Cosme has been asking for a few days

if we have anything sweet.  My reply each time has been cereal.  Yesterday I figured I should make something sweet.  I had everything on hand for chocolate chip cookies so that was the plan.  The one thing I hate about making cookies is the process.  Load a tray, bake, load another tray, bake... Cakes are so much easier.  Bake it, frost it, eat it.  After I decided on cookies and had the butter softened and ready to go, I found out I didn't really have time to be standing there baking at least 3 sheets of cookies for 10 minutes each.  I saw an option of baking one big cookie in a pan.  Yes.

The recipe called for a certain sized pan that I didn't have.  I had one bigger and one smaller.  I went smaller and grabbed another for the extra.

I think I'll make chocolate chip cookies like this every time.  It was fast and easy.  My favorite.  And just so you know, the recipe on the back of Kroger chocolate chips is the same as the Tollhouse recipe.

The cookies have also inspired me to go for a walk this morning. 

I think I'll go across the street to the walking trail but I'm feeling a little off about it.  A neighbor posted something about hearing a big cat then another replied with seeing a big cat.  After I read that, a cousin posted a picture of a bobcat in her neighbor's yard (hours away but still).  I don't know.  Maybe I'd be safer at home with the tray of cookies.

i went outside this morning and

saw the moon all big and hazy.  I came back in to get my camera.  I wish I could've gotten something better but this is it.

Then the haze started to go away.

I slowed the shutter down for this one.  The light streaks are cars.

Then I came inside.

Now I have a biscuit in the oven because I'm starving.  If I'd thought about this and done it right, I would've put the biscuit in the oven before I went out for pictures.  Oh well, it won't be long. 

I have a little pressure in my head so I'm hoping the Zyrtec, biscuit and caffeine will keep it from coming on stronger.

I'm blaming it on the weather.  Cold, warm, chilly, hot, cold, chilly, warm, cold...

Cosme and I got into a discussion last night on scoring.  I keep trying to tell him how stupid the scoring system is for tennis.  He thinks there's nothing wrong with it.  Whatever.  Who thought of that?  It had to have been somebody looking for the hard way to do something.  Or was it somebody who thought if they made it so stupid, the commoner might feel like they can't understand such a sophisticated game?  The player who wins the most sets of five (or three) wins the match but within those sets, it's the person who is ahead by two games when they get to 6, but within that it's even worse.  Points (I guess that's what they're called) of Love (and why can't zero be 0?  That's what it is.  It's ZERO!), 15, 30, 40 to get to ONE point in the game before you can get to SIX points in the set before you can win best of however many for the match. Game, set, match.  I honestly think they did that to make tennis seem special.  I think it made the original announcer feel cooler when he said "30, Love" versus "one point for Bob".  So it was probably made up by somebody who just liked to hear himself talk and needed to feel better than the regular person who had common sense.  It's totally stupid.  It's like Inception, a point within a point within a point.  My idea is so much better.  The first person to 50 wins, just flat out points.  Simple.

Now my head has more pressure.  I'm stopping while I'm ahead.

Tomorrow: Football.  not really

i don't like productions

and 2018, so far, has come out swinging with productions.  My stomach is well aware. 

We have the wedding coming up in April.  I've been trying to work on keeping the nerves calm.  To distract my nerves from the wedding, we have Dodo's funeral this week, the week that was started with a bridal shower.  So yeah, my nerves are working overtime.  What can I say?  It's just the way I operate. 

I was getting ready for the shower yesterday and trying to get two presents wrapped.  I knew I had a little bit of wedding paper but didn't check to see if it was enough.  I made a trip to Walmart for more paper, ribbon and cards.  I came home to wrap and felt like it was all going downhill fast.

I ended up not needing the roll of paper from Walmart.  I found out after I had to throw most of it away after cutting it too short and only having enough for one present.  Yeah, that roll I already had would've wrapped both presents and then some.  I also didn't buy enough ribbon... or the right kind.  I made it work.  I did buy two cards though and they worked fine.

