Mommy's Breakroom

Moving!

2011-08-24T11:28:00.001-07:00

Not only am I moving houses but also I am moving blogs. If you wish to follow, leave me a message here or on facebook and I will get the new address to you! thanks!

We made an offer

2011-08-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well, my stomach is getting an ulcer. We made an offer yesterday, but the owner's husband didn't get home until late last night. So we got a call this morning from our realtor that they made a counter offer, and he didn't have it yet. He would send it to us around 1:30 or 2.

Counter offer???

Man, I hope that they don't want us to close a month early :( I can't come up with that much money in just a few weeks. We can probably have it gifted to us. But I don't know who could do that. YUCK.

My stomach is turning. This sucks. I hate buying/selling houses. One reason I never became a "flipper" like Joel wanted. I plan to live here forever. FOREVER!

My dream is for this to be the Klingensmith Compound. Where all the kids come to visit Grandma and Grandpa Klingensmith and their cousins and aunts and uncles. Where we all gather to get away from the world, relax and play. Where relationships are formed and bonds are made.
I know I could probably create that anywhere, but not the kind I want.
I want horses and four wheelers and ping pong tables and gardens and space for kids to roam and run. Tree houses, woods to play Robin Hood in, camp fires to make smores over, fruit to bottle, and memories to be made.
This is my dream for wherever we move to. I hope that it can be realized.

We Found It!

2011-08-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

We found the home that we've been looking for!
I'm so glad that it didn't take until next spring, but also, I almost wish it did.
It has everything we wanted, PLUS it doesn't make me feel like I'm going to miss my home. I didn't think I would find that.
Tonight we are waiting to hear back from the sellers if they have accepted our offer. We have asked for a closing date of October 3. I am hoping that isn't too far out for them. If our house hasn't sold by then we may not move until the end of October. I have a final test on October 20 and don't want to be moving before that is done. That will help me do my best on the test. Although, Joel is free to pack us up and move us if he wants. wink.
Jacob has decided he doesn't want to move with us. This makes me sad. He plans to live with his grandparents in Brooklyn Center while he finishes up school. We will miss him so much! I hope he finds the time to drive up to see us often!

Breaking Point

2011-07-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know whether I should laugh or cry. I'm happy about some things, and anxiety and frustration about others.

We have our financing coming along great. Joel and I both have excellent credit scores and he's gotten some student loan issues taken care of. Now we need to find a house. It's been hard finding something that meets all our wants/needs. It's easy to find 3 bedroom homes. Are people not having kids anymore??? It's so hard to find four bedroom homes in our price range! I'd really like my kids to have their own rooms and also have room for Jake to come home to. We also must have acreage to make it worth it. I won't buy a house that has a small yard, and I won't settle for less than 5 acres. I'd just as well stay put instead of putting money into another non-private yard. We also are looking for a really good price. And that makes the task almost impossible. Just this week a home that would have been perfect has slipped through our hands. This has me depressed, a little.

But as daunting as that seems, that is the EASY part!

The hardest parts will be getting this house ready, and coming to terms with leaving this home. I love my home. It suits our family just fine! I wish I could take it with me instead, but that also is too costly.

My kids have been of no/little help to me in getting the house ready. I've even had to post that I wanted to hire someone to help clean and organize the house to get it ready to sell. I've had some offers from people to help. I think I am going to have to use them! This is a big burden on my shoulders that makes me feel crabby and anxious. I've lost my patience a couple of times, unfortunately, when seeing stuff out of place, messes or things I wish they would do on their own.

This isn't good.

Tomorrow we are looking with a realtor at two properties, one I feel doesn't have enough rooms and the other I didn't like the yard. I'm not hoping to fall in love.

I'm in the market for a good deal...

2011-06-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

Joel and I have decided that it might be time soon for us to get back into a regular home. But we don't want just any home. This home has to have certain things to be worth it to us.
These are some of our requirements:

1) payments can't be more than our lot rent, some fixing up is ok, after all we know to get a good deal we'll have to put more money into it and some elbow grease.

2) it must have property and space between our house and our neighbors.

3) must have air conditioning.

4) must have 2 bathrooms and enough room to either have/create 4 bedrooms.

We have one property that we are looking into, but not getting my hopes up for it just yet. It has to go through an auction before I can do a walk through. So if it doesn't sell on the 7th, we will call and ask for a walk through. It went through auction in February and didn't sell, so I'm hoping I have a chance to look at it closer. It has some water damage in the basement that we need to check out first as well.

Here's some pictures of it...

AWESOME oak tree in the front. Landscaping needs major pulling and cleaning up.

The view of the house from the road.

Cool circle window in the dining room. West side of the house.

Fun porch to hang a swing or place a glider. I could see us when we are old and retired hanging out on the porch watching the grandkids play in the yard.

Some of the front porch needs replacing. The old one is out somewhere in the 20 acre woods behind the house :) I would love to created some four wheeler trails behind there!

But, as I said, it might not be available after the 7th, and also I might not want it if I find the water damage is signs of a serious problem.

If anyone knows of any foreclosed homes that fit our needs, let me know!

In search of a perfect blog layout...

2011-06-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,
If you can't read this let me know!
I'm playing around with new blog designs and worry that some are too small.
Love,
Me

I've been trying new blog templates and found a few that I love, but there's something on each one that's not perfect and I have driven myself crazy trying to fix them, which means going through my HTLM code line by line, which also makes my head hurt.
I will work on it more later.

A little break before hitting the books again. I think this will be the last time I take a math class during a summer session. Every day we cover something new and don't have any time to work on it, except that night and then the next day we are off on something new! I'm a bit worried I've ruined my gpa with this class. And that worry sets in more since I received a letter today from the college saying I'm on the Dean's List. Yay me! I'd like to stay there if I could.

We had a good weekend for our anniversary and Father's Day. Saturday night Joel and I went to Joe's Crab Shack and had lobster and crab for dinner. Then we went out shopping for a few things. He got some things for his tool box from Menards, I got a Nook from Barnes and Noble. Then we went to a movie, The Green Lantern. It was really good.

On Sunday I got to enjoy a day with no calling. That was really nice, but also felt a little weird. I'm used to getting out of the chapel and trying to beat kids down to the Primary room. This time I got to sit next to a couple of ladies I haven't seen or chatted with in a while and that was so nice!

After church we went to my in-laws. My FIL was able to come home for a little while and so we went to visit with him and bring him cards for Father's Day. He is starting to look better and has color in his face again. He was able to go up the stairs to use the bathroom (with a lot of help, of course), so maybe it won't be long before he will be home and able to get around. They say he is not supposed to put pressure on his half-foot for several weeks yet.

We ended the evening at home with corn on the cob, fried chicken and garlic mashed potatoes. I wanted to take the kids and dog to the dog park for a walk but I still had homework to finish so I had to do that instead. Booo.

Families Can be Together Forever

2011-06-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

I love this Primary song.

I did a lot of thinking this morning about how I love my sisters and family so much. I am so thankful that my Father in Heaven has a plan for us to be a family forever.

I was remembering my trip out west last summer when I visited my parents for a couple of weeks. I really just wanted to spend my time there visiting and not really running around doing stuff. I did go out and do stuff, but I also loved sitting around my parents house talking, playing games, etc. I LOVE being there! One afternoon my sister had stopped by my mom's to chat for a while. As she stretched out over my mom's couch we chatted about her job as a teacher and her getting ready for the new school year. It was so nice just to sit and listen to her tell her stories. She's a very kind person, and even though she was having trouble with one of her aids, she was still so kind while she talked about her. I admire my sister so much and the person she is. I just thought how lucky her students are and how neat it would be if I could end up working with someone like her, I would be in HEAVEN!

And when I do get to heaven, I'm so happy I get to be with my sister!

Clutter!

2011-06-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

My house was so nice and clean.... a couple of weeks ago!
Since the kids have been home from school their rooms have exploded and things from their rooms have strayed out and been left around the house. So, today they are grounded for the rest of the weekend until BOTH of the little kid's rooms are cleaned. I'm wondering how long it will take. How many tears will be shed. How many, "You are the WORST mom EVER!" I will have to hear. How much my head will hurt by the time they are done.

This weekend it will be 18 years since Joel and I were married in the Edgerton chapel. Bishop Ron Holm married us. His daughter Hannah was a new baby and attended the wedding and reception. Our son Jacob was 4 months old and was at the wedding and reception as well. We moved away to Brooklyn Center shortly after that. During our time in Brooklyn Center, Joel joined the church and we were sealed for eternity by President Sheffield, a dear long time friend of my parents.Many years later, we moved to Shoreview, where Jacob and Hannah ended up being classmates. This last month all of us, Hannah, her dad, President Sheffield and our family were all at the Seminary graduation of our children/grandchildren. The Sheffield's grandson spoke at the graduation. It was a really sweet evening where a full circle had been made.

Joel and I have had so many ups and downs during our 18 years of marriage. He has stuck with me through my crazies, and that amazes me. When I think back to things I've done, I'm ashamed, I wonder how he's had the patience to overlook and forgive things I've said and done. He's truely kept our vows, for better, for worse. He's been a great example to me of love and patience.

(I wanted to share a picture from our wedding, but my scanner isn't working.)

Lately, more especially since medication has brought me out of the dark fog I've been in for the last several years, I feel more strongly committed to my vows I made to him and God. Maybe, at the time I made them, I didn't think about them so much. I just wanted our family to be forever. But now I ponder more in my heart my vows, and what they mean to me, and how I can better keep them and honor him and myself.

Happy Anniversary love!

Old Family Videos

2011-06-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

Joshua, February 2006, tangled up in the Valentine's Day balloons I bought.

Jaeden having a tantrum, before she was saying much more than "Mommy" and "Daddy".

Jaeden dancing to the music in her head.

Joshua rapping.

The girls would often hold hands while riding around in the car.

On Death and Dying

2011-06-08T12:36:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago I was taking a Life Cycle Psychology class when we covered death and dying. We discussed the Terri Schiavo case, and it caused me to bug Joel again about his living will wishes. He's never written one, and wouldn't do it for me six years ago when I was making mine. The class has caused me to reflect on my life a bit and maybe make some decisions differently based on new thoughts, feelings and ideas.

Today a friend, on facebook, posted a link to an insightful article by Bronnie Ware about the regrets of dying people. I thought I would share them here (along with some of my mental notations).

REGRETS OF THE DYING

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

This would probably be one of my biggest personal regrets as well, and I would worry that telling people this would hurt their feelings. Although, now that my mind is clearer than it was before medication, I can see that even though I am trying to live how others expect me to, this is a righteous thing. I know that my husband and my parents have righteous expectations of me. If I were to do whatever I wanted, I'm sure it would not be the best thing for me, my children or them, and I would only be selfishly serving myself. And that is not how we are supposed to be.
Enter internal conflict: I have only this life. This one life to live only once. If I am not happiest living it the way everyone else thinks I should- even if it's good- is it worth it? Is that fair to me or them?

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

At this point, we do need to work as much as we do. We have four kids, no insurance and doctor bills up the wazoo. I wish we could get by with less, but it's just not possible right now. Every penny counts. I guess we will have to enjoy our grandkids more than our own kids. *sob*. I do think that maybe I can make improvements on this by choosing less housework and by taking more time to play. I'm glad I am going into a field where I can take summers off to spend with my kids. That IS a plus!

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

Dang if you do, dang if you don't, is my problem. If I do speak my feelings, I feel that only the positive ones will be accepted and listened to. Nobody wants to hear my negative stuff. The hardest person with this is Joel. I want to be able to share everything with him. But, I feel he takes personal offense every time my feelings aren't positive and when I express them it causes problems and fights. He feels responsible for me and my feelings, though he shouldn't.
I'm not ready for the "releasing the unhealthy relationship from my life" part yet, but I really wish I had a partner I could be honest with and they would accept my bad with my good and not feel that if I have a negative feeling that it's their job to take care of it. I just want someone to listen and understand.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

Meh, me, not so much this one. I would wish I'd kept in touch with more family members, like first cousins, more than friends. Maybe as far as friends go, I would wish I reached out to be a friend to others more than I have. That might be a more accurate statement for me.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Amen! This is one I am trying to do. I am trying to let go of things that make me unhappy and embrace and do things that I love and enjoy.
I try to be silly and play with my kids, even though it may embarrass them or others, but the other day I got a letter from Jaeden that said, "I love my mom because she is fun." Man, if that doesn't say it's worth it, nothing will.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regrets of the Dying is soon to be a full-length book, full of personal and inspiring stories about Bronnie's years with dying people. Please join the mailing list, on the contact page, to be advised of its release.
Coming soon in 2011.

