To celebrate the last day of 2011, Donald and I decided to visit the new Nature Preserve Park, Awl's Haven, which is close to our house. This is one of the many beautiful sites we saw. Oh, and see that bench on the right hand side? When we walked up, there was a couple on the bench who were, shall we say, slightly preoccupied? I guess they had their own ideas about how to celebrate the end of the year.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
December 30, 2011
Patrick got to spend a little time with his god parents tonight. This is Ariana and Matt, Dottie and Jon's best friends respectively. They love him as much as we do.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
December 29, 2011
Donald and I met Nancy and Joe at Bahama Breeze for an early supper tonight. We always like to have our picture made in front of the tree. Can you tell we're sisters?
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
December 28, 2011
Time to de-deck the halls, or in our case, de-deck the deck. It humors me that Thug is trying to figure out what in the world I'm doing.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
December 27, 2011
Here's my best buddy sporting the new collar Santa brought him. For the most part he likes it, but when he eats his tags hit the bowl and that scares him. I had to dump his food on the floor so he would eat!
Monday, December 26, 2011
December 26, 2011
Santa brought my mother a new laptop this year! Luckily, one of his elves could spend some time with her and give her a lesson. One of his other elves was on hand to take today's photo. (Thanks Nancy!)
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
December 24, 2011
Patrick has discovered a new talent: rolling over. He rolled over this afternoon, and promptly propped himself up on his elbows. As much as I'm looking forward to him growing up, I would like for him to slow down just a little bit.
Friday, December 23, 2011
December 23, 2011
Merry Christmas Eve Eve! For many years we had a party to attend on this night. Now, we are celebrating at home with Fritos and Holiday Dip (one of Mrs. Bryan's specialties).
Thursday, December 22, 2011
December 22, 2011
I haven't talked too much about the guitar lessons lately, so I thought tonight I would show you what I'm working on. On the left are the chords for the song Bad Moon Rising. It's a simple song to play, only three chords. However, it's really, really hard. For me, the chord changes are quite difficult, and I can't do them fast enough to make the song recognizable. I've been working on this for the last two weeks. Hopefully I'll get it eventually. In the meantime, I'm still having fun.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
December 20, 2011
You can tell it's getting harder and harder to come up with ideas for photos. I spotted the Quizno's cup on my way back from lunch today. I can't think of a more miserable job.
Monday, December 19, 2011
December 19, 2011
Frosty the Snowman visited school today. He walked the hallways while "Stars and Stripes Forever" was played over the intercom. I'm not sure of that connection, but it was still funny and cute.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
December 17, 2011
Patrick is a morning person! He wakes up happy, and coos and laughs. It was worth waking Donald up to take part in the fun.
Friday, December 16, 2011
December 16, 2011
For the last two years, we have not had an indoor tree. Instead, we have had a tree outdoors on our deck. It's kind if nice if you ask me, and I really don't miss an indoor tree at all.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
December 15, 2011
I don't have very many bad days, but today was one of the worst I've had in a long, long time. It was so bad that I locked myself in the server room so I could work without anyone interrupting me. (Very unlike me. Usually I want to be around people.) Around lunch time, I decided I needed a little treat so I went to Harris Teeter to get some sushi. The sushi chef started talking to me and asked what I liked. He made this plate just for me, with only my favorites. For you non-sushi eaters, this is a plate of tuna and salmon. You can't see it, but there's a ball of rice just below the fish.
And it was delicious.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
December 13, 2011
I spent the majority of my time today attempting to image a new computer. It usually takes about 20 minutes to push out an image, then there is time spent updating, then we pull a new image to store on the server. All in all, it takes a couple of hours at the most. If you look closely, you can see that my time remaining is 12:59:20. That would be HOURS! And by the time I thought to take the picture, it had been running for 1:44! Crazy, isn't it?
As it turns out, there's a problem with communication to the server and that's what is taking so long.
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 12, 2011
This is not what I had intended to take a picture of tonight. But, he was trying to be so good and patient in the kitchen that he made me laugh. He's hoping I'll open the refrigerator and give him a carrot, his favorite treat.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
December 11, 2011
Today was the annual cookie party at my friend Lesley's house. It's always so much fun to come home and go through the bag to see what different types of cookies we have. This year, in addition to the yummy cookies, we got cake and a bottle of homemade salsa! Donald was especially excited about that.
Meringue Cookies
Several people have asked for the Meringue Cookie recipe, so here it is! They are super easy to make.
3 egg whites
1 Cup sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
dash salt
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (I use pecans)
Preheat oven to 350.
Put egg whites in bowl, start mixer. Add sugar, vinegar and salt. Beat at high speed for 15 minutes, by the clock. Stir in nuts. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheets. Put cookies in oven, turn oven off. Bake for 45 minutes without opening oven door. Let stand 5 minutes before removing from pan. (I typically leave mine in for more than 45 minutes, it really doesn't hurt them. And sometimes I'll even leave them in there all night.)
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
December 9, 2011
Oh, how Friday nights have changed over the years. These days, they're spent on the couch with the iPad.
December 8, 2011
I am an official NPR junkie now. I donated this year.
(Sorry for the delay in posting this. We had internet issues at home last night.)
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
December 7, 2011
Our guitar instructor was gracious enough to let me photograph him playing after our lesson. I hope I can get half as good as he is one day.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
December 6, 2011
There's something about this tree that intrigues me. You first saw it this summer here. You can kind of tell how big it is by the buildings. I'm sure it was here long before the school was. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture before they pruned it a bit.
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
It's December. Why are there wish balls popping up all over the place? (These happened to be outside of Louisburg Elementary School.)
