Scanning like there is no tomorrow!

Who out there has sleeves upon sleeves of negatives wasting away, product of the pre-digital era? I know I'm in the thousands of frames. Don't have time (or patience for that matter) to sit an scan all that film . 

Well, I've got a solution. Today I bought a film scanner and I am going into business for my self. 

So, if you have negatives that need to be scanned into fabulous, professional quality digital images shoot me an email (ryanne.underhill@gmail.com). 

31 cents per frame, scanned and dropped to either a CD or DVD depending on volume of images. 

Archival quality negative sleeving is available. Price will depend on the size of the job. 

p.s. I can do slides too!

Love/Hate relationship

You know, gotta admit that I have a total love/hate relationship with email (and text messages for that matter). 

The concept is simple enough, you sit down at the keyboard with what you want to say swirling in your head and within minutes (or seconds if you learned to IM/text before you could walk) the words are there on the screen, you hit the send button and viola! instant communication. 

What is even better than the instant communication of email is the even more instant communication of text messaging. I mean, come on who doesn't have a cell phone! A few numbers punched and a send button hit and your message reaches the recipient no matter where they are. 

So with the wonders of this communication, what gripe could I possibly have? Basically it boils down the lack of both verbal and non-verbal cues. It is so easy to read between the lines or misconstrue what the sender is trying to say, then get all offended and vow to never speak to that person again. 

Okay, maybe I am exaggerating just a bit but seriously people, a little discretion in what topics one choses to address via these means could go a long way. 

When I grow up

I got to spend the evening with a couple of really wonderful women. I laughed so hard that my everything from my cheeks to my belly hurt. Once things died down a bit the conversation turned to politics as so many conversations these days do. I said we need a bumper sticker that says "There is a village in Alaska missing their idiot" and they said why not make our own! So here you go.

Let me know which one you like better and we will see what we can do.

When I grow up, if I can have the sense of humor, and strength and spirit they have, I will be blessed. 

The count stands:

Option 1: 1 vote

Option 2: 2 votes

Who hasn't been there?

I am loving the lesbian story line on Grey's Anatomy. One because, well it is a lesbian story line, and two because they could not have chose two hotter women than Sara Ramirez and Brooke Smith. 

The most recent episode focused on the blossoming relationship with a REAL date between these two characters (Callie and Erica). And as I am sure we can all relate Callie begins to freak out about the potential of sex and the resulting conversations are hilarious. Who hasn't been there?

A few pics of my favorite 5 year old and my favorite almost 7 year old

A few posts ago I introduced my favorite 5 year old and my favorite almost 7 year old. Going through some pics tonight I found a few that were to precious not to share. Enjoy!

If Martha Stewart and McGyver Had a Kid...

It would look a lot like me. Wait, it is me! 

Who else do you know who can fix just about anything with a Leatherman (a.k.a. multi-tool)? 

Who can entertain the most bored of kids with some cornstarch and water?

Who makes 95% of all gifts? 

Who can walk someone half way across the country through the proper way to hang shelving on a concrete wall? 

Who takes apart their windows, strips them completely of 80 some years worth of paint AND sews the curtains to hang over the newly refinished wood work? That would be me.

My latest triumph, fixing a very expensive laser printer that everyone else had given up on. It took me the better part of 5 hours over a couple of days, a half a bottle of dish soap, a whole lot of screws and of course my trusted friend, the Leatherman. 

The problem: no one could get the toner cartridge replaced, in doing so the entire toner mechanism jammed and wouldn't move. There was no way to get the toner cartridge out, all hope seemed lost... until I got there. 

Armed with only my Leatherman (and not a clue about printer repair) I disassembled a few major components of the printer, all the electrical mainly along with several pieces of plastic that required intricate hand a wrist movements to dislodge but to no avail but next time I knew exactly what I had to do. Now, I just had to remember it until the next time I was in. 

Today, again armed only with my Leatherman and a bit of knowledge gleaned from my previous experience I skillfully disassembled everything that I did last time. Called the assistant over to remove a a few key screws while I prevented the toner drum from slipping, thanked the assistant and TAH DA! out popped the black toner that was causing all the problems. 

Skillfully reassembling the printer (with only one screw and a small piece remaining homeless) and loading not one, but two colors of toner, calling for someone to print something (anything!), a few tense seconds and WALLA! the printer worked. 

I am the heroin of the office (not to mention up to my mid fore arms in toner). 

Did you know that...

Printer toner is magnitized (who knew)

Dawn dish soap works well to remove toner from skin 

Digging around in a laser printer necessitates lots of Dawn dish soap 

That I am actually the love child of Martha Stewart and McGyver. 

Once you go fresh you can't go back.

Well, I am back on my veggie kick. No new ones the big skillet of veggies I sautéed for the week a head but still some serious yumminess. 

Those of you who know me well, know that there can never been too much garlic or too much cayenne pepper in anything that I cook (although I do draw the line at my morning cup of oatmeal). On top of these two wonderful flavors I typically dump a bunch of chipotle pepper puree in as well. Well, I hope your sitting down, because tonight I branched out and used curry as the main flavor (there is still a 1/2 a bulb of garlic in it). 

Quick trip to the Wedge left me with a pepper, and a head of broccoli (and some fantastic Wedge curry chicken salad). Hm, I spent $50 and that was all that really sticks out in my memory (and a bag of chips and some food for the Aliveness Project). Wow, next time, maybe I should go with a list. 

