Photo's by Joey ©

August to December

2010-12-30T11:24:00.003-06:00

So I shut down my blog for several months...long story...but I'm going to try again. I hope to catch everyone up and get back to blogging.

Somebody motivate me...

2010-08-29T12:59:00.003-05:00

I miss taking pictures...it is my passion...but over the months that Ryan has been gone I just couldn't get motivated to get out and shoot. On Friday outside of the bank, cools cars were lining up for the Badland Nationals that were apparently in town and I listened to the vroom, vroom's all day...that got my heart pumping, wanting to be out there and photograph...but NO...I had to be inside working. Saturday was too busy of a day for me to go downtown and check it out and today my back is not feeling too great, so I guess my opportunity is over.

Awesome news!!!

2010-08-21T16:40:00.003-05:00

My son surprised me on Tuesday. He's home from the Army...YAY. I've been spending the evenings with him and took him out to the commissary today to buy some groceries. He walked into my office and I was in such shock and have been down in the dumps, that I just sat there trying to figure out who he was and how he got there...LOL Then I realized what was going on and gave him a great big hug and wouldn't let him go. Everyone was surprised I wasn't screaming and crying...but when I'm in a professional setting I'm a totally different person. As soon as I got in my car to leave and go home I broke down into tears and cried for quite awhile. I told Ryan that I had a delayed cry and he cracked up laughing. I'm so happy he's home. And I'm so proud of him..he left a PVT 1, graduated from basic a PVT 2 and now that he is back he is a PFC...so he's moving up as quickly as he can.

So...

2010-08-13T22:29:00.003-05:00

I either need to close out this blog or keep up with my blogging. I was so into it and I still am...it helps me relieve stress by writing things out, even funny or stupid things.

So much has happened since my last post. I went to Ryan's graduation in Georgia the end of May. It was awesome and it was so great to see my baby boy all grown up. I was able to spend about 16 hours with him and then the next day we ran into each other in the Atlanta airport. That was hilarious, but also made me sad all over again. I also ran into one of my girlfriends from high school and her husband in the airport. Small world!

Soon after I got back, my house was burglarized by 4 individuals. 3 juvi's and 1 adult. I had only been gone an hour and thankfully my neighbor who spends her life being paranoid was watching their every move and had 911 on the phone so my house was surrounded and they caught them in the act. It was a very traumatic experience not only for me, but my poodle and Ry's cat. The cat got over it, Gracie is still having slight issues and has started having seizures which freaks me out. Now I'm dealing with court dates, etc. Pain in the hoosy.

Darnell gave me a surprise 50th birthday party at Cactus, he contacted some of my high school girlfriends, some of my photographer friends and of course my family. The only person missing who I wish could have been there was...you guessed it...Ryan. It was an awesome night though.

July and August has proven to be very stressful in the mortgage lending business. Burning the midnight oil again these days. One would think that after 28 years of being in this business I would be used to it, but lending is so difficult now and since I'm the Underwriter, I have the decision of approve or deny every mortgage loan that comes into our department. My entire career, this is what I've wanted to do and I still do...I enjoy underwriting...just not under extreme pressure...too easy to make a mistake so I'm ultra conservative when it comes to my decision making and the conditions of the approval. Investors are tougher then they have ever been and I'm glad about that...but too little too late. The loans that brokers did a few years ago that got us into this mess has created little monsters in the guidelines. They should have been strict then.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox...guess I got on it because of the late hours and the weekend hours. Grateful to have a job though when so many don't.

The first of August I moved to Darnell's house. Trying to get used to having another person around is hard and then adding teenagers on top of it...WOW. But I'm happy and that's what counts. We're all learning what makes the other one tick and thank God school is starting...bored teenagers at home all the time does not equal fun times...LOL

Ryan hopefully should be back from Alabama next week. He was delayed by a month because before he graduated in May he broke his collar bone. So he has cleared and is packing...just waiting for his orders. Please pray for his safe return to mommy where he belongs...LOL

Well, thanks for stopping in. I touched on the highlights so maybe I can keep up from here. Toodles!

So feeling blah tonight...

2010-04-16T17:54:00.002-05:00

I received a couple of letters from Ryan today and for the most part he is still doing well, but I could tell he wasn't as happy and joyful as he has been. His tone sounded depressed and he's upset that no one is writing him. Of course I have, about a million letters and cards in the month and 1/2 that he's been gone. I try to write him every couple of days, or at least get a card or two in the mail in between letters, today I wrote him a 4 page letter (hope he has time to read it) lol.

I know he's growing up and growing into a man...he'll be 21 in 11 days and I'm happy and proud of him for doing this, but as a mom I still want to run and protect him and give him hugs and tell him it will be ok.

Their platoon got in trouble a couple of weeks ago after the Drill Sgt gave them the afternoon off and told them to get their cell phones and have fun. Well a few took it to the extreme and their wives posted all over facebook how long they spoke to their hubbies and their hubbies sent pics of them through their cell phone. Other wives in different platoons got mad because their husbands/sons weren't able to call and so it went up the chain to the top and we all know what happens from the top...it rolls downhill. Thing is...they were given permission by their drill SGT because they were 1st in 2 competitions and then the whining from spouses ruined it for those few that acted as they should.

I don't see what the problem was for the 1st Sgt except that he received so many complaints from other platoons, therefore Ry's platoon and families are suffering the consequences. Other platoons should have just minded their own business instead of worrying about what was going on in someone else's platoons.

Anyway, thanks for peeking in...gotta snap out of my blahness so it don't last all weekend. :)

TIme to get my butt out and do some shooting...

2010-04-09T18:08:00.004-05:00

with a camera that is! Some of us photographer chicks are planning breakfast at Old Mill and then on down to Mulvane to the Tulip Festival. So I'm not into flowers unless I'm receiving them, but I'm anxious to get out and shoot something different. Should be fun. It's a new "only women can join" group that 3 of us have started...we're called "Women with Lenses". All 3 of us are in 2 of the other photographers groups and decided we needed one with just women so we didn't have to listen to them whine about stopping to let us go to the ladies room, etc. What we are hoping to accomplish is to feed and learn more off each other and not be judged if the picture isn't perfect...we've all been shooting for many years and want the women who join our group to not be intimidated thinking we are going to judge how the photograph. We also intend on setting up some short classes and possibly have a speaker come in...something short but just to give us refresher's versus textbook learning. I think it will be fun and exciting and tomorrow's excursion will be the first one. We're wanting to start out small and see where it goes. We have 2 additional ladies that are planning on joining us tomorrow and maybe they will like it and feel comfortable enough they will want to join our girlie girl group.

Thanks for peeking in! Have an awesome weekend.

Happy Easter everyone

2010-04-03T15:35:00.002-05:00

Wow, can you believe how fast the time flies? Seems my family was just on our first cruise and I was trying to recover from that and now it's Easter. Things have been busy since the end of January, not only at work but personally. I know everyone will find this hard to believe but I've decided to slow down. This going every day and all weekend must stop.

I've decided to drop one of my photography groups as far as participating in what they do unless it's just something I really want to do. On the social one, I'm cutting down on spending so much time...I'm freaking getting fat from all the eating out. I am going to end my contract in July with mentoring Shiloh..I just can't do it anymore...I'm tired. I found myself getting ready to sign up to volunteer and be on the Urban League...I stopped and said you idiot you are supposed to be trying to cut things out. I, myself and 2 other lady photographers have started a "female" only photography group and I will obviously be participating in that

With Ryan being gone to basic I've been on the go more than I ever was and it seems as though I'm home to sleep and that's all and when I actually have a day like today that I cancelled all meetings...I've just crashed and been lazy..think I finally got out of bed for good about 2pm...LOL

Anyway...maybe I'll have time to catch up on everyone else's blog now. Thanks for always being there even when I'm not. Hope everyone has an awesome Easter.

Family Pic on Cruise Ship - Jan 2010

2010-02-17T13:15:00.003-06:00

Decided to post this pic for those that follow this blog and not the other one. This is a pic we had taken the last night on the cruise in January. I know, I know...I need to tell everyone about the cruise, I'll get around to it.
Here's who everyone is in the picture:
Back Row: Roger, Dwayne, Glenda, Bill, Kendall, Linda (roger, dwayne, glenda & kendall are my siblings...bill is my sister's husband and linda is Kendall's wife)
Middle Row: Sherry, Dad, Marilyn, Kandee (sherry is roger's wife, obviously dad is my dad...lol, Marilyn is my step mom, Kandee is my step sister in law)
Front Row: DUH ME and Mike (Mike is my step brother and married to Kandee)
Hope you enjoy...thanks for peeking.

Kirk is this you?

2010-02-15T16:00:00.003-06:00

Please tell me...I have a little email thingy on my blog you can send me an email. Anyway, you were the first (well really the only one I thought of from your original post)...and then you said ME...LOL that tells me it's you. I would really like to chat. I've checked you out on FB...nice profile pic.

Dear Anonymous...

2010-02-11T22:21:00.002-06:00

Thank you for posting to my blog and commenting on the last time you saw Ryan was a baby, but I wish you would have stated who you are. It has my mind racing with possibilities...so since you just found my blog and it reminds you of old times...please send me a post and tell me who you are. I am trying to reconnect with people that have been in my life and for whatever reason no longer are and apparently we had some good times.

Thanks

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T17:46:00.002-06:00

Wow, can you believe it's Christmas Eve and the New Year will soon be approaching? Apparently it's true what they say when you are told as a youngster, time flies when you get older.

Ry flew out to Colorado for Christmas on Monday of this week to spend it with his dad and his 3 siblings. As much as I don't like him being gone...I'm glad he is able to spend a couple of weeks with them. It's been 2 1/2 years since he has seen them. And his G'ma and G'pa from Alaska flew down and so they are there in Canon City as well. I can't remember how long it's been since he's seen them, probably 6 to 8 years. I've tried not to bug him and let him have his time...I told him on Monday when he got there safely that I would try really, really hard to not call him until Christmas Day...FAILURE...I've called him everyday...LOL I don't know what I'm going to do when he leaves in March for 4 months. I will surely go insane at that point. He'll always be my little boy, my baby, I know the best thing for him is to get away and grow up but it's hard on mama.

Anyway, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas...be safe.

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty

2009-12-17T17:08:00.002-06:00

It has been 2 months since I've blogged, what's up with that? Such a busy time of year and personal things going on and I guess just pure laziness on my part. I haven't even peeked in on my friends blogs, what a bad friend I am.
Hopefully I can get back into the grid of doing this on a more regular basis. I did post a few new pictures to my Photo blog, so check them out.
I've had the opportunity to do a Senior photo shoot recently, someone I had never met so that was great practice in trying to carry on a conversation for 3 hours and a boy at that...LOL He was very pleased with his session. I've got a family shoot coming up this weekend of a girl I work with, it will be short and sweet and to the point...she's like that. And I'm starting to have more and more people ask me about doing senior photo's...wahoo.
I'm looking forward to my family cruise vacation coming up less than 30 days from now, I can't wait...talk about picture taking...LOL
Anyway, I'm going to check out my friends blogs but thank you for being loyal and checking up on me.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

Slacking in such a big, big way.

2009-10-18T22:55:00.003-05:00

Hi friends:
I'm so sorry that I have been MIA lately. So much has been going on, too much to even begin to tell you so I'll try to compress the last month.

My niece Danielle is PG, she is now 20 weeks along and so I am her surrogate mom going to the doc appointments etc with her. We go for the sonogram on November 3rd.

A friend of mine's son was shot and killed and it emotionally knocked me down. I had no idea it would effect me the way it did, but the circumstances behind the ordeal is probably why it effected me the way it did.

