Under the Sea

I drove into Houston last night for some biz-nuss today and so I am writing this from my inlaw's kitchen. The week has been pretty busy. Hubby stayed home on Monday because he still felt bad, and he went back to work on Tuesday still feeling bad. The kids seem to be ok (finally) though both have felt warm at various times throughout the week. Port is dealing with some sort of wicked rash type thing - it's too complicated to explain.

I am so done. And I am still denying germs entry to my body. Nope. No way.

On Wednesday, Kiddo had his first baseball (t-ball) practice. Thanks to the generosity of G&H he will play baseball every week for the next couple of months. He is so ecstatic!  He did pretty well - he is one of the biggest players, and one of the oldest too, but definitely not one of the most skilled. Poor guy, he is just not a runner. But he tries and he has fun so I am happy with that.

Hubby is supposed to take Kiddo to practices but he had a photo session this week so Port and I took Kiddo instead. It was quite the chore trying to keep Port out of the way and off the field. He wanted to play too! And it's not set up like I had hoped with the kids on a field and the parents sitting on bleachers behind a fence. It is all open and there is no where to sit but on the ground.  The parents that had obviously been there before showed up with camp chairs - smart thinking.

Port did get a big kick out of watching Kiddo do the drills. And he shouted and cheered him on from the sidelines. It was the cutest thing ever! The mom sitting next to me thought it was sweet too. When Kiddo was moved way down the field where we couldn't see him, Port took to cheering for the other kids too. "Good Job! Yay! Keep it up! Good job, Guys!"

Like I said...I want to keep him in my pocket. ;-)

So, I am in Houston today and after doing the thing I needed to do I stopped off at Old Navy to see if I could pick up an item of clothing I forgot to bring with me.  They didn't have what I needed so I was leaving the shopping center parking lot when out of nowhere this lady ran a stop sign and plowed into me. Joy.

Thankfully no visible damage was done to me or my car. It was actually a very strange accident. I was in the CRV and she was driving this big honkin GMC suburban type thing.  And when she hit me, 1) I barely felt it 2) it barely made a noise - no typical car to car SMACK that usually happens and 3) her car basically did little more than pick my car up and set it back down a foot to the left. On the other hand, her bumper was crushed on one end, dented in about 3 inches and smeared with grey plastic from my bumper. The most bizarre thing ever.

We exchanged information, but I don't think anything was done to my car so I guess there really is nothing for me to do.  She said she had a friend with a body shop so she was going to be fine. Well, good for her. I wanted to ask her if she planned on actually stopping at stop signs from now on, but I was nice. This is the second time I have been in an accident (where I was driving) since we moved back to TX, and both times the accident has happened in Houston.  And, both times it was when someone was approaching a place where they should be stopping and they were looking in the other direction instead.

So that was the excitement for the day. I am looking forward to getting home tomorrow and diving back into work. So much is going on right now that I don't like being away from my office for too long.

Tonight G&H are at a church function and Port and I are at their house. Port fell asleep on the way to church so I just brought him back to their place. I am bored and now torturing my friends on Facebook with obscure quotes from old movies.

It's a party up in here. ;-)

Until,
D :)

Sick Love

{the best I could get of the Super Moon on Saturday. 

It was already high in the sky and I was hand-holding the camera with a 200mm lens.

I'm so sad I missed such a great photography opportunity. }

...aaaaand on Saturday Hubby came down with some sort of flu like crap. Seriously, can we be done with this for a while? I don't even want to blog anymore because I don't have anything good to report. It sucks. I came home from the wedding I shot that night and he was shivering on the couch, running 103* fever.

He was down for the count on Sunday and stayed home from work today. I have been fussing at him constantly to not touch things - I really don't need to be caring for sick people and get sick myself. I just can't. There is no one to take care of me.


I am ignoring the fact that I feel nauseous. Nope. Not happening.

Meanwhile, I sent Kiddo to school today - he was feeling fine, but he still can't hear anything.  I don't know what his teacher is going to do. I feel for her. I can't imagine wrangling 15 other kids and dealing with one that is temporarily deaf.  At least he feels fine though.  Port, on the other hand, fell asleep on the couch at 6:30pm last night and when I poured him into bed at 7 he was burning up.  He woke up this morning slightly warm, but otherwise seems fine. I hope he stays well.

So let's see - what can I talk about that is good today? We have the basics - good. The weather - good. Coffee - good. My garden - good. Business - good.

So many "buts" in my head. "But, the tire on the van is about to fall apart. But, every time we turn on the a/c the condenser ices over and freezes. But, the sink is leaking and the floor is still messed up and this is falling apart and that needs repair and there is no money...." *sigh*

The "buts" keep getting in the way...

Oh! Oh! I thought of some cuteness!

