A new challenge

A challenge was proposed to me, by my ever inspiring and encouraging husband to do something I have never done before. Take at least one picture every day. This might be something you have seen other photographers do, and I have been toying with the idea for awhile. So here is my favorite photo I took today, from my backyard.


This is an acorn squash I started growing this spring by seed (from a squash I purchased at a local market), and it has developed into a very large plant with lots of new fruit!

Craftbits

Craftbits.com is one of my VERY FAVORITE DIY sites! They have SOOOO many creative contributors, and I have tried out, and am planning on experimenting with several projects on there.

Win A Year's Supply Of Soap

Thanks to the new household cleaner section on our website, we are giving away a year's supply of soap to TWO lucky winners.

To win, you need to link to this new section from your blog or website with the code supplied below:



Check out the new Household Cleaner section on Craftbits.com.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Greetings Bloggers!

I'm back, and with some DIY Projects to boot. My husband Kyle and I just bought and moved into a duplex in August. Much like our marriage, there have been bumps in the remodeling road, but we have learned to take everything in stride. We are learning as we go along, and there have been a lot of tears and a lot of laughs.

We recently adopted two kittens, Suki and Saya, and my sister's dog, Layla. The kittens have been acting as my sidekicks while Layla supervises from the sidelines and occasionally comes in for a closer look or to reward my hard work with licks.

Now, onto the real reason for the blog: the holiday season is one of my favorites, great deals on craft materials and lots of projects to consider making as gifts. Often too many that I get myself and my wallet into a bit of a tizzy.

Some of my recent projects have been decopaging a dresser, refinishing a coffee table, dining table and some frames. Projects to come include a magnet board for your recipes/wall, magnets, a peanut heart for the squirrels, and more!

Tomorrow will mark the completition of my DIY Decopage Dresser, and I hope to get you some pictures and instructions up.

For now, take a look at these great, inspirational DIY websites. My favorite is Beach Brights, a DIY Master Christy Bright runs the site and has fantastic ideas. If you follow her you have a chance to win a prize! I recently won What Shall We Do Today, a DIY book of 60 crafts to do with kids. My second DIY website pick is DIY Ideas, presented by Better Homes and Gardens (and publishes a magazine under a similar title). It doesn't appear that they update their site more than monthly, but you can find great projects by digging a little. You can also follow them on FaceBook.

Well bloggers, that's it for tonight, I'm hitting the proverbial hay.

Life and Love

Well, I'm very excited to say in 9 days, or a little less, that i'll be married! Seemed like 14 months ago this day would never come, and it seemed like a month ago I'd never be ready.

Most everything is set into place, only minor details like getting alterations complete, packed and everyone organized is left to do.

After our lovely honeymoon in Disneyland, we'll be traveling to Bellingham to participate in Kyle's best man's wedding, and spending a day in Seattle before we return "home".

We'll move into our new duplex off Shenandoah Ave about two weeks after the wedding, so anyone and everyone who wants to come help me clean and paint is welcome! In the mean time i'll be living out of a suitcase at Kyle's residence off Browning until its time for the real move.

Just a quick refresher for those who need it:

The ceremony and reception dinner will take place at Ron's Pond in Monmouth Oregon at 16300 Shady Ln. Rd, Monmouth 97361.

The ceremony will start about 630 pm to last about 20 minutes, followed by a reception line and dinner /dancing.


We are registered at target and in desperate need for just about everything and anything.

Graduation 2009

At 4:30 I heard the news from a Donkey Show news alert, fatal car accident along I5 southbound, just north of the exit we needed.

Mom and I were late heading out late, and decided to take the back roads to graduation, but according to the Albany Democrat Herald, the accident actually took place around 1:30 so there may have been no actual need for rerouting.

Regardless, we got to the fairgrounds on time, and graduation went as planned. Fortunately Rita Cavin, LBCC president is a fair woman, and didn't clog graduation full of boring speeches.

For me, this event was a proud moment, long awaited, and remembered for a long time.

