Stuck in the Seatbelt

2011-05-25T21:26:00.000-05:00

Nothing much exciting going on around here today. Bubba had tummy troubles. Poor little guy would burp but his tummy was still so tight and he just wanted to be held all day and when I could get him down Little Miss decided to act up and be sassy so she spent her fair share of time in the time out chair today. Bug showed up unexpectedly and helped keep her happy for the morning, that was a big help....

But at lunch time I went to get something out of the freezer and noticed that the ice cream on the top shelf was now dripping down onto the shelf below and onto the floor as I took the box out. Turns out the whole refrigerator was dying. Thankfully it waited to die completely until after the hubby got home from work, but he had to go out and buy a new refrigerator. We got a decent deal. It's smaller than my side by side that I had, but we do have a chest freezer now so the small freezer isn't such a big deal. It did force us to do a bit of spring cleaning in the refrigerator I guess, but this is just not the way that I had planned to spend my evening!

So yeah, it's pretty much been one of those days that if it could go wrong it did, and I was ready to go back to bed by about 8 am, when my work day starts at 7! Thinking it's a good day to head off to bed early!

Hope you all had a better day than me! :)

2011-05-24T17:13:00.001-05:00

Beautiful flowers out our backdoor. The red building is our neighbor's workshop in his backyard. He is a very talented wood worker!

The neighbor' workshop and the flowers again. I loved the lighting on these that day.

The same neighbor's front porch. He is quite a decorator!

The bald eagle's nest from the famous eagle cam check them out we've been watching since they were first laid as little eggs. They have been mentioned on many news channels including CNN and people from all over the world are watching them. They are about 20 minutes away from me. If you look carefully/enlarge this picture you can see one of the parent eagles heads.

This little owl crashed into my front window. Flew right into it, we don't know if something was chasing him or if he just didn't see it. It was around noon or one in the afternoon. He sat on my porch for about 45 minutes collecting himself and let me open the front door just a bit to stick the camera out and get some pictures.

This picture is to show his size. We found later that he was a full size adult. He is a saw whet owl. After sitting there for the 45 minutes or so he pooped on the porch and flew away!

I love the "wink" here!


I won a facebook contest with Canvas People with one of his pictures.				Hope everyone is having a great day!

2011-05-23T20:42:00.000-05:00

Yes, once again I have been a bad blogger, very bad blogger. I knew it had been a while since I had blogged but I didn't realize that it had been March when I last blogged!

Lots of things have been changing around here. The most fun being that Little Miss now has a baby brother...Bubba...and he has been coming full time now and he really takes a lot more of my time and really, who can resist a chubby, snuggly, smiley baby?! Not me! And of course Little Miss has regressed a little bit needing a bit more of my time (including smacking me in the face this morning resulting in a time out for her!). Fun fun.

I've been busy with pictures. I finished senior pictures and a graduation slideshow. I am working on pictures for a website, editing pictures for a baby dedication and two sets of family pictures that I took on Easter as well as our fun "family" pictures on Easter.

The Awana year is over, two of our BIG projects came right at the end of the year and RIGHT before Easter causing me lots of stress. Hubby is in charge of our Awana Grand Prix, the kids get a block of wood, similar to the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby cars, and they build their cars with their family, have time trials and weights and measuring on the Wednesday night before the race during game time, and then on Saturday (the Saturday before Easter fun fun) we have the big race in the morning from 9 - 12. Lots of time spent decorating and getting helpers sorted, races lined up, hubby had two actual race cars parked out front, and then of course you have clean up afterwards. Our Pastor had a reporter come from our local paper and our Awana Iowa missionary came to be our speaker and help to present the race awards. It was a lot of fun but a lot of stress and work around our house. And you know I was there taking pictures!

And then there was our closing program where I have taken all the pictures I have gotten throughout the year and put them into a slideshow with music for a video to show the parents/families what the kids have done through the year. We try to make sure that everyone shows up in the video at least once. With 70 some kids, some who I don't know or recognize by name especially in Sparks, that gets a little interesting!

I am still teaching Sunday School, although this too brings some change. Sunday will be my last week teaching the Jr. High class. I have been the "lead teacher" and helping to prepare a new teacher to teach on his own. It has worked well as I have had to "sneak out" of class a few times for different reasons. But now our 1 - 3 grade teacher has requested a break so I will be sitting in on one last class for our new teacher in the Jr. High class and the next week I will begin teaching the 1 - 3 grades with the start of the new quarter. I am looking forward to it, although I do have to admit being a bit sad and thinking about how I will miss teaching the Jr. High kids!

Vacation Bible School is coming up in July and the sign up sheet for teachers and other help has gone up on the bulletin board. One teacher had signed up, for the fourth grade class so I wanted to decide which class I wanted quickly so I could have my choice. I went and signed up tonight when I was doing a couple other errands and I chose the 2nd grade. I'm excited! It will give me a chance to get to know some of my class a little better, and be a different age group than I have had the last few years in Sunday School and VBS. The last two years I have taught 5th grade and then 6th grade. I figure I might as well embrace the change, right?!

The high school baseball season officially starts tomorrow and I will be going to as many games as possible to get some pictures for some friends' son's pictures, he will be a senior next year. And I need to be working on senior pictures for him as well as pictures to send to his aunt for his graduation scrapbook. Never a dull moment. I'll be slowly starting to take some of his senior pictures over the summer and school year too. Our schedules are both so busy with work and other activities it looks like we'll have quite a few "mini" photoshoots to get them all in.

Anywhoooooo that's what's going on around here. I am going to try my best to write more often and I am thankful for those of you who have kept in touch with me and prodded me to blog and post pictures while I've been away. Rebecca Jo I'm praying for you and your family! And Brandi you have the most adorable family! Great to see pictures of them and the projects you've been up to!

I'll post some more pics soon!

2011-03-02T08:58:00.000-06:00

I finally finished typing the files in the main folder that I was given and was able to return that back to it's owner! SO glad to have that done! Now I have another small envelope (with 9 files) and then a couple short ones in another folder. I should be able to get it done pretty quickly!

I got pictures from Amanda to scan and put in a video for her graduation too. She has to get me a list of music yet, but this way I can get a start! I should have more time to get these projects done now that basketball season is over.

It's Dr. Seuss' birthday! I'm looking for some crafty/coloring things for the kids to do now. PBS has a marathon of The Cat in the Hat Knows alot about That today.

The emergency altert system just came on with a monthly test and the kids panicked...Bug looked at me and said I don't know what happened...where's the movie...what happened. I think he was afraid that he was going to be in trouble haha! Wow, PBS just did another test...both Bug and Little Miss looked at me and asked what happened in chorus!

Well, I'd better keep moving and get some things printed off for the kids. Hope you all have a great day!

2011-03-01T09:22:00.000-06:00

Wow! I have to much to tell you! It was definately a crazy and busy weekend!

Thursday our boys basketball team was playing in a town about an hour and fifteen minutes away to advance to the next level for the state tournament. Our plan was as soon as Little Miss left we were going to pick up the three boys Dad and head for the game. He called later and asked if we had room for another friend...we did and I believe the plan was for us to pick him up at his office which is on the way.

Well, he went to pick the boys up from the after school program and they couldn't find Bug. He called to say he was running late, we all thought he was in the bathroom or being a stinker and hiding. So we waited a bit, I cleaned up a little more around the house and we soon headed out to their house. Their Dad pulled up to the house ran out of the car to the house and I saw the boys start to open the door and head out too. K and I were talking and not paying much attention when their Dad came up to the car and said that Bug was still missing! Panic!

He left the oldest at home in case someone called and he took off in one direction, we went another, and a man who lives next door to the school and heard what was going on went in a different direction. We came back by the house to see if he had made his way here somehow and not seeing him we headed for PM and C's house (Bug's Grandparents). No Bug. We started driving sidestreets and alleys around their house looking for a little head bobbing down the sidewalk (the snowbanks are so high it is hard to see some of the kiddos even if you are in a car) and thought we had found him for a second only to find that it was someone else. We joke that we tried to add kidnapping charges trying to grab some innocent little guy! Can't tell you how hard we were praying that we would find him, and quickly!

We looked for a half hour to 45 minutes and I FINALLY got the phone call that he had been found. The little stink pot had gotten bored or something at the after school program and put on his boots, hat, mittens, coat, and backpack and decided to walk to his other Grandparents' house!!!!! We don't know which route he took but it's at least 1.1 miles for him to walk! K drove a couple routes after we got back to town from the game and dropped everyone off!

What bugs me is that when we had gotten the call he had just arrived at the Grandparents' house. And like I said it is a little over a mile that he had to walk....so how long was he missing and no one noticed. How did they not notice that he was gone while his two older brothers were still there??

I am SO thankful that when we walk to the park a couple blocks away I stress that we have to stop at corners and look both ways not once but twice so I know he knows that! He's never had to walk like that before so we really have no idea what made him decide to do it that day!

I am MOST THANKFUL that we found him and that he was fine! He was a very tired little boy though, and was asleep before his Mommy got home from work that night!

We finally met the boys' Dad and the other friend at the boys' house and headed for the game. The oldest came along with us too. He was so sweet, when we were talking about it a bit he said "Dad, when you were out looking, I got down on my knees and prayed!" Brought tears to my eyes!

Wednesday night we had two clubbers receive Christ as their Savior! One of the boys had been talking about it on his ride home with a friend to a neighboring town and the friend's Mom asked if he wanted her to pray with him. He said no, he wanted to pray with his Awana leader! That leader is PM and C's son. I was SO excited and happy for him as well. I had just been telling C the week before how impressed and proud I was with him as he had given up his men's league basketball with his oldest brother to be an Awana leader. And basketball is one of his favorite sports, and to play with the men was a big thing for him! This guy also says that he wants to be a missionary and has gone to Brazil twice now! He is like a little brother to me (even though he is quite a bit taller than me lol) and I can't help but "brag" about him! I can't wait to see how the Lord continues to use him!

Then this morning, I go to check my facebook and find that another little guy, the younger brother of Amanda, who I took senior pictures for, accepted Christ as his Savior this morning! On Amanda's 18th birthday too! Wow!

Friday I didn't have any kiddos so I worked on my file typing for most of the day. When K came home from work we headed to the church and worked with PM on a mudding and painting project in the main hallway of the church. It went alot faster than we thought it would and instead of breaking the painting up into two days like we planned we kept at it and finished up around midnight or 12:30 Saturday morning. We had some clean up left to do on Saturday but nothing like we thought we would have! The only problem was one of the tarps we used had a hole and as careful as we thought we had been and cleaning up the spots we found on the carpet as we went along we found a big spot that had dried Saturday afternoon while picking up the tarps. Most of it came up, but it's still somewhat noticable. They do want to get new carpet to match the rest of the entryway in there though, so I guess it's not terrible. It was actually alot of fun, and alot of work, and we definately have some memories after that lol. Lots of things get quite a bit funnier when it's that late and you are that tired!

Soo....yesterday honestly I was dragging a bit and had Bug mostly ready to go to school when the bus came early and she didn't wait long. When I had gotten Bug all set and got to the door we saw the back of the bus going down the road! UGH! So I called his Mom, hated to wake her up, she was sleeping after working the night shift, but she came to get him and took him to school.

Hopefully today is a nice quiet day the rest of the day and I can get some more typing done! Four more things to type and I can get this file folder back to be put in the files again!

Have a great day everyone!

2011-02-24T09:14:00.000-06:00

Despite a terrible headache afterwards it was a great night at Awana last night! It was friend night for double friend points and we had lots of friends out. We had two clubbers accept Christ as their Savior last night too! I was so excited, our best friends' son C was the one to lead them to the Lord! He is a junior in high school and has given up his men's league basketball nights to come and be a leader for Awana! I love that kid and I'm so proud of him!

No church on Sunday means that I have all my typing and Sunday School preparation done. I've been doing some typing for some files now...I'm really feeling off this week without my typing and things to do! It does sound like we plan to get together to go over the PowerPoint again just to make sure we're all on the same page before Sunday.

I caught up on making birthday and anniversary cards but found out that my Hallmark Christian Card Studio isn't working :( I have the regular card studio but some of the cards from the Christian Card Studio just aren't on there and it just isn't the same. I got a deal on this one on ebay too, and now I can't find another one :(

Kiddos are pretty quiet today, they've watched some tv and now they're coloring on the big dry erase board. Love that thing, it's been good entertainment quite a few times now!

The headache I had last night is finally gone, but I just feel so tired and out of it today. Naptime for the Little Miss can't come soon enough! Tonight is going to be another late night too!

Don't know much more than that for now...I'll have more pictures to share once I get them downloaded to the computer!

Hope you all are having a better day than I am!

2011-02-22T09:06:00.000-06:00

Back to work today! Sounds like it will be a busy day too! Mr. Bug is here for the morning and will get on the bus for school just after lunch, Little Miss is here all day, and it sounds like I'll get four more girls for the afternoon. Hopefully everyone gets along! At least the day will pass quickly!

Now that I've finally gotten some other things caught up with my weekend off I can focus more on pictures! I have quite a few I want to post here to share with you all, basketball pictures for Facebook, some of my brother's wedding reception to post on Facebook, and Veteran's Banquet pictures to burn to cds. Also it sounds like I am going to make a graduation slideshow for Amanda whose senior pictures I was taking so I will have lots of pictures to scan and put into a video. Never a dull moment ha!

Guess that's about all I've got for now....maybe I'll be back later this afternoon...hope you all have a great day!

2011-02-21T22:27:00.000-06:00

Wow, my week just got complicated! The boys basketball team won their game tonight...by one point what a game!...which means they now play on Thursday...when we are supposed to have Prayer Meeting. So we are in the midst of planning to move Prayer Meeting to tomorrow, Awana on Wednesday, basketball on Thursday!

We didn't have church yesterday because of the ice, rain, and snow we were getting. It's already thrown my week off! But this also means that most of my typing and my Sunday School preparation is done so it should be a little less stressful.

I also had the day off today so I caught up on a few corrections that I needed to type for last weeks work and finished with all the laundry and I even got to sit down and do some reading and finally finished a book I've been reading for a while. It was A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury. It was soooo good!

But not going to bed until 2am Sunday morning and finally catching up on some of my housework and laundry and the excitement of the basketball game is catching up with me and it's time to go snuggle with the hubby and head off to dreamland.

Hope you all had a great day!

2011-02-17T08:49:00.000-06:00

Wow! I'm loving these warmer temps and the snow melting...puddles and all...but this fog is crazy! School started two hours late yesterday and they just cancelled for today! My schedule changed or I would have 3 hyper boys and a crazy Little Miss running around the house! Now I just have Little Miss today and the three boys will come tomorrow morning.

