The Certainty of Pooka Shell

We've moved

2008-02-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

It's our 3rd week in the new house & we're still settling in. Still lots of boxes in the living room & curtains still to be hung, but we're already comfortable here & it feels like home.

We still have a few projects to complete but things are slowly coming along. On Friday we FINALLY got our bathroom sink installed & the light fixture put up in the dining room. Chris's dad helped with both.

Here are pictures of the chandelier. You can see my pretty red wall I painted. I love red.

And here's the new sink & faucet. And you can kinda see the towel ring. We have a matching towel rod but it hasn't made it in yet.

Next, I will give you a list of things that have been broken in the last 3 weeks. Glassware: watch out!

1st weekend after moving:
Doing dishes by hand in the sink & I broke a plate
Me: 1, Glassware: 0
Unpacking antique plates & putting them in my china cabinet, had 5 in my hand & dropped a little one from the bottom.
Me: 2, Glassware: -1
Unpacking miscellaneous things wrapped in newspaper, glass votive candle holder rolls out & falls onto other glass candle & breaks.
Me: 3, Glassware: -2
Adjusting Afton's bib while he eats in the dining room, mirror that is leaning against wall falls forward hitting me in the arm (if I hadn't been there it would have landed on Afton's head!), bruises my arm & a piece of the mirror falls out, but does not break.
Me: 2, Glassware: -1

A few days later:
Glass piece that fell out is laying flat on buffet & suddenly falls by itself behind buffet, breaking on the floor.
Me: 3, Glassware: -2

A few days ago:
Afton is eating off a porcelain plate, is "done" & throws plate on floor.
Afton: 1, Glassware: -3

Last night:
I get out of shower, am minding my own business & glass light fixture falls off light & shatters into sink.
Me: 4, Glassware: -4

Just for those of you keeping tabs on shards of glass you may or may not be likely to step on in my house...

We're moving!

2008-01-16T15:55:00.000-06:00

Not too far, but about 1/2 hr from where we live now in Midtown KC to Lee's Summit. We will still be renting (broke our contract w/ the apt) but my uncle owns the house and .... it's a house! NOT an apt! Yay! No more noisy neighbors & being subjected to their music/tv/yelling/middle-of-the-night gun shots/middle-of-the-night clamoring up the fire escape & waking us up cuz they locked themselves out/cats/dogs/drunkenness/cigarette smoke/pot smoke/bad food smells/fighting for parking spaces/etc etc. Whew!! That's a long list of "negatives" we'll be leaving behind.

In the new place, we'll have a big yard (fenced in the back for our doggie, Blue) & a basement with a real laundry area with our full-size washer & dryer, and a 2 car garage (= storage space & no scraping ice off the car on winter mornings). Privacy, quiet & even though we don't own it it's still a place of our own where we can make a cozy safe home that's way more conducive to raising a child & having a happy dog.

But, we're moving this weekend & we're not even all the way packed yet! There has been a lot of work to do at the house getting it ready to move in. We painted the dining room & kitchen & will paint the bathroom in the next couple weeks but we just put up new tile in the shower/bath & tile on the floor & a new pedestal sink & matching accessories. I should have taken before & after pics but maybe will take some after pics anyway. I always take pictures of our new places right after we move in & get settled.

When we move Afton will finally be moving into his big boy bed & the crib will be no more. He got Cars bedroom stuff for his birthday so he is really moving up in the toddler world. ;o) He's also starting a new daycare at a place just down the street from us and shortly (& with their help during the day) we'll be starting potty training. Mama will be glad not to be buying/changing diapers anymore but it's a process that could take a while so we'll see how it goes.

What else is new? Our jobs are both going well, so thankfully there's really nothing to report on that end. ;o)

I think that's it for now. As usual it's been a long time since my last post on this blog. But I figured this was a big enough event to note it here with a post. :o)

Hope you're all doing well!

Same old stuff

2007-11-09T09:25:00.001-06:00

Not much is going on lately other than working a whole lot which is why I haven't posted much recently.

Chris has a new boss at work that seems to be pretty cool & they're getting along really well. They've been really really really busy this week because Garth Brooks is in town performing for 9 days straight. He hasn't performed like this in 10 years & chose KC of all places to get back on the scene which is pretty darn cool. He said he couldn't think of a better place b/c the fans here "get it." He also didn't allow anyone outside the midwest to purchase tickets (which were pretty cheap at $35 a pop) b/c he didn't want the whole "Hannah Montana" scene that happened weeks before with people selling tix on ebay for thousands of dollars. So, that's why he's having so many shows, so more people can get in at a reasonable price. He didn't even allow St. Louis to buy tix though (& he's not even planning on performing there). You had to be from anywhere else in MO, KS, NE or IA in order to get tix. So, anyway, it's been a really busy week & it doesn't look like Chris is going to get a day off till the shows end. But, then there will always be another show coming up that will get them busy again.

I'm still keeping busy with pictures & biz stuff. If you've checked out my photo blog you'll see that I just took the steps needed to make my new website live. It's in a transition period getting on the new hosting server so you can't see it yet but it's supposed to be just 2 days at the most so hopefully by tomorrow at the latest you'll all be able to see it. It's a Flash site so it's much easier to use for both me doing updates & for visitors to navigate it. I bought the template & got all my images saved according to their required sizes & dimensions, dropped them in the galleries & pages & put my text in. Did a few other settings & it's ready to go. It was so easy I wish I'd done it this way last year. Oh, & I got a nice discount on it too so it was only $150 to set up (worth the hours & hours & hours of time I spent making my last site myself that also took ages just to update the slightest addition to my galleries) & I pay $17 a month for hosting. A little pricey by my standards compared to what I'm used to paying ($5/mo) but for the ease of use & excellent customer service they have it'll be worth it I think. Everyone who has one of their sites (it's thru BIG folio) swears by them for the benefit it does their businesses. They're also just geared toward photographers, so that's how all their templates are set up, with the pro photog in mind. I can also have music on my site but have yet to find any royalty-free music that I like well enough to purchase at $60 a song. Most are no-name artists that sound like crap. Even the instrumental stuff I'm finding is horrid. So, if anyone knows of any good sites w/ royalty-free tunes to buy & download please let me know! I've gone through about 5 or 6 sites & have found nothing yet.

Well, here I am talking business on the personal site. I need a life! ;o) But this is what my life consists of right now other than being a mommy & a wife & not much is really new in those areas.

Chris had a dream last night that we bought a house. Hopefully it's a dream that comes true! We of course wanted to last year but it just didn't happen. The lender told us then that some things needed to age more on our credit & to try again in 6 months (from last July) & they'd approve us then. So, we'll try again this spring & hopefully have better luck. We've been talking to a really great realtor (Stacey's cousin Sherri!!) & we're going to work with her when the time comes to start looking at the end of March or beginning of April. Our lease is up June 30.

Anyway, I can't really think of anything else going on. Not very exciting, I know! :oP But I hope you're all doing well!

Halloween!

2007-11-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

Here's our Halloween pics with Afton trick or treating at Chris's sister's house. The one holding him in this top picture is his cousin Mikayla. The Ghost & other girl are Mikayla's cousins but not related to us or Afton. But we all get together & go trick or treating together. Mikayla's brother Calvin was also there but I didn't get a picture of him b/c he was too busy running around getting candy (I am pretty sure he was already on a sugar high) and Afton's cousin McCullough arrived a little later too. She was Dorothy & super cute but I never got her pic either. :o(

Anyway, in this top pic Afton is ready to escape Mikayla's hold. He doesn't like posing. You have to just catch him when he doesn't know you're taking a picture. ;o)

Here he is in his cute Polar Bear costume!

I love this one...

Already digging through his loot after the 1st house!

What a big boy! He knew what the whole thing was about & even knocked on people's doors himself & when the opened it he went straight for the candy bowl!

Everyone thought he was really cute in his costume... I've gotta agree!! :oD

It's been forever!

2007-10-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

I've been crazy busy the last few months & now the fall rush for pictures has started. I booked up for Oct by mid-Sept & have still been getting requests for October dates! I don't know how many more I can fit in but I will try because I know that once November & cold weather hits business will be pretty dead until Spring. You can find the link to my photo blog a couple posts below this. There you'll find Stacey & Justin's teaser slideshow of their wedding photos from the 29th in NC. I can hardly watch it without tearing up!

So, since my last couple posts lots has happened besides business picking up. Chris got a new job as a chef at the Hilton President downtown. They're really getting super busy lately too b/c of the Sprint Center opening up & all the new stuff going in down there.

Afton has a new sitter he's been with now for about 5 weeks. She has a daycare in her home in Merriam KS. It's a bit of a drive but worth it because she's really great & caring.

So that's 2 bullets dodged we'd been worrying sick about in mid-August.

We just got back from vacation last weekend that we took after the wedding. We went to GA & FL for a week & went to two beaches (Tybee, GA & Clearwater, FL), saw 2 lighthouses in GA, saw Fort Pulaski in GA, went to Homosassa Springs in FL AND to finish off our trip we took Afton to Disney World our last day in FL. He LOVED it! And we had a lot of fun too, despite the torrential rain. Hey, it made the lines way shorter!! ;o)

But, I am at home today b/c Afton is sick with something he must have picked up on vacation. So I'm taking him to the Dr today. Hopefully they can give him something to help him feel better. And flu shots aren't even till next month! :o(

Well, I'm going to be very busy the next few weeks. I will put up some vacation pictures after I've finished editing all the wedding photos. So hang in there! Don't give up on me--I'll get them up before too long hopefully. :o)

Look who LOVES corn!!

2007-08-07T22:47:00.000-05:00

It's summer so of course we had to get corn at the Farmer's Market. Yum yum! And look who is a big boy eating it right off the cob! Don't mess with his corn--he gets vicious! ha ha!

Nerves

2007-08-06T11:14:00.001-05:00

My stomach is all up in knots this morning. Here's why: Chris just found out yesterday that he's being laid off in 2 weeks. He's got 2 weeks to find a new job while still working the current one. He hasn't even been there long enough to get benefits yet so he's pretty sure that's why he's getting the boot. But, I guess we can at least be thankful that he has some notice. This is also the last week we have our babysitter. Which is good & bad. She's been flaking out on us lately & has overslept the last 2 days she was supposed to work. I called her house to see what was up last Wed & this morning & woke her up both times. So, me being over an hour late to work each time has not been cool. Afton sleeps till nearly noon everyday so it's not like it's a hard job to get up for. All she has to do is show up & sit on her butt all morning long. Anyway, the daycare that we've been on a waiting list for since February, who first said there was a spot opening in May (which didn't happen), who then said in May there was an opening in August, now doesn't have an opening this month either & is saying there's not one till Oct 1st. Which leaves us with no sitter or daycare for a month & a half. When Afton turns 2 in Dec he will move up to the 2 yr old room where there are plenty of openings at just about every daycare for 2+ year olds. But, getting to that age group is quite a task. Anyway, this week is our sitter's last week with us because she starts school so my MIL is coming up next week to watch Afton so Chris can job hunt. ::groan:: I should have a degree is balancing plates... maybe I'll just join the circus. :oP Such is the life of the working mother. Don't get me wrong though--I LOVE being a mother. It's the full-time outside-of-the-home job part I don't like.

New Blog Launched!

2007-07-28T16:36:00.000-05:00

I just launched my new photography biz blog at http://studiopphoto.blogspot.com if anyone wants to check it out. I'm not linking to it from here or vice versa because I'm not keen on the idea of potential clients reading all my personal rants, etc. ;o) You all are just the privileged ones here who get to listen to that. Don't you feel special?? :o)

Anyway the new blog links from my website now instead of the landscapes. Nobody really seems to pay much attention to those so I broke the link to those galleries & replaced it with a link to the blog.

I've been keeping busy lately but only a couple portrait shoots here & there...which you can now read all about that stuff on the new blog. I'll just reserve this one for personal pics & some silly stuff of Afton, which you're probably more interested in seeing than some stranger anyway, right? ;o)

Well, Chris is home today & I just got back from a maternity shoot & baby shower & Afton's taking a nap so I'm gonna jump off here & go vegge (sp??) for a little while.

Midwest Kid's Fest Coming Up!

2007-07-10T20:45:00.001-05:00

My mom & I are sharing/splitting a booth at the Midwest Kid's Fest next month, Aug. 25-26. It will be lots of fun & we're hoping for some good bookings & a good turnout to the Fest. It's at the Overland Park Convention Center & there will be lots for kids to do, give-aways & things for parents to check out too. It's benefiting the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

If you're in the area & have kids, check it out at http://www.midwestkidsfest.com

Playing With New Borders

2007-07-01T10:30:00.001-05:00

I'm just having fun today playing with some borders I found...

Family Portraits

2007-06-20T10:41:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday I had a family photo session at the Nelson-Atkins Museum and these are some of my favorites. They liked the more traditional shots best but I managed to get a few that were a little more creative. It was SO hot & humid I thought I was going to pass out while shooting but we made it & they didn't look like they had a drop of sweat on them, whereas I looked terrible. Good thing I'm behind the camera! They were a really nice family and so gorgeous & pulled-together it made my job a little easier. :o) Grace, the one daughter who found me online & hired me to get the family portrait for her mom said that they all really enjoyed the session & that her mom had a lot of fun.

Can't decide on this one below if I like it better in color or b&w:

Not so fast!

2007-06-11T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well, my winning glory lasted about 5 hours before Miss America was stripped of her crown.... Or, you might say, before Al Gore had the presidency stolen from him by those darn electoral votes.

That was me Friday afternoon just after 4 PM when I got a call from the other co-chair of the Art @ Work exhibit telling me that she'd gotten a call from someone in HR who told her that the votes had been calculated wrong. And, to re-do it & "fix it". Which meant that after a re-tally that I hadn't won 1st place after all and she had to send out another email correcting the winning art works. Sucks to be me. The one who had gotten 2nd originally was now 1st. And the 2 that had tied for 3rd before weren't in the top 3 at all. There was another completely different winner for 3rd.

"How could this be?" you ask? Well, the voting, not the tallying, wasn't done right from the start. It was supposed to be by category. But someone in HR (same person that called for the re-count, like it was a darn presidential election) didn't think that everyone in the firm would understand how to vote for their favorite photograph, their favorite 3D piece & their favorite painting. Duh! Just dumb it down for everyone, why don't we. Go against the rules because you think we're all mentally retarded. It's only a firm full of people with law degrees, for Pete's sake! So, before the show as we're setting up, I ask "Aren't we hanging & displaying things by category?" when I noticed things were just being hung randomly & all mixed up. This person says to me, "No, it's a better idea to just vote for the top 3." "Out of the whole show? What happened to the categories?" I ask, trying to figure out what the change she's talking about making will really mean for the whole show. "Well, we don't have enough for each category."

Well, that shouldn't make any difference. So what if we only had 1 or 2 for a couple of the categories. Good for them! Less competition! We're still supposed to have one from each go to Union Station. Should it really be their fault if nobody else in the firm entered something in their category??

And, it's just even more unfair that only 1 of those top three would go to Union Station (because suddenly people could vote for 3 photos & nothing else if they wanted to), rather than one from each category like how it was supposed to be. And in even further unfairness, each of those 3 votes were weighted, rather than just being 3 plain votes. The 1st vote counted more than the 3rd. Thus, when the winning person received 20 votes for #1, and I received 16 votes for #2, it wasn't that I received 4 less votes. I'm actually not sure how far behind I was in #1 votes. who knows? But I was the one who had the most #2 votes. If this makes any sense. I still had most votes overall with 43. 43 people wrote down my number, #11, on one of those 3 lines on their ballots. I was still 9 ahead in overall votes. 43 people still liked my work well enough to put the number down. Versus only 34 people overall voting for the "#1" winner at some point on their ballots. The weight of the votes is screwy. If it had just been done by category everything would be fine & fair. And, the #1 winner was still a photograph. Someone said to me (though still thinking the whole thing stinks), well, if it was by category then it doesn't mean that you would have won in that category still. But, that's not the point. At least it would have been fair for everyone & I would have been okay with that. I wouldn't have gone through half the day thinking & believing I'd won! My feelings wouldn't have been hurt. I'm a big girl. I didn't even expect to win to begin with! I wouldn't have been a "sore loser" if it had been done right from the beginning & I'd lost still. So, that's not the point at all. I feel bad for the person who did the mosaic plate. They would have, and should have, gone to Union Station because they were the favorite in the 3D category. They won more votes than any of the other entrants in that category, and originally, got 3rd place even out of votes overall. It's just not fair for anyone else either & I feel equally as bad for them.

But, even thought it's a big deal for us artists, it's not a big enough deal for the rest of the firm to do anything about it & make it right or stick with the original vote count, so we just have to let it go. And I'll just try to get in a real gallery on my own. Where things are admitted based on their artistic value or because the artist is talented, not by office politics and Human Resources sticking their nose where it doesn't belong, deciding for everyone what our mental capacity for voting is. The Art @ Work really was a great concept, but unfortunately our firm is incapable of pulling something like this off without making it more complex than it should be. They turned a really fun thing into a big mess.

Wait. I need to prepare my speech...

2007-06-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

You can now call this an Award Winning photograph:

The votes were tallied this morning from the Art @ Work exhibit held here at work yesterday afternoon and I won the best in show People's Choice award for First Place! I had even been griping the other day because they changed the way the voting would be done. Since we didn't have enough entries for each of the 6 categories to vote for best in each, they just had everyone vote for their top 3 favorites in the whole show. So, photographs were pitted against fiber art, sculpture and paintings. We had 34 entries total for the firm. And I feel even more surprised and proud that I beat out all the other entries...and there were some really great things! I had convinced myself last night that I didn't stand a chance and that a painting would win for sure because that's all anyone seemed to be making great comments about. I heard maybe a few (I was a co-chair of the event so heard everyone as they came & went for the duration of the exhibit) comments about my 3 entries, so I was just preparing myself to not win so I wouldn't be disappointed. But after all that, I ended up winning, which I feel even better about winning because it wasn't voted by category, but rather overall favorites.

My photograph above, titled "Live Oak Sprawl" received 43 votes. 2nd place was also a photo and got 34 votes. And there was a tie for 3rd place, each with 24 votes; one was another photograph and the other was a glass mosaic plate. No paintings won at all which really surprised me. Someone also took a picture of me by my tree photo yesterday at the end of the show so I'll get a copy of that from HR & post it here also.

So, in August my work will go to the Art @ Work exhibit at Union Station for judging by a panel of well-known artists and members of the art community here in Kansas City. A lot of other corporations and firms here in KC participated also so I'll be anxious to see all their People's Choice winners too when that time comes. The first place winners at the Union Station exhibit will go on to be in a booth at the Plaza Arts fair in September. Wahoo! :o)

Saturday's portrait shoot

2007-05-28T20:13:00.001-05:00

This past Saturday I did portraits at Loose Park of a co-worker's two kids. The girl is 3 1/2 and the boy is 18 months, just one month older than Afton. So, right off, I pretty much know what I'm dealing with with the 18 mo old since I am shooting pictures of Afton constantly and I know how difficult he is. So, I felt like I was starting off on a bit of a good foot. But, then the weather intervened. I had checked the weather forecast the night before & it said no rain. Then as soon as we pull up to Loose Park... you guessed it, it starts sprinkling. Then rained the entire time. We were confined to a very small space under an arbor by the rose garden. We also had to share this tiny arbor with 3 other photographers who were doing very grown-up engagement shoots. And here I am running around after a 3 year old and an 18 month old, trying to stay out of the rain, while also attempting to get a picture of the two little balls of energy together looking at the camera and smiling nicely. I didn't have the advantage of being able to sit them down anywhere because everywhere was wet. And getting an 18 mo old to stand still is like....impossible. But I did my best and I think I got some pretty cute ones of them in spite of the weather. I think they're cute & very relaxed looking.

Here they are:

"Z" is for Zoo

2007-05-25T10:49:00.000-05:00

The Kansas City Zoo. Saturday May 19th. Afton had a blast seeing all the animals and loved the meerkats, tigers & kangaroos. We also went on a train ride & he loved it! We went to PetSmart last night and saw the birds & little rodents. He got SO excited, he ran in circles around all the cages going "Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!" I think he thought we were back at the zoo!

Red Panda

A really cool car in "Australia"

My personal favorite: Tiger in black & white

Wallabies kissing

Black Swan

Meerkat

Afton pouting (past his naptime). He was having fun, he just doesn't like to show it for the camera. ;o)

I'm back!

2007-05-25T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well, not that I went anywhere but it has been a while since visiting my own blog to check in with all you fine folks. I don't feel like I've been all that busy, but I know I have been. Just the everyday stuff keeping me from barely checking my e-mail these days. So, I may disappoint with this post since I haven't exactly been on some grand adventure lately and don't have all that much interesting to chat about. I DO have pictures however.

We went to a Native American Powwow Saturday, May 5. It was very hot & humid that day once the sun came out but it was a lot of fun and Chris got me a really pretty turquoise necklace. And if you've never had a buffalo burger or Indian Taco--you're just missing out on your country's roots!

Knee-jerk reaction

2007-04-20T08:56:00.000-05:00

This Wednesday Chris started his new job. Finally! They've been having training in a different location everyday. First it was Lenexa, then Grain Valley, and today, Oak Grove. But so far so good. He'll get great benefits and he was super excited that if we move to Lexington, he'll be able to change his status to "remote" installer so he'll only have to make one trip to the shop at the beginning of the week and keep the company truck with him all week, essentially working out of the home & just going straight to the job sites each morning. Less driving=very cool.

It's been a good week. And to top it off we heard a fabulous story about his ex-boss at the Embassy Suites that was so horrible to him & all her employees. She told him once, concerning him needing time off to take Afton to a Dr appt b/c I'd already used up all my PTO taking him every time before, that one of us needed to step up, be a parent and take some responsibility. Essentially, she thought I should get written up at my job & take unpaid time off to take him to the Dr instead of letting Chris help out & take him. Or all the times she called him at 3 & 4 AM to cuss him out, screaming into the phone at him about how this or that wasn't done or needed to get done & he had to get up there right that minute & do it. Yes, at 3 & 4 AM, and yes, more than once. Or, how about the time she "punished" him for one of his employees not showing up by making him do that particular job, telling him that she was managing that night & he'd be the server only. Then she disappeared, but not before telling the catering manager that if Chris needed help he was not to go help him. It of course ended up being super busy, Chris had no help, didn't know that his boss had bailed on him & found out what she'd told the other manager. So it was just him with no other server, busser, running the whole restaurant. Or, or, the day he tried to talk to her about it, told her he didn't appreciate the way she was treating him and getting the response, "Well, you deserve it" before she stormed out. This woman is literally a raving psycho. But, we always keep the faith that people like that will get their just deserts one day or another. We don't have to get revenge; all we have to do is sit back & watch.

