Photo Hunt 67 - Tiny

This topic has been plaguing me for a couple of days. It is so open and yet...I don't know. Anyway, I was taking my medicines this morning and, swallow after swallow, I was annoyed with how huge and glucky the pills are. Thank You, Claritin, for being Tiny!

Too bad I don't have any prenatal vitamins around here. Those would have really made the Claritin look small. Those things would choke a horse! On second thought...I am glad I didn't have any of those around to add to the photo.

Scattergories

Choose an answer to each category. It must begin with the first letter of your name.

Your Name: - Kim
1. Famous singer/band: KISS
2. 4 letter word: Kiss
3. Street name: Kennedy
4. Color: khaki
5. Gifts/Presents: Koala stuffed doll
6. Vehicle: Kia
7. Things in a souvenir shop: Keepsake
8. Boy name: Kevin
9. Girl name: Kay
10. Movie title: Killing Fields, The
11. Drink: Kool-Aid
12. Occupation: King
13. Flower: Kansas Feather (had to look that one up)
14. Celebrity: Kennedy, Jamie
15. Magazine: Kingdom Magazine
16. U.S. city: Kalamazoo
17. Pro sports teams: Kansas City Chiefs
18. Fruit/vegetable: kiwi
19. Reason late for work: King Kong attacked the city
20. Something you throw away: Kleenex
21. Things you shout: Keep off the grass!
22. Cartoon character: Kanga

8 Random Things

8 Random Things - The Rules

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I may be getting a laptop soon.

2. The laptop is going to cost me more than money.

3. Pears feel gritty when I eat them, but otherwise they are ok.

4. I just hit my funny bone and my elbow and lower arm are tingly.

5. I have too many hobbies.

6. I FINALLY graduate from college in May! (only 12 years late)

7. I have no plans for a career after college.

8. Learning to read ancient Greek is fun but not easy.

I am not going to tag anyone.

Take 2

I was out and about the web this afternoon. I must have read about 50 blogs. Here is one of the meme's I ran across.

Two names you go by:
1. Kim
2. Mommy

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. earphones
2. wedding ring

Two things you want (or have) in a relationship:
1. patience
2. friendship

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. surf the web
2. read

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. a laptop
2. cookie

Two people who will fill this out:
1. Can't say
2. Everyone who might pretty much already has

Two things you did last night:
1. Role played with DH
2. None of your business ;)

Two things you ate today (right, by 6am?):
1. PB&J
2. pizza

Two people you last talked to:
1. DH
2. DD6

Things you're doing this week/weekend:
1. Hopefully finally see HP5
2. Visit the in-laws, try not to think about not being home to get my HP7 in the mail

Two longest car rides:
1. When? Recently? 8 hours from MS to KY
2. Ever? CA to MS (in 1986. Took for-frickin-ever)

Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Thanksgiving

July 14 - Photo Hunt 66 Shadow(s)

Shadow - This was one Christmas Eve morning st my in-laws'. It has the tendency to snow AFTER we get there when we go up in the winter.

Photo Theme - Fake

This one was not easy. I don't generally take photos of things that are "fake." Fake seems to have a bad connotation. Too bad. I couldn't find anything like that in my photos. I decided to ignore that connotation and just find a pic of something that isn't real.

Believe it or not, that it NOT a real butterfly there by my DD9 (then 4.)

Sweet

I knew Sweet was coming eventually, from reading the blog I found Photo Hunt on in the first place. And, while looking for other photos for other categories, I spotted this one and knew it would work nicely here, better than pics of birthday cakes, even if I did frost and decorate them.

4th of July a few weeks ago; my DD8 here has just shoved a toasted marshmallow into her mouth.

Shiny

I couldn't decide between this and a very nice shot of the pond at Big Spring Park in Huntsville, AL. The sun was shining very nicely on the water. Since I don't really want to be a part of a flood of Christmas ornaments in December, I'll post mine here and now.