The view out the front door this morning

They say it could be in the 50s today! The kids have no school tomorrow...teacher's day off since we have had parent teacher conferences this week...and no school Monday either. Quite a weekend for the kids! Just praying everyone stays safe!

It was another good night at Awana last night Panicking a bit, our Commander asked if I would do a Counsel Time in a couple weeks. I told him I'd think about it, want to do a little research before I committed. The kids brought items for our local food pantry last night. We ended up with two big boxes full and four or five plastic grocery bags full! They are a great group of clubbers!

Hopefully with a few final touches I should finish up with the Save the Date card I'm working up for a friend of ours. Then I can hopefully finish up with editing and burning the Veteran's Banquet pictures to cd. I have to mail out a few more Valentines from the youth group, print and mail the birthday and anniversary cards for the next couple of weeks, get some laundry done, some typing, and get to my parents for the hubbys birthday today!

What do you have planned for the day??

2011-02-16T10:39:00.000-06:00

Well it was a good game, but the boys lost last night. They've had a good season, and this was the team ranked number one in our district, but it was still a tough loss. I honestly think they could have beat them, but we were having a tough time hitting any shots, twos, threes, foul shots, we didn't let them shut us out, but it was a tough one to come back and win.

Little Miss is in a silly mood today! She was watching Max and Ruby and came and told me that crybaby was crying! We were watching a YouTube video with a tiny baby and when he started crying she got upset, almost crying herself and told me that he needed a diaper and a blankie! She's getting to be quite a talker! Yesterday she was running around the living room and told me "Spinning round...crazy lady!" I laughed and laughed!

I was just checking my facebook and saw a friend had posted that there is a Kirby vaccuum cleaner salesman going around town and apparently he will just walk into your house if the doors are unlocked! She also does daycare and said she was downstairs with the kids and heard the dog barking outside so she went upstairs and there he was standing in her living room! Guy has guts! I would have called the police! That is crazy!

Today is the funeral for an 18 year old girl, a high school senior, from a neighboring town who was killed in a car accident over the weekend. Her boyfriend graduated last year, he took her out to a town about an hour away and a car turned in front of them and another car, he clipped the car in front of him and crossed over the center line where he collided with a snow plow. It was just one of those things, no alcohol involved, the roads were slick. She died and he was sent to the hospital in critical condition. He improved and was sent home, but I can not imagine how difficult this has to be for him! We are praying that this may open the eyes of some of those kids around them, both in the neighboring town and in the surrounding areas, that think they are invincible and that they would be open to Christ!

I have had one of our Awana clubbers chat with me on facebook, she just wanted to talk a bit, wanted to tell me what they did at school and how she was feeling.

We had gone to a football game in the neighboring town and watched this girl be crowned Homecoming queen just a few months ago!

Please, pray with us for comfort for these families and that the Lord would work in hearts and minds through all this!

2011-02-15T09:25:00.000-06:00

We spent a quiet night at home last night...honestly I was in bed by 8:30! We folded laundry and then just watched some tv and talked. It was a good night! Things have been so busy lately it was nice just to be able to relax!

Little Miss has quite an attitude today...lots of No's an you don't tell me no followed by crying and tantrums. Fun. Dad said she was up early today so a nap should take care of that pretty quickly.

The sun is shining and melting lots of snow...I just wish that we didn't have a lake to "swim" through to get to either door of the house!

2011-02-14T12:39:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's a pretty quiet day around here, but those have become very welcome lately! Yesterday we spent most of the day at church...we had Sunday School and church, and then we stuck around to help our youth group with their first YAC (Youth After Church). We made Valentines for the elderly and shut ins of our church, made home made pizzas and cheesy breadsticks, had a short devotional and a couple of songs, and then played games and just had fun together. We made it home for about an hour and then it was back again for the evening service! What a day! But it was so much fun and I'd do it again any day!

The last regular season basketball game is this week, and the hubby's birthday too! Lots of celebrating around here this week!

Little Miss is sleeping well behind me...maybe the short time she "tried" to nap upstairs did her some good...realizing she has to sleep if she wants to keep her "crib" down here!

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T09:50:00.002-06:00

2011-02-10T13:49:00.000-06:00

So I know I'm totally going to regret this, but Little Miss has been napping for an hour now! That's twice as long as she napped yesterday...and counting! She's such a light sleeper if I sneeze or the phone rings or someone comes to the door she is up and any hope of getting her back to sleep is gone....

I tried putting her upstairs in the second bedroom but she started panicking a bit when she woke up like she was afraid that I left her. Then she would wake up as soon as I put her down...and forget going back to sleep again. UGH! So yesterday after her half hour nap (resulting in such a "joy" of a girl) the hubby moved her bed back down here. So far so good, I tiptoe around and hate to do much for fear of waking her, but she's sleeping and I get a little downtime to do some typing so I guess this is it. I just hope her baby brother is a better sleeper when he makes his appearance! Their Mom and I are afraid we are going to have our hands full when he does...definately going to be a big adjustment for Little Miss!

Soooo after a big "fight" at naptime with her yesterday and some "round and round" discussions about Awana music, which should have been simple but for some reason got very complicated and frustrating on my part, another "lovely" cold, last minute typing, and some odd phone calls I was not in such a great mood to go to Awana last night. Definately out of character for me! I even told the hubby that I just wanted to crawl into bed and try to start over tomorrow. So glad I didn't do that!

It started out a little frustrating, our Counsel Time speaker walking in at the last minute, one of the kids getting sick just after walking in the door, discussions of changes that need to be made on another photo project I am working on...which normally I don't mind at all but with my mindset you know how that goes sometimes...

But sitting and listening to our Counsel Time on Daniel I have to admit my heart started to soften a bit. Then a good conversation with one of the best friends about her trip taking her son back to the airport as he heads back to Afghanistan after his two week break home. Then off to the Spark's Counsel Time (it was backwards night so the Sparks could get into the Valentine's store first....so for one store they aren't getting all the "left overs"...) to put the words up on screen for one of their songs and finally down for handbook time.

All the record keeping had been done when I got down there and I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed when my clubber told me that she didn't have any sections ready. But then she told me she wanted to talk...she was worried about a family that attends her church occasionally and her 4 - H club. This is the Father's second marriage and it's not a great relationship, the kids are told they don't have to obey, they have horrible language and social skills and she just wants to show them a different way, the right way. Wow.

I was humbled.

I said a quick prayer of thanks, thanks that she trusted me enough to talk about this, that she treasured my advice, that she had such a heart for others and wanted to see them come to know the Lord....and we talked about how prayer was the best and biggest thing she could do. And how that if she saw them don't avoid them but make it a point to say hi, how are you...they don't have to be your "best friend" but "physically" show them that you are different, show them that agape love, and how they probably aren't going to "drop everything and run to you" that second, but I'm sure sometime in the future they are going to come to a place that they stop and wonder why you did that. Why you didn't just look down on them and judge them like everyone else.

I told her of a personal experience of mine, where one of my classmates...who readily admits that she was not one of the nicest girls in school, contacted me on facebook and said that she had been thinking about me and how I stopped and helped her when she was having trouble with her asthma while running the mile in PE. Why hadn't I just kept going and ignored her like everyone else?? Come to find out she had become a Christian and wanted to thank me. Wow. By the way, I really have no recollection of this event!

After our talk we spent some time in prayer not only for this family but for my clubber as well, that the Lord would give her the words and the actions to show them His love. I also told her how proud I was of her, that she had such a sensitive heart for others and was looking for a way to help when so many others judge and move on and promised to continue pray for her, and them.

After we were dismissed and everyone was milling around waiting for rides home I found her again and told her she could email or whatever she needed anytime, that I was here for her. She smiled and thanked me for doing this for her and I got teary all over again!

It's so easy to get caught up in the negatives and day to day things just like I had yesterday and this fifth grade girl gave me the "shake" I needed to pull myself out of it and put my focus back onto Him and others where it needs to be! I only wish that the kids from my Sunday School class and youth group could have been there....this is EXACTLY what we have been talking about!!!

After there were just a few of us left I noticed another leader sitting cross legged on the floor with a couple of clubbers and after getting a picture of the three of them sitting there the leader shared a sweet story about why these two clubbers were so special to him. I don't know how much of this story he wants out, as it is a bit personal but I will say that I had goosebumps and tears all over again!

All the kids had gone and there were just a handful of leaders left, I went to our Commander and I said "I'm sorry but I don't think Awana was for the clubbers tonight, it was for me!" I explained to him and he nodded his head and said yes, that's the way it happens sometimes that we definately get more of a blessing than the clubbers some nights!

I can't wait to go back next week!

2011-02-09T13:20:00.000-06:00

Ahhh it's definately been one of those days! Little Miss is not liking to nap, I moved her playpen upstairs and she's sleeping less than the little she was sleeping when she was napping down here....she's such a light sleeper if I sneeze she wakes up and is done napping for the day. Trying to convince her that napping is a good thing and she'll be much happier if she does isn't going so well though.

Had a little fun with the kiddos and Elements this morning...I won't show you the kiddos, but I will show you a little something I made for the hubby...just don't tell him lol!

That's a picture we took this summer on one of our little drives where he likes to get lost and I take pictures along the way.

We bought a few little things for the kids for their Valentines last night on the way home from the basketball game...they're getting heart straws, candy hearts, bubbles, and I think I have some cute little stuffed animals with little loops on them to hang on their backpacks or something around here somewhere.

Can't believe Valentine's Day is coming up so quickly!

2011-02-03T21:32:00.000-06:00

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I just ordered my 50 free prints from Shutterfly and have some more to go through before I order from Snapfish. It looks like you can get those prints through August once you get the code and add it to you account.

2011-01-28T09:13:00.004-06:00

K's hat for Crazy Hat Night at Awana...it's a Christmas tree made out of tinsel he found at Wal Mart! We think he looks like something out of Dr. Seuss!

Now he's added a Santa hat that another clubber brought

I added this one because it showed a little more detail of the tree. That "hat" was definately a hit with the clubbers!

2011-01-23T15:45:00.006-06:00

One job done! Today I FINALLY finished the senior pictures for our friend! I am so happy to have that done! I found a few fun extras online to play with in Elements so I made up a couple of extras for her.

Now I have to get the Veteran's Banquet pictures edited and burned to cd and my brother's wedding reception pictures edited and posted to facebook for him and I think I'm done with my big projects!

Speaking of my brother, you probably already saw that I am going to be an aunt again! I am so excited! This will be the first grandchild for my parents and for my sister in laws parents...and I am the only aunt...so of course you know this baby will have lots of I love my aunt onesies and things haha! I will have so much fun being the favorite aunt! Now we just have to get them to move back to Iowa from the Seattle area!

This week sounds a little slower, we aren't going to make Tuesday's ballgame :(, but we do have a benefit for a friend to go to. He was diagnosed with a rare type of stomach cancer and went to Houston for treatment. They recently returned home, and we all look forward to the opportunity to help them! Wednesday is our second Talent Night at Awana and also flashlight night for gametime. Thursday's schedule is still up in the air a bit, but we hope to be able to catch at least part of the basket ball game, it will be here in town.

I haven't forgotten about posting the picture of K's hat for Crazy Hat Night at Awana either...I need to get to work putting some basketball pictures on facebook for a friend, but I will post that either later tonight or tomorrow!

2011-01-19T08:26:00.002-06:00

Ahh I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote last! I know I keep saying it, but I really need to get better at this! I hate that there is such a long span of time between posts! I just have trouble fitting it all in somedays!

Little Miss is teething again, which makes her my little cling on. I don't get much of anything done when she is like this. It makes both of us a bit cranky.

I've been busy with typing, going to basketball games, Awana, and helping get music together for our new leaders for our youth group. It's been alot of fun, but takes alot of time!

I found out yesterday that I'm going to be an aunt again in September! My brother and his wife are expecting their first child! So exciting! I'm going to be the "favorite aunt"....ok so the only aunt but it works for me lol!

I'm working on pictures; the last of our friend's senior pictures, my brother's wedding reception (they renewed their vows here in Iowa over the summer so the her family and our family could be there), Awana, and the Veteran's Banquet...and some samples of save the date cards for another friend's son who just got engaged! I am loving Elements 9!

Anyway...the lack of posts isn't for not wanting to blog...and I have lots of pictures I want to share!

But now it's time to change the Little Miss' diaper so I'd better be off and running agian.

2011-01-13T13:47:00.002-06:00

I have sat here many times now with this screen up ready to start writing another blog post when the phone rings, or Little Miss wakes up from her nap (naptimes have not been our best friend around here lately unfortunately), or something happens...but today I'm determined to get a post up!

Basketball is in full swing and I'm sure those of you who are reading have seen my pictures up on facebook by now. I wasn't so sure about posting the pics on facebook but C and his mom asked that I would...he has a friend in Brazil (who is also on my facebook now) and wants them to be able to see them.

My typing work went crazy there for a bit...I think we are back into a more "normal" schedule again...what ever normal is!

Worship Team rehearsal after Awana last night...we got one of our teens to sing with us this time too! We (K, PM, and I) ended up talking with another friend/Worship Team member about some things going on after the practice and the time flew and before we knew it we were leaving the church at 11:30! Little Miss comes at 7:15, which means I'm trying to drag myself out of bed between 6 and 6:20 and she was VERY active yesterday (but mostly in a good mood thankfully!) so it was one LONG day and I was exhausted! I took a nap just after Little Miss first fell asleep and no basketball game tonight so we can go to bed early tonight to try and catch up. I feel bad for K, he was up at about 5:40 to go to work and no nap for him until about 4 if Little Miss lets him after he gets home!

Have to run now, but I will try and get pictures posted later tonight of K's hat for crazy hat night at Awana and maybe a few others. Hope you all have a great day!

2011-01-05T08:46:00.002-06:00

So yesterday was nothing exciting to write about. Worked all day and mostly wrote thank you notes in the evening. I did do a little reading and posted a few pictures of Christmas on facebook but didn't do much at all.

Tonight it's back to our "normal" schedule with Awana...our Counsel time is on Solomon and it's Crazy Hat night! K bought one of those Christmas trees that's made out of tinsel and cone shaped, hollow on the inside and he may throw a few little ornaments on it and that will be his hat! I still have to put mine together.

Little Miss' mood has been up and down, she seems to be working on some top teeth. They really seemed to bother her yesterday, but she still kept us laughing! Her baby brother is due in March and she's really been talking about him lately. Yesterday she was looking for him in the cupboards with the pots and pans! We told her that he had to go to work with Mommy and that seemed to keep her happy for a bit anyway! I love the way their little minds work!

Well, I don't have much else so I guess that's it for now. Hope you all have a great day!

