365 Crazy Days

Well, ummmmmmm.....

2009-02-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

yeah. Life is running too fast to keep up with right now. Report cards went home this week and next week I dive headfirst into the deep end of IEP season. I have eleven students that I have to write new Individualized Education Plans for before Spring Break. Add to that drama at work and my camera is the last thing on my mind these days. I'll post what I have when I get a minute, but it may be a long time. =(

I haven't given up!

2009-01-29T04:41:00.003-08:00

They're in my camera - too busy to edit and post them right now. Stay tuned...

January 21, 2009

2009-01-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

A picture of Billy and Lucky. Yeah, he has that "autistic look" in his eyes, but in reality, he was quite up for a photo shoot and with it when I was taking his picture. Just a bad capture I guess (but really, are there bad pictures of your kids? NEVER! LOL!

January 20, 2009

2009-01-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

What a day for America! I didn't vote for Obama - shouldn't be a surprise to people that know me. Still, I'm looking forward to see what he can do for our country. Can't get too much worse, right? Bill and I watched the swearing in and address after the kids went to bed. It made me feel good to see him get sworn in. Our country has come a long way. You could feel the pride and hope people have for our first African-American President. The crowds in DC were simply amazing.

I don't have a picture for today. It was a very busy day - back to work for the first time in nearly a week, fantastic head cold that has my left ear nearly completely deaf and my right ear starting to fill, a trip to the walk in clinic for some meds, a quick sprint through the drive-thru for dinner, then off to basketball practice and the pharamacy for prescriptions. I didn't sit down until 9:00.

January 19, 2009

2009-01-21T15:55:00.001-08:00

Good bye, Wii!!! We'll miss you!!

Had to send our Wii console back to Nintendo for repairs. It either wouldn't load our game discs, or halfway through a game would come up with an "unable to read disc" error. The bummer is that it will be gone for about three weeks. UGH!! That seems like an eternity! And I was so excited to start Wii Fit. The damn thing wouldn't even load the disc. HMPH!

It was a really boring picture so I put a watercolor wash on it to represent the tears we are shedding- LOL!

January 18, 2009

2009-01-19T07:50:00.001-08:00

Happy Sunday! Bill is on the mend, but I can't hear out of my left ear anymore. I think it's a sinus infection gone rogue. Here are a couple of pictures of my sassy girl.

January 17, 2009

2009-01-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Today was Alex's first basketball game. Bill and I were a bit nervous - he's never really played basketball outside of gym class and his team only had 4 practices because of the bad weather we've been having (practices are at the school so if after school activities or school is cancelled, so is practice). He did surprisingly well! He doesn't get in there to try and rebound, but he played good defense, was the guy inbounding the ball, had the ball in the box (but didn't shoot it! He was looking to pass and ended up getting a 5 second violation), and got a fast break for his team.

January 16, 2009

2009-01-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

Today was another snow day. The air temperature when we woke up was -23* and the wind chill was -39*. Bill has been home sick since Wednesday. He went to the walk in clinic on Wednesday but got a negative quick strep test OTC drugs. Today he went to his regular doctor and the quick strep was positive. He's been miserable so hopefully a few of these and he will be feeling much better tomorrow.

January 15, 2009

2009-01-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

Don't let the face fool you, Milo's nickname is The Prince of Darkness. He's a cool cat - wouldn't trade him for another. He's a ruthless hunter - no ground rodent is safe in our yard. Birds are fair game, too, but not as often as mice, chipmunks, and rabbits. He'll only sit on your lap if you have a blanket thrown over you. He adores Alex and Caty - sleeps on one of them each night. They've been sleeping in the basement the last few nights (the winds have been really strong at night and in the open area we live in our house just rocks in the gusty conditions) and he's been right down there with them. His birthday is on Monday. He'll be seven. He's in his prime =)

January 14, 2009

2009-01-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

IT CAME!!! WOOT!!! At least now I can do yoga at home if I get called out of class again - LOL! I can't wait to try it out.

January 13, 2009

2009-01-14T16:46:00.003-08:00

No picture for today. It was a rough one. The blizzard never really happened so we were all disappointed we had to get up and go to school. I joined the fitness challenge at work and today was the first yoga class. About halfway through the class I got called out - the kids were locked out of the house. Grrrrrr.......I had to leave the class and get them from the neighbor's. I burned 3 pancakes making dinner tonight. Bill came home from work sicker than a dog. He literally chugged what was left of the NyQuil and went to bed. I had to shuttle Alex back and forth to basketball practice. Aaaaaaand the "check engine" light came on in my truck. It was a winner of a day.

January 12, 2009

2009-01-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

Blizzard!!! We will be under a bilzzard warning from midnight tonight to noon tomorrow. We're only getting a few inches of snow, but the winds are supposed to gear up and come howling through here overnight. The snow just started. The kids are excited - the buzz around school was that tomorrow would be a snow day. We'll see.

January 11, 2009

2009-01-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

I am embarrassed to post these pictures - they are so bad - but they are all that I have for this day. Caty and I drove 45 minutes to the mall to go to Libby Lu this afternoon, meeting a girlfriend of mine and her daughter, and when I got there, Caty had forgotten to put my wallet back into my purse. I had no money, no credit/debit cards, and most importantly, no gift card for Libby Lu. Not that it would have mattered. Libby Lu has apparently gone under. Everything in the store was 75% off and they are no longer doing makeovers. Bummer!

Anyway, I was aggravated at having wasted my time, and didn't take any pictures other than these two, totally dorky and one horrifically underexposed ones.

January 10, 2009

2009-01-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. This snowstorm was supposed to happen yesterday, but it got delayed (LOL! Common around here. Must have been coming in through O'Hare...). It started snowing last night and is still going. These are the bushes underneath the windows on the front of the house. You can't even see the landscaping bricks that define the flowerbed anymore!

January 9, 2009

2009-01-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

Bye-bye eczema! At least I hope so. I've been trying to find a way to get rid of Billy's eczema. It gets SO bad in the wintertime - worse than normal. The dermatologist just prescribes steroid creams for him, but that only gets rid of it temporarily and he has so much of it that he gets a good dose of steroid everytime we have to use the cream. This is not good. The steroids really mess with his autism. So I read that fish oil is supposed to help. I remember when we took Billy to an alternative-type doctor when he was 4 that he put him on fish oil, but he could taste it in everything we tried to put it in and wouldn't take it. Now that he can swallow a pill I thought we'd try it again.

Anyway, that's what's in the bowl. I had a lot of fun playing with this picture - trying to get the right angle for the shot, realizing after a few that the reflection on the glass would make a cool picture, and then all the Photoshop fun with cropping, sharpening, etc. I think I saved 5 different versions of this one. *blush*

January 8, 2008

2009-01-08T18:57:00.001-08:00

There was a big, bright moon up in the sky while I was driving home today - at sunset. At 4:45. LOL!

January 7, 2008

2009-01-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

*sigh* I honestly don't know where I went wrong....

January 6, 2009

2009-01-06T18:29:00.001-08:00

BLASPHEMER!!!! There is no way this child is mine - she has no Italian in her whatsoever! Who goes and wrecks a perfectly good chicken and pasta with ketchup??? GAG!!

January 5, 2009

2009-01-05T18:47:00.001-08:00

Well, today Winter Break came to an official end and we were all thrown back into brutal reality. Billy wore one of his favorite Christmas presents to school today - his custom made "sweater that says Meijer and Jewel-Osco". The things we do for this boy...

January 4, 2009

2009-01-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

When we finished the basement, Bill cut a hole in the door so that Milo, our cat, wouldn't get stuck down there. This is Sammyboy peeking through the hole. We were all downstairs and somehow he didn't make it behind us before the door closed. Poor puppy!!

January 3, 2009

2009-01-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Good-bye, Christmas! See you next year!

We spent the better part of the day de-Christmasing the house today.

January 2, 2009

2009-01-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

We're home!!! We drove 8.5 hours from Minnesota -> home today. VERY happy to be out of the truck and to see Daddy.

I love this picture of my Grandma. I took it on New Year's Eve, but wanted to share it anyway.

January 1, 2009

2009-01-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!! Let's give this another go, shall we? Hopefully I'll make it past August/September this year - LOL!

Here are some pictures of the kids from New Year's Day. We were in Minnesota and went swimming at the hotel where my brother, Marc, and his family were staying.

Here is Billy and my cousin, Bethie, playing together. They are only a year apart in age!

Lighting conditions in the pool were horrendous. Big, nasty, yellow overhead lights and not many of them. I had to bump my ISO all the way up to 1600, shoot with a wide open lens AND a flash - UGH. Even then they required some shopping - Photoshopping.

Caty poolside. A lot better exposure =)

HEY! We're starting the new year off in a good way - no goofy faces!

Merry Christmas, Friends!

2008-12-20T16:51:00.001-08:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

December 2

2008-12-03T15:52:00.001-08:00

Today was Alex's Christmas concert at school. These are the conditions I was taking pictures in:

We were pretty far away and there were not only heads in my way, but stage and sound equipment as well. Alex is in the 2nd row on the right side on the end (blue shirt, vest).

I was able to zoom in and crop the photos to just get Alex, but they are really grainy because of the bad lighting. Anyway...

In the picture below, Alex spotted me in the crowd and smiled for a picture =)

November 29

2008-12-01T17:52:00.001-08:00

Some pictures from our trip to the UP to celebrate Thanksgiving. The outdoor pictures were taken at Munising Falls. Caty didn't come with us to the falls.

Two Billys on the couch in the cabin. I just KNOW Bill is going to be thrilled to see another picture of himself with bedhead on my blog. LOVE YOU, HONEY! *smooch*

The view of Lake Superior from the porch of our cabin.

Bill and Caty snuggling on the couch in our cabin.

Alex looking over the railing on the trail up to the falls.

Billy on the trail back to the car. He tried giving me a winking thumbs up pose, but I told him to stop and give me a smile. This was the best I could get - a smirk. Stinker.

Pretty, snow-covered trees on the trail. It snowed every night so there was always a fresh layer of powder on the scenery.

Munising Falls. I thought this one looked better in this brown tinted black and white than it did in color.

