Butterflies!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."  Psalm 19:1-4

I love butterflies; I always have.  There's just something so sweet and innocent about them, as they flutter about their day visiting bright flowers and helping pollinate plants.  They come in all shapes and colors, some with muted tones of browns and creams, others with bright jewel tones of oranges, reds, blues, yellows...how can anyone see a butterfly and not smile?

So, when I got an e-mail from the Toledo Zoo about a temporary exhibit of butterflies in the middle of winter, I resolved to head up and check it out!

The exhibit was set up in a portable tent in the middle of one of the exhibit buildings.  It was full of leafy plants and little brightly-painted pots with nectar inside to attract the butterflies, and was nice and warm and breezy.  We were told upon entering to watch for butterflies landing on the floor, and to have fun!

Butterflies were fluttering all about!  It was so neat.  Everywhere we looked, butterflies met us.  My hubby had one land on his hat, then come over and land on my hand, which was so cool...he stayed there long enough for my hubby and a stranger to take pictures.  I eventually  had to have an zoo worker gently move him off of my hand (we were told not to touch the butterflies, as the oils in our hands can hurt them).

Photo courtesy of the hubs!

The exhibit was so great.  It was so nice to see something summery in the dead of winter, and it gave me warm fuzzies that I hope will last until I get my own flower garden growing in the warmer temps.  A great way to spend the afternoon!

Think spring!  Here's lookin' at you, kid!

Happy New Year!

Hawk taking a break in our front yard tree during a snowstorm

I can't believe that the holidays are really over.  It felt so short this year!  Now all of the Christmas decorations are put away, we've seen all of the family, and my vacation didn't really feel like a vacation at all.  Hubby is fighting a stubborn cold.  This is the time of year when I get the blues. 
















Here are a few pictures from the Toledo Zoo Lights Before Christmas this year.  Time to look ahead to the new year, and before I know it spring will be just around the corner.  Enjoy!

Most everyone is talking about their resolutions for the new year now.  I find resolutions are easily broken and hard to keep, so I really don't make them.  I resolve to not make resolutions!  Join me, won't you?

Happy New Year 2014!

Zoo Fun--Wild Walkabout Australian Exhibit

We had a beautiful day to do something fun recently, so we decided to head up to the Toledo Zoo to explore their temporary Australian exhibit, Wild Walkabout.  It was really neat, despite the large crowds.  Here are some photos from our adventure:

Wallaby!  I love his paws.

Conservatory

Tri-colored rose

Butterfly on a butterfly bush

I loved these sunflowers

Many beautiful tropical birds

Wildflowers

 

And of course, my favorite: giraffes!

Have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone!

Birthday Fun Continues!

Hello!  I'm finding it hard to keep up with the blog lately.  Since the holidays are approaching, I find that life seems to get busier.  I've been continuing with birthday fun, and wanted to share a few tips for others to get free stuff for their birthdays as well.  I have received freebies from Chili's, Texas Roadhouse, Auntie Ann's, Speedway (I know, a bit weird), and Dairy Queen.  How, you ask?  Well, I'll tell you!

Chili's: Go to their website and sign up for their e-mail club.  You receive coupons on a regular basis for specials that they run at the restaurants for appetizers, desserts, drinks and more.  On your birthday, you receive a coupon for a free dessert (mine was a brownie sundae, but I don't know if it changes).

Texas Roadhouse: My favorite restaurant, by the way!  Join their e-mail club (used to be called VIP club) by clicking on the link for a free appetizer on the bottom of the page.  Fill out the info and you'll receive a free appetizer on your birthday, and a free appetizer for your anniversary (if you're married) and also for your "anniversary" of the date of signing up for the e-mail club.

Auntie Ann's: Sign up for Pretzel Perks.  Again, it's an e-mail thing.  You receive monthly coupons for free pretzels or drinks, and for your birthday you also get a free pretzel (this time, I had to buy a pretzel to get one for free.  Oh well.).  These are sent out all year.

