All is right with my world ... well almost

My personal life is better than ever expected today.

However, the IT department where I work has inflicted another poorly planned server conversion and it's driving us all nuts.

OH well, short and sweet post today ... but life is very good.

WOOOOHOOOOOOO

Hubby gets home tomorrow morning at 5a.m. While I am not thrilled about going to the bus station at that time, I wouldn't miss it for the world. We have lots of things to work through, and with him home we can get started!

I am surprised and totally blown away that this happened today - we expected it next week, but neither one of us is gonna complain about this gift horse!

I have so much to do tonight ... yikes, guess I don't get that last weekend to clean up, but I do get my hubby home for the NFL kickoff!

We were so not looking forward to watching the first week of games without each other, but we are spared that! YAY!

I am jumping in my seat ... is it 5 am yet? Please?

Yikes it's Almost September

And I haven't posted all of August. Well it's been a busy month, preparing to donate 155 sets of cards to the Dallas area Red Cross Swing for Relief golf tournament. Card orders from one of the groups here at work.

Getting ready for hubby to be home! All is craziness in a good way.

This will go down as my shortest post ever, but Hey, have a good September

Summer and the Raining is Awesome

So we are moving on through the summer and I have to say this summer is SOOO much nicer than last year. All this rain has been really keeping the heat at bay. Besides I love a good thunderstorm.

Although my cats are usually not fond of thunderstorms, they are less scared of them in our new apartment since water doesn't splash against the windows as much. So they can watch the water longer before running away.

I have volunteered to donate 155 sets of cards to the Dallas Red Cross Swing for Relief golf tournament ... makes me feel good to donate.

I also am going to make a concerted effort to get the notecards up on Etsy while I am redesigning the store there as well.

That's about it for now ...

Life goes on ...

I thought I should write something here , but well there isn't much to say. Life ambles in it's usual fits and starts.

I will be printing some new photo cards tonight ... took some great photos at the botanical gardens ... still trying to decide if I want to sell the cards or just keep it small for now.

My sister is finally officially engaged (not really a surprise to me but glad for her). Robert will be home in September ... sometime.

My dad's been married to my step-mom 25 years this August. Doesn't seem like it's been that long, but it has.

And that's about it ... the cats are happy in the new place, I am getting to that point, but still getting settled in. Probably about the time Robert gets home, I'll get used to living solo :-)

Guess that's about all ... oh wait, if you have relatives in Texas (or ever had relatives in Texas) and are interested in Genealogy, etc. the Austin History Center is AWESOME (yes I am a history geek). They are great for other historical research as well - for instance one lady this weekend was looking for history of a painting by a local central Texas artist. It's totally cool, well if you are a history buff.


That's all I swear I won't bore you with the details!

Forgetfullness, exhaustion and when not to make decisions

Over the weekend, we moved. I am very thankful that people came to help move stuff! However, due to packing everything myself (and I am still finishing small stuff) I was extremely exhausted. In this state, I forgot that we had cleaned out a bunch of CD's and DVD's several months ago - and became convinced my husband had sold them without my knowledge. This made me VERY upset, and convinced that I he was as one friend put it "parting me out".

In this emotionally overwrought state, I shared my suspicions with several friends and family members and requested advice on what to do. While the advice was not the best, nor the worst and none of it resonated with me, I appreciate the time that every one took to talk to me. I realized I have been guilty of only sharing the bad things and drama moments with some of my friends because of their advice/responses. I will be diligently working on finding the good things in life. So in that respect, I owe my friends a huge thank you.

Late in the day on Sunday, one friend (a guy) was able to phrase the paradox of my relationship with my husband very well. His behavior causes problems and angers me, but he makes me happy. I know my hubby loves me, and some of the behavior issues are more a matter of my response to his behavior. I am working on those too.

Later that evening I spoke to Robert and mentioned the things I thought were gone, he pointed out that we had gone together to sell them before my mom came to visit in March. I immediately remembered doing so and felt awful for jumping to such dastardly conclusions. However, I let myself off the hook due to sheer physical and mental exhaustion.

So the lessons I took away from all this, I need to quit focusing on the bad moments, and share the good more often. I really need to keep stuff to myself when I am tired. Never contemplate life altering decisions when you are bone tired; and Robert and I have some things to work on, but we really are in love, and we both want this marriage to work.

It will take us some time to get everything running smoothly, but I have faith in our abilities to get through almost anything together.

Yikes!

Yikes! Now not only are we moving, but I am packing this whole place by myself (hubby isn't home due to circumstances beyond our control that shall be done and gone forever on January 6, 2012!) To make things more interesting, I had to find a place to move to by myself because the two places hubs and I went to see turned out to not be interested in working with our challenges (his and mine, this is an equal opportunity issue for us).

Thank goodness the lady at the second place felt sorry for me and thought of a place that's not to far from where we live now but succeeds in getting us the HELL out of Williamson County and meets our price range and lo and behold is willing to work with our challenges! Nice place and we are approved! WOO HOO!

I am finally moving out of this apartment and no longer gonna have to worry about people walking by my bedroom window at all hours of the day!!!! The new unit has a nice view of trees and such and the building is built so that the ground floor is actually the second floor (so we have no stairs, but a second floor view)!

Anyway, I am excited, worn out but also happy to know that we will be in a better situation!

Ahh plans ... really I should just stop planning!

