SPT - she photographs on Tuesday...

This weeks SPT theme is NEW (and it's been a LONG LONG time since I've done an SPT - which for me means she photographs on Tuesday because self-portrait is not in my vocabulary).

I came up with all sorts of things today that are new, and a few that are not.

One that is not new is our roof - yet - but it's looking like it might have to be one of these days. If we can ever get the wind to stop blowing 50 mph.

It is, however, my newly revamped and replanted flower bed out front.

What's not new is the television antannae that blew off the roof today. Looks like a new one might be in our future.

What is new is this adorable little plaque the achievement day leader made for all us moms of her girls! Melted my heart!
What's not new is our furnace that has also decided to quit working recently and forced us to resort to using this nifty little gadget to keep my heart unfrozen. Perhaps a new furnace is in my future? Lawsy mercy! I hope not!

And finally, what is new - this awesomely cute purse I found yesterday at Dress Barn for just $20. It had me at hello.


To see what else is new, check out Lelly's blog.

SPT: Would you like fries with that?

Whoops! Wrong subject. It's WATER this week.

As it turns out, the SPT (She/self Photographs/portrait Tuesday) for this week matches absolutely perfectly with what I had planned for today. What is better than fries and water? No? How about THESE fry....

Aren't they cute?

Yes, as a matter of fact, those ARE baby fish, also known as fry. Our female fish have been pregnant several times but we've never managed to seclude them before the big event. All we know is that one week they are really really fat, and the next week, they are not so fat.

A few weeks ago, I was checking out the husbands pride and joys before bed (he tells them goodnight every night... hee hee) when I noticed a little black spec floating in the corner. Then another, and another. Well, hot dang, we have fry! In all, I think we had about six or seven of them. We decided to wait until the next day to see if any were left, and sure enough, there were three.

A few days later we found one more. We captured them by sucking them up into the cleaner outer thingie ma bob into a pitcher, then pouring them into the net hanging in the tank. The boy says he has seen a fifth one every now and again hanging out on the bottom, but we'll leave that one there. The last thing we truly need is more fish!

As for the "self" in SPT today.... I'm off on a quick last minute trip to SLC for a few days... so behave yourselves while I'm gone! In the meantime, check out Lelly's blog to see everyone else's "water" SPT!

SPT: Twilights last gleaming...

I thought this would be a tough one, because around here lately, twilight is nothing but grey, grey, and more grey skies with intermittent wind mixed in. However, last night, I was oot and aboot with the camera while the husband was out finishing a fantastical husband chore (pics to come tomorrow... I kinardly wait) and took about 30 pictures of this one scene...

The husband thought I was off my rocker... he's probably right... and so did the dog who couldn't for the life of her figure out what was so fascinating about this rusty old windmill.

(can't you read her mind? "I'm too embarrassed to even look at that lady...")

SPT: The emblem of the land I love...

I took my cue from Lelly this week and stepped outside the box as well. As soon as I saw her post, I knew just what to photograph today!!!

What's more American than apple pie? I don't bake much, I certainly don't bake pies, I don't have any apples hanging around, and it's way too early in the season for anything but this: Thus, this is what you get!

The apple blossoms are plentiful this year. Given the mood mother nature has been in this spring, it's rather surprising, too.

It's just too bad the tree produces nothing but bite sized bitter green apples!

SPT: Do you have eyes in the back of your head?

As I checked to see what the subject of SPT was this week, I was wishing amidst the chaos this morning, that I had thought to grab my camera to capture one of those many moments of things that go on when you're not looking ... things you only seem to capture with the eyes in the back of your head. Instead, you will just have to suffice with some old photos of some special people who just melted my heart this morning...

Ishee is still not feeling her total self. She woke this morning feeling fine, but tired as all get out, even though she'd slept soundly for almost 12 hours. Her morning turned sour when she had to do things like... move... and get her shoes on and comb her hair, you know, the usual.

At 7:20, she had her shoes on and she was doing her song and dance whine about having to get her coat on when all she really wanted to do was lay down on the floor for just a few more minutes. PLEASE MOM? Just one more minute. Sorry sis, the bus will be here any minute. And by any minute, her brother announced, she means, it's HERE. Oh, why oh why does the bus driver have to be early today of all days?

Insert crocodile tears of mass proportions here.

(this photo is simply an example of a very common occurrence around here... Ishee refusing to cooperate? NO! Really?)

"I don't wanna go to school! I will miss you too much!" She grabbed my leg and clung for dear life. The middle child darted out the door like a bolt of lightning and ran for the bus, not stopping to even care who was or wasn't coming with her. The boy... stood there. "Come on, sis, it's okay, I'll wait for you."

"I need a kiss. Just one more kiss. I need one on my forehead, too. Can I kiss your forehead, mommy? Oh, I need a hug. I need a bigger hug. Oh, just one more kiss. Do I look like I've been crying?" she asks with those ginormous tears still running down her cheeks. Nope, you look just perfect. I wiped away her tears, patted her on the bum and tossed her out the door.

Then the 14 year old "too cool for you" teenage brother, took his seven year old sobbing baby sister by the hand, and together they walked (or jogged, rather) the 80 yards down the driveway to the awaiting bus, knowing full well he had a bus load of friends watching and critiquing his every move.

