Daily Ooos: Wednesday, June 5

[faerywings]

What day is it? Where am I? *Who* am I?
I think I'd fail the Alertness Test we learned about in class (what's your name/where are you/what day) most days. It's a challenge.

I was super excited that I had time to work in the yard yesterday afternoon. I got all the bridal shower stuff (emails, lots and lots of emails) taken care of and dinner was leftovers so it was awesome to be out there. I usually have all the leaves cleared off the garden patches and on top of the weeding by now. This year, the backyard is still an utter mess. Not that we use it all that often. Scott was the one who would have friends over to sit by the fire pit but he isn't here this summer *sniffs, wipes tears away*
LOL-- I'm joking, I am happy for him and I get to see him often, it's all good In fact, we might be having dinner with him and Sam tonight.
While I was raking dead leaves by the shed, I found a tiny salamander -- teeny tiny-- and I wasn't sure if it was alive but then it unfroze itself and wiggled between some rocks. Whew. No other critters besides gnats and mosquitos and flies buzzing about. *grrr*

Today is a *big* field trip. 90+ 6th graders. I'm leading the stream study with a different brand-new intern. I brushed up on my crayfish facts (they have compound eyes that can move independently from each other, which makes them hard to catch) since that's mostly what the kids are going to find. Really-- that's all they will be looking for. Larvae shmarvae

We are either going to Scott's or he and Sam are coming here for dinner.
Should be a fun day! I hope that yours is too! ♥

 

[faerywings]

@vickyday LOL-ing at the premonition that you all were talking about me-- my ears must have been buzzing from that, not the mosquitos
Yes, the 19 yo did eat the granola bar eventually. Me~>
You have been so busy! make sure you take some breaks. I am so sorry to hear that Carolyn is declining so quickly Hugs to you all.

@bitzee Thank you!!!! DH and I always say how amazing the kids are and we can't figure out how we did it LOL

@taxed4ever hugs to you too---and to SIL Linda. There needs to be more awareness and support about the mental health challenges of elder people and *caring* for elder people. Esp the caring for part of it.

@Terri M *nods and points to my last post to Trudy* My mom is the same way as yours. Impossible to get rid of anything. Good luck with the house sale and moving her to the new unit.
The clock is awesome!!!! Your brother and his partner are going to love it!

@BrightEyes ack! No internet! That would bother me so much more than the phone. I can live without a phone- land or cell service-- but the internet? I hope that they can get everything fixed and soon.
My fingers and toes are crossed for cooler and dry weather this weekend.

@AK_Tracy I have Oboz waterproof/insulated winter hiking boots (you'd use them year-round LOL) and they are fantastic. Every hike I went on this winter my feet stayed completely dry, a little chilly but not cold. Gary got them for me online but I hope you can find them to try them on.
ha, that's the truth about surviving the teen years. We didn't know if we all were gonna make it-- literally and figuratively- which makes it so much more *waves to the lump in my throat and heart* special, for lack of a better word to see him where he is now.
how are you feeling today? Semi-rested? And sun? How can you wear shorts in 50* weather???

@mimes1 OMG!!!!!!! What a mess you had the other night. All you would have needed as the icing on the yucky cake was if Mark had a low-sugar episode. Thank goodness he didn't! The poop/skunk would have been bad enough but at 3 am? ughhh!
That moment with Erinn makes all of the crummy teenage stuff melt away doesn't it?

@Cherylndesigns You know to never, ever go by my dates or yours!
Hope that today is easier than the other day.

I am so late, xoxoxo and HAGD!

 

[vickyday]

Quick in and out. I hope to have some more time later. Kim and I are getting ready to walk. We never did walk yesterday. She was in bed a really long time. She is not in the greatest of health. I think her health is worse than mine! We will spend some of the day today with Ilene.
Hope you all have a wonderful day.

 

[bitzee]

. . . I was super excited that I had time to work in the yard yesterday afternoon. I got all the bridal shower stuff (emails, lots and lots of emails) taken care of and dinner was leftovers so it was awesome to be out there. . .

Sounds like Kay @BrightEyes is starting to rub off on you Doesn't it feel great to get stuff done?

 

[BrightEyes]

Well, all my working, cleaning, sorting, etc finally caught up with me last evening. I dozed off in the recliner right after I had supper. Dropped the book I was reading which woke me up. Decided it was time to get in bed and try to read there. Lights off at 8:45PM and slept until 7AM!!! I do feel a bit more rested this morning. But need to run a few errands this morning before it gets too hot... I am completely out of fresh fruit. creamer and milk so last stop will be the grocery store. Yes, @Cherylndesigns, I agree - the grocery prices have take a big jump in the last few weeks!!! Curious to see how the prices are at the Base Commissary. Will be going over there next week for my 'big grocery shopping'. Only go there every 6-8 weeks. Hopeful that the really HOT temps are back down into the 80s by then. Talked to DD#1 yesterday... she is in Phoenix and temps there are 105+ this week!!! We had a nice long chat.

