What the left hand does

One of the many things I have learned over the years is that once a body part has been hurt, you discover how much you use it!

My left elbow has been giving me some trouble.  I sleep with my left arm under my pillow and I strained it a few months back.  It wasn't a big deal, but every so often I could feel a strain.  Last week I must have slept in the same position for hours and hours and the elbow joint and muscles finally gave out.  The elbow might have been slightly dislocated, but the muscles and tendons were stretched beyond their limits.  For the first few days I thought just babying the arm would help, but I finally went to the Chiropractor and he worked on it quite a bit.  He said it will take a few weeks to get my range of motion back.  

I'm a righty, so I thought it would be no big deal to have a tender left arm.  I mean how often do I use my left arm anyway?  OH BOY!  I use it a lot.

I've discovered that my left arm is the work horse of the two arms.  For example, I haul around a bucket, well that's what I call it, to take everything I use or purchase during the day and haul it from my car to my 5th floor condo.

I use the bucket in the grocery store, flea markets, thrift stores, anywhere I go.  I've discovered that my right arm has no idea how to pull the bucket.  My left arm understands how to steer it in a crowd and basic maneuvering skills, while the right arm is clueless.  My left arm closes the car door, takes change and merchandise at a drive thru, is the main arm used in driving.  My right hand gathers up items and arranges the items in my left arm.  So the left arm ends up holding everything, while the right arm and hand is free to do??  I have no idea!  My left hand holds the phone to my left ear, which is the only ear that I can use on the telephone.  (I've never understood that, but that's the way it is.)  Thankfully my right hand brushes my teeth and feeds me, although flossing my teeth has been nearly impossible this past week.

I'm actually a pretty good sleeper - once I get to sleep I can sleep 8 hours no problem - but I do go to bed quite late.  I sleep on my back for most of the night, but in order to get to sleep, I have a specific ritual and that involves my left arm under the pillow and the left side of my head snuggled into the pillow.  Getting out of that routine is so hard.  I've been pulling another pillow up on my cheek while I'm on my back, just to pretend that I'm sleeping on my side! 

I have a new found respect for my left arm and I will not take it for granted anymore.  However, it can heal up quickly and I wouldn't mind at all. 

I hope everyone in the US has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. 
Kristin

Daytona Beach

When my husband and I lived in Daytona Beach we pretty much moved there without having been a tourist there first.  At least I did anyway.  We had been to the speedway for the races a few times, but never actually stayed in Daytona Beach.  When we moved down there, there really wasn't an opportunity or a need to stay in a hotel on the beach.

Well this past weekend my husband had his Monkey Bars Garage Storage System booth at the Daytona Beach Home Show for three days.   It was a great excuse to get a room on the beach, across from the convention center, and enjoy being a semi-tourist.  The beds were comfy, too!

I only went down for one night, as I had quite a bit of things to do that weekend in Jacksonville, but it was nice to hang out there again.  We had only lived in the Daytona area for three years, so we've actually been gone longer than we were there.

This was view outside our window.  It was the city view.  Pretty neat sunset.

Saturday, Tom and I had breakfast across the street from the hotel and then he went to the home show and I drove a curvy, non direct route through town to the expressway to go home.  Taking photos as I went along.

Skips is a Western Wear store.  I do believe it's been around forever.

I've always liked this particular building.  I can't remember what used to be in there, but it looks like it's still in great shape.  Daytona Beach has (had) a lot of cool 50s - 60s buildings, hotels and homes but in an effort to get rid of of the run down look that was happening to a lot of these places, they have been systematically torn down.  I can understand because a lot of the old motels were pretty seedy or scary looking - the old Florida look though, with those places gone, is just not there as much any more.  I'm so happy to see that some of the buildings, even if they aren't occupied, are kept in good condition. 

When I lived in Lansing, Michigan, I lived above a fur shop.  You don't see too many fur shops anymore, so I was happy to see this one was still around -- and yet thought it was quite odd that there would be a fur shop in Florida.  Since we are known for our long winters here! (Ha!)