November 22

2008-11-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

The basement is almost done! We still have some finish work to do - trim, door hardware, railing for the stairs, etc. The carpet went in today.

These doors go to Bill's workshop. This is the view from the bedroom across the room.

This is the view when you come down and turn the corner from the stairs. That is the bedroom door in the back corner.

This is the view from the bathroom (across the room from the stairs).

This is the bedroom.

This is the bathroom. I really like this bathroom - I love the tile, the wall color, and the fixtures. This room was the most fun to pick stuff out for.

November 15

2008-11-16T17:56:00.000-08:00

We've been getting flurries here and there for about 2 weeks now. It was beautiful on Halloween - near 70 degrees. Two days later we got our first flurries. Today we had the big, fat, soft flakes start falling about 10:00 this morning.

About 15 minutes ago Alex and Caty looked outside and were super excited to see that the snow is sticking to the grass (oh joy). It's a bit blurry - I didn't want to drag the tripod out.

November 7

2008-11-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

My step-brother got married today. Here are snapshots from the wedding. It was really hard to photograph in the church because it was at night and there wasn't a lot of light. Caty and I stood up.

November 6

2008-11-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

It's harvest time! Even more exciting than planting time because this time around, the large machinery mows stuff down and spits stuff out - LOL!

November 1

2008-11-15T12:07:00.000-08:00

Rock on with my bad self!! While on my guitar solo tour in Rock Band , I played a perfect Suffragette City. I RULE! LOL!

October 31

2008-10-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

October 30

2008-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

The weather went from snow flurries on Monday to beautiful and in the 60s today. I wanted to get a picture of these beautiful trees that I drive by on my way to work each day before their leaves were gone.

October 27

2008-10-27T18:16:00.001-07:00

This picture is for the sweet, three year old boy in Lisa's class (the Early Childhood classroom next to mine) that passed away this weekend. Hope you are pain free and there's lots of Spongebob where you are, Buddy! We are all missing you!

October 26

2008-10-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

We finally headed out to the pumpkin farm today. Those two pumpkins we picked out weighed a combined 115 pounds! They're awesome! As always, Alex was being uncooperative for pictures. He was PO'd that he didn't get to pick a pumpkin - he thought that each kid should get one. I explained to him that Caty and Billy didn't pick one, either, but he wasn't hearing it. Anyway, Bill is teasing him in this picture, trying to get him to smile.

You'll notice that we are all in our jackets. It was a cold, blustery day as evidenced by Caty's hair blowing around. The temps were only in the 50s and we had recorded gusts over 45 mph. At one point, a precipitation front moved in at we had a very brief snowshower. UGH! In October!?!?

Loaded up and ready to go. We brought the dog along just for the ride in the car. You can get a pretty good idea of how big the pumpkins are when you see them next to the (standing up) dog.

October 20

2008-10-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Pink Urlacher jersey + Girlpower = GIRLacher!! LOL! Caty has never voluntarily worn this shirt. It bought a tear to my eye when she came downstairs dressed like this this morning. That's my girl! (and I know the picture sucks - it's still dark out in the morning so there is no natural light and I have to use a flash to offset the yellow cast the overhead lights put on my pictures).

October 19

2008-10-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness.....she told me that she didn't LIKE boys! That's "Z.P." for what it's worth. I finally got out of her who it is. *sigh*

October 18

2008-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I looked over and this is how Samson was sitting on the hearth - with his bone in his mouth and a goofy, drunk look on his face. Goofball dog...

October 15

2008-10-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

This is the same tree that I shot the week before. Amazing that it could be leafless in such a short amount of time.

October 13

2008-10-27T17:55:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year if for no other reason than my grocery store starts carrying Count Chocula again. *sigh* It's the little things...

October 12

2008-10-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

One of the mums from the flowerbeds in front of my house. Not an easy picture to take - my bushes are crawling with all sorts of bugs - black ones, green ones, flying ones, crawly ones (if you look close you may be able to tell where I took the bugs out of this picture. God I love Photoshop!). It's so gross. None of the plants look very good right now. I don't know why, but our area has been invaded by insects this last week. Aside from the ladybugs and bees that are typical for this time of year, at yesterday's football game there were these teeny tiny flying black bugs that BITE when they land on you. They are everywhere. *shudder*

October 11

2008-10-12T14:20:00.001-07:00

Today was Alex's final football game of the season. It was do or die to make the playoffs and they didn't make it. Here he is being introduced before the game. He was really bummed out afterward. He didn't get as much playing time today, either, as he has in the last few weeks. It was a tough loss.

October 10

2008-10-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

My faithful companion - always at my side and jumping at any chance for attention. This picture reminds me of those "The Dog" pictures.

October 9

2008-10-12T14:16:00.001-07:00

ACK! Along with the nice weather we are also experiencing the annual Fall Attack of the Ladybugs. They are all over my backdoor, trying to get into the house to hibernate. UGH! They are the ones that stink when you smash them, too. Nasty little things. If you click on the image you can see them crawling along the top of the doors.

October 8

2008-10-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Fall day! Bright skies, warm temps, and the trees are starting to turn. The trees on our block are all yellow now - the look so pretty.

