Yummmmmmmmmmm

At parents today and this is an example of the gourmet food I get here.  My dad is a great chef.

Taco Salad by Dad

Paint Nite Paintings

I've heard a lot about Paint nights - usually they come with wine, but PaintNite does their paintings in a restaurant, so you can order what you want.  Pat and I decided to try it.  Here are my masterpieces so far...

The first one here was only supposed to have one cat, but my hand put a big black smudge next to it.  So now she has a baby cat with a crooked tale.  

Meowing to the Moonlight

This one was first time mixing paints, and I wish the instructor had aid to add white to the orange and yellow as it is supposed to be ethereal and instead it looks like a forest fire.  And the path looks more like a polluted river.  But I love my branches!

Firefighting Snow

The most recent one was the most difficult - and I wish the instructor would have taught it differently.  It looks like there is a weird circle in the middle and my bridge is just a fence. But I like my river banks and river!

Cherry Blossoms Attack!

Autumn

Can stare at forever.

Duck Duck Goose!

Took Molly for a long walk around the lake the other day.  There was a large flock of geese (with a few ducks) on the hill above the walkway where Molly loves to run.  I wondered how the geese and Molly would react to each other.  As soon as we climbed to the hill, the geese walked or flew down to icy lake and skated over the ice to swim in the water.  Molly enjoyed watching them for a few seconds before investigating other smells.  I was left to dodge goose dung on the ground everywhere. 

Why'd you leave?  

Special skate time for webbed footed creatures only!

Book Haul

*drool*

Here is my book haul from visiting the used bookstore (McKay's) last weekend. Thanks Carmen for the extra credit for books!

Included:

Angel: After the Fall #4 (graphic novel)
8 books from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga
6 old Patricia Wrede books (including a paper copy of Sorcery & Cecilia that I'm giving Pat)
4 C.L.Wilson fantasy novels (Lord of the Fading Lands series)
2 Gail Carrier Parasol Protectorate novels (I just read Soulless and it was so much better than I remembered!)
5 Linnea Sinclair novels (woohoo - space opera romance!)
2 Kristin Cashore novels (Graceling series)
Sara Creasy - Song of Scarabaeus  (more space fun!)

I still have some credit yet - will have to go back in a few months.  OH TOO BAD

Love Virginia Mountains!

So soothing...

Above was the view from Molly's and my car ride - walk excursion - Just a couple miles from my house.   I love all the jet streams in the air.  I love seeing the mountains so clearly.  I wish the housing plans had taken this view into consideration so more people could see it.

Scariest. Halloween Lights. Ever.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Trees

Went on a lovely walk with Molly yesterday morning.  Got to sit on my favorite bench in the woods nearby and enjoy looking up.

ahhhhhh...peaceful.

 Puppy pics after the jump!

Molly Picture Update

Molly has a tradition of waiting for me at the top of the stairs.  One day after wearing her out on a walk, I dropped her off while I brought the garbage cans and and came back to a tired out dog at the top of the stairs.

What?  This is how I guard the house.  Anyone coming in would trip over me.

If you've ever seen a Beggin' Strip, you know they are about 4 inches long and curvy.  We got the ultimate strip (about four strips combined) in our last bag.  I had to take it out for a picture.  You can see what came soon afterwards.

Note:  Molly was not planned to be in the picture.  She snuck in just as I was about to take it.

Molly loves getting under the table while we are eating - but she's started to go under when I set the table - which this Sunday was an hour before the meal.  She stayed there for over two hours!  And loved it (and the ham she got as a reward).

This is much more comfy than those chairs.

Resting up before the begging campaign begins.

 Today on my lunch break, Molly and I went on a field trip walk - drove a couple neighborhoods over and walked around a lake.  It ended up being a little too hot for her, but was still a fun time.  I got a great picture of the lake.

There were actually TWO fountains.

 And tried to get a good one of Molly while not able to see my screen.  Which created this gem:

This is great!  I'm hot! I saw geese!

Random Molly Pics

Visiting Aunt Pat's.  Molly respects the kitties, but wants to be their friend.  After she leaves, kitties spend a lot of time smelling where she's been.

Molly rarely sticks her head out the window.  Here she is at a stoplight enjoying the view.

And here she is hiding after she hears a big truck.

Cuddly duo.

What was that? I can't hear you...let me stick my ear up.

Over the couch peek-a-boo.

Warming Up

Christmas fire with colored pine cones - you can see some of the blues and greens.

Molly's wake up call this morning - she wrapped herself up in my blanket.

Winter Wonderland

Scoping her territory.

Scenery from one of our hour+ long walks.

Happy to have snow on her nose.

Gorgeous.

Picture Catch-up - March/April

Molly had just had an accident on the bed (her first and only one so far) so I took the sheets off to wash.  She still wanted to go to bed so she laid on them until we went to sleep in the other room (yay air bed!)

I'm so sorry.  I'll just sleep here.

Mom always worries that Molly only loves her for giving her treats.  I think this proves otherwise.

Molly's thinking "This is an awesome pillow!"

I work at my parents one day a week and sometimes Molly doesn't like my ignoring her so long.  Good thing Grandma is there to pay her some attention!

Nothing on that screen can be more important than me.  Wait, you're not watching CAT videos, are you?!

Just a cute photo, again at parents.

You're going to give me all your food, right?

 I've been trying to get a cute pic of us together.  Here are a couple of attempts.

I look really cute - Molly thought so too - she's mid-turn to lick my face here.

Argh - problem with self pics is you can't tell if centered.

 And just in case you thought my dog was all cuteness...she made this face in her sleep - her tongue had been lolling out and then she had a growly dream.

I dreamed I ate a tomato - YUCK!

Nail Pops

Marking nail pops for warranty check makes my entrance way look like a motion capture room.

Can you find the dog hidden in this photo?

Snow! Morning edition.

These pics and videos were taken on our morning walk -snow has more than doubled since then and is still going strong!

If it weren't for the collar, this would look like a black & white photo.

Surrounded!

Click links for videos!

Molly Goes Out in Snow

Sideways View of Molly Realizing Snow is Wet

Best Street Name

Read More

Hopefully y'all are seeing the read more links that I started to add with jumps and are able to view the entire post.

Look to the bottom left of the post.

Darwinfish

I am slightly obsessed by what I call darwinfish decals on the back of cars.  I'd forgotten I'd taken this pic of a car in the library parking lot.  

Fishys!  Also, I wonder how they got away with that license plate.

I have a decal on the back of my car...do you know what it is?  (hint - it's not a fish).

I Saw the Space Shuttle!

Here's my fuzzy picture of it!  Click on pic to make bigger.

Hypnotized by Clock

It is so cute but so distracting and ticks loudly.  What to do!