This house is on a pretty great piece of land about a mile from the beach, but I'm pretty sure that this place needs to just be razed.  It was in a pretty sorry state, but I liked that someone painted the windows on the plywood. 

Daytona Beach has a little arcade/amusement area - Very Touristy and I don't mind saying - It's a bit cheesy.  I did like the Ferris Wheel all lit up at night though.  That was cool.

I would like to go back again and stay at the beach when Tom and I can stay the whole weekend and just be a tourist.   He got enough estimate sign-ups at the home show to make it worth it the trip, so that's all that really mattered this time.

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

I'd like to unkink my spine please

 The Spine.

You know it's there when it hurts, that's for sure. 

Something happened to me over the weekend and I pulled, pinched or tore something around the C5 - C7 area of my spine.  I have bent and twisted and tried to get the kinks out, but there's no unkinking it.  My problem is that I have this spot of pain that doesn't go away no matter what type of pain reliever I take and my arms have been going numb intermittently.  Today however, my right arm has been numb all day. 

I've never been to a Chiropractor and have always been very nervous about anyone touching me - anything more than a hug and I'm freaked out.  I don't like my shoulders rubbed, my back scratched or my feet worked on.  When I realized that I needed to go to the Chiropractor, I swear my heart started beating out of my chest.  I'm such a pansy sometimes.

I went for the evaluation, a few xrays and consultation.  Tomorrow (Thursday) I'm going back to see what the xrays showed and hopefully something can be done.

I'm used to being the caregiver - I'm not liking this "being the patient" kind of thing.  Here's to hoping that it's purely temporary and that within a few days the kink can be unkinked.  I'll surely let you know!

Have a great day!
Kristin

Paint it? Don't?

I went to an auction tonight.  It was a box lot auction, which means there was a whole lotta crap they were selling for a dollar.  If no one wanted an item, they combined it with the next box until it went away.

This basket was sold alone, thankfully, and I had my eye on it the moment I walked into the auction.

It is 15" high

and the diameter is 17½".

There are only one or two little snags in the weave and no holes at all.  It's an awesome basket.

Even the bottom is interesting.  (and a little dirty)

So, I managed to win this basket at the auction.  It was touch and go for a moment, but I managed to squeak out the winning bid of $2.

Can you believe it?  Two dollars? 

("I want my two dollars!"  Name that movie. )

Well, I can clean it up and put it on craigslist for $20 or so (I'll research it to find out if that's a good price) or I can clean it up and paint it white and have it look all fresh and clean and current. 

What's your opinion?  Paint or no paint? 

Have a great day
Kristin

Whoa! What happened to Monday?

The excitement of the hurricane

(we hardly got a drop of rain)

combined with my husband being out of town

(I tend to sleep a lot and play with craft projects until dawn)

along with loving the audio book I've been listening to

(which causes me to take trips in the car to listen to the next chapter)

I have sort of lost a day

(but enjoyed it!)

I ordered some postage stamps from Ruby Floy - she's an Etsy seller that I like.  I've been wanting a few embellishments for these journal pages I've been making and I thought stamps might be the perfect thing.  I thought I ordered these on Saturday night and they arrived today!  I guess I must have ordered them on Friday.  Still, they were here faster than anticipated.  Love that!!

There was this tiny little book stuck in the box with the framed art pieces that I bought at the auction.  Inside the back cover was a letter written on the 29th of April, 1969.   I scanned it because I can't read parts of it and thought i might get some help from you folks!  (You can enlarge the photo by clicking on it)   The letter has probably been in that book since the day it was received.  There is not a wrinkle or bend in it, besides the center crease.

Here's what I've gotten so far.

Dear _____ (possibly Fay?)
So enjoyed Sunday
and _____ to say you seem

so calm and relaxed _____ you
_____ - ____ that ____ _____
your thoughts turning over!
_____ Patrick


Have a great day!
Kristin


PS.  I have a portable CD player in the house with giant headphones, but I fall asleep listening to the audio book or the batteries run out too quickly.  I just didn't want you to think that I didn't have a CD player. However, I really need an ipod.  Really.

