Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade ... Twist Off - I Think Not!

mike's hard cranberry lemonade is tasty ... but i have one lil complaint.  the verbiage "twist off" should be removed.  they really aren't twist offs ... believe me.

twist off war wound from mike's hard lemonade

"twist off" bottle cap ... i think not

wine bottle mannequin

i learned this evening that a wine bottle makes a stellar mannequin.

every time i finish a project, i ask a member of my family to model it so i can brag a lil on the internet.  i get lucky sometimes, but more times than not, i get a mismatch - like evan modelling dylan's hat ... if you don't know me, then this means  a 7 year old (now 8) modelling a 17 yr old item. it's way too big, but you get to see the finished product.

well, this problem is solved - for hats anyway.  see, a wine bottle works well for modelling hats :)

how to make a pom pom

materials: pom pom maker (or cut out cardboard which is a pain in the ass), scissors and yarn (wine optional, computer not needed at all)

wrap yarn around pom pom maker

once both sides have yarnage, close the pom pom maker and cut edges of pom pom.  then, wrap a piece of the same yarn around the pom pom and knot in place and attach in the most inconspicuous way (darning needles help tremendously)

doneski ... booyah.

creating a new class in NetBeans

Product Version: NtetBeans IDE Dev (Build nbms-and-javadoc-7160-on-20110507)

Java: 1.6.0_26; Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 20.1-b02

System: Linux version 2.6.38-8-generic running on amd64; UTF-8; en_US (nb)

Userdir: /home/jamie/.netbeans/7.0

here's how to create a new java class in NetBeans ...

first, right click on the Java Source Package (name) and choose New > Java Class... (i could not get a screen shot while making selections - either the program or the os wouldn't allow it)

a new window will appear for you to name the new class as you wish

new java class window in netbeans

either hit [enter] or [Finish] button and the new class file is created and currently displayed

new class file is now the workspace

start programming the new class

new class file with comments

sometimes NetBeans adds things needed only locally and not elsewhere such as "package [name];" at the top of the file.  i just leave myself a note to comment out in those cases. if there are oodles of files, you may want to create a makefile to include commenting out the top line using a script.

cioa

how to empty a trash container

there may be a time when you have a trash can in your home which is completely full and needs to be emptied to collect future disposables. if you ever wondered how to empty a trash container, you've come to the right place!

full trash container

materials needed

• full trash container (with or without lid)
• replacement trash bag
• lysol (optional)
• couple minutes

step-by-step instructions

1. if applicable, remove the lid from the trash container to access the bag.
2. grab the top bag which is currently in the trash container and pull in an upward motion to separate the bag from the trash container. handles or drawstrings may be present which may help in grabbing the bag.
3. once the bag has been completely removed from the trash container, close the top of the bag. the trash bag used in this demonstration is closed using a drawstring.
   

   

   closing the trash bag using drawstring

   

   emptied trash container with replacement bags for quick access

4. (optional) spray trash container with lysol to kill any germs and to eliminate odor.
   

   

   lysol

5. place the replacement trash bag into the empty trash container. to ensure the bag remains in place, pull the top part of the bag over the trash can.
   

   

   replacement trash bag

   

   trash bag placed in trash container

6. if applicable, wipe the lid clean and place on top of trash container.
   

   

   empty trash container with lid

viola! you've successfully changed the trash container and it is ready to be filled once again! congratulations!

things were not done ... this aughtta get interesting

dylan was asked to do a couple things (repeatedly) last evening and this morning before the rest of the family went on their merry way. well, guess what? yep, you guessed it, things were far from done when i got home from work. i was already in a terrible mood having taken route 22 home -- aside from waiting in traffic through the macungie detour.

anyhoo, on top of the few things dylan was asked to do prior to leaving the house today, he also left a lovely pile of change on the dining room table (finders, keepers).  hey, some of it's even wrapped already ... b-o-n-u-s!

just to be completely thorough, the dishes are done is when the sink and dishwasher is dish-free, the sink is scoured and can be walked by without vomiting. unlike the following:

also, the floors in the house should not have dog hair tumbleweeds.  we have a broom, vacuum cleaner and roomba to aid in the elimination of zoe's hair ... pick your poison.

dylan's sock ... what a stellar place for this!  right in the middle of the hallway floor. looks great there!

i am amazed how much wash this family goes through.  what you are about to witness is mt. washmore located in scenic hallway de binkleyville - truly a miracle. imagine how much taller mt. washmore would become adding the piles of wash found in bedrooms throughout the home! mind blowing, i know. yeppers, dyl was supposed to have relocated mt. washmore to basementtown de binkleyville, but apparently, the humongous, overflowing pile of laundry was somehow overlooked today and postponed to some other time that fits into dylan's busy schedule of playing computer games on the internet and wrapping coins.

