Wordless Wednesday - The Redwing Parrot

May 6, 2007

Monday Funnies - Bouncing Baby Biochemist

Monday Funnies will run each Monday. They may be a cartoon, joke or rendition of something I found humorous anywhere from the time I can remember and now. I hope they give you a little chuckle to start your week with.

Have a great week!

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - A Good Laugh

As stressful as life can be sometimes there are always blessings, always something to be thankful for. We've bought and sold houses before so this should be old hat to us yet at this point in our lives it is proving to be very stressful. The love and support of our family and friends is counteracting that stress, providing a different perspective and a few times providing comic relief. It's funny how a belly aching, side splitting laugh can just wipe out all signs of stress! Last week's blessings included:

1. family - many hugs and kisses to our beautiful family
2. baby snuggles and giggles
3. sharing a joyful call - She said yes!!! Our family will grow by 3 in July!
4. a promising lead on one of my genealogy brick walls
5. celebrating a key milestone of true friends (75th Anniversary, service club)
6. celebrating the memories of a wonderful friend who left this earth way too young
7. having a go getter real estate agent who understands our needs
8. having one good hair days - super shiny, well behaved, looking great
   
9. mastering one more technique in Photoshop
10. found out high speed is finally available here and in the new location (previously unavailable in neither)

Have a wonderful and blessed week!

Agitation

Sunset
May 23, 2007

What a wonderful site to sooth the soul Wednesday night. The prospective buyers came through to do some measuring and were all over the place. I was really on edge the entire time. On one hand I understand what they are doing and I don't want to do anything to jinx the finalization of the deal but boy is it ever bothering me. That means I have had little sleep and am agitated, not really a good frame of perspective. They are coming through in about an hour with a contractor/inspector because they want to see if they can do a particular renovation involving a flat roof. We do not want them or anyone else walking on this roof not that you can't structurally but we were told when we bought the place that walking on it could cause leaks. Besides if they were to accidently fall we would be liable. So we told our real estate agent that we did not want anyone on that section of roof. She has them bringing a ladder with the specifications of no one on the roof. Hopefully tomorrow I can report all is well, the deal is signed and the last of strangers trooping though our house. Wish us luck!

Victoria Day Weekend

We just celebrated our long weekend for Victoria Day. Wow, what a weekend! The sale of the house events are moving swiftly and despite a good offer, the real estate agent wanted to show the house Monday. She put it off from Saturday which was a very good thing as our kids were home. Friday I felt the onset of a sinus attack so knew the weekend would be not the best. We had a 40th Wedding Anniversary party to attend. The flower pictured above is from the anniversary party. I was thankful the sinus attack did not hit full force then but by the following afternoon when I had to be at a must attend bridal shower for our best friends' daughter it had it with the full impact. Noise of any kind is just not a good thing during these attacks but I was determined to go. Saturday night I crashed just after the kids got here with the grandbaby, weary of dealing with the pain, walking sideways and overall feeling horrid. Sunday morning my head felt like it was crushing in but that didn't matter to grandbaby who decided for some reason (later learned to be that she doesn't like a wet nappy) to exercise her lungs at full tilt and gosh was she upset! Get this, three grown adults and not one of us thought to check her nappy! Mommy was finally out of the show and came to our rescue. One nappy change and the kid was giggling as if nothing happened. After the kids left we did the spit & shine for the house showing and I actually was able to get a short nap in before the house was shown. All in all despite the sinus attack, it was a grand weekend! One well spent with family and friends and good memories.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - The Kids

Oh my gosh! I almost forgot to blog my blessings from last week. Things are happening rather quickly here and with our long weekend the kids are home. So last week's blessings include:

1. family
2. friends
3 celebration of a 40th wedding anniversary for long time friends (absolutely beautiful!)
4. celebration of a bridal shower for our best friend's daughter
5. an offer on our house we felt comfortable accepting
6. online pictures of the new house to reassure us we are doing the right thing
7. a great dental report, only four more fillings to go (the bad part is the problem tooth still has to come out but I think I'm gaining the confidence and trust to be able to handle it)
8. fresh asparagus!
9. nice, climate weather
10.peaceful calm anticipation

Have a wonderful week filled with many blessings!