So, when we heard Wednesday night that one of her employees punched her in the face at work, I just about fell over, but all we really felt was satisfaction that her horrible ways are catching up to her. Just makes you wonder what she said to get that kind of reaction from someone. Hmm... I am honestly surprised it didn't happen before now. But it's great. It made Chris's week for sure!

The moral of the story: You should never do anything wrong. It will catch up with you.

Exhibit

2007-04-09T16:46:00.000-05:00

The Art @ Work exhibit for our office will open June 7 with a reception. I also just found out that we can enter up to 3 things. So, I had just gotten it narrowed down to my Anastasia Island tree photo and now I've got 2 other options to select in addition. I'm super excited about this! I already have some other things framed that I could exhibit, such as the redbud photo taken in my Grandma's backyard, or a sprouting tulip photo that I had in the UMKC student show in the gallery on campus my junior year. But, I have so many to choose from and have things in other media besides photography that I could submit too like glass or pottery. I have a few paintings also but nothing that is gallery worthy as painting is not my strongest suit. I also have some prints, drawings & illustrations so I'll have to comb through all my work & see what I find. I've got till June 1 to get my stuff together before submitting for hanging/display. Wish me luck!

Some place warm

2007-04-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

Speaking of warm places (see last post)... I'm pining for Florida. I won't get to go back until October (after Stacey's wedding in NC-combining trips for an extended vacation) but we'll be able to spend more time there than if we'd gone this month like we were thinking of doing before. We'll be less rushed and the water will still be warm at the 1st of Oct, unlike it is right now around the beaches of Central Florida. My aunt just took Grandma Rob (I call her Grandma Rob because her last name is Robinson. She used to be my Grandma Koz, short for Kozlowski before re-marrying so I kept up the short-name "tradition" after--not that it's absolutely necessary for you to know this, but just so we're on the same page)...anyway, back to the story.... my aunt just took her to Daytona for a little vacation. She did the same thing with me when Chris & I first moved down there in 2004. Chris was working so he didn't get to go but I didn't have a job that June still so she took me along & we had a great time sipping pina coladas, lounging by the pool (my aunt hates salt water) & I swam & surfed (sort of) with my cousin & his friend and took hot bubble baths (alone, mind you) in our ocean view room. My aunt thought of everything & even brought along a couple candles for the bath and a blender for the drinks. I took a handful of pictures on a disposable waterproof camera, which, shame on me, I still have yet to finish the roll or develop them. Gee, I hope they aren't ruined by now.

So, this year it was my Grandma's turn and I'm really jealous. ;o) But, come October we'll be heading down there from NC and will get to take Afton to the beach again. I don't know if he'll remember this trip or not but I'm sure he doesn't remember his very first time at the beach when he was only 4 months old. We made sure to take him at least once before we moved back to KC. But it was a pretty miserable trip. The wind at Clearwater that day was so strong we could hardly see for the stinging sand hitting us in our faces so hard. My hair tie broke in my desperate attempt to tie my hair out of my face so it also became an uncontrollable mess. We had sand everywhere and poor little Afton was not a happy camper. Below are some pictures from the day, but are not explanatory at all of how miserable it really was in the sand storm. You can see bits of sand on Afton's hat & my stylishly disheveled hair after we got back into the safety of the car.

I was reading through my pregnancy journal a couple weeks ago where I'd written that we couldn't wait to take him to the beach all the time and how we knew how much he'd just love it because we love the beach so much. We had a lot of great beach days, that's for sure (well, except for that one red tide beach day-that was smelly). But, my, how things change in only a little over a year. We'll just have to go back to visit as much as possible and make lots more good memories! :o)

Do NOT reply to all

2007-04-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

It seems that some people will never learn from other people's mistakes. We all fear it. You send a personal email at work and double-check the "To:" line. You receive an email that was sent to everyone and really only mean to send a reply to the person that sent it in the first place. But, whoops! What's that silly "reply to all" mean?? Gee, I haven't the faintest...

_____________________________________________
From: Tech.Help (Help Desk)
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 10:58 AM
To: [company name edited] - Everyone
Subject: Please Read - Message Waiting Light

We are currently experiencing issues with the telephone message waiting light not displaying when you have a new voice mail. Our Engineers are working on this issue. We will keep you posted when it has been corrected.
Thank you for your patience during this timeframe. Please contact Help.Tech if you have any questions or further problems.

______________________________________________
From: [Last Name], Carol
Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 11:03 AM
To: Tech.Help (Help Desk); [company name edited] - Everyone
Subject: RE: Please Read - Message Waiting Light

I'm hungry and cold and have a stiff neck. Let's go somewhere warm.

Carol [Last Name]
Legal Secretary
Kansas City, MO 64106
Telephone: (816) xxx-3317
Facsimile: (816) xxx-3495

______________________________________________
Yes, Carol, let's do lunch in Aruba. You buying? I'll bring the Advil.

A novel

2007-04-02T10:52:00.000-05:00

This'll be a long one, so hang in there with me! :oP

Last week was very eventful (mostly bad events) but it's a new week and a fresh start for a better week. As I posted last week, my grandmother passed away on Tuesday. The funeral was Friday and was a nice service. And just like is appropriate for any day of a funeral the sky clouded up & it rained and poured--but it stopped just in time for the service at the graveside. Good thing because we didn't have an umbrella.

I also had strep last week & am getting over that. Chris's aunt also passed away Saturday morning we found out over the weekend. It's his mother's sister and I guess she was sick for a while but nobody was expecting it still.

I was not at work all last week except for Monday. So I'm catching up this week. Last Wednesday my cube neighbor collapsed in the restroom here at work & had to be taken out by ambulance. She's still in the hospital and is having tests done today to figure out what's going on. And we have a HS student who works here one day a week on a sponsorship program with his school. He was hit by a car last week and is OK but was pretty shaken up. He went up onto the woman's hood of her car & freaked out & ran off.

What a week! I hope everyone's week was better and I would be most grateful for a calm and boring week. You know what they say about "no news is good news"--I hope I get NO news this week!

BUT I do have good news to report and I'll finish with these good notes. As I mentioned in the last post, Chris was offered the job last week that he interviewed for a few weeks ago. He starts training on the 18th but it's 5 weeks of paid training so that's cool. He'll be installing satellites for Dish Network and will only be working 4 days a week. FT with PAID overtime guaranteed (it's been a while since he's gotten paid for OT having been a salaried manager). He'll only work 1 Saturday a month also so we're happy about that that it's not every Saturday like we've been used to the last several years. I really hope he likes it. It sounds like it'll be a good job.

And...it's in Grain Valley, close to the location we've been looking at for houses. The house in Lexington we've had our eyes on for a while dropped from $89,900 to $79,900 last month and just yesterday we noticed that the price listed on the website now says $69,900, so they've dropped it another $10k! We're not quite ready yet to make an offer because of Chris's new start date later than he was originally told, but hopefully the lack of interest in this property will continue and that it'll still be there in a few weeks.

Yesterday I got Afton out in the grass at Chris's brother's house & he didn't even know what to do in the strange green stuff. He truly is a city boy now and we've got to do something about that! Every time I put him down in the grass he cried & acted like he forgot how to walk. With the few steps he took he wobbled & fell. It was like I'd stuck him in a tar pit & he couldn't manage to lift his feet to take steps properly. So I let him take a break, held him a bit and tried again later. He still cried & freaked out when I put him in the grass again but I finally got him calmed down & playing a little. He still just sat there in the grass & didn't move his tush for a half hour though! This kid needs to get out more! The grass was a monster trying to eat his feet apparently.

Well, that's all the update I've got for now. I'll post some pics soon of Afton that I took over the weekend of his "outdoor adventure." :o)

The latest

2007-03-29T20:40:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-21T10:18:00.000-05:00

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....

2007-03-19T22:23:00.000-05:00

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).

2007-03-19T21:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-19T09:47:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-03-07T23:40:00.000-06:00

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

2007-03-07T23:07:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-03-01T15:09:00.000-06:00

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)

But my #1...

2007-02-22T12:40:00.000-06:00

Absolute first on my list is this: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash with Quantum Turbo Battery and Charger. May not mean much to you folks who aren't photographers but this thing is a necessity for shooting weddings & portraits, not just something on my Christmas wish list. I NEED it! Ugh... I'm expecting to buy this in the next month or so--but wish I had it now.

Sorry, 3 photo-related posts in one day! I'm in equipment list mode today, I guess!

I want this:

2007-02-22T12:32:00.000-06:00

The Nikon V film/slide scanner for my dozens of unscanned, unseen, unprinted & unused work I've got around my house. I used the Nikon Coolscan IV in college & loved it. I scanned all I could at the time while I had access to it, but have so much more now since graduating that needs scanning. Some film of which I've only ever had processed with no prints & have never seen more than the color neg held up to a window. Not so great for being able to tell if I've got a "keeper" or not! I don't want to pay someone else $30 per frame just to get a decent scan when I've got hundreds of frames that need scanning. Yep. This scanner is high on my list.

Art @ Work

2007-02-22T10:36:00.000-06:00

I'm entering a local contest called Art @ Work. It's a contest for employees of some bigger KC companies who are artists on the side but enjoy having a steady, decent-paying job, than be starving artists. I love this concept because I'm always feeling like people judge me based on "what I do" for a living, yet my day job does not define who I really am. My whole life I've had my older brother to look up to when it comes to the whole starving artist scenario. I think he actually likes being a starving artist. ;o) But like me, he'll never stop trying and will never stop making art. But, I know how important having benefits are. He's always challenging himself & trying new things with his art and I admire that. Yet, I don't want to starve while I do those same things with my own art. Maybe this is why I don't think he's ever really seen me as a "true" artist.

Anyway, back to the contest. This May there will be a preliminary internal show here in our firm's Downtown office. There are 6 categories: Fiber Art, Photography/2D Digital Media, 3D Art, Painting, Drawing/Etching/Illustration, and Mixed Media. You all can probably guess which category I'll be entering. ;o) I do have some 3D stuff that I'd like to enter but I'm not sure if we can enter more than one category. There are 21 or so people on the list here in my office that will be entering something into these 6 categories. Then, the judging will begin by fellow co-workers (attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, staff) for 1st, 2nd & 3rd in each category.

Then the cool part comes where the 6 1st place "People's Choice" winners will go on to be in a show at Union Station's Grand Hall where a jury of local arts professionals/leaders will select a single "Best of Show" within each category. And even cooler, all 6 of those Best of Show winners will appear in the American Century investments tent at the Plaza Arts Fair in September!

I have it narrowed down in my head to 2 different photos I'm considering entering. And whatever I decide on, I'll blow it up nice & big, mat it & frame it to make a pronounced statement. I'm hoping I'll have an edge w/ the actual gallery aspect of presenting my work since I've done it before in art school. But, I'd like to take a poll from you all of which you think would do the best, artistically & technically speaking. Keep in mind the first judging will be by my co-workers so they'll probably be looking for whatever is the most eye catching, whatever seems the most exotic or basically different to them. People really go for the unusual, the original. They won't look at it the same way the arts professionals/leaders will look at it. My co-workers I doubt will be reading in any deep meanings into my art like another artist would. I also know that viewing something on the computer screen probably won't evoke the same emotion as seeing it in say, poster size, right in front of you in a physical print. So, when looking at any favorites consider these aspects. Try to visualize with me! Which ones jump out at you and which ones "speak" to you (if any)? :o) If I'm not being too artsy fartsy for you...