Port - he is speaking a lot more now and coming up with some zingers.  He's very empathetic to people's emotions and he tries to comfort us when we get upset.  He is always telling his toys and the animals, "ees ok, don't worry, ees ok".  So a few weeks ago we were on our way to pick up Kiddo from school, and I was about to pull out on a road just outside my neighborhood. There is sort of a blind corner there, and sometimes people come flying around the corner just as you are pulling out. So I attempted to pull out and a car comes flying around the corner so I stomped on the breaks. I said to Port, "hold on, Baby!" as we lurched to a stop.  He then said in his cute little voice "ees ok, Mummai. Don't worry. You are Sooooo pretty!" :-D

A few days later I was changing his diaper and we were having fun; I was tickling him and blowing raspberries on his tummy and he was just eating it up.  When I got him all dressed again I stood him up on the bed where I was sitting and he threw his little arms around my neck.  He stroked my hair and put a big kiss on my cheek and said, "oh Mummai, you are such a good girl."

I just want to keep him in my pocket forever.

Until,
D :)

Ache

I know, I fell off the planet. The day of my last post, Kiddo came home from school with very bright, red cheeks.  By dinner time, he had developed a lacy rash on his arms.  Because I was going to be working on my birthday Saturday, we decided to go out that Friday night for my birthday dinner, and everything went really well. It was a nice night; normally I am hesitant to take Port out to restaurants because he is just at that age that he is very difficult to deal with. He doesn't like to sit still, he can get really loud and that, among other things, makes most meals out pretty unbearable for me. But anyway, I guess the birthday mojo was working for me and dinner was a very pleasant event. By the time we got home, Kiddo's rash had spread to his legs.

Thankfully it was only Fifth Disease, so he didn't have any other issues; he just looked funny. Within a couple of days it was gone. I shot a beautiful wedding with Allen on Saturday and then on Sunday had an amazing senior session in Lockhart and McKinney Falls State Park.  It was a fun but tiring weekend. On Monday, I had what I call a wedding hangover - after shooting weddings I am often very sore for the next few days. It didn't really hit me until Monday though; I guess it was because I had a long session on Sunday as well.

The week went pretty well and then on Friday I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck.  Every part of my body ached and I was in serious pain. At first, I thought maybe I had finally succumbed to the flu.  All these weeks of not getting what everyone else had finally caught up to me. But, as the day went on, I realized that if I didn't think about the pain, the rest of me felt fine. I had no other symptoms aside from that.  It was very strange - I felt like every joint in my body had severe arthritis, with the pain multiplied by 1000.  I ached in places I didn't even know could ache. My hands, feet, ankles and knees were the worst, but I ached in my arms and my neck, my collar bone and shoulder blades. I had a headache as well.

And then I remembered, when reading about Fifth Disease, a little blurb about how it is much worse in adults.  I remembered reading that adults suffering dealt with body aches and joint inflammation.  And I remembered that a sweet friend of mine and her husband were afflicted with the same thing after their children had Fifth Disease. It all became clear.

Fifth Disease is sort of like Chicken Pox in that, once you have had it, you are very unlikely to get it again. Apparently I had never had it as a child.

Thank your lucky stars if you did.

I had to stop Google-ing it after a while, because I started hitting all this information on complications that can result if you have an autoimmune disorder. I am so thankful that it didn't activate or irritate my lupus, because it could have been very scary.

But, it still was brutal.  Ibuprofen took the edge off, but for the most part it was just tons of unrelenting pain.  The third and fourth morning was by far the worst. Swelling had set in and I would wake with my hands and feet looking worse than they did when I was pregnant and had pre-eclampsia.  I couldn't get my rings off and things like typing and writing were very uncomfortable. I couldn't grip anything and was afraid I would drop anything I touched.

The second day just happened to be Saturday. I was scheduled to shoot a wedding in Dallas with a friend and fellow photographer. It was a full day event.

I have to say, I think that wedding saved me. The drive there and back (4+ hours each way in the car) was brutal. I popped ibuprofen every chance I could and just tried not to think about it. But once we were there, the adrenalin kicked in and I really didn't feel too bad for most of the day. The only time it really bothered me was when I tried to sit down and my knees just couldn't handle it. It was a blessing that I *had* to move all day.

Sunday was pretty painful, but thankfully I had the wonderful distraction of dropping the boys off with my inlaws for a few days! Woo hoo! Monday was pretty bad too, but as long as I stayed active the pain was manageable. The more I moved, the better I felt.

We were all supposed to go to Big Bend for spring break, but with all the pain I was in, and the wonderful addition of Kiddo getting an ear infection, we canceled our trip. Thankfully, Grammy and Happy volunteered to take the boys on Sunday for a few days for fun, so we, of course, let them.  The boys had a great time, but Kiddo's ear infection got worse and moved to both ears, and by the time we got the boys back on Wednesday he was running a fever and had burst an ear drum.  The other ear drum burst later that afternoon. I was starting to feel a lot better on Wednesday, thankfully.

