Alex has been home on Fall Break so I've been busy but I did manage to get a layout done. This is a picture of a butterfly I took this summer in my yard. I used Autumn's Song by Betty Jo Martin. She sells at Scrapbook Elements. The brush was from Brandie Valenzuela. Alex goes back to school tomorrow so I should have more time for a longer post.

I learned a cool new technique in Photoshop. I know making curves is not exactly an advanced technique but it's one more thing I can use in my layouts!

Budd asked me about Bob Corker since I live in Chattanooga so I thought I'd give him my perspective.

This is in no way a political endorsement. In fact, this is one of those times when I wish "None of the above" was a choice on the ballot. We moved to Chattanooga 9 years ago and I admit I haven't paid too much attention to politics or politicians. But I do vote so I guess that makes me the worst kind of voter--an uninformed one!! And I took my son to vote as soon as he was 18. Told him it wasn't just a right it was a responsibility. Told him I didn't care who he voted for just that he vote. You'd think with that sort of attitude, I'd be more involved but after having lived in one place for 40 years, it was difficult to adjust and politics was the least of my worries.

But, I do want to say this. There's a Bob Corker commercial featuring Chattanoogans saying how wonderful the city is and all the fantastic things he did as mayor. What Chattanooga do these people live in???? My property taxes have not decreased, they've increased. As for crime, I haven't been impacted but the local news is about the same as it was when I moved here 9 years ago. The only difference is the names of the people being arrested or victimized.

I'm not slamming Chattanooga--it's a great place to live. I'm just saying that I can't recall any difference in my personal quality of life from when he was mayor or all the other mayors we've had since we moved here.

Anyone who has seen my other blog, Chattanooga Daily Photo, will know what has been going on. That blog has the Reader’s Digest version. This is a little more detailed but I’ll try not to get too boring.

Friday morning I got a call on my cell phone while I was at work. It was one of my kids and all he said before the call was dropped, “Mommy, I’m in the hospital.” It was like a B movie or a cell phone commercial. I have to admit that I wasn’t even sure which kid called me and the caller id just said “unknown”. I felt like a bad mother but they sound alike on the phone and I didn’t even get a chance to say anything. My first thought was that it was Michael but after verifying that Michael was in his class at the high school I knew it was Alex. Trying to find out about your college son is vastly different from the high school one. The best they could do was give me the number of the hospital in Murfreesboro. I called that hospital and found out from the ER that Alex had been there but he was being transferred to a hospital in Nashville. Not what a mother wants to hear! Now that he’s 18 he’s considered an adult and because of HIPAA they refused to tell me anything. I had called my husband at work as soon as I knew it was Alex. He works 40 miles away from Chattanooga in the direction of Nashville so he left and was making his way there.

I was on my way to get Michael out of school so I could leave for Nashville too when Alex called back again. I told him to tell me quickly what happened in case the call got dropped again. He had fallen out of his top bunk in his dorm and fractured his skull. He has no memory of what happened so we can only speculate. He had his PSP in bed with him and he last remembers playing with it. He found it on the floor and the screen was destroyed so Alex wasn’t the only one to fall.

Alex was in the hospital until Monday and he’s making a full recovery. No permanent damage. He’s glad to be back “home” in his dorm and I’m glad to be back home too. I’m still playing catch-up with everything including my blog.