I've seen a few sites that do "Skywatch Friday" which is, post a picture of the sky on a Friday.  I usually get horrible pictures so I never figured I'd have a Skywatch Friday post, but today...today was a great day for pictures of the sky.  We'll call this Skywatch Thursday.  This morning when we walked out of the house, there were light clouds dusting across the sky, the neighbor's tree was covered by white flowers, and Melody said "that's pretty."  So, I took a picture with my iPhone.

About 90 minutes later, I was sitting at a stoplight in Newport Beach, just about 20 miles south of home and much closer to the coast.  Banks of clouds were rolling in, alternately revealing and obscuring the sun.  I looked up, and there framed in my window was a beautiful image.  So, out came the iPhone and another photo taken.

I ran these through an iPhone app called Camera Bag and applied the Lolo filter.  The results please me.  I'm not much of a photographer.  Once in a while I get a good snapshot, and recently I've been getting some artsy-fartsy images, such as at Disneyland in December.  For the most part, I like to take pictures that are sometimes really just average at best.  So, I'm pleased to share these pictures which pleased me.

I posted a few new pictures in the gallery from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. Hope you enjoy them!

I'm happy to report that after only two days of being on my diet, I feel better already! While I certainly enjoyed all the great food and drink of the holidays, there is only so much wine, so many cookies, so much cinnamon pull apart bread one can eat. Auntie Tara calls this bread "Monkey Bread" which I had never heard, but as soon as she told me about it, I remembered getting a loaf up at Schatt's Bakery in Bishop, CA when we were on camping trips. Oh yes, I love me some pull apart bread! Thanks for the recipe, T! If anyone wants it just let me know and I will pass it on. Although my bread looked a little weird, it tasted fantastic!!!!!

Not a lot has been going on at chez Gibbons lately. I posted the pictures from Halloween and some other silly pictures. Some are from an application called CameraBag that Dad found for the iPhone and Mom had to get it too. It has filters that make regular pictures look different, i.e. black and white, 1970s, things like that.

Mom has been slightly laid up the past few days after undergoing a procedure to hopefully heal her torn Achilles tendon. I'm in a "cam walker" which is one of those soft cast thingies. It's hot and uncomfortable but better than a hard fiberglass cast and surgery, so wish us luck with this! Yes, it's considered "off label" so we had to pay for it on our own. Donations accepted... Melody tells the people at daycare that Mama has a "big boot" and I'm ever so thankful she stops at "boot" and doesn't put a "y" on the end, lol.

That's about it for now, sorry there isn't much new!

After last week being so busy, you'd think I'd have taken the weekend to just rest and relax. Nope! I took Melody, her Grandma Marie and met her Grandma Alice down in Fashion Island in Newport Beach to browse the playhouses they have set up there. The playhouses are for kids, yes, 10'x8'x10' so they aren't big, but in their smallness, they are nicer than even one room in my entire house. They have flat screen TVs, hardwood floors, lofts, green lighting, fountains, custom cabinetry, and one even has a "hockey" rink in its backyard and a place for the virtual zamboni, yes sponsored by the Mighty Ducks. These little playhouses are not for the faint of heart or light of pocketbook. Each year, builders and businesses sponsor the creation of the playhouses and they are then auctioned off to the highest bidder. We down here at the bottom assume the highest bidder has a backyard or two that could support the playhouse, fully landscaped and outfitted. Ahem, I don't think one of these playhouses would fit IN my backyard let alone my pocketbook, but I digress. We had a great time, played in several fountains, rode the carousel, went to lunch. Pictures are posted in the gallery, along with some other pictures from other random days including Melody's foray into cheerleading for the Angels.

Next, I've nicked the following from my friend Mary Beth's blog, who nicked it from Dani, lol. Enjoy and feel free to copy and paste into an email, deleting my answers and adding your own, then forward to all your friends, copying the person who sent it to you... heh. You can post in the comments if you like. Edited: this is a one word challenge. Answer each question with one word. If you read this earlier today, ignore what I wrote then as it had too many words. :-)

Your hair? frizzy Your mother? awesome Your father? Papa Your favorite thing (not including people)? sleep (this seems to be a common theme amongst the Mamas) - I'm taking this verbatim! Your dream last night? frightening Your dream/goal? security Your favorite drink? Coke Zero The room you're in? Office Your ex? forgotten Your hobby? Victoriana Your fear? pain Where do you want to be in 6 years? Thirties Where were you last night? home What you're not? skinny Muffins? cranberry-orange One of your wish list items? Wii Time? waster Where you grew up? California The last thing you did? Dentist Favorite weather? brisk What are you wearing? clothing Favorite book? Numerous Your TV? plasma Your pet? numerous Your computer? iMac Your mood? ennui Missing someone? Tara Your car? TSX Something you're not wearing? perfume Favorite store? Target Love someone? Numerous Favorite color/shade? blue Last thing you ate? lunch Your life? busy Your friends? loyal What are you thinking right now? Pain What are you doing at this moment? survey Your summer? short Your relationship status? married What do you do when you can't sleep? I can always sleep When is the last time you laughed? Dentist's Last time you cried? Recently

I just added some new pictures from when we went to the Orange County Fair. The theme this year was "Say Cheese" so in every sense we embraced the theme. We were silly, cheesey, and we took lots of pictures. :-)

I also added some pictures from our Saturday morning at Grandma & Papa's house. Grandma made pancakes with strawberries (yum) and cream (not so sure), Melody played in the backyard in the faucet and all around got soaking wet. We had to put her clothes in the dryer before we could even come home. It was a really nice visit with lots of hugs for Papa.

So, mosey over to the gallery and have a look.