October 7

2008-10-12T14:13:00.000-07:00

As Caty was doing her homework (in her princess costume) Milo jumped up onto the table and plopped himself right on top of her paper. He then proceeded to rub on her face - demanding affection from her. In this picture he was going in for a kitty kiss.

October 5

2008-10-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

Bwaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaa!! It's really hard to be a Chicago White Sox fan sometimes. This isn't one of those times - LOL! The city of Chicago lives and dies by the stupid Cubs - I don't get it. They had a freaking rally because the Cubs made the PLAYOFFS - that's how desperate the city is for the Cubs to do something. All that for naught. Looks like it will have to be 101 years for a World Series, now.

Not that I have room to brag. The Sox lost in the first round, too. At least they won ONE game, though. And at least they weren't "The best team in the (American) Leage" or "The team to beat" like the Cubs were. The Sox got in by the skin of their teeth. Ah well - GO BEARS!!

October 1

2008-10-12T14:01:00.001-07:00

These are the kinds of pictures I get if Billy gets a hold of my camera.

September 29

2008-10-12T14:00:00.001-07:00

New clothes! Yesterday we went shopping and bought Alex and Caty some new fall clothes. Here is one of Caty's new shirts.

I don't like this picture. Not only does she look demonic, but I've been having to shoot with a flash in the house and I hate how it looks.

September 28

2008-10-12T13:56:00.001-07:00

I'm going to try and fill in as best I can. I'm just really busy these days and taking pictures has taken a back seat.

This is a picture of Caty rockin' out on Rock Band in the morning. We spent this day running errands before having some friends over to watch the Bears game (Bears won!!).

September 27

2008-09-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm totally slacking. I don't always have my camera with me. I won't leave it in my truck and at work there isn't much to take pictures of, ya know? I'll try to do better this week.

Here are some pictures from Alex's birthday. He turned 10 today. He had a football game this afternoon. Long story short - the game was 65 miles away and took us 90 minutes to drive one way. We were late getting to pre-game practice because one of the roads we had to take was closed for construction and no detours were posted. I had to call Bill and have him Google Earth a new route for me.

Anyway, Alex was chosen by his coaches to be one of the captains today. This is him and his teammates and coaches on the field for the coin toss. He's number 72.

Here are pictures of Billy and Caty from the game - just because. We always have over an hour from the time we get there to the time Alex actually takes the field to start playing. The kids are subjected to picture taking whether they like it or not. Usually they'll indulge me.

Finally, a picture of Alex once we got home and showered. He may be 10, but he hasn't matured a bit ;)

September 23

2008-09-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

I had to leave Billy at 6:00 am in order to get home, get Alex and Caty to the sitter's house, and get to work by 7:45 for a meeting. The sun is just starting to come up at 6:00 these days. About halfway home, it finally broke the horizon - a big, pink ball. It was beautiful! I was fortunate that this campus is 40 miles west of nowhere so I had a nice, clear view of it for quite some time.

September 22

2008-09-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

A big step today - Billy is at Outdoor Ed with his 5th grade class until Wednesday afternoon. It's a trip that the 5th graders take every year. They go to a campus about an hour from here and learn about things in nature - animals, plants, things in the water, etc. He was excited to go. We worked it out so that at night, Bill or I would drive out to the campus to spend the night with him. He has a hard time settling down at night and we feared if he were put in a room with 10 other students that he might keep them awake at night if he couldn't quiet down or if he had insomnia (not uncommon for him). They gave us a chaperone room where we could stay with Billy by ourselves.

I arrived about 9:30 pm. Billy was playing cards with another boy (who, I determined about 30 seconds after meeting, also has autism). This boy's dad was also there and he and his dad were staying by themselves in a chaperone room next to us. Anyway, I talked to Billy's assistant who told me he'd had a good day. They did a Water Study class that day. I guess Billy's foot got stuck in some muck and he fell into the river on the campus. When I got into his room, his dirty, wet clothes were hanging up, drying out. Mrs S told me he was doing well and participating in everything so far - even the game of Alpha Wolf that the kids played after their night hike. Alpha Wolf is a game that they play in the dark, in the woods (supervised, of course).

Billy and I went into his room for the night. There is nothing to do there - no electronics allowed - so we just put on our pajamas and settled down. We were in bunk beds, him on top and me on the bottom. After we'd laid there for awhile, I heard him whisper to his stuffed dog, "Isn't this great, Lucky?". Put a HUGE smile on my face =)

September 21

2008-09-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

The basement is coming along. We've passed all of our inspections since the first plumbing one that resulted in "disaster". We're now at the drywall phase. There is only one section left to drywall - two sheets and it'll be done. The bathroom has been mudded, taped, and primed. The rest of the space is in the mudding phase. Here is a shot from the back corner (outside the bedroom where the evil Circuit Breaker Box is) toward the stairs.

September 20

2008-09-22T17:38:00.001-07:00

Alex had a football game today. He didn't play as much as he did his last game. I'm sure it has a lot to do with him missing last week's game while he was in Michigan. Still, he got in about 4 drives on offense and was doing kick returns. This is him on the sideline waiting to go in.

