Orange Beauty

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Look what's coming to Raleigh!  It's the Nature Research Center going in next to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  The kids and I have been watching the 'earth' go up for months now whenever we travel downtown like we did today on our way to Marbles Kids Museum. Today we saw the skin on it for the first time.  Exciting!

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I threw together a quick collage of the kids doing fun stuff at the museum:

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The most interesting thing at the museum today is that they had redone the Power 2 Play exhibit upstairs.  The hockey rink and soccer area remained, but they added in a new climbing wall, gymnastic rings, and a netted basketball area.  We spent a lot of time in that section, and the kids had a blast.

I've never seen marble run track out when we've been there before, but today there were bins of parts, and the kids and I spent some time building.  I got interested in how a 35X zoom in on the run itself would look.  Pretty neat if you ask me.  I almost made this my POTD:

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But, it was the rose still growing outside here in December that I thought many of you might appreciate most.  Marbles has a nice kids' garden area, and this is where several rose bushes were still thriving.

I can tell I've had the chemo now.  My energy level is down some, but I'm still hanging in here:-)

Fun at Lake Wheeler

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We had a picnic lunch at Lake Wheeler Park yesterday although it was only 52 degrees and there was a 10-15mph wind.  It started out a bit cloudy, but thankfully the sun came out.  I just wanted to get some fresh air and a bit of exercise and of course have a chance to take some pics.  A sign said that they are closing the park playground in January and February to renovate it.  I hope that means it will be even nicer when they are done.

I just couldn't resist posting the collage today.  I loved those smiling faces and the red and green color coordination throughout.  Every year I've taken an acorn shot of some type at this playground, so while the boys played I created the heart shot.  Donnie thought it was sweet, and of course it was inspired by him:-)

There are a few other shots that I took that I liked:

Who are you looking at?!?

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Can you believe there was a flower still blooming?!?  A white coneflower variety I guess.

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An overdone HDR but I still like it:

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Some people were brave enough to be out on the lake:

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They've built a really nice new fishing pier just like the one at Shearon Harris County Park.  I loved the view back to the main park building (bathrooms/concession and rental stand).  The sky was just gorgeous!

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Donnie has been doing a great job inspiring and motivating Joey to be more active and to get more exercise.  Joey is running some sprints now, and I think he's feeling pretty good about how he feels doing it.

Autumn Colors Linger

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My first chemo session went fine yesterday.  At this point I am tired of getting poked with needles, and they do the bloodwork and chemo IV on the hand instead of the elbow which to me is worse, but I got through it.  How can it be bad when I have this handsome guy to sit with me and keep me company?!?  He always keeps his girl smiling and in good spirits.  I took the pic of Donnie with my new iPad.  He took the pic of me with his iPod Touch.  I ran both through Noiseware.  Us techies had to have something to do over the 3 or so hours we were there.  Thanks to Aunt Debbie for taking the kids to the Durham Museum of Life and Science nearby while I got the treatment!

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We took the boys to Crowder District Park on the way home.  It was getting late in the day, and the light was low, so I tested out shooting in higher ISOs with the new camera and was pleased with the results.  While maybe not the best pics ever, they were certainly much better than I would have gotten with my old camera.

When Donnie plays with the boys, he plays with the boys!

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They of course think Mr. Don is the best, and so do I!

Donnie spotted this Canada Goose shot for me.  At 3200 ISO I'm impressed.  If the water had been just a tad more golden and the branch not over his eye I might have made it my POTD.

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So I'm doing pretty good today.  Mild itching on my face (no rash) is my only complaint.  My joints hurt a bit last night and my legs were restless, but that happens on normal days sometimes too.  Hoping things keep going this good.  Thanks again for all your support which means so much to me!

Joey's first picture with my new camera:

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Vibrant Red Even in Winter

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Yesterday I mentioned that I had a couple more Yates Mill shots that I wanted to share.  I really like how I was able to get the red berries behind the fluffy weed/grass in the shot I've posted as my daily today.  Here is a shot showing off the berries that were in abundance all over the park:

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I don't know what they are, but the bushes were rather large.

The one other shot that caught my eye from our outing at Yates Mill was this neat reflection of the pond in the water beneath the wheel.  I wish the wisp of grass was not there, though.

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The Lucky filter in Picasa did a nice job of adjusting the contrast and color of the original shot which was a tad subdued (in a fog).

Here's a picture of Donnie looking handsome and wearing one of the shirts I gave him for Christmas:

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Although not born in AL, he spent a good part of his early life living there.  With everything else red in my post, I figured this shot fit right in!