My highschool graduation, is also one to be remembered forever, but not for the same reasons. It was 105 degrees that day in June, and we had to spend four hours practicing outside without breaks and refreshments. Those who needed to seek refuge from the heat were threatened with not being allowed to participate that evening.

By the time I got home around 12:30 that afternoon, the tentative plan to go to North Fork had been cancelled because I started throwing up. Heat stroke.

Many of the students had been showing signs of heat stroke (nausea, dizzyness) by the time graduation practice had wrapped up, but I seemed to be affected very negatively.

14 hours later I was still sick, but ready to pass out on our bathroom floor from utter exhaustion.

Fortunately, tonight was not like that night in 2003. I arrived on time, feeling good as I met up with fellow Commuter's and waited. Then waited some more until it was time to go outside to wait even longer. Then a time came where we filled the fairgrounds, listened to a few minor speeches, then went and smiled pretty for the camera.

Now I write to you as a 2009 graduate from LBCC with my Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer, Photography emphasis, and don't it feel good!

My goal is to keep up the blog for the summer, and to keep you updated as I check things off my long list, and to keep you refreshed in between with wacky news!

If God had a cell phone . . .

If God had a cell phone, some might wonder what he would do with it. Would he text? Would he use the tip calculator? More importantly would God tweet?!

According to McSweeny's Internet Tendency, they have figured out exactly what God would do- he would text the 10 Commandments according to Jamie Quatro.

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.

2. dnt wrshp pix/idols

3. no omg's

4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)

5. pos ok - ur m&d r cool6. dnt kill ppl

7. :-X only w/ m8

8. dnt steal

9. dnt lie re: bf

10. dnt ogle ur bf's m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl. ttyl, JHWH.

ps. wwjd?

Incase you cannot decipher, or are not familiar with the 10 Commandments here are the 10 Commandments according to AllAboutTruth.org:

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'

SIX: 'You shall not murder.' SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'

Sometimes, I have a need for a little cell phone humor when everyone is so consumed by technology, we forget how to write and communicate with one another.

Even the Pope is using YouTube and text messages to spread the Word, and I ponder to myself, what would God really think about technology!

Photo courtesy of Higherthings.Org

Sailor duck saves life.

Bay Area News reported that a rubber duck in the form of a sailor saved a 90-year-old woman's life this weekend.

Thursday, after Shirley Madsen had a riveting day at the casino she decided to have a bath before dinner.

"I only had an egg and a half of a pancake for breakfast," Madsen said. "When I got home I was trying to decide whether to have dinner first or take a bath."

According to Madsen's daughter, Diane Weber, Madsen leads a very active lifestyle, and it is not uncommon for her to miss her daughters phone calls during the day.

However, when Madsen decided to get out of the tub she could not lift herself. She stayed warm by continually draining and refilling the tub with warm water.

Too weak to use her hands as a cup, Madsen discovered that a rubber sailor duck had a hole in the bottom that would be sufficient for collecting water.

Madsen was discovered by Weber on Saturday when another daughter, Christine Steigelman grew concerned. Madsen returned home with dry skin, a deep tissue bruise and the equivalence of two bed sores.

"I will never get in another bathtub, ever," Madsen said.

With a laugh, she further advises: "Get a bunch of rubber duckies and make sure one of them can't swim."

Having a safety plan is important when many of us have older relatives that are beginning to show signs of aging. Madsen's daughter Steigelman said, "We are close (family) and we had a routine, but we did not have a plan."

Madsen will be equipped with a waterproof medical alert device in case of this ever happening again. Unfortunately for some, it is too late, our elderly relatives may be too weak or confused to push the button on the device.

If you have an elderly relative, make sure you talk with your family to create a plan like Madsen's daughters did. If she doesn't answer their twice daily phone calls, a member of their family will go to her home and check on her.
For more information on medical alert devices, check out LifeStation's 11 tips, and an article in the NYTimes about the importance of research.

Flickr photo by Jo Naylor.