Getting out

It's been a little while since I've written a blog, as opposed to just posting pictures. Please forgive me for stating the obvious, but hey, we all do it don't we? Anyway, I just have a writing bug this morning, so here we go. >smile<
*warning* Another obvious statement coming. As you know, if you look back on my last few posts, we've been staying busy, trying to keep our days 'eventful'. I just redirected a whole page of writing to my personal journal because after reading it, it wasn't something anyone would like hearing. It was all about how few girlfriends I had before meeting Rain, and how hard I think it's going to be to meet someone else. It also told about my inexperience in dating before her and the pessimism of doing it again since she was my one successful (putting it mildly) long-term relationship.
We've been enjoying doing new things this week. You know, the pool hall and then yesterday, the swimming in the river at The Barton Springs pool. Kind of wish I would've taken some pictures while we were there, but I didn't. I could've used my cell phone to take them, or asked Angelica to let me use the camera, again, neither of those things happened (I didn't take the above two). The bottom of the pool (river) was very slick with whatever coated the bottom of it (algae?), so I fell down a few times, which gave my daughter some comic relief a few times. LOL. The temperature of the water wasn't too cold. Like the apartment complex's pool, once you were in a completely wet and stayed in the water, you adjusted. That first entry though... BRR! The falling down was actually a good thing for me in that it forced me (unexpectedly) to submerge myself. That was the first time I had swam and walked in a river for a few years, but I enjoyed it. The floating plant life kind of bothered Angelica though. We're both fully expecting it to bother her less each time we go though. It only costs $3 per person to get passed the gate person and to the other side of the fence, so we'll be doing it again, probably many times. Mostly I wanted to jump off the diving board, but there was once girl who took what seemed liked forever to jump off the diving board. Therefore the wait was long, though interesting because the longer she took, the more people in the crowd clamped and cheered for her to jump in, which she finally did after about 15 minutes (maybe less, but it seemed at least that long). After she jumped I got in line, but then someone let her back on the board before I could get on, so I got out of line because I was tired of waiting (not to mention annoyed with whomever let her on a second time before the rest of the line).
I also want to take the kids to play miniature golf. They've never played, so I think they'll enjoy it. I haven't decided if (when?) I'll go check out the nightclub/bar scene yet. I've never met anyone at either of those places. I'm old (47 :-) now, so I'm not sure I wouldn't feel completely out of place among all the young and energetic women and men anyway. If you know of someplace for us old fogies to go and enjoy listening to music and maybe do a little dancing, let me know. Okay? Okay.
I'm waiting for the NBA playoffs to come on television. That'll be my day's activity. Unless it gets really, really sunny, then I might go down and swim in the apartment's pool at some point. Thinking I might partake in the hot tub too, now that I think about it.
We need to separate and put into bags, the 5 pounds of hamburger we bought yesterday, into 1/4 pound burgers and put them in sandwich baggies. 'Breakfast' is usually a burger and bacon, that's why we separate the hamburger. Plus if we want to use some in spaghetti sauce, it's pretty easy to microwave-thaw some for that and it doesn't take long.
I'll be turning in my last homework assignment for my Image Manipulation class today. Then on Monday I start my Javascript class. Whoo-hoo!
http://ramblemans.blogspot.com/2012/04/getting-out.html

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2nd to last homework of a Photoshopped image - got another 'A'

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Todd

I didn't say it was a GOOD idea. LOL

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

2 pics of pigeons @ Barton Springs pool in Austin, TX

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Todd

I didn't say it was a GOOD idea. LOL

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Pics for an A

These were my homework this week and what I turned in. Got an 'A'. The teacher liked the second one the best :-)

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

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Cookies by myself

I was having a chocolate craving last night but didn't have the money to go buy any. I did the next best thing, I made cookies. Because we didn't have enough butter to make use the amounts in the recipe, I halved all the amounts of the ingredients. You wouldn't think that would be so hard, right? And it wasn't. Yet I messed-up and put the wrong amount of sugar in because I was looking at the amount of flour I would need, then added the sugar instead. Didn't think it would be that big of a deal, but as it turned out, too much sugar made it so that the cookie dough wasn't as easily made into 1" balls to put on the cookie sheet as they were the 1st time. I did manage to get the first batch fairly well balled and cooked, but from then on the dough became more and more loose. That meant I had to 'fix' the recipe. Thinking that the full amount of butter wasn't added, I substituted lard to make up a little of the difference - that didn't help, it just made it gooey. So we added a little more flour, but not enough. Added just a tiny bit more baking soda, but that didn't do much either. Then I thought, "Hmm... maybe I need to add that 2nd egg to stiffen up the dough"... that didn't work. Finally, added some more flour and that helped. Unfortunately it didn't help enough and I ended up using 2 spoons and putting small puddles of "cookies" on the sheet, which then of course spread out, stuck to the cookie sheet even worse, and in the end melded together to make a huge "cookie bar".

