frustrated

There has hardly been ANY work for me to do this week. Normally by the end of Wednesday I have 14-17 hours done. This week I've only been able to get 8. I've been working 30 hours whenever possible these past few weeks, but it's looking doubtful that there will be that much available this week. And then I can't help feeling a bit nervous that it might be drying up, when we really need the money (still).

::sigh::

And it doesn't help that they changed the calling setup at David's work last week and it really threw a wrench in his ability to make sales. So we're trying to explore our options, again. 34 weeks pregnant and at Christmas is not really ideal timing for this sort of stuff, but I suppose there never is ideal timing for hardship and trials. I've been doing remarkably well (especially considering me being me, and all) staying hopeful and relatively upbeat the past few months, but I feel like I'm wavering. Something has got to give.

love this...

Shane Mercado on The Bonnie Hunt Show
by TheDlisted

bit of excitement

I got my studio light set in the mail last week, and on Saturday I had a chance to test it out. You can see more from the shoot here. I was absolutely delighted with how they turned out, and it helped to have such cute kids to shoot.





Is it silly to be really excited that I took these in my living room? Even if it is, I can't help it.

a rare event

This morning I ironed three shirts. Granted, they were Spud's shirts so they were small, but still, it's a rare event around here when I iron anything.

a very belated tagging....

Oh crikey, it was nearly a month ago! (Sorry Jen!) And I'm afraid I'm going to have to break the tag chain, as I don't want to put unnecessary pressure on anyone during this busy month. (Please tag yourself if you wish!)

8 habits/facts about me

1. David and I had our first kiss on the Amazon River.

2. When standing barefoot, I frequently put my right foot on top of my left foot. I think I cover that foot when I'm reclined on the sofa, too. Quite a few years ago I noticed my mom doing the same thing, so perhaps it's genetic.

3. I love shopping at secondhand/thrift stores, like D.I. and Savers. Sometimes when I feel that uncontrollable urge to spend money, I satisfy it by "blowing" ten bucks there.

4. I don't like to own matching sets of dishes. (Cool dishes are one of my favorite things to buy at abovementioned stores.) I don't mind having four or so of a single style, but more than that--no thank you! I love selecting my current favorite bowl or mug that is just perfect for whatever food/drink I'm consuming. Granted, non-matching dishes take up more room both in the cupboard and the dishwasher, but it's a price I'm willing to pay.

5. I love Scrabble. And Boggle. And other word games. David does not love them so much, and whatever love he does have is likely diminished by the fact that I always beat him so soundly. But he still plays with me on occasion. That's real love, isn't it?

6. I like scary movies. I don't like horror or blood'n'guts, but I do like scary movies. I'm a big fan of X-Files and that sort of thing.

7. I'm a bit freaked out by the reality of having three kids. I don't remember feeling like this with the other two, but I think it's because when Spud was born, Noodle was still so little that she didn't seem like such a PERSON. Now both of the kids are full-on PEOPLE and I'm nervous about bringing another person into the world. It was easier when I thought babies were blank slates, open to programming. Kid 1 and Kid 2 have definitely taught me otherwise.

8. When I was a kid and would use the bathroom in the laundry area, I'd entertain myself by making new words out of existing words/phrases on the laundry soap containers. (I guess this likely ties in with #5.)

So, yup. Hopefully there are more interesting things about me, though I think I covered some of those with the last time I was tagged.

TAG! You're it! (But only if you want to be!)

at the zoo

The last Wednesdays of the month, November through February, are free at Hogle Zoo. Normally the end of November would not be ideal for a zoo visit, but we've had such nice weather that last Wednesday actually was pretty nice. Chilly but not terrible. We were all okay with jackets on and occasionally warming up inside buildings. I'd originally tried to see if any of my in-laws wanted to come with us, but they had plans already. I then thought about calling a friend with kids to join us, but in the end decided the kids and I could use some relaxing, "quality time" together without the distraction of other people. I'm really glad we went alone. It was nice to just go where they chose and not feel constrained by what other kids wanted to see. We meandered through the zoo happily for about three hours and the kids did great. A new addition since our last visit was the Conservation Carousel. It was $2/kid, but since we hadn't paid admission, I figured we could splurge. (I even got to ride free because I was accompanying a kid!) Seriously the most BEAUTIFUL carousel I've ever seen. What a fabulous addition. They were playing Christmas music and it seemed that all we needed was a light snow falling to make it movie-worthy. I had a wonderful time with my two little kids.

(There are many more pictures of Noodle than Spud because she was in a more cooperative mood. The weird blue picture turned out oddly anyways, so I thought adding a blue cast to it was appropriate.)

tuesday tunes (on wednesday)

I didn't get around to posting this yesterday.

one perk

of my job is having to watch (& rate) videos.

I still like Green Day.

finished!

I took some individual portraits of some siblings a while back and the mom finally got back to me which proofs she wanted enhanced. I'm really pleased with how they came out.
Click on "Kelly's Kids".

hee hee

i don't get it...

