Project 365/101

We went to the coast today and saw these unusual birds swimming about in Penobscot Bay. I'm not sure what they are, but my best guess at this point is some type of merganser, either a common or a hooded. The hooded seem to have more of a crest, and the common don't seem to have as much of a crest as these do, so perhaps they're something totally different. Any ideas?




Here's a better shot of their crests.
click on the pic for a close-up

Project 365/100

I feel a little guilty uploading pics I take of my computer screen.

I mean, Project 365 is supposed to be about taking a photograph every single day for a year, the combination of which will tell your life story. For that year at least.

But trust me when I tell you nothing I did today compares in the least to what I saw 86 year old Johanna Quaas doing on my computer screen today.

Project 365/99

I was so excited to see this beautiful bird hopping about in our forsythia bushes this morning. I was even more excited to find that I was correct in identifying it as a grackle. We've been glued to the binoculars most of the day, watching a pair of grackles and a bluejay finding shelter from the rain.

Project 365/98

Nothing says "Happy Easter" quite like carnivorous plants. :)

Project 365/97

I love Maine, but I had to admit to myself today that spring is a sad business in this part of the country. The overnight temps are still near freezing, and when the days are cloudy the daytime temps aren't much better. I like cold weather, but I like it a lot better when there's some snow to go with it. :)

Project 365/96

a little change of focus is a good thing

Project 365/95

Over the years my internet surfing has slowly eroded the time I used to spend reading actual books. I determined to change that habit this year by reading at least one book a month. I'm ahead of schedule, having just completed my fifth book of the year. As pleased as I am with the progress of a worthwhile goal, I'm even more pleased to have rediscovered the pure pleasure that is a good book.

Project 365/94

I put off getting out the Easter eggs as long as I could.
Today was the day.
For the next month I'll be picking up eggs ad nauseam.
That is, when I'm not hiding them or looking for them. :)

Project 365/93

We've been studying the eye recently in health. This is a topic near to my heart, since I have poor vision without corrective lenses. I've always thought being blind would be absolutely terrible, but it's been encouraging to learn all the things that are possible even without sight. For instance, we've been practicing with Braille, and today Jed was able to read a short message. What a huge blessing that must be to someone unable to read the written word!

PS - for the college basketball fans out there, you're not going to believe this - Jed filled out a bracket this year and picked Kentucky to win the championship! Too bad we didn't have money riding on that. :D

Project 365/92

It's hard to know how to say "thank you" to friends
who send this kind of gorgeousness in the mail
to your little boy!

Thanks, Lnd Crzr - we can't wait to get started on
this new adventure!

You, my friend, are an artistic genius!

Project 365/91

Jed's April Fool's joke:

opening up a normal looking piece of gum....









...still somewhat normal looking, except the color is a little dark and the edges are a little crooked...









...then when you turn it over and see it is a colored piece of paperboard, he yells, "April Fool's!" like it's the best joke in the world.



Priceless. :)

Project 365/90

We made our first beach trip of the year today.
"Beach" being a bit of a euphemism.
"Trip" being a bit of a euphemism as well. :)
However, it's our little local slice of heaven
and it was heavenly.

Project 365/89

I ran across the Epic Old Man gags on youtube this week and watched a few today.
What I want to know is, why haven't I ever run across someone actually pulling a gag?
What a riot that would be. :D

Project 365/88

We saw a little bit of everything in the weather today - wind, rain, snow, and hail.
Everything but the sun.
Those little white dots are tiny little hailstones bouncing off the deck railing. :)

Project 365/87

It looks like things might have gotten a little rowdy while I was at the homeschool conference.

I noticed this picture in our bathroom this morning, and couldn't believe I didn't notice it the first time I went in there after arriving home!

It baffles me how anyone with an advanced degree could think this looks right! AND put Scotch tape on the corner of the frame that broke. AND think it would take me months to notice.

In case you can't see it well in the photo, that's pieces of gray foam around the edges of the mat. :)










However, apparently I need to take the quoted verse to heart:

"A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense."
Proverbs 19:11

A perfect opportunity to practice a little wisdom. :)

Project 365/86

I've been working on getting my videotapes converted to DVDs.
I spent some time today watching one to make sure it was okay.
It was way better than okay.
Watching my two boys together made me want to cry.

Project 365/85

Instead of taking pictures yesterday, I took a Tylenol PM.
For some reason it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was already in the bed by the time I remembered my blog.
Too late.
But, it occurred to me this morning that I can still finish my Project 365,
since there's an extra day this year.
Sweet leap year. :)

Project 365/84

I've been at a homeschool conference since Thursday
with Mrs. Smith and her littlest guy.
We have a room with a view!

Project 365/83

Sleeping like a baby :)

Project 365/82

This is what I got to play with tonight! :D

Project 365/81

I spent some time this evening getting caught up on the news.
Now I'm wishing I hadn't. :(

Project 365/80

We've been playing a lot of mancala lately,
which I love, not only because of the strategy,
but also the gorgeous glass pebbles. :)
This is my favorite color combination of late...
orange and varying shades of green.

