Happy Halloween!

Mood: Rattled

I just had some dumb kids ring my doorbell. It's 10:40pm! If I didn't worry about retaliation I would go out and give them a piece of my mind. The last thing I want to do tomorrow would be to clean up toilet paper from my yard or wash eggs off my car.

Today was fun. I didn't get to do my costume like I had wanted. I ran out of time the night before. I guess that's what I get for waiting until the last minute.I wore some pink glittery makeup and a purple wig I had bought. Combine that with my orange Halloween t-shirt and people thought I was pretending to be a vikings fan (which was fine with me). I got tired of people asking what I was suppose to be and my not having an answer. I didn't realize you had to BE something for Halloween. I've always just used it as an excuse to dress silly. I think next year I'm either going to be the Queen of Hearts or Strawberry Shortcake. I've been the latter I don't know how many times. Of course, all those times were before my age hit double digits...

Our client's "Fun Committee" always does cute little things for the holidays. This time we played "Scary Bingo", "Pumpkin Golf", decorated our group cubicles and dressed up in costumes. Today they announced we had to decorate pumpkins they set out with items we had in the areas for each of our teams. Our team was a little slow going but we ended up having fun. Apparently though when they said we had to use "items from our areas" the meant office supplies. There was only one team (the winner) that didn't use something additional. I mean, we spend more time at the office than we do our own homes so of course we have extra stuff up there. We had fun doing it nontheless. I guess we'll know for next year!

An update, a doodle and the source

Mood: Tired


First and foremost I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who offered up prayers for my SIL, Cindy. I am very happy to say she is doing much, much better. She is responding well to her meds and the doctors said there was not any extensive damage done to her kidneys. She is still in the hospital but will hopefully be released in the next day or so. The doctors seem fairly confident that if she sticks with her meds, keeps herself healthy and avoids major stress she should be able to keep the Lupus under control.

I was bored the other day and happened to doodle this particular atc by Carol Schmidt aka Monarch on AFA (pic posted with permission). I even went so far as to watercolor it. Why I can't come up with ideas for doodles is beyond me but hey, whatever gets you creating right?
I think it turned out looking very similar to the card with the exceptions of the extra flowers I added. I do think it needs a little more oomph but I'm not sure I'm going to mess with it. In fact, I don't think I will ever put it in my WIP pile. It's going straight to my completed drawer. I have got to teach myself to be done and move on.

Guess Who's Coming for Dinner?

Mood: Frustrated

I decided to take part in a monthly challenge called Embrace the Face. Each month you are given a theme which you must use in your piece along with someone's face. This month's theme is "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?". My piece went COMPLETELY opposite from what everyone else entered. I'm not saying that's a bad thing I just wonder if people will think I'm a little "off".

Throughout my teen years I lived with a severe drug user. The household was very abusive to say the least and the theme for this month immediately hit home for me. It brought to mind the feeling of walking on eggshells. At home you never knew which personality you were going to see. Personally I preferred the "high" one. As long as there were drugs available he was never at home and mother seemed almost happy.

Anyway, this piece represents the two extremes. It didn't come out quite like I had hoped it would. I wanted the background darker and the words and face to pop more. I also wanted to frame it but I couldn't get a hold of the type of wood I wanted. I think I will revisit this piece later. For right now I think it will go in the stack of my WIP.

WIP - An Angel to Watch Over You

Mood: Tired

I have been stuck on this piece for a while. I started doing it a while back and then I bought the new book by Rachel Rae. I noticed the background technique looked extremely similar to what I was doing and I didn't want people to think I was copying. So, down on the floor it sat for a few months.

The specialists finally came in to see Cindy this afternoon. They confirmed she does in fact have Lupus and that it is in her kidneys. They also said the bleeding and swelling from her legs and feet was a common symptom from it and it meant that she wasn't on strong enough medicine. So they prescribed her stronger steroids and also gave her another prescription. She is expected to stay there for at least another three days for observation.

