GM Sirmans Project 365 - 2011

365. 2011-12-31 Fall Branch Falls
What better way to end the year than on the trail? I took a beautiful hike with an old, dear friend today. This beautiful waterfall was along the trail. I had an altercation with a branch trying to get into position for this spot. I won the altercation, but it got in a good hit. (My old, dear friend will be laughing uncontrollably at this. Apparently it was quite amusing.) And that makes 365 days of photos!

364. 2011-12-30 Birthday dinner
Today is my husband's birthday. We got him and my daughter a bag of shrimp as a special treat for it. It didn't last long.

363. 2011-12-29 Home Security
We've had a number of attempted home invasions in my rural area in the past few days. These guys must be insanely desperate for their meth (an assumption on my part, but I'd say a pretty safe one), because homeowners around here are well armed.

362. 2011-12-28 The World's Best Cat
I've said before that Chester is the world's best cat. What other feline would tolerate this?! Also, this was take with my camera phone and was the only photo I took this day, so it had to be my 365, despite the quality and my daughter's eerie eyeshine...I think she might be part cat.

361. 2011-12-27 Druken idiots
I came home today to see this in the road in front of the field beside my house. The thing is, the part of the road in front of my house is relatively flat and Mustangs sit low to the ground. The driver had to be flying to flip it. As soon as the three occupants crawled out of the car, they started hurling beer into the woods then took off running into the woods themselves. They were long gone by the time the cops arrived. We still don't know who they were, so I think I'll just call them the drunken idiots.

Forgive the picture quality - it was getting close to dark here and I had an awful time focusing and was shooting at 1600 to boot.

360. 2011-12-26 Bell
It's the day after Christmas and my tree is not down. This is one of my favorite ornaments. I've looked and looked since I bought it hoping to find some more similar ones, but have never found any.

359. 2011-12-25 Christmas Story
Gram reading the Christmas Story to us Christmas Day.  This is our tradition every year, she reads Luke 2 to us before we do anything else.

358. 2011-11-24 Christmas Eve night
Cookies and tea for Santa. The munchkin wanted to leave him tea instead of milk. I showed her where Santa was on the NORAD Santa tracker and she went to bed and to sleep in record time. Santa got to come to our house before midnight this year!

357. 2011-12-23 Santa Cupcakes
Another thing I found on Pinterest, cupcakes turned into santa hats. These would work better with mini cupcakes, but I didn't have a mini pan, so these will have to do. They are exceptionally yummy.  I used Pioneer Woman's Devil Dog recipe for the cake and icing and simply make the cakes into cupcakes.

356. 2011-12-22 Cat in the Hat
Why, yes, I do have the entire cat in the hat ornament collection from Burger King from 7 or 8 years ago and I do still hang it on my tree. Why do you ask?

355. 2011-12-21 Munchkin Christmas Party
My friend and I who have girls the same age started a tradition of having them a little party each year around Christmas. They get to cut out cookies and decorate them themselves and do various other Christmas crafty things. This year, we broke out the paint to make handprint Christmas trees. Even my friend's precious little 18 month old got in on the fun. She really liked dunking her hand in paint.

354. 2011-12-20 Office Christmas Dinner
Today was our "official" office Christmas dinner. (The one sponsored by our bosses and not just us employees bringing in various finger foods). This is the second year we've had it and the food has been delicious both years. This salad is wonderful. I had to have two huge servings of it.

353. 2011-12-19 Dad's Birthday
Today is Dad's birthday. This is an especially important one not because it is a "big" birthday but because he had a terrible fall off his barn roof this year and has had multiple problems from it. So this birthday is extra special because he is still here to celebrate. And I am so very thankful for it, even if it does look like he has no intention of sharing his birthday cake!

352. 2011-12-18 Eskimo Kisses
Daddy and baby giving Eskimo kisses.

351. 2011-12-17 Silly Boy
Today was our Christmas party with my husband's extended family. Every grandchild has their own photo album on display with a photo taken in front of their grandparents' tree each year of their lives. This little guy's photo this year will be especially memorable. When you tell him to smile, this is what he does. Adorable!

350. 2011-12-16 Ornament
My mom still gives us stockings every year, and it is one of the main highlights of Christmas for me. Every year, she finds the neatest things to put in them. This beautiful ornament was in mine a few years ago.

349. 2011-12-15 New Toy
Yeah, it's not a great picture, but....I've stepped into the world of smart phones, finally. So this is my new (fingerprinted all up already) toy.

348. 2011-12-14 Sunset.
The sunset today was absolutely stunning.

347. 2011-12-13 Art Project too
Another art project I am working on. Pinterest, you are killing me!

This is a coaster made out of a 4x4 white bathroom tile (which I discovered upon visiting Lowes is actually 4.25 x 4.25!). A cut down 4x6 photo is mod podged onto it.  Then it will be sealed with a clear acrylic sealer (because Mod Podge is water soluble - wouldn't last long as a coaster) and a felt square will be applied to the bottom to keep it from scratching any surfaces.

346. 2011-12-12 Art Project
The munchkin and I did various arts and crafts projects this past weekend. This one was achieved using foam stamps as reverse stencils and spray painting a canvas black. It's not as awesome as the one I saw on Pinterest, but I think it turned out pretty.

345. 2011-12-11 Christmas Program
The munchkin was an angel in the Christmas program this year and she actually had a line. AND she said it! The cutest thing was, though, the littlest blonde girl pictured here had a line and told her Mom she wasn't going to say it. When it came her turn, she did say it, then she clapped and said "I did it!" I LOVE kids' Christmas programs. They are always so precious.

344. 2011-12-10 Moon
Okay, my moon picture is nowhere NEAR as awesome as Reco's, but it was such a stunning orange color as it was rising, I had to shoot it!

343. 2011-12-09 Christmasy Birthday Cake
Today was a coworker's birthday, and this was the beautiful Christmas themed cake some girls in the office got for her.. The lady that makes these is so talented.

342. 2011-12-08 Frost
We came out the door this morning to a VERY frosty world. The Munchkin looks out and says "What is this? Did it snow?!"

341. 2011-12-07 Candy Cane
The munchkin wanted candy canes on the tree, so I bought her very own package which she and her Daddy promptly hung.

340. 2011-12-06 Family gift
My mom started a tradition of having one "family gift" every year. Something silly and fun for the whole family. One year, after my brother and I were almost grown, she got us a remote control flipping car, which turned all of us back into kids. I am continuing this tradition with my own little family. This year, it was a Santa train to go around the Christmas tree. Of course, we had to open it before Christmas!

339. 2011-12-05 Ornament
This ornament is part of a cheap Avon set I got years ago. It is one of my favorites because it catches the lights beautifully.

338. 2011-12-04 Tree bokeh take 2
Another tree bokeh shot - this one actually looks like a tree.

337. 2011-12-03 Tree Trimming
The munchkin has begged to put up a tree for a couple of weeks. I gave in today and drug it all out of the attic. I remember being SO excited as a kid when we got to put the tree up, and it's great to see that same excitement in her.

336. 2011-12-02 Parade
We took the munchkin to a Christmas parade in a nearby town today.

335. 2011-12-01 Silly Munchkin
The first day of the last month of my second attempt at a 365 project. (see here for the 2010 attempt in which I missed a few days) My Munchkin looking silly for me.

334. 2011-11-30 Snowman
A craft the Munchkin made in Sunday School - hanging out on our floor lamp until we get the tree up.

333. 2011-11-29 Tree Bokeh
This was inspired by Lisa's tree photo from last year. I chose to focus even more softly to achieve this bokeh. Also, I REALLY need to clean my lens, don't I?

332. 2011-11-28 Stamps
My munchkin and I went to the post office today to get stamps for our Christmas cards. She saw these in the display case and wanted them. The lady at the counter was out, so she came out and got them out of the display case for us. The munchkin was thrilled - though less so when I explained that these weren't stickers and she couldn't play with them.

331. 2011-11-27 Squirrel
This little guy was getting VERY wet today while stealing some bird food.

330. 2011-11-26 Visit to Santa
My munchkin went to see Santa today. This year, she talked to him for the first time and told him what she wants. She asked for a Blue Doodle Bear. That's all she wants. He asked her if she wanted anything else and she said nope, just a Doodle Bear. It should be noted these things are hard to find this year!

329. 2011-11-25 Eyes
Tell me how to say no to these eyes! :)

328. 2011-11-24 Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving!

327. 2011-11-23 Hand Tree
The Munchkin and I tried something off Pinterest.

326. 2011-11-22 Girl in a box
My munchkin was at work with me today. She finds ways to entertain herself.

325. 2011-11-21 Coke
The seasonal Coke cans are messing with my mind this year. I open the fridge at work and think we are out of regular Cokes and only have diet. Then I remember that they look SOO much alike right now! They are pretty though. Love the Coke bears.

324. 2011-11-20 Stray 3.0
Yup, this would be the third stray in three months or less to show up at my house. At least all three have been friendly, gentle things. This one might be my favorite. She's so little and sweet!

Also, does this count as a self-portrait since you can see me in her eyes?

323. 2011-11-19 Christmas Portraits
I shot my munchkin's Christmas portraits this weekend. I think this one will go on the card.

322. 2011-11-18 Obsession
This is my step-father-in-law's (is that a word) Christmas tree. I think he has a slight obsession. When he got home this night, though, he had some pink added, because my munchkin hung her princess dress-up necklace and earrings on it.

321. 2011-11-17 Thanksgiving Rolls
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving dinner at my office. I am in charge of rolls. Roll making is a several hour process, so this was taken about 10:15 tonight. The munchkin and I worked hard on these, though. Yes, she actually worked on them. She rolled the dough out, cut the rolls out, and worked it back together to repeat the process. I'm proud of her that she didn't quit halfway through, but actually stuck it out and helped me make two pans this size and three round cake pan size.

320. 2011-11-16 Water
Again, this is my 30 days of thanks photo also. Splash!

319. 2011-11-15 Color drops
There's not really a good explanation for this. I was playing with colors and trying to get cool patterns. For the record, the yellow is simply yellow water from food dye. I meant to pick up blue to mix and grabbed the wrong one. Yellow and green make...yellowy green!

