Classic Michael

Hello Familia! It has been quite the while!

Roxy texted me the other day about starting this up again, im sure you all got the message as well. I am proud of myself for being the first to take action, I hope you all are equally as proud, as well as disappointed... in yourselves.

 I don't know if this post will be worth the """"Grand Start Up"""" if it ever actually gets back on track.... but I was surfing the youtube for cool new music, actually I was looking for music to transcribe for school..anyways what does it matter how I came across them. I just did.

I found a string quartet that made a tribute CD to Michael Jackson...
I don't know if any of you cared at all for the dude, but I do know that Mary and I used to dance around the pool table to his songs when we were little...most days of the week.

Here are some smash hits...haha

Anyways, I miss you guys. Some else post some nonsense soon.

Pants, Pantaloons, or Heathers new favorite....Panties...... I dont think i like it. 

Hi guys I hope this brighten your day a little. THEY ARE SO CUTE.

When the going gets tough...

The 'tough' get going.  Is that how it goes?  I think it finally makes sense to me now.  The 'tough' is referring to the people who keep trudging along no matter what.

Maybe the thousand pages of Gone with the Wind were worth the read last month.  While Scarlett had her issues, she was independent and didn't let anyone or anything stop her.

I'm tired and I'm scared.  I know I need to be patient and give things time to grow.  I know I need to give myself credit for the hundreds of hours I have put into this new endeavor.  I know that I need to exude confidence, but inside, there is a little bit of fear.  I think it is weighing me down.

The fear is a greater hurdle than all of the increased time management to ensure my home remains a haven.

That's big.

I wish I didn't feel so alone.

A

My Mechanical Child

This is my car, some of you have met her already. I love her. It's odd really. My other car, who is now dead and gone, was so hated by me. Well, she was appreciated, but definitely not beloved. In fact I think there was a type of sabotage on my part where she was concerned, like I wanted her to die because she was not the car I wanted in the first place. I had wanted, that's right, a blue Saab. But everyone said "Don't do it." that it was an irresponsible choice, and I would certainly regret it. So I didn't. My Corolla and I tolerated each other for four years. I'm quite sure she knew she wasn't loved. Maybe that explains all her bad behavior. Anyway, this time around, I tried to talk myself out of a Saab, I looked at all the Honda Civics I could find with more than 110,000 miles on them. But again, the blue Saab hatchback was calling my name. One friend did tell me straight up it was a terrible idea, that if I wanted a Saab I should wait til I could spend the money to get a new one. But the reality of the situation is that if I had money I would never buy a Saab. Yuck, I don't like new Saab's. I realized then that I only ever wanted this quirky, old Swedish-ish hatchback. And now was my opportunity. It was the right car at the right time for the right price.  And so she is mine.

She whistles at me every morning when I walk out to her, and so I say hello. She is like a darling little pet. Recently however we have been having some issues with the alarm system. As in, it goes off...a lot. To the point where if she doesn't whistle at me when I hit the lock button, I know there will be trouble later, and sometimes even if she does. I just tell her to be a good girl and hope for the best. Car alarms are special little things. Each car has a different one, and different things make different cars go off. Which in my car's case is everything. I was out on the Potomac last week sitting on the rocks, my car parked way back out on the road. I was talking to a friend and all of a sudden I shushed him, I thought I heard a familiar sound. Sure enough it was my car's alarm, she's loud.

Oh dear. 

I was laying in my bed last night, relaxing after a long beautiful day in the country side. All of a sudden she blew. I threw on clothes and ran down the stairs out the the car. I tried to push the auto lock/unlock buttons, didn't work. I actually got in the car and started it, nothing. I put it in and out of gear, no luck. I was freaking out, my neighbors were going to start throwing eggs at us, it was SOOO loud. I didn't know what else to do but to start driving. So I'm driving down the city block, my car alarm blaring, and I see a cop pulling up behind me, then the lights go on. Great! I pull over roll down the window and try to yell over the alarm. "Sorry! I can't get her to stop!!" Meanwhile he's calling in my plate number. I think after he saw my disheveled hair and mismatched pj's and coat he smiled and said not to worry, that he just wanted to make sure the car wasn't being stolen. Of course another cop car pulled up right behind him. So the two cops have me surrounded, lights going, my car won't stop screaming, and they are just laughing at me. Finally I got out of the car and got her to whistle at me, which immediately shut her up of course.

Seriously, I think this is my current equivalent of having a child. That was a crazy ruckus to be making at midnight. And yet, in the end I just sighed, sternly told her I had better not have to come back out that night, patted her on the hood, and went back to bed.

She just needs some TLC in the form of yanking out the electric wires hooked up to the alarm system, and she'll be all better.