Hair

I have some photos of the girls after they hacked each others' hair, but since I used one of those for Broken and I didn't want to repeat, I had to dig deeper.

This is DD6 just before Halloween 2002. She was two years old. Her sisters were being Disney Princesses, complete with wigs. She was jealous that they got to wear the hair, so I took her pic with the Snow White wig on.

June 9 Theme- Shoes

Shoes? Sheesh, you have got to be kidding me!

Well, I thought for a bit, looked through my images, etc. Then I got an idea of a photo I knew. I had to hunt for it. Photo Hunt, literally!

This is DD8. She is under 2 in this shot. She loved to put grown-up shoes on and tromp around the house. Here she has Daddy's shoes on her hands.

She has them on her hands because she has another pair on her feet and that wasn't enough for the shoe-loving mood she was in.

June 2 Photot Theme - Art

This is at my in-laws' home, in the kitchen. DD6 (She looks to be about 3 or 4 here.) is going to town with the temperas. This is one of their favorite parts about going up there. Having retired elementary school teachers as grandparents has its benefits.

Colorful

This is the quilt top I made for DD6 for her 7th birthday. The top is almost done, then I need to quilt and finish it. I hope I get it done in time for her birthday next month.

Cooked/Cooking

This one was easy, after finding all these other pics, I have a pretty good idea of what is hiding in my image files.

This is my wonderful hubby this past 4th of July. He did a great job with the burgers and dogs. Yummy!!!

Photo Theme - Five

Five seems like a very random theme to me. I had a couple of things come to mind. Foremost was my sister, who has 5 kids. Here is a picture taken at the church dedication for the youngest.

My sister (in blue) is holding her baby daughter. Her oldest son (age 11 or 12) is speaking with her. My other niece is behind him. She was about 4 here. My other nephew is behind her, closest to the podium. He was about 6 or 7 here. My mom, in red, is holding my other other nephew, age 2.

Five kids, Heaven help her

Childhood

This one was very hard. Not because I don't have any to fit, but because I have too many! With 3 daughters all under 10 (for now) I have a lot of pics of childhood.

This is one of my favorites. I love the way she (DD6 - then 3/4) is staring off into the beyond. Childhood is like that.

Rare

This one was hard.

I have pics of rare animals from the Memphis Zoo, my favorite being the pandas, but TKDChick posted pandas for her pic this (that) week and I would feel like I was copying, so I looked for something else.

In this shot we are at Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, IN (I love taking pics at zoos.) They have peacocks walking loose around the park. One got very close to us on the path. My DD8 (then 3) said she was going to pet him.

I was a little worried he would peck her, but decided not to play overprotective Mommy and let whatever happened happen. She got right up to him and almost did manage to pet him. At the last foot or so he turned around and dashed off.

Funny thing about turning around when you have a tail like that, it swings around too. DD got a swat right on her tushi, right when I snapped the pic of her "petting" the peacock.

The shot is "Rare" because I almost never make it right as an action shot needs to go. My shutter speed is slow, and my reflexes too, I guess. I am always getting pics of just after something happened.

April 21 Steps

The Johnson Commons building on the quad at Ole Miss. Ironically, I named this shot "Steps" so it seems fitting for this weeks theme. Upstairs is a ballroom. (I had class there once when our regular class needed emergency repairs.) Downstairs is Human Resources, I think.

April 14 Hobby

Hobby- Hmmm...I have more than I need, knitting, sewing, cross stitch, reading, writing, photography... Here is a shot from one of the most expensive (of mine, anyway. I realize there are more expensive hobbies (rebuilding cars or something like that) but I have sunk plenty of $$$ into these tanks.(and the 20 others we have around here)

I took this shot to show off the tank stand for some of my aquarium club buddies. The kid in front is DD6, about a year and a half ago.

The big fish is Hagrid, our oscar.

April 7 Clean

I almost used this for the last theme (Water). I am glad I didn't. It fits pretty well here.

