Happy, happy, joy, joy! Hurry, hurry, bake, bake!

I heard a blue jay today!  The first one I've heard this spring, and just one day after I put out peanuts for them.  Whew.  I think I might survive the spring and summer now.

Today is whirlwind day at my house!  I'm having a Scentsy Open House tomorrow, so all of those things I've been procrastinating on are catching up with me.  I've already decided which ones to ignore and which ones I HAVE to deal with.  I've even decided where the last minute hiding of things will go!  I figure I'm pretty much on track then, right?  RIGHT!

The whirlwind part is in reality, baking.  It's about 5:30 p.m. and so far all I've made is a trip to visit Mom, a trip to the library, a trip to the grocery, a batch of saltine toffee, and some cake batter marshmallow treats.  Still have 2-3 batches of cookies and 2 batches of cupcakes to make.  Yes, I know I will have a TON left over, but I will take most of the leftovers to the staff at Friendship Village on Sunday, and then some to the day crew during the week.  I was also planning to make some special cupcakes next weekend for Easter Sunday, both for the staff and for family.

OK, so now it's time to start another batch of something!  I hope to get this post completed before 9 p.m. (I hate making goals, but do know it's sometimes important to have them!).

Jelly Bean Cupcakes . . . jelly beans inside, jelly beans outside.  YUM!

Getting ready to start the Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread Cookies in a few, and then I will be finished.  Decided not to make another batch of cupcakes, and may or may not make some oatmeal cookies in the a.m.  We'll have to see how tomorrow a.m. goes!

Sorry I missed my 9 p.m. goal for finishing this (as if you're all waiting for the second I publish it!).  But I finished w/ the pics as quickly as I could (blame it on the photographer, not the baker).

I know full well that if I'd take care of some of the housekeeping items when I should, I wouldn't be in such a mess.  But then again, I seem to thrive on deadlines and being busy.  Everything I'm dealing with seems to be part of a creative process (trust me, I can get VERY creative in getting things out of sight; just ask the guys who helped move all of my crap out of the apartment I'd lived in for 17 years!).

Seriously considering putting a sign up on the front door that says:

"Welcome to Joy's Scentsy Spring/Summer Open House!

If you came to have fun and socialize, c'mon in;

If you want to inspect the house, please make an appointment.

PS:  Please do not write in the dust."

Housekeeping may not be my thing, but I think I'm pretty good on the hospitality portion.  Whatever it will be, it will be an adventure, and a learning experience.  That seems to be my mantra . . . I'm betting few of my friends or family are surprised by that.

Blue

I'm a proud mountaineer girl, born in Beckley, WV.  I spent the first two years of my life in the huge metropolis of Blue Jay, WV (it had an elementary school, a Methodist church, and a post office).  To this day, when I see mountains or hear a blue jay, I feel like I've come home.

For years, I didn't know the bird I heard so often at Grandma & Grandpa's was a blue jay.  Don't know why it took me so long to make the connection, but I felt pretty stupid when I did!  I know a lot of people don't like blue jays because they can be a bit, um, overbearing, and usually pretty noisy.  Yet, they are such beautiful birds, and their noisiness is usually to warn others of an encroaching predator (including humans).

Last summer I decided I was going to attract blue jays to my back yard AND I was going to get at least one fabulous shot of a blue jay.  I was thrilled to succeed at both.  What worked for me was to put out peanuts for the jays, and try to find ways to prevent the squirrels from eating them all.

I haven't heard a blue jay yet this spring, but then I just put the peanuts out (seriously, I just came in from making sure they were out).  Hope to be hearing them in the very near future.

I miss going to the mountains (and it doesn't seem to matter whether they're in WV or UT or somewhere else).  There is something about the majesty, as well as the solidity and solitude of the mountains that feels comforting and comfortable to me.  It's been a while since we've had a family reunion in WV, and I haven't been back to go whitewater rafting either (awesome experience!!).

