Snow Day

I love being warm and cozy at home when the weather is like this. Can you see my camera in the picture?

More Shih Tzu Cuteness

I could only get them to do this by making funny noises. It made me realize that I can easily make a fool of myself for babies and animals.

The long and short of it...

Butterflies in Winter

Winter Blooms

President Barack Obama

I watched the inauguration from my computer at work today and also took this picture from my computer. You probably thought I was there, didn't you ;-)

Jumping on the bandwagon

Tomorrow we will have a new president. I've decided to jump on the bandwagon of change and hope. Wouldn't I be foolish not to?

The only things bothering me so far?

The estimated $150M spent on the inauguration in such troubled economic times - the most ever spent on an inauguration.

And why is he being depicted as a hero before he has even done anything?

I took this picture from my computer.

My Spa Bath

I thoroughly cleaned my bath today and installed a gift from my mother-in-law. According to the directions, you rub your feet across these cute gel flowers during your bath and it softens them. I can't wait to try it!

Saturdays

A beautiful mum - perfect for lunch with mom ;-)

Reflections of Sunset

This picture was taken facing east; the reflection of sunset on the mountains.

A jungle in my bathroom...

Color

The Pistachio Nut

Anyone need one pound of leftover pistachios from the holidays? My husband is now saying that he can't eat anymore because they make his tongue swell. Allergies...

Did you know that the pistachio tree is native to Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan? Or that bulk container shipments of pistachio nuts are prone to self heating and spontaneous combustion because of their high fat and low water content?

In December 2008, Dr. James Painter, a behavioral eating expert professor and chair of School of Family and Consumer Sciences at Eastern Illinois University, described the Pistachio Principle. The Pistachio Principle describes methods of "fooling" your body into eating less. One example used is that the act of de-shelling and eating pistachios one by one slows your consumption allowing you to feel full faster after having eaten less.

Women and Children's Center

I'm still not feeling well so I went to see a doctor today. This was in the lobby. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Things that make me happy

I'm still not feeling well - something is lingering.

So I took a picture of something that makes me happy to look at: part of my creativity zone.

Yes, we are still beautiful!

I couldn't resist another picture of my favorite photo subjects, who, by the way, are not all that easy to photograph!

A Day of Grooming

"Beauty is so exhausting!"

A New Years Eve Rose

My sweetie brought me this rose on New Years Eve. It was just a bud, but look at it now. This will be my metaphor for 2009.

Amazing Persistence

Just when I was thinking about how this photo-a-day project was getting to be some work, I ran across a blog entry about a man, Jamie Livingston, who took a Polaroid each day from March 31, 1979 through October 25, 1997. You can read more about it at the Mental Floss blog. It includes other links about this man, including a link to a website containing all of the pictures he took over those years.

Some people are good at keeping journals. This was his photographic diary. I’ve been thinking about what an interesting legacy Jamie Livingston left. Somewhere I read that we all create our own masterpiece in life, he just thought to take pictures of it. I think I’ll continue my photo-a-day project.

Sick Day

I read this entire book today - 498 pages. I'm trying to catch up with my 11-year-old granddaughter who is already reading New Moon.

Sometimes it's nice to have a sick day.

I'm sick...enough said.

Back to Work. Ugh. What a Monday...

This is where I spend most of my life - my cubicle. Yes I'm one of those.

It took almost two hours to drive 10 miles home from work tonight because of a crazy snow storm. I'm exhausted.

The last bit of Christmas

I've been making these ornaments all season and had just a few more to finish up today.

Note to self: don't take pictures so close that they are out of focus.

To see some really gorgeous ornaments, click here.

Taking Christmas Down

My house is now clean and uncluttered - and bare.

A View

This is the view from our living room window after several inches of soft powdery snow fell. You can expect to see more of the same. I'll never tire of this view.

Project 365

If you haven't heard of Project 365, you can read about it here. I've decided to commit to post one photo every day for 365 days. I've made this decision for several reasons. One reason is because I am currently taking a break from school and have more time. Second, I seem to have a difficult time reguarly posting to this blog and third, I love photography and need an excuse to snap pictures.

So here is my photo for today:

Today I hand-washed gobs of Barbie clothes given to my granddaughter by her very-cool-Aunt, my daughter. These clothes made me laugh - leg-warmers and other very 80s clothing abounded.

By the way, Happy New Year. I am welcoming 2009 with open arms.

Merry Christmas

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.
~Dr. Seuss~

Wishing you a very peaceful Christmas season.

