Working Force of "All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here" (5)

Here's Natalie's most recent photo... Just took it at lunch in the studio here at work. 31 weeks, 1 day... Just 9 more weeks (if she goes full term).

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Jeff whats happening over here? You guys are almost parents, that's good. Is it to early to give up on the Av's?

Aww, she's so teeny! Looking great!

eddarr wrote in post #7199452
Jeff whats happening over here? You guys are almost parents, that's good. Is it to early to give up on the Av's?

Thanks! Naw - the Avs still have plenty of hope It's just not good when they are missing half of their starters and main players.

DoodleBunz wrote in post #7199475
Aww, she's so teeny! Looking great!

She'll be glad to hear that She has done very well - gained 10lbs since the beginning as of her last appt.

Natalie looks great, she has that glow about her.

gjl711 wrote in post #7196758
I limited my search to only the flatbeds as not only did I have slides and negatives but I also had many old prints as well. It boiled down to three scanners, the Canoscan8800, HP-G4050, and the Epson V500. I had the Epson V700 in the mix as well, but at 0ver $500 it dropped out as the V600 does everything the V700 does but wet scan.

The HP I think was the best scanner. It has a six color scaning system that supposedly delivers the best color rendition. But the software was clumsy and the scanner was real slow.
The Canoscan8800 looked pretty decent as well but I finally settled on the Epson for a couple of main reasons. First, I got to try out all three at a local officemax and the epson was the fastest of the three. Next the software is very simple yet has all of the features I needed. The color restoration function is outstanding and it does real nice when you load up a set of 10 negatives or 4 slides into automatically breaking up the pics into individual files. And lastly, Even pixel peeping I could not see the advantage of the 6 color scanning. Maybe it's because most of the slides are old and require significant restoration as well so I'm adjusting levels and curves, cloning out dust by hand, sharpening, and applying noise ninja to reduce grain as well.

I've go a few pics posted if you want to see the results:
http://farm4.static.fl​ickr.com …21020729_18bb37​ab2e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.fl​ickr.com …12024509_0af58b​5106_b.jpg

I went with the Epson for a number of reasons.

Thanks! that helps.

Natalie! you look pregnant! LOL

sevillafox wrote in post #7189668
:p

We don't decide...the buses decide. If the bus guy decides it's unsafe we don't go. Too many kids in rural areas.

here too.

SoaringUSAEagle wrote in post #7189653
0 degrees, -10 WC, 8+ inches of snow with 4 more expected by tomorrow.... no snow day here you Wisconsin wussies!

Glad that is there and no here. It's cold and snowy but not that cold, it was colder than that by a lot last week.

gjl711 wrote in post #7189727
I never understood why we didn't outfit our buses with snow plows and get double duty from them.

It would be awesome for the rural homes in our district.

gjl711 wrote in post #7190167
You trust them with your kids, but not a plow?

mine don't ride the bus home. My boys ride the bus 4 blocks to my daughters school. Then I either pick them up at her school or they walk home for now.

FuryMe wrote in post #7190179
I drive my kid to school every morning. We live in the next City/County over so busing is not available to us.

That will be us in the next two weeks. Same county, barely over the district lines and I'm not switching their schools.

gjl711 wrote in post #7190188
My kids walk. The schools just under a mile away so it's an easy walk. During the real cold days my wife drives him.

they do when I don't have a van to pick them up. I much prefer picking them up though. They have to cross a rather busy state highway to get to school. There is a crossing guard there but that doesn't mean they'll stop ya know?

FuryMe wrote in post #7190628
Morning Brooke. Glad some people like cold and snow in the world. I'd trade a pancreas to live in a warmer location.

I would too.

gjl711 wrote in post #7191407
WTF!!! So that's what our tax dollars are paying for... It's a freaking mansion.

built many many years ago. Your tax dollars go to pay his salary though.

SoaringUSAEagle wrote in post #7191988
There are many haunted things out here. Natalie used to baby sit for a couple in an old home, and there was a cavalry man that "lived" upstairs. They could hear him walking on hard wood floor with his boots, even though it was carpeted. She saw him a few times come to the landing in the middle of the stairs and that was it.

I'm the same way - it'd be neat to experience some of this.

it's actually really creepy when experiencing this kind of stuff. Especially when you're really sensitive to it.

gjl711 wrote in post #7192060
My Aunt has a similar story. She lives in a house with a ghost. Seems the previous owner died in the house and she sees him from time to time. The first time she was an elderly gentleman in her family room. when she talked to him he got up and walked into the hall. She followed but could not find him anywhere in the house.