2011-01-04T08:10:00.003-06:00

It was a pretty quiet day back to work for me yesterday, just me and the Little Miss, and she took a three hour nap! And nothing planned in the evening gave me plenty of time to catch up on some things! I did my billing through the end of December, totalled my days worked, meals served, and income for the year 2010, caught up with the laundry pile that has been staring at me in the laundry room each time we came in and out of the back door, got a couple thank you notes written, and did some reading!

I'm feeling much more organized and finally ready for the new year!

I even took advantage of a sale on Snapfish and ordered 99 prints for 99cents! I believe it goes through the 9th if anyone else wants to do it, when you check out type in the coupon code of 2011PENNY. I found a scrapbook and some Christmas scrapbook stickers I liked on sale a couple days after Christmas so I thought I would play around a little with some of my pictures. It's definately not going to be up to the caliber of scrapbooking that my sister in law does, but just something a little fun to try with my pictures. I'll put some in a "regular" photo album, but play around a bit with some others.

Not much else going on now that Christmas is over...the inlaws have gone back home, it's back to work again...although still a bit of a different schedule for the next couple weeks. This week I have Little Miss Monday through Friday and next week I will have Monday and Friday (my normal day off) with her. Can't beat a couple extra three day weekends!

Otherwise I'm still taking pictures/editing, and typing away on some things to be kept on file. Nothing too exciting!

Hope you all are having a great day!

2011-01-01T11:46:00.007-06:00

Happy New Year! We didn't do alot...I had some typing work to do and I redid my nails....this is what I had done for Christmas...

and this is what I did yesterday...not the greatest picture, it was taken with my phone...but they are snowflakes. Yeah I'm a big kid.
We stayed home last night and watched movies...we started watching the Tooth Fairy but neighter one of us liked it much and we switched to Alice in Wonderland...again not big fans...so we watched a bit of tv for a while and then watched Fireproof. I LOVE that movie! We saw Fireproof in 60 in the extras and the Firegoofs and pranks too! Too funny!

So far today is starting out just like yesterday...I should be working on my Sunday School lesson and looking up the hymns for church tomorrow, but I'm procrastinating! K wants to take a drive to get some pictures too...and who am I to argue with that haha!

I'm hoping to do some picture editing today too...K bought me some backgrounds, textures, and frames for Elements and I can't wait to play some more with them! Maybe I'll get to sit down and watch The Blind Side too!

I hope you all had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day today and that 2011 brings you much happiness and many blessings!

2010-12-28T15:15:00.006-06:00

Christmas Eve...we measured the snow on the deck table to see how much we've gotten

about 17 inches. Fun fun fun. It sounds like we are in for our fourth winter storm this weekend, but it may bring more rain with some higher temps. Not such a good thing when it freezes again.

This is yesterday, December 27, we had a fog, which brought what they call hoarfrost. The Rochester, MN news station asked for pictures, so I submitted the next three. This was the first one that showed up on their newscast at 5 pm.

This one didn't show on the newscast, but I still like it!

This one was quite popular and showed up on the 5 pm and 6 pm newscasts! I received lots of phone calls, emails, and texts about this one. One person even told me that they have used this for their desktop wallpaper. Someone told me I should enter this in the county fair next summer too.
Christmas was good, busy, but lots of fun, I will share more about that later, nothing planned tonight and I have LOTS of pictures to play with! Having fun with my trial version of Elements 9 and waiting for my copy to come in, but it's backordered and won't be in until the end of the month! Ahhhh!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a wonderful day today!

2010-12-24T14:00:00.002-06:00

So I finally got my photo prints made yesterday! C loved it so it made all that worthwhile! We did get some cookie baking in too, now I'm waiting for a phone call to go back and finish up what we didn't get done.

It's snowing....again. They say we could end up with another 5-7 inches. It's getting depressing! We are running out of places to put it all...and I have heard of towns, some bigger cities even that have already used up their snow removal budget for the season. This is crazy! My Dad said that we are in for another big storm next week too. Joy.

I finished my house cleaning today and I've gotten a bunch of laundry done. Feeling pretty productive! And I got the official phone call that I don't have to do the church's newsletter for January! Soooo much less stress on me now! Feeling like I can get alot more done now too! I have alot of past things to type just to keep on file and hopefully this will enable me to get most or all of that done....that is until I get the new copy of Elements and then I know I will be all about the pictures!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2010-12-23T14:02:00.002-06:00

Christmas vacation!

K and I ran to Wal Mart last night (about a 20 min drive) because I wanted to get one of my pictures printed for a friend and the boys Mom told me that one of the local stores that do photo prints aren't able to do 8 x 10s now so we thought we could get a couple 8 x 10s printed and do some other last minute shopping. We got there, headed back to the photo machines only to find that they were closed. We missed them by about five or ten minutes! We did need a few other things so the whole trip wasn't a wash, but I was sure frustrated! Oh well, if that's the only thing that goes wrong this Christmas!

I take that back, C called and said that she has to work the whole day today not just the morning like she had planned and it sounds like she is watching the boys tonight so their Mom and Dad can go out to celebrate one of Mom's brother's birthdays. But still...if that's all that goes wrong!

Anyway....we slept in this morning and I cleaned the house. After lunch I did some online shopping with the gift certificates from the boys and their parents. Rebecca Jo...I did order Elements 9!!! I'm playing with the trial download version now and I LOVE the updates! The copy I ordered is on backorder, along with my copy of The Blind Side, but my copy of Fireproof and Veggie Tales A Silly Little Thing Called Love should be here soon!

We need to run into town and put a couple checks in the bank and try to get those pictures printed. They may be 5 x 7s instead of the 8 x 10s we'll have to see. Otherwise we're just hanging around and enjoying the day off together.

Hope you are all having a great day and a very Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T08:46:00.003-06:00

First of all...I owe Rebecca Jo a HUGE apology! I received a wonderful package from her a few days ago and I thanked her privately but I HAVE to show you all the BEAUTIFUL hand knit lovelies she sent me! Thank you thank you thank you Rebecca Jo! I was so surprised, excited, and thrilled to get your package and the lovely note you sent along with them! I still haven't been able to use them...they are decorating my kitchen for Christmas right now! Thank you so much Rebecca Jo!

This is the sidewalk leading up to our front door. The piles on the end by the road are a bit taller after I threw the snow that the plow blocked the end of the sidewalk in with while I was shoveling, but you can tell we have alot of snow! It is the snowiest December on record in Rochester, MN, about an hour from us, and I wonder if it isn't a record for us as well. I'll have to get K out there and get a picture of him standing on the sidewalk to give you a better perspective.

These are the bushes I took pictures of when it first started snowing right out in the front of the house. Now just piles of snow.
I am SO behind with Christmas coming so quickly! We haven't even put up the tree! C and I have done just enough baking for the cookies for the Christmas program Sunday night and we just finished shopping and wrapping the gifts!

Thankfully our church secretary is home from helping her Dad in Texas and she will be taking back her jobs so that means alot less work for me next week with the church's newsletter and hopefully I'm able to catch up on some other things around the house and be better at blogging more often!

Today is my last day of work before Christmas, and it's only my Bug and I. Nice quiet easy day! He's watching some Tom and Jerry while I get a bit of work and blogging done! We exchanged gifts with the daycare families and I received a wonderful gift from Bug, T man, and Mr. L and I am thinking about upgrading to Photoshop Elements 9. I downloaded the trial version to see the differences between 7 (that I have now) and 9 and so far I am loving it! I didn't want to upgrade just to upgrade and have the newest thing you know what I mean, but there seem to be some nice new features!

The cough is getting better, but I still have coughing fits if I laugh too hard....which of course seems to mean that K has to be in quite a mood and making me laugh even more than normal....to which he aplolgizes when it does happen but makes us both laugh even harder. Lovely cycle lol!

Well Bug is finished and wants to build with some blocks so must run for now! Big hugs to you all, hope you have a wonderful day!

2010-12-20T20:46:00.003-06:00

Blah more snow! They let out of school three hours early today and have already cancelled school for tomorrow! I am so SICK OF SNOW!

We had our church Christmas program last night. Each family was invited to participcate with a song, poem, reading, etc. I was so busy I wasn't going to do anything but PM asked me to do a reading that he had recently done at a nursing home service. I was so nervous, but I think it turned out well.

The "lovely" cold is still hanging in there. Now I only have coughing fits when I laugh....which tends to be quite often. Blah!

Hope you all had a great weekend and I'll take some more pictures tomorrow to show you the new "fun" stuff outside.

2010-12-13T14:43:00.039-06:00

This one is actually a couple weeks old but it's one of my favorites...a bald eagle in a tree just outside of town in our first light snow

Snowing on Saturday

It's piling up on our steps and railing

and on the bushes out front

Later on Saturday

and on the mailbox

another view of the bushes out front a little later with more snow

the neighbor's suburban late Saturday afternoon

snow, snow, snow

the neighbor is snowblowing his balcony! He did this at least two or three times on Saturday

looking out to the neighbor's house across the street

plowing out Sunday morning - looking out the front door towards the street

the table on the deck out back - they say we got 9.5 inches!

icicles on the side of the house

looking from the garage to the deck as we were leaving to take some pictures

piles next to a driveway at a house just down the road

such a pretty Christmasy scene

there is supposed to be a road here...it hadn't been plowed as of noon on Sunday

looking down our road

blowing snow on a road near us

a field on the edge of town

oved the icicles hanging there and their all kind of bowed

the main highway through town heading towards our church

the church parking lot...that's our Pastor's office

the main highway heading home

the main highway again

someone hit the street sign in their snow removal

more snow

love this snowman!

beautiful

a road near a local park

blowing snow at the backside of the park

2010-12-12T22:00:00.002-06:00

We survived the Blizzard of 2010! They say that we got 9 and a half inches and that's more than enough for me! I shouldn't complain since I have heard that some places in more Northern Minnesota have gotten 20 inches or more!

I took a bunch of pictures that I will try to post tomorrow. It's been a couple of late nights and I'm going to be prepared for Little Miss a bit earlier in the morning...she may not make it at all since they live in the country but I'mg going to be ready, and posting pictures seems to take so long! A couple of them even made it to a local tv station's facebook album of pictures of the storm!

Madrigal was postponed from Saturday night to Sunday at 11:30, we cancelled church figuring it was safer for all involved and that our parking lot wouldn't be plowed anyway so it wasn't going to be a problem, but then they postponed it again until tomorrow night! It sounds like this is the first time they have ever had to rechedule!

Hope you all had more fun this weekend!

2010-12-08T16:11:00.002-06:00

So there was no basketball for us last night. We found out that our friends' son was not even going to dress, the coach is still sitting him out because he went to Brazil over Thanksgiving to be in a wedding...meanwhile a group of boys who were in trouble and are on probation for something like six months are now dressing and playing. We didn't get season tickets this year so K said he was not going to pay to watch C sit on the bench not even dressed. I did some of my typing work instead.

We are excited for Awana store tonight! I'm not going to lead my group tonight, I'll be taking pictures of the kids shopping and helping out where I can....hopefully anyway, I haven't heard that they have gotten a sub for my group for sure yet. And then after the kids are done the leaders can shop! It's a pretty good deal...one Awana share equals a quarter! I do some of my own Christmas shopping there some years and from what I have seen of this year's store I will be doing some tonight too!

I think my cold has come back a bit. Thankfully not as bad as it was before, but I start coughing and it's hard to stop, especially in the morning. And my throat gets so sore from the coughing. I broke down and bought some cough syrup at Alco last night. It's helping some, but when I get outside and breathe in that cold air it triggers the coughing all over again.

Well, Little Miss is running amok and she's rather cranky while doing that so I better run. Hope you all had a great day!

2010-12-06T21:36:00.002-06:00

Weekends are going to be very busy in December and this last weekend was no exception! I was typing most of the evening Friday to go over PowerPoint Saturday morning after the men's breakfast. Well, with the snow and a few other things going on the men's breakfast was cancelled so we met a half hour later than we would have and got PowerPoint finished up and went home with enough time to eat lunch and then it was off to see a local kids theater group's play of The Velveteen Rabbit. They did a great job! Afterwards I still had to finish up my Sunday School lesson and a little retyping for Sunday and before I knew it it was after 11 and time to go to bed!

We had to be to church a little early on Sunday to make some copies for my Sunday School class and also set up a table in the back of the auditorium since my class was moved for the day because Awana store was being set up. We had one more hymn to finish up to be put on screen as well. After the Morning Worship Service we had choir practice, ran home to pick up the dogs, and then it was off to my parents house for lunch. We stayed and visited for a bit and dropped the dogs back at home and back to church to work on the Awana store. We worked for about three hours and headed back hom for a bit before the Evening Service. I think I caught a ten minute or so nap....the Evening Service was shorter and we came home and I was in bed by about 8:30...partly because I was so cold and we have an electric blanket on the bed!

K took the day off today and hung out with me and the Little Miss, which she LOVED! She had a really good day even with her teething! She was a bit off schedule and took a 10:00 nap instead of an afternoon nap and she was trying to go to sleep around 5 before Grandma came to get her. I kept her awake, she wasn't very happy, but she did perk up when she saw Grandma.

Tomorrow is a ballgame, Wednesday is Awana and Worship Team practice, and Saturday is Madrigal! The church's Christmas program is coming up too! And C and I are trying to find a time to fit our yearly Christmas baking in! Anyone have some extra time they want to share with me haha!

Hope you all had a more relaxing weekend and a great day today!

2010-12-02T09:31:00.002-06:00

Well, it looks like winter and the Christmas season may be arriving....they say we could get six inches of snow Friday night into Saturday. Just because I know it's coming doesn't mean I have to be happy about it lol!

I think Little Miss is teething again. She hasn't been as fussy this time, but she is definately clingy! She is quite "helpful" when I am trying to type or get something written! She's had some good days in between, she helped me bake brownies the other day and she was quite proud of herself!

We had a good turnout for Awana last night. The kids were very energetic, but they were very well behaved! I love my group of girls this year! We have laughed and had a good time while they are working on their sections...for the first time in a couple years it has been like this....it's been a struggle trying to get kids to behave and follow rules and to get their sections passed. I am so thankful for a good year so far!

I've almost finished editing the proofs for our friend's senior pictures and I finally finished editing the school picture shots for her two sisters and her brother! I have the pictures from the Patriotic Banquet to edit and get on a cd, some of my brother's wedding reception to edit and post on facebook for him, and get some pictures I have of our Pastor and his wife to change out some of the pictures on our church's website and I will be finished with my big photo projects!

Well, guess I don't know a whole lot more so I'm going to run. Hope you have a great day!

