It’s Deer Season

Well, it’s bow season at least.  Cody’s hunted one morning for the past two weekends.  He’s kinda hoping that he see’s this guy.

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But of course, you can’t eat the horns. 

Of course, for Cody. . . the socialite that he is. . . it means a chance to talk and hang out with every one on the lease.

And more of me waiting on him to quit talking. . .

and talking. . .

So we can get some work done.  We added a couple bags of corn to the feeders and checked the cards opening weekend.

The game camera captured this one.

We lvoe our game cameras- they capture so many things- like this little guy (or gal)

Cody was not feeling the camera thing- trust me, I didn’t even try to capture a shot of us kissing using the game cameras. . . (See this moment here when I busted him the last time.)

He wouldn’t give me a chance to get the sunglare figured out. . . Should have posted the one with the glare right over his nose that makes him look like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. . .

Of course, I’m not sure I can totally blame him. . . he did have a little bit of other work to do- but not too much.

December Daily: December 12-16

Wow!  It’s been a busy week!  Here’s updates for my December Daily:

December 12:

Journaling reads: He's home. Cody got back from the deer lease leaving his familiar black bag in the living room. It seems like that bag is a fixture in our lives these days with all his trips to Austin and New Waverly this year. Of course, now with hunting season there are even more piles and messes but I'm always glad when he's back home.

December 13:

Journaling reads: He's home. Cody got back from the deer lease leaving his familiar black bag in the living room. It seems like that bag is a fixture in our lives these days with all his trips to Austin and New Waverly this year. Of course, now with hunting season there are even more piles and messes but I'm always glad when he's back home.

December 14:

Journaling Reads: Once again, we chose children from the angel tree instead of exchanging gifts with family. Five kids and lumpy fishing and hunting items made me remember how much I really don’t like wrapping presents. . . it’s not by any means a talent of mine. But, the gifts all got wrapped before NCIS came on and date night began and that felt good.

December 15th:

Journaling Reads: Cody took these pictures as I baked cookies for the Troops that Cody would see tomorrow at the strip. I love these pics- they show just how at home I am when cooking. Speaking of home- today I ordered a necklace with my 2011 one little word- Home

December 16th:

Journaling reads: Finally, we had a chance to get our tree. We wondered around until we found our own little slice of a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. We always do- the perfect tree doesn't exist on this hill where we always get our tree. Now to decorate it.

December Daily: Dec 7-11

Well, it’s safe to say that I got a wee bit behind on my December Daily pages- which I finished tonight.  But, I’m not behind on taking time to enjoy the season and this project. 

Here’s my pages up through tonight and a slice of life this last week.

Dec 7th

Really? So I forgot to unplug the truck one morning last year. Two notes! Perhaps one, but two. It was the first time I've headed for work when the truck was plugged in since this spring, but I don’t think I needed both reminders from Cody before he left town. But perhaps I did. If nothing else this one made me smile.

Dec 8th

Dec 10

Cody was off early today so he went to the grocery store, came home and packed, and went hunting. When I got home after work, there were three Little Debby Christmas Trees on the counter. I knew Cody was in the blind so I texted him.

And Lastly Tonight- Still can’t believe Pominville got in a fight. . .

Tis the Season- Hit Him!I was in the spirit tonight- not exactly the holiday spirit- but it was a fun game to watch even if we lost. I could be heard screaming- Make 'em pay, shoot the Puck, Hit him! Score! This is the Season!

Dec 9th

December Daily: Dec 4-6 and Extra pages

Wow!  It was a creative weekend and a creative evening to say the least!  House got cleaned, Christmas Decorations up, Several Creative Projects completed or nearly done, and I got to spend some quality time with Cody.

Here are my next three December Daily Pages:

December 4

 December 5

 December 6th:

Then I created these pages to go in between every few pages.  They have some of my favorite Advent/Christmas hymns. . .I’ll probably create some more. 

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel

Savior of the Nations, Come

God Loves Me Dearly

Agree to Disagree: Major Arguement #2

I suppose it’s official.  Cody and I will just have to agree to disagree. . . . like we finally settled the Pete Rose argument- just agreeing to disagree.

We’ve always disagreed on this matter but lately it seems we’ve spent more time discussing.  It all started about a month ago when Cody was offering to fix me something for breakfast when I didn’t feel good.   He definetely said the wrong thing . . . . Grilled Cheese.  Why would you offer to make Grilled Cheese for breakfast?

