Digital LO

Sewing 101

Give me paper, scissors, and scrapbook supplies and I can just go to town without a problem. Set a sewing machine, thread and fabric in front of me and I am clueless as to what to do! Who knew sewing a straight line would be so difficult much less cutting a straight line on fabric. I have been seeing all these really cool camera straps online and I finally decided to attempt to make my own. I mean, come on.... how difficult could a square be? Apparently pretty difficult, if your name is Kami! After numerous phone calls to my mother, a few mis-cuts due to my bad measurements, various Google searches for tutorials, 2 visits from my mother to show me steps, 3 scrapped attempts (crooked) and 5 hours of my day, I did it! I made some camera straps! After spending 3 hours on the first one and getting the hang of it, I spent another 2 hours and whipped out 4 more! I now have 5 straps! WOO HOO! I'm so proud of myself! They are not designer quality by any means but I love them! Fighting with that stupid sewing machine was all worth it! I think I will stick to scrap booking and leave the sewing to my daughter and mother! My brain doesn't work in inches!

School

Things are finally getting back to normal for the new school year for both E and myself. I enrolled in 11 hours this semester but have decided that with my new (still pending) job position that it would be wise to drop out of all but my online class for the time being. I think that trying to learn learning new responsibilities at work and trying to hold down a nearly full time schedule in school along with E's new school schedule and this thing called life, it was in my best interest to just keep one class. There is always next semester. The online class I am taking is a computer class so it shouldn't be too difficult. However, after I bought 240 dollars worth of books for this class, I better learn something!
E started a new school this year. It has been totally awesome for her. Her attitude has really changed. She is talking about how she is going to strive to be on the honor roll and how she is really excited about school. This new school really focuses on academics and the arts. She is doing things in this school that has not been afforded to her before. Multimedia classes, broadcasting, fine arts, Spanish and Latin, along with all of the core subjects. She is growing already and only has 1 week under her belt. I'm very proud and excited for her! I think I made a good decision and this was a great move!

The jobs are going good. E is still working at the ice cream and candy co on the weekends and I am still waiting to hear about my promotion. I have heard numerous rumors that I got the position but I can not bank on it until it is in writing in front of my face. We shall know sometime next week! Just keep saying prayers!


I have new pics of 7 month old Tucker. It is just amazing how much he is still changing. When I went over there this weekend, he didn't even look like the same dog! He is really lightening up a lot. He is just beautiful! Rotten but beautiful. He has a great personality. His bark is so deep. I would definitely think twice about breaking in the house if I were to come face to face with him in the night!

Back to busy!

Well, as you can tell from the lack of blogging, i am no longer on vacation. I will update tomorrow with all the happenings around here.

New room

This is going to be another short post but I just wanted to share more of E's new room. We got it put back together tonight and she loves it! It is still missing a few details but all in all it turned out real well!

The picture over her bed!

The arrow is a magnet bulletin board.

New curtains

I will try and get a pic of the whole room tomorrow. We are exhausted and too tired to try for any more pictures tonight!

Here is one of Tucker, since I havent posted one of him in a while. Look how much he is lightening up!

Tomorrow I shall show you my new cross and a quilt from my great grandmother!

One final shout out! Woo Hoo! One of E's friends was crowned the new Rodeo Queen for 2008! She was great! WAY TO GO, N! We are proud of you!

Favorite Picture of the Day

Lawton Ranger's Rodeo August 2008

How gorgeous is this saddle? The guy's not bad either *wink*! (Click on the picture for a closeup of the details)

( I was in cowboy overload....yummmmm)

More Photoshop fun

color pic is SOOC and then my black and white conversion with a slight tint

Photoshop

Just playing around in photoshop! Thanks to youtube I am learning a little more everyday! FUN FUN FUN!

Continued Bee Saga and Sneak Peek

Sorry to leave you hanging with the bee story. I have been preoccupied with some crazy stuff the last couple of days. I wish it were bee related because then it would be much simpler to deal with. Tears are never easy! I will just leave it by saying that E and I have definitely learned lessons the hard way this week and now it can only get better. And it starts by walking into my bedroom to see my daughter in the Word! No matter what we are going through, God always draws us near to Him! Such a sweet, sweet picture!

Ok.... back to the bees!

