Motorcycles and Art

I am one DMV photo away from being a licensed Mototrcycle operator in the state of VA. I took the 3 day safety course offered by the comm college and passed with flying colors. In fact, if I may toot my own horn a bit (hey, it IS my blog!), one of the instructors
(a motorcycle cop in Roanoke) told me that I was one of the best driver's he had ever seen come through the course and THE best female driver. He said I was better than the chicks he went through the police academy with! WOOHOO!!

The school was a blast. I came home sunburned and exhausted each day, after spending 5 to 6 hours on a bike completing slow speed maneuvers and learning all sorts of safety tips. When the weekend was over, me and 5 of my classmates went out for a celebratory steak dinner. I really enjoyed myself and I think I made a couple of new business contacts, and potentially a new friend.

Today, I started shopping for a bike. I went to the two local dealerships and sat on several machines and talked at length to the sales guys about what I was looking for. Everyone was helpful and informative and no one was pushy---aggressive sales tactics REALLY turn me off.

If all goes well (fingers still crossed!!), I will be purchasing a bike in October. And I cannot WAIT!!!!!!!!!!

After spending the weekend tied up in the bike class, I have plenty of work to catch up on. Reprints and scheduled sessions, a-plenty. And, of course, my big art show is coming up on Sunday and I'm working feverishly to finish the 20 framed pieces that I will need.

Honestly, I'm pretty nervous about the show. I lay awake at night and wonder if my work is going to be good enough to impress the upper crusty folks who have been invited to view it. It's one thing to create custom artistic images for specific clients. It's quite another to have images that I've created, based strictly on my own "eye" and personal sense of creativity, tossed out there for the general public to critique. I suppose I need to just be grateful for the opportunity to display and use it as an opportunity to learn.

And despite my nerves, I really am looking forward to it. Heck, the gourmet food and live music is enough to make it worth my while! :0)

The morning after the show, I'm headed to the beach for our annual family vacation. I am looking SOOO forward to it!!! Lying on the beach, swimming in the ocean, playing with the kids---just relaxing with the fam! Also, I plan to harvest the rest of my basil plants and make the biggest batch of fresh Pesto you've ever seen to take with me. I'm thinking, fresh seafood, maybe a little pasta, toss in the pesto and a few adult beverages...yeh,baby!!!

I've been too busy (read tired and lazy ) to have lost any more weight, but I'm a bit more toned and therefore slightly less terrified by the prospect of swimsuit shopping. I've also been going to the tanning booth and that has DEFINITELY paid off!! What is it about a good tan that makes you look (and feel, somehow) SO much more attractive?? It's like magic, man!
However, whether I will brave the two-piece or not remains to be seen.

On a completely different note: Welcome to the world little Everett!!!!!!!!!!
He is an adorable little critter and a very welcome addition to my list of loved ones!!

Well, it's 12:25 in the AM and I still have a bit of work to do before I can hit the sack.

G'night, all!

Sarcasm

You Have Your Sarcastic Moments

While you're not sarcastic at all times, you definitely have a cynical edge.In your opinion, not all people are annoying. Some are dead!And although you do have your genuine moments, you can't help getting your zingers in.Some people might be a little hurt by your sarcasm, but it's more likely they think you're hilarious.

How Sarcastic Are You?

Get Your Motor Runnin'...

I just returned home from a lovely evening at Melissa's house. She had set out an enticing spread of various cheeses (including drunken goat cheese--if you haven't tried this, go out and get some. Right now. Seriously.), stuffed grape leaves and sushi. Add a little Chilean red to the setting and...VOILA! Dee-lish! For dessert there was rasberry sorbet and chilled Gevurstraminer.

We talked and ate and sipped and laughed. Near the end of the evening, Jackson entertained us by sitting in on our conversation and giving his opinion quite freely concerning my dating life. I mentioned that I was seeing a fellow who was tall and rode motorcycles. Jack immediatley decided that this was a relationship that I should pursue, because then he would get motorcycle rides AND the ability to reach things without a stool! That kid is just priceless!!

Speaking of motorcycles. You're not going to believe this, because I almost can't believe it myself. I am the proud owner of a Motorcycle Learner's Permit! I have to resist the urge to whip it out and flash to complete strangers. I just feel so cool.

I'll be taking the first available communtiy college motorcycle safety course available. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.

Other exciting news includes the receiving of an invitation to display my work at an art show sponsored by the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) in September. The invitation came from a member of my garden club who enjoyed the presentation that I did for the club in June. This is a big deal for me. It's been a goal of mine, for sometime, to do a gallery display of my fine art pieces. This is an excellent first step towards that. It's going to take some effort to pull it all together, but it will be so rewarding to see it all on display.

Well, I'm headed off to bed now. Busy day tomorrow.

