what this blog is about

This blog is an eclectic one, having a little bit of everything thrown in here. I hope you enjoy it!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Week Three

     Pets! Pets! Pets! Aren't pets great?! My life would be dull if it weren't for my pets. They comfort me when I'm not feeling well. They make me laugh and teach me patience. Pets are a great blessing.
     This is my Tali, she's the first dog I have ever owned. She was just a puppy here. Actually, I think this was her first day at our house. Joyce picked her up for me in Ashton, ID. She spent the night at Joyce's with Blew, then had to endure a six hour car ride with that hyper-active husky before she arrived at her new home. There she was greeted by an eight-week old black lab who had only just arrived a few hours before her. Suri, being the youngest, was the smallest of the three dogs, and she felt the need to let the other two know who was boss. When introduced to the crate that would be her bed, Tali quickly decided that this was her safe place.
       Tali is now four years old, no longer a puppy. She is a very tolerant dog, and very much a lover. When I let her, she really enjoys laying on my bed for a nice nap while getting loves from her favorite person (me, of course!). She is Blew's favorite playmate when she visits, probably due to their long ride over together her first days with us. She can be very playful with other dogs, and even the cat sometimes, but hasn't seemed to grasp the concept of playing with humans very well. She seems to think people are there to pet and feed her, and she LOVES to be fed!
     This is Suri, Carma's black lab. She's the boss of the animals at our house. When another dog is doing something they're not supposed to, she lets them know it. She also likes to tattle when Tali has taken off. She is definitely a water dog, as you can see from the picture. This was their first summer with us and she was about three or four months old here. We were throwing a stick for her into the creek behind the house. I love how in this picture, if you look at her belly, you can see the water dripping off of her. Unlike Tali, Suri loves to play with people. Just last night she had fun while I chased her in circles around the house.
     Ringo, AKA Brat. As the only cat, he has to fight for our attention sometimes. He is technically my nephew's cat, but as a cat he thinks it's HIS house. That means that all the rooms are his and all the people are his slaves. He's been upset with me for shutting him out of my room ever since he bit my power cord for my cell phone in half. Every day he tries to sneak in so he can hide under my bed. He thought he had accomplished a lot when I didn't throw him out this last Monday. I was sick with the flu and he had the privilege of sleeping on my bed with me. He can be a huge pain when he wants something, scratching on doors and windows, meowing loudly, etc. His nickname is well earned. I do have to give him some credit, though, as he is quite adept at catching pack rats.
     Blew doesn't actually live at our house, but I have taken care of her on numerous occasions and she is definitely part of the pack. Being a husky she doesn't obey commands very well. She acts like a cat in some ways, thinking she is free to do what she wants. It's because of that attitude that she cannot be outside without being on a chain or a leash. She got away from Joyce once while visiting our house and got hit by a snow plow. When she does manage to get away from you, shes not fun to catch. She is rather fun to play with and, being a husky, does talk to you and say "I love you!"
     My nephew just got a dog at the beginning of  December. Her name is Saya and she is a black lab mix. She is such a tiny little thing compared to our dogs. Her favorite thing is fetching. She'll carry up to three toys in her mouth at once, two or three pine cones, and she loves carrying rocks around. She hasn't quite accepted Blew as part of the group yet. She growls and barks at her a bit when she first arrives. She has accepted Suri as the leader and seems to be intimidated by her sometimes. She follows me around the house, almost as if I'm her owner. She does love her boy, though, and what dog doesn't like boys?
     There have been other animals in my past, others owned by family members that I love like my own pets, and I'm sure there will be many animals in my future. What a blessing they are to us indeed.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Week Two

Something I've made. Honestly, I've made a lot of things in my life. That comes from growing up with an artistic mom. During the last few years I have gotten into making jewelry. I've given some away as gifts, but I mostly just make it for myself to wear.
I love these earrings that I made, though I've only worn them a couple of times. I think I made these about a year and a half ago.

I tend to go through spurts with my crafts. I'll do a lot of scrapbooking, then I'll make jewelry, then, and I'm currently in this category, I will spend my craft making time carving stamps for letter boxing and what not. Every now and then I do a different craft that I haven't done in a long time, or even try my hand at something new. When I'm not in my crafting mood, I usually put more focus on practicing music. Sometimes I wish I had more time to do these artistic things so that I could improve upon my talents, but life is life, and I have to go to work to survive. Oh well!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Week One

For my first week, I'm posting a photo of a flower. I took this photo at the zoo in Omaha, Nebraska when Carma, Joyce, and I went to visit our parents while they were on their first mission for our church.
White Rose
I love the drops of rain that are visible on the rose and the leafs. The zoo had a good sized botanical garden that gave us a nice break from the hot desert house and the humid rain forest house.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Starting the challenge!!!

