Waiting at the Disney store

Aynaria 3 Comments

Last weekend, I promised my daughter that we’d go to the Disney store within the mall (the next Saturday which is today) to purchase the dolls Elsa and Anna; from the movie Frozen. The mall doesn’t open until 10:00 a.m. However, some department stores (within the mall) do open at 9:00 a.m.

Disney is not one of those stores that opens at 9:00 a.m. They don’t open until 10:00 a.m. As we approached the Disney store, I noticed there was a line right outside. Uh oh! I thought, this is not a good sign. Turns out that the Frozen costumes were being released today. There was a line for that. Also, there was another line for those wanting to purchase regular items within the store.. After being in the wrong line for a few minutes. The kind ladies in front of us told us which line was which, we moved on to the “regular store” line.  Being that some of the dolls (like Elsa) are in high demand, we still had a wait. At least we weren’t subjected to a raffle like those within the costume line.

Anna from Frozen - Disney doll

They had a Disney employee come out and check on people in line. She assured me there were plenty of dolls, so I should be able to purchase what I wanted. I must say, that she was very pleasant. She checked back one more time and told everyone that it would not be too much longer before the store opened. She also informed us that they’d be letting five people in at a time. Elsa was not in stock but we were able to snag Anna. Much to my daughter’s delight. You were only allowed to purchase two.

 

Machine Embroidery -Frozen

This past week, I have not had a chance to embroider anything, it’s been so busy! Therefore, I’m unsure if I’ll be able to embroider a “Frozen themed shirt” before the movie tomorrow evening at our Lutheran church.

Another Purchase ; Early birthday surprise – iPad Mini

Aynaria 4 Comments

My daughter’s eleventh birthday is next week.  Earlier today I went ahead and purchased the iPad mini for her from Best Buy. I ordered it online and took her with me to pick it up from our local store. My was she excited! Apple iPad mini

Since I’m transitioning to digital books I thought it was wise to switch her to the same format. She loves to read also. So why the early birthday gift? My daughter’s birthday falls during the school week. Since she stays busy with classwork I thought I’d let her have her “big gift” today. It would give her more of a chance to enjoy the gift. This gift, wasn’t a surprise, since I asked her would she like an iPad mini as a gift. While I’m typing this post, she’s sitting beside me reading a digital copy of one of the books in the The Dork Diaries series.  I’ve already perused the book series so I know that it’s age appropriate.

internet keeping kids safe

Online security:  Keeping your children safe

I’ve always loved Apple’s parental controls and so I’ve enabled that on her iPad mini. Additionally,  I’ve installed McGruff Safeguard. This replaces the standard internet browser and can be tweaked to ensure that your children’s time on the internet is a much safer experience. Of course, the number one way to accomplish this is to continually check to make sure that your child isn’t stumbling upon inappropriate sites. There is so much out there, it makes sense to be cautious.

Of course, there will be a few crafty surprises on her actual birthday, but I’m not mentioning them here since she does (occasionally) read my website.

Sending early birthday wishes to my lovely daughter.

Recovery…

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Well… I finally took the initiative and changed my gym membership. It only took me two years to finally make the switch. I’d been at my old gym for at least fifteen years. It holds a lot of good memories. I met some fabulous people during the years and came away from the gym with some friendships. But towards the end of my membership I was not happy, but I kept my membership. The reason I held off cancelling was simple… the gyms that I DID like were further away from the house. I honestly did not want a lot of travel time just to get a workout and some sauna time.

Patience is key

Thankfully, a brand-new gym opened about three weeks ago and while I’d heard the rumblings I held off for a few reasons…

  1. I really don’t need a “fancy shmancy” gym to get a work out. Give me a basic gym and I can still push out an awesome workout experience
  2. I was not thrilled about paying double what I was already paying

However, since I was not thrilled with my old gym I decided to stop by and check out what was up this past weekend and I walked away with a gym membership at a great price. It’s still $40 more than I was currently paying, but they aren’t skimping on the essentials like housekeeping.You know, I appreciate those who maintain cleanliness in a work environment and I make a point to thank them often. One of the first signs that things were deteriorating at my old gym was the absence of housekeeping on staff when the gym was open. Housekeeping staff was reduced to a few hours daily and it was apparent in the general upkeep of the place and glaringly apparent in the bathroom and sauna. Since I can easily spend an hour in the sauna, I was not having that mess! So, I’m glad that with the new gym, they aren’t skimping on cleanliness.

 

Honoring the fallen

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So many take what we have for granted not realizing that we wouldn’t have those freedoms if it weren’t for the sacrifices of others…

“A solitary Marine holds vigil at full attention during the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in tribute to fallen comrades.”

This video is a few years old, but I find it impressive that this Marine, Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers, stayed at attention saluting (for over four hours) in honor of fallen soldiers who’ve died.

“The marine is Staff Sergeant Tim Chambers. I spoke to his mom, Diane Desantis, his grandmother Anne Desantis, his girlfriend, Mariam Ebrahimi and his buddy Nathan Linkof. Tim was one of six kids in a very active household. He came from a lineage of military folks as his father was a marine in Vietnam and his grandfather was in the Coast Guard in World War II. Tim?s family came from the small town of Silverton, Oregon.

