1-31-09

This weekend, QVC is airing several shows for Bare Escentuals MakeUp/Skin Care, and those of you who know me are well aware that I love BE products! So, I stayed up past my 9:30 p.m. bedtime, watched their 10 p.m.-1 a.m. show, and could not resist their newest Face Fashion collection: Earthy Chic (#A-89664 for those of you who want to check it out!). I have their previous FF collections and LOVE THEM, so decided to splurge!!! I'm a "SparkleCrack addict," what can I say! I need to go to BE rehab!!!

This afternoon, DD called and said that her BFF just had her baby this morning at 3:37 a.m., and that we could go visit them at 12:30 p.m., so DH and I went to the hospital to see the 9-hour-new baby and deliver the baby gift which I made and posted a picture of 1-2-09. The baby is BEAUTIFUL...PERFECT...and the mom is doing very well. My prayers for her were answered! Babies are such a precious gift! Congratulations! I will let the new mom and dad post pix of their baby as mine turned out pretty dark.

1-30-09

I'm rather proud of myself for passing up three different opportunities to buy a coffee today, as I am trying to reduce my daily intake of caffeine! I have stopped drinking coffee completely (yet crave it daily!), and am now drinking 2 cups of tea a day, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon... which made me think of my (small ~8) teapot collection, so thought I would photograph some of my favorite teapots today to celebrate my small victory today.

1-29-09

Just passing along a little Geek Squad humor... read the second/bold line above the orange line on the card... hee, hee. DH is taking a CISCO ~ computer networking class, and needed a crossover cable to connect two computers together, so we went to Best Buy and found one. He was reading the instructions on the card and busted out laughing, and when I asked what was so funny, he showed me the card. Made me chuckle too, so thought I would pass along a smile to you peeps! Hope you have a smile each and every day!

1-28-09

Just a progress report on how my nails are growing back out after having the falsies removed in late December... you can see the progress when you look back at my post on 1-12-09. I'd say they are about one-third on the way grown back, yes? Also note my dry/sandpaper skin...I do not tolerate these cold winter temps and/or hot, dry furnace air very well. Note to self... drink more water! Stay extra hydrated!

Rod made some delish bean soup last night... one of those "clean out the pantry" and "clean out the veggies in the fridge" kind of recipes... he threw in a little of everything, including rotel tomatoes, Becky's Hot Stuff, and smoked pork chops. It was YUMMY! Thanks for making dinner, DH!

Can you tell that nothing much is going on today, and I'm hard up for picture ideas?!?!

1-27-09

Today, I am starting a diet in earnest! I have had terrific back/sciatic pain for several days now, and believe it is my body's way of telling me that I am carrying too much weight, so, things are gonna change! My photos today show what I will be putting into my diet/protein shakes each day (Flax seed, Rice protein, almond butter, Omega Twin oil, bee pollen), along with cinnamon, and frozen fruit, or fresh vegetables... all bended in a VitaMix! I also took "before" pictures of myself, which I will NOT post... unless I am successful... in which case, I will post B4 and after pictures! But for now, the B4 pix stay on my refrigerator to motivate me, and in my private journal that I spoke of yesterday. Wish me luck! I'll need it!

1-26-09

Several weeks ago I began a journaling class at Genesis East, and since I had class again today, I thought I would post a pix of my journal, where daily I write all my thoughts I need to get out, but don't want to make public on my blog...

I have journaled for years... in the form of monthly newsletters to family and friends... which I guess is more "documentary" than journaling, but I want to learn how to write more, and better, so thought this class would be fun!

1-25-09

I took these pix at church today... some symbols of the Christian faith that greet us each time we meet together in this special place. The dove floats above the entrance into the sanctuary, and the stained glass crosses and rectangles hang in the windows of the fellowship hall where we had a lasagne/salad luncheon after the late service, followed by the annual congregational meeting. Our church is in transition, as our pastor has been called away to serve elsewhere. We continue to gather together to read the Bible, sing hymns, and pray in the pastor's absence, and hope that in the coming months God will send a new pastor to lead us.

1-24-09

Today I received in the mail this beautiful hand-made Christmas card (navy blue at the bottom of the photo) from my friends in Nitra, Slovakia! Inside the card is a photograph of their family standing together, with the beautiful mountain vista in the background... part of which you can see through the cut out triangle on the front of the card. So, I decided to pull out my three Slovak-English dictionaries, and send them a reply, as best I can, using words from my dictionaries. I write my letter in English (I don't speak Slovak!), with room between each line to write the corresponding Slovak word from the dictionaries. I'm sure they get a good laugh when they read my letters! Can you imagine how my dictionary translation must sound to them?!?!? But at least we stay in touch. :-)

1-23-09

Another beautiful start to the day! DD will be coming home from graduate school for the weekend, and we are planning to have friends over for dinner and cards again tonight. Life is good! TGIF!!!