So the plan was that we would stay in this apartment until the end of the year - um, yeah well the apartment complex has decided that's not going to happen. It's not a money thing, but they are just making it impossible to live here, so we are looking for some place else to live. Wish us luck.

The plan was originally to get the cats fixed, life got in the way, it didn't happen, we ended up with 11 babies from our two mamas. The mamas combined their kittens into one mega-litter. Fast forward seven weeks - we now have 10 kittens because the runt didn't make it (she was sickly from the start and I believe oxygen deprived). We post on craigslist and find new homes for all the babies. Now we need to get the mamas fixed, but I miss the kittens, the last one goes home tomorrow.

The plan was not to get a dog until we had a yard - we have a dog and I love her. I just don't think I was quite ready for a dog again. Oh well, we have one and she's a sweetie, she'll be better when she gets over the puppy stages. However, if she destroys another camera, she will find a new home - she almost did on the last one.

You would think that I would quit planning, but I still have plans ... I have learned not to get so attached to the plans that I can't adapt to a simple change of plans!

Ah well that's what's up in our world ... hope all is well in yours!

Hmm what was that I said ...

I said something about plans ... I don't even listen to me do I? Well I was planning on attempting to sell my photo note cards through small stores in the area, and I am still working on that. However, the business is growing right in my "real" job office - I have repeat customers, people asking for more. This is better than I expected and I am pretty sure that it will think out as time goes on, but for now, it's awesome.

I need to do several things, and hopefully soon I will. I have seen TONS of wildflowers this year, but no mixes that just make me go - I NEED THAT PICTURE. Lots of bluebonnets (and I love them, the smell good too) but not a lot of wildflower mixes yet. Of course, I think I might just be too far north for those, but I did not see a lot on my way to Dad's at Easter either. Oh well, it will happen.

Our kittens are growing, they will be ready for homes soon - 3-4 weeks and they will start finding homes. Anyone want a kitten, or two - we have 11.

Other than that, life keeps rolling. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to write again before next month!

Life is what happens while you are busy making plans

So the plan was to get Robert steady employment then get my photocard business going. My parents (who have been divorced about 30 years) intervened, each in their own way


Mom bought most of the rest of the supplies I needed to start printing photocards; and now I will be focusing on getting the photocard business up and running. I've been researching junk shops/antique stores for people I can contact to carry my cards either on consignment or wholesale. Currently I am working on getting a marketing letter drafted to these stores, going with the 80/20 rule I figure I need to send out letters to at least 20 stores to get one sale/consignment. This will be a slow process, but I hope in the end it will be worth it.

Robert worked with my dad this week down at Dad's place in Rockport, Tx. This is the first time they have spent any time together with a project to work on and nobody else to talk to. I was a little apprehensive, but from what we are hearing, it appears that all went well. We are still trying to get Robert steadily employed, but this was a good thing.

August (our dog) is still a puppy, and the cats are still not thrilled with the dog in the house, but they have decided to let the dog live (for the time being.)

And that wraps up this one ... more later.

Spring! Please

After all the cold and wet weather (and actual snow in central Texas!) I am very ready for Spring. I am looking forward to finding some wildflowers to photograph this year!

To that end, I am hoping to catch a glimpse of some early ones on my trip to North Texas this weekend for my Grandma's 85th Birthday party (it's a surprise!)

Other than that, just trying to get Robert working steadily for anyone but his former not quite truthful employer. It appears we may finally be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and this time it's not a train.

I am hoping that in the next few months, I will be directing more traffic to this site, and to my Etsy site to purchase photo cards and other photo related products. First we need to get my hubby his tools so he can work more and then we'll get my side business up and running.

At least that's the plan!

Amber

Not so good at this yet

Had a great weekend, well sort of, really thought the Colts would win the Superbowl, but glad for the Saints too.

Working alot ... wish I had more than one job, working on getting my photography business up and running, joined a group on linked in that is providing new opportunities for entering juried art shows - now if the rain would stop so my hubby could work I might be able to enter a few of those.

I know we need the rain, but really I just need a week of sunshine, one continuous week of over 45 and sunny, PLEASE! Ah well, the universe usually provides.

At least we have food in the fridge and gas in the car. And food for the animals.

And Robert and I have each other, sometimes it's easy to lose sight of just how important that is ...

New Year New Decade

Well we made it through the first decade of this millenium. I look back and realize that I got married and divorced and remarried in the span of that 10 years ... I lived in three states during that time as well. Guess I was a little busy last decade.

This year I chose not to make resolutions, but to incrementally improve our lives (mine and my husband's). We are trying to get started on regularly drinking MonaVie juice (we are not doing so as regularly as we should but we are trying). We are looking to get another dog so that we can have a good excuse to go for a walk every day (without the external motivation we are apt to look at each other say ... we'll go tomorrow). And we are eating healthier (thanks to a new market opening up near our house - Sprouts Farmer's Market - it's a chain of stores). Robert is going to be working steadily it seems (starting soon) and that will make life much easier for us. We are thinking ahead to where we might want to settle (we haven't ruled out Austin, but we are looking around).

My sister has finally found the man who appears to be the love of her life, my niece is so adorable and getting smarter everyday.

My other goals this year are to post on here more frequently, start building a photo/card business and love my husband enough for two years (that last is not hard to do, he takes awesome care of me and shows me how he loves me everyday).

So welcome to the next decade!