Where I relax

My hot pink Snuggie is WHERE I RELAX.  It doesn't matter where I am, if I have my Snuggie (and a glass of boxed wine, duh) I am relaxed.  

In case you were wondering (and you know you were!), the answer is no.  It does not get any classier than this, folks.

Toy

Out of all of the hundreds (literally) of toys I could have chosen for today's entry, I went with one of the oldest and most well-loved.  This TOY is my Winnie-the-Pooh from when I was little.  I've had him for longer than I can remember.  When I moved to Japan, he moved with me.  He has gone on every vacation I've ever been on (and once went missing for a week when the airline lost my luggage flying back from France...he rode in my carry-on after that).  I'm pretty sure that he went to the hospital with me when Lucas was born and again when Poppy was born 19 months later.  

When I was cleaning out my nightstand earlier this week, Lucas saw him in the drawer and said "Why is Pooh in here, Mommy?  I think he wants to sleep on your bed."  He couldn't understand why I a perfectly good Pooh was spending his days shoved in a drawer.  So he's been freed and is now happily on my bed.  Lucas and Poppy are much happier with this arrangement.  And it is fun for me to see my Pooh again. :-)

Feet

Here are my four favorite FEET.  ♥ 

And here's a flashback to my four favorite FEET on February 25, 2010.  Lucas was only 21 months old and Poppy was 2 months old.  

Where has the time gone!!?

Trash

I really thought I'd have a hard time coming up with a picture for today's subject of TRASH, but lo and behold, I checked the mail and all we had was junk.  Problem solved!  Now it's all chillin' in the recycle bin, waiting to be taken away tomorrow morning.  Well, all except for the OshKosh coupons.  Those never get thrown out!

My name

Here's MY NAME, spelled out in fridge magnets.  Lucas and Poppy were fascinated to discover this strange word spelled out on their easel when they woke up from their naps. ;-)

Key

When I first moved to Japan in October of 2003 (Wow, has it really been that long ago!?) we lived off base but got all of our US Mail at the Post Office on base.  This was the KEY that I used to check that mailbox for the first year or so.  Then it stopped working and the box got re-keyed.  I should have turned in this key, but nobody ever asked for it and I kind of liked it too much to offer it up without being asked!

Five years after leaving Japan, the little key that I used for my mailbox in Japan still has a home on my key chain.  Along with my base apartment key (Oops!  Though I never really had a chance to return it since my entire last day in Japan was spent at the British Embassy getting my visa!), and the replacement mail box key.  I'm probably on some sort of watch list on the base in Yokosuka now, since technically I've "stolen" three keys.  But is it really stealing if they never asked for them back?  Okay, okay, so it probably is but thinking this way allows me to sleep at night!! ;-)

Breakfast

Lucas and Poppy get to have a "picnic" BREAKFAST every once in a while.  They sit on a blanket in the living room and use their stools as tables.  The biggest treat of all is that they get to watch TV while they have their picnic.  Today, they watched "Dinosaur Train" while they ate their pancakes and French Toast sticks.  They were pleased!

Animals

Yes, I decided to go with three different ANIMALS for today.  A deer, a bald eagle, and a hummingbird.  These are three animals that we usually are lucky enough to see on a regular basis, but it never stops being exciting!

Moon

This is what we call a "Wee Baby MOON."  It was the New Moon today and just before it got dark, I went outside to see if I could find it.  After searching the sky until my eyes almost crossed, I found it!  And it was such a tiny sliver, I'm lucky I didn't miss it!  Although I did have a backup plan in case I couldn't find the big moon in the sky for my picture for today...

Here is my Poppy girl.  She's sweet and spicy and wild.  She has a birthmark on her right arm.  The first time we noticed it was when she was only two weeks old, so she really has had it since birth.  She calls it her "MOON" and she likes to kiss it.  She is my little nut. ♥  

Kitchen Sink

Here is my KITCHEN SINK.  I like that I have a window I can look out of when I'm doing dishes.  I'd like it more if I had something prettier than the side of the garage to look at! 

Delicious

Hello there, Lunch.  I had some DELICIOUS leftovers for lunch today.  I discovered a recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup recently (recipe HERE) and since I had almost everything on hand, I gave it a try.  Best dinner EVER.  It was so good and it was so easy it was ridiculous.  So I made it again on Monday, and today, two days later, it is still super tasty.  

