7 Long Years

My dear mother, Anne Whitten, passed away unexpectedly 7 years ago today. It was Easter Sunday 2002. Ma had been hospitalized for 3 weeks with pneumonia and was waiting on release papers to go home when she fell over and was gone. Just like that. The doctors never did find out why she passed away so suddenly.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of her, taken in 1954, not long after she and my dad got married:

I still miss you, Ma.

March...Goes Out Like a Lamb

The old adage was proved this month, at least for us here in Southern Maryland.

It's 59 degrees and sunny, with a few cottony clouds. Couldn't ask for a more beautiful day. Great way to end the month of March!

It's Still a Little Wild!

The paper monster is still a little scary...

This is the pile of recycle I salvaged. I've already shredded the HUGE pile of documents that I cleaned out of the desk and files.

Here's the desk...still need to clear the top and the adjacent file cabinet.

Look out, monster...your days are numbered!

Plant It, and It Will Grow! (Hopefully!)

It's a nice Sunday here. Lots of sunshine, and it's getting pretty warm. And often, young men's fancy takes to...building something. (Middle-aged men's, too!) Eric is building a Salad Table.

It's a table for the deck or porch which holds plants for salad fixin's. He plans to grow lettuce and herbs like basil and parsley. The drill died, so construction is on hold, but this will be great when it's done!

Here's the directions:

http://growit.umd.edu/

I'm looking forward to the finished product!

And no, the paper monster has not been tamed. Maybe by tonight or tomorrow. We'll see.

Taming the Paper Monster

Believe it or not, this is my desk:


Hopefully there will be a different picture here tomorrow...one of a clean desk! Monster, look out...I'm on a rampage and I'm going to snuff you out!

What the Heck is This Building?

We've been having car troubles this week. Eric's car has been in the shop since Tuesday night when it conked out on his way home from work. This morning I took him to the Metro because I needed the car today. After dropping him off (at the Kiss and Ride--I just love the name!) I went around the parking lot and came out on a side of the station I'd never been on. Believe me, if I'd come out this way before, I'd have remembered. Get a load of this building:


This is the U.S. Census Bureau in Suitland, Maryland, about 13 miles from Washington, DC. It's one of the most bizarre buildings I've ever seen!


At first glance, it looks like warped wood on the walls, but it's really curved pieces of metal. Over the whole building. And the windows.

And to think I actually know 2 people who work in this building every day! I think I'd go quietly out of my mind.

A Date Which Will Live...in Infamy

So today's my birthday. :) A wonderful day that I share with Diana Ross, Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock for all you non-trekkie fans), and the poet Robert Frost.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of me:

I was 2 years old when this was taken. My hair is much darker now, but the same eyes and smile are there, although I shed my baby teeth a long time ago. :)

What's that? How old am I? Let's just say I'm on the back side of 40 and leave it at that, shall we?

Happy Birthday to me! And here's hoping for MANY more!

Maryland, Oh Maryland

Today is Maryland Day, an official state holiday here in Maryland to celebrate the day colonial settlers landed on St. Clement's Island and settled in Maryland. As far as I know, all government offices were open, and we had school. Not sure how much of a state holiday that is, but still...


Here is a picture I took a couple of years ago at St. Mary's State Park, not too far from the landing site:


Southern Maryland is so pretty. I feel really lucky to be a resident!

A Few of My Favorite Things

I had today off from subbing and decided to run a few errands. Here's one of my favorite places to shop:


I stocked up on paper towels, toilet paper, cat litter, and got a couple of cute springtime rugs for the kitchen.

Here's one of my favorite places to eat, fast-food style:


Here's what's in the box--it's for JJ and Nicky:


Their hush puppies are so yummy!


Here are a few things I like to collect, courtesy of, believe it or not, Safeway:


We can say I like to collect Beanie Babies, or we can say I like to collect holiday decor. They both work!

It was a nice day. :)

Celebrate National Puppy Day!

Today is National Puppy Day. Now, our dogs aren't puppies anymore...they are both 7 years old. But they'll always be my little puppies!

"I Do" Love a Wedding!

I got a "Save the Date" card in the mail today. (Well, it came in Saturday's mail, but we didn't bring it in until today. :) ) My brother Bill, aka "B", is getting married in August. Here is the beautiful engagement picture of my brother and his fiancee, Stacie:

Congrats, B and Stacie! We can't wait until August!