Project 365/79

I love how lush these plants are getting in the sunshine we've been enjoying lately.

Project 365/78

One benefit from being sick is down time for reading.

I picked this off my bookshelf today and for the life of me I can't remember how it got there - and it's signed by the author, no less! It's an interesting read about a successful businessman ending up homeless.

There but for the grace of God go I.

Project 365/77

I'm starting to think buying Jed's Easter candy early wasn't such a good idea. :)

Project 365/76

Things are starting to heat up around here.

Project 365/75

The best part about being sick?
Hand made get well cards from your favorite 8 year old.

Project 365/74

This is what my day has looked like.
Hope yours has been better!

Project 365/73

The strawberries are back!

Project 365/72

I took this picture earlier in the day because this little pillow just makes me happy.

But then this afternoon Jed and I spent some time in the back yard
nd spotted our first little bird of the season. So sweet!

Project 365/71

This is our work for tomorrow. Yikes!

It has occurred to me a few times lately that perhaps I should be making an effort to take more artistic photographs for this 365 Project. I'd like to do that, and hopefully I'll be able to this summer, but most of my pics right now are homeschool related because that's what fills most of my days. Even my weekends are full of it - yesterday I did lesson plans for this week's Five in a Row book, and today I did lesson plans for the next unit in Health.

I'm hoping I'll get more adept at this, because right now I feel like I'm climbing a mountain most days.

Project 365/70

Jed and I are both huge fans of a curriculum called Five in a Row. The basis is classic children's literature, with lesson plans written for social studies (culture, geography, history, etc.), language arts (vocabulary, story telling, literary devices, etc), science, math and art. The idea is that you read one of the books on their list each day for a week, and cover the lesson plans in one of the subjects each day.

Actually, the idea is that you'll pick one of the lesson plans in each subject, but being OCD like I am, I try to include them all, which makes for some long school days sometimes. However, they are totally worth it, to both of us, so we press on.

What I have not been factoring in is the preparation time. That's been a continual struggle, so I finally decided to get all the research and prep work done the weekend before.

Now you know what I've been doing all.day.long. But it was totally worth it, because now I am at least semi-literate in both World Wars. Quite an accomplishment for one Saturday, don't you think? :)

Project 365/69

I gave up on cookie-baking years ago. Back then I had an extremely temperamental oven that would invariably burn the bottoms of cookies while the tops remained undercooked. This continued with unflagging consistency throughout many experiments with baking temperatures, oven thermometers, baking times and parchment paper, until I decided that I could live very well without homemade cookies and quit trying.

That worked until my husband came along, the man who believes that cookies and milk are a food group unto themselves.

I had better luck with the oven in our first home together, but the results were still inconsistent, and remained so until my mom saved the day by buying a replacement oven that was too small for the cookie sheets she owned. She had no idea the boon that would prove to be to my baking skills!

Thanks, Mom, for passing along your cookie sheets to me. :)

















PS - Mrs. Smith, this bodacious cookie was taken out after 12 minutes at 350 degrees!
PSS - Mom, those aren't scratches on that cookie sheet - they're just character lines. :)

Project 365/68

You know it's going to be a good day when you open your mailbox
and find two hand-lettered envelopes waiting inside with your name
on them. :)

Thanks Kitten!

Project 365/67

I had the weirdest experience today. I cooked a roast in the crock pot over the weekend and heated some of it today for sandwiches. It exploded in the microwave, making a terrible mess, and I ended up having to heat up a bit more beef. The second batch exploded as well. Unfortunately, this time it didn't happen until after I had taken it out of the microwave.

I've never seen anything like that happen before! Also I've never seen roast beef on my wall or ceiling before. :)

Project 365/66

It's done!
Another item checked off the to-do list: priceless

Project 365/65

Jed and two of the Smith boys celebrate birthdays in October and November. This year Mrs. Smith and I hosted a pirate party to honor all three mateys. I made flags for each of the boys, and Jed's been trying ever since then to figure out what to do with his. I surprised him with this pillow today and told him if he didn't like it, I'd keelhaul him or make him walk the plank, his choice...although I'm partial to keelhauling myself. :)

Project 365/64

It's official.
I'm getting old.
*sigh*

Project 365/63

Tracy and I decided to track our spending for the month of March.
I started us out on March 2 with a check for almost $1300 for car repairs.
Thankfully we're not in a race to see who can spend the least amount.

Project 365/62

It took me longer than I expected, but I finally managed to get the sanding completed on the little shelf I started working on a couple of weeks ago.

I haven't used stain in the vast majority of the furniture refinishing I've done. Tung oil deepens and enhances the natural color of wood so beautifully, it's all I ever used as a finish until I ran into a couple of pieces of pine furniture. No amount of tung oil can give pine a rich color, so I tried using stain with it, with some measure of success.

However, I think I might have overdone it a bit with this little shelf. I used a medium stain but I must have been heavier-handed with it than I realized. Trying now to decide if I should just go with it or start the arduous task of sanding again.

Project 365/61

I knew it.
I KNEW this would happen.
As soon as I take down the winter decorations
it snows.
:)