Discards (151/365)

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“A woman rarely discards one lover - until she is sure of another”
~ Royall Tyler

TIME: 8:30 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Discards

My neighbor upstairs has the most interesting job - he "rescues" furniture from garage sales, estate sales and the roadside discards - he then makes them BEAUTIFUL and sells them in a "shabby-chic" boutique in one of the more upscale towns near by. He often stores his projects on the grassy area at the side of the building. I look forward to seeing what these become!

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Werewolf (150/365)

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“Midnight, and the clock strikes. It is Christmas Day, the werewolves birthday, the door of the solstice still wide enough open to let them all slink through.”
~ Angela Carter

TIME: 8:30 AM
PLACE: Podunk v2
SUBJECT: Werewolf

You just never know what you might see on the Sunday morning drive to the laundromat.
No *shakes head* I have no idea ...

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Pink (149/365)

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“Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone's eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too”
~ Gladys Taber

TIME: 7:30 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Pink

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Hunting (148/365)

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“Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game.”
~ Paul Rodriguez

TIME: 8:00 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Hunting

And just what was it they were hunting? Bunnies?? Birds?? Noooo ... dogwood fuzz. They are fierce!

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Phone (147/365)

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The bathtub was invented in 1850 and the telephone in 1875. In other words, if you had been living in 1850, you could have sat in the bathtub for 25 years without having to answer the phone.
~ Bill DeWitt, 1972

TIME: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Phone

I have been considering a new cell phone for about three months. I'm one of those people who doesn't require the latest gadget - instead, I want the most value for my money. I have wanted the LG enV3 since I started looking, but was not willing to pay the $79.99 "reduced" price. I waited ... and waited ... and waited ... and finally caught it on sale for $29.99 AND found a coupon code for 20% off that price. I love a great deal - even if I have to wait to get it!

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Stripes (146/365)

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“Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.”
~ Albert Einstein

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Haircut

I needed a change, and I needed to do something for myself. The intent was to trim up my locks. The result was a short, sassy summer doo with big, chunky color. Ehhh ... it's only hair - it will grow back!

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Band (145/365)

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Dewey Finn: I pledge allegiance... to the band... of Mr. Schneebly... and will not fight him... for creative control... and will defer to him on all issues related to the musical direction of the band.
~ The School of Rock (2003)

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Pudunk Middle School
SUBJECT: Band

Last night was Cam's final middle school band performance. Got me a little teary-eyed ...

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Fan (144/365)

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“Law of Probability Dispersal : Whatever it is that hits the fan will not be evenly distributed”
~ Roger Angell

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Fan

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Dew (143/365)

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“Man's life is like a drop of dew on a leaf.”
~ Socrates

TIME: 7:00 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Dew

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Lotion (142/365)

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“Tears are nature's lotion for the eyes. The eyes see better for being washed by them.”
~ Christian Nevell Bovee

TIME: 9:00 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Lotion

Summer time brings dry skin, and the older I get the worse it becomes! Oh to be young and moist again ... wait ... that didn't sound quite right, did it?

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Shed (141/365)

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A lost but happy dream may shed its light upon our waking hours, and the whole day may be infected with the gloom of a dreary or sorrowful one; yet of neither may we be able to recover a trace.
~ Walter de La Mare

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Shed

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Self Portrait (140/365)

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“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
~ Oscar Wilde

TIME: 9:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Self Portrait

I know, I cheated a little bit on this one as it was posted on the other blog, but ... but ...

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Microphone (139/365)

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“That's called a microphone. It's a big sausage that picks up everything you say - and you're starting early.”
~ Prince Charles

TIME: 9:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Microphone

Tonight was the last night of the middle school youth group for the 2009-2010 school year. It's kind of bittersweet. What started out as a feeling of obligation to help keep Cam on the straight and narrow turned in to the discovery of a passion for kids this age. In the beginning, middleschoolers were scary. In the end? They were just like the rest of us - looking for love and acceptance.

This microphone and I also learned to get along ... but it took some real effort on my part!

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Groceries (138/365)

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“I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad a turkeys. There's turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastromi,.Some one needs to tell the turkey, man, just be yourself.”
~ Mitch Hedberg

TIME: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Podunk V2
SUBJECT: Groceries

I don't like grocery shopping. Actually, I hate grocery shopping. I'd rather clean a public restroom with a toothbrush than go grocery shopping. I feel overwhelmed by the choices even if I have a list.

My solution? I used to be regular Peapod shopper, until moving to Podunk that is. Peapod doesn't deliver out here, although they are getting closer! If they'll extend their delivery area just 8 more miles all will be well in my world.

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Cold (137/365)

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“Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything”
~ Billy Graham

TIME: 1:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Cold

I started fighting a cold Sunday. I went in to work on Monday hoping I'd feel better as the day went on. It didn't work. I went home for lunch and didn't go back.

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Lilac (136/365)

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"Just now the lilac is in bloom/ All before my little room."
~ Rupert Brooke

TIME: 1:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Lilac

I wish I could make this photo scratch-n-sniff for all of you!

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Buffalo (135/365)

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“The buffalo isn't as dangerous as everyone makes him out to be. Statistics prove that in the United States more Americans are killed in automobile accidents than are killed by buffalo.”
~ Art Buchwald

TIME: 4:00 PM
PLACE: Peoria Frat House
SUBJECT: Buffalo

In addition to attending Tyler's graduation from Bradley University Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit his "apartment" (a.k.a the off campus frat house) and help him move out. Let's just say that this buffalo was the least offensive item in the apartment. I won't even begin to tell you about the kitchen and bathroom - UGH!

