Wordless Wednesday: A cicada isn't quite ready to let go of its old shell

Can you guess the name of this rock?

If you guessed, "Chimney Rock" then you would be right! This natural rock structure, through no human intervention whatsoever, looks exactly like a....uh....CHIMNEY! Amazing.

The town of Chimney Rock is a charming little touristy town nestled in a lush green valley here in Western North Carolina. It has a bit of a Disney World feel to it, but much smaller and less crowded. For some reason, it is a popular spot for bikers.








We also took a little ride 1/2 a mile down the road to Lake Lure. Looks like a nice place to go swimming - if you enjoy swimming in lakes - but otherwise wasn't terribly fascinating.

Happy Birthday Aunt Kathie!

I was sure that by this time, some brilliant inspiration would hit me. I might draw you a picture or write something profound. I even considered writing a haiku, something I have only done in high school English classes. But nothing came to me.

But no matter, it is still your birthday and I at least want you to know that I am sending you the happiest of happy birthday wishes.

For those of you who do not know my Aunt Kathie, you are really missing out. I suggest you go on up to her little town outside of Binghamton, NY and meet her. She probably won't mind, but you ought to let her know you're coming. You'll see that she is just about the most loving, generous, supportive, appreciative, open-hearted person in the world. She's also funny, talented, fascinating, intelligent, and wise. Really, you have no idea of what you are missing. That's a picture of her. Isn't she magnificent???

A few of my favorite features of Aunt Kathie include:

• She always encourages me to follow through on my ideas - she never gives me reasons why something isn't possible.


• She always tells me she loves me, even though I already know.


• If she says she is going to do something, she always does it - even if it takes her months or years to get around to it!


• She is my biggest fan.


• She takes fantastic pictures.


• She is great at Clue, my favorite board game.


• She loves to honor others for their greatness.

So, happy birthday Aunt Kathie! Have the best day ever - you deserve it!

Google Adsense Payday

Cha-ching! After about 10 months of having google ads on various sites, including this one, VeganGirl, and FoodScout, I finally got my first Google Adsense check. Woo hoo! Like many Adsense paycheck recipients before me, for instance this guy, I am following the tradition of posting an obscured picture of myself holding my new riches. My check is a tad bit smaller than his.


Click on the picture to see the check up close and to get a glimpse of how awesome my hair looks.

Now, how to spend my new found fortune?

Wordless Wednesday: Sweeter than he is smart

Birds in my fireplace

Early this morning I was awoken (much too early) by the words, "Sweetie!!! There's cat vomit on the floor and birds in the fireplace!" Whuh? Sure enough, that was the situation. 2 little birds had managed to come down through the chimney and into our fireplace. Lucky for them, the screen trapped them safely away from the cats.

We locked the dog and the cats outside the back door and propped the front door open. Our house is very small so we figured that once we let the birds out of the fireplace, they would fly around for a minute and find the way out.

Unfortunately, they seemed convinced that the little windows above the fireplace were their escape path. They flew straight into it. Once they were convinced that there was no getting through it, they just perched on window sills. It was at this point that John asked if I was just going to leave the cat vomit on the floor. "I am so not concerned about the cat vomit right now."

Finally, one of them flew to a window that actually is able to open. Amazingly, the bird sat on that window sill while John opened the screen and the bird flew out. With a little encouragement from us, the other bird followed.

The floor is cleaned up now as well.

Let there be light! (and a cool breeze)

9 Months ago, after much obsessing over styles, sizes, and functionality, we bought a lovely ceiling fan to replace the hideous and enormous royal blue ceiling fan that came with our kitchen. The new fan has lived in a box in our dining room (also known as the storage closet) this entire time. We removed and sold the blue fan as soon as the new one arrived, thinking that we'd install it right away.


Getting around in the kitchen at night has been an interesting challenge. Oh well, there's always the little lights over the stove and sink. I am so very happy to report that our beautiful ceiling fan is now installed and working. All I have to do is flip a little switch and *poof!* the light goes on. You know, like normal people do.



Getting that one box out of the dining room also inspired us to organize all the rest of the junk that was being stored in there. Maybe in another 9 months we'll actually have some furniture. "Dining room" - before and after: