Angry Julie Monday

Hello New Year

January 2, 2012

Hello End of 2011.

Hello New Year and 2012!

Hello to Angry Kid and I toasting with wine glasses and sparkling apple cider at midnight.

Hello to finishing Project 365 in 2011.

Hello to not needing to take photos anymore, but wanting to take photos.

Hello to crazy new work schedule.

Hello to Angry Kid’s Holiday Vacation over on Tuesday.

Hello to Year of the Flamingo. A great and fun joke between Erin, Kim, and I. It has spawned tons of group messages via the iPhone along with photographs.

Hello to No Silly Resolutions.

Hello to Changes and Promises.

Hello to Winter Soccer for my son, which gives him something to occupy his time.

Hello to a chaos, which I think I’m prepared for.

Wish me luck!

I’m linking up with Lisa Leonard and her Hello Monday Series.

Filed Under: Blogging, Just Julie 11 Comments

Over the past month, I had the chance to review the Mint Cleaner. The Mint Cleaner is designed exclusively for hard surface floors. It works on most hard flooring including wood, tile, vinyl and laminate. Our house has hardwood floors throughout the main traffic areas, and is constantly dusty and littered with debris. I love having hardwoods over carpeting, but those tiny little dust bunnies on the floors make me a little insane.

My husband was apprehensive to try the Mint Cleaner as we have tried other automatic floor cleaners in our house. He was pleasantly surprised. The Mint Cleaner used a NorthStar Navigation System which works like an indoor GPS. The NorthStar Cube projects a signal that Mint uses to determine its location. Then as Mint starts cleaning, it builds a map of the area as it goes, marking walls, obstacles and drop offs as it encounters them. And really our most favorite part is that the Mint Cleaner works with cleaning cloths like the Swiffer and Pledge dry and wet cloths. You don’t need to purchase any expensive specialized hard-to-order cleaning chemicals to use the Mint.

Once the Mint Cleaner is charged, the cleaning cloth added on, and the NorthStar Cube is placed…you just start the Mint Cleaner. The first time that we used the cleaner, the cleaning cloth was filthy. I swear we actually dust and vacuum our house almost daily. After using the Mint Cleaner for a few days, the cloth got cleaner and cleaner, obviously because the Mint Cleaner was doing its job.

Of course, I had to take some video of the Mint Cleaner in action with my iPhone. This is an amateur video by me.

Seriously, we have been using the Mint Cleaner for the past month and love it. My son just sits on the couch and stares at it. We run the cleaner during the night when everyone is settled down. I always forget that it is running except when I hear it gently nudging around the baseboards in our hallway.

The Mint Cleaner 4200 which I reviewed, retails for $199.99 and can be found at Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target, Amazon, Walmart, and several other stores found here.

Disclosure: I was provided with a Mint Cleaner 4200 for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All reviews and opinions are mine.

Filed Under: In The Home, Reviews 25 Comments

Project 365: Week 52 THE END

January 1, 2012

Well, I survived!!! 365 days and 52 weeks of iPhone Photographs! Let me tell ya, it wasn’t easy. Some days I was super busy, and you got to see photos of my food and randomness. Ok, I admit, you got to see a lot of my food. I’m exhausted from this project, and although it was fun, I’m taking a break next year. Although I applaud anyone who does it, and even more applause for people who use their DSLR!

Last Wednesday, I noticed my numbering was off on my photos. I spent the past five days going through all of my photos to find the error. It turns out I made an error on February 26th. So I had to re-number almost all of my photographs for this project. I’m a little obsessive compulsive so I had to fix it. It was not fun re-doing all of my blog posts and editing my Flickr photos, but I did it.

52 Weeks of Project 365 for 2011

My Project 365 Flickr Set

And for the last week, #52, here you go!

Project 365 358/365 Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar: Day 24. Yoda. Yoda was one of the most renowned and powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history. He was known for his legendary wisdom, mastery of the Force and skills in lightsaber combat.

Project 365 359/365: Merry Chrismas to me! I’m eating lasagna by myself. Kid sick, husband sick, my mom yanked out one of her crowns with a piece of candy. All we need is a squirrel to come flying out of the tree. #Griswolds

Project 365 360/365: A new desk from IKEA to use as a sewing table for the new sewer aka me.

Project 365 361/365: Gatorade in a Coca Cola Glass. This pretty much describes my day. The flu hit our house on Christmas Day. I was the last one to get it. Sigh

Project 365 362/365: My son feeds and entertains himself while I’m recovering from the flu. Good to know that he will be prepared for college.

