Hotspur.us

On Monday, I had a plan. I was going to do some close ups of things on which I was working. This idea came to me as I was cleaning up after cooking. The problem is, I don’t always have something on which I’m working. Tuesday for instance, well what I did was go to Pittsburgh with Chad. But you know me, a good plan is never set in stone. I’m adaptable.

February 13, 2012

I had taken Monday off and since I had some time to kill before Fit Club I thought I’d go ahead and make some soup. Since I had time to kill, I figured I would get out the food processor. I usually avoid using it at all cost since I hate cleaning it. I was diligently trying to get all the blades back into the box o’ accoutrements when I noticed how nice and shiny they were.

February 14, 2012

Tuesday required a trip to the Brewing Store. And since we were headed there we decided to stop in Trader Joe’s (one of the few grocery stories I like). At that point we were both hungry and since Sharp Edge Brasserie was nearby…well you figure it out.At any rate, I snapped this photo will sitting in the passenger seat of the Ion trying desperately not to fall asleep. The dreary, blury, blue of the photo pretty much captured what it felt like outside the car.

February 15, 2012

At some point B and I were having a random text exchange of rhyming words. From it came “A Ton of Stoats” to which I promptly claimed. I have no idea what I was going to do with it, but it was mine. I soon realized I needed an image to accompany the phrase. This was my first go and I was pretty happy with it.

February 16, 2012

These are not my really expensive, delicious, hand painted chocolates.

February 17, 2012

Aw crud, I forgot to take a photo aside from this one. Once again Whiteboard saves me from failure. I love you Whiteboard

February 18, 2012

MAGPI was having an event on the 19th and I was getting my stuff together for the Re-Gift game. I love watching people unwrap gifts and when they are tacky recycled gifts…all the better!

February 19, 2012

Dad was in charge of making sure the Re-Gift game went well. It did.

Week six and I am still rolling along. Heck I even came up with a theme right off. Well, right off being a relative term. In this instance I mean around about 5:45 pm on Monday. So that’s pretty good, right?

This time of the year we spend most of our time in our attic. It’s warm and toasty and that’s where the big comfy chair is. Also it has a really great view of town. I was sitting there, staring out the window as the sun dipped low and the sky had a nice hue to it. I had the camera sitting by my computer so I thought I’d capture the moment. A few minutes later the lightbulb went off.  Also just so you know, yes there is a screen in my window. You can see it in most of the photos. I just went with it. After all, it’s my view of Morgantown.

February 6, 2012

5:43 pm. I zoomed in so Morgantown High School is the dominate building in the foreground. The Hotel Morgan (lovely ballroom where Chad & I had our wedding reception, also where my brother works) is visible on the left. It has the orange/red sign atop it.

February 7, 2012

9:45 am.  A bright and sunny day in the University City. It was actually a pleasantly warm day for early February. The sun was especially exciting. Too bad I had to work.

February 8, 2012

7:12 am. This time of year Morgantown doesn’t get much in the way of early morning sun. Actually we don’t get much in the way of sun period (that’s one reason yesterday was crazy exciting). I decided to shoot this photo from the side window which was easier typed than done. I had to deal with lots of glare from the attic lights. At any rate, that’s the reason you get to see so much of our neighbor’s roof.

February 9, 2012

7:55 pm. The City has a nice and pleasant glow at night. Sometimes I curse it when I’m looking for asteroids, but generally I think it is quite pleasant to take in.

February 10, 2012

8:27 pm. Slightly different view than last night. I shot more off to the left and so you can’t see our neighbors’ porch lights (yes, we too still have our white Christmas lights up on our porch). And the City seems to have more of a glow to it in this photo. Not sure if that has to do with focal point…or maybe a big couch fire.

February 11, 2012

8:29 am. It snowed. It finally snowed again. Sure a nice fluffy blanket of snow makes Morgantown look so nice, quaint and clean. It also means that I woke up to the sound of squealing tires. Not to mention, should we feel compelled to leave the house we’ll be sliding all the way into town.

February 12, 2012

12:30 pm. Don’t be fooled. It didn’t get any warmer. That snow had not melted. It had blown away. Lovely bit of wind we get around here. Hurry Spring.

I thought I’d give this From Where I Stand thing a try. Problem is, I don’t go too many cool places during the week* and the carpet in the house really needs to be ripped out and burnt. (We are systematically working on the ripping out part, but not the burning part.)

At any rate, I was too lame lazy to come up with a different theme, so onward I trudged, trusty phone pointing downward to capture my little feet. (My feet aren’t really little, I wear anywhere from a size 8.5 to 9.5.)

January 30, 2o12

It was dinner time for Orlando. Which is to say it was really medicine time for Orlando. I went into her room to see if she was awake and sure enough, she was having a snack in the second floor of her her cage, which is  a bit of a mess. I don’t hassle her too much about it since she only goes to her cage for a snack or sometimes to take a nap in her third floor hammock.  I was wearing my lovely purple birkenstock birkis (barely in the photo) which have A. Been around a long time and B. Taken quite a beating from me.

January 31, 2012

My days are pretty cyclical and boring. Like clockwork Orlando gets her meds twice a day(or rather Chad and I wrestle her meds into her). I’m not 100% sure what her schedule is, but I think she mixes it up so we are confused. At any rate Orlando HATES her medicine and after protesting as much as possible will retreat to the pictured bag in order to wipe her chin off.

As you can see she is already recovered from the trauma and on her way to do something very important.

