Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Snow in Albuquerque!, originally uploaded by andi_thats_me.

Believe it or not, we're snowed in! We woke to a remarkable 15" of snow covering the fair city of Albuquerque. This is on top of the snow we got last week. I haven't seen anything like this since I moved to New Mexico in 1992 without having to drive to the peak. Thank goodness we made it to the grocery yesterday - everything is closed today!

Casey, Cassidy, and the dogs had a blast playing in the backyard - they even attempted to build snow forts until the cold got to be a little too much to bare ... then it was hot chocolate, chicken soup, and video games for the rest of the day. This is the way winter was meant to be!

Root Canals

My sinus infection bothered my one tooth enough that I had to get an emergency root canal this morning. Merry Freaking Christmas to me!

I tell you what, this past year has been wrought with aches, pains, and general misery. If you haven't turned 37 yet, take my advice: DON'T DO IT!

I'm off to take more pain medication.

Merry Merry!

Ahhh Christmas night. The presents have been opened, the sweets devoured, and the credit card bill is through the roof! I love Christmas. We had a very nice day. Mom came over around 10:00, woke Casey up to open presents (that's right - she sleeps in even on Christmas day) and we spent two hours opening gifts at a leisurely pace. We took a few pictures of the goodies Casey got; you can check them out on my Flickr page.

Thank you to everyone who thought about us today. We wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Toothaches SUCK

I haven't seen 3am in many many years. Unfortunately, the only reason I'm awake right now is because the ibuprofin, pain medication, and antibiotics haven't taken away this damned toothache! My head hurts, I'm tired, and I can't take any more pain medication for a couple more hours. That makes me grumpy so I thought I'd share my misery with you :)

Christmas Day Update: Turns out I have a sinus infection ... I didn't sleep at all the night I wrote this. My wonderful dentist phoned in some pain meds on Christmas eve and gave me his home number to call him if I need him. Unfortunately the pain meds didn't work, but the antibiotics kicked in around 3am last night, so I actually got to sleep for almost six hours, albeit sitting up on the couch. Hopefully tonight I can lay down like a normal person without my head exploding.

My Christmas Elf

I am so digging Christmas this year.

Check out my little elfette!

Cayman Island Rum Cake

I received a chocolate rum cake in the mail last week. I assume this was a gift, however there was no note or any indication of who sent it. If you're the mystery Santa, please let me know so I can say ...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I love-love-love-LOVE Tortuga's rum cakes!

Christmas Update: Turns out that my brother was the culprit! Thanks little bro! :)

Woof! (I mean Merry Christmas!)

  

Chum Chum Charlie

Casey and I are foster parents! This is our little dachsund, Chum Chum. We call him Chum Chum Charlie. Isn't he adorable?

Here are a couple short video clips even :)

Chum Chum LOVES to play with Olivia!

I heart these pictures

They are adoringly looking at a pile of dog poo in the back yard ...

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Obsession

Ok, it's never a good idea for me to plan vacations this far in advance. I get all obsessed over it, then I have to wait forever to get outta dodge.

I have spent endless hours looking at accomodations in Kauai. After making half a dozen different reservations, I believe I have made a decision!

We're cancelling the Marriott and the Sheraton and are going to stay in a condo-type room in Poipu instead.

Aloha!

(singing) We're going to Hawaii .... We're going to Hawaii ....

Reservations are made, airline tickets bought, and excitement is high ... we are going to Kauai in the spring! We have an ocean view room at the Sheraton in Poipu, and our friend Jennie from Ohio is going to meet us there!

I know it's still six months away, but I'm jazzed! I have missed Hawaii since we went to Maui in 2005 and now we finally get to go back.

Wooooooo Hooooooooooooooooo!

The Tooth Fairy is going to have a field day

Casey had her oral surgery today. She had eight (that's right ... EIGHT) teeth surgically removed: 4 permanent teeth and 4 baby teeth. She apparently inherited my jaw ... believe it or not our mouths are too small to hold all of our teeth. She already had a few teeth removed a couple of years ago, so hopefully this will be the last of the surgeries.

She came through it like a champ! She didn't wince when they put the IV in, and she woke up great. The first words out of her mouth when she got in the car were: can we go to Starbucks? (She loves loves LOVES their Strawberries & Cream Frappacino). So we got that, went home, and laid around all day eating gelato and yogurt. Melissa brought her flowers and balloons from Cassidy, too, which was very nice.

