Oh dear, my poor legs and feet have taken a bashing the past three days! They're a right mess. Mark said, if they were offered as joints of meat for dinner, they look bad enough to turn a cannibal vegetarian :(
Thursday, I walked past the washing basket that I keep meaning to replace as it got bashed and it broke around the edge. I walked too close to it and scraped a huge slice out of my shin! Oh god it made me swear under my breath. Isabelle kissed it better for me.
Then last night I caught my foot underneath the safety gate on Isabelle's bedroom door, this made me stumble and catch the other one too. I really bashed the tops of my feet, which are now blue and bruised!
So then this afternoon we were out in the garden. Isabelle is having a bit of a hard time with spiders at the moment. There was a gorse spider sat in it's web on the fuchsia bush. So I got my camera out to take a photograph so Isabelle could see all the pretty colours and markings on it. So I knelt down taking a few shots. My feet started to burn, I thought they were on stinging nettles. I got up to find hundreds of red ants swarming all over and biting me! arghhh it was so painful. Luckily I had recently bought some Anthisan so I rubbed that all over, but even now, hours later, my feet are all red and swollen and are still stinging from the bites.
So my poor feet and legs are scratched, scabby, swollen sore and look absoultely revolting. ewwwww.
Saturday, August 30
Swing
Isabelle can be so funny and cute some days. she's like the little girl who had a little curl, when she's good, she's very very good, but when she's bad, she's horrid.
Mark had the day off yesterday and we went to the retail park. We ended up in Toys R Us.. as you do, and we decided to get Isabelle a swing for the garden.
She was sooo excited. Mark built it and put it up in the garden and Isabelle was nearly bursting with excitement and happiness. She was swinging away and said "oh daddy can I keep it please, it's just like a real swing". Bless her. we laughed for ages at that.
On the downside, the little grotbag got up at 6.30am this morning so she could go on her swing because she "loves it so much". Grrrrr
Mark had the day off yesterday and we went to the retail park. We ended up in Toys R Us.. as you do, and we decided to get Isabelle a swing for the garden.
She was sooo excited. Mark built it and put it up in the garden and Isabelle was nearly bursting with excitement and happiness. She was swinging away and said "oh daddy can I keep it please, it's just like a real swing". Bless her. we laughed for ages at that.
On the downside, the little grotbag got up at 6.30am this morning so she could go on her swing because she "loves it so much". Grrrrr
Thursday, August 28
Stuff and nonesence
Oh dear! The amitryptiline zombied me! On Saturday Mark took Isabelle to the playpark. I really felt myself falling asleep, so at about 12.30pm I went to lay down for half an hour before the Grand Prix started. I woke at 5pm! I've NEVER slept like that in the day. But not only that, Isabelle was really restless that night and she woke about 9.30 so I took her into our bed for a snuggle. At 11.30pm Mark woke me up when he lifted Isabelle to take her back to her bed. I then slept through till morning! Sunday, I didn't actually go to sleep but I felt so tired and lethargic all day, it was awful. So I stopped taking the amitryptiline pill in the morning. I can't live like that!
Physically, I am better than I was this time last week, thank god. It was awful :( I'm still having to pace myself and not do too much, but things are definately better.
On another note, I think I have become addicted to HDR photography! Yikes! I've taken a couple of shots that I'm really pleased with. I never really liked HDR at all, only if it was subtle. But having played with photomatix and really pushing the tonemapping a long way, it's given some really unusual effects. I love it LOL. I think one of the best photo's I've ever done has a subtle (I restrained myself) HDR on it. I love this photograph.
I also did some of Mark wheelieing (that doesn't look spelt right .. hmm) and they look really grungy.
Russ has his first gig tonight with his band. It's an accoustic session but they've been practicing like mad bless 'em. They want me to do some publicity shots for them to put on their myspace website and possibly for an EP cover if they can get enough money together to hire the recording studio. I asked Russ and his girlfriend to go for a practice photoshoot at the back of a disused supermarket. It had a great feel to it. Loads of brickwork and bright red doors, but all overgrown with weeds. It's a shame Russ's girlfriend wasn't wearing her prom dress LOL. The juxtoposition would have worked really well. Maybe another time.
So Russ wanted something a bit different photographically... so of course... I opened photomatix LOL. Russ loves the results and says it's ideal for the band shots. We tried various poses and generally ran through some ideas that might work for the band shots. The strange thing was, I felt a bit uncomfortable directing Russ and his girlfriend on where and how to stand. Weird. The funnies thing though was Isabelle. She'd seen me getting Russ and his girlfriend to pose, put their feet behind them on the wall, sit on the steps etc. So Isabelle said, it's my turn now... LOL
I don't think she's going to be a model in the future LOL, bless her.