2010-12-01T09:12:00.002-06:00

Wow! I can't believe it's December already! It is going to be a busy month! We already have tickets for a local community theater play of the Velveteen Rabbit for this weekend, C and I are going to Madrigal at the High School (the High School Choir serves a midevil times type meal complete with costumes...for the kids...and entertainment. They even have a boar's head!) We have our church's family Christmas program, and C and I have to do our yearly Christmas baking! Lots of fun!

It's supersize night at Awana tonight! I have my supersize item picked out, but K still has to choose his. I can't wait to see what the kids have chosen!

It's snowing a bit again today. Nothing really amounting to much but the snowflakes are in the air. Little Miss is a bit confused and keeps looking at me and asking "Raining?" I'll tell her it's snowing but in five minutes or so we're having the same conversation all over again!

Well, it's back to work with my typing (PM and C were away for a couple weeks so I had a bit of a vacation too!) so I'd better get busy and get to work so I won't be rushing with the play this weekend!

Have a great day!

2010-11-30T08:53:00.002-06:00

Wow, I really got lost didn't I?! Obviously I didn't do so well with NaBloPoMo, I think I did make it farther than I did last year, but unlike last year I want to try to keep blogging...maybe not every day, but at least a few times a week and keep up with you all. It has been alot of fun "reconnecting" with some of you!

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving this year. We went to my parents house for a bit and then to some of our "adopted" grandparents for a few hours in the afternoon. PM and C and their family were out of town and we were all missing them...we usually all get together at either their house or A and A's place and they were all gone. It was quite strange!

We didn't get up very early and head out, but we did take advantage of some Black Friday shopping. K got a printer for PM's office that he had been watching. I bought a few Christmas gifts.

Last night after researching some settings we went out on a drive taking some pictures of Christmas lights decorating some houses and the courthouse here in town. Quite odd considering it was pouring rain! I think we did get some nice shots though. I can't wait to go again and get some shots with snow on the ground! I'll share some of the pictures I did get soon.

It is snowing a bit today. It's not really amounting to much, just a dusting but you can see it in the air and just a bit on the ground. I've pulled out the Christmas music too. It's beggining to feel like the Christmas season!

2010-11-24T22:52:00.002-06:00

Here I was doing so well and then I realized that I missed writing yesterday! Well, I guess it is farther than I got last year, so that's something. But I really had hopes of finishing out NaBloPoMo with a post for every day!

Anyway...yesterday was my Friday so I slept in this morning. After a shower and checking email A called and we were off to work on a little surprise project for some friends. While we were working I got a text message that they were letting school out at 1:15 due to weather. At the time we couldn't see why, but as the afternoon went on we understood. It started raining and because it was only about 32 degrees it started freezing and the wind picked up a bit too.

Thankfully we have no where to go tonight, and only across town tomorrow so it doesn't effect us too much, but hopefully those who do have to travel are safe!

I found the cutest etsy shop today! This lady makes what she calls Lens Pets. She takes new hair scrunchies and uses felt and buttons and makes little animals and other creatures to put around the lens of your camera so the little kiddos have something to look at rather than just saying smile for the camera! She can add jingle bells, squeakers, or a music button too! K looked at them and said they were cute, but he thought I could make my own cheaper....hers are around $15. Well, we had to run some errands this afternoon and we picked up some scrunchies, pom poms, and some craft foam for me to try to make my own. Mine are a bit different than hers, but they will work....and so far I've made two for about the price of one of hers...and I still have ten scrunchies and lots of foam left to make more. I've made an airplane and I'm in the middle of a penguin.

Otherwise my day was pretty uneventful. Hope you are able to relax and enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends tomorrow! Anyone going shopping bright and early on Friday?

2010-11-22T22:12:00.002-06:00

Ahhhhh! It was definately one of those days today and I am SO glad it's over! Little Miss slept for all of a half an hour total today and was cranky. But of course she was as happy as a clam when K got home.

A called and was called into work so I had to pick up the three boys after school, K was supposed to be off work at 2:30 and it would be no problem. But of course that didn't happen and I had to call the school and ask if they could go to the after school program for a half hour until K got off work and I could get there. They were very kind about it and I got them and Little Miss was very excited to see them and they all played very well but it was very LOUD! Bug sang quite a few songs for us, at the top of his lungs of course.

One funny moment, Bug and Tman were jumping on top of L and pretending to fight with him...boys games you know...and Little Miss stopped, her jaw dropped and she started yelling and almost crying. She thought they were really hurting her L! She was very happy to see that he was ok and gave him a big hug!

Well, going to run and try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight. Hope you all had a better day than I did!

2010-11-21T22:10:00.002-06:00

It was a foggy, drizzly, cold day today. Thankfully no snow, but they say we could get some freezing rain tomorrow. Ick!

Sunday School and church went well this morning, choir sang two specials this morning and then we came home and made Shake and Bake chicken breasts, potatoes, and brownies for lunch and baked a frozen pie for the Pie fellowship after the Praise and Thanksgiving service tonight. As the pie was baking I sat down to watch some You Tube videos and I put my head down on my desk and the next thing I know I'm looking up and a half hour has passed, I had fallen asleep!

The Praise and Thanksgiving Service went very well and some of us were a little teary after some of the peoples praises and thanks when the congregation was offered the chance to share! Lots of yummy pie afterwards and now I'm ready to go upstairs and curl up with my nice warm comforter!

Sooo hope you all enjoyed your weekend and you were able to relax a bit....but now I'm off to bed! Hugs!

2010-11-20T23:36:00.002-06:00

Oh! I almost missed it! It's been a busy day... we slept in a bit, I got a couple phone calls and answered questions about tomorrow's church services,my parents stopped in and wanted me to look up some websites to order checks and check out some used car dearlers in the area, we watched the wedding in Brazil online and had a little "adventure" with A and A, and got our regular work done at church.

I still have to bake a pie for the pie fellowship after our Praise and Thanksgiving Service tomorrow night and of course I still have lots of pictures to edit...I am working on those though, slowly but surely!

I did get the house cleaned but with everything else going on I didn't get any laundry done, or as much typing or picture editing as I'd hoped. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Hope you all had a good day and were able to relax some!

Hugs!

2010-11-19T21:42:00.006-06:00

I realized yesterday that I didn't share the apple dip recipe with you like I had planned! Blond moment! Anyway...here it is: 8oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1tsp vanilla Beat with an electric mixer and you're done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy as the kids have been saying haha!

K took another half day off work this afternoon and picked up Chinese for lunch. Beef chow mein with fried rice, crab rangoon, and egg drop soup! Yummy!!

We ran to Alco because we saw that something we had seen and were thinking of using as a photography prop went on sale.

So this guy came home with us! I have quite a few ideas on how to use him! My first thought; how adorable would a baby look snuggled up in his lap?! And a toddler running around him and playing and posing with him?! So sweet! He would do a bit of double duty too. We have a supersize night coming up soon in Awana and he'll come with me as my supersize item.

Then I was off to a friends in a neighboring town to do some more card making. K drove and he went to Wal Mart and got a haircut and a few other necessities we can't get in town.

This is a bit of what we did...the cards with the flowers were made with napkins! Crazy but they turned out so cute! The little snowman with the Do you hear what I hear may be a few of my Christmas cards sent to a few special people this year. Coloring them in takes forever! And then I still have to cut them out and glue them on the cards! Like I don't have enough to do with my "free time" right?! But they are so cute! Someone gave me a little container of this fluffy looking powdery stuff which when I glue it on the lamb, the bunny's tail, and the little pom pom of the snowman's hat makes them look fuzzy and fluffy!

Well, I suppose I'd better get back to work, I have a bit of typing to do for our Praise and Thanksgiving Service Sunday night and four more of the card fronts that I've already stamped to color in...and most likely I'll stamp and color more. And I have to get up tomorrow and get the house cleaned and a few things straightened up so we can watch our friend's wedding in Brazil online!

Hope you all had a great day and you'll be able to relax and enjoy the weekend!

2010-11-18T21:55:00.002-06:00

Today was my busy day with kiddos. I picked up Bug and his two brothers after school and we made apple dip and I sliced some apples and had snack and then they actually kept themselves busy reading and looking at books. They all did really well, even if Little Miss only had a 45 minute nap!

K surprised me and took the afternoon off work! Little Miss was very happy to see him, hence her short nap! She was in a very good mood for such a short nap, until Mommy came to get her, then she screamed and ran in the other direction! I walked them out to the car and she stopped crying, but started again once Mommy put her in the car and I could hear her calling my name. Little pickle!

I'm off again tomorrow. I have lots to do, laundry and house cleaning of course, but some fun pictures to edit yet and a little bit of typing. I may even get to do a little more stamping and card making in the afternoon!

A friend of ours is getting married this weekend in Brazil. His Mom grew up in our church and they are missionaries in Brazil. We just found out that we will be able to watch the wedding online. We're excited to watch and see the differences in a Brazilain wedding!

Well, I guess I don't have much more...I'll share some more pictures with you soon!

Big hugs!

2010-11-17T11:36:00.024-06:00

I haven't shared any pictures in a while so I thought I would share some of my favorites...

A cloth paper doll a friend was cutting out at the Ladies Day Away

What I was working on...a little, not much progress made....at the Ladies Day Away

A 1930s sewing machine one of the ladies brought to the Ladies Day Away. She uses it quite often from the sounds of it. I loved the pattern on the side and took a few shots while she was laying out her quilt.

A 1930s sewing machine one of the ladies brought to the Ladies Day Away. She uses it quite often from the sounds of it. I loved the paatern on the side of the machine and got a few shots while she was laying her quilt out. Hubby brought out the spray bottle and I had fun shooting the spider out in our bushes...straight out of the camera

This spider was out in our bushes I had alot of fun shooting him straight out of the camera

Fall sunset out my front door straight out of the camera. I know there's alot going on with the tree branches but I LOVED the color! Straight out of the camera

Mom and Dad at the family photo shoot...Bug looked and said eeeww edited color and lighting

Boys running off some energy at the family photo shoot edited color
and lighting

One of my favorites from the family photo shoots they were turning around to walk towards me and Mom and Dad just naturally looked down at the kiddos edited color and lighting

One from the family photo shoot...edited the color and lighting a bit

Leaves in the lake

Looking downstream at the new trout run at our local lake

The new trout run at our local lake

Hubby and I on one of our photo drives :)

Peek a boo with my little boo

Summer sunset straight out of the camera

Summer sunset over a field near our house straight out of the camera

Summer sunset near our house straight out of the camera

Summer sunset straight out of the camera

Summer sunset over the cornfield straight out of the camera

Snow on the deck the other morning...thankfully it wasn't much and melted quickly!

Fabric paper dolls a friend was cutting out at the Ladies Day Away

2010-11-16T20:54:00.002-06:00

Back again! I got more accomplished today! I would feel alot better if I could get caught up with the laundry, but we can't have everything I guess.

Thank you for the sweet messages and hugs after my post yesterday. Today was a bit better, I did sleep well, I promise it's nothing major. Being tired, the weather, and a couple things going on right now just all adding up.

I got one family photo shoot all edited and burned 4 cds and got them out to the family. I have a few more pictures and I'll finish another one! Then just two more to go! Feeling slightly less overwhelmed with it all now too!

Awana tomorrow should be alot of fun! It's crazy hair night! I have my green hair color spray and blue glitter Tinkerbell fairy dust hair glitter stick all ready. I think I may do some random pony tails and then color the pony tails. We'll see how much time I have to get ready!

Well, I'm off to edit a few more pictures and try to get to bed at a decent hour!
Hope you all had a great day!

2010-11-15T21:35:00.003-06:00

Not such a great day today. Nothing major and again, I know some of it I'm being overly sensitive about but just in the midst of things going on I'm just a bit sad. I'm not writing for everyone to ask what's wrong or throw a pity party or whatever...it's just today. I know that alot of it is that I'm overtired and I'm really hoping to get to bed here soon and solve that!

I'm almost done editing one of the family photoshoots and still considering names. My favorite so far is Foggy Creek Photography. I'm not set for sure though. If you have any other suggestions there is still time to share lol!

I know another short nothing much post, one main reason I have a hard time with NaBloPoMo, but it's a post. I promise to get better starting tomorrow and respond to comments as well.

Hope you had a great day!

2010-11-14T20:32:00.003-06:00

It was a pretty quiet day today...especially since we didn't go to bed until midnight or 12:30 Friday or Saturday nights and then got up early both Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I bought my ticket to see a local children's theater's play...The Velveteen Rabbit the first week in December. Should be alot of fun! After church K and I were looking to see what movies were on demand and we found the Velveteen Rabbit so you know I had to watch! Ok so I fell asleep about halfway through, but the kids will want to watch it took so I'll get another chance!

It snowed for most of the day today. There was just a bit sticking to the grass...I'm really not ready for the snow to come! My uncle lives just north of Minneapolis and it sounds like they got around 9 inches!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

2010-11-13T08:51:00.003-06:00

Another cold and rainy day today. Good thing my plans for the day involve being inside and sitting at a table and stamping and coloring lol!

Finally got all the laundry put away last night...didn't go to bed until midnight lol but hey, the job is done lol!

Really wishing that I could take work on editing pictures today but that would involve taking the whole desktop computer and the external hard drive. Not so sure that is going to work.

Well, I know this isn't much of a post, but I have to get going...hopefully I will be back with some pictures from the day later!

2010-11-12T22:42:00.002-06:00

Not much exciting going on around here. The cold is still hanging on. I feel better each day, but still feel terribly congested first thing in the morning.

M stopped in and gave me a treatment, hopefully that will help the sinuses too!

I slept in since I wasn't working daycare today...then I got up and cleaned the house and did a bit of laundry.

Otherwise I've been typing, typing, and more typing. I didn't even get to work on pictures like I'd hoped. Oh well, I did get alot accomplished. I was listening to the Contemporary Christian Music Choice channel on the tv while I've been typing most of the day....after supper I'm almost afraid to admit it's been the Sounds of the Season Music Choice channel....Christmas music. It just feels like that time of year now. It's colder and rainy. We had some sleet, but no snow yet, thankfully! My two brother in laws that live in Minnesota are complaining about snow!

I was excited to see some pictures from Rebecca Jo's first family photo shoot on facebook tonight! You should go check her out! RJ Photography on facebook! She does great work!

Ladies Day Away at church tomorrow! I'm going to take some stamps and things to make some cards, but I will probably take my latest knitting project or some counted cross stitch along too. Maybe I should take my Sunday School lesson too haha! I will get some pictures of the crafts and things the other ladies are working on.

I may be in for a bit of a change in the Sunday School department. There is an Elders' and Deacons' meeting Sunday night and they are going to have some discussion...one of our teachers would like a break...and they have to either find someone new there is a possibility of me being moved to the 1-3rd graders and N taking our class by himself. I don't mind either way, I just love teaching! And it is an age group that they are pretty self sufficient and a change from daycare so I'm happy either way.

