I'm alive

Sorry, y'all. I've been a little MIA lately but I have a really good excuse. I've been spending the last month or so setting up a proper blog for my photography and actually having a few portrait shoots to actually post on said blog. But that's no excuse, I haven't given you an update on anything lately, and for that I'm truly sorry. Other than setting up the blog, we have been attempting to prepare for the Christmas craziness this year. We don't have any house lights, no Christmas tree, no decorations inside the house. It's kind of sad, but the reality is that we 1) Cannot get to all the decorations as they are still packed in boxes in the garage, which I meant to clean out this weekend but it will be a project for next weekend instead, and 2) we are not at this house much during the Christmas holiday. It didn't make sense to decorate and then leave (all the while upping our PG&E bill with Christmas lights) for 2 weeks, regardless of Christmas cheer. I'm hoping in the next few years we'll get the chance to decorate and celebrate here in our home that we have created together, but this year will be spent with family, 4 Christmas obligations on Christmas Day alone, which is quite a lot. We want to see everyone and celebrate with all of our family, but the Christmas marathon is a dream for the young, not the 20-somethings that are desperate for a few days of peace and quiet.

But I digress.

I did have a few updates for y'all though. I'd like to give them to you now:

1. The possibility of snow. This a recent thing that has happened, but can you see the forecast for tomorrow? SNOW?! In STOCKTON?! Uhhhhh. Last time I checked, I lived in the Central Valley. Yikes! I'm totally bringing my camera to work tomorrow and you bet your butt I'll be jumping outside every 20 seconds to see if it's snowing yet. If it does snow, I promise to take pictures and post them.

2. My blog: www.ondeckphotography.net. Visit it. Comment on it. Be kind to the look and feel right now, it's pretty set to go, but I'm still working on how I'd like the photos to actually appear on the blog, so that look will change a bit in the next few days. But please visit and let me know what you think. I plan to keep up both blogs, but the other one will feature more of my photography as well as some of my personal anectdotes. This blog will serve more as a random update site, though I promise to spend more time on it in the upcoming months.

3. The water heater in our house has been leaking. Not a lot, and it only happens after using up all the hot water by doing dishes. But still, they're not supposed to leak and with our home warranty, the repair or replacement of the whole unit is free with the $55 service charge. The plumber finally came by the house today and said it's definitely ready to be replaced, he'll call later with a time of when he can come to do it, but I'm so excited that it's covered by the warranty and we won't be out $800 right before the holidays. So if you're buying a home, BUY THE WARRANTY. Our sellers paid for the first year but we have a few other appliances that qualify if they break, so we will definitely extend it for another year, probably until the AC dies. So I'm very happy about all this :-)

4. I'm almost done with Christmas shopping. Almost. There are a few other items left that I will get online or as I have time, thankfully the bulk of the shopping is done. All without me having to go to the mall which is basically my version of Heaven.

I think that's about it for me! How are you doing? :-)