Cold season

I love this time of the year. Most people are getting sick and spreading germs. The squeezing, nose blowing, coughing, and stuffed nose. I have these symptoms, except for coughing.

At work, I refuse to use tissues at my desk. I don't want to be responsible for getting co-workers sick. When the time comes to blow my nose, it is right into the restroom or my darkroom. Basically anywhere with a sink to wash my hands afterwords. At the end of my shift, I pull a huge can of germ killing spray out of my desk and hose down the keyboard and mouse.

During the day, I'm taking medicine like candy. Please, help me breathe through my nose! After taking the medicine, I find myself with my mouth open. Who doesn't like chapped lips? At bedtime, I take my cold medicine that is supposed to help me sleep through the entire night. It works but it takes a while. In the meantime, I prop my pillows and sleep with my head up. That's comfortable.

Well I have to go. I have to take some candy before getting on my treadmill.

So its come to this.... New Year's Resolutions 2007

My New Year's resolutions for 2007 are:

1. Run over 500 miles - This year I will have run around 470 miles (I'll have the final count on New Year's Eve). It would be nice to run 4-5 times a week, instead of the 3 times a week that I'm doing now.

2. Cook - Santa put two Rachael Ray cookbooks in my stocking for Christmas, 365: No Repeats and 2, 4, 6, 8 - Great Meals for Couples or Crowds. I plan on using these books to cook and eat more at home. Rachael's recipes are so easy and most of them can be made in 30-minutes.

3. Shoot photos more - Most of the time I use my camera everyday for work. In the new year I would like to make it a habit to go out once a week and shoot for myself. I photograph plenty of sports, but I would like to add to my own personal series that I have started: cemetery statues, ballet and decaying structures.

This is not the way to start the day

While getting dressed this morning for work at 4:28 am, I was already planning and looking forward to my afternoon nap.

Christmas day

This was the last family photo of the day, Mom, her seven children, their spouses and children. Even though some of us have our eyes closed or looking in another direction, this picture is special because all of the siblings are in the photo. Christmas 2005 is the last time we were all together under the same roof.

Back row (left to right): Diane, Mike (my husband), Deloris, Daniel, Dan's son Carter, David and Mom.
Front Row (left to right): Deanna, Denise, Dennis (Debbie's husband), Debbie and their son Jack.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy
Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.
L.A. Confidential, James Ellroy
Straight Up and Dirty, Stephanie Klein
Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson and the Year that Changed Our Lives, Susan Dworkin
The Day Diana Died, Christopher Andersen
The Perfect Wife, Ann Gerhardt
No Lifeguard on Duty, Janice Dickinson
First Son, Bill Minutaglio
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Because He Could, Dick Morris
Diana in Search of Herself, Sally Bedell Smith

Currently Reading: A Man of Faith, David Aikman

Up Next:

Creepy

While walking to my car this morning, two guys on the sidewalk passed me. I opened my car door, set my camera and backpack on the front seat and shut the door. I look over and the two guys I passed are now standing in front of my car.

Man #1: "Excuse me ma'am. I know this will sound a little weird, but I just got a DUI and I was wondering if you would drive us to my car at Hotel X. I will pay you ten dollars to drive us there."

Me: "No thank you."

Man #1: "Thank you for your time."

I was taught not to let strangers in my car and these two men were that: strangers.

Getting ready

Thursday my husband and I are hosting a Christmas dinner at our house. That will be Christmas dinner 1, Christmas dinner 2 and 3 will take place on Christmas.

After returning from the grocery store with the supplies that we needed, I started to get to work. First I made a dessert for everyone to have, marble brownies. I got everything mixed, placed in the 8x8 glass dish and put it in the oven for 35 minutes. While that was baking, I mixed up an cheese spread for an appetizer. I got the ingredients from a co-worker this morning. It was really easy to make and it tasted really good. If you make it, Ritz crackers taste great with it.

What we have left to do tomorrow before the family comes over is mix the salad, stick the ham in the oven, make the mashed potatoes, green beans with portobello mushroom saute and fried ravioli before everyone arrives. It won't be hard to do, just still alot to do.

Cheese Spread
(adjust portions if needed)

5 cream cheese blocks
1 package of beef chips (chopped fine)
1 green onion (chopped fine)
3 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce

Mix together and place in the refrigerator to chill

Freedom!

