Runs For Cookies Virtual 5K Report

Distance: 3.36 Miles or 5.41K
Elevation Change: ~90ft
Weather: 64 degrees, 10-15 mph, sun
Time: 48 mins

So I managed to get this virtual 5K done today. I did some geocaching afterwards so I was actually out walking around for about 2 hours but I knocked out the 5K first. I did 3.36 miles becaues the route I used was already set and I don't have a nearby route that is exactly 5K.

The weather was amazing...we are having unseasonably warm weather and on this way, we had some wind too, but that was okay because it felt great to be out in the sun in shorts and short sleeves. I am sure my body was very thankful for the Vit D absorption.

I didn't take any pics during the 5K portion but I did take a bunch while geocaching afterwards that I can post (see below). I don't post images of myself on here so I can't add any of those to this. Here is a link to my original post about this.

I only walked it today...since I was geocaching afterwards, I had a Camelbak on with equipment in it and jogging with it on would have been difficult and irritating. I didn't get my best time but I was in the ballpark for what I normally can pull off while walking.

Second cache found in cemetery

Location of fourth cache

Overall, it was a great day full of exercise and geocaching adventure. I am so glad I found the link to the virtual, perhaps I can add this one to my list of annual virtuals I try to knock out each year in between my IRL ones.
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Nine Years Ago on In My Words...Geocaching Peeve

POTD Day 24 Your Space

Today, this was my space. I finally figured out the best place to park and get into the local college track for exercise. I was spurred to do this because there was also a geocache nearby as well.

I did 8 laps around the track and then 6 times up the stadium stairs...not running, just walking. Right around the time I was finishing up, the track teams showed up for practice so it was perfect timing.

We are having unseasonably warm and dry weather, and I was determined to take advantage of the sun and the warmth. I am thrilled to now know the details of getting to the track because it is a nice change up from the exercise I do from the house.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Mission For Fitness

POTD Day 23 Bedtime

This is one of my favorite times of the day...I read for at least 30 mins every night. It is how I get my brain ready to sleep. I have never been one that can lay down and fall right to sleep. My brain runs and runs and reading lets me move my brain away from my day and focus on another world within the pages.

I have been doing this since I was a little kid...we had a bedtime, but we could "stay up" later if we were reading in bed. It is so much of a habit that even if I am up super late, I have to read for a just a few mins to get my brain and body ready to sleep.

For a short period of time, we tried doing the tv in the bedroom before bed, and I found that I wasn't reading at all. I have a hard time concentrating on a book when tv is on. While we still have a tv in our room, we don't watch it before bed anymore...it is mostly there for times when one of us is sick, or if we are working on something in that room during the day and want to see it.

I took this picture of my Nook right before bed with one of the books I have from the libary on it. I used my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and added the fuzzy border.
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Five Years Ago on In my Words...15 Books

POTD Day 22 Nice

This little munchkin is my cousin's youngest. He is a lot of fun. I took this pic at the park we go to sometimes after we have walked around the Grower's Market, so he can have some out of stroller time. There are volleyball courts there that the kids like to play in, and that is why he has sand on his face.

As many kids of his age, having a picture taken is completely normal and being able to look at it immediately is expected. He holds still, smiles and poses on cue. It is quite hilarious. His mother and I look a lot a like in our baby pictures so it is no surprise that her kids also resemble us when we were that age...it is fun to watch the progression as they get older and start to take on their own individual looks.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash and probably no macro either. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Silent Secretary Project

POTD Day 21 Blue

I took this pic today while out exercising. We are having unseasonably warm weather and I took advantage by not only getting some yardwork done but also going for a quick walk to burn off some calories. I was able to wear shorts and short sleeves, which was truly amazing and I am sure my body willl be thanking me for not only the exercise but also the sun on my skin.

The problem with unseasonably warm weather is that we have not even had close to the amount of rain that we need to have in order to have a decent summer. We had a very dry year last year (records) and so far this winter has been very dry too. We are actually back in Fire Watch/Warning because the forests are so dry around here.

Anyhow, this little pansy is the first flower I have seen, and while it might not survive the entire winter, it was fun to see a little bit of spring in the middle of January.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but with macro enabled. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light, color and added the fuzzy border.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...She Figured It Out

POTD Day 20 To Do List

This is the To Do List I created for our house that contains all the stuff that we have purchased for various projects that need to be accomplished before we can warrant buying anything else. As we get things done, I strike out the items and put the date next to it. I am a "checkmarker" and thoroughly enjoy every chance I ever get to make a checkmark on a list.

I even created the house blog so we could track our progress there and document our projects. Just one more list...LOL.

