Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Inconvenience

Time for a little venting session....

So, we were hit with a hurricane on Sunday. Well, really for us, it was classified as a tropical storm. As I mentioned in my previous post, it was enough to knock down trees and some of us still do not have power. That is what leads me to my venting. Life without power...not fun. Can we survive? Absolutely...Please people, stop complaining like it's the end of the world and you're going to die without it.....you will not! Unless of course you have medical conditions where power is necessary to run your oxygen machine or other life saving tools. There are so many real problems in the world and so many of us who were affected in much, much larger ways....stop, stop, stop the bitching (sorry!) Not having power is a big inconvenience, but it really isn't a problem or catastrophe...you CAN survive without it, and so many people do, every day of their lives.

And while I'm at it, have we become so dependent on traffic lights that we really cannot figure out how to travel without them. Where there are lights, there now is a four way stop...don't speed through the intersection without even yielding....you are causing more chaos.

It's disappointing to see the lack of resilience around after this storm. Suck it up people, suck it up!

"One of life's best coping mechanisms is to know the difference

between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if

you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you've got a

problem. Everything else is an inconvenience. Life is inconvenient.

Life is lumpy. A lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat and a lump

in the breast are not the same kind of lump. One needs to learn the

difference."

- Robert Fulghum

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Irene

What's in a name? (from www.websters.com) "Irene \i-re-ne\ as a girl's name is pronounced eye-REEN, eye-REE-nee. It is of Greek origin, and the meaning of Irene is "peace". Mythology: Greek goddess of peace. Saint Irene (fourthcentury) was one of the three sisters martyred for their faith in Macedonia. The three-syllable pronunciation is mostly British. Common during the Roman Empire, but first used in English-speaking countries in the mid-19th century. Irina is popular in Russia. Actresses Irene Dunne, Irene Worth."

Peace, Really? When I think of Hurricane Irene, Peace is pretty much the last word that comes to mind. She packed a good punch and we didn't even get the actual hurricane; we got a tropical storm by the time it came up to us....thank GOD! Winds were around 60 mph and that was just about enough for me. We even ventured to the basement with flashlights a couple times because I was worried a tree was going to fall on our house after a couple big trees from our neighbor's yard were uprooted and crushed our swingset. Sooooo scary!!!!








We will have a lot of firewood this year.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Nelson Mandela

Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.
John Lennon

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Us

We went blueberry picking late this year, so we had the entire place to ourselves. That makes it fun to be able to take some pictures without feeling totally ridiculous when trying to balance the camera on the container of blueberries. The focusing can be a bit tricky as evidenced by the first photo, but it captured Us in the moment.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

I'm linking up with Emily today at The Anderson Family Crew

Still having issues with blogger not being able to save my font sizes and colors...making me nuts!!!!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Face Lift

My blog was in need of a face lift, and I must say, I'm quite happy with the results. Typically, I get bored easily and like to change my header every month, but the last one has been up for at least 2. With the return of work and school upon us, I'm thinking this one may be there until Christmas, but we'll see. For now, I'm happy with it.

"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship."

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Bottle Cap Fever



First, my disclaimer: These photos are not great because I forgot to take them during the day and then I was forced to use good old artificial light. Not a great thing for quality photos.

When Geocaching, the rule is if you take something, you must leave something behind....but what? I got this idea to make magnets using bottle caps and so we started saving all the bottle caps.

When this jar was full, we started our project. (No, we didn't drink all those beverages on our own)



Then I got the idea to make sets of magnets to give as gifts. For these I cut photographs using a jagged circle punch (no idea what it is really called), used glue to adhere them to the caps and finished them off with these epoxy stickers.

Glue magnets to the backs and you're done.



They do sell plain bottle caps so you don't have to save your own, but I like the eclectic look of all the different caps. I think it adds some character.

I'm going to get some better pics during the day and post later in the week.

“Get up and dance, get up and smile, get up and drink to the days that are gone in the shortest while.”
-Simon Fowler

WHY CAN'T I EDIT THE FONT IN BLOGGER? IT'S MAKING ME CRAZY!!!!!

