All the said, this Post Secret hit home for me today. I’ve save the image in case blogspot doesn’t host it at some point, but I have linked it to the original.

I constantly see cards I want to get for people who just don’t care if they get a card anymore or not, and on the flip side, I see cards I wish I would get from them, because they are just the type of card they would purchase. It doesn’t make important days any harder or easier, but it always makes me smile when I spot one. I wonder if I got them and sent them to the cemetery if whoever gets the mail there would think I’m nuts.

Michael mentioned yesterday that Malachai is finally developing a personality of his own. He brought up how it was sort of blunted before, you could interact with him, but there wasn’t anything about it that screamed, this is me, I am Malachai.

He loves Alice Cooper. He wants to dress up like him for Halloween. He loves scary movies and fast rides. I kind of attribute part of that to his sensory issues (if he needs BIG input physically it makes sense he’d love roller coasters and stuff, and if he needs it physically, why wouldn’t he need BIG input mentally too? So scary stuff = more input to his brain) but it’s giving him and Michael something way cool to bond over.

He said something yesterday and I can’t remember what it was (Michael told me I should have posted then and there lol Silly me for not doing it) but it was what brought on this conversation. He might be coming up on seven, but he is finally turning into… himself. It is giving me great joy to see it happen. Dorian had his own personality around 3 or 4, and Eshiva is loaded with personality, but Mal… he was just kind of rolling along. Now he pops up with little quips and stories and is fierce about what he likes and doesn’t like and what he does and doesn’t want to do and why (as opposed to being engrossed in one thing and woe be unto you if you tried to do something else).

It’s not all sunshine and roses, but this is just amazing to me.

I looked on ebay and they are going for anything from 100$ to 240$. Amazon has it new for 320$ I am asking 200$, priority shipping included for the following:

Canon S3IS
AA-size battery (x4)
SD Memory Card SDC-16MB plus a 128 meg Lexar SD card
Lens Cap
Neck Strap NS-DC4
USB Interface Cable IFC-400PCU
Denali camera bag (currently holds my personal battery charger, plus the camera, plus the chord, plus room for extra batteries, cards, etc..
English instruction manual

I do not think I have the disk it came with, but the drivers can be downloaded from the canon site (linked below) but I’ve never needed anything that was on the included disk. If I find it, hey, added bonus The camera is totally plug n play and as soon asyou plug it into your machine to transfer the images, your machines default program will open.

I love this camera. You guys have heard me tout how fabulous it is almost everytime a camera thread come sup, and frankly, I am probably going to have sellers remorse right up until I buy a brand spankin’ new DSLR. I spent about as much (new) on my new camera just last month as I did on the S3IS when I bought it, and judging by the auctions and sites I found selling the S3, 200$ is a steal. The camera is used, but has zero scratches or any other imperfections. It works beautifully, feels great in my hands and I actually was tempted to buy the S5 instead of the Panasonic I bought. Michael talked me out of it because well, I already had a Canon S-series lol

You can see the specs better laid out here: http://www.newegg.com…N82E16830120043
and here is the company page: http://www.usa.canon.com…p;modelid=13077

This camera has the following features:
#
Specifications
Type of Camera
Type of Camera
Compact digital camera with built-in flash, 12x Optical / 4x Digital / 48x Combined Zoom
Image Capture Device
Type
6.0 Megapixel, 1/2.5 inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)
Total Pixels
Approx. 6.2 Megapixels
Effective Pixels
Approx. 6.0 Megapixels
Lens
Focal Length
6.0-72.0mm f/2.7-3.5 (35mm film equivalent: 36-432mm)
Digital Zoom
4x
Focusing Range
Normal: 1.6 ft./50cm-infinity (WIDE), 3.0 ft./90cm-infinity (TELE)
Macro: 3.9 in.-1.6 ft./10-50cm (WIDE)
Super Macro: 0-3.9 in./0-10cm (WIDE)
Autofocus System
TTL Autofocus (continuous/single)
Viewfinder & Monitor
Viewfinder
Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color viewfinder
LCD Monitor
2.0 inch low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD with variable-angle function
LCD Pixels
Approx. 115,000 pixels
LCD Coverage
100%
Aperture and Shutter
Maximum Aperture
f/2.7 (W) – f/3.5 (T)
Shutter Speed
15-1/3200 sec. (settable in Tv or M)
Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity
Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800 equivalent
Light Metering Method
Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot** Metering frame is fixed to the center or linked to the AF frame
Exposure Control Method
Program AE, Shutter Speed-Priority AE, Aperture-Priority AE, Manual; AE Lock is available
Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
White Balance
White Balance Control
Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash), Custom
Flash
Built-in Flash
Auto, Auto w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-Eye Reduction, Flash Off
Flash Range
Normal: 1.6-17 ft./50cm – 5.2m (W), 3.0-13 ft./90cm-4.0m (T)
Macro: 1.0-1.6 ft./30-50cm (W) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)
Recycling Time
12 sec. or less (battery voltage=6.0V)
Flash Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments
Shooting Specifications
Shooting Modes
Auto; Creative: P, Av, Tv, M, C; Image: Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Sports, Special Scene (Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Indoor, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, Color Swap), My Colors, Stitch Assist, Movie
Photo Effects
Vivid, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Custom Color
Self-Timer
Activates shutter after an approx. 2-sec./10-sec. delay, Custom
Wireless Control
Not available
Continuous Shooting
High-speed: approx. 2.3 fps
Normal: approx. 1.5 fps
Image Storage
Storage Media
SD Memory Card, SDHC, MultiMediaCard
File Format
Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1
Image Compression
Still Image: Exif 2.2 (JPEG)
Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Stereo))
JPEG Compression Mode
Normal, Fine, SuperFine
Number of Recording Pixels
Still Image: 640 x 480 (Small), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 2), 2,272 x 1,704 (Medium 1), 2,816 x 2,112 (Large), 2,816 x 1,584 (Widescreen)
Movie: 640 x 480 (30 fps/15 fps) / 320 x 240 (60 fps/30 fps/15 fps) available up to 1GB or 1 hour for each file size

