Thursday, September 18, 2008
So much to do
Oh so much to do and so little time. There are green beans to can, pears to can, minutes to type, volunteer obligations to fulfill. What is one to do? Help someone, throw me the rope! Come on, it is right over there!!! Don't you see it? No really, I am sinking! Help, help!!!!!!! Someone get me outta here.....glug, glug, glug!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
12 of 12 Challenge
I am trying to give blogging a bigger importance. In that effort I decided to include this month's 12 of 12 challenge on my blog as well as making my layout.
What is the 12 of 12 challenge? This is a challenge I learned about on my scrapbooking board Scrapshare. The idea is to document your daily routines at least one day out of each month. The goal is to take 12 pictures of your daily routine on the 12th of each month. I have committed to doing this every month for 2008. I am going to use them in my yearly family album to document each month. I have never done something like this so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I am also scrapping them all digitally, which is also something new this year.
This month's edition started out with me forgetting all about what day it was as I headed out the door to volunteer in DD's classroom. Consequently, I did not have my camera to capture volunteer time. I will get it in to a layout for the next month when the 12th lands on a Wednesday or a Friday. I think November will. I did not realize what day it was until I got home after volunteering, picking up DS from preschool and getting groceries, at which time I sat down to read some Scrapshare happenings and saw the reminder thread. I muttered a bit to myself and grabbed the camera. The first thing I saw to take a photo of was my lunch. I had a KFC roasted twister and chili cheese fries. Bad for my diet and Scrapshare Biggest Loser Challenge but ooohhhh so tasty.
After finishing my bad for me lunch, I grabbed the camera again and went in search of photos to take. Since I had been to the grocery store, I took a picture of some of the bags of food.
The next thing to catch my attention was the vacuum. First I turned it on to make it do its job (with my help, of course) and then I snapped a picture.
While I was lying on the floor trying to get an interesting angle on the vacuum, DS laid down in front of me and said "Take my picture Mama". Well, who can resist a request like that. Since he stayed so nicely still, I set the camera on macro and snapped this picture of just his beautiful eyes. I really like how it turned out.
After that I snapped a picture of dinner thawing in the sink. I got a good deal on shrimp and huge sea scallops at the store today. Since we love seafood, those will make a lovely meal along with some fresh picked corn from the garden and artichokes. (Hmmm, I sure think about food a lot don't I?)
While the artichokes cooked I dealt with this lovely pile on my kitchen island.
After trimming that pile down a bit and putting the artichokes in to cool, I headed down to my garden to see what was ready for harvesting. I love going down there at this time of year because there is nearly always something ready to pick. Here is the aforementioned corn. This variety is not quite ready. It will be probably another week or so before I can pick this ear.
The beans are looking great too. All these blooms will soon be beans destined for a canning jar.
This is a picture of my DD's sunflowers. They got planted really late this year and have not started blooming yet but we are still hopeful that the weather will hold so she can see some pretty yellow flower heads. She plants these each year in honor of her friend Sabrina who we lost to cancer over a year ago. Sunflowers were a favorite of Sabrina's so we have been planting her some every summer since we found out about her diagnosis.
Here DS acts like Farmer John with my shovel.
This is what my basket looked like after I set it on the counter.
And before I could change my mind I headed out to pick the pears too. My trees are small so the harvest is small too but I love fresh pears. This is one variety on the tree.
So there it is, 12 pictures of the 12th of September. A busy, fun day in early fall.
What is the 12 of 12 challenge? This is a challenge I learned about on my scrapbooking board Scrapshare. The idea is to document your daily routines at least one day out of each month. The goal is to take 12 pictures of your daily routine on the 12th of each month. I have committed to doing this every month for 2008. I am going to use them in my yearly family album to document each month. I have never done something like this so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I am also scrapping them all digitally, which is also something new this year.
This month's edition started out with me forgetting all about what day it was as I headed out the door to volunteer in DD's classroom. Consequently, I did not have my camera to capture volunteer time. I will get it in to a layout for the next month when the 12th lands on a Wednesday or a Friday. I think November will. I did not realize what day it was until I got home after volunteering, picking up DS from preschool and getting groceries, at which time I sat down to read some Scrapshare happenings and saw the reminder thread. I muttered a bit to myself and grabbed the camera. The first thing I saw to take a photo of was my lunch. I had a KFC roasted twister and chili cheese fries. Bad for my diet and Scrapshare Biggest Loser Challenge but ooohhhh so tasty.
