Hope everyone is sitting down!

This is my first post in how long?

I feel like I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it doesn't sound like a train. I'm finally starting to get caught up... I think. Hope everyone is well. I will be around shortly. Maybe even tonight.

I'm Alive...

Hey guys. I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. It has been crazy here with work and I wanted to let you all know that my family and I are ok and in one piece. We have had some crazy weather lately and the tornadoes actually went all around my Aunt and cousins house, but thankfully everyone is ok. I am going to try to post tonight and upload some pictures. Even though I am not always here I'm always thinking of you all.

It's All About Me

I actually was going to post some quotes from a note pad I found at my grandmother's that used to be my great grandmother's, but I can't find it at the moment. I will try to do that at the end of the week. In the mean time Rosa had a Me-me posted and I thought "why not?"

Diamonds or pearls? diamonds, but pearls are wonderful too

What is the last film you saw? I can't even remember. How sad is that?

Your favorite TV series? Grey's Anatomy, Big Bang Theory, and Private Practice

What kind of breakfast do you usually eat? Don't really care much for breakfast. I only eat something so I don't have a melt down before lunch. Usually peanut butter and toast and a glass of milk

Second given name? Michelle

Which kind of food can't you stand? I have an issue with texture more than anything. Unexpected changes in texture can make me gag. I'm not kidding. I love yogurt, but it is a mental battle to eat it

Favorite name (at the moment)? don't know

Which car do you drive? Ford Five Hundred and lovin it. I'll love it even more once it is paid for.

Which trait of character don't you like? Pretentious

Favorite clothes? Jeans!

If you could take the aeroplane to go somewhere, where would you go? Caribbean

Where would you want to live when you are retired? I have trouble planning dinner and you want me to plan where I want to retire? Probably TN. I don't see us moving."

Which birthday do you remember the most? Oh boy! Probably my 23rd. I had just bought a house and was buying birthday presents for myself for my house. Ha ha!

Your birthday? April 11th

If you were a color, which one would you be? Aqua Marine

Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate anything

Coffee or tea? Make that extra sweet tea or a Carmel mocha

The last person you had on the phone? Beth

Sweet or savory? Depends

The day of the week you prefer? Friday

Who wants to play too?

Here are some recent photos...

Sunny is almost a year old now.


I took this the other night. It is a gas station, but it was a long exposure I was turning and the camera was on my steering wheel. Don't try this at home.


This gal calls my camera bag home.

I'm Back... Hopefully

I can't believe it has been 10 days since I last posted. I'm finding that it is becoming even harder to get through the work week and since my mom always says if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all... Although I like my job it just doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I will say that there are rumours of change in the near future. I hope that the changes are as good as they sound. Anyway I am going to try to be better about posting more often.

My resolution for this year is to drop some weight. I knew that I had been packing on some pounds, but it didn't hit me until the other day. My brother and sister-in-law got a Wii and Wii fit for Christmas. If you don't know about Wii Fit it can put you in your place. It measures your weight and BMI then shows it on your avatar. Not only that, but when you step on the platform the first time it says "OH!" At least that is what is said for me. Then on Friday morning after trying to button up my shirt... I realized it wouldn't stay that way. It is time for a change! Maybe writing out what I am going through will help.

Here are some random recent pictures I've done.

Big Dreams... Revisited

Several of you wanted to see a photo of the building I talked about in "Big Dreams" so here it is...



(Blogger cut off some of the photo so click on the picture to see all of it.)

Looking at it now it doesn't look quite as vacant. I think the people with the car lot next door must own it too. There are 4 windows open upstairs, but I can't imagine who would have want their windows open yesterday. BURR!!! How cool would it have been if they hadn't painted the building and left it like the exterior staircase? It should be sand blasted just enough to show the colors of the brick. Now that I have a picture of it I’ve noticed more that needs to be done.

I also have a slightly smaller dream and that is to own my camera's big bad brother.. Mine is the oldest of this series being a 10D. Canon's newest addition is the 50D. I’ve started having problems with mine. It has served me well and we’ve been through a lot together. It is one tuff camera. This would be a huge upgrade for me as the 10D is a mere 6 mega pixels and the 50D is a huge 15 mega pixels! I’d have to get a much bigger memory card for sure!

99 Posts of Blog on the Wall

99 bottles of beer on the wall..., originally uploaded by aaron & mariona.

