The latest

Tomorrow is my Grandmother's funeral at 1. She passed away at 6:30 am Tuesday morning. My aunt, my mom & I were all there with her all through the long night. It is a relief really because she had quite a struggle up until the very end and I know she's in a better place now and no longer suffering. But for those of us still left here it's been a very sad time that we're now without her.

I also have strep throat I found out yesterday after going to the doctor--just to top off my week. Yuck.

In some other good news though Chris was offered the job he interviewed for a couple weeks ago. It doesn't start until April 18th though and he said he's going to keep looking until then "just in case" something better comes along.

And in a bright spot right now Afton's destroying my dining room so I better get going for now! :oP

OHMYGOSH! My mom just sent me this at work (an email from my aunt to her actually) & I'm SO depressed now. I hate crying at work...

"I heard you came by the hospital tonight. You probably noticed Mama is getting weaker and hasn't been out of bed for 3 or 4 days. Don't know if you heard but they're releasing her tomorrow to go to a nursing home. I don't know whether it will be John Knox or White Ridge. She knows someone at White Ridge, Lucille Cline. The 2nd roommate she had rooms with Lucille at Wt Ridge and her niece told me that Lee's Summit Community Church has a service there every Sunday. That would be good if Mama could get to the services. She was talking tonight about seeing a big man standing at the foot of her bed and asking the nurse who it was. The nurse was trying to think of what Dr it could be. But none of them are that big. And then I got to thinking I bet it was a big angel. She said she's seen him twice and he doesn't do anything but just stands there. People who have seen them say they are about 8 ft tall. When I told her that she said it was comforting. And she's talking about going to be with the Lord and that she loves us all and we'll all be together there some day. I've told the Lord she's in His hands and I don't know, but I think she could go any time. She's in so much pain and they had to turn her both ways again tonight to clean her up (2nd time today). It's really painful when they have to do that. I stay 'til they give her her bedtime meds and make sure her shoulders are covered and she's comfortable. They were late tonight and I didn't leave 'til 10:30. Also, we need to talk about what to do when she passes. There's a lot to think about...."

Sad news....

Okay, hate to do this after posting all the pretty flowers & fun parade pics but I'm sorry to report that my Grandma is in the hospital with a broken hip. She fell about a week & a half ago & they did surgery to put in metal rods. She's on morphine & is in a lot of pain. The nurse on Saturday also said that she has a "little pneumonia." Which, as far as I know, you either have it or you don't. I don't know if she was saying that to somehow make it sound better or what. ?? Not like you can really make "pneumonia" sound good or "not as bad" any way you put it. (My cousin had pneumonia a few years ago and she's very young & healthy but it took her months to get over it). My Grandma broke her other hip several years ago & never really recovered back to her former self, but in that case she never got pneumonia, which is usually what happens when the elderly break a hip because they're confined to a bed. We were very worried for her then but she pulled through it like a trooper. Well, the therapist now has been getting her up out of bed, even a day after surgery, so that she wouldn't lay around & get pneumonia, only that made her so incredibly sore that when she needed to cough she couldn't & imho, I think maybe that's what brought it on. Not good. They were also giving her breathing treatments to keep pneumonia at bay since patients in this situation are so susceptible to it and many times spells the end for them. She's going to be 98 this August but I really don't want to see her suffer. She's completely miserable. Please keep her in your prayers that her hip would heal quickly and that she get over the pneumonia. Best case scenario is that she spends a month in assisted living while doing physical therapy before she can even go home. :o(

T.G.I.S(pring).

Just some shots from Friday of the newly bloomed flowers by our apartment & other "late bloomers" like the milk weed below that just cracked open to let loose its feathery seeds.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Pics

Afton "Ooo"ing at the marching bands & dancers

Me & Afton

Afton & his "we're gonna regret that later" green boa

Our niece, Madison

Joe in mullet, James in beer goggles, Madison, Julie & niece, Mikayla.

You know who this is:

Chris hefting Mikayla so she could see above the crowd

St. Paddy's

Saturday we got up semi-early to meet Julie, Joe & Joe's brother, James at McCormick & Schmick on the Plaza for a traditional Irish breakfast of bangers, rashers, black & whites & great coffee. I've never been to an Irish B&B but I am pretty sure this would be the type of breakfast they'd serve. The executive chef hails from Dublin so you know it's the real deal.

