Day 401: Mystery Revealed

I thought today I would just reveal the mystery picture from Monday, but another picture happened today, too.

Kiddo and I were heading in the rose garden this morning to count landscape timbers. The plan is to, after 10 years, finally replace the timbers. They have long since lost their color and in some cases have rotted a bit. So in order to replace the timbers we need to know how many we have.

I followed kiddo right out the door. She had already made it around the corner of the house by the time I got down the steps, but she came back. Quickly. Yelling.

"Ducks! Get the camera!"

After grabbing the camera she and I slowly and quietly made our way back around the house to find two ducks in our backyard. There they stood, looking at each other across the yard. They soon paired up and hung around, only flying back to the river when kiddo tried to feed them some bread.

Hope they bring us some babies next time they visit!

And for the mystery picture (that I thought was an easy one, but guess not) was...A box of Kleenex. The close up picture was taken of the middle of the box where the seam lies.

Day 400

There are a lot of things I haven't done for 400 days straight. I haven't:

• washed my dishes
• driven my car
• kissed my husband
• sewn something
• listened to the radio
• petted the cat
• eaten fruits and vegetables
• exercised
• put on shoes
• worn my wedding ring
• read the mail
• used my cell phone
• taken a vitamin

I can only think of a few things I have done every day for the last 400 days:

• talked to my daughter
• watched tv
• made my bed
• checked e-mail
• drank water
• taken a picture

Day 400 is just like the previous 399. (Except I made my mom and daughter drink some juice. They took a sip of my kale-spinach-cucumber-carrot-celery-apple conconction that they hated, but each drank a small glass of carrot-celery-apple.) And the other exception is that my daughter took today's picture through the moonroof as I took her and my mom on a drive in my new car.

Day 399

We've always been a one car family. With hubby not driving it wasn't too hard. When our daughter started driving it became a bit more difficult. When she moved out on her own, it was even more difficult being car-less. She has been lucky enough to have a grandma close by and a boyfriend with a car, but she's been itching to get her hands on one. Ours.

We have always promised that when we were ready to buy a new car she would get the old one. We (and she) expected that time to come a couple years back. With all the health stuff with me and losing my income it had to be delayed. After getting myself back to work and having more money coming in, it was time.

Time for our almost 24 year old daughter to finally get the car. So tomorrow my mom will be bringing her over. My kiddo and I will be heading down to DMV together, me to register my new car and take possession of my old license plates (I just have to keep my old plates - those things have been through a lot with me); her to get the title transferred into her name (with no mom listed on it anymore) and her own license plate. I've talked to her a few times these last couple days and she sure is excited. And I'm excited for her.

I'm also excited for someone else. Look who is spending her time on the blanket on the dresser. Yup, kitty is trained again.

Day 398: Bonus Miles

I told myself when I started this cross-country bike ride one month ago that if I lost any weight on the ride, I would get bonus miles. One bonus mile for every pound I lost. Since it has been a month now, it's time to weigh in and see if I get myself any of those bonus miles.

After riding 210 miles this past month, I was sure I was getting some weight loss benefits. A couple weeks ago I noticed my clothes were fitting better. Then we started juicing 11 days ago - and we're still going strong - so I really knew there would be some bonus miles. But when I stepped on the scale, I was very surprised.

17 pounds.

210 miles of biking + 11 days of juicing = 17 pounds lost in one month!

Now, that in itself is an exciting thing. But just as exciting is that those bonus miles are getting me closer to Sisters, Oregon. I'm also excited to learn that hubby and I are going to be able to take a real trip to Sisters to coincide with my biking trip. And if all that isn't excitement enough, that trip will be taken in our brand new car that we just purchased last night. After a couple years of talking about it and having to delay it because of injury, then a surgery, and another surgery, and another surgery, then me not able to work, we finally decided this was the right time.

17 pounds and a new car. What a way to start a day!

Day 397: Mystery Monday

I decided to do another mystery picture. The last one from Day 377 turned out to be fun. (At least for me.) I'm needing some fun right now, so here we go again.

You might have something like this somewhere in your house, so hopefully this one will be easier.

Any thoughts?

Day 396

I'm trying to train our cat again. This time it's not just a fun trick like the one from Day 353. This one has to do with my mornings.

The cat sleeps inside most of the night. In the early morning hours she bawls to be let out (and we certainly abide). Then around six in the morning hubby lets her back in. She eats, she bawls, then she jumps on the foot of the bed. She runs up the bed, up anyone on the bed (me), then uses that person's shoulder (mine) as a launching pad/springboard to jump up on top of the bookcase headboard. She daintily walks around the lamp, the tv controller, and the box of kleenex and parks herself on top of any piece of clothing I might have on my dresser.

And there is where she proceeds to clean herself and fall asleep.

I'm now keeping things off the dresser, hoping she'll get the message and stay off. But she doesn't. She still runs through the same routine, but seems to bawl even more now that there isn't a soft place for her. So now my plan is to get her to quietly sit on a blanket on the dresser and off my clothes.

I'm starting to wonder who is the trainer and who is the trainee, though. Looks like she has trained herself to act like an Easter egg hiding in the grass.

Day 395

It was the nicest day of the year so far with temps in the 70s and beautiful blue skies. A day like this meant it was time to work outside again, but it also meant it was time to put the clothesline back up. Finally.

I sure missed it. A year ago exactly (on Day 29), I made a clothespin bag. That bag made it through the entire summer and will be on my line again this year. Unfortunately, no clothes went up on the line today because the weather turned off bad in the afternoon.

Luckily I captured several pictures before the storm hit.

When we first moved into this house, we had bunches and bunches of Johnny Jump-Ups. But as we tilled soil in our various flower beds, we started getting fewer and fewer of the flowers returning each year. This year we have just one single plant.

While my tulips in the backyard aren't yet blooming, those in the front bed are. I also came across some other flowers in the front bed that are only a couple inches tall.

I checked to be sure the hummingbird nest is still there. Now we just need the mama to come back.

The clouds moved in and the gusty wind kicked up, ending my outside work (and picture-taking) time.