A Couple of Words

Not a whole lot to say. It's late. I'm trying to get back into a post-everyday-habit, though, so here's my 365 picture.

And just one more......

It's Easier When the Kids Sleep In

I'm so drowsy today. I think I'm on a happiness hangover from all that Up, Up, Up, I was experiencing yesterday. I'm not complaining, I love a Good Day.

I've been working on getting photos up at my photography website and the Facebook page for the business. It takes awhile, because I have to go between two computers. If I bump my old computer, it goes all wonky, because a driver is broken. I sure wish I could get that system fixed at some point. I love that machine. My old computer holds almost 4 years of photos and there are a TON of them. I'd like to find some unedited versions of some of my favorites so that when I get my photoshop, I can edit them properly. For example, I always kind of liked this one.

And this one.  Neither look anything like the jpg that I started with.

Oh! Sounds like my kids are finally waking up. They've slept until after 11am, so I've got all my work done for the day. Max is home from Summer school today with the barfs. Poor kid.

I wish you a wonderful day!! 

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy birthday to my wonderful daughter, Sarah!!

She is 12 and only a couple of months away from jr high. Dang, where did the time go?  It seems like it was only a year or so ago that I was giving birth to a 9 lb 14 oz baby girl, who was so big that she broke her little collar bone on the way out. (Don't worry, she was fine.)

I Need A Hug 365:2

Here's my second photo for the Shutter Sisters 365 Project. I'm calling it I need a hug, because it looks like the flowers are loving each other.

I Am A Mom First

I had a great evening with my kids last night. We watched movies and laughed. At bed time it occurred to me that I've been wrong-headed about my life lately. I've been focusing on things that don't matter. Somehow I got off-track.


On New Years eve, I was having so much fun with Mom and Sarah. We were laughing and drinking a couple of champagne cocktails (Sarah skipped those, of course) when a friend called and said something about the time and I was way off. I hadn't paid attention to the clock - I was in the minute, not watching the passage of it. He called me a dumb ass and I was both embarrassed and confused by this, although at the time I laughed. What else could I do? Was he joking? I'm not good with that sort of thing any more. I have trouble making the distinction between harmless and mean.


This is the sort of thing that I don't want to focus on anymore. And if you are reading this and you are thinking, well she's written this very poorly or she's got some detail wrong, then you are probably right, so you can hold on to that. I know it's important to some people to be right no matter what. I'm going to be wrong or mistaken and not worry about winning arguments. I don't enjoy arguing anyway.


I want to live my life with the people that I can trust and count on. If you don't like me, move on. I am not everybody's cup of tea.

From here on, it's back to being Mom-first. I believe that a man sees himself in relation to his job and a woman sees herself in relation to her home. I want to make my home and my family's home life rich with love and joy.


I believe that by living a life that I can be proud of, by doing my jobs and respecting myself and those that I care about, the rest will fall into place. I will walk the talk, I will do my best to be a good person, someone that my children look up to.

I have no idea what to call this one..........

I've been feeling a little funky the last couple of days. I don't think I'm much of a Winter person. My toes are cold. I can't sit on my patio and most of my plants have frozen. I'm a big baby.

I'm doing all the things that are supposed to help with the blues - I get lots of exercise, I'm eating right, and I try to get outside. (I cleared out a bunch of frozen plants yesterday - all the Hawaiian Ginger that was taller than I am ). Still, I'm blah.

Yesterday, during my run, my right calf was really holding me back. The muscle felt tight, like a fist. I kept stopping, massaging it, but still it would cramp. Of course, at the end of the run it was warm and flexible and I felt like I could go on forever, but I was out of time. I wish that there was a way to start the run feeling that way.

A couple of plants have made it through the freeze. Like the petunia below......Okay, I'm out of words and I need to get the dishes done before Leah comes over.

To Find Balance, Organize

Sometimes I get the urge to get everything organized. It's not as easy to do this as I get older, the kids get older, and our lives become more challenging. Right now I'm working on going through each room and getting rid of excess STUFF.

