November 6, 2008

Hmm...haven't updated in a while. Not much has been going on. We did splurge on a brand new bed a few weeks ago. It is the most wonderful bed ever! Plus, now we actually have a real bed in the second bedroom. Guests don't have to sleep on the fold out couch anymore. YAY!

The fall colors are spectacular this year. I took a few pictures near where I work because the trees on campus are very pretty. Check them out in our Flickr album.

I'm just counting down the days until Thanksgiving! Food and family and holiday shopping. I can't wait!

I don't know why but I'm super excited about Christmas this year. I just absolutely love wandering around the holiday aisles at Walmart and Target, even though Christmas is still over a month and a half away. I'm usually a little perturbed that stores don't even get halloween stuff out before they get Christmas stuff in. But this year I'm just eagerly soaking it all in. I bought a lot of new decorations after Christmas last year. Just going through our boxes of decor will be like Christmas morning! I never remember from one year to the next exactly what I have and I'm always happily surprised when I found something I forgot I had. I'll probably be like a madwoman with the camera snapping shots of the tree from dozens of angles.

The apartment complex just down the road, where I lived right after college, has been advertising for months that they're undergoing $3 million in renovations (sounds like a lot, but the complex is HUGE so it probably isn't all that much). The good thing about their renovation project is that it seems to have kicked our complex into renovation mode too. Just this week we got very lovely new white PVC fencing in the back of our building to separate each unit's patio. And today they FINALLY finished paving and painting our parking lot. YAY! Now we have freshly painted lines and numbers on our parking spots. I wonder what else our complex has planned. Maybe some new washers and dryers in the laundry room -- which we only used when our washer was on the fritz. I'd like to have a workout room, but I don't think there's room for one in our complex's office. I'm happy with what we have though. The fencing is really nice and won't rot like wood.

Product/service review: You know I love Flickr. I love it enough to have bought an actual subscription so we could post an unlimited amount of pictures. I've also recently used Flickr's photo printing service. It is AWESOME! There are two options -- have your photos processed somewhere and mailed to you or have your photos processed at Target where you can pick them up. I thought the Target option would be really cool, until I saw that Target was going to charge almost twice as much as getting the photos processed somewhere else and then shipped. Needless to say, I didn't get them processed at Target. The photos came out really well. Flickr gives you a good choice of print sizes too. I got some in 5x7 and even a few in 8x10. Photos are printed on Kodak paper and are shipped in a very sturdy envelope. I highly recommend the Flickr service, not only for a great place online to store and share your photos, but also as a great place to get your photos printed!

October 13, 2008

Update on my grandpa:

Grandpa, who if you'll remember had a very strange bout of something last fall that lasted well into the spring before he ever really recovered, is doing much better. He has a genetic condition that has done bad things for his lungs (lifelong asthma sufferer) and liver. He basically has the lungs of a smoker and the liver of an alcoholic, even though he has never smoked or drank a day in his life! But, he went back to the doctor today and had a lung capacity test done. His lung function has gone from 46% to 60% since his last test! YAY! The doctor told him he'd see him in a year. Grandpa has been doing rehab ever since he got out of the hospital. He even kept going to rehab once his prescribed time was up, and my grandma decided she'd join in on the rehab fun. Rehab is basically the gym for old folks with cardiac/respiratory problems and is overseen by a troupe of very nice nurses. It keeps them occupied. They get to be out with people (some old friends from the Dupont days and some new friends met at rehab) and get to be active away from the house. Mom goes with them occasionally, but just to sit and watch.

October 6, 2008

Happy Fall!

Yes, I do know that fall came several days ago, but to me October seems to really be the start of fall, even if it's still 80+ degrees outside.

Yesterday, we went to the Dixie Classic Fair! It was fun for the whole two hours or so that we were there. If you don't want to pig out on greasy food or hurl from riding carnival rides, there isn't really enough to keep you occupied for the whole day, just a few hours. We enjoyed ourselves anyway. I think we both especially liked seeing the animals. I only sneezed three times! I took lots of pictures and am in the process of uploading them to Flickr as I type. I think I might enter some of my photos into the amateur adult photography competition next year. I don't know that I'd win anything, because the photos that won this year were very very good, but it'd be cool just to have my picture on display for lots of people to see.

Also uploaded to our Flickr album are pictures I took last week of the construction on our new wing at work. All of this is happening right outside my window. Everyday. While it is very fascinating, it is also very loud and distracting. I'm sure it's only going to get louder once they break through the wall of our existing building. I hope to take some more pictures this week, because over the weekend they'd done even more work!

