Picture of the Day for 9/29/2011. My sister Paula's sister-in-law Karen is in town for the week. You might think from the way they are dressed that's there's an official "Lowry Family Uniform," but that's not the case. They dressed alike by coincidence which the rest of the family thought was cute (and rather amusing).
Picture of the Day for 9/28/2011. I recently received a mis-directed email that was meant for another Michelle Merrill residing in Rapid City, South Dakota. I love when things like that happen. It's kind of interesting to know what other Michelle Merrills are up to. Sadly, since she did not receive the email, this Michelle Merrill missed out on Pastor Gregg's update on the First Baptist Church's upcoming events for the week that include the Exodus Bible study group and the Mary Martha Circle gathering. To my delight, the email included the church's website so of course I had to check it out and find out all about Pastor Gregg.I wrote back to the woman who sent me the email letting her know she sent it to the wrong person. I also mentioned that while I was a Mormon from Salt Lake City, I had attended Baptist Bible School during the summers when I was a little girl and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I was kind of disappointed she didn't respond to my message.
Picture of the Day for 9/27/2011. My niece Renee has been wearing this navy blue/white-striped shirt that I've had my eye on for about a month. I ran into Renee at the gym tonight and imparted the news that I'm now in possession of this same blouse as well. She was a good sport about letting her middle-aged auntie be a fashion copy-cat.
Picture of the Day for 9/26/2011. I was browsing through the bookstore last Friday looking for a novel to read on my flight home from Florida the following day. I knew I had found my selection based on the opening line: "Finally, after almost two hundred years, my hometown had its first bona fide hooker." Call me sophomoric, but I was amused. The heroine is a 52-year-old smart-ass Mennonite woman (yes- that just happened; I used the word "smart-ass" and "Mennonite" in the same sentence) who has a 4-year-old son along with a Jewish husband and runs an family-owned inn in Pennsylvania Dutch country. I have to say it's one of the oddest premises for a mystery novel I've encountered, but I enjoyed the book.
Picture of the Day for 9/25/2011. Here's some baking advice for you- not all brown sugar is created equal. I discovered this after I purchased a store-brand (not to be confused with name-brand) brown sugar so I could make some cookies as a thank you for a neighbor* who monitored my sprinkler system/new grass situation while I was out of town the past few days. Both the store-brand and name-brand bags of brown sugar were labeled as "Pure Brown Sugar" so I figured I would save a couple of dollars by selecting the less-expensive option. Big mistake. When I opened up the bag of sugar, I was greeted with the most horrendous smell. I checked the ingredients and it turns out this "pure" brown sugar is actually a concoction of ingredients. I had to run back to the store to pick up the real thing before I could continue. *I should have alerted my 86-year-old next door neighbor Erma that I was having another neighbor look after my yard. I received a somewhat alarmed call from Erma the first night I was in Florida indicating there was a man lurking on my porch. I assured her all was well.
Picture of the Day for 9/24/2011. I guess if you ("you" being my great-niece Hayley) are celebrating your 12th birthday, Captain Jack Sparrow would make an excellent party guest.
Argh!!!! I had my phone hooked up to my laptop last night and iTunes automatically started to sync my phone. It asked if I wanted to set up a new phone or sync it to Michelle's iPhone (my old phone). I accidentally clicked Michelle's iPhone and it was all over with. Even though I immediately tried to back out of it, the process had already started and deleted all the photos that I've taken since I bought my new iPhone a couple of months ago. I've been doing Google searches to see if there's any way to restore the photos- no real luck so far. I'll have to stop by an Apple store for some professional advice. Luckily, I had downloaded the photo I took of my dad during my last visit with him before he passed away and I had downloaded photos from the funeral. Those are the ones I care most about so I guess I can live if I can't get the photos restored.
In all the melee, I managed to lose the picture I took for 9/23/2011 which wasn't all that exciting as it was a photograph of the thermostat in my West Palm Beach, Florida hotel room. I was going to use it to illustrate an interesting temperature phenomenon that I experience only in Florida. The weather is so hot and humid that when you step into an air-conditioned building, the cold air is such a shock to the system that it is literally painful.