September 19

2008-09-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Samson was so happy today. While Bill was grilling our dinner he played fetch with him. The dog was panting heavily, but look at that smile on his face!

September 18

2008-09-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today was 50s day at the kids school. I remember 50s day from my middle school days. I'm actually kind of surprised that they don't do 80s day or something now (but relieved - I think I would feel REALLY old if they did 80s day). Anyway, Caty INSISTED she had to have a poodle skirt for this day. I tried to tell her that she could just roll a pair of jeans and wear a big shirt and a scarf in her hair but noooooooooo, HAD TO HAVE A POODLE SKIRT. I made her agree that this costume that I would have to buy will be her Halloween costume this year. Yes, I am prepared for the sighing, long wistful looks, and possible tears next month when I take the boys shopping for costumes and she can't get one. Don't worry, I'm made of steel *snort*. Here she is, but I didn't like any of the full length pictures I took - oops! Don't worry - the "poodle skirts" they sell these days are only poodle skirts in that they have the stupid dog on them. The skirt itself ended at her knee. How costume makers think poodle skirts aren't supposed to be ankle length is beyond me. The ones that WERE ankle length were $40. Sorry, Babe, I don't spend that kind of money on my clothes most of the time - I'm not spending it on a costume.

Alex was in a sort of pickle. He's grown since last fall and none of his jeans fit him. His t-shirts are also tight on him - at least his plain white ones. He ended up in dark blue pants and a "madras" shirt. He wouldn't tuck his shirt in, though so he THOUGHT he was 50s, but he looked like a kid just going to school (don't tell him). He was actually willing to SMILE for these pitures (Hell must be freezing over). Silly me - I'd forgotten that guys either wore a DA or a brush cut in those days. I was so focused on trying to slick his (and Billy's) hair back that I didn't think to spike it and make it look like a "brush". Ah well.

Finally, we have Billy - who came downstairs today in a red t-shirt and gray shorts and declared he was NOT dressing for 50s day. No problem, I'm not going to argue. However, in the course of trying to find something more 50s for Alex, I found my black, leather motorcycle jacket. This thing is the real deal and has to weigh at least 5 pounds. It was too big for Alex, but it fit Billy perfectly. The weight of the jacket had to feel great to him (he loves deep pressure so this jacket had the same effect as a weighted blanket or vest for him - very calming). I asked him if he wanted to wear the jacket and he said yes so I told him to go put on some jeans and a white t-shrit and then he could wear it for school. He was cool with this idea - yay!! Here he is =)

September 17

2008-09-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, call me a slacker. I know, I know. Let the "Project 350" jokes begin. I don't have a picture for this day and I don't remember why.

September 16

2008-09-20T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was up at the crack of dawn today - literally. This seems to have happened overnight (no pun intended) - this still-dark-outside-when-I-wake-up thing. I'm not sure I like it. What was really odd was that as the sun was coming up at this angle, behind me was a full moon still shining like it was midnight.

September 15

2008-09-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

The results of all the rain this weekend. We recorded close to 10 inches of rain out by us over the weekend - shattering record rainfall totals. The field behind my school floods pretty easily so I made sure I brought my camera to record what it looked like today. The first picture is of the field. I wanted to include the little trees and the baseball field so you could see how high the water was. I am VERY surprised the road to the right (not in the picture) isn't under water. My co-worked lives right there and said it was underwater all weekend.

This picture is of the golf course across the street from my school. The geese are LOVING this!

I ran a different kind of action on the golf course picture. There is a huge screen along the road side of the course to keep golf balls from going into the road. It added texture to the picture so I wanted to try a more "vintage" look with this one. I really like how it turned out.

September 14

2008-09-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

No picture today. I had a bridal shower at my house today for my step-brother and his fiance. I'd been on the go since 8:00 am with last minute cleaning, cooking, and entertaining and was wiped out by 9:00 that night.

September 13

2008-09-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

UGH!!! We've had a moderate, steady falling rain since yesterday afternoon. When I went to bed last night we'd gotten an inch of rain. By nine o'clock this morning we were up to 4.5 inches and it is still coming down now. The weather tonight says we've gotten nearly 7" of rain - just today! It is coming down in buckets and we haven't even gotten to the rain we are supposed to get from Ike today. Holy cow! I had to run errands this afternoon and there are cropfields with small lakes on them, roads under water, and just about every retention pond I've seen is spilling over its banks. Thank goodness the one across from me is really deep. Caty and I walked over there to see how deep it was and it was maybe a foot from coming over the top into the grass.

The creepy crawlies that live out here love this. I'm having friends over in a little bit so I put my porch light on and there are three frogs/toads on my porch and sidewalk. *shudder* This picture is of my driveway. I brightened it WAY up so you can see all the nightcrawlers on it. All those little lines on my driveway are WORMS!! (some are dark and some are light - click on the image) It's like the freaking plague is coming outside!

September 12

2008-09-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

Princesses ALWAYS wear their crowns for breakfast - didn't you know?

Happy Birthday, Bill!!!

