My Left Foot 

Saturday, February 26, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 5:54 PM
No, not the movie.

First, let me say HOLY CRAP! My last post has received 82 page views so far! I submitted it to the weekly simple things photo challenge over at simple as that, and Rebecca chose it and 2 others to feature for the simple things roundup! Yay me!

Any way. On with the story.

I work in the business office of a prison. This means that I must pass through a metal detector, and my bags are run through an x-ray machine everyday. What this also means is that I must undress a bit and take as much metal off of my body as possible so that I don't set off the metal detector. Nice in theory, but it just doesn't work that way. My bra sets the stupid thing off every time, and I sure as hell am not coming in without a bra on just so the metal detector doesn't beep at me. No one wants to see that. Trust me.

For the most part, the undressing and setting off the metal detector only to be "wanded" doesn't really bother me. The part that bothers me is having to remove my shoes. Most people don't know this but women's dress shoes, the kind with even just 1 inch of heel, have a metal "shank" running through the sole to help keep the shape of the shoe. OK, fine. So maybe you did know that, but I didn't until I started working at the prison.

Again! Onward! A couple of girls at work have started wearing these black, slip-on tennis shoe like things. They kinda fit snug like wrestling shoes and they go through the metal detector without setting it off. You see where I am going with this, right? The search was on for me to find a pair of these shoes. I hit the jack pot at Payless. I called the one closest to work and asked them to hold a pair in my size, and then I raced over there right after work.

I tried one on and it was just a tad too snug around my toes so I grabbed a wide width and the next 1/2 size up. The wide width felt best so I bought it and went home, excited to get to wear my new "metal detector proof" shoes the next day. So the next morning comes, and I am preparing to leave for work (at 5:15 A.M. mind) and notice that my shoes feel a little funny. And really, it's not that they feel bad, just different. As in, different from each other!!! I sat down and yanked them off to look at the tags inside each shoe. And what do you think I saw???

Yup. The right one (which is the only one I tried on in the store. I know I'm stupid) is an 8W. The left one is an 8. Regular. A normal person would have put them back in the box to exchange after work. Not me. I wore those shoes that I had lusted after for so long. And really it wasn't so bad. The left shoe is only slightly tighter than the right and I don't notice it unless I'm actively thinking about it. So I have come to two conclusions... 1. Always try on both shoes at the store. That or look at the tags in each and make sure they match.  2. My left foot is the only skinny thing on my body at this point. I'm getting there, but that's a story for another day.

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Laundry 

Sunday, February 20, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 11:00 AM
I do most of the laundry on the weekend; Sunday to be exact.

On Friday evening, when I was on my way to make my final check on Squirt before turning in, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that confused me at first.

There was a pile of clothes next to mine and hubby's hamper. Upon further inspection I realized that it was a pile of Squirt's clothes.

Apparently, knowing that it was the beginning of the weekend, the little man brought all of his dirty laundry into our room and deposited it where he knew I would then separate it for the wash.

Such a simple thing that made me smile.






You can join Rebecca and the rest of the simple things here.

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Sleeping Cutie 

Sunday, February 13, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 3:30 PM
I usually check on the little man a couple of times a night, especially this past week because he's been a little wheezy. I never know what I will walk in to his room and see. He is arms and legs sprawled everywhere and I usually get a little giggle a couple of times a week at whatever odd position he has chosen. This past week was no different. He had piled all of the stuffed animals into the corner of the bed (he sleeps with a zoo!) and put his pillow on top. Apparently he was deep in thought when he finally fell asleep, for this is what I found.



 This is my simple thing that made me smile this week. You can check out the rest of them here.








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Snow Much Fun! 

Sunday, February 6, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 9:34 AM
I've decided to join Sam in this weeks Simple Things photo challenge. It is a weekly challenge hosted at Simple as That, a blog I've been following for about a month now. The blogger, Rebecca, is a photographer by trade. I am hoping that by aiming to contribute to the challenge every week, I will be forced to pick up the camera more often. I think it's been sitting on my desk for at least 3 weeks. So here is my contribution this week. Little man playing in the snow, and an image of how something as simple as throwing a snow ball at mama made him so happy.
 
 
 
 
 

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Vote! 

Friday, February 4, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 7:21 PM
OK, so I've been playing around with some editing and some actions that I downloaded for my editing software, and now I want to know which version everyone prefers. The first one is SOOC (straight out of camera) without any editing applied.

1.

The second one I completely edited by hand, just eyeballing my levels.

2.

The third is a combination of me fixing the levels manually and then applying a downloaded edit. Only very slightly different from the one above.

3.

And the last one is just the downloaded editing action applied.

4.

I know which one I like the best but I'd like some feedback from all of you. So just leave a comment below letting me know which one is your choice and if you don't have a blogger account then leave your name so I know who is who. Thanks!!!

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If it weren't for bad luck 

Thursday, February 3, 2011 - Posted by -Kel at 8:01 AM
Apparently I have been a very bad person lately because Karma has been chasing my ass down.

As you all know I was involved in a hit and run accident almost 3 weeks ago. After trying to get somewhere with the other insurance company I finally decided to take some time off of work to go get (and pay for) a copy of the accident report to fax to them. It took another 4 days after I faxed it, but last Friday Geico finally called and scheduled me to take the Explorer into the shop and pick up a rental. All of this was accomplished on Saturday.

On Tuesday a blizzard that hit the entire mid-west rolled through. I don't like winter weather. I hate driving in snow and ice, so yesterday I had Hubby take me to work. He has a 4-wheel drive truck and didn't have any problems. When he picked me up from work he had me convinced that I would be able to make the 26 mile drive to work in the morning with the rental car (a 2011 Malibu). The main streets had been plowed pretty good and most of the highways were pretty clean.

At 5:15 this morning I loaded my gear in the car and headed down the driveway... And stayed there. Seems I was stuck in all the snow that had piled up at the bottom of the driveway from the snow plows. I punched on the hazard lights and raced back in the house to wake Hubby. He quickly dressed and we went into the garage for gloves and a shovel. As we reached the garage door to start digging, we heard what I thought was a car door slamming shut. Of course not. See the title of this post? "If it weren't for bad luck"?

That's right, someone hit the rental car. And not where you would have expected it either. You would have expected someone to have hit the back side, seeing as that was the portion sticking out in the street. You would have thought that a person would see the hazard lights on and go around behind the car where the street was clear. I wasn't blocking the road, 20 other vehicles managed to get around me. No, this guy hits the car right in the front right wheel area. There is damage to the front fender, and up under neath, and from where I am currently sitting it looks like that front wheel is cocked to the side, like this / . Yes, the top of the wheel is leaning IN to the car. I'm surprised Hubby managed to get it back in the driveway after it was dug out.

So I have now started claims with my insurance and his insurance and called Enterprise to let them know. I guess the way this goes is that Enterprise claims the damage on my insurance and then my insurance claims and gets reimbursed by his insurance. This whole thing sucks. FML. So again, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

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