Fun Night

HEY ALL! Me again! And lookin cuuuuute! lol

Anyway... I actually had a fun 'mommy and me' night with my mommy. Lol. We were missing my baby niece and nephew, so we decided to go to the casino for a night out. I was playing this one game and was down by like $40. My mom stopped by to see how I was doing after losing her $20, and I won $20 back, which meant I was only $20 down. Then I got 10 free spins, and ended up coming out $50 ahead. Lol. If I break even I consider it a win, so it's really exciting when I come out ahead.

We were both starving, so since I was the winner I offered to buy dinner. We decided to check out the restaurant at the casino, and found out the menu was actually all done by a winner of one of the seasons of "Top Chef". He was there signing autographs too. We decided to give it a go. It was so fun. I felt like I was a judge on Top Chef. ha ha.

I had baby whitaker with bacon, ginger and lime as an appetizer, pork belly with charred eggplant and miso honey for the entree, and for dessert I had Nitrous Oxide ice cream. It looked scary, but tasted great!

I got to meet the chef and got his autograph. So that was really awesome considering my mom and I just expected to get an average meal rather than this gourmet celebrity dinner.

What a week.

So, I've had ankle problems for a while now. I've had 2 surgeries on my ankle, and it still bugs me now and again, especially if I'm on it all the time. And babysitting a 1.5 year old who has learned how to get into EVERYTHING, keeps you on your feet from sun up till sun down. So my ankle was feeling sore, and my whole leg was cramping up occasionally.

Well, I was headed downstairs to my bedroom when I stepped down, and I felt something strange in my leg. The only way I could describe it is, it's like if you have a rubber band in your leg stretched from your thigh down to your foot, and suddenly it snaps and you can feel it running down your leg. That is followed by excruciating pain.

The next morning I could barely walk, so I went to see my doctor. He was worried about a potential blood clot, so he sent me over for some tests. No blood clot was evident, but he was still worried enough about my pain and swelling that he told me he wanted me in a wheel chair at all times, and wanted me to see an orthopedic specialist who was coming to the clinic.

So he gave me a prescription to rent a wheel chair and some pain killers and told me if I have any more pain to get seen right away, even if I have to go to the e.r. I gave it the weekend. I decided to see if the painkillers would work through the weekend and get seen on Monday if I wasn't any better.

The painkillers really didn't help much. In fact, it made things worse, the meds gave me a serious headache and barely numbed the pain so I stopped taking it. I wanted to see if there was anything else my doctor could do, and if he could give me a less potent pain med.

That morning I got a call from the office that he was needed in the hospital so they rescheduled me for that afternoon with a physician assistant. So I hopped in my wheelchair and headed to the appointment. I was in a lot of pain, so I was trying to get comfortable in my wheelchair when he walked in the room. I gave him a friendly "hi, how are you?" and was met by a severe scolding for making my wheelchair squeak. I was a bit taken a-back... I couldn't understand why a health care provider would be so rude after being met with a friendly hello from me. Especially knowing I was in bad pain and already feeling miserable.

The rest of the appointment was even worse. I have NEVER been treated so bad by a medical professional. All I did was say hi, how are you, and everything fell apart from there. He was mean, he was rude, he was a complete ass. I held my tongue as long as I could, until I finally lost my temper and stormed out. First time in my life I ever filed a complaint, but he was completely out of line.

The next day I finally got to see my own doctor, who was very apologetic about how I was treated. And I can't say how... but I was vindicated when I found out I'm not the first person to complain about him. So now I know it wasn't just me. 

So all that was going on and I was completely stressed out. I fell asleep on my chair, and somehow my Droid 2 fell into the seat of my chair and when I pushed back into a recline position, it got crushed in the bendy metal part of the chair. $400 later I now have a Samsung. Not sure what it is called, I guess it's a 4G android Charge or something. I don't know. It's a cute phone, but I miss my flip out keypad option. I'm not use to touch screen.

But the bummer part is, I need a new lap top. My laptop says like "80% available (plugged in but not charging"... and every few days it loses a percentage. When my battery got down to 25% I bought a new battery to see if that would work. Sadly it didn't, and my battery is now down to 73% and dropping every few days. I tried a few minor fixes like going to system properties, device manager, batteries, and deleting the Microsoft ACPI-compliant control method battery, then reinstalling it and restarting my computer. That didn't work. So I took it to a computer repair place. The diagnostic and repair would cost about half of a new laptop, so I started shopping around... that was BEFORE I spent the price of a new laptop on my new freaking phone.

Sad thing is... even the cheap non-smart phones are nearly $200 these days... so I figured, why not just go for another smart phone since I use it so much?

Just when I thought nothing else could go wrong... I had a publisher that seemed interested in my book. They are a niche publisher that deal with the paranormal and found my proposal interesting enough to want to read it. They asked to see the manuscript and then I got an email that they were about to have a meeting on the manuscript.

