School Daze

Have I mentioned before how much I really love Lucas' daycare?  His teacher is great.  The owner is great.  And they all LOVE my little boy. 

Even the teachers in the other classrooms will stop me before I leave with him because they hadn't gotten a chance to see him at all that day.

It's been nearly five months since he started going and I started my current job.  And now I'll be starting a new job.  Does that mean a new daycare?

I picked up Lucas after school the day after I accepted my new position.  His teacher, Kristy, and the part-time substitute were there.  I usually like to chat with them for a few minutes.  Finding out about Lucas' day and whatnot.  I mentioned to them that I got a new job.

"Are you moving?" says Kristy.

"Not anytime soon.  But we would love to buy a house if this job becomes permanent."

"Will you leave here?"

"Well...the area we would like to settle in is outside the city, looking at the [next rural town over] area -- we don't want to deal with city taxes when buying and we'd love the land.  So we would probably have to find a new daycare since this would now be out of the way."

"I just bought a house out there.  I can pick him up and bring him to school everyday."

I gave her this baffled laugh...

"Seriously?!  By the time that would even happen he wouldn't even be in your class anymore."

"That's okay."

And that's how much they really really REALLY adore my little Lucas.

I also {finally} remembered to ask if any of the ladies there did any after work babysitting in the evenings or on the weekends. 

"We still don't know many people and well, we know all of you and y'all already know Lucas."

They said they do!  That means Hubby and I just might be able to manage a free date night soon.



His "containment" unit AKA daycare crib.  :)



"If only they all can be like him."  Yes, they actually said that to me too.



Just look at this cute smushed face!!



Silhouette Ghetto-style

I took this photo this past weekend as you saw from a previous post.  Hubby actually saw the shot and got my attention, "Look!"  {He's got a good eye too.}  As soon as I saw it I also knew it would make a great silhouette.

My attempt to create a silhouette now, well...let's see.  I don't have Photoshop and the simple software I have doesn't have that Threshold feature I found is necessary to the process.  So I just used a variety of methods in Windows Paint.

Here is what I came up with.

Eh, it's okay.  Definitely what I envisioned.  But.Just.Blah.

I also Googled {of course} free online editors for silhouette-making.  I came across this YouTube video that was helpful except that it was for Picnik, which Google eliminated recently.  And their version doesn't have nearly the bells and whistles.  No Threshold feature.  I commented to the video owner asking them if they have another option now that Picnik is no more. She {Nicole I found out} recommended Sumo Paint as another free online editor that could get the job done.

Here's the Sumo Paint silhouette.

Definitely better.  You can see the difference between this and my previous attempt with Windows Paint.  The first one I tried to fill in too much, trying to clean this up and that, basically altering the look.  The second one is closer to the photo!

Now...what to do with this...

Any other suggestions using free software?  I'm just not sure at this time if I want to fork over the money to purchase Photoshop.  Maybe one day.

No Time for Prime Time

Ugh.  I've been a slacker with my shows.  The DVR is steadily accumulating more and more.  Well...actually it's at a standstill now since most shows are off for the season.  But then there's still the Summer season getting started.  Fortunately, it's fewer shows we record.  I may even be able to watch them in real time!

I record a TON of shows during the Fall season.  And I used to be able to actually watch most of them while they were on, so then the DVR was just a backup plan.  And I would typically be caught up with shows that would run simultaneously by the following weekend.  But since Lucas made his appearance and I went back to work the DVR has had it's work cut out for it.

I literally have several shows with 5-7 weeks of episodes that am behind on.  Yes.  I am that far behind on Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.  House?  10 episodes I've missed, practically the whole final season.  Fortunately no one on Facebook has ruined much for me with the story lines I've missed.  I did manage to start on some of them.  Currently I'm working myself through the CSI shows.  {So long Miami!}

When I do get some free time I usually try to catch up on some of my reading instead.  Otherwise I'm most likely in front of the computer editing photos and writing on the blog.  I have tried to watch some of the shows once I get home from work.  I'll let Lucas play on the floor with his toys and start up a show, but then he decides to get all chatty and loud and I can't hear so I have to stop the show.  There have been times where I've made a few attempts on one episode.

But I'm not a total slacker!  I did manage to keep up with a few shows.  With so many that I watch I knew I had to put some on the back burner and only watch a few regularly.  Some that I kept up with include Once Upon a Time, New Girl, Bones and The Finder {I cannot believe that they cancelled it!}.

Other than those, Hubby pretty much had control of the remote.  And most of those I just listed were the shows he would also watch, which explains why those were the ones I remained diligent about, eh?  Ahhh, makes sense now why Grey's Anatomy wasn't a frontrunner!  :)

Otherwise, Hubby pretty much had the tv set on the cooking competition shows or HGTV.  And now?  Well, a few weeks ago when Holli was over babysitting little Lucas I upgraded our tv package.  For some reason, the All Star Race {which was on that particular night} is the only NASCAR race that is NOT on Fox -- rather it was sooo special it was only broadcast on the SPEED channel.  And we didn't have that channel.  Since Holli was doing us such a huge favor I couldn't not have the race for her to watch.  And Hubby wasn't going to be upset about having SPEED.  So I upgraded.  {Yes, Holli, you are that special!}

So now with the new package the tv is more regularly on SPEED and BBC America.  Top Gear marathon anyone??

I've got to make it a point to catch up on more shows.  Once I finish the current book I'm reading I'd like to get on that.  Buuuuut I've got two more already checked out from the library, so I'll have to finish those first.  And it's taking for.ev.er to get through those.  {Reminds me that I need to go online and renew 'em.}  I also just had a new one I preordered that downloaded to my Kindle this week.  I can't believe that television has not kept my interest these days.

So here is a look into my Dish DVR queue:





Okay, way to start it off with a guilty pleasure...Pretty Little Liars just started their new season last night and it had just finished recording.  So yeah, I've already missed the first episode.  I saw it was recording but I was busy doing something for my SIL.  And let me just say that I only started watching PLL last summer because I had moved and stopped working in the middle of my pregnancy.  I was basically at home all day {job searching online of course} and a PLL marathon was on.  So I got caught up from the previous seasons and got started watching it regularly.

 

Looks like Melissa & Joey are back for a new season as well.  Huh.  How'd I miss that?  That's another one I picked up last summer.  Uh, the Duck Dynasty is not mine.  Although it's crazy funny hilarious I'm just not into the reality {although heavily scripted} television shows.

Already mentioned Grey's and PP.  You can't watch one without the other.  Hello Gossip Girl!  XOXO!  What kind of crazy scandals have I missed??!  And there are the two CSI's I still need to work on.  Since Miami was my last viewing I've dipped into Las Vegas, so that's where I shall pick up at. 

Ah, throw in some of the latest comic movies that Hubby DVR'd too.  Shouldn't take too long to watch those Up All Night episodes.  Wow, Repo Men has been in there for quite some time...I guess I'm not that interested in watching that one.  Ah, and you can just look past that last movie listed {courtesy of a free Showtime weekend!}.

Huh, so it's really not that bad, eh?  Well, I mean the number of shows is manageable.  Just the number of episodes that's over Fifty Hours worth.  Eek!  Oughta keep me busy for a while once I take a break from my reading.  Better get on that.