Wildlights at the zoo

I got the most wonderful Christmas present from my husband. I got a membership to the Columbus Zoo. We have talked about getting one for some time, but just never took the step to get one. Now with our family growing like crazy, a new baby and a new son-in-law (not in the same nuclear family, mind you), now we can take advantage of some of the wonderful things going on at the zoo, and take guests with us. We get free parking and are able to enter at a no waiting area. We went to "Wildlights" on Saturday night and it was absolutely spectacular. The lights are absolutely brilliant and are just absolutely everywhere. We weren't able to stay long, although we did wait in line on the street for over an hour, but I was able to get a few pictures. I am hoping to get back this week to get more pictures, but the last day is January 3, so we'll see if I really make it.

I am still learning to take night pictures. My camera has a night setting, but am unsure if the flash should be on or off. The pictures here do not do justice to the beauty of the lights.

I found the following pictures on Flickr, which are much better than mine.

Musings (for the new year)

As the events of the past year wind down toward an end and the new year approaches, I have had an opportunity to reflect on my life and the lives of others; how we interact and relate and expectations that we have of each other and society in general. Winter has been difficult for me over the past 10-15 years, due to the seasonal affective tendencies that I have, so perhaps my musings are a little on the heavier side, but they are still a part of me. I am just going to ramble a bit.

In a nutshell, I think that life can be so hard when it comes to negotiating other peoples expectations. I think that most people, including myself, do the best that they can when it comes to doing the right thing and being a good person. We all have baggage, some more than others and it affects how we relate, adjust and behave. It seems that those with less baggage and cleaner, more adjusted lives have higher expectations due to their inexperience with difficulties and life's stumbling blocks. I think that I have had a fair amount of baggage, less than some and more than others; and I always try to look behind the 'supposed errors' that people make to give them the benefit of the doubt. I certainly don't always succeed. I am, after all, human. I think the difficulties in life sometimes give you a more balanced view of others and the fact that their behavior may result from their background and history.

It makes life difficult when people don't stop and take a minute to assess where another may be coming from. It makes life difficult when you know that your baggage may pass on to others, whether it be family or other people and put them into the unfortunate position of having to defend themselves against your baggage. It may be outright or very subtle, but it is hurtful to multiple people.

I heard a sermon once by a very wise pastor of ours. In fact, I swear this is true, his name was Pastor Wise. It has been years ago, so I really don't remember the entire thing, but one point has absolutely stuck with me for all of these years. The example was the classic tale of someone stealing from a grocery store, only to find out later that they were stealing because of no money and their children were hungry. The point which I try very hard to incorporate into my life is that in many situations, there is that one little bit of information that changes the whole situation. So often, we forget to consider that other little bit of information that changes everything.

None of us is perfect and I am far from it, but we all try to the extent that we can. I hope to continue to work on having understanding and compassion for others. Sometimes, it is easy to have it inside and harder to display it. That also is a goal of mine. I would also just urge others to look behind the action (or lack of action) that you consider wrong or out of order in an individual, to that little bit of information that may change the 'color' of the whole situation.

For the little things, I think it is important to put our little grievances to the "How important is it" test. Or from a well known author.. "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff"

If you have stayed with me this far, I commend you. This has been cathartic for me. Thanks for listening and I promise that I will now go back to my friendly, happy and fun posts. Have a wonderful new year!!

photo courtesy of Flickr

Button Bouquets

Once again I have found the blog of an absolutely incredibly creative person. I had to share it with you. This is another example of the absolutely unending creativity of people that absolutely awes me and opens up my eyes to the world of art and ingenuity. I love these bouquets. She does bridal bouquets, and other really cool items. You really should click on the link. You will not be disappointed, plus I will be adding it to my favorites. I chose the pink for Abby and the red for Christmas, but all of them are amazing.