That was the day of the Virginia earthquake. The Virginia earthquake was centered in Richmond. Guess where the publisher is out of? Yup. Richmond Virginia. Haven't heard from them since. Normally they are very friendly and good about contacting you right away... so whether they had decided to publish the book or not, they'd have let me know as soon as they knew. So I'm assuming they are dealing with a lot of damage from the quake since they are located right where it happened.

Seriously, I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday, cause I can't wait to start a new week. I need a hug.

Fingers crossed the bad week doesn't carry over into Friday, because there is one interested party who wants to buy my house coming for a second showing with their parents. It seems an offer may be coming, but the way my week has been going, I don't want to get my hopes up.

Baby Niece and Nephew

So, my niece and nephew just left. I babysat my nephew for a week while my brother and his wife were having my niece Veronica. He's gotten so cute. He's a year and a half old now, and getting into everything. Best part is, he does it with a smile, so it's hard to tell him no. lol.

He's talking a lot better... not making up as many of his own words as he use to (Like light use to be oonda and music was mika and money was munga). He now says money (mun-dee) and he's getting closer to the word Light. (instead of oonda it's now "nt"). Music is still Mika. Lol.

Its so cute when he calls me An-knee Dee. He's always "An-knee Dee, Ah-nee Dee". They day he was heading home with mom, dad and baby sis, he patted the couch and said "Ah-knee Dee Dee, see-saw... see-saw" (that's how he says, Auntie Drea, sit down.") So I sat on the couch. He sat next to me and gave me the biggest smile you'd ever see and said, "Dee Dee... ov oo too" (love you too). It was so out of the blue and sooooooo cute! He was my little buddy the whole time my mom and I babysat him.

Every night around 9pm he'd bring me his two special blankies, crawl in my lap, and want me to sing him to sleep. For about an hour I'd sing "I see the moon", "Lullaby", "Mocking bird", "ABC", and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" over and over till he crashed. Then my mom would pick him up and carry him to bed. He's such a sweetie. My brother and his wife lucked out with him.

My baby niece Veronica is amazing as well. It's funny... I found a picture of me at her age and held it up to her... we are almost IDENTICAL! Lol, she looks just like me. She rarely cries. Only when she gets hungry. And she FAAAAARRRRRTTTTTTSSSSS like you wouldn't believe! Lol. She is not very dainty in the pooping department. ha ha. I've never seen a baby poop that much.

I'm also amazed that she was 3 days old when they brought her up to visit, and she could already hold her head up. They showed the video of the first time they brought her into the hospital room for her first feeding, and she held her head up. You could even hear the nurses seem shocked. Normally neck muscles for holding the head up develop by the time the baby is about 2 months old or even 3 months. While she was getting tummy time, Veronica held her head up no less than 30 seconds, and even looked around from side to side, without any assistance. She's only 10 days old right now.

She's also got a real grip. She grabbed my finger and wouldn't let go the whole time I sang to her. She's so cute and sweet.

They had to go home early because my brother had a doctor appointment for himself that got re-scheduled, so they had to leave. I was so sad to see my nephew and niece leave. It got so quiet. It was nice to hear when he woke up the next morning that he asked for me and my mom. So I know he misses us too.

Baby Niece is born and Fair update

My Baby Niece Veronica Rose was born today! she is 8lbs and 5oz! Funny thing is, she looks like me. LOL. (not a far stretch considering how alike my brother and I look)

So in other words, she's absolutely adorable!

They are going to get out of the hospital on Wednesday, rest a day or two, then come here to pick up my nephew who I've been babysitting. They're going to stay and relax for a week before heading home, so I will get bonding time with my new niece. I'm so excited!

It was hilarious, my brother sent me a phone vid of the new baby, and I showed it to my nephew. I said "Mikey look, this is your new baby sister!" He gave me the biggest smile I've ever seen and said, "no no no" then walked away. LOL well at least he was smiling.

My mom and I have been having such a blast with my nephew. He's such a good boy, and so happy all the time. He's rarely cranky. the only time he gets cranky is if you stop doing what he wants you to do (like reading him a book over and over and over and over and over again), but he gets over it pretty quick.

He really loved the fair. He loved the merry-go-round and the petting zoo. The fair is over now, so now he's enjoy the swings at the park. We're having a lot of fun.

Oh, speaking of the fair. Remember this photo I talked about in my previous blog?

I had gotten an honorable mention ribbon for this photo, which surprised me since it was such a popular photo. (I've sold prints of this photo, everyone always says this is the favorite of all my photo proofs)

Well, I picked my stuff up last night, and when I got home I started taking the tags off of the photos when I noticed something.

On the back of all the description tags, the judges will write what the item placed.

