Goin' Green

Saving the planet, one "Mountain Dew" can at a time. :0)



Thanks to all who are in support of my Comcast tangent. Although it bites, it still kind of nice to know that I am not the only one who get's totally frustrated at big companies who like to bend us over and "OUCH!", just because they are the bigger bullies and they can.

In defense of "Mark" from "Comcast Cares", he did e-mail me, however, in this crazy world we live in, not knowing if he is legit or not, has me doing a little searching before he get's any info.
Honestly, any time I have called Comcast and spoke to customer service I have been...

1. Given the run around.

2. Given the "pass the buck" story.

3. Given the "oh yes BTW before we hang up the phone, were you aware your rates are going up" crap.

4. Given the "somebody can be at your house in 2 weeks between 7 and 5, this would be convenient for you Mrs. K because you don't happen to have a life do you?" speech.

5. Made to feel like a monster/criminal if my payment is 2 weeks late. Hello? My $180.32 I pay you guys every month keeps your ass sitting in that comfy chair in an air conditioned building everyday. Imagine life if you didn't have that job? Stop acting like that $$ is directly owed to you and please for goodness sake stop acting like you've never, ever paid a late charge in your life.
Hell, I'm just glad it's a bill that's two weeks late and not my damn period.

6. Given the generic "I understand/I am so sorry to hear that/We'll see if we can fit you in/we are on a first come first serve basis/I don't have much of a heart" lecture when I patiently and politely try to explain to you that your phone service is not working right {a couple months ago} and because I do happen to have a kid with a brainstem tumor, hydrocephalus, a shunt and epilepsy could you please send someone out to fix it, as contacting 911 in an emergency is a real thing in this house.
FYI, This only took Comcast three tries.

7. Speaking of three tries, what ever happened to "If we don't get it right the first time you get it for free" line I hear on that commercial at least 10 times a week?

Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky, or maybe my complains are for real. Maybe people don't speak up enough. maybe I speak up too much.
I don't know anymore.
Maybe we are just meant to get screwed or maybe, just maybe there are real live people {and not voice activated computers} who work at huge companies who still live life by the golden rule.

"Treat others how you would like to be treated"

Better yet...pretend I was YOUR Mom, how would you want her to be treated?

Enough said, I'm done here.

Have a great day everyone!!

Still Pissed At Comcast

Dear Mark from Comcast Cares...
Please refer to the comments section of "Comcast Sucks Friggin' Donkey Balls".
Thanks!

I Found Heaven In A Cookie

All things can be made temporarily better with some chocolate and some peanut butter.
Says me.



Have a great day everyone!!

Com-Friggin-Cast

In this, the beautiful land of freedom, especially freedom of speech, I have one small thing to say tonight...

COMCAST

SUCKS

FRIGGIN'

DONKEY

BALLS!!!!!!

And now back to our regularly scheduled nothing.

More on this tomorrow when I calm down some, but not a lot cuz I will be back on the phone with the losers in the morning and when Mama ain't happy, nobody is happy...trust me. :0(

Happy Sunday!

Getting all caught up in the moment {spaghetti sauce splashes/cucumber peels on the floor/extra Reeses Pieces to tend to} I totally, completely forgot to take pictures of the boys making their first ever dinner & dessert. DUH!
I can tell you though, no doubt it was AWESOME!

Let's see, they made some meatball hoagies, garden salad and chocolate peanut butter cookies.

I still can't believe I didn't take pictures. Ah well, I have given them the every Saturday job of dinner making, so I'll get them next time.

In the meantime...here's one of the Bear, before all that long hair comes off. :0(



And for all you Photoshoppers out there, this one {and Kaysha's below} was processed with "Mama Mia That's A Lotta Color!", {skin erased back in} from the action set I gave away a couple posts ago.
While they don't work great with studio type pics they do rock with anything that has a kickin' background outside that needs some slammin' color pop to it. It will seriously pull out the color that is already there, but our eyes in normal light can't see. :0)

Seeing as it's a pretty nice, warm overcast day today, I am thinking about taking Bear out to one of my favorite downtown Leesburg walls today.
When all else fails, play in Photoshop, it's a great stress reliever. LOL!

Have a great day everyone!!

All Boys Weekend

My weekend will be spend with three guys cuz my girl has gone and taken off for a weekend with friends out in Ocala.
The brat. :0(



Ah well, guess we'll make the best of it.
The boys want to make dinner tonight, that ought to make for some funny pictures later on. LOL!

