I'm a stupid lamb...

If you haven't read or seen TWILIGHT, then this title will be lost on you...sorry but then again, maybe that will make you READ it! I'd be a stupid lamb...I'm just SAYIN'!

Yes, I've been absent from the blog universe. However,my butt has been plastered to the computer and I'm happy to say that by the end of the week ALL of my shoots will be post-processed and in client hands! WHEW!

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is FULL STEAM AHEAD! JEEEZ! What a fall! Not one I care to repeat next year, lol

I started making dinner again this past week. Exciting huh? My family was pretty happy! LOL I didn't do T-day, altough I LOVE to do it. Just didn't think I could keep it in my repetoire this year. Last night I made a delicious new recipe, 3 cheese chicken florentine pasta bake! It was yum! Today, I made Buckeye bars for my Father in law's birthday...altough I wanted to try them out and he just happens to LOVE Peanut butter anything. Maybe I'll try to post the recipes here this week.

overwhelmed

Warning...if you don't want to hear my pity party...please move on.

Yes, these ARE unrelated photos, however, I'd love to be back in Disney right now, sigh.

I have been given my next surgery date on my lumbar..Dec. 15th. My mother in law's birthday. Poor thing...we've asked so much of everyone lately but most especially her and she doesn't even get a decent birthday! :-)

Like an idiot, I packed in toooooo many sessions before this last surgery. Unfortunately (unfortunate in only that it takes me so long) I treat each clients session very personally. As a mom, I always look at the photos and think,"this one MIGHT have special meaning" and I post process WAY too many photos for each session. I know I have clients who are very patiently waiting for me and some who are wondering what the heck I'm doing with my time. I love them both~! If you are a client waiting for your disc, thank you for your extreme patience. I PROMISE to never take on sooooo many shoots prior to a major event in my life again. As I told a wonderful client and now friend, Shelby: Even if I have to have my shutter finger amputated, I will NEVER overbook again! :-)

Also, if you remember Drano Pup from a week or so ago, who was going to my sisters. Well....Mr. Drano himself is curled up on my couch with my other two boxers. :-) Mr. Drano proved tooo much puppy for my sister with the almost 2 year old and almost 3 year old. A boxer puppy is certainly more energetic, mischievious and high maintenance than her 9 year old chocolate lab Wilbur. So I'm now Mr. Drano's foster mommy but MAN I love this little guy. He's snuggly and loveable and as cute as a button!

Brothers and Sisters...

Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring-quite often the hard way! ~Pamela Dugdale

These 2 groups of siblings were so much fun to shoot. I LOVED how they LIKED each other! That's always so nice to see. REALLY nice! They had me laughing at their silly antics and love for each other.

I'm feeling better everyday! THAT'S a plus! LOL My surgeon is on the cover of Baltimore magazine this month...that's pretty cool!

I'm realizing that this post is as random as it gets so I'm just going to go with it! :-)

I know a lot of you know about this but maybe some of you don't. PANDORA No not the beads and bracelets that are so insanely popular in my area (maybe every where, I don't know). It's a FREE internet radio station that you make your own station with your own favorites PLUS it pulls similar music and plays that too. If you don't like a song, you just "thumbs down" it and it will skip it and never play it for you again. I leave it one the entire time I'm post-processing or blog reading or facebooking. It's just www.pandora.com IT ROCKS! pun intended

And with Christmas shopping around the corner, I'm going to mention www.etsy.com yet again. I LoVE to support small companies or individuals. You basically could do ALL of your shopping on there, except for kids toys. It's awesome!

Who could ever hurt this face?

I just needed to add this photo to the previous post...please read below.

The face of CRUELTY

It's the first face not the second...if you are wondering. Although Peyton does think if I don't have her toaster strudels hot and waiting and her school clothes warmed in the dryer before school that I am cruel but I beg to differ.

This little guy doesn't have a name yet although Callie is calling him Rufus. He's going to live with my sister Brandy. He's just 7 months old. He has splayed paws because his owners left him in the crate without the bottom. Standing on a crate for hours on end will do that to the paws of a dog...it makes their feet look huge and elongates the toe. His owner decided he didn't want him anymore and was going to have him put to sleep. He also said if no one would put him to sleep because of his age that he would just use a syringe of DRANO. Nice. I am trying really hard not to call that idiot things like SOB here but I want to keep my reputation of being NiCE but if anything ticks me off, it's people who are MEAN to kids and animals. Ticks. Me. Off. Luckily one of my neighbors stepped in (the guy was like the friend of a friend of a friends brother in law) So he ended up at my house last night. Levi McCoy was thrilled to PIECES to have someone to join in his non-stop capers. Levi actually wore the poor pup out and that is SAYING SOMETHING. Macy is just like "what the heck are you doing MOM!" She gets sick of the dogs that have been coming in and out of here lately. She tries her best to handle it with her ladylike behavior but even Grace Kelly had her limits.

And if you are wondering, no I think rescuing dogs is probably NOT on my short CAN DO list of things post-operatively but you know. The can do list basically consists of
1. stay on the couch
2. walk
3. stay on the couch
4. go potty
5. stay in the bed
6. go to post- op appointments

But what's an animal lovin girl to do?

SPEAKING OF BOXERS...Now this next picture is little Ms. Peyton yesterday. The OTHER front tooth is about to come out so it too had to be documented. She certainly is going to look like Leonard Spinx in a couple days. (Notice my super awesome segway to boxers!)

I'm WAAAAYYY behind! AND a Peytonism!

