Back up and running

Have not posted in awhile because I was having trouble with the new Beta upgrade. Just got fed up and quit blogging.

So much has happened since my last blog. Fox Carson Rutherford was born on his Mama's birthday, October 11th. He weighed 7 lbs. 9.5 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. And, he's such a beautiful baby. I was able to be in Tallahassee for the blessed event, along with Pam (Michelle's mother) and Shannon (her sister). Mike (her dad) was at Vance and Michelle's taking care of Dylan (her nephew). I was glad I could be there and get to hold him right after his birth. But, I turned around and came home the same day and haven't been able to go back, so I haven't seen him and held him lately. If you want to take a look at our good-looking little man, check out Michelle's blog www.michellenotdawn.blogspot.com/ and there will be a link to Vance's photo albums. I would like to set the record straight - the picture they used to announce his birth (the one above) was actually taken by Shannon while I was holding him. I don't want to take credit for something I didn't do. I took most of the other ones, but not that particular one. I hope to be able to go visit on November 11th and take my sister, Penny, and daughter-in-law, Tabitha, with me. My husband really doesn't like me traveling alone anymore. I don't mind at all, but he worries about me. You gotta love him for that! His legs bother him if he sits for long lengths of time, so he's not much for traveling these days.

Saturday was a fun day for me. Tabitha called a little after 7:00am and asked if I wanted to go shopping with her. It was Trent's birthday and we needed to get him some presents. We were at Wal-Mart by 8:00. Found him some shirts. Went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast while we waited for the other stores to open. Were looking for Wheelies (shoes with wheels in the heel). Ended up at the mall. I never go to the mall. There were some new stores open that I had never seen. Found him a pair of Wheelies. Went by my mother's and picked up some drapes she had for my living room. I got some new furniture (at least new to us) a couple of weeks ago and need to change out my window treatments.

Tabitha dropped me off at the house and we met up again at 1:30 at the Oaks by the Bay in St. Andrews to take pictures. A friend of theirs was getting married and everybody was supposed to dress in some type of costume. Chad, Tabitha, Trent and Hope got pirate outfits. I took about 100 pictures of them and some of them are priceless. It's hard to get a picture of Hope. She just won't be still long enough, but I got some good ones. I'm going to try to figure out how to do the Picasa Albums and will post a link when I get them uploaded. Here's a picture of Hope and Trent.

I've got to fly to Atlanta next week for testing of a new timekeeping program for work. I was on the original development team about 15 years ago and was asked to go test this new system out. It's really an honor to be chosen. I've got to go shopping between now and then to get a couple of dressy pant suits to wear. I normally wear jeans and Gulf Power shirts to work in, but going to the Southern Company Corporate office is a little more dressy. I guess I will check out Ross and see if I can find something pretty cheap. I've also got to call the airport and see what I can pack. I hope I can carry my camera. I hardly ever go anywhere without my camera.

Well, I've got to get some more pictures printed out for Chad and Tabitha of Saturday's shoot, so I will close for now. Good night and God bless.....

Have new blog name

Just trying to see if I can still post at this old address. I've upgraded to Beta and I really don't like it.
My new blog address is www.gallivanting--photographer.blogspot.com/
If I can still post to this address, I will continue to post here.

Not Much Happening Today

Well, I managed to make it to the safety meeting on time. Yeah! They were talking about the problems cell phones can cause on the job. Especially, with the lineman when they are up in the buckets and they stop and answer a phone. Or the lineman on the ground who is supposed to be watching out for the one in the bucket to make sure everything is safe and he walks away or looks down while talking on the phone. I can see where someone could easily get hurt.

My left contact was bothering me so much I had to take it out. Was afraid I wouldn't be able to see very well, but I didn't have any problems. It just feels funny with only one contact in. I sure hope my new ones come in this week.

At lunch, I had to put gas in my car. I was so glad the price has come down. It was $2.19 a gallon, so it didn't take but $30 to fill up. That's a lot better than right at $50. I ran by Chick-Fil-A and took my lunch to the city marina, opened the windows and just relaxed. That's not something I get to do very often at lunch. It was such a pretty day and not too hot. Just sat and watched the seagulls. The water was very calm and I was very calm.

