My sister in law and her boyfriend had an allergic reaction a few days ago. This was after they both ate baked apples - I don’t know why they call it baked apples when it’s a berry, but whatever. My sister in law’s boyfriend is actually still dealing with the reaction, perhaps because his case was so severe. It wasn’t just a case of hives all over, which were very itchy, it was also because of the swelling it caused around his lips/mouth. He’s seen the doctor twice in the last week, and though he’s taking a prescription for it, he’s still having some issues with this allergic reaction.

I know I’m not having an allergic reaction to anything, at least I hope I’m not, but I’ve been itching like crazy today. I think it’s just a side effect of watching them scratch. Ha, ha - not that watching that is funny, just that watching it would make me itch.

I’ve been feeling a lot better today so I took some time to get caught up on some work, and put some *almost* finishing touches to Kristin’s new blog designs. I can’t wait to present what I have to her. I really hope she likes it! And speaking of designs; I’ve gotten several emails in the last couple of weeks from bloggers requesting my work. I will be getting back to them before the end of the day tomorrow, so hopefully this will keep me steady for a bit. I’m also toying with the idea of offering some premium themes. Yes, those will have price tags but they’ll be 1 of a kind and those purchasing will be the only persons using them. I’ve been working on a few of these for awhile now but never really finished any of them. I still plan to keep doing free themes too, but I don’t think it’d hurt to do a few premium themes along and along either. If it weren’t for getting so many requests since the beginning of this year, I don’t know that I’d even consider it, but it’s just an idea.

Anyway. I’m going to finish watching Most Haunted. Why? I don’t know, I always have nightmares after I watch it, even though the show isn’t “scary.” Yeah, that makes no sense at all to me. Ha, ha.

I tell ya, if I stare at this computer any longer I’m going to need Lasik surgery for sure.

EDIT; I got a reply, and an apology. She has explained she hadn’t actually been paid for any designs to date, and was only starting to charge for work - none of which she says involved anything in part or in full, of mine. I’ve accepted her apology. Unless something arises in the future, that previous entry will remain private.

People, do yourself a favor. If you download any of the themes I’ve made available.. don’t turn around and alter the colors and sell them. No, no.

I have no problem with ANYONE wanting to alter the free themes I’ve made available. I’ve never, ever had a problem with that. I rarely ever even cause a stink if my credit gets removed, so long as the person using it isn’t claiming my work.

It’s seriously WRONG to take credit for someone else’s work. SERIOUSLY wrong. But not only to take credit for it.. but to then turn around and charge someone for a template you had little to do with.

What am I saying?

I found a blog tonight, using my “Love Bugs” theme. The only changes were the colors and a portion of the header. According to the “designers” (and I’ll use that lightly at this point) design site, she charges folks for templates (blogger and wordpress).

I will get to the bottom of this.. and if I’m not happy with the reply to the email I sent, I will push forward.

I don’t care if you change the colors.. I don’t care if you change the header.. I don’t care if you rearrange the theme entirely to make it more unique, and more “you.” I don’t mind those things at all, like I said..

It’s one thing to remove a credit, it’s a totally different thing to actually get paid for something I made.

With any luck, I’ll have my new laptop in a couple of weeks. The laptop I’ve picked out is set up for wireless internet. Good news for me because I plan on using it anywhere I can! Because of this though, we’re going to have to upgrade our current router to a wireless one. Like most everyone else, money is tight these days. We definitely try to stick to a budget, but occasionally we enjoy splurging for things we want. That being said, I was excited to see the ZyXEL P-330W wireless router that’s on sale in the weekly deals section over at Buy.com. This router will allow us to share our IP with multiple systems like we’re already doing, but this one will have Wi-Fi support unlike our current router. The list price alone isn’t even that bad, but I’m loving Buy.com’s regular price of $35.99, and even lower price of $19.99 after the mail in rebate. The icing on the cake? That would be the free budget shipping.

I like that this router is small in size too, because we’re pretty limited on space in all office areas (3 systems, digital camera equipment, telephones and a printer/scanner). Most of the tech specs are pretty Greek to me, but my husband knows more about them and thinks this is a really good deal. It doesn’t hurt that it has advanced WPA2 security standard either, which will help keep our data safe and ultimately secure. I can’t say that I’m really worried about security in our area at all, but it’s nice to have that little bit of peace of mind!

So much for catching up, huh?

Jo had a follow up appointment with his doctor earlier this week. They had him go in for more blood work and x-ray of his lower back. Since he got “sick” (not just from the pneumonia, but the cold that spawn that monster to begin with), he’s been having sharp pains in his lower back. Usually it occurs when he coughs. Some of you will probably recall that Jo was injured on the job last Summer and underwent extensive physiotherapy for nearly 2 months because of it. What you probably didn’t know is that he was never given an x-ray or anything for that injury, they just rushed him right into physiotherapy. I wasn’t sure about that at first because I questioned whether or not the injury was worse than they “assumed” it was. He could’ve really hurt himself a lot more than what he was already hurt, but I guess that’s what you get when it’s a “company doctor.” Anywho. So his new doctor requested the x-ray. We won’t have those results (blood work and the x-ray) for a few more days, but the doctor always scheduled a CT scan for sometime next month. This whole thing has just been one big roller coaster ride.