March 31 Water

This beautiful fountain is just insode the entrance of the Memphis Zoo. The "river" flows from a small fountain, along a winding stream until it gets to this wider section you see here.

The statues are of a couple who were instrumental in the zoo getting going.

March 24 Empty

What is more fun when you are 2 years old than an empty box? DD6 (now) turned this one into a space ship, a car, a zoo, and then a bed.

Drink

This is DD9 way back in the day. This was taken in 1999, I believe.

Architecture Photo Hunt

Since I used a building on the Ole Miss campus already, AND I have been hitting the Memphis Zoo pretty hard this one wasn't as easy as it could have been.

Here is DD6 (although, in this pic she looks to be about 3. I can't remember how long ago we took this.) peeking out the window at my in-laws' place in KY.

March 3 Salty

SALT water tank a the Memphis Zoo Aquarium. I love the lionfish, so beautiful.

Feb 24 Soft

This was a toss-up between this and the Alpaca farm pics. I like this though, figuring that most people would be posting pics of animals.

In case you don't know, this is good ole fashioned cotton, King of the South.

Photo Hunt Feb 17, Antique

Ventress Hall on the Ole Miss Campus, built ca 1910

The girls call this the Castle Building.

Photo Hunt 2/10/07 Broken

Broken

I kind of wish I had some of the pics my brother took after Dad's wreck. That must have been spectacular.

Since I don't have those AND I don't generally take pictures of broken things, I settled for this.

This is DD8, just after her sister decided to cut 7 inches off her hair while I was sleeping. I still haven't fully calmed down from this.

Photo Hunt Feb 3 Gross

The theme is gross. I don't usually take pictures of things that are gross.

I like turtles myself, but I wouldn't want to run into this fellow. This is the alligator snapping turtle at the Memphis Zoo.

Photo Hunt Jan 27

The theme for the photo hunt on Jan 27 was Silver. That took me a minute, but then I knew what it had to be. My new silver baby! This was my Christmas present last year, so it is even appropriate for January.

Photo Hunt Jan 20

This week's (a few months ago) theme was Wild.

This was taken at the Fall Festival of the girls' daycare center in 2001. DD9 is just turned 4 and DD8 is not yet (but VERY close to) 3. DD9 is a ballerina and DD8 is a princess (Her crown was removed before joinging the bouncing.) DD6 was a bunny. Nothing very WILD, but you should have seen that bounce house with 15 preschoolers on it. Definitely wild.

Photo Hunt Jan 13

Theme- Technology

About a year ago we took the girls to Huntsville, AL to visit friends and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. They really enjoyed seeing the museum displays of things we had been studying in science/history. Here is a full-size display of the Lunar lander.

The parts that look like foil are foil (though stronger than the kitchen variety, I would suspect)

Photo Hunt

from Jan 5, 2007
Theme- Memory

I will never forget this day we played in the snow in Kentucky. The girls had so much fun!

It always tends to snow AFTER we arrive in the winter. That's better than BEFORE we arrive!

More Than Meets the Eye

DH and I went to see the late show of Transformers last night (no kids, few adults I love late shows.)

It was great! Definitely better than I had expected. Much better than what anyone would expect from a movie based on a 1980's cartoon. They really went out of the way to make the story good aside from the effects. And the effects were amazing!

One thing I noticed right off was the wonderful portrayal of the US Armed Forces. They could have gone with "the entire government is stupid idiots or trigger happy war mongers" but chose instead to show the amazing courage and skill that the soldiers in our military have everyday, and especially when they fight giant alien robot monsters.

It'll take magic...

to get the new Harry Potter book, at least for me.

I placed the pre-order with Walmart.com in February. The book comes out in July. My credit card expired in May. Do you see the problem here? Apparently, Walmart doesn't process the orders until it is actually TIME. So, I got an email last week saying "You paid with an expired card..." >:( I could not use the link they provided to fix the problem and no other way of accessing their site would allow me to edit a past purchase, even though the purchase wasn't really past.