September 11

2008-09-20T10:13:00.001-07:00

Bill and the boys left tonight to spend the weekend in the UP so it is just Caty and me. We hit the grocery store after dinner for some good snacks for the weekend. I saw these and couldn't pass them up. My question is, who is the genius that thought making Ben and Jerry's SMALLER was a good marketing technique? Fellas, we L-O-V-E your product - make it bigger! Sheesh! These little ones are a tease!

September 4 - September 11

2008-09-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

I have not a single picture for this entire week. I put my camera away (!!) and didn't take it out - didn't even think about it. Even though I started back to work on August 27th, my students didn't start until September 3rd. Once they started, life went back to craziness as now I had REAL work to do at work and not just prep work and meetings. Took me awhile to adjust (still am) and pictures were just the last thing on my mind.

September 3

2008-09-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, this blurry picture of the fireproof insulation in the basement is the only picture I have for today. All the other pictures in my camera were of my students. I had a great time editing those! LOL!

September 2

2008-09-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

The boys got Rock Band for Wii yesterday at their birthday party. I set it up tonight and Caty was the first "student" to try it out. It's fun! I tried it after she was finished. She was totally rockin' out with the guitar. I think she looks like that picture of Curt Kobain.

September 1

2008-09-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day! We celebrated at my mom's house with a birthday pool party for Billy, Alex, and my brother's two sons. The weather was perfect. It's been starting to get cooler at night so I was worried it might be too cold to swim. No way! We nearly hit 90*.

This picture is Caty all geared up to hit the pool.

I'm still here!

2008-09-11T18:09:00.001-07:00

I have a few pictures from the last two weeks, but not one for each day. My students started last week and life has returned to our yearly "Back to School" frenzy with work, practices, homework, school functions, lunches, paperwork, housework, etc etc. Today was the first time I picked up my camera in nearly a week! YIKES!

On that note, Bill and the boys left for the weekend in Michigan. He took my laptop which has my camera software and Photoshop on it so I won't have pictures to upload until Tuesday. Don't forget about me! LOL!

August 30th

2008-08-30T18:11:00.001-07:00

Alex had his 2nd football game today! I couldn't watch his game last week because it overlapped with the party at our house. I was happy to get to go today. He is on the B team, but he played at least half the game on defense today. YAY Alex!! His team crushed the other team - 46 to 24.

I took pictures of everyone today. I caught Bill before he could make a face or turn away.

**Sigh** I'm getting so sick of this face from Billy...

And the little girl =)

Finally, yours truly. I'm having a bad hair day, okay??

August 29

2008-08-30T18:05:00.001-07:00

Tonight Alex slammed the tip of his finger in the door of the car. Poor kid. He was howlin' and bleeding all over the place. We were at Blockbuster when it happened. Thank goodness a woman saw us and had a first aid kit in her car. We were able to bandage him up until we could get home. We stopped at the pharmacy on our way home and I bought him a splint and things to dress his finger with. He's probably going to lose the nail. He was having a tough time - sweaty, thirsty, and really tired. I think he was truly traumatized. He was NOT happy I took his picture.

Here he is after I bandaged and splinted his finger.

August 28

2008-08-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Billy Boy! Eleven years old - wow! Now stop growing already! You'd never guess he was my smallest newborn.

For those that have asked, Billy is 5'5" without his shoes on. He's started calling me Little Mommy...

August 27

2008-08-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

BIL is good - he got the trench dug and all the PVC moved to the other end of the basement today. You can see where he filled in the old trench (and there is another hole by that pile of stone) and dug the new one. God bless him.

August 26

2008-08-30T17:52:00.001-07:00

O.M.G! Today was the plumbing inspection for the basement. BIL put all the PVC in and the inspector came out to look. The plumbing was fine - we passed the inspection with two minor changes needing to be made. As the inspector is leaving he notices the circuit box and tells BIL "You may want to check the code on the circuit box to make sure it isn't too close to the toilet". So BIL calls the Village. Guess what. You can't have an electrical circuit box in a bathroom!! It is a major code violation. So now we have two choices. We can violate the code after the fact - cap the pipes, continue framing, have the insulation inspection, then reopen the pipes and finish the plumbing, have the drywall inspection, and then go back into the floor and walls after that inspection and install the fixtures. Choice B is to rip out all the plumbing we've done so far, dig another trench into the concrete, and flip the bathroom and bedroom moving the bathroom to the other side of the basement and not violating the code. After many phone calls we sat down and redid the plans so that the bathroom would end up on the other side of the basement - taking Choice B. This means more holes in the floor, more money having to be spent on PVC, and more time to move everything. UGH! Curse you circuit box!!!

August 25

2008-08-30T17:12:00.001-07:00

First day of school for me - waaaaaaaah!!!! Teachers in my district had to report back today. It wasn't a bad day. Ron Clark was the keynote speaker at our Back to School Rally (click that link - he is so awesome!). He was excellent - very energetic and inspiring. The denial and dread I was feeling about the pending start of school was lifted and I felt enthusiastic and ready to go by the end of the rally. My whole team went to lunch together - even Lisa and her assistants. It was a good day. Unfortunately, taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. The sunset was all I got. It was a pretty one, though.

