Underwater. Finally.
Swimming and taking pictures. Under water! It works. LifeProof. Total Water Protection. Definitely worth the money. That’s from Kentucky too. Swimming in the pool. I will just put these other pictures up and then move on. Obviously, the next one below, was altered into black and white and collaged.
My daughter experiments with all the photo technology to see what she can create. All the pictures were, and are, taken with the IPhone. Makes me want to swim or go on vacation or something. As it is, I have to go to my job again, so I guess I’ll just pretend that I am showering in the tropics somewhere, getting ready to have a fruity drink on the beach, instead of driving to work. Later.
Guess What This Is
My usual boring stuff can wait for another day or so. Especially when my girl sends me much better things to share. I almost can’t believe this colorful guy was just walking around, in view, waiting for his moment of internet fame. He’s from Kentucky. Appears to be several years old. May be single. Hard to tell because he took all day to get across the road. The camera loves him. I don’t know. I’m just making all that up. Here’s his head shot:
He was sent to me without comment. Along with some underwater pictures that I will put up next. Then, back to my regularly scheduled programming. Unless…my son sends me something later too. You definitely want to keep checking back for all this mystery and excitement. Do we need the sexy side view? Chilling on the side of the road? Of course we do!
This Happened Last Night
I don’t really follow hockey, but apparently LOTS of people where I was hanging out last night, do. This was driving around the neighborhood and the owner and GF were convinced somehow, to stop and let pictures be taken, and then even stayed for awhile and enjoyed the party. Of course I jumped on the bandwagon. This is the goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks, I am told. The name starts with a “C”. That’s as much research as I will be doing as I cannot remember the name and do not want to look for it. There were many photos taken. Alone. With the girls. With the boys. With the girls doing obscene things to this figure. With the boys doing obscene things to this figure…I think there were even animals involved. I don’t know. This truck parked in front of our friend’s house attracted a lot of attention. People were walking up from all over the place to ask about it, talk about it, take more pictures with it, etc. The one thing I can conclusively state is, that some of these male hockey fans are pretty darn good looking. I mean seriously. If I didn’t already have a BF, I’m telling you, I may, may have, been able to get lucky, wink wink. I’m just saying. Some legit hotties were rolling up and hanging out. Good for the old ego, and I stress the word “old”, especially after you’ve been feeling your mortality lately like I have. Also, I was told the girls that like the hockey are pretty attractive too. Must be something about all that testosterone, fighting, and no teeth. Real manly man stuff. Anyway, we stayed out until 1 am. That’s my latest night out in a long time. And I was…tipsy, let’s say. Good night. Good party. I feel fine today. It’s Sunday. It’s beautiful. I will try to post more. Later.
Fleur Deux
Back from CPR. All renewed. Certified to save lives. Went to a late lunch with the kids. Bought a few groceries to make a dinner, but we’re all to full to eat anything else. Went to buy bird seed but they rearranged the Menard’s by our house and we couldn’t find any. Came home. Put cozy clothes on. Kids are lounging. The girl finished all of her thank you notes from the party last weekend-ago. 11 days. Not too bad. Will mail in the AM. Laundry is laundering. Will finish the extra chores tomorrow. That will be the last day off for me before the kids leave to go to Kentucky like they do every year for the Fourth of July. My number one thing to do tomorrow is…dunt dunt dunt….The Benches!!
My son hates hates HATES doing this yearly walkabout. Hates it. Hates it. I could never type it enough. But I make him go because I am creating memories. This is what I am talking about:
The Village of Tinley Park decorates park benches every year with a different theme then places them out on a main road in front of the businesses for all the people to see. We go every year and take pictures of them. We go every year. We walk. And take pictures. It was a free, and what I thought was a fun thing to do, with the kids when we were very poor. It’s still free. But now we get ice cream or some food after we walk. Even so, my son hates it. Hates doing it. Hates walking. Hates stopping to take pictures. He complained almost the entire time we were out last year. And I do mean, literally, complained and pissed and moaned for the ENTIRE time it took to walk up and down that main street. My daughter just goes along. And it’s only one time. When we are done, we’re done. It’s not like I go see them every week. Such hard lives. Lots of people walk the area to see them. It’s not like I am the only one, dragging listless, whiny, crying near-adult-teenagers along behind me. Anyway, these (above and below) are from last year:
It’s nice right? And HA! I just double-extra-bonus posted. Flowers/Nature AND The Benches. (They have their own category to the right there. Just click on “Big Benches” or here, and you can see all the different ones throughout the years.) It is additional credibility for my argument to continue our fine tradition, these pictures, posted online, for everyone to see and enjoy. In case you can’t get out or live too far away. It’s a public service we are providing. Now my kids can’t say that I, “never put them on the site anyway, mom, so what’s the point??” Ca c’est fin. That’s the end. Later.
