My Christmas Gift...

My Christmas Gift...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

This was one of my Christmas gifts.. it came with a note that simply said:

Dear Mommy, I'm sorry. Love, Gretchen

:)

Baked Corgi-Jack....

Baked Corgi-Jack....
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

The glee that overflows from The Stupid Little Angry Dog™ whenever we go to light the fireplace is unbelievable... We actually had to buy the fireplace screen just to keep her from working her way in too close to the embers and bursting into flame!

Santa Came...

Santa Came...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Woohoo!!

Merry Merry Christmas to all my wonderful readers!

Who... moi?

Who... moi?
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Yes YOU... Out there raiding my bird feeders... Just remember.. I have another way to shoot you rather than just with my new telephoto lens... you freakin' tree rat!

So... after a full week of working at Wally World, what is my advice to you?

1. If you don't want something after you have put it in your cart, put it back where it BELONGS!! Don't want that cheesecake?? Here's a newsflash for ya... It does NOT belong stuffed alongside the pocket books... Decided against cheeseburgers for supper? The hamburg really shouldn't be left on top of the rack of flannel pjs... SHEESH... People are animals... animals I tell you...

2. When purchasing anything from ANY store... DO NOT apply it directly to your body... remove it from whatever packaging it comes in... place it gently in the washing machine... and select "BOIL" from the dial... Rinse... and REPEAT!

3. If you can't find what you need... find the clerk that looks the most bored... Chances are she's the one that's been there the longest and will be able to give you specific... precise... turn by turn directions... as to where you can find whatever it is you seek...

4. If you have been cleaning your house all day with an aerosol spray cleaner... DO NOT call your local store to find out if they have anything that will finish the job without making you any higher than you already are. You will be made fun of for using the phrase "like.. like.. like.. it's really smelly in here..." and then giggling... You will also be ignored while you ramble on in a completely stoned out manner.... but then.. it'll be ok... cause chances are you've killed off enough brain cells that you won't remember you ever made a phone call anyway...

5. DO NOT CONFUSE THE FITTING ROOM WITH THE REST ROOMS! The rest rooms have porcelin bowls with water in them and a handy roll of tissue to help finish the job.

Later...

Salem Cross Inn

Salem Cross Inn
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

For as long as I can remember Salem's has decorated a tree on their property with huge white lights and small blue lights... The original tree is gone now but it's nice to see them still decorating the same way even though they've had to move to a smaller tree...

So... we had our annual "Christmas present meal" at Salem's courtesy of the inlaws this past weekend... It was great, there were Christmas Carolers in period costume, seranding us as we ate our turkey dinner, which actually was good, but not as good as my turkey in the Ronco Showtime rotissierie. A great time was had by all, and little Nate did an awesome job playing the jingle bell, that kid is gonna be a musician I think. I just wish I could get in the Christmas spirit. I think I've just got so much going on that it's hard to even think about Christmas as yet... The new Wally world job (which is going well by the way)... The Etsy sales... I even got a sale today on my Cafepress store that has just been kind of sitting there for a year or better... Oh well.. I'm sure I'll find that Christmas spirit before too much longer, I just need some time to sit down and watch The Muppets Christmas Carol and then "The Snowman"... That should do it...

Later...

Because I can..

Because I can..
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Here's Design #3 (although I did add Christmas Greetings from my family to the left hand side above the bench on the actual cards.. it worked really well!)

Christmas Card Design #2

Christmas Card Design #2
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

This one I sent to the families with kids that were on my list...

Christmas Card designs...

Christmas Card designs...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

I've been hiding these.. LOL.. This is one of my personal Christmas Cards for this year.. Our only snow flurry so far this year... I didn't want to post them till I thought the majority of people on my card list had received theirs...

Fog Warning...

Fog Warning...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

No snow... just fog... *sigh... not very Christmassy I'm afraid.. In fact all those Christmas decorations are starting to look a little tacky in the brown icky mud... Keep your fingers crossed for some snow!

So the Wally World job is going well... They were very nice and adjusted my hours for me, YAY! I hated to ask being my first day on the job and all... but it was a great test of what I can expect. There are just some days that your gonna need to take off and it's nice to know that there wasn't a big hubbub about it all.. So anyway.. it went well... I even put my employee discount to good use. Yup.. I worked 2 days and on my first day off, where did I go? Yup.. Wal-mart.. LOL... but tis the season... I was pleasantly surprised tho.. I picked up $235 worth of Xmas gifts and my discount came out to $21.21 saved... Nice. Of course I just gave my first weeks pay (and them some) right back to the company... but hey.. I would have spent that money there anyway... So.. I'll answer their phones and straighten things up for 24 hours in exchange for some Christmas presents for my family... Works for me... Anyway... got another shift tonite.. and more shopping to do.. Happy Holidays! Thanks for choosing your Ware Wal-mart!

