Only seven more days till the month of October. I took the day off so i can hang my artwork at the coffee house. I am so excited, nervous, giddy! I keep thinking, "what will people think of my photography?" "Did I frame them right?" "Will anyone buy one?" Well I hope so because I am broke and want to print off some different ones! It's late, can't sleep and I have to work tomorrow so I am going to try to go to sleep.  

Tuesday I leave for Los Angeles and I am so excited. My mom and dad and my brother my aunt and uncle my lovely daughter and most important my beautiful granddaughter! Cant wait to see them all. I also hope to hook up with my old schoolmate Annette! I can't wait to go to the beach and feel my toes in the sand!!! I will be there for a week and when I get back I will have to get my photography all together and get ready for my first showing. I will be the featured artist for the month of October!!! Woooo Hoooooo!!! I still have a lot to do and will have only three weeks to get it together! I am so nervous and happy at the same time. Oh yes and lets not forget guilt ridden for all the money I spent on printing my photos! I is an opportunity I am not going to pass up. That's is what I have always done in the past but not this time. So wish me luck!.............................................These are a few of my photos in the mini slideshow! Click on it and have a look at Red Bubble site.  

I finally did something with my photography! My friends have been saying "Why don't you do something!' They have been encouraging me to get my name out there and promote myself. Well It took me a year but I did it! It's a big leap for me to do something like this and I am jazzed! If anyone does read this and is willing to check out my gallery, let me say in advance how much I appreciate taking the time to do so. I hope you enjoy looking at my photographs as much as I did photographing them. Click on the links below to get a better look..........

Hello everyone in Bloggerville! I finally found my way back. I have been busy with my photography. I am excited to say that I have been preparing my portfolio and I finally finished the computer part and downloaded it onto a disc. I will have 8X10's made and I should be ready to show them off in about a week. My girlfriend is going to introduce me to a gentleman that works in a gallery. She showed him my photo website and he wants to see my portfolio! Woooo Hooooo!!!!!! I am soooo darn excited I could scream! This whole thing is a lot for me to take in without getting giggly and silly. That's how I deal with my fear of success. have some more great news. Jeff got my a Nikon D40X for Christmas and I also have a couple of classes scheduled. I gotta admit that I am spoiled by my point and shoot but I am looking forward to learning how to use my new camera and all the functions. I am still at Wal-Mart in charge of the grocery department. I have applied for that transfer to the store that is down the street from me. Hope I get that transfer, it would mean less $$$ in gas and in the summer I could ride my bike to work. I hope you don't think that I have forgotten about all of you. I just kinda of became obsessed with my new found hobby. Here are a few photos that I took with my new camera hope you enjoy them. I also hope everyones new year is bringing you joy and happy times. 2008!!!!!!! Can you believe it? My granddaughter, Siena, turned 2 years old. My daughter called me to let me know that Siena fractured her arm and is in a cast! She was jumping on the bed and landed wrong. Siena looked up at mom and softly said, "No jumping on the bed." That's when Colleen knew something was wrong and took her to the doctors! I also posted the latest photo of Siena. She is such a pretty little girl. Well I have to get to bed so I can get some ZZZZZ. I have to work first thing in the morning....Grrrrrr.....I'd rather spend the day taking pictures!............Pam:)

