Magic Kingdom...again

Magic Kingdom is our favorite park. Usually the plan is to get in the park and race to Splash Mountain for the first ride. After that, all of the other rides are given a turn. This picture of Cinderella's Castle was taken as we were coming out of Tomorrowland heading toward Main Street. The castle is so pretty and at night it changes colors. The girls rode Space Mountain as much as they could.  Fast Passes are a wonderful invention.  

We always open and close our Disney World trips with the Magic Kingdom.

EPCOT

This is a picture of some orchids blooming outside the Mexico exhibit. Lots of plants were blooming and EPCOT was beautiful. In a couple of weeks the International Flower and Garden Festival will take place. EPCOT will be full of color by then. I would like to go back during that time and see it all.

Hollywood Studios

This was taken at the Great Movie Ride in Hollywood Studios. The "Wizard of Oz" is one of my favorite movies. I remember when I was little, it would come on TV once a year. It was an event. Since you could not see it any time you wanted, kids would plan their evening around watching favorites like this movie, "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", etc. I know my daughters think I am nuts when I talk about how we would be so excited when these shows came on. The can't understand how you waited all year for these shows.

Now that we are "Wicked" fans, this movie has extra meaning. It is a good story all the way around.

Magic Kingdom

I am a huge fan of Randy Pausch. I loved his "Last Lecture" video and have read the book that came of it. Right before we left on our trip, I read that Disney had placed a memorial to Mr. Pausch near the Mad Tea Party ride. Mr. Pausch was briefly an Imagineer with Disney and worked this them on some virtual reality projects. I was excited to find his memorial. His quote is excellent and something we should all think of.

On the road to Disney

We drove to Disney World for several days. The girls are off for Mardi Gras and we usually go out of town during that time. This picture was taken at the Florida Welcome Center as you come into the state on I-10.  The Blue Angels are based out of Pensacola, near the Florida/Alabama border.

Meatloaf

Our cats love to sitaround like this. Their feet are tucked in and the only things sticking out are their heads and tails. My family has long been major fans of the artist, B. Kliban. He draws the most wonderful cats. In one of his books, he draws a cat sitting in this position and then draws a picture of a meatloaf next to it. They do look strikingly similar. The girls love to point out when the cats are "meatloafing" or ask if someone wants a slice.  Cats can be so funny and they don't even try.  If you do a google search for Kliban cat meatloaf, his drawing of a cat vs. a meatloaf comes up.

So without further ado...I bring you...Pretty the meatloaf.

Spring is Just Around the Corner

Meet the twins, Daffy and Dil. They have changed the look of the garden from a dreary brown to one with 2 bright spots of color. Dafodils are such happy flowers and I smile when I look at them. I don't know why, but I do.

Did you figure out which one is Daffy and which one is Dil? Daffy has a bow on the top of her head.



Did I make you look?

Like Sand Through the Hourglass...

...So are the Days of Our Lives. I didn't watch soap operas until I was in college. I remember walking down the halls of the dorm around 1:00 and hearing the familiar opening to the show, "Days of Our Lives". When I saw the opening, it always made me think of time moving ever so slowly.

Today, the show's opening popped into my head again. I took Robyn to the doctor. Our appointment was for 2:45. We arrived 5 minutes early. When we walked into the office, the waiting room was packed. I knew we wouldn't be in and out. We were called back after 45 minutes and waited and waited and waited for the doctor to come in. Time was draggggging by. We heard 2 knocks on the door and it slowly opened. We would perk up, but it was a nurse either coming in to get a supply or a nurse coming in to replenish a supply. Finally after 45 minutes in the exam room, the door opened and it was the doctor. I was so happy to see her. I think the sand in my hourglass was getting ready to run out.

Cranes

My older daughter's best friend, Jonathan, died at the beginning of December. Since that time, she has been putting 2 cranes by his grave each time she goes to the cemetery. This is not all of the cranes, as some have blown away, decomposed, or were taken by others who were visiting. It is a colorful site to see when we pull up in the car.

I miss Jonathan very much.

This!

THIS is what fell on the floor last night when Cara was working on her Mardi Gras float.

THIS is what Pretty found.

THIS is what makes a cat happy.

THIS is what she kept playing with all hours of the night.

THIS is what kept me from sleeping some last night.

