12-25-08

A good time was had by all!

First Christmas for Buddy. I got two gifts from my wislist- a new macro lens and an iPhone! These photos all taken with new lens. Pretty sweet. We'll go pick up the iPhone tomorrow and I hope I can transfer my phone number over. Squirt was pretty surprised with his new guitar and Jes and Aza got KitchenAide mixers from Nana which blew them away! We had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and it was a great morning.

12-24-08

After church we had a nice dinner party with family. Here is me and Kate and our mom who reminds me of Julia Child in this photo.

And then there's baby B taking it all in. Sweet little nephew!

12-23-08

The big peach in South Carolina- the halfway landmark on our way to Alabama.

Atlanta rush hour traffic! Yeah!

But we got to see a cool Coke sign and the Olympic Torch.

We made it to Auburn in 10.5 hours- record time. Thank goodness for the new bypasses around Danville and Lynchburg.

12-22-08

Squirt never checks this blog. I doubt he even knows the address which is a good thing because I have some very funny pictures of him on here! So here's the secret.... He is getting this case and what's inside it for Christmas. No more borrowing his sister's. The contents of the case are VERY special. That secret I will not divulge until after Christmas. I'm sure you can figure out the something that's inside but it's a very special something.

Frisbee and Sophie look so cute together!

12-21-08

We had a nice visit today with Igor and Anne who were stopping through town. It had been 4 months since we'd seen them. Nice to catch up. I got to page 221 this afternoon.

12-20-08

Richmond International Airport- Mother and Daughter Reunion

Jes is home! Squirt tries to serve her fish sticks when she arrives at 1am (see clock) hungry. But you can see from the look on her face, she's not too crazy about the treat Squirt prepared. Aza is like, "mom, why are you taking this stupid picture?" and it's because I'm just sooooo happy all my kids are home under one roof. It's the best feeling ever.

We drove to DC today for the funeral of my cousin. It was an amazing celebration of his life. Two hours of eulogies. Truly amazing. Then we went to Dan's work Christmas party which was really nice this year. Then we rushed to Richmond to get Jes. Home at 1:10am Saturday night (really Sunday but I don't look at it that way.) Tomorrow Igor and Anne visit for lunch!
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12-19-08

Sophie and Frisbee both like dog food. I thought this photo looked better in black and white. I got to page 216 on my dissertation today. Oh how I hope to finish chapter 4 before Christmas. That would be my present. Still no signs of Maya. I've done so much to find that cat- like a needle in a haystack. Today Dan had surgery on his eye and I had like waaay too many mammograms. But all is well. All Clear!

12-17-08

Last kiss from Mittens. She is with me still... Hand bruise is from misplaced IV. MRI results are fine at least! I have an interview over the phone in 30 minutes and I'm so nervous my stomach is in knots. Afraid I'll get tongue tied. Breathe, Chrissy... breathe.

12-16-08

Some old photos and paintings with quotes. Captures the mood today. Hopeful.

12-15-08

This big heart goes out to everyone who has helped try to find Maya through prayers, cheers, crossed fingers, flyer distribution, door knocking, phone calls, crazy wild emails, Facebook groups, MySpace adds, etcetera. As this day dawns, I hope good things will happen to those who wait and work while waiting.

I have an MRI this morning.

I miss Mittens.

I hope to go to Ashland today.

I hope Maya wants to come home.

(Photo of Tom's glow stick in the dark bathroom. 5 sec exposure, f4.5)

Epilogue: The cat we hoped was Maya was not. She was similar but not the same. My MRI was not fun as the IV went into my tissues not my vein and the injection hurt like fire. I had to be re-stuck in the crook of my arm and was in the tube for almost an hour face down. I didn't go to Ashland. I still miss Mittens. Squirt said he heard her at the back door today and went and opened it to let her in. Then when he saw no cat out there he remembered....

12-14-08

Mittens

Born May 1990

Died December 14, 2008 in my arms

12-13-08

Worked hard all day writing. Got to page 198 actually! Things are coming along. Squirt has all his friends over tonight playing music loudly, so I'm wearing earplugs. Good to have his buddies home for Christmas break. The moon was pretty cool so I took some photos. A ring around the moon or sun means snow or rain is soon to come.

12-11-08

I always thought those handmade fleece blankets were nice- the kind you tie, not sew. I am in the process of making two. Finished one and working on the other. For a couple of foster kids in Oregon who requested fuzzy blankets for Christmas. Dan and I indulged and watched 3 episodes of Lost tonight. I wrote like 10 pages today. It was a goood day.

12-10-08

Sophie always likes to get up in my desk stuff. Here she is under the printer. It's alright as long as she doesn't walk on my keyboard. See dissertation on screen.

12-9-08

This morning I woke up to Dan saying, "They're digging up our front yard!" He hopped out of bed and sure enough the gas company was out there with a huge machine digging up our yard. He convinced them to carefully remove the grass sod first, but still they did a poor job and we have THREE bare patches and tracks from the heavy equipment.

Today was especially hard. Lots of bad news. Too bad to post. I hope I sleep tonight.

12-7-08

Sunday.
This photo is of Sophie the Stinker. She was curled up so cute next to Squirt's foot. Such a cute adorable little furry being. Who would think she could be such a Smelly Cat? Don't worry, Aza, I love her just the same.
Today I got a friend in Ashland to help me with this Maya MySpace account and she took it over and got tons of people added and putting up banners and blogs and volunteering to go on searches and hang flyers. What a town.
Tomorrow is my phone interview with a university about 3 hours from Ashland. Ironic, hu?
Also tomorrow I have a medical test. Not too worried.

12-5-08

Saturday.
I worked on my dissertation.
I worked on finding Maya by establishing a MySpace account and trying to add people in Ashland.
Only got two "friends" that way.
Had pizza for dinner.
Went for a cold walk with Dan and Frizz.
Felt headachy.
Took this picture with my old lens to see how close of a close up I could get. The old lens is shorter than the new one and gets closer. This is a photo of my mom's old lamp that I have now. I'd like a macro lens for Christmas, Santa!

12-4-08

Today was great!
I got a call from a school that wants to interview me by phone on Monday. The school is The University of Louisville.
Then I went to the post office and mailed five huge applications to the last five schools. One application was over an inch thick.
Then I made Michelle Obama's Shortbread Cookies to celebrate National Cookie Day.
Link here.
Then I sent in a review I did of a book. The review was 35 pages long.
Good day, good day.

12-3-08

OK, I am drinking my decaf special coffee again. The Roastaroma was horrid and I figured the Cow Tails were giving me more migraines than decaf. I'm happy to have it back in my life!

As if one photo blog wasn't enough, I went and signed up for another. If you are ever interested in doing a photo-a-day type thing, this is the way to get started. Only one photo. It's a social networking site and people are really nice and they comment on your photos. It's loads of fun. If you want to see mine, go to www.shuttercal.com and look for chrissysphotoaday.

12-2-08

So we did this workshop today in southwest Virginia. Take a look at this gasoline receipt. They certainly do have good gas prices down there!

The kids loved the workshop and came up with some creative ways to get "Penny People" off an island. It was loads of fun.

12-1-08

Today I drove to southwest Virginia with two engineering professors. We are giving a workshop tomorrow morning. It was snowing like crazy outside as the sun was setting and I tried to get a picture from the car. I got this really cool blurry image that looks like something I would paint. You can't really see the snow, but it's a cool shot. I'm staying in a nice hotel and we had a nice dinner at an old tavern from 1775. I got a migraine on the way down which was a real drag.