Physically, I am better than I was this time last week, thank god. It was awful :( I'm still having to pace myself and not do too much, but things are definately better.
On another note, I think I have become addicted to HDR photography! Yikes! I've taken a couple of shots that I'm really pleased with. I never really liked HDR at all, only if it was subtle. But having played with photomatix and really pushing the tonemapping a long way, it's given some really unusual effects. I love it LOL. I think one of the best photo's I've ever done has a subtle (I restrained myself) HDR on it. I love this photograph.
I also did some of Mark wheelieing (that doesn't look spelt right .. hmm) and they look really grungy.
Russ has his first gig tonight with his band. It's an accoustic session but they've been practicing like mad bless 'em. They want me to do some publicity shots for them to put on their myspace website and possibly for an EP cover if they can get enough money together to hire the recording studio. I asked Russ and his girlfriend to go for a practice photoshoot at the back of a disused supermarket. It had a great feel to it. Loads of brickwork and bright red doors, but all overgrown with weeds. It's a shame Russ's girlfriend wasn't wearing her prom dress LOL. The juxtoposition would have worked really well. Maybe another time.
So Russ wanted something a bit different photographically... so of course... I opened photomatix LOL. Russ loves the results and says it's ideal for the band shots. We tried various poses and generally ran through some ideas that might work for the band shots. The strange thing was, I felt a bit uncomfortable directing Russ and his girlfriend on where and how to stand. Weird. The funnies thing though was Isabelle. She'd seen me getting Russ and his girlfriend to pose, put their feet behind them on the wall, sit on the steps etc. So Isabelle said, it's my turn now... LOL
I don't think she's going to be a model in the future LOL, bless her.
Friday, August 22
New Medication
Well I saw the Dr I don't like very much. He was ok, in fact he was quite nice today. Of course I got the usual, lose some weight! He did actually listen though, and understood. I told him how I was trying to do at least one decent sized walk each weekend, but it buggers me up for the next couple of days. And I told him about walking around Warwick Castle and how I could barely move. He did have a sympathetic ear, even if he did keep harping on about my weight. I told him that I have an appointment with the dietician on the 11th September, so he shut up then.
He's given me some Amitriptyline. I tried it once before and it did nothing, but he's told me to take 1 in a morning and 1 or 2 at night. I'm starting with 1 in the morning and 1 at night. We'll see how it goes. I did tell him that I was very very very concerned about being doped up and spaced out. So he's going to keep a check on how things are going. I've also got to go and give blood for my annual diabetes test.
I doubt it's due to the tablets, because they take a while to get into your system, but I am walking a little bit easier today. By that, I mean In' not bent double and walking like an old lady because my back won't straighten. I'm still very slow and walk very gingerly. It's stupid and extremely frustrating. (that's a mild way of putting it!)
Russ is obviously a bit concerned because he was talking to me last night about getting some sort of disability help, such as a blue badge for parking. He said Mum you can't walk far, you should get a badge for the car at least! I don't want to sponge off the government for disability living allowance or anything like that, but a car park pass would be sooo handy. It would mean I could park near to wherever I need to be without having to walk a mile and bugger myself up before I even start.
He's given me some Amitriptyline. I tried it once before and it did nothing, but he's told me to take 1 in a morning and 1 or 2 at night. I'm starting with 1 in the morning and 1 at night. We'll see how it goes. I did tell him that I was very very very concerned about being doped up and spaced out. So he's going to keep a check on how things are going. I've also got to go and give blood for my annual diabetes test.
I doubt it's due to the tablets, because they take a while to get into your system, but I am walking a little bit easier today. By that, I mean In' not bent double and walking like an old lady because my back won't straighten. I'm still very slow and walk very gingerly. It's stupid and extremely frustrating. (that's a mild way of putting it!)
Russ is obviously a bit concerned because he was talking to me last night about getting some sort of disability help, such as a blue badge for parking. He said Mum you can't walk far, you should get a badge for the car at least! I don't want to sponge off the government for disability living allowance or anything like that, but a car park pass would be sooo handy. It would mean I could park near to wherever I need to be without having to walk a mile and bugger myself up before I even start.
Wednesday, August 20
Ridiculous!!
