My little bluebird of happiness

While looking thru last year's 365 Days project (the photos I have yet to upload) I found that right around this same time of year (last time) I just happened to take a photo of the same exact thing.

This candle.

I have found quite a few things that I am taking photos of this year that I already took photos of last year. I guess I need to have more interesting things going on in my life so that I can take pictures of different things.

So back to the candle. I bought it many years ago at Bath & Body Works (back when they sold candles). I have yet to use it. It smells like yummy vanilla. I am sure it won't smell that way once I light it. There is just something about it that makes me smile when I see it.

Lots happening around here. I was just chosen for a 4-month jury duty stint. Just one more thing to add to my ever growing list of obstacles that will keep me from getting caught up on my 365 Days project.

Introducing Herman

The baby blanket I was crocheting for my co-worker is finally complete and has made its way to its new home. It ended up being so soft and comfy. I hope the little one likes it.

If you are curious, all info on the pattern, yarn, etc are posted at Ravelry. 

[Things I ♥ Thursday] Blue robin eggs

I have always had a fascination with robin eggs. There is just something about them that makes me stop and smile when I see them in a photo. Maybe it's their beautiful color, maybe it is because they remind me of Spring or maybe it is because I have never seen one in real life. Come to think of it...I don't even think I have ever seen an actual robin.

1. Baby slow down, 2. Three, 3. robin's egg blue, 4. Robin's egg blue, 5. broken egg blues, 6. robin's eggs, 7. Cradled, 8. My adventures of mowing....2nd thing I almost mowed over., 9. T is for Teal., 10. The Robin's Nest, 11. Out Of The Blue (Robin Egg), 12. The Robin's Nest, 13. robins-egg

Created with fd's Flickr Toys
All photos in this mosaic © their respective owners. 

[Things I ♥ Thursday] Daffodils

On Wednesday I bought a bunch of daffodils.

I can't wait until they bloom. :-)

1. 29/365..., 2. Untitled, 3. {66:365} yellow, 4. 74::365, 5. $3.49 worth of happiness, 6. The Quicker Fliz!, 7. Spring bokeh, 8. {66} today was yellow, 9. Daffys, 10. Daffodils, 11. Thank you for half-a-million views!, 12. Daffs, 13. Pleasant Anticipation 
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
All photos in this mosaic © their respective owners.

[Things I ♥ Thursday] Flowering tree blossoms

I am so in love with the blossoms from flowering trees. Maybe because they don't grow here in the desert. I really want to grow one in the backyard.

1. More spring blooms, 2. friday's flower power, 3. apple tree blossom, 4. Delicadeza em flor, 5. Sprout, 6. Untitled, 7. pink & blue, 8. secret garden almond flowers, 9. Thinking Spring

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

All photos in this mosaic © their respective owners. 

it's just a baby

Many many years ago I started a baby blanket for one of my nephews (I am ashamed to say how many years but the "baby" is now in elementary). The blanket was to be a Christmas present but at the last minute the blanket went all wonky so the yarn (and mostly completed blanket) were stashed away.

I have been itching to make something and when I found out a co-worker was expecting I knew it was time to finally put this yarn to use. This is the yarn before I frogged the rest of the blanket. Back when it was just a baby ball of yarn.

There's no secrets this year

The last days of 2009 (that would be December 30 & 31) we had new windows installed in our home. I LOVE our new windows but the experience of getting them installed is starting to mess up that love.

We have 2 bathroom windows. We ordered frosted privacy glass and frames that opened from the bottom AND the top since one of the windows is actually inside the shower.

When the windows were installed it took two days. The first day to take out the old and put in the new, the second day to plaster & finish up. The first night (before the plaster) I was trying to figure out how to open the bathroom window from the top. We found that the windows that were installed only opened from the bottom. (As you can see from the photo, a window that only opens from the bottom is not really ideal).

