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hoffalady  > Photography > 365 > 365
i started this as part of the Daily Community here on SmugMug. it has morphed into my photoblog, something apart from the rest.

feel free to comment, but please be respectful for my passion and my life.
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hoffalady > Thursday   October 1 '09    day 417

chucks

well after years of wearing Vans loyally, the boys have moved onto an American classic. change... i'm not a fan of it. it's bad enough T will turn 13 at the end of the month but no more Vans?? lol

what's been going on in the life of me? T is nearly fully recovered w/ his run in with the flu. we're all getting flu shots on Monday! and Q has weathered his first round of middle school bullying like a champ. it's great when you're kids do the right thing.

i've already made our holiday plans. if i had it my way, everyone would be coming to see me so i could feed them like it used to be back home. instead, this turkey day, we'll be driving to South Toledo Bend, LA to meet my parents at a cabin. my grandma, Aunt Janet, Uncle Wally and their grandchildren will be there too. it's not even close to the whole clan but it'll be good. for xmas, my lil bro has decided to come out. by the time it rolls around it'll be 22.5 months since i've seen him. i miss that kid!!

hope you're having a good week. i'm dealing with some stuff here, nothing that won't work itself out. but seeing as how i lack patience.... well, you understand.
hoffalady > Tuesday         Sept 29 '09        day 416

sucker

a lil something different today. i hate mosquitoes w/ all of my being and the love me just as much as i hate them. it's ridiculous. this lil nasty is the biggest blood sucker i've ever seen tho. she was a lil bit bigger than a nickel! i'm just glad i swatted her before she took a chunk outta my arm!!

i took the last week or two off of the dailies. the main reason is my Dad hasn't been checking my 365 gallery like he used to. there are other reasons as well- lack of inspiration, my own lack of commenting, the blahs. but in the end i missed it. i missed using it as my photo blog, missed rambling on when i feel like it.

so looks like you're stuck w/ me until i say so, huh?
hoffalady > Sunday   Sept 20 '09     day 415

hollyhock

it's been a few days since i've done my daily. the week long rain has seriously put a cramp in my style. :0p

the sun finally peeked out for the first time in 7 days late this afternoon. it was so nice to see a blue sky!!

the shots i took were just okay but i loved this one when i played with it. i really love how the petals melt away.

hope you had a good weekend!
hoffalady > Thursday     Sep 17 '09    day 414

dainty

sorry today is a repeat subject, but i had to work w/ what i had. and since i spent most of my morning hunting down a mouse, i think i did pretty good. i really do like that she perched herself on the cherry tomato branch. not only is it prettier and more interesting than just a rot iron shepherds hook but i think it does a nice job of giving a size reference.

i was in the living room when i saw something dart across the floor. i really thought it was a water bug seeking shelter from the typhoon we've been having. it happens all the time back home, but still, i wanted it out of my house. so i started taking the couch apart and setting the 3 pieces on end. that's when i got a better look at it. definitely mouse and not water bug. most definitely has to be caught.

i spent the next half hour chasing the lil bugger around. both dogs asleep in the next room. cat sitting right there watching it scurry across the floor and doing nothing! it was appalling! by the time she did get interested, i'd already captured it. lazy cat.

i called the homeowner and thankfully she answered my call right off. she scheduled a pest control company to come and check out the house and to do repeat treatments every three months. more than likely the mouse was just seeking shelter from the uber rain we've been having but i'm not taking my chances!

in parenting news, yesterday when Q got home from school, he said that the bus driver made him sit up in front "w/ the bad kids". when he was getting off the bus, he asked her why she made him sit up front and she replied "cause i said so and if you ask again, you'll get suspended for 5 day from my bus".

it really sounded odd. first of all Q is a great kid, not perfect but well behaved and respectful. and secondly, a 5 day suspension seems harsh for asking a question. so i went and spoke w/ her this morning when she picked up the boys. she said that Q actually hadn't done anything wrong. she was just separating him from our neighbor who "is a very bad influence". i thanked her and said i understood. i thought that was the whole story but after school, she honked and wanted to talk to me again- w/ the bus empty.

