I haven’t been on nearly as much as I would like. But hopefully will be able to rectify that soon.

Here is the May calendar. Yep, that’s me and the munchkin.

News on the homefront, hubby has found a job. Taking a break from kitchens for a bit. Well, sort of. He did do some carvings for the magazine again. Watch his site for some pics. It was a “green” issue and they asked for natural glasses for beverages. Kind of a cool concept. Speaking of my work (as the magazine is produced by iMi) I just got a promotion! I am training to become a Project Manager. YAY!!! I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

So today was the day of my first mammogram.

 It wasn’t so bad… if you don’t mind your breasts being squashed to pancakes. I’m STILL sore! The nice lady tells you, “It won’t be that bad, it isn’t as bad as people say.”

Well, I guess it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The nice lady brought me into a small room to change out of my clothes and into a robe. She then led me to a room with a machine that could only have been created by a man… one who hates women. She put a sticker with a tiny ball in it on each nipple, so the tech reading the film would know where the nipple was. She then proceeded to handle my breasts as though they were pieces of meat.

She takes one breast and puts it on the cold metal platen, pulls until my ribs are rubbing against the front of the machine, arranges the breast so it evenly “pools” on the platen then steps on this toggle switch on the floor. A clear plastic plate then lowers onto the top of my breast, flattening it to an uncomfortable but not excruciating level. She then uses a hand crank to lower the clear plastic further. As I watch my breast expand to ungodly lengths before me, I realize I am now unable to breathe in a comfortable manner. The “nice” lady then steps behind a plastic window, says, “Don’t breathe!” Then after 5 seconds releases the contraption and my breast. As I stand there cradling my poor squished breast, she grabs the other breast and we start all over again.

When we’re finished she says, “See that wasn’t so bad.” And I agree. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Though it wasn’t much fun, and my breasts were a little less buoyant than they were 10 minutes ago when I came in, it really wasn’t as bad as I had feared.

“Good,” says the evil woman, “now we take the image from the side.” The side?!?! Yes, we do it all over again, this time with each breast squashed from the side. More man-handling of my breasts, pushing them into place between the platens. This time when she steps on the toggle on the floor, there is no need to flatten further with the hand crank, my breast WILL NOT FLATTEN FURTHER!!! As all thought of breathing left my body and thoughts only of how to flee this torture chamber with my breast still attached raced through my pain filled brain, “Don’t breathe,” 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… release. I huddle over my pounding and audibly wimpering breast only to be grabbed by the other breast, which was climbing over my shoulder to avoid the same fate as her sister. Unfortunately the breast is caught and goes through the same steps as its twin. “Ma’am, you need to stop clutching the other breast, you’re pulling on the breast I’m taking the image of now.” 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Sweet release.

What she neglected to tell me was, as everyone is different, some women find the top/bottom flattening more painful while other women (my camp) find the side to side flattening more painful. C’est la vie.

Though I bitch, and though I wish the tech had explained it was probably going to be painful the second set of “squishings”, I look at it this way, I have just taken a step to save myself from the horrors of breast cancer. And if that means I have to have sore breasts for a day or two then so be it. Yes, I will do it again, and yes, I will suggest to every one of my female relatives, friends, acquaintances, anyone who will listen to me… THIS IS WORTH IT! Compared to the pain, physical and emotional, of breast cancer, early detection and the discomfort that goes with it are worth it in the end.

So listen up people… get your boobies squished as often as your doctor dictates. I want you around as long as possible.

Well, we’ve had a new dog since early February. His name is Gus and he’s a Chow-Lab mix. Boy, those labs get around… most mutts these days seem to be some kind of lab mix.

 Gus is about a year old now, at least we think he is. He still acts so much like a puppy. Hopefully soon he will start to mellow out and be more like his “brother”. Scrappy is a border collie-hound mix. He looks like a yellow lab with white markings. I will post pics of him soon.

We took both dogs for a walk today and I promised earlier this year I would post pics of Gus, so here they are. Because he is such a puppy, it is hard to get him to sit still, so you’ll have to forgive the pics…

Here is the April calendar page from my CD case calendars I made for family this year.

That is the munchkin fast asleep holding his pet bunny. I know it should have been in March with Easter, but you’ll have to forgive me. March is St. Pat’s to me, not Easter.

Here is the March calendar page. Enjoy!

No, these aren’t any kind of Irish flowers. I don’t know what kind of tree or flower this is. When we went hiking in Vogel State Park last year, we kept seeing white petals everywhere. We finally found a tree with the flowers still intact and I snapped a couple of shots. They fit my color scheme for the month, so they made it in. If anyone has any idea what the plant is, please feel free to let me know.