Spring Cleaning...Out of the Closet

I have been sick and tired of our master closet. It's small, and crowded, and small...wait, I already said that. Eric has double the clothes--he needs clothes for his suitcase, in case he's called out of town while at work, but sometimes they make their way into the closet. There's hardly any room for my poor piddly amount of clothing. Today I decided to do something about it.

I forgot to take a before picture of the closet with everything in it, but here is most everything laying out on the bed:

Here are the shoes put back in nicely---Eric has decreased his shoe numbers to 9 pairs; I have 10, and 2 of those are slippers.

And here is the finished product...everything put back into place.

I put all the clothes back with the hangers reversed, so that we can see what we use. Eric and I agreed that after 1 year (next First Day of Spring) anything left with the hanger backwards would get donated. I can't wait to see!

This is the pile of stuff waiting for Purple Heart next month. I think Eric and I did a good job getting rid of things that no longer serve us!

Spring and Ice

Happy First Day of Spring! It was only 50 degrees here today. But still, we headed to our neighborhood Rita's Italian Ice Shop.



On the first day of spring, most Rita's give away 1 free regular ice to every customer, to celebrate the coming of warmer weather. We got the Mango--it was yummy!

Loyal Watchdogs

I ran some errands earlier today and came home to this:

Do you think they were waiting there for me the whole time? LOL Such great dogs!

Great Goodness...Great Falls!

We bought an external hard drive a few weeks ago and I've been slowly transferring my pictures over to save space on the C drive of our computer. Here's one of my favorites:




This was taken at Great Falls State Park, on the Virginia side (you can see Maryland on the other side of the falls). We saw this lovely scenery from the comfort of the hiking trail--we did NOT venture into the water! Too scary...well, for me!

St. Patrick and Kiki

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! And a very Happy 12th Birthday to our cat, Kiki! When we found her nearly 12 years ago, her age at the vet was estimated at 8 weeks, and the vet said we could pick any date we wanted for her birthday. St. Patrick's Day seemed easy to remember.

Happy Birthday and many more, Keekster!

Just Another Laundry Day

I had a day off from subbing, which hasn't happened in a couple of weeks. With the state testing going on this week, I guess the teachers decided they'd better stay in school! So today was a ketchup day--catching up on laundry--and my Tivo'ed shows. The kids brought down their sheets this morning before school and when I went to wash them, I found this inside the laundry basket:


Do you think this is Muffin's way of telling me she needs a bath?

Soaring on Eagle's Wings

My family had the honor of attending and participating in an Eagle Scout Court of Honor in our troop today. I represented the Advancement Committee, and JJ got to read the excerpt for the rank of Life. The ceremony was well-attended, and it was very moving.

The new Eagle Scout presented me with a gift, which was very sweet and totally unexpected.

This is a porcelain eagle, representing the rank of Eagle Scout. I was very honored to receive this.

I am looking forward to my sons' Eagle ceremonies! Hopefully not too terribly far off, either!

Pi, Anyone?

Today is 3.14--Pi Day. (Get it...pi=3.14.) In honor of Pi Day, here is a picture of dessert tonight:



I love Key Lime Pie!

Also in honor of Pi Day, here are a few of my favorite pi jokes:

Q: What do you call what happens when you cut a jack o'lantern by its diameter?
A: Pumpkin Pi.

Q: What do you get when you take green cheese and divide its circumference by its diameter?
A: Moon Pi.

Q:What do you get when you take the sun and divide its circumference by its diameter?
A: Pi in the sky.

Happy Pi Day!

No, Krusty, Not My Boys!

Here it is, another Friday the 13th in 2009. So far, so good today!

I don't have any new pictures of my black cat, but here's a really scary one from our Thanksgiving vacation:




This was taken at Universal Studios Orlando at the new Simpsons ride. This was the entrance. Yes, we were all eaten by Krusty! (Fun ride, by the way!)

Here's to You, Juliette!

Today is the birthday of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouting. March 12th is celebrated as Girl Scout Day. As a Girl Scout growing up in Georgia, I made several trips to the Juliette Low birthplace in Savannah. It was always so interesting to me...I loved Girl Scouts and went from Juniors to 1 year of Cadettes before the only troop folded and I had nowhere to continue. (That must be why I'm such a die-hard Boy Scout volunteer!) Anyway, I didn't take many pictures when I was young, but I did find this old picture from 1975 of me and my friend Yvette, taken in Atlanta when our troop took a field trip to the State Capital.

Yeah, yeah, I know...horrendous glasses! They were dark blue octogons. WHAT was I thinking?? But anyway, here I am, 12 years old, in my Junior Scout uniform.

