Project 365

365/365

2009-12-31T11:33:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year's Eve!!

Marley, the Babas, and I celebrated New Year's Eve having a tea party with Marley's American Girl Dolls. Marley's day care lady, Junie, had given Marley an M&M cookie bar recipe and ingredients in a jar for Christmas. Actually Marley decorated the jar and helped put the ingredients in it. Junie also gave her "Snowman Soup" in a mug. Marley and I made the M&M cookie bars and hot chocolate. We all enjoyed a fun party. Thanks, Junie, the bars were delicious!

Thanks, everyone, for sharing Project 365 2009 with me. It has been an interesting project that I'm sure I will enjoy looking back on. There are so many pictures of just every day life that I would never have thought to take normally.

This year I will be continuing Debbie's Blog, not exactly like Project 365, but still trying to record the special and ordinary bits of life!

364/365

2009-12-30T22:03:00.002-05:00

Marley got a new American Girl doll for Christmas. Her name is Josefina and she is Mexican-American. This is her 4th American Girl doll (actually Gracie, her first, was a pseudo-American Girl doll. Marley was only 5 and we weren't sure how careful she would be with her). She really does seem to like these dolls.

P.S. Only one more day of Project 365. I can't believe I have kept this up for the whole year. I won't be continuing it next year, but I will still do Debbie's Blog.

363/365

2009-12-29T21:47:00.003-05:00

Mark had a friend named Sam growing up. Sam and his family lived on our street, went to our church, and Sam a was grade behind Mark in school. His family has since moved to a different town, and Sam, his wife Tammy and son Evan live in Kansas. They came home for Christmas and he and Mark made plans to get together over Christmas week. Tonight they all met at my house. We had a fun visit together. The babies, Mason and Evan are only four months apart. This picture is of Mark with Mason, and Sam with Evan. I can't believe the boys have boys of their own!

362/365

2009-12-28T22:45:00.002-05:00

Kris, Toby and Marley got a Wii for Christmas. You can customize your character (hair, eyes, nose, glasses, etc.) From left to right are Paul, Deb, Kris, Marley and Toby. We still have to get Mark and Janelle done. I never thought I would be interested in playing anything on the Wii but I loved it. Tonight we went to Kris and Toby's and played Wii Fit Plus. Who knew exercising could be so much fun.

361/365

2009-12-27T22:39:00.001-05:00

Mason was sitting next to Paul in his chair and Paul was singing to him. I was in the kitchen and Kristen came out and said to me that Dad had sung himself and Mason to sleep. Too funny!

360/365

2009-12-26T22:14:00.000-05:00

Marley had a basketball game today. She has moved up an age group. She now plays on Girls Under 10. These girls are much more serious (Marley not so much...), scores are kept, and more calls are made for rule infractions. She informed her mother today that this is her last year for sports! She really has gotten a lot better and she likes it once she gets to the games. I hope she stays with it... We'll see.

She is the one (with the red arrow pointing to her) fixing her knee pads. The last game she took a couple of nasty falls and scraped up her knees pretty bad!

359/365

2009-12-25T22:03:00.000-05:00

It was hard to choose one picture out of many from Christmas day, but I decided to pick this one of Paul modeling his new hand-knit socks from Kristen. He has been complaining that he is the only one in the family who doesn't have hand-knit socks. He loved them, but Kris says they may be the only ones he gets. According to her they were too big, and the colors were very boring to knit!

358/365

2009-12-24T22:34:00.002-05:00

This is one of my favorite holiday casseroles. I don't know why I only make it on holidays, but it really goes good with ham. It's a crazy combination of chunk pineapple, grated (or shredded) sharp cheddar cheese, flour, and sugar with a crumbled Ritz cracker and butter topping. Yum!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

357/365

2009-12-23T14:56:00.003-05:00

Mason came to visit today and we put him in the Exersaucer for the first time. He was very serious in it. I think he liked it !?! I know he liked the toys on it.

356/365

2009-12-22T14:52:00.000-05:00

We had our Christmas party at work today. We had quite a feast (this table was just the main meal; we also had an appetizer table and a dessert table). That is my boss standing at the end of the table.

355/365

2009-12-21T12:52:00.001-05:00

Tonight Paul and I took Marley to Amelia Park. Santa was there and also they were celebrating the Winter Solstice. Today is the shortest day/longest night. Tomorrow the days start getting longer. Hurray!

For the winter solstice celebration they had Father Winter, North Wind, and Jack Frost and the winter fairies that lead a parade of sorts down to a big bonfire.

