20 minutes faster, greetings from south africa & other items

OK, Melinda (my cousin) completed yet another triathlon last weekend. She shaved 20 minutes from the triathlon she did around the same time last year. 20 minutes! That goes to show was determination and commitment can do. Congrats Melinda!

20 minutes gone

My friend Endi is in South Africa, she's there through the International Senior Lawyer’s Project and will be teaching corporate law. She has a blog going on it and has photos up. Be sure to check it out, she is super busy but she's going to try to take tons of photos. I'm posting a few but you can go to her site to read about what she's doing and to see more photos.

endi kicking it in south africa

Could it be true? I read the other day that there might be a Veronica Mars movie, and while I would prefer the show to come back I will take what I can get. I miss V and Logan...

nancy drew has nothing on veronica

I just finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics enjoyed it very much. It is at times a little bit showy, and it took me a few chapters to get in to it - but once I was hooked I was HOOKED. One night I stayed up until 2am reading it and I never do that, I like my sleep. If anyone wants to borrow it let me know and I'll pass it along. The author created a pretty neat website to compliment the book as well.

a+ on the bookcover, thumbs up on the book

And don't fret, I have Lottie Sue info coming at you soon. She started Mother's Day Out this week and it went very well. She was happy both days with no crying or fussing, and her teachers said she got most excited over her string cheese snack each day. Today I went to pick her up and she was playing with a doll, it was super cute. She did a few crafts this week and I'll share those with you as well.

Everyone have a great weekend, over and out.

olympic blogs, straight from china

Having Olympic fever, it was much to my delight that I saw Google pulled some blogs of Olympic athletes and put them up. See? EVERYONE blogs, even Olympians. Where they find the time, I do not know. I looked at a few of them and it's pretty neat, you get a different experience definitely.

These athletes are from all over, not just the USA and they talk about lots of behind the scenes stuff. There are stories about training, officials, shopping, competing, drug testing and winning - I just have a few listed.

Dave Durante (gymnast), durante08
Jackie Edward (long jumper), 5th Time's the Charm
David Oliver (110m hurdler), davidoliverhurdles
Simon Whitfield (cyclist), simonwhitfield
Carissa Gump (weightlifter), carissa gump

a few family photos

could she BE any cuter???

Tonight we went to Lottie Sue's open house for Mother's Day Out. Everything was so cute, little chairs, little tables, little people everywhere...

She was having a ball so I hope on Wednesday it goes well. She'll have little friends that she'll see regularly (one little boy was in her swim class so she has a good start) and that will be great for her. And of course it will be great for me as well, I will have TWO free mornings a week to get stuff done. I am WAY excited. Anyway, one of her teachers asked that we bring in a family photo for the wall. We take A LOT of photos of Lottie Sue but never a lot together so we had to do one tonight. Here are the results. Matt's expression in this first one CRACKS me up, Matt and I have been laughing at his face for about 30 minutes straight now.

hahahaha, i'm laughing as i type

i think we'll go with this one

Matt took a few good ones of LS, here they are for your enjoyment.

our favorite little girl

Lottie Sue is almost 15-months-old now - I can't believe it. I saw a newborn the other day and I can barely remember when LS was that small. These days LS is all about balls and stuffed animals. She is particularly fond of her pink bear, mr. monkey, petunia the bunny and pumpkin the lamb. She is also attached to her blanket and MUST have it in her clutches when you get her out of the crib but she forgets about by the time you leave her room. She babbles all day long constantly says WHOA, WOW, hi and Da-da. I cannot tell you LOUD she is, it's amazing such a sound can come out of a very little person.

OK, short post here but I thought I'd put these photos up. The Olympics are on and we have the fever, we play games and watch. It's been so much fun.

tgif, a quilt i made & a leconte trip

thanks for dumping every single cheerio out of the bowl

The photo above is Lottie Sue in the car on the way home from her swim lessons. She starts her second session next week. She is our little mermaid. And this photo was taken on the bed a few weeks ago, I think LS looks different now. It is crazy how fast she changes. And looking at it now I noticed that she has two new teeth now on the bottom row.

cheeeeeeeesssssseeeee

I was perusing old photos the other day and found a few that documented a quilt I made. I've made three quilts, one for Cera, one that is in our bedroom and then a baby quilt for HW. So it's not that exciting but I thoought I would share. It takes me a LONG time to make a quilt, about a year at my pace. They are my favorite sewing project but you have to commit to it. But anyway, here are a few photos. I make the top then take it to Pappy's Place. It's a small and wonderful quilt shop in the boonies in Sevierville. They have a big quilting machine that you can use. I can guide the machine myself and I can quilt the entire thing in about 5 hours, but if I hand quilted it it would take me a year!

here is the quilt top halfway into the machine

this is at the beginning and i have one row complete, i would then unroll another section and quilt away

a close up photo

the finished product, a labor of love

While I was looking at photos I found these from our Mt. LeConte hike in 2004.

megan, mike, me, tommy and becce on the way up

our crazy photo from the clifftops

becce, me and megan ham it up

here i am using some of the freezing water

this is a shot of the cabin we had that year

OK, well I hope everyone has a great weekend. I leave you with a few interesting reads:

• Invisibility cloaks, the future is now.
  
• He read the dictionary, just for fun he says.
  

Later!

h-dub and cera are in da house, i question kohl's model scout & meet dr. horrible

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMMY! WHEE!