Project 365 363/365: My son’s Tyranid Army for #Warhammer40K Fantasy. These little plastic things are ugly.

Project 365 364/365: Our family got a mini donut maker for Christmas! Made our first batch today!

Happy New Year Instagram! This is my #777th @instagram! It is also Photo and Day #365 of #Project365! Yippee!

Filed Under: Photography, Project 365 8 Comments

The Best of 2011

December 29, 2011

If 2010 was the Year of the Blog Conference, the 2011 was the Year of the Craft or Project Tutorial. Although, I did attend a few blog conferences, I was very crafty this year. I was pretending to be a craft blogger. Hey, I can be crafty when I want to be. I think 2012 will be the year of Sewing, or maybe even Running, if I can get my butt into gear. But really my most popular posts this year were my tutorials.

Presenting The Best of 2011 in Blog Posts, in order by beginning of the year:

1. Valentine’s Day Cards-This idea is pretty huge on Pinterest right now, but luckily I did it last year. These cards were a HUGE hit in my son’s class. Hopefully, no one in your child’s class reads blogs or is on Pinterest, then you will be a rockstar mom like me.

2. Arts and Crafts Caddy-Using a lazy susan and metal plant buckets from IKEA, my husband created a great caddy to store all of the pencils, markers, and scissors that my son has hoarded.

3. Lego Table made with an IKEA Lack Table-We looked everywhere for an inexpensive Lego table, there weren’t any inexpensive ones, so we made our own.

4. A Garage Makeover-A post about the cleanest room in our house, the garage.

5. Six Layer Rainbow Cake Tutorial-My BFF Stacey made this six layer rainbow cake for my son’s 6th birthday party. She was nice enough to do a tutorial for my blog also.

6. Ten Ways To Pay It Forward When Blogging-I think this is self-explanatory. Some ways to promote other bloggers.

7. Galvinized Steel Magnet Board Project-With a large picture frame and some steel, we created a magnet board for our son’s room.

8. Ten Similarities Between Sorority Rush and Blog Conferences-People wonder how I can survive so many blog conferences, well duh, I was a sorority girl.

9. Our PVC Fort Build-Another as seen via Pinterest. But unfortunately, the original poster didn’t write the directions. I did a step-by-step post.

10. Glitter Clothespins Tutorial-How to make simple clothespins sparkly and pretty. I hang up my Holiday cards with these.

Filed Under: Blogging, In The Home 20 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Dole’s 2012 Rose Parade Float plus The Queen and Her Court

December 28, 2011

I have lived in California my entire life, that is 36 years if you are counting folks. I have never gone to the Rose Parade, nor have I participated in float building, and seeing any of the actual floats. I always watch it from my comfy couch in my jammies in the warmth of my home. But I got an opportunity a week ago to view some of the Rose Parade Floats, and even prep some seeds, etc. for Dole’s 2012 Rose Parade Float “Preserving Paradise”.

Upon arrival to the event at Fiesta Parade Floats headquarters, I was met by this VERY large elephant. This elephant was at the front of Dole’s 2012 Rose Parade Float.

Do you want to see what the rest of the float will look like? Here a graphic design of it. Isn’t it beautiful? I love all of the colors, and cannot wait to see it on TV!

Here are some more views of the float. I couldn’t capture the entire float because there were people everywhere, and I’m a bit OCD about my photos. Plus, I had my 50mm lens on, which has limitations.

We got to participate in some preliminary float decorating. The early decorating is done with seeds. The flowers are done at the very last to preserve freshness.
Angry Kid joined in on the fun, and got some face painting, and well, arm painting. He never turns down face painting.

And of course, we got a group picture of all the bloggers with the Rose Queen and her Court.

Welcome to “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.

Be sure to check out Wordless Wednesday Link-Ups at these other sites also:

Project Alicia, Better in Bulk, By Word of Mouth Musings, Dear Crissy, Five Minutes For Mom, Live and Love…Out Loud, Parenting By Dummies, Seven Clown Circus, Supermom, The Divine Miss Mommy

Also, Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy does “What I Wore Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

And, I can’t forget Krystina from Lollipops whom does “What I Love Wednesday” every week with a great big link-up.

Disclosure: I was invited by Dole to this special event. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are mine.

Filed Under: Blogging, Holidays, Just Julie 14 Comments

Hello Monday {Post Holidays}

December 26, 2011

We survived the past week, but I’m not quite sure how. It is Monday and the beginning of a brand new week. Angry Kid and I are chillin’ today, but we have some fun plans the rest of the week. Here’s a recap of the past few days.

Hello to last minute stops to the craft store and tiny shopping carts.

Hello to my husband’s 38th Birthday on Christmas Eve.

Hello to chips, pizza, and beer and watching old movies.

Hello to sleeping kid.

Hello to Lego minefield.

Hello to a fun night.

Hello Santa.

Hello BMX Bike, Nerf, Star Wars, and Sharks.

Hello to kid getting sick at 2am, doing laundry, and cleaning carpeting.

Hello to Pioneer Woman’s Lasagna.

Hello to unwrapping presents.

Hello to husband getting the flu, sigh.

Hello to Nana and Papa’s Christmas gift of an XBox with a Kinect.

Hello to The Skylander’s Game.

Hello to hours of entertainment for the kid.

********************

Hello To Monday.

Hello to another week of vacation for the kid, and a few days off for me.

Hello to decluttering, cleaning, and even a little relaxing.

Hello to fun events planned this week.

I’m linking up with Lisa Leonard today and her Hello Monday Link-Up!

Filed Under: Blogging, Holidays, Just Julie, Parenting 4 Comments

Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2011

December 26, 2011

For the first time ever, we did an Advent Calendar. Of course, we had to do the Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar. I bought it a few months ago and hid it at work. I wanted it to be a complete surprise for Angry Kid. On December 1st, I brought out the box and we discussed how it works. I’m shocked that he had the patience to wait every morning to open the little window to see what appeared.

I had to get on the fun, and join in by taking photos of the figures every day. I posted all of them on my Instagram feed. I also wrote a little story about each piece, item, or vehicle for the day. A few of the figures stumped Angry Husband, so I had to do some research. I found all of my awesome Star Wars Facts on the site WOOKIEEPEDIA. I’m super excited to do this again for next year too!

Here are all of the Minifigs:

Day 1: Republic Frigate
Day 2: Nute Gunray
Day 3: Mechno-chair
Day 4: Homing Spider Droid
Day 5: Boba Fett’s Slave I
Day 6: Chewbacca
Day 7: Tool Rack
Day 8: Rebel Pilot
Day 9: X-wing Starfighter
Day 10: Imperial Shuttle
Day 11: OOM-series battle droid
Day 12: Rebel Snowspeeder
Day 13: R2-Q5 Astromech Droid
Day 14: Mouse Droid
Day 15: Republic Gunship
Day 16: Clone Pilot
Day 17: Weapons Rack
Day 18: Y-Wing Starfighter
Day 19: TIE pilot
Day 20: TIE fighter
Day 21: Millennium Falcon
Day 22: RZ-1 A-wing Interceptor
Day 23: Christmas tree
Day 24: Santa Yoda with sack and gifts

And a little more details about each Minifig of the day:

Day 1: Republic Frigate. The Consular-class cruiser (Charger c70 retrofit) was a model of retrofitted Consular-class cruiser that turned the ships into small frigates. Corellian Engineering Corporation created this for Supreme Chancellor Palpatine during the early part of the Clone Wars.

Day 2. Nute Gunray. A Neimoidian from the planet Neimoidia. Following a stint as Minister for the Trade Federation, he rose in power after the Stark Hyperspace War in 44 BBY, eventually becoming Viceroy of the Trade Federation. In 32 BBY, Gunray participated in the occupation of Naboo to settle a trade dispute that began in the Galactic Senate.

Day 3. Mechno-chair. A mechno-chair was a mobile mechanical chair used by wealthy Neimoidians as a sign of their status. Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation possessed one.

Day 4. Homing Spider Droid. Sometimes referred to as the Spider Walker, was a droid walker manufactured for anti-vehicular combat by the Commerce Guild before and during the Clone Wars.

Day 5. Boba Fett’s Slave I. Slave I was a modified prototype Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft used by famed bounty hunters Jango Fett and his cloned “son”, Boba Fett. It was greatly modified with advanced weapons systems by both Fetts during their respective use.

Day 6. Chewbacca or Chewie. He was a legenary Wooiee from Kashyyyk and co-pilot of Han Solo’s ship, the Millenium Falcon.

Day 7. Tool Rack. Tools and Crossbow for Chewbacca to use. The bowcaster or Wookiee Crossbow was a Wookie projectile weapon that fires a metal quarrel enveloped in energy, however some bowcasters were modified to fire pure energy.