I could go into all kinds of political hoo-ha about the above statement, but in our household, it was actual Goblin Day. While hubby is recouping, munchkin and I went to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. As my friend MaryAnn over at the FlickFilosopher.com mentioned, Freddie Highmore has become one hell of an actor. [side note: Some of these british kids (ie the Harry Potter crew) are absolutely fantastic! The closest thing I can find here in the states to date has been Shia LaBouef. If he can just hold it together and not go all Drew/Lindsey/Britney on us, he might go places.]

Back to the movie… another fave of mine, David Strathairn, was Arthur Spiderwick. I try to catch him in as much as I can. Fell for him when he was on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. The movie was full of action and adventure, sadness and trust issues. Very well done! Makes you think to find the magic in all that’s around you.

Anyway, check out the movie, and check out MaryAnn’s website for any info on movies you are considering. Great, snarky commentary on all that’s showing on the big screen and some things on the smaller as well.

The past 24 hours have been very trying. Work, though great, has been CRAZY!!! Presenters in and out, shipments in and out, proofing the magazine, editing the mailing database, end of (last) month paperwork (yes, it’s almost the middle of the month), and now my hubby is not well. ARGH!

I know I promised pictures. My camcorder/camera seems to have kicked the bucket. I have found a “fix” online… buy a new battery. So I’ll try it. I need to figure out how to get the pictures from the SD card onto the computer so you can see the snow fun and the fireplace prettiness. Unfortunately, until I figure out another way, you will have to wait on seeing the newest addition to the family. Gus, our 9 month old “puppy”!

Enjoy February’s calendar page.

This past spring I was out on the back deck watering the herbs and was bombarded by this small winged creature. I looked down on the base of the table and saw a baby cardinal. He was learning to fly and was still working out some kinks. I tried to get my camera before he figured out how to fly away, but I wasn’t fast enough. Watching over the flying lesson were 2 adult females and 2 adult males. They were “cheeping” madly at me and I’m probably lucky not to understand “cardinal speak”! I was able to get this picture of one of the males before they all disappeared on me.

I haven’t been able to visit here nearly as much as I had hoped. I will get here and add my February calendar page and a few pictures tomorrow.
To those who have asked, my father is doing much better than I expected. Don’t get me wrong, I knew the surgery would be a grand success, but I had no idea he would be driving around town terrorizing poor unsuspecting, decent folks so soon. He has also fallen back to old habits. Not much I can do about it but decide how I will let it impact me.

And I have my own set of problems to deal with. I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. So now I’m waiting for blood work to find out if there is an underlying cause. Valentine’s Day will be heart day in more ways than one for me!

And doofus that I am, I brought home a new puppy to introduce to the family. He is much more of a puppy than I was led to believe, so we are trying to work out a bunch of chewing/playing/training issues.

Look for pictures coming in the next 24 hours:

1. snowfall/snowmen
2. fireplace
3. new puppy
4. February calendar
Take care!

I have been getting a few giggles lately. The website Woot! has a fantastic writing staff. Everything they write about their products is quite amusing. Especially to geek types like me. (Hope they don’t mind I am lumping them in with geeks) Every morning I check the site to see what the Woot of the day is. If you don’t know Woot, here is a short explanation…

Woot is One Deal, One Day. They offer one item for a fantastic price each day. You never know what it is going to be and once they are gone, they are gone. It could be a robotic vacuum, a pair of MP3 players, speakers, a sound board for your computer, a computer. You really never know. And every so often they have something called Random Bag of Crap. Whatever they have left in the warehouse after a certain amount of time is sold in a kind of grab bag. You pay some exhorbitant fee of, oh something like $15 and you could get any of the items I mentioned above sent to you. You just have no idea what it could be till you open it. I’ve heard some people have gotten an LCD TV, some have gotten toys, it’s just a surprise. You always have the option of buying up to 3 of any Woot, and shipping is always $5.

In addition to the items mentioned above, Woot also has Shirt Woot. A cleverly designed t-shirt you can purchase for $10. Again, one t-shirt, one day and you can get up to 3 and shipping is $5. Some of the best t-shirts come from the contests they run. Winners of the contests see their shirts displayed and sold and get bragging rights that they had a designed voted on and chosen to sell on Woot. My favorite t-shirts from the past have been Ain’t No Party Like a Boston Party, Dependence Day and Say No to Scurvy. Still need to purchase the last one (there is a way to purchase extra shirts after the One Day deal for $15. Visit the site for more details).

Lastly, they have Wine Woot. Living in the Bible Belt South (Georgia) I can’t take advantage of these, so I don’t normally look at them, but you may be able to enjoy them.

Hope you enjoy Woot as much as I do. At least it entertainment the Writer’s Strike has not affected. (Yes, I fully support the writers, so don’t go there!)