Sunday, February 26, 2012

CHECKS AND BALANCES

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I dunno but after slipping down to the Baptist church last week...we hit a dove, we are late, and I had a bad coughing spell followed by on odd noise that made Jim bury his head down toward the floor :l  Not to mention I am trapped in the middle of the pew and couldn't make a quick exit.  And this was after the previous Sunday when we were at our church and after communion...no more than 2 hours I get the Jesus smacked out of me when the horse puppy jumped up and knocks me over  :/ Of course I spew my first swear word of the week so that didn't last long.  Then Annabelle decides to open all the packages ready for post I left in the kitchen!! Wonder if I should have allowed him to annoint me with oil when he mentioned driving demons out?

Well...it was one of those weeks I just stayed in because I just couldn't seem to get ANYTHING right so I stayed on Photoshop in the computer room. Offline. The good thing about that is if you make a mistake...there is a 'delete' button :D  Unlike those who paint on canvas...it takes more paint to 'paint over' your mistakes. I did get Annabelle shaved though and hopefully I won't go through another 3 months of water running at a 'trickle' because they were trying to save money and not run a temp line. It could've been worse though. If my breeder in Greece didn't mention about all the chaos over here and had flown Annie over....we would have had serious issues with her skin problem that would flare up (cause Lord knows her nerves would have been wrecked right along with us :( ). And over the holidays :((((

So this week I spent time over on Alvro's tutorial at Design Reviver ('Afghan Paintings' above), uploaded some snake skin and fur textures to Dave at My Photoshop Textures, and started downloading and installing some brushes at Q Brushes and My Photoshop brushes (thanks and will try to contribute more :}) along with some fonts, patterns, etc. I will have to back everything up (norton does it automatically online) via external hard drive, flash drives, DVD's and CD's. Then try the cascading routers. I am sending the wireless N back to AT&T because it is sooo light and cheap....the high velocity fans will blow it off the desks in here! And they did say I can purchase my own modem so I am looking at a serious puppy. I had also noticed they were not updating drivers on the Westell since they bought out Bellsouth in 2007!!! I really hope this is the solution to why I am at a death crawl with my speeds (still a .20, .60, and a .03...yes....03 one day :P). And if I can or have to purchase a box to upgrade my own speed...I may as well approach verizon for that!!

We've decided to just visit my daughter in Cali before they move to Japan and all of us take a 7 day cruise to the mexican riviera. We were going to stay on the Queen Mary that is retired and docked in Long Beach. After having 2 big screen TV's in our bedroom that is big enough to park 4 SUV's in...booting a grand kid out of their room or staying at a regular hotel wouldn't have been fun. But a haunted luxury liner? It would have been interesting at least ;) Maybe the spirits just need a little help crossing over :}

Our county recieved another blues trail marker last week. Allison Mose was honored by the Govenor and his inception was held here in Charleston. It was really nice and they have done a beautiful job with the old building. He looks great for someone in their mid 80's and I grew up with his music played throughout the house during house parties my parents held on the weekends back in the mid 60's (along with Platters and other stuff). It's an awesome blues/jazz tone although some songs like 'One Room Country Shack' are more blues than jazz. Bonnie Rait and others recorded some of his songs so it was an pleasure to attend....although I was late for that too :/

Thanks to my realtor, friend, church pal...Lannie...for bringing me dinner tonight! Helped me get my grand daughters mask done while others are drying overnight awaiting their next stage! Her grand daughter and her friend say they will come help me around here on Monday so maybe I will get caught up more and start focusing on seeding or sodding the lawn so there won't be anymore dirt spots or sticker grasses!! Also thanks to the pastor over at my neighbors church for inviting me back :} I was afraid my 'incident' was too much of a disruption :( 

And I did my first 'tutorial note'. I keep forgeting to click the 'clipping mask' from the top tool bar in PS. I dunno why but when I do it from the small floating layers window...it won't work when I try to add my textures to stuff. I can't seem to bevel them so I found this to be a cool way of doing little virtual 'post it' tutorial notes ;)


It takes all kinds and things get crazy for us all. I guess everyone is just in the middle of the road trying to balance life. Praising God for blessings and knocking the demons out of the way! 

