Birthdays and the Beach

Justin and I have been busily getting the house "perfectly" organized. I guess you could say that we have mostly succeeded at this point, though we're probably still not done. We've still got a little left to do in our bedroom. But, we have a shoe rack (THANK GOODNESS!!) which is keeping our shoes and things in order by the door. We have a second book shelf, which is also almost full, so we're likely to be needing another one sometime, but for now this one will do just fine. :-) Perhaps we should actually have gotten a second shelf like the first. We have the computers mostly organized (like that will ever *really* happen). Justin still has to figure out a better method for dealing with the cords, but I guess that will come sometime down the road. :-)

I've spent the last few days not feeling too great. I spent Monday curled up on the couch in a blanket, half asleep. We're not really sure what caused it, though it may have been a cross contamination from a wooden spoon used in something I can't eat at some meal previously made at Justin's parents' house. We're not sure that that is what caused it, but at least it offers somewhat of an explanation. I guess we'll just have to be more vigilant about what is used on and in food that gets cooked over there. But, I'm starting to get back to feeling good again, which is wonderful! Justin prefers when I'm feeling good because I tend to be in a good mood when I'm feeling good, hehe. He's been good about dealing with me not feeling good though, and with my lack of ambition in cooking lately! At least his favourites are easy to cook-- anything pasta is "perfect" in his opinion, lol.

Tonight on the menu will be pancakes, which he thinks is rather odd. He apparently grew up in a family where pancakes are only for breakfast or brunch. Strange, in MY family, we ate them for breakfast, lunch, or supper... whatever meal for which the mood struck! I guess he'll have to adjust to that one, because my family did pretty well anything for any meal, though I have to say I don't think we ever had pasta or baked chicken or anything for breakfast unless it was leftovers! We did have second day spaghetti a few times for breakfast though (if I recall correctly), so really, I don't suppose I've ever been conditioned to ONLY having certain meals at certain times of day! Of course, the tendency was, is, and will be in the future, to have cereal or something for breakfast (ie, normal breakfast food), but I don't see what is wrong with having "breakfast" for supper. Anyway, all that to say, we are having pancakes with fruit on top.

We've had a lot of birthdays this past month! First my mother (who lives too far away for us to go there for her birthday). Then Justin's mother, for whom we had a cake at their house. Then, on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of the month we had Justin's Dad, our nephew, and Justin! We had a cake for the three of them at their house (his parents) on the 20th, and then we invited them over for a celebration of Justin's birthday at OUR house this past Sunday.

Sorry for the quality, but this is the best picture I got. If you look closely, you'll see that the candles are all burning different colours! VERY cool! They must be treated with chemicals of some sort to cause the coloured flames or something. Anyway, all but the white one burned the colour of the wax. The white one burned pale blueish purple.

Justin and I went to test out my camera after getting the dust off the various areas we could see that had issues. We're hoping that it's taken care of the problem now, but here is a pretty cool picture that resulted in our testing!

This was also a part of those test shots. I think it actually turned out pretty good! It's probably one of my favourite pictures of Justin at the moment. Of course, they only seem to improve. Perhaps that is my skill improving, or perhaps it is Justin learning to smile more often when a camera is pointed his direction.

And, after the couple of test shots by the marsh, we went over to the beach. Of course, we probably would have stayed at the marsh if we had more area to explore, but there was a gate and barbed wire fence around the areas we were thinking we would explore, so we decided to go to the beach again. So, here's to a walk on the beach at sunset!
And, this shell just looked beautiful with the sunlight hitting it at the angle it was! It really seemed to bring out the colour in it.

An afternoon with my niece

My niece had been told that she could come do something with her uncle and me, and then at the last minute plans changed, so we had to rearrange what was going to happen. It ended up that she didn't get time on her own with her uncle, but she sure enjoyed her time with her aunt anyway!

First we baked chocolate chip cookies, and she loved eating the flour. Go figure. Most kids like the sugar.

Then we made a decoration for the front door at their house, as Valentine's Day is coming up. Of course, hearts are always in style anyway! This was a new concept to her, but it turned out quite beautifully!

