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One of our purchases from the craftsmen at the 55th Annual Ennis Bluebonnet Trails Festival was a giant bubble wand. When we got home, we mixed up some bubble juice and started making giant bubbles. Here are the results. |
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05/07/06 Update: Now we have a bigger, better bubble wand from a Klutz book on Bubble Making and now we can make bigger, better bubbles. |
This was our second Easter in the new house. Since we had just completed our new landscaping, we had folks over to show that off, as well as to share food, fun, eggs, and candy. Because we didn’t have lemon juice or vinegar to add to our egg coloring dye, our egg decorating was the worst we’ve ever done. The dyes were so poor that I resorted to spray painting a few eggs to make sure we had something vibrant. (See the silver, metallic blue, and day-glow orange eggs in the photo.) 
Michelle and Lisa had cooked a brisket overnight and other people brought side dishes for a proper holiday dinner. This was also the first time we’ve filled our new dining room table to capacity. As we enjoyed the outdoors in the evening, a hummingbird showed up to sample Michelle’s new flowers, and I was able to snap a decent photo of it.
We finally completed this phase of the landscaping project that we started during Spring Break. We created a border around all the landscaped areas with some stone that we’d had sitting on palettes since we first moved in. We also finished planting, and put down 5 cubic yards of red mulch. This was the easy part compared to the tilling, digging, raking, hoeing, and hauling that we did previously. At some point I’ll take some photos from duplicate points of view as some shots I took when we first moved in. This will really show the difference and how much work we’ve done. There are a few photos right here, and a few more if you go to the gallery.
Though Andrew wasn’t in the Drama class this semester, he still got drafted to perform in a play called “Small Actors”. The troupe got 2nd place in a one-act play competition in Waxahachie, and later performed for the school, and finally did an evening performance so parents could attend. We went Monday night and quite enjoyed the show. Andrew played Romeo in a play-within-the-play. Since no flash photography was allowed, the pictures are somewhat blurry, but you can still tell that there’s a play going on.
Outdoor soccer season started for Holly today, and the “Strikers” got off to a fantastic start. After taking team photos early in the morning, they had a double header, and won both games by wide margins. Holly’s friend Macie scored a total of 8 goals in the two games. She was amazing and it seemed she couldn’t miss. Even more thrilling was that Holly scored her very first goal! (And she did it from a midfielder position.) New photos added to the Soccer album.
After 2878 hours of use, I have finally replaced my projector bulb. I had been dreading the ~$300 cost, but also looking forward to the improvement in brightness. And what an improvement it is! I knew that the picture was dimmer, but it was impossible to guess just how much dimmer it was. I’m happy to report that the “Wow” factor is back. The image is so bright now that I’m reminded that I need to paint the walls and ceilings a darker color. 
A bonus is that since I had the projector down to install the new bulb, I took the opportunity to get a good photo of the ceiling mount. In this picture, you can get a better idea of how the thing works. You can clearly see how the flange attaches to the plexiglass, and you can see the 3 holes where the projector gets bolted to the plexiglass.
Since I last wrote about Andrew’s track and field exploits, he has branched out from The Mile a bit. In the next track meet he tried the 800 meter run. He did OK, but decided he definitely liked the mile better. Then out of nowhere, he decided to try out the “field” part of track and field. Just before Spring Break, he started staying after school to practice pole vaulting. On Friday night, he competed in this event for the first time. Though he came excrutcatingly close in each of his three tries, he didn’t quite clear the first height. It turns out that this track meet was the first time he’d actually tried to clear a real crossbar. In practice, they had always used a bungie cord instead of a crossbar, and he didn’t yet have the technique down for releasing the pole properly. He shows promise and says he likes it a lot. I hope he can do both pole vaulting and running events in the future, but it seems for the rest of this season, he’ll be concentrating on pole vaulting.
After realizing just how many links to Amazon I had on the site, I decided to join their referral program. So if anyone clicks on a DVD, CD, or Book I have listed, and eventually purchases it from Amazon, I receive a small referral fee. The same is true if you click the Amazon.com banner at the bottom of the page and end up purchasing something. I don’t expect much to come of this, but maybe after a few years I’ll get a $5 gift certificate or something.
How do I learn about new music these days? Aside from the fact that Dallas radio absolutely stinks (unless you’re a country fan, I guess), I almost never listen anyway. My most frequent radio-listening spot used to be in the car on the way to work, but since I almost always work from home, that no longer happens. And forget MTV for music. The new music I’ve been turned on to for the last couple of years has come from two places: Video games and Saturday Night Live. Back in 2000, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 set the standard with what I think is still the best soundtrack ever for a video game. Since then, I’ve discovered lots of new artists via video games. These days, racing games like Burnout 3 and Burnout: Revenge have turned me on to the following artists:
More recently, several of SNL’s musical guests have caught my attention. Here’s a list from this season:
I should also mention the oddest place I’ve found a new song lately: An Olympic figure skater’s performace music. A Japanese skater skated to a song so mesmerizing that I had to seek it out. It was incredibly tough to find. We thought it seemed like something out of a Miyazaki movie, but I finally learned that it was from a 1983 Japanese war movie called “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.” I found a surprisingly good MIDI version you can listen to by clicking here.
Holly’s indoor soccer team ended the season on a high note, beating the first place team 5-2. The Lady Strikers all played great, and it was definitely Holly’s personal best game yet. I told her to “leave it all on the field”, and she definitely did that. She was thoroughly exhausted after the game. Overall, the indoor season was a success. As expected, the team improved rapidly, and at one point put together a 3-game win streak. All I’ve got to offer photos-wise is some before- and after-game shots. I wish I could have taken some proper “action” photos, but the plexiglass around the field prevented that, so I eventually quit bringing my camera. Now that the indoor season is over, the girls have to make the transition to outdoor soccer, which starts in just a couple of weeks. As spectators, Michelle and I will miss the climate-controlled comfort of the indoor facility.
