Light in the Darkroom

I would say Happy April Fool's Day, however I despise it sooo much! I don't think it's funny to have jokes played on you so, I'm steering clear of unnecessary contact with anyone today. If I don't answer your call, don't be offended! Yes, I'm that scared lol...

So I stumbled across these commercials and I have not ever seen them on television, however in the first on I love the line: "One foreign yetti hikes with a teddy..." and in the second I love the line: yikes there's the clown...I think clowns are scary anyway so I agree!

Make sure you get outside today and take in all that is of this beautiful planet we call home!

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter holiday as much as I enjoyed mine! I did revert back to childhood and color eggs. When I went to the store to buy coloring kits for my eggs, I was overwhelmed...egg coloring has come a longggg way. There is this egg commando kit that has a little bit of everything in it (i.e. stickers, foil, and dye), an all sticker kit, an all foil kit, the traditional kit, a glitter kit, and a tye-dye kit. Of course being the unconventional person that I am, I elected to get the glitter and the tye-dye kit. You would think I would stay away from glitter considering my holiday cards had glitter on them and I was shiny for a few weeks, but it's just something about those shiny little squares that I can't get over :-) By the time I was prepared to color though I didn't feel like doing both kits so I elected to leave the tye-dye for another time and just use the glitter kit. Well, apparently you have to leave the eggs in the dye for 5 minutes or longer for vivid colors. I left the eggs in the dye's for 20 minutes and the only colors that came out correctly were the blue, green and yellow. The orange was barely there, purple looked pink as did red. I still like my eggs even if they are color challenged, but I decided to forgo the glitter for the sake of less mess.

My Christmas cactus developed a single bloom in time for Easter...I thought that was pretty amazing timing. I still have one cactus that hasn't had a bloom on it since I first bought it with buds. I don't know if possibly it doesn't like it's location in the house, but the flowers have a really vivid color. Hopefully there will be some flowers on it by the summer time. Back to the timing... I say it is pretty awesome because this Christmas cactus which blooms during the season of celebration for the birth of Christ, has bloomed during the season of his death and Resurrection. I don't know if that makes you think, but the wheels in my mind are turning.


I did make it to see my favorite baby in all the land. She is growing soo fast. We are at the 7 1/2 month mark already...where does the time go? I of course took tons of pictures and if you have access to my picture site you can click the link on the side. This is one of my favorites because Z has character even while sleeping! I had taken two shots before this one, but I guess Z wasn't feeling the flash (red eye reduction flashes 3 times before the picture is taken, but it works) and she let it be known with the arm in front of her face! Too cute!

I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and if you haven't completed your taxes yet, tsk tsk, you better get going! If you are using snail mail to get them in, go here to find out if the post office near you has extended hours.

I would just like to say I do enjoy April Fool's Day as long as the joke is not on me! With that said, Don't Even EVER Think about trying to fool me today, I will not talk to you ever again!! Okay maybe not ever again but at least for 5 minutes :-P

So it's spring time and everything is blooming, flying, buzzing about and I had almost forgot how allergic I am to the outdoors. So spring, I would like to say thank you for reminding me with red itchy burning eyes, sneezing spells, nasal drainage and sinus pressure. If you can't tell I HATE spring! My allergies have been alternating for the last couple of years...I either suffer in the spring or suffer in the fall. Hopefully this remains true and this will be the worst of it for the year (finger's crossed). I wanted to make it down to the cherry blossoms this year, I think I say that every year :-/, but the way things are going I'm not sure the suffering will be worth it. I'll think about it some more.

Have a Happy Wednesday and hopefully you won't get fooled too intensely today. I'm not fooling anyone so if all else fails, talk to me!!

Today is Ash Wednesday, and I have been contemplating what I am going to give up for the next 40-days. It's really hard making a decision, but I think I am going to be able to come up with a short list. I asked our resident preacher in the office for more insight into the details of Ash Wednesday and I learned quite a bit of knowledge, but what is knowledge if not applied? So my contemplation has begun, wish me luck, as I wish luck to all who are also going to willingly give up something and use this time as self-reflection.

Happy Wednesday!

OMG I can't believe it's been 9 days since my last posting! Shame on me!! In lieu of being missing in action...I will do a brief recap of events:

~February 10-12th, I don't really remember so nothing to discuss there!

~~February 13th, Whoo hoo it's Friday the 13th, but again nothing I remember!

~~~February 14th, the day of love, (Happy B-Day C) I had a lovely Cupid Day and I hope all of you did too!! I'm not a big fan of commercialized holidays, but that does not mean that I don't enjoy the presents, I mean who wouldn't! But hopefully you tell somebody (even if it's just yourself) that you love them everyday and not just on occasion.

~~~~February 15th, Good ole' soul food dinner at Mama J's house. And it was sooooo good!! She even fixed some collard greens and I don't even like greens, but they were so good! And the company was hilarious! I thought I was watching Comedy Central for a brief moment.

~~~~~February 16th, President's Day, While the only thing I know about this holiday is, the celebration of Washington and Lincoln's B-day's and all the stores have sales, I enjoyed the free day off from work. I went to visit my favorite baby in all the land and of course took some pictures. Some were better than others, but I have an absolute favorite. The lighting worked, Z was still for just the right amount of time, and I actually figured out how to work the camera a little bit more (I don't read instruction manuals so I learn by trial and error). I was so impressed with myself (can I say that?!?), because not all photos come out the way I have them imagined in my head (go figure). Anyhow, here it is:

Isn't she just a doll!?! I am so ridiculously proud of myself for this shot, I just can't stop looking at it! And her socks give just enough color without it being too much. I love black and white much better, but this is a great color photo. I may have to actually order the print for this and surprise her mommy with it, (hope she's not reading this, well surprise if you are). Back to my recount,

~~~~~~February 17th, Pres. Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which is to create or maintain 3.5 million jobs, cut taxes for middle and working class families and help with health care and clean energy. The administration has developed a website, that will track milestones and show you, the public, exactly how money is being spent. While I think it's nice to be informed, I really hope that this new development will have a deep impact on our current situation. Just driving down the street and being able to see all of the yellow and black signs in the front yards or homes that used to be inhabited by families is sobering.

~~~~~~~February 18th, Today, fake snow prevails again...while I am still holding out for my 2 1/2 feet of snow, time is not on my side. All in all it's going to be a long day...Oh how I ♥ angry people...I hope I make it.

Have a better day than me, or at least try :-)

Today is Father's Day and to me it seems that it always gets overshadowed by Mother's Day...of course Mom's are special but Dad's are too!!

I hope you enjoy this day set aside to celebrate the wonderful things you do for your family 365 days of the year. While we know today is the official day, Mother's Day is truly everyday!

Happy Mother's Day to All (and mother's to be too!!)

Today is Earth Day...love the planet that loves you most!

Plant a tree native to your region, use eco friendly pesticides, put a bird house in your backyard, use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances, take mass transit to get to work or carpool, recycle all recyclable materials, dispose of all toxic materials properly

Use this day to educate yourself and the ones around you. Did you know if everyone in America alone recycled their newspaper everyday we would save 287,000 trees?? Get in the know!