Yes, @faerywings - the internet and phone service is back to normal since the tech was here. Had to reset Netflix on the TV but that only took a few minutes. Since I use indoor antennas I could watch the news, etc while the internet service was down. The tech sent me a message that he had sent the 'installation damage report' on up the line so hopefully something will be done about it soon. I suspect they nicked the sprinkler water line and it is leaking.

Time to get my and then head out. Need to do some scrapping this afternoon. CYL

 

[bcgal00]

Good morning ladies. Quick hello from me today. I am hopping in the shower and then heading out for the day, Darrell and I are bring the dogs and driving 1.5 hours away to an area called Dead Man Flats, in the Kananaskis area. I'm excited for my first visit to the area. No hiking today but will stop for photos along the way and then once we arrive, I am buying a used landscape lens from a photographer. Then we'll take a longer back road back that should be a nice drive and we'll stop in the village for lunch. I'll be home in the late afternoon and then need to get ready for the annual ladies BBQ dinner at the country club. Busy but fun day ahead.

@faerywings Have fun, that's a large group today. I bet you'll have some fun moments to tell us about.

@BrightEyes I'm jealous of all the sleep you get. I'm lucky if I get 5 hrs.

I've got to go, HAGD everyone.

 

[AK_Tracy]

Good Morning Everyone!

how are you feeling today? Semi-rested? And sun? How can you wear shorts in 50* weather???

Okay, but then my question is how do you all swear sweaters at 50*? I think its just all in what we know. For me 50 is warm because it was -20 a couple months ago. If youre not in the sun, 50* isn't super warm but when your in the sun it feel hotter.

So thankful I listened to self and went outside and sat and read my book for a couple hours. Today is rain. I felt a smidge of guilt but it soon melted away. I had just said I was ready for warm sunshine. So when it really showed up yesterday no way was I sitting inside. Its officially summer though. I have a tan started. The calendar is slowing down. I have more days home than away. YEAH! Its summer.

My goal for today is to make dinner and do one of the challenges. Maybe the use it all. I really love the colors of the kit.
HAGD

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Good morning.

It's kind of dreary here and it stormed all night. I don't even try to go to bed when it's thundering and lightening. I started watching a show on Netflix instead and fell asleep on the couch. It's called "On The Basis of Sex" and I just flipped in on, didn't read anything about it and it turned out to be about a young Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I watched that and forgot all about the lightning and thunder. I'll finish it up tonight. Well, I dozed and watched it. LOL It's only about the 3rd time I've actually watched anything on TV for the last 4 months. I started watching Your Honor and want to finish that up, also. The only show I've watched in it's entirety is Bikram - the guy who started Hot Yoga. Chuck and I used to watch TV every evening for at least 2 hours and I just haven't had the heart to carry on that "tradition". Maybe I will watch it some more now. I seem to have broken that cycle of NOT watching. I was going to give up all of my subscriptions, but the family urged me not to and now I'm glad I didn't.

Chris @faerywings good luck with that big group today! Sounds like you're finishing up with all of the shower preparations.

Kay @BrightEyes glad you got your wifi fixed. They pretty good about getting out, sometimes it takes them a couple of days and I hope they didn't cut your hose. Good luck at the grocery store and I'm anxious too to see if the Base has raised their prices, too. Do they try to keep them down for everybody or do they go with "the flow"? Adrienne and I vowed to start putting a grocery order in at Wally's from now on, they ARE a little cheaper than the local store we went to yesterday. It's just such a nice store and pleasant to go in.

Tracy @AK_Tracy yes, 50 is cold to me. We lived in Florida for years and that's REALLY cold there. I understand though about finding a spot in the sun - getting a wind block - that makes 50 and sunny tolerable. Where I live now is always so windy on top of 50 it feels like 40. That's some fuzzy math right there.

Better run - I was a slacker and didn't do my blog post last night, so it will be late today. Need to go do that right now.

Hugs to everybody.
XOXO

 

[AK_Tracy]

Tracy @AK_Tracy yes, 50 is cold to me. We lived in Florida for years and that's REALLY cold there. I understand though about finding a spot in the sun - getting a wind block - that makes 50 and sunny tolerable. Where I live now is always so windy on top of 50 it feels like 40. That's some fuzzy math right there.