Anyways, as Sundays are the days that I cook up a big batch of something for lunches all week,  I was already scheming what I could whip up with that and some shredded free range chicken on my ride home. So I'm washing, dicing, chopping and shredding all these nice fresh veggies, and to my dismay I forgot tomatoes! (in my defense, as a general rule I HATE tomatoes but they aren't bad cooked with lots of other stuff) 

(Let me preface the next part with this disclaimer: I have made a point for the last nine months to only eat fresh or frozen veggies from the co-op as they taste so much better. Some of you may think I am nuts and that a vegetable is a vegetable but no.)

To rectify this without having to go back to the Wedge, I dug deep into my cupboard and pried out a can of Roundy's brand tomatoes that was hidden behind all the organic co-op brands. I opened the can and dumped the contents into the pan and was so disappointed. There laying in my beautiful creation lay slimy red lumps. 

 Long story made only slightly shorter, canned veggies BAD, fresh or fresh frozen veggies GOOD. Lesson re-learned. 

Seriously...

Another Saturday spent avoiding homework. Seriously (and I know that this comment is going to bit me in the ass sooner that later, given we are in Minnesota) where is the snowy icky cold weather? It is far less appealing to frolic outside when it is 50 below, unlike today when is was 74 and sunny. So not homework conducive. 

To enjoy this weather, I hung out on the patio at Common Roots cafe getting to know a new friend. After that, we took a walk to my favorite art store. I went home, bound and determined to get some homework done. I procrastinated for a few more hours and then decided to head to another art store and the grocery store on my bike. A few hours after that, I am procrastinating by updating you all on my procrastination. 

But it is starting to get dark, I've open up Word and dug out my syllabus, maybe I'll get a bit of work done. 

However, if you would like to help me procrastinate feel free to give me a call, or better yet, just come and kidnap me. 

Inner Workings of Sarah Palin's Brain

I'm not that political, but one of my favorite people is and I happen to walk into her office at the right moment. 

Here are the workings of Sarah Palin's brain laid out in a visual representation. 

Reading to my favorite almost 7 year old.

Every Sunday night I get to spend time with my favorite five year old and almost seven year old. During our play dates we read a lot of books. Well last night the reading included a book on how girls and boys are different and yes, where babies come from (It's Not the Stork, which for the record, AMAZING book). 

I arrived innocently at 6:30 like I always do and my favorite almost seven year old was sitting in the living room reading a book. I check in with mom and got a few tickles in on my favorite five year old. As mom left I walked into the living room and my favorite almost seven year old asked if I would read with her. 

I said sure. She had specific paragraphs that she wanted me to read. We were doing well, I named all the organs and explained the different functions of each organ (try explaining vas deferen tubes to an almost seven  year old).

We were going along swimmingly (no pun intended) until we got to the picture of a man and a woman under the covers in bed (the woman was on top no less). And she asked what they were doing. I started with the very generic, "they are making love," or "having sex." That was followed with "what does that mean?" I have to admit, without missing a beat I launched into a very detailed, age appropriate and short version of just what was happening under those covers. (I'm assuming you are all familiar with the process, if not, drop me a line and I can fill you in.)

More impressive than the skillful answering of her questions, what the fact that I did not blush, I did not stumble AND I satisfied her curiosity. 

I managed vas deferens but seriously, can someone please explain to me the whole foreskin and circumcision debate?

Yeay! Yeay! Yeay!

Okay, so I used to have super flexible shoulders, we are talking gumby like shoulders. But a bit over a year ago a kick ball game changed that (well, only 1/2 changed it). So tonight in class I am doing a bit of stretching at break cause I have been sitting for the better part of six hours. I reached my left arm over my head and down my back and I brought my right hand behind my back and reached up. Not only did my fingers touch but I could grasp my hand together!! 

It has been over a year since I could do that! Am I excited? Hell yeah! That means rock climbing isn't too far off!!!

Not so much

Okay, so at the end of the last post I lead all of you to believe that I was off to the Wedge to buy some more yummy vegetable goodness. Yeah, didn't happen. 

I found a yellow cake mix in my cupboard that screamed "Make Me" so I obliged. In doing so I realized that I didn't have the required chocolate frosting. So I headed to Kowalski's and bought Barq's root beer, vanilla ice cream, marshmallow matteys, and heavy cream. So much for my campaign of eating well (at least for the evening).  

Now I have a bit of a problem, I have 24 wonderfully beautiful yellow cupcakes topped with home-made chocolate ganache. Anybody want to help with my problem?

Mmm, yummy

So in attempt to eat well I have been buying all sorts of yummy veggies. Well, actually I don't know if they are all yummy as some look down right weird. With all that said, someone somewhere recommended them or told me they are good for me so I thought I'd try.

I have discovered winter squash to much hilarity. For example, while trying to cut one in half a few hours ago to remove the seeds I ended up with the two halves flying in opposite directions, kitties running for cover and then spent the better part of the next 15 minutes picking up seeds.

However, the end result was so worth it. With a few teaspoons of olive oil, some sea salt, and a whole bunch of garlic I ended up with yummy squash fries. They were nice and crunchy and a little bit sweet. Perfect with ketchup.

Well, I'm off the Wedge. Wonder what new veggie I will find next. Any suggestions?

Oh, and if you want to make them yourself, spread them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet (yeay! no dishes), bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes, flipping them over once.

Enjoy!

Yeay Kitties

So this post it totally thanks to my friend Maggie, who posted this video first. 

Anyone who has a cat will understand. 

And for good measure, my kitties: Libby (left) and Gabe (right)