I am trying to remember where I left off. I think it was with the professional bee keeper who called. She was telling me that I should just leave them alone because they will eventually leave. Since they are not aggressive and I can stand outside near the house where they are and I can mow without aggravating them then I have a very mild mannered queen, which is good I am guessing. She told me how they will send out scouts to find a new home and how the queen will then create a swarm and then move to the new home. I have decided to leave them alone and hope that they move on. I am just afraid of that never happening. There are millions of them! She told me that 1 lb of bees equals 30 thousand bees. That's just crazy! Soooo needless to say, unless someone else has another good idea of what I can do, they will be living in the siding of my house for a while. She also informed me that it is against the law to kill them. They are good for the planet since they are one of the main sources for pollination... Who knew! Oh and here is a picture of my injury!

It's still real sore and wearing work boots proved to be just a little painful! Notice the white paint? That is from today's project. We completed painting E's room.... well.... almost! I bought the wrong kind of white paint. I got primer instead of regular paint so I will have to get more before it is totally completed but it's good for now. It is not completely put back together yet so you will just have to settle with sneak peeks!


YES! That is a black wall!

More Bee Drama

A very wise sensei told me just this morning that "in order to become successful, you must become smarter than the bee". (Thanks, Dad! *wink) Guess what.... I'm injured and I give up!

Yep, while climbing up the ladder into my attic to try and squash my fear that the attic is full of bees, a free weight that I have stacked up there fell and landed on my left hand and left ankle causing me to fall backwards off the ladder. Nothing broke except my pride and a river of tears down my face, thank goodness, but it sure hurt pretty bad. The 14 lb weight felt like 2 tons when it hit both left extremities. Instant bruising and goose eggs appeared and will remain for a few days I am sure. After the pain somewhat subsided and the numbness wore down a little, I climbed right back up the attic stairs like a good grasshopper, and tried to assess the bee situation up there. After seeing about 5 of them inside the attic by the light bulb near the front wall, and having one race towards me, I hightailed it out of there on one foot as fast as I could. I have thus concluded that they are in the attic also and they are smarter than me! What's a girl to do???? NOTHING!

Right after the traumatic attic fiasco, the phone rang and it was one of the men that had called this morning. WOO HOO, God does answer prayers! He happened to also be in the pest control business. He said that they are definitely not Africanized bees and are just regular honeybees. He said for me to quit wasting money with pesticides and use a straight Dawn dish washing soap and water mix....WHAT??? GET OUT OF TOWN! I was shocked. He said it will drop them faster than any pesticide and its safer. He also told me that if I decided to kill them I needed to think about the problem that will then rear it's head....... the honey! Once the bees die there is no longer a source of air conditioning caused by the bees wings and the wax on the comb will melt. Once that happens the honey will start dripping down the walls thus ruining the walls and attracting more unwanted insects. It will entail tearing out and replacing the walls. After that phone call a professional beekeeper returned my call confirming all that the first guy said and also added a few details about leaving the hive alone.

TO BE CONTINUED

At the stroke of Midnight.....

Breaking from the bee saga!

Last night was the famous "Breaking Dawn" book release/costume party at our local mall. Being the nice, wonderful, loving, best mom in the world, pushover chauffeur that I am, I took E. The first 60 people who signed in with their reservations were able to get a line number and a souvenir red ribbon. We were able to snag #50! Woo hoo, brownie points for mom! An online friend that I met a few years ago (and haven't seen since) called and said she was bringing her daughters so I was able to snag her #55! It was great catching up with her again and meeting her adorable children! ( Kristen, we WILL have to get together and do lunch or something again soon, okay?) Anyways, E decided to wear her homecoming dress for her "Bella" costume. She looked so pretty and was so excited for this book release! Honestly, I can't wait to read it myself! The party ended up being pretty lame compared to what I had imagined in my mind. Something elaborate in L-town? I should have known better! It was just an open room with guitar hero (setup as a scavenger hunt event), a few other games and some posters stuck on the walls. They had a couple of hosts who were dressed in character that were running the show and it was pretty much chaos. Contests for the best "B Y O E" (Bring your own Edward) proved to be the highlight of the girls night, besides getting their hands on the actual book of course. According to E, the "Edward" that won the contest was rather cute. She blushed every time he looked her way. E and Kristen's daughter, K, got brave enough to go ask for a picture and since I just so happened to conveniently have my camera, I obliged them. Sorry I cut half your face off, K! The rest of the evening was spent standing around chatting with friends and waiting for the midnight hour. After our book purchase, we caught a few more final pictures and headed home. We were able to be out of there by 12:30 and home by 12:45 so it was not too terribly bad! E lasted about 30 more minutes, reading of course, then hit the sack since she had to work today. All in all, she had fun which meant that I accomplished my goal. That was all that mattered! Here are a few pictures!