So far we've worked on the larger part of Sarah's room in depth. Her closet will be a separate project. I'm doing my room today. Then, my closet. I'll slowly work my way through the various rooms, closets, drawers, etc, until I feel that I've regained control again. When it all flows smoothly, life is more enjoyable.

I used to be very organized. My house was clean. My bills were organized. My menus were planned. I used coupons when I shopped. Everyone was up to date on check-ups, homework, etc. I somehow had a handle on it all.

I've spent the last two and a half years sort of distracted and scrambling. It's impossible to find anything but short glimpses of peace when I live that way. I want more than that. Learning how to balance, family, friends, work, dating, the whole thing - it's an ongoing process. Wish me luck, please!

Drive-by Greeting

It's late or very early, depending on your point of view. I haven't been writing here as much as I'd like. I'm off to bed now. Happy Saturday to you!

Michelle Projects

It's late or maybe it's early......but I haven't written for a few days and I'm trying to get back on track.

See the plant below? I just about killed it. I've had it for years, ever since it was housed in a little 4 inch pot. These days it's almost 4 ft tall and it's overgrown the pot it lives in. The roots have filed through the bottom of the pot and into the ground. I noticed it was looking droopy, so I watered it again. Still drooped.

Finally, I noticed that the droopiness was from over-watering. I punched some holes in the plastic pot and some really stinky water drained out. Mom looked at it with me and said that I needed to cut it back. I plan to dig it out of the ground, but for now it's cut back and no longer resembles the photo below. Instead, it looks like pot full of sticks.

I was talking to my boyfriend about my blogs. He said that he spent an hour and a half clicking "back" over at Relationships, on Blisstree. He told me that he read some, too, and that he liked them. The reason he did it, the back-clicking, was to find a post that someone was leaving comments on. It's a long story and one that I no longer want to spend any time on - it was negativity and I'm not going to worry about it any longer - but I did appreciate that Mark went looking for it.

When I first started talking to him he told me that he made a list or notes on me. Sometimes he will say, I have some things I want to talk to you about and there's another list - this time topics that he wants to cover or questions that he wants answers to. I like that he takes the time to take care of these Michelle Projects.



I am really tired and I need to get to bed now. I wish you a wonderful day/night.

Ruby Tuesday - Flowers and Strawberries

Happy Ruby Tuesday to you! Ruby Tuesday is hosted by the Teach and it features photos with a red theme.

I've got a few shots from my patio. These are some sort of geranium. They have a very red center to the leaves, so the plant looks pretty even when there are no flowers.

Here's a strawberry. Yum..........

And another view of the strawberry.........

And a geranium. This plant is a piece off of a geranium that Mom had on her table as a decoration when my sister graduated from college 16 years ago. If you weren't already aware of it, you can easily do this with geraniums. You break off a piece of the thick part of the stem, then you bury it in some good potting soil, water it, and eventually it will root and take off. Pretty cool, don't you think?

If you would like to take part or see more Ruby Tuesday posts, take a look here.

Ruby Tuesday - Patio Flowers

Happy Ruby Tuesday! For more Ruby Tuesday photos, click here. I spent some time on the patio this morning, getting ready for my GroGood project. Some of the flowers are really starting to get going and I enjoy seeing my garden awake and showing off. This was taken just before the sprinkling started.

Blog - Funny Word

I started this blog a little over a year ago.

Blog. I'm still not comfortable with the word, even though I'm a professional blogger. It reminds me of that thing that Willow said about beer, or at least I think it was beer or maybe it was the word "drunk," something about Anglo-Saxon and guttural. The word "blogger" is Anglo-Saxon and guttural.

I'm a dork. I do not pretend to be anything else.
My teenagers are gone for the weekend. I will definitely miss Greg. I love Bay, but she and I are butting heads this week, so a break will do us good. Sarah misses Greg when he's gone, too.