One thing that I get a kick out of is hearing some of the "down home" comments, and asking us where our accent is from.  When my sister was a teenager and had braces, we needed to stop at a drugstore (I think it might have been a CVS) and ask for the wax for her braces.  They must have asked us 4 times to repeat our question because they couldn't understand our SW Ohio accents!  We still chuckle over that every once in a while.


Sorry, I think I need to take a mental vacation to good ol' Blue Jay, WV.  Time to search for some photos and then close my eyes and picture myself sittin' on the front porch listenin' to the birds and wavin' to the passin' cars while sippin' on ma sweet tea.  I'm startin' to relax already . . .

Fresh Eyes

I was downloading pictures to my computer today and when this one came on the screen, it took me a while to figure out what it was.  Any ideas?  It has to do w/ what's been occupying most of my time the last couple of weeks, but only tangentially.  I'll explain at the end of the post.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, mostly because I've been procrastinating.  I am hosting an Open House on Saturday, and waited until the last 2 weeks to get things done around the house that should have been done LONG ago.  I will still have things to do Saturday morning, but hopefully, all of the big stuff will be taken care of by Friday.  I had help from my favorite pre-15 year old niece and one of her friends today.  It's amazing what Chick-fil-A and Rice Crispy Treats as a bribe will produce!

I now have much a much cleaner picture window, the front curtains are mostly free of cat hair, and the furniture has been "taped" clean (we used tape to get the cat hair off).  Oh, and several boxes I'd had stacked in the dining room to take out to the garage eventually, were taken to the garage.  Whew.

I still have some UGLY wallpaper to finish removing in the hall bathroom though, and some general tidying up.  It's a sad state of affairs when the ugly paint under the wallpaper is less offensive than the wallpaper.  Consider though that the house was built in 1957 and our family has lived in it since 1963; the kitchen cabinets are the original white, enameled cabinets.  The bathrooms are partially tiled (one in a nice shade of blue, and the other in yellow); again, this is the original tile.  The wallpaper being removed is a yellow bamboo pattern.  It's just too much yellow as far as I'm concerned.  So, the wallpaper has been slowly (VERY SLOWLY) coming down.  I'd originally wanted to have the walls painted for the open house, but now I'll be happy just to have the wallpaper off by Saturday!

And believe it or not, the picture above is part of all of the cleaning, organizing, and yes, hiding.  I love finding new uses for items I'm no longer using for the original purpose.  Duct tape as a decorating tool is one of my favorites.  I have a LOT of the colored and patterned Duck Brand duct tape, and have used it to cover the worst of the stains and/or rust in those ancient kitchen cabinets.

Yes, that is a tie-dyed pattern of duct tape, along w/ the pink and purple.  Granted, it's not decorating for a show-room style house, but it is fun, and it's completely ME.

The place I've re-purposed items the most for is that hall bathroom.  I stenciled paw prints on some of the tiles and on the sink when my beastie boys decided they had to join me when I was "busy" in there.  I also took some of my rub-on transfers for scrapbooking and used them on tiles as well.  My favorite though was when I realized I could use the Hello Kitty post-it notes w/ Mod-Podge on the tiles.

And, the latest repurposed item?  A shoe organizer turned into a towel "caddy" hanging on the shower curtain rod between the shower curtain and the liner!  I also had to make use of some Hello Kitty Duck Brand duct tape to create a loop to hang from the rod in the right direction.

After this hung for several days, I did find that it was too heavy with towels in all 10 slots (the duct tape loop  couldn't hold it and it slipped off); I only use every other section now, and it's working just fine.  If you look closely, you can see the wallpaper I'm removing at the top of the shower wall . . .

So if any of you guessed that first photo was a towel, you were absolutely correct!  It's weird when I take a photo and then don't recognize it when I look at it on the computer (but it's happened more than once).  I don't think it's weird because I only take traditional pictures (can't begin to claim that with some I've already posted here), but because I tend to remember most of the shots I take.  But it is fun to see a shot I don't remember and look at it with fresh eyes.  Hmmm . . . seems I need to forget more things so I can look at them with fresh, unprejudiced eyes.