Grilled Cheese is a lunch or, by extension, dinner food. . . But never a breakfast food.  He must be totally crazy.  But, his take is that it’s breakfast food and that we eat it for other meals just like we might eggs or pancakes.  I beg to differ on this point.  Or that perhaps we eat lunch for breakfast like we do breakfast for dinner.  I cannot and will not agree with him.  Grilled Cheese is not for breakfast.

The truth is just the thought of the lunch food for breakfast just turns my stomach.  I tried to explain it to him- imagine having meatloaf for breakfast or spaghetti or pot roast.  It just doesn’t sound good, does it?  So that same goes with grilled cheese for breakfast.

Cody’s perfectly happy with Grilled Cheese for breakfast.  I’d like to know who tricked him into believing that Grilled Cheese was breakfast food.  I’d have to assume it was either his mom or dad. . . I need to have a talk with his mom to see whose to blame for their son’s errant way of thinking.

So, we’ve had this debate.  We’ve asked our friends what they thought. . . Still nothing has settled the argument.  We’ve agreed that we’ll just have to disagree. . . . But, of course, I still hold out hope I’ll win him over to my side of the arguement such as in the case of Pete Rose.  Until then, I’m perfectly happy to make him Grilled Cheese for breakfast (I’ll admit it’s super easy and he does like it that way) but please, don’t ask me if I want Grilled Cheese for breakfast again!

(A Short Aside- I think he fixed eggs for breakfast that morning, but then he fixed me a grilled cheese for dinner- with some leftover bacon we had cooked up.  It was totally delicious.)

Lunch, Leftovers, and Lowe’s

And Fountain Cokes! But that doesn’t start with an “L”.

Yesterday’s lunch was a typical lunch. Except rather than leftovers we had hot dogs. . . another usual lunch. For those of you who know Cody, you know he loves his fountain cokes. So each day, after he walks over to my office and we eat whatever leftovers we have, we make a run up to the corner store.

Most days, we have time to kill before our lunch hour is over. The most common activity. . . . wandering Lowe’s. We go to Lowe’s just to wander at least three times a week. We really don’t have too many other choices.

You never know what we might look at. Well, except that we almost always go by the mis-matched paint. Sometimes we might look at appliances so we’ll be prepared as ours go out. Sometimes I dream of better ceiling fans. Quite often, it’s the PVC pipe. . . where Cody plots a protein feeder. And if it’s not the protein feeder, very often it’s other projects or supplies for the deer lease.

Yesterday, after looking at the storage stuff, the metal for my craft room, and paint, it was Tool World. It started off looking at sanders (which we actually own one somewhere in the garage) but Cody got off track quickly. I used my 365 project as an excuse to kill a little time taking pictures.

And truthfully, I was glad to capture a moment from our everyday typical lunch routine.

Being Childless Sucks, Life Doesn’t

When I blogged about how being childless sucks Wednesday, I received several words of encouragement which I did appreciate. But, I guess what I failed to get across in that post, is that it was just a moment. . . They come, they go. Sure, being childless hasn’t stopped sucking. But, it’s not the only thing in my life.

I honestly didn’t share about that moment when I searched google for those that know me, but rather because I know that there may be others I don’t know who feel the same way and are looking for something to perhaps validate their feelings or just someone who understands. (OK, that’s a really bad run on sentence whith far to many “thats” in the beginning, but you know, it’s a blog not a term paper)

You see just because being childless sucks, it doesn’t mean that life does. All-in-all, I’ve got a great life. A house over my head, a loving husband who truly spoils me, time to be creative, a job, etc. (Since I just made a long list New Year’s Eve, I spare you the long version ’cause I have a feeling this post is going to be long enough.)

(OK, in proofreading this, this next part is going to seem really off topic and a rambling tangent, I promise I’ll be bringing it back around.)

