Photography

To me, photography is 70% luck, 20% heart, and 10% skill. Sure you have to have the skill to hold the camera steady, to take the shot, and to find the shot, but what is it about finding the shot that makes it worth taking? It's luck and the heart to find it. I took a picture recently of a white tiger. I would have been happy to just take the shot of it in general, but I got lucky enough that it looked straight at me just as I pressed the button. I also recently took a picture of a Sea Hawk that wanted to pose. I took a picture of it staring grumpily, like hawks usually do, but when I turned away, it made a commotion to get my attention, flew from one side of it's enclosure to the other, then posed with it's wings spread to have its picture taken. After I took the picture, it turned away and refused to look at anyone.
Luck. That's all that those photos were, and yet they're two of my favorite photos. I'm proud of them.
Ruth

Butterflies and dreams

So, I haven't posted in awhile. But, I have good reason. I've been working on not only my other blog about building a house, but in my spare time I've been looking at floor plans.
but, it's time to update. Aidan is doing great after his surgery. The kids a live wire. He's perfectly fine and healthy now. I'm so proud of my little guy.
Also, we're getting closer to the wedding date, so I've been busy with planning and spending time with family. :D
That's about it for now. Thanks,
Ruth

Surgery and perjury

I know, I know, weird title. I couldn't think of anything better.

So, Aidan had his surgery. They removed the fluid. They also found a hernia. :( But, he is doing great. He only needed Motrin until bedtime again, then he needed a dose to help him lay down because it is sore. He doesn't notice it when he's playing. He pulled off his own bandage. It sucked because the doctor really wanted it to stay on at least until tomorrow. But, oh well. Boys will be boys. More updates later. :D

A cloudy day

So, I woke up this morning to a quiet, cool morning. The alarm scared the crap out of me, followed by our puppy, Rowan, barking and whining outside. The silly girl kept this up until Blaize went to get her. She raced to the front door, turned some circles and got let in. She lead him to the stairs and ran up and down them trying to get him to follow her. She rushed to the hallway door and turned circles to be let in, then she got to our bedroom door and armycrawled 3 or 4 times to be let in.

He let her in and she immediately jumped on the bed and started smelling me all over and licking me. She thought the alarm was going to eat me or something. It was too funny.

Anyways, I don't have much to blog about today, so thanks for reading.

Ruth

Blueprints for Dreams

So, my fiance and I have been looking into getting our own place. Just recently, Grandma Kathy mentioned we should either build our own or buy a trailer as it could be cheaper. So I started looking at blueprints. The blueprints I am currently looking at are for Cottages. This is one set that I looked at:  http://joecauthenbuilder.com/joecottages/cottages/images/cottage__6.jpg

I've been thinking about fairy tales a lot lately, and I think it would be a great idea to have a 3 br 2 bath for our own place. This one is only 2 br, but we can expand the blueprints a little bit if we want to. It's not a bad looking layout, and it looks like it will be large enough for our family.

Another thing I've been thinking about is our wedding. It is getting close. I'm looking forward to it, too. July 13 is the day our two hearts will become one. I really wish that we'd have our own home ready by then, but dreams can wait. :)

Thanks for reading,
Ruth

A broken heart or a broken mind?

I read something today that broke my heart. On the blog "Our Eyes Opened", I read about a woman's journey to adopt a special needs child. This little boys name is Kirill, and he is Russian. He also has Down Syndrome.

The mother really wants to adopt him and she and her husband are both qualified and ready to take on the challenge of raising a special needs child. Now, what pisses me off is, the closed-minded judge REJECTED their adoption strictly on the grounds that the child "would be better off in an institution." He has down syndrome. I know several people with this that are perfectly capable of living life like normal people. All it takes is the right kind of parenting.

If the family is qualified to adopt a special needs child, why turn them down on the basis that the child HAS special needs? I just don't understand. This judge must never have been a mother. To read the full story, check out this blog:http://www.oureyesopened.blogspot.com/

On to a happier note. Aidan got his first kite last night. We will be taking him to fly it this afternoon. He was so happy when we got the kite that all he did was grin. I want to do all kinds of fun stuff with him this weekend before his surgery Thursday when he will need to be kept as calm and still as possible.

I am still nervous about the surgery, but I know he'll be okay. He's a tough and strong toddler.

A person with license to destroy

Okay, I've had several problems with my fiance's mother in the past. She let me move in with them rent-free for 2 years. In that 2 years, she always held that over my head to get whatever she wanted. She borrowed money from me for Bingo when I had a job there and never paid me back. That was a total of $80 or so that I'll never see again.
Afterwards, I got pregnant while on birth control. She accused me of trying to get pregnant while I didn't have a job. I had no money, no vehicle, nowhere else to turn. I had to stay there. She knew a month in advance for most of my doctors appointments, and unless Blaize's friends helped us get there, I missed them because she wanted to go to bingo instead. I signed up for Cash Assistance at this time so that I would be able to get whatever I needed for my child. Aidan was born healthy, no thanks to her. Yes, she got me to the hospital every time I had a bleeding problem while I was pregnant, but only because if I had serious medical problems it could go back on her.
After my son was born, I still had to have several doctor's appointments for stitches problems, migraines, etc. I asked her to watch him a few times for me. She always said she would and then cancelled at the last minute.
Throughout this, I dealt with a lot of yelling, telling me I was useless, calling me names, etc. Now this woman has called the State Police on her parents and her grandma saying they are in touch with her Uncle Randy, who is a runaway from the police on a crime his roommate in a halfway house framed him for. They have heard from him twice saying that he was okay, but immediately losing contact after that. Tell me, what kind of person does this just to get back at people for not helping her get her boyfriend (she's married by the way) to live in the same town as her? Right, I forgot to mention she's admitted to cheating on her husband three times at least. I called her out on everything she's done, and she's denied all of it. I tried to cut her out of my life, but it does not work. Everytime I get close, she does something else like this.
It's time for her to grow up and realize what kind of life she's living. What kind of mother tells their 9 year old "I hope your grandma dies."? She's done all of this stuff and still thinks that everyone should worship the ground she walks on. She's destroying lives and she doesn't even care. I just wish I knew what to do about her.
Thanks for listening,
Ruth