Friday Fragments

-A few weeks ago I did a blog post about an amazing sunset that I captured with my camera. I submitted a few of the photos to my local NBC news station for their "Hot Shot" of the day, and last week one of them was featured on the evening newscast! My name was on the screen with it. I felt special! This is the photo they used:

-I got a new vacuum cleaner, and I totally love it. It's one of those cool Dyson ball vacuums that I always thought was too fancy and sophisticated for me. A friend of mine got one recently and when I went to her house I thought she'd gotten new carpets because they looked so good. My Dirt Devil hasn't been working up to snuff, and with two cats, two dogs, and two kids in the house, we need one that is going to work up to snuff and beyond. So, using my friend's information and research, I went to Kohl's, where it's sold at a discount, and on top of that I saved 30% by opening a credit card account there. And in the process I got $70 in Kohl's Cash, which I plan on doing some shopping with tomorrow. Sweet! Our carpets and rugs look and feel so nice and clean. The Dyson sucks up every last little thing and is easy to use. I love vacuuming with it. And, perhaps best of all...it's purple!

-The most interesting thing I learned this week was from John's library book about spiders. This was truly horrifying to me: "Remember the nursery rhyme, 'Little Miss Muffet'? Little Miss Muffet was a real little girl. Her father was a spider expert who used to make her eat mashed spiders when she was sick. About 200 years ago, this was a common cold remedy." How gross is that? Poor Miss Muffet! She was chased by spiders and also had to eat them. That is so very, very wrong. I hate spiders, but I would hate eating them even more.

-Random picture that I want to put on my blog: This is a picture of me and my siblings that was taken at our annual Christmas dinner back home in Massachusetts a few months ago. Aren't we a cute bunch of kids?

Ben, me, Nathan, Jennifer, and Elizabeth
Anyone care to guess our birth order? It gets a lot harder to do when kids grow up! I'll give you a clue: I'm second-oldest.

-Tomorrow it's supposed to get into the mid-70s! I'm so glad that the milder temperatures of spring have arrived. My quality of life has gone way up because of spring. No more being stuck inside all day, every day, with the kids and I driving each other nuts!

For more Friday Fragments go to Half Past Kissin' Time. Have a great weekend everybody!

A Bright Flash!

This is what Sam does sometimes when I take his picture:

Apparently the camera flash must be quite bright. I wouldn't really know since I seem to be the one who's always behind the camera! In any case, I think Sam pulls off the squinting look pretty well. I love this kid!