The Power Delivery Manager came over to my office to see how ARMS was going. I told him I thought we were doing a good job, but that I haven't had any orders this week because all the servicemen are working. I feel like tomorrow and Friday things will pick up. Just when I don't need them to. This is timesheet week and I have taken over the Chipley timesheets because Gene is on vacation. He only has about 10 people, but that adds time to get them entered. I told Bill that I was very stressed the first day, but I got the hang of it pretty fast and now I feel very confident in my ability to do a good job. Just what he wanted to hear. We are the pilot program for the whole company, so he wants us to do a good job. He and Kenny will get more bonus money if we do a good job. It makes them look good. So, I'll do my best to make them look good. That's what God tells us to do as Christians - to do our jobs to the best of our ability. We are getting paid for our work, so we are to do it well. I try to do the best job I can.

Stopped by Olga's to pick up a check for some Vemma she sold for me. She is signing up people right and left. I wish I could get out and meet people like she does. I've sent out tapes and flyers, but have gotten no response. Most of the people I know just can't afford $69 a month to get healthy. I believe so much in the product that I am sacrificing other things to be able to buy it for Mama and Chad, plus for Vance and me. I've seen a little difference in Mama's breathing and I believe the reason the skin cancer popped out of her arm totally encapsulated was because she has been rubbing the Vemma on it every day. I haven't had any painful migraines since I started taking it. The pain in my shoulder is gone and I was in extreme pain every night. My hair, skin and nails are looking great. The acid reflux is gone. I'm just feeling so much better. I'm not taking any prescription medicines at all anymore. My heart is back to normal. I don't have any of the rapid beats like I used to. It used to beat so fast that I would lose my breath and start coughing. That hasn't happened in months. Praise God for Vemma!

Church was good tonight. Tina (used to be Lynch) is back and she's on the platform playing the piano again. Her husband has been sent overseas to Iraq, I think. He's a dentist in the Air Force. They bought a house and will be settling down here when he gets out. She and the two boys are back with us. What a blessing she is on that piano. Tony is moving to the keyboard and Karen has moved back up front with us singers.

Well, I'm getting sleepy, so I'll go to bed. Good night and God bless...................

Slow Moving Tuesday

Things were pretty slow today. Still no ARMS jobs. All the Servicemen were working, so the Linemen didn't have to do service work. That was okay with me, cause I had a lot of timesheets to catch up on.

Went at lunch to Sam's and ordered new glasses. Going to try the progressive lenses and see how that works. Sometimes, I just don't want to wear my contacts, but I have a hard time working at the computer with glasses that just have the far off lenses in them. Going with bifocals this time so I don't have to take them off to read. We'll see how it goes. The girl did tell me if I don't like the lenses, they will change them out and refund my money. Can't beat that. It will be about two weeks before they come in. I hope I get my new contacts by Friday, cause my left one is giving me a fit.

Swung by McDonald's and picked up a quarter pounder. Have not had one of those in ages. I usually stick with chicken at lunch, but I just wanted McDonald's today - especially french fries. And they did not disappoint me. They are the best! Can't do this every day, but once in a while, it's good. Tomorrow, I need to get back to my salads. I went three weeks with hardly any meat and only ate veggies and fruit, some dried beans over brown rice and would you believe, I gained (yes, gained) six pounds! My metabolism must be down to zero. Bummer!

Olga called me yesterday and told me about her little shocker. She was sitting in her living room, talking on the phone with her son when all of a sudden her front door is busted in. Scared her half to death. It was firemen! Now, they did not even knock, they just busted in. And, you guessed it - they were at the wrong house. Tore up her door. She had to sit there all day cause it wouldn't close. Her husband came home from work and patched it enough for the deadbolt to hold it until they could get a new door today. Of course, the City of Lynn Haven will be paying for it. Can you imagine?

