October 31, 2011

October 31, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I did something very uncharacteristic of me today. I took a day off of work. We've been gone so much on the weekends, that there hasn't been much time to get the little every day things done, like grocery shop. I knew if I didn't get to the store soon, I would be brushing my teeth with water. Anyway, my day off also allowed me time to try a cooking experiment I've been wanting to try. See all those ingredients? I mixed them together (with a cup of water), put them into muffin cups, and baked them.

Those simple ingredients turned in to all these muffins that taste like pumpkin bread! I will absolutely make these again!

October 30, 2011

October 30, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I came to Fayetteville this weekend to help Dottie while Jon was in the field. He's been gone for 10 days, and is not due to come home until Tuesday or Wednesday. Imagine our surprise when he walked through the door this morning! He only got to stay for 2 hours, but Dottie and Patrick were so happy to see him. (And I was, too.)

October 29, 2011

October 29, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I had to work hard for this little smile. He's just starting to figure out that he can do that. The best part of all this, though, is that while I was talking to him, he was cooing back. Completely melted my heart.

October 28, 2011

October 28, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

What you see here represents complete and total lack of will power. We had a tech team retreat today in Cameron Village. After lunch, I decided I needed (wanted) just a little something sweet so I stopped in the grocery store. They had lots of things I like, and I couldn't decide so I bought them all. And they were good, too.

October 27, 2011

October 27, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Every once in a while, I still get nostalgic for my life in Concord. Don't get me wrong, I love my life now living in Raleigh being married to Donald. But sometimes I miss my family and the friends I had there, particularly my work friends. Since I travel between three schools, I really don't have much time to bond with people and form those close friendships. I do have friends, and I'm always glad to see everyone when I get to each of my schools. It's just different. This stained glass butterfly was a gift from the media specialist in Concord. We had a wonderful working relationship and always shared birthday presents. When I see it, it reminds me of a time gone by.

October 26, 2011

October 26, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I thought you all might like to see what fall looks like in our back yard. Living in the woods like we do means lots and lots of leaves. And this is just the beginning.

October 25, 2011

October 25, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

My friends from college won't be surprised to see my desk area at home. It looks amazingly similar to my dorm room. All I can say is it's a good thing I don't work from home.

October 24, 2011

October 24, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

We're having some work done on our house, including replacing the siding on these dormers. You can see what bad shape they're in by the one on the right. The one on the left was replaced today.

October 23, 2011

October 23, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

There's enough lap and love for everyone.

October 22, 2011

October 22, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Patrick is growing! We haven't seen him in two weeks, and in just that little bit of time he's already focusing on faces and other objects. He was paying so much attention to his mother!

October 21, 2011

October 21, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Here's what our evenings are looking like these days.

October 20, 2011

October 20, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Hello from Rudolph.

October 19, 2011

October 19, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Media classes at one of my schools just finished reading "A Year Down Yonder" by Richard Peck. As a culminating activity, the media specialist hosted a tea party for all the classes. They drank out of real tea cups, and enjoyed pastries (pop tarts), butter mints and grapes. The "tea" was fruit punch. Many of these students have never experienced a tea party, lots of them even dressed up!

October 18, 2011

October 18, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

We had our second guitar lesson tonight. It's getting harder. I'm going to have to figure out some finger stretching exercises to help reach all the chords I need to reach. Across the street from the music store is a sushi restaurant. We treated ourselves to a nice plate of sashimi. It was some of the best I've ever had.

October 17, 2011

October 17, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I apologize for the terribleness of this picture, but I was in a bit of a hurry when I saw it. You can't really tell from the picture, but those bags are full of stone ground corn meal. It seems like someone didn't know where to put them, so they put them in the doughnut case. I'm still trying to figure out the logic in that one.

October 16, 2011

October 16, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Donald is showing off our latest roadside find! In addition to these cute-as-a-button swings, there was also a golf bag which will upgrade the one Donald has.

October 15, 2011

October 15, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

This pretty much sums up everything you need to know about my grandmother Mary. She has always had the best sense of humor, and loves to laugh.

