Another Hallway Photo

The hallway is done. Everything is primed, painted and decorated. I just have to decide what colors to paint some of the furniture up there and buy some fun baskets. Of course I do have some jobs up there for John to finish... like trim around the window, floorboards, cap on the stairway wall, and how about a box around the vent pipe.... he tells me to paint it the same color as the wall..... "I'm not painting that again, you build me a box around it or I'll have Mike do it". There that scared him... he's building me a box around it with fun chunky trim and a matching one on the other side to make arcticrual interest. I'm holding him to it.... I'll show you when he's done, don't hold your breath it may take a while.

More pictures on the Hemmer Happenings Blog, come check it out. www.jcahemmer.blogspot.com

Pop of Color

I've never been a fan of aqua but I can see this is what I'm gonna use as my accent color in the upstairs hallway. I'm diggin' it. Our upstairs is not seen by usually anyone except us. Since Lynn was our oldest when she was dating Jesse, boys were not allowed upstairs and he never went up there (to our knowledge anyway ;) but when they were married and came home from Oregon and spent nights at our house the first time he walked up them steps to put away the suitcases, in what was still Lynn's room untouched since she left, I had to look twice and remember.... it's okay, mom thing I guess. I'm used to it now so come on up and check out the POTD in the UPSTAIRS hallway.

Pinky Pink

It's almost the end of February and I haven't done my monthly color picture yet. Tonight I walked around my house trying to find something pink, pink is not my color so I had no luck. I tried Elly's room, she wears pink all the time, Todd at daycare used to call her Ms Pink but nothing in her room was pink. I started to walk downstairs thinking I would have to find an old photo and then for some reason I decided to look for pink in Adam's room. What was I thinking.... of course I could find pink in Adam's room, as soon as I entered the room these little guys waved their arms and said "it's about time you think of us".

Meet Mr. Old Pinkie & Mr. New Pinkie

Here's the story of Adam and his Pinky's. When he was little we were remolding the house and John bought Pink Panther Insulation and got a free stuffed Pink Panther that he gave to Adam. Adam loved that Pinkie, he took it everywhere, he couldn't sleep without Pinkie, he stood by the washer and dryer until Pinkie was done taking a bath. Adam was in the hospital when he was just over a year old and he had to be put into a tent, no blankets, no toys, no clothes.... nothing except a pillow, during that time he found comfort in wrapping his finger around the tag of the pillow and sucking his thumb... he was so sick and that's all he had for 3 days. Well Pinkie had a tag too... along with lots of other items like your shirts (when you held Adam he started in the front of your shirt and traced the neckline to your tag and then snuggled in sucking his thumb rubbing your shirt tag between his fingers), dish towels, stuffed animals, new clothes in the store as I found him many times sitting in the center of the round clothes racks switching from tag to tag. Anyway Adam's Pinkie was worn out until one Christmas when he was much, much older Auntie Gayle gave Adam a new Pinkie since they got a free one with their insulation. Now these Pinky's both old and new sit in Adam's room watching him sleep. No thumb sucking anymore but the tag of his pillow still wraps around his fingers.

Back to our....

regularly scheduled program, I'm the type of person who see the glass as half full, but lately I've been challenged with some steep mountains and low valleys that have put me in a slump... but not anymore I am back and I'll get this blog back to what it used to be. I used to hear from people that read my blog and they would say things like "I love starting my day with your blog", "you make me smile", "your blog makes me giggle out loud", "you really have an interesting life". I'm back and I'm ready to make you smile and giggle out loud, I don't care if your sitting at your desk, curled up on the couch with your blanket, checking in for a 2 second break or just curious to see what I'm up to.... I am gonna make you tinkle a little... okay I don't remember where that came from it just slipped out.... or do I???? Patty and Julie didn't that come from playing spoons (Back when we were really, really little) when we laughed so hard someone ran to the bathroom and yelled... "I think I tinkled a little"?