Best laid plans...

2011-06-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

foiled again!

I have been wanting, for weeks, to get Jake's pictures done. However, time has eluded me, Jake has eluded me, energy has eluded me. So, tonight, I'd had it! He was hanging out on my hammock and I decided that I had to get this shot done once and for all. It was similar to what I had imagined doing anyway. Voila! Here's Jake's announcements...

I love this guy.

2011-06-01T18:30:00.001-07:00

Well, they took all of Roger's toes off. He's in a transfer house learning to walk and use stairs without them. He will be there for over a month.

Jacob's graduation is on the 7th. And he's graduating with Honors! YAY! We are so excited about this! I can't wait! I have been wanting to take his picture for the last couple of weeks but his work and the kids soccer practices have us booked. I'm so sad I haven't gotten to do it yet. Very sad. He gets his cap and gown on Friday so maybe I will get a few shots with those too.

In the fall he will be getting his Associates Degree. We are hoping he will get to spend a semester at BYU before going out for his mission. I am even more excited for him to do this! I just know he will love it and my family will be so happy to have him around, they will love it! Life for him is so exciting right now!

My math class so far is going good. I think I have a good teacher. He's made things so much more clearer than any other teacher I've had before. This is encouraging! Hopefully my instincts are right. I'd really love to be able to get an A in that class. I don't start my Educational Psychology until July 5.

Josh and Jaeden are taking soccer this summer. I was a loser mom and didn't get them signed up for baseball in time, so we had to settle for soccer. They both, luckily, are very athletic and coordinated so they do well in any sport they do. They played soccer a couple of years ago, so they already know how to play. I still have to decide on something to sign up Joy for. She's a little tricky in the skills/interests area.

I took Buddy for a long walk today and worked on walking past people on the trails without trying to jump on them. He did pretty good! It was a bummer that the trails are paved in black and were hot, so I had him walking in the grass. Needless to say I was picking ticks off of him after the walk. YIKES! I hate those buggars.

2011-05-17T09:40:00.001-07:00

I love my puppy. He's the cutest little guy, and he's so smart. But today something is wrong with Buddy. He's been itching his ear and shaking his head, a lot. Last night he crashed on the couch unusually early and I was wondering if he was sick. I have to take him to the vet this afternoon. I hope he's ok.

Jacob has decided that he would like the money instead of an open house, which I totally respect, and kind of expected he would choose that. He doesn't like having the spotlight on him. He's totally the kind of person that would save someone from a burning building and then disappear into the night before anyone found out who he was. He's never been a glory hound or felt the need to be recognized for his accomplishments. I love that about him. He's so humble. I love that kid.

They decided today to try to save Roger's foot, they will be cutting away infected parts of his foot, he may loose a couple of toes, but they will try to save the foot so he can have balance. This is great news! I pray it works! If he is not doing better in a few days they may have to take the whole foot. I pray that doesn't happen.

Sad news

2011-05-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight is really sad. I found out two sad things.
First, the crazy cat people down the road lost their baby this week. It was pretty much full term. I don't know the details, just that it died after it was born. We don't talk to them, so I only know what the youngest daughter tells her class (my daughter shares a class with her) in school. Even though I don't like them very much, I'm still very sad for them and remember the pain that comes with losing a baby.
The second sad news is that my father-in-law is very ill, in the hospital, and they will probably be removing his right foot in the morning. His feet were cracking and bleeding this winter, when he saw a doctor for it they told him to keep it lotioned. He also has diabetes. His foot became infected and he didn't take care of it right away. They were first talking about removing parts of his foot, but now tonight, the latest call is that they will be removing the whole foot. This is very sad. His life is about to change, a LOT. I worry that he won't be here much longer, and I'm worried now that the memories my three little kids will have of him will be sad ones. This is a hard thing to deal with.

Brain Teaser

2011-05-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

The other day I was talking to my kids about cough suppressants and explaining that they work by affecting a part of your brain, instead of affecting your throat, when you get that little tickle. In the medula of the brain there is a "cough center" that the antitussive works on to suppress the cough.
So after explaining this to them, Josh asks me, "I can cough on purpose, does that mean I can tickle my brain?"
That is quite possibly the funniest thing he's ever asked me.

2011-05-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

I love you Mom!
Miss you!

Giggle

2011-05-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

A camel is a horse designed by a committee.

2011-04-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

I hate being mean, but sometimes I think you just have to, to make people get up and shake a leg.
We are totally rained into our house. I can't walk my dog without rolling up my pants and wearing flip-flops. My kids are not going to be able to get to the house when they come home from school today. My yard is flooded clear back to the shed. Joel called the park manager and was nice to him, and the manager said, "thanks for letting me know." That just was not enough for me, so I called him back and said, "no! I want to know what you are going to do about it!"
I didn't get any dates it would be fixed by, but he was whinning, "give me a break, I've only been here a month!" It could have been fixed in that month. Grrrrrrrr. Then I chewed him out some more.

Jake gets his cast off today, and he is so excited. He has to wear a boot around for a few more weeks. He doesn't want to, but I'm going to ask the doctor how important it is that he does.

My house is falling apart, and it's making me crabby. I need a maid service, seriously. The kids aren't much help and as soon as they clean stuff they mess it up again. I don't have time to keep up with it all. I need more hours in the day, or to find a better way to study. Or maybe I should get off here and get to it.... bye!

2011-04-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Let us observe a moment of silence

in memory of Mom's sanity...

Well, it's happened!

2011-04-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

I really thought when I started school last year that I would be able to take the summers off to spend with my kids, but feared that something would come up that wouldn't let me. All this time I have been working towards the summer, when I would have a break, and be able to play with my kids, and go places whenever I wanted, and not have to plan around a schedule. But the other day I got an award letter from the school saying that if I took six credits of classes this summer I would receive over $1,300 in Pell grants. How can I pass that up? It took awhile, but I found two classes that fit into my degree requirements, to take during the summer. One will be a class that's entirely online, and educational psychology class. The other class is a math class, and I will have to go to school every morning, except for Fridays.
My choice was to either take a math refresher course and try to test out of the class, and have no other classes this summer. Or I could take the class I was trying to pass out of, and take a second class and both would be free, and also there will be money left for books. So, I guess I'm opting for the second choice. Free is good. That does kind of bum me out, I do value my freedom in the summer, and lack of schedules.
Last week I had three tests in my classes, and after being sick all weekend and on medications and lacking serious sleep hours, I thought for sure that I would not do well. I was very surprised to see that I got a 92%, 89%, and an 88% score on those tests. Yay! We only have 2.5 weeks of school left. I'm getting at least a B in every class. I am hoping to keep them up through the finals projects and finals week.
Wish me luck!

My phone takes crappy pictures.

2011-04-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

And now that I got that off my chest I want to share some recent images I have take with my crappy phone camera...

But first, a moment of silence:

I was sad to see today that little "Jason" the black bear cub died a couple of days ago :( No word yet on why.

And now onto the crappy phone pictures. Here's a picture of what my kids have been up to the last couple of days... seriously, I don't know why we don't just buy them big boxes for birthdays instead of toys....

But the problem is, we only have two boxes that size, two skateboards and three little kids.

Tonight Joy helped me by making the bread for our dinner, that ended up being ruined anyway because of some bad cream, so we had McDonalds instead. Bread will go with tomorrow night's dinner.

And besides buying the kids boxes for birthdays, I don't know why we don't just get them a bunch of Pillsbury bread cans for Christmas...

WARNING! If you don't like doggie butts, don't read this post further....

I warned you.

Ok I have been meaning to post about this latley, but haven't gotten to taking a picture of it until the other day. This is either just plain weird, funny or cute. It makes me giggle almost every day. My dog has the funniest spot for two cowlicks.

I'm laughing now.

Quick update before I run out the door!

2011-04-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Jake had surgery on his ankle this morning. He seems to be ok for now. Heavily sedated and foot propped up on a foam plank. I couldn't be there with him because I had a test and a class that I can't miss today. I might skip my class tomorrow because of him, we'll see. The doctor said everything went well. He has to wear a cast for a couple of weeks, but can put weight on it, then he has to wear his boot for another 4 weeks, and then have a final check on the leg and be given some physical therapy exercises. I hope that he feels good soon and that this won't be anything that will hinder him on a mission, or make it hard to walk a lot or ride bikes. We don't know how much it's going to cost us in the end. Minnesota turned us down for assistance, but the hospital is trying to do some other stuff, so we'll have to wait and see. But for now he's resting comfortably and I have to run to class. Bye!

Mood ring: Blue

2011-04-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's the color it is tonight. Not like the pretty green in the picture (and mine was only $2), but a very bright and happy blue, which according to the website means that I am either very relaxed, calm, or happy. This is the exact ring I have, funny that I found that online. I bought it when the kids and I were at the Audubon Center in Sandstone Minnesota. I think it is fun to look at throughout the day to see what color it is. Usually it says I have mixed emotions or I am lovable.

The weather has been so beautiful this week, and sadly, I heard it will be raining this weekend (that's OK because I will be at Time Out for Women). I really wish I was outside tonight playing in it instead of talking to my blog, but before talking to my blog I was stuck studying for a test that I have next week, and now I need to go find a lesson for my children on Sunday, and am also trying to finish up a session I had last fall so that the senior has pictures for his graduation. I also need to get my own seniors pictures done, it's a matter of wrangling him, tying him up, sedating him, or hypnotized him, to get his pictures done.

I have such strong spring fever right now that it's really hard to contain my mind and concentrate on the tasks I need to do. It's days like these that make me wish that there were more hours in the day. I'd like to take the dog for walk in the park, I'd like to take my camera out to play, I'd like to go for a bike ride, I'd like to have a bonfire, make some smores, but right now I have to go make some fajitas. Ciao!

Out like a Lion

2011-04-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

RAWRRRrrrrr! Haha. Ok, it's been months (actually since October) since I colored my hair last. So a couple of weeks ago I colored again because my roots were getting to be about 2 inches long. I went to school one week, and then the next week my classmate came in and said, "whoa!" when he saw me. I said "what?" and he said, "your hair." I explained to him that I was wearing my wash and go look, and that I had finally got around to coloring my hair, to which he said, "What made you choose that color?".... wow, way to make a girl feel great.

So here is my new lions mane look I've been sporting since I've decided that nobody cares how I look and I'm just too tired and worn out to care myself, lol.

A new toy

2011-03-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have a new toy! It is so cool! I am making this post by voice. Woo Hoo!!! This is going to make my life so much easier, I hope. I think it will make writing papers go so much faster, and give me more time to play with my kids after I do my do my homework. Why didn't I think of getting one of these sooner?

TMI

2011-03-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, this might all be too much information (TMI) for you so go ahead and close the window to my blog and come back another time when I've made a new post.

Ok, this is your last chance!

Ready?

Set?

ok, if you stuck around, just remember that you asked for it!

I think I am having perimenopause symptoms. There. I've said it. It's too late for you to turn around now! Hey! Get back here! Now that you know what's wrong with me, you have to listen to why I think that.

Yes you do.

I found a list of 25 symptoms of menopause.

No, I didn't just decide tonight that it would be a fun idea to find out how close I am to my last period (although I think that would be a really cool thing to know, and man would I really look forward to that day even marking it on the calendar and throwing myself a great big party, or at least I'd buy myself a three layered chocolate cake). Ahem, back to my story....

There's a reason. The reason is, I've been having symptoms. More than 17 symptoms to be exact.
How many symptoms should I worry about before I think it's a good sign that I'm beginning the stages of menopause?

Hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and/or cold flashes, clammy feeling
Irregular heart beat
Irritability
Mood swings, sudden tears
Trouble sleeping through the night (with or without night sweats)
Irregular periods; shorter, lighter periods; heavier periods, flooding; phantom periods,
shorter cycles, longer cycles
Loss of libido (see note)
Dry vagina
Crashing fatigue
Anxiety, feeling ill at ease
Feelings of dread, apprehension, doom
Difficulty concentrating, disorientation, mental confusion
Disturbing memory lapses
Incontinence, especially upon sneezing, laughing; urge incontinence
Itchy, crawly skin
Aching, sore joints, muscles and tendons
Increased tension in muscles
Breast tenderness
Headache change: increase or decrease
Gastrointestinal distress, indigestion, flatulence, gas pain, nausea
Sudden bouts of bloat
Depression
Exacerbation of existing conditions
Increase in allergies
Weight gain Yeah, but that happened 6 years ago, and it really had to do with the last baby I had, so I don't think they will let me count that.
Hair loss or thinning, head, pubic, or whole body; increase in facial hair Thank heaven's not this yet!
Dizziness, light-headedness, episodes of loss of balance
Changes in body odor Please, if anyone notices this, let me know!?
Electric shock sensation under the skin and in the head
Tingling in the extremities
Gum problems, increased bleeding
Burning tongue, burning roof of mouth, bad taste in mouth, change in breath odor And uh, let me know about this one too, k!?
Osteoporosis (after several years)
Changes in fingernails: softer, crack or break easier
Tinnitus: ringing in ears, bells, 'whooshing,' buzzing etc.

And many of these symptoms are VERY not pleasant and persistent and bothersome. Especially the one where I have periods in between periods, or the tingling in the extremities and the bloating.

What's a girl to do?

I don't want to go to my doctor for ... yet.... another thing. I've already seen her this year about the migraines and the depression... do I really have to keep visiting her and telling her a new sob story every time I go? Why can't, for once, I go to the doctor when nothings wrong and I have nothing to complain about? We could hang out, I could tell her my funny school stories, she could tell me some funny doctor/patient stories and then I could go home, without a prescription, without a big bill and without having to pour out my guts, or have a reminder that this is the year I turn 40. That'd be great. Thanks.

You asked for it.

Crazy Crunch!

2011-03-16T12:39:00.000-07:00

Crazy Crunch with nuts
Crazy Crunch plain

Courtesy of my dear mother, a wonderful memory from my childhood, and now part of my own children's memories :)

Set aside in a greased bowl-
14 Cups of popped corn
1 1/2 C. mixed nuts

In a large pot on the stove bring to a boil-
1 1.2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. dark Karo syrup
1 1/2 square butter (3/4 Cup)
3 T. water

Boil until hard ball stage (checking in a bowl of ice water, you pour a little into the bowl and can use your fingers to form a solid ball). Remove from heat.
Add 1 tsp. vanilla when it's at hard ball stage.

Pour over popcorn and mix.

Dump out onto greased foil or wax paper to cool.

Enjoy!

2011-03-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have a little bit of time here, while I wait for my highlights to take effect. Today is coloring day. I haven't colored my hair since that scary day in October when I decided that I wanted a warmer darker color for winter. It didn't turn out so great. I've been scared to go back to my old color, but afraid to go forward with another color and so I've been sitting and waiting and letting my grays grow long. I finally caved this week and bought a bottle of my old color. It's almost spring so I'm over the urge of wanting warmer colored hair.

This week is spring break for all of us in our schools. The kids are already bored out of their minds and Josh has a cold coming on. I hope he's well enough to spend the weekend up north with us. We are taking the little kids up to the bear and wolf centers. Jake is staying behind to take care of the dog and hang out with friends. I'm making my mom's Crazy Crunch to go with us. The kids are excited about that!

I did have homework during break, I have to put together a speech for my speech class. I got my power point about photography put together yesterday. Not exactly something I want to talk about, but also, it's something I know about so I can talk about it with relative ease and low script.

Well, I have to say things kind of suck since Jake turned 18. He's gone all the time. He's out very late on weekends. He is cutting the apron strings. Boooo. He also kept putting off registering for the draft so he was a felon here for a week. I hope they accept his late registration and don't fine him. I also hope it doesn't interfere with his qualifying for student aid or aid with his surgery. I hate letting go of control.

Ding! Time to wash! Bye!

2011-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

Time for another update, I suppose :)
This morning, in a little bit, we are headed out to puppy play time at the Humane Society. Buddy loves chasing around little dogs. He's afraid of the bigger dogs so we have to be careful what playgroups we take him to. My husband, I'm sure, thinks I'm crazy to spend money to let our dog play with other dogs, but I think it's been important for his socialization and will help when we go out walking and run into other dogs on the path.
I'm volunteering 4 hours a week, through the end of March, in a couple of special education classrooms and it's been a really great experience so far. I'm learning a lot from observation and finding what kind of setting I would like to teach in, if given the opportunity.
Jake is still waiting on surgery for his ankle. He's scheduled for April 13. It feels years away, and that is hard. I wish he could be fixed sooner.
This week I have a presentation to give with my group in my drugs and alcohol class, about a visit we made to an AA meeting. We have this lady in our group that is seriously difficult to work with, so I hope things go well with our presentation. She likes to overpower everyone and is wanting to make our presentation into a lot more than it should be, or that the teacher has asked for.
We are expecting about a foot more of snow in the coming week. I am so sick of snow! I am ready for spring and color and walks and warm sun on my face! I was actually looking at scooters on Craigslist the other day. When we visited Utah last summer my sister took my kids out on her scooter and they had so much fun. I didn't realize they can get 80 miles to the gallon! I think I'd like one to get back and forth to school on, but Joel wants a motorcycle. We would never be able to agree on a motorcycle. He's into choppers and Harleys and I'm not. I don't want a big heavy thing. I want something light weight and easy to move around. Oh well, guess I'll just keep dreaming about my Jeep and the day I don't have kids to drive around so I can have one.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day to my sweet hubby. Love you babe!

Back at it again

2011-01-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

I am back at school again. New semester. This time I am taking four classes.

1. Introduction to Special Education
2. Psychology II- Lifespan Development
3. Speech
4. Health- Drugs Across the Spectrum

I am loving the Special Education class so far. My teacher is very demanding of us, and I love that. He's also worked in the field for a lot of years, and is planning on starting a school group for those in the special education field. He is the first teacher at our school to teach Special Education. Right now he's working on a mission statement. I have to volunteer 20 hours in a Special Education setting in a school to pass this class. I am having a hard time finding a school to take me, or return my calls. I think it's really neat that as I am learning about "exceptional learners", as they are called, that I am having the same kind of experience that I had when I used to edit photographs. As I would edit, I would find myself feeling a great love and appreciation for the people who's pictures I worked on. I could understand the love Heavenly Father has for each one of them. As I am learning about exceptional learners I am having a similar experience, feeling a great love and appreciation for these children of our Heavenly Father who have struggles, developmental and physical. I know I am following a path that I will love.

The Health class is a bit interesting. We have some major projects, one of which I don't really want to do. We have to get together in a group and visit a chemical dependency self-help group, sit in on their meeting and then do a report on it. I don't want to do that. I'd like to remain in the dark about that kind of stuff. I've been there with tobacco, and I don't want to see what other people are struggling with, with even stronger addictions. The other project we have to do is do a presentation about a case study. Our group picked a study done in Massachusetts where they are focusing on preventing college students from binge drinking.

Jacob turns 18 on Wednesday and I'm lacking gift/activity ideas because of his leg. He can't do all the ideas I would love to do to celebrate his birthday like some laser tag games for him and his friends, or bowling, etc. Also, we don't know what our financial situation is right now, or what to expect for a final cost to fix him, but so far we're in debt for 2 grand and he's still broken :( I missed a call from the financial person at the hospital yesterday and am waiting for her to call me back today. I'm hoping that he will qualify for some help from the state since the surgery will happen after he's 18 and has no insurance, but we will see.

I have lots of work to get back to, so that's all for an update for now. Ciao!

Bear Den Camera

2011-01-08T13:52:00.001-08:00

I have been leaving the window to this site open for the last day or two, and coming when I hear noises. This den in Ely Minnesota is being shared by two female bears, Hope and Lily. Lily is the mama bear, Hope is almost 2 years old. Lily is about to have another baby, most likely before January 22. I'm hoping to see a live black bear birth, wouldn't that be a treat!?
Check it out yourself. You have to watch a 15 second commercial before the camera comes on.
(Also today when I was watching Lily covered the camera with straw, so I'm hoping she moves the straw down before she has her new baby/babies.)

Lilly and Hope Bear Cam

2011-01-07T13:39:00.000-08:00

I'm getting butterflies in my tummy....

Our family has had a nice break this holiday season. We had a lot of fun playing and being together. The kids went back to school this week and I start my next semester next week. I have two classes on Monday, one in the evening and then a class each day for the next three days. I have Fridays and weekends free for studying and grocery shopping.

I've spent a lot of time this week working on Buddy. He's coming along. He's so smart and has caught onto a lot of stuff I've been trying to teach him (yet also forgetting some really important stuff I've been trying to get him to remember). He's been to classes twice and both times was the best behaved dog there. He's in classes for dogs 5 months and up. He has a few new tricks that help with redirecting his attention and obedience. I also have taken him a couple of times to the pet store to let him wander and sniff and see people and other dogs. The kids really want him to learn fun tricks, like "roll over", and are not patient about him just working on basic control and commands. Some day he's going to be the best dog ever, I just know it!

I have my books for my new classes. They look pretty interesting. I'm putting off starting to read them because I have had teachers go out of order with chapters and I don't want to spend time reading something I don't need yet, so instead I am reading Eat, Pray, Love. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'd like to finish the book first. So far it's very good!

I also finally got a chance to look at the pictures I took last August in Utah. Man, those were some really good days for me and the kids!

2010-12-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Today is my mom's birthday. I want to send a shout out to her. I love and miss her so much! Happy birthday Mom!

Tap-tap-tap-tap.... Major updates!

2010-12-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

I finished my second semester at school and this was the first semester I took a full load. I took five classes and just got my grades back last week. Four A's and one B. YAY me! I'm kicking myself over the B, because it would have been an A, but with Thanksgiving weekend I forgot to take two online quizzes and that brought my grade down a lot. One of the classes I took this fall was Environmental Science. It was a shortened class packing 16 weeks into 10, it was a class I found very challenging and also had a lot of disagreements with my teacher on some public opinion things. I was just hoping to pass the class and didn't hope for the best grade. I was very surprised to find that I'd not only earned an A, but also that only one other person did better than me on the final exam, and everybody else scored less than my 92%! That felt really good.

I am taking four classes the next semester and they all start the first part of January, so I'm hoping that my load won't be as heavy as this last semester was. I am taking an introduction to Special Education class that I am very much looking forward to. This, I am hoping, will help me sort out which range of kids I want to work with. My education will not be all encompassing and at one point I will have to choose between:

a- development and physical disabilities

b- learning and emotional behavior disabilities

I really wanted the development and learning, but the school has them split up, so at some point I will have to choose one or the other. At this point I am leaning towards choice a, but I think Jaeden falls in choice b, and I was hoping what I learned would help me help her. During their Jr. High years I am hoping to home school at least the girls, if not Josh too (he's already begging me, but I think he just thinks it's an easy ride).

Buddy is doing a little better. He's learned his name. He's still biting the kids a lot. For the first few weeks we would close his mouth and scold, "no biting!" But that didn't work. He is very mouthy, chews, bites, eats everything. He's just a puppy and learning about the world, like babies do, putting everything in their mouths, but he should be past that stage by now. So now we are shaking his scruff while we scold and pinning him down on the ground until he submits, which he does, but it's not stopping the biting yet. I really need to take a video of Joy disciplining him, it's kind of hilarious, she's such a brute. Josh and Jaeden are much more timid and afraid of his biting. So far it's not hard biting, but it needs to be stopped before he gets older and his grown up teeth come all the way in.

We had a good Christmas. The children traded presents from Joel and me for the puppy, but we did get them a couple of things, and of course Santa stopped by and spoiled them too. I got a really comfy computer chair that I am loving sitting in right now.

Jake had his wisdom teeth out on the 23rd and is still on ibuprofen, but he seems to be healing pretty well and hasn't shown signs of dry socket yet. I got that the last time I had a tooth removed and I'd rather have pushed a baby out than go through that again! It was the worst. His face hasn't swollen up too bad either. Tomorrow it will have been a week. I hope this is the last major thing his body goes through. He's had so many broken bones and teeth removed and braces and such. It's time the kid got a break!

My preventative medicine for migraines seems to be working really well now. I hardly ever have to take Excedrin. I am so happy! I was in so much pain before, every day. I do think the pills make me more tired than usual, but I'd rather deal with that, than be back on so many pain meds. Also my stomach is much happier.

2010-12-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

One more week of classes and then winter break. YAY! And also bah! Although I'm happy to have some of these classes end, I'm a little sad to know some people I've met, I may never see again. Every class I have I have made a friend and wish that I could have more classes with them. One gal, in my psychology class is so cool. She's a little older than I am (and how sad I am to know that I'm going to be one year closer to 40 next week, boooo!) and she totally reminds me of Sarah Palin, only smarter, and a lot less annoying. I'm going to miss her.
This is Reiley, she let me take her picture last week when we were performing a water/acid rain test. My stupid Blackberry takes horrible pictures (I'm spoiled by my Canons), but I think she looks adorable, anyway.