I took this image with the Windows Snipping Tool on my laptop, and then edited in GIMP 2.6 to add the fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...A New Way To Look

POTD Day 19 Breakfast

A while back, I decided to change some of my eating habits and one of them was to get more protein and eat less processed food. I am not doing Paleo or Atkins...I still eat things have starch in them, but I limit what kinds of starches I get, and I try to minimize chemicals and processing.

One of those changes meant breakfast food. While I am a firm believer in eating breakfast and eating something not sugar filled, I almost always had some kind of bread with breakfast (usually a bagel or a English muffin) with a protein. Always a cup of coffee. When I made the changes, I took the bread aspect out of it for the most part, added fruit, and two glasses of lemon water.

So this egg white scramble and grapes is a typical breakfast for me. I try to mix it up a bit so I am not eating the same thing everyday and so I am not getting too many egg yolks a day either. Some mornings I have a protein drink, or an apple with almond butter but when I want something warm, I head to this egg white scramble.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash with the macro enabled. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and added the fuzzy border.
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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...Strange But Comforting

POTD Day 18 Happy Place

Beaches...gosh I love beaches! This pic was taken while collecting seaglass with one of my girlfriends while we were in Japan. Beaches have always been a calming and relaxing source for me. I love everything about the beach...the water, the sun, the waves, the sand, the seaglass...etc.

When we lived in Japan, we lived 2 blocks from the beach. I saw it everyday and now that I only see it in pictures, I miss it so much. Both times we lived there, we had to drive along the beach just to check our mail...we actually probably didn't appreciate that we had the beach there for the taking each and everyday.

It gives you perspective when you lose something you didn't realize was so important to you. These days, the beach is a 3 hour drive...thank goodness we have lakes and rivers to help with the withdrawls...

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash, macro enabled. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Six Years Ago on In My Words...Ocean

POTD Day 17 Tiny

Recently this fruit has become quite a favorite of mine. Family friends have posted YouTube videos showing the easiest ways to open and deseed a pomegranate. Eating it with a spoon is so fantastic compared to one seed at a time. You get this delicious mouth full of juice after the pop of the seeds...and it is lovely.

I ate half a pomegranate as a snack tonight and it was delightful and very good for me too!

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash and with the macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light, color and then added a fuzzy border.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Fruit Bats Galore

POTD Day 16 Sun

We are pretty lucky in our weather here...we really only get clouds when a storm is coming in. Winters are clear and crisp...even if it is cold, the sun is usually out.

We do see a far amount of fog during the early morning and the evenings but that sun still shines through the middle of the day. Sometimes it fools you into thinking that it is much warmer outside than it really is...LOL. Like today, it looks like it is could be in the 50s or even 60s...but no, it is in the 30's...but the sun sure makes it look warm and fun out there.

This pic is from our back door looking across our back porch to the beautiful sunshine hitting the deck and yard. You can see the hammock that gets lots of use when the temps are a bit warmer...LOL

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash on our back porch in the afternoon light. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and added the fuzzy border.
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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...Two Suns

POTD Day 15 Black And White

I discovered these notebooks in college (read that as "forced to use"), they eventually became something I completely depend. I use them for all sorts of things other than just college composition.

I have one I use for my writing projects, one for my computer builds and settings, several that I have for my journals, another I used for my computer classes, or any other classes I take, one for keeping track of things about the house...etc. I have even an minature one I keep in my golf bag that I keep my golf log in.

They are awesome because they are bound so they don't fall apart like spirals do, they are compact and easy to transport. I get them in lots of colors and different exteriors but I still favor the standard black and white comp books most of all.

I took this  image with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash, with macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Just Stuff

POTD Day 14 Three Things

Since moving on from electrical projects around the Bamboo Lagoon, plumbing has become my new "passion"...LOL. We had some substantial water damage a while back and lost a vanity in our lower bathroom.

So a new vanity has been purchased, but can't be completely installed until we get the floors redone. I want to do a "rough" install just to make sure that everything is going to fit before we commit to this particular vanity.

Well, on top of that, the faucet in the upper bathroom is almost shot, so I thought that putting the same one in there would be a great improvement. So here is the new faucet, a tub of plumber's putty and the faithful Channel Locks...

These three things seem to be filling my project days, and it is cool because I am always willing to learn something new.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 without a flash on the new vanity in the downstairs bathroom. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...And The Hits Keep Coming

POTD Day 13 Makes Me Smile

This pic is from a while ago, but it still makes me smile to see some of my girlfriends on Skype...we don't get to coordinate it often, but when it does happen, it is always a time filled with giggles and stories!

I actually have been slacking on the Skype scene, and I probably need to be better about it. I have it on both computers, but I don't normally turn it on, on the laptop, because it slows the wireless down a bit and I would rather be doing it on the regular PC. Unfortunately, I am not on the regular PC as much as I used to be, which is why I don't Skype as much as I used to.