Restless Tension

Clouds
April 10, 2007

There has been a lot of activity on our house yet no offers. Yesterday I came up with a brilliant plan of possibly rebuilding on the same lot something my husband seemed to be a bit interested in. After all the location is great but would be better with a bit more privacy something that could be established easy enough. In my mind I had already resided myself to no movement on the house meant no action. Frankly I'm getting tired of the spit & shine routine anyway. The house showed Wednesday evening then the real estate called asking if an outside agent could show at 1 pm on Thursday. I got that news just after getting out of the dentist's chair so had to scurry home instead of the nice leisurely shopping for a wedding shower gift. After the showing I eyed up the asparagus I had picked up on the way home wondering whether to process it or not because the real estate agent had call to say not to go anywhere. I assumed that meant they were wanting to show the house again that afternoon. Then I got another call asking when my husband would be home. Just after six o'clock she arrived with the first offer.

The offer is almost perfect. The potential buyer(s) are investors speculating on flipping the house. There are no conditions regarding the buyer selling their house or finding financing. They aren't interested in any of our appliances. The offer is $27,000 less than our asking price and apparently they got their offer price from the property taxes assessment that is always based on the value 5 years ago. Since we already dropped the price of our house in order for a quick sale to secure the new house we aren't willing to go much lower so we counter-offered with a slightly reduced price As I type this they are in negotiations with their real estate agent. I suspect things will be going back and forth today several times. So now we wait with restless tension...

Wordless Wednesday - Overhead

Overhead
April 21, 2007

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - Mom

Today is Mother's Day a day when children are supposed to show their moms a little extra love and attention. Normally I do not make two posts in one day but this being a special day and also a BYBS. In the spirit of celebrating both Mother's Day and my blessings, here is my BYBS post.

I've been blessed in so many ways in relation to motherhood. My biological mom died shortly after her birth so I never had a chance to know her. I've been blessed that she gave me life and left enough of her behind that I could discover her as a person. My foster mom was a wonderful person who loved me as her own. She was a mom to me in every sense of the word by lovingly guiding me to the person I would become. Unfortunately she was aged 59 when I came to be so only had the chance to greet two of my kids into the world. The absence of her warm, loving and generous spirit is a huge void in my life.

Mothers can't be mothers without kids. My kids have taught me so much about myself and about life. I anticipated their births wondering what each little miracle was going to look like, be like and pondered their future. Kids are born with unconditional love. There's the smiles, the tears, the baby kisses, cuddles and dependence. Somehow they overlooked parenting mistakes and sometimes perceived unfair parenting policies. In return they got unconditional love and respect. Over the years I have watched our kids mature into beautiful, independent adults now starting families of their own and one thing remains consistent, the strong emphasis on family. They are a source of love, strength, pride, companionship and wonderment. A parent's responsibility is never over even when the kids are grown. We take enormous pride in our kids as we continue to guide and support them. This day is made so much more meaningful to me be I've been blessed with having the opportunity to be a mother and continue being a mother to a few of the most awesome kids you will ever meet!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

Happy Mother's Day 2007

Flowers from My Kids
Mother's Day 2007

Interviewed by Dana of Southern Gal Goes North

Clouds
May 8, 2007

There are so many creative ways bloggers are coming up with to stimulate their creativity. As you know I participate in Blog Your Blessings Sunday and have done a couple of Click & Comment posts. I did at least one Wordless Wednesday post but I like to talk so of course forgot about that last Wednesday. I was surfing on BlogExplosion and came across Southern Gal Goes North. The author had an interview where she answered questions from another blogger. This is a great way to get to know other bloggers and it is interactive. So I've joined the "Interview Me" bloggers.