Has anyone noticed how noisy the birds have been, they are really flying around and tweeting very loudly. Yesterday John and I noticed a little bird commotion so we both watched as these 2 birds tossed each other back and forth. When they flew away John says "I think spring is here, they were twitter-patting" I said "they were fighting". Of course John wanted to go reenact the situation but I held my own.... I'd hate to see a fight for no reason ;) I didn't take a picture of the two birds doing whatever they were doing but here he is standing tall with his chest puffed out feeling really good about himself smoking a cigarette, while she flew down into the milkcan hiding herself from anyone who may have seen that.

Spring is here, just stop and listen to the birds.

Good bye dear neighbor

Today we said good bye to our wonderful neighbor, "M", he has been battling cancer since about January 2nd. That's not been a lot of time for him or his family to prepare for his last journey. "M" has been the one to plow the fields around our house, plant us into 3 sides of very tall corn, spread cow $hit while my clothes were hanging on the line, laugh at my need to buy his land so I can have more flower beds, not get mad when we built half our garage on his land, wave and smile every time he drives by in his tractor..... During the last few days and during the funeral as the Pastor talked about some of the things "M" and his family have gone through brought back so many memories of my family sitting in them same seats hearing the same words. It's been 16 years ago and at that moment it felt like yesterday, I cried for myself missing my mom and then I cried even more for "M's" family. We are very close to all of them, they have been apart of our lives for over 25 years, I don't like seeing others in pain and I know how much pain they are going through and will continue to go through. I pulled myself together and then "RW" sang The Lord's Prayer, I wish I could have that embedded in my ears to hear every day. "RW" did a fabulous job, as always, but today it reached inside me and surrounded my heart, RW's voice carried through that church and nearly shook the pews, tears started all over again.

Goodbye Dear Neighbor, you'll be missed by all of us. Here is a picture of his pride and joy.

Since it's Photoshop Tuesday here it is SOOC, taken from my diningroom window about 5:30. Isn't it great that it's so light at 5:30 yet.

Tired Legs

Our first day at work with the skeleton crew, I worked 3rd shift last night for a few hours, came home to try to sleep and then again by 6AM this morning.... my feet and legs are killing me.

I had supper made up so all John had to do was bake it. I come home to the table set and supper waiting, I did the dishes and crashed on the couch, these legs aren't moving until bedtime and this head is done thinking for the day.

Living in a white world

We had our satellite dish replaced today so we get our local channels through the dish, sounds like an easy thing right? So the guys come at 9:30 to give us a new receiver and dish. I decided to go clean out my dresser drawers while this is happening, I never get to touch the remote anyway : ) The guys were there about 20 minutes and all is well... that is if you don't mind watching a really white tv. The picture on the tv is so bright that all the whites are blown out, there's no color in the picture and you can see through people. John messes with the contrast, color, tint... you name it he messed with it, nothing helped. He turned it to a hunting channel and I laughed so hard, you couldn't see the guys in the duck blinds, you couldn't see the water there were just silhouettes of ducks in the middle of a white screen. Lynn and Jesse came over during this and we all laughed at how bad it was. John goes to get the upstairs tv to see if that helps..... nope same thing. It must be the HD programming and not a HD tv. We go to Walmart to look at tv's..... our hearts are not into buying a new tv since we had hopes of buying bedroom furniture. We left without a tv thinking it's not that bad and maybe we'll get used to it. I tried to take a picture of the white heaven like tv screen but it wouldn't turn out, it just looked like a white screen. Lynn thought I would start painting my living room all over again making everything white..... everyone on HGTV is doing it!! Anyway John started flipping cords around and switches and all of a sudden he hit the right switch and it works again..... Yeah we live in a colored world again, I love color.

Speaking of color here's my green chair against the burnt red wall. I love this chair

More Snow

We got more snow today, the snowmobile trails opened back up again, it's cold. Dang winter is long!! I'm running out of pictures to take so here's one that I took today trying to get my letters done. Can you see a letter within this photo?

Bracelets under my bed

I have lots of bracelets from my jewelry making days. John and I made this shelf to hang the bracelets on so I knew which ones I had, and to make it easier to pick out the perfect one for my outfit for the day. The other night as I got into bed I heard a crunch from below the bed, as John came upstairs I told him that I think I broke the bed. He crawls under the bed to investigate how bad it was and if during the middle of the night we would go crashing to the floor and scare the be-geezers out of us. Well what he found was the bed still in-tack but he happened to find quite a few bracelets that had fallen down under the bed.... "do you still wear all these?" "Of course I do hun, I wear one everyday, and I was looking for them, thank you very much for finding them". Whew got out of that one.... A girl can not have too many bracelets.