Day Off (Yesterday) With The Kids
Imagine how many pictures I can take of nature type things. Now multiply by 2. My daughter and me taking pictures all day?? Oh yea. There’s a lot. A. LOT. Just waiting for their moment to shine via the internet. Plus storm debris from the nasty little burst we had roll through here yesterday at exactly 6pm. Gotta go to work right now though. I mean, I have to work some of these days or the BF is going to kill me. And I will be off again for the next 2. (Sorry honey–I’ll call in a bit to explain!! Don’t be mad!!) But, I have to do CPR Re-Cert, so it’s still like work. That’s a lot of italics in a short post. I better go. More later.
Pictures.
I wanted the sunset. I got 50 pictures of the same 2 girls standing in front of the sunset. Or kneeling in a field. Or standing or bending or posing in some way. I totally want to do one of those multiple-picture-boxes-in-one type things, so you can see that I am not exaggerating. But according to Stevie, I don’t have the app or the time to get this together in the next 20 minutes. Bummer. I will work on that. I could probably save a lot of time posting all the pictures at one time in one big picture. And FYI, that’s the underwater pictures I have. A collage type shot. Still coming. Not forgotten. Then you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, these two are my favorites, one above, one below.
And then I threw in the only, single, un-peopled picture of the sunset taken.
And after talking to some of my cousins at the party, they requested that I post MORE flower pictures. I guess they really love them. So I will get on that for you guys! There is an entire summer of blooming beauties to be found! Thanks for all the feedback and creative input! I have to get in the shower and get out of here. But here is a shot of the flowers in front of my house to keep you busy with until I get back. Love you guys. XO. Later.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves
This is my big “curve” shot. Following up on an idea from another site that is pretty cool, right here (thanks for the info and the comment reply!): CLICK THIS!
I always love a theme. I will waste tons and tons of time taking pictures of almost anything as you can see from this site. Anyway, I already had this picture taken from last Wednesday. My son is a permit driver now, so he drives the car and I can sit in the passenger seat and take as many pictures as I want of anything in front of us. I thought this looked cool. The kids thought I was crazy. “Orange cones mom? Really?” Yes really. I even posted it on Instagram. It got zero likes. But I don’t care. I take pictures for myself, mostly, and this site, and posterity, in the bigger scheme of things I guess. And at least one other person in this fabulous internet world ALSO thought it was a good idea! Respect.
UPDATE: I am learning so much lately about this whole blogging world. I see there is so much to participate in and be a part of. Here’s hoping I can follow simple instructions. I am re-titling this post and tagging it proper for this weekly challenge thing. This pic does not compare to the one on the main site, in fact, mine looks kind of cheesy now, but I’m doing it anyway! Thank you WordPress!
Let’s Take It Down A Notch With My Third Pic From The New Phone
Life is not all that serious. But you know, I get caught up in the typing and before you know it, a five paragraph essay on mortality appears. The above picture illustrates the life-shortening things we did on my last weekend off. First we went and saw Fast 6. It’s a good movie. If you like those kind of movies. And we do.
Spoiler Alert! Seriously. I will be typing info of the spoiler variety right now. If you have seen any of these movies, you know they tease you at the end. Well, guess what? There’s gonna be a Fast 7. I won’t say how they do it, but if you are like me, you might say to yourself, “You know who they should get for these movies? Jason Statham.” And you would tell all the people around you, right away, at the beginning of the movie, because it’s a British, military-type bad guy in this one, and be really annoying about it. But then you’d be totally validated at the end and all self-satisfied ’cause you’re so smart. You could totally be a movie producer person. Whatever.
After the movie we went and got my new phone. Yay! Not gonna lie again. It’s awesome! It’s a beautiful phone. Samsung Galaxy S4, in case you missed that bit of info in my last mush post. It’s all Otter Box’d up so I don’t ruin it at work or in life. Plus it’s not very recognizable in it’s case so bitches can’t steal it! Ha. I also have it functioning now the way I like it, except for a ringtone. I am still trying to figure out if I should go back to my previous one (PriceTag–Jessie J or Peace Of Mind–Boston) or pick a new one altogether. Life is sooo hard right?
