A Needed Update

Over three months since my last blog post in a year where I promised to write much more.  Sounds like I told you all a little lie.  It's not that I didn't think of blogging.  On the contrary, I often thought about writing a post only to run out of time, be too tired, be too busy, or simply be too overwhelmed to catch up on everything that has happened.  At this point, catching up is impossible, but I will hit some of the highlights:

Jess has been back at work full time for a while now, and for the most part, is doing much better with her knee. It still aches her, but she has shown a remarkable difference between pre and post surgery.  No longer does she come home every single day from work and pop a pain pill.  No longer does she come home and cry from the pain.  Is she pain free?  No, absolutely not.  But for now, it seems tolerable and she can continue with her job.  Neither of us, as well as her doctor, think she can keep this job forever, but at least we have a nice cushion until she has to make another decision. 

In other great news, we finally refinanced our house.  A couple of years ago, we attempted to do a loan modification with a company that had a pretty great track record.  We had been on a 5 year loan since we bought our house and wanted to lock in a 30 year loan so we could be comfortable knowing what our payment was going to be for the next 30 years.  We paid them around $4,000 to help negotiate a loan mod with our mortgage company and it ended up being one of the biggest mistakes of our lives.  Not only did our mortgage company end up screwing us (LONG story), but the loan mod company ended up going out of business and taking our $4,000 with them.  So now we had no load mod, issues with the mortgage company screwing us, and were out of that money.  It sucked BIG time.  For the last couple of years, we have been on a one year locked in loan, but who wants that kind of uncertainty?  Finally, a program came along that we qualified for, a program that rewarded those who had never fallen behind on payments, and last week, we finally closed and have that 30 year loan we have been seeking.  Peace of mind at last.

In other great news, my photos are going to be on display at an art gallery in November for Second Saturday.  This is beyond exciting.  That someone thought enough of my photos to ask if I wanted to display them in their store/gallery is the ultimate compliment.  Again, I do this whole photography thing for fun.  I don't want to make a career out of it.  I do it because I enjoy it and and well, people seem to like what I do.  This is absolutely a hobby so to be taking this next step is more than I ever expected.  I am both excited and nervous at the same time.

With that, I will leave you with a sample of pictures I have taken in the last few months.  Enjoy!

Oh, and if you haven't gone and seen Avengers yet, what the heck are you waiting for?!?  It was everything I wanted and more...