Ok, so I wanted to spruce up our blog page. While perusing the many options, I came across the Gadgets. There are far too many to choose from and I had to force myself to stop when I realized that everyone would need to scroll down to the bottom of the page just to see them all if I kept going. I tried to stay away from those that were too "advertisy". Hopefully I've added a few that everyone will enjoy.
If you feel like you need a bit of a laugh check out the one labeled Parenting Humor. It updates like every 30 seconds. There's been quite a few times that I've literally laughed out loud. Erin, if you check the gadget out it says who to email with your stories, I really think you should contribute some of your kid adventure stories! Or maybe you should just create a gadget of your own, even better!
I'm not sure I'm too pleased with the healthy living one, I might just have to remove it or find a replacement, but I figure we all could use a bit of daily healthly living advice.
You're may be wondering why I have the puppy one on there. We are currently researching dogs and cars. Now that we have a house that actually came with a doggie door, we can no longer hold off buying a dog. The plan is to go out puppy shopping at the local shelters in the next few weeks. So anyway, I thought it would be fun to see pics and a bit of info on puppies.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Oh how they grow up so fast
We just received Lindsay's and Katie's latest school pictures and I had to share them. The two of them are growing up so fast. Lindsay seems to look so much older now that her bangs have begun to grow out. She's becoming my little social butterfly.
Lindsay seems to be growing a bit faster than Katie would like her to however. Recently we moved Allison downstairs to "the best room in the house" according to Todd and Lindsay couldn't get her out fast enough. We've told Lindsay it doesn't officially become her room until next year when we'll be ready to buy her a ne
w bedroom set, but in the mean time it will serve as a play room, yet she has decided that's where her clothes will be and that is where she will do all of her "getting ready" in the mornings. This morning Lindsay of course went in to "her room", closing the door, and proceeded to get dressed for the day. After Lindsay's exit, Katie decided she needed to do the same thing but she was very quickly informed that that wasn't her bedroom and she needed to get dressed in her room. Of course Katie thought otherwise and quickly informed her sister, whilst fighting back tears, "That's not a bedroom! It's a playroom!" Lindsay said "No, it's my bedroom too!" Katie replied, "It is NOT a bedroom, there's no BED in it so it's just a room!"And in case anyone is wondering what about pictures of Allison. There won't be any professional ones, as she chose to "forget" the packet last fall and we didn't get to order any. Although I plan to post a pic or two of her and her lovely new braces in her cool new hang out soon.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Fav Recipe Site
I just thought I'd share with anyone that's interested one of my favorite sites.
A few years ago I discovered the Kraft Foods Recipe site and it's now my go to for those moments when I'm tired of the same ol same ol for dinner. I have found a lot of great easy recipes on Kraftfoods.com that everyone seems to really enjoy. The thing I like the most about their site is most of the recipes are very busy mom friendly and if they don't start out healthy they will offer a healthier ingredient substitute suggestion at the end of the recipe. It also includes nutrition information.
Happy cooking!
A few years ago I discovered the Kraft Foods Recipe site and it's now my go to for those moments when I'm tired of the same ol same ol for dinner. I have found a lot of great easy recipes on Kraftfoods.com that everyone seems to really enjoy. The thing I like the most about their site is most of the recipes are very busy mom friendly and if they don't start out healthy they will offer a healthier ingredient substitute suggestion at the end of the recipe. It also includes nutrition information.
Happy cooking!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Adventures in Orthodontics
I got my braces Thursday.
As you can see, I was smiling the whole time.
More or less.
It /still/ hurts, and my mouth is really sore from all the teeth being pushed together. My braces are navy-blue, and they look spectacular. Katelynn's asked to see them quite a few times already.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Baby Garner Update
Unfortunately I don't have any new pictures of Baby Girl Garner, as the most recent ones are on my mother's camera, but I do have some information that I guess I will pass along since NO ONE else (Damon), seems to be keeping the Garner family Blog current.
Baby Girl Garner is now known as Lillian Winter Garner (hopefully I spelled Lillian correctly). At last check, yesterday, Lillian is doing "awesome" as stated by her proud Daddy. She's growing as she should and she's spoiling her Daddy by sleeping like an angel, only waking every 3-4 hours during the night. She's been such a good baby that when asked, Damon claims that he's too afraid to have another child because he's convinced they won't be blessed with such an angel next time, that we're all only allotted one "good" baby apparently.
Lillian was thoughtful enough to give her Mommy and Daddy at least one rough evening about 2 weeks ago. Damon had decided since he didn't have to work the next day he would get up with Lillian for her late night/early morning feeding. After going through the routine, eating, burping, diaper changing, he set out to get her back to sleep. Lillian had decided she had other plans for her parents and decided to stay awake crying off and on for the next three hours until Mommy awoke at 5am, took Lillian in her arms and she promptly fell asleep. Daddy was beside himself!
I'm sorry I don't have more to report and any new pictures. I will have to see if I can remedy at least the picture part.