Then we went to Sam’s Club for alcohol and hot peppers to bring over to the BF’s mom’s house, because she was making dinner, roast beef sammy’s, because the BF’s brother, was in town from Oregon where he lives now. Whew. Got all that? I could have summed that up better, but I have a little time here to spread my typing wings. So obviously we got wine. Apothic Red–the best mixed red, for the best price, hand’s down, in my opinion, of all the brands that I have tried, right now. I posted about it before. The other wine. Ehh. It was OK. I think we got a bad bottle. Smelled and tasted almost like it was spoiled. Compromised. The cork was really dry and it had that sharp vinegar whiff to it. We drank it though. No ill effects noted. And since we were at the big warehouse center for giant, low-cost items, and we needed more Jack, we bought the economy size bottle. I mean, come on, that’s just smart money. And the peppers. Which were tasty and pretty hot actually and pretty much the smallest jar you can buy there. And a pair of jeans for the boy. He can never find Levi’s in his size, because most stores only get, like, 2 pairs of his, per shipment. But there they were, on the giant table of Levi’s, just waiting for him to come along and riffle through the pile. If you have ever been to Sam’s, you know they check your receipt and your items before you walk out of the door. So we were all carrying something; the wines, the giant Jack, the giant pepper jar; and the lady that checked our stuff said, “Ok, you got, what…wine, bottle, peppers, OK, well yeah, it looks like you got everything you need right there, uh huh.” And off we went. Layed everything so nicely in the trunk and snapped the pic with my new toy. Then we went to the dinner (delicious) and drove the kids out to their dad’s for an overnight.
Sunday was kind of lazy but chore driven. Laundry. (Which honestly, got done, completely–folded and put away–but is now back with a vengeance. I HATE laundry so much.) Breakfast. Where I met the 102 year old lady and her younger sister, a sprightly 95. Then more laundry when we got back home. (This was a before and after session of laundry. There was a lot.) Then we had pizza for dinner and waited for the kids to get home. That was their first and last week of summer vacation. Athletic camps are now in session, starting today, and they will be busy for the duration. I believe school starts for them about August 11 or 19. Yet to be determined. I don’t have a schedule yet anyway. So it’s a mystery. Well, it’s not really a mystery. I could spoil the surprise for them by looking on the school website, but I will let them dream of long, lazy, summer days and nights for a few more weeks.
And that’s it for now. Exciting re-cap of a day-in-the-life, huh? Now do you see why I fear getting old? Boring. Laundry. Breakfast. Alcohol. Oh. Alcohol. That must be the key. Drink and you will forget that you are getting older. As I said yesterday, I really do have a doctor appointment to get to. So I need to end this. My hip still hurts, but I think alcohol could probably fix that little problem too. Hmm. I suppose exercise might achieve that same result. Build up some strength to stave off the decaying process. Maybe I’ll try both. Drinking would probably make the exercise easier and more enjoyable, with less pain. Or send me to the ER with a dislocated hip ASAP. Still, with less pain. Did I mention that I have to get weighed, along with the B/P check and whatnot? That’s what is really going to cause me pain. I will follow up. Expect a new series of exercise-healthy-losing-weight-live-forever-type posting to start appearing in this lazy space. Later.
Prepared To Be “WOW”-ed!!
Very first pic with the new phone. Standing in a parking lot, looking up at a light pole, and capturing that seagull, sitting there, peaking out over the top. Score! It was luck actually. The next pic I took was of the same light pole, but with no bird. I think that most of the pictures I take involve some kind of bird. That’s probably weird right? Anyway, I was testing the zoom and the acuity. Not bad. I must experiment more. In case you are wondering, it’s the Samsung Galaxy S4. (Shout Out!) And I’m not even gonna lie…it’s a realllly nice phone. It’s probably the best phone I have ever owned. My daughter has the IPhone and LOVES it. Really really loves it. Like, it sleeps on a pillow next to her head, loves it. (I am pretty sure I have a picture of this) And she is jealous of this new phone and grudgingly admits that it might be better than hers. Win!