The shower was nice but I got a headache right before we left.  It felt like sinuses but it might've been champagne.  Whatever the cause, I came home and took Benadryl, opened a Coke, took a nap and it was still there.  Cosme went and picked up a pizza (that made me sick).  The food didn't help so I took ibuprofen, put tea bags on my eyes and a washcloth doused with peppermint oil on my forehead.  That was the winning combination.  The headache was gone, as was my pizza.  At that point I was hungry again and just had a bowl of cereal.  I called it a day and went back to bed. 

The end.

Hoping for no headache, no stomach issues and nothing but pleasantries.

I seriously haven't taken any

pictures.  I've been busy with other things.  One thing I've had on my calendar for a while is to stop by the library's used book sale that is happening this weekend.  (We need more books for the wedding.)  I went today and picked up 30 books.  I took my camera because before going, I thought about the dogwood52 challenge.

Here's week 4.

Creative: Quiet Moment

Is there a place quieter than a library?  Well, maybe but as for your basic stereotypes, that place was pretty quiet and I think the picture says so.

i went to Brazoria on Monday

to help Mom around the house.  We went to Stewarts for a few things and they even had a lunch special.

Not really.  It's detergent.  I know you aren't supposed to put it in your mouth.  Anyway, we did pick up stuff for sandwiches.  I was so distracted by Mom picking up Bama grape jam that I didn't even realize she bought Skippy peanut butter (her argument was less carbs or something like that).  Either that or when I said they just had to have Welch's and insisted on going back to double check, she must have unloaded the peanut butter from the basket.  Anyway, our goal was to make the house a little more livable for her while it's a construction zone.  Sweeping those kitchen floors was something I'd wanted to do ever since the first time I saw the guys in there working and replacing the den floor.  Watching their boots jump into the dirt and then back on to the floor was totally stressing me out.  I just cringed.  Even though the carpet would be torn out afterwards, seeing their dirty boot prints was really bothering me.  I enjoyed sweeping the kitchen floor.  We got more stuff done but I'm going back today for us to work on more.  Today I might take an ibuprofen before I leave.

I didn't go over there yesterday.  I needed to stay home but I did finish painting all the wands for the wedding.  So that's a plus.

Guess I'll go start on chores and get into the zone. 

we tried a few new things

this weekend.  We needed something sweet so I found something on Pinterest that looked easy.  It's called 5 Minute Almond Cake but it should be called Sweetie Cake.

It tastes just like a sweetie and it took more than 5 minutes to make.  It mixed up pretty fast and didn't call for a lot but it baked for about 30 minutes.  Then it disappeared almost as fast.  Maybe that's why it's called 5 Minute Almond Cake.  It lasts for about 5 minutes after you make it.

Much like sand tarts, you can't sneak a piece.  My hoodie was sprinkled with powdered sugar.

I'm definitely making this again.

I'd also been thinking about Egg Roll in a Bowl and I don't know why.  I'd never had it but saw it on Pinterest and thought it sounded good.  I do like egg rolls.  I found a few recipes and bought ingredients.  I looked over the recipes and made my own.  I also picked up a package of egg roll wrappers to make "bowls", kind of like they do for taco salads.  Considering I had nothing to form them with except for my fryer's scoop, they weren't really bowls but just a base for the egg roll mix.

And since I had grease going and wrappers on hand, I had to try to make a couple of eggs rolls.  We ate those first and loved them.

Then we moved on to the bowls.

Then we realized we had too much of a good thing.

We were stuffed and done with egg rolls.  I guess that's why you get one with a meal and not an order of egg rolls with a bite of sweet and sour chicken.  Good call, Chinese restaurants.  Good call.

It took a while for the house to not smell like egg rolls and for us to get the egg rolls out of our systems.  (Not literally, just neutralize it I guess.)  I saved the leftovers, hoping we can try it again in a few days.  If not, I do have advice for anyone ever trying these out: stop while you're ahead.

Another new thing we tried this weekend was going to Eric's for his birthday.  We met Mom and Dad over there and had burgers and cheesecake.  Speaking of cheesecake, that would probably work for cleansing your palate after too many egg rolls.  I might have to try that next time.  I wonder how it would work for breakfast?  I might have to try that too.

a few facts about some

of our animals:

One way to get Maggie to smile is to stick your finger in her ear and rub.

