Several years ago our cat Murphy developed an ear infection. We tried everything to clear it up, but nothing worked. The vet was at a loss about it, and we were told that Murphy might not be with us much longer.

He has normally been in general good spirits and spunky, despite walking around with his head turned slightly to the side - a result of the ear infection.

Yesterday, Jason said that Murphy had a lump on his neck (a bit below and behind his ear). Or as he called it all day long, a tumor. I just assumed it was an abcess of some form, and that it would just go away.

Today it is oozing nasty brown stuff that smells so nasty I almost lost it as I cleaned it off. I cleaned it off his neck, then touched his neck again and more oozed out. Ewwwww… His fur is too thick for me to really see what is going on, and he doesn’t like me messing with it. Plus it was making me queasy just cleaning it on the surface. We now have a vet appointment for 5pm.

I’m really scared about what they are going to tell us. Murphy is limp and he looks thin and weak, compared to his normal self. *sigh*

Update: We just got back from the vet. It is an abcess that has burst. Most likely, he and Mona got in a scuffle at some point in time and he got a scratch and this was the end result. He is spending the night at the vet’s office, and is scheduled to be put under anesthesia in the morning so that they can cut the fur in the area and clean out the wound.

Even better if you view her large. Photograph taken at an antique store off of 19th St. in the Houston Heights.

We had a Flickr meetup the other day, and when we were out on our photo hunt we found an antique shop on a side street. The shop owner led me to the antique dolls to take their photograph. I had already spotted them, and was glad he was ok with me taking pictures.

I started snapping photos. I took pictures from many different angles. I moved this doll off the shelf - carefully - as her legs were messing up the background in another shot.

It wasn’t until I pulled her down that I spotted the SIX HUNDRED DOLLAR price tag. $600. I might have gasped out loud.

Turns out it is a vintage Madame Alexander doll from the 1940s. Or that is what he said. Either way, $600 is a crazy, crazy price for a doll.

Guess what this Saturday is?!? Time again for the Yale Street Market! Elaine and I will be there from 10-6 with our brand new EZ-Up tent selling prints of our photographs. Just think, you could have a Christine original hanging on your wall!

Want an idea of what sort of prints we offer? Want to purchase some for yourself but you don’t live in Houston? That is ok - you can always visit Fresh Photography and we can hook you up!

The sandwich photo from Saturday was snapped right down the street from the market, so you could visit them and visit us all at the same time!

The Assignment:Houston theme for this month on Flickr is Good Eats. The goal was to take photos of restaurants or the food they serve. As much as I have wanted to explore food photography, I have only really tried it once and I didn’t do very well at it.

Today, taking photographs of Mike’s lunch was a different story. I have to admit it - I adore this photograph. I could learn to really, really enjoy taking pictures of food. Add it to my growing list of things I want to do.

For those that might wonder, the details:
Location: Cricket Caffe & Creamery in the Heights on 19th Street
Food: Hot Tomato Caprese Sandwich, with tomato, mozzarella, mustard vinaigrette, and fresh herbs on lemon-thyme bread
Report: He said the sandwich was pretty good - once he finally got to eat it, after I took 10-15 photos of it.

Cricket

Originally uploaded by Christine (bpc).

I get having faith. Especially when you live in a neighborhood that has problems with gangs. You might need something to cling to for belief. But seeing a vision of Mary in a pizza pan? Hundreds of people coming to pray to a pizza pan? People driving here from Corpus Christi or Austin to see it?

Come on people. That is just a bit over the top.

I wonder if Mac will still get on the plane on Sunday after seeing this news. Or maybe she will want to go and visit the pizza pan?

Anyone want to place bets on how long it takes for GoldenPalace to make offers to buy this? They can put it alongside the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich after all.

I edited this photograph yesterday, and while not completely thrilled with it, I was pretty happy. I still use my Scott Kelby Photoshop for Photographers book a lot for help when editing photos, and while I’m getting better - I need more help sometimes.

Today, I saw a photo that another user on Flickr had edited using Picnik. It is a new online photo editor, and it has amazing magic powers. Once I made my edits, I finally had the photo as I “saw” it the day I photographed it! Give it a whirl - it is definitely fun!

“Never let life’s hardships disturb you…no one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages.” -– Nichiren Daishonin

Saturday - in Houston? Take pictures? Join us for the Flickr meetup! Details on the Assignment:Houston group page, but you don’t have to be a member of the group to join us. Just head on out!