If you would like to participate, leave a comment here saying "Interview me." Please leave your blog address so I can interview you in return. I will visit your blog, draft five questions for you and link back to your post. When someone leaves a comment indicating that they would like to be interviewed, you do the same thing. In this way we get to know a few things about the blogger that may not come out on their blog plus we get to read a lot of interesting blogs.

Dana author of Southern Gal Goes North asked the following questions for my interview:

1. I see you are selling your house. What are the top three things you’ll miss most about your garden? Are you taking any plants with you to your new house?
This garden was started from nothing, only an idea that was expanded upon based on necessity. The ground couldn't be easily tilled so I went to raised beds. I'll miss seeing the visual impact of my creativity. An aerial photographer was selling pictures he took to homeowners in the area. He took a beautiful aerial view of the house and garden last September. I don't think it really hit home how much I had accomplished until I saw that photo. It is a very organized almost formal layout that would be hard to duplicate so I will miss that as well. I will also miss most of the critters that visit the garden. When we moved here, I brought as much as possible which ended up being about 3 1/2 pick-up truck loads of plants. It was a "have garden will travel moment". I promised my husband I would not do that much for this move if we actually move. Plants in containers will be coming and I am now starting strawberries in containers. I'll be taking clumps of herbs and rooting them in the greenhouse to take with us. I will also be rooting cuttings of some of my favourite plants to take with me.
2. I read somewhere in your blog that you were writing a book. What is it about? Speaking of books, have you pre-ordered the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet? Which HP is your favorite?
My current book I'm writing is the story of my seventh great grandfather. He was rumoured to be the first white man in the area now known as Detroit, Michigan before Cadillac arrived. His story is quite an interesting one. The plan is to develop a series starting with him then following though each generation but really the story starts before him at his father and mother who was a Fille du Roi. So the first chapter does a little back tracking. I haven't pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows but not because I didn't want to. My birthday is close to the release date so I know one of my kids will think of that for a gift. I'm really looking forward of book 7. It should hopefully answer some of the questions that arise from the Harry Potter series. I think my favourite Harry Potter book would be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In this book all of the characters are maturing. Their strengths and weaknesses are more pronounced. There are subtle hints as to what they may do in the future after leaving Hogwarts. There are also more clues about how and why events have unfolded as they have along with a deeper understanding of the characters who have played a role through the series. The significance of certain events or items (Horocruxes) become clearer in book 6. After reading book 6, I went back and started re-reading the books. It was amazing how the perspective gained in book 6 changed the view of the other books. I suspect this will be the same for book 7.
3. How do you juggle your time between your housework, hobbies, blogging on your multiple blogs, and cooking? What works best for you?
That is a good question. First I follow the quadrant personal management based on Stephen R. Covey. I try to keep most of my activities in Quadrants I - III and avoid IV (quadrant of waste). For the most part I am quite organized and follow a daily schedule that includes a to-do list. Everything is given a priority rating based on the ABC method then further prioritized using the 123 method. That means something rated as A1 is the top priority. Monthly planning is done the second last day of the month for the following month. That's where I schedule in any appointments or events. Weekly planning is done every Sunday and since most homemaking chores are done on a schedule I know for example that Mondays and Wednesdays are clean the bathroom days, Wednesdays are the 27 Fling Boogie and etc. because I've just been doing it this way for so long. Then I have daily routines, specifically a morning routine and and evening routine. Each consist of five items meant to keeping things running smoothly when the unexpected comes up. My dayplanner is almost surgically attached to me and I do a lot of multi-tasking. Homemaking including family, cooking and gardening fall into QI (important, urgent) so they always take priority. My hobbies including blogging fill a creative need but fall into QII (important, non-urgent) so that means they can wait until my scheduled "me" time. Those are my "B" things. For the most part everything falls into place. I went for awhile several years back where scheduling and the schedule were the most important thing making home life very rigid. Then I discovered Covey's work and haven't looked back. For me, First Things First and the fundamental Covey principles of the 7 Habits work wonderfully allowing organization but with flexibility. I also think knowing myself helps a lot. I'm an early riser, likely one of those kids who was scared they were missing something when they slept. I don't sleep a lot unless I'm sick. At the same time I am very active so have to keep busy. Multi-tasking is just a normal part of my personality. My hands are busy even when watching television. I think the real reason is I want to pack as much life into my life as possible :)
4. What is your favorite thing to cook and why? What is your family’s favorite thing?
Hmm, that's a hard question because I love to cook. I think one of my favourite things to cook is roasted turkey. It always comes out perfect and gets rave reviews from my number one fan club aka my family. I rant that it likes to fall apart but my family loves it this way. Turkey is one of those very frugal dishes as well so I always look forward to making turkey stock from the carcass. My family's favourite thing to eat is a toss up between lasagne made with homemade spaghetti sauce (my offering) and homemade burgers (my husband's offering). Now, my lasagne likely has him beat especially during the cold months. The sauce is made from scratch using fresh ingredients, nice and meaty with lots of mushrooms and 9 cheeses. See where I'm going here? This is very, very good stuff! My husband makes these burgers to which I am only allowed to make the buns. He shoos me out of my kitchen, then makes these fabulous burgers he grills. They end up about 2 inches thick and about 5 inches in diameter. They are then placed in a toasted fresh baked (my job) bun and loaded with lettuce, mayo, tomatoes, dill pickles, cheese and hot peppers (for some) along with homemade relish, mustard and ketchup. I can't even finish one.
5. What kind of boat do you have? Pontoon, fishing, speed boat? What are your favorite things to do on your lake? Why would I like to visit there?
   