G'night all!

On First Dates

Every date is an interview. You are, at the same time, the interviewer and the interviewee. You must ask all the right questions, without appearing to really care too deeply what the reply might be--it's all just very casual, you know (inside your head you are feverishly taking notes and judging). You must answer all of his questions succinctly, without appearing to be TOO nervous--you know, so he doesn't realize you're lying (just kidding about the lying, heh-heh). You must answer his questions as honestly, yet, as non-threateningly as possible. I hate confrontation. On a first date? It's just not worth it. You can tell pretty quickly whether there'll be a second date in the works or not. I'd rather try to enjoy my meal and then go home and seethe about what he said later.

If he's handsome, the whole process is much more difficult. There's this little part of you that's thinking "Don't ask him THAT!! Don't answer that HONESTLY!! You'll never get a second date that way!! Just sit here, sip your wine, and try to look pretty---just try to look PRETTY, you fool!" That little voice must be silenced and quickly. Gotta stay focused!! Keep him talking on intelligent and potentially controversial subject matter. Things that will push my buttons, if he disagrees with me--politics, religion, the proper cooking/serving temperature of beef, etc. Do NOT let his hotness distract you!!

On the first date, every word that comes out of your mouth and his, every gesture, every expression. It's all being sifted and weighed. Your outfit, makeup, hair, vehicle, firmness of handshake, freshness of breath...all being judged. Talk about pressure.

However.

A date anytime I want to go out. A nice meal and a nice adult beverage. The possibility, the hope that this might be a potential friend or even a potential mate that I'm meeting tonight. Those things keep me motivated.

What's been up

I've had two modems fried by lightning, but am very pleased to report that I am back up and running on a SURGE PROTECTED phone line, now.

It's been a good summer, so far. Lots of work coming my way and plenty of social activities to fill in the gaps (I broke things off with the Lawman a couple months ago--he just wasn't all he was cracked up to be, I'm afraid. *SIGH*) Back to online dating. Lots of dates with lots of men. Nothing even approaching a relationship.
Some good dates, some--not so much.
A few examples of the not so much:


*the guy whose posted picture was obviously taken 10 years and 40lbs ago...I didn't even RECOGNIZE him when I pulled up to the restaurant! We shook hands and I watched, dismayed, as he waddled into the restaurant in front of me.

*The fellow who sounded pleasant on the phone but whose dinner conversation consisted of detailed retellings of how he had "gone off on" and "cussed out" his son's baseball coaches at various different Little League games. Ummm, yikes!

*The Younger Man I accepted a dinner invitation from who thought it was cool to tell me all about his My Space profile and his love of horror flicks and rap music. It was like being on a date with your irritating kid brother!

*I have enjoyed some pleasant evenings out, too. Exquisite meals, nice wine and intelligent conversations. These were mostly older men, Dr's and such. Nice gentlemen.


Camping with the kids at Mom&Dad's, down by the pond was a blast! We took a midnight paddle around the pond, through the mist and were rewarded with the gruesome sight of a HUGE watersnake trying to swallow a HUGE bullfrog. Upon the children's urgent request, I paddled closer to the shore and smacked the snake on the head with the oar (by the light of a VERY shaky flashlight, held by Jackson) causing him to release his victim and both creatures swam away into the night. Very cool. The only thing that would've been cooler is if Austin had been able to join us (baseball obligations, of course!). He'll be there next time, though.:0)

The following night, Q camped out with us--his very first time sleeping in a tent. He was a real trooper!!! Remarkably fearless--actually fearless to the point that I was having to watch him or he'd just wander right off into the night chasing fireflies and such! :0) We all had a great time. At one point, in the late hours of the night sitting around the fire, Q entertained us all with dramatic, firelit poses representing different countries around the world. A sort of dramatic interpretation. VERY cute!

Q awoke once during the night to rearrange his sleeping bag and just then a really loud and creepy bird made this goshawful screeching-croaking noise as it flew low over our tent. The other kids were awake now, too. There was dead silence in the tent for a few seconds and then Q's very small and curiously toneless voice

"Um.What was that?"

"Just a crane... a little water bird" I replied as cheerfully as is possible at 2AM with a tent full of creeped-out kids.

Thankfully, Q just took me at my word and snuggled back down into his sleeping bag. All was quiet for a few minutes and I thought everyone was asleep. And then Jack's groggy little voice

"That...was the scariest sound I've...EVER...heard"

And then they were all back asleep. Except, me of course who really wasn't 100% convinced about my own water bird story. (shrug)

It was a great time.:0) Here's a few pics:

the boys peeking out of the tent


a sampling of Q's fireside dramatic interpretation--he is one neato kid!



the ride back to civilization the next morning, i.e up the hill to Mam-ma&Pa-paw's
Tuckered-out bunch of young adventurers!!



