Photographic Memory

Last Post

It is with a heavy heart and a sense of failure that I write this last post. 

I started Photographic Memory almost two years ago.  I had a sense of purpose then that I seem to have lost.  Thinking of posts to write has become a chore.  Since writing has become a chore then it's time to call it a day since writing is what this blog thing is all about, right?

I think changing jobs for me has been the main factor in my writing troubles.  Before, I had a job that allowed me to stop whenever I felt the urge to write what was on my mind.  I definitely miss that.  Now, I don't even have access to my blog at work and by the time I get home, most of the thoughts or feelings I had throughout the day are gone or I simply don't feel like thinking anymore.  I've been reading a lot more, which is good, but evenings have become more about family, homework, laundry and unwinding.

It dawned on me today that renewal of my blog account was coming up in a week.  I was thinking about how if I was going to renew, I really needed to post more.  About a half second after that I thought "Can you really justify the cost for a blog you don't even have the time or desire to post on anymore?"  That second thought really hit home.  I've been off today because of Veteran's Day and all day I've been making up excuses not to have to write.  I watched two movies and ate more than I should have.  At one point, I even delayed having to write a post because organizing my DVD collection suddenly became more of a priority.

I feel down about letting the blog go.  I had aspirations to become another Alyndabear or Forever Amber.  That didn't work out so much.  One has to post often and consistently to gain readers and obviously I'm not in a place to do that.  I am on Facebook if anyone wants to keep up with me there.  I'm so glad to have Alynda, Amber and Nicole from Hicktastic on my friend list and I still check everyone's blogs regularly.  Perhaps I'll start this up again one day.  I hope so.  It has been something I've been very proud of.  I felt like I had my own personal slice of the internet all just for me.  Maybe someday I will claim it again.  Until then, it's been great and I truly do appreciate everyone that's visited.

Leslie Lee

I Got Nothing

It's been a busy time.  Just about every weekend has had something going on.  I wish I was able to write some profound post about this last "official" month of summer, but alas, I cannot. 

I have been having a lot of internal struggles lately.  No sadness, no major illness, no injuries.  Just thinking a lot about where I am, where I've been and where I'm going as a person.  I am generally happy, just feel the need to tweak everything a little.  Felling a little restless.

I haven't made any great progress with my weight issues and I seem to be at a standstill with any real efforts at getting more exercise.  I am eating much less than I used to and am trying hard to make better choices.  Without delving too much into extremely personal information, I stopped taking the pill back in April and I assumed - incorrectly - that would result in at least a little weight loss.  Going off the pill makes most people lose a few pounds, right?  Right?  Wrong.  Not me.  I puffed up about 10 pounds.  I didn't stop taking it simply for the possibility of weight loss and I also am not trying for another baby.  That ship has sailed.  (Besides, we have a beautiful daughter and a fat pug.  What more do we need!)  I hoping that it just takes time for things to regulate.  We saw Julie & Julia last night and it was wonderful.  I really feel inspired to cook better meals.  Of course, this does nothing to assist me in the weight loss department.  But I think that I could still lose weight and eat better even if it's not necessarily low-cal food if I control my portions.  Also, having fresher, better quality food that tastes good and that's not overly processed is better than gorging myself on crappy, convenient junk food. 

The desire to travel has also been on my mind a lot.  I want very badly to go to Europe.  I have never traveled all that much in my life.  I've been to Colorado a bunch of times, Florida many, many times and I adore New York City, but I've got a hankering to go to Europe.  I spend a lot of time during the work day gazing at pictures of places like Brussels, Prague and Vienna.  Italy is tops on my list too.  As a result, I spend a lot of times escaping this town in my imagination.  Daydreaming of strolling through foreign towns and cities and just being a part of someplace different. 

It's been roasting here in Virginia lately.  I feel a tad guilty for wishing for fall.  I know I'll regret it come January/February, but the 95+ degree sauna is wearing me down.  I feel like a limp, wet noodle that's been over cooked.  My kingdom for an in-ground pool in my backyard.  Then I wouldn't care how hot it got outside!