I'm linking up with Heather today


Friday, August 19, 2011

Berries

We took our annual road trip (it's a mere 45 minutes, but for us, it's a road trip) to Little Compton to pick some Blueberries. We are late into the season, so I think that is why we were the only ones there. There were still plenty of blueberries and it was peaceful and beautiful...perfect! We picked 11lbs of berries and that doesn't count the 2 lbs E had in his stomach when we left.

And my two loves even volunteered to pose for a picture!
" Blueberries is one of the great forces o'good in the world."

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Silly

Nothing like ending a summer day with being silly. I can set my camera to take five consecutive pictures on the self-timer, so we have lots of pictures. Here are a few (or several).




































"Don't be afraid to look silly."


I'm linking up with Emily today The Anderson Family Crew

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Imperfectly Fabulous


So, I know I've gone on tangents about it before and recently too, but I guess I'm just trying to convince myself that what I write is true. Therefore, I'm going to talk about it again in the hope that this time, I actually believe myself. The "IT" is blogging. "IT" can be a stressful thing, especially when you're a perfectionist and slightly insecure. "IT" can often make you feel like you're not good enough, that you should be doing more for your kids, taking better photographs, or attracting more "fans". What really matters??? The reality is that we all have things going on in our lives that are not so glamorous, but, it seems, we rarely mention them; I applaud those who do. Everyone's life is so darn "fabulous" and for some reason, the competition is there to be even more fabulous. Well, forget it...I'm vowing to be imperfectly fabulous and in honor of this new found "freedom", here are some imperfectly fabulous photographs from this past Friday.





Give me the comma of imperfect striving, thus to find zest in the immediate living. Ever the reaching but never the gaining, ever the climbing but never the attaining of the mountain top.

PS Anyone else having trouble with changing the color and size of the font on blogger?

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Uncomfortable

This photo is a bit out of my comfort zone being so dang close...yikes! I don't think I even see myself that close in the mirror. But look at that smile on E...who can resist that?


"Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it's a small price to pay for living a dream."



I'm linking up with Emily today at The Anderson Crew for Embrace the Camera.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

327


I noticed today that it's my 327th post....not all that significant, just that I happened to glance up and see that number. Sometimes I'm not sure what to make of this blogging gig. It's fun, but yet at the same time, the stress of posting something worthwhile often creeps in to ruin the party. But then, I stop and gain a better perspective on things; all this thinking and analyzing destroys the moment. And so, I just pull out some tidbits from my life and post.

On Saturday, we walked to the end of our street to watch the cyclists in the Pan Mass Challenge. Lance Armstrong was a participant in this year's ride...pretty exciting, even though we didn't get to see him. We were there a whopping 3 minutes before Little Miss was stung by a wasp....yuck!
Later in the day we went to Cousin Michael's Boot Camp Birthday Party. Even Little Miss wanted camo face paint.
But, who says a girl with Camo face paint can't have red toenails? She is now asking me to paint her toenails and wants a princess party for her next birthday. I'm loving painting the nails, but as for the princess parties, I'm not so into that. We have several months before the next birthday, so we can work on that.

...and that's a wrap on #327.
Thanks to those of you who are interested in the tidbits of our life!

I love life because what more is there.
Anthony Hopkins

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Mem and I

My memere and I at her house last week. E took the picture..this is one of about 50. He had us cracking up because he was making silly faces to get us to laugh.

Happy 91st Birthday Memere. xo


"Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of you to the world."


I'm linking up with Emily today for Embrace the Camera.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Here are the pics...(see previous post)


My hubby fixed the photo upload situation, so here are the pictures I promised from my previous post. We took these to my memere's house as part of her birthday picnic. She turned 91 on Saturday!








I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
Maya Angelou

"Mermaid Wands"

I saw this craft in my recent Family Fun magazine. We decided to make some, and with our recent trip to Newport, we had all the supplies. We didn't call them mermaid wands though, we called them sea stars (did you know that was the proper name for starfish?) and we used them as decorations in our vases of hydrangeas. Here are a few pictures.


Apparently not... I've reached my quota for pictures...stayed tuned, I'll post the pictures tomorrow after my IT guy (aka: husband) figures out what the problem is.