Working

Since I'm not getting the tons of work I need, I've been thinking of doing a bit more volunteer work. I've had two different opportunities come up. The first is for the local science fantasy club's 75th anniversary and they needed everyone's headshots for a yearbook. I said ok.

This club is geekiness at it's utmost. I have to admit that I do feel a bit superior in my coolness when I'm around them...if only by a fraction. I know I can't judge, I'm pretty nerdy myself. But I couldn't help but stand there with my mouth open when I heard someone say to a friend "You're a pain in my asteroid!" That is a direct quote and it wasn't supposed to be funny people...he was ser-i-ous! I laughed and then realized I was also a little envious of their comfort with their nerdiness. I sat and listened to conversations between people that I'm not sure was fully in english...so techie it was over my simple little head. I also heard conversations about worlds that sounded as if they were actually real places. These people are so convincing that they almost convinced me that these places were real.

And then the photo shoot was over. I walked out the front door and life was back to normal and as it should be. I left them talking about time travel, role playing games, and universal travel.

It's taken quite a few weekends to get it all photographed. I'm most of the way through editing the images, but some of the members need a little bit of help with photoshop. Spaghetti sauce stains all over the front of a shirt. If you know you are going to a photoshoot, shouldn't you maybe be careful with the sauce? The thing was, it wasn't just one person. There were a few people with some serious lunch on their shirt....oh well.

The second opportunity I have to volunteer is for Team in Training. From what I understand this Team in Training is made up of a bunch of local groups training for marathons for cancer. My friend Tracy has joined up with her chapter. It sounds very cool. The group teaches you how to train from beginning to end. The proper way to walk, best shoes to buy, how to fund raise, etc. The particular team I'm giving some time to is having a bachelor and silent auction. I'm trying to come up with some eligible bachelors and also offering a photography package to be auctioned off from my company. I'm very excited. It also gives me the chance to go to the auction and have a good time. My friend who is on the team is walking in honor of my Aunt Barbara, my Unclie Willie and my Mother-in-law Isabella...how could I resist donating some time! If you'd like to donate to Team in Training here is a link to Tracy's site.

Lint

I noticed something today. Actually I noticed it before and somehow proved it to be true again today. I was using a lint roller to remove the entire cat from my blouse. I rolled it all over my shirt. Looked down to see that I was clean. Put the lint roller away. Then went to the mirror to check my hair. It's then that I noticed that from the boobs down, my shirt was still covered in cat hair.

I do actually roll the lint roller over my entire shirt. I don't just wave around myself in vain. I work that thing! (Although it would be funny if some how I was just waving it around myself but never actually touching my shirt). I especially made sure to roll my entire shirt after I noticed this problem before. So I can only assume it's the lint roller being lazy "Don't bother getting the whole shirt guys, she can't see past her tits anyway!"

Heaven!

I don't think I've ever told you all this before, but I love Jamie Oliver. He's cute and he has the best cooking show. I love everything about that show. Some times he's cooking on the pizza oven outside, sometimes he's in a cute rustic kitchen, sometimes he's cooking in the middle of the garden. All the veggies, herbs and eggs are from his own yard and the meat is local. He makes everything look so easy. Pretty much everything he makes, I want to eat. I have the last season and a half on DVR and will watch them all the time. I tell you, I love this show. The photographer in me appreciates all the imagery. It's just a beautiful show all around.

I don't cook like he does, but I sure do try sometimes. My fresh herb sour cream sauce with lemon is inspired by his herb yogurt. I make his army carrots...yum. We've made his fresh onions with oregano and garlic, wrapped in foil and roasted on the fire. Of course Mario is dying to try his home-made BBQ sauce and I'd like to make his home made ketchup.

Now that I am growing my own veggies, we seem to have an abundance of fresh zucchini and UFO squash. The UFO squash in our backyard has gone crazy in the last two weeks and now we have a million little squash all over. They seem to stay pretty small. So I picked a bunch yesterday and attempted a Jamie Oliver recipe that I have been wanting to try for a very long time. Crispy Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Ricotta and Mint. Of course I did it my own way. I used left over herb cream cheese. However, it did have mint, fresh chives and parsley from our backyard.

Sorry, it's out of focus. Mario took the photo and by the time I noticed that it was out of focus, he had already eaten it.

I can assure you though, out of focus or not....so good! The squash was only about 2 inches, so it was nice and tender. Fresh herbs and of course everything is better with cream cheese! We then made a light batter and cooked her up. Heaven!

What's even better is the fact that my little squash plant has a ton more little squash on it! I can't wait! I might even invite some people over to partake!

Ain't He Cute!

Yesterday, we had a great picnic in the park with our friends. An awesome spaghetti picnic...I know, we're weird. It was perfect weather and we were in the nice little park. When I noticed this pretty little area under a tree. I decided it was perfect for a nice little photo. Only I couldn't get Mario's sister to pose for me...so we made Mario do it. He really puts up with us!

