October

Is it just me or has October been the absolute fastest month ever? I don't know why, but this month was very busy for us. I'm ready for a nap!

We had our BBBS Halloween party last Thursday, and thankfully we had ninja masks to wear. My mom came the rescue and sewed them for us. I have photos of us somewhere that I will post, but I'll have to hunt them down first. Jesse was in Nebraska this weekend photographing his very last wedding, so the memory cards all got cleared off before he left and I am sure the ninja photo is on one of these hard drives that we have floating around.

Speaking of Jesse, I'm excited for him to be done with weddings and moving onto a new photographic path. I can already see a shift in his photos lately as he's exploring some shots that are outside the normal realm of "Jesse". His risks seem to be paying off photographically speaking. It's funny, but it seems with any type of art, you see a reflection of the artist's own journey in it. When they stumble, when they are stuck, when they are confused, when they are riding high... Jesse may hesitate to call himself an artist and even in the past, I have said he is about 75% photographer and 25% artist, yet these past few months, I am beginning to see his art come out and he seems to be shifting into a new type of photographer. It's been a neat transition and I'm anxious to see what the end result is going to be. Technically speaking, he has always been top notch - the artistic side seems to be catching up rapidly now, and the collision is sure to be very good.

As for me, I am a week into my 2nd fall semester and plugging along at the degree. I try not to think about how far I still have to go, but rather how much I have already gotten done. Otherwise, I might get a little too impatient (as if I'm not already). I got my glucose test back and am apparently hypoglycemic. The only way to treat it is with a restricted diet, but I'm told if I don't get it under control, there is a good chance I'll end up diabetic, so I have been trying to take the diet thing seriously. It's been a tiring start - no sugar at all, and no fast acting carbs (like anything made with white flour!!). The switch over has made me feel very tired in the days, but apparently, it takes about 6 weeks to stabilize the blood sugar and insulin, and from there, I should be free of the tiredness, shakes, puking, passing out, and all of that good stuff (as long as I stay on the diet that is!). I sure hope so. Jesse says he is going to do the diet with me....well, he says "mostly, but not all the way". I'm interested to see this.... At least this thing has made me research a lot about blood sugar and insulin, and if nothing else, I am a bit better educated about how the body works!

Oh, I almost forgot...we decided on a living room color (I think at least). It's called "tea chest". Sherwin Williams of course. After all, I am their #1 fan. It's a brown shade, pretty neutral, and I'll post pictures of the room when we are done as well. Although, seeing as we don't even have the paint yet, it may be a couple weeks still. My goal is to have the bedroom finally finished and the living room painted before Thanksgiving, although I'm hoping it's much sooner. We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year, and I'm excited about that. I got some great recipes from Jesse's sister when we were up there for Canadian Thanksgiving and am hoping I can duplicate them as tasty as hers.

Alright, there is my update.

Ouch!, Ninjas, and Dogs

I had a five hour blood glucose test today. Seven vein punctures later, and I am still alive... Jesse got part of the day off work, so he was able to stay with me the whole time and "monitor" to be sure that I didn't pass out unattended. Thankfully, all passing out was avoided, although there were a couple times I was almost sure I was going to knock out.

I am glad to be home now, with 3 doggies. We are Riley-sitting for the weekend while my mom goes out to visit my step-dad in Seattle. (He's out there doing some aviation contract work for a bit.) Riley is keeping me busy slopping tennis balls into my lap and eagerly anticipating my every move. In other "doggie news", we are no longer doing the BARF diet. You can officially add raw chicken to the ever growing list of things that Horton is allergic to. We were worried that they would "strike" when we switched back to kibble, since they both seemed to love the BARF food, but we were pleasantly surprised when we heard some rustling in the other room, and came out to see Abe trying to eat through the bag to get the food inside. He was also a very good helper when Jesse decided to open it for real.





My big project, or actually small project for the week was to make ninja costumes. Well, ninja accesories. BBBS is having their annual Halloween party next week, and of course, you have to wear a costume, and it's usually best to match it up with your Little. Well, N is going to be a "ninja vampire" for Halloween. I x'ed the vampire part, but told him we would be happy to dress up as ninjas. I figured all we needed to do was find black pants and shirts, and then I had this great idea that I would be able to make the rest - a hood, a sword holder thing, etc. Well, everytime I pull out my sewing machine, I seem to have some troubles, a lot of troubles in fact. My sword holder looked so awful it isn't even funny, and the hoods I made are way too small. The sad thing is that I even half way followed a pattern for those, and enlarged it to fit our big heads! Still, no good came of this. (Well, a few good laughs mocking my abilities, but otherwise, no good at all.)

Colors

So I'm really considering repainting the living room. I mean, I don't mind it, but it just didn't turn out how I was hoping, or doesn't evoke the feeling I was hoping for I guess. It's just so contrasty. I think that's what I don't like about it. It makes things pop out, but it's too much I think. So I'm thinking of getting rid of the blue all together and going with something more neutral on the walls. Jesse says "This will be your project if you decide to paint." It would be a pain I know, but ever since we went with the blue, nearly every time I sit out there, I look at the walls and am disappointed that I didn't go with chocolate brown, which was my other option at the time. I don't know that I would go with chocolate now, but I am thinking about a muddy brown sort of. Here's what it looks like now:


Here are some other options, in a muddy sort of brown, and a clay sort of brown.






