Russellsphere

We’ve been doing some special effects tests with Adobe After Effects CS4 – its been a lot of fun :)

Really cool Mac app I found; not cool enough to upgrade from demo – and shell out $10 – but still cool. It scans your hard drive and builds a visual map; whereby you can navigate through; and find out quickly and easily what ‘stuff’ is sucking up your valuable resources.

Its really neat; and has saved me 15 Gigs already of files that I forgot about. Thankfully the demo lasts 15 days; the Mac has lots of really neat apps like that; thats why Mac OS X is the most amazing operating system ever created; hurrah!!

Its getting harder to go out during the weekend; Nicholas is perfectly content with staying at home and building his lego masterpieces and playing with the Twins. His is a homebody and he likes it that way; watching movies; eating popcorn; and building his inventions.

Most of the day we rested; I conducted a Tweetathon; where I tweeted every hour; and the kids were happy doing their own thing. Jenny continued her addiction to Fishdom; we’ll be getting counseling soon.

In the end we did manage to get out; our traditional one meal out as a family per week; this week we went to San Jose Mexican Restaurant; one of our favorites. Then $8 on movies for everyone; popcorn and ice-cream. The movie we got was Push; and it was terrible.

Maybe Nick will let us be more adventurous tomorrow..

I had a good week for David gifts. I purchased a 4GB Upgrade pack; and got it for a measly $50; for my Macbook – and I got Snow Leopard today which is ultra amazing. My Macbook is zipping a long like nobodies business. I am very pleased. The only thing I don’t like is the new Quicktime Icon (the new quicktime I actually like a lot).. but I’ll forgive Apple for this.

On other news; I won something today! I won 3 days of free vacation from Blue Cross Blue Shield; not bad is it!! – what should I do with my free time??

This is the second occasion now that Jenny has made cottage pie; thanks to her astute spying on mother in March; we managed to snag the recipe. This one pictured is actually made with Bisto; and famous Walmart Instant Mashed Potatoes; the next one will be tried with real potatoes.

So whos tastes the best?? — Only I know the true answer; as I am the cottage pie expert; and I have to say – the best cottage pie is made by….. ..like I would really say who; they are both equally as delicious….. but there are difference- albeit minor.

Consult the table below to see the difference between Mums and Jenny’s recipe

4 years ago today, this blog was born. This past year has seen a year of calm reflection after a tornado whirlwind 2008 that I never wish to experience again. 2009 was a year of blissful; serene – sleepyness.

I said ‘Here is to a calm 4th Anniversary’ this time last year; well I can claim it was a fantastic change; and a much needed one. Looking forward to a lovely 2009/2010 season.

David Russell – ‘The Dad’ – Born 76′ – Web Analyst for Palmetto GBA. – Proud parent of many children.
Jennifer Russell – ‘The Mom’ – Born 69′ – Work @ Home Mother. – Proud parent of many children.
Nicholas Russell – ‘The Son’ – Born 03′ – Work: 90% play, 10% sleep. – Proud Child of Russell Parents.
Emily and Lauren – Born 05′ . Proud Children of the Russell Parents and -Proud Sibling of The Son.
The Dog – Born ??. Incoming Pet August 2009 – left for dead; and rescued.

Jenny has a minor operation yesterday morning at Palmetto Health – and it all went very smoothly (apart from the fact we had to get up a 4AM). The doctors et al were very nice; a very smooth and relatively painless (except for Jenny post op) procedure. So this weekend we will be relaxing; all is well.

We met some interesting people; including a lady that had difficulty grasping the English language; plus a Nurse that noticed that I ‘speak funny’ – yes she actually said that. Finally another Nurse; so impressed with my medical knowledge of drugs; asked me if I was a part time Pharmacist. All in all; a very interesting experience.

I did take pic of Jenny post op – but she isn’t allowing me to post it ;-) I’ll save that for collateral if needed.

Nicholas was very excited about his first day; and got there early. He did not want to be walked in; he is a first grader after all; and went him by himself. He just leapt out of the car; and that was that.

I took some pics (most of them didn’t come out so well) – of Nicks first day. Jenny notes; that I took more of the dog… not fair!!