Anyhow, seeing the group of girls here (even if we are out of focus and in questionable light) is loads of fun and we should definitely do it more.

I took this pic as a screen capture on my personally built computer running Win 7 with a Logitech webcam. I did edit it in GIMP 2.6 to balance color and light and remove names.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Trying New Things

POTD Day 12 Colorful

Cooking Thai dishes is one of my favorite things to do. Cashew chicken is a relatively new one to me, even though I have had the recipe staring at me for ages. Once I made it the first time, I was hooked. And now even if I am checking my calories, I can enjoy it over spring greens instead and still not feel deprived.

I love that the recipe I have calls for red bell pepper because it makes it so pretty and cheerful! This is one I can easily bring to bunco or family get togethers because it has no heat (chilli) to it at all.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but definitely macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light balance and then added the fuzzy border.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Yummy In My Tummy (oh how I miss Coco Ichibanya)

POTD Day 11 Looking Down

Golfing is one of my favorite pasttimes. I am not good at it, but I still enjoy it very much. I haven't been playing that long so I try to get to the driving range when I can. For the last few years, the only time I really get to play is when I am visiting our grandpa in Nebraska but the driving range is still a lot of fun.

This pic is from my first trip to our local course and driving range last summer. We have a smalll 9 hole in our neighborhood even though our house isn't actually on the course itself. It is nice to have it so close, but somehow, I don't manage to get over there as often as I would like.

As soon as it warms up a bit, I plan to make it more of a priority since it is great exercise and really makes me feel good.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Nine Years Ago on In My Words...Golfing

POTD Day 10 Man Made

In the winter between 2003 and 2004, my husband and I went to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. We had both been to Thailand many times at that point, and were there that December to help one of our friends celebrate his wedding, but figured while we were there, we would see some of the parts SE Asia that we had never seen.

So we made a trip from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia and stayed there for four days touring all of the Angkor Wat area. We found this awesome driver the first day and hired him to show us around during our stay. Heang was great and we had some of the best experiences, and most of them were off the tourist agenda. We visited almost all of the temples and surrounding areas that we could manage in the four days.

We filled up our camera cards up the first day or so and ended up finding a shop where we could offload to CD and then free up our cards for more pics. It took me months to get through them all when we got home and get them labeled correctly. This shot is one of the guardian statues along the North Gate of Angkor Thom. There were thousands of faces through the entire complex created out of stone, and the amount of work that must have went into all those temples is just mind boggling. It really is one of the wonders of the world, and we are both so honored to have seen it.

I took this image with my JVC GC-QX5 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light and color and then added the fuzzy border.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...My Towel Animals

POTD Day 9 Natural

There are these really cool trees in Portland that everyone calls Smoke Trees...I think the real name for them is Cotinus coggygria, and I am not sure the if the smokey look is considered the flower for the tree or not. I just know that they look pretty cool when they get all "smoked" out. It seems, if I remember right, that they are a bit of a mess when the smokey stuff drops down, but I never actually had one myself, just saw a lot of them around so I could be wrong on this.

Anyhow, this one was on campus at a school I was taking classes at and I really wanted to see how a macro of the smokey parts would look. I think it came out really cool, even though it doesn't resemble a tree or even part of a tree at all...it looks more like a galaxy to me, but that is okay, because I am completely fine with taking macros that are abstract and can be whatever you want them to be.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash but macro on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Five Years Ago on In My Words...Solar Eclipse

POTD Day 8 Lucky Number

I don't think I really have a lucky number but the number 5 and variations of seem to show up a lot in my life. So I guess I would say that the number 5 is my favorite number rather than my lucky number.

Five was the first number I ever had when I started playing soccer and I seemed to end up with that number through much of my soccer career. My birthday is on the 23rd, which when added together equals 5. My first serious boyfriend in high school wore the number 23 on the basketball team. I tend to roll 5s well in bunco.

I don't know that the number 5 has helped me win anything before, except that it was on my back when I would win games on occasion...LOL.
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One Year Ago on In My Words...At Least One Thing

POTD Day 7 Upside Down

So I if you haven't notices, I like taking macros...I like the perspective of things from up close. The details that we miss when we don't look close enough at things. I also love the look of old metal or painted things. I have made two cards from images I have taken at an old fort in Washington State.

So this one is from a great wrought iron gate on the front of a family crypt at this awesome cemetery in Portland. We were out geocaching for the day and needed to find something on this crypt, which is one of the things that I love about geocaching. It almost always takes me somewhere I wouldn't have gone otherwise and to see something new.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but the macro turned on. I edited in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and to add the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Geocaching Craziness

POTD Day 6 Happens Everyday

The image for today is supposed to be something that happens everyday, and I thought of a few things around the house that would fit the bill, but then decided that one of the big EVERYDAY things that comes up for me is enjoying the nature around this area.