My doc friend's passport has still not made it back to the UK Embassy in Turkey, so he's still stuck there and getting more depressed each day. We talk daily and came to the conclusion that it will happen when it happens.

Ry joined the Army Reserve and will be leaving in March for 4 months. His original job that he wanted was not held for him due to him being under weight, so that was disappointing for him and me both. I was alot more excited about him becoming a Fire Fighter than an Ammo (something). His first drill is the first weekend in November.

My sister in law has been in hospital for last 5 days, what originally was an Hysterectomy, turned out to be Ovarian Cancer...removed everything and was doing okay, but the next morning they could not wake her up, so she was moved to SICU and was there until yesterday afternoon. She is doing much better and in a private room now, getting up and walking although she's not real impressed with that.

That's a short recap of the highlights. I hope everything in your worlds are well. Thanks for checking in. Much Love

News on the home front

2009-09-14T19:34:00.002-05:00

Obviously I still have not got my act together in posting pictures to my other blog or words of nonsense to this blog, so here's a quick update on the Doc. He is waiting on the arrival of his new passport which will probably be somewhere near the end of September or 1st of October, then the plan is to come here...hopefully no problems from the hotel to the airport. Last week Istanbul had the worst and heaviest rainfall in 80 years and it flooded, 33 people dead, the phone lines etc were down but he finally got through to me later in the day to let me know he was fine. His hotel had been flooded and the originally just moved people to higher floors, then they ended up moving everyone to an entirely different hotel. It's been raining every since, but not enough for further flooding, the clean up was under way once the heaviest of the rainfall was over.

My niece Danielle is pregnant, this Thursday she will be 12 weeks and we go to the doctor on Friday. Her boyfriend isn't real happy that I"m going but he'll have to get over it as I'm "Auntie" and have been more of a mom to her then her mother. I'm not sure how they are going to handle this, he was just laid off, she doesn't get many hours at her job and naturally no insurance so she has applied for the necessary help through the SRS.

Ryan is still trying to gain the 15 pounds to get into the reserve...it has went back and forth and he can't seem to get past 116...he has 9 more pounds to go by Oct 1st. I hope that he makes it, cause his job has cut everyone's hours and he is only getting 11 hours per week now.

I did a spur of the moment thing and bought myself a new car, well new to me. I was going to wait until next year when I turn 50, but I told myself if I ever saw a Black Lexus SUV and it was reasonably priced and not alot of miles I was buying it. Well, there it was one morning sitting on a car lot on my way to work. I stopped in at lunch and looked at it, went back after work, drove it and bought it...LOL I haven't taken any pictures of it as yet because all it seems to do is rain in Wichita anymore, but as soon as I do, I will post a picture on this blog.

Well, I think Calgon is calling me to take me away, so thanks for stopping in. Hope everyone has an awesome week.

It's about time I post something I guess...

2009-09-06T19:17:00.002-05:00

Well Sept 4th has come and gone and now it's a new count down. Mark (the doctor) was leaving Turkey on Sept 4th to come straight to Wichita to visit me. He left the countryside a bit out of Ankara Thursday afternoon, called me to tell me he'd call before his flight left...he was so excited, I was excited...I could hardly contain myself at work on Friday until 10am. I got a message that as they arrived in Istanbul, his cab was robbed by 3 gunmen and his wallet, laptop, both phones, medical supplies and documents and PASSPORT were stolen. He spent the majority of that evening and well into early Friday morning at the Istanbul police station, they took him to airport to cancel his flight along with the police report to get his flight cancelled and refunded (they only refunded 1/2) and then the police put him in a hotel until Friday morning when he could go to the UK Embassy. Friday he went to the embassy and the earliest he will have a passport to leave the country is in about 3 weeks :(...so he's stuck in Istanbul with no money, no ID, no passport, no phone etc. The embassy does help in the situation as far as phone cards and a place to stay and food so that is good. He's called me continually to tell me the latest news...basically the police has no hope of finding anything, but he's got his credit cards and his current passport stopped. He said that was the scaredest he's ever been, being held up at gunpoint...he didn't know if he would survive or not...but thankfully they didn't hurt him or the cab driver. Personally...I think the cab driver was in on it and the police will look into that type of situation...carrying a doctor with all the stuff he had with him for a drive from Ankara to Istanbul...just seems it could be a bit tempting for a cabbie that might not be the most honest person.
Anyways, hopefully he will be able to get out of there by the end of Sept. Thanks for peeking in, think I'll watch a Netflix movie tonight.

Busy weekend

2009-08-16T21:53:00.002-05:00

Why do weekends fly by, yet week days linger? I have yet to figure that out. I'm so exhausted from the weekend that I slept from about 11pm Saturday night until 12:30pm Sunday.
Yesterday, Ryan joined the Army Reserve's and so we met with his recruiter early Saturday morning (I'll fill everyone in on that story later) Then I had Shiloh, so we went out in the hot, humid weather to Tanganyika Wildlife Park, had alot of fun and they continue to add things to the park. Did my usual hang out at Cactus Saturday night, but before then Daniel wanted me to stop at Century II and take pictures of the hall he was decorating.
Today...after I finally got up, I took a friend of mine out shooting sculptures around doo-dah. He's wanting to learn more about photography and has asked me to help him...so I'm doing the best I can, mainly just showing his different idea's for shoots, getting him to think outside the normal box. Another scorcher on the humidity level today...so I'm out of energy.
Hopefully tomorrow night I'll start editing pics...probably got about 200 to go through.
Have a great week my friends.

Photo shoots

2009-08-14T18:23:00.002-05:00

Obviously I have not been on many photo shoots this year due to the busy time at the office, but I did manage to sneak out with a friend last Sunday for a couple of hours and just shoot a few things here and there.
If it doesn't rain on Sunday, we're going to shoot again for a couple of hours. I really miss going on all the excursions I went out last year and I may go on a weekend one with some of the photog's Labor Day weekend, unless Mark is able to fly in to Wichita from Turkey. And not having my Miss Rylie around since she moved to Oklahoma I haven't taken any pictures of her; however her 2nd birthday is coming up at the end of August and mama is planning a birthday party in Oklahoma...I'm hoping that I will be able to make it. I missed her 1st birthday because I was sick with my back problems for last year.
I have Shiloh tomorrow afternoon and providing it doesn't rain, we are going to go out to Tanganyka (sp) Wildlife Park so there are plenty of photo op's there.
Well, I'm pretty tired from a stressful week at work, so it's going to be a lazy Friday night...been in my PJ's since I came home and I'm thinking it's bed time at 6:30pm...LOL
Thanks for peeking in...have a great weekend.

The Doc is not in...he's in Turkey

2009-08-09T16:49:00.002-05:00

Mark is on a 30 day mission in Ankara Turkey at a community hospital, actually the countryside of Ankara and will move further into the countryside this coming Tuesday for 1 week and then back to the initial community hospital.
We have talked everyday and have a specific time to chat online each day and then also through e-mail. We've talked several times on the phone as well, but since he is in the countryside the connection is not always that great and since he is going further in for a week...we're concerned that we may not be able to speak for that week, except online/email. We'll just have to see once he gets there.
This week was slightly stressful for him as there had been several emergencies, in fact one day while we were chatting online he said he had an emergency and needed to go, give him 5 minutes and call him. So I did...he has a car that picks him up and takes him to the hospital and apparently it has sirens on it, cause it was noisy...LOL
It's kind of nice that we are able to use this time to get to know each other through our e-mails, sometimes you can write things about yourself that is easier to write then express verbally.
Still do not know if he will be going directly to Greece from Turkey or able to come here to visit when he leaves Turkey on August 31st. We're hoping that he will have a break, but if they need him right away...he will go...that's what doctors do. And if he goes, he'll be there 30 days.
Thanks for peeking in

Life is good again...I know I can't make up my mind!

2009-08-03T18:45:00.003-05:00

Things are going well with Mark, it's rather odd and strange to miss someone that you have not met in person but I do. I feel like a piece of me is missing. He has been in Turkey since Thursday and we have spoken every day via e-mail, instant message or phone calls. He is such a kind man and so proper in his speaking (that's the British way you know). His plan is to come here straight from Turkey before going back to Seattle, still no word as to whether or not he will be going to Greece. I hope not, but it would only be for 30 days. It's nice that I can ask him anything, he can ask me anything and neither of us hesitate to answer...it seems as though when people get older and have been in/out of relationships...they don't want to answer questions but he is not that way at all.
He makes me laugh and smile again when I thought I wouldn't be able to...I felt like after Ed ended our relationship that I didn't care if I ever had someone again, but in reality...I do want someone in my life. I'm not happy to be content like Ed is living in the past and getting close to someone and then ending the relationship because you might get hurt. Life is about risk and to love is to risk and I still believe in love...you have to or you become old and bitter and that is not the kind of person I am. I don't hate Ed, I'm not even mad at Ed...Ed is a good man, but he made his choice so now I feel like after several months...I can move on, so I'm moving on.
I know that being in a relationship with a doctor will have it's trying moments, but doesn't any relationship? And the thing that I most treasure about him is that he's real, he's not a snob, doesn't try to impress because he's a doctor and working with many doctors in my business...it's very rare to find a doctor that doesn't think they are all that.
I'm trying to convince him that since he is resigning from Doctors without Borders and is going to start his own practice, that it needs to be here...I'm crossing my fingers. I know he has to be where he thinks best for his business and I totally understand that, he's not opposed to moving here either so I have to really talk up doo-dah...LOL
Thanks for peeking in.

Mark - so this is him

2009-07-28T21:05:00.001-05:00

TA DAH...news at 11...LOL

2009-07-28T20:51:00.001-05:00

So you all know I'm crazy right? LOL, be nice! Well, I've met someone...yes online...deal with it. I'm tired of being alone and I'm tired of wishing my life away. I want to spend it with someone that wants to be with me. Am I cautious...well of course. But from what I know so far...I likey alot. His name is Mark, he's from London and currently resides in Seattle. He is a pediatrician with Doctors without Borders and has been in Iraq for the last 5 years, he is leaving for Turkey in a couple of days and then possibly Greece...with hopefully a stop in doo-dah to see me. I freaking love his accent...he could talk to me all day. He is so proper and kind and hopefully I don't get hurt...but in the mean time...he is making me feel alive and right now is all that matters. Even though I was heartbroken over Ed, I know I have to move on without him and I've decided it's his loss. He told me I was the best woman he had ever met and the only woman who treated him like he was a king, but he chose to throw it away and I can't hold on to that...so...I'm moving on. I don't want to die alone, I don't want to not have someone at my bedside when I'm old and hold me and tell me how much they love me and will miss me when I'm gone.
I know it's crazy considering I haven't even met Mark in person, but we talk every day...email every day, chat online every day and ask each other 20 questions every day. I can ask him anything and he knows he can ask me anything. He's making me smile and you all know I haven't really smiled in quite awhile. We'll see where this progresses and I hope it progresses along into something really special. Speaking to him for only a bit over a couple of weeks or so...we know alot about each other and we like what each other has to offer. I'll keep you posted and I pray my heart won't get broken, but if it does...it's worth the risk because I refuse to live my life in the past like Ed has chosen to do...I'm willing to take the risk with someone even if it costs me my heart.
Thanks for peeking in...maybe I'll post a picture of Mark on this site.

