All Is Quiet on New Years Day...till 8:30 pm Anyway

New Years Eve and Day were pretty quiet.  We got up early on the 31st because we had to do an errand about an hour away to help out a friend.  It went smoothly and we were home by about 12:30, including having grocery shopped.  The rest of the day and night was devoted to lounging around and watching TV.  Since I had a late cup of coffee and Russell took a two hour nap at one point, I thought we'd both be able to make it till midnight to watch the ball drop and kiss in the new year.  By 11 pm we were both ready for bed! It's so hard to believe that there was a time when I could easily make it till well after midnight on NYE.  All those years of Dead shows in Oakland that ended after 2:00 a.m., then the drive all the way back to the Richmond District San Francisco, then a burger at the 24 Hour Video Cafe down at the corner and finally going to bed at 4:00 a.m.  Those days are so clearly over! 

We got up around 8 on New Years Day.  It was sooo cold out.  I had to run out to the store to get some diesel fuel treatment for the tractor, because he was going out that night, but I was home by 11.  Decided I might as well do a couple of crafts.  

First up were these little fridge magnets.  You just use a clear drying glue to stick pretty paper, pattern side up, to the bottom of clear glass blobs.  Then glue a magnet to the back of the paper.  Viola!  I would prefer to find a larger size blob though as the ones I have were so small that it was hard to find patterns to fit.

This was done with the bottom of a plastic pop bottle.  I guess you are supposed to dip the bottom in the paint before stamping, but I painted the paint onto the bottom before stamping and that may have caused the build up on the petal edges and lack of paint in the centers.  I'm glad I tried it; it works....would be an easy and fun craft for kids, but I won't repeat this particular craft.  

This is kind of a funky craft.  You just take clothespins and clip them to an empty and washed medium-size tuna can (the 4-pack size). I didn't want the grey can to show in the gaps so I adhered a rainbow ribbon with peace sign designs around the outside.  The cans take 20 pins.  I painted them in the colours of the rainbow and added multicolour glitter paint to them too.  Put a glass votive cup in the center. 

Better view of the ribbon.

And a beach themed project.  I coated the outside of the can with mod podge then rolled it in sand. Once that dried, I painted a layer of mod podge over the sand to keep it from flaking, then added shells & glass to the pins.

I've been very influenced by the beach and ocean lately.  Can't imagine why.... ;-)

We went to Dunkin Donuts to get  his coffee for the trip, a little after 8.  I went to the drive-thru, operated my drivers side window and the glass goes, 'ka-THUNK'.  Fell right out of the track and was sticking inside.  Greeeeeeat.  15* and my window is broken.  Finished the coffee order and went back to the truck where my amazing hubby got the window back in place and in the closed/up position.  I drove home thinking, 'This is sooooo not the way 2013 was supposed to start...not with an unexpected car repair'.  And 'Taking that 100k picture really bit me in the ass'.  The following day I had to take it to the glass place in Sandwich to see what they had to say.  The guy popped the whole window out and said that the glue had finally dried up, but then he discovered that the regulator was also broken.  Figures.  It went from needing some glue to needing a part that was, of course, going to take a week to get. He got the window back in and closed, and taped the whole thing shut with black tape.  At least the entire cost including labour isn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Finally, here's one more quick crafty I did on the 3rd.  Double stick tape and glitter on a candle.  This is a very messy project and doing it on a dry, cold day increased the static electricity factor tenfold.  I ended up coating the glitter/tape with mod podge, which cut way, way down on the flaking.  Then I used a dry paintbrush to sweep the stray bits off the candle.

All is Quiet on New Years Day

Well it's 2012!  Did everyone have a nice New Years Eve and Day?  NYE here was cold and rainy! We did a couple of errands in Sandwich in the morning and were safely ensconced at home by 11:00 a.m..  My squeeze was in his happy place, cooking in the NuWave Oven we just got.  We had a stocked fridge, and the Amazon.com box had arrived with the afternoon mail.  

We watched my fave John Wayne movie, "The Cowboys" and then we watched another Duke movie, "Hellfighters" (my honey is a HUGE John Wayne fan).  We managed to stay awake till midnight to watch the ball drop in New York City, and it was a treat to ring in the new year in his arms, making out like schoolkids.

We woke up after 8:00 on New Years Day to the most amazing weather, especially for this region and this time of year!!!  It was over 50* and clear.  The breeze was even warm!  Puttered around in the morning then went for a walk at Scusset Beach.  He brought the metal detector, but it either needs new batteries or just likes to let off false alarms because every 5 steps it beeped, then we'd dig in the sand to find nothing.  I found a couple pieces of beach glass and some more pretty rocks.  I even discovered that I can still skip stones on the water, despite my bad shoulder and not having done it in many, many years.  

Here are some pics of this glorious New Years Day.

Not our chairs.

Pepper's shadow.  I wanted to let her off leash but there were too many other people on the beach with their doggies.

Spotted this cedar tree in the parking lot for the trails at Sagamore Hill so I had to shoot it.  Wonder why it grew crooked? The others in the lot grow straight.

I've decided to start participating in 365 Project, which is a photography website where you take and upload one photo per day, for a year.  We'll see if I actually manage to follow through on this daunting task, but I invite you all to participate and/or follow me there.  Since this is a Leap Year, this is actually going to be 366 Project.

This was my entry for January 1, 2012.  The roof over the walkway to Scusset has large holes in them and I liked how the blue sky looked.

We're off and running!

I've (Sort of) Agreed To Do This Next Year

I've always joked that I would like to do a Polar Bear Plunge on New Years Day.  I'm usually at my warmest first thing in the morning.  I'm so hot that I can steam up the car windows on a cold winter morning.  Then I have to blast the defroster but keep the windows down so keep me from expiring due to the perspiring.  I figure if I get up, bundle up and blast the car heat, I'll be happy to jump into an icy cold lake.

This New Years Day my friend Rhonda put up a FB status about wanting to for a Polar Bear Plunge, somewhere in Pierce County b/c she didn't feel like going to Seattle.  I commented to her that I always wanted to do it.  She begged me and dared me (and called me chicken when I wimped out), to try and get me to meet her at American Lake in Lakewood.  I went with my standard, "I don't feel like driving that far" excuse.  So she calls my bluff and offers to drive to my house, so that we can do the plunge in Lake Tapps, which is right down the street from me!  Needless to say I begged off and said I'd do it next year when I have more time to get mentally prepared.  But I didn't think she was serious about going through with it.

At about 1:30 pm on New Years Day, this picture pops up on my newsfeed with the title, "I DID IT!"  There's Rhonda, in American Lake, in Lakewood.

I asked her if she dunked her head or only went in as far as her waist.  She said she went to her shoulders, and is saving the head dunk, "....for next year when you come with me."  Looks like I'm committed now.  Or I need to be committed for agreeing to do this!  Brian said he'll be sure to take photos.  I now have just under 365 days to get used to the idea.