Up, up, and away!

HEY! Do you remember me?  I used to post here from time to time?

Well, I guess I deserved that.

Although, I was hoping that I wasn't completely forgettable.  Sorry.  Life got busy there for a moment.  And.  I have run out of room on this blog.  (photo wise)  I have tried to post- but no can do when pictures are involved.  SO.  I'm trying to figure that all out.  I almost did my usual deleting old posts, (No, I don't usually delete them because I don't want to upgrade.  I do it for other reasons, silly.) but I started reading them and couldn't.  I want to turn it into a book.  A diary of sorts.  For my own memories.  How quickly I forgot how difficult life was two years ago.  I actually cried when I read about it. So, bear with me here.  I will figure it out.  All in due time.

On to what I really want to talk about.

We found out that we are moving out east, close to Washington DC.  (Temporarily) While I feel like I might spontaneously combust from the excitement, I am so humbled.  Humbled that God actually thinks that I deserve this. This much happiness.  This much adventure.  This many blessings.  This life.   I've told you before, and I'll tell you again: I'm part Gypsy.  I really am.  This moving around stuff satisfies something inside of me that nothing else could.  *happy sigh* I'm counting my blessings right now.  I realize that in life you have ups, and you have downs.  You can't appreciate the ups, without the downs. And while we are on a wild high right now,  I'm not going to take it for granted.  Life has reminded me of this in the last few months.  Likewise, it has inspired me to embrace opportunities and the blessings they bring.  Even if they might be seemingly unconventional to others.

An opportunity like this is not without downfalls, it is true.  Such as, leaving behind the people we have come to know and love in this area.  On the flip side,  it also ushers in numerous possibilities that we wouldn't otherwise have. We've considered it from all angles and feel that it is the right choice for our family.  It's not about anybody, but us.

So, here's to a crazy short packing notice with Christmas thrown in the mix! As you might guess, I'll be showing my face here even less (if that is possible) for a while.

Enjoy the holiday season if I don't get back here soon.  MUAH!

Sweet.

My favorite candy? Gummy worms or bears.

Favorite dessert?
1. Strawberry Cheesecake
2. Brownie Sundae
3. Apple Strudel

This isn't a full moon.  But it is a pretty sky.  

A cute little horse.  Don't try to ride on it, though.  It just collapses and starts crying.  True story.

Scattered

I'm really running behind.  I guess life sped up a little and the photo challenge got left in the dark.  I meant to post this on Sunday and didn't.  Sorry.

So, as you can guess, I didn't shoot the full moon last night.

I'll tell you why.

Last time there was an election, I was really into it.  I showed it on here.  Why haven't I this time around?  Simple.  I don't have to.  Mostly, I think the last four years speak volumes about our current president. And the Romney/Ryan ticket has been clear about what they want. Nothing else needs to be said.  Thankyouverymuch.

So.  Have a Happy Halloween and then get out and vote.

BTW: Missing my political soul sister. *sniff*

Spooky

This was what I saw when I walked out my garage door on Monday.  YIKES!

Bountiful.

Initially when I saw the photo challenge for today, I dismissed it.  I didn't feel like I had anything to fit.  Turns out, I found three pictures to take for it.  

One of my favorite things to eat on a sandwich is alfalfa sprouts.  As a matter of fact, the sub I order at Jimmy John's?  I order it because of the avocado and the sprouts.  Except, then the whole alfalfa sprouts/salmonella scare came to be- and darn old JJ's hasn't brought them back yet.  Hrmph.  I might protest.  Maybe.  I guess as long as that sub still has avocado, I will get it.  Even though it's a turkey sub.  And I'm not turkey's number one fan.  As a matter of fact, we should give 'em a break in November.  I'm just saying.  Poor things are already so ugly, then they have to worry about getting eaten.  Sigh.  I just feel so bad. ;) Plus, then I could get right on to the Christmas season.

Anywho.  I love them (sprouts, not turkeys) enough that I just sprout my own nowadays.  I spied my mom doing that on a trip to MN.  And when she told me how easy it was, I was sold.  The plus side is, I know how they are handled, so hopefully we will avoid salmonella.  So, that's going to be a good bounty in two or three days.  *pumps fist* I can't wait!

 And then whaddya know?  I was on Pinterest one day and saw that you can keep the ends to your green onions (in water) and they will regrow.  Huh.  What a bounty I will (hopefully) get from that one bunch I bought.  It's looking pretty promising.