She's in my biology class.
Speaking of turning 39.... I never, ever, ever thought I would live this long! Seriously. If some of you know me, and some of you do, you know that for many, many years I was not living in a way that was kosher with living a long happy healthy life. I know I'm getting older, and this week I was reminded that my eyes are getting older too (stupid biology project), but I still feel like my mid 20's and so it's really hard for my mind to grasp my actual age. I mean, it's not a big deal to me, but it's still a mind boggler.
Buddy is still living with us. He's a chewer and a biter. I'm finding myself hooking him up to a long leash for hours every day and controlling every move he makes. The vet said I should do that, that he should be in puppy boot camp and can't make a move without my permission. That's what I'm doing. So far he's mastered "sit" and a little bit of "stay" and "lay down". And he's totally mastered the kisses and cuddles. I need people to come over so I can socialize him and make him sit nicely when people come in the house.

Puppy Love

2010-11-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

And they called it "puppy love"... Ooooo la la.
I am so in love with this little guy. He reminds me a lot of our old dog Scout, who was the best dog ever.
This little guy got named Buddy when we brought him home. He is a 4 month old manchester terrier. At this time he's a little under 9 lb, about the size of a grown cat. He's a little under nourished. I can tell he hasn't lived in a home, he was scared of a toilet the first time it flushed and now he tries to see what's going on in there when he hears it. He also doesn't seem to like other dogs, as he growls really ferociously at the neighbors ugly little furballs. They deserve it for being so ugly. He is excited to look for rabbits when ever we go outside and almost doesn't want to take time out of rabbit hunting to potty. He's a very sweet little cuddler and I love that so much! I've missed my little Scouts cuddles.

Black Friday

2010-11-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

I love Black Friday... why does it have to sound so dark? I know... bringing the businesses out of the red, into the black with sales, but still... so dreary sounding for the shoppers.
Last year we waited for hours for a sweet deal on electronics, and it would appear that maybe electronics will be on the list again this year. Last year we were in line with a really cool guy that talked our ear off in his southern accent and told us entertaining stories of his life. I hope we end up next to someone cool again this year.

OCEAN

2010-11-21T21:05:00.001-08:00

I'm a O70-C89-E59-A57-N43 Big Five!!

2010-11-03T13:27:00.001-07:00

Tuesday I forgot to post on here, but remembered on Facebook:
Today I am thankful for being blessed enough to live in a country that allows me the opportunity to participate in the process of chosing our leaders!

And, today I am thankful for the much needed rest I got last night and waking up without a migraine this morning. (however one did show up around 10am :( booo )

2010-11-01T19:15:00.001-07:00

Today I am thankful for the hour I got to spend with Joyanna coloring and reading. I miss her so much!

New Keyboard

2010-10-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

Can I just say how much I love love love typing on a brand new keyboard and the sound it makes when it's not crunching crumbs under it's keys and how nice it is to not have to press each key more than once to make it work and also that my 0 key pops back up after I press it. Love it!

Mom, this one is for you :)

2010-09-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

Click on the arrow to play, if it doesn't show up....

I knew you'd enjoy it!

Saturday's Wedding

2010-09-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I felt really lucky to second shoot a wedding for Dominique again. I love shooting for her, she gets such unique clients with amazing venues for their weddings. This one was in Red Wing at the Round Barn B&B. Click on the link to watch a video tour of the place.
On my way there, my GPS took me through Prescot Wisconsin, and then back over the river into Red Wing. BIG MISTAKE! I got stuck in the middle of thousands of bikers and felt very awkwardly out of place in my baby blue mini-van. There was a Fall Flood Run and I'm not kidding when I say thousands of bikers. Eeeeks! Luckily I got out of there without hitting anyone with my van, as they would just pull out onto the road willi-nilly and never used blinkers.
It was a cool fall-feeling day, the ceremony was out in the back yard by a trellis of flowers. The bride was so adorable! She reminded me of my neice Carla, but her disposition was more like my sister DeAnna. Often she would catch the attention of someone and say, "Thank you! I don't know what you are doing, but I just know you are doing something!" She was so generous with her appreciation to everyone who was making her wedding day happen.
After the ceremony we moved into the barn for the reception. The barn is amazing! They seated everyone upstairs and each table was an eclectic gathering of vintage-looking centerpieces and each serving plate, water and wine glass was different from any other. After the dinner and toasts there was a space cleared for dancing and boy did they dance up a storm! I was downstairs running a photo-booth that Dominique wanted to try out, and I could hear everyone stomping at the same time to Cotton Eye Joe and I thought the place was going to fall down on me!
Later I went up for some dancing pictures because the photo booth was running dry and they did some jewish dance holding the bride and groom up in chairs and breaking glass, while playing Hava Nagila, even thou' the ceremony seemed to be Christian. But they all had good fun.
Luckily I got some great directions to get home a different way and avoided the bikers.

Memory

2010-09-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Mine is not excellent these days. Especially since I have had children. I really do believe that they suck the brains out of expectant moms, we just have yet to prove it. My memory was horrible while pregnant with each child. My recoveries have been less and less each pregnancy.

I'm learning about memory in my psychology class this week and it's been really interesting. It's also been a little irritating. I really think that they should just stick to the facts when teaching people. For example, nobody knows exactly what deja vu is. I mean we all know what it is, but they don't know exactly what causes it. The book I am reading from is very vague about what people think, but the explanation they give definitely doesn't fit my experiences of it. For example, I have remembered exactly the first time I saw the scene as it was happening the second time around. I have at times remembered the exact day I had dreamed it first, or day dreamed it first, when it was happening the second time. However, the book explains it as if I were to meet this guys mom, brother, sister, kids and then meet him and have that feeling that I've met him before (because of the similarities he has in looks and mannerisms to his family). But that's not deja vu, that's just feeling like something is familiar, which is entirely different.

It also fascinates me how they think the brain works. I had to take some tests online for the class and apparently my brain is not typical because I didn't get the same results as they were expecting from the average person. Most of my results didn't bother me, except for one test. I had to stare at a + on the screen and then 9 letters would flash really fast (like 1/100 of a second) in front of my eyes, and I was supposedly supposed to be able to see them all, however, my eyes didn't. The computer program wasn't very patient with me and told me several times that I needed to try harder, or concentrate better. Rude. I wanted to wring it's little wires. Other tests gave me a string of words and supposedly I was supposed to be able to remember only the first and last words, but my eyes didn't see the first few flash in front of them and so I mostly remembered the middle ones because by the end is when my brain had a traffic jam.

The other day I had forgotten to put a new can of shaving cream by my tub, and when I went to shave, I realized I didn't have any and used soap instead. I was thinking to myself, "I know I am going to forget to put a new can out when I get done here, how can I remind myself?" Then I noticed the lid for the old can, and thought, "I should toss it over by the sink so when I go to throw it away, I'll remember to put a new one out. Brilliant!" But that is where my memory goes blank. Later, when I'm at the sink I get out my deodorant and the lid looks very similar to the lid of the shaving cream and I think to myself, "Oh yeah, shaving cream! I forgot to throw the lid, but thankfully this deodorant lid reminded me." As I go to get a new can of shaving cream out, I see the lid to the old can on the floor by it... but, I have NO recollection of throwing it! NONE. So weird how the brain works. So eerie I don't remember tossing it after thinking about tossing it.

I'm telling you, I'm losing my mind, and maybe my eyesight too.

No

2010-09-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

"No" is not a word I use very often with people (besides my kids). I hate asking people for something, so when I know someone has the courage to ask me, I try to say yes if I can. Sometimes this gets me in over my head. Like when I wanted to help out on the neighborhood association, but also wanted to help out photographing the wrestling team for the high school.
My friend Michelle, the other day, helped me work through some feelings I was having about not being able to say no. I really have to work on it. As I do, I hope people don't get mad or feel offended, but I really have to practice saying "no" more. Starting today.
If you have a problem with it, take it up with Michelle. Hee hee.

Beginning a new chapter

2010-09-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm beginning a new chapter in my life, a really big one. This is the year all of my kids are in school. I'm older and moving onto the mommy of older kids stage. I love babies, so don't get me wrong, but when I watch the mommies of young babies, I am so glad to not be chasing kids around, carrying baby seats, being sleep deprived, wiping butts, taking everything but the kitchen sink in a bag every time I leave the house, carrying babies all day long, etc. anymore. I'm happy to be moving onto this next stage. Someday I will enjoy grandbabies so much, but for now, I am enjoying my kids being older and all the things they can do.
I'm excited for the new school year and anticipate excitedly all the places they will go and the things they will learn, the art they will make for my kitchen wall, the songs they will sing to me, the books they will read, the math they will grasp, and yes, I refuse to feel selfish about the free time I will have. It won't be much because of my studying, but after 17 years, I have earned a short rest each day and I'm going to enjoy it and make the most of it!
And secretly, I do look forward to the day I will have tons and tons of grandbabies :)

2010-08-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hey! I've had a lot of comments from people that they are waiting for me to update my blog, but I am just not feeling in the blogging mood lately. If you'd like to know what's going on with our family you'll just have to call us and find out!

The best laugh I've had all week!

2010-08-06T09:18:00.001-07:00

If it disappears for you, like it does for me, just click on the little arrow in the corner of this post, it will start playing.

2010-08-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

I am surprised that last picture turned out. I took that with my phone! I also took the next couple of pictures with my phone.

Jaeden's yellow shirt really attracted the butterflies at the butterfly garden at the zoo.

The butterflies weren't the only ones loving Jaeden that day. When we were leaving she held a door open for us and a man and his little curly blond haired son, who was maybe 2, came up behind us and the little boy just reached over and gave her the biggest hug! Jaeden just stood there giggling and let him. It was super cute :)

While the boys were getting ready for a week long hiking trip, Joy got her stuff together in hopes of tagging along. Love the outfit she put together.

The kids and I are getting ready for a trip out to Utah as soon as Joel and Jake get back. I could have left earlier, but I really wanted Jake to come with too, so we've been waiting for his return. Jaeden will turn 7 while we are out there, so we also have to have some family over and birthday cake before we take off.

All week long the kids have been asking me questions about their family in Utah. We were out there in '05 and '07, we missed last year because of Joel being laid off. Only Jake, Josh and Jaeden remember much. So Joy's been the most full of questions. They keep asking about the house I grew up in, because they keep forgetting that their grandparents don't live there anymore. I will take them by to see it. I'd love to see it myself. I miss that house, and often dream about living there still. It was a great house and neighborhood for a kid to grow up in.

If everything goes as planned we will be meeting up with my good friend Michelle, from Idaho, at Lagoon for a day of fun in the sun! I am so excited to finally be able to meet her face to face! I wanted to meet her last time, but Joel was worn out from our trip to Utah and not in the mood for socializing anymore. Booooo. But this time I get to call the shots :)

Also the kids are way excited to visit another ward. They are in awe that church is the same here and there. They were asking me questions like, "Will they sing the same songs we do here?", "Will we have the same lessons?", "Do they believe in Jesus and Joseph Smith too?". It's so cute to see the stuff they worry about. But now they are excited to see it be true.

2010-08-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Six little monkeys at the zoo today. It was such nice nice nice weather out today! I wish the beautiful temperatures would stay, it was perfect!

Done

2010-07-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

I saw that my teacher graded my paper today and I ended up with an over all score of 88.8%, so I'm happy with that. It was a frustrating class and I am so HAPPY to have it over! The grade on my last paper was a bit of a let down. I worked really hard on it.
Thanks to Michelle, I now know how to better search for a professor that will suit me. Thanks Michelle!!!
I am looking forward to my fall classes, especially now that I've dropped a Communications class that was being taught by someone I'm sure would have had me in tears. And I'm looking forward to the Humanities class I picked up instead, and a stain glass class. I'm also going to be taking Introduction to Art History and General Psychology. I think all four classes will interest me.

Monday I have an appointment with the school secretary to begin the process of trying to get Joy into full day Kindergarten. I'm going to apply for a child care grant, and hope that they give me enough that I can put her in for the full day. This way I can take classes whenever I need and study while the kids are in school. Then I have their time at home to help them with work and have family time. Jacob did full day Kindergarten, I don't understand why they don't do it at every school. Seems to me most kids are in daycare anyway, might as well have them learning instead.
So, other than that meeting and couple of oil changes, and this last week of t-ball, my schedule is wide open for 4 weeks! Wahoo!!!! I have some fun plans for me and my kids during those 4 weeks, that we are all excited about.

