I am working this week, but it’s only 3 days. Filling in for some friends – their secretary is on vacation. I am wiped out. It was a very busy day today. I am told that next time should be better, but I am not so sure, haha.

Had a photo shoot Sunday afternoon. It was so hot but I am very pleased with the results. Really, probably more than any other shoot so far, the percentage of photos that are good is probably about 98%. They were very easy-going subject, very relaxed and natural. I had fun! Tomorrow I’m going to add them to my site and get her CD out to her.

Speaking of my site, I’ve been working on something where people can order prints if they want. It wasn’t something I planned on doing but it’s been requested. I guess giving out the CD is great for most people but others don’t have time or don’t want to mess with printing what they want and would rather choose them online and pay. I looked into some services that do all of this for you (you upload, people order there, and they fulfill the orders) and a couple of programs you can install but every option I’ve found that’s meant for what I need it for is very expensive. I wouldn’t mind spending $329 on a certain program if I was making enough money right now, but if I’m going to spend a lot of money, I’d rather get another lens I have in mind! Instead, I installed Zenphoto and found a plugin for adding photos to your PayPal “cart.” I think it will work out just fine for now. I am just trying to figure out an issue my theme is having with any browser other than FireFox, and I’ll be good to go!

Um, first round of chemo went well for my father-in-law. In fact, first they’d told him 3 days in a row, then when he went in, they said once a week, then afterward they said he didn’t have to go back for about 4 weeks. I take this as a good sign. Right? So he’ll be back in there in a couple of days and hopefully this time will go well also.

The job didn’t pan out. They sent me some lame letter that didn’t make any sense. Whatever, I wasn’t really looking forward to the 50 thousand tests and vaccinations I’d have to get to work in a hospital, anyway, even if it was just clerical.

Steve’s still laid off and it’s been almost 2 months. He doesn’t see anything turning around any time soon. So far, we’re ok, but I’m going to have to learn to pay the vehicle bill earlier, or something, so it doesn’t fall so close to the mortgage. Since we’re on a smaller budget now, of course. On one hand, the union sucks in this respect because with him laid off, they’ve essentially taken all his chances at a livelihood in his field. We’re starting to look at options outside of what he’s been trained to do. He can’t work as an electrician unless it’s through the union. It’s a catch-22.

I suppose that’s really it as far as lameness goes. I’ll have to try to update more often as there are good things in my life, too. Really, I’m pretty happy and content. I just get nervous, here lately, when I think about what is going to happen when unemployment runs out if neither of us have found something? That scares me, but a day at a time…

1. First and foremost, we were hit with the news this week that my father-in-law has cancer, lymphoma, to be exact. From the link above:

“Lymphoma is a cancer that begins in the lymphocytes of the immune system and presents as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. It is treatable with chemotherapy, and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable, depending on the histology, type, and stage of the disease.”

However, I sort of take that as good news as compared to Monday when they told him he had lung cancer. Apparently, the prognosis is better for lymphoma than lung cancer. He certainly seemed in much better spirits when he called and told me the updated news yesterday.

I don’t really know about lymphoma, or the lymph nodes for that matter, but I’m starting to read. It is interesting to think about the lymph nodes having to do with the immune system as he was not very long ago battling some very nasty cases of bronchitis and pneumonia.

2. I got called to go take some tests for a job I applied for and I am totally excited. However, don’t expect to hear much more about it short of I got it or didn’t get it because I’m not going to be one of those people who talks about their jobs online and subsequently gets fired for it. :P

3. Kayleigh is eating all sorts of baby food and cereal now. In fact, I’m feeding her now. Sometimes she’s really slow because she’s gotta stick those fingers in her mouth between bites. But she really likes it. I think the only thing she might possibly not enjoy is squash, she seems to like everything else pretty well. She really packs it in there, too. We thicken it up with the baby cereal sometimes nearly doubling the volume and she will eat the whole thing every time, sometimes washing it down with a bottle. Yet she’s really slowed on her weight gain. I think it’s because she is just so active, she must be burning up all the calories!

4. She’s also still not sitting up yet but is very close to crawling. So we got her started with some once-a-month physical therapy. She’s practicing sitting right now, in her little seat. We’re also supposed to push her knees together more when she’s on her hands and knees as she tends to really send them flying out to the sides.

5. Kidney ultrasound is next week, hopefully then we’ll know if this girl is going to need surgery or not. Thankfully, we still have health insurance for approximately through 2010 even if Steve is not called back to work.

6. Last night Steve started working on the lower room. He’s taking it in chunks and has already ripped out the paneling on one of the short walls and added more insulation and drywall, not to mention fixing the shoddy electrical work that was inside the wall that we never knew about. He about had a fit when he saw it, said it was a fire waiting to happen. Apparently someone at some point (not us) also barely missed sending a nail into a live wire and instead was pushing the junction box out from the wall. But now drywall is up, the electrical is fixed, and we even have a new outlet. He also put in a switch to use with the old-looking light that’s outside that’s never worked. He’s working on fixing that up.

7. Yes, remodeling is expensive. It’s not really fair if you ask me. Either he has no time or he has no money. Never can he apparently have time AND money. But it’s also good that we have a lot of things we’ve accumulated over the years that can be used for this. He did have to buy drywall, but it was not bad at all.