she went into more detail about the other kid. yikes. i let her know what we want T & Q sitting together when there is two open seats and that they need to be in the middle to front of the bus (but not w/ the bad kids) because high schoolers ride their bus too. as my hubby said "nothing good ever happens at the back of the bus". her parting words to me were "keep your babies away from that boy." 

just makes me sad for him because in just the 6 months we've lived here we've seen how uninvolved his parents are with him. he was so excited when we moved in because he thought he was going to have friends. we've already had 2 serious incidents and after the second one we told the boys that they are no longer allowed to play w/ him. they could talk to him at school or on the bus but never be alone w/ him. now, they are allowed to say hello but nothing more. 

but it does remind me of how lucky i am to have such great boys. it took a lot of work to get 'em right but we're most definitely on the right track!

oh and Pearls, thank you for your comment yesterday. you made me cry. *hugs*
hoffalady > Wednesday     Sept 16 '09     day 413

fluffed

i tried waiting up for the hubby last nite but only lasted until 11:30. that's super late for me considering i'm in bed at 9 o'clock every nite and usually asleep w/in minutes. he didn't get home until 1:30! this morning he didn't have to go into work until 10 for the pinning. so when the boys got on the bus- i went back to bed!

another rainy day here in West TN. i figured i'd clean the house a bit. super duper fun, huh? 

when the rain would let up, the humming birds would all flock to the feeder and the ruby throated male would chase everyone else off. i was in my bedroom when i noticed this lil lady outside my bedroom window. ran back to my office to grab my camera (and switch lenses). i didn't want to appear in the window all of a sudden and scare her off. so i had to creep up on her. thankfully the blinds were already pulled up! i got 10 frames before she flitted off. they weren't great thru the window and into the gloomy day outside. tweaked 'em a bit in LR and this was my favorite.

i did get a chance to pick a few tomatoes only to discover a big horned tomato caterpillar attacking my plants again AND rain rot. i found the evil one (and squished it!). then trimmed up the plants, getting all the eaten stem and rain rotted bits too. i've got so much fruit ripening now! i just hope the plants can hang in there until it's all ready!

homemade chicken pot pie for dinner was just what we needed on this chilly day! so delish!! thank you Paula Deen for the inspiration! :0)

btw, thank you to those of you who took the time to comment yesterday. it was just a lil encouragement about what's going on w/ me but it was nice to hear/read.
hoffalady > Tuesday    Sept 15 '09    day 412

button

i spent the majority of my day working on my site. since i revamped a few months back, my galleries basically have gotten lost w/o a button leading you straight to 'em. and since they got lost, they got messy. oh it was pitiful. 

but now there is a nice new "Galleries" button sandwiched between my 365 & Family buttons. 

i moved everything around in there and it's all perfectly organized. i do still have keywords to redo on pretty much everything but i'll get there.... it's kinda scary. lol! but that's what happens when i'm hubbyless. he won't be back until LATE tonite since it's the last 24hrs until the Chief selects make Chief. i wouldn't wanna be them tonite.

so you get a screen capture of my hard work. the dark skies and rain aren't helping me in the photography department. every shot i took needed flash and i hated 'em all.... lol

something unfortunate happened today. there was a miscommunication between myself and a new friend. since it was all unraveling online, we weren't getting each other. hard to understand tone from words on the screen. it wasn't a big deal but i was really trying to be clear and i don't think i was coming across how i intended. very frustrating. hopefully, we can move on from it and get to know each other better because i dig her, ya know?

on another note, i've got a good friend who is going thru some tension in her marriage, i really want to help but don't really know what to do or say. i'm just trying to lend my shoulder long distance. i hate feeling like i'm not making things better. :0/
hoffalady > Monday Sept 14 '09 day 411

Brady!

ah Monday Night (American) Football and the return of Tom Brady! can you tell who is excited? lol

i had a GREAT day today! for the second time in 14 years i was able to convince the hubby to call in sick to play hooky with me. can you believe it's only the second time in 14 years?? that speaks volumes about his dedication to his job, not about my powers of persuasion. my powers are just fine when it comes to pretty much everything else. thank you very much!