Speaking of Sarah, she's supposed to be cleaning her room, but I peeked in there and everything that was a mess around the edges now sits in the middle of the room. She's like Mom in that she likes it all out where she can see it. It's just how their brains work. I prefer neat stacks or stick stuff under something or if I've got time and can make myself do it - gone. I want to see empty surfaces. It calms my brain.

My house is so cluttered right now. I clean the important areas - kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, patio (I love the patio best) - but my closet........ ewww kind of scary, my linen closets :( .

My plan for the weekend is to clear some space. If I want to be able to fit someone else in my life, he has to actually fit IN my life. He needs space for his stuff, too. I do not need so much stuff and I have to curb my packrat tendencies. My biggest problem - books. I love them all. Even the paperbacks. I look at them and I start with, have to save all the Harry Potters, even the volumes that are falling apart......then Nevada Barr, have to have her. Jenifer Crusie, well she makes me smile. Dictionaries, well I need 4 copies. They don't all have the same words. See my dilemma?

This is important to me. I can do it.

It's raining right now. We haven't had near enough rain this year. I have the windows open, a sweatshirt on, and Max has a blanket. We are good. I just want the fresh air.

Okay, I was wrong. I miss the teenagers. I hope that they have fun. Darn kids.

Sarah is leaving now, too. Just me and Max tonight. I wonder if I can get that kid to stay awake. She, Sarah, just said, "I haven't had a sleepover in forever. I'm excited!!" I am now excited for her. Sleepovers are the best part of being a girl.

Nature Notes: Upper Bidwell Park in the Spring

Today I've got another Nature Notes blog entry. Nature Notes is the creation of Michelle from Rambling Woods.

Yesterday, I took a short hike in Upper Bidwell Park. I love this hike. It's a fairly steady uphill climb, not uncomfortable, but good exercise. This time of year, it's very green, lots of wildflowers.

In the Summer, it's much warmer and gold in every direction. The first weekend that Steve visited, we did this hike. He called it a "Death March," but he laughed when he said it.
As we hiked up the hill, I found myself growing comfortable with him again. It was the beginning of falling in love with him, after more than 20 years apart.

I'd say that 9 times out of 10 I've hiked this alone. I've run it many times and I always feel a mountain goat scrambling up and then I fly back down. One time, I ran by these woman who were my age and one called out, "You go, girl!"

The below shot is looking to the West. That ridge of rock you see is right around where the basalt rock starts. The creek lies below the line. I'll take some photos of that area soon.

More wildflowers. I wanted to lay on my belly to get a different view of these, but it was so busy up there and it's not like the front lawn when I'm trying to get shots of the clover.

I love the wildflowers, but oh man is my head a mess from my allergies. Not as bad as poor Max, though. He's very uncomfortable and he takes allergy medicine all year.

The shot below was shot near the bottom of the trail. You can see the fields of flowers. I start the trail with a worry. Some issue that has bothered me all day. With every step I examine the problem, try to work out the knot. By the time I get back to the bottom, I always feel better. I can leave it on the hill.

Rounding it Up

We have had some Spring moments here in Chico, California. See above for an example. That pot of pansies sits on the table on my patio. When I take product photos for my blogs, I put them next to the flowers.

I took a run with Bay in the park and.......did I already mention this? I might have mentioned this....... anyway, I could feel the pollen in the air as I ran. It doesn't feel good going down, super-sweet. We have crazy pollen here - I never even know that I had allergies before living here.

Tomorrow is the last day of my current mandarin orange giveaway. If you'd like to enter, please do so. I don't have a lot of entries, so your odds of winning are really good.

Also, I was able to put my first post up at Pretty By Nature today. I'm very excited to get into that one.

If you are taking part in Wear Red Day and you post your picture, please take part in my little Wear Red Event. You can see the details here. The girls and I are going to do it and I'm hoping that we won't be the only ones.

Okay, it's late. I'm sleepy. More tomorrow.

I bought a toy

I got a new camera!!! It's a Canon Rebel XS. Now I can take pictures bigger than a 5x7. Yay!!!