Father's Day was celebrated at the Beach house with all of the fam. Steamed crabs, ribeye's on the grill, kids all running around and happy. Later Melissa and I enjoyed apple matini's and chips and salsa and hilarious conversation. A GREAT day!!

Alrighty, I'll end this with two prayer requests; one unspoken and one very important one for the health of a friend.

Good night, all! :0)

Time has been flying by since my last post. It's been a busy and productive few weeks.

My newest wedding assistant is GREAT! He's 17yo,very responsible and intelligent and has a natural eye for capturing good images. He wants to major in photojournalism, so the situation benefits us both---he gets experience and I get reliable help. Huge blessing, there! The new equipment is working out great, too.

My veggie garden is really flourishing. I was very concerned about the deer and rabbit infestation in the area, but I think the dogs' presence has kept them at bay, so far.

Funny story!! I took the dogs for our evening walk in the field and came upon several deer munching on Farmer Sammy's corn. I let the dogs off of their leashes to give chase. Elvis, as is his custom, runs his quarry to the edge of the woods and then marks his territory and trots back happily to my side. Hilda tears across the field, full steam ahead (as is her custom) yelping excitedly. She's very quick and was right on the heels of a big doe as they both plunged into the woods. A couple of seconds go by and there's a scuffling sound coming from the woods. Suddenly, out bursts Hilda from the treeline, running as fast as her legs will carry her, ears laid back, eyes huge, tail between her legs and right behind her is the big doe, actually CHASING her back into the field!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! Dog and deer are headed on a beeline for me until Elvis caught sight of the doe and charged towards her. The deer, of course, fled back into the woods and the dogs bounded back to me. I thought I was going to wet myself from laughter. That is just not something you see everyday!! If I'd had a video camera I'd have a sure winner for AFV's $10,000 prize.

My 34th birthday has come and gone. Quite frankly, I feel old. However, the day itself was nice, if busy. I got to see Austin play ball and received several nice well-wishing phone calls and e-mails. A beautiful bouquet of flowers, a homemade b-day card and prime quality beef, all delivered to my doorstep.

About the beef. Two boxes of excellent burgers and a box of lobster stuffed filets. Did I mention that it's PRIME beef? I am SO excited about that. I can't decide whether to just dig in or save them for special occasions. What a lovely dilemma to have, eh? ;0)

The trim is down on my wood floors and they look great. One of my clients actually did it for me while his wife perused their newly created wedding album.Worked out GREAT!!

Alright, that's just all I have time for. I have more stuff to write about, but I'll have to catch up later.

Thanks for the b-day wish, Bridget!!!! And thanks for the compliment on my new sidebar photo, Dy!! :0)

One of Those Days

I'm trying not to complain. I'm trying to see the humor in it. Hence this post.

I awoke this morning to find that what was supposed to be the FINAL coat of polyurethane that I had slaved over the night before did NOT look good. It was too shiny, full of lint and still tacky. That was incredibly frustrating, because I had no choice but to go ahead and walk on it and let the dogs tramp over it to get outside. So, footprints galore! I also had a consultation this afternoon, meaning I had to drag all of my furniture back into the living room from the various locations where it had been stuffed,wedged and/or precariously balanced in the office, kitchen and bedroom (for the ump-teenth time). So, drag marks galore! And there's really no need to mention the dog hair, is there? You all know it's there.

The kid down the road who was supposed to cut the grass for me on Sunday is STILL a no-show. I called today and his mother informed me that he was at a ballgame with his girlfriend. Well, good. I'm SO glad he's out having such a lovely time with his little Miss Thang. In the meantime, my yard is starting to look like the serengeti. I swear, I think I saw a lion in there the other day. I don't know, maybe it was just the heat. Or Hilda.

Speaking of heat, today was HOT and humid. I left my purse, filled with all of my makeup in the car and returned to find--well you can guess. It was a big mess. Word to the wise, here: strawberry lip gloss will, in fact, reach a completely liquid state and form an impenetrable and unremovable glaze on the bottom of ones purse, if it is heated to a high enough temperature. Who knew?

I put the dogs out for their early afternoon airing and came back to find that Hilda had disappeared. My hollering until hoarse did not succeed in calling her back.

I tried to place a supply order and was startled to find out that my bank account was overdrawn. Knowing this had to be a mistake, I quickly checked my account online. Turns out an album company had mistakenly withdrawn a LARGE sum of money out of the account WITHOUT my having ever made a purchase.

