Anya Bast is Having A Contest!

And you can enter.

Click here to enter Curl Up with a Book…and a Nook Contest

Woo Hoo!

If I win it will mean less of this:

... worrying if the the cats are going to knock over a book shelf and kill me, and more time actually relaxing and reading.

Kidnapped!

I was recently kidnapped and forced to partake of holiday cheer because I have not been in the mood for Christmas this year. (I haven't put up a tree or wrapped a gift or baked a cookie!)

As you can see by the first picture I was not even given the time to comb my hair or put on makeup before I was taken out for Blueberry Blintzes!

Then I was bundled into my car along with tangerines and Christmas Music and we were off on the "Jolly Up Shannon" trip.

First Stop was Round Rock where, in a fit of 'Holiday Cheer' I purchased a new Cthulhu doll. (and some mysteries and a couple of Science Fiction books).

I was also able to comb my hair and put on some lip gloss.

I was 'encouraged' to sing along with the Christmas music....


The next stop was Fredericksberg. We were going to do a mini tour of the Trail of Lights.  Since this was a spur of the moment abduction there wasn't much planning and nobody thought to bring a camera. All the pictures were taken with Chris's iPhone. It would have been better if I had my phone with me, but....

First we ate an early dinner at Friedhelm's Bavarian Inn. Then we visited downtown and looked at the lights.

This is the largest Candle Pyramid I have ever seen. It is beautiful. (My candle pyramid and smoker and nutcrackers are still all boxed up. I don't think I'll pull them out this year.)

As you can see, Chris is standing in front of it. I tried to call for help while I had the phone, but, alas, I was not able to. (I couldn't figure out how to use the damn iPhone - Heck, this is the only picture I was able to take with the darn thing!)

Then it was off to Johnson City.

The courthouse was covered with lights.

Then we went to the Pedernales Electrical Co-op. This was my favorite part of the night. It's magical under the trees.

I call the next one "Christmas Broccoli"

After driving around and looking at more lights we were on our way to Marble Falls.

And then it was a dark drive home.

I could have done with some hot chocolate to warm me up after the walk by the lake, but other than that it was a pretty nice evening.

I didn't change my mind and I'm still not putting up any decorations or making any candy, (or singing any more songs!) but it was nice to get out and do something different.

Veteran's Day

On a 'normal' Veteran's Day I think of all the people who I know who have served in the Military: Chris, Ric, my grandfather, etc. and I'm grateful for the sacrifices they've made for our country.


This Veteran's Day, however, has been overshadowed by what happened at Fort Hood last Thursday. For everyone who doesn't know I live in a small town just East of Killeen.



Thursday November 5th, 2009 turned out to be a surreal day. I was at lunch with Chris when we heard about the shooting spree on Fort Hood.



We were glued to the television while we ate.



When I got in the car I scanned the radio stations as I drove back to work but they didn't have any news on them.



Once back at work I found an MSN feed for the story and kept updated.



The only people who came into the store after 3:00 p.m. Thursday were my co-workers relatives and Chris. The normally busy street outside the store was empty.

We heard so many conflicting stories from the different news sites that at one point it seemed like the shooting was escalating outside Fort Hood and we thought about shutting down the store and going home.



A friend was on post when this happened and he was almost at the gate when they locked down the post. He was the second car in line and had to wait there for six hours until they opened up again.



One of my co-worker's father-in-law works at a school on post. They didn't get the last of the children out of the school until after 9:00 p.m..


 A lot of the soldiers I deal with are jittery and on edge. Family members are still in shock. And me? I still don't know what to think about everything that is happening here, all the changes that are happening to my community.

The next day was bright and beautiful, and I needed to get away from the news, so we decided to get some chicken and go to the park for a picnic, which I blogged about here.

While we were there I took these pictures of the flags flying at half mast for the victims of the shooting spree.

It just felt right to post them today.

Feeding Ducks

Today Chris and I went to Chick-Fil-A and went to the park to eat lunch. We picked a table just off the path between the gazebo and the pond.

While we were eating two geese came over the hill...

They stopped to check out what the birds were eating (seeds)....

Then they got a little braver and came closer to us.

We were ignoring them because we were eating when suddenly Chris sat up and said "Ouch!" He looked down at the goose who had suddenly appeared by his side and asked, "Did you just bite me?"

I started laughing so hard I almost missed taking this picture of the goose fleeing the scene of the crime!

I adore this picture. Look at the goose's feet.


