7.30.2009

Alarm Cat

Our cat (her name is Savannah, if you must know. But she doesn't use her real name, so we don't either) is very, very social in the morning. She needs someone to stand nearby when she eats, she wants to talk - a lot, and just kind of hang out with you. So when nobody is up and about in the house when she's feeling her human bonding needs, she takes matters into her own hands, er, paws.

Because I stayed up to an insanely late hour last night this morning working on homeschool plans, I wasn't exactly ready to hop out of bed at my normal time. Plus with this cold, damp weather we're having, my warm bed was extra cozy. So Miss Kitty decided to remedy that problem, entering my bedroom, meowing quite loudly and often. Being that I'm a very skilled ignorer of Alarm Cats when I wish to sleep, she got no response.

So she hopped up onto the bed, meowing even louder, while stepping on me. It's amazing how a cat might not seem that heavy until all her weigh is compressed into the space of a paw pressing into your thigh. Round 2 went again to the Ignorer of Alarm Cats.

Round 3 and Miss Kitty has moved to standing on her back legs at the mirrored closet doors, scratching the mirrors, while exercising her lungs. Ignorer of Alarm Cats rolls over and curls up for more sleep.

Round 4 finds Miss Kitty in the bathroom, pulling open the cupboard door and letting it bang shut. Over and over and over and over and over again. She knows this one really gets to me.

All right, already!! You may have won this round, Miss Kitty, but I am still the champion Ignorer of Alarm Cats. I got up because I needed to. So there.


7.29.2009

Ticket Winners

Quick Edit - Spooky (Beckie) already won a ticket yesterday. So a new random number was generated - #1 Leslie

Congrats, Leslie!!

Now I'll send your information in for the conference.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Thank you to random.org for choosing the winners of the two tickets to next week's 2nd annual Heart of the Matter Online Parenting and Home Education Conference.






Congratulations to:

Spooky

&

Lisa!!


I will send your information to the gals at Heart of the Matter, so you should hear something from them soon. If not, please let me know and I'll follow up. Enjoy the conference!



7.28.2009

Wordless Wednesday - Falling Water

helen hunt falls-1


helen hunt falls-2


helen hunt falls-3


helen hunt falls-4


For more wordlessness, go here and here.



7.27.2009

Quick Conference Giveaway



If you currently homeschool, plan to homeschool, or are thinking about homeschooling, you'll want to attend the 2nd annual Heart of the Matter Online Parenting and Home Education Conference. I participated last year and it was wonderful. I learned a lot, was encouraged, and gained some new friends. For only $12.95, it's quite a bargain!

Here's a little glimpse of what you can expect:

  • Live sessions, entirely online, with some of the homeschooling community's most popular speakers and authors


  • Free access to download and save the MP3s from all the sessions, as well as all the handouts, chat logs, and presentations


  • Participation in real-time question and answer sessions with all of your favorite speakers


  • More than $250 worth of freebies in your goodie bag


  • A chance to win some amazing prizes including a $259 Rosetta Stone software package, a complete Workbox System including shelf and boxes (value $85), and products from Lego . . . over $1200 worth of giveaways!


  • The opportunity to make some new life-long friends and experience fun and fellowship


  • HOWEVER.

    I am giving you an opportunity to win one of two FREE tickets to the conference. Leave me a comment with the following info:

    ~ Do you homeschool currently?
    ~ If yes, how long have you homeschooled?
    ~ If no, are you planning to or just checking it out?
    ~ A valid email address

    ~ Sure, go ahead and tweet about it and leave another comment for one more entry

    Because the conference is next week already, this will be short. Entries will be accepted only until THIS Wednesday, July 29th at 12:00 noon, Mountain Time. The winner will be announced Wednesday afternoon/evening.

    Come join the fun!!

Oink Flu

This is the paraphernalia du jour at our house. Things are on the upswing, but it definitely prevented regular life from happening over the weekend.

No blog hopping.

No blog posting.

No church.

No visiting family.

You get the idea.

I updated my blog hop post below. Will return soon.


7.23.2009

Blog Hop '09


I love Robin's intro for the Blog Hop 09, so I decided to steal copy her idea. Imitation is the highest form of flattery . . . or something like that.

Who is Dianne of Bunny Trails?

  • Wife of John for almost 23 years


  • Mom to ClayGuy and the Comedian, two atypical teenage boys


  • Follower of Jesus Christ


  • Homeschool teacher to aforementioned teenage boys


  • Random blogger, Facebooker, and Twitterer


  • Photographer of things and stuff and sometimes people


  • photography reciprocity

  • Occasional writer


  • AKA Laughs-a-Lot-With-Big-Hair


  • Collector of magazines, scrapbook supplies, and writing instruments


  • Lover of words and word games and funny grammar books


  • Longing to lead a much simpler life



While not required, it's always fun to have a giveaway. So how about a fun little $10 Starbucks gift card keychain? They're really cute! And useful. Leave a comment to be entered. You have until 9:00 p.m. Mountain Time on Sunday, July 26th to enter.