Day 8. Rebel Pilot. Rebel pilots flew starfighters, light freighters, and atmospheric repulsorlift vehicles for the Alliance Starfighter Corps of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War.

Day 9. X-Wing Starfighter. The Incom T-65 X-wing is the fighter that killed the Death Star. Note: The tiny blue Lego on top represents R2-D2 riding on top.

Day 10. Imperial Shuttle. The Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle was a standard light utility craft in common use throughout the Imperial military as a transport for troops and high-ranking individuals.

Day 11. OOM-series battle droid. While physically identical to the B1 battle droid, the OOM-series possessed more advanced and independent programming. They were already a common sight in the galaxy before the Invasion of Naboo, serving as security and crew for the Trade Defense Force.

Day 12. Rebel Snowspeeder. The Rebel Alliance had use the T-47 airspeeder for reconnaissance on Dantooine and other planets. When the Rebels moved to Hoth, the airspeeder required modifications to function for extended periods in the extremely cold climate.

Day 13. R2-Q5 Astromech Droid. The R2-Q5 was an R2-series astromech droid produced by Industrial Automation. R2-Q5 was a well-equiped droid, with tools for repairing starships and special, hidden spy devices. He was also one of the few beings aware of IG-88A’s infiltration of the Death Star.

Day 14. Mouse Droid. MSE-series was a popular line of MSE “Mouse Droids”. These droids were usually programmed with a single function that varied per assignment. Once they were set on the task, they would do nothing else.

Day 15. Republic Gunship. The Low Altitude Assault Transport (LAAT), also known as the LAAT-series gunship nicknamed “Larties” by some clones, was a gunship series used by the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars.

Day 16. Clone Pilot. Clone trooper pilots were special clone troopers bred in the Kamino cloning centers for the purpose of piloting craft of the Grand Army of the Republic and the early Galactic Empire.

Day 17. Weapons Rack. A spoiler for the next few days. Two guns, a set of space binoculars, and a green lightsaber.

Day 18. Y-wing starfighter. The BTL Y-wing starfighter, built by Koensayr Manufacturing, was a mainstay of the Alliance Starfighter Corps. It was often used as an assault bomber to attack enemy capital ahips directly in conjunction with the later B-wing starfighters.

Day 19. TIE Pilot. TIE pilots served in the Imperial Navy by piloting the various TIE series starfighters.

Day 20. TIE Fighter. The TIE/In or TIE/line, simply known as the TIE Fighter, was the standard Imperial starfighter seen in massive numbers throughout most of the Galactic Civil War and onward.

Day 21. Millenium Falcon. The Millenium Falcon became famous as the personal smuggling starship of Han Solo and Chewbacca. It began life as a standard Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 stock light freighter.

Day 22. RZ-1 A-wing interceptor. The RZ-1 A-wing interceptor was a starfighter designed by the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. One of the fastest mass-produced interceptors in the known galaxy, the A-wing was even faster than the Imperial’s TIE Interceptor.

Day 23. Christmas Tree. The Christmas tree is a secorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, traditionally associated with the celebration of Christmas. The earliest accounts of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas were recorded in Livonia in the 15th century.

Day 24. Yoda. Yoda was one of the most renowned and powerful Jedi Masters in galactic history. He was known for his legendary wisdom, mastery of the Force and skills in lightsaber combat. He is dressed in a festive way for the Holiday Season! Merry Christmas to all!

Here is the Flickr set for all of my Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar 2011 Photos.

Filed Under: Holidays, Parenting, Photography 4 Comments

Project 365: Week 51

December 25, 2011

Week 51 of Project 365 is brought to you by the Letter B, as in BUSY. I had a few days off of work where I attended some events, finished Holiday decorating, finished Holiday shopping, organized, cleaned, and indulged in way too much food. I’m ready to purge right now. As in the clutter that is taking over my house. We are currently enjoying Christmas. But I’m mentally planning my cleaning and organizing sprees. Angry Kid has a brand new XBox to entertain him while I de-clutter. Wish me luck!

Project 365 351/365: Depth of Field-If I had an iPhone in college, oh the things I could have done.

Project 365 352/365: I love the @DoleFoods Float for The Rose Parade. “Preserving Paradise” #dolefamilyday

Project 365 353/365: The calmest the kid has been all day. Maybe because he’s watching Empire Strikes Back.

Project 365 354/365: Latest craft project: Mickey Ears Tree Topper. Using 3 plastic Christmas tree balls. I would have liked to have the ears bigger but it is fine!! Idea via #DisneylandHolidays #Disney #Christmas