Pictures from Sunnyvale

Aiden enjoyed visiting with "my Grannie".

Pay attention! she said to herself.

Once again I posted on Outrage when I meant to post on Orange. So if you are curious about what I spent my afternoon doing, you'll have to go to Daily Outrage.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This is what one of the first grade classes said about turkey. Sam of the turkey feathers is our Sam. And what is that red berry stuff anyway?

Maxwell: Eat turkey with pancakes. You can use pancakes if you’re out of biscuits. You pick up both sides of the pancake and
eat it when it’s only a few minutes old that way it’s still hot. The turkey can be older though.

Melissa: I like to eat turkey with gel. My mom cooks it. It takes a bunch of time, then it’s time to eat. First, put some water and a little milk and shake it with the turkey, and it’s all done.

Lilia: I just like it normal. My dad makes dumpling soup, that’s good, too. But I usually just like normal turkey.

Ariana: I just use one hand. It’s ok to eat the turkey with your hands, but not the other stuff.

Jakob: You can eat turkey legs with a side of stuffing. You have to open the legs and stick the stuffing inside. There’s a hole there for that. It gets messy. Mashed potatoes and corn go good with turkey, but they shouldn’t go in the stuffing hole.

Dylan: First, you cram stuffing inside the turkey while the turkey is still pink and soft. When it comes out of the oven, it will be hard and brown. That’s when it’s OK to eat it without throwing up.

Valerie: I like to slice it and give it lots of gravy. Make sure the dog hair is picked off before you put it on the table. SPAM is good with turkey, too. You can make sandwiches. Leave it cold and use lettuce. (Yes, she said SPAM ).

Robyn: Put lots of gravy on it, but don’t spill it on the good tablecloth. That’s a good way to make your turkey not good. I don’t like the good tablecloth.

Victoria: Make your potatoes like a volcano. Make them like a mountain with a hole in the top, then put the turkey and gravy inside the volcano hole. You can decorate it with corn if you’re really good, if not, you just pour the corn into the volcano, too.

Yasmine: You get a little bit of gravy and a little bit of corn. If you get too much, they will touch each other. It’s not good if it touches each other, but you have to eat it anyway.

Sam: Kill it, bake it, eat it with a fork. Save the feathers so you can play turkey chase with them. The turkeys will think you are a real turkey if you wear them, until you get close enough to scare them.

Matthew: First, I cut my turkey open and shove an onion in its hole. Grandma can put pineapple rings on it so it will taste good. When the house smells good, it’s time to eat it, but take the onion out first. You don’t want to eat it, it looks all brown,

Eric: Cut off their legs and eat them with gravy and mashed potatoes. You can make a bowl out of the mashed potatoes to hold the gravy and then dip the turkey legs inside before eating them. They have handles.

Miguel: Get a knife and kill the head. Bake it in the oven for 10 minutes. Eat it with red berry stuff. If you wear a white shirt they make you wear a bib like a baby, so DON’T wear that. What is that berry stuff made of?

Madison: My mom cuts off his arms – puts it in the oven- pours hot butter on it, and lots of pepper. The pepper looks like the turkey has freckles. Cranberry sauce makes your turkey look pink. Pink turkey is good.

Brianna: Put it in a pan, but only after it doesn’t have feathers. Take it out and put it on a big plate. Cut it. Take out the neck thing first. It looks like a snake. Daddy chases mommy with it. It’s sick.

Tony: Put it in the microwave. Wait for it to cool off. Eat it.

Damaris: Bake it without the bag of gooey stuff. Wait ‘til it’s hot, then eat it. Dogs can have the gooey stuff bag, unless your uncle is there. He likes that stuff. He said it puts hair on his chest. I will never eat that. I don’t want to have hair on my chest. He has lots. I think he should stop eating it, too.

Carla: Cook the turkey until it’s brown. If you wait too long, the house will get filled up with smoke and the alarms goes off. You can use lots of gravy on black turkey, but you don’t need as much if it’s only brown.