Sunday, December 4, 2011
December 4, 2011
It's kind of hard to see, but right in the center of this photo is a pileated woodpecker! I was afraid to take the time to swap the lens, and I was right. Shortly after taking this he flew away.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
December 3, 2011
Donald and I went shopping today with my mother, sister and brother in law. We all laughed when we saw this old telephone booth and thought we should combine the old with the new.
Friday, December 2, 2011
December 2, 2011
Let me start this post by saying I really dislike driving home in the dark these days. However, I do enjoy that I get to see the sunset every day on my way home. One of the things I like the best about it is the trees against an orange sky. I actually took this one from within the car. It's not always convenient to stop and get out to get a good shot. Maybe someday soon I'll find a good place to pull over and can perfect these.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
December 1, 2011
Happy December! In addition to turning the calendar, Donald got out my favorite Christmas mug for my coffee! Somehow, the morning was a little better after drinking coffee from this cup. Ah, the simple things in life. That's what it's all about, right?
Oh, and remember when I went to the eye doctor here? I got a call that my new lenses were in so I went to pick them up today. And.....they ordered the wrong ones. The ones they did order were much bigger than what I have now. I told them no thank you, I want lenses exactly like I have now. So I'm still waiting.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
November 30, 2011
We resumed our guitar lessons tonight. We decided to go with a new instructor, and the person we chose just happens to be our son in law's best friend, Matt. He came to our house, and gave us a personal one on one lesson. In return, we paid him, of course, but we also fed him supper. After just one lesson with him, we know we have chosen the right instructor. He's already teaching us chords to play a Creedance Clearwater Revival song!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
November 29, 2011
I hope you don't mind, but I'm pulling a picture from last week instead of one that I took today. This was taken on Thanksgiving day right before Liz left to go back to Concord. I just loved this.
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
Isn't it funny how you get attached to some things? My parents gave me these bedroom shoes about 20 years ago and I still love them. Donald calls them my elf shoes.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
November 27, 2011
All good things must come to an end, so they say. We decided to end our vacation with lunch at our favorite spot. It was Patrick's first time at a restaurant on the water, and he celebrated by sleeping through lunch. He woke up just in time to get his picture made with his parents.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
November 26, 2011
I want to soak up as many of these moments as I possibly can. I love to talk to Patrick, and he loves to listen. He has recently discovered he has hands, and keeps showing them to us. I'm going to miss this little guy when our vacation comes to an end tomorrow. (And special thanks to the guest photographer, my son in law Jon.)
Making Some Changes
I am making some changes around here. I realized that when I link my photos from my flickr account, it is cutting off the right hand side. For some reason, it doesn't let me edit the photo once it's on the blog, so I'll be changing the template until I find the one I like the best and that doesn't cut off any of the picture.
Friday, November 25, 2011
November 25, 2011
We took Patrick to Enchanted Airlie tonight, with the hopes he would see Santa. The line was really, really long and we didn't think standing still with a 2 month old in the cold was a good idea. So, we just walked around and looked at the lights. I liked how this one turned out.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
November 22, 2011
Happy Birthday to my best little buddy! To celebrate, he got to go for a car ride with stops at a roadside produce stand, Home Depot, and the pet store! He even got to pick out two new toys! Here we're waiting in the car for Donald to come out of Home Depot. I guess I'm destined to always ride shotgun.
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
I did not come prepared for the unseasonably warm weather we are having. Yesterday afternoon, Donald and I took a quick trip to Kohl's where I found these flip flops on the clearance rack for $1.00. AND, I had a 20% off coupon. Not too bad if you ask me!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
November 20, 2011
It's almost Turkey Time! We decided that since we are celebrating this year in Wilmington, we needed to decorate. I think Mr. Turkey is quite festive.
On a side note, the other day I told Donald I wanted his next wood working project to be building me planters for our front porch. He laughed and said, "Wait 'til we get to Wilmington!" See that planter in the background on the right? His dad made that for his mother years ago. I guess great minds really do think alike.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
November 10, 2011
One of the things Donald is really good at is seeing the potential in things most of us would throw out. For instance, he recently brought back an old grill from his parents house in Wilmington that was no good. It was in the car headed for the landfill when he had an inspiration. We've been wanting a fire pit, and have been shopping around trying to decide what we like the best. He realized the old grill would be perfect, and here he's building a base to go around it. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
Friday, November 18, 2011
November 18, 2011
Donald was lucky enough to go see Patrick today. This is how he was greeted when he walked in the door. Do you think Patrick was happy to see his granddaddy?
Thursday, November 17, 2011
November 17, 2011
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but does this belong in a classroom? I know we all need boxes sometimes, and I know that these are good boxes, but aren't there other ones that would work for an elementary classroom?
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
November 16, 2011
This is the price of poor eyesight, folks. You read that right, $549.60. And that does not include new frames. That is strictly the cost of new lenses. Of course, they make you feel like you get a good deal when it started at $931. And do you want to know the truth? It's worth it. I will always pay extra so I don't look like I'm wearing coke bottles.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
November 15, 2011
I saw this on a bulletin board in a classroom I visited today. Needless to say, I had to point out that it might not be a good idea to have it on display. She had been so focused on the human statue that she never noticed the sign in the background.
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
I noticed these seed pods on a tree outside of school today. They fascinated me because of how they spiral. I have no idea what the tree is, and I hope I remember to look in the spring to see what the leaves look like. In the meantime, my friend Kim that works here called it a "worm tree". So for now, that's what it is. Thanks Kim! As a bonus, I took a wide range shot so you can see just how many pods are hanging. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
November 13, 2011
I haven't talked much about the guitar lessons lately. We had only signed up for four, and those ended last week. In the meantime, we are going to have one of Jon's friends give us lessons here at home. This is what it looks like when I practice, chords on the left, assignment on the right.
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