The to-do lists are everywhere!

It has been a little over two weeks since I have taken any Zyrtec and I'm mostly itch-free.  I think that may just be the thing I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving!  I was beginning to think I would never be free of it. 

I'm also surrounded by to-do lists.  I have my Christmas shopping list that I've been working on for a couple of weeks now, my Christmas card mailing list, and now a "things to take to mom's tomorrow" list for Thanksgiving.  I'm preparing either breakfast or brunch for everyone (depending on how early I can drag myself out of bed and over to Pensacola).  Then there's the stuff-to-do-for-clients list.  That one has stuff like designing Christmas cards, revising Christmas cards, and ordering Christmas cards, as well as shipping a print order that I had to place specially for someone due to an oddly sized print. 

Add to that the items I need to finish making before Christmas gets here in!  Tomorrow is one month before Christmas!  I ordered more yarn yesterday so I can finish Tyler's blanket.  It's the softest stuff I've ever felt and totally awesome.  It's also the most expensive yarn I've ever bought, and so I had to look for a deal.  (Found one!)  There are a few other things I'd like to crochet before the big day is here or else my gift list is going to have a few holes in it!  So I really need to get on the ball with that...  I think after this blanket I'll tackle the small stuff next and then start on the next blanket.  I don't know if I can make two blankets before Christmas, though.  Ack!

Portrait bookings have picked up A LOT lately, and I am so excited about that!  Seriously, I'm in love with working as a photographer.  I rented an L lens to use this weekend since Borrow Lenses was having a promotion.  It was delivered on Monday and would you believe I haven't even taken it out of the box yet?  Insane, right?!  I need to take it out and play with it tonight so I'm ready for tomorrow.  I'll probably practice on SADIE!  We're dog-sitting for some friends so we have a Pomeranian for 11 days.  David has dubbed her a pogo-ranian because she bounces so much.  Now I'm calling her Pogo.  I need to get some great shots of her and Bailey playing.  They're BFF's and adore one another.  But in order to do that, I would need to straighten up the living room, and that, quite frankly, just isn't at the top of the list right now! 

What about you?  Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  And Christmas?

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I hate Zyrtec.

I seriously despise the stuff at this point! I've been taking it daily for a couple of years now and decided a few months ago that I was ready to try going off of it. Boy was I in for a nasty surprise! I had noticed in the past that when I missed a couple of doses I would get itchy, which I found unusual since I'd never had skin allergies before I started taking it. But I dismissed it as a coincidence... Until I tried going off of it for real and just about clawed my skin off.

It started out as a small itch here and there. Scratch and it would go away. But the longer I was off the Zyrtec the worse the itching got. The night I finally figured out what was happening was seriously one of the worst nights of my life! When I laid down to go to bed the itching got worse. So I scratched. And that didn't help. So I scratched some more... Until I knew I was about to start damaging my skin! Then it moved to my back. It seems to be a couple of isolated points that itch intensely. My stomach, the tops of my legs, and my back seem to get it the worst. That night I resorted to using my hairbrush to scratch my back. And it provided no relief.

By this time - around midnight - I had put two and two together. I went downstairs and got some Benadryl, thinking that if it really was an allergic reaction that should help faster than Zyrtec. Wrong. It did NOTHING! Finally in desperation I jumped into a cold shower. That calmed the itching for the first time in about an hour. But it didn't last. About 30 seconds after laying back down I started to itch again. My brain settled on the next option after Benadryl... Something topical! So I found the Calamine lotion and proceeded to attempt to pour it down my back. (I should mention David was at work this particular night so I was left to my own devices.) All that accomplished was a bunch of pink splatters on the bathroom floor. No relief.

We are approaching 1:30 in the morning now and I have to work! So I pulled out my phone and consulted Dr Google. Turns out I'm not the only person to experience this. I was shocked by the pages of results my google query of "zyrtec itch" returned. At this point it has been at least half an hour since I tool the Benadryl and I was itching so badly I thought I was going to go insane. I was actually shaking at this point. So I went downstairs and found my zyrtec and took one then came back upstairs for a second cold shower. Thankfully the Zyrtec worked pretty quickly and my skin stopped feeling like it was on fire with itchiness. The spots where I had scratched almost raw still hurt, though.

I continued to take my Zyrtec daily for about a week while I researched the issue. Turns out if you quit cold turkey the itching can last for two weeks. TWO WEEKS?! I couldn't even survive one night! So I decided to titrate down. I took half a pill every day for a couple of weeks. Then I went to 1/4. At each step I experienced some itching but nothing like the night from hell had been.

I'm now down to 1/8 of a pill and only taking it when the itching starts instead of daily. I'm going longer between doses I think... But I had a spell of the itches tonight and they had the potential to have been just as bad as the first night. I suffered for a little while before I decided they were getting worse instead of better. And they stopped within 10 minutes of taking an 8th of a pill.

The information out there on the causes of this bizarre side effect seems to be speculative. The manufacturers deny it and there doesn't seem to be a fast answer to getting off of the drug. I don't care now if I need the antihistamine or not... I'm not going to continue putting a chemical into my body that does this to me. If you're ever considering using this handy over-the-counter med, I'd encourage you to think twice about it.

Sent from my iPhone

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This is a lesson in value.

My sister and I decided to have a yard sale this weekend so I've been going through closets most of the evening. After I watched The Vampire Diaries, of course. ;) It's really amazing what you can put in a closet and forget about! I found two laptop bags in perfect condition that I don't remember ever using. There were shoes I bought when I was first told I had to get rid of my heels because of the pinched nerve in my foot and went on a flats shopping spree. In other words, I'll be selling some good stuff this weekend if you're interested! Lol!

Anyhow. The biggest part of my purge is related to my old twin bed. It is solid wood and I remember the year my mom bought the matching beds for me and my sister. I remember the excitement of shopping for them - at the MALL! We rarely shopped at the mall when I was growing up because money was always tight. So going shopping for the beds there was a big deal. And I also remember how my mom worked so hard to come up with the money to get us GOOD beds. That was a big deal and I could tell she was proud of that. She confirmed tonight when I was texting her that she was happy to be able to buy them for us.

My bed has gone with me through our limited moves. When we got married and moved down the street I took it. When we moved back into mom's a year later it went back. Lol. And when we bought our house and moved to Milton it went into "the nursery" where it has been since. Kelly still has hers and it is now Landon's. Now that Tyler has turned two he needs a big boy bed... So after much wrestling with myself over it I told Kelly she could have it for him.