We are lucky to have grown up and now be living in one of the most beautiful places. This particular pic is from one of our biggest rivers and the one that our valley is named for but besides this river, we have many others, as well as lakes, mountains, and forest. In fact, I am hoping to go snow shoeing at one of our National Parks that is only an hour and a half away.

Sometimes I don't have time to get out into the nature but I can see it all around me and sometimes it is just a matter of enjoying the nature in our very own yard...which is what I did today (yardwork...LOL).

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited the image in GIMP for color, light and a fuzzy border.
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Thirteen Years Ago on In My Words...Seawall

POTD Day 5 Found

Today was a weird day. I woke up to hearing all the chimes on the porch clanging together. I looked out and the sun was out and there was no frost on the ground. I checked Weather Underground on my phone and it said it was 43 degrees out (which is unheard of at 7am in January here). So I got up and went out back to check our porch thermostat and it said it was almost 50 degrees in the shade. I was blown away...it was almost balmy.

I texted with my SIL who lives about 10 miles away and she was at 24 with fog and frost...25 degrees of difference in 10 miles with no real elevation difference. Crazy. Later in the afternoon we got close to 60 degrees so I decided to take advantage and turned off the heat for the house and opened up a bunch of windows to circulate in some fresh air. I also decided that I absolutely had to get a walk in for the exercise and to absorb some vit D from the sun.

I was able to go on my walk with shorts and a long sleeve running shirt. So I took this shot of my legs because I FOUND them today...it was the first time they have seen the sun in weeks and it felt great. I managed to get in 60 walking lunges too so I will be feeling some muscles tomorrow. I wasn't even 1/2 mile into the walk and was feeling all the benefits of the vigorous exercise as well as the sunshine...it was amazing!

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash in the afternoon sun on our pool deck (the only spot that still had sun for my photo idea). I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light, and added the fuzzy border.
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Last Summer on In My Words...Driving Some Balls

Runs For Cookies Virtual 5K

I saw this on one of my friend's timeline on FB and thought, why the heck not? So I am signed up to do another Virtual 5K on the 25th of this month....perfect motivation for me at this point. Let's just hope that it isn't artic outside that day since this one doesn't have a window of opportunity, just the day of.

This sounds like fun, and really the only requirements are that it needs to be 5K distance and you need to take some photos and post about it...sounds like something I can totally pull off...LOL

Today is such nice weather (given that it is January in the PNW), that I am going to do some outside exercise this afternoon and might even open the house windows for a bit to get some fresh air in here even if the temp is chillier than the house temp is.
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Last Year on In My Words...Storm Rising

POTD Day 4 Words To Live By

This word is the one word that directs all the actions in my life. Loyalty, consideration, love, and so many others stem from this word and what it embodies for me. I expect integrity from those I have in my life, and I hold myself to that same standard. I just don't have the time or the inclination to deal with anyone that lacks it.

On that note, this image is not mine. I found it on the web, photographer unknown, and then I edited it in GIMP to crop and border it. I wish I knew who the photographer was so I could credit them...it is a great shot.
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Four Years Ago on In My Words...Looking Back

POTD Day 3 My Town

I took this pic last year during a hike in the hills above our home town. It has a nice view of the valley and I couldn't resist. This was a new trail to me, and it smoked my ass...but it was a fun discovery and opened up an entire area of trails to me.

My hometown is situated in the valley between two mountain ranges which makes for some awesome weather and some beautiful scenery. We have a ton of outdoor activities due to the river, lakes, mountains and forests nearby.

In all the places we have lived in over the years, this valley has always been home and some place we wanted to come back to.

I actually took this picture with my Nokia E71 phone, and then edited in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and adding the fuzzy border.
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Seven Years Ago on In My Words...New Cabinet (that J made for our fish tank)

POTD Day 2 Begins With G

This is one of my favorite Stash teas...super yummy. Ginger has so many beneficial properties that having it built into a tea just seems reasonable. I generally have a cup of hot tea midday in the colder months and this one is terrific.

Stash is one of my favorite brands of tea...I have one of their herbals, but mostly I drink their black teas (Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Chai, Ginger Breakfast and Double Chai). I have some loose teas (Thai, Ocha, and some herbals) but these teabags are fabulous when I am just making a cup for me.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix with no flash but macro enabled on our kitchen counter. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light, and added the fuzzy border.
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Eight Years Ago on In My Words...Gross!!

POTD Day 1 Lunch

Today is the first day of a new month of Picture of the Day...which means a new list located here at Fat Mum Slim's site. Lunch was an easy pic for today because I knew at breakfast time what I was going to eat since it was leftovers and needed be cleared out of the fridge.

This is laab gai which is a Thai dish that I LOVE to make. I tend to not make the sticky rice that is supposed to go with it because I am trying to limit the amount of starch I eat, but I have gotten quite used to just eating it with cabbage and cucumber slices...protein and veggies!