After finishing my bad for me lunch, I grabbed the camera again and went in search of photos to take. Since I had been to the grocery store, I took a picture of some of the bags of food.
The next thing to catch my attention was the vacuum. First I turned it on to make it do its job (with my help, of course) and then I snapped a picture.
While I was lying on the floor trying to get an interesting angle on the vacuum, DS laid down in front of me and said "Take my picture Mama". Well, who can resist a request like that. Since he stayed so nicely still, I set the camera on macro and snapped this picture of just his beautiful eyes. I really like how it turned out.
After that I snapped a picture of dinner thawing in the sink. I got a good deal on shrimp and huge sea scallops at the store today. Since we love seafood, those will make a lovely meal along with some fresh picked corn from the garden and artichokes. (Hmmm, I sure think about food a lot don't I?)
While the artichokes cooked I dealt with this lovely pile on my kitchen island.
After trimming that pile down a bit and putting the artichokes in to cool, I headed down to my garden to see what was ready for harvesting. I love going down there at this time of year because there is nearly always something ready to pick. Here is the aforementioned corn. This variety is not quite ready. It will be probably another week or so before I can pick this ear.
The beans are looking great too. All these blooms will soon be beans destined for a canning jar.
This is a picture of my DD's sunflowers. They got planted really late this year and have not started blooming yet but we are still hopeful that the weather will hold so she can see some pretty yellow flower heads. She plants these each year in honor of her friend Sabrina who we lost to cancer over a year ago. Sunflowers were a favorite of Sabrina's so we have been planting her some every summer since we found out about her diagnosis.
Here DS acts like Farmer John with my shovel.
This is what my basket looked like after I set it on the counter.
And before I could change my mind I headed out to pick the pears too. My trees are small so the harvest is small too but I love fresh pears. This is one variety on the tree.
So there it is, 12 pictures of the 12th of September. A busy, fun day in early fall.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Event that defined us
Each generation has an event in history that defines them. Of course there are so many events that make up our past that have a dramatic impact on our lives but only a few truly changed the course of history. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was one. Today we remember another. It has been 7 years since angry young men flew our own planes into our buildings. The images the words 9/11 invoke still bring tears to my eyes.
This poem that was posted on Scrapshare says everything.
On Monday We E-mailed Jokes
Author Unknown
On Monday we emailed jokes.
On Tuesday we did not.
On Monday we thought that we were secure.
On Tuesday we learned better.
On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes.
On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are.
On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met.
On Monday there were people fighting against praying in schools.
On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying.
On Monday people argued with their kids about picking up their room.
On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids.
On Monday people were upset that they had to wait 6 minutes in a fast food drive through line.
On Tuesday people didn't care about waiting up to 6 hours to give blood for the dying.
On Monday we waved our flags signifying our cultural diversity.
On Tuesday we waved only the American flag.
On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color and creed.
On Tuesday they were all holding hands.
On Monday we were men or women, black or white, old or young, rich or poor, gay or straight, Christian or non-Christian.
On Tuesday we were Americans.
On Monday politicians argued about budget surpluses.
On Tuesday grief stricken they sang 'God Bless America'.
On Monday the President was going to Florida to read to children.
On Tuesday he returned to Washington to protect our children.
On Monday we had families.
On Tuesday we had orphans.
On Monday people went to work as usual,
On Tuesday they died.
On Monday people were fighting the 10 commandments on government property.
On Tuesday the same people all said 'God help us all' while thinking 'Thou shall not kill'.
It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place things into perspective, but it has. The lessons learned this week, the things we have taken for granted, the things that have been forgotten or overlooked, hopefully will never be forgotten again.
Author Unknown
It was a day that changed us, changed our country, changed history. We will always remember!
Thank you to all the men and women who put their lives on the line for us every day here at home and on foreign shores.
This poem that was posted on Scrapshare says everything.
On Monday We E-mailed Jokes
Author Unknown
On Monday we emailed jokes.
On Tuesday we did not.
On Monday we thought that we were secure.
On Tuesday we learned better.
On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes.
On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are.
On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met.
On Monday there were people fighting against praying in schools.
On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying.
On Monday people argued with their kids about picking up their room.
On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids.
On Monday people were upset that they had to wait 6 minutes in a fast food drive through line.
On Tuesday people didn't care about waiting up to 6 hours to give blood for the dying.
On Monday we waved our flags signifying our cultural diversity.