The last batch, last week, I mixed the ingredients and my DD balled & cooked the cookies and they all came out great. But this week I decided to make said cookies all by myself, which I should've known not to do since 1) I didn't have ALL of the ingredients for a full-size batch, and 2) I'm not a baker. LOL.

See the pictures here or at http://www.ramblemans.blogspot.com

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Go ahead and quit! | Breaking Daylight

An unschooler's blog post I got from another group.

Go ahead and quit! | Breaking Daylight

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Random question

Sponges and tongues are frequently misspelled. 

Is it because both are thirsty?

Was new but then a Duh Epiphany

Ever been doing something for a while, then for some reason couldn't afford to do it that way, so you try a different way and find out that you could've saved a lot of money by doing it the 'found' way right from the get go? I have, and here's my story. Try not to fall asleep, this won't take long.

About a year ago I decided, because I couldn't afford to buy more razor-heads for my electric shaver, that I would start shaving a more current way... with a razor and shaving cream or gel. About 2-3 weeks ago I ran completely out of shaving gel. I thought to myself (like I could've thought to anyone else)... " Ladies don't use creams or gels when they shave their legs, they use soap and water, so why can't I?" I lathered up my hands using bath soap and warm water, spread soapy water over my face whiskers and proceeded to shave. That's when when "it" (the duh moment) hit me that I could've been using soap and water all that time. The only time it doesn't work as well is when the razor is dull. If it is new and/or razor sharp (intended pun), the shave is just as good as it's always been (IE: with cream/gel). That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Todd

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

(pics) Twitch n Mango

I swear, *every* time I turn the camera on before taking his picture, he tries to stop doing whatever before I take the picture.
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Todd

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Creation by me. My new desktop image

My latest creation can be seen on http://ramblemans.blogspot.com/

A banner I created

Clicking on the banner just feels good. Go ahead, give it a try.

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

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Damn ants!

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Todd

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Facebook profile picture

That I made for myself :)

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Todd

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Picture of two cats

Yes, these are out two cats, er, terrors :)

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Todd

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Arcade built by a 9 year old.

A 9-year-old in east LA built his own arcade. A customer made this short film.

http://cainesarcade.com/

and then this

Even cooler: http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1160868--caine-s-arcade-pays-off-in-crowdfunded-scholarship-for-boy

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Todd

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Bad at socializing

What's on my mind is the fact that I suck at social gatherings, like today's at the park with other homeschoolers. Of course it didn't help that I ran out of one of my medicines yesterday, but still, that's just an excuse. Had I been able to quietly disappear, I probably would have :-(

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Talking cat

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com/talking-cat.html

City living

It crossed my mind today that maybe, just maybe, I’m trying too hard to live the city life that Rain wanted to live, rather than how I have in the past. I surmise you’re thinking, “You should live it the way you want, and you know that, silly.” Part of it is my wanting to honor her. Another part is the thinking that we’re in a city now, we should live as city people do; whatever that means.

http://www.ramblemans.blogspot.com/

More classwork from this week

For this one, I needed to take the color out of the entire picture and make the ice cream cone the only thing with color afterward.

before	after

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For this one I had to take the add-on (red outlines) out of the picture. I didn't know whether to have the end product with a blue sky or a white one, so I did one of each.

After (1)	After (2)

I should've added clouds, at least to the one with the blue sky. Oops.

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

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Not smoking, but

Despite not having any problems not smoking any cigarettes since last Saturday, I still have days (like today) that I think, "If I could afford $5 a pack, I'd smoke." Since I can't though, I don't. You'd think not having headaches would be enough of a reward for quitting. Perhaps it's because I've always been around smokers in my life, which really means just about every woman who has been important in my life (mother, aunt, wife, friends, sister for a while, etc) has been a smoker, that I don't see it as a negative thing. I've had some of my best conversations with people while on smoke breaks at work because it's hard to be completely silent for 6-10 minutes while standing there and the you're the only 2 or 3 people hanging out together, at least in my experience.

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http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

Before and After the Fix

This one needed to be fixed for my Image Manipulation (Photoshop CS4) class.

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And this one is what it looks like after I fixed it. Hope I get a good grade :-)

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http://ramblemans.blogspot.com

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It is cold inside

Today I've just been cold all day, despite the A/C not kicking on until the indoor temp. gets to 76 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature outside being in the low 80s. Went to the pool earlier, sat and laid in the sun, splashed around in the pool, then came back to the apartment to eat. Later we went and worked-out a little. Drove to the grocery store and got a couple of things. Now we've eaten supper and I'm strongly considering going and sitting in the hot tub. Todd...OUT!

http://ramblemans.blogspot.com/