Mornings At My House

I am not a morning person. Either is Meg. She and I are a lot alike in that regard.

Belle on the other hand, as I have mentioned previously, is a morning girl. And that makes her a perfect Alarm Belle.

I finally decided to take my camera to bed with me (don't worry, Hubby is away) to document how Belle wakes me up in the mornings. Now, this picture makes her look like her legs are enormous. But it's just a perspective thing.

I am not holding her in place. I am petting her. If I don't, she beats on the bed as if she were playing bongos. Which is totally cute, but can be very annoying to a non-morning girl.

Meg is never ready to jump out of bed all happy either. Can you see that she's got her feet covering her eyes? And can you see Belle getting disgusted because I STILL haven't gotten out of bed?

Now can you see Meg covering her eyes? She's such a goof.

That's K's bed in the background, by the way. Just a couple more days and it'll be filled. I'm interested to see where she fits in the whole morning routine.

On a completely unrelated note...

I had to share one of my favorite Fibro Duck pictures (the seagulls totally wanted to eat Spotty Dotty). Some people have asked me why the Fibromyalgia Association UK chose a duck to bring attention to Fibromyalgia. Although I've been doing my part to take fun pictures of Spotty Dotty for a while now, I couldn't answer that question. But now, I can. Here's what they say on the Fibromyalgia Association UK's Web site...

... people with fibromyalgia are like ducks out of water. Before developing fibromyalgia they were hard working, fiercely independent people. After fibromyalgia their pain and fatigue prevents them from performing many of the tasks they took pride in. They have to rely on others everyday and stress about the things all around them that have to go undone. They are forced to live a life that is alien to them – like a duck out of water. The duck can survive on land but its movement isn’t quick and fluent the way it is in water. So the challenge is to draw attention to fibromyalgia by using the duck in places a duck wouldn’t usually go.

Wanna see all of my Fibro Duck pictures on Flickr? I'm not the only person going this, you know. You can see more Fibro Duck pictures, too, taken by other people around the world.

Here's another of my Spotty Dotty shots that I find particularly interesting, if I do say so myself.


I like the next one, too, 'cause it shows my "runner" shirt (like I am really a runner) and my 5k ID number.

Okay, I'll stop. I'm thinking no one is probably having as much fun looking at these images as I'm having creating them. Besides, I need to get to work. Well, FFFF...

Meet Spotty Dotty

I know I already had one post today, but all the cool Fall colors that are finally emerging here in Maryland inspired me to take a couple of FibroDuck pics.

What I just realized today is that "FibroDuck" is the movement. And all the individual ducks have names. Which is the reason behind this post's title.

Meet Spotty Dotty. She's my duck. And I've been having fun taking pictures of her in various places.

Today I did some outdoor shots. I was inspired by all the colors. While you can't see any foliage in this picture, it's my favorite.

Perhaps because it features my two favorite canines AND Spotty Dotty.

Really, it's just because the expressions on Belle's and Meg's faces are priceless.

They are usually very happy-looking dogs. Dogs do smile you know. Really. (Other dog parents will back me up on that one.)

My girls usually smile a lot. 'Cause I'm such a fun and cool Mama. Usually.

Apparently, they were less than thrilled to be posing with Spotty Dotty.

That just makes this shot even funnier if you ask me.

More Odds Than Ends

My duck arrived last week.

What duck? Why, FibroDuck! I explained it here earlier this month.

Belle, who is never far from my side, helped with the photo shoot.

Seeing Double

If you like seeing cute little moose, you just have to check out this video, which Hubby stumbled across last week.

Finally, a Diagnosis

Did you know there's actually a name for the disease that afflicts people like me, which makes stupids songs like this one pop into your head at odd moments and get stuck there?



Well, there is. And I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before now.

Earworm. Yes, earworm. Hubby gets credit for discovering that one, too. Yes, the Internet obsession runs in the family.

My New Obsession

Video mashups.



If you really want to watch this video, do it at YouTube. I couldn't get it to embed properly. First, it was too big. Then it was too small.

I discovered video mashups all by myself while verifying that "earworm" is not just a one-shot, made-up word. This is just another way YouTube can suck me in.

And that's all I've got for today.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring more, and better, inspiration.

What's With the Duck?

This is not just any duck, this is FibroDuck.

In an effort to raise awareness and support for fibromyalgia sufferers, Jamie Goodwin, freelance writer and former stand-up comedienne, has started a movement. It's the FibroDuck comedy tour. The goal is to collect pictures of FibroDuck taken at various places all around the world.

Wanna help? Visit the FibroDuck Web site and request your own duck today. There's one en route to my house at this very moment. Somewhere between the UK and here. I'll let you know when he has arrived.