Lunch For The Week
Posted on January 4, 2009
We made our lunches for the week again today. Yes, we label each day, which gives us an extra push not to forget them.
Rachel and I have been making our lunches on Sunday for about a month and a half now. We make them for the whole week at once. This was Ramit’s first tip in the save $1,000 in a month challenge. We had been trying to bring our lunches for a while but it just wasn’t working out. We always either forgot, didn’t have enough time for it or just didn’t feel like it. Doing it all at once for the week has worked out great. It actually saves us time because making 5 lunches at once only takes a few seconds more than making only one.
My favorite part of lunch this week? The Nuts and Bolts.
Stitching Panoramas
Posted on December 30, 2008
I’ve been using Windows Live Photo Gallery for a while. My biggest reason for using it is the Flickr Integration. However; there are a ton of neat features I’ve discovered along the way. One of these features is the ability to stitch photos together automatically. I’ve used a lot of stitching programs and this is by far the easiest and the best.
The only steps needed are to 1) select the photos you wish to stitch and 2) right click and select “Create Panoramic photo…”
Windows Live Gallery then goes through a few steps of analyzing the photos, aligning them and finally stitching them together.
Since I’ve discovered the feature I’ve created quite a few stitches. You can find most if not all of them using my panorama tag.
REMEMBER: To create a really good stitch you need to make sure the exposure settings are the same for every photo in the stitch.
Books
Posted on December 28, 2008
I’ve been watching a bunch of Jeremiah episodes lately. I can’t believe I missed this series in 2002-2004. It’s quite good, and reminds me a bit of Jericho (surprise surprise, Jeremiah was canceled). Anyway… I just watched the episode titled “Out of the Ashes” in which a bunch of thugs are attempting to rid the world of books. Kurdy (one of the main characters) gives a quick little speech which I thought holds a lot of meaning even in the world we live in.
how are we to know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been?
these books are a bridge to our past
they allow us to touch other lives
generation upon generation, artists, philosophers, poets
If we let them die, we’re burning those bridges
If we let these words die, we are killing our history as well as our future
Merry Christmas 2.0!
Posted on December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas!
We’ve done christmas a little bit different this year.
- Hours spent in the malls: 0
- Hours spent online shopping: 0
Sorry, we can’t give it away just yet though…
By this time everyone should have heard our request for memories for grandma. Everyone wants to know what our gift was, and so rather than describe it, we thought we’d just show you.
To explain it, this is the card we gave her:
It was 1991, the year of the ice storm. Your house was one of the few which still had power. Mom dropped us off to spend the day with you. To keep us busy, you pulled out a few empty gallons of milk which we decorated and filled with warm water. You called them our “Hug Jugs.” When we got cold you told us to hug them to stay warm.
It is said that memories are one of life’s greatest gifts. They are like little hugs from the past that come to warm our hearts. This is Grandma’s Hug Jug. Inside, you’ll find cards which contain memories or pictures from your family and friends. Some contain thoughts of all the times you have made us laugh, others contain memories of how you have helped us to be strong or how you have touched the lives of those who love you.
When you feel the need for a warm hug or a few giggles reach in and pull out a memory or a picture from the past.
And finally, if you’d like to read over some of the memories people have, they’re all available below:
Thanks for everybody’s help who contributed, we couldn’t have done it without you!
A Very Memory Christmas for Grandma
Posted on December 2, 2008
If you’re part of the Masten/Kerber family you’ve probably already seen this note from Rachel but duplicating it here just means more people might see it.
We have something special planned for Grandma this Christmas and we need your help. We are looking for memories that you have of Grandma. It can be a funny memory, a special way she has touched your life, copies of old pictures, reasons why you love and appreciate her or anything you think she will enjoy and cherish. In order for us to complete this project we need to have 10 or more memories from each person in your family. This is much easier than it sounds. Once we started thinking the memories just kept coming and coming.
While this task definately deserves some attention, some people might be stressing about it. Don’t over think this task as it can be as easy as reminiscing on the old days. We thought we’d throw up some ideas to get you started.
- I remember when you
- I remember how you used to make us
- I’m so thankful for you teaching me
- I remember the old days when
- I appreciate the way you helped me
- I love the way you always
- It always makes me smile when
- I like how always makes you
- When we were kids I loved when you would take us
As a more specific example:
- I remember how we would feed the chickens at Grandpa Frankies and …
Obviously your memories don’t have to be limited to this list, but hopefully it’ll get you thinking and give you some ideas.
Remember, christmas is just around the corner and we can’t finish this little project without your help!