You Capture - Shapes

The You Capture theme for this weeks challenge was SHAPES.  Here are pictures of some shapes I encountered during the week.

A Propane Tank

Rectangle, Circle, Modified Triangle (the on/off valve), Cylinder

 

A Car Tire

Circle, Pentagram Type Star

  

My daughters Bedroom Chair

Circles

  

and because it's always ALL ABOUT FOOD

 Homemade Pizza

Rectangle

(And for the record, this pizza was absolutely delicious! 1/2 mozarella and tomatoes 1/2 with eggplant!)

  

Homemade Chocolate Souffle

(Recipe from Ina Garten)

Circles

 

Visit more fun pictures of SHAPES at I Should Be Folding Laundry!

a good day

It's been a great day and I'm elated.  

I walked 4 1/2 miles with a friend this morning.

I remembered to take my vitamins.

I did some laundry.

I made my bed.

I balanced our home checking account and paid bills.

I read for 1 hour - a book for pleasure.

I saw the movie Shutter Island with Sarah.

I had a very nice dinner at home with Sarah - home made sloppy joes.

Life today made me happy.

finding beauty to ease the pain

This picture takes me to a happy, calm place.  Today I need that.  5 minutes this afternoon was all it took to create such sadness.  For so long after wards the tears just came and wouldn't stop.  I took a long hot shower, have taken many deep breaths and have been repeating "this too shall pass."  Though I don't think it will.  Another sigh and now more tears.  Even writing this is harder than I thought.

I need to focus on things that make me happy and uplift me.  And this picture most certainly does.  We went to Canada in summer of 2007 and just a little south of Jasper we pulled off the side of the road to view the scenery.  The water was cold, the air breezy and the sun shining high.  A beautiful day, a beautiful sight.  And I was able to capture that beauty with a picture.

So often life isn't beautiful and today I was reminded of that.  As my heart aches and my eyes swell from too many tears, I am asking myself why and what did I do wrong?  Unfortunately there is no answer or logic.  It is what it is and I need to take a deep breath and relax, or try to anyway.  And I will look at this beautiful picture and find that happy place.  My sanity depends on it.   And hugs from Sarah don't hurt either.

You Capture - Kisses

Each week Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry has a "You Capture" challenge with a different theme.  This weeks theme is Kisses.  With Valentines Day and Sarah's 18th Birthday I had fun with this challenge. 

Sarah blew me a sweet kiss following a wonderful 18th birthday celebration!

My son, Jake, planted a sweet kiss on his girlfriends cheek!

And lastly this is one of my favorite pictures EVER, taken 18 years ago! Sarah, 1 week old, getting a kiss from her big sister Kristin, 21 months old!

For more fun pictures visit You Capture - Kisses

weekend excitment

It's Saturday morning, the sun in shining, the air is cool and I'm looking forward to today and the days to follow.  Celebrating Sarah's 18 birthday with family and friends on Monday.  I'm working her birthday slide show, it's going to be a winner - can't wait for her to see it!  Glad to have Kristin home for the weekend all the way from Maryland! Will see Jake also this weekend.   I'm excited, because I enjoy spending time with my family and the moments when we are all together are getting less frequent now that everyone is getting older.  Definitely going to savor the moments!

I rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes this morning.  I challenged myself to a programmed workout with varying degrees of difficulty and I feel good.  Exercise really helps me clear my mind and helps me put things in perspective.

I am smiling just thinking about the fun ahead this weekend!

You Capture - Work

I thought this was a tough challenge this week.   How do you capture work?  According to Websters dictionary it's a noun, adjective and verb.  Do I take a picture of my computer, my 10 key, the washing machine, the cleaning supplies, my messy kitchen?   I didn't know where to begin.  Then I looked at it in the bigger of picture of things because to have work means that you are alive and breathing.  My body works every day pumping blood, firing neurons and delivering oxygen to organs among many other seemingly silent behind the scenes functions all while I go about my daily tasks whether it be - preparing taxes, doing a load of laundry, making phone calls or preparing a meal.  And my body does this day in and day out without a lot of intellectual thought about it on my part.  And it usually functions quite well.  And for that I'm grateful.  I exercise, try to eat right and for the most part get enough sleep - but I know I can do better and I should because my body is my vessel, what allows me to be who I am on a day to day to basis.  Without it, I'd be 6 feet under.  So, to capture the essence of WORK this week, I took these two pictures of what I do to keep my body working.  Today was a double duty day, I walked 3 1/2 miles with a friend - took us 55 minutes and I did a programmed workout on the exercise bike for 25 minutes. 