Mini vacation in SC

2009-07-19T16:09:00.003-05:00

The end of June I went back to Charleston for 3 days not only to visit my friend Russell, but also because Charleston was having a Harbor Fest with tons of ships coming in from all over the world and since both of us love photography, we spent the better part of 2 days hanging out in the Harbor taking tons of pictures. We went to Folly Beach one day for a shoot as well. We were going to meet up with his oldest daughter Kiara and I was going to do a father/daughter shoot but she wasn't ready when we needed to do the shoot, so we drove out to the country to spend the day with his family. I had never met these people before and had the time of my life. They didn't want me to come back to Kansas because they were having a Family Reunion 4th of July weekend but I had to come back, not only for work...but also shooting my brothers wedding.
I needed the 3 day break from work, but I need another one...LOL Anyway, out in the country we sat outside in the humidity for 8 hours underneath a made lean too type thing with speakers everywhere and huge fans, his Uncle Johnny is a riot...love that man. Great food, great fun times. It's always so nice to be around people that want you to be around. They were giving Russell a bad time because they knew Russell and I had previously dated and why weren't we now...we said...we're just good friends and that I had taught him photography so we like to get together when we can and go on photo shoots. They didn't like that answer...but that's the way it is. His cousin called me during the 4th of July weekend and told me it just wasn't right that I wasn't there...made me feel good...especially when I've had such a difficult time with the split between Ed an I. It was nice to know that someone wanted me around, even if it was just borrowed family members.
Well, there's so much about the trip I have left out...but it would take a book. Thanks for peeking in. I've put a few photos on my Photo Blog and then all of my pics are on FB, so if you've got FB...check them out or check out my photo blog.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Phew...

2009-07-17T20:58:00.003-05:00

I'm not independently wealthy...WHY? LOL Work has been a killer, literally...I've been having health issues and it got really bad this week so off to Mr. Doc I went. Couldn't really find anything, still waiting on 1 test result that won't be back for 7 -10 days...but he believes the other issues are all stress related and told me to "quit stressing" LOL...OK sure...if I make the kind of money you do, I will.
Today was a relatively calm day at work, took a nice lunch with Toni and actually left a few minutes before 5...came home and took a much needed 2 hour nap, still don't think I"ll have much trouble going to bed very, very soon.
Maybe this weekend, I can post about my trip to South Carolina...it was fun, nice and relaxing to get away...but wow is it humid there. Spent the 3 days out in the heat shooting, got some great pics of the Harbor Fest and other things around Charleston that I hadn't seen.
Thanks for peeking in, thinking I'll hit the sack again...LOL

Escaping to South Carolina

2009-06-23T21:24:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention that I am leaving on Thursday afternoon for a much needed escape from reality to Charleston. I'm excited to get away and hoping that the office doesn't feel the need to call me on my cell phone and stress me out but who knows. I'll be back late Monday afternoon and then back to work on Tuesday. The LO's and processors have been stressing out about me being gone for 2 days, jeez...how they forget that until 4 years ago when Freddy semi-retired he was the only underwriter and some how we managed to survive. They've gotten spoiled the last 4 years having me and Freddy underwriting and now they are back to just me. But guess what...I still have ever right to go on vacation, just as they do, have and will.
So, while in Charleston I plan on sleeping and then I'll also be going to Magnolia Plantation and The Harbor Fest. Lots of photo ops. It will be nice to see my friend that I went and saw there last year as well...we have this (or should I say he has this competitive nature) on trying to catch up with me on my style of photography. He's getting there, but I'm always one step ahead of him...LOL
Look for pics on my Photo blog and on Face Book. Thanks for checking in. Have a great next few days.

Getting rather lazy on the blogging

2009-06-23T21:19:00.002-05:00

Work is still very busy considering the interest rates have gone back up by at least 1%; however we are still seeing the results of the low, low rates and even some purchases. It appears more people are liking the idea of FHA and VA (YUCK) but hey the more you do them, the better you get...right? I'm still working long hours and working through lunches for the most part, but I have been forcing myself to at least go for a quick outing once a week besides my normal Wednesdays with my brothers.
Underwriting without Freddy around is challenging due to constant interruptions, etc...but I am managing. I know it will get better as things begin to slow down a bit. Some economists are anticipating another dip in rates later in the year...so this may happen all over again when it's dark, cold and nasty outside...Oh Joy!
Have a great one!

Listen to song #1 on my playlist...LOL

2009-06-14T13:55:00.004-05:00

You will probably have to scroll down and click on it to listen as I've got the playlist on random and can't figure out how to get it off random...LOL

That's my new motto as I approach 50, I realize it's a year away...I'm just getting an early start so that I'm prepared.
It says it all.

KC and the drag races

2009-06-04T21:06:00.002-05:00

No, not KC and the sunshine band...LOL
So as I said...I went to KC to sleep...I did go to Parkville, MO which is an awesome small quaint little town i like to go to...they have an awesome pizza place and coffee shop...then i parked myself in a hotel room and slept for hours and hours. It was way cool. I slept better there than I have at home in quite awhile.
Sunday morning, got up and drove to Topeka for the NHRA drag races. Awesome smell and burn of nitro in the eyes, lungs, throat but oh so worth it. Took over 250 pics and still editing them. I've posted a couple on my other site: www.photosbyjoey2.blogspot.com and I'll probably post a few favorites, but I'm not going to do the whole slide show thing that I used to on this site. I've got my pics spread out all over the web in so many different places, it's hard to keep track of them. But check back on the photography site...the 2 I have up now are of Antron Brown and John Force and those of you that know me well, know that John Force is my #1 driver. I love this particular picture I took of him...I was just up in his face snapping away...I loved it.
Anyway...back to editing. Thanks for stopping in.

Off to KC and Topeka

2009-05-30T09:04:00.002-05:00

Yippee...I'm getting out of doo-dah for the weekend. I'm headed up to KC for the day to bum around and maybe just chill by myself in my hotel room and reflect or I might venture out and go to a few places and shoot some pics. Really haven't decided that far ahead. My original intention was just getting up early tomorrow morning and head to Topeka for the NHRA Drag Races for the day, but I know how tired I am when I get back after getting up at the crack of dawn, being out in 90 degree temps under the sun for 8 hours and then 3 hour drive back...so decided to shoot up to KC today, chill and get up a bit later in the morning and head back to Topeka, that way I only have the long drive back.
Hope everyone has a great and safe weekend. Thanks for stopping by. :)

Wow do I need to read this today

2009-05-25T11:01:00.001-05:00

Monday, May 25, 2009

Drop the resentment

Resentment builds a strong connection between you and whatever or whomever you resent. Is that really what you want to do?
The time and energy that you devote to resentment will take away from other things you could be doing. Is resentment really how you wish to spend your precious resources?

Sure, you may not like whatever has happened, whatever brought up those feelings of resentment. Yet the sooner you move beyond it, the better off you'll be.

Stop punishing yourself for the thoughtlessness of someone else. Let it go, and let yourself move positively forward.

Take all that energy in your resentment, re-direct it, and make something valuable out of it. What's happened has happened, yet what will happen next is up to you.

Make the next moment one that will give you cause for grateful celebration. Drop the resentment, and get on with living your own unique joy.

-- Ralph Marston

Promotion

2009-05-21T20:13:00.002-05:00

Well, after much grief, frustration, and disappointment. I have finally been promoted "officially" as to what I have been doing for the last 4 years and throughout much of my career. I am now the Mortgage Loan Underwriter, lots more responsibility, will be lots more pay but for right now, just got a bump in my salary until I am officially made an Officer of the Bank. That could be as early as September or as late as next March, but either way...it's finally coming. I have only GOD to thank for this. He is the one that is keeping me together and I praise him for it.
Thanks for stopping in...life is boring these days so haven't been in the blogging mood. Maybe I'll get there sometime.

So this is what's going on (well part of it)

2009-05-11T18:27:00.002-05:00

Those of us in the mortgage industry know we're either bored to tears or we're crying because we're so busy we can't even think...right now, that's the case at work. Well, I'm not crying...just very frustrated, irritated, stressed out, burnt out, all the outs you can be. We are so busy since the interest rates have dropped that I'm working minimum of 9 hours a day and I could certainly work more, but anymore...my brain is fried after a certain time frame and I just can't think nor do I want to anymore...that's when I know it's best to go home. Plus underwriting isn't as easy as it used to be anymore because the investors are scared of everything, even a low loan to value with great borrowers, it's very scary to sign that approval sheet these days, because if the investors chose to not purchase the loan and we have to put it in the bank's portfolio...some heads are going to roll if it was an underwriting error. Then you have certain staff members that should know by now what they are doing considering they've been doing it for a few years, but NO...they would rather just give the file to the underwriter and let us tell them what they need on the file (double the work for us) ARGH !!!! In addition...I've still got most of my commercial real estate duties so basically I'm pulling my hair out.
Life drama...when have I not had drama...OH that's right...when I was happy. Well, right now...not real happy and obviously there is nothing I can do to change the situation no matter how much I tried, how much I pleaded my case, how much I sold myself...I just feel like I'm not worthy to the opposite sex and I sooooooo want to have a soulmate, a companion...someone to spend time with. I really don't understand why I get them and then they tell me how wonderful I am and that they are so lucky etc and then they decide to leave the relationship and tell me it's not me, it's them. Sheesh...if it's not me, then why am I the one that is getting left out in the cold?
Then my God-Daughter and her mom have moved back to Oklahoma and while it's only 2 1/2 hours away...I won't see her that often and she will begin to not know me and that makes me very, very sad. It is such an awesome feeling, no matter how depressed I am to walk into the room she is in and she just giggles, starts throwing her hands at me and smiling...she knows Auntie Jo. Before they left, I took her to the part and took a few pictures of her and just hugged and kissed her for a couple of hours...I probably won't see her before her 2nd birthday the end of August.
And then family drama...I've got a niece that can't get her head on straight (well several of those including nephews), she moves from one guy to the next and it's LOVE every time...PLEASE !!! My oldest brother has major health problems but is refusing to except them and do anything about it, so he's left town so he doesn't have to deal with it. Luckily, even though my sister's cancer has come back it hasn't attached itself to anywhere yet, so they can't treat it until it does...she's constantly being monitored for that. Then one of my brothers company shut down and he lost his job after many years, so he lost everything and is trying to find employment. Then there is my middle brother that has Leukemia...he's had it for 15 years which is 3 years longer then they anticipated him surviving...but it's bad right now...his blood count jumped to 260,000 which is higher then it was when he was diagnosed so he is on bad stuff that he doesn't want to do, but he's doing it. His treatments providing they do what they are supposed to do won't be over much before Christmas. They are hitting it hard since it's very high and said that it may destroy some of his red blood cells as well and if it does too much to them, he would have to immediately go into the hospital as his organs would begin to fail. So pray for him...hopefully during this time his wife's breast cancer won't come back...I just don't know how much more he can take. He's pretty depressed as well and really...he's just plain tired.
There's more stuff...but this is enough drama for one post. Thanks for peeking in and please pray.

I was going to escape...

2009-05-08T22:43:00.003-05:00

BTW...I was going to escape my life for a few days and go to Alaska over Memorial Day. I called my sister and said...get me out of here, I need to come home so she texted me Monday and said I'm buying you a ticket make sure you can get off work and call me back right away. I was going to go from the 21st through the 27th...under normal work circumstances that would not have been a problem but because of our refi boom going on, my boss asked me to see if that would put the other underwriter under to much stress the next day. In the meantime...the tickets went up tremendously, so I told my sister I would just wait until things calmed down at work and then maybe fly up or maybe escape some place else. I really need to run away from home for awhile, but I guess that will have to wait.
Later!

BLAH & BLECK...

2009-05-08T22:33:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, there was a blah and a bleck...they merged and became blaheck...whatever the heck that means.

Anyway, lots to say regarding the work mode, but frankly Scarlet..I don't give a damn (LOL) I'm exhausted and going to bed. I slept 13 hours last night and believe it or not, not out of depression or boredom...I just couldn't go anymore. My brain stopped about 3pm yesterday, I managed to keep awake until time to come home, then I promptly came home, fell asleep and got up at 7 this morning. Felt great until I got to work again...think today was just under 10 hours. I was so exhausted that I skipped a photography meeting and for me to skip one if I'm not sick is amazing.

If I have the energy this weekend, I'll give a work update. Some that have worked with me will get a laugh over it.
Take care.

Habitat for Humanity

2009-05-04T20:38:00.002-05:00

Tonight after work, I had an event to attend to for Habitat for Humanity. It was called Habitat for Humanity Girls Night Out. Ok, not my idea of a ton of fun, but a very good friend is on the board and she asked me if I wanted to go. It was appetizers and a brief meeting about what Habitat for Humanity does and then we hopped the Party Bus (maybe more fun in different circumstances) and went on a tour of the Habitat Village and went into a couple of homes. It was very interesting to learn about how they help families and what goes into building a Habitat home. Of course, I've signed myself up for some type of volunteering, I don't know what or when...we'll see. One of the houses we toured was the house that was built by just women, which is why this night was called Girls Night Out.
It got me out of the house and around people so that I could forget about whats going on in my life for a couple of hours.
If you ever get the chance, check out the volunteer opportunities at Habitat for Humanity, it really is a great organization.
Thanks for stopping in.

Update on Life Sucks...

2009-05-03T20:04:00.002-05:00

So, it still does...but I would rather be alive then dead. So much is going on that unless you know me really well, you have no idea. I try to hide the pain as much as I can when out in public and around people, but the moment I am alone...the pain comes out.
I've been going to 2 churches on Sunday mornings lately just so that I can feel blessed and also because I don't want to be alone. I love my church...St. Mark and Pastor Dotson is awesome and I come out of church feeling so alive and that I truly am blessed no matter what is going on, but recently I've needed more. If it wasn't for the simple fact of repeat...I would stay for 2nd service at St. Mark...but I've been leaving after 1st service and going around to different churches just to hear what they were preaching on and about. Today, I went to Paradise Bapt which is where alot of my friends go. I enjoyed it even though it is so much smaller then St. Mark, but the important thing I guess is that I was in the presence of GOD for another 2 hours. GOD is truly good and regardless of what I or anyone else is going through...he is on OUR side. Thank you Jesus.

TGIF

2009-05-01T22:25:00.002-05:00

I don't want to wish my life away by any means, but wow...back in the earlier days of the 2000's when there was a refi boom...I was younger and had more energy...now I'm pushing 49 and feel like I can barely survive Mondays. I have to remind myself...this too shall pass and then as is always the case in residential lending...it's boom or bust. How many more years before retirement?
It doesn't help when you are depressed anyways, then being so busy at work that you feel your brain is fried by Friday night...speaking of fried brains...I'm going to bed. Stay out of the rain.

I'm tired of rain

2009-04-30T18:30:00.004-05:00

So since I have nothing positive to say today, I decided to say I'm tired of rain. The floor at the bottom of my stairs are soaked, pretty sure the last few steps are soaked as well. This has been an on-going pain in the neck since oh...1996. We had foundation people out, we've taken all the necessary steps...put stuff into the foundation...stopped all the leaking...but then one day about 2002 or so...new leak on stairs...can't find it anywhere. Very frustrating. It only gets soaked like this when we have the heavy, constant rain that we've had. Luckily it's the bottom of the stairs and not in the main part of the basement.
Pray for sunshine.

Depression Test

2009-04-28T20:05:00.001-05:00

My Depression


High Standards	67
Self-Criticism	75
Generalization	88

You hold yourself to fairly high standards, sometimes higher even than other people will hold you to. This can sometimes lead to anxiety over your performance, but is generally unlikely to lead to depression. You are fairly critical of yourself and will be hard on yourself if you do not do as well at a task as you expected to. Trying to evaluate your success more objectively could help you to fell better about your performance. You often let a single failure govern how you feel about every aspect of your life. This will generally lead to depression and tends to mean that you are investing far too much of youself into success or failure. Try to take a step backwards from failure and focus more on what went wrong specifically rather than questioning your own abilities or beliefs.

poll maker

Dangle Earrings

Life sucks

2009-04-27T20:06:00.002-05:00

Why when you finally figure life out, it throws a huge pile of crap back in your face...just to say...your life still sucks and anytime you think it doesn't...i'm gonna throw this big pile of crap in your face to remind you that it does. Don't get me wrong...I don't want to be dead, but we know there have been times that I have.
When you have a good thing going on, why would you want to throw it away...stomp on it, put it on the back burner. If I would have thought that at this stage in my life I would be asking these questions, I would have called it a day along time ago. Life is painful and I don't know how much more pain I can take in my life. Why are some people so lucky and others suffer. All I ever wanted in life was to live and die with the one I loved next to me.
When life throws a curve ball at you over and over again, you begin to question "WHY ME"...I've forgiven those that have done me wrong, I've asked forgiveness for the wrong doings that I've done...so why...still me...why does life keep throwing crap in my face all the time?
If I'm truly a wonderful person, then why am I a throw back? I just want to curl up in the fetal position, hide under the stairs, never go outside, never eat, never do anything. The med's don't cure the pain, they mask it to a point...but why still am I in so much pain. My heart has been ripped out of my insides...I beared it all. Please make the pain stop.

Why do Funerals start with the word...FUN?

2009-04-22T22:50:00.002-05:00

Seriously...have you ever stopped and asked yourself that question? What is FUN about going to a funeral? In the last 2 days...I have attended 2 and neither have been FUN. In the last 7 days...someone I know has either passed on or was a relative of someone I knew.
It all started last week when a friend of mine and several others of my friends...17 month old grand-daughter passed away. Certainly, that was not fun for anyone involved. No one should have to bury their children or grandchildren. Her funeral was on Thursday and unfortunately for respect of my friend...I was not able to attend. Then on Friday morning, my God-Daughters Great G'pa passed away. He had just been in Wichita Easter weekend and was fine, next day...he was in ICU and 4 days later he passed on. So Monday was his funeral in Oklahoma, not a good time. Although I did not know him well...I did know him and he was a very kind man. While waiting to hear when his funeral was, my dad called me and told me my favorite principal in the entire world had passed away and his funeral was Tuesday. I would have jumped over mountains, swam oceans, etc to get to his funeral and I did go. I think his passing hit me rather hard because he was such an ICON in my life in high school. Normally, one can't even remember their teachers names, let alone principals names or even cared about their passing...but Dr. Gasper...different story. So many students loved this man. I will never forget enrollment day at North High my sophomore year...when my dad who knew Dr. Gasper introduced me to him...from that moment on...Dr. Gasper spoke to me when passing me in the halls. At that time...I was humiliated that the principal knew my name...but as time went by...I was honored and come to find out at his funeral...he made a point to remember peoples names.
I had the pleasure of working with him a couple of years ago when North High had it's 75th reunion...he walked into the Library at North and it took me back to 75-78...I was like a small little girl looking in awe when he walked in. I said...Dr. Gasper...I'm JoEtta Lamm...do you by any chance remember me...he said of course JoEtta...your dad is Doyle Lamm. I was amazed...it had been 28 years since I had seen him. He was so humble. Then this last fall...I saw him, his wife and his 3 sons at a restaurant and I couldn't not speak to him, but noticed something was different about him...this time...he didn't remember me...he said he remembered the face, but not the name. His wife and his sons came over to me before they left and said that he had suffered a stroke and his memory was fading...that was very sad to me...but once again...so honored to see him. His son Steve had married one of my friends from high school Terri and later they got divorced...I looked for her at the funeral, but again...it has been many years since seeing her...although if I would have heard her laugh...I would have immediately have known who it was.
RIP Sharon's grand-daughter, RIP Marvin Koehn and RIP Dr. John Gasper...you will all be missed.

ARGHHH and not the pirate kind

2009-04-15T21:09:00.002-05:00

So the mini refi boom has hit for the last month or so and we are all trying to figure out how we survived back in 03 and beyond without killing each other in the office. Everyone barely or not taking lunches, working early and late and people in tears...oh the good ol days...well...they are back...maybe not as bad; however we have a lot less staff than we did back in 03 so it is pushing people over the edge much sooner then it did last time. In addition to that, the constant changes to guidelines...you begin questioning yourself and I as an underwriter really question myself as I'm signing that approval and making it okay for the bank to loan the money. Twenty years ago, I was so confident in my industry and what I did, my knowledge etc...even 5 years ago I was confident...none of us are confident now and it's just the nature of the business. Most of us have gone through this type of change at least once in our career...this makes the 2nd time I've went through a bad market in my 27 years of being in the industry. Hopefully, next mortgage crisis...I'll be retired and living on a beach somewhere.
Anyway...as the song goes...I WILL SURVIVE!

My brother and his fiance'

2009-04-13T22:16:00.002-05:00

Tonight I went to dinner with my brother and his fiance so we could talk about their wedding plans in July. They are getting married outdoors (pending weather conditions) at Maple Gardens. I had told Linda that I wanted to walk the grounds and get a feel for what she had in mind and so we decided to stop by. This is hilarious and she knows I'm gonna blab everything because she just cracks me up.

Anyways, there is an archway that she wants to walk through and down a path to a bridge...she wants to walk on the bridge and get married at the end of the bridge. All fine, right? Well she said she would be the first one in and that my brother and the Preacher would come to the end of the bridge to meet her. I said...are you smoking crack? The bride is the last one in...the bride is the focus of the entire wedding. I said, you've been married before...didn't you come in last? She said..well yes I guess so, but I want to get married on the bridge...I said...you can. So I had to walk her through the whole entire thing so that she could see she was going to be able to do what she wanted to do and be the last one walking in. My brother was just cracking up. I said to him...are you sure you want to marry her? LOL

Those of you that know her know she's ditzy and that's ok...we love her anyways...but sometimes I wonder where her brain is.

Hopefully she will be fully recovered before their wedding. She had fallen at work back in January and broke her wrist in 7 places, had to have pins and I think she is on her 2nd or 3rd cast. I believe she has started physical therapy as it affected some use of her fingers and this is the hand she uses. The doc's assured her everything would be fine by then but she will have to be careful obviously for awhile as those bones will be weak.

She's talked to Ry about his wrist in detail and he only had 3 pins. Everytime she talks to him about it, his wrist starts hurting and he whines to mama...LOL I tell him it's just sympathy pains.

Thanks for checking in. Later

Shiloh

2009-04-13T22:07:00.002-05:00

On Friday I went to Botanica for a Volunteer Recognition Luncheon for Compeer. It was a nice little lunch with a short program just to recognize those of us that volunteer for Compeer. I couldn't believe how long some of the mentors had been with this program, some 15 to 20 years, others 5 years and with the same kid or adult.

I was reminded on Saturday how challenging it can be working with kids that have mental illness's when I went to pick up Shiloh way out in the middle of no where and no one was home. I called the house phone, no answer, called her mom's cell phone only to find out that her and her husband was headed out of town and Shiloh was staying the weekend with a friend and didn't know that I was supposed to pick up Shiloh. ARGHHHHH Shiloh was being Shiloh and had apparently lied to mom so that she could stay with her friend for the weekend versus going out of town with mom and the step dad.

Sometimes working with these kids and those that work with the mentally challenged adults have to stop and remember that they don't always think like us and it's not personal, it's just who they are. At first I was real bent out of shape for putting off other things I wanted to do, then the long drive out to her house but then I stopped myself and said...wait...Shiloh is not only 14 and has teenagerites, but is also mentally challenged and she wants what she wants when she wants it.