318. 2011-11-14 Exposure Playing
I got home close to dark last night and hadn't taken a 365 photo. So I decided to do a long exposure of the barn, hoping to capture some cool late-day clouds. Then I thought - what if I MOVED the camera while doing a long exposure? The effect was ghostly. I achieved this by shooting a 10 second exposure and gently rotating the camera back and forth 5 seconds into it. So I established the big parts of the scene, the blurred the ghostly/foggy effect over top.

317. 2011-11-13 Music
My munchkin and her Daddy were rocking out with their guitars after church today. When I opened this photo, I was upset I'd blown out the side of her face because I'd not remetered and reset settings after we changed positions in relation to the window. But after converting it, I think it works, even the blown parts.

316. 2011-11-12 For God so Loved
This is also my 30 days of thanks photo. I couldn't think of any possible better 365 photo as well.

315. 2011-11-11 Veteran's Day
This is part of an armed forces memorial in a park near my office. This image is also my 30 days of thanks photo. Unless you have someone "over there" it's easy to forget that we are still at war. I have two special men who are dear to my heart who are overseas right now. I pray daily for their safe return and for all the other men and women in harm's way and for their families waiting anxiously at home for them.

314. 2011-11-10 Crazy Hat Day
The munchkin was NOT into having her picture taken today, but I had to record her crazy hat for spirit week. She looks kind of devastated by her silly hat, doesn't she?

313. 2011-11-09 Work Silliness
The eyeball was leftover Halloween candy, the cookie was a mid-day treat brought in by a coworker.  The decision to make it into a cyclops...well...I'm not sure who'd claim it.  We got a kick out of it, though.  Yes, my coworkers and I are nerds.  :)

312. 2011-11-08 Old Lady Munchkin
This week is spirit week at my girl's school. Today was "Old People" day. I couldn't think of much to make a 4 year old look old (I can't see her letting me draw wrinkles on her), so we popped the lenses out of an old pair of sunglasses and gave her an old lady bun. (Let's ignore the fact that I wore my hair like that almost every day in high school & college - that was more to do with not having time to "fix" it in the morning). She was glasses-less and had her hair down when I picked her up. She told her teacher she was tired of being an old lady!

311. 2011-11-07 Rose
This rose has somehow escaped the heavy frosts we've had in the past week and is just about to give what I'd bet is it's last bloom of the season.

310. 2011-11-06 Steeple
This is the steeple of my church. It's an awesome (in the literal meaning of the word) thing to be in the family of God, and it's a wonderful thing to have an extended family in the form of a church family.

309. 2011-11-05 Making Rolls
The munchkin and I made rolls today. She did great with kneading the dough and rolling it out to cut. I think she might be a natural born baker.

308. 2011-11-04 Daddy's Girl
This was also my 30 Days of Thanks photo. I had another one all planned out, and this just fell into my lap. I simply couldn't resist the sweetness of my big girl napping on her Daddy's chest.

307. 2011-11-03 Free Balloon
A lady I work with gave my munchkin a bouquet of balloons. I talked her into letting me let one go to get this shot. It took some creative talking, but the resulting image I think was worth it.

306. 2011-11-02 Heat
Again, this is my 30 Days of Thanks photo as well. I am thankful for heat on cold days!

305. 2011-11-01 Prayer
This is also the first of my 30 Days of Thanks project. I am blessed to get to listen to my girl pray each night.

304. 2011-10-31 Trick or Treating
My munchkin went as a "blue Juliet" from Gnomeo and Juliet. As there are NO gnome costumes available and all costume are ridiculously expensive, I made this one myself. She was the only gnome we saw (besides me, because I dressed up with her). We even customized a watering can, painted to match her costume, as her trick or treat bucket.

303. 2011-10-30 Jack O Lanterns
The Munchkin, her Daddy and I carved pumpkins today. She did her own design, punched it out, then sawed it out, all herself. Want to hazard a guess as to which pumpkin belongs to who?

302. 2011-10-29 Silly Boy
This is the middle son of the friend whose family photos I shot last weekend. I had the boys making silly faces at me to get them laughing during the shoot. This weekend at this handsome guy's birthday party, I got faces made at me every time I pointed the camera. I think I may have started something, but what better way to show a 9 year old boy than in his natural state. And THIS is the natural state of a 9 year old boy! :)

301. 2011-10-28 Work Christmas Picture
I was nominated to take our office Christmas picture. I got to drag my studio lights out and use them for the first time in MONTHS. I also got the challenge of figuring out what settings would be best to get enough light while keeping everyone in focus. Also, we got to lose some dignity in the name of humor, which is always good!

300. 2011-10-27 Cat Bokeh (fail)
Normally I try to avoid posting my fails - but this one couldn't be avoided - it was all I shot this day. This was an attempt at shaped bokeh using a cutout and black construction paper. I think I learned that the cutout needs to be bigger than this black-cat punch. I could get his legs or tail, but not both, no matter what zoom I used. So here is my fail at shaped bokeh.

299. 2011-10-26 Princess and her Panda
Today was "royalty night" at AWANA. So the Munchkin and I put on our best royal garb before heading out. Naturally, Panda was along for the ride.

298. 2011-10-25 Spider Dum Dum
The munchkin and I have been working on Halloween crafts again. It's amazing what one can do with a sucker and some fuzzy sticks! Spiders, anyone?

297. 2011-10-24 Munchkin Popsicle break
No, Chester, you CANNOT share my Popsicle!

296. 2011-10-23 Sneezy.
You may ask why my cat has a wad of aluminum foil on his head. You may wonder why he doesn't shake it off. Or freak as he is prone to do, being a high-strung fellow. You may ask, but I cannot tell, because I do not know. I only know I walked by to find him piled up on my husband's chest in the recliner with this on his head and my husband laughing silently. Oh, the amusements of life!

295. 2011-10-22 Flying Munchkin
I took a dear friend's family photos this weekend. With the computer crash - I've not got them to her yet and it's driving me CRAZY not having them done. Regardless, I pulled this moment of carefree joy out as my 365 photo. As I've said before, there may be multiple technical things wrong here (and there are - many - I haven't even BEGUN to master backlighting) but the moment captured makes those short-comings pale in comparison.

294. 2011-10-21 These Boots Are Made For...
...tripping! After 5 or more months of flip flops, going back into real shoes, with HEELS was awkward. I felt like I was walking on stilts all day. I love these boots, but they take some getting used to.

293. 2011-10-20 Doggy
I've had another dog show up at my house! This beauty is WONDERFUL with children, but still has to go. Hope I can find a home for her soon.

292. 2011-10-19 On Our Best Behavior
I made these "glasses" for a coworker as a joke. We were going for the "good librarian" look. They were a hit!

291. 2011-10-18 Sunrise
Taken out the window of my car on the way to work. The sunrise this morning was BEAUTIFUL!

290. 2011-10-17 Daddy's Girl
This is supposed to be our last pretty day for a while, and we stayed outside ALL evening to enjoy it! I love this image because when I look at it, I can hear her giggling and her Daddy laughing at how hard she was giggling.

289. 2011-10-16 Fishin' Girl
The munchkin went fishing with her Daddy. Neither caught anything, but that's not the point of fishing, is it? :)

288. 2011-10-15 Corn
We were supposed to go camping this weekend, but everyone else in East Tennessee had the same idea and the campsites were all FULL. My munchkin was so disappointed that we camped in our driveway to make it up to her. Then we went to a local corn maze, Autumn Acres, the next day because we'd promised to do "something super fun" since we couldn't camp. I think she's forgiven us now.

287. 2011-10-14 Hula Oops
Okay, so it's not the best "arty" photo in the world, but who can resist a fall photo? And yes, I checked to make sure she was okay as soon as I took the picture. She was learning to hula hoop and I think her hips got ahead of her feet and down she went! I actually have a series of the entire fall, as I keep my camera on rapid-fire.

286. 2011-10-13 Gourd.jpg
Not only do our pumpkins have faces, our gourds do, too!

285. 2011-10-12 I can dress myself
The Munchkin put her own shoes on to go to church tonight. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? What's even more wrong was by the time I took a picture and got her loaded in the car, I got distracted and forgot to switch them (she'd not have let me take the picture if I'd told her before that they were on backward). So she went to church with her shoes on the wrong feet!

284. 2011-10-11 Prince Feather
All my flowers will be gone soon, but my right now, my prince feathers are blooming beautifully. And check out the pumpkin bokeh! Which was the real reason I took this - to get pumpkin bokeh. ;)

283. 2011-10-10 Fall Colors.
Have I mentioned I LOVE fall?

282. 2011-10-09 Fall Colors
My husband and I took a little 4 wheeler drive through the woods today looking for fall colors. We found some beautiful colors. However, my photo of the day is actually from my parent's yard into their lower field. And see the little dots toward the bottom of the field? Those are wild turkeys. Well, I guess they are wild, but they hang out down there so much, I am beginning to think of them as pets!

281. 2011-10-08 Fall Colors
Ohh how I love fall! Our area is beginning to blaze with color. I think we are about a week from peak overall, but for some reason, these trees by our pond always peak early.

280. 2011-10-07 Munchkin Pumpkins
My mother-in-law got these faces for my munchkin. She was tickled to be able to decorate some pumpkins herself. And yes, there are yet more of the pumpkins grown in our garden this year.

279. 2011-10-06 Moth
A guy I work with always tells me when he finds odd looking or pretty moths. So when he found this little guy stuck to our building, he came and told me so I could shoot him.

278. 2011-10-05 Balloon Jack O Lantern
Perhaps I should just do 31 days of Jack O Lanterns - I seem to be on a roll! This was a balloon with a glow bracelet inside. It is an idea I found on Pinterest and just had to try!

277. 2011-10-04 Glass Jack O Lanterns
The munchkin, her daddy and I all painted glass jar Jack O Lanterns today. The munchkin painted it all herself, except for outlining the face, and she even filled in the face! The two on the right are hers.

276. 2011-10-03 Pumpkin decor
We had a box waiting for us when we got home today from Oriental Trading.  Inside were all kinds of wonderful crafty things for Halloween and Christmas and AWANA!  Naturally, we had to try out the glow in the dark pumpkin stickers first thing.  These are actually stuck on a real pumpkin, but I couldn't figure out a way to highlight the pumpkin shape without losing the "glowyness" of the stickers.  They don't really glow that much, unfortunately! (This was a 20 second exposure)

275. 2011-10-02 Arts & Crafts
Our family did a little craft today - making Jack O Lanterns out of jars.  The Munchkin did so well with hers.  She was so meticulous with it.  She actually got NO paint on her clothes!  (The same can't be said for her Mama).