There is nothing like going to a basketball game and seeing a bunch of Braveheart lookalikes. These guys had the face paint, the kilts and the little sashes. Near the end of the first half one of the guys yelled "FREEDOM!" when it was quiet in the gym. That made me laugh.

They get an A for effort. Nice outfits guys.

Its the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas is almost here.

Last night I put all away of my Christmas card crafts. I don't need my rubber stamps, card stock, ink, rulers, paper and utility knife out on my office desk anymore. I'm done making all of my cards for the year 2006. My husband Mike and I have five, let me say that again, five Christmas cards yet to mail. I'm sorry if you haven't received your card yet. We probably lost your address when our hard drive crashed earlier this year. We didn't recover any addresses from the address book.

While I was trying to sleep, or tossing and turning was more like it, Mike was buying wrapping presents. At this point in time there are five presents wrapped under the tree. What is with five in this post? I think I might gather the presents for my mom, sisters, nephews, in-laws and wrap them before my photo assignment tonight.

The Christmas dinner that my husband and I are hosting is a couple of days away. My sister who lives in Toledo told me she won't be able to make it now. Her boss changed her schedule and now she has to work until close. My brother who lives in Kentucky will be missing as well. But missing two out of six siblings isn't bad. I hope we can all see each other on Christmas day. Besides a couple of missing siblings, my husband and I are slowly getting the supplies we need for the dinner. Mike bought the ham and plenty of green beans last night. The day before the dinner I plan on making brownies for dessert and the day of I will be making a big supply of Fried Ravioli for an appetizer.

Besides worrying about dinner, I have yet to finish my Christmas shopping. I get paid this week, but I have to save money for bills, i.e. car payment, student loan, second of third oral surgery bill, mortgage payment and car insurance. I'm thankful that Mike said I didn't have to get him too much this year. I still feel bad but he will still get three nice gifts, that I will buy probably Saturday morning.

It sucks that life (bills) gets in the way of my Christmas plans.

Winter?

It is December 16 and officially winter hasn't began yet. But right now in Adrian, MI it is sunny and 42 degrees. The high for later today should reach 49 degrees.

Sunday the forecast says it should be 55 degrees. Weather like this makes me like winter even more.

Finally a topic

At the newspaper I work at the last week of February, we print five special sections called FOCUS. We focus on different county topics like Citizen of the year, arts and education, business, medical, technology and the special photographers section.

The photographers section started two years ago. We were asked by our former editor to divide the county between the four photographers. Each photographer received a couple of cities, villages, and townships and it was our job to focus on them. We each went to our cities and took photos of we thought was for lack of a better terms, neat or cool. After we finished taking all of the pictures, they were edited and laid out in the section. Along with our photos, important people from each of these cities, villages and townships wrote about why they like their city and so on. The section was a success, according to our old editor. People really liked the photos of their towns.

Last year, we, the photographers were asked to do the photo section again but it had to be a different topic then the year before. One photographer choose music, another photographed children and my topic was decaying structures and objects around the Adrian area. I photographed cars a junk yard, abandoned apartments, old office buildings, factories, an old hotel, a school not in use and a train engine waiting to be scrapped. I loved every minute of this assignment. I would actually look forward to going out to shoot with my camera. It took me over a month to get everything that I needed, but it was worth it. When the section was published, I personally thought it was better then our first year. The subject matter was of our own choosing and that made it special to each of us.

This year has been a bit different. We were told that we are putting together another photographers section. The details were the same as last year, shoot whatever you want, but the subject matter had to be different. That was difficult, because everything that I love (i.e. cemetery statues, ballet, decaying), I have already shot for the paper. That frustrated me. I was thinking about what to shoot for two weeks. After talking with my husband, I thought I decided on buildings. While downloading photos after a game last week, I was telling my photographer co-worker my idea. When I told him, he started bringing up better topics then mine. When I left work that evening, my original idea was gone and I had a new one: a day in the life of whatever job I want to photograph. Later that evening I received an email from my co-worker, he suggested a new topic: the church I attend.