Last weekend as Cody and I were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary, we discussed a new class that I want to take. This morning as I thought about that class, I realized that my hobbies all seem to piggy back on themselves. Last year, I spent a lot of time learning more about photography and taking pictures. This year, I’ve gotten back into scrapbooking. This new class is about organizing pictures with a scrapbooking purpose (well, that’s just the surface.) One of the assignments before the class starts is to go through your digital pics and printed pics and put them in chronological order. I’m in luck since my digi pics are all in folders my month and year and named by the date and a sequence that keeps the approximately 16,000 pictures in order. . . not to mention digi pics can be sorted by date/time taken. But, our printed pics, that’s another story. The class talks about not trying to do all your pictures but a portion so that you can learn the process and then repeat with the rest later. So, I decided to just tackle the years from when Cody and I met until we went digital- Fall Semester 1994-Deer Season 2003. (Another tangent. . . Deer Season, you may be wondering, why I associated that. . . Because I got my first digi camera on the way to the Campwood and I remember taking tons of shots along the 8 hour drive there. Looking back now, I realize it was purchase and trip that would change my life.)

So this week, Cody and I have been sorting those printed pictures. We really don’t have that many. They filled two plastic shoeboxes longwise (aka short side so that the pano shots would fit). It was so much fun to remember those days. We really enjoyed looking back. We were both amazed at how young we look. . . even though we don’t feel that much older today. In many ways, despite the things we’ve gone through, we’re still like newlyweds or perhaps even those kids in college. We’re still like those two lovebirds in those pictures- two lovebirds who got married and watched as their friends got married, two lovebirds who used to eat on the floor in Etoile, two lovebirds who have watched their nephew grow-up, two lovebirds that have seen great vacations, two lovebirds that met in college, moved to Corpus Christi, and came back to that college town. We’ve been blessed. I’ve been blessed.

And, I realize just how blessed to live in the digital age! We narrowed that lot of pics down to just a little over one box. Purging a lot of awful and failed shots, I realized how much I benefit from being able to instantly see my pictures. Going through the so-so pics, I realized how much easier it is to take advantage of learning photography in a digital world. Looking at how few pictures there were compared to fewer years of digital, I realized just how glad I am that I don’t have to pay for film and processing.

Some Things are Hard To Explain: These aren’t snowballs

Cody and I were getting alot accomplished today. We’d had tunes on while we worked. At some point, we both ended up in the living room. I was just beginning to sort and fold socks when Ed Burleson’s “Dead Skunk” came on.

That’s probably the first hard thing to explain. It’s a song that sticks with you once you’ve heard- at least if you’ve driven in Texas. It’s a song that I’ve heard and loved for years. This year, I downloaded it and finally Cody got to hear the song. He thought I was nuts but now, when he sees road kill or smells a dead skunk, guess what he begins to sing? Seriously go look up the song- Ed Burleson, Dead Skunk

So, the song came on. Cody, for I don’t know what reason, decided to make a “squished/ Squat” sound with his mouth. There were the socks, right there. I told him I ought to throw them at him and he told me not to. . .

I spent a few seconds thinking about it but all I could come up with was, “why not?”. So, then we got in a “food” fight with socks instead of food. It was like our favorite Wii game, the snow ball fight- only with socks. So, there we were throwing our white “snowballs” at each other across the living room, scooping them up, and throwing them again. I told you some things are hard to explain.

And, since we are working together to get a picture a day this year, of course, we had to document the shenaigans. When it was all said and done, there were socks all over the living room and into the dining room.

It’s not often you have the time to just be this goofy.

It Wouldn’t Hurt Nothing

It was several months after Kenny Chesney released his song “A Lot of Things Different” before I started painting the rooms in our house.  It’s something Cody knew I would do eventually and every time we’d hear this line in the song, he knew I was getting closer to painting.

She wanted to paint our bedroom yellow and trim it in blues and greens
But I wouldn’t let her, it wouldn’t of hurt nothing

I knew what color I wanted for the kitchen and the dining room (or so I thought at the time).  I had picked out a yellow for the kitchen similar to oen we’d painted my parent’s sunroom.  I picked out a matching blue for the living room.  I knew I’d paint the ceilings a couple of shades lighter. 

But there was this brochure at Lowe’s that contained this one color.  D61-1 Morning Fog.  I thought I liked it but I really wasn’t sure.  It wasn’t a color I’d have chosen.  It was totally different than any direction I would have chosen.  It kept calling to me.  And, as I would think of painting our bedroom in the color , it was that line of Kenny Chesney’s song that I’d hear, “It wouldn’t hurt nothing”. 

In the end, I went for it and have never been more happy that I tried something different.  I love the color.  It takes on a different hue in different lights.  It’s bright yet calming.  I’ve since repainted my kitchen D61-1, Morning Fog, and re-painted my living room a matching color (smoke screen) from that same brochure.