I don’t know. I like I said, not complaining in the least. It’s lovely. I feel like it’s the first week or two, the ones right after you fall in love with someone, all over again. We’re coming up on our 8th handfasting anniversary. I only just realized that, so I’m sure it’s not related. March 21, 2000. What a long, strange eight years it has been.

Mmmmm   I want to roll around in this feeling and keep myself coated in it. It’s better than drugs.

I have a great job right now, it’s for a super-cute logo. I’m pretty excited about it. I am planning a meeting to speak with the owner of WA about the site. I have some ideas, and want to talk to him about utilizing the site to it’s potential. It’s got a good start, so it wont be too hard to give it a little push to a great start.  I am also kind of excited as it’s the first meeting I’ve been to I wont have to wear long sleeves or my hair over my ears lol Silly but true.

Hm, I think that’s all. I updated my site a bit, but nothing noticeable. So yah, that’s probably it.

1. gift card(s) to Circuit City. I want to buy this camera, and I only have 100$ towards it right now got it fairly close to when the list was originally posted
2. a new iPod. I have a 4gig mini, and I’d like one with a larger hard drive. Got a new one for Channukah this year
3. a 30gig or larger external harddrive for our PC. This one is really for my husband. He got one, though I can’t remember when, and I have one as well.
4. stylish storage bins for my yarn and its accouterments. Kind of. I got a metal and canvas bin4 drawer stand from BB&B. Not exactly stylish, but functional and … functional.
5. a new phone (I love this one). THe RAZR sucks, don’t get one. Really. Got a new phone in… November of last year (so about a year after posting the desire for a new one). It is a samsung, but not the model I linked to.
6. gift card(s) to Hanna Andersson so I can go clothes shopping for my kids.
7. make a donation to UCP, Chabad or Komen.
8. yarn, of the natural fiber variety I’ve gotten oodles of yarn, and sold oodles of yarn I never used. Michael says it’s a sickness.
9. anything from my amazon wishlist. my battery is about to die, so no link just yet.
10. make a wish. any wish. just make sure it’s one right from your heart. everything on here is material. yes, they are things i’d love to have, but in the end, whatever your heart wishes for the most, that is what i want for you.

So, ten more things I wish I had right now are:

1. a maid, once a week or every other week to come do the bathrooms and floors.
2. a second car, even a beater, so Michael can take it to work and leave me the van
3. a fenced in yard
4. health insurance
5. a gift certificate to my salon
6. a room to turn into a studio, any kind of studio.. a studio that can be changed from one kind to another
7. gift cards to hanna andersson – i love her stuff, i can’t afford it more than once a year, and only a few items then
8. my youngest to be potty trained
9. indestructible furniture
10. peace in my home

My dad took me to a dentist, and it melted into me securing two more horses and food, and tricking two other people into getting away. The town was being torn down. The children got out. I stayed behind with mom. I was wearing a black, ruffled, strapless club-type dress. We huddled in our home.

In the dream I was hopping from story line to story line. It always ended in disaster, always me and mom.

So I am talking to her, we’re joking about some eye make-up in my bag, and I am showing her some photos I carried everywhere. Photos of me as a little girl, mainly, with other family members.

I tell her I love her, I love that she loves me, even when I wear silly clothes that look like drapes. So many silly things and reasons.

A crane starts to take down buildings. The house we’re in suddenly turns into a southern-style wrap-around. Lots of windows, a porch, we can see all around. We watch some buildings come down, and then it takes down the pillars supporting our roof. I fall to my knees and start crying into her lap, and she just sits there, calmly comforting me.

It went on after that, the buildings fell, of course.