Ran by the Vitamin Shoppe after work to get a few things. First time I've been in there. I needed some stevia so I could start drinking tea again. I refuse to use artificial sweeteners. Found out today that Splenda is made from cholorine, not sugar at all like they advertise. I believe the website is www.thetruthaboutsplenda.com . Stevia is totally natural and I've used it before and like it. I've been out for a long time and The Herb Shop that I used to go to has closed. A couple of good books to check out are by Kevin Trudeau - "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About" and "More Natural Cures Revealed". He said something in the second chapter of the second book that made my blood run cold. He told about being approached to join a secret society that promised to give him access to the secrets of lifelong incredible health, and allow him to make tens of millions of dollars...... There was more that he said and I knew right then that he has been telling the truth. About 6-8 months ago, I received a letter asking me to join a secret society and he quoted word-for-word what that letter said. I read the letter and immediately tore it up. It seemed pure satanic to me. A lot of people would have jumped at the chance to join, especially with the promise of making tens of millions of dollars. But I knew that God doesn't want us joining any type of secret society. I didn't even want that letter in my house. Now, I wonder why it was sent to me. You could get a little paranoid thinking about it. Maybe, God allowed me to get that letter so that I would know that what Kevin says is true. I've always believed natural cures are better than chemicals. God's creations have to be better than man's creations, don't you think?

Hoping to be able to go back to the beach this weekend and take more pictures. I've got to find out when the Seafood Festival is. Aaron Tippin will be there. I'd love to see him again. He puts on a great show. I know Vance won't go, so I'm going to try to get a bunch of girls together to go.

If you want to see some great pictures from Iraq that you won't see on the news, check out this website: www.artsphotoart.blogspot.com . This is a guy that I've seen his work on www.photographica.org . He's stationed over there guarding the palaces of Saddam. Every time I see the beauty of his (Saddam) palaces, I just want to strangle him with my bare hands. To think, he lives in such splendor and his people are starving or he killed them. I hope he never sets foot in them again.

Well, it's time for some shut eye. Got that early safety meeting in the morning. Hope I don't forget. :o) Good night and God bless....................

Slow Moving Monday

Gallivanting Photographer Couldn't believe how slow things were today at work. I didn't have a single ARMS job, so nobody was calling me on the radio all day. I was able to get away from my desk for a few minutes.

Was showing off a picture that I took Saturday at the beach. It is some sort of sea creature, but we just don't know what it is. Thought it was a manatee, until I checked out a picture of one. Nope, the head is all wrong. It kinda looks like an alligator (they do get into salt water - I checked and found pictures of one as far out as an oil rig in the Gulf) but there are no ridges on the back. It's not a shark or dolphin cause there are no dorsal fins. It's not an eel. Whale maybe? I haven't checked out all the types of whales. It was swimming about 15-20 yards off the shoreline, parallel to shore, going very slow. It was underwater, then would come up a second and go back down. We estimated it to be between 10 and 15 feet long. I took the picture from the 3rd floor off our balcony. I'd say it was about 200-300 yards away from us. I used a 300mm lens on my Canon digital camera. Tabitha was the first one to spot it. I wish I'd had binoculars, but all I had was my camera. (I'm going to invest in a good set of binoculars.) If you have any ideas, please share.

Super Sunday

Gallivanting Photographer What a wonderful weekend we had at the beach. Friday, after work, I picked up Gloria and Kim and we headed to Laguna Beach Christian Retreat on the beach. Sarah, Nikki, and Kristen met us and helped us carry our stuff up to our room. What a beautiful view! The water was several shades of green and blue, very calm. The breeze was cool. It was just the perfect weather. Tabitha showed up a few minutes after us, so we all helped her with her things. We just threw our stuff in our room and headed down to the beach to take a long walk and watch the sunset. I had hoped there would be clouds so the sunset would be spectacular, but there were no clouds to be seen. It was a nice sunset anyway. Of course, I took pictures.

After our walk, some of us decided to go find something to eat. We piled into Judy's van and headed down the beach in search of food. We ended up at a Waffle House. We all ordered breakfast items. Tabitha and I had a fiesta omelet. It was very good.

When we got back to the room, we made our beds. I foolishly decided I was going to sleep on the top bunk over Tabitha. I made the bed and decided to try it out before we went next door and had Bible study. It wasn't hard to climb up (even though there wasn't a ladder), but once up there, I couldn't figure out how to get down without hurting myself or stepping on Tabitha. Kim turned her back to me and told me to grab hold around her neck and said "We're heading for the bed. Hang on!" It was the funniest thing. We could have won $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos. She pulled, I jumped and we landed face down on the bed in a heap. The other girls were rolling in the floor laughing. We decided I would sleep on the couch. It made into a single bed and I must say it was very comfortable.