Happy Birthday, Miss Juliette! Go, Girl Scouts!

Where Was His Barrel?

I was just reading about the guy who went over Niagara Falls earlier today. What a dufus! The article on cnn.com stated that the guy went over the Canadian Falls and was in the water for 40+ minutes, at 40 degrees or so. He was tethered to one bank. My family went to Niagara Falls last summer and had a blast! We took the Maid of the Mist boat tour and went right up to the falls. It was way cool! But go over them? Unprotected?



Yeah...I don't think so!

Spring is Coming!

One week ago today we had nearly a foot of snow. Today...

Ah, my daffodils are blooming! Spring must be on the way!

And This is Just the Front Yard!

Following on yesterday's tractor picture, here is some more flavor from rural Southern Maryland.


Here's a nice house on our main highway. But wait...what's that in the side yard? Right next to the house?



Yep...it's a barn and a silo! Right in the front yard!



Gotta love the country!

I Don't Think This Tractor's Sexy!

This tractor has been on the side of the major road in our very rural county for a few days now:

Everytime I see this tractor it reminds me of that country song, "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy". I think this one is a nice shade of blue and all, but sexy? Nah...well, I guess it would depend on the farmer who owned it! LOL

Shaq, Look Out!

Tonight was the awards ceremony for Nick's basketball league. It was very nice...lots of singing and dancing and all the kids received insulated lunch boxes as a thank you for playing with Upward Bound. Nick has now aged out of the program, as it only goes through grade 8. He's had a lot of fun and we have also, as we've seen him grow and improve over the years.

Here is one last shot of Nick as an Upward basketball player, with the Kings.

Yes, he made the shot!

Cool Cat!

Kiki is so cool. I previously posted a picture of Muffin, our chihuahua, looking through the bars of our stair railing, looking like she's in jail. Now along comes Kiki, another felon.

Watch out...she's trying to break out!

The Downside of a Snowfall

I do like a good snowfall. Our recent 11 inches here in southern Maryland was beautiful and a lot of fun. But here's what I don't like about snow: the after effects.

Ew...dirty snow.

Bare spaces...(it DID get up to 51* today)

Quick...bring back the pretty snow!

Ah....there it is!

Cold, Hard News

Top news headline of the day: Southern Maryland Frozen Over

Thank goodness I'm a subscriber!

Yikes, that's sharp!

It's another snow day for those of us in Southern Maryland...most of the rest of the DC area was on a 2-hour delay. The kids and I were happy to have another day off, although I'm sure we'll be crying when it's mid-June and we're still in school. The roads were clear enough to venture out for a bit, so we headed to the local WalMart and Blockbuster before stopping at McDonald's for a soda and then heading home.

Here are a couple of scary pictures from our travels:

This is outside the local Hallmark store. I don't think I'll be heading there anytime soon!


This is outside the McDonald's drive-thru. I'm so glad we were in the car!


These pictures remind me of that scene in the movie "Ghost" when the glass windows break at the end of the movie and bad guy Tony Goldwyn gets impaled with the shards of glass. These icicles look just like sharp glass!

I tried to get pictures of the morons who were driving around with 8 inches of snow on top of their cars, but then I would have been guilty of driving carelessly also. Folks, please! Clean off your cars and trucks of all snow...it's a hazard. And remember, if your license plate is not visible due to snow build-up, it's illegal and you'll receive a ticket.

That is all. This Public Service Announcement has been brought to you by Shutterbugs. :)

Anything can happen on a snow day

So yeah, we got a snow day today. 9 inches and it's still coming down, although only gentle flurries now. Here's life in southern Maryland today: this is how it looked this morning as it was still snowing.

This is the road leading from our street out of the neighborhood. Eric took this picture and it made it on CNN.com. Now Eric is an iReporter. :)

Here is the front of our house. I love this tree in our front yard--it looks beautiful with Christmas lights, and even more so with snow on all its branches!

Why don't y'all come out and set a spell? The back deck is nice this time of year!

March: Comes in Like a Lion...

Happy March 1st! March is definitely coming in like a lion this year! The entire east coast is having a snow storm...we here in the DC metropolitan area are expecting anywhere from 3-11 inches of snow. Hooray!

Here is what it looked like when it started:

Such huge flakes! And here we are a half-hour later:

It's a much finer snow now, but still coming down. And this is only the first part...the second storm is coming later this evening.

I'm thinking it's gonna be a 3-day weekend!