MatterPics, and I'm Still Standing (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah ... )

I'm entering the frantic, mega-stressful throes of fiscal year-end at work. Yay me.

I have, like last month, too many things to get done this week, and I'm not sure that it will all happen. But what will be will be, and I'd give anything to sleep through the night and not have dreams of spreadsheets and ledgers and stupid mistakes from ignorant people from three years ago that I'm STILL TRYING TO FIX.


So let's take a deep breath and visit the Northwest Garden Show that Scott and I attended last weekend at the Washington State Convention Center. It is, sadly, the last year for the show, which is one of the top three largest in the country ... so enjoy these last pictures ...

Life's for Sharing.

I'm always behind the times ... but I love these things:

Matterpics

From our Valentine's Day ...

Crocuses appearing in the front yard.

Yes, we ate here, in the University District. The burgers were really good. The parking ticket, not so much.

We like giving each other flowers ...

... see?

Valentine's Date Night at Dulce's Latin Bistro near our house.

Mmmm. Scott had the beef tenderloin, I had the lamb. We shared.

We played with the night portrait setting on my camera. Only one mistake with the flash going off in the dim, romantic restaurant - oops.

Blurry Matt:

Blurry Scott:

The dining room:

Blurry us:

Back home to open our cards, and off to bed ...

Happy Valentine's Day

Worth all four minutes of your life to watch ...

February 12 of 12

February's 12 of 12, via Chad.


All pictures were taken on Thursday, February 12, 2009 in Seattle, Washington.

Shower:

Sunrise:

Needle:

Laadla:

Times:

Construction:

Bus:

Sculpture:

Tower:

Bird:

Pond:

Sunset:

MatterPics

Some bloggers get to a point where they don't have the time or the energy to keep their blogs at the standard that they want. I, too, am going through this.

But hey - it's my blog, I can post when I want to . And what I want. That said, I'm gonna be here for a while. Deal, kids.


And now - MatterPics:

Making breakfast - er, brunch:

Eggs poaching:

Egg and ham sandwiches ... so bad, so good:

Later - cookies. Yes, from refrigerated dough. This was a struggle for me - I love to cook but I do NOT enjoy baking. Still, I wanted Scott to have some cookies, since he's going into inventory and long overnight shifts:

The February backyard - with reflections of the Leg Lamp Lights in the window:

A Sunady Matterdays - hat and all - in the mirror above the stairwell:

The yard and pond from the upstairs deck, almost ready to come back to life:

Have a great week!

A Matterdays By Any Other Name ...

This is going around on Facebook, but since I'm here more than there I thought I'd post this. Kinda fun and brainless - like me!

You use your own name to come up with these "other" names":



1.YOUR REAL NAME: Matterdays (always incognito, I am ... )

2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mothers’ and fathers’ middle names)
William Irene

3.NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)
George William

4.STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)
RatMa

5.DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Dog

6.SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born)
James Arlington Heights (We could just go James Arlington - much sexier)

7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, add "THE" to the beginning)
The Green Martini

8.FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)
Maer

9.STREET NAME:(favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie, )
Mint Chocolate Chip Chocolate Chip - a bit redundant redundant

10.ROCK STAR NAME:(current pets name, current street name)
Stoli 24th - yes, I tried this with ALL of our pets' names, it didn't help

11. DANCER NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on- OR- state you grew up in)
Salty Warwick (what the hell kind of dancer am I??)

12.YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of real name plus ‘izzle’)
Matizzle (I ain't be tellin' that to the guys in my 'hood, yo)

13.YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets)
Black Hunter

Brother can you spare a dime ...

I read this morning about a 90-year-old man in California who has been forced to go back to work for $10 an hour in a supermarket due to losing his retirement income to Bernie Madoff (who, I believe, should be hung upside-down by his nuts for the duration of his house arrest in his Upper East Side penthouse).

My retirement account statement came a few weeks ago, but I hadn't bothered to open it. Out of morbid curiosity, I opened it today:

Boy, was that a mistake. I've lost over 21% of my retirement funds in less than a year. I know, things will eventually improve, and hopefully it will all bounce back ... but wow, did that hurt to see.

I'm trying to stash away a little extra savings and update my LinkedIn information for that dreaded pink-slip day. And somehow convince Scott to start eating Spam.