January 31, 2012

January 31, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

We have another guitar lesson tonight. It's the first one in two weeks. For each of our lessons, we also invitenour instructor to stay with us for supper. He's getting all our favorite foods. Tonight we ate having fish tacos, with homemade pico de gallo.

January 30, 2012

January 30, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

The media specialist at Louisburg Elementary School is super creative. Every year at book fair time, she decorates the library according to the theme of it. I'm not sure what the theme is this year but when I got to school today, this surfer dude is what greeted me when I walked in the library.

January 29, 2012

January 29, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Patrick is growing up so fast! He can reach for people now, and likes to grab hold of noses and mouths. He thinks it's great fun to put foreheads together. We try to keep a camera within easy reach to capture these brief moments.

January 28, 2012

January 28, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Jon, Dottie and Patrick came in today. Patrick LOVES his daddy! He lights up whenever Jon walks in the room.

January 27, 2012

January 27, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Donald and I have been working to refinance our house since last October. After many setbacks (none of which were our fault), we finally closed last Friday and all money was disbursed yesterday. To celebrate, we had a nice dinner at Village Grill, which you can see on the right in this photo.

January 26, 2012

January 26, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Nothing says comfort like a big ol' pot of chicken and dumplings.

January 25, 2012

January 25, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I found this at work today. 512 MB of pure memory, with the accompanying directions for how to work a flash drive. Wonder how long it's been there?

January 24, 2012

January 24, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I spent a significant amount of time installing new computers in a computer lab today. That usually means lots of manual labor, extreme amounts of dust, and crawling underneath cabinets. Every once in a while, you see something unusual, like this note written on the underside of the counter. I can only imagine what a bad day that person must have been having.

January 23, 2012

January 23, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

It always amazes me to see seagulls so far inland.

January 22, 2012

January 22, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Sometimes when you talk to your friends about in laws, they have lots to complain about. I can honestly say I have never had a reason to complain about my in laws. They welcomed me into their family with open arms, and have loved me like I was their own child. That makes it especially hard to watch Mrs. Bryan suffer right now. We knew she was declining, but today we had Hospice come in to do an evaluation. Their prediction is a week or less. When I got to the nursing home tonight, they had brought coffee, tea and doughnuts for the family. It is a nice gesture during a very sad time.

January 21, 2012

January 21, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

When we went to see Mrs. Bryan today, three of her siblings were there visiting her! They have started Mrs. B on a new medicine, and she wasn't awake for much of the time.

I have been so fortunate to be a member of this family, and they have completely accepted as part of the family from day 1. Left to right we have Uncle Harold (86), Mrs. Bryan (almost 84), Uncle Lawrence (almost 83), and Aunt Pearl (89).

January 20, 2012

January 20, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Today's photo comes courtesy of a screen shot. I suppose that's cheating, but I give myself permission to cheat periodically. I've been hearing a lot about this website "pinterest" for many months now. I finally decided I needed to check it out. You have to request an invitation, and mine came through yesterday. Today, I'm muddling through and trying to figure it out. I think it's a virtual bulletin board where you can put all your favorite things. There's a social component built in where you follow people and they follow you. From what I hear it is addicting, but I'm not completely sold yet. Give me a few days.

January 19, 2012

January 19, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

The first thing I do when I get home from work each day is take off my shoes. Today, when I took off my shoes I noticed a very cold spot on my heel. I think it is time for new socks. If course, Thug thinks I'm taking HIS picture.

January 18, 2012

January 18, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

It's been a while since I've tried a photography experiment. Today I wanted to see if I could get something interesting while Donald was pouring a beer. It didn't turn out that interesting, but I still like it.

January 17, 2012

January 17, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

What you see here is a feeble attempt at making mozzarella sticks. I found a recipe where you bake them instead of frying and thought I'd give it a go. They tasted great, but as you can see, I have some work to do on the aesthetics.

January 16, 2012

January 16, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Ah, Sweet Frog! I don't know if any of you have noticed, but there seems to be yogurt shops popping up all over the place lately. My first introduction to Sweet Frog was in Concord over the holidays. They have a wall of yogurt, you get your cup and fill it with whatever flavors you want. Then there is the toppings bar with just about anything you can imagine. I was excited to find one in Raleigh today! Talk about an awesome afternoon snack!

