Outside My Window ~ 1.8.2012

Outside my window…is the sun setting on another winter afternoon…..wait is it really winter?  Let’s see, yesterday we had a high of around 67°F…today we reached 53°F….looks like tomorrow will be about 50°F {with rain} and then back to 60°F on Tuesday.  The weather has been like a roller coaster with fair days and cold nights…but it still doesn’t feel like winter to me.  The nor’easters have not come like normal….there has been no snow….no chilly rains…kind of weird.  Add to the fact that most of the lower 48 is snow free makes it feel even less like winter.  I know there is still plenty of winter left so I’m not ready to take out the swim suits yet….but definitely a mild winter so far this year.

I am thinking about…how I hope I don’t catch the cold my youngest daughter has right now.  So far I have been cold free this year….and now why do I feel like I just jinxed myself?

From my kitchen…was a dinner of cornbread, chicken and a pot of pinto beans this evening….I’m eating my winter comfort foods even if it doesn’t feel like it outside.  🙂  I have a few new recipes I want to try so I may have something to share next time.  I’m still on a quest to find the perfect sausage seasoning….I found another recipe and tweaked it to my liking but it is still falling a little flat for my taste.  I’m beginning to think my taste borders on the very spicy side when it comes to breakfast sausages.  I haven’t given up totally….I still have a few more recipes to try.

I am going…to be sending out our new year photo cards to family and close friends hopefully by the end of the week.  Yes folks, I got the elusive family photograph this year….the problem now, getting everyone to agree on one we all like.  I’m pretty flexible but the other two….not so much.  I foresee some PhotoShop head swapping in my future….could be interesting.  Hmmm, maybe I will put different heads on different bodies without telling anyone.  I’m betting that wouldn’t go over so well…but it would be a good laugh while I was doing it.

I am working on…some album layouts and other designs.  I have also been compiling a nice little stack of textures.  I have been photographing a lot of different types of textures to use on my photographs.  I have used textures in the past but I have been experimenting with them a lot more recently. A couple of my recent experiments are here and here….and the image I’m posting today.  These were not my textures but others I have obtained over time from Shadowhouse Creations and Sarah Gardner.

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks….my youngest and her friend talking  and laughing quietly….”New Moon” DVD on television….dirty dishes mocking and laughing at me in the kitchen.  😐

Plans for the week include…working from home Tuesday and Thursday….dentist on Thursday….and continue to tackle that mountain of work that was waiting for me at work after my vacation.  I always seem to get a lot of things completed when I work from home ~ less distractions and interruptions ~ so I’m hoping to knock a big hole in that pile this week.

One of life’s little pleasures…chocolate chip cookies minutes after they come out of the oven.  They can burn your mouth if you are not careful…but a little bit of heaven in every bit.  🙂

From my camera…is an image taken during the departmental Christmas party in Trinkle Hall in the Campus Center at the College.  This is the Royal Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom…the words “Dieu Et Mon Droit” is the motto for the British Monarch in England.  This work is huge….huge!  It is mounted high on the wall in the large hall that is commonly used for large gatherings on campus.