Social Media

I was talking to somebody today whose husband had announced on Facebook that he was available for lawn work. The county contacted him for tax on his lawnmower.

Egg Stand

I took the eggs to the gift shop but didn't even think about the little stands. I'll varnish these today and take them in tomorrow.

Japanese Magnolias

The freeze didn't tuin the daffodils, but it turned the Japanese Magnolias black. The greenhouse was so warm I had to open a window, but outside was too windy for my eggs to survive. So i worked on three.  I am trying to get enough finished to take to the gift shop.

I Thought

I thought maybe the daffodils and other blooms would suffer from the freeze last night, but everything seems to be fine.  Some of the day was spent cleaning the house, some decorating an egg, food, taking the truck to Eddie Jean and bring Larry back...nothing difficult.

Finished Brown Egg

Muted colors, black detailing, and glitter glaze finished the brown egg.

Needs Something

I'm not in the mood to do something easy so I chose the worst dye job and picked a couple of patterns I haven't done before. If I do the ones I know I like and am good at, I never find something that can be a new favorite. So the challenge of ugly into interesting, keeps me messing with eggs year after year. These designs are etched through the dye. Next I am going to add paint...maybe gold.

New License

The picture on my new driver's license looks like my grandmother on a bad day.

Mashed Cauliflower

Green Giant has a frozen side dish that is Cheddar Bacon mashed cauliflower. It is kind of soupy and doesn't have a noticeable Cheddar flavor, but the bacon flavor is good. I think maybe adding some cheese to it would help. It's good enough to have again.

Passing on a Hill

When somebody pulls out to pass with oncoming traffic, I brake to let them in and hopefully avoid an accident close enough to shower me with debris.

Too Windy

 I planned to sit on the porch so I could see the trees that are beginning to bloom, the grass is turning green, the sun is shining...great day!

So I took my eggs and drimmel out on the porch, planning to carve some for Easter. It worked all right until the phone rang. I put the egg down that I was just about finished with and the wind blew it away. It cracked when it hit the porch and all the pieces ended up on the ground.

Too bad about that plan.

Fake Site

I went to renew my driver's license today. The woman in front of me wanted to check to see if her husband's license was renewed as he had done it online. The guy behind the counter said the husband's license had expired. She said her husband had renewed online and had paid. They guy said there are several fake sites and two people had come in the day before who had renewed on a fake site. I felt sorry for them, but I was holding the letter that gave the official website; surely I wasn't the only one to get that letter.

Tax

The gift shop is nonprofit and we have a tax exempt number. But now we have to pay taxes. This is new and I don't understand why the regulations have changed.

Pop

How much are the pops? I looked and didn't register her meaning. Finally I said, 50cents. I don't speak Yankee but I understand a little. Are you from Iowa or Ohio? She said Michigan. The guy with her said he'd told her it wasn't pop.

Digital Frame

I love the digital picture frame. I don't care much for albums, but the digital pictures scrolling along remind me of places we've been and things we've done.

In Sin

The gift shop was so crowded today I told them I was leaving...one more person in the space and we would be in sin.

Underlayer

The white layer is attached to a camisole thin white thing meant to be worn under tunic tops or sweaters. It is seriously cute.

Rude

I try not to set off my democratic friends and family members. I honestly think people get to have their own opinions even when I don't agree with them. But I'm about tired of not getting the same tolerance from them. In our country we have the tacit agreement that we agree to disagree. But I seriously get tired of being the only polite one in some conversations.

Lab Followup

Today we had our followup visit with our doctor to discuss our lab results. We were both all right. I like to hear it because it is tricky knowing when a notation of high or low is good.

Bean Soup

I made a bean soup starting with a large coffee mug of dried beans. I added ground chuck, garlic, peppers, and onion. Then I added a quart of tomatoes. It was kind of bland so I sprinkled ground cloves and cumin. It was tasty which is great because I have a lot.

Can't Continue

Sometimes i stop reading a series because it is too well written. The Daniel Silva series about Gabriel Allon is such a series. I'm on the fourth one, Death in Vienna. It is about the Holocaust. I won't be getting any more of the series. I don't read to be miserable.

Daffodils

The daffodils have started to bloom. It is gray and drizzling but the blooms are bright and sunny.

Warm and Dry Enough

Today was warm and dry enough to take a ride through the woods in the gator. The maple trees are covered with red seeds.
I also spent time putting pictures on the 16G memory card for our digital frame. Now we don't just have family pictures, but also flowers and birds. I tried to leave off the food pictures.

Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon Series

Our newest volunteer recommended this series. Its main character is an art restoration expert who is also an intermittent assassin. I like the Vince Flynn assassin series so I thought ii might like this one. They both seem to be against terrorists, but the Silva series is about an Israeli. I've only just finished the first one. At least I wasn't bored.