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2007-02-19T12:09:00.000-06:00

So this weekend I don't know what got into me, but I changed the flow of my site. Let me know what you all think of it! I was going for something easier, more direct, & wanted to guide people to the specific areas better to reduce the "bounce rates" of my site--those occasions when someone goes to my site but doesn't go past the "splash page" & just leaves. I don't like it when people do that! And with my new Google Analytics I've been able to see how often that happens. It's not a huge percentage but it's still too much for my liking. So, I thought on the homepage I'd designate the main categories so if someone's just looking for weddings, they can go right there & see the galleries, find my contact info & prices. If they're looking for portraits, the same thing goes, they can see that gallery & there's a link to the portrait prices. And I thought that if someone is looking for just weddings (which is my main target), having that first picture that was on there (the red flower) might deter them since it wasn't a wedding picture. I hope that the changes do make it easier because people are really lazy when it comes to browsing on the web! I don't have a Flash site & I opted not to use frames in order to get the design the way I wanted, so there are some sacrifices I had to make, but maybe next year I will be able to upgrade to a Flash site. In my humble non-objective opinion, I like my site, but others may not agree. If anyone has any suggestions or comments about the restructuring of my site, please let me know and I'll take them into consideration! Or if you find any funky links.... a few always seem to sneak past me.

In other very exciting news, one of my FL friends, Nikki, is in labor today! Little Nicklaus will soon be coming into the world. It was a scheduled induction at 6am ET so I hope that everything is going well & that it's a short labor for her, but I'm afraid, statistically, it's usually longer when it's induced. Either way, I know that she'll just be happy when it's over! She's also getting married in 2 mos, on April 14, in St. Mary's, GA! It's a quaint coastal town just across the border from Jacksonville, FL where she & her fiancee live. They're getting married at a cute little B&B there called Emma's.

What you've been waiting for...

2007-02-17T18:59:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I just took some pictures of my new sample album for you all to see and here they are!

The pages are flush mounted so the whole 10x10 page is printed and then affixed to the hard pages of the album. No cut mats in this album.
The cover is leather & you can see the nice fabric on the inside here in the photo.

All the pages & layouts are professionally designed. Natasha, the bride in the photos of this album calls it "picture-in-picture business," which she loves, btw. :o)

Like my placemats? ;o)

Waiting, wishing, hoping...

2007-02-15T15:23:00.000-06:00

This is lots of biz talk as there's not really much else going on right now except for a very cranky, teething baby (2nd molars are painful & he's running a low grade fever & won't eat or sleep unless he's held). So that's not very interesting for chatting about!

I have been in the talks with a bride who's getting married on 7/7/07, probably the most popular wedding date EVER. Not only is it repeating numbers, but also lucky number Sevens AND it's on a Saturday for all the weddings. I'm sure I'll book it and I just hope I am able to book a big package for it because I know I'll get more than just a couple inquiries for this date. I've had 2 already. So, this bride is on the verge of making a decision, said I'm a "front-runner" and she's just waiting to hear back from a couple other photographers before she makes a decision. This particular bride was a referral from my BIL and I think sounds very young. She originally "jokingly" asked for a family discount of sorts & I didn't answer, I just sent my prices & was nice, then she "seriously" wrote me back & said "Hey, you never answered me." So I wrote her back & said that I work independently. (Just so we're all caught up on which bride this is) So, then she just wrote me back this afternoon & said that she was really just joking & hoped that she hadn't offended me, but also added that "you don't know until you ask." ??? Which still leaves me confused. I know that she's still shopping around and I'm also flattered that I'm at the top of her list, but sometimes email is just not the best form of communication. I suggested we meet before she makes a final decision so we can really talk & go over things. Personally, I think she should meet with anyone she's seriously considering, especially a photographer, since she will be followed around very closely all day long by that photographer--so she better feel really comfortable with them! AND I just got my NEW sample album today. YAY! I finally have something really nice to show people now! It's kind of hard to upsell a package if they can't see what an album would even look like in person. And this one will make them say "Wow-e-wow-wow!" I will keep you updated on my 7/7 bride & what she decides.

I also have a woman I work with whose daughter is getting married on the same day but I don't think they've thought that far ahead yet to get a photographer... Not that it's all that far away at this point, but photographers are booked up all over the place, some more than a year in advance, for this date & have been turning brides down left & right. I sent her an info packet and told her I've got someone interested already in an effort to at least hear if they've gotten a photographer yet (so I don't waste any energy on a dead-end lead) or if they've even started looking so I can put myself at the forefront for her to see. I also think her wedding is going to be really nice.

I also got a couple other leads yesterday but one had already found someone else by the time I called him back at 7 last night & the other's date isn't until 10/18/2008--over a year & a half away! She's just gathering prices so she'll know how much she needs to save to get what she wants--excellent planning ahead.

Yesterday I also signed up for Google Analytics and love all the info it provides because I'm really obsessed with who goes to my site. Today is the first full day of data gathered and it's only updated every 24 hrs so I'm anxious to look at it tomorrow & see what it says. It provides info such as new & repeat visitors, where they got to my site from on the web, how long they look at each page, what pages they look at, and where they exit the site. I can also see on the map where my visitors are located across the globe. Cool stuff for you paint-by-numbers types.

Can't anybody get any sleep??

2007-02-13T10:42:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted and I'm really annoyed with myself that I've been so bad lately about keeping everyone updated on what's going on here in KC. I talk to you all individually, but my blog is looking really sad & lonely these days.

So, here's something to get your morning going. I can't stop laughing. And you all that have heard the stories of my terrible neighbors will cheer for this one:

I would just like to personally thank the person that posted this up in our apt building yesterday. They're good people. And I slightly suspect that our neighbors think that we put it up about them. Which is fine with me and, yes, it's very true that I do not like being woken up at 3 am by moaning & groaning, but alas, I did not think of this first. Maybe I'll start a "comments" section on the sign...

I'm dying here at work today. I've got a major case of "drop-everything-and-grab-the-camera" today. It snowed about 5" last night & the snow is perched on every tree branch & drifted so smoothly across the hills that I very much wanted to call in sick today. But I'm afraid it would have been very obvious, seeing that I've been rather healthy lately (thanks to a kid NOT in daycare anymore) and I only live 10 easy minutes from work. So, no snow day for me...once again I'm left to wistfully daydream the day away wishing I was doing something else. ::sigh::

OK, enough being depressed! Don't want to get my faithful readers down. I'm super excited that my first sample album will be arriving this week. I just got word yesterday that it shipped on Friday. It's coming from Cali so I'm thinking about 5 days, but hoping for 3. I'm so anxious to see it. It's going to be gorgeous! I'll post pics when I get it.

In other business news, since I'm behind in my updates (though most of you who read probably already have heard all this). Here's the run-down: I was stood up for my first meeting with a bride. I wouldn't want someone that inconsiderate as a client anyway. I have 2 other leads but they're for the same date (7/7/07-cute isn't it?) but hopefully one will meet w/ me & book. I'm running a special promo through the end of March to try to get some last minute bookings for this summer. I know people are going to my site (the stats stand at 520 visits so far this month, which is an average of 43 a day-I've already surpassed total visits for last month!). I signed up for Google AdWords at the beginning of Feb & have had 30-something people click my ad, still waiting for some responses though. I updated & adjusted my site last night to correct & improve a few things. I now have a clear Contact page, I cut down my Prices page & added the promo, and fixed a few links. Although...It's dawning on me now that there was one thing I forgot to fix last night--darn it! And, last night I made up a new promo flyer for Unity Village that I'm going to have printed up & send to the wedding coordinator there. I've heard of places ordering more once they see them so I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's geared to advertise for them, but also has my own photo credit on there so it's very stealthy. Well, okay, they will probably see right through it but I hope they like them anyway. ;o)

What's working what's not

2007-01-19T15:43:00.000-06:00

Well, for starters, I'm working. And working hard with getting this business off the ground. I'm mustering all the stamina & resources & cash I possibly can to get started up. So far, so good. As good as can be expected for it still being January & the whole-hearted effort of this venture being fairly new still (though it's been a plan in my head for a long, long time!)

Last weekend after a fury of working like mad for 2 weeks straight and staying up until 1 & 2 in the morning every night, I decided to take a break and just stayed inside during the snow & ice. I got my website mostly done, all except for finishing the "Places" gallery, got my online listings activated, got 4 events posted online in Pictage, got my first 10x10 WillowBook sample album designed and ordered (it'll be here in 4-6 weeks!), ordered sample Art Proof prints, spread around my pretty (so everyone says) new business cards around mid-town thanks to Chris's excellent hard work, and lastly am now working on a flyer to post up in several places and will attach more business cards to the flyers for people to take. I sure hope all this work starts paying off soon!

I have to stay confident that it will, but after 2 weeks of getting no responses from my online directory listings I was beginning to feel like all was a lost cause (not to be overly dramatic or anything). All the established photographers say they get the majority of their business from referrals, but getting jobs to get referrals from in the first place will just take some time, I know. I keep telling myself this, but I'm not a patient person.

This leads me to yesterday when Chris did that wonderful foot work for me by traveling all over our local area from Crown Center to the Plaza, from Unity Temple to a little florist shop on State Line. He passed out business cards where they'd take them, and at some places I never would have thought of like a salon/day spa on the Plaza (someone there had 2 friends with weddings coming up) and the Three Dog Bakery (they had a BB where he posted a card-will replace it soon w/ a bigger flyer & b cards attached).

By the time he got home at 3:30, in much need of something to eat at that point (other than the pretzel he bought at Crown Center just to get his parking validated), there was a message on our machine already. The catering manager at the Hyatt at Crown Center was calling for a quote to do an awards ceremony event on the 30th from 6-9:30 pm. Yes, the 30th of this month. Now, before you all get too excited, I don't actually have the job (yet! stay optimistic w/ me here!) the catering manager said he was getting 2 or 3 quotes from photographers for the event because the woman who's in charge of this shin dig doesn't have a clue apparently even what they need out of a photographer and her boss has been gone all week. She's only got one week to find someone though and it would be a really great & easy job for me (it would be a great op to get more exposure & business from the 110 people attending). So I called the catering manager back yesterday before 5 & gave him my hourly rate and I said from there any other costs would pertain to whatever they want to use the images for; if she wants a CD, a collection of the images, rights, etc. would then be priced accordingly. He sounded satisfied with the info I gave him and said he'd call me back if he needed me. I think I'll call him back Monday though just to check in & see what the story is. I don't want to be caught off-guard at the last minute with anything since it's already pretty last minute. But this was a great boost to my confidence getting a referral the same day. :o)

Other than this there are a few things that have been trickling in over the last month or so and I love logging in to Pictage and seeing "Stacey & Justin Wedding" scheduled on my calendar of events. ::wink, wink::

This weekend we're heading to Lexington, MO for a day trip and will head home again before the 6" of snow hits us tomorrow afternoon. I will put Afton's snow suit on him Sunday & get some pictures!!