January 15, 2011

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

We celebrated Dottie's 24th birthday today! Patrick was showing off his new skills in his bouncy swing!

January 14, 2011

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

Yep, today was my lucky day. I bought a $5.00 raffle ticket, and what do you know, they pulled my ticket to win this!

January 13, 2012

January 13, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

How many people do you know that can say they own a "Slice of the Ice"?

January 12, 2012

January 12, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Thug presented this photo to Donald for Christmas. It now has a place of prominence on our mantel.

January 11, 2012

January 11, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Last night was another guitar lesson night. One of the things I have discovered about being an adult learner is that learning something new is very frustrating. I want to be able to play (and play well) right away. Instead, I fumble through chord changes. I can get the right rhythm, but rarely hit the right chords. But I digress. That has nothing to do with today's photo other than it is about guitars. Mr. Bryan gave Donald this book a few years ago, and we both had forgotten about it. Donald re-discovered it last night after I had gone to bed, and left it on the kitchen counter for me to see this morning. I'm not going to lie, I got a little teary eyed from the inscription.

January 10, 2012

January 10, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Here's a glimpse of the amount of dust I deal with on a daily basis. This happens to be on an old switch that was pulled out of one of our schools.

January 9, 2012

January 9, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I got some new clothes over the holidays, and wore one of my new shirts today. Usually I wash my new things, and I thought I had with this shirt. I had to pull the tags off this morning, but decided to wear it without washing. (It's very hard to make a decision at dark-thirty.) Imagine my surprise when, at lunch time, I felt something on my shirt. Yep. Went all morning proudly displaying the size tag on the front of my shirt. Sometimes I wonder how I made it through college, much less to adulthood.

January 8, 2012

January 8, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

You have to use your imagination on this one. See that log on the ground? That marks the spot where a trail used to lead from our backyard into the woods. There's a small stream down there, with a little bridge over it. Once you cross the stream, it connects with another trail that leads to the lake. My dream is to clear out a very small area by the bridge and put some Adirondack chairs there. It just seems like that would be a very peaceful place to sit. Later on, on another day, I'll get some pictures of the stream.

January 7, 2011

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

We had a rare opportunity to go through Greensboro on our way home from Concord today. It was perfect timing for Maryanne and Megan to meet us at Natty Greene's! Spending time with old friends is like a shotnof adrenaline.

January 6, 2012

January 6, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I don't know if you have ever had pizza from Papa Murphy's or not, but it is very good. The concept is that they fix the pizza for you, but they don't bake it. You bring it home and bake it yourself. This is the perfect Friday night meal.

January 5, 2012

January 5, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Each year, we like to put chocolate santas in the girls' and Jon's stockings. This year, we could not find them anywhere. I even checked online, and the message was to click to be notified when the item became available. Reluctantly, Donald and I told Dottie and Jon the problems to avoid any disappointment on Christmas morning. Imagine my surprise when I came downstairs to find my stocking full with a chocolate Santa peeking out of the top! Dottie found them at the commissary and snatched up enough for all of us. Crisis averted.

January 4, 2012

January 4, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

We got a new kerosene heater this year. Liz ordered it for us from her new job at Northern Tools. We like this one because the heat is projected from the front, rather than in a circle like our other ones. It didn't take Thug long to figure out where he wanted to sit!

January 3, 2012

January 3, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

Recently Donald and I took a trip to Whole Foods and got some of their garlic rolls. I decided that I should try my hand at making them, and so was born another grand cooking experiment. I cheated and bought ready made pizza dough at Trader Joe's, rolled it out, cut it into strips and knotted them up. It worked so well the first time, we decided to repeat it tonight. It should go perfectly with spaghetti.

January 2, 2012

January 2, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

There's nothing quite as special as hands that span generations. Patrick got to see his great grandmother today, and they both loved the visit. Patrick laughed and grinned at Great Grandmommy the whole time.

January 1, 2012

January 1, 2012, a photo by bbryan on Flickr.

I can't think of a better way to start the new year than by spending time with family. Happy New Year everyone!