I'm thinking we will be going bed shopping this weekend, we sleep in the same bed that John had as a little boy.... it's time for a new bed.

Learning books

I like to look at magazines and read camera and Photoshop books. I make myself a little collection of inspiration pictures as I find them. The other day I was at the chiropractor.... hummm did I tell you that I was going there for my tailbone??? ....the story behind that is worth telling you. I got to the point where I couldn't sit, stand, bend, walk without being in lots of pain. I was taking Vicatin when I wasn't at work just to get through the nights and weekends so I decided I better get this tailbone thing checked out. So I go to the chiropractor who happens to be a very nice guy that John graduated with. I was his first patient many years ago when I had migraines. He was so nervous having me be his first patient and then having to yank around on my neck as I tried to not throw up from the pain.... sorry I'll get back to 2009.... So he does xrays and finds my disks in my lower back are smashed and the roundedest bone in my tailbone is pushed backwards, it's not broken but not in the right spot either. When I fell down the steps I pushed that bone backwards and all the other bones crushed together.

So he asked why I was there, what pain did I want fixed. I told him I could live with the tailbone pain but the back pain was beginning to interrupt my daily life. He said he was hoping I would say that because to fix the tailbone he would have to grab onto the lowest bone and pull forward until that bone could pop back into place..... hummmmm as I look at his huge hands and sweat beads start forming on my forehead, my feet start figiting back and forth, I start to stutter as I say..... I I I I I th th th think I caaaaaan live wwwwwithoooooout that. He says good, I didn't want to have to do that either. Ohhhhh my..... the other cracking of my hips and back better work or he's gonna have to put me under to fix it.

Anyway I was in the waiting room and came across a picture I had to have, I thought about coughing as I tore the page out but the girls were right there.... so I did the right thing and asked if I could have a copy.

If only I could make some time to read the second book to the Twilight Series. I had the first book on CD so that was great listening to that in my truck. I don't think I better read this one while driving... I may have to break down and buy it on i-tunes or I'll never get it read (listened) to and it's sooooo good. Let me know if you've read or listen to them, if not let me know and I'll add you to the list of people to get the CD's.

What happened?

What happened to the TV, I can't believe they went digital without a warning. No TV broadcast, no banners going across the tv to warn us on a daily, hourly, minutely basis, no news stories, no warning what-so-ever just one day we no longer have access to local channels because of this thing called digital. I really don't know what we're gonna do.... we have no idea what options we have... When were they gonna tell us??

Just kidding. What cracks me up now is them telling us we have to do a re-scan to get access to the channels but if you don't have the converter box or digital tv how are you going to see the broadcasts to know that!! Last night as I wasn't sleeping, it was 2AM and Adam leaves his tv on all night but now his converter box shuts off after 4 hours of non-use so he has the static screen and sound until he wakes up to hear it... I heard it for about 30 minutes but didn't go turn it off since it gave me something else to think about and I hoped it would bore me to sleep, nope didn't work I heard Adam shut it off.

If you made it this far in my boring post I have a work update for you. I get to keep my job. It's a very happy day along with a very sad day. We lost a lot of good people today, the plant was in tears for about 9 hours as they worked through the groups of people telling them what their options were, saying good bye to lots of friends and congratulating others. I hope the sleepless nights I have been having and this exhausting day will help me sleep through the night, if I could only shut my brain off, all I can do is think about everyone that is effected.

Daytona 500

Sunday was a very important day in this family, it was the Daytona 500, the start of race season. The start of Sunday afternoons (or Saturday nights) filled with loud TV for 4 or more hours. John doesn't like any sports except racing so I can't complain to much, actually I kinda like racing too, however I'm not the fan that he is. To celebrate the racing season I did the wave during the race and then thought.... hummmm I could do that for Photoshop Tuesday. I won't post the SOOC because that would be 4 separate photos and all I did was cut myself out and place me onto the couch in the right order.

