LG Text Ed - Decoding your Teen's Texting Lingo

Be sure to check out this week's topic on LG Text Ed "Decoding your Teen's Texting Lingo" and remember, that if you make a comment on any post, .50 will be donated to DoSomething.org

Playing with spiders

I've been sick. I have a cold, it's moved to my head, which in a way is good. Mainly because I don't want to cough my head off for days on end, especially with a wedding this weekend. Despite that, I've gotten up a couple days early to take Tanner to band practice so that Gene can sleep in.

Yeah, I'm giving like that.

The up side to this, is that I see the sun rise right about as I get home, and there's a lot of dew this time of year. I ran in and grabbed my camera. Results below:

It's things like this, that make me sick.
I'm hoping it's worth it.

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me

This spring, I was out in the yard where we have a couple "trees" I have to use the term "trees" in quotes because our trees are mostly small, and sparse. We live in a bean field that has soil with clay like tendencies so all our "trees" are quite small save one.

Out near the chicken coop, there are two trees, they actually look a lot more like bushes than trees. One kinda fluffy and wind blown to the north, and the other very scraggly. I'm sure both have seen better days. These 2 trees are on the other acre that we just let grow because we don't know what to do with it at the moment.

The tree has low branches, and the chickens like to hang out underneath of it. I thought this was very odd. Sometimes they'll jump up in the low branches and sit. I like to think they are pretending they are chicken hawks - you know, to scare all their friends.

"Bwhahahaha.. I'm a chicken Hawk. I'm gonna eat your eyes out!"

"Cluck"

Well, this spring for some reason I was out there (which I usually am not) and a pink flash caught my eye. What in the world? That looks kinda like...
Yes.. I think it is...

I check the internet because the interwebz is all knowing.

Yep.. It's an apple blossom.

No way! I have 2 apple trees!

Two very very poorly neglected apple trees. I had no idea. I thought they were crappy tree wanna be bushes. Knock me over with a peach pit. Or a apple seed or something.

So I did some research to see when I should be planning on doing some trimming, see if I can talk these trees into being... well... trees. Planning ahead a bit you know, for my bumper apple crop 4 years from now. In the meantime, the chickens hang out in the shade, looking for bugs, do the happy chicken dance and such.

About 2 weeks ago, Tanner comes in and said that when he was out mowing, something fell right out of that tree and landed next to the mower. It was an....

apple!!

Poor pitiful singular apple struggling to make it in this big bad world.
ONE.
UNO.

Then it dawned on me.

I wonder if THAT'S WHY all those chickens hang out there! *slaps forehead* Like.. duh. Full inspection revealed no more apples. Just the one. But I have my eye on that black speckled chicken.

Or that one..
Wait.. it was that one.

DOH!!

Regardless, all that chicken poop is going to make for some great apples next year.
Or apple - singular.

A giveaway - because you are awesome

And because I'm in a giving mood today. Maybe it's because my feet are freezing and I want to feel all warm and fuzzy again - you know, how summer makes me feel (heavy sigh). Gene gave up one of his rings from his etsy shop, Cease Fire Heirlooms, for a giveaway!

Everyone together:
"Thannnnks Gennnne!"

Refurbished 10K yellow gold ring with lots of Diamond accents surrounding an oval ruby.

Cluster arrangnment with oval and points design.

.15 ctw of diamonds, 12 total.
White diamonds, not enhanced.
.2 ctw ruby, not enhanced deep pink color

This ring would easily sell for over $250 in retail establishments.
Size 7 and in fine condition.

******

So what do you have to do to win??
Well, you can enter 3 ways:
1. Leave a comment here.
2. Push the "follow" button on the right.
3. Post a link from your blog to this blog.

That's it, so you can TRIPLE your chances to win. Anyone can enter including family or friends. Please do not leave more than one comment, I'll know and I'll spank you with a sock full of rocks if you do. I'm all seeing all knowing (I'm a mom). If you link up from your blog, you post that link and can use that link as your comment here!

You must also check back to see if you are the winner which will be given away Friday night!

Now.. GO! ENTER! WIN!

He's sick.. here's your hint

Him: Are you going to the grocery store today?

Me: I wasn't planning on it.

Him: GREAT, will you get me some apple juice?

Me: *sigh*

Peek-a-boo - where are youuuuu???

Last month, something was going on that prompted Gene to say some fateful words, "Go get your flip and record this."

GREAT IDEA!

Wait.

I suddenly had that ill feeling in the pit of my stomach.
What flip?
I had one. I bought it. I used it when we went on our honeymoon. I filmed snow through the winter. I took it to some friends summer blues jam they had at their home but that was over two months ago. WHERE WAS IT?

I checked my camera bag. I looked in the pockets of my purse. I cleaned out the cabinet were I keep my gear. I looked under the car seats!! I thought I might have taken it to Arkansas when we went to see Gene's kids and grandkids.

uh oh.

I sent a text to my step-son and he started tearing HIS house apart. Sadly, he had no luck either, and I finally resolved that it was gone. It had probably fallen out of my purse at some point and I didn't see it.

A few weeks went by and it was no longer in the forefront of my mind. One afternoon, I'm sitting at the computer, and Tanner is walking through the dining room. I hear "Hey!" and when I turn, there's Tanner holding my FLIP!!

You will NOT believe where he found it.
No really.
Take a super wild guess.


He found it...



