Naptime/playtime

Naptime.


Playtime.


Heh.  Naptime/playtime reminds me of the first bit in this video (nighttime/daytime).

Mismatch day

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It was mismatch day at school.  I love wacky days at the school and I think this one might be my new favorite after crazy hair day.

Signs of spring

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The daffodils are up. One of the first signs of spring.

Yes?

I'm going with yes. Because I'm ready for spring.

What does it look like to you?

I see an owl face.

Adam sees a butt.

It's a Rorschach test in a tree stump.  What do you see?

A sunset

49/365 - A lovely sunset.  It was MUCH prettier in person.

Dress-up

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Leia is such a good dog. She is so cooperative, especially when I have a dog treat in my hand.

IT'S ALIVE!!

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I made Sourdough bread starter.

It's all bubbly and growing (like it is supposed to be).

Hopefully I can keep it alive and doing its thing, and the bread I make from it is good. The recipe says I have to wait at least 3 days, but best to wait 2-3 weeks. I'm planning on just waiting until next weekend.

If I can hold out that long...

Winner winner turkey dinner

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Robert carving the turkey.

No, it's not an old shot from Thanksgiving, I made a turkey dinner today.  I always get an extra turkey or two around the holidays and put them in the freezer to bring out in a couple months.  We didn't have a full-out Thanksgiving meal; just turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and gramma green beans.

Not only did I cook a turkey dinner, but I made breakfast (bacon, eggs, and toast), went grocery shopping, swept and vacuumed all floors, cleaned the cat box, made the kids clean the bathrooms (probably my most despised chore and they have to learn sometime), did 5 loads of laundry (and put my clothes away, something I avoid doing), and did dishes twice. So I feel productive and not all anxious about chores that needed to be done...and a bit pooped.

Good thing I don't have to make dinner for the next few days. Leftovers for the win!

End of the week crazies

The last half of the week always feels extra crazy and busy and mind numbing.  From Wednesday until Friday night I feel like I'm rushing around getting nowhere and nothing done. Not fun.

This week seemed extra hair-pully-outty, for some reason.

The weekend is very much needed, and appreciated.

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Wednesday, I did find a few moments to relax and go out to the garden on my lunch break. Spring is so close and I'm anxious to get the garden growing again.

These are the garlic I planted in the fall.  I have three small rows of about 10 bulbs.

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Valentine's day and I got these lovely roses from my Valentine, Robert.  I worked at the hospital Thursday instead of at home and the flowers were very nice to come home to.

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I spent a few minutes of my lunch break sunbathing with Timmy kitty. While the sun is still being scarce I try to soak it up as much as possible and Friday was one of those days where I really wish I could wheel my computer outside and work in the sunshine.

Blargh

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The start of my newly designated sewing area.

I'd like a sewing table/desk and a cutting table and lots of storage; either baskets on shelves or drawers. I have so many ideas I'd like to incorporate, but not enough room for them all.

I know, I know. Such a blah photo and "story". Cut me some slack, I had a surprise root canal today (Tuesday).

I went to the dentist to get one of my two known cavities taken care of figuring it was time to stop putting things off and found out I procrastinated a bit too long and I needed a root canal.

It's my first root canal, and isn't wasn't bad as I thought it would be.

Good news is one cavity taken care of, one more to go.

Knitting project

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Nearing the end of the ball.

I've taught myself to knit making this shawl. I can only do one stitch, knit...or is it purl. I'm not sure.  Either way, I'm not doing to bad if I do say so myself.

Last night I finished the ball, and the shawl is not long enough. I need to go buy more yarn.

Oh darn, an "excuse" for more yarn.

Sad bumper car

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Bumper car is sad because he isn't being used anymore.

Carus came with me today when I went to Oaks Park with the 8th graders I'm mentoring with my camera club for a photography outing...thing.  It was cold, but thankfully dry.  This bumper car was in a shed with a few benches and chairs waiting for amusement park season. It didn't look like the bumper cars would be brought out and used, maybe they were just removed and will be replaced by newer ones or something else this year. I'm not sure, I've never been before.  But maybe I'll take the kids this "season" and have some fun.

Little Red Riding Hood returns

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Remember the other day when I told you I had plans for that little forest-y park trail.

With a bit of bribery, Carus agreed to model for me.  Adam even put the cloak on for a bit.  Carus ran up and down the path getting the cloak to billow out behind her, as if she was Little Red Riding Hood running from the Big Bad Wolf.

After I felt I had the image(s) I wanted, we hiked around a bit just enjoying the trail.  For all the trouble it was to convince them to come with me, I think it might have been harder to convince them it was time to leave (we had the library to go to and it was getting close to lunch).

On our way out, down yet another trail, we found a large log laying there and of course the kids had to walk along it a bit.

And then I was able to get this pose.  It seems a bit dark. Maybe Red is tired of running and is waiting to take on the wolf... hahaha



This second image was what I was thinking of when we went out, and the third might be my favorite.

After lunch I decided to trim my three Rose of Sharon bushes. Shortly after starting I found that it was dropping seeds like crazy and because I don't want 5 billion more little plants right there I started trying to collect the seeds.  I got A LOT of seeds from that one bush and decided the other two can wait (one of the other two has seed pods and one does not). I think I ended up with about a pound of seeds.

