Today

Outside my window... another slightly, rainy day. Good for the boys to get out of lawn mowing.
I am thinking... about taking Hunter to get one last thing for this campout.
I am thankful for... healthy kids.
From the kitchen...planning on cupcakes and other tasty treats for next week, convincing Carson to finish the dishes and put away all sewing stuff I am not needing right now that is on my counter.
I am wearing... t shirt and jeans
I am creating... a plan of attack for the s{scrap} in my house and the garage...I MUST get organized it is making my poor head hurt.
I am going... to run one or two errnads today and that is IT!
I am reading... The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. So far so good. Very New Englandy :)
I am hoping... that my plans actually come to fruition and I can someday live in a house of organization.
I am hearing... blessed silence...two boys dressing, one eating, one looking in the pantry for yet another snack.
Around the house... piles of stuff to be gone through, papers to shred and more piles to cuss just because they multiply.
One of my favorite things...boys :)
A few plans for the rest of the week... play catch with the boys, clean out garage...it may make the rain go away if we can park inside...get my craft room REALLY put together and not just pretend, put together a project that has been cooking in my little brain, finish the pillows I have cooking in my little brain, make cupcakes and lotion, go over lesson for primary, lose 50 pounds...probably, it won't all happen by Sunday ;)
Enjoy your day!

I love to take pictures.

LOVE it.

I would marry it, but Jeff and my Coke would get jealous.

I stopped drinking coke for a bit.

I'll let you know how that goes.

I am procrastinating.

I should be cleaning my craft room so that I can do something crazy.

Like craft.

I know! Crazy, crazy.

And really, I came down here to edit some shots for the Little League thank you card and for Hunter's team. But, I haven't done the team ones yet...I ought to get on that as well.

Okay, well, enjoy the pictures.

Oh yeah, the color of Carson's hair is about my actual hair color...in case you ever wondered. The sweet little girly is one of my nieces.

magical

Jeff and I were searching for four or five leaf clovers in our clover patch last night.
You see, we have a ton of clover and a ton of four + leaf...in three patches that Carson refuses to mow.
The smallest patch (the one we were looking in) is about 4 feet in diameter. Q wandered over to help us look.
Out of nowhere he jumps across the whole patch. From a sit to a stand to across. Just like that.
Jeff and I start laughing and Jeff asks how he did that big of a jump.
"I am magical," he said :)
I love four!

Dear 'Sports Photography' Lady

A few things need to be addressed.

1. It is unprofessional to assume that because it is raining, people are not waiting for you. You should really keep in contact with the coach.

2. When taking individual pictures, please believe the mom. At least this mom. When I tell you that the shot you just took is the best it's going to get please don't push it. You will end up with a face that is something between constipation and trying to work a big something out. It isn't pretty. But it will make you laugh. Trust me on this.

3. You are expensive for what you offer.

4. Seriously, when you have a group of kids, particularly boys under the age of 9, you can't just tell them to line up and expect good composition or compliance. You have to be in charge. once, again, trust me on this.

5. Just because you have a nice camera and a website does not mean you should be a photographer.

That is all.
Have a nice day.

Right now

One boy is obsessing over a 50 mile hike coming up in a month.

One boy is obsessing about a new bike.

One boy is playing with a friend in the backyard.

One boys is trying to be in the middle of it all.

I am procrastinating a trip to the store that should take roughly 23 seconds, but may actually mean multiple stores to find the one thing I am actually looking for. I am wasting my time by soaking up the photography goodness that is this person.

When I grow up, I want her camera and gear and her skills.

Around my house

Since the store closed I have been trying to catch up on the past year of not being around.

There are a lot of places that need my attention.

For instance, the laundry room. Either one of the storage rooms. The garage where the remaining store crap is stored (yes, I will be doing some sort of garage sale/come get all of this for really good deals sale at some point...hopefully sooner than later!) my bedroom...the list is never ending.

Did I mention my craft room?

The problem, my friends, lies in the fact that the majority of these places are NOT in the kitchen or even upstairs.

My boys, lovely beings that are dear to me and have my heart completely (even the 6'2" one) tend to want my attention and will do everything possible to get it. Including but not limited to the following; wanting food, whining about a brother who has sorely wronged whichever boy is doing the whining, the disability to find anything thereby requiring me to drop everything so that I can find it...the list goes on, these guys are pretty cunning. And cute, which only hinders my cause.

So, I take pictures.

Lots of pictures.

And occasionally create something that I can do upstairs in the middle of the tornado.

Then in a fit of needing some girl time (that does not include the time waster of a Mary Kay party okay, so I love to have visitors, friends, family whatever...I hate making people feel obligated to buy something from me, especially when it is something like Mary Kay where all you have to do to find a consultant is stand on a street corner and ask the first passerby for information... Particularly one who roles her eyes when one of my children needs his momma and interrupts her spiel that I have already heard eleventy bazillion times.) So, in a fit of needing girl time (that last sentence was such a run-on!) I escape to my craft room only to spend hours on facebook and download/upload photos...