It was freezing, probably one of our coldest nights, but we came prepared. Marley had her snowsuit on and loved playing in the snow. It's amazing how fast kids make friends. Marley and this little girl played for the longest time in the snow.

354/365

2009-12-20T21:29:00.007-05:00

Today was Toby's birthday and everyone came for dinner and cake. Happy Birthday Toby!

Today was also the first time I had seen Mason eat food. Marley was feeding him applesauce and he was like a little bird. As soon as he saw the spoon coming toward him that mouth was wide open. It was so cute.

I just had to add this picture. Janelle was hoping that Mason would take a nap and put this little blanket over him. Out popped five toes! Too cute!

353/365

2009-12-19T17:03:00.003-05:00

Today we made reindeer cookies for Santa. This was Mason's first cookie making and he was very interested. Marley was so good to include him in all of the festivities. She really does seem to love him!

Yes those are snow pants on her. She wanted to get one more batch decorated before going outside to play in the snow. I hear we are getting a storm tonight, so she should be in her glory tomorrow!

352/365

2009-12-18T16:56:00.000-05:00

I think I'm finally done with my Christmas shopping!!

351/365

2009-12-17T20:26:00.004-05:00

This cute little Santa is Paul's. According to Paul, when he was a young child he went with his mother and grandmother to a Christmas shop. They told him he could pick out a decoration just for himself. He picked this little Santa and every year he would put it up in his room. This was one of the things that came with Paul when we got married, and every year he sits on the fireplace screen!

350/365

2009-12-16T22:16:00.003-05:00

Tonight was our Christmas party in Prims. The Daisies joined us for this MERRY CHRISTMAS picture. We invited the parents to our party while we did a Christmas craft, handed out badges, and had lots of good food. Wow, what a night!

349/365

2009-12-15T17:39:00.000-05:00

This is another one of my favorite nativity scenes, also given to me by Paul's mother. She loved nativities.

348/365

2009-12-14T17:30:00.001-05:00

My mother-in-law gave me this nativity scene years ago and it is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. The characters are children as in a children's Christmas pageant.

347/365

2009-12-13T13:30:00.002-05:00

Today was a really off Sunday. Paul and I were supposed to go visit my mother today. Arrangements had been made for Dot for a ride to church and everyone was going their separate ways. At the last minute we found out that my mother wasn't feeling well and we decided to take a down day. We hadn't put the tree up and no decorations were up. BUT, in the midst of all of this decorating, I got looking at some of my digital scrapbook pages and felt bad that I hadn't done any in over a year! Paul was in the mood to give me a refresher course and he also fixed some of my templates (he is, after all, my technical support team). We decided to try one of the new templates with some actual pictures, and this is what we came up with. Cute?

346/365

2009-12-13T08:44:00.006-05:00

Today we took a ride to Vermont. I know I should have been doing Christmas things, but I think we both needed a fun day. We went to what I call the high country which is a portion of Rt. 9 across Southern Vermont. We went as far as Woodford, then turned around and came back. This picture was taken at sunset in the high country. It is so beautiful up there. The elevation is so high that sometimes it has its own weather. It actually looked like it was going to snow, but it didn't while we were there. We stopped in Brattleboro on the way back. It was dark by then but Main St. was all lit up and the shops were still open. We stopped at Sam's for some popcorn and walked up and down Main St.. It was freezing out but so pretty. Tomorrow I definitely have to do some decorating!

345/365

2009-12-11T10:29:00.000-05:00

Tonight Marley brought over her gingerbread house that she made in school. She said it was a church (note Hershey's kiss on the top for the steeple). For years Toby's mother, Barb, has been making gingerbread houses with Marley and her cousins Tyler and Zachary. It wasn't going to work out this year and I was feeling a little bad because I know how much Marley loves doing it. I was so happy to see the gingerbread house from school.

This is her gingerbread house in 2004!

344/365

2009-12-10T21:53:00.006-05:00

Tonight we went to the Winter Festival at Marley's school. It is for grades 1-5 and their families. There are craft tables set up all around the first floor, a picture with Santa, along with food and raffles in the cafeteria. This is our third year going. We weren't there too long tonight as Marley had basketball practice first, but we had fun anyhow.

343/365

2009-12-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

Today was the first substantial snow storm of 2009. This was how it looked on my ride into work. We ended up with about 6-7 inches. Way too early for this.

342/365

2009-12-08T17:52:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas from Mason. Can you believe he is 6 months old today? He really didn't like wearing this Santa hat, so I had to settle for no smiles, but with that face it doesn't really matter. He is just so cute!

