Anything But a Face

One of my favorite sites, I Heart Faces, is having another contest.  Usually their contests have to include a face, but this time they said no no no, anything but!  So, I immediately thought of this photograph:

It is my mother and her newest grandson.  I just love how both hands have wrinkles on them.  Circle of life.  As you may remember my mother is suffering from Alzheimer's so this photo is a little extra special.  I just love that she got to hold her grandson, even though she won't remember.

xo

It seems I was on hiatus

Sorry, it wasn't intentional.

Our darling dog, Hoss, was diagnosed with bone cancer.  He was given a prognosis of about 3 months, but I feel that he will last longer.  I hope and pray that I am correct.

My darling mother is living with/suffering from Alzheimers.  It's a horrible disease with no cure.  All we can do is be patient, kind and loving.  And pray for her everyday.  It's interesting how people think Alzheimer's is just forgetfulness.  I did too to a certain degree.  But, when we were all in the middle of it--my brothers, sisters, father--all of us--we realised that it is so much more than simple forgetfulness.  It is so much more heart-breaking.  And there is nothing any of us can do.  Sad sad sad.

So, I guess I was on an unintentional hiatus.  Blogging just seemed a little narcissistic at the time.  I couldn't bring myself to sit at the computer and blog about anything.  It all seemed so unimportant.  But, then I realised that life goes on.  Love goes on.  So, I have rallied and am starting to see posts all around me.  Hopefully you'll enjoy them too....

Hug your loved ones today.  Everyday.
xo


www.alz.org

Best Face of January 2011

I Heart Faces is having another photo contest (they have a new one every week) and the theme is Best Face in January.  Well, this would have to be the best face this month.  

Don't ya think?  

Say hello to my new little nephew.  Isn't he just the cutest?  

He was born a week before Christmas and in this photo he is almost a month old.  

Go on over and visit I Heart Faces to check out all the submissions.

UPDATE:
I am #497 if you would like to cast your vote.  

It seems I have found a new addiction

photo contests

I keep finding them online.  Most of the time I don't enter, I just like viewing all the wonderful submissions.  But, recently I find myself entering them.  Maybe I'll get some feedback on my photo.  Some constructive criticism is always helpful.

The above photo I entered in Amy Nickerson's Winter Photo Contest.

Check it out and enter a photo.  It ends Wednesday, January 26th.  Good luck!

One of the things I like about this photo is the droplet of water coming off the second icicle from the left.  Plus, it just brings back memories of the enormous snowfall we got at the end of '09 and another huge snowfall in 2010.  We always get icicles hanging off our house.  One year they ripped the gutter right off the house.  Good times.  They usually hang outside our bathroom window so I can easily get some close-ups of them.  This was the great meltdown of 2010.  I think we had about a million feet of snow and some icicles were about 5 feet wide.  It was nuts!!  My kids had a blast though.

Go check out Amy's blog and enter a winter photo.  Don't leave me all alone in my addiction!

xo

Winter Wonderland

One of the many blogs/websites I like to peruse is I Heart Faces.  It's a great photography website that was founded by two bloggers and it mostly has pictures of, you guessed it, faces!  They have weekly photo contests which I have never participated in, but when I saw the title for this week's contest I just had to participate.
It's called...(drum roll please...)

Winter Wonderland!

Who doesn't love that?
Okay, there are plenty of you out there who do not like the snow, and are shouting 'ME ME I don't love that!!'  But, can't we all just get along?  Just pretend you love the snow and go over to I Heart Faces and check out all the submissions.

Since I love the snow and love taking pictures of snow all over the place I decided to look through my photographs and submit one.  Since the website is I Heart Faces I had to make sure there was a face in my photograph so I chose this one:

However, I really have no idea if I submitted it properly-there are quite a few rules and regulations and I am not sure I comprehended all of them.  So, I thought I would share it here as well.  What do you think?

Menu Planning

One of the things I love to do is read blogs.  I don't know how I was turned on to the world of blogs, but I am thankful for it-however it happened.  There are so many great blogs and websites out there with tons of wonderful tips and information.  Most of the blogs I read (actually, probably all of the blogs I read) are authored by women.  Mothers.  A few of the ones I was perusing this week were talking about menu planning.  Apparently there is a huge subset of mothers who plan out their family's weekly menu (mostly dinner) and even have a budget for the grocery store.  I would like to study this subset of the population more and maybe partake in a few of their rituals.  This 'menu planning' (is that how you pronounce it?) sounds very intriguing and I think it may be very beneficial to my life.  My whole entire life could change.  So, if any of you have any tips or advice regarding menu planning and budgeting I would love to hear them.

Isn't this pretty?  I love how the berries are still clinging to the branches and the contrast with the snow.  It was a little tree in a bank parking lot on some road on our way to a skating rink.  I made my husband stop so I could take a picture of it.

Guess What Peeps?

It's snowing again.  It's late, it's dark, but I can see the snow sparkling outside.

It's beautiful.

I can't wait to see it in morning's first light.  I am sure I will take a gazillion photos.  I just can't help myself.  Every year I say, 'baby-cakes.  you don't need any more photographs of that tree covered in snow.'  But, then I see the freshly fallen snow and I am like a kid in a candy store.

Or a bull in a china shop.

One of those.

Strong like bull.

ahem...where was I?

Oh, yes, gorgeous, beautiful, freshly fallen snow.  It's reminds me of the pile of confectioner's sugar I sift when I make my famous carrot cake.  Yes, it's famous.  You haven't heard of it?  Oh...  hmmm... I could have sworn it was famous.  How many people have to like something in order for it to be famous?  oh...

I am starting to get confused now.  It's late, it's dark...

Ah, yes, as I was saying, it's snowing again in these parts.  I just can't wait to take a photo of that tree covered in snow (again).

Here is what it looked like last time it snowed:

It's just one of my favorite trees.  Makes me smile.  It's also my daughter's 'climbing tree'.  Maybe that is why I am so attached to the tree.  When she was little she grabbed hold of those branches and would not let go.  

 Small fry was determined.

And, if you please, shall we all just have a moment of silence for the diaper sticking out of the back of the pants.

Is it not delicious?  Doesn't it make you want to wear outfits with peter-pan collars?  

Why I didn't have 100 babies I'll never know...