The other day I went to check my PO Box and was surprised to find a check from an online art company. I’d submitted one of my photos about two years ago then forgotten about it, and apparently it had sold several times and they mailed me a royalty check. Yay! It’s not a lot of money, of course, but it makes me realize that I should submit more photos and this time not forget about it. ;-)
Of course, it was fun being published, too, as has happened a few times here and there. My Paranoia photo, for example (in 2005). But I’ve since removed all photos I had up on free stock sites.
A funny story: last year a newspaper article included information about some stuff I’d done and submitted online in 2002, and thinking back, I should have said something to them because they ripped off a photo I’d submitted to that site as well (that is blatantly marked as all rights reserved to the author) and published it in the newspaper with the article. Of course, I was so happy to be published in more ways than one, I let it go. But I’ll bet if I pursued it I could have gotten some money, lol. I’m actually really surprised that they did it at all, they should have known better. I was also a bit embarrassed about the image, I guess, since it was done on this crappy camera so long ago and scanned on an even crappier scanner. I’m really not sure why I didn’t use my good SLR for those photos… maybe I forgot it that day, who knows?
Anyway, since my sign-up with the art site was so long ago, getting back in was absolute torture. I tried every email address known as man for password retrieval but they all returned “no such user.” I emailed them… a month went by and I emailed them again. I got back two responses as opposed to the none the first time. One was not helpful whatsoever and I doubt they even read my email at all (and I told them as much) and the other instructed me to call a 1-800 number. The poor guy on the line that I ended up getting had no clue what to do and had to have a chit-chat with his manager. You see, they’d given me the customer number, not an artist one. Finally he came back with a new email address. I emailed them and that guy responded within a couple of days with the email address and password.
But things are going well in this respect, too. Since we joined that debt reduction program in June, we’ve been paying on our debt and not adding to it at all. And a month or so ago, I was able to open up our first savings account ever! And even better? That money has been added to twice, and nothing withdrawn! Yay!
I am sick and tired of walking out in the yard with my little boy only to find another dead blackbird in the grass, or in today’s case: on my porch. Do you know how traumatic that is to a bird and animal loving three-year-old? Do you know how nasty that is? What if he touches one before I realize it’s there, or, heaven forbid, our stupid dog eats one? Do you want to pay their medical bills?
I don’t care if the blackbirds eat the birdseed meant for the purple martins. I don’t care if the blackbirds try to live in your purple martin houses.
STOP SHOOTING THEM!
I guess it would be one thing if you’d just clean up your own messes. But, no, you have to shoot them with your little low-powered gun and let them fly over to our yard and die.
I have a few words for the lady next door, too, if I ever find out that she is indeed shoving dead birds found in her yard into ours. Or aiming her lawnmower just right so that they purposely fly into our yard in a million little pieces. I could swear that the bird I found two weeks ago was last seen in her yard. It’s interesting how it mysteriously appeared at the edge of our patio where I almost stepped on it.
I’m going to have my husband have a talk with you about this as soon as possible. Should it continue after that, I’ll resort to more drastic measures. I’m not above throwing the dirty, soon-to-be fly ridden creatures back into your yard. All I need is a pair of gloves. I’m also not above reporting you to the city, if that’s what it takes… and maybe a few other things that are brewing in my mind.
I just wanted to show you all this video from Easter. Sarah actually took the video and several others. Here Elijah is counting some Easter eggs. She hid them for him twice and they put them in the birdbath.
Isn’t my kid cute? :)
As you can see, he gets a little confused on his own with the “teen” numbers. But if he’d just slow down a bit or when he has a little help, he can get through them right. But we think it’s adorable when he repeats 14. :)
Wondering why this is was protected? There’s someone out there who’s ticked at me because she’s demented and is trying to pick a fight with me, making fun of my whole family and saying nasty things about me. Since there’s already been comments made about E not being able to talk in complete sentences or say his ABC’s - both of which he can do - I just don’t need to give her more fuel to make fun of him. *sigh* I actually am thinking of taking my personal blogging private again… Anyway, enough whining.
So here’s something that came across my desk a few months ago that I thought was pretty funny… at the time anyway. :P
Not too terribly long ago, I posted about that third Cinderella movie and got a few comments. Twenty days went by and I got two more from the same guy. They were in moderation due to the post being old enough that all comments are moderated so I figured he didn’t realize his first comment went through and I approved them both.
Another two days later and I had nine more comments on that post. It took me exactly two seconds to realize it was the same person making all the posts and because he gave me such a good laugh, I approved them all: Continue reading ‘MPD’
Yesterday after Study, I went with several other of the ladies to McDonald’s. It’s not our choice place to eat, but they have a playland and the kids all went psycho together, having fun. We got to sit for a while and talk. Adult conversation is always very nice. Even my friend who recently had a beautiful baby made it out, that was really nice, we don’t get to see each other as much as we used to now that we live an hour apart.
E even took the plunge and went up in the playland. Usually he hangs down around the bottom and plays with the stuff there. But I guess he got tired of being left behind and went on up. Of course, once he had discovered there was a steering wheel up there… there was no getting him back, lol.
And we did end up having to send up an older kid to retrieve him. I kept motioning for him to come down when it was time to go and he just kept saying, “I’m driving!” Silly boy. :)
Besides my good friend (she was one of my bridesmaids), there were three other ladies that I don’t know very well. They’re all very nice though and all have a boy E’s age or very close, so he already knows these boys and jabbers about them and the rest of his friends all the time.
Yesterday was Easter and it was colder than it was on Christmas day! That’s completely unreal!
However, I am very happy that all my plants seem to be okay. Even the gladiolas I planted a few weeks ago are coming up nicely, earlier than I expected. I haven’t had a chance to check on the sunflowers though, I’ve been incredibly busy, have hardly been at home at all.
I’ll have Easter photos for y’all soon, but for now, how about a few flowers?
Though it’s about a billion degrees below zero outside right now, summertime is almost upon us. We don’t have any real vacations planned this year, but a few little trips here and there. The end of this month, Steve’ll be taking a fishing trip with the men on my dad’s side of the family and in August we’ll all be going to Quincy, IL for a wedding. I’ve never been there before, but Sarah and I will be going up a few days early to spend some time in Hannibal, MO. I’ve been wanting to get back to Hannibal for some time now. Then in September, I’ll probably go to Nashville, TN, for a few days.
Steve and I have been wanting to go to Branson, MO for some time now. He’s never been and I haven’t been since high school. So maybe we’ll stick that in July or something. And Sarah and I might be going to Springfield, MO. I also want to go to Mississippi again. Steve’s dad is going down in a couple of weeks but I can’t go over a weekend, not until later this year anyway, since I’m the only one who can currently edit and am training the other guy. But maybe later this year Steve and I can go, maybe when he’s on his short summer vacation from school so we don’t have to worry about that.
Well, we’ll see. We may plan something “big” yet. Maybe in November or December.
What are you doing this summer?
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The other day I went to check my PO Box and was surprised to find a check from an online art company. I’d submitted one of my photos about two years ago then forgotten about it, and apparently it had sold several times and they mailed me a royalty check. Yay! It’s not a lot of money, of course, but it makes me realize that I should submit more photos and this time not forget about it. ;-)
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