Her Journey

Don’t think of her as gone away,
Her journey’s just begun.
Life holds so many facets,
This earth is only one.
Just think of her as resting
From the sorrow and the tears,
In a place of warmth and comfort,
Where there are no days and years.
Think how she must be wishing
That we could know today,
How nothing but our sadness
Can really pass away.
And think of her as living
In the hearts of those she touched,
For nothing loved is ever lost,
And she was loved so much.

My Sister Died Today.

Her name was Toni and she died of ALS. I've never known life without her. I will miss her very much.

My Furry Kids

Wordless Wednesday

Dedicated to my Sweetie on his birthday

Lil Tzu

I found this on my tzu group on Ravelry. Isn't she adorable?

What Color Flower Are You?

You Are a Blue Flower

A blue flower tends to represent peace, openness, and balance. At times, you are very delicate like a cornflower. And at other times, you are wise like an iris. And more than you wish, you're a little cold, like a blue hydrangea.

What Color Flower Are You?

Merry Christmas

Wishing you were here...

Quilt or Afghan?

I have been busy even though you can't tell by looking at this blog. I'm working on a baby blanket for my new little niece due in early October. I was inspired to try a crochet quilt when I came across the site, Happy Yellow House.com. I decided to try a version of the Baby Blocks quilt.

Hobby Lobby had Bernat cottontots yarn on sale last weekend for 40% off and I snatched up every skein they had of easter parade, strawberry, and grape berry. This yarn is so soft - I love working with it. And I love the idea of the baby blanket being a natural fiber, like cotton.

I've also been lurking over at Crochetville on a CAL thread called Every Happy House...There are pictures of some beautiful quilt-ghans.

I've realized that I have no shortage of initiative, because I have no trouble beginning projects with enthusiasm. My problem is actually finishing anything. I've thought about listing all of my WIPs on a single post, but it would take some time. Maybe I'll catagorize them by knit, crochet, needlepoint/cross-stitch, etc and list them separately at some point. Perhaps it will motivate me to bring some projects to completion.

In any case, I am determined to finish this crochet quilt in order to enter it in the county fair and also to ensure it makes it to the intended recipient in Maui prior to her actual arrival.

Meet Abby

She is the newest member of our family and Jasmine's little sister.

Abby is the sweetest little girl, but definitely has the shih tzu stubborn streak.

We love her.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Anniversary Sweetie

Four years ago I did the most romantic thing I have ever done. I married my sweetheart on Wailea Beach in Maui at sunset. We were barefoot and wearing Tommy Bahama clothing. I wore a haku lei in my hair and he wore a maile lei. I remember looking up at his tan, happy face and thinking "this is paradise." We were unaware of anything but the presence of our own little wedding party. Not only was it romantic, but it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. My new brother and sister-in-law were our witnesses. The minister and photographer were the only other souls I remember. The minister spoke of love and romance and gave a reading:

This ring is the symbol of the circle.
It has no beginning and no end.
It is the oldest symbol of God
And represents the eternal and
endless Love that links us together.

It was on this very special night that we both saw a moonbow.

In one way, it doesn't seem like four years have passed already. In another way, it seems like it has always been like this. You've changed my life and made me feel whole again.

Now we will feel no rain
For each of us will be shelter to each other.
And now we will feel no cold
For each of us will be warmth to each other.
Now there is no loneliness
We are two bodies, but there is one life before us and one home.
When evening falls, I'll look to you and there you'll be.
And I'll take your hand and you'll take mine
And we'll turn together and we'll look to the road we traveled to reach this-
The hour of our happiness.
It stretched far behind us, and our future lies ahead--
A long and winding road where every turning means discovery
All the hopes, new laughter, shared tears,
The adventure has just begun.

And it continues...

This is what was delivered to me today.


The delivery person said, "Are you Barbie? Somebody loves Barbie." That made me almost as happy as the flowers.

For it was not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart.
It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul.

Spring has finally, permanently sprung

Wordless Wednesday

Hug Someone Today

In memory and in honor of all those who died or were injured at Virginia Tech on April 16,2007

No More Mammograms

I’ve made a decision. I’m no longer going to allow myself to be screened for breast cancer by mammography. I have an appointment with my gynecologist next month and I am going to break the news to him then. Until he finds a local alternative for me, I will be relying on self-examination and, of course, his clinical examination.

This is not a decision I’ve made lightly. My mom had a mastectomy almost 28 years ago and I am considered high risk for breast cancer. In fact, I had my first mammogram before I was age 40. I’ve had about 4 or 5 mammograms total and the last two resulted in false positives. I can’t tell you the duress that caused me. And then to be told after re-testing that I have very dense breast tissue which caused shadows on the x-ray film. I’m not subjecting myself to that again!

