Writing to myself...

I think I've lost the few blog followers that I had because with all those posts last month, I had few comments. And I suppose that's fine since I've not been a very good blog reader/commentator myself lately. I wish I could figure out why my demeanor has changed, but I just can't put a finger on it. And as much as I'd like to see it different, I just can't get there. But I'm going to keep trying.

So what's new? Well, maybe I'll work backwards. This past weekend we painted Melanie's bedroom finally. She's been begging for a long time. She selected aqua and her Dad thinks it's awful! I like it for her and hope she's happy. She calls it one of her summer colors, along with yellow and salmon. The whole project was more than she expected. Taking down (and putting back up) a water bed is much more time consuming than we all remembered! Now we remember why we only do it every 8 years or so!! So she's now ready for summer! (Pictures coming soon!)

About 10 days ago I got a new cell phone - a droid! I wasn't exactly looking for one, but somehow I got hooked into the novelty and I am now enjoying it. It is still way more powerful than I probably need, but as long as I can read the screen, I'll be father into the next century than I was before when my phone only rang! Haven't mastered that touch screen texting quite yet, but I'll get there someday!

Been working on scrapping some old hiking pictures lately. I am really enjoying seeing the progress I'm making at finally finishing a complete book! Well, the book will never be finished as long as I keep climbing mountains, but caught up would be nice too! I hope I can keep on the roll this summer. Maybe if I will be able to feel better about myself. It's worth a shot!

Planned out about 5 camping trips for this summer and a family reunion visit to North Dakota in June. (I know, why oh why ND??) We'd like to take another trip to a beach destination this summer but haven't found the best deal yet. Oh that leads to my scuba diving aspiration. A few weeks ago we stopped at a scuba shop to find out if I could actually do it. I was worried about my vision and being able to see the gauges. Well, I think that was solved, the only hold back now is my heart condition. If I can get the cardiologist to clear me, I should be good to go! And if that happens (appointment in about 3 weeks) then we'll be taking lessons here shortly! I really hope there will be no problems. If I can't, I'll still be happy snorkeling, but you can't see ship wrecks from the surface!!

OK, so before I forget, Patti please forgive me for not shipping my pages to you yet. This weekend got away from me and I didn't finish. I hope you'll understand. I'm so sorry I haven't been as reliable lately. I'm working on it.

On a roll....

Not very fast, but at least it's moving forward! Here is another LO that I completed earlier this week on one of my 14er hikes! This was our summit of Mt. Democrat with my brother back in August, 2008. It was a rather cloudy and cold August day and we had zero views from the summit, but at least we could prove we made it! I thought using monochrome grays would be the best way to depict the mood of the day! And I printed my text in vellum and cut it out in the shape of a cloud... I liked that look! It was a fun hike, but very disappointing for my brother who came 1000 miles and got zippo views! I am pleased with how this came out.

This inspired me to keep working on my LO's. I have 2 more hikes to scrap to complete my book to date! I think it will be awesome to finally have one project completed! So to get started, I cleaned up my desk last night and tonight I'll dig up the remaining pictures that I'll need. For all I know I already have them here in a pile somewhere!

And I have about 10 days to scrap my “Day in My Life” pages for Patti’s album! I kept a log and snapped a few pictures on Monday as I progressed throughout the day. Now to figure out how to scrap it all. This will be somewhat of a new project for me! I hope she isn’t bored to death from my story!

Oh and another thing I managed last night as I was cleaning up – gather cards for the troops. I have a stack of 40 ready to go! Operation Write Home is a great organization and I can’t wait to reach my personal goal of sending them 100 cards this year! I’ll be back later this week with some pictures of my stash!