Her ears were irritated so I mixed up some essential oils and made them better.

If you're a black dog and you like rolling in dead grass, every will know it.

It was just the one side that was covered.

Tennis makes Strat fall asleep.  Wait, I guess that's pretty much everything.  Everything makes Strat fall asleep.

Except food.  Food wakes him up.

When you don't give him any, he goes back to sleep.  Oh, and if you're a cat who can't fit on the ottoman, the coffee table makes a great place to prop your feet.

And if you're Melanie and have a lot of things to do, you find other things to distract you... like posting animal pictures.

so much to do and so little

motivation to do any of it.  I'm tired.  I dropped Cosme off at work this morning.  That was about 2.5 hours in the car.  I'll go pick him up after while.  That'll be at least another 2.5 hours in the car.  I just went to Needville to see Dodo.  That was a little bit in the car.  I'm ready for a nap but I have laundry to do, cleaning to do, envelope stamping to do, painting to do.  I gots the stuff to do. 

Anyway, like I said, I went to the nursing home today.  I did my Dogwood52 photo challenge while I was there.  Dodo was an artist so I feel like she would approve of me working on artistic skills in her room, it's not like I got her in the picture. 

Here's the challenge:

Week 3 - Technical: Full Manual (I did convert it to black and white afterwards because it needed it)

I think I'll also stick this along with my Texas pics.  Scenes from a Texas nursing home.  Maybe I'll add it on there later.

In other, more upbeat news, Samsung wants to make one of Lauren's dogs out to be a drug addict.

Okay, Samsung. 

I think I need to go rest.  I'm tired.  It's getting a little chilly in here too.  Maybe it's because this is the first time in several days I'm not wearing a hoodie with my shirt.  Or maybe it's because I'm not wearing a hoodie and I'm sitting next to a window.  Looks like the couch and a blanket are calling, telling me to hurry before I have to get back in the car.

i'm tired of this cold

weather.  The dogs are spending so much time in the cage.  Archer just wants to be outside.  He loves the cold but I really don't want him freezing.  If I had some kind of a decent spot for him to stay warm out there, I'd let him out more.  I don't so he can't.  I let him out a little after 2:00 this morning for the bathroom and then I couldn't get him back in.  I was watching him and checking periodically to see if he was ready but nope, he wanted to stay out there.  I checked the weather app and I don't remember what the actual temperature was but I do remember the "feels like" was 13.  That's too cold.  I finally got him back in by putting food at the back door and then once he got that close, I pulled the leash out.  That was 3:30.

I'm ready for temps to at least get up to the 40's.  Until then, we have plenty of food and haven't lost electricity like a lot of people in the area have.  (knock on wood)

For now I'll share some of the pictures I took yesterday of ice.

It's not dramatic or anything but I wanted to get pictures and wasn't about to venture off.  So that's what I got.

And here's me trying to stay warm and keep my glasses from fogging up.

I guess it's time for my morning bad-weather-day nap.  I'd hate to miss out and lunchtime will be here before I know it.

today and tomorrow are bad

weather days.  We'll just say Houston is closed.

It's supposed to rain for the rest of the day and the temps are only dropping.  The dogs are in their cage and Archer has started this thing of mumbling and barking at us when we sit on the couch.  I went over there and let him know that behavior would NOT continue.  Mid-scold I noticed his head was hanging.  He knew he messed up.  Then I felt bad.  I didn't let up but kept telling him how it would be.  He got the message, loud and clear.

We knew the weather would get bad today so yesterday I stopped by Stewarts to pick up a few things for hamburgers.  I got home and realized I didn't get milk.  We have about half a gallon that is past its date but then our milk usually lasts a lot longer.  I started worrying last night.  What if we need milk before Wednesday?  What if we need a bowl of cereal and we're stuck?  What if I want hot chocolate for the cold weather?  I went to Kroger at 10:00 last night to get milk... and another box of cereal.  I went ahead and filled up with gas because I didn't want to be stuck with an empty tank and having to fill up when it's 30 degrees out (even though I'm not planning on going anywhere).

