I've been avoiding you

It's true. I have been avoiding this blog. For many reasons.

1. I have been so busy lately - so incredibly, overwhelmingly busy. I only have the few hours after the kids are in bed, before I collapse in bed (until my 4 month old wakes me up) to just SIT and do nothing. But I'm so busy, I have to use those precious hours for photo editing (more on that later) and other various projects. Never mind cleaning my house. That will just have to wait. But I want to cry when I look at the piles of junk in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM.

2. I've had some devastating news lately - namely, my niece will be having brain surgery to remove a cyst on Friday morning. Also, my sister (her mom) has been diagnosed with leukemia. Yes. You heard that right. It is crazy. She felt tired, had a few lumps in her neck, and went to the doctor. They did blood work and sent her to the hospital. It's a really long story, and if you want to read it you can find it here. I've been thinking and worrying about this oh, about all the time lately, and haven't been thinking of much else...including what to write about here.

3. I go online 90% of the time on my phone, and I am not even close to patient enough to type a blog entry on my phone.

I'm sure there are more, but I have to go. Gotta edit some more photos. Stay tuned - I've been really busy with photography lately (woot!) and will post some favorites soon! Keep my sister and niece in your thoughts and prayers, interwebs. Many thanks.

Crash course in night photography

I've been doing photography as a hobby for several years now, and recently I've begun doing family shots, senior pictures, and baby pictures for people I know. It's been regular enough (and requires a large enough chunk of my time) that I am charging a small amount to do photo shoots. I'm not comfortable charging much, because I still consider myself very much in the learning process of it. I've taken a few college classes, which were very helpful, but I still have SO much to learn.

The really fun thing about getting paid to do this hobby I love is that every cent I make goes toward a never ending list of camera equipment or my dream guitar. I'm torn between two guitars, but fortunately I have a loooong time to save money before I will have enough to be forced to make a decision.

Anyway, I do think I have a pretty good eye for photography, and I enjoy every bit of the process. From taking the pictures to editing them, I love every second of it. I mostly use Lightroom for photo editing. It has so many editing options, and it's very user friendly.

My comfort zone is using natural light to take portraits. I like to go to urban settings, and find fun backgrounds. I have VERY little experience with flash, or anything dark. I was asked to do senior pictures for a friend, and (of course) agreed to take them...at the state fair. At night.

My stress level was pretty high about the whole thing. I knew I had some research to do. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do a test run. So, I read online about how to adjust settings, talked to a friend who is an excellent photographer (and also happens to be the dad of the senior I took pictures of - which didn't really help with the intimidation factor.) I did the shoot last night. My friend (the photographer) let me borrow his 17-50mm lens, and his super nice flash, and his mono-pod. It was VERY helpful - and I now have three more items added to my camera wish list.

The photos turned out ok. Fortunately the subject is gorgeous, so she made the pictures better than they would have been if it were just up to me. It was a learning experience for sure. I did feel like I spent a lot of time adjusting camera settings, rather than focusing on the creative side of it. But, I definitely got a good crash course in night photography.

With the family's ok, I'll post a few pictures after I edit them.

Snack time

This morning my 5 year old was watching TV, and kept going to wash her hands. She made sure to tell us that she was going to wash her hands "again" and be right back. After the third time, I decided that something sounded fishy. I asked her why she needed to wash her hands. She quickly replied, "I picked my nose, but I'm washing my hands!" And she dashed off to the bathroom.

When she came back, I asked her what she did with the boogers when she picked her nose. She replied, "I ate them." Like it was no big deal. Like they were chips or something. We've had this talk MANY times, about how we don't eat boogers, boogers are not food, boogers go in the tissue, etc. Still, she likes to snack on them occasionally.

I decided to take a new approach today, and told her, "Oh well if you've been eating boogers, you don't want any lunch right?"

She replied, "Boogers aren't even enough, they don't fill up my tummy."

I had to turn around so she didn't see me laughing.

And then we had ANOTHER talk about how we don't eat our boogers.

Now what, I ask you, seems even remotely appetizing about boogers? When you pull it out of your nose, what would make you think, hmm...that might be good? I should eat that.

I don't get it.

