Bonus day!?!

A friend asked what I was doing for my bonus day in July, saying that the 31st day is a bonus day.

Well . . .
I am recovering from yardsaling and thrifting all day county wide yesterday.

I am also trying to rest and take a breath before tomorrow which will only be filled with sorting out all my fun weekend activities.

I am also trying to balance between sorting the past and planning the future.

That being said, I am going to soak in a nice hot bath. Maybe I will make it a cold bath.

Picnic

I hate losing a post when it is almost complete. It's not so bad when you just start. I also had pictures all placed. Moving on, moving on.

My basket collection iswhat inspired my name on the Etsy store. The above picture is the original to my cropped profile picture on my store. http://www.esty.com/people/sharonspicnicbasket?ref=si_pr

The picture above is my newest addition to my collection. Number 17 joined the family yesterday.

Hello Number Seventeen

ARG!!! One click and I lost my whole post. Pics and all!!!!!

Etsy

I am trying to stay encouraged with my etsy store. With the economy the way it is, it appears that people generally look, but try not to buy things that they do not absolutely need. Old suitcases, antique toys, and vintage spools are not on the list of essentials.

Yesterday as I wondered through town, I came upon an excellent idea. So, if I get the time, I shall make a new listing. I hope they sell like hotcakes.

I find myself frustrated with facebook as well. It was for my friends, but has slowly become a business connection for my photography. I started a new page but find it difficult to separate the old page. I probably just need to figure out how to make a page just for the photography and kill off the old pages altogether and move to this sight to stay connected with my friends. But then these pages would become clogged with trying to get back to comments on old posts.

Anyway, our plans for Huntsville were cancelled this weekend. Steve seems to be a fish out of water not knowing what to do. There are so many projects to work on around here that it seems to go anywhere is a silly idea.

second part Distracted

Well, I went outside. I walked around for five minutes. I went back into the house. The humidity is horrible. I would rather do chores that fight that humidity.

Distracted

I decided to get dressed and go outside with my camera. I went around the corner and there is my pile of dishes reminding me that I should do my chores before I go play. I ignore the dishes and go upstairs to get dressed. My bed needs made, the clean clothes need put away, and the dirty clothes need to be washed. IGNORE THE CHORES~GO PLAY! How often do you get fog like this? Well there is more fog on the inside of the house than on the outside, if ya know what I mean.

Tuesday that feels like Monday

Today, I started to make a list of the three things I need to accomplish today. Kitchen, Office, and Photo organize project. Then I added livingroom, budget, Beth Moore dvd, and color my hair. Now that I have my list, I really just want to play and edit pictures from a lighting test shoot yesterday.

I have wanted to take pictures at this bridge for a long time. We probably spent an hour just shooting here. I love it even more now.

While I was waiting on the two pictures to load, I looked out the window. The southern humidity is moving in. There is an awesome fog outside which means I need to get out of my pajamas and go play outside with my camera. It's not every day you get a fog like this. Maybe it is more about being up this early. See how easily I am distracted.

Friday Morning Fun

This morning, I woke up with only five hours of sleep. Yesterday was an awesome accomplishment. I started around 8 a.m. and cleaned until after midnight. My body was screaming, but my house is great. There were lots of things that needed organized. With starting an Etsy site, there was an extra layer of organizing to be done. Three levels of listing; the items that are listed, the items that are photographed and need listed, and items needing photographed. So a great deal was accomplished. I am waiting on two loads of laundry to finish before heading off to Oxford. Feeling accomplished, I may have energy for a yard sale tomorrow. We shall see!

Hormones amplify life

Today is Thursday! WOW! Quite a revelation! Actually it is just a statement. So many things coming together at once. Thinking of doing a yardsale this weekend, sister is coming in for a very short visit, Fourth of July, and a Wedding Anniversary Party shoot on Tuesday. My house is a wreck. SO TODAY IS CLEAN DAY! I have my upstairs bath done, the bedroom straightened, and headed to the loft and photo storage room next. I will change and wash sheets tomorrow. Fresh linen always brightens the world. Off to work if I plan to get anything done.

Hi everyone!

I actually have three people who look at my blog. That's okay, because I do this for me. I do some much on facebook now. The picture loading and setup on facebook is more conduciveto my way of doing things.

