Yesterday I was going through a tub of old pictures in picture frames that I had stored away. My goal was to take pictures out of frames that I could reuse and save the older pictures for scrap booking. I love looking through old pictures! Pictures can remind us of times, places, events, people, and even help us recall the emotion at the time of the picture. We are all trained to smile when a camera is pointed in our direction, but sometimes there is a bunch hidden behind a smile. Sometimes we feel annoyed, agitated, angry, sad, lost, mournful, happy, gleeful, radiant, proud, mischievous, or any number of emotions all at once. In most instances no matter how horrific or terrible an event may seem at the time, we can later look back on it with a smile. Sometimes even laughter!  When my brother and I were little, my dad would ride bicycles with us. One day we were playing bike tag! (I know, not a great idea!) We lived on a dead end street and there was a long flat board marking the end of the street. Behind the board there was a huge slope going down into a big ditch. It was fall and there were a lot of brush piles down there. We were using the board as “base” for our game of tag. I don’t remember who was chasing dad, but I remember he was going at lightning speed towards the base! He rammed into the board, flew up into the air, and went head over the board and down into a pile of brush! I remember being worried about whether or not he was okay at the moment. (He claimed he was trying to show us how to land!) When we discovered he was okay, it was funny. We have laughed about it for years now! Any time I see an old picture of our house with the board at the end of that street, I remember that event! Some memories can cause pain even after the passage of time. The loss of loved ones, illnesses, and rough times perhaps. The hard times in life can help shape a person and help them to grow in character. Sometimes when I see pictures of loved ones that have passed I am sad and mournful, but I can also smile because I remember them with love and have great memories about them.

This is why I love pictures! I almost always post a gazillion of them. I can’t help it! I know someday my family and I will be able to look back and remember all the precious times we have had together, both the good and the bad.

This morning while Emma was eating her snack, Zoe decided she wanted a snack too! She hopped up on the chair and was mooching for a handout! I had to shew her down from the table and then she laid in the chair, thus she is in the picture! 🙂

I have all my Christmas decorations put away. We bought four red bins from Target because they were on sale for four dollars a piece! I neatly organized all our Christmas stuff! (I did just have it in cardboard boxes.)  I labeled the bins after I was finished. I have one for ornaments, lights, figurines/stockings, and greenery!

Yesterday for lunch I made chicken and cheese quesadillas. I love quesadillas! 🙂 Emma seems to like them as well.

David has started back to school and we really miss him during the day!

Last night I cooked salmon, rice and roasted broccoli. I learned when squeezing a lemon to make sure it is pointing down! I squirted lemon juice right in my eye! It burned! I had to wash my eye out with water and endure burning pain for about a minute, which seemed like ten! :0 Otherwise dinner was really great! I love salmon! It is probably my favorite fish to eat. (Shh…Don’t tell my catfish loving family.) I just rub some olive oil on the fish and season it with kosher salt, pepper, a touch of garlic powder and fresh parsley. Heat up some butter and olive oil in a skillet and cook the fish! It is that easy! For the roasted broccoli, I toss it with some olive oil, minced garlic, a little lemon juice (Careful with the lemon!), and salt. When it is done roasting I like to add pepper and Parmesan cheese!