Iraqi Bundles Of Love

IBOL is an interesting project an American Soldier is doing in Iraq. You can find out more about the project and how you can help here. Please go check it out.

We gathered up crafting supplies for our box this evening and it is ready to go to the post office in the morning!

:-)

Mini Micro

I found this cute geocache this evening after a dollar movie. We didn't even have to leave the parking lot. This micro was a typical skirt lifter, and this skirt was worth lifting! I fell in love with this micro cache - I must find one for myself! Look at the itty-bitty log book! So stinkin' cute!

Geocache? Huh? Click here, to find out more.

Revist the Past

I did a ton of posting when I came back from my trip this summer. Most of my geocaching posts were mixed in with family and friend stuff... so I thought I'd pull out and highlight the geocaching related ones - considering about 1/2 my readers are geocachers! So if you've already read these, thank you and come back again!!! But if not - go read about all the fun I had!

Harlan's Doorstep

Main Street of America



Crater of Diamonds

A Different Kind of Log

Multiple States



The Shine of Tennessee

Finger Lickin' Good

Dilapidation

I Don't do Spiders



My First Virtual

The Arch!

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

I've been drawing a blank on things to blog about... So I thought I'd share some of the pictures I've taken over the last couple days. It is a wonderful sight when there is moisture in the air here! If you follow me on twitter, and followed my links - you've probably already seen these. But if not, enjoy!

Postcrossing Sunday

(Click to photos to enlarge)

Friday Flashback - Old Computer

I dug up my old laptop and oh my goodness, the thing is GIGANTIC!


It's about double the width of my current Mac.


And 10 times as heavy!



It doesn't work anymore either. I turned it on the other day, I have to push in the power cord super hard. If I move ever so slightly the thing dies.

I wish I had pictures of all of the desktops I've had over the years...

There May be Bugs on Some of you Mugs, but There Ain't no Bugs on Me!

Lisa, of Condo Blues, recently held a "EcoSmart Organic Insect Repellent Giveaway" on her blog.

Guess what?

I won!

As soon as I opened the box, I had to give one a test squirt to see how it smelled.

*sniff*sniff*

Not too bad!

This "non toxic plant based mosquito repellent" will be great for the next geocaching trip - especially up on Mt. Lemmon, where the mosquitoes loooovvveee me.

Garden Of Gethsemane - Felix Lucero Park

I found this little garden while looking for Tucson's Largest Tree. I'm not religious but I thought these sculptures were pretty! I found the story interesting too.

The artist sculptor was born in Trinidad, Colorado. In World War I, he lay critically injured on a forgotten battlefield. He vowed to god and to himself that if he survived, he would dedicate the remainder of his life to the sculpturing of religious statues for which he had natural talent. After 20 years of this pious work in various parts of the country, he arrived in Tucson in 1938. Heartbreak and pain walked with the artist during his sacred efforts.

Tucson's Largest Tree

I've passed Tucson's Largest Tree a few times and never knew it. Thanks again to geocaching for pointing out something awesome! This virtual happens to be down the street from my Mom's work downtown, so Tuesday morning I dropped my mom of at work and went for the virtual!

I had to cross a pretty busy street to get to the tree, but I managed.

It was a lot bigger up close. I put my GPS on the tree for size comparison.

Though I've seen bigger trees - this one is pretty darn big for a tree in Tucson, it's the desert! I had to answer some questions about the geocache to claim my find. I got all the information off the sign, which you can see here. I blurred out all the #'s for those over ambitious geocachers out there ;-)

One more geocache in Tucson off my list!

Mission San Xavier del Bac

It's still too hot to do a whole lot of "normal" caching, so I grabbed this virtual Tuesday morning. I thought the church would be pretty, but it was beautiful! I'll have to go back with my tripod - It was a little darker inside than I had imagined, I would like to get better pictures.

San Xavier del Bac was founded in 1699. The building that stands today was built 1783-1797 and is located on the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation. The building has been undergoing restoration since the late 1980's and continues today. From looking at previous logs, I was worried there would be construction on the front, but luckily for me they had moved on to the back of the building!

Geocaching has brought me to yet another awesome location. You can see my whole set of pictures from this virtual cache here, or you can flip through the slide show below!

Agitated Sunshine

I have nothing to say today, I just really like this picture I took over the weekend and wanted to share it.

View Large On Black

Aperture @ 32 for that beautiful sunburst.

Original:

Thank You for stopping by and having a look!

I've been in the kitchen!

Sunday was my moms Birthday! I cooked dinner for the occasion. I made vegetable soup, which simmered in the crock-pot all day long. Potatoes, carrots, green beans, celery, onion, crushed tomatoes, chickpeas, spicy and regular V8, bay leaves, garlic, salt and pepper. I also added slices of smoke sausage the last hour or so, 'cause I know my momma likes it!

I kind of wish I would have put the soup in the bowls before taking this picture, but here is the spread! Seriously, you can't go wrong with mismatching dishes, plastic cups and a cheesy tablecloth.

Oh yeah, there was also dessert!

My GPS has other uses? Say what?

I pretty much only use my GPS for geocaching. But tonight I decided to grab it for a walk. I think it helps to know how far I actually walked, how fast I went, and how long it took. It makes me feel a like I actually did something. Plus, It gives me a distance/speed/time to beat for next time! I certainly have room to improve....