I'm sad to part with the bed even though I know it's going to a great little person and will likely belong to one of the boys their entire childhood. That's okay with me. And is kinda cool that the beds will be back together.

But then as I was going through the linen closet I came across the quilt mom bought me for Christmas one year. It's not too fancy and I'm not really ~in love~ with the design or colors anymore. But once again I remember the excitement of shopping for it. I remember that it was a sacrifice for my mom to spend that much money on a quilt. But it was what I wanted for Christmas that year and she made sure we found one that I liked. Because of that I simply can't put a value on that quilt. It's a twin size and I won't have a bed for it anymore... But it's not going anywhere! I tossed shoes I never wore and blankets I bought and then changed my mind about into the yard sale boxes without giving them a second thought. Things I paid decent money for (one pair of shoes still has the $25 price tag on them but they hurt my feet) and am willing to part with for very little. No big deal. Take my hard earned money. But when it comes to the things my mom sacrificed to be able to get me... I'll never be able to place a value on them - even if they aren't even something that anyone else would want!

Sent from my iPhone

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It's hard to find a square pumpkin.

Today David and I went with Kelly, Josh, Landon, Tyler, and Kelly's friend Danielle to the pumpkin patch north of Milton.  Technically the address is Milton, Florida, but it's 30 minutes north of here (or more if you're stuck behind a slow farmer like we were!).  I haven't gotten to my pictures yet, but I did manage to pull the pictures of the shock-resistant Olympus I let Landon use today.  Both of the boys like playing with it and taking pictures, but Tyler still can't push the button very well.  Landon really got the hang of it, though.  He was so happy to take pictures of all of us, and I put together this collage of pictures he took.  It's so interesting to me to see things from his point of view.  I need to teach him to climb up on things to take pictures, though, because shooting from below is not usually the most flattering angle!  HA!

I was shocked when he turned the camera around and started pointing it at himself, Kelly, and Tyler.  At four years old he wanted to take a self-portrait.  Kids these days!! ;)

I handed off my camera for a little bit so David could take a few pictures of me with Landon (and later with Tyler).  I wasn't long before I was reaching for my camera again, though.  I'm just not supposed to be on the "subject" side of that lens.  And MAN do I need to lose some weight.   

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I can't sleep so I think I'll blog.

Unfortunately for all of you I've got it set up so I can email my blog entries now. That should make my blogging more regular - and perhaps a bit less logical. But I'm pretty good at typing with my thumbs these days!

I have been working on a couple of different crochet projects. I keep meaning to take pictures of them and post them, but I've gotten to the point that I don't want to pull out the big camera just to snap a couple of pictures at home unless one of the pets is laying in an ~amazing~ pool of sunlight or something. I'm working on a Christmas scarf with white yarn that has a silver thread running through it. I love that one! It's so simple yet awesome. That one stays at work. There's also Landon's blanket for Christmas. It's getting really big and it's so soft and warm! It's too big to take to work now so my progress has slowed down a bit. The cats can vouch for how awesome it is, though They want to lay on me while I'm working on it. I also started a pink scarf for my sister because she has never had a scarf before. So I am in the middle of three different projects and my hands are so sore! But Christmas is getting here fast so it's time to buckle down and make lots of progress if I'm going to make all the things I have planned.

I'm also trying to read Wuthering Heights. (Forgive me, I can't italicize from my phone.) I'm on chapter three and so far I don't get it. Like with Emma, I'm having a hard time keeping the characters straight. What's with that? Is my brain only capable of keeping up with characters in young adult vampire novels anymore? Ugh. That just reinforces to me that I need to keep on reading classics. My brain needs the challenge.

I had a strange thought today. Am I the only person who wonders what the Duggar family (19 Kids and Counting) thinks of the Sister Wives? And vice versa, I suppose. Both are devoutly religious families with an incredibly large number of children. I think they probably have some fundamental differences in their beliefs... But do they also have some similarities? Would they praise one another for bringing so many little gifts into the world or criticize them for bringing them into a religion that they don't believe? Both are on the same network (TLC) and I'm really curious about what they think of one another. I think TLC should explore this. Seriously.

Sent from my iPhone

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I cooked dinner tonight!

At the beginning of the year I made it my mission to cook at home more often.  We actually challenged ourselves not to eat out at all for a while and we made it a little over a month.  I was so proud of us!  And the only reason we stopped when we did was because we wanted to go out to eat for Valentine's Day.  So I've actually learned to cook some this year, but I still consider myself a beginner.  Cooking just isn't one of those things that comes naturally to me!  If there aren't very specific directions I'm likely to get lost.

Samantha sent me this recipe for No Boil Baked Penne earlier this week.  I love Italian food of any kind and this was billed as quick and easy so I decided to try it.  And since I love pictures, you get pictures of my big cooking effort for this week!

I made my list before we went grocery shopping last night.  We hadn't been in two and a half weeks, so it was way past time.  For some reason I've developed an aversion to grocery shopping recently.  Hopefully it will pass soon.  I don't know why because I LOVE Publix.  The pasta and spaghetti sauce were both on sale buy one get one free.  The Publix brand cheeses were all cheaper than the alternative and just as good.  I didn't look too hard for a deal on the sausage though because I had no clue what to look for in comparing the brands.  I decided to go with a brand name I recognized, and then to pick which type I went with Italian since I was cooking an Italian themed dish.  Um, works for me.

The recipe says to brown and crumble the sausage so I decided to try to cook it like hamburger meat.  Except that it wasn't the same consistency as hamburger and didn't stir as easily.  Tricky.  And messy.  But i got it cooked!  And so far I haven't dropped over of food poisoning so I think I got all the pink out.

Then I added the cheeses.  Perhaps I measured a tiny bit more than 1 cup of mozzarella.  But I only used half the Ricotta because I really can't stand the stuff.  I absolutely love lasagna, and I'll eat the Ricotta in it when I first start eating... but the less hungry I am as I eat, the less I can tolerate the nasty stuff.  The recipe called for what I consider a HUGE amount of it so I cut it in half.

Then I mixed it all up in a big bowl.  That wasn't very pretty...  sausage, tomato sauce, uncooked pasta, three different cheeses, and water.  So I did us all a favor and skipped taking a picture of that step!  I popped it in the oven, set the timer for 55 minutes and headed out to the front yard to take some pictures of the spider lilies that are blooming.  I absolutely love spider lilies because they mean fall is officially here.  Plus they're one of the only flowers I'm capable of growing.  For some reason I do okay with bulbs.  Probably because they're tucked safely under the ground and they don't need me!

