Brooke & Steve 2002

This was taken a couple of months before Steve and I were married.  I just found this picture amongst my 50 million other pictures and it reminded me of how long ago this really was.   Quite frankly I don't feel much older but I do feel more calm and a little wiser. :)  Being married to Steve has changed me for the better.  He is so balanced, reasonable and rational.  The only time I have seen him get angry is if someone does or says something truly offensive or complelety out of line.  He is the farthest thing from a pushover (which I love, I don't want to be one of those ladies who boss their husband around)  and he is not afraid to stand up for what he believes.  I love him to death and so glad he married me. :)

Beautiful Cars (Wallpapers)

Spring cleaning

I have been spring cleaning lately and with my energy level get about one room done a day, which isn't too bad.  Granted I don't have a dress, cute apron and a smile on my face (quite the opposite actually) I feel good and my home feels cleaner.  I have taken huge bags full of things to the dumpster and the DI and I feel cleansed. :)  So to all of you moms, wives, single fabulous ladies and domestic goddesses....Happy Spring cleaning.  

Steve's 33rd birthday

For Steve's birthday I made him this "Firsts" scrapbook.  I wanted to make it a lot longer and more elaborate but once again as my usual complaint goes...time, energy and creativity is lacking these days. :)  The pages I did were, first dance, first time as husband and wife.  First apartment, first car, first Christmas, first New Years, first V-day, first baby etc...

It was fun and I enjoy looking at it and how young Steve and I once were (and how skinny I once was hee-hee) .

family

Easter this year was so much fun, we had the great opportunity to be with so many family members on both sides. Rozlynn flew in from Alabama for Easter and Kent, Kathy, Hilary and Dave came to stay with us on Steve's b-day (April 10th). We missed the other family members we didn't have a chance to see and hope to be with them soon!

Survival of the fittest?

We decided to go to Wheeler farms for the Easter Egg hunt. We were absolutely amazed at the amount of people there. max waited patiently for 45 minutes outside the 4-7 year old egg hunt area. He had spotted the golden egg and was waiting to go snatch it.

Finally his moment came and they yelled GO! Max ran out and just as he was about to pick up the golden egg was pushed over by a kid who then walked over him and grabbed it. Max stood up mortified and started to cry. He walked over saying "mom, he pushed me and I didn't get the egg". I didn't know what to say, I just said that happens sometimes and that I was sorry.

Just then a guy who worked there saw what happened, pulled a golden egg out of his pocket and dropped it on the ground right behind Max. Max turned around and got it! He was extatic! He won 4 passes to the Living Aquarium. Here is his proud picture with his tickets.

So is it survival of the fittest? Max followed the rules, waited patiently and never crossed the line...and even after the "fit" kid pushed him over and got the egg, Max was rewarded for his good behavior....hmmm. :)

Clayface

Basil Karlo
How Basil got his "clayface" power is unknown. This is what is known. Basil was an actor that did B Movies (low budget movie) actor (he had his powers). He when mad, when he heard about a remake of the movie "The Terror", so he shape-shifted into the movie's villain, "Clayface". Then, he started to kill the remake's actors and crew, but Batman and Robin stop him. Next, he tries to kill Batman's girl friend and fails. Much later, he escaped his prison hospital and formed a super villain team with all the still alive "Clayfaces", called "The Mud Pack". The team was defeated. Finally, with help of the Looker, Batman melts Clayface. Only to have him return.

Matt Hagen

Matt was a treasure hunter, until he discover a mysterious radioactive pool of protoplasm in a cave. After getting in it, he became the 2sd Clayface. However to keep his shape shifting ability, he had to return to the pool. Eventually a shadow demon killed him in the limited series "Crisis on Infinite Earths".

Preston Payne

Preston became the 3rd Clayface, when he put a blood sample of Karlo's into his blood to try and cure his hyperpituitarism. He shortly gains Basil's powers. Then he discovered he melts people when he touch them and he needs to do this to live. This drove him so mad, he fell in love with a wax mannequin he names "Helena". So he was sent to the Arkham Asylum (a jail / mad house).

Sondra Fuller (Lady Clay)

She somehow got Matt Hagen's powers, but her were permanent. She could also copy the powers of who ever she mimics. She was defeated a superhero team called the Outsiders. She later married Preston and have a son Cassius "Clay" Payne.

Cassius Payne

He genetically gained both Preston and Sondra's powers, but didn't need to melt people alive. If a piece of him is removed from him it becomes alive. but it thinks what Cassius wants it to think. He also can bond somehow with humans. His name is a pun off of "Cassius Clay" the real name of the boxer, Muhammad Ali.

Claything

His horrible monstrosity was created when skin samples of Cassius fuse with a DEO scientist. He melted people by looking at them! He was destroyed and now the DEO have his remains.

