Oh happy day!

Hi everyone!  I am feeling so much better today.  The highlight of my day just came in the mail a little while ago when I got the new camera lens I ordered.  I bought myself a little after-Christmas gift on Amazon.com last week :)  I know this probably won't interest those of you not into photography, but its a Nikkor 55-200mm zoom lens.  This means that I will be able to take close-up photos of objects at a distance from me which I haven't been able to do until now.

Here she is:

Aside from the camera, this was the next big investment for me and it made me very nervous.  I rationalized that this is an investment in my future and that if I want to be a Photographer, I need to have and practice with the right equipment to build on my skills.  But even though this is all true, I sat there and went back and forth for a couple of hours on whether or not to buy the lens.  I can very easily spend money on others, but when it comes time to buy something for myself I analyze it to death lol.  What if I never become a Photographer?  Then all of the money spent on equipment will be wasted.  But I still enjoy photography as a hobby, so it's ok to invest money into it.  But I really shouldn't be spending money on a hobby right now.  And I end at the same place each time I go through this dialogue with myself:  I WILL be a Photographer.  It's what I want to do with my life and it will happen.  No more self doubt.  I have faith that I can accomplish my dreams :)

I'm off to got try out the new lens.  Oh, the pictures I will take! lol  You know I'll be back with photos :)

Sew fun!

You may have noticed I am a little late with my post.  But, I have a (not-so) good reason.  In the last post I joked that my eyes were going to be permanently crossed after all of the time on the computer designing the blog layouts.  That was my way of making light of the headache I had after all the computer time.  Little did I know that the headache I had was only the beginning of the most excruciating head and neck pain I have ever experienced.  Ever.

I have had sporadic problems with neck pain and getting headaches over the last several years.  I attributed my problems to the years spent sitting at my desk at work, head bent down looking at the computer, with very few opportunities to get up and walk around during the day.  I also have had poor neck support while I sleep.  I have tried almost every type of pillow out there and still I have mornings where I wake up with a bad headache and shooting pains in my neck.  I slept in a bad position the night before last and when I woke up yesterday, I was in brought-tears-to-my-eyes agony.  The pain in my neck spread across my skull and forehead and anytime I sat down, whether on a chair, the sofa, or my bed it made the pain worse.  Needless to say the computer was off most of the day and just layed on my bed a got some rest.

Thankfully today was much better, thanks to Bengay (I smell like I'm 90) Advil, and some Vicodin I had left after having my tooth pulled last fall.  At least I can function again and finally put up this post :)  Here is my new sewing machine:

I turned my desk into a work area and bought a bin to organize all of my sewing 'stuff'.  I cannot work in clutter lol

My first project was a pin cushion.  It didn't come out the way it was supposed to, but I think it looks kind of funky and I like it better than the pattern :)  I guess I'm no Martha Stewart lol

My next project will be a table runner for my Mom.  I had her pick out the fabric for it when we went shopping last week.  I think that should be simple enough to make (obviously pin cushions are far too advanced for me at this stage lolol).  Hopefully I will be able to get it done this week and of course, there will be photos!

I may be back a little later with my Tuesday Ten post.  If not, I hope you have a great night!

A quick post

Hi!  I just wanted to put up a quick post since I haven't had a post yet this year :)  I've had a busy weekend so I haven't had the chance to post about my sewing project yet, but I will tomorrow (promise!)  I also re-designed my Mom's blog for her and of course once I saw her with a new layout, I had to go and make one for mine too. lol  I spent a long time yesterday and today working on both blogs and staring at html codes and right about now I think my eyes might permanently be crossed! lol  I better go give them a rest :)  I hope everyone had a great weekend and I will be back tomorrow!

Buh-bye 2009!

Happy almost-New Year!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I had a really great day with my family. We had some plans for both Christmas Eve and Christmas day that had to be tweaked at the last minute, but everything was great even so. It was a lesson in flexibility for me lol.

We had a pot-luck style dinner planned for Christmas Eve as well as some last-minute baking that had to be done. I had brownies baking in the oven and my Mom went to turn on the stove to start cooking and when she did, there was a blue spark and then the stove died. Oven and all. We live in a rental, so the first thing we thought to do is call the Landlord. But what can be done on Christmas Eve? We figured he had plans as well as we did, but we still called and spoke to his wife. As we thought, there was nothing that could be done until the day after Christmas, so she offered us the option of using the stove in one of their other rental units a few miles away.

I removed the almost-done brownies from the oven and still had another batch to cook, so we got together a few things we needed the stove to cook and drove to the other house. Thankfully we were able to finish up the remainder of our cooking in crock pots. We had a nice dinner and later on I finished decorating all of the gifts I had wrapped a couple weeks ago while we watched a movie.

In the words of one of my favorite photographers Jasmine Star, a post is not complete without a photo. So, here are a few:

The stove that saved the day!

Our kitchen-away-from-home

The brownies that almost weren't

Last glimpse of the Christmas tree

We had a big breakfast cooking on the electric griddle and then opened our presents. We were all so blessed this year! I got so many great things, one of them being a sewing machine. I was (am) so thrilled with it! I already have a list of all the things I want to make. I had Home Economics in school and remember the basics, but I am definitely still a beginner so I will start with the easy projects first. I will post about my first 'creation' tomorrow :)

Timber's tired from all the gift un-wrapping

For Christmas dinner my Dad was supposed to make a lasagna. Our new plan was to carry all of the ingredients, pots & pans, and utensils over to the other house to cook and then bring everything back for our dinner. But, that would have meant hours for him at the empty rental house on Christmas day with nowhere to sit and nothing to do while waiting. We decided to cancel the dinner until our stove was fixed and we ate leftover pizza strips instead. It may not have been the big meal we planned, but we made the best of it. And, we actually decided that we liked the simplicity of not having to cook and clean up a big meal on Christmas, so we are going to have a quick and easy meal again next Christmas too! Starting new traditions :) 

Well, this post is getting a bit long and I could still keep on typing, but then we would be getting ready for the arrival of 2011 lol. We ended up getting a nice, newer stove the day after Christmas so we are having our lasagna tonight and we're going to ring in the New Year at home.  Nice & safe and off the roads with the crazy/drunk drivers. It's also a full moon, so the looney toons will be out too! lol I'll spend my evening working on a new layout for my Mom's blog, and possibly one for mine too (big fun, I know!). I hope you have a wonderful and safe night and a happy and prosperous New Year in 2010!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all!!!