274. 2011-10-01 Silly girl
The Munchkin, my Mom, and I took a load of Munchkin's clothes to a second had shop to sell today.  While there, I found this BEAUTIFUL coat and couldn't resist.  It's so hard to find pretty, washable coats for her.  They are all either wool or those awful puffy things that might be necessary in some climates, but really are not in East Tennessee.  So I was thrilled to find this beauty.  I think the Munchkin might've been more thrilled.  She insisted on trying it on and then struck a multitude of poses.  This one was my favorite though.  :)

273. 2011-09-30 Mums
I love this color of mum.

272. 2011-09-29 Fall Decor
My porch is lined with pumpkins and gourds. The Munchkin and I are decorating them a little bit at a time. I anticipate many more pumpkin and gourd photos in my future!

271. 2011-09-28 Coloring contest winner
The Munchkin won a coloring contest at our local grocery store for her age group (3-5). I am so proud of my baby!

270. 2011-09-27 Pumpkins & Mums
The pumpkins and gourds shown here came from our garden. I am rather proud of the numbers and quality we got, especially given their rough start.

269. 2011-09-26 Stray doggie
This cute little guy was lying on my front doormat when I left for work. I have no idea where he came from, but assume he was a "dumped dog." I've found a lot of animals over the years in my yard or on my road where people have come into my rural area and dumped them out. It's sad, because animals area actually very easy to give away. Our local paper offers "free to good home" ads for free. We had puppies a few years ago that we needed to give away. It took less than a week from the first listing until they were all happily in new homes. Some people are just lazy, selfish, miserable excuses for homo sapiens to just dump these sweet babies out!

Anyway, this little sweetie hung around for two days, stole my heart, and then left. He followed a car down the road and didn't come back. I hope he found a home that can keep and love him!

268. 2011-09-25 Looking Glass Falls
This is not far off the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. The falls is right on the road, but is astonishingly clean. Normally, any sight right on the road is terribly littered, so this was a very nice exception to the rule. In my experience, you generally have to hike several miles before you get to the point that the people who think it's okay to toss their trash on the ground are too lazy to reach. (Can you tell I feel strongly about this?)

267. 2011-09-24 Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell is the highest point in the US East of the Mississippi. We arrived at the summit just as fog was closing in from both sides. I was able to grab a couple of shots before the view was completely shrouded in fog. You can see it creeping in from both sides here. It was completely covered less than 30 seconds later. I literally ran the last bit to the summit, to catch this shot, because the fog was coming in so fast.

266. 2011-09-23 Black Mountain General Store
My husband and I took our annual "couple weekend" this weekend. We went to Black Mountain, NC, which is a cute little town outside of Asheville in the mountains near the Blue Ridge Parkway. There was the cutest little general store in town with everything you could imagine for sale. Naturally, they had old fashioned stick candy (is that what this is called?).

265. 2011-09-22 Wildflowers
Guess I better get a few more wildflower shots in before they are all gone for the year!

264. 2011-09-21 Redneck Amusement
Can someone tell me why this is considered a good way to pass time by some rednecks in my area? Don't you have ANYTHING better to do than shoot signs?

263. 2011-09-20 Mommy's torture implements
My thumb is SO sore from these things! I've been working on the munchkin's Halloween costume. Mine is next...we have to match, of course!

262. 2011-09-19 Sunrise
God is such a wonderful artist!

261. 2011-09-18 Haulin' Hay
We've come a long way since I was a kid. We did square bales, picking up, tossing and stacking each bale onto a trailer, then doing it all again at the barn. I was the trailer bale catcher and barn bale tosser usually. Now I am out of a hay haulin' job thanks to round bales! My husband, bless his heart, is not. He was on a tractor from 1:00 to dark last night.

260. 2011-09-17 Fall Creek Falls
An old friend and I took a hike around Fall Creek Falls State Park this weekend.  The falls were down, naturally, given the dry weather we've been having and the time of year, but it was still a beautiful day, and the breeze and spray at the bottom of a STEEP hike made it worth it!

259. 2011-09-16 Butterfly Quilt Detail
I posted a photo of the butterfly bed to Facebook and got responses wanting to see the quilt better. So I shot the beautiful quilted detail my mother put into the quilt.

258. 2011-09-15 Butterfly Bed
My munchkin's new, big girl bed finally has the bedding I started for her in May. I made the pillow cases and quilt top, and my mother quilted it.

257. 2011-09-14 Buggin' Flowers
So I was shooting these pretty purple wildflowers on the side of the road and noticed these little bugs on them. Upon closer inspection I realized there wasn't just ONE bug on a flower but TWO on each. I'll leave it at that.

256. 2011-09-13 Mushrooms
These ugly buggers have popped up all over a portion of my Mom's yard. No clue why.

255. 2011-09-12 Grasshopper disturbed
I came home to this scene today. The munchkin was chasing a grasshopper on the porch.

254. 2011-09-11 Never Forget
Where were you when the world stopped turning?

I was working for a local doctor as a receptionist then and we didn't have a television in the office. Our office manager had been picking up records at the hospital across the street and heard about it. I can clearly remember her standing in the waiting room in front of my desk telling us all that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. The doc in the office adjoining ours was closed, but he had a TV, so we opened his office up for the day so we could watch it and see what was going on. Our patient load was so light that day, and I spent more than half the day glued to the TV in the other office.

I was taking night classes at a community college in Oak Ridge then and had a test that day in a class that didn't allow make-up tests. My husband called me and begged me not to go to school. We just didn't know where they might hit next, and Oak Ridge seemed like a likely target. I called my teacher over and over to see if we were "still" having class until he finally told me we would be allowed to retake the test if we didn't feel safe coming to class. I remember parts of Oak Ridge being blockaded off after that. There was a federal building right past the college and they blocked the road off going to it for at least the rest of the year.

The anniversary coverage this week brought back memories of those days, the quiet shock on everyone's faces. Just the silence in the days that followed. It seemed that everyone spoke quieter and acted nicer. I remember that aching feeling part fear, part horror, part fury of those days. Part of that feeling was put into song by Allen Jackson "Where were you when the world stopped turning?" The rest of it was put into song by Toby Keith in "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue."

253. 2011-09-10 Old Tractor
This old tractor was on display at our local community fair. Each year, we hold a fair to raise money to keep our community center running another year. It is the result of a lot of effort from some very dedicated volunteers who give up their Saturday each year to work, serve food, take entries, perform, etc. I worked most of the day either taking entries or running a register, so I didn't get a lot of shots. The ones I did are here.

252. 2011-09-09 giant ants & barn bokeh
These giant ants have decided to live in my yard. I have no idea where they came from. We've always had tiny little black pesky ants but never gigantic ones like these! At any rate, I thought the ants crawling on this wildflower at the edge of our field was interested...especially with the barn in the background. Yes, I could've opened up to 1.4 (I think I shot this at about 11) to give a prettier bokeh, but I wanted the barn to show up instead. So here we have it - barn bokeh!

251. 2011-09-08 Tracks
Tracks I cross on the way home from "town."

250. 2011-09-07 Silly
Today was our first day back to AWANA. I told my munchkin to make a silly face for me because she was so excited about going back to AWANA.

249. 2011-09-06 work-day sustenance
This is my fake Tervis cup I found at Wal-Mart for $5 (!!). And this is my get-me-through-this-afternoon coke. The original plan was to get the bubbles, but this cup wasn't conducive to the shot.

248. 2011-09-05 Chicken Tender
We had such a healthy dinner today - homemade chicken tenders, deep fried of course.

247. 2011-09-04 Gracie & popsicle
My munchkin ate part of her Popsicle and decided she didn't want any more. Gracie was quite happy with that decision.

246. 2011-09-03 Farmer Matt
My husband got to play with the bush hog today. We got the rest of our pumpkins and gourds out of the field this morning, and it was time to knock it all down! Notice the dust there - we are DRY! But expecting lots of rain later this weekend. Yay!

245. 2011-09-02 Breakfast
A coworker brought us all biscuits and homemade jelly and jam for breakfast this morning. We all ate well today!

244. 2011-09-01 Sunrise
This is a great way to start a day: walking out the door to this view.

243. 2011-08-31 Hungry
I cracked up when the drive-through girl handed me this bag today. I was, in fact, very hungry. :)

242. 2011-08-30 Evening Snack
This is my highly addictive evening snack in the summer when blueberries are in season. A dear lady at my church allows us to come pick GALLONS of these sweet, tart treats each summer. It's one of my favorite parts of summer.

241. 2011-08-29 Bang bang
My husband, father-in-law and I got to "target" shoot a bit this evening. And by target shoot, I mean shooting half-rotten tomatoes off fence posts. Oh, the joys of country entertainment.

240. 2011-08-28 Munchkin
I was doing some shooting at my Mom's while my munchkin was waiting in the truck to go home. I turned around and saw this. Forget flower photos - this is the photo of the day.

239. 2011-08-27 Bee on Sunflower
This is a bee. On a sunflower. There's not much else to say about that. :)

238. 2011-08-26 Gram's Birthday Cake
Today is my mother's birthday, so my husband and I cooked dinner for her after work. I didn't have time to make a cake and had to buy one (gasp!). It actually was pretty good.

237. 2011-08-25 Butterfly on Lantana
These lantana are in front of my office. As I walked in front of them today, 10 to 15 butterflies fluttered out of them. Naturally, I had to grab my camera!

236. 2011-08-24 Interesting day at the office
I'm sitting at my desk and see this cop walk by my window in a bullet proof vest looking all sneaky. He goes to a building across the parking lot and pulls his gun. Turns out it was a tazer but still a weapon. Half my office was crowded at the front door watching to see what happened. It was rather anticlimactic as he walked around the building a few times and then went on his merry way. We never did find out exactly what was going on.

235. 2011-08-23 Wet Weed
The munchkin pulled one of these and used it as a wand. She even took it in the house with her. The droplets on it, unfortunately, are not from rain but rather from a squirt bottle. The Munchkin helped me set the shot up by squirting all the weeds at the edge of the garden down for me.

234. 2011-08-22 Road Hazard
I had to follow this on my way to work this morning. This particular road has two straight spots where I could see far enough to safely pass him. There were cars coming from the opposite direction on the first one, and on the second one, when I started to pass him, he swerved over into the other lane and about hit me! The next morning, I got behind him again! UGH!

