Belly Laughs

This is a picture of me holding my baby cousin Jennifer 30 something years ago....



I sure hope it's not a sign of my maternal instinct because- well- ummmmmmmmmmmm.......



I know, right?

E.T.A.: 12/6/09..... my Grandma Ruth's Birthday!

Perfect.

I just hope our bun will be as hilarious as these little guys one day.

Borderline Selfish

Many moons ago when I was in college, I did something really stupid.

Actually, I did many stupid things in college, this one thing was just really stupid.

It was SO stupid that my Aunt Bonnie felt the urge to write me a letter to communicate her sheer disappointment in me. I still have the letter to this day.

Here's my favorite part:



It says, "I've called you borderline selfish before-are you now thinking about anyone besides yourself?"

Wow. Talk about guilt.

18 years have gone by and Bonnie and I can now laugh about the infamous 'Borderline Selfish' lecture.

So today I'd like to share an example of me being borderline selfish...this one's for you Bonnie.



No doggies-none for you!

All mine!

ME

ME

MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

MINE!

Not yours!!!!!!

Nice Doll, Man.

I am still cracking up over something I got from my MIL (mother-in-law) a few days ago.

She sent a picture of a DOLL that Darrin played with when he was a little boy.



She told me that he would brush it's hair for hours. Isn't that so cute?

BAAAAWWWAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

OMG- I just shot milk out of my nose thinking about Darrin brushing his doll's hair over and over again.

Awesome.

I Wanna Punch Mother Nature In The Face

A few days ago my friend Sarah wrote a post called, 'i wanna punch the economy in the face.'

She always cracks me up.

Waking up to this, however, does not crack me up.



Are you kidding me? It was 60 degrees 2 days ago.....WTF?



Ummmmmm....



It's April now.



That's quite enough, Mother Nature.

Quite enough.

Kids & Cameras

So today I was invited to speak to a local 4-H group about photography.
I was a little nervous about it because I don't like speaking to groups, and teenagers scare the crap out of me. Luckily there were only a few teens- who were very cool- while the rest of the kids were younger. I passed some of my books around and they asked me questions about composition and exposure and things like that.



The 2 Indiana Jones boys were killing me- so cute!



But now I know how my teachers always felt when I didn't pay attention to them!
HAHA!



After my talk, we turned the kids loose to go shoot some of their own pics.



It's so fun to see kids interested in photography... I actually had a great time!

Peeps!

Look what I found at Bomgaars today....



Baby chicks for sale!



I LOVE Mayberry!



And only $2.09 each? I can't believe Darrin wouldn't let me get one.

The Toy Society and Jesus

I've recently learned of this wonderful thing called The Toy Society.

Now, you have to understand how hilarious it is to think of me
SEWING something. I simply am NOT talented like that.

But since I love The Toy Society so much I am going to attempt to sew a toy for it. I just ordered THIS for ideas, so as soon as it arrives let the sewing begin!
Don't worry, I'll take pictures of the entire process for entertainment purposes.

It's gonna take a miracle for me to pull this one off, so I thought Giant Jesus would be an appropriate 'Did It' for today from my '2 tears in a Bucket List'.

# 13- Find Giant Jesus in Mexico.



You can read more about the 70 foot Jesus
HERE.

It's April, Fools

I just read somewhere that April is National Humor Month- I've never heard that before but I can sho dig it.

I love humor.

This RECENT POST by Lee of MWOB inspired me to dust off the old photo albums and find a picture I took in Grand Cayman almost 15 years ago.



In honor of National Humor Month I give you.......Harry Bush.
That's right! You can call good 'ole Harry Bush for all your trucking needs.

Awesome.

Almost as good as the OBGYN I had back in Atlanta named Harry Heiman. Click HERE if you don't believe me.

What funny names have you come across in your lifetime...come on, it's Humor Month, humor me!

And always remember....
"Laughter is the sunshine of the soul."

Number Two

#1- Look at how beautiful our sky was last night.... I did not do anything to this picture- the colors are true.



#2- Are you ready for the Mystery Photo Contest Answer?



Well, it IS number two! It's llama poop I found on Claire's farm! Lola Nova was the first one to answer and since she guessed the main ingredient I am picking her as the winner. I only told people to keep guessing for my own entertainment. I know- I suck.
I really thought that was going to be harder than it was.
Poop.
So Alex, let me know which print you would like and I will send it out with the others :)

Trophy

I just saw this on an old beat up truck at the grocery store and had to share...