 

Check out more You Capture - Work pictures at I Should be Folding Laundry.

abundance of JOY

Three things that gave me joy today :)

1) pecan pound cake - A delicious cake, made with butter, cream cheese, eggs, sugar...all good things that make heaven in your mouth.  It was my grandmother Gogie's recipe, a definite winner.
2) a hug from Sarah - When she came home from school today she came into the living room where I was reading and promptly gave me a hug and cuddled up in the chair with me - a perfect few minutes!
3) a long walk with Kathy - a 4 mile walk with a dear friend in 34 degree temps - so invigorating

new perspective

Yesterday got off to a rough start but by the end of the day, all was well.  A 30 minute good workout on the exercise bike helped get the endorphins going and made me feel better, both physically and mentally.  I got a lot accomplished and it felt good.

After the bike work out, I started on food for our super bowl party: made the shrimp marinade, made a pound cake, coleslaw, a huge batch of steak and black bean chili, mixed up some sausage cheese balls, cleaned like a mad woman, did some laundry, went to the grocery store (3 times in 3 days!), put the finishing touches on my peanut butter truffle balls.  Phew, I got a lot done, which makes todays to-do list a bit more manageable.  Hubby was a great help too with the household tasks, in addition to putting together a betting chart. If I get lucky, I might even win a few quarters at the end of the game.

At the end of the day, I sat down with a glass of wine and rented a movie on demand, Love Happens - great movie by the way, a total chick flick! - and cut out some felt hearts.  Which I then sewed together to make a heart garland.  I haven't decorated for valentines day since the kids were little, but I glad did now.  It looks cute.

 

Friends are coming over at 2 today.  It should be fun and I'm looking forward to it.  I am NOT a football person, but parties like this aren't about the game or whatever event it's centered around.  It's about people - friends getting together and having fun.  I'm sure the guys will be drawn to the TV only pausing to eat and pee, cheering loudly as though their life depended on this game.  I like the commercials, but the game itself...not my cup of tea.  I have some board games out and I'm sure my girl friends and I will get a game or two of scrabble in. 

internal rain

Do I need to have a reason to call someone I care about on the phone?  Seriously, whatever happened to just calling to say hello and chit chat?  I was excited to talk to you, to hear your voice and to see how you are doing and what's up in your world.  I am sorry that is not reason enough to call.  Put a damper on my Saturday. 

Friday Photo Flashback

After perusing through some blogs (killing time yet again - as I said in a previous post, I am really good at procrastinating!), I was inspired to participate in Alicia's Friday Photo Flashback.  When going through some old photos this was the first that jumped out at me.  It's from June 1986, just a few days after graduating from University of Washington.  We borrowed this truck from my dad's boss and loaded our belongings and headed to Forest Grove, Oregon.  I was 21, Jim was 22 and we were 2 months away from getting married.  Now almost 24 years later, when I look at this photo, I think of how young we were, how naive, yet we thought we knew it all.  This picture brings back great memories!

Let's recapitulate the week

It's Friday morning and what better way is there to avoid a growing to-do list than to dink around on the computer? Seriously, it's procrastination at it's finest: catching up on blogs, reading the news headlines, stalking on facebook all with a hot cup of coffee, life is grand.  I'm really good at procrastinating, if only I could figure a way to get paid for it!

It's been a good week and I've accomplished quite a bit, which is probably why I feel so lazy today.  Or it could be that I'm just plain getting old?   I was talking with my daughter (who is back east doing a college internship) today and she was telling me about this old guy that is creepy and when I asked her "how old is he", she replied with "probably 40".  I laughed out loud because I am older than 40.  And the way she was describing him, all hunched over, creepy and old, I figured he'd be 60+.  Apparently at 19 her perspective of old is different than mine!

Once we moved past the 'old' conversation, she did enlighten me on the meaning of the word recap.  It's a word I use often and it means summarize, but it's actually the shortened version of recapitulate.  Did you know that?  I sure didn't. That is not a word I use in my everyday language.  It's a whole lot of syllables and doesn't flow off the tongue easily.  Thanks to Kristin, I learned something new today.

