblivia when I was suddenly jolted back to the present when my tooth came flying out of my mouth and was bouncing frantically around the sink.  Oh!  My God, I thought it was going down the drain....... Thankfully I caught it in time.  Dang you, Dr. Oz., why didn't you do a program on bunions or something, why flossing this week when I have a temporary cap.

Good grief.  I was panicking trying to get it put back where it belonged, perferably the right way, so I can chew and talk.  (That is the order of importance.)  Of course, I can't remember what they said to use to hold it back on if it were to come off and I couldn't get to the dentist.  I don't want to use something that might damage the interior part that the cap is protecting (like the post) then I'd have to have it reconstructed again.  Yes, this particular tooth has been giving me so much aggrivation... I could scream. 

I had planned to stay up for a while and read, but I was so upset about the thing all I could think about was choking Dr. Oz for his bad timing.  I just so happen to have a chin strap to keep my mouth shut ( no jokes please I'm not in the mood ), because of my sleep apnea, so I put it on thinking maybe that would help.  I lay awake forever worrying about swallowing the temporary crown and having to pay for another one.  I grit my teeth and pray for sleep to come.  It finally does and I awake at 5:00 a.m. with a sore jaw from gritting my teeth all night.   Thanks a lot, Dr. Oz.

Enough Already!

I'm talking about the the snow, of course.  Enough is enough, yet they are calling for snow every day this week.  We have mounds of it on the side of the driveway and the dog comes in with egg-sized snowballs attached to her fur.

Maybe, this will help, but I doubt it.

Do you have any better ideas?

Close Cousins - Will we break the record?

The last two babies in our family were born very close together -  in days that is.  If I've calculated it right they were 45 days apart. 

Griffin Sawyer - 10/9/09

Daniela Elizabeth - 11/24/09

Will we break the record this time?  Well in order to do that we'd need another pregnant person in the family.  Well I'm ecstatically happy to announce that's exactly what we have.  Congrats to Amanda & Derek!  The ultrasound performed on my birthday, shows all is well.  Ava wants a sister.

I've added a baby ticker to my page for the Roberts Baby, which is due on September 11th.  If Audra hits it exactly on that date the baby will share a birthday with her cousin Troy.  Amanda's baby is due the end of September.  Although it may make for a very interesting fall season, Gramie LaLa is thrilled.

These new grandbabies could be 16 days apart or if they do a repeat C-section for Amanda, they usually take them a week or two early, which means they could be even closer. 

Can you believe it?  Our family is increasing by four babies in less than one years time.  We need a big family vacation planned for 2011.  Anyone have any ideas?  That would make 17 of us.  Our four girls and hubbies makes 8 and with us 10 and 7 grandchildren.

Just Add Ice | Phalaenopsis Orchid Care

I feel like I hit the jackpot.  I signed up for the Gardening club at Home Depot and a BOGO coupon was emailed to me for orchids.  For you non-coupon people BOGO stand for Buy One Get One – Get one FREE that is. 

An orchid is an expensive plant when it comes to my budget, so I’ve never purchased one before, but when I saw the BOGO I just had to have  it.  The orchids were $14.98, so that was quite a savings for me.  And they are just beautiful. One has green outer petals and a yellow center and the other pink petals, with darker pink center. 

The photos I took of them do not due them justice, but if you go to the website below you will see just how beautiful they really are.

Here’s a link to the website they recommend for caring for your orchids.  I have never heard of watering a plant by just adding ice cubes.  It’s a very interesting website with tips to trigger re-blooming, how to repot your orchids, and trouble shooting, just in case something should go wrong.  Just Add Ice | Phalaenopsis Orchid Care  This is the link for all you orchid lovers out there or for you newbies like me, that don’t have a clue what to do with orchids.