After breakfast we all met up at my BIL Jim's house in Midtown with the rest of the fam to head down to the parade. Some crazy person thought it was like a block & a half walk but we knew better...it was a mile downhill...so you know what that means for the trip back--a mile uphill. I am still sore & I know now just how out of shape I am. But we made it, with 22 lb Afton in tow.

I'll post pictures later of the parade & everyone in their Irish gear. After the parade when we got back to Jim's for (Irish) coffee & green donuts, Julie took off her headband & we all realized she had green shamrock stains across her forehead from it. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that!

Later, we went to my (other) BIL's house (Rob) for corned beef & cabbage but Chris had to work so he missed out. I did get a corned beef for us though I'll have to make sometime this week. Yum! I never get enough corned beef on St. Paddy's Day!

And with all the warm weather the flowers and trees are coming out. I took some pictures of the daffodils & some other pretty crocus flowers (I have no idea how to pluralize "crocus"--is it croci??). Anyway, I'll post a few of those too. I LOVE spring!! It's finally here! It surprised me this year. We were just driving down the street the other day & I realized all the trees were flowering & in one day all the daffodils started blooming.

Also, on another very interesting note, Julie's fiancee, Joe and his brother James are painters. They've got a lot of talent & just spent a week in classes in Chicago to learn how to do Venetian plaster techniques. They brought samples of their work in a giant portfolio & it's awesome! They use lime so it's resistant to bacteria, mold & fire. It can also be used indoors or outdoors and adheres to any surface so they can turn anything from a fireplace to your dining room into a work of art. They can use any color base with any technique. With one technique they use ground marble and it has a very smooth & hard glossy finish. Right now they are the only painters in MO that do this Venetian plaster technique & they have so much fun doing it. They are truly artists and are so creative. They are well established painters but not many people know that they do this other technique so if anyone is interested, they'll go anywhere in MO and right now are doing it for people at cost just to get referrals & get the word out. They're thinking about doing a website soon so I'll link here when they do. Yet another reason I can't wait to get a house so they can come out & turn it into the Sistine Chapel with their talent!

When it rains... it sprinkles

After going what seems like an eternity with no photo inquiries, I got two calls yesterday. One was a referral from someone who picked up one of my business cards and she wants portraits of herself & her 1 month old girl. And the other is someone who found one of my online listings for wedding photography.

I'm meeting with the bride next Wednesday. Her wedding is October 27th (just one week after our 7 year anniversary!) and is at 6 pm followed by a reception. I just got a new sample proof book and used Julie & Joe's pics in it. So, I'll have quite a bit to show her since I also have the new album along with another set of proofs. She also works downtown not far from where I am so we're meeting over our lunch hour.

So, I wouldn't call it "pouring" necessarily, but 2 in one day, when I've been getting a fat zilch for forever, is very okay with me. I keep telling myself to hang on for Spring! It's just right around the corner and will definitely bring more business... and all those Fall weddings!

In keeping with the good news... Chris has a job interview tomorrow for a cable installer position. It's not in his field because there are absolutely NO jobs right now in anything that he's done in the past. We looked & found the job listing in Sunday's paper since just going around to restaurants & hotels, putting in his resume, has been fruitless as none of them are hiring anybody. So, he put in his resume Monday with the cable place & got a call this morning for an interview tomorrow morning. Yay! They start out at almost what I make, so nearly doubling our income would be super duper! He's also checking into a new daycare today so if he does get an offer we'll be ready.

We are feeling a bit of a crunch lately because we're trying to save for a house as well as pay off debt. We're making good progress but I'd like to save quite a bit more still. Our apartment lease is up at the end of June so if we time it right & get our stuff together in time we could possibly be moving into a house instead of renewing our lease. So, we're on a bit of a short timeline. The market right now is great for buyers but they've also tightened up the lending recently because of so many sub-prime loans going into default. So, if our credit is good enough we can qualify for a loan, but if not, we'd have to come up with 30% down (yeah right) because of new government regulations cracking down on the previous lenient lending that was going on during the "bubble." And to help us reach our goal we're taking donations! ... Just kidding! :o) Just seeing if you're still paying attention.

Here's a few pics of a house we looked at a couple weeks ago, that yes, unfortunately we already have our hopes up about... ::sigh:: (4 bed, 1.5 ba, 6 fireplaces, c. 1860, 2433 sq ft, 1.6 acres, Lexington MO):

Julie & Joe's Engagement

My sister-in-law, Julie, & her fiancee, Joe, were in town over the weekend from St. Louis and stayed with us. I had a great time taking their engagement pics while they were here. It was fun for them too because it was a completely new experience for them. Julie said later that she'd never had professional photos taken like that before, not even senior pics! I worked on the files Sunday and Monday and they are on Pictage now for viewing (you can see the rest by clicking here.)

