While I vaccum, I will blog!!

Its true....I am vaccuuming as I write that. Thank god for the Roomba! I don't know how I lived without it. It definately makes it easier to vaccum and do other things at the same time LOL! In case anyone doesn't know what a Roomba is... iRobot Roomba
(This was our christmas gift this past year! Worth every penny!)

Anyway, so while I vaccum and my homemade meatballs cook, I thought I would take a quick seat and try to post a quick update in the midst of my day of cleaning! I have already done most of the cleaning I planned to for the day (can't do TOO much at once or Ben might realize it doesn't take me as long as I make it sound sometimes LOL!) And I do still need to work on the back room (on going project that I put off) but I also need to do some more work on the wedding photos from two weeks ago because the bride loved the pics I did and so I offered to do some with some sayings she specifically wanted and I told her I would try to get them up by the end of the weekend because I know she wants to get some printed.

And I want to re-organize my Smugmug site a bit. I want to try and promote some of my nature stuff a little more and I want to join a few photo things on there to share photos but before I do I want to re-organize and pick out my "best of the best" to share since right now its basically all (good and not as good) in one gallery for me know its backed up. The beauty of smugmug is the unlimited space and I need to take advantage of that more than I already do! (And while on the subject of smugmug, if anyone is interested in getting their own subscription to the site, let me know and I will give you my email address to use for $5 off your first year subscription!) I have been uploading photos for years and including uploading old photos I scan in or had on CDs. I also realized that probably about 50-75% of the albums/galleries I have up there are really there for my security of knowing they are backed up and the only person who looks at them is me! And with that in mind I can make my main page look less "busy" if I make all those albums private and only make the more current stuff viewable by others easier. This way I can still share the hidden ones if I want to and the people I share with will be able to see the galleries by going to the link but not by just going to my page and trying to look around.

I have been thinking a lot about my photos and photography lately and so I want to get myself back into do more of the fun nature photography I like so much since I really haven't had the time. Of course with the yucky humidity that we have had lately (and currently) its not so much fun to go outside because its just so discustingly humid I don't enjoy it. So in the meantime, while I wait for a few cooler or at least less humid days to "play", I will work on things from inside the air-conditioned house.

So, before I do all that fun stuff, I will update here a bit! (Mmmm....just tasted one of my meatballs. Yummy! Even though I made them from just beef today.I usually make them from the beef,pork,veal mix but all the store had was beef. The one bad thing about me cooking meatballs all day while I clean and ben is at work is that I tend to taste them throughout the day after they had been cooking and are still stewing in the sauce...I totally end up eating too many!!) As I was saying, let's get up to date on things while I vaccum!

Last weekend seemed to go too quickly. On saturday I went to see my grandfather for the day. I had told him I would come down since the week before when I was in the area for that wedding it was too late to stop by. We had a great day-lots of fun as always. We spent a good portion on the computer.It was a good thing too because I think we were able to figure out what had been tripping him up lately and getting him frustrated. Somewhere along the way, the monitor settings or something had changed and after we were reviewing some things he liked to try we realized that things that should show up on the screen were not because they were technically "off screen" and in windows that couldn't get re-sized. Plus he didn't know to look for them anyway. Once we realized this I went into the settings to try and see if I could fix the problem but no matter what we did it wasn't correct. We ultimately determined that the monitor and computer did not seem to be communicating properly and since the monitor itself was about 8 years or so old, it made sense we should go get a new monitor and see if that fixed the problem. And it did!

So, after we determined we should go out, we went over to Best Buy before going to dinner to take a look and see what they had. We had looked online and they had a good variety and prices were not bad either so we went to see what they looked like and pick one out. We basically looked around and were going back and forth between the 19" and 22". He was thinking they were a bit big but we took a look at them hooked up to a desktop and I showed him the difference. He really liked when he saw how big the solitaire would be on the screen. That is his fave thing to do! Its the one thing that he can always get to work right so when he tries things and they don't work and he gives up, he goes and plays solitaire for awhile!

