Posted on Montag, April 06, 2009 at 4:51 PM by Reka
About two months ago, I called my brother-in-law. My sister was
immediately suspicious, supposing we were scheming. No, we answered
innocently, but we thought, devilishly, YES!
Matthäus is in his fourth year at an agritechnical high school here in
South Tyrol. They are required to do an internship for two weeks this
year. He asked us if he could do his in the States. We contacted his
uncle (my BIL) who got him hooked up with the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife. I found him a team to practice soccer with, got him a
ticket, and...didn't say a word to my mom or sister. So I drove him to
the airport on Friday morning and he left for three weeks (Easter
vacation plus two weeks of internship) with my family. On Friday
afternoon Oregon time, he and my BIL walked into my sister's office to
say hi. One of the girls told Carol there was someone to see her. She
walked out, expecting a man bringing papers for her husband. Boy, was
she surprised! And her DIL was there to film it all, so I get to see the
look on her face!
In the meantime I had called my mom and told her that UPS contacted me
to say the package I had ordered would arrive that afternoon. As it was
kind of an important package, would she be home to take it in? She said
she would be. At 1:47 am my time, she called me to tell me there was no
package. She had gone down the street to the mailboxes, and saw UPS
driving farther down beyond her house on her way back. (Wasn't that nice
of Mr. UPS to match his schedule to mine? And I didn't even let him in
on the plan!) Seeing no package on the doorstep, she was a bit confused.
Just then, my BIL drove in and Matthäus walked around the corner. She
said she was really and truly struck speechless. What fun!
Posted on Freitag, März 27, 2009 at 3:11 PM by Reka
Week two of the Amazing Digiscrapping Race started out with an enjoyable
challenge. Gottapixel was the
host, and this was the challenge:
Find the first layout you created that is still
uploaded to a gallery and scraplift it using techniques, trends and
concepts that you have learned since you did that original layout.
You can...
* You can use a different kit, elements, papers,
brushes, shapes, etc.
* You can add and remove elements, papers, etc.
* You can use a different sized canvas.
* You can move things around and change the
overall sketch of the layout.
* You can use the first layout uploaded to any
gallery. This does not necessarily mean that it's the first layout you
ever did.When you view your gallery, at whichever site it is at, it
needs to be the first layout uploaded to that gallery. Example: This is
my gallery at Gotta Pixel (I have other galleries on other sites). If
you go to the very last page, and find the very last image, that is the
first layout I uploaded to Gotta Pixel. That is the layout that needs to
be used.
You can not...
* You can not add additional photos to the layout.
* You can not remove any photos from the layout.
* You can not add additional text to the layout;
journaling, alphas that spell out a word, word art, journaling. The only
text that appears on the layout must be identical in verbiage to what it
was originally. You can change the font, you can convert text into an
alpha. If your layout previously used an alpha or wordart, you can
convert that alpha/wordart to text or use a new alpha/wordart to spell
the same thing. When you are done though, you must have the same words
that were on the old layout, on the new layout.
This was a pretty wordy set of rules which boiled down to "Remodel your
layout, don't change pictures or words". This was the first layout I
added to my Viovio gallery, a terrible example of scrapbooking which I
had come to hate:
And this is what I did to it:
Definitely much better. Don't you love it when you see how much you have
progressed??
1. The Art of it: Your LO must have artistic
flair! Literally! Your LO must have at least 3 things "artsy" and/or
"altered" on it--(such as but not limited to: paint splatters, a
paintbrush, paint spills, crayon doodles, goopy glitter, watercolors,
canvas AND/OR altered art items such as wings on photos, art dolls,
vintage doodads, ephemera, etc). Really stretch yourself and try
something "artsy" that you haven't tried before!
2. The Soul of it: You must journal something from
your Soul. Something positive, heartfelt and meaningful to you in your
life! Something you've learned, something you've gleaned from your life
experience. Perhaps something you would want to pass on to the next
generation! (It can even be your favorite quote and why it
touches/inspires you) Uplift us, make us smile--inspire us! You must
share your journaling with us-if it's hard to read or blended into the
background-part of the challenge is to share your journaling in your
description.
Ugh! Artsy. Not my style, but that was what I was doing in the race,
trying out new ideas and styles. Here is what I ended up with (and for
those of you who have asked how in the hell I got to Italy, here's the
answer!). Make sure you click on the images if you want to read the
journaling on any of these pages:
Now I don't know if I hit the "artistic flair" part, but it was a lot of
fun doing it. (Looking back though, I wish I had put the sinking boat
in, even if it sank in the Columbia, and not in the ocean!) The most fun
was looking through old "analog"photos to find the old ones of us I
needed. (Wow, look at that perm I had!) And the moral of the story is
one I continue to stick to, one that keeps me on track.
Posted on Donnerstag, Dezember 04, 2008 at 3:58 PM by Reka
Well, I suppose anyone who reads my blog (Thank you to the faithful
few!) has noticed that soccer is finished for the fall season. Matthäus'
last game got postponed due to snow...about 3 feet of it. We rarely have
snow in November, but this time it hit us hard. There was up to 5 feet
of the stuff near the Brenner Pass. We were fortunate and had only about
15 inches.
This was the view from our balcony about halfway through the low
pressure zone. The kids, dog and I loved it, but anyone who had to drive
sure didn't.
I thought I woud share a video of our dog with you. Our mini Schnauzer,
Vanilla, is two. You might think Vanilla is a funny name for a dog that
looks more like licorice, but it was her litter name, and since the four
of us couldn't agree on a name for her, that is what she stayed! Of
course, as with all parents, we think, as we do of our two-legged ones,
that our four-legged kid is pretty special. We crate trained her, and
she sleeps in her crate at night, locked in. She even opens the door
herself, as you can see here. Isn't that good of her?
