February's 12 on 12 - Redux

The reason for my tardy 12 on 12 post - I also created a Digi page for it.
I was inspired by my friend, Lee, who overcame her apprehension towards PSE in January with a beautiful Digital version of her 12 pictures.

Here's my Digital version of yesterday's 12 on 12, a double page spread, based on a freebie template I found on Dreams Inspired.



I'm not 100% sure I'll create a digi page for each 12 on 12 - the process is still fairly time consuming. We'll have to see.....

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February 12 on 12

This month I didn't forget and got my 12 pictures throughout the day.

Morning means preparation for school. Brian's class held their Valentine's party this afternoon, and I signed up to bring drinks.

No, I didn't bring beer! And lest you think we are bunch of boozers here, all of the beer is leftover from our Super Bowl Party. It will probably last until next year! (OK, it won't, but it will last a while). I took the sodas (again, leftovers from the Super Bowl Party) out of the fridge. And this is the fridge in the garage, which houses all of our drinks and "overflow food".

The water is in the kettle, heating up for my coffee:

Hey, you can see a reflection of the window - and there's a bit of light starting to peak through the clouds.

I woke up with a sore throat, the sniffles and I can't stop sneezing. Time for pseudoephedrine and zyrtec.


I went upstairs to roust Brian out of his bed.

Yes, he is in there.

And I took a picture of the outside pond from his window. Yes, that white stuff is still hanging around.


We're at Brian's school now, and he's picking out his lunch selection card. Friday's are easy - it's pizza day.


On my drive to work, I got stuck behind a large farm tractor.

While not an unusual sight during harvest season, this is February! I've never run into large farm equipment in the winter. [then again, there's corn still standing in some of the fields this year]. Notice the frosty trees off to the right? Hoar frost. Beautiful.

At work, we have been planning a big plant shutdown and computer conversion. I decided to write the dates on the big calendar this morning. Then at 11:15, I was called to an "emergency meeting" at 11:30 to discuss the plant shutdown. Moved to September.


After lunch, I needed a little chocolate snack.

Perfect while working on the computer!

After work, I took Erica to the stable for her horse riding lesson.

Hey, she even waved to me!

After dinner, I drove Brian to church where he is spending the night in a "Lock In".
That means he'll run around the indoor playground, drink soda and eat snacks. I doubt there will much "sleeping".

Because he'll be spinning around on the merry-go-round, hanging on for dear life:


We spent the rest of the evening watching the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. A great day.

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No 12on12 - Old GBYSO Sticker Instead

I realized around lunch that today was the 12th, which meant I had already missed out on the morning's opportunity for my 12 on 12 photos. I took a couple pictures and then decided not to participate today - I'm just going to "Relax" instead and maybe take more pictures tomorrow or the next day.

But I'll share one picture what would have been included - my violin case in my office at work. Tuesday afternoons, I leave directly from work to my violin lesson, and my violin doesn't spend time out in the cold car, so I bring it to my office.



I studied violin from 3rd to 12th grade growing up, and this is the "real" violin my parents purchased for me in high school when I was auditioning for various orchestras. I've kept the original case and sticker from the youth orchestra I played in - I can't seem to let that sticker go. The Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra still exists, although they've "rebranded" to the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. The logo seen here no longer exists, either, and I have googled for it and always come up empty. So that's my excuse for keeping the sticker and I'm sticking to it!

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12 on December 12

As I am writing this on Monday, I am posting a little behind schedule, but better late than never (and since I took the pictures on the 12th, I will be pre-dating the post time - just a little trick in Blogger - your post will never seem "late" then!).

OK - back to Saturday, December 12th......

Saturday what a day what a silly little day
Time to kill take a pill as I sit and contemplate
How I'd like to be around all the people in the town with their fancy cars and things
But I've got time

Saturdays by Holly Brook

I wish I could sit and contemplate all Saturday long, but instead I start the day off with a picture of the morning sun streaming through the Living Room, aka Piano Room, aka Christmas Tree Room:


It's a beautiful, yet chilly (24DegF) start to our Saturday. So I go out and run seven miles, with the last mile running against that northerly wind. Brrrr! But, at least it was sunny!

[note - I took the picture after the run. I then thought about collapsing on the couch].

Still no time to collapse or contemplate - Scott was hard at work, filling the pond with buckets of water:

And here's the reason why - with temperatures in the single digits on Thursday, and a non working pond de-icer, the pond froze over, reducing the amount of water available to recirculate through our pond pump. This starves the pump and causes it to cavitate. Yes, any plumber, mechanical or chemical engineer will tell you that is a bad thing for a pump. I purchased a new de-icer yesterday (that shiny blue circular thing), but the water level was still too low. Last night I transferred about 20 buckets full of water to the pond in order to stop the cavitation. Scott was adding more water for good measure.

