Hard At Work

Picture of the Day for 11/30/2014. I wasn't inspired to take any pictures today so I'm relying on some photographs of my nephew Rob hard at work performing service on his mission. These pictures and the following note come from the Deckers, a married couple who live in Gallup, New Mexico and are also serving the Navajo people in nearby Fort Wingate where Rob is currently stationed:

We went on a service project on Friday. We were hauling wood from the Zuni mountains to people in the branch who needed wood. On the reservation, many folks rely on wood to heat their homes during the winter. Elder Collins is a hard worker!  I was duly impressed!

Doug and Barb Decker

New Christmas Speech and Language Book

Picture of the Day for 11/29/214. Aside from spending Thanksgiving evening at my sister Paula's house, I pretty much spent the entire holiday weekend glued to my laptop proofreading my sister Robynne's 128-page Christmas Book for Concepts, Language, and Articulation and preparing it for publication to the two websites where we sell our workbooks. I'm not prejudiced at all when I say it's a pretty cute book! It has fun activities that are appropriate for all school age children, not just those who need speech and language help. And I'm not making a shameless, self-promoting plug at all when I say that you can get it here for just $9.50!

Alien Death Ray

Picture of the Day for 11/28/2014. It looks like a death ray is shooting down from the moon in this photograph. Something that should be investigated by UFO investigators!

Sadly, this is not actually an alien death ray and the producers of Ancient Aliens won't be knocking on my door. It's merely the reflection from a streetlight that's just outside the frame of this picture. 

2nd Annual Awkward Family Photo

Picture of the Day for 11/27/2014. My sister Paula had the family over to her house for Thanksgiving again this year and it was a lovely day. When I saw that my niece Lisa and nephew Michael were both wearing plaid shirts, I knew I had to recreate last Thanksgiving's awkward family photo. The awkwardness was enhanced by the addition of a cat who was trying to escape from Lisa's arms. I could not be more pleased with how this picture turned out.

I'm Not Sure What This Is

Picture of the Day for 11/26/2014. I happened to look up at the ceiling in my laundry room (formerly my mother's laundry room) and noticed my mother had hung old pantyhose from some nails. I know she had a purpose for doing this since pantyhose was her equivalent of duct tape, but I can't figure this one out. 

Firefox

Picture of the Day for 11/25/2014. My niece Chantal and her husband Rob, knowing how much I love aviation history, thought I would enjoy the 1982 movie Firefox and rented it for me. It's about a U.S. Air Force pilot played by Clint Eastwood who is sent over to the Soviet Union to steal their latest spy plane. Rob and Chantal were right- I was the right audience for this movie as I know enough about planes to recognize that the Soviet aircraft looked like our own SR-71 reconnaissance plane. I enjoyed the movie, but I realized I've gotten used to today's faster-paced action movies. I kept on watching Firefox and watching it some more and then come back to it another day and watched it some more and I never seemed to get to the end of the movie. I laughed when I looked up the running time to see it was only 2 hours and 16 minutes long. On a random note- I marveled that Clint Eastwood was exactly my current age when he was making this film.

There's Still Plenty of Room!

Picture of the Day for 11/24/2014. My niece Chantal made a mistake when she asked me to come over to help her family decorate their Christmas tree. I was initially only assigned to hang the Star Wars ornaments, but I quickly expanded my role when I realized they weren't making full use of the inner branches of the tree. That's where the heavy ornaments should go which leaves room for the lighter ornaments on the outer branches. (Yes, I totally sound like my engineer father Bob Merrill.) My constant refrain of "there's still plenty of room" quickly became the joke for the night. I had Chantal and her girls scrambling to hand me ornaments until there were no more ornaments left to hang. Chantal claims that the tree was begging for mercy, but my claim is that the tree is happy it is being used to its fullest potential. I'm right, of course, like I always am.

My Lone Thanksgiving Decoration

Picture of the Day for 11/23/2014. I just put out my Thanksgiving decoration. No, that wasn't a typo. I meant decoration in the singular rather than plural. This harvest scarecrow is my lone decoration. That's just sad. As part of a family that enthusiastically celebrates holidays into the ground, I need to up my Thanksgiving decorating game or I'll lose my Merrill family membership card. 

I wish I could find my mother's Pilgrims that she created out of old Reader's Digest magazines when I was a little girl. I can still remember her folding page after page after page to create the bodies. Once she was done with that, she spray painted the bodies black and attached paper arms and styrofoam heads. They are decorations that only a fond daughter would treasure. I did a Google search for the pattern and this is the closest thing I could find.