Weeding

The weather is intermittently nice enough to work on a flower bed. This one has been taken over by a ground cover that has a short blooming period of yellow blooms. I'm trying to get rid of it. I don't know if I'll live long enough.

Pink Camilla

The red camilla is in full bloom and the pink one is just starting to bloom. It is nice to have flowers blooming in February.

Garden Flags

We have more and more good stuff in the gift shop!

Angelfall

I finished Angelfall. It was pretty gross. I've done this before... Bought a trilogy without knowing if I liked the first one. It's publishes by a children's publiaher. It's kind of embarrassing to discover a children's book is too gross for me!

Angelfall

Angelfall iis the first of a trilogy by Susan We. It is prettier good so far but kind of reminds me of that teenage vampire series. I was hoping it would remind me of Lucifer.

Moleskine

Usually i use a little book to write notes and lists for myself. I use a separate little free monthly planner. This year I waited too long to ask my credit union for one. So I ordered a weekly planner from Moleskine. It came today! I will be able to discontinue the book because the planner has the week on the left and lined space on the right. I'm seriously pleased with this change.

Digital Picture Frame

Today I updated our digital picture frame. I moved some of Larry's pictures onto the card. I guess I'll try some off of my memory card in a few minutes. I had forgotten how nice the pictures look on it.

Camillas

I don't think the full glory of the blooms shows up in this picture, but they sort of peek through. These gorgeous blooms absolutely brighten up a dreary February day.

Key

Today's excitement was getting a call asking me to bring a key to open the truck. Larry locked his key in the truck.

Puzzles

I've been doing jigsaw puzzles. I got a vintage pack of puzzles. The things they list as vintage, I remember. The retro stuff is before my memory kicks in.
I did a flower packet and discovered that periwinkles are also called vincas.

Awful at Birthdays and Holidays

I try really hard to pay attention to birthdays and holidays. I'm not great at it but I'm almost finished with the birthday months. One more this month and one next month will finish the round until it starts again. Because I'm bad at it, I try to figure stuff out ahead of time. I'm not good at that, either so it takes me a while.

Daffodils

It's February and seriously cold. So seeing daffodils sending up bloom spikes is encouraging. Lilacs have buds and dogwood trees, too.

New Stuff

The gift shop is filled with lots of new stuff.  Everybody is carried away with all the new stuff!

Roadside Pig

The pig I saw beside the road is a house pet. It isn't small, either.

Spectacular!

Today I spent a long time reorganising the storage room at the gift shop. It involved emptying the hodgepodge of stuff from the tables into an adjacent room, bringing in shelves, and stacking stuff on the shelves. I made a couple of trips to various dumpsters, and a couple of trips to my car. Finally i went to the gift shop and told my fellow volunteer to go look at the storage room. When you get back, tell me it looks spectacular. You can make any changes you want, but don't forget to say it looks spectacular!
When she got back she said it looked spectacular and she hadn't moved anything.
On the way home I look all the vases I'd put in my car to the local florist. He gave me $20 for the gift shop.

TV Shows

I like Lethal Weapon and tonight i found another action show to look forward to...APB! The first episode was really good.

TV Shows

I like Lethal Weapon and tonight i found another action show to look forward to...APB! The first episode was really good.

Big Pig

I usually worry about hitting a deer while driving on our back roads. Today I saw a large pig beside the road!

Take Out

We drove forty minutes to get chicken strips from a fast food place. Halfway home I checked to see what was in the bag. It wasn't what Larry had ordered. Nobody else was there so we didn't get somebody else's order!

Personal Depression

Last night my mind was full of the bad decisions I've made. Some of them are like narrow escapes from car wrecks... appalling but decisions so quickly and badly made that even now my heart stutters with relief that i didn't suffer the consequences. I only escape those feelings by concentrating on the fact that I wasn't stupid today and I don't plan on being stupid tomorrow.

New Bakery

Those are half donuts. I bought some stuff fron our new bakery. The place has been open for a couple of weeks but Larry has been there a couple of times. I had to wait for a parking place and then wait in line for my purchases. When I got home I found I had two extra glazed donuts and two small, ugly donuts. I tried half of the unknown freebies. One was red velvet and the other was blueberry. Both were tender and delicious.

Information

Larry heard about an information site on Fox. I went to fox and typed my name in. I didn't get the whole report because I didn't save anything. But the information ii saw was partly correct and partly not. I don't guess it matters if they use public records and splice other stuff into it.

I Wonder

I wonder where the people live who are trashing Berkeley.

Flu

School is closed for the next two days because of absences due to flu. I have been the only teacher on a hall staffed with substitutes. Not fun. I think they said 148 students were out today and all the substitutes were there. Ouch.

New Book

Dawn of Wonder by Jonathan Renshaw is a new sci fi fantasy book. I'm on Chapter 9 and enjoying it. I'm disappointed that there aren't a bunch more!