For Posterity

Ok I had this awesome Title that was all star Warsie, that went on about "About a month ago near a lake far far away" but blogger didn't like the format.  So this is what you guys get.

Alright AMPLE as The voice of reason in this family I feel obligated to post something.

last night Jackson was caught in the basement watching TV between the hours of 0000 and 0400 for the second time in a week.  Apparently the Jones family has finally produced an insomniac.  I have to be at work in 4 minutes so I don't have time for a real post, But sheesh someone had to do another one.


Honus

Opinions

I know, this was like, so four weeks ago, but I didn't post four weeks ago. Let's catch up.

 Chief Justice Roberts gave the deciding vote for the Supreme Court stating that Obama's health care plan as it stood was not constitutional under the context of commerce law, meaning that you can't tell people to buy insurance anymore than you can tell them to buy broccoli. However under tax law, the majority states that it is legal. This means that as long as the government offers a punitive tax to be paid in place of buying health insurance, then it is legal as far as the government is accountable to current tax law.  The only part of the law that the Supreme Court rescinded was the governments power to force each state to set up a program to utilize the additional funds, in the most simplistic terms, as a measure to protect states rights.

There is a lot of controversy about this right now, and so many different ways to look at it.

A tax professionals opinion about what it means.

Happy with Roberts

Not so sure about Roberts

SO, here is the way both candidates for the presidency have addressed the health care bill on their web-sites. Again I think the Republicans could do better in making their case. In fact any type of case would be helpful. Bama, as usual, all smoke and mirrors, convincing smoke and mirrors.

Mitt-Face

Obama-Face

All of this is of course just fodder for the mind.  It's good to think about what you think, don't you think?

Em-Face

COLOURLovers

In my recent adventures of creating my logo, I happened upon COLOURLovers.

Go explore, it is awesome!  They have thousands and thousands of color palettes to peruse and enjoy.  You can create designs and become inspired.  It took me some research to figure out what the numbers meant for each color.  So, I want to share what I learned with you.

Let's take Ocean Five for an example.

The first color is a copycat of Martha Stewart's Rainforest.

                                                 (I made this example in Photoshop :o) )

There are two numbers underneath the Hex and the RGB (Red, Green, Blue).

If you want to have this palette in a project you are making, you can go to any application like Photoshop, Word, etc...and input the color by changing the numbers.  It's that easy!

So there were lots of other tricks I learned, but the most important thing, is that when you find a color you love.  You can write down these numbers (either HEX of RGB, both will get you the same result), save them, and make your project uniform in any software that you are using.  Heck.  I bet you could write them down and take them to a paint store and they would be able to create it for you.

The palette I chose for my logo and website was entitled Starry Night featuring Vincent VanGogh's colors.  I love it.  Here is the mock-up I used for all of my photoshop work.  (another trick I learned)

And the result, my awesome business cards and company logo!!

So, now you are informed about one way to embrace COLOURLovers.  I have only tapped the surface.

A

The First Wave.

And there off. The first wave of Jonses have pointed there Minivan in the general direction of Michigan and put the pedal to the metal. Our intrepid travelers Have their Leapsters and DVD players charged and loaded with fun things, but the funnest thing in the car with them is a Burr.  They will turn there noses up at Speed limit signs, and wave happily to local law enforcment, for they have been summoned to the biggest party of the summer. They will sing,sleep, maybe cry a little, and Laugh all the way to Grandma's House.

Summer Recitals

So I sang in 2 recitals this weekend! It was really fun, and nice to have family around that could come enjoy!

So Mother wants results, and I hope you all enjoy them too!

hahahhhaah enjoy the cat duet. i just have audio of my other aria... and i dont know how you upload that. so i guess just enjoy these.

SEE YOU IN A WEEK :]
and why does no one blog.... me and eliza are the only ones with a strong streak recently.
minus me last week....maybe.

love you alllll!

P

Hello

Well its Thursday again and no one has posted since last week! What is going on peeps. I thought we had ample amounts to say?

So this weeks challenge is to read scriptures for 30 min. I am still doing the challenge and doing pretty well how is everyone else doing? Anyone still doing it? Well I wanted to do this challenge for my personal progress with reading my scriptures. I have never been very good at it. I mean I read a couple verses here and there but it always seems I can never really remember what I am reading. This week however has been different. I have been reading and remembering the next day what I read the day before. I talk to Christopher about it which helps me remember even more. I don't know why I have such a hard time making time for my reading and studying. I put so much effort into getting back in shape and eating right and all those type of things. I forget that I need to prioritize my own personal study of the scriptures too. It helps me to be happy. These last 4 days has helped me to remember that.

So I am making these tomorrow for dinner:

      I will probably make it with some grilled veggies and some fruit! Its seriously good! and good for you! 