In the meantime, I'll be sure to hop on over to check out your blog. You can follow me over in the sidebar. Thanks for dropping by! Happy hopping!!

Update: Because the flu decided to pay my home a visit over the weekend, I've had no opportunity for blog hopping myself. I also noticed that Robin extended the giveaways through this coming weekend. So I'm going to bump the closing date out until this Sunday, August 2nd at 9:00 p.m. Mountain Time.



7.22.2009

A Gremliny Update

Just to let you know, that adorable little dude in my WW post is none other than the one and only Cuteness - the very well-posted son of my awesome friend, Carrie, The Gremlin Wrangler. While she is a photographer extraordinaire, I am ever so pleased to inform you that I'm the one who shot this one as well as the Wordless Wednesday post. Of course, after taking some 5,000 few hundred photos of so much cuteness, I had to get something worthy of sharing, no?

Where did the ball go?


(Carrie - it's unedited. Help yourself, my friend. I'll play with it later. I really need to go to bed.)

BTW, he really is that cute. I know this for a fact. He lived at my house for nearly four days. Along with the rest of the Gremlins and their parents. Unlike the movie, however, when it got dark and late, there were no rowdy little gremlins running amuck. Instead, there were four parents engaged in the following (choose any five or ten words and you'll get the idea):

guffaw, belly laugh, deep laugh, howl, howling, laughter, loud laugh, roar, shout, shriek, snort, chortle, chuckle, cluck, crow, gibber, giggle, gobble, guffaw, quack, snicker, snigger, titter

And what brought on this uncontrollable hysteria?



Need a little laughter in your day . . . or evening . . . or whatever? Check out those links. It's good stuff. It's best if enjoyed while not eating, drinking, or having a full bladder. Don't say I didn't warn you.




PS - hope all the links work well. If not, lmk - I wouldn't want you to miss out on the fun.

7.21.2009

Wordless Wednesday - Just Visiting

x-man

For more wordlessness, go here and here.


7.18.2009

Blessed Indeed

While sitting here perusing my email, I was thinking how it'd be nice to write a blog post. Lo and behold, I came across the latest from my dear friend, Sprittibee. Her post was all about the blessings in her life. Voila!

Hubby's Business - It's been just over two months since my husband started his business and it's going so well. Even when he has nothing lined up for the next day or week, God brings him just the right amount of work. He has some downtime for phone calls, parts ordering, and research. A couple weeks ago, he was able to take a day off for a trip to Denver. It was so nice to have a family day out together. He's making about the same amount of money he was before, but he doesn't have to work as many hours for it. He's so happy doing this, which is a huge blessing!







We went to the Colorado Mills Mall - primarily because they have a Lego store. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only one in the state. ClayGuy was happy because he got to order a set that's not yet available in stores. Plus they ship free when you order at a store.

When you're photographing people, one very important thing is to take note of your background. You're supposed to ensure that there aren't things sticking out of the heads of your subjects. Unless you're me. Then you position your boys right smack in front of something that will stick out of their heads. It makes for a much funnier shot, don't you think?









We had lunch at McGrath's Fish House. Talk about delicious!! I had some killer skewered and grilled prawns. Well, they weren't killer prawns like you might think of a piranha or something, but they were fantastic. The Comedian had coconut prawns with spiced orange marmalade sauce that he could not stop raving about. Hubby had salmon that was incredibly awesome. And ClayGuy, my very picky, non-seafood eater, had a PLAIN hamburger. Cause that's what he does.





What's a trip to Denver without a stop at The Container Store? Rows and rows of colorful dreams of organization. I would sure love to have a big, huge gift card for that place. In the meantime, it would seem that my photographic silliness has worn off on my family. My guys set this shot up all on their own. I didn't even have to ask. I love these guys!







The House - It's slow going, but we're making progress on the house. When we moved in, everything (except a couple of bathrooms) was white. While that's fine for showing, it's not really my top choice for our home. It has taken awhile to get started because I couldn't make a decision about color. But we finally decided on chocolate brown and sky blue for the family room. I'm excited about getting this done!