I am in my stocking feet. Please note my socks are labeled R and L. Also please note I have them on the properly corresponding foot. That was a big accomplishment for me.

February 1, 2012

I was on the road for work today.  As you can see, the car is really in need of a good scrubbing, or at least some floor mats. I was unsure of the weather and since I really hate driving in high heels I went with boots.  (Fear not, I was not driving when I took this photo. I was making sitting at one of West Virginia’s fine new rest stations along I-79.)

February 2, 2012

I was hanging out in the living room on the sofa, which is not a usual occurrence for anyone in our house this time of the year. Any non-cat member of our house at least. I thought I’d take a cute photo of Ghost (the tabby cat on the opposite sofa) all curled up and happily dozing. In the short time it took me to find my phone on the sofa on which I was sitting and get it to camera mode, she woke up and just as I was hitting the shutter button her brother Freyr jumped on my lap. “Oh hai!”

I took another photo once I got Captain PhotoBomb out of my way, but I decided this really was a good example of  From Where I Sit. I’m wearing a relatively new pair of slippers. I haven’t had slippers since I was a kid. These things are the bomb. So warm. So fuzzy. I think I am begining understand why all the hip kids in town wear their slippers out of the house.

February 3, 2012

I took Friday as a vacation day and went geocaching with Bump. It was a great day to be out and about. Being out in the sun was just delightful. I took this photo while in the middle of a multi-cache. I’m wearing my old trusty Doc Martens which were purchased for me by Dad on April 23, 1999 at Daniel’s Men’s Store in Morgantown, WV. This is my second pair of Docs. My first pair I bought during my Sophomore year of college at WVU at a now defunct store called Wizard’s Records. I’m still Grunge at heart.

February 4, 2012

It was a big day of geocaching in South Park with a bunch of the MAGPI gang. I hadn’t packed extra shoes or socks which I was sorely regretting by the time I got home. My first act upon returning home was to rid myself of hiking boots & socks. As you can see Freyr came to greet me. It’s nice to have warm welcome home – even if it is just to let me know the food bowls were low.

 February 5, 2012

Sunday was a day of incredible sloth for me. And by that I mean I only left the house to take our recycling to the main drop off station and have dinner, and that I worked out from home. All of that though, didn’t happen until well after 2 p.m. For the first part of the day I hung out in my fancy warm slippers and caught up on reading some blogs. Life is good. Ok, you’ll have to excuse me now while I freak out for being slothful all day.

*It would probably be more accurate to say I generally don’t remember to take the daily photo until after I’m home from any cool place I may have ventured. This week I was in fact out and about. 

So the subject of the photos aren’t really following a theme, but the photos are all taken with the xolaroid setting on the RetroCamera App of my phone,  (it’s free! I like free!) so that’s sort of a theme, right? Even if you don’t agree, please don’t tell me. I’m doing the best I can here and maintaining focus is not my strong suit.

January 23, 2012

Since starting this little project I’ve definitely noticed my surroundings a little more. Not always of course – please see about statement about my attention span – but I have definitely stopped to take notice of things when I’m staggering by with my hands full of crap to be shuffled from one counter to another, one floor to another. Enough waxing philosophically. I was cleaning off my craft table (sewing table, stacking crap table) when this caught my eye. The embroidered piece will eventually be the neck ruff of a renaissance costume. It was sitting (as it has been for over a year) on said table. What really caught my attention was the GPI,  a leftover from a prior project.

January 24, 2012

I was in Pittsburgh to visit the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh which is a vastly cool place. This is an old post office that has been re-purposed for part of the museum. It’s a very cool hands on museum and quite frankly I’d drag Chad up there, but we’d just look like some creepy adults and I’m sure freak out a bunch of parents. (Also, the food is really good in the cafeteria) Anyway, the Museum is just amazing. It would be a tough feat to take a bad photo of this building. I could have stood outside and played around with different angles, but quite frankly the wind was so evil I beat feet to get inside.

January 25, 2012

It was Burns Night, I was obligated to break out the single malt scotch. And taking a picture of myself trying to play my pipes would have been neigh impossible. Also, I haven’t played the great pipes in ages.

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o‘ mice an ‘men
Gang aft agley,
An’lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

- Robert Burns

January 26, 2012

I was out walking in the driving rain (in pursuit of a FTF geocache) when I stopped to take this photo. The older part of this cemetery (not much can actually be considered new really) has some fascinating markers and family plots. I could walk through here every day for a year and take a different photo. Although it doesn’t show up very well in this photo, the concrete forming the step (in the forefront) is carved with the date 1902.

And yes, I did the get the FTF, thanks for asking.

January 27, 2012

Well, it’s Friday and Chad promised me a delicious beverage if I made it through Death Club. I made it, but just barely. Although to be honest, this was from Chad’s delicious beverage. I had a Duchess. And then, being so exhausted I went to bed. I am the life of the party. All that aside, I was happy with this photo. Something about the fuzziness and the colors make me happy (and that’s stone cold sober me typing).

January 28, 2012

Once again Chad let me go into a store when I was tired and hungry and disoriented. And while I was in search of yarn for a hat, I quickly became distracted and wandered around taking lots of random photos. None of them were quite right so I kept on snapping. I’m sure the customers in a certain local craft store were wondering about all the flashes of light. Eventually I moseyed around until I stumbled upon this…thing and once it was captured I felt a little better. Still it took me ages to get my yarn and get the heck out of there.

January 29, 2012

This is one of my favorite things.