Rainbow Colors Continued

Today's color challenge is yellow. Whereas I like the color yellow, I don't wear it. My skin tone does not look good against yellow. It makes me look, well, kind of yellow! LOL

I appreciate everyone's comments on my pictures. Also, thank you for the compliments on the cuteness of my grandchildren. I have to say I think they are adorable as well. But, I would since I am their "MaMaw". We are a large blended family and my grandchildren have quite a few grandparents. It was hard to come up with a name they could call everyone. We couldn't all be grandma and grandpa and all the neat ones like Nana were taken, so I came up with MaMaw and PaPaw for me and my husband. Funny how that all works out.

Colors amaze me because there are so many variations to each one. It makes me wonder just how many shades of red, blue, green, yellow and purple there are? I think the list would be endless.

Here is a collage of my yellow pictures. One of the comic strips in our newspaper is called Mother Goose and Grimm. It is quite cute and I have always enjoyed reading it. Years ago I got a big yellow stuffed Grimm dog. He has a big nose and is comical looking. The little yellow welcome flag is from our front yard. Toby (my dog) contributed one of his toys for my collection. I think it is supposed to be a pelican. And, last but not least is a Ruby Red grapefruit I found in my refrigerator.

 

 

Everyone have a good evening. Tomorrow is my last day of work. WooHoo! Thank you for all of the well wishes. I am looking forward to having more time to do what I want to do. Maybe I will even start scrapping! :)

O is for Orange

I am my own worst enemy. I was previewing what I had typed and clicked on the wrong box and lost everything I had typed! ARGH!! So, I start again.

Our challenge today in the Rainbow colors is orange. I do not have much around in the color orange but a Halloween top so I had to hunt through some of my pictures.

The first picture is of my grandsons at the pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkins to carve for Halloween

This is a picture of a Dancy Tangerine. They are very sweet and easy to peel. The fruit almost rolls around inside the skin it is so loose. We had one in our backyard for several years but I think my neighbors killed it from having old automobile tires in their yard which leached into the soil. Tires have chemicals which are considered biohazards. They were using them for decorative purposes believe it or not! The Homeowners Association made them dispose of them thank goodness. This is a picture I had from a few years ago

My last picture is of my grandson Zach at his Karate class. He started out with a white belt but has now earned his orange belt. He has three stripes now which means he will be moving on to the next color soon (I'm not sure what that is). Zach is six years old and Karate has been very good to help him to learn self discipline and confidence.

RAINBOWS.....

This week Janice has gone back to the 365 photo roots of a photo a day and set this challenge for us. She has used word RAINBOW and challenged us to find a photo a daywith a colour a day. So we can remember the colors she has used the mnemonic.....

RICHARD         red
OF                      orange
YORK               yellow
GAVE                green
BATTLE           blue
IN                       indigo
VAIN                 violet (purple)

I think this will be a fun challenge. I love brightly colored things whether it be clothes, shoes, jewelry, or flowers. It doesn't matter. I love them all and while I like red a lot (a lot of my clothes are red), purple is my all time favorite. So, today is red. Here are a few pictures I already had with red in them. The first one is my husband, Thadd that I took as he was playing golf one day (I was along for the ride) in his bright red shirt.

Next is a picture of my dog, Toby laying on a red blanket. He is a Chihuahua and very cold natured. Most of the time he is under the blanket rather than on top of it. LOL

And last but not a least, my grandson Henry in his swing with the red front helping to hold him in.

It was hard to choose which pictures to use because there is a LOT of red in most of them. I hope you enjoy these and I look forward to tomorrow. Everyone have a wonderful evening. Since I am in a different time zone, I am a little behind everyone. I look forward to reading your blogs and I hope you don't mind my comments since none of you but Lynne know me. xxx

More on what makes me happy

I went and got my haircut this afternoon. I was way past due for one. This made me happy. It is a beautiful day here today. The sun is shining brightly, the sky is blue and it is 75 degrees F. Days like this make me happy. My husband and I took a ride around the neighborhood in our golf cart along with our dog Toby for no real reason but to do it. That makes me happy. My poor old arthritic knee is less painful today. I am very happy for that. All is well in my world right now and that makes me the happiest!