Sean: Mommy makes a hole with a butter knife and shoves the stuffing inside of it wither hands. It makes funny noises. Sometimes she gags. Stuffing is made of stuff. Set it out on the table, but you have to cook it first. It takes about a hundred hours. Then you have to dig the stuffing out of the turkey holes. It looks gray, but it tastes good.

Maria: What’s turkey?

Chris: First, they have to chop off its head. Then they stick it in a baggie, then in a pan. If there’s any feathers on it, they didn’t do it right and you should take it back to the store. If it has a head, you should take it back, too.

Jazen: Turkey is best when you smash it up with all the other stuff on your plate. You need a lot of gravy to make it all stick together.

Amy: If you are lucky, and don’t have any brothers, you can get the drumstick. If you lick it before they cut it off the turkey they will give it to you.

Daniel: If you just put the turkey in the oven and leave it there, it will be ready when you are ready for it. They take a long time to be ready. You have to start with the kind that doesn’t have a head. I don’t know where those come from. The turkeys I saw at the pumpkin patch all had heads and eyes and feet.

Stephanie: I like turkey best when I get to have corn and potatoes. I don’t like that green stuff my aunt makes. It has chunks in it.

Happy birthday, Mickey!

This is what Savannah wrote in her journal today. It made me smile, so I thought it might make you smile too! The spelling is hers...and it really is Mickey's birthday!


"11-18-2009
Today is Mickey Mouse’s birthday. I will invite Mickey and Ploodoe and Dolnold and the girll duck. The food I will bring is nochos and sodu and sallid and dip. The party is going to be at Disneyland. The games we are going to play is molpoly and ckendey land. The decorations is going to be sporkoles and flowyers and a sing said Happy Buirthday!"

Make a Smilebox photobook

The good grandma and the bad grandma

Halloween was crazy and fun with all these kids. When we got home to eat dinner, the doorbell rang. Guests! Aiden shouted. More guests! All five costumed trick or treaters flew off their stools to go see the guests and hand out candy. Which was more fun than getting candy, apparently.

Rock Collection

So Tyler comes up to me yesterday and tells me that Reed has a rock in his pocket. ( That would not be tattling, Tyler would tell you, because it is TRUE). Before I even have a chance to say anything, Reed denies that he has a rock in his pocket, a sure sign that he does indeed have a rock in his pocket. It is the end of the day at the tag end of the week, when children tend to get in trouble anyway, so I ask for Reed's rock. He tells me that he didn't pick it up outside, (which would be against the school rules) it is part of a rock collection. Can I please see it? I would love to see a rock from a rock collection. So he digs out a smooth little piece of granite and hands it to me. And recognizing that he is danger of losing his rock, he starts explaining.
I bought it. It was a special sale on rocks, the second one is FREE!
I tell him that he probably shouldn't BUY any more rocks, and put it on my desk where it stays until the end of the day when he takes it home with him.
He is a quick thinker, that little Reed.

It is so much fun to smilebox

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make sure you watch the video at the end. And you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

If Rachel can do it, then so can I

;

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Summer is over, but we sure had fun!

I don't know how little Rachel can hike with Emma on her shoulders like this. She is stronger than she looks!!
Ian caught 3( and kept 2) fish from this rock in the creek by our campsite.
Aiden on the trail.

Fun with Photo Booth

Summer with the kids

All the kids, except Sam who was sulking about something. In a few minutes more it would be Aiden who was sulking. I had to wait while Aiden sat with his back to the trail, in a fine full-figured snit. He eventually got up and hiked happily a long ways up the trail, but everyone coming back down the trail make a comment like, "Oh, so he is happier now?"
Emma and our wonderful next door neighbor Katelyn on the porch.
No explanation needed. Except...how is it that Emma, the dirty faced angel, has a clean face while eating bubble gum ice cream with gummy bears? (I know. Ick.)

Another pilgrimage to Rock Creek Lake and beyond

We had some rain, thunder and hail...but no downpours

Aiden and I hiked up past Box Lake and took this picture to prove it!
The kids had a blast playing in the cold water here where the creek flows into the lake. And the men (and Sam) had a blast fishing.