Water flowing at the waterfall - a good sign.


See, frozen solid in the middle of the pond.


Enough of the cold! Did you know today is National Hot Cocoa day? We decided to celebrate with a nice warm cup.


While a droopy Hannah cuddled up on her favorite warm spot - on the couch blankets. I swear, all she does is sleep! [oh, and let us know she's hungry]


Then I spent the next two hours trying to figure out how to add a darn tweet / retweet button on my Behind the Lens Blog posts. Seriously frustrating! But I finally got it figured out (caution to those who have customized Blogger templates - sometimes you have to try and decipher the html code).


Clouds and darkness reigned over the afternoon and the rains started, just in time for us to get ready for the annual company holiday party. Of course, I brought my camera.

Because, as a passenger of a car, you can take pictures of the street while waiting at the red light:


And during the party, you can take a picture of the table's center piece:


Finally, you get to capture the band, "The Duelin' Hillbillies".


Any band that has a violinist is OK in my book.

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12 on November 12 - Ordinary Day

Just like the song goes, today was an ordinary day:

Just a Day,
Just an Ordinary Day,
Just Trying to get by

Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton

From the Morning:

Dining Room Morning View


Gotta Check My iPhone - my Most Used Apps


Hannah Eats Her Breakfast


Kids Dropped Off

To My Lunch Time walk around the workplace:

Rushes at the Fire Pond


Artists Hard at Work

To Late Afternoon at Home:

Brian's Latest Lego Creation


Erica's Latest Indulgence - The Foot Spa


Time Spent Practicing

To Dinner Time and Beyond:





Favorite Indulgence Confection - Mozart Kugels

And even though it was ordinary, I cherish it just as much.
Hope yours was an Ordinary day.

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12 on October 12

Welcome to today's collection of random pictures from my day.

This morning, we are heating up the oven for something sweet:


The Cinnamon buns:


We needed the buns to warm us up from the cool, damp outdoors.


It's quite dark at 6:45 in the morning:


I dropped Erica off at school, right by the park with the beautiful trees:


After dropping off Brian, I hit the highway.


And watched the sun start to peak through the clouds.


After work, Brian enjoyed some hot chocolate in his new Illini mug (he bought it at Saturday's game).


Hannah watched the birds outside:


After dinner, Erica played with Hannah:




We're all hanging out in the Family room now - Erica is searching for cell phones and Scott is watching Monday Night Football. A nice end to a fall day.

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12 on September 12

Time for my 12 pictures taken throughout my day. First of all, Scott and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary today! Nothing special planned, though - just a normal day - we'll take some time out in the next coming weeks to do something together by ourselves (like play a round of golf)

We had to get up early this morning - I hit the pavement at 7:30:

In my new-ish running shoes:

I ran 6+ miles this morning. I felt good, too - like the first time in several weeks.

And when I got back home, Scott was back from the gym with some treats!


We all enjoyed breakfast.


Brian's birthday is coming up, so he reviewed his birthday list with us:


We headed out to the pitch at 9:30 for Erica's soccer game:


Brian took the above picture and several more:

He insisted that I put on the lens hood - because he knows it helps reduce flare in sunny conditions. My budding photographer.

Erica's team looked great and won the game. Only 10 girls showed up for the game, which meant only one available sub during the game. They were worn out by the end!

Back at home, we had to run the sprinkler for the first time this year. Something you don't expect for September, but today was fairly warm, and the lawn is looking crispy.


I went to the grocery store, armed with the week's menu and shopping list:


Back from the store, I tried my hand at replicating Domino's Lava Crunch Cake (read here for the back story from a couple days ago) by making Molten Chocolate Cake - a recipe off The Pioneer Woman's website.

I managed to burn the edges of the cake slightly, but they were tasty. Very comparable - I'll try a few adjustments to the recipe to make them less cake-y and more chewy.

This evening, Scott and Brian will attend the Fighting Illini's Home opener game against Illinois State. Scott will watch the game while Brian eats junk food. [He did eat a decent dinner before heading out, though]


Finally, the latest song Erica downloaded off iTunes yesterday - this BoomBoomPow "song" [note I have the word song in quotes - because, how in the world can this be considered to be a song?].

We heard the Black Eyed Peas perform this selection during Thursday night's NFL opener, and Scott and I thought it was ridiculous. Of course, Erica likes the "song". And so, it is official - Scott and I are Old. We admit it without reservation.

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