Thursday, April 29, 2010

Picture 122 - Eeyore


I have always loved Eeyore. Pooh seemed just too silly for me (no common sense at all), Piglet was too wide-eyed innocent, Rabbit was too pessimistic (and possibly a little bitter), and Tigger was too annoyingly happy. For some reason, gloomy Eeyore became my favorite. I just wanted to give him a hug, tell him it will be all okay, and make him smile. I have enjoyed working on this project and can't wait to see the completed work.

Picture 122 - Tradition


Every now and again I get the urge to just start reading through this series again. It seems I must not be busy enough with school because I have started reading the books again. Each time I read them, they seem to be finished faster and faster (that or time goes by faster). I once said that this series was my "fluff" reading go-to. He seemed to be very miffed that I would consider it so, but I do. If I need something to just occupy my mind for a while, it's to these books I go.

Picture 121 - Bath Time


After two days of doing some very intense working out, it was time to come home and soak my very sore muscles in some very hot water. Fortunately, I still happened to have some bubble bath a student had given me and I chose to make good use of it. Fast forward to the next morning and I was still walking like I was infirm, but I tell myself it would have been worse without the bath.

Picture 120 - sunsets


One of my favorite parts about living is Michigan is that you usually get to see pretty nice sunsets, especially over the lake. Living in NC, or more specifically, in a city highly limits the number of times you actually get to see color. As I was driving, I spotted the pink and gray clouds and went in search of a location at which I could take a picture. It took a few minutes, but finally, I was able to park in the Arby's parking lot and get a quick shot of the sunset.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Picture 119 - New Adeventure


It may seem odd to have a picture of a garden under the heading of new adventure, but that's just what it is. This week I had two people ask if I would take pictures of them. One is for a couple that just got engaged. I decided to head out today and find some good places that we could take some shots. I went to the Sandhills Horticultural Gardens. I've known about them for 2 years now, but I've been too scared to go there by myself. As I was getting out of the car today, I couldn't figure out why I had been nervous to go new places alone. I had a great time wandering about the gardens and enjoying the hard work of the students there. So I guess the new adventures is two fold, I got to experience the gardens for the first time and I just officially "booked" my first wedding gig as well.

Picture 118 - Time for Fun


It seems that since I've been down her in NC, my core group of "hang out" friends has undergone a drastic change. Many of the people who used to be here have moved away, and many others have gotten busy with life. So, for a while my Saturday nights consisted of staying home, cleaning, watching a movie or working on a project. Yay for having a new group of friends that like to hang out. Last night we went "cosmic" bowling and were treated to a remix of music from my high school dances. I can't remember the last time I heard someone play "Tootsie Roll". It was good but unfortunately, way too loud. I went to bed with a headache, hoping it would go away by morning.

Picture 117 - Shadow Play


Friday night I was exhausted when I got home from work. This has been the first official "bad" week I've had with my class. I'm extremely thankful for this because last year, there were a lot more bad weeks than good and this year has been such a blessing. So, it came time for bed and I realized I didn't have a picture. This is when I decided to play around with shadows and see what happened. I kinda like it.

Picture 116 - welcome home, part 2


I got home today and instead of seeing a cat waiting in the window for me, I walk in to this scene. It seems Linus has developed the ability of jumping high. High enough to pull this article of clothing down from 5 feet up.

Okay, enough pictures of the cat, time to find some other exciting things in my life.

Picture 115 - welcome home


This is what I drive up to most days of the week. Even if Linus is a cat, he sometimes seems more like a dog. He always happy to see me, comes when I calls, and loves attention. I still want a dog someday, but for now, this will do.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Picture 114 - Good Fortune


Some have called it Karma, some have said it's good luck, but I believe this is God working and everyone that has asked me, I have been more than willing to share how He has worked. The reason I used the picture of my necklace is because the character shown means good luck or good fortune.

Picture 113 - The beginning of the end of the story


Anyone who has talked to me in the last week or so knows that it has been kinda stressful. Turns out the oil problem on Wednesday had long term consequences. On Friday morning I drove to work and had a friend follow me just in case. As I broke down on the way, I was very thankful I had. I ran it at 60 for about 5 miles when the engine started making an awful noise. There was some squealing, the smell of something burning, and a whole lot of knocking. This time though, I didn't panic, but quite calmly called Walmart and asked that they take care of it. Their customer service has been above reproach in this matter. They have taken full responsibility, submitted a claim to their insurance, and got me a rental car to use until my car is fixed (which their insurance is paying for). Yes, God is good! Hopefully I'll find out the extent of the damage done this afternoon and have a time frame for when my car is done.

