I may be drowning, but I think I'll just keep heading toward the open sea just the same.
My pictures came in yesterday! I ordered photos from my Zen account (http://shellyleduke.zenfolio.com/) a week or so ago. I could have printed them at home I guess, but I couldn't wait to have my brother in law come set up the wireless printer. (It's all set now, of course.) Also, I've noticed over the years that the photos I print myself tend to fade. Does that happen to you? Add professional-grade printer to my wish list for the future.
Anyway, they came in. I opened them up and was immediately admonished by my 17 year old daughter for handling them incorrectly. I was touching their "faces" instead of holding them by the edges. This coming from a girl who abandons blue ray DVDs anywhere she pleases despite it being a pet peeve of her step father, who she loves dearly. I followed her advice, though, giving her credit because she wants to pursue a career in art therapy and does have a respect for art.
So after I had them spread out over my lap, theoretical finger prints and all, I realized that there is nowhere in my house where I can package them up in their bags (check!) and with my business cards (check!) without sharing with all my future customers the fact that we have a golden retriever. His name is Jake and one of the books we bought when we first got him said that all retriever owners call it "condiments", not dog hair. We are not surprised that this has manifested in our house as well. I keep asking Jake to please do some tidying up but he is very stubborn. I tell him that I read about a companion retriever who knows 180 commands, including how to remove a child's socks without biting toes. If another retriever can do that, why can't Jake just clean up a bit of hair that's his anyway? Does he need a special tool? Because I could take care of that. He doesn't care what I say as long as I keep giving him the heels from loaves of bread.
This means that I and all my new photography toys will head to the library today to use a clean table. Once things are put together we will probably go to Pakulis Farm where I hope my mom can make her customers feel guilty enough to buy my images. (Oops. Drowning again...) We will go to Pakulis Farm and drop off the images that the owner ordered when she decided to expand her offerings to customers!
Wish me luck.
