Katherine Rose Camarata

10/08/08 8lbs 2oz 19" long

3d / 4d Ultrasound

Yesterday we went in for a 3d/4d ultrasound. The baby was tucked pretty tightly against the placenta making it difficult to get good images, but here is the best one.

Our new horse Chevy

Our new horse Chevy was dropped off today! He is a really gentle, kid-friendly, ridable horse. Although, I have to admit, I looked kind of like I was riding a bike that was too small for me. Emma and Madeline loved riding him all over the field.

Fuel Efficiency Tests

Okay....so I commute approx. 35 miles each way to work and I drive a mid 90's Honda Civic. The road I travel on includes 3 mtn ridges and so my fuel consumption is rather poor (small engine...automatic...poor hill climbing). I was only getting an average of 26 mpg. So, I decided to run some tests to see if I could improve my fuel efficiency by changing the way I drive.

First test....one week of dropping from 74 mph to 65 mph.
Okay...so I felt like a snail as everyone passed me on the highway. However, the sweet spot for most vehicles is somewhere around 55 mph and so I knew that I should see an improvement by simply dropping my speed. After a week I found that my fuel use was now at 31.5 mpg! That's a 21% increase. My refill was at $4.05 / gallon. So, let's see. If it originally took 1.21 gallons to travel the same distance that it now takes 1 gallon to travel then that means I saved approx. $.85 over that distance. With my tank refill over the tested time being 8.5 gallons, I saved $7.22.

Second test....one week of 65 mph as well as slow acceleration and deceleration and minimizing the use of brakes (brakes cancel out the gas it took to get up to the speed you are slowing down from). Some people get really crazy about these things, but I took a more moderate approach. I just try to be aware of them and take advantage of the ideas as the possibilities arise. The result, 33.5 mpg. The refill was at $4.13 / gallon. So, the jump from 26 mpg to 33.5 mpg is a 29% increase. That is a $1.19 per gallon savings. My refill was a little over 6 gallons so that was approximately $7.14 worth of savings.

Trees

I was just looking at The Arbor Day Foundation website. Lots of good info on there including wizards that help you select appropriate trees. They will also send you 10 free trees with your $10 membership. Seems worth it to me!

Hardy Plants

This link may come in handy:

Selected Hardy Plants for Water-conserving Landscapes

LEED Flashcards

For those studying for the LEED AP Exam, there are a number of flashcard sets available for free on Flash Card Machine.

Set up a free account, go to the FlashCardDB and do a search for LEED.

"I got a fever..."

I needed a good laugh this morning and Will Ferrell provided it in the More Cowbell SNL skit.

Click to Give

This website is pretty interesting.

"The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need: the eradication of world hunger."

Even Princesses have the occasional messy moment. This one came with their mouths full of chocolate and strawberry funnel cakes that were covered in whip cream.

Princess Emma and Christy riding in a gondola on the sun wheel. Such beauties!

The two new Disney princesses with their servants near the entrance to the castle.

Nothing like a rocket ride to start your day off right. Hey! Emma! Watch where you are going!

A hair wrap is being added to Emma's beautiful mane.

Here we are on top of the Sun Wheel....a variation on the traditional ferris wheel. This one has some gondola's that slide on rails as it rotates.

Princess Aurora with one of the newest Disney Princesses. Princess Emma.

Princess Madeline also met with Princess Aurora.

Princess Madeline riding the shoulders of one of her faithful servants. Here she is enjoying a performance of High School Musical.

Emma showing off her strength as she holds up this bridge while Madeline lounges around on top.

Emma has clearly been working out. When this big rock threatened to crush us on Tom Sawyer's Island, she leapt into action. Be Careful Emma! That Rock is Heavy!

Pirate Jerry with his wench Barbara sitting on top of their piles of treasure.

Emma was locked in a cave by Pirates. She had apparently been trying to steal their treasure.

Emma and I were put into a cage of Bones! Lucky for us we were able to escape before the canibals came back!

Here we are after having survived the dangerous rapids on the Grizzly River Run.....twice.....and we were SOAKED!

We ran into Shrek at Universal Studios. Fiona wasn't around and he seemed to take a liking to Christy. Such a flirt she is.

Madeline met the sharp end of this pirate's hook!

Here's Madeline in the tree house on Tom Saywer's Island. I have fond memories of the island from when I was a kid and it was still just as fun.

Disneyland

We are having a lot of fun here in disneyland. I'll post some photos when I get a chance. Emma, Christy, Jerry and I went on splash mountain yesterday. I got totally soaked. It was a blast. Today Christy, Emma, Madeline, Barbara and I went on Grizzly River Run in California Adventures (twice actually) and got totally soaked. We also all went on Soarin' over California. I cannot say how much we enjoyed that ride. It was phenomenal. Emma didn't want to go on California Screamin' so I went alone. For those that don't know...it is a big roller coaster. It was a lot of fun. I told Christy how much fun it was and so she went. She didn't feel good afterwards. We all had lunch with the disney princesses at Ariel's Grotto today. The princesses all came around to talk to the girls and get their photos taken with them. The girls loved it.

I'll post more when I get a chance....or when I recover.