P.S. my stopped time is after I got home - which messes up the overall average, but I still have a moving average which is all I need ;-)

Postcrossing Sunday

Today's Postcard:
(Click to enlarge)

Did you know?

Sending a postcard from the US to.....

...Mexico = 79¢
...Canada = 75¢
...With in the US = 28¢
...Anywhere else internationally = 98¢

Book Review

Title: The Well and The Mine
By: Gin Phillips
Pages: 251

Book Description:

In 1931 Carbon Hill, a small Alabama coal-mining town, nine-year-old Tess Moore watches a woman shove the cover off the family well and toss in a baby without a word. For the Moore family, focused on helping anyone in need during the Great Depression, the apparent murder forces them to face the darker side of their community and question the motivations of family and friends. Backbreaking work keeps most of the townspeople busy from dawn to dusk, and racial tensions abound. For parents, it's a time when a better life for the children means sacrificing health, time, and every penny that can be saved. For a miner, returning home after work is a possibility, not a certainty. However, next to daily thoughts of death, exhausting work, and race are the lingering pleasures of sweet tea, feather beds, and lightning bugs yet to be caught.

My Thoughts: I'm all for a story set "back in the day," which is why I picked this book up. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Let's just say, it is a book I would pass along - but not a book I would tell anyone to go out an buy brand spankin' new. The book lacked a lot of the drama and suspense of "who done it" that I was hoping for. I also feel like the ending kind of fell flat and the ending chapters could have been arranged better.

The one thing this book did do that I liked, was the multiple character view point. I don't know the term for it, if there is one - but as you read you get a snippet for each character of the book. In this case, each member of the family. I've read books like this before and for some reason I seem to like it.

Read more book reviews by me.

I've got Flare

I don't know if any of you read The Pioneer Woman, but she is and idol in the blogging world - at least to me. She tells awesome stories and has wonderful photos. I mainly read her main blog, but she also blogs separately about homeschooling, home and garden, cooking, and photography.

Anyway, getting to the point.... Every once and a while she shares tips on photography. Today I was looking at her post on sun flare and decided to go out and give it a try. My eyes are just about worthless right now after staring directly into the sun a few times - but I like the results and am thankfull for the knowledge! I can't wait to incorporate sunflare with more pictures in the future.

Here are my test shots though....

I did edit these photos, but if you want you can click on any of the pictures which will take you to the flickr page. If you scroll down from there, you can see the unedited versions. :-)

Mystery/Puzzle Caches

I stayed up into the wee hours of the night Friday night working on solutions to puzzle caches. Yeah, that is what I do with my Friday nights. So sue me, I'm obsessed.

Actually, it was around 3 am, not like I would be out doing much at that hour anyway! I usually ignore puzzle caches, but there have been quite a few popping up around the area.

What is a Puzzle/Mystery Cache?
The "catch-all" of cache types, this form of cache can involve complicated puzzles you will first need to solve to determine the coordinates. Due to the increasing creativity of geocaching this becomes the staging ground for new and unique challenges.

Some of these puzzle caches in my area are even kid friendly! And yeah, those are the only ones I've been able to solve and find! Though I am working on a toughy 3.5 right now. So far I know what cipher to use - Its just a matter of using it right....

What is your take on mystery/puzzle caches? Do you like them, avoid them, or don't mind them?

What is Geocaching? Click here for a little explanation!

Summer is almost over...

You better...

Before the water gets too cold.


Swim.



At the speed of light.

Postcrossing Sunday

Today's Postcard:
(click to enlarge)

Friday Flashback - Mopeds

1994

Dear Grandma & Grandpa,

Hi How are you? I'm Fine. My mom and dad said that I can get a moped. But I have to pay for it. So to make [money] I'm going to do chores. I get to do 8 chores everyday and I get $25.00 a week. So when December comes I'll have $275. But instead of presents this year I'm asking my mom & dad for money. But for X-mas from you I was wondering if you could get me Doctor Dreadful's Drink Lab. It has a whole bunch of tubes that connect to vials. You put special mixture in it and [then] you can eat or drink it. It is like a chemistry set, but with stuff you can eat. It makes gummy worms and you stuff you can drink. Ever since I saw it on TV I wanted it. Well got to go. See you soon.

Love,
Sara

Okay, so I started this post thinking about the mopeds we had growing up - and I was going to write about that, but as I read my sister's colorful letter I started thinking about that Doctor Dreadful's Drink Lab. If I'm remembering correctly, she did end up getting it for Christmas and all of the stuff kind of tasted like crap.

I was also able to find this video on YouTube. So cheesy. Gotta love 90's commercials.


Anyway...Here is a picture of me and my older sister on the moped riding around the yard. Usually we didn't ride it together so maybe this was my first time on it. Thinking back, I'm kind of surprised our dad let us ride these around in the grass. He used to be paranoid about us and other kids cutting through the grass on our bikes, becuase it would leave tracks. This is also before the helmet awareness there is today. I think we did end up getting helmets for them though. We also got another more scooter like moped not to long after - because me an my little sis always wanted to ride - but since it was Sara's and she paid for it, she could say no and my parents couldn't do anything about it. Haha.

I think Sara, my older sister - did end up getting her moped license, but we mostly just drove them around the yard. I'm sure it made the neighbors crazy!

Light Writing... Again!

We did some more light writing the other day. Not as creative and as well executed as some of the light writing I've done in the past - but still fun!

Ever wondered how to light write? Long shutter speed, wide aperture and low ISO!!