Midnight Conversations

Visiting with a whine and a rant

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:22:15 GMT

Once again, I reached my goal and I have a little time to come out and play. :-)

Not much has been happening here to be perfectly honest. I ordered and received all my prints for the print compassion test. If you are interested in the results and which ones ranked in the top three with some of my customers check out this link: Photo Developing.

Can I whine a second? I have a head cold or allergies that's kicking me hard! That's it, that was the extent of my whine.

Now I want to RANT! Grrrrrr

Before I start the rant, I'm going to tell you a bit about our animals. This will lead up to the rant. Sonny and I adopted ONE puppy. The reason being for one is cost of care and quality of care we could provide. This isn't to say if you have more than one animal you can't give them good quality in the care and love department. We just knew what we were capable of providing.

Kim has a cat, she struggles with the bills for this particular mischief making cat who gets himself into plenty of trouble. When he was under a year she ended up with a $700.00 vet bill when he tangled with a neighborhood dog.

We were all content with what we had in our home. Then one day my husband called from work about an old black lab with a woebegone look. The dog would eat whatever lunch scraps people at his job would share. He had for a week or so assumed the dog belonged to a coworker. Until he heard his manager say he'd like to clunk the dog over the head with a hammer. That is when he learned it was an abandoned old fellow in need.

Sonny called me and asked me to come get the old fellow. I did, with the agreement that we would find him a new forever home. Uh huh, right. His forever home is right here with us! When I saw sad face and the gratitude of being allowed into our home, I couldn't find another place for him. He belonged here.

He's a grumpy old fellow who snores, grunts and farts. Oh and he loves his hips to be rubbed. Heck, I like it too if I can get someone to do that for me! Most of the time he just sleeps and guards his food.

This was supposed to be it as far as pets were concerned. No MORE!

Do you see it coming?

A few days ago as I was driving home, Kim spotted this tiny little fur ball on the street. She made me stop. Sure enough there was this tiny little kitten who MIGHT be about a month old. He was scared as can be. Despite his efforts to get away from us, he didn't. I saw some kids half way down the block and asked them if it was their kitten.

No, they informed me that it had been abandoned by someone in a car and their momma told them there was no way they could bring no kitten home! Kim and I immediately put the kitten in my car, went to the store for some kitten food. I wasn't even sure if she/he is old enough to eat solid food. But, kitty ate and used the litter box. Whew.

Kitty hid and wasn't the most social little one. Can you blame him/her? Here it is in a home with a BIG black cat and two BIG black dogs? Oh and little kitty is a 'mini me' to Hunter - Kim's cat. Another black animal!

I told Kim we had to find a forever homefor the kitten, NOT to get attached. She's been pretty good about that. However, the kitten has decided it likes me and has slept most of the day on my lap or on my shoulder as I sat here working on photographs.

Earlier when I laid down on the sofa, kitty came and curled up with me and kept me company. :-) Yeah, I've fallen in love with this little one who was just thrown out to the streets. He's so tiny, a raccoon could've easily made a tasty dinner from him.

My rant? WHY do people just throw out animals like it's yesterdays newspaper?!?!? I'm pretty positive that the humane society would've found a home for this little one. It's criminal in my humble opinion. Due to their inhumane actions, I ... WE have been blessed with one more who is giving love unconditionally to us.

So, does anyone have any name suggestions for this adorable little boy/girl. Won't know until we see the vet next week.

Tags: photo developing, animal care, blog plugs,

I Should Post this in Mamarazzi

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:48:53 GMT

But, I'm not.

It's been two weeks already since I last wrote? WoW! It doesn't feel like it's been that long!

Hopefully time feels like it's flying because I'm busy and not because I'm getting old. :-P Probably a bit of both. ::sigh:: Still not wanting to accept that I'm getting "old" I certainly don't FEEL old. Okay, after a wedding I feel every muscle aching and yes, I FEEL old.

Seems I've attracted some attention from some of the "Big boys and girls" of photography. I received two e-mails about pricing. One stated that I wasn't charging enough and that I seriously need to increase my prices. The writer chastised me for lowering the prices of professionals.and proceeded to break down all the hours and expenses that I MUST account for when pricing my packages. Guess what, I DID that when I created my packages! :-)

The other photographer felt she had to write me and justify why SHE has to charge so much and that I must not be in the ranks of "professional" yet to be charging the rates I charge. I never said I was a "professional" I'd rather classify myself as journeyman level, last year I might have said apprentice. I'm growing and learning the business after all.

Are they contacting me because I'm now considered a threat to them? Okay, maybe that's just my ego wishing that?!?! :-P

I have a question for those who develop photos from digital cameras. WHERE do you go to get prints? Do you use an online service? Do you take the memory card to a local place? What places have you tried and liked?

The reason I asked is the other day I went and ordered one print (all the same photo) from a dozen different photo developers. I did this so I can compare the services, the quality and of course the price. I've always cringed before when people told me they went to Wal-Mart as I've had some really bad prints returned to me. I've found them to be inconsistent in the quality of print you get.

Do you always get what you pay for in the way of price? Can some of the lower end prices really be as good as they high end guys? Most of my prints come from a mid range location - and I've always been happy with the color, quality, price and customer service.

The places I'm testing are: Snapfish, Photomax, Shutterfly, RitzPix, Walgreen's, Costco, Wal-Mart, Bartell Drugs (local chain), Robi's (high end camera store), York, Clark, Winkflash and Mpix. Did I leave any out that I should try?

Would anyone be interested in the results I get? If so, Once I get all the prints I will do an entry and share what I think about the quality of the print, the prices and any additional notes.

Okay, my break is over. My 'boss' is telling me I need to get back to work. She is such a slave driver at times!

** On a serious note here. My thoughts and prayers are with those in the mid section of our country dealing with hurricanes and flooding.

Just Visiting

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:15:57 GMT

Yep, I stole the entry title from Martha's journal. Because it's coming into the busiest time of the year for my little business, which means I have very little to no time for online activities which of course includes reading/writing in the journals.

Should you ever be curious what I'm doing, you can check out my business blog by clicking HERE. (feel free to comment at the blog if you feel motiviated!)

We had an interesting senior portrait session over Memorial Day weekend. We were told he wanted his portrait done at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Now, I've been wanting/hoping to do an engagement session there. I wasn't sure HOW I'd approach a senior portrait there. After all Pike Place Market is ALWAYS crowded, and this being done on Memorial Day Weekend you KNEW there would be even more people.

The other question I had unanswered, did he want his portrait done with fish and flowers? All that was answered of course when we finally got to meet him. No, he didn't want any of the crowds/other people in his portraits, no he didn't want any of the recognizable areas of the market in his portrait either.

He took us down stairs, into little alleys and other little hidden corners of the market. We never felt unsafe as there were other tourist (though very few in number) milling around those areas too. This was all new stuff for Sonny and I and we LOVED it! We also found a gum wall - it had to take YEARS to get the way it is now. When I first saw the wall, I thought it was some kind of fancy mosaic tile wall.

Now to hit on some personal stuff going on in my life.

My daughter bought a car this weekend! Whoop hobo!! :-) Can you see me doing a happy dance? I know longer have to wake up early to take her to work - especially since I have to pick up Sonny from his job very late. I already feel like a new person in the few short days it's been since she's had a car.

Her attitude has changed dramatically too. She is once again a chatty Cathy, she smiles more and is just HAPPY to have her freedom again. I had been worried about her being depressed and down during the time she was without a car.

Oh, she got a 2001 Kita Spectra ... I think it's a dark gray color and it has a nice stereo system in it ... and yes, it has cup holders. LOL you know how important those items are to us women. As for the mechanics stuff - it checked out with Sonny.

My hair is almost all gray now. I think I can officially blame it on my boys. Maybe even a little on my daughter when she was without a car. However, the boys ... well, they have given me the most worries.

The oldest son is a cop in VA as some of you may or may not know. Recently he was attached by a pit bull dog during a drug bust. When he told me about the incident he told me he couldn't shoot the dog because the owner would've been in the line of fire too. Anyway, he's fine - minor injury to his hand.

Maybe a week or two later the same son was in a car accident. He had lights and sirens on and was T-boned at an intersection. He told me everything happened in slow motion, he saw the shattered glass flying past his face. It makes me shudder to think about what happened.

Just to back up a bit for some of my newer readers. My mom had been killed in an auto accident, her car had been T-boned too. She died instantly. Hearing my son tell of his car accident just brought all that back to me. All that pain. The girl that was driving the car that hit my momwas playing with her radio and not paying attention to the road. The guy who hit my son was on a cell phone not paying full attention to the road.

Anyway, I think my son must have an angel who is having to run at full speed to keep up with him and keep him protected!

The youngest son ... I've shed so many tears for him lately. I was going to link you to an old entry. However, I don't have time to find it so I will quickly refresh memories here. He married a friend of my older son's wife. It was to benefit him financially and to help her with medical costs as she had cancer. It was a business deal. Not one I approved of.

With time, they fell in love. I had never seen him so happy and totally in love. Everything he did was revolved around his wife. He worried about her health, he pampered her when she was ill, he ALWAYS wanted to be with her.

Then her dad got ill with cancer and was told he had no more than 6 months to live. She moved back home to care for him. Ryan went to visit, met her family and really liked her dad too. They were planning to have a "real" wedding in June for the dad.

While Ryan was out to sea, on his birthday ... his wife sent a text message telling him they were done. That she loved him but wasn't "in love" with him. Huh? And to do it over a text message ... on HIS birthday! Really!?!?!? I've never heard him sound so depressed and down before. He's usually my chipper non stop talker who will spend HOURS on the phone with me talking about anything and everything under the sun.

Lately, I get a few minutes to talk to him. He just doesn't want to talk to anyone. However, I must admit, the past two days he's been more talkative and I'm starting to see some of the old Ryan reappear. He told Kim last night that he is filing for the divorce, that it indeed is final. ::sigh:: It's the first time I heard that. He had been holding onto hope that it would still work out. Did I mention that she went back to a boyfriend who left her the day before they were to get married several years ago?

Last night on the radio they were talking about the 5 worst things a person can do ... excluding the illegal and immoral stuff. Number 1 on the list was breaking up with a person via text message or by e-mail. It's the cowardly way out.

Anyway that's some of what's happening around here. Most of the time, I'm at the computer working on photographs and business stuff. :-) Which is all GOOD. I'm saving to get another computer so we have two computers this way Sonny can help and I can get away from the computer a little more often.

This last weekend we bought a used riding lawn mower, making Sonny one happy camper! I actually saw Kim mowing a bit of the lawn and she had a pretty big smile on her face.

Anyway, it's off to work for me. I hope all is well with everyone. I still have alerts on and I've been lurking around every few days for an hour at most. I will continue to lurk and occasionally leave a comment saying "I was here".

Take care of yourselves and play nicely while I'm working! :-)

Making a Come Back .... (I wish!)

Sat, 17 May 2008 03:40:26 GMT

Earlier today on the AOL welcome screen they had an article about things you would like to see make a comeback. They showed the McDonalds fried apple pie on the teaser to get you to open the link and read the rest. A j-land friend of mine mentioned she preferred the fried apple pies and missed them. I was clueless. I don't think I ever had one until they were baked!

Obviously the fried apple pie is NOT on my list of things I'd like to see make a comeback. However, there were plenty of other things that I was saying "Ohhhhhhh YES!" to. Full service gas stations, where they come out, check your oil, tire pressure and fill your gas for you. WHEN and HOW did it all become self service? What about the seniors and handicapped people? I'm sure they would more than appreciate the return of this service. Customer service seems to be fading in all areas of life. ::sigh::

A few days ago I had to drive down to Portland, OR to pick up a new camera. :-) While there, I made sure I bought gas on the OR side of the border. Okay, the price was lower there. BUT, the BIG reason I wanted gas on that side of the border - they fill your car for you! Yes, I was tired and being lazy. I WANTED to be pampered a bit!

Something else I miss is Coke in an icy cold BOTTLE! Mmmmm. I swear it just seems to lose something when drinking it out of a plastic bottle. It also doesn't seem to stay as cold and taste as refreshing. Just my thoughts on the bottled drinks - I MISS them! BTW - you CAN recycle glass.

I wish I could remember what some of the other items were. My mind is fried this afternoon. Did anyone else read the list? If so, share what you remember!

What would you like to see comeback? What about something you NEVER want to see again?

Never again for me - polyester pant suits! Polyester period!

Dog House 4 Mom

Sat, 10 May 2008 01:57:45 GMT

Seems I'm a bad mom. At least I'm in the dog house ... AGAIN. The other day Kim wanted me to go to JC Penney's and check out this dress she is considering buying.

Wait, let me back up a wee bit. A few days before she bought this really cute little brown dress to wear to a wedding we will be attending. Okay, she will be attending as a guest, Sonny and I will be photographing the event for our niece as her wedding present.

Anyway, back to the first brown dress, it seems that the high heel shoes she has won't work. So, she NEEDS to either buy new shoes or a different dress. What to do, what to do!!! IF only that was the extent of our problems!

It seems I was supposed to go look at the new dress and tell her what she should do. I didn't. I didn't want to go to the mall, I didn't want to deal with people. I didn't want to do anything but spend some time at HOME.

My side of the story - Each morning I have to wake up and take Kim to work about 15 miles from home to the Army base. Then in the afternoon, I pick her up, drop her off at home or at the mall and then promptly take Sonny to work. Late at night (around 1 AM) Sonny will call and wake me up so I can pick him up from work. ALL the running back and forth is costing ME a lot of gas! I've been putting in $30.00 of gas every two days! (can you tell I'm NOT a happy camper?!?!)

*** Kim's car broke down several months ago. Sonny is SUPPOSED to fix her car ... however, with weddings, portrait shoots and bad weather nothing has progressed with the car repair. Then Sonny was in a car accident and he no longer has a car to drive. Nor can he drive because when he had the accident, his license had expired a few days before and the cop he got wasn't forgiving and threw the book at him. NOW he can't get his license until we pay about $2,000.00 in fines!

Then of course I have meetings, appointments, and shoots that I'm trying to schedule around the shuttles. Some days I just feel like I'm being pulled 101 different directions. Yesterday was such a day. I was at the point where I just needed to go home and chill.

She wasn't going to have any of that. Can we say SPOILED!?!? She gave me the silent treatment ... shhhh, I actually LIKED it! I was tired and crabby myself so, quiet was a good thing.

This afternoon when I picked her up from work she forgot about the silent treatment. ::sigh:: It was nice while it lasted! She was babbling a mile a minute about all the SIGHTS she saw at work. Uh huh, sure "the sights".

Then she started to ask "Mom, what did you ....." I turn to look at her only to see that her head is rotating in circles - almost like in the Exorcist. It was soldiers that was possessing her attention. What ever she was going to ask was forgotten!

As for me, I could only howl with laughter. I never knew how far a head could turn/rotate until this afternoon!

There was some good news today. Sonny had to go see the GI doctor for a follow up visit after he had an endoscopy and biopsy done. We were nervous yet staying positive. Sonny has a family history of throat cancer - however they were all smokers and Sonny doesn't smoke. Anyway, the results were given to us today. It seems that he had some "unusual" swelling and coloring. No cancer. WHEW! It seems he has allergies to some food.

Which is funny, as Sonny and I had already discussed that and we both were thinking along those lines before seeing the doctor. It's such a relief to know it's something controllable, now we just need to figure out what food or actually we are thinking it's a spice that is the culprit.

Anyway, that's some of what is happening over here. ::sigh::

Changes

Mon, 05 May 2008 00:08:55 GMT

Originally I had no intentions to write. Nothing is really happening. I miss my boys, I miss my granddaughters terribly!. Life goes on, as does work, all the non stop bills and the price of gas continues to go up. ::sigh::

However, something new happened this week. My daughter, Kim started a new civilian job at the local US Army base. She is very excited about this job. Not that I can imagine WHY she's so thrilled! ;-)

Previously she worked at a retirement - nursing home for the past 4 years. Her daily chores involved cleaning up poopy messes and dealing with very cranky older coworkers. None of her coworkers were in her age group, I think most were in their 40's and 50's.

A few weeks ago Kim's boss asked, "what would take to keep you here?" She knew Kim had been applying at several jobs. Kim told her that most of the jobs she was applying for paid $11.00 an hour. Right now Kim was making a whopping $8.90 an hour. The boss told her she couldn't give her that much but, would talk to HR. The next day, she told Kim they could offer her an increase and it would bring her to $9.00 an hour! Whoo Hoo - a DIME raise. Nope, that wasn't enough to keep her.

On May 1st Kim started her new job on the post and let me tell you she was so nervous, did she do the right thing? Her boss and coworkers made it sound like she was making a HUGE mistake. No more weekends off, heavy work loads, demanding mean bosses, and other horror stories.

When I picked her up after her first day, the first thing out of her mouthwas "Ohh My GAWD!" .... then she left me hanging as she slowly got into the car, fastened her seat belt and got out a piece of gum. HOW long was she going to torture me? Was it good, was it BAD?!?! This inquiring mind was dying to know ALL.

She slowly turns and faces me ... (FINALLY) with a HUGE smile and tells me she could do the job blind folded it was so easy! She gave some examples, she also liked that all her coworkers were YOUNG - all in their early 20's like herself. I LOVE that idea as she NEEDS to be around people her own age.

Then she starts telling me the REAL benefits of the job. It seems they have put my sweet innocent little Kimmie in the lodging for the single men. Through giggles she tells me about ALL the HOT young soldiers. Then how she sees them walking down the hall with just a towel on because the showers/bathrooms are not in each individual room but, one per floor.

Yes, she COULD do the job blind folded but, with those sights, WHY would she!?!? Why didn't I know about those jobs when I was her age?

*** Almost forgot, the new boss is really nice, she gets weekends off as they work rotating schedules, and the workload is LIGHT or EASY. Maybe if her former coworkers had actual experience they would know the truth. Shhh, Kim's not telling!

Thank-You Betty!

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:06:20 GMT

Before I go any further, I wanted to publicly thank Betty for plugging ... pimping my Mamarazzi journal in Magic Smoke as the guest editor. I'm not very good at this - getting attention, that may very well be why I loved photography. I could be around others yet, I was "hiding" behind a camera. I belonged there if for nothing else to document what was happening.

It had all started with my high school journalism class, I wanted to be a writer. It was in effort to impress my dad who had at one time been an editor for the New York Times. However, the teacher felt differently and wanted me as a photojournalist and handed me the camera. At first, I'll admit I was mad that I was shoved off with a camera, I wanted to WRITE. Of course, now I realize it was a true blessing what the teacher did as I certainly can't write.

After my first day out with the camera, I quickly became hooked and addicted to the camera. Maybe it wasn't for the right reasons in the beginning. See, I, a very young teen, was sent to baseball, basketball and football games and swim meets where all the good looking cool guys were. I got to photograph them, I was part of the "crowd". Even if in reality I wasn't. They never noticed the terribly shy girl behind the camera.

