Picture of the Day for 8/29/2010. My friend Heather Bee brought over a boatload of zucchini today. I was going to throw out a general request for suggestions on what to do with all this squash, but I suspected I might be leaving myself open for rude comments. Here's a more specific request- if any of you have any good recipes for zucchini bread or other zucchini products, please let me know.
Picture of the Day for 8/28/2010. This sign is positioned in front of my house due to some roadwork being conducted at the end of my street. The "local traffic only" warning amuses me to no end because the way the street is configured, I'm the sole person who falls into the "local traffic only" category. I'm the only person who must get past the sign in order to get home.
Picture of the Day for 8/26/2010. I've gotten in the habit lately of wearing my glasses instead of my contacts. When I do that, I'll frequently push my glasses to the end of my nose and hold whatever I'm looking at (i.e., iPhone, book, etc.) right up in front of my eyes. This is not because I can't see otherwise, but because I'm so nearsighted that my eyes act like magnifying lenses. I LIKE all of the details my eyes pick up that way (translation - I'm uninterested in corrective eye surgery). This habit of mine generates a whole LOT of feedback from family and friends who find this amusing and/or alarming. Within the last 24 hours, no less than four people commented on (i.e., mocked) my peculiar practice. I decided that was sufficient to warrant a blog entry about the subject.
Picture of the Day for 8/25/2010. It has been difficult finding the right balance of rest and activity during the time I've had off work recuperating from surgery. I get restless and don't feel well if I spend all day on the couch watching TV. On the other hand, when I go shopping or spend time working on the computer, I get wiped out. I almost feel like a Victorian woman who must recline on her fainting couch. Since my time off work is swiftly coming to a close, I've decided to err on the side of exhaustion and engage in some productive activities. This past week, I've been working on updating my journal. My journal is more of a scrapbook where I include things like pictures from vacations, programs or handouts, notes/cards, etc. Let me be clear that I don't do the cutesy kind of scrapbooking where I include cut-outs of balloons or use fancy pinking shears to cut my photographs into the shape of a sailboat.
Picture of the Day for 8/24/2010. I was running some errands close to the cemetery where mother is buried so I decided to stop buy to see if her gravestone had been installed yet. As you can see by this picture, it has.
Picture of the Day for 8/23/2010. It's official- I'm a killer of paper shredders. I believe this is the fourth one to meet its demise at my hands. I'm trying to use my time off work somewhat productively so I decided to spend some time today shredding various financial documents. It all went wrong when I inserted a credit card in the proper slot, but the card shifted so it was angled and jammed the shredder. All attempts to resuscitate the machine failed. Argh.
Picture of the Day for 8/22/2010. I actually have been in receipt of this picture for a month, but I was waiting to photograph it for when I was having a slow "picture of the day" day. My seven-year-old great-nephew Ethan is a charming imp. Case in point- he likes to draw pictures of Satan during church. (Hey- it's a biblical figure, so why not?). Please notice that he signed this picture "The Henchman." Ethan announced to his father recently that when he wants to grow up, he wants to be a henchman. I say it's good to have career goals.
Picture of the Day for 8/21/2010. This is a picture of "The Gals" as we used to be called back in the day. "Back in the day" is a loooong time ago. We are all in our late 40s to early 50s and have known each other since our mid-20s. Pictured left to right are Suzanne, Melanie, Luanne, Kathy, Connie, and Mary Ann.
Melanie organized today's luncheon and hosted the event at her home. We were sitting in her backyard when a vigorous gust of wind picked up the umbrella from the patio table, slammed it into the house, and then carried it across the yard. Melanie just watched the whole thing impassively and went "huh" when it was over. I loved that reaction. I also got a kick out of Melanie's themed bathrooms. She has a seashell bathroom, a tulip bathroom, and (my favorite) a Barbie bathroom. Below is a picture of the Barbie prints she has hanging on the wall.
Pictures of the Day for 8/20/2010. I downloaded an application to my iPhone called "Old Camera" which allows you to take black and white photos. I was experimenting with the application and since I was too lazy to get up and find something interesting to photograph, I took a series of self-portraits. I particularly like the one below with the phantom image.