I thought I would add a picture I took the last time we went to stay at the beach. We lodged at a small Mom and Pop type motel. It was the kind of place I would have stayed for a vacation when I was a child. The rooms have small kitchens and such so staying there makes it relatively inexpensive. This picture is from the balcony of our room at sunset. Looking at it brings back wonderful memories which make me happy. Hope you enjoy it too. I am having trouble linking my blogs so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open for them. xxx

Now for the third part...

What do I want, wish for? Am I good at demanding what I want like children do?

I firmly believe where there is a will there is a way and if you want something bad enough you can figure out how to get it. My husband says when you pray to God for something (a non-material thing) He will either bless it or block it. This has proven to be true for us many times when we have prayed about things like moving or job opportunities.

As I have already said, I am retiring very soon. I started telling my husband over a year ago I was going to retire this year and he kept saying, 'we will see'. I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I kept telling him this every chance I got. That is one way to get what I want, wear them down! LOL! This has made me very happy indeed and I am counting down the days. Only five more work days now!

I am not a very materialistic person so I really don't want or need a lot. I like simple things which at times can also be silly. Take for instance the picture of my artificial, lighted, palm tree. I have had this tree for years and put candy canes on it every Christmas. I turn it on almost every evening and leave it on overnight. I love it though some would consider it cheesy. To me, it is like bringing a little of the outside in.

All in all I think I pretty much get what I want but that's because I have a husband who spoils me. I think though that because I don't want much, he always tries to see that I do get things. I am not a shopper, in fact, I hate going to the store. He shops more than I do but he is also very good about thinking about me when he does stop somewhere, even if it is just the grocery store. Yes, I am a very lucky person to have my hubby.

I think I have answered the question, I have to watch myself. I have a tendency to ramble sometimes. LOL xxx

What am I going to be busy doing this week?

Before I start on this I guess I should do the second part of the first question about happiness. Am I ever happy without having a reason? I think I am. I think a lot of days I am happy just to wake up feeling good that day. I'm just happy to be alive. I'm happy because I know there are others out there worse off than me. While I do need knee replacement surgery, at this point I can still walk and many others can't. I have wonderful kids and grandchildren who are all healthy and lead good lives. I have a husband who loves me and treats me well. I think I have an abundance of happiness. I will write more later in the week about other things that make me happy. I warn you, some of them are silly.

Now, what am I going to be busy doing this week? Unfortunately, working. I have this very dull routine that repeats itself every week (at least for a little while longer). I work at the University of Central Florida. A lot of people don't know about us but we are the second largest university in enrollment in the United States. In 2011 we had over 58,000 students. We have been around for 50 years now which compared to some universities makes us young, but we have grown tremendously. We also now have a College of Medicine. Here are a couple of pictures of the campus. I work in the building you can see in the background.

 

 



So for the next two weeks I will be extremely busy at work clearing everything off my desk, packing up 11 years of personal stuff, and saying goodbye to a lot of good friends. You know how it is, your workplace becomes your second home.

Guess that is all for the day. I am sure I will be adding more before the week is out. Everyone have a good day.xxx

What Makes Me Happy

Lynne's challenge is a quote and three questions. The first question is 'what makes you happy'? For the most part I like simple things. It doesn't take much to make me happy. A sunny, breezy day that is perfect to sit outside and read; sleeping in on a Saturday; a surprise date night with my husband; or getting to spend time with my grandson Henry.  

This picture was taken on this Friday past of Henry and his PaPaw. All of our other grandchildren except for Erik and Reidar who are my daughter's stepsons, live out of state. Henry is the first local grandchild that we have been able to watch growing up from day one.

Of course when I retire on January 31, that is going to make me so happy I won't know what to do with myself! LOL

I am a huge animal lover. Holding and loving a puppy or kitten brings me great joy and happiness. My poor Bella just recently died (my cat) so now  my dog Toby gets all of my attention, which of course he loves.

 

 

I would have a half of a dozen pets if I could but I think Thadd would divorce me! LOL

 

I guess I will go for this evening and will come back later to spread some more of my happiness. Take care everyone. xx

 



Another Bout of Nostalgia

I am not having a good day computer wise! LOL!! Okay, one more try at this.