I did modify the original recipe quite a bit.  I didn't have any beer the first time I made it, so I threw in a jar of salsa instead.  And then I skipped the tomato sauce since the salsa added so much more liquid.  The second time I made it, I added a small can of sliced mushrooms and served it with cornbread (and still skipped the beer, and used a jar of salsa again since it turned out so well the first time).  It will probably become a regular in our house.  Lucas likes to scoop it up with tortilla chips, and while Poppy isn't a fan quite yet, she may still come around. :-) 

Before / After

To celebrate the first full day of Spring, we bundled up (it was only 40 degrees, after all) and headed to Home Depot.  I let Lucas and Poppy pick out a couple of primrose plants and then I went totally crazy in the succulent section.  Since joining Pinterest recently and seeing all the different fun things you can do with them, I have totally fallen in love with the look of succulents.  All of them.  They just make me happy!  So for my BEFORE / AFTER picture, I took a picture of the two empty pots I bought for my new pretties, and my eleven new succulent plants.  Then I spent 30 minutes in the frigid cold (I should have taken Before / After pictures of my hands because they looked super scary by the time I was done) and got all of my little plants in the dirt.  They now have a home in my kitchen, where I can admire them all the time!

Funny

I let Lucas and Poppy toss some stale bread to the seagulls in our yard today.  This is super fun because they think it's hilarious when the birds all swoop in at the same time and start squawking.  Isn't the look on Poppy's face FUNNY?  Lucas was taking his bird-feeding job seriously, but doesn't Poppy look like she's conjuring up something super naughty?  This girl, she's one of a kind. 

A corner of my home...

This particular CORNER OF MY HOME is probably where I'm most productive.  It's not relaxing.  I don't have fun here.  But this is where I de-barf, de-dirt, and generally de-gross all the clothes (and towels, sheets, etc...) in the house.  I spend a lot of time here.  Sigh. ;-)

Green

Today I dressed my little darlings in GREEN for St. Patrick's Day.  We saw a rainbow and ate Lucky Charms for breakfast.  Oh, yeah.  We went all out for St. Patrick's Day 2012. ;-)

Sunglasses

We got lucky with a bit of sunshine just before lunchtime, so we bundled up, threw on our SUNGLASSES, and ran outside for some fresh air.  Poppy's shades were nowhere to be found, so Lucas, being the nice brother that he sometimes chooses to be, let her borrow a pair of his.  They were way too big, made her look like Elvis, and kept falling off her face. :-)

Car

This toy CAR is mine.  Between the 3 year old boy who loves cars, and the two year old girl who loves everything her brother loves, we have a ton of toy cars in the house, but this is the only one that doesn't get played with.  I bought it in Japan.  I had to have it.  It is a cute little Toyota HiAce police van, complete with Kanji writing on the door (which really does slide open, by the way!), and a red light (which doesn't actually work, sadly) on top.  I can't bring myself to share it with Lucas and Poppy yet.  I'm too fond of my little Japanese van to see what terrible things they might do to it...wash it in the sink, drive it off the kitchen counter, try to ride it like a roller skate...

Clouds

I'm so glad that the subject for today was CLOUDS and not Blue Sky.  With our current (miserable, disastrous, wet, cold, depressing, etc) weather, blue skies are hard to come by, but clouds sure are plentiful.  And so, without further ado, I give you the afternoon sky over our little Washington town.  Doesn't it look like we're about to be swept up in the Rapture?  Delightful.

It is apparent that Spring has not yet received the memo it's time to start warming up.

A sign

This is my most favorite SIGN in town.  It is probably one of my favorite street signs of all time.  It's right up there with "Caution: Elderly People Present" (complete with a picture of two old people hunched over, walking with canes) and "Humps Ahead!," which were both in the town where we lived in England.  I've never seen any of the otters this sign warns about, but I'm always looking.  For as cute as otters are, I'm sure they'd make terribly fugly roadkill, so I'm okay with not seeing any so far. ;-)

Fork

Sometimes, I get really wild and I stir my coffee with a FORK.  Oh, yes.  It's insane.  Most of the time, I go mainstream and use a spoon.  But occasionally I like to go a little crazy and bust out a fork for some stirrin.'  

Never a dull moment around here. ;-)

Someone I talked to today...

Having an iPhone is even better than I imagined it would be.  I get to play all kinds of ridiculous games, take fancy pictures, and use FaceTime.  My younger sister Holly is my SOMEONE I TALKED TO TODAY.  And since we were on FaceTime, I snapped a picture to share.  I had to make sure that my big, clunky camera was strategically positioned in front of my face.  To say that I was looking less than presentable would be an understatement.  But Holly looked cute enough for both of us.  It was good talking you (and seeing you!), Holly!