After shooting off an irate email to the offending album company demanding a refund, I grabbed the nearest wedding deposit check and sped off to the bank to deposit it. The lady at the bank, informed me that because the name was partially scribbled out, she couldn't accept the check. Even though it's clearly initialed and everything's in the same handwriting and the same ink and it's a check drawn from an account in your OWN bank??? Nope. So sorry. You'll just have to get another check. I just drove away. I was so furious I was ready to cry. Why didn't I notice I was in the Newbie-teller line?? The other bank ladies are super nice and know me by name and would never ever send me packing over a misspelled word that was scribbled and initialed, anyway, for garsh sakes!!!

It has been my observation that bank tellers come in only two varieties: Supernice-no-problem-have-a-nice-day-oldtimers and Screw-you-those-are-the-rules-newcomers. When does the one evolve into the other? How long a process is that? Why are there no links between the two in the fossil record?

The couple who's afternoon appointment was the cause of my dragging all of my furniture back across the new floor(gouging it all. to. PIECES), called at the last minute to reschedule for another day--for the third time. Ahhhhhlllrighty, then.

And that was my day. Cause I'm done now. I'm sitting in front of the computer with a glass of week-old wine (who knew it kept that long?Huh.) and everything is quiet. Hilda eventually returned, all panting and exhausted and quite remarkably dung-free. The album company has agreed to refund the money back to my account, immediately. I'm contemplating calling up other kids on my road and offering them an extra couple of bucks to cut my lawn tomorrow. My makeup has congealed back into usable, though misshapen, forms. The nice bride who's scribbled-on check was deemed undepositable by the powers that be (damn them) has agreed to write me a new one. So, other than a wee little bit of residual bitterness about the picky teller and the gouged-up floor....I'm good. Life is good.

My folks are coming to stay the night with me Friday. They're coming into town to see Jack's baseball game and Savannah's ballet performance. I really wanted the floors to be done and the yard to look neat. I wanted to possibly cook something and have a bottle of their favorite wine chilled and waiting for them. It would appear that none of those things might now happen. The floor'll look crappy, the yard'll look sloppy and I'll be too freakin' poor to buy wine and victuals (depending on how fast that album co. actually refunds their ill-gotten gains!). But, it's okay. It's just wood and grass and alcohol--just things. I'll be spending time with my folks and be seeing the kids enjoying and excelling in their chosen activities. "No success in life can compensate for failure at home"(another one of my pithy little bulletin board quotes). "Failure" would be me making myself and those around me miserable because things didn't go my way,instead of just letting go and appreciating the time we have together as family members. So the heck with the lawn and the floors--they'll hold. :0)

Pluggin' Along

It's really bugging me that I have all of this GREAT blogging material (garden club, floor woes, Hilda's antics, the boys' baseball, etc.) and no time to use it! But, I can't complain because business is good. I've booked 2 more weddings and 2 more wedding consultations since I last blogged. I just ordered some new equipment and am SO excited for it to arrive. There's going to be a learning curve, but the creative possibilities it will open up to me will make the process a joy. It has become apparent, however that I will have to buy another back-up camera pretty soon. I am not really an equipment-o-phile, I just spend on what I really need. I just don't particularly enjoy the researching and price shopping when it's time to get new gear. Heck, it took about 5 hours of sitting in front of the computer and making phone calls to figure out this last equipment order! Call me crazy, but that's just not fun for me. But I must admit is really is fun once the new toys are in my toybox!!!! COME OOOOON, UPS!!!!

I think I'm going to do a whole separate post on my floors complete with before and after pics. Heck, I could start a whole 'nother BLOG on my home improvement stuff. But suffice it to say, that the floors. look. AWESOME!!!!
They still need at least one more coat of poly, but I'll get to that when I can, it's no big rush now that they're sealed. They look SO good!!!!

The veggies are sprouting and the flowers are flourishing. I have no outside water supply, so it has become my evening habit to carry several gallons of water in the watering can from inside the house out to my precious flower and veggie patches. I'm finding I rather enjoy the labor. Strange.

My Little Buddy is warming up to me a bit more, I think. I see little glimmers of it once in a while, peeking through cracks in that seemingly impenetrable wall she keeps built up around her feelings. I've taken pictures of her and her friends doing their little dance routines and printed out an album for them. We've also made puppets and had an ice cream social with the other Little Buddies. She's actually asked me to come back and be her Big Buddy for the next grade level. I agreed, of course. I think that's progress. :0)

Savannah and I are going to start up with our art lessons again. I am really looking forward to it, though I will admit to a little anxiety. She is just SO good. It is really going to require a serious effort on my part to stay on top of things and teach at a level of skill high enough to truly benefit her. It will be a challenge, but I'm ready to take it on!

Well, little Q's now a preschool grad.It just doesn't seem possible. It feels like just last week he was just a tiny little round faced baby with the biggest blue eyes you ever saw. And now he's just a handsome little man. Crazy stuff. Congratulations, Q-man!