it has come to our attention that the residents of binkleyville are in dire need of proper linen cupboard organization. lessons on proper towel folding (including bath towels, wash clothes and hand towels) and proper organization will be held in a location to be later determined in binkleyville in the evening of june 23, 2011. stay tuned for specific time and exact location! for those not able to attend, a full tutorial will be posted.

a common feature of dylan's room is how padded the carpets are in some areas. the strategic placement of his dirty clothes adds just the right amount of teenagerness to the decor. i think we have an interior decorator here!

i've saved the best for last - the trash. nothing says "welcome home" like walking into the kitchen through the garage door like a big whiff of delicious garbage stuffed into the trash can!  hmmm, hmmm, good. hey, at least the dog didn't get at it today and leave the entire contents of the trash can spread throughout the living room and kitchen.

another view of our collection of disposables is found outside awaiting the day it gets to travel off in the sunset with clifford hill. doesn't the trash compliment the weeping cherry tree?

we thought the garbage looked so great on the right side of the garage that we added more on the left. eventually, the trash will no longer exist in either location, so be sure to catch a view while you can! don't worry, after the trash is gone, a beautiful area where the grass has been choked out for all of us to enjoy for weeks to come will take it's place!

dyl called a lil after i got home from work. dunno if he was responding to my text, facebook post of previous blog or some other txt/chat/email/phone call/facebook post asking that he do so. so lemme get this straight ... he put the towels away and fed the dog and that was all that was asked of him before he left. hmmmm ... i beg to differ. sorry, all i could do was hang up.

message for dylan

i certainly hope you fed the dog
if you plan on having me pick you up from matt's or nina's later today, certain things must be done.

in the house: 1. dishes - dishwasher and sink(s) must be completely empty and clean. this can be accomplished by taking all of the dishes from the sink(s) and loading them in the dishwasher. then, start the load and after it is complete, unload the dishes making sure each dish is clean and placed in its proper area. after the sink(s) are dish-free, simply take ajax or soft scrub and a sponge and wipe the sink(s) and drain(s) with the scratchy part of the sponge and rinse. 2. wash/towels - there is a wash basket full of towels intentionally placed next to the computer you use to game with in the dining room so that you are "reminded" to put them away. bath towels: fold each towel in half the short way and then in half the long way and roll the towel up. there should be an example in the linen cupboard in the hallway if you are unsure how to properly fold the bath towels. wash clothes: fold in half twice and neatly stack on a pile - like pancakes. hand towels: same as wash clothes. bed sheets: do the best you can - we understand they are a bit tricky to fold by yourself. once the towels have been folded, place each towel in its proper location in the linen cupboard. 3. more wash - take *all* of the dirty wash down to the washer and dryer. you should have an empty wash basket after you take care of the towels. empty the dirty wash in the basement with all of the other wash. if the dryer has laundry in it, remove the laundry from the dryer and place it in the once again empty wash basket to bring upstairs. if there is no laundry in the dryer, just leave the empty basket for later. if there is laundry in the washer, this is important, *smell* the wet wash. if it's kinda rank from being ignored in the washer, just add another capful of laundry detergent and wash it again. the water temp should be cold and the load capacity should be max. if there is laundry in the washer and it smells wonderful, put it in the dryer.  make sure the lint trap has been cleaned out of the dryer and a dryer sheet is included in each load of laundry you dry. we have a smart dryer, so all you need do to start the dryer after the laundry and dryer sheet have been added to the dryer with a clean lint trap on the "cotton" setting. if there is no laundry in the dryer, just keep the basket downstairs and lemme know later when i get home ... i'll start a new load. 4. dog hair tumbleweeds -  first sweep the kitchen and dining room area with a broom.  the broom is located outside the garage door on the left side of the door. then, either run the roomba or vacuum.  our vacuum cleaner sucks and is on its last leg and the roomba requires periodic de-hairing since our dog sheds so much. also, the roomba may run outta oomph to do the living room, dining room and kitchen.  if this happens, use the crappy vacuum cleaner to get the spots it missed. 5. dog - sometime throughout the day, preferrably afternoonish, leave the dog out to pee and poop. she should have food and water in her dishes before you go anywhere.

additional chores will be added as neccessary. remember, you are to also have the yard mowed no later than thursday. when mowing the lawn, make sure to get as close as possible to bushes, trees, shrubs, swing sets, etc.

i nor dad will pick you and any other friends, girlfriends, etc. from anywhere today if these things are not completed and to our satisfaction.  chintzy work will not be accepted and is considered incomplete; hence, no ride will be given.

you are to respond to this message to let me know you've rec'd it. if after 30 mins i receive no response, i will assume you did not get the message and post the chore information on your facebook page. if still there is no response, i will call you at home and go from there.

oh, and one more thing i just remembered ... empty the trash from the trash container in the kitchen and bring the garbage bag to the front of the yard where the mailbox is for garabage pick-up tomorrow morning. if the trash bin is stinky, spray lysol in the can before putting in a new trash bag liner. all of the trash by the weeping cherry tree and the coca-cola ice box must be placed by the mailbox for garbage pick-up tomorrow morning -- except the mattress, air conditioner, metal frame, spare subaru tire and any other much-too-large-for-trash-pick-up items.