Tim spends hundreds of hours helping out various charities, advocates for veterans’ benefits and their causes and visits veterans’ hospitals. Tim’s card explains what he is all about. He is starting a charitable organization called “Tim-for-America” whose centerpiece is, “improving the quality of life of our youth, the less fortunate and heroic veterans.” His aim is ambitious, but simple: Get people involved and volunteer to help.

After more than four hours, the last bikes finally came over the bridge and slowed down to pass by Tim. When the last escort motorcycle rode by, Tim cracked his salute in perfect military precision. He did a left face and walked toward his family. The surrounding crowds erupted into applause and people came from everywhere to shake Tim’s hand and thank him. He would in turn thank every person for being there. Although sweating, Tim seemed no worse for the wear.

Tim explained that for several years, when he was stationed in D.C., he would wear his uniform during Rolling Thunder and walk around talking to people. He would shake hands and thank veterans and their families. He listened to their stories and their plights. Tim decided that he wanted to do something to show that he cared. He spontaneously, in full uniform, stepped into the road during Rolling Thunder 2002 and gave his salute to the riders in the Run For The Wall. The next couple of years his spontaneous salute evolved in to a planned event. This year, he was invited by The Rolling Thunder organization, which flew his family in from Oregon and Tim from 29 Palms, California.
As I walked away, it struck me that I hadn’t asked the most important question. I turned around and called him, “Sergeant Chambers, why the salute?” His response was effortless and profound, “It’s about the pain. A lot of these heroic guys still hurt and if I can relieve their pain for just one brief moment, then I’ve done my job.”

 

Source:

Brutally Honest: The Lone Marine

Spring Concert – Middle School

Aynaria 1 Comment

This was taken a few hours ago. You know… I don’t have too many photos of us together and when someone does take a picture, it’s normally out of focus and blurry, just like this one.Daughter and me 1 05.13.14

Sighs, well I do have a picture and hopefully I’ll get better ones soon. I love my daughter and she’s the number one person in my life. We do a lot of things together.

 

Machine Embroidery: Urban Threads – Steampunk Phoenix

Aynaria 2 Comments

My daughter loves Steampunk!

Yesterday, I machine embroidered the design you see below. My daughter chose this design. I wanted to add brighter colors, but my daughter requested that I use muted “earthy” colors. This is my interpretation.

Urban Threads Griffin SteamPunk_1.5.11.14

 

 

This machine embroidered design was 44,845 stitches, it took almost three hours to create. The good news is my daughter really loves how this turned out (and so do I).  Of course I’ll be making this design again; however, I will be using more bold colors.This is not my design. I ordered it from Urban Threads.  If I’d designed this, the process would have take much longer than three hours.

This is going to be bag… a lunch bag if you want to be specific. Of course, this bag will have a liner. All my bags do (and that includes what I knit or crochet).  After all, liner adds stability. This should be complete by Wednesday. You wan to know something? This would have already been completed, if I had not decided to embroider another design onto this project.

Tools needed:

  1. Embroidered Design: Urban Threads – Steampunk Phoenix
  2. Machine Embroidery Machine – Brother Designio Series DZ820E

Adventures in Beekeeping: Successful hive installation?

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As promised, I’m including pictures from yesterdays hive installation.

Package honeybees 1 5.10.14
Two honeybee packages. I’m guessing this is about 20 – 24,000 honeybees?

 

Yesterday morning, at 8:00 a.m., I picked my package honeybees up from a local beekeeper.

Package honeybees Queen 5.10.14
The queen surrounded by her entourage

The installation was flawless. Check out the queen and her entourage! Honeybee queens live about two to four years. During the warmer months, the worker bees live about six weeks.  Do you know something interesting? The worker honeybees don’t sleep. They literally work themselves to death. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been fascinated by a variety of things found in nature, including insects. As a child, I would watch ants and honeybees for hours. They impressed me because they were constantly working.

Shaking the Honeybees 1 5.10.14
Shaking the honeybees into their new home

 

If you were to stop by, and I was near the beehives, I would not be wearing a bee suit. I’m right up at the hive. The honeybees buzz about me, some have bumped into me but they continue on about their bee activities. I’ve not been stung yet; however,  during a new hive installation I ALWAYS take the precautionary measures and suit up.  I’m not taking any chances. I did observe (while shaking the honeybees into the hive) that their temperament was calm so I know I’ll be able to walk up to them without a bee suit. I like that!

When it’s warm, you’ll find me around them a lot. I enjoy watching them flying to and from the hive. The gatherer bees are greeted at the entrance by the guard bees, who check to see if they actually belong to the hive. Once they’ve been given the approval they enter the hive and continue about their duties. If they’ve collected nectar, this will be passed off to another honeybee by regurgitating the liquid into another bees mouth.

Yesterday, throughout the day, I made a point to go back and check on the honeybees to see how they were doing. All seems to be fine.  I love beekeeping!

Woods 5.10.14

Early this morning, I walked back to check on them again and they appear to be settling into their new home. Just like the other package honeybees these are very calm. I was able to walk amongst them without an issue. Later today, my daughter and I will go out there and hang out with them a bit. I’ll be sure to bring my Native American Flute in the key of G.