Category Archives: Daily Life

Daily Life, Daniel, Home Projects, Project 365

Dan the Gardener

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This year Daniel gave me a unique and special Mother’s Day present.

From my sweet son!

From my sweet son!

Weeding – Planting- Paying for Bark

Happy words to a mother’s heart! At least a mother who has a bare and forlorn looking front yard.

Of course, I love presents of ALL kinds, but I was especially excited by this gift! I feel extra special LOVED when my family helps me around the house and take on on big projects for (and with me). I so appreciate Daniel’s generosity of his time and finances, and also his sensitivity in knowing I have longed to brighten up the front yard for years.

Tim’s mom bought me some beautiful flowers, Daniel prepped the land, and Tim planted the flowers with the best organic products from the reviewbrewery website.

It’s been interesting figuring out when and how Daniel likes to tackle yard work. I have really learned that a gift is one that is given – not nagged or fussed out of a person. There have been times over the past month when I thought, “This would be the perfect day for yard work.” And Daniel was busy with school or work at Chick-Fil-A or even his own relaxing. I had to learn patience. And I got the opportunity to get out in the yard and enjoy some of the labor myself. Tim was very kind to step in and help me get the wilting plants into the ground – it has been one HOT and DRY summer.

Meanwhile, Daniel continues to work on additional improvements. And he’s not reluctant to spend some of his own money. He bought us a large broom for sweeping up the driveway. He surprised me with a new welcome mat.

And today he went out and purchased 7 bags of topsoil for the flower beds.

Thank you, Daniel! I feel very loved!

He also pulls up naughty trees that are trying to infiltrate the yard.

He also pulls up naughty trees that are trying to infiltrate the yard.

Project 365 – Day 188
Kathy

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Sensor Cleaning

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I love my camera! It’s a Nikon d7000 – Tim bought it for me several years ago. I’ve taken one basic digital camera class (would LOVE to take some more), spent hours reading blogs and photography forums, and taken 1000′s of pictures. Today I took my camera in for a sensor cleaning.

My little baby.

My little baby.

So incredibly pleased and thankful to have an excellent camera shop right here in town where I can go for help.

Look closely to see the before (on the bottom) and the after (top)

Look closely to see the before (on the bottom) and the after (top)

I am eager to spend some time shooting tomorrow on the 4th and see if all the black spots are gone. As you can see from these pictures, I’ve had this problem for some time now. Not sure why in the world I waited so long to treat it.

July 4th, 2012 – look at these sweet girls!! (click on the picture to see it more closely – spots are in Sarah’s blue sweatshirt)

2012 - 4th of July ferry ride.

2012 – 4th of July ferry ride.

July 4th, 2014 – another sweet group of girls!! (spots on Tarah’s face)

2014 - ferry time!

2014 – ferry time!

Can’t go around having black spots on my beautiful subject’s faces! I’m very thankful that I have Photoshop and can edit things as needed, but I’m thrilled to have the actual problem fixed.

No more spots, I hope. I’ll see tomorrow!

David and Sarah - getting ready for a dance.

David and Sarah – getting ready for a dance (spots on the garage door – nearly on their faces).

Project 365 – Day 184
Kathy

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Day 182 – NOT captured on film

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Things we did today that I forgot to take pictures of –

1) Sarah working with a beautiful woman from church – learning how to stencil and do woodwork
2) A Starbucks date out in the sunshine with a sweet friend
3) Lake time with friends – all the moms hanging out on The Island
4) A walk to the park with David and Sarah
5) Middle Schoolers vs Parents Kick Ball Game & BBQ
6) Planting my flowers with Tim
7) Gardening work with Daniel
8) Sarah and Rachel making banana muffins
9) Movie night w/the family
10) Jenny coming over to visit Rachel

What a great day!! Too bad I didn’t think to document any of it with pictures. It’s not like I carry my phone with me all the time or anything. Well, not when I’m out on the lake, but other than that, I pretty much have a camera at my disposal all the time.

Here is the picture for the day. Heh heh heh

Hope this compost will save my dying plants!

Hope this compost will save my dying plants!

Project 365 – Day 182
Kathy

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Garage Work Continues On

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I know, I know, we’re behind just a bit in our blogging. I missed a day or two last week when Tim was gone. It was a lot of pressure, having to blog every day.

I did, however, make sure to take a picture each day. So the integrity of the Project 365 is intact. I just need to go back and write a few missing blogs. All will be in proper order soon. Sarah and I are determined to make sure 2015 has 365 blog posts. Don’t worry, Sarah, I’ll make things right before the end of June!

Today I worked for hours and hours on the garage. I got up early and started organizing while the kids (and Tim) were all still asleep. I stopped (briefly) for meals, one trip to Target, and an afternoon break to help a friend revamp her homeschool/rec room.

After that, it was straight back to the garage. It didn’t bother me that it was hot outside. I had a little fan to stir the air, plus my wireless earphones and plenty of Netflix shows to watch while I worked.

I will take pictures of the progress tomorrow. Today I was just too busy working to snap any pics. The cats are tortured by my labor because I open the garage door and shut them up in the house. No running down the street for them. We caught them trying to sneak out the screen door several times today. Sarah finally propped something against the door (from the outside) to prevent runaway cats.

Most of the time, in this heat, they look something like this.

"I cannot be bothered to get up right now, human."

“I cannot be bothered to get up right now, human.”

Lazy, fluffy cats might be my favorite!

Project 365 – Day 179
Kathy

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Kayaking and Decluttering

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Rachel has developed a love of kayaking. We have some friends with kayaks, and they are incredibly generous to share with us. Rachel went out on Monday and has been itching to go again.

[Sound familiar, Shari?]

Today, even though it was grey and cloudy (sun didn’t come out until we LEFT the lake, go figure), we went to play in the water. Rachel stole off in one of the kayaks.

Go Rachel!

Go Rachel!

We came home, and I got back to work on the mess that is my garage. I made lots of great progress. No pictures yet. It was bad enough baring my shame for the internet in that other post. We stopped for a quick dinner, then it was back out to the garage for me.

So far I have filled the back of the van with bags to donate. I’ve nearly filled up our recycling and trash bins, and still have more to do. My desire would be to have some sort of a designated spot for everything in the garage. Christmas decorations in their respective bins. Tim’s tools all sorted and organized. Computer parts – check. Filed paperwork – check. Toys – organized. Homeschool materials – sorted and filed. Books – everywhere.

Okay, that last one is definitely true. Just not willing to really sort through and pare down the books.

Tim was wonderful and went through 3 old, old laptops for me. He pulled off any pictures or files that were remaining, got rid of the batteries, went through a big box of random cords, and made me a nice stack for the trash. Yay! I love it when I get help from Tim and the kids on sorting things in the garage. Teamwork is my favorite!

I didn’t stop working until Rachel came home from her shift. Daniel was closing at Chick-Fil-A, so he was gone late. Sarah and a friend were enjoying a High School Musical marathon (always fun!). Rachel and David convinced me to stop my relentless decluttering and organizing and watch a movie with them (something other than HSM). Nice to take a break.

Sisters!

Sisters!

Tomorrow we continue. I LOVE summer and having relaxed days where we can tackle projects, visit with friends, and sometimes kayak out into the blue water.

Project 365 – Day 175
Kathy

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