                Sweet Potato Black Bean Burgers

Makes 8-10 patties
Ingredients
1 sweet potato, chopped and boiled until fork-tender
2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

 

2 carrots, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup oats, coarsely ground (see picture in directions)
1 cup Panko bread crumbs (whole wheat if you can find it), divided in half
1/2 cup corn, fresh, frozen & thawed, or canned & drained
2 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 t. cayenne (if you like spice–omit for little eaters)
olive oil

Directions

Heat oven to 350 F. Either spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.

In a large flat-bottomed skillet (cast irons are great), saute onions and carrots on medium-low heat with a little olive oil until onions have a nice golden color. Add garlic and saute for 2 more minutes. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mash one can of drained black beans (a fork, potato masher, or your hands will do the job), then add the other can of drained black beans and just lightly mash them, leaving some whole. Add the sauteed veggies and all the other ingredients, except for 1/2 of the bread crumbs, and mix well, mashing some of the sweet potatoes to help bind the mixture.

Put the remaining bread crumbs on a small plate or pie pan.

Pulse oats in a blender, food processor, or coffee bean grinder once or twice until they are coarsely ground like this.

The mixture should be thick and slightly sticky. This looks a little gross, but let’s be honest, ground raw meat doesn’t look much better! 

Form the patties. Use a 1/2 cup measuring cup, slightly over-filled, to measure out each patty. Patties should be about 1 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter.

In the same pan you cooked the veggies, add just enough oil to lightly coat the pan and turn the burner back to medium low. Dip the patties into the panko crumbs, gently pressing the crumbs into the patties. Add panko-crusted patties to the pan (2-4 at a time depending on the size of your pan), letting them get lightly golden brown, then flipping. The first side browns quicker.

Transfer the patties to the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve on hamburger buns with your choice of toppings. Avocado, tomato, roasted red pepper, lettuce, chipotle mayo (just blend a chipotle pepper with 1/2 cup of mayo), are all great with these.

Springfield, MO

So we are moving to Springfield, Missouri. Christopher accepted a position there in January. I stole this picture from my friends blog. It was taken in winter when everything was dead! It was much more green this trip This past week we went there again to find a house to live in for a while. But first thing was first we had to say goodbye to our baby girl. She went and stayed with Nana and Poppa in Tallahassee for the week. She was sooo excited! She will barely speak to us on the phone she is having so much fun. I know it was way harder on me then her. 

 So we set off to Missouri just me and the boys! Seriously the pictures below is what most of our 4 days looked like. We were in the car pretty much all day everyday! Lots of pictures in this post of Henry but how do you choose! 

 This kid didn't mind though as long as he got to eat whenever he wanted. 

So the driving around payed off. It was pretty frustrating trying to find a place. There are plenty of houses to rent in Springfield but NO ONE wants to rent for less then 12 months. Christopher and I were looking for a short term lease because we want to buy pretty soon but we also wanted to get to know the area before we do that. We called so many houses on the first day I can't even count. At the end of day one we were ready to give up. We went to dinner and on a whim decided to go look at one more neighborhood. We passed this house and saw the for rent sign. I did not want to even call but Christopher told me to just do one more today. So I called and of course the guy wanted a 12 month lease but then he stopped me and asked why I wanted a sort term lease. I told him and he said that he and his son are Realtors and that if one of them writes the contract for the house we find, we can get out of our rental lease whenever we buy. 

Its a pretty cozy little house. Its the only one we even looked at. It has a fenced in backyard and it even has a little pear tree back there. Its in a great central neighborhood. I think we will be happy here for a while. 

Christopher might kill me but I have to tell one more story about our trip. On Saturday we thought it would be fun to go and explore the surrounding area of Springfield so we set off down to Branson, MO (40 min away). We didn't look at a map until it was too late but we ended up driving on some seriously unnecessary winding and rolling roads. I was kind of mad about it and I was getting car sick. I was letting Christopher know how I felt pretty much the whole time we were driving. He got pretty quiet for a little while and when I looked over at him and he was pretty much white. Now if you know Christopher you know he has extreme motion sickness. He barely made it off the road and into a gas station before he lost all his breakfast. Poor Guy. Apparently he told me that talking about being sick made him sick. Usually the driver does not get sick in cars. This was his second time he got sick on this trip. Not good. We are going to have to get use to these roads if we are going to make it out here.    

Overall it was a good trip. I am trying to get excited about moving to springfield. Hopefully I will like it more once I get there. Everyone that knows anything about Springfield always tells me I am going to love it, so hopefully they are right. As of now I am just excited to be normal people with a job! No more student Status!

I can't watch this and not think of Lizard listening to reason.



Love Honus

Cool Dudes.

Summer Photoshoot

Aren't they the cutest!!