   We have a 22' SeaRay Overnighter and am considering going larger this year depending on the house but not bigger than 30'. Of our boating group we are likely the smallest or getting close but it has a cuddy for sleeping as well as washroom. She's a real sweet thing with a lot of power, perfect for water skiing or tubing. All my kids as well as myself fish by my husband does not and I know he grits his teeth when we haul our catch in. He takes me out a couple of times a month or until we have enough fish in the freezer usually by about mid July. Our favourite thing to do on the water is putzing watching other boats and just being out on the boat. But on hot days we boat to our favourite swimming hole, drop anchor and spend the day. I'll pack a picnic lunch and if it runs late we sometimes stop at a favourite marina with a gorgeous view of the sunset. It's lovely travelling back to the light of the moon when the water is nice and smooth. We spend about six weekends a year on the boat as well.
   
   We like to enjoy all aspects of the water from sunrises to sunsets, swimming and sometimes we just sit and float. We are lucky to be on the Great Lakes waterway so have ready access to three of the Great Lakes. These are Lakes Erie, St. Clair and Huron with their connecting waterways and rivers or smaller tributaries draining into the lakes. The area is absolutely gorgeous. We do have four seasons but it is just as beautiful in the winter as in the summer. It's all about the water but there is more to the area than that. There are a lot of small marinas to stop for a bite to eat or enjoy the quaint little harbour towns. The whole area is peaceful, soothing both the soul and body. Quite often there special events in the harbour towns like re-enactments or local celebrations (almost must go to's) and a lot of county fairs. The area is studded abundantly with farmers' markets, vegetable or fruit stands, orchards, wineries, beaches and campgrounds. There are wonderful down home cooking restaurants with some of the best food you will ever taste but there are also some nice highend restaurants for an elegant evening out. There are several museums in the area as well. It is like a recreational mecca with always something to do surrounded by some of the friendliest people you will ever meet!
   
   

Thanks for interviewing me Dana. If you are ever in our area, drop me a line so I can point you to some must see attractions. I'm looking forward to reading other blogs and interviewing the authors.