So thank you to everyone who said a prayer for Casey today. She's doing great!

Homework Week 2

Well, I had hoped to spend a bit more time on homework this week. That didn't happen, but I did get most of the shots I was supposed to. I wouldn't classify them as frameable, though.

Here are two photos that show different aperatures

These next two demonstrate different shutter speeds

This is the photo I submitted for "Perspective" - even though I took it in Indianapolis over the summer. I may try a do-over if the opportunity presents itself.

I was also supposed to take a photo during the "golden hour" and take a reflection photo, but those didn't happen either. I'll try to tack them onto this week's assignment: A series of 4-6, an open space photo, a backlit and/or silhouette photo, two photos of a person, outside, with and without flash, a night photo showing lights, and a photo of a subject illuminated by natural light. Jeesh! This is going to be a busy week!

Happy Birthday Casey!

Casey turned 10 today!!

We had a school party for Casey's class. We brought it Dion's pizza and ate in the park across from school. Everyone seemed to have a great time and Casey enjoyed her special day.

After school we opened presents from the family (thank you cards will go out next week ;) ), then we rounded up a few close friends and went to Itz. It was our first time there and we had a great time! Mariah, Charlene, Alex, Christine, and their parents all came with us. So we ate, played, and basically exhausted ourselves... and these is the only picture we have :(

Her actual birthday party is Saturday. We've invited the entire fourth grade, girl scout troop, and soccer team and are heading to the pool. Woo hoo! I'll be sure to grab lots of pictures since my friends will be there to help me out with everything.

I can't believe we've been hanging out for a decade already. Boy does time fly!

Shadows

So I found a shadow for last week's assignment at the Coronado State Monument today ... better late than never!

Before and After "Feeling Lucky"

Adventures in Photography

I've taken up a new hobby: photography. I had the equipment; now it's time to learn how to use it. So back to school I went... this time it's continuing ed.

My first homework assignment was textures and lines. Whaddyathink?



The picture above is of my neighbor's wall.

The picture on the right is my patio ceiling ... looks rugged doesn't it? I actually received compliments on both of these, so maybe I'm learning how to use this camera after all!





This last picture was taken to demonstrate the rule of thirds.

It ain't the purtiest picture in the world, but what I lack in talent I tried to make up for with humor.

We were also supposed to take pictures of interesting shadows , but I waited too long to take it and it was an overcast day. Oh well. One of these days I'll learn that procrastination does not pay off.

We're still alive

We've been in Cincinnati a week and two days now and things have been pretty quiet. Casey is staying at Uncle Danny's house with Paige (go figure) and I'm unpacked at my dad's house which gets smaller and smaller each year as more stuff is accumulated.

The fourth of July has come and gone ... Jimmy marched in the Greenhills Parade, we all went to separate parties, and the girls and I watched fireworks from the parking lot of Northgate Mall. We never did make it to the Greenhills festival since I was too sick to brave it.

What else has happened this week ... OH! We have a new addition to the Anderson Family ... Mr. McPuggles (aka Pugsley). Teri wanted a dog she could snuggle with, so they found an adult Pug to bring home with them.

Unfortunately for her this dog is 100% fixated on Danny and wants to be by him at all times. He's a good dog, though, and he gets along with the other animals fabulously ... Henry has a particular fondness for him, Leah thinks he's another boxer, and Olivia and he tears it up with the best of them too.

Other than that, not much else has been going on. I've visited with friends and have been catching up on work while Casey has been consumed with Sims at her cousin's house. I think we're going to start getting off our arses a bit more next week, so we'll post more then.

Hope you had a wonderful fourth!

Sneezy in Cincinnati

We made it to Ohio! Nothing of note to write about, except that I have a cold. Casey is at Uncle Danny's house with Paige, and Grampa went to bed at 9:00. I'm off to find some chicken soup and will post again when something exciting happens here. Don't hold your breath! :)

Fort Desoto Beach

Monday was the last day we were to see the ocean, so we chose Fort Desoto Beach. It is a #1 ranked beach and it also had a Paw Park. We drove an hour to get there (again over the bridge from hell), spent about an hour at the paw park/dog beach, then drove an hour to get back home. It was kind of overcast, and neither of us were really in the mood to swim, so it was ok that we headed back early. I think we've had our fill of sight-seeing for a while.