So I'm going to start the challenge this week! If you don't know what the challenge is, check out my last post. I figured since I created the challenge, I should do all 30 of them. So, it looks like I will be doing this for the next seven, seven and a half months.
I stated my reasons for creating the challenge in the last post, and that is what I hope to accomplish. I want to make blogging a habit. I also want to post more photos to make my blog more interesting. So, here goes nothing! I'll get my fist challenge done in the next few days!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Photo/Blogging Challenge

Okay, so I finally got my challenge organized. Before I list the rules and the challenges, I want to tell you why I decided to create this challenge.
I have two goals in mind that I hope will be accomplished with this. The first is to make blogging a habit. It takes an average of sixty days to form a habit, hence the twelve week minimum you will see in the rules. The second is to enhance the blog with photos. Pictures help keep an audience engaged. They help them to understand what words alone may not convey. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Okay, so here are the rules and the challenges:

Photo/Blogging Challenge Rules:
  • One challenge must be completed each week. There is a twelve week minimum, but you may do any number of weeks from twelve to thirty.
  • Every post for the challenge must have at least one photo
  • Photos should either have you in them or been taken by you whenever possible
  • You don't have to do the challenges in order. Fit them to your needs, but no repeating a challenge twice.
  • When starting the challenge, do a quick post telling what you hope to accomplish through this and tell your readers how many weeks you're challenging yourself to do.
Challenge List: 
  1. Photos of your pets. This can be current or past pets.
  2. Photos from a recent vacation. Did you have fun? Where did you go? What did you do?
  3. Progressive photos of a project you're working on.
  4. The view from your back door.
  5. Favorite object in your house. What do you love about it?
  6. Favorite landscape photo.
  7. A recent event you attended.
  8. A photo of yourself engaging in a favorite activity.
  9. What do you do when you're bored? Don't forget the photo!
  10. A photo of you (and friends if needed) posing as a scene from your favorite T.V. show. See if your readers can guess the show!
  11. A historic landmark in your area.
  12. Take a photo from ground/floor level. Yes, you have to get down on the ground/floor to get this shot. Lay on your back and take an angled photo looking up, or lay on your stomach and get a shot from your pet/infants point of view.
  13. Take a photo of a wild animal, and yes, squirrels and birds count as "wild" animals. =)
  14. What was your favorite game as a kid? Post a picture of you playing it now.
  15. Before and after photos. This can be of a project, you, anything you can think of.
  16. A funny photo. Why does it make you laugh?
  17. A baby photo of you along with a recent photo.
  18. A photo of a flower or plant.
  19. Share three images and ask your readers to guess what they have in common.
  20. Your home.
  21. Favorite outfit. What's your style about?
  22. Take a photo of the front of your fridge. What's your magnet style? Orderly, disorderly, or no magnets at all?
  23. A picture of the book you're currently reading. Give a quick review.
  24. Your favorite piece of jewelry or accessory.
  25. Something you've made.
  26. Do you have a collection? Show us what you collect.
  27. Favorite souvenir and where it is from.
  28. A talent you have. Again, don't forget the photo!
  29. What gizmo, gadget, or device would you hate to live without?
  30. An interesting building in your area. Why do you like it?

Copy and paste the rules and challenge list to your blog so your readers know what you're doing and can participate themselves if they would like to. It might be useful to paste a copy into Word or other program so you can print a copy of the challenge list. You can then simply cross off the ones you've done, maybe highlight the ones you want to do, etc.

      Monday, April 4, 2011

      Blogging Challenges

      I have to say, even though I enjoyed doing the 30 Day Blog Challenge, I'm glad it's done. It started to feel like a chore having to post every day. I do like the idea of doing challenges to make sure that I post something. I have the tendency to go weeks without posting. I decided to make up my own challenge. I'm going to try to post the challenge within the next few days so that anyone who would like to challenge themselves may do so. It won't be a daily post challenge, but a weekly one. I enjoy reading blogs when there are pictures involved (I know, I'm not posting a picture with this), so my challenge is going to involve a photo with every post. That's another reason I decided to go with a weekly challenge, it can be hard to find time every day or two to get photos taken, but I figured a week was enough time.

      Sunday, April 3, 2011

      30 Day Challenge: Day 30

      A picture of myself today:
      Five good things that have happened to me since I started this challenge:
      1. I've been more motivated to think of what I will do with my blog now that I'm done with this challenge.
      2. I write in my journal more often.
      3. I've grown closer to my family through discussing what I could post on my blog.
      4. I've realized the importance of photo journaling.
      5. I've blogged more! Lol!

      Saturday, April 2, 2011

      30 Day Challenge: Day 29

      Three wishes. Okay, time to put the thinking cap on.
      1. I would love to have a house that I can practice my interior decorating ideas on. I would have so much fun decorating and re-decorating a house. Playing with color schemes, furniture arrangements, etc.
      2. To not have to worry financially. I stress more about finances than anything else.
      3. To start my eternal family. I guess I really need to meet Mr. Right so this can happen.

      Friday, April 1, 2011

      30 Day Challenge: Day 28

      Something that stresses me out. I would normally say work, but work has been pretty slow. Maybe it's the lack of work at work that stresses me out. Does that even make any sense?

      30 Day Challenge: Day 27

      Original photo of the city you live in. I didn't get this done yesterday because I forgot to put the picture on my thumb drive so I could post this on my lunch hour at work. I would have had to kick my nephew off the internet at home to try. I say try because, like Sunday, I never know if I can even get on to blogger with dial-up.
      It's probably not the best picture of Boise ever taken, but it will do.