Yeah, 50 and wind is cold. Our sun is crazy. Its so much hotter if youre in it. And it was 70 on my wind protected deck. Felt like a sauna but it was so nice. We did Vegas in July a couple years ago (yeah planned our trip in January while freezing to death and never thought temps) and the 90+ degrees about gave me heat stroke. It was hard to do anything outside yet it was sunny and I couldn't stand being inside but couldn't handle outside but it was sunny Drove hubs crazy. He can handle heat having grown up in MN but man, not this girl.

 

[Cherylndesigns]

Yeah, 50 and wind is cold. Our sun is crazy. Its so much hotter if youre in it. And it was 70 on my wind protected deck. Felt like a sauna but it was so nice. We did Vegas in July a couple years ago (yeah planned our trip in January while freezing to death and never thought temps) and the 90+ degrees about gave me heat stroke. It was hard to do anything outside yet it was sunny and I couldn't stand being inside but couldn't handle outside but it was sunny Drove hubs crazy. He can handle heat having grown up in MN but man, not this girl.

And it's dry heat there. It's still too hot for me. Florida was hot, but the humidity is what got to me more than the heat. It never got hot like the desert hot, the humidity was always really high in the summer. We got a break in the winter from the humidity, though.

 

[AK_Tracy]

Yesterday, 50-60* shorts and tank top, sunny
Today 50* flannel pajama pants, socks, and tank top, rain
Hot flashes is why the tank top, later will add a flannel shirt
Just to say, yes 50* can be cold here too.
I finally looked at the designer challenges. Some of them feel intimidating (but one day I will) and some are oooohhhhh I could do that. There are more challenges here than I realized back in April. This makes me happy and stretches my ability. Are there tips and tricks to template files? I did Carol W template challenge and I loved it but I had trouble saving a jpeg small enough to upload. I resized the layout to 400x400 and still couldn't save it small enough. Had to do a gif which makes the shadows crazy. Yeah this might be a question for the other thread about scrap chat but my mind go too talking to my fingers while describing my attire for my stay home day and rambles went on and on. So anyway. Inquiring minds wanna know, is there a trick? A link? What am I missing.

 

[Terri M]

I grew up in South Florida, but it's really just as bad heat and humidity in summer in NJ and in Virginia. At least when I was in Florida we lived close enough to the coast to always have a breeze. We're having a string of showery days which just makes the humidity climb but at least I don't have to go out and water the flowers.

This morning I participated in a study at UVA. They can't do all their psychology on students, sometimes they need old people. I was hooked up to an EEG for it, which meant I went home with about a pound of gel goop in my hair. I think I used up the $30 I got for being in the study in the cost of shampoo.

I used my first Oscraps coupon to buy a huge set of templates, and I can't wait to get to my Disney pictures to use them. But first I need to catch up on my weekly Project Life pages. One more and I'll be caught up. I still have to think about what I'm going to bring to a dinner party tomorrow -- I volunteered appetizer because I detest making salads but it seems harder in the summer to come up with something not too heavy. If I get desperate I could always do a crudite tray, but for that I could have just said salad!

 

[Terri M]

Yesterday, 50-60* shorts and tank top, sunny
Today 50* flannel pajama pants, socks, and tank top, rain
Hot flashes is why the tank top, later will add a flannel shirt
Just to say, yes 50* can be cold here too.
I finally looked at the designer challenges. Some of them feel intimidating (but one day I will) and some are oooohhhhh I could do that. There are more challenges here than I realized back in April. This makes me happy and stretches my ability. Are there tips and tricks to template files? I did Carol W template challenge and I loved it but I had trouble saving a jpeg small enough to upload. I resized the layout to 400x400 and still couldn't save it small enough. Had to do a gif which makes the shadows crazy. Yeah this might be a question for the other thread about scrap chat but my mind go too talking to my fingers while describing my attire for my stay home day and rambles went on and on. So anyway. Inquiring minds wanna know, is there a trick? A link? What am I missing.

That's interesting about the CarolW template challenge. When she did one a few months ago on SG, I had a heck of a time trying to get it to save small enough. I wonder what's different about her templates?

 

[AK_Tracy]

That's interesting about the CarolW template challenge. When she did one a few months ago on SG, I had a heck of a time trying to get it to save small enough. I wonder what's different about her templates?

I'm glad its not just me. But I am guessing the amount of items on the template matter. I know when scrapping pages normally the more I add the larger the files. This had a ton of flowers and maybe that was why? I dont know. It took many tries to get it small enough.

 

[AK_Tracy]

This morning I participated in a study at UVA. They can't do all their psychology on students, sometimes they need old people. I was hooked up to an EEG for it, which meant I went home with about a pound of gel goop in my hair. I think I used up the $30 I got for being in the study in the cost of shampoo.

