How You Can Tell You Are Not Mom's Favorite

Just a Note

Well, I'm headed out to the bank, grocery store and Eye Doc's to pick up my new glasses. (Whew! Dag Nab-It, I wish I could have found some contacts that would work for me!! Or better yet, maybe the "cheaters" at the local drug store-they're cheap.) I have barely recovered from sticker shock over these crazy tri-focal glasses. Ginger, my dear, how DO you sleep at night charging these prices to our pour blind souls? Ok-so I didn't buy them from our dear friend Ginger, You're right...she would have probably given me a 89% discount.)

Anyways...I thought I'd grab a little snack before I head out so I don't have to shop on an empty stomach. No sir, no over-buying from an empty stomach for me! So being the health conscientious person that I am, I thought I'd better get a little protein to pump me up for the big job ahead. (I Reeeeeeaaaallly don't like to go grocery shopping.)

Good choice Diane; milk, eggs, nuts... yep, lots of protein- that fits the bill!

Progress

I thought I'd better jump off the wheel a minute to say "Hi" and let you know I am still alive and kicking. (That is if I still have anyone checking my blog for signs of life.) And thanks to those of you that have been checking in with me via email...your thoughtfulness has warmed my heart! I guess two meager posts over the past month would pretty much constitute as a blogging vacation, wouldn't it? We've been busy, but mainly I've just been very focused on completing a few projects I've started. This week I have been working on sorting through...passing on...or throwing out the excess of my 25 year old collection of recipes. Yes, it's true. "Hi, My name is Diane and I collect recipes." Some of you may know what I'm talking about. You have cupboards and files full of those great looking recipes you've cut out of the newspaper, magazines or printed off the internet. No matter that I have 12 recipes in my file for corn bread in an attempt to capture that one true...totally perfect...all-time favorite recipe that will win me the grand prize in the next Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. I've decided that I need to regroup...use the standard collection of family favorite recipes I already have...set aside a few new ones to try (I do LOVE to try new recipes) and free myself of the clutter of my 25 year old collection of "must try" recipe files. Enough is Enough! I've already filled up one trash bag full of clipped and printed rejects and I have a stack of about 15 recipe books to pass on. I have freed up two entire shelves in our kitchen cupboards! Two shelves mind you!! My Dear Husband, being the patient man that he is, would welcome having me return to cooking some of our old family favorites. I welcome being able to go to my notebooks full of familiar family recipes and within seconds locating the exact recipe I would like to use to produce a nice home-made meal. My efforts are helping us get out of the habit of eating out as much as we were...and therefore cut back on "eat-out" expenses. So, there you have it: Diane's latest confession! I am really getting into this de-cluttering thing. I have been reading Peter Walsh's book, "It's All Too Much"...very inspiring!! Seems like I'm not alone in this endeavor to peel back the layers from the "parenting stage" of life and move into the "empty nest" stage with a little lighter load. Some of my empty-nester friends are in the same process. :-) Actually, I wish I'd learned this skill 30 years ago. But...better late than never I guess!! Our biggest accomplishment though is the progress we've been making on cleaning out our garage. Will wonders never cease? We're not even half way done...but the key word here is PROGRESS! Notice that there are no pictures to illustrate our de-cluttering skills. No-sir-re-sir. Even I, Miss Photographer Extraordinaire, have my limits as to what I'll photograph. I'm feeling much too vulnerable today to post blatant pictures of our clutter. Just take my word for it. PROGRESS is the word for today.

Rockin' Chicks

I hope you all had a great 4th of July Celebration. Erin and Micah came over, and although I refuse to post the sad outcome of our card game (girls against guys), we did indeed enjoy our meal together and visiting. Wish that Meg, Ashley and Casey could have joined us!!!

I haven't been able to visit Blogville much over the past several days as I've been rather busy with processing some recent photo shoots, related topics and family stuff. However, I HAVE been missing my "cyber-friends". :-) I really do need to take moment to post a belated thank-you to Ginger for her vote of confidence and bloggityville friendship. She recently awarded me a "Rocking Chick" award and posted a link to my site. Thanks for thinking of me Ginger!! I too have really enjoyed the many new friendships I am making through blogging...kind of like "cyber pen-pals"!

