...Tis' the season to be broke!

So I was telling a few friends about my bounced child support checks recently. Everyone has said "blog it, it's the same thing a grocery store would do by putting your name up on the wall." Well....I definitely don't want to put names up on the internet, I will be nicer.

I deposited 2 checks, both bounced and of course I am charged at my bank. 3rd check came in the mail and I went to Arvest bank today and the lady told me there weren't enough funds to cash the check.

Tis' the season to be broke! It's a good thing Doug and I know how to save money and we balance the check book daily. Child support checks usually go into Amelia's savings, glad we didn't do it this time because I only balance her savings once a month.

Silent Migraine

Info from this website: http://www.relieve-migraine-headache.com/silent-migraine.html

For years I've been dealing with a mysterious problem. Years of frustration. Years of not knowing what the heck is wrong.

I get SILENT MIGRAINES!!!!!! What the.....never have heard of that but I finally have figured out what is going on. A nurse - of ALL people told me I had migraine aura. Doctors couldn't figure it out....it was the nurse!!!!! I had a horrendous silent migraine today. No headache just all the crazy symptoms. Today I was dealing with horrendous vertigo, nausea, pressure in my back/head/neck/eyes, weird eye spots and an overall pain. I always forget what is going on with me and then "duh...migraine." Easily fixed with an Advil migraine pill. Ugh! At least I know!

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Silent migraine is one name for a type of migraine attack that doesn't include a headache. As strange as it may sound, it's actually not all that unusual. Over the years, silent migraine has gone by other names, including acephalgic migraine, sans-migraine, migraine equivalent, eye migraine, visual migraine, ocular migraine, painless migraine or simply migraine aura without headache. Today it's usually called migraine aura without headache.

Migraine aura is a term used to describe many of the other symptoms that go along with migraine, but it's usually referring to visual symptoms. This might include seeing zig zags or flashing lights, or having dizziness or vertigo. It's estimated that only about 15% of migraineurs deal with aura. There are actually a host of possible symptoms that can hit, usually before a headache stage, such as slurred speech, numbness, pain in other parts of your body such as in the face or on the skin, and ringing in the ears.

Interestingly, migraine aura without headache more often occurs later in life, and more often in men than in women.

As you may imagine, with so many symptoms in silent migraine, it's prone to misdiagnosis. Sure, if you were to get a one-sided headache, or any headache, migraine might be suspected. But without the headache stage, the migraine diagnosis is often missed.

I recently read an article by a patient who was first told he had had a mini-stroke, then he was diagnosed with things like hypoglycemia, meniere's disease (an inner ear disorder), depression, fibromyalgia and myofascial pain! It's easy for silent migraine to be mistaken for many other diseases - and that's no help to the patient.

Even those who get "normal" migraine can get silent migraine from time to time. It's estimated that 20% of migraineurs have had a silent migraine. Of course, it's easier for someone with a history of migraine to recognize the symptoms.

Silent migraine has not gotten a lot of specific press, probably because it's often simply lumped in with other migraine. Most of the migraine books I own don't specifically mention it in the index by any name, although they do talk about it here and there. This can make it pretty frustrating for the patient looking for information.

Birthday!

We had a little gathering for Amelia's 9th birthday. Invited Doug's family and 2 of my friends from school to come out and celebrate. We got the cake from Mickey's which is the best cake I have EVER had! OMG - scrumptious! I cooked 10 lbs of potatoes, 3 london broils, 4 lbs of glazed carrots, dinner rolls, 2 lbs of stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I also had chocolate raspberry dip with apples and graham crackers. And put out red velvet cake balls as well as chocolate covered pretzels. Homemade goodies! We had 17 people over here. Amelia had a great time playing with the kids and opening gifts! It was a great birthday!


The 3 of us!


My new BFF's. Silver, me and Justin. They are theater majors. Coolest guys you'll ever meet!






And unfortunately Justin was in a car wreck. A lady going thru the stoplight couldn't decide whether to go or stop when the light turned yellow. She hit the gas and went through the red light and in turn hit Justin. This was at the light next to our house. Doug's cousin called when they left our house and said "I think one of your party guests was in a wreck." I called Justin and he sounded pitiful. Sara and I jumped in the car and drove down the driveway and sure enough Justin was sitting down with a head injury. Silver was there. The police called an ambulance.

Justin is fine. Thank God! He just has a big bump and a massive headache. It could have been worse. So much worse. His poor suv is messed up. The front axle is bent. The CV joints busted and the radiator is broke. Silver and I were able to drive it back up to my house and we have it parked in my lot. Not sure if the car can be fixed.

Things like this just really open your eyes. Make sure to tell everyone you love them before they leave the house. It could be your last time seeing them. Justin's wreck really got me to thinking about taking all of my friends and family for granted. To all my family and friends - I love you!!!!!!!

Makeup, Photography & Styling

I'm insanely addicted to makeup. I just got the Ben Nye makeup catalog....My next purchase is airbrush paint so I can start body painting models. I'd like to paint their bodies into a scene. I sometimes wished I had a big budget for all my fun projects! I'd be creating stuff daily!

The photo above is Kayla. Lashes, and the makeup by me. And styling with cyrstals by me. Then I do the photography. I tend to get exhausted but I can't help it. It's so much danged fun! And having good models to work with --helps!!!

Here is Melanie:





Colleen had to help me with this makeup job. It took us almost 6 hours to complete. We were SO tired. It's not as easy as some think it is! It takes lots of time and TONS Of patience from both makeup artist and model. Melanie did a great job but you could tell she was Tiiiiiired after all the laying down with nothing to do! But she was a trooper and perked up for the shoot!

Makeup is a lot more time consuming than people think. Lots of patience is required! :-)

How do I keep it together?

Ha...how do I keep it together? Sometimes I wonder how I get things done.

Last night I picked Amelia up from visitation with her dad. I told her that Doug and I had 2 dates over the weekend. She always loves to hear what we did when she wasn't home. So I told her that Doug and I went out for Thai food on Saturday night. Then on Sunday he took me to the Ringling Bros. circus at Alltell arena. Then she said "mommy, you're married! You can't go on a date with Doug!" And then she said "how squishy!" Uh-hum....she learned that word from Sara. HA! So I explained to her that marriage doesn't just happen. It takes 2 people to make it work. And when 2 people love each other a lot - they go on dates! I told her that I never wanted to divorce Doug or ever put her through a divorce ever again. I told her that I knew it was hard for her so Doug and I would do everything to continually work on our marriage. I told her that I love Doug and that we enjoy going on dates and she said that was cool. So squishy!

So the semester is over. I have one test left on Thursday. I made the "nerd" club this semester- which is an awesome thing. (high grades) So next semester I have 17 hours on my plate but I'm considering dropping 1 class. Not sure if I can handle 17 hours. I work 3 jobs. I love - LOVE - all 3. I shoot weddings for Janet Hudson-Schroeder. I shoot boudoir photography on my days off. And I work 10-15 hours as a receptionist. I love all the stuff that I do. Sometimes it's extremely exhausting. Sometimes I mess things up ... like forgetting to order a print out of an order of 20 but I always end up ordering the extra after the fact. I'm definitely not perfect. I'm human. We all are.

Doug and I have to keep a good household. If Amelia didn't have her chores and Doug didn't help out, I don't know what I'd do. There's nothing sexier than seeing my man standing with a broom in his hand when I come home from a wedding.

I have the best family ever!