Good bye Florida. We're going to miss you!

Almost time to go :(

Wow, it's been over a week since I've posted. That's due to a combination of exhaustion, depression, work and play.

We got back to Sarasota last Sunday and did nothing for three days. I don't think we left the house, or even got out of our pajamas for that matter. We were worn out from all of the running we'd done this month and were very happy to veg out.

Then Wednesday rolled around and it dawned on me ... we leave in a week! So rest time is over.

It'd been a while since we'd been to a beach, so we packed lightly and headed for Longboat Key. We drove the entire island and didn't find a public beach anywhere. But right across the northern bridge was a great place to play: Coquina Beach on Anna Maria Island. There were facilities there, parking, picnic benches, lifeguards, tons of shells and great surf. Casey tried to skim board, but apparently Hollie's family broke it in Tampa. Oh well, what's $50 between friends? (grrrr) Still we had a nice afternoon playing in the water (which is insanely warm here). We stopped in Armand's Circle on the way home and bought Mango Wine and Tortuga Rum Cakes (woo hoo!!!!!) from St. Armand's Winery, then had lunch at Lido Grille (which was out of Mojitos, Sangria, and Key Lime Pie, but that's another story).

On Thursday we finally visited The Mote Aquarium and had a wonderful time - AND they had a similar cruise to the one we missed in Clearwater! (where they drag a net and show the kids all of the wildlife they pick up) We got to see blue crabs, seahorses, lots of different fish and sand-dollars... it was the best excursion we've done in Florida I think. I took like 200 pictures, but don't you know, my flash card is somehow corrupt and I can't get a single image off of it. But at least we have the memories. (Word of advice, that seemingly useless feature that allows you to "stop" an external device really does have a purpose - USE IT!)

Friday we went to the G Wiz Science Museum (after buying a new camera). It was an ok way to spend the afternoon, but the Children's Museum in ABQ is better. There were a few exhibits that kept our interest, though, and Casey spent a good hour building this contraption with a little boy. I sat and talked with his very nice mother who filled me in on schools, etc. in the area. She also told me the horror stories of hurricanes, tornados, red tide, etc. Florida is a sort of scary place to live :)

But my new philosophy (thanks to a video I saw on You Tube) is:
Don't be afraid of death, be afraid of a life half-lived.

So Saturday we drove around Lakewood Ranch for several hours, checking out all of the for sale / for rent signs and what was available. We liked the Summerfield subdivisions the best. Every once in a while I would pull over and ask a passerby some questions about the area. That's how I met Mark and his wife Happy (yes, Happy).

Mark was walking down the road so I stopped to ask him where the kids were. Next thing I know we're following him to his house around the corner. There were like five houses for sale on the cul-de-sac street, one rental, and kids EVERYWHERE! This is the kind of street I wish I had in ABQ. Family after family after family and incredibly nice neighbors (who aren't retired!). For the first time, Casey softened to the idea of staying in Florida longer (despite the alligators, sharks, hurricanes and jellyfish). She was in awe of all of the children riding their bikes and playing in their front yards without fear of abduction!

There was a house for rent directly across the street from the "Happy Family" (boy I'll bet that's the first time they've been called that). It is 2000 square feet, has 4 bedrooms, a screened lanai with a small in-ground pool, and a lake in the back yard. It would be perfect if I wanted to move everything I owned and commit to Sarasota, but the $2,000 a month rental agreement is a bit more than we need (although that includes furnishings and lawn/pool maintenance). I'm going to look at the inside on Monday to see if it's worth the high price tag. Who knows... if God wants us to be here maybe a miracle will happen and it will include utilities too :)

In the meantime, it is Sunday again. We were going to be ambitious and get up early enough for church but as usual, our laziness prevailed. It's looking pretty ugly outside, so I think we're going to spend today packing, cleaning, and getting ready for Ohio so we can hang on the beaches Monday and Tuesday, weather permitting.

Oh, and Casey lost another tooth this week! She was being a good little flosser when it popped right out. So Florida has been rather lucrative for her (as far as the tooth fairy is concerned anyway).

Next stop, Cincinnati.