and what do we do when we have a a kid free day?

watch scary movies!! we watched The Uninvited, The Unborn, Horsemen and the remake of The Last House on the Left! if it had been a zombie movie marathon, it would have been a perfect day. :0)

yay Monday!
hoffalady > Sunday    Sept 13 '09    day 410

stowaway

i know that term usually refers to someone aboard some mode of transportation.. in this case Ms. Bug managed to not only find my herb garden but hitch a ride inside or pick the locks or shimmy down the chimney.... i still haven't figured out how she did it.

all credit for today's shot goes to Q for spotting her on the oregano. :0)

i love days when the most pressing thing that needs doing is laundry. it means i get to stay in my jammies and hang out with my guys.

if any of you do try the chicken spaghetti, please let me know whatcha think. feeding people is probably my favorite thing. i  definitely think i was a Jewish AND Italian mother in my past lives because everyone that comes into my home needs to eat until they are on the verge of a coma. my world just ain't right if they don't!
hoffalady > Saturday     Sept 12 '09   day 409

deliciousness

not an outstanding shot of one of my favorite meals but it'll do. a couple of weeks ago i had an idea on how to prepare chicken spaghetti.. it was a huge success and the boys have asked for it a couple of times since. so i caved tonite and made it again. it's so good. i mean i'm a good cook and everything, but wow. :0p

today was actually a fantastical food day in our house. i made a surprise brekkie. raspberry and blueberry cream cheese filled blintzes w/ scrambled cheese eggs and bacon. i love bacon. it was the first time i'd made blintzes and they were scrumptious!

other than that, just a regular ole domestic day around our house. i groomed the dogs, sans the baths. the hubby and i worked on clean and drying out the pool for storage. spent some time slacking off on FB and tending to my farm on FarmTown. not too shabby.

how was your Saturday?

**added later for Michael Sullivan**

- saute diced onions, green bell pepper, mushrooms, tomato, fresh basil & oregano, crushed garlic and zucchini in olive oil
- once those are perfectly tender, add boneless, skinless chicken thighs to the pan, salt & pepper to taste and cover (to trap as much moisture as possible)
- remove thighs and dice when they have browned
- add diced chicken and veggies to simmering sauce (crushed tomatoes w/ basil or jarred sauce is fine)
- simmer until thickened

it's not too complicated but it does take a lil work. so worth it tho! :0)
hoffalady > Friday    Sept 11 '09     day 408

Minerva

today did not go according to my plan. i had a big ole list of stuff to get done and... well, let's just say i've got a list for tomorrow all worked out too.

my first delay of the day was this lovely. i had just turned on the shower when the dogs let me know they wanted out. i opened the back door to a flutter of wings and saw this girl (yes i am just assuming she's a she- get over it) hop from under the bird feeder to the pool ring.

i ran and got my camera and spent the next half hour shooting her from the dining room window. she didn't do much, just flew from the pool to the fence but something had her attention. i decided i'd leave her and get into my already running shower. 

let's just say that a full hour later, i finally got into the shower after running around the house naked to shoot, standing on my night stand also in the buff to get this shot. i discovered what she was searching for- a lil red mama squirrel in my neighbors tree. the last i saw the pair of them, the squirrel was running along the top of the fence and Minerva was swooping after her.

i named her Minerva after Professor Minerva McGonagall from the Harry Potter series. she has this look about her, part disapproving stare, part gentleness and a whole lotta 'tude too. (and yes, i realize that Professor McGonagall's Animagus is a cat and this is a hawk. just got w/ me.)

my day didn't go according to plan and it turned out that lesson learned today was never to count your chickens before they hatch. stupid lessons.

as for today's significance, Sept 11, 2001 has affected each and every one of us in a different way. for us because we're a military family, it's affect is felt almost daily. in the last eight years, i have been lucky that my husband has not had to be boots on the ground in the sandbox. however, we've had longer sea deployments coming in shorter increments. 