"Tom Jones" by Henry Fielding

I just finished reading it. If anyone else out there has read it, I would love to hear your thoughts/opinions on it. Personally, I was a little surprised at the graphic nature of some of the scenes, and the cavalier attitude towards women, in general. I know a good portion of it is meant to be humorous, but I question Mr.Fielding's brand of humor, as much of the "humor" seems to be at the expense of women. Perhaps it's just a peek into the male mindset of the day. Makes me very thankful to live in modern times, as screwy as they sometimes seem to be.

Much of my vegetable garden is planted,along with a patch of fresh herbs for cooking. My wildflower patch is coming up quite nicely and I added some gorgeous cat mint to my flower garden.

I'm going to attempt to rent the equipment I need to finish these blasted floors tomorrow. The last 2 times I tried, the Big Scary Sander was already rented out. If all goes as planned, and nothing unforeseen occurs, my floors will be FINISHED by Friday, WOOHOO!!

My Little Buddy meeting is tomorrow, as usual. Not much progress there, as far as I can tell, but I'm still plugging along. Sewing seeds, I hope.(?)

I went to my political party's district convention on Saturday, as a Delegate. It was great. There were great speakers and I actually got to have a say in the resolutions that my party will be trying to get passed. That feels good. I snapped some good pictures that MIGHT get used in statewide and/or nationally distributed campaign material. That would feel good, too.

I spent Mother's Day at the folks'. Dad cooked steak and baked potatoes and it was EXCELLENT. A perfectly succulent and tender medium rare. Mmmmmmm. Mom received some lovely bouquets and gifts and we all had a nice time just"passing pleasure", as Uncle R says. I think Mom had a nice day.

I took Q toad hunting and we had a big time at the pond making up silly words, and laughing at the dogs' antics in the water. W tickled me to death when he came to give me a goodbye hug. He pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes and said in a quiet and grave little voice "Happy Mudder's Day, Ann Tah-sina". He is just TOO cute.
I went bass fishing the next evening. I slowly and quietly paddled around the edges of the pond armed with a cigar, a good rod and reel and an artificial minnow lure---one of my favorite things to do in the world! Despite a cantankerous beaver and dogs that thought they needed to swim out and circle the boat every now and then, I managed to catch quite a few small bass and a couple of keepers, too.
The dogs were actually pretty funny. Elvis is an old hand at swimming , and I just expect him to swim out to me a couple of times anytime I'm in the boat. I occasionally even let him come out in the boat with me. But Little H is new to the water and had to be rescued twice, when she got caught in the underwater limbs of a fallen tree. She managed to get herself halfway over the limb and then was just stuck there in the deep water, little legs just flailing about like crazy, swimming as HARD as she could, eyes all HUGE, getting nowhere fast! It was like watching a cartoon! Funny dogs.

Business is good. Better than last year, this time. I was paid a HUGE compliment by a client, last week, that I want to record for posterity (or just to cheer me up when I come back and read it someday). I was hired to shoot the same wedding as one of the Big Well-known Been In Business for 25 Years Photographers in VA. (hiring TWO different photographers to cover a wedding is UNHEARD of, BTW, and normally one or both have a clause in their contract forbidding any other prof. photographer to be there. It was just a fluke, that this photographer didn't realize, until too late that the bride had hired me, too!). I delivered my images to the client and she said that MY images were better than his AND that I was much more pleasant to deal with!!! I'm still pretty much on cloud nine. :0D
Would it be wrong to put her quote on my business cards, do you think? "Thomasina's pictures are better than blank-blank's and she's nicer too". No? Ohhhh, okay. ROFL!!!!!!

Too busy to post

So I'll just hit a few highlights and fill in the details later.

*Spent the weekend at the folks' with the fam, visiting with Uncle Roy and his brother. Good food, good company, soft bed. NICE.

*I hope Melissa doesn't kill me for posting this first, but I'm bursting with the news: Austin hit his first homerun!!!!!!!!! He slid headfirst into home and scored!!! It was SOOOO awesome to see!!

*On the way home from Mom&Dad's, I stopped to visit a good friend whom I haven't seen in months. We talked and laughed and made plans to get together over the summer.

*Hilda made her very first kill. I am such a proud Mommy! She appeared at the doorstep last night with a rabbit in her mouth. She had run it down and snapped it's neck. I really didn't think she had it in her! Perhaps my veggie garden will survive, after all!

*A couple of challenging portrait sessions have come and gone with successful results. Also, I've booked two more weddings and am scheduled to go to a Pro seminar next week with a friend--should be informative and fun!

*Heading to a district political meeting on Saturday with our local treasurer. I'm a Delegate. I guess I'll find out what that really means when I get there(?).

