It’s been a couple of months since I carried my camera around with any kind of passion to take a photograph. Winter had me tightly in its grips – until last week. I wore open toed shoes to church (my piggies are aubergine, go figure!). I cleared away the dead and dried out iris from last fall to reveal tulips and new iris making their way up out of the earth. I felt excited again! So much so that I even took the cover off the grill and fired it up, we had grilled chicken for dinner that night.

Aaah spring is coming.

My camera is at the ready once again, I removed the screen from the front window yesterday for clear photos once I saw the “official” confirmation of Spring in my front yard:

I’ve seen them around, yes, but I needed to see him in my front yard. He needed to be right there.

More random and springy snaps in between dog naps below!

Our resident red bellied woodpecker has begun making regular appearances
on the suet block out back,
While Copper collected all of his toys,
and one of my furry flip flops,
in and around his cozy little shoebox.

I’m debating what to do with my bathroom, tile, paint, wallpaper?
We’re still piecing it together…

While Copper takes a nap.

I admired the architecture of the buildings around Palmer College
on the way home last weekend,

Quintin joined in the St. Patrick’s Day festivities,
donning a clover scrunchie,

And our sweet little Chickeymonkey
smiled adorably at her piano recital…

While Copper took a nap.

The red bellied woodpecker made yet another loud entrance
(you can’t miss ’em when you hear ’em)…

And we figured out how to fix this mess and reinstall the toilet,

While Copper took a nap.

As you can see, Copper sleeps through most everything, and I have entirely too much stuff to do. Any suggestions on the bathroom remodel are MORE than welcome. My dear sweet hubby can tell you how many times I’ve changed my mind about what to do, since I’ve lost count. I was going to install ceramic tile last weekend until the floor decided to be WAY too unlevel (we live on a slab) to even out without a professional and a load of concrete – and I ended up at Lowe’s 5 minutes before closing time for peel & stick flooring.

I cannot tell you how I yearn for a custom built home. Maybe next year, eh?

Or the year after that… or the year after that…

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

I’ve got my green on – where’s yours?

Alright – all you Irish folks, speak up and claim your heritage. As for me and my blood, my grandma came to the USA from Cork County, Ireland, when she was a teenager (and I’m sure Mom will post a story here in comments). I have fond memories of her cussing at me in Gaelic when I was a wee lass, for wiggling her waddle while she played pinochle. Aaah those were the days.

May God give you…
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

I fell asleep lastnight thinking about someone. This person has a life full of struggle and uncertainty, hardship, and then some. At least that’s what it looks like from the outside. I only know what I see – because I really don’t know her at all. There’s something about her situation, her lifestyle, the choices that she makes – that fills my mind up with color, I guess because words fail me. As I lay there with my eyes closed, swirls of deep, dark aubergine filled my vision like a cup. The color was moving, turning deeper and darker as it settled in a backdrop glowing with red-orange umber. Mountains of burgundy mounted up behind the continual movement of the aubergine. The auburgene swirled and moved forward as though it needed to define itself – it was like I was painting these colors on a canvas just to convey this mood. In fact, a lot of times I have to put those visions to canvas otherwise the same vision will appear to me over and over until I do.

When I got up this morning I could still see this “canvas”. It really evoked a lot of emotion, and I still can’t put words to what emotion that is. It got me thinking about other experiences in my life that I’ve associated with color, one in particular was such a cool thing that I’ll never forget – and that was during childbirth.

While I was in transitional labor with Catybug, I had a focal point that I didn’t expect. When I closed my eyes, I saw a bright glow of orange. As I focused on that color, I noticed that as my contraction subsided, the color reduced down to a tiny circle. It happened with every contraction – and it was really awesome because after the first couple of contractions, I counted on that glow to show me when it was almost over. That made the pain of childbirth totally bearable, as I knew exactly when the pain would subside, and just knowing that it would was enough for me!

There are other situations that I’ve had color experiences with, feelings that I associate with a certain hue. What I want to know is – has this ever happened to you?

Do share, what’s the feeling – and what color is it? If this hasn’t happened to you, then tell me this – what words would you put to the color aubergine?

Catybug and Quinnie, our Quaker Parrot, have a very special bond. She snuggles him and gives him neckrubs while he yawns, gets sleepy, and eventually sucks his thumb (thumb? claw? feet? … you decide LOL!) . I wish I could tell you he does it for me, but he doesn’t. He loves me, he talks to me, I am the one he mimicks with sounds and vocals. But when it comes to snuggle time, Caty has that little bird wrapped around her fingers. He’ll sit in one place for hours with her while she caresses his head.