Wow look at them hips!!!! help, I'm getting hips when I sit down, I've never had hips standing up or sitting down, tummy yes never hips. One goal of mine is to be able to sit down and not squish out on the sides.... kinda like the picture on the far left... no hips on that one. I must be squished by the other me's on the couch that I didn't have room left to squish out. :)

Macro Monday

Two Peas does Macro Monday all the time so I thought I'd try my luck. The sprinkles on these cookies Lynn brought us are so pretty, I couldn't resist using them as my subject... now if I can continue to not eat them, I think Lynn left them here on purpose.

Don't you just want to pick them off, no wonder little kids love cookies and ice cream with sprinkles.

Ice Skating

I took pictures today for "M" & "N" before their ice skating show. How long do you think it took these girls to get the color and hairspray out? Actually they did it in 15 minutes because they had two different acts that were 20 minutes apart and they had 5 minutes to spare.

I wasn't sure which one I liked best and couldn't chose so you get all three photos

Happy "Heart" Day

This morning John and I drove to the meat store for a couple of big ole' steaks to prepare for our Valentine's day supper. I am not a meat person so looking at all those slabs of meat behind glass kinda grosses me out, especially steak, I am a chicken breast girl and an occasional pork chop but hardly ever, mostly never eat steak. But since it's Valentines day I can eat steak but first I pick out two stuffed chicken breast, then we moved down to the pork.... hummm let's get a couple of pork chops just in case and then the steaks.... we stand there and John drools while I gag. He asks, what kind of steak do you want? I think Ribeye, I've seen that mentioned on a menu or two. Maybe T-bone, I think that sounds fun or how about New York Strip, I loved New York City so I'm sure I'll like the steak. We decided on the Ribeye, now she asks if we want to pick them out.... what? Are you kidding me, aren't they all the same? Now I go back to my Food Network information and can't remember if there is suppose to be marbling or no marbling... All this fuss over meat, I just don't get it. Well we got our steaks and put them in the marinade so they can get happy (as Rachel Ray always says).

All the kids were here for the afternoon and we just sat around and enjoyed their company. Shan and the kids stayed for supper so along with my garlic mashed potatoes, side salad, cauliflower and broccoli we had to put on the pork chops so we were sure we all had enough to eat, darn!! I did eat 2 or 3 bites of the steak which was okay but those pork chops were out of this world.

Happy Valentines day, may your day be filled with happiness

Clean Bathroom

Doesn't everybody just love a clean bathroom. I cleaned it today from top to bottom, I had the day off and this was on my list of items to get done and I did. Now we'll see how long it takes John to shave and leave little hairs all over the sink, for Adam to spray his toothpaste all over the mirror, and for me to use the hairspray and cover everything with a rough feel.

I took a picture of the clean bathroom.... why do we have so many toothbrushes for 3 people??? Julee, look there's the picture of my legs... see nothing too bad.

More green.... I'm a green-aholic.

What's for Supper?

It's just me tonight for supper and as much as I'd like to skip it totally I know John will be coming home and asking the 20 questions for what I did tonight and what I ate today. He knows that when I get stressed I don't eat very well. So this week we were suppose to find out at work if we had jobs in our other facility 45 miles away or if they didn't have any job for us. Well plans changed on Tuesday and they are keeping our plant open for a small workforce and won't be able to let us know anything for 2 more weeks. This waiting game is wearing very thin with everyone, which for me results in having an apple with peanut butter for supper. YUMMY

Dang Carseats

This week I am picking up Garrett and Elly from daycare, so first I tell Shannon to e-mail me late in the day on Tuesday so I don't forget. She yells at me a bit and says you better not forget my kids!! But guess what? She called me around 3:00, she said it wasn't to remind me but I know it was. Anyway I get to daycare and make one trip to the truck with the carseat base, diaper bag and El's backpack. Next Kelly has Garrett all buckled in and El is on her way out to the truck. She's a big girl now and can crawl in on her own and buckle herself up. But Garrett on the other hand has this huge, heavy carseat that is nothing like I'm used to... it can't take much to put this in, Shan takes it in and out of her car a hundred times a day. Well.....