And then, because we have three birthdays in a row (January 21, 22, 23) we made cards/pictures for each person who needed one. This one was for her brother.

Thought you might be interested

Though it is generally quite a bit warmer here than in Canada, we did have a "pleasant" surprise yesterday! We got snow! It didn't stay on the ground very long (nor did it get very thick) but it did snow nonetheless, and I have pictures to prove that it snowed.





And, this little puppy lives in one of the studio apartments in our plaza. Her name is Abby, and she's three months old... and a lot of fun to watch! She likes to dig up rocks to chew on (weird) and to chase the leaves blowing across the court yard.

The last week or so

This is Precious, as the blocks in the picture would indicate. He is Justin's cockatiel if you ask Justin's parents, or Justin's dad's cockatiel if you ask Justin.

Seeing as Justin is about the only person who can pretty well always hold Precious without getting bitten, I suppose that no matter what Justin says, that bird has chosen him as the owner.

My nephew playing on the swing set.

I thought this was funny! We saw it at one of the exits from the church parking lot on Sunday!

My niece, posing with a NICE smile for the first time in who knows how many attempts to get a nice picture of her. She tends to pose with a half smile half grimace on her face for some reason.

And... Justin.

Sorry, again, no pictures of me, hehe! I'm on the wrong side of the camera, I suppose. Maybe sometime I'll get Justin to take some pictures too.

Our Pets

This is Igloo

This is Adobe

A small fight did break out over this chunk of carrot, but Adobe managed to keep it. Igloo got a different chunk of carrot... and some cracker with cream cheese on it.

I'm starting out the new year right... with a post on a blog I rarely, if ever, use!

Justin gave me a wonderful gift last week... well, almost two weeks ago now! It was a Canon Rebel XTi, which I have been enjoying immensely! I like taking pictures, and seeing just how good they can turn out (or badly, when you get the settings wrong, lol!) I've got some gorgeous pictures of the beach... and of him, and of the kids, and then of course, I have some not so gorgeous ones... like the one I tried to take of the pelicans that turned out quite blanked out because I had the exposure set too high and the shutter speed WAY too low! They look like two little dots in the middle of white waves!

We've had some nice times over the "holiday season" and are enjoying another of Justin's days off. Some of my favourite times have been the times I've spent with my niece and nephew! They're so adorable! I can't wait until Justin and I have one of our own! It will be such fun to have a little one around (and a lot less boring here when he is at work!!). Though I have to say that I miss Canada and it's snowy winters and beautiful landscapes, I also have to say that I very much am starting to love this part of Virginia. I can't say that I like the city aspect of it, but there are such beautiful places thrown in amongst the not so nice places that I am starting to really enjoy it here. I guess I'm doing okay at simply enjoying being where the Lord has put me for this time in my life (and of course, my husband being here helps it be a nice place to be, lol!).

So now, some pictures for your viewing enjoyment!

This is a church just a little ways down the road from here-- I thought it looked quite pretty!

My niece helping her mommy

My sister in law baking a cake... with the assistance of my niece, the blur in the background

My nephew totally in awe of a movie that was played before church.

This was NOT taken by me (how could anyone ever tell that?? hehe). Sorry the white balance is off on it... that's why it is blue, but it is the only decent picture I have of me, so...

My husband! I liked the picture... and I liked the subject. It's so rare to catch a really nice looking smile on his face. Good thing I'm married to the guy, as I seem to be the only one able to get smiles on his face for pictures!

Here's a picture I quite liked! It's from when Justin was off on the 25th-- we went to the beach and enjoyed a walk there, and these pieces of wood were stuck in the beach! I thought it made for some interesting photography if nothing else!

And, one of my favourite pictures! I really like this one with the sponge in it... I've not seen a red sponge before, and the colours turned out nicely and all. Perhaps we'll be back to that beach some day-- I hope so! It's one of the few beaches around here that I've actually seen shells, stones, and other things on the shore! Most of the beaches here seem to be sifted clean so people don't stub their toes or something.

Hope you enjoyed my pictures, and perhaps I shall post again some day soon! (Or, maybe I will convince Justin that he ought to post, lol!)