Photo a Day: January 30

Down: This brought me down this morning - daughter in jail again.

Photo a Day: January 29

Grow: These vines grow on a tree in my front yard. They are always green, year round & right now, the only green thing out there.

Photo a day: January 28

Through: The snow & my dog, Tiny, through my bedroom door. (yes, it opens to the back yard)

Photo a Day: January 27

Sun: We had none of that warm, bright light today - only wind, rain & snow, but guess what, for 21+ years, this man has been the sunshine of my life, so that counts!

Photo a Day: January 26

Together: So.. every seat in my living room was full during our arts & sciences event for crown qualifications (it's an Amtgard thing), Dawn came back in the room & looked a bit sad about no seats, so I told her to sit on my lap. She had gotten about 3 hours of sleep over 48 hours & just kept coming once she got there, so of course, pictures were taken!

Photo a Day: January 25

Landscape: I took this on our way up to Salt Lake last week, with this prompt in mind.

Photo a Day:January 24

Stripes

Photo a Day: January 23

Electric: the light on my power strip, glowing in the dark and telling me everything is still powered up.

Photo a Day: January 22

Corner: a corner of a piece of my birthday cake.

Photo a Day: January 21

What you do: I make stuff. This is the start of my shield for Amtgard.

Photo a Day: January 20

Something you saw: We saw these hats at a gas station in Nephi and 4 out of 5 of us bought one. We were coming back from Salt Lake City and day of playing & hanging out.

Photo a Day: January 19

Delicious: I put the wrong date on the picture, that's what I get for working ahead of time so I don't miss a picture.

Photo a Day: January 18

Shadow: Shadows on the snow in the back yard. I love the blue & white of this. Today's my birthday, too! Dawn is making me some homemade chicken noodle soup, Jason is bringing bread & I got a black forest cake for dessert. Tomorrow, we are heading up to Salt Lake City for the day to play Amtgard with another group & pick up my birthday present.

Photo a Day: January 17

Ready: dark chocolate, ready to be stirred into the chili I was making.

Photo a Day: January 16

Two things: two eReaders charging, Nook Color on the bottom & the family Kyros tablet on top, that our son is currently using to read "A Storm of Swords."

Photo a Day: January 15

An ordinary moment: Breakfast of chocolate banana peanut butter smoothie while at my laptop (as usual)

Photo a Day: January 14

Something yellow: the beginnings of the Greyjoy patches I'm making for Amtgard. The current monarchy for our kingdom have chosen Game of Thrones as their theme & our household is Greyjoy.

Photo a day: January 13

Circle: 3 jars of Manic Panic hair color. The green & pink are going in my hair, the dark one on the right isn't really that dark at all & is turquoise.. it's going in Dawn's hair. Dawn's hair is very resistant to the bright colors, so we're going to leave this on for a really long time & hope for the best.

Photo a Day: January 11

Water: In our case it was a lack of water this morning. The knob on the faucet broke last night, as I was getting ready to take a shower (of course). It's fixed now, but was just replaced less than a month ago, so, we'll see. As for me? I'm gonna go shower!

Photo a Day: January 10

One O'clock: This was 1am, by the way. We pick our son up from work on Wednesday - Friday nights & he happened to be closing and got home right before 1. I had done laundry all evening, drawn & spent time on the computer, so I was a tired lady.

Photo a Day: January 9

Paper: Various bits of paper from near my desk. An old Mother's Day card from my daughter, a stencil I'm working on for Amtgard, a coupon for tuna & a gas receipt.It pretty much sums up my life, really.

Photo a Day: January 8

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Something beginning with 't': Tiny tomatoes that I had with my lunch. Dawn bought them to go with the salad we had with our steaks on Sunday.

Photo a day: January 7

Street: I have no idea what they were doing, but it was very loud & made the house shake. I took this after they were finished,but it went on all morning!

Photo a Day: January 6

Mine: All of these are mine. I bought the fox at the Catholic thrift store and when I brought it home the dogs desperately wanted it as their own. The elephants on either side were bought by my husband as a gift to me & the tiny box of word magnets were something I bought myself. They're actually on the fridge and we all use them, but they do belong to me.

Photo a Day: January 5

Movement: the slow, but steady drip, drip, drip that eventually freezes in motion & become this.

Photo a Day: January 4

The view from here: Another cold day, it was -6 when I took this. This is in my front yard, looking south, towards the mountains. They are also to the east, but the view isn't as lovely that way - there are too many houses in the way. I'm already longing for the warm months & all they bring; camping, grilling, coffee outside in the morning.. it's going to be a long, cold winter I'm afraid.

Photo a Day: January 3

Heart: I took two different pictures of the same things. I posted the bottom one on the photo a day Facebook group & the top one to my January album on Facebook. The reason? The word "twat" showing on the first one - I didn't feel like explaining that it didn't mean "I love twat." They are two bracelets, the first has my name enclosed in two hearts, the second says "twaticles," something I often threaten to kick people in.

I bought the keychain thingie back when my kids were in high school, for some reason, it reminds me of my daughter, so she may have bought it for me, I'm not sure anymore.

Photo a Day: January 2

Something New: The sewing machine Troy bought me for Yule. I finally used it today, too. I was so afraid of breaking another one that I got it out of the box & set up (other than bobbin & thread) and it sat for almost two weeks. It works beautifully & now I have a new magic bag for Amtgard!

Photo a Day: January 1

Today: The weather was icy & frozen, a day when I definitely didn't want to actually leave the house. Our son needed to go to the store and doesn't drive (yet), so off we went. I thought the icicles on the workshop were a good statement of the day.

Happy 2013!

As usual, it's time to check in on the resolutions I made last year (which I make at Yule, not on January 1):


1. Continue to work on accepting myself the way I am, which includes loving my body the way it is. I've done fairly well with this, I'm not happy with my current weight, but only because it slows me down & makes me feel unhealthy.

2. Get & stay active in whatever way I can, depending on the season. Not so much, here. I was pretty much a slug until about September, when we started playing Amtgard again. I've done as much fighting as my body will allow.

3. Work on being a stronger, better parent to my adult offspring. I'm determined to prove to my daughter that the only way I can help her now is to not be so quick to help her. This one is a done deal. I actually managed to stick with this one pretty well, when things were left up to me. I actually have no contact with our daughter at all, by her request. Our son moved home in January of 2012 & we have built a wonderful, supportive, adult relationship together.

4. Get the house organized the way we want it done, with the new office & expanded storage areas for kitchen & bathroom. This didn't happen due to our son moving back home & taking the room we were going to use for the office.

5. Dress myself in beautiful things that I love. About 50/50 I'd say.

6. Grow my hair out & have it styled in a way that I love. Still working on this one.

7. Be more creative. Yes, very much!

I won't be recycling any of these, as I know what I need to work on & will continue with that. I'm making only one resolution this year:

1. To be a better, stronger and happier person, by whatever means necessary.