Well, I still hope to get a bit of laundry put away so I better get going.
Love and hugs to you all!

2010-11-11T22:16:00.005-06:00

Don't have alot to say again today and I thought it fitting to share some pictures from the Patriotic Veteran's Banquet last weekend.

Thinking of J especially today as he is in Afghanistan. And a few others we know that will be going soon. And we are so thankful for those who have served or are serving our country. Thank you!

2010-11-10T22:00:00.002-06:00

I'm so tired after Awana that I almost forgot to stop in and write! It was a good day today, busy, although I can't say I accomplished a whole lot...but the kiddos were in good moods and I'm feeling better. Now if I could just get my voice back.

Not much to write about otherwise...just editing pictures, working, and typing....

It was Awana Fever night at Awana tonight. The kids got double points for their sections they passed and got to put a sticker on their leader. I had 12! C beat me by 2! But our Commander did give us chocolate at the end of the night so I guess all the itching and the pain when they came off was worth it!

Saturday is our Ladies Day Away at church where we all get together and do our crafts and visit and have a group prayer time. We have a good time together. I'm excited, hoping to sit down and make some cards with a friend of ours who is really trying to get me into stamping and card making.

Well, guess that's all I have for now, not exciting, but I can say it counts as a post for NaBloPoMo anyway! lol

Hope you all had a great day!

2010-11-09T19:59:00.002-06:00

I really wish that I could kick this sinus cold! I feel fine other than the congestion and then today my voice decided to go!

Little Miss was CRANKY today! Mom said that she woke up early and was fussy at home so I didn't feel so bad, but it did make for a long day.

One of the A's came over and looked at the pictures we shot on Saturday. She laughed at some that we caught and was very gracious about the shots that didn't work out so well too. That made me feel alot better! She said that there are quite a few that she does want copies of!

After posting a bit about my pictures on facebook another friend asked if I do wedding pictures! PANIC! I explained that I was just starting out and she said that was ok, she wanted to look at some of the work I had done and that I had a year to practice! I don't know if I will do it but it's nice to be considered!

After Little Miss left this afternoon A called and asked if we wanted to go out to eat with them and another family of friends. A local restaurant in town has a good special and it was cheaper for us to eat with them and get another special than to order for some of the kids on their own. We had a great time visiting and playing with the kids and had alot of food! I don't think anyone went home hungry! K had ribs, mashed potatoes, and a salad, and I had half a steak (I shared with one of the boys who has quite the hollow leg lately!), some mashed potatoes (shared again with T), and a salad.

During the meal I was talking with J, the Mom of the other family that went along and she volunteered her family for pictures for practice/experience for me. I told her be careful what she wishes for, I'll just have to take her up on that offer!

K paid me for taking her three youngest's school type pictures and her oldest's outdoor senior pictures and with that we are looking to buy the framework and some fabrics for backdrops for indoor shoots.

Well, I better quit babbeling and get to work on typing the song for Awana tomorrow. Hope you all had a great day!

2010-11-08T12:55:00.002-06:00

After three doses of the sinus med I am finally starting to feel more human again. I also had a cup of Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Decaffeinated Green Tea this morning. It was really good! It felt really good on the throat too!

I had a good morning with the kiddos! Bug told me that they went to Wisconsin Dells and saw some pirates....Pirates of the Carrots and Beans! Haha Pirates of the Carribean ~ Pirates of the Carrots and Beans! He is quite a character. He even told me about the captain and the mateys!

Little Miss is sharing her opinion on what her baby brother should be named too! She gave Mom and Dad one name over the weekend, but when I asked her today she told me he should be named Barney! I told her I didn't think Mommy wanted the baby to be a big purple dinosaur and she laughed!

Don't think we are going to do much tonight, relax after the crazy weekend! Hopefully between loads of laundry I can get some more pictures edited....after this weekend I am WAY behind!

Hope you all have a great day!

2010-11-07T20:15:00.002-06:00

I've gotten some really good ideas for ideas for names for my photography facebook page...still not sure which to choose...so if anyone else has any ideas I would love to hear them!

I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and some sinus pressure and I took some allergy meds and things got a bit better but when I woke up this morning my ears had so much pressure. We ran to Wal Mart after church and I picked up some sinus medicine for pressure and congestion and that has helped alot. I also picked up some fabric for some fleece tie blankets...one for Little Miss for Christmas and one for her baby brother (they found out on Friday the new baby is a boy!) when he is born! It is so adorable! The patterned fleece are a pink and blue camo pattern with little baby shoes one them! I got a solid pink and blue for the backside, although the blue looks like it has a little bit of white mixed in there, sort of sky looking. I'll try to get some pictures. I have one other blanket to make too for a friend from church who found out she is having a girl in January after having two boys! Definately had to find some pink for her!

The blankets are sort of a "tradition" at our house. I have one of my own that I love, I have made one for each of the daycare kids for the past four or five years. I think I've made eight or so already.

Well, better keep moving and try to get a few more pictures edited before I crash for the night...hope you all had a great day!

2010-11-06T16:25:00.002-05:00

One photo shoot done for the day! A&A and their three boys took family pictures at the lake just outside of town this morning. Now I have the Veteran's Banquet in about an hour and then some family shots with the B family and then with PM and C after the Banquet.

I'm a bit disappointed with myself with A&A's pictures...it was hard to get everyone with their eyes open and/or not making faces. But there were some cute shots!

I have a few people who have been telling me that I should make a facebook page for my photography...I'm thinking about it...just don't know what I should call my "new business". Any ideas? I'm soooo not good at things like that so any suggestions would be appreciates!

2010-11-05T18:34:00.003-05:00

Wow! The day just flew by! Tonight and tomorrow are busy days so I had to get all my typing work done by early tomorrow morning. I finished everything just now and all I have left is my Sunday School lesson! And I can get that done while the hubby is off to the Men's Fellowship Breakfast before my first photo shoot.

The local high school play is this weekend. They are doing Oliver. There are a few kids from church who will be in it so I am going to go with C to see it. Our hubbies aren't interested...it will be a fun girls night out!

Otherwise not much exciting going on around here...I'll let you know how things go tomorrow!

2010-11-04T18:24:00.003-05:00

I haven't forgotten to stop here and write, today has been very busy between typing and Little Miss being on again off again Velcro Baby.

We ran to Alco after Little Miss left and I found a new outfit to wear for the Veteran's Patriotic Banquet on Saturday. A nice pair of black pants and a top I can look nice and be comfortable in while I take pictures. Both will also pair nicely with quite a few other things in my closet.

The family photo shoot that was rained out a couple of weeks ago has been rescheduled for Saturday. Panic! I also have a possibility of another family photo shoot after the Banquet Saturday for the speaker and his family who are friends of ours from church. Panic!

Well, it's almost time for Prayer Meeting and I still need to change...not so appealing to show u wearing baby snot!

Hope you all had a great day!

2010-11-03T12:43:00.003-05:00

Today's post is a bit of a rant I guess. Just found out that a friend will not be at Awana tonight...says that our theme for the night, kids dress up as a Bible hero, is too close to Halloween, they object to the kids dressing up so they aren't coming. (They are a leader.)

Number one: It's a complete coincidence that this night is coinciding with Halloween so close. And honestly I have no problem with the kids dressing up...we dressed up as Bible characters for our Harvest Party at church, even our Pastor and his wife! And they are dressing up as Bible heros, not like everyone is going to come as ghosts and demons and things. And who says that just because we are Christians we can't have fun and dress up? We have plenty of other "dress up" nights that they have no problem with...pj night, weird hair night, crazy sock night, beach night, aviation night, I could go on and on....why now?

Number two: This same person has no problem going on fun runs and things sponsored by local bars and things...paying entrance fees that go to the bar. But yet in the same breath condemn those who do drink the holier than thou type of attitude.

I really shouldn't be surprised. I've learned that things to some people are black and white, no "gray areas". And if it's something they don't agree with they are very almost angry and judging and condeming about it.

My fear is that this attitude is turning others away from Him....thinking if that's how a Christian acts, talks, thinks, etc that they don't want anything to do with Him. Don't get me wrong I am very strong in my convitions and beliefs, but I do realize that there are some "gray areas" like the Bible says nothing about not drinking alcohol at all but it does speak against drinking to get drunk....and I do have my belief/stand on the issue, but I don't look down upon or judge someone who does not hold the same conviction. I still love them and still maintain a friendship with them. I want my life and the way I live it to speak louder and stronger than my words. I want people to see that I am a Christian and that I love the Lord more than just hear the blah blah blah of my words.

I don't know, I'm just sort of sad and disappointed....

2010-11-02T09:12:00.002-05:00

Day two of NaBloPoMo and I'm here again...hopefully I can do it!

Little Miss has decided to try to be Velcro Baby again today. I got nothing done yesterday so I gave her some cuddles but warned her that I'm not going to hold her ALL day.

The hubby and I were cooking last night. We made a cheeseburger cassarole for last night, and browned some hamburger and onions for chili for tonight...I put it and the rest of the ingredients in the slow cooker this morning while Little Miss was eating her breakfast. I'm sure there will be leftovers which will be nice since Little Miss leaves early on Wednesday we can eat before Awana.

Nothing real exciting going on around here...voting tonight and then hopefully a stop to see a friend in the hospital, then some chili and picture editing! Awana tomorrow, prayer meeting on Thursday, and Veteran's Banquet on Saturday. K is doing sound for the banquet and I'm taking pictures. Should be a fun night!

Anyway...I better get going so I can get a few things done before Velcro Baby makes her comeback!

Have a great day!

2010-11-01T13:57:00.004-05:00

Finally, a quiet moment to stop in and blog! Little miss must have had quite a night trick or treating last night! She was such a crab first thing in the morning and after taking a morning nap she was in such a better mood! After lunch we are right back to crabby baby again....finally just getting down for an afternoon nap. Being off schedule plus teething is not a good thing for her!

Jen tagged me on her blog...I have to answer her 8 questions then make up 8 questions of my own and tag 8 other friends to participate after that!

So here we go:

1.) What is your perfect weather? I love early fall...just a tiny bit of chill in the air but you can still go out with out a jacket. And the humidity of the summer is not there, the sun shining, just a beautiful day!

2.) Since it's Halloween, what is your favorite candy or fall treat? Definately a Pumpkin Spice Cappucino...closely followed by candy corn, the mix with the little pumpkins in it! Yum!

3.) What is a favorite Halloween memory? Ok my sister in law would KILL me if she knew I was sharing this...but at one of our Harvest parties one of the games was a relay, the one where you had to get dressed in all these oversized clothes and run to the end of the room do something and then run back to where you started and take the oversized clothes off. Well my sister in law was just a kid at at that time, not even a teenager yet, and when it was her turn she did really well, she was ahead and got excited and as she was taking the oversized clothes off the leggings she was wearing came off with them and showed her underwear. My mother in law and I were terrible and although we felt terrible for her we couldn't stop laughing! The poor girl was so embarassed.

4.) What day of the week is your favorite and why? Sunday! I love going to church and worshipping with out church family! Our Pastor is a great teacher and I have been learning so much since we have been going to our church! Our church family is adopted family too...some closer than our "actual" families and I just love to be around them!

5.)What do you splurge on that is just for YOU? Hmm lately I would have to say things that have to do with photography. The friend that I did senior and school pictures for paid me for doing the pictures and we are looking at getting the framework and backdrop fabrics for some pictures. We are trying to decide what size to buy and then lights to light it. Loving it!

6.) What store do you spend the most money? Wow, I don't know...probably Wal Mart. We've done alot of shopping on ebay...probably one of the photo sites like Shutterfly or Snapfish! I don't know.

7.) What's the first thing you think of when you hear the word, Hallelujah? Angels!

8.) It's a perfect day, what are you doing? Sleeping in! Closely followed by taking some pictures, editing them, and maybe a little shopping!

Wow! Good questions! So now for my 8....

1.What is your favorite thing to do to destress at the end of the day?

2. What is your favorite color?

3.If you could travel anywhere; cost, travel, work, etc not a problem...where would you go?

4. What is your favorite singer/group to listen to that you think I should check out?

5.Read any good books lately?

6.What is your favorite Thanksgiving food?

7.What is your favorite holiday and why?

8.If you could learn to play any instrument, what would it be?

Now for the 8 people....

1.Brandi

2.Dani

3.Erin

4.Tara

5.Steffie B.

I guess I don't have any more...if you want to play along consider yourself invited!

And it's NaBloPoMo again....I've seen alot of you are giving it a shot....well, I'm not going to make any promises, but I'll give it a shot too. Hopefully it will get me back into the swing of things when it comes to blogging agian!

Well, have a great evening everyone!

2010-10-29T20:04:00.002-05:00

Back again! This week has been even crazier than normal! K ended up taking a trip to Atlanta to work on a trailer. The trip came up in a hurry and things were planned for him to leave Sunday morning and come home again Tuesday night. Now, I have to say that we haven't spent too much time apart in our 13 years of marriage....(I was 19 when we got married :O and I have never lived by myself) so this was a big deal for us. He was excited, he has worked for this company for 14 years and happy to be chosen to go to work on this trailer. He showed me how to do all his work in his little soundroom at church and we got him all packed and sent off Sunday morning.
I went to PM and C's for lunch to help celebrate our friend J's birthday Sunday after church and ran some errands with C until it was time for our evening service. I had such a headache after church I came home and went to bed at 8:00! I woke up around 10 when K called to tell me he'd arrived safely and he was heading out early Monday morning hoping that the part had arrived (it was supposed to be there Friday, but they had heard that it hadn't arrived Friday night.).
Monday I got a note in my email saying that he'd bought internet at the hotel and I should go look for him on facebook...one of the first things that I asked him was if he was heading home
to me the next day and he said no...the part hadn't arrived and I know some are going to think I'm a big baby and there are families out there who are going through much tougher situations and I totally understand and respect them for their strength and ability to do that...but I have to say honestly I lost it. I cried like a baby! I do not sleep well when he is not here and I was tired, thinking I had another sleepless night to look forward to, knowing I had to collect the garbage from around the house and get it out to the curb Tuesday night, set up and run his computer for Awana, and in the midst of it all get my normal responsibilities with work, Awana, and house work done. I was a bit stressed out. He called and we talked for a couple hours which helped me feel a bit better, but I was still a teary mess!

PM and C had me over Tuesday night to do some cleanup and fixing on their computer, that helped the evening to pass quickly! And in the midst of that K called sounding very tired to tell me that the part had finally come and the work was finished so he would be heading home Wednesday afternoon.

He finally came home after two hours of delays on Wednesday...we were in the midst of all that "lovely" wind and wintery weather. They say it was the biggest non tropical storm to hit the US! We had 60mph winds Tuesday and Wednesday! I went out to get the mail and it was sleeting and snowing! Thankfully it didn't stick!