I can never wake up from these. The themes are different, but eerily similar. And they are always terrifying. I am awake enough to know I am dreaming, but I can’t seem to break away from sleep to really get away from the dreams.

When I was a little girl, I had a re-occurring nightmare about some dragons, and a maze, and fire, and it was just the scariest thing ever to me. I had the same feeling with it. Awake enough to know, asleep enough to not get out. My family was destroyed in the fire every time. I would wake up and run down the hall and get in bed with mom and dad. I swore something chased me down the hall every time too.

At the end of those dreams, they melted away like all dreams do. I tried to hold on, tried to bring her back. It’s why I never wake up, no matter how scared I am in them. A dream might be scary, but I could always face anything because I knew she supported me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimorese

http://www.baltimorehon.com/

and I realized a) some people from Baltimore sound like fucking rednecks. Ew. and b) I myself am guilty of the following:

* Aig…the kind with a yolk   (egg)
* Arn… What you do on an arnin board (iron)
* Arsh…People from Arlin (Irish – not often does something like this sneak out, but it does)
* Aspern…”Take 2 and call me in the morning” (asperin – I totally said it out loud and yes, it’s aspern)
* Balamer…our home town (Baltimore – I have overcome this and pronounce each and every letter now)
* Beeno…A famous railroad (B&O)
* Downey Ayshin…Where everyone goes in the summer (Downey Oshun lol   Down the ocean!)
* Duddney…doesn’t he
* Dundock…people who work down a point live here
* Floorida…Land of sun and retarment.(submitted by Rich Scheper) (The longer I have lived here, the more often it comes out Flah-ri-duh)
* Har and Far…What the boss does (hire and fire)
* Harble…horrible
* Hex…another department store
* Hon…The Universal Name…Like Sir, Ms…interchangeable with any name
* Merlin…The Free State
* Meer…what you look at in the morning
* oh-REE-oles…State Bird AND the baseball team
* Oll(rhymes with “doll”)…what you walk down when you get married
* Pockeybook…pocketbook  (I totally called it a pockey-book when I was a kid!)
* Po-leese…a single police officer
* Praps…perhaps
* Proly…probably
* Quarr…sings in a church  (I bet you are seeing a trend with certain types of words – anything with “ire” in it is more like “ahr”)
* Right Smart…A good amount, as in ‘I get right smart abuse for publishing this’
* Right Tasty…Delicious.(submitted by Keli Healy)
* Sarn…siren
* Slong..another way to say goodbye
* Sore…drainage area under streets
* Tal…towel, as in hanme a tal, hon.
* Tarred…sleepy
* Torst…tourist
* Tawlit…what you set on in the baffroom
* Vollince..what we see too much of in the movies
* Wayment…wait a minute
* Wald…the opposite of tame    * Wooja…Would you (Wooja lookit the wooder innat zink?)(submitted by Rob Novak)
* Woter(Wooter): H2O. What you drink out of the woter fountain(submitted by Tim Strickland)
And yah, after living in SoFl for ten years (more now, really) I am still pegged as a Baltimore gal by anyone who knows the accent.

Friday morning we dropped the kids off at school, hit the bank and then went to the airport. Michael and Shivie came in with me, which in retrospect might not have been the best of plans. I thought there was someplace to eat before you went through security, and I thought wrong. Ah well! So they left with much clinginess and I got in line. Plane plane plane (this wasn’t a fun wait people) and I land in Austin! Whoohoo!! I get my baggage and hop a cab. 35$ and eleven miles later, I am at the Heart of Texas motel. It was glorious folks. Glorious. Neon arrow on the sign, pre-ground coffee in a ziploc bag, mildew on the shower curtain. Classy place folks. It could have been so much worse though, so I shouldn’t bitch too loud. It served it’s purpose.

The girls came and got me, we drank a little (I drank a little), took some photos, and headed over to Stevie’s house. We took silly photos and just hung out and about. We had dinner at Shady Grove (yes? I think that’s it’s name and I am laughing my ass off now because that was totally the name of the old age home in Golden Girls – they spent seasons setting up a joke about that) and it was delicious. I chatted with Stevie, she’s fantastic. Her son is too, as is her husband (with whom I did not chat).

Went back to the hotel later and crashed. Woke up and went to 6th street and took oodles of photos (coming soon) and went tourist shopping and had lunch at the Jackalope. Hit Whole Foods after that and then onto Stevies for photo fun. Took shots of Winter, then Sarah then me.

There is so much more I am missing. I shouldn’t have waited so long. Sunday we woke up at the ass crack of dawn, got cleaned up and ready to go. Had breakfast and went to the airport. We hung out for a bit once through security, then Sarah went to her flight, so I hung out with Winter, and then I went onto my gate.

Flight was uneventful. I did not sleep on the leg from Austin to Kansas City, read my book in the KCMo airport, and all but passed out on the leg from KC to FtLaud.

Got home around 8:30 (I landed at 7:30, and we hit the food store before we got home).

So there you go.