Methinks Somebunny Needs a Nap

Soooo, how's it going? Good week? Yes? No? Jury still out on that one? How about the whacked out weather - fun for you? Obviously, I'm punchy; been that way all week (no idea why, really, but it happens). On Monday and Tuesday the temps were right at 80 are-you-kidding-me degrees (actually passed a woman in a strapless top on my way into Winn Dixie, which is just so wrong for January). The horses are shedding and the plants are completely confused. Of course that was before Wednesday's storms blew in a cold front and at the moment, it's 33 out. I think over the weekend it's supposed to be in the upper 20's. Hey I know! We can all get really sick; won't that be fun? Meh.

Between the weirdly warm weather and people burning almost constantly in the area (five out of seven days last week) I'm scared to go outside in the morning to check on Sara, but she's hanging in there. A happy thanks to Lori at Skoog Farm Journal for sponsoring my V-8 moment by mentioning beet pulp, which I had completely forgotten about (having initially gone a different direction for weight gain). I'm delighted to report that Sara loves it, although she will not eat it if I mix it in with her feed (so now we have a pan of beet pulp and a pan of feed three times a day). Whatever works, right? As happy as it makes me to see her chowing down, however, I have to tell you that stuff is superduper stinky (as in P.U. EWWW). My nose is hypersensitive, so I am not a fan of any kind of strong odor at all. Stuff's worse than sauerkraut. Blech.
Speaking of beet pulp, the kids are working on various types of poetry in Reading class right now. While composing poems isn't overly interesting to a deaf student (for obvious reasons) I'm having a lark:
Inky, stinky beet pulp.
  I fix you and I scowl,
  you are so very foul.
  You make me wanna barf,
  yet Sarabear will scarf.
Inky, stinky beet pulp.
Ha. See? Told you I was punchy. All seriousness aside, that stuff really does smell "offal". OH, GEEZ THAT WAS BAD! Bwahahahaha :o) *cough* Sorry.

Let's move on, shall we? One of the things I decided to splurge on with my Christmas money was the latest version of PrintShop. Trying to stay on that cutting edge can really get expensive, so I don't update stuff very often. Do you keep up with upgrades? I've been using PrintShop since the dot matrix days (around 1991), and have absolutely positively loved it. Since I use it all the time to edit photos and do lots of Epic Farms stuff, I thought it might be a good idea to upgrade to 3.0 since it's been several years. My biggest interest in the upgrade was the ability to edit vector images, use overlays, and make my own nifty watermark for photographs. Armed with a GoodShop coupon, I bought 3.0 Professional. I was SO excited to get that package; I could hardly wait to get it installed and start playing around. And har-dee-har-har was that joke ever on me. Imagine my surprise to find that my forever favorite user friendly program had bypassed unfriendly and gone straight to downright hostile. For reasons that completely escape me, Broderbund did away with many of the best features of PrintShop and somehow managed to turn it into one of the most user UNfriendly programs ever created. I mean, I totally hated it. Guess I should have read the reviews first, as they were terrible, but I never even gave it a thought until after I bought it.

Happily, Broderbund offered a 30 day money back guarantee (see Jen get RMA and make beeline to post office). As an aside, if you ever have to return something like software be sure to ask for a delivery confirmation. It costs a little bit more, but gives you proof your package arrived so you don't wind up in the "We didn't get it so sorry, too bad no refund for you." category. In chatting with my brother one afternoon, he mentioned using Photoshop which I had not thought about in a very long time. Once upon a time, I had Photoshop Elements 2.0, (which should tell you how long ago it was: think dial up). I bought it planning to restore some old family photographs, but it was SO ridiculously complicated that you just about had to take a college course to learn how to use it (although it did come with a handydandy clear-as-mud manual). Anyway, I'd avoided it like the plague ever since. What can I say? It scared me ;o) I started wondering what kind of changes - if any - might have come about since then. This is Cupcake, by the way. My friend Sandy's little Lionhead bunny; isn't she adorable?
I decided to investigate, and discovered that Adobe offers the full-blown version in a 30 day try-before-you-buy download (it's here if you're interested). A free full featured test drive? Really? Woo! I'm so there. I downloaded Photoshop Elements 11, and I have seen the light [insert choral "Ahhhh" here]. BOY have they changed that software; totally user/idiot friendly. Definitely my kind of program. Throw in a little AdobeTV with a boatload of step by step tutorials, and it is completely learnable (even for me). My old 2.0 was still good for the upgrade price, but I actually found it cheaper on Amazon (yay) so I'll be ordering it as soon as I get my Broderbund refund. *Bounce*Bounce*Bounce* :-D As you can see, I've already figured out the watermark thing. Guess that's all for now; next week we'll talk about how to make yourself feel seriously stupid in one simple step: it's SO me ;o)
Have a blessed weekend and week everyone!