Well I put my question out to the universe and the universe answered loud and clear. Yes continue on your path of using all the world's chapstick!

Today after lunch Mario and I ran by the pharmacy to pick up his mother's prescription. As we were checking out, the pharmacist asked for my store membership card. I pulled it out and handed it over and she scanned it. They usually print out a bunch of coupons and I'm always curious what it's going to tell me I need. I'm pretty sure that when they scan the card that their super computer keeps track of everything you have ever purchased there and when. Because that super computer keeps track of when I get my period and is always right on track with a coupon for tampons. Actually there have been times when that computer has been pretty judgmental also, that bitch of a computer has spit out some coupons for diet pills. Not appreciated, oh psychic computer! But today, I was curious. We had just had lunch, so the diet pills could have been in the mix. But today, today I got the coupon of my dreams...a coupon for a free chapstick!

This was the universe telling me that it is perfectly ok to have this all consuming addiction to lip balm product or at least the CVS super computer is telling me this. And you can bet your ass I immediately handed her back the coupon and said hand over my chapstick lady! I'll be honest it is the store off brand. I'm not one to go off brand with my chapstick, but free won on this. And between original and cherry, I chose cherry. I'm a little ashamed of this but it really didn't overshadow the pure joy I felt as I walked out with my free chapstick.

Of course Mario's comment as we walked out of the store..."No better place to fulfill your addiction then at the pharmacy!" I'm sure the warning bells were sounding as we walked out. Next time I scan the card, the super computer will be spitting out a chapstick anonymous coupon.

Two Things I'm Worried About Today

My first worry is about chapstick. In the past I know I have confessed my addiction to the chapstick. I have always been very particular about the type of chapstick I use. I stick with the moisturizing. That's it. However, Recently I have noticed that I am willing to use any and all chapstick that I can get my hands on. Even the cherry flavored chapstick...and that just doesn't happen. Cherry flavor is the kid flavor that gets all goopy and always has sand stuck to it. Yet I am happy to apply it. I kind of feel like the alcoholic who's willing to drink mouth wash or rubbing alcohol to get their drink on. I kind of want to be worried about it, but on the other hand I'm really not willing to stop using the chapstick. So should I really worry?

Add this to my Christmas List people!

Second, I love tomatoes! I eat tomatoes like apples. Mario has finally come to terms with the fact that unless he makes tomato sauce when the tomatoes come through the door, there will not be enough tomatoes left for him to use.

Mario's friend brought a HUGE bag of home grown tomatoes on Friday. So, the amount of tomatoes that I have eaten since Friday is worrisome for sure. I have tomatoes for breakfast, tomatoes for lunch and some for dinner. I have also found out that Dexter takes after me in his love for tomatoes. He was climbing over me to get to the tomatoes that I was eating today. He would have had more if he could have willed me to go get more with his little cat mind. He loved them so much that I might have gotten him more, but I was worried about what might happen to his little cat bowels. And this is something that only occurred to me because, the amount of tomatoes that I have eaten is high enough to have affected my bowels...aren't you glad I told you.

Mmm Saturdays

Today is a bit confusing to me. It's nice in cool in my room where I'm hanging out relaxing and watching cooking shows...my favorite thing to do on saturday mornings. It's cool and it has that slight feel of fall. Now I know outside is way warmer and not at all fall like. But I'm happy to think it's fall because it's my favorite time of year and I JUST CAN'T WAIT FOR FALL! The other thing helping it along, and I can really appreciate him right now for it, is the ice cream man playing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" outside. Normally I would think he's off his nut, but today I totally appreciate it.

Another thing that makes me happy. The birds that our cat's torture have figured out where we live. So if you felt sorry for those poor birds that our cats have been hunting and bugging, rest assured the birds have been paying them back 10 fold. It's awesome. It really cracks me up. Dive bombing, squawking, following the cats around. We can hear them through out the day. I now know where Dexter is pretty much through out the day, I just listen for the birds. Don't think they don't torture Bob either. He's firmly on their radar too after bringing us his little gift a few weeks back. They sit right across from our door and squawk at them through the screen door. I love the stand offs. The cats want to go outside, but those birds are staring them down from the other side of the door. If the cats are outside they follow the birds follow them around the yard and chase them. I love it. The cats totally deserve it. Come to think of it, maybe this is why Dexter has been hanging out at home more. At least he's not out pissing of the neighborhood as much. Looks like nature has worked itself out.

Lost

I totally lost the entire day today. Most people have really good reasons they get side tracked. However, let me give you the lame run down on what happened.