I came home from work today and looked at the painting and decided to finish it. I wanted to send it to Cindy. I didn't quite make it that far but I got pretty far for as slow as I normally go. You can tell I used some of the background techniques in Rachel's book. I'm not sure how I'm going to be finishing out the dress. I'm still deciding on the color at the moment.

Prayer Request

Mood: Worried

I'm not one to post prayer requests. I tend to think everything happens for a reason and in the order it's suppose to so I try not to mess with things too much. This is going to be one of those exceptions. My sister-in-law, Cindy just graduated high school this year and turned 18 in October. I've known her since she was 12. Watching her grow up I'm come to care for her a great deal. Cindy has always been affectionately known as the "lazy" and "popular" one. If you can't find her she's either on the phone or asleep. It's just the way it is.

These past couple of months have been extremely hard for her. Last year (Has it been that long? I can't remember) she started getting sick and had a rash showing up. She's had trouble with the rashes for a while but it was worse this time. She said when she got her rashes her joints hurt really bad. So she went to the doctor and got tested and was told she was allergic to citrus and that she had a skin condition which she was given daily medication to take care of. Fair enough...

She let herself get really run down a couple of months back. I mean SICK. She was working 70 hours a week trying to make money to pay for her apartment and was saving money to go to school. She started hurting bad enough the doctor did some more testing for her joints. They told her she possible had rheumatoid arthritis. More testing happened and they changed their minds. She was diagnosed with Lupus. For those of you not aware it's an autoimmune disease that basically attacks your body. She was taking medication for it and letting her body rest and she was doing fine.

This past Saturday her feet started to swell. She said it "looked like Fred and Barney's (from the Flinstones) feet when they hit them on something". Red, purple and swollen. She said it hurt pretty bad. I'm not sure why she wasn't taken to the doctor then. By Sunday morning her feet were oozing blood from their pores. She was at the hospital in Carlsbad but she was then transferred to a hospital in Lubbock. By the time she was admitted yesterday afternoon in Lubbock the blood was coming out of the pores in her calves too.

Come 4pm today she was still waiting for a specialist to come in and see her. They have her pumped with saline and her legs seem to be looking a little better. Hopefully the doctors can give some explanations. Right now, all we can do is wait.

Please say a short little prayer for her.

Mood: Anxious

Geez, I have so much stuff to do today. I need more time! Actually what I need is to stay off the computer. I would probably be amazed how much time would be freed up. I have to go shopping for some dress clothes today. I DO NOT like shopping for clothes, especially right now. I'm not having to shop because I just need more clothes I'm having to shop because I have gotten too big to fit into last winter's clothes. Ugh, everyone warned me *Once you get close to thirty your going to start gaining weight and not be able to get rid of it.* They were right, damn it.

I've been working on the class for Wyanne this weekend. I'm on step four or five (I can't remember). We put our first canvas aside for now and have started to work on one where we collage and paint the background first. It's looking a little better now. The stage where I took this pic is just hideous! It was really fun getting there though. Up to the point of the pic we used acrylics, alcohol and napkins. I plan to finish the video I started last night sometime today. I'll post a progress pic when I'm done.

Guess what I did last night!

Mood: Chipper

Oh, yeah! R.E.M. baby! I was so completely stoked! I wanted to get tickets when they first announced they were coming to town but couldn't afford them. So I settled with not going. You don't have much a a choice when you don't have tickets, right? One of my co-worker's (D.)relatives works for a company that has a suite at the Nokia Theatre. D. gets free tickets if there are any leftover for the shows there. I found out D., her husband, her friend and her husband were going so I was giving her a hard time. I wasn't being mean spirited about it, just envious. She knew I was just teasing her.

Anyway, yesterday D. found out her friend's baby was sick to so they weren't able to go and she was left with two extra tickets and a parking pass. Well, guess who got invited? You betcha! When Cory and I got there we were surprised at how much older a lot of the people were there. I thought R.E.M. was for my generation but I guess they really must have been for the generation before mine. As soon as they thought R.E.M was coming onstage the crowd started to rush the stage (see pic. It's a little grainy, sorry). It cracked me up! Who would have thought this was the type of concert where people were doing that.

