Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Bobby woke me up this morning before he left for work and said, “Look out the window!” They had forecasted snow overnight, but they’ve forecasted snow several times this winter and no snow ever came. But I jumped out of bed, and sure enough there was snow on the ground! Not even an inch, but still, it was more snow than I’d seen in five years outside of Michigan. A little later in the morning, I checked the window again, and got even more excited because it actually started snowing--and not just wimpy tiny snow; BIG, THICK, FLUFFY snow!
And it was funny to watch the way Tennessee reacts to snow. In Michigan, when a snow this light happens at this time of year, we think: “Finally! Spring is here!” But in Tennessee they closed a bunch of the area schools, and it took people twice as long to get to work because people were driving 10 under the speed limit. The snow was completely melted by noon. Yeah, I laughed. 
A brief recap of the month thus far: Bobby went to St. Louis on business for a week, and brought home the flu. Mia caught it shortly there after, and the two of them were sick for a week and a half. I avoided the flu, but came down with a cold. Then Scott came down for a week--many photos were taken, much fun was had. That was followed by a tortuously busy week at work for me, which resulted in my throwing my neck out of whack (I’m better now). And then…
My brother, his wife and daughters, and my sister all came down for the weekend, and despite all being crammed into our little apartment most of the weekend due to bad weather, we had a great time together! My oldest niece, Kali, is three months younger than Mia (although she’s quite a bit taller than Mia), and they had the best time playing together. I think they are both old enough now to kind of be able to remember each other from Christmas. So they ran around together, climbed all over the furniture, trailed Mia’s toys all across the apartment. The house looked like a tornado had gone through by the end of the weekend--definite evidence of a good time! As for the adults, it was so good to hang out with my brother and sister again, and it just made me really thankful that we have the close relationship that we do. And Bobby and my sister-in-law Joslyn are such natural additions to our family, we all get along so easily.
Anyways, Gunar and family went home yesterday, but I get to keep my sister for a week longer. I’m so excited because she is considering moving down here after she graduates in April. I would FINALLY have family close by! Plus, my sister is one of my best and closest friends, and it would just be beyond cool to be able to hang out with her more often than twice a year. So she’s checking out apartments in the area, and hanging out with me a lot.
Mia started running a fever (again--sheesh!) last night. I suspect there was a bug going around this weekend, because I talked to my brother today and he mentioned not feeling so hot either… Yuck. So, Mia was fussy and tired and feverish all day. Fun stuff. Hopefully it’s just a little bug that will run its course in another day or two. Seriously, aren’t we done being sick yet?
And last but not least, I did manage to get a couple of layouts done since last Friday. I’ve been on a graphic kick lately, as you can see.
Monday, February 11, 2008
We have our good friend Scott visiting this week from San Diego. We’ve been telling him for quite some time now that he needs to move out here, and finally he’s actually considering it. For fear of “jinxing” him, I won’t go into the reasons why he’s considering it. Hee hee. Anyways, we get to enjoy his company this week, and I get to brush up on my SLR skills a bit. You see, Scott is rather handy with a camera. In fact, he’s the reason I bought my first SLR (a 35mm Canon Elan 7e) back in 2003, I think it was… When I got into digital scrapbooking, I stopped using my 35mm altogether, and by the time I finally got my Canon 40d, it had been a couple years since I had last used a SLR. It’s taken some re-learning. Anyways, here’s a shot Scott took yesterday of a train bridge that goes over the Clinch River in Oak Ridge. I love that bridge--it’s rusted and old-looking (though still strong and fully functional), and I especially love the way it looks next to the starkness of the tress in winter, with the blue expanse of sky above it.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Whoo-hoo! I have successfully gotten my new Expression Engine blog up and running. And I’m VERY excited about that, but it’s almost midnight now and I’ve been looking at lines of code for a few hours straight now, so I’m going to go to bed. Here’s a pretty layout I did this morning for you to look at.
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