We Interrupt This Prolonged Silence...

to bring you an update.
I am off-the-charts busy.
I had my second MRI today. I still didn't like it, but it was better than the first. I'll let you know the results when I find them out myself. But I have to stay in physical therapy at least a week longer than I though. Bleah. That has nothing to do with the MRI, though. I'm just not progressing as much as my doctor would like me to be.
I have completely and inexplicably lost my voice. Maybe it's a virus, maybe it's just stress, but I sound like I've been livin' hard for 70 years. Makes for some comical singing.
I have lots of pictures from other things over last weekend and even some of that car show several weekends ago to show you. I also have shots from this week's photography class assignment. You will still be waiting on all of those for a bit.
Sorry.
As soon as I'm feeling better and can breathe without panicking, I'll be back with giant-sized posts to share!

Halloween in pictures (I haven't many words today)

Some of these pictures were taken by me, others by Mindy the Great.
We got some people together to carve pumpkins on Friday night:







This was the first year Andrew missed the party. He's growing up and had other obligations. Sigh. I guess it happens to everybody.
We all got down 'n dirty, slimy and creative. Emma designed her own pumpkin that Uncle Jon helped her carve.




PS - this was the cutest pumpkin of all:




Here's the one Chris and I made:

Emma's Pumpkin:


And the whole group:


My next photography class assignment? Light painting. Here's my first try, using an LED reading light:


Andrew is now officially too old for trick-or-treating and dressing up. He stayed home with me to pass out candy...to all the teenagers that came to our door, having not even bothered to dress as anything. Annoying.
Emma was a beautiful butterfly this year, and she got lots of compliments, amid the sea of Disney princesses and glittery pop-star wanna-bes. Someone even told her it was the best costume they'd seen all night!



Also? She got lots of candy!

Andrew-ism

As we were passing a construction site with mounds of dry earth piled up across the plot of land, a young, male voice rose from the back seat of the car:

"That's a hill-of-a lot of dirt."

Well, at least there's...

There are lots of things that I don't like about working for The Lutherans*. Don't get me wrong - that's where my heritage is. I have more relatives serving the Lutheran church than anything else. You can throw my mom's maiden name around in Lutheran circles and everyone instantly respects you. I just disagree with some of their theology and a lot of the ways they go about doing what they do. My job is just a job. I do it well. I try to have a good attitude. But I really do get frustrated with it, too. The few who are privy to my true feelings on spiritual matters can tell instantly if I am about to blow up and say something stupid at work. They stand back a little bit and give me warning glances and help me to remember my place. I love them - or her. Really there's just the one.
Anyway.
Where was I?
Oh yes. There are lots of things I don't like about being smack-dab in the middle of an organization that I don't support. But there is one thing. One blessed, wonderful, good Saving Grace. Come this time of year, they all celebrate The Reformation by having Octoberfests (and, you know, special church services too...). And you know what's great about that? Sometimes, there are sausages & sauerkraut left over that church secretaries can have for lunch.
Let no one say I'm not connected to my German heritage. Hear that, Mom?
Yum.
Now I just need a beer...

Daily Bliss: some really nice new yarn & a tiny project that's already done
Wake-up Playlist: No You Girls, Franz Ferdinand


*Just to be clear, I don't mean to be inflammatory and I don't want to even try to have a deep discussion about spirituality - mine or anyone else's - online. Plus, I know for a fact that most Lutherans are quite capable of poking fun at themselves.

Seriously?

So, I saw that neurosurgeon today - you know, just to get a second opinion about the herniated disc thing. He did all sorts of interesting tests on me. Emma was in the room and she winced a couple of times, but I reassured her that getting your reflexes tested doesn't hurt.
I had really expected to go in there and kind of have a "it's-no-big-deal" kind of appointment. A "yup, you have a little bulge in that disc" kind of appointment.
Instead, he discovered a pretty significant difference in muscle strength between my right/dominant side and my left side. And it isn't the normal kind of difference. My dominant side is actually quite a bit weaker.

So, guess what? Remember how I got to have an MRI? I get to have another one! Yay!
(I hope you are sharp enough to catch the sarcasm)

Wake-up Playlist: How to Save a Life, The Fray
Daily Bliss: a gorgeous, cotton-candy, cloudy sunrise

Re-Re-Shoot

Went out for another re-take with Emma at the lake, hoping to get a good-quality picture. Even though my teacher liked the images I turned in, I'd like for them to have been a little clearer at full size.
So, in case you want to see more silly pictures that I took, here are the best of this batch:








I don't think I framed these shots quite as nicely as the first ones, but they're in much better focus, and the color is pretty nice. I'm so not going to take any more of these. I'm done with the concept! Also, I'll probably Photoshop out the green traffic lights that are in the upper right hand corner. Blergh. There was nothing that could be done about those.

Yum-O-Rama

So, I had this really great sandwich on Friday from my favorite little lunch spot in the town where I work. And then the sandwich was gone and I still wanted more, so I decided to try my hand at making it for dinner tonight. It was so tasty, I thought I'd share:

Sweet Potato Sandwich:
Ciabatta Bread
Cooked, sliced sweet potato
Sliced tomato
Thinly-sliced red/purple onion
Spinach leaves
Feta Cheese
Red wine vinegar

I'm not going to include quantities here - you can figure that out. It's a sandwich. You just put however much of it you want on the bread.
But I would recommend you make sure the sweet potatoes are warm and the bread is toasted. That way, the feta melts a little bit. Oh - and the vinegar is to sprinkle on the bread before you close up the top of the sandwich.

I'd like to point out that we used sweet potatoes that we grew in our back yard! Note to my readers that live in the south: There is absolutely no reason you shouldn't be growing sweet potatoes. Seriously. They took little to no care and, bam!, sandwich fixin's right there in the dirt. I won't bother to link to articles here, you can just Google "how to grow sweet potatoes" and find plenty of good information. The only things I'd suggest (that we learned this year) are to start your slips with an organic sweet potato and to plant your slips in mounds of dirt rather than level with the ground. We really had to dig for ours. I know there are more taters in the ground in my back yard, but I really don't want to keep looking for them!