We went next door and Sarah said she wanted everybody to just talk about ourselves, our lives, when we got saved, our husbands, children and anything we wanted to share. It was so nice to find out things about the other women. One of them got married at 14 and is still married to her husband and very much in love. One was an instructor at a spa; another told how her husband proposed by giving her a Bible with her first name and his last name printed on it. He said "I guess we need to make this right. Will you marry me?" That was really a unique way to propose. We shared and studied the scripture until around 1:00am.

I had just gotten to sleep good when the fire alarm went off at 2:20am. It was sooooooo loud! There were five in each room. Four from my room and two from the other room headed out onto the outside hallway to see what was going on. Tabitha would not get up. Kim, Gloria and Judy from our room went downstairs to see what was going on. I decided to stay upstairs so I could wake everybody else up if they found out that it was a fire. I could not smell smoke or see flames, so I was pretty confident it wasn't near us. The firemen arrived and said it was a faulty alarm. Praise God - no fire. Got back to bed and immediately fell asleep. No one in our room woke up until 8:00. That is sleeping in for me. I was surprised I slept that long and that good.

Woke up to a glorious morning. A little cool, the water calm and beautiful. We all gathered on the little balcony, drank coffee and had Bible study until about 9:30. Then, everybody started taking showers and getting ready to go find breakfast. One good thing about our rooms, there are two showers in the bathroom. The sinks are outside the bathroom, so we could all get ready in record time.

We headed out in two vans to the same Waffle House some of us visited the night before. I enjoyed my fiesta omelet, grits and hashbrowns. Nikki shared her raspberry tea with me. She brought her own teabags. She uses Stevia as a natural sweetener. I used to use it all the time, but ran out and the Herb Shop closed. I had not been able to find it anywhere else. She gets hers in Tallahassee at a store there. I may have to find it when I'm in Tallhassee again. She uses liquid Green Leaf Stevia and says it's good. I used to use the liquid, but I can't remember the brand name.

After we got back to the retreat, we took sheets out to the beach and sat down and just enjoyed the view. Tabitha immediately fell asleep. She really needed this time to herself. She took the kids to her sister's in Dothan on Friday. Trent called to thank me for letting them use my car. Tabitha said Hope was very confused when she got in the car and realized I wasn't there. She kept questioning Tabitha "Nonna's car? Nonna's car?" I think she was wondering why they had my car and I wasn't there.

Kristen is studying to be a physical therapist and Judy already is one. Judy was giving Mrs. Sandi a foot rub and Kristen gave Mrs. Sandi and me a neck rub. After that, I was ready for a nap. The rest of the ladies went walking. I stayed with Tabitha and took a short nap. Didn't think the rest of the group would ever get back. They had walked several miles up the beach, then had to walk back. They were exhausted when they got back. I took several pictures and let Liz use my camera to takes some pictures while Tabitha and I took a short walk. Liz left and we all sat around for a few more minutes, then we took a group shot and packed up our stuff and headed home. It was such a nice time. I was so relaxed when I got home. I'm ready to do this again. This is the only time I like to go to the beach. I think Penny wants pictures done next weekend, so we'll head to the beach to take them.

We had an awesome service today at church. Praise and Worship was the best it's been in a long time. We've been great, but I think we stepped up to a higher level today. It was so anointed. We had several visitors and Pastor Fred and Mrs. Lena were there. It was so good to see them.

Came home, ate and took my usual Sunday nap. I had planned to go to Sam's and get more printer ink, but decided against it. I had enough to print up my pictures from yesterday. I'll go tomorrow maybe.

Olga called and I wished her a "happy birthday". She told me about a website where we can watch GODTV live. I watched it from 8:00 till 11:00. It was their 11th anniversary and they just opened a studio in Washington, D.C. They are originally from England and have studios all over the world.

Now, I guess I better get some sleep. Got to be back at work tomorrow. Good night and God bless..........................