I would like to thank . . .

Well . . . I barely got my last post finished and published when I was notified I'd been given an award!

I must begin my thank you speech (wait, don't play the music yet!!!) with owlthingsfirst.  The lovely Jenny authors the blog, and is the person responsible for encouraging me to begin blogging, and who has shown unwavering support for my posts.  Blogging for only a week makes me completely inadequate for the award.  I'm only now beginning to get a glimpse of the discipline and creativity required to blog and support other bloggers . . .

And now, I face a conundrum!


The rules for this award are to:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.
3. Follow the person who sent it to you.

Rule #2 may just disqualify me from accepting this award.  I am so new to the blogging world that I'm only following two bloggers (one of whom sent me the award!).  So I'm good for Rules #1 and #3 . . . 

In the spirit of this prestigious award, I must pass it along to (drum roll, please):  rim2rim4thecity.

And what is ironic and or coincidental?  Both the person who sent me the award and who I sent the award to are part of the group I had just finished posting about . . . ahhhhh, friends!

Flashback

Earlier today, I posted a picture on my college alum group page on facebook.  It's not one of the better pics I took, but it is of the central point of campus.

The quality definitely could be better, and this is the scanned version of a very old picture.  But the memories it brings back are pretty vivid.  This is where I learned so much about life (laundry, sharing a room and a bathroom, working several jobs, and getting an education).

I went to a small Lutheran college in Ann Arbor, MI.  My freshman year at Concordia Lutheran College, Ann Arbor was the first year BAs were awarded (the college began as a 2 year college in 1963; the majority of students transferred to larger Lutheran colleges to complete their education).  My high school graduating class was approximately 600 students; the entire student population at Concordia my freshman year was approximately 600.

When I arrived at Concordia as a freshman, I was painfully shy and knew two people on campus.  I think I cried the first two weeks there, and then never looked back.  I was blessed to live in a dorm filled with wonderful Christian women each of my years Con-U (as we called it then), and was surrounded by people who encouraged (and sometimes dragged me into) my Christian growth.  Professors and staff members are very fondly remembered for the Christian example they lived.  By the time I finally graduated, I had been editor of the yearbook, Resident Assistant, worked on the Campus Security Department, and had worked three summers on campus in a variety of roles.

It has been amazing to get back in touch w/ many of my fellow students via facebook.  We've shared stories of the crazier things we did as students, helped other friends re-connect, prayed for each other, and helped get information from the right source at the right time.  It's been a few decades since I've seen some of these beautiful lights in my life, but almost without exception, we've picked up as if there had been no interruption.  Not where we left off, but where we each are now, recognizing we are not the same 22-23 year olds who were sure they knew everything, but more experienced in both blessings and sadness and aware of the millions of things we don't know.

Am I idealizing the situation?  Maybe a little, but not much.  I hear the refrain from one of Michael W. Smith's songs almost every time I visit the alum group page . . . Friends ARE friends forever If the Lord's the Lord of them . . .

Humming along . . .

We've had such a warm spring that it seemed more like summer in March.  Unfortunately, now that the plants are blooming, we're supposed to have a very cold snap tonight.  I'll be out later to put a sheet over some of the plants I'd like to have spared.

The plants I'll be covering are lilac bushes (my all time favorite scent) and any of the butterfly bushes and other plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  

Several years ago, I was at a friend's house and we were chatting in their Florida room.  I was thrilled to see a hummingbird visiting one of their feeders, several times.  I'd never seen one before and had always wanted to.  A couple of days later, I was back at their house, laying in wait w/ my camera to try to catch a picture of it.  I sat there for over an hour, waiting, and was able to finally catch this photo.

The photo was also taken through the screen, so it's not in sharp focus, but I was happy with it for a first attempt.

It wasn't until last summer that I was able to have the opportunity to photograph a hummingbird again.  I had come home from an event at Mom's Assisted Living facility where she had asked me to take pictures.  I was getting out of the car when I saw a hummingbird at the neighbor's butterfly bush.  I grabbed the camera and very slowly advanced until I was close enough for several shots.  This is my favorite from that day.

