Daisy.
Full photo cred to Stevie. This is one quick post. Mostly for my cousins. They tell me that I never take enough pictures of flowers. Or the sky. Or the clouds. Or the moon. Guess what? I have all those and more! Let me just go to work today and I will post more on Sunday and Monday. 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.
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.
Smokin’ In The Boys Room
And by “boys room”, I mean the outside. While I work this weekend, my BF has decided to do many manly things, like, work on his motorcycle, cut large tree limbs with a chainsaw, and smoke much meat. It sounds like so much fun I just wish I could have had these days off to be here for all of it. Ahem. No, really. (Not really). I like to spend my holiday weekends working and taking care of sick people and listening to their families tell me what a crap job I’m doing. It’s what I got into this profession for. That rewarding feeling of spending more hours with other people’s families instead of my own. Without sarcasm, I really do like my job. It’s just some families make it very difficult to keep calm. The patients are fine. It’s just the families sometimes. Still, I think it will be better than the manual labor that needs to be done here. Sweaty, with heavy lifting. Oh wait, that’s my job too. Ha. OK. Enough. That’s my work rant. Back to the meat!
Apparently this is stuff you need. Along with a starter tube thing that gets the coals going, a temp gauge, (actually two temp gauges, one for the cooker and one for the meat), water for steam, spices, herbs, liquids, “rubs”, side dishes, buns, etc…and of course: The Meat. This will all cost you approx. 90 dollars or so. If you had to buy your own smoker, that could be an extra 100-500 dollars, depending on quality and advanced smoking technology. Or something. This smoker in the picture was the gift the BF got for working so hard at his job for this many, past 15 years. It seems like it’s nice smoker machine. I have just been informed that the meat is at 162 degrees. The number we are looking for is 190 I believe. We are doing pulled pork as the maiden smoking. I keep typing “we”, but I literally have done NOTHING except take the pictures and type this. Soon, I will get dressed and leave, so I won’t even be here for the big finish. But, of course I have a preview. Please feast your eyes below on three hunks of pure animal flesh, cooking and smoking, slowly, and at a certain temperature, for maximum tenderness and pullability. It really smells good too:
Two on top, one below. That sounds like a good name for a band or a book title. The key to cooking this right, I am told, is slow and low. Also, coincidentally a good band name or book title. At any rate, what we want is to put it in our mouths and not even have to chew. The meat should literally pull apart and melt like butter on our palates and slide juicily and effortlessly down our throats to our waiting tummies without any pesky chewing involved. But usually it’s on a bun with sauce, so please, family, while I am gone, chew a little, please. Bread mostly needs to be chewed, somewhat, to break it down. Then swallow. No need to ruin a good weekend with “Heimlich’s” or “ambulances” or “hospitals” or “morgues”. Thank you.
Thus ends the meat post for today. I hear and smell lots of manly things going on in the neighborhood today, so I need to get the hell out of here! The outside temp is up to 75 degrees. Sunny and beautiful for the Midwest. The meat temp is at a cool 165. The BF is cutting sticks with the chainsaw. The boy/son is playing XBox in his room enjoying none of the outside weather. The daughter is still at my sissy’s house and will prob go from there to her cousins house to spend the night, after she stops here first to eat meat. She loves meat. Yes, I see what I typed there, but I’m leaving it. It’s too early (for me) to try and fix the innuendo. She’s 14 for cry-yi. Some girls are salads and try a vegetarian phase, not mine. She is steak all the way.
Let them eat meat! And don’t forget it’s Memorial Weekend. Hug a vet! Thank a soldier while you are grilling those hot dogs and drinking that beer! Even if you just send up a big toast and a cheer into the great unknown. It’s all good karma to the universe. Later.
Stevie Pic #6 The Tree
It blooms, white as can, be for about one whole day, then it fades like all the other trees. This is not her best picture, because I think we missed the high bloom, but it’s here for “filler”. Fast pic. Fast post. Stay in the game because I have to go to work now for the long weekend. It’s my holiday. But I am not going to complain too much because unlike the military people, I, at least, get to come home every day to my family. Hopefully I will post more as we go through the next few days. Nothing groundbreaking or relevant to any particular thing, just whatever I have on hand and can post quick and efficiently. If you are home this weekend, please enjoy it and take a few moments to think, about all who have, and still are, out there making a difference, so we can have a barbeque and hang out in the sunshine. Although the sunshine is not available right now. Looks like rain. I guess that’s OK too. Cozy up inside and have a nice cup of coffee and I will check back later. Hug a vet (or a soldier) if you have one near. And as my cousin always says, (who has a son in the Army (Rangers–Special Forces)—AND my other cousin, who also has a son in the Army (Bomb Squad)—which I need to give a personal shout out too–hey Brett–(and momma) you’ll get your own dedication soon—SO SO proud of both, she says in case you forgot already: Freedom isn’t free. Our kids are out there carrying on! Mine says he’s going too after high school. Then I will really be on the soapbox shouting the word. Wow. This is a sudden heavy turn for a post about a picture of a tree. Ending now. Get those flags up and hanging! That’s what I’m going to do right now! Later.
Happy Mother’s Day! Feliz dia de las Madres!
Guess who the “Mother” is in this picture?? Trick question!! We’re ALL mother’s! Even the man…sort of. His wifey is preggers and should be having that baby soon. Technically not a mother but still a parent. I think I already went over this in an earlier post.
So here is another family pic. I am really expanding here, including self portraits now and everything. But of course I have to work. They need to make Mother’s Day an unofficial holiday for nurses because I have worked two years in a row and that doesn’t seem fair. We should have to switch off like other holidays. Next year I guess I better be smarter and plan ahead and take it off like probably every one else does. Live and learn.