I have neglected my blog more than I care to admit. I find so much joy in my photography and it takes up quite a bit of my time. I have not sold hardly anything lately, so that discourages me from sharing it with the world. Just when I think no one gets anything from my photos, someone will post on facebook how much they love seeing my pictures.

There has been a great deal going on since my last post, but it is all mundane things EXCEPT for my new-used lens. I am doing a wedding in October for some friends. They bought me a $1700.00 lens so that I could take good pictures at the wedding. Now I am trying to practice and get used to the lens. It is so hot out, and when it is not hot, I am having a hot flash. I believe strongly in my home being a nudist colony, at least from the waist up. If I wear tube tops, I seem to be okay, but anytime I have clothing over my shoulders, look out.

I will write more later.

Hello from beyond allergy zone

Hey! I am back from Florida. Every year, I make the trek to Central Florida to avoid allergies at home. I literally get to a place where I cannot breathe. The first week down there, I was in such emotional turmoil. The only way I can describe it was as if my emotions were a big bouncy ball and someone had thrown them against the wall. I was bouncing, frantically looking for a landing place. It was crazy. The second week, I calmed down quite a bit and was able to narrow down some ideas on my state of mind. The third week, I settled down for the long visit. I thought I might give my husband time to miss me a bit and enjoy life without someone always hanging on him.

Once again, my sister has a graduating high school senior, except this year she has two. One of her boys skipped a grade and he also is going to be officially ed u ma cay ted!!!

I arrived in time for Easter festivities at my sister's house. Egg hunts, dinner, and pictures with 20 guests. What fun!

Then a week later, PROM!!! I had pre-scheduled to have a photoshoot with a nephew and his girl as they were going to prom. I was allowed into the prom as a photographer. Awesome time and the pics are great!

I was able to attend a Golf Tournament as a photographer and take pictures until it was over.

I managed to get in a few more sunsets than my other trips.

There is an exhibit opening in Moscow, Idaho featuring my photos of the Farmers Market. There is an article in the paper about me and the exhibit.

After getting home, I am trying to tie up the loose ends and catch up on all the photos I took.

All of the photos can be seen at my website~ http://photoblessing.zenfolio.com.

HI peeps!

It has been two weeks since I have posted anything. Although I counted the post on the 17th, it really should not count since it barely had three or four sentences. Our Esther Bible Study is complete. Wow!!! What a neat take on Esther. The whole book from chapter one to chapter ten is a REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, a REVERSAL OF DESTINY. During the study I also began a reversal of Destiny. I am letting God do his work without a great deal of talk about it outside of the study. But WOW!!! This week I dropped another 1.5 lbs bringing the total so far to 20 pounds. Lately, I am learning that it is more about my destiny than a stopping point. Oh what a blessing that my clothes are fitting. More than layers on my body, it is about the clothing of my heart in His story. If I chose, He writes my life into His story. He will give His story with or without me, but I am so blessed that he choses to make my life part of His story. The last point in the study encouraged us that though on earth time diminishes beauty, in God's plan time perfects beauty. We are going to start the study of Daniel the second Wednesday in April. I can hardly wait. I hope I see you there.

Esther-Reversal of Destiny

Arg!!! This program does not let me copy and paste. Not good. I have just typed up what I have been going through the last 2 months, and I cannot copy to hear.

Fun, Freezing, Funeral, Family, Friends

My title sums up the weekend for me. Friday, I went to a yardsale and found quite the goodies, mostly books.

Saturday, I did a Senior Portrait Drape shot in the morning, and it rained the rest of the day. Saturday evening, we met our son, Jon, our daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Brian, at the mall for dinner at Max Orient. I have been dreaming of the tangy BarBQ chicken for about 2 months. I think they changed their recipe, or I just built the food up in my mind way too much. I think the leftovers are better than the fresh cooked taste. Maybe the flavors marinate in more after a day or two.

Sunday, I was blessed to be able to ride to Gadsden and do some engagement pictures for a friend. We froze on the streets of Gadsden, Alabama. After the shoot, I went over to the Green Trail, a Save-Our-Waters Project trail. I spent more time there than anywhere else in Gadsden.

This morning, Monday, I had mu husband wake me up since I will be going to a funeral at 11. I wanted to get some things accomplished around the house before I leave. The laundry is almost done, and I have sorted through and narrowed down the 400+ engagement pictures to less than 200. The bride will select her favorites tomorrow. Since I have not accomplished as much as I had hoped this morning, maybe one of the things on my list should be to make a list for tomorrow morning. Then, I should stay focused. Even this post was not on my to-do list today, but I am glad that I posted.

