Pretty place settings.

Hey, take my picture! Hey, look at my chewed up food!

Oh how fun candle smoke can be!

When I get a new camera, it will definitely be something to play with.

One of that many things I love about visiting Detroit is the great graphic signs all over.

When I saw this one I had to get a picture…  

Hope you all are enjoying your holiday!

Quick, what did you experience that was totally random?!

Panic is setting in. *DEEP BREATH*

We leave to get our Turkey Day plans started tomorrow! *DEEP BREATH*

I still have miles of laundry to go before I sleep. I still have to pack everyone and every thing up. I still have to work in the morning. *DEEP DEEP BREATH*

Ahhh gotta love the holiday’s.

What are your plans? Are you panicking yet?

Our back yard turkeys. I wonder if their panicking yet… 

Condensation on the bakery window.

I just thought it looked cool.

I heard on the radio today that oil is at 70 dollars a barrel and could drop as low as 20 dollars a barrel.

I think that would bring it down to less the a dollar a gallon.

My first memory of gas prices I was six. I remember my parent’s discussing the price of gasoline…

How expensive it was getting. It was .99 cents a gallon.

I remember my friend Gabe lifting the hose and shaking it into the tank. I laughed at him and  he said “What? There’s still at least three cents of gas in the hose.” We had just started driving and depended on pop can returns for gas money. That day  it was at 1.25 a gallon.

Right now gas here is 1.79 a gallon, the last time it was that low was four years ago when one of my brother-in-laws was visiting us. He asked me to stop at the gas station so that he could take a picture of the price,  he wanted to show his friends how expensive it was here.

I’m finding it a little scary that I have so many memories of fuel prices…

What’s the price of a gallon in your neck of the woods?

What’s the lowest you remember a gallon of gas costing?

With the holiday seasons upon us, I have been spending a lot of extra time at the bakery, going in early and leaving late. It doesn’t leave much time for anything else but my sick monsters.  Since that is my existence right now I thought I would share it with you in THIS, what will be the first installment of…

 AS THE BAKERY TURNS!

(The names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.)

Sarah, the 31 year old baker’s assistant, or  Marcy’s bitch, as she calls herself. (Marcy, being the baker.) Runs and hides in the back of the bakery every Friday when a certain male customer comes in for his weekly loaves of bread and scone.

Mr. Mitchell (the customer)  had taken an interest in young Sarah very early in her employment and had gone about obtaining her phone number in a sly and slightly unethical way. He tricked another employee into giving it to him when he called and claimed to be a relative from out of town who had misplaced it. When he called Sarah at her private residence and she found out how he obtained her private number she rebuffed his interest and thought she had dealt with the situation never to have to deal with it again.  Little did Sarah know that Mr. Mitchell would continue to come to the bakery on Fridays as was his habit, or that he had joined a dating site, the same dating site that Sarah’s mother and current house mate, was a member of…

Mr. Mitchell arrived at Sarah’s house to pick up Sarah’s still attractive and recently single mother, for their first date. There was an moment of awkwardness and then the two left for their date… That was four months ago, Sarah’s mother and Mr. Mitchell are still dating. Sarah is still running to the back of the bakery when he comes in on Friday’s. How she handles his arrival at her house to collect her mother for dates is unknown…

This has been the first episode of AS THE BAKERY TURNS.

Will Sarah’s continue to hide? Will Mr. Mitchell continue to come in on Fridays? Will Sarah’s mother ever find out what a jerk he is?

Tune in next time to find out WHO the baker is dating, and why he doesn’t know how old she is!

This morning  I trained the new delivery driver how to slice and bag bread. It’s not a job he will normally do, but knowing how it’s done will help him do his job better. 

While we worked we talked.

I learned that he is from Traverse City and that he has one sibling.

I learned that he had worked on farms and at a feed store.

 I learned that he has been married and more recently divorced.

On his arm he has a tattoo of the helmet, gun, boots and dog tags of a soldier, I asked him why.

I learned that he had been in the army for four years and had been discharged because of an injury he received while serving in Iraq.

I learned that he had been dressed in full body armor when he fell from a vehicle while under fire.