I thought maybe I could cancel the original order and re-order. Nope, sorry, wrong! The book lists as Out-Of-Stock on the website. (for PRE order?) I guess things are too close to the wire.

I called Customer Service Saturday afternoon. I didn't realize it was Saturday (That happens when DH works his regular hours.) The nice associate said there was nothing she could do. I had to talk to Finance, she said. The Finance Office wouldn't be open until Monday morning at 8.

The email I got Friday said I had 3 days to fix the problem or my order would be cancelled. (Friday Saturday Sunday...)

So, hoping the computers at Walmart.com would not hatchet my book on a Sunday, I called early this morning to try to head things off. The nice associate said the order had already been cancelled. Great But, she asked if I wanted to re-order. I told her it had said "Out-of-Stock." She checked anyway and it let her process the order (with the new card)

I am keeping my fingers crossed. I guess I'll know for sure in a couple of weeks whether everything is ok. I am not trusting the Walmart.com Order Confirmation email. I got one of those in February too.

I get the feeling that the only reason the book wasn't out of stock was because they had cancelled my order. Like I bought my own book.

More wisdom from DD6

ME- "Why are you putting your cape on? I told you to get ready to go so we could get going, not play super heroes!"

DD6- "Well...the bank is on fire."

Guests

We have some "guests" staying in our garden. They seem to be enjoying our fennel plant. For "pests" I might try to get rid of them, but who could do such a thing to baby butterflies?

I first spotted the pair (I would guess they are probably brothers.) on the 4th, while we were outside in the evening. Two days have passed and they have just about doubled in size!

I checked on the web and I am pretty sure we have the caterpillars of Anise Swallowtail butterflies. The pictures pretty well match, we have seen adults that match the pics online AND...well...they are eating anise.

Bad dream

I woke up at about 3 am this morning after a harsh dream.

It wasn't a nightmare per se. The events were not horror movie fodder. The emotions that accompanied it were what kept me awake after.

I was assigned to kill someone. (Why? I do not know. But it did not seem odd to me in the dream.) I had a way to do it from a distance that could never be traced to me. (Some kind of radio gizmo...DREAM remember) Anyway, the target turned out to be judging a mock trial sort of affair. I know they were the judge, but I also know that the court was not real. For some reason my daughters were there. It was sort of a Vacation Bible School Mock Trial thing. (DREAM...)

My youngest came in WITH THE JUDGE! She said something like, "Look, Mommy. I get to sit here in front!" She was very happy and excited. I knew that my radio gizmo was not going to get anybody else, but the thought of her being RIGHT THERE while this person (a woman, I think) was killed horrified me. I asked her to come sit in the audience with me. She gladly complied and we went to sit.

I realized in the dream that she would still witness the killing and did not want that so I asked if she wanted to go outside to play with me. She did and we left. We walked past the banks or reporters to the outside yard. The trial was being held in a church auditorium. Why there were lawyers, I don't know. Maybe the judge was somebody important.

While my daughter and I are playing (though I am distracted by the murder that is about to take place) I hear my other two daughters call out that they love me, from inside the auditorium. I realize that there is nothing I can do (time too short) to stop them from witnessing the killing I have set in motion. That is when I woke up.

I have been trying to interpret the dream without much success. I know it has to have something to do with fears about being a good mother. What the more precise meaning are for the false trial held in a church, the judge (who I felt was a good person in the dream, not a villain), the reporters, the murder...all that I haven't interpreted yet.

I couldn't get back to sleep. I have had more restful dreams about being chased by monsters.

Crane Progress

I have 102 cranes folded now. I stayed up all night one night last week, listening to something on the internet while I folded.

That brings me to 10% of my goal finished. I am trying not to think about how many are left to go. The 1001 days are just getting started though, so there is certainly no need to panic.

No need to stay up all night folding, either, but that is beside the point.