Christmas in Hillbilly Land

The girls and Scooby relax after a busy Christmas morning .

I don't know what the problem is, I grabbed one of the pictures that you sent me in an e-mail and posted it just to see if I could. (It worked.) Keep trying, I'm pretty sure that you will get it figured out.

He's Rockin' and Rollin' now...

Ryan rolled over yesterday!!! Yippeee!!!!
Okay, I shouldn't be this excited about this, but aside from cooing/smiling, this is the only accomplishment he's had so far. He did it while I was at work and Laura called me all excited because she managed to capture it on tape for me (Laura's Parents/Grandparents got us a video camera for Christmas). Ryan did make out pretty well for Christmas, got some toys, some music, some clothes. I'll talk more about Christmas when I get a chance to upload some pictures (and get the pictures off of Grandpa's camera that I need).
Happy New Years everyone!

Multiple Choice #6 - Sports

It's that time again... This time the category is Sports. I chose one question for each of the following sports and will probably do a Sports - Football, Sports - Baseball, etc. type quiz later on. Again, good luck all and dont' forget to e-mail me the answers by January 6th, 2006.

1. NFL - Who was the first player in history to receive 20,000 passing yards in their career?

a. Jerry Rice
b. Lance Rentzel
c. Bob Hayes
d. Dick Bass

2. MLB - What was Babe Ruth's lifetime homerun record?

a. 657 home runs
b. 602 home runs
c. 714 home runs
d. 752 home runs

3. NHL - Who has won the most Stanley Cups as of 2005?

a. Toronto Maple Leafs
b. Detroit Red Wings
c. Montreal Canadiens
d. Vancouver Canucks

4. PGA - What is Arnold Palmer's nickname?

a. The Golden Bear
b. The Patriot
c. The Emperor
d. The King

5. NBA - Which team has won the most NBA titles?

a. Philadelphia 76ers
b. Boston Celtics
c. Los Angeles Lakers
d. Chicago Bulls

The Big picture

For those who don't know (or haven't tried it)you can double click on a picture in an article and will get a larger image. If you put the cursor on the larger picture, a symbol appears in the lower right-hand corner and if you click on that, you get a full-screen picture. Click on the symbol again to make the image small again (or click on "back").

Image Uploading Tutorial

Okay first and foremost, you must disable any pop-up blockers. This seems to cause most of the problems. Also, I would suggest making the image a jpg instead of a gif or bmp as the load time for this type is quicker. I have made a quick little tutorial for posting images below if that does not solve the issue...

Select the image icon and a window should pop up which looks like this...

I suggest selecting the "None" option for the layout as the blog tends to get confused if there is a lot of text near it if you select one of the other options. Clicking on browse should open up this window...

Select the image you want.

Choose your sizing (medium and small work best on this blog layout) and click Upload Image. It should tell you it is uploading the image and then it will tell you it is complete, see following images...

1st screen...

2nd screen...

Then, voila!!! Your image is there.

If you want to get fancy you can play with the HTML in the Edit Html section, but it's a bit flaky so edit at your own risk... have fun and I look forward to some more Christmas pictures... Oh, and before I forget... Happy New Year!!!

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. Debbie and I went to Jennifer's house to see Samantha open her presents. Glen and Laura brought Ryan a little later and I cooked breakfast for everyone. (Ham and cheese omelets, hash browns, biscuits, bacon and pancakes.) Glen, Laura and Ryan went to her parents for the rest of the day but they were at my house on Christmas Eve to get their presents. Ryan was dressed to the nines for church on Christmas Eve. John, Jennifer and Samantha came to my house around noon on Christmas to open presents with Debbie and me. They spent the afternoon with John's parents and then came back for Christmas dinner around 6:00. Very busy day but very enjoyable. I gave Samantha a little "Princess" bicycle for Christmas and she loves it. I was helping her ride it yesterday while I was babysitting and Debbie took some pix. It was a little chilly so we didn't stay out too long. She did pretty well, although steering and pedaling at the same time is a bit of a challenge.

Longwood Gardens

Debbie and I went to Longwood Gardens Wednesday night to see the Christmas lights, all 420,000 of them. It was too cold for the fountain show (which is beautiful) but it was below freezing so the fountains were shut off. We toured the "Conservatory" which has thousands of gorgeous flowers, including roses, orchids, birds of paradise and lots of poinsettias. We walked about the grounds and saw the many trees decorated with colored lights, including some that had giant snowflakes way up high. Here are a few of the pictures but they really don't do it justice, you have to be there to get the full effect.

