Leading Lines

I'm back from my mini mental /artistic sabbatical! This week's Random Photo Challenge theme was Leading Lines.

I even managed to post this week's theme poem over at Impassioned Versifier. I considered quite a few options on where to take my poem, but this week it demanded to be directed in an art imitates life sort of way.

Be sure to check out the rest of this week's awesome challenge photos at Photography139.

Isn't It Ironic, Don't Ya' Think?

So my week started out like this:

And ended like this:

It seems that once again fate (or maybe a government conspiracy against me) is trying to have a cruel laugh at my expense.

You see, I finally found a man that I really like and that I'm actually interested in. Someone that I am completely comfortable and happy with and oh, boy attracted to.

I'll give you a minute to climb back up onto your chair and read that again....

Yes, picky little me (who I remind you, was once balked at by a friend for Twittering during a particularly terrible date last year) suddenly found my fear of commitment melt away and my heart open up.

And I've been sporting my Mona Lisa has a secret smile all week.

**

Ahh... a budding romance, a relationship that seems to provide the perfect companionship in so many ways. A man that seems so amazing in my eyes, funny, intelligent, responsible, sweet, passionate.

And now the government wants to take him away from me. Insert self-pity and tears here. Well, OK, it's not the government conspiring against us per se. It's his job.

You see, the place he works for has determined his services are needed several states away.

We are both heartbroken about it. In fact, I'm not even planning to show him this blog until after we know what will happen so not to add to his sadness and anger over the situation. He's doing what he can to protest the transfer. I can only hope that it works.

In the meantime, I will draw on that inner strength that we all know I possess (all too well) and wait.

My plan is to immerse myself once again into the house repairs and exercise (anyone interested in helping with drywall work?). I wouldn't be surprised if you see a new poem or two other than the regularly scheduled Personal Poem Challenges. Maybe I'll even start working on editing for my eventual poetry book. I also plan to get rid of all the riff-raff around here and proceed with the plan to sell the house.

We will cross each bridge as it comes but do have a loose plan in mind if the transfer is forced on him. Good thing we both like to travel.

Which means occasional babysitting jobs will be available.

I could start spouting off all the theories about how "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and all those quotes that would probably make me feel sad right now.

Instead I keep thinking about my favorite Martha Washington quote "I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances"

Wild

The theme for last week was Wild. I actually had two submissions for the photo part of the challenge, as I just couldn't decide which to enter.

I know that many of you are asking how dominoes=wild. All I can answer is that they just can when you have to adults on a date at the Science Center playing like kids. Sadly this particular formation kind of fizzled, but we got the next attempt perfect!

Bug & Sis made me a fantastic, starch-laden dinner of chicken and dumplings over mashed potatoes for Mother's Day. This is what my wild little ones looked like when they were done. I couldn't bring myself to take pictures of the kitchen and the dog afterwards. They had a lot of fun and let loose cheerful giggles as they worked together to prepare the meal, so I guess I can overlook the mess.

Be sure to check out the rest of this week's Random Photo Challenge submissions over at Photography139. Take the time to check out his beautiful Mother's Day/Retirement tribute to his mom too. Very touching.

I am afraid that I have neglected posting anything over at Impassioned Versifier again this week. My muse is speaking very loudly to me at the moment so hopefully I should be able to catch up soon!

Feet, Among Other Things

It's been another hectic week for us. Two softball games and one soccer down, whew! I took some footage of Sis up to bat today. Unfortunately the pitcher was not very experienced, so we don't get to see any grand slams, but we do get to watch Sis steal second, third, and home.

Bug and I took a little play break this afternoon.

I finally got the chance to relax and set up my feet shoot for last week's Random Photo Project. I will be sending in my late submission later tonight but you can see it below and check out the timely submissions over at Photography139. I am sad to say that I failed on the poetry challenge this week. Maybe I will revisit the theme after ball season.

This week's theme is Wild. I have enlisted the help of my new friend to stage a shot, so hopefully we will have something fun to submit on Monday.

