January 2012 – Page 3 – The Arcadian Experience

A Year of Birthday Celebrations

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012Leave a comment

Tonight at our Church Family Night we had our annual Birthday Celebration. This is where we do a potluck dinner and dessert is provided, but we get to decorate it.

Tables are set up by birthday month and you go sit with all the other people there with the same birthday month as you. Mine is February so I sat with the other Pieces tonight (except for one Aries). The kids and adults love it because we unite by birthday month to collaborate, creating awesomely decorated cakes.

Jdubs happened to be the only kid there with a March birthday so he got to decorate a cake with the help of mom. We started with a round cake that had the base layer of white frosting. Jdubs told me he wanted to make a face with green frosting.

So that’s just what we did. We mixed colors and applied icing. Then we moved on to add blue hair with sprinkles of many colors.

Happy Birthday, people born in March!

The Garden is Calling

January 10, 2012January 10, 2012Leave a comment

The Garden is calling me … I received two new seed catalogs. Yea!

All kinds of organic, heirloom and hybrid varieties.

Other cool garden accessories and products…

For tonight … that’s all I got. Been burning the candle from both ends this week, but I’ll be dreaming about the garden tonight. [Also I am having terrible writer’s block. Sometimes this is as good as it gets.]

Photo Awesomeness with Instagram

January 9, 2012January 10, 2012Leave a comment

Instagram is instant awesomeness! I had no idea what I was going to write about today, but then got the idea from my trusty iPhone to take some of my random, everyday photos and use Instagram to edit them. Instagram described by its founders is the blending of instant photos and telegrams, thus “instagram.”

It combines several things at once when taking photos—it’s social media, documentation, art and photojournalism all rolled into one. You take snapshots, apply filters, post/save to a share archive hosted by Instagram. The photo goes onto your Instagram profile, and can be shared across a multitude of various social media. The social media is simply the telegraph “wire.”

The folks at Instagram have a blog, tips for taking better photos, and featured Instagram users’ photos – it’s amazing what someone can do with an iPhone and a free app that applies simple filters.

So maybe I went a little crazy on the filters and fuzz (aka “bokeh”), but Instagram is instant awesomeness. Love it!

Simon the cat, who thinks he's a strange, but loyal dog.

Utopia for dogs = riding in the feed wagon with the wind in our face.

Retro Rocket ready for takeoff. (nice socks)

New Year's Day cow looking ver freaked out.

[to find out more about why a big metal chicken is so funny to 40-year old married women click here.]

Week One Down, Check

January 8, 2012January 8, 2012Leave a comment

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle - when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.

Week one of the New Year is in the books. I’m glad because good things have happened. I’m hoping that 2012 will be a restorative year for me and my family. The last few years have been really hard for a multitude of reasons and 2011 was especially hard on me. I don’t care to be specific, but it has almost been my undoing.

I said it in an earlier post this week: Life can change in an instant but changing your life doesn’t happen instantly; it takes time. It’s gratifying, even if delayed, when the passing of time ushers in the achievement of something you’ve been working toward. (I’ll share more later this month, when I’m ready.)

This first week of January, I’ve accomplished a few things on my knock-out list including repainting my home office, which was once our son’s nursery. Some how a whimsical bright, pale green wasn’t conducive to doing grown-up work, plus my son had scribbled all over the walls. And the room had become the dumping ground. I cleaned out a bunch of crap that was just cluttering up my house. The garage is next, by god I shall be able to park in there or the Earth will spin off its axis, I swear it.

Today was a busy but special day too. I participated in a special ceremony at church. We took Jdubs to a party and he had a big time. I grocery shopped by myself – the folks at United didn’t recognize me alone. I cooked a great meal from one of my new cookbooks. I finished my blog and got into bed by 11 p.m. So far it’s been a really productive week.

Tomorrow is going to be really busy. This week is going to be really busy. Bring it on.