(Click on that one to go to flickr and see it bigger if you like.  I think it's pretty.  Go ahead, I'll wait here.  LOL)

We watched TV while the deliciousness was cooking.  I wouldn't really classify this as a weeknight meal.  It had to bake for 65 minutes!  We are used to eating between 5:00 and 6:00 because David has to leave for work at 6:30 on work nights... this didn't get finished until after 7:00 and we were starving!  It tasted good, though.  Sorry I don't have a prettier picture of the finished product... I promise I even cooked it in my pretty baking dish that matches my dishes!

But trust me that it was pretty good.  I'll make it again.  I'll probably use a tad bit more sauce next time and perhaps less sausage.  It was very meaty and we're just not huge meat eaters here.

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I'm still here!

I haven't abandoned this blog, I promise.  In fact, I've been thinking about it a lot lately and just wondering what I should write about.  I guess I should start by posting that I did finally manage to finish Emma and I don't recommend it AT ALL.  It was pretty awful.  Then I rented the movie through Netflix and it was equally awful.  They obviously used sets for outdoor scenes and I just don't get that.  It was sort of like watching a really slow play in movie form.  Except I like plays.

Next I decided to read The Vampire Diaries.  While I found the writing better (grammatically) than Twilight, I just couldn't get into the books.  I read three of them and decided I'd wasted enough of my time.  (They were quick reads so thankfully that didn't translate to too much wasted time.)  I then decided to give the TV series based on the books a try and oh, my...  I'm hooked!  I managed to watch all 22 episodes of the first season over the course of a single weekend (they're 45-minute episodes!) and I'm now thoroughly enjoying season two with everyone else as it airs.  I'm totally Team Damon and I have a picture that Ian Somerhalder tweeted of himself as my wallpaper on my computer at work.  HA!  Yep, I just publicly admitted that.  I think I've sunk to a new level of geekery.

I haven't decided yet what I'll read next.  I think it will be either Wuthering Heights or GRRM's Game of Thrones.  Depends on whether or not I keep with my classic - current - classic - current plan or not.  Classics are so boring, though.

I've also started crocheting again.  I learned in middle school but hadn't done anything in a LONG time.  It's like riding a bike and I picked it back up pretty easily.  I'm currently hooked on granny square blankets, which I taught myself to make by watching a tutorial on YouTube.  You can learn anything on the internet these days!  So far I've made a couple of scarves, a baby blanket, a toddler blanket, and a hat.  The hat came out too small for an adult, though... which is unfortunate because it was supposed to match a scarf that I made.  My fingers have been objecting to my crocheting so much lately, though, so I'm giving them a small break.  But I hope everyone likes stuff made of yarn because that's what they're likely to get for Christmas this year. 

Something else I feel falls under noteworthy news is the fact that I actually beat a sinus infection without taking any antibiotics.  Someone needs to write that down somewhere important because it's a first for me in a LONG time.  Like since I was a kid.  Z-Pack stopped being effective for me in either middle or high school.  My body typically doesn't give me the option of recovering without antibiotics, but with the help of unbelievable amounts of Vitamin C, Mucinex D, NyQuil, and more boxes of PuffsPlus tissues than I can count I DID IT!  I want my prize now, please.

(This is a test to see how posts sent by email look on the blog.)

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If you haven't seen this yet, you need to.

Just trust me. Watch these two in order.

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My lazy Saturday wasn't as lazy as I'd planned.

I knew when I went to bed on Friday night that I would make it my goal for Saturday to be as lazy as humanly possible.  But I failed.  I mean, I didn't get any housework done or anything, but I was actually quite busy while trying to be lazy.

• I got up super early, which is very unlike me.  
• I made myself some pancakes for breakfast.  David was still awake, but he had stopped to pick up some Diet Coke for me on his way home from work and got some breakfast then.  In his defense, I usually don't get up before he goes to bed on the weekends.
• I bought the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone (which I verified through a friend isn't working right for me, probably because I don't have ios4 - and have no plans on upgrading).  I took pictures of any pet that would sit still for me.  Ha!

• I caught up on my RSS feeds while drinking lots of Diet Coke.  Mmm.
• I caught up on Facebook.
• I designed some birth announcements for a Whittle Steps client.
• I ate hot dogs for lunch (which I don't think I'd had in a year or two - buying them was a strange whim at the grocery store last weekend).
• I gave in and bought two expansion packs for Hipstamatic...  yeah, I have no will power.
• I cooked a pretty yummy dinner.
• I called my sister and wished her a happy birthday.
• I crocheted some on the prop I'm trying to make for newborn sessions.  The middle part looks pretty good, if I may say so myself, but the edges where I have to turn around and go back the other direction...  well, that part is horrid.
• I played Diner Dash on my iPhone.
• I added some more movies to our Netflix queue.  It's going to take us YEARS to get through just what we currently have on there.
• I read some more Emma.  It's getting better as I go and slowly becoming easier to read.  Though I still stutter over things like "every body" instead of everybody and things like that.  But the characters are squared away in my brain now and I don't need the cheat sheet anymore.
• I took a bubble bath. 
• I played some Plants vs. Zombies on my laptop - and finally beat the adventure mode!  

For a "lazy" day that sure was full of activity.  Granted there was nothing really meaningful or productive in there, and I did spend half the day feeling incredibly bored.  But...  despite the fact that I coughed a little throughout the day I finally feel better.  I finally feel like I've probably kicked this stupid bronchitis!

Today I have a new Whittle Steps client combined with an extended family session, so I'm really looking forward to that!  And next weekend we're celebrating my sister's birthday at my mom's house, and David will be off work.  So I'm happy that I'm feeling better and my usual activities can return to normal.  I've been avoiding the nephews because they have been sick and I've been sick, and I miss them!  It's time to plan another weekend outing with them!  Yay!

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Classic books are so slow.

I'm trying to read Emma by Jane Austen.  I've had the book on my shelf for a couple of years now (David and I stocked up on classics once when Barnes and Noble was having a really good sale) and recently discovered it was available for free Kindle download on Amazon. Since I'm really enjoying e-reading out of sheer convenience (my iPhone is always with me, therefore so is my current book) I'm giving it another go. 

I had to go back and start taking notes on the characters involved in this book.  So far I have 19 and I'm only on chapter three!  (Okay, so that actually counts houses, too, because the houses are all named and I can't keep straight who lives where.  So I'm considering the houses to be characters in my reference list.)  It's embarrassing to admit that I can't keep this story straight in my head and have to take notes to get through it, but I blame it on the older style of writing.  This is supposed to be a classic though, right?  It's supposed to be one of those books every woman should read.  I think I'd prefer a dumbed down version of it, though. Or maybe if I could tell yet what the plot is going to be about that would help.  It just feels like it's taking forever to get off the ground.  I'm reading out of curiosity at this point, wondering where the heck this is leading, rather than interest.  And also because I'm invested with my half a page of notes on who the characters are!