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Cemetery (134/365)

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“The fence around a cemetery is foolish, for those inside can't get out and those outside don't want to get in.”
~ Arthur Brisbane

TIME: 11:30 AM
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Cemetery

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More Rain (133/365)

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“I love walking in the rain, 'cause then no-one knows I'm crying.”
~ Unknown

TIME: 6:30 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: More Rain

Wednesday night, into Thursday afternoon, it rained ... and rained ... and rained.

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iPod (132/365)

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“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
~ Anton Chekhov

TIME: 6:30 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: iPod Touch

Cam is not an overly passionate kid ... unless we're talking about music. Cam watches very little TV (maybe 2-3 hours per week) but spends every waking - and sleeping - moment listening to music.

Last night he took his iPod to youth group at church. When he and a couple of the boys were wrestling around, he took his phone and his iPod out of his pants so that he wouldn't cause any damage to either of them. In the span of about 10 minutes, someone decided to hit Cam's iPod screen with his phone.

I feel terrible for him. He did the right thing. Took care of something he values. And someone else decided to take that from him. This is one of those times when, as a parent, you want to be able to make this right, but it will be quite some time before I can finagle my finances enough to make this one right.

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Rain (131/365)

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The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

TIME: 8:30 AM
PLACE: Podunk Illinois
SUBJECT: Rain

You know it's a dreary day when your color photo looks black and white.

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Tree (130/365)

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“Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.”
~ Albert Schweitzer

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Tree

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Egg (129/365)

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“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”
~ C.S. Lewis

TIME: 8:30 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Egg

Looks like one of my neighborhood robins became a mom on Mother's Day!

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Mandisa (128/365)

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Do you think that a California girl is supposed to have curls and wear a jean size 3?
All the curves in all the right places, spray tanned faces just like on TV?
And we read in the gospel of Vogue that we're all suppose to dress and move and be
Visions of perfection
Such a misconception
'Cause the real connection is deeper than the eye can see
(from "True Beauty")

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Mandisa

Mandisa performed at our church tonight. She was truly amazing. I stayed to purchase her CD's and to get an autograph for Cam. I'm not one to be enamored by famous people, but when I got to the autograph table, I decided to suck it up and participate in the photo op ... for the sake of the blog ...

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Vacuum (127/365)

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“Spaghetti can be eaten most successfully if you inhale it like a vacuum cleaner.”
~ Sophia Loren

TIME: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Vacuum

A few months ago I received this card. The sender (and fellow blogger), in a random act of kindness, sent me a gift. She knew times were tough and she reached out. When I thanked her, I told her what I planned on doing with the gift. She said:

I was going to suggest you have some fun with [it] BUT it is a gift and a gift is for the receiver to do with as they wish.

Well, I'm a bit practical, and I feel a great deal of responsibility to choose needs over wants. Cam and I have been living in the apartment for 5 months now - 5 months without a vacuum cleaner. I've been researching vacuums for two months - reading user and consumer reports reviews - and I finally made a decision earlier in the week.

I know the giver might not believe this, but I did have fun using the vacuum today, and each time I do this "chore" I will be thinking of - and grateful for - her!

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Note (126/365)

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“If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.”
~ Edgar Allan Poe

TIME: 1:00 PM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Note

When I stopped at the mailbox today I found this note. It's things like this that keep me living in a small town!

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Bowls (125/365)

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“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy.”
~ Albert Einstein

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Bowl

It was a crazy night at middle school youth group. It was transition night and we added 5th graders to the mix and shipped off our 8th graders to the high school youth group. These bowls were full of popcorn the first hour of the program, then washed and put away. It was one of those times when nothing was as it should be yet everything went as planned. Sometimes it better to be lucky than good!

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Drive (124/365)

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“Drive on. We'll sweep up the blood later!”
~ Katharine Hepburn

TIME: 12:30 PM
PLACE: Forest Preserve
SUBJECT: Drive

Anyone got a broom??

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Bug (123/365)

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“Most children have a bug period, and I never grew out of mine.”
~ Edward O. Wilson

TIME: 10:00 AM (Sunday)
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Bug

This is a cheat. I took two photos yesterday for The New York Times Moment in Time project - the dandelion I posted yesterday, and this bug. I couldn't let the bug feel less important than the dandelion now, could I?

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A Moment in Time (122/365)

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TIME: 10:02 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: A Moment in Time

The New York Times coordinated a project they called "A Moment in Time."
From their website:

Attention: everyone with a camera, amateur or pro. Please join us on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 (U.T.C./G.M.T.), as thousands of photographers simultaneously record “A Moment in Time.” The idea is to create an international mosaic, an astonishingly varied gallery of images that are cemented together by the common element of time.

This photo was cropped just a little and converted to black & white, but per the instructions for the project, nothing was done that couldn't have easily been done in a darkroom.

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A Moment in Time

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This will be the inspiration for my P365 pic tomorrow! Anyone else??

A Moment in Time


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Weed Eater (121/365)

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A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.
~ Doug Larson

TIME: 8:00 AM
PLACE: Home Sweet Home
SUBJECT: Weed Eater

Podunk is blooming with bunnies, and this one was in my "front yard" having a little breakfast. Yes, that is a fuzzy dandelion in his mouth and yes, he was eating only the fuzzy dandelions. Picky bunny.

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