      

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

LOVE BUGS :}


Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away..........Corintheans :}



Thanks textuts! I had fun at your place today! Just did a little tweak here and there but you rock ;) Even loved my nemisis/enemy today...ATT :l  Sending me a new modem and even though they asked me to return the modem I paid for 5 yrs ago from Bellsouth...just told them I am hanging on to it until I see if the modem is the problem. I'm still betting it's the illegal line they may need to dig up :/

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

DOWN SHIFTING


Lannie's Sunset :)
Spent a few days studying how to bridge and route 2 routers (802.11g to a wireless N Linksys) to pick up signal strength around here and make XBox compatible to stream from Windows Media Center on the computers (or any computer lol). Frustrating I had to do this when I asked ATT about upgrading. They finally say yes but they don't have a model available yet for me to view online. Then when I go see what they have a couple of months later...there is only the router for u-verse I see (and not having that available to me...scared to trust them after all the misdirection I received from them in the past 2 yrs almost :/).

So that my weekend wouldn't be shot down...I decide to walk away from that mess (still need to ask Cisco WHICH computer should I plug it into to get an IP address from their router). Went to get my prescriptions filled. No open pharmacy. Yikes! No biggie I thought. Only going to church, dinner and a slow drive Sunday so I'll just skip it till monday. NOT GOOD! Dizzy, woozy, pressure in my head...I spent the darn day in bed. So downed, I wet the leather masks that were cut a bit ago and formed them to my face while watching the news. Didn't even feel like playing a game :(

The week days have been BEAUTIFUL here in the 70's so played with the boys, talked with my yard guy (who I discover goes to the same church lol), hit lunch at a new place (and she goes too lol so we are hitting women's bible study together tonight). Also ordered some tires and got an inspection sticker, go home and realized I forgot to tip the girl who served me :((((. Money in hand I head back out and BOOM!! I locked the damn keys in the house! So I spent a few hours gardening and doing Tai Chi movements till I just broke down and broke in :/  At least I know my alarm codes lol :D

Did volunteer for Ron Paul and will vote in the primaries. If he isn't on the ticket ...I will vote for Obama. Not Romney is a bad guy or they will allow Obama to get our big businesses back over here...Ron Paul is just a humanitarian and like all doctors...a passionate thinker. Veteran in the war and shelling out his own money to help those in gulf war...doesn't surprise me he has been active in politics and Father of the Tea Party (don't tax the Po' man ;). His morals, heart, and free thinking nature are all in tact. Gingrich is lacking in morals to me, Romney over conservative and probably for big business. And after hanging with Mormon missionaries for almost a yr years ago....I can tell ya...they are STRICT! But good, holy people ;) Yes O'Riley...I guess I'm a pin head :l (Liberal Republican or Conservative Democrat lol ;).

Also had art up in one monitor for little breaks while studying so the wallpaper background came about from Chris Spooner's tutorial (guy has been around for more than a decade!). Texture from Lost and Taken, Did my own black chrome and tried to do a 'jewel' heart. Refined my hound drawing I made into a PS brush and then transformed it...giving it the settings of an 'inlay'' effect. Maybe when I get more time I will look up a tut for a better effect from the masters :))))

My baby girl is transferring to Okinawa, Japan this summer and although I am excited she is getting the opportunity to live in the 'Resort Belt' of the world...I know I will miss her. I will have to get over my fear of flying overseas. Heck. I spent most of a sunday down in bed with tranquilizers left over from the periodontist ...I can knock myself out during the 100's of hours over the big big water. I think :l

Well, the masks didn't come out to well because it was leather we use for saddle bags and heavier stuff or tooling (9-10 oz). Not easy to shape but will make good wall art. Mask template for the unicorn came from another leather artisan who specializes in masks and was featured on a Martha Stewart show. I wish I had time to tool on it but had some metal hammered out into little 'wing dings' or whatever (designs). Will post the finished product before I finish up the buckram masks. Although theese may not be comfortable to wear...they will make good wall art once dyed, painted, and embellished ;)