I was really surprised when I saw R.E.M. had their own graphics person there to edit the background screen on the spot. It's the first time I've seen that done. I'm glad they did it too. It added a lot of interest to the concert. Of course, my favorite thing was watching the lead singer dance. He has always had such a quirky style. It makes it fun to watch. They sang a lot more songs from their upcoming album then I would have preferred them to but you have to expect that when an album was coming out.

They didn't sing "Stand" or "Shiny Happy People" but they did sing "What's the Frequency Kenneth" and "Orange Crush". They finished off with our wedding song "It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" and my favorite song "Man on the Moon".

He said this will be the last time they come through Dallas. I'm glad I got to see them. It was a great concert!

The Shack

Mood: Bored

I finished reading The Shack this week. It was a really quick read. Part of it got a little preachy for my taste in reference to Jesus but the rest of the book made up for it in my opinion. It's not a book to read if you are not open minded about religion in general.

I really enjoyed reading the author's -err- character's view in regard to the different types of religions out there today and how he thought they should be handled. It talks of Christianity but from my perspective of it's more from an agnostic view point in the fact that it doesn't matter what God you believe in as long as you believe in God. I guess that's why I related to the book so well. I thought his depiction of God was very unique as well. I can't really say more without giving away the storyline. I would certainly recommend it to others.

WIP/Beautiful Day

Mood: Groggy

EDIT: I am working on frames for my pictures so I will be reposting this since it's the last post with pictures. Sorry to all the subscribers for the duplicate!

I had wanted to post this stuff last night but I instead went to bed with a headache. I have developed a heck of a head cold and it seemed to come out of hiding. I must have gone through an entire box of tissues at work.

I started Wyanne's Mixed Media with the Girls class and I'm really enjoying it so far! I think it's interested how she does girls in her paintings as well but uses completely different techniques than SuziBlu. I'm happy with how my first painting is turning out for the class. I've never free handed flowers before. We were suppose to use a template to draw the girl but I didn't want my stuff to look like everyone else's. It's on an 8 x 10 canvas panel. I didn't gesso the canvas before I started sketching my girl and I am wondering if that's why I had such a hard time getting the pencil mark to erase.

The weather yesterday was absolutely beautiful! It's time like that I wish I worked somewhere where we could open the windows. There was a mild breeze blowing and you could hear the birds just a chirpin' away. I have seen two monarch butterflies (big ones too!) in as many days. They immediately made me think of Jean from AFA.

When I was driving to lunch there was this man giving his golden retriever a ride in his car. It was so adorable! You could see the dog was belted in but he was leaning as far as he could out the window just taking it all in. This site instantly made me smile. If I could have taken a picture of it I would have.

I had meant to post these pictures a couple of days ago. They are from last Thursday when the weather was overcast. I first noticed the bumper andthen noticed the plates. WTF! I tried to get some decent shots but I was driving and then the woman in the truck noticed I was taking pictures of her bumper. Since we were about to stop at a stop light I thought it best to put the camera up since the owner didn't look too happy with me.

Dream

I had odd dreams last night. Most of them were garbled and incomprehensible once I woke up. I did remember this one though...

I stopped at a nail salon for a pedicure. There were no other customers in the salon and a teenage girl (maybe early twenties) minding the counter. I asked her for the price of the pedicure and she told me it was $90. I asked why it was so high as most places charge $40 -$50. She said they needed the money to keep the store open. I told her I would also need a french manicure as I new those normally cost a little extra. She said Lisa would have to do it (whoever that was).

I told her it was too much. She went to the register and printed out an itemized receipt. $45 for the actual pedicure, $4 for rings, $3 for regular nail polish painting and several other charges which now that I thing about it didn't add up to the price she quoted me. I asked what the rings were that I would be charged for and she told me they were three gold toe rings. I didn't ask for toe rings! I told her I couldn't spend that amount of money and it looked like I broke her heart.

This is when I woke up.

