I’ve known about Chad Darnell’s 12 of 12 project for a while now, but I keep forgetting to pay attention to when the 12th of the month occurs. Usually, I’ll suddenly realize what day it is around noon, at which point half of the day is gone.

The basic idea is that you shoot 12 photos over the course of your day on the 12th day of each month. I don’t have the most exciting day to report, since it’s January, and we ran errands today, but here goes my first 12 of 12:

9:19 AM: Mocha wants her bone. Now.

I’m not the latest sleeper on the weekend. Usually the dog wakes me up because she wants out (we close the door to the bedroom to keep the heat in during the winter), and then it’s a contest to see how long I can ignore her before I give in. See, Mocha gets a bone in the morning. Usually, Ray gives it to her when he leaves for work (since I leave so early that she usually just moves into the space I’ve vacated on the bed and goes right back to sleep). On the weekend, however, she tries to double dip by getting me to give her one, and then trying to convince Ray to give her a second one when I’m not in the room. She’s very clever, that girl of ours.

9:29 AM: Brew.

Now, of course, it’s time for Daddy’s morning necessity, which involves ground up coffee beans and boiling water. (We’ve already had this discussion … )

11:10 AM: Scannin’ for viruses.

My computer in the office has been giving me problems, so I decide to do a full-on virus scan. It turns out that the problem isn’t a virus, it’s just a particularly nasty bit of spyware that crashes Windows Explorer when Symantec deletes the file. The good news is that it’s gone now, and we’re all much happier.

11:12 AM: Hawai’i's finest chain restaurant dining.

While the virus scan is running, I start flipping through some of the magazines and brochures that my parents gave me when they found out that Ray and I are going to Hawai’i (like, five minutes after. We’re not going until April).

You’ll notice from this photo that my parents and I have wildly different tastes. They went to Hawai’i and had dinner at the Outback. Oh yes, they did.

11:21 AM: My dog thinks she’s a cat.

I like to joke that Mocha thinks she’s a cat. This is why. She’s deceptively large — she’s 45 pounds, but she’s lanky, so most people think she’s larger than she actually is. She has this habit of sitting precariously balanced on the back of the love seat in front of the windows in the living room (for the record, her feet are on the windowsill that we have given up on trying to clean, and will just repaint someday). When we first moved into the house, we installed plantation blinds in this window and she eventually broke enough slats that we took them down and put up shears so that she can look to her heart’s content without breaking anything.

12:48 PM: The Toll Way to Heaven.

And we’re off! It’s not the most exciting trip: lunch and Costco, but I wasn’t going to go all glam just for 12 of 12.

Austin is in the process of rapidly expanding its freeway system, and paying for it by making the new roads tollways. I’m still paying, and I’m still loving the time it saves. I know this makes me a bad person.

1:01 PM: Lunch at TacoDeli.

Lunch at TacoDeli! It’s always busy.

1:33 PM: Life in a shopping cart.

After lunch, it’s on to Costco where, once again, we were able to successfully navigate the parking lot without being condemned to Hell. We have enough storage space to accommodate a year’s supply of paper towels, and we were out of a lot of things today. Hence, it was a shopping cart kinda day at the Costco…

2:13 PM: Roadside Boogie-Woogie.

On the way home was the Dancing Sign Guy. I dunno who he is, but he’s out there every Saturday holding a sign for a nearby computer store, and dancing away. He’s not grooving to any known beat on Earth, but he sure does look like he’s having fun!

2:29 PM: Mail call.

We stop at the mailbox to pick up the mail. Ray grabs my camera and takes a photo of me getting the mail — I have no idea why.

The entire county is classified as rural delivery, even though we’re definitely not rural.

4:36 PM: Stats check.

Checking my stats. Blame Brian. He’s the one that told me about Mint in the first place.

The part of this photo you’re not seeing is revealed here (this isn’t part of the 12, it’s just here for illustration):

5:08 PM: A Wish Fulfilled.

The reason for the above is that when the sun starts to go down, it’s time for Mocha’s walk, and she will not let you forget about it. Occasionally, she’ll run to the door and start pawing at the knob, but she wouldn’t do it when I had the camera out. Spoilsport.

Anyway, that’s 12 for 12 for January 2008! I know I’m wrapping this up a little early in the day, but I don’t want anyone to know what sort of programming we’ll be watching on the TV today. It would ruin my credibility as a media snob

Happy Weekend!

Tags: Austin, blogs, coffee, costco, dog, Home, khowaga, life, me, parents, Photos, Ray, shopping, weekend