Why I Avoid Black Friday Shopping

Picture of the Day for 11/22/2014. Old Navy was having a 50% off pre-Black Friday sale today so I went there in search of a much-needed black cardigan. When I went to go make my purchase, this is the line that greeted me. And this, folks, is why I don't go shopping on Black Friday. I hate crowds.

Message to My Sister Robynne

Picture of the Day for 11/21/2014. This is for my sister Robynne. She'll know what this means. It must be hard for her to have a sister (me) who is ALWAYS right. Poor Robynne. 

New Blog

Picture of the Day for 11/20/2014. As if maintaining one blog isn't enough, I've started a second one! It's called Happy Accidents and Unexpected Moments of Joy. The title is pretty self-explanatory. The purpose of the blog is to document those happy accidents or ephemeral moments of joy we experience in our lives. Since I'm bad about keeping a personal journal, I suspect these blogs will end up being the way I'll document my life.

Losing a Dad

Picture of the Day for 11/19/2014. I attended the viewing for my childhood friend Sara's dad tonight. She was in tears. I don't blame her. It's been three years since my dad passed away and I still cry over him. I told her I found losing a dad was far harder than loser a mother and she agreed. Who would have ever guessed this would be the case as she and I both had very close relationships with our respective mothers. 

Well, at least my dad keeps me company in my kitchen. I smiled just the other day at this picture I have posted on my refrigerator.

Pie is Merely the Delivery System for Whipped Cream

Picture of the Day for 11/18/2014. My niece Lisa's 25th birthday was yesterday. Tonight I went over to my sister Robynne's house for a little celebration. I was highly motivated because not only do I love my niece, but we both share a fanatical love of pasta. Robynne made Fettuccine Alfredo for dinner. Yum! I wasn't about to miss that!

Lisa also got her favorite pie- pumpkin. (That's where our paths diverge. I am so completely indifferent to pumpkin pie. Meh.) We were laughing at her liberal application of whipped cream so of course I had to take a picture of it.

Back to Work

Picture of the Day for 11/17/2014. A couple of months ago I blogged about the prophetic fortune cookie that correctly predicted a refreshing change in my future. What I was not at liberty to announce back then is that I've returned to my consulting job. My former employer reached out to me in September and asked if I would be interested in returning to work. I said "Yes!!" I flew down to California for an informal interview on Monday, October 6 and I was offered the job on Friday,  October 10. Yay! Here are all the perks:

-I'll be working for the Southern California region which is my favorite. When I was interviewing, I was asked several times if I would mind traveling to Southern California frequently for company and client meetings. I'm delighted to!

-I get to work remotely from Salt Lake City so I don't have to move. The only stipulation is that I go into the Salt Lake City office at least once a week; otherwise, I get to work from home.

-I was quite pleased with the salary I was offered.

-I get all my 16 years of service back so I don't have to start from square one.

In case you are wondering, I'm not giving up on Teach Speech Now. Just scaling back.

Today was my official starting day. Since I'm working remotely, I don't merit an office, but the cubicle I've been assigned is fabulous. Here is the view out my window.

Florida Merchandise

Picture of the Day for 11/16/2014. Hmm...I went a little crazy buying Florida apparel last week during my week-long trip there. Two Florida necklaces and one Florida t-shirt. That's because I'm "crazy" about Florida. Ha, ha, ha, ha!!!!

(OK- sorry about that self-indulgent humor. I know that was not funny to anyone except myself.)

Snow Glow

Picture of the Day for 11/15/2014. I woke up this morning and saw the telltale glow through my bathroom window. I didn't even have to look out my window to know that it had snowed. Brrr. And to think just a few days ago I was enjoying pleasant weather in the 70s. I miss Florida already!

(Yes, I'm aware my window is dirty. That's because I can't reach the windows on this side of the house except by ladder. I'm going to hire someone to do my windows next spring.)

English Chips

Picture of the Day for 11/14/2014. On Halloween my niece Chantal mentioned she was craving English chips. This of course made me crave them intensely even though I had not given that particular food item a single thought in years. Now that I'm home from my travels I was able to meet Chantal and my great-niece Hayley for lunch where we all consumed English chips dipped in tartar sauce. Yum!

Bedraggled Luggage

Picture of the Day for 11/13/2014. I was unpacking from my 8-day trip to Florida when I noticed how dirty and beat-up my luggage looks. I wouldn't have it any other way! It means I've traveled a lot and seen interesting sights and spent pleasant hours with my friends in various locales.