Anyway, we were going back and forth between the two sizes and I was pushing for the 22" b/c I think it will be easier for him to see and use because there is more space for things to be right there and not need to scroll. That is what trips him up sometimes. Since the price difference was only a small amount he opted to go for the 22" one. "Bigger is better" he said!
So, he bought the Hanspree 22" widescreen monitor! Just to give you an idea, here is a pic from earlier in the day when we were looking at some older photos on the old monitor:
(and mind you, this photo was taken with my new cell phone! The env2!)


And here are some photos of the new monitor after we set it up:
(again, taken with my cell phone!)



At first he said it seemed big but by the time we finished setting it up and playing around he got used to it and really liked it. I am glad. I would have felt bad if it turned out too big. Plus, it fixed the problem we were having with the old one-Yeah!!!

So after we bought the monitor (before heading back to his place to set it up) we went to dinner at our fave italian restaurant:) We always have a good time there and the food is great. I am not usually a dessert person but my grandfather loves dessert so he had tiramusu and I had this creme brulee cake.



My grandfather liked his but I didn't really care for mine so we got it wrapped and he could eat it with his leftovers the next day.

After dinner we went back to his house and set up the monitor. I also got to see the progress of my old bookshelf that my grandfather is re-finishing up for me. It was at my dad's house and it had been painted and written on by us as kids and when I went to my dad's to get a few things that were left there before he sold it I took the bookshelf. I was thinking of just re-painting it but ben said it was solid wood and when my grandfather saw it his eyes lit up "project!" He loves woodworking and something like this is a great project b/c he can work on it in the basement during this summer heat (Where it is much cooler) and he can do it in pieces at his own pace no rush. So he stripped it and found the original wood, then refinished it and who knows what else. I was going to take it with me but he wanted to still put some wax coating on it or something so I didn't bring it home yet. I will probably get it next month when I visit. Here is a before and after pic:
Before

After!!

I LOVE it. And I can't wait to get it home and use it. Its the perfect size for our overflow of DVDs. Plus I can put a picture frame or something on the top since its flat and its not high up! It will fit perfectly next to our TV too which is why I was thrilled when I could take it from my dad's place.

There is also a trunk he is working on but its not great wood ben said, more plywood but he is going to see what he can do. Even if its not something I can use in the house nicely I am sure it will work for storing some stuff in the garage that needs better packing. He told me he is also working on a box he was going to surprise me with. Its just a small one he said but he knows how much I LOVE wooden boxes of all types and so he is working on that too but I didn't get to see it yet:)

I didn't end up leaving til close to 11pm! It was a long day but a nice one. I always dread the long drive but once I am there have a blast. I told him I will probably come back the second week in July since I was planning to clean this weekend and next weekend we have a party on saturday.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. I don't remember doing much of anything!

In other news....
Work is good. Can't complain at all. I LOVE having the new woman working with us. She is fantastic. I can not say enough great things about her and how refreshing it is to have her there with us.

My niece heads to FL tomorrow I believe. My sister is flying down with her and I think driving down at the end of July to pick her up with the other kids so they can visit too. The last I heard Sami was doing well and the steriod shot treatments they had her own were making an improvement which was good.

My wrist is doing better. I go see the dr for follow-up on monday. (Although not sure if I will go or need to re-schedule b/c of my car. Needs some air-conditioner fan and they are fixing it on monday. I just don't know if it will be done in time or not yet!) The nurse at work said it looks like its healing beautifully and I haven't had a band-aid covering it for the last week. I was waiting for the stitches to come out/dissolve before I stopped wearing the band-aid. I still have a little trouble bending it to the extreme in certain directions like I could prior but I think that is mostly something that will come in time since it was stiff for a while it just needs to get back to normal. It seems like daily it improves. Other than a little bit around where the scar is, it seems the swelling is all gone. I only notice a little around the scar and its more like its just tender there. I do notice that occassionalyl if I over do it, it will hurt a bit but nothing extreme, more just sore. I will try to get a good pic of it later if I can now that its not so scary looking LOL!

I think that is about it from this corner of the world. I hope everyone else is doing well too!

Ta ta for now!!