I'm sure the owner is quite the prize himself.

Awesome.

I've Been Tagged!

My friend Claire tagged me for a photo Blog post the other day- I'm supposed to post the 6th picture in the 6th photo folder on my computer.

I have started collecting some pictures I'd like to try to sell on ETSY, so this is the 6th picture from my 6th folder called 'ETSY'.

I borrowed the quote from North Face, because I thought it fit perfectly with my discovery of this Rainbow Tree when I was in Hawaii.



And as I post this, I just realized that the phrase is probably copyrighted by North Face.... and I probably can't use it on prints I want to sell, right?

Shoot!

Another Mystery Photo Contest!

Ok, I am trying another mystery photo contest....
you can read about my last one HERE.
Should I call it 'Shot in the dark' or 'Shoot, what is it?'?

The winner gets an 8x12 print of their choice from any of my website, blog, or flickr photos.



Deadline for guesses will be Sunday at midnight.... Good Luck!

I'm hoping this one is a little harder than the car wash :)

Postcards From The Edge

A few weeks ago the dogs received a gift in the mail from New York, it was from their friend Penny the Chihuahua.

Banjo and Olive turned their noses up at it, but Pete thought it was great.

So I took a picture of Pete and the toy......



...then Pete wrote a thank you note on the back and we sent it to Penny. (We may not live in the South anymore, but my dogs will always have Southern manners.)



Several days later, Penny emailed us this picture of her reading the postcard from Pete.



OMG is that not the funniest thing ever??!! Or is it just me?

It almost makes me pee from laughing so hard.

Loopy.

I'm Melting!

I stood on the deck for a good 15 minutes last night,
hoping to get an awesome tornado picture.



And I waited.



I think I caught some lightening though.



Then the sun came back out.

My first Iowa tornado.

Hittin' The Bottle Again

Made ya look.

No, it's not a drunk post....but I did finally unpack my little bottles and display them in the window.



I'd forgotten how much I love looking at them!



And, I finished going through Claire's farm pics, and found a few more favorites...










So cute!

Ok, we are having a tornado watch right now so I guess I should turn this off and pay attention........

They're Back........

Um Yeah- they're back.
They're on the inside of the window too.



The dreaded Asian Lady Beetle.



I hate them!
Click HERE for my video of them last year.

Arrrrgggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

My Lips Are Sealed

Darrin has been working out of town for almost a week now.
Pete longingly stares out the window everyday.....wishing his daddy would come home soon.



Don't ya boy?



What's that Pete?



You DON'T want him to come home?



Because you're enjoying his side of the bed?



And power over the remote?



I don't blame ya.



Don't worry, I won't tell.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

It's the first day of Spring! I love you and welcome back!
Spring, in your honor I am going to change out the winter scene picture on my header today.



Goodbye beautiful snow pic, I'll sure miss you.

Um, yeah no- I won't.

PS: Thank You Bruce, because of your post I learned what a Vernal Equinox is!
(I had to Google it!)

Yesterday's Conclusion

...or Introduction rather.

I had been emailing with the Artist of Crying Little Girl, and he told me his Mural "Treasure Hunt" was in Granger, IA....Claire informed me that was not too far from her farm, Whispering Acres, so we decided to go check it out on the way.

Of course it was awesome!

Claire is standing next to the girl, just to give a size reference this time.







I love the etch-a-sketch in the chest!



As I took the next shot below, I literally moved to the left, because I thought the shovel was covering the letter 'B' on the map-so I thought if I moved I could see the whole word 'Buried'....it took my teenie brain a few seconds to process the fact that the shovel and shadow were both part of the mural.

AMAZING!!!!! I want to find more of these!



I guess all the excitement of seeing the Treasure Hunt made me speed a little, because not 2 minutes after leaving the Mural I got pulled over! OMG cops are killing me lately!



He commented that I was far from home (2.5 hours), and I told him I was visiting my friend Claire and that I had just been photographing The Treasure Hunt.....I guess knowing the name of it impressed him because he only gave me a warning.

Awesome!

I still have not been able to look through the hundreds of animal pics I took on Claire's farm yet, but as soon as I do I will post a link to them I promise. Here are just a few more for now though.











They were all SO CUTE!
Even the dog! Stigley? I can't spell.



And Claire gave me some eggs from her chickens :)



I am waiting for D to get back in town so we can cook up some 'Whispering Omelettes' together!

Claire, thanks again for everything!
I can't wait to visit again someday :)