So, here are the photos from top to bottom:

*The day the rains came. This was my first official day as a mom of a teenager. We had the great idea to have a Bonzai party, my brother brought his slipnslide and we set up our toy and yeehaw...until every one of the 12 grandkids was soaked and it started raining and having thunder and lightening. And it hasn't stopped. Sorry.

*My brat cat. This is not the Grandma cat, if you are wondering. This is Gryffin. He is a punk. And a bird killer. He is also sweet and tolerant of almost all of the kids who maul him and love on him all day :) He really seems to enjoy it.

*Hunter's wumpyre bite. We joke that he didn't really get hit by the ball, he got bit by James :) If you look closely at the top of the circle you can see the stitching. Sad bit of information, he didn't even get to take a base cause he was swinging at the time and his arm is just an extension of the bat.

*We celebrated two birthdays in May...well, there were a lot more, but there were two of our boys with May birthdays.

*A double rainbow. I think it was last Monday. So beautiful.

*My garden jungle before it got planted outside. We actually have a few plants coming up :)

*Dragons and a four year old :)

*A chair I bought, painted and recovered. I may try to find a few more...or I may get bored with these colors and repaint sometime. Or both. It's inexpensive and fun :)

*I finally got my neighbors baby blankets to them :) I really wanted to keep them, but no one in my family is that small any more.

*And last but not least. A Bakugan. I know, it's a funny place to put one. I laughed when I saw it :) It reminds me that I havae sons because it is always so quiet here I forget.

Ha!

Do you ever?

Do you ever have a situation that requires a decision be made but you don't want to be the decider?
I have one of those.
Potentially, it is nothing. It may have just been a simple request from an old friend. Someone who noticed me and thought 'hey haven't seen her for awhile' and went from there.
However, I am a super paranoid person and I will expect the worst. Everytime.
So, this is a dilemma that must have an answer.
It's unfair to just ignore it.
And I do try to be fair.
Usually.
But what if this eventually leads to something more. Not THAT kind of something, but an extremely uncomfortable kind of something that I would really just rather avoid if possible.
I'm vague.
I know.
And really, no more details will come out, which is probably just making it more of a curiosity for those of you who are curious.
Sorry.
Off to start my jam, worry, clean my room and possibly come up with an answer.

Aqua

Every once in awhile I browse Etsy. It gives me a ton of inspiration and keeps me from completeing any tasks I have set out to do because it is so fun to get lost over there.

Here are a few things I found recently. Love them all :)

Click on the images to go to the pages for information if you are interested in any of the items.

And, I have no idea who any of the creators are :)

Enjoy!!

Mary Kay

My neice just started selling Mary Kay.

She is coming to my house Monday afternoon at 1 to do 'my face' and will do anyone else who wants to show up.

If you do, just leave me a comment and I will make enough cupcakes to share.

If you don't no worries.

I won't hold it against you.

Much ;)

And, for the CGCC, this is not my 'day.' I will have more info on that at a later date...Joy, did you want to trade? That will influence my plans greatly :)

And, if you want to come, you can bring your kids.

I plan to lock them outside, rain or shine.

Not really.

Unless it's sunny and over 75.

Then they can have popsicles.

I'm thinking about...

How friggin much laundry we do in this house and what a pain it is to fold and put away.

Whether or not the weather will change at the very last moment and cause another baseball cancellation (although Hunter's was merely postponed last night.)

Why it takes me so long to accomplish anything.

Whether or not I can talk Jeff into taking the boys camping on his week off this month...maybe for like two nights even :) That would make me sooooo happy.

Why it is that when I plan to finish something it never quite happens, i.e. baby gifts for my neighbors that are sitting on my table half finished (sorry, girls...there really is something coming!) my craft room that is kind of better than it was a month ago, the basement which is a challenge all it's own...

Why I am soooo tired lately. IT could be my status of over weight...

How much I really want to share a lot of pictures I have taken lately, but to go downstairs and upload images off the good computer will resuly in children fighting, the house being destroyed and my patience being frazzled beyond belief.

What it is like to be the parent of a teen.

Should we or should we not get a puppy...Jeff is totally against it, but I think if the right one came along he would allow it...but right now I have a 15 year old 'grandma cat' the neighbors pet and chase incessantly (it's cute to me, not so much for her) that may have a heart attack if a puppy came on the scene.

How much I want to push for a photography job...Jeff says no, I say good pocket money :)

How many thousands of dollars I could spend on lenses. I have serious lens envy.

How many thousands of dollars I could spend on plastic surgery, clothes and books :)

That I really need to get all of those projects finished that I can't seem to get done because maybe, just maybe I am on the computer too much.

I am leaving you with a picture that is thirteen years old...yes, I do look 12. I can assure you, I was not.