Shiloh called me last night and again today apologizing for forgetting and of course I told her no problem, it's ok. So we are meeting on Saturday and I have a photo shoot on Saturday afternoon so I told her she could help me. She's pretty excited about that. We always have alot of fun when we are together and honestly sometimes when she is talking you forget that she is 14 versus being an adult...she is very intelligient.

Thanks for peeking in. Have a great week.

Easter

2009-04-13T22:01:00.002-05:00

So what did everyone do for Easter? Hopefully it was better than mine. I was actually sick and stayed in the bed most of the time, didn't even make it out to church and you know if I miss a Sunday at St. Mark...I've gotta be sick.

Miss Rylie was having an indoor Easter Egg hunt but Auntie Jo didn't go over since I wasn't feeling well. We were also invited to my friend Joyce's family for their Easter dinner, but I knew Jacklyn would have a cow if I showed up sick...LOL (love ya Jackie) My family put off Easter since my step mom had surgery a week ago, so we may end of having it this weekend or possibly just wait until Memorial Day and have a combination.

Hopefully you'all had an awesome Easter...we all know the main focus of Easter is on Jesus. We must remember to thank him every day for the blessings he has given us, even when we didn't feel they were blessings.

Thanks for peeking in.

I have a 2nd Blog...

2009-04-12T16:53:00.004-05:00

Go to: www.photosbyjoey2.blogspot.com

I decided to set this one up strictly for photo's. As I get more photo's on my iMac I will add a photo from time to time. This original blog will be my main blog for photo's, slideshows, BS etc...but thought I should set one up strictly if someone wanted to just view some of my photos.

Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend. Thanks for peeking in.

Cooks er Photographers as cooks (click on photo)

2009-04-05T18:02:00.003-05:00

One of the photography groups did something a little bit different and that was to go to Dream Dinners and learn how to prepare one of their meals. It was a hoot. We spent alot of time BS'ing and hanging around sampling food and waiting for our turn to cook. These photo's were just some candid photo's of the group.

Cooks er Photographers as Cooks

Beautiful song

2009-03-29T19:16:00.003-05:00

Hey girls: You know we are all suckers for romance, well last night Ed asked me to listen to a song that spoke to him about the 3 weeks we were apart. He said he must have played this song over and over again, listening to it over 100 times. These are the lyrics to the song and the first song on my playlist (scroll down and click on song #1 if it doesn't automatically come up)...read the words, listen to the song. It has so much meaning and when he played it for me, I cried like a baby and he just held me and said I am so sorry. I've listened to it about a million times today and balled each time.
Now the first paragraph doesn't match what happened to us, Ed doesn't have a habit of messing up, staying out late or getting drunk and his career wasn't his excuse...but the part about ran away from you until I saw you about to drown in your own tears and then the remainder of the song, was exactly what he wanted to say to me and how he felt. I am so hoping and praying that by his fear of being left or hurt first, that now he is no longer scared that I will hurt him. Pray for us girls...Ed is truly the most genuine man I have ever known.

Her Heart

I had a habit of messing up
Staying out late and getting drunk
I let you down a thousand times
Broken promises
It's like I ran away from you
My career was my excuse
Until I saw you about to drown in your own tears

[Chorus]
And as you cried in my arms
You woke up my heart
And I saw again what I found in you
Cause her heart, her heart wont let me lose her
No matter how I try
I just cant say goodbye and lose her

When all the folks were said and done
You were there to welcome me home
I was convicted cause your love never wavered
I know you love me more than me
And you vowed to love through anything
I never had a kind of love that was forever

[Chorus]

Cause her heart, her heart wont let me lose her
No matter how hard I try
I just cant say goodbye and lose her
No matter how hard I try
I just cant say goodbye and lose her
No matter how I try
I just cant say goodbye and lose her

Song and lyrics by Anthony Hamilton

New Pics of Danielle (click on photo)

2009-03-29T17:39:00.002-05:00

Danielle 1

DeMarshae's Sweet 16 B.day Dinner (click on photo)

2009-03-23T18:05:00.002-05:00

DaMarshae's 16th B.day dinner

Weekend Stuff

2009-03-22T18:18:00.002-05:00

Well, Friday night I shot a friends nieces 16th b.day dinner at Granite City, then Saturday Ed and I went to lunch and then went a saw a very interesting movie called "Two Lovers". It was good and thought provoking about life, love etc. In the end...he ended up with the girl he should have ended up with, so all was good. Afterwards, we took a nice long walk, the weather was so nice we couldn't pass that up...then we just hung out at his house and watched TV for a while before going over to Cactus Cantina. It was a great day. Today was a great Church day, but then since I've started going to St. Mark...every Sunday is a great church day. I come out every Sunday feeling like I went to church and actually getting something out of the service. The afternoon has been kind of laid back, doing laundry, bought a few groceries and went tanning...back to the old grind tomorrow and already looking forward to Friday at 5pm so I have 2 days off...LOL Don't get me wrong...I am very thankful and I thank GOD everyday for allowing me to have a job in the times that we are on, but I soooooooo enjoy having time off. Well, thanks for peeking in I hope everyone has had a nice weekend as well.

Another trip in my future...Yippee

2009-03-19T19:55:00.002-05:00

While my sister and I were on our trip, we talked about doing a family cruise or family land vacation but she wanted to make sure that all the siblings could get the time off and wanted to do this. Well as of today...it's official. We cruise January 17th through the 24th. We fly into San Juan and catch the ship there (DARN) and then everyday we port in somewhere in the southern carribbean and then back to San Juan. So, we'll sail during the evenings and night. We'll go to St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Antigua, Barbados and Dominique. We'll have about 6 to 8 hours in port at each stop so that will be fun. It will be my sister and her husband, my dad and step mom, my brother Roger and his wife, my brother Kendall and his wife (once they get married in July), my brother Dwayne and then me. Lucky for me and Dwayne since we are single..we get our own cabin...I don't have to listen to his snoring. I told my sister to just put us in the same cabin to save money, but bless her heart...she said no...she didn't want to do that. We will probably have to fly into San Juan on Saturday the day before in order to catch the ship (darn again) even though we don't leave San Juan until 10pm..but the only flight she could get all of us was getting into San Juan 30 minutes before we were to leave on the ship...that won't work, so she's still working out the flight details.
And probably her and I will go on another trip some time later this year, depending on my life situation...LOL It was nice to get that bond with her after all these years.

Link to view Puerto Rico - 3 (click on photo)

2009-03-16T20:16:00.002-05:00

Puerto Rico wGlenda 3

Link to view Puerto Rico - 2 (click on photo)

2009-03-16T20:15:00.002-05:00

Puerto Rico wGlenda 2

Link to view Puerto Rico - 1 (click on photo)

2009-03-16T20:13:00.002-05:00

Puerto Rico wGlenda 1

News to use or abuse!

2009-03-14T17:49:00.002-05:00

Well, the only person I've told this to until right now is Ed...but I thought since it is pretty much a done deal I would let everyone else in on the news.
I was contacted by the marketing department for Greater Wichita Visitors and Convention Bureau requesting to use 3 of my Wichita photographers for promoting Wichita. At first they will be on a Touch Screen at the offices at Water Walk and by the spring of 2010 they will be put onto the website for GWVCB. They are re-vamping their current website and don't intend to go live with the new one until 2010, so that's why it will be awhile before my pictures are on the website. But they are going to inform me when the photo's are on both the Touch Screen and the website. Also, they are working on brochures, a video and possibly a small gift shop inside the offices and she stated that there may be additional request made for me to put some of my photos in the gift shop to sell. WOW...how awesome is that? So, I'll keep ya posted on how all this works.
Also today, one of my camera clubs is being invited to exhibit in one of the halls at Exploration place and I have been asked if I am interested in that as well. It would be 3 prints matted and framed...just trying to decide if I'm brave enough yet to do that. The group is determining which month we want to exhibit, it would either be June or July. I'll keep ya posted on that too.
Anyways, thanks for peeking in. Have an awesome weekend. (Still editing Puerto Rico pictures...lol)

Puerto Rico pictures

2009-03-10T21:19:00.003-05:00

So, I've managed to finally begin editing my pictures. I know that I will not keep all 1200 of them, but at the same time...how do you know if you want to get rid of even just one? You want to savor the beauty and the memory forever. I think I've got about 200 edited and will continue to work away at them. I know my sister and my family are anxious to see them.
Everyone knows that when I go off on adventures I take lots of pictures of people and I did that in Puerto Rico as well, but not as much as I had expected. My sister said she always asks people if she can take their pictures when she is in a different country...well not me...but I didn't want to make her uncomfortable...so I refrained as much as possible. I did take a couple of cool pictures in Catana at the Ferry station...one of an older man that was entertaining everyone on the ferry for tips with his guitar and singing (actually had a great voice). Then outside the ferry station, waiting for our taxi driver...there was a Rastaman selling water and candy with his dreads..he had a great smile...I did ask if I could take his picture and he said yes..so I did. He remembered me and my camera the next time we went to Catana to catch the ferry...I thought that was funny. He said...ya'man...you were here a couple of days ago with that big camera...I said...yes that was me. He just smiled and laughed.
We noticed that people in Puerto Rico were friendly, I'm sure that there are problem people as with anywhere, but they all just seemed so happy...the adults, the teenagers, the kids. They didn't seem angry like all of us up tight people here in America. Maybe they are content, where as...how many of us are? Parents weren't yelling at their children or hanging them upside down screaming at them, traffic although crazy and hectic...friendly...no road rage...drivers just let people in. It was an amazing place and to spend 9 days in an area versus going on a cruise, you really get the feel of the people, the land, the culture. My sister and I have talked about going back to Puerto Rico again sometime, but this time going to the Carribbean side and exploring that area versus the Atlantic side. Maybe someday. It was so great to be able to spend that time with my sister and we found that even though she is more conservative than I am, we have so many similarities and ways of thinking. The one thing I would have liked even better then being with my sister was if Ed would have been with me. I missed him so much and it's been along time since I've missed a man. It would have just been so romantic...one of my fantasy's is walking on a beach at sunset arm in arm with the man I love...enjoying each other, the scenery, the smell of the ocean...and then sitting down along the beach and watch the sun make it's finale. So far, that fantasy has never came true...boo!
My sister's husband decided he needed to learn to text in order to communicate with her, so he would send her I love You's by text and then at night...she would call him and tell him we're tired and going to bed so no more texting...he'd smart off in only the way Bill can and say...do you need to to talk booty talk to you in order for you to fall asleep? I could hear him laughing through her phone. He's a crack up.
Anyway, she wants me to get my passport up to date and maybe go some place in the fall before hurricane season hits too much, and then she is working on a total family trip the last of Jan or Feb. It would be my parents, my brothers and their wives, my sister and her husband and then since my oldest brother and I are single...guess we'd have to room together...snore fest...LOL We'll either do a cruise or a land vacation. But that will be cool too. I just pray that everyone's health is still okay then. Well, I've rambled and I need to go to bed. Thanks for stopping in.