Picture of the Day for 8/19/2010. Got my car back from the body shop today. Between the repairs, the citation I received for making an illegal U-turn, and the car rental, the accident on the day of my surgery last month has cost me approximately $1,500. The car looks beautiful, but it appears I'm not home free yet. When I tried to move it into the garage tonight, the car started to smoke in addition to making ominous grinding noises. I decided to leave it in the driveway and investigate further tomorrow. Sigh.
Picture of the Day for 8/18/2010.
It's been nearly four weeks since my surgery, but I'm still receiving "get well" attention. Two friends from work, Michelle Peck and Wendy Nicholes, came by the house today for a lengthy visit which I greatly enjoyed. While I have appreciated my time at home, I'm a little starved for social interaction.
Picture of the Day for 8/17/2010. There's a new house being built just down the street from me. First of all, I appreciate the fact it's a cottage rather than one of the ubiquitous mini-mansions popping up everywhere in my neighborhood. The other striking thing about this building is it looks EXACTLY like a dream house I've had in my mind for years. In fact, (warning- Michelle Merrill psyche alert), it's my "happy place" I escape to in my daydreams. I was a little freaked out when I saw this house. It's like I conjured it out of my subconscious. Weird.
Pictures of the Day for 8/16/2010. Ever since my surgery, I've been having a horrible time sleeping at night. That's because I'm not really tired after spending the whole day lounging on the couch. Also, the nightmares don't help (but that's a whole different story). In an effort to wear myself out a little bit, I took a walk around the neighborhood tonight. This is the first time I've taken a walk someplace other than my gym in years. I was struck by the following sensations:
-Fresh air on my face
-The sound of birds chirping
-The smell of grass and flowers
This was all very weird. Thankfully, I had my iPhone in hand so I wasn't entirely overcome by the natural world. Whew.
I was near the end of my street when I noticed an unleashed dog who was taking a very clear interest in my presence. When she started to bark, I turned around and started walking the other way just to be safe. This did not deter the dog who ended up being my walking buddy. She frolicked around me for the rest of my excursion, following me wherever I went. She even tried her hardest to come inside the house. She clearly belongs to someone else; otherwise, I might have invited her in and adopted her.
Picture of the Day for 8/15/2010. We celebrated my nephew-in-law Rob's 38th birthday tonight. Here are random comments about the evening:
-Since I'm still in recuperation mode, I'm only up for one major activity per day. Celebrating Rob's birthday was my big activity for the day.
-I downloaded a Star Wars light saber app on my iPhone. With the app, my phone makes light saber sounds when I wave it around. Love it! I engaged in a light saber battle with my 7-year-old nephew Ethan who had an actual light saber toy handy. Thankfully, family members pulled him away just as he was about to poke me in the tummy. Not a good idea given the monster surgical incision that's still giving me grief.
-We spent some time discussing our favorite space movies (like you do). I love the ones from my childhood. Does anyone remember Marooned and Capricorn One? Excellent films.
Picture of the Day for 8/14/2010. I received a "get well" care package in the mail today from a team of people I work with across the country who are amused that I'm such a space nerd. My colleagues know this about me because I ruthlessly inflict space-related stories and trivia on them during our conference calls. The care package was filled with an assortment of space-themed movies and a whole bunch of NASA stuff. Excellent! The care package was actually assembled by one of my company's "higher-ups." I can tell by the return address. This delights me to no end that this man spent the time to assemble the items. I think it's so sweet.
Picture of the Day for 8/13/2010. This blog entry is dedicated to my friend Aurora who recommended I give the "Mad Men" TV series a try. The show is currently in its 4th season, but I had never watched a single episode until last week. Now I'm completely obsessed. For the uninitiated, the show is set in 1960s New York and focuses on the careers and lives of the employees of a Madison Avenue advertising agency. Not only are the stories compelling, but my shallow side loves seeing the costumes, especially the women's outfits which I would love to wear (minus the girdles, of course).
Picture of the Day for 8/12/2010. Did I mention that I got in a car accident the day of my surgery on 7/22? I was in the process of making a U-turn and failed to see there was a car behind me who was trying to pass me on my left. So, yeah, I kind of slammed into that car passing me. Dang. I told the policeman who came to investigate the accident that he needed to hurry since I was scheduled to be in surgery in a couple of hours. You could say that July 22, 2010 was one of the more stressful days of my entire life.
