Last night I attended the celebration of ten years of Prime Design Solutions! I so wish I had artistic talent and the patience to complete some of the works that were on display. Their whole staff is so incredibly talented in varied ways. To the whole team congrats! May your forthcoming years be blessed with even more success.

Another nice evening last night, so I hustled to the cemetery to take more photos. Another quick stop there and I'll have two whole sections to process over the winter months. Between that, a stop to pick up water, cranking out a free calendar from shutterfly, and working out my evening was pretty much consumed. More "plans" that I thought were firm had a wrench thrown in them last night, which kept my brain going until 1am last night. I only have 20 things still on my to do list for tonight and tomorrow. This should be interesting. If I could just multitask while working out it would help, but most of the list requires me to actively do other things.

On positive news - Rex and I booked tickets to see Alton Brown! I've been a fan girl for roughly 15 years or so, so it's about time. Of course, it isn't til spring. Go away winter.

While nothing really directly smacked me around yesterday, it felt like a bad day. There was hearing about a former coworker's son being injured pretty severely in an ATV accident, a woman in our church who everyone knew who passed quite unexpectedly, and people backing out of an upcoming event. I just felt overwhelmed.

The weather was nice yesterday, so I hustled my butt outside after getting home to cross off one big pre-winter to do still on my list. The front lawn got a quick last mow, the plants all cut back, the weeds and wild flowers pulled, and the tomato plants that were outside have been pulled and dumped. That helped me feel a little better.

I also convinced Beff to go for a later than usual walk so I still got my exercise time in, but we got to talk on the bevy of topics swirling in her head with all of the planning. She seems to be leaps and bounds ahead of where I'd be on decisions in such a short period of time. Ok, I won't call them decisions, but leanings.

Today was the first scrape of the windshield for the year. It's not as early as a few years ago, but before when we needed to deal with it last year. Of course, it snowed, but didn't lay on Saturday and Sunday too, so no surprise. I am still feeling quite whiney about it all. Please let this be a calm and tolerable winter.

The side mirrors did make a popping noise as I entered the Sorento. I am worried about how the retractable mirrors will survive the winter.

So the big stuff did go down for my loved one and I didn't have to fight myself to have all of the happiness in the world.  I love my Beff dearly, and I'm happy to tell the world she is a betrothed woman now.  I am happy to have been included in the secret and the distraction leading up to the main event.

My Favorite Egg came in this weekend since it will be a while since our weekends mesh again (and because I was extra sad last weekend to say goodbye).  Not that I wasn't extra sad again today, but you know what I mean.  We did a little shopping on Saturday, where I picked up a pretty dress at a great price and two pairs of black dress shoes.  Heaven knows when I find a comfortable pair of black ones they get worn into oblivion.

I tried to be extra nice to the girls on Saturday and treated them with a big bone.  They've had them before and maybe had a bit of loose bowels from all of the marrow but nothing more.  Well, this time it ended up really upsetting Danika's stomach.  She was up a couple of times last night vomiting and has been a bit out of it today (laying around and you can tell from her face that she isn't feeling 100%).  She hasn't vomited again today (unless she did so while outside).  I made her some rice and moistened her food earlier, but she wasn't interested.  She did poop overnight, so things are still moving, but I will continue to keep an eye.  Hopefully she is feeling completely better by morning.

Dear smokers, I hate you. Yes, I know hate is a strong word, but I do. I smell it... it burns my nostrils... it gives me migraines... it is poison. If I walked past you pausing long enough to shove my ass in your face and fart, I bet you'd be pissed - and that won't even hurt you. Do you get it?

I'm tired of smelling the cigarette hanging out the window of the car in front of me. What makes you think I'll be okay with needing to walk through the cancer cloud to get back into my building after lunch? I have watched it give two people (my parents) I loved very much terrible terrible problems. I hate it. I hate you for trying to force it upon me.

It's time to talk about another news article that tickled my thoughts.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/amazon-reaches-deal-with-deaf-rights-group-to-caption-all-video/

Lawsuits to force schools providing FREE online classes to caption the content? We all know I have someone I absolutely adore who relies completely on captioning on TV shows. It breaks my heart when we throw in a DVD and there isn't captioning, meaning it's a waste to even watch the movie. It bothers me off when we're watching TV with captioning and the caption text paraphrases what is said, rather than staying true to what is in the movie or show (it just plain pisses me off when it looks like a monkey was just mashing on the keyboard and there are no discernible words in the caption "text"). It is a handicap and a need that requires extra provisions.

HOWEVER... FREE materials? How can you force free content providers to invest extra time and money to meet your (everyone's) standards? On one hand I want the content captions, but I realize that the costs may be prohibitive, resulting in there being no content provided at all. But what's next (and yes I am purposely playing devil's advocate here)? Does the professor have to make sure they're wearing clothing that doesn't give color blind students an issue? Does anything written on a board in the video need to be described in embedded data for a screen reader to read to blind students? Should the class be less than 20 minutes, because anything more than that exceeds the time a student with ADHD can sit still and stay focused? Only seems "fair", right?