The Mardi Gras Float

Cara has to make a Mardi Gras float depicting a scene from an AR (Accelerated Reader) book she is reading. She chose to do a scene from "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman. She has had this assignment for over a month. It is due on Tuesday (today is Sunday). She started working on it last night. Rarely have I seen a bigger mess. It is as though the glue exploded all over. The float was even glued to the table this morning. She kept telling me that she didn't know how to use glue. I guess they don't teach that skill until after the 6th grade.

One of my Valentines

I am lucky to have so many Valentines. We gave the puppies "roses". They were very excited to get them. The roses are nice and long so they can both tug on one at the same time. The girls both received candy and mechanical pencils. Cara says she cannot draw without them and they go through them at lightening speed. The kitties both were given time to rest their weary heads (weary?) and Phillip just wanted a hug. I hope everyone has as nice of a day.

Friday Filing

On Friday mornings, I help Cara's homeroom teacher by filing the week's papers into the take home folders.  I have done this for her teachers for the past 3 years.  It is an activity I enjoy.  I get to know a little about the students in Cara's class, while sitting in the back of the class filing away.  I also get to watch Cara "in action".   She is pretty much as I expected...paying attention sometimes and sometimes not.  Her teacher moves the students to new locations quite frequently.  It is interesting to see who she is sitting by and to be able to put a face with a name I hear from her class stories.  Filing usually takes from 30 minutes to an hour and I am happy to be able to free up the teacher from that task.  

What goes well with chocolate?

Everything...and I mean EVERYTHING...goes well with chocolate. This afternoon Robyn and I made chocolate covered pretzels assembly line style. I was the chocolate dipper and she was the sprinkle girl. We worked very well together. Robyn was thrilled when I broke a pretzel because it was also her job to eat all of the "mistakes". We made 21 bags for the girls to give out tomorrow as Valentine's gifts for friends. Robyn bought "Disney Princess" valentines with glitter tattoos for her friends. She can't wait to see the faces on the guy when they get theirs. I wonder how many will put on their tattoo. Cara has "cats and dogs" for her valentines. She is only giving them to a VERY select few.

If it's Wednesday...it's Top Chef Day!

Robyn and I love to watch reality TV. We don't watch it all but we tend to watch those on Bravo more than others. Our favorite is Project Runway. Our second favorite is currently on, Top Chef. You could say that neither of us has an adventurous palette and usually we are cringing when we hear some of the ingredients, but it is great TV. We love to watch all of the craziness of the challenges and the personality conflicts. We choose our favorites during the first episode and root for them to win. Robyn is much better at picking the eventual winner of Top Chef. She also usually seems to pick the contestant who is a little bit of a pain. While reading the blogs on the Top Chef site, I ran across Top Chef Bingo. I printed out several sheets for us to play while watching. It is fun to play and watch at the same time...

Our Doorman...or should I say Doordog

Skittles handles our door responsibilities. Not that Jasmine doesn't also come and "help", but Skittles is always there first. She likes to look out of the window when someone comes to the door, watch the girls get on the bus, and just check out who is walking down her street. Today I was standing on the front porch trying to get some pictures of the rain . Skittles kept checking on me to make sure I was alright. It is so funny when she looks out these side windows by our front door. She uses her nose to push the curtain out of the way. The curtains are pulled tight so they cover the area completely. She has to push kinda hard with her nose to move them. When she does this, the end of her nose gets pushed to the side. From the front, it is a funny site. It didn't show too well in this picture, but I have been wanting to get a picture of her performing her duty.

Uhh..that looks comfy?

Jasmine is the funniest sleeper. She loves to sleep on her back, often with her legs straight in the air. She gets herself in the strangest poses, but it doesn't seem to interfere with her snooze time. I came across her sleeping like this in Skittles crate. I am guessing that she started out on her back and rolled over at some point. You can't really tell in the picture, but her legs are about 3 inches off of the floor, just sticking straight out. What a nut!

Gorgeous Day

It is days like these that one feels lucky to live in Louisiana. It was beautiful outside...72 degrees and a light breeze...not a cloud in the sky. Phillip wanted to take the fur girls to the lakefront. What a great idea! They will love it. In weather like this, everyone is at the lakefront. There would be lots of other dogs and people to greet. The human girls didn't want to go, so it was just the 4 of us. Skittles and Jasmine were so excited. Jasmine didn't cry one time in the car and Skittles had her head stuck out of the window as far as it could go. I twisted my knee on Thursday and am still hobbling, so I sat on the sea wall and watched them walk off. Tails were wagging (or waving in Jasmine's case). I love to watch people and today was the perfect day. I had a great time watching families and happy dogs, joggers and kite fliers. We didn't stay out long. The girls were exhaused by the time they came back to me. They had a wonderful time checking out all of the smells and other "people" on their way. It was a perfect way to spend part of today.