* My floors are still in a halfway state of completion. I just cant seem to find the time to get them finished! All of my living room furniture is in the kitchen and every time I have a session or consultation I have to rearrange the whole house. It's getting a little frustrating. Ah, well. There's always next week.

All in all, I'm WAY busy.

Easter '06!

Once again, Easter at Melissa's house was just awesome. All the family together enjoying good conversation and laughter in the setting of her newly (beautifully!) remodeled house. The kids all running around and playing and giggling, high on sugar. And of course there was the food:

Macaroni and cheese, fried cabbage (you know, the really exquisite kind with bacon and sugar? Heck yeh!), deviled eggs, pea salad, green salad, ham bicuits, asparagus with bernaise sauce, green beans-n-taters, glazed carrots...


Is that a pretty salad, or what!!


The Desserts required a whole 'nother buffet table unto themselves!


Let the feasting begin!!


Let the games begin! Easter Egg Hunt 2006!

This picture cracks me up!!!


The Big Kids did all the hiding and tallying of the eggs, this year...


Egg hunting works up quite an appetite--Jack and Q go back for seconds on the mac-n-cheese!


W had a blast with that toy gun! I SO dig that little "I'm gonna get you" smile!


A little tip: when penniless on Easter and in need of gifts for your niece and nephews, a little scrap material wrapped around a few pieces of candy and garnished with fresh flowers will work in a pinch! Ask me how I know this, LOL!


It was a great holiday spent with family and friends!! Thanks again, Melissa and family!!!

The Big Catch-up Post

A power surge during a thunder storm fried my internal modem and it's taken me over TWO WEEKS to locate and install a new external modem.On top of that, I forgot my password to Blogger (DUH!). Hence, the shameful lack 'o blogging!

Mac is a WONDERFUL computer system--until something goes wrong. Then you had better have signed up for their maintenance/repair warranty-service thingy or your up a creek--which I was. But, all is well again and my portal to the rest of the world (internet) is once again open. *happy sigh* I feel that I could write a whole other post expounding upon the joys of the internet...but not today. I've got too much catching up to do.

The last few weeks in a nutshell:

* Race is home!!!!!!!!!! :0D

*Two weddings completed successfully

*Had a great time babysitting Melissa's's kids

----hiking in the National Forest where Jack found many uber cool rocks to add to his collection, Savannah enjoyed watching Elvis/Hilda's antics in the creek and Austin got bruised and battered by a huge stone while climbing up a rocky cliff (I know that last bit sounds bad--and it WAS scary--but Austin is fine and now has this awesome story to tell his friends!!)
----We all went to see the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the dollar theatre. I cried through practically the whole thing--- excellent and inspirational movie!!
----Had the opportunity to watch Jack doing his thing at baseball practice.The kid is GOOD!!! Got some awesome pics.
--The kids took me down to their creek where we hiked and waded and picked flowers and caught crawdads,etc.
----Thoroughly enjoyed the privilege of seeing the kids welcoming Race back home.


*Attended a lecture by the author of one of my FAVORITE books. Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game came to speak at a local college. Very interesting. I stayed afterwards and got my book autographed and had the great joy of telling the author just how much I enjoyed his work. That was cool.

*Attended the bi-annual Mass Meeting of my local political party and listened to our delegate give an update on the year's happening in the state legislature.Very informative. I also decided to be a delegate for the district's upcoming convention.

* A couple of fishing expeditions undertaken with success. A friend invited me to join their family fishing at a private lake and sent the booty home with me (bass,bluegill and crappy--YUM!!). Another friend invited me over to fish with he and his brother at their pond. They caught nothing while I hauled in two 3lb bass and several bluegill.
I tried not to rub it in, heh-heh. I cleaned them and fried them up for us all, so as to aid in the healing of any possible bruised male egos. :0D

*Lots of new flowers and herbs were planted in my flower beds and containers about the front of my house. These join my returning perennials to lend a very pleasing aspect to the front of my house This is my first real flower garden, so please pardon me if I'm bragging just a teeny bit ( *blush*).

* One of the biggest things that has been going on with me, has been the remodeling of my house. All the carpet has been ripped up in the living room and hallway. I rented a vibrating sander, but had NO luck getting the nasty old carpet glue off of the wood. So, with much fear and trembling, I went back to Aztec and rented the Big Sander. I had been cautioned by no less than four people that the Big Sander is a floor eating monster. But, I took the risk and MAN you should see my floors, now!!!! Even unfinished, they're BEAUTIFUL!! The Big Sander did the trick. It WAS big and heavy and I am now possessed of the forearms of Popeye (and quite possibly a small hernia from lifting it in and out of the car), but my floors look GREAT!! I can't wait to get the stain/poly down on them!

*Small bridal show, a couple of consultations and portrait sessions that all went very well.