I can make this from scratch but tend to do it from ground chicken plus a packet of seasoning I get at my favorite Thai/Vietnamese ingredient store in Portland. If I can't get there, I have family that can get things for me and send them...

Today is the first day back on the fitness bandwagon and that includes logging food, watching what is eaten and getting at least an hour of exercise/house projects done a day. So after a week of not logging, I am back at it.
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One Year Ago on In My Words...At Least One Thing

POTD Day 31 Celebrate

I am not a huge New Year's Eve kind of girl...in fact, it has been years since I have stayed up for the ball drop. When we lived in Japan, we had a big function we would go to, but since then, I haven't seen midnight on New Year's Eve.

So my idea of celebrating involves earlier in the day options. My mom and I have been wanting to watch the newest Hobbit movie and we decided to make an afternoon of it. We ran to the theater early to get our tickets (we learned the hard way on the last Hobbit movie), and then headed off to lunch.

We went to a local brewery that is close to our house and had a great hamburger, salad and pint of beer. We played some Bananagrams while we waited for food and then after eating for a bit.

We headed to the movie with perfect timing, and since we were full from lunch, opted for no popcorn. The movie was great. There was a bit of a temperature issue but we both had our coats so we just covered up.

Overall, a great way to celebrate the new year!
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For October

POTD Day 30 You

Anyone that knows me face to face or reads my blogs, knows that I am pretty careful about posting pictures of myself online. Even on my tightly locked down FB account mostly has only pictures of me from college or earlier and I tend to untag myself in anything more current than that. So for this image requirement, no one should be surprised that my pic is of my feet (or shadow).

My sister started this trend of taking pics of feet...her feet at different locations. Over the years, we have lived far apart so I started taking pictures of my feet in the different places we would travel to and now it is just habit.

This shot is from this past snow storm. We didn't have any snow left in our yard but I was able to step into some snow in the neighbors yard to get one last pic. I am wearing my Keen Delta cold weather hiking boots. I am in love with these boots. They are super comfortable, and my feet never got cold, and I used them for the entire week that we had snow and ice on the ground.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash. I edited the image in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Shutter Sisters For January

POTD 29 Reflect: Best Bit of 2013

This is a pretty hard POTD because there are always about a million "best bits" of the year, but one that sticks out in my memory is my cousin's visit in July. We hadn't seen each other in at least 6 years, and I was thrilled that he was making the rounds through our neck of the woods.

He brought his daughter, who obviously has grown a ton in those 6 years and has turned into an amazing young lady. They stayed at our house during their visit even with the construction mess. We were able to eat at a couple of great places, enjoy some good microbrews, get them tickets for an awesome play (thanks Uncle Laurie), and hang out in "nature" as much as possible. I have a new found adoration for goats thanks to my little cousin's amazement of all things hoofed and cute.

We are both Chicago Bears fans, so we even spent yesterday evening texting back and forth as our Bears were losing a clincher game to the Packers. His family lives in Las Vegas so during any cross country trip we have taken, we have always stopped to see him, but it was nice to get a chance to show them around some place new. I don't think he had been in our area since he was a little kid traveling with my aunt and uncle.

I took the picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light, color and adding the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 2 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 28 Something Awesome

Born in 1921, this is the last of our grandpas. He still plays golf three days a week, and is in the senior league at his golf club in Nebraska. I fly out to see him at least once a year...hopefully finances will allow for more trips in the coming years. I try to spend about 5 days there, and help out in whatever way I can while I am there. He and his girlfriend Joyce live in a cute little house in a small town. We have other family that lives in nearby states so we all get to keep him busy with visits.

When I viist, we play golf together, in fact, he made the clubs I play with. While I was there this year, we played three of the four days I was visiting...the weather was awesome (compared to last year when it was really too cold). We played at his club twice and then eighteen at another course nearby. It was a ton of fun and a great workout for both of us.

He definitely falls into the category of awesome things. He is a great man, and I cherish every minute I get to spend with him. I try to send him and his girlfriend Joyce snail mail at least once a month. He doesn't write much anymore (although they did send a Christmas card), but I enjoy sending them cards and postcards when I can.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 without a flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 3 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 27- What You're Doing Now

Traditionally we have always done puzzles during the holidays. They sit on a table off to the side and we work on them diligently or in passing as the holiday passes. It is never the same people working on it at any given time. The last few years, we just didn't have an extra table to do this, but this year we decided we would figure something out. So we got puzzles that were small enough to fit on Gma's coffee table. The first puzzle that we got was a Route 66 puzzle, and we finished it in 2 days, so we picked up a second one the day after Christmas and have been working on it ever since.