Marley tried to get him to smile too but he wasn't having any of it. They look cute together with their Santa hats on anyhow.

341/365

2009-12-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

We had no heat in my office today at work. It was 65 when we got in and only got up to about 68 by the end of the day. When you sit and type all day that is pretty cold. They say they are "working on it." When my co-worker Liz works with her coat on, you know it is COLD!

340/365

2009-12-06T21:44:00.000-05:00

Today we had a photo shoot for Marley's Christmas card. I took quite a few pictures but these were the two that we settled on. Kris liked the pose in front of the tree, and I liked the one on the front steps. I can't believe how grown-up she looks!

339/365

2009-12-05T18:59:00.002-05:00

Today we went to the Olive Garden for lunch/supper. I haven't been there in years, but their Fettuccine Alfredo is the best ever!

338/365

2009-12-04T12:44:00.001-05:00

Tonight Paul and I went to the Singing Christmas Tree at our church with Marley. For the last few years it has been our tradition to go on opening night, and sit way down front (2nd row). It really is quite impressive from the 2nd row! Afterwards we go to Friendly's for ice cream. I hope she doesn't outgrow our "traditions" for a long time!

Note: In less than a month Project 365 will be done. I have really enjoyed doing it. Every now and then I look back to old posts and see things that I would never had recorded or taken pictures of - just every day life. But, I have basically decided not to continue it next year. Taking a picture every day is a little cumbersome even though I have really enjoyed it. I will still continue with Debbie's Blog though.

337/365

2009-12-03T12:36:00.000-05:00

Minnie has a cold. When we got her from the shelter they warned us that she might get an upper respiratory infection just from being in the shelter. About 2 weeks later she started sneezing and her "womanly" operation had to be cancelled. We took her to the vet and he gave her a shot of Amoxicillin and pills for 10 days. Right after that she started acting very weird - constant loud purring in short spurts with her mouth open, rubbing her paws on her face and something weird with her back end - kind of sticking it out. I thought for sure she was having a reaction to the antibiotic. She was just acting so strange. Then Paul said, "Maybe she's in heat." A quick Google look up and sure enough, Minnie was in heat. I guess with all the cats that we have had, we have never had one in heat. Izzy keeps looking at her like she is crazy. I hope this doesn't last too long!

336/365

2009-12-02T12:31:00.001-05:00

One of the girls in my Prims class gave me this Christmas Card tonight.

335/365

2009-12-01T21:32:00.004-05:00

Back up to the mall tonight to get one of my favorite movies that just came out today - Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian. The mall looked really pretty tonight all decorated for Christmas.

334/365

2009-11-30T21:28:00.000-05:00

I have been looking at this book for the last couple of Monday nights at Borders. It is divided into sections (comedy, romance, Sci Fi, etc) and each section starts in the 1930's or so. It's fun to read about all those movies. So many of my favorites are listed.

333/365

2009-11-29T20:48:00.008-05:00

This afternoon Paul, Marley and I went letterboxing. We started off at Springfield St. Cemetery in Feeding Hills. The clue was Jane Chatfield November 22 1881 to August 21 1935. Under the tree. That was it. Do you know how big Springfield St. Cemetery is? Anyhow, we walked around there for about an hour and a half and never found it. We gave up for now (to be continued later with Paul and I eventually checking every grave stone), and headed out to Southwick to look for another letterbox. This one was on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in Southwick near the CT state line.

It took us a while to find the trail, but the rest was rather easy. Except for the fact that you had to cross a swamp on 2x6 boards. That was a little scary.

We found the letterbox hidden underneath a rotted out tree. I love this hobby!

332/365

2009-11-28T20:03:00.004-05:00

I must have had a premonition.

On 6/30/09 I took a picture of this Doctor's box "thing" that was hanging on the wall near the back door of my work. Yesterday when I went in to work, it was gone and the hole boarded up. Today the hole was plastered over. I couldn't believe it! I don't know what they did with it. I know it was very old and none of the doctors used it anymore, but it was a piece of nostalgia, and now it's gone. Sad!

331/365

2009-11-27T19:55:00.000-05:00

Marley is getting to be a pro at feeding Mason.

330/365

2009-11-26T19:52:00.000-05:00

So thankful for family. Happy Thanksgiving!

329/365

2009-11-25T19:00:00.003-05:00

Today I made these carrots for Thanksgiving. Kristen's mother-in-law gave me this recipe years ago. My family really likes them. I usually only make them on holidays as they take some time to make, but are SO worth it (even I eat them and I don't like cooked carrots!).

