Dooda

Just randomly ran across this picture.  Awwwww!!  I miss my DooDa!!!!!!!!

I've Gone Mobile!

Ain't technology great?

I have listened to this song a million times.

This may be the best video of it yet.  2 kids lip-syncing in the back seat of a car. Perfection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNtoq6SJ3_A

The Tiny Heartbreak of a Full, Open Jar of Peanut Butter

If you had told me at any time over the past 13 years that a jar of peanut butter could break my heart a little, I'd have said you were crazy.  Remember this post?   http://thecolloquialtimes.blogspot.com/2008/05/gretas-weird-eating-habits.html

She has, I must say, one heck of a  great gray beard.

We have become so accustom to putting food up here that it is just automatic. 

Until today. 

At 7:09pm, while eating my dinner of salad and triscuits and peanut butter (don't judge), I got a wild hair to go to the beach and read and watch the sunset.  I dashed into the kitchen, put everything away (I thought), and headed off.  When I got back at 8, I was stunned to see that almost full jar of peanut butter, still sitting precariously perched near the edge of the counter, open.  OPEN.  ON THE COUNTER.  WITHIN REACH OF THE EDGE. And I instinctively started looking around to see where the rest of the peanut butter was.  Which cabinets and furniture had peanut butter smeared all over them.  How bad the beard/ leg fur damage was going to be. 

Then it dawned on me.  There was actually an almost full, open jar of peanut butter on the counter.  And it was Undisturbed. 

And my heart broke, just a little. 

My baby girl. My high-maintenance, always-in-to-something, can't-take-your-eyes-off-her-because-she-is-totally-untrustworthy, girl, didn't touch it. I don't know if she just slept through me being gone, or if her smeller isn't working well, or if those old hips just wouldn't allow her to counter-surf, but I'm just sitting here bawling like a baby.  It's a sad thing, isn't it?  When your furry kids start really slowing down?

So now, I think I'll go hug on her and give her a dog biscuit.  Slathered, of course, with peanut butter. 

I've always loved the gymnastics

This is pretty cool.  I'd like to see some of these graceful moves make a comeback. 


http://kottke.org/12/08/evolution-of-the-uneven-bars-in-womens-gymnastics

Ozzie says Good Morning!

My friend Lauren's rescued whoknowswhatschnauzer after a long walk in the NOLA heat.  Such a happy little guy!!

Malapropi-fantastic

Stuff I've heard lately that made my eyes bug out:

• "That project is on hold so now we are all just in jumbo."
• "They can't really affect the denominator of the ratio, so they have to change the nominator."
• "Most of those 28,000 jobs are defense-related, but also most of them are non defense-related" (not a malapropism, but still...)
• "There is more to this problem than you can possibly phantom."

I heart Charlotte

Seen: At work

$.50 to the person who comes up with the best explanation of why there is money in the toilet. 

Have I mentioned lately

That I love my niece's heart out?

A cool thing I found

 This is super cool.  It gets cool @ 1:30

http://kottke.org/12/07/frazil-ice-natures-slushee

"unnecessary" "quotation" "marks"

 "However, the plan should be in “writing” to establish limits and alternative sources of liquidity."

(and in this case, unnecessary Bold as well).

Pastoral? In Starkville?? Why, yes!

Sally and I went riding around in the country looking for an antique store we used to go to when I was at school at Mississippi State.  The antique store had shut down, but we found a field full of sheep we just had to stop and photograph.  I had my new camera with me, and I'm trying to learn how to use it.  I would say I know about .25% of what I need to know.  But still, I got a couple of good shots by accident.  This place was gorgeous, the weather was gorgeous, and my company couldn't have been better :)  It was a pretty awesome Saturday. 

World's most perfect tree?

Sheep!  Baaaaaaaaaaah.  They were so cute.

I like the composition on this one sort of.  And I'm impressed that I know the word composition.

And here's one Sally took. With her IPhone. Damn it all. The color is so much better than mine. Look at that sky!!!!  Look at the composition!  Of course, she is a professional artist and I am an accountant, so I'm going to use that as an excuse. 

I need to know how to fix this please.  The color I mean, not that I'm an accountant.

Honey badger don't care about GRAVITY

Yeah, that's Jason in the background trying to hide from the camera.  And yes, she put herself in this position on purpose.  Because she is weird. 

What I could not resist



A pelican plant waterer, a white camel planter, and two little terriers to put in a garden container.

The pelican goes with my other old birdie waterer.  I've had this one for YEARS - never had seen another one.

Things I didn't buy, but may regret later

I collect snack sets.  Had never seen one like this, but it was missing 2 cups, and I have rules. 

Geometric-y milk glass candy dish.  But I'm looking for a sugar bowl.

