Secret Life of Bloggers Blogparty : Post 9

Another snow filled month finished! I'm excited to see people out of their homes again. I've been working so much I can't wait to catch up with everyone and reading everyone's blogs. I've been trying to sit down and write some history posts. I have a lot to write about but need a little encouragement.

I know a lot of people have been suffering from the bleak winter we've been having. We've been feeling unproductive and lethargic, too cold and weak and sick to do anything. Fight the urge to do nothing.   
 
2-23-14

My coworker left a huge knife in a large mixing bowl full of soapy water. I know they say that no man was ever killed while doing the dishes, but women might be a different story.

2-24-14

I'm taking dance a lot more seriously this year. I used to dance a lot and then got hurt and stopped. But I miss it and can't wait to get back into it. I got a very fun dance costume package in the mail and am very excited.

2-25-14

Fooling with icing.

2-26-14

A pipe at work sprung a leak and I got to help bail water. I told them not to tell me what kind of pipe it was. I still don't want to know.

2-27-14

 Sometimes the sunset it so pretty I have to try and capture it, even if it is only with my phone.


2-28-14

Baking tons and tons of King Cake for Mardi Gras. I do not celebrate Mardi Gras but apparently a toy baby gets inserted into the cake and during the celebrations, the person who gets the slice with the toy has to buy the King Cake for the next year.  

3-1-14

Sometimes I wake up and wish I could leave my hair unbrushed. Sometimes the curls look cute, but I have to brush them out because I feel weird if I don't brush my hair.
 

Civil War Trust Park Day, 2014

 
For everyone who hasn't heard, April 5 will be this year's CWT Park Day. Park Day is an open call for volunteers to help preserve and maintain Civil War battlefields. Park Day has been hosted since 1996 and is a great day to give back while spending the day at a historic site.


This is a great chance to get to spend the day at big Civil War sites like Gettysburg or Antietam but also to visit smaller and little known sites. Each site has its own list of tasks for volunteers. Some of the cemeteries and battlefields just need general landscape maintenance other sites need help with organizing, record keeping or restoration.  

To see the full list of sites that are looking for volunteers: Click here.

To register your site to be included for Park Day: Click here.

I'm always interested in hearing who is going where? Does anyone have any plans for Park Day?

Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party: Post 8

These days have been flying past. I do not know if they normally move this fast or if I am just more aware of it now that I am spending more time documenting each day.  February has been miserable. We are all stuck in the house, even more so than usual.We had a couple of very nice days lately but I hear there is snow on the way.

12-15-14

Had a good reading night. Sherlock Holmes.


12-16-14

During a short power outage at work, we taught people how to decorate cakes in the dark.

12-17-14

Too much work. Too little pay. :(

12-18-14

Abstract. 


12-19-14

My friend always has a way of disappearing at dinner.

12-20-2014

Experimented with infrared photography.

12-21-2014

Today we had rain and not snow. It was a lovely change, but there was so much fog it was hard to see 10 feet in front of us. Being so foggy, it was a slow day at work and I got to really clean. I had been meaning to do this for a long while.

2-22-14

  Remnants of fall.

I can't wait for March. I want to be outside and to enjoy nice days, nature and summer clothes. 

Record Breaking in 2014: Secret Life of Bloggers Blogparty, Post 7

 February is normally the time when people are done with winter and ready for a bit of spring. Normally, we are a bit antsy for a view of green buds or a day where we can spend all day outside. But this year we are dying for a day we can spend one hour outside that doesn't involve shoveling!

The polar vortex has every sick of winter! This season is actually recording breaking for the area. Being 4 degrees in NYC broke  a record set in 1898 of 6 degrees. 4 degrees in Philadelphia broke the record of previously degrees. Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia and even Tennessee now have new coldest temperature records. Horah for being historic! Even if it's driving us crazy.  

In addition, tourism to Israel has just hit an all time high. There's probably some sort of correlation.