This is my 99th post. Sure most people celebrate their 100th post, but then again I'm not most people. It’s been a hair over 9 months now and I feel that my blog has come a long way. I originally just planned to post some pictures here and there. I never expected to become as personal as it has. I never expected to be writing the way I am either. It isn't that I never like English. It was usually my favorite subject in school and I always did well in the class whether I liked it or not. Its just I never thought of my self as a writer, but the more I write the more I like it. It’s kind of like talking! Once I start I can't stop! Ha ha ha!

My Electronic Pile O Crap

I'll be a Legend after cleaning this mess, originally uploaded by naddl79.

I walked in to the guidance secretary's office at one of my schools today and she had piles of stuff all around her. Knowing how meticulous she is about everything I knew this wasn't like her so I giggled and asked her about her "stuff". She blew out a big sigh and looked up at me. I know that look. It is how I've felt for the past 3 months. She said something to the effect of I don't have "piles and piles of stuff like that". I laughed and said "Yea, I do. It's just electronic."

(This isn't my office or her's, but I can relate!)

Big Dreams

Have you ever wanted something so badly that it haunted your thoughts and dreams, but there are obstacles in the way, keeping you from this dream? What ever the obstacle may be you think “If”.

If, the English language’s biggest two letter word.

The thing that I want so badly is a building in my home town. When I was younger I remember being drawn to this building. It’s tried to suck me in for years now. At first I didn’t know what to do with it if I had it, but I knew I wanted it. In July I was assigned to my home town school (and 6 other schools) so now I see it at least once a week. It is beautiful. Maybe not to everyone, but it is to me. It is so bad now that when I walk past a window and catch a glimpse of it I have to stop and stare. It doesn’t just whisper any more, it screams. It is begging for me to turn it into a photography studio. To try to put my mind at ease I think about all the flaws it could have. As old as it is it is probably about to fall apart... the steps will need to be redone. The painting. The roof. The floors are probably awful, but even that doesn't help. All I want to do is go wrap my arms around it and show it just how beautiful it can be.

It used to be a shop, you know, like an auto shop. Then it used to be a barber shop. Now it is nothing, but it tells me what it wants to be. And I think… If only I had the money. If only it had a decent amount of land so that I could build a beautiful yard for outdoor photos. If only it had parking. If only what it has for a back yard didn’t drop of into oblivion. If only I wasn’t such a naturalist and liked the studio more. If only…

What is the thing you want so badly and what is stopping you?

Not Another Halloween Post!

Yes another one! Why? Because Cliff and I were SO late putting up decorations! What does the "Late Bird" get? Cold weather! We should have done this at least last week. I don't know why, but until recently (Sunday evening) I had no interest in decorating for Halloween.

We used leaves to fill our scarecrows. They have no hands or feet, but I like how we did their heads!


Say "Hello" to my little friend! I personally didn't want to get it, but Cliff insisted and I'm glad we did.


The following are all variations of the front of my house. I like to try out different filters in picnik, because the laptop doesn't have PhotoShop and I don't want to be the living room so I could hang out with Cliff and keep an eye on dinner. I'm lazy like that. Check out our man made fog! See Beth, I told you I like fog! :)

Which one is not like the other 3?

Regular - It looks like the spider is coming to eat the scarecrows! Muh-ahahaha!


HDR-ish


Holga-ish


HDR-ish then Black and White


And the answer is....


#3. It is a different picture. You can tell by the fog. Just trying to keep you all on your toes!

Faded Memories

Have you ever heard someone say "I will always remember when...”? My question is "How do you know?" What if one day you can't even remember your own granddaughter's name then some times you know exactly who she is as soon as she walks in the door. What if sometimes you can't remember anything that happened over the past 30 years? And sometimes you think that your home, what has been your home for more than 30 years isn't yours and you think "I have to go home!" so you grab your purse and walk out the door. You can't remember you’re sick because you can't remember anything that happened in the past several years. You say "let's go" and try to get out of your chair, but you legs fail you. Your family tells you "You can't right now. You've been in the hospital for several days and you aren't as strong as you used to be so you can't be as mobile." Then 5 minutes later you look at your granddaughter in her big sad eyes and say "come on let's go!" because you can't remember what she said 5 minutes before. You don't even know it but you are breaking your family's' heart because they can't help you. They can't make you understand that nothing is the same any more and that no, you can't have that Arby's sandwich because you have to eat pureed foods. So they tell you "here have some mashed potatoes instead". We know you are thinking "Mashed potatoes! How does that compared to a sandwich!?" You don't know it but your family cries for you because you aren't who you used to be. Yet some times for a brief minute you say something that is so like you. So witty that your family thinks "YOUR BACK! You are better" but you aren't. A few minutes later you are gone just as quickly as you came. You don't know it but your family misses you, who you really are.