* Easter at Melissa's house. A great time with the family and great food and the little ones running all over having a blast. I'll do a separate post with pictures and a detailed description of the food. Hang on, Dy, it's coming!!:0D

A Four Dog Night

I had a couple of incredibly cute visitors mysteriously appear on my back deck one night last week. Is there perhaps a sign in my yard that indicates that cute, unwanted animals should be dropped here, because the chick that lives here is a big, giant succer and will take them in and care for them?
I can't find it, but the sign MUST be here somewhere! This is how I ended up with little Hilda, remember.








They were all cold and wet and shivering and terrified when I found them, so I brought them inside and made a bed for them in the bathroom. After partaking quite voraciously of the offered food, they settled in and went to sleep. It was a LONG night of whimpering and whining and restlesness from the puppies AND my dogs who are NOT used to canine visitors in their home. The next day, I let the little critters roam freely about the house and yard and interact with Elvis and Hilda (which was hilarious!!--Hilda's never encountered a dog smaller than herself before), while I finished the day's printing assignment. Later in the afternoon,
I packed them up and headed over to the local SPCA, where I was assured that they would be adopted very quickly. It was hard to let them go, but I just CAN'T have any more pets.
They were sweethearts, but one 4 Dog Night is all my tiny little household can handle. It was fun to have them visit for the day, though! :0)

If I were a Beer

I found this over at Barefoot Meanderings Bass (66% dark & bitter, 33% working class, 66% genuine)

So the deal with this test is that each taker, based on his or her scores, is assigned a beer that fits their personality (Corona, Bud Select, and so on), and along with the personality description, there's a poster or an ad for that beer. As you can imagine, most of the images feature booty models, sports cars, or, maybe even more depressing, retro kitsch. It's a testament to Bass Ale, and therefore to YOU, that when I went to look for ads for Bass, all I found was this. An ad from 1937. Bass is legit, and if your scores are true, so are you. I tip my glass to that. Personality-wise, you have refined tastes (after all, Bass is kind of expensive), but you know how to savor what you get. Your personality isn't exactly bubbly, but you're well-liked by your close circle of friends. Your sense of humor is rather dark, but that's just another way to say sophisticated, right? Cheers.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 40% on dark You scored higher than 6% on workingclass You scored higher than 24% on genuine

Link: The If You Were A Beer Test written by gwendolynbooks

General goings-on

Other than the flesh-eating rash that covers 60% of my person, I'm doing well. Supposedly (according to the M.D.) it's an allergic reaction of some sort, but I'll be darned if I can figure out what's causing it. Any tips from you herbal/natural remedy saavy folks, out there, would be much appreciated!

Positively, gorgeous weather here the last few days. I'm about to take the pups out for a workout, clean house and then shower up and head out to pick up Savannah from her dance lesson. Then it's a watch-a-movie-while-trimming-reprints evening for me. 507 reprints, to be exact. Maybe I need to rent two movies? I'm not complaining though, 'cause I get a check for those reprints tomorrow! Woohoo!

Progress on the hardwood floors is slow, but steady. I hope to have all of the carpet ripped up and scraped away by the end of this week. Then the very daunting task of sanding shall begin. (GULP!)

Events of note:
I recieved a call from Q last week, thanking me for sending him the Yoda action figure. It was such a neat surprise to answer the phone and hear Q's little voice on the other end. He described the figurine to me in great detail and seemed very tickled to get it. SOOOO cute!!

A couple of weeks back, I spent a day each with Savannah and Jackson.

Savannah and I stopped by the country store and grabbed some snacks, before heading to my place. There we sampled and then downloaded several songs of her choosing from iTunes ranging from Phantom of the Opera numbers to Celtic flutes.While the music was downloading, we took a long walk in the woods with the dogs. Later, we enjoyed lunch at a Mexican restaurant and an afternoon of shopping. We both have very active imaginations and a huge appreciation for visual beauty and music, which always predisposes us to enjoy one another's company. But even if we didn't have so much in common, I still would have enjoyed our time together. She is just a delightful young lady. It was a great day and I want very much to do it again soon.

Jack and I stopped by the Rock Shop to purchase a few new pieces for his collection and then ran by the country store to grab some junkfood before heading to my place. First we went for a long walk in the fields and woods to visit the cow graveyard and the old log cabin. The graveyard yielded a very cool piece of skull from which we extracted a cow tooth (Jack informed me that this would make an EXCELLENT necklace). After returning to the house and tanking up on soda and snackfood, we loaded up the dogs and headed over to the National Forest trail. There we hiked into the woods, up and down hills and ravines and scoured the stream for cool rocks. Pockets loaded down, we made the long trek back and piled back into the car, with muddy boots and panting dogs. Back at the house, we watched a pirate movie until it was time to meet his Mom. Jack never so much as slowed down, the whole day through. He was scrambling over hill and dale---up, down, around and over---chattering happily the whole time about this and that and announcing enthusiastically each new found treasure. He must've said three times "This is a GREAT day!!!" He's such an upbeat little guy with a quick eye for details. Really keeps you on your toes. We did have a GREAT day together!

