A Georgia Angel

Archive for April, 2009

Several weeks ago, I went to Walmart and decided to spend that good ol’ tax refund on a swing set (Adventure Playsets Sunchaster Wooden Swing Set) for Leah Rose. It came in 2 long flat boxes, and I stood there looking at those boxes in the garage remembering one of the reviews that I read online… “When we first got it I saw these 2 rather small boxes and thought for sure it was going to be total junk “, and I started thinking the same thing.  Then we started laying out all the pieces (well not really me, I sat and watched…lol).  It was started on Thursday evening.

This is what was finished on Friday evening.

And here we are on Saturday afternoon.

 It took 1 person almost 16 hours to build.  The instructions were very hard to read, and there were a lot of pieces to keep up with.  Also, there were a few nuts and bolts missing.  We had to make 2 trips to the hardware store for all of $3.75 in parts.

It is the perfect size for our yard, and for my 5 year old.  Click here to see her enjoying her new playset.  Honestly, it has been well worth the $400 I spent on it.  She has played on it for several hours every day, and I can sit back and relax a little.  She’s not underfoot constantly now.  She’s outdoors, getting some fresh air, sunshine and exercise.

Once we got it all put together, I read this blog post written by KristinL @ Ordinary Mom over at 5 Minutes for Mom about Kaboom.  Have you heard about it?  It is a project to find 100,000 playspaces in 100 days.  5 Minutes for Mom Kaboom Team started 4/26 and for the next 67 days, the 5MFF Team will be posting about playgrounds within walking distance for their child.  Come on over and join us find the playplaces.

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: community, play

Last November, I went to the mountains with a friend.  We left home about 8:30 am on Friday and got to Bryson City NC about 1:30 pm.  We drove around town and walked down the main street, and explored a few shops.  It started to drizzle rain a little, so we went to the cabin to get dressed for dinner.  We stayed in a 2 bedroom cabin on the top of a mountain called Angel’s Overlook.

The cabin was fully furnished, and I loved how it was decorated.  There were lots of greens in the fabrics and angels were everywhere.  I am an angel collector myself, so I was thrilled to see all the pretty country angels.

It was semi-private and very nice and quiet.  The cabin was at the end of the drive that curved up the side of the mountain.  Fortunately, I was not driving, but there was more than one occasion where I had to cover my eyes.  Some of the corners were very sharp and you didn’t know if there was someone coming in the opposite direction.  And at night, it was even worse, except the knowledge that you would be able to see headlights coming the other way… maybe.

We had a hard time deciding where to eat, but we settled on a restaurant at the Fontana Village Resort in the top of the Smokey Mountains National Forest.  The dinner was excellent, although we had to wait a while for a table, but we relaxed in the foyer of the resort.  It was already decorated for Christmas, and they had a fire going in the fireplace.  It was rainy and cool outside.  So when we got ready to leave, my friend discovered that he really needed to get gas for the car, and the only gas station within 20 miles was closed.  It started to rain, and it was dark and cold, and here we are driving down this curvy road of the mountain.  We finally made it to the gas station and were very relieved we made it safely down the mountain.  Fortunately, there were very few cars on the road at that time of the night.  I guess we were the only crazy chickens out in that kind of weather.  There were times that the leaves were blowing across the road and you couldn’t tell where the edge of the road ended.  Scary.

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: Great Smoky Mountains, Travel

Last Wednesday, 4/22/09, was Administrative Professional’s Day, and I received an Amazon.com gift card from my supervisors.  I had almost forgotten it was my “special” day.  Which is ironic, since I used to start dropping hints to my boss years ago before Secretary’s week.  He was notorious for forgetting things.  That was back when it was still called “Secretary’s Day”, but I would always loftily insist that I’m not a secretary, I’m an Administrative Assistant.  BIG difference, in my opinion.  When it changed to “Administrative Professional’s Week” in 2000, I couldn’t play my little attitude anymore.  Then I started forgetting about the “occasion” and didn’t drop big hints about it anymore.

I was totally surprised when I received my gift card notification email last week, but very flattered that my bosses had remembered me this year.  I immediately knew what I wanted to spend it on and headed on over to Amazon to place my order.

Several weeks ago, I posted a “to do” list, and one of the items on the list was to design a wordpress blog theme.  I modified 2 themes.  The first one is my blog for my daughter, My Leah Rose – Princess in Training.

BEFORE

AFTER

I modified the “Setouchi” theme designed by Ohmiya, and I think it looks so much better than my previous theme.  However, there is still one problem with it.  It’s not centered horizontally on the page.  I can’t figure out what I’ve done wrong.  This is also similar to my very neglected Heart of the Holidays blog, and that one is working just fine.  It’s a complete mystery.

Then I modified my current Georgia Angel blog (which is based on The Manor Theme by Gitar), using a beach photo I took back in February.  I really like the way it turned out, but again, I’ve got a slight problem with the left sidebar lining up properly.

 I went to the local Books-A-Million store, but they didn’t have anything on the shelf that was helpful.  I checked online and came across WordPress Theme Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver.  Some of the reviews weren’t very hopeful about the content of the book, so I decided to think about it a while.  When I got the Amazon gift card, I didn’t think about it any longer.  These are the 4 books I purchased.

 I received them on Saturday, but I haven’t really had time to sit down and go through them yet.  I’ve read the introduction chapter of the WordPress Theme Design book, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

I already have these 2 books, so I should be good to go now with a good resource library to trouble shoot my design problems, I hope.

Happy Administrative Professionals Week to me!  And to all Professionals!

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: admin prof day, Celebrations

Date Taken:  11/8/08

Location:  Great Smoky Mountains

Click here to view other Watery Wednesday participants hosted by 2sweetnsaxy @ Eyes, Mind & Heart.

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: Memes, Photography, Watery Wednesday, wednesday meme, Wednesday Memes

Mary/theTeach from Work of the Poet has started a new photography meme called Window Views.

Last Sunday, I attended a festival in a nearby town.  This is the county courthouse.  I thought it was neat how the upper windows reflected the sky, and the trees are reflected in the lower windows.

Click here to view other participants at Window Views, hosted by Mary/theTeach @ Work of the Poet.

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: Memes, Photography, thursday meme, Thursday Memes, thursday's meme, Window Views, windows

 
Black & White View.  Color View.

Click here to view other participants at Sepia Scenes, hosted by Mary/theTeach @ Work of the Poet.

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: creative photography, sepia scenes

 Here is my beautiful little ruby gem dressed for school this morning. 

Click here to view more Ruby Tuesday participants hosted by Mary/theteach at Work of the Poet.

Current Mood: Happy

Tweet This Post

Technorati Tags: Memes, Photography, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday Memes, tuesday's memes