I'm just now blogging Halloween so that might be some indication of the piles of work I'm under that I tackle between my medically induced naps! LOL

Okay, Peytonism first!  I had a friend come over this afternoon to keep me company and we giggled and laughed like goons and facebooked like we were 16 and had a glass of wine like the wine-needing mommies we are.  Another wonderful friend let Peyton stay at her house the ENTIRE day from 10:30 in the morning till like 3:30!  (JULIE M, you ROCK thank you and I owe you BIG TIME!) I napped during the day and pretty much did NOTHING but chillax (see even though I'm like old and stuff, I like to use the words my 12 year olds do.  I don't know, it just makes me cool or somethin!).  Yesterday and Friday I did waaaay too much and today my body said this morning, "look lady, we DON'T know who the H*ll you think you are but, we will not stand for this!  Get your flabby buttocks on the couch and STAY there".  I decided I better listen because I ignored that voice my body has for a while now and obviously my back has gone on strike and I really don't want any other important parts like that getting the same idea.  About the PEYTONISM.  Tina and I were chillaxin (see...cool word AGAIN) and Peyton came in ramblin about the super fun day she had and this and that and everything.  Then she said, "I think I need a glass of wine!"  I think she must have picked that up at JULIE'S because I NEVER say that! ;-)

Halloween...Peyton was obviously Jasmine.  She was totally TICKED off at me because I made her wear a nude body suit underneath the costume because I was afraid she'd be cold.  She wore the same costume to a party a couple weeks ago with out the leotard and she liked the look much better (of course!)  Grace and Mason came down to Trick and Treat with our kids.  Grace wore the Chicken costume I made for P when she was 2.  Except she wore different chicken legs, hers were more practical.  Peyton wore yellow tights and yellow rubber dish gloves over her shoes.  GAWD I LOVE this costume...I bought soooo many white feather boas to make it!
Mason was a little Vampire and because of my incredible obsession with all things "Twilight", I think he looked EXCEPTIONALLY dazzling!  Lookout EDWARD!

Callie was an exotic bird.  She made it up her self and borrowed the mask from my friend Julie.  So I think that's Callie's empty bag for trick or treating on the floor there next to her.  I usually don't have random foil pieces in my foyer...occassionally drums from the husband but not foil unless Mr. Levi McCoy tore up the neighbors foil like in the previous post, then YEAH I might have foil in the foyer.

Cole (not pictured because he's too cool for that) wore all black and a panty hose over his head!  He looked CUTE even as a mean robber.

Hodge Podge

The last week has been a whirlwind of sleepy haze and some pain, huge help from family and friends and processing photos when I can. The pain I had prior to surgery in my neck and upper back is gone but it is replaced by the post surgical nusence pain which is completely tolerable because I KNOW it's getting better everyday. I am SO completely thankful for the WOnDERFUL family and friends I have who have continued to support me even though I'm a PAIN IN THEIR NECK! LOL Yesterday I went to have my incision checked and they took off the bandages...right now it just looks like I have a hickey with a line through it. It looks like I had a wild time! LOL Afterwards my father took me to the mall to do a bit of Christmas shopping. I have to have it all done in bits and spurts because I'm not getting out. DANG I got some great bargains! If it wasn't for my shopping adrenaline kicking in I never would have been able to do it! I took my father to Anthropologie and of course he LOVED the displays...as I knew he would. I'm a HUGE sucker for a GREAT display and that store sure has them. I big fuzzy heart Anthropologie! I can't buy much there because it's all big bucks but I just like to wander around! I came home and took a 3 hour nap!

My neurosurgeon made the cover of Baltimore magazine this month...that's pretty cool! Especially since we hang out so much together now you know? :-)

Anyway, I did so many sessions before my surgery, I'll be able to keep this blog happy and full of fun pics till I start shooting again! None of these shots are from the same shoot. This first one is my neice and nephew....I LOVE it! How stinkin cute are they! I am working as hard as I can on everyones sessions...so THANK you for your patience! I love all my clients...YOU ROCK my socks!

Busy Bee...well sorta!

I'm back! Pun intended! I started working on photos again today when I'm lucid (I think) and the pain pills are doing what they do so well. I'm so far behind...forgive me please!

On Thursday I had a discectomy, replacement (with a polymer not cadaver...thank goodness) and a fusion with titanium rods on my neck region. They went in through the front (just like my lovely sister described). Luckily my age folds in my neck, um, er wrinkles, will cover the scar eventually. Other than post surgical pain in my neck ( and the pain in the neck that I am to my family) the neck pain that I was having and radiating into my arm and shoulders seems to be gone. WAHHHHOOOO!

I'm going back ONE more time for surgery either right before Christmas or right after to do more bionic schtuff on my lumbar. Yeah, so like I'm cool now and have the frequent customer punch card and everything. I think I get a snowball or something when I fill it all up. Awesome. I'm now on a first name basis with all my nurses and everything. So I'm all like, "how's baby Susie?" when they are doing my IV and everything. It's fun.

This will be my 3rd and last surgery in the past 6 months. Wow! Who'da thunk that when I stepped out of bed that fateful morning at the beach, or picked up that can of cream of chicken at the grocery that it would turn me into a regular at the spine center! Well, there are worse places to be a frequent customer.

I'm busy working on all the shoots I did in October when I'm able, so I will have them to you as soon as possible. Don't forget, my canvas company is having a BLOWOUT sale on canvases so if you need Holiday gifts...check out www.pixel2canvas.com and then call me. I can upload your images and everything...easy peasy pumpkin squeasy. Okay, now you can tell I'm drugged. I. better. stop. typing.