delivery.

I hate snail mail. Perhaps it is due to my upbringing in this digital generation. No instant gratification involved with the United States Postal Service, that's for sure. Or, maybe it's just due to the fact that, let's be honest, patience isn't exactly my greatest attribute.

I'd been waiting for my camera for 7 days. Everyday I'd get so excited when I got home, rush to check by the front door, only to be disappointed. No package. Deflation.

USPS, why did you have to go from Kentucky to Minnesota to Southaven, MS, then back to Minnesota? You were so close! The government is irritating in so many ways. That could be a blog post. "100+ ways the government annoys me." (Side note: the mailmen and women do not annoy me. They're friendly people.)

Finally, yesterday, there was indeed a package by the door. DELIVERY. It felt like Christmas. Wahoo!! I'm so excited. I might have hugged the mailman if I had seen him. Fortunately for him, I did not.

I've been reading and experimenting. If you have any photography tips, holler!

So, let me catch you up on my life... with new pictures!

First of all, there is a lizard that lives in and around my Gerbera daisy. We named him Clarence after we watched the movie Airplane. "Roger, Roger. We have clearance, Clarence. What's our vector, Victor?" You should only watch that movie if you've had 2 or more martinis. Otherwise, you won't make it. So here's Clarence:

He's pretty cool. Grayce discovered him, and she sits by the window that's in front of this table and stares at him. She punches the window and whines. It's pretty funny.

Clarence:

Grayce wanting to eat Clarence:

I really, really hope that she doesn't eat Clarence. Sick.

Last night, a few girls came over and ate dinner. I made chicken salad. Yummmm. I took a picture of it, but I didn't take any the rest of the night. I know, I know... brand new camera and I didn't take any pictures! It needed to charge completely, and we were so busy catching up and laughing at Jessie and Lyssa's stories, I just forgot. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was good for my soul. And my abs.

And then I took a picture of my apples just because 1) I liked the colors and 2) I have a new camera.

Today, I took these pictures of Grayce and Oscar Bob. This little scenario happens at least 3 times a day. If you know Oscar Bob, you know he is obsessed with his tennis ball. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Well, Grayce's favorite thing to do is take it away from him, and stare at him while he whines. She's such a bully.

Oscar's just playing. Minding his own business.

Grayce steals his ball and gloats. She doesn't even want it. She just keeps it where he can't get it.

Oscar cries. Please notice how he is sitting on the pillow.

Poor buddy. He's hard to take pictures of because he's always moving. They always end up at least a little blurry. This little man does not sit still. Eva.

Look at those claws. Talons. 

Lastly, this is one of my favorite pictures of Grayce. I just love that sad face. I took this with my old camera, and I was just messing around with effects. It's not a very good quality picture because it was dark, but I like how it turned out.

Gotta go. Grayce is in a frenzy and I think she's about to claw through the window to get to Clarence.

my BIG purchase

My sister is impulsive. She buys purses like she's Paris Hilton. She is a t-shirt-and-Nike-shorts kind of girl, but somehow she has a much more impressive wardrobe than I do... which is pretty unfortunate, considering she just moved out. Bye-bye, cute clothes, earrings, and purses that I've been using for the past 2 years... Sad day. Sigh.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that I am not impulsive by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a saver. She's a spender. I like to look at my savings account and see a good chunk of change in it. It makes me feel good about life. I like knowing that I can buy something if I want to. I wonder if Katie even has a savings account?

She's getting annoyed reading this. Katie, come back. I miss you... (and your clothes.)


So last night I did a very difficult thing for me. I pretty much depleted my savings account. It was so hard. I hesitated. Twice. At least. But now that I'm (almost) over my pretty-much-nonexistent-savings-account, I'm getting pretty pumped about my prize.

I bought a Canon Rebel T1i Digital SLR camera. WAHOO!! I'm pretty dadgum excited about it. I ordered it, so I won't get it for a few more days, but ohhh buddy I'm ready to take some pictures. I've been reading about apertures, shutter speeds, and ISO speeds. That makes me feel cool. Not that I have any idea what I'm doing. I mean, I'm qualified to hold a camera. That's about it. I'm excited to learn though! Matt even bought me a photography magazine... and a milkshake that gave me a stomachache, but that's another story.

So, there ya go, Mama. I posted a new blog for ya.

And if anyone was considering stealing my identity, don't bother. I ain't got nothin' in the bank.

Tuesday update.

I started my Psychiatry rotation yesterday. Looks like I have six weeks of pretty good quality entertainment ahead of me. That's terrible to say... but let's be honest... it's true. I mean, apparently I just missed Jesus in the ER yesterday. Dadgummit.

