Wednesday, September 30, 2015

American Fun Fact



Of the six American flags planted on the moon during the Apollo Space Program, five of them are still there. Sadly, the very first flag, placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong in 1969 no longer flies.

Astronaut Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt, American Flag, and Earth (Apollo 17 EVA-1) by NASA/Eugene Cernan - NASA website. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.

The last flag deployed to the moon was larger than it's predecessors as it used to hang on the wall in the Mission Operation Control Room. And, yes, that's Earth there above the flag.


Monday, September 28, 2015

Super Moon Lunar Eclipse


So yes, I followed the lunar eclipse. I didn't sit out in the yard for two hours, but went out every so often to see its progress. So here are my not-so-great photos.

Taken shortly after nine p.m. That bright spot is the last bit of the moon going into the shadow of the earth.

Taken shortly after eleven p.m. As you can see the moon is coming into view.


Taken at eleven thirty. There's still just a smidge of moon still covered, but it was definitely time for bed.

At six thirteen this morning in the western sky....

And again at seven thirty...

Did you follow the eclipse?




Friday, September 25, 2015

TGIF


We've survived another week on this journey we call life!

I've had a pretty productive week, except Tuesday. I was a slug on Tuesday and got very little accomplished.

But it's the weekend again and I have a handful of things I'd like to get accomplished.

What about you??? Big plans?



Wednesday, September 23, 2015

American Fun (?) Fact


Not that I want to encourage anyone, especially youngsters to smoke, but did you know that is it completely legal for minors in the US (and some parts of Europe) to smoke...?
(Image from Wikipedia: "Marlboro4wiki2" by Nikita2706 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via
Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marlboro4wiki2.JPG#/media/File:Marlboro4wiki2.JPG)


Yep. It's only illegal to sell them the cigarettes!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Recycling Teabags...


Running a little behind today, but here I am finally. Also had a bit of a brain fart of what to share, but something came to mind at last!

I saw this idea on Facebook and decided to give it a try and surprisingly it's worked the two times I've tried it. As the post title says...recycling teabags...

But for what you ask...

For getting rid of bugs. Yep. Once my first few used tea bags dried out, I set one on the kitchen window sill where a small spider had taken up residence. Within a few days, it was gone.

Then Saturday, there was a party of ants in the bathroom. So I grabbed two plain and two mint teabags and placed them strategically in the bathroom. This morning...I only saw one random ant. I'll keep a few on hand and continue to test the theory, but so far so good. Also, mint is supposedly more effective.

If you've tried it, did it work for you?


Friday, September 18, 2015

Happy Friday!


I'm definitely glad it's Friday...I know, I know, who isn't usually glad it's Friday, right?

But it's been a tough week for DH and I'm glad it's at an end. Not only did we have one of our (two) techs on vacation, but DH was hit with a ton of forensic work, so he'd been going on mostly fumes until last night. He was able to get a full night's sleep finally.

Now, me...my week hasn't been quite that awful. It started off last Sunday with a lovely three plus visit with my dear friend, Nancy. We always have such rich and varied conversations and I can always count on her to be supportive and excited about my fan girl proclivities. Not everyone gets it, but she's been a fan girl herself so she knows whence forth I come! Thanks, Nancy!!!

One of the things we talked about was cross stitching. Nancy used to create patterns for publication a few moons ago, so she's a great critiquer and resource. Anyway, I've been creating original cross stitch patterns and contemplating selling both the completed project as well as the patterns themselves on Etsy. My hand graphed patterns wouldn't be good enough quality to scan and sell, so I researched cross stitch pattern making programs for the computer and found a couple, made a choice and purchased it.

Then of course I had to play with it, and once I got it figured out and one of my patterns created, then printed--what a rush to see my pattern looking all official!! I giggled with glee. I really did. So I've been stitching and digitizing my patterns for the past couple of days. Look, a quick example...it's hard to see and looks much better in physical reality.