Speaking of the boys, OMG...this even I don't want to believe.
Well...they BOTH want to chop off their long hair. UGH!!!!!
Kolin's reason, I am sure was set in his mind by a certain girl that he has been sweet on for many, many years.
Funny thing is, lately she has been "playing" with his long hair and he loves it. Now she changes her mind {in typical girl style} and wants him to cut it. So, the little turd is agreeing but with the excuse that it get's in his face and in the way when he plays sports.
He claims it has nothing to do with "J" but I know better. hehe...

Kody's reason is because he has started picking out his high school courses {yes, I said high school...holy crap where did the time go???} and ROTC is one of the classes he really wants to take.

So, I asked them both if they could just want till spring break {which starts April 1st} and I'd take them out for a small cut and style, but not short yet and then in the summer we'd go shorter if they still wanted to.

Needless to say, this is breaking my heart cuz we all know how I feel about long hair. *sniff....pout*

Oh and get this, even Karlio has been threatening to cut his off too. WTF??

Guess I'll have to learn to re-like short hair again. :0(

Hope you all have a beautiful weekend!!

Flowers

Guess who came home yesterday with pots full of assorted flowers for me?
Yea...Karlio did and then spent his only day off replanting them.
Happy times. :0)











I love flowers. Crazy thing is, I never loved them as much as I do this year.
I still depend on Karlio to keep them alive though...some things will never change. LOL!

More tomorrow. :0)

Oh, btw...Kolin is feeling way better and back in school as of yesterday. Hopefully it won't go around cuz Spring Break starts April first.

Have a beautiful day everyone!!

Sick Day

It started on Saturday, the sore throat/headache/stuffy head/sinus/fever crud. :0(



Thankfully through, the fever seemed to break this morning and hopefully he is on the mend in time third quarter exams this week.

Off to get the Bear!!

Have a great day everyone. :0)

The Ba Da Brothers Color Your World

From me to you..a little color popping action that I use to make my photo's color extreme. :0)

There are three Photoshop actions in this set.
They pop your color only, so make sure that your exposure and white balance are correct first. These will not work in under exposed pic's.

OK, so as you can see in this photo below, I ran the actions only.
I was concentrating on the background color so you can see as each action get's more intense, so does the sunburned look on his face.
That being said, "Mama Mia That's A Lotta Color" WILL turn skin wonky and WILL blow out your reds.
No problem'o though cuz I also put a layer mask on there so just pick a nice soft brush and erase it back in.
Typically I won't erase all of it completely because I do like "warm" skin tones.
Also, adjust the opacity to taste.
These were ran at full speed ahead, 100% opacity.
I love bright colors. :0)

Oh, one more thing. I created this in CS4, so unfortunately it won't work in Elements and older versions of Photoshop, such as PS7.

That being said, here's what you get...



And here's where you can pick it up....>>>>>

Mama Provolone's Color Pop Actions

Have a good one all!!

Signs Of Spring

Happy first day of spring!!

About two weeks ago we Karlio planted an herb garden and some peppers and some tomatoes. All of a sudden, BAM...they are growing like crazy.

Here's some parsley, thyme and rosemary. Or maybe it's oregano, lavender and mint.
Hmmm, I guess I should have marked them. :0)



It's a beautiful day here today and we hope yours is too. :0)

Advice Even I Should Follow...

If Today Was Your Last Day

I do love that Nickelback lots, my favorite band. :0)

78 degrees today and tomorrow. 81 on Sunday, hmmmm...the beach is looking very good for the near future.

TTYL!!

It's One Of Those Days....

And I wish it would just end right about now.
Oh well, one more day till the weekend gets here. :0)

Here's the Bear...



And here is an old one from last summer. I'm putting it up for two reasons.
One: The bright colors of summer out in Odessa Island make me happy.
Two: I created my own color popping action for Photoshop and wanted to ask if it works {it will pop only the parts that need a little pop to it, in this photo only the chairs and green wall}.
Three: If it does, I'll post it up here for free.



Wait, that was three..I said two.
OK so like...whatever. LOL!

Have a great day everyone!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What's on your dinner menu tonight?

If I can pull it off, this is what we should {ha...ha} be having....

Smoked brisket {smoked on Sunday by Dad}
Cabbage
Peas {for the boys cuz they will not go within 10 feet of cabbage, LOL!}
Red slow cooked lemon butter taters

And of course, those green cookies up above. :0)

Hope everyone's day is a lucky one!!

