I’ve been working on a few fun projects lately that are tapping into my creative side. One of them is the costumes for Rent. The other is Christmas cards. Both of these projects involve a lot of glitter and gemstones.

I ran out of small gems and went to Michaels to pick some more up. As I turned into the aisle, the employee nodded at me. “Back for more gems?” I must have given him a questioning look because he said “you’ve been in here 3 times in the past 5 days and always buy at least one pack of gemstones. You must really like shiny stuff.”

Great. The Michaels guy is making fun of my purchases and knows me as the girl who like shiny stuff. I need a new hobby.

Nothing too funny to write about this week… so I’m taking the easy way and just giving quick updates about what’s going on.

Once all of the phone lines from my company were on the line, Verizon took notice. I feel sorry for those who do not have leverage on cell companies like I happened to. Two new cell phones are being sent to us as we speak and one of them is free! This has not helped my ego, as now I am strutting around and claiming that Verizon kisses my feet. I was hoping to keep the phones a surprise from Dan. I wanted to give him one as part of his birthday gift next week, but I was too excited about the news to keep it from him. He just had to mention the word “phone” and I started babbling like a little kid.

I think I’ve come down with something. On days when I don’t have to work, I sleep for about 12 hours. I have this weird cough and my nose physically hurts. The other day, I saw weird lines in my vision. When I flopped into a chair and announced my imminent demise, Dan calmly replied (without looking up from WOW, I might add) “you shall be missed.” My husband does not take me seriously.

I had a production staff meeting yesterday for the film I’m working on in August. The producer mentioned that one of our scenes is being filmed 30 miles west of Maricopa. Someone joked that none of us would be allowed to pass out from the heat because civilization and medical help would be too far away. Someone else joked that we’d all have to go to the bathroom behind a cactus. This is when it hit me. I will be the only female on set that day and none of the guys had even considered the need for a nearby restroom. I wonder if Dan will let me rent an RV for the day…

I watched Slumdog Millionaire. Everyone told me not to watch it, which I figured was because someone died in the arms of their soulmate after a tragic accident or a puppy was hurt or something along those lines. Nothing like that happened. But I do know why I was told not to watch it. Let’s just say I don’t handle blood well. Or point blank shootings. Or little children getting their eyes burned out. Or people jumping into the hole in the ground under the outdoor toilet. I couldn’t even tell Dan to tell me when the gross parts were over, because he wasn’t home. Where is that man when I need him? Oh. Earning a salary so we can afford to live. Right.

I finished 16 greeting cards today, all different designs, within 4 hours. Normally I do about one card an hour, so this was a serious pat on the back moment for me.

I finally got Dan to admit how he likes my hair. Since we started dating, he always told me that he liked it very single way I wore it. Long or short, straight or curly, down or in a ponytail…it didn’t matter to him. Liar. It only took 2 years and 9 months of marriage to get the truth out of him.

A few weeks ago, I read about how to make your own simple light box. The fact that the blog post author kept saying “dude” and “don’t bleed on the tissue paper, yo” should have warned me that it wasn’t a very nice one. However, I sucked it up and decided to make it anyway.

It was simple enough. I cut out some portions of a cardboard box and taped tissue paper over them. I glued a curved piece of poster board inside to give it the nice fluid background look. Shine a light through the tissue paper and I was set.

And I didn’t once bleed on the tissue paper, yo.

Most of my pictures came out yellowish. This was extremely frustrating, especially when photographing white buttons. After seeing (and hearing…poor thing,) me sigh repeatedly at the photographs, Dan decided to take matters into his own hands. He vanished for a little while and made me promise to stay in our room until he was done. About 30 minutes later, he let me come see what he had finished.

Sitting in our dining room was a monster of a light box. It is about 3′x3′ and has 4 huge lamps attached. The picture clarity is superb. The construction is perfection. The smooth white lighting is decadent.

I can’t believe I just referred to lighting as decadent.

I hope no one wants to come over for a dinner party because this box is not moving from our dining room table. Prepare yourselves for delicious photos of inanimate objects. Kittens will not be photographed in the light box. I don’t trust them to refrain from turning it into a square scratching post.

And just because I can, another photograph of Britney. You’re welcome, Internets.