Picture of the Day for 9/22/2011. Here is a picture I took of the biggest, most monster-sized SUV you've ever seen. "Why would I do that?" you might ask. Because it's what the rental car agency at the Ft. Lauderdale airport gave me despite the fact I had reserved a compact car. I told them I had no business driving such a big car since I can't even seem to maneuver my much smaller PT Cruiser without bumping into things. My protests were to no avail as that's the only car they had available to me last night at 11:00 p.m. when I arrived. That's what happens when show up so late in the day- you take what you can get. I should know since this has happened to me before. On one of my of my many trips out to Florida this year, I arrived at the Orlando airport at about midnight. The only vehicle available at the rental car agency at that time (again- despite having reserved a compact car) was a large passenger van that seated 15 people! Luckily, a compact car was returned while I was in the process of arguing with the clerk so I was able to snag that one instead.
Picture of the Day for 9/21/2011. The grass that was planted nearly two weeks ago is starting to come in. For some reason, it's growing really well next to my concrete front steps.
Picture of the Day for 9/20/2011. My nieces gathered at my house tonight for a Hawaii 5-O season premiere viewing party. It was a very successful event- the food was good, the show was good, and the company was good. And you can never go wrong with lemon cupcakes topped with candy flip-flops.
Picture of the Day for 9/19/2011. I took this picture of my bandaged foot upon arriving home from the emergency room shortly after midnight. I was out on my porch and I accidentally stepped on what has to be the rustiest/dirtest rake on the planet. One of the tines punctured my foot. "Owww" doesn't even begin to cover this.
After leaving a trail of blood from my front door to my bathroom (which I still need to clean up), I wrapped up my foot and drove myself to the emergency room since I figured I needed a tetanus shop and someone to clean out the wound because it was so deep. I would have just gone to an urgent care center, but the one in my neighborhood was closed for the evening.
I ended up working from home today so I could stay off my foot. Bless my 86-year-old neighbor Erma's heart. She saw my car in the driveway (a very unusual sight for a workday) and called to make sure I was OK.
Picture of the Day for 9/18/2011. This is a stealth photograph of a group of friends who meet regularly at Rich's bagels. We're usually there at the same time on the weekends. We've never really spoken beyond a couple of the gentlemen making comments about whatever book I happen to be reading while I eat my asiago cheese bagel with scallion/herb cream cheese (toasted). The couple on the left are moving to California this week. I know this because I blatantly eavesdrop on their conversations. I'll miss seeing them at their regular table.
Picture of the Day for 9/17/2011. I saw this quote posted in the box office window of a movie theater tonight. Amen.
Picture of the Day for 9/16/2011. I have a love affair with pumpkins. I love seeing their appearance in grocery stores as a herald of fall (hence this photo). I love their shape and color. I love them in all their incarnations (Halloween decorations, bread, cookies, soup, ravioli, doughnuts, etc.) EXCEPT one- pie. My family thinks this is so odd. My reaction to pumpkin pie can be summed up in one indifferent word- "meh." I could never have a piece of pumpkin pie ever, ever again and not feel bad.
Picture of the Day for 9/14/2011. On Wednesday evenings, I have dinner at my sister Robynne's house. Tonight we had Little Caesar's Pizza. (Yay for pizza!) Before digging in, my brother-in-law Will said grace over the food. He prayed that the food, "although lacking," would still nourish and strengthen us. Our heads popped up at that and Robynne and I looked at each other in surprise. It was just so insulting. We were able to hold back the giggles for a few seconds, but then Robynne, my nephew Robbie, and I burst out laughing and couldn't stop during the remainder of the prayer. Will was a good sport about it. He explained that he felt like it was hard to make a serious request for God to bless pizza. He's got a point.
Picture of the Day for 9/13/2011. I've gotten hooked on watching the jewelry segments on the HSN and QVC shopping networks. Last night I was at the gym (where, by the way, I walked 3.5 miles and burned precisely 280 calories) and I was glued to the HSN channel the entire time. I came THIS close to purchasing the shell jewelry being profiled. Phew- glad I was able to resist. I don't need to buy any more jewelry while I'm still in the process of paying off all my trips to see the space shuttle launches this year.