Puerto Rico - day 3 and beyond

2009-03-09T17:50:00.002-05:00

So I've decided not to go into as much detail as it would take forever. Therefore, just giving you the skinny on the trip.
Day 3 we went into the town of Dorado and walked the streets watching people and photographing buildings etc. We walked back to the hotel and spent the remainder of the day just bumming around the outside area of the hotel. The next day we hired the best taxi driver...his name is Louis. Very nice, respectable, trustworthy man who gave us tons of history about Puerto Rico. We went about 1 1/2 hours away from Dorado to the Camuay Caverns and then he took us over to Arecibo Observatory. Google those things...very awesome. On the way back we took the back roads and stopped at a few public beach areas to take some pictures and just enjoy the beauty, saw some guys trying to surf but the waves were too big and kept throwing them back to shore. The following day we hired Louis to take us to Catana...there we took a Ferry over to Old San Juan. We went all over the place trying to figure out where we were and where we wanted to be (yes we had maps, but it was raining and we were soaked). We managed to make it to both forts, one is San Cristobal Fort and the other at the end is El Morro. Very awesome on both. Beautiful cemetary outside of El Morro next to the worst poverty area I've ever seen in my life. Taxi driver Louis and everyone else told us to stay on this side of the wall (the wall built around Old San Juan) because as Louis put it, we don't know what happens to people when they go down there. By then it was time to get back to the ferry to meet up with Louis so he could take us to Bacardi Distillery. That was probably the only disappointing part of the entire trip. It was interesting, but basically they just took us to a museum and showed us a bunch of original documents and told us the history of Bacardi. After we got done, we were tired so we told Louis to take us back to Dorado. We ate dinner and crashed early again. Louis had showed us when we got back to the hotel how to get to a public beach (different than ours at the hotel) from outside the gates of the hotel. So, the next day we wandered off on a 4 hour journey...2 hours walking the beach one way and then back. We went until we couldn't go any further. On the way back, we stopped and had lunch at the local stand on the beach. I had my Mofongo and it was awesome. We enjoyed just sitting and watching the locals. Nice, relaxing, beautiful day. We spent the following day on hotel grounds again, just enjoying the beach and doing more exploring. The next day, we hired Louis again and went back to Catana to the ferry. This time we walked the streets of Old San Juan taking pictures, walked by the Govenor's house (who by the way was at our hotel one night along with the 78 mayors of each city in Puerto Rico) That was awesome and no we didn't see him. We went to the Cathedral where Ponce de Leon is buried and service was going on, but they told us we could walk through and go to all the chapels and take as many pictures as we wanted. So that was pretty amazing. The last day was a day to just hang around and pack and spend more time on the beach. We spent alot of time on the beach, but not in the ocean or the pool. My feet is the only thing that got in the ocean. I just wanted to admire the beauty and watch the waves. We went bouldering one day (climbing out on the rocks as far as we could and set and let the waves splash up around us). One must be very coordinated to do that, but we got the hang of it. We had wanted to go to El Yunque Rain Forest but it was quite a ways away and would have cost us $300 in just taxi fees, because when you hire a taxi driver to take you to these places that are far away...they are with you the entire day. They don't hang out with you, or do what you are doing, they are waiting in their cab for you...my sister said we're doing it anyways, doesn't matter the cost and I said...I appreciate that, but I can't justify you spending that money. So should we go again, we'll rent a car because we know the lay of the land and then drive it ourselves. The hotel had very good driving instructions..we were just chicken to drive in and through San Juan.
Tuesday the 24th was a sad but happy day. Sad because vacation was over and we were leaving such beauty to come back to doo-dah...but happy because I was coming back to Ed and Ryan. We looked for ocean waves (LOL) as were were making our final approach into Wichita...didn't see any by the way.
Anyway, you get the general story of my trip. It was fun and I would highly recommend Puerto Rico to anybody. That had never crossed my mind before as a destination vacation place, but I'm so thankful I was able to go. I might even want to retire there. Thanks for reading my stories. I'll get to editing my pictures and get them posted as soon as I can. :)

Puerto Rico - day 2

2009-03-08T15:07:00.002-05:00

So on our 1st full day in Puerto Rico and even after 13 hours of solid sleep, we were still pretty tired so we decided to just hang around the hotel grounds. We took off walking and walked the entire golf course (well on the side walk), almost got hit by a ball, saw a few lizards and then we saw some Iguana's. Some small, some pretty big...well you know me...I had to go after the big Iguana so I could take it's picture. It kept it's eyes on me an I moved slowly behind tree's trying to sneak up on it like the cartoon pig sneaking up on Bugs Bunny...at least I think that was the cartoon. I got so far and it started shaking it's entire head up and down as if to say "stay back" but again that didn't stop me. I actually got closer then I thought before he jumped in the lake, but I found myself in the midst of several ducks, a few lizards and a few iguana's not quite as big. I decided...next time...BIG LENS. I left them be and we continued on walking. We got back to the hotel and decided it was nap time, so took a couple hour nap, then got up and went and sat by the ocean watching people and enjoying the tide coming in and watching the beautiful sunset. It gets dark about 6:30pm there, so once it was dark we went in, ate dinner and was back in our room by 7:30 or so and decided to go back to bed...LOL
Even though we did alot, we also got to relax and take naps if we felt like it and that was nice. I'll continue with day 3 tomorrow.
Have a nice day.

Puerto Rico trip 2009

2009-03-06T18:37:00.002-06:00

As promised by the weekend, here is my story about my Puerto Rico trip with my sister. First of all, understand that I was 3 when my sister got married and sure I lived in Alaska for many years and we were around each other as adults and with families and/or spouses, but we have never spent any length of time alone together. So this 9 days was very special to both of us. It was hard for me to break away from Ed and Ryan for those 9 days, but I did.
We left Monday the 16th and came back to Wichita on Tuesday the 24th. We flew to Atlanta and then straight to San Juan. It's only a 3 hour flight from ATL to San Juan. When we were beginning our descent we opened our window screen and there is was, it was huge and water was everywhere. The weird guy sitting by the window apparently goes to San Juan a couple times a year for business, so since I was trying to take pictures from the middle seat he began to tell us where and what we were looking at. We flew right over Old San Juan which was one of our destinations, so that was cool seeing it and El Morro fort from the air. Once we landed we were anxious for our luggage and then off to find a taxi to take us to Dorado (which is the town we stayed in 25 miles from San Juan). We knew taxi's would probably be expensive but had no idea how expensive they were. OH MY is all I can say. We found a guy who would take us for $65.00 and we were pleased with that (what's wrong with that picture). His name was Adolfo and we had 30 minutes to talk, so he told us what things were as we were driving along at I'm sure a crazy speed, because that's how they drive and I practiced my spanish on him and I guess didn't do too bad. Once in Dorado, we got to the gated area of where our hotel, condo's and homes were. It was beautiful. We were at the Embassy Suites Dorado-Del Mar Golf Resort (no we don't golf) but it was right on the Atlantic ocean. The Puerto Rican golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez designed that golf course and also lives in Dorado. I took a picture of his house. Well, we thought the entire trip the first thing we are going to do is take a nap...NOPE...didn't happen, we were hyper. We made the necessary phone calls or text's to our beloveds, then unpacked and hit the ground running. It was beginning to get dark by this time, but they told us because we were in a gated community that it was no problem for us to walk anywhere on the grounds...so we did. We went and looked at the ocean, got a layout of the area and hotel, ate dinner and decided it was time to crash as we had been up since 3am. We were in bed by 7:30 and out by 7:35pm. We slept for 13 solid hours before we got up.
OK...I see this is going to be many little posts of the trip as no way can I get everything in 1 post.
I'll post about our first full day on the island which was the 17th, tomorrow. Thanks for peeking in.

Blog posting

2009-03-03T17:36:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know...I haven't updated my blog since I got back from Puerto Rico but in all honesty...haven't been in the mood. Life drama...why always me! Sometimes even though I don't want to go back to being a child, I look back and envy children. Most children have it so easy these days if they have loving parents (even if the parents don't live together). They always know they are loved, they always know their parents are going to be there, they don't have a care or worry in the world. Why isn't LIFE IS NOT FAIR taught to us so that when we grow up we don't have high hopes. Why aren't we just told, you are going to grow up and it sucks and will suck for the rest of your life, don't get your hopes high on anything or anyone, don't expect fairness, happiness, success or whatever...not gonna happen for you.
Tomorrow night I will have been back from Puerto Rico for 1 week, you would think I would still be reeling in on the excitement of discovering a new place...instead I've been totally depressed, not eating, lost 12 or so pounds and sleep all the time except to go to work. Yippee...isn't life grand?
Anyway...obviously I haven't even began to edit my pictures, let alone even look at them...but I will. Maybe by the weekend I'll stop feeling sorry for myself and start editing pictures and share my Puerto Rico experience with you.
Thanks for checking in and listening to my woes.

Self Esteem

2009-02-09T13:28:00.003-06:00

Isn't it amazing how one person can belittle you and turn your whole world upside down? I have been having major self esteem problems the last couple of weeks, thanks to my boss. Without going into detail he has basically made me feel like I am an unworthy, useless person after 27 years of being in my industry. How is that possible? I've not changed, I've not changed the way I do my job but yet I feel I am being railroaded.
The one place I've always have GREAT self esteem was in my industry, because I've been in it for 27 years...I know it, I'm comfortable. But now...not only do I not feel confident about my worthiness at work, it's made me feel unworthy as a person and so I am hugely insecure in every aspect of my life.
Yesterday, I went to the alter at Church for prayer...something I generally do not do. I just pray in my seat, but I felt impelled to have other people praying for me as well. Situations like this are why so many people drink, do drugs, medicate with anti-depressant pills and sometimes commit suicide. We live in a society where no one cares about you, all they care about is themselves and their job position in life.
If you are reading this, please say an extra prayer for me. I would appreciate it very much.

Dinner's by my men...lol

2009-02-02T21:24:00.004-06:00

Well I haven't posted in awhile, but thought I should do something. A couple of weeks ago my son wanted to cook me dinner and he wanted all fresh stuff from store so he could cut the vegetables...weird...but OK. So he cooked me Fettucini (spelling) Alfredo, Salad and garlic bread. He lit candles and everything...it was so nice and it was very good. Very proud of him for doing that...I wondered WHY...but he hasn't asked for anything.
Then tonight my other man, my squeeze cooked me dinner. We had grilled pork chops, salad, baked potato and greens. All very yummy. Yes, I said greens and yes I tried them. They were good, can't say I would want them on a daily basis...his mom had made some and he had in the freezer so he thawed them out and warmed them up.
So I feel pretty special...got 2 men cooking for me ( my son and Ed) Awesome! Life is good.

Motivational

2009-01-26T19:12:00.003-06:00

I had a crappy start of my morning, but got out of my rotten mood (long story). I always read a daily motivational, normally it's not until I get home as I'm so rushed in the morning. I should have read this one before I went to work...LOL
Hope you enjoy and get something out of the message. Happy Monday!

"In an instant

In an instant, you can go from discouraged to joyful. In an instant, you can change from lazy to ambitious.
In the blink of an eye, your whole outlook on life can profoundly improve. In one small moment, disappointment can be transformed into positive resolve and commitment.

When you are ready to change, and willing to change for the better, you can do it just like that. Are you ready?

In an instant, you can improve your attitude. And that change of attitude will affect your whole world.

A moment ago, you may have been discouraged, or resentful, or frustrated, or miserable. Now, you can be whatever way you choose to be.

Choose now to be positive, productive, effective, ambitious, and filled with enthusiasm for all the great things life has to offer. Feel the power of this positive instant, and keep it going strong.

-- Ralph Marston"

Puerto Rico here I come...For real!

2009-01-22T20:52:00.003-06:00

So for those of you that have not heard...my sister is taking me to Puerto Rico on the 15th of February and we will get back on the 24th. She has wanted to take me on a sister/sister trip for the last several years but it just hadn't worked out on my end. Well, this time it does...she's already got the tickets, the hotel and in 3 weeks...we'll be there.
You can bet...I will be over loaded with pictures. I'll keep you posted in the progress of what's going on...she told me I'm in charge of researching to find things to do. Thanks for checking in.