Yes I am still alive and I made it through the biggest grocery shopping time of the year.....and I still have a full head of hair! It has been a long time since I have wanted to blog anything. It seemed that I have been in a heavy funk and could only think of unhappy things to write about. Well that hasn't changed much but my outlook has. You know the saying..."When it rains, it pours" well I don't have an umbrella and I got soaking wet! LOL My son is now out of prison and I am crossing my fingers. My daughter in-law is home from Irac and her and my daughter broke up! My daughter is seriously considering joing the Army full time. I am not real happy about that but if that is what she wants to do, I will support her. It's a real catch 22. If she is deployed I will be taking care of Siena,my granddaughter, which will be wonderful....but I don't wan't my daughter to be deployed either!!!!! My mother in-law just found out she has 1-3 years to live. She has a rare kind of cancer and yesterday it just hit me emotionally. I cried all the way to work and all day at work. Today Jeff is deep frying a turkey and a bunch of other stuff. I am only in charge of the baked candied yams.....with bourbon!!!!!! Jeff has become quite the chef now that he changed jobs. He is at home a lot with nothing to do and has become very domesticated! I was cleaning off the kitchen table and he was chopping away at some gourme creation and I asked him to move over so I could get to the trash can. He turned and glared then he snapped, "Why do you always have to be in the kitchen when I am cooking!!!" I looked at him and asked him if a rock had fell on his head! "Where is my husband?" I snapped back! LOL!!!!!!!! He has vacuumed the house more in the last month than I have in the last year....(embarrassed and frowning) :( Believe me I am not complaining but it is quite a shock, this big change. I have been taking lots of photos and enjoying learning more about all there is to know to make myself a better photographer. If you want to see my photos I have two sites. http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=237669 and http://www.soaphoto.com/album/my_album_main.asp?uid=phpic I can't wait to get an SLR. Since I started my new hobby I look at EVERYTHING differently. "Will that make a good photo?" "Now that would make an artistic image!" I love it. Lots of fun. I am paticipating in a 30 days of black and white project on the SOAPHOTO site. My album will be posted on the 1st. The photo below in one you will see in that album. Well I have to get back to the kitchen and clean up the mess we made. Hope you all are having a great Thanksgiving Day.....Pam:)

This weekend my hubby and I will take our motorcycle to the mountains to try to get some good photos of the leaves changing. I hope we didn't miss the peak. Wish me luck. That's me in the reflection in the back of my hubby's helmet. One of these days I am going to drop my camera trying to get a photo at 50 mph! That's it for today, Pam:)

Well I am still alive and well! I have been working 10 and 12 hour shifts for the last 3-4 weeks and I ma sooooo pooped and my muscles are sore. I am still loving my new hobby of riding my bicycle and taking pictures of the neighborhood and of the sunsets! It is very relaxing for me and helps me unwind from the stresses of retail. Nothing new going on except that I made a baby blanket for my neighbor who is due in October. Oh wait a minute....We painted our house!!!! RED!!!!!!! I just love it. Here are a couple of pictures. All the neighbors like it too. That's a good thing eh? Well I am going to fix fome dinner and relax. Hope everyone is doing well. It's going to take forever to catch up on everyone, but I will try.....Pam:)

I've been tagged.... here are the rules.... THE RULES OF THE TAG ARE: Each person posts the rules before their list, then list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people and then visits those people's spaces and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come and read the post, so they know what they have to do. 1. I have been mairred for 14 years 2. I have 2 kids and 4 grandkids 3. I am a workaholic...at Wal-Mart 4. I love to take pictures 5. I pracrastinate or maybe I just constantly forget what I was doing but I am consistant!!!!! 7. I love to cook for lot's of people! I don't know lots of people...Hmmmmm 8. I love to give presents to people for no reason at all! I am now supposed to tag others but I am such a party pooper...Sorry Val But it was fun reading about you!

If only I could be like a perennial flower, as each year passes, my roots are established and I become healthier, brighter, stronger. But like an annual a false sense of well being presents itself with a beautiful blossom and as the season ends, it withers into the ground, forgotten and then replaced without reason to return.

I was just thinking about my grandkids and how I wish I could be closer to them and it occurred to me that my mother probably thought the same thoughts! When in my teens and early twenties I was running around with no head, not a care in the world but ME ME ME!!!! I know a lot of us, well most of us are focused on what we want out of life for our future career and future family. We get married and now the new family unit draws all the attention to its need to be nurtured. Mom and dad and grandma and grandpa are practically left in the dust! The new family has kids and for those who stay in or near their home town where they grew up those kids have the opportunity to know all grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc. But what happens to the family that moves across the states were the kids have no family outside to mom and dad! That's what happened to me and my kids and I know my kids feel they have missed out on having that tight close knit family unit of support and love. I Keep thinking about all the photographs I have taken and wish my grandkids were in that collection! Yeah flowers and sunsets are nice but to have the family album filled with my grandkids pictures as they get older and to see the changes.....well, I don't have that and my grandkids won't have it when they get older either. I used to love sitting down with my mom and looking though the pages of our family album. We would laugh and sometimes cry together over the memories of past experiences. I just wish I could be near my grandkids and be a bigger part in their lives and them in mine. I feel like the invisible granny that send gifts from grannyland far far away! That sounds sad don't it! I think my next vacation will be to Washington state to see the kids! I would really like to fly them here but $$$$$ yikes can't afford that. I know my daughter-in-law would love to come to Colorado! Well see if we can make that happen. Well I love you Azela, Robbie , Richie, Siena!!! Just want you to know that I always have you in my heart...XXXXOOOOXXXXX Big hug from grandma!