I have been working on Mario's storyboards trying to get them resized and in a slideshow to go online. I've been powering through pretty well. I started off the morning full force. I was working through a really long story board. I had my glass of water next to me. Head phones on listening to my podcasts. I was focused.

Then it happened. One of the people said one thing. And that one thing started the end of the working day. He said one thing that was so intriguing that I had to immediately stop and look it up.

"I saw a picture of a girl who made a pair of men's underwear into a sports bra"

Yup, that did it. That's all it takes. Say some crap like that and I must see. So I located the video. And it was interesting. And she had a million more videos to watch. We know that she can make a sports bra from men's underwear. She can make a bikini from a pair of leggings. She made a dress and a skirt from a pillow case. She can make flip flops and sandals from tires and a pair of jeans. She made bathing suits, dresses, skirts, and other shirts from tshirts. Really, she's pretty amazing with what she can do. But I hate her also. She's the tiny hot exotic woman who can make a full dress from a SMALL TSHIRT!

They really are well made little videos. They're informative and cute, but all the cutesy modeling around by miss perfect butt is too much to take. Yet I still watched EVERY SINGLE ONE of her videos.

Then I moved on to this other how-to channel called "Thread Banger". It's a very cool hip web channel that has all sorts of cool tips and fun stuff. Personally I think it's way too cool for me to even be looking at. However, I was totally won over by a video submitter called "Knitta Please" I couldn't stop laughing.

I did have to cut myself off after a while. Once I get all these storyboards finished I'll probably spend an entire day watching this shit. Anyway, here is the video that started it all...

I just had this argument with Mario

Because I never paid attention in class, I never fully learned my liquid measurement conversions. I can guess pretty well, but when you have some bonehead throwing out random bits of info at the same time, it messes with you.

I have a gallon jug in one hand and a box of Crystal Light in the other.

Me "Ok it says mix each packet with 2 quarts of water. So two packets should do it for this one gallon jug"

Mario "Well I thought 2 quarts is a pint"

Me "What? Why would 2 quarts equal a pint? A pint is small"

Mario "Well, is the pint smaller or the quart?

Me "The Pint is smaller. But how many quarts are in a Gallon?"

Mario "Well ok, there are 4 pints in a quart"

Me "HOW MANY QUARTS ARE IN A GALLON?!"

Mario "Well if there are 4 pints in a quart, How many pints would be in a gallon"

Me "Mario I don't care about pints! I want to know how many quarts are in a gallon! I give up! I will look it up on the internet!....4 quarts equal a gallon. So yes two of these packets will make one gallon."

Mario "Yeah that sounds right"

Me "Are you trying to make my head explode?"


The thing is he was sitting there with his laptop on his lap the entire time. He could have looked it up at any time. However, I want to know why he has this fixation with the pints...who cares about pints!


PS...I'd like to mention that the best Crystal Light is from Mexico! My sister slipped me some from her mother-in-law's stash and it's way different. They use cane sugar instead of the aspartame(sp) stuff. If anyone is interested, I'll be starting CLight smuggling ring to bring the good stuff here!

Got my mind on my money and my mind is all over the place

Life... is pretty boring when you're broke. I've had some good shoots lately, I've been very happy about that. They've kept me busy and my confidence up. The only part that sucks...waiting for the dang checks! The client loved loved the work, gushed all over the place about it. However, I have to wait for the other photographer that was working there also to turn in his work, before I can really invoice her. Sounds weird, I know. She ordered a set package but I know she's going to order way more than what's in the package. It seemed silly to invoice her for the package and then invoice her again for the additional images. So now I wait for the other photographer to hand over the work. Hopefully he's on top of his shit...I needs my monies.

Water...I finally broke an obsessive habit. I went to bed without a glass of water! I know! I survived the night without my "blankie" I did, however, jump out of bed this morning and run for a glass of water. I was really thirsty ok? When I go to bed with a glass of water, it usually remains untouched. Go to bed without, wake up dehydrated.

Stupid...I've noticed something lately. I've been hesitant to mention it because it's just stupid. Here goes...I worry about being bored in the bathroom. When I jump up to run in for a quick trip, I actually have to stop myself from bringing in a book or my phone. It's not like I'm in there that long. I do keep a Sudoku book in there, just in case. However, even with the suduko book, I feel the need to bring in more entertainment. What is going on with me? I can entertain myself pretty well under normal circumstances. But what is it about being in that boring box of a bathroom that makes me want to bring in a laptop and three books? Do I really need to be entertained that much? Maybe the bathroom ghost is gone and now it's lonely? Maybe I need to make over the bathroom? Who knows. All I know is that I am fighting off that need to bring stuff into the bathroom with me.

Well that's is as exciting as it gets for me right now. Besides poking myself in the eye this morning, I've just been trying to drum up some photography work. This is when owning your own business is poop!

Until next time, here's a photo of Bob...