A picture just wouldn't be able to capture spirit of the moment anyway...

Speaking of the boy and his compassionate ways...

Last night, he brought home a stack of papers an inch thick with 6 photo shopped $1 bills photocopied on to each sheet to be used for a social studies class project. Somehow, he got suckered into cutting all 600 of these $1 bills out... in one evening. Because of the layout of the page, you couldn't just use a paper cutter and call it good (someone put some serious thought into that one...), they had to be cut out one at a time with scissors. He and the middle child spent the next four hours cutting them out, while the rest of us watched and/or found better things to do... because we suck.

When he finished, his sister looked at him and said "You owe me big time for this one!" He looked at her and said "you have already been paid with the experience of a lifetime. Don't you feel honored?" Not exactly what she was thinking....

This was after the conversation they had that went like this:

The boy: Where do you want to go on your mission?
The girl: You want to go on a mission? (you'd have to understand us to really "get" that one)
The boy: Sure! Why not? In fact, I want to go to Scotland.
The girl: Why? So you can be Irish? (ROFL!)
The boy: No, because they have the best golf courses!

Okay, so he's not ALL good...

Don't get me wrong, those two have had their moments. Four years ago, she came home from school with bloody fingerprints on her cheeks after he had wiped away her tears she acquired when she split her head open at school (which required four staples... I'll spare you THAT photo). Aren't all big brothers this compassionate at times?

Oh, the things that go on when we're not looking ... it's just too bad those "eyes" in the back of our heads don't have a real built in camera... just lasting memories.

Good times! Good times!

Instead of SPT, how about an SSOSS?

SPT today was a simple fill in the blank: the other day, i was in my _____________, and i noticed this _______________. my only thought was, "why do i still have this hanging around my house?!?"

So let me fill in the blank with the only thing I can think of: the other day, i was in my __pajamas___, and i noticed this _whiney child_. my only thought was, "why do i still have this hanging around my house?!?"

Yeah, not gonna work. <*grin*>

Therefore, I will freeze your mind with images from yesterday's "SSOSS" day... that's "So sick of stinkin snow" day!

When I was a kid, every winter was filled with snow days and snow piled so high that it was like driving through a tunnel as you drove down the road in front of the house. Those days just don't exist anymore.

It's been a good many years since we've had enough snow to plow, let alone pile up in the driveway for anyone to play on. After a good snowstorm hit over the weekend and we found ourselves trapped in our driveway, my brother in law came with a tractor and decided to make his favorite nieces and nephews day by creating the biggest hill he could create. My kids have a thing for hills... and he has a thing for building them. Seriously. People pay him for his hill making abilities.

And yet... this is all he could come up with? Maybe he needs a bigger tractor!It's just a wee bitty thing.

Never the less, I took the opportunity to polish up my mountain climbing in snowboots with a camera in hand skills to venture to the top for a few shots of the 'hood...
It's not every day you can see the water tower in town (a good five miles away) from my backyard...

We played until our noses froze...

We climbed on dad after he regressed 25 years and decided to go off a nice little drop off on that one side and landed square on his still aching tailbone (I'd show you the video but he made me promise I wouldn't show a soul). He could barely stand up after that one. Good think he had the Ish to keep him bent over just in case he was planning on trying anyway.

And we celebrated the moisture that we have received ... because of the drought we are in, we needed it so desperately.

I'm SO sick of snow... it can leave now.

SPT: The 25th hour

The hour that changes the world.

The SPT challenge this week was if there were 25 hours in a day, what would you do with that 25th hour?

Well, first off, I would need that 25th hour to be between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and then anytime during the night on the weekends.

I love my kids, I really really do, but the seven hours they are gone from my home each day are my salvation hours. They are the only hours of peace and quiet. The only hours I get anything done. The only hours I can sit guilt free to blog or e-mail or do whatever I want on my computer. The only hours I can sit and read a book or organize my pantry or make jewelry or take pictures or... or... or... do anything at all. Because once my kids come home... it's all over with.

And seven hours a day certainly isn't enough hours. I could use an extra one.

So what would I truly do with that extra hour if I had it? The one thing I never ever ever, no matter what else I do, no matter how slow or busy the day is, do I ever have time to do, as well as the one thing I wish I could do more of on the weekend:

It would certainly change MY world!

(no self portraits were involved in the making of this blog post as my camera is at the house next door)

SPT: An interview

The challenge this week was to explain how we came up with our blog titles. I briefly explained that in an earlier post... so I came up with the brilliant idea of going straight to the source. I asked the person who made up the name to explain it's meaning and origin. Obviously I'm not a journalist, as it's not exactly a "Today show" worthy interview. I'm just impressed she cooperated at all, if you want the honest truth.

Basically, Ishee started using the word abjacabjacal last summer sometime, it was her nonsense word to describe anything and everything she was currently doing or not doing or thinking of doing, the color of the sky, the way her food tasted, you name it. I liked it. It represented me and this blog and usually my way of thinking. Absolutely nothing. Totally and completely nonsensical. So I "borrowed" it from her. She notices it every once in awhile on my blog header and asks me why I use "her" word. Because I like it just.that.much!

So what does it mean? Lets ask her.