Yesterday, proved quite a test for me. I have been involved in a Bible study for about 5 weeks on Esther. It is written by Beth Moore. I am amazed at how much I never saw in this book. This week we are looking at Haman's attitude towards honor and praise, his hunger for it, and his drive to be lord over a kingdom. I aasked the Lord to help me pull out any wickedness in my heart that desires mans praise and AttaBoys. Not too long after that, one of my "friends," who I have been waiting on for such praise and adoration because I took pictures at her wedding, not only blows my bubble of expectation but shoots right through my heart with so many false accusations that I am still befuddled at the whole thing. The wedding was eight months ago. My son told me to examine the information to see if I can own any of it and work on those things. Everything in me wants to hold court, petition the experts, and help her to erase such ludicrous ideas from her head. I do take courage in the fact that most of what she said was outright lies and not misunderstandings. If it had been misunderstandings, then it would be my fault too for a breakdown in communication, but except for my take charge "bossiness" and "pushiness" it was lies. She accused me of purposely interfering with the main photographers ability to get good pictures, flash collision, and telling everyone things I never said. So here I am asking the Lord once again to pull out of me my desire to be a people pleaser, craving honor as Haman did, and seeking the praise of man.
My son says do not dwell on the lies but take truth, dismiss the other, and look for the higher ground.
My husband says she sounds like a friend not worth having.
It is true that the higher ground is not as crowded, but sometimes I get distracted by the lower roads forking off.
Then last night I hear this quote at the end of CSI. Two guys are talking and the one expresses a desire to have evil punished severly. I loved what the other guy warned, "Careful . . . evil has a way of making friends with the good and dragging them into the darkness."

What an awesome week spiritually for me.
A couple weeks ago, I envisioned this new woman because I got a haircut, my contacts finally came in, and changes in me because of Bible study. It's true; my haircut is shorter than it has been in a long time. My eyes shine more without glasses to hide behind. Most changes are inner workings that only I can see.

Another major thing not necessarily for me, but a dear, dear friend sits at the bedside of her dying grandmother. It could be any day. The pain of my friend's heart saying goodbye and not sure when the final goodbye will be is hard. I want to make it better, to hold them tight, but to hold her hand is all I can do. I know it helps just being there, but I want to do more. Two weeks ago our Esther study was about Esther's desire to ease Mordecai as he sat at the gates in sackcloth and ashes. Humans have a hard time looking into pain and suffering without desiring to ease or erase it.

Today is a new day. I still need breakfast and a walk. Goals today include cleaning my house and going through the summer clothes.

photo letters

I love the idea of letters from textures, designs, and shapes all around us.

Why is the download quality so stinky? The first picture is of me. The S came from a bench in my front yard. The H is two big trees with the childhood swings that were built for my children. The A is the hanging swing frame. The R is from another bench. The O is on a train window at the park down the road. The N is the Z from our wood transfer door.

I discovered my day-planner is missing. The last time and place I saw it was Feb 7th at my eye doctor's office. The last place I have not searched high and low is my son's house in Oxford.

Saturday, I went and picked up some money from renting one dress and selling one dress through a dress shop in Peidmont. It helps me by giving me a place to store most of my dresses and make some money at the same time.

Tomorrow, I must get busy on my homework for the Bible class I have been involved in. We are studying Esther and it is awesome.

Photography

I went to the eye doctor yesterday, and I saw the coolest thing on her wall. There were seven different pictures of designs, textures, and shapes all mounted on this black rod. The photos were pictures that formed her name. It was so cool. I started on mine today and want Jessica to see it. I formed a collage but still need to gather photos. I am so excited about it. The quality of the downlod stinks. They A is the swing frame.

Pastor Smitty

Sometimes, it is hard to put into words all the special thoughts that we have about people in our lives especially when someone passes. All the emotions come flooding back all at once riding the waves of tremendous memories. In the past, I and many have said, "We all handle death in our own ways," and that statement is still true. Funerals cause turmoil, because while we celebrate the victory for our loved one, we also mourn the loss and company of special people. The smile that lit up their face, the sweet laugh that flavored the air, and their hugs that comforted us leave us to deal with tearful eyes, heavy breaths, and empty arms.