233. 2011-08-21 Munchkin shooting
After the Munchkin's kid-friendly camera quit working, I thought of buying her a cheap point & shoot, then remembered we still have my old Kodak and it works great. So she has her very own real camera now. And likes to shoot me! :)

232. 2011-08-20 Morgan County Fair 2011
Our little family went to our local fair today. It was so hard to choose one photo for the 365 photo today!  The entire set is here if you want to check it out.

231. 2011-08-19 Sunrise
The sunrises have been beautiful this week! I need to take time to drag out the tripod so I can expose for the sky and for the ground and merge them. It's so hard to capture God's beautiful painting with a camera as I see it!

230. 2011-08-18 schoolwork
I am so proud of my munchkin's coloring work! She brought this home her second day of school. I think I'll frame it.

229. 2011-08-17 Manicure
My girlie girl picks up frogs and chases snakes. She plays in the dirt and picks veggies in the muddy garden. She does all of this while in a dress and fully manicured. Welcome to life as a country girl!

228. 2011-08-16 First day of school
My baby girl (she's the shorter one) started school today. I am so proud of how well she did, but it's so hard to drop her off and leave!

227. 2011-08-15 Always Hope
This is in support of the same precious little girl as the bracelets. I can't imagine having to go through cancer and treatments with my munchkin. Makes me think of the St. Jude commercials - give thanks for the healthy kids in your life and give to those who are not.

226. 2011-08-14 Black Eyed Susan field
Okay, so these aren't good for cattle fields. The cows can't get to the grass below for them, and for some reason they've popped up all over our fields this year. They sure are pretty though!

225. 2011-08-13 Chopping Basil
My mother grew fresh basil this year. This went into a YUMMY pasta experiment. For the record, it smells WONDERFUL while chopping!

224. 2011-08-12 Gourds
After the post-planting freeze, my grandfather plowed up our garden and replanted it. I'd already planted pumpkin and gourd seeds and once it got warm, they started popping up ALL over the garden where they'd been redisbursed by the replow. So now I have gourds on my tomato cages, pumpkins climbing the beans and completely choked out pepper plants! But I'll have a lot of gourds for decor this fall!

223. 2011-08-11 Lasagna
A coworker's wife volunteered to feed us today and prepared this DELICIOUS lasagna. Her marinara sauce is wonderful!

222. 2011-08-10 National S'Mores Day
Today is National S'Mores Day - let's celebrate! YUM!

221. 2011-08-09 Corn Shuckin
The munchkin is learning early how to pick veggies and shuck corn. She wasn't thrilled to find a worm in this one....

220. 2011-08-08 Morning Fog
I love this time of year, when the fog settles onto the bloomed-out hay...a lovely site to walk out the door to in the morning!

219. 2011-08-07 Blue Skies
Is it just me, or does this look like an upside down heart at the top?

218. 2011-08-06 School Supplies
The munchkin and I went school supply shopping this weekend. Oh, how did she grow up so fast that she is starting Pre-K next week!?! WAAAAHHH!! :'/

217. 2011-08-05 Salsa
A surplus of garden tomatoes means it's time to make salsa! YUM! This jar didn't even last a day.

216. 2011-08-04 Birthday Flowers
The munchkin talks all the time about what kind of birthday party she wants. She's got the themes planned out for the next 7 or 8 years. So when she heard it was my birthday, she decided I needed a theme, too, and it should be a "flower party!" So while she was napping today, my Mom (who keeps her) picked these and had them waiting when I came to pick her up. So I got a flower party! ;)

215. 2011-08-03 B'day present
I posted a link to this necklace from The Rusted Chain (which I'd found out about from a Pioneer Woman post) on Facebook a week or two ago - joking that I needed it. My dear sweet husband took the hint and bought it for my birthday!

214. 2011-08-02 Bracelets for Bailey
These are in support of a precious little baby girl who is battling cancer. God bless her and her family as they go through this.  Prayers are greatly appreciated.

213. 2011-08-01 Boo Boos
The munchkin got her preschool immunizations today. It's the first shot she's had except for flu shots in a couple of years, so it was AWFUL for her! She did well though, and as a treat, her Daddy took her to "Jingle Bells" for a cheesy roll-up. (I love the kid-words she has for things. I miss them when they disappear and she starts calling things by the correct names.)

212. 2011-07-31 Dog fight
Shh...don't tell, I photographed a dog fight today! ;) Gracie is getting old and doesn't wrestle with young Raz much anymore, but she found the energy to play today. I love that this appears vicious, when, in fact, these are two of the most gentle and loving dogs around.

211. 2011-07-30 Blast from the Past
I took a dear friend's little sister's senior portraits today at the UT Gardens. We were wandering around looking for good backdrops and stumbled upon this old gas pump (contains LEAD) and truck just sitting there waiting to be photographed.

210. 2011-07-29 Pretty Maters All in a Row
I came home today to see this on my fence row. Apparently, my husband picked them and set them here to finish ripening in the sun.

209. 2011-07-28 Pickin' blueberries
A sweet lady at my church lets us come pick blueberries off her bush a couple times each summer. The munchkin quickly tired of picking and instead sat on the ladder and ate them out of her bucket.

208. 2011-07-27 Corn
I got to put up garden corn today. While it seems inconvenient at the time, it sure is nice in January when I can have "fresh" corn on the cob instead of the nasty canned stuff.

207. 2011-07-26 Munchkin fishy
The munchkin finally let go and swam today for the first time in two years. A fall into water over her head had scared her off from swimming, and she'd refused to get off the steps since. I am so proud of my big girl for swimming "ALL by myself!"

206. 2011-07-25 Surprise Lilies
These beauties popped up in the munchkin's great-grandparent's yard this year. They are such strange and beautiful plants - no leaves, just the pole-like stalk and a cluster of blooms at the top.

205. 2011-07-24 S'mores
What's camping without s'mores?! Admittedly, these were made in the microwave because it was TOO DURN HOT to build a campfire even after dark!

204. 2011-07-23 Peeking Munchkin
We stayed at a campground we'd never stayed at before on this trip. It turned out to be a great place. The playground had a little log cabin in which the munchkin promptly went about setting up house. The "logs" were also perfectly spaced for climbing all the way to the roof - doubling for a jungle gym. The best part of the trip was the camping area was fairly wooded, so there were LOTS of lightning bugs to catch! The munchkin had a blinking nightlight both nights. (And yes, we released them in the morning!)

203. 2011-07-22 Mushroom
We FINALLY got to take the munchkin camping this weekend. The first time we've been since we returned from Florida. These little mushrooms were growing out of a knot in a tree at our campsite.

202. 2011-07-21 Sunset
The sky tonight was BEAUTIFUL! One good side effect of the DENSE humidity in the air - beautiful skies!

201. 2011-07-20 No Ordinary Color
I don't have "normal" nail polish colors. No reds or pinks for this girl! Green, blue, purple, orange, copper and black are MUCH more fun!

200. 2011-07-19 Blackberries
The munchkin and my mother picked blackberries on their daily walk today. The munchkin got her first experience of picking and eating blackberries straight off the bush. Every southern country kid has this experience - the thorns, the tangy of the berries, the HEAT! :)

199. 2011-07-18 Moth
I even have coworkers finding photo-ops for me now! The maintenance man at work came to me today and told me there was a interesting moth on the back wall that I might want to photograph. I've involved others in my addiction now....

198. 2011-07-17 Cone flower
I love the dreaminess of this. I am SO in love with my 50mm at 1.4!

197. 2011-07-16 Pinata
Okay, so I have "better" photos for today, but I am not choosing them because today was my Munchkin's 4th birthday party, and I want this day represented by her. Plus, I like the action of this one.

196. 2011-07-15 Verbena
My Father-in-law gave me these for Mother's Day this year. They've grown like crazy in the past few weeks, with all the rain we've been getting, and now this one little plant takes up a good bit of the garden in front of my house.

195. 2011-07-14 Pinocchio Tomato
This was grown in my grandfather's garden. I cracked up when, sorting through looking for a ripe one, I came upon this one. The munchkin says it looks like Pinocchio.

194. 2011-07-13 Balloon Flower
This perennial blooms beautifully this time of year. I'd have more and different colors, but my husband got a bit wild with the weed killer this year. This is the only one that survived. In his defense, we were overgrown with wild violets, but still, I was very sad to see my pretty little balloon flowers drying up and dying!

193. 2011-07-12 Birthday girl
My baby girl turned 4 today. Since her birthday fell on a weekday, we had to postpone her party, but wanted to do something on the actual day. So we got a little "doggy" cake for her. She told me she wanted to eat the doggy's face. And she did.

192. 2011-07-11 shark attack
A late night getting home limited my photographic possibilities (or maybe just my imagination). The munchkin was playing with her shark and her new McD's Happy Meal doll in the tub last night. The shark was attacking the doll. What shall I make of this? :P

191. 2011-07-10 Sunset
Have you ever had what you thought would be a great composition in mind, then after opening your photo on the computer decide, "eh, not so much"? Yeah, that is what this is. Looking at it now, I know I should've stepped back and got more of the fence in the shot, not just the broken wire. But hey, that's what this project is about. Learning. ;)

190. 2011-07-09 Frog catching
The munchkin caught this little guy while playing at the pool. I hope he survived....

189. 2011-07-08 Black eyed Susans
These beauties flank the road on my drive home. I have such a pretty commute.

188. 2011-07-07 Cucumber
Yeah, I've been a bit uninspired this week. The garden cucumbers have been delicious this year, though! The munchkin will eat them whole, like a pickle. Well, so will I. :)

187. 2011-07-06 Munchkin Shoes
The munchkin picked out these glittery shoes all by herself. She acts like a tomboy - helping with dirty jobs like changing oil and gardening, but she wants to do it while in a dress and her sparkly shoes.

186. 2011-07-05 Steak on the grill
Beef - it's what's for dinner.

185. 2011-07-04 Smokin' the Water
(Woot!  I made it halfway through!)

A small town near us has a huge fireworks display every year. They've named it "Smokin' the Water" because they shoot them off over the river there. Boat traffic is INSANE that night as everyone who has any kind of boat puts in and motors to this one spot to watch them. The fireworks shown here were actually someone's personal display. I shot this while waiting for the big ones to start and it turned out to be my favorite one of the night.

