I added two more photo albums for you all to see! 

Here's an album of my work with flowers and brides.  I love my job!

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately.  Life is good. 

If you think about it, you can pray about my back and hips.  I've been having very intense pain in my lower back the past couple of weeks, which is not something new for me.  Lower back pain has come and gone for me for the past ten years.  I remember not being able to move when I was 15... flat on my back on the floor in some of the worst pain ever.  Pinched cyatic nerves are not fun!  It's frustrating because I will go months and even years without any pain at all, and then all of a sudden I just have these terrible "attacks" where I'm flat on the floor with pain shooting through my back and legs.  My toes, especially my big toes, are numb all of the time these days.  It's very discouraging to be so young and have so many health issues.  Yuck.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  I went to a chiropractor for the first time last week, and he was a bit baffled.  He said I didn't have the "classic symptoms" of sciatica or herniated discs, so he took some x-rays of my back and hips.  Turns out, I have mild scoliosis with two curves in my spine which is causing my hips to be out of alignment in order to compensate for my curving spine.  I have arthritis settling in at the curves and also in my lower back.  My hips are arthritic as well, with possible another hip issue that my doctor couldn't fully pinpoint from the x-rays.  I have some compression of the discs in my lower back and also a misshapen vertebrae at the bottom of my spine.  It has some strange extensions off of both sides and also looks like I have a form of spina bifida, with my lowest vertebrae not closed properly around my spinal column.  All of that was determined tentatively after almost two hours of poking and prodding and lifting and bending and twisting and x-raying.  The good news is, I don't need surgery.  The bad news is, I don't think surgery will fix my problems.  So that's where I'm at.  The chiropractor gave me some practical exercises and stretches to keep my back limber and try to slow down the aging of my back (he said I'm 15-20 years ahead of my healthy peers), suggested some things I might try to help my arthritis (take glucosamine, etc.), and gave me some tips for walking (keep my toes pointed straight ahead and not out to the sides in my family's typical "McDaniel" way) and lifting buckets (lift with your legs, not with your back and keep the bucket as close to your body as possible).  Overall, I think it was a helpful visit.  I go again on Monday to see if he's learned anything else from my x-rays and old MRI images. 

As for right now, I'm off to make pancakes for lunch.  Yummy!  Love you all and miss you bunchees.  xo.

I guess I need to put more details on here about my new job.  Sorry though, no time now... I'm headed to bed because I have to get up early.  Brides, brides, and more brides coming in to make wedding flowers tomorrow.  I'm the new "Do-It-Yourself Floral Coach."  So exciting!  It's the perfect job for me, I think, because it mixes my degree (science education) with floral arranging (creative and crafty... love it!).  I'm in transition right now... I've officially been put in charge of the do-it-yourself wedding flower "construction area," but can't really officially start yet because they haven't hired anyone to replace me in my old position.  So I'm working back and forth right now between two jobs, sort of... but wishing I was just doing one... because I'm really excited to just get started!  I love my boss and I love learning about flowers.  All of my brides are going to get a mini-science lesson before making corsages and bouquets... lol.  Anthers, stamens, calyxes, sepals, petals, all of that.  For example:  Did you know that roses are hermaphroditic?  Did you know that the ovary of the flower (located at the base of the petals) becomes the rose hip (the seed)?  Did you know that petals are actually modified leaves?  And did you know that flowers are the reproductive organs of plants?  Did you know that the sepals (calyx) help hold the petals in place and that you should never pluck them off when making corsages?  Here's one of my favorite things about roses... Did you know that roses have five sepals and when you pull off the petals the calyx is in the shape of a star?  (My favorite flower AND my favorite shape!)  All of these interesting things I've learned and am still learning.  I must teach my brides!!! 

G'night.