All I want for Christmas is...

an external hard drive....no seriously.... you can stop laughing now. It's true. I don't have room to store all my photos on the computer...I need an external hard drive. (It's so obvious that I'm married to a computer nerd...I get dorkier by each passing day) That is what I want for Christmas. Wow, I feel like a dork.

Joel and I have decided to buy ourselves a present together for Christmas this year. We are desperately trying to save money for our upcoming move and hopefully a new house sometime next year. We decided to get ourselves something practical. Something we could be both use. External hard drive it is.

One other gift we will be purchasing this year for ourselves will not actually go to us, but to someone in need. Joel and I have decided to start a new family tradition, and that is to buy a gift for a charity of some sort. Operation Blessing International provides the opportunity to purchase supplies, operations, food, shelter, etc for people in economically depressed countries. We have decided to purchase something for a needy family from Operation Blessing as well. I'm excited about this opportunity, and look forward to this new tradition. Over the coming years we will sit down with our (non-existent at the moment) children and choose a gift for a needy family. Very exciting.

So Thanksgiving was fun. (Just in case you were wondering) We spent it with my parents and siblings (and Aaron). And perhaps I will put up pictures later. But not now. I'm tired. And I'm lacking the patience at the moment too.

I've been working on a building a "portfolio" for my pictures. I started out by making a photoblog on photoblog.com but then out of the the blue Joel decided to buy a domain name for me and so now I have my own website to display my work. I'm not going to tell you what it is yet, because I'm still working on it, but when I have significant progress on it, I'll let you guys know.

A friend asked me to tutor her kids with their homeschool until we move, and I have consented. I like doing it. And I like helping my friend too. Since I've graduated from college, this has been my fourth job in education. Each opportunity has fallen into my lap. I have never sought them out. I find it strange. And although I enjoy them, I have absolutely no desire to get a teaching license or pursue a career in education, nor do I feel God leading me to do so. But I have to ask, "God, what are you doing here? And why do you keep presenting me with these jobs in education?" That is one thing I do not understand about my life right now. I feel a little baffled.

My time has been consumed between teaching music lessons, tutoring, photography, and preparing for the holidays and everything else that comes with it (anniversary, piano recital, etc), and that is why I have failed to write so frequently. Just so you know. And now I'm tired and I'm going to bed.

Peace.

It's coming too soon...

At the moment my brain feels like mush. It seems as though the holidays are coming a little too quickly for me this year. Thanksgiving is on Thursday. We are leaving the day after tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Brody has ringworm. Now he can't come with us like we had planned. I have a Christmas piano to host in a couple of weeks. I need to get my students ready for it. I need serious details to fall into place for the recital....like finding a piano light enough to move to the place we are going to having the recital. Joel and I have an anniversary coming next month. Christmas is coming. I have Christmas pictures to take for a family. We are moving. soon. Joel is getting a new job. We need a place to live....aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I think the holidays are here.

Washing Machines

Today I broke my washing machine. I was washing a blanket. It was big. Too big obviously. I broke a plastic gear inside the washing machine. Oops. Fortunately a very nice repair man agreed to take it and fix it, even though it was a Saturday. So Joel and I argued and wrestled the washing machine out to the truck. Moving heavy furniture with your spouse isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. Arguments are just a given when it comes to this activity. Anyway, the repair man was quick and managed to get it back to us after only a couple of hours. And now my washing machine is at home is happily washing my clothes. Very cool. But I learned something today. Only front loading washing machines are designed to wash heavy blankets. Not the top loading kind, like mine. And that was one expensive lesson. Especially when you have a move coming up soon.

My mother told me...

to never pet stray cats when I was young, because I could get ringworm. I believed her. I've always avoided stray animals for that reason.

(WARNING: this blog has the potential to gross you out, feel free to skip reading this blog)

Remember how I mentioned in one of my blogs recently that Brody had a bald patch on his head? I showed it to a friend who's a rancher. (ranchers can be fairly knowledgeable about doctoring their animals) She said it was a fungus, probably ringworm...but then she paused and said, "but if it's ringworm, then you guys would have it too...." her voice trailed off. I pulled up the sleeve of my shirt to show her a round red mark on my shoulder a little smaller than the size of a dime. I thought it was a bug bite. But after she examined it, she confirmed that the spot on my shoulder is ringworm....uhhhh!!! She then went on to explain that ringworm is quite common to find in animals around here because the dirt carries that fungus.