In better news (not that staying bundled up inside for bad weather days is a bad thing), I found an orange in the backyard.

The most logical explanation of how this got back there was from off the neighbor's tree.  This means there is hope that more will end up back there.  I will check after every windy day.  (I also anxiously await more windy days.)

Now I guess I'll clean up our breakfast mess because it'll be time to make a lunch mess before too long.  I'm also going out to check for oranges.

Cosme and Eric spent the weekend

in San Antonio for a convention.  It's a thing they do every year.  I stayed home to take care of the animals.  I also let them use my car for the road trip.  That means I was stuck with Cosme's car.  Ugh.  I can't handle that car.  Well, I can handle the car fine (it actually handles really well) but sitting in it just about causes some sort of panic attack.  It was worse this time since it was so cold out.  Not only did I feel like I could barely breathe in that car but then I was bundled up in my coat so it just added to the layers of "I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE".  (There's no way I could handle a straightjacket.)  I tried to go out in it once and turned around and came home.  I calmed down a little and decided I'd try to distract myself by thinking about other things... and I also moved the seat way back.  I made it to Brazoria okay.  I started to panic a little but just focused on thinking about other things.  I felt like I was getting along pretty well.  I could barely reach the pedals but I was doing okay in my head.  I made it to Lowe's to pick up my order that arrived because why not try to fit two 4-tiered shelf units in a two-door car that you already feel cramped in?  After that I went by the mall to pick up something I'd been needing for a few days.  I grabbed my HEB shopping bag to not only hide my craving/addiction but to also protect it from the crazy wind.

I left and headed home.  Let me just say this though, it's been a long time since I've gone to the theater.  When I do go, it's because I'm being forced to.  I hate going to the theater.  I miss all the new releases and normally hear all the spoilers but I'm okay with that.  It beats going to the theater and sitting there.  I like staying home and watching movies.  If it's something I just really can't wait to see, I'll watch it on PPV or On Demand.  Anyway, so I never go to the theater.  I'd been wanting popcorn for a few days and knew I wanted to try and make it over there.  I looked the LJ theater up online.  (Confession: it was 10:30 and I wanted to know how early I could get popcorn.)  Check this out.

1.  You can order online
2.  They have a bar

Sure, I've been to theaters where you can order nice food and have drinks but this is the theater in the Brazos Mall.  I had no idea.

AND... once you get there, you apparently have two options:

Not waiting in line like this

Or even better, not waiting in line like this.

Now, I didn't read the fine print and it's not enough to lure me to the theater but for anyone wanting to go, that's pretty cool.

So back to Cosme's car.  By the time I got back from Lake Jackson, I was better with the car.  So much so, I took it to the store yesterday morning so I could try a soup recipe.  It was tortellini soup.  I liked it and it was easy.

It's just a package of tortellini, a couple of cans of tomatoes, a can of beans, spinach, garlic and broth.

While I was at the store, I had the deli slice some salami and pepperoni to make sandwiches to go with the soup.  I added ham and put a slice of Havarti on there and grilled them.

Looking at the pics is making my mouth water and has me thinking I might want soup instead of oatmeal this morning.

Is it obvious I like less soup in my soup?  I'd be totally cool with my soup needing a fork instead of a spoon.  Call me crazy.

Although, as loud as my stomach is growling, it probably wouldn't complain if I had both.

Oh yeah, then there's also the new recipe I tried after lunch settled.  It's Easy Cinnamon Swirl Loaf.  I'll definitely be making that one again.

I can't take it.  I need breakfast and that cinnamon loaf might be the answer.

well that didn't go as

planned but it ended up better.  Cosme sent a text asking if I wanted to meet him for lunch.  Then Eric sent a text asking if I wanted to come have lunch.  I got my early things done and left to pick Eric up and we headed out to have lunch with Cosme.  I was trying to get home before the weather hit but that didn't happen.

