December Picture Project

Since I signed up for the December Picture Project, I technically should be posting my pictures daily during this month. I will try but won't make any promises.

Dec 7: A few moments at Starbucks to get caught up on biblestudy homework.

Dec 8: The Keeper of the Plains on a gray & drizzly day.

Dec 9: Don't let the sunshine fool you. It was very cold today.

The Daily Grind

I was inspired to start a new blog project. Last week I read a book review about two friends who lived thousands of miles apart and decided to each take a picture every morning for a year, and now they have published a book of those pictures. I don't intend to publish a book, but I am going to attempt to take one picture a day for a year and post at the end of each week. We'll see how far I get with it. It has been interesting to think about what picture to take each day - to find that little thing that brings me a moment of joy or captures the essence of the day. So for your viewing enjoyment, this week's pictures starting on Thanksgiving Day.
Nov 26, 2009: Nothing brings me more joy than my three precious nephews.

Nov 27: Dad's birthday cake per the instructions of his grandsons. Nov 28: Halls Department Store on the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City

Nov 29: Nick's chair. It was the first time I'd been home since Nick passed away this summer (my pastor growing up), and it felt odd to see his seat empty.

Nov 30: Just getting back from Thanksgiving weekend away + a long & busy Monday at work = Dillons sushi for dinner

Dec 1: Starting birth sampler #5 for the Ross family

Dec 2: New Year's Eve dress decisions

Dec 3: Jimmy! He won an evening on The Party Bus to tour Christmas lights in town and invited about 20 of us to join him for the fun.

Dec 4: Just around the block from my house is this tree-stump-turned-bear that gets dressed up for holidays. Somehow I missed seeing his Pilgrim costume until today. It's new this year and, in my opinion, quite spiffy.

Dec 5: Janel's 30th birthday party

Dec 6: 12:01 AM at IHOP

I went to Lawrence for Thanksgiving. Hannah & Jonathan and the boys came home for 2 days. Sharon & David & JT were over for awhile each day as well. So it was lots of family time. Got to play with the boys for while. JT & Marshall play well together. They both like Grandpa’s train though it’s hard for two to play with that at once.
Marshall is a chatterbox. He’s always popping out with some piece of 3 yr old wisdom to make us laugh. He did not want to go leave Grandma & Grandpa’s house. “I’m not going home. I stay here. I go home next time.” "CHEESE!"
And baby Jack is a sweet chunk-a-monk. He’s 5 months old. He’s a happy baby who squeals and smiles. He looks so much like my dad. He seemed to like Aunt Jen. There’s nothing like holding a sleeping baby.

. It’s sad to realize that JT is not a toddler any more. He’s almost 5 and growing up way too fast. We wrestled a bit. His laugh still gets me.

You would guess that Jack & JT were brothers, not Jack & Marshall.

The grandparents.

The boys had been upset that Grandpa didn't have a birthday party a few weeks ago. Marshall had insisted on a green cake with blue icing and red candles. And JT couldn't believe that Grandpa wasn't having anyone come over for a party. So we had a little family party and the boys helped Grandpa blow out the candles.

And that was the family Thanksgiving. Also got to catch up with Shannon & her daughter Noel. Shannon walked me through the White Show at Signs of Life Gallery. Shannon & her husband Darin put together this show of all white pieces. And then we walked around downtown Lawrence. It was great to catch up with her and be reminded of what an awesome downtown my hometown has. I was happy to find Taylors of Harrogate’s Spiced Christmas Tea at Brits. And Saturday afternoon, Mom, Dad & I took a spin around the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

Farewell

Grandpa Rafe passed away on Friday, November 6. He is very much missed by the family.

The finished product

I thought I'd brag about my flowerbeds and how they matured this season. Not that I did anything special. We had hot days in June when it was not looking good and then the rest of the summer was unusually cool & rainy. I am excited to think that next spring it won't take quite so much work since I'll have some established vegetation. But before I get ahead of myself, here are pictures of how my garden grew.
The back bed is full of hostas, coleus, impatiens, grasses and 2 potted ferns.
The side bed is where I have a little sun for flowers. The daises and black-eyed susans did pretty well. As did the dahlias.

More impatiens grace the patio.

The begonias out front finally started getting big in August.

My front door flowerbed - dwarf lamb's ear, dusty miller, begonias, and dwarf golden barberry shurbs.

Looks like we'll get our first frost this week so all the pretty will start dying away. But I have been happy at the progress made this growing season.

Eat your heart out, Martha Stewart!

So I might have mentioned to a few, or 15, of you that I had some foundation work done this spring. It was not the fun way I had anticipated spending that money, but keeping the house from falling apart ended up trumping any other plans. The southeast corner was where they had to do the majority of the work. It left some lovely cracks in the bedroom at that corner of the house. These are the 2 biggest cracks. And yes, that one ran up into the ceiling.

My house has the lovely popcorn & glitter ceiling that I hate. Since the crack was into the ceiling, I decided to finally tackle removing the popcorn. Afterall it's only a 10x10-ish sq foot room. It's not hard, it's just labor-intensive and MESSY!! That was not a fun day. (BTW, if you ever decide to take down a popcorn ceiling, always have it tested for asbestos first. Though I highly recommend hiring the job out if you are considering removing your popcorn ceilings. It's not fun.) I removed it and did the oh-so-fun cleanup then waited about a month to have any motivation to be in the room again. After sanding down the ceiling and creating another giant mess to clean up, I started in on the patching work. Due to the size of the cracks, I used mesh tape to first cover them.
Then I glopped on, I mean, expertly applied drywall compound.

Then came sanding, another big cleanup, priming, and painting. I primed & painted the ceiling too. I was pretty happy I had just enough primer & white paint in the paint can stash in the basement to finish the job without buying any more. I also had left over paint for the wall color from when I painted the room about a year & a half ago. And here is the finished product. The patch jobs may not be the most professional, but it's done. I was quite proud of my home-owner skills. I may have watched too much HGTV in my time, but it's come in handy.

Voila!

Labor Day in Colorado

I was invited to join friends for a few days on their vacation in Colorado. It took me about 2 minutes to decide I could figure out a way to make it work. So I joined Christy & Michael for Labor Day weekend in Avon, CO. My flight arrived several hours before theirs on Saturday, so I got my rental car and headed out to Dillon for some shopping. Then I went to Vail. Gourmet on Gore was in full swing - a food & wine festival, so I walked around and had some fun people watching. We got settled into the condo in Avon that evening.

Sunday was a scenic drive on Highway 24 to Colorado Springs with many stops for picture taking. Some of the aspen trees were just beginning to turn their brillian yellow color. We started a hike at The Crags, but it began to thunder & rain so we had to turn back.

Monday we took a local's recommendation for a hike. We drove into Glenwood Canyon. That is an amazing spot if you ever have the opportunity to experience it. We hiked up Hanging Lake Trail. It was steep & rocky with a beautiful mountain stream flowing beside the trail most of the way up. There were gorgeous moss-covered waterfalls near the top of the trail. Hanging Lake is a jewel of a spot - a crystal clear mountain lake near the top of the canyon. It was an awesome hike!