The next day at work, I was reading stories by the sports department on my computer. I ended up reading a brief about a local gymnastics club in town that competed in an invitational recently. While reading the brief I knew that this gymnastics club was my new topic. I was so excited. I was excited because I knew that most of my worries were over. I could stop thinking about it and finally start shooting. When I was leaving work later that morning I received a cell phone call from my co-worker. I asked him what he thought of my new topic: gymnastics. He liked it. He said that the owners of the gymnastics club would be willing to let me follow them around and photograph practice.

Before driving to a volleyball game yesterday, I stopped at the gym to talk to the owners. I walked in, introduced myself and told him what I wanted to do. He was very nice and said I could come back in January when the winter schedule starts and take photos. Also, he already gave me directions to one of their invitationals just over the border in Ohio for the last weekend of January.

I can't wait to get working on this assignment.

Green bean choices

My husband and I are hosting Christmas with my family December 21. We are going to have ham for the main course. As for a side dish we both agreed, to skip the green bean casserole. We both love green bean casserole, but are kind of sick of it right now after eating it three days in a row due to Thanksgiving. We wanted to try something else instead.

I found a bunch of recipes on Food Network. My husband and I have narrowed the field down to two: Green Beans and Portobello Mushroom Saute and French Cut Green Beans with Almonds and Fried Onions. Both recipes come from the awesome Rachael Ray and her show 30 Minute Meals.

Green Beans and Portobello Mushroom Saute
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

1 1/4 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut in half
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion, chopped
2 portobello mushroom caps, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry sherry

Simmer green beans in salted boiling water 5 minutes. Drain green beans and return skillet to moderate heat. Add oil and butter to the pan. Add onions and saute 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms 3 to 5 minutes with onions, add green beans back to the pan. Heat green beans through and add sherry. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer green beans and mushrooms to a serving plate.

French Cut Green Beans with Almonds and Fried Onions
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

1 pound fresh green beans or frozen French-cut green beans
Salt 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup slivered almonds (2-ounce package)
1/2 lemon, juiced
Ground black pepper
1 can fried onions

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a high-sided saute pan. If using fresh beans, cut them lengthwise while you wait for the water to boil.
Add salt and green beans to boiling water and cook until just tender. Drain beans and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Return the skillet to medium heat and add the butter. When butter is melted, add the almonds and cook until golden brown.
Return the green beans to the pan, along with the juice of 1/2 a lemon, add salt and pepper, to taste. When warmed through, top with fried onions.

Before the big dinner, we'll make samples of both to see which one we like better. Right now, they both sound good enough to eat.

Why?

While getting ready for work Monday morning, I was in the bathroom listening to the radio. A song that was playing made me think, "Why?"

The song that was featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, "She's Like the Wind" by Patrick Swayze has been covered by Lumidee.

Miles run in 2006

With the 2 miles that I ran yesterday, that brings my 2006 total to 450 miles. I was going to run 5 miles on Sunday, but it just didn't work out. I knew that I could and should run Monday before going to a Christmas party with my husband and eating a lot fatty foods*.

Total miles run up to December 12:
2004: 294.6
2005: 330.8
2006: 450

*At the party, I ate a couple of finger sandwiches, plenty of nacho dip, assorted nuts and cookies. I really need to run again, soon.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy
Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.
L.A. Confidential, James Ellroy
Straight Up and Dirty, Stephanie Klein
Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson and the Year that Changed Our Lives, Susan Dworkin
The Day Diana Died, Christopher Andersen
The Perfect Wife, Ann Gerhardt
No Lifeguard on Duty, Janice Dickinson
First Son, Bill Minutaglio
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

Because He Could, Dick Morris

Currently Reading: Diana in Search of Herself, Sally Bedell Smith
Up Next: A Man of Faith, David Aikman

The hair scrunchy

"No woman who works at W Magazine and lives on Perry Street would be caught dead at a hip downtown restaurant wearing a scrunchy!"

-Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City

While sitting in a high school gym Friday night waiting for the varsity boys basketball game to start, a large family sat in the bleachers next to me. They sat down and looked across the gym and saw people that they knew, got up and walked over to the other bleachers. As they were walking away from me, I noticed that the mom was wearing a scrunchy. When I saw that scrunchy all I could think about was the Sex and the City episode where Carrie criticizes Berger for having his leading lady in his book "Hurricane Pandora," running around New York wearing a hair scrunchy.