Mom had her second chemo treatment last Tuesday. She's taking it all in stride and getting tons of support back home. She's trudging through the uncomfortable days after her nulasta treatments, but by the fifth day or so after her chemo she doesn't sound so uncomfortable anymore. One of the worst side effects for her is that everything she eats or drinks tastes the same, and it all tastes terrible. Luckily that only lasts a few days. She hasn't had much in the way of nausea, but she's made sure to take her anti-nausea medications well before she even starts to feel queasy. Her next treatment will be on October 21. Then her next one will the week after Thanksgiving. We're still praying and hoping and wishing that she and my grandparents can come to our house for Thanksgiving. I've already got the menu planned out! Here's a picture of Mom and her fabulous new hair:

At first she said she wouldn't get a wig. She'd just go bald and wear a hat. But then she found this awesome little wig that was styled just like she wears her hair and it came in the same brown color with gold highlights. Plus, it wasn't expensive at all! Ain't she purty?

September 29, 2008

Argh! I went outside to take some pictures of random stuff and now my feet itch. The mosquitoes must have been out for one of their final meals of the season. I'm horrible when it comes to scratching an itch. I will literally dig a hole in my skin. I've been itchy my whole life. Scratching is sort of like a drug; you get used to a certain and have to do it progressively harder and harder to get any relief. Is there a program for scratchers anonymous?

On to the mom update. Jamie's mom came home from the hosptial a couple of days after her heart issue. From what I can tell, she's doing ok. My mom has lost most of her hair. My Uncle Don, her brother, now finally has more hair than somebody in the family. But, Mom is rockin' her new wig, even though I have YET to see a picture of it (hinthint). She has her second chemo treatment tomorrow and hopefully she'll do as well with it as she did with the first round. By the fifth day after her treatment she was starting to feel better after only about three days of discomfort. We're all very hopeful that she and my grandparents will be able to come to our house for Thanksgiving. She will be on her third week after a treatment, going in for the next treatment on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. She was feeling pretty good on the third week after her first treatment, so hopefully the trend will continue.

Argh! A mosquito got my arm too.

We've both gotten into a new online game, much like the one we were playing when we met. Unfortunately we can play together since we only have one computer that will run the game and it would require paying for two separate accounts. For the time being we just watch each other play. My character is a Black Orc named Htebazile (a prize to the person who figures out how I came up with that one).

The dude in the red robe in the background is one of Jamie's characters -- a magus that rides around on a hover-disc.

Jamie doesn't have to work this Sunday. I'm hoping I can drag him to the local fair. I think the fair should have some pretty good photo opportunities. I've just about exhausted all the ones around the apartment. I can only take so many pictures of leaves. Hopefully I can get some cool action shots of rides, animals, people, mums (I love mums in the fall!), and other stuff. We're finally getting some really good fall light. Fall light has such a nice golden color to it that makes for really pretty, soft pictures.

There was a HUGE crane with an American flag flying high at the top it at work today. When I saw it I immediately wanted my camera. I think I might drag the camera to work someday soon to get pictures of the construction work. This morning they brought in HUGE steel beams, so maybe there will be some more big crane action.

Enjoy the recent pictures of leaves and mushrooms and fenceposts on our Flickr album!

Two weeks ago, I fiddled for school's international festival with our Dean of Learning Resources (who plays way more instruments than I do, if you can believe that). Someone in the crowd captured a few low-quality video clips of the day. I am officialy on YouTube now, though the only clip that has me playing fiddle really sucks. I promise that I do play much better than that. Oh, and I was wearing my boots with the two-inch heels that day. I can't play in heels, so I played in my sock feet. Here are links to the videos:

Video 1 - I am playing the fiddle in this one, but you can't see me. You can hear me playing for all of about 2 seconds before the sound goes wonky.

Video 2 - The Dean of Learning Resources plays the electronic bagpipes. So cool!!! Check out my socks.

Video 3 - I have mad bodhran (Irish drum) skillz.

Video 4 - You can actually see me play fiddle in this one. But then we decided to play two different tempos (I slowed down, he sped up) in the same song and it sounds horrible. Please forgive the ahem...dancing...

Maybe one day we'll get a digital video camera and I can post my awesome fiddling skills to YouTube for all the internet to see!

September 15, 2008

We haven't been up to much lately. Working. Being bored. Playing video games. Not a lot of money to do much since we've had a few computer problems that required buying a new motherboard, though we did have date night several weeks ago. We went to see Tropic Thunder -- very funny!