Ooh, Becce sent photos out last night. I'm posting a few of them here for you...this first one is so great (taken when Cera was in town for the 4th).

harlan and cera - i luv this photo

h-dub and a bubble machine

reaching for bubbles

harlan in swim class

The other day we received a mailer from Kohl's and the front cover caught our eye. The guy on the far left, I'm sure he's a nice fellow and all - but it kinda cracked me up. I thought it was odd and then Matt saw it and he was cracking on it so I knew I had blog material. Upon reading the fine print I find out he's in a band, but my grandma isn't going to read that. She's just going to see a grizzly fellow having something do with her Kohl's.

i'm not sure how much product the guy on the left is going to move

I watched the Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog and really liked it (if you like musicals and humor then you will as well). I went ahead and embedded it here for you in three parts (it's about 45 minutes long TRT). That Neil Patrick Harris, I like him in just about anything he does. Anyway, enjoy the show!

I know these don't fit in perfectly but I can't alter them any more. I am trying very hard to overlook how they mess with my blog aesthetics...(sigh).

dr. horrible, part one

dr. horrible, part two

dr. horrible, part three

OK, over and out. Peace be with you.

joshua takes first prize, boating up norris lake & team hardee's

joshua takes first prize

Well, my girl Katee didn't win shoobeedoobeedooDANCE, but I'm at peace with Joshua winning (he was my #2). The Jonas Brothers performed on the show as well. Full disclosure: I like the Jonas Brothers and have their new song on my workout playlist. Sydney uses our computer to update her ipod so we have LOTS of "teenager" songs. One day Matt and I were in the car and we listened to one Sydney's playlists, it was funny. We are OLD.

This morning Lottie Sue pulled out every magazine from the bookshelf and has a pile of magazine inserts. She loves them and pretends to read them I think. She'll gibber on and point to words and images on them. It's pretty cute, but on to the post.

The weather this past weekend was just about perfect. Truly perfect. We spent our time laking it up and I have a few photos. We also video taped a lot and I have it on my list to get into those this week. I have so many, now it's overwhelming. Anywho, a few photos of this past weekend...

lottie sue crawling around on the boat (she will not sit still)

grandaddy, bb and lottie sue look at something in unison

lottie sue obstructs bb

tommy jets by on the sea doo

we're getting gas here, lottie sue is examining something but i have no idea what

a photo of an old railway bridge on norris lake

lottie sue serves as hood ornament

lottie sue and her dad, their usual happy selves

Last night we played Yahtzee and watched the Olympics with Tommy (he kicked our behinds). The women's gymnastic team looked a little rough but what struck me more was their outfits. As soon as I saw it the Hardee's logo popped into my head. What do you think?

order up

Lottie Sue starts her second set of swim lessons this Friday. They have really made a difference. She was never scared of water but she handles herself differently now in the water. She will kick when she's under water and she will also kick herself into the water from the side of pool. She's learning to hold her breath and when she goes underwater she closes her eyes real tight. It's adorable.

I've had a few people ask me about our camera. The good one is a Nikon D40, but the thing that makes the real difference is the flash we bought for it. Look here, Matt did an experiment with Sydney and it's crazy what a difference it makes.

sans flash

with external flash

OK, here are some stories for your Monday morning reading:

• This is what I get for reading The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, now I read a ton of stories like this: The four barriers to the genetically modified-food revolution, and who no one is talking about them.
• For you popcorn aficionados (Megan, this means you) out there, here is a guide for buying popcorn poppers. I'm going to get this one.
• John Edwards, shame shame we know your name (sorry Cera!).
  
• I joined Facebook last week, it's blowing my mind. I'm in touch with about 50 people I haven't seen in 15 years! I'm especially enjoying the "you look the same!" comments. Keep em coming...
  

OK, I'm out for today. Here's to a good week!

PS - You'll notice on the right side of the page here that I put up photos to timeline the growth of Lottie Sue. You have to scroll down a bit to see them but it's so neat to see how she's grown in just over a year.

PPS - Cera, please join facebook.

fort lottie sue was built in a day, don't make fun of my crocs & megan creates another fab dress

We spent ALL day Saturday erecting Lottie Sue's swing set. It was her big birthday present (yes, her birthday was in early June but this was the first opportunity we had to put it together) from us and Gramma and PawPaw Mowrer. It was so hot, we almost melted away. We had a downpour toward the end and it only intensified the humidity (lovely). But now it's complete and it's pretty awesome. She can only use the swing and slide right now but I envision Lottie Sue hiding out in the fort with her dolls playing house one day.

We plan on making a sand box under the fort and we have to fix the ground around it. But that can wait, we're exhausted. Here are a few photos from the day...

the before spot

lottie sue oversees the construction
(there were about one million parts to this thing)

matt and dad work on the fort part

attaching the swings and glider here while lottie sue swings
(it's hard to see but lottie sue is smiling so big, she was literally squealing with delight)

lottie sue tries out the swing and loved every minute of it
(i think this might be her grubbiest state yet)

this is a shot from the back - there is the ladder and climbing wall
(on the opposite side is a table and bench for little ones)

Matt's taken a fair share of Aleve today, he should rebound by tomorrow. He's actually in town this week (no traveling, I can't believe it). I am so excited by this! He's been gone 8 out of the past 10 weeks, poor guy.

Here is a photo I took of Lottie Sue Saturday AFTER her bath, any shoe she find she puts it on those adorable little feet of hers.

(a not grubby at all) cinderella
(yes, these crocs are mine - sue me, they are so comfortable and good for bumming around)

Oh, so that reminds me of this gem from icanhascheezberger...

he has a point

I leave you with a photo of Megan in one of her new creations. Could this dress BE any cuter? I think not.

cute dress, cute megan
(there are pompoms here people - need i say more?)

OK, now I'm signing out. Have a great week everyone!