Papa's Project At The Hanson Five House

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I have been such a bad blogger. We have been super busy but with Thanksgiving being tomorrow and a long weekend, I promise to update with all our craziness here. Some has been very sad......some a milestone in growing up. And then some days, well......

Somewhere Over The Rainbow sounds pretty good!!

Does Frick Know How To Carve A Pumpkin Or What?

And NO stitches needed!!!  He rocks it!!!  He's so talented!!!

Proof to show that it REALLY is a pumpkin..............

Smack The Skater!!

Nature Gets Into Decorating For Halloween!!!

I love it when NATURE gets into the spirit of the season.....

I didn't even have to leave the house to get the goods.

It was right outside on my balcony

and as I ever so carefully focused in for the shot......

my hair brushed the window screen and I almost

peed my pants thinking it was a friend of the decorator coming for morning coffee. 

Later on in the day, I took another glance.....

It hadn't moved from its spot in hours.....

Yip, you guessed it, it was DEAD!!!

My own private, haunted balcony isn't so scary anymore.

Funny Story

Saturday afternoon as I was getting all comfy in my bed for a nap (yes, I love my weekend naps) I received a text.  The text was from a mom of one of Smack's friends.  "I saw your picture at Fed Ex today.  Too funny."  Of course, I immediately responded, "What pix?"  She replies, "Family picture of you guys from a few years ago."  AH.....yes.....if you scroll down and see the picture below ABOUT ME, you will remember it was our Christmas card years back.  Well.....I just had to stop by Fed Ex today and see for myself.  And now you can see too..................Thanks to the nice gentleman, in the chef coat who was sending a fax, for taking these pictures with my phone. 

Cowboys

Me and my little man!!

Now, if he would only SMILE!!!!

PhotoShop Actions

Woohee!!  I am having a blast playing with some new PhotoShop Actions!

Totally ILL!!

I am just ILL!!  Sad, mad, can't believe it.....not germy ill but just plain ILL!  Why?  Because I dropped my external hard drive with ALL my pictures on it, that's why!!!  Window pops up...."File corrupted or unreadable."  OMG!!!  Of course, I rushed the drive to my computer hook ups and they are performing all kinds of procedures on it.  Pray, Pray, Pray....that the "geek" squad can work a miracle. 

First Day Of School 2010

Frack, Frick

and

Smack

August 23, 2010

Oh, What Treasures One Finds At Grandma's House!!

I have thought of so many ways to start this post.  So I am just gonna type this and see how it goes. 

For me, this record player is not the one I had as a child.  Nope, my record player was the big, long, brown console and permanent piece of furniture in the FAMILY room.  The middle would open and depending on the season, the top ends above the speakers would be decorated with pumpkins, Santas, Easter Eggs, or a couple of plants.  Luckily when you opened the middle section, the top would stay up but over the years, one had to use ones head or shoulder to hold the top while one put the vinyl on the turn table.  One must be very talented to do so.  Inside was the player and the radio and the slot with velvet to hold the vinyls.  Vinyls-my boys didn't know what a vinyl was til this summer.  And boy did they get a good chuckle reading all the song titles on them. 

I can remember how I would save my allowance and when the family made the trip to TOWN (Wahpeton), I couldn't wait til the last stop at Pamida.  I was just so giddy and made a mad dash to the music department.  I would scan the TOP 10 chart and my palms would sweat hoping my favorite song at the time was on that list.  I would then purchase my new 45 and beam from ear to ear. 

The ride back to rural America seemed to last a decade but once the car or pickup was unloaded and groceries put away in record speed, I would open the console of the FAMILY room player, put the 45 adapter on the middle peg thing of the turn table, carefully slide the 45 out of the paper sleeve and gently set the 45 on the rubber turn table.  Then I would press the silver switch to "ON" and watch the robotic like arm pop up out of its resting place and swing to the right and then swing to the left and drop slowly onto the vinyl.  The speakers would sound with scratching noises and then the rockin tune would start to play.  HEAVENLY!!!  I would sit with my ear to the console speaker and close my eyes and get lost in the song.  Then I would repeat and repeat and repeat the song over and over. 

I didn't just have 45s.  I also had the BIG vinyls.  The Carpenter's and Grease were my favorite BIG albums.  Record players weren't portable like IPODs back then.  So I would take my handheld tape recorder and hold it to the speaker and record my vinyls.  Playback wasn't crystal clear and the ring of the telephone or the door shutting could be heard at times but at least I was mobile. 

My brother and I got a kick out of Mom yelling, "It's skippin!!" as she played her BIG vinyls while she did bookwork at the desk and he and I would race to the FAMILY room and jump in front of the console til the vibration of us jumping would jump the needle and the music would continue on.  Good times!!!

My boys chuckle when they play the 45s but also now know what a vinyl is and what a record player does.  Technology has come a long way baby!!!  But it is nice to go back and remember and now play with the entertainment that I grew up with and remember the oldies but the goodies. 

What speed?

Can you see the needle?

Can you read the artist and song title?

Yip-hahah-a classic!!!

Remember these sleeves?

Smack and S.N.

I thieved these from H.N. Thanks!

Mini Vacay