184. 2011-07-03 Swinging kick
We had a family reunion today which includes family from my grandfather and his nine siblings - so there are a lot of people there! My munchkin was swinging and her older cousin was pretending she was kicking him each time she swang forward. He's a dang good action actor! She was cackling like crazy at his antics, well, we all were. It's so sweet to see the big kids playing with the little ones.

183. 2011-07-02 Bug on a flower
I hiked the Laurel-Snow Pocket Wilderness today with a dear friend who lives far away and was in for the holiday. It's a nice little hike, though the waterfall was somewhat disappointing, but was expected given it's mid-summer. The nice thing was the 80 ft fall was so light we could stand under it and cool off. Nature's shower!

182. 2011-07-01 American Ice Cream
My daughter got to experience something today that I never have. Growing up in the country, ice cream trucks were something we saw on TV and read about in books, but never saw. The experience of hearing the tinkling music, running as fast as your little legs will carry you to get your money and get back out before it goes by, and buying overpriced packaged treats is something I'd never done. Today we were visiting my mother-in-law when we heard that sound, and sure enough, here came the ice cream truck! The munchkin chose a Dora the Explorer ice cream. She seems to have enjoyed it.

181. 2011-06-30 Choppin' Broccoli
I let my broccoli go a bit too long...it started to bloom. Still tasted good, but I had to cut some of it off.

On a crazy side note, every time I cut up broccoli I hear Dana Carvey in my head singing "chopping broc-co-li!!!"

180. 2011-06-29 Egg Rolls
We made egg rolls yesterday after work and fried them at work today. YUM! Our whole office smelled like a restaurant all day.

179. 2011-06-28 Egg Roll Making
A coworker who makes AWESOME egg rolls held an egg roll making class after work today. This is him getting energetic chopping the celery. That little Pampered Chef chopper was really efficient, but it'll wear your arm out chopping something more substantial - like carrots, which was my job.

178. 2011-06-27 Sneezy cat
This is my sweet snuggle-bunny cat, Sneezy (so-named because he had allergies as a kitten and sneezed all the time). Over the course of the weekend we had 5 children not counting our munchkin in our house. Sneezy doesn't do well with strangers or changes so he spent the weekend under the bed. He finally ventured out yesterday and demanded all attention he'd missed in the last three days be given him. It took me forever to get this shot. Every time I'd get framed and focused, he'd decide my hands needed petting and saunter up to pet himself on them. I got a lot of blurry shots of the top of his head and back.

177. 2011-06-26 Revenge is SWEET
We know that vengeance is the Lord's, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count for yellow jackets....so I took pleasure in spraying their nest down! I had to wait to spray them because we somehow ran COMPLETELY out of hornet spray - given we live in constant war with wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets all summer long, HOW did I let that happen?!

176. 2011-06-25 Drive-in Marquee
We took the Munchkin to see Cars 2 at the drive in. It was PACKED and kids were EVERYWHERE! The movie was good (of course - aren't all Pixar movies great?) and I'm sure we'll be buying it the day it comes out on DVD.

175. 2011-06-24 Yellow Jackets
I was taking pictures of my friend's little girl and my munchkin and set them on my front porch swing. A few seconds later, I feel a pain in my hand and look down to see one of these evil creatures on my hand. We got outta Dodge QUICK and I was luckily the only one stung. My hand was swollen and wouldn't close all weekend. UGH.

We've since determined these probably aren't yellow jackets but are instead a kind of striped wasp.  Either way, I don't like them!

174. 2011-06-23 Paul's Frog
Paul is such a sweet, talented, outgoing guy. He is helping out in VBS this year, plays the drums in the church band, and has a WONDERFUL singing voice. He also likes frogs, and knows A LOT about them. He told me the scientific name for this one, but of course it was Greek (or Latin? haha) to me. Some kids had caught the frog and brought it for him to see. It hopped out of his hands and right onto his shirt!

Update - he tells me it was a Gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor)

173. 2011-06-22 Birthday girl
We got to celebrate this little cutie's birthday at VBS today. She took a bite of cupcake, got it on her face and proceeded to smear the icing up her face into her hair.

172. 2011-06-21 VBS
As I mentioned yesterday, we have VBS this week. Game time today involved giving the preschool class water guns and telling them to shoot the grownups. My munchkin is shooting her dear, sweet, wonderful teacher! Ms. Alesha is SO good with these kids (and tolerant of getting soaked in the name of reaching kids for Christ!).

171. 2011-06-20 Dinner

Leftover Father's Day dinner - YUM! We started VBS today and I didn't get a chance to eat dinner before going. I was SO glad we had leftover BBQ & potato salad waiting on me when we got home.

 

Can I add that I LOVE the bokeh produced by a 50 mm 1.4 shot wide open?!

170. 2011-06-19 Father's Day Pies
I cooked dinner for both our fathers for Father's Day. Dessert was blueberry and cherry pie. I always get silly when making pies like this and cutting the vents in them. So I cut a P for Pop & Pappy and a D for Daddy. Yum....looking at this, I suddenly have an overwhelming urge for pie...

169. 2011-06-18 Weanie Roast
What better way to spend a Saturday night that roasting weanies with friends? The singed arm hair from getting too close...worth it! :)

168. 2011-06-17 Baby Bell
After several setbacks, our garden is finally starting to produce! Behold - baby bell pepper!!

167. 2011-06-16 Flower
A trip to Rara's "new house" (munchkin speak) meant an opportunity to photograph new flowers.

166. 2011-06-15 RAIN!!!
Okay, so realize this is lacking, but IT'S RAINING!! Yay!!

165. 2011-06-14 D
I was inspired by a website, Artistic Letters, which I stumbled upon from a craft site recently. So I've been trying to see letters in everyday things now, hoping to do my own craft from it eventually.

164. 2011-06-13 Moth
My coworkers thought I was goofy taking photos of the moth on our front door. Well, that's not the only reason they think I'm goofy, but it was a good part of it today.

163. 2011-06-12 Strawberry Bloom
This is on the strawberry plant my dear, sweet husband bought me for Mother's Day. I'm hoping to get at least a couple of strawberries off it yet!

162. 2011-06-11 Car Wash
We tested the theory of "wash the car and it'll rain" today. It didn't work so far....hoping it might yet, though!

161. 2011-06-10 Blast from the past
This old pedal car has found a new life with a new child. It came from my grandparents and is 40 or so years old, at least. The munchkin had a ball pedaling around the driveway in it.

160. 2011-06-09 Holly Hocks
Playing with angles on flower shots. I got some of these hollyhocks straight on, but liked the angle of this one better.

159. 2011-06-08 Squash!
A coworker's garden runneth over, so she brought some squash and zucchini in to share. YUM!

158. 2011-06-07 Mom-made rain
I was watering our garden since it has only rained once in the last three weeks or so (my yard is CRUNCHY!). The Munchkin kept hollering "spray me!!" When I obliged, she ran for her umbrella. I had a nicely composed photo of a green tomato all planned out for my 365 photo today, but when I saw how this turned out, I quickly changed my mind. It's not well-composed, she has a swingset growing out of her head, and I don't care, because it captures a sweet, carefree moment in a child's life.

157. 2011-06-06 Hot cow
It has been STEAMY here for a couple of weeks now, much higher than it usually is in late May/early June. You know it's hot when you see all the cows gathered under one shade tree in a field, or soaking themselves in the pond!

156. 2011-06-05 RAIN
It wasn't much, but it was something - and much more than we've had in weeks, so PRAISE GOD for RAIN!!

155. 2011-06-04 Frog
The munchkin spotted this big guy by her pool today. Right after this, she decide to "pet" it and it jumped - right at my face.

154. 2011-06-03 Hopscotch
Watching a three-year-old play hop scotch is so adorable! I had to post something fun, given the teary one from yesterday.

153. 2011-06-02 Fishing tears
In order to "keep it real," one has to post an occasional teary photo, right? We'd been on the pond in our little boat and had to come in. The munchkin didn't want to.

152. 2011-06-01 Heat induced sleep
The munchkin was hot from playing outside when I picked her up yesterday, so I told her she had to stay inside and cool down before going out to jump on her trampoline.  I made her a deal that she could watch Daddy's new TV in our bedroom while she cooled off.  I peeked at her a few minutes later, and found this.  Poor kid was so worn out from the heat she fell right asleep and slept all evening and night!

151. 2011-05-31 10 Years
10 years ago today, I married the love of my life.

150. 2011-05-30 Memorial Day
I had a stay-at-home Memorial Day weekend, so no festival or parade shots for me. I wanted a shot marking the day, to honor those who sacrifice so we can be free, so this is my munchkin's little flag that she stuck into my strawberry plant pot.

149. 2011-05-29 Teddering
Normal families take mini-vacations on long weekends. Farm families plow gardens and make hay.

148. 2011-05-28 Plow
My grandfather working his garden.

147. 2011-05-27 Trampoline
My husband, father-in-law and I spent all evening putting this together for the munchkin. She was so excited when she saw it out her bedroom window the next morning! (On a side note, I was tickled to see stars showing up on the long exposure)

146. 2011-05-26 Quilt
I'm making a quilt, my first attempt, for the munchkin's birthday. She is getting a big girl bed for her birthday, and asked for a "butterfly bed."

145. 2011-05-25 Veteran
In honor of Memorial Day, my church places flags on all the veterans' graves. My daughter helped place them this year. While I'm sure she didn't really understand what was going on, I'm glad she took part. Let us never forget the men and women who sacrifice to defend our country.

144. 2011-05-24 Blueberries
I can't be trusted at a grocery store at lunch time. I ran across the street at lunch to buy some lettuce for a salad. But on my way through produce, I saw these. These lovely, yummy, dramatically overpriced blue addictions-inducing berries. At $3.99 a pint, I should've passed them by. I actually did, then turned around and grabbed them on my way out. I proceeded to wash them and eat the whole pint at my desk after lunch. At least they are healthy!

143. 2011-05-23 Decisions decisions
So I couldn't decide how to process this picture of my munchkin looking for the pet cow, Susie (which she did eventually find and pet). The first one is Pioneer Woman's seventies action, the second and third are Coffee Shop actions, creamy chocolate & velvet truffle.

