Friday, February 27, 2009

Firsts - I'm surprised I remember

I read this on a couple blogs and wondered if I could remember mine...

Who was your First prom date? Mike Flory my high school boyfriend, my first husband, and the father of my child.

Who was your First crush? Steve S. lived in the neighborhood. He gave me a stuffed teddy bear for Christmas in fifth grade that I just threw out 5 yrs ago when we moved here.

Do you still talk to your First love? My first true love was Bryan's father and we don't chit chat but we still talk. I love the fact that he still takes care of my Mom's appliances.

What was your First job? I was a car-hop at the local Dog n Suds. No roller skates though.

What was your First car? I bought a 1969 dark green MG Midget convertible and I looked GOOD!

Who was the First person to text you today? That would be Deanna P. my bowling teammate to see how the shoulder was doing?

Who is the first person you thought of this morning? That's a toss up between Sharen and Derrick. How in the hell did Sharen go through Therapy twice? and is Derrick going to hurt me today.

Who was your First grade teacher? Mrs. Siren - she had the reddest hair color and I thought someday I gonna color my hair like hers.

Where did you go on your First plane ride? Sharen and I worked at the high school and the chorus was taking a trip to Italy, Austria and Germany so we signed up to be chaperone's. We were 18 at the time. Mom and Dad came too.

Who was your First best friend? Duh! Sharen was but we did hang with Barb our next door neighbor. We were the 3 musketeers. Barb lives in Rockford now. Her Mother was our neighbor at the old house on Kate so I guess I talked with her more often.

Who was the first person you talked with today? The receptionist at the Therapist office? She asked me if I had a twin named Cheryl who was a nurse. Weird - I told her my twin was named Sharen. No she didn't know me.

Where was your First sleepover? We slept out in a tent at my Aunt Aggie's with our cousins, Chrissy and Bobbie Jo. It rained. The tent collapsed. We got scared and stayed up the rest of the night on the living room floor playing card games with Uncle Vern.

Whose wedding were you in for the first time? That would be Sister Marys. October 71.

What was the first thing you did this morning? I slept in. A rarity for me. Made it to 8:00.

What was the first concert you went to? John Denver at the old stadium.

First Tattoo? I took Carrie on her 18th birthday. Told the people that I was her mother and we each got tattooed. I got a heart with 2 flowers.

First piercing? My ears. We were 16 and froze our ears with ice and just jammed the earrings in.

First foreign country you've been to? That would be my first plane ride. We stopped in Amsterdam on our way to Italy.

First movie you remember seeing? I was in Jr. high and I had to stay up for some tests at the hospital. that required you to sleep through, scheduled for the next day. Dad and I went to see Bridge over the river Kuie (sp). I'm sure I went before that, but I will never forget having a date with Dad all to myself.

When was your first detention? Never had a detention but Senior Yr. Sharen and I skipped school, because we never did it before, and got caught. We ended up playing cards in the Senior Lounge most of the day until we got caught doing that and got thrown outa school.

What was the First state you lived in? I have always lived in Illinois.

Who was your First roommate? Sister Linda. Dad had a heart attack and we only had 1 bathroom. It was upstairs and he couldn't do stairs. So we thought if we all moved out they would have to get a smaller house with a bathroom on the main floor. Ir worked.

What was your First sporting event? I'm sure I watched my brother Lester's games, but the one I remember most was the White Sox in '59. Dad took all us girls. I didn't have any idea what a big thing it was until they won again in 2005 and could appreciate winning the Wolrd Series more?

When was your First time in the ER? I was rushed to the doctor when I stepped on a rusty nail. The doctors office was above a paint store. While Mom and I were upstairs at the Doc's, Sharen and Dad were downstairs and she pulled the paint display over on her and ended up at the Doc's with me with a bump on her head. I took my first ambulance ride when Sharen and I were in a car accident and I tried to put my head through the windshield. (before seat belts)

When was the First time you consumed alcohol? The first time I can remember beign drunk was a high school party we had at the house. Mom and Dad were at the Cabin in WI and we hosted a party. The cops were called and thanks to sister Mary, who worked at the police station at the time, things didn't turn out TOO bad. I remember Mary made us clean the house the next day before the parents came home.

