Ancient Jewels, Glowing Oceans, Flourescent Stones and Illuminated Falls

* all images via the interwebs.

*  p.s.  i have seen the ocean glow with a dear friend once long ago.  it was awesome.  

valentine's day connections

Hello guys!  Hope everyone's weekend was full of nice things. We had some awesome weather up in the hi 30's to mid 40's which is uncharacteristic for Iowa kinda.  So Chris' Mom and Dad took the kids out to play on Sunday and C and I went out for a little drive round the countryside.  And here's the photos of what we saw.

The snow is almost gone today and all the icicles are mostly a memory for now.  Enoch's having his Valentine's Day party at school as we speak and we had to rush some emergency Valentines over to him at school b-cause we'd forgotten them at home.  Ha, I hope he's having fun and getting all sugared out.  Been a busy last few days and I still have more work to do and a couple of packages to send off to two lovely ladies.  Hoping for more work progress today.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all, it's kinda like falling in love with the beginnings of Spring all over again.  It's more of a seasonal affair for me.  C brought me home two new houseplants (yay!) for the V-day occasion, among a few other things.  We're pretty happy that Spring might be showing it's face sometime soon, but till all the snow is gone we'll be alright with teasers of Spring I guess.

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It's Quiet Time

This is panellus stipticus.  And it takes my heartbeats.  I'm needing to tend to many things at the moment and a break for a few days seems long overdue.  Hope there's a sweet weekend instore for all.   

*  animated gif source wikipedia.


**  i was having trouble with the high resolution gif displaying.  sorry if the post was looking a little empty.  thanks for looking and see you in a couple!  

Fancy Light

 

above image via psychicwomenwarriors

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I have quite a bit of work that I'm doing today.  Wish me luck!

Sweet Tiny Surprises

Been having some below zero weather lots lately, it's easy to go stir crazy at times so we keep busy.  Yesterday, we did manage to get to our favorite neighborhood thrift store and pick up a few things. 

Iris is chilling up above in our cold car heading out.  Extra bundled up!

Down below are the after photos of our bevy of treasures.  Also picked up a few new plants, which are very desired by me for greenery and morale. 

Thanks for looking and take care! 

Assorted Eye Fillers

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Now's the Time

This winter is taking a mental toll on me hard.  I don't mind small towns, heck I don't even mind Iowa really.  It's just not where we had planned on being this year.  As we got thrown for a loop last summer.  And we are making the most of it.  We're not quite as broke here because our rent's pretty reasonable.  We live near Chris' parents and he's got a job at a Natural Food Market Co-op as the general manager and Enoch's doing so nicely in school and has become quite the reader now.  We're doing decent, hell we even signed up for Netflix and get movies on demand on our Wii.  Iris is getting more and more clear in her speech as she enters the 2 year mark.  I am being a little tongue and cheek but I am ready to move on.

I am fully aware of how we got here.  I remember it clear as a bell.  We moved to Los Angeles to get more sun, to be close to my Mother and Father and very good friends.  However, things soon went 'south' with good ol' mom and dad.  And it wasn't the first time either.  The days into Iris' birth were beautiful but bittersweet as well,  my mom and dad came to visit and abruptly left on sour terms.  Let's say it's been an ongoing theme in my relationship with my parents.  Luckily I have amazing friends who know probably more about me than my mother and father ever will.  And why should I let this sudden brake off of biological familial blood run me asunder.  I am not defined by their fears right?  Anyway, heavy stuff.  Too heavy for this blog I bet so I'm clearing out the mental junk.  It's my early version of Spring cleaning.  As I look out from window to window on a snowy day I remind myself how very good I have it.  I'm not homeless, I have my own family of two kids and an awesome husband who's been there through all this challenging self analysis.  Last year the blows just kept on coming, I experienced other losses, which I can't go into here but every day the sun gave way to morning and things began all over again.  And hey, Iowa's got a charm all it's own.  

So now's the time to get going.  I don't want to hold back or let my mental trips overtake progress.  And maybe just maybe we can create a gem out of this.  

Winner and the Iowa Sun through the Chill

The winner for the All Modern giveaway is Genny of paper.birch!  I thought I'd prolly only get one entry but a few pals friends helped out and I'm grateful!  2nd place is Xochitl and 3rd is going to Risa!  I used a pretty cool site to calculate the names.  I hope Genny enjoys!  My favorite toy from childhood was my Dukes of Hazard trike.  I always wanted to ride on the open road...  Thanks again.


I took a bunch of photos this past Friday when the sun was out in full effect.  Also I have revealed here an undisclosed location where there exists piles and piles of things that have been sitting and gaining character since.  Have a good one y'all!

Above three photos:  Our neighboring grainery and scrap metal and lumber yards.

Below photos:  The ancient basement that time forgot.  

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