And.  A bounty of sick kids.  Enough that we have a pumpkin full of meds instead of candy as a centerpiece on our island.  True story.  Which is another reason that this chick hasn't come up with too many original photos- I have hardly left the house to snap any.  I really wanted to capture a beautiful doorway.  You can find them everywhere! And I really want to get out of the house. 

So.  There you have it.  A bounty of pictures of bounty.  *grin* 

Orange and leaves.

My little Kaija asks me to buy "canny cown" every time I go to the store.

She loves it.  Almost as much as I love her. 

As for me? I think canny cown is overrated. 

This was earlier in the fall.   I always admire this view 

and knew it would be perfect for this part of the challenge. 

Trees

Picture this.

 Vegetables

I know, right?  I'm really reaching here.  I had to dig into pictures from 

earlier this month.  There are squash if you look close! (heehee)

 Apples

As in, apples of my eye. I know.  Reaching, again.

But, I'm counting my blessings

lately.  And this bunch?  I count them twice.

Hat

My new hat.  I love hats.  *happy sigh*

I realize my photos are not going to win any awards.  But, hey!  I keep falling behind.

And now I'm caught up.  

Black and white in the kitchen.

See what I did there?  Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.  

I have no creative inspiration with the whole broom thing. 

Although, it did cross my mind to take a picture of my car.

A little play on the whole witch/Halloween thing. 

But, it needs a wash so bad that it's embarrassing. 

Favorite Sweater

 First of all, this is Kaija's new favorite outfit.  She thinks the red silk shirt that is on backwards is a vest. 

And she insists on wearing a version of this outfit (sometimes she substitutes an orange skirt) as often as she can.  Including in public. Good thing this is baber number five for me.  I know it's not worth the fight.  

Anywho.  My favorite sweater.  It's thin, yet warm.  The sleeves are more than long enough.  (That's a big deal when your limbs are long.) And it is pretty versatile.  And.  This is as close I'm going to get to showing off my Miss Me jeans on the interweb.  This taking pictures of myself and posting them business makes me highly uncomfortable.  Just so you know.

Texture

Every day

I get to share my lunch time with this little lady.  If the two of us happen to be out in public eating, she will, without fail, need to go potty as our food arrives.  WITHOUT FAIL.  That part I don't enjoy. Otherwise, I'm soaking up this time with just her and I.  I was worried about how the days might go with her siblings back in school, but my worries were just that.  Worries.  I'm really enjoying her. Every day.

(On Saturday, she took a scary little tumble down the basement steps.  She survived, but my heart almost didn't. Hence the injuries.)

Sky

Wait for me!

Round

Streetlight at night

(in my mirror on my car. I felt weird creeping around this sub at night, so I snapped this ultra fast.)

 A smell I adore.  Like, super duper adore.

I craved this smell when I was prego. 

I would smell an orange for strange amounts of time.

I usually boil the peels after I eat an orange,

to make my house smell. Even when I'm not pg. 

12 noon

At 12 noon today, my HH was brewing up some delectable french press coffee.  

If you haven't tried it, you are missing out. 

It's so good, in fact, that our french press has so many chips in it,

and the spout is pretty much gone, 

but we power through it (on the weekends)

and treat ourselves to this liquid deliciousness.  

Here's your sign.

Harvest & Handwriting

 I love fall. 

This is my third fall in this area.

Heart. 

I really missed it when we were in NM. 

There is nothing like fall in the northern part of the USA! 

This happens to be the very first picture I took in 

my photography class in full manual mode.

I had shutter speed, aperture and ISO forming

the perfect triangle to get a good exposure.

I *love* when I can understand this gorgeous Rebel of mine.

One way to solidify your coolness.

Zztop and I have been heading out to a state park in the area and running the trails together.  (No, I cannot keep up with him.  He's a machine.  He kindly runs at my pace.  When I have had enough, he runs another loop and I pull out my trusty mountain bike, The Hardly.)

And that's how I solidified my coolness this past weekend.  I hate to tell you the story, because I'm sure there will be so many copycats, trying to match my awesomeness.  However, it's worth the risk.  And, I'll always be the original.

There were volunteers from some mountain biking group fixing a section of the loop that I usually take. And we had run the other loop, so I had no idea what was in store for me.  The section that the volunteers were working on was soft.  Really soft.  Picture a garden that is all tilled up, dry soil.  It was really hard to pedal in.  Worse than sand, even.

And I was barely chugging along when a couple of the volunteers asked me if I wanted to be the very first person to bike the new part of the trail.  I hesitated a little.  And they chided me, "Oh, come on! How many times do you get to be first person on a trail?"

