PUTTING IT TO THE TEST

I haven't had much time to try out a lot yet with the new camera, but I've tested out a few things and I'm amazed.



The zoom on this baby is 15X instead of the old 3X and it's fabulous. Also, night mode picks up much more light when it's dark out.





And the macro on this is much better too, I can get much closer "closeups".



Today I bought a camera bag, extra lithium battery and extra memory card. I'm going to have fun slowly learning things with this and getting to know the settings.


On a crappy note, tonight is my last night before I head back to work, and with 11 days off you'd think I'd have been happily catching up on sleep. Not so. For the last week and a half I haven't been able to fall asleep before 5, 6 or 7 a.m. and I'm just exhausted.

Hubby's laser throat surgery has really helped the snoring a lot. But the other reason he keeps me awake is his tossing and turning. He can't help it, but still it's hard for me to sleep.

SO..........

We have a kingsize bed, but the mattress is "split". (not just the box spring) Hubby's side is harder and mine is softer. It looks like this (I've drawn a line down the mattress)



What we've decided to do is separate the beds about a hand's breadth, just enough to be able to make the beds up easily with twin size sheets (extra long) instead of using kingsize bedding that we share. This way when he tosses around I won't feel a thing. And presumably I'll sleep better!!

As it's fairly cramped in there already, we'll have to move the extra dresser out so I've room to move my bed away from his about 6 inches or so. What I've had to do then is shop for new bedding, which sister Pammie and I did today while out on our grocery run. We found some really nice sheets that are 300 count cotton. They were out of Extra Long Twin sizes though (which we need as they have the length of our king size mattress) but the fitted sheets fit an extra deep mattress (18") so that along with the elastic sheet clamps I got for the corners should fit nicely.

Now I just have to have a day to launder the new bedding, get hubby to move the dresser out, and I'm set. I HOPE THIS WORKS AND I SLEEP BETTER!


I hope you all had a great Christmas, we sure did. Nice and quiet, which the older I get, the more I like. Have a great New Years everyone, I wish you all a 2008 full of blessings! Take good care of each other, we're all we got!

PEACE!
Love Jude

CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE HIPPIE CHICK'S

Christmas morning, and the moon visible against the blue sky.



The doggies had to sniff the prezzies before we opened them. Santa was good to us!

1.



Later, after we had our turkey dinner sister Pammie and I decided to walk it off. Out we went with our cameras and tripods to capture some of the Christmas lights on our street and the street around the corner from us. The full moon from Christmas Eve called to my camera too!

2.


3.


4. A few houses down from ours, our big Blue Spruce out front "cradled" the moon:


5.


6.


7.


8.


9. Our tree from outside



And we had a lovely family oriented Christmas. Santa was good to me too!

Lookie what hubby got me:





HOW EXCITED AM I?? LOL I have the battery charging now, and can't wait to try this baby out!

I hope your Christmas was warm and safe. And for those of you going through "first" Christmas without a loved one (I know a few of you), my heart and love go out to you.

Onwards to 2008!

PEACE!

Love Jude

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Another year has come and gone, another 12 months of wonderful friendships here that I'm so grateful to have made. My wishes for all of you include a warm and safe Christmas holiday, and a New Year with many blessings and joys for you. And continued blogging friendships!

The gifts are all made/bought and under the tree, the house is festive and so am I. For me, Christmas is all about the spirit of giving and being with family and friends. And it doesn't hurt to love the sparkle, lights and colours which I indeed do!

If you are travelling I hope you have a wonderful time and come back to us safely. Wherever you will be, I wish you all Peace.

Thank you for being a part of my online life. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!




Love Jude

Mid December at the Hippie Chick's

Little Bugsy is holding her own, and her and us are all happy that she's home. We've noticed that she's having more "seizures" of late, which she's been on heart medication for for the last months. They're not really "seizures" but that's what they remind me of, it's called "arrythmia" and it's when her heart stops momentarily. When it happens she's not conscious but she cries and yelps. It's so sad to witness and breaks my heart.