Since you all know I can't do anything without posting pictures...I decided to give you proof that, yes...Ginger IS indeed CORRECT... I am truly a "rocking chick". (Remember I hit the half century mark this year...so I am an OLD ROCKING CHICK)

Actually, Ginger and I are both old lady rockin' chicks.... here we are during our last visit at the Sr Rockin Chicks Meeting: (Ginger was pointing out to me that she liked my new pair of orthopedic shoes...they are stylin')

As a matter of fact...I have been a "ROCKIN' CHICK" for quite some time...Here I am in my younger years...

See, my status as a "Rockin' Chick" goes waaaaay back.... Here I am as just a young thing... just a rockin' and reading. Of course, this was back before Blogville...so I had to do my readin' the old fashioned way. "And that's the truth!"

And, those of you that know me "in real life"...yes, I do love to sit on the porch and do a little "rockin'" from time to time. Nothing like a little fresh air to lift the spirits. And...I could even be classified as a "fashionable rockin' chick"... (Ginger, you left that part out) Check out my fancy hat!!

And, last...but not least... I want you to know...I have raised our daughters correctly. I have brought them up to be "Rockin' Chicks" as well... spending hours of training by example from the time they could sit at my knee. (or on my knee...whatever the case may be) So...to all you young mothers out there in Blogville... if you want to teach your daughters to be cool rockin' chicks (like Ginger and I) then take my advice... They are never too young to train. You Go Girls...Rockin' Chicks Unite! :-)

Now, to prove that this training from an early age really did take root in at least one of our offspring... I would like to share with you the link for our eldest daughter's new blog: Simply Homemaking!! TA DA!! Stop by and visit Erin and leave her a sweet comment. If the truth be known (and it must be since my name is CANDID Reflections) Erin was the one that got me started in Blogville almost one year ago. I wouldn't be having all this fun if it weren't for her encouragement and tech savvy ways. Ok, so she gets credit for the Blogville part...but, I get credit for the Rockin' Chick training. (you know...we Mom's have to grab credit whenever we can-right? ;-) Now if I could only get our other two rockin' chicks to join us in Blogville once in awhile. Ohhhhhhh wellllllllll.

Meet some of our "friends"...

I recently had fun practicing with my camera on the wildlife around our yard and capturing the critters that venture up on our porch. I began filling our "hands" feeder with sunflower seeds and have been entertained daily by the squirrels that venture, oh so cautiously, up on our porch to gorge themselves on the treasured seeds. I took these pics through the window of our living room and this little guy kept a close eye on me. He seemed to know that he and I were separated by two thicknesses of glass and that he was fairly safe to keep chomping away on his stash of sunflower seeds.

Looks like he has a "look-out" buddy there in the background to keep away the competition!

Look at this pile of sunflower seed hulls that have been carefully picked over and discarded.

He will sit out there for hours!

I moved a little and he got rather concerned!!

Awwwww, a Cardinal. Reminds me of my native state: Ohio. (It's the state bird)

Wish I knew my birds better....what's his name?? Note: Thanks to Bee, we now know that this little fellow is a Chipping Sparrow! Plus, she shared a great new resource: www.whatbird.com for identifying birds. Also, I should have put this verse up with the picture in the first place...Thanks Barbara H for reminding me to look it up!

Matthew 6:26 "(A)Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?"

Freddie the Lizard lives on our front porch and visits often.

I wish I could report that these beautiful and fragrant peonies came from our yard...however, we can not grow them here in the hot, humid south. :-( I found these at our local Kroger store and HAD to purchase them as a sweet reminder of the myriad of bushes we had in my yard when I was a young girl. I must have stuck my nose in these for a whiff at least 50 times the first day they graced our kitchen table. They bring back special memories for me. Funny how (it is said) that out of all our senses, smells are the strongest trigger of memories. I used to collect large bouquets of peonies for my Mom and she'd place them on our kitchen table. The funny thing I remember about them is how many LARGE black ants would always be attached to my bouquets and end up in the house along with the flowers. :-) I wish we could grow lilacs, daffodils and peonies here as I have such fond memories of those from my youth. Hope you enjoyed meeting some of the "Locals" at our home.

Also...if you haven't left your input on my "blogging survey" below...please take a moment to do so before you leave. Thanks for stopping by!

To My Sweet Blogging Buddies...

Poor things! I'm sorry, I keep changing "the look" on you and confusing things. Yes...today my background is green...not brown. The brown was misbehaving...so I am trying something else. Thanks so much for continuing to help me by leaving comments to let me know how my blog is being "translated" on computers far and wide!!
:-)

This and That

Several blogs I've read are doing a fun little ditty... Grab a book closest to where you are seated, turn to page 28 and read the third paragraph. So.... what does it say???