328/365

2009-11-24T15:07:00.002-05:00

Last night at Borders Paul bought this DVD for $5.99. It was released in 1982 and we saw it at the movies but I really didn't remember much of it. It is a haunting story of a Holocaust survivor. We watched it this morning (I have today and tomorrow off to get ready for Thanksgiving). It was worth watching, but now I have to get to work vacuuming, etc.!

327/365

2009-11-23T15:05:00.000-05:00

This is Minnie in her new bed. Every now and then she gets in Izzy's bed, but it is amazing how she remembers that this is her bed. I think she likes it here.

326/365

2009-11-22T14:51:00.002-05:00

Mason loves it when Mark kisses his face. I wish you could hear him laugh. It is so cute.

Note Minnie in her new bed that Paul and Marley bought for her yesterday!

325/365

2009-11-21T00:07:00.000-05:00

Well, Minnie has been with us for four days and so far so good. There have been no fights, just a lot of growling and hissing, but things are getting better. They seem to be getting more used to each other. They are still nervous and skittish but not as bad. Tonight will be the first night that Minnie doesn't stay in the bathroom. We'll see how things go!

324/365

2009-11-20T23:52:00.001-05:00

This past Tuesday a wonderful lady passed away. Helen was a volunteer in my office. She volunteered for over 20 years and "retired" in August of 2008. Helen was there every Tuesday like clock work. She took her work very seriously. There was no extra talking or fooling around. She said "good morning" and then got to work. We had lunch with her and then she stayed until about 3 o'clock. I knew her for 12 years. She loved us (she told us all the time) and we loved her. She was an inspiration to all of us. It was very hard for her to have to retire. The work she did has never been caught up since she left. One of my co-workers posted her obituary over her desk so people coming into our office would know of Helen's passing. She nick-named her Hawkeye because of her keen eye if something was not right with her work. As Cindy wrote, "Rest in peace Hawkeye."

323/365

2009-11-19T23:47:00.002-05:00

Tonight we went to my aunt Dot's house to set up her new cable box. She loves watching O'Reilly and with the changes that Comcast made she wasn't able to get it without getting an adapter box. Paul had a lot of stuff out on the floor while he was working on the TV. Dot's cat Zeus loved it. I haven't seen him this playful in years!

322/365

2009-11-18T23:37:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night (the first night that Minnie was with us) she spent the night in our upstairs bathroom. She was also there all day Wednesday and until we got home from church on Wednesday night. She made herself comfortable on the hassock tonight. There is still a lot of low growling going on!

321/365

2009-11-17T23:28:00.002-05:00

Today Paul and I went to the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center and adopted Minnie. You can read about it on Debbie's Blog.

320/365

2009-11-16T10:43:00.001-05:00

Getting ready for a crop on Saturday. This page is going to be about Kris and Toby's new house.

319/365

2009-11-15T10:16:00.001-05:00

This afternoon Paul, Marley and I went letterboxing. I wanted to take Marley to the place where I had come upon the first letterbox. We needed to stamp it in our book, and also there was another letterbox, placed by the same person, in this cemetery that we hadn't found yet. We planned this day back when we found our first letterbox in Southwick, and all of us have been looking forward to it. What luck that it was a beautiful, warm day. Even though I had told Marley where it was, she read the directions as we walked towards it. This one was called Pushing Up Daisies (apropos for a cemetery). The second was called Moody Butterfly. It was a hand carved butterfly stamp from Nigeria. We didn't know where this was, so Marley read the directions and eventually we found it. Marley said this was the spookiest cemetery she had ever been in. She wasn't scared, though. In fact, she told us that she loved walking through old cemeteries.

We headed up to Greenfield. I had directions to another letterbox but, unfortunately, it was getting dark and we never did find the one we were looking for. That will have to be for another day.

If you are interested in letterboxing, go here.

318/365

2009-11-14T19:46:00.007-05:00

Today we went on a Letterboxing hunt. We were going to LL Bean in S. Windsor, CT to get new boots for Paul, so I went on to the Letterboxing site to see what letterboxes were in the area. I found one in the same town. This one was called "Connecticut River Valley The Door" and it explained about a historic style of doorway that developed in the Connecticut River Valley in New England in the
mid-eighteenth century.

This first picture was where it lead us, describing that this door was one of 11 original doors of this type still on the houses which they were built for. It is the Ebenezer Grant House in So. Windsor.

