Nesting

I hit (according to the many baby books laying around here) month 5 this week. I can hardly believe it!!!

Over the weekend I packed my hospital bag. Why not? Better to be prepared than not. I got most of the stuff for Christmas and PJ's were on clearance at the mall. So it's done.

Last night I cleaned and cleaned the house. Today, more of the same. We have tracked so much mud in that it is hard to keep up. Then my classes started. I thought, "What?! My break is over?! No fair!" and then "Agh! My class website isn't done! AND they loaded students in already? Agh!"

So I have been running full speed since about 4 pm Sunday, taking breaks to clean when my mactop battery needs a charge. No time to even look sideways at the camera. However, my photo challenge has some beautiful and inspiring participation. Check it out! (I'll post mine soon....)

Other thoughts that have caught me off guard today: it is warm outside, warm for January in Iowa. The snow is melting, there is a flood warning, and it rained. Thunderstorms and fog expected tonight. Not really all that surprising but what caught me was this- the smell. The earth and green things smell alive, like they are waking up. It reminds me of Christmas in Louisiana from my childhood. Muddy and slow, still cold, a damp cold that goes right to the core. Time for some gumbo ya ya. It will take me a few days to gather ingredients.

Back to nesting!

Flash Back

That's a pun. I'm going to write today about my long love affair with cameras and pictures.

When I was 12 or so I got my father's old Nikon. Where we lived there were no classes on how to use it and the teenage at the local 1 hour developer was absolutely no help. I would take the pictures and cross my fingers something good would come of it. Sometimes I'd get 1 good picture. I tried black and white film- same results. I longed for someone to show me how.

I dreamed of becoming a photographer for National Geographic. Then we moved to Iowa and the local high school had a college level photography program....that there was a waiting list for and I did not have a chance of getting into. No money either so no class. I took up painting instead, hoping to capture the frames of my imagination in that medium instead.

Fast forward to 2001: my first job out of college I was trained on a Nikon CoolPix digital. DIGITAL! Oh man. I could see the photos as I was taking them. No long wait to see if anything came out. Seriously a huge thing for me.....but a $1,000 camera. So when my job ended so did my access to that dream. I was crushed. (Not to mention that the job is still one I list as the sweetest job ever- driving around rural Iowa taking pictures of historic houses and writing up briefs about them.....talking to people about the value of their properties, grants and resources available to them......ah, yes.)

Lately I would click "camera used" on Flicker when the other mamas posted pictures and then I would drool over mega pixels and picture settings.........and then I would continue on with my camera envy.

So for Christmas of this year, Dearest Husband purchased me my dream camera. What a guy! It was disappointing that it stopped working, but in reality that has just made me more grateful when the replacement came. Now I am going to learn how to use it.

But wait, there's more! Nikon has a monthly challenge for a photo on a theme. I'm going to do the same. No prizes, but fun. So I will post a theme, you post your picture and then a message on my post linking to your post. Make sense? Ah, and they will all be home and family and learning related. Feel free to post a challenge suggestion too!

This week's challenge? Warmth. (I know vague, but simple!)

Twinkle Lights

Twinkle lights. That's how it started, this migraine. My eyes swam with little blinking lights and then suddenly every sound was like a freight train and when I closed my eyes it was like watching a lava lamp. It took me down hard. I haven't had a migraine for years, tension headaches but not full on migraines.

I feel better now, mostly. Hungry. Tired. Blank.

On a happy note: my camera is back (well, the replacement they sent)! I can't wait to get it out and reprogram the settings. ;)

Iowa Caucuseseseseseses

They are over. Now I can drive downtown without fear of running over a politician or a future president or a CNN crew. It was getting pretty ridiculous.

I once rode my bike (age 14) into a neighbor's Cadillac limo- that neighbor was the Secretary of State of Illinois at the time and joked that I would never get a driver's license in the state of Illinois- which I never did (we moved to Iowa). Then he got elected governor of Illinois AND then was convicted of corruption. Hello George Ryan. My bike was totaled and I have a huge scar on my knee. Never mind his car was parked.

Anyway, I developed an irrational fear that I would run over a future president with all of CNN watching. I am glad they are gone, gone, gone. And they were, this morning on the first planes out of here.

Fine, it is very sad but that sums up my feeling this time around. When I studied American political history, recent (as in 1940-present) elections were thoroughly dissected and I lost my faith in the whole caucus/primary 2 party dominated system. Though the results last night were interesting, the news stations declared a winner and the politicians were giving victory speeches before all the precincts had reported.

Edited to add: As an additional observation: more Iowans want Rudy Giuliani (4,059), who came in 6th for the R's, for president over Barack Obama (940) who came in 1st for the D's. Maybe its just that more Republicans caucus?

Edited to add more: I'm an idiot. Apparently D's list delegates and R's actually count votes. Doh.