One good thing

2010-07-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

One good thing about going to college is that I have a college identity card and got to use it today to get 25% off my entire purchase at Old Navy, even on clearanced items! I cleaned the store! Well, not really, but I did come home with several bags of clothes for my kids for school! They were very excited and loved what I brought them. YAY me! I was excited that they got NEW stuff for less than thrift store prices!

Another Update

2010-07-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sorry my posting has been so sporadic! I talked to Mom yesterday and she commented on when my last post was. I didn't realize it had been that long. Whoops!

Today my head is aching. I spent pretty much all day yesterday, except when we had my in-laws over for dinner, working on my last paper. It's a position paper, which also has to be between 7-9 pages long. I was up until nearly 2am working on it. Joel went over it with me this morning and we corrected some things my Office isn't catching that his is, which is strange, because we both have the same Office 2007. I have a few more things to add this afternoon before turning it in before the 11:59pm deadline. The final draft is due on the 21st, and then I'll have survived my first semester! One down and about 12 more to go!

Today my extended warranty wore out on my computer, so I pretty much expect it to crash within the next week or two, especially when I have a crunch editing session for a wedding. Yup, that's about par for my computers.

On Friday I am second shooting a wedding for a friend. I am looking forward to seeing her again, it's been ages! I love working for her, she has such great clients. And also, I love that I don't have to edit, hee hee. Shooting is really my most favorite part.

Jake and Joel just recently survived a very big hike with the scouts. That's all I will say about that matter here. Family can look forward to a longer recap in the family newsletter I sent out at the end of the month.

The local farmer's market started a week ago, and I'm headed there this afternoon after I take the rugrats to the library. I love, love, love the farmer's market! I also love the farmer's stand by the Mermaid, that is so easy to run to and has better stuff than the stores. Summer is so great for food.

T-ball.... or dirtball?

2010-06-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

I was Joy's designated driver/cheerleader on Thursday evening, and for once it wasn't raining, so I brought along my camera.
If there was any doubt she was related to Jacob, let all doubting cease. If I had pictures of Jake playing baseball, they'd pretty much look like this too. Only, add in some pictures of him chatting with friends, on the bases.

Sand is great for the glove...

Playing third base...

Playing shortstop

She's a bad influence...

But, she wasn't the only one tempted to stir up the dust, this little guy dragged his feet around all four bases...

He reminds me of Peanut's Pig Pen in this one...

Maybe next year instead of baseball, I'll sign her up for sandcastle building.

Updates

2010-06-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

It's time for a little update, isn't it?
Well, the kids have been out of school for a couple of weeks now. I'm still trying to figure out a schedule that lets me get my study time in, them get their mommy time in, get my editing wedding pictures time in, and all of us get our sleep time in. It's not an easy juggle.
They are bored already and I feel bad because I haven't had the time yet to really help them do much out of the house stuff, except for t-ball nights and a couple of play dates.
Jacob has to have his bottom wisdom teeth removed, and that's been scheduled for July 8th. I hope he's feeling great by August for the High Adventure camping trip the scouts are planning on taking up by the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. That's a trip he is not going to want to miss!
We had his yearbook pictures done last week so that he wouldn't look swollen in them. I will be doing his graduation announcement pictures next spring. I prefer to have his images fresh and new, than ones done the year before, like some people do.
I have a horrible cold today and I'm taking things easy. Lucky for me I got a big paper out of the way before I came down with it. So I have a week to do some smaller assignments while I take it easy.
Lucky me, also, that I have Jake who can drive and take care of some things for me while I am not able to. Joy has a birthday party to go to tomorrow and so Jake took her out shopping for the present. He's so sweet! And I got to stay on the couch, still in my pajamas.
I finished up a math refresher course and begin a new one in two weeks, it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be, whew! But I think the next one might be.

So true...

2010-06-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

I read this today...
"Be a best friend, tell the truth, over-use 'I love you', go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense, don't let those prayin' knees get lazy, and love like crazy."

2010-06-13T14:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I shot my last wedding. I don't have any more booked after this.
It was a rainy day and much colder than I had planned on it being. The weather man told us that it would be upper 70's but I think the high was only 63. I was freezing. I'd worn suit pants and a short sleeved thin top, and as a last thought threw on a short sleeved sweater vest, but I should have grabbed my sued dress jacket!
I met up with the bride in the morning at her hair and make-up appointment and the weather was still dry when we left, but as I approached her house it began to rain and rained all morning clear up until the ceremony which was an outdoor ceremony scheduled for 5pm. They decided to go ahead with it around 5:30 and just after the bride walked down the isle the rain ceased for the rest of the evening! ARGH!
So pretty much it rained all through the portrait session times. I was sad because they had a beautiful 10 acre farm for us to use, and also her uncle's property as well as a horse drawn carriage! And because of the rain we only got to do a fraction of what we'd talked about doing, the night before.
Today my body is aching and hurting all over and I've had a migraine I can't get rid of, though I've taken a lot of pills to try.
I'll be putting up pictures on my business blog sometime this week.

When Eggs Freeze

2010-06-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

Poor things, they didn't stand a chance once the bowl touched the side of the fridge.

2010-06-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

We've had the flu going around our family since two weekends ago and I haven't had my turn yet. I'm worried it's going to hit me this weekend when I have a wedding to shoot. If I ever had to hope to get sick, it would be today.

The kids have one more day of school Today they were supposed to have an all school peace march but rain came and I am secretly happy about that. The kids wanted to do it, so I was going to let them, but I wasn't crazy about the school having them walking off the school property and having them participate in a march out in public for any reason, worthy or not.

The downside of the rain it that baseball was cancelled for the kids today too. Boo.

Got Fabric?

2010-06-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Right now I am supposed to be going through my coupons and setting up my shopping list for tomorrow, but I keep having something on my mind and decided to share it with y'all because I think that anyone who reads this blog has to have a fabulous mind and can appreciate the absurdity of the story I am about to share with you.

Yesterday my husband and I went out in the morning to run a few errands. We stopped at the church's garage sale the young women are having to raise money for girl's camp and scored Jaeden a new bike, yay! Then I took Joel over to Best Buy to pick up his birthday present, a new laptop to replace his that died a couple months ago. It was a little before 9am and they let us in the store anyway. We were in and out in 15 minutes. Then I drove across the parking lot to Jo-Ann fabric store to purchase some material to make my swim suit more modest. There was maybe one other customer in the store when I got there. I wasted no time in finding the fabric and color I wanted and was at the cutting table in two minutes.
Hmmm... no employees were around. I saw a ticket dispenser, but reasoned they had just opened and I was probably their first customer of the day so I didn't need to take a ticket and waste a piece of precious tree. I scooted to the end of the table and then I could see an employee stocking a shelf with items. I walked over to her and asked her politely if I could get some help at the cutting table. She was not happy with my request, and I could tell by her voice and face that I was bothering her. "Go over there and take a ticket and I'll be over in a bit to help you."
Okay, thanks.
So I go over to the table and notice the sign next to the ticket dispenser says something to the effect that I should take a ticket and continue my shopping and someone will call my number when they are ready to help me. Serious?
So I take ticket number 26 and stand around for a whole minute before "Pam" (yes, I read her name tag solely for the purpose of blogging about her and I find no shame in not changing her name) comes over to the table. Standing not more than three feet from me, she picks up a phone and announces over the speakers in the store that she is "now serving number 26 at the cutting table."
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
It took everything I have to not bust out laughing. I really should have walked out of the store at this time.
After composing myself I blurt out, "I am SO blogging about this."
She looks at me as if I am the one gone mad and sputtering out incoherent words.
Then I see she has caught onto my assessment of the situation and begins to explain to me in a very bored tone that this is the new way they are going to be doing things and she is just trying to follow protocol and get customers used to the new way.
I said, "I'm the only one in here".
She said, "We've had lots of people in here today."
I must have missed the 9am - 9:10am rush.
I asked, "in the last 15 minutes?" She informs me that I will be thankful for this when it comes Christmas season and the lines for cutting get long.
Uh, okay. Note to self: Buy Christmas fabrics at Hancock Fabrics.
She asked me about my project and we begin discussing how hard it is to find a swim suit that covers all the things we want covered. And the conversation is pleasant after that. She cuts my 12" and I'm on my way over to the registers.
The cashier is also stocking shelves but notices me on the way over. For explaining purposes I have created a diagram of what I can remember of the register area of the store. She is in green and her path is in green, I am the red "Me:)"
The cashier greets me and asks if I am ready to check out, "yep" I tell her. She then asks me to go around the shelving (diagrammed with red arrows) to the back cash registers as she cuts through them to get to her register to beat me there and greet me again.
Are you kidding me???
In my head I'm thinking, "What, is this to prepare me for the Christmas shopping season when I'll have to stand in long lines???"
As she checks me out the cashier asks me if I am on their mailing list, I assure her I am but also in my head I am thinking "I know what I'm lining my bird cage with this week."

I'm off to find some coupons I can really use!

Fool that I am

2010-06-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

What was I thinking??? Oh my word. Ok, I got in over my head this week.
I had no idea what school was going to be like. It started on the 1st and I had five assignments due by the 4th. One was a room descriptive essay, which I will share with you at the bottom of this post.
I just finnished writting when all my essays are due and I can tell I'm going to be a very busy person for the next two months. Good thing I didn't take any more classes than I am.
I finished up my last session today and I have a wedding on the 12th and then I'm done with photography for clients. It's been painfully obvious to me this week that I cannot do both photography and school and be Mom all at the same time. It would be a different story if my kids were being watched by someone who would play with them and keep their minds going while I work on pictures. But they are not, and it's my job to do that.
I do feel good about this decision. I know at some point I may ache for a client, but I know I cannot do both. I just don't have those skills right now to toggle family, work and school.

Okay, now for my first essay.

Where My Heart Rests

Every house where love abides and friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home, for there the heart can rest.
-Henry Van Dyke
If you were to come to my home, the room that you would be greeted in is the room that I love most. This is the room where our family is introduced to family and friends alike. I spend hours each day in this room because all of my favorite things are kept here and I love that it stays the cleanest. Rarely does the clutter and toys of the children reach this far out of their rooms.
As they enter into my home the first thing that most people notice is our large family portrait that hangs over the oak fireplace mantel and the black wooden letters spelling FAMILY under it. This portrait was taken two Octobers ago at a visit to an apple orchard in White Bear Lake. We are dressed in reds and browns and are situated near the ground in front of an old red weather beaten fence. Our oldest son, the tallest in the family, smiles from the center of the family wreathed around him, his perfectly straight teeth hidden behind closed lips. Our youngest, a squinty eyed red head, sits on his lap. The other two children, a brown haired playful boy and a blonde sprite of a girl, flank his sides. My husband and I are situated behind our little gems leaning over them reaching our delighted grins into the picture. A picture of family harmony.
On the mantel below our portrait sits one of my treasures, a framed picture I took on one summer visit to my parents home in Utah valley. It's a black and white image of their hands entwined, holding onto each other with my father's hands taking a guiding position. This image speaks more to me of their love for each other than any image of them smiling at me would.
The floor in this room was a project we undertook a couple of years ago after having water damage from a leaky dishwasher. Hours were spent with my husband and I on our knees measuring, cutting and pounding the oak colored wood laminate slats together for three of the rooms in this house. I love that it looks clean even when it isn't and I love the way it complements our oak fireplace mantel and the wood trim around the doors and windows. I also love the time we spent together working on this common goal and we have something beautiful to show for it.
The oversized avocado green suede couch to the right of the doorway is still new and hasn't suffered the wearing abuse the children have doled out onto the other furniture. Often I will sit sideways on the soft fuzzy cushions with the southern facing windows behind it open and savor the sunlight that flows in through the white wood blinds and warms my skin. I will snuggle my back into the yielding cushions, close my eyes and meditate for the few short moments I can steal during my busy day, sometimes catching the faint scent of the old cinnamon apple pie air freshener baking in the outlet across the room. Sometimes my daughter practices her spelling words on this couch, sitting upside down with her legs dangling over the back of the couch and her head hanging down towards the cranberry and beige shag rug. Perhaps she believes that letting the blood rush to her head will make her brain remember.
From the corner you may hear a chirp, a chatter, or perhaps if you are lucky you will hear a wolf- whistle from my cheery little cockatiel, Rocky. Her home sits in one corner, a tall black cage with the door open and wooden playground on top. A beige cloth drapes over the back and will cover her cage to prevent drafts in the night hours. During the day she wanders freely over the cage using her beak to guide her way. Her wings are clipped so I never worry about her wandering too far. Her day is spent on the highest perch either chewing up the wood or chirping for me to come give her a ride on my shoulder while I perform some menial task such as folding laundry. She loves to hiss and attack the clothes as I spread them across my chest to fold.
In the dark corner on the other side of the fireplace some remaining photography supplies are beginning to gather dust. A pink fluffy bean bag chair used to cradle sleeping newborns, a roll of arctic white paper resting against the wall, a bag of black packaging boxes and silver elastic bows. I don't know when or if I will ever use them again. My dreams of photographing my life away slowly fade as I undertake this new adventure called "college".
Next to the front door is a little wooden tile painted in cream and gold with words saying, "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." Pictures of my children dot the room, on the table, on the mantle and on the shelf.
A large vaulted ceiling creates tall white walls across the room from the couch with tall open doorways leading into the kitchen and family room, creating a great circle for the children to run races and play tag through. In the middle stands a pale white blank slate wall waiting for "the masterpiece" I plan to create. A lofty goal I have set for myself, I know. The black and gold rocking chair, camel recliner and honey oak table with cranberry and black iron lamp resting under this space only make the white space look even bigger and more empty. I want to create a wonderful image of my children, in a field, with warm and rich colors to display in this space. I want to create a work of art that makes one step back and realize that it is not only an art piece but it's also a portrait of the children who live in this home. Someday I will create this masterpiece but until then the wall stands blank.
On the fourth wall stands a faux aged cream colored armoire filled with all my computer things that I need and work with on a daily basis. On the top sits an old wooden red rooster with spindly black legs, a woven basket full of pens and pencils, and a fake ivy plant drapes it's dusty vines along the top and down over the edges. This is the one plant in my home that has not had several near-death experiences. Often the children are found sitting on my black rolling computer chair in front of the armoire, gathered around the computer screen and chattering directions to each other on what action to take in some game they've found on the internet.
On the wall next to them is a large picture of the LDS temple in Salt Lake City. It's granite spires lit in white with the golden sunset reflecting on the Great Salt Lake behind it. The temple is central to our family and religion. I have this picture in this room to remind, or rather reassure, myself and our children that our family is forever.
This room is where we greet friends and family and bid them to come in and sit for a while and visit. We share friendship, laughter, love, games and joy in this room. It's filled with my family even when they are out in the world and far from me. It is the room I find rest in and the first room my children enter when they come home and shrug off the world at the doorstep. They are greeted with safety and love as they enter this room and reminders that they will always belong. This is the room I love the most and where my heart rests.