Strength

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
Mahatma Gandhi



In true Kody style, listening to us lecture about how his upper body won't start filling out for another few years {he's still so young}, isn't good enough for him.
He's been taking to lifting weights. Not big ones, but the ones you hold in your hand.
Last Friday I picked up a couple of ten pounders for him, {he was using water filled gallon milk jugs, lol}. He's been using them constantly, so much actually that I have to keep reminding him to stop for a while before he does damage instead of good.
That boy is so wanting to bulk up in the worst way. I got to admit though, for only being 14, he is starting to fill in. I can look at his arms and Karlio's and see very clearly that they are exactly identical except that Karlio's are still way bigger. Even the vein's are the same shape. Hehe...

Our rain has finally taken a hike, but only to be replaced by wild fires. They are not around us yet, fingers crossed that never will.

The boys are finishing up their second week of FCAT's {Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test} which are very similar the the SAT's from up North.
The only thing I still do Not like about the FACT's is that a child can be a super genius honor roll student forever, but if they panic and bomb the FCAT, they are held back a year. Crazy, huh?
Florida just doesn't get that some kids {I know cuz I have one} are honor roll material all through the school year but completely lose it when a test is put in front of them. :0(
Oh well, what can you do.

Not much else is new around here, just rolling along, day to day.

Hope you all have a really fun day today!!

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, Nope, It's....

JESUS!! :0)



The airplane sky-writers were all about "Jesus" last weekend. You could see lots of these in the sky.

This was taken in the street in front of our driveway. Pretty cool, huh?

Have a beautiful day all!!

Rain...Rain....Rain....

Go away and please take your stinkin' tornado watches with you.
Hey, I did say "please". :0)









I needs me some sunshine baby. :0)

Have a great day everyone!!

Dreaming Of Beaches

I woke up this morning after dreaming of this place...



Then I realized that one year ago today, we were there, enjoying the warm sunshine and the sound of seagulls.
Sigh....this morning we have the heat running to take the chill out of the house in this abnormally cold weather we've been having.

The good news is, it will be 70 degrees today, and each day is supposed to keep warming up till Wednesday when it finally hit's the normal of 80.

The way I figure it, in two weeks from today, we should be on that very beach working on our tans and even more important, working on our R&R. :0)

More good news, this is perfect yard work weather and the kids and I took full advantage yesterday when we bagged up 21 huge bags of nasty dried up oak leaves.
We got more to do today and by next weekend hopefully we can start some serious flower planting. I am craving those pops of color only flowers can provide. lol!

So yesterday as we were mid into that yard work, something, or should I say "some one" popped up in the sky.
You won't believe it, so stay tuned for tomorrow when I let you all know who came to visit Leesburg, Florida. :0)

Have a beautiful Sunday!!

PS. No, not in our yard but they do grow right across the street and pretty much all over the place. Orange trees grow everywhere and during the winter months, because we have an orange juice plant in our town {just down the street from us now}, the scent of freshly squeezed oranges is in the air everywhere. :0)

i *heart* fruit

The bad news is Florida orange season is at it's end.



The good news is Plant City, Florida Strawberry season is right here upon us!!

WOO-HOO!!!!!

Have a great one all!!

R*E*S*P*E*C*T...I get none. LOL!!

***WARNING...Keeping it real today, don't be offended***

Yesterday Kaysha was feeling bummed about something and I felt it was my job as her Mama to cheer her up.
Add to that we were both feeling "the burn" {like...OUCH!} after a quick DVD 30 minute inspired work out. We were both wondering where these new muscles came from anyway, cuz up till yesterday I especially had no idea they even existed.

Sooooo, I broke out the camera {which I haven't been doing much of lately, I know}, set it up on a few books, whipped out the remote and sat us both down.
Kaysha and I like to goof...yes, we are goof to the extreme. Plus, we are not at all camera shy. LOL!

We started off all cute and all...



I think she looks a lot like me in that one. {plz excuse the remote, I didn't do a great job hiding it}.

Soon after making a thousand crazy faces, cross eyes and a dozen more out takes she decided "Hey let's do the Charlie's Angels thing".
And just like that I said "Ohhhh, cool, get the boys air soft guns".

We came up with this {quit laughing I know I need to lose 20 or more}...



While she was putting the guns away I thought to myself, "Oh..Oh....let me try something for Karlio"
However, not knowing that she was even behind me, this is what I pulled up when I took those pic's off the camera last night...



I swear I get no stinkin' respect around here. LOL!!

Have a great day everyone!!!!!