feathers and fog.....

those of you who have been here for awhile, reading about my life, know a bit of my history regarding the migraines i have suffered with. i wish i could describe to you the pain a migraine produces, but unless you've had a migraine, i'm not sure i can. 

but i can tell you that even a dim light can sometimes feel like an arrow piercing through my head and then let you imagine what a bright light feels like. i can ask you to remember the worst pain you've ever felt and tell you that i can feel that same excruciating pain, in my head, just by laying down. i can tell you that perfumes, cologne, air fresheners and candles can make me nauseous and instantly trigger a migraine, if i'm having a "migraine possible" day. i can tell you that if the weather takes a dive, where the barometric pressure changes dramatically, it can trigger a migraine. i can tell you that i can't eat nitrates or nitrites, or if do, i'm setting myself up to suffer a few hours later. now add in stress, lack of sleep, chocolate, hormones or even filtered light bouncing through the trees as i drive down a beautiful country backroad. you see, if you suffer from migraines, they can show up at almost anytime, from almost anything and almost always knock you off your feet. migraines suck.

i have been on preventative migraines meds for over a year now, in the form of an anti-depressant and as of today, i'm weaning myself off of them. why? because i don't like how they make me feel. i'm tired of feeling foggy, fuzzy, blurry and sometimes even dizzy. just recently i had been adding caffeine to my diet in order to prevent those foggy and fuzzy feelings, but all that did was push those feelings off until later in the day and by last night, i said to my hubby, that's it. time to try something new. as much as i hate migraines, i hate even more not feeling like myself.

so, i'm not sure exactly what that something new is or what it will be, but i do know that i have to take control of my life and say no to drugs. well, not all drugs, as i can't live without the medication i take when i do get a migraine, but the anti-depressant for now is going by the wayside, with my doctor's blessing. thank God i have a female doctor who is more than willing to help me with all of this.

so to all of you who know, who completely understand what i've shared here, bless you, as you are also a migraine sufferer and any suggestions, ideas or therapies you have will be warmly welcomed. to those of you who live with a migraine sufferer {like the love of my life} thank you for everything you do to help us when those mean spirited, selfish, time consuming, fanged migraines take a bite out of us.

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happy weekend everyone

usually the monkey bars.....

i have always had a focusing {non-camera, more like a.d.d.} problem. something i really didn't know or understand until i was an adult in my thirties and then didn't really acknowledge until i was in my forties. i now know that in my case,  almost always without my permission, sneaky little randomness grabs the hand of usually clueless focus and forces her to run around on the playground in my mind with her. together, they usually choose the monkey bars.

i would be lying if i said winter wasn't kicking my butt, although my hubby said last night that he can't believe how well i've made it through this season. hello wool. i think you've pulled yourself over my hubby's eyes. snort.

i saw my first robin this past weekend. this isn't the one i saw. this is one from florida last year. ohhh, florida...stop calling my name. okay, now onto the randomness that made me start this post in the first place.

1. if you burn a scented candle in your home, please know that for some people {like myself} it can actually make them nauseous. or trigger a migraine. chances are, especially if you're trying to cover up a smell, the original smell is much more pleasant than the scented candle.

2. i love the song lyrics, "i belong to you, you belong to me, you're my sweetheart."

3. what are your favorite iphone apps?

4. did i ever tell you about using snapsort for comparing cameras, especially if you're shopping for one? look up in the left hand corner, where it says "compare." i think you'll like it.

5. was the TV coverage for the new pope, too much or just right? personally, i got a little tired of it and no, don't send me any hate mail.

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that's all for now. baby girl millie has come over to play with her grandma.