still waiting for your reply ...

monsters, zombies, children's books, oh my

in reading modg, i found out about much more pungent children's books simply by feeding google "shut the f up and go to bed" - which auto-completed after the first three words (including 'f' as a word ... i began typing fuck, but google decided 'f' would suffice) to the entire title of the book.  now, this only happens on my phone ... trying the identical thing on my laptop in chrome does far from the same.

doosy ... but i wish i wrote this one, too.  "monsters eat whiny children".  touche!

i later found myself on amazon.com staring at yet another new app i had to install on my phone and the main prize for actually finding this gem on the 'net.  but alas!  amazon audio is simply not for me.  my hubby did a one upper on me tonight and not only found the same audio ... found you tube stuff, too.  i <3 you, samuel l. jackson!

omg, there is a facebook page for this shit.  modg, you created ripples throughout the internet world :)

leg warmers, thunderstorms, my dog and dual survivor

almost done with the knitted leg warmers i've been working on - well one of them.

i <3 thunderstorms ... but only if they are loud, have lots of lightening and preferably both; however, the one and only thing i heard was a small thunder.  the "storm" musta hit north or south of us.

i walked zoe before the storm and took some video of her ... awesome dog!



this guy on dual survivor should seriously consider wearing shoes.  really.  shoes are kewl.  there's a reason why someone invented them many years ago (no one knows for sure).  in any event, they work, they protect your feet and there's no medal or reward for not wearing them and hoofing through think jungle with all kinds of crap to get stuck in your foot or feet.  these guys have knives but one doesn't have shoes?  wtf?  i'd trade shoes for a knife anyday in the freaking jungle.

sqwawk

owls are kewl
when they woo
no such much
when they skreech

please stop

Free Rapunzel ... Another Try

shake, roll, drop ... di(c)e sounds

knowing that a bunny sound currently in my dice game program isn't gonna cut it ... i looked far and wide 'round the 'net and found nothing i liked ... sooooooo, i created my own.

what i used: TapeMachine installed on droid x, audacity installed on a laptop, 2 yards of quilting fabric, dining room table and a Yahtzee game that has some memories ...

yahtzee game box top

love this pic!  not the only game we "dated".  i recognize that one in bold - craig :)
the oldest one - November 12, 1996

well ... maybe the game got slow or something ... nice origami game made from a score sheet.

more yahtzee score sheet artwork

oldie but a goodie ... haven't seen this guy in forever ... scott's bff back in the day

yahtzee cup

got a little side-tracked ... needed a pick-me-up :)

dice.7z, dice.zip, roll-1.wav, roll-2.wav, roll-3.wav, roll-4.wav, roll-5.wav

enjoy!  pls gimme credit if you use them ~ a linkback is all i ask :)

Making Die Faces in Photoshop Cs4

here's how i made die faces for a yahtzee program i am writing using photoshop cs4 ...


1. open photoshop cs4 and create a new image being 70px wide by 70px high.

2. change ruler to use pixels instead of the default of inches.

3. create a grid by dragging guides from the ruler in 10px increments.

4. create layers for background color and for a pip. i chose a compass naming schema for each pip and began with the center.

5. making sure you on on the pip layer you just created, create a circle in one of the grid squares using the elliptical tool in the toolbox.  the circle should "snap" right in; however, if you wanna be uber sure the circle is placed perfectly in the square, you may wanna wiggle your cursor cross-hair and line it up with a corner of the grid square. don't worry if the circle looks a bit clunky.

6. create a 2px wide stroke on the outside of the circle

7. let's move on to the background color so we can see what's going on with effects when the time comes.  fill the background layer with a color of your choice.

8. staying on the background color layer, let's add layer effects for a round die face.  just double click on the layer (not on the layer name) and viola!  in the layer effects window, check mark bevel and emboss.  by default, contour will also be check marked; however if it is not, check mark it. i set the shading angle to 150 degrees and the shading altitude to 50 degrees. oh, and the style is inner bevel ... everything just as pictured.

9. next, i switched to the pip layer and selected the inside of the circle using the magic wand from the toolbox.  then, i filled it with white.

10. it's time for the layer effects for the pip.  i added shadowing to the layer.

11. now that the pip layer is complete, i create 8 more duplicate layers.  i understand all 8 more were not necessary, but forward looking into making dominoes, i created all compass directional pips :)

12. i then visited each pip layer and nudged the duplicated pip in the layer into the grid square accordingly using the free transform tool in the toolbox.

13.  by hiding layers and saving each as a .jpg, i easily created faces for a standard six-sided die for my program!

here are the completed dice ... if you like'em, you may have'em if *and only if* you say the majik words :o) (kudos where you use'em as well)