~ A day ~

Here is the scenerio: Work had been crazy; stressed to the max, sat at my desk in the privacy of my office and squalled like a crazy woman for 10 minutes today from the pressure; note: crying really does relieve some stress; managed to leave on time for the first time in about 2 weeks; plus, I have been away from home for 4 days; husband and 3 dogs alone in house for 4 days - yes its going to be messy; out of dog food; out of human food; stopped at grocery store on way home from work - husband said left over pizza in fridge so don't have to cook ... then when you are about 8 minutes away from home, husband calls and says ... oh Zach (20 year old stepson) and his new girlfriend are coming for dinner, but we should have plenty of left over pizza .... uh yeah right, I am going to serve left over pizza to company; so back to grocery store, rush home, try to clean messy house, put a decent dinner on; oh and the bathroom ... well, I just won't go there, but yes, had to clean it too, they show up early; dinner is late, but pretty good, and I am beat! Clothes are still in suit case unpacked, still lots to do, but I have decided to hang up my wonder woman outfit for the day and go to bed.

Can any of you identify?

~ House/teen sitting ~

Staying at my employer's home again, watching his teenagers and his home ... basically all I do with the teens are keep tabs on who they are with and where they are - they are good kids - and they are pretty self-reliant - which is good.

Last night I set their burglar alarm off at around 11:30 PM and most likely woke the neighborhood up! Argh! Also, earlier in the day I went upstairs to their "playroom" to figure out what the loud noises were and it looked like a blizzard had hit - they decided it would be a great time to tear out the stuffing of a huge bean bag chair and take turns jumping into the pile - there is white fluff everywhere. All I could see of one of them was the top of their head sticking up through the fluff.

They have assured me they were cleaning it up themselves ....

~ 2nd night class ~

My cell phone take crappy photos, or maybe its the photographer ... anyway here is my second night class results ... still not finished but is looking a little better.




Maybe I will bring my real camera next time.

~ A short and random Photo Blog ~

I love this woman. I love her so much. Even if she does read too much when she comes to visit me. I still just absolutely adoringly love this wonderful awesome woman. My mother by the way.





This is a face only a mother could love, and that's me, I'm her mother. Sweet baby Maggie! Isn't she adorable!






And, I did a little painting for a friend ... not really happy with it, but it was fun.



And this is the 1st phase of my landscape painting class at the museum ... green blobs ... supposed to be a section of Big Spring Park as seen from the doorway of the musuem classroom .... we'll see ....

~ wedding of a friend ~

So, I helped a friend with her wedding this past weekend, did a little decorating, a little photographing, and just a little friend time ...













It was a sweet wedding, for a sweet couple, a sweet beginning ... ahhh love ... isn't it grand!

~ In case any of you were wondering where I stood on this ... ~

My favorite ...



Thankfully, I do not have this problem ...

Love this one!

arghh ....

All courtesy of an email I received today!

~ I like lists ~

(borrowed from another blog ... )

Feel free to play along!

I am…. goofing off at work
I think…. I stressed my fish by changing its bowl today
I should…. try to get all of my ironing done tonight
I dream…. of going on a tropical vacation ... soon
I want…. to go spend a long weekend with my friend Pam soon
I know…. who my Redeemer is ...
I don’t like…. nosey annoying people
I smell…. nothing. nope *sniff* *sniff* nothing. whats up with that!
I hear…. the radio
I fear…. for someone dear to me with problems to overcome
I usually…. chat with my Mom everyday
I search…. for the good in people
I miss…. my Father
I always…. sit in the same spot on the couch
I regret…. hmmmm what shall I choose, what shall I choose ...
not finishing college. There.
I wonder…. how much my dogs understand when I talk to them
I crave…. originality in my art oh, and other areas too I guess.
I remember…. a fun day in the past.
I need…. a pedicure - really bad!
I forget…. to take my Nexium daily
I feel…. blessed
I can…. love even when disappointed
I can’t…. seem to build up my IRA
I am happy…. most of the time
I lose…. my voice easier than before my last surgery
I sing…. not as good as I used to
I listen…. to books on tape more than the radio
I shop…. too much. There I admitted it.
I eat…. out too much
I love…. my husband, my children, my family, my friends, my animals, my Lord,
and the list goes on ...
I wish…. I could magically lose the weight I need to without trying real hard!