142. 2011-05-22 Mowing
After a whole week of flower shots, a few munchkin snapshots are in order, right? We gave this tractor to her for her second birthday and she wouldn't touch it. It took her a whole year to warm up to it. Now she begs to "mow the grass." And girly girl tomboy that she is -she mows the grass in her glittery sandals!  :)   I'm impressed with how well she (usually) steers it...though she did run into the house this weekend.....

141. 2011-05-21 Munchkin splash
Oh, the signs that summer is on it's way - a munchkin in her kiddie pool! (Of course, my feet were in it too....it was HOT Saturday!)

140. 2011-05-20 Drive-in
My husband and I traveled back in time this weekend to see Pirates of the Caribbean at the drive-in. We are lucky enough to have an operating drive-in movie theater close to us. It's an experience I'd say not many in my generation get to have. We spent quite a bit of time here when we were dating and now we get to take our Munchkin here as well (though we didn't take her for Pirates - a bit too scary for a three-year-old!).

139. 2011-05-19 Red hot poker
Yes, I seem to have an obsession with flower photos this week. There's just so much to shoot right now. So I thought I'd go for a trippy angle on this one.

138. 2011-05-18 Pink Flower
I have no idea what this flower is (hence the name). It's in my Mom's garden and it is beautiful, but she doesn't know what it is either!

137. 2011-05-17 Stalking Daisy
It's like the stalker-looking couple photo where one is in the foreground in focus and the other is in the background, out of focus, looking at their better half....except with daisies. :)

136. 2011-05-16 Mountain Laurel
I don't know if this is the "real" name for this plant, or just what we call it.

135. 2011-05-15 Babyback Ribs
Anyone singing "I want my baby back, baby back, baby back riiiibs...."? (Yeah, I sing 10 year old commercials on occasion.)

134. 2011-05-14 Rainbow
My nephew's 3rd birthday party was this weekend. It came a huge shower during it, driving everyone inside, but after a brief, but heavy, deluge, we got to see this rainbow.

133. 2011-05-13 Barn (again)
Playing with cross-processing actions on one of my favorite subjects.

132. 2011-05-12 Dandelion
This would've worked better if I could've figured out a way to blow it while taking the photo - but I was sans tripod, so this is what I got!

131. 2011-05-11 On the way to work
What's missing here?

130. 2011-05-10 Big Fat Liars
I have it on good authority that the price at the gas terminals (where the tankers go to pick up gas to bring to the stations) had dropped 15 cents. We didn't see it at the pump, and the next day it had jumped 10 cents. Someone please go smack the oil industry. Yes, the whole industry. Just make them line up and smack the fool out of each and every one, because they are killing our fragile economy...again. For the second time in three years.

129. 2011-05-09 Enchiladas
Left over taco meat and a need for a quick dinner = enchiladas! And since I didn't have any canned sauce, I got to experiment with a new recipe. It was quite good.




128. 2011-05-08 Strawberry
My wonderful husband took the munchkin to Lowe's yesterday to let her pick out a Mother's Day present for me. She picked out some flowers, and while she was choosing, he picked out a strawberry plant for me. I am quite excited to see how it does! It already had a half-ripe berry on it!

127.02011-05-07 Balloon
This shot looks so sad and lonesome to me. Which is why I processed it this way. BUT, the truth is, the little boy who it belonged to asked his Dad to let it go and was so excited to watch it float away! So to me, this image shows three-year-old wonder over simply watching a balloon fly away.

126. 2011-05-06 Mother's Day Rose
I went to our local greenhouse today. It was PACKED with folks picking up Mother's day gifts (I assume). I picked up this beautiful peace rose and also some tomato plants to replace my poor, dearly departed first ones. (see below)

125. 2011-05-05 Frost on dianthus
Yesterday I woke up to temps in the upper thirties. This morning, it was down into the mid-thirties and there was a layer of frost on the ground, flowers, and veggies already up in the garden. :( I have to go buy new tomato plants now. These pinks, however, are much more hardy and didn't mind the frost at all.

124. 2011-05-04 Real shoes
I woke up to temps in the upper thirties today. Which meant instead of the flipflops I've been wearing since mid-April, I had to drag out real shoes today! My piggies were not happy to be confined. At least they were warm.

123. 2011-05-03 Sleepy Baby
It sounds so trite, but kids are really angels when they are sleeping!

122. 2011-05-02 Flag
I took a "outside" lunch (rather than five minutes of shoveling food at my desk) on the first workday of the month, which RARELY happens, because, in light of the news today, I had to find this shot.

121. 2011-05-01 Grilled Pizza
My dear, sweet, wonderful husband found a recipe for this and emailed it to me. I am SO glad he did! The entire pizza is cooked on the grill, with the exception of partial baking the crust in the oven. It gives it a lovely, yummy, smoky flavor. I am salivating again just looking at the pictures.

120. 2011-04-30 Columbine
I just love these flowers. They look so exotic to me, and photograph so well.

119. 2011-04-29 Wildflowers
I see the title of the photo, and now I'm singing Tom Petty.... "You belong...among the wildflowers...." (Plus, when I took this, I *was* among the wildflowers. They were close to the ground and I was sprawled on the ground in a cow pasture to capture this angle!)

118. 2011-04-28 Pine Cone
The munchkin and her Pop were picking these off the huge hemlock in Pop's front yard when I came to pick her up today.

117. 2011-04-27 Snail
This was the day the storm of the decade (or maybe even several decades) hit the Southeast. Our exact area avoided the majority of the storms by God's grace. We were under almost constant tornado and severe storm warnings all day and half the night. During a break in the storms at work, it was raining and the sun broke through. I ran outside, camera in hand, hoping to catch a rainbow. I didn't find a rainbow, but did find this little bugger. Given all the devastation the storms brought, this seems trite now, but at the time I didn't know what had happened in the surrounding counties and states, so it is what it is: A snail hiding from the downpour under our awning.

116. 2011-04-26 Iris
My mother's house is ringed around by irises. This time of year, she's got purple and yellow everywhere!

115. 2011-04-25 Granola Bar
I pass a McDonalds and a Hardees on my way to work. This morning, my belly was growling and McDonald's was calling my name. I resisted and had an oatmeal raisin granola bar instead. That bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit still sounds goods though.

114. 2011-04-24 Easter Egg Cake
This was my baking experiment this weekend. It turned out very yummy! The colored icing inside has bits of fresh strawberries and blueberries in it.

113. 2011-04-23 Munchkin Easter Shoot
I was trying to do some Easter portraits of the Munchkin. She preferred to put on a show though, so while I didn't get any typical "perfect" shots, I got something even better - Munchkin in her natural state!

112. 2011-04-22 Easter Egg Hunting
The munchkin and I had a marathon Easter egg hunt after work today. We had to hide eggs for weeks after Easter last year. We'll see if that happens again this year.

111. 2011-04-21 Gracie
Gracie's full name is Liberty Grace. (We got her in early 2002.) We shortened it to Gracie because as a pup she was prone to running into things and falling into holes, and when she got excited, the back end of her body wiggled like it wasn't attached to the front end. The meter man had to fish her out of the water meter hole soon after we got her because she'd come to greet him when he was checking it, and fell right in!

110. 2011-04-20 Veggies
I went to the greenhouse on lunch today. I could've spent HOURS and LOTS of money on flowers, but resisted and instead got some food - tomatoes, peppers, and cantaloupe. Hope to get to plant them this weekend.

109. 2011-04-19 Dogwood
The dogwoods have been BEAUTIFUL this year. The road I live on is lined in them, so coming home, I get to drive through a sea of white!

108. 2011-04-18 Azalea
Have I mentioned I love love love spring?

107. 2011-04-17 Ice Cream
Today was my church's Easter Egg hunt. They had ice cream for the kids afterward.

106. 2011-04-16 Processing
This will be what's in front of me for days to come - I have LOTS of vacation photos to process! The final count - after processing and disposing of around half - was 540.

105. 2011-04-15 Flower
These were growing wild in our campground in Florida. I can't remember what kind of flower it is.

104. 2011-04-14 Toes in the water
I got my toes in the water, "toes" in the sand........

103. 2011-04-13 Bay sunset
This was taken from one of the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Piers. In 1980, a barge crashed into the I-275 bridge spanning Tampa Bay, causing a portion of it to collapse. They turned the remaining bridge into huge, drive-on fishing piers.

102. 2011-04-12 Beach Munchkin
The temperature was perfect, the water clear and warm. We even saw dolphins and manatees close to shore! (And one jellyfish, but we avoided it.)

101. 2011-04-11 Gulf Sunset
Our first day in Florida. It was an adventure getting here - our trailer's light and brake cable got shredded about 2 hours into our trip, so my husband had to do emergency repairs in a Wal-Mart parking lot. That put us enough behind we hit rush-hour Tampa traffic hauling a 20 foot camper. When we walked out onto the sand to this, though, all the problems just kind of faded away!

100. 2011-04-10 Armed and Dangerous
The Munchkin's cousin, who we were visiting, has a trampoline. She also has two older brothers who have lots of toy guns. Should I be concerned that my three-year-old is aiming a gun at me, saying "bang bang?"

99. 2011-04-09 Miss Navigator
We left on our vacation this morning, hauling our camper on it's maiden "voyage." (I don't really count a 30 min drive for our trial run as a "voyage") My husband and I were discussing where the next rest stop was, and the Munchkin piped up: "I can find it!" She asked for the map and proceeded to study it intensely, trying to find a rest stop.

98. 2011-04-08 Cherry Blossom
More signs of spring!

97. 2011-04-07 Goodbyes
My boss, who is very very well-liked by his coworkers and employees, is leaving us to take a new job closer to home. It was a rough week, saying goodbye.

96. 2011-04-06 Ground breaking
After a couple of years of planning and saving, our new fellowship hall at my church is finally started! Our pastor gave me the task of documenting it's construction, so there may be several of these throughout the year!

95. 2011-04-05 Turkey Burger
Hardee's (Carl's Jr in other parts of the country) new turkey burgers are MUCH better than the horrible commercials advertising them! This was the first time I'd ever tried a turkey burger and I'm hooked!

94. 2011-04-04 Storm Swept
We went from flip flop weather earlier in the day to almost-freezing by the next morning, so naturally, we had a bit of wild weather. Not as wild as further north, though, where a tornado touched down. Someone needs to tell our weather we are mountain folk and NOT in tornado alley!