But I've decided that I'm going to make myself read a classic book between each contemporary book (or, ah, perhaps contemporary series).  I'm taking suggestions on the classics that just have to be read...  I've already downloaded Wuthering Heights for eighty cents from Amazon and that one will probably be next.  I'm also taking suggestions on contemporary books I should read.  I'm really happy to be reading regularly again and actually finishing books.  I went through a spell (that lasted a couple of years) where I didn't finish the books I started.  But reading the Twilight series and then the True Blood series has kickstarted my reading drive and I'm craving it once again.  And please don't take that to mean that I only want to read vampire novels, because I'm really open to pretty much whatever.  I read those because they were suggestions from a friend, not because I went out in search of vampires.  ;)

Also, an update on my being sick...  I had a chest xray on Monday, and found out today that it was clear.  I have stopped taking the cough syrup because I simply couldn't focus or function on it, and I went through a couple of pretty miserable days of withdrawals.  That's some strong stuff!  My chest is hurting again and I'm still coughing/congested but I'm NOT going back on the cough syrup.  I've switched to Mucinex D and we'll see what happens.  The doctor's office says since the xray was clear I should use Ibuprofen for the pain and just wait for it to "resolve on its own."  That's helpful... 

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My insurance sucks.

Thursday morning my chest was hurting when I woke up.  The bronchitis had gotten substantially better and the cough had subsided for the most part but the chest pain and tightness made me worry.  I decided to wait a while and see what happened but Friday morning it was worse and I was rattling pretty badly when I woke up.  I called my doctor's office when I got to work and left a message for my doctor...  whomever answered the phone said I was probably going to need a chest xray, which I figured as much.  When I hadn't heard back from them by 2:30 on Friday afternoon I called back.  At this point I was told the doctor had my message and they couldn't do anything until he had read it and responded; a nurse would call me and let me know.

Five o'clock rolls around, the office closes, and I haven't heard anything at all.  I waited until six o'clock to give them time to make after-hours calls (and checked with my pharmacy to make sure they hadn't called anything in without letting me know) and then headed to the Baptist Urgent Care.  My chest hurt.  I felt like I wasn't getting enough air.  I didn't feel like waiting until Monday for answers or whatever help I should be getting.  

Dr. Russo at Baptist UC was really nice.  He said my lungs sounded okay but that I needed a chest xray...  and the xray department was already closed.  Of course they were.  So he wrote me a scrip for a chest xray and said to come back today.  He also impressed me by writing "please" on the scrip.  Just thought that was a nice touch.   

I went in and it turns out Baptist UC doesn't use in-house xrays...  I had to go next door to the imaging department.  And my insurance requires an authorization for the xray since it's done outpatient and not under the UC billing.  Otherwise I'd be out of pocket a little over $200.  No, thanks.  My doctor's office is closed, so I can't get an auth from them.  I tried calling the insurance myself, went through the number options for emergency authorization and was told to hang up and call 911 or call my doctor's office.  Grr.  

Ultimately I decided not to get the xray.  I could have called the on-call doctor to see if they would have it authorized after the fact, but that's risky.  All I would really have would be the on-call doctor's word for it.  I don't feel bad enough to go to the ER...  in fact, I feel a smidge better today.  Maybe the steroids the doc gave me last night are helping.  Or maybe the fact that I'm back on the cough syrup almost full time is masking the pain since it has codene in it.  

Either way I'm left following up with my primary care doctor on Monday to get the service that they should have provided me yesterday.  I can't get the health care I need over the weekend without taking the chance of coming out of pocket for it or going to the ER.  Ooooh, my doctor's office is going to hear it from me on Monday!

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I had a bad day.

Yep, that's my car.  That's my bumper all smashed in.  And part of the car beyond the bumper, too!  My car that I absolutely LOVE and that has never had anything more than a tiny scratch...  And so today I called to make my first insurance claim ever.  :'(

This hasn't been the best two weeks for me.  On July 24th I started coughing a little and had some of my normal sinus drainage.  It quickly progressed into a full-blown nasty cough that the doctor diagnosed on the 30th as bronchitis.  I also lost my voice for a full two days.  I worked one of those days because I had so much court and just didn't answer my phone unless it was someone I knew I could whisper to!  It was pretty miserable.  But I got antibiotics, an inhaler, and some cough syrup on the 30th and things started looking up.  Especially with the cough syrup.  Heh heh heh.  

So now I'm WAY better and have weaned myself off the cough syrup for the most part (I'm still taking it at night, but not during the day) but I'm still having random coughing and my chest hurts.  And so when I got upset about my car today, that made my chest hurt even worse.  And that just upset me more.  And so I ended up canceling physical therapy because I needed to call the insurance and my chest hurt and I just couldn't make myself do it today.  

Have I mentioned physical therapy yet?  My kneecaps aren't in the right places.  They're down and to the inside...  which is unusual.  The therapist said usually when they're messed up they go toward the outside.  Ha!  Not my dysfunctional body.  Nope.  Mine go toward the inside.  And so we've been working on strengthening several muscles to get them in the right place, and I really think it was helping until I got sick.  I couldn't do any of my home exercises while I was sick and I missed one appointment that week.  Now I've missed one appointment this week because they didn't have anything available for me tomorrow.  And that's all after I cut myself from 3 times a week to 2 because I have a $25 copay each visit.  I just couldn't bring myself to spend $75/week for four weeks on copays! 

So to sum it all up: My car has a big ugly dent in it, my chest hurts from coughing, and despite all the physical therapy I've done (and paid for!) my knees aren't progressing like they should.  

I feel like I should post something positive, too.  So I'm attempting to make my own fringe throw as a newborn prop.  I've modified the pattern I bought a little so that I'm actually crocheting a base for it...  I learned to crochet in middle school and haven't really done it much since then.  But I went shopping last night and I'm just diving right back in!  I spent quite a bit of money at Joann's so this prop better turn out to be very, VERY cute!  I think I have a better understanding now of why people sell them for $75 on Etsy!  

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I'm playing with a new camera.

