I Confess ....

1. It's 2 p.m. I'm still in my PJ bottoms. This is a daily experience unless I go to town. I have rejected jeans - even comfy ones. *spit* I get now why ppl wear PJ bottoms to the grocery store.

2. Income Taxes? Done. Late? YES!

3. My spelling pet peeve is aisle/isle. This is common if you read any type of wedding boards at all. Aisle - what you walk down when you get married. Isle, where you go on your honeymoon (surrounded by water)

4. While we're on the topic, it's vacuum. Two u's. (which makes me think of "two uttes?" (from my cousin vinny)

5. I spent a section of my time yesterday (too long) researching apple cider vinegar.

6. I colored my hair over the weekend. Almost farked it up, but actually pretty much fixed it. Sigh. (that's what Amber is saying at me right now :p) "This isn't the same" and "Oh it'll be fine" are things you should not say right before you put bleach in your hair.

7. My paint shop pro has crashed on me twice. I'm trying to make a very small photo, into a 12 x 12 photo. It's not working. I decided to stop before I kicked something hard.

8. I think my camera might be on the blink. I'm upset. It drained a battery super dead overnight.

9. Our small stock investment we made has tripled. If you're wondering, we invested in Ford. Now we wish we'd have put in a couple grand. LOL. If we had, it'd be worth nothing - like GM.

10. I'll think of #10, as soon as I hit post. I promise.

Take 10 min

Today, when I came home from trip from town running errands, I do something that I do frequently.

I turned off the car and sat in the driveway just listening and looking.

Sometimes I just love to hear the nothing, or the traffic that's a mile away, or the birds arguing, or the wind blowing, or the world just growing around me. Right now it's in it's growing stage and it feels good to sit there and let the warm hit my face.

So after about 5 minutes of that, I looked over to my left, saw some smoke that looked like a smoke signal. I decided that I'd take a pic since I'd grabbed my camera on the way out the door. I checked the time, and decided I'd wait a few minutes and take a couple pictures.

It started out with this:




Then I noticed someone's been creeping around my driveway:


No toenails, but I think it's a raccoon.
BURNED.


A few feet away, I noticed one of the hundreds (thousands) of dandelions in my yard. I wondered what one would look like nice and close up:




Time to check on the eggs:



Let's check out the back yard since we're here:

Dirty little bastards. Note to self, buy ant killer


The tree right above that:



The little buds just a few days ago, are new little leaves


I finished up, and as I was unlocking the door, I heard a plane, and I ALWAYS look up (you know my penchant for planes) and I saw this:



The one on the left, is RIGHT over the house, I snapped it with my 18-55mm (standard wide to medium zoom) and RAN in the house for my telephoto and got the one on the right. (I never have exactly what I need at the right moment!)

As I came into the house finally, I looked at the clock, and only 10 minutes had passed.

Then I got to thinking, that everyone can find 10 minutes to create something. Even if it's not a photo, maybe it's a scrapbook page, or a blog post, a little bit of a drawing, or reading 4 pages in a book.

So much can happen in just 10 min.

I am SO sorry. I owe an apology to many ppl

I owe a lot of ppl a sincere apology. Many, many people in our area were affected and I did not realize that what I was doing at the time was going to have such an impact on my family, friends and community.

I did something that was completely selfish, and quite vain, and in the process, many others got hurt.

I guess looking back now, it seems quite obvious that I was making a mistake at the time, but at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. I knew the impact my actions might have, but I only thought of myself and the temporary satisfaction of getting what I wanted, not how that might effect those around me.

On Friday, in anticipation of the weekend...



I washed my car.


The resulting action was this:


And this:

And this:

And this:

{Can you see me? And no, I'm not the worm}

So I apologize again, for what I've done, and I just need to warn you, to expect flooding again, sometime in October when I wash my car for the second time this year.

Project 365

ABC Meme

A - Age: old enough to know better

B - Bed size: Queen, we used to have a double, because I already owned it, and because it's the best mattress ever. But Gene is a bed hog so we bought a queen.

C - Chore you hate: dusting under furniture. Seems pointless, til you lose a flip flop under the couch.

D - Dearest friends - My husband. My gf's Stacy and Linda. My little sister, Amber. My cat Jingles. Yep that's about it. I don't trust ppl very well anymore.