Dockside Lunch

Picture of the Day for 11/12/2014. I'm thinking every lunch should be in a setting like this. I enjoyed a nice lunch with friends here in the West Palm Beach area. And then just a few short hours later I FROZE when I stepped off the plane here in Salt Lake City. Sigh.

Diva Duck Amphibious Tour

Picture of the Day for 11/11/2014. I decided to do something quintessentially touristy today so I booked a seat on a 75-minute Diva Duck Amphibious Tour. We saw several sights in West Palm Beach and then crossed the Intracoastal Waterway to Palm Beach where we gazed upon the mansions of the rich and famous. It was very fun!

 

 

Historic Cocoa Beach

Picture of the Day for 11/10/2014. I spent the day exploring* historic Cocoa Beach, Florida. I was going to head up to New Smyrna Beach which is about an hour north of Cocoa Beach, but the weather has been so dark and dreary and rainy that I decided not to venture out. I had a delightful time here so I'm not sad about the change of plans. 

Exploring = buying trinkets and jewelry. My favorite king of "exploring."

Neil Armstrong's Hands

Picture of the Day for 11/9/2014. I visited the Space View Park & Space Walk of Fame in Titusville, Florida where they have monuments honoring the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle programs/astronauts. I particularly liked seeing the astronauts' hand prints. I was pleased to see Neil Armstrong had kind of small hands. It made me feel better about my unusually small hands.

Who Took the Famous Photo?

Picture of the Day for 11/8/2014. I attended the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) autograph show at the Kennedy Space Center today. Hoot Gibson, a famous space shuttle astronaut, gave a presentation where he revealed that he's the one who took the iconic photographs of the very first untethered space walk in history. I've seen these pictures thousands of  times, but it never occurred to me to wonder who took the photographs. Hoot said as the shuttle pilot, he was just about the only one on board who didn't have a task associated with the space walk so he spent the time taking photographs.

Book Report: Josie Brown Novels

Picture of the Day for 11/7/2014. Authors really do make a genius move when they offer the first book in a series for free. That's how I got hooked on Josie Brown's Housewife Assassin novels. I read the first one and then absolutely had to read more. I've flown through five out of the nine books in the series. I'm glad I have a few more to go. Don't you hate it when you come to the end of a really good novel or a series?

Edna Hibel

Picture of the Day for 11/6/2014. I had one of my happy accidents today. I was Googling things to do in the Jupiter, Florida  area and I found a little write-up about the Edna Hibel Museum of Art on the campus of the Florida Atlantic University. I had never heard of her before, but I knew a whole bunch about her by the time I left. That's because I had the tour guide, Helene (pictured below), all to myself for about an hour. It was great!

Edna Hibel is a 97-year-old artist (still alive) who is famous for her portraits of mothers and children. Those paintings were beautiful, but since I'm not a mother, I was more interested in her painting technique. The paint is very thick and and you can see her brushstrokes everywhere except on the faces which are smooth- almost like porcelain dolls. Below is a good example of that. 

I loved this portrait of one of Edna's neighbors.

And this portrait of Ginger Rogers dressed in her "Hello, Dolly!" costume was striking with all the red.

My Spirit Animal

Picture of the Day for 11/5/2014. I received this text from my niece Lisa today. Sheesh!

He's Such a Boy Scout

Picture of the Day for 11/4/2014. My brother-in-law Will is the new scoutmaster for a group of 11-year-old Boy Scouts. Best of luck to him!

The Letter "G"

Picture of the Day for 11/3/2014. It appears that this house in my neighborhood has been adopted by a stray letter G. I'm glad this G has found a home and isn't wandering the streets anymore. 

Montreal Restaurant

Picture of the Day for 11/2/2014. Anyone who follows my blog knows that I love the surprising places Google searches can take you. I was searching for the origin of a Thanksgiving poem that starts with the sentence, "I have never understood why anyone would roast the turkey." Turns out, the poem was featured in ads placed in the Montreal Gazette in the mid-1960s for Martin's Restaurant. The ads ask why you would want to go to all the work of fixing a holiday dinner when you can just come to their restaurant. Excellent point!

My Jack-O-Lantern Friends

Picture of the Day for 11/1/2014. Yesterday I carved a happy jack-o-lantern and a mean jack-o-lantern for the trick-or-treaters. 

I thought they looked so cute that I put them next to my television so I could enjoy their faces for the next couple of days. The ghosts lurking behind the pumpkins don't look very happy about this turn of events. Dang pumpkin interlopers.