kare11.com | Twin Cities, MN | Rainbow-colored streak seen across Twin Cities skies

2010-05-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

kare11.com Twin Cities, MN Rainbow-colored streak seen across Twin Cities skies

Here's my picture of it

On the side of the news article is a video they made of it. They show a plane making a line in the sky. I had suspected this one was made from ice off a plane, not a cloud. I might be right!

2010-05-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

I did end up telling him I was feeling under appreciated and he said he was sorry. He tried to say that I should have asked, but I reminded him how I keep the house pretty clean and taken care of and when you see dishes in the sink and the house is a mess... red flags saying "Jen needs help!"
He said he was sorry a few times, went into our room and started getting ready for bed, but then came out and started folding the basket of laundry in the family room. I guess that was his way of saying sorry.

Teacher Gift

2010-05-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

This is what Joy and I came up with for her teachers at School Ready. We hope they like them!

Exhausted!

2010-05-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I just ran all day long, took Joy to meet up with Peggy in the morning, let her play at the playground for about an hour, went to Menards to buy a plug for the tub that was broken for two weeks before anyone bothered to tell me about it (Joel knew about it, but didn't bother to replace it), made Joy lunch, sent her to school, 30 minutes later met her at school for a party, took her shopping for teacher appreciation gifts, made dinner, Got Jake off to trip with youth, took Josh to scouts, came home, made teacher gifts, got a text to bring Joel a drill left in the car, took that to him instead of doing dishes that were piling up in sink, got home after 10:30, cleaned up my mess from gifts, went to bed with dishes in the sink still. Woke up this morning, dishes STILL IN THE SINK, old man sitting on chair all morning >:(
He wants to know why I'm not so cheery this morning.
Did I mention the basket of laundry he sat next to without folding, as well?

2010-05-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I got the rare opportunity to visit an old workplace. For 5 years I worked at The Northwestern Casket Company, doing various jobs during my time there. I started out at the cutting tables, did a little sewing (but I must have sucked at that because they didn't keep me there long) then moved to tying caps and shirring material, then the last couple of years I did embroidery. When I left (at 5 months pregnant with Joshua) they replaced me with a computerized embroidery machine. When I did the embroidery I had to use a very old chain stitch machine. The company has since moved and for a while I heard rumors of the building being sold and demolition being planned for it. One time when I drove by it they were replacing windows, so I knew they wouldn't be tearing it down. Later I found out they put studios in the building and rented out their office spaces to artisans. They changed the name of the lot to be The Northwestern Casket Art District and made it part of the Minneapolis Art District.
JoAnne went with me for the Art A Whirl which is where the Minneapolis Art District open their doors for a weekend to allow people to come in and see their wares. It was pretty fun and interesting! Some art was yucky. I had dreams that night about all the stuff we saw. I should have gone back to one artisan who had some pretty dangle earrings with stones that I liked. Maybe next year.
We ran into a few interesting photographers, one even has an office in the room I used to work in. I'd never been in the basement before. It was interesting to see the stone archway doorways and we took some pictures of the old pipes.
We also visited some other buildings on the lot that I'd never been in before either. I don't remember the silos at the end of the road. Once I have some time I'll post pictures that I took. I want to send some to my old manager Dorothy.
I just want to know why there has to be so much nakedness in art? Hahaha.

Total Brownie Points

2010-05-15T09:30:00.001-07:00

This kid is going to get away with anything this week, and perhaps longer :)

2010-05-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Grrrr.
It's so frustrating watching someone mess up their lives. It's more frustrating when you don't know the whole story, but there doesn't seem to be any good reason for it and it really sucks watching selfish people hurt everyone else around them and it sucks even more when everyone else around them have no spines and treat that person like everything is fine, when really, that person needs a boot to the head! And if I did happen to lodge my Sauconys at them, I know I'd be the evil non-understanding one.
Yeah, my heart is black and I'm not getting into heaven, deal with it, I have.

Wow.... just wow

2010-05-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

This week Jake has been working on two talks for his speech class. He only practiced one in front of me.
Tonight he had to finish up a merit badge on public speaking and tie it into his assignments at school, so he dressed up in a suit and went to mutual, planning to give his speeches. I had to go to the church tonight for a scout committee meeting and so I traded the cars with him and he took Josh, who was also done with scouts, and the girls back home.
While I was in the meeting my phone kept telling me I was getting a bunch of emails. Later on my way out of the church I saw that it was our Young Men's leader sending me a bunch of video clips, but my phone wouldn't open them. When I got home I asked Jake why Brother Gray was sending me videos. He said, "I told him not to send those to you!" I suddenly became very curious about this speech he gave and started questioning him. He finally spilled the beans that he had given a talk about ME! My eyes are tearing up right now just thinking about it. Finally after getting my phone back from him, because he had grabbed it and was going to delete the emails, he reluctantly agreed to let me see what was taped on his video camera. I was in disbelief. He said the most nicest wonderful things about me! I had no idea he believed I had that much influence on the person he is today.
People tell me all the time what a great kid he is, I myself am in amazement, and readily tell them that he's like that all on his own. I didn't do anything special. Listening to his speech he gave, maybe I did have a little something to do with it. Here come the tears again. That was the bestest Mother's Day gift he has ever given me! And to think, he tried not to!

Books, books, books!

2010-05-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have in my possession now my first books for school! YAY!!!
I am way to anxious about this first semester. I know because it's a summer semester that there will be a lot of cramming and need to comprehend the subject quickly. I wanted to get the books ahead of time so I could read ahead, I'm glad I did, the book we are reading requires me to understand the various parts of a chapter when it comes time to use them. I can't wait to see the syllabus.
These books are almost as intoxicating to me as an office supply store is ... so much goodness inside!

This rain is so dreary

2010-05-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

It has been raining for a couple of days now and I'm starting to get tired of it. I've had to reschedule one session because of rain and shoot through it for another. In Jen's World I would have it only rain at night with just enough lightning to make me feel safe. Funny, huh? Lightning makes me feel safe as long as I'm not camping or standing outside with an umbrella. I'm pretty sure nobody is going to try to break into my home during a thunder storm, so those are the nights I sleep the best. Snow storms are another time I sleep well.

For many years I have admired and coveted my mother-in-law's Peonies. They are beautiful. Round and full and fragrant. The only thing I don't like about them is the dozen of ants that accompany any boquet she gives me, but I'll endure them for the sweet smell and beauty they add to my room. About 10 springs ago she was going to give me my own starts in the fall. That year we had a horrible hail storm that took out her plants and it took a few years for them to get back to being healthy and big again. Instead of starts that year I got a candle that was supposed to smell like them. Two years ago she gave me 3 plant starts to put in my yard. Last spring I was so happy to see the plants survived the winter! And this spring I am delighted to see that one of the plants has buds on it and I will very soon have my very own peonies blossoms! This makes me so happy! I can't wait to take pictures of them and share them with you too.

There is an art exhibit going on in Minneapolis starting on the 14th. I soooo want to go. I might just have to take Joy out with me and bribe her with a bag of candy to walk around with me and see the sights. The Northwestern Casket Company building I used to work in is part of the art district now and I think it would be fun to visit during the Art A Whirl. Anyone want to go too?
Link: http://www.northeastminneapolisartsdistrict.com/

This would be fun!

2010-05-11T08:09:00.001-07:00

2010-05-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

My luck was short lived :(

Joy started throwing up at 2am. I asked Joel to get up to take care of her, reasoning that he can snooze on the recliner and let me sleep, after all he gets to sleep all day long after the kids go to school in a few hours anyway.
He got up, but then said, "It's only 2 o'clock!" Which I took to mean- "why are you waking me up already?"
That made me mad and I didn't go to sleep very well after that and had angry dreams. This morning he says he didn't mean anything by it, but too late, I had an unrestful night already.

Today I see that my school has the books in stock that I need. But I don't get to go pick them up until Wednesday because of Joy. Boooo. I tried to pick them up last week, because I can't wait to dig into them a little so I know what's going on when the semester begins, but they didn't have them. That was kind of a let down.

My tummy is feeling rumbly, I hope I'm not getting sick too because I have a Senior Session tonight and I need the money for that for Joel's birthday present. We've already had to reschedule twice because of weather and then because of his job, and I had to reluctantly agree to shoot this kid tonight. I try to only shoot on Friday or Saturday and then edit during the week. My weekdays are too busy to try to fit in a session anyway. I hope I'm feeling ok by tonight.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

I am such a lucky girl!
Not only do I have an amazing mom, but I also have amazing kids.
My mom is such an inspiration to me. All my life she has been there for me, even when I was a rotten little creepy kid, she still loved me. She also was strong enough to not let me get away with crap. She is amazing and now as an adult I wish I'd seen that when I was a kid. I have so much respect for her. Thanks Mom for all you do and have done for me! I love you!

I also have four amazing kids. They are so sweet to me, especially on days like today. Joyanna made me a bazillion cards shaped like hearts and has been giving them to me through the day. She has something else in store for me, but I don't get it until tonight. Josh and Jaeden are old enough to write more specific things they love about me on their school projects. I get a kick that both of them say I make good food for them. I wish they'd remember that each night when they ask me what's for dinner and I hear groans. At church today the little kids sang the primary Grandmother song, but sang Mother instead... the one that goes, "I wish every kid in the whole wide world had a Mother just like you." The girls made me candles in primary and Josh made me a pillow that says "Worlds Best Mom" on it.Jacob didn't make me anything, but he is in the kitchen tonight helping Joel make a dinner of won tons and rice, so I give him credit there. Both of them actually, because neither know how to make them, and they are giving it a pretty good shot! Joel made French Toast for breakfast for us and he also bought a cake and brought me flowers last night. My family is good to me :)

We visited my mother-in-law today after a short (WAY TOO SHORT) nap, to wish her a happy Mother's Day and chat for a few hours. I contemplate writing about this on here, because I love my mom so much, I don't want any hurt feelings, but at the same time I think that she would be happy to know that I feel like I have a pretty great mother-in-law too. I've been a part of my in-laws family for half my life now. At first things were hard, as I imagine it always can be, trying to fit into a new family that does things different and you're not used to them. But today I really love my mother and father-in-law. They are such good people. They've always been good to me and my children and been there for us. I feel very blessed to have two sets of wonderful parents who mean the world to me! I know a lot of people don't have that in their lives and so I know how lucky I am. I hope my daughters end up that lucky too.