I have yet to spend a day with just Austin, but the big guy (he's taller than me now--very disconcerting!!) stays so busy with baseball and martial arts, I can't catch him! Well, one of these days.

Alrighty, I gotta get back to work here. Have a good day, folks!!

Home Improvement

Guess what I'm doing??? WASHING CLOTHES!!!!!!!!!!! The Lowe's guys just left and I'm basking in the glow of my brand-spanking new, freshy installed washer and dryer! Woohoo!!! Both appliances had to be installed in my bedroom (instead of the bathroom, where I'd originally planned for them to go) and are blocking the door to my tiny junk closet. And I don't even care! I'm just so glad to have them!! Will I ever grow tired of the gentle, melodic thrum of the washer agitating? Or the light, rhythmic beat of the dryer turining? Oh, I think not.

Another bit of good news. I have removed the carpet and scraped the padding/glue off of about two thirds of my living room floor. And to my great surprise and joy, have found that there is beautiful HARDWOOD plank flooring under there! It's gorgeous! I think it's oak---the natural grain is just lovely. Me and Nice Neighbor Boy have been working on it in the evenings this week. It's slow going and tedious---hunched over on hands and knees scraping off the old padding and glue and gunk. But it will be worth it!

Also, I've located a leather futon cover to replace my old ratty cloth one. The dog hair will just slide right off that succer! And dirt can be cleaned off easily with a damp sponge. It's not cheap, but when you combine the lower maintenance issue with the fact that it's going to look AWESOME in my living room---well, 'nuff said.

Right now, I'm working on three different picture orders that are all due tomorrow. So, I guess I'd better get back to work. I have some other things I'd like to post, but I'm just too swamped right now. Later, then!

My pirate name is:

Mad Anne Flint

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Happy Birthday, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!


It was a great weekend back at the old homestead. Eating and talking and laughing and happy kids running around everywhere. Good stuff!!
The downstairs is all fixed up with new wood floors and freshly painted walls and matching bed clothes for the new futons. VERY comfy sleeping down there!
I, of course, ate and drank WAY too many calories, so I'm back on the wagon today. Ugh.

Twice, over the course of the weekend, me and Jack and Q all piled onto the Gator and took a chilly ride down to the Stream to hunt for cool rocks. We encountered zillions of adorable, frolicking, week-old calves along the way and were fortunate enough to sight a gorgeous red fox, skimming across the field. And of course, the rock selection at the creek never fails to disappoint.
After supper, I took Jack down to my old workshop and fired up some of my lapidary equipment. We cut open and ground and buffed a few rocks, before the cold just got to be too much for my poor, unseasoned hands. We both enjoyed it, though. I was SO wishing that someone would sneak in and take a picture of him, all hunched over the equipment, intense expession on his face, way-too-big protective goggles strapped over his eyes. Very cute!!

W's still talking up a storm and stealing the show


Q relaxing at the Stream


Jack with one of his many new-found treasures

Just a few snow pics

Gosh, I'm busy

It's a good thing. I'm not complaining.

Every day has been filled to the brim with computer work and and printing and trimming and stuffing albums, etc. And then there are consultations and calls and emails and my Little Buddy to deal with, too.

Little Buddy Update:
I brought her a copy of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and she agreed to read at least the first chapter and we'll talk about it next week. I took my wedding albums in last week for her to look at and she definitley enjoyed the attention that it drew from the other kids. I guess that's something? She has also broguht up the fact that next year would be her last year to be eligible for the Buddy program. I can tell that it worries her to think about that. She's also mentioned that she would really like for me to take her skating or to Putt-Putt (no out of school contact is allowed in the Buddy program). It's making me consider the possibility of eventually becoming a full fledged Big Sister. It's just a thought, at this point. Gonna need some prayer on that one. It's a huge committment and I see things in this little girl that really worry me---bad attitude, unhealthy craving for attention (bad or good), poor social skills and a number of other things. I feel like I need to talk to a professional counsellor, myself, just to know how best to deal with her! Oh, well, I guess I'll just keep praying and keep showing up for our Buddy time, for now. I can't possibly make things any worse for her, anyway.

In Other News:
Little Hilda is recovering nicely from her operation--stitches come out on Monday.
There's a whopper of a snowstorm headed our way, here, for the weekend. I'm hoping to maybe get in a little sledding and take some purty pictures. We'll see.

I haven't even started on my floors, yet. I just can't find the time.UGH!!