Lights, Camera, Actions!

Ever since I got my Nikon D90 camera, I've been wanting to learn how to use Photoshop to play with the pictures that I take.  My photographer/blogging/roadtrip friend, Lisa, talks about the actions she uses to enhance her photos and I always just sighed and thought, "some day."  Actions are usually a one click way to get a whole bunch of photo adjustments made at once. 

When I visited with Lisa on my roadtrip one of the things I wanted to do was to get her to teach me how to download and use the actions. I knew it wasn't hard, but I wasn't having any luck using tutorials.  I needed an in-person demonstration.

And she did :0)

This is the original, the one that I used as the base for all of the photos below.  This isn't straight out of the camera (SOOC) but it's only been enhanced a tiny bit, like I do for all of my photos on the blog.  I brighten it up a bit and make the contrast a little sharper.

This photo is of my husband and one of his favorite folks at Mayo.  She used to be his post transplant coordinator, but now she's working on the hospital side.  We don't see her very often, but on this night the liver transplant support group and some of the hospital staff were all together.

The photo above - The only thing done to this is it has rounded corners and was sized for web viewing.  (The CoffeeShop Blog Rounded Corners Moody Pop)

This one, above is Honey Retro.  It has the yellowing property that you see with so many old color photos.  Normally I wouldn't use a yellow with the pre-transplant patients because so many of them are already yellow!  (from being jaundice)  Since my husband is post transplant, it's OK in this case.

This one is called Toasted Coconut.  It's got a hint of something that makes it not quite black and white.  I like this one.  It's also really bright.   I think this is one of her newest actions.

This last one is the CoffeeShop Blog's version of lomo.  Lomo is what our film snapshots used to look like.  Here we are in the fabulous digital age and instead of the sharpest images with spot on color, this action takes us back to the snapshot.  I like it.  When I look back at photos of me when I was a kid, they are all snapshots. 

All of the actions I featured are from The CoffeeShop Blog.  Her most popular presets and actions are featured here - you can buy them all for one low price and get some freebies OR you can do what I did and I downloaded a handful tonight and they were all free.  I have Photoshop Elements and so not all actions work with the less expensive version, but The CoffeeShop Blog really makes an effort to have the actions work for both Photoshop and it's kid sister, Elements.

I have been playing with quite a few actions ever since I had the pleasure to meet Lisa.  I am so grateful for her help!

Lisa sent me some instruction links (in case I forgot or needed help in the future and can't run up to PA to see her) so I thought I'd include those too.  You may or may not care about any of this, but that's OK!

How to install actions in Photoshop Elements 8 on a Mac.
This one is from Texas Chicks. Thanks!!

Installs textures - this is a free texture applicator. I haven't done this yet, but it's next.
These are the actions that Lisa thought I should have - - and funny enough, I haven't gotten them yet!  Sheesh, what am I waiting for anyway?


Little Perk - contrast boost, color boost and slight sharpening

S curve Pop Strong levels adjustment, contrast boost

Pioneer Woman - I use Boost, Fresh Color, Lovely, Vignette, Slight Light the most often.

Hope you enjoyed a little photoshop information and my husband's lovely mug.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Good Thoughts

I recently started following a woman on Facebook named The Joy Junkie.  I liked the name, that's for sure - I'm all for Joy!  She talks a lot about creating a better relationship and has a free eBook if you're interested.  It's on her Joy Junkie blog.  What I really like are the questions she asks each day on her facebook page.  I'm always up for a thought provoking question!

Today her question was...Do you ever say that you "will send some(one) good energy"? What do you mean when you say that? Do you really follow through?

It is funny how things come up from others that I've been thinking about already.  Just last night I was thinking about the new transplant patients and how I hadn't lit the candle for them.  (The candle photographed above and blogged about here)  I had said prayers for them and spent a little time visualizing good health, but I haven't gotten into the habit of lighting the candle. 

I have another friend that received the call today for a liver transplant.  I am not sure if she got the transplant (there's always a possibility that it's a no go) but I went over to my candle,  lit it and put some good thoughts into the Universe for her and for the donor family.