Oh, yeah.  This was going to be epic.  And it was.  Just not in the way I imagined.  I took off like a shot, in a snail sort of way.  Everyone starts cheering.  Seriously.  Cheering.  As if.  And then comes the corner.  It was a sharp turn to the right and immediately there is an incline.  I'm cool.  I clearly didn't know how to take the corner in such soft dirt, because the next thing I know- I'm elbow deep in the dirt.  Epic.  I stood up quickly, hoping that maybe they didn't notice? Although, judging by the fact that nobody is cheering any longer, I kind of feel like they saw it. I wouldn't know, because I refuse to make eye contact with anyone.  I'm cool.  And that's when I see the hill.  And realize that there is no way I can start pedaling and make it up the hill from where I am, in dirt this soft.
(People want to be like me.  I just know it.) So, I strut up the hill, pushing The Hardly.

When I'm safely out of anyone's line of vision, I stop to inspect myself.  My left leg was bloody from knee to ankle.  Apparently, pride hurts worse than a physical injury.  As I was cleaning the blood on my leg, Zztop comes running up.  He was the first jogger on the new part of the trail.  And he overheard the volunteers talking about the chick that took a major biff.  Seriously.  I'm so cool that people talk about me after I leave.  You wish you were me.

Macro: bottle cap

Well, at least sometimes.  

Yes, I saved it.  

Yes, I duct taped it to the side of my cupboard.

Yes, I promptly forgot about it. 

I planned on instructing certain short people, very calmly,

to please refer to the bottle cap. 

But, shoot. It slipped my mind. 

Then again, my short people are perfect angels 

and never fight.

So, that's probably why I promptly forgot about it.

Until now.

(This doesn't pertain to you, even if you are shorter than me.) 

When I was a little girl

 This is what I looked like.  

I've been hearing lately, everywhere I go with Kaija, 

that she looks just like me. 

I love it, as I rarely get any credit for my kids.

I tried to let you see if there was any resemblance, 

but she didn't really understand the concept of

holding the photo by her face.

And my scanner is laying next to my desk,

waiting to be thrown out.  

So, this is what you get. 

You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit.

*This is part of the October photo challenge

that Yvonne has organized.

Stay tuned for more photos.*

#earnedyetmademyday

I heart aperture.

I'm taking a photography class.  Not in a I-want-to-photograph-your-kids-for-money way.  But, in a I-need-to-take-my-camera-off-of-auto-shooting way.  And we learned about white balance and aperture.  We are supposed to play around with white balance, but let's face it: aperture is so much fun.  This chica needs a macro lens.  So, if you'll just go ahead and get me one, all will be right with the world.  Thanks.

Lucky to have them

 Let's be honest here, if there was a book about cute kids- my friends would totally have a chapter in it. I mean, seriously.  Doesn't get much cuter that this.  Speaking of cute, you are so cute with your "take a picture of your non-mom jeans butt and post it for the world to see!" Yeah.  That'll happen.  I'm actually okay with you not believing me.  And thanks for the laughs.

 I survived 2+ weeks without my husband.  AND.  Not only was he not here, he didn't have cell phone service.  Besides a leaking water issue, the occasional kid talking back, and a few assorted other bumps in the road, it went okay.  That being said, I HATED it.  Hated not having backup.  Hated not being able to bounce ideas off of someone better than I.  Hated not having someone to unwind with every evening.  Hated the lack of adult conversation all weekend.  Hated single parenting, period. Kudos to those who do it all the time.  (Thank goodness for the moms of these cute kids.  They got me out of the house enough to make the time go by a lot faster.)

 I totally have a new appreciation for my husband.  It's good to have time apart in a marriage.  And.  I think that Zane enjoyed his two weeks in the mountains.  He didn't shoot an elk, but he had fun nonetheless.  And now we are all back together and not taking each other for granted.  For the time being.

 Which reminds me.  A friend from high school lost his wife to cancer this past week.  I'm starting to get a complex over here, with this evil disease.  It's so unfair.  And it's really, really scary how many people in my life are affected by it.  It also means that people my age can lose their spouse.  It's so surreal.  A part of me was hoping that we were still invincible.  I guess we need to make as many healthy life choices as possible, and hope that that is enough.

 I'm really, really lucky to have the people I have in my life.  And I'll try really hard to remember each day how blessed I am.

Mission: De-mom the denim supply

Accomplished! That's all.  Thanks for your help.

It's all in the jeans.