Me - "El, I can't get Garrett's carseat latched how does this work?"

El - "Grandma you have it backwards"

Me - "No El he has to face backwards"

El - "No Grandma, the bottom is backwards"

Me - I put the blanket back over Gar's face, set him on the ground, turn the base around and then try again.

Me - "El this still can't be right, it doesn't snap"

El - "Grandma, Mom just sets it in and pushes hard until it make a loud snap" "You know a snap like when you break something in half"

Me - El must not know what she's talking about this has got to be backwards, so blanket back on, set set on the ground, turn the base around and back in it goes...... nope still doesn't work.

Me - "El watch Gar while I go get Kelly"

So Kelly and I did the same as above again, and finally took the base and the seat back into the house and sat down on the floor to figure this out. Todd laughed at us..... but then tried to help us. YEAH KELLY she figured it out and guess what? Elly was right the base needed to go in the truck the way she said. Back out to the truck, put the base in, I try to put Garrett in and I can't get it..... "Kelly help me?" Kelly hops in the truck and she gets him right in, now how am I gonna get him back out? Seesh this is hard work, now how many days did I volunteer to do this?

Tonight I got him right in, okay it took me two tries but it was much better than last night. By tomorrow I should be able to stop at the store to pick up milk, stop for gas, stop by grandma's, stop for supper and get home about 7:30...... geeze how did I do that with 3 kids? Do you have any idea how much stuff a 5 year old and 3 month old need and you have to carry it all at the same time. Yes I do remember having 3 kids to lug around with all their gear but once they are gone and you become a grandma.... OMGoodness. Thank goodness I have Grandpa and Adam to help me when I get home and then they get to have all the fun... He is talking so much and giggling, but I still think he likes Grandma the best :)

My favorite Mexican view

Last year we were in Mexico at this time. It sure would be nice to have another trip planned for this year but as John and I climbed into the Jeep on Sunday for a frosty morning drive, the heat pumping out of the vents, sun beaming through the windshield needing to wear my Jeep matching sunglasses made me remember why we gave up the trip this year. As I was looking at frost covered pine trees and white snowy covered trails, last year we were laying on the white covered sand beaches, looking up into the palm trees as the suns rays were baking our skin and ..... drinking the best margaritas ever.

Same thing right? I'm not missing anything right? What's Mexico got that I can't get here?

SOOC

Photoshopped Tuesday version, ohhhh I'm missing this site!!

Home Sweet Home

Two Peas Photography Challenge for last week was "Home Sweet Home". I struggled with this only because over the past year and 1 month I have taken so many pictures that represent my home sweet home but I can't use any of them. So this is what I decided to represent my home sweet home two peas challenge photo.

My first site when walking into the house

My favorite room in the house is the kitchen

I love my eggplant walls, but I have always disliked purple and still do

The picture of the Hemmer family, I absolutely love it

My kitchen close up pictures started with this crushed red pepper shot

I found this fun lime green pear for a quarter

Who doesn't love Pampered Chef Spatulas

This is where the recyclables are put until John takes them out.... and right now it's clean

This says "Home Sweet Home"

Frosty Sunday Morning

Love

It doesn't take long for these little guys to steal your heart, he's had ours for 3 months now. Little Garrett is growing so fast, his poor little cheeks are so chapped from his non-stop drooling. Those beautiful big blue eyes, cute little nose and those perfect lips all match his mommy. He was looking at her during this picture and you can just tell he has the "I love my mommy more than anyone" look in them.

Longer days

The mornings are getting lighter faster and the nights are staying lighter longer. I can't wait for the sunshine to wake me up at 5AM and not be ready to come in the house until 11PM.

I could take a picture of the sunset every night if I knew I wouldn't fill up my external hard drives with sunset pictures that basically all look the same.

