Saturday, September 21, 2013

Bubble Blitz


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The Museum of Life nd Science in Durham held their anual Bubble Blitz event today.  Dr. Ken Lyle from Duke University and his chemistry students were on hand hosting a wide variety of demonstrations an hands-on activities involving bubbles.  As you can see from the collage, the boys had a great time creating, holding, and being inside bubbles.  I of course enjoyed trying to take the best bubble pics.  New this year as far as I can remember was igniting bubbles.  See Joey and the flame in the picture 2nd from right on the bottom?  This was just too cool!  I didn't catch the gas, but Donnie said he thinks the bubbles were filled with propane.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Reptitions in Construction


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I took this Wednesday when I was out running errands.  I was stopped for a road construction project and getting bored.  What do we do when we're bored?  Why of course we reach for our camera.  This is uncropped but a major zoom in.  First I noticed the reptition of the walls.  Then I noticed the construction worker in the shot.  This is about 3 stories up.  I guess he was just enjoying the day.

I would rather have posted another fall photo, but thought you might like this environmental portrit for a change of pace.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The Many Faces of Fall


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The boys and I drove past The Country Market Store after school yesterday and turned around to stop and enjoy their fall displays and merchandise.  Who could miss these awesome face baskets!

We went inside to find Amanda painting away.  Yep, they are handmde.  Each face is unique in it's own way.  She said that she tries to do 25 a day and that most seasons, and she's been doing it for years, she makes 3000.  Gulp!


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The boys talked me into getting one with a greenish tinted face. You  may remember that Johnny's favorite color is green.  I think ours is going to go on our covered front porch.



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There were many baskets to choose from and lovely mums available to put in them.


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The basket featured as my daily shot was hanging up outside.  I pp'ed it quite a bit to remove some background clutter and a stray metal clip.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Fresh Apples - A Sure Sign of Fall


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Taken at Porter Farms and Nursery.  A fwe weeks ago this cart had squash, zucchini, onions, eggplant and  few otehr veggies.  As those crops finish for the summer, they are being replaced by fresh apples.  The sights, sounds, and smells of fall are quickly approaching.

Robber Fly


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Johnny saw this picture and thought it ws a bee.  I explained that I was pretty sure it was a Robber Fly.  However, I think the robber fly has capture  bee which they are known to eat.  An ugly yet totally fascinating creature.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Done!


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Several people have asked to see pictures of the finished house; Donnie's house after new paint and me and the boys moving in.  I've been waiting for our new Lay-Z-Boy dual electric loveseat recliner to arrive so I could finish arranging the family room.  We ordered it Memorial Day weekend and were told 2 months.  We hoped to have it for the first NFL regular season game, but it didn't quite work out.  We were told the fabric was very popular and that they'd run out.  At least it was finally here today.

So, I rearranged the family room and did a light pick-up on the rest of the house and then took these pics.

1a Corner of the dining room.  There's a project on the rest of the table right now that I didn't want to show.  I have candles in the center and 4 chairs and placemats for our family.  Table has 6 chairs and easily holds 6 or even 8 people.  I hve one leaf in, but we have 2.
1b A corner of the kitchen.  The boxing above the cabinets meets the blue dining room paint in two spots.  These are my appliances moved over from the other house.  The sun plaque is Vietri.
1c Kitty loves to sleep by the kitchen door:-)
1d - 1f The apricot color is in the family room and main hallway.  We have sleeper sofa that Donnie had, our new loveseat, and a chair.  The TV is mounted over the fireplace (there really isn't a better place).  Blaze hangs out on her bed in from of the fireplace.  There's a nice view out a double window to the front porch and yard.
2a - 2d This is the master bedroom.  You can see influence from my grandmother on my side of the bed.  Curio cabinets, old rocker, and depression glass.
2e - 2f  This is the master bathroom.  Nice double sinks and an aqua color that give it that ocean feel.  The bedroom is slightly lighter shade on the same color sample card.
3a - 3b Two of my photos hanging in the family room.
3c - 3d This is the boys' bathroom.  The blue is the same as the dining room.  Obviosly, they have a fish theme and like it very much.
3e This is the laundry room.  It is under the stairs to the 2nd floor which is unfinished and used as an attic.
3f This is the L-shaped bunk bed Don's brother JB built for the boys.  It was a joint project where Donnie and I loooked at 500 bunk bed pics on the internet, found 2 we really liked that were L-Shaped, and then Donnie drew up plans incorporating the features of both that we wanted.  JB tooks the plans and did a great job with them.
4a Bookcase in the boys' bedroom.  I like for them to have lots of books at their disposal.  The top bunk also has a bookcase with some of Johnny's 3rd grade range books.
4b The view out the double window in the boys' bedroom.  I counted 7 deer in the front yard this morning.
4c My craft closet!  I am pleased!
4d Joey's recliner for watching TV.  Johnny's is next to Joey's.
4e This is the boys' entertainment center with TV and Wii.
4f The view from Joey's recliner.

No one is ever really done wtih their house, are they?  I have a fish tank wtih a large oscar to move over to the boys' TV room.  Soon it will be time to decorate for fall.  They boys were ready two weeks ago, but I try to hold out until the last week of September.

The front porch is first level but second story high.  There's a nice view of a little over an acre of woods with a small creek running through it.  I have laawn chairs from my dad's porch out there and a small gas grill which we use often.

Soon I hope I can say that my old house is up for sale.  We're within days of being ready!  Fall is going to be good with these big chores behind us, cooler temps, and all the other fun things that come with fall including NFL football and watching from our new loveset.