Yates Mill

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Donnie offered to take me to a park yesterday to test out my new camera (Canon SX40 HS), and we ended up at Yates Mill which is probably my favorite park in our area to take nature pics at.  It wasn't real warm or real cold, and we enjoyed a just brisk walk around the mill pond loop trail.  My main reaction is that I really like the camera and am pleased with the pictures that it took.  My only comment is that the wheel for adjusting the aperture and exposure is harder than the button (click) control on my Canon Powershot S3 IS.  I knew about the wheel as they changed this back with the SX10 IS several years ago.  All it means is that I was a tad slower adjusting the exposure in manual mode.  I was still able to properly adjust things and am sure that I will get faster at making the adjustments pretty quickly.

My daily is a 3-shot HDR of the mill.  I just couldn't resist.  I guess you can't tell it's really a mill from this vantage point since the spillway blocks the view of the wheel.  Here is another HDR which Donnie said has a very flat depth due to no roof line showing in the composition.  I have to agree.  Still it shows off the mill wheel.

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Another beautiful view over the mill pond:

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Of course my favorite subject at the mill was Donnie...

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I could come away with 100 good pics from the mill, but if I didn't also have a good pic of Donnie to remember our outing by, they wouldn't matter.

Here's the flora and fauna going on at the mill this time of year:

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This shot was taken at 140 times digital zoom so I could try to identify these ducks.  What a great pair of binoculars this lens makes too!

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There are two other shots from the mill that I really like.  Since it's raining here today, I just may have to post one of them tomorrow!

I start my chemo tomorrow.  It's scary, and I really wish this wasn't happening to me and my loved ones, but I know Donnie will be very supportive and the boys as understanding as they can be, and I've just got to hold on until it's over (4 treatments 21-28 days apart) and get through this looking forward to all the great things on the other side.  I've got so much to live for.  I don't plan to be lying in the bed every day with the chemo, and hopefully my health is going to cooperate!  I'll keep shooting and posting and doing my other daily activities with Donnie and the boys as much as I am able.

Surprise!

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I'm a pretty sharp cookie, but yesterday Donnie REALLY pulled on over on me.  I knew he'd gotten me an iPad on Black Friday, and we'd even opened it.  I wasn't expecting anything else for Christmas.  That was a very generous gift as it was. Donnie even told me not to do that girl thing and get upset when I didn't have anything else to open on Christmas morning.  He showed up Christmas Eve for dinner with a can of popcorn which I basically figured was for the boys and which I didn't pay much attention to. Later that night, after showing him his pile of boxes for Christmas day, he promptly loaded up my stocking with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and put the popcorn tin next to his presents telling me that it was my present.  OK.

Advance to the next morning.  Everyone else has opened all their gifts and there sits that lonely can of popcorn.  Donnie says I need to open it.  Why but OK.  Donnie says I need to eat some of it.  At 7:30AM?  Really?  OK...anything for Donnie.  Johnny starts helping and Donnie has a few pieces.  I like caramel popcorn a lot so it was starting to taste good.  Wait a minute?!?  There's a pink string and isn't that a paper plate under a few inches of the popcorn?  Where is the rest of that popcorn?  So a box lid was handed to me and we spilled out the popcorn and oh my goodness under that paper plate is a new camera.  That had to be like the most I have ever been had on a present ever.  Really?  A new camera?  That one we talked about Betsy Foster Breen having and looked at at BJs and kept debating.  Wow!  Rush over to give Donnie a super big kiss and lots of hugs.  Thank you...

Canon Powershot SX40 HS

So for my daily you got a shot of me all perplexed about why I am having to eat popcorn at 7:30AM on Christmas morning.

Here are the rest of the shots Donnie took with my S3 camera (should have been a clue that it was more than just popcorn but it really wasn't) during the popcorn eating:-)

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Here are a few shots of everyone else opening their gifts:

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I love Donnie holding up his Live Strong Lance Armstong socks.  He always said socks and underwear were what he got for Christmas:-) He got other stuff too of course.  Aren't those chef hats that came for the boys great?  More pics of them to come I am sure!

Love these shots of my technology boys trying out the new gear (iPad and Kindle Fire).   Donnie and I are pretty smart when it comes to tech, but that Johnny is going to give us a run for our money I think.

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Here's a shot of our Christmas Eve dinner (bottom round roast).  We had ham for Christmas Day.  Any other post and I am sure you all would be hungry, but I know we all ate a bit too much yesterday and aren't THAT hungry today.

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If you have never bought the sweet potato patties in the frozen veggie section at your grocery store, make sure to try them.  1/3 cup water, sugar, and butter melted and poured over them in a dish.  Brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on top.  15 minutes at 350.  Delicious!  Donnie got me hooked on them.

French Apple Pie from my Pillsbury cookbook (OMG!):

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And last but not least...bird pics taken with the SX40:

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A small sampling of the birds outside my kitchen window each day.

It goes without saying that a huge thank you goes our to Donnie and the boys for making my Christmas so special...

I hope you all had a special Christmas too...

Merry Christmas 2011

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As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to share another shot from Lake Myra Christmas with you for my Christmas Day card and POTD.  I hope you enjoy it.  I did take and use my tripod this year after wishing that I had it last year, and Donnie ran interference with the kids so that I could get the shots that I wanted.  It's not obvious from the photos, but the lights are synchronized with music.

Here is an alternate card that I  made with one other shot that I liked:

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I took liberties with the daily and alternate shot cleaning up unlighted branches and adding stars on top of all the major trees; there was just one star.

The light show had a some very unique light balls made out of clear plastic disposable cups.  Some were for sale.  I thought they were very beautiful!

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The lollipop tree far left in this shot was made up of them:

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This snowman talked to the crowd inbetween songs:

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Donnie really liked the spiral trees:

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I hope you enjoy my pics of the show and that you all have the very best Christmas ever!

Peace, Faith, Love, Hope

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Yesterday was one of those days you want to do over and over again because it was filled with so many wonderful things...  As a result, it was definitely feast and not famine with possible pics for my daily today too.

I had a short doctor's appointment, and afterward Donnie went with me and the boys to Chick-fil-A and then to West Point Mill on the Eno.  The boys wrestled with Donnie in the play area at CFA.  In the park, we walked around the mill and over the pedestrian bridge and down by the damn.  It was gorgeous!  I have lots of collages to show you our day...

My crazy boys would rather wrestle Donnie than climb the playground structure!

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We didn't get a lot of rain at my house Thursday night, but 30 miles north and west in Durham, they apparently had a flood!  The Eno River was very high.  Under the sidewalk in the pics below, there was a whirlpool created by water rushing through the large pipes.  The kids (all ages) had fun sending leaves and sticks through to the other side.  There's a SP of me in the whirlpool pic.

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A series of shots showing nature's beauty in the park follow:

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Me trying to be Stevie Nicks:-)

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Me:

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My handsome guys!

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Later in the day Madi was over for our yearly present exchange.  I think it's fair to say that the kids were pleased with what they got.  Joey got Mario Kart 7 for his 3DS and Madi got a Whappy Dog and game for her DS and Johnny got several Cars items.

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And finally, we all went to the Lake Myra Christmas holiday light show near Wendell.  This is our second year going, and it's a joy to see this huge light display flashing to the music!  I have one shot that I'm sharing as my daily today, and then I think another to share as my daily tomorrow.  There was talk at the show of moving the display to downtown Wendell next year.  Cool!

I hope your holiday joy is in full swing today with family coming, good food to share, and warm hearts.

The Elves and Then Some

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It all started 2 years ago when Joey was in first grade in Mrs. Cherry's class.  At Christmas time, she got out Henry her Elf on the Shelf and started Joey's imagination running wild.  Soon after, we ended up with our own Elf on the shelf named Chocolate:

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Santa sent several more elves from the North Pole and mom bought several off eBay and at Hallmark.  Before we knew it, we had quite the menagerie, and each holiday season we add a few more.

Some of you will understand the collection and others of you will think we're nuts:-)

Joey got the idea a few days ago that we should photograph each of our elves and make a slide show.  Yesterday we took some time to walk through the house and get a picture of each of the elves in their current landing location.

Now I really don't want or need to know how many there are.  It's besides the point.  We just enjoy them and are sharing with you today.  Someday Joey and Johnny will have the Elf on the Shelf at their house.  Madi too.

Speaking of Madi...  Santa sent her 2 new elves yesterday.  She went out on her porch last night to find a round cookie style tin with her new friends in it:-)  She called me beaming with excitement.  Ah...the magic of Christmas!

Pictured are Sleepy on the left and Giant on the right.  Joey and I found these guys at Guardian Angel Thrift 2 years ago, and they are my personal favorite elves in the collection.

Our collection:

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Johnny and Joey helped me wrap presents yesterday.  Johnny took this shot of me putting the curling ribbon on one of Donnie's gifts.  I was impressed that it was sharp and had some nice dof!

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