I woke to the sound of snow plows rumbling
down my street! It was dark enough that the
flashing lights beamed through my blinds too!
Actually, truth be told…I like that sound.
Maybe because I work out of the home.

I’m planning some snow photos for some folks
for Christmas cards so this is cool.

Gary took off for South Dakota….aGAIN!.
So I’m in for some peace and quiet.
I have a ton going on over the next several
days. Tonight, my NACE Holiday gathering.
Tomorrow a MOFAS meeting, an engagement session
and I’m also on call for NILMDTS. Friday, a
snowy Christmas card session for Owen and Reese
and 3 cancer families checking in at the Hilton.
Then 2 days of R&R.

Gary managed to get the tree up before he left
but now it’s up to me to get the lights on
and place ornaments in places that Boo can’t
reach!

The tree skirt. A nostalgic Christmas artifact
that’s been in my family since 1981. A latch
hook that we all worked on. Every year I would
take it out and Katie would curl up on it right
away and stay there until i put it away.
Boo has decided that this will be his spot.

Boo and I were so wiped out from our
whirlwind trip to Albert Lea to see Jo
that we hit the hay last night around 9:00.
I woke up around 5 and Boo was sleeping
smack dab behind me, right up against me.
I think he was happy to be in his own bed.
He usually sleeps at the end of the bed so
this was extra special for me too.
He’s really becoming quite the snuggler.

The drive home was much quicker with no rain.
Boo slept almost the entire way on top of
Gary’s sweatshirt in the passenger footwell.
The gray, dreary sky, cruise control set,
Boo sleeping and the wine from last night
made me a sleepy driver but, nonetheless, I
stayed alert and made it home safe and sound.
I dropped off Boo and all my stuff that I
brought along (Jo gifted me with a lot of things
as well), grabbed my camera and got back into
traffic and headed to the Hilton. Owen was
coming back for a second Minnesota Miracle
weekend. He and his family had a scheduled
MM back in April but Owen was just not up for
it so that weekend was cut short. The foundation
decided that they needed another crack at it
so this was the weekend. This one I covered
solo. The family requested that because they
had already experienced a MM recently that it
was not necessary to re-gift them with all the
usual things like balloons, gifts in the room,
Underwater World passes, Nickelodeon Universe
passes, VISAs, cameras, etc…BUT…we just
wouldn’t have it any other way! So up to the
room I went with them to get my usual “secret
photos” and with hugs all around I was on my
way..another wonderful family being gifted
with a weekend to forget about cancer…or at
the very least, be distracted from it!

Back into the traffic…it’s so dark now at 5:30!
I followed the sea of red tail lights home.
No stopping, just get home, into my jammies and
sit with my Boo.

Here are some shots from Boo’s excellent adventure.

Wiper blades were a HUGE hit!

“…Excuse me officer, but I don’t recall
there ever being a law against taking photos
while driving.”

Jo’s wheel chair was also a HUGE hit!

I brought Jo a stocking for her to have
at our house ‘cuz she’ll be with us for
Chrtistmas.

Lizzy let Boo on the sofa, but just for a bit!

Boo decide to make himself at home.

And before you knew it, we were on our
way back to Eden Prairie.

Thanks for all the hospitality Jo!
Please thank Flora and Lizzy for us too!

Tonight I’m going with Ron and Cindy to
the Timberwolves game!

Gary comes home tomorrow.

Relieved? Oh yea!
Do we have answers as to what’s going on? No.
This is pretty frustrating, for everyone.
Not knowing the cause of Katie’s weight loss
is making us crazy. Gary and I elected to have
MVRS keep Katie in their ICU for a couple of
days and get her on some IV fluids & nutrition.
If she rallies, then we can move on to see if
this is neurological. Best guess is that this
is a form of pancreatitis. I’ll know more later
this morning, I’ll give them a call and see how
she did last night and then (and I remember it
all too well) visiting hours are from noon to 4
and again from 6 to 8. I remember visiting Hobie
on Christmas Eve, twice.

Boo, on the other hand, is doing great so we
got to rule out bad cat food, which was nice!

Tonight I’m going to visit all my PUG friends
at our local PUG meeting..I haven’t been in ages.
Looking forward to that. For those of you new
readers, PUG stands for “Pictage Users Group”
and they meet once a month all over the nation.
Pictage is an online partner for viewing,
buying and selling images. The photographer
uploads all of the images, clients and their
families get to view and purchase directly from
the site and Pictage does the rest. Nice.

Blog Action Day is Wednesday, October 15th.
This year’s topic is “Poverty”. I’m sure that
when they selected the topic, way back when,
they had no idea how much more poverty would
exist…here in America. Click on the Blog
Action icon to the right and get more information.

Thursday I get to meet Sylvia Weinstock. I’m so
excited. I love cake, I love to photograph
wedding cake…what could be better? I get to
meet her personally, do the photo op thing
and have a little private time too. I’ll be
sure to share images from that as well.

Oh, I also have a secret that I cannot reveal
until Wednesday. But I’m just BURSTING!
Oh, and mom? NOT pregnant! tee hee.

One last thing…I believe that today will be
the day that my new site will go live.
It’s not all FLASHY or anything..just fresh and new.
Tons of new photos. I hope you like it.

This day is going to be good.