I started out my day with a newborn session, and I can't wait to get to the pictures of Laura...  she's absolutely precious!  But her daddy, Len, is selling his Canon 5D...  and that's my dream camera.  (Well, the 5D Mk II is my absolute dream camera, but the 5D is just fine by me.  I'm really after a full frame camera instead of the crop sensor I'm using now.)  I started playing with it a little while Val was nursing Laura to calm her down at one point but only got off about three shots before Laura was fast asleep and ready to be a star, so I didn't get to play much.  When I was getting ready to leave Len shocked me by asking if I wanted to take it home to play with!  (Of course he's also good friends with my sister-in-law and he reminded me he can track me down if he needs to, lol!)

I already had plans to go to my sister's house after I left Laura's newborn session, so I took the camera with me and played with it some more.  My aunt is in town and she brought her grandsons with her - Patrick and Wyatt.  I hadn't seen either of them in ages!  Kelly babysat them today while mom and Aunt Vonda went sewing machine shopping.  (Sewing machines to them are like cameras to me: as necessary as breathing.)  So I decided to take some snapshots of the boys playing around to test out the camera.  I used my 50mm fantastic plastic lens the whole time and was AMAZED by the difference in a full frame camera.  

This is Patrick.  He's 8 years old and looks just like I remember his dad (my cousin) looking when he was about the same age.


Wyatt with one of the boys' stuffed dogs.  Kelly said everyone was perfectly behaved last night until time to go to sleep... and then they began arguing over who got to sleep with what stuffed animal!  I tell ya, after watching the boys all jump on one another today I'm amazed they were arguing over stuffed animals. ;)


I'm glad I had such willing test subjects for the camera, though.  Almost a little too willing to do stuff like this...  that was all his idea!


Tyler gave me a couple of "cheese" smiles.  Oh how I love them.  And how I love him.




All playing in the floor with a comforter...


Kelly made cupcakes but hadn't gotten around to making any icing yet when the boys wanted them... a lack of icing didn't slow them down any!

This drooling smile can cheer me up any day!




Did you notice someone was missing from the playtime pictures?  Landon laid down for a nap right before I got there and only woke up about five minutes before it was time for him to go to his cousin Anna's birthday party.

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I have a few confessions I need to make.

• I have read five and a half books in the last week.  Someone got me started reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels and I haven't been able to stop.
• I was still awake reading when the sun started to come up this morning.  Oops.
• I have discovered the joy of ebooks on my iPhone.  Since I always have my iPhone with me, I always have my book with me.  No more big book to carry around or remember to take with me.  (Though I question the effect reading so much on that screen has on my eyes.)
• I am Team Eric.  Bill is an ass. 
• I read the spoilers for the series on Wikipedia.  (Had to make sure the guy and girl end up together.)  I do that quite frequently.  David says if TV shows and books were written the way I want them to be written (guy gets the girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after) they would be dreadfully boring and we wouldn't want to watch them.  I disagree.  
• When I was in Birmingham last week I bought a new Vera Bradley purse and wallet in Purple Punch.  I love them. 
• The purse was on sale.  The wallet was not.  
• I also bought some Philosophy shower gel in Amazing Grace.  I might have to start showering twice a day I love it so much. 
• I couldn't afford to live in a big city with stores like that.  I have no self control. 

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It's like opening the front door again and again.

It's so funny to me that I feel possessive of Pensacola Beach when I don't even like going to the beach that much.  It's sticky, sandy (and when that sand gets in places it shouldn't be it'll make you swear off going to the beach for the rest of your life), and it's typically HOT out there.  I don't like hot.  So I don't really "do" the beach.  But by golly they have messed up MY beach and I don't like it. 

Massive amounts of crude oil washed up on Pensacola Beach today.  We've had tar balls for I think a couple of weeks now... honestly, time is all running together with this disaster.  At least when we had Hurricane Ivan there were specific stages.  There was the storm itself, which I survived with the aid of pharmaceuticals.  This lasted the course of one night.  Really more like an evening and a night because I started getting jumpy when the breeze picked up.  Then we had the morning after the storm.  I remember opening the front door of my parents' house and taking my first look outside... I remember the shock.  The realization that a tornado had gone through the front yard only feet away from where my entire family slept in the living room and master bedroom.  (Okay, so I would later learn that those of us with pharmaceutical aid had slept - the others notsomuch.)  But I remember that intense shock of opening that door and seeing the trees in our yard.  And later walking around the back yard... the neighborhood... the city... being met with more shock, though none of it as intense as that very first look.  Then there was the clean up stage where it seemed like the neighbors we had never met before all came together to clear the streets and the yards.  And after that was the waiting-for-the-electricity-to-come-back-on stage.   That was the longest.  I think we went 14 days without power.  But somehow, believe it or not, that wasn't the worst part of the whole ordeal.  It was miserable and hot and humid and eventually moldy in certain parts of the house.  But it didn't even touch the way I felt when we opened that front door for the first time.

And now...  I feel like someone keeps opening the front door on the oil spill.  Each new wave of tar balls, tar mats, media frenzy, clean up frenzy...  each time it happens the front door opens again and I'm slapped in the face.  That beach that I took for granted all these years is suddenly MY front yard.  The crude oil covering the beautiful white sand and soiling the emerald green waters is the equivalent of the pecan tree I loved as a child being ripped up by its roots and flung aside.  Discarded as though it had no value on this Earth. 

The biggest difference is that with Ivan we knew the end was in sight.  We survived the storm.  We had a house to live in.  We knew Gulf Power wanted to get back to charging us for electricity and they'd have the power restored as soon as they could.  We also knew what to expect because we had  been through it before.  But this is different.  The storm is still happening.  Instead of lasting the span of a single night it is still happening right NOW.  They still don't have a cap on the spill.  We don't know when it will end.  Simply put, this is the longest storm our Gulf of Mexico has ever experienced. 

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I love strawberries.

Strawberries are the most amazing fruit.  Well, okay, strawberries and watermelon actually tie for first place in my book, but strawberries are much more accessible and they're easier to fit in the refrigerator.  But seriously... what is better than a sweet, juicy strawberry?  The only thing I can think of is lots of sweet, juicy strawberries cut up on top of vanilla ice cream.  It's so good that you have to lick the bowl when you're done.  If you don't, you're not a true Dewberry.

When I was growing up, my Mamaw and Papaw always had a garden.  I really wish I had pictures of their gardens.  I remember them so fondly.  At first Papaw planted corn because they wanted to grow corn.  When he saw how much Kelly and I enjoyed running through the rows of corn (and as we grew older and bigger) he started planting them just a little further apart so it would be easier for us to get through.  And eventually I think he ended up only planting a few rows JUST for us.  Because he knew we liked it.  There were always green tomatoes sitting in the kitchen windowsill waiting to get ripe.  And oh, the tangerine tree!  We'd have to climb on the roof of the garage every year to get to them but they were so worth it.  The tangerine tree was an event in and of itself.

