12 on 12 ~ February

Happy Valentine's Day y'all! Hope your day is filled with hugs and kisses and all things sweet~ which of course includes much chocolate!

I frequent a scrapbooking site that is filled with amazingly creative people and and they have presented a fun project that I am going to try. If photography's involved, you've pretty much got my attention. Its simple ~ take 12 photos on the 12th of each month and scrap them in one layout. I missed January and I may have to recreate it ~ ok, cheat, but I enjoyed viewing the day through the lens of my camera. Since the 12th fell on Tuesday this month, it meant a trip into town for us, so many shots originated there.

I have to admit that this project even made a day in town fun for this dirt road girl. Photos of town don't generally make their way into my scrapbooks. In fact, I don't even have a scrapbook for me. I scrap our lifestyle and the kids have lots of scrapbooks, but I haven't yet made a book of me yet. I have a few ideas floating around, but they have yet to make it onto a page. Maybe this will get me started.

So here is a peek into my life on Tuesday:

1. It started out early! DH was heading to the northern part of the state to pick up 4 bulls. I really wanted to jump in with him, but DD had her piano lesson so he made the trip solo. See, even the camera has blurry eyes this early in the morning!

2. Getting an early start to the morning means I've got some extra time to work on my Bible study lesson. Truth be told, I often let most of the week get away from me before I sit down to work on this. Don't know why because I am learning so much and thoroughly enjoying the Monday night fellowship with this amazing group of ladies:

3. DH left before the horses came up so we went out to serve them their breakfast. What a glorious morning! I certainly didn't relish the thought of spending it in town!

4. I really needed to complete my lesson plans for the week before the week disappeared so I spent some time getting that on paper. I make my lesson plans in pencil because more often than not, I will be erasing them and making changes.

5. Aahhh! The bookstore! One of our favorite places to spend time. I picked up "The Grapes of Wrath" for my next book. I've always wanted to read this. Not sure why, it's not exactly a 'fun' read, but I have been slowly working my way through some of the classics. I checked this out at the library last summer, but I never got around to it and the library wouldn't let me have it for the entire summer. Hmph! Now that we have it, I think we'll all read it.

6. Next stop ~ piano lessons ~ DD has the most amazing teacher and they started out working on their present duet, "Give Me That Old Time Religion".

7. I treated myself to a quick trip to Hobby Lobby while DD was practicing. Hard to resist their 50% off sales. I picked up a couple pieces of paper, a stamp and some brads ~ all half-price or on clearance.

8. After picking up DD, it was off to peruse the aisles of Valentine goodies at the store! 9. ...and pick up a few groceries ~ ick! Yes, those are BOXED blueberry muffin mixes! I want to make heart-shaped blueberry muffins for Valentine's Day and the fresh blueberries are WAY too expensive. This mix actually has 2 cans of blueberries in it and it's less expensive ~ go figure. Oh, and I have a coupon too! Hmmm...I see that DD managed to sneak in a few boxes of granola bars as well. She said that she needs to stash them because DS, who is 17 and always hungry, can devour 3 of these bars in a matter of minutes.

10. Ever since the kids were little, we would stop for a treat at Dairy Queen when we made our monthy trips to town in the summer. Somewhere along the way, we all developed a taste for their strawberry shakes. Yes, I know it's not summer, but it was a beautiful spring-like day and that shake was calling my name. Hey, it's a tradition!

11. On our way home, we made a quick detour and stopped in at the neighboring ranch. My friend L. had hauled in some really good dirt from her Dad's farm and she told us to come and get what we wanted for our flower beds. So we threw a couple of molasses tubs into the truck that morning and filled them up on our way home. Ok ~ go ahead and laugh, but I was really excited about this dirt! I can't wait for spring! One of my favorite things to do is dig in the dirt ~ I suppose I just never really grew up. Added bonus: we got a workout lifting those tubs back into the pickup! Heave Ho!

12. And last, but not least, here are the newest additions to our ranching family:

And here's the subsequent scrapbook page. I am giving myself lots of brownie points for actually getting this scrapped just 2 days after the 12th! That's a huge accomplishment for me! I even used the paper I bought on Tuesday and a couple of the brads.

That was fun! Can't wait for next month! Whew that was a long post ~ sorry!