E and half of K with "Edward"

K and E with their books

E and a few of her friends

Kristen's wonderful family

and last but not least-

Kristen and I

The morning after!

AWWW, poor, poor fierce hunter! He can't go outside because the mom refuses to submit him to potential swarming bee attacks and he is not too happy about it! On top of the sad teary eyes and long sorrowful meows, this is what he has been doing all morning.... poor, poor, pitiful kitty!

After inspection of the hidden hive this morning, I discovered that the spray may have done a little damage, albeit not much! It seems that the ones that were not hurt by the spray are frantically trying to carry the dead out of the nest and dump them on the driveway and front porch! I found numerous ones this morning in Toby's water bowl that sits nest to the garage door and scattered around. I did walk to the front of the house to see what it looked like and there are not as many hanging around outside the hole but there were numerous ones flying in and out of the hole carrying more! I was able to collect a sample of them and take a picture. I used Photoshop to zoom in and get a better look so the pic isn't too clear and they look shriveled but it should help to identify them. I have also called 5 people this morning and was only able to get a hold of one man who said that he didn't handle bees anymore due to the strict policy that the police department has put on them. I am actually thinking that the pd was expecting this guy to eradicate or remove without payment but that's my opinion. Needless to say, he was not willing to tell me anything but did give me a name and number of a man who would tell me what I was potentially looking at if it was a big nest. I have also left messages with 2 other men and hopefully someone will call me back soon! I am just praying that the magnitude of this nest and the damage I see in my head are no where near reality! I think I have let my imagination run wild with this....lol I keep seeing the scene in the movies of the killer bees attacking the house and filling the windows blocking out the light!!! Okay, not really.....but close??? I will be using another can of "FOAM" spray this afternoon or evening when they are all gathered back at the nest unless someone calls and tells me otherwise! Wish me luck!

Un-BEE-lieveable

Ever hear buzzing sounds???Ever had a few bees fly by your head???? Ever feel the need to run for your life????? I DO!

Today, I was practicing on my focus and with lighting and was taking pictures of E. After finishing indoors, I drug the reluctant and whiny teen outside to do the outside lighting photos. After a few horrible shots, I happen to notice a few bees flying around. Wishing I had a macro lens, I followed the bees to see where they were coming from. I watched as they flew towards the front of the house and land on the siding...........that's when I saw it! Bees galore! There is a knot hole in the cedar siding on the front of my house and they have apparently moved in. Thinking that there were only a few more just inside the hole, my mom and I decided to get the wasp and hornet spray and spray inside the hole (well, she did the spraying and I took the pictures from a safe distance...lol).

Boy did we get a surprise!!!!! I don't know how big the nest is that is inside the wall but bees started coming from everywhere. There are millions of them, I know this because I counted every single one of them as they flew out past our heads! Not to mention the one that landed on mom's head that scared us to death. Oh and the buzzing sounds.... Oh my goodness.... there had to be millions of them because the sound was unbelievable. I went into the garage where this knothole is and you could even hear the buzzing sounds of the millions in the garage through the wall! (Ughhhh I can still hear it and it gives me the heebie jeebies). It was just like in the movies when a swarm of bees were on the rampage. Did I say it was LOUD?! It was un-BEE-lievably loud! If you will look closely, I even caught a picture of one in flight, go me!!! (rolling my eyes)

Well, needless to say, the spray did nothing! These bees are still alive! After deciding that it was the wrong kind of spray, I went to Wally World to get more. I found some that is suppose to kill on contact. I figured if that didn't work nothing would. After coming home and wasting another can of faulty bee spray, I am convinced that I have bees straight from Hades! (advice of the day: If it says "kills on contact", DON'T BELIEVE IT! They are lying to you! It's false advertisement)

I did a little research online tonight about bees and now I am a little worried that these may be the africanized honeybees.... you know, the ones that are bad. By the way, the Internet and I now have a love/hate relationship. I pulled up pictures of them and they are very very similar to the ones that have taken up residency in my walls and behind my eyelids when I try to sleep. I have called the local police department to get some numbers for local beekeepers and I will be burning up the phone lines tomorrow morning. For some reason, I have a slight suspicion that my bee problem is much deeper than what 2 full cans of bee spray can obviously handle.

We have it!!!!

In our hot little hands! Woo hoo!