Photo Scavenger Hunt – May 09

Before I get going, first, here’s where this scavenger hunt came from and you can go there to find the other participants. (And if you want to vote, here’s the link for that!)

And now for the list of things we were supposed to find:

1) a souvenir
 
  Rock candy from…oh…YOU GUESSED IT!  Wow…you’re good! (LOL)

2) a fish

  Chimes…FISH chimes.  (at my uncle’s house in NY)

3) a religious building
 
  A Divinity School.  Although it looked more like a medieval castle than a seminary!

4) a fire department
 
  The Firehouse Inn.  It is an OLD fire station converted to a bed and breakfast.  And
  it has much more architectural interest than the modern fire stations. 

5) a manhole cover

  I was about to give up…there are just not many TRUE manholes around these here
  parts, much less one that would have any kind of photographic interest…but then I
  found it.  And I only felt slightly weird about pulling my car off the road and walking
  down the street with my camera and taking a picture of a manhole cover and then 
  walking back to my car.

6) a postcard

  Grandma’s collection of postcards and souvenirs.  I guess I could have used this
  for the first object, too!  LOL. 

7) water

  A little (big) river going off of Lake Ontario.  And a duck on the bank as a
  bonus…*GRIN*

8) a communication device  

  My new phone…Samsung Alias 2 (it rocks!)

9) a Life event

  My cousin’s birthday…14 years.  Wow.

10) a foreign stamp

  This is what happens when you google foreign stamps…LOL!  (Thanks for the idea,
  Nicole!)

11) a tree

  A giant tree…down the road from my house…in front of a graveyard (but you figured that
  out already, right?)

12) the living space of a non-human

  Bird’s nest in the corner.  I’d get a closer shot, but it’s only about 2 stories off the
  ground.

13) a street mirror 
 
  Another oddity around here…street mirrors are hard to find.  UNLESS you’re at
  Dollywood…and then you will have plenty of choices.  My favorite was the one on the
  corner of the flying elephant ride…I like to call it “reflections of the flying elephants.”

14) a decoration fixed on a house

  I’m not really sure why, but around here, flags are about the only decoration you can
  find that are attached to people’s houses.  This one is on my neighbor’s house. 

15) a foreign flag

  These are really OLD foreign flags.  Remember this post where I talked about
  grandma’s ancient dictionary?  I don’t know if you can see it in the small picture 
  here (you might have to click on it to make it bigger), but check out Germany’s
  flag (4 down and 4 over)!!!

16) a fire

  Actually several of them…LOL.  This was the centerpiece on the gift table at the wedding 
  I photographed today.

17) an antenna
 
  These gi-ant-ennas are on top of the radio station where I used to work.

18) a phone booth

  Somewhere between NY and Pennsylvania…I’m not sure where we were when we stopped
  for gas coming home…

19) a “verboten” sign

  Who, ME?  Never!

20) a beach
 
  Lake Ontario in NY…not the sandy sunny beaches of NC, but still a beach.  And there
  were so many dead fish washed up on this beach…it was quite disgusting!

21) a cityscape

  This is about as close to a “CITY” scape as one can get when you live around these 
  parts…I’d call it more of a townscape.

22) something goofy

  Well, these are my lunch buds…and I’d say any of us would qualify for goofy.  *GRIN* 
  And Martha is a twin, and she said if I posted this, to tell ya’ll that this was MARY and
  Susan.  I’ll have to send her the link to this to let her know that I passed her message
  on…LOL.  If you guys don’t hear from me again, she might have killed me for posting
  this…haha!  Seriously though, going to lunch with these girls is always loads of laughs.

23) something carved

Well this isn’t wooden, which is what originally came to mind when I was looking for something carved, but it was getting down to the last minute and I’d have to say it fits…

These are both carved…fruit.  And they were delish!

 

24) an eye

  A very tired eye

25) something rural
 
  Some barns…Somewhere in TN

And that’s it…I’m going to post tonight in case I don’t get a chance tomorrow.  Thanks for dropping by…

My Random Album Cover

IF I were a band, according to the randomness of the internet, I would be Too Hot To Handle and my album title would be “is there life after death?”  Also, the cover of my album would be a very nice (although completely unrelated) photo of a shed and reflection in a body of water.  INTERESTING.

Because I love Photoshop, I popped it in real quick and here’s what came out.

So if you want to play….(and by the way, you totally don’t have to MAKE an album cover, I’m just a Photoshop Phreak and couldn’t resist…you can just link the picture or whatever):

Here's how this little game works:

1. Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
   The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to "Random quotations"or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
   The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
   Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Link me back to your cover in your comment!