Resolution

2007-01-08T10:29:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted but I've got good reasons! I've been working like crazy on my only New Year's Resolution. I usually don't make them, but this year I really needed a goal & to stick to it this time. My resolution is to get my photo biz up & running this year, work mainly on promoting myself & advertising so people know I even exist. My aunt in Florida has this wall-hanging in her office (runs her own newspaper out of her home) that says "A man who doesn't advertise is like the man who winks in the dark; He knows what he's doing, but nobody else does." So that's been stuck in my head lately and I just keep repeating it like it's my new mantra.

This is what I've been doing to reach my goal, or at least start it: I've signed up for an account with Pictage.com for online proofing & ordering for my clients and they offer all the other photo products besides prints like albums & cards. I'm working on getting my 1st event uploaded on there so I can get my sample album made (since it's also all in the presentation) and activate my directory listings on Pictage and their partner site, WeddingChannel.com. I just completed my business card over the weekend & will order this week, then start putting them in different locations. See below, full-color front, b&w back.

I also re-did my website. I had the old one that was no more, then started the new one last week, got a portion of it up then decided something just wasn't right about it. Threw it all in the garbage & started over...again. This time I'm happy with it. Finally! It still needs completing but it'll be done before long. Until then, you can check out what I have so far at http://www.studiopphoto.com/. Keep checking back though periodically as I'll be working on it more over the next couple or 3 weeks.

I'm giving myself until April to start getting some decent bookings. That's when I will start paying for my Pictage account (I signed up during a really nice promo) and I don't want to be losing $$ for something I'm not able to use! I'm hoping though with the 2 directory listings, the website & getting my card & name out around town will drum up enough business to at least cover my costs for now. "They" say it takes about 2 years to get a business established & become profitable, but hopefully I'll start to see some sort of results for all this work by April.

And besides all this I've also been doing my mom's site (http://www.liliesofthefieldphoto.com/).

Wish me luck in the coming year!

My brother's cousin's son, thrice removed.

2006-12-26T16:28:00.000-06:00

So, a little debate of sorts broke out Christmas Eve while at my Grandma's house with the fam. If you want to call it a debate. It was really the room full of people questioning what it meant to be twice removed, relatively speaking. It began because my cousin asked if my son was his second cousin. And I said, yes, he would be his second cousin as we are first cousins, any offspring of either of us results in second cousins to each other. Then a few others piped in for whatever reason about the "removed" portion of when people say "my [insert relative here] twice removed" and when it was appropriate to say that & what exactly it meant. A few people had ideas or assumptions of what it means and so, the debate went from there and all they ended up doing was deciding what it didn't mean, and never figured out what it does mean. My step-sister-in-law was sure it was supposed to be used in reference to second cousins and my mom said, no, it's just plain second cousin, not second cousin twice removed. They argued about that for a good 5 min before my SIL finally gave up. Funny thing, I've also always wondered what it means to be "removed" from someone but never thought to ask & always just assumed everyone else knew & the occasion never came up to ask such a thing. So, what does it mean? Is it literal (as in divorced or deceaced) or generational (as in the second & third cousins) or something else completely? Can anyone explain? With references and bibliography, please.

It's almost that time!

2006-12-22T14:29:00.000-06:00

I've got a 1/2 hr left before the Christmas holiday officially begins for me. One measly half hour left of work and then it's fun time! Well, "work" is a term I use loosely. Ironically enough, the lights just burned out right above my desk. I think it's a sign I should leave NOW! But, really the only reason why I came into work today (don't tell my boss ::wink, wink::) was because Chris's biggest present was arriving today by UPS. I actually wasn't sure it'd get here in time at all since it was only shipped Monday, ground delivery from CA, but UPS left a message on my phone this morning saying it would be delivered between 8am and 7pm and they wanted me to be available during that time to sign for it. Well, I had requested delivery to my work place since it's a safer bet than delivering to our apt where we're never home during delivery hours. So, I was really excited to get that message this morning. But when the managing partner sent an email at noon saying the office was closing at 3 I suddenly felt my window of opportunity closing tighter & tighter. 2 o'clock rolled around and still no package... So I ventured up to the mail room, 9 floors up, to inquire whether they'd seen it yet or if they knew the general time the UPS guy usually comes. Nothing yet. They say to me on my way out the door that they'll watch for it. I leave, feeling discouraged. But, lo & behold, I find what waiting for me on my desk when I got back downstairs?? The package! The pretty little scuffed up box with the words "AIPTEK INC." and "factory sealed" taped across it. What a beautiful sight.

Now, this means that the delivery man is either really really fast or the elevator is really really slow! I think maybe both, but I'm just happy to get it before Christmas.

Btw, it's a camcorder & is really mostly from my mom but I chipped in a little extra to get it & it's really for both Chris and me, but he'll be the one to use it mainly and I'll reap all the benefits of home movies on DVD. :o) And since I picked it out I've kept it a secret from Chris. It also doubles as an MP3 player, voice recorder and digicam.

Now I just have to give it to him before he reads this. ;o)

I hope you all have a happy & blessed Christmas with your family and friends!

Home on the Range

2006-12-10T15:18:00.000-06:00

Well, the birthday boy's 1st party was a success (aside from only 3 kids showing up out of the expected 13! Not sure what happened to everyone). But he had lots of fun with his cousins & other family. He made out like a bandit with all the cool new toys. He went nuts with the cake after a little encouragement. Then it was into the bath he went.

Here are some pictures of the day.

Afton & Aunt Margaret, tickling him with one of his new puppet toys.

The favor bags. Bet yer boots, these were a hit.

Dad & official toddler Afton

Cousin Mikayla looks out the window in her birthday "hat" bandana

"Auntie" Natasha holds the birthday boy

This is what balloons are really for

S'mores cupcakes. Co-workers will be enjoying these come Monday. Didn't intend on taking the majority of them back home with me!

Counsins Mikayla & Calvin have some cakes.

The cake while it still looked pretty. Not indended to look Christmas-y, but the stocking kinda goes anyway I guess.

Trying to figure it out.

Sugar high! Icing is the best stuff EVER!

Upside down cake

Shoveling it in. He had icing chunks dangling in his hair & up to his elbows at this point.

Off kilter

2006-11-28T15:27:00.000-06:00

For the start of this week I think my place of employment has turned into something sort of interesting.

Not all good, mind you. But interesting.

Yesterday morning, Monday, as I came up the elevator with a rather bland woman, a fellow co-worker in my dept, a 350 lb-ish IT guy, and a middle-aged business man sporting a chic briefcase, the lift started. Then dropped. My stomach turned. My co-worker gasped. The lift paused after a bit of another shake. She punched the button again when our floor (six) unlit itself. 11 and 14 still were lit.

I said, "Ooo, that didn't feel good."

350 lb man said "It's been doing this a lot lately." Ever so calmly.

Bland woman just stood there looking bored & put out.

The lift started again, dropped. "Oh geez," I said. Am I the only one freaking out??

The lift seemed to settle and stop completely. The floor light we all watched intently with worried gazed disappeared and went black. Black is a bad thing on an elevator.

"Great now it doesn't say anything?" I said as the rest of us figured we were stuck between floors.

"It did this to me last week," said IT guy. Business man shifted & gave a worried look to him. My co-worked simply asked, "Really?" But it startled her more than she led on. Where was a spare blood pressure pill when she needed one, she was silently asking herself.

Business man pushed the emergency call button. "Might as well," he said, "We're not going anywhere." But rather than sticking around with 4 other people, one very large, in a very tiny elevator that was quickly closing in, he, with his black (what other color would it be?) briefcase in one hand and brute strength in the other, pried the doors open with the tips of his thick fingers. The step looked small from where I stood in the back. We were slightly above the 7th floor. We should have been delivered to 6 if it weren't for the elevator's hiccups. Business man said, "It's quite a step." And, ever the gentleman, gave a hand to the 3 of us women as we hopped down to the floor. It was dark & looked like a basement. Unfinished, unused. It was like a secret floor they didn't even identify on the elevator button options. Floors 7-13 didn't exist until now.

Ah, revelation & a heart attack before 8 a.m.

Today, the event was one on which I missed out. Fortunately.

Guy from 2 cubes over asked me if I caught the commotion that was going on earlier today out the office window. No, I hadn't. Someone spotted a girl in nothing but her skivies prancing around her apartment with the curtains wide open for a while. Everyone apparently then ogled out the window to catch a glimpse of this topless maiden. Several got an eyeful I believe but poor guy from 2 cubes over was 30 seconds too late. Darn.

This is very funny, or ironic, however you want to see it. The only straight guy in our dept just misses it and yet the old biddies and all the gay men get to "enjoy" the show? Whatever is wrong with the world? Something must be off kilter this week.

But, jilted guy says he'll "trade" cubes with me. I've got a prime window seat should she ever do this again. Too bad I was too busy blog reading to notice.

Say what??

2006-11-15T09:05:00.000-06:00

Just a couple rants:

Tell me now, honestly, is anybody really surprised by this??
He's not guilty

Here's another one for you to ponder, I don't even know where to begin there's so much wrong with this:
Their vows say what?

"The formal wedding of the Hollywood stars [affectionately known as TomKat] in Italy on Saturday is shaping up as not only the celebrity wedding of the year but as the most famous Scientology wedding since science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard founded the church in Los Angeles more than 50 years ago.

In the old-fashioned language that marks the Traditional version, the groom is reminded that 'girls' need 'clothes and food and tender happiness and frills, a pan, a comb, perhaps a cat' -- and is asked to provide them all.

The bride, in turn, is told that 'young men are free and may forget' their promises."

Besides the fact that I'm really concerned about the pan, this is a feminist's nightmare of a religion... but good thing for Kat that Tom is no longer a "young man" then, huh? Add this to the bowl of nuts category: "People do have a lot of questions but in a few years from now when a few more thousand people have attended Scientology wedding ceremonies, it won't be something people have heard about but have never seen," said Church of Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw.

Sure, I'll get right on that.

What I've learned....

2006-11-10T10:40:00.000-06:00

In the last (almost) year of being a parent:
(well I could really count the length of the pregnancy too since that is really the start of being a parent--thinking for 2, making decisions for 2, eating healthily for 2, getting proper medical care for 2, etc. From the moment of the double pink lines you've got a new #1 in your life). But, just a few things for you non-parents out there.

1. Cupcakes are the new birthday cake. And the cakes they get to devour on their 1st b-day actually have an official name: "smash" cake.
2. Socks? Eh, who needs 'em. 30 degrees outside? Heaven's no! Why wear them when they taste better than they look?
3. Brushing only 8 tiny teeth--a lot harder than it sounds.
4. Sucking snot out of a sick baby's nose--not easy or fun. Nope. Not at all.
5. Letting baby watch in bathroom mirror while you suck snot out of his nose--completely fascinates him. He actually lets me do this gross job w/o a fuss if he gets to watch what's happening. Is this not odd to anyone else?
6. Sweet potato barf does not come out of carpet. And the apt is worried about the dog??
7. If you think you'll be inundated w/ unsolicited parenting advice when you're pregnant...just wait.
8. This is in no way parenting advice. I don't think I'm technically qualified as of this writing.
9. I've learned the words to every annoying children's song & like it, only because nothing's better than singing a stupid song & doing a silly dance & making my baby laugh hysterically.
10. He looks older and somehow wiser when he sleeps & then I realize he grew up during the day while I was at work. But he's peacefully asleep & I don't dare wake a sleeping baby, no matter how much I'm dying to get back those lost 8 hours of the day with him.