August 24

2008-08-26T16:09:00.001-07:00

Today Billy was invited to "Buddy's" birthday party. Buddy was in Billy's class at school for the last four years. He talks about "Buddy" and another friend ALL THE TIME. This was Billy's best friend. Unfortunately, Billy isn't going to the same school this year, so this was likely one of the last times he will see Buddy. He didn't want to go to the birthday party - didn't want to go to the bowling alley. Of course, he was also making faces every time a camera was pointed at him. I was so aggravated when I saw these. I didn't get a single nice picture of him and Buddy to hold on to.

PS: Billy and Buddy are a year apart in age - LOL!

August 23

2008-08-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

I don't have a photo for today. I spent all day yesterday and half of today getting ready for the big Family Birthday party that we hosted at our house. With Bill having six brothers and sisters, there are 15 nieces and nephews on his side of the family. Today we had one big party to celebrate all 15 birthdays. The party was a great success and the house looked great. It was the first time most of Bill's family has seen our house since we put the hardwood floor down (last December), painted, replaced the carpet, got new furniture, etc.

August 22

2008-08-26T16:03:00.001-07:00

Today my BIL dug the trenches in the floor and put the plumbing in place in the basement (click to see it bigger. Those piles or stone are from under the concrete floor that had to be busted out). I won't even get into the Village "forgetting" to charge us for the plumbing inspections when we went in to pick up the permit on Tuesday or that we have to wait until NEXT Tuesday for the inspector to come out. *sigh* You can't change what you can't control, right? I'll have to keep reminding myself of this.

August 21

2008-08-26T16:00:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to get a picture of Milo like this all summer. He's sitting on the ledge of our grill, meowing into the opened window. This is where he is every morning if he didn't come in when Bill got up. It cracks me up how he sits up there and looks in the window. It's funnier when he is meowing but the window is shut so it looks like he is just opening his mouth.

August 20

2008-08-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

She is so excited this year - four of her five best friends are in her class =)

Do you see that? He really CAN smile for a picture!

Billy was really excited for school today. He practically skipped to the bus stop.

UGH! Here come the faces. If I ever get a decent picture of all three of them it might have to be considered a miracle.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2008. Holy cow - summer went by FAST this year! Here's the gang, all ready to start 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades. =)

August 19

2008-08-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

Studly! The construction on the basement started today with the studs going up on the back wall. Woo hoo!!

I don't have a picture for the 19th - super busy day and no camera. ACK!

August 17

2008-08-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

The kids start school this week so today, to celebrate the last weekend of summer vacation, we went to the quarry beach. Alex and Billy were both bribed to jump off the 6' platform board. At first, they were nervous about the height. I told Billy I'd buy him a dvd he wanted if he jumped off. He walked right up there and didn't even hesitate to jump off after that. Not to be outdone, Alex promptly followed with the promise of a Webkinz.

August 16

2008-08-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

He drives around...all over the town...Toonces, the driving cat.

Anyone remember that from Saturday Night Live?? LOL!

Milo somehow got closed into our truck tonight. I was pretty funny to come outside and see a cat pop up in the driver's seat.

August 15

2008-08-16T10:27:00.001-07:00

This weekend is our town's annual festival. There is a parade down Main Street (yes, it's really called Main Street) and then a big carnival at the park. Alex's football team marched in the parade and afterward we went to the carnival. The carnival isn't my kind of thing - way too crowded and noisy for my nerves to handle - but Bill and the kids enjoyed it. I had my camera so I had something to keep my mind off the overload.

Twice last night the parade had to stop because a train came through town - LOL! Half of the football teams were on the other side of the tracks.

The Fest is a HUGE event every year. I swear, every single resident of our town was at the carnival last night. All of our friends from our neighborhood were there. This is Alex and some boys from our block on The Tornado.

Caty was dying to go on the Ferris Wheel. Im- afraid of them - hate it when they stop at the top - so Bill took her and Alex for a ride. She white knuckled the bar the entire time - LOL!

Lastly, we hit the bumper cars. Caty was big enough to drive her own car - not that she or Billy had an idea how to steer them! LOL! After the bumper cars we played a couple of games and then called it a night.

August 14

2008-08-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Haircut day! Caty wanted her hair cut like Jenny McCarthy. I think it looks cute on her =)

August 13

2008-08-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sadly, this is the only picture I took today - Alex's custom made, half-cheese pizza.

We had a crazy afternoon. We needed to be out of the house because THEY were working on the plumbing in the basement. So we left at 1:15 and our plan was to go to my classroom for a few hours, then go shoe and supply shopping for school, then grab a bite to eat, and finally take Billy to karate. We left my classroom at 3:30 and didn't have the supply list so we had to run home. While home, I checked the football schedule and sure enough, AJ had practice at 5:30. We only had time to run and get shoes before having to turn around and come home again so Alex could get ready for practice. I dropped him at practice, then drove Billy to karate and waited for him, grabbed Taco Bell on the way home (jerks screwed up the ENTIRE order - I have a free meal for my family the next time we go there), picked up Alex, and finally got home to eat at 7:45. UGH!