(Also, just so you know, Condoleezza Rice knows the truth.)

In other news, just in case you weren't aware, the heat index reached 120 in Jackson today. Humidity above 80%. ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. I don't know what the actual temperature was, but who cares? What difference does it make if it felt like 120!!! (You know, I don't really get that whole "heat index" thing. Maybe this is the dumbest statement I've ever made, but I mean, if it feels like 120 degrees, how is that not the temperature? What's the point of an actual temperature if that's not what it feels like? I mean, is it just humans? Was it a mere 105 degrees for Oscar Bob today? Did my plant enjoy the actual temperature or did it "feel like" 120 to my gerbera daisy? See what I mean? Dumb. If it feels like 120, it is 120 as far as I'm concerned.) This is a joke. I can't live in this oppressive sauna much longer. Where am I? Death Valley? Ethiopia? Hell?? I need popsicles.

It's SHARK WEEK!!!!

One word of advice: if you or your loved one is ever unfortunate enough to have to be in the ICU, do not, under any circumstances, feel as if it is okay to light up a cigarette inside the ICU. Good grief. I mean, I didn't think people were that stupid, but as Rhonda would say, that's what I get for thinkin'. No cigs in the ICU. Thanks.

Somebody remind me to give Oscar Bob his heartworm pill tomorrow. Gracias.

Happy Tuesday.

spray paint, escape routes, and cows

I really need to stop watching HGTV. It's making me feel like my home decor is crappy, and I've been on a home improvement rampage. I rearranged the furniture, bought a flower pot, cleaned out and reorganized the guest room and closet (tubs complete with labels... my mother wouldn't believe it.), refinished a chest of drawers (well, in the process.. we'll see how it turns out..), and bought a new bedspread (which I've needed since Grayce peed and vomited on the one I had a year and a half ago. I've been using random, unmatching blankets... My room looked like a boy's college dorm room.)

So here is my semi-finished table project. I spray-painted his table that was brown and rusty. Mama, are you proud? My mother thinks you can spray paint absolutely anything. She loves to spray paint. That's her answer to everything.. "We could spray paint it!" Seriously. Everything.

Well, it's not quite done. Who chooses the hottest week of the summer to do outside projects? Genius. It needs another coat, but until Wal-Mart re-supplies their Ivy Leaf spray paint inventory and/or the temperature drops below 100 degrees, it's on hold. I like it. I have been looking for cushions for the chairs, but you would not believe how difficult it is to find round outdoor cushions! I mean nowhere. So anyway, semi-finished. Good enough for now.

On an entirely different note, one of our locks is broken. I don't know what happened, but when I tried to unlock the deadbolt today, it resulted in this:

 
Awesome. During this process, the lock was not unlocked. So our back door is deadbolted, and I don't have a key to open it. Now, that would be fine, except that there are 3 dogs in my house right now. They needed to pee. It was 110 degrees outside. I had been awake since 5am on this lovely Saturday morning. I was not in the mood to walk 3 dogs in the suffocating heat. So I let them out the window... duh. It turned into quite the escapade. Oscar thought it was the neatest thing ever. He jumped in and out of the window about 6 times. Just back and forth. Then he got his tennis ball from the yard, came back, and dropped it inside the window for me to throw. When I finally got him back in, every time I tried to shut the window, he tried to jump back out. Ridiculous dog. Polo just went out the window as if he does that everyday. The idea scared the crap out of Grayce at first. She wouldn't go through it. I had to push her out. She's a big dog, by the way. She just turned and looked at me from outside as if I'd lost my mind. The funniest thing was about an hour later, Grayce went over to the window and pawed at it (instead of the back door). Haha.. smart dog. (By the way, I went out the window too. My flower needed watering!)

Ok, so lastly, I have this fascination with these cows. [Stop laughing.] Every day on my way to and from UMC, I pass these cows. There are tons of them, and there are lots of little baby cows. Um, calves, I guess... Anyway, during the summer, they all stand in the pond. Just stand there. I like to watch them. I don't know why. It's not like I've never seen cows before. So for a while I've wanted to take pictures of them. They're in this field with a silo-looking thing, a pond, and an old white farmhouse in the background. I mean it just looks like it should be photographed. So the other day, I decided to take a picture. I didn't even get the farmhouse. There was too much traffic on the road, so I'll have to get some better ones later. I know right now you're thinking that I've lost my mind. Who cares about cows on the side of the highway? Maybe I should start sleeping more. Yes, definitely should get more sleep...

Ok... speaking of sleep... Buenas noches, amigas.