Since we brought her home we've also noticed she has a lot of weakness in her back legs. You'd never know there was anything going on with her to watch her, but she's now having trouble jumping up on the sofa and Pam's bed. She jumps down just fine though. So Pammie bought her a step stool, I'll have to find out if she's using it successfully or not. At any rate she's doing okay otherwise for now and every day she's still with us is a blessing.


I've been spending any spare time the last week or so getting all my gifts made, and now I'm all done!

The weather warmed up and it's been probably the nicest winter weather a person could have. We haven't had much more for snow either, just a dusting here and there to add to what we already had, so it's not amounted to much in total so far.

I just hope and pray the nice temperatures stay with us throughout the upcoming holidays!


1. The gifts are all under the tree



2. Another angle



3. My fuzzy gift bags



4. My favourite one is the red one



5. Hubby out shovelling the "dusting" this afternoon



6. Blue skies, nice weather



7. Shimmering snow



8.



Are you ready yet?


I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, take good care of each other and until next time........

PEACE!

Love Jude

BUGSY IS HOME

Further to the post below, thank you for your thoughts and prayers, it's soooo much appreciated!

On Friday evening we picked LadyBugs up from the Vet's and brought her home. When they brought her out to her mommy she started shaking and crying she was so happy to see her, the poor little thing.

I held her in the car all the way home and she just kept wanting to kiss us which was fine with us!! Once she realized that we were actually leaving the Vet's she stopped shaking and crying.

Pam was given antiobiotics and some liver meds. LadyBug's liver is apparently failing, and we don't know how long we have left with her. She's a little wobbly and her back legs seem to be pretty weak (she has to be lifted as she can't jump up on the bed or sofa since this happened) but she's very alert and content, and her tail wags and she keeps giving kisses. She's not eating as much as normal but at least she's eating some food now.

We've been given a reprieve with the little fuzzy angel baby. I only hope and pray it's for a long while yet.....

Thanks again everyone, and as we're not out of the woods yet, please do keep praying for her. It means more to us than you'll ever know.


Love
Jude

I'm asking for anyone who is willing to please keep LadyBugs in your prayers. Sister Pammie and I are both becoming emotional wrecks as her oldest doggie has been at the vet's since Tuesday night. Pam came home from work to find Bugsie on the floor and she wasn't moving. She was awake but she didn't want to walk or sit, stand, anything but lay down. She's a very, very sick pup. They think it's her liver and they're not sure just how bad it is. She's on I.V. and antibiotics and we're just waiting to see what happens.

Of course it goes without saying we're scared shitless. Losing her would be devastating. Please please keep her in your prayers? She really needs them.

Thank you!

**************************


Now on a much lighter note, I wanted to include a blog link in this post for you to go wish a very good friend of mine a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! But, for some reason half of my bloglinks aren't working. :-(

Please click on "Tracey" near the bottom of my links, and go wish that woman a blessed day for Friday the 7th, and I hope when you do the link will work for you!

**EDIT** The links are working again! Go tell Tracey she's old Happy Birthday HERE.

I downloaded IE7 the other day and I don't know if that's part of the issue but I've been having some problems since. I think I want my IE 6 back.

Tracers, I love ya darlin', HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!


Love
Jude

TREE TIME!

I got my tree up last weekend only to be too tired to decorate it. So THAT I got done this week!

So from start to finish:


This is my bare nekkid tree in the mirror, ready to be prettified!




The very first thing to go on is my Angel topper. This is after I spend a half hour or so "fluffing" up the branches that have been squished in the tree bag for a year, stored down in the basement.

Isnt' she pretty? She has gold shimmery material, which is what a lot of my decorations have too.
















The next to go on in order are the 3 strings of lights, the wired ribbon, and the beads.

Next I hang my ornaments, some of which you can see here:

And now the last of the ornaments, my snowflakes and ribbons:

Et voila! A few close up shots of the tree:

The finished product looks much better than a bare nekkid tree.







I have a few other items that I put out each year as well.

I like to put a small set of coloured lights into this crystal bowl, put the lid on and sit it in my kitchen.













And this is a wreath that I decorated and put lights in. It sits on a little table in my living room.




A close up of two little trees in front of the wreath.












I'd love to see pics of your trees! Now I've only got a few more gifts to make and I'm ready.




I hope you have a good week, take good care of each other. PEACE!!

Love Jude