My nose took these photos - no lie!

A friend of ours made these wristlets for me last winter and I love them! As a child my mom had a knitter friend and I always admired her creations. For years, I have admired the sock patterns that abound in this frozen tundra I live in, and have wanted to learn to knit them. Amanda, the maker of these colorful hand warmers, and that desire to make socks, inspired me to try my hand at knitting.



This is where I'm at so far.  I made this simple pair.  I'll just keep clicking my needles and working my way down to the smaller yarns until I get there.

Btw, how do you take a photo of both your hands with your iPhone?  I sat the phone on a box, placed a stapler on the edge to keep it from falling off, then stood on a chair and poked the screen with my nose to make the camer click, lol.

Enter for a chance to win a fitbit One

I just purchased a fitbit One Monday and I LOVE IT! Of course, today I run across a contest for a free one, so I'll pass the link on, maybe one of you can win it. :0) If you already use fitbit, lets be friends and encourage each other! :) PS, I'm also on myfitnesspal and mapmyfitness if you use one of those.

 

The link, where maybe you can win a neat little motivational device!

http://www.appsumo.com/~sIZbb/

What a beautiful, glorious day!

From the garden today

the basement

To be real honest basements kinda creep me out.  Basements that are finished and look like the rest of the house are fine, but unfinished, damp, spiderwebby ones - creepy!  Let's start with that the door to this one is in what is supposed to be the master bedroom, although we're using it as an office.  There's no lock on it - whammy number 2.  There are no risers on the stairs,  so it's open and if someone were below they could grab your ankle as you descended.



Just dusty and damp, really nothing wrong.  This is my first night alone in the new place and I thought I should go down and make nice with the basement before it gets dark.



Behind the door is just the pressure tank for the well and some paint, nothing there.



Past the door and the water heater and furnace is just some shelves, and another door, no biggie, right?



Behind that old door are stairs leading up to the metal doors leading to outside.  This one locks to keep people out, good thing.

Nothing scary down there after all.  Tell me that at midnight, lol.  Wish the electrical box wasn't down there, afraid if I lose power it will just stay off until morning - I have flashlights. :)

 

Dirty hands

Just planted 42 lil Impatiens and 5 hostas and various other pretties. :)

Just stuff

Fibi had been watching the fishes swim until I made a noise grabbing the camera.



Brodi is sticking his tongue out at you!



We came upon this field last fall and it seemed kinda silly. All was harvested and finished for the winter, except the few stalks left lonely.

6 weeks old tomorrow

Sookie loves people! Can you tell? If I look at her, she looks at me, and she wiggles all over. Sookie in the shade. . .

Sookie in the sun. She loves to play with leaves. I've bought her a couple of toys but she still prefers leaves, lol.  All of these are straight out of the camera, no editing at all, and taken with the point and shoot - she loves playing with the wrist strap.

I caught her sleeping with mama.  See the box in the background, well that ended up being the whelping box and where she spent the first 5 weeks of her life - she was a surprise puppy after all.  But a week ago, she learned to climb out and there's no stopping her.  I finally cut a little opening (you can see it behind Fibi) to make it easier for her to get in and out.  She still puts herself to bed in the box.  But last night Fibi was sleeping on the cushion outside the box and she climbed up with her mama.  So sweet!

Tonight she's been sleeping on her daddy's pillows.  She is a sweetheart.

Brodi and the butterfly

I'm thinking that butterflies must like stinky butts, lol. While I watched this one waiting for it to land and finally it landed - on Brodi's tail. He was clueless, never knew.

7 years bad luck

It's been one of those days. Feeling like I'm running in circles and making no progress what-so-ever. . .maybe it has something to do with breaking that mirror first thing this morning? May tomorrow be better.

~ You can see the explanation behind this project by going here or see the all posts in this category by going here. ~

This morning, husband started to back out the driveway for our morning trip to Starbucks when I reminded him the Rav4 was back there, as he maneuvered around it, the driver's side mirror found a tree - oops! Our house has been pretty chaotic since we brought the Fiat home. . .did I tell you guys we bought a 1979 Fiat Spider? Well, we did and we've spent the last week stripping all the paint off, now we're on to the pounding out dings and bond-o-ing low spots. . .pictures will come soon.