Oh this is ridiculous!! It's now Wednesday and I can still barely walk or move very well. It's extremely painful and nothing wants to work. I hurt! This is all because we had a day out on Sunday. I've just booked an appointment with the Dr (not my usual Dr as he's on holiday, and I don't really like the Dr I'm going to see, but it's better than nothing). I doubt there's very much he can do but I'll go anyway because the pain is getting too much.
Aside from the post day out suffering, we had a lovely day at Warwick Castle. A group of us from The Photographers Corner met for the day. I'd not met several of the members before so it was really nice to meet a few new people.
After all these years I got to see some jousting. I've wanted to see jousting since I was very little, and I loved every minute of it. The horsemanship was brilliant, and of course, they were knights which made it even better :) The commentary was excellent and done with a lot of humour. We could barely take photographs for laughing. It was brilliant!
The Flight of the Eagles was the other highlight of the day. They flew a Bald Eagle, a Grey Buzzard, which I can't remember it's proper name, and a Vulture. The bird handler said that birds of prey will normally fly low over your head but will miss you. If it looks like the vulture is going to hit you... duck, because it will. It seems this bird, although it will get it's wings and body over your head, will clip you with it's trailing legs. It doesn't have much of a brain LOL. Then they flew a sea eagle. What a gorgeous bird. Apparently it has an 8ft wingspan. It looked magnificent in flight. I think my shot of the day was the Sea Eagle.
The work I had to do on this photograph was unbelievable. Looking at it again, it could do with a bit of a colour boost on the bird but that's by the by. If you look closely (being critical of myself) the bottom half of the trees are a bit shabby. This is due to my bad cloning. I had to clone out so much crowd it's shocking! There were people packed like sardines up to the level of his talons. I think I have to go and rework it and do a better clone job as I think I would like to print this one and hang it on the wall.
I'm going to upload all my other Warwick Castle photos to my photography website later today if I get chance. But here's one of Isabelle sitting against the castle walls just after eating a Magnum. Well, I say eating... I think she wore most of it LOL
Aside from the post day out suffering, we had a lovely day at Warwick Castle. A group of us from The Photographers Corner met for the day. I'd not met several of the members before so it was really nice to meet a few new people.
After all these years I got to see some jousting. I've wanted to see jousting since I was very little, and I loved every minute of it. The horsemanship was brilliant, and of course, they were knights which made it even better :) The commentary was excellent and done with a lot of humour. We could barely take photographs for laughing. It was brilliant!
The Flight of the Eagles was the other highlight of the day. They flew a Bald Eagle, a Grey Buzzard, which I can't remember it's proper name, and a Vulture. The bird handler said that birds of prey will normally fly low over your head but will miss you. If it looks like the vulture is going to hit you... duck, because it will. It seems this bird, although it will get it's wings and body over your head, will clip you with it's trailing legs. It doesn't have much of a brain LOL. Then they flew a sea eagle. What a gorgeous bird. Apparently it has an 8ft wingspan. It looked magnificent in flight. I think my shot of the day was the Sea Eagle.
The work I had to do on this photograph was unbelievable. Looking at it again, it could do with a bit of a colour boost on the bird but that's by the by. If you look closely (being critical of myself) the bottom half of the trees are a bit shabby. This is due to my bad cloning. I had to clone out so much crowd it's shocking! There were people packed like sardines up to the level of his talons. I think I have to go and rework it and do a better clone job as I think I would like to print this one and hang it on the wall.I'm going to upload all my other Warwick Castle photos to my photography website later today if I get chance. But here's one of Isabelle sitting against the castle walls just after eating a Magnum. Well, I say eating... I think she wore most of it LOL
Wednesday, August 13
The results are in...
Not results for anything major, just a challenge I entered. I'm trying to keep my photographic mind open and challenge myself on dpChallenge. I did challenge a friend and although he entered the first challenge, he didn't suggest a category for the second challenge, but I entered it anyway.
Well, the first challenge was 'Morning' so I entered this shot for it.
Sadly, my hopes of getting into the top 20 weren't achieved this time. To be honest, I didn't think I stood a chance anyway LOL, but I came 53rd out of 153 entries, so I guess I was in the top half of the results. Nevertheless, I've got some good comments and the average vote was 6 although I did get 3 scores of 10 and 3 scores of 9 and also 8 votes of 8 so I'm chuffed with that.
Bring on the voting for the 'Woody' challenge. That's the subject title of the challenge I entered this week. Lets see if I can get higher than 53rd LOL. At least I have a base position to work up from now.