Here are some things I’ve learned after reading extensively on the topic of mammography:

• That the American Cancer Society is “more interested in accumulating wealth than saving lives." This is according to the articles, Is the American Cancer Society more interested in cancer profit than cancer prevention? and The Cure Con: how you're being deceived by charities that claim to be racing for the cure for cancer and other chronic diseases.

• That there is no safe dose of radiation. Breast cancer is more easily caused by radiation than are other kinds of cancers. A mammogram delivers about 1,000 times more radiation than a chest x-ray, which may increase the risk of cardiovascular damage.

• By the time a mammogram can detect breast cancer, it has been present in your body for 8-10 years. If a tumor is large enough to be detected by a mammogram, it's already in an advanced stage, so very few cancers are caught in the earliest and most treatable stages.

• The compression required for mammograms can actually break down cancer tissue and rupture small blood vessels that support the cancer, causing it to spread. How is it that medical students are taught to examine breasts gently to keep any possible cancer from spreading, yet radiologists are allowed to manhandle them for a mammogram?

• Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 55. These statistics have not changed since the introduction of the mammogram over 30 years ago. Studies have shown that women who have mammograms suffer about the same rates of death due to breast cancer as women who do not have mammograms.

• Mammography has nothing to do with prevention -- it detects cancers that have already occurred (if you are lucky as there is a common occurrence of false negatives).

• Cancer is not a disease. Cancer is just a name given to a pattern of symptoms appearing as a natural result of certain metabolic functions caused by lifestyle decisions. Cancer can't be cured with chemicals. It's no germ.

• That there are safe alternatives to the mammogram, such as digital mammography, digital infrared thermography, and the MRI.

• One of the most trusted sites I have come across for unbiased information is Breast Cancer Action.

The next time your doctor says you're due for a mammogram, tell him you're interested in an alternative technique. If every women does this every time the word "mammogram" comes up, sooner or later the medical community will get the message: The day of the mammogram is almost done.

To blog or not to blog

One thing that I’ve recently realized is that I either need to get on with this blog or forget it.

What is paralyzing me?

I read a variety of blogs every day. And I think I’ve finally figured it out. Perhaps that is my problem. I need to focus my attention on my own space. That is not to say that I should become some kind of blog hermit, rather that I should stop focusing on my own inadequacies and begin writing about my accomplishments. The purpose of establishing this place was to motivate myself to accomplish more, not to magnify my shortcomings (to myself).

I read about awe-inspiring creative art/knitting/crochet/quilting/needlepoint as well as bloggers who read an infinite number of interesting books, garden, cook and write brilliantly. Do any of these prolific overachievers have a full time job? Just saying.

I am a perfectionist and a procrastinator. This is not a good combination. If I can’t do everything perfectly well, then I don’t do anything.

I am a slow knitter, but I do it well. I can write when I put my mind to it. I have a demanding job, but they like me there and I don’t mind going in most days.

I am going to give this blog thing my attention for awhile to determine if it really will help me the way I initially thought. No one comes here except me anyway, so it’s not as though I have anything to lose. And, in my own defense, a lot has happened in the past year. I will write more about that later.

Now on to thinking about my next blog post.

The Secret

Have you seen the DVD or read the book, The Secret? If you are one of the few who don't know what I'm talking about, go here to watch a snippet of the movie on YouTube.

We all know about parts of The Secret. You've heard of the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale.

When my daughter came home for Christmas, she was reading the book Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther and Jerry Hicks.

Now the film and book, The Secret, is making the concept of the universal law of attraction mainstream.

The New York and LA cosmopolitan crowd can make fun of The Secret to their heart's content, but this concept resonates with me because I used the law of attraction recently without realizing it.

I lived in the same small house for 21 years, part of that time with my ex-husband and part with my new husband. I raised my kids in that house. It was so past time for me to move from that house and I thought about it daily. I began waking up for several hours at night and I would fantasize about selling that home and buying a big, new, beautiful home. Soon I almost began to look forward to those sleepless nights. I would think about living in this new home in great detail and would go through my daily routine in the new house in my mind. I didn't share this with anyone, except to explain to my husband that I was having trouble sleeping and that I wanted a new home. That home sold in a little more than a week after listing it and we found our dream home about the same time. There were many obstacles we had to move through to reach the goal of the new home, but it happened! Down to many of the details I imagined during those sleepless nights.

After we moved into our new home, the sleepless nights stopped. I manifested my new home - in my mind.

Have you ever wondered what sets apart successful, happy people who are able to attain what they desire? See the film and you'll gain the insight.

I experienced it. I believe it.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought. - Buddha