The next morning when the installers returned we explained the situation and they plastered and finished all the windows except the bathroom windows. We then had to wait for the correct windows to be ordered and the window trim for all the windows (as the company did not even order it).

Fast forward to February. The installers return to install the correct windows. I get a call at work from the husband that although the windows are now the correct style, they are missing the privacy glass. But no one realized until after the windows were installed (and plastered in). So yet again, we wait for new windows. But this time the company was only going to change out the glass and not the entire window.

I do not really like that we will have new windows that were no longer considered new. I worry about the window seal not being as good as an original window.

Fast forward to March. The windows are in and the installers come. It appears that the company had ordered 4 Top windows and no bottom windows. Installing just the glass has chipped the actual frame, we were told we could paint it (although we were originally told that we could not paint this type of window). I don't want to have to paint over chips on my window frames when they are supposed to be brand new.

So now we wait to see what happens next. I wonder how long it will take this time.

moody

I am in the mood to make something.

I want to make something new and something with yarn. I don't feel like working on any of my old projects. The thing is...I am a planner. But I can plan forever and a day and still not start on anything. I want to make a blanket but there are 2 that I want to make and I could not decide which to start first. I finally made my decision. I then spent pretty much all evening deciding on what yarn to use. Since this yarn is for a blanket I plan to use El-Cheapo yarn. I saw that Jo-Anns had the yarn I want to use on sale. I checked to make sure it was not an online only sale and it was not. Since the new sales always start on Sunday I decided to run down to the local store and buy some yarn tonight, that way I could spend Sunday working on my new project. I got to the store 30-minutes before closing and found that this particular yarn was so NOT on sale. I was pretty disappointed. I guess it was okay though since the store was out of the colors I wanted to buy. So it is back to the drawing board. Maybe I will just order the yarn online, but if I do that it will no longer be El-Cheapo yarn. If I have to order online, I may as well just order the good stuff. :-)

And onto other projects. I have gotten behind with sharing this year's Project 365 photos. Not only here but also on Flickr. I hate when I get behind on updating my photos. Of course this is not anything new. I think it bothers me a bit more this time as I am having a lot more fun taking photos this year.

a bit of the purple

Well it's a start. Hopefully this blog is on it's way to being non-boring. At least from a color perspective, I cannot vouch for the actual blog content though. LOL!

So what do you think of it so far? It seems a bit purple. Maybe after a few hours sleep and a super long day at work it will look a bit better.

So ummmm.....

It appears I have kind of deleted my blog. Oops!

Please excuse the mess while I try to get it back. Yea....maybe I should just go and make dinner.

Today

Today was a good day.

Today I made a friend. 

In order for me to take my final I needed to find a proctor. Someone to sit with me while I took my test. It was really hard for me to find someone that was willing to do this. And I have to say it was pretty depressing too. I finally broke down and posted on Facebook that I needed help. I was so happy when someone responded. I don't think she will ever realize just how much I appreciate her for doing this. I really enjoyed the bit of time we had chatting and I am happy to know her better.

Today I took my final. 

I am happy to say that I passed. Yay! I am really looking forward to my life getting back to normal...well at least for a few weeks.

And to make this day even better, one of my photos {the button heart one} was chosen as today's daily 365 photo over at Shutter Sisters. How cool is that?

Yes....today was a good day.

It's the little things

I thought I would share the last couple of photos I uploaded for this year's Project 365. I am really happy with the way they turned out. 

With all my time being used for studying and not much of anything else, I find that just taking that one photo a day is going a long way at keeping me sane. It has become that one tiny bit of creativity, no matter how small that bit is, that gives the day it's spark, calms my anxiety and makes me smile.

The end is in sight

January is moving right along. I really cannot believe the end of the month is in sight.

I have not been doing much of anything other than studying. I am tired of studying. I am really looking forward to being finished with this class. That lucky day is the 31st of January. The thing is...this is only the first class. I have a lot more classes to go until I can sit for my certification. I may take a little break before I start on the next one though.