Yesterday morning I sat down to read emails and found one from SOAPHOTO.com. I got picked for "Cool Member of the Day" I was so excited. The website featured a link to my site with my photo albums on it. I was overwhelmed with so many wonderful comments from other members. What an exhilarating experience! I ended up going out on my bicycle and took pictures of the neighborhood. With permission of coarse! Mostly flowers and objects and garden art. It was fun. Just go to the address. click on the SOA ALBUM tab and enter my ID phpic in the search window My site should come up. I really enjoy doing this and I am thinking about making boxed cards out of my photos and selling them. Here I go again coming up with ideas to make extra money. I might be doing pretty well if I would follow through with them. the difference with this one is that Jeff has been very encouraging and helpful. He gives me suggestions that I have been trying out. It's been lots of fun. Here are three of the photos that I took of my neighbors flag. It was a gorgeos day yesterday. Hope you all have a great weekend.....Pam:P

I have decided that I will never go to the doctors again! Every time I go I have to have surgery of some sort. So I have been ignoring my symptoms for quite some time but last Saturday My body finally screamed loud enough at me to get my attention. I woke up with a pain in my left side and then after a while it went away. That evening we decided to ride our bikes down to the Erie Cafe' for dinner. Just as we arrive the wind started picking up and we parked our biked and went inside. We ordered and while we were waiting my stomach started bothering me, this time on the lower right side. I was only able to eat about 4 or 5 bites of dinner and I knew I needed to go to the hospital. It was about 8:45pm and when we left the winds were fierce. The pain was getting worse and I was going very slow. Jeff offered to go get the car and come back to get me but I insisted on riding my bicycle home. I am so stubborn/stupid! We finally made it home and Jeff wanted to take me to the hospital, but just two days before I watch a documentary on the Health channel about all the Mishaps that occur on graveyard because of all the new doctors in training and lack of sleep. Well there was no way I was going to the ER at 10:00 at night! So I laid down to try to sleep and told Jeff if I still feel bad that I would go in the morning. Well I woke up and turned to Jeff and said, "Let's go!" They did blood tests and urine tests to check the white cell count and to make sure my kidneys were okay. That took about 5 hours and then this orderly came in to take me off to have a cat scan done. Well I put on the breaks and told him that I want the results of the tests first. So he got me the doctor...That took another hour. Jeff apologized for troubling her and he told her it's not about the money.........."Wait a minute!" I sat up(Ouch that hurt) "Yes it is about the money!!!" I told the doctor that this is the third time that I have been to the emergency with this problem and the first two times showed nothing. All I got from the doctor was an "I don't know what's wrong" that cost me $3000 bucks..... each visit! That answer will be unacceptable on this visit! She was very understanding and also helped me to feel better about having the cat scan. Its a good thing I did because the next person I saw was the surgeon and he said I need my appendix out now! He poked at my tummy(Ouch)and said that I have a hernia too, "Do you want me to fix that while I'm in there?" he asked, "Well YES!!!!" I screamed. and laughing at the same time(Ouch that hurts too) So they took me up to prep me and 2 hours later I woke up and then they had me sign more papers so they could boot me out! Things have certainly changed. I went home and then of course I over did it the next day. The doctors said I will be on a 10LB limit for 16 weeks! I went to work Monday morning to sign some paperwork and let them know the situation! I got a live plant the next day delivered to my door from management. That was unexpected and nice. But the least I can say about this whole ordeal is that I now have something to blog about!!!! Hee Hee! Pam:) ...PS...I added new potos from my garden. I really love the fun I am having experimenting with my shots. Do you like it?

