It’s been an interesting ride to say the least.  The very first day was euphoric and amazing.  I can’t remember ever feeling that good in my entire life.

I was also able to concentrate for longer periods of time without becoming bored or distracted.  I did notice that the very first dose of 5mg pills lasted about 3.5 hours.  I had minimal side effects.  The first two nights I was a little restless and had a hard time falling asleep.  I was also slightly more irritable but that seems to come and go and I’m usually aware when it’s happening.  The pills do also seem to surpress my appetite quite a bit.

I’m on my second week right now and my Dr. upped the dose to 10mg/day.  It seems to last longer.  I don’t notice any restlessness when I’m trying to fall asleep anymore.  I am much more capable of working for long periods.  Though I did notice this week that there was some distraction, boredom and dissatisfaction.  I also noticed the first half of the week that I became REALLY tired about 6-7 hours after taking the 10mg dose.  That has seemed to fade somewhat…. but when it starts to wear off I sort of feel like I’ve hit a wall.

I meet with my Dr. again in 2 more weeks so we’ll see how this goes and if she thinks my dose needs to be increased or not.

I have to say I am VERY happy that I have gotten treatment for this.  Living with it my whole life has been difficult.

This way I don’t have to drive home from work, find a recipe and THEN drive to the store.  I don’t usually get home from work until around 6:30pm so by the time I get dinner cooked and ready to eat it’s usually 7:30 or 8 o’clock and that’s IF I cook dinner as soon as I get home.

I do have some staple meals like spaghetti, or patty melts that I can always fall back on, but hey I’m an A.D.D.-er and I LIKE change.

I tried this recipe about a month ago and absolutely LOVED it.  I added a little bit of chicken to it for more protein.  A warning on this one though… and it could have been a mistake I made somewhere but the sauce was REALLY runny.  I don’t know that the sauce for this particular recipe is supposed to be thick.  I say this because I have another really good (LOWER CAL AND FAT) recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara and the sauce is pretty runny too – but you’re supposed to just douse the noodles in it so they get some of the flavor but they noodles and other ingredients aren’t supposed to be swimming in the sauce.

The flavor was great on this though and I absolutely love anything with fresh dill in it!

8 ounces linguine

4 1/2 cups assorted cut-up vegetables, such as broccoli florets, sliced carrots, red bell pepper strips and peas

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon McCormick® Dill Weed

1 teaspoon McCormick® Garlic Salt

1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Thyme Leaves

1. Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, adding vegetables during the last 3 to 4 minutes of cooking. Drain well.

2. Place cream, cheese, broth, wine, butter, dill weed, garlic salt and thyme in same saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly with wire whisk. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add pasta and vegetables; toss gently to coat well. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Shrimp Pasta Primavera: Prepare as directed. Add 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, with vegetables during last 3 minutes of cooking.

per serving

Calories: 390

Fat: 22 g

Carbohydrates: 36 g

Cholesterol: 74 mg

Sodium: 662 mg

Fiber: 4 g

Protein: 12 g

ENJOY!!

xoxo

xoxo

I’m working on a new “take” for my photography business.  To create ART, not just photographs.  I know, I know, most would argue that a lot of photographs ARE indeed art by themselves and I would not dispute that.  I guess what I’m talking about is a way I can combine some of my talents such as my digital painting and illustration talents with my talent for photography   And hopefully I can carve out a “niche” for myself in the photography world.

So…. I’m not exactly a wedding photographer…. I’ve shot a couple of weddings but I specialize in portraits.  So I found a great STOCK image on DeviantArt and decided to turn it into a painting digitally.  Let me just say before-hand that this is not created with a Photoshop filter or action.  I created each and every brush stroke in the image by hand   It took about 6-7 hours total.  Now THAT’s hyper-focused!  And yes, I did take breaks to stretch my legs and use the bathroom and eat meals too!

I am sorry that it’s hard to see the brush strokes in the full image.  That’s kind-of the way it is when posting images on a blog.  But here is another picture with some detail sections to show you the brush strokes of the actual image.

I would like to start doing commissioned work of this type too, where people can submit photos to me and I can turn them into paintings and then prints or gallery wraps.  I would obviously prefer to photograph the people myself where I would have control over composition and lighting, but if I offer this service over the internet it opens up my market quite a bit

Please feel free to comment and give feedback.  I’d love to hear what you think.

xoxo

I spent some time with family and was asked to snap a few pics of the the lovely Miss “E”.  She’s cute as a button and almost old enough to get her driver’s permit!  I’ve known this young lady since she was a baby and man how time does fly!!