Instead of staying home though, I went out and did what I needed to do.  Cosme and Eric will be using my car this weekend so I'm stuck with Cosme's.  I decided that I'd rather do my running around in 60 degree weather using my own car in the rain with plenty of room than 30 degree weather in Cosme's little car.  I stopped at Hobby Lobby in Pearland and then the one in LJ and ran into Leasa.  We talked for a little bit while it poured outside.  By the time we walked out, the weather was clearing up.  She got lucky and got in her car and drove away.  Someone parked too close to my driver side so I had to climb over from the passenger side... after a guy tried to hit me up for money (something about drugs and Jesus).  I headed to the next store and then the sun came out.  It was awesome weather after the few scattered showers, I was able to stop by a few more stores, check off a few things from the wedding shopping list and everything stayed DRY.  By the time I got home, the wedding invitations had been delivered.  Today I need to get postage and then I'll spend the weekend stuffing envelopes.  Don't be jealous.

Oh, I do need to get one more thing from Hobby Lobby.  Paper.  I think Cosme's car can handle that haul.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

announced their lineup.  A lot of people are unhappy with the performer for Black Heritage Day because they haven't heard of him.  Some are complaining that he's not well known and just like one person commented, there was this guy one year who had to fill in at the last minute and he was a nobody.  I wonder.  Does anyone know what ever became of that guy George Strait?  Anyway, back to the performer for BHD.  When everyone started complaining, I had to look him up.  He's not a nobody.  He's from Fort Worth, he's been nominated for a Grammy and he's pretty good.  Here's one of his videos.

Enough about that.  I've got a lot of running around to do this morning.  I'm hoping to be home before the rain gets too bad.  I already don't like shopping but I really hate shopping in the rain.  I hate getting wet and I hate my bags getting wet and I ESPECIALLY hate bringing wet bags into the house.  My plan is to be done at Kroger so I can be at Kwik Kar for an oil change when they open, which I'm thinking might be 8:00.  After that it's on to Lake Jackson, where one or two of the stores don't open until 10:00.  I think I can make this all happen. 

One of the things I want to pick up from Kroger is frozen dinners.  I had a Lean Cuisine meal the other day and I liked it.  I'm not always in the mood for Chinese food but when I am, I probably don't want a frozen dinner.  Anyway, I had picked up a Lean Cuisine chicken fried rice and decided I'd try it.  I stopped by the Chinese drive-thru and picked up an egg roll to go with it.

I'd eat it again but I probably won't get another chicken fried rice this time.  Maybe I'll be daring and try something else I normally wouldn't get.  I definitely won't be daring enough to try shopping once the rain hits.  Yuck.

there are times when I think or dream

about things before they happen.  I don't mean like "I need to brush my hair" and then I brush my hair.  I don't want to make myself seem weird here, even though when this stuff happens Cosme always tells me I'm weird.  Anyway, one example is September 11, 2001.  This wasn't a major "I know EXACTLY what's going to happen" thought but I was standing in the kitchen getting ready for work around 5:00 that morning when I had a feeling.  I thought to myself, "It's 9/11.  It's a day for emergencies."  Not that it's the only day there's ever been an emergency or anything and there have been plenty of 9/11's but that was the only 9/11 I stopped and thought about it or what could happen.  On my way to work is when the first plane hit.  Sometimes it's more specific, like Cosme getting a flat tire or something breaking. Sometimes it's bad things and sometimes it's even good.  I haven't had the winning lotto thought/dream yet.  (Well, dream, yes but it's just me daydreaming.)  That all leads to another issue I have with letting people know about something.  If I have a bad thought, I have to let someone know with the hope that it won't happen.  An example is Mom telling me when I was a teenager about what to do and not to do if I had car problems when out at night.  Not too much later I had a friend tell me about a car situation she was in.  Instead of saying, "oh, my mom said not to do that or you could end up dead", I kept my mouth shut.  She was killed the following weekend doing what I kept my mouth shut about.  Eric gets mad at me because I sound so depressing but it's just me putting facts or events out there to maybe stop it from happening.  On a lighter note, Lloyd and I were playing Concentration one time when I was a kid.  We were sitting on their living room floor and he had cards spread out.  He stopped the game because I was matching so many on my first try.  He tried something else to test me since he thought it was odd that I knew which cards were where.  I think him stopping me and letting me know what was going on killed my vibe.  I don't think I passed that test and I don't remember doing so well when we got back to Concentration. 