My grandmother has Alzheimer's (she is only 74). This has been so hard on all of us as she had always been such an intelligent quick witted character. She loved to read and play crossword puzzles. She hasn't read in quite some time now and forget the crossword puzzles. It has moved quickly over the past year. Before then things were so much easier. We could have a conversation with her granted she may ask the same question a few minutes later, but I could do that. I could pretend I never said that to her and just repeat my answer, but this? I don't know how to handle this. I don't know how to handle helping her to bed or in the door or out of her chair. I don't know how to handle her not being able to do what she wants or be able to remember simple words like "necklace". On the bright side she remembered that I had on a necklace last time I saw her and she was looking for it.

Last year at my wedding she told my mother "I know there are people here that I should know, but..." She couldn't place them. Where she knew them or how she knew them. So maybe she does know to some extent that nothing will ever be the same again. Every case is different from what I have been told. The doctor said there are 4 types of Alzheimer's and she has the kind that has mini stokes. Each one makes her set back. For those of you that don't have experience with Alzheimer patients the only way I can explain it is that they leave their body and sometimes they come back out of the blue and you think "There they are. That is the person I know." But they just go back to their confused state afterwards.

Because her mind is failing her I would like to document fun things she has said thus far. I will continue posting these as they happen.

The say before she went into to hospital for what we now know was a bladder infection. I was talking about her cold her hands were. She had been out of it since I got there. She was either almost asleep or confused then she woke up and looked at me and mumbled something. She does this more and more as she forgets what words to say. So I told her "Cold hands, warm heart" and she pipes up and says "dirty feet and no sweetheart!" loud and clear. I look over at my dad and we laughed together and so did she.

(From my dad) Her husband (she remarried after my grandfather passed away) had some beans planted in pots and someone was talking to him about how big they were getting and she pipes up and says "Yea, those will save on the grocery bill!"

Its these moments that remind us who she is Its these moments help get us from one bad day to another until she comes back to us a few minutes and reminds us she is still there.

My mom found this picture of my grandmother and I. It was about 10 years ago.

You Know Its A Bad Day When...

The only thing you did right all day was wrong.

How can something be right and wrong at the same time?

The day got off on the wrong foot from the beginning. Everything was taking twice as long as it should. I finally set the alarm, locked the door, and got in my car. Then felt my pocket... no keys. I looked in my purse... no car keys. Ok so I just need to get back in the house to get my car keys. Fine! Not that big of deal, right? Looked for the house keys... Nada! Great! No car keys. No house keys. Then I remember Cliff left through the front door and I didn't lock it behind him (the one and only time actually)!

Today did have good parts though. Thanks to my fellow bloggers. Matt from G&G says that Pastor Ray is improving. Then I went to Jeanie and read her fabulous "Write on Wednesday". She made me stop and appreciate the small things in life.

1) The feeling I get when I'm less than a mile from my house. The green grass, beautiful trees, and rolling hills I call "home"

2) The smell right before the sky lets loose of a hot summer rain

3) How the smell of horses always brings me back to my first horse, Pride. Thank goodness Lady finally got used to me burrowing my face in her mane

4) The sound of Saber's claws skidding across the hardwood floor as she chases after her toys

What are a few small everyday things you appreciate?

Praying For Pastor Ray

Who is Pastor Ray?

Pastor Ray is many things to our family. He is the Pastor at the church my brother Jay and his wife Mandy go to. Cliff and I went through pre-marital counseling with him and he was the minister at our wedding. The counseling was really great. I was a skeptic at first, but let me tell you it as well worth driving into Nashville once a week for 6 weeks at rush hour. I know in my heart that the counseling has made our marriage even stronger. PR is a great man with a wonderful wife, Pat. We have also been camping a couple of times with one of his son's families. Matt and Courtney from Growing and Growing. Matt, Courtney and their kids also came up to my mom and dad's for Hailey's birthday and the kids had a big time with the horses and 4 wheelers. He is this and so much more.