A Comedy of Errors

I was up early then noticed something strange sitting on one of our posts yesterday. My eyes were still sleepy so even the binoculars didn't work well. So I grab my garden clogs to go investigate while still in my pyjamas because no one in their sane mind is up at 5 am except me. Wrong! Now my neighbours know I wear Harry Potter pjs! The mystery item turned out to be a large stack of golf scored cards my husband had sorted while on the dock when the house was being shown the night before. He does the scores for the men's league. Why they were left out there is beyond me but it rained, no actually stormed heavily so all the cards were soaked. So the countertops were covered with drying score cards all day aka no cooking for the day.

I had the great pleasure of getting personal with Bell Sympatico yesterday. Despite the other problems I've had like not being able to access usenet through a newsreader, the only thing that bothered me was for some reason sending email halted. Or so it seemed. I was trying to send a video of the grandbaby to the kids and kept getting error messages. So I call their nice friendly tech support machine that makes me jump through all the hoops by pressing the right buttons. Finally I got a humanoid on the phone. Apparently English was a second language as I could barely understand her. She kept referring to Outlook even though I explained I was using Mail on Mac OS X. She told me to delete all email accounts which wasn't possible because I have two ISPs. Ok then she said to delete the Sympatico account and re-enter all the information. Then she told me to send a test message to see if it would go through. It did so problem solved. Messages were downloading just fine as well. I hung up the phone and tried to send the video message again. Up popped the error message! So I called the friendly tech support machine again, jumped through all the hoops and got another humanoid to whom I related the first problem and what was done. He spoke very broken English and was difficult to understand but somehow walked me through what he thought was the problem. Apparently Macs are foreign computers to Sympatico as the instructions were for Windows. So the preferences were deleted and reinstalled. A test message was successfully sent so problem solved. I hung up then muttered a few not nice words, settled back and tried sending the video message again. Up popped the error message! By now I was not a very happy camper so called up the friendly tech support machine again, jumped through the hoops and got a humanoid. I calmly told him what was happening and what I had done. He asked if I was trying to send an attachment so I told him yes. He asked how big. I told him the file was 32 MB to which he replied that Sympatico only allows attachments upto 20 MB then proceeded to try and sell me other services. Well there you go, almost 2 hours on the phone and finally a reasonable explanation for what was happening and why that particular message wouldn't go though. Why could they not have told me that in the first place? Kudos to Sympatico who will be losing my business as soon as the one year period is up in September.

Ok so that should have been enough for one day, right? Nope! The bluejays came back for a second helping of peanuts. I grabbed the container by the lid which I had neglected to vacuum seal. The peanuts went everywhere covering the kitchen floor. One bluejay was pecking at the window and here I was sitting on the floor just laughing. Hey, it was better than crying!

My husband arrived home with Chinese take-out and six packages of the chicken breasts that were on sale. I had forgotten I asked him to pick up more for another bulk cooking session. I took one look at the chicken, stuffed it in the fridge because the day was jinxed enough. Then he told me about the nice phone call to the guy responsible for getting our boat ready for the spring. You know the guy we pay a lot of money to? Apparently he is having a tiff with the owners of the marina where we keep our boat so people like us are getting caught in between. He didn't do the spring set-up because of those problem which led to us almost being stranded and we did need a tow even though we didn't have to pay for it. Getting a boat towed is costly. Our last tow bill was $700! This guy is holding almost 600 boats hostage just because he is having a tiff with the marina owner. So where is the humour? I started laughing when my husband was telling what was going oh. He asked what was so funny. At least this guy speaks English, I replied.

BTW, the boat problem sounds like a dirty carburetor. Another boater told us what to do and we'll get it checked out from there. My husband has decided this guy won't be touching our boat again and I agree.

