Day 128: The Power of Sharpie

Nothing says Security like a hastily scrawled, 5-inch high, "Keep Out!" sign in Sharpie on the door to your garage.

I love everything about this house.  The peeling paint.  The random folding chair next to the garage door so old, it has to be hoisted up by hand using a handle that seems to be falling off.  The randomly-placed, tiny reflector circles to mark when to stop your car, in case you missed the giant white wall they're stuck to.  The boarded-over windows-turned-cork-boards with butterfly decorations on them.  And although it's not in the picture, the tiny "Proud to be an American" bumper sticker above the garage door that was only legible when I zoomed in to the highest setting.

But, I have to say my favorite part about this house is the "Keep Out" sign written in Sharpie directly on the garage door.  It was made all the funnier when I noticed the For Sale sign in the front yard.

I think they may be sending mixed messages here.  "Buy this house, please! But stay away from it!"  What do they say to interested buyers when the want to have a tour of the place? "Sure you can look at it.  From the curb.  Now git!"

Awesome.

Day 127: Deja Vu

A view of ceiling at the Tanner building at BYU.

Before you start freaking out, let me just say that I realize this isn't a picture of an old thing, but I will explain.  Well...there's not much to explain.  I took this picture tonight when I was at BYU for an institute class.  I wasn't planning on using it for my picture today, but I didn't have time to take any other pictures.  Plus, I have a story to go with this one.

Here's the story:
When I was 19 and going to school in Virginia, I had a very involved dream full of meaning and significance.  When I woke up I wrote the whole dream down and the impressions I got from it.  The basic gist was that I needed to slow down and enjoy life, and that I needed to be patient.  The dream had such significance for me at the time that I have never forgotten it.  I can still picture the scenes from the dream when calling it to memory.  So tonight, when I walked into the Tanner building to go to institute, I was shocked to see that the interior of the building is identical to a building in that dream from 10 years ago.  What's even weirder is that in my dream I was trying to find my institute class, but kept getting lost in the huge building.  So, 10 years later, never having stepped foot in this building before, I was having flashbacks from this dream with the identical scene and identical circumstances.  The only difference was that I found my institute class tonight, and in my dream I never found it.

So, I guess if you think about it, this picture still follows the theme of Old Things, because it is a picture of a dream I had when I was just stepping into adulthood and waiting for my life to begin.  Now I'm almost 30 and I'm still waiting for my life to begin...I'm just a little more grown up about the way I wait. ;)

Day 126: Ring My Bell

An old hand-sized bell from my parents.

My Grandpa Haskin died of colon cancer when I was very young.  Towards the end of his illness he stayed at our house and my mother acted as his hospice nurse until he passed.  I don't remember much of Grandpa, and the memories I have are scattered and piecemeal.  But I do remember this bell.

Because he was unable to leave his bed, we gave him this bell to use whenever he needed anything.  I remember him ringing it a lot.  I'm sure he didn't ring it that often, but the ringing stands out most in my memory.  Probably because I loved to run to his room and help him when I would hear it.  He would have me do simple things like turn his TV on or change the channel, or fetch my mom for the more complicated things.  I doubt he would have asked me to do much more since I was only 5 or 6.

I can't remember what Grandpa looked like, or any one conversation I had with him, but I do remember how I loved to help him in my silly way.  I loved to tell him all about whatever was going on in my head and I felt like he really cared.  I'm not sure that is true since I can't rely on my scant memories, as disjointed as they are, but whatever he was like I can be sure of one thing:  I loved my grandpa and I felt loved by him.  I feel lucky in this knowledge since I had so little time with him. And really, I don't think I could ask for more.

When I leave this world, I hope that I can leave my mark in the same way: by making sure my family knows how much I love them.

Day 125: Forgotten Treasures

An old house in my neighborhood.

I've been itching to photograph this house for months, but I've never had the guts to do it.  It belongs to a grouchy old farmer in my neighborhood, and I'm always afraid he'll catch me taking pictures on his property and yell at me.  This house is old, and probably condemned, so I shouldn't have been so worried that he'd be hanging around.  Anyway, when I saw it today, it gave me the idea for this week's theme:

Old Things.