The day before yesterday I was on my computer and thought to myself, "There's stuff on here I should probably save to my external hard drive in case my computer craps out on me."  I finished what I was doing and told myself I'd do the saving later.  I was in the kitchen and had Eric's streaming channel on and my computer turned off.  I couldn't get it back on.  I was mad at myself for not saving anything like I told myself earlier.  I messed with it and it eventually came back on.  I looked in all the right spots and was about to issue a search party for my external hard drive.  I found it and saved things and my computer's been fine since.  Let's hope it stays that way.

Now that I've made myself sound like I'm totally strange with issues and before my computer decides to crap out on me for good (see what I did there?  I mentioned it...), I'll share a few of these from around Christmas.

There is no sneaking sand tarts.  I couldn't get enough of them.

They didn't last long and here we are on January 10th and there are still three sweeties left.  I think I'll throw them out today.  I might be burned out on sweeties.

I found my gift for White Elephant a while back, maybe it was last summer.  As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect.  It was so bad it was awesome.

It's a wolf incense burner where the smoke comes out through his mouth.  When he vapes, he even has smoke coming out of his ears.

Seriously.  Who wouldn't see that sitting on the shelf at Walmart and NEED it for White Elephant?

I don't know what the wooden egg instrument is called but somehow, in the middle of the Christmas festivities, it ended up with the been-sitting-out-for-hours deviled eggs.  Signs of a good time.

I must have been feeling a little nostalgic when it came to snacks.  I started thinking about oyster crackers and knew I needed to make some.  It had been a while since I'd had those.

And if I was going to make oyster crackers, I had to make Dodo's Chili Cheese Roll.

By the way, both of these are sitting on the counter right now.  I snacked on the chili cheese roll yesterday but left it out overnight.  (The recipe makes a lot, it's not the same roll from Christmas.)  Maybe it all needs to follow the sweeties to the garbage today.

week 2 of the Dogwood52 is

Composition: Color Harmony.  The actual description of the assignment was to "get out your color wheel.  Do opposites attract? Can there be harmony with opposite colors? Does the Hulk wear purple pants? Mix warm and cool colors."  The first opposite (or, complementary) colors that came to mind were red and green (probably because of Christmas).  The first non Christmas subject that came to mind was traffic lights.  "Can there be harmony with opposite colors?"  Yes.  An intersection (well, as long as nobody runs a red light).  That was my plan, photographing an intersection.  Since the subject is color harmony, I figured the best way to get color is to photograph the lights at night.  So that's what happened last night.  We went out to a few intersections.  My idea wasn't happening.  I couldn't get the right angle to put what was in my head in a picture.  I was getting frustrated so we drove around so I could see the lights from different angles, even angles from a block away.  I held my camera up to see what was in view and as the camera came into focus, I had another idea.  The lights were better when they were out of focus.  I drove back around to the original intersection that gave me a good view of both red and green lights, switched my lens to Manual Focus, unfocused the mess out of everything and there it was.  My picture for Color Harmony.

I just had a better idea though.  Picture this.  The camera on the tripod and set up at the corner of the intersection with a slower shutter speed to catch the movement of the cars with the green light and the stillness of the red light lanes.  Oh man.  I might have to go back out tonight and maybe even try a busier intersection.  That would definitely show the harmony of red and green.  Moving cars and stopped cars. 

By the way, this is the second week in a row I've stuck to this new challenge.  (Patting myself on the back)  I only have 50 more to do.

it's no wonder my head has had so

much pressure.  The weather has been crazy.  Last week we were bundling up like it's the middle of winter or something.  Yesterday I was wearing flip flops.  I'll be back in flip flops today.

When we were having one of our cold spells either last week or the week before, I heard noise out on the back patio.  It sounded like furniture being moved around.  It was.  Archer was trying to build a shelter again.