On the plus side, the plumbing in the basement has been moved and we finally have a final plan that we both like. Framing starts on Tuesday =)

August 12

2008-08-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

She was just following directions.....(click to read the sticker. And yes, I know it's blurry. Had to use a flash because I was inside and the darn kid never holds still)

August 11

2008-08-11T19:20:00.000-07:00

It was a really nice day today - sunny and somewhat cool temperatures (under 80 degrees). Caty was willing to pose so I took a bunch of pictures of her outside in the sunshine. This was my favorite of the bunch.

August 10

2008-08-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today was a long day at home. Bill and his brother had plans to start breaking up the floor in the basement to see what the plumbing looked like under it. I had plans to take the kids to my mom's to avoid the noise of this project. My plans ended up changing and I ended up staying home. At some point I was on the computer and Billy parked his Po in the chair across from me. This is what I saw when I looked up.

August 9

2008-08-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

Nothing really exciting happened today. I busted ass and scoured the two bathrooms upstairs in addition to the first floor cleaning that I normally do on Saturdays. Bill cut the grass when he got home from work. A steady rain started as he was finishing up and he got soaked. No more than five minutes after he got in the house the skies opened and let out a deluge that sent us scrambling to close the windows on the front of the house. I took this picture looking out the living room window during the storm.

August 8

2008-08-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

I couldn't decide which one I liked best - LOL! I took a really nice picture of Billy while we were waiting for Caty to finish up her "barn class" last night. The lighting was hitting his face so nicely. I played around with different actions on them and came out with different effects. What do you think?

August 7

2008-08-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

So, the decision has been made to finish out the basement. Today the Home Depot truck came to deliver our materials. EVERYTHING on that truck got left in my garage and driveway! The empty spot behind the cab is where the sheetrock was (it was already in my garage when I took this picture).

August 6

2008-08-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

I've really got to stop trying to take pictures at dusk. Even with the aperture wide open, it's just too dark and I end up with shutter speeds that don't jive with hand-held photography. This was the best I could do with what I got today.

August 5

2008-08-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

My baby dog. Yes, he is 3.5 years old, but he is still my "baby". He's going to be so sad when we all go back to school.

August 4

2008-08-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

We had some "red" storms move through our area last night. You know - storms that look red on the radar, indicating the torrential rains and winds that are coming? Anyway, we could see them coming long before they got here and were prepared. The power faded on and off a couple of times, but otherwise it was just a nasty thunderstorm. I will say, I have NEVER seen a storm blow in as fast as this one did. One second it was dead calm and the next - literally - the rain was coming down in buckets....SIDEWAYS!

After the rain cleared there was still lightning and thunder for some time. Perfect for trying out the Manual mode on my camera. I managed to get a couple of streaks and a ton of "flashes". Here are my favorites:

August 3

2008-08-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

I think it must be a "boy thing" - making faces when a camera is pointed in your direction. Bill was riding his bike past me which is why the background is blurry.

August 2

2008-08-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

A variety of pictures today. First off, we have Caty with a baby toad. It was trapped in one of the window wells by our house. My girly girl isn't ALL sugar and spice - I can't even imagine picking up a toad myself - blech!!

Next, when we were walking back from the pond - where we deposited the baby toad - I noticed some leaves on our lawn that I thought looked really cool. The leaf was dead, but you could see all the veining in it still.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that our tree was full of leaves that looked like this. Then, upon even further insepction, I noticed that our tree was infested with beetles!! YUCK!! The other night I was hanging out with some friends of mine from my block and they were talking about some sort of beetle infestation in the trees on the parkway. Guess our tree got hit. I get the heebie jeebies just looking at this picture and knowing that these things are ALL OVER the tree out there. ((TREE))

August 1

2008-08-01T18:23:00.001-07:00

The dining room is "done". We painted, put in new carpeting, brought up my grandmother's dining set, and bought new window treatments. I really like how everything looks. I couldn't have matched the window treatments to everything better if I had them custom made. Now we need to get a buffet or something for the one wall and some decorations in there. (pretend you can't see the fingerprints on the table. It is going to be next to impossible to keep that glass clean...)

We also bought new window treatments for the living room. Again, luck was on my side and I found something that pulls out/compliments the colors in this room perfectly. Our house if finally starting to come together. =)

July 31

2008-08-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

Burgers and fries for dinner tonight. I wish I had a better picture for today but this is the only one I took.

July 30

2008-08-01T09:27:00.001-07:00

Today was an exciting day. On Wednesday nights Billy has karate. Last week, his sensei told his class that they had to have the first 9 moves of the kata (routine) they are learning set to memory. Getting Billy to practice is difficult - you do karate at class and not at home in his mind. So, I told him if he could do those 9 moves for his teacher the right way I would take him out for ice cream. Guess what? HE DID IT! The sensei came over to me after class and told me he could tell Billy had practiced - that he seemed more focused this week and was much more able to follow along. So, out for ice cream we went.

This is Billy giving me a thumbs up as we drove to class. He knew he was ready =)

Alex at the ice cream place. Nice smile....oy. I swear it is either Goofytown or Seriousville with this boy.

At least I can always count on Caty to pose - LOL!