What appeared to be a minor accident caused several thousand dollars in damage to my car. The body shop estimates it will take three weeks to complete the repairs. Sigh. My hospital discharge papers said I could start driving 3-4 weeks after my surgery. Since today represents the 3-week anniversary of my surgery, I went and got a rental car because I could not stand being without transportation for one more second. The loss of independence resulting from not being able to drive has driven me absolutely crazy. Now I have a sense of how old people who can no longer drive must feel. I have a lot more sympathy for my dad who begs me to allow him to linger over his Dr. Pepper when I take him out to lunch. I don't blame him for wanting his outings to last as long as possible.
Picture of the Day for 8/11/2010. As mentioned in yesterday's blog entry, I'm home recovering from surgery and I have a lot of free time on my hands. Instead of using this time productively, I spend the majority of my day watching TV. I've stumbled across a show I really like on the HGTV channel called "Income Property" hosted by pretty boy Scott McGillivray. I have kind of a crush on him which is extremely uncharacteristic of me since I'm usually NOT attracted to "pretty" men. Also, while I'm not old enough to be his mother, I am old enough to be his aunt or much, much older sister. I'm a little disturbed by this crush.
Picture of the Day for 8/10/2010. OK, I'm home recovering from surgery and I have a LOT of free time on my hands so I have no choice but to surf the internet looking for things to buy as evidenced by this LBD (little black dress) I ordered from Shabby Apple. Hey- at least I showed some restraint by limiting myself to just one dress although there were about 40 I wanted to order. I'm just glad I'm not a fan of QVC or the Home Shopping Network; otherwise, I'd be in real trouble.
Picture of the Day for 8/9/2010. I opened up the kitchen door to let in some sunshine today and to my surprise I discovered a cat lounging on the picnic table. The cat and I stared each other down for awhile, but then I shrugged my shoulders and ignored it. My yard is so completely overgrown that I joke the entire animal kingdom (including gnomes and elves) could be hiding out there and I wouldn't know about it.
Pictures of the Day for 8/8/2010. Had dinner at my sister Paula's house. She fixed my favorite meal that consists of what we affectionately call fried crispy things- corn fritters and fried chicken. The fried crispy things were accompanied by mashed potatoes and gravy. Topping off the dinner was my favorite dessert in the whole world- chocolate pecan pie. The dinner was beyond yummy, but I paid dearly for it afterward with a tummy ache. I haven't eaten that much since my surgery so I'm sure my digestive system didn't know what hit it. The pain was completely worth it.
Picture of the Day for 8/7/2010. I weighed myself today. I'm down 24 pounds from the day I went into surgery on 7/22/2010. Of course, having a large mass removed from my abdomen is mostly responsible for the rapid weight loss. Sadly, my tummy looked flatter to me in the mirror than in this picture.
Picture of the Day for 8/6/2010. I'm done recuperating at my sister's house and I'm home now. I checked my caller ID to see who contacted me while I was gone and was amused to see a call from "Phone Scam." At least the scammers are up front and honest about their activities.
Picture of the Day for 8/5/2010. Score! I've now managed to capture blackmail-worthy pictures of both of my brothers-in-law (refer to my 2/17/2010 blog entry, "Mustaches are Hot").
Yes, this is a photo of David clutching a Tinker Bell doll. Brilliant! To be fair, I should reveal he was doing this solely to torment his four-year-old granddaughter, Sadie, the rightful owner of the Tinker Bell doll.
Picture of the Day for 8/4/2010. All this recuperating from surgery has turned out to be hard work. I go out to lunch every afternoon with my sister, do some shopping, and then spend the rest of the day watching TV. Whew. I'm actually going a little stir crazy so I bought a beginner's pattern for a crocheted cap to keep me occupied. "Beginner" my eye. I swear crochet patterns are written in Greek. They make absolutely no sense to me.
Picture of the Day for 8/3/2010. Saw the movie "Salt" with Robynne and Robbie. The plot was completely implausible, but it was a fun distraction.
Picture of the Day for 8/2/2010. I was trying to take a clear picture of the surgical incision on my tummy now that the staples have been removed, but I ended up capturing this blurry, rather artsy and esoteric image instead. I kind of like it.
Picture of the Day for 8/1/2010. I'm still recuperating at my sister's house. I snuck off to a quiet corner to read and be alone, but the cat, who adores me, found me and took up residence on my lap.
