productivity

i count today productive because i made it to the baby shower on time in spite of needing to do last minute shopping for wrapping paper this morning. i got my lawn mowed and pulled some of the biggest weeds (including the pokeweed jungle). i got two loads of dishes washed. i made dinner instead of just eating homemade strawberry fudge ice cream & caramel corn. i even found the $25 i was convinced i'd lost.

not too shabby.

long meeting

the longer the meeting ran, the more 'becca contemplated her ability to build a brick wall against which to bang her head.




no, it's not really attached to an illustration friday topic. but, seriously ... i had to do something during that meeting.

life of a lily

it should loop twice. if you miss it, you can always reload. :)

eye-fry: drifting

refusing to avoid the storm, cap'n 'becca waves farewell to her steering abilities and prepares for drifting where sea will take her.

mail?

i got home tonight & the flag on my mailbox was up. this could mean one of two things. A - i actually had mail. sometimes when i don't get mail for several days, my mail man will put the flag up when he delivers something. or B - the little girl next door had put something in my mailbox. she's done this in the past with dandelions.

sure enough, i open the box & find this lily inside.

i'm guessing it's not from my mail man.

i would find this whole thing much more cute if the lily wasn't from my own backyard.

hahahaha ...

on august 5, 2007 i wrote, "mostly i spent time trying to decide how to make my t-shirt quilt ... it shouldn't take more than two or three evenings to complete."

a year & 10 months later? it's still no where near being done.

focus ...

a couple of nights ago, i forgot to lock the front door before going to bed. not a big deal; no one came in & ate my tomatoes. it was fine.

this morning i could not find my keys. i dug through my purse twice. i rummaged around in the box of stuff i had brought home from the office. i even checked my pockets to be sure i wasn't already walking around with them. then i thought, well, maybe it's possible ...

yup. i'd left them dangling in the front door all night.

at least the door was locked.

eye-fry: unfold

the illustration friday topic of "unfold" comes during a week where all my heart has wanted to do is give up & fold in on itself. it would take a lot of effort to keep it from doing so. i say "would" because, as of yet, i haven't chosen to fight that battle.



the original sketch, wherein i look more angry that it's so hard to unfold. i think the final makes me look more worried that perhaps the crease won't completely smooth out.

which recipe to try first?

thanks to april & patti, i've recently become acquainted with a new blog: annie get your glue gun. it's over there with the rest of links; listed as 'glue gun annie'. now i just can't decide which recipe to try first. candied bacon ice cream? or the perfect chocolate chip cookies?

rain & sleep.

i love listening to the rain as i'm falling asleep. unfortunately, this led to a power nap around 8pm that has left me wide awake.

well, maybe not WIDE awake ... but awake enough i'm antsy for something to do. i wish i had my next alan alda movie; that would be perfect. but i do not.

i can't quilt. i have a mental block against it that will take another day or two to subside.

i got a promo code for a free 8x8 photo book from shutterfly. maybe i could work on that. i'm thinking about using it for my rockstar road trip photos.

or i could try reading. that might actually put me to sleep. but i hate reading when i'm tired. it just frustrates me. i don't think i really want to be frustrated. i can go to work for that. ;)

four times ...

the thing is, they give you trophies for getting 25 correct answers in some of the categories ... how can i keep beating my own score, but i cannot get 25 correct? i can get 22, 23 ... even 24 once. but never 25.

geo challenge

i just beat my high score for a third time today. apparently the key is to play it repeatedly.

seriously.

i watched "flirting with disaster" tonight - the most recent alan-alda offering from netflix. pretty funny movie. alan alda is married to lily tomlin, and they have an acid lab in the basement. in case you didn't believe me before, now you know i can't possibly be anything but honest when i say it's a pretty funny movie. right?

you'd think with all that laughing i could fall asleep. not so much. and facebook is failing to entertain me, though i have set two new high scores in geo challenge this evening. i'm tempted to pay the $7 to get geo challenge pro to play the u.s. version. but then i think, is playing geo challenge all night any different from having a tv? both are just ways to tune out, right?

although in geo challenge, i'm increasing my ability to quickly identify national flags. surely that's a skill that will come in handy.

i still wonder how my neighbors would react if i flew a pirate flag. there's a support already on the front of the house.

i'm restless and have no desire to wait until august to get out of the region for a few days. i may or may not be going to indy next weekend. i think it depends on the moms in the group finding sitters for the miniatures. at least, that's the last i heard about it. i'm hoping they're all successful.

i think i'll go back to playing geo challenge ...

hmm. meh.

i have no motivation. i should be reading catch-22, but i know i wouldn't retain anything i read.

i went out & cut some lilies for the living room - they are gorgeous.

i did wash up the dishes from my cookie making last night. that's something, right?

jules: the game was fabulous, and i DID eat nachos for you. :) i also got your voicemail, and we can settle up at bunco at the end of the month.

yeah, you know what? i know we're not playing bunco anymore ... but it's such an easy way to refer to the group that i'm going to continue using the term.

greg: i'm going to agree. i think those are evening primrose. now i just need to figure out when the best time to thin/transplant them is. and then decide if i care enough to do it. they're currently very thick on the west side of my porch - but there's none on the east side. i'm pretty sure the east side is sad about that.

laure: beth did, in fact, survive the puppet mauling. :) and it actually was not an effigy. just an interesting coincidence.

marlana: it IS amazing what water can do for plants. however, i'm pretty sure the plant heard me say that once that single bud bloomed it could die & i would feel no guilt. it has lost almost ALL of it's leaves and is looking very charlie brownish.

i swear, it sounds like someone is running full force into the side of my house ... but every time i look, there's no one there.

french vanilla

the first of my lilies are getting ready to open outside. i had one stalk that got pretty beat up during the storm thursday, so i cut it & brought it in. two of the buds were open within 12 hours; a third is opening now. i do love lilies.

i'm going to the railcats game tonight. it'll be a little chilly, but the first 1,500 fans get a free fleece blanket. good timing, eh?

feral goat

i got a tangram-a-day calendar for my birthday. it's a great mental exercise to start my day at work. i really enjoy the quick puzzle. especially when it's a goat.

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'becca is working her way through photos.

mom's birthday

mom's birthday was this past friday. we went to the railcats game that night. ronald mcdonald threw out one of the first pitches.



they even had fireworks in celebration of her birthday.



sunday we had her birthday dinner: lemon zested chicken, roasted green beans & garlic mashed potatoes. followed by flourless chocolate cake & apple pie.



i don't have a photo of the chicken, but aren't the zested lemons cute? :)

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'becca likes baking.

mystery flowers

these flowers grow on the west side of my porch. the buds are red, but they open up to these bright yellow flowers. anyone know what they are?

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'becca is going to bed early tonight.

playin' at the red dot boutique

beth & i found this fabulous display of puppets at the red dot boutique last week.



this one was my favorite. he looked all fluffy & cute ...



and then he tried to eat beth.

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'becca likes cameras small enough to take everywhere.