For example: My clay painting of Japanese Cherry Blossoms took first place, and on the back of the tag was the number 1 circled. One of my photos of the roll cloud took 2nd place and on the back of the tag was the number 2 circled. The picture of the dog tails forming the shape of a heart took honorable mention, and on the back of the tag there was the number 4 circled.

See how that is going?

Well, on the back of the tag for the purple flowers photo was the number 2 circled... so it turns out, this photo took 2nd place, only whoever distributed the ribbons gave me an honorable mention ribbon instead of a 2nd place ribbon.

So I'm going to buy myself a red ribbon to go with the photo. Lol

but that makes it 1 first place, 4 second places, 3 third places and 2 honorable mentions.

I also found out, there is no gold ribbon anymore. (the gold ribbon was between first and grand champion.)

now that it doesn't exist, the top prize is grand champion which is awarded to one out of each category. After that it's blue for first, red for second, white for third and green for honorable mention (4th and 5th.) anything passed 5th doesn't get a ribbon.

So knowing that... 4 second places and 1 first really isn't all that bad. So I'm not as disappointed as I originally was since a blue ribbon is the highest I could get if I didn't win grand champion. I'd have liked a few more blue ribbons... but last year I only got 1 blue ribbon, and all the rest were 3rd place ribbons, so to get a lot of 2nd places means I'm improving. lol

Maybe I'm bitter... lol

What's up ya'all?









I finally found out what where I placed at the fair. I was a bit disappointed.

(click the photos to enlarge)

This photo of the bee on the cherry blossom didn't place.

I thought this was actually a really nice photo. I'm surprised it didn't get at least a 2nd place.

I thought this picture was adorable. my puppies tushies side by side, their tails connecting into the shape of a heart.

It got an honorable mention. I thought it would at least place 3rd.

This photo seems to be everyone's favorite. I've had people ask to buy prints of this photo, and everyone stops at this picture in the album of my photography proofs.

This only took an honorable mention.

this is a rare weather phenomenon. No one entered a picture like this, cause you just don't see this kind of thing every day. It's very rare.

This took an honorable mention. I thought for sure, since this was so unique and so different, and the color contrasts, the moodiness of it, it would at least place 1st, 2nd or 3rd. but nope.

This picture took 2nd place.

This is the same cloud as the one above, as it was starting to pass over head.

this won 2nd.

Third place

Third Place

Third place

This was my one and only 1st place.

I also won a 2nd place for my Japanese antique from the 1800's. (a book of Japanese wood burned art)

So all in all it was 3 honorable mentions, 3 third places, 3 second places, one first and one that didn't place.





Last year I won all 3rd places, minus 1 first, and one non-place.

I honestly thought I had a good chance of a few more firsts and maybe even a gold ribbon, but nope. Once again, for like the 3rd year in a row that I've started going to the fair, a baby picture took grand champion.

This year it was a picture of a baby with "cake face" (you know, when a kid smears cake all over their face). there was nothing out of the ordinary about it... it looks like the typical photo every parent, grandparent, aunt and uncle has in their photo albums of the kids in their family.

Last year it was a photo of a random baby smiling that looked as if it was pulled out of someone's wallet.

What disappoints me, is... there were really nice photos... like this one of a bald eagle nest with baby bald eagles that didn't place... a beautiful picture of a baby surrounded by a garden and an old shed in black and white that looked like it should have been in a magazine that only took 2nd, a beautiful picture of a butterfly landing on a flower that only took an honorable mention. There was a photo of a close up of a horse's eye, reflecting the photographer like a mirror. It was a really interesting and artistic photo that only took 2nd place.

I mean, the baby that won was cute and all... but this feels like a cutest kids contest rather than a contest of amateur photographers and their artistic visions, because in a true photography contest, those photos wouldn't even be considered for top prize, because they were never meant to be "artistic" pieces. They were meant to be family photos. It just seems unfair to those of us who go out and spend hours setting up the perfect shot. It feels like we should just not waste our time, and just dive into our photo albums and pull out pictures of babies.

lol, does that sound horribly bitter of me? I mean, congrats to the winner, but still. It's just odd that ordinary baby photos seem to always take grand champion. 

but all in all, I can't totally complain. I mean, I did get one first, and a few second places... not to mention, I had a lot of fun with my nephew who I am babysitting while my brother and sis-in-law are getting ready to have the new baby on Monday.

He had a blast at the fair, riding on the merry-go-round, watching the big kids on the big rides, listening to the music, and I'll tell you one thing, even though he's barely a year and a half old, he has a thing for the ladies. We passed a little girl with long blond hair, and he gave her the biggest smile I've ever seen as we walked passed. I had to explain that she was too old for him. She was practically 3. lol So it was worth it to see how much fun he had. (and to tucker him out so he went right to bed tonight. LOL)