The letterbox was located just down the steet in a cemetery behind the Board of Education office. It had a hand-made stamp of a Connecticut Valley doorway. It was beautiful!

If you are interested in letterboxing, go here.

317/365

2009-11-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

Friday night with Mason and Marley. She is already a good babysitter. He loves to watch her!

316/365

2009-11-12T19:14:00.001-05:00

This is what Marley's poor Lincoln Log Town looked like after a few days of being exposed to Izzy (the cat).

315/365

2009-11-11T07:37:00.005-05:00

For Veteran's Day, Marley's 3rd grade class had an assignment: write a paragraph about a person they know in a military uniform.

This is what she wrote:
This is my Great-Grandpa David Waite. He was only 17 when he joined the Navy. He was in the Navy from November 1944 until July 1946. He was a member of the forward crew on the USS Sirona. The Sirona was one of over 100 ships in Tokyo Bay getting ready to invade Japan when Japan surrendered and the war was over.

Thank you to all of our veterans!

314/365

2009-11-10T22:49:00.003-05:00

How cute is that smile. Mason was five months old this past Sunday.

313/365

2009-11-09T22:48:00.000-05:00

Christmas has come to Borders. A little early don't you think?

312/365

2009-11-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

Marley spent the evening making this Lincoln Log western town.

311/365

2009-11-07T15:59:00.009-05:00

Today we found our first letterbox. After Marley's game this morning we went on our first adventure. There are several close to us and we chose to look for the one on the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in Southwick at the remains of an old homestead. I had gone on to letterbox.org and printed out the "clues" to find it. This one was called the "Gift Box." Marley was so excited. She read the directions to us in the car and also as we were looking for it. The directions were perfect and we were so excited when we found it. We weren't exactly organized today, though, and after we found the letterbox and went to put our stamp in their journal, we realized that we had left our stamp at home. Good thing we weren't too far. Paul and Marley explored a little while I went home to get our stamp. I think this is going to be a fun little hobby. We were talking about some of the other letterboxes in the area that we want to look for and Marley said, "Don't do too many without me!"

Here are a few more pictures of our adventure:

If you are interested in letterboxing, go here.

310/365

2009-11-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight we babysat for Mason. He is really starting to get to know his "Baba."

309/365

2009-11-05T20:42:00.001-05:00

We are ready to start finding letterboxes. (See Post 300 which explains how I found out about letterboxing). Tonight we got our stamp and our sketch book. Our trail name is "Izzy's Crew". I can't wait to start. To learn more about Letterboxing, go here.

308/365

2009-11-04T15:54:00.001-05:00

The Prims and Daisies during music time. They really get into it!

307/365

2009-11-03T21:41:00.002-05:00

Voting for mayor tonight.

306/365

2009-11-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

With the time change yesterday, by the time we got to Borders tonight after work it was already dark out :(

305/365

2009-11-01T21:13:00.001-05:00

Kris and Toby invited us for dinner today, albeit with an ulterior motive - cleaning out the craft room. Kristen thought the little sun room off the living room would make a good craft room for her and Marley, so when they moved in everything craft-wise got put in that room, and basically it has stayed that way. Tonight we took everything out of the room (no easy feat!) and put it all in the dining room. Then we started putting things back in, organized. We didn't get too far, but it was at least a start.

P.S. When I was young, I had a friend who lived in that house with her grandmother. Her name was Janie and I spent a lot of time in that house. We used to hang out in the sun room. The big shelf type thing on one wall had a thick pad on it - and we used to play games there.

304/365

2009-10-31T12:54:00.004-04:00

Meet witch Marley and peapod Mason. It was a spookily warm, drizzly and windy Halloween night. There were not many trick-or-treaters out on our street tonight, in fact, while we were out we were about the only ones out there. It was almost as if we had the wrong night, except for the fact that all of our neighbors handed out candy! Mason probably wondered what in the world he was doing out in the rain with two people with pointed funny hats (Big Baba bought Marley a beautiful witch's hat at a craft fair, full of beautiful flowers and ribbons, and so I agreed to wear the hat that came with her costume). It was a fun family night, although I felt bad that Mark had to work and couldn't be there for Mason's first time trick-or-treating!

You know, Linda, you are right (see comment), I actually thought later that I should have added the picture of both Marley and I with our hats on. So here it is:

303/365

2009-10-30T22:36:00.002-04:00

Marley and I finished her haunted house tonight. You can't see it, but the roof has all hand colored, hand cut, and hand glued shingles! It's all decorated and ready for tomorrow night.