She mentioned this to a neighbor and asked if there were any old guys that wandered into homes from the woods as she lives in a very rural location. She described the guy and the neighbor freaked. Guess this guy dressed the same every day and the4 description matched. She sees him a couple times a year now. I have been in the house several times but never seen him. I do keep my camera ready anytime im in the house though

The house we're moving into is my sister in laws gma's house. Her gpa died there. He made himself known the other day. I caught him in the corner of my eye and heard him walking around upstairs when we were all downstairs. Kinda freaked me out. At my old house in Ga I had two there. I'm almost positive one was a confederate soldier, it was built on an old civil war battle ground, and he was mighty protective over me. Then a playful child. That one just liked to screw with my head I think. Those are stories for another time though.

SoaringUSAEagle wrote in post #7199412
Here's Natalie's most recent photo... Just took it at lunch in the studio here at work. 31 weeks, 1 day... Just 9 more weeks (if she goes full term).

Awww she looks awesome!!

BTW I'm back at least until 5ish tomorrow. I have no access to a vehicle between now and then. We're getting the other house ready for the move. I'm keeping my blog updated with all the good stuff.
I have a running list of crap not to do to your house on the blog too.
It's nowing here still and has been since yesterday some time. The kids still have school. Apparently the other districts in the area aren't running rural bus routes. Ours is. Then again when they don't have school we usually do unless it's really bad.

Jeff, Natalie looks good. Her top is really cute!

Thanks everyone.... just wanted to take a quick shot and post it up.

Well we finally got a delayed start at work today.... I go in at 10. It took 60mph winds overnight, and 40-55mph winds currently do do it, but hey... I got more sleep. I was up most of the night because of the wind.

Ah well... Makes for a shorter day!!!!

Love the blog Leigh.

Good morning all. Well I had an interesting commute. We got a little snow last night, just enough to plow. This winter the plow trucks have been doing things a bit differently. They line up 4 across and plow the whole highway in one pass. Well this morning some knucklehead though they were driving too slow and tried to squeeze through two of them. He didn't make it and clipped one plow, spun out, hit the wall i think as i really didnt see him hit but there was a big poof of snow right next to the wall, spun back into traffic and blocked the road. What an impatient a$$.

BrokenRoad wrote in post #7204615
...The house we're moving into is my sister in laws gma's house. Her gpa died there. He made himself known the other day. I caught him in the corner of my eye and heard him walking around upstairs when we were all downstairs. Kinda freaked me out. At my old house in Ga I had two there. I'm almost positive one was a confederate soldier, it was built on an old civil war battle ground, and he was mighty protective over me. Then a playful child. That one just liked to screw with my head I think. Those are stories for another time though....

I love stories like this and hope one day to experience an encounter myself. The closest I ever came was many years back. Both my grandmothers lived together next door to me. Several years after my dad's mom passed my other g-mom called me over as she had a power problem and the lights were off. While in the basement replacing the fuse I suddenly had an overpowering feeling my g-mom was behind me and she touched my shoulder. I spun around but nothing was there. To this day it is an event I can not explain but thats as close as I have ever had. My auntie on the other hand sees her friend a couple times a year though less often with each passing year it seems.

Leigh - to say you have been busy is an understatement! You guys have done a lottttt of work. It'll pay off. Just keep a positive attitude

totally keeping the positive up. We're actually renting it from my sil's dad. It's super cheap and he's paying for most of the updates. We've got free decorating reign and should we decide in a few years that we would like to purchase it we have first dibs . It's a labor of love turning that house into our home. We both really love doing this sort of thing too. I did interior remodeling/constructio​n for about 7 months after my divorce and he's a contractor during the summers.


HAHA John I guess he'll learn right?
Last night I had to go pick up the husband from work and coming off the very snow covered exit I slid to a stop at the light. A stupid semi came barreling off the exit. He sort of hit me if that makes sense. He took the snow off my rear bumper with his bumper and his headlight might as well have been on my back window. There was no damage. It just made me hate semis even more. Swear they're out to get me.

BTW sil's gpa is a friendly spirit. Loves kids. I think he came out to play with them. Kyler giggles up a storm and talks a ton when he's upstairs alone. I'm not concerned in the least bit. I think he was just coming out to say hello.

BrokenRoad wrote in post #7205957
BTW sil's gpa is a friendly spirit. Loves kids. I think he came out to play with them. Kyler giggles up a storm and talks a ton when he's upstairs alone. I'm not concerned in the least bit. I think he was just coming out to say hello.

Ya gotta get a picture.