Taking that picture got me hooked on hummingbirds!  I started putting out feeders for them and scoured the internet for information on how to attract them to the back yard.  Fortunately, one of my high school friends has a LOT of experience and shared his successes with me.  I started watching for "my" bird to show up at pretty much the same time every day, and tried to be outside when she was "due."  I talked to her and took more pictures, and almost learned not to flinch when she flew a little too close to my ear.

I am amazed by these little creatures.  They move so fast, sometimes just a blur to the eye that I wonder if I really saw one.  The favorite pose I've caught "my" hummer in is resting on the feeder or a branch of the trumpet vine.  No, she doesn't look spectacular or entertaining.  But she does appear to feel safe enough to take a little while to rest and store up some energy that she'll need later.  That she feels comfortable enough to rest when I'm within a few feet of her is humbling.  

I'm getting anxious to see Bella (NOT named after the character in the Twilight novels/movies) this summer.  I'm looking forward to more pictures of her and gaining more of her trust.  Mostly, I'm privileged to know that she considers my little backyard one of her safe havens.

Springing!

I love spring!  Getting over the winter doldrums, seeing plants come back to life, baby animals, flowers blooming, and that bright yellow thing in the sky . . . oh, yeah, that's the sun.  There are a couple of places I like to go to take nature pictures (I'm trying to broaden those horizons, though), and I thought I'd share some spring photos.

Eastwood Metro Park
Loved the blue sky that day and was looking for
a different perspective.

Eastwood Metro Park
The clean lines and emptiness caught my attention.

Crocus (not sure where!)
One day I will have some of these in my yard.  I think they
are beautiful, and a SURE sign of spring!

Charleston Falls
I like coming here at different times of the
day to take advantage of shadow and
light changes. 

Charleston Falls
For some reason, the rocks at the bottom of the falls
caught my eye and held it.

Charleston Falls
I wasn't keen on that bare branch at the top, but now I kind
of like the contrast w/ the green on the right.  Loved the
movement of the water.

I haven't been out to Eastwood Metro Park or Charleston Falls yet this spring, but I'll be out there soon.

It's nice looking out the window and seeing color again.  The grass is definitely green in SW Ohio (and needing me to get out the lawnmower), plants are blooming, temps are higher than normal, bees are buzzing, and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of hummingbirds.  The squirrels and I are about to do out dance w/ the bird feed . . . what will I try to keep them out of it, and what will they come up with to get into it?

It's also time for me to start cranking out the homemade suet.  I can't believe how much the birds (and squirrels) love it.  I found several recipes on the internet, but have begun adding cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, and chipotle pepper to those recipes to keep the squirrels out.  Love the antics the squirrels exhibit, but just wish they didn't take so much of the bird food.

Read this morning that we have a freeze watch until 3/27 @ 10:00 a.m.  Don't know how that will affect the plants, but at least I haven't planted anything yet!  I'll have to bring in one plant that I bought a couple of days ago, but everything else has already wintered.  Just when you get used to warmer, nice weather, it changes.  Sounds about like everything in life - nothing is as constant as change.

Furry Inspirations

A couple of days ago, I saw a post on facebook asking "What do your pets do that inspires you?"  My list is growing, and now I'm wondering if I have a picture of each way the furballs do inspire me . . . and I apologize in advance to the non-cat fans; I love dogs, but don't have one right now.  I hope to adopt one in the near future, and will then be just as obsessive about photographing them.  I've had dogs in the past, but unfortunately, they were long before digital photography . . .

Let's start w/ the easiest one:  they love me (even when there's a bare spot at the bottom of the food bowl).

Bandit curled up next to me on the couch.

Pinkerton getting ready to do the head butt

They make me laugh (sometimes out loud).

Yawning, but he could be laughing at ME, too!

