7 for 7...I'm in Heaven

Woo Hoo! Seven pictures taken 7 days in a row in my Project365 venture. Now, I know I said to myself when I started this that although perfection would be lovely, it was not, in fact, the goal of this exercise. Frankly, I've had quite enough experience with the pursuit of perfection in my earlier days and it was highly overrated. Here's a lovely bonus of getting older: I'm started to not give a crap about the "shoulds" in life and that is NOT overrated. Not even a little bit

In case you're interested, my week went something like:

• Sunday: Transformation through Expressive Art at Salve Regina. The tree was outside our building.
• Monday: Submitted first homework assignment (first time in a loooooong time) for class
• Tuesday: While searching for AA battery, I realize Real Simple mag maybe right...my junk drawer might need organizing
• Wednesday: View from window at Mr. Dooley's for lunch. So cute and yummy.
• Thursday: Loved this little tree that was keeping me company while waiting for an appointment. (I'm thinking I have a thing for trees. I take their pictures a lot.)
• Friday: Big Apple Farm for apples (Photos of first pie of the season to come)
• Saturday: Lunch with Hubby and Son (Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy! Fun with the teenage Boy) You'd think he could smile. We are feeding him after all.

Well, it's Sunday night and there are no Pats on. The team has the Bye Week so the Hubby is home and we got to go to a Lax Showcase with the Boy at Endicott College today. Is it just me or are these campuses like resorts? I sooo want to go back to college if not for the access to unlimited Captain Crunch cereal 3 meals a day. (They've probably removed the unhealthy food from the dining hall anyway.)

Photo365 - Week 3

Well, I got my Week 3 post just under the wire. I actually remember snapping a pic 5 out of 7 days. It's funny, when my day starts and I review what's on my agenda on a given day, I actually think about moments that would be great to capture. But then I get there and I completely forget so I end up snapping a photo of something totally not sexy (I actually considered photographing the laundry pile). I want to portray this image of my life that is blog-worthy, but then real-life gets in the way. It's like my life as filmed by a reality TV film crew vs. my life filmed by a not-so-well-paid nephew. I imagine that when the cameras are off, the Karadashian girls spend a good part of their day cleaning out the linen closet, too, right?

In any event:

Sunday: Found me in my happy place: on the sofa watching the Pats with the pug, Rocky
Monday: I sew this adorable apron out of fat quarter. Love it!
Tuesday: Apparently a blur
Wednesday: While looking for something else in the attic, I stumbled upon these Halloween decorations I made last year. Yay! (Can't remember if I found what I originally went looking for, though)
Thursday: Apparently a blur...again.
Friday: If it's Friday night, it's soup night from SoupWorks - the Lobster Bisque is amazing.
Saturday: 1st day of my Transformation through Expressive Arts class at Salve Regina. The campus was crazy gorgeous.

Off to write, clean, knit, homework, drive, cook...

Photo365 - Week 2

The end of the weak (Oops, I meant week...must have been a Freudian slip so I'll leave it) finds me stuffed up with a sore throat and the deep desire to close my eyes and sleep until sometime on Tuesday. At least the Pats beat the Jets. I am proud to say that I've complete Week 2 of taking a picture a day. Ok, so I missed Friday, but nobody's perfect. In case the print on the page is unreadable, it says:

Sunday: Why is trash day so tedious. (Seriously...I hate trash day.)
Monday: Workout day at Koko FitClub
Tuesday: Connor's haircut gave me 20 minutes of reading time (Pure bliss!)
Wednesday: 2nd day of homemade apple crisp (with local apples no less)
Thursday: Spent the day in NH with my parents and the bro-dog, Malcom
Friday: Digi-scrapped photo I took in NH (Connor loved these cows when he was little)
Saturday: Starting to get a cold (In bed by 7:30...feeling like an old person)

Happy Week 3!

Half-Baked

While driving to New Hampshire yesterday to visit my parents, I saw a man pulled off on the side of the road. He was staring down at his car engine, no tools or movement that I could see. He was using his hand to hold up the hood with his forehead leaning along the edge for additional support or maybe he was hoping physical contact with the car would help him divine information from it.

I know how he feels, except for me, I'm standing over the open skull of my 16 year old son, peering down at it, hoping the answer to fixing the problem will be obvious and fixable.

I don't know if you've looked at your car engine lately, but when I looked at mine, the only recognizable things were the radiator and windshield wiper fluid caps, and the oil and that's only because they had those cute little pictures on it. Without those, I could easily find myself pouring windshield wiper fluid into the radiator. I'm not even sure if the radiator has a specific fluid. I know it needs something and without it, there are problems, but I wouldn't bet on me knowing what that was without consulting my father or Google.

I had to consult the manual to open the hood for the picture!

I've had these conversation with my son recently that swing from highly enjoyable to down right frightening. He seems to be operating with a level of good information combining with the urban myth of the privileged suburban teenager. Case in point: If you are at a party where there is underage drinking, the police are not allowed/do not arrest kids under 15.

Really?

When I tried to tell him that in fact, the police arrest kids under 15 quite often, he didn't believe me. What about juvenile hall, I asked. Not for drinkers, he said, without wavering.

Really? Note to self: lock your son in the attic until at least 18.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Motherhood is not for the faint of heart. I look back on the days when I was praying for just a moment to myself without him climbing all over me. Now I wish I shove him back in the womb so his teenage brain has a chance to finish baking without him having to suffer any consequences for just being a teenager. In the meantime, maybe he'll let me lean my forehead to his forehead and I can get a little insight to what's going on in there. On the other hand, maybe I don't really want to know!

Photo365 Week 1: In with cake, Out with a bang

One week ago yesterday was my 42nd birthday. I've seen various Photo 365 project on different blogs and websites. The challenge is to take one picture every day for a year. It looked like a pretty cool thing and participants seemed to get a lot out of doing it and my birthday felt like the perfect occasion to try it out. I did a little research and decided to download the Photo365 app (there are a several good options actually) thinking I'd have a better chance of success if I used my camera phone rather than the big clunker. Hopefully, I'll remember to snap a pic everyday, but let's face it, some weeks will be better than others.

I'm always feeling the need to "Live My Best Life" (thanks a lot, Oprah), but what I'm starting to realize is that although my "best life" is happens in the big, sexy moments, most of my authentic life happens in the everyday, not so sexy, sometimes truly mundane moments. And since there are a lot more of that stuff, I'd better start celebrating that or I might miss most of my actual living.

So, here is Week 1. In case the print on the scrapped page is too small, it reads:

My Birthday fell on a Sat this year.This should have been a good thing, but Fred had to leave for Buffalo that day.We had dinner at Davios on Fri, which was absolutely amazing from start to finish.Watched the Pats on Sunday, delivered my first batch of Knitters Knecklaces Mon and took Rocky to the vet Tues.Ended Wed night knitting.Thurs brought my mums into blossom but Fri night was wild.Around midnight, I heard glass shatter.I happened to be on the phone with Fred who heard it, too.I called the Police and they found the culprit. A sun catcher popped off my kitchen window into my sink.