Cats in a Basket

Forgive me…I’m about to go all crazy cat lady for a minute…or seven.





















And I’m done. Until next time.

Photo Challenge Week 5 : High Angle

Why can’t I tell my cat to stay? I say, “stay” and she gets up or twitches or turns over or something. Anything but actually staying. I try so hard to take pictures of both of them, but they’re always blurry. I don’t have a lot of natural light in my living area so that makes my life behind the camera difficult especially when they won’t stay like I ask. So frustrating. Anyway, I did my best so I could get a high angle shot for this weeks challenge.


I love her orange toe.




And her pretty orange nose…




Whiskey is such a sweet girl. Even if she won’t stay.

Thankful

My little brother sure knows how to put a skip in my heartbeat, and not always in a good way. I swear if there’s trouble that boy will find it. Last night he was in a motorcycle accident.

He’s ok. Banged up, but no broken bones…maybe a cracked ego…and his bike is for sure broken, but he’s ok, thankfully.




Thank you to the man who felt the urge to go out and drive around last night. Thank you for driving by at just the right time to see my little brother’s accident. Thank your for helping him. Thank you for driving him to the ER. I will forever be in your debt for taking care of this person who is so special to me.

Thankfully, there are still good people in this world who will help a stranger. Thank you to all of you as well.

I love you little brother! I’m so glad you’re ok. But I’m still gonna smack you when I see you for scaring me!

Beware the Fine Print

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away. Or down the street. In an apartment. Where I used to live. A girl who was probably me would sit at her desk in front of her laptop and browse EBay. For hours. And hours. And hours.

Many, many purchases were made from EBay over a number of years and they were all very, very important. Who doesn’t need a Coca-cola ceiling fan?

A few years later, the girl, I mean me...I mean I moved across town. EBay was no longer the great taker upper of time that it had once been, but was still looked at quite often when something new and grand came on the market. Like Harry Potter on DVD. Not just Harry Potter on DVD, but the first Harry Potter box set that contained years 1 through 3.

EBay was and probably still is a fabulous place to buy these types of things because someone somewhere would have the exact thing on my wish list for little monies. I like it when things cost little monies.

The thing is, you gotta read the fine print! When you see Harry Potter box set ONLY $12 plus shipping!!! don't get so excited that you immediately put in your bid, win, and then wait patiently for the treasure to come in the mail only to find out it's in CHINESE without reading the fine print.

Seriously.

Or you’ll open the mail and see this.



Yay! Harry Potter! EBay is the BEST!


But then…



Yep…that’s Chinese…I think.


But, I didn’t see any of this until I saw it on the screen.



Oh yeah…it gets better.

 You would think I would have noticed it when I had the disc in my hand, but no.



It’s a good thing there’s a "Turn off the Subtitles" button on my DVD player remote because I’m way too lazy to replace these babies.

After I opened this treasure and started watching them and then sat staring at my TV with my mouth hanging open I went to my laptop, logged onto EBay, and sure enough I had bid, won, and paid for Harry Potter with Chinese subtitles for my viewing pleasure. Hey! I could always learn a new language!

Photo Challenge Week 4 : Dinner

So, I’m super late with this post. Life decided to interfere with my blogging. I know…crazy, right?
This week was dinner. Did you know it’s hard to take pictures of dinner if you don’t actually cook dinner for days and days on end?

No? Well, it is. But, my grandma cooked me dinner the other day so I took a picture of that and here we are.



Honey pecan chicken, shells and cheese, and peas. I LOVE grandma’s house!

She also made me this cherry crisp thing.



I ate most of it by myself. Ha!

Check out all of the other great dinner posts at A Step in the Journey!

Next up: From a High Angle

Smiles!

We gave away our first Amtryke today for AMBUCS. It was amazing! The little boy, Jordan, who was the recipient was so incredibly happy. He didn't talk, but he kept leaning forward on the bike and trying to pedal every time Sharla would stop. He just wanted to keep going and going!

I can't possibly describe how amazing it is to change someones life just a little bit, but I hope Jordan has tons of fun riding his new Amtryke!

Cowboy Country AMBUCS

It's a great day to be an AMBUC! Check out your local chapter today and start creating mobility and independence for people with disabilities, or as I like to say, "improving lives one smile at a time."

Grass

You know, the green stuff in the yard?

