This coming Wednesday is my first day back at work since the summer began. Classes won't begin until the end of August, but faculty has to report in on the 15th for Convocation Week. Lots of seminars & Division Meetings & syllabi prep.
I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, I adore my job & everything that comes with it & am looking forward to getting the fall semester rolling. On the other hand, I have many projects that I wish I had more time to finish. There never seems to be enough time for DIY projects when the teaching starts!
I'm hoping my organization plans for the blog are going to help keep me on track..hoping, but not hopeful-- I am the Queen of Chaos, its my natural state, & organizational plans have never been my strong suit...I try. I love lists & chalkboards & notebooks & fancy ways of keeping oneself on track. I just never seem to remember to things once they've been written down {including remembering to check the list}.
For now I still have a few days & so much to do...
Coffee is drunk. Breakfast bar has been consumed. Pictures have been taken & I am at least mostly dressed {sweat pants & a t-shirt don't really count as fully dressed in my book...anything I'd have to change before exiting the house in is just marginally above pj's}. Tomorrow, according to our chalkboard, is the all day soccer jamboree for Thing 3, so today is the day to get caught up on housework {Sunday is for sleeping in & video games & old cartoons & lounging with the family}.
All right, I've dilly dallied enough, time to get busy.
What have you got going for this fine Friday & the weekend to follow?
Showing posts with label snapping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snapping. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Kickin' It 'Round the Web Wednesday~*
Last night was Thing 3's first game as a high schooler & she was absolutely awesome~*
Right now, coach is moving them around the field to see where they fit best, so technically it wasn't a game...or I suppose you'd call it a preseason game maybe? Anyway, our Thing 3 was in the game 90% of the time {with two brief breaks each half} & she played all her positions like a pro...sorry about the extensive # of soccer pics, proud mom moment...
The kids are back in school today {sans a few classrooms in the basement of the school that are still drying out}. This Saturday is a big soccer jamboree fundraiser thingamabob {still have a little while before the first cross country meet for Thing 2 & then things will start getting particularly nuts 'round here}.
I was never an athlete {I was the asthmatic bookish nerd in the drama club type o'kid}-- any of you all play sports?
But its Web Surfin' Wednesday-- so here are some things you oughta check out!
- Here is a great interactive video of every medalist in the 100m, from the 1896 Olympics forward...{we are HUGE Usain Bolt fans, what with Thing 2 running track...}
- And this event made us all tear up-- there is something so noble in his refusal to give up...
- Here is something cute...one, two, three awwwwww
- As previously noted, I am a big reader...& this photo set has to be one of the most beautiful things ever...
- I've been thinking about rearranging furniture since stumbling upon this site
- I totally covet the Nautilus House {how awesome are these places?}
- I'm a big fan of lists of things you should read/do/see before you die {wouldn't want to miss anything!}, and here is a great one
- And speaking of art, I could spend hours wandering this site
- And here is some art drawn by nature in the sky
- And lastly, one for the Über-nerds out there {yes honey, I'm lookin' squarely at you}
I'm part of the Wonderful Wednesday Link Party-- a great way to meet new bloggers, find new blogs & gain new followers. Click the button below & join in the fun!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Rainy Day Ramblings
It is absolutely pouring outside, which has put me in a lazy frame of mind. Thunder booming & rain on the tin roof & its all I can do not to go take an undeserved nap. I doubt much will get done today on my part. Ah well, there is always tomorrow. Thank god its summertime, eh?
Today is the 3rd day of our diet. Sunday was fruit, Monday was vegetable & today is both. Last night was a bit of a crisis point. My husband teaches an evening class Mondays & Wednesdays, & had gotten in the habit of stopping for fast food on the way home. And he usually brought me fries. I had half hoped he would break the diet, & he almost had. I'm a sucker for fries, & he's a sucker for burgers, & we missed them a lot & mourned a bit before bed.
This diet isn't strictly a vanity project, though both the hubs & I do want to lose a little weight. We wanted to shock our systems a bit-- to start thinking about food in another way. We had been eating easy, what was quick, what was handy. We were eating out too much. We sort of lost touch with nutrition, if you know what I mean {and if you do, congratulations, seeing as I don't know exactly what I mean half the time}. Not to sound too terribly cliche, but we wanted to reboot our attitude toward food. And its working.
It is truly amazing how many fruits and vegetables there are. I know that sounds silly, but bear me out. I adore vegetables but am not as fond of fruit as I ought to be. Whenever I think of fruit, I think of apples, bananas & oranges, but when I think of vegetables the list is endless. My husband is the same way in the opposite direction-- he adores fruit but his vegetable go the succotash route {green beans, corn & carrots}.
The diet has enlightened us both-- reminded us of the wide varieties available & all the food options that come with them.
Like pluots. What a delicious wonder.
Its still raining.
When I went out to take pictures of the rain {which is remarkably difficult to do, incidentally} I met an unexpected visitor hoping across the driveway.
We found two wee little froggies the other day when watering the front garden, whom we named Mumford & Son. But this fellow was huge, as big as my fist, and completely unconcerned with the rain, or the fool standing in it trying to snap his portrait. He took his own sweet time, stopping, hopping, languidly crossing the drive.