While they never grew strawberries (that I remember), we would go to strawberry patches in Alabama and pick our own every couple of years.  It was hot and it was a lot of bending and hard work, but it was so worth it.  We would fill boxes - and eat a few along the way!  We would stop at the scales and see how much we had picked and pay for them.  And when we got home we'd eat strawberries and vanilla ice cream until we made ourselves sick.  Whenever I think of Papaw the first thing that comes to mind is sitting on the back screened porch around that funny old table they used to have (I think it was from the 60's) and him with a bowl to his lips, getting those last few drops.  I don't know if he licked the bowl to put on a show for us or if he licked it all the time.  But it brings a grin to my lips just thinking about it.  I hate that my nephews (and my own kids if I ever have them) will never get to meet their Papaw.  But I think I need to get them some strawberries and vanilla ice cream this summer.  Because they've got Dewberry blood in 'em and they need to experience the strawberries.  And maybe next year they'll be old enough to take to a strawberry patch!

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We spend a lot of time at the vet.

How thick is YOUR chart at the vet's office?

This Saturday we had to take Russ and Bailey to the vet.  Sometimes I feel like we spend half our weekends there and it's a running joke that we own some of the bricks in their new building.  I know my way around the entire building, including the back rooms, the kennel out back, and the old building that is now used for surgeries and hospitalizations!  They don't ask my name when we walk in the door and I don't have to spell my last name every time I call anymore.  The techs know Bailey by sight and most of them like her and are excited to see her when we visit.  They have seen her tricks and she usually behaves well for her tests and such (as long as the treat bag is in the picture).

And it's partially because of all of this that I was devastated when I found out that our primary vet is moving.  And not just across town or to the next city over...  she's moving to Texas.  That's very, very far away and it makes me sad.  She was with us through most of Chase's illness and even mailed us a trinket box after he died with a beautiful letter.  And she has been with us through Bailey's mystery illnesses and Monkey's daily vomiting before he was diagnosed (when I was ready to give up and drop him off at the animal shelter) and when Isabelle had to have surgery for her mystery lump.  She has been there for all of it over the last few years, and there has been plenty.

Anyhow.  Russ was ill a few weeks ago with vomiting and bloody diarrhea.  He was a sick guy and ended up spending the night at the clinic.  Since his white blood cells were low and he had never been tested, Dr D decided to test him for feline leukemia.  At this point I trust her judgment and basically approve any test she wants to run.  She knows our financial limitations and she has never pushed us to do anything outrageously expensive.  So if she thinks this is a test that needs to be run, we'll run it.  And it came back "faintly positive."  When she told me my stomach dropped and I felt ill.  None of our cats have ever been vaccinated because they have always been inside only.  There hasn't been a need for it.  But it appeared as though somehow someone had introduced this horrid virus into our home.  I'll go ahead and skip to the good part...  Russ tested feline leukemia negative this time.  We redid the in-house test, which Dr D says has the highest sensitivity.  It was negative.  I was still prepared to send the blood sample off to the lab for confirmation but she said she didn't think we needed to.  I finally allowed myself to believe the good news and I was SO relieved. This means we don't have to test and vaccinate all of the cats right now.  However...  I had him vaccinated.  And as each of the cats come due for their shots in the coming year I will have each of them tested and vaccinated.  For my own peace of mind.

So then it was Bailey's turn!  Quite frankly I had made up a reason for her to go in and see Dr D and play dead one last time because I knew that Dr D wanted to see her and say goodbye.  So I made an appointment to have her anal glands expressed.  (Turned out she really needed this done anyway, so...  good thing.)  But in the last week she has started limping!  I kept assuring her that she just needed to hang in there for the week and Dr D would make her all better.

(At one point Dr D left us in the room while she went to check on something and I pulled out my iPhone and started snapping pictures of the xrays.  Of course!)

So Dr D was impressed that I could tell her exactly where the problem was and what it felt like.  Even though I didn't know the name of the ailment (and can't remember it now), she said most people can't describe that particular issue to her.  (Or maybe most patients' parents...  I don't think ANY of her patients actually talk to her.)  But an xray showed she has arthritis and a "bone spur" that we're not really sure about.  She's going to consult with one of the other doctors about the xrays this week (he was on vacation last week) and they're going to give me a call.  In the mean time, we've effectively adjusted Bailey's estimated age from three years old to five years old because she has arthritis.  And she's on pain meds to help with the pain and we're supposed to attempt to keep her relatively calm.  HA!  Any of you who have met Bailey know that's not an easy feat.

So this means that Bailey will not be starting any sort of agility training.  We had hoped to get her involved in something now that her respiratory issues appear to be resolved.  (And as an added bonus to the elbow xrays we also got to check out her lungs and heart - and they're clear!)  She really needs some sort of stimulus.  She has taken to herding my shoes when I leave them out.  She moves them to her favorite spot on the landing.  She's also very rigid with her schedule and she's always working us - guarding us.  It means she's often not as cuddly as I'd like.  I just feel really bad that she's such a smart dog who would really enjoy a better job than what we're giving her at the moment but she'll never really be able to fully live up to her potential because of physical constraints. It makes me sad for her.  And I'm going to have to come up with a new game besides herding mommy's shoes...  at least she only chews on the strappy ones - anything other than sandals and flip flops are safe from destruction.

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I had a busy day!

This is going to have to be a quick post because it's almost 11pm and I had intended to be in bed by 10.  I figure since my doctor has me on meds and stuff to try and sort my body out I should do everything I can to help it be balanced - and that includes going to bed at a decent time even on the weekends and (this is the hard part) getting up at a normal time on the weekends.  So here's a quick summary of my day because I'd like to share it!


I started out the day going to the Preparedness Expo put on by SAFER Santa Rosa.  I'm on the Marketing and Public Relations committee now and they asked me to take pictures.  There weren't too many people there so I made a quick circuit of the exhibits and called it a success.  I'm still relatively new to SAFER and don't really know anyone yet.  I chatted with a few vendors and they were really nice.


After that I headed to the Milton Gardens on the PJC Milton campus.  I'd heard about it but never been to actually check it out for myself.  Honestly, I was sort of disappointed.  I've been to a couple of botanical gardens in Birmingham, so I guess I had pretty high expectations.  This garden didn't seem all that organized or kept.  I suppose it's probably a work in progress.  I'll check it out again next year to see what they've done with it.