The last of summer is still hanging on and I feel like everything is just waiting for fall to really begin. I don't want the days to get shorter (though they already are), but I do want the sky to turn that certain lovely shade of fall blue. I love when the trees around here turn brilliant fiery orange and make the sky even more blue. Plus, there are more things to do in the fall. Fairs come to town. The Dixie Classic fair is the first weekend in October. Hopefully I can drag Jamie off to Grandfather Mountain one weekend to take pictures of the fall leaves. I bet our new camera does wonders with the fall colors. Maybe we can go back to the zoo -- fewer people, cooler weather, animals that might be a little more active since it isn't sweltering outside.

Check out the neat shots I got of a flock of geese that grazed in the vacant lot across the street from our place. They let me get pretty close. I had fun traipsing amongst the goose poop. Hehe.

Mom had her first chemo treatment on September 9. Her chest port worked really well for that. The next day she went back to the doctor to have a shot of Nulasta, which ramps up production of white blood cells. She's on several anti-nausea medications (including one that is $100 a pill!) and they seem to be holding off the nausea that usually comes with chemo. She is suffering from the side effects of Nulasta -- pain in the hips and legs where white blood cells are being pumped out from the bone marrow. But other than that she's doing ok. Only five more treatments left! She should be done with chemo by the end of the year and will start radiation at the start of 2009.

Jamie's mom had a heart attack Saturday night. From what he told me, it wasn't a normal heart attack but a spasm. Luckily she lives next door to her local hospital and was able to get there quickly.

Hopefully both of our moms will be better soon!

August 26, 2008

It's finally raining!! We've had rain for the past two days, and we're supposed to have rain for the next three. HOORAH!

I took some flower pictures this afternoon in the rain. Rain always looks nice on petals and leaves. I added this afternoon's rain pictures to our Flickr album, and I added a few pictures from a rainy afternoon several weeks ago including a shot of a rainbow.

Mom is having her chest port implanted on September 3. Yes, we joked about her getting implants. HA! Then she starts chemo on September 9. She will be on a 21-day chemo, meaning that she goes in for chemo one day then goes back for more 21 days later. By her calculations, she should be finished just before Christmas.

[I want to put a picture here....but Jamie's computer crashed and he hasn't re-installed Photoshop, so I can't resize the picture I want to put here!]

August 18, 2008

My grandparents came for a visit this weekend! I like having folks over to entertain. They didn't want to do much while they were here, just hang out at our house for a few days without having to worry about a yard or a doctor's appointment. Mema did water my flowers though. They got in just a little before I got off work on Friday and left around 11am on Sunday. Mema and I did a bit of shopping (Hamricks for clothes and AC Moore for decorations) on Friday and Saturday evening after I dropped Jamie off at work, and Friday after we got back from shopping we played games. I love games! On Saturday they took us out to eat. It was a sweet little visit, but didn't last long enough!

Mom went away for the weekend too, but she didn't come see us. She went to our Aunt Gloria's sister's house and they played card games all weekend. Mom, Aunt Gloria, and I play cards when they come up to Winston. I love cards!

Mom will be starting chemotherapy sometime in the next few months, unfortunately not as soon as she'd like. She went for a CT scan last week that required the injection of some dye with a really big needle. Two nurses (including a Chemo nurse who is used to working with big needles) had a very hard time finding a vein to accept the needle for the dye. So, Mom will have to have a port in her chest for her chemo, which will require another appointment at the surgicenter to be put to sleep. She won't be able to start the chemo until after the port site has healed up completely. The good thing about a port is that medicine can be delivered there and blood can be drawn from there -- she won't have to get stuck every time she goes for treatment.

I bought two yellow mums to replace our dahlias that died. They're kinda small at the moment, not picture worthy yet, and one of them has been almost completely eaten by a squirrel. Mema suggested I put cayenne pepper on it and that seems to have kept the squirrel from doing any more damage. Right before we left to go out to lunch on Saturday we saw the little booger on the porch and shoo'ed him away. He went as far as the tree in the front yard. As we were driving past the house, I watched him sneak back onto the porch. He did MAJOR damage to the plant in the hour that we were at lunch. MEH!

If you want to see a really cute baby, go to theharrisonhome.blogspot.com. That is the blog of my best childhood friend, Angie. She had a precious little baby boy on July 15. Go marvel at his CUTENESS!!!!!!