This one is twice as many pieces but still small enough for the coffee table. It is a bunch of doors and it has turned out to be a much bigger challenge.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash but with macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for color, light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 5 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 26 Where You Slept

So this is a pic of me in one of my favorite sets of pjs. They are ESPN pjs and they are super cozy and I love wearing them in the winter.

I am laying in the bed before getting up and moving in the morning and thought I would snap a shot. I usually take some time when I first wake up to check my phone for the weather and news while my eyes adjust to the light...LOL

I am also wearing these really thick and cushy wool socks, that I love to wear in the winter. Feet stay warm, so warm in fact that sometimes the socks get pulled off in the night.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash and macro turned on. I autocorrected it in GIMP 2.6 and added a fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 7 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 25 Best Bit Of Your Day

This day had a lot of great parts...but one of the best was playing this game with the family after gifts were opened.

I got it for my mother in law because she is a great game person and she always brings awesome games to all our family events. She had never played this one before and we played 5 games in a row.

I am thinking of buying a copy of it for us too because it is so fun and so easy to do.

On other fronts, having breakfast with the family, seeing all the great gifts Grandma got from across the country, and getting a chance to talk to those we couldn't be with, just made the day even better.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash, with macro turned on. Autocorrected for light and color in GIMP 2.6 and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 8 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 24 Wrapped

I didn't have a lot of wrapping to do this year since we didn't do family presents but I did decide to make cookies for some of my family and they really needed to be wrapped.

So I did these cellophane bags over disposable Christmas plates. Added candycanes, tags and a little snowman clip to them and they were ready to go.

I have two boxes that need to be mailed that have some gifts in them so I did end up doing a bit of wrapping but it wasn't under the Christmas crunch pressure.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with flash turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 for light and color and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 12 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 23 Tradition

I do these every year. The last couple of years I have done them out of printer paper, but in the past, I have done them from colorful origami paper, and wrapping paper, just to mix it up a bit.

I think I do them similarily to those we did in school a million years ago. I do the two triangle fold and then make an ice cream cone out of it. I start cutting at that point.

Origami paper in different colors is a lot of fun and super easy and economical. You can get the packets of paper for 100 yen or dollar store. It is super thin which makes the cutting much easier. And usually on pack has several different color options so you don't have to waste any if you don't want to.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50 without a flash, near the window in the living room. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light, and then sharpened a bit and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 18 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 22 Sparkle

There were things around the house I could have used for today's word, but since I needed to get a virtual 5K done, I thought I would see if I could find anything outside that fit the bill.

Amazingly, this was one of the first things I saw and I loved how the afternoon sun was glistening off it. We had 8 inches of snow on the 6th and some of it is still on the ground, which is so out of character for this area. I am guessing by tomorrow it will be hard to find any.

We were actually all the way into the 50s today and if we get another day like that tomorrow, it will be gone. The nights are still below freezing but that won't be enough to keep it around.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light, then added a lens flare along with the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 19 MCP Project 52

Jingle Bell Hell 2013 Race Recap

Distance: 3.36 Miles or 5.41K
Elevation Change: ~90ft
Weather: 52 degrees, 3 mph winds, sun
Time: 46.3 mins
Laughed: Yes
Hell: Yes!

Okay, so I have known that I was going to do this race for a while. The time frame for this one was Dec 14th-22nd. I had lofty plans to do it the first weekend as training for the IRL 5K I had on the 21st. This did not happen.

On Dec 6th we got 8 inches of snow and then a week of below freezing temps made the roads completely impossible for any kind of athletic running or walking. I did do a lot of tromping around in the snow in my snow boots but none of that counted towards this. So the weekend of the 14th, things were just too icy still and plans throughout the rest of the week to knock it out (and get training for the IRL 5K) just didn't work out. I do not have access to a treadmill so that was never an option for me.

So yesterday, I did the IRL race in the morning with three of my family members. It was the first time I had ran in two months and considering that it was in the 30s and overcast, I think I did okay. I ran a large portion of it and ended up with an average time for me.

This morning I woke with a lot of muscles in my legs and torso letting me know they were unhappy with me for exercising yesterday, but I decided to ignore them. I knew that the exercise today would only be beneficial for the soreness.

So this year, I can't say that the weather or music circumstances were my Hell since both worked out well this year. I did have to choose a less desirable route only because I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to run into any lingering ice. This route doesn't have as much elevation as my normal virtual route does but it has more sun so I knew it would be better for safety reason. My hell for this year was just the fact that I had to do this race the day after completing the IRL race and my body and muscles really didn't want to cooperate and that was a challenge but I powered through and feel lots better for it.

My laughter came because in all the times I have done this route in the past, I rarely ever come across other pedestrians. The area of town I am in doesn't have a lot of pedestrian interest like our quaint downtown area does. Today, not only did I have to leave the sidewalk and run in the bike path a few times to avoid ice, I also had to do it to go around pedestrians. On top of that, I came up behind, not one, but two smokers today (which just sucks the life out of me until I can get by them)...and that is what gave me the final chuckle...not a chuckle of joy, but a chuckle of "just my luck".