93. 2011-04-03 Munchkin food (rabbit food)
This is a typical meal for the Munchkin. She ate almost a whole pint of those little tomatoes at the previous meal. Plus, you can't leave her alone at a table with a serving bowl of olives on it. She'll snatch the bowl and eat every one, right out of it! She'd be a vegetarian if it weren't for hotdogs and pully ham! (bologna)

92. 2011-04-02 Driving Ms Munchkin
Mr Munchkin was concentrating so hard his tongue was sticking out! Ms. Munchkin is apparently practicing her beauty queen parade ride.

91. 2011-04-01 Workin' for the weekend
It was almost 6:30 on a Friday - an hour and a half after closing. So why was I still at work? Because I decided to take a week's vacation on the second week of a BUSY month and I've got to cram the majority of a month's work in to 6 days. It feels like tax season all over again!

90. 2011-03-31 Dogwood
They are starting to bloom! Just in time for the Dogwood Arts Festival.

89. 2011-03-30 Ick & Yuck
Anyone want to go fishing? Every time it rains, our parking lot at work is covered with these HUGE earthworms. If they got any bigger, I'd feel like I was in Tremors. I can hear Reba now....

88. 2011-03-29 Ozone Falls
This beautiful waterfall, which is just a short drive from me, was used for the waterfall jump in the 1994 live-action Jungle Book movie. "Ozone Falls plunges 110 feet over a sandstone cap rock into a deep blue, rock-strewn pool." http://www.state.tn.us/environment/na/natareas/ozone/ It is also popular for rappelling.

87. 2011-03-28 Oops
Saw this on my way to work today. This curve, and these trees, has caught many cars over the years, especially when it's wet. No one was in the car when I went by, so I'm hoping no one was hurt and they'd already walked to get help.

86. 2011-03-27 Husbands & Wives
After watching "Fireproof" (yes, I am a few years behind), this passage was on my mind. If we could follow these instructions, how much lower would the national divorce rate be? You hear a lot more about the "wives submit to your husbands" part, but there are instructions for both. It works when both of us do our parts.

85. 2011-03-26 Devil Dogs
The munchkin wanted to make a cake today, and we had a package of fresh strawberries hanging out in the fridge. It turned out to be a DELICIOUS combo.

84. 2011-03-25 Raindrops
If April Showers bring May Flowers, what do March rains bring? I'm hoping beautiful, unseasonably warm April days as we are heading out for vacation soon and are praying for NO RAIN for the week!

83. 2011-03-24 Garden
It doesn't look like much now, but this spot of land will yield lots of food in the months to come. (And demand a lot of sweat in exchange)

82. 2011-03-23 Munchkin toy
I was taking photos of daffodils that the Munchkin had picked which were sitting in a vase on the table. The munchkin came up to me with this random toy (no clue what it is) and said "take a picture of this, Mommy!" And so day 82 became a photo of chipped green fingernails and an unidentified toy. A true shot of my life. :)

81. 2011-03-22 Bradford Pear
Playing with post processing methods. I don't actually remember what the process was here, but I like the results. It's not my typical, natural method, which I generally prefer, but I think it works for this shot.

80. 2011-03-21 Sausage noodle stuff
It's what's for dinner. I have a lot of meals I prepare that have the word "stuff" in the title. It's a sign of a true chef when you can just open the cabinet and throw stuff together for a meal, right? Or is it a sign of a Mom desperate for a quick meal so she has time to do something besides spend all night in the kitchen?

79. 2011-03-20 Princess
There was a beautiful portrait on the shot before this one, but I love the personality coming through on this one more. When it comes to kids, the ones we cherish the most are not the perfect smiles and catchlights, it's the ones showing their personalities, showing them just being kids.

78. 2011-03-19 Blowing Dandelions
Playing with actions...I like some of the post processing I see, but when I start on my own, I always end up back at natural. I resisted the urge on this one. How does it work?

77. 2011-03-18 Charcoal
We took our camper out for its maiden voyage this weekend. YAY for warm weather and camping!

76. 2011-03-17 Shamrock
A shamrock for St. Patty's Day

75. 2011-03-16 Skull?
Does this look like a skull to anyone? Some people see bunnies and ducks in clouds - I see skulls in license plate reflections....what does this say about me?

74. 2011-03-15 Maple Bud
I love my drive home this time of year. When the maples start budding - the interstate going up the mountain is flanked with beautiful red trees all the way up. It makes for a beautiful drive.

73. 2011-03-14 Yellow Bush
I don't know what kind of flower this is. It is a bush outside my office and it's covered with these beautiful yellow blooms this time of year.

72. 2011-03-13 Mommy & Baby
This is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I love it.

71. 2011-03-12 Swingin'
There is technically so much wrong in this photo, but I love the moment it captures: the munchkin swinging like a big girl, side by side with her Daddy.

70. 2011-03-11 Violet amongst clover
You could call this weed amongst weeds - but at least they are pretty weeds!

69. 2011-03-10 Wheat Bread
This was my first attempt at wheat bread. It was pretty good!

68. 2011-03-09 Mad
Tonight was crazy hair night at AWANAS. The munchkin was very pleased with her crazy hair, but didn't want me to take her photo. When I insisted, this is the face I got. I think I'll hold onto this (and the one of her screaming that came right after this) until she starts dating. :) She is generally a really good kid, but in order to "keep it real" to quote PW, one must occasionally post some mad pics.

67. 2011-03-08 Price Gouging
Ouch ouch ouch. So we bought a camper about a month ago. Unfortunately, if this trend continues, the farthest it may go is our front yard. Who can afford this!?!

66. 2011-03-07 Devil Dogs
This is the cake & icing mentioned yesterday. It is a Pioneer Woman recipe called Devil Dogs. Very very very yummy!

65. 2011-03-06 ICING!
The munchkin and I made home-made from scratch cake and icing today. Naturally, when we were done, she got to lick the spoon!

64. 2011-03-05 Birthday Boy
I love this Mommy comfort moment. This is a dear friend of mine from high school. Her youngest is the same age as my munchkin, and Saturday was his birthday party. It was at a gymnastics gym and he didn't want to leave the gym part of it to do the cake and presents part of the party. He was more interested in snuggling with Mommy than blowing out his candle.

63. 2011-03-03 Kitties
White Kitty and Stripped Kitty are sisters, but as they are in competition for the munchkin's affection, they sometimes quarrel. White kitty reigned supreme for over a year, but recently, her throne has been threatened by a sheep, and now by her own sister! Oh, life as a favorite toy is rough and full of drama!

62. 2011-03-04 Daffodils
SPRING HAS SPRUNG! I'm not sure about this treatment. I tend to lean to more natural-looking photos, but am trying to branch out some.

61. 2011-03-02 Breakfast
This is a couple slices of the homemade white bread I made for the second time in just a few days. This could form an addiction.

60. 2011-03-01 Silly Munchkin
This was taken way after dark, with just the overhead light in her room on...no flash. LOVE being able to open up to 1.4!

59. 2011-02-28 Severe Weather
This was what we had to deal with in the Tennessee Valley today. We even made the national news. Joy joy.

58. 2011-02-27 Dangerous ingredients
Makings of homemade white bread. YUM! And OH my waistline!

57. 2011-02-26 Orange Overload
I live in Tennessee, so I guess Orange fever was bound to get me one day. I went shopping today to get the munchkin some spring clothes. I came away with four dresses from four different stores. When I got home and starting putting things away, I realized that each of the four dresses are a shade of orange. Laid together, they look like the start of a pretty quilt block.

56. 2011-02-25 Munchkin snuggle
Gram was reading Aladdin to a very sleepy little girl.

55. 2011-02-24 Noodies
The making of pasta salad - yum...wonder how many of these will actually make it into the salad. The title of this is 'noodies' because that is what the munchkin calls noodles and I've picked it up.

54. 2011-02-23 50mm!!
I got a new toy!!!!! :)

53. 2011-02-22 Munchkin painted nails
The munchkin caught me painting my nails green. (No reds or pinks for this girl!) She wanted me to paint hers blue because "blue's my favorite."  The color is actually blue-green, but it's the closest to blue I have in quick dry polish.  I absolutely cannot use regular polish on this child!

52. 2011-02-21 tea set
My grandmother gave me this tea set when I was a child. We had lots of tea (yes, real, hot tea, not water) and sandwiches (mostly grilled cheese) on these. It's one of my most prized possessions.

51. 2011-02-20 Cracker Barrell peg game
These are at the tables at Cracker Barrel restaurants. It's an addictive little game, capable of making you feel like a complete moron when it defeats you!

50. 2011-02-19 Sirloin Tips
These are delicious little bites. It makes me hungry again just looking at them!

49. 2011-02-18 Gracie
This mutt is the sweetest dog you will ever meet. I got her as a pup thinking I wanted a big protector dog. She turned out to be a big loving mess of a dog. She rolls in dead things and poo (welcome to farm life) and then comes to demand attention. She tolerated us putting the Munchkin on her back as a toddler to ride like a horse. She sees me coming out the door and runs to my feet and flops all 70+ pounds of herself on my feet to demand love. She doesn't tolerate other dogs getting close to her people. (In the country, this is a great asset as sometimes there are some not-so-nice dogs wondering free) Aside from the sometimes smell, you couldn't ask for a better dog to have around.

48. 2011-02-17 New Toy
My husband brought home our "new" (new-to-us) toy today. A travel trailer camper! OH, I can't wait for spring to get this thing out! I'm already researching beach campgrounds, as the munchkin has been asking to go to the beach since we came back from vacation last March.

47. 2011-02-16 First sign of spring
Amongst all the dead leaves and grass, something green has sprung - Easter Flowers! :)

46. 2011-02-15 Rocks
It was warm enough to play outside this evening. These are around the munchkin's playhouse. Thought they'd make a cool pattern and a good show of depth of field.

45. 2011-02-14 1 Corinthians 13
The love chapter for the love holiday!

44. 2011-02-13 white kitty surgery
The munchkin brought white kitty to me today and told me she had a hole! Poor white kitty had developed a hole in her front paw. Naturally, emergency surgery had to be performed immediately. She is recovering nicely at home and demanding ice cream on the hour.

43. 2011-02-12 Valentine Cookie Making
The munchkin and I made Valentine cookies today.

42. 2011-02-11 Splurge
In contrast to yesterdays post, I splurged today. Gotta love the mini-thick burger from Hardees. Looking at this photo now makes my tummy growl and mouth water. YUMMY (and only probably my full daily allowance of calories!).