First CD you bought? Back in my day we bought vinyl and mine had to be Herman Hermits. The First 45 I bought was Sugar, Sugar, Honey, Honey.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Cold Shoulder

I've gotten the cold shoulder before. But I can't stop there. Oh No! I have to have a frozen shoulder.
After hemming around I decide it's time to go see an Ortho about this damn shoulder injury. Only 2% of the population has this damn thing and I was lucky enough to be chosen. Why I can't be the one to win the lottery I'll never know! (And yes I DO play).
So I'm NOT bowling - instead I get to visit the therapist for "Physical Agony" 3 times a week. That's what Sharen called it during her stint and I'm going to have to agree with her. I can get through the exercise pretty good, but when Bruce or Derrick is stretching me out. I'm like can you see the tears - Oh that's right you can't look at my face because you MAY see that YOU'RE HURTING ME!!!!!!!! and stop. Their job, according to them, is to push me through by feeling how far I can go not seeing.
Lindsay and Luis, the assistants, have become my new friends. They are the ones who hook me up with the electric stimulate and ice when I'm done.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Class Tonight

I was ahead of myself last week. We didn't restore pictures that's THIS week.
We learned about masks last week (think of halloween masks and the holes that are cut out for the eyes and mouth).
Here is my homework. I found if I use many layers and then cut out the mask I like the look a whole lot better than a simple mask.
Here is a simple mask.




Here I took all the sites we saw and cut in musical notes I used red to show them off. I'm not to happy with the color though.


Here we are at the Yankees game.
My favorite picture - I cut out the thoughts and added the text. I'm pretty sure that is what both of them are thinking.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Wingfest

Sunday we joined Bryan and the gang for some wing eatin'
Bryan went last year and had a good time and He know how much Mike loves wings so he invited us this year.
After standing out in the cold, Mary, Stacy and I headed to the car to heat up. Kudos to Bryan who stood in line for over a hr to secure our place. The doors were supposed to open at 12 so Stacy, Mary and I had the brilliant idea to leave our coats in the car so we wouldn't have to deal with them inside. 25 minutes later they open the doors. COLD!!!!
I got to put some faces to the names that I have heard about. They only had one rule and that was to call me Karen (not Bryan's Mom - that sounds so old). Anyone calling me Bryan's Mom had to chug a beer.
The place was crowded but Mike A. obtained a table and we all shared our bounty. Mary and Stacy come back to the table with a load of wings and announce that Mahoney's is giving away free Jameson shots. Bryan wanted one so I tagged along. Turns out the are only for Women. I think the last time I had a shot of Jameson was Andy's 21st birthday. I don't like whiskey, BUT I did one anyway. (Here's to you Andy).
I took alot of pictures but thanks to my class I can show all the goods ones all at once.

A big thanks to all Bryan's friends who let us crash their party!

Weekend with the kids

Saturday Mike watched the kids while Stacy and I hunted for some drapes for their newly painted house. They had the living room/dining room painted tan so we were looking for dark brown drapes. Found some at Penneys (on sale). Their bedroom was painted the same soft orange as baby Reuter's room (I swear). We found some shower curtains that matched and they were the right length.
Saturday night Stacy made us dinner (very good too - I might add) and Mike and I hung her new window coverings.
I forgot my camera, but I would of taken a picture of Deezul their 53lb, puppy pit bull/boxer playing with Kaylyn (that girl has NO fear) and a picture of that little pup laying on the new drapes. I tell ya every time I laid the drapes on the couch he was up and on them. I laid them across the floor to hand Mike the drill and the second I looked away the pup thought it was his bed and he wouldn't budge.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Glasses

Realizing that I have 10 pairs of glasses lying around the house, my car, and in my desk at work I finally broke down and got one pair fits all glasses. Not seeing the overhead in class was the final straw.
I got the blended lenses. The girl helping me try on my glasses for the first time warned me that you have to turn your head and point your nose at the thing you want to see. You can't look out of the corner of your glasses. It's blurry!
You have to try and wear them all day to get used to them.
The first day I got a pounding headache, so the next day I pulled a "Leslie".

