I DID IT!!!!!!

I just clicked "buy" and now in 3-6 business days, (plus the 1-2 days it takes to get to the shipping area) the camera of my dreams should be in my hands! I am so excited and proud of myself for waiting until I earned enough $ from photography jobs to pay outright for it! Yeah! I am jumping up and down can you tell!?!? WHOOOO-HOOOO! Well...hopefully in a short period of time, I will have some photos for you to look at! :)

still working

Well...
as some of you may know, Meritcare (the hospital I work at), did a "reduction in workforce" (aka: layoffs) this last week. It was a very somber time, and we lost some very great employees/dear friends. About 90 jobs were "elimated", and at least 90 other jobs were "reduced in hours". 3 people within the Respiratory care services lost their jobs entirely. Two of those people had 30 years of service.

It is hard not to ask why, why did this have to happen, why them, and why now? We have been busier than ever, but the reductions in reimbursment have increased every year. Pretty soon, if things continue to proceed in the way that they have been over the next few years our health care system as we know it will no longer exist. I am praying for some kind of change, a life preserver for our fragile system. I still have my job (for now), they say there are not going to be further cuts, but who can say for sure? I am a bit worried, but I am trusting that God has a plan for me and those who have already been cut.

ps...my eye doc apt went well last week, no bleeding.
Sorry no blogging for so long...been lazy/enjoying some days off

i stand corrected

jon&kate+8 is on TLC, woops!

bad blogger

I know that I have been a bad blogger, and have been lacking at posting pictures. I have no good excuse, except I have been lazy lately. Nothing better. I am now pretty well addicted to the tv show Jon & Kate+8 on discovery health channel. If you haven't heard of it, google it. It will amaze you.

We have been going on walks almost every evening with the dogs, they are loving it. This weekend I am working, and Dean just left for a weekend at the hunting shack.

I still have a few things left to do in the garden. I have a couple of rose bushes that need to go...one didn't make it over the winter and the other, just looks really sad. As a big fan of symetrical gardening, I have to replace both. I haven't decided what to replace them with, and I am going to have Dean plant them because they are in a "rock" bed and I hate digging in the rocks.

As per my last post, I have made much progress on the organization project. I do believe that this is totally an ongoing process. I think that everything needs to be evaluated for it's usefulness in your life on a regular basis. Everything that is not useful or will not be in the near future, could be passed on to someone who needs or wants it. This is big progress for us, as we are typically "savers". YEAH us!

spring/summer cleanup

Ok, I admit, I missed spring cleanup. But I am making up for it now. I have gone through 3 closets so far, and Dean cleaned out our "crawl" space under the stairs. I cannot believe how much crap 2 people can accumulate. For those of you that know Dean, he has a really tough time letting go of stuff. So we decided that his 8 boxes of nursing books would make excelent kindling. I have the "new life center" scheduled to come and pick up a load of stuff.

They are pretty cool, the distribute the things to the homeless and needy, and have a small thrift store for the items that cannot be used by those in need. And they take anything. They are a Christian organization and our church helps to sponsor them.

So, I am so close to being able to afford my new camera, I can just about taste it. I found where I am going to order it from, and they throw in a battery and 2 gb of memory. I am so excited. I just need one more sale to go through. I am really proud of myself for saving up for this big purchase instead of "paying myself back." So by July I should have that beast in my hands! YEAH!

a day of sunshine...

I am kicking myself as I feel like my whole day has been spent behind a desk and it is probably the only day this week that it isn't raining. grrr. I am getting done with my most recent shoot, but the sunny sky that I can see out my window is taunting me :) Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow will still be nice.

ok, finally some pictures

ok...since a wedding weekend is a big deal, I wanted to make a slide show instead of posting individual photos. If anyone wants me to send them these photos or the rest of them on snapfish just let me know, and I will "share" them with you.

My mom and dad got married at that church, so it was a little sentimental for them. The groom's dinner also served as a birthday party for my dad. We got a cake for him. I hope you like the photos. I didn't even bring my camera in the church on the wedding day. The photographer was great, and they get a disc, so there wasn't really a good reason for me to take a whole bunch. The great news is, I get to do a "trash the dress" session with them sometime this summer. YEAH! Don't they make a beautiful couple?!?

It was a fun weekend!

love my rain boots!

I am really thankful for my rainboots. I went shopping for flowers yesterday to several nurseries. I know it was really crummy weather yesterday, but when I get something in my head, I have to get it done. Anyhow...it was really rainy and there were numerous puddles around. I was very thankful that I had finally broken down and purchased some tall rainboots this spring. I love them. They are black with white polka dots, and they are pink on the inside. I would post a picture of them, but I am at work, and I don't think I can look them up and save a pic to the hard drive here. :)

I proceded to plant almost all my new flowers and tromped in and out of my garage and through the wet grass. Again, very thankful for my awesome rain boots!

So if anyone was wondering...I think everyone should go out and get themselves some rain boots!

all better

just a quick update, that my website seems to be up and running again. yeah! so for those of you that were waiting for new temp. links to your photos, that is not necessary anymore. Your galleries are where they used to be. So hip-hip horray!

Today is cool and rainy in fargo. Jon & Amanda are moving today, and I am also watching the little neighbor girl...so between those things, it doesn't look like I will have too much time to sit down with their pictures and get them online today. Maybe tomorrow.

figured out the website

ok...update on my website. The company that I use for providing website services (not GoDaddy.com) had a fire at the location where their server is. Everything is fine and all the information is still available, but they had to shut down their generator as per the fire department's request. They don't really have much info as to when it will be back up and running. So anyone who is still in the process of choosing photos will be emailed a temporary link to their photo gallery so you can still make your selections. I am sorry about any problems this may have caused, but hey that's life right? I am heading back to Fargo today, and I will get those links sent out asap!

As for today, my mom, my aunt, her dog, and myself went for a long walk this morning around a beautiful lake. It is a GORGEOUS day today. Happy JUNE!