It's Thursday.

I must write a blog today, but have no ideas running through my brain. I am too hot, too full, too tired, too bloated-feeling, too restless and way too brain-dead. I seriously thought about doing a Thursday Thirteen. They used to be nice no-brainers for Thursday, but apparently the old site no longer exists and the new site looked like way too much effort. In addition to which I would have to come up with thirteen of something.
It's a beautiful, rainy day here in Washington. My tiredness makes me want to curl up with a blanket and sleep, but my urge to get the living room painted and my floor down before the end of the month makes me want to get busy. So I've been being half busy and half lazy. The spaghetti I made last night was sooooo good and I think I ate too much for lunch. Usually on my days off I get so busy I forget to eat and get going on wired energy and get a lot done until I get the shakes. When I eat it's hard to stay motivated, even if I eat light. I just want to sleep. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my constant sleep deprivation.
So, let me ask you this. Do you think I'm crazy because I want to take pictures of the stars? Here are my latest attempts. Naturally I didn't bother with the tripod. They wouldn't be very interesting, anyway, if I had been able to hold the camera steady. I can't remember what the last one is. Maybe the neighbor's porch light? Hmmm...don't know. 18x zoom can catch the moon, but it can't catch the stars. I'm already looking for my next camera on my climb up to a digital SLR. In the meantime I am going to figure out what is the strength of the biggest zoom lens a person can buy and how many millions of dollars I will need to start saving in order to obtain it. (sigh)

It's that time of day again.

Pillow fort.


I decided this year I would do all my NaBloPoMo posts around 1pm each day. I chose that time because it is often the time I come in from doing things in the garage or around the house and yard. I come in at that time because I know I have to get ready for work at two and I simply can't get ready for work without first checking on the internet. This is a serious addiction, folks, and I must have my fix.
Writing my blog at this time is a no-brainer. If I try to write it at night when I get home from work I will fall asleep after approximately 2/3 of a sentence. This has been stringently and scientifically proven. Trust me. If I try to write it in the morning when I first get on the computer I will fall asleep after approximately 3 sentences. Again...scientifically proven using the law of averages. Therefore the official time for writing my blog is between 1 and 2 pm PST. I figure even on my days off this is a great time for a break in activity. I'm sure you are all extremely happy to know this important information. Now...on to today's blog!

My youngest son turned 21 today! That's pretty much all I planned to say today. He can now legally buy alcohol and come visit me at work. Other than that, life is not much different. So to amuse you here are some pictures of the boy who always has marched to the beat of a different drum even though the instruments he played were piano, sax, clarinet and guitar.

I couldn't decide which pictures so here are a lot of pictures in no particular order!
Happy Birthday, Jeren!

Only the coolest people wear two pair of sunglasses.



Blech!



Why we used to call him "Back to the Future" boy!





Pacifying Trenton on the trampoline.



Footprints in the sand.



At Mount Rushmore.



Holding Trenton in the hospital.



Love this photo! poor quality and all.



Demure.



What's your problem?



He always used his binkies upside down. Don't tell him I put this one on here.



Box fort.



Yummy.



Serious reading.



We used to spend every summer eating at this park.



Love this little face!

Mandy. (not a vicious dog)

Somebody saw this picture of my dog and wanted to know whose vicious dog this was. Haha. I, of course, laughed and explained the not-so-obvious. This is my dog's smile. This is her very best "PLEASE, Please, please pet me" face. I have told her I kind of think it puts people off when she "smiles" and barks and snarls viciously when asking for a treat or a petting, but apparently she just doesn't get it.


Once she gets some attention she relaxes a little and looks a little less like she is going to take your whole arm and use it for a chew bone.


If you come up and talk to her she will put on her very best beseeching face that says, "Please let me out so I can romp with you. Please?!"


Her very favorite thing is getting treats. Here my grandson is offering her a cheerio.


