Photography

I Can’t Delete My Grandchildren

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I helped my mother “get the pictures off her phone” and on to her computer the other day. I do this periodically for her – after vacations and holidays especially.

She and my Dad had recently taken a trip to Virginia and she took some pictures of my brother-in-law’s college and wanted to send them to him in Arizona. Making a move into the twenty-first century, Mom decided to email them to him rather than print them out and snail mail them. Baby steps.

After connecting the camera to the computer I saw the first pictures start to upload – 779 of them. Dang it. I hate when the computer forgets that it has already uploaded off this camera in the past and doesn’t start from the most recent pics – just a couple dozen since September.

As I sat there waiting for the hundreds of old pictures to upload, knowing I would have to delete 95% of them, I saw a baby picture of my nephew flash past. He’s six now.

When I mentioned the ancient pictures flashing across the screen to my mother she got a little flustered and exclaimed, “I can’t delete my grandchildren!”

Nope. She can’t.

I, however, can delete my children. I don’t like it, but I do it out of necessity – usually because I’ve run out of space and my phone is freezing up on me. It comes down to immediately deleting pictures of my kids or using my phone.

Phone wins. Every time.

I console myself that the pictures I really like I’ve already posted to Facebook and I can always find them. And, hey, since we’ve moved on to digital we take WAY more pictures than ever before – can you say, “selfie?” I can, and my phone is full of them but they certainly are not of myselfie.

selfie

Alright, you’ve twisted my arm; I admit it, I’ve deleted my children and I feel guilty about it.

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Random Pictures of My Children from My Phone that I Will Probably Have to Delete at Some Point but at least They Are Now on My Blog for All Eternity – or Until the Internet Dies.

delete 1

Delete 2

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Making It Happen: CLEANING

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mih cLEANING

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

Sand entire vanity – Fail. Sand antique desk – DONE

mih sand

Mostly sanded. Rough week, I’m happy with 50% completed.

 

 

 

 

Projects for Next Week:

Clean up the new bedroom.

house 2

It’s gonna be beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will be moving into a new bedroom. The previous occupant left it a mess. (read about that here) I’ve already had some professionals come through to clean out the big stuff, I now need to sweep, mop and paint the room. Sweeping, mopping and arranging are on the agenda for this week. 

Since I will be expanding into the other half of the house, my home improvement workload is gonna be huge. Here are some BEFORE pics:

house 4

Drywall, electricity, painting. Lot of work in this soon-to-be bedroom for my 13 yr old. Beautiful sun room with 4 windows and 2 window seats. 

house 3

Oh, the kitchen. New floor, new mantel. It’s gonna be a gorgeous dining room/kitchen once I’m done with it. Cannot wait. How cool to have a fireplace in your kitchen! Just like Little House on the Prairie.

 

 

house 5

Bathroom. New toilet. Resurface tub. Seriously scrub floor. But this original tile floor is going to look great! (I hope)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am like the perkiest person ever in this post.

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Just Like Forrest Gump

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Quiet. It was so quiet that I kept hearing my stomach make noise. Gurgle. Pop. Does it always make that noise and I just don’t hear it?

Yesterday, I started my mini-journey to my mini-vacation – Alone. The first time I’ve been without kids (or anyone else) since 2008. That’s a long time.

By 3:30 I reached my home away from home for the next two days. No TV. No wifi. Just a quiet stream and a creaky house.

When I first arrived my impulse was to walk. Just walk. So like Forrest Gump before me, I walked. ( Yes, of course I know he ran, but he walked a little bit first. The sad truth is, the closest I come to running is walking.)

I couldn’t find any trails nearby so I just walked on the side of the road, and watched the cars and Amish buggies passing by. The scenery wasn’t much to write home about, it’s been a harsh winter, we haven’t quite recovered.

I walked until I could walk no more and then went home. I lay on the couch all night. Sometimes sleeping. Sometimes eating hummus and chips. Sometimes reading. Sometimes checking my social media. (What? That’s totally acceptable) 😉 This trip is all about going with the flow and seeing where it leads me.

So, I will drink my Earl Grey Tea (which I haven’t had since 1994 in Jerusalem and now I remember why. Ew.) Figure out how to load pictures from my iPhone to my iPad – this can’t be that hard right? Put on my yoga pants, and walk.

20140505-093257.jpg

I Steal.

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I have a confession to make. I steal.

It only happens in the Spring, and I’m not sure its technically stealing, but I’m pretty sure if I got caught by the First Presbyterian Church people (yes, I’m stealing from the Presbyterians), they would not be amused.

It’s lilacs. I can’t resist them. When I see bushes and bushes and bushes of blooming lilacs I just need to break off a few fragrant flowering buds and sneak them into my car. I try to choose lovely lavender bunches from the deep recesses of the bush, ones that wouldn’t be noticed anyway. I would never steal any other flower, like roses or tulips*, from someone’s property. I scold my children for plucking daisies and petunias. I believe planted, outdoor flowers are meant to be enjoyed in their designated planting grounds.

But oh, lilacs. They make me do crazy things.

lilacs 2

*except for that one incident in college

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Making It Happen: GLITTER

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MIH glitter

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

Put some kind of sealant or another coat of paint on my bedroom vanity. It needs it.

(Two weeks ago I chose this as my next project, as you may know, last week It Didn’t Happen. However, if you were a stink bug on the wall you would have seen me  finishing this up this morning.)

ML

I found this cool Glitter Glaze type stuff at Home Depot. It worked wonderfully! Unfortunately, it also brought out the major flaw in the entire paint and shabby chic the vanity project – I didn’t sand first. After putting on this super fantastic subtle glitter, the brown, original varnish bled through. ML1

 

 

 

NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED!

I now have in my possession an electric sander. Which leads me to the project for next week…

Projects for Next Week:

Sand entire vanity. (I am sanding, repainting and reglittering, not shabby chic-ing this time. Live and learn.) This week I plan to sand this and an antique desk I bought at a Thrift Store.

From Sunday I will also be spending two nights and three days away. Alone. Just Being-ing. Quiet.

Therefore, I am not giving myself too much in the way of projects. Oh, and I’m holding a yard sale. W/e.

😉

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