Hacker Widow

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The next post I have planned is for color recognition. You can use this technique with any segmented picture. I had this center activity in “D”s basket for free choice. She became very good at it and so it became a calming activity for her. This would also be a great activity for teaching pre-school aged children their colors! There are ALOT of great websites out there that you can glean adaptable activities from. Here are a few.

DLTK-kids  GREAT site!! Lots of adaptive materials.

Kids Activities Neat site. Activities are divided by grade level.

There are so many free sites out there. Don’t pay for downloads. (Unless you realllly want to… Just be patient and use your imagination!

Enjoy!!

Walking has become my #1 exercise for about the past year. I have posted in the past about my various walking paths and how beautiful they are. Since I have decided to get serious about losing weight, I have been redoubling my efforts. I am trying very hard to stay positive and focused. It’s kind of hard for this “verified” couch potato. But today, I found this…

No biggie. Probably someone doing work on the sidewalks or something. About 100 yards farther down the path, I notice…

Kind of hard to see, but it is the name Danielle. So now I’m thinking, it’s probably just a bunch of kids messing around with chalk. OK, so I continue on and come to this…

hmmmm….. then…

All of a sudden, I get excited. This is kind of cute. Maybe someone asked their girlfriend to the prom… or to go steady (do kids even DO that anymore??). Now I am actively looking for the pale pink chalk marks, and a few yards farther I see…

I am getting more excited. I start trying to imagine how “Danielle” was feeling. Was she excited?confused? I actually start walking a little faster to see what is next.

WHAT?? How cool!!! My imagination goes into warp drive!!! Danielle is probably FREAKING out when she see this…Can you imagine? The excitement! By now, she’s probably running!!

And then..

Can you imagine him standing here? Possibly with flowers in his hand, waiting for her to turn the slight curve in the path to see him?? *sigh* I really hope it WAS that romantic. I know it made my walk very enjoyable, just trying to imagine the scenario unfold. Congratulations to these two people (who ever they are)  :-D

So we went on a house hunting expedition to San Luis Obispo this weekend. We left around 8 am. Not a good time for me…. About 45 minutes into the drive, I realized I’d forgotten the Thomas Guide. My Dad go me hooked on using “the guide” years ago. They have saved us more than once. Anyway, after that, we continued on our way, completely clueless what we were going to do once we got there. We had one showing set up. I tried to set up 3-4 more, but the agents wouldn’t get back to me..aarrgghhh. On our escapades through the various towns,  we discovered, Arroyo Grande.

I’m in love!

If you take a trip along the Coast, this town is a must!! Quaint shops, friendly people, great weather, what more can you ask for?? And speaking of quaint shops, we found…

OMG.. this place had THE most amazing pastries.

Hubby enjoying his cupcake topped with whipped cream and dipped in chocolate…

Obviously…

;0)

Wow… this has been an exciting last couple of weeks. Rob accepted a job at the coast so our lives will be taking a completely different direction. It has been a whirlwind of a time, I can tell you!  My summer will now be spent scrambling to get this house in order to hopefully sell for a fair price. It isn’t the greatest time to sell, but the Lord is leading us in a new direction…Who am I to question or complain?? ;0)  Will be blogging about the process, of course. More to follow…

I just can’t believe it. Do people really break up with people on public forums like MySpace and Facebook?? Seriously?? Whatever gave these people the idea it was ok to humiliate someone like that in public. Yes, MySpace and Facebook are PUBLIC. Every photo, every word, every poke, and comment is out there for anyone to see. These pages change the rules so often that there is no way to keep up with all the updated privacy settings. They keep opening everything we have on these sites wide open and it is up to us to go in and change the settings. Does this seem a little backwards to anyone else?? Then you pair that with people who don’t even give you the benefit of a face to face conversation to drop huge, life altering bombs on you. Yes, I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with old friends, but it is very disconcerting to see someones life ripped open so callously for all to see. Do they think it will be easier seeing it written down as opposed to hearing it face to face? More likely, these pages are producing generations of cowards. People who don’t have the bravery to confront someone face to face and take the consequences. “Dear John” letters have been around forever. That isn’t what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the true message BEHIND the message. The “I don’t care enough to tell you I’m leaving, I’ll just change my status and delete you from my life.” message. The one that seems to have become acceptable today. What do you tell your children? How do you explain that they are worth more than just a meaningless status update? As parents, we have to be aware and keep trying. Tell them how wonderful they are. Give them that foundation so when stupid things like this happen, they won’t do something drastic.