Pastor Ray and his wife Pat.


Here he is at our wedding with us.


Please continue to pray for Ray and his dear family. Matt is posting regular updates on Growing and Growing.

Yes, Its That Bad!

As my subjects says... It is pretty bad. It could always be worse, though. In fact it is better than a month ago, but it is still bad. It is so bad I didn't feel very coherent this morning to the point I feel the need to apologize to the people I saw this morning. It is so bad that when I was on my way to one of my schools this afternoon I thought "man! I need to hurry up and get over there. I'd hate to make them stay late on a Friday!" That was immediately followed by "Today isn't Friday! It is TUESDAY!" which was then followed by "Waa!!! It is ONLY Tuesday!" Yeah, It has been one of those days weeks months.

On the brighter side... I hope to be posting pictures of my anniversary surprise from my husband tomorrow. I've been away from blogland for the most part for about a week because my modem went down. We finally got the new one and are up and running again. What I don't understand is that was the 3rd modem we have had go down in two and a half years. I just don't get it!

As you can see... I am expermenting with html codes. I'm lovin' it!

Uh-Oh or Ah-Ha!?

It all depends on how you look at it! Before I tell you about that I have to tell you this... This is the second night in a row that my in-laws have spent the night at their house and I think we are all happy campers! I can't believe how quite my house is. This week is definitely better than last!

Now about the uh oh! Last time I went to the grocery I was in a hurry, didn't want to be there in the first place (this one is true every trip!), and I had screaming kids and weird people all around me. My last item to pick up was 2 small cans of green peppers, which I forgot about earlier. I went back through the store up the international aisle and grabbed the first cans of green peppers I saw. Didn't even notice my mistake while putting up groceries as I was talking on the phone with my mom about work. I need these for a Mexican Chicken Casserole recipe I got from a friend and she got it off CookingLight.com. I go to make the dish tonight. I open up the can and think "Wow those smell awesome! Oh wait these don't look like green peppers! Ack! They are jalapenos!" To improvise I only had Monterrey jack cheese with jalapenos so I put 2% cheddar instead. For the last 2 times I have not used the corn tortillas. (Corn taste better than flour in this I promise!) This is the only reason I use those tortillas which means why by a pack of 50 when you only use a few a month? Last time it was good. We really didn't even miss them and I know we didn't miss the added calories!

Between the jalapeno peppers and different enchilada sauce it was definitely a nose running experience, but then again we like it hot!

This recipe is dear to my heart as it is one of my first few dishes that didn't come out of a box, have powdered "sauce" with it, and have "helper" written across the front. My husband should have sent a personal thank you note to my friend for introducing me to this recipe and site.



Here is the recipe:
Mexican Chicken Casserole

1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 (4.5-ounce) cans chopped green chiles, divided
1 3/4 pounds skinned, boned chicken breasts
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup evaporated skim milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup (2 ounces) tub-style light cream cheese
1 (10-ounce) can enchilada sauce
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 ounce tortilla chips, crushed (about 6 chips)

Combine broth and 1 can of chiles in a large skillet; bring to a boil. Add chicken; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done, turning chicken once. Remove chicken from cooking liquid, reserving cooking liquid; cool chicken. Shred meat with two forks, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 can of chiles and onion; sauté 3 minutes or until soft. Add reserved cooking liquid, milk, Monterey Jack, cream cheese, and enchilada sauce; stir well. Stir in shredded chicken; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Place 4 tortillas in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Spoon 2 cups chicken mixture over tortillas. Repeat layers twice, ending with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and chips. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

CALORIES 369 (28% from fat); FAT 11.4g (sat 5g,mono 3.8g,poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 35.6g; CHOLESTEROL 79mg; CALCIUM 360mg; SODIUM 479mg; FIBER 3g; IRON 2.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31.3g

A Better Week To Come?

This morning started out awful. It had been raining all night and there was a river about 2-3 inches deep the whole width of the driveway. A few minutes before I stepped out the door it decided to let loose and by the time I made it the few feet to my car I was soaking wet from my waist down. Everybody and their momma must have decided to leave the house at the same time as I did, making me 20 minutes late to work. I was surprised I even made it to work!