BIG yawn (and notice he has 2 sets of canine teeth ; baby ones hadn't fallen out yet).

They groom each other.

It only looks deadly; it really was a grooming session!

They play.

Can you find the live animal?  I heard him snoring, but it took me a little while to find him!

They like to pretend to be well behaved, especially when I've caught them wrestling.

How do these inspire me?  Love another opportunity to wax philosophical!

I'm inspired by their capacity to love.  Both of these boys were abandoned, and had every reason not to trust, let alone love human beings.  Yet they are both very affectionate with me, and each other.  Pinkerton is still very shy around strangers, but is getting better about it.  They haven't given up on humans, so I'd better not, either.

I'm inspired by the way they make me laugh.  Laughing always inspires me.  It makes me take myself so much less seriously.  It also gives me a better perspective of my flaws and shortcomings (there are plenty of them) - if I can't laugh at myself, I certainly shouldn't be laughing at others.

I'm inspired by the way they take care of each other (the grooming), and sometimes try to groom me.  Typically they groom themselves, but at least once a day, they groom each other.  Contrary to the pics above, Bandit does groom Pinkerton sometimes!  It reminds me that I should be finding something every day to do for someone else.

I'm inspired by the way they play, whether it's hiding from each other or pouncing on a toy.  They make their own fun.  They don't wait for me to bring home a new toy (not that I'd EVER have to buy another toy again) or toss a plastic bottle cap or straw on  the floor for them to play with.  They go to the toy tub (or more often where they left a stash of toys) and find something.  They don't expect me to entertain them, but we all have more fun when we're playing together.  This inspires me to do more fun things regularly and to include others in them.

I'm inspired by their "I'm just an innocent, cute little cat" look.  No, I don't usually believe it; they've often been up to something they shouldn't have been.  But, they are still my beastie boys and I love them.  They've accepted me with all of my flaws and love me in spite of them (although they probably think my biggest flaws are not being home enough and not keeping the food dish completely filled).  It's not hard to love these guys, but I'm not always happy with everything they do.  Yet another reminder to love the person, not get fixated on one little thing that angered or frustrated me.

Yeah, these boys are my four legged life lesson reminders.  Pretty awesome.  I think I'd best go spend some time playing with them now.

Happy Accidents

It's been a strange day so far, and I'm feeling a little down in the dumps.  Don't like this feeling, so I thought I'd share some of my photos that surprised the heck out of me.

Eastwood Metro Park
I was just snappin' away, and didn't realize
I'd gotten the curvature quite so nicely.

Charleston Falls
I thought the shadow was interesting as I started down the steps;
I hadn't recognized how geometric it all was until after viewing
hours later!

Loved the texture of this tree bark, but wasn't sure it would
photograph well.  It's odd, but I like it!

I think this is a dogwood blossom at a friend's house.  I was
experimenting when I took it, and got as close as I could.
When I looked at it on the LCD screen, I wasn't crazy about
it, but when I saw it on the computer screen, seemed as if I
could almost feel the texture of the petals.

I'm not a fan of bees, but on a whim, decided to see what I
got when clicking away at a butterfly bush.   I was amazed at
the detail, including the body segments of the bee.

I'd never seen a woodpecker in the yard before, but this one
had visited the suet feeder.  I was fortunate enough to be
outside at the time AND have my camera w/ me.  Although I
wish this was closer, I was very pleased that I was able
to catch the woodpecker at all.

This was taken on my cell phone just the other day as I
started through the car wash.  Loved the colors, and decided
to see how a picture might turn out.  VERY glad I did!

Another car wash shot w/ the cell phone.  I like the soap
bubbles added texture w/ the swirl of blue.

I must say, I do feel better now.  I sometimes need a reminder of the happy accidents or unexpected outcomes.  In every instance when I shot the above photos, I was experimenting with either a new camera, a new viewpoint, a new setting, or a new location.  I had no real idea of potential results, but tried anyway (yeah, I gave it a shot to cite the obvious pun).  I wish ALL of my attempts resulted in pictures I was happy with, but of course, failure is part of how we get to success.  


