August 2009 Mosaic

Click to biggify. Created using Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker.

Two-thirds of the way through this project. Hard believe. The fact that I managed to take a photo every day this month is almost equally hard to believe! LOL


While we were waiting for DH to buy the tickets for the dinosaur exhibit, Luke jumped from letter to letter on this rug, saying each letter's name as he went. When I realized what he was doing, I had to hurry and whip out my camera before he was done.


This is Tigger with the two women who have worked tirelessly to try and get her healthy again, Kathleen and Dr. Hochel. Without the two of them, Tigger would not be so amazingly recovered today. In fact, we think that we'll be able to stop her steroids completely sometime in September.


Finally managed to squeeze in the summer version of this tree, as promised. Had to hurry, it's going to start changing soon. It is an "early turner" in the fall, which will be here before we know it.


DH and I took a grown-up day to ourselves. We took the child to school, then we ran off to the museum and the movie theater, plus we checked out a few houses for sale. Quite the busy day, but wonderful. There was a Monet Waterlilies exhibit at the High. They have these small reflecting pools outside the front door, which were decorated to resemble one of the paintings. So lovely! I just wish it had been less overcast, because the lighting doesn't do them justice.

2009-08-31

As we finished cleaning up the kitchen tonight, I noticed the light on this bud vase. I could not get the camera to "see what I was seeing" from the side angle, but then I thought the swirls might look pretty cool from inside. This photo is the result.

2009-08-30

We ate at Panda Express tonight. We'd never eaten there before. It was okay. I think DH liked it more than I did, and of course Luke ate nothing (actually, he ate Arby's). I thought these very large Chinese lanterns were just beautiful, though. Their glow was so pleasant in contrast to the dreary rainy day outside.

2009-08-29

I made this cape for Luke almost a year and a half ago. It is a full 360-circle cape that I stitched by hand. It was a quickly job, but it still took time, and I did it all in a single night. He wore it then just long enough for me to take a photo, and that's it. He didn't even wear it to the event that I made it for. Since then, it has sat in his toy box doing nothing. Until a couple of days ago. Now he wants to wear it every night after changing into his pajamas. I guess it's like all other new things; he has to "live with them" for a while before he's ready to wear them.

2009-08-28

Luke wanted to know why I had arrows stuck into my sandwich. LOL!

2009-08-27

Those are Luke's new size 1 sneakers on the right, and my size 8.5 on the left. Did I mention we just bought him new shoes in early June? Less than 3 months for the previous pair of shoes. Even one of the teachers at daycare who sees him nearly every day commented that she thought he had gotten taller recently. I can't wait to find out how tall he is at his 5 year wellness visit to the doctor.

2009-08-26

Yes, I took a photo of sheets and towels in the dryer. It encapsulates our evening, spent changing the sheets for and cleaning up after the sick child. I didn't even remember until after midnight to take a photo, but I hadn't gone to bed yet, so I still consider it my photo for the day.

2009-08-25

I started a massive clothing purge tonight. Those are 78 newly spare hangers. All of the previous occupants are being donated to charity. They'll be by next week to pick them up. With these and some clothes that had piled up in the floor, we already have a total of 7 kitchen garbage bags full of things to donate. I expect more before we're finished.

2009-08-24

Bengal had a stare down with this other cat for nearly an hour. He was so not happy with an interloper on his deck. Such a good guard kitty.

2009-08-23

Cleo incognito; she disguised herself as a box.

2009-08-22

I think my parents bought these for Luke a few years ago. We've tried him with them sporadically since then, but not in the last year or so. He just got so frustrated that it wasn't worth it. For some reason, he pulled them out tonight, and other than a few corrections of "those don't fit together, try again" he did it entirely by himself. Go Luke!

2009-08-21

On the recommendation of several folks, I chose not to reread the book before seeing the movie. Having now seen it, of course I immediately had to start rereading the book. They left out so much!

2009-08-20

DH and I had a lovely day out today to ourselves. Dropped off the child at Pre-K and we ran off to do grown-up things. We saw the Monet Waterlillies exhibit at the High Museum (leaves this coming weekend), scoped out a few houses, and saw two movies (G.I. Joe and Harry Potter). Gee, where do you think we ate lunch today? LOL! Locals should know. For everyone else, that's at The Varsity in downtown Atlanta, near Georgia Tech. It's just across from DH's office, so he eats there rather frequently, but it has been ages since I ate there.

2009-08-19

Sigh. Another day I forgot my camera (been a little stressed lately), only to spot this guy just on the other side of the glass from us at dinner. This is the best I could do with my phone. Luke was fascinated! He really was very impressive, even if he was only a couple of inches long.

2009-08-18

Finally got around to taking a photo of my newly restored Holly Hobbie quilt. My great-grandmother made this for me, likely not long after I was born. Over the course of 30+ years, I had quite literally loved most of the quilting right out of it. The fabric layers were separating, the batting was ragged and slouching, and it was just not in good shape. My parents had it professionally cleaned, re-batted, and requilted, and it looks fantastic! I know the photo is a little dark, but I was trying to highlight the shadows so you could see that the quilting goes around each motif and mimics the curves on the fabric. It was all done free-motion (translation: done by hand (not a computer programmed quilting machine) using a sewing machine). I am so very pleased with the work, and so happy to have my beloved quilt back.