On a completely unrelated note, I have to confess that there's something else I've been daydreaming about much to my husband's chagrin.  My new eye-candy, Alexander Skarsgard from Trueblood.  Hey, I've got to have something extra pretty to take my mind off life, right?

It's A Green, Green Summer

Three Weeks Later...

...and here I am.  Alive.  Kicking.  And so ready for the warm weather.  Florida spoiled me.  I got a tan, had a blast and wept the day we had to return home.  Coming home?  Not so much fun.  Carter got very sick the morning we had to leave.  Fever and vomiting.  Joy to the world.  We almost made it through the whole trip with no disease.  Almost.  Since we returned, we've had three trips to the doctor,a major cold, full blown influenza type A, an ear infection and just general exhaustion.  Now, on to the happy stuff!!!

On this trip to WDW, we flew and Carter had never flown before.  She was an absolute trooper.  In fact, she had a blast.  No part of takeoff or landing scared her in anyway.  She thought it was the Best. Thing. Ever.  She's such a fearless child.  At age eight, I would have been shaking in my shoes.  (Coming home she was very sick, but managed to fall asleep while speeding down the runway for takeoff.)  She was completely unfazed regardless of having the flu.

So we're back.  We are finally well.  I'm back at work rocking a tan.  I'm loving that.  (It makes makeup in the morning a breeze.)  It's starting to fade so I may have to get a little more sun this summer.  I'm all for anything that makes mornings quicker.  So until we pack up and head for Florida permanently, I will have to make do with hoping for the warmth to continue.  It's about 70 here today, so at least we're headed in the right direction!!!

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

Two Days Late, Two Dollars Short

This comes from Amber over at Forever Amber.  Two days late on the Friday Five.

1. What made you happy this week?

Listening to Christmas music.  One of the local radio stations started Christmas music the first week of November.  Can you believe it?!  That's too early even for me.  I have to admit I've felt a tad guilty since my general rule is not to start listening to Christmas music until Thanksgiving Day.  But, I figure Thanksgiving is pretty late this year so it's okay.  What made me even happier?  Finding out that Harry Connick, Jr. has put out a new Christmas CD.  WOOT!!  Also, we had the house cleaned on Friday.  I came home to a COMPLETELY CLEAN HOUSE.  I could not stop smiling. 

2. What made you sad?

That part of the family is going elsewhere for Thanksgiving and we will have a much smaller crew at my mother-in-law's house than we usually have.  And in addition to that, John's Aunt Barbara is coming.  Aunt Barbara is the anti-Christ.  I just know it. 

3. What made you angry?

My freaking dry-skin rash is coming back on my ankle and it itches like mad.  I just want to cut my flesh off.  My skin is a wreck already and it's not even January yet.  I need to live in the tropics.  The dry air in the house is killing me. 

4. What are you looking forward to in the next week?

Thanksgiving and officially starting my new job.

5. What are you not looking forward to?

Aunt Barbara on Turkey Day.  (Come the revolution, all jobs will adhere to the school holiday schedule.)   

 

   

Things I Want To Do

1. Take salsa lessons.

2. Redecorate my bedroom.

3. Loose 50 pounds.

4. Get my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving.

5. Replace the carpet in the upstairs bedrooms.

6. Take a week off to do absolutely nothing.

7. Finish all the laundry in my house and DARE anyone to dirty any clothes for at least 2 days.

8. Travel, travel, travel.

9. Renew my wedding vows.

10. Hire a housekeeper.*

11. Own an exotic pet.**

12. Have a Playboy Bunny outfit made just for me for kicks and giggles. (After I loose the 50 lbs.)

13. Win a $10,000 shopping spree to Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware.

14. Wake up on my own in the morning without an alarm or other outside noise.

15. See a really good, heavy snow this winter.

*This one will happen.  Sort of.  John agreed to let me get a cleaning service to thoroughly clean the house just before Thanksgiving.  I always do a big cleaning right before the holidays and we just have way too much going on in the next few weeks.