Santa Tecla, Spain

Santa Tecla, neolithic ruins of a village of over 3,000 high on a mountain above A Guarda, Spain. You can see the blue of the Atlantic at the top of the picture. On the very top of the mountain there is a viewpoint, along with cafes for ice cream, coffee and beer and stalls selling souvenirs. I was a bit bemused to see a topless witch who laughs when you walk by (think Big Lots Halloween decorations) hanging on a broomstick in one of the stalls. I suppose the connection being pagans...witches. Sonrisa thought that it made sense...

more pictures

Scott took this picture in Guimaraes, Portugal. It was a little rainy that day, but we had to walk up hill to the castle, so the weather was perfect. By the afternoon, it was warm enough that I had a Cornetto, soft ice cream while the other three had coffees. That was our habit...
Scott and Marc on the walk beside the harbor in A Guarda. Our restaurants and tapas bar were right here at this end overlooking the water and our hotel, the San Benito convent, built in the 1500's, was at the other end. We loved it here.
Marc and Sonrisa having a brandy in the hotel bar after dinner.
Sunset in A Guarda

a few vacation pictures

Cool scary carving at the Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal
Bouganvillea, Lisbon
Boston...the wharf by the Constitution, which we did not get to visit because it was closed

Yep, he's definitely two. After two days of being so good for grandma and grandpa, Alex reverted to his typical two-year old behavior last night at the restaurant with his mom. (Note: very often we see that kids are good at school all day every day and act like brats when they get home, I theorize that it's because they feel safe enough at home to Let It All Out!).

Lacey said "I think that it's time to G-O." Alex said "Nooo G-O!"

Then Lacey said, "You must hold someone's hand in a parking lot. That's non-negotiable."

Amd Alex said, "Noooo gotiable!!!"

He was actually pretty good...not as bad as Sam and Aiden were in restaurants at this age...

Porto, Portugal

Scott snapped this great picture from the boat we took on the Douro River. We enjoyed a short hour long cruise, but they have longer ones, all the way up to 8 day cruises. The Douro River is the "highway" to ship the port from the vineyards up river to the caves, where the port is bottled and shipped out, in Porto. The house we rented was an hour drive up the river from Porto and from our veranda we watched big cruise ships slowly drift by. Porto is a very hilly city, a lot like San Francisco. The houses are as old as they look. The Portuguese seem to like the peeling plaster, rusty iron, loose tile look. In America, we try to replicate it, in Portugal, it is the real thing.

Boston ghosts

OK....

So I was just going through our pictures from the trip and I got to this one. This is in front of the old State House, on the Freedom Trail.

Do you see what I see?

Hmmmm, I thought, there are no street vents that would make steam here, it is in the middle of the intersection. No fog...I took many pictures before and after this one and there are no smudges on the lens of any of them. So what is that wispy cloud behind Scott?

Scott, I say, I think we took a picture of some Boston ghosts.

I saw that too, he says, you know where that is?

Yeah, in front of the old State House...

No, the exact spot...there is a brass plaque on the curb there memorializing the...

Boston massacre!

I swear, this is the truth, I did not doctor this picture in any way. And I swear that I see the shape of a soldier holding a gun and wearing a tricorner hat...Don't you?

Dinner in A Guarda, Spain

I have lots more pictures to show you, but this will have to do for now. This was our last night, in the unique and beautiful town of A Guarda, also known as LaGuardia. This is in the northernmost part of Spain, on the Atlantic coast, which was settled early on by the Celts. They speak a language there, Gallego, which has Celtic influences. There are some very cool looking ruins of a old Celtic village on a mountain above the town, Santa Tecla. They look like Hobbit houses, perfectly round walls and thatched roofs. You can see the harbor behind us, and a bit of the town built up on the hills. It reminded me a bit of Iceland, the way the houses are brightly colored and appear to be stacked on one another above the harbor. This is where we stayed in the old San Benito convent. http://www.hotelsanbenito.es/ was a lovely hotel decorated with 16 and 17th century antiques. We made friends with the owner of a tapas bar, his name was Pedro, but we called him Senor Tranquillo. He brought us plates of olives, tortilla patata, bread, and made a delicious pitcher of sangria for Sonrisa and me. We noticed women and girls in traditional clothing walking by and finally asked where they were going. He explained that there would be a parade and a show. Sure enough, a little later, the bagpipes and drums and many dancers from all over, paraded down the walkway where we were sitting and collected in the plaza behind our convent. Sonrisa took some video, it was fun to watch all the groups do their particular dances. It was not a tourist thing, it was the local people celebrating their traditions, all ages and from all over northern Spain and Portugal. We felt lucky to have stumbled on it...