As for my friend that I challenged, he came 140/153. I won't gloat, I'll just have a smug satisfaction to myself. hehe
Well, the first challenge was 'Morning' so I entered this shot for it.
Sadly, my hopes of getting into the top 20 weren't achieved this time. To be honest, I didn't think I stood a chance anyway LOL, but I came 53rd out of 153 entries, so I guess I was in the top half of the results. Nevertheless, I've got some good comments and the average vote was 6 although I did get 3 scores of 10 and 3 scores of 9 and also 8 votes of 8 so I'm chuffed with that.
Bring on the voting for the 'Woody' challenge. That's the subject title of the challenge I entered this week. Lets see if I can get higher than 53rd LOL. At least I have a base position to work up from now.
As for my friend that I challenged, he came 140/153. I won't gloat, I'll just have a smug satisfaction to myself. hehe
Monday, August 11
Oh dear, slacking again
Hmmm, it's been a while since I last posted. I guess because there's not really been anything to post about.
Health wise, good days and bad days, same as usual really. I decided that we were going to try and get out at least once a weekend and go for a walk. This works in two ways. Mark is really into walking at the moment, but with the fibromyalgia, I can't walk far. It's a complete nuisance! But I'm trying hard to join in. It had been going ok until last weekend we decided to take a picnic to Moel Fammau. I barely got 300 yards before I couldn't walk any further. It was burning so painfully in my feet and calves. I tried to carry on, but I just couldn't do it. So we stopped for our picnic. It tipped it down with rain and we all ended up sitting under the picnic table LOL. After we'd finished, Mark wanted to walk to the top of Moel Fammau so I said I'd hang around at the bottom waiting for him to come back. It gave me chance to get my camera out. Isabelle inisted she went with Mark. Oh dear, bad decision I thought, but he agreed. Needless to say, they didn't get to the top LOL. The rain set in then, so our plan of walking somewhere a bit flatter was scuppered. Mark went back later in the day once the sun had come out and he walked to the top and was happy about that. I felt really awful because I just couldn't walk any further. I felt like I'd spoiled the day :(
On another note, I've set the laptop up for Isabelle to use. She was driving me bonkers by always being on my pc playing kids games or typing in notepad.. well, I say typing... 3 yr old typing. Well anyway, she now has the laptop set up beside my pc on her little pink table lol, it looks really odd, a 3 year old using a laptop. I downloaded loads of educational software, things like matching games, memory matching, alphabet etc and she absolutely loves it! In one of the games she has to type the word given to her. It surprised me how quickly she has learnt where the letters are on the keyboard. She is so good at it, I end up sitting watching her for ages LOL. the downside to it all though is that she'd play it all day. I have to ration the time she spends at the pc, which doesn't go down very well.
Health wise, good days and bad days, same as usual really. I decided that we were going to try and get out at least once a weekend and go for a walk. This works in two ways. Mark is really into walking at the moment, but with the fibromyalgia, I can't walk far. It's a complete nuisance! But I'm trying hard to join in. It had been going ok until last weekend we decided to take a picnic to Moel Fammau. I barely got 300 yards before I couldn't walk any further. It was burning so painfully in my feet and calves. I tried to carry on, but I just couldn't do it. So we stopped for our picnic. It tipped it down with rain and we all ended up sitting under the picnic table LOL. After we'd finished, Mark wanted to walk to the top of Moel Fammau so I said I'd hang around at the bottom waiting for him to come back. It gave me chance to get my camera out. Isabelle inisted she went with Mark. Oh dear, bad decision I thought, but he agreed. Needless to say, they didn't get to the top LOL. The rain set in then, so our plan of walking somewhere a bit flatter was scuppered. Mark went back later in the day once the sun had come out and he walked to the top and was happy about that. I felt really awful because I just couldn't walk any further. I felt like I'd spoiled the day :(
On another note, I've set the laptop up for Isabelle to use. She was driving me bonkers by always being on my pc playing kids games or typing in notepad.. well, I say typing... 3 yr old typing. Well anyway, she now has the laptop set up beside my pc on her little pink table lol, it looks really odd, a 3 year old using a laptop. I downloaded loads of educational software, things like matching games, memory matching, alphabet etc and she absolutely loves it! In one of the games she has to type the word given to her. It surprised me how quickly she has learnt where the letters are on the keyboard. She is so good at it, I end up sitting watching her for ages LOL. the downside to it all though is that she'd play it all day. I have to ration the time she spends at the pc, which doesn't go down very well.
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