Yard sale treasures

So I am now the proud owner of a Coach purse. I mean really. The idea just blows my mind - I'm a Target purse kind of girl. Or even better (and more of a splurge) Etsy, where I can get a handmade purse and avoid throwing money at the huge corporations. They'll be fine. The corporations, I mean.

And in general, I could care less what kind of brands I own. I don't wear clothes that say any names on them. As long as they fit well, are comfortable, and make the fat look least obvious, I'm in.

BUT, my dear friend Gail was having a yard sale. And she was selling a few Coach purses. And she let me come over a day early for a preview sale. And there they were. Naturally I bought two, because with one for $20 and the other for $35, you can't afford NOT to buy a Coach purse. And they're cute, and the leather is so soft. Thank you, cows. I might give one away. Might.

I live in a city that is overflowing with silicone and Prada, so my Coach purse won't even cause a stir. Maybe I should get some fake boobs too, ya know after the whole breastfeeding thing is over. You know those nature channel specials about the women in Africa who never wear shirts? Yeah....I'll just stop there. You're welcome.

Eventful few days

So it's been an eventful few days here in our house. Halloween is coming up, which means costumes must be decided upon. M, the five year old, is borrowing a cute bumble bee costume from her friend Ellory, so I will be hunting a baby bee costume for B (M has approved this.) I'm thinking I will put some kind of flower headband on and wear green, and my husband Travis can be a bee keeper, assuming I can find the hat. We'll see if it works out.

B got a cold a few days ago, and Saturday night/Sunday morning got scary croupy, wheezing and all. I called the doctor's office, and they said to take him to the ER. Of course this happens on a Saturday night! (I work at a church, and Sundays are kinda busy...)

Anyway, there's nothing like going from asleep to wide awake and panicked at 2 am.

We had a nice little trip to the ER, which lasted approximately 3 hours. Travis stayed home with M. B and I went in, and it was pretty immediately evident that it was, in fact, croup, and that it wasn't anything worthy of being admitted. Whew!

So they treated him with steroids (he is looking pretty buff now) and a breathing treatment, and sent us on our way. Now B is a little social butterfly, so in spite of his sickness, he was dazzling all of the hospital staff. In my head, I was shrieking, "DON'T TOUCH HIM!!! GERMS!!!!" but on the outside, I was nice. I did sanitize the world after the ordeal was over.

It's always an adventure, isn't it?

OH, by the way, I met a respiratory therapist who smokes while in the ER. I BARELY resisted the urge to point out the irony to him.

Funny things

So my five year old is a pretty funny kid. She's headstrong, at times impossible, but pretty entertaining. We actually have a twitter account for her, mainly to keep up with all of the crazy things she says.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:


Let's play Rock Paper Scissors. I'll be the rock.

Plump is a way to say fat, but it's nicer.

You're just saying "because", and that isn't an answer. Tell me why!

If you don't get me the drink I want, I'll never be happy again. IN MY WHOLE LIFE!

And Jesus was his name-O!

If those are the rules, I'm not going to follow them.

Blah blah blah, LIES!

Thank you God for horses. But not for their smell. We don't like their smell.

I have this weird feeling. It's a feeling that's making me stop cleaning.

I think awkward is my favorite word. No wait, it isn't. Princess is.

It's not a hit. It's a high five on your face!

This shark is lazy. I know because of his face.

My underarms smell like mushrooms. The stinky kind of mushrooms.


And there are more. Many, many more. That kid is a nut. A funny nut that drives me crazy sometimes.

I won this battle...barely

So my daughter is 5, and this one is giving us a run for our money. She has been a stubborn little spitfire since day one. Each year is tougher than the last. For some reason, I was expecting 5 to be a breeze - well, it's not.

This morning, she wouldn't stay at the table to eat her cereal. We told her MULTIPLE times to eat her cereal before it got soggy. Did that happen? Of course not. Her cereal got mushy, and she no longer wanted it. She wanted something else.

My husband and I decided that this was a battle that we must win. And it was quite the battle. Weeping, stomping, wailing, etc...15 minutes later, she had eaten her soggy cereal. We won.

Now, on to the next battle!