On Tuesday we waved only the American flag.
On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, sex, color and creed.
On Tuesday they were all holding hands.
On Monday we were men or women, black or white, old or young, rich or poor, gay or straight, Christian or non-Christian.
On Tuesday we were Americans.
On Monday politicians argued about budget surpluses.
On Tuesday grief stricken they sang 'God Bless America'.
On Monday the President was going to Florida to read to children.
On Tuesday he returned to Washington to protect our children.
On Monday we had families.
On Tuesday we had orphans.
On Monday people went to work as usual,
On Tuesday they died.
On Monday people were fighting the 10 commandments on government property.
On Tuesday the same people all said 'God help us all' while thinking 'Thou shall not kill'.
It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place things into perspective, but it has. The lessons learned this week, the things we have taken for granted, the things that have been forgotten or overlooked, hopefully will never be forgotten again.
Author Unknown
It was a day that changed us, changed our country, changed history. We will always remember!
Thank you to all the men and women who put their lives on the line for us every day here at home and on foreign shores.
SS Blog Challenge #30 - Favorite color
Blog Challenge #30
Super Simple today..... From Sarah: What is your favorite color and why. Add a picture so we can get the "feel" for your favorite color.
I always have a hard time with these questions. I am fickle and don't really have a favorite because it changes season to season or even day to day. I like the blue of a hot, sunny, late summer sky. I like the reds of a beautiful maple in all its fall glory. I like the pewter of snow clouds or the dark gray of a strong winter storm. I like the green of new baby plants and leaves in the spring along with the yellow of daffodils after a long, wet winter. I also like colors not truly found in nature like dark purples, pinks, etc.
But the challenge is to pick a favorite and figure out why. While it would be easy to pick one of the ones listed above and there are good reasons for all, none of those make the cut today. Today, as I sit here looking forward to the weekend (only 2 more days!) my favorite colors come not from nature but from fun. Football fun to be exact. Saturday is the home opener of the college football season here and I get to go enjoy. I will proudly wear the Orange and Black of my chosen school. I cheer loudly despite two away from home disappointments already this season. Yep Orange and Black it is for all the coming Saturdays until Thanksgiving. Of course by then it will be basketball season so then we will have to add in Thursday nights too. Orange and black make a statement don't you think? A don't-mess-with-me-because-I-survived-28-losing-seasons-so-I-am-a-true-fan-statement. Those who have lived in Oregon all their lives, sports fans or not, know what I am talking about when I say that. I have earned the right to be proud that now my team has the longest bowl game winning streak in the conference. We deserve it. Orange and Black. I wear them proudly.
So come rain or shine, on Saturdays in the fall, my favorite colors are Orange and black.
Super Simple today..... From Sarah: What is your favorite color and why. Add a picture so we can get the "feel" for your favorite color.
I always have a hard time with these questions. I am fickle and don't really have a favorite because it changes season to season or even day to day. I like the blue of a hot, sunny, late summer sky. I like the reds of a beautiful maple in all its fall glory. I like the pewter of snow clouds or the dark gray of a strong winter storm. I like the green of new baby plants and leaves in the spring along with the yellow of daffodils after a long, wet winter. I also like colors not truly found in nature like dark purples, pinks, etc.
But the challenge is to pick a favorite and figure out why. While it would be easy to pick one of the ones listed above and there are good reasons for all, none of those make the cut today. Today, as I sit here looking forward to the weekend (only 2 more days!) my favorite colors come not from nature but from fun. Football fun to be exact. Saturday is the home opener of the college football season here and I get to go enjoy. I will proudly wear the Orange and Black of my chosen school. I cheer loudly despite two away from home disappointments already this season. Yep Orange and Black it is for all the coming Saturdays until Thanksgiving. Of course by then it will be basketball season so then we will have to add in Thursday nights too. Orange and black make a statement don't you think? A don't-mess-with-me-because-I-survived-28-losing-seasons-so-I-am-a-true-fan-statement. Those who have lived in Oregon all their lives, sports fans or not, know what I am talking about when I say that. I have earned the right to be proud that now my team has the longest bowl game winning streak in the conference. We deserve it. Orange and Black. I wear them proudly.
So come rain or shine, on Saturdays in the fall, my favorite colors are Orange and black.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Reflections
As I sit here in the quiet of my house on the last school day of the first week of school I am lead to reflect.
This year has gone by so fast. I know everyone says that. There have been days that I thought were never going to end but then I look up and an entire month has gone by or so it seems. Where does the time go? How does it get away so quickly?