Company's Coming - Carrie of Gremlin Wrangler fame and her family are coming for a visit! I'm SO excited! Can you just imagine the photography madness that will ensue with the two of us? I need to finish emptying my memory cards so I'm loaded and ready to roll. In addition, wonkiness will abound! My youngest son has been chatting and playing online games with their oldest, so I'm thinking they'll enjoy getting to meet in real life. Even though Zoe will be in the presence of even more boys, I have access to a couple of girls her age who love creating and crafts, so I plan on hooking her up.


We are so blessed and I am ever grateful for everything the Lord has done. Not just because things are good right now, but because HE is always good, regardless of circumstances.

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Psalm 107:8


7.14.2009

Wordless Wednesday - Dill

dill


For more wordlessness, go here, here, and to my photoblog.


7.13.2009

Simple Woman's Day Book - Night Edition



For Today...I will finalize the newsletter for my dear friend Jan

Outside my window...it's dark, cool, and refreshing

I am thinking...that I should start getting to bed on time

From the learning rooms...nothing much - I want to work on school plans

I am thankful for...the afternoon rain

From the kitchen...leftover pancakes from dinner

I am wearing...capris and a sleeveless ecru top

I am reading...The Old Schoolhouse, Summer 2009

I am hoping...to accomplish a LOT tomorrow

I am creating...a lovely chocolate brown & sky blue room

I am praying...to walk in God's will

Around the house...getting ready for Mr. & Mrs. Wrangler and the Gremlins

One of my favorite things...amaretto cordials

A few plans for the rest of the week...laundry, getting the house ready, shooting pictures of whatever catches my attention, doing the books, playing with photos

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...my niece and me at lunch today. I took her shopping for part of her birthday present this afternoon. She got some super cute clothes at Old Navy.



To see other daybooks, go here. Have a blessed day evening!!


7.11.2009

Queen of Unfinished Projects

It's just one of my many self-proclaimed titles. I've had this one for a very long time. Sadly, it's gotten worse in the past few years. I know there are a lot of Golden Gate Bridge things in life. You know the type, you just get finished and you have to do it all over again? I get that. Dishes, laundry, cleaning house. Even if it's ever done, entropy hits, life happens, and it's a mess again. But that's not what I'm talking about.

If I were to go through my house and make a list of unfinished projects right now, I'd probably keel over dead from the overwhelmingly, shockingly long list of them. I'm terrific at getting started, being motivated, all gung-ho for a thing. But it's not long before I'm distracted or busy or uninterested or whatever, and the thing slips to the back burner. I see it, but just can't quite get back to it. Then one day, it just falls off the stove top. Usually next to the counter. So I can't see it at all any more. And being that I'm a visual person . . . well, out of sight, out of mind.

So I continue on with my little life, replicating this same scenario up to a dozen times a day. At times I think that I've learned to subliminally ignore all those undone tasks for self-preservation. But then there are those days. Those days when I'm acutely aware of them. I gaze over them, wishing I'd have dealt with them before, frustrated with the real estate they occupy in my home and mind.


How apropos - I began this post nearly two months ago. Not surprisingly, I didn't finish what I began. At least not when I began it. Ha! Ha! Back to your regularly scheduled post...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

What's a girl to do? Put myself on a project fast, make a list and check things off, run away, or just resign myself to my shortcomings? Anyone have a brilliant, fool-proof method for dealing with such things? This is one case in which it is not good to be the Queen. LOL!


Image courtesy of Photobucket


7.07.2009

Wordless Wednesday - Fungus Amungus

fungus


fungus2



Go here and here for more wordlessness. Enjoy the view.


7.06.2009

Fun with Fireworks

Usually on the Fourth of July, we have a BBQ and fireworks and hang out and such. However, since Independence Day fell on Saturday - church night for us - it threw our traditional plans off just a bit. It also poured like crazy before and during church, which we thought might further alter our plans. Fortunately, it let up after we got back home, and the kids were able to play with some fireworks after all. We didn't get a lot of different things - just sparklers, twirly sparkly thingies (that's their technical name, of course), firetrucks, and snakes.

My niece is the biggest ham. Which just happens to work well when I'm a big camera junkie. She's always a willing subject and just cute as ever. While her red, white, and blue shirt was fun, there was something kind of cool about the b&w to me.

mrs sparkler


I love sparklers! They never get old. Not even when you're 15.

sparklers - c


The Comedian and my youngest niece.

sparklers - mz


I like how my niece's circle encompasses her sister.

sparklers - mb


These firetrucks would shoot off in one direction, sparks flying, then stop. Then they'd take off in the reverse direction with the same effects. And once again, they'd head out as in the beginning. At the end of it all, the hose/pipe/whatever would raise up and shoot some more sparks. I don't recall real firetrucks doing that.

firetruck


I decided I was very grateful for the earlier rain, though, as I suspect it made the firefighters' job much easier that night.


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