Many years ago my sister Mary had Thanksgiving at her house, back when Leslie was just a little girl. The weather was nice and all the boys went outside to play with no jackets on and of course Leslie wanted to go to. Mary insisting that she must wear her jacket and Leslie stubbornly refusing. There was a standoff for a few minutes when Leslie declared I'm going out! Mary asked if she had her jacket on and of course she did. Score one for Mom!
Leslie had taken her jacket and tied it around her waist. Jacket on! Score one for Leslie... We all were laughing and Mary had no idea being tied up in the kitchen just how smart her little girl was playing in the backyard with her jacket tied around her waist.

So I did wear my glasses all day - just sometimes on the top of my head and not on my nose.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Many Faces of Bryan

So I figured out the homework and made this from pictures I found on Bryan's computer and some pictures of mine that I down loaded.
I hope I got everything the teach asked for.




I AM LOVING THIS CLASS!!!!!!!!
Tonight we learn how to doctor pictures. My hope is to take one of fatty Karen and make me a supermodel.
I know really - really high hopes, but a girl has to dream.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Homework in Layers

My homework for tomorrow is to create a picture using layers. You must use at least 10.
Layers 1, 2 and 3 are three cutouts from 3 different pictures of each of the grandkids.

My next layers were to add 1 of 2 backgrounds required. I choose the first one in a green gradient because the pictures were taken in the woods on a nature hike we took on vacation in WI.
I added the names of each kid for 3 more layers and then I put in the yellow background under the names so they would stand out more.(1 layer)

Layer #9 I added the love is grandkids line.


And for the finished project I used a tool we learned in the first week (one of my favorite) and scattered colored leaves for another background. There are my 10 layers.

We also learned how to take pictures taken with different camera and change the resolution and pixels to all match so the collage looks clean and universal.
Way fun!
I'm not quite finished with this yet. I used some pics from Bryan's camera and mine and made a collage I will try and get up tomorrow before class.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentines Day...

To all you sweethearts out there!


I got flowers from Mike - He almost has too because it's our anniversary too. :)
23 red carnations one for each year!

Friday, February 13, 2009

NETFLIX

It's no secret that I don't like to go to the movies. I rarely will sit at home and watch them either. Even with the still pause and the remote in my hand I still have a hard time sitting still for 1 to 2 hours when things need to be done. I would rather read a book with my spare time.
Bryan bought us Netflix for Christmas! We get a movies a week for a year. At first I thought - Huh? I don't watch movies, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said Thank You.
I guess I owe Bryan an apology because he has turned me into a movie watcher. There has been a couple of weekends where Mike and I grab dinner and sit and watch a movie (Yes-Together) AND I like it!
Mike let me go on the website and pick the movie for this weekend being Valentine's Day and all. I think he was thinking I would pick a sappy movie. Believe me I thought about it, but I choose "Righteous Kill" because it has Brian Dennehy in it.
I'll save the sappy ones for when Mike is gone on his softball trips.

Wii - Wii Fit

Usually I take my "extra" money (in this case my super bowl bracket money) and just put it into the check book and it gets swallowed up with the rest of the money. Not this time! I took my winnings and bought a Wii. Everyone talks about how much fun they are so I thought Yup that is what I'm spending my money on.
Now I just needed to find a Wii Fit. Cheryl talks about how much fun it is.

Mike was at the Meijer (that in itself is weird, cause he LOVES the Jewel and why he went to the Meijer this time he can't explain) the voice comes over the speakers "Attention Meijer shopper right now in our electronics Department we have the Wii Fit." Mike calls me and asks if he should buy it. YEA-AH!
So for Valentine's Day we got a Wii Fit.
Sweeter than Candy and healthier too!!!!!!!!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

30 years

How does time get away so fast?
You get up every morning - you get dressed - you go off to work...

Mike has been headed off to the same job today that he has had for the last 30 years. 30 YEARS!!!
I wanted to gather some of his accomplishments that he has had on his job and I knew that his name and picture has been in the paper many, many times, so I asked in the newsroom where I can get some old stories and pics. No surprise that they are all on microfiche and they suggested I go to the library for copies of old newspapers.
I sneak into "the vault" where I knew that they stored old photos and guess what? They actually had a file on Mike.
I found this picture of Mike dated 11/92. Back when his department was part of the Fire Department called the (BIS) Bureau of Inspection Services. Back in the good old days! Mike was the inspector for the whole west side of Elgin.