Such a cool little bird. Did you know that parrots behave this way? Would you have ever guessed you could snuggle a bird as much as you could any other furbaby? We had no idea when we got him that he’d allow us this very personal relationship, it has been a real learning experience!

Saw the blurb “Democrats must join together to defeat the Republicans” on a blog – like it’s a cause to wage war on. A bit extreme, I think…

Can someone please explain to me how “Republicans” are so horribly awful that “they must be defeated”? Don’t Republicans make up like – over half – of the United States population? And in that vein, why is it that a Republican candidate can graciously bow out so that the party doesn’t split, and Democrats can’t seem to figure out that the in-fighting in their own party is doing exactly that?

Please, discuss.

I made this yesterday morning and it’s good enough to have again today, and share, too. Here are the ingredients:

3/4 c. Eggbeaters
1 bag Pictsweet Deluxe Steamer Veggies – Spring vegetables with asparagus
1 lg. pinch reduced fat mexican blend shredded cheese

Directions:

Start the veggies steaming in the microwave for 5 minutes. When about 2 minutes remain, spray a non-stick pan with (olive oil) cooking spray and start scrambling 3/4 c. eggbeaters. Once the veggies are ready, cut a tiny hole in the bag and drain the juices. When it’s drained, open up the bag and dump it into the eggbeaters, finish cooking it together. When it’s just about finished, add a pinch of shredded cheese and mix it up.

I’m all about an easy & fast breakfast.

Here’s the nutrition info:

Calories: 290
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 23.5g
Protein: 25g

Seriously – it couldn’t be better, ore more filling! I also had a half turkey sandwich with grapes for lunch, and 8 oz. of chicken breast with about 2 cups of broccoli and broccoflower for dinner – and dropped 1.10 lbs. just yesterday. I even splurged with a bit of fat free blue bunny frozen yogurt, too. I’m being much more strict again – this winter has been horrible on my hips. It’s time to put down the brownies and turn off the oven! (At least for today. And maybe tomorrow, too – but I make no promises once the PMS monster hits.)

I received this e-mail forward (urgh, yes, I know) – for some unknown reason I actually read it. And then laughed. And then thought – I should post this – just in case someone hasn’t seen it a million times already – because I haven’t even seen it once yet!

Enjoy!

Man’s first Mistake

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

‘Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.’

The dog said: ‘That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?’

So God agreed.

**********

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

‘Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.’

The monkey said: ‘Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?’

And God agreed.

**********

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

‘You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.’

The cow said: ‘That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?’

And God agreed again.

**********

On the fourth day, God created man and said:

‘Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.’

But man said: ‘Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?’

‘Okay,’ said God, ‘You asked for it.’

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I’m doing it as a public service.

He moves from the back of the house in the morning (his current station in the sun) to the front of the house in the afternoons to lay in the sun. He’s got it made. Oh and hubby wants me to mention he’s totally litter box trained. Hasn’t had an accidento on el carpeto in over 3 days.

Taco Bell has me all puzzled about how Copper would sound if he could talk. Dude. I hear him speaking Spanish when he smiles and pouts at me, and yes – he absolutely smiles and pouts. I’ll try to capture that so you can see. I’m sure we’ll be having caption contests. Oh, yes we will. I already have the starter photo for the first Copper Caption Contest for you, so you might want to brush up on your Alta Vista Spanish.

Our sweet little dude needs a category. I’ll be accepting category name suggestions here in comments and then we’ll vote after I get a handful of cool snarky Coppertastic titles. Get creative! I love creative. Once he’s got a category, captioning shallo commencio.

I’m a visual creature, as you all know, so for me to get sucked into a post with a lotta words is a pretty big deal. Ammie hooked me in the first few lines of one of her recent posts, Dear body*,

We have had a love-hate relationship since my childhood. You love me, while I hate you. I realize now that this has to stop. I have to stop abusing you, hating you, demeaning you. You don’t deserve it and I’m sorry for my choices that have made you the way you are.

If that hasn’t hooked you, well, then you might not have the same kind of issues. I can relate to Ammie, I am Ammie in this post. It was a gut wrenching read, as it so boldly went to that place we all need to go to reach the point of making a change. I’m not going to spoil it for you, since I think you should go read it for yourself. I’m just going to thank Ammie for putting it out there, and award her this well deserved, cute (and pink) little Perfect Post Award.

If you’d like to read more Perfect Posts, you can find a list of ’em at Mommak/aka/Kimberly’s and Lindsay’s place.