Good Reads

I am an avid reader. I will read just about anything I can get my hands on, and much to my time-wasting joy, there are hundreds of blogs just waiting to be perused. I can read all day long, and never get enough.

One of my favorites to check on is Mama MLDB. I don't know MLDB personally, but I went to college with her husband, and got turned on to her blog through his. I find her writing to humorous and insightful. I think I could have a lot of fun hanging out with MLDB.

A newbie to the blogging community is SlackerMom. I first met SlackerMom about 8 years ago, and only recently reconnected with her on Facebook (more on FB and my addiction another time.) Her post Tears in a Jar pt1 broke my heart. I give her so much credit to not only keep her faith in God through all of her heartache, but to have the courage to share it. I don't know if I could be that brave. She's mentioned The Fireman many times on her blog, and so I had to check it out. I like what I've read so far.

The blog I have visited most often and learned the most from is The Story of a Princess and her Hair. My daughter has hair that hangs to her waist, and so I am always on the hunt for something new and exciting to try. We have not only duplicated many of the styles on Princess, we have modified them, too. One of Rylee's favorites is a heart braid, and we have done many different styles that have incorporated the heart. I will have to post some of our hairstyles soon.

A new friend of mine posts a family blog, The Shipley Family. I like reading this one because, as new friends, it is a good way to learn about her and her family. She has four beautiful children, and much of her blog is about the every day life and happenings of them. I love that she incorporates pictures with her posts,I'm glad to find someone else as picture-snapping crazy as I am.

I hope some of you take the time to check out some new reads, and if you have found any blogs that you like, please pass them on so I can expand my "library".

Until next time,
Chelle

Tattoo part 2

At last the long promised tattoo after post.

Friday evening arrived, and everyone met at my house. Also getting tattoos were friends Peg and Amy. We all piled into Lisa's van and headed down to Pincushn. I had spoken with Brett earlier in the week, and let him know that Peg and Amy were coming, and while he would be doing Jen, Lisa and my tattoos, he said someone else would be doing Peg and Amy's. When we got there, we discovered that Brett is the only person working, and that Amy had not decided on a design. While Amy looked through the books, we gave Brett our final decision of a design for the matching tattoos, and Peg gave him her design. We realized that our new design would not fit the ankle bracelet charm he originally designed for me, but we decided I would get the charm first, and he would redesign a bracelet to go with it for a future date.

First up was Peg. She had decided on the kanji symbol for truth. She chose to have it on her ribs. As this was her third tattoo, she was not at all nervous, and had her new ink in less than 10 minutes.

During this time, Lisa was feeling very nervous, and starting panic a little bit.

Next up was Amy. She had finally decided on getting kanji for patience, and her father's initials under it on the front of her right hip. She tried very hard during her tattoo to not show that she thought it hurt, because she didn't want Lisa to chicken out.

We made Lisa go next, because she was starting to worry too much. She had decided to have it put on the outside of her right calf, because she thought it would hurt less there. Brett told her it would feel the same no matter where she got it, and she might has well get it where she really wanted it, because she couldn't move it later when she decided it hadn't hurt. She decided to move it a little lower and closer to the ankle. She obviously found it to be a very painful experience. She winced and cursed throughout the entire process. She chose to have very little color to her tattoo because she has a lighter skin tone, and didn't think the darker tattoo would look good on her.

Jen went next, and had hers put on the front of her right hip. She said if she was going to have one, she wanted to be able to see it, but not to have anyone else see it unless she chose to show them. Jen had looked at many different pictures, and had found a tattoo that she really liked the coloring of, but with a different design. This required a thicker outline of the tattoo. She took it much better than Lisa, getting her ink with no sign of discomfort.


Finally it was my turn. I knew I would be getting mine on my right ankle in the front. Originally I had planned to have it partly on the top of my foot, but Brett mentioned that I would not be able to wear shoes for up to a week, and seeing how it was March in Michigan, I chose to have it a little higher. Talk to ten different people, and you will likely get ten different answers on how a tattoo feels. I will tell you that I found it to be uncomfortable, but not intolerable. I could best describe it as feeling similar to getting scratched with a sharp needle, like when trying to remove a splinter, with intermittent feelings of getting a small electrical shock. The only time I had any issue with it was when Brett was on the very front of my ankle, as he kept hitting a reflex point, and I thought I was going to either kick him in the face, or cause him to mess up. After seeing both Jen and Lisa's final result, I chose to have mine colored the same as Jen's.

With everyone done, we were given our after care instructions, and headed back to my house to admire our ink.

I'm pretty sure that everyone was very happy with the final results. I can only speak for myself (and Peg as we're going together) when I say I can't wait to go back for more. Peg has mentioned possibly getting the four leaf clover design, and I want to get the rest of my ankle bracelet finished.

I have to give kudos to Brett and Pincushn. He runs a very nice, clean place, and was so awesome about giving 5 tattoos in about 3 hours. I know I will never go anywhere else for my ink.

Until next time,
Chelle

It's been a really long time, sorry.

Okay, I know it's been forever and ever since I've posted. I apologized to those 2 or 3 people who read this.

So let's do a quick catch up:

I last left you just before we got our tattoos. I will have to post about it in depth next time, but I will just say that I, personally, could not be happier with it.

I got hired in at Zeeland Community Hospital in July as a housekeeper. I absolutely love it there, and hope to start my CNA classes after the first of the year.

Rylee had her dance celebration in May, and is enrolled at W.E. Dance Academy for a second year. She absolutely loves dancing, and singing. Her current favorite song is "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift.

I know this has been a short post, but I promise to post again, SOON.

Until next time,
Chelle