1-22-09

This wonderfully warm fireplace is such a blessing this winter as we experience record cold temps here in Iowa! We enjoy its heat and light most evenings, as does our kitty, so thought I would take a snapshot of the fireplace tonight for my blog. I am so blessed to have a safe, warm house to shelter me during the cold winter months... many people in this world do not.

1-21-09

My BFF from Missouri is on a road trip with her husband, and they were able to stop by and spend the night last night. We had lots of catching up to do, and enjoyed playing Euchre with a deck of OBAMA playing cards. Now it's Wednesday morning... that means breakfast out with "the girls from church!" "The guys" meet for breakfast at Argo, which looks like a very old converted gas station, out on a country road, surrounded by corn fields, so our husbands went there for breakfast. However, "the girls" prefer something with a little more taste, so we head to the (award winning) Village Inn in the QC. So, today, I brought my BFF to breakfast with me to meet "the girls," which is where I snapped this photo. It was so great to see her! I miss her! I wish we lived closer to each other so we could hang out more often!

1-20-09

My BFF and her DH are coming to visit this evening! It has been last summer since I have seen them, so I desperately need a BFF fix! She gave me these adorable figurines B4 we moved away to another state, and her DH gave me this gorgeous green crystal vase with yellow roses (Green and Gold for the Packers!), so I decided to put them both out in the guest room... hope they make my guests feel welcome and warm!

1-19-09B

Having trouble limiting my photos to just one today!!! In the corner of the used bookstore was a chair with this amazing scarf/shawl on it. It was so colorful and intricate, I just had to take a few snapshots of it... and am tempted to call the store and see if it is for sale! It was amazingly beautiful!

1-19-09A

So many books... so little time! Christmas/New Year/Semester Break is over, and DD headed back to school today, but B4 she left, she gifted us her credit coupon to the local used book store, so DH and I could use her credits. Thanks so much! We had a big list of errands to run this morning, but Rod wanted to go to the used bookstore FIRST, and we found lots of great books to take home with us!

1-18-09

DD and I went to a baby shower this afternoon, and since I did not ask permission from anyone to post their pictures on my blog, I am posting a non-people picture. The baby is due in three weeks, and the mother-to-be seems happy and excited and READY!!! It was so nice to be invited to the shower. We had a fun afternoon getting acquainted, playing a few games, watching all the gifts being unwrapped, eating this delish cake (along with nuts and mints) and drinking pink punch... and taking lots of pictures!!! I will be keeping the mother-to-be in my thoughts and prayers as the delivery date approaches!

1-17-09

The table is set and the food is ready for our dinner guests tonight, so thought I would post these pix, then go get ready to enjoy the evening of food and cards with our friends from church. It's the first time we have invited them to our home for dinner, so I hope everything goes well. I made my famous chicken casserole, steamed green beans, lettuce salad, fruit salad, dinner rolls, and for dessert, cream puffs(<- from SAMS). Even if the food bombs, we'll enjoy each other's company and have fun playing cards!

1-16-09

So, I'm trying to clean house and get ready for company coming over for dinner tomorrow night, and my DH decides this is the perfect time to tear apart our bed (and bedroom), and fix the headboard! Somehow it has worked loose (!?!?!?) and is now hitting the wall behind it! Oh well, at least now it is fixed and the bedroom is all put back together. :-) Since moving into this house in Iowa two years ago, we have had more people over and done more entertaining than in the thirty years we lived in Missouri... I wonder why that is?

1-15-09

Out with the old... in with the new...
I've got company coming this weekend, so guess I better clean house!!! It's too cold to play outside... was -22 degrees last night with a high of -6 degrees today... so far, it has only made it to -12 degrees... so guess I will stay inside and vaccuum.

1-14-09

This morning's view from the kitchen table...
January in Iowa...
what more can I say!
Remind me again why I moved to Iowa?!?!?

1-13-09

This morning I am grateful that I have eyes that could see the ethereal mist rising from the Mississippi River! What a beautiful sight! The river is still open/flowing and the air temp is zero degrees, creating this magical, mystical morning mist. This is the first time I have witnessed this phenomenon on the river, even tho I have lived here for over 2 years now. Rod and I were on our way downtown to the Kahl building to buy some books for his classes this semester when we saw this, and he was kind enough to pull over and let me take a few snapshots with my "point 'n shoot" camera.