After that I make a quick stop at home to grab some lunch and some client items I needed to deliver.  I rehydrated (it's HOT out there already!) and headed to the Demonstration Garden maintained by the University of Florida in Escambia County.  WOW!  It was so much better.



There were nicely maintained pathways as well as lush grass and even a swing in one corner.  I actually sat on the swing and just enjoyed some quiet time looking at the flowers and playing with my camera.  I will definitely be going back to check it out for more flowers soon.


My favorite part was probably "Whimsical Lane."  There were some creative decorations, most using glass bottles.


Then I stopped by Kelly's to visit for a little while.  :)  Tyler was sleeping so I had some quality time with Kelly and Landon (who probably should have been sleeping).  He ended up playing games on Kelly's iPhone.  I was impressed with the learning games they had on there and the fact that he can identify letters now!  Last time I tried doing his flash cards with him he either didn't know them or was pretending he didn't.

It started POURING while I was there, but I had told a client I would deliver the custom items they had ordered...  to Navarre.  I wanted to go out and see the beach and take some pictures anyway, so driving down there wasn't a big deal.  However, things didn't really work out like I had hoped.  I made it to my client's house and dropped off their stuff, but when I left it was once again POURING.  So instead of turning to go to the beach I turned to go home.

Don't worry, I can pretty much take a picture with my iPhone blindfolded and/or in my sleep...  there was no danger in my taking this picture, and I didn't send it anywhere until I was at a complete stop.  Which came sooner than I'd planned, actually.  As I was driving on 87 North toward Milton I hit a major "puddle" and hydroplaned so badly that my shoulders hurt from the tension and holding the wheel straight.  So I pulled over.  I actually ended up in a church parking lot and the church was called Harbor at Holley.  I thought that fitting since I was seeking shelter from the weather.

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People can be so rude.

I wonder if that old saying "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all" applies to blogs?  Because right now I'd really like to go off on a tirade about the rudeness I encountered at work today.  Not your typical upset defendant or anything like that, but a person who works here in the courthouse.  And not the person who has a history of being rude with me, either.  No, those things I have come to expect.  But this one took me totally by surprise. 

It seems like a blog would be a perfectly natural place to go and vent about things like that.  But I read Dooce.  I know the dangers of blogging about your work place if you intend to remain employed.  And I also don't want people to think of me as being negative and whining about things.  I'll reserve that special privilege for my husband, mom, and closest friends who will love me anyway.  ;) 

So... coming to the realization that I can't whine and complain about things on my blog...  this might be a very boring blog!  Heh.  Sorry about that if that does turn out to be the case.  But I guess it just means I need to take more notice of the POSITIVE interactions I have in my life.  I love making sure people know when I appreciate their efforts.  When we bought our refrigerator and dishwasher back during the Energy Star rebate program, I wrote a letter to Lowe's to tell them how excellent our sales person was.  And when my dentist took the time to find a different type of floss for me and give me samples (because desipte having four regular teeth and eight wisdom teeth removed my head is still overcrowded...) I told her how much I appreciated her actually trying to find the right fit for me.  Most people are content to make a slight effort at something and then go on about their business, comforting themselves with the thought, "oh, well, I tried."  But that often isn't sufficient.  So make a point of thanking people when they go out of their way for you.  Make a point of writing letters when you receive excellent customer service.  Because I can guarantee you the managers hear plenty about the bad and not enough about the good!

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I can't decide what to do with my day.

I haven't even been on my new medicine/supplements for a week yet and I'm already feeling so much better.  I wonder how much of it is a placebo effect and how much is the meds.  But I do feel a difference.  Instead of wanting to sit here on the computer all day long I actually want to accomplish several different projects.  I need to go to the grocery store, so that will be first on the list.  But I also feel like cleaning up the living room/dining room, shampooing the carpets (which will have to wait since David is sleeping), clean out the garage, clean out the old nursery (there are still baby things in there!), organize my business stuff, design some business stuff, finish decorating the new entertainment center (it has lots of cubbies that need things to fill it), clean out the closet under the stairs, do laundry, hang photos on my walls, order new photos to go on my walls, etc etc etc!  I just have all this energy that I haven't had in SO LONG and I actually feel like doing things.  It's pretty dang awesome!

So I guess I'd better stop writing this and get going if I'm going to get anything accomplished.  Whenever I'm in a mood like this I remember when David and I first got married we rented a trailer down the street from my parents' house.  We got a REALLY good deal on the rent since our neighbor owned it, but it came with a few issues.  The one that bothered me the most wasn't the iron shaped burn in the carpet in the living room or the awful 80's trailer wallpaper...  it was the fact that the kitchen counters were not even.  Every time I'd put an egg down on the counter it'd roll away!  Drove me insane!  But anyhow...  when we first moved in the yard was in need of a LOT of work.  I cut the grass (drove dad's riding mower down the street to do so, lol) and started working on all the stuff I couldn't get to with the lawn mower.  I was serious.  My dad was worried about me doing too much in the heat (really he was probably just ready to go home himself - he didn't want to leave me alone with his yard tools!) and reminded me, "They didn't build Rome in a day."  I didn't miss a beat and responded, "That's because I wasn't there!"  And that's how I am when it comes to getting a project done.  Once I get started, I won't want to stop until I'm done.

I also do ridiculous projects at the most inconvenient times.  When we were still in college, David and I were living with my parents.  The night before a really big chemistry exam we were studying when I decided it was time to clean the shower curtain.  It had grown that nasty orange mildew on it and had been bugging me for a while.  So in the middle of studying I declare I'm going to go clean the shower curtain.  David is scratching his head and wondering why I've chosen THEN to do it.  It had needed to be done for a while.  I guess it was a form of procrastination.  But since then my wacky projects at inconvenient times have been referred to as "shower curtain" events.

I've managed to kill a good 15 minutes of my time writing this blog, so I'd better get up and have some lunch (so I don't go grocery shopping hungry!) and head to Publix.

Also, I have this song on repeat in my iTunes.  You should check it out.  I've been in love with it since Jodie of Fresh Art Photography used it for a video from their last wedding.  I've been hoping that if I play it enough times I'll get sick of it and it will leave my head, but no such luck so far.  I'm still in love with it.

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Bailey has a serious bark.