**Slideshow-Danielle

2009-01-19T21:38:00.001-06:00

**Slideshow-Candids of Kayla and Alyssa's B.day party

2009-01-18T17:28:00.000-06:00

No Dallas here we come...

2009-01-18T16:45:00.002-06:00

Well, Dallas didn't happen.
First, Ed's back has been bothering him so we decided to play it by ear...however...his back got better, then Thursday his hot water tank started leaking and couldn't get anyone out to install a new one until Friday so there went the Dallas trip. But really it was a blessing in disguise...we could have came back to a flooded basement (not good) and we watched T.D.Jakes live feed on the internet this morning and guess what...he wasn't there. So we had a mini vacation in Wichita. We spent Friday just chilling out, watching movies. Saturday more hanging out, late breakfast then to the movie "Last Chance Harvey" (Ok movie)...took a mile or so walk and then went to N & J to watch the belly dancers. Anyway, Ed goes back to work tomorrow...I still have Monday and Tuesday off...WAHOO. Thanks for peeking in.

Dallas here we come!

2009-01-14T18:14:00.002-06:00

Wahoo...mini vacation. One more day of work and then Friday morning, Ed and I will be driving down to Dallas for the weekend. Our intentions are to come back Sunday as he has to be back at the hospital on Monday. Thankfully though, I have Monday off due to MLK day and then I'm taking Tuesday the 20th off as well. So it will be nice to have a solid 5 days away from the office.
Anyway...we're going down to see one of Ed's sisters and one of his brothers and on Sunday morning, we are going to go to T.D. Jakes church. I am so excited. He is such an awesome preacher and he is becoming quite the movie maker as well...obviously with a message. Not sure what all we are going to do while there, probably play it by ear. I know his sister is going to cut my hair...she has her own salon. The weather is supposed to be in the 50's and 60's on Saturday and Sunday so that will be nice. Hopefully, we'll be out and about the town abit and naturally I'll take pictures. Thanks for peeking in and say a "safe travel prayer" for us.

**Slideshow - Candids of Christmas 2008

2009-01-11T20:13:00.000-06:00

**Slideshow - Linda's family & Danielle

2009-01-11T19:53:00.000-06:00

Movie Review

2009-01-11T19:44:00.003-06:00

Gran Tourino with Clint Eastwood...excellent movie. Typical Clint Eastwood, but different all the same. Ends differently then you can imagine.
Not Easily Broken (T.D.Jakes) movie starring Morris Chestnut...another great movie with a happy ending. Naturally since T.D. Jakes produced the movie...it has a very powerful message.
Both excellent movies...looks like January is a good movie month. There are several I'm anxious to see. Thanks for stopping in.

Did you know?

2009-01-10T14:06:00.003-06:00

You can have too many pictures in your Picasa Web Albums/Google account...which means you then cannot add photos to your BLOG. WOW...just found that out. I knew my Picasa Web Album storage was exceeded...but I thought that was just exceeded for Picasa storing all of my photo albums...didn't know if effected BLOG as well. It does...so apparently you can have 1 GB of storage free, once you exceed that...you have to purchase additional storage...not bad though...another 10GB was only $20 (but that's per year) Oh well...it's only money right? LOL

WOO WOO...

2009-01-10T13:46:00.002-06:00

I've made accomplishments on the iMAC and I've got my PC back to up and running on the net...so until I can figure out the photo editing software on the MAC, I can still use my PC and get things transferred etc. That was a huge load off my mind. So hopefully, I get pictures on a slideshow and get them posted sometime this weekend. My next battle will be opening the box and setting up my Digital Photo Frame that Ryan bought me. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

I am still frustrated

2009-01-05T18:33:00.002-06:00

I really like my iMac but it is certainly getting on my last nerve. I can't do things I want to do...can't get pictures to upload the way I want, don't know how to go between websites, cut n paste...etc etc. Yesterday I watched tutorials about iPhoto...thought I had it down...NOPE.
Still can't get my PC online...that is frustrating me. I may end up hauling the PC back into my office and putting my MAC in my room since it is wireless...ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Photo's are coming...I promise

2009-01-03T14:37:00.002-06:00

OK so Christmas has passed, New Years has passed and I'm still trying to learn my iMAC. Since my previous photo editing program is a Windows based program, I'm having trouble figuring out how to get all of my OLD pictures onto the MAC. If anyone has ideas...please enlighten me.
I have a flash drive that Ryan had also gotten me with the Digital Picture Frame (of which I haven't figured out that yet either)...but I don't know how to use the Flash Drive either. Lord have mercy...I think technology has finally got the best of me. I really hate to admit that.
Anyway...as soon as I am on track...I will get all the photo's onto my blog. Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. Thanks for peeking in.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

2009-01-01T19:56:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a pleasant, safe and happy new years eve. I had an awesome night. For several years now, I haven't went out or went to any parties on NYE. My friend Joyce's family was having a huge event and I had planned on going until Ed and I started becoming an item. He had been on call at the hospital the night before and has been on call today and will be on call all weekend, so we decided to just relax and take it easy on NYE.
I made Quiche and took to his house..we drank a bottle of Sangria wine and watched Stand Up Comedy from the comfort of his basement. We put an end to 2008 and welcomed 2009 and to the many good things that will be happening in 2009. Only 19 more days and we will have a new President...WOW. Regardless of how you feel about politics or which side of the fence you are on..this is a very historic time and I'm so happy and blessed to be living during this time.
Still working on getting my PC set up in my room so that I can edit pics until I figure out a compatible photo editing program for the MAC. I've got my PC set up, but for some reason...I'm not getting an internet connection and I've got wireless internet...HUMMMM. Anyway, it will all work out in the long run. Thanks for stopping in...have an awesome evening.

Lots to tell you about Christmas

2008-12-29T12:28:00.003-06:00

Wow what a Christmas. I've got a ton of candid pictures to edit and it will take a while as I got lots of fun toys for C'mas. Ryan bought me an iMac and a Digital Photo Frame with a USB flash drive. I've got the iMac up and running but still trying to figure out certain things on it and get things set to where I want them. Mac's are so different then PC's and anything windows based will not work or come up on a Mac...so that's hard to get used to. I haven't set up the digital frame yet as I need to finish re-setting up my PC in my room. What a good son he is...I cried when I opened it.
C'mas eve, Ed and I went to dinner and had our C'mas. What a guy. He surprised me so much...he bought me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings, a gorgeous diamond necklace and one of those soft colorful scarfs. I wasn't sure how to react, I wanted to scream and jump up and down with joy, but I contained myself so I wouldn't freak him out.
C'mas morning, Ry and I had our Christmas and then went to my dad's for brunch. We came home and relaxed and then the whole family went to my brother Roger's for the family C'mas. Ed and his mom came with us. I was really happy they did and my family loved them. We had the chinese auction which was a hoot. Ed's mom gave me a Limited Edition Plate with Barack on it. That was really cool and nice of her. So much has happened (good things) over the last week. As much as I was dreading the holiday season...it was certainly the best C'mas I've had in a very long time and I don't mean because of the presents...I mean...I was happy, the family time was wonderful...I have a great man that I care about deeply and the best son in the entire world. My sister and brother in law were here from Alaska, so we had lots of family get togethers. God is truly good. Thanks for peeking in, I'll share more later and when I get the pic's edited...I'll get them posted as well.

It's almost Christmas

2008-12-21T16:30:00.002-06:00

Wow, can you believe it's only 4 days until Christmas? This year has certainly went by, it's funny how when you get older the years just fly by. I hadn't done any C'mas shopping until yesterday. I left the house before 8am (hate that on a weekend) and got everything done relatively quick. Of course I cut down ALOT this year so that made it quicker.
My sister and her husband got into town late Friday night, so spent Saturday afternoon with them and then my entire family got together at "Just Catfish" on S. Seneca for dinner. I hate fish, but I will admit...it was good. They do have wings as well. The homemade desserts...to die for. I highly recommend the place.
Today, my sister, brother in law and one of my brothers came to church with Ed and I and then we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.
So, last night Ed met all my brothers and my sister. He had already met my dad and Marilyn. My family really liked him alot. He liked everyone as well.
Thanks for stopping in...if I don't get anything posted before...I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Thanks for stopping in.

**Slideshow - Wichita Photographers C'mas Party

2008-12-15T12:03:00.001-06:00

**Slideshow of Shiloh's C'mas

2008-12-15T11:52:00.001-06:00

Pictures of me from party...

2008-12-15T11:43:00.003-06:00

These pictures are courtesy of BRUCE WARD PHOTOGRAPHY. The second one I like, it's me Choking the chicken (from the white elephant gift exchange) naturally it was stolen, 1st one is of me (and I can see I'm fat) with another gift I had opened which is a picture of Jeff (our fearless leader) Bruce had taken that picture of Jeff and I had been picking all the good gifts that night and they kept getting stolen...so Bruce said...I propped one up that you probably want to look at...stupid me...I listened to him instead of my own choosing and got the picture of Jeff. I just about beat the crap out of both Bruce and Jeff. Notice my bird is also flying in the picture. Luckily some poor soul felt sorry for me and stole the picture from me...LOL. Here they are:

Home sick...

2008-12-15T11:37:00.002-06:00

Lynette must have given me her crud through blogging...LOL Only joking. I woke up about 4 this morning sicker then a dog. I did get up and intended on going in to work, laid back down and was in one of those in/out sleep modes...decided it was best to just stay home. I don't know what got ahold of me. The only thing I really ate yesterday was Chipotle...who knows.
Anyway...I'm up for a bit so thought I would play with some pictures. Saturday night was the Wichita Photographers C'Mas party which was a blast. I'll be posting a slideshow on that a little later today probably. Yesterday I had Shiloh (oooh maybe she got me sick...lol)we were planning on seeing "Twilight" again but she went and saw it again on Saturday, so she decided she wanted to see "Four Christmas's"...that movie was so funny. We laughed and laughed. I took a few pictures of her before we left (just quick ones) of her opening her C'mas present from me. One day when we were out shopping in Derby, there is a store called Nifty Fifty (cool store) she saw this Pink purse she liked...so I went back out and got that for her. When she opened it, she screamed...it was pretty cool.

Grumpy old lady...

2008-12-13T15:42:00.003-06:00

For some reason, I'm in a foul mood today and I have no idea why NOR do I have a reason to be. Last night was a great night, Ed and I went over to one of his aunt's and I met ALOT more of his family...we ate, played cards, played dominos...it was a crack up to watch the card playing...some game called Bid War or something like that. Ed was playing with 3 of his aunts and they all have special ways of cheating...it was a crack up.
Today's been a good day...going to the Wichita Photographers Christmas party in alittle while and Ed will be going with me. More eating and we're having a White Elephant Gift exchange which is always a hoot.
So see...I have absolutely no reason to be in a foul mood...I know I'll snap out of it when I see Ed. Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend.

**Slideshow-KC #2 trip with Ed

2008-12-09T20:00:00.002-06:00

This slideshow is alittle of Liberty Memorial and shots of Ed on the Plaza. It was a great weekend, just cold...but it was nice to get warm and snuggle. Thanks for stopping in.

**Slide-show - Ed's b.day dinner etc...

2008-12-09T19:50:00.002-06:00

I combined 2 events into this slideshow. One is of a day that Ed and I were out walking around his neighborhood, it was cold and windy and so he walked down the stairs with this black wig on from back in the day...after I quit laughing...I decided that it was actually kind of cute. His daughter Monique doesn't like it and gives him a hard time. So we went for a walk and I took some pictures of him with it on so he could show Monique. Then I added the pictures of when I took Ed to PF Changs for his birthday. That was a fun night and I loved spoiling him all day long. It was nice to know it was appreciated. Enjoy the show!