Baby Girl Garner is now known as Lillian Winter Garner (hopefully I spelled Lillian correctly). At last check, yesterday, Lillian is doing "awesome" as stated by her proud Daddy. She's growing as she should and she's spoiling her Daddy by sleeping like an angel, only waking every 3-4 hours during the night. She's been such a good baby that when asked, Damon claims that he's too afraid to have another child because he's convinced they won't be blessed with such an angel next time, that we're all only allotted one "good" baby apparently.
Lillian was thoughtful enough to give her Mommy and Daddy at least one rough evening about 2 weeks ago. Damon had decided since he didn't have to work the next day he would get up with Lillian for her late night/early morning feeding. After going through the routine, eating, burping, diaper changing, he set out to get her back to sleep. Lillian had decided she had other plans for her parents and decided to stay awake crying off and on for the next three hours until Mommy awoke at 5am, took Lillian in her arms and she promptly fell asleep. Daddy was beside himself!
I'm sorry I don't have more to report and any new pictures. I will have to see if I can remedy at least the picture part.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Story Time!
Well, soon it'll be story time. You'll just have to wait a day or two. =P
I should have the second part up by Monday if I'm lucky.
Thank you everybody for all of your comments; it's wonderful to hear the reactions. I've joined a Young Authors club at school, so that'll give me some more critique with my writings. Once again, thanks for all of y'all's comments, hehe.
It's meant to be a bit confusing as to who's speaking the first part because I wanted to keep the audience in the dark. I start a lot of my stuff with pronouns instead of names for people, then let the information unfold throughout the story.
I originally meant for the paragraph starting with "Indeed she should be." and onward to be in a different font; if it doesn't show up, please tell me. Sorry it was a bit confusing. =3
Thank you,
Allison, whose screen name has been changed to Dungeon Master for security reasons.
I should have the second part up by Monday if I'm lucky.
Thank you everybody for all of your comments; it's wonderful to hear the reactions. I've joined a Young Authors club at school, so that'll give me some more critique with my writings. Once again, thanks for all of y'all's comments, hehe.
It's meant to be a bit confusing as to who's speaking the first part because I wanted to keep the audience in the dark. I start a lot of my stuff with pronouns instead of names for people, then let the information unfold throughout the story.
I originally meant for the paragraph starting with "Indeed she should be." and onward to be in a different font; if it doesn't show up, please tell me. Sorry it was a bit confusing. =3
Thank you,
Allison, whose screen name has been changed to Dungeon Master for security reasons.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year's Eve (AKA What Happens When Allison Gets Bored)
Well, happy eve of '09, everybody!
I was thinking of putting something mind-blowing up here, or something utterly amazing, but you'll have to settle with an excerpt from a story-in-progress of mine. You guys are always wondering what I'm writing about on that yellow pad of paper, so here it comes.
First off, background information.
This is about one of my favorite characters, inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed. The game itself deals with assassins during the era of the third crusade. Thinking this was the best idea yet, and spurned onwards by the promise of a futuristic element to the game, I sat down at the computer at Grandma's house and wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote.
I had a character spring to life. Armalia, or Army; average teen figuring out her body's been housing the spirit of a medieval assassin for the past years. This concept was further explored to create Starlight, super hero, and Army, orphan who's just trying to make ends meet in addition to saving New York-like Town, USA. I obviously had fun creating this.
And here... we... go.
I was thinking of putting something mind-blowing up here, or something utterly amazing, but you'll have to settle with an excerpt from a story-in-progress of mine. You guys are always wondering what I'm writing about on that yellow pad of paper, so here it comes.
First off, background information.
This is about one of my favorite characters, inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed. The game itself deals with assassins during the era of the third crusade. Thinking this was the best idea yet, and spurned onwards by the promise of a futuristic element to the game, I sat down at the computer at Grandma's house and wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote.
And wrote.
I had a character spring to life. Armalia, or Army; average teen figuring out her body's been housing the spirit of a medieval assassin for the past years. This concept was further explored to create Starlight, super hero, and Army, orphan who's just trying to make ends meet in addition to saving New York-like Town, USA. I obviously had fun creating this.
And here... we... go.
* * *
. . .
. . .
I awoke to the sound of my heavy breathing, lying in a frigid pool of sweat.
It was a dream, I thought. One hand groped about in the darkness for a matchbox, while my other assisted me in rising from the mattress. It was just a dream. A dark, fragmented dream, but a dream nonetheless.
My hand found a square container, and I held it close to my face. I could feel my cold breath on my skin as I opened the box, feeling for the familiar wooden stick I had grown to love. At this point, my nose registered a foul odor, like dried blood. . . . I carefully picked out a match, and struck it against its container.
Bedbugs scattered like ants in the shadow of an anteater. They had been the source of the smell; apparently I hadn't set the traps right, and the insects decided to party. . . The vampire bugs must've been squished by me, I thought, disgusted at the idea. Supporting evidence of dried and drying blood appeared in splatters on the sheet. It sickeningly reminded me of a fact I had read; [somebody] . . . stated he was able to write his name on the prison walls using a medium of smashed bedbugs. Was I in a prison, as badly kept as that? I dwelled, uncharistically philosophic for a moment, on this as I lit a candle.
