1. A friend shared two very cool links today on Facebook, so I thought I would pass them along: Academic Earth offers free online college courses - entire classes! - in the form of video presentations. You won't get credit for watching the courses obviously, but you can use them to supplement classes you are already taking or to increase your understanding of topics you are having trouble with. The other site, Khan Academy, also offers free online courses but is geared toward K-12.
     

 
Short post tonight because I'm fading...

Today's photo is posted. I had planned on getting up early for the meteor shower but didn't make it outside for a photo (sorry, Meg). But I did experiment with sky photos before we went to bed last night, so maybe one night that isn't too cold I'll go out and try to get a cool shot.

And a bonus for tonight: guess who also started a blog? Go give him some comment love! :)

- Antiope

 
It all blew away.

So this afternoon Theseus and I bundled up and went out again, collecting all the cardboard and stacking it behind the house. We'll have to wait to spread it out until we get all the hay delivered, I guess. We called a guy that is offering mulch hay for $1/bale; hopefully he'll give us a call back tomorrow and let us know if he will deliver.

I also ordered all the seeds today. We are using two different companies this year: Victory Seeds, which supplied all our seeds last year, and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, which is a little more expensive but offered a few varieties we wanted that were sold out of Victory. Now that we have a year of serious gardening under our belts, we were able to select seeds with a bit more knowledge for the coming spring. As a result, we scaled back the different types of vegetables and focused on variety of the ones we had success with. Our potatoes, which we haven't ordered yet, will again come from Wood Prairie Farm, an organic family farm in Bridgewater, Maine. Always happy to do business with New Englanders! :)

After dinner (salad and a cup of hot soup) we gave the baby a bath - he's so funny in the tub. My grandmother bought him a little whale that floats in the bath and shoots water through its spout. He loves it! I can't wait for him to get a little older so he can spend more time playing in the water. I always loved baths when I was young. After he was rinsed off, I lotioned him up and Theseus put him down for bed. He's such an agreeable little guy.

So now we've settled into the couch by the fire. I'm so glad we got the chimney inspected/repaired this year - having a fire in the evenings is the best!! I've also attracted a lonely cat who has made himself at home in my lap. Not a bad night.

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Today's photo is up!

- Antiope

 
It is January and we are running out of time. :(

Today we braved a chilly wind and moved more of the leaf pile(s!) from the front yard to the giant leaf pile in the back. I hate to keep whining about the raking, but we have a TON of leaves on our property. It's absurd. Theseus made a sled for the leaves out of a tarp and a random wooden pole he found in the basement, so we raked the smaller leaf piles onto the tarp and then dragged it into the back yard to add to the big pile. Sounds pretty easy, but it's actually kind of exhausting. We did that until lunch time and then came inside to eat and warm our faces.

After lunch and after the baby went down for another nap, we headed back outside and took out the tractor, Bess. She's seen some better days, but she still has a couple years left in her, I think. Anyway, we forked compost from last year's leaf pile into the trailer and hauled it to the main garden for spreading. Once that was done, Theseus sliced up some cardboard boxes and I spread it over the compost. We had a heck of a time combating weeds last season; hopefully the cardboard will at least slow them down. Before we went inside, our faces freezing, Theseus hosed down the cardboard so it doesn't blow away.

We've been inside for over an hour now and I still can't feel my nose!

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Today's photo is up. :)

- Antiope

Launch

12/31/2011

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Ack! Would you believe I'm actually a little nervous to share my photo project with you? 

So - bear with me - it's still a little skeletal, and I'm not 100% satisfied with the home page photo, but I needed to put things in as placeholders. It will come together a little better in the coming weeks, I promise. Sorry! I created it last night in about 30 minutes while eating s'mores and waiting for the ball to drop. I was pretty distracted.

But. Here it is: http://antiope366.weebly.com/. The photos will be added in the Photos tab on the left side (no way, right?). Today's is already up.

I also added a link on the right side of this blog, under my photo and little bio. ---------------->
See it?
Now go there and tell me what you think! Seriously, I welcome suggestions.

So now you have it, my (overly?) ambitious attempt at taking and posting a photo every day. I think (hope!) it will make me a better shooter, and it will be really fun, I think. Fingers crossed that I'll make it to Dec 31!*

Oh and something else, a word of warning: This blog is due for a makeover. The photo on the top of the page (not mine) is a sunflower, and it's freakin January! So sometime in the near future I'll redo the design here. And Theseus has informed me that my Family section is outdated (guilty!) so I'll update that, too. Also the homepage here has all old photos. And the Blogroll is probably terrible as well, but it's been so long since I looked at it... maybe I'll just delete it, who knows.

Welp. Good night!

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*Or actually, Dec 21, since that's when the world is ending.

- Antiope

 
We're having a quiet first night this year - tacos for dinner and s'mores later by the fire. Maybe I'll let myself enjoy a glass of wine. :)

This time last year I was in New York with J and Mer. I haven't seen much of them lately... it's been, what, three months? A damn shame. I need to get up there and see them soon.

Something else I just realized - remember that photo-a-day project I was talking about earlier this week? Yeah. It starts tomorrow. Holy crap. Guess I'll be spending some of tonight creating another site to host my photos. I'll have a link ready for you guys tomorrow, thought it might be a work in progress for a week or so.
     

 
I don't know what got into us today - we got a ton of fun stuff up on the walls! Two years after we bought the house and we're just getting around to decorating, haha.

Our new mirror went up in the living room, to the left of the window. On the other side, we put up two multi-photo frames that I'd filled over the summer; one frame for Theseus, one for me, each a collection of new and old photos. I'm really proud of them. :)
     

 
Yikes, this blog is pretty dusty. Sorry I have been away so long - the weeks leading up to Christmas were hectic as we tried to split and stack wood for our fireplace, rake and get the garden ready for the winter (still not done...). Oh and shopping, selling textbooks on Amazon and preparing for the trek to the icy North.

Now we're back in Nj recovering from the excursion... fire burning in the living room, the History Channel on tv, feet up on the couch. Theseus made breakfast quesadillas for dinner (yum!) and then we gave the baby a bath. He has a new bath toy from my grandmother - a whale that floats around and spouts up water - and he really enjoyed it. He's sleeping now... it's nice to be home.
     

 
B+ in chemistry lab.

So long, 4.0.

:/

- Antiope

 
My! Orders! Start! January 9!

HGABFHAPGHAPGHSUTPHEANAPF APEREHF!!!

And another happy announcement: Theseus got confirmation that the fire department letters were mailed yesterday. So we'll hear something on that by the end of this week!

I'm so happy and relieved - I might throw up! Now I can stop feeling guilty for buying a coffee before school or worrying how expensive diapers are. Theseus and I have been waiting anxiously for this news for weeks (months, actually) and now, finally...

Because of the time I've already spent on mobilization orders within the US, I only have 250 days on my "clock." So that's about 8 months; if my math is correct, these orders should carry me to September 15. And that's perfect, because it will almost seamlessly lead into the fall semester (there's a little overlap, but I'll make it work). I know I still owe you all a post about that - maybe tomorrow? It feels a little easier to write about school now that I know I'll have employment to back up the committment.

As far as the fire department, we don't know what exactly it means for us - we don't know when Theseus would start, where/how long he'd have to go for training, what the hours would be like, etc. But knowing is always better than not knowing, and I am confident we will be able to tackle whatever new challenges it brings.

Wow. I really feel lighter. This has been a fantastic day. :)

- Antiope