So, I'm going to turn this question around to you, my friends - do you send good thoughts, prayers, etc when asked?   How do you go about this?  Do you stop everything and right there say a prayer?  Think good thoughts for the person? or something completely different?

For me, I almost always visualize the person and think about what I've been asked to do or what outcome they are wanting.  

Have a great day!
Kristin

Authors - the card game

Have you ever played the card game Authors? 

I recently found a pack of them at an estate sale.  Since this card game is just two and a half inches tall, it was packaged with a few other items that were also small.  I guess it keeps people from pocketing the small stuff.

I specifically remember playing a set that looked exactly like this.  I remember the orange box and everything. 

When I started my Google search many hours ago, I found out that there are dozens of variations of this game.  The number of authors also varies from 10 to 14 depending on who releases the game.  The one in my possession has 11 authors and this is also the number that were in my childhood pack. 


This deck is officially a Whitman 1950 vintage Authors card game with the rule card complete with the 44 playing cards, 11 authors with four cards per Author.  Each card has four book titles on them.  One title at the top and the other three at the bottom.  This game is played a lot like Go Fish, but instead of asking for Fives or Aces, you ask for a book title.

You may click to enlarge

The authors shown here are William Shakespeare, Henry W. Longfellow, Louisa May Alcott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sir Water Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, and Alfred Lord Tennyson, but not in that order.

I found a very interesting blog post on "The massive continuity of ducks," where she discusses the evolution of the Authors card game.   It really is a fascinating read!  She is very upset that Jane Austen was never included in any of the variations and I don't blame her. 

This card game has been in constant production for over 60 years.  If you feel like it, go pick up a pack and play it with your kids or neighbors.   It'll be fun.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Auto correct maddness

Whenever I'm feeling a little less than FABULOUS! which actually isn't very often,  I like to read Damn You Auto Correct. I'd say that 95% of the screen shots they show use language that I won't print, however, I laugh so hard at it. It is just so funny.

So I searched through the Best Of pages to find these funnies that are at least fit for print on my blog.

I'd let my Grandma read this.
That's always my criteria.

So enjoy! and if you want to really get laughing go on over to damnyouautocorrect.com and be prepared to bust a gut or blush with embarrassment for these poor people.

Oh My Good n Plenty!  
I want to start saying that.  
That's just hysterical!

I hope you thought those were funny, I sure did!

Have a wonderful day!
Kristin

My 365 Project on Shuttercal

My 365 project is still coming right along and I am so pleased with the results!  The past few days have been some of the hardest and that's probably because after three weeks of traveling each day, I'm just home.  Nothing in my house is looking new and exciting.  I don't think I've updated my Flickr account in a month, but this evening I did get all of my Shuttercal up to date.   It will now be fairly easy to fill in the other one now that this one is current.  

The neatest thing about the Shuttercal calendar system is that I can see the progress that I've made in a format that I'm used to...the basic calendar.  In Flickr all of my photos are numbered and that's good, but if there was a blank space in the calendar, it would show up like a sore thumb.  It's so cool to see all of the spaces filled in. 

Shuttercal doesn't have to be used to for just a photographer.  It can be for anything that you want to do daily.  Writing, poems, drawings, kids projects, jewelry, etc.  You could use Xs and Os as your own identification of a project done for the day.  Smiley faces would work for something like that, too! 

I never really understood the concept of doing something every day until I challenged myself a few years ago to blog every day for at least a year.   I brush my teeth every day, get out of bed every day, but those don't cause me to use any extra brain cells to get them accomplished!  Blogging everyday, taking a photo every day - those two projects have stretched and pulled me in so many directions.  Many more than I ever thought possible. 

My next every-day-no-matter-what project is going to be a form of exercise.  I will start off small and progressively get a routine.  I wish it could become as mindless and easy to do as brushing my teeth.  I'm not going to wait until the photography 365 project is over.  I've learned that I really can do more than one thing at a time!  (even though I try to pretend that I'm only capable of one project at a time)

Would the Shuttercal calendar help you out with an every day project?  