Ha! I'm afraid it's not going to be very interesting to the masses. The book closest to me was picked off the top of a stack of four new technical manuals we just purchased. These purchases are resources in our attempt to further my education on the technical side of photography and photo editing. I have been learning more about Photoshop (photo editing software), Adobe Lightroom and photo restoration and retouching.

So... from "The Photoshop Elements 5 Book for Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby:

Page 28-3rd Paragraph: "Step Two: Go under the Find menu, and at the bottom of the menu choose Find Faces for Tagging. This brings up the Face Tagging dialog. Within just a few moments (depending on how many photos you have), it will sort through your selected images and separate out the images that contain a human face."

Ok...I'm sure this is clear as mud to you.... but hey... I'm just following directions! What about you... grab your nearest book and let us know what page 28 says!!

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Now, on to another subject: Thanks to each of you that left me comments yesterday with suggestions on my cry for help with my blogger template. I made a few changes using your information, tried a few different templates on for size and finally ended up receiving a large amount of design help last night from our eldest daughter, Erin. She has been teaching herself web design and was able to help me tweak one of blogger's templates to suite my needs. I may continue to play around with the look of my blog, but for now it will sport this current look with my new header and wallpaper background. I have actually looked at the template on 4 different computers and it looked different on our desk top than it did on the 3 laptops I tried. So.... I have a question for you. When you view my blog page on your computer...does the brown "wallpaper" background with the small tan designs show up on either side of my white blog page? It did on the laptops, but our desk top only showed the white blog page with a small dark brown border. Thanks for your input! I'm sure this redecorating project isn't quite over yet. Thanks Erin for all your help and teaching me more about HTML!

Personal MeMe

Clare has asked me to join her in a personal meme. So, here it goes:

1. Three words to describe you? Honest, Creative, Photographer

2. Your favorite color? Blues & Greens

3. Describe your style? Comfortable, Traditional, Sentimental

4. Favorite recreational activity? Photography, Blogging, Taking walks, eating out with family or friends :-)
5. Pets? Not any more. We recently had to put our two elderly Maltese to sleep.

6. Favorite Hymn? Amazing Grace (Or the new version... Grace Like Rain by Todd Agnew :-)

7. Favorite Scripture? I have SO many... but I guess it would be: "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." 3 John 1:3-5

8. Favorite Quotation? Can't say I have a "favorite"... but I love the reminder: "Preach the Gospel always-if necessary, use words." St. Francis of Assisi

9. Dress/Skirt? I love to wear skirts.

11. Favorite CD? The three personal worship CDs I made last year.

12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Oooh, this is a hard one. There are several places I would like to visit: Hawaii, Europe, The Holy Land.... I always enjoy going "home" to Ohio to visit with family... and now to PA to see our daughter and SIL!
13. Lake, Ocean, River? Mountains are first choice...preferably by a lake or stream!
14. Diamonds or Pearls? ??Like them both.

If anyone else wants to join in... let me know under "comments" so I can visit and learn more about you.

Last Week...I fell Off The Wagon

Actually, I didn't "fall" off... I jumped!! FlyLady would NOT have been proud of me. Yes, it is true... I was living in CHAOS! (can't have anyone over syndrome) Mount Washmore was piled high, my "hot spots" weren't just "spots" anymore and... a shiny sink? Ha! What sink... it's view was obstructed due to the piles of dirty dishes on the counter. No Proverbs 31 Woman delusions on this end!! I will spare you most of the sordid pictures as I choose not to embarrass myself any further.

What was the problem?? The BIG FIVE reasons:

1) My dear hubby was in Atlanta on business, so I was in mourning over his abscense.

2) Week before last we were in Phonix visiting Brad's parents. I ALWAYS get a little off kilter after a vacation with family. Doesn't matter whether we go visiting, or they come here... I really enjoy our time spent together and get rather meloncholly for a few days after we part. I miss the "fam". Which leads me to reason #3...

3) I think I had been taking FLYLADY'S "Pamper Yourself" missions just a little TOO seriously! I have learned over the years that I just need to give myself a little space after a visit or vacation... but... well... let's just say I was "given an inch, but I took a mile!" I guess since we recently have enjoyed: a three week visit from my parents, a one week visit from our youngest daughter, and then spent an enjoyable 9 day vacation recently with Brad's parents... I've had a slow time getting back into my routines!