To top all of that off, I’ve still not gotten over this cold. I haven’t had much energy at all and I just feel awful, which explains why I haven’t updated. I did manage to get my arse out of bed today and get some things done though. I don’t feel nearly as bad, so hopefully all that catching up I promised earlier in the week (or was that last week?) will get done in the next couple of days.

I have so much to tend to this week, it’s not even funny. Aside from some design work I want to finish (first), I also wanted to finish up and release that free theme I mentioned in a previous entry. I plan to run a new contest in the coming days too, so I’ll need to work on that too. I have a few emails to respond to, so after the design work I’m doing is done, I’ll hop on those. We have some errands to run early tomorrow morning, along with a Wal-Mart run too. We have a few things to pick up and Jo mentioned he wanted to look at some exercise equipment so we can both start getting back in shape - perhaps we’ll price some treadmills or something?

So this is me checking in!

I only have a minute, but I wanted to put this out there..

I’m selling my Olympus E500, Zuiko 35mm macro lens, Zuiko 14-45mm lens, 1 GB memory card, camera bag, battery, battery charger, manual - all of the software that was included with the purchase. I still have the box too. It’s like one big gift basket, ha!

Why? Because I’m being allowed to upgrade, but the only way I am being allowed to do so is if I sell my current gear - the lenses will not work on a Canon, so I can’t use them. Selling it all just makes sense. This gear is just under 6 months old and I’m the ONLY owner of it all.

If you think you might be interested, send an email to me at helloreese @ gmail.com. Minus the spaces, of course.

As I’ve mentioned a few times over the last couple of months, I’ll soon be getting a new laptop. The one I really wanted had a neat tablet feature, which would be perfect for the illustrations I enjoy doing. The only problem with getting that particular laptop is that it only had a 12″ display. If it was only a bit larger, I would’ve gone with that one rather than the one I wound up picking out.

No worries though, it’s not the end of the world for me! I have a solution. Since I obviously want a larger display and the laptop doesn’t come in any other size, I’ll just buy regular tablet. Naturally I don’t want to spend a fortune doing so, so what better place to look for a good sale than Buy.com? In this weeks deals, they feature the Genius MousePen tablet, for a price I can definitely live with - $34.99, which features free budget shipping. It comes complete with the tablet (8″ by 6″ working area), and a cordless mouse and pen. This will make a great addition for me, because I do a lot of designing, which almost always features my own illustrations which were done with a regular mouse (hasn’t been easy). I’m not sure how I was able to pull off some of those illustrations, especially when I’ve had some trouble with my mouse locking up.

Having a tablet will definitely make it easier for me to draw the illustrations though, and hopefully it’ll motivate me to finally do that greeting card collection I’ve been talking about for the last year. I’ve already got a few ideas for some illustrations, so I really look forward to having a tablet. I wonder if I can create fonts with my own handwriting with it? That would be neat!

Seriously, we are.

Jo’s still fighting pneumonia, though I must say, he’s looking and sounding a lot better today. He hasn’t had to go back to the clinic/doctor yet but that’s not to say he’s “better” by any means. He’s still got a horrible cough, which really is taking away every ounce of his energy. He had a pretty bad coughing fit during American Idol last night (speaking of which, yay for David Cook!). He said he felt a really sharp pain shoot from the middle of his back, straight down into his lower back. That happened twice last night, but his coughing isn’t nearly as bad today so hopefully he won’t feel that anymore.

As for me, I woke up this morning with a toothache and since Monday, I’ve had some really bad pains in my left knee. I’m not sure what that’s all about. If it were my right knee, I’d say it’s arthritis (thanks to a knee injury and surgery). It felt similar, so I guess it could also be arthritis in that knee too. Joy. I’m not even 30 years old and I already feel like I’m falling apart! I can only imagine what’s to come in 10 or even 20 years. Fun times, I’m sure.

We’re supposed to run some errands tomorrow, so long as Jo’s feeling up to it. He’s put in for “Age of Conan” - a game he’s been wanting since he heard about it. I also want to look for some Kohler faucets, to spruce up the bathroom with. I’m also going to pick up a few things so I can get started on those handbags. I plan on making my first attempt this weekend. In fact, I’m going to set up my little work area tonight. I’ll probably do a few testers with some of Karen’s old fabrics, just to see how they will turn out. I don’t want to waste that much of the really nice fabrics I bought on the testers, you know?

I’m supposed to make homemade pizzas tonight. I have a feeling though, that some people aren’t going to like it. I’m making two; a) chicken, spinach and alfredo pizza and b) shrimp scampi, spinach and alfredo pizza. We’ll see how those turn out. I’m also thinking about making some more fudge tonight, with an altered recipe. The last batch I made was way too sweet, plus that particular kind of chocolate gave Jo really bad heartburn. I’m going to do half milk chocolate (morsels) and half white chocolate - swirled/marble style. Hopefully that’s easier on him.

