This was the scene at our house today. This guy was one of about 30-40 robins who was* feasting on the fruit/berries on the trees in the backyard. Come on spring!
*Did you know that “was” is correct here? Since the subject of the sentence is singular, the verb needs to be singular too.
It’s baaaack! The Office Max Elf Yourself site. Click the link to watch Maggie and Zelda dance.
As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve been gone for a while. Oh, I’m still here, I just haven’t been here. I have no excuses, but hey, this is my blog—do I really need an excuse? The longer I stay away, the easier it is to stay away. And now I feel like I need a really big-deal post in order to return. If that’s what you’re expecting you might as well bail now, because there’s nothing too exciting here.
You may or may not wonder what I’ve been doing during my absence. Let’s see what I can remember . . . .
I did a photo shoot for the daughter of one of my co-workers. She was a sweetheart, and she loved these beads. I even made the tutu—can you believe that? It was super easy (otherwise I would’ve had to outsource), and I may have to make some others in different colors.
My mom was in town for a few days, and we took her to the dump. She was begging us to take her there. Who wouldn’t want to visit a pile of trash? Well you see, this dump is just a little different. Oh, there’s trash there, of course. But on Sunday afternoons, they open the place up as a scenic overlook:
You can literally see for miles in all directions. They have those binocular thingies like Mount Rushmore or the Empire State Building (only these are free!). And believe it or not, there are picnic tables and playground equipment. At the dump! How cool is that? Even the local Amish families like to spend time there.
Don’t worry about Mom—we did other fun things while she was here too. We took her to dinner, did lots of shopping, and she went with me to a camera club meeting. The speaker that night was Bob Caputo, who’s worked for National Geographic for 27 years. His photos were amazing, of course, but he also had great stories of how he goes about capturing them.
Speaking of camera club . . . we meet twice a a month, and one of the meetings is a competition. I entered my first competition last week, and I got third place! I was pleasantly surprised. Good ol’ Maggie!
Remember the Blessing of the Animals that I mentioned last year? It’s coming up again next weekend, and J.P. and I are taking portraits to help raise money for the rescue. Last year we used the blue backdrop as seen here:
Since we’re always going for repeat business, I like to mix things up a bit from year to year. But I didn’t want to shell out big bucks for a backdrop that dogs will most certainly pee on. So last weekend I bought a HUUUUGE paint drop cloth at Home Depot and painted it in the driveway using a couple colors from HD’s “oops bin” and a couple colors that were left over from projects around here. It didn’t turn out half bad! Maggie begrudgingly helped me test it out today. Since I probably won’t post again this week, she and I will just say it now: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Can you spot the two errors in these paragraphs from a major metropolitan newspaper?
Grrrrr . . . don’t they have editors?
This sure beats the kitchen table! Mags joined me for lunch, and I had to snap a few photos of her. This is about the only one where her eyes are fully open. She does not like the camera/lens.
I know you’ll be shocked to learn this, but you may not be hearing much from me in the next month or so. You see, J.P. has decided that a vacation is in order. As of Friday, my husband is officially unemployed. For two weeks. During that time, we will:
Did I mention that I’ll also be working as much as I can in between all these activities? Someone has to, you know! I’ll be glad when he starts the new job so life can get back to normal.
Except that I’m not sure what this “new normal” will be. J.P. and I met at work—we’ve never not worked for the same company. What will we talk about at dinner?!? I don’t really think it will be a problem, but it will be different. He’ll actually be going into the office every day instead of working from home. It’s going to be a real switch to go from working in his jammies to wearing a shirt and tie every day. A tie—imagine!
After the excitement dies down and I’m back at work for a week, I get to be on jury duty for a few days at the end of June. Except that I’m really really hoping I don’t get called, because my work team (which is spread out all over the country) is having a two-day meeting that week. I only see these people face-to-face once a year, and that’s if we’re lucky and there’s money in the budget. So do you have any ideas what I should say when they ask me questions to determine whether I’ll be a fit juror?
Okay, so now we’re pretty much into July, right? Character Builder and her family are coming for a visit that first week. We’re going to spend a few days in D.C. before we head back here for . . . well, I don’t exactly know, but it’ll be fun I’m sure.
Then it’s back into the office for another week of work before taking a business trip to Orlando for our annual customer conference. That’s another weird thing about J.P. having a new job—for the first time, he won’t be going with me. And sadly, it’s the week after Suzie and Hubs will be in Florida.
Do you really want to know what happens next? Would you believe it if I told you we’re taking another vacation? Yep, it’s the one I told you about back in February, which was only about three posts ago. We’re going to the Outer Banks with J.P.’s family. And that pretty much takes care of July.
See you in August!*
*I do hope to get in a few posts before then.