I’m hoping her parents ask me to do her senior portraits when the time comes in a couple of years.  We were actually talking about her becoming a senior rep for my photography business which would be just fabulous!

Anyway I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I’m sorry that I’ve been a slacker as of late, I don’t really have an excuse for that other than the fact that I DO have A.D.D. and I am easily distracted by life

I DO plan on posting some pictures of my nephew’s flag football game though and I should have some artwork to post in the near future as well.

xoxo

All the stockings were LOADED with love and affection and goodies for everyone

Dad camped out in his favorite chair waiting for the festivities to begin.

My three nephews and my niece were decked out in the Christmas jammies watching Spongebob while waiting to have breakfast so we could open presents.

Here’s Mom & Dad’s tree fully decked out with presents.

My cutie-pie niece Lilly Jo with her pigtails and dimples.  She gets embarrassed when “Auntie Kim” points the camera her way

The fun began with the opening of stockings.

My brother Thad holding his youngest – my nephew Cole.  He’s such a sweet baby boy.

I got the coolest little Nerf toys in some McDonad’s happy meals (which wound up as stocking stuffers).  One was a little plastic basketball hoop and ball and the other was a set of goal posts and a foam football.  Here’s Thad showing Lilly how to “flick” the ball.

The present opening “mayhem” starts

I think Cole had a fun first Christmas!  He was doing really good for being passed around from person to person.  He is such a blessing and we all wanted to share some love with him.

Here’s “Nanna Kaffy” (as my niece calls her) holding Cole after a wonderful Ham feast.

Ever the doting Mother AND Grandmother, my Mom just can’t get enough of her grandkids

And now it’s “Papa Tim’s” turn with his little grandson.  I just love the way Dad looks at him

And the way Cole looks at “Papa Tim” – “Yeah, I think he’s pretty okay.”

Cole kept sticking his tongue out all night!  It was cracking me up!  I have about 15 pictures of him with his tongue out so I had to share at least one.  What a bundle of joy!

Last but not least – someone actually pointed my camera at ME!  I’m usually the one behind it

Hope you all had a warm and wonderful Holiday Season!  Here’s to a Happy and Prosperous 2010!

xoxo

I spent 4 nights in a row after work up until after midnight baking and baking and baking and then cleaning and scraping and washing   It was all worth it as everyone enjoyed the tasty treats come Christmas Day!

This is what my counter top looked like every night after work for about a week.  Bags of sugar and flour, mixers, measuring cups and measuring spoons.

I am SO glad I went to Costco and bought the huge bags of brown, white and confectioners sugar there.  It’s MUCH cheaper and I probably would have run out half-way through my baking.  And NOBODY likes having to run to the store in the middle of baking something!

I made Russian Teacakes or as we have always called them, “Snowballs”  which are always a favorite at Christmas.  Here they are cooling on the cookie sheet before being rolled in confectioners (powdered) sugar.

Here they are after being rolled in sugar and waiting to be packaged up for gifts.

By special request I made some Snickerdoodles for someone very close to my heart   xoxo

Frosted sugar cookies are probably in the top 3 of Christmas cookie favorites.  These are usually one of the first to disappear from the plate.

These were so RICH and delicious!  Cookies made from devils food cake and frosting made from sugar and cream cheese….YUM!

This doesn’t even show all the types of cookies I made (oh and there’s mini loaves of banana bread in the back too).  But this is what my dining room table looked like for about 4 days before everything was done and I could box it up.

They were all delicious tasty treats!  I spent SO much time in the kitchen… maybe next year I’ll just make the top 3 favs   Maybe I’ll add a few of these recipes here to share with you all later

xoxo

I spent a lovely day/afternoon with my Mother helping her drag out the Christmas decorations and decorate her tree.  Mom & Dad used to be Christmas tree “purists” having a REAL tree (noble fir) for as long as my memory can take me back into my childhood.  But after years and years of climbing through the woods to find that “perfect” tree or spending BOATLOADS of money on a tree at a tree farm they finally opted for a fake tree.  Luckily Mom found one that looks really nice and is still big enough to hold all those ornaments she’s been collecting over the years.

Helping Mom decorate her tree brings back so many Christmas memories for me.  She still has MANY of the ornaments I remember from my childhood

Along with some new ones that get added every year.

We made quite a mess of the living room in the process of unpacking everything.  But Mom was very grateful to have help with this project

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Here is Mama standing next to the tree, I think we were pretty much done at this point.

Mom and I with no makeup, wearing our sweatshirts and a smile after a long hard days work of dragging out boxes, climbing up ladders and hanging the decorations

Love you Mom!!

xoxo

Looking forward to playing with this gadget

XOXO

Kim