302/365

2009-10-29T20:40:00.003-04:00

I went to Michael's tonight and when I saw this box of Halloween foamies, I just had to get it for Marley to decorate her haunted house tomorrow night. I'll post a picture of the finished project tomorrow.

301/365

2009-10-28T19:45:00.004-04:00

Tonight was craft night in Prims. We are doing our Earth badge, so Pat came up with a neat craft, Ocean in a Bottle. You put aquarium sand and stones in the bottom of a soda bottle, put in shiny marble stones, little shells, etc. Then you add light blue colored water, glitter, baby oil and then glue the cap on. Things went pretty well until I went to do the glueing. The glue wouldn't come out the top so I forced it and it came out the bottom, all over my pants! It's a good thing that the kids have Pat for a leader. I hate crafts! We would probably never do crafts if I were in charge. Anyhow, the girls loved it and they really did come out cute. Hopefully the caps all stayed on after they got home! :)

300/365

2009-10-27T22:11:00.007-04:00

This is a graveyard in Deerfield where one of my ancestors (I'm talking really old, 1837) is buried. The last time we were here I was looking around and there was a really old grave stone that was leaning up against the stone wall at the very end of the graveyard. I tried to stand it up, and behind the stone there was a zip-lock bag. The bag said "Please do not remove." I took it out and looked at it but I didn't go into the bag. Paul said it was probably something to do with that GPS game where you try to find things; I forget the name. Anyhow, later I wished that I had looked inside the bag, so today we took a ride up there and I found the bag again. Inside the bag was a jar, and inside the jar was a small notebook, pen, and a stamp. I guess the idea is that you stamp the stamp in your book, and you stamp your stamp in their book. It is called Letterboxing. I am definitely going to check this out. It really intrigues me.

299/365

2009-10-26T21:53:00.003-04:00

These are some pumpkin seeds that we made on Sunday night while carving pumpkins. Kristen and Stacia (Janelle's mother) picked the seeds out of the pumpkin guts, and I toasted them in the oven.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups of unwashed pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine
1 1/4 teaspoon of seasoning salt

In bowl combine seeds, Worcestershire sauce, butter and salt until seeds are coated. Spread on large shallow baking pan. Bake at 250 degrees approximately 1 hour, stirring occasionally until crisp, dry and golden brown.

From six pumpkins we got about 4 batches. Yummy!

298/365

2009-10-25T23:23:00.002-04:00

This afternoon Janelle's mother Stacia and her sister Amy came up for pumpkin carving day. Stacia had bought this adorable pea pod costume for Mason before he was even born. Janelle brought it over and said she wanted to take come pictures of Mason outside in the leaves propped up against some pumpkins. Of course this was right up my alley! We all thought he would fuss being put in this outfit and being put outside in the leaves but he actually liked it. He stayed there for quite awhile while all of us took pictures, videos, etc. My neighbors must have thought we were nuts. Mark was not too keen on this whole thing. After a while he said, "Okay, can this be done now?" Then he said to Mason, "Sorry buddy you had to be put through this." We all thought it was hysterical.

297/365

2009-10-24T12:52:00.000-04:00

On the way home from my crop tonight it was pouring and windy. We happened to go by this sight (I know the picture is bad but it was dark out) - a telephone pole that was severed a few feet above the ground. The top part was still standing, supported by the wires. There were no Police there but there was a utility truck that seemed to be waiting for something. I wonder what happened; maybe someone hit the pole.

296/365

2009-10-23T20:34:00.005-04:00

When Marley came over tonight she said, "Grandma I have a project for us to do tonight. We are going to make a haunted house." "Okay", I said, "are we going to draw it?" "No, we are going to make it out of a box." "Oh, I said, Hmm...." She worked on it all night. All that is left is to color it. I told her I thought it looked like a haunted factory. She did not think that was funny.

To offset the "factory" look, we came up with some alterations to the house and a few more decorations. I think she did a pretty good job with what she had to work with!

295/365

2009-10-22T22:30:00.004-04:00

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Klondike bars. This is not a good thing. A couple of months ago Paul brought home a box of these and it's been downhill ever since. They are the ultimate comfort food!

294/365

2009-10-21T21:58:00.001-04:00

Last year, the day after Halloween, my neighbor Sue asked me if I wanted this little plastic ghost. She said it didn't light up anymore and she didn't want to bother keeping it. The first time Marley went trick-or-treating I took a picture of her next to this little ghost. It seems every year when we go to Sue's house I tell Marley that the first time she went trick-or-treating she was about as tall as Sue's little ghost.

