Life on the Road

This is the fourth in a series of “Photo Project” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!). 

The assignmet for today was to dislay any photo project, past or present.

The first thing I thought of was the collage of auto advertising for our business that I made from cars in the parking lot at our national convention in Dallas back in July:

This was something we used in our sales team newsletter, to help show the options in advertising - as well as the dedication of those who are successful in the business.

Just wanted to share a couple of cute things I’ve run across online recently:

Elf Yourself

This is a fun/silly activity - see my kids elfed! 

Free Baby Stuff Giveaway!

The folks over at Our Blessed Arrows are preparing for a military transfer next spring, so they’re clearning out the inventory from their online shop by having weekly giveaways on their blog - just comment to enter.  This week’s giveaway is for a pair of Pedoodles baby or toddler shoes.

Happy beginning of the holiday season…  Regardless of the fact that Christmas stuff has been in stores since Halloween!  ICK!!  LOL

This is the second in a series of “Photo Game” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).

This one is called “See My Name in Lights,” and the challenge was to spell your name out of something around the house. 

Here’s Champion-Photo-Gamer Nick’s creation:

That’s a carrot “N,” cobs of corn and an apple for an “i,” most of one of our famous Buttermilk Pies as “c,” miniature marshmallows in a “k” . . . and Nick! 

This is the second in a series of “Photo Challenge” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).  This one is being guest hosted over at Just Not Martha.

Today’s theme is:

Happiest Moments

There are only two other events that could even possibly compare to this one… and since I do have two kids, I’m certainly not going to choose between them! 

This is me, freshly married to the man of my dreams, the love of my life, my hero…

The actual “First Kiss,” moments earler, was not nearly as perfect a “Kodak Moment”.

The Western attire was fun, since as mature people we didn’t want to go for the traditional “wedding” thing.  We were moving to Williams, AZ, which does an Old West tourist town theme, so we thought it was appropriate.  You can see the accessories better here, as we exchange rings:

It was February 29, 2004.  So we’re just coming up on our First Anniversay! 

I hope you’ll enjoy this little story I read recently.  It’s cute, but the question it asks us is profound… 

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An American tourist was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.

Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The tourist complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”

The tourist then asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”

The Mexican said, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”

The tourist then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, and stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos.  I have a full and busy life.”

The tourist scoffed, “I can help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you could run your ever-expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

The tourist replied, “15 to 20 years.”

“But what then?” asked the Mexican.

The tourist laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions? Then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos“

This is the first in a series of “Photo Game” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!), with today’s episode Guest Hosted over at The Day of a Mom.

This is a Photo Scavenger Hunt - here’s my collection:

- something cold:  Ice cream
- something hot:  Hot peppers (hiding there behind the temple piece of the sunglasses)
- something soft:  Guinea Pig, the fluffy cat
- something hard:  Fossils (2 of them, back by the dumbell)
- something heavy:  Dumbell
- something light:  Feather
- something dark:  The XBox game is “Gauntlet: Dark Legacy”
- something bright:  Flashlight
- something crafty:  Nick’s recent photo project
- something tasty:  Leftover Halloween candy (still tasty since it hasn’t gotten totally stale yet!)
- something sweet:  Miss Jewel!
- something cool:  Nick’s cool shades

 What do you say?  Fair interpretations, right?

This is the first in a series of “Photo Project” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).  All of them are based on projects from the Kodak Ideas Gallery.

Today’s project is the Holiday Accordion Book with Pockets:

I decided to turn Nick (13) loose on this one, to make Christmas gifts for the family.  In fact I had just gone to pick up our family photos from this year’s venture, and Nick had school pictures done from the school where he has his band classes, and Iwas trying to think of a unique way to give them to my mom, my sister, etc.  Perfect!

For simplicity of construction, and since I don’t have any little frou-frou to put in them anyway, we went for a “pocketless” version.  For the transition to a kids’ project, we used construction paper for the accordion as well as the picture trim, with largely hand-made and hand-drawn decorations.

Thanks for the motivation to get some things checked off my Christmas shopping list!  (Good thing they don’t read my blog, eh?  LOL) 

This is the first in a series of “Photo Challenge” themes being posted as part of a contest over at Two Moms in a Blog (go check it out!).

Today’s theme is:

Photos That Inspire

This picture is really inspirational to me for a lot of reasons - some “public,” some personal:

• The light shining down from above - God?
• The glow through the flag (nice camera work, Wolf!) - very patriotic!
• The general idea of conquering the mountain
• This is Nick, 12 at the time.  The last time he’d faced a climbing wall he slunk away in defeat.  This time he was determined - and he did it!
• Bonus: Nick’s t-shirt is from the Audio Adrenaline concert he went to, with the lyrics, “I get down… HE lifts me up!”

What inspires you?

A Somali arrives in Toronto as a new immigrant to Canada.  He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says, ‘Thank you Mr. Canadian for letting me in this country, giving me housing, money for food, free medical care, and free education!’

The passerby says, ‘You are mistaken, I am Jamaican.’

The man goes on and encounters another passerby.  ‘Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in Canada!’

The person says, ‘I not Canadian, I Vietnamese.’

The new arrival walks further, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand and says, ‘Thank you for the wonderful Canada!’

That person puts up his hand and says, ‘I am from Middle East , I am not Canadian!’

He finally sees a nice lady and asks, ‘Are you a Canadian?’

She says, ‘No, I am from Africa !’

Puzzled, he asks her, ‘Where are all the Canadians?’

The African lady checks her watch and says…

‘Probably at work.’

Not to get on a soapbox, but this IS where government healthcare and other programs which may seem benign ultimately lead…

I kinda worry about this…

I grew up in the country. We would pull over on the side of the road sometimes to go hunting or fishing. Heck, we would just pull off and stop to look across a field at something or other. I have seen plenty of driveways or parking lots that were gravel instead of paved asphalt or concrete.

But they have really got me worried here - I never know where to park down here in Florida.

Everywhere we go there are parks and houses and even businesses that don’t have a driveway or parking area. Well, they don’t have a clearly marked area. I’m beginning to wonder if this is a Florida law or maybe the lack of. From one place to the next, you just can’t be sure where the “parking area” is. It’s pretty universal here, but I worry that I’ll pull off into someone’s expensive sod.

We noticed it right away when we arrived here a few weeks ago. We drove by place after place with no driveway that was evident. And then people were just pulling off the roads wherever they pleased. They park anywhere and everywhere. And I was beginning to get a little used to it, after all, even my driveway isn’t there … or maybe it’s everywhere.

Then I was on the road again for a few days last week. I went to make the final commitment to the Florida life. We moved all of our stuff from storage in Arizona to the house in Florida - That was quite a drive.

For days I drove through state after state. Through towns and through the country. Rolling along past houses, farms and fields. Passin’ trains that have no names, freight yards full of old black men and the graveyards of the rusted automobiles. Sing along … Good morning America how are you? Yea, all of that. It was a long drive. And after almost two thousand miles, when white line fever is making me crazy, I get to Florida. I didn’t need a sign to tell me either.

As I cross over from Alabama to Florida, not even 100 yards from the “Welcome” sign, there is a little shop on the side of the road with no driveway or parking lot. BAMM!!

I just don’t get it. Is it just me??

I continue to pray for wisdom and discernment. Maybe I’ll figure it out one day.