Or if it's my yard we're talking about, the patchy green stuff?

Speaking of grass. I mowed tonight. For the first time in over a month. It's amazing the way the dead barren wasteland that was once a half-dead semi-barren almost-wasteland will bounce back...somewhat...after a few drops of rain.

I've decided I'm allergic to mowing. And grass. Even after I showered I can still feel all the icky grass particles on my skin making me itch. Do I sound whiny enough?

I think I would enjoy mowing more if I had this view.

Do you think if I called Vermont they would pack some of this up in a neat little box with a pretty little bow and send it to me?

Photography Challenge Week 3 : Bold Colors

I had a really hard time choosing my entry for this weeks photography challenge over at A Step in the Journey. It's never too late to join so go check it out!

The theme is Bold Colors which I love. And because I love them so much I wanted to include at least 10 photos, but I manged to narrow it down to 3.

Ah, Gerber daisies. So bold and beautiful and just plain fun. I love this picture because it's so brilliantly green with a hot pop of fuchsia. And the best part? The background is this completely hideous cottonwood tree that separates my house from my neighbors, but you would never know it because the wind was blowing a bit on this day which made the leaves give a nice, thick, glittery bokeh!

This chandelier is a pretty bold statement on it's own. Especially for a small burger joint, but then you add in the bright colors of the beads and it's even more bold.



And now, we have my favorite. A barn.

I was going to use only this as my entry, but then I decided since the photo wasn't actually this bright and bold and poppy in the camera that I wouldn't use it, but then I still really wanted to share it. Can you tell I'm indecisive?

Anyway, this is from The Belly Up Farm in Vermont. Mom and I drove by it when I was there last month for my best friends wedding. I like the picture just fine as it was, but I want to do an art piece type thing with it in my living room and I wanted it to really POP so, you know, I adjusted things. Ha!

Here's the before and after:

The before is ok, I guess, but definitely not zingy enough for my art piece which I'll totally share if I ever finish it. I'm such a procrastinator...



Next week is dinner. I love dinner. Food in general, really, so I can't wait!

Madison County

In high school I watched The Bridges of Madison County for English class. The teacher had assigned this super cool and awesomely brilliant writing assignment (insert sarcasm). We were supposed to read a book, watch the corresponding movie, and then write a paper over their similarities and differences. Easy, right? Um...no. That thing was hard! I'm pretty sure I got a C with a lot of nasty red ink comments in the margins. Ugh...

What in the world was I thinking when I picked The Bridges of Madison County? That my mom had just read the book which meant easy access and the movie was on the shelf at the rental store. I don't really remember much about the book or the movie other than watching Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood in the bathtub together being way too gross for my teenage mind. But what I remember the most are the covered bridges. I've been fascinated by them ever since.

Any time I see a sign for a covered bridge I get really excited, and guess what? I saw one when I was in New York last week!

Mom and I were driving back to Albany from the Inn in Vermont when we came across this fabulous covered bridge. There were signs posted all over the place that said not to park and loiter, but I'm pretty sure they were written in French so I totally didn't understand any of them. ;-)

This may not have been Madison County, but it was still beautiful.


Of course, this view out the car window once we pulled through to the other side didn't hurt... (well, minus the power lines...)

Thank you, Meryl and Clint and your yucky bathtub scene, for turning me on to covered bridges. They are all unique works of art.

Cheeseburgers

I love cheeseburgers. Next to bacon they are my favorite food.

You know what goes great together? Bacon AND cheeseburgers!

Anyway, today I went with the parents to this burger place called Flatire Burgers. It was delish! After they re-brewed the tea. The first glass I got was iced coffee water. I don't know if you know this, but if you accidentally put a coffee filter in the tea pot instead of a tea filter it's disgusting. Nothing like Starbuck's at all.

Oh! And they had the best guacamole I've ever eaten in my entire life! Who would have thought a burger place with bicycles hanging from the ceiling would have fabulous guacamole?

I had to laugh at myself about halfway through our visit, though, because I had noticed the backs of the work shirts said, "a great place to break down." I'm sitting there staring at these t-shirts having no clue what it could possibly mean. Break down? Like dancing?

But then, all at once, like a punch in the face, I got it! Flat tire! Break down! Duh!

I worry about myself sometimes. I really do.

Have a cheeseburger. With bacon. They make you smarter.