Yesterday I put to test my handyman skills yet again.  It's amazing what I can accomplish with a drill, an old heavy chain necklace, 2 wire hangers and duct tape.  My son and I hung our big flat screen tv on the wall last May (and it hasn't fallen down yet!) and for the past 8 months the hdmi cords hung down to the components and looked quite unsightly.  I don't think big black cords against a yellow wall really make a home decorating statement.  I decided it was time to put the cords in the wall.  Armed with my $5 coupon for Ace Hardware I sought out a 1 3/8 wood drill bit and two ivory (to blend with the wall) round covers for the opening.  I used my stud finder so I wouldn't have a road block for my holes and cords and then I drilled away.  The hardest part was using the wire coat hangers to move the insulation a bit.  It is an outside wall and was filled with thick insulation.  After a lot of poking and trying to lift the insulation from the wall (which was quite a pain in the ass all through a tiny 1 3/8 hole) I managed to get the old heavy necklace all the way from the top hole to the bottom hole - about 3' apart.  Then I snaked the various cords through and put the hole covers on and damn, it looks good!  Looks like a professional did it!  No more unsightly cords, woo hoo!  And I even hooked up all the cords correctly because all the components work! Do you think this qualifies me for my own home improvement show?

Looks good, huh?

Did you know that coffee stains are very difficult to remove from light colored carpet? I rented a carpet cleaner from Safeway yesterday and the stains are somewhat better, but still visible.  I probably should have called the carpet cleaners to do it, but they charged almost $700 for our whole house last spring and I just needed this little area done.  Cost me $40 for the rental and cleaning fluid.  I saved money and the carpet is better, but I think we just need new carpet.  We've talked about it, but not exactly in the budget right now.  Maybe if I had my own home improvement show, I could start with my own house for the projects!  Guess lesson learned in the meantime is - DO NOT walk upstairs in the dark with a cup in coffee.

My new favorite drink is a grapefruit martini, it's similar to a lemon drop though not nearly as sweet  And this week I learned how to make one.  The grapefruit is tart, the drink is oh so tasty.  Here is the recipe for a delicious grapefruit martini:

2 oz Finlandia Grapefruit Fusion Vodka
1 oz Xrated Fusion Liquer
1 oz Sour mix
1 oz Grapefruit juice

 

I have decided that who ever invented the heavy duty plastic packaging must have had a horrible childhood and took out his/her revenge of consumers.  I bought some computer ink this week and not only did I need a large kitchen knife to get the package open, I still ended up cutting myself on the sharp plastic.  What a pain in the ass.  I can't fathom why it is necessary to have such thick crazy ass plastic on products.

We are having a superbowl party on Sunday and I've figured out the menu, made a grocery list, made a list of things to clean.  I am really good at making lists!  Now I need to start checking stuff off the lists.  I did buy some things at Costco on Wednesday, but still need to go to Safeway, clean the house and cook.  Once Sunday comes I will be glad it's all done, but at the rate I'm going Sunday will come and go and I will have done nothing.  I'd better get moving, which means no more wasting time recapitulating the week. :)

 

You Capture - Faces

This weeks You Capture challenge at I Should be Folding Laundry is FACES.  I was actually excited for this challenge and went to grab my canon digital rebel.  Turns out the batteries were dead and I have been hunting for the battery charger ever since.  I'm fairly sure it's around here, but where? My little point and shoot is great for certain things, but not faces.  My rebel excels in that area.

Since the battery charger is MIA, I armed myself with my little camera started taking pictures of one of my favorite subjects.  Sarah is my third child and an absolute delight.  She is funny, kind, empathetic and smart.  And she actually likes me, which is rare for a teenager.  Though she will be 18 in 2 weeks and reminds me of that frequently.  Can't believe my baby will soon be 18.  That will be another blog post for another day!

Here are some fun photos of a mini photo shoot we had in the kitchen. I will title this sequence

The Many Faces of Sarah :)

 

 

 I've read that the 3rd child is often the ham, the expressive one.  For our family that has proved true.  My older two, twins are sophomores in college and so it's just been me, her and my hubby at home.   And I'm loving it!  It will be hard when she departs for college in the fall.  I will miss her immensely.  If you want to read a witty entertaining blog about fashion, I suggest you hop over to Marvelous Bear which Sarah writes. The following few photos I took using my digital rebel for her senior photos. And since they are faces, they fit they theme!  Now, if only I can find my battery charger..uggg!