The 3rd week of January was spent pretty much at home. Lots of studying and the weather made it so that being home was a pretty good idea. We actually had a Tornado Watch/Warning this last week. Quite the excitement around here. You don't see that many tornados out here in the desert.

...and so ends the 2nd week

The second week of January sure was a busy one. In addition to the usual going to work and coming home to study, I actually got out of the house for fun. Yep. I know you find it hard to believe. Me, the person who never goes anywhere actually did. It was nice to actually have some place to go.

A traveling friend is in town and it was nice to be able to catch up with each other. It has been about a year since she was last here. If only I did not have to worry about completing my class, I would be able to spend more time with her.

Speaking of completing my class...as of today I have 8 chapters to read/tests to take (not including the final) and only 14 days in which to do it. I also still have to find someone to proctor my final. I am finding that to be a very hard task. I cannot have anyone related (or married) to me proctor my final. Since I pretty much only have my family in town it makes it kind of hard to find someone.

Well, I can hear the microwave beeping at me. That means lunch is ready and my blogging time for the day is done. Time to hit the books!

One week down, 51 left to go

I find it a bit hard to believe that we just completed the first week of January. It feels as though so much more time has passed. Maybe because my days have been full with going to work, trying to study and starting a new 365 project. Yep, you read that right. I decided to embark on yet another daily photo project. This will be third year of taking a photo-a-day . . . BUT it is the first year where I actually start on the first day of the calendar year.

 

2009: A year in photos

I created my blog not only to share but to remember. To remind myself of what I have done. But with only 64 blog posts for 2009, the memories and sharing just has not been there.

I don't really think of my family (the hubby and I) as people who really do much. I mean it is just us and the cats. We don't have kids, we don't really travel, we don't really do anything other than go to work and hang out at home. 2009 brought some pretty significant changes for us. 2009 was to be the year of reconnecting with my past and it did not disappoint. Looking back I have to say that 2009 ended up being a pretty full year for us after all.

January:

Christmas dinner 2008 was such a success that the hubby had to make another prime rib to celebrate his birthday.

...and my sister (who was visiting from France) even got to join us.

An old friend (from high school) came to town for a visit.

...and I reconnected even more with another.

I worked on something theatre related. Helping out backstage is as close as I get now.

February:

For my birthday I got a special present.

Which in turn broke our computer so we were forced to upgrade. We finally got a laptop and a computer with over 40GB of space! Welcome to modern technology.
 

March:

Not only did I get an iPod for my birthday but so did the hubby. He got an iPod for my birthday too. I had to learn how to share the computer. I am not good at sharing.

Someone came back to town for another visit.

 

...and someone turned 17.

April:

April started with a bang! My high school class was supposed to have it's 20-year reunion the previous year but it never happened. So in April there was a multi-year reunion get together thingy.

(The only picture with me in it and it is kind of fuzzy.)

The reminiscing continued with breakfast/lunch the next day.

We started looking to buy our first home.

And another friend came to AZ to visit. A great group of ladies I have not seen in a long time.

May:

After looking at lots and lots of houses we finally found the one for us.

June:

We put in an offer on the house and that was accepted. But found ourselves in a holding pattern waiting for the house to legally be ours.

So we started to pack.

July:

We officially became homeowners.

 

....and we had our first home emergency.....plumbing issues are definitely not what I would call fun.

August:

We had our first family get-together in our new home. Lots of yummy BBQ.

September:

We had even more family over for dinner. This time it was steak.

October:

I finally started online courses to get certified for my job.

....and we had our first over-night houseguest. It was not invited back for another stay.

November:

The hubby made the best turkey EVER!

December:

We celebrated Christmas Day in our new home by having our parents over for prime rib.

I got to meet up with some old school friends that I had not seen in years.

And we ended our year by getting new windows installed for our home.

So that is 2009 in a nutshell. Stay tuned to see what 2010 will bring.