~ No time ~

I have things wondering through my head all the time that I might like to blog about; even form the words to say, but I never seem to have the time when I have the thoughts to blog, and I never seem to have the thoughts, when I am the time to blog .... Y'all have really missed out!!! (~.~)

So, anyway, here is a question for Going Goofy ... see the photo below; I was playing with my photos the other day and was wanting to attempt to do a photo collage with different exposures or color .... any suggestions? Really should have limited it to four also ... There is a famous photograph or photographer who did or does this isn't there ?????

Help.

This breaks my heart ...

... and we haven't even seen the worst yet


Breitbart.tv » Lots of sharks, lots of oil seen off Alabama Coast

~ Butterfly Sitter Needed ~

I have a friend who is going out of town for a few days. We were emailing each other about trip planning, etc., and she added, other than having to board her dog, she is trying to find a butterfly sitter because she has 3 monarchs which will be "hatching" (my term - not hers, and I am sure that is the wrong terminology for this ... ) while she is gone and someone will need to be there to release them ... She has a butterfly garden and several butterfly houses. If she didn't live so far away, I think I could handle that job. A butterfly sitter! It even sounds fun.

~ I missed my vacation ! ~

We were supposed to go to Seagrove Beach from May 28 through June 6 and we missed it. We actually had to cancel. My doctor was going out of town for 3 weeks and wanted to see me before he left ... the week I was supposed to be on vacation ... and even had me scheduled for surgery - just in case - which Praise the Lord I didn't need! BUT since it was unknown at the time and I knew I couldn't take vacation for a week and then be out due to surgery for the next week consecutively without my employer going ballistic .... sooooo we cancelled our vacation :( And now we probably will not be able to reschedule until September because of other summer commitments; and by then the oil will have most likely taken over the beaches of Sea Grove - BP is really on my hit list!

My whole summer feels off now - we always take Mem week for vacation and now I have the whole long summer staring me in the face - its kind of depressing missing your vacation. Blah!

~ Stuff ~

Memories from last weekend ... went to Lake Mitchell with my husband to his brother-in-law's family lake house ... see the turtles lined up on the fallen log, they were everywhere ... cute!


Oh, and last week, went painting ... here it is! Geraniums - I love them.

~ Journaling ~

A few of my friends and I have started a journaling swap group. (We keep a journal for a few weeks and then meet for dinner and swap - way to get to know each other better ... ) Thank you M or was it S? OR both? Anyway, I have been in a really negative mood here lately and haven't journaled much because I figured my negativity would make its way onto my pages and who wants to read that kind of stuff! I came across this link on my Facebook:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/thehiddenworldofgirls/

it was from a NPR link of open journaling for girls... or something like that .... here it is:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127238417&sc=fb&cc=fp+


Anyway, it gave me a whole new outlook on this journaling thing - maybe I will starting carrying my water color pencils around with me to do my journaling from now on!

This was one of my favorites (there is one that shows their travels that was very cool, but I couldn't get it to copy ... ) :

Check them out, they were all pretty cool! It may give us all some journaling prompts - something I always need ...

~ A hard day at the office ~

A friend of my boss' is getting married and he is in charge of decorating the car; which means, I am in charge of decorating the car .... finally a job I can enjoy!!! Of course, it is going to be a totally girly decorated car!!! Look at this awesome "just married" sign we made! I found it on-line and thought hmmmm I can make this and it turned out great! It's to hang on the back window of his SUV.

We also made streams of pink, green and silver ribbon with jingle bells and flowers attached to them to hang off the back of the car; and found some "just married" removable stick ons for the windows .... fun!

Sadly, that only took up a small portion of my day and then it was back to the legal world ... ugh!