David gets off work in about 30 minutes and will be off work until Monday night!  He only gets every other weekend off, and I love those weekends!  Since he works nights (* see footnote) I don't feel like we get to spend much real time together any other time.  A weekday when he works goes something like this...  I get off work at 5:00 and am home by 5:10 at the latest - unless court went long for some reason.  He's usually in the shower when I get home.  I let the dogs out and start dinner.  He comes downstairs and feeds the dogs.  Dinner is always something pretty quick - I don't like to spend more than 30 minutes total on it when he has to work.  That includes the time it takes to thaw out any meat.  Anyhow, once dinner is done we usually watch a show off the DVR while we eat and by the time that's over he has to finish getting ready and leave by 6:30.

Thanks to the marvels of modern technology we can usually chat online once he gets to work.  But that means I'm sitting at home on the computer.  And he's answering 911 calls, so he can't exactly give me his full (or prompt) attention.  So it's not what I consider "real" conversation.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad for that communication!  But if I were able to choose, I'd always prefer to have him actually here with me.

So I love every other weekend when he's off.  He switches his sleeping schedule over to days and he's all mine!  Most of the time our weekends together are crammed with activities and engagements because that's the only time we have to plan things.  But other times we somehow manage to just spend the weekend home together.  I like a mix of both types of weekends.

As much as I love these weekends, I've been thinking this evening that it's time to dig out my earplugs.  I haven't used them in two weeks, so I'm not sure where they are, and David snores.  And we're going to be fighting over the covers.  And it just feels different when he's in the bed at the same time as me.  And he won't be awake in the morning to make me wake up and get ready for work, so I have to somehow set my mind to make sure I don't hit snooze too many times.  (By the way - when I first wake up snooze looks like a very funny word.  Anyone else have that problem?)  I realized that I've actually managed to fall into a routine of him being on nights and when he's home, even though I love it, it messes with my routine!

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* Footnote: Yes, I just told the internet my husband works nights.  Now let me also mention our german shepherd, Bailey.  She has her normal bark and she also has a serious bark.  And she knows when to use each.  And while I've never actually seen what she would do if someone tried to break into our house, I have seen her become VERY concerned when I was upset and crying about something.  There was no actual danger, but she picked up on it.  She's pretty in tune to both of us.  So no, I'm not worried about telling the internet that my husband works nights when I have her to protect me.  She's a working dog through and through, and we are her herd.  I love her for that.

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I'm all out of whack!

This morning I had a follow-up appointment with my new OB-GYN after we did a saliva test to check my hormone levels.  She suspected that I was imbalanced and whoa buddy was she right!  This post might border on sharing too much information with the blogosphere, but I'm actually so excited to have some answers that I don't really care!  And despite the mention of the girly-doctor, there's nothing gross in this post.

For starters...  my Cortisol is WAY low in the mornings.  She described that as what gives you get-up-and-go.  I have none, as indicated by this graph on my results:

The light green area shows what is ideal (dotted line in the middle) and what's acceptable (top and bottom dotted lines).  She said for my age, I should be at least at the middle dotted line but ideally higher.  This is why I hit snooze on my alarm at least three times before I get out of bed in the mornings.  This is why I have to have two alarms set (I've been known to sleep through one or dismiss it without actually getting up).  This is why David practically has to yell at me to get up and get ready for work in the mornings!  And as soon as he wakes up this evening I'm going to be right there to show him THIS IS WHY!  I'm not just being lazy.  I'm not just being difficult.  I have a bona fide reason for not wanting to get out of bed in the morning.  And that's sort of a relief to know because I have seriously tried to kick my butt into gear before without any results.  It also shows why I have no energy to get things done and just want to crash when I get home from work in the evenings.

The other major issue we discovered is that my estrogen and progestin levels are not in sync.  The ratio should be between 100 and 500...  mine is 8.  (Third line down)

She said that's barely registering!  So that explains the difficulties I've had with my menstrual cycle as well as why estrogen-based birth control pills give me migraines.  Why hasn't a doctor bothered to test this stuff before?  I've been having problems since I hit puberty and all they ever offered me was birth control pills or shots that essentially induce menopause and can cause birth defects if you get pregnant within a certain amount of time after having had the injections. I declined the shots and I had finally been put on a progestin-only birth control pill, but I was still having issues with that. 

So...  what does this all mean?  Well, I was excited when I read that the coritsol deficiency can be helped by, among other things, NAPS!  Heh.  Wonder if I can get a prescription for a mid-day nap at work?  ;) (Come to think of it, this probably also explains why when I nap during the day I nap HARD!)  Anyhow.  I'm discontinuing the birth control pills (keep your fingers cross that doesn't backfire on us...) and will be starting new supplements. 

They're bio-identical hormones.  That is, they're not synthetic.  They are derived from plants and in the case of the Adrenplus an animal.  (I told her she really didn't need to tell me that part...)  I rub the cream on my wrists, neck, etc, twice a day, and I take the pills in the morning and at lunch.  It's going to take some getting used to.  It's not covered by my insurance and I also have to go to a compounding pharmacy in Pace to get it!  But they were super nice today, so I think that will be doable.  Especially if it helps. 

She said that this isn't a miracle cure.  I won't see the results right away.  But I go back in three months for us to check my progress and she said that I should be feeling better by then.  I'm looking forward to what this will hopefully mean for my health and my energy levels.  

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This is my new blog!

It's so funny that I'm designing a personal blog because I resisted starting a photography blog for so long!  I really didn't think I'd have much of anything to say and I worried that it would lay dormant on the interwebs with no interesting content.  And now I think of things all the time that I'd like to blog about but that just don't seem to really belong on the photography blog.  Like the fact that one of my cats spent Thursday afternoon and all of Friday at the vet's office.  I found myself writing about it in the description of a picture of him on flickr...  which also doesn't seem entirely appropriate.

So this blog is going to be about my life.  A big part of my life is photography, so I'm sure that will come up from time to time...  but I don't feel the pressure to make everything so perfect here.  Like I'm trying to sell myself to a potential client.  Because that's actually sort of exhausting!  Here I'll be able to just be me.  And if that means I want to share a picture of my really creepy eye since I have pink eye right now, I'll do just that!

It hurts, guys!  But I also think that's a really awesome picture.  I mean...  look at those blood vessels!  I actually took that with my three-cameras-ago Canon S5IS on super macro mode.  My eyes water every time I look at it but I sort of can't stop looking at it.  What kind of sense does that make?!  I do wish I had a real macro lens for my dSLR, though.  (Santa, are you listening?)

I can also share the sweet picture my sister sent me this morning of my nephew with his splint... because he broke his arm yesterday!!  My poor little buddy BROKE. HIS. ARM.

He's in a splint for now and they will follow up with Nemours tomorrow.  :'(  I don't think it's slowing him down too much, though.  He's still a one-year-old with the energy of a one-year-old, after all!

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