Yikes! I filled out one of those silly questionairs..."Rate My Life" I found it on Valleries site....Well I only scored 3.8. How depressing is that? :( Enough of that nonsense. My daughters birthday is on the 14th, so that is what I will be doing today. I have to get a couple of little things to complete her gift then I will get it in the mail. I feel like I have been disconnected from bloggerville since I got this new computer. I know I don't write as much and what I write is kind of boring. I feel like I have run out of ideas of what to write about. When I first started my blogsite I felt inspired. I don't know what happened to mood that would envelope me as I wrote but I can't seem to find it, or get into it...You know what I mean? Does that make sense? Time to get off my butt and dive into my Saturday. Hope you all have a great weekend! Pam:)

Well I made it back safe and sound. The first thing I noticed when I got to Reno is how brown it is. As we were driving to our old neighborhood I was looking at the landscape of the Sierras and asked Jeff, "Wasn't it a lot greener when we lived here?" Well the answer is NO!!!! Just seeing all the developement and all the dry treeless hills and mountains made us realize that we don't miss this city as much as we thought we did! We drove up to our old house and I about cried. We stayed with our friends 2 doors down Cindy and Leon. I was so happy to see them. I felt warm all over and had that "I'm home" feeling. OMG their two kids have grown so much. I got a few pictures but they didn't come out too good. I have lots to download of Reno Homebrewer's. It was good to see everyone there too. It hasn't changed a bit. It was one of Jeff's favorite places to hang out at. Saturday Cindy and Leon threw a BBQ and our few of our friends came to talk and eat and drink!!! Memories and current happenings, politics, religion, immigration, you name it we talked about it. It was a good time. That afternoon Harold, he is the man that bought our house, gave us a tour of our house and We were so surprized that he left everything the same with the exception of the livingroom. He painted it whight for his wife because that was where she spent most of her time. She has passed on and Harold now wants to paint the one wall red again. I was so surprized to see the entertainement wall still the same. Jeff and I had all the neighbor kids come over and help us paint it. We incased the wall with plastic and I hade about 6 bowls of paint all different colors and we told the kids we want paint on the wall but the brush cannot tough the wall. The went at it and splattered paint everywhere and then I took a video of it. When Harold heard the story of how the wall was painted he couldn't bring himself to paint over the kids great piece of artwork! Yes I cried!!! I will post the pictures as soon as I get them all together. Meanwhile here are just a few that I have downloaded. I have to go to work tomorrow, dag nam it! I had better get some sleep. I will try to catch up on your world this weekend. Hope your all doing great, I can now say that I love living in Colorado and have no regrets. I will just have to try harder to go see the friends I left in Reno or maybe convince them to move here!! Hee Hee!!!! Pam:) ....Well It is sot letting me download the pics...Grrrrrrr

Well I am so tired and I can't seem to shake this feeling of wanting to close my eyes and sleep. I have only been getting 4 to 5 hours of sleep and even that small amount is broken sleep. I think I should maybe ask the doctor for a sleep aid, but i am afraid of getting addicted to it. I am going to Reno this weekend. It will be nice to see all my old friends. Well I am faling to sleep while I am typing so I am going to take advantage and go to bed. Nite Nite! Sleep tight!