I love old things - antiques - and I love the way they photograph, so this week I'll try to include something of the sort in every shot.  I'm excited to see what I find next!

This doorway reminds me of forgotten things, that once found, become treasured or important once again.  Like old journals or photographs that remind us of our past selves.  It usually brings life into perspective again.  We look back on times when we were really struggling, and we can usually say, "I had no idea how bad it was really going to get."  And we can appreciate how strong we are now in comparison.

Sometimes forgotten things are reminders to think outside the norm again.  Ironically, sometimes they help us reset our thinking and look at life with fresh eyes.

Day 124: Bright Eyes

Jack and Christine.

Well, thanks to all for the supportive comments.  :)  I was being more than a little dramatic last night when I wrote my post, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't still frustrated. heh...

Anyway, I was planning on skipping the whole "bling" idea tonight, but when I looked through the pictures from today and saw this one of Jack I realized I wouldn't have to.  I love taking pictures of children!  I wish I had more opportunity and less inhibitions because they are my favorite subjects. My nephew commented tonight that I could probably make money taking pictures of babies and children, and I responded that it might be possible if I weren't so shy around children who aren't related to me.  Nowadays you have to be so careful with other people's children because of all of the sickos out there who abuse and mistreat children, so I'm always so afraid to approach someone else's child if they aren't family.  Even though I have the best of intentions.

But then again, it seems I live my life by fear, so that's not really news.

Still, I never take as many baby pictures each month that I'd like to because I only have 3 or so nieces and nephews in town that I can photograph.  And I have unspoken rules in my head about how many times a month I can take a picture of someone before it becomes excessive.

I'm so neurotic sometimes.  Ha!

Day 123: All Is Lost

The three-layer cake I made today...with a little bling.

Oh, how I am lamenting my thoughtlessness today!!!  I broke the streak.  

I. Broke. The. Streak.

At 12:09AM I realized I hadn't taken a picture today.  Twelve Oh Nine!  Nine minuets past the deadline, and I was too late. I went ahead and took a picture anyway, even though I technically missed it.  

I'm hanging my head in shame right now.

How could I do this!?!  I made it 122 days without forgetting to take a picture!  Sure, there were close calls, when I remembered mere minutes before midnight, but I always made it in time.  

I BROKE THE STREAK!!!!!!!

I'm so frustrated right now, I don't know what to do with myself.  I won't quit the project;  you could argue that it didn't really count since I hadn't gone to bed yet and it was just a few minutes past the deadline, but I feel like the momentous-ness of the project has withered under my colossal memory lapse.  I will have to work extra hard now for the next 212 days to keep my motivation and stop myself from continuing to slip past the dealine.  I'll be honest.  This is a blow.

I broke the streak!

Day 122: Seeing Stars

Mom's bling. :)

Ok, first thing's first.  That is NOT a cross on Mom's neck.  I did not intend for the lens flare to look like a cross.  Had I noticed BEFORE I downloaded this picture, I would have fixed it.

So....today is the end of month FOUR!  Yay for me!  I'm pretty proud of myself, but also face the next 8 months with a little trepidation.  I'm not sure how I'm going to keep myself interested in the project for another 8 months, but I'll think of something...and probably several more times.  :)

Thanks to the few of you out there who not only read my blog, but comment on it every once in a while.  It always helps my motivation to know that someone out there is interested in reading my (sometimes) pointless thoughts.  And even if you don't usually read my posts, but you just check my new pictures, I appreciate that as well.  Although, I suppose that if you don't read my posts, you'll never see this thank-you so it's kind of pointless.

Anyway, it's late, I'm tired.  So I'll just leave you with this.  My beautiful mother is a great sport for changing into her beautiful dress shirt at my request just so I could take a picture of something sparkly.  And I love how it turned out!  I don't know why, but I always seem to prefer mom in black and white - even when her face isn't showing.  I guess she just has that classic beauty about her that makes me feel that black and white is the only appropriate medium.  :)