Anyway, this is my official Mother’s Day shout out to all the Mother’s in my life! I included the Spanish version too because that’s how my son greeted me today. He’s actually nearing an “A” in Spanish, and he’s very happy and proud, and he’s really trying to use his new language to remember. Everyone do something fun today! The weather even seems nice. A bit chilly but sunny and perfect for outdoor things like walking back and forth between a house and a car or a car and a restaurant!
I am about to go call my mama and take a shower. Maybe we can do a breakfast in the morning, on Monday. Rita…maybe?? That way we avoid all the Mother’s Day rush and crowding! I know it’s last minute as usual, but why plan ahead anymore? Anyone in?? You can comment here if you like, but we should prob do a text thing or phone calls. Unfortunately I have to go now. Have a fab day to one and all! XO Later
One Whole Week Without Internet And This Was The Best I Could Come Up With
I know. But I am in a time crunch. Again. I had to work all weekend and now all week. But still, I need to waste some time here when I should be getting my uniform and showering. We really did not have internet. My kids were going crazy. No access to the public via the smart phones. At least not without using our GB’s. No XBox! That was the real tragedy for my son. Cut off from the gaming world forever! I could not pay bills or share all my random, excess thoughts and lame pictures. But after 3 visits from AT&T, it’s finally fixed. The inside guy came and determined it was the outside guys problem. Only because construction on one of our roads messed up the wiring that occurs half a mile away from your actual house. But only an outside guy can fix that. Then another inside guy has to come back and readjust all the little wires in your “inside” equipment box (which is actually outside bolted to your house) and finally get you running again because he didn’t connect all the stuff correctly the first time he was here. Human error all around. At least I got a 20 dollar discount/credit and it works good now, so whatever.
It’s been hot and cold and raining and sunny and windy in the last week. But yesterday was warm. 70-75 degrees. Today is even better. 80+. My little temp box says 84. Figures. I am bummed because I have to leave in 30 minutes and won’t get out of work until dark now. Boo hoo I know. All the daffodils are dead. All gone. They bloomed and now they are no more. Just green stalks where they used to be. I shall leave them as they are for awhile and then cut those down too. There’s the pic above. Below is the curtain hanging by the door as I went to go take the picture of the green leaves. I thought it looked kind of interesting. That’s all you get on a Tuesday. I’ll jump back in this posting game during the week as we go. Have a very wonderful day and enjoy some of that nice warm weather and sun if you can. Later.
Since I Need To Post Something…
Why not make it the most disturbing picture I took all week. I call it: Baby Head In Corner. Third day, out of four, in a row, at work. Late nights. Saw this as I was leaving. Hesitated, but took the picture. Showed anyone I saw on the way out and everyone agreed it was creepy. Some even went to go see it for themselves, as if I would lie about its placement and location. It is kind of frightening if you stare at it too long. And there is no logical reason why something like that would be where it was. It was gone the next day. Is there any lesson here? Or bigger message? Occasionally look down? Sometimes, don’t be afraid to peer into the corners? Ask why? Or at the very least, take a picture. For proof. Later.
66 Degrees. And Flashback.
I don’t want to be repetitive and post another picture of my daffodils, so… So spring. So cliche. So here is a winter snow pic that my daughter took. I was just scrolling through all the shots she took at the height of our winter and this one is good. I hate to wait until it snows again. So enjoy the memory and the good fortune we share, to live in an area that changes seasons so dramatically and abruptly. FYI, the L/C belongs to me. (Low census.) Hopefully they don’t call and ruin my day off now. Gotta go and lose these kids for the afternoon. The BF is breathing down my neck to get out of the this house. Now. Later!
New(ish) Feature! Posts In Pictures! Because, Seriously, Sometimes These Things Go On Too Long.
Sorry Sisters. This exactly displays the horror we feel on many occasions. This one was for our brother, who’s having his first baby, after emphatically denying that he would EVER have any children, for most of his life. We took this after the baby shower (haha–baby shower–family and friends, all women, focused solely on him, (and his wife of course. Which reminds me of marriage, another thing he said NO to for most of his life also, if we are keeping track. Which I am.) giving him tiny baby items that he could not care less about or even identify a mere two weeks ago, and will now become the center of his entire universe, when this new little human being will be awake and crying at 2 AM. We took this at his house, while goofing around on his new IPhone, yet another object of the 21st century that he also stated he would NEVER own. We jest because we love.
It’s also the kick-off picture, for what I am hoping will be a new kind of posting, that allows me to post faster and more efficiently, with less words. You know, let the picture “talk”, and me just kind of “caption” the event happening. Although I see I am not getting off to a great start here. That “horror” look is for how long my posts can go on for. And, as a bonus representation, it works for the horror I personally feel, because I never, NEVER, ever, EVER, post a picture of myself. And with good reason if you check the title of this blog site and this stunning picture proof of my “almost good looks”. I am the one on the bottom left as you are looking at the pic. In my defense, I photograph horribly. No lie. People say they take bad pictures, but I truly do. Even goofy, silly pictures. I am not photogenic at all. I look much better in person. And that is a hard truth I accept as fact now, and avoid the camera like it’s on fire or will give me a disease. Or get me pregnant. HA. My sisters look good either way. Luckys.
Once again, I must go, quickly. My stove timer is beeping, telling me I need to get showered and ready for work. (I set a timer for myself for more efficiency and that doesn’t work either.) I am still racing the clock, all the time. More posts to come if I can actually make this picture thing work. I have the pics. I just have to utilize the time. Enjoy your Saturday. I’m out for the next 8-10. (Hours. That is. That reference is to the hours I will be gone. Ugh. Stop typing!) Later!
just shy of pretty 