Picture 112 - Hands on


So this year, instead of every child doing a science fair project, each class had to do one. I had fully intended to to mine on plants, but time got away and we (and by we, I mean me) decided to do the experiment on crater size. The kids did all the measuring, dropping and recording. They seemed to have a lot of fun and hopefully they got something out of it besides playing in flour.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Picture 111 - lake of oil


What a day, what a day. It started out with my car's engine seizing up and completely breaking down. I had my oil changed just 12 days ago, so I had never even thought to check my oil level. Turns out it wouldn't have mattered if I did. This morning something went wrong with the oil filter. It became disconnected and began spewing oil everywhere. The gentleman from Wal-Mart met me where the car was parked and tried to fix it. To come to the end, the gentleman was covered in oil that splattered, there is now a lake of oil in a gas station parking lot, and I can currently drive my car.

Picture 110 - Getting old


Today I tried Kenpo Karate (or at least the P90X version of it) and wound up being very sore. So, by 9:15 I was ready to fall asleep (the clock is 10 min fast). Very thankful for a good night's sleep. Helped make Wed. morning a little bit easier to deal with.

Picture 109 - Cheating


Monday night I was absolutely exhausted! I had gotten 4 hours sleep the night before, so when it came time to take a picture, it was about 9:30 and I was already crawling into bed. I decided to grab my camera and take a picture of the nearest thing that caught my eye. Turns out Linus was the first thing I saw. Yup, I cheated, but at least I took a picture.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Picture 108 - Fun in the Sun


Today, instead of starting on my work right away, I decided to head to the park with friends. We spent about two hours just playing in the sun. I tried to go barefoot, but turns out wearing socks and shoes all winter makes for some very tender feet. It was wonderful to just relax and throw the Frisbee around.

Picture 107 - Clean glasses


While my mom and dad were here, mom would look at me and say "clean your glasses". It has been so long since somebody told me to do that. I had to laugh. So, I hunted out my own lens cleaning cloth and have it ready and handy for whenever my glasses feel the least bit cloudy.

Picture 106 - Upgraded


My landlord is an interesting character, to say the least. One of his characteristics is cheapness. So, when he stopped by to ask if I wanted to have the area in front of my door tiled, I about fell over shocked. Usually he doesn't make improvements until someone moves out. In reality though, Linus is really the only one who is getting much use out of the tile. He absolutely loves the cool feeling of it.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Picture 105 - Visitors from the North


My parents left today. I will miss having people here and running around doing stuff. It was good to be with them.

Picture 104 - Being Tourists


Today we down to visit Fort Fisher (a civil war for initially) and the Aquarium. I really enjoyed getting to explore part of the state.

Picture 103 - washing woes


I woke up Saturday morning ready to face the day smiling. The house was clean, dishes were done, all I had left was one last load of sheets. As I started the washer I walked away thinking all was good. Turns out, not so. The safety switch wouldn't trip, drain the water and spin the clothes. All that to say I had a near panic attack wondering what I was going to do. Dad got here and saved the day. I now have a washing machine without a safety switch, but it works.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Picture 102 - one adorable family


We spent Resurrection Sunday with my Aunt, Uncle, Cousin and her family today. We took the opportunity to take some family pictures. I just love Wesley's smile in this one.

Picture 101 - yellow coated everything


It's that time of year again. Time for allergies and pollen. It's insane how much everything gets coated in a yellow dust. I leave my car parked outside and every morning I come out and it's covered in dust. Thankfully, I haven't developed an allergy to this, so at least I'm not sneezing my head off, but it sure makes for quite a mess.

Picture 100 - Hot! Hot! Hot!


In preparation for my parents coming down, I spent my Friday night cleaning. I was getting very warm and sticky and figured it was just from the work I was doing until I looked at the temperature gauge for the apartment. It was 81 degrees in the apartment. No wonder why I was getting warm. But, I am refusing to use air conditioning until it is absolutely necessary. For now, fans do the job quite nicely.

Picture 99 - Yay for math!


I don't often post about school, but I was so excited about what the kids were doing today. It was the day before spring break began and I knew I needed something to keep them engaged. So, and Easter Egg math hunt was decided on. What really just makes me so proud though is that these two kids are really working out their problems and using their strategies. The problems I gave them were not easy by any measure, but because they were motivated by candy (I'm not above bribery once in a while), they spent 90 minutes working hard and solving the problems. Now if I can just get them to transfer this to their benchmark tests coming up next week!

Picture 98 - It's my party and I'll ignore you if I want to


While not a party for me, I can imagine that is what was going through Wesley's head. He had opened two presents and decided he was done. There were close to 25 people there and he just didn't want to be around anyone anymore. So, he grabbed his book from the shelf, went behind the couch (where no one was), plopped down and opened his book. He was a little full of it, but I could relate to the feeling. He eventually came back out and finished opening presents and the night ended well.