Reflections

Here are more of my ~closeups with cell phone~ photos. These ones turned out really neat, if I do say so myself.

Great News

I have a few good things to share. This weekend John has decided that he does, in fact, like the Texas Toast paint color. Great success! I finished going through my closets and came up with about 50 lbs of clothing to donate to Goodwill, which I plan to bring later today. I decided last night that I'm going to start taking piano lessons. Thank you, Ben Folds.

I started a photo project this morning. Sometimes the neatest views are the simplest ones. Here is a sampling of my ~closeups with cell phone~ photos. I'm sure I'll be taking a lot more of these!

Saturday Fun House

Java's playroom a.k.a. our living room. I am trying some new photo editing software and this feature 'stiches' several shots into one panoramic view.

Drunken miniature Cranium Sensosketch (Juggling) by Jenny circa January 2008

I don't understand how my cat gets himself into these situations! (My first try at editing a photo for worth1000.com)

Finally Friday

[Through Friday Eyes at 2:00 AM]


Finally the weekend is here! Here's what I'm looking forward to this weekend.

1) Two last days of peace without a barking dog
2) Sitting down to do Sudoku puzzles for at least two hours
3) Seeing more of my new yard as the snow continues to melt
4) Ridding my closet of old clothes & bringing them to Goodwill
5) Hosting my first ever paper airplane challenge
6) Preparing for April Fool's Day
7) The moment I've completed filing my taxes

Texas Toast

Last night John finished painting out foyer, hall, & stairway a color called Texas Toast. These areas used to be a dingy baby blue kind of color, which seemed very cold to both of us, especially with the bluish ceramic tiles on the floor.


As it turns out, Texas Toast is quite yellow; not quite canary yellow, but more of a goldish yellow. It really warms the area up very nicely but John doesn't seem to like it very much. I like the change so much that I'm acutally indifferent about the color. Since John doesn't like it, but can't seem to put his finger on the reason why, I thought do some research to help convince John that this is a good color for the house.

This is the actual color (note my action shot of John rolling the last strip.)

I found that experts consider yellow to be the most stimulating color to paint a room, which is why schools and kitchens are often painted with shades of yellow. Perhaps John subconsciously associates the color with school! Come to think of it, school buses are yellow too, and John didn't particularly care for those either. There must be something pleasant I can associate with this yellow-gold color.

The color is very similar to...

Too bad he doesn't like ANY of these!

Eureka! I found it! See John? Harley-yellow on our walls! Could you ask for anything more?

Little Red Shopping Bag

I finally jumped on the 'green'wagon and it feels great! I've always been a proponent of doing what's good for the environment, but I don't think I've always understood how to do the right things. I started with the simple changes, such as switching to flourescent light bulbs, and turning the thermostat down a degree whenever I could sneak it without John knowing. I broadened my efforts when I bought a reusable bag two weeks ago.

The first time I brought it into the store I was a little reluctant - I hadn't seen anyone else use their own bags at this grocery store before. I slowly removed the little red packaged bag from my purse and began opening it up, when the cashier eagerly stuck out his hand to grab it. He in turn gave it to the girl doing the bagging and she loaded all of my groceries into it. After the cashier had rung up all of my items, he deducted fifteen cents because I used the bag. They actually paid me to use my own bag for groceries!

After I paid for my groceries, I took the bag and left the store. As I walked to my car, the air outside felt a little different and I had a skip in my step. I not only overcame my own fear of doing something that didn't seem quite normal, but also started a habit that I plan to carry on with. I have used it for groceries and other items about five times now. I save money, trees, pollution from factories, bags in landfills, etc. and I feel damn good about it!

*I've become very interested in this topic. Check out my link for 'No Impact Man' - it's fascinating stuff!

Cha-Ching!

Today I won Dave Matthews Band tickets for 8/10/08 at Alpine Valley through a local radio station. It's crazy because I've never called in for a radio contest, but the first time I did, I won - and it's for something I planned to go to anyway. I won't know for about two weeks if the tickets are for reserved or lawn seats. Either way, it's awesome that I won't have to spend that money and maybe we'll be lucky enough to get really close seats!

For all of my single friends this Easter

Jenny

This morning Jenny called me in a very fuzzy naval aviator sort of state. She was telling me a story about last night and mid-sentence was distracted by what she called, "the cutest cornbread muffin I've ever seen." I asked her to take a photo so that I could try to understand what a "cute" muffin looks like. Sure enough, it's a little bit of heaven!

So my first 'experiment' is this... Jenny is the only person I've told about this blog, but I challenged her. I gave her the site address but told her she couldn't check it out for five days. There was absolutely no reason for this, other than giving me time to get something started. Let's see how long she lasts. Hi Jenny!