Johnny Williams

Johnny was fire fighter exposed to chemicals giving him clayface like powers. He manipulated by The Riddler to be evil. Eventually, the chemicals killed him.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayface

Here are my Easter cards I made for the immediate family. There were a couple of more embellishments I added when I sent them out. There is a ribbon wrapped around them with a little Easter tag. I loved the vintage look of some of them. Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

From Max & Mimi

(...brooke, steve and little bean)

So irregardless of how bizarrely tired I am these days, I was bound and determined to take Easter pictures of my kiddos and send out my traditional homemade Easter cards. It was really hard mustering up the energy, creativity and time to do this...but I did! And I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment with this small task. The kids did a great job smiling for me considering it was raining and cold outside, luckily we were on the porch so the stayed dry. We wish all a wonderful Easter Sunday! xoxox The Barties

F.H.E Easter egg hunt!

yipee skipee-it's almost Easter!

I really want to create this, I love these natural easter egg trees that Martha comes out with every year. Will I have the time and most of all energy to try this? Hmmm...time will tell.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that they have been robbed.  

The fact is that most putts don't drop; most beef is tough; most children just grow up to be people; most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration and most jobs are often dull than otherwise.

Life is like an old-time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.  The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

- Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

August 1995

birthday present

This is a picture of the necklace I made for my mother-in-law for her birthday. It took a lot longer than I thought and we left so quickly to go to ID that I never took a picture of the finished product. Next time I go up there I'll take one for posterity sake (?). hee-hee

It is made of sterling silver, pewter, African opals and mother-of-pearl pendant.

Africa Seen From Top

Africa is beautiful, check out some 48 beautiful pictures of Africa after the jump !

Transparent furniture for Modern House

Now a days people like to have new thing, to make your house look more beautiful and modern, here are some transparent furniture for your house. These furniture are awesome and sure will make your house look great .. Check out some 7 more designs after the jump !

Sunday Collection of Pictures

Some good collection of photos for Sunday.. Happy Sunday !

High speed photography

Collection of High Speed photography pictures after the jump !

The future in the hands of Microsoft LucidTouch

As cool as touchscreen displays may be, one of their biggest problems is that your hand (or stylus) will always obscure a portion of the display, making it difficult to be perfectly accurate while still being able to see everything. Microsoft is hard at work developing something that they call LucidTouch technology and what it does is take the touchscreen concept and wraps it around the back.

Wonders of the architecture

Some breath taking Wonders of the architecture !

Aishwarya’s Passport

I always wanted to know how a Bollywood celebrity passport would look like. If you are like me, click the below Aishwarya Rai Passport thumbnail for full sized view. Well, looking at it, it seems that it is no different than a regular passport

The world’s most expensive iPhone at $176,400

If you’re a fan of luxury phones, you’re going to like this. The iPhone has currently been luxed up by Australian jeweler Peter Aloisson. The result is the iPhone Princess Plus - the world’s most expensive iPhone. 138 of the total amount of diamonds are “princess cut” stones, which is where the name iPhone Princess Plus comes from. The other 180 diamonds used the brilliant cut. These

The most amazing churches in the World

// Top-30 most interesting, for its architecture, churches. Check out other pictures after the jump ! Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church Berlin. The cathedral in Brazil. California, Cathedral of

The Blue Beetle

Dan Garret
The first Blue Beetle was Fox Feature Syndicate's Dan Garret (created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simmons). He was a rookie police officer in a blue tuxedo (later he got a bullet proof beetle suit). He was very popular in his time. Later, Charlton Comics revamp him as Dan Garrett. He now had several power (like super strength and vision , flight and the power to make lightning) from a scarab.
Ted Kord
The next Blue Beetle was DC Comics' Ted Kord . Garrett and Kord tried to stop Kord's evil uncle from taking over the world, they stopped him, but Garrett ending dead. So Ted took the name "The Blue Beetle" and Dan's scarab, but had no idea how to use it. So he used Batman like weapons. He eventually died during the "Infinite Crisis".
Jamie Reyes
A year after Kord's death, a boy named Jamie Reyes in El Paso, Texas discover the scarab. During his sleep, the scarab fuse to his spine. When he was in danger the scarab would turn into a super suit with the powers to create weapons (ex: an energy blasters, a sword and shield and a grappling hook),can adapt (ex: make energy discharges from the hands that can stop magic and discharging kryptonite radiation) and talk to Jamie. The suit seems to dislike harming nature.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beetle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beetle_(Jaime_Reyes)

colds

So we have had our 10th  cold of the season make it's way through our home.  I am really tired of colds...they are the worst mostly because the snotty yucky stuff seems to linger forever.  We went up to Idaho last weekend and all the cousins had runny noses and coughs and I knew that we would pick it up, and we did.  I had a fever, chills and aches last night, it was miserable.  Especially knowing I had two little ones to entertain the next morning (today).

Max has been so sweet.  I get up to get something for the kids and Max tells me to go lay down he can take care of it!  Ha!  What would I do without him?  Love those little guys.

Our first home! I'm so excited!

So Steve and I have worked really hard to buy our first home and here it is...it is 3900 square feet and on a half an acre here in the Avenues. You can't find land like that too often and if you think I'm serious then I GOT YOU! April fools, no Steve and I are not buying this $999,000 home in the Avenues and quite frankly if I had that much money I probably wouldn't buy this house even though it is beautiful. ;)