I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff

 

This is the picture of the day (I didn’t take any pictures yesterday).  It is actually two pictures.  This is the second time in the history of owning our Nordic Track, the odometer has turned over.  Usually the battery dies before we get to this point.  I’m claiming the majority of the distance tracked.  Guy does have some kilometers logged, but the vast majority are MINE!  My goal lately has been 5 kilometers  or 3.06 miles per day.  I had to do 7 kilometers (4.375 miles) today to get it to turn over.

Now if I would just stop stress eating junk food I’d be back on the right path!

New Bike

Jesse’s new bike came today.  Both boys had really out grown their bikes last year.  It seems all they do is grow, and we held out as long as possible.  Nolan got a new bike during Spring Break.

 Jesse hates to shop for just about anything, but Guy finally drug him to the bike shop last Sunday.  Guy told me Jesse wasn’t getting excited about anything until they showed him a RED bike that was too big.  That’s why it had to be ordered.  We wanted the bikes before summer vacation, because the boys have been told they don’t get any type of video games during the day this summer.  We have wonderful bike trails that start just outside our neighborhood.  My goal is to ride with them in the mornings before the thunder storms start.

The boys have been asking me what I want for Mother’s day and my response is nothing.  (I’m going to MQS next week, I’ll take care of Mother’s day and any other holiday that may be coming up.)  They didn’t like my response and Guy came home with a new bike helmet as my gift.  I had been using his.  I know safety is important, but the only reason I wear one is to be a good example for the boys.  I grew up riding all the time with out a helmet and my brains are still intact.

Here are a few pictures of Jesse during the maiden ride on his bike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Either he was bothered by me taking pictures, or this new bike (which is almost twice as big as the old one) was taking a lot of concentration.

The picture of the iris on the left was for my picture a day.  It is the first iris to open in our yard.

A Picture a Day

I took a picture of the quilt I finished last night, but the lighting wasn’t the best.  So technically I did take a picture yesterday.  Today I spent the day with my quilt group in Divide.  I took along my camera in hopes of getting some pictures of the backside of Pikes Peak.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  It was rainy, foggy and snowy depending upon exactly where I was.  It is not a common occurance to have rain all day here.  It was raining so hard there was a rock slide not long after I passed that point on the road.  One of the other members of the group was a few minutes behind me and the slide was there when she went by but not when I did.

 The plan was to have a retreat and spend the night.  Andrea has a beautiful home in a gorgeous location. However, the dinner theatre at the boys school was postponed until tomorrow. Since I cook for it, spending the night was out of the question for me.  I took my sewing machine up to Andrea’s and managed to do the blanket stitch on a couple of UFO blocks this afternoon.  The blocks are from the Bear Family Album patterns by The Stitch Connection.  Obviously, I still have some detail work to do.

 

Just as I got home the rain stopped and the sky started to clear.  A rainbow appeared in the sky, and  I snapped a picture of it to use as my picture of the day.

Day 1 Digital Scrapbooking Class

A few days ago I mentioned I’d signed up for a class Up & Running with Jessica Sprague, today was the first day of the class.  I’ve already worked my way through most of Adobe’s Classroom in a book for Photoshop, so a lot of what I watched in the videos was familiar.  However,  I did learn some new and very useful things!  I also think this class will help reinforce what I have already done.  I’m posting my first layout here.  It feels a little more special here, since the gallery for this class has all the same layouts.

This picture of Jesse is almost 5 years old, so I can’t count it as my picture of the day.  I did manage to snap one of Nolan when he couldn’t escape.

We bought that chair for Guy, but now that Nolan is a teenager it fits him well and he has tried to claim it as his own!

Mr. Potato Head Gone Wild

Guy and I were out and about and we stopped at Target to buy a replacement washcloth.  We looked at each other and said, “Is that all?”  We headed for the checkout, and as we rounded a corner, I spotted it!  Indiana Jones Potato Head!  OK, that may seem a little odd for me to get excited about.  But Jesse loved Mr. Potato Head when he was little and he has been collecting them ever since.  I probably shouldn’t admit it here, but he still gets them out once in awhile and plays with them.  When you press Indiana Jones Potato Head’s hat it plays the theme song.  How cool is that?  As you can see he came home with us.

Jesse’s collection is fair sized.  In addition to the toys he has had Potato Head magnets, Potato Head cling stickers, Potato Head computer games, a Potato Head hand held video game, a Potato Head key chain, Play Doh Mr. Potato Head,  Mr. Potato Head Puzzles, and a Potato Head Plush toy.

When I took the picture of Indiana Jones Potato Head, Jesse brought out the majority of his specialty Potato Heads.  The only way he was willing to buy the Cupid Potato Head was to remind him of his collection.  At his age “love” is gross!  You may notice in the last picture, there is only one Mrs. Potato Head plus one mini Mrs. Potato Head. 

After I had already downloaded the picture to the computer, he realized his Colorado Rockies Potato Head hadn’t made it into the line up.  So we got it out along with most of the rest of them.  Notice the classic Potato Head on the far left of the picture.  When he was little, that was the ONLY acceptable way to assemble Mr. Potato Head, although I don’t think he liked the glasses then.  In fact as I was putting together some of the other Potato Heads today, he accused me of being the weirdest Potato Head maker EVER.

Other than his spare parts, I think that is pretty much the whole Potato Head Family.

 

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Here that would be April SNOW showers bring May flowers.  It is finally looking like Spring.  It was still windy and cold today, but Guy and I went for a walk.  I brought along the camera in an effort to continue with the picture a day.  I actually have two pictures to share.

I was taking pictures of the blooms on the tree above and just when I was doing it, the resident of the house pulled into the drive way.  I felt a little odd, but Guy said the man was smiling.

 

 

In addition to the beautiful pink blossoms in this picture, you can see one of the benefits of living here — the gorgeous blue sky we have for so much of the year.

Picture A Day

In an attempt to continue to play the picture a day game mentioned in yesterday’s post, I went hunting for something to photograph.  It was windy and cold outside today so I decided to stay inside.  My boys are old enough now, they run and hide when I get the camera so that subject matter is out.  The picture was finally of a house plant that has flowered.  I’m no good with plants, but do like take pictures of the colors, shapes, and textures.  God is an amazing designer!

 

Wile E.

It is the first of May and would you believe it is snowing?  Yesterday it was sunny and in the mid 70’s.  I have been motivated this week to work on customer quilts a little more diligently than I have been recently.  In fact, I woke up a little after 5 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep so have been quilting since about 5:30am.  I just happened to look up from the machine a few minutes ago and this is what I saw trotting through the access area which runs down the hill behind our house.

 

I raced up two flights of stairs to grab my camera and snapped the picture above from our third story bedroom window.  I then raced back down to the basement to see if I could get a closer picture.  Just as I got there he hunkered under a tree that is growing on the corner of our lot and took care of business.  I decided I didn’t think I needed a picture of that.  Once he finished his business he didn’t hang around.  I manged to get one more picture through the basement window before he ran up past the side of our house.

For informational purposes, we do not live out in the country.  Our house is on a fairly small lot within city limits.  We have herds of deer that come by the house and I’ve seen raccoons in the trash out front.  I’ve also seen a fox run across the street nearby, however I don’t think I’ve seen a coyote in the area before.  I have heard them, usually on summer nights.

I’ve signed up for a digital scrapbooking class with Jessica Sprague (which by the way is Suzanne‘s fault) and have been following Jessica’s blog.  Just today she was talking about challenging herself to take a picture a day for the next month and was inviting others to join in the challenge.  So if I decide to participate, I have my picture for today.