The burning wick shed light on the rest of my cell walls. A simple five by ten room, barely big enough for a feather bed, tattered covers, and a small crate that functioned as a night stand.
. . .
The walls began to rumble, and I shakily stood up. I wobbled on jelly legs tot he door, stepping carefully over moving black dots. The walls were shivering violently now as a great beast thundered past. I had to shoulder the door open.
The eight o'clock C-Train sucked the air from the tunnel as it roared away, loose papers and my hair flying around it. It passed, and the tunnels returned to their serene quiet.
Eight, I thought. Starlight should be up by now.
Indeed she should be. I observed as Armalia slipped back into the matinence closet, like the shadow she was. I watched from above, standing on the tunnel ceiling. I'd be concealed by the dank, murky darkness, at least until she looked hard enough. Which meant I was safe for a while.
As the shuttle had bulleted past, my head had peeked inside. I noticed a red fogged man holding a briefcase, containing lord knows what. Those around him were of black and white; no one of consequence on board but the red man.
I decided to wati to transmit this information to her. The door opened a crack, and the shadow slid out, cloaked in inky black. Peering closer, I noticed the glint of steel, and grinned. She had misplaced the scabbards, once again. I dropped behind her, and tailed Armalia as she walked through the tunnel.
She smelled like dead rat and bedbugs. Especially bedbugs. I had noticed small bites all over her dark complexion, looking quite similar to pimples. The twelve pointed, face painted star on her face disguised them for the most part, although the spider bite from last night was very apparent on the tip of her steeply slanted nose.
I wondered if the donning of this guise alone turned Armalia to this dark, quiet figure. I reached out mentally for the empathic link between us, seized it, and channeled myself through it once more.
/See anything interesting while snooping about?/
I should try to be a bit more subtle next time. /Fine, thanks, and how are you?/
It was a dream, I thought. One hand groped about in the darkness for a matchbox, while my other assisted me in rising from the mattress. It was just a dream. A dark, fragmented dream, but a dream nonetheless.
My hand found a square container, and I held it close to my face. I could feel my cold breath on my skin as I opened the box, feeling for the familiar wooden stick I had grown to love. At this point, my nose registered a foul odor, like dried blood. . . . I carefully picked out a match, and struck it against its container.
Bedbugs scattered like ants in the shadow of an anteater. They had been the source of the smell; apparently I hadn't set the traps right, and the insects decided to party. . . The vampire bugs must've been squished by me, I thought, disgusted at the idea. Supporting evidence of dried and drying blood appeared in splatters on the sheet. It sickeningly reminded me of a fact I had read; [somebody] . . . stated he was able to write his name on the prison walls using a medium of smashed bedbugs. Was I in a prison, as badly kept as that? I dwelled, uncharistically philosophic for a moment, on this as I lit a candle.
The burning wick shed light on the rest of my cell walls. A simple five by ten room, barely big enough for a feather bed, tattered covers, and a small crate that functioned as a night stand.
. . .
The walls began to rumble, and I shakily stood up. I wobbled on jelly legs tot he door, stepping carefully over moving black dots. The walls were shivering violently now as a great beast thundered past. I had to shoulder the door open.
The eight o'clock C-Train sucked the air from the tunnel as it roared away, loose papers and my hair flying around it. It passed, and the tunnels returned to their serene quiet.
Eight, I thought. Starlight should be up by now.
Indeed she should be. I observed as Armalia slipped back into the matinence closet, like the shadow she was. I watched from above, standing on the tunnel ceiling. I'd be concealed by the dank, murky darkness, at least until she looked hard enough. Which meant I was safe for a while.
As the shuttle had bulleted past, my head had peeked inside. I noticed a red fogged man holding a briefcase, containing lord knows what. Those around him were of black and white; no one of consequence on board but the red man.
I decided to wati to transmit this information to her. The door opened a crack, and the shadow slid out, cloaked in inky black. Peering closer, I noticed the glint of steel, and grinned. She had misplaced the scabbards, once again. I dropped behind her, and tailed Armalia as she walked through the tunnel.
She smelled like dead rat and bedbugs. Especially bedbugs. I had noticed small bites all over her dark complexion, looking quite similar to pimples. The twelve pointed, face painted star on her face disguised them for the most part, although the spider bite from last night was very apparent on the tip of her steeply slanted nose.
I wondered if the donning of this guise alone turned Armalia to this dark, quiet figure. I reached out mentally for the empathic link between us, seized it, and channeled myself through it once more.
/See anything interesting while snooping about?/
I should try to be a bit more subtle next time. /Fine, thanks, and how are you?/
* * *
And that's it.
Questions? Comments? Complaints? All are welcome.
I know this is horrible compared to other authors, don't pretend this is the best piece of work since Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I'm tired of that, to be honest. I want actual constructive criticism.
Happy Almost New Year!
Questions? Comments? Complaints? All are welcome.
I know this is horrible compared to other authors, don't pretend this is the best piece of work since Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I'm tired of that, to be honest. I want actual constructive criticism.
Happy Almost New Year!
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