2-8-2014

Getting all of the baked goods ready for Valentine's Day. Is it wrong to want an industrial sink where all of the strainers and appliances fit perfectly, making it really efficient to get things done?

2-9-2014

My sister and I curled up on the sofa and watched the most horrible movie. Sherlock Holmes and dinosaurs?

2-10-2014

Used my day off to get some sewing done.

2-11-2014

I'm starting to think that living in Canada wouldn't be that bad. I like Canada but I never thought I could take the snow.  


2-12-2014

I baked way too many cookies!

2-13-2014

After the crazy power outages at work last week, we had another one today. The weather was rain, snow and ice. Very few people showed up at work.

2-14-2014

Finished for Valentine's Day.

I hope everyone has had a good week and has not been shoveling too frequently. In other news, I hear there's more snow today. 

Secret Life of Bloggers Blog Party: Post 6

Power outage dinner.

This post is going to be a little different than my other blog party posts. This week has gone by fast but it allowed me to collect my thoughts and do a lot of thinking that I normally do not have time to do.  The huge storm that hit in the area left 500,000 without power, including my house and my job.

We have a problem as a society.The power was out for 2 days and people were flipping out. I'm not talking about the elderly, they seemed to be taking it just fine. But adults in fine health were complaining about how they had no TV or internet at home. What were they going to do? Their kids were going to be so annoying without the TV to watch. People have forgotten how to live without electricity and electronics. People asked me, crippled, what they should do when they got home.   

Audible Noise

I always look forward to power outages. It is not ideal to be without heat in the winter, but I love the removal of developed noise. We are so used to the sounds that our heaters, fans, computers, microwaves, appliances and electronics make that the sounds are almost invisible to our conscious thought. Take them away, and you immediately realize just how loud they've been.

Mental Noise

What is exponentially worse than the audible noise is the mental noise our electronics create.  With electronics, we are constantly multitasking despite the evidence that multitasking is not good. The internet makes it all too easy to fall in the rabbit hole every time you are trying to concentrate. But being constantly distracted is taking it's toll. Our brains no longer have the time to sort through information or think. Our brains and souls remain voiceless. We are too distracted to listen.

Power Outages

Power outages snap people back to reality. Suddenly they have to concentrate on what they are doing. They have to read a finite books and think about what they are reading. They have to sit with their families and talk. They have to think about how and what they will prepare for dinner. They have to plan ahead. They have to help their neighbors out and make sure everyone is safe.

I am as guilty as everyone. As a blogger, researcher, and photographer, I clearly use the internet and technology a lot. Modern technology is amazing to me. It has allowed me to meet friends I never would have without it and learn things and have hobbies I never would have been able to have without it. But I can't say I hate the relief I honestly feel when I know there's no facebook or email to check. No rabbit hole of the internet to distract me and my quiet thoughts and family close by.


2-1-2014

While pulling a tissue out of my pocket, I accidentally dropped my change. I felt them falling and was anticipating the widespread fall that was bound to happen. I looked down and the pennies dropped to the floor almost as if a magnet attracted them. They didn't bounce at all and were all facing heads. Four lucky pennies. :)

2-2-2014 

Groundhog day. For those of you that don't know, it's a holiday that originated in PA and has now spread to other places. I can't definitively say who still celebrates it but I know they do here. One of a few fluffy groundhogs, that normally live in a library, is put into a log and let out. If the groundhog "sees his shadow" and turns back, there is supposed to be a few more weeks of winter. (Oh wait, there's a movie about this. Everyone knows what it is.) :D

2-3-2014

Big snowstorm, again.  About 7 inches. Because we almost ran out of it...

 
2-4-2014 

2-5-2014 

Start of the ice storm.

2-6-2014

The ice chunks falling from above. The ice on the power lines and trees showered with each blow of the wind.

2-7-2014

It snowed yet again today and the power went out again.


Even as I was writing this post I had the overwhelming urge to check facebook and my email, even though I know neither of those things was urgent or would really add to my life.