As Promised The Update

First off Stacie- Thank You so much for the award. I will work on getting it done either later today or Monday.

Second an update on The Husbands health. Last Tuesday he went to the Dr. and he has a major infection in both of his ears. Which has not only put him in A LOT of pain but they are not draining and as he puts it, it's like hearing underwater all the time. He's on meds. now and they are helping some, but it's not getting any better. He goes back to the Dr. on Tuesday and he told him last week that if the meds didn't help he would put temporary tubes in his ears to help with the drainage. The Husband is not thrilled about it but if they help with his hearing etc. he will do what has to be done.

Now for the update on me.

I took several days this week to really spend time thinking, reflecting and over all just taking care of myself.

When I came back from Europe last July something changed in me. I was calm, relaxed and more at peace with myself. It wasn't just spending a week without kids , worries, etc. , something magical happened over there and it just changed the way I viewed the world and life in general.

Over time life took over and that feeling slowly went away. While I know I may never get the feeling back 100% , I really want to find that inner peace in me again. While I've always thought of this blog as a place to express what ever feelings I have at the moment, I have in part held back those true raw emotions I have. So if your a reader of my blog you may noticed a change in my posts. Some of what I say may be on the shocking side( adult nature) so I'm just giving you fair warning now.

I've also done a great deal of soul searching when it comes to my photography.

Back when the kids started school this year I started joining challenges, contests, etc. At the time I felt they were what I needed to push me and help me grow my photography skills. When I started doing them they did push me , but over time I have noticed that they have become more stressful then helpful. I'm no longer seeing the little things I use to see. A simple walk in the park to take photos has gone from enjoyment to " I must look for blue things because this weeks challenge is to photograph blue things". I'm missing all the joy around me and my photography is suffering. This really hit me this week while I was putting photos in my albums. Normally every single photo went in them even if I wasn't 100% happy with them. They were my photos and my memories and I wanted to share them with everyone who cared to look. But as i was filling my albums this time I noticed me editing out photos more and more. And all of the photos I was editing out were ones I took for challenges.

So with that being said I have decided that I'm going to drop many of the challenges I participate in. From time to time I may join some if the topic speaks to me, but I'm sure they will be few and far between. That doesn't mean you won't be seeing photos here on my blog. In fact you will probably see more.

I've also done some thinking as to if I want to do any of the Art Fairs this year. While I enjoyed them all last year, they took so much time and energy. Time and energy that could be better off spent with photography , with family and friends. I still have a few weeks to make up my mind, so we shall see about that. If I don't do the Art Fairs this year I will probably open up my Etsy shop again, but I'm still on the fence about that one as well.

That pretty much sums up what has been going on with me this past week.

I hope all is well in your part of the world.