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Daily Life, Project 366

We Love the Lake!

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It’s my turn to try out the new slide show feature Tim uploaded to our WordPress blog. Some would say our blog is already a little photo heavy, and we don’t really need slide shows with dozens more pictures.

Those people obviously need to get a cup of coffee (iced if necessary) and just sit back and enjoy the Duckabush Experience. This elusive DE wouldn’t be complete without a plethora of pictures. Tim and I are under constant demand for more photos from our family members.

my crazy crew

They’re just greedy that way. Thankfully we adore our (still seems new to us) Nikon D40X camera and are more than willing to accommodate the desire for additional photos. I have a wonderful friend, Heather, who is an amazing artist and has offered to give me some photography lessons. There is much to learn and I am eager to be a student of the camera.

I should note that the pictures of Rachel on the jet ski are a wee bit misleading. She wasn’t out on the lake driving the Seadoo. The owner of the jet ski had just given the girls a ride on the water and climbed off when I grabbed my camera. I told Rachel to lean forward and pretend she was driving.

Lest anyone think I send my 12 year old daughter jet skiing out on the lake. Certainly not! Well, not on the first trip out anyway.

Oh, and that shadowy picture of two people on the jet ski (in the slide show) is Kirstin and me. Our hostess, Nancy, wanted to be sure there was photographic evidence that I was out there cruising around the lake. She seems to think I spend more time BEHIND the camera than in front of it.

Um, yeah. That’s pretty obvious. :)

[slideshow=lakeday]

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 180

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Events, Project 366, Rachel

Friends & Water

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We had a glorious day on the lake today. Note: you are forewarned, I took at least 100 pictures and many of them cry out for a place on the blog.

For now it’s late and I’ll just post two. Rachel and her friend, Allison.

eek, who's driving?good friends are precious

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 179

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Blogs & Websites, Reviews

Color Coordination – Techie Style

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I spent a good portion of the day working on a flyer for a community carnival our church is hosting in July. Thankfully I have amazing friends and when I put out a desperate call for David/Sarah play time, I received nearly an immediate response and within 20 minutes they were buckled into my dear friend Julee’s car and on their way.

Thank you, Julee!! It was incredibly helpful to have those two little sweetie pies out of the house for a few hours. I really needed to concentrate and give this project my complete attention.

color coordinate me, Mom

Who me? I’m not distracting am I?

In the process of working on the brochure in Publisher, I discovered two online color scheme generators. Selecting colors, fonts, and graphics is always challenging for me. I am NOT a graphics designer or an artist of any kind. Frankly, I do NOT have that type of creative gifting so I appreciate any type of help I can receive in this area.

Color Scheme Generator is designed by wellstyled.com. When you select a color on the color wheel, three other colors come up in a box. You can then choose mono, contrast, triad, tetrad, and analogic for colors that compliment or contrast the original color. You can also vary the shades within the color groups. Very helpful.

Another fantastic color site is Color Scheme Online. You chose a color and fifteen coordinating colors come up in boxes, complete with RGB or Hex values (an absolute dream when you are customizing colors in Publisher). You can darken or lighten the palette as you wish.
I’m afraid I’m not describing these programs very well. It’s late and I’ve already used all my creative energies today. Click on the links and you’ll quickly see for yourself.

big brother to the rescue

Joshua helped put the training wheels on Sarah’s new bike. This photo has nothing to do with the blog but it does feature an awesome big brother.

Of course, this discussion of colors and computer use wouldn’t be complete without telling you about an easy-to-use, tiny (free) utility program a friend shared with me last year. Pixie is a color picker that includes a mouse tracker. In order to run it, simply point to a color and the Pixie box will list the hex, RGB, HTML, CMYK and HSV values of that color. I’ve used this numerous times when designing retreat booklets, flyers and brochures. It’s the perfect way to coordinate graphics and images with font colors, borders and other design features.