I'm not really there

2010-05-08T16:34:00.001-07:00

Argh. I hate this. I had to reactivate my Facebook account because there were several people I had to get into touch with that I didn't have any other way, other than Facebook. So even though I'm on there- I'm not.

We took the kids to see How to Train Your Dragon today. We didn't see the 3D version. The kids don't like wearing the glasses and Joel and I found that the only real 3D experience worth the extra money is if you see it on an IMAX screen. We saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D at the theatre on a regular screen and it just wasn't the same effect. We didn't feel like anything really jumped out of the screen at us and we didn't feel like we could reach out and touch anything. The IMAX really does give the ultimate experience. I remember seeing some under the sea show there in 3D and it looked like kelp was growing out of the guy's head in front of me or schools of fish seemed to be inches from my face.
Back to the dragon movie... Most excellent. Really liked it a lot. The kids loved it. I do have to complain about the theatre we were in however. I've been to the Carmike Wynnsong 15 in Mounds View several times, and lately they seem to be becoming a dump. The last time we were there they barely had enough help. It was the school district's spring break and we were there for an afternoon showing of Diary of a Wimpy Kid shortly after it began running. At the point we came into the theatre the same guy that sold us our tickets ran back to the counters and started working the popcorn stands. Today there was not a decent bathroom in the whole place. Joy made me take her out of the movie at the really exciting part where Hiccup is supposed to kill a dragon. The first bathroom we went into had one full stall and one stall with waste and toilet paper all over the toilet and streaming all over. So we ran down the hall to another bathroom which also had water all over the floor around a toilet and several unflushed toilets. GROSS!!! Come on people, that's just disgusting. If I have one more bad experience there I'll have to do my movie viewing at another theatre. The one at Rosedale mall seems to be pretty decent still, I believe it's an AMC.
I can't wait for How to Train Your Dragon to come out on DVD!

Where is the common sense people?

2010-05-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Why should wearing the American flag on your shirt get you sent home from school? Unbelievable that people have come to this. LINK
Slowly our rights as Americans are being stripped away because someone is afraid it will offend someone else. People need to chill and stop getting offended so easily.

First of all, Cinco de Mayo has changed it's meaning a lot in the last few years. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.

According to Casares: “The holiday, which has never really been much of one in Mexico, crossed over to this side of the border in the 1950s and 1960s, as civil rights activists were attempting to build harmony between the two countries and cultures,”.

So if you want to celebrate your heritage, fine, but stop stripping away everyone else's right to do the same thing. That just tears down the harmony between the two countries even more, imo. Where's the love? Can't we all just get along? Why do we have to hide what we are or how we feel to keep the peace?

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/06/california-students-sent-home-wearing-flags-cinco-mayo/

If you've been living in a cave...

2010-05-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

or didn't realize you were (that is the case with me) you didn't hear about the Tylenol recall. Click on this link to help you find out if you have any recalled products. The bottom of that page has links to different products you may have and you can do a Lot # search to see if your actual product has been recalled.

I can't believe this has been going on since September and I didn't hear about it! I guess that's about the time I stopped listening to the radio and news, anyway. That'll teach me to be uninformed and ignorant.

Also, the next time I am missing something... like, oh, I don't know.... a library book, I'll be sure to dust the house before going to the library to pay for it.

Just One

2010-05-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, I worked really hard today and got a lot of editing done for the engagement couple, so before I went to bed I decided to allow myself to play with one image that I took this morning...

Besides, I needed to empty the memory card for another session I have coming up this weekend.
The rest of Joy's will have to wait until I am done with the engagement session.

Okay, maybe one more, but then I really have to go to bed...

2010-05-04T13:50:00.001-07:00

Well, last night the bread turned out so yummy! Then my husband tried to ruin it by asking me if I could put some wheat flour in it too? Um, NO. Why ruin it?

I saw the sun shining this morning and so I took Joy out to the spot I'd discovered the other day, just to find out that it was all ruined. Boo. So I took her over to another spot and we played. I have to finish the last engagement session before I can work on Joy's pictures. Darn. But I must exercise discipline, customers before fun!

Potato Bread

2010-05-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

I have been trying for the last few years to find a tasty white bread that compares to the one I grew up on. Until this week, the only bread that has come close is Rhodes, and let's face it- Rhodes isn't exactly "home made". No matter how wonderful it is.
I gave it one last shot last week and guess what? Failure.
I finally caved and asked my mom for her recipe. I don't know why I didn't ask before, it wasn't that hard. She answered right away, thanks Mom!!!
So today I made my first two loaves of Potato Bread and I am oh so happy! It was just like I remembered it! It also happens to be the most easy dough I have ever made. It came out perfect! I put in the flour, left to help my daughter and was surprised when I came back to find my dough wrapped around the hook, the bowl wiped clean and the dough was soft and perfect!
If you'd like to make some of it yourself, here's the recipe.

Potato Water Bread (4 loaves or half everything for 2 loaves)

*My mom's note: Generally when I make this bread I start by peeling a potato, cutting it up and boiling it in about as much water as it takes to cover it and then I osterize it along with the water when it's done. (20 minutes) If you boil potatoes for dinner sometime you can just save the water from cooking, refrigerate it and use it when you are ready. I used my food processor to mash the potato with the water after boiling it.

3 cups potato water (or if you boil the potato like above just add water to the 3 cup level)
1 cup milk
4 Tbs sugar
5 tsp salt
2 pkg yeast (or 2 Tbs)
1/2 cup lukewarm water
4 T Crisco shortening (my mother used to use Lard)
12 cups white flour (approximately. you may want to start with 11 cups and add the last one if needed.)

Combine lukewarm water and yeast and set aside to dissolve and start working. Melt crisco in hot potato water if desired and add all other ingredients together except flour. Stir together and then start adding flour and knead. I have a bread hook so I just dump it all in the mixing bowl and turn it on for about 5 minutes. Let rise 1 hour and divide into 4 loaves. Let rise again about 45 minutes. Bake 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Brush tops of loaves with butter after you remove from oven.

My loaves after rising, before baking.

2010-05-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

I kinda like this one from Saturday's engagement session....

Click to see larger image.

The wall was the Guthrie's red wall at their entrance. I added the flowers.

Here's a sock JoAnne and I found at the playground last week...

Click to see larger image.

2010-05-02T18:23:00.001-07:00

I had an amazing engagement session last night! We met at the Dunn Brothers in Minneapolis and used a lot of areas around the Guthrie and the Stone Arch Bridge. The weather was questionable all afternoon and we almost didn't follow through with our plans for the session, but we just decided to go foreword with it and by the time they got into the city the sun was starting to peek out, after the session started the wind died down and we had great weather for the rest of the session! As soon as we were done the clouds came back in. The couple I met with are amazing. I'm shooting their wedding in June as well. This was their free session that comes with their wedding package. The groom was not camera shy or uncomfortable at all in front of the camera and so it made it a wonderful session. He was very comfortable with posing and cuddly with her. I know she's going to love her images.

I have a spot I'm dying to get Joyanna out to, to do pictures, I hope I have some sunny days this week to chose from. I might go back on Saturday too. The boys are going camping on Friday and so we will have our "girl party" where we buy new Bon Bon nail polish colors and rent movies and have junk food and sip soda through licorice straws. Then on Saturday morning I'll take them out again and do pictures like I did last time. Tradition :) I look forward to my time with just the girls. It only happens once a year, if I'm lucky.

Facebookless

2010-05-01T13:02:00.001-07:00

For any of those interested, I have deactivated my account with Facebook. Part of my decision was based on previous experiences with people not being ok with me voicing my political opinions and part of it was also because of the temptation to spend time on there, especially when I have access to it on my phone all day long.

I do not know that I will be back.

But at this time I need to be spending my time doing other things and breaking away now before my life gets even busier is a good thing so then it's not so hard when the time comes.

Happy Graduation!

2010-05-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

Joel's graduation ceremony was on Friday evening. It was fun to have a final ceremony to celebrate the obtainment of his degree.

We also took pictures of the kids in his cap. We did this for his other two associate's degrees too, but I think I lost some of them in my computer crash two years ago. We plan to use these on their own high school graduation cakes. Jake went into the house before I could get one of him and then Joel and I took off and I forgot to get one. Sadly that is one thing I am guilty of, treating him like one of us grown-ups and not like he's still one of my kids. For that, I suck.

I probably will keep editing this for a while...

2010-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Why must my mouth always get me into trouble?
Already I've butted heads with someone new in our ward who I don't see eye to eye with. I ended up removing her from my friends list because I found that I didn't even want to be nice to her anymore. That's not usually like me. I'm usually an easy person to get along with and let a lot of crap slide before I say something.
Some things I feel very passionate about, like securing our borders.
Some things others feel very passionate about, like open borders for everyone.
And these two passions cannot co-exist in my world.
Also, I don't like liars. She said she could handle my different view, but wanted to share her experience with me to help me better understand where she was coming from. But since she deleted my calm, rational comments to her posts, it's apparent she can't handle someone else having a different view and can't hold a conversation with someone of a differing point of view. She just wants to be heard, and not listen to someone else.
I can co-exist with other non-compatible passions, as long as someone doesn't introduce hysteria and cut off my voice of reason. Which is what happened today.
Someone from our ward who I've butted heads with this week over the new Arizona law wanted to post outlandish articles about people being asked to show their citizenship just for walking their kid to the ice cream store. And earlier in the week she posted a video saying that police were going to profile shoes to determine who was illegal. I simply can't just leave that stuff alone and posted comments. To the video I said this was fear mongering and trying to use fear to keep a law from being enforced. To the ice cream article I explained to her that the police had to first detain the person for another reason first, legally make contact, and then ask for identification. If the person cannot show ID, they could be considered a possible illegal alien. I gave her the link to the new law and asked her to read it and educate herself on it before spreading the mass hysteria.
She deleted it.
Rude!
I guess it doesn't surprise me. When I first posted about the law and cheered the Governor for signing it, she sent me a few long letters about how unfairly her husband has been treated by police and how she'll never take her children to Arizona because of the law. I think she was upset that her sad story didn't persuade me to feel more sorry for them than for the Arizona rancher who was murdered, or the police who are shot at every day, and the kids who are innocent victims of drug traffickers violent crimes, and all the American kids who are addicted to drugs and all the victims of terrorists who are supported with the drug money of our American kids and stupid druggies.
When she deleted my comments, that's when I knew this person was not a nice person, and had to delete her from my friends list.
I just cannot co-exist with people like that. They let their emotions get in the way of their heads and then do drastic rude things to justify their means.

2010-04-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

"It's ok to not do it all"

~Dove Chocolate Candy

Thank You! I needed that.

Last night I was craving chocolate and selflessly let the oldest child have the last scoops of ice cream topped in chocolate topping. I did not cry. I texted. I texted Joel how much I was craving chocolate. I must be coming down with a cold. I only crave chocolate on two occasions. "That time of the month" and when I have a cold and my throat hurts and I can't taste it or enjoy it because it sticks to my throat and makes me feel worse. So unfair.

This morning when I woke up there was a gift of Dove chocolates bequeathed to me on the bathroom counter where a loving husband knew I would find it as soon as I woke up and it would brighten and cheer up my day.

I love that they have tiny little messages printed on the inside of the wrapper just for me.

Oh, they have them for you too?

Hmph.

I thought I was special.

Anyway, half of the fun of eating Doves is reading the message inside and I know each one was picked especially for me. Today I needed that message.

Too often I feel like I take on way too much. I bite off more than I can chew. I've accepted the position of drummer for Spinal Tap.... Well, maybe not that drastic.

The other message I got was, "Live every day up to your expectations, not others." Dove is so wise. I think that one goes hand in hand with the first one, don't you?

I feel a tickle in my throat coming on.

Short Notes

2010-04-29T09:30:00.001-07:00

Well, it wasn't that bad. It didn't cost as much as I thought it would either, yay for that!
The hygienist told me after cleaning my teeth that if that's all the plaque I get after two years I can most definitely be put on the yearly visit list. She said she's seen people get that much plaque in two weeks. YAY me! This excites me because I had so many years of bad bad dental problems and finally I have my mouth under control and the teeth I have left are healthy and strong and are looking good. I hope my dental worries are over for several years, at least for my mouth. My kid's mouths on the other hand...