Later...

Statuary

Statuary
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

On a Sunday ride this week we came across the most awesome shop... They do consigment/estates sales... They had a HUGE collection of all kinds of statuary from the Colgate Mansion... these were just a small portion...

So... anyway... that was probably the last Sunday I'll have off for a while... yup... I got my DREAM job... actually.. it's BETTER than my dream job... if you read along here you know that all I wanted to do was to be a cashier at Wally mart... just that mind numbing... I don't need to think.. beep beep beep as you drag the customers items across the IR price reader... hello customer.. good bye customer... no worries... clock out and leave work at work J.. O... B... Well... I did orientation last nite for an even BETTER job... the Fitting Room at Wally mart... yeah... the same "get out with some REAL people job" but without all that beeping... well.. maybe some beeping.. I'll be answering the store phones as well...

ok.. so I've taken a ton of "WHY do you wanna do that?" questions from peeps... Well...

first.. I LOVE Walmart... I'm there half the time anyway...

and second... I'm going out of my tree working from home... I'm far too social to be cooped up in my little back office with no one to talk to except the Stupid Little Angry Dog...

Third... I LOVE retail work... ok.. so I was a bank teller.. which isn't really retail... but it's close enough... I really miss the comings and goings of the different customers...

Fourth... if they wanna pay me $8.75 an hour with a 40 - 60 cent raise after 90 days to say "OH.. you have 3 items.. here.. have a number 3" then hey.. who am I to argue...

So anyway... I'm looking forward to the new job... (sick huh? We'll see if I'm still so anxious to get to work in a month or so)... now.. if I can just get them to fix my hours... since when is 8am - 5pm on a FRIDAY called "nights and weekends"!!! OH.. and then there was the stipulation that I made during my interview that I needed to have the afternoon of the 17th off for the in-laws Christmas party... you got it.. they have me scheduled for 5pm... At least they stuck by the deal of having the 23rd off for my families Christmas... OH.. and then there was the "temporary position" paperwork in my orientation packet... temporary?? I didn't hear anyone mention "temporary" during my interview... **sigh**... Oh well.. I'm sure it'll all get straigtened out tonite when I do my first shift...

Later...

Deer Gretchen...

Deer Gretchen...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

I had to wait till she was asleep to put them on her... LOL... I was laughing so hard it's amazing that the pics came out... I thought for sure they would be blurry... Gretchen, on the other hand, was NOT amused...

Poor Puppy...

Poor Puppy...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Gretchen was freezing... so my husband took pity on her and carried her off to the warmth of the house... I don't know who should be more embarrassed... LOL...

New Lens test

New Lens test
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Of course you have to point the new lens at a kitty! I'm rather pleased.. you can see a little bit of noise at the edges of her fur but nothing 'horrible'.. Pugsly doesn't look too pleased however! Taken at almost the max of the lens at 271mm and then cropped for a really close cut of her face!

Dam

Dam
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Another one from that lovely covered bridge that we happened upon the other day. I used a longer exposure to get a little bit of blur to the falling water, but not so long as to risk screwing it up... see I didn't have the tripod so I used a handy fence post to steady the camera.

So.. I've made a good dent in my Christmas shopping. The UPS guy hates me.. LOL... he had to drive up my horrendous driveway not one.. not two.. but THREE days in a row last week... and guess what.. he'll be back again today.. Heh.... Today's delivery is extra special tho... my 300mm telephoto lens.. WOOHOO... ok.. so I not only did my Christmas shopping, but I did Mr. 9 2 Bay's shopping for me as well! Hey... he's got no clue about what camera equipment I want so I made it easy for him.. I did it myself... so... I'll snag the lens as soon as it gets here and give the box to him to wrap and put under the tree. :) problem solved and I'm gaurenteed to get the exact lens that I want! Oh.. and the exact camera remote control... and the exact filter for the new lens.. LOL.. ok.. so I've done more of 'gifts for me' than 'gifts for others' but.. whatever.. there are a few items coming for others as well... and if I can just get a list out of Mr. 9 2 Bay I'll finish it all up!

At this point tho.. I'm thinking I need to get something for the poor UPS guy.. after all... I just surf.. punch in some info... and I'm done.. he's the one that has to do the driving around.. figuring out how to turn that giant brown box of a truck of his around in my driveway.. and deal with all the other packages that have bounced around in his truck after hitting our infamous 'middle of the driveway freakin' boulder that will take 3 sticks of TNT to get rid of'... I'm thinking a giant roll of bubble wrap as a gift... of course I'll expect him to wrap my packages in it BEFORE he drives up my driveway again... oh... well.. there we go.. maybe that's a present for me again... DAM!

Later...

It's snowing... It's snowing...

Yummy Reindeer...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

WOOHOO... We had a lovely snowfall this morning... YAY!!!! Finally... nope.. no pictures.. yet... not that I wasn't out there snapping away like a madwoman... I've got tons.... and some of them are even REALLY nice... like Christmas Card nice... like... nope.. you won't see those till I've selected my own personal Christmas Card design and then you'll have to be lucky enough to be on my Christmas Card list to eventually see those.. I've decided I need to do a "never before seen... scene" for those... :) ok.. so maybe a week or so after I've sent them, you'll get to see them...

Later...

Roger knew it was a bold choice...

Roger knew it was a bold choice...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Roger knew it was a bold choice to go with the Santa dress rather than the usual pants and boots but all that chafing was killing him. He won't even discuss the night that that St. Bernard chased him across the yard till all that velvet friction heated up so much that his thighs burst into flames. But he really didn't think the other Santa's would be so horrible as to talk about him behind his back!

Even the Outhouse was decorated...

Even the Outhouse was decorated...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

More from June Glidden's Bake shop!

An Outhouse? you say... What's with the outhouse... well.. it's kind of fitting for the rest of the post today... Yup... I'm gonna throw a little crap around... who's the target? Well.. how about Fox News... Fair and Balanced.. my butt! Ok.. so normally I LOVE Fox News... I watch it all day long, or rather, I have it on all day while I'm working... So what's my beef? Their coverage of Barack Obama... At least 9 times a day for the last 2 weeks they've covered (and giggled about) how everyone LOVES Barack but if you ask them what he stands for no one can really say what he stands for... Pretty funny... yes... but come on.. how about doing the hard stuff... how about a little investigative reporting and TELL us what the guy stands for... Telling us we don't know what he stands for doesn't do anyone any good... Giggling at the people who swear by the guy and yet don't know how he stands on the issues of the day is just UNFAIR.... and you could add a little balance by giving some time to someone who does know how the guy stands... SHEESH... "Fair and Balanced"... not bloody likely... ok... rant over...

So... where's the freakin' snow?? I was promised at least some snow showers and the sun is shining this morning... ggrrrr...

Later..

Christmas Cookies...

Christmas Cookies...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

OH.. they smell SO good... from the bakshop of June Glidden... (ps.. the white balance is intentionally yellowish as this is for an ivory colored greeting card)

The most awesome bake shop...

The most awesome bake shop...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

The only thing more adorable than the shop itself.. is the lovely cookies (images to come) that she offers there... if your in Mass. it's worth a trip...
The Bakeshop of June F. Glidden,
New Braintree, MA
Email me for the street address if your interested!

Mini herd...

Mini herd...
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

The miniature horses in West Brookfield.. I love these little guys!

Orion I believe

Orion I believe
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Doing some long exposures tonite... the clouds were flying by with the high winds and it's still warm out... perfect conditions... man was it windy... the roar of the wind coming thru the trees and down the ridge behind the house was deafening.... kind of cool in the daylight, but after dark it was a little scary...

Later

Soft, fuzzy but Cool

Soft, fuzzy but Cool
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Not the greatest pic.. but I was just so thrilled to have a 'big bird' at my feeder that I'm gonna upload him anyway... What a woodpecker was doing eating seed rather than bugs, that's another question... and I think the answer is the impending storm... the birds are just going nuts out there... it's amazing that there hasn't been a 12 bird pileup with all the comings and goings at the feeder today... I've even had a couple of Blue Jays routing around under the feeder (WHY OH WHY don't they just fly up and get a fresh one?? And of course, their picture taken!)... And now I've got 8 Mourning Doves scrounging in the grass as well... I think we need to hold onto our hats, cause if the birds are right.. we're gonna get hammered!

Later

Soft, fuzzy but Cool

Soft, fuzzy but Cool
Originally uploaded by BayRoadPhoto/Laura.

Not the greatest pic.. but I was just so thrilled to have a 'big bird' at my feeder that I'm gonna upload him anyway... What a woodpecker was doing eating seed rather than bugs, that's another question... and I think the answer is the impending storm... the birds are just going nuts out there... it's amazing that there hasn't been a 12 bird pileup with all the comings and goings at the feeder today... I've even had a couple of Blue Jays routing around under the feeder (WHY OH WHY don't they just fly up and get a fresh one?? And of course, their picture taken!)... And now I've got 8 Mourning Doves scrounging in the grass as well... I think we need to hold onto our hats, cause if the birds are right.. we're gonna get hammered!

Later