Speedway Gas Stations: If you are a member of the Speedy Rewards points club, you know that you receive points for anything and everything you buy from the gas station/convenience store.  On your birthday, you are sent a coupon for 200 free points--just go in with the coupon and your rewards card and have the cashier scan it, and boom!  Free points.  You can earn a lot of great things with your points, from free candy bars to money off your gas purchase.

Dairy Queen: Join the Blizzard Fan Club and you receive occasional coupons for Blizzards.  On your birthday, you receive a BOGO for Blizzards.  One is never really enough anyway, right?

I'm sure that there are others out there too; if you have some ideas, leave a comment at the bottom of the post!

I'm a bit sad about being a year older.  When you start to realize that you are getting to the age in life that you never thought you'd be when you were young, it sobers you a bit.  Sometimes being a grown-up is hard and not fun.  But when you have great family around you, and someone to love and spend all of your birthdays with, it is worth it.

We spent this weekend with family--my mother and stepfather on Saturday, and my in-laws on Sunday.  We all had a good time together.  Now I'm wondering, "where did the weekend go??"!  Here are a few photos of our fun on Saturday at the Toledo Zoo.  They are setting up for the annual Lights Before Christmas display, which can be seen in some of the photos:

White Lion--he looks fierce, but he's actually just yawning.

Mr. Hippo gives us the stink-eye.  He has tiny eyes.

Lizard!?! "I seeeeee yoooooouuuu!"

One more lizard.  I loved his colors!

The elusive mallard.  "Quack quack quack".  Translation: Quack quack quack.

What a great day to work on your tan...

Owl Corner: Long-Eared Owls

Photo from Wikipedia

Long-eared owls are kind of funny looking, in my opinion.  Kind of like they are constantly surprised.  These owls are medium in size, averaging around 14" tall, with females being slightly larger.  They have a brown and buff colored plumage, and the females tend to be a little lighter in color.  Their habitats encompass most of the United States, and they are also widely found across Europe and into parts of Asia, including Russia and China.  They tend to be found in forests, woodlands, and river areas, with nests typically found in very dense forests.  The females typically lay 4-5 eggs, but can be as few as three and as many as eight eggs at a time.  They prey mostly on other mammals, such as voles, mice, squirrels, bats, and even small rabbits.  They are also known to hunt other birds, and their enemies include Great Horned and Barred owls, and raccoons are known to steal eggs.

Information taken from The Owl Pages and All About Birds.

Aging is an inevitable part of life.  From the moment we are born, we being to age, and yes, die.  No one is immune from this, regardless of all of the silly vampire movies that say otherwise.  The Bible has several passages about growing old and still being Christ-like: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18).  "Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled" (Titus 2:2-5).  And finally, "The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their gray hair" (Proverbs 20:29).  (That last one was for the hubs, when he someday loses his auburn locks to the distinguished look of white.)  While our bodies will always age, it's what we do with them that makes all of the difference to the Lord.  He has given us directions of how to "age gracefully", so to speak.  It's what I strive for--but I am rarely graceful.  Still...if I have to get old, I might as well do it Biblically!

The Little Things

Howdy!  How does time fly by so quickly?  Hubby informed me that it's been twenty days since my last post.  So, to the one person who checks my blog frequently for updates, I apologize for the delay in posting.

There's nothing better than taking pleasure in the little things in life.  So, I've decided that this will be the topic of this entry.  There are no big things going on right now, and I'm okay with that.  In a few weeks, my hubby and I plan to take a trip to celebrate our eight year wedding anniversary, but I'll tell you more about that another time.  It's so hard to believe that we've had eight years together, and despite the ups and downs, they have been the happiest eight years of my life.  I wouldn't change a thing.  And most of the time, it is the little things about our life together that I love most.  So, I present to you: The Little Things.

One day, as I was getting ready for work, I noticed my husband's bar of soap on the ledge in the shower.  It's not uncommon for him to use absolutely as much of the soap as he possibly can.  Here is a great example:

When I saw this, I started laughing very hard.  It was wafer-thin.  I kindly set a new bar of soap out for him to use the next time he was in the shower.