During my junior/senior year in high school my teacher submitted some of my work in effort to help me get a scholarship for college photojournalism program. Due to circumstances I didn't get to go despite being offered some scholarship program. At that time, I wanted to join the Navy - again it was in effort to impress my dad who had served several years before having to retire due to medical issues. I never did join and that is another story for another time!

Several years passed with no camera and I just floundered around trying to find my place in life. Met a man (using the word loosely), married him and had three beautiful children. I got another camera and once again fell in love with my camera as it preserved my own memories of my precious babies. I remember showing people my babies and most often I had compliments on the photo then my baby! WT ... ! I was showing off my babies!!

Many of you know the rest of the story, others may not, so some of this is a repeat for some who come and visit me. About 5-6 years ago I met and married Sonny. His sister and her daughter (niece) were impressed with my photography and asked if I would photograph the nieces wedding. I said "NO WAY!" I could just imagine the rift if I screwed up on such an important day Eventually, I was "bribed" with the offer of a "big" memory card for my new digital camera.

I immediately started studying the work of other wedding photographers online. Saw things I liked, didn't like and then I went to the wedding prepared to do my best. I wasn't prepared for the adrenaline rush, the excitement of the day, and once again getting totally hooked and LOVING what I was doing. It was that moment that I told myself "I'm going to become a wedding photographer!" I didn't know HOW but, I knew it was in my future!

In fact I even contacted several photographers asking if they need an assistant (even offering my services for FREE) in order to learn the business. One photographer met up with me and asked me to bring the photos I had taken. He looked them over slowly and said I needed to show enlargements of my photos. I had a little album with 4x6 prints. What he said was something about the photos being good but, I really needed to make them BIG to impress prospective customers. He didn't hire me as I had hoped. But, that's okay, I made it on my own!

Anyway, this was supposed to be ashort entry in Mamarazzi to thank Betty. Once I realized how long winded I got (see I can't write!) I decided I'd bring the entry over to my chatty journal. Now I'm going back to Mamarazzi as I have a beautiful photo of my oldest granddaughter to share. :-) Did I mention I REALLY miss my family in VA?!?!?

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:15:31 GMT

We are home. I wish I could say it with enthusiasm, I can't.

While I was worn out and in need of a quiet day, I also find I miss the smiles, the hugs and those busy little hands of my granddaughters that get into EVERYTHING!

The flights were good, in fact so good that Kim, Sonny and I all have a new favorite airline! We were impressed with the cheerfulness and the customer service provided by the employees at Continental Airlines. It was an airline that I rarely had to call on for problems on behalf of my customers when I worked at Expedia. After our flights, I fully understand why.

Sonny had to return home early and his return flights were on another airline. I'm sure Bridgett's husband Doug will know if I just say it was thee worst airline we had to deal with. Sonny's first flight was delayed by a couple of hours which meant he wouldn't get into his connecting city in time for his next flight. So, I told him go to the check-in counter outside of security (get a way from the long line at the gate wanting to make changes) They provided him new flights for the next day.

On Monday morning we took Sonny back to the airport at 5 AM. He had a mini tour of the USA - with stops in DC, Phoenix and finally to Seattle. He got into Seattle around 6 PM - which was 9 PM on the east coast. It only took him 14 hours to get from one end of the country to the other. He wasn't done yet! He went from the airport to work and around 2 AM (5 AM Eastern Time) he was finally home in bed. That of course was a full 24 hours after we dropped him off at the airport in Norfolk!

Kim and I returned on Continental Airlines and were once again fully impressed, meaning our first flights weren't a fluke. Oh and I learned something! I used to chew gum when landing to help alleviate the ear pressure/pain. However, I learned Lifesavers or any hard candy is a hundred times better!

We all had our first experience with Amtrak. I've been on trains in Europe but, never here in the states. Unless you want to count commuter trains and I don't count them. We LOVED the comfy seats that reclined, the leg room, and of course the meal car was handy. What I enjoyed was watching the scenery and some of the small towns.

What I didn't like was that our train was delayed about 3 hours and waiting at the train station in the most uncomfortable seats. We didn't want to stray far from those uncomfortable seats as we didn't know when our 'delayed' train would depart. Information provided was minimal. IF I had known it was going to be that much of a delay, I think I'd have gone out and checked out the Botanical Gardens or even the Postal Museum right across the street from the station.

The other form of transportation we had to deal with ... cars of course. But, we had "drivers". One driver has training with the police department and personally, I preferred keeping my eyes closed so I didn't have to see and so I could PRAY! He's always had a bit of a lead foot.

The main focus of this trip wasn't to see sights but to see our precious grandchildren and my two sons. It was a good thing it wasn't our main focus as we would've been terribly disappointed. Our first time in DC had been a weekend visit, with minimal crowds and we were more interested in looking at the monuments than going to several of the museums.

This time we wanted to take in more of the museums that we didn't get to see on our first trip. Several that were of interest to us were closed for refurbishing and those that were open had HUGE school field trip crowds that were overwhelming and spoiled the experience.

Our visit with the granddaughters didn't disappoint! We didn't know how they would react to us, if they would be accepting of us or would they be shy and have nothing to do with us. The word grandma meant nothing to them but Amelia seemed to understand the term daddy's mommy. They both seemed to know that even though they didn't know us that we loved them. After a couple hours they were cuddling up to us like they had known us all their lives. That alone made it the best possible visit!

Now I just wish I didn't miss them so darn much, not just my beautiful granddaughters but, also my two son's and their wives.

See Ya Later! :-)

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:09:53 GMT

Time to pack and move on out the door! Hope everyone remains healthy while we are away. I've turned off the journal alerts while we are away. I've put away the "problems" of the entry below. I'm ready to go be grandma! See you all at the end of the month - maybe before from my son's computer. :-) And IF I do pop in, it will most likely be over at Mamarazzi with photographs only.

Little Bit of This .... Little Bit of That

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 04:00:53 GMT

The good news - Ryan has made his flights from VA to MI safely. No delays, no problems and he didn't fall asleep in the terminal while waiting for his flight. Yes, he's done that before and missed his flight because he was sound asleep just feet from the boarding gate! No, I don't let him forget that either!! :-P

The bad news - we finally did our taxes. All I can say is OUCH, it hurt! They didn't use lube or anything when .... yeah.

More bad news. Sonny was in a car accident the other day. We are now down to ONE vehicle for the three of us again. The good news - Sonny is okay! So is the person in the other car. No personal injuries. The bad news - I get to drive everyone around. New job title for Monica - Taxi Driver. Whoo hoo. NOT! Sonny gets off work at 1:30 AM and Kim goes to work at 5:30 AM. I'm one tired cookie.

Other news. Not sure if I should say anything yet or not. But, I really need some positive thoughts/prayers. On the first of April Sonny had to go to the urgent care clinic because he had a piece of beef stuck on his esophagus. They had to do an endoscope that day and blow out the chunk of meat. Lovely, I know.

Well, a few days later we got several calls - 5 to be precise asking if we made a follow up appointment, have we talked to his PCP ... and that it was important that we made an appointment as they need to discuss the biopsy. Huh? Biopsy? And you are going to leave us here HANGING!?!? So, we don't know what's happening.

I mentioned it to Sonny's mom because I was concerned after so many calls. She started to cry and told me her dad had died from cancer to the esophagus. That her dad was always choking on things. Sonny doesn't smoke, never has. Her dad was a heavy smoker. So, I don't want to jump to conclusions.

*** The appointments with the specialist have been made for the first day home from our trip.

Besides Sonny promised me LOTS of years together! So, I'm thinking positive and saying my prayers.

Good news ... we leave in a couple of days for DC/VA. I NEED the time away from problems and debt. I NEED baby hugs and kisses. I NEED to just be grandma for a bit.