Tomorrow is also writers group so I'm excited to see my writer peeps and catch up with them. Our visit was cut short last month as I had another event and had to skip our meeting after the meeting.

So...it's Friday. Hope you have a super weekend!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Fall is creeping in...


The day's heat hasn't had quite the intensity and the overnight temps are dropping into the mid-60s and morning ball with Rayna is quite delightful. The leaves of one tree have started to fall as well. I'm definitely ready to cut back on the running of the AC and will have my windows open anytime the temperature are conducive.

This past weekend, I bought these leaf dishes at our resident Michael's...cute huh?



When I pulled the stickers off the bottom, I read that they are oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe, so DH had a wicked idea--pumpkin cake baked in them! Sounded like a great idea and since I had all the makings of pumpkin cake in the cupboard, I went for it!


Not too bad looking!

No sprinkles yet, but as those don't make much difference taste-wise...

Hope you're having a great week.


Monday, September 14, 2015

One last post about my trip...


After Seattle, DH and I traveled to Omaha to see another branch of my family...

Back in February, my babiest sister gave birth to my nephew six weeks before he should have arrived. Her amniotic fluid was so low, he was safer out in the world than inside his mommy's tummy. Anyway, all's well that ends well and baby Colton is doing just fine. But I wanted to see him before he was no longer a baby.

So here are my nephews and me...


Colton on the left and Austyn on the right.

He's a super happy baby!
(Being held by DH.)


In addition to seeing my nephews, I also went to see my dad's grave.


I'd bought a half dozen patriotic pinwheels here in Texas, but, alas, forgot to grab them on our way out of town so had to do with the paltry offering of the local big box store. But better than nothing!

It was great to see everyone, but I'm glad to me home again, home again, and back to my regularly scheduled routine, my own home (BED!), and of course, the dog. :)



Friday, September 11, 2015

Visiting Sonshine...


Now, the only reason I even got to go to Seattle was because DH was invited to speak at a conference at Microsoft's headquarters, but we flew in a few days before the conference so that we could hang with Sonshine.

On Saturday, he showed us around the base a bit--his dorm room, his ship (from outside the fence only), and the NEX (Navy Exchange, like a department store) and commissary (grocery store)--before we headed back to the hotel and just hung out and enjoyed each other's company. Sonshine wanted his Xbox One from home, so the boys were able to spend quality father/son time together. :) I just soaked up Sonshine's presence.



On Sunday, we took the ferry (to say we did it) into Seattle and visited the EMP Museum.




The museum was a hit with one and all.

 Sonshine, next to wall painted like a Mario screen...one of his first video game loves.


 Costumes from Star Wars, obviously, one of the exhibits.



The Chuck Jones animation exhibit...


And while we didn't go up in the Space Needle, we saw it, as it was right behind the museum!


After the museum, we had our perfect meal as mentioned in Wednesday's post.

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The Perfect Meal


About a month ago, I was asked on one of my social media groups what the perfect meal would be and with whom I would want to share it...

Well, for me, it was more about the who first and the what second. The most important part was that I was able to make it happen.


A week ago Sunday, DH, Sonshine and I enjoyed pizza at The Rock in Seattle! Now I just picked this place off a random Internet list, but it couldn't really have been more fitting, seeing as how Sonshine loves music so much. I'm a bit partial to it too.

The three of us - picture taken graciously by our server.

There were album covers all over the place and the upholstery on the booths sported song names...


Even the liner papers for the take home boxes was musically themed...though I can't find the picture of that. :)

And not as important as the company, but the pizza was delicious!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Home again...

It's been a crazy ten days as I've been traveling! But I'm back and ready to share some pictures. I can't share everything because of some of the things going on in the world. I don't want to put my son or any of our military in danger.

I saw my momma for the first time in  sixteen years and that was such a wonderful treat! It was hard to say goodbye at the airport.

Here we are...the same but sixteen years older.


More on Wednesday!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

American Fun Fact!


This week's fun fact is that in Montana, cows outnumber people 3 to 1!

(Image from Wikipedia)
Crazy, huh?