Yesterday Paul fixed the light and put it in the living room to wait for Halloween night. Just as I was taking the picture, Izzy walked by it. I think it adds a "spooky" effect.

This is Marley and the little ghost in 2002.

293/365

2009-10-20T19:55:00.001-04:00

Tobacco barns in the fall. Another sight on my way to work.

292/365

2009-10-19T18:35:00.002-04:00

These two trees, on my way to work, are absolutely beautiful. I don't think they have reached their peak yet but the sun was shining on them this morning and I knew that they would be today's picture (which is not as good as it could be as it was taken through my windshield).

291/365

2009-10-18T18:42:00.000-04:00

Paul has worn this belt buckle since 1980. He got it on a business trip to Dallas, Tx working for Combustion Engineering. He saw an employee wearing one like it at a business meeting and told him he liked his belt buckle. The regional director disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back he tossed the belt buckle across the table to Paul. He has worn it ever since. Today he retired it, and I thought it's story deserved to be told.

P.S. When I asked him why he decided to stop wearing it, I thought the answer would be more memorable. He just said, "It adds too much weight to my shorts."

290/365

2009-10-17T19:03:00.001-04:00

Action shot with Marley making contact with the ball (always a good thing). She's the one in green and pink. She has really improved in the second half of this season. It's as if something finally clicked (until she gets tired!) :)

289/365

2009-10-16T19:19:00.001-04:00

I couldn't decide which picture to choose today so I am posting two.

Marley came over tonight very excited about the fact that she got her "recorder" at school yesterday. It is an introductory instrument. She had a sheet showing the finger placement for the notes on it. She played every note for me...one by one!

Mark and Mason came to visit tonight. This picture is of Mark taking a picture of Mason on his phone to send to Janelle at work.

288/365

2009-10-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

Seriously, it was much too cold tonight, 38 degrees at 7:30 p.m., and wet snow to bout!

287/365

2009-10-14T17:17:00.002-04:00

Tonight, to finish off our "Animals" badge, we had a ferret come to visit. Miss Pat's grandaughter brought in her pet ferret, Snatch. He totally entertained the girls. We thought we could keep him in the circle if the girls sat close enough but he quickly learned how to sneak out underneath their legs. I was in the circle to begin with but he climbed right through my legs, and it was all over for me!

Here Miss Pat is demonstrating how to get a ferret to sleep. Evidently holding them by the scruff of the neck puts them right out (hopefully not from lack of oxygen). When the girls wanted to try it, we decided Snatch had had enough excitement for one night.

286/365

2009-10-13T20:10:00.003-04:00

On the way home from work I saw this rainbow and I just had to get out to take a picture. No matter how many times I see a rainbow, I still get excited.

285/365

2009-10-12T20:35:00.004-04:00

Today Paul, Marley and I went to Lupa's Zoo. Believe it or not, this is the first time we have gone this year. Some years we get there two or three times. We love this zoo. Marley doesn't like anything to change though (she probably gets that from me) and they had quite a few changes this year (and according to Marley none of them were for the better). Even so, we had a wonderful time. Actually they are really doing good things at the zoo, larger and better cages, more natural, etc. I think the thing we enjoyed the most this year were the Cockatoos. They really put on a show for us. It seemed every time we tried to walk away they said "Hello" which always made us go back.

Each year we take pictures of Marley on the different plastic animals. It's one of her favoite things. Look at the difference six years can make!

2009

2003

284/365

2009-10-11T19:28:00.003-04:00

Today was a rather odd Sunday. As none of the kids were going to be around for dinner, we went to first service with Dot, and then headed out for a hike at Bash Bish Falls in Mt. Washington, MA. We have driven by the signs to this falls but have never taken the hike. And what a hike it is. There are two ways to get down the mountain, a steep 1/4 mile hike almost straight down (rocks, tree roots, and very steep) or a 3/4 mile easier hike. We took the 1/4 mile but I swear it seemed like 10 miles. It was worth it though. The falls were beautiful. It was such a beautiful day and it was very crowded. Lots of small children, which I could hardly watch running all over the rocks. Coming back up the mountain was even worse. I really need to get into shape (or take to my couch) LOL!

It was so pretty there I had to add a couple of more pictures.

283/365

2009-10-10T22:38:00.002-04:00

Tonight Paul made a fire and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I couldn't stay out too long because the smoke bothered my throat (because of my cold) but Marley and Paul stayed out for a long time. They even got her telescope out and looked at the stars. I think she is a great candidate for camping!