**This one has happened.  Sort of.  A lizard made it's way into the greenhouse this summer and is now living the high life in the constant 74 degrees while all his lizard buddies are outside freezing their cahoonas off.        

Bulleted

• I stayed home today.  Sick.  Had a fever last night and felt like crap.  A day home sick is waaaaay better than a day at work healthy.  I really needed a day at home to do nothing.  I watched a shitty slasher flick and ate junk food.  
• To complete my journey into official nerd-dom, I will be attending an orchid convention at the beginning of November with my sister-in-law.  Booked the hotel room today.  I am jazzed.

 

• We should have a bumper crop of flowers this fall.  At the present time, I have 15 phaleanopsis plants with bloom spikes.  I hope all goes well and no deformities or diseases pop up.    
• I am hooked on an author I discovered a few months back - Christopher Moore.  He is a fiction novelist with a quirky, almost sicko sense of humor.  (Like me!)  Funny, funny stuff.
• I have been completely off track with my weight lately.  I have regained everything I lost.  I haven't cared at all what I've been eating and have been totally eating for comfort.  I need to get back on track A.S.A.P. and have no clue how to do so. 
• I recently painted my toenails black.  I am considering it my own personal Halloween decor. 
• I'm going to bed..........nite nite!

Last Hurrah of Summer

My passion flower vine is making sure it goes out this season with a bang:

 

Time Marches On

Once again, weeks have gotten by me.  I have been so busy that I just forget to blog. 

I'll have to think hard about whether this blog is worth keeping in the month and a half until renewal time.  I haven't gotten the amount of readers I thought I'd have by now.  Granted, in the past few months since my job has changed the posts have been less than stellar to say the least.  But prior to that, I was at least keeping up with it pretty well.  Since the change, I just feel like I don't have as much to say.  It's perhaps because I don't have much time to stop and think about things like I used to.  On a positive note, I've been reading books like mad.  

Anyway, it's been a slow news-month.  I will either be back soon, or another month will pass and if so, I may say goodbye to my blog........................  

   

P.O.W. M.I.A.

I am absolutely flabbergasted that I haven't posted since June 6th.  I can't believe it.  My life has changed so much in so many different ways and it's been taking a big toll on my free time.  I know everyone probably thought I had died.  I barely have had a chance to catch up on my blog reading each week much less post.  The only up side to this is that once I do get the chance to catch up on my blog reading, I get a whole pile of posts to read instead of just a few every week or so. 

Work is hectic and I am now remembering how "working for the man" wears on your brain.  I come home each day completely brain dead and not wanting to talk to a living soul except for my family.  Even though I was dealing with the public at my store, it was nowhere near the volume it is at the bank.  And in between customers, I have to interact with co-workers now.  There are also moments when I think I may crack and buy a gun to bring to work just so I can shoot the phone.  Needless to say, I have missed my store greatly and it has taken almost 3 full months to finally be able to drive by it and not get really depressed. 

Since my last post, a lot of my time (other that that spent at work) has been consumed by birthdays, family visits and working with our newest dog, Prissy.  She has been a real dream and has fit in rather well.  She got spayed on June 25th and that was a nail-biter for me.  I was worried sick over her.  She made out pretty well, but had some post-surgery complications due to a uterine infection that had been secretly causing havoc in her tummy.   

My baby girl turned EIGHT flippin' years old on June 28th.  Can'believe it.  She has had a full summer of art classes, a visit to her cousins house for a week (John and I were home. ALONE.  For a WEEK.  Scary, people, scary!) and a trip (again, without us) to Chincoteague Island here in Virginia.  The three of us will be taking a little trip together mid-August for some family time before school starts again. 

The greenhouse has been a lot of work during the heat-wave we've been having.  Although the orchids are faring well, it has been reaching 116 degrees during the day.  Hotter than a hooker in a rubber dress, people.  We bought an evaporative cooling system and although that has helped, it is still hovering around 99 - 101 during the heat of the day.

I hope to get back into the swing of things soon, so don't give up on me people!!!