Here are the sources/credits/etc for my random searches…
Too hot to handle
is there life before death
photo source

And the blog I got it from…

Have FUN!

Yes, Well.

A random smattering of thoughts.

On my lack of blogging:

I think I’m stuck in a vicious cycle.  Just gotta figure out how to break it.  See here’s my cycle. 

My blog is for my benefit…it’s a place to write out my thoughts, and things that happen so I won’t forget, and keep my momma updated so she don’t worry (or maybe it ADDs a little worry…lol…sorry mom).  ANYWHO….so I write my thoughts and little details about my life and even though I am generally a person who at least attempts to not to tick people off or otherwise offend, sometimes my thoughts…um…DO.  So when I write things like that, I get comments either in person or on the posts and I realize…uh…yeah, there are like 5 or 10 people reading this.  And oh yeah, I better not say that b/c if THAT person reads it, they’ll get offended.  And I can’t say THIS either b/c this other person would take it the wrong way.  Then I start writing all “politically correct” and to the 5 (or 10) people who read and then there are no comments from the people to whom I am writing.  So then I wonder why I’m getting no comments and THEN I remember why I blog in the first place and so I go back to my original intent (although it generally takes a small moment in time of non-posting)…and suddenly, I’m posting non-PC thoughts again….and….

Well…you see where this is going, don’t you?  OH.  WAIT.  I’M NOT TALKING TO YOU. This blog is for ME.  LOL. 

Okay…so I’ll be honest.  I’m still writing with some of you in mind.  But I’ll try to not think about that when I’m posting.  I am so non-confrontational, this will be difficult for me.  Believe it or not, I really hate to make anyone upset…and I’m not sure why some people get so upset with me sometimes, but I will say this…it does aggravate me when people have a problem with what I say and so they talk to someone else about it.  HELLO.  Oh well.  Whatever floats ya boat. 

On other vehicles:

I took the car to get it fixed last Friday.  I don’t even know that I mentioned it on here, but while we were in NY two weeks ago, my trusty Pilot, which is running past 150K now, decided to go on strike.  Not a thing wrong with the engine, just the ignition switch.  Locked up and wouldn’t turn about every other time (and occasionally wouldn’t even accept the key) about two days after we got to NY.  Let me tell ya…nothing like being 14 hours away from home and your ONLY vehicle decide to play dead.  Well, not totally dead.  If you fiddled with the key, took it out, wiped the key grooves, and flipped it over and re-inserted it about 19 times WHILE crossing your toes, wiggling the steering wheel, and holding your tongue in the upright position, it would finally crank.

The good thing was, we were on vacation, so we were never running late…the bad thing was, we probably wasted about 4 perfectly good hours of vacation trying to sweet-talk the key into working/waiting in the dealership for them to tell us why we were having problems. 

ANYWHO.  NY dealership said $500.  We said, thanks, but we’ll take the new key (and leave you $75 bucks for it) and pray our way home.  So we did. 

I must insert here that when I called KC to tell him we were having problems, he said, “Oh, it’s done that before, just make sure you park straight.”  I said, “Huh. I don’t think so, bub…this is totally not what it’s done before.”  Then we made it home and the next day KC tried to crank it.  I don’t think he ever said, “YOU’RE RIGHT, HONEY.”  But I will say that I definitely heard “Um…you need to get this fixed THIS WEEK.” 

Well anyway.  I took it to the dealership down here.  I pulled in and told them, “Look, I don’t want you to do ANYTHING.  I just want you to look at it, tell me what’s wrong, and give me a quote.”  So they did.  And since it was around $150 cheaper AND they gave me a courtesy Pilot to drive until I got mine back and told me I could have my car back the next day, I said…hey…go for it.  Sounds good to me. 

I did refuse the 2009 Pilot though as the courtesy car.  Instead I drove the 2004 Pilot.  I know my limits.  I have done exceedingly well at NOT getting a new vehicle itch in almost 3 years…that’s a total record.  And as I explained to my hubby when he wanted to know why in the world didn’t I drive the 2009 LOADED WITH BELLS AND WHISTLES AND LEATHER AND XM RADIO AND EVERYTHING ELSE Pilot -- “Are you kidding?  I wouldn’t have returned to pick up our old ride…and if I had, I would have wanted to turn around and trade it in….”