The Hummingbird

Hummingbird
May 10, 2007

Look at my newest guest to my garden! This picture was a downright fluke. I was so excited at seeing the hummingbird and not wanting to scare it off while I grabbed the camera, I'm surprised I got a picture at all. The feeder is hanging on the back porch so I can see any activity from the kitchen window. I took several pictures set on auto setting (Canon PowerShot A540) then switched to AV setting and took a couple more. This one was taken on the AV setting.

I was a bit bummed over last night's house showing. Apparently the people liked all the appliances, furnishings and after seeing the poker table need to get to know us better. Seesh! Like they didn't even look at the house just what we had. This morning was a true blessing seeing this little creature! He brought a smile and pleasant thoughts. I can't wait to see him visit the feeder again!

Boating

Minnows
May 8, 2007

The water was a vivid turquoise and quite calm yesterday. Minnows were schooling around the dock piers. This is always a good sign as we catch minnows to be used for bait. Sometimes it is just nice sitting there watching the silvery flashes flit about in the water.

The house was scheduled to be shown at 7 pm so my husband came home early to take out the boat for her maiden run of 2007. We decided to go and check out the potential new house as seen from the water. No problem until the boat stopped and we couldn't get it started again! It wouldn't have been such a bad thing since the sun was shining brightly, the temperature was wonderfully warm and the water lapping against the boat was quite relaxing. The problem was we had to be back for the house being shown. We finally got her going and she ran beautifully until slowing down for the cut then she died again. A fellow boater towed us in and offered drinks to sooth our nerves. All in all it was rather fun in a bit of a sadistic way. Honestly I wouldn't have minded just staying on the boat for a few days away from everything.

Life is just really hectic right now and since the boat aka money hole in the water is a way to get away from the chaos, we really don't need any problems. Apparently the guy we pay very good money to winterize and get the boat ready for spring neglected to do an engine test. Had he done that he would have seen gas spewing out that thingie (my term) where my husband had me hold the screwdriver while he tried to start the boat. Thank goodness for two batteries! Other life highlights include unexpected health problems with our oldest, the &^%$ insurance company along with the lawsuit and now secondary lawsuit (yep I really needed that one), the pending sale of the house with all that entails and that ever blasted cell phone. This is the time of year I should be out enjoying getting the garden going and immersing myself in cooking. Both are difficult with the pending sale of the house so I've taken a different approach. Our daily activities are going continue as normal whether the house is being shown or not. I need to cook as a depressor, sorry!

Garden Gnome
©2007

A Touch of Yellow

Goldfinches
May 3, 2007

What is a garden without birds? I look forward to the return of the goldfinches each spring. I posted this picture to my gardening blog yesterday but thought I would share it with my readers here as well. Goldfinches are beautiful little song birds that flit about the feeders brightening up the garden with their showy yellow feathers.

I've been up since about 4:30 this morning for no apparent reason other than I was tired of sleeping. Stress is suspect but not confirmed as a cause to my increasing restlessness. We went to see the grandbaby on the weekend. While enjoying a nice leisurely breakfast Sunday my husband's cell phone rang. It was the real estate agent wanting to show the house at 7 PM that night. Since we weren't home she put it off until last night. So I did the spit and shine yesterday, canned up thirteen pints of chicken stock and had chicken in the oven when they arrived so the house smelled pretty good! This young couple is pretty interested but they already mentioned they want my washer and dryer. No way! I've waited almost 30 years to get a set like this so they are not negotiable. My husband disagrees. So we are having a bit of a tiff over this when the real estate agent calls asking if they could go through again tonight, this time with their parents as they are ready to make an offer.

By 5:30 this morning I had the spit and shine done, one load in the dryer, second load in the washer and the oven doing the self clean thing. I've had a chance to take pictures of the moon, sunrise and garden as well as listen to the birds welcome the day. That leaves the rest of the day for a trip to the farmers' market and doing a small bulk cooking session. Chicken baked in roasted tomato sauce will be in the oven filling the house with a wonderful aroma while the house is being shown again. It's a good thing we don't mind eating dinner late!