 I went to the garage and got a tarp and some twine and fixed a spot for him.  He loved it.

He didn't want to come in and as long as the temp didn't drop too much, I let him stay outside.  It's funny because the reason we started bringing the dogs in at night was for a barkless night of sleep.  When Archer is outside by himself, he doesn't bark at all.

The tent didn't last long because Maggie didn't want it there and every time she was around, it would get torn down.  I figure she knew he liked it out there and wanted him staying inside with here.

Meanwhile, the cats were taking it easy in front of the fireplace.  Nothing says cozy like a good face plant in the the rug.

Now let me just talk a little about getting back into my routine.  I said I was giving myself until Monday and here we are.  It's Monday morning and I'm sitting here with my oatmeal starting my day.  I went for a walk on Saturday, seeing what that would do to me.  It actually gave me energy and I came home and took the Christmas lights down from the trees.  Today I'm going for another walk, just to see.  I'm even going to show up at the chiropractor this morning.  I don't even know how long it's been since I've gone in.  Between being sidetracked and trying to avoid people (not just being antisocial, I'm trying hard to avoid the flu), I know I'm way overdue.

Oh, in my avoidance of people, going out and anything else requiring my attention, I managed to binge watch an Amazon series over the weekend.  It's called The Last Post. 

I liked it.  I'd probably watch a second season if there is one.

7:00.  That means it's time to get out of this chair and get busy and back on track.  Now let's just hope it works.

i'm trying really hard to get

back into the swing of things.  It's hard.  I have a few pictures from Christmas I was going to share but I don't feel like looking for them right now.  And look at this.  I normally would've had this post done in the morning.  It's after 5pm right now.  Seriously.  My routine is all messed up.  I know it's because of the weather, Christmas and Cosme having some vacation days but this is just ridiculous.  I don't even remember when I last posted.  I know it wasn't 5:00 in the evening though.  Not only am I sitting here writing a post in the evening but I'm also having dinner while I do it... a dinner of crackers and cheese.  It's not as bad as it sounds.  We have soup but once I had a couple of bites, I figured out it wasn't really what I wanted.  I'll have a bowl of cereal later.

I'm pretty sure wedding stuff is also throwing me off.  There's a lot to be done.  There's a lot of talking, thinking and crafting.  I did a lot of running around today and when I got home I worked on a few things for the centerpieces.  And because that's not enough to think about, I've taken on another photo challenge.  It's a new year so once again I'm deciding to take on a new project with my actual camera and not just the phone... (yeah, yeah, yeah)  This time it's Dogwood52 and I'm trying to be serious about it.  This is one I stumbled across last week and it's only one assignment a week.  This week's category is Vision and the topic is Look Ahead.  Here's my take on week one:

If that doesn't scream "look ahead" then one of us lacks vision.  That might be me.  I don't know.  I want to do this challenge.  I'm determined.  (Determined to try, at least.)

It may look simple but it wasn't.  First I had to think of something.  Once I thought of something, I had to go out back with my camera.  Go ahead and and ask me... How hard could that possibly be?  Now let me ask you... Have you met Archer?

He HATES the camera when it's up to my face.  All he does is bark.

Maggie gets it.  She tried to get him to chill.

"Dude!  Calm down!"

Then she looked back at me as if she was trying to let me know she tried.  Archer kept on barking.

Then I decided I'd catch his reaction to me aiming the camera at him and following him.

He really didn't like that.

Then I put the camera down to my side and everything was fine in Archer's world.

Now I'm getting up because I don't feel like sitting here.  Oh, that's another thing.  My computer is at the desk in the kitchen and not at the table where I normally like to sit.  Let's add computer placement to that list of excuses I have going.  One day I will be back into my normal routine because I need routine and structure and organization.  This blog writing at odd hours of the day in chairs I'm not used to while eating crackers instead of oatmeal and thinking about what I missed on today's to-do list instead of what I will get done on that list is really messing me up.  I'm allowing myself to have until Monday but until then it's baby steps... Baby steps to the couch where I will plop until bedtime.