insomnia

so here it is, 2:23am and I'm wide awake. I have seemed to have aquired almost every menopausal milestone just a short week and a half after my surgery. sigh.










.Beauty of the Beach....

To pass some time, I have jumped online and played around with some of my new photo manipulation software.....not that its done me any good. I need lessons in some of this stuff! There is a whole other language when it comes to photography!

...Reflection of Family...

I have posted these three photos on my newest favorite website, Fan Art . It's a great site that allows photographers, from novice to expert, post their work for others to comment on. There are monthly contests and lots of fun ways to promote your photos. I have received lots of positive feedback from what I have posted on the site so far. I have also gotten some really great tips on the things that I need to work on. It's great! I am also considering creating a new blog just to post my "work" on! Although, I'm not sure how popular that would be (hmm). Well, I hope you enjoy it! I'm going to try to catch some zzz's now :0)
...RiverWalk...

i have a new toy

Happy Birthday Tyler!
Love, Grandma Nichols

Arrrrgggg Matey!

Look what I made at school today!

I was suprised a couple of weeks ago when Jim presented me with a new toy. It is something that I have always dreamed of getting, but knew it would be quite a while before I would ever be able to afford. I would rant and rave at others who had this very same item (or similar) anytime I had the chance...... the pictures above were taken with my new toy. I couldn't hardly believe it when Jim gave me the camera! It is a Canon XTi Rebel Digital Camera. The camera has two lenses that I can switch out, with three additional lens covers for different types of pictures. Oh boy, if this isn't a photographers dream, I don't know what is! (Well, a novice photographer any ways!)
I am still learning how to operate the camera besides just "point and shoot". I certainly have quite a bit to learn.... In the meantime, I have began to post previous photos on a website that allows other, more experienced, photographers to comment and review my photos. So far I am rated a five start (excellent)!! With any luck, I can turn this into a part time job!

...stranded...

i can see!

"how do they feel?" asks the salesman.

"Good! I can read what that says!" Jayce exclaims as he points to the glass cleaning kits stacked against the wall.

Yes, Jayce has been struck with bad eyesight, courtesy of his mother, I'm sure. But the truth is, his sight isn't that bad. Although, if he is going to take after me, sadly his sight will worsen over the years.

Jayce did a great job of picking out his glasses. I'm sure he would have settled for almost any type, he was very insistant on the ones he didn't like. I am happy with the choices he made. He has a black and a dark blue pair of glasses (not sure if it's the black or blue pictured here). We had to get two pair.....come on, he's a boy!

no longer MIA

here I am, sitting on my couch recooperating from my hysterectomy that was performed a week ago tomorrow. i am wondering when i will begin to feel 'normal' again. i am wondering when my house will be 'in order' again. i am wondering when i will be able to lift more than 8 lbs again. :) the bottom line is that i am alive and almost well again. that's what's important, right?

the technologies of the medical world still puzzles me. i can't get over seeing those huge lights in the surgery room, and feeling the warmth of the heated sheets wrapping my arms as i lay on the operating table breathing in whatever air was blowing through the pastic tube and face mask sitting over my nose and mouth. within a matter of minutes (or so it seemed), i awoke in the recovery room. i wasn't feeling any pain, i couldn't open my eyes for too long, but i could hear all that was going on around me. it was truly weird. but all in all, things went very well. i was in and out in the average time of two hours. and i was discharged from the hospital in just over 30 hours. i spent the first couple of days doped up on percoset 24/7 and either in bed or on the couch. but as i move on with the week, i begin to feel better and better each day. my full hysterectomy has been a success, and although the road to recovery has only begun, i can feel a deep sense of relief that the beginning of my new, pain-free, life has begun.

now...i have to get to work on my weight loss program!

what do a bus and staples have in common?

- The answers to this are Jayce and his Head -

Here is the pore-staples picture of Jayce's gouge ~

So, how did this happen? Well, I asked the same question when we got the phone call from the school telling Jim and I that Jayce had fallen on the bus and hurt his head. Thankfully I received the call when I was only 30 minutes away from home versus the 45 minutes from home I typically am when I am at work. Any ways...as I walk into the office of the school to pick up my head-injury-prone injured son up, I see Jayce sitting patiently with this look of "I wany my mommy" on his face. I was not welcomed with crying, tears, or anything suggesting that Jayce had been hurt... but boy, the look on his face was priceless. So as I hurried around the table to see what happened I looked at the back of his head to see blood and a big gap between where his skin SHOULD be attached together. My stomach immediately began to turn. I knew right away that we would need to take a trip to the ER......... Ok..I'm getting off track, I know.... so this is what I was told:

I was sitting on the bus looking through my poster (Jayce "shows" me as he pretends to look out of this poster like a telescope) and the bus driver stopped the bus really quick, and then I fell off of my seat and hit my head.

Ok, so if you are anything like me (and you are the parent of a boy) you will understand it when I say that I had to question whether or not he was actually sitting down on the bus. Here is my son, bleeding from the head and obviously injured, and I am questioning his story in front of the school's office staff. OMG...sometimes I wonder about myself, too...... Any ways, the bottom line is that Jayce's story was, in fact, true. It was just a freak accident that my son (the head-injury-prone one) fell victim of. Thankfully all was well - no concusions, only a small gouge that was closed by two staples. How Jayce continues to hurt his head is beyond me...but I thank God that nothing serious has ever come of any of his cranium accidents!

And here it is...all cleaned and stapled up!

a visit from grandma

It's been several weeks since my last post, but there's been good reason for that.... I have been keeping very busy working and spending time with my mom when I'm not working. We have had such a great visit with my mom, I was very sad to have her leave. Anyone who knows me well would know that this is a rarity, too...my mom and I are so much alike that we tend to get on each other's nerves pretty quickly...but.....

We had such a great time with my mom that Jim and I decided we should talk her into staying a few more days with us --- well, I got my way and she stayed an extra 4 days :) You know you wanted to stay, too mom!

So here are just a few of the 100 or so pictures that we took during her visit: