this and that

‘ello chaps! And sorry for my absence this week. There was a bit of an incident with my camera Tuesday night. Well, actually with my camera lens.

I was sitting here minding my own business when I noticed a speck of dust on the front face of my wide-angle lens, and being too lazy to go searching for a cleaning cloth, and spying a convenient can of compressed air on the desk within arm’s reach… well, apparently EVERYONE knows you aren’t supposed to use compressed air on camera equipment. EVERONE, that is, except me. ‘Cause I must have missed that memo. *sigh*

Anyway, the lens wasn’t permanently damaged as far as I can tell, but I sure got a good dose of sense right in the noggin. Like, I didn’t take any pictures for about three days. I have the black thumb of electronics, ya’ll. And I guess my creative juices just don’t flow when there are no pictures involved…

But on a positive note, I learned that it is definitely possible to fully enjoy my kids without expensive glass between us. And I think they were happy to have a three day break where I didn’t chase them around with a camera at all.

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Jackson is sharp as a tack these days. We are finding ourselves in a whole new world. One where nothing we say goes unnoticed. It’s scary!

Before we go to the grocery store I tell him my list and he can quote it back to me once we get inside.

Me: “Jackson, we need bananas, onions, potatoes, and milk. Remind me when we get in the store.”

Jack: “Okay.”

twenty minutes later

Me: “Jack, what do we need?”

Jack: “Bananas, onions, potatoes, milk, and M&Ms!”

See, sharp as a tack, I tell you!

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During the three weeks while Caleb was gone the weather turned sour. As in sour RAIN. As in it rained so much that our yard turned into a swamp and SMELLED like a swamp too.

So we stayed inside for almost a week. And after we got bored of destroying the house I went digging in the attic for something to amuse us. This is what I found.

“Look, R2! Sunlight again! Thank the maker and I could really use an oil bath.”

These are pretty much antiques since I played with them when I was little. They have been hidden away in a shoe box and I’m glad I kept them because they provided almost two days’ worth of entertainment, which was a precious commodity that week.

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So Friday was our anniversary and sorry if you were expecting a lovely picture of the two of us or of our awesome day. I was still on camera hiatus on Friday, but here’s a quick shot of the cake Jackson and I made.

Okay, you may be wondering just what in the color world happened to the purple layer that should make this a beautiful rainbow cake. And I’m going to blame this one on the kid that was whining about not being able to watch cartoons and the other kid who was in hysterics about slamming a toy car repeatedly into the back of my legs. Because surely if I hadn’t been distracted I would have remembered the basics of the color wheel and known that blue and red makes purple, NOT blue and green. NOW I know what blue and green makes… tar.

You know, once upon a time I would have thrown that cake out and started over, but fortunately I’ve since learned to laugh at myself. If I’d sat down and reviewed my Sesame Street for just a few minutes we’d have a perfect rainbow cake… but nothing to laugh at. And fortunately, the tar layer tasted just as good as all the other layers.

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On a whim I decided to drag my old riding boots out of the depths of my closet and clean them up. Why have them if you don’t wear them, know what I mean? Not sure whose brilliant idea it was to wrap them in plastic bags when they still had horse manure caked to the bottom of them ahem, mine. Nothing a good scrubbing and some leather conditioner couldn’t fix.

If you need me, I’ll be in my closet contemplating wardrobe possibilities because after all that work I will be wearing these boots for the next two weeks.