When we found out what this was, I immediately picked up some medication from the pharmacy and have been applying it to both myself and the dog religiously. So far Joel has no signs of ringworm. Last night I was doing some research online about ringworm. I found out that it is very contagious. Just by touching the affected area, you can get it.

I found the mark on my shoulder when I was in Dallas last weekend. I had no idea it could be ringworm. I just assumed it was a bug bite. The worst part is that I wore a dress to the wedding that exposed my shoulders. I hugged so many people. It just blows my mind to think how many people could have been infected and not even know it! Oops. wow. I feel bad.

Ok, well I'm sure that every single one of you guys wanted to know about my ringworm crisis. I don't know why I talk about these things....

Last weekend

So this past weekend Joel and I went to Dallas. We had a great time visiting family, and friends, enjoying some of the sights, and going to the wedding of a very good friend. Here's a couple of shots from this weekend.

We totally stole this picture idea from Emily. But I'm glad I did....I've always wanted to be a butterfly...lol.


my brother....climbing on the fountain at SAGU. (i told him to)


visiting the alma mater. they made it way cooler since I graduated. It makes me bitter. No just kidding. Ok....maybe just a little bit.


Yup. Standing on the sign. Just as cool as ever. (*Dear ole' Southwestern, I remember yoooouuuu....* ok. nevermind. terrible song)


Good times with college friends (& bridesmaids) at Cafe Brazil. Seriously good food too.


Joel and Carlos B. Friends from the days spent in Vegas.


Sarah & Eric. One of our favorite couples finally tied the knot!!!

A view of downtown Dallas from Reunion Tower. It took forever to get this shot. Do you like the bars going through the picture??? lol.

In addition, we also went to IKEA for the very first time, and finally understand what all the raving of this store is about. I hope we get one out here someday.

We went ice skating at the mall in Frisco. Good times. I fell twice. The first time I tripped, flew forward, and landed flat on my torso. It hurt really badly. I had to crawl off the ice as I held back the tears. The second time I fell backwards and landed sitting down. Someone stopped and asked if I was alright. My response was, "Yeah, the first time hurt way worse than this time!" lol. I have lots of bruises, and a couple of scrapes.

We went down the Waxahachie and went to the Dove's Nest for lunch. I seriously miss eating there. Good food and good memories.

One last thing. This weekend I sold my very first picture on istockphoto!!! Yay!! Someone bought one of my pictures!!! And I currently have 6 pictures online for sale. Yay for accomplishments!

Happy Wednesday Everyone.
I haven't written in a while...well, ok just a week. Here's what has been going on.

• last Wednesday I made my students come over to my house and show me their Halloween costumes. They were very cute...one of my students dressed up like a salt shaker, while her friend dressed like a pepper shaker.
  
• For the past 5 days or so, I've been hearing something on the roof at the early hours of the morning...about 4 or 5 o'clock. I think there's a rodent of some sort...raccoon maybe? I hear it scamper across the roof right above our bed. This morning I climbed on top of the roof to see if I could find something...all I found was a couple of piles of juniper berries from the tree right next to the roof. I'm not sure what it's doing up there, maybe collecting those berry things from the tree? I don't know, but I find it difficult to sleep when I hear something walking across my roof...makes me feel like someone is stalking me.
  
• Last night we found a bald spot on Brody's head, right by his ear. It's weird looking. The skin is dry and flaky, not scabbed. Anybody have this happen to their dog? Joel was looking it up on the internet, and found out that it might be a parasite. aahhh!!! Poor dog. Maybe I should just live at the vet's office or something. This dog always seems to have problems...why doesn't everyone else have such weird problems with their dogs??? I swear, having a dog is like having a child.
  
• I'm pretty sure I have decided on a name for my photography "company". I've been thinking about it a lot, and I really like the name Perspectography. I will explain the name soon. And btw, I currently have 3 pics up for sale on Istockphoto and I'm applying to sell my photos on another website too. Slow progression here...but getting there.
  
• Tomorrow Joel and I are going to D-town!!! whoo hoo! Very excited about this. We have a very good friend getting married out there this weekend, and will be spending some time with college friends, and family. Yay. The only draw back is that when we visit my brother at college, the college will be hosting Campus Days. Boo. Oh well.
  

I took this picture on Monday in Dilia, New Mexico (I'm sure everyone knows where that is. no. just kidding) I pulled over on the side of the road to get a couple of shots, and I ended up jumping inside the fence to get a couple more. But there was no one around. lol. I'm such a trespasser.