I learned that his back injury is operable and he is hoping the government will fix him and let him back into the service.

I learned that he had been deployed to Iraq for one year and during that year had lost 23 of his friends…

I said “Thank you.”

He said “I never know what to say when someone says thank you, I guess, your welcome?”

I said “I never feel like saying thank you is enough, but, your welcome works.”

I learned that even if I don’t think about it, even if it doesn’t touch me daily,  there is a war going on and that there is a human cost.

I learned that  just saying  thank you will never be enough.

What would you have said? 

 How do you show your gratitude to someone who’s protected your freedom?

I finally got one of my big pieces finished.

It’s taken a little longer because I’ve been making little stockings and stars for the Glass Company.

 I probably have seven hours invested in him…

and I used all scrap glass from my other projects.

Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that the right person comes in and wants him for their garden.

I’m not really sure what to price him at even, I’m hoping the guys at  the glass company will know.

Here’s a loaded question…

What would you pay if you were going to buy this in a store?

Don’t worry, you won’t hurt my feelings.

This morning I decided to wade through a field on my way home from work.

Every morning I drive by this field, it always looks different depending on what’s going on with the sky.

I know this one isn’t the sharpest… but I still like it.

This brings me to the broken camera part…

My camera just isn’t working, it gets a little frustrating.

Especially  when I want to take pictures of something happening RIGHT NOW.

Well I suppose I will stumble along for awhile longer with what I have.

Occasionally it still does the trick.

 I haven’t had much time to get out and take pictures.

So for now I will use my broken camera and settle for ten minutes in wet fields here and there.

Before next summer I might have enough money stashed to get exactly what I want.

When you want something do you have trouble waiting for it?

Another video sent to my by my FIL… I don’t know how he finds them, but they are entertaining and since I am having a blogging dry spell… I thought I would share it.

Would you go to see the Ukulele orchestra?

 I would, in a heart beat… but I guess you could have guessed that. I drive two hours to take pictures of giant heads.

What concert or performance have you always wanted to see?

When I go into work at four in the morning there are only two other people there. The slicers, two women that I enjoy knowing very much. One is  hard of hearing and the other is completely deaf and doesn’t speak.

I have always wanted to learn sign language and had taken a class at college, but not having anyone to talk to, I never really used it. Jes and Jada consider me a challenge and  everyday they teach me how to use a new sign. I know they’re enjoying it too, The other day they laughed at me because I was trying to call Jes a booger and end up telling them I am a nose picker instead. (Yeah, don’t act like your surprised.)

When I come in it’s always quiet, the bread bakers  have just left and the girls turn off the stereo that the night crew blares heavy metal from at full volume.  Jes and Jada live with it while the guys are there, but say that the vibrations can get annoying, so they turn it off as soon as they can.

I respect this, for me in the early morning silence is just fine and we often go through the hours of four to six thirty with very little vocal sounds and lots of hand jesters. This morning though I was singing one of the many songs in my head, kind of off in my own world, when Jes came up to me and told me she was hearing beautiful music.  Let me tell you, my voice is far from beautiful, but to have her think so made me feel warm and fuzzy.

Even if she does think I’m a booger picker.

Have you ever known someone who is deaf or hard of hearing?

In the spirit of GIVING…

I am in the process of making more cards…

( I sell  pictures of local scenery at the Glass Company.)

I  think that some of my best shots never make it to cards because I’m not sure they would sell to the tourists.

That makes me a little sad because I’d like to show them off.

You all know how much I like to say LOOK AT ME!

So here it is…

The offer of a lifetime… (insert sarcasm here)

Go through my photos and pick your favorite.

Pictures of my monsters are not up for grabs… even though they are cute.

Send me a message with your address and a link to the picture you like,

and I will send you one of my cards!

How does that sound?

(I know, I still have mail art I need to get out. I haven’t forgotten!)

Have fun looking!

Although maybe I’ve already shown you the best… hmmm…

I can’t wait to see what you choose!

Maybe this?

Or these?

If you want one of the ones in this post you won’t have to wade through the hundreds of pics in my photoblog, just click the picture then copy the address and send it to me in a message…

WITH your name and address.  

Does anyone ELSE think I’m cracked?