I broke down and went to the Exeter Brewfest with my hubby. I have to say it was really fun.

I know my hubby had a GREAT time…lol

Loved this guys beer hat!!

One of my hubbies favorite beers.

So many to choose from.

Even our wonderful neighbor Barbara Got into the act. LOVE HER!!

Lots of fun!! Hubby found a new second place favorite..

But the most important thing of the day…

ENJOY!!!

We have a “cheat” meal every now and then at this great little place called Pita Kabob. They have some of the most wonderfully seasoned beef and chicken. My hubby and I will go in and split a combo plate. It used to contain: 1 skewer beef, 1 skewer chicken, rice pilaf, and hummus with pita bread…mmmm. Now it contains 1 skewer chicken, 1 skewer beef, salad, and hummus (no bread ) So, since the pleasure value has gone down slightly, I find I’m a little pickier. I decided to try a beef salad…needless to say, it was great.

But you notice the small pile above the salad? That’s my little pile of ” Ewww… get that OFF my salad!! Don’t let it touch!!” I really HATE tomato guts on my food! Come on… you know you do it too.~

It went like this…

“Look at all those things..”

“What? Where?”

“There..(points across the room) there and there, and Boom.”

“Uh, the chairs?”

“No, those.”(Points again)

“The ladies?”

“Yeah, over there. I had to help but its ok now.”

“O.K. Dad. Good job.”

“Yep. That one keeps staring at me so I have to do it back.”

“O.K. Dad. Do you want to go for a walk.”

“Yep.”

Then, outside…

“Yeah, I needed to get out of there. Boy, it’s cold.”

“Do you want to go in?”

“Yeah, that would be the way to do it.”

“O.K. let’s go in”

We go in and sit at the dining table.

“How’s everyone?”

“Great Dad.”

“Good…want to go for a walk outside?”

“It’s kind of chilly..”

“Let’s go.”

“O.K.”

Back outside.

“That how I like it.”

“How Dad?”

“With the thing over there and going to go out and help them.”

“O.K. Dad.”

“Brrr…. kind of cold. Want to go in? Ooops, I need to drop something.”

K, I have to admit, that stumped me.

“Do you need to use the restroom??”

“Yep.”

“Uh, ok Dad.”

We walked back in.

We were blessed by having both children home for Spring Break this year. Our oldest came home from her culinary school. She wanted to cook Easter dinner for us. (Who am I to complain??? ;0) Anyway, I decided to pick up an egg coloring kit to see if the girls felt like doing it. They haven’t colored eggs in years. I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction. They got extremely excited. My kids are BIG on tradition, and have been missing it. Who knew? So they started getting it ready, along with making their rice krispie chocolate dipped eggs…Mmmmm

Not long after they started on the rice krispies, I hear them complaining about how sticky they are. “Moommm, how do you keep them from sticking??!?!”

This is where I told them they forgot to spray Pam on their hands. Lol

So they got back to work.

Taylor gets that look from her father. ( See previous posts)

Then on to coloring eggs…

Look at that concentration!! Lol

Uhh…yeah. Anyone else’s 19 year old act like this??? She’s taken pictures with her tongue out since birth. *sigh*

But finally…DONE

Ahhh, our beauties.

On to Easter fun and dinner…NEXT post. Lol

My youngest daughter went out to help her daddy trim up the trees in the front yard.

ok…maybe it WAS more of an advisory position  :0)

Anyway, they were trying to figure out how high to trim the trees.

In doing this, they, inadvertently left a branch in the road.

Then there was a boy. A boy on a bike. A boy on a bike, who only had eyes for my beautiful daughter.  My daughter but NOT the branch in the road.  Well… you can see where this is going…

I was called outside by the sound of hysterical laughing.

Nooo… it wasn’t Jasper. He was just a witness. Both my husband and my daughter thought it was extremely funny. But the laughter really didn’t start until the boy yelled “S*&T!!!” at the last moment and dodged the branch. After telling me the story, my hubby went back to work,

He’s wearing his confused look once again.

It’s ok.

He wears it a lot…  ;0)