Top 10 Reasons Why I Love September

1. There is just a hint of Fall in the air.
2. The warm colors are my favorite.
3. My dear friends Sue and David were married 20 years ago this month :o).
4. My mommy was born this month.
5. Me too!
6. So was that dear friend Sue
7. and Tomie dePaola
8. McKenna will attend her first FSU game; Andrea will attend her second.
9. We'll get to attend that FSU game with another dear friend who is the biggest FSU fan I know :o).
10. And Lion King is being re-released in theaters in 3-D.

It is a month chock full of things to do including a Magic School Bus prop for a play at school for The Reading Celebration and a school yearbook to get started. But I am grateful for it all and I can't wait!!

Love to you!
Melle

Saturday R and R

"R and R" means "Really, Really tired" which is why I needed some Rest and Relaxation!
Yesterday, as I told my mom, we 3 girls were hermits.

Hermit - as defined by:
1. A person who has withdrawn from society and lives a solitary existence; a recluse.

Not to be confused with Herman's Hermits the British rock band from the 60's, of which who have a website for their adoring fans. You can click here to visit it.

Also not to be confused with Kermit the frog....it was not a typo....click here if you'd like to see the trailer for their newest movie set to come out in December.

By Friday I was so exhausted that I even canceled hair appointments for McKenna and I. All I wanted to do was order pizza and tackle the stack of Netflix videos that had piled up on my dresser. Of course the ripple effects of canceling hair appointments will be felt for weeks.

So Saturday, we did nothing.
So, if you called me.....
If you emailed me.....
If you knocked at my door....
I am so very sorry that I didn't respond.

Today, we started to assimilate into society again, so by tomorrow we'll be ready to hit the road in full speed. None too soon either as it promises to be another long week with late nights. McKenna's Open House is Monday, Tuesday is mine and Andrea's swim team has their first meet on Thursday. However, the 3 day weekend is on the horizon....and Friday is jeans day.....that makes it all worth while :o).

Just two more things to mention before I close and finish those grades I need to enter....
Procrastinate?
Who me?
Nope.
You know me better.
No, you don't need to bring up the post I wrote a few months ago (okay, it was exactly a year ago...that's weird).....are you sure I wrote something about being a Master Procrastinator?
No, you really don't need to go HERE to remind me!

On Saturday, I did do lots, I means loads and loads of laundry and I did finally get to play in the studio. It had been FOUR weeks since I sat in there. I was going through withdrawal!
(I didn't actually draw the flowers....plz! Those are stamps, but I did paint w/ watercolor and acrylic. It is extremely relaxing for me.)

These will eventually look something like this:

And most of you know, but I am so psyched that The Lion King is being re-released in theaters for two weeks in September!!!! It'll be in 3D....that's cool, but not as cool as getting to see The Lion King on the big screen again.


I can't wait!

Have a great week ya'll.
Love,
Melle

Bustin' a button!

This momma is so stinkin' proud, I can hardly take it!
Today, August 15, 2011.....first day of school.

Did ya see it?
Andrea sportin' her new Fine Arts Academy uniform shirt and McKenna sportin' a Safety Patrol Belt (on the first day of school.....hmm, hmm).
Andrea has only one more "first day of school";
McKenna still has 8 more.
Thank you, God. ;o)

I don't know why I do this to myself every year....but let's reflect together, shall we?
Ready?
This was Andrea's first year at The Villages Charter School:

It was the year 2003 and she was in the 3rd grade.

This was McKenna's first day at The Villages Charter School:

It was the year 2005; McKenna was starting PreK - 3 and Andrea was starting 5th grade.

If you squint your eyes and blink 3 times like me, you can almost still see those sweet little girls inside of these two lovely young ladies. Go ahead - squint! Pleeze, for my sake. Tell me my sweet little girls are still in there somewhere.

And this was just last year......

MOMENTS before Andrea's new backpack strap broke and McKenna's giant bottle of hand sanitizer's pump nozzle shattered into pieces.....

Yes, indeedie.....this year was off to a much better start.
Amen.

Last Night

Lookie what I finished....

and

My dear friend Kendra had all the confidence in me that I could take pictures at the beach.
Whoa!
It was lots, lots harder than I thought!
I even had 5 very patient subjects and it was still a lot harder than I thought it would be.

It was windy.
It was sandy.
The sun was extremely bright. (dah)
It was hard to see the review screen on the camera, yes, because of the glare, but mostly because of my own impaired vision! I needed my sunglasses on because of the glare, but needed my reading glasses on to see the settings on my camera.

Kendra said, "lesson learned", and boy was she right!

Well, thank goodness for Photoshop.
Photoshop and I have a love/hate relationship. I love what it can do, but I hate trying to learn how.

Kendra, you are a sweetie to believe in me and I love you for it!
Melle

today...

blogging.....I wonder if I remember how.....

Let's start with TODAY and I'll work backwards from there....

Today, right now, I find myself with a rare 40 minutes to "kill" while waiting for my first day of my first ever yearbook conference (unless of course you count my 3 year's worth of journalism conferences when I was in high school and my one FAME conference when I was in collage....but since it has been....well....a very long time since I've attended those.....we'll count this as my "very first ever" yearbook conference) in Orlando. I'm working from the complimentary computer in the hotel lobby, so no photos right now, but I'm workin' on it ;o).

Let's catch up on movie reviews since I last posted:

Had a chance to catch up with the Special Area team of gals from work and we had a chance to see LARRY CROWNE starring Tom Hanks. Love spending time with good friends and I like Tom Hanks, so I'll say the movie was okay, but I won't be adding it to my collection.