from \porto portugal

\\\\\i have been having a hard time figuring out how to type on a portuguese keyboard and blog. but somehow it just switched to english. we have noticed that farrah fawcett and michael jackson have died, but that is all that we know about what is happening at home. \i haven't been able to get any pictures from my camera. now my camera is full...oh no, a crisis! hopefully one that will be solved soon. so you'll have to wait until we get home to see the amazing pictures we have taken so far. we do like portugal. Twice we have asked for directions, only to have the man jump into his car and lead us through the narrow, twisty streets up and down the back alleys, and front alleys, to deposit us exactly where we wanted to be. \just like on amazing race. when they are being lucky. tomorrow we leave the house and head north, up to spain which really isn't very far. \marc and scott are anxious to be in a place where they can communicate. we have gone wine tasting, port tasting and my personal favorite...pastry tasting. we have made pests of ourselves at the local pingo doce supermarket trying to figure out what the various meats, etc are...scott and marc are having a cafe now while sonrisa and i do our computer thing. i think that it is time to go...\\\i probably won't write here again until we get home...Wednesday\\-

Itinerary

People are having trouble opening our itinerary so in brief here it is. It is also posted on our refrigerator, with phone numbers.

June 12, 13 Pt Hueneme

June 14-16 Boston, Omni Parker Hotel

June 17-18 Lisbon, Residencial Florescente Hotel

June 19 Somewhere in Evora

June 20-27 Casa Dos Penedos, on the Douro River, northern Portugal

June 27, 28 ?

June 29 Oporto, Hotel Pedras Rubras

June 20 Hacienda Hotel, LAX

July 1 HOME

We will have Scott's phone with us, for emergency calls only. Don't call. We will also have his iTouch and can pick up email.

Still trial anxieties...

Last night's dream...a former student of mine was arrested for a serial murder.  I leaned over the railing and told him that I knew he was innocent.  The lawyers dragged me away.  I was in trouble with the lawyers...I remember telling them, "I don't have to respect you and I don't.  I didn't do anything wrong!"

Hmmmm, wonder where that dream came from...

It felt so good in the dream to tell the lawyers exactly what I thought.

Mountain Park, Sunday night

Poor Lacey, trying to take pictures of 6 squirrelly kids while 4 crazy adults "help" .  There was a lot of screaming "Look at Lacey!  There's a froggy on her head...smile...put down that stick...leave the ladybug alone...sit down...smile a princess smile...seriously, don't smile like that...sit down...put that stick DOWN..."  Poor kids, we rewarded them with ice cream.  Taking 6 kids to Frostee Freeze...that's another story.  I got them all ice cream cones.  Apparently Alex and Emma have never had a cone before, only bowls.  Their mothers were cautious about the mess that would happen, but really, they did great, Emma chomped her cone down like it was a chicken leg.  Alex managed to get every bit of ice cream out of the cone, but then didn't know what to do with it.  Not realizing that this was a bowl he could eat...

Happy birthday susie, happy anniversary us!

Lauren at 3 chubby months

I stole this from Lacey's Facebook.  See what you are missing on FB?  Is there a more kissable baby anywhere?

Mindless entertainment

Loved AI last night, didn't care who won, loved 'em both.  And it was a great show...Queen, KISS, Keith Urban, Cyndi Lauper, Rod Stewart, Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas...what fun.

unfair, senseless, devastating tragedy

the funeral is tomorrow at 10:00.  we have someone covering our classes for us until noon, then we have to teach for the rest of the day.  it will be tough. pray for matt and kim.  only a miracle can bring them comfort.

happy Mother's Day

happy mother's day, Mom!

  If we can't compete on amazing race, (due to your reluctance to jump off bridges with a rope tied to your feet), maybe they'll hire you as a camera person...!!!

Weekend with Aiden

We rode the Thomas train, found a SCARY pirate at the Channel Islands Harbor and made a quick trip to the cold and windy beach.  It was a great weekend.

I am so much happier when the weather is warm.  All winter long, all I do is hibernate until the sun comes out again.  Even though it is supposed to be cold again this weekend, at least there will be sunlit hours of the day, and green leaves on the trees, and oh my goodness, today I saw lilacs(!)  blooming along the stretch of Valley Blvd that always blooms first.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Ian, hope you are using your throne well.

Life sentences

http://www.bakersfield.com/news_alerts/x443327505/Two-men-get-life-sentences-in-five-month-long-trial

I think that in this case justice was done.

Someone listened

We had a great day yesterday, babysitting Lauren and Alex.  Before we went over there, we stopped by the new bagel place in town.  Baks town, not 'Hacahpi town.  It felt a little odd to drive through Oildale...19 years in kern County and it was my first visit...I felt like I should've brought my passport...but this place was worth the drive.  They make the bagels the right way, boil, then bake and Hugh, a fellow participant in my recent months long ordeal, listened to me when I told him about my favorite bagel, the salt bagel.  They have them!  Because I asked for them!  Yum.

New Blog

Check out our new blog, Daily Outrage.  Anyone can be an author if you want to participate.  Just let me know.  So far only Rachel, Susie and Chris have joined.  It should be cathartic.

fun weekend

The ranch in Glennville where we had our juror gathering

Scott and Phyllis at a winery up in the mountains behind Saratoga

The ranch in Glennville where we had our juror gathering

Scott and Phyllis at a winery up in the mountains behind Saratoga

potty mouth

Jr. came in from recess today, very upset that Michael was saying bad words.  I have been teaching 7 year olds long enough that I know better than to take that statement at face value.  What exactly did he say?  Jr. leans close and whispers, "toilet crap," which isn't terrible, but is worth calling Michael back to have a little talk.  Michael denies saying bad words, insisting that he never, never said "toilet crap"  Well then, what DID you say?  And in the interest of full disclosure, he leans close and admits he never said a bad word, only 'holy crap.'  You see in a 7 year olds world, 'toilet crap' would be a very rude and unmentionable thing to say, but 'holy crap' is completely acceptable.

I got a letter in the mail today.  When I saw the sender, my heart started pounding and my hands started sweating...it was from Superior Court of California, County of Kern.  They've changed their mind and are hauling me off to jail for my indiscretion...nope, actually they are thanking me for my recent 'unprecedented' service as a juror.  I am sure they are referring to the length of service, not my early dismissal...And as a bonus prize, I don't have to serve on a jury for the next 3 years.  I have been excused through March 2012.  Isn't that nice?

The trial is over.  Guilty across the board!

http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/721968.html

One of those days

Today Aly put a bead to her ear, to pretend it was an earring, and it "just flicked" in.  I asked to see in her ear, she said I would need a flashlight.  I did.  The bead was lodged out of sight.  Her mom picked her up and took her to the doctor.  She is one of my most mature students, it just goes to show you never know what an 8 year old will do.  Then Cody changed the words  "Duck,Duck, Goose" to "Duck, Duck, Toilet Paper".  The kids thought it was hilarious.  He is not one of my more mature 8 year olds.  Josh did not take his pills this morning.  He was too busy and forgot.  I bet he was busy.  He never stopped moving all day.  I had to put him in the hall because he couldn't stop singing at the top of his voice.  I told him he could sing all he wanted in the hall, but then the other classes were bothered...I tried to quiet him down, but it didn't work.  He sang until lunch. Tristen couldn't concentrate during reading because he used hand sanitizer on his hands and he didn't like the way they smelled.  Like stinky cheese.  He washed them with soap.  No good.  I gave him pretty smelling lotion.  (And everyone else in the reading group) Only worked for awhile.  He fussed about the way his hands smelled all day.  When he lay on the floor, we just stepped over him.  3:17 finally came, and they all went home.  Tomorrow is another day...I hope

A raindrop poem by Hayden, age 8.

