Some call them nasty, I call them my outdoor pets.

2nd instalment of nature photos!
So I had to take more pictures of my pretty spider... The light was great today, it was cloudy and soft, and there wasn't as much wind. She stands guard on her leaf ready to eat anything that comes her way! Yesterday she was eating a mosquito (if you are in Houston right now you know how helpful that is)!

This is a little more random... yet I've had this happen before! I have had a number of lizards hitch a ride on my car. In fact last year there was a lizard that would always come out when I was driving (I named him Bernard the lizaard). Sadly some lizards are not familiar with driving and in a panicky moment jump off of my moving car (yes this too has happened before)! Such was the fate of this one! I was lucky to snap a quick picture with my cell phone moments before his suicide. Please note, that I am stopped at a red light, I do not encourage driving while taking pictures.

Extreme Camouflage

Can you see me?

While I was waiting for the bus to show up today, I was noticing that my hibiscus bush was bug free (it has had an infestation for a few weeks, and was struggling to survive because of it). In fact it was so bad that I almost bought some harsh chemicals last week but I thought I would try something natural first... but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. While examining the plant I saw some movement, I looked harder to see that there was a spider, that was the exact color of the leaves! She was wasn't very big about and 3/4 of an inch and had great camouflage (I am surprised that I even spotted her, but I have been told I have a hyper-awareness for spiders) I found her color fascinating, so I grabbed my ever ready camera and started to take some pictures. It was difficult to get the close ups because there was a lot of wind, and plant was blowing back and forth. I am surprised that any of the photos were in focus. I know that I already have a reputation as the "crazy spider lady" but I think she is beautiful. Turns out that it's a Green Lynx Spider, and the lynx spiders are among the major predators of insects occurring in low shrubs and herbaceous vegetation! Thanks you miss lynx spider for helping my hibiscus infestation and for being so pretty!

Go ahead... click to zoom! I really like the spider shadow. And her hairy legs- I think I should show her how to shave her legs.

** Update, I just went to check on her and she was eating a bug! So awesome.

State of the House Address

Today is my 4th official day in office as chief of our house. I am happy to report that many of my goals have been accomplished as stated in my swearing in early Tuesday morning. Some of the more impressive accomplishments have been covered by the media (my blog). I am pleased with all of the reconstruction and renovation that has been taken place. Unfortunately the sewing room is in ruin because of it's excessive use during my time in office. Most of the other rooms are in good condition and need only a mild vacuuming. The people have been taken care of, and there are no wars to report. There have been some mild skirmishes on our turf, but they have been resolved with peace talks, timeouts and I did have to withhold some exports (video games) to ensure peace. The people seem to be in good spirits with my trip to the store there will be no famine in this land. The economy is holding steady even with the reorganization of our house. There is room in our budget for a table centerpiece which I have not yet acquired, I am hopeful that with the remainder of my term I will be able to find a suitable one. I would like to thank everyone that supported me during my term.

Solutions!

Sorry folks, not the most exciting posts, I'm just doing my daily post for Matt, and since it involves his house he might like to see it, I don't expect anyone else to care.

This project was to remove our horrible vinyl blinds that hung by our front door. Basically those cheep blinds attract children, and then children have a desire to touch them, and bend them, and destroy them in all ways. We looked into custom ordering new wood blinds for the space (don't ask me why the smallest window is the most expensive). We tried to find a number of solutions, and since Matt doesn't get to argue with me about this one, Solution: Make sheer curtains (so light still comes in) bunch them so there is some privacy and attach them with rods at the top and bottom so they are nice and neat.
Okay, I gotta admit, I'm a little impressed with my handy work!

Project #2 - Our hutch used to have bright gold handles, we tried to replace them the pulls are an odd size, I would have to take it to an antique dealer, furniture restorater, or have them custom made (all sound more expensive then it's worth) Solution... Spray paint!!! Yep, a couple bucks and I'm good! Bye Bye ugly gold!

