7 Quick Takes Friday, #19

Sorry about the 'more hormones' reference on the Mr. Linky...it was a leftover from last week and showed up without my permission. So, sorry to disappoint, but there will be no hormones here today. Bad Mr. Linky!

1. I spent the better part of my evening last night typing the three words that comprise my header. 'This Heavenly Life' was never so difficult for me to eek out from behind a blinking cursor.

I found a tutorial about how to make your own custom banner using a free downloaded program called Gimp. (Sorry if everyone but me knows about this program...consider me fashionably late.) Karen at Simply Amusing Designs has gone to great lengths to provide a wonderfully detailed outline of the steps required for designing a banner. And I do mean wonderful - it was so helpful and exact that I felt my chest puff out with confidence as I looked through it and decided I'd give it a shot.

It's supposed to be easy to use if you are familiar with Photoshop, which I am not. So, it was trial and error the whole time. And holy moley, design layout, software, and html are some pretty wicked foreign torture devices. At least for me. I'm more of a oooh, look at the pretty colors! kind of girl. I get confused easily.

Knowing I didn't have a picture for the background (wow - exciting banner.) I just focused on the text. Difficult? Nah. It only took me 2 hours. For 3 words. And I'm unhappy with my font. So I'll be trying new things when I get some more energy, and a renewed puffy chest.

Mine's been sorely deflated. (Hey now, watch yourself - No rude jokes please. My daughter's got that area covered.)

2. Instead of staying up late last night scowling at the computer screen, I should have been cleaning. (Or *gasp* sleeping!) Justin's grandma and aunt are coming for a quick visit and I'm hoping not to reveal my dustbunnies and errant crumbs to them.

Shoot, I guess I'd be happy if a few forgotten cracker crumbs were the only things they noticed. I'm bad about leaving something in the wrong place for so long that it starts to look right. Only, guests are bound to wonder why there's a stack of old binders beside the couch. Or a fizzing bath ball on the kitchen counter. Or a makeup brush in the entryway. (Note to self: Clean those up before naptime!)

3. If there's one reason I love having visitors, it's because I DO end up with a cleaner house, temporarily at least. I am a whirlwind of cleaning activity in the days or hours before guests arrive. My husband is always a little scared of my frantic cleaning, wondering why it's such a big deal. "They've had little kids at home before, they'll understand. CALM DOWN." But I'm all, "Why are you trying to distract me with your talking! Grab the duster!"

Beware the unexpected visitor, though. If they call on their way, it's like D-day over here. All systems are go. If there's no call, I'll just cry inside, hoping the cute kids offer a distraction from last nights dinner pans.

Unless I'm really comfortable with you, in which case you'll receive the full measure of our normally chaotic house. Isn't that nice of me? Those we love the most have a tendency to merit the least effort sometimes. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we treated our loved ones with as much respect and politeness as we do with strangers?

This is becoming an entirely different quick take than it started out as. Rambling. Moving on.

4. I think the universe is trying to send me a hint. You know when you hear something once or twice and you think, what a coincidence - I just heard something about that. Then you hear about it a third or fourth time? And a fifth and sixth? Until it no longer seems like a coincidence, but your guardian angel tapping your shoulder? Lately, I've heard about or read so many personal accounts of skin cancer and the necessity of sunscreen that I'm wondering if I shouldn't schedule a dermatologist appointment to have myself checked out. In the meantime, we're sporting sky-high SPF's to counteract my sun-fear. I think we'll go through gallons of sunscreen before the summer's out.

Even Mia's gotten on the bandwagon, thankfully. Before we go outside, she makes sure to remind me that she needs sunscreen so the sun won't burn her skin. Brainwash 'em early and often, I say.

I am high on the paranoia, yes. And, yes I'm a lil' bit of a worrier. Why do you ask?

5. Lauren's vocabulary is really growing. At 14 months old, her pronunciation is quite far fetched, but she's trying so hard and is gaining words every day. Yesterday, she learned 'snack' and 'fork'. 'Nackkk' and 'korkkk' respectively, in her vernacular. I love how she pronounces words that end in the K sound. She puts such effort behind that sound that it comes out with a guttural undertone. She sounds German. I think. Don't they really have a deep back-of-the-tongue K sound? Or Russian maybe? I'm not sure. Foreign, at least.

6. What are your Father's Day plans? I especially need to know details on activities, menus, and gifts. Not that I've put off planning for the weekend. Just curious.

7. My second vegetable harvest of the week. (Here was my first - accompanied by much gushing.)

Isn't it beautiful?

There's a cabbage in there that I'm hoping my mom will take command of and show me how to use in an appealing manner. Slaw maybe? For a Father's Day barbecue? (That's one item I can use for the weekend...Seriously...I need your help.)

Have a beautiful weekend, and stop by Jen's Quick Takes for a list of many, many, many more opportunities to spy into the lives of random bloggers. They'll be glad to know ya.