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When the weather warms up, I don't like to wear socks.  I like to paint my toenails fun colors and go out in sandals whenever I can.  When the weather was in the 80s back in March, I had cabin fever and was wearing sandals for several days.  So, I decided it was time to break out the nail polish and paint the piggies:

I went with a periwinkle paint and a multi-color sparkle top coat.  Sadly, the weather turned cold again and I've had to keep my toes covered ever since.  The paint job has held up remarkably well, though!

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I read online somewhere that you can grow lettuce indoors all year 'round, as long as you are able to keep the plants in a sunny spot.  Our house doesn't have any great spots for growing plants, except for one window in the kitchen that I've put a low table in front of to keep plants on.  I planted four romaine lettuce plants in a glass bowl and set them out:

Sadly, not long after this was taken, the plants gave up and died.  But there's hope in the future, though--in the background are seeds for other delicious goodies I plan to plant, possibly this coming week.  So rest in peace, lettuces.  I'll plant my garden in your honor this year.

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Our back yard contains one large lilac shrub.  I say shrub, but it's taller than the roof line on our house, and it's getting hard for me to reach the blossoms.  The lilacs bloomed extremely early this year, so by the time I found them open, half had already passed their prime.  But I managed to find one good bunch that hadn't faded quite yet:

At a few stores, I have been having the good luck of finding old bottles.  I have never been interested in old bottles until now, and I'm starting to love the look and character of the old glass.  I have a collection of four now, and the one in the picture is from my collection.  It's an old blue Philip's Milk of Magnesia bottle.  I loved the color, and it looked so great with the lilac sprig inside.  I tied the last of a spool of purple iridescent ribbon around the mouth of the bottle and had myself a nice little fragrant centerpiece.  The lilacs only lasted a day inside, but they looked and smelled like the spring.  

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One day this week, we woke up to a surprise.  In my half-awake state, when I got up for work, hubby, who gets up a half hour earlier than me, grumpily told me to look outside.  I did, and this was what I saw:

The first picture is of the two trees in our front yard.  The next photo is of the view down the rest of the street.  Some kids must have been bored the night before, and decided to leave those of us in the neighborhood with a festive toilet paper surprise.  It was annoying, because they make the mess and we all have to clean it up.  But we know from past experience that they could have done much worse.  Living in the country with a booby-trapped moat can't come soon enough for us!  Oh, did I say booby-trapped moat?  I meant duck pond (insert evil laugh here).

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My hubby decided to take a day off of work and spend the day with me today.  We decided to take a trip up to one of our favorite hangouts--the Toledo Zoo.  We had a great time and a beautiful day to enjoy together.  Here are a few photos from our day trip:

The polar bears were particularly active today.  There are three in the exhibit, but the two above were having the most fun.  Check out the teeth on the bear on the right in the bottom picture!

It's not easy to look this good all of the time.

 

 Just too pretty to pass up taking a picture.

I'm not so sure that this zebra is happy to be a part of the carousel.

The new tiger cubs...being cute is hard work.

The giantest crab I've ever seen.

 Even weirder close up.  "Look out, I peeench."

The Conservatory.  50 degrees outside.  100 degrees inside.  Not kidding.  Hot for even me.

 

 I didn't know you could grow Cheetos in a pot!

 A springtime stroll through the beautiful gardens.

 Mother Tiger, enjoying the peace and quiet of napping cubs.

 Come on, let us in!  We want to watch TV!!

Twweeeeet!  I'll give you the bird stink eye if I want to!

And thus concludes my observations of the little things that make life interesting.  I hope you've enjoyed them, too!

God loves it when we delight in Him and His creations.  Every time I look around, I marvel at the world that surrounds us.  If you stop and really think about it, it's astounding and reassuring that my Creator is an awesome God.  I have no doubt in my mind that He created the heavens and earth, and not some big bang.  I will never be convinced otherwise.  Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."  Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart."  I will delight always in the beauty of God's creation, and it will always be a reminder of what a great and awesome God we serve!