E - Essential start your day item: Diet coke (white trash coffee)

F - Favorite color(s): Pink, and spring green, and brown, and yellow, and pumpkin orange, and turquoise blue, and and and... I like color.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver. But I like gold with anything pink *only*

H - Height: 5'4"

I - Instruments you play: I can't even play a kazoo. (for reals. I screwed it up in a song we were singing in HS choir.

J - Job title: Domestic Goddess

K - Kid(s): 2. Seth is 19 and Tanner is 14, Three if you count Gene

L - Living arrangements: Gene, Lana, Mack/Jingles/Oreo/Pepper and Tanner every other week

M - Mom's name: Jeanette

N - Nicknames: Hun or mom. That's it. I also respond to "Dammit!" but probably not in the way you'd like me to.

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Giving birth? or being born? I did both of those. Other than that, never spent the night in the hospital

P - Pet Peeve: Ppl that interrupt when I'm speaking. ARGH. Also slow talkers.

Q - Quote from a movie: Well, my favorite is probably a little obscene, from 16 candles. LOL.

R - Right or left handed: Right - because I'm RIGHT.

S - Siblings: Chris, Curtis, Torrie, Amber

T - Time you wake up: Usually sometime between 7:30a.m. and 9:00 a.m..

U - Underwear: Love/hate (write your own punchlines without thinking about my underwear thankyouverymuch)

V - Vegetable you dislike: brussel sprouts are disgusting. blech.

W - Workout style: Bwhahahahahah.
hahah.
Yeah. ok

X - X-rays you've had: my back when I pulled a muscle (that sucks trust me), my hand when I smashed it in a car door, my teeth at the dentist. Probably quite a few others I can't remember

Y - Yesterday's best moment: Antiquing with my hubs. OR watching him mow the raggy yard. ahhh.. I feel like civil ppl again.

Z - Zoo favorite: I've only been to 4. I would say that Omaha is the best. St. Louis is free! Denver was a looooooooooong time ago, KC *sucks butt*

*******

I Love meme's. They make for easy posts. LOL.

I'm a cop-arazzi

{Downtown Kansas City}

Last week when we were in KC, we were driving along (I don't remember the road) and came up a hill and saw this:

He was hidden behind a bank of bushes about a half a block away, so you never saw him until it was too late. We comment on how sneaky that was, and decided that we had to come back around the block to catch his picture.

So we pull into a parking lot and by this time, he had a new victim.

{look out ahead!}

We sat for a while waiting, then I decided to put the long lens on, sneak up to the other side of the bushes and wait. Soon his victim was gone, and he got back into position.

I popped out from behind the bushes, lifted my camera, prayed he'd see it was a camera, and snapped off 2 pics.

I got back to the car, showed gene but it doesn't look very impressive on a 2" screen. He wanted to get one more, but before we got there, some unfortunate sap got this:

Unfortunately, I *might* have distracted the driver with my camera and he wasn't watching.

Oops. Sorry dude.

what a dilemma!!

This robin's dilemma - scenes from my back yard.

Well let's see. I've pooped plenty here.
What should I do?

Oh yes, I see

It's just short hop.

Yep. I need to catch up the pooping on the clothesline.

Project 365

It's true

see more Lolcats and funny pictures



{just because this makes me belly laugh}

Amanda + Derek - Part II - Missouri Wedding Photographer

I shared pics of Amanda and Derek earlier in the week, and finished them up today. I'm very excited about these pics, they turned out so much better than I expected. I don't know what it is, every shoot I sit and think "Oh god you're blowing it!!" and then get home and find 50 good photos that I absolutely love. This one was no exception.

The pic above, I had to do something I really didn't want to do. Really.

I laid on the floor in a laundromat. BLECH. I really want to go wash my hands *right now* LOL BUT, I ended up with an image that I super love. Amanda said that she loved feet pictures, and I do too. Which started a whole conversation about a friend that has a major foot phobia. Weirdo. lol.

It's kind of funny how I know Amanda. Her Aunt TJ, was my BFF up through elementary school. In fact, I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours at TJ's house. I just thought they were the coolest family *ever*.

Now TJ's older sister was Karen. Karen and I didn't know each other as well as children because she was not our ages, but, later on in life, Karen and I worked together. In fact, I think I was working with Karen, when she was pregnant with Amanda.

God I feel old.