So as I sit here by myself, in the quiet, with no one else about, I am left to wonder what comes next? What will this new school year bring? And how will what came before shape that? My kids are growing and changing. My oldest is in 7th grade this year. When a friend commented that "she couldn't believe Jessie was in 7th grade" I had to concur. It was a bit of a jolt to me to send her out the door on her first day realizing we have passed the middle. We are now on the downhill slide to her independence. In two years I will be sending her out the door to high school. Six years from now I will be sending her out the door to COLLEGE. Some will say, but you knew this was going to happen. To which I would have to say yes I did know but I thought, at the ripe old age of 22, as I held her in arms, that it would be okay. It is what is expected after all. But now, when faced with reality, it is a little harder than I thought. I have discovered that time moves too fast and I am not getting the quality time I expected. I am a stay at home mom so it would seem that I would have all the quality time in the world but that is simply not the case. There is a communication gap between my daughter and I and it is getting larger rather than smaller.
So as I sit here I wonder what the future will bring and I think back to the past when my children were smaller, when a snuggle and kiss were all that was needed to get them to obey, when every conversation did not degrade into an argument because, frankly, I was the only one who was able to talk. As my three grow and change and yes, move on, I am left to wonder, what will happen next? Where will I go and what will I do? How can I help them become the people I want them to be?
Hmmm quiet and reflection, what an interesting combination.
This year has gone by so fast. I know everyone says that. There have been days that I thought were never going to end but then I look up and an entire month has gone by or so it seems. Where does the time go? How does it get away so quickly?
So as I sit here by myself, in the quiet, with no one else about, I am left to wonder what comes next? What will this new school year bring? And how will what came before shape that? My kids are growing and changing. My oldest is in 7th grade this year. When a friend commented that "she couldn't believe Jessie was in 7th grade" I had to concur. It was a bit of a jolt to me to send her out the door on her first day realizing we have passed the middle. We are now on the downhill slide to her independence. In two years I will be sending her out the door to high school. Six years from now I will be sending her out the door to COLLEGE. Some will say, but you knew this was going to happen. To which I would have to say yes I did know but I thought, at the ripe old age of 22, as I held her in arms, that it would be okay. It is what is expected after all. But now, when faced with reality, it is a little harder than I thought. I have discovered that time moves too fast and I am not getting the quality time I expected. I am a stay at home mom so it would seem that I would have all the quality time in the world but that is simply not the case. There is a communication gap between my daughter and I and it is getting larger rather than smaller.
So as I sit here I wonder what the future will bring and I think back to the past when my children were smaller, when a snuggle and kiss were all that was needed to get them to obey, when every conversation did not degrade into an argument because, frankly, I was the only one who was able to talk. As my three grow and change and yes, move on, I am left to wonder, what will happen next? Where will I go and what will I do? How can I help them become the people I want them to be?
Hmmm quiet and reflection, what an interesting combination.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
SS Blog Challenge #29
It has been a while since I have blogged or done a challenge. Now that school is back in session and I have a little more time to think I plan to get back to them. This week's challenge was issued by Junior Tx.
Blog Challenge #29
I sort of took the summer off from my blog. I am not sure if it was because I was home 24/7 with the kids and didn't have time to compose a single thought, or I just didn't have anything to say. I missed it. This past week I was visiting mlc in co's blog and she has a Wordless Wednesday entry. Oooooh, I thought, this would be an easy way to get myself blogging again. Um, it was more difficult than I expected. So this will be a wordless challenge this week. Find a picture that speaks for you. Use google image or one of your own images. Martha used a site called http://failblog.org/ for some funny ones. I can't wait to see what everyone has to "say".
WORDLESS BLOG CHALLENGE: VACATION SERENITY
Blog Challenge #29
I sort of took the summer off from my blog. I am not sure if it was because I was home 24/7 with the kids and didn't have time to compose a single thought, or I just didn't have anything to say. I missed it. This past week I was visiting mlc in co's blog and she has a Wordless Wednesday entry. Oooooh, I thought, this would be an easy way to get myself blogging again. Um, it was more difficult than I expected. So this will be a wordless challenge this week. Find a picture that speaks for you. Use google image or one of your own images. Martha used a site called http://failblog.org/ for some funny ones. I can't wait to see what everyone has to "say".
WORDLESS BLOG CHALLENGE: VACATION SERENITY
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