Mandy decided, "What the heck. Who wants one Cheerio, when I can have them all?" and chose to take the whole cup from him. This amused Logan until he realized he couldn't get in to share with her.


And because I can't figure out why it won't upload from my Flickr account here are links to my two favorite pictures of Mandy.

Against.

Soul.

Books I love.

I love books. I love the smell and feel of books and love to open them and smell the inside between the pages. OK...you can call me weird if you like, but I still love books. I have a special love for old books. I'm not sure if it's the way they smell or feel or just the fact that they are great time markers. I have a small collection of old books, most of which are not valuable in a monetary sense, but all of which have caught my fancy for one reason or another and are valuable to me in what they represent. I collect children's books like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew from the 50's. I have a small collection of early reading books or primers and other text books. I also like to collect grammar books, dictionaries and etiquette books. It's actually a lot of fun to read about the habits and requirements of society in different times. Really! Old books are like a window in time.

That being said, I've decided that I am going to share some of my favorite pieces in the collection during this month of NaBloPoMo.

I have a hard time picking just one favorite, but if I had to pick just one, this one could be it. The book I am highlighting today is the one in this picture without a spine cover. This book is in rough shape because it belonged to, and was well used by, a child. The child who used this book was my Great-Aunt Carrie. She was my mom's aunt and my grandmother's sister. I love this book because of what she added to it. The covers are (actually, were) taped together with masking tape and scotch tape that has long since disintegrated.


I love the fact that it is "Webster's Shorter School Dictionary".


Here is where she wrote her name and address.


If you look closely you can see that it was 1914 and she was in the 8th grade at 12 years old. Her teacher's name is also written on this page, along with a math problem it seems.


And here is the main reason I love this book. She has drawn a picture of their farm on the back cover. I love, love, love this little drawing. Priceless.

Hobbies

In the old days, before there were home computers, I used to have loads of time. I was a stay at home mom and I had HOBBIES. By hobbies, I mean real hobbies like oil painting, sewing, making stained glass pieces and making little tiny things out of fimo clay. I have a whole gallery of tiny little fruits and veggies, bowls, vases, cups, plates, etc. I planned on someday making myself one of those really nice dollhouses and using my little fimo pieces as furnishings. I still have boxes and boxes of do-it-yourself doll house furniture in the garage to put together just for that elusive doll house that I never got.
Well, actually I got one and it was already put together. It just needed to be finished. (much like my real house, haha). However, the siding had been put on upside down by the first owner/builder. I thought everyone knew that siding overlaps from the top so as to keep the rain from getting in between, but apparently some people don't. I tried for years to pretend it was on correctly, but my perfectionism just wouldn't accept it and finally I gave it away. So now I have boxes of dollhouse furniture to be built for a dollhouse I don't have. It's ok. Maybe someday I will get one.
In the meantime, they invented and supplied the world with home computers. Home computers are wonderful, but they sure do suck the time away. I find myself with one hobby now, and that is falling asleep while playing, working and browsing on my computer. I'm going to work on that, though, and try to get back into accomplishing some other things with my time. Wish me luck. My first step in doing that is to clean out my garage from top to bottom so that I can put a studio in the attic. Yay! A studio is a good step toward making hobbies happen. So wish me luck on that, too!
Today was spent putting down gravel at the gate area of the dog's yard. That in itself felt like a great accomplishment. Tomorrow I will get back up in the attic and throw, throw, throw stuff out the window so we can take it to the dump. Fun times!
I will leave you with and idea of just how much free time I actually had before computers. Here are two of my Fimo creations from way back when.


This is a model I made of my son, David, when he was a baby. I love this little guy because he really reminds me of David.



This is a little gingerbread house. I made this and the model of David in 1983 so they have discolored just a little, but they are still in pretty good shape. There used to be a tiny little snowman in the yard. He was an eighth of an inch high and even had a tiny little carrot nose, but he broke off one time when I dropped it and I never found him. I used toothpicks to help create the detail. I used to love working with Fimo clay. You just create and then bake.