I am going to talk about my childhood a bit. I started elementary school (first grade) at five. We didn't have kindergarten like they do now to prepare children to start school. I still clearly remember walking to school on my very first day with my brother and some of the other neighborhood kids. I was so excited! My school was a big old brick building surrounded by big shady oak trees. I loved school!

We didn't have video games or computers back then. We didn't even have televisions for part of my childhood and when we did get one, there were a few programs we watched together as a family in the evenings but it was not on during the day. The only time we watched TV in the daytime was on Saturday mornings. We would watch Sky King, Fury, The Lone Ranger and cartoons for a few hours, and then it was outside to play. During the summer months we would be out all day playing tag, hide and seek, or swinging on our burlap sack rope swing. When we got older, we got a bicycle and would ride all over the place in search of adventure. We would go to our neighbor's cement pond and monitor the tadpoles becomming frogs and feed the goldfish.

My best friend at the time, Benita, had a huge Japanese Plum (also known as a Loquat)tree in her yard. We were always so impatient for those plums to ripen! We used to climb up in that tree and sit and eat half ripened plums until we were scolded by her Mom and told to come down or those plums were going to give us a stomach ache. Here is a picture of what the plums look like.

Growing up in Florida was great because most days were sunny and the skies so blue! On the few days it did rain I would play on my porch with this big doll house I had that had individual rooms (the front of the doll house looked like a regular house but the back was all open) with furniture that I could rearrange to my liking. The furniture was made out of plastic but the doll house itself was painted metal. I have always had a vivid imagination, so I could sit and play with that house and my dolls for hours.

Talking about blue skies...here is a picture I took through the sunroof of my car yesterday on my way home from work.

I was at a red light and just happened to look up. That is an oak tree to the side.

Signing off for the day. Have a good evening. xxx

This week - Nostalgia

I am afraid I am a little behind. As much as I would like to, I can't always blog everyday, at least for now. Beginning next month it may be a different story because finally, I AM RETIRING! YaY! January 31st will be my last day at work. I am so excited. It is a shame the word isn't euphoria this week because I would have that down in a heart beat!

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, let me say that nostalgia is a very good word for me. I have a lot of that. Don't know if it is good or bad, but either way, it is the truth. I have always said that I was born at the wrong time. I think I would have fit in much better during the same time as my mother (except I don't think I would have liked the 'depression'). From the time I was a small child I always wanted to be like my mom. She was a stay at home mother. She would be up to make our breakfast before we went to school and always there when we got home. She didn't drive and my dad was a long distance truck driver so we did a lot of walking or taking a bus or taxi to where we needed to go while he was gone. We didn't have a lot of money but we had everything necessary for a happy family.

I am the youngest of three children. My sister is the oldest (7 years my senior), then my brother (3 years my senior), then me.  My father passed away when I was only 21 and my mom has been gone for seven years. I miss her terribly still. Even though I was a 'daddy's girl' growing up, after he passed, my mom and I became very close. You know how they say women become their mothers? Well, I have definitely become mine and I am very proud of it. She was the strongest, wisest person I have ever known. I hope my daughter will think the same thing of me as I get older.

Here are a few nostalgic pictures. The first is my senior high school prom with my first husband.

This is my son when he was seven and my daughter who would have been about three months old. We always teased her that she looked like a little monkey. LOL

This is me and my son when he was around two years old. He is going to be 43 this year!

And last but not least, a collage of photos of when Thadd (my current husband) and I got married.

That is all for today. I hope you all enjoy the photos. I will have to restrain myself on this challenge because I could probably write volumes and post a thousand pictures! xxx

Where did the weekend go?

Wow, the weekend sure flew by. Here it is Sunday and back to work tomorrow. I am afraid I still haven't had much more success with my serendipitous moments, but I am okay with that. I'm afraid I don't do scrapping at this point. Maybe once I retire I can start. They have a group here who do it and I will be able to join them. So, since I don't have any pages in a book to show, I am going to share some pictures.

 

I did get out and about where we live and take a few more pictures of what I see from my street or area. It was around 4:30 p.m. my time and the sun was fighting to peek out from beneath the clouds that had been coming in and out all day. The picture isn't very good but there was a lot of pinks and yellows mixed in with the grey.