today i happened to be in the commissary at the exact moment that the first plane hit. they came over the intercom and asked for a moment of silence. it was a beautiful thing that this normally busy and noisy place became completely still.

i'm not going to rattle on. i will simply say, no matter your personal stance on this war on terror, men and women volunteer to put themselves in harms way. they deserve your thanks and respect. support the solider/sailor/marine/coasty. they do the job day in and day out because they love this country. that's a beautiful thing.
hoffalady > Thursday    Sept 10 '09     day 407

wing

last weekend, the hubby found a dead perfectly intact butterfly laying in the driveway. he brought it in knowing i'd eventually use it as a subject for my daily. did i marry a great guy or what? i spent a few minutes shooting it this evening. this was my favorite shot of the bunch. the focus isn't great but i love this shapes and lines. here's another look at this beauty.

i hate bills. seriously. i loathe them. not regular bills. the ones that i create i can live with. i hate bills you get because someone made a mistake somewhere along the lines. last week i got a bill from the lab where my FNP sent all my blood work. the office had mistyped in insurance info. so they wanted $500 to tell me that i'm perfectly healthy. in comes the hubby to save the day and deal with the insurance. they say it's all handled and we're set.

yesterday i got another one for my PAP... annoying. i gotta remember to call my FNPs office tomorrow and get it straightened out on her end. i have health insurance for a reason. :0p
hoffalady > Wednesday    Sept 9 '09   day 406

abundance

today was a MUCH better day! 

i caught up on emails since i still had over 100 in my inbox from my trip to Boston. i've still got another 30ish to go but i know i'll knock those out.

the boys got their state testing results back. the testing was done spring '09 and the results were fantastic. T scored advanced in every single aspect of every subject! Q was mixed between advanced and proficient w/ more advanced. i guess that explains why they were both placed in advanced math classes this year. :0)

the tomatoes seem to be ripening faster than i can feed 'em to the hubby. every other day i harvest a full cup of cherry tomatoes and 1-2 medium beefsteaks. funny that i grow something so well that i don't eat myself. why can't i grow cucumbers like that??

made the most delicious dinner- roasted veggies (zucchini, onions, mushroom & tomatoes) w/ sautéed tilapia. it was tasty and so easy!

Fuller asked about SimpleMug. i like it. it's a way to link your most recently updated galleries on Facebook. it helps me share my dailies w/ people who don't follow it directly on SmugMug.

also i did email after fotoeffects suggested it. they agree w/ me (us) that there have been far too many outages and think they they have solved the problem. fingers crossed.....
hoffalady > Tuesday    Sept 8 '09    day 405

surrender

god yesterday sucked. i finished editing the hawk photos in an hour. i was so excited that i was done and *woohoo*- i was all ready to upload them.

except SM wasn't ready to receive them.

it took me 6 fricking hours to upload 85 shots. first the site went down completely. then they would time out. then there would be errors writing them to the server. then SimpleMug (on Facebook) posted saying i had a new gallery up and people were checking it out... when it only had 1/4 of the photos in it. i was so frustrated.

my daily was going to be undoubtedly a self portrait. it was either going to be a collage of me banging my head against the wall to express my frustration. then i thought a shot of me flipping a double bird would be more my style. in the end, tho, my shoulders were too knotted and tense for anything more than dropping my head on my messy desk and a lil infrared or alot as is the case.

(i know i'm not the only one who had problems w/ SM yesterday. i just need to vent 'n ramble on about it. 4 outages- scheduled or not- in just 8 days is a bit much.)

oh and to top it all off, i thought i was all clever w/ a hawk being my daily. only to discover there were like 5 other shots of hawks yesterday!! while i admit mine was the only one taking a bath. it just added to my foul (no pun intended) mood.