He finally made it home around 10:30/11 pm Wednesday and we headed to bed since he had to go in to work Thursday.

Thursday after work he hung out with me and Little Miss and she showed him all the new things she learned to do and all the new words she learned to say while he was away those few days and we watched 2012 On Demand. I should say K watched it, I fell asleep!

He took today off and after sleeping in we got up and ran a few errands and just hung around the house for most of the morning into the early afternoon. After lunch he worked on the yard and I went to visit a friend who is in the hospital after triple bypass surgery. Now we're back to just hanging around the house enjoying a quiet night!

I am SO happy to have him back home!

I didn't want to say too much beforehand....especially since I'm not used to being on my own...but I do have to say thank you to Brandi for the support and messages even though you didn't know what was going on! I really appreciate it!

So there ya go...there's my week in a nutshell for ya! Like you really wanted to know haha! Hope you all had a better/calmer week!

I'm off to enjoy some snuggles with the hubby!

2010-10-26T08:22:00.002-05:00

Things didn't go exactly as planned over the weekend. When we woke up Saturday morning it was pouring so needless to say no family photo shoot since we were planning to go out by the lake. So we slept in and then got a few things done around the house instead.

We ended up stopping at our friend's quilt store and decided to do her three younger kiddos school pictures (headshots) using a couple of her bolts of fabric at the church. We bought some clips at the hardware store to clip the fabric onto the small wooden trim that goes around the wall at church. It worked really well and afterwards K started looking on ebay for the framework and backgrounds so I could do more. It will come in especially handy if I do end up getting to do the pictures for the new church directory. He is looking for one that has either a blue or green screen with it to do some chromakey work....changing it to any background I want. He was quite excited about that, but I told him that I had to have a nice neutral background too so I didn't have to do that for every picture! I'm thinking about a nice soft blue to start with, we thought that would look nice for the church directory too.

This week hasn't been such a great week so far, but hopefully it will all be over and be a MUCH better week tomorrow night! Not going to go into much right now, but it's nothing terribly serious, no deaths or hospital visits or anything like that. Just a sad beginning to the week. Honestly I know I'm being more emotional about it than I need to be/should be but it is what it is. I promise to explain more a bit later.

Anyway....baby is very cranky this morning. She wants to be held but then gets mad that I'm holding her. Could be a very "fun" day.

Hope you all are having a better day!

2010-10-22T13:24:00.002-05:00

Yay it's Friday! I only worked a half day today and the it's a beautiful sunny day!

I went to visit a friend who is in the hospital. She went in to the hospital with some breathing troubles and was sent to another hospital an hour or so away to undergo triple bypass surgery. She is one of my adopted Grandmas from church, such a sweet lady. The surgery went well and the doctors were pleased and she was released to come to our local hospital, which is only a couple blocks from me. She looked really good and was in good spirits. I told her that if she really wanted to be pampered and waited on hand and foot there were better ways to go about it and she laughed.

Trying to get ready for the S family photo shoot tomorrow. I have a bunch of ideas written in my little notebook; now I just need to charge my camera battery and download the pictures that are on my memory card onto the computer. If the timing works out I have some school type pictures to do for another friend in the afternoon. It was also suggested that I take the pictures for our church's new photo directory (we haven't had one done in six years or so) and that got K looking on ebay for some fabric backdrops. I'm looking for something that could be used for alot of different pictures, something professional looking. I found a gray and blue that I really like. I also found two other more "fun" ones too. Who knows maybe some day I won't be doing daycare and I'll be a "professional" photographer instead haha!

A bit of "clarification" I guess you'd call it on the favor I asked in my last post...I know two ways to make a photo a combination of black and white and color, but both are pretty labor intensive I guess you'd say....I'm hoping that someone has a little secret hint or trick that they can share with me! I would really appreciate it! Brandi thanks for your idea for a contact, I will be heading over to that blog here soon! I appreciate it!

Well, not much new and exciting around here...I better get going on some typing I have to finish and my Sunday School lesson for Sunday.

Hope you are having a great day!

2010-10-21T13:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday just flew by and I realized this morning that I didn't get over here to post. Awana went really well, the kids seemed to be on a sugar high again but they did really well! We even threw a fire drill in the mix!

I'm still working on editing pictures, I think I'm about halfway through now. Looking through some tutorials to see if I can get something to work. I know it can be done, but just don't know how to do it. I want to make everything black and white except for one color; every thing black and white with red accents...if anyone can help me out and knows how to do this in Photoshop Elements I would truly appreciate it. I want to use this on one of my friends senior pictures as well as a Christmas card idea for the family shoot I'm doing this weekend. I also may have two other photo jobs lined up! I'm so shocked, excited, and nervous all in one!

Otherwise it's the same old thing around here. Hope you all are doing well!

2010-10-19T18:07:00.002-05:00

Another late post for me. Little Miss was fussy off and on all morning and when she went down for nap I started working like crazy on editing our friend's senior pictures. She woke up very happy and I took her outside to play and run off some energy and stayed out until Grandma picked her up. After she left I was visiting a bit with the neighbor and I'm just now getting back into the house! I'm tired!

I just got a bit of my typing work; one part of Sundays and one part of the church's monthly newsletter but I think they are going to have to wait so I can get some more pictures edited. I am getting to the end of the heavy editing I believe (have to "erase" a bass amp from some that we did with the piano at church) and it should go alot faster now. I want to get these burned to a cd and off to our friend and also I got a call this morning from another friend asking if I can do some family pictures with them on Saturday! I was shocked! I'm excited but nervous too! This will be my first "family" sitting and not quite sure what to do with them. And then...as I was discussing this with the neighbor she throws the idea of me taking some family pictures for them next year when the baby is a bit older! K says I'm going to have to do some research on photographer's rates and start my own studio. I think it's just more fun to do for family and friends on the side! I'm still shocked!

Tomorrow is PJ night at Awana. Should be a good night for it, a bit on the cooler side so
the kiddos can pull out the cute footie pajamas and things! Can't wait to see them all!

Otherwise not much going on around here....hanging around the house and doing laundry and picture editing agin tonight. A great night in my opinion! K just ran to get Chinese for supper so I don't even have to cook or do dishes! Combo lo mein yum!

Hope you all had a great day!

2010-10-18T08:11:00.002-05:00

Wow, the weekend really flew by! We had a great time on Saturday; we went to watch L and T play in their last flag football game and I got some great pictures, made a Wal Mart run for a few necessities, and then it was back home to finish up my typing work.

We didn't do alot on Sunday, we went out to lunch with PM and C and I tried to take a little nap....but I just kept thinking about what I had to do yet and couldn't relax and go to sleep so I got up and started to edit pictures. I got a message from J asking for all the basketball pictures I could send him, I laughed and told him that he didn't know what he was asking for,but quickly got going on that project. He leaves today for Afghanistan. Praying for wisdom and safety for him. He'll be gone for about a year from the sounds of it.

The kids have a three hour early out from school today. Bug is a bit upset that means no school for him, but his brothers will be coming to play with him after they get out, so that should make him happier. Hopefully I can get some pictures of them playing in the leaf pile after K gets home and is here to help me keep an eye on the Little Miss.

Otherwise I don't think there is a whole lot planned for the day....laundry, laundry, and more laundry of course and I suppose that I should work ahead on my Sunday School lesson and the next church newsletter. We were invited to a wedding next weekend, I'm not sure we're going, but it never hurts to be ahead with things, right?!

Well Little Miss is starting to fuss, so I guess that means my time is done for now, it's been a pretty boring post here anyway lol....if I think of anything more exciting to share I'll be back!

2010-10-15T19:24:00.006-05:00

I'm late getting here to write today! K had taken the day off work when he heard that I didn't have any kids today and we got up early and went for a drive and took some sunrise pictures. He took me out to breakfast afterwards and then out to a neighboring town for some shopping! We had a great day together!

I was finally able to go to a Claire's store! The closest one is an hour away from us! I have been admiring the hair accessories that Rebecca Jo has been showing/talking about and I was finally able to get my hands on some! I bought two at Claire's and already forwarned the hubby that I was going to be searching ebay for some more! He's been laughing at how happy they've made me all day! I also picked up a couple of fun nail polishes they had by the register! I'm a big kid and I just couldn't resist!

I should be working on my typing work and my Sunday School lesson, but I am soooo procrastinating and would rather be here "chatting" with you all!

Not sure what we are going to do tomorrow. L and T have their last flag football game and they don't play until late morning so we may go watch them play, maybe another sunrise photoshoot, or maybe just hang out around the house finishing up whatever work I don't finish tonight....

Anyway I'll leave you with a couple pictures of what I found at Claire's....hope you all have a great weekend!

(The pink one is glow in the dark and the other is a tie dye type polish)

2010-10-14T08:51:00.002-05:00

We had a great night at Awana last night! Lots of kids and their parents! We were missing a few in our group (I have a sort of joint group of 5th grade girls with another leader since I am also the Awana paparazzi and sometimes have to leave handbook/Counsel time to get pictures of the kids activities and things for the end of the year slideshow), but overall it was a great turn out and most of the kids brought a parent or grandparent!

I got a few more pictures edited yesterday, but not as many as I hoped to. Little Miss had a couple of melt downs and a divided nap time so I didn't get to work through her two hours of naptime that I normally have. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow afternoon I can get some more done! I am excited for our friends to see them, and a little nervous, hoping that they like them!

Just as I was writing this I got a call from another friend about taking pictures for the local VFW's Veteran's Banquet on November 6! K is either going to do the sound or the video for the program. As our "payment" for working they don't charge us for our tickets for our meal and the program. I'm excited! Another friend of ours is the speaker for the evening and I may get the chance to go and take some family pictures with them beforehand!

I got a call from my Aunt the other day that Grandma made it to the nursing home and stood the trip pretty well. They had already started physical therapy with her that day! She will probably be there for a few months, but she won't have to worry about stairs to get in and out of the house and the physical therapist is right there.

Well, my Bug is asking me to play with him so I guess that's it for now....who knows I may be back later!

2010-10-13T07:41:00.002-05:00

I slept so well last night! I did end up going to our friends house and getting a Zone Therapy treatment and within ten minutes of the treatment I could feel things relaxing and the pressure in my shoulders going away! I came home and went to bed, watching the beginning of the rescue of the miners in Chile dozing off a bit here and there. I woke up when I heard the cheering and saw the first man come up and out of the capsule, and then the second, but after that I was out! I woke up when K came to bed, he had taken the garbage out and if Teddy (miniature poodle) is under the bed when you either take or bring back the garbage can next to our bed he lets you know that he is NOT happy! He was loud enough that I jumped when he started growling and barking! I don't think I moved until 6 this morning after that! Now with things moving back into place and muscles relaxing I feel like I'm about 90 years old, but it's much better than how I was feeling before!

It's just me and Little Miss today. She's running around singing and getting into things that she shouldn't be lol! At least she's happy! Hopefully she continues to have a good day, Grandma P is picking her up today and it's Grandma's birthday so I hope to get her to sit and color a picture this morning.

Then it's Awana tonight! It's school spirit and parents night! The counsel time is on Isaac & Rebekah. Should be a fun night!

Well, off to chase Little Miss! Hope you all have a great day!

2010-10-12T12:45:00.002-05:00

Today is definately a better day! The weather is beautiful and I got the kiddos out to run off some energy. My Bug is off to school and Little Miss is fast asleep! Finally! We think she may be teething again...when she's teething she is CRANKY! She gets mad at her toys and throws herself around and no one can figure out what exactly has ticked her off. She was getting fussy around lunch time so I gave her a little Tylenol hoping she will be able to sleep. Mom said she had a long night last night, she was up at one am just unconsolable. So far she's been asleep for an hour now, hopefully we can get another hour out of the nap and she will be happy when she wakes up!

Not much on the agenda for the day other than chasing the Little Miss. K may be going out to finish up an electrical project he has been working on for some friends of ours and depending on what time he goes out I may be able to go with him and get another Zone Therapy treatment. I would LOVE that! If not the night will be full of folding more laundry and editing pictures. Either way it sounds like a good night to me.

2010-10-11T09:07:00.004-05:00

Ugh it's definately a Monday! The kids are cranky and so am I!
It was a long night last night catching up with some family and with the heat wave we have had here lately it was hard to get to sleep because it was so warm in our room! Saturday we got up to 93 degrees, and yesterday we hit 85!
First I got ahold of my cousin's wife to finally get some information on my Grandma. We got a call that she had fallen and broken her arm and it would need surgery, but other than that I had no information. My cousin's wife was a bit upset, as was I, because she thought that my Aunt was calling me. She had been calling my Mom, but Mom has been having some of her bad days memory wise and couldn't remember what my Aunt had said after she called....I can't understand why my Aunt couldn't at least email me if she didn't want to call. I am not the most popular member of that side of the family but I'm still upset about that. Thankfully my cousin's wife called and told me what is going on and promised to call me if she hears anymore.

Then we called K's family and found out that not only did his Mom not have the procedure that she was supposed to have done on her neck but she was in a car accident on Thursday! She is doing ok, a little stiff and sore, especially in her neck which she's been having pain issues with beforehand anyway, but she's planning to go back to work tomorrow.

Nothing planned for tonight, probably a full night of laundry and editing pictures. I'm still working on getting the senior pictures edited for our friend, once I get those done and a cd off to her I will post some of what I have been taking here.

Hope you all are having a great day!

Had to edit here to say that the afternoon and evening got much better and after having a little ice cream I'm now getting ready to head to bed and relax!

2010-10-08T08:16:00.002-05:00

It's Friday! And it's Homecoming!

Yesterday was a LONG day with the little one, but after she had gone home K took me for a drive to get some pictures and relax a bit and then it was off to prayer meeting and Worship Team rehearsal. It was great! This week we're singing Shout to the North, I Worship You, and Speak O Lord. And of course no one went home right away after practice was over and there were a few extra songs that were sung/played. Great therapy!

The kids get out of school three hours early today for Homecoming. That means no school for Mr. Bug, so he's here hanging out with me...Little Miss will be here for a couple hours maybe this morning, her Mommy has a Drs appointment....which reminds me I don't think I mentioned...her Mommy is expecting baby #2 in March and has already asked me to save a spot for the new little one! It will be different to have a tiny baby in the house again...Little Miss was almost 1 when she started and she already seems so grown up! Anywayyyyyyy Grandpa is going to drop Bug's brothers off after school and K is going to get out of work early and we are going to walk the few blocks up town to watch the parade...and give the boys a sugar high with the candy that's thrown haha!

We haven't decided if we're going to the game tonight or not yet...it's supposed to be nice, in the 80s today and probably tomorrow too! I love this weather! So not ready for winter!