I am glad that I was able to complete this virtual race, even with the sore muscles and not running all of it. Anytime I can get exercise knocked out in the great outdoors, I am thankful.
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Last Year on In My Words...Jingle Bell Hell 2012 Race Recap

POTD Day 21 On The Door

This is our front door wreath for this year. The bow, bells and hanger are reused each year but I like to do a fresh wreath. This one has done well so far, but that is because it has been super cold here. With the dark grey front door on the sunny side of the house, I was expecting this to dry out really fast but the weather prevailed.

In the second pic, you can see the garland with red balls we have along our front balcony. After New Year's Day, I'll put the red balls away, but leave the garland up through the winter because it looks pretty and smells great. You can see that the lights around the garage door are already on. I turn the lights on in the morning since they are LED lights so not only do they not get hot but they don't use as much energy. I have a timer for the garage door ones so they don't stay on at night, and I don't have to remember to go into the garage to turn them off each night.

I found a cute little metal bell that has a picture of Santa on it while I was at the Grange Co-op the other day and I have it hanging in one of the front windows. While I was there, I also found the new ornament for the year. I buy one for us each year and write the year on it, if it isn't already on it automatically.

I hope to get some snowflakes cut out from white paper later and put on our front windows. I  have loved cutting out snowflakes since I was a kid. You always get something new and unique each time.  I leave these up through the winter too...nice to have some decorations after the holidays.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 20 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 20 I'm Listening To

the cackle of the Duralog in our fireplace...it doesn't produce a lot of heat but the ambiance is awesome! I get two different types, one that burns about 2 1/2 hours and another that burns around 4 hours...and depending on what time I decide to put one on, I pick the particular log. This way, it will be out before bedtime and the fireplace glass can be closed against the cold.

We do the Duralogs (and variations of them) because the fireplace is not really efficient enough to mess with cutting, splitting and burning wood. If it is was a woodstove or even if the fireplace was internal to the house rather than being on an outside wall jutting out of the house, it would be worth all the rest of it.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with the flash off but the macro on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 with auto correct for color and light and then added the border.
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 Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 21 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 19 'Tis The Season To

create...usually I would be busy making cards for the coming year but since most of my card making stuff is not here, I make due with what I do have. This means making cards from my photos and making blankets, scarves and other items from yarn.

Two of my nieces are having babies in the spring, so while I was at Michael's the other day, I stocked up on yarn for both of their baby blankets. What was really cool was that they were having a great sale on my favorite yarn so that took about 1/3 of the price off the purchase.

I took this pic with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited in GIMP 2.6 to auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 22 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 18 Big

I was having a bit of a tough time with this...especially since I was running all day and the POTD was on the back burner.

I recently ran out of the glucosamine I usually take and had to buy new ones...and I thought the calciums were big. Obviously the macro makes the tablet look even bigger than it actually is, but they are larger than the calciums. Lucky for me, swallowing a tablet isn't a very hard thing for me.

I know this looks like a lot of pills but really it isn't. The flintstones are chewable, and the double tablets are just the dosage for the calcium and glucosamine. The bright yellow one is a b-complex...that is it, all the supplements I take on a daily basis. Keeps me heatlhy and fit.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash, and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 to auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 23 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 17 Tree

We have had some rather normal weather for this area as well as some that is not so normal. We have a lot of clear cold days here during the winter, with clouds usually only proceeding a storm. We can get snow, but usually not a lot and it doesn't stick around for long. We do see days filled with fog at times, and we are not strangers to black ice either.

As you know, we have had a lot of snow in the last week or so, and then it has stuck around because of the cold temps we have had. Now we are experiencing quite a bit of fog, and because of the cold temps, freezing fog (which is a lot of fun).

The other morning, I was on my way to a small job, and while it was sunny at our house, it was very foggy a few miles away. I had to pass a cemetery on the way and I just had to stop and get some shots in this really cool spot. This image is one of them...the trees just looked so cool with the freezing fog on their limbs and the fog in the distance.

I took this with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6, auto correcting for light and color and then desaturated the image to shades of grey and added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 25 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 16 Makes You Feel Merry

I enjoy getting cards and letters from friends and family through the holiday season. Usually I hang them along a door frame or on the edge of the tv stand...but this year, I decided to drape some twine above the fireplace to hang at least some of the cards as they came in. I will have to hang either another line of twine or tape some along the tv stand if we get more of them in as the current twine is almost full already.

I have a couple more cards to send out, and then I am done...I managed to get out the long distance ones at the beginning of the month so those few I have left are only local ones.