The white line on the asphalt was from one of my craft projects that I painted & missed in the driveway. I think it confused him a bit. He hoped his way too it in slow motion, stopped, turned this way then that. Maybe he was waiting for the starter's gun. Finally he passed through the puddle, circumventing the line all together.
I wish Thing 3 was home. She would have done a much better job photographing him & he deserved it a bit of photographic panache. He was lovely & bumpy & a beautiful red {& made me oh so glad both of our cats were inside}. Eventually he passed in to the grass that desperately needs mowing & was gone.
I'll show the pictures to the Things when they get home & then we'll give him a name.
And still it rains.
I should do laundry.
But no, not yet. When the rain passes. There is still time. That's what summer is for~*
Monday, June 18, 2012
Nina's Garden
I got some more of Thing 3's pics up on her page! You can check out her work, and my Mom's garden at the same time by following the link ~*
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Saturday in Pictures~*
Here are some pics from yesterday & this morning's festivities~*
We have been working on Thing 2's room, & will continue to do so tomorrow-- pics will follow on Monday!
How is your weekend going?
We got the credenza at a considerable discount from what they had originally quoted. My Dad is the Haggler King~*
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| My eldest niece, the birthday girl/ my youngest nephew/Me, my Mom, My Sis, My youngest niece, My Bro-In-Law/ The Birthday Girl getting a Feliz Cumpleanos |
And Today...
We have been working on Thing 2's room, & will continue to do so tomorrow-- pics will follow on Monday!
How is your weekend going?
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Grandma's Glasses~*
Operation Dumpster, Day 1 went off without a hitch. Lots of work done, but lots more yet to do. We are all a bit sore from hauling, but proud of what we've accomplished. That said, I sincerely doubt y'all want to see a picture of our job well done {the inside of a dumpster is not attractive at the best of times, & certainly far less so filled with our garbage}. You're just gonna have to trust me on this one~*
When I was older & on my own, Grandma gave the glasses to me-- the full set, every last gorgeous one of them. Over the years a few of them broke-- either by accident while in use, or when moving them. Once I put them on a freshly painted shelf & later, when I went to take one down, I realized too late they had stuck-- the one I went to grab pulled apart with the base stuck on the shelf & the glass & stem in my hand. I felt like I beheaded it, & I was devastated. I've been devastated every time one has broken-- the Things even joke about my "bubble glasses," & how in the event of a fire I would be running in & out of the inferno carrying my glasses two at a time.
We do use them on very special occasions {the adults use them at Christmas, for example-- and Thing 1 got to use one at her graduation party} & I wash all of them by hand a few times a year to remove the dust & admire their delicate glow. Several years ago, after Grandma had past away, I realized that one of the glasses still had a manufacturer's sticker barely readable on the bottom. It was red & silver & well worn, but I could make out a name & I thought maybe I would be able to find them, to replace the ones that had broken. I can not adequately explain how thrilled I was-- the idea of being able to have more. Sigh. They were made by a Czechoslovakian company that apparently ceased to exist sometime in the 70's. I was able to find out a bit about the glasses' origins though-- turns out, Grandma bought them at an early 1960's version of Pier One. They aren't actually fine crystal, or at least, they weren't at the time they were purchased-- they were just, well, hip & trendy & relatively cheap & for a fleeting moment in time. The end result? They can not be replaced. Ever.
So instead I'm gonna go in the opposite direction. The dumpster is heavy, ugly, & partially filled with trash, so I'm gonna post about something delicate, beautiful & full of light.
When I was a kid, my Grandma had a large, built in display cabinet in her dining room. All blonde wood & modern, with mirrored back & lights & glass shelves & sliding glass doors. And inside, amongst the collectible commemorative dishes & porcelain trinkets from occupied Japan, she had these wonderful glasses. Red wine, white wine, aperitif, parfait, champagne...every shape of stemware you can imagine {& more than a few you probably wouldn't think of}. All done in paper thin crystal-- so thin it has an iridescence-- like a freshly blown bubble. I was mesmerized by them. I literally could not imagine anything so fine as these glasses-- so brilliant & delicate & beautiful.
When I was older & on my own, Grandma gave the glasses to me-- the full set, every last gorgeous one of them. Over the years a few of them broke-- either by accident while in use, or when moving them. Once I put them on a freshly painted shelf & later, when I went to take one down, I realized too late they had stuck-- the one I went to grab pulled apart with the base stuck on the shelf & the glass & stem in my hand. I felt like I beheaded it, & I was devastated. I've been devastated every time one has broken-- the Things even joke about my "bubble glasses," & how in the event of a fire I would be running in & out of the inferno carrying my glasses two at a time.
Which makes them even more bubble-like, if you think about it.
When we redid the kitchen, oh I guess its been 5 or 6 years ago now, we had new cabinets installed. When you open the door that leads to the kitchen, the first thing you see is a set of cabinets. I removed the doors on the upper cabinets & painted the inside a rich jewel toned purple. That is where my bubble glasses live, in a cabinet devised just or them...
...in all their fragile, iridescent glory {& with a glass head from Pier One to watch over them...I thought it fitting}.
Thank you Grandma. For the bubble glasses & the memories~*
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