I love working with the computer and wish I was more artistic. Of course, raising my children, managing my household, loving my husband, serving the Lord and occasionally posting a decent blog takes nearly all my energy and brain power. :)

Kathy

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Project 366, Recipes/Food, Works for Me Wednesday

Ice Cream in a Bag

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Summer continues to slowly warm our chilled Washington bones. There are rumors that it will be in the 80′s on Friday. Gasp! Run for the sunscreen! We’ve already received three invitations to hit the water (beach, lake and pool – we could do it all).

Sarah's ingredients

Sarah is ready to make some ice cream.

Feeling heady from the sunshine, the younger children and I went to the grocery store this afternoon to pick up supplies for making homemade ice cream. Dinner was a near thing as certain family members voted to move straight to dessert. Thankfully wiser heads prevailed and we enjoyed a nutritious meal before rushing off to prepare our icy sweet confections.

Buddies through thick and thin

The boys pause for their camera crazy mama.

Ice Cream in a Bag

Ingredients:

* 1 tbs. sugar
* 1/2 c. milk (or 1/2 & 1/2)
* 1/4 tsp vanilla
* 6 tbs rock salt (or table salt)
* 1 gallon size Ziploc bag
* 1 quart size Ziploc bag

shake it, baby!

Grab a bag and shake it!

Directions:

1. Fill the gallon size bag half way with ice. Add the rock salt.
2. Mix the milk, vanilla and sugar in the quart size bag. Seal bag carefully.
3. Put the smaller bag inside the larger bag and seal the gallon bag.
4. Shake the bag for at least 5 minutes until mixture becomes thick and ready to serve.
5. Rinse quart size bag carefully with cold water before eating.

let's eat!

Delicious – Cold Stone Creamy R Us

Enjoy! I can see this becoming a summer tradition. It was delicious. Next time I think we’ll double the mixture and make a little more. I would also like to experiment with some add’ins. :) Tim put on work gloves to shake his bag. It was definitely COLD work!!

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 177

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Project 366, Works for Me Wednesday

WFMW – A Smattering of Thoughts

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wfmwThe sun has arrived in Washington state and with it a hint of summer. As a relaxed (you could call us disorganized and unscheduled but it wouldn’t be nice) homeschooling family we often need to continue our schooling through the summer months. For the most part this works out well. The children do some school in the morning and we enjoy some of the beautiful sights of Washington in the afternoon.

Sarah at the park

Sarah loves the park.

A few random things that work for us:

Put to good use the children who are living in your home – this may seem obvious but it lately my boys have taken on more outdoor responsibilities. They can mow lawns, trim shrubs, and just generally help with lawn maintenance. The whole family (sans Tim who was working in the city, very conveniently I might add) helped with the housework. They vacuumed carpets, scrubbed out the shower (including a soiled, okay moldy, shower curtain), put away toys, washed dishes, sorted laundry, and swept floors.

david and daniel

Sometimes the boys fight over chores. Winner takes his pick of jobs!

Enjoy the occasional take-out – We are on a strict budget and rarely go out for dinner or bring home take-out, however, there is nothing quite like dinner prepared by Papa Murphy. We have family visiting from Norway and they said they simply couldn’t return without feasting on some yummy pizza. Suddenly I had the afternoon free. No dinner to prepare, the children were busy playing outside and working on the hedges, I managed to clean and organize the laundry room. It was lovely!

timothy and joshua

The boys enjoy a little football after dinner.

Read, read, read aloud to your children – We are definitely a family of readers. The dire threat last week, when the children went to visit grandparents, was that they could only bring (gasp) ONE book. Shocking. This summer Daniel and I are enjoying Mr. Tucket by Gary Paulsen in addition to some of his school books. David, Sarah and I are working our way through the Sonlight Kindergarten collection. Rachel is reading Pride and Prejudice aloud to me, after which I conclude up with a chapter of Before You Meet Prince Charming.

rachel smiles

My beautiful princess!

Reading adds depth and richness to our family and is one of our greatest joys.

This is just a very random collection of some things that Work for Our Family. Pop over to Rocks in My Dryer for other Works for Me Wednesday tips.

Kathy
Project 366 – Day 176

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