****Slide-show - Girls Annual Christmas Dinner 2008

2008-12-09T19:47:00.002-06:00

Last night was "the girls" annual christmas dinner. We always have a great time, this year was fun as always. We normally do a carriage ride at Bradley Fair and they go to Olive Garden for dinner and exchange our presents. This year we decided to go to Carrabbas and skip the presents due to the economy. We realized that we have now been doing this for 5 years. Enjoy the show!

Plaza Lights

2008-12-08T21:39:00.003-06:00

So, basically I'm a dork. Ed and I went to KC over the weekend and I didn't feel like hauling my tripod even though I knew better. We were going specifically because neither of us had ever been to see the Christmas Lights on the Plaza. I tried several different settings, all were yuck...this one turned out the best. Note to self: Next Christmas take tripod even though you don't feel like it.
We did have a great time though. Nice, relaxing weekend. Hung out at Oak Park mall for a bit before heading downtown, stopped at Liberty Memorial and froze our butts off then went on down to the Plaza. We tried to eat at Bucca di Beppo's...who would have ever thought there would be a 2 hour wait at 4:20 in the afternoon, obviously we didn't stay. We went down to Houston's and promptly walked out after being seated at our table because it was ridiculously priced and I've eaten there before; but I don't remember it ever being that expensive. We ended up a Brio's Tuscan Grille which was very nice, had a great waiter and the food was fantastic. We walked around looking at the lights and ran into some of the photographers from Wichita. I did manage to get a few pictures taken even though once you see them you will be able to see how cold Ed was. Maybe I'll get them posted tomorrow night but for now...it's bed time. Sleep well and thanks for checking in.

Are you tired?

2008-12-01T18:11:00.003-06:00

I am. It's cold, dark and I'm ready for spring. How did I live in Alaska so long?
So, I didn't get any shopping done this weekend. I had intentions of getting a few things knocked out of the way but just couldn't get into it. It seems I am getting this "I don't want to buy Christmas presents" attitude more and more as the years go by. And everyone that knows me well, knows that I would rather give then receive. I think this year though, the economy has alot to do with it. I'm scared to give up what little money I do have to spend if all of a sudden I found myself without a job.
Enough of the drab...Ed took me to St. Joe and showed me where he spends his days in Pre-Op and Post-Op. It's nice to actually see what someone is talking about and what they do. I had taken him up to my office one time when we were downtown. It was really cool. They have a neat system where the family in the waiting room gets a number of their loved one and then there is a color-coded TV monitor in the waiting room with numbers (not names)and the family can tell exactly where their loved one is at all times, like pre-op, surgery waiting, surgery began, surgery ended, post-op etc.
We've talked about going up to KC for the weekend to see the Lights on the Plaza, but not sure we are going to go after all. Neither one of us has seen the lights so it would be fun, but we're trying to watch the budgets as well. We'll have a good time at whatever we decide to do even if we don't go to KC.
Hope everyone survived Monday. Have an awesome week. Thanks for stopping in.

Slideshow: Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-29T14:27:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving 2008 came and went. It wasn't a bad Thanksgiving; however didn't get to spend the time I wanted with family and friends. Ryan has been sick with a bad case of Strep Throat for over a week. It was up for debate as to whether or not we were going to go to my dad's for Thanksgiving...but when he got up he said he wanted to go over and eat and then come back and go to bed. So that's what we did. Ed's mom had invited us over to their family gathering as well, so I just made an appearance to say "thank you for the invite" and visit for a little bit, take some pictures and meet some of Ed's family. Then on my way home I got a hair up my you know what and decided to barge over to Cyndi's house and take some pictures of Miss Rylie...course I was only there a few minutes as well. I came home and Ryan and I watched movies Thanksgiving evening. So all in all even with Ryan being sick...I still think we had a pretty nice Thanksgiving.

Winter blahs...already beginning

2008-11-24T17:45:00.002-06:00

Well I now officially know how Ron felt with his photography business during the winter months. He always spent these months catching up on paperwork, advertising etc. Did a few weddings, studio shots and some Christmas parties...but for the most part since he primarily shot "on location" and not in his studio...his business was pretty much boring during the winter.
Even though I don't have much of a business, just mainly fun at this point...I'm hating the early dark evenings and the cold, windy weekends. Call me a wimp, but I really don't want to get out there and just shoot to be shooting when it's cold and yucky outside. So therefore...I've already got the winter time blahs because it's driving me crazy not to be shooting as much as I had been. The 3 photographer groups I belong to have pretty much shut down as far as excursions etc for the winter as well. We get together for dinner, b'fast, meetings and we've got some Christmas parties coming up. I guess it's just time to hunker down and learn how to use my external flash and get real friendly with my camera...LOL

Thankfulness

2008-11-23T17:31:00.003-06:00

As we get into the holiday season and the fact that Thanksgiving is already this week, it's always good to step back and remind yourself of what you ar truly thankful for.
Today at church, Pastor Dotson spoke on being "thankful" even through the difficult times and I know in my own life, I've only focused on going through the difficult times instead of being thankful that GOD was there even though I didn't think he was.
In reality, we all have so much to be thankful for and I truly am thankful for so many things. I hope that all of you have blessings and wonderful things to be thankful of as well.

HA HA HA HA

2008-11-19T21:33:00.001-06:00

You Should Call Your Boobs

Bed & Breakfast

What Should You Nickname Your Boobs?

I was tagged by Nikki

2008-11-19T21:14:00.004-06:00

TOP 8 TV SHOWS
1. Tyler Perry's House of Payne
2. Two and 1/2 Men
3. CSI - Miami
4. Paula Deen
5. Rachel Ray
6. Dr. Phil
7. Oprah
8. ????

TOP 8 RESTAURANTS
1. Los Cocos
2. Carrabas
3. Luciano's
4. Panera
5. Papaduexs - Colo
6. The Cheescake Factory
7. PF Changs
8. Bahama Breeze - Colo

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
1. Ed's Birthday and dinner
2. Lunch with my sister in law
3. Lunch with my brothers
4. Spent evening with Shiloh (the girl I mentor)
5. Too many meetings
6. Splitting headache
7. Edited pictures
8. Slept

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO?
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas (my sister and a niece are coming home)
3. Spending time with Ed, family and friends
4. Spring
5. More photo shoots
6. NHRA to start again
7. IRS tax refund
8. State tax refund

WHAT ARE 8 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT FALL?
1. The colors
2. not hot, not cold
3. smell of fireplaces
4. soup
5. spend more time around family during fall season
6. snuggling under blankets
7. after fall brings the first of the year and more vacation...yippee
8. ????

I don't know how to TAG someone, so since Nikki tagged Toni as well...I'm just going to tag Lynette.

So, Ed's birthday has passed...

2008-11-18T20:11:00.002-06:00

I sent him a Fresh Fruit bouquet full of strawberries, apples, grapes, pineapple etc some covered in chocolate to the hospital. He called me in shock as he had never seen something like that nor received anything like that.

After work, I went to his house and gave him his b.day gift which was some Dolce & Gabana, A Native Painted Horse and 2 books by Obama and then we went to PF Changs for dinner. It was a nice, fun evening and I loved being able to spoil someone...you know me. I just hope that I didn't overwhelm him too much. He said he wasn't used to someone being so kind. I just said...I can't help it...that's just me and he should get used to it. It was nice to know and to feel that he truly appreciated everything I did. I didn't do it because I felt I had too, I did it because I wanted to and I think he knows that. Anyway, we had the waitress take a picture of us. As usual...I hate it of me...but it's the moment that counts!

Funny Ed

2008-11-16T12:15:00.002-06:00

Ok so we had a great weekend and tomorrow is Ed's B.day. Got a few surprises for him but can't say what they are until after his b.day in case he peeps in on here today.
Yesterday we were just out running around town having a good time and then walked around the lakes in his neighborhood...but before we left his house he came walking down the stairs with this piece on his head...I was cracking up laughing...way back in the day piece...but he was still cute to me. I've attached one of the pics with him in his Doo.

Photography lesson

2008-11-13T18:07:00.004-06:00

Did you know that your view finder is made up in 1/3 sections? Some digital SLR's have it divided for you when you look through your view finder and some don't. The thing with this (and I'm still trying to get this one down) is that whatever your subject is, you want it to be in between and level with the cross point of the thirds. The cross point looks like a + sign. I'm still confused on this theory, but I'll eventually get it.
Here is an example, the first one is based on the 1/3 cross point theory, the second one is just picking up the camera and shooting...the last excursion I went out on with Mark, Michele and Mikester, Mark (one of my fellow photographers) was explaining this and said here give me your camera and I'll show you...you can see the difference in closeness. I've posted them here; however, NOTE...Mark did not set the shot up, I didn't pose, we didn't check the exposures or anything...he just wanted to show me the difference so when you see the pictures don't think Mark is a terrible photographer, because he is actually very, very good. He's had exhibits, won awards, etc. He actually met Ansel Adams once...I'm in awe of that.

Another something fun

2008-11-11T10:13:00.002-06:00

I found this one on Toni's blog:www.impressionsbytoni.blogspot.com

You Are a Pumpkin Latte

You are always up for a celebration. You are a very festive person.

You look forward to every holiday, and you are nostalgic for good times after they're over.

You appreciate the small things that make life special. You love little treats.

You often look at the world with childlike wonder. There's so much to enjoy!

What Flavor Latte Are You?

Something fun

2008-11-10T20:49:00.003-06:00

Found this while visiting another blog: www.debscountrykisses.blogspot.com

What Your Flip Flops Say About You

You are hopeful and romantic. You love many people and many things.

You aren't unrealistic, but you do imagine things in the most ideal way possible.

You are a dreamer. If something exists, you've probably thought about it.

You don't think about what is, you think about what could be.

Your ideal warm weather place: Fiji

The Flip Flop Test

Photography Lesson

2008-11-10T17:55:00.002-06:00

I decided I best post some things to learn...why, who knows! But here's the lesson for today. Think outside the box, look at everything in a different and unique way. Look at the lighting in magazines, on tv and in the movies. Look at an object and see what catches your eye first. Your photographs want to tell a story without words. Make the subject of your photo the focus point, where someone's eyes will go first. Pictures of people...they don't always have to look at the camera, they don't always have to be in the center of the frame, but make sure THEY are the center. Think abstract. Take pictures of things you would never imagine taking pictures of, for instance...feet...make it into art. Always, if possible use available light (which means no flash). Outdoor pictures, look at where the sun is...if it's straight above you, that's not going to be a good thing and you should shade your subject or simply put your hand over the top of your lens for shade. Play around, it's fun and remember...it's digital. We all love that delete button.
Thanks for checking in...class is no longer in session for today!

Why are weekends over so fast?

2008-11-09T20:55:00.003-06:00

Some how I don't think it's fair that we work hard all week long to only have 2 days off. Weekends seem to go so fast and boom you are right back at work. I realize we all must make a living so that we can enjoy our weekends, but think about it...we spend more time at work and sleeping then we do enjoying life. Doesn't seem fair.
I didn't go out shooting at all this weekend, nor did I make it to church so I'm sure my week will be off. But I did have a fantastic weekend, well part of it...Friday night and Saturday. Today, I've spent most of the day in bed with a throbbing pain in my head, lucky me! Ed and I went to a hockey game last night, first one he had been too and first one I had been to in a couple of years. It is hilarious to watch the crowds...some people really take hockey serious. To me, it's just something different and fun to go watch. You know me...I'm a people watcher so watching the people is more fun then the game itself. It's great to have someone to go do things with. Thanks for peeking in. I'm up to date on photos...yea me!