Our weather has been unseasonably warm and all of the poor trees and shrubs don't know what to do. Some of them are blooming way too early and if we have a cold snap, they will be killed.

This tree should not bloom until at least March. It is a Pink Trumpet (common name). Some of them have yellow flowers instead of pink. While it is nice to see the color, I am worried for this poor tree.

The other thing we have a lot of here, and I mean a lot, is Spanish Moss. It will literally take over a tree and eventually kill it. While it is neat to look at, it really is more like a parasite to a tree.

I had better sign off for now. Dinner is about ready and I have to get myself psyched up for work tomorrow LOL!  Everyone have a wonderful evening. xxx

Just a short blog

I don't understand our weather this week. It has been cloudy and rainy everyday which is not typical for Florida, even in the winter. We are known as the sunshine state and I really could use my sunny days back. Today though I have to admit the weather goes along well with the way I feel. Had to stay home from work today due to tummy troubles. Oh, to have a cast iron stomach like my hubby!

So to cheer myself I am going to post a picture taken in the spring of some of our Amaryllis in bloom. While roses are my favorite flower, these are just so pretty to look at!

Everyone have a good evening. I am still searching for some serendipity but I think the flowers are as close as I will come today.  xxx

Let's Reflect - January

SERENDIPITY.  Is a very Victorian sounding word which is not something I relate to or use. It reminds me of something Mary Poppins would say, but I can identify with the meanings. I have these flashbacks to days of my youth when I hear certain songs on the radio, one of my favorites being "Summer in the City" by the Loving Spoonful. It was popular the summer I graduated from high school. Those were days of stress free, delightful fun of spending days at the beach with my friends just enjoying being together. (The days before having to get up at 6:00 a.m. and trudge into work to a job I am tired of doing.)

This is a one of my favorite pictures of my daughter Stacey that was taken when she was pregnant with Henry. She had a wonderful pregnancy and was so full of wonder at the little body growing inside of her. To me, this is what serendipity looks like.

 

 



I am sure I will come up with more but for now it is all I have. I'm not sure if I am following all the rules but I have really enjoyed participating in this challenge and I love looking at everyone's pictures and reading their blogs. Thank you again for allowing me to be part of your group. xxx

Additional Prompt #2 View

I am posting a typical view that you will find around where I live since it is on a golf course. We have some beautiful woods with lots of cranes, ducks, turtles and other animals but I just happened to have this photo handy as I have not been out. I will make sure to take some additional pictures when I can.

This was not taken today but on New Year's Day at the Bloody Mary tournament they have every year.

Additional View - My kitchen Window

The view from my kitchen window is ugly. Really nothing to look at but my patio and my neighbor's house. I will post it so you can see how uninspiring doing dishes is at my house! LOL

It is sort of dark because the weather can't make up it's mind what it is going to do today. First the sun is out and then it is gone.

The Holidays Are Officially Over

Well, it's back to work tomorrow. Drat! I am going to miss sitting outside on the patio in this beautiful weather reading the newspaper and having my coffee.  I also finished a book on my kindle. I love to read and having a kindle is nice though I still read regular books as well. One can never have too many books but they do start to pile up after awhile. At the main clubhouse here where we live, they have a library and I think I may have to make a donation soon! LOL My bookcases are full!

Toby, my little dog will be sad I am going back to work as well. He loves having someone home with him during the day. He is one spoiled little dog.

We are all excitedly waiting for the end of March to welcome our newest grandchild. My daughter Stacey and her husband Corey are expecting their bundle on March 30 but we think this one will be early like Henry was. As with her first pregnancy, they do not want to know the gender. We are wishing for a little girl but, as long as the baby is healthy, that will be all that matters.

Not much of anything exciting happening so anyone reading this, have a good evening. I am signing off for today.

Lucky Snapping in 2013 - Week 1 View

Since I live in Florida and we really don't have much in the way of changing seasons, I have chosen my one year old grandson Henry. He changes daily. I see something new in him every time I see him. In this view he is standing at his toy box playing as though to say, I am a big boy now and I can't sit in the floor and play like the babies. He hasn't started walking on his own yet but will walk holding on to your fingers or a push toy. He will stand and play for long periods of time.

I hope this view is okay to start with, because by the time the year has gone by, he will have changed so much, he won't even look like the same little boy.