Of course, if I repaint, a few of the "accents" will need to be changed out, but I don't think I would need to change much. Hm. I'll have to think about it a while. I can't do anything until my next paycheck anyway, so I have a couple weeks! Maybe I should pay Sherwin Williams a visit in the meantime...

Bobaloo

I found out today that my friend, Bobaloo, passed away. The odd thing is, I'm having a very hard time feeling sad. Of anyone I ever knew, Bob had hope, and I just can't be sad for him right now. When I heard the news, I immediately teared up, but within seconds, I found it hard to not just be happy for him. Maybe Bob is an example of what "death" should be. He was a living hope, and even in his death, seems to exude that same hope. I think of what it must be like for him to finally be freed from his tumors, from his joint pain, from his surgeries, and I think how wonderfully full his soul must be right now. I know we can all "cheese up" death, and say good things about people who in actuality drove us nuts, or pretend that everything is "for the better" even when we really just hurt like hell that they are gone, but with Bob, it's actually a sincere feeling for me. I actually really do believe it. There are no mixed feelings. I'm happy for him.

Mother Nature is Funny

Okay, so I recently joined a garden forum, which has been great. I've been getting plants for free from a very generous lady in Pennyslavania, and have been given lots of really good advice. I decided to log on again today to do some research about "dog friendly" landscape design, as well as to do some research about some mushrooms that have been showing up in our yard. Well, after reading this one post about another woman with some rather shall we say odd looking, mushrooms, I am rather thankful that mine look the way that they do, just like normal mushrooms. Here is a photo of one of the mushrooms in her yard...this is a real mushroom, not kidding, called stinkhorn. They just pop up overnight...er..no pun intended.

The "Newbies"

I'm starting some photo editing and found a couple snapshots of the newest additions to the family....could they be any cuter??

Horton Discourages Vacations...

So everytime we go away, little Horton seems to cause some trouble. Although, this round isn't as bad as him nearly killing himself by overdosing on prescription meds, he did manage to get into enough trouble that a vet visit is in order. He was slightly broken out from his food allergies before we left, but nothing really major, so we went on about our business. Well, Horton REALLY likes Riley's (my mom's dog) food. And of course, Riley's food is made up of everything Horton is allergic to. Despite that, he snuck back there one day and decided to help himself. Thankfully, my mom caught him red handed (er...pawed) before he managed to swallow too much. But, being that he was already broken out, this caused an even bigger breakout. So, off to the vet we go to get a cortisone shot. Our dogs are costing us some big bucks this month. Big Abe will be going in for a very minor surgery to remove a growth on his eye next week. I am just praying that he doesn't have to wear a cone. We did that once, and it was not fun (although it did prove for some comical moments).

Anyway, so here in the "human world", I got back from Canada yesterday and Jesse followed behind today. A very fast trip, and I've come back with a souvenir ten pounds. Mmmm...but it sure was tasty. Anyway, maybe I will post a picture or two after we have unpacked, although I am not sure if I have very many snapshots.

An Amazing Man

This is Bobaloo. I met him when I went to Kona to do my DTS. He would give me a hug every time I went through the line in the kitchen and he'd tell me "God is so good". After my time in Kona wrapped up, we wrote letters and e-mailed each other, and once again, he always ended the letters with "God is so good." Saying that is one thing, but Bob is a person who really believes it. I can't even remember how many pounds of tumors he has had removed from his body, and just recently, I learned that when he went in to have another one removed, they found cancer. It's all over him, especially in his lungs, and they believe it's too advanced to treat. I'm told in a few weeks, he will be gone. It's bittersweet news. He has had so much pain from all these tumors in his life, and other problems with his ankles as well, yet of all the people I have ever met in my life, he is the happiest. I honestly don't know of anyone with more joy than him, or more faith. In Kona, I remember when I was talking with him, my mind would often be not on the conversation, but rather I'd be staring at him in awe, wondering how in the world he managed to be so happy and believe so strongly that "God is good." So many times, I wished that I believed as strongly as he did, and that I could figure out how to have as much joy as he does. I still don't have a clue, but today I gave Bobaloo call. This is the first time we have actually spoken since I left Kona. It has always been e-mails or letters. Anyway, leave it to him. I asked "So, how are you doing?" And his immediate reply was "Good!" He hasn't changed a bit. I asked if he was in pain and he said he hurts a lot, but he still laughed just like he always used to when I told him that I was looking at a photo of him. We only talked for a couple minutes, and much of it was simply silence, but I'm glad I called.

When I was 19, my friend, Mike, died of cancer. I'm sad to say that I never visited him while he was sick, and I never called him. I wrote him a letter or two, but that was it. Mostly, I stayed away. I think that I just didn't believe he would die. We were so young, and picturing him so sick just didn't fit in my mind. I just knew he would get better and we'd see each other again and everything would go back to normal, but it never did. He passed just days before his 21st birthday. I'm sure he knew I cared, but looking back, it saddens me that I never faced it - faced him. And if I could do it over again, I would go visit and sit beside his bed, even if we couldn't talk, and even if all I did was cry next to him or sit awkwardly in silence. I'm sad that I will never get another chance with Mike. After experiencing that, I promised myself that I would never again stay away, that I would never be afraid to touch someone, and that I would never be afraid to reach out, even if my reach is shaky, akward, and small .