Then had the chance to meet up with some more wonderful friends from work and we went to see BAD TEACHER. Let's just say, meeting up with wonderful friends made this awful movie worthwhile. Hated it and will NOT be adding it to my collection.

Grandma Gail discovered one of our local theaters offers "Ladies Day" where all girls, young and old, get into the movies on Wednesdays for only $6 and even get a free popcorn and drink.....so totally worth it and it has helped us catch up on some summer flicks.

First, we went to see, CARS 2. Of course seldom is a sequel as good as the first, but this one was still cute. I don't anticipate adding it to our collection, but only 'cuz we don't have Littles in the house anymore.

(sorry. please excuse my absence there for a moment. We don't have "littles in the house anymore" was a comment that affected me more than I thought it would. {sniff, sniff})

Then, we also saw ZOOKEEPER. Also a cute movie. A really predictable plot for us grown-ups and the middle lagged on.....and on.....but cute. I don't anticipate adding this one to our collection, but only 'cuz we don't have littles in the house any................{sniff}

And of course, being Harry Potter fans, Scott and I wanted to be apart of HP history and we were at the Old Mill Playhouse in The Villages for their double feature. Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows played at 9pm on July 14th and we were in our seats at midnight for the final Harry Potter movie, Part 2 on July 15th. It was AWESOME. This coming from a fan who admittedly hasn't cared for all of the movies that have been based on J.K. Rowling's amazing books. This movie Scott and I both liked and we WILL be adding it to our collection.

And finally, just yesterday, while Scott and Andrea went to see some Monday night wrestling garbage.....I mean show, during our "vacation" at Universal, McKenna and I chilled at the theater in front of the latest WINNIE THE POOH movie. It was sweet and brought back many.....many a memory. It also made me grateful that one of my "Littles" is still little enough to go to a kids movie with me. {sniff}

It's later now.....

I gave up my computer to a gentleman with an English accent.....apparently British (and Scottish and Irish and Aussie and South African) accents make me melt.....don't tell me
husband.....or then again, maybe you should.....awww......oh, but I digress....sorry.

It's later now and I just wanted to finish this post. I also had to give up my computer to the nice gentleman, because the other 8 computers were being played on by kids while their parents checked in on their vacation packages. This was NOT one of those room key only computer rooms.....uurrgh! Parents keep your kids with you! I can say that now. I am a parent and I do keep my kids with me or they sit in silence behaving themselves.

Sorry!!I digress again.

Anyway, where was I, oh, and Scott and the girls are planning to see CAPTAIN AMERICA today while cooling down from the summer heat at Universal. I will let you know if they liked it....I am a bit disappointed that I might not see it....you know how I love popcorn and a movie.

(just added: Scott and Andrea said, "thumbs up", but McKenna said "thumbs down" but only because she didn't want to see the movie in the first place......)

Emotionally yours,
Melle

Past my bedtime

Yep, up past my bedtime last night....but look what I finished!

And why you might ask? Well, I'm glad you did.

I have this wonderful friend named Kendra,

and she helped to "inspire" McKenna's first American Girl doll

and you might remember I bought a new sewing machine this summer

and you may recall McKenna has shown interest in this machine as well. In fact, she made these yesterday; big one for her, little one for Andrea.

But McKenna asked me to make this

and I was going along okay, but this collar, it was a bear!

almost there

but I got it done


and here is "Amanda" in her new robe!

Holy-Toledo Batman!
Can you believe it?

I'm not sure if I'm amazed because I actually made it, or because......
I started and finished something in the same day!

More to come (soon I hope)
Melle

On America's birthday....

We celebrate!

We celebrate that we live in the land of the free and the brave.

We are so grateful to the men and women and their families who make so many unimaginable sacrifices everyday so my family and loved ones can enjoy the bounties of this beautiful country.


We also celebrate Grandma's birthday!

We bake cakes.


We bake cupcakes.

And we swim, drink, and play Cornhole. Apparently we (meaning "I") also relax so much that we don't even take very many pictures either.

Oh woe is me.
I am in such a photographic slump.
Allow me to explain.
You may recall, I ordered a new camera.
I love my old Kodak Easy Share Camera, but 6 years of almost daily use has worn out the "selection dial" on the back of the camera. Sooo, I spoke with Kodak for over an hour last week and I ordered a new Kodak Easy Share Camera, hoping for the equivalent.
It's a 14 mega-pixel camera, my old one was 6.1.
This is what I got. (no editing)

Blurry. Yuck!
But it also took this. (w/a little editing)

I love my old Kodak EasyShare camera.
It took my all time favorite 4th of July photo, see (w/NO editing)
(Warning: this photo might age you 10 years - circa 2006)

Of course, I also still have my digital SLR, which I've had pretty good luck with.
It's taken this:
(2008)

And this:
(2009)
And this is what I took yesterday.

I attended a photo class where we were taught how to take our cameras off of "AUTO" and to use the manual settings. What keeps ringing in my ears is the very talented instructor, Karen Russell said, "it will get worse before it gets better, but don't go back to auto"....boy was she right! I like the photo above. I like that it seems more casual than posed. But it still doesn't have that "wow" factor I strive for.

What to do? What to do?

Let's just change the subject shall we (meaning I).
I also bought some new stamps recently.
They inspired some more of these:

And with a few loved ones having birthdays lately {wink} ......I was inspired to create these:


And still in the works, but almost done, are these:

And so, on the day after America's birthday, I am blessed to be loafing around the house until around 3 today. I hope to play with some photos and finish some cards.

Oops, gotta go.
McKenna just made me this most amazing looking turkey and provolone sandwich.
May your days be filled with loafing, amazing sandwiches and people who love you!
Melle