Pinterest is really good for a lot of things.  Especially if you are crafty.  Me? Not so much.  No offense, crafty people, but I still have visions of overly frilly stuff that makes me want to vomit when I think about crafting.  Huge, oversized bows and things reminiscent of the 80's or 90's that scarred my psyche.  I realize that crafting does evolve like style.  I realize that.  But, I still can't make the jump past my preconceived notions.  So, I occasionally pin crafty stuff.  And that is as far as it gets, because I don't want to turn into that oversized bow type of mom.

The other day, though, I pinned an epiphany.  My jeans.  OH, SHOOT.  I totally wear mom jeans.  (As if that is better than an oversized bow type mom). Shoot.  I got to thinking about the jeans that I have. Shoot, shoot, shoot.  And the jeans that my HH likes.  (Not many that I wear). And that article is so right!  I had this one pair of jeans that my friend Sabrina and I dubbed "The Jeans".  Duh.  No wonder they were "The Jeans".  They weren't mommish in any way. When did I cross that line?  Answer: after I had Kaija.  So, I'm staging an intervention on myself.  I plan on de-momming my denim choices.  

But, that begs the question: where on earth do you find decent jeans that don't break the bank?  My go-to choice for non-mom jeans are $80+.  Which is totally fine if you are planning on buying a pair here and there.  When you need a complete overhaul? Not so much.  Then again, maybe the whole subject of cost is what's steering me to mom jeans in the first place. (Answer: yes.)  Maybe I should bite the bullet and invest in a few really good pairs of jeans that will last me a few years.  I've heard that you should never cheap out with jeans and always go for the high end brands.  I haven't done it, so I dunno.  I've never spent more than $80 on a pair of jeans.  Ever.  Is it time? Me thinks so.  *wince* Unless you have a really great secret that you need to let me in on.  (Also, keep in mind- it's hard for me to find jeans as I need a 34" length at a minimum.  Maybe 33, depending on the brand. That's getting risky.  It dooms the pants to a lifetime of air drying.  Trust me.  Jeans shrink in length in the dryer.  TRUST ME.) 

Tell me all your secrets, you hot tamales with the awesome non-mom jeans!  Please.  Or I'll be walking around looking like my rear is wider than it really is, yet again.

My walkers

Today we walked for those that deserve a little sunshine.

We joined the thousands of people participating in 

The Rainbow Connection 10th annual Walk for Kids at the Detroit Zoo.  

We walked an honor of a child of a friend that lost 

a battle at too young of an age. 

And we thought about our young friend, Jayna, who is currently

kicking cancer to the curb.

It was really overwhelming to hear the stories of so many brave kids. 

Including the story of Maddie, the girl that we walked in honor of. 

It was a beautiful day, a beautiful walk, a beautiful cause. 

And I'm glad we could take part in it.  

Big Day.

As summer turns to fall,

 My little girl turns into a big Kindergartener. 

And she isn't the one adjusting! She comes home singing. 

After a long day of Kaija wandering around, lost. 

Life just doesn't stop for much, does it? 

Little bits.

*I hate poison ivy.  HATE.
*I have been googly-eyed over ZZtop for half of my life.  Fact.
*So weird that I can say that.
*HHC!
*My newest love is trail running.
*As a beginner, I'll listen to what you have to say about it. Please.
*Almost as much fun? Taking my Ol' Hardly on mountain bike trails.
*Trails. Heart.
*The majority of my dearest friends are going through huge life changes right now.
*Some fabulous, some really hard.  My love to all of them.
*My life is very not-changey at the moment. At the *moment*.
*Such is life.
*Although, I have a new really great, close friend.
*You know what happens when you find one of them?
*You don't want to leave the state.  True story.
*If Romney gets elected, I probably won't.
*My Izz goes to kindergarten this year. Sob.
*She's gone from accidentally funny, to actually funny.
*Like when she was going to help me make a salad and I told her that her hands better be clean. She told me, "They are, Mom.  I just washed them. Yesterday." Then she laughed.  And I did, too.
*I also have another kid moving on from elementary school. Sob.
*I'm so thankful for this network I have through church.  They are so heartwarmingly generous when someone needs it. Thank you. (It's a great reminder of how blessed we are to be where we are.)
*I'm bored.  As in, my baby is 2 1/2 years old and I need something more for myself in my life.  Bored.
*I don't think I'll ever be the mom that doesn't get a job when her kids go to school.  (Nothing against that choice- what you do is your business.)  I picture myself going batty from boredom. OR.  Maybe I'd be in killer shape. Hmmmm.
*Anywho.
*You rock.
*And don't forget to share your wisdom about trail running.
*Thanks.