2009-08-17

Hmm.... the bottom three are a very intersting trio to be back to back to back, don't you think?

2009-08-16

This was our fun little find for the day at Staples. DH and I each got one (his will go to work with him). I know, we're dorks, but we thought they were too fun!

2009-08-15

Such a fun way to spend the evening, in the dark! We heard a big bang followed instantly by total blackness just before 10 PM. Not even the street lights were working. The only light came from our laptop screens and this emergency nightlight/flashlight combo that was a gift from my father. Dad is well known as a flashlight junky. My parents have these at their house, and Luke loves playing with them, so Dad sent us home with a set on our last visit a couple of weeks ago. The flashlight sits in a charging cup, which has a soft glowing nightlight on the bottom. If the power goes out, obviously the nightlight goes out, but the white LED flashlight automatically comes on. The good news is that they work great! Thanks Dad!

2009-08-14

Luke decided today to wear his clone trooper hat (in the car; he had to take it off before he went into school). This is not a new hat per se. I bought it for him for Disney back in March. He's funny about new clothes, and particularly new accessories like hats or sunglasses. He has to "live with them" a bit before he is comfortable wearing them. New shirt you know he loves? "I'll wear that one tomorrow." New sunglasses? Took several weeks. New hat? Apparently those take about 5 months to achieve the appropriate comfort level. Kooky kid!

2009-08-13

Kitty is ready to jam. DH did this to amuse Luke when we picked him up from school today. It worked!

2009-08-12

We were discussing fingernails on my online bulletin board today, and someone mentioned that damaging your cuticle could cause damage to your fingernail. I wonder if that's what happened to this fingernail. Can you see the dimples? I first noticed them probably sometime in late middle or early high school. I didn't recall doing anything to that finger (didn't close it in a door or anything). I just assumed the damage would grow out and it would go back to normal. Nope! It always produces these dimples. No other fingers do it, just this one, the index finger of my left hand.

2009-08-11

Luke is absolutely loving Pre-K so far. Playing dress-up is apparently one of his favorite things to do. We found him wearing this when we picked him up today. Looks like a civil engineer in the making to me! (Sorry for the quality; this was taken with DH's cell phone. The one day I didn't bring my camera!)

2009-08-10

Luke's first day of Pre-K was today! We are officially slaves of the academic calendar for the next 14 years. Here he is wearing his official first day of school nametag.

2009-08-09

This is the first time Tigger has laid down for rest time with L in nearly a month. We are so happy she is feeling better. She should get her feeding tube out tomorrow!

2009-08-08

Luke and DH, standing in front of the brand new statues in front of Fernbank. We went to see the Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries exhibit, which leaves next weekend. We actually made it a full dino-mite weekend and took him to the movie theater to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in the afternoon.

2009-08-07

Today was Luke's last day in Ms. Crystal's class. As of Monday, he will officially be in Pre-K. Thank you for everything, Ms. Crystal!

2009-08-06

Today was Luke's first ever dentist visit. He did amazingly well! No tears, no fussing, and almost no fear. He got a little nervous when she "revved" the tooth cleaner. "Will it hurt?" She promised it wouldn't, and that was it. The dentist said he has no cavities, his teeth were very clean (he didn't say this, but I could almost hear the words "especially considering he's never been to the dentist in almost 5 years"), his bite looks great, and there is plenty of room for his big teeth to come in a few years from now. Woo-hoo!

2009-08-05

Today was daycare's End of Summer Celebration. They had two bouncy castles set up in the parking lot. Luke's class was just coming out to play in them when we arrived, so we let him play for several minutes before we left.

2009-08-04

Back to sleeping in a much more normal position, proof she is feeling much better. She's also started snoring, though. LOUDLY! We hope it is due to the tube, which should be able to come out in the next week or two.

2009-08-03

Ah-ha! Finally, a good shot of the growth in Cleo's ear. It's just a small flap of skin, covered with fur and everything. She was originally my brother's cat. He got her from a shelter the day she was set to be destroyed. When he saw this ear defect, he thought it looked like a goldfish tail, so he named her Cleo after the goldfish in Dinsey's Pinocchio. We took her in when he had to move and could not take her with him. I think that was in 2002.

2009-08-02

His new favorite toy. Luke got two small die cast planes while we were at the museum. I think he was inspired by the shiny silver B-17 they were restoring.

2009-08-01

Both of my grandfathers were in the military. This one was in the army, stationed in India during WWII. (And before you ask, he is 6'3" (1.9 m). We hope Luke will take after him in the height department.) He worked at the airfield with all kinds of planes coming in and out, 24/7. When my father discovered The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, we made it a point to take my grandfather on a field trip of sorts as a family to see it. They also have a complete B-17 that they are restoring in the back of the museum. It's not even behind glass, just ropes and saw horses. It was really an amazing trip. This is all of us standing in front of an amazing mural. It wraps around two walls, and it is in credibly detailed. He said that the airfields looked *exactly* like they are depicted in the mural.