When we were finished eating we walked over to the pond.

And fed some ducks.

And then the geese showed up again!

Chris didn't hold a grudge and fed all the feathery fowl.

Once all the waffle fries were gone we left, but Chris had a small parade following him:

 Oh, and just because I can,

Those feet still crack me up!

Days of Rain and Froggies...

It was a very rainy week, and here are some pictures. First up are two pictures of the lake that is growing in my back yard. The pictures I posted a few weeks ago were under my trees. This week's are over by the street in the middle of the yard:

The second picture shows how deep it is.

The next picture is out the back door at work. Look at the stream of water running behind the cars.

As you can see they were smart when they built the mall - they slanted the parking areas so the water flows into the road between the buildings.

This is a frog I found while I was vacuuming. Mark is holding it.

We put it outside so hopefully it found it's way somewhere safe.

I saved my favorite picture for last - this is a picture of the view of the front of the store. I really like the light reflections on the rainy road and parking lot.

Once again I'm happy to find something beautiful in my everyday life.

I truly believe beauty surrounds us but we are often too busy to stop and notice it.

I Defied the Gods...

I wasn't going to blog again quite so soon, but the last picture amused me so I had to post it. There is a long story attached to it:

I was invited to a party in Salado this weekend and I think someone up there didn't really want me to go.

The first indication was the bathroom door. When I take my shower I do not close the bathroom door, the cats like to wander in and out while I'm showering and if I close the door they sit outside it and howl. Since I am usually alone in the house when I bathe I just leave the door open.

Anyway, I was out of the shower and putting on my makeup and the cats were playing in the bedroom and somehow the bathroom door slammed shut. Not a big deal except.... I couldn't get it opened again.

I tried and tried and nothing. Thank goodness I was on the side with screws and thank goodness I keep a screwdriver in the hat where I store my makeup (It's a tech thing. We are terrified of not having a screwdriver).

I took the doorknob off and found out the part that turns the damn latch had broken off and I could not get the latch to disengage with anything in the bathroom, so I had to remove the hinges and take the door down. I removed all the parts of the doorknob from the door and rehung it.

By this time I was all grimy again and I had to take another shower.

So, I finally got all  clean and pretty. There were little nuisances getting ready - put my thumb through a stocking, chipped a nail, got dressed and realized my blue nails didn't match my maroon top so I had to change my clothes.... You know. All those little nagging things that happen when a woman gets ready to go out.

Here's a picture of my nails so you can see what I mean, they really don't go with any type of red:

When I left the house it was a little breezy, but the sun was shining, however, the closer I got to Salado the darker it got. By the time I got there it was pitch black and pouring rain. I was going somewhere new and I couldn't find the turn off because none of the street lights were on. I drove very slowly and had to wait for lightening flashes to find my turn off.

Halfway down the gravel road there were some lights and I was relieved to finally see something friendly and lit up.

The party was OK. Everything to eat had peppers and there was a cash bar that I did not take advantage of and I ended up talking shop all night, but nobody died so I guess it was an enjoyable evening.

On the way out I stopped and took a picture of  one of the dozen lights that lit the circular part of the driveway and I'm glad I hadn't noticed it on my way in:

I would have felt like I was in a bad gothic romance which started, "It was a dark and stormy night..." (I took the picture on my way out)

I made it home in one piece.

There was one final message from the gods tonight:

I think I'm going to call this picture "The Shroud of Salado" because it's a pretty good image of my face rubbed into the makeup removal cloth.

This just proves that the gods do have a sense of humor.

It's late and I'm going to bed. Sleep warm Interwebs.

Photo Enhancement Experiments....

I downloaded  Paint.net  and I've been experimenting with it.

I started with a picture Chris took of my hands.

Here is the original picture:

I'm holding a cup of tea. I like the golden tones in this picture - my nails, my gloves and the embroidery on my jacket.

Can you tell I was cold?

First Experiment was Black and White:

Chris likes this one the best.

He likes the texture that the black and white brings out.

I also took my favorite and enhanced it with Sepia:

There is not as much texture in this one, so I feel kind of 'meh' about it.

Chris says I like the sepia because it removed twenty years from my fingers.

And now for my favorite, I call it "Shannon 4:00 a.m.":

I brightened it a bit and then I used the Photo Effect "Soften Portrait":

 I like the muted colors. I like the hint of texture in the jacket. I really like this picture, I think it tells a story.

I enjoy looking at it.