Have a great day!
Kristin

Late night musings part ii

I saved this section for today because I was kind of hoping that I would chicken out and not post it.  It is the end of the late night musing that I wrote sometime last year.  Part I is here.  Thanks so much for all of the lovely comments I received yesterday.  It's nice to know that I don't have to be a perfect writer to have a voice!

continued...

Ever since I can remember I have felt rejected by people.  The "they don't like me" type of rejection.  It came up again the other day.  I thought I was going to do something with a group of people and just a day or so before the event I was told that I couldn't come.  I discovered later that everyone else was still invited, but I was not.  I didn't think "That's OK, we'll do it again next time."  I immediately thought "What have I done?"  "Have they just been being nice to me all this time and now when other people are involved they don't want me to be around?"  Later when it was explained what happened, I totally understood, but it was tough to handle for a day or so.

One day I asked someone to go to the movies with me and they replied that they didn't go to the movies.  End of conversation.  Had they followed that up with, "...but I'd love to go out to dinner next week," or "maybe we can get together after the movie for ice cream," I wouldn't have felt like it was a total rejection of me and not just the movie.

I have also never felt friend worthy.  Maybe that's why my BFFs live on opposite coasts as far from me as possible!  I don't like to chat on the phone, so I tend not to stay in touch with people as closely as I probably should.

I have been trying my very best in the transplant community to be a friend no matter how temporary that friendship may be.  It's funny, I still get that little girl left out feeling when I hear that so and so went shopping together last night.  Why didn't they call me? and I really am not the all-day-shopping kind of gal.  I just want to feel included all the time. 

On my kindergarten progress report it says,"Socially - often times feels left out of the group.  Believes she is being rejected."

How does something like that start at age four?  and how does it continue through 44?

My Kindergarten photo

Actually I do know that the transplant community has made me a lot more self confident.  I have to be the best friend that I can possibly be to each person but then allow those people to gravitate towards those in our group that best suit them.  I know that these folks don't need a new best friend for life, they need a new best friend for right now, through this situation, and I know I am not that to everyone.  Thank goodness, I'd be exhausted! 

I love these folks fast and have learned to let go when they go home.  Some goodbyes are much harder than others, this is true, but I know I have a special place in all of their hearts - even if I wasn't their best friend.

I read somewhere that a person teaches what they need to learn the most about.  Maybe I should write a book about how to make friends and keep them through thick and thin.  Maybe then I will understand how to be a great friend and have the confidence to know that the people I friend are friends back.

 I have actually come a long way since I wrote this nearly a year ago, but I decided to put it out there anyway since I'm sure that I'm not alone in feeling this way.   Thankfully I have a wonderful family that I love to no end.  I've always had that love and acceptance from them and it's never once wavered.  That's probably been the reason why I can dismiss the "rejected" type of feelings that pop up every so often and not dwell on it.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for being my friends!
Kristin

VW Panel Bus

This is, I believe, a 1960s era Volkswagen type 2 transporter panel bus.  It's not the prettiest VW bus that I've ever seen, but it sure was interesting.  I've probably seen one of these before, but never since I've gotten my camera.

As I stated the other day in my Photo of the Day (POTD - VW Bus), I was turning into a strip mall and when I saw this bus pass me, I followed it instead.
I needed the photo.
I needed to see it up close.
I was stalking an orange bus.
Is there an app for that??

The front seat was a long bench with a baby car seat in the passenger side and on the driver's side the steering column came right up out of the floor!  The steering wheel wasn't completely perpendicular to the column, but almost.  I had no idea.  I was going to take a photo of the inside, but I thought that I might be going a bit too far in my desire to document my stalking of this vehicle.  

As I'm talking to my husband about this panel bus he tells me that he drove one of these, although one with more windows.   Oh, the truth comes out - he said that he actually purchased the bus for $45 when he was in prep school in New Hampshire.  He took it on one short road trip with some friends and on the way back, the bus wouldn't make it up the hills anymore, so they abandonded it and walked back to school, about 4 or 5 miles.   No wonder why he originally told me he only drove it - he hardly owned it long enough to consider it his!