If a raindrop could talk it would say drop.
He would say drop.
I would say drop.
He would say drop, drop, drop, drop.
I would say, Stop saying drop.
It sayed drop.
The raindrop died.
I said at his funerale, here lies drop.
Everyone started to scream.
I shot a pistol
Finally they stopped.

You never know what a second grader is going to come up with when given a writing assignment.

Even 3 year olds have technology language now

Aiden told us on Friday that his name was now Kevin.org.  All night long he corrected us when we called him Aiden, until Scott finally called him Kevin.org and Aiden said, "That was before, now I am Aiden."

Supposedly Hives

I went to the doctor yesterday. She said that the rash that has been BUGGING me for the last week is hives.  Of the bumpy kind, not the bee kind.  After much discussion of how nothing has changed in my world of cleaning products, we decided to blame them on the trial.  But wait, you say, aren't you done with the trial?  Apparently, the doctor says, sometimes your body can handle the stress until  the stressful situation is over, and THEN out come the itchy bumps.  She was shocked at the large area of my body that is covered.  Across my back, down my spine, on the backs of both knees, in the crooks of both elbows, on both hips, and my scalp. She ordered $140.00 worth of lotion (thank you Kaiser co-pay of $5.00!) to counteract the nasty things.  And a stronger antihistimine than Benadryl, which I had been taking to no avail. She kindly offered a steroid shot, which I declined.  The sincere hope is that I will be bump free in 5 days.  

My take on the Men/Women thing

I have been meaning to do this for months...I got this email about why Men are happier...and just can't accept it...so...the original points about Men are the ones in blue.  My reply to each point is in regular old white.  Feel free to add your own point of view...

 

Men Are Just Happier People: 

 

-- What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put.

You get to drop the one you were born with ( Blat, Jelloschitz, Stanischaukiwitcz, Bush etc) and become Smith...

The garage is all yours. 

You never have to work in a cold, damp, room with an oily cement floor...

 Wedding plans take care of themselves. 

The wedding is exactly how you dreamed it would be...

Chocolate is just another snack. 

Everyone knows that to make you happy all they have to do is buy chocolate..

You can be President. 

You can sleep with the President...

You can never be pregnant. 

You can make everyone cry by showing a picture of the inside of your body...

You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. 

You can wear a swirly, flirty little sundress to a water park...

You can wear NO shirt to a water park. 

Well, okay, I have no reply for that one...Well, maybe it's that you get to look at the other gender walk around with no shirt...

Car mechanics tell you the truth. 

You can cry and get the mechanic to take $50 bucks off the bill...

The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. 

None for this one either...Men have it made in this department...

You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. 

You learn a cute litlle rhyme and amuse everyone by saying Righty Tighty Lefty Loosy

Same work, more pay. 

Days off for that time of the month...

Wrinkles add character. 

Same for women!!!

Her Wedding dress - $5000. Your Tux rental - $100. 

You get to dress like a princess for one perfect day...

People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. 

No one has ever stared at my chest...

New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. 

You get to spend all day shopping with a girlfriend for the perfect strappy sandal...

One mood all the time. 

This is a good thing...?

 

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend. 

 

Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck. 

 

You can play with toys all your life. Your belly usually hides your big hips. One wallet and one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can "do" your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes. 

 

No wonder men are happier. 

Just oblivious...ok, I could only do so much...help me out...

Just a fun little game: make an album cover...

Ok here is what I ended up with when I followed the rules to this little game.  I know, I know I must have something better to do.  But apparently I don't.  And the results were kind of fun.  My only problem was I couldn't remember/figure out how to put text on my album cover.  So I have to put them here:

Band name:  MegaManX5

Album name:  Following Rules of Good Grooming

ALBUM COVERS

1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit "random"
or click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to "Random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to flickr and click on "explore the last seven days"
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Lauren Catherine Joy Newkirk

I had to steal this off of Lacey's blog so I could have a picture on my OWN blog.  She is so cuddly...and has such pretty eyes and long feet.