My favorite ornaments

Silent Night, Holy Night

From a secret Santa

From a friend

Made by the girls

I was sitting in my living room gazing at our beautiful Christmas tree and admiring the many beautiful ornaments that we have collected over the years. I thought I might share a few of my favorites with you, although it is very difficult to pick out favorites when I love them all. I have given some ornaments to the girls now that they have started lives of their own. I gave them any that they made, or were given to them by relatives and friends. We still have a wealth of ornaments and they all mean something. They have been given to me or Leon; or we have gotten them on our vacations. Very few, if any, ornaments are actually bought from the local department store specifically to obtain decorations for the tree. They all have some meaning. We have always gotten a real tree every year and this may be the last year. It becomes more and more expensive every year (this years tree was $65) and although the process is very special, it is wearing to have to get the tree home and wrestle it into a stand. We have often gone and cut our own, which makes it a bit cheaper, but that too adds to the work, as well. So, next year, we are considering an artificial tree. There is a part of me that is very sad, but I guess it is inevitable.

From our vacation to Gloucester, Massachusetts

A handcarved piece I gave to Leon

Little house that lights up - I just like it

Happy Heart Princess

Well, another member of my family has joined the blogging world. This world is quite captivating and there are just so many reasons that it appeals to people. I have just enjoyed the writing experience. I seem to write better than I speak, in many instances. It provides a way to allow people to peek into your life and gain inspiration for many things. It allows family members to keep in touch and many people use blogging to help promote their creations.

This brings me to the new member of my family to enter blogging, my sis. She is the creator of a book called the Happy Heart Princess and has them for sale on her new blog. You can keep up with her there, and her ventures and (ad)ventures. You may even hear about her loves: Kita, the cat and Joey and Baby, her dogs. Baby has an especially interesting story, which may make it onto her blog.

She also does individualized princess paintings of children based upon their interests and characteristics. Take a look, maybe you will see something you like! I have added her blog to my favorites list.

Quiche - with my new mixer

My new mixer!!!


I had a taste for quiche last weekend and decided to break out my new birthday mixer that I got from Matt, Carrie and Abby and just go ahead and make some up. Now my birthday is actually today, but they gave me my gift when I was there for Thanksgiving.

The mixer that I had was a joke to them and probably to anyone else who saw it, but it worked and in the -recycle it instead of buying new- green environment that is so prevalent and popular today, my mixer was quite the trendy mixer. At least it took a long time to get it to a landfill. Please allow me a bit of license to ramble a bit while I describe it. It was a 34 year old burst of power Sunbeam portable mixer. The color was a beautiful gold. The slide switch that you use to change the speeds had fallen off many years ago and I just used the metal "sticky out thing" that the plastic switch had fallen off of. It worked just fine. Somewhere throughout the years, the cord got lost as well. It was a cord with one end that plugged into the mixer and the other end plugged into the outlet. Somehow, I ended up with two cords that I could use on it, one was for the electric knife and I really don't know where the other one came from. The problem was that neither cord really fit quite right, so I either had to hold the cord into the mixer while I held the mixer with the other hand; or I had to plug it back into the mixer every three seconds. That part really was a pain!!!!! Anyhow, that mixer made a lot of cookies, beat a lot of potatoes, and other various items. It was a part of our family and the kids will always remember 'Moms mixer' and laugh. That alone is worth it. It is now a part of our family history, slight though it may be. A little thing, but kind of fun to think about it and you gotta give me credit for 'being green'.

So the first thing that I used my new mixer on was a spinach quiche. At Lyndsay's shower, they had a spinach dish that was so good, so I looked for a recipe and made a quiche. It was UmmmUmmm Good!! And really easy, which certainly helps with the 'intimidation' factor. I will include the recipe, although I just found it on the foodnetwork website.

Here it is:
4 eggs
1 C half and half
1/2 C Mayonnaise
2 T Flour
Mix in a medium mixing bowl

Add:
1/3 C minced onions
Salt and garlic powder to taste
8 oz. of swiss or cheddar cheese (I used cheddar)
1 pkg frozen spinach (I thawed, drained and squeezed the liquid out - but the recipe didn't say you had to)

Pour into a prepared pie shell (I cheated and bought one). Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hr. (mine took a full hour).

Ready for the oven!!!!!

The final product-- Yumm!!

Your personal rainbow

I came across this little fun website that gives you a personalized rainbow, based upon how you answer some preference questions. Kind of interesting and I was very surprised by how my rainbow turned out. Very boring actually! I found the site on another blog and her rainbow had all the colors. I'm not sure if I'm weird or just like blue. Give it a try.

Your rainbow is intensely shaded blue, violet, and white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. People depend on you to make them feel secure.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.