Oh I'm so sorry Terri but this totally had me laughing. I can just see the 80's goopy gel look with the spiked hair sticking out. And I am sure you used a ton of shampoo!! Hope you at least had some fun.

 

[BrightEyes]

I finally looked at the designer challenges. Some of them feel intimidating (but one day I will) and some are oooohhhhh I could do that. There are more challenges here than I realized back in April. This makes me happy and stretches my ability. Are there tips and tricks to template files? I did Carol W template challenge and I loved it but I had trouble saving a jpeg small enough to upload. I resized the layout to 400x400 and still couldn't save it small enough. Had to do a gif which makes the shadows crazy. Yeah this might be a question for the other thread about scrap chat but my mind go too talking to my fingers while describing my attire for my stay home day and rambles went on and on. So anyway. Inquiring minds wanna know, is there a trick? A link? What am I missing.

My trick when using a template with lots of individual items (floral/greenry/leaves) is to not replace every single flower or leaf with one from the kit.... I will build my own cluster with similar items and with shadows and do a trail save. If it is too large - I link each cluster items and slide them onto a blank page; crop close to cluster and save as a single png cluster. Do this for each cluster on the template. On the template I will delete the items in the clusters. Then add the png cluster back onto the template. I have found that a single png cluster like that is smaller than the same one with lots of items in it... although they actually look the same. Also remember to delete each of the flower/leaf/etc that was on template to begin with. Another trick to save some space if there are shapes (like paper pieces) is to move the shape onto a blank page, add the new paper onto the shape and reduce the paper to where it is just a bit larger than the shape, simplify both and crop them both; then link them together and slide them back onto the template and do a clipping mask with them. Another space saver is to link all the layers together; then simplify them all; then crop it to the 12X12 size before saving it as tiff or PSD file. All those items that are outside the edges can add up to a much larger file.

I just made my Challenge 5 - Color Palette using all of those techniques... was able to save it for web as 800X800 and sized as a jpeg @ 198 pixels.

 

[AK_Tracy]

My trick when using a template with lots of individual items (floral/greenry/leaves) is to not replace every single flower or leaf with one from the kit.... I will build my own cluster with similar items and with shadows and do a trail save. If it is too large - I link each cluster items and slide them onto a blank page; crop close to cluster and save as a single png cluster. Do this for each cluster on the template. On the template I will delete the items in the clusters. Then add the png cluster back onto the template. I have found that a single png cluster like that is smaller than the same one with lots of items in it... although they actually look the same. Also remember to delete each of the flower/leaf/etc that was on template to begin with. Another trick to same some space if there are shapes (like paper pieces) is to move the shape onto a blank page, add the new paper onto the shape and reduce the paper to where it is just a bit larger than the shape, simplify both and crop them both; then link them together and slide them back onto the template and do a clipping mask with them. Another space saver is to link all the layers together; then simplify them all; then crop it to the 12X12 size before saving it as tiff or PSD file. All those items that are outside the edges can add up to a much larger file.

I just made my Challenge 5 - Color Palette using all of those techniques... was able to save it for web as 800X800 and sized as a jpeg @ 198 pixels.

Thank you. Going to copy this and save it. Sounds like I need to "see" it as I do it. I am such a beginner in what the program will do and what I can do. I've been using PSE for just a year. But I will for sure try these steps. Thank you!!!!

 

[AK_Tracy]

@BrightEyes You are awesome!!!!!!! Thank you! Going to go replace my gif with the jpeg. Thank you sooooo sooooo much!!!

 

[BrightEyes]

@BrightEyes You are awesome!!!!!!! Thank you! Going to go replace my gif with the jpeg. Thank you sooooo sooooo much!!!

You are so welcome.... I forgot to mention... I NEVER work directly on the original template... always use a COPY of the template. That way if it gets messed up you always have the original one. Easy way to make the copy is to link all the layers in the original template then slide the linked layers onto a blank page - rename it right then - then go to work.

BTW, I do save the clusters as a png in the folder... as I might be able to use them on another LO.

 

[AK_Tracy]

You are so welcome.... I forgot to mention... I NEVER work directly on the original template... always use a COPY of the template. That way if it gets messed up you always have the original one. Easy way to make the copy is to link all the layers in the original template then slide the linked layers onto a blank page - rename it right then - then go to work.

BTW, I do save the clusters as a png in the folder... as I might be able to use them on another LO.

Yes I always save the template too. And the idea of saving the cluster is awesome.

 

[BrightEyes]

Yes I always save the template too. And the idea of saving the cluster is awesome.

Sometimes I will use a couple of clusters I have already made to build a border for another layout.