8. That room has become, it seems, our junk room though, since we tore the wall out of the other one and made the living room bigger and finished that. We have books down there and half of my candle supplies, shipping boxes, packing peanuts, the desk, a few other misc things, a tub of E’s bigger toys, and a piano. I am sad about the piano. I’ve decided there is no room for it and I never get to play so I was prepared to give it up. But I don’t want to! And I was talking to a friend about giving it to her to the point where she was going to talk her her husband – they already have one but it is in bad shape – but then my mom is trying to talk me into keeping it and so I start second thinking it. I don’t want to go back on what I told my friend but she also hasn’t talked to her husband yet and we were thinking that maybe we could fix hers and get rid of the horrible one out at my in-laws’ and put ours there for the time being. I dunno what to do but it just can’t stay here…

9. Eight is enough. :)

I have varying feelings ranging from “we’ll be just fine” to the staring into space “oh. my. gosh. What are we going to do?”

Applying for unemployment is a pain in the butt. Apparently you have to do this every week or at least within 2 weeks. We’d first applied almost a year ago when he had to take his first forced week off, right before my water broke. He had his waiting week then, or so we thought (the week you have to wait before you will start getting payments when you apply). We didn’t do anything with it again until this past fall. He’d had a couple of other weeks off in between then, but I think he took vacation pay then. Since it was longer than 28 days and no other claims were made, we were told we had another waiting week. Then we filed for the last week of the year and no payment ever came. Come to find out, the “case” went stale when there was no activity on it yet the site continued to take and verify his information, but nothing would progress. Steve talked to a guy on the phone and sorted it out, at least I think it’s taken care of. But unemployment… that’s going to be an adjustment. I need to sit down and budget it all out. And do my business sales tax. Ugh, I’m behind this year (but not late yet thankfully).

But as far as going back to work… he’s #755 on the books which means there are 754 guys in front of him waiting for a job. They estimate a period of 18 months to two years before a job would get to him. Unemployment lasts, what, a year? And the prices of things keep rising and the brains of the people running our country keep going down the toilet… it’s not going to get better. Two years is probably a best-case scenario.

It ticks me off, all the work and money leaving this country because of the morons we have in office who either can’t see or completely don’t care how this affects the little guy. Bring back the jobs, idiots, and the economy will pick up.

This sucks.

So, things in my life lately?

– We’re healthy and plan to remain as such. I dare say that this is the healthiest I have been in a long time, or, at least, the longest I’ve gone without being sick or suffering a sinus infection. Vitamin D rocks. So does garlic and Xyzal.

– Speaking of garlic, having recently learned a bit about its natural healing properties, I decided to plant some of my own. I did it as I was instructed but… eh, apparently it’s not cold enough here yet and it’s already growing!

– Which is quite the opposite for our dear globe willow tree that we all love so much… she is dead. D.E.A.D. I’m so sad. Apparently she got a disease that is common to the trees but by the time she was showing signs, it was too late. I’m not sure what we’re going to do about her, exactly, but she’s going to have to come down.

– School is going well. In fact, Elijah finished a math book today. Flew right through it, so already I have to get him a new one.

– I’ve gotten to do some portraits for a few people here recently. Besides the ones I’ve already posted, I got to shoot this family not long ago:

And this sweet little girl the other day:

Not to mention various things with my own kids! I need to get started on our Christmas cards, though, likely, I’m going to send most electronically this year. (And I really mean it, this time!) But wait until you see them, the photo I have is so very cute! :-)

– Been busy with a lot of website stuff lately, too. Doing some Flash sites for some people, working on a big Joomla site (which is a major pain in the butt because none of my stuff works with the newest version), and finally got to do a Chyrp site which should help further ease the loads on my server as that site was once WordPress and one of the “trouble” sites.

– Trying to get caught up in video work, too. Finally starting to get somewhere and get into a sort of schedule. I just need to remember to make a DVD each week instead of just putting it up on the internet and forgetting about it!

– Also still crocheting. Can you believe that I’ve stuck with it this long? Who knew? Have finished 3 Christmas gifts so far and am halfway through another one. This one is taking me a long time though, or at least it feels longer. But the end results will be worth it! I have plans for at least two more bigger gifts, too, then some smaller ones.

– One thing I wish I was active in lately is my digital scrapbooking. However, I just don’t have enough time in the day! I figure after all the daily activities I must do and sleeping and eating, I have about 4 hours, if that, and that is often spent working or on crochet!

– I’ve also been a candle-making fool lately. Or at least it seems that way. I’m not really making a lot in quantity but have been at it near constantly the last two weeks because of orders and what not. I can’t really make large batches because of Kayleigh, for the most part. Even just a few candles, as they are hardening, release a lot of scent into the air, and the last thing I want to do is irritate her little lungs. I’ve been covering the ones I do with a little towel and I have the ceiling fans going when I can, and the air cleaner going all the time. Having the bathroom window open when I can really seems to help, too. Orders are good, though, I needs ta pay mah bills :)

– And finally, on the work front, Steve has to have a forced week off this week. All the guys in the company, over the last 8 weeks of the year, are required to take off 3 of them. There just isn’t enough work going around these days – and it’s always slower in the winter months, anyway. So we filed for his week of unemployment, which will help some. I’ve been trying to cut corners where we can. So we shall see what we shall see. But, really, I’d rather him work 5 weeks out of 8 than none, so hopefully he will get to do that and on those 3 weeks he takes off, someone else gets to work in his place and get some income of their own. I know we’ll be cared for, though, whatever happens.

Now I have to clear out the unneeded read messages, work on my other Gmail inbox, another inbox, and four other folders that stuff is filtered into. :P

Oh, and I have quite a few sites to upgrade and re-do and catch up on… My work is never done! :)