So we got the kids back and then I was up all night with Kiddo and his poor ears. He was in a lot of pain. I took him in to the dr Thursday morning and sure enough he had perforated both ear drums.  The goo and big glops of gunk that were coming out of his ears was totally disgusting. He got another script for antibiotics and some drops for his ears and he began feeling better that day, thankfully.

The only bad part is, he can't hear a thing.

The only way he can really hear us is if we get right in his right ear and yell.

*sigh*

So that's where I've been. I am shooting another wedding tomorrow and have another senior session next weekend. I am a blissfully busy girl.

Now, if I could only get everyone healthy. ;)

Until,
D :)

Satisfied

This is one of my favorite all time songs and I had forgotten about it until Pandora blessed me with it tonight. I think I have shared it here before, but I think it's worth sharing again, 'cause we all need reminding sometimes... Have a great weekend!

First, the lyrics...

If you love somebody
You better let it out
Don’t hold it back
While you’re trying to figure it out
Don’t be timid
Don’t be afraid to hurt
Run toward the flame, run toward the fire
Hold on for all your worth

Cause the only real pain
Your heart can never know
Is the sorrow of regret
When you don’t let your feelings show
So did you say it?
Did you mean it?
Did you lay it on the line, did you make it count?
Did you look ‘em in the eye & did they feel it?
Did you say in time?
Did you say out loud?
Cause if you did Hun
Then you lived some
And that feeling inside
That's called satisfied

Busy people walkin’ by
Can’t help but worry some
So many things to do
So little love gets done
Empty hearts everywhere
Drowning but dying of thirst
If we want love, it’s not that tough
Start by giving it first

It's easy to give
Baby can't you see
Just close your eyes open your heart
And do what comes naturally
So did you say it?
Did you mean it?
Did you lay it on the line, did you make it count?
Did you look ‘em in the eye & did they feel it?
Did you say in time?
Did you say out loud?
Cause if you did Hun
Well then you lived some
And that feeling inside
That’s called satisfied

Horses were built to run
And the sun was meant to shine above
Flowers were made to bloom
Then there’s us
We were born
To love
We were born
To love

So did you say it?
Did you mean it?
Did you lay it on the line?

So did you say it?
Did you mean it?
Did you lay it on the line, did you make it count?
Did you look ‘em in the eye & did they feel it?
Did you say in time?
Did you say out loud…
Because if you did Hun
Well then you lived some
And that feeling inside
That's called satisfied

The beautiful Jewel singing Satisfied.

Fall From Grace

I suppose I should blog something, lest you all think I jumped off a bridge last week.

hmm...

Literally, about 2 minutes after I hit "publish" on that last post, my sweet friend, Kim, knocked at my door. In her hands was a beautiful little pot full of daffodil plants! Daffodils are my favorite flower, and consequently my birth flower as well. I love how delicate they are, their quiet beauty, how they are tall and slim and how they bloom each year just in time to drag us out of the coldness of winter.  I love them so much! The rest of the day was just as beautiful, with clear blue skies, perfect weather and fairly agreeable kids. Thank you, God, for always, always reminding me that even when things look gloomy, your perfect Grace is right there, waiting for me to see it.


I've been thinking a lot, lately, on the subject of Grace, and finding that sometimes, thankfully, we receive it even when we don't ask for it.  And sometimes, as with a situation I found myself in this week, we have it to give to others when we don't even know it. And when Grace comes over you, it is an amazing, peaceful, freeing feeling. I found a quote that I think sums it up perfectly.
  

"Grace means more than gifts. In grace something is transcended, once and for all overcome. Grace happens in spite of something; it happens in spite of separateness and alienation. Grace means that life is once again united with life, self is reconciled with self. Grace means accepting the abandoned one. Grace transforms fate into a meaningful vocation. It transforms guilt to trust and courage. The word grace has something triumphant in it." - Yrjo Kallinen

Grace happens in spite of something. Indeed.

One of my saving graces is my garden. It helps me focus, relax, center, and release. Oh and it helps my grocery bill too.  The peas, broccoli, onions and some of the lettuce and spinach have sprouted already. I think I am going to plant some green beans this week because I just can't wait any longer. I love fresh green beans! The area where I planted carrots has sprouted with ant hills. *sigh* Let the war begin.  It is so hard to rid the garden of ants!! Basically all you can do is annoy them enough that they move. I am tempted to give them a place to go; perhaps dig a little patch of the yard that I water frequently.

Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. ~Mary Sarton

Until,
D :)