What are they, a bunch of babies?

"Well, we don't have a clue how to solve our own problems, and we won't accept other people's advice."

Hmph. I wonder how big of a wall we would have to build...

(Kidding, kidding.)

(Kind of.)

photoshop fun

So I got up at 6 this morning (went to bed to late to get up at five!) but there wasn't any google work to do. So I decided to spend my early morning hours improving photography/photoshop skills.

I thought these turned out fun:

yay for me!

I had a goal to get in 30 hours of work this week (the maximum allowed) so I could feel justified in buying a couple of things I want for our homeschooling. And I DID IT! I got up at 5:00 three times to get it done (and one of those times there wasn't any work that morning) and didn't have a lot of free time and also fell a bit behind on the housework, but I did it. And I also made a photo book for Noodle for Christmas (that's what I did with my non-working early morning) because I got a free one from my photography website affiliation. I am eligible for a free one from another company, too, so that's tomorrow's project for Spud's Christmas.

ALSO, I put together and distributed all the photo packages for the preschoolers. Out of about 75 packages, I only had two mistakes--I ordered one extra class picture for one class and one short for another class. I thought that was pretty good. Assembling the packages took longer than I expected (about 3.5 or so hours with David helping insert receipts and such) but I did it while watching TV so it wasn't overly tedious.

Besides that, I also attended a homeschool lecture that was quite good and inspiring. I had had a complete meltdown with the kids (yelling, tears & all that) late in the afternoon so I was contemplating not going, but I'm glad I pulled us all together and went. It was worth the time and effort involved. (Thanks Nickie!) Plus, there was really yummy food which was nice after our spartan dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup (David was working late).

I also made Visting Teaching (church related stuff) appointments and while one cancelled, we did get to visit the other person and are doing the third on Sunday.

AND even with all of this, I was able to do some fairly good school stuff with the kids and yesterday we even did an outing! We went to BYU to look at the fish in the tanks (to round off our fish unit) and we also went to the Eyring Science Center to look at the stuff there, then to the CougarEat for lunch. I really felt like we needed to get out and do something FUN together, but I had so much to get done that I almost decided not to. I'm glad I went ahead with it.

Anyways, I am not really a fan of tooting my own horn, but I've been feeling kind of glum and discouraged this week, so it's somewhat uplifting to look at all I was able to accomplish this week. Now next week I just need to get the scripture/gospel study fit in, too. That will probably help with my discouragement as much, if not more, than all my hard work.

tuesday tunes

Regina Spektor - Fidelity

Andrea, this first one reminds me of you. I think if you were a musician, you'd sing and make videos like this. What do you think?

Ingrid Michaelson - Be OK


I need to get some iTunes dollars to spend on these songs!

monday morning happiness

I love this movie. We watch it every year now, at least twice.

the new face of the White House doggy?

Could be. I guess they are looking for something hypoallergenic and from a rescue/shelter. That's my Daisy. (But they can't have her.) A quote from the article:

"For a family," says handler Doug Becker, a captain (who trains volunteers) at a shelter in Manhattan, "a Bichon is the best dog you could own, because it does well with kids and with a lot of people in the household."

A Bichon is also free from causing the allergy problem. "Like with a poodle, you can even pick one up while you're wearing a dark sweater and there will be no dander whatsoever," says Becker.

Further extolling the breed's virtues as far as the Obamas would be concerned, Becker said, "Bichons are also loyal and intelligent. The only downside: They must be groomed weekly, because their hair just keeps growing."

Not that it is important in the least, but it'd be kind of fun to see a fellow fluff in the White House. White House. White Dog. Black First Family. Seems like a natural fit, right?

the pendulum swings...

...or why I'm glad Obama won the presidency.

I voted for Obama, but it wasn't because of some fervor or super passionate feeling that he was, far and away, the best person for the job. I tried to get myself to a point where I could feel even neutral about McCain, but I never could (though I did like his spots on SNL last week and a few months ago). For me, it came down to a feeling that you can take a good man and make him a great leader, and I felt like Obama was a good man. Looking at the issues, there were a lot of similarities, actually, and nothing stood out to me. Despite my pro-life views, I don't choose candidates based on their abortion views, as I don't think abortion will go away. (Yes, there is much we can do to minimize it, but outlawing it isn't the solution.) Both McCain and Obama promoted health care plans that I don't think really get to the root of the problem. Additionally, health care isn't something the president will solve in a vacuum--he has to get the Congress on board with him. I don't like some of what I know about what Obama has said about selecting Supreme Court justices--I want people who understand the Constitution inside and out, not "somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old — and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges." (How un-liberal of me, I know.)

But to my point. Unfortunately, neither of the two candidates share my view of where I think the country should be headed. (I think we are probably way beyond where I think we should have tried to make a U turn in many areas.) But I do think the American political system is largely about swings of the pendulum. I don't like the direction Bush has taken the country and I feel like the pendulum is at its maximum extension on one side. I think it's time for it to swing the other way. I think both McCain and Obama would cause this to happen, but McCain would meet much more resistance if only because of his party ties and having to buck his fellow GOP good ol' boys.

