2-22-14

My mom turned 80 and we had a party for her!

My dad, sister Stay, Mom, Sister Sakura, and me.

Strawberry Jello and the Squirt.

These photos do not capture the sound of this house during this party. This video does:

2-21-14

My sisters arrived last night and I am happy. We are cooking for our mom's 80th birthday party this weekend. I had to work today and then go to J and M and then to Kroger, but here we are in the kitchen cooking while Stay is getting her hair cut and colored.

2-19-14

I went to Notasulga to observe a student this week. She did a fine fine job. I got a hug from the principal and from my friend The Realtor who volunteers there.

2-17-14

I received my annual review today and it was "exceeding expectations" in all categories. To celebrate, Dan and I went to dinner at Amsterdam. I had shrimp and grits but the shrimp were tough.

This quote, I don't recall where I got it from. I think I saw it on Facebook and did a screen shot. It's deep to ponder the quest for an ordinary life. So many times I think I want something extraordinary... and was urged to be something extraordinary... and I hope that to my friends and students and family I am extraordinary enough. But an ordinary life I desire.

2-16-14

This evening Squirt fixed my student's phone that had been broken for so long. It help photos and movies of her son's trip to Disney World. Squirt dissected it, found an unconnected connector and re-soldered an 8 point switch under a microscope. It worked. I texted my student this photo. She was so glad.

2-15-14

This one photo tells a story about 4 hours long. It alone sparks the memory of the entire 4 hour episode, the three hours that followed, and the evening afterwards. Here is the story:

Food on floor and counters

Furious, frustrated woman

Demands and orders and stands on ladder

Here Chrissy, hand me that can of almond paste

Put those bottles in the bar

Break this chocolate into pieces

Wash those lids

Woman won't eat. Won't drink her coffee.

Sit down mom, take a rest.

No, Chrissy, I don't have a moment to spare. They are coming at 6.

2-13-14

This photo reminds me well of the evening. It's Squirt's 23rd birthday. We took him to dinner at the Indian place on the OA Highway. Strawberry went with us. Then we took him shopping for a nice pair of shoes. He was urged to try on a pair of boots "just to see" and I snapped a photo. He did not buy the boots. We are still hoping to get him a nice pair of docksiders or other decent shoes that are not sneakers.

I was at a stop light and saw the moon. That is what got me. The moon seemed so large. Here, in this photo, not so much. This is our downtown corner, Toomers Corner. The sun was setting behind me (hence the almost full moon) lighting up the brick building there and the old Toomer's Drug Store.

2-12-14

I've been painting to try and raise money for my friend. Here are a few works completed, but not matted yet. I'll do that next.

2-11-14

A photo is supposed to remind me of the day. This photo tells me that I was teaching and that was a Tuesday. In class we talked about constructivism and then decided who would observe whom during the week. Tuesdays are my longest days of the week. In just looking at this photo now, posted 11 days after the fact, I remember nothing of that long day except what this picture reminds me of. If I go to my calendar, I see that I had an appointment that day that I could not keep due to a migraine. So now I know that I must have had a hard day and managed to survive enough to get to class that evening.

2-8-14

I went to see my friend Doug's mom today. She is donating stained glass angels to help with the fundraising efforts for her son. I am painting. If you are interested in donating to help my friend with is cancer-related bills, I will mail you an original piece of artwork, no matter where you are in the world.

The link to donate is here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/dgfP3

Be sure to claim the perk you want. We have all sorts of perks.

After clicking this link you will find out who the real Chrissy is behind this blog. Please keep it quiet. I still want to be unsearchable and not have my real name linked at all.

Doug two weeks ago: http://chrissysphotoaday.blogspot.com/2014/01/1-26-14.html

Doug getting chemo on Friday. 

He's starting to look worn out. The hair will go soon, and the feeding tube will start. I'm so glad Jes and I never had to have chemo when we had cancer. I'm also so very thankful we had insurance. Doug does not (yet). His mother and all his friends and Dan and I are encouraging him to sign up through the Affordable Care Act asap. 

2-7-14

Took a long walk at night with Dan and upon returning the water was so still on the pond that the museum reflection was lovely in it. 

2-5-14

Mom's kitchen is coming along nicely. Finally, it seems almost done. She is starting her cooking classes.

Dare I take these daffodil greens as an impending sign of spring?

2-2-14

I didn't feel well all day but managed to go for a walk in the woods, which was nice.

Got to watch the latest Downton Abbey tonight.

1-31-14

Last day of January. Working on a cable knitted scarf some lucky chap will get for Christmas next year.

1-30-14

 

These are the mittens I knitted for Aza. 

Today I had a meeting with my doc students and we worked on a paper.

1-29-14

It snowed yesterday. Not much, but it snowed. This caused Auburn to cancel classes yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Don't make fun of us... we just aren't prepared for ice and snow down here in the deep south. Meanwhile, I got a nice break.

1-28-14

It is

It is snowing and I know that there won't be class tonight. I'd planned to take these eggs with me but now they are mine to play with. Naked eggs. Naked eggsperiments.

Here you can see the dusting we got before sunset. This caused classes to be cancelled all day.

Dan accomplished a lot with his kits. He is selling a dozen or so this weekend and they are ready for delivery.

1-27-14

I don't know why there was a gigantic blown up baby on the field next to the stadium today.

1-26-14

This is me, my friend from high school Doug, and his sweetheart. Doug is a stained glass artist, and was just diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. His wife died 10 years ago leaving him to raise a teenaged boy alone and put through college, and since then lost his job and became a "starving artist" and doesn't have health insurance. His bills have risen to almost $10,000. He had one chemo treatment two days before this photo was taken in my kitchen. If you are a regular reader of my blog, please consider making a donation of any amount to help him with living expenses and medical bills. He will have six weeks of chemo and radiation and during that time, and at some point, he will most likely not be able to work.  He has a feeding tube inserted into his stomach for the day when his throat is so raw from radiation that he cannot eat. He has a port in his chest for the chemo drugs. I've heard that throat cancer treatment is especially painful. You can visit the fundraising site that our high school classmates set up to read his story and make a contribution. Anything helps lift his spirits and his bank account. If you make a donation, please leave me a comment so I can thank you personally!

https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/dgfP3

After Doug and Sweetheart left, my grad students came over for a training session on the new 3D printer. The workshop was lead by Squirt, who did a great job instructing us all.

1-25-14

I started an eggsperiment. Soaking eggs in vinegar causes the shells to react and dissolve. In a few days the eggs will be "naked." I will take them to class and we will do some osmosis experiments with them.

1-24-14

Dan and I took a walk this afternoon around 4:00 around the art museum. See the long shadows of winter? This a very interesting sculpture. I have no idea what it means. Isn't Alabama beautiful in its own way this time of year?

1-19-14

Woke up with headache. I bet I ate something in Blacksburg that contained a forbidden substance. I went to mom's for lunch but couldn't stay long because I felt so crappy. We ate quiche and fruit and bread and roasted vegetables.

 

This evening I finished a gift I've been working on for Aza. I'll mail it to her next week. I'll post a photo after she receives the gift because I don't want to give it away. I started working on it at the beginning of the month and it took SO many hours.

 

1-18-14

 

After breakfast at Panera we left B'burg. When we went through SC, we decided to check out Clemson. It's a nice campus, reminiscent of Auburn. We had lunch and my sandwich was fried green tomatoes with cheesy grits on the side. Decadent. 

Driving through the mountains  is always beautiful. We got home around dinner time and I collapsed into bed, where I am now, updating this blog after 10 days absence. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AZA!!!

26 years old today.

I love you THIS much!<-------------------------------------------------------------------> xxxooo

1-17-14

 

I don't want to talk about my workshop. Things just didn't work as planned. I forgot the squishy dough and had to convince someone to buy me stuff to make it in the small kitchen at the building on campus in a microwave. The battery activity did not work. No light. The capacitor activity did not work. The plates were all wrong.  By the time I got back to the hotel at dusk I was so spent, so so so very spent. I did some yoga on the floor, had coffee in the bar with a colleague, and then watched Downton Abbey episodes in bed while knitting. 

1-16-14

This morning we left Auburn for Blacksburg. I knew that Jes was getting her whole body scan at 9am Denver time and I was anxiously awaiting a call from her with some news. I knitted away...

She called at around 10:30 and said that they only needed one scan, which was very good. I held my breath and waited some more, and later she called and said that the doctor had called her to say that her scan was clear and that her blood tests were very good. Her thyroglobulin was .5 but it didn't go up after the thryrogen injections, which is a very good sign. She is still out of the woods. We just keep watching and expecting good news in the year to come! After next year's clear scan she will be considered "cured" and able to move on with her life not always thinking about having to undergo RAI again.

This glass of beet-carrot-apple-ginger juice at Gillies in Blacksburg, VA represents the end of a long trip today.  This is probably my last grant trip to Blacksburg and we always to to Gillies at least once while there. Tonight I had quesadillas for dinner and they were delish.

1-15-14

Yesterday I got my 3D printer! Squirt printed out some cool stuff and was still printing out cool stuff this morning. 

 

The new kit is finalized. I'm not sure about the baby oil containers, and I hope everything works well for my workshop on Friday.

1-14-14

My student  The Chicken Whisperer came by my office today. I hadn't seen her in several months and thought she had dropped out of the program. It was good to see her. I was getting ready to teach class. Then I noticed the moon outside and thought it beautiful. It was a good class, the first this semester.

1-13-14

I  took photographs of ferrets and created silhouettes of them on my Silhouette Studio software, printed them out, and got my grad student Kat to color them for me. Aren't they adorable? Monday, I spent most of the day at school in meetings.

1-12-14

Sunday evening after a long day, I noticed my reflection in the window of my office and took a self portrait. You can see the stones outside, and the floor inside. See me with the camera? Self portrait. This is where I spend a LOT of time working.

1-11-14

I was determined to make the houses on my demo town pretty so I colored them and decorated them. This is a photo for the curriculum. The houses all glow at night when the capacitor is switched on.

1-10-14

My workshop is getting closer. Today I wrote and played around with some house designs I printed out at school. I had a faculty meeting today.