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot. It was freezing, btw, and windy so I'm glad they stuck it out with me for an hour. Hopefully you won't notice any blue lips! ;o)

The smell of fresh paint

This afternoon when I walked into the apartment building I was greeted by a most pleasant scent of fresh paint...instead of the usual funk of burned Hamburger Helper and cigarette smoke. I'm very VERY happy to report that our most offensive neighbors have MOVED!!! That's right! You heard correctly. They moved out over the weekend after Chris heard when paying our rent on the 1st that they were supposed to be out by the end of the month but weren't yet. Then, lo & behold, Saturday they began moving. It took all weekend of multiple trips and the girl's mother was cleaning late into the night Sunday. I think she vacuumed for 4 solid hours. Chris spoke with the maintenance man, Forrest, on Monday and he got a peek at what their trashed apartment looked like (what else could we expect but a disaster, right??). One of their dogs had eaten the molding around the door, scratched a hole in the carpet down to the wood floors, the beige carpet was black with what nobody wanted to guess at why or what made them black, cigarette burns everywhere...Lucky we're alive. Forrest told Chris that he was surprised to see us still living here. Yeah, well. When it would cost 2k just to get out of our lease, what choice do we really have?! But, we're elated to not be smelling the funk anymore and just hope for better neighbors next time around. Currently they don't have it rented out yet but the break in noise has been a joy!

Afton's cutting another tooth, his 4th molar so... that's fun. ;oP He eats like a pig. He's already eating everything and this gives me something to look forward to when he's a teenager. He can really put it away. As my mom would say, "He must have a hollow leg." Also, last night he tried his darnest to say the word "belly." He started by poking my squishy stomach (yay-thanks kiddo) and saying "bebby" & "bubby" until I realized what he was trying to say. So we went on with that for several minutes, with me enunciating "bellllly. bellllly. bellllly." & poking his in return until he got bored and moved on to saying "puppy" and pointing at Blue. I was pretty thrilled though with the "belly" thing because it's not a word we really work on with him like we do with naming facial features or singing the alphabet, naming household items, etc. It's just something he has picked up on & it's so cool to see his little mind develop & learn our language. I know he understands a lot more than he can say. And when we figure out what he wants his eyes light up & he gets so excited he giggles & smiles that we're understanding him.

But, to go along with all this learning... he gets frustrated easily, as they call it, being in the "terrible two's" stage. He threw a tantrum this evening for a reason I still can't figure out. He just randomly started screaming & threw himself on the floor, throwing his head back and then wallowing with his face in the carpet. Not sure what that was about but he got over it pretty quickly as if nothing happened & all was okay. Strange kid.

Back to our living situation. Our lease will actually be up at the end of June, which if you count it, is not all that far away. We'd love to get a place of our own. Ah, the American Dream! We will try our best to get our stuff together and are pretty proud of ourselves lately with finally making headway getting debt paid off. We're rid of one very old & horrible loan that still remained from the car that was totalled over 3 years ago that not even the settlement paid off completely, 3 other credit cards are gone and soon at least another one, plus Chris is buying a truck from his brother so he will finally have transportation of his own. He won't be so limited in his hours or job location & this will help enormously! He's going to start looking for something FT on Friday. I will be sad though when he's not a stay-at-home dad anymore though. It's been so nice, I'll miss that. But, though we're getting by right now, doubling our income would be even better and get us to our goals that much faster.

So, this is what's been going on lately here in KC. It's a long update and mostly me just rambling because it's late and I should be in bed. So thanks for sticking with me! ;o)

Peaches come from a can...

Around spring time every year I start craving summer. All the fresh fruits & veggies--I just can't wait till there's good stuff in season once again after a long winter of frozen green beans and canned pears in lite syrup. Not my idea of tasty & certainly not fresh. So, today for whatever reason I just started craving Georgia peaches like I had once in FL from a road-side stand. They'd been sitting in the sun & were so warm & juicy & sweet. Best. Peaches. EVER!

So, today I found Dickey Farms online and can't wait until June when I can order some real GA peaches! The pictures are making me drool. See link to the left. They claim to be "the sweetest peaches in the South"... and I think I just might believe them. :o)