I have to chuckle at some of my conservative friends' comments via their Facebook status. Some are in jest, but some are very serious. Comments about stockpiling food and ammunition, getting used to saying "Comrade," and feeling "sick that americans care more about themselves than about the greater good." I remember (though I was only 14) when Bill Clinton got elected. Due to swimming in fairly conservative ponds up to that point in my life, I was certain that the world would end because he was elected. Guess what? It didn't. It was actually a pretty good run of 8 years. I was never a Clinton fan and was delighted when his second term ended (by then I could vote), but Bush has made me appreciate the good that Clinton accomplished and the type of leader he was, even if I still wouldn't want to spend any time with the guy. My hope is that Obama is as good a man as he seems to be and that he'll surround himself with capable and intelligent staff.

Oh, and one other factor in my decision was the fact that McCain is 72. I feel like that generation had their chance to lead, and now it's time to move forward. My dad is 72, and while I love him tremendously and think he has a lot of wisdom and experience, I don't want his generation in charge of the country anymore.

Well, that's sufficient ramblings. It was more coherent before I sat down to type, but constant interruptions by the kiddos will do that to a person.

halloweeners

The squiddos (as I like to call them...sometimes they are squid 1 and squid 2) picked their own characters for halloween this year. Peter Pan (because he has a sword!) and a nice witch. I was happy that we were able to get them outfitted with minimal effort on my part. A bit of hemming on the sleeves of Noodle's dress (it's actually a nice, velour type Sunday dress that we got at Savers for $4), some cutting of Spud's green tee shirt ($2.50 at Michaels Crafts), and I had to sew the Peter Pan hat (about $1 for the felt). Yippee! They had a fun time trick or treating and then we came home and watched The Secret of Nimh.

fall

This year we have actually had a Fall to enjoy. I've determined that one criteria for fall for me is "crunchy leaf days." If it rains or snows before you have crunchy leaves on the ground, you haven't had a real fall. Soggy, moldy slushy leaves just aren't the same. And this year we have had a WONDERFUL Fall. It helps me gear up for enduring a long winter. I was so glad to have the chance to go scout out some photo locations on Friday. The kids came with me in the morning and David & Daisy joined us in the afternoon. It was a lot of fun. I forget sometimes how much I like just going out with the family and doing mostly nothing.

So it may not be New England in the Fall, but I think we have our share of beautiful places right here in town:

everybody needs a David

It has been a BUSY week! Trying to get my photos from the preschool shoot processed, and getting my business account set up (I'm now a "Sole Proprietorship"--yay me!) and getting my NEW WEBSITE* trying to get my "regular" work done AND trying to keep some semblance of our homeschooling going (we did a unit study on Fish this week--very fun). Yup, I'm pretty wasted. And so is David, because he has been doing my accounts and processing payments and all that stuff. I've been wanting to write about how awesome he is and how grateful I am for him, but I've just been too busy. And wouldn't you know it, he came to my rescue once again just now.

Today was a BUSY day. I have a family portrait shoot this morning (12 people), then a 13 year old boy right after lunch, and then a small family (3 people) later in the afternoon. So I've been running around like a crazy pregnant woman. This on the heels of scouting out places around town yesterday that were great portrait locations. Anyways, I had some glitch with my memory card that was causing slightly more than half of the images from my last photo shoot NOT TO WORK!! I tried uploading them four different times, but still got the annoying GRAY BOX of DOOM (where there wasn't file data). Fortunately I'd taken enough pictures that I still had sufficient to qualify for a successful shoot, but my options were limited and I was missing some great ones. David took my card & card reader upstairs and worked his magic and got them ALL back! Hooray!

Besides his technical savvy, he has so many other great things about him. One of the things I first liked about him was how fun he is. After we got home from Brazil and had been "dating" for a couple of weeks, I told him that hanging out with him in some ways was a lot like hanging out with my girl friends. Not saying he is girl-like, but rather I just felt completely free with him and had none of those dumb "date inhibitions" that you usually have hanging out with members of the opposite sex. He was such a great friend that it was hard to know at the beginning if I really loved him the way you are "supposed" to love someone you marry. But I came to realize that best friendship is pretty much the ultimate type of love. And since I found him very attractive, I figured it would all work out.

October 25 was our "Airplane Anniversary," which is the date we flew (or started flying, since it spanned more than one day, down to Brazil. I had no idea at the time how much that trip would change my life. Rather I was just really grateful for the diversion from my then misery (being dumped by my boyfriend at the end of the summer while we were interns in D.C.--that's fodder for another post!) I knew it would be the trip of a lifetime, but I didn't know how life-altering it would be.

So yeah, if you don't have a David (or a good equivalent), I highly recommend one.


*I'll let you know when the website is officially ready. It will be after, you guessed it, David makes it look all snazzy for me.