We cannot make everything accessible to everyone - nor does it make sense to force providers (particularly of free content) to take steps beyond what they're offering up. When it comes to paid content, allow the free market to provide the push. What if a baker only wanted to bake wedding cakes for a straight couple? But we all know the answer there - they get sued into oblivion. No, no - NO! Again, allow the market to do what it will. Personally, I think it's a dumb move to deny anyone service who has the green to pay for it. This is why Chick-fil-a has it right. Have your opinion, stand firm in your beliefs, feel free to share it, but be willing to lose business if you do - however, do not DENY service. I've witnessed a lesbian couple in a Chick-fil-a, apparently they can't give up their #1 w/ mayo and sweet tea either.

Now you will devil's advocate back at me and say, what if a FREE content provider wanted to offer classes, but only to white men. It's their content, shouldn't they be allowed? I'd begrudgingly say - yes. Can I join the boy scouts, or can that guy over there go to an all women's college? Frighteningly, there are so many lawsuits now that say yes to the previous two items, which is ridiculous.

Our sue happy world to try and make everything even for everyone is destined to fail because all it does it reduce the options and possibilities because of fear of said lawsuits.

I'm always a bit down for a couple of days after a visit. I'll blame it all this go round on a host of other circumstances though - pending closing on Mom's, upcoming big announcements for other people I care about for which I am happy but a bit pensive internally, and the holidays looming large.

What it all comes down to is that I am often a very uncertain of myself type of person. I have baggage (happy anti-versary to me by the way) that sometimes weighs me down and makes me believe less of myself. It's hard to shake despite the passage of time, especially when circumstance tends to lend to your misled beliefs.

It isn't something easily talked about with someone you love because, frankly, all it would do is put needless pressure on things. When you need to ask someone to give you a status check all you're doing is asking them to tell you what you want to hear, and frankly that doesn't help anything - especially if some of your baggage is knowing that people will lie to your face about the deepest of emotions. In this case, how do you give open and honest?

My drive home on Thursday was smooth and easy thanks to nice weather and a fresh smelling rental car.  I realized quickly after we got out at 2pm that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to get home, dump the rental, swap out my clothes, and head to my Favorite Egg's place a day early.  It bought me an extra evening with him, the ability to have dinner done when he got home from work on Friday, and away from the house on an evening where the dogs wouldn't have been here - making it kind of creepy.

I only had a little time to cover to make my week on Friday, which I did from his place in the morning, then I headed to the local outlets for a little shopping.  That's when the rain came in abundance, making me even happier I wasn't making the long drive that day.  I did find a couple of items for myself, and a few items to add to the Christmas shopping coffers.

Saturday we took a day trip to Blackwater Falls in West Virginia.  We were only a few days shy of the peak change of leaves and it was quite beautiful there.  We stopped at local shops as we arrived to town and did a wine tasting, which resulted in the procurement of quite a few bottles.  From there we visited several viewing stops, walked a bit of a trail, and had some dinner at the lodge before heading back 'home'.

I'll admit, I'm surprised, but a quick email back to the office and I was able to quickly and easily change out the rental car over lunch yesterday.  It's so much nicer to run for grub now and my anxiety over the return drive has melted away.

I'm pretty much out of places that interest me for a meal around here, so I'm ready to go home.  *sigh* how wrong is that.  On a related note, I did go work out for a while both last evening and tonight.  Around 4am today I woke to a completely seized up calf.  Must get back in gear on the regular.

I've made a couple of Amazon purchases to really get the Christmas shopping into progress.  The one big gift idea I am excited to give this year also got under way, but yes, it's a secret, so no one gets more information than that.  Christmas will be here way too soon after all.

I traveled for work on Sunday and ended up with a rental car that stunk of cigarette smoke. 3 1/2 hours of a drive later I could feel the headache blooming. By bed it was what I'd classify as a migraine. I was in and out of a light sleep until around 3:30 in the morning when I couldn't take it anymore and went to the hotel lobby to buy something, anything, to try and take the edge off of the headache. Fortunately ibuprofen knocked it back to manageable and I was able to fall asleep soundly for a few hours. Today my head remains a bit wonky, my neck slightly stiff, and my head feels incredibly heavy.

Please tell me how and why people still smoke? I understand older people who have smoked their whole lives. You know, the ones that got started when it was not understood a). how incredibly unhealthy it was and b). how incredibly addictive it is. But seriously, if you're 35 or younger and you smoke, you're a complete retard and deserve the butt whooping I'd love to put on whomever trashed that vehicle.

Today my sister and I took what is very likely our very last trip down to Mom's place.  I can't help but feel like I'm forgetting things, and have the burning need to go back and recheck every drawer and shelf.

We also took the very last apple pie with us to Aunt Linda and Uncle Ronnie's.

Now I just need to tame my brain.

Here it is, October and the 40 degree weather is slated to start in the next couple of days.  Hence, I had to do something with the tomato and pepper plants. The ones on the back porch that were at work for the longest while are just getting tomatoes.  So they, and the pepper plants, are now safely in the house.  This means that the front window has the curtains fully parted in an attempt to get enough light in to keep them going and my kitchen table has two big ol' pepper plants taking up space.

The ones that have been on the front porch all summer are still producing, albeit at a slower pace.  I'd really rather see them ripen on the vine.  I haven't brought them in because I simply do not have enough space much less windows.  I am guessing I will need to pull the tomatoes and set them out to ripen (somewhere).  I need to weed/gather up more plants outside.

Why aren't our summers long enough to get our full harvest?

I spent way too much time today fighting with SharePoint.  If I have permissions to ADD the column, why would I not have permission to DELETE the column?  I curse you Microsoft.