To make things even more confusing, Amanda and her sister Katie, look exactly like their mom and Aunt TJ. In fact, I ran into them at my sister's salon a year or 2 ago and literally said "OMG! I know who you belong to". LOL. I'm sure they thought I was a nut.

*cuz I am*

Now Derek (isn't he cute? He needs a cowboy hat. I'm just sayin').

Derek has an older brother that looks just like him. I know because I remember when both of them were born. *sigh* *internal eye roll* Where is my wrinkle cream again?

ANYWAY...

Derek and his brother went to school with my two younger sisters - and their mom, was my brother's fifth grade teacher. How convoluted is that? lol.

Our shoot was set for Monday. Unfortunately Monday was crazy windy and because I'm sure they didn't want their engagement photos to have my hair whipping in front of the lens, we had to get creative. Most of our shoot was inside at different locations around town including the college where they both have gone to school - NWMSU.

If you haven't figured it out, the mascot is the bearcat. I said we were getting creative.

This is on the track in the gym.

Oh how badly I wanted 34 to stand for something. Like 34 times he asked her out before she said yes, or 34 times he changed her car tire (that she flattened on her own) before he figured out that she liked him. Maybe they're planning on 34 grandchildren??? :)

Nope.

Instead, 3 and 4 just happened to be in the center of the gym track.

Amanda said that they did not start dating until college, in fact, they went to high school together but he *ignored her*. Hmmpft. Maybe it took a while for him to figure out that she's a hottie.

I think this is turning into my signature shot. It seems like I can't do a shoot, without a picture in this spot. Unfortunately, I think the building is going to fall in soon, the doors were loose and the roof is caving in. :(

They get married next month, in the same place that Gene and I did, with the same minister!!

I'm starting to feel like I should bring a gift or something, or check DNA to make sure they don't qualify for a family discount. LOL.

Roses on Tuesday

You should go buy yourself some roses today. Just because you can. Once in a while, my lovely husband brings me home flowers for no reason. Tuesday, I decided I'd just buy my own. (and use them as a tax write off because I used it for a prop - I'm just crazy like that.)

Earth day - Part deux

Yesterday, in honor of Earth Day 2009, and also in honor of it being super hot out and I just wanted to take some pics, I went out in my pj's and took some pics of my tree. The tree above is in my front yard. It's not really 98 feet high, it just looks that way. But dude, wouldn't that be cool.

I've been taking pics of this tree, from the same angle for every season, and I only have "summer" left to take. I'm thinking four 16 x 20 canvases of each season. I've become a little too addicted to large pieces of artwork.

Here he is from a different angle. Do you think that it's a "he"? I'm thinking yes.

When I was laying down and taking this photo:

I realized that I was really laying on this:




Of course, I didn't figure that out until about 15 min later that I literally had ants in my pants. LOL. I still itch thinking about it.


While I was shooting pics of the trees, Daddy Robin was having a fit. I mean a flat out, ear splitting hissy super fit. I wasn't even close to him, or Mamma Robin, at one point I turned and said "what the hell did I do to you?"

It was then that I looked up and saw this:

Of course, when I saw it, it was much closer and right over the house and about 98 times larger. Daddy Robin was going to kick some serious ass - or at least try. We *heart* guys that protect their women.

Which got me to thinking what Mamma Robin was up to, and how the baby eggs were doing. Last year, they grew up and flew away in a matter of what seemed like days. She had 2 broods last year!

So I put on the long lense again, and decide to see how close I can get to her, before she takes off on me.

I got to about here:

then an ant bit me on the butt.

Sigh.

When I moved, she flitted away. so instead I'm going to pretend like I got up this close:

which is really an extreme crop, but don't tell ppl, I want them to think I'm super stealth - or have a $29,000 lens.. one or the other. {and in case you're wondering, it's like $650 a *week* just to rent a lens like that... i looked}

So then I decided since she was gone, to see how the eggs were doing... or naked flying rat looking things. {unsure of what stage of gestation we were at at this point}

Oh looky:

Wait for it....

Wait...

Wait....

There's 4 now!!

I'm sure she's going to totally regret that. Last year two barely fit in there. I'm wondering if one is going to get pushed out :/ {I understand honey, there's been days. There have *been days*}

I'll stay on top of "Robin Cam - 2009" for you.
In the meantime, I really MUST get back to work. I let the blog distract me for 1/2 hour and I have so much to get done!