This is a Sunday Drive in my city.  What's going on in yours?
Head on over to Unknown Mami's for Sundays in my City.

Have a great day!
Kristin

The Cactus and the Bobcat

My husband sent me an email today, forwarded by someone else. Since my husband rarely sends me an email, I decided to open up the forward.

What he sent was very interesting! I Googled the information and determined that it was indeed a true story and that it happened on or around the 7th of April 2011. So now that I believe it's true, I'm going to pass it on.

This bobcat was photographed by Curt Fonger, a photographer of 40 years, who lives in Gold Canyon, Arizona.  All of the photographs are credited to Mr. Fonger, but I did get these from my email, so the quality is no where near what the original would look like, I'm sure. 

As the story goes, this bobcat was being chased by a hungry mountain lion and to escape potential death the bobcat made his way up to the top of the prickly, pokey saguaro cactus to wait out the hunger pangs of the lion.

The lion eventually moved on, but the bobcat stayed up there on its perch for most of the day.  Curt Fonger stayed to witness the events.

Now, I can't imagine that the top of that cactus being any softer than any other part, so I'm assuming that it wasn't a terribly comfortable resting spot for this fella.

True!  It's better than being lunch!

...but 40 feet up in the air on something as painful as a cactus had to be a pretty awful day.

The bobcat hardly shows any discomfort.  Maybe he's done this trick before.

I sure am glad that Curt Fonger was there that day to witness this event and take photos of it.  What a beautiful animal.

Have a great day!
Kristin


I gleened the information from the folowing sources...

Here is what the email said:

The photos were captured in Gold Canyon, on the foot of the Superstition Mountains.The bobcat was trying to get away from a mountain lion that was stalking it, explains the photographer Curt Fonger. He darted up a 40-foot saguaro, and there he stayed for the remainder of the day.Curt Fonger and his wife Marta are living out their golden years on wilderness' edge in Gold

Canyon. With over 40 years of photography experience, Curt recently had a career-defining moment.

"I've never had the luxury of seeing a bobcat on top of a saguaro," he says. "Just a beautiful creature,he was displaying himself proudly, kind of looking around, probably trying to see if mister mountain lion was still around... it was almost if he was posing!"  Curt says the golden cat with amber eyes stared back at him, perched on top of the cactus for hours.  "He was pretty relaxed, he kind of laid on top of the saguaro, shut his eyes, almost as if he was sleeping."  The bobcat eventually came down.
"It was that Kodak moment I think every photographer lives for."

and here is just one of the many articles I found online.  This one was from KPHO found on the Free Republic website.

Bobcat Climbs Cactus To Escape Mountain Lion
KPHO.com ^ | 4/7/11

Posted on Fri Apr 8 03:08:09 2011 by Slings and Arrows
PHOENIX -- Who knew that a bobcat could climb a plant with millions of sharp spines without injury?
Photographer Curt Fonger captured some great images of a bobcat that climbed a saguaro Tuesday.
Fonger's friend says the bobcat ran through the grounds at Smiling Dog Landscape in Gold Canyon.
A mountain lion was running after the bobcat, probably looking for breakfast.
Fonger's friend said the bobcat clawed its way to the top of the cactus and stared back down at the mountain lion.
The bobcat stayed up there all day long. The mountain lion eventually lost interest and wandered off.
Curt Fonger, who's been taking wildlife photographs for 40 years, says this was his most memorable shoot ever.
"When he looked down at me, those beautiful amber eyes with those dark slits said it all. It was so refreshing to be able to personally witness this bobcat at that precise moment," Fonger said. "A story of survival. He wasn't nervous or frightened. Instead he had a personified "Calm after the Storm" demeanor. A lesson more of us could learn from."
Fonger said the creature even took a "bobcatnap" during the morning. How comfy could that be?
"In my 40 years of photography this was without doubt a defining moment in being at the right place at the right time. I'm still smiling a day later," Fonger said.