So...here's the shnizzle on where I've been

Ok...so you might not have noticed, but I haven't been around much in the last 2 or 3 weeks.  Or not.  Since no one checked on me to make sure that I was still breathing, wasn't in a full body cast, or had come down with some, as yet, undiscovered illness, you might not actually have noticed.  Frankly, I'm disappointed.  Stalkers really should be more thoughtful.  Or at least mine should be.  But that's ok.  Don't feel bad or anything. As you can see I still have use of at least 1 or 2 functioning braincells and the use of my fingers...this full body cast truly is uncomfortable.

Oh!!!  For those of you that thought I was boycotting you.  I wasn't.  I've kept up with my reading, but I haven't commented on anyone's blog in quite a long time.  I read while I'm riding from one place to another,  so you people haven't gotten away with a single thing!  Just keep that in mind!  I'm still watching you all!!!!!  O_o

Anywhatthefuck, since I was gone for so long I've decided it might be easier to hit the highlights a la Annie of The Day After Yesterday with some of the pictures...

The husband him had NEVER been to a Truck and Tractor Pull.  Can you believe it?  That's un-American.  I've been to them before (when I was significantly younger, mind you), and they are AWESOME!  Nothing beats going to a pull!  Does this make me more manly than the husband him?  Never mind.  Don't answer that.

Pic #1 :: The very first tractor pull out of the "chute" went BOOM right in front of us!  AWESOME!  Don't panic.  He was fine.  Pissed.  But fine.

And of course where there's a truck and tractor pull there is a fair!

Pic #2 :: And where there is a fair there is big, ugly, cheap, useless toys to be won if you game the system that's set up to game you out of your money. 

Pic #3 :: And then there is the obligatory thrill seekers who have to go whizzing by on the itsy bitsy teensy tiny roller coaster.  Oh yeah....fun times!

Pic #4 :: And for those too small to know they are thrill seekers and those that are past their thrill seeking days there's always the 2 staples of any fair or carnival...a.k.a. more my speed, were I not taking pictures for you ungrateful people.  =-p

And then of course there was the need to work.  Yes, I said work.  Because frankly the bills don't seem to pay themselves off or on time if I don't work.

There were/are also many trips down to Arkansas to let the husband him get twisted into a pretzel by the chiropractor.

And of course, I've been working in my "free time" on trying to get my photography business off the ground as well as trying to escape so that I can get more pictures to try to sell.

So, in that vein, we've been to a couple of zoos.  One was here in Missouri, and one was up in Illinois.  So here are some obligatory pictures of animals...

Pic #5 :: Mountain Lion keeping an eye on the husband him as he walks around the outside of her enclosure

Pic #6 :: Beautiful fox who was kind enough to look up for me so that I could take a picture.  She was busy eating something in the greenery when we showed up, but was kind enough to pose for me before returning whatever she was doing.

Pic #7 :: Beautiful tiger.  I love them.  I could spend all day just taking pictures of them....

Pic #8 :: Zebra who was clearly too hungry to pose for a shot.  Just when he looked around to try to see if I was gone yet I snapped this shot.  HA!  I won! Nahner!

And because animals are a little less than predictable when it comes to taking pictures I ended up with some blurry shots, some ass shots, some photo bombs... you know.  A lot of the same sorts of things that you get when trying to take candids of kids.

And because of that I have 2 animal comedy shots that just make me laugh when I see them.

Pic #9 :: Cheeeeeese!!!  =)

Pic #10 :: ....Ahahahahaha....  You so funny!!

And the absolute highlight of my time away is that I got to meet some bloggy buddies.  My beautiful friend  SJ from Almost There was traveling from the UK to Peoria, IL for a week for work.  I about keeled over when she told me because Peoria is only about a 5-6 hr drive away from me, and she was coming in on Saturday.  AWESOME!  So off we went, and one of the zoos we went to was with SJ as she loves photography like me.  It was a BLAST, and she is just as awesome and beautiful in person as she appears over the internet.

Pic #11 :: Me trusting the husband him to not break my camera so he could capture me (left) slobbering some love all over SJ (right)

I knew on SJ's visit she was going to be meeting up with some other blogging buddies of ours, Mary of Living with Food Allergies and Celiac Disease and Bongo of Bongo Is Me, but I didn't know if I would get a chance to meet up with them as well.  But....I DID!  Double AWESOME!

Pic #12 :: (l. - r.)   Mary, Bongo, SJ, and yours truly  "ORGASM!"  *snort*

And if all that wasn't enough I managed to win a blog award!  My buddy Cheryl from The Art of Being Conflicted was kind enough to throw one at me.

My reflexes were off though so I dropped it.  However, here's a big shout out to her of thanks and love and appreciation....

So over all it's been a busy mind boggling few weeks.  And amongst it all Small Town, America had a big chink delivered to it's armour.  Sad tale in my town of residence, but I'll expound on that and my thoughts and feelings on the whole event in a post next week.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!  =)

Jewell  =)  xo
PS....NO - I am not in a full body cast for those that might actually have believed me.    =-p  But maybe next time I disappear off the bloggy radar you people might check on me to make sure that I'm really NOT in a full body cast!  Just a thought....  =)