Simply Hil

...with Photoshop Elements 6. I realize that those of you with THE photoshop will roll your eyes at this post, but I truly do love Elements. I suppose one of the reasons why I love it so much is due to the fact that for the past 3 years I have had to edit my photos with Microsoft Office Picture Manager. I was 'somewhat' able to fix red eye (except you could totally tell that's what I had done with the end product) and allowed me to crop. That is about it. Needless to say, I have been having a blast with Elements. Unfortunately, it is only a 30 day trial. I have 26 days left and I am trying to use it as much as possible until then! I am also starting to save my nickels and dimes to eventually buy the program once my trial is up. Elements has also created a digital scrapbook monster out of me. I spent my entire Memorial Day weekend downloading as many freebies as I could find! However, I have come to the conclusion that I will just have to fork out some money to get...

When I started this blog, I was so dang excited to finally have a blog all to myself. I couldn't wait to post all of my ideas and crafts and hobbies and whatever else I wanted. Well, it turns out I don't have a whole lot of ideas, crafts, hobbies, or whatever else. Nevertheless, I am back and posting, but embarrassed that it has taken me so long to update! Please bare with me! My latest thoughts have been on these insane gas prices! I know that everyone is talking about them (especially the news.. ugh) but I am really bugged! Not only have we felt the pinch from these prices on a weekly basis, but they are also preventing us from taking our Memorial Day vacation to visit my family. We figured it would end up costing us over $200 to drive (and that is in a Honda Accord which gets really good gas mileage!) just for a 3 day weekend. That is just plain insane. So, we are stuck here with the rainy crummy weather instead. The good thing that has come from this whole gas pric...

I have an addiction.  It is really quite pathetic actually.  I'm not sure when it started and I don't see it ending any time soon either.  My addiction is cookie dough.  I love it.  I can't survive without it.  I love it in ice cream (cookie doughn't you want some with cake batter ice cream from coldstone is absolutely amazing!) or even in little candy bite size pieces, but I especially love it just all by itself, right out of the bowl! While I was pregnant I think I made cookies at least once a week toward the end (sometimes even twice...shhh...don't tell) just so I could have some cookie dough.  Now that I am not pregnant, I am not able to justify making it as often.  I search for opportunies to make them.  If there is ever a sign up sheet in Relief Society to bring a dessert, I am all over it!  Well, last night I had a weak moment.  I had had a pretty rough week this last week and decided I needed a "pick-me-up".  I caved in and made some cookie dough. ...

Is anyone else sick and tired of all the bad news that is reported everyday on t.v. and the internet? I swear, eveytime I have the news on they are always reporting on horrible depressing things. What bothers me is the fact that there are plenty of good news stories that they could report on, but they don't... for whatever reason. So, to try to counteract the bad news that is reported everyday, I thought I would start a "Good News Friday" and try to find good news stories to help us see that there are good things happening out there! The story for today is about a week old, but I thought that it was such a neat story and wanted all of you to hear about it if you haven't already. Incredible Moment at Softball Game Stuns Crowd By Associated Press MONMOUTH, Ore. (AP) - A senior with a .153 career batting average hits her first home run, a three-run blast, to help Western Oregon move closer to a spot in the NCAA's Division II softball playoffs. That was improbable....

I have had what you might call blogger's block this last week.  It is very similar to the writer's block I used to get the night before my English assignment that was assigned at the beginning of the semester was due.  Nothing huge or exciting has happened in my life.  We did get some bikes about a week ago, but the weather has been too crummy to use them.  I thought that since I didn't have anything else to blog about, that I would take a look back to the year 1986 (the year I was born) to see what has changed in the last 22 years.  With my birthday coming up in a week or so, I thought this might be fun! 1986 U.S. President - Ronald Reagan In the news:    -It was declared the International Year of Peace by the United Nations    -The first federal Martin Luther King Jr Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr, was        observed.    -The Halley Comet makes it's second trip, in the 20th century, to the solar system. Space shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 secon...

About 4 months ago I did a crazy thing.  I cut off about 6 inches of my hair on a mere whim.  This was a bit of a crazy thing seeing how I have had the same hair length for the last 10 years or so.  I didn't really think that much about it, and I didn't even cry!  It was a lot of fun to give it a try, but I have decided to grow it back out for the summertime (mostly so that I can just pull it back whenever I want/need to). I never imagined how hard it is to grow your hair out!  I am at that "in-between" stage where my hair is incredibly awkward.  It can't decide if it is short or long and it is starting to flip out on its own in random places.  I feel like it is just a mess even if I try to style it and even if I pull it back it looks rediculous due to the short stubby little pony tail that it makes.  I used to wonder why anyone would want hair extensions (not just because of the price, but because of how annoying it must be to have fake hair clipped into your own...

Well, after a week of seeing my fondant every time I opened the fridge, I finally decided it was time to conquer my fears and make my first fondant cake. I can't say that I am proud of my first cake, but I am glad that I now know what to expect for the next one. I think I must have played with the fondant too much because it got really warm and too stretchy which caused my end product to be lumpy. I didn't have those special rollers they make for fondant icing, and I didn't have that special food coloring dye either. So, I had to settle with my heavy, marble rolling pin and my normal food coloring (left over from dying easter eggs). I have a long way to go and I think I need to take a few classes before I invest in any decent tools to help me with the process; but all in all, it was a lot of fun trying this whole thing out. Have a look: