Butterfly Metamorphosis

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This is one of those tiny glass cubes on a small base with color changing LED lights.  Below is the original.

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I tried to make a card here but quit...wasn't going where I wanted.  Exhausted. More tomorrow.

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Spot Anything Good?

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OK, this picture is sure to go down as the ugliest daily photo I have ever posted.  Oh well.  Except for making a few signs and using some masking tape to price things, I'm ready.  Good thing I have the garage because it's 77 and drizzling outside.  Lots of good finds in here for folks with small kids from books to board games to that Little Tikes blue race car bed (back left).  Outside and not pictured is a bunch more Little Tikes stuff.  Hopefully a few of the bigger ticket items go so I can consider the yard sale a success and just go drop off all the little stuff at Guardian Angel Thrift.

Thanks for all the well wishes on my yard/garage sale. This is only the 2nd time in 20 years I've done this. I hate the traffic it will generate in the neighborhood but feel with this much stuff it's justified. Once every 10 years isn't too often, right?

Taking Time to Watch the Butterflies

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I spent some time organizing in Donnie's kitchen today. Remember how I cleaned out my kitchen a few weeks ago. Well this time I did kindof the same thing in his kitchen. All this cleaning and reorganizing is keeping me busy and distracting me from missing him. I did spend just a few minutes taking butterfly shots, and my daily is the best one I got. I also spent time cleaning in my bedroom tonight. Who knew that my triple dresser actually had a top! Amazing!

Thanks for your support on the yard sale.  I think the rain will hold off until after it's done although it will be cloudy with rain coming in for later in the day.  Tomorrow I'll be trying to organize what's going so folks can see what I have and then pricing.

Gale's Garden

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I took a break from reorging and prepping for the yard sale today and finished spreading mulch at Donnie's house on the garden his sister, Gale, put in for him last year (or the year before).  In the spring Donnie had the garden perfectly weeded but by July it was nearly 2' high with weeds again.  Sigh...  Better to have weeds, though, than to use nasty chemicals.  The wildlife love Donnie's yard because he keeps it natural.  I really need a before picture!  Thankfully the weeds pulled up easy and laying the mulch was a relatively quick task.  Also ready for football season with the flag.  Roll Tide!

This is a 3 shot HDR. I removed a satellite dish pole and got rid of a puddle on the asphalt that was distracting.  Also a slight vignette as it still seemed a smidge over exposed to me.

Now I can go back to taking more butterfly pics:-)  Well, at least after the yard sale Saturday.

Thanks for your support this week as I have less time than usual at the computer and am pushing myself hard to get a lot of things done while Donnie is away.  I like to stay productive and occupied.

Framed!

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This is one of the things I did today to get the house in ship shape and reorged and ready for a yard sale.  These pics are headed to a wall upstairs.  A few more to frame but I have to go back for more frames and mattes.

There is a huge pile of trash at the street.  It wouldn't all fit in the tall bin.  Little Tikes stuff has been moved up to the driveway.  One bay of the garage is cram packed with books and toys and stuffed animals and a train table and a car toddler bed.  I will be stretched to organize it so folks can see what's there.  I sure hope it doesn't rain Saturday.  The boys will be with their dad; I may have to enlist Madi's help.

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning as I reorg.  Now is a good time for folks to visit as it won't stay like this long.

Not sure when I'll sit much longer than a few minutes.  3 rooms to go.

LOVE - Missing Donnie

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A candle holder I picked up at the thrift store, Guardian Angel, on Saturday for the sole purpose of trying to photograph it.  The version I posted for my daily is a bit warmer than the original.

I really like this more colorful version better, but I posted the one I thought you guys would like better.  What can I say....  You can see that I made an attempt to fix the lower left of the O.

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Comments and critiques welcome.  I don't feel this is one of my better candle shots.  I tried to manage the overpowering flame on the letters.  I had some shots where the exposure on the letters was better, but I liked the overall composition here with the angel and hint of bokeh at the top also in the shot, so I went with this one even though LOVE was lit up a tad more than I wanted.  My heart burns strong for Donnie, so I guess the glow is really appropriate anyway:-)

All I did yesterday was clean and haul stuff out to the garage for a yard sale or to donate to Guardian Angel. When I say all day, I mean noon until 11PM pretty much solid putting the kids to work too.  They were up and down the stairs at least 30 times a piece, so I took a break long enough to take them for ice cream at Porters.  We haven't been since the beginning of summer, and I thought their efforts warranted the treat.

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Bumpy Chairs

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I'm posting this family snapshot today because I need it to cheer me up.  Taken last night after dinner.  Donnie will be away helping his sister and brother in Florida for a couple of weeks, and the boys and I will miss him bunches.  I always tell him that I never get tired of having him around. And, I really appreciate all the things he does to make mine and the boys' lives better. I can hold down the fort while he's gone, but all those little and big things he does for us will be greatly missed.  There's nothing that can hold a candle to him.

The boys and Donnie have a nightly tradition of playing bumpy chairs.  What is that you ask?  Well, it started out with Johnny sitting on Donnie's knees getting bumped around for a few minutes and morphed into all out wrestling with both boys and now it's mixed in with hide and seek.  We set a timer for  15 minutes more or less depending on behavior, and the boys and Donnie have quite the fun time.  It can be loud, intense, bumpy, and well look at those smiling faces...joy.  I just try to stay out of the way;-)  It's 15 minutes of down time for mom.  Much appreciated by me and memories the boys will hold with them forever of fun times with Mr. Don.

OK, time to stop the crying and sentiment.  Sometimes, though, you just have to stop to let the people in your life know how much you care about them...