1-12-09

I was driving to the first day of my Journaling Class at Genesis Hospital, and was noticing my fingernails on the steering wheel, and wondering if everyones' nails look like this when they have their gel/acrylic nails removed?!?!? I had my very first set of fake nails put on a couple of months ago for a special occasion and they looked AMAZING for about two weeks, after which I went in for "fills," and after doing that two times, I decided to have them removed, even tho I really liked how strong the fake nails were compared to my natural nails. After soaking the gel nails in hot acetone for about 15 minutes, they took a dremel type drill with a buffing stone, and took of the gel and tips, and left these big dents in my natural nails, which are slowly growing out. I was wondering if that is typical, or whether they did it on purpose, so that my nails would look so bad, I would cave and get another set put on so they would look nice again!?!?!? Has anyone else had this experience? I don't know what to think since it was my first time!

1-11-09

My Zen~master... Barucha

1-10-09

DH and I attended the "Bald Eagle Days" festival downtown today. It was packed!!! Over 44,000 attended the two day event last year. Was fun to learn about birds of prey, and see Eagles up close and personal. They are HUGE!

1-9-09

OK, so I couldn't pick just one photo... today begins the "Bald Eagle Days" festival here in the Quad Cities as the Eagles migrate in for the winter, so had to go out and watch these bad boys do some fishing in the Mississippi River! They sure make it look easy!!

1-8-09

Urban Sprawl has arrived in my backyard today...

1-7-09

OK, so, I saw this in the parking lot of Village Inn Restaurant where I have breakfast with the girls every Wednesday morning, and just busted out laughing! I guess this person was so anxious to go in and eat that they didn't notice their coat was missing?!?!?!? As we girls sat at the table enjoying our breakfasts and each others company, we watched out the window as several kind-hearted folks tried to pick the coat up off the ground and put it back into the car, which was locked. It got funnier and funnier as the morning went on and we felt like we were watching a "Candid Camera" stunt... or... were they watching US?!?! Hmmm...

1-6-09

Barucha bringing home her breakfast bacon... What is this mouse doing running around when it is zero degrees outside anyway?!?!?

1-5-09

This is where I begin every day but Sunday...
but you would never know it by looking at me!
Time to go back to a vegan diet!

1-4-09

Drove 3 hours to Chicago today to wish the son a happy 30th birthday! (The winter storm and icy roads that were predicted for this weekend and had threatened to cancel our trip went north of us, so we were able to go!) We had an outstanding lunch at BIG BOWL restaurant, then angelfood cake and blueberries back at his condo for birthday cake dessert, followed by some good laughs as we played with his new computer, trying to stitch together several pictures using Windows Live Photo Gallery.

1-3-09

What a fun evening we had tonight! We joined our daughter, her fiance' and his parents for dinner at this restaurant/cafe', then went to their house for dessert, coffee, and an evening of games. My husband and I ended up winning the game of Trivial Pursuit! (I think they were being gracious hosts and let us win!) We also played a game called "Apples to Apples" which was new to us and really fun... generated lots of laughs!

1-2-09

Today I finally finished making this baby gift for my daughter's best friend who is due in February with her first baby. After breezing through the crocheted blanket and knitted hat, I spent several hours on the www looking for and downloading free patterns for baby booties (found dozens!). I let my daughter pick out the one she liked the best, and tried my best to knit them. They used two circular needles (at the same time!) which was something new to me, so I spent another several hours on the www learning how to knit on two circular needles. After two days and four failed attempts due to dropped stitches that could not be recovered, I finally gave up on that pattern, but was very pleased with myself for having learned a new, more advanced knitting technique. Next, I tried a crocheted bootie pattern, which came out rather..."crooked" even tho I followed the pattern exactly. On to my third pattern, the knitted one you see above in the photo, I knitted the first one with no problems what-so-ever! YAY! Anxious to finish the second bootie and complete this project, I cast on and began knitting...only to have to rip it out and start over four more times until I finally got it right! These booties reminded me why I hate knitting... it is soooo easy to drop and stitch, and impossible (for me) to get it back, so I end up ripping it all out and starting the project from scratch! ARGH! Crocheting, however, I have found to be much more "user friendly" because when I drop a stitch crocheting, I only need to go back one stitch to recover. Anyway, I am glad this little project is finished, glad that I learned how to knit on 2 circular needles at the same time, and hope that the new mom and baby enjoy their gift of love!

1-1-09

1-1-09~ a beautiful sunset to start the New Year!

1-1-2009~

Welcome to Becky's daily photo blog! One of my New Year's resolutions is to take and post a photo every day so at the end of the year I can look back at all the memories!