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.
__________________________

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.
___________________________

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!
____________________________

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.
_____________________________

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.
__________________________________

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.
__________________________

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.
___________________________

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.
_____________________________

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.
__________________________

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.
__________________________

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.
___________________________

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.
______________________________

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.
__________________________

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.
________________________________

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.
__________________________

 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.
______________________

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.
_______________________

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.
_____________________________

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.
____________________________

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.
_______________________

Two Years Ago on In My Words...Week 27 MCP Project 52