Strength

My work update for those that may be wondering, nothings changed yet, I don't know anything yet. The days are getting harder to understand and the unknown is the worst thing for all of us. Today I'd like to thank my friend "K" who I know reads this blog, thank you for being there when I had a slight falling apart. Being in a foreign place with fifty other people that I did not know, and for you to be the person walking out of the other bathroom stall had to be fate. I'm not really sure what it means yet but thank you, remember it's like you said "God is going have to hit us with a brick for us to get the message"! Thank you for helping me pull it together in a very short time, I don't think anyone I was with knew. I'm doing much better because of you, you are a great friend.

My thoughts and prayers are with a different family tonight, my issues are nothing compared to the struggles they are going through right now. I know what it is like to be them, it's horrible news and it happens so fast. There's no time to think, plan, deal, and especially understand. Stay strong and find the strength that you will need within each other.

My STRENGTH charm

I got this about a week ago, it's been my physical reminder that God will give me the strength I need. He gives it to all of us, we just need to know how to use it.

Adam humor

Last night Adam ate supper with us for the first time in months. I'm not sure where he is eating but thank you to whoever if feeding this bottomless pit. So we finish eating and he grabs his coat and starts to head out the door.

Dad - "Hey are you gonna help clear off the table"

Adam - "Dad, I'm late for study group"

Mom - "he he he, ho ho ho, ha ha ha"

This kid cracks me up, I can't help it. John hates it when I laugh at his comments but I can't help it. Study Group???? I'm not sure what he's studying but I'm sure it doesn't involve books.

Photoshop Tuesday

I'm still playing with the Nutcracker pictures.

Here is the SOOC photo

Played with the levels to undo the spotlight skin tone, added a pencil sketch, muted the pencil sketch to bring back some of the color to a worn look, cropped closer, added a texture layer, added a skinny black frame, a drop shadow gray frame, and stamped. Here is the photoshopped version.

Ground Hogs Day

I seen my shadow today... that means 6 more weeks of winter or does it mean 6 more weeks till spring?

Hide and Seek

Today we had a super bowl party and Lynn and Jesse's. The only part of the super bowl we like is the commercials but it was a good reason to get together and eat lots of not good for us food. Elly and Jake had fun playing in Lynn's basement office while we were upstairs. They started by playing hide and seek by themselves but it was the normal hid behind the couch, hid upstairs along side the frig so Jesse decided to help them hide. First it was Elly's turn to hide so Jake stayed upstairs with us while Jesse hid Elly. Jesse comes upstairs and says

Jesse - "okay Jake she's ready" he didn't go right away

Jesse - "you better go because I think she's scared".

Us - "where did you hid her?"

Jesse - "In a closet"

Us - "that's not so bad, why is she scared"

Jesse - "because I moved boxes and put her way in the back and put the boxes back in front of her"

Lynn - "did you leave the light on for her?"

Jesse - "probably not"

Well Jake couldn't find her because she wasn't in the typical behind the couch, under the desk spots so Jesse plays Hot Cold with him to find her. Now it's Jake's turn to hid of course he wants Jesse to help him and he wants to hid in the same spot Elly was just in... typical kids think the other won't even look there!! This went on for a couple more turns and then one of the last times Jesse hides Jake this is the conversation.

Jesse - "this is a good one"

Us - "where did you hide him"

Jesse - "in a suitcase"

Us - "what?, did you zip it up?"

Jesse - "yes"

Us - " you better go make sure El finds him"

Jesse - "oh he's fine I left it unzipped a little"

El comes up and of course she cannot find him so Jesse and Adam go back down to help her. As they play the Hot Cold game and get close to the suitcase Jesse kicks the suitcase hoping Jake would say something or El would think to look in there.... nope neither happened. Eventually El did find him... thank goodness.

Us - "poor blueberry, Lynn you better make sure you always find her during a Daddy game of hide and seek"

Jesse - "oh don't worry I'll remember where I hid her"

Us - "Let's hope he doesn't get distracted while playing and Lynn finds her all curled up in the back of a closet behind boxes taking a nap"

Here is Jake and Elly holding Garrett while he sleeps. They decided to touch and pick on him to see how much he could take without waking up. That became old and they ran off to play, they play so well together, it's nice to have cousins to grow up with and be close to. I know I did and I loved every minute of it. There were lots of games of Tin Can Killer Man (Older kids Hide and Seek) that we played in the dark every chance we could get.