I brought the live tree in from the garage (where I had it climatizing for a day or so) and decorated it tonight. Now the only thing left is putting the garland on the front balcony rail (but I won't have it for a few more days). It is a bummer that we didn't get the garland when we were supposed to, but the fundraiser that they were purchased from didn't get them on time and then we had the snow storm that hindered everything else. I won't be getting them this way next year, that is for sure.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with no flash and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 26 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 15 Lights

Decorating for Christmas this year has been a gradual process. I still don't have the garland for the front railing because of the crazy weather we have had the last week so that item is still left to be done. I also don't have the tree decorated yet, but that is because it is a live tree and it was on the front porch when we got the snow and ice and I didn't want to bring it in and have it go into shock and die on me. So I waited until the snow melted off and I put it in the garage for two days so it could climatize a bit before it comes into the house. So I will be decorating it in the next day or so.

I have put up our wreath on the front door, and I had lights in the two livingroom windows done, but I hadn't done the lights around the garage (because it was just so cold outside), and I hadn't done the ones in the office window because it required a bit more time than the other windows had needed. I put up the gel decorations on the sliding glass door in the livingroom the same day that I did the livingroom windows.

Well today, after tackling some yard work, I decided it was time to get the garage lights done. They really didn't take that long to do and I have them on a timer so I don't have to remember to go down and turn them off at night. Once I got back in, I decided to tackle the office lights too and now they are done as well. For the office lights, I had to remove a hanging plant and the blinds to put the lights in and then put the blinds and the plant back...I had really  just stalled on it because it was more time consuming but it really didn't require that much more effort.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 27 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 14 Drink

These two items are things I drink every single morning...I try to have at least two glasses of lemon water to start my day off and of course my one cup of coffee w/1 tsp of raw sugar and almond milk in it. I try to be diligent about getting enough water in the day so the two glasses right off help but I don't always succeed in drinking enough at the end of the day.

I need to be better about bringing my water bottle in the car on errands so I get in enough. I did a diet a few years ago that required a lot of water drinking, and I found that my skin and overall body felt so much better when I was drinking enough, so there really is no excuse...it is the easiest "good" thing I can do for myself.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 29 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 13 Composition

So this is the first pic that is actually about photography itself. I tend to take a lot of pictures using the macro setting because I love seeing the details of things that we see everyday but rarely seem to notice. This shot is not one of them, but I loved the old stone staircase and leaves and snow and the fog swallowing up the top.

I read both the Fat Mum Slim post on Composition and this other one I found by Googling. Photography in general has a ton of different rules, techniques and recommendations that help to make those of us that aren't pros into decent photographers. I probably could read more about it than I do and I am sure that my photography would improve if I did.

Anyhow, this pic was taken in the afternoon of the first day of snow...we were up in an old cemetery on a hill and that explains the low clouds/fog. I like the most of the color was sucked out of this image.

I took this with my Fuji Finepix f50, no flash. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then added the fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 39 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 12 Joy

This little guy just turned 2 (as evidence from the chocolate cupcake on his face), and the smile and chocolate are both JOYful to me. He is my cousin's youngest son, and a ton of fun. He is at the age now where he is starting to turn into his own person and is learning at lightening speed.

He is starting to talk up a storm (which also means we have to be careful what we say around him), and knows more way than we give him credit for. He knows how the whole birthday thing works and actually kept blowing out the candles before we could get the song finished...LOL. He seemed to really like opening presents and seemed to really appreciate the gifts (more than just the paper)...LOL.

Potty training is on the agenda these days, thankfully as his Auntie-Cousin, I am not reponsible for that...LOL.

I took this image with my Fuji Finepix f50 with the flash on. Edited it in GIMP 2.6, using auto correct for color and light and then added some magenta back in, and added a white fuzzy border.
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 42 MCP Project 52

POTD Day 11 Green

Green is one of absolute favorite colors...I love to wear it the most...in fact my sorority in college had green, white and purple as its colors. How is that for destiny? I tend to buy things in green as well...not necessarily household decor, but items like Kleenex boxes, storage totes, pottery, china, and of course plants! As you can see, I managed to find these weights in green too...that was purely by accident though...green was the only color the 5lb weights came in.

I have these sitting on the floor near the TV stand in our livingroom because I use them all the time, and if I were to put them in the weightroom with all the other fitness equipment, they would never get used or I would spend a lot of time bring them up and down the stairs. I love that they are covered in a rubber-like substance because they don't rust, and they aren't loud when clanked together. I sometimes take them on my walks so I can do bicep, tricep and shoulder exercises while walking...they are very versatile.

I took this picture with my Fuji Finepix f50, with no flash, and macro turned on. I edited it in GIMP 2.6 using auto correct for color and light and then I used the blurring tool to blur around the edges a bit...
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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 44 MCP Project 52