Sunday - In case you haven’t heard, Mac of PeskyApostrophe will be visiting Houston! And what do we do when bloggers visit Houston? We have a happy hour! So come on out and join us on Sunday, February 25th from 7pm - ??? at Onion Creek! Drinks, food, good times! What more could you possibly ask for?

Oh, and if you don’t know Mac … well, you SHOULD know her. She is a blogger, a photographer, a knitter, a spinner, and just an all around awesome person. Plus it has been far too since we have had a blogger happy hour. So come on out and join us!

After all sorts of drama with the podcast itself - for some reason, my mic has decided to crap out and I sounded like I recorded it in a tin can - the 14 episode of the PointySticks Podcast is now LIVE! *cheers from everyone in my house!* Mike even participates in this episode! Be sure to check it out!

I just read my previous post over again and realized I left out the primer saga. Oops! So I’ve added it in. Just want to share the lesson I learned!

Finally! Kitchen photos! (Click any small photos for larger versions.) There are even more photos over on Flickr, but these are the highlights. First we will start with the before shots:

I always hated that the back wall was split into two tones. I had considered adding trim to make a dividing line, but eventually decided (after consulting anyone that would stop and listen) that it should be all one color. Then we had to pick a color. Oh, what fun.

We ended up trying only one shade of green before we realized it was just sort of “blah” in the room. Then we tried 5 shades of red. We were going to go with Borscht from Sherwin Williams, second from the right in the above shot, but I was concerned that the hint of purple came through just a bit too much. Purple is opposite of orange on the color wheel, and it would make the cabinets and the floor look much more orange than it should.

We had a whole primer incident on Friday, along with a last minute paint color change. Originally, I bought Sherwin Williams 200 primer tinted to P5. The painter needed another can, so I went to pick it up. I didn’t write down what primer I needed because I had no idea that there were so many primers at their store. (I was tired and not firing on all cylinders. Oops.) So I called Mike and got the number, and the employee pulled a can to tint it for me. He handed it to me and I paid for it. Then I was looking at some samples again because something about the Borscht bothered me, and I told another employee (a female) about my concerns. She told me that Theatre Red was the same intensity and a very similar color, just with less purple. I was tired of painting swatches, and at that point just over it all. I bought three cans of the paint without ever seeing it on the wall.

I know, exactly what I think you should never do when selecting a paint color. Fortunately, it all worked out. I promised Mike that if it didn’t, I would repaint it myself!

However, I should have double checked the primer the guy sold me when I was still in the store. I had asked for the 200 primer, and he picked up the 400 can instead. There is enough of a difference in the formula that when the painter put it up on the walls in some places that he had to touch up, we had darker primer spots on slightly lighter primer. Splotchy places, all over the room. Of course, I discovered this about 6:12 pm on Friday, just minutes after they closed. Saturday morning I called and spoke to the manager on duty and told him my situation. I asked him if we should primer over it again or not, and he said that he would. It should be all one color so that we didn’t risk having weird looking walls when it was all done. He replaced the “wrong” primer for free, and then I had to break it to the painter that he was going to have to roll those walls all over again. Fortunately, that took him all of 30 minutes or so, and the primer is fast drying, so we were able to move on pretty fast.

We also changed out the light fixture, and I am so glad we made that call. I don’t like the fluorescent lightbox, and Mike does. We like/dislike it for the same reasons - it is really, really bright. I suggested that if we changed out the other light, it would make the lightbox more tolerable for me since the new fixture is bright enough I don’t need to turn on the fluorescent lights if I don’t want to. It was a good idea and it looks great now that it is done. To make it even better, we put in a dimmer switch, so now we can make it ambient lighting or task lighting, depending on our mood.

Someday, we want to get rid of the breakfast table altogether - we have a huge island in the kitchen that seats 4 - and convert that area to a small coffee house like seating area. I’m keeping an eye out for inexpensive chairs and a coffee table that would do the trick. We already have a small iron table from Ikea that I bought last summer for the bedroom that we ended up not using that would be perfect. That way, Jason & I would have somewhere comfy to sit while Mike cooks and we can all be together! Plus we think it would be fun for when we entertain.

We are really happy with how it all came out, and it is amazing just how much it changes the mood in there. Half of the kitchen is still covered in dust and we’re not done moving things around yet, but as soon as we are I will post full kitchen shots later this week!

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. — Rumi

This sums up where I am in my life right now in so many ways when it comes to photography. I had to make a note of it so I could find it again later when I need it for further inspiration.

I keep forgetting to post this link, but the videos there are really great! (There is also a 3D designer feature offered, but I haven’t tried it out yet.)

HGTV Kitchen Design