Blog Your Blessings Sunday - Perspective

The past week was an "I don't want to deal with it week" so I will leave you with last week's blessings:

1. family
2. giving family support
3. baby giggles
4. laughter
5. DH secured a huge account
6. a spur of the moment travel to visit the kids and grandbaby
7. baby snuggly cuddles
8. the digital camera
9. garden nursery
10. glorious sunsunshine
    

TGIF

Tulips
May 3, 2007

It's been one of those very stressful and expensive (dentist & dermatologist) week so I'm looking forward to the weekend. The boat is in the water ready for her maiden voyage of the 2007 season. The weather is promising to be warm and sunny so perhaps tomorrow we will take her out. Tonight we are going to a dinner theatre featuring a nice meal of salmon or roast beef with all the fixings including soup or salad and desert. After the meal we will be able to bust our sides laughing to the comedy this troupe puts out. We haven't missed one of their shows in quite a few years and it is always a treat to see the newest production. To all my readers I wish you wonderful, peaceful and relaxing weekend!

Stormy...

Storm Clouds
April 10, 2007

As many of you know I have been undergoing a lot of dental work lately, something not really appreciated given my dental phobia. You will also know we have our house on the market so there is more stress then. Well, yesterday I spent a lovely two and a half hours bonding with my dentist. He froze then added more then added more until he was up to a total of five additions just to get my mouth froze enough to work on it. I'm classified as hard to freeze and despite the extra, most of my left lower side was unfrozen by the time I left his office. So that was my fun afternoon. The position in the chair had really aggravated my cervical injury so all I wanted to do was get home and lay down. I was not impressed when he said I need a crown for the one tooth to the tune of $850 CDN and that's after paying $375 yesterday. The worst part is the freezing makes me physically sick to my stomach. When I got home I thought perhaps I should keep moving knowing that it would help so decided cooking would take my mind off of everything. I nicely hauled out all the packages of chicken breasts to remove the skin and bones when the real estate agent called wanting to show the house at 7 giving me time to do the spit and shine but no cooking and perhaps enough time for a half hour nap. I just finished the spit and shine when she called again and asked if they could go through earlier. I was in tears! The showing went well so after they left I crashed on the couch somehow despite the pain blissfully drifted off to sleep with the food channel playing in the background.

Today's tick off concerns genealogy even though I am still in pain. I thought between cooking and genealogy today would at least be productive. A few years ago I wrote a very detailed essay that I want to include in my book. I know the hard copy was sitting on the printer but I have somehow misplaced it. I thought I had a back-up copy in Word but since changing over to Mac have not found it in the documents. Not being able to find these kind of things really irritates me as I tend to be a very organized person. So I now have to spend my time searching through drawers and computer files.

On the bright side, I must be doing something right with my blogs. My cooking blog got it's very first spam comment! It was very long so I lost interest after the first sentence but I really do promise to go back and read it (not!). It was by someone named Anonymous which is a pretty neat name. Thanks to Anonymous I now know everything that is wrong with the world and why. I can see a whole generation of kids being called Anonymous just because so many of their parents have communicated with this really cool person.

Wordless Wednesday - Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

Memories

Full Moon
April 30, 2007

I'm still working on moon shots. Quite often I'm up and about throughout the night. The moon was shining brightly not last night but the night before. I had to snicker at that phrase as I can recall an old rhyme me mome used to say:

Not last night but the night before
Two tom cats came knocking at the door
I went downstairs to let them in
And they knocked me down with a rolling pin
The rolling pin was made of glass
So I turned them over and smacked their a$$!

My mom wasn't a curser so to hear her use this word would put us all into a fit of giggles because she would turn a bright red in the face when she said that word. Oh the stories she could tell! Enough of that tangent. I've been trying to capture shots of the moon with my digital camera. This one came out not too bad but I think a tripod would have really helped so I'm going to pick one up and try playing with the settings the next time to see if I can get better moon shots.