I have quite a bit of catching up to do, again. I’m hoping to make a dent in some of that later on. I have that free theme ready, so that’ll probably be released tonight and I’m also going to put some finishing touches on the work I’m doing for Kristin’s blogs. After that, it’ll be time to catch up on work and emails. I want to get all of that completed before Saturday, so I can make some time to try those handbags I mentioned.

Before I close this out; is it just me, or is flickr down?

Sheesh.

First we find out that my Escape needs two center coils and the spark plugs replaced (estimated between $350-500). Within a week and a half of finding that out, the battery dies. I’m currently debating on whether or not I want to get rid of the thing now, or what. I’ve always heard that once you start having problems, you might as well get used to them. Frustrating, to say the least.

As you know, my husband and I have both been feeling under the weather. We managed to start feeling better during the weekend. Late weekend. Yesterday afternoon he took a turn for the worst. He just couldn’t manage to catch his breath, and the coughing started giving him chest pains. When he got up this morning (and pardon the TMI), he started vomiting every single time he coughed. With all of the other symptoms, I just knew he had pneumonia - it was just a feeling I had. Around lunchtime today, when he only got worse, he decided he’d finally give in and go see the doctor. He’s one of those people that waits until it’s “critical” before he will see a doctor. Anyway. We arrive shortly after noon today, and they whisked him right on back. The doctor took a few bits of information regarding his medical history (previous surgeries, illnesses and allergies) before doing any exams. After taking his blood pressure and checking his heart rate, he went on to check his lungs and breathing. He asked Jo to take a deep breath several times, never succeeding. They whisked him right out of the exam room and straight into another room where they provide oxygen. He was on oxygen for about 15 minutes (give or take a few minutes, I can’t quite remember right now). After he finished up with that, they had him go down for some blood work and an x-ray. Confirmed - he has pneumonia. The doctor sees him again, and decides rather than admit him, he’s going to prescribe some medication and see if that helps at all over the next 48 hours. He’s on 2 different puffers, Prednisone, Theo-Bronc (I think that’s what it’s called) and something else that started with an R, for acid reflux. One of the puffers was over $94!!

You’d think that the worst thing we found out today was that he has pneumonia, but oh no. We also found out that after 20 years, his asthma has come back. I feel absolutely awful for him. He’s been so miserable since yesterday. I know he’s upset to find out that after being free of that crap (asthma) for so long, it’s come back again.

He’s been taking his medication since we got home (2 doses so far, of each except for the Prednisone). His doctor told him if he didn’t notice a change in the next 48 hours, he wanted him to come back in. He also said if he got any worse to go into the emergency clinic. Regardless of all of that, he has to go back in 5 days (well, next Monday since they’re not open on the weekends).

The last couple of weeks have just been, well, the pits. I can only hope things start to look up at this point. I’m so exhausted though, so I’m going to call it an early night - if it isn’t stress, maybe I have too much progesterone. I can barely keep my eyes open and honestly, I’m surprised this entry turned out to be this long!

–

It’s hard to believe it’s already Monday, again. The colors in this photo have obviously been altered. I wasn’t too happen with the green in the original, so I decided to work with it a bit. By the way, it’s nice to see flowers blooming. I can finally move away from pine cones, not that they’re that bad or anything, they’re just not very Spring-like.

Speaking of Spring, it’s so nice out. It’s warm, breezy and the sun is actually out.

Tammy (mom’s roommate) had her biopsy on Wednesday. From what they could tell, it doesn’t appear to be the big “C” - thank goodness. They’re still waiting on the results from one of the masses, but we’re hoping that no news is good news. Tammy should hear back on that one tomorrow sometime, so hopefully she’s still in the clear.

On the weather; it’s absolutely miserable, unless you like sleeping a lot. It’s been raining for what seems like a week. We’re supposed to have sunshine tomorrow, but I won’t hold my breath on that one. It’s seriously rained every day, nearly all day, since last Thursday. I’m starting to think it’s never going to stop. Maybe the weatherman is right this time though, and it’ll skip on out of here for tomorrow. I hope so.

On the internet; I have a lot of recipes to share, so I’m going to try and work on that this week. I’ll have them all posted on my recipe blog before the weekend. I’m also trying to finish up some work for a fellow blogger, Kristin, and I know she’ll be happy about that! I’m also working on another free theme that I’m hoping to make available before the weekend. I still have emails to catch up on, so I need to weed through those and reply to those that require it. I’ve been a terrible slacker with the internet lately. I keep falling behind, in all areas, and say I’m going to catch up. Just when I think I’ve caught up, I realize I’ve barely reached the halfway point. Yikes.

It’s almost bedtime now though, so I think I’ll just finish up this entry, maybe even look at some handcrafted jewelry and then it’s off to bed.

Also, tomorrow is Macro Monday for those interested in participating - check out the link “Macro Monday” in the navigation area at the top of the blog.