I’ve always said that when, if ever, we get our next house, which we’d plan on building, the entire house would be D61-1, Morning Fog.  And recently, I’ve come to realize that I have no idea why I have to wait on some pipe dream to have the walls in my home be D61-1, Morning Fog.  “It wouldn’t hurt nothing.”

When we got the trailer at the deer lease and I looked at all the old paneling, how dark it was inside, and the different surfaces, I knew immediately, I’d be painting the interior D61-1, Morning Fog.  Cody knew, “It wouldn’t hurt nothing.”

Next, D61-1 will be making further appearances in my home.  I should have enough paint leftover from the trailer to paint both of our bathrooms in Morning Fog.  After I finish that painting and recover from the fun that is painting, I’ll be starting on the living room and the hallway. 

I love D61-1, Morning Fog.  It hasn’t hurt nothing.

October Began With A Trip Down South

We were just down there in July.  But when Coralyn told us that her brother passed away, we knew we’d make another trip down to Corpus Christi.  Cody says it totally messed up his average since before July, it had been a really long time since we were there.   It didn’t matter as we knew we needed to be there.

Since I’ve become a Hotwire fan, I checked out Hotwire and found I could get a 4-star hotel in the waterside area for less than I could get a hotel out by him mom.  (So far, I’ve only hotwired 4-stars because you don’t know what hotel you’re getting and 3-stars can be a lot of different things.)  And most of our activities would be in town so the htoel would be closer.  I checked out what 4-stars were in Corpus and thought we would be across from the seawall.  NOT! We were across the Harbor Bridge- Yipee!  (And on the beach, but we’re not beach folks).  Cody did take it better than I thought he would- probably helped that we’d stayed at the hotel, under different ownership, over 10 years ago.  We had a great room and I always enjoy watching the ships and the tugs come in and out of the port. 

I counted 13 tugboats while I was there.  (Much fewer than I remember seeing in the past)

Our room was not directly overlooking the beach. . . Instead, we had a bit of an angled view- of the beach, the Lady Lex, the Corpus Skyline, the Harbor Bridge, and the Refineries.  Our balcony was excellant for some night shooting.

We had a chance to catch up with Cody’s cousins and that was really nice.  The last time we saw his second cousins, the oldest was 1. . . now 10!  And there were three we’d never met.  We also learned that their dad, Cody’s uncle, wanted to be in Coralyn’s wedding that he and his wife had a second wedding in a Catholic church.  (And that their mom had to convert from Baptist to Catholisism to do it.)  I barely knew his uncle but heard some great stories.

We also spent one late night catching up with some friends we hadn’t seen in years!  That was lots of fun. . . and it was another chance to see how quickly kids and families grow.

We managed to squeeze in some time for the Aquarium.  Literally, we had 1.5 hours Saturday, so we made a run for it. . . OK we walked.  One of the things that stuck out with us was how hot and humid it was.  And windy.  I remember the wind, but neither of us really remembered it being that nasty hot and sticky. . . in October none the less.  On our walk to the aquarium from the hotel, this is what Cody’s hair looked like.

On our way to the aquarium we really worked hard to keep the sand out of our shoes.  We really aren’t folks that enjoy sand. . . though we did take one walk along this beach.

We wound up getting a membership at the aquarium and snuck in another 1.5 hour trip on Sunday.  We always loved the aquarium.  With two trips and the fact that we had other pics of the aquarium, it was an excellant chance to practice some photography.  And a challenge in some of the darker areas.  The otter exhibit has always been one of my favorites and we spent lots of watching them- even saw a girl drop her cell phone into the otters water.  The otters pounced on it. . . a new toy.  We also arrived both days just in time to see the last dolphin show. 

One really huge ship left the port while we were at the aquarium. . . I mean really huge!

Like the distortion. . . they had a dome thing you where you could stick your head “into” the one of the tanks.

Cody took these next two shots of me. . . in the tank. . .

Just for mom:

The aquarium highlight though happened with about 10 minutes before the aquarium closed in the viewing area underneath the dolphin tank- where they held an impromptu underwater show practice.  Oh my goodness, to see the dolphins interact and their faces.  It was amazing.

All of these pics are unedited except for sharpening done when uploading.  We took over 1500 pics which of course have been edited down tremendously but I haven’t had a chance to even begin editing them. And as you can see by the number of pictures posted here. . . I’ve had a tough time narrowing down my favorites.