41. 2011-02-10 Soup
Soup: It's what's for lunch. A lot. I've practically lived on this stuff for the past month. It's quick, easy, cheap, and can be kept in my office, so I don't have to waste time going out for lunch.

40. 2011-02-09 Peppermint
I'm kind of grasping for ideas right now. Can't wait for warm weather and green growing plants!

39. 2011-02-08 Bracelet
The munchkin got a bead set last night to make her Rara a birthday present. She made one for me too. Love my munchkin bracelet! (Even if I did have to finish it because she got tired of it)

38. 2011-02-07 Dump Dip
A girl I work with makes this for our office functions. It's, in her words, just a bunch of cans dumped together. OH but it's yummy!

37. 2011-02-06 Banana
I have no reason for this photo except it was on the counter and I was traveling this day with limited opportunities (or maybe just limited inclination) for photos.

36. 2011-02-05 Great-Granddaddy & Munchkin
The munchkin and I and my mother finally got to go visit my Granddaddy. She is showing him her "puppy." She wouldn't let him play with it though.

35. 2011-02-04 Grandmother's Piano
This is my late Grandmother's piano. As you can see, it is old and well-loved. It stands unplayed now.

34. 2011-02-03 Rock wall
This is on the front of my building at work. Thought it'd make an interesting pattern.

33. 2011-02-02 Irony
This was in our bathroom at work today. I cracked up when I walked in and saw it. I simply HAD to take a photo. It feels like I've been here almost as much as at home in the last month.

32. 2011-02-01 White Kitty
White kitty reigns again! Sheep had temporarily stolen the throne, but white kitty is back! It's silly to care, but I am thrilled that the munchkin has gone back to her original comfort toy. I felt sorry for the pitiful thing when she took up with sheep.

31. 2011-01-31 Taxes
Tax season for me doesn't mean 1040's since I am an accountant for a private company. However since it's the 31st, I've got all my paperwork to file our taxes. YAY!

30. 2011-01-30 Munchkin outside
It warmed up wonderfully today. We got to go outside and play...without coats!! It was WONDERFUL!

29. 2011-01-29 Asparagus
My first attempt at roasted asparagus. I ended up eating it all myself. No one else in my house likes it. I don't mind. :)

28. 2011-01-28 Cilantro.jpg
YUM! I love the smell of this stuff. I took a wild hair to make my own salsa and fell in love with cilantro. The taste, the smell...aaaahhhhh

27. 2011-01-27 Munchkin Music
I've not allowed the munchkin to play my piano since she broke off a black key a few months ago. (Upon further examination tonight, I've realized it had been reglued at least one time before and probably wasn't her fault) She asked to play tonight as I was setting up to take my 365 photo and hopped right into the frame.

26. 2011-01-26 Sheep
White Kitty (who, coincidentally, is no longer white, but a greyish color) has been ousted by sheep. This little rattly Gund sheep has been the munchkin's constant companion for a couple of weeks now. She even got to wear the new hair clips the munchkin got at the AWANAS store tonight. Poor white kitty. It shouldn't make me sad that she's replaced her comfort item, but I am as attached to seeing her with White Kitty as she was of it. Plus "SHEEP" hollered in 3-year-old speak doesn't always come out sounding QUITE like "sheep"....

25. 25. 2011-01-25 Lovin' you is like fryin' bacon naked
My husband sings that to me every time he fries bacon. He's not frying it here, which is why it is not frying up quite right - I don't fry bacon well. But I took a shot since I needed it for a cheesy bacon biscuit recipe I was trying out. It turned out pretty good in spite of my bacon-frying shortcomings.

24. 2011-01-24 Barn
Yup, another barn picture. I was celebrating getting home from work before dark and was shooting the sky & everything else I could see in DAYLIGHT!!! Yes, I realize you can see my shadow (check out the human tripod stance), but I like it - cropping me out causes a loss of the pull-me-in feel of the shadows. I know it's sunny & bright, but this photo looks creepy to me with the shadows....and I like it!

23. 2011-01-23 Tea Set
The munchkin got this Christmas present a few days after Christmas, and has played with it daily since. We've had lots of "tea."

22. 2011-01-22 Barettes
The munchkin has had hair since day 1 - LOTS of hair. I had to use barrettes on her before she was nine months old because her hair was getting in her eyes. She had pigtails for her first birthday. By her second, it was halfway to her waist, and by 2 & 1/2 it was to her waist, which was about the time I chopped it to her chin. Needless to say, we have a huge collection of barrettes. Unfortunately, most of these will no longer hold her hair, it's too thick now!

21. 2011-01-21 FRIDAY
It is FRIDAY. Need I say more?

20. 2011-01-20 Firegirls boots
The munchkin loves these boots. My uncle bought these for her when she was MUCH smaller and she finally grew into them this past spring. They are a size too small for her now, but I can't get her to give them up. She still stuffs her feet in them and tromps around the house. I'm going to have to get another pair and replace them before her feet deform! (No, she doesn't wear them for long periods of time and they aren't ACTUALLY going to hurt her feet. I do trip over them quite a bit, though, so they might end up deforming me!)

19. 2011-01-19 NOOK
I got a NOOK! I was so excited to see the UPS man today! He brought it by to me at work (yes, my UPS man is awesome!) today. Unfortunately, this was one of my 13 hour days, so I really didn't have time to play with it when I got home. I love the idea of seeing a book I want to read and being able to instantly get it! NO trips to the big city required! (Can you tell by all the exclamation marks how excited I am?)

18. 2011-01-18 Love bug
The munchkin and I created "love bugs" this past weekend. This was supposed to be a Valentine's day craft project, but she asked to make some, and who am I to squash my daughter's creative impulses? We even got her Daddy to make one!

17. 2011-01-17 Fine Art
The munchkin hung out with me at work part of a day last week. While she was here, she drew me this picture of "Bob-bob" (Sponge Bob - who she is not allowed to watch, but is still aware enough of to want to draw). Naturally, I had to hang it up in my office!

16. 2011-01-16 Silly Munchkin Portrait
The munchkin and I did Valentine Portraits today. She chose this pose herself, silly girl! It turned out to be one of my favorites, because it shows her silly personality.

15. 2011-01-15 Sprinkles
The munchkin made a funfetti cake mix (mostly) all by herself today. She was quite proud of it, and not really that covered in batter or icing!

14. 2011-01-14 Overdue Present
This is my grandfather's Christmas present. He lives in another state and we always visit him a couple weeks after Christmas. We've been delayed twice so far because of the weather, so his lonely Christmas present is still hanging out in my living room. The munchkin sees it and comments at least once a day "I want to go see Granddaddy!"

13. 2011-01-13 Cosmetically Altered Snowman
This little guy was a fat, happy snowman who rode to work on the back of my co-worker's car today. During the day the SUN (GASP!) came out and gave him (her?) a tummy tuck. Now it has an hourglass figure. I think I'll go hang out on a spoiler and see if it improves my figure any!

12. 2011-01-12 Greenlight
Yeah, this is completely uninspired. I was waiting at a redlight to turn and decided to take a picture of it just playing around. The light turned green right as I got focued. It turns out, I got busy and this was the ONLY picture I took this day, so it had to be my 365 photo. Think I should rename it "Waiting on Sugar" since I was waiting to turn into the grocery store to get sugar so I could make hot tea at work. I can't survive the winter mornings without my hot tea (and I do NOT do coffee).

11. 2011-01-11 Snowy Drive
This was my drive to work today. I live in the rural south. We lack (as in MAJORLY) the equipment necessary to clear anything but the "main" roads. In this case, the interstate only, and that was only two lanes at best with no shoulders in our area. I stayed home from work and played in the snow yesterday, but today, I had a sick child, no vacation days, and a PILE of work to do, so we ventured off the mountain and into town today. The munchkin got to work with me today while waiting for the doctor's office to open.

10. 2011-01-10 Snowday
I got to stay home from work today because it snowed enough to grind our region to a halt. Even some of our newspeople didn't make it in. Unfortunately, it is tax season, so I brought work home with me this weekend just in case. Good news - I still get paid today. Bad news - I have to work on a snow day.

9. 2011-01-09 Trip to Walmart
The munchkin and I took a trip to Wal-Mart after church today. She got a new Mobigo game, a new set of dominos, and a car neck pillow...she had $15 of her own, and I was planning to limit her to it, but sometimes Mommy gets crazy at Wal-Mart. I went crazy in the kitchen department, though my crazy only added up to about $5. I'm thinking of trying canning this summer, so had to have some supplies. Plus, I asked for a gigantic mixing bowl from Santa and he didn't deliver, so I had to find to to make rolls in - my dutch oven was getting offended doing double duty as a mixing bowl/roll rising apparatus.

8. 2011-01-08 Snowy Barn
I love this barn. It photographs so vividly against a blue sky. Us southerners are enjoying an unusually snowy winter, so I am taking all the photographic opportunities I can, given there's no telling when we'll get a winter like this again.

7. 2011-01-07 grammatically incorrect motivational poster
A friend and coworker and I were arguing on who was awesome today, so she found this poster and printed it off for me. Only after I hung it up at my desk did I realize there was a glaring grammatical error.

6. 2011-01-06 Snowy Morning
Any other time of year, I'd have probably stayed home half a day waiting on the roads to clear more, but it's tax season, so it was off to work I go. I did stop to take some pictures of God's beauty though.

5. 2011-01-05 SNOWman!
HUGE, wet flakes of snow drove me home before closing time (instead of three hours after closing). We consider any snowfall as a state holiday in the south. The munchkin and I came right in and bundled up to go play! She rolled two of these balls all by herself, found the arms, eyes, nose and mouth by herself, and decided he needed to borrow her cowboy hat.

4. 2011-01-04 Tax Season Survival
It takes a lot of sugar and caffeine to survive January.

3. 2011-01-03 Calculator
Today is the first official day of tax season. This poor, overworked (note the rubbed off numbers) machine and I spend a lot of time with each other in January.

2. 2011-01-02 Dream Home
How many 29-year-olds can say they already own their dream home? Check out the wildlife in the backyard! Now, if only I could figure out how to get the dispenser out of my chimney so I could use the fireplace...

1. 2011-01-01 guess what this is
Yes, I know this shot is overdone, but I was worn out from so much partying last night (haha - see here), and inspiration was lacking.