282/365

2009-10-09T13:07:00.000-04:00

Scrapbook shopping tonight; always a good time.

281/365

2009-10-08T20:59:00.002-04:00

Nancy Drew and pork fried rice. Can't get much better than that!

280/365

2009-10-07T20:56:00.000-04:00

Tonight the girls made get well cards for one of our Prims who has been sick. They are always so willing to show kindness to one of their fellow Prims. I get so proud of them!

279/365

2009-10-06T20:52:00.000-04:00

Izzy has a game she plays in the bathroom. She hops in the tub and pushes the shower curtain out, and expects you to push it back in. Sometimes we lift up the outside curtain. She always looks so surprised, like she's saying, "That's not how we play."

278/365

2009-10-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

Our neighbor Bill came over tonight with a wheelbarrow full of kindling wood for Paul. Last week Bill put out a bunch of old wood pieces in the trash. Paul scoffed them up and then thanked him for the kindling wood. Tonight Bill came over with more. We have such great neighbors!

277/365

2009-10-04T11:38:00.000-04:00

Aunt Dot and Ettie met Mason for the first time today.

276/365

2009-10-03T11:32:00.000-04:00

This weekend was kind of a whirlwind. I had to work on Saturday (and I also was coming down with a cold so I really wasn't up to par) and after work I took my cousin Lynda, Dot and Ettie over to Kristen and Toby's for them to see their new house. I was very impressed with Kris and Toby. The house was spotless and they had bought a coffee machine (neither of them drink coffee) and we had coffee and dessert in their dining room!

This picture was taken in Marley's room. She made "Glow in the Dark" bracelets for all of us. So sweet.

275/365

2009-10-02T11:29:00.001-04:00

My cousin Lynda and my aunt Ettie came for a visit this weekend. Tonight Mark brought Mason over and Lynda met him for the first time.

274/365

2009-10-01T19:16:00.003-04:00

I had the day off from work today (I have to work Saturday) and spent the day cleaning. I know, what a way to spend a day off, but it's got to get done some time!

273/365

2009-09-30T09:49:00.000-04:00

Last week Mark, Janelle and Mason went to the Big E and brought home these "Maple Flavored Drops." Paul got hooked on them and when he found out Kristen and Toby were going to the Big E tonight he asked them to get him some. They are addicting!

272/365

2009-09-29T21:37:00.003-04:00

When we took Marley to Mikey's Corn Maze on Friday night I forgot to take a picture of the unique sign at the edge of the road before the entrance. On the way to work today the light was hitting it just right but of course I was running late, so on the way back to his work, Paul stopped to take a picture for me!

271/365

2009-09-28T22:02:00.002-04:00

Tonight we went to LL Bean in S. Windsor, CT when Paul picked me up at work. We had some returns to make. After we finished, we sat in their Adirondack chairs outside for awhile. It was a nice evening (until it started to rain).

270/365

2009-09-27T21:58:00.001-04:00

This afternoon I walked into the family room and noticed Toby's feet. He sits like this a lot. He curls his toes under. He can even stand on them like that. His mother can too! Next thing I know, Marley will be doing it. She has Burt (Toby's mother's maiden name) feet like the rest of her other grandma's family!

269/365

2009-09-26T21:53:00.000-04:00

Today was another all day crop at my friend Janice's. When I took this picture not everyone was there yet. Lisa just about always has her own table, but she usually faces us. Today she set up with her back towards us. I wonder if she's trying to tell us something.:) Janice made a wonderful chicken dinner for us tonight. She is such a wonderful entertainer and she claims that she loves to do it. Thanks, Janice for another great crop day!

268/365

2009-09-25T13:36:00.000-04:00

Tonight we brought Marley to Mikey's Corn Maze in Southwick. We went through the maze which is a mile long. Then we had apple cider and the owner gave Marley a pumpkin. This is the first really big corn maze we have been in. It was really nice. It has lots of dead ends, turnbacks, and zig-zags. There was even a cute puppy there named Izzy (short for Isabelle - the same names as our cat).

267/365

2009-09-24T23:04:00.003-04:00

I noticed today on my way home from work that the trees are just starting to turn color around here.

266/365

2009-09-23T22:58:00.000-04:00

A few of the girls from work went to the Big E this week and they bought me this adorable plaque for my birthday. I just love it! I was touched by their kindness; it was such a personal gift, one that they put a lot of effort into (and they even got all of the names spelled right).

P.S. Happy Birthday to me!