~ A painting for Stephanie ~

I started this over a year ago for a friend of mine ... and then before I finished it, I just stopped ... don't know why, just wasn't in the mood to finish it and when I had the mood, I didn't have the time ... anyway, its done, its not original, I used someone's elses art as inspiration, but I'm not selling it and not claiming it as my original art ... so no harm done, PLUS ... my lady's right hand has an extra finger (ha!) sorry Steph! Started to redo it, but decided that is what would make my painting unique!

~ Auctions & Yardsales ~

Went to a couple of yard sales this morning and founds some cool books and the two below wooden folding chairs ($2 each) - I love them - I am trying to decide what I want to do with them, clean them and leave them as they are, which I kind of like - they are worn in looking. Or, should I sand them and paint them with crazy colors, like each wooden slat a different color, or what ... leave me a comment and let me know. I kind of like them as they are, but painting them would be fun too.




And last night Gary and I went to an auction and I bought the below quilt. I like the butterflies .. kind of old fashioned looking. It was hand stitched, etc. The edges were frayed, but I couldn't see that from where I was sitting, I paid $14 - did I pay too much? I washed it with clorox and Gain in hot water, then washed it again in just Gain and put it in our camper. I also bought a whole box of sewing mishmash, which I will probably need some of to stitch up the frayed edges of the quilt :)

~ Camping ~

Our first camping trip of the year ... Mothers Day Weekend ... Gary gave me a new little travel camera ... these were my first photos ... (We were at Oak Mountain State Park)


This is our campsite. The two trees (same tree just two different photos) with the scrapes ... we made with our camper, trying to pull into the first site we wanted .... :) no worries, no bad damage... poor tree!




We were just a short hike from the water. There was a "swimming hole" full of laughing kids, in the photo below - top right photo - if you look real hard, you can see the kids in the water - they sounded like they were having a blast.


We went looking for a flea market on Saturday and wound up at Tannahill State Park and we rode the train ...



enjoyed a little Civil War history ...




we also ate some really good barbeque here.



Just have to throw this photo in (below) ... they were camped beside us - it's our dream camper, everything automatic, just push a button and your RV levels itself, push another button and the extender slides just automatically slide out, same for the awning * sigh * we better win the lottery soon huh!



I bought this little "forrest lady" at Tannahill, her name is Michelle - this photo does not do her justice - I just love her! (ah hem ... once a month they have a huge arts/craft weekend at Tannahill ... every 3rd weekend ... just thought I'd throw that out there ...)



And we did find a flea marker. In Bessemer - it was okay, but I probably would not go again.

It was an awesome weekend. I have a wonderful husband. He made this weekend great for me.

~ medical update ~

I still don't have my "normal" voice back from my March 2 surgery, but I can breath so much better - yay! I went to doc this past Friday and was told my vocal chords are not closing all the way and they should. This is causing my raspy voice. He says I have a "tight" chord - probably damaged a little from the extremely harsh post surgery coughing and/or during laser surgery - he gave me some vocal exercises to do (Gary says I sound like I am trying to call a whale) and I have to go back again on 6/4. He scheduled me for surgery on 6/7 if not better. He will pump some collagen into one side of my chords so they will close properly; he will also again look at my airway and make sure every thing is healing properly and not regrowing another ledge ... BUT - if better by 6/4 - no surgery. Which is what I am hoping for! and praying for! Y'all too ... right? :)

~ camping again ~

Why is it packing to go camping is sooo much work!? I am too pooped to go camping! Nah, I guess I'll still go, but it sure is alot of work getting the camper ready to go sometimes ... We are going for a long weekend ... Oak Mountain State Park.

See y'all soon!


And, uh no that is not our camper ... its just for looks :)

~ Art Project ~

Hanging out with my friends, sharing an awesome meal, getting a little crafty and having a great time. Thank you Brenda for a great night! Sherry, Laurie and Mechelle too! Also, will be waiting for that recipe for the delicious dessert ... chocolate ice cream roll up cake with strawberries ... Love my friends!