I haven't had much of a chance to do anything with it, but I did grab a couple shots this afternoon in between errands. The wind was really blowing, so hard to get the flowers. Tomorrow, I will make time to get to know it a bit more. I'm very excited, but also a bit sick to my stomach which is my usual reaction to a big purchase. I keep telling myself that this will help me with taking family portraits - after all, people want actual 8x10s of their families.... and yeah, I did get it for 30% off because Circuit City is closing (so sad that is, I love that store)....still. ....
My tax return is here..........then it's gone. Every time.

But I am certain that I will love this camera............although I did notice that the focus doesn't feel as smooth as it did on my Nikon.

Ruby Tuesday Geraniums

Happy Ruby Tuesday! I still have some color on the patio - my Geraniums. I used to have a candy-stripe colored plant, but it froze a few years ago. It was so pretty, white in the center, red along the edge. I think I'll look for another one this Summer.

Summer.........sigh......

These Geranium's are "men's red." I wrote about men and red at Dating Dames once. Apparently, men are drawn to an orange-red and women prefer a bluer-red. What do you think? I've even heard women say, ooh, I don't like orange-red. Personally, any red is a good red to me, but yeah, I prefer the bluer-red.

One time, we were camping at Fort Bragg, over in Mendocino, and against the campground's bathroom building, there was a HUGE red Geranium plant. It was bush-like, came out about 3 feet and my sister and I were eye-level with the top of the plant. I keep thinking, wait, didn't it go all the way to the roof, but I think I'm exaggerating in my memory there. Anyway, it was huge and beautiful and instantly made me think of my mom, as red Geraniums always do. Mom loves red. And Geraniums.

The Spinlash giveaway is still open at The Scented Life, if you are interested in entering. Right now, your odds are better than 1 in 5 to win. I'm just sayin'............

Happy Ruby Tuesday to you and if you'd like to participate or view the photos of other participants, please visit Mary over at Work of the Poet.

Wordless Wednesday - Day Lily

*******************

Well, not totally. I've been stuck inside all day with a sick kid. I am very hopeful that tomorrow he will be okay. It's his birthday after all and he's got to go to school to get his crown.

Did you know that a bad relationship can make you sick. Today I wrote A Bad Boyfriend Could Lead To Heart Attack for Dating Dames. A study was done in England where they followed more than 9000 people to see what the effects of a bad relationship could be on health. The conclusion - it's not good to be unhappy.

I'm feeling on the distracted side right now. I started a new book last night and I could not concentrate. As I read, it went like this wolf......pack..........wolf tracks..........ticks..........really odd anti-social person (the only type Anna Pigeon meets).............wolf........ticks.........wolf pack............. I just could not get into it. I think I've eaten too many of those Jelly Belly Belly Flops. My brain just won't settle.

Ruby Tuesday - Red Snapdragon

Ruby Tuesday is hosted by The Teach, over on her blog, Word of the Poet. It features photos with a red theme.

Today, I have a couple of snapdragons from my patio. I still have quite a bit of color out there, as we are currently enjoying lots of daylight and warm temperatures. This week, it's supposed to get up to the 80s each day, until about friday, when the weather calls for rain. Or at least it did when I looked yesterday.

Opened My Etsy Shop

I just opened my Etsy shop with one item. WooHoo! I'm very excited, but also very nervous. I do not want to suck. It is available here Chase Your Bliss Photography. I will update as I add items. I need to find out where I can get those TTVs printed up. They are a funny size - square 5x5s.

Short Post Saturday Morning

It's raining here in Chico, California. First rain in a long time. We are really enjoying it. I don't have the photos from the carnival ready, there's a lot to go through, I was a bit click-happy. I've been working on things for Dating Dames and I made my first post Chase Your Bliss Photography last night. That's the name I want to use when I open my local photography business. I don't think I'll ever feel that I'm really ready, so I'm going to just jump in and see where it goes.

I'll post more later. I'm feeling a bit on the blue side right now. I'm feeling off-balance with my boyfriend and that's never a good feeling. I'm going to go hang out with Max and Sarah right now. More later.