4) Our dishwasher broke back in March. Actually, I've been a good sport about handwashing dishes for the past 6 weeks. Yep... I made it through a dinner party with 25 guests, through Easter, and through weeks of daily chores. But I have to admit, last week I cracked. I went on a dishwashing strike. It was a sad state of affairs over here! Actually, our new dishwasher was delivered last Monday, but since hubby was out of town, all I could do was stare at it longingly all week. There is sat... quietly hidden away in it's big cardboard box awaiting the day when I could load each and every dirty dish inside my new servant...push a few buttons...and walk away! You know, a dishwasher is one of those things that it's easy to take for granted. I think I have a new appreciation for the priviledge of owning one.

So you ask...what HAVE I been doing? Among other things, the THREE R's: Read'n, wRiting, and Restauranting. Yep, it's true. While hubby was gone I treated myself to a ban on housework. I played on the computer... alot... doing some bloggityville reading, doing some bloggityville writing...and cleaning up photo folders and files. Actually, I've had alot of stuff floating around in my head that I've wanted to post here...so last week I did a "brain dump" into my draft folder and now have a headstart on future posts. Do any of you ever do that? I also wanted to post a few pics from our trip to AZ... hopefully within the next week or two.

Last Monday night it was fun meeting with some friends to help our MOB (mother of the bride) address wedding invitations. She made us a wonderful dinner and we enjoyed fun fellowship. Also, I enjoyed lunch outings with both Erin and Megan this past week. So, you see, I HAVE been busy. Just not exactly keeping up with the whole housework scene.

But... this week is a new week and I can start fresh!! Hubby is back home (yeah!!!) Thankfully, he installed our new dishwasher over the weekend, so I ended my moratorium on chores and hand washing dishes. Now this week I have a fresh start...a new outlook! My chores are up-to-date and life feels much more "in order" now.

I am actually VERY EXCITED as today my sister comes in for a week long visit!!! (you wouldn't know her... as she doesn't blog...which, by the way, is in my "serious injury file") It will be great to spend some time together in R&R. I hope to provide a fun and relaxing break from her normal routine. She is in a busy stage of life right now; homeschooling two teenagers, playing "taxi", managing her husband's band, and generally busy with all things related to being a keeper of the home. So this little "get away" is a well deserved break for her. While she is here I may try and razz her some more on how much fun we would have if she started her own blog. (Maybe you could help me by leaving her some sweet comments, encouraging her to venture out into bloggityville. Maybe tell her why you enjoy blogging so she can become inspired!! :-) In all honesty... I remember all too well that stage of life. I can see where blogging may not fit into her schedule at this point in life. Well, we'll see. I'll keep you posted!

Also... I have a VERY SPECIAL announcement!!!! This post marks my 100th POST!!!! Somehow that kind of feels like a milestone! I've enjoyed having this outlet for my thoughts, rants and raves. Thank you to those of you who have been visiting me here and leaving comments, as I have been blessed and inspired by reading so many of your blogs and getting to "know you" through the blogosphere.

Great Links for Images!!

Thanks SO MUCH to Haus Frau at Lula's Hardt for sharing her links to wonderful sources for images. What a great resource!

Hand Write Those Thank You Notes...

Thanks to Mrs. B. for her wonderful post on the importance of hand-writing thank you notes! This is one of the consistent habits I would like to build into my life, each and every time a note of gratitude is called for. I appreciate her timely reminder. Also, check out what Emily Post has to say on this topic as well!

I'm Blogging!

Well, it’s official! I am embarking on the maiden voyage of posting for the first time on my very own blog. Whew…there, I did it! I was introduced to blogging by our oldest daughter, Erin, and have enjoyed reading her posts and links over the past several months. (Visit her at: http://unfoldingmoments.blogspot.com. She is such a gifted writer. Ok…so I’m her Mom & ever so slightly prejudice…ok, yes…I’m very prejudice...about EACH of our daughters and their talents!! Shameless, I know.) Anyways, Erin has been gently encouraging me to venture into the blogging arena. I must admit, however, the idea of putting my thoughts, ideas and “happenings” out there for anyone to read leaves me feeling rather nervous. I think I can twist the arms of a few family members and friends to come visit me here… but I am also hoping to have the privilege of meeting some new friends as well. I am open to new ways to be stretched and challenged to grow! (Lord knows I need it! :-)