This Moment::Happy 18th Birthday to Jared!::March 30

No pic for "this moment" today, but instead, a tribute to my 18 year old Jared.

Today, he is officially an adult, though I have seen him as one for the past month, ever since I dropped him off at his adult job making as much money as his older brother and brother-in-law. It was then that I realized that he could move out and sustain himself, if that's what he chose to do. Graduating early is also one of his adult-like accomplishments too, which is what he did this past January.

He has always been a hard worker, and I still hear people that he did yard work for years ago say what a great worker he is. I am so proud of this boy/man.

Here is a tribute that I wrote to him on his 15th birthday, full of funny stories about him as a little kid.

I sure love you Jare! Happy 18th Birthday!

Love,
Mom
A.K.A.:

Hunger Games Photo, by Emily::March 29

Emily took this pic for a high school photography class, isn't it awesome?! She was so pleased with it, and I am so excited for her that she captured it so perfectly.

I love that feeling that you get after you've worked so hard at something, go away from it for just a bit, and then come back to see what you've created and you realize that it is even better than you remembered. I'm so glad that she got to experience that.

Well done, Em. It's beautiful!

Pictures of Springtime::March 27

This Moment::March 23

Snowy Scenes::March 20

And on the farm she had some.....::March 19

Merrie Melody had a farm e-i-e-i-o

And on that farm she had a rooster (and some hens, too!):

e-i-e-i-o

She also has a goat:


She, I mean I, have some rabbits too. The one on the header is my favorite.

The only good life for me includes a farm... even if it is just a backyard farm. ;)

Have a super-terrific day!

Saturday Centus:: It was only ninety-eight cents

The prompt this week is: It was only ninety-eight cents...

Number of words: 98 EXACTLY including the 5 words of the prompt.
Style of writing: Any so long as the total word count is EXACTLY 98 words
Pictures: As many extra pictures as you like.

She was so cuddly and fluffy. I closed my eyes and pushed my face deeper into her downy softness that tickled my nose.

She was perfect: white with black patches. I’d name her Patches!

I saw the price tag: $10. Tears sprang to my eyes. I kissed the fluff ball kitten and put her back in the box.

The lady put her arm around me and asked how much money I had. I counted: it was only ninety-eight cents. She said that Patches loved me and that she wanted me to only pay my ninety-eight cents. Happy Day!

Now it's your turn! Come play with us :)

This Moment::Emily::March 16

OLM Cleaner Recipes::March 14

I'm so! so! so! excited that Stephanie from Ordinary Life Magic posted her recipes for her cleaners! I saw her post things about them here and there in her posts through the years, but I have always wanted to make my own. That is why I'm posting it here so that I can always have the recipes' location, & I hope that you enjoy them too! :)

Thanks, Stephanie!!

Monday Magic::Steve's photo in photoshop::March 12

I used the same technique I used for Tilly's pic on Steve's pic, and I like it alot!

Straight out of the camera:


After being lightened and brightened in photoshop:

Ya - freakin' - hoo! (learning photoshop)::March 10

I watched a short video at How to Photograph Your Baby and learned to lighten segments of a picture and leave the rest alone, and then I tried it:



I'm so excited! I might not be fast at this stuff, but slow and steady wins the race ;)

This Moment - "My friend Maia"::March 9

I just saw this video over at beauty that moves and decided that *this* is a moment that I want to remember. I want to be like this lady at 95 yes, but right now too.

My friend Maia from julia warr on Vimeo.

More with the Macro Lens - Tilly the Cat::March 7

I have Steve's friend's macro lens again. So look forward to portraits and macro shots coming up. :)

Today, here is Tilly (my favorite cat) again:

Saturday Centus - Saying goodbye was harder than she thought::March 3

Click on the link below to go to Jenny's blog.


The prompt this week is: Saying goodbye was harder than she thought...

Number of words: 100 PLUS the seven words of the prompt for a maximum of 107 words.
Style of writing: Any
Pictures: As many extra pictures as you like

The old woman was bedridden and had to rely on nurses and aides to care for her.

Several times she had been sick enough to die, but she pulled through. It was because of her stubbornness, she said. Her family agreed.

Because of pain and sickness, she often complained and was crotchety.

I knew I loved her. I told her so, and I always felt it. Yet, in the back of my mind, sometimes I felt like a burden would be lifted when she passed away. After eight months of her being gone now, I realize that saying goodbye was harder than I thought.

(I cheated a tiny bit by adding "I" instead of "she" in the prompt. I hope it doesn't bother anyone too much.)

This Moment::March 2

I love the idea behind SouleMama's "this moment", but I rarely have a picture ready. I don't take pictures every day (shame on me!) and I share each picture as it comes in. I'm not much of a saver.

So today, maybe I'll do a verbal "this moment" instead of a picture "this moment".

If I could pick a moment to savor and remember, it would be:

The moment that I dropped off Jared for his first day working at the greenhouse. Lots of thoughts were going through my head all at once, and it struck me right then that my boy had turned into a man. He was off at a job that only grown-ups are hired for and getting a grown-up's wage. He nearly makes as much as Josh, whom I've thought of as a grown-up for a few years. Why, he could even move out, or get married (which he won't, because he is planning on going on a mission, but still...), or buy a car with the wages that he'll be making.

My eyes were moist, my heart was full, and at the same time I was having melancholy feelings, I was having such an optimism for his future. I was proud of the man he had grown up to be, and proud of myself for giving him opportunities to learn how to work hard, especially at gardening. He has been my helper in the garden every year, except last year, for the past 8 years. He has been my right hand man when it came to helping with the animals, too. And in the past 5 years, he has gone door to door every spring to ask people if he could mow their lawn for the summer, and for the last 2 summers he has extended that to any kind of yard work. In fact, at our church, one man in the men's group stood up and told everyone that if they were looking for anyone to help with yard work, Jared was their man because he was such a hard worker.

All of those things whizzed through my mind in about a minute or less and I was left with a little sadness at the loss of my boy and gratitude for the man he'd become.

Yep, a picture is worth a thousand words. :)

Have a great day!

Snow. blah. And some good news!::March 1

Snow. That's all.

Best wishes,
MM

Okay, not really, though it has felt that way all day. I detest the blahs. But alas, they still happen.

We didn't go to my brother's doctor's appointment this morning. You guessed it, because of the snow. I did drive the kids to school and Jared to work. Going 45 miles per hour on the interstate. The road really needed to be salted. I'm sure the snowplow guy did his best, but ice was left over and ruts formed.

So instead of going to the doc's, I fixed the blinds in the dining room. I don't think a happily perfect blind can hang up in a toddler's home for very long before one side of the blinds have been broken off from them grabbing it and pulling it over their heads to look out. But, it is fixed. And since I don't have a toddler until Saturday, it has exactly 48 hours to breathe easily.

On a brighter note, Jared got a full time job at a local greenhouse! He'll be working 57 hours a week at first, which will translate into lots of moolah that he can save for his mission.

From my facebook status yesterday:
My little boy is growing up. :') Jared just got a full time job. Kind of a melancholy moment.
He makes my job as a parent very easy. Graduating early. Full time job to save money for his mission. Other than his diabetes, he is a low maintenance kid. And I am very, very thankful that he chooses things that make my job as a parent so easy.

He is an amazing guy and I'm so excited for him. He has been working at Wendy's, but has only been scheduled about 10 hours a week; he had posted a note saying he'd take anyone's shift and got a few more hours a week that way, but this will be perfect for him.

Here's hoping tomorrow is sunny!

Wishing you all the best♥,