I can't believe there's only 6 or so more weeks of school left for my kids! This year has flown by so fast for me. Every time I feel like I have time to catch my breath, off we go again on a new adventure! Joy will be finished with her school a few weeks before the other kids, that will be nice to have our whole days to ourselves. Her parent teacher conference went well. She's doing good and she's a very good student and friend. She loves to help and is never pushy or rude. I love hearing good things about my kids, especially the social stuff.

I just signed the kids all up for t-ball. As much as I whine about having to drive around every Tuesday and Thursday evening, I sure do love watching the kids play the game! I love that at this age it's ok to root for kids on the other team too because they are our kids friends at school.
I like sitting with my mother-in-law chatting about "things". It's great fun. I think that it will be one of those things I will surely miss when my kids are grown. I hope that they have their kids in baseball and invite me, their grandma, to all of their games. I would love that!

Joel's official graduation ceremony is Friday. I also love all the pomp and circumstance of that whole thing. He worked so hard and did so good all 7 years. He was always striving for A's and very rarely came in close behind. It's a big deal and deserves to be celebrated! He's been an inspiration to many people who know him, especially me. Congratulations!

2010-04-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

I hate going to the dentist. I just know every time I go I'm going to get a huge bill for it. I've had a history of horrible teeth. They've been much better since most of my molars are now fake. Just kidding (kind of). They've actually been much better since I stopped drinking pop and only chew sugar free gum.
Today I have to go in for a cleaning and x-rays and I have to have them look at my bridge that got a chip off of it this winter because of a cough drop. It's not noticeable to the eyes, just the tongue.
Last night I dreamed an old friend came back to visit me, or at least I thought she was here to visit me, but all she wanted was her shoes back. She came, she took them and left. Didn't stay to chat, didn't have time to bother with me anymore. She looked younger, skinnier and tanner.
I wonder what this dream means. Too bad they don't have a class at college called Introduction to Dream Interpretation.
Today while I was going to the store I got a phone call from the school nurse at Joy's school. She wanted to touch base with me on the situation with Joy's eyes. Last year when Joel was laid off the program "Gift of Sight" helped us pay for her exam and new glasses. It's been a year and she was checking up on the situation. That's fine. What I hate is when I have to talk to professionals and they try to get me to call this or that place to see if my kids qualify for low cost health insurance or such. I don't have extra money for insurance, not even low cost insurance. Don't you think if I did, I would??? Sorry people, but we live off of one man's income and we have student loans we are paying back and groceries, clothes, sports and gas cost an arm and leg. There is just no money at the end of the week for anything extra. We have a great doctor that has worked with us and charges less than she should for our visits and we don't take advantage of her generosity. But every time I turn around they want me to sign up for this or that, or contact this person or that for my kids health care. Sorry. My kids are pretty healthy and don't need a whole lot of extra care.... LEAVE ME ALONE! As of right now, I'm not breaking any laws paying my doctor cash for our visits. Obama would like to change that, but we'll see if that ever happens.

2010-04-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

I finally got all the kids rooms cleaned up. I just have to dust Jake's and go through the endless piles of videos and DVDs to figure out what ones are mine and where the covers are for the disks and the disks for the covers.
My body aches all over from all the bending, squatting and kneeling I did.
I went over to the college yesterday and registered for three classes next fall. I will be doing 10 credits, 12 is full time. I will be doing Introduction to Art online and then at the school campus I will be taking Introduction to Speech and General Psychology. I think this will be a good work load for me to start after taking one class this summer (along with a math prep class). I'm actually going to be doing two math prep classes in the next couple of months, the first is Elementary Algebra (I feel so dumb about this one) and then College Math prep class. These should get me up to place on a test into the higher math class that I need to complete to get my Bachelor's.
Jake is thinking about transferring to my college. He had better get a move on it if he is going to. YIKES! I was just thinking he had to get his application into the college he is at now by April 1, last year. It would be great if he could be at the same school as me, maybe we could have some classes together, and I understand how things are done at my school more than at his.
I saw a bunch of PSEO kids at the college yesterday when I was registering and I kept feeling like I should have been one of the parents there too, not the student. It's strange to think of myself going to college at such an older age, but I think there are a lot of people there that have at least 5 years on me, so I don't feel quite so odd, just a bit.
I need to get Joy out of the house, I've been ignoring her too much the last few days with cleaning and errands.

2010-04-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

When I got up this morning I had a bunch of energy and frustration that made me attack my kids rooms with fierce cleaning power. The frustration was the product of a missing remote control that had failed to appear in the last 24 hours, regardless of the entire family searching.

First I attacked the girls room and pulled out of there two bags of garbage, two bags of goods and an art easel to donate, and vacuumed a whole canister of garbage and dust! My goodness! Who knew two little girls could shed so much skin in 6 months??? No remote.

Later in the day I grabbed a hold of Joshua's room. I just have his dresser drawers left and then his room will be done. No remote. One giant bag of wooden blocks and a handful of baby books made it into the donation pile.

After everyone took a turn searching the parental unit's recharging station and the oldest child's bunker we resigned to the idea that we would have to pull out of our secret stash a backup remote that I had ordered a while ago when we thought the other remote was broken. Joel reluctantly got the backup remote out because images of his childhood days of painstakingly getting up out of his chair and reaching for a button to change the channel was more than he could bare nearly forced him into the fetal position. Good thing I had a back up plan and he can remain manly and upright.

2010-04-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry for yesterday's outburst, I still stand by what I said, but I probably should have used less colorful language and exclamation points.
Our country is in serious jeopardy of becoming just like any other country in the world and I don't want that. I don't want to be like Europe, for one reason it's not working for them, and another reason is that we have too many enemies to have open borders. Plain and simple.
Arizona's Governor had to take drastic steps to protect her state, which is a state that borders Mexico and is a state that is seeing extreme amounts of illegals and seeing the effects of having those illegals in their state. If the Federal Government won't do it's job, then the Governor of Arizona has to. It's her job to protect her citizens and to secure her borders.

Onto other topics...

We went to a baptism today for the son of a family friend. That was exciting. I love going to baptisms and feeling the sweet spirit there. I love seeing the person fresh from the baptism, so clean and pure. Other than being a newborn baby there is nothing else so pure. I love it! Congratulations Logan!

I'm having a hard time getting my head into my editing this week. I'm really behind what I want to be in getting a family's gallery up online. My Photoshop keeps freezing up on me and I keep loosing fun work I've done because of it. That's irritating and makes me lose my enthusiasm.
I better get back to work...

This just rips me up

2010-04-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

This is my blog and I can write what I want and if you don't like it, you can leave, I'm ok with that. Really. I'm not one of those people who need the approval of others to feel good about myself.

I am sick and tired of this whole bleeding heart crap our country is into.
Subject of today's bleeding heart:
Oh, we can't racially profile anyone, because heaven forbid we might offend Jose who came here legally. However, it's ok for Arizona citizens, who are tax payers, who are protected by the Constitution of America to be raped, kidnapped, killed, etc. by illegals trying to get their drugs into America... oh yeah, that's OK because heaven forbid we make anyone feel a little uncomfortable about asking them "DO YOU BELONG IN THIS COUNTRY?"
Would an American be offended to show their citizenship status to a French policeman who's pulled them over for a traffic violation, to make sure they are in the country with a passport? Probably NOT! It's normal and even EXPECTED! But aparently we here in America can't do that to people in our country.
Also we should have our hearts bleeding money for the women who swim across the canal while in labor just to have their babies here, "to make a better life" for them. Hello? Do you know how many hospitals in California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas have closed because the illegal babies ran their bank accounts into the ground? How is that better for ANYONE?????
I'm so tired of people wanting laws based on emotions instead of good common sense! Use your head people! They are here ILLEGALLY. Meaning, against the law! Meaning they are involved in criminal behavior! Coming here illegally is criminal whether you have weed in your pocket or not. Rules are rules for a freaking reason.
The US has laws about illegals being here... why are so many people against letting law enforcement enforce those laws? Arizona passed a bill today that makes it easier for their officers to check someone if they are a citizen. Did you know that most states have laws that won't allow an officer to make sure you are in the country illegally if they suspect you aren't??? Can you imagine going to any other country and their law enforcement not being allowed to ask you if you are there legally? You wouldn't dream of it! And you would never think twice when being asked for your visa, when they hear you speaking like an American. You wouldn't think "those dang racial French!". *roll eyes*.
Get a grip people. The law is the law, now let our officers and border patrol do THEIR JOB, which is TO PROTECT the US and it's citizens!
'Nuf said.

Fun

2010-04-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

It was fun to see some of my work in print on Sunday when I went to church. This image was taken last year one evening. We had only a couple of minutes of light left to take a few images. Part of this image was taken 20 minutes before the choir showed up. I'm so glad I took that one image, because I needed it and it turned out beautifully.

Hotdish

2010-04-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

Growing up in Minnesota you hear the word "hotdish" often. Any time people get together with food there's a hot dish in the mix.
Tonight I am craving something, can't put my finger on it. I think I've narrowed it down to hot dish, but I can't be sure, because I don't know that I've actually ever eaten a hotdish before. I googled "hotdish" and found this explanation in Wikipedia "Hotdish is a variety of baked casserole that typically contains a starch, a meat or other protein, and a canned and/ or frozen vegetable". Yup, that sounds like what I'm craving. Most recipes I found consisted of elbow mac, hamburger, tomato of some sort (canned, stewed, soup), spices and maybe corn or cheese. Okay, sounds like something I can make.... with a few modifications.
Jaeden just asked me what is for dinner. "Hotdish", I answered. "What is hotdish?", she asks. "A bunch of food mixed up and served in a hot dish", I answer. "What kind of foods?", she asks.... "Hmmmmmm", I think, "do I tell her the truth?". She wasn't happy about my answer. "Tomato!?" she cries. I hope she doesn't end up growing up to be one of those freaks that don't like tomatoes.
so now I'm debating what I want to put in my hotdish. Maybe if it works out I'll post the recipe here. Right now the hamburger is browning and I think I need to grate some cheese.

2010-04-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm registered for classes starting this summer! I'm feeling smarter already :)

Gosh there is so much to think about and ducks to get in a row. Thanks Michelle for all your help!

This made me laugh outloud

2010-04-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

I got this in my email this evening...

Back in wrestling again

2010-04-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

Josh started a new session of free-style wrestling last night. It's a bit different. You get points, it seems, from every little thing. You want to wrack up as many points as you can to win each time period, or get a pin. As much as I whine about the cost of it, and the time commitment, I really do love my kids being in sports and being active and having fun. So it's really not as bad as I make it sound.

Usually I end up sitting alone and nobody talks to me, but last night I was in an unusually chatty mood and chatted with a lady I sat down next to. She has 4 kids of her own and is a single mom who also takes care of 2 foster kids at this time. Two of her kids are grown, one lives on her own, the other has autism and lives with her. He is not able to make the right decisions and is an easy target for people, so she lets him live with her so she can help him. She is about to graduate from college, I can't remember the degree she's getting, but she's having a hard time finding work too. She keeps getting messages from places she's applied that they've picked someone with more experience than her. Joel has been dealing with that kind of rejection for a year now. It's so hard to get your foot in the door now days in careers with so many overly qualified people being laid off.

Footprints in the Sand

2010-04-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight while the older boys were at the Priesthood session of Conference I took the three little kids to play at the park. At first they threw a ball around, warming their arms up for the upcoming baseball season. Then they ran around the playground like maniacs and then finally settled down into a corner with their sand toys and tried to build sand castles strong enough to resist the damage of a tossed baseball.

As I watched my kids play and enjoyed the quiet chatter they made (they've been fighting like crazy lately) an older couple approached the playground with their teenage son.

I could tell that their son had recently had some sort of brain injury, his body looked as if he had been healthy until recently but for whatever reason he now had slow motor skills.I watched the father help his son onto a swing and proceed to push his son as a pendulum. The mother swaying in the swing next to him.

I imagined what this family may have recently gone through and was touched by the love and care these parents were giving their son. I thought about parenthood and how it really is a life-long commitment to another human being. Sometimes things go different than we plan and we end up taking care of our children a lot longer than we normally think we would. I thought about our Jacob, when he broke his femur. What a year long ordeal that ended up being and how much our family went through to take care of him. How thankful I was that his injuries weren't worse.

I looked at my children playing and watched them in wonder, what wonderful people they are and I was given a new persepective tonight, new gratitude, new wonder.

I watched the family walk down the path and out of sight, the son clinging to his mother's arm.

I guess we never really know the lives we touch, or the reflections we cause, when we are just living life the best we can.

The footprints in the sand under that son's swing will be gone tomorrow, but they will forever be in this picture, and probably in my head as well.

I caved...

2010-04-02T18:21:00.000-07:00