Picture of the Day for 9/12/2011. As promised, I'm posting a picture of my clean-ish dining room. There are still a few packing boxes stacked on top of the buffet and in one corner of the room, but I've gone as far as I can until I clear out my old bedroom (which is to the left of this room) so I can free up some storage space.Check out this 1970s chandelier (or possibly 1960s- my sisters would remember better than I when this light fixture arrived on the scene). It cracks me up, but I'm secretly quite fond of it.
Picture of the Day for 9/11/2011. I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning my dining room. As I emptied out each packing box, I'd toss it into my kitchen. As you can see, I made a LOT of headway. My dining room is about a day away from looking somewhat presentable. I'll post a picture when I'm done.
Picture of the Day for 9/9/2011. I just came across a 3-page autobiography that my mother wrote in 1984, In it, she describes my dad leaving for Guam during World War ll on a troop ship with thousands of other young men. Here's a quote that cracked me up- "Bob remembers that music was piped all over the ship to ease the boredom. Jo Stafford's record was played over and over and her song, "It Could Happen to You," wasn't too comforting since enemy submarines were nearby throughout the journey to Guam." I had never heard of Jo Stafford or this particular song. I was intrigued so I went ahead and purchased one of her CDs.
Picture of the Day for 9/8/2011. Tensions were high at family lunch today (long story). To diffuse the situation, my brother-in-law David purchased this sundae festooned with spoons- one for each person at the table. The sundae almost looked like a work of art. It was an inspired move on David's part. We practically inhaled the ice cream.
Picture of the Day for 9/6/2011. I pulled out my all time #1 favorite piece of music in the whole wide world, Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven, and played it tonight on the piano. I saw a movie over the weekend where a character was playing this song and shortly thereafter I came across a reference to the piece in a Randy Wayne White novel I'm reading. This reminded me how much I love Moonlight Sonata. It's so wonderfully melancholy.
Picture of the Day for 9/5/2011. I noticed this graffiti on the side of a friend's apartment building. As far as graffiti goes, this is pretty cool.
Picture of the Day for 9/4/2011. For those of you who know me and my cluttered lifestyle ways, you better sit down. I've been making my bed every day for the past couple of weeks. Whoa- mind-blowing isn't it? This hasn't happened since I was a young girl.
You may notice that I don't have much of a bedspread. That's because I just gave my comforter set to charity. Now that both parents have passed away and I'm moving out of my caretaker phase, I've decided it's time to reinvent myself which has involved getting rid a lot of my stuff. If I don't love it or use it, it's out the door. If there's anything of mine you've had an eye on, better let me know before it gets donated to charity.
Picture of the Day for 9/3/2011. OK- I know a picture of my automobile in a car wash isn't that exciting, but I was thrilled to be there. This was the first time I've been able to run my car through a wash in months now that my passenger-side rear view mirror is no longer hanging by a thread and there's no longer a crack running the entire length of my windshield. I've spent about $1,200 on repairs over the past month and my car is starting to look somewhat presentable.
Picture of the Day for 9/2/2011. Had dinner tonight at El Chihuahua with my friend Karl. Sadly, the picture washed out and you can't really see that the label affixed to Karl's forehead says El Chihuahua. At this point in the evening we were bored waiting for the waitress to bring our ticket. A bored Karl is a dangerous Karl as he looks for ways to amuse himself which usually involve enacting dramas with the silverware, singing bad 70s and 80s songs that he knows I hate, sticking things on his face, etc. We still laugh about a comment a friend of his made a few years ago. The friend indicated he had noticed Karl at restaurant and was going to come over to say hello, but decided against it when he noticed Karl had torn mouth and eye holes in a napkin and was using the napkin as a mask.
Picture of the Day for 9/1/2011. I'm FINALLY making a concerted effort to unpack all of my boxes from when I moved over two years ago. When the majority of your possessions have been packed up for that long, you tend to forget what's in the boxes. Case in point- this Obama maracas. I'm having a lot of "what the?" moments as I unearth items I forgot I owned and can't imagine purchasing in the first place.