Unfortunately, I realize many of you may not find quite as much sentiment or humor in this now...but one day....one day, you'll be making a bottle & turn your back for 2 seconds, only to discover a mere fraction of a moment later that your 10 month old just found something really cool to play with--in the garbage can (you didn't even know his arms could reach that far!).... aaand he just put whatever it was in his mouth.... aaand, you stick your finger in his mouth to fish it out only to be bitten with quite an unexpected ferocity from such a little thing & you'll ask yourself if you have a child or an animal.... Then, only then, will you get this.

Not-so-scary Halloween Puppy

2006-11-10T10:31:00.000-06:00

Get a load of this ferocious little ankle-biter! Be careful! He really does bite!

(Photos courtesy of a co-worker, mine are still on my camera. Time, time, I wish I had more of it.)

The Good and the Bad

2006-11-10T10:04:00.000-06:00

Okay, since nobody likes bad news I'll get that out of the way first.

I ordered invitations for Afton's birthday (which is in 1 month) and I checked USPS tracking & it says my package was delivered yesterday morning to my work address, but I never got it. So I went up & asked them if they ever got anything and they haven't. So now I'm worried that it's lost somewhere. I was hoping to get it by today to get them ready to go out this weekend.
:o( The mail room said it was probably mis-delivered, but somewhere in the building, just the wrong company. Ugh... They were really expensive invites & I only even ordered 8 of them so I can scan one & print the rest myself (oops, did I say that aloud?) & now I don't even know where they are!

And, the good news... I had a great annual review yesterday (even though I've only been here about 6 months) and got a fat raise to account for some new projects I took on in the last couple months, namely the dept newsletter & the dept's intranet site. I was told there will be a title change coming though I'm not sure if it's a "formal" promotion. It's great getting paid nicely for fun stuff and for the great work experience which nobody else would give me. This country is messed up in that dept btw, you spend a fortune in tuition b/c companies want you to have a degree & formal training. But then they won't hire you w/o actual work experience. But you can't get the work experience unless they hire you. Of course this is nothing new, but I just have to rant about it anyway. So, back on subject, I'm getting real work experience in some of the stuff I've been formally trained in (though it's not photography) so I'm really thankful I came back to a place that trusts me enough to give me a shot at something other than the mind-numbing repetition of pushing papers. The boss said she hopes to keep me challenged enough that I stick around for a long, long time, but said she also understands I'm a creative person & my true career path may end up taking me somewhere else. So, unless Hallmark comes calling, I've got enough incentive to stick around here for a little while & gain more of that useful "real world" experience that everyone seems to be looking for.

To celebrate, Chris got me creme brulee for my lunch dessert today! Creme brulee! Creme brulee! Yes, yes, I say! Creme brulee!

New Existence

2006-11-05T12:54:00.000-06:00

So, I'm very excited that I've finally gotten a new url for my photo site. It's still under construction but hopefully it won't be long. I'm working on my mom's website first & then I'll have time to do my own. But, for future reference it's www.StudioPphoto.com.

My mom & I will be sharing hosting that allows enough space for both of our own sites. And since I'm doing hers anyway, it made great sense to split the costs. I don't know why I didn't think of doing that sooner.

Check out IXwebhosting.com if you're ever interested in a great hosting plan. I used them in the past for my "old existence" and never came close to using all the space & features it had...even with all my photos on there...& you all know how many pics I had on there! It only took us a couple weeks to decide to get their cheapest plan (3.95/mo) that allows 2 different domains & has 100GB of storage. I think last time I used 8% of my max storage & at that time it was something like 100MB. :o)

Business as...usual? I wish.

2006-10-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

An update on the photo biz. It's pretty much at a stand still right now since on my end I've had a rough start getting things re-established here in KC. It'll just take some time but with my website out of commission it has set me back.

Which leads me to Time Warner Cable. It took them a MONTH to find our address in their system so we can get internet & cable in our apartment. This is what you get with a monopoly. But, the installer is coming Tuesday between 5 & 7 pm to hook everything up. That means I have to actually clean the "office" space in our bedroom. Which then means that I won't have much time to work on pictures this weekend. But, having internet means I can get my photo site back up.... or, re-done & uploaded, I should say. I'm doing a complete re-design so I'm excited about that.

Seems like getting one thing accomplished is always pending another thing being done. For instance, I want to get my business cards & business stationary, brochures and what-not done and get them into places, but want to wait until my site is done so I can put the url on everything and have an established marketing identity from the get-go. Ugh. I hate waiting!

I'm not a patient person. I may appear to be one on the outside, but really I'm going nuts with the antsies in my pantsies. Gosh, I'm just glad they're not fire ants.

Who says sea cows aren't cute??

2006-10-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

This is pulling at my heart strings: The recent story of a manatee who swam too far north into the cold waters of the Mississippi and is stuck there still right now until it's rescued & sent back to Florida leads me to think back to my Florida days of visiting Homasassa Springs on the Gulf Coast to see the gentle manatees in the "warm" spring waters. The springs are actually really cold to us - about 76 degrees - but the temp is constant year round so that's why they head for the Florida rivers & springs in the winter. One thing we never got to do while we lived there was swim with the manatees. I guess we'll have to go back to visit for that. But, if you've got a soft spot for the endangered sea cows like I do, check out http://www.savethemanatee.org/. They're actually not on the endangered list anymore but that doesn't mean awareness should go down or that all is safe. They are still a protected species and they are still cut quite often from propellers or they get tangled in fishing line. All the ones I've ever seen have huge scars on their bodies from being injured. This is my cause of the month!!

Eureka! Eureka, shout it from the highest peak-a!

2006-10-26T07:44:00.000-05:00

Here are the Eureka Springs pictures I promised this week. There are quite a few here but this isn't all of them. I will post more next week of a few other places. The two directly below are outside the Crescent Hotel at night. Sorry these aren't really in order, but you get the idea.

In an antique shop. This was an old "bread machine" with instructions right on the lid.

Eureka at night from atop the balcony at the Crescent. I froze my buns off taking this!

On the way to War Eagle. We passed this barn about 3 or 4 times on 2 different trips to War Eagle before I finally pouted enough to get Chris to stop.

The Crescent at dusk

This is one worn out horse. There's nothing but mountains it has to walk up & down pulling the carriage.

Beaver Dam

Beaver Lake

From Lookout point above the dam.

Pea Ridge Historic Military Park from the bluffs

A bumble bee! (I took lots of these)

Pea Ridge

Pretty fall leaves in Eureka

A fountain at a B&B that's for sale.

At Pea Ridge

Victorian rooftop & fall foliage in Eureka

DEER!! They stood there for what seemed like forever just staring at me while I took a million pictures before finally crossing the road.

Pea Ridge

Cat I thought was cute prancing through the flowers until it lifted its tail & sprayed them. Bad cat.

Pea Ridge. The house in the distance I didn't get any closer ones of b/c the Park Ranger made us leave promptly at 5pm.

Ivy on Crescent

Cute little deer. (Don't shoot it Scott! hee hee)

Flowers in garden at Crescent

And this is it for today. Self explanatory. It rained later this day but the clouds looked kinda cool before then. Sorry, no ghost stories from this trip. It still looks creepy though.

Back to the Grind

2006-10-25T11:45:00.000-05:00

Coming back from vacation is always a miserable thing. Not to complain at all about having been on vacation, but having to come back is one of those occurrences that reminds you why you went on vacation in the first place. Rather than feeling refreshed & rejuvenated & ready to go again, I long to be back on vacation rather than splitting my eyes on a computer screen all day. But, since the world is not a free place to live...here I am! What's a girl to do but plan the next one?

Eureka Springs is a very quaint town & it's nestled in the mountains (literally buildings built into the mountain-sides). This time of year is very pretty there, but rather than me trying to explain what it looks like, you'll just have to see some pictures! I have over 400 to go through & probably won't get through all until this weekend. But I'll try to post a few tomorrow or Friday.

This was our 3rd stay there (1st time was just a day visit while we stayed somewhere else) and we were booked at the Basin Park Hotel this time, but when we got there at 2am Saturday morning to check in (it was a much longer drive than what Mapquest said!) they had given our room to someone else & told us they had over-booked for that night. So, feeling a bit like Mary & Joseph with no room at the inn (only thankfully I'm not preggo) we were turned away. "Ohmygoodness! What did you do???" You ask? Well, thankfully, someone had cancelled at the Crescent Hotel (where we've stayed in the past) & this is their better, prettier, richer sister hotel, so they sent us up there & didn't charge us extra for their mishap in bookings. We ended up with a much nicer, very large, king suite in the hotel we'd really wanted to stay at in the first place! The only hitch was that our meal vouchers (part of our package at the Basin) couldn't (or wouldn't) be switched for the different hotel. So we had to either pay for our breakfasts in the Crescent & waste our already-paid-for meals at the Basin or drive down to the other hotel, park 3 blocks away & wait for a shuttle, or pay for closer parking & walk up the side of a mountain to eat breakfast. We complained but they "said" they "couldn't" do anything about it. Pretty big inconvenience since we weren't staying at that hotel & we ended up not being able to use all our vouchers. I hate that "buyers remorse" feeling of having wasted money. But I guess with the better room at the Crescent it all evens out in the end.

Still a really wonderful trip. Chris freaked out a little at the thought of getting a massage but I forced him & he ended up really liking it. & then I got to say "I told you so." & he said I was RIGHT! & that he was sorry he didn't do it sooner. ;o) We saw lots of new things & did some things we've never done down there before, most of which I have pictures to show for. We even got suckered into a couple tourist traps. One of which Chris asked me not to admit to anyone that we actually did. But I've got some crazy pictures of that too since I don't have any qualms about admitting we paid $11 for the crappiest & weirdest tourist attraction ever. It's in Ripley's Believe it or Not, but it should really be Ripley's Don't Do It! We got a great laugh at least!! :oD

Vay-cay-shon!

2006-10-20T13:48:00.000-05:00

I'm counting down the minutes (135) till we leave for Eureka Springs, AR for our anniversary trip for 4 days. And since I'm having quite a bit of trouble concentrating on anything else right now I thought I'd post here.

I will be taking plenty of pictures so be on the lookout next week. I picked up another 1G card last night and the weather forecast sounds perfect so there will be lots of photo ops. The War Eagle arts & crafts fair at War Eagle Mill & Farm, Thorncrown Chapel, Pea Ridge historic military park, and all sorts of things around town.

We're staying at the Basin Park Hotel, the "sister" hotel to the Crescent, which is the hotel we've always stayed at in the past. So trying something new this time will be nice. It's been a couple years since we've been there so we're both super excited!! See the link to the side for the Crescent Hotel. It's super cool-rific.

And, being that it's so close to Halloween, all the spookiness comes out & the Crescent is haunted but I'm not sure about the Basin. I think they have a Ghost Tour also, so we'll see if we come back with any ghost stories. ;o)

Anyone out there??? ::hint hint::

2006-10-18T13:25:00.000-05:00

First off let me say I'm well aware that having 3 posts in one day is a record for me & may be over-doing it, but I just can't resist this opportunity...

I've already told everyone I know who reads this blog, but I'm just going to throw this out there for anyone from Hallmark who might stroll along & see this. It's not on my resume, but I'm definitely considering it. ;o)

Here's the link to see where I made it as a finalist for the BBC News 2006 Photographer of the Year:

And the link to see who won in the end. (we all know the voters must have been a little loopy the day they didn't pick me!) There's always next year at least!

::sigh::

2006-10-18T12:50:00.000-05:00

I've been having trouble with Blogger all morning trying to get my photos uploaded. For the first couple hours it kept telling me there were errors or the page couldn't be displayed and now it's telling me "Done!" & then I look on my post & there's nothing new there. Hmm...very odd. I feel a bit of de ja vu.

Anyway, I'm still trying. I've got several more pictures from yesterday still I want to share. Aaaaand...I'm realizing that this is quickly becoming a Photography blog. WHO KNEW??! ::shrug::

No, this picture isn't upside down. It's really a reflection in the "gazing pool" (I guess you'd call it??). For those of you not from around here, it's directly above the underground parking garage and there are circles in the bottom of this shallow pool that allow light to come into the parking garage in the ceiling. It's much cooler-looking than I'm describing...

There's also a leaf in the bottom of the pool in this shot but I don't know how well you can see it. First one to tell me where it is wins something. Oh, wait, since I'm broke again now, you win nothing but the personal satisfaction. But that's okay, isn't it? Say "yes." "Yes, that's an excellent arrangement."

And a few final ones of the kiddo looking at & then eating a leaf.

He looks very sneaky about it too...

I have to show off, you know...

2006-10-18T08:44:00.000-05:00

Afton in our apartment looking like a ham for the camera, as usual!

In the Town Pavillion tunnel that goes over the roadway. Rainy day...again!

I wish more of his eye was showing in this one...it would have been perfect

Some pics from the Neslon-Atkins Museum of Art outside. It turned cloudy & dark about 1/2 hour before we could get out to take pictures but these still came out okay & I had fun playing with my new camera. I got some fall foliage I was really going for so it was a successful trip. Well, any trip to take pictures is always a good thing.

First Test

2006-10-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

On my way home yesterday from work, the hubby picked me up so I was able to take a few shots of the baby in the backseat with my new camera. Let me tell you, having auto-everything is miraculous with a wiggly little kid! I don't think I've ever gotten a picture so sharp as this one below with my other camera (though the size is so small you may not be able to really tell here), moving subject or not! I'm very impressed already! And I haven't read the manual yet, but everything's pretty self-explanatory as far as settings & controls & menus. 10 days until va-ca-tion!!! I'm hoping for some pretty fall colors & nice mountains & maybe a stream or two to really test out the new equipment.

It's like Christmas!!

2006-10-09T15:07:00.000-05:00

Only I don't think Christmas was ever THIS good!!

I just got my new camera (Nikon D80 for those interested fellow photographers out there) & lenses & can't wait to start figuring it all out & using it! I already have lots of shots in my head that I've been waiting to get, seeing things around the apartment & around town that I just haven't gotten on film yet--well, now it's time to get them on the digital camera!!

And, call me silly, but I've got this fancy new hi-tech camera, & I had to look in the manual to figure out how to put the camera strap on! Go figure...

Pretty cool

2006-10-02T08:32:00.000-05:00

I just got a message that one of my photos of Kansas City has been selected for inclusion in a Schmap Guide of KC. I've been given credit for the photo, which you can view here:

Free, downloadable Kansas City travel guide with dynamic Kansas City maps, useful links, playable tours, top picks, plus photos and reviews for hundreds of Kansas City hotels, sights and attractions, restaurants, theaters, museums…

And in extrememely exciting news, I ordered a NEW CAMERA this weekend along with a couple decent lenses. Can't wait to get my new stuff & go play!

2006-09-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

Saddest news of the day: Panda accidentally crushes cub in China

I think it's very clever though how they change the subject subtly from a sad mother Panda waking to find her cub gone to what other than Panda porn:

"A zoo handler noticed the cub, which weighed only about three ounces, had fallen away motionless from her mother's nipple, it said. Zoo staff took the cub away while Ya Ya was still asleep and an autopsy showed that its heart, liver and other organs had been crushed.

"The report said that Ya Ya searched around for her cub after waking up, then appeared depressed, laying listlessly in her zoo enclosure.
The report did not say if zoo staff would try to reunite the mother with her other cub.

"Ya Ya was mated with 11-year-old Ling Ling from Wolong in April. The pandas watched a mating video before breeding."

Scientists identify brain's concept control core

"Scientists believe they may have finally identified the part of the brain that deals with the critical issue of matching words to everyday objects.

"Using brain scans of people suffering from Semantic Dementia -- the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease in people under 65 -- they have found that the front end of the temporal lobe seems to be crucial to conceptual application.

"Previously the part of the brain dealing with concepts was thought to be Wernicke's area, which is further back on the temporal lobe, but scans and experiments showed degradation of the front end seemed to be key.

"One woman accurately drew a duck when a photograph was in front of her, but within a minute of the image being removed she was able to sketch only a four-legged creature with chicken and cat-type features."

So, this is the woman who did this cat-like graffiti:

Okay & I just love this picture...but what exactly is "Qua-qua"? It reminds me of when I was 8 & some adult told me that ducks don't say "Quack" they say "Mack." Who the heck cares? Certainly not this duck, he speaks his own language, thank you very much:

And something to offset the Panda cub story:

In other more personal news, the jabbery ever-weather Nut head on the other side of my cube wall got written up yesterday for talking too loudly. Apparently, this somehow "blows her mind" but my day is still made.

Oh For Heaven's Sake

2006-09-07T09:22:00.000-05:00

This is me this morning when I realized after getting mad at Yahoo! & deleting my account yesterday that I'd also just deleted everything in my Flickr account too. Oh but it had to be done. I can still cry a little on the inside though, can't I?

If you're into poop stories... The Husband & I pulled into Nebraska Furniture Mart's 32 acre parking lot yesterday evening when I began to smell something foul coming from the most definite direction of the baby. Well, "began" is an understatement. It hit me like a dump truck with it's putrecense of poo. So we pop out the stroller & I begin to change Baby. It's bad, really bad, so I plop (I think it even made that sound too) the diaper on the ground for a moment while I attempt to keep Baby from sticking his hands in the poo. Husband is watching & gagging & then says, "Look! He's got a ring of poo around his nuts." Keen observation. I am buckled over with laughter none the less while still cleaning Baby. Around us, people are coming & going. Husband hands me more wipes, he spots a place I missed & I hold up Baby, back-side out, for him to wipe (hey, it's not easy changing a baby in a stroller in a parking lot while wedged between 2 cars) & I see a man look over at us holding baby's bare butt mid-air while Husband wipes off the remnants of what he guesses is sweet potatoes & corn:

Me: People are going to think we're totally incompetent parents.
Husband: Watch out! The diaper! (He wrangles foul diaper on the ground before the stroller rolls into it.) Well, maybe you are kind of incompetent.

At that point we decided to cut our social losses & move on...

Secret Confession

2006-09-06T15:31:00.000-05:00

This is in no way the secret I referred to the other day that I cannot reveal until September 9th. No, no. This secret is much more personal & one that I am a little disturbed by, so I've decided I must get it off my chest. It's really pretty embarrassing.

I cried a little last night as I sat at home watching Inside Edition (because, darn it, I missed Katie Couric's big debut-and consequently, little Suri's crazy mound o' hair. Seriously, did TomKat get one of those odd "headhuggers" someone was selling here at my work??). Back to IE (because I'm all about dorky abbreviations & acronyms). They were talking about Steve Irwin's grieving wife & the parent who said "what will I tell my kids?" & Kelly Ripa's little boy that was deeply saddened & just couldn't believe that he was gone. So sad. Lesson to all the little mates: stingrays don't speak Aussie. And that feminist Greer needs to go jump off a cliff.

I am also saddened to see that there are no immediately accessible news reports on the crazy Croc Hunter... he's already been trumped by the Mound o' Hair on Yahoo! headlines. Now I actually have to delve into the News link to search. Still nothing. Still looking. The Potomac's "intersex" fish is one of the most-emailed of the day?? What? Oh, wait... Here is what I'm looking for... Ms. Greer & all of her compassionate self:

Outspoken Australian feminist Germaine Greer has labelled "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin embarrassing and said she hoped her compatriot's death brought an end to exploitative wildlife programs.

Greer accused Irwin of provoking the stingray that killed him with a tail barb to the heart Monday, saying such behaviour was typical of the 44-year-old naturalist's documentaries.
"I really found the whole Steve Irwin phenomenon embarassing and I'm not the only person who did, or indeed the only Australian who did," the British-based Greer told Australia's Channel Nine television via satellite Wednesday.
Asked whether she felt out of touch with most Australians given the wave of mourning that has swept her homeland since his death, Greer replied: "I don't care what I'm being called, I hope I'm out of touch with what idiots are thinking."
Greer's remarks follow a column she wrote for Britain's Guardian newspaper in which she said the animal world had finally taken its revenge on Irwin.

This mention of Yahoo! & their somehow inherent need to make me work to find things. In April I signed up for Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. It, however, worked like crap. & I'll tell you something I'm not the only one who things crap works like, well, crap. Stick that to your ear & try to get a connection, Yahoo! So, after being billed automatically for it again in May and June, the Husband tried cancelling it 3 times. 2 months pass & no more charges. You'd think maybe the multiple attempts at cancelling the account had worked, right? Wrong-o, Bobby-o! "Purchase Yahoo! Voice ($2.99)" shows up on my bank statement OUT OF THE BLUE for August 29th. Yahoo! Voice...you suck! This charge, on an account that we no longer use & closing the account has just been on my list of things to do that I haven't gotten around to lately. So, that means I had NO money in the account & a subsequent $35 NSF fee!! Yahoo! Voice is really ticking me off now. I, along with my dear patient mother, spent nearly 2 hours yesterday morning trying to figure out how to access the credit card info Yahoo! apparently still has on file for me, some sort of customer service, anything through the Messenger with Voice area of Yahoo! for account options, any clues in my profile or Yahoo! account, so-called "Premium Services" that I might be signed up for, etc etc. & NOTHING is listed or found that would allow me to either a) cancel the subscription or b) conk-on-the-head anyone at Yahoo! that could aid me in doing so. So screw you Yahoo! I'm officially disputing the charge. Which adds yet another thing to my list of "to do's" since, with a now-negative balance, I cannot close the account like was previously next on my list of great accomplishments. This throws a cog in the wheels of my anger restraint.

Well, now that I've divulged my old bank account woes & my newfound disgust with yet another entity I must depart for the day.

Quote of the Day

2006-08-25T16:16:00.000-05:00

Creepy office guy: "I'm gonna come over there & pee on your shoes." As said to an undetermined co-worker.

"Coco. Coco Cabana." Over. & over. & over. It's the only part he knows & he has two of the three words wrong.

I do have something interesting to write about, but it's a secret... All of my 2 readers will just have to wait until Sept 9th. You're both on the edges of your seats, aren't you? I know. It's okay, you don't have to pretend.

I wish I was making it all up

2006-08-25T14:18:00.000-05:00

I've been sitting here all day while being subjected to a total of 43 reports of the weather for about 5 different locations in our Metro area from the Nut head that resides on the other side of my cube wall. She's currently monitoring the radar of a storm about 50 miles away & is letting everyone know its ETA for Kansas City. This woman recently went on vacation & the whole department was subjected to listening to her weather reports on her vacation destination multiple times a day for at least three weeks before she left. Then, I kid you not, she called WHILE ON VACATION to check what the weather was like HERE. You're on vacation! Nobody cares that you want to know the weather here!

