April 10, 2009

Happy Easter!

We haven't been up to much lately. The weather has been edging towards nice, though we have recently had some very chilly days. The past couple of days have been nice enough for me to get out to take some pictures of the pretty spring colors. I've uploaded a few flower pictures to the Flickr album. This set of pictures is the first that I've done some post-editing in photoshop. I didn't do any adjustments on the lighting, color, balance or anything fancy like that. I just framed the pictures a little better. It's amazing how a photo straight out of the camera can go from eh to wow with just a little crop work. Here are some examples:

Straight out of the camera:

Here is the photo cropped:

Straight out of the camera:

Cropped:

See the difference? The subject of the photo is a little more apparent. This bed of tulips is in front of one of the signs for our apartment complex. It happens to be at a busy intersection. I bet the people going by in their cars thought I was really weird there in a bed of flowers down on my knees with a camera. Enjoy the other photos in our Flickr album, and I hope we get to make some trips oot and aboot to take more pictures! I really hope we'll get to Grandfather Mountain sometime this spring. We're just waiting for a nice weekend to head off to the zoo. Plus we're going to the Nationwide race in Charlotte at the end of May.

I've been extremely crafty lately. Two co-workers gave me a TON of beads and stuff for my birthday. So far I've made four necklaces, a bracelet, and three purses. I need to get pictures of that stuff to add to my crafty page.

March 2, 2009

March blew in like a lion. A big snowy lion.

Needless to say, with 3 inches of snow on the ground, I didn't have to go to work today! YAY! Three-day weekend. I don't have to go to work until 10am tomorrow morning. The temperature stayed at or below freezing all day so most of the snow is still around or has turned to ice. For more pictures, see our flickr album!

February 27, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Today is my mom's birthday. Her best birthday present was having her last radiation treatment today. YAY!

This past Sunday was my birthday. Monday I came home after lunch and stayed home for the next three days with what I guess was the flu. I went back to work today. Ugh. It was awful. At least I wasn't stuffy and could breathe just fine. But I felt horrible and kept a fever for three full days. Now I sound like I'm trying to hack up a lung. I'm moderately better now. For the first day and a half I just sprawled in the recliner staring at the tv. I have no idea what I watched. My dear sweet loving husband took very good care of me.

I had a sunny little welcome when I got home from work this afternoon. Daffodils!

Maybe sunshine and warm weather are on their way! (Well...maybe after Sunday, when it's supposed to be cold and wintry again...bah)

February 16, 2009

It's finally February and it's time for Crazy NC weather! Two weeks ago this was the scene:

At roughly 4pm or so, it started snowing. By the time I got home an hour later, it looked like that. It stopped snowing by 6pm. We were the only school in the entire county that didn't have at least a 2 hour delay the next morning.

Last Wednesday, I had lunch outside with no socks on.

Today, I saw a few random snow flakes flutter by my window around 10:30am.

I either want a foot of snow or 70 degrees and sunshine. I'm tired of the in-betweeness!

HORRAY that race season has started! Now there will finally be something to watch on tv on Sundays!! YAY!

Jamie and I had a lovely Valentine's day. I made a superb Chicken Parmesan that got the following comment: "This is better than they have at Olive Garden."

January 20, 2009

My favorite antique in our place is a cabinet that is probably at least as old as my grandpa, maybe older. The cabinet lived in the pantry of my great-grandma's (Grandpa's mother) house. When she passed away and the family was divi'ing up furniture from her house, I asked if I could have this plain jane cabinet. At the time it was white and I think the inside was painted green, but maybe I'm imagining that part and the inside was actually white too. But anyway. It was such a unique little piece and I wanted it. Mom kept it for me until I got my first apartment. Then she painted it for me to go along with the decor I was using for my kitchen/dining room theme at the time. Here's what it looked like:

Jamie and I have slowly been moving our kitchen colors away from pinks and purples to bolder, autumn colors. I didn't especially want to repaint the cabinet because it would take a lot of time and I had no idea what to paint on it. Then I had a stroke of genius last night. I got a set of fall colored scrapbook paper for Christmas, and wondered if I could just tape the paper on the door's panels. Here's how that turned out:

I took six pieces of paper, trimmed them to fit the spaces, scalloped the bottom edge of three pieces, and taped them in place. I am rather pleased with the outcome. I do keep wondering if I need something to go on the top paper in each panel, like a diamond or an oval in a different color. For now, it's going to stay like this.

Update on the family: Mom had her last chemo treatment on December 23. I think I forgot to mention that. This past week she started her round of radiation therapy. She will go for treatment five days a week for six weeks. Luckily the radiation place is close enough to where my grandparents go for their rehab that she gets to ride with them three days a week. But the treatment isn't horribly long or draining on her system, so she drives herself the other two days. My poor broken Mema is on the mend. Mom said Mema actually walked a full two miles last week at rehab.

January 11, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Over a week later....)

Here's my latest creation:

I got this little bowl in a set with a matching spreader (like for cheese or dip, I suppose). I knew I'd probably never use the set as it was intended. This morning while I was dozing I had the brilliant thought that maybe I could paint the little bowl and use it on the table on my side of the bed. The above picture is the nearly finished product. I'm putting several layers of glue over the paint to help seal it in.

December 25, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We have had a great Christmas! Last night we went to a Christmas Eve Lovefeast at my boss's church. Since she invited us especially I knew we really needed to go. Plus, who can say no to a free lovefeast bun? Mmmm. It was a very lovely service. My boss sang in the choir and they did a wonderful job. When we got home we each opened one present from each other. Jamie got the Futurama: Bender's Game DVD and I got a new pair of slippers.

This morning (or rather....early this afternoon because we didn't get up until after noon) I made Orange Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast and we opened presents. We had presents from the West Coast folks as well as our presents to each other. Today's haul included: 3 bags of coffee, tons of candy, gift cards to Eddie Bauer/Walmart/Starbucks, cash, Ironman on BluRay, slipper socks, I Heart My Geek tshirt, isotoner gloves, a violin shoulder rest, a Post-It note cube, a 4gb thumb drive, charger dock for Jamie's Zune, Playstation 3 remote, James May's Magnificent Machines book, Penny Arcade Bird's Are Weird comic book, tooth brushes, and a chocolate orange.

After presents we played Warhammer for a while together. On Sunday of this week we bought a new montior so we could set up a second computer for playing games together. While we played Warhammer, we put a London Broil in the oven to cook. Christmas dinner was very tasty. We had beef, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, collards (thanks Mema!!!), deviled eggs, parkerhouse rolls, and sparkling grape juice. For dessert we're eventually going to have some chocolate pie, but we're still stuffed at the moment.

It was a very good Christmas for just the two of us. We missed our families, but we hear they had a pretty good time without us.

We hope your Christmas was just as good as ours!

Update on Beth's sickly family: My dear Mema who is taking care of two sick people right now got her feet tangled up in her laptop cords the other day and fell flat on her chest on the living room's concrete floor. Mom said they thought Mema probably cracked a rib or two, but she won't go to the doctor. Mema had to putter through Christmas Eve preparations with a very sore abdominal area. Mom had her last Chemo treatment the day before Christmas Eve and had her last Nuelasta shot on Christmas Eve. Luckily, the side effects of the treatements usually take a day or two before they kick in, so she felt plenty well enough to help Mema in the kitchen, especially since Mema couldn't reach for things up high or down low or carry heavy stuff. Mom starts her radiation therapy on January 7. That treatment will be everyday, 5 days a week for 32 days.