My Camera and I are joined aat the hip. I always try to have it with me where ever I go just in case there is that moment in time that I want to capture on .....Well....on my digital. I was going to say film but that is almost a thing of the past. My hubby has two nice 35mm cameras. A Pentax SP1000 that has a zoom and a macro lens along with the regular lens tat does plenty on its own. The other camera is a Minolta Maxxum 8000i. It also has 3 lenses and a flash, and a few filters. I am going to learn how to us this camera till I have mastered it then I will go on to get the digital camera I really want. Well I haven't really decided which one I want. There is the Cannon EOS-1D Mark II but that would set me back at about $3500K So I might have to go for 2nd choice, the Nikon D80 which will cost me about $1000k. Ouch!!! I have become so fascinated with my camera and my garden that I really want to learn more about photography. I have posted my latest pictures that I thought were really good. Tell me what you think and please be honest! There is a photo website that I am always surfing for more knowledge. They have a monthly contest and you can win prizes too. Really nice prizes. Mostly cameras. Well here is the web address http://www.soaphoto.com/contest/gallery/gallery.asp Yes you will have to copy and paste because I have a MAC. Well I have been submitting my photos every month for the past 3 months. I have a long way to go before I can win this contest. But I love looking at other pictures to get new ideas. There are professional photographers on this site andeverything inbetween them and me, the beginner! So have a look at my latest photo album and tell me what you think! Pam :)

This morning I got an email asking me to post a link to their blog site. I took a look at it and loved it. http://positivequotes.blogspot.com/ You will have to cut and paste the address. This is another downfall with my new IMAC. I also can't bring up my list options to add to it. There is probably a way but I haven't figured it out yet! http://positivequotes.blogspot.com/ This is the other link. I love positive quotes! Everyone have a great day!........Pam:)

Oh man, I don't want to go back to work! Today is the day I have been dreading. Isn't funny how I can go from having withdrawals and wanting to be at work 14 hours a day to hating to go back. Well I did spoil myself while I was off. I will finish this when I com home.......nothing new to report about work...same ol same ol. I kind of overdid it yeaserday in the yard my ankle is a little sore. I better take it easy.Good nite sleep tight!

My friend in Bloggerville for some reason made a statement that was just plain silly. She was thinking that she was falling short on compassion. If you knew her you would laugh and say "that's just silly!" Because we here in Bloggerville and I am sure you will agree, think she is one of the sweetest, kindest, most genuine people ther is and not just in Bloggerville, I'm sure. In my comments I left this anology and I thought I would share it with the rest of you. Now If everyone questioned whether or not they had enough compassion the world would be a better place to live in. ****Hear is my analogy***** One more thought....We humans are just like a car, we need regular maitenence. If you don't take care of your car the oil will get dirty and to thick the engine will start skipping and missing. Compression will drop and you won't have the get up an go that the car had when you first bought it. And make sure the brake pads are in good shape so you can STOP when you need to. And the fuel tank...If you let it get too low all that residue at the bottom of the tank will go through your engine and then it just doesn't run like it should. With the price of gas you want to get as much milage out of each tank, but don't push it cuz if you run out of gas you won't be going anywhere! Don't let yourself run out of gas Vallerie....It's time to fuel up!!!! You don't lack compassion you lack compression!!!!!!! lol hee hee haa haa I shouldn't laugh at my own joke! It's no joke. It's not a good feeling when you want to be helpful or you want to encourage and be there for someone in need but you run out of gas or just can't because of whatever the reason. I have felt those feelings and I tell you It's no fun. But that's when I "gas up" and give to myself so i can give to others!......love you Vallerie!

Today is the last day of therapy with my ankle. While I am there I will set appointments for their Pilates therapy. My insurance will pay up to $2000 on therapy per year. I may as well take advantage of that doing Pilates. I gotta get going............I'm back....... Well, I set my appointment for the Pilates, I can't wait to get started. I stopped at Work on the way home and everyone was glad to see me and told me they miss me! Wow, I didn't expect that nice surprize. On the way home I stopped at the tree farm and looked at some trees to plant in my front yard. I think I might be going with a flowering pear or a sunburst locust. I can't decide. But I did see a crimson king maple that I would like to plant in the back yard! So pretty. So much money too. But thes are good sized trees. I want to have some kind of shade and not have to wait formy trees to get big enough. So I will have to pay for that. here are a few pictures of what the 100mpr winds did to the city of Superior just west from where I live. There were a lot more. There were city trucks cleaning up the main road. Branches on the ground everywhere. So sad. Today is another day and a beautiful one too. Till next time..... Pam:)......Well shoot I can't put the pictures on my blog so I will put it in the photo albums.Grrrrrrrr