Beads

Well, it appears I made it through the whole month without missing a photo - now I just have to do this 11 more times!

This is a macro shot of some beads on a bracelet.

Quarters

I've needed to change the music on my iPod for a while now - it's hard to get into my runs so early at the gym when I'm bored with all the music I have...  So I decided tonight was the night I was going to sit down at my desk and just get it over with.  Then, in the middle of my little project, I remembered I had yet to take a photo today for the blog.  But I was stuck at my desk - what to do, what to do?  Luckily, there was a handy little stack of quarters on my desk...

Sunflower

Flowers from some friends.

Self-portrait

I know, I know...  It's totally cliché to do a self-portrait using the reflection in a mirror...  But, well, here it is anyway!

Snowy Miriam

It snowed here this afternoon - huge, beautiful snowflakes.  Miriam was having a great time catching them on her tongue!

Aw...Nuts!

Miriam

I was able to convince Miriam to sit for a photo for me - but first she had to put some make-up on to prepare for the shoot!

2nd Place

Luis participated in the Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts yesterday, and his car won 2nd place for speed.  He was so proud!

Picture-in-picture?

I gave Luis our old point-and-shoot digital camera, and he loves to run around taking photos!  Makes me happy!

Dominoes

Miriam and I were playing with dominoes this evening - poor girl kept knocking hers down before she got them all lined up...

1971 penny

In honor of my birthday coming up - a penny from the year I was born...  Yikes!!

Silly girl

Goofiness seems to be a trait in my children.  This is Miriam's idea of letting me take a nice photo of her...

Boots

Miriam's boots.

Luis, magnified

The kids and I visited my grandmother this morning, and while at her house, Luis discovered her magnifying glass.  Goofiness ensued...

Eggs in a bowl

Marble eggs in a petrified wood bowl.

A clean desk is a happy desk!

Well, at least a happy ME...  This is the way I wish my desk always looked.  Hopefully, with all the cleaning, purging, and organizing I've been doing lately it'll look like this for at least a couple days...

Coffee beans

I really, really like coffee.  Here's the first coffee-related shot of the year (I'm sure there will be more...).

Max #2

Just a quick shot of Max tonight.  Snoozing away - his typical M.O.

4-H Ribbons

A little history about this photo:  I grew up in or outside small farming communities in northern Illinois most of my life, and a big thing in those areas was (is to this day, I suppose) 4-H.  There are 4-H clubs, and one of the big things is the 4-H Fair every summer where kids show livestock they've raised, vegetables they grew in a garden, crafts/drawings/paintings they made, etc.  Ribbons are awarded for the entries, and some kids then go on to compete in the State Fair.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing in the house the past few weeks, and I came across a box with all of my old 4-H ribbons in it - what a trip to see these again!

Oil and water

Tonight I tried to do another macro experiment with oil in water like the one I did last spring.  I'm not particularly thrilled with the results, but this'll have to do for tonight...

Firewood

It was (finally!) warm enough to venture outside - but only for as long as it took to shoot a few photos...

Gumballs

First Luis pic of the year

And what a handsome fellow he is, if I do say so myself!

What to do with so many bills?

Shred them!

Sláinte!

Everyone's stocking up

We're supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow tonight so everyone is apparently stocking up on the essentials. Photo shot with my phone.

Bubbly

I was attempting to take some macro shots of the inside of a lime I had juiced, but the photos all sucked. This is what I have to offer instead - macro shots of a blue placemat I had propped up against the napkin holder on our dining room table...

Max

It didn't take long for Max to make his first appearance of the year - the first of many, I'm sure!

Limey!

Well, lime (and juice), anyway...

Pile #1

Everything in this corner is one of the several piles of crap that will soon be out of the house - I love purging and organizing!!

Happy New Year!!

I'm going to try this photo-a-day project again this year... Hopefully I'll be better organized and more able to keep up with it. Of course, with school starting again in less than three weeks, we'll see what happens. Speaking of being better organized, one of my goals for 2010 is to rid my house of the crap that seems to multiply when I'm not looking. I started with one of the worst rooms of the house - the office (AKA, "the dumping ground"). It took me nearly three days to go through, clean, and organize the bookshelves and my desk... It's a wonderful feeling to actually be able to see the top of my desk again! The kids' rooms are next...!