Scenes from Arcadia

January 7, 2012January 7, 2012Leave a comment

The winter wheat is just gorgeous this time of year. I took this photo on the side of the road with my trusty iPhone about 2 weeks ago.

North Texas has the perfect climate for winter wheat.

This is why I live where I do– a simpler life, full of sweet moments.

Jdubs with Judge Dad testing his new spurs.

Sometimes things just don’t turn out, including Christmas cookies.

Something went terribly wrong. Jdubs decorated all by himself.

The sweetest thing I’ve ever known …

Just wow. What a spectacular sunset. This was New Year’s Day.

Time to Start Thinking About Spring

January 6, 2012January 6, 2012Leave a comment

Tonight I’m thinking about spring …

If the Dog/Cat Could Sass

January 5, 2012January 9, 20121 Comment

Today I snapped a few photos of my pets. I look at them and wonder what they would be saying if they could sass-mouth me First off I’m glad Ruby can’t talk. She could tell some good stories on me. [Although the pet with the most stories happens to be in kitty heaven, (God rest your feline soul, Sky).]

Ruby is back from a week in doggie utopia at the ranch.

"Please don't make me take a Christmas Bath!"

This morning I caught a glimpse of this and had to do a U-turn to capture it on camera. I tried to get it on my good camera, but the batteries were out, so trusty iPhone it was.

"Stupid neighbor dog ... I have no idea why she insist on chasing the squirrels."

I came around from the other entry on the north end of the room. [ignore lamp shades, I was changing the light bulbs in the chandelier.]

I tried to work with Pussums, getting her to pose.

"Not now, I'm trying to get my vitamin D for the day and the days are short. Seriously? You're killing me with the photos. You've got to be the picture-takingest cat mom ever."

"I give up. Take my picture. But I'm not going to look you in the eye. You're getting the no-stare treatment."

Winter Sunset Beauty

January 4, 2012January 4, 20121 Comment

One of the greatest things about winter is the sky. The cooler weather makes for drier and thus a clearer sky. The colder the temperature the less moisture the air can hold. That is why the large, fat snowflakes fall when the temperature is around freezing and why a cold mountain snow in February is more like tiny grains of sand.

January/February nights during the new moon are the best for viewing the constellations—I just wished I had the photography skills [and equipment] to capture the nighttime sky.

But today my handy iPhone helped me capture the beautiful sunset of the winter sky with the “fairy castle” in the distance.

January’s To-Do List

January 3, 2012January 3, 2012Leave a comment

I embrace the restorative effects of New Year’s resolutions. January 1^st can be the great big reboot that many need to get motivated to change their life. Jumping on the bandwagon provides comfort and unity for all the goal-setters out there. But basically I feel that New Year’s resolutions are crap.

I never set New Year’s resolutions. Never. Personally I think if it’s a goal worth pursuing, it’s worth acting on today. And if today happens to be Monday or January 1^st then so it is. One of my most successful personal pursuits started on a Monday. But the great catalyst was having to get dressed that morning for work—I did not wait through the weekend to get started. I took the bull by the horns that day.

But the difference maker in setting v. achieving your goals is your relentlessness. I am not always the greatest example, but true grit is what makes us achieve our goals. You have to be willing to do what it takes to make the change.

What I know thus far in my life:

Change is REALLY hard.
Lasting change is damn near insurmountable in the beginning.
Saying “I don’t have time” is the same as saying “I don’t want to.”
Life can change in an instant, but changing your life doesn’t happen instantly.
You have to have the 3 Ds: discipline, determination, dedication.
After each fall, you HAVE to get up and keep going—Every. Single. Time. Every time.
Get used to delayed gratification – we live in an on-all-the-time world, but working consistently over time makes for lasting change.
Seek the guidance/education/support/medication you need to achieve.
Most of all you have to do it for YOU.

You don’t have to wait until Monday or after the New Year, all you have to do is start, right from where you are, and be willing to do whatever it takes.