I don't have anything to submit for this week's Random Photo Challenge or my Personal Poetry Challenge. It was just a down right busy week! We had two softball games and one soccer game, plus practices, I attended a birthday party for a dear friend, plus I managed to squeeze some overtime in. I also stopped to visit another old friend and....

briefly babysat the son of another dear friend.

I barely kept up with the housework, but somehow managed to find the time to repair the toilet in the guest bath. We now have two functioning bathrooms again! Although there is still some drywall work and painting to be tackled in there later this summer.

Last night I intended to set some time aside to work on my fun little projects. Instead, I got distracted by this....

Bug & Sis decided to blow bubbles just before bedtime last night. It was too dark for them to go outside and they knew I wouldn't be happy with bubbles floating around my living room. So they decided to look for a spot where bubbles would be accepted.

I followed the little burst of contagious giggles that ensued to find them kicked back in the bathtub taking turns with the bubble wand.

I may still work on the projects later this week, as I do have a few ideas on the subject floating around in my head.

My Week on the Web

I haven't been on the computer much the last couple of weeks due to the beautiful weather and a little bit of overtime. Here are the few sites that did peak my interest when I did have time to just "troll":

Two years ago I declared that I was done with the Bad Boys in my life. But where are all the fabled Nice Guys? I completely agree with this editorial, it seems that the bad boys are always willing to show their interest (on a consistent basis), so get over your butterflies Nice Guys and step it up!


Post like this really make my blood boil. I write my poetry for the joy of writing it and occasionally as an urgent release. I'm not sure who this contributing writer is, but her haughty attitude that there is no value in the part-time poet that wasn't privileged enough to attend an Ivy League school just brings me to tears. Granted I don't write with a political agenda (which according to her own words suggests I am not fulfilling any responsibilities as a poet), I write philosophically, hypothetically, theologically, and from the heart. Any small aspirations I may have ever had of being recognized by the poetic community have basically been crushed by this woman's editorial, but that's okay, I don't need recognition. I am happy enough when my friends tell me my writings have touched them in some small way and with just producing something creative in general :)


Sis posting a comment on Facebook referring to this video (the comment question of the day, in particular) got me into a little hot water (funny how the person that was irked by it was upset because he had to admit that he was exactly where she said he would be). We seriously can't get enough of this guy though. Every single episode has us rolling! Especially the one where the guy gets owned by his shoes.


I have our lodging reserved for our trip to Yellowstone this summer! Bug is a little nervous about staying and hiking around on top of a collapsed volcano, but we have been reading an online magazine all about the neat things we can do while we are there, 99 things listed to be exact. It has been a big help with planning our itinerary and figuring out how much to budget.

Rule of Thirds

This week's photo challenge theme was Rule of Thirds. Photography139 put up this definition from Wikipedia, so I'm going to borrow it to as it seems the simplest definition:

"The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections."

Sounds simple, right? Thankfully it was, as I blew off trying to find a good shot all week.

This is the photo that I submitted for the challenge. Can you tell I took it in a hurry this morning when I realized that I had a poem for this week but not a photo?

Last week was a busy week, but that's really not an excuse since I had my camera with me quite often. I just didn't happen to shoot anything that fell into that particular category. I really didn't shoot anything worth posting, except:

Bug had his first soccer game of the season last Monday.

Sis had her first softball game too, but that happened to be the one time I didn't have my camera floating around in my purse. There will be plenty of chances for me to get shots of her in full catching gear with her two games per week compared to Bug's one.

With the start of our busy ball season the house repairs haven't been moving along quite as fast as before. I still have motivation though and hope to have some new before and after photos up soon. Today was a rare lazy day for me, which pretty much only consisted of 4 loads of laundry, making supper, and making our summer vacation reservations.

Yep, you read that right! The kids and I now have a cabin booked for a full week just minutes outside of Yellowstone. I think I am more excited than the kids at this point. My next few weeks will be spent planning our itinerary and making list of items to pack (including camera batteries!).

As usual, you can find this week's poem over at Impassioned Versifier. Photography139 is enjoying a vacation of his own this week, but you should find the photo challenge submissions posted later in the week.