On This Day:
Sunday June 22, 2008
This is the 174th day of the year, with 192 days remaining in 2008.
Fact of the Day#1:
Barry and I got married 19(!) years ago today. Yep. 19. Count ’em. We met in a November, got engaged that February (the 13th in case you were wondering) and were married in June.
We waited 15 years to have kids–not really planned on it happening that way–we just…well…kinda forgot. We were meaning to…
But, thanks to Mr Potency and my overly fertile womb, we’ve had 3 kids in 4 years. Good thing we didn’t forget to have kids after all.
So…for my beloved poet in t-shirt and jeans–Happy 19th Anniversary.
Fact of the Day#2:
snails
A snail is a gastropod (which is a mollusk), especially one having an enclosing shell, into which it may retract completely for protection. A gastropod lacking a shell is commonly called a slug or sea slug.
A snail can sleep for three years.
WE HAVE LIFTOFF
Okay, so it’s been a while. Back in May we had Barry’s folks here for a short visit. We took them, Barry’s sister Tina, and our nephews Storm (who is staying the summer with us) and Dylan over to Daytona Beach to watch the Space Shuttle lift off.
We can see if from our backyard, but I thought it would be really cool to do something we’ve never done before and drive over to watch liftoff.
Traffic was a mess! I think every single person in central Florida had the same idea. It took forever to get there. A trip that should have taken about an hour, took almost 2.5 hours!
However, we finally arrived to the coast. Traffic, cars, thongs of people EVERY damn where! People where charging $20 -$30 to park on the side of the road, in store parking lots… I never in my wildest dreams thought traffic would have been like that. We were about to turn around and head to Coco beach when we came upon this little kids play park. Hardly anyone was there!
So we wheeled in, parked (for FREE!!!) got out our picnic lunch that Barry’s Mom had thought to make (me? I just charge off half-assed not thinking about snacks n’ stuff). We all sat under a beautiful shade tree and just chilled for an hour or so until launch.
Molly plays with Grandaddy.
The kids dive into Skittles.
Fox sneaks up on Daddy.
The crowd started really growing about half an hour until launch. We got up and moved over to this bridge to get a good view of the shuttle. From where we were at Cape Canaveral was about 8 miles away.
I guess I was expecting HUGE sound, loud booms, the roar of the engines—but nah. There was a little bit of sound, but not what I was expecting at all.
You can see the shuttle beginning to launch in the bottom right
I took a video of it, but I don’t know if I can make it work. I’ll upload it and see.
It really was amazing to see and I’m glad we did it. I’d always wanted to. I have to admit that it wasn’t quite what I expected. I expected A LOT more noise. I didn’t expect the ba-zillion people.
I didn’t expect the cities of Daytona and Coco to be soooooo racist! I swear if I saw one more Confederate flag stuck on a t-shirt, a truck or flying outside someones trailer, I was gonna scream.
I wasn’t expecting the trip back to take 3 friggin’ hours!
Really.
IF you go, the only thing I can say is traffic will be horrible. I’d heard stories, but I didn’t think they could possibly be right.
Believe. Believe and be warned. You won’t get out from the shuttle launch for 4 hours. And it’s slow. Painfully, painfully. slow.
Guinevere
Guinevere was the wife of Arthur, legendary king of Britain, and best known in Arthurian romance through the love that his knight Sir Lancelot bore for her. In early Welsh literature, one Gwenhwyvar was “the first lady of this island”; in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s inventive Historia regum Britanniae (early 12th century), she was named Guanhumara and was presented as a Roman lady. In some accounts it was suggested that she was Arthur’s second wife.
THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST
The kids all went and got hair cuts. Chloe went first. She’s been asking for a spa day for a long time. Which is funny. I’m not the kind. Really. And here is my 4 year old asking for a friggin’ spa day. She is the ultimate girly girl.
Then Fox decided he wanted to try it. Sooo…the lady had extra time and up he went.
He did awesomely. I thought for sure he’d start crying and thrashing once he got in the chair, but he was fantastic.
I admit it. I kinda freaked when she brought out the shaver. I wasn’t envisioning anything too short. Fox has the most gorgeous blond locks.
It’s a bit too prep boy with all the gel in it. But the kid cleans up right nice.
MOLLY UPDATE
Molly’s latest PKU blood work came back really high for her–10.8!!
Of course, I flipped out and took it really hard. But we don’t have to change anything major really, just cut her proteins back in half again. So I went and loaded up on veggies and fruit. She can still have protein, but we are cutting waaaaaaay back again. We have to retest in a week.
GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT
Coloring in Photoshop is tough. For the life of me I just can’t get lighting. I can do it FINE when I watercolor, but sit me in front of the computer and…blank.
So I’ve started laying out little roughs of how I want back lighting, mood lighting, etc before I start computer coloring.
Guess I’m just old school. I still find writing easier on paper first, then tying it into the computer and editing it from there.
Some costume designs