And because I have that many seeds, and another bush to "harvest" I'm offering to send seeds to anyone that wants them.  Just email me (smiles4u2have @ hotmail .com), give me your address and tell me you'd like some seeds.  I'll send out a teaspoon or so of seeds (I'm not actually measuring them out) until I'm all out.

If you visit the page here you can get an idea of what kind of care this plant needs.  The flower pictured on that page is also how my plant looks.

My bushes are on the east side of my house, get morning sun and afternoon shade.  I never water them and while we get rain in the fall, winter, and spring, most of the summer is very dry.  You can let them grow as bushes, or if you trim them correctly (use this Google search to find out how), you can train them to grow like a tree.


And my Saturday wasn't over after all that.

I went to dinner and a movie with my mother-in-law at Cinetopia.  We went to see Les Miserables, but there was an error and they over sold the tickets so we couldn't.  As an apology, they refunded our tickets, gave us passes for a future movie, and got us into another movie.  We chose to see Identity Thief, which was a very good decision. It was HILARIOUS.  At several points I was crying I was laughing so hard.  The story made me tear up too, but the tears were mostly from laughing.  I would see it again tomorrow, it was so good.



After the movie, I went grocery shopping. It's not exciting but it extended my day by another 30 minutes (yay for late night shopping, I got to save an hour) so I'm talking about it.

Friday sunset

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We had a lovely sunset Friday evening.  It was lovely less because of the colors, which weren't many, but because of the fact there was a sun. It is still raining a lot, and completely cloudy a lot more, so the little teases of sun are nice.

It was also a very welcome sunset because it was a precursor to the sunny weekend we were going to have.... that didn't happen (yet).  I'm writing this up Saturday evening, the Saturday that was supposed to be all sunny but wasn't.  It was foggy, cloudy, and drizzly. I hope Sunday is sunny as was promised.

Walk in the Woods

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I took the dogs to a local park for a little walk in the trail before work this morning.  I thought this was a very small trail that quickly dumped back out on a sidewalk that goes around the park, and was happily surprised to find it's a lot longer and it has a pretty good incline too.  The dogs enjoyed getting to smell all the smells.

Robert thinks this photo looks a bit Twilight-y and well, yeah, not surprised. It was filmed in the Pacific Northwest after all.

I can't wait to go back, I have a few ideas for this little wooded trail.

insert title here

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Well spent break?

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I spent some of my afternoon break playing with Timmy (and my camera).


So, did I spend my break time wisely?

Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce cookies

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I made some Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce cookies  because I had some applesauce that I needed to use up.

These cookies are very chewy and very good.

I added an additional 1/2 cup each of oatmeal and flour because the cookie dough looked a little moist, which could be humidity here or the brand of applesauce I used or because it was Monday.  I also didn't add raisins because I'm the only one that likes them.

Superbowl XLVII

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Watching the Superbowl.  Go 49ers!



The 49ers have been Robert's favorite team since he was a kid so he sat down and watched the Superbowl with me for a change.  I watch usually slightly for the game, but mostly for the commercials.  Though the past few years it's been hard to say which has stunk worse, the teams playing (I'm not a fan of The Saints) or the commercials.  It seemed when I was a young'un all of the commercials were epic. And the games were just as good.  The calls were made as they were supposed to be, the players didn't "cheat", nor were poor sports about any of it. The first half of tonight's game had a few poor sportsmen moments by the Ravens, but they came out of it. And it was great to watch the 49ers come back in the second half to come thisclose to winning. 

My favorite commercials this year were Dodge Ram "God Made a Farmer" and Budweiser's Clydesdale "The Brotherhood" for all the feels (i.e. feelings), and Toyota's Rav4 Kaley Cuoco "Wish Granted" for the giggles.

So maybe next year.... we'll get to go to a NFL game (on our to do list) and Robert's 49ers will go to and win the Superbowl.

Groundhog day

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The sun was making an appearance late Friday so I sat on the porch with Simba for a bit.


Carus was doing better.  I did not feel good though. Robert stayed home to help take care of her so I worked.  Since she didn't have a fever all day and she was bouncing around I let her talk me into going to dance class, but by the end of it she was crashing, and so was I.

















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I slept in super late this morning and woke up to find that it was absolutely gorgeous outside.  It was like 60 degrees and SUNNY!  I don't know if we're going to be getting spring early or if there are six more weeks of winter, but I will take the sun while I can get it. Since it was nice, we headed out to do a bit of yard work.  I trimmed a few bushes and cleaned up a couple flower beds.

Robert decided it was time to cut down the little rowan tree before it bloomed. We both liked the tree, it was a very nice tree.  Unfortunately the berries make a mess and the tree is killing the grass and making it quite soggy.

We don't have a chain saw so it was cut down the old fashioned way.  Even Adam got to do some cutting.

They cut it high so Robert can pull the stump up easily. They cut it most of the way through and then gave it a little pull and kept pulling to help control where it fell.



And then I created a little animated gif of the tree coming down.

(If you're reading this post in an email you might have to go to the post on the site to be able to see the animated image below. I'm not sure if it will show up in the email. There should be a link at the end of this email that will take you to it.)