Caving.

So this happened last night....

I don't have babies to post, so I will just post my friends.

Me and B made a cake and discovered a beautiful new kind of ice cream.

We can buy some at the lake house since none of you will buy it right now. 

Maybe Chris, Ryan, and Jon can have some since I hear they don't eat healthy with their wives... 

Or maybe I just assume that. :]

As you can see, I have failed the challenge. 

I promise i'm not being a fatty though. 

And i'm going to take advantage of my teenage metabolism while i can. 

I'M ONLY A TEENAGER FOR ONE MORE YEAR.

(actually 11 months)

that's scary. 

The cake is me and dads favorite.

It was really good. 

I hope i'm not tempting anyone with this picture. 

I wish you all luck with your next 3 weeks...

ONLY 3 WEEKS I'M GETTING SO EXCITED!

Love you.

P

Grandma and Grandpa!

We had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa! When they arrived on weds morning we gave them big hugs and then we took them to my parents house to celebrate Charlotte's birthday.  She wanted to go out on my dad's boat for her birthday and swim in the lake.  They got to ride in a tube and jump off the boat into the lake.  They loved it.  It was extremely hot though.  We did presents and had a good birthday.  Thurs they made the kids day by taking them to the new Chuck E Cheese that just opened up.  Friday we went to a small summer park and did some bumper boats and mini golfing.  That was really fun!  Maggie like to sit in the pond obstacles in the golf course and splash.  Saturday Charlotte had some friends over for a birthday party.  We were busy every day. Grandma was a good sport hobbling on her crutches everywhere with us.  Grandma and Grandpa got lots of Charlotte, Jackson and especially Maggie hugs.  Maggie would walk over to grandpa and just put arms up for him to pick her up and hold her.  She would also snuggle up to him close when he was sitting reading or using his Ipad.  Maggie also loved to play on grandma's boot!  It was a WONDERFUL time having them here.  Thanks for coming.

Jones fun - make slideshow

I'm Hungry!

My awesome stir fry with lots of veggies from my fridge, chicken, and rice didn't cut it tonight. I don't remember the last time I was this hungry. I also passed on mini chocolate chips in my pancakes. I thought blueberries would be a healthier choice. I will get my stars today. Does a chocolate flavored protein shake count as a dessert? The consensus of my food diary is that I'm a carboholic... What did everyone else's show? A

Checking in and Checking up

 4 days down folks . . . . 

How is everyone doing? Its been 4 days and the GDOC is basically empty. Have we given up or are we just not reporting? I made a chart for Christopher and I so I have to look at it everyday. It makes me really happy when I get to put X's in all of my boxes! I think it helps keep me stay motivated. It also helps me to remember everything. Maybe you should try it if you are feeling well not motivated. Abby has addressed a concern about working out. Is anyone else struggling with anything? I know it was pretty hard passing on such yummy desserts last night at the BBQ I went to. Christopher is doing everything but exercise. If its not a basketball game or touch football then he is not really interested. Maybe that will change when he has more time after school is done. That might just be wishful thinking on my part though. How is the no eating past 8 going? Should we move it to 9? Is everyone finding time to eat before 8 with work, kids, crazy life? So far I like the challenge and it is helping me think more about my body and the things I need to work on to take care of it. 

 These two tend to make working out more enjoyable. They like to cheer me on. Henry likes to follow me back and forth when I move. Reese joins in sometimes too that gets a little crazy though. Reese is always very concerned when I make grunting noises or big sighs of relief when an exercise that was difficult is over. "Mom are you ok? Are you going to be ok mom?" She is very in tune with what people are feeling. I kind of love that about her

(notice the M&Ms in Reese's bowl. I am proud to say I have not had one M&M this week. Thats big for me!)

So I am having trouble eating healthy and finding the time to prepare for meals. I was going to post a bunch of recipes I want to try but it is getting late and it will only make me hungry. I decided I should go to bed instead. I will post the recipes this weekend then maybe we can try them together next week!!   You should post some too if you have a favorite recipe that we should try! Ok start reporting on here peeps. I want to know how everyone is doing! Everyday is a new day. If you have been sucking it up these past few days then start fresh tomorrow.

The 'non-negotiable' rules...

Confession,  I am not very good at rule #2.  I haven't eaten after 8:00 since Monday AND yesterday I passed over a beautiful array of festive desserts...but exercising...

I'm going to the doctor today for my foot, but really that is no excuse.  Why don't I ever EVER have the motivation to get on my back and do some crunches, pilates, etc...

Does ANYONE else have this problem?

Tips? Motivational thoughts?

I will always be ab-less if I keep this up...

Abby

P.S. It isn't helpful having a husband who has weighed the same for seven years straight and doesn't feel like he needs to give up desserts....