Well, better get running and get my typing work done so I can get out and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Love and hugs!

2010-10-07T08:53:00.002-05:00

What do you know I'm back again! It's only 9 am and I am SO ready for Little Miss to go down for her nap! She is contstantly getting into things she shouldn't and when I try to sit her down with some toys and play with her she gets mad and pushes them away and throws a temper tantrum! The joys of a one year old! So for now she is in her pack and play with some books and toys and singing away!

Awana last night was crazy! We have a new game leader in the 5 & 6 grade group and he's feelinga little overwhelmed and the kids are taking advantage of that and not listening and talking and pushing and shoving with friends and it's getting out of control. I think our Commander is going to have a little "chat" with them about that next week. My group of girls were wonderful! They were all ready and passing sections and helping each other. We had a great time! I'm really enjoying getting to know these girls, when they are finished with their sections each week I give them time to write in a notebook to me. They can write anything they want, tell me about their school day, what's going on in their lives, questions about Awana or anything they want to ask me, prayer requests...anything they want me to know. Last year this didn't go so well, but this year they (and I) have really been enjoying it! It helps me to understand them and get to know them a little better as well!

I'm slowly but surely getting our friend's senior pictures edited. I'm having to do some "erasing" of some sound equipment in some of the shots with the piano so it's taking a bit longer, but it looks alot nicer! I will post some of them as soon as I can get them finished up!

2010-10-06T09:09:00.003-05:00

Gah! It's been so long again I don't even know where to start!

I was doing ok trying to keep up with things and all the sudden it was time to do the church newsletter! Then time just seemed to fly by and now that it is over and I've finally caught up on housework and things I find it's been entirely too long since I blogged last!

Lots of other things have been going on besides my typing work; flag football games, bridal showers, baby showers, realizing I had special music on Sunday in the midst of it all :l all sorts of fun! And of course there is Little Miss. She decided to cut four teeth at the same time to add to the fun! Poor thing! That made for some miserable days for both of us! She's also discovered the "joys" of temper tantrums! Fun stuff!

I've entered three more pictures into another photo contest and sent some of our fall foliage into a local tv station. I've also done some passport photos for a friend going to Brazil for a wedding, and some extra senior pictures (she won a professional shoot at prom, I did mostly outside shots with her) with another friend. And of course I've been taking lots of the daycare kids and just driving around and shooting sunsets and nature!

I've kept up with my clutzy ways during it all too! While I was doing the senior photo shoot I climbed up a few steps of the ladder and was shooting down at our friend with sheet music around her and K made me laugh and I slid off the step (I was in my socks) and not wanting to drop the camera I held on to that with my right hand and automatically grabbed the closest step on the ladder with my left. That plan didn't work so well and I ended up raking my wrist across the side and top of the step....needless to say about four inches of my arm was nice and multicolored! A couple days later I was baking and while I was stirring the filling ingredients to our Cinnamon Sopapilla I knocked the scissors off the counter and (point end down of course) right on my second toe! I made a face and all K could say was, "That didn't land handle side down, did it?" Thankfully it didn't cut too badly and it made for another one of my funny stories!

Now that I have some templates set up for my extra secretarial projects and I have one newsletter under my belt I should be able to write more, but I know I've said that before and it hasn't happened...I give you permission to yell at me if I don't!

I will post some of the pictures I have been taking as soon as I can get them edited too!

2010-09-15T08:41:00.002-05:00

Finally a moment to myself and time to post...our church secretary is away in Texas taking care of her Dad (who has alzhiemers) and his girlfriend (who fell and broke her hip) so I have picked up a few extra projects. I have been doing the bulletin for each Sunday and now I am doing our church's newsletter for October. Trying to get that done with an extra two year old and my normal work has proved to be a bit challenging but we are getting through it. I will definately be glad when the secretary gets back!

I went and had three of my pictures enlarged at Wal Mart on Monday and ran into a few problems. There was a trainee who was working so we had to go back yesterday to pick up the 11 x 14 and we found that they had printed it on something between a regular printer paper and cardstock. Now I made all the same choices I did for the two 8 x 10s and have always made when I have gotten my pictures enlarged so I just can't figure out what happened there. I found that I needed a larger size than the 11 x 14 when we had gotten home after first ordering it on Monday so I was going to order it again, but we decided not to and ordered it from Wal Mart online and have it sent to the house instead. I'm waiting to see if it was a fluke or if Wal Mart has changed things. If it turns out well I may just start ordering them online. Wal Mart is about a half hour out of the way for us, so may just be easier all around to have them sent out.

Tonight is Hawiian night at Awana! Can't wait to see what the kids come up with!

Well Miss A is at my feet asking for some cuddles for guess this is it for now. Have a great day!

2010-09-11T18:43:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's really been a long time! This summer has not only been a busy one, but not a happy one for my computer! It had to go to the computer doctor twice, costing me $160 each time! But I'm finally back and can't wait to get posting again! I've been going through withdrawls posting pictures too! I have alot that I would like to share with you and I will do that soon. It's a bit more of a process, we have two computers running on one system and the internet is on one and my pictures and the editing program is on the other. I've missed you all and hope you are doing well! I've kept up with reading your blogs and commented some on the hubby's tiny netbook (too small for me!) and can't wait to get back to posting again!

2010-04-29T12:49:00.003-05:00

I know I've been terrible about posting pictures and even stopping by to write. I have been keeping up with your blogs but a few things at church, our Awana closing program and the slideshow of pictures that I made for that, and a new little one starting in daycare have kicked my behind big time!

Oh, and the new little one is not quite a year old...and a girl! I've had all boys for so long I won't know what to do with a girl!

More pictures and posts coming soon, I promise....

Oh and happy blogiversary to Mrs. Yellow Hat! Go and check her out and her giveaway and tell her Happy blogiversary yourself!

2010-04-13T20:31:00.002-05:00

April 12 What's left of K's chocolate bunny that he bought for half price at Wal Mart. He goes around singing the Veggie Tales song...the bunny, the bunny, oh I ate the bunny...hahaha!

April 13 Some little blue flowers that just popped up in the back yard.

2010-04-12T19:37:00.019-05:00

March 25 Had a little fun with a filter in Photoshop with these malted milk ball eggs

March 26 I couldn't decide if I liked the black and white or color better, so I post both! One of the kids trikes we keep out front.

March 27 Our church had another Ladies Day Away and this was a friend's sewing baskct

March 28 Some berries that were still around after the winter

March 29 It was a bit of a long day, so another picture of my sweet cuddly Teddy bear

March 30 Preparing for Easter this cross was by the pulpit at church. I though it was lovely with the fabric draped over it.

March 31 Some bracelets that were made for the Awana store

April 1 Playing out in the yard! We are so ready for more of this!

April 2 K playing around and I caught him with the mosaic option on my phone

April 3 Getting ready for Easter breakfast at church

April 4 Darth watching everyone run around at Easter dinner

April 5 Popcorn!

April 6 Apples and carmel!

April 7 The lovely sunset outside the church window during Awana! I really wanted to go out and take more pictures, but have responsibilities to take care of.

April 8 Playing with the fish eye/wide angle lens K surprised me with!

April 9 We went for another drive and I took over 100 pictures. This one was one of my favorites!

April 10 Another day, another drive, another 100 pictures!

April 11 Went on a bit of a road trip with K and another friend. Found these by the parking area by the local lake.

2010-03-24T14:34:00.001-05:00

March 24 I pulled out the macro lens again and got this picture of some of the lights we have hanging between the living room and the computer area. The "twigs" are shaped into stars.

2010-03-23T20:33:00.009-05:00

March 17 I pulled out the macro lens again to get some picgures of some of the buds on the trees and plants around the house

March 18 The sun!! We were all so happy to finally be able to get out and play outside!

March 19 Some of the Jr High kids in the play at the school. They did a wonderful job! We went to see it both nights, some of the kids from my new Sunday School class were in it!

March 20 A fence post we saw on a Saturday afternoon drive

March 21 Teddy all snuggled in and ready for bed!

March 22 Where I spent most of my night....editing pictures!

March 23 Another tree we saw on a short drive we took this evening!

2010-03-16T22:02:00.005-05:00

March 12

March 13 The road on the way to the first meeting of the new young married couples' Bible Study we are starting with three other couples.

March 14 It was a beautiful day outside and we decided to enjoy some time outside and took the Christmas lights that were left down.

March 15 My old printer died and K went and bought me a new one...so I was able to catch up on my card making!

March 16 This is a rose from one of the flower arrangements from the last funeral at church. The flowers were wilting and a couple of the ladies pulled the roses that were in good shape yet and gave one to each of the ladies that were at church or whose husbands were there.

2010-03-12T16:44:00.002-06:00

March 10 Teddy always turns his head and acts like he's really listening when you talk to him...I get this look alot haha!

March 11 Some of the lights on my usb hub on my desk.

2010-03-10T14:19:00.003-06:00

It's another foggy day today. Sort of fits I guess, suits my mood. I haven't felt like writing much, haven't even felt like taking a picture for Project 365 some days either. There's alot going on and I've been doing alot of thinking.

February and March (so far) have been kind of rough. Not terrible but like I said I've been doing alot of thinking.

We've had two funerals at church these two months. Two older people, where you knew it would happen sooner or later, but when it does happen you're still not prepared for. I guess I have to explain a bit that I really haven't had alot of experience with death. Sure, I've had some older relatives die, but I can count on one hand people that I have really been close to or somewhat close to that have died. The first was my great uncle who had cancer. One summer my grandparents took me and my cousins out to Colorado so I could see him...I was still in grade school when he died, although I don't remember what grade exactly, one of the upper grades, though not quite high school. Maybe jr high, I'm not sure.

The second was a friend and former church member of ours. He was driving home to his pregnant wife and two boys after work one evening and was killed in a car accident. There was alot of shock and"church politics" surrounding that situation (we didn't agree with some things that the new pastor was doing/teaching and K and I left the church and that caused a big commotion) and K and I were left feeling very uncomfortable at the visitation and felt like we were getting "the look" so we thought it was best not to attend the funeral and cause more hard feelings at our former church.

The third was my Grandpa, my Dad's Dad. Now this side of the family is not really close...so it didn't affect me as much as you might think. In all honesty I grew up somewhat afriad of this Grandfather and never felt quite comfortable around him.

The fourth was my other Grandpa, my Mom's Dad. Now this Grandpa I was close to. We lived with him and my Grandma when my Mom was in the hospital with Guillan Barre. Dad was working full time and we lived in the same town as my Grandparents, only a few blocks away, so this was just a natural solution. Even after we moved I would go and spend weeks at a time with my Grandparent's house in the summer. Grandpa was a janitor at the jr high/high school at that time and I went to work with him many times. He was the one who first took me to drive after getting my permit, and who I was pulled over by a police officer with...only to find out it was because my Grandma was looking for us (she worked at the hospital in town and needed us to drive to another town to pick up a doctor who was flying in the helicopter with a patient to their hospital...the doctor ended up not going and Grandpa and I had a fun roadtrip anyway!)

Now two funerals in the span of about one month. Both of these people were strong in their faith and prayer warriors. There is no question as to where they are now. But it stings. The second funeral was more of a "happy funeral" if you could call a funeral that....but we know she is in Heaven and there were some wonderful memories of her shared and some jokes...that's how I want my funeral to be....
It's also gotten me thinking about some of my closest friends and their health and losing them.
And to be blunt combine all this with that time of the month and I'm a mess!

I've also got a friend who I used to spend alot of time with, had a falling out with, and who has been working her way back into my life. Her oldest son lives with his Dad in another state and he has tried to kill himself three times. They had him committed to try to help him but his last attempt was in the hospital. This friend can't go to see him right now. She was in a car accident and is suffering from panic attacks and having a hard time herself in general right now.

I have another friend who is an adult living at home with her parents and having alot of trouble right now and has been talking to me quite a bit. Her parents, to be blunt, have pretty much told her that she's a disappointment and she's ruined the family. They talked her out of going overseas to be a missionary. I'm at a loss.

Another friend has been sick in bed with very high temps and the drs say a kidney infection due to e coli. I've been worried as you can imagine.....praying but worried.

So yeah, I'm not trying to be depressing or to beg you all to feel sorry for me, if you have even read this far through....I just felt the need to write it all out, to hopefully clear my head a bit....to not be so stuck in things.

And don't get me wrong, there are lots of positives. I've had some time off this week to catch up on some things around the house that needed to be done. I start teaching Sunday School again on Sunday. This time the Jr High kids. I'm nervous but excited!

Hubby and I have been enjoying our time together. We've gone out on a few drives just to get away and for him explore and get lost on roads he's never been on before and for me to get some pictures.

I've enjoyed some great talks and good times with a few other close friends and gotten closer to a couple more.

So it's not really all gloom and doom around here. Like I said I just felt the need to write and vent it all out. Make sense of some things. I commend you if you read this whole thing. I don't think I would want to. Ha! But thanks for "listening" if you have.

2010-03-09T21:39:00.004-06:00

March 6 Another funeral at our church. PM was not only the "officiant" but also played piano for a song in the service that the family requested. He does not play by notes, but by ear and chords and this was his music.

March 7 Keith and Casey cuddling on the couch while we were waiting for PM to drop off some typing for me to do.

March 8 Not the greatest picture but the latest "paint job" that my nails got. Something fun and funny ha!

March 9 The "feathers" from one of my fun pens on my desk. I pulled out the macro lens again and tried to get a good shot.

2010-03-08T16:12:00.002-06:00

March 4 An accidental picture but I thought it was kind of cool and may be able to use it as a texture in Photoshop. It's actually a close up from my camera phone of my jeans!

March 5 Hubby and I went out on another drive to get lost/take pictures and found these tennis shoes on a bridge with no one around. Hubby says hmmm maybe someone did the splits on the bridge and fell of lol....

2010-03-04T09:30:00.005-06:00

Februrary 28 Out with the old! Time to trade in my old cell and renew our plan...I blew a speaker or something in this one...was missing calls and it was hard to hear the other person when they did call, especially if the kids were around.

March 1 In with the new! My new Samsung Trill! I LOVE it! We've had lots of fun with the boys taking pictures with the funny photo frames too!

March 2 My boys! Hubbys lap haha Teddy and Casey

March 3 Teddy "yelling" at me and telling me to get off the computer already and go to bed!

2010-02-27T22:43:00.003-06:00

I know all I have posted are my daily pictures, Iwill write more and post more than just pictures, I promise! I think I have finally caught up with a few things and basketball season is over....now in March I will be teaching the 6-8 graders in Sunday School, maybe only for a short time. I just need some time to sit down and edit some more pictures...I have so many basketball pictures to do yet, and some every day shots that just didn't make the cut for my daily shots album but are still neat and usable....so much to do so little time!