Now it's thundering & she's really flipping out. And she talks about her dog being so terrified of thunder that she has to medicate it to keep it from having a coronary. There she goes... "He's probably crying at home" Poor puppy.

I don't even have to pretend this stuff.

But someone who may be having a worse day than me: My Friend's tenant, who rents a downstairs apartment in Friend's house, walked to her car this morning only to find Friend's cat, George, snacking on a dead bird. Proud kill, I'm sure. Only Friend's tenant is too dependent to handle anything on her own. So she called Friend a total of four times at 6:30 am for her to come move the bird & cat so she wouldn't be late to work. Friend had her phone off & was awakened by tenant banging on her front door. Friend didn't know who it was & answered a minute later with husband behind her & nobody was there. She checked the other door & the cars & all looked well. She then checked her phone & tried calling tenant back. No answer. Friend then came back from lunch today to an irate/upset message from tenant complaining about dead bird behind car, how cat inconvenienced her by wanting to eat said bird and how Friend didn't answer door & somehow all of the above was Friend's fault for almost making tenant late for work.

Weather update from other side of cube wall:
"It's raining!... A dribble here & a dribble there."

Back to conclusion of cat, bird & tenant. Tenant is psycho & can't move dead bird on her own so cat will follow bird so she doesn't run over cat. Cat enjoyed bird very much. Bird...not really.

Nut head: "My puppy's crying at home."
Co-worker: "I don't care."

2 minutes later: "It's raining. Yeah, it's thundering."

I think she was cross-bred with Rainman...in more ways that one.

Future Study: Cows Really Are Country

2006-08-25T11:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry if I'm a little off kilter today. I haven't gotten a lot of sleep this week & it's Friday so my brain has basically gone on strike until I give it more rest. So, just a few things I wanted to laugh at but don't really have the energy for witty banter today so here's a few rambling thoughts:

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Cows have regional accents, a group of British farmers claims, and phonetics experts say the idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds.

"I spend a lot of time with my Friesians and they definitely 'moo' with a Somerset drawl," Lloyd Green said, referring to the breed of dairy cow he owns.

"I've spoken to the other farmers in the West Country group and they have noticed a similar development in their own herds.

"I think it works the same as with dogs - the closer a farmer's bond is with his animals, the easier it is for them to pick up his accent."

"Apparently the biggest influence on accents is peer groups -- on children in the playground, for example,' he said. 'Herds are quite tight-knit communities and don't tend to leave the area."

Full article

And they're going to spend money on further research of this?

It's people like this:

That decorate with things like this:

That make this a very dangerous situation.

Now that the mooing in your head has stopped, I'd like to point out a most untrue thing I saw on Yahoo! this morning:

And, I imagine after you've taken their help of "surfing the web, connecting with pals and watching videos" you most likely will need their help of "finding another job." How nice of Yahoo!It's thoughtfulness like this that makes me wish I could work for Yahoo.

1. They understand and accept that I will waste 2 hours a day
2. They'll help me do it the right way by providing mind numbing information like this:

I'd really like to know the answer to number one. Mr. Brown Hat, I'll call him. He calls himself MrMiller, but I don't like it & what I say goes here because it's my blog.

Before I start making complete inconsense I'm going to go have some pumpkin spice coffee. And maybe I'll remember where I am & what I'm supposed to be doing here...we'll see.

Astronomers Say Pluto is Not a Planet

2006-08-24T09:19:00.000-05:00

Let me just say for the rest of the galaxy... What the heck??! Pluto, NOT a planet?? To quote Yahoo! News: "Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight. After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930." DOWNSIZING the solar system? Who will they give a pink slip to next? Saturn, I bet. You know all those rings really take up a lot of space in the Milky Way and the "company" just feels it would benefit the "team" if Saturn took a leave of absence from its current "orbit." And isn't "historic new" an oxymoron, or am I just the moron? .... Wait. Don't answer that. I personally think with a name like the "International ASTRONOMICAL Union" all those scientists (see cocky scientist above) have just gotten too big for their lab coats in deciding which giant rocks flying through space get to be included in the solar system or not. Someone asked me, randomly (like that matters), this morning, "What is a stupid company?" I think this defines it. I really do feel sorry for Pluto. I mean he's got those three moons to take care of still & now he's laid off? It's just not fair!

Aaaand, I just heard the word "diarrhea" uttered from the other side of my cube wall.... uh oh. There goes Uranus.

Park it right there, Mister

2006-08-23T10:25:00.000-05:00

Our apartment complex, thank God, just changed parking from assigned to reserved. Great news for us since our assigned space was a block away, all the way over in the North lot. We live on the Southern side of the South lot. So, of course, when we moved in in June they must have seen us coming with baby in tow and had to give us the parking space the farthest away possible from our building's front door. Every morning as I made my way to the car carrying the diaper bag, my lunch bag, my coffee, my work bag, my purse and the baby, I was afraid that eventually I was going to drop something...and I just didn't want it to be the coffee...

So last night, after finding a really great parking spot right next to our door--and being allowed to park there now!--I notice my husband staring out the living room window & making a funny face.

Me: What are you looking at?

Husband: Our neighbor

Me: What's so interesting about the neighbor?

Husband: The guy is looking at our car.

Me: Looking....like he's going to steal it?

Husband: No. I think I saw him sneer at our car because we parked in "his" spot. He doesn't own that spot anymore. It's not his spot!

The guy was apparently very angry with our car for parking in what used to be his assigned spot. I think the sneer was meant to pick a fight with the car. Cars have feelings too, you know. I guess he must have been too busy picking fights with defenseless cars to see Herbie The Lovebug. There really is a thing such as parking etiquette. Angry neighbor-guy should learn it. My only grave concern is that there will now be parking space wars. Stay tuned for this fascinating saga.

And for one of the most e-mailed news stories of the day... And I can see why. The headline is a real eye-catcher: Psycho Killer Raccoons Terrorize Olympia.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2342208
It gives new meaning to "unbiased journalism." And my only questions for the raccoons are these: Mr. Raccoon, did they actually test your mental faculties & prove that you are, in fact, "psycho?" And, Mrs. Raccoon, how does it make you feel when you hear humans say things about your babies like "We used to love the raccoons. They'd have their babies this time of year, and they were so cute. Even though we lived in the city, it was neat to have wildlife around, but this year, things changed. They went nuts." Does it bother you that they're using species slurs like squirrel puns in reference to your babies?

Are you on some type of medication?

2006-08-21T09:09:00.000-05:00

At work we have what you'd call an intranet (extra emphasis necessary) bulletin board or what they call, "Buy, Sell, Trade." People put silly things for sale on it when they're cleaning out their garages or moving. Or, like me, ask other's opinions for decent daycares in the area (of which I got only 3 worthless replies-one of which was for a place where I'd have to sell my firstborn in order to afford to send him there, which really wouldn't make much sense, now would it-thanks).

So, to give you a better idea of how this typically works (because you'd rather break a toe on the bathtub than be left not knowing what it's all about, right?) let me break down the 4 standard types of BB posts for you (see, I've got to do this whole backstory thing):

1) The seller post. As stated above consists of people cleaning out junk they think you might want to pay for. Also known as the lazy man's garage sale. They'll often offer to provide a picture of the decrepit item at your request. They'll end up donating it to charity if nobody buys it.

2) The inquiring post. They ask for advice on landscapers, mechanics, sellers of BEAUTYCONTROL, accupuncturists and online scrapbooking. Replies usually consist of someone's brother-in-law who does all in his garage.

3) The fund-raiser post. Someone selling giant (bury dead bodies*) garbage bags, candy bars and scary-sounding things like "headhuggers"**.

4) The random post. This includes everything from announcing (bragging about) one's wife's 1st novel being published, free items like ping pong tables & thouroughbred dogs, aaaaaaand, really quite odd things like....

SELLING BABIES ON THE BLACK MARKET!!!

This was one that I will say sparked an interest in me like "free puppies to good home," & who doesn't love taking home a free puppy on a whim & then stopping by PetSmart on the way home for a spur-of-the-moment pet supply stock-up that ends up defeating the purpose of getting the doggie for free in the first place. And Okay, maybe the "black market" is a bit of an exaggeration. But, just read below:

"I wanted to get the word out to as many people as possible. A Family from my home town of Rolla is looking for a loving adoptive family for a 13 week old baby boy. Miles was removed from his birth mother last week and placed with a family member until a suitable adoptive family can be found. Birth parents are users of meth - Miles has no apparent ill health at this time but that doesn't mean he won't in the future. If you know of anyone who might be interested please let me know. Thanks"

Where, in the BB code of NORMAL standards for posting, does it say "crack babies for sale" is okay??

*Creepy guy in office: "Blah blah blah."
Only part of conversation I overhear: "Honey, I couldn't even fit a dead body in my trunk!"
Resulting office gossip fodder: Priceless

**When I read something like: "we make hats for people going through chemotherapy or who have lost all their hair due to a fire," I just picture Zeus's brother from the movie Hercules with the flaming blue hair, like that's all that's on fire on these people's heads is their hair? Aaaannd... that's where I'm doomed to Hell.

Which somehow leads me to this morning's conversation:

Cube mate: On the Buy, Sell, Trade site, what is this "Precious Moments-let him enter your heart" thing that is up for bid?

Me: It's a plea for your soul. "Anissa" (the poster's name, is almost a palindrome: "Assina," only that almost makes a bad word, but that's what Satan's all about, so I'm sure it's him in disguise. You know the whole wolf in sheep's clothing bit) put this on the "buy sell trade" so that you can buy the trinket in "TRADE" for your soul. See how this works?

Cube mate: Are you on some type of medication?

Random Names

2006-08-18T11:28:00.000-05:00

When picking the name for my spankin' new blog today (because who doesn't have a blog??) it took me approximately 3 minutes to decide. And not because I had been dreaming of this day for so long that I just "always knew" what I'd pick, but because when I clicked on "create your blog now" I didn't expect to be faced with such a decision so quickly. The Blogspot put me on the spot. So after a minute of rolling a few possibilities around in my head I decided to just go by 3 criteria: 1, that it, of course, not be too cheesy-although seeminly inevitable; 2, that I not be embarrassed to tell my friends & family the name of my blog; and 3, that it describe a little part of me in some creative way that would make people say "oh, now that's clever. "

Yeeeeeeeeaaaah....so about that. ::ahem:: I caved under the pressure & ended up using the thesaurus in Word to help me out, and my husband's cute nickname for me, combined the 2 & there you have it. Silly, embarrassing... and somehow I'm sure it's totally me.

In other news, I'm still celebrating my birthday, the real date of which was last Sunday. But I just got another present--so I say, "the party's still on!" I received a jar of Thai Kitchen Spicy Peanut Satay Sauce...because my friends know me. I discovered this stuff a month ago & brought it to lunch several times over a couple weeks with some veggies for dipping...but after a few days I had to keep mixing it extra good before each dip because it kept separating & I didn't know why. Hmmmm....

Fast forward a month later. The new jar tells me "SINCE WE DO NOT USE PRESERVATIVES, PLEASE ENJOY QUICKLY. PRODUCT WILL KEEP REFRIGERATED ONLY A FEW DAYS." Good thing to know. I've also apparently built a resistance to food poisoning.