Amused

This morning I went to the post office to mail 2 pairs of earrings purchased from me (thanks Joodlenoodles!). The post office opened at 9:00 and I was there a few minutes after. Two ladies were standing in front of the closed doors to the retail area. There is a small window just in front of the retail area where you can ring a bell to get certain services "after hours". A postal working was at this window talking to one of the ladies. The worker closed the window and I asked the ladies what was up. "The person with the key didn't show up for work." He was just running late. That is classic. I am so amused by this. There is one key to open the retail area? I love it. Several people came in and also stared at the closed doors. The postal worker came back and helped the next couple of people standing there, including me. I was able to mail my package and left before the doors opened. I wonder when this person showed up for work? You have to love living in a small town. This little slice of life has had me smiling all day.

My Velcro Friend

Skittles is my velcro pal. Most days she is lying nearby as I work on the computer. When I am in the rest of the house she will follow me there. The kitchen is the only room she doesn't lie close by. When I am in the kitchen, she will go lie in her room just around the corner. Skittles loves to be with her people. She needs to be where we are. This picture shows what I see of our guardian and was taken after the girls came home from school. The hallway she is lying in is just outside the computer room door (where I am) and her head is sticking out of the doorway to the den (where the girls are). This is the perfect location to for her to keep track of us. Whenever she lies in this hall, she always is upside down. I do feel supremely safe.

Class Sitting

Today I performed "class sitting" duties for Cara's class. Her teacher was judging the science fair entries, so I was needed for around 3 hours. It was interesting to watch the kids. I took them to the computer lab and then back to class. They were supposed to work on math and science pages while the teacher was gone. Looking around the classroom, I think a lot them will have homework tonight. This picture was taken while we were in the computer lab. I especially love the "no whining" sign.

Fox

Robyn has started knitting little animals. She started with a bunny and she has made several of them. She knitted her first bunny for Jonathan and he kept it with him all through his treatment. She made bunnies for his parents for Christmas and is now knitting another for her art teacher, who just had a baby. She is so creative. She adapted the pattern and knitted a fox for herself. It turned out great. The tail is wonderful as she used to different types of yarn (one fuzzy and the other regular) to give it a fluffy look. Nana taught her how to knit several years ago, but it was only the basic knit and purl type of thing. These patterns require increasing, decreasing and probably several additional maneuvers. She looked up videos on how to do them on YouTube and jumped right in. I need to do more of that.

You Had a Tree Growing in Your...

GUTTER? Yes, that's right...our gutter. Our gutters obviously need a thorough cleaning. Phillip is only able to get up so high on our ladder, so some of the areas have not been cleaned in a while...since before Katrina to be exact. Well as nature intended, but not as we intended, we have a nice mini compost pile on our house. Sometimes the rain water from the roof would flow behind the gutters in spots because of all of the junk in them. In other places the water would flow over the top and off the edge because of the junk. Phillip finally agreed we needed someone to come out and take of what he could not. They came out today to give us an estimate. Soon our gutter forest will be no more.

Truly Pitiful

Everyday when I feed the dogs, the cats want some too. This is a relatively new occurrence. We have had the dogs for over 4 years and the cats started with wanting "lunch" about 6 months ago. The cats have always had dry food available 24/7. I mix wet and dry food together for the dog girls. For a while, Whiskers would come in and eat the dog food (usually with Jasmine eating at the same time).

Lately I have been buying Fancy Feast and putting a little on plates for Whiskers and Pretty. Pretty will come and sit patiently at my feet for her lunch. Much of the time, Whiskers expects to be waited on. Today she is in her "Ker Cube" (as C calls it) having a siesta. She doesn't even come out to eat. She just sticks her head out and chows down. That is just sad.

365 Photographs?

I have seen sites on the Innerwebs that talk about "Project 365". I love taking pictures and this appealed to me. Of course as usual, I am a little slow on beginning this project. The theory is you take a picture a day for one year and here I am starting on February 2nd. Oh well...this year it will officially be 333 photographs. I will take a photo a day, but I might not post every day. I hope to become a better photographer by doing this project.

The lovely lady in the header photograph is our cat, Whiskers. She loves to stretch and pose. I was able to catch her in the act of both. If you look closely, in the lower right hand corner you will see a nose. Skittles was coming closer to check out what the silly cat was doing.

Enjoy...