Now we are planning his retirement...
How does time get away so fast?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

10,000 Steps

Sharen bought me a pedometer last September for our birthday. I know the recommended amount of steps is 10,000. I wear it everyday but very seldom get to the 10,000 steps.
Last Wednesday I decide to concentrate on my moving. Why Wednesday? I know that on Thursday with bowling it should be a simple 10,000 step day and I didn't want to start something on a Monday again.
It's been 1 week and thanks to the balmy weather I have made it to 10,000 and over (yesterday was 12,291) each day. Today I am not so sure and I'm hoping by saying something about it I will get it done. I like to get to 5000 by noon.
Since they dismantled the press here at work there is just a giant room empty. I have calculated what the distance around the room is. It takes 25 laps to get a mile. In order to not loose track of each mile hanging on the wall I have 4 brown rubber bands and one red one (last lap is red) to measure each five laps. I then have 4 colored paper clips to measure each group of five rubber bands. When I finished with my last group of bands - 25 laps is done. It sounds more complicated than it really is.
I have made 2 walking tapes and I'm liking the "pop" songs better than the country. Strange.
Here's my list.
Caribbean Queen
Manic Monday
Beautiful Sunday
Walking on Sunshine
Dancing Queen (can't forget this one)
Break My Stride
Always something There to Remind Me
The Longest Time
Love is all Around
What I like About You

Monday, February 9, 2009

Make a Postcard

I just finished my homework for tomorrow. We had to make a postcard using one of our own photos and the tools we learned using layers.
I couldn't decide on which picture to use so I made 2. Here is Stacy and Kaylyn fishing off the dock taken summer of 2007 on our vacation in Wisconsin. I snuck around through the trees and took a lot of "sniper shots" that trip.

This next one was taken last October while we were in Tuscon visiting Bobby & Sue. We took this mine tour and had an awesome time. I keep the copper rock that they gave to everyone at the end of the tour on my desk at work.
The circle at the bottom with "Tuscon" in it is covering up the waste bin. Pretty clever huh?

Friday, February 6, 2009

I like to Peek

I must confess I like to peek in peoples windows. If your drapes are open and I'm walking by I'm gonna look. I like to check out what room it is, what color it is, what the decor is and if anybody is in there and what they are doing. Don't get me wrong I just glance I won't get up close and press my face to the window or anything creepy like that.
This morning I thought I would take advantage of the warmer weather and take a walk around the neighborhood. Friday is trash pick-up day. I couldn't help but look in the trash bins (again I just glanced). We must live in a neighborhood of boozers or they had some great Super Bowl parties last weekend cause there was some serious bottle and cans. I could tell what everyone (or their guests) like to drink by the throw aways. I saw Gin, Vodka (and tonic water) at one house - 3 or 4 bottles of wine at another, one had tequila, but the drink of choice had to be beer. There was Miller Lite, Old Style, Coronas, Miller High Life, Genuine Draft light, Coors, and Busch. Like I said some serious drinking!!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Don't pick Mine

The teacher asked for our homework last night to see if we used everything we learned. She looked at our pictures and I'm thinking don't pick mine!
She says "This one has all the tools. Someone has an artist eye. Who did this?"
Yup - she picked mine. "So Karen tell the class what tools you used." OMG I was back in high school again. Really teach - I don't remember. It surprised me, but the other pictures were not really good.

Class was so much more fun last night. We learned layers and we got to mess with an actual picture. Putting frames around, and text in the pictures.
Our homework is to create a postcard!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Homework week 1

So here is a picture of my homework for the first week.
I choose to make a picture of our house. Minus the garage of course - no room.




I think I used all my "Tools" she taught us. I'm a little disappointed in the moon, but oh well.

The Bachelor

Yes - I watch the Bachelor. I started watching because everyone at work was talking about it and it dawned on me that he is the same age as Bryan. So I watch with a mother's eye.
Last night when they showed his house did anyone else notice the quilts that boy had???
He had some on the beds, the wall, on a quilt stand and 2 on the couch. One was even an applique and those are not easy to do. I think I like this kid.....