2010-02-27T22:41:00.001-06:00

February 27 B and her sister were practicing for special music for church tomorrow. I couldn't resist this shot....I love music and piano shots!

2010-02-27T18:49:00.005-06:00

February 23 Nail Polish! These are the colors I was wearing...I love the glitter and different colors. They do coordinate with our school colors but I was wearing them more for fun.

February 24 Ice cream! A little snack before bed!

February 25 A bow on the bulletin board at church.

February 26 Hubby was doing some work at church and I snapped some pictures while I was waiting for him.

I ♥ Faces Photo Challenge

2010-02-22T16:11:00.003-06:00

I doubled up with pictures again. I was inspired by the i heart faces (www.iheartfaces.com) challenge this week of "Hands On" fun and wanted to use it for my Project 365 picture as well. I just love Tater's chubby little hands and caught this one while he was napping. I added a little blur to it in Photoshop thinking it adds a little more of a dreamy look to it.

2010-02-22T15:54:00.006-06:00

February 16 Don't know what these were exactly, but they were our half time entertainment at the basketball game.

February 17 Trying to play with light and shadows. Didn't exactly work, but it counted for my picture of the day.

February 18 The icicle that is forming on a small tree branch just outside my front door.

February 19 We went for a drive in the afternoon and came across a bunch of pheasants. We were on a quiet gravel road so we were able to stop and watch and I could take a bunch of pictures before hubby scared them off ;)

February 20 I was tagged to take a picture of myself on flickr just as I was....it's not the best picture of my but it was a quiet Saturday so I was more worried about being comfortable than fashionable lol and a bonus, I didn't break the camera when I took this pic!

February 21 Teddy snuggled up with me in bed. This is how he usually starts out the night and then he goes and curls up under the bed. He really thinks he is a little boy!

2010-02-16T08:59:00.013-06:00

February 3-I wasn't feeling too inspired...was cold and depressed with all the snow we were getting...and are still getting.

February 4-I was playing with the night setting on my camera. It didn't work like I wanted it to, I've gotten a bit of advice from a friend on how to use it to get better pictures since then though.

February 5-Playing with some angles with my computer keyboard since I am here so often...an important part of my day :)

February 6-The day of the funeral for one of our church's founders and grandfather type to many. I also had to practice as I was scheduled to sing a solo for special music the next day in church. A friend played piano for me...inspired me to get this shot of the inside of the grand piano.

February 7-A little relaxing with some coloring. I bought the bag with the crayons at the Awana store for the kids...I decided to pull it out and have a little fun.

February 8-A cowboy hat that was used for VBS a couple of years ago on the barrel of one of hubby's guns on the gun rack.

February 9-Playing with the light box again, and the star filter for some fun!

February 10-A Valentine friend on the Awana store :)

February 11-Back to basics I guess...black and white and some things that are very important to me. My Bible and something I really enjoy...some typing work for our Pastor. It was late when we got home and with the busy day we had I didn't have alot of time to shoot any pictures...this was the best I came up with then, even though it's not the greatest.

February 12-Frosted trees in the school parking lot after the last home basketball game. We lost again....

February 13-Valentines Roses...K had to be gone all day at an Elders and Deacons meeting for church so I got my gift early! We talked after he gave me the roses for my birthday....he hinted that he might get me roses for Valentines and I asked for pink for a little something different for pictures....he did very well!

February 14-Candle on the table at our youth group's Valentines Banquet. We had a great "Evening in Paris" even with my "lovely" sinus cold at its worst.

February 15-K with one of the icicles on the house. This was just before he tried to pull it down and it shattered into a hundred pieces. We couldn't believe how long it was! He's standing on the deck railing here.

2010-02-15T22:15:00.003-06:00

Sorry that it has been so long since I have written. It's been a stressful couple of weeks and I will write more about that along with posting my Project 365 pictures tomorrow hopefully, and if not tomorrow very soon I promise!

I'm fighting a "lovely" sinus cold and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open so I'm off to bed for now.

Lots of love and hugs!

2010-02-05T14:57:00.002-06:00

This is the lightbox that K set up for me. It's pretty simple but it works really well and it doubles as storage for everything that I use with it. He picked up a Rubbermaid type tote at the Dollar store, two brooding lights, and some tagboard. He cut the tagboard to size so it just fits from top to bottom (it curves in twoards the back of the tote). The only thing he really had to 'build" are the stands for the lights. He is still working on those, he said he wants to be able to adjust the height of the lights as well.

We went to our friend's quilt shop in town and bought a bunch of fabrics to use as backdrops and bought some other ones when we went to Wal Mart. I posted a picture of the fabrics earlier in the week. The tagboard can be used as a backdrop itself(keeps you from being able to see whatever is behind your lightbox) and also helps to hold the fabric that is being used as a backdrop.

We chose a frosted plastic because it helps to diffuse the light a little more, it's not such a direct light only look.

Pretty simple and cheap and more sturdy than a few ideas that he found out there. I like it, I've gotten some macro shots that I really like using it and I'm still thinking of new ideas to try!

2010-02-03T09:33:00.006-06:00

January 28 Another shot of the roses :) I was playing with the macro lens that day.

January 29 K built me a lightbox and some fabrics to use as backdrops. We were playing with different fabric and light combinations that day.

January 30 The fabrics that we bought for backdrops. Lots of fun colors!

January 31 We had a potluck after church and then a group of us went sledding and ice skating at a local park! It was alot of fun! Here Tater is all bundled up and ready for some snow fun! He lasted about 15 minutes when he told his uncle..."I cold....I go home....hot chocolate!"

February 1 Playing with reflections in the light box. The subject here is a souvineir that one of my former daycare families brought back for me when they went to China. They told me that these are hand painted from the inside. Beautiful!

February 2 My Casey! Here he is in his favorite spot at night...right at my feet in bed! He may not be the brightest, but he is loving and loyal!!

2010-01-27T16:50:00.003-06:00

January 26

January 27
K brought me roses for my birthday and I've been having alot of fun taking pictures with them! I had to laugh because as soon as I saw him with them he said look, time for pictures!

With January 26th picture I just learned how to use textures in Photoshop and I added a frosted window texture I got from Jo at Life's Perfect Pictures. I lowered the opacity and then added a solid red layer and a text layer and that was the result. I've never used textures before but seeing the pictures on i heart faces challenge for this week got me curious and wanting to try. It's not totally what I had in mind, but it's not bad for a first try I guess.

I had the morning off yesterday and edited a bunch of pictures and in the evening we went to the boys basketball game at the high school. JV won but the Varsity lost.

Today Mr. T and Tater were pretty tired and quiet so we didnt' do a whole lot, snuggled mostly. Mr. T liked being my assistant and plugging in and turning on the light on the piano to get my picture for today. He was pretty proud of himself, it was so cute!

Headed off to get ready for Awana soon. Tonight is Talent Night. The kids can sing a song, play an instrument, recite a verse, read a poem, just use their talents for the Lord. It's also bonus points for bringing your Bible and wearing crazy socks...putting both together since we missed last week. We may have to fit in another talent night since we schedule two to fit everyone in. It just depends on how many still want to do their talents.

2010-01-25T21:00:00.004-06:00

January 22
I had such a busy day on Friday. I had many things going on at once and this was my desk as a result. I got everything caught up and in the afternoon we got ready and headed over to our friends' place to pick them up for the basketball game only to get a call from the boys saying it was cancelled due to the fog. So as long as we were in the car we went out for supper and K worked on a bit of remodeling in their bathroom with him while his wife and I made some bananna bars and played a couple games of Sequence.

January 23 This was pretty much my view for all of Saturday. I slept in a bit and then had some typing work to do. I got that done and then we headed for a soup dinner/silent auction for a local 8th grader who has lukemia. We headed right from there to the basketball games where we watched the JV boys who lost, the Varsity girls who won, and the Varsity boys who lost. We had a short music practice and went over PowerPoint and then it was finally home to bed!

January 24 After church we went to my Mom and Dad's for lunch and hung out with them until it was time to leave for the evening service. We got to chat with my brother on Skype for a while. It was good to see him, he was planning to come home for Christmas, but between the weather and his car problems it didn't happen. He says hopefully in a couple weeks he will be able to make it though. This is a macro of my Mom's Christmas cactus....I had alot of fun playing with my macro and some of her flowering plants at the house.

January 25 Today started out well, the kids were on time for school and I got Mr. T sent off on the bus for afternoon preschool and a half hour later I got the text message that school was letting out two hours early. The bus kids actually had to stay at the school for an extra hour because they didn't want to send the buses out with the blowing snow and bad visibility. They have already called a two hour late start for tomorrow. Hopefully we can make it and have a basketball game tomorrow night! Tonight's game was postponed, and it was a makeup game from last week! Tomorrow night's game is a make up game as well! I've gotten almost everything checked off of my to do list today...the only thing that I haven't gotten done is write to my sister in law in Kuwait, but tomorrow is a slow day kid wise, and even more so now that I have had the evening to get more things checked off that to do list, so I'm sure I can get that letter written and out in the mail! This is a picture of some of the cds in our 101 disc changer. I love the mixture of colors of cds and rainbow effects on the back of the discs! I added a bit of a motion blur to this in Photoshop as well.

2010-01-21T10:07:00.002-06:00

January 21
This isn't exactly the shot that I was going for, but I do sort of like it. I did some color correction in Photoshop and then converted it to black and white. Maybe I'll give the shot I was looking for a try again tomorrow....we'll see if I remember haha!

I woke up a bit later than I planned, but I've still gotten quite a bit done. I pulled all the bedding except for the electric blanket off our bed and have it going in the washer and dryer now. School started as two hours late and I was going to have R from next door at 8, but Dad called and said that he was staying at Grandma's for a while, maybe the whole day since there is no morning preschool with the two hour late start. He said he'd have her call, but so far nothing at 10:30.

I don't have the other boys today, Mom is done working for the week, and so I kind of hope that Grandma does keep R! I'm playing with some more pictures and if things go well I may post some more this afternoon!

No ball games tonight, but we will meet with our Pastor to record his radio message for the week.

Hope you all have a great day!

January 20

2010-01-20T22:31:00.001-06:00

January 20
Originally uploaded by H3IdI

This is much later than I had originally planned to post this, but we've been having internet issues. This little star toy was tossed aside and sort of forgotten about while the kids played around it. I took all the color out in Photoshop except for the star and its shadow.

The kids got out of school at 11 this morning. It counts for a day, so that helps, but it does seem as if the worst of the storm has missed us. So far not even a mention of a late start, but we'll see.

I have an idea for a picture for tomorrow, but it requires me getting up with K about 5 am so it's dark in the house. Hopefully that will happen!

2010-01-19T13:41:00.002-06:00

Ok you can tell how shocked I was at that award because I completely forgot to list 7 things about myself that the award asks for!

Lets see....1. I really do not like raw tomatoes...very rarely will I eat one on a sandwich or something, but most of the time I will pick it off. However I love big chunks of cooked tomatoes in chili or things like that!

2. I love "different" colors of nail polish...not just the plain old pinks and reds. I love the deep blues, purples, greens, oranges, right now I'm wearing a sparkly silver. At one point one of my favorites was sparkly with some glow in the dark shapes, but that has long since dried up and I haven't been able to find any more. Sigh. Brandi I had to write this after reading your list and seeing what you wrote about your nail polish!

3. I have never lived totally on my own. I was 19 when I got married (12 happy years of marriage for K and I in 2009) and so I moved from living with my parents to living with the husband.

4. I LOVE music! Whether it's singing in church or one of the nursing homes when I am able, leading music in Awana or Sunday School, playing piano, or just listening to one of my cds music is a huge part of my life. Right now two favorites are Steven Curtis Chapman's Beauty Will Rise cd and Selah's You Deliver Me.

5. I had to wait until my 13th birthday to have my ears pierced the first time. Since then I've gone a little "crazy" and not only have my ears triple pierced on both sides, but I have an extra piercing above that on my right ear (partly for fun and partly to balance out the look since the trainee that did my first piercings got them a little crooked) and have the cartilege at the top of my right ear pierced. I used to have a second piercing up there as well but it has grown shut. K and I have discussed many times getting it repierced, but camera lenses and filters have since taken the place of that thought!

6. Our best friends inadvertantly started a collection of Precious Moments figurines for me....now I'm about as addicted to them as I am my pictures and camera!

7. And I admit it...I have lived a pretty sheltered Midwest life and have never seen the ocean! I really want to go at some point! I've had quite a few firsts in my life the last few years, including my first concert (Mercy Me, Aaron Shust, and Monk and Neagle) thanks to our best friends!

Well, there you go, seven random facts about me. And I pass this award along to the ladies that I mentioned alongside Brandi in my last post!

2010-01-19T13:01:00.006-06:00

Wow! Brandi
at My Three Bubs gave me this award! I'm shocked! Thank you so much, Brandi! She wrote that she was enjoying my pictures...and that she had especially like this one....
(yep that's a macro shot of my eye...I just did some minimal lightening of shadows and things and then took out all the color except for the colored part of my eye in Photoshop)

I know I've written about it before, but just in case you have stopped over from Brandi's blog I'll write about it again. This year I have given myself a challenge. I want to learn more about my camera and taking pictures, composition and such, and also about Photoshop. My goal is to take at least one picture a day and in some of those try some new things, whether it be a new angle of the shot, using the little eye viewfinder instead of the larger digital screen, trying a different filter or something in Photoshop, but mostly just to get out there and use my camera! It's been alot of fun so far, and even help working through some things that have been going on in my life right now. Thank you so much Brandi, Jen, Dani, Steffi B., Rebecca Jo, Lisa, and anyone I may have missed unintentionally for all of your comments and encouragement with my pictures! I truly appreciate it and you all have helped me to keep picking up that camera on days when I've been discouraged with what I've shot and keep trying! I can't thank you enough for that!

Here is the picture for today...January 19
This plant sits on the railing of the deck in the back of our house. I love the contrast in colors and how soft the frost looks on the leaves.

School was cancelled today, not sure if it was foggier outside of town that had them concerned about buses and students coming in, but it really hasn't been too bad in town. It sounds like we may be in line for some freezing rain and mixed snow and ice the rest of the week so I don't know how much school we will get in. I really can't remember the last week that these kids have had a full week of school! We'll be going into June at this rate!

Still waiting to hear about the basketball game scheduled for tonight too. The last few they have played even with both schools being cancelled for the day so there is a chance we will play. If not we have been invited to a friend's surprise 50th birthday get together. She is a tax preparer and it is starting to get busy for her so it will be just a small gathering of friends, but it depends on the game and the weather if we will be going.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Hugs!