Day 30 - Story Time

Again, a book is the answer. Maybe I read to much?!

This particular book was actually a gift to my sisters and me when we were young children back in 1978. I have held on to it, because well I consider the book mine although the inscription clearly says it is for all three of us. I love fairy tales - another reason I love romances - grown up fairy tales.

I enjoy researching some of them sometimes and seeing the different versions out there like the common ones we know. I have held on to an old English text book because it has a section comparing different Cinderella stories. I love watching the Sci-Fi channel when they show stories that are similar to fairy tales, horror movies made based on the fairy tales (I can recall one about Snow White).

I have started to pass this love on to my daughter as she likes me to read the stories from this book to her. I often have to alter the story as some of them are just a bit to graphic for her right now at the age of four; or I try to read a different story to her because several of the stories are very long. I am glad that I am passing on a joy of reading and writing to my daughter though.

This book has been so well loved that a group of pages at the beginning of the book are loose and you have to handle the book with care so that the pages are not lost, something my daughter learned quickly when she handled the book roughly and almost lost the pages.

Day 29 - Silliness

So, I was sitting here reading and thinking about the prompt for this day and it occurred to me that other then my husband and daughter one of the things I find humor in is my books. I have started to sense a theme recurring throughout this challenge so far and am starting to think I have to get out more often. My daughter and books have been my response for many of these prompts.

I wandered over to my library and took a picture of the author's name of some of the books I have purchased because I know they are hilarious and sometimes you just need to lighten your mood. I find the Janet Evanovich books just hilarious. I have started her Plum stories - but prefer listening to them on audio tape so haven't gotten past the first couple even though she is up to what.. 13?? Since she has gained in popularity they started publishing her older hilarious romances - and sometimes I am laughing so hard I am crying.

Nothing better then a light-hearted read after a stressful day!

Day 28 - Memory Lane

There was no way I was going to scan in my senior high school picture - no offense - it was BAD BAD BAD BAD, what I did do was take a photo of one of my favorite senior year pictures. I leave this picture, and one other in with my diploma so that I always know where it is.

Graduation day and my two closest friends, Blanche and Rose. For a long time Blanche and I lost touch with Rose but thanks for Facebook we were able to reconnect with her and within moments it was as if we had never been apart - although it had been several years since we had last spoken. Now, we speak almost daily and the only bad part of our new relationship is that all three of us live in different states and are unable to pop over for quick visits just to relax and hang out.

I pretty much look the same nowadays - I am blessed with good genetics that means we age really well and never look as old as we are. I am also very overweight but thanks to those genetics I carry my extra weight so it is hard to tell that I am 100 pounds heavier then I should be - in high school I was even heavier.

Thanks for reminding me that it is ok to look back at the past and recall some of the best memories a person can have and how close my friends and I were and thankfully still are today.

Day 27 - Sentimental

I find most photos sentimental even though I have several scrapbooks full of items. I've been evaluating my life over the past couple of years anyway, and have slowly been giving things away, throwing them away, or realizing that I just don't need them.

What I find I am never able to get rid of are the two pieces of jewelry that I cannot wear currently because the rings are broken. The heart shaped one was given to me by my mother and had once belonged to her mother, a grandmother I never knew. I have never worn it because it was broken when it was given to me when I was eighteen and I have always intended to get it fixed but have never done so.

The other braided ring was a gift from my parents for my sixteenth birthday, I wore this ring on my wedding finger from the day I got it until it broke - several years later. My Dad made the comment when we were leaving the store that it even cost more then my Mom's original wedding ring - I think that increased it's value to me only more because my parents were willing to still spend that amount on me.

Whenever I look at these rings I just feel the love my parents had for me and I never feel alone when I have them in my possession.

Day 26 - Silly Memory

It took me awhile to figure out what would represent silliness in my life without including my daughter and I happened to recall a memory of our bird. I quickly snapped a shot of him and thought that represented best the memory.

Our bird was semi-rescued from my husband's family when his original owner passed away. He was left a lone in a cage in a trailer and had been fed the wrong food and not had the interaction he needed, it is also believed that the family member was so sick at the end that she had neglected him. We believe this because he has plucking issues and is not used to being handled. His cage was so dirty that my mother-in-law bought us a small cage to help transport him home in.

After having for a while we got our cat, she still gives him a wide berth as she was just a kitten when we got her and Sammy would open his wings wide and squawk at her when she came near his cage. The memory I recalled is actually about what happened when we bought our second bird, Cookie. She is a lot more curious than Sammy - having not had the rough life and being exposed to plenty of toys at the pet store we purchased her. She would climb upside down in the cage and Sammy would watch and watch her - giving her a wide berth.