I need your help, which photo do you prefer? It was harder to do what I envisioned, than I thought it would be. I picked up pieces of mirror out of the yard and threw them away, then as the day went on, I was trying to find my shot - I saw a wren, but she flew too quick - I saw a deer and snapped one photo, too many leaves in the way before it snorted and fled - I snagged a great Monarch, but I've shared 2 butterflies in the last few days - bunny, hopped away - you get the idea. Other than that the day was filled with Fiat, sandpaper, bondo, hotness.

I dug the mirror out of the trash, washed them up (who else but a blogger would clean broken mirror headed for the trash?!), attached some pieces to some card stock and set about trying to get a great reflection. As you can see above, I could either get the mirror pieces in focus OR the reflection in focus, but not both.

Do you prefer PHOTO 1: mirror pieces in focus or PHOTO 2: reflection in focus?

Awakening

I love watching the leaves emerge in the spring. But I was really amazed that my big rose bushes did not survive the winter, yet this little one, the kind you usually keep in the house, woke back up. Very odd.

Love is. . .

I love that Tristan loves his baby sister so much! I love that she puts up with it.  She's over a year old and he still loves to kiss her all the time.

I love that Twister loves flowers!

I love that Addy gets more independent every day!

I love that when you ask Twister to hug his sister this is what happens.  I also love that you can see a hint of a smile on her face even though her brother is trying to pull her head off, lol.

I love that kisses fix so many things!

Which road do you choose?

Have you ever noticed how the road leading the wrong way is paved and beautiful but often the right road is full of potholes and difficult to travel?

Say one day, you and your best friend are traveling the road, the right road you believe and after going down it for some time you come to an intersection.  At the intersection you don't even stop to discuss which way to go, your bff just veers off and you're pretty content as you trust his judgment in these things.  He tells you that he has spoken to the higher power and this is the path you should continue on, while you are now having to push the vehicle while he rides comfortably inside.

You continue this way for some time when suddenly he tells you that he's not so sure the higher power is even aware of what's going on.  You are surprised by this as the road has looked decent enough, although you are still pushing, there have been no hills and it's a pretty easy job.

After his confession, you begin to question, and finally you suggest that he consult the higher power but if he's not willing to do so, you say you will stop pushing long enough to consult them yourself.  You fear being cut off from the higher power, so insist communication be done right away.  Luckily, about this time there is another intersection, a detour, back to the right road, you know the one full of potholes, but the one that is where you are supposed to be.

You bumpily leave the smoothness of the wrong road and begin down the right road once more, but this time he will not let you in his car.  This time you must walk the right road alone, while he idles at the intersection.  Your bff has decided to cut you out of his life for questioning his ways, and he is doing his best to make your path even bumpier.

Have you been lead down the wrong road before?  How did things turn out once you got back on the right one?

Just wondering

I'm working on getting more of my vacation photos ready, as well as a little story that happened over the weekend and trying to pop over to all of you today.  But I woke up thinking about the word materialize and I'm wondering why we have a word for something that cannot be done.  Did it come from Star Trek?  Or maybe magicians?  Have you ever seen anything materialize?

Spring is coming

I live in a small town, in the long-winter-cold, where the ice cream shops close for the winter and return in the spring. This was the scene at our local ice cream shop the night before they opened.

And I went by the next morning too. Belt's will have lines like this all summer long, and I've never tried them, lol.

Do you have signs of spring around you?

About 4,000 miles of road

Whew, what a trip! I do not know where this bridge was, lol. The beginning of our trip took us south through Chicago, into Indiana, East through Indianapolis, into West Virginia and Virginia and North Carolina - where Dennis had to visit a plant - down through South Carolina (barely sliding through before that huge snowstorm!) and into Georgia (Savannah), then finally Florida, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, through Orlando, to the Everglades, down to Key West, back up along the Gulf Coast to Homosassa Springs, then back home through Atlanta Georgia, Chattanooga Tennessee, through Kentucky and back up through the longest part of Illinois. Boy, I got tired just typing that.

It was a very long trip, with many miles of various terrains flying past the window, but we managed to get out a few times and check things out.  I'm feeling a wee bit overwhelmed with nearly 3000 photos to go through!  I have gotten the car unloaded, things put away, laundry completed, oh!  And the nice surprise when we got home to temperatures in the 20s was that the furnace in our place had crapped out while we were gone and the temp in the house was 43 degrees!  Brrrr!  We spent the evening trying to figure it out, finally gave up and called the repair man and yesterday morning the heat was back on and I now feel like I can tackle the photos.