He should have been happy with me.  But no, see, he’s got New Truck Fever and he wants someone (aka ME) to also have vehicle fever so he won’t feel so bad about wanting another vehicle.  LOL!  (LOVE YA BABE)

Well.  Anyway.  Our 150K and counting Pilot will now crank on command.  (Well, on command with the key inserted…haha)  Sure beats the wondering if this was the time you were gonna have to call a tow truck.  And so far I’ve managed to evade the dreaded Fever.

And TODAY:

Another rainy day.  I got bit by the sleepies this morning after I got the kids off to school and was sitting on the couch waiting for my math tutoree to get here…so I thought…well, I’ll just close my eyes for a SECOND. 

TWO HOURS later.  I was panicking.  The whole two hours I had crazy crazy dreams.  In every dream I was trying to wake up and I could not make my eyes open.  And although I never opened my eyes, every time I reached the point where I was trying, I would fall back into deep sleep into another crazy dream.  I had no rest.  *sigh*  In one dream I was laying on the floor and a crowd of people were standing over me and I could hear them talking and trying to figure out what was wrong with me, but I couldn’t make myself speak or open my eyes.  Weird.  Then I dreamed my tutoree was at the door and I couldn’t make my eyes open or get up to get the door so she left and I missed her.  (That was the one I woke up in a panic about…LOL…I had to call to make sure I didn’t actually miss her).  CRAZY dreams.  YUCK.  So I woke up and still didn’t feel rested.  *sigh*

Today’s devotional over at P31 Ministries really struck a chord though…it was about doing the next thing.  When you feel overwhelmed or down, or whatever.  Just get up and do the next thing you need to do.  Simple thought, really, but profound.  On my days when I feel like I’ve done well in spite of everything, I look back and realize that it was because I did JUST that.  The next thing. 

Speaking of the next thing.  My next thing is to hit publish and go to bed.  I’m going to do that now.

Warning! Picture Overload!

First up…Dollywood on Wednesday.  The K-man and I went with K & A and their boys.  I was planning on taking the Munchkin, too, but that didn’t work out.

So the pics (what few I have without K-man’s face…the ones with his face showing are HERE):

All the boys riding the bee and reflections of the flying elephants (LOL)

More flying elephant reflections and K & Vi riding one of them there flying elephants.  Vi was not a fan.  This was at the beginning of the ride and he spent the rest of it with his head buried in his mama’s lap.  Poor kid.  LOL!

The boys in the pig ride…and then me taking K-man and G on the spinning whirly thing…forget what it was called.  They loved it…laughed and giggled the whole time…I almost fell getting out though from all that spinning.  Hah!

Seriously though…there’s me and four little heads in that teacup there…and THIS was the ride that made us all a little nauseous!  K-man during the last few spins just sat there and moaned, “I’m gonna throw UP.”  (Thankfully, he didn’t, although the other boys scooted away from him real fast…hahah!)

The train…by far the K-man’s favorite.  He was so tired by this point that he could barely stay awake, but as his head kept drooping, he was like, “Allllll a…boooarrrrd….”  We were laughing, but in the last 5 minutes of the ride, he could last no longer and knocked out.
 
K & A on the train with me & all our kids.  By the end of the ride, only one of the four boys was still awake. LOL!  C, the kid in the second pic here was the only boy awake and this pic was on the playground right before we left.
 

And these pictures are totally non-Dolly related, but they are just pics I snapped as we were on our way home that evening.  I am a SUCKER for red barns.  Something about them just makes me feel all nostalgic, although I have no idea why.  All I know is I just love them!  And when I see them, I want to take pictures.  So I do.  See?

And okay.  Now that that is done with, here are some MORE pictures…hehehe!

First off…see how the deck and backyard is coming along?  Don’t know if you remember, but you can see this post for some pics of it in progress. 

It’s still in progress, but it’s getting a LOT closer!

Today was exhausting.  Planting, burning brush and scrap decking bits and pieces, leveling off some of the piles of dirt in the yard…I’m beat!  And that pile of gravel is still pretty large.  *sigh*  SOON…very soon!  It’s getting there.

Here’s a before and after shot of a little piece of the potting project I did today.  I took an old clay pot just like the one in the first picture, cleaned it, and spray painted it black.  Then sprinkled a bit of sparkly silver spray paint lightly over it and, ta-da….the black pot showing in the second pic….nice, huh?

And last, but CERTAINLY not least: The new phone.  Alias 2.  I am LOVIN it!

It’s got a double hinge…and look at the buttons…see how they change when you open it in the different directions?  Texting is so fast now!  ;-)

And that’s it.  Didn’t I mention that I was tired?  I have GOT to get to bed!