I will bring you more, equally exciting and powerful shots, as the days go on. I haven’t had much time off since I got this phone so it’s mostly been getting used to it and putting all my stuff back on that I now need to function daily. You know, real important things, like my e-mail accounts (I have 2–Yahoo and G-Mail), Tiny Village (only game I decided to keep from the old phone–a smart move I think. Obviously I waste a lot of time with pointless other things), Facebook, Instagram, You Tube, LinkedIn (because I am a professional dammit!), and Twitter. Did I mention that I have a twitter account now? Well, I do. That’s another whole story. #justshyofpretty. Of course. I’m going to make this my thing until I die. I don’t even have a custom ringtone yet! The shame! It seriously took me, 2 or 3 days, just to get all the tones and alerts for notifications and alarms straightened out. If you pick the wrong sound it can just keep playing and playing until you physically touch the the phone. And every single separate “feature” has its own separate tone/alert/notification setting to set. I think I got everything I actually use set up. Now I figure I will just wait for something to ring or buzz on the phone and adjust it as it comes up.
Here is one truth though, that I will share about all this technology, and something that I never even saw coming: The worst part about getting this new phone is that I feel old all of a sudden. Like, “aging-ly” old. That’s not a word, but us old folks can make them up whenever we want now. Feeling my mortality, I think they say. When I had this brand new phone in my hand and I was trying to make it work, and couldn’t, I really felt like I was about to join the age train and it was going to choo-choo-chug me away to the techno graveyard for the decrepit and clueless. I never have enough time to learn the phone, I can’t see the damn screen without reading glasses, I apparently need at least 6-7 hours of sleep now to function normally (this is up from 4-5, which really irks me for some reason), both of my kids are now in high school, and my left hip has started hurting. Wah wah wah.
I have never been a person to be hit by that “mid-life-crisis” thing, but I feel as if I could be now. And sadly, I don’t even know what is going to set it off. I watched my daughter light up the room with all the employees at the Verizon store when we got my phone. She was literally like a fresh, bright, youthful presence that people wanted to talk to and be near. And she just knew, and understood everything that was being shown and said to her. I am “the mom” now. I love love love being the mom of this fabulous little girl/mini-adult, but ouch! that hurt being reminded that I am still, just the mom, and that I need these young people to help me keep up with the times. Double ouch! I see my kids with everything in front of them, a whole wide world to be explored and be a part of, so much bigger than when I was young. There is so much more to do and see now and so many better ways to get there.
“I don’t want to be old!” Cries another 40 year-old, (plus), old person.
Well, there you go. All that from a picture of a light pole. With a bird. Mortality is a sneaky bitch. Did I also mention that I met a 102 year old lady at breakfast last weekend? One hundred and TWO. Walking. Without assistance. And no cane or walker either. She was even able to button up her own coat. She had the chicken salad. Hope springs. Now, I’m not sure that I even want to live to be 102, but it goes to show that the option is there for some. And it lets me know that I am not even half-done yet with life. So that’s what I’m going to take away from this. I will loosely hold onto my kids, while still pushing them forward, for as long as I can, and then let them go too. If I do it right, hopefully they will always want to turn around and pull me along with them once I can’t push anymore.
But these are words for the future. Right now, I have to go to work again to pay for that future. It’s Sunday. It’s beautiful in the Midwest right now. The BF is motorcycle riding for one of those charity/benefit group things, with his friend. My kids are camping with their dad. It’s quiet. Go out and enjoy this day if you can. I will be hoping for a fast quiet night so I can have a nice day off tomorrow. Monday Monday. Summer break is over. Football camp for the boy. Volleyball camp for the girl. And I have a doctor appointment. Just a check-up. Tune-up. Blood results. Preserve the youth for as long as I can. I think I might exercise tomorrow too. Strong body. Strong heart. Hips that don’t hurt! Later.
Here’s That Rainbow I Was Talking About
I brought out the big camera for that one. However, I did get my new phone. Very exciting. But, I have to go to work, so I will brag all about that later and show you my groundbreaking “first-picture-taken-with-the-best-phone-camera-ever-!!”, also later. Have a gorgeous day. It’s nice out because I have to go to work. If you are looking forward to a crappy, unseasonably cold, or rainy day, so you can stay indoors, anytime soon, just wait until Monday. It’s my day off so you can be sure that it will deliver all the bad weather you want! Later.
just shy of pretty 