However, I might suggest that you do not choose to switch from a PC to a Mac right before a huge trip - the Mac stayed home for the trip, safe at home, and here I sit trying to get my mind out of PC mode and into the simplicity of Mac mode and finding a groove for keeping my photos organized where I can actually find them and know which ones I've shared - - - and yeah, I'm just a wee bit overwhelmed.  But I'm happy to report that I'm pretty excited about some of the photos!  I can't wait to wade through them and relive the moments of their taking and share like crazy!

So yeah, I'm not sure which state this bridge was in, but I think it was in the first day or two of the trip, snapped through the windshield while going 70 mph with the crappy little point and shoot, and I can't decide which way I like best.  I hope it transfers to you the feeling of adventure I felt. :0)

Birds and stuff

Things have been a little crazy around here lately - that happens sometimes, it's in the name, "chaos", duh! - and I feel like I've been somewhat neglectful of my blog and my bloggy friends and I'm very sorry for that but I also think it's going to continue for a couple more weeks.

The tufted titmouse from yesterday and these birds here were taken a couple of weeks ago at my parents' house in Missouri - it was an impromptu trip, long story, but anyway, this female cardinal seemed a little different shade than the others, more yellow(?), I liked her colors!

They are such regal looking birds! But back to the chaos, we had our quick trip to Missouri, Oklahoma and back, Camp Angel all last weekend (such a great program!), trying to help a dear friend with wedding planning (they are marrying April 10th and I'm matron of honor - still trying to figure out how to hold my bouquet and the camera, maybe I'll just strap them together), trying to keep up with my photo-a-day diary (hard copy, not electronic, but I'll post all about that at some point, promise), diet/exercise/frustration/lack of motivation (ps I have posted over at our weight blog), and I'm sure there's more, but, drum roll please. . .

We'll be leaving towards the end of next week for Florida! Yay, warmth! But, I'm also going crazy with all the pre-trip what-not's. While I'm gone Macro Monday will be on semi-autopilot, but that's about all that will be here, I will post my photo a day via facebook (link to me at the bottom of the page) like I did for our Maine vacation.

So, please know, I'm not turning my back on you, I love you all! Things will calm back down, just a little time - ps, did I mention that I'll be swimming with manatees on my birthday (Feb 8th)?! Fun!

Hopefully, I'll make it back from the trip relaxed and refreshed and ready to take on the world. :0)

Saying goodbye to 2009

I'm rather happy to leave this year behind. No, it hasn't been a bad one, I'm just ready for the new one. I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions but I don't mind looking back and seeing what was accomplished. I fell in love with facebook this year. I love instant access to so many friends! I love catching up with people I hadn't talked to since high school. And I love that any time I have a question, from where should I eat in a town I'm visiting to why my dumplings did not dump - I have an answer within minutes.

I spent the first half of the year dieting and the rest of the year keeping it off. I lost 60 lbs and have been successful at maintaining. Now it's time to finish off those last 25 lbs. I feel better with those stupid 60 lbs gone, I can happily wear a size 6 jeans and am still always shocked at how comfy a medium shirt is.

I got to meet up with more bloggers.  I saw Kaytabug in Missouri (again), Leanne in Iowa, and Jientje in Illinois.  I need to meet more Wisconsin bloggers, lol.  But we're hoping to make it to Florida in February and with any luck I'll meet more bloggers that trip.

I started the Macro Monday meme - thanks to you all for playing along!  I love seeing what you all share each week!

I got my first (and only) tattoo, celebrating being a cancer survivor, one butterfly for each year of survival ~ I look forward to adding more butterflies.

I went to Maine, and saw Stephen King's house!  I've been reading him since junior high school - my English teacher always took his books away, lol.

I met my in-laws for the first time.   It was hard for us to communicate since I can't speak Spanish and they don't speak much English, but we had a good time. They're back in Honduras now so I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to see them again.

I rode the entire 30+ mile green circle trail, more than once!  And learned the benefits of wearing ugly padded biking shorts.

Our photography business grew and continues to grow!  So, I photographed many beautiful brides and ate a ton of wedding cake ~ it's amazing I lost any weight!

And I got to play with so many babies!  And teens and couples. . .  I took more photos for business than pleasure this year but I guess that's ok.  I am hoping to find more time this coming year for my nature photo safaris.   I do have fun shooting peoples

Yeah, I think it's safe to say it was a great year! Although, an exhausting one.