An Awesome View of Life

Spiraled.  Out of Control. Sadly, tonight I never left my chair to take photos.  I normally have several things stuck in the cushion of my chair.  A few different smaller notebooks, pens, highlighters, the USB cord for my camera and assorted empty candy wrappers.  (:   Most of those items had to be put away because the baby found them and thinks they are hers. ha!  There are a few things in my life that are a bit out of control.  Nothing serious just things I can't seem to get a handle on.  All things eventually work out, one way or another.  Sometimes things need to be out of control in order to figure out what happens next.  

Gluten Free Experiment I've been trying to find a recipe for a good gluten free bread.  The first recipe I tried was a paleo bread which ended up being very expensive and very disappointing. This recipe is just gluten free and seems like it might be the right recipe.  I need a new bread pan if I am going to be making my own bread though.  The one I have is extremely old and seems to have a weird metallic smell to it. The finished product is pictured below.  If anyone wants the recipe for this send me your email address via a Facebook message.  I'll keep you updated with my final review of this bread.

Sun. Shine. This is a ground level shot of the ice covering our patio with just a peek of the sun over the fence.  I find this photo to be quite lovely.  (:

Ice Dam? or Damn Ice! Maybe a bit of both.  I keep saying it is time to move to Florida.  We really haven't had much snow or even very many cold days but it is truly time for spring.  

Zoe's Excellent Day Zoe and Mara had a much better day together today.  Grammy built Zoe her very own car and Mara actually left her in the car - but drove her into the side of the couch.  Then she was done with Zoe and the car.  But Zoe had a grand time in her new car.  ha!  

Look! No hands! Zoe tends to be a bit of a showoff.  She needs to do these things because Mara Joy seems not to like Zoe very much! So she does whatever she can to get Mara's attention.  (:

Salon Selfie I did everything I could to keep myself out of this photo so did the best I could in keeping ME out of it.   You can only see a photographer at work here.  (: Not sure what this "tool" is?  Below is the tool without all the reflections in the way.

Upside down, in reverse selfie... This is the photo right side up.  The camera was upside down pointed at the mirror behind me. Don't ask me why the camera had to be upside down but it worked just the way I wanted it to.  ha!   Quite a few VERY creative hair salon photos tonight.  Love going into the city even if it's to hang out while my daughters get their hair done.   And this lady sure does need to get her own hair done!  Soon!  

Purpled Bubbles Large bubble wrap with a brand new women's purple suit in between the layers.  Isn't this purdy?  ha!

Tuned in. Not the best but a bit different?  

Dusted. Is a photo of a Swiffer duster with sun shining through it even a bit artistic or creative?  Hmmm...  

Stacked. Since no one commented about my retirement from my photo blog, I have decided to continue to torture everyone with my lack of creativity.  You are very welcome!  (:

Hanging it up. No new photo for today.  I think it may be time to hang it up.  At least for a while.  The motivation and desire to take photos EVERY day just isn't there this year.  If I didn't live where it seems to be winter 300 days out of the year it might help.  No sunshine makes for some really ugly photos.  Maybe that should be my challenge?  Taking awesome photos without the sunshine.  We'll see.  I'll probably change my mind about this by morning anyway.  (:  I'll probably try to post an old photo every day.  I have taken over 30,000 photos in the past 2+ years. And by the way this photo makes me want to put on some boxing gloves and get in the ring with one certain cousin of mine.  I still need to knock him out for many, many reasons.  ha!

Hey, hey good lookin' - whatcha got cookin'? We love to make our own seasoning mixes for fajitas, tacos and chili.  Today I finally found bulk versions of the main spices we use.   Great day of food shopping.  Trip to Sam's Club was the first since early December.  The freezer and pantry are full.  Now we just need to make our seasoning mixes.

Red bubble self portrait Air freshener beads make an interesting photo and when the photographer is reflected in those beads -- WOW!  What can I say?  I'm so very, very talented.  (:  And you have to look really hard to find my reflected outline.  I thought I had the wrong photo uploaded.  But I am there.  

New Lesson. New yarn for a new project.  Now I just need to keep my nose out of genealogy records so I can learn how to make this new project.  Not sure that will happen any time soon.  ha!

Blooming Beauty Another one of my new house plants.  I read an article about how house plants keep your house from being toxic.  I decided I should probably have 2-3 or more house plants.  For now I have 3 but will keep adding to the collection a couple every few weeks.   For some reason house plants remind me of the book The Creed of the Third Millennium by Colleen McCullough.  

Money Tree We had only one "house" plant in our house until this afternoon.  That is if you can count Mandi's avocado plant as a house plant.  (: This is a Money Tree.  It is suppose to be easy to take care of.  We'll see if I can keep it alive long enough for that money to bloom.  ha!

Watching and waiting. Baby spent part of the day sitting in front of the sliding glass door watching the squirrels scrounge for birdseed on the ground.   For some reason she will leave one sock on for most of the day but that one is always only half on.  She's waiting for the weather to be warm so she run around outside barefoot. We love this baby to the moon and back.  (:

May never find my way out... Two straight days of digging through online genealogy records.  Through all of my digging I have been unable to find much on my 2x great grandmother, Reka.  I have my great grandmother's baptismal record which shows Reka's maiden name and I've stood at her grave.  There is nothing before or in between. I can't find a marriage or death record for her. I know she was born in Germany but have no idea when she immigrated.  If she came by herself or did her entire family come to America? Yesterday I stumbled across a couple of records that now has me researching a woman who may be Reka's aunt.  Note I said "may".  I am purely driven on a very strong gut feeling.  The biggest problem is I have no clue how to prove this theory.  I think I need to make a trip to Wisconsin so I can look at actual records.  Hmmm...   So I am now exhausted, frustrated and not sure I can find my way out of this mess. ...

Lighting the way.

One last stop. Grocery shopping done and very important errands done.  (:  In case you are wondering -- Stoli Vanilla is tonight's choice.  

Nap Time? Looks like Zoe and the Monkey are all tuckered out.  Does that baby EVER take a nap?  Grammy wonders the same thing some days.  (:

With a bit of help... My adorable granddaughter gave me a bit of help with photos today.  I was trying to get a photo of a bird on the feeder but she kept tapping my hand.  This one was the best photo of the bunch.  No bird or feeder but a bit of sunshine and color. I realized tonight that I have not labeled or sorted ANY of my photos so far this year.  Does this mean I'm running out of steam on this project?  I hope I can hang on until the weather is better.  Below zero wind chills just aren't my thing this year.   Here's to endless days on the beach!  (:

Road. Signs. I got a text message awhile ago from my daughter telling me the moon was really cool.  "Just so ya know."  So I got bundled up and headed out to find this really cool moon.  I found it and it is really cool looking tonight.  I took 6 or 7 photos of it and then turned to get back into my car and saw this. Obviously none of my "cool" moon photos got the nod for photo of the day.   The best part of this photo is all of the street signs.  And at the end of the photo is a Texas Roadhouse. And I'm pretty sure there is a different version of this street shot but...

Trash or Treasure? Love this backyard pile of light fixtures.  Not sure why they are in someone's backyard but they are.  Are they there waiting for spring to be taken to the junkyard or are they a permanent thing?

Tequila Sunrise! Aren't all of the colors in this photo the same as a Tequila Sunrise?  Love the sunshine in this photo. (:

Manners Love that my adorable granddaughter has this need to put her foot up on the counters or the table while she eats.  Way too cute.