Not really a project, but I wanted a plant to fill the space above our fridge. Matt's request was that I get a black pot. That should have been a easy request, but I couldn't find the size I like that worked with our style and that wasn't $$$. Solution... hmm, $2 terracotta with the spray paint I already bought for the handles.

I think I have a problem, I enjoy spray paint way too much. For some reason I didn't get a chance to spray paint as a teen (that's when you learn how fun it is), and I've been living without it for way too long! I'm a grown woman and I'm giggling while spray painting (it could have been the fumes), I'm a little worried that I'm a can away from becoming a tagger! Watch out Spring, look for TERRI written on your walls soon!

I'm going to go find something that need to be spray painted (I've always wanted a black cat!)

From Grump to Giddy

Ian and I actually made it to playgroup, I know what a shocker! Anyway, it was at the Market Street Fountains, and he did not want to have anything to do with it! Check out his grumpy face. He sad there for a half an hour before even thinking about playing. He wanted me to know that he was not happy about this!

He had so much fun when he decided to play!
Usually I don't take our Pentax (our dslr) to playgroup, but I am so glad I did, sure I felt like a stalker, but I got some really cool shots! Matt click on the picts to see the cool water droplets.

A whale of a time!

Jason drew this picture today... I thought it was SO cute. I adore the whale's smile, he makes me want to smile too!!!

While Matt's away, Terri will...

While Matt's away, Terri will... SEW!!!
Matt's in Virgina for this years DAMOP conference (Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics). So there will be a number of posts this week in accordance with my mandated daily blog update. One of the other things Matt left me to do was to sew curtains for the our newly painted and decorated kitchen, well, why stop and one set of curtains? So I got fabric and updated our living room curtains too, in an effort to lighten the room. It felt good to sit down at my sewing machine (it's been neglected since I got my bass). Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of curtains? Everything is back lit, and I didn't want to get the nice camera out, so the pictures are kinda lame:( Anyway, you get the picture... right?

Honey, here are your black curtains... you can't see the silver detail, but it's there.

"Time for a little Ian"

I was feeling creative this morning and took some super close up pictures of Ian. He's so yummy, sometimes it feels like I just can't get close enough to him. You know what's funny, you can only take close up pictures like this of kids... I would be horrified if I had pictures this close of me!

"Friendly" Lizards

I took these pictures yesterday. Originally I noticed just one lizard sitting on my outside bench, but it had too many legs, so I went around to look at it from a different angle and well, I noticed two lizards. Now, I know what's going on, but I thought it was so cute that the bigger one had his arm around the little one. I guess I feel a little bad that I was taking pictures of them while they were *cough* busy.

Guy's Campout

Matt took the boys on their first camping trip (it was our ward's annual "fathers and sons") The boys had so much fun, Matt kept commenting on how great it was and how smoothly the trip went. Jason and Ian loved their glow sticks (which was apparently convenient when locating your child in the dark), they liked roasting hot dogs, sleeping in the tent (till daddy came in and told them to stop talking), playing with their friends and putting sticks in the fire. Oh, and how could I forget about marshmallows, and Hershey's... Yum yum!
Ian is pointing at a spider web for me!


The campsite was by a lake... hmm quite different from camping in New Mexico!

Jason was playing baseball with some dads who don't have any sons yet! Roasting hot dogs, aren't they getting big!

Now, I know what you're thinking... poor Terri, didn't you want to go? Heck NO, I had a fabulous girls night out with some friends. Kelli & I decided to invite some people out to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Kelly's b-day. So we had a good dinner and then filled up on yummy cheesecake. We took such a long time at dinner because, we didn't have kids and we could enjoy visiting, it was great! After dinner and a stop at the mall, we went to Kelli's house to watch Australia (Hunky Hugh Whoo-hoo)! We stayed up way too late... but it didn't matter, I was able to sleep in! They guys were home around noon and I was actually missing them...a little, one of the first things out of Jason's mouth was that I was "the worst mother ever"... hmmm, maybe next year they could go camping for a week instead of just a day. :)