"you're in my heart.....

you're in my soul"

thank you rod stewart

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well, it's time that i introduce to you my newest love. this is millie. she's my grand-daughter....well, grand-dog if you want to be technical, and i am beyond smitten. she's eight weeks old and belongs to our son and if you think i'm smitten, well i wish you could see him. he's weak in his knees, now that she owns his heart.

she's not a black lab, but she is part lab. she's also part boxer and miniature dachshund. ummm, yeah....try to figure that one out. 

here, i'll tell you. her mommy is a boxador {google it} and her daddy, well he's the  miniature dachshund. i'm baffled as to how they pulled off their little rendezvous, but that doesn't really matter since this adorable and precious fur baby was the end result....well, her and her five siblings.

admit it. you're kind of in love now, too, aren't you?

these photos were all taken on my iphone, which is fantastic because then i can carry her with me all day long and share here with everyone i see. see, i told you i was crazy about her. OH, and the best new iphone app for photo editing...pictapgo...you're welcome.

no humdrum life.....

i cut this out from a magazine. i like it. it makes me think.

what are you thinking about this weekend?

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cloning 101-contain your excitement.....

hey everyone...as promised, 

a quick cloning video using picmonkey

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a. i tried to embed the video on this page with blogger and it failed. so instead, i uploaded it to my youtube account and i think it will show up below {oh technology is great when it works} but, if all else fails, try going here.

b. this is my first screen recording...bear with me.

c. don't laugh

d. this has nothing to do with my video and everything to do with one of the little things keeping me sane this winter...my daughter, the girls she nannies for and their little friend.

e. thanks for asking me to share my cloning technique with you. it's good to feel needed. here's to a beautiful and happy weekend no matter what you do, where you are or who you spend it with.

orange you glad.....

i bought some cuties to eat and ended up playing with them instead. somehow when you're a photographer, "don't play with your food" no longer seems to make any sense whatsoever.

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right now, my hubby is fifty and our daughter is twenty five. according to them, as i have yet to do the math, there will never be another time when she will be exactly half his age. for example, next year she'll be twenty six and he'll be fifty one {not half} and when she's thirty, he'll be fifty five {still not half}....see where i'm going with this? i think they're right.

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when we were in the hospital with our son two weeks ago, the nurses used purell as easily and as often as they were breathing. i mean constantly. so we followed their lead and used it constantly, too. heck, i wouldn't even touch the thermostat in his room without cleaning up afterwards. now when i'm out, touching a door, a shopping cart handle, well, basically anything...i've become a bigger germ-a-phobe than i ever used to be. are you a germ-a-phobe, especially this time of year?

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guess what? i think i have it all figured out...how to give you a real life video of me doing something. well, wait. that sounded kind of dirty didn't it? what i mean, is that some of you asked me to show you how to clone in picmonkey, instead of talking about it, and by george i think i've got it. so, if all goes well, there will be a cloning video on friday. keep your excitement under control....snort.

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oh, one last thing...this will make you smile.

a view from my window.....

well, my car window that is.

we went for a little drive on saturday. we're working on a new project {excited} and felt we needed to get "out of dodge" for awhile in hopes of finding something new to inspire us. the fresh air, the change of scenery, a restaurant with the most delicious chicken rolls {something we'd never had before} and just simply being with each other {for eight and a half hours, while talking about what our future holds} added up to the most perfect day.

the sun warmed and blinded us all day long, making us take off our coats in the car and move our visors up, down and every other way we possibly could to prevent our faces and retinas from burning. eventually we gave up, laughed at ourselves, and decided there just wasn't anyway we could possibly complain about the brilliant sun on a winter day in wisconsin. 

today's forecast...snow is on its way. by tomorrow night, it looks like the hubby will be snow blowing about another foot of the same wet and heavy snow we just had last week. come on mother nature, it's march. we're done. 

okay fine, you win. you're arriving no matter what {uncle}....so could you at least make sure the sun plans on traveling with you again this time and then could you promise us you're tired and not coming back until next winter....pretty please?

side note:these were all taken while we were on the highway going seventy miles an hour. i like the challenge of shooting from the passenger seat and then having to crop out cars, signs, fences, the rear view mirror and telephone poles when i get home. yep, i'm a bit odd that way.