Sure the lady was far from New York, W Magazine, Perry Street and a hip downtown restaurant, but it was funny to see someone wearing a scrunchy out in public. I didn't think they were made anymore.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
Shutterbabe, Deborah Copaken Kogan
The Hidden Hitler, Lothar Machtan
Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook, Donald Rumbelow
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, Steven A. Shaw
Lincoln's Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk
The Dark Side of Camelot, Seymour M. Hersh
Sinatra: The Life, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
The Third Reich in Power, Richard J. Evans
Once Upon a Time: Behind the Fairy Tale of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier, J. Randy Taraborrelli
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore
Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco and Six Intimate Friends, Judy Balaban Quine
Grace and Power, Sally Bedell Smith
Grace, Robert Lacey
There She is, Miss America, edited by Elwood Watson and Darcy Martin
Sex Wars, Marge Piercy
My Dark Places, James Ellroy
Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant, edited by Henry Ashby Turner, Jr.
L.A. Confidential, James Ellroy
Straight Up and Dirty, Stephanie Klein
Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson and the Year that Changed Our Lives, Susan Dworkin
The Day Diana Died, Christopher Andersen
The Perfect Wife, Ann Gerhardt
No Lifeguard on Duty, Janice Dickinson
First Son, Bill Minutaglio
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

Currently Reading: Because He Could, Dick Morris
Up Next: Diana in Search of Herself, Sally Bedell Smith

Christmas Cards

This afternoon I started making my own Christmas cards. I know I could spend about $10 and buy a box of pre-made cards that are fabulous. But I don't want to.

About 5 years ago, I had an assignment for the newspaper to photograph a class of "Learn to make your own Christmas cards." I photographed the entire how to class and saw how easy it was to make them. I was so excited! I went to the store and looked at stamps. I didn't realize how expense the stamps were. The cheapest ones were around $10. That meant I could only buy so many. If you buy stamps, then you need ink. I bought seven different colors of ink. Now I needed cardstock, then envelopes and you get the idea. All I have to say of those first year cards: Terrible. I only gave them to my family. They thought they were cute.

After 5 years of stamping my own Christmas cards, I think I have gotten better. I'm sure I pale in comparison with other people who stamp their own cards and who can actually spend more time on them. It usually takes me about a week or so to make all of them and mail. I hope to mail mine out next week. Or when I actually go buy more stamps at the post office.

Overheard at a game

Last night I covered a season opening boys basketball game. The varsity game was running behind schedule due to the fact that the freshman and the JV games ran long. I dislike triple headers!

When I walked into the gym, I was standing behind a teenage girl who looked about 15 years old holding a baby talking on her cell phone. I passed her and found a seat by the reporter who was there to cover the varsity game. During the rest of the JV game and warm ups for varsity, she was passing around her baby to friends and kept walking back in and out of the gym showing off her kid.

She was walking in front of my seat in the bleachers with a friend when she said this, "I'll tell you what, this Fucker is heavy."

That is a nice thing to say about your baby.

Overnight calls

My dog Blitzkrieg has been on medication for his ear problems for 5 days now. Since he has been on the medication he has been drinking more water. More water = more potty breaks.

When I get ready for bed in the evening, the dogs are let outside to do their business. After 5 or 10 minutes I let them back in the house. I have been doing that same routine every night for 3 years.

This week and the past week has been different. Blitzkrieg has been barking at various times during the night; midnight, 2 am and 3 am. Sometime last week, he barked at midnight and 3 am. Last night, actually this morning, he was barking at 2 am. I got up to let Kelly and him out. They went outside and did what they needed to do and played in the fresh snow in the backyard, we got about an inch of snow. They were chasing each other around the yard, but I needed them back in the house so I could go back to bed. Once I was back in bed, I couldn't get to sleep. I kept tossing and turning and checking the clock. I couldn't sleep and I didn't want to lay in bed anymore, I decided to get up just before 4 am and get ready for work.

Hopefully with Blitzkrieg's medication cut in half, I hope his overnight barking will stop. I don't know how many more nights I can go with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep.

*To make up for the fact that I got 5 hours of sleep last night, I took a wonderful two hour nap this afternoon.