Sunday night, Steve and I went to the visitation service of our dear Pastor Smith. The visitation was more like a church homecoming or family reunion. It was wonderful seeing people who shared this man with us. It is true that the memories they had were not the same as ours, but we all loved him. We comforted each other with stories, held each other with hugs, and shared tears of sadness and joy. It was wonderful to see people we had not seen in years all celebrating one man's life and his love for people. I was so excited coming home and into the night thinking, what a day of rejoicing that will be and posted about my feelings.

Yesterday, I went to the funeral and graveside service. With permission, I was there early to take some pictures of the flowers and set up some camera light settings for the service. First, four ladies sung together two songs to open the service. Pastor TR Harper prayed. I am not sure if he prayed before the opening songs or after. Pastor Harper then spoke about special events and mission trips that he shared with "Smitty," and how that after a few trips, he realised that he was on the trip to help keep Smitty's hair in place.

After Pastor TR spoke, Samantha Brown sang, "We Shall Behold Him," followed by Ricky saying a few words.

He thanked everyone for coming and for the outpouring of comments and respect for his dad and the family. Ricky went on and spoke him being a husband and a father. He said that some people called him Sargeant, some Pastor Smith, some Brother Smith, and some Smitty. "Some of you may call him other things," which brought laughs from the crowd. He went on the say that he had three important things in his life. He had his Savoir and Ricky told of his dad's salvation experience. "Another thing my dad had in his life was his Bible," and Ricky took the Bible carefully and lovingly held it high in the air. He placed it back on the pedestal and went on to say, "The third thing he had, and every good man needs one, is a good woman." Ricky took a rose from the flowers and on his father's behalf, presented it to his mother as we all teared up at this gentle gesture of love and compassion. He then took his seat on the left side of his mother. (Jerry was seated on the right.

Shelton and Samantha sang a song that had been stirring in Shelton since the service had started. He had not planned to do it, but he had permission from the family to do what he felt he needed to do. After they sang, all the singers involved in the service lead the whole congregation in a song. Everyone stood up as we cried and sang, "When We All Get To Heaven," which was the song Brother Smith sang right after getting saved.

Pastor TR closed the service with an altar call. Even in the funeral procession to the Fill Military Graveside Service, I was seeing life differently. Here we were in a line, going through town, driving through stop signs, following the car in front and honoring a man who is still leading the way.

Once the family has had a chance to see the pictures, I may post some.

photos, fellowship, and funerals

Someone asked me last night, "Where have you been?" I wondered about my blog. Yes, I have been slow to post. On the 18th, I posted about how quickly January seemed to be going by. Here it is the last day, and I am amazed at how fast it went.

Ten days ago on a Saturday, I went to a neighbor's basketball game because they wanted to know if I could try to get any good shots of the playing. After taking them, it was time to sort through them. Now, I am waiting for her to come look at them.

Last Monday, my father-in-law went into the hospital for a "routine" double bypass surgery. Once they were in to see the mess, the doctors realised it was worse than they thought. It turned into a triple bypass, valve issues, vein transplant from the leg, and installing a pacemaker. All of this was still somewhat routine, but because of his medical history and age, his recovery is possibly the slowest one. It seems so slow to me. Looking at brochures that tell you this is what you should expect on day one or two or three IS NOT a good idea. Due to the slow recovery, I headed over to be with his girlfriend until the danger passed. I left Tuesday morning with my house totally clean and in order. Thursday evening, I pulled the doctor to the side and asked if I should head back to Alabama now or was he still in danger. The doctor looked at me and said, "Stay one more day." By the next night they moved him from ICU to a regular room and the nurse told me he had passed critical. Friday night, I headed home.

Saturday, Steve and I headed out for a day in the woods looking for caves, taking pictures, and enjoyed being together.

Sunday evening, last night, we went to the visitation of a dear dear dear man. He is the spiritual father that God placed in our lives to help us grow during our younger years. For about 20 years we listened to his common sense and heard his loving heart beat for the Lord. He always warned against building pedestals because they cause people to trip. We are all inclined to climb up on pedestals when other build them for us but usually fall in the end. He always felt inadequate to speak words because of his slight speech problem. When our youngest graduated we asked him to please pray over her during the ceremony. He declined saying something about not speaking in public anymore because he did not want to embarrass anyone. I still cry at that idea. I told him and whole-heartedly believe that he would never embarrass our family. He finally agreed and the spiritual impact of his heart in our lives will always be there. The funeral is today. Due to rain, I may not get very many pictures, but I am open to what God wants to do with my lens.