Multiple Choice #5 - Christmas!

First and foremost, Merry Christmas everyone. I hope your travels are safe and your presents abundant. Okay, in the spirit of the holidays... here is a quiz about Christmas (answers due to me by the 29th of December). Good Luck!

1. In 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', what was the name of the Grinch's dog?

A) Mitch
B) Mike
C) Max
D) Marx

2. Many movies about Christmas have been made for television and the cinema over the years, including dozens of versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Which of the following films has NOT yet been made?

A) The Jetsons' Christmas Carol
B) Popeye's Christmas Carol
C) Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol
D) Mickey's Christmas Carol

3. When are the '12 Days of Christmas'?

A) The 12 days after Christmas: December 26 to January 6
B) The 12 days around Christmas: Christmas Eve to January 4
C) The 12 days before Christmas: December 14 to December 25
D) The 12 days beginning with the winter solstice:
December 21 to January 1

4. Who was the first English monarch to have a Christmas tree?

A) Queen Elizabeth
B) King James VI
C) Queen Victoria
D) King George II

5. How did the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe develop?

A) Eating it makes your mouth pucker
B) It was associated with the Scandinavian love goddess
C) The Druids used it in marriage ceremonies
D) It was used to make love potion in ancient times

Oh and just for fun... If you were to buy everything from the 12 Days of Christmas song, it would cost you a total of $18,348.87! Click on each of the items (pear, bird, maid, etc.) to see the change in price over the last 21 years.

Ryan and Santa

Laura took Ryan to get his picture taken with Santa the other day... Thought you might like to see it. Merry Christmas!!!!

Multiple Choice #4 - Movies

It's that time again... This time the category is Movies. I have chosen five movies, one from each of the past 5 decades. The 60s (Midnight Cowboy), the 70s (Star Wars), the 80s (Steel Magnolias), the 90s (The Silence of the Lambs), and the 2000s (Shrek). I picked highly popular movies (award winning, top grossing, etc.) so the odds of you seeing most if not all of these movies is pretty good. You know the drill, you don't know the answer just guess. Also, not that I have to remind you, but e-mail me the answers. Good Luck all!

1. Midnight Cowboy - The majority of this movie takes place in NYC, but after Ratso gets sick they decide to leave for warmer weather. What city did they leave for?

a. Dallas
b. New Orleans
c. Atlanta
d. Miami

2. Star Wars - "May the Force be with you!", is probably the most famous line from all of the Star Wars movies. Who is the first person to tell Luke about "the Force"?

a. Darth Vader
b. Ben Kenobi
c. Yoda
d. C-3PO

3. Steel Magnolias - Julia Roberts' character Shelby ultimately gave her life to have a child. What was his nickname?

a. Joe Jr.
b. John Jr.
c. Jack Jr.
d. Jim Jr.

4. The Silence of the Lambs - Clarice's meetings with Dr. Lector throughout this movie are aiding her in catching a killer named Jame Gumb. What was he called through most of the movie?

a. Billy Boy
b. Wild Bill
c. Billy the Kid
d. Buffalo Bill

5. Shrek - Many fairy tale characters wind up in Shrek's swamp, who was NOT there?

a. Baby Bear (Goldilocks and the Three Bears)
b. Pinocchio (Pinocchio)
c. The Muffin Man (Do You Know the Muffin Man?)
d. The Big Bad Wolf (Three Little Pigs)

Multiple Choice #3 - Television

Okay, seeing as Grandpa and Mom tied on the last round, I decided to pick this round's category - Television. Okay... same rules, different round and don't forget to e-mail me the answers by December 17th.

#1. In the show 'ER', Dr. Mark Greene died in the 1992 season. What was the cause of his death?

a. Automobile Accident
b. Helicopter Accident
c. Brain Tumor
d. Lung Cancer

#2. In 'The Cosby Show', how many children did Mr. and Mrs. Huxtable have?

a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6

#3. Dick Van Dyke's character (Rob Petrie) in the 'Dick Van Dyke Show', did what for a living?

a. Author of best selling novels
b. Writer for a television show
c. Star of a hit television show
d. Reporter for a television news show

#4. What year did 'The Simpsons' begin?

a. 1987
b. 1989
c. 1991
d. 1993

#5. In the show 'Friends', what was name of Chandler's on again off again obnoxious girlfriend?

a. Janet
b. Judith
c. Janice
d. Jackie

Remember, use your own knowledge and good luck!