October 14, 2011

October 14, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I had my first experience cooking with puff pastry tonight. I saw a recipe on the Taste of Home website that I thought looked fantastic (www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Onion-Brie-Appetizers) so I wanted to try it. As you can see, mine don't look anything like the picture on the website. But, we liked the way it turned out, and I know I need to tweak it a bit. I bought sweet onions, and they tasted almost like candy. Next time, I'll buy regular yellow onions and try that. I'll also roll the dough out a little thinner and see what happens.

October 13, 2011

October 13, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Hello, Thug! You sure were happy to see us when we got home from dining out tonight!

October 12, 2011

October 12, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

The generosity of others sometimes humbles me. I met one of the after school teacher assistants a few weeks ago, and haven't seen her since. When I ran into her at school today, she had knitted this pair of booties for my grandson. To say I was touched would be an understatement.

October 11, 2011

October 11, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Remember the guitar I got for my birthday? Today I had my first lesson! Actually, Donald and I are taking lessons together! It went well, they started with a lot of theory and not much playing. But, we do have homework and are supposed to practice at least 10 minutes each day.

October 10, 2011

October 10, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Somedays I feel like a shadow of my regular self. Today was one of those days.

October 9, 2011

October 9, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

We lucked out and got to see Patrick while he was awake today! He's such a good baby. He only cries when he's hungry, and he's sleeping about 3 hours at a time. When I look at him, I see a combination of both the Bryan and Cole families. Our lives have already been enriched by this little fella.

October 8, 2011

October 8, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Donald and i are never spontaneous. However, on a whim, we decided to come to Wilmington this weekend. He worked in the yard all day today, and I went shopping. I even got a pair of jeans at Old Navy for $9.75!

One of the things we love to do is go out for appetizers. We came to Blue Water tonight, and while we were there, this boat docked with three young guys on board. We couldn't decide if they were poor little rich boys or the crew that was transporting the boat from one location to another. Either way, it must be tough to have a yacht with a Boston Whaler as the dingy.

October 7, 2011

October 7, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Another photo from 'Round the House! I have probably shared this before, and I apologize if I have. I have always loved face jugs. Donald and I went to the state fair a few years ago, and this is the only size I could afford. Maybe one day I can get a bigger one or one that is an antique. That would be great.

October 6, 2011

October 6, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

We're building a new tower at work to increase the speed and reliability of our network. They started digging this hole on Tuesday, and the first bucket of dirt they pulled up also cut the main internet feed into our entire district. We were completely down the majority of the afternoon. Yesterday they poured the foundation, today the concrete had set and they're going to fill in the hole soon.

October 5, 2011

October 5, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

This is one of the classroom pets in one of my media centers. It's hard to tell from this picture, but his back legs are paralyzed. The media specialist found him in her pond and brought him in to school to increase his chances of surviving. I call him Mr. Turtle.

October 4, 2011

October 4, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

As hard as this is to believe, I had a little extra time on my way in to work this morning. That used to happen all the time, but now only happens once in a while. As a matter of fact, most days it's hard for me to be on time at all. Anyway, there's this park just down the street from one of my schools, and I've been wanting to go and check it out, so I took the opportunity this morning. As near as I can tell, it used to be an old farm and they have preserved some of the buildings. There are beautiful walking trails, and maybe one day during lunch I can go and enjoy it some more. The building on the left was the old mule barn, the far right building is an old tobacco barn, the short building in the middle was the chicken coop, and the building just behind that was the home. Kind of a neat thing to do early in the morning.

October 3, 2011

October 3, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Another photo from 'Round the House today. I saw this pelican in a store at Holden Beach and fell in love with it. I didn't buy it because I didn't want to spend the money. My sister in law Linda surprised me with it!

October 2, 2011

October 2, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Guess who we got to see today? I wish we could see him every day, but I'm happy to see him on the weekends.

October 1, 2011

October 1, 2011, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Today we surprised my uncle with a birthday party! He'll be 81 on Monday. Since I don't get to see him very often, the party was a bit bittersweet for me. He is getting quite feeble, and is just about skin and bones. But, it's always good to see him, and he loves to talk.