I started going to a Bible study in Pleasant Valley at a friend's house. The study guide is called "Esther: It's Tough Being A Woman" by Beth Moore. We meet Wednesday afternoons.

Today I have a small list of big chores. I came home Friday and unloaded the car into the floor. Steve and I went on our outing Saturday and unloaded into the same pile on the floor. With a little time I should get caught up pretty quickly. Couple small loads of laundry, photo orders (a good thing), photo appointments (also a good thing), get contact lens order straightened out (the sent me the wrong contacts-What's up with that), and catch up on my study guide for Esther.

One big thing that I have not mentioned. Steve says I seem depressed. I think about it and maybe I am. I was in and out of the Cardiac and Vascular Center for 4 days looking at the future. Seeing heart problems everywhere as I walk down the halls makes me wonder if this fat, overweight body is the body I want to take with me into old age. Then I get back and a dear dear old friend, mentor, and pastor has passed. Pages keep flipping. The winds of life keep blowing. And looking out the window on rainy, winter woods Shake it off, get to my chores and look in the mirror and say to self, BE BLESSED! God is Good! All the time!!!

mailman

I forgot to mention in my last post that our snow fell on the 9th and our mail did not run until Thursday, January 13th, because the mountain road was officially closed.

January

Wow! January barely has started, but here it is the 18th day already.

SO much has happened.

Aside form the white Christmas, I found myself much more relaxed this year. I took time to enjoy the special people in my life. All the kids were home. My husband was off until the 3rd. Then we heard around the 5th that snow was on the way. For four days, I feel like I sat around and waited on the snow. It was worth waiting on. January 9th it snowed 3.5 inches and then added about .5 to 1 inch of slush ice on top of the snow. I built a snowman this weekend that still has remnants sitting on the ground by the mailbox. After nine days later, some warmer temps, and a rain shower or two, the bottom of the snowman still remains. WOW!

Sunday, since our woodstack was getting low, we tried to split some firewood. The electric splitter that we bought in Nov of 2009 quit working right. We took it back to Lowe's. It is on recall so they could not replace it. In the end, they just refunded our money.

Monday, we cut down several smaller trees to restock our firewood supply. We also took a walk around the property looking for standing dead trees that would be good to use as well.

Today, I feel stifled. I have tons of motivation but lack the focused goal. I have decided to work on my living room. My Christmas tree is still up and I am very glad that it is.

Thrifting

This morning, I woke up in Huntsville at my daughter's house. She asked me to come up and take her to all the thrift stores so she could have bargain hunting time. Yesterday, we went to five thrift stores along Memorial Drive. Today, we headed south and then circled back north and back to her house going to five different thift stores. There were three that we could not find today but plan to go back to today. When I get back home, I am going to create a guide to Thrift Stores in Huntsville. Just in a quick search on line, we found the 13 stores. No telling how many more there are that we never found. I might just sit down and do a guide to my area as well.

Lists

I am starting to feel the need to create a list again. The last week, I have done fine without any lists, but now that tomorrow is a "back to normal" day filled with goals, plans, and actions, I feel a list is in the making. Just now, I am pulling down my list making paper and starting a list.

One thing at the top of the list is to update my events excel file. About 5 years ago I went through all of our family diaries, newsletters, and pictures to create a timeline of happenings in our lives. It is amazing how often we use it for reference to important and not so important dates. Day trips and hikes are all included. I opened the file the other day and 2010 is empty.

Realising that I am behind on my events list gave me incentive to get some things logged. As I go through pictures to get dates, I will file them into the photo database. I feel so overwhelmed by the whole "tag" process that needs to be done.

One thing that is not on my list is taking down the artificial Christmas tree.

I have decided to leave it up through Valentine's Day. Steve thinks it is already in the way, but I find it really enjoyable and pretty. On Christmas Eve, I stripped it down to bare and redecorated it. I love all the white lights with gold, silver, clear, and white decorations. It gives it a Victorian Country look. I did not allow myself to put any color on unless the overall color of the ornament was white.

If you look close, you might find a red scarf or a red hat on a small white mouse.

I also love country snowmen and rocking horses.

There was one exception to the theme on the tree.

My daughter gave me some red clear crystal doves, and they were too pretty not to let them nest in the holiday fun.