I'm learning to be a part time caretaker for my mother, who is in an assisted living facility.  She has mild dementia, and can do much for herself, but ended up in assisted living because she would forget to take her medication, eat, or drink.  There is absolutely no way we could live together, but it was obvious Mom needed to be where someone would make sure she got her meds and ate.  Many days, everything is fine, and we laugh a lot.  Other days, like today, it's not, and I feel like a failure as a daughter and human being.


That's why I like to look at some of my happy accident pictures.  Not just because I like them, but also because I remember the pics before and after them that didn't turn out so well.  Not all of them turned out the way I wanted; some turned out far better than I could have dreamed.  Point is, I tried until I got something I liked, or was fortunate enough to catch on the first try.  I'm still learning on the caretaker part, and I'm bound to mess up.  I just need to suck it up and keep trying until I get something I like, in addition to those beautiful moments that I get right the first time.

Are you handy?

Several months ago, friends who were starting an Alpaca farm on their property asked me to come out and document their barn raising (they were starting small, so it was a pole barn raising!).  This is my favorite shot of the day.

I was initially excited that the hammer and nail were both in focus, and I thought the shadow was kind of cool too.  Then I noticed the hands.  The gentleman behind those hands is in his 80s and has been doing this kind of work for many years.  He had been going about his business very quietly, working mostly on his own, and accomplishing more than those using power tools.

After my initial perusal of the photos from that day, when I was looking at them more critically, I was drawn back to this one.  I kept trying to figure out WHY it spoke to me.  Yes, part of it was that hammer/nail thing.  But it was those hardworking hands I kept looking at.  The way they were just going about their business, using the skills developed over years of working, was another part of it.  It sounds really corny, but when I realized what I'd captured, I almost gasped out loud.  Those are the hands of a servant.  Not just a servant for that day.  A servant for probably the vast majority of his 80+ years.  Those hands have lovingly and gladly provided assistance for many people, and show the surety of his servanthood in the way he handles the wood and hammer.  Those hands with the wrinkles and veins as their landscape are the hands I aspire to have some day.

It's me, world!

I'm finally taking the plunge into this world of blogging.  I've thought about it for at least the last year, but didn't think anybody would want to read what I had to say.  I've decided that blogging will be a good way to hone my writing skills.

The name of the blog, JEMinEYE, is a play on words for my zodiac sign of Gemini.  I chose the name because I love photography (but have SO much to learn about it), and spend a good amount of time w/ my camera.  JEM are my initials, and combined w/ "inEYE", indicates how I view life, especially through the lens of my camera, complete w/ an occasional gem of a photo.  

My plan is to get in the habit of writing on a regular basis, as well as seeking out more opportunities to get out and experiment w/ the camera.  And of course, you would be subjected to my ramblings and photos.  Lucky you!

I'm very new to all of this, so any constructive comments would be greatly appreciated.

I've decided to start w/ a few photos I took earlier today in my yard.  We've by-passed Spring so far here in SW Ohio and gone straight to Summer!  The plants that are normally just poking through the ground (and sometimes snow) are in full bloom already, after a very mild winter.  We're enjoying this weather, but many of us are also waiting for that snow on Easter Sunday.  

Clover

I love clover until it starts flowering and the bees are out . . . love going barefoot, so I have to avoid stepping on those pesky bees.  I do still look (only for short times) for a 4 leaf clover since I've never found one.

Redbud Tree

Forsythia

Last spring was my first in a house rather than an apartment since I'd graduated from college many, many years ago.  I'm learning a lot about pruning the bushes, trees, and the overly abundant trumpet vine!  The Redbud Tree needs more pruning than I can handle, but I have the forsythia well shaped.

I do enjoy taking photos of the flora and fauna in my backyard, so you will be seeing squirrels, birds, and some of the other plants.  The photo below is probably my favorite that I took today, just because it's different.

There are a lot of different things that catch my eye, so you'll never know what might show up here.