"unnecessary" quotes that made me go "hmmmm..."

Seen in some antique store - can't remember where. 

Vintage postcard in antique store.

Random stuff that makes me smile:

Synchronized Schnauzers

Dreamy cake stands



Ask me how much I wanted to steal these from my tenant!!!



One Little Word

This year is going to be all about improving and learning for me.  I am tired of being tired, sad, unmotivated, and hermit-ish.  And I know only I can lift myself out of it.  What motivates me most?  Learning.  Gardening.  Crafting.  Taking photos. So I'm going to learn how to do all of those things better. 

And out of the blue (serendipity), a couple of weekends ago, my friend Christy told me about this website: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/

Classes about scrapbooking, photography, and life.  I'm STOKED!!!!! 

Christy has taken a bunch of their classes, but she told me about one that particularly peaked my interest.  It's called:

This is exactly the class I needed for the beginning of the year. (And yes, I DO believe that people and things are put in your path for a reason.)  The 411 on the class is that you think of one word that speaks to what you want to think about and do and be for the next year.  You will be with the same word all year.  And honestly, coming up with mine was super easy.  It came to me while Christy was telling me about the class. 

LIFT

It's exactly what I want to do with myself this year.  So here's my first completed assignment: to define my word and what my word means to me. The assignments are great, they give you very specific instructions about supplies, what to use, what to put where, etc.  Another sign of serendipity?  I bought a pack of these divided page protectors last year not having a clue how I would use them, but I just knew I needed them.

I'm really hopeful that this will give me the motivation to get myself to a better place by the end of the year.

Alisa Burke sketch class

Back in July, my Mom and I enrolled in Alisa Burke's sketchbook delight class for my birthday.  It's a self-paced, 6 weeks-ish class, but I'm just now finishing it up.  It was GREAT though.  Very inspirational. My biggest "art" challenge (I call it "art" because I don't really consider my piddling around with art supplies to be art), is just to get up the courage to start.  The class gives specific assignments, so I wasn't just staring at a blank page with infinite possibilities in front of me.  That's a little too overwhelming for me. 

So the class really helped me get motivated, and I've been doodling a lot more.  Alisa talks a lot about creating patterns and finishing pages.  I've kept doing these pages.  I drew this one last weekend @ my Mom's while we were sitting around talking with the girls.  I'm liking the colors a lot. 

The little brush in my kit is a KOI water brush.  I LOVE this thing.  It holds water in the barrel and you just squeeze it out.  It is so much less trouble and I can paint anywhere...the beach, on a plane, etc.  Easy Cheesy.  I got mine at Mo's Art Supply and Framing in Covington, LA during the Three Rivers Arts Festival, but you can order them online too.  This is the medium size. 

And no, I'm not getting any $ from promoting these products (wouldn't that be nice LOL!), the are just things I love. 

http://www.alisaburke.com/onlineworkshops.html  (She has a lot of different ones, I will be taking more.)

www.mosartsupply.com

http://www.amazon.com/Koi-Water-Brush-ML-Sakura/dp/B004O45GJI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1327867748&sr=8-5

Tulip Street

Jason asked me the other day if I missed Baton Rouge.  There are things I miss....my garden friends, my neighbors, my own garden, my credit unions, my coworkers.  But a lot of the things I miss most about Baton Rouge aren't there any more.  Fiona and Greg, sitting on the porch solving the world's problems and smooching up their babies, Peggy, my partner in crime of many sorts, Mac and Jill and our standing weekly date to watch Lost  or a really cheesy movie.  There really was nothing like Tulip Street in the early 2000's.  I swear one day I will write a book about the fun, hilarious, and heartbreaking incidents of those years. 

In the meantime, I am thrilled that the tenants in our house are awesome.  Taking extra good care of the house and garden.  And the house is still full of the pitter patter of 4 legged babies.  Here are my tenants' babies, Lula and Marty.  So sweet and cute!

 

The garden is looking great there.  I'm very happy with the way things are growing and maturing, coming back year after year.  Most thrilling is the Lisbon Lemon tree, which is LOADED with lemons right now!  I picked a few last week when we went to check on the house.  These lemons are HUGE and DELICIOUS.  Very sweet, just the right amount of tart. 

Can you believe this is how it looks in the middle of January?  It's crazy!  We've had a very mild winter.  I'll add a Picasa album link over on the right sidebar so you can see more of it, but I won't be able to until I get home to my personal computer next weekend. 

Yes, I'm still here.

Holidays, work, vacation, depression.  I have lots of stuff to share.  You may get 10 blog posts one day and none for a few more, so bear with me while I try to count my blessings and wade through the weeds to  find the important things.  Hope you are still here with me!