On the bright side that was the worst part of my day. I had a few questions answered I had been needing for about a week now. Later a made head way with the person from last week. All in all a decent day aside from still being damp by lunch time. Tomorrow should be good too. Plus I am taking next Tuesday off, giving me a 4 day weekend! Yay! Thank you all for your encouragement.

It's FRIDAY!!!!

Just because I feel the need to state the obvious!

I couldn't need the weekend more than I do today. It has been a really ruff week. I would tell you about it, but that would mean I would have to go in to detail about my work and that I can not do. Just take my word for it. Yesterday was absolutely terrible! The only reason I made it through the day in tact was because of where I spent the day. It is amazing what a few words in an email can do. I shouldn't let it get to me so bad, but it does.

I miss my Beth!

Procrastinating...

Yep. That is what I'm doing. I don't want to finish what I need to do before tomorrow. I want to veg on the couch and pretend I don't have to go to work tomorrow. This is me putting my fingers in my ears, closing my eyes and screaming "La la la la laaaaaaa!"



Guess I need to get busy now. I'm praying I get out of this with out getting too burned out.

Just What I Needed!

Ok... I'm not going to lie and say I didn't work this weekend, becuase I did. Not as much as last weekend though. Saturday I went to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with a few friends then we had lunch it was great! Sunday my mom and I did a few crafty things then I played with the horses. Family, friends, horses, and crafts are great therapy. Check out the pictures I took Sunday.

I'm Alive!

And have both my legs!

Yesterday morning I went to visit one of my schools. I had noticed before (only had it for a few weeks) that the area has a lot of stray dogs. This is no big deal because I love dogs! Over half of the school is empty due the small numbers of students than was originally meant for this historic school. It is now one of the state schools for No Child Left Behind. The principal had told me the correct door to use about 2 weeks ago, so this is not fresh on my mind at this point. The parking lot was empty, but the staff park in the back so I wasn't that concerned.

I went up to the door he said to use and noticed there were 4 dogs sitting against the building on down. One that apparently thinks he owns the place since he was barking at me. When he had jumped up to let me know I was trespassing I realized it was a Pit Bull. Ok I'm sure there are many people that can say it isn't the breed that is bad it is the people that raise it. I am beyond this now as my brother was attacked by his pet Boxer who had never shown signs of aggression, until he turned on him over a kitten. Add this to my fear and hatred of Pit Bulls as one tried to attack me and my horse and you have one upset person trying unsuccessfully to get inside a building and my car is way on the other side of the block. But I am doing my best to control this fear. I know that if he knows I am scared of him it will make things worse. No one answers the door I thought he said to use. So I project confidence and walk on down the side walk to what was originally meant to be the main entrance when the place was built about 80 years ago

As I walk past him I don't look him in my eye because that would make things worse. It is already worse because as I do he starts to come towards me. The whole time I'm thinking and my car is on the OTHER side of the block! The moment I pass his pack he immediately starts running in almost a circle to get directly behind me! I quickly turned and he stopped and backed off some. To make matters worse, no one answers the other door and I have to walk back the other way! Thankfully since I had spun around he decided he would bark from closer to his pack. When I get to my car I can't find the school's phone number because I left my purse at home. I had made the appointment to see them a week ago and apparently they forgot because there was no one there. Next time I will email/call the day before and have there number and call them from the car. Not to mention I will definitely let them know that they have some crazy stray dogs calling the school home! I am sorry for the run on sentences it is early and I need to get ready for work.

Thursday over all was a day from you know where. Nothing went right except that the dog didn't physically attack me. Glad today is Friday even if I do end up having to work on the weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Long Time No See

Finally I can breathe a minute. I went back to work last Monday. By the time I get home I don't want to get on the computer. Plus most of the time now I don't have the mental capacity to write and read blogs. Yesterday I did, but I was late getting home and that made it after 8 before we even sat down to eat. Guess I need to start cooking on Sundays that way I don't have to prepare dinner during the week.

On another note... This pretty lady finally bloomed beside our side deck. All the others have bloomed at least once. It has so many buds on it though I think it is trying to make up for lost time.


Here is one of my mom's lilies. Isn't it lovely?


Speaking of booming, check out our boy Sunny.


He is loosing his baby coat and looks to be going dark. I would love for him to stay the color of his face. He looks like chocolate. His chest looks nearly black, but he is just sweating. You can see Em (his mom) behind him and notice how light she is compared to him.

I am going to try to catch up on everyone's blogs...

This is my 50th post! :D