P.S.  See, Mom!?  THIS is why you need an iPhone!

Loud

These massive waves were incredibly LOUD at the beach today. ;-) Okay, so they weren't that loud.  Hell, they weren't even real waves.  I really should have used a picture of Poppy for the subject of "Loud" because she is the very definition of the word.  But we had a rare break from the rain, clouds, and wind and I really just wanted to show a picture of the gorgeous place we get to call "home"...until the Navy sends us some place new. :-)

Red

I'm extremely competitive when it comes to the neighborhood hummingbirds.  I know, kind of a lame thing to be competitive about, right?  When I saw that someone a few houses down had hung their feeder earlier this week, I kind of rolled my eyes and thought to myself "Fool, please.  It's way too early for that."  Then the joke was on me when I saw a hummingbird at that feeder yesterday.  So it was officially ON.  I quickly mixed up some food.  I use way more sugar than the recipe calls for because I think it's like crack and it keeps all the little birdies coming back for more (Does that make me a dealer?  Hmmm...) and even though my Dad told me I don't have to use food coloring, I like it when it's bright RED.  I hung my feeder out yesterday morning and by the evening we had a few brave hummingbirds coming around.  Today we had more.  So, I think I'm on my way to winning the neighborhood war (of which my neighbors are not aware, I'm really just a crazy bird lady) of who can attract the most hummingbirds.  

Window

Lucas and Poppy through the WINDOW to the playhouse.

Something I wore...

I couldn't decide what to use for today's subject, SOMETHING I WORE, so I went with three things.  My glasses (which are worn all day, every day), my Vaseline (worn on lips and hands when it's cold), and the fancy scarf I bought in Budapest (this scarf has also been used as the handle for our Ghetto Sleddo!). 

5PM

I may have taken the subject for today, 5PM, a little to literally. ;-) Here is the collection of clocks that live above the television in our living room.  We got these four clocks when we lived in England and needed to know what time it was where all our friends and family were living at the time.  Now we have Pacific, Central, Eastern and Japan (since Adam spends about six months out of the year there, we need to know what time it is!).  The OCD part of me is a little annoyed that I couldn't get this picture until 5:01pm.  But I'll deal with it. :-)

Smile

I know the subject for today was "a smile" but how could I ever choose one SMILE over the other!? ;-) So here are my two favorite kids, doing what they do best.  Acting goofy and smiling. 

Bedside

Here is my nightstand, or in other words my BEDSIDE table.  I admit that a fair amount a whole bunch of staging took place before I took this picture.  Most of the time, it is a catch-all for clutter.  In the process of de-cluttering, I found:

• 7 of Poppy's hair clips (I assume they were in my pockets at the end of the day and found a new home on my nightstand) 
• 11 bobby pins (or 14 if you want to count the three I sucked up with the vacuum...oops)
• $.13 (one dime and three pennies)
• a receipt from Target...from last October.
• an empty bottle of lotion
• 2 flashlights
• 1 Cookie Monster Band Aid (unused, thankfully)
• 1 lamp
• 1 post card of Prince William
• various other odds and ends...seriously, there was a lot of junk

It's kind of embarrassing to list it all out.  Maybe that will be my incentive to keep it nice and tidy (probably not, old habits die hard).  Now my nightstand looks so pretty and organized.  And that postcard of Prince William is now as it was meant to be...displayed proudly (and with love!) in a frame. ;-)

Neighborhood

Today's subject for the Photo Challenge was a bit tricky for me.  Our 'hood isn't much to look at.  It's military housing, so our street is essentially the same house, over and over, in various shades of neutral.  So, instead of taking a picture of that, I decided to take a picture of one of my favorite things about the NEIGHBORHOOD...the flowering trees that bloom in the Spring!  In a few weeks, this tree will be loaded with blossoms, but for now, there are only a couple for us to enjoy.

Fruit

Don't let the ugliness fool you.  This D'Anjou Pear is my new favorite FRUIT.  It's like a little piece of heaven.  I've never been much of a pear fan (except for the canned variety!), but on a whim, I picked up a bag of these from Costco a few weeks ago.  Holy smokes.  I feel like I've been missing out.  They are amazing.

Up

Here is my first entry for the March Photo a Day Challenge.  

Four birds UP on the power line.

March

I'm totally stealing this idea from my good friend Sarah!  Thanks for the inspiration, Sarah!  I'm ridiculously excited to participate in the March Photo a Day Challenge!!