Busy, busy, busy

Mood: Pooped

This weekend was a busy one for me! The weather was gorgeous! I got a lot more done than I thought I would. Saturday I cleaned up the house, packages up a swap, watched the new Indiana Jones movie (which is A LOT better than I expected it to be), worked on a couple of art journal pages while I watched the movie, worked on a few paintings and went shopping at a couple of art stores. I have two paintings done, I just need to add the finishing touches. I have three others almost done and I hope to complete them next weekend.

I signed up for my Etsy store. I need to get the store front and all that jazz fixed up. I also want to get more work done before I start selling things (or attempting to anyway). I think it looks better when you have a pretty good selection versus have one or two items up. My motivation stemmed from signing up for another class this weekend. I'm not talking about the Michelle Brown Watercolor Class. I mean in addition to. Someone on AFA mentioned it and I had to check it out. It looks really interesting so I went ahead and signed up. It's called Mixed Media With the Girls by Wyanne Thompson. I'm on video three right now. It's along the same lines of what I am already doing but she teaches different techniques.

Today was just as busy for me as well. I got absolutely no art work done. We did our usual weekly trip to Wal-Mart for groceries and then I decided I was going to purge and organize my craft room and finish organizing all the donations people sent in for the AFA monthly atc contest. I'm still not done. I don't know if I'm even halfway done with my craft room. It looked like a cyclone went through it once I started taking stuff out. I cannot believe how much stuff I have.

Tagged...Again!

Mood: Giggly


I got tagged twice in one week. This time it was by Karen of Purplecat's Corner. She does all sorts of lovely mixed media paintings and recently opened up an Etsy shop. You should check her site out if you get the chance.



My six random facts:

1. Patience is not one of my virtues.
2. I have allergies out the wazoo. I take weekly allergy shots and use nasal sprays, decongestants and allergy pills daily.
3. I am terrified I have left the iron on each morning when I am leaving for work. Sometimes I have to check a couple of times before I leave.
4. I have a quick temper. It tends to get amplified when I get behind the wheel of a car.
5. For some reason I cannot throw out my water bottles when I get done with them. I don't know why. Each week I collect armfuls of empty bottles from my craft room to put in the recycle bin for trash day.
6. I proofread for a living but for some unknown reason I cannot get a blog post right without editing it five or six times. *My apologies go out to all subscribers to my blog*

My new victims, err, taggees:

• Katie of Mixed Up
• Lisa of Vintage Glimmers
• Patti of MyArt4U2C
• Arlene of ArtDeMe
• Kati of Adventurous Mixed Media Collage Creations

Cell Phones, Rain and Rainbows

Mood: Mixed Emotions

I'm not quite sure how to feel right now. Cory was driving home in the rain and called me at work from his cell phone. He knows how I feel about him driving and talking on the phone, ESPECIALLY in the rain. Well, sure enough he hangs up with me, looks up and everyone has slammed on their brakes. He said his only choices were to jump the curb or plow into the back of some hybrid car. He chose the first rather than the latter.

He jumped the curb, went over a downed aluminum light post and landed in a ditch. Thankfully he wasn't hurt. Surprisingly enough neither was his truck. He was able to get out out of the ditch thanks to four wheel drive and it only threw his alignment off a little bit. Easy enough fix considering he's a mechanic.

I found out he was alright, fussed at him a little bit, laughed at him because he can't hold my last accident over my head anymore and fussed at him a bit more. Will he listen? Please. Maybe he will at least consider a Bluetooth now.

On a lighter note, check out the pics I got today! There is the giant tub by the outside doors of my office that is always overflowing with flowers. After the rainstorms there are tons of buds scattered across the ground. An how about this?!? Double rainbows! You don't see that everyday.

The Shack

Mood: Antsy

I had heard really good things about a book called "The Shack" from some of the jurors a couple of weeks back and several other people since. I saw it at Barnes and Noble last week but decided against it since it was in the "Religious" section. I'm not one for books that shove God down your throat. However, since then, several people assured me it wasn't that type of book.

Borders had it on sale yesterday so I went ahead and bought it. I started reading it yesterday and I am already almost halfway through it. Up to this point it has mainly been the background story of the main characters situation. It's just now really getting to the God part. The author has a really interesting perspective on it! I think the book may also account for a couple of things in my dream from last night. That's what I get for reading right before I go to bed!

So far, I'm really happy with my purchase. I hope to finish the book this week. The author has a website specifically for the book: The Shack Book. It lets you read the first chapter.

On another note, I got tagged again last week. I've been trying to come up with facts about myself and trying to find people that haven't already been tagged. So far, it seems my blog circle and I all read the same blogs! I will try to get it done early this week.

Dream

I didn't sleep well last night. I tossed and turned and could not get comfortable. It was also the first time I remember dreaming in a long, long time.

I dreamt about him. He was doing things he shouldn't and my mother wouldn't stand up for me. My grandparents (who oddly enough were Ronald and Nancy Reagan) came to visit and found out and said they would give me money so I could get out of the situation. I then got a phone call from my middle brother. The line was so full of static I could barely make out what he was saying. He asked if I remembered the band he was in. I told him I did and he said he got invited to attend some Music Awards overseas but he had to call me back later. He couldn't talk then.

I told my grandparents of the conversation and then I was in the living room at my real grandmothers house sitting there with my oldest and youngest brother. I tried to tell them of my phone call but they wouldn't stop talking to listen. I gave up. Next thing I know I'm in what's suppose to be my grandmothers kitchen cutting up grapes with a butcher knife. I'm not sure if I started coming into consciousness or what but it was like I knew the Reagans weren't my grandparents. That I knew it was a dream. I asked my mother in a question that was pretty much a statement if my grandparents on her side of the family were dead. She said they were.

I dream about something else afterward but this is all I can remember.

Tagged!

Mood: Thrilled

It's the first time for my blog to get tagged! Maybe I will eventually get one of those I Heart Your Blog Award thingy too. I think those are really cool as well.

So moving on to business - I've been tagged by Anne of Gaal Creative. Her blog is a mixture of crafting and photography. She recently signed up for the Suziblu Mixed Media workshop.

The "Rules" for being tagged:

• link to the person who tagged you
• list 6 random things about yourself
• tag 6 new people
• let each tagged person know by posting a comment on their blog
• link to the 6 people you've tagged
• and let the person who tagged you know that you posted

Soooo, without further ado, here are my six random facts!

1. I love cake - any and all. My favorite is chocolate on chocolate.
2. When I go to sleep at night my feet have to be under the covers. Otherwise, the Boogey Man gets them.
3. I get bored very easily and quite frequently.
4. I got a sewing machine for my birthday two years ago and I still have no idea how to use it.
5. I manage to kill any plant I touch with the exception of a cactus and bamboo.
6. I could eat Mexican food seven days a week if my husband let me. I have been banned many, many times.

I'm tagging these 6 people, in no particular order:

• Sandy of My Own 'Lil World
• Karin of Beyond Word's
• Teri of Texas Teri's Tales
• Debra of Goatgoddess's Weblog
• Linda of Just My Little Bit
• Cheryl of A Smiling Girl

She Sleeps/My Book Has Arrived

Mood: Sleepy

My mood is fitting for the name of the piece isn't it? Around 8:30 this evening my headache finally went away enough for me to do something other than wallow in self pity on the couch. I watched Smallville (one of my guilty pleasures) and drew this little lady. I guess you could saw it was sort of a self portrait? Well, except for the fact I had clothes on, heehee. I used the new oil pastels I bought and a technique I read about on the Internet. I'm not sure how I like this technique but I will probably play with it a few more times. I like the bold colors of just layering the pastels on top of each other in thick layers. With this piece I used a Q-tip to blend each thin layer into the other. I think it will take me a little bit of time to get used to the difference in colors in this new set too. Some of them are similar but others are not so much. I am really happy the new set doesn't crumble when I use them! Big plus in my opinion! I was able to do this drawing without getting flecks of other colors everywhere (including my couch, which Cory is FINALLY through being mad over the stencil paint incident!)

Speaking of self portraits the book I ordered came in at Barnes and Noble today. I was getting so impatient waiting on it! It's called Mixed Media Self Portraits: Inspiration and Techniques. I only read a couple of pages so far but it looks really good! I plan to take it to work tomorrow and read it on my lunch break if I don't end up taking a nap instead (been having trouble staying awake lately). There are several artists whose blogs I follow that have contributed to the book. The people who have reviewed it said they have really enjoyed the book so far.

Let the layoffs begin...

Mood: Glum

My company laid off it's first employee today. I'm not happy about it at all. Not necessarily with the fact there was a layoff (everyone knew that was coming) but more so with who got laid off. I do not think this person should have been the first to go. She was dependable, had a good attitude and her loans were clean. Unfortunately, I'm not the one who makes those decisions so there's not much to be done about it. I do hope she lands on her feet, she has children and Christmas time is coming up. Hopefully she will be able to find another job quickly.

This and That

Mood: Grrr...I have a headache

Sloooooow day at the office today. So slow in fact I was able to complete two oil pastel drawings and start a third. I just LOVE oil pastels! They are so creamy! Plus, it helps me get past my obsessiveness for perfect drawings since I can't get the detail I want. I'm sure I could if I really tried but I am kind of liking the lack of detail. It helps me focus more on shading and contours. The only complaint I have about my oil pastels is they crumble (for lack of a better word) when I use them. They are the Loew Cornell brand I got at Hobby Lobby for four bucks. I wasn't expecting miracles when I brought them and they have certainly served their purpose. I was reading online that if they are crumbling it means they are old. So, I bought some Cray-Pas Oil Pastels when I was Michaels today getting some sealant. I plan on playing with them tomorrow on my lunch break. Hopefully they will less crumbly. The article I was reading said they are suppose to be a better quality too.

Poor Hailey is finally through being mad at me. She decided she was going to run out the front door this weekend! Not a good thing for a declawed cat to be doing! Needless to say she is now wearing her collar again. She's been walking around the house like I put some sort of torture device on her. At first she acted almost like she was paralyzed and wouldn't move. Then she started trying to lick it off. Three days later I think she's finally gotten it into her head it's not coming off and is back to following me around the house expecting pets.

Speaking of Hailey, do you see what I have to put up with everytime I sit down at my desk? I literally have to type AROUND her! Try as I may I cannot convince her the pet bed I bought for her is better than laying half on and half off of my desk.

I started working on my Embrace the Face Challenge Entry. I don't want to show it until it's further along. I got the majority of the shading done yesterday (at work) and now I need to start working on the background. It's getting a great reaction from my coworkers and it's very encouraging! I hope to be able to finish it up this weekend. I doubt I will but I can always hope.

I am having a horrid, horrid time finding a place to meet-up this Sunday that is somewhat centralized. I had no idea so many places were closed on Sundays! Thanksfully the majority of the people said they could make it for Saturday instead so that frees up a ton of options. I need to make a few calls tomorrow to clear everything up.

Blue Eyed Betty

Mood: Tired

I finished another piece today. I titled it "Blue Eyed Betty". I am a little frustrated with the varnish I used on her. It's very uneven! I had a heck of a time getting pictures taken without a glare. The light caught on some of the ridges on her face in this picture but it was the best out off all the photos. The pictures were taken outside in the shade so as not to catch the sunlight's glare but it didn't help too much. I thought about taking the picture before I put the varnish on but the varnish itself brings such a quality to the colors of the painting you can't really tell what the finished piece really looks like. I may just have to suck it up and do it that way anyway. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! I would be very grateful!

I decided I am going to try to sell my stuff on etsy. I think it's what, ten cents for four months, so if it doesn't sell it's not really hurting anything. With as much stuff as I am making at the moment it's really starting to pile up. With the economy going the way it is I need to find a way to pay for my "habit". I am getting larger as I go too. It's really fun letting yourself loosen up and work on a larger scale. I need to "finish" my pieces before I post anything though. I have ten other pieces in the works right now. This isn't counting my art journal where I am currently working on about eight to ten spreads.

I have no idea where these ideas are coming from. I'm getting ideas from songs I hear on the radio, things I see on the tv, even random things I see in daily life. These next couple of sketches were done while I was at jury duty. It's like my mind is going and going and I can't keep up. I think that's also why I'm discouraged with atcs right now, too. I always take a long time on those for some reason. I don't even have enough time to jot a quick sketch down before I want to start moving onto the next one.

Quite honestly I'm starting to wonder if I'm going into a manic phase. My sleep and eating patterns have changed, I'm having trouble with my temper and my memory and concentration have gone down the toilet. Normally as long as my lows are under control I am able to control my highs and I haven't had trouble controlling my highs since I was in my teens. I think I'll keep an eye on things but I don't want to jump to conclusions. With my new insurance I can't afford to be on anymore medication than absolutely necessary.

Windblown

Mood: Chipper

So here's my second completed piece for Suziblu's workshop. It's a little busier than I would prefer but I'm happy with it over all. I have a couple more I am finishing up that look like hers and the rest I'm doing my own thing. I am having such a great time with this stuff!

That is a good thing too because I'm sort of burnt out on Atc's at the moment. I just CAN'T bring myself to make them. In fact, I withdrew from a swap today from AFA. I felt bad doing it too since I took up two spots but I would rather withdraw then send in crap or something half-heartedly thrown together.

Am I using my then and thans wrong? I need to look that up. I always mix that sort of stuff up. Especially except and accept. It's probably about as bad as reading typos (like they're and their, you're and your). You read it and it drives you crazy but you can't do anything about it because it's on someone else's blog.

Well, looks like no more blog updating for me tonight. Cory has to take the internet down for some reason...

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

Mood: Relaxed

I decided to take a trip out to the Botanical Gardens today. I haven't been in a while and the weather was beautiful! I got there as soon as they opened because the wildlife is out and there aren't too many people aside from the morning joggers. I got some excellent photos of a few flowers and a grapevine of some sort. I was really disappointed I didn't get to see more animals than I did this time around. Cory seemed a little jealous because I got to see an armadillo. Can you believe he's never seen one in person before? It seems so odd to me as I grew up seeing them. Other than that I only got to see a few squirrels this morning.

It's so peaceful in the gardens before all the people show up. It's very relaxing just walking around taking it all in. I got a little disgusted when I saw the trash some people left behind. It didn't even look like they attempted to put it inside the trash can. Why would you ruin a place like that? Why would you throw your trash away anywhere other than a trash can to begin with? If there isn't anywhere to throw it away you carry it with you until there is. I thought this was common knowledge.

I got a few pictures where the sun's rays were coming out of the trees. I just love pictures where you can see the sun's rays. They (the pictures) always cheer me up for some reason. The Japanese gardens (my favorite section) weren't open yet by the time I was through so I went ahead and left. I didn't feel like waiting around for it to open. I had a few errands to run this morning and I wanted to get them over and done with before all the other people came out of the woodwork.

Juror No More

Mood: Content

Alas, today marked the last day of my jury. They settled! Yea! I don't think I have ever in my life sat through testimony as painful to listen to as this. The trial was suppose to last an entire week. It was two friends feuding and the case itself wasn't boring. It was the attorney and the first witness. They both spoke in monotone. To make it worse the attorney would repeat everything the witness said before starting a new question. The judge finally asked him to stop repeating everything. The first witness was on stand for a day and a half.

The judge started getting irritated you could tell. It was more interesting watching his facial expressions than listening to the testimony. The more we were there the more lenient the judge got too. First he let us bring in blankets because it was FREEZING! Then we were allowed to bring in note pads and then drinks. We took a ten minute break every hour and hour and fifteen minute lunches.

All of the jurors were very pleasant. In fact, the entire experience was pleasant aside from listening to monotone testimony. The judge and the bailiff we very personable. Anybody that's had to do jury duty knows what a huge difference that can make too!

Now, it's back to my regular workday. It was nice to have a break from the routine.