After watching her for a day or two, Sammy himself attempted to climb upside down in his cage. He ended up hanging by the top of the cage by his beak for a second or two before falling to the bottom. He was uninjured and from that point on would just watch Cookie climbing all over the place and as far as I am aware he never again tried to climb upside down on the top of the cage. I'm just glad that I got to see Sammy starting to learn to try new things.

Day 25 - Sleeping

I almost had to take a picture of my daughter for this one as very often she does fall asleep in positions that seem to defy gravity and well known physics. I however decided to stick with my goal of few pictures of my daughter for this challenge and I hunted down our pet cat.

Jessie very often cuddles in the middle of our bed, but I found her huddled sleepy eyes on her pillow. It was almost a year before she even set foot on the pillow, but we kept it on the floor in our closet (one of her favorite places to sleep) and we made sure to keep everything else picked up.

She's a cutey and loves to lie near your neck and purr her little heart out. I couldn't have asked for a better lovable kitty.

Day 24 - Togetherness

I've mentioned before that I love taking photos, this is just a small sampling of my photos before I went digital. One box are my panoramic pictures while the other box is sorted by various subjects. Each mini album contains one type of subject and makes locating my photos a lot easier. Although you cannot see it in the photo, the two boxes are sitting on a file box which contains older photos sorted by subject as well.

Most of these photos are photos of my family and I cannot think of anything else that represents togetherness more than that. I have always believed that family comes first and that spending time with my daughter - be it just watching tv or creating art projects is more important then cleaning the house or doing laundry. I try to balance this out since the birth of my daughter so that she can learn good habits - as my habits are not the greatest ones and I want her to be a better person than I am.

Although I am not the neatest person, when it comes to finally putting something where it goes or organizing my papers I am borderline - ok no border I am downright anal about how it goes. As I mentioned, each mini album has one subject inside, the front of the album carries a title (ex. Caves, Towns, Sisters, names of the individual pictured inside). The file box below has one section where I store the negatives in file folders labeled with the date and subject and then another section with the actual photos with their date and subject matching the negative folders. Even my photos on the computer are organized in a manner similar to this. I once came across a hint (and it may have very well been on Gotta Pixel) about labeling my photos with the YEARMONTHDAY_SUBJECT_ORIGINALFILENAME.JPG/GIF/BMP - I go farther then that and often have file names that look like this 2010January20_365Challenge_Day20_picture1.jpg --- if I have the time I am even known to fill out the properties including comments I have about the photo... how anal is that??

Day 23 - Weakness

Candy is a huge weakness of mine, but not just any candy. Lollypops, bubblegum, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (I have none in the picture because I refuse to buy more then one at a time because otherwise they are all I would eat.)

I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish this picture since I tend to not purchase the candy I want to eat. I am terrible with self control when I'm at home but I'm great at least when I'm buying items at the store.

Day 22 - Addiction

I am addicted to my computer/typing/chatting. I have been doing it for many many years and can usually be found with a keyboard in my lap or my cell phone in my fingers and I'll be typing away.

I have gone without using a computer for a couple periods of my life, but I am more likely to turn off the cable tv and keep my internet connection if I'm watching how I spend my money.

I can always watch movies and tv shows on my computer, but I can't keep in touch with my family and friends through my tv!

Day 21 - Shoes

I've mentioned before that I don't like to wear shoes; however, as I've grown older I have found that my toes are almost always freezing so during one of our first winters here I requested a bunch of fuzzy fun slippers. These are my favorite ones and I wear them almost none stop.

It has even gotten to the point where I am known to wear them while wearings socks because my toes will still be freezing - I wonder if it is a sign of old age or just a really cold winter!?!

Day 20 - Architecture

I don't really pay that much attention to buildings, I might say "Oh that one looks neat/cool (insert other adjective here)" but for the most part I look to mother nature and not man made features.

I took this shot of or portion of our house - one of the features I love in addition to our fireplace, which I've posted pictures of. There were originally glass shelves between each beam and the wood was a green color of paint. These posts are in a section of the house that had some other wooden features and all were different shades. They all now sport this darker shade of paint to resemble a cherry wood.

It took me a lot of thinking about this one and made me wonder about how I look around the world around me and how I take the man made features around me for granted. I am known to appreciate sculptures and other artistic pieces but very rarely do I look at a building as artistic.