Wednesday had better be nicer to me... or else!

btw, here's the Hawk Spa Day gallery.
hoffalady > Monday   Sept 7 '09    day 404

splashin

okay the quality of the shot is not the greatest since i was shooting from inside the house but the whole experience was so freaking cool!

i was in the kitchen making popcorn for a lil family movie afternon when i saw this guy land in the back yard. we had drained the pool last week and have been in the process of cleaning it to put it away. thanks to a lil thunderstorm we had Sunday afternoon, he had just enough water to bathe in!

he was there having his own lil spa day for about 10 minutes and i was shooting the entire time! he dunked his head. he layed down. he did everything BUT roll over. seriously, the coolest hawk experience i've ever had! 

naturally, i took a ton of photos. oince i've edited them, i'll post a link later this week. 

a hawk spa day, movies w/ my guys and cheeseburger salad! what a great Monday!
hoffalady > Sunday    Sept 6 '09    day 403

Hershey's

i love chocolate. it should be it's own food group. you know the food for your soul group.

nothing much to report about today. it was very lazy. 

this was a last minute shot. nothing spectacular about it at all. and i really hate that you can see my fingerprints in the chocolate too. 

thanks for the comments on the Tipton Trail gallery. it took a lot of time to get the levels right in every single photo. a lot more than i'd anticipated. it's nice to know that ya think it was worth it. :0)

how was your Sunday?
Thursday October 1 '09 day 417

chucks

well after years of wearing Vans loyally, the boys have moved onto an American classic. change... i'm not a fan of it. it's bad enough T will turn 13 at the end of the month but no more Vans?? lol

what's been going on in the life of me? T is nearly fully recovered w/ his run in with the flu. we're all getting flu shots on Monday! and Q has weathered his first round of middle school bullying like a champ. it's great when you're kids do the right thing.

i've already made our holiday plans. if i had it my way, everyone would be coming to see me so i could feed them like it used to be back home. instead, this turkey day, we'll be driving to South Toledo Bend, LA to meet my parents at a cabin. my grandma, Aunt Janet, Uncle Wally and their grandchildren will be there too. it's not even close to the whole clan but it'll be good. for xmas, my lil bro has decided to come out. by the time it rolls around it'll be 22.5 months since i've seen him. i miss that kid!!

hope you're having a good week. i'm dealing with some stuff here, nothing that won't work itself out. but seeing as how i lack patience.... well, you understand.
hoffalady > Thursday   October 1 '09    day 417

chucks

well after years of wearing Vans loyally, the boys have moved onto an American classic. change... i'm not a fan of it. it's bad enough T will turn 13 at the end of the month but no more Vans?? lol

what's been going on in the life of me? T is nearly fully recovered w/ his run in with the flu. we're all getting flu shots on Monday! and Q has weathered his first round of middle school bullying like a champ. it's great when you're kids do the right thing.

i've already made our holiday plans. if i had it my way, everyone would be coming to see me so i could feed them like it used to be back home. instead, this turkey day, we'll be driving to South Toledo Bend, LA to meet my parents at a cabin. my grandma, Aunt Janet, Uncle Wally and their grandchildren will be there too. it's not even close to the whole clan but it'll be good. for xmas, my lil bro has decided to come out. by the time it rolls around it'll be 22.5 months since i've seen him. i miss that kid!!

hope you're having a good week. i'm dealing with some stuff here, nothing that won't work itself out. but seeing as how i lack patience.... well, you understand.
Thursday October 1 '09 day 417

chucks

well after years of wearing Vans loyally, the boys have moved onto an American classic. change... i'm not a fan of it. it's bad enough T will turn 13 at the end of the month but no more Vans?? lol

what's been going on in the life of me? T is nearly fully recovered w/ his run in with the flu. we're all getting flu shots on Monday! and Q has weathered his first round of middle school bullying like a champ. it's great when you're kids do the right thing.

i've already made our holiday plans. if i had it my way, everyone would be coming to see me so i could feed them like it used to be back home. instead, this turkey day, we'll be driving to South Toledo Bend, LA to meet my parents at a cabin. my grandma, Aunt Janet, Uncle Wally and their grandchildren will be there too. it's not even close to the whole clan but it'll be good. for xmas, my lil bro has decided to come out. by the time it rolls around it'll be 22.5 months since i've seen him. i miss that kid!!

hope you're having a good week. i'm dealing with some stuff here, nothing that won't work itself out. but seeing as how i lack patience.... well, you understand.
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