EXACTLY where I left it!!
LOL

That whole time, it was sitting on my hutch in my dining room. Right where I left it for "safe keeping". Oh.. and checking the videos, I hadn't used it one time since the summer blues fest/party. Good god I'm getting old and losing my mind.

Now will someone help me find the motorcycle keys I put someplace for "safe keeping"?

Kyla's One-Year photos

Kyla is the granddaugher of our friends Debbie and Duane. She's also terribly spoiled by Grandma.

Just observing.

So last month we went down to take some pics of this little nugget. I wanted to take her home, but grandma (and mom and dad) wouldn't let me. What's up with that?

Grandma's favorite, made her cry.
Big softy.

Dear Kyla,
Here is your little finger. Here is grandma, wrapped tightly. Now, quick, ask for a car!
Love,
Lana

Blogher's new Text Ed program - Embassador!

You might have noticed at the top right of my page, a new advertisement. I'm very excited to share with you, that I, Mz-Cellaneous, have been chosen by Blogher as a TextEd Embassador!

What does this mean? Well, it means that each week, Blogher will bring you informative and informational pieces about how cellphones are affecting us and our childrens' lives.

This week, check out the latest topic on "Mobile Meaness". As a bonus, if you would take a few minutes of your time to comment $0.50 will be donated to DoSomething.org for every comment received!

Josh + Lauren = Married!

This past year, I will admit, I've hit the jackpot with brides. Really! I have yet to have a bride where I looked at them and thought "Oh how am I going to make her look good?" Each one has been absolutely beautiful.

I met with Lauren and Josh this past winter, and my first thought was "why isn't she modeling?" In reality, Lauren is a nurse instead. I'm sure she's the nurse that every guy crosses their fingers they'll get on their floor. When you spend some time with her, you realize that she really should be a nurse. She is sweet, kind and kind of quiet.

If you spent 3 minutes with Josh, you can tell how much he loves his new wife. He looks at her with absolute love and admiration. He might even be a bit sentimental, but I can neither confirm or deny that information. ;)

It was obvious how much they loved their families and friends, and trust me, all that love was sent back 10 fold to them both.

They were married in a beautiful historic church in downtown St. Joseph, Missouri called Twin Spires Cathedral. A historic church that has been on the St. Joe landscape for over 100 years now. I've driven by it and admired it a thousand times, but this was the first time I've been lucky enough to be inside. The details are amazing and the history is obvious.

The whole event was beautiful and fun... except for the heat. It was REALLY hot that day - but everyone did so well.... except for me, I turn beet red when I'm hot and was glad I wasn't IN the photos. LOL.

Thank you so much Lauren and Josh for letting me photograph your day, you guys are awesome wonderful people.

I shoot famous people

I don't know why I was shocked, when I opened the door to Jesse James Antique Mall and was smacked in the face by my own photography.

Very cool.

If you're local, they'll be at Jesse James tomorrow! I'm crossing my fingers for no rain for them. It rained buckets today.

Let's go treasure hunting shall we?

When I was a little girl, I had this deep fascination with hidden treasures. You know the story, a map with a winding dotted path leading to more clues and more clues until you reached the big black X on the ground marking the spot where you dig.

My cousin and I used to make our own treasure maps. We would come up with a handful of pennies, a baby food jar and bury it under the porch with a treasure map. The master plan all along was to hide it and pass the "map" down for generations to come for their treasure. The reality was, that the pennies would never seem to stay buried more than a couple days before someone cracked under the pressure.

{That would be me.}

As I grew up, I still had this love for treasures and I still love to watch shows about buried treasures and sunken ships full of gold. I even find it interesting that people will dig up old latrines to find antique bottles that were buried in the "muck" 150 years ago.

A couple years back, I bought Gene a metal detector (which the man does NOT have enough patience for) and on our honeymoon, we panned for gold - and actually found some!

To say that I like to find something valuable out of nothing, is an understatement. In keeping with that thought process, I realized that this way of thinking has made me fall in love with the wind turbines... pulling free energy literally out of the air, and creating a car that runs off of used fast food grease. All amazing things, that are valuable - and yet virtually free.

So I think I know now, after my epiphany, why I like chickens so much. It's not just that there's a social hierarchy that seems to change nearly daily (and the soap opera drama that seems to go with it). It's not just the way they run like tyrannosaurus rex, or the way they scurry towards me when they see me come outside - in hopes of a treat. Nope. I'll tell you why....

it's the eggs.

It's a simple equation. Yep, going for eggs every day, is a bit like a simple-minded treasure hunt. Here are these little hidden "treasures" that are virtually free, just sitting there waiting for the taking. Well, if you don't try to put your hand under a chicken, then they are free for the taking. If you do, you might end up pulling back a bloody stump.

So everyday, right after lunch and dozens of "egg songs" from the birdies drifting into my house, I wander out to the coop and see what kind of cache of goodies I'll find.

Not that I'm exactly surprised, but it never stops being fun. However, I have about 10 dozen eggs in my fridge at the moment. They are laying 13-15 PER DAY now.

So um...
need any treasures eggs?

Bees = busy and such

This past week was a bit nuts, but the weekend was really busy. Saturday we had a garage sale. Garage sales stress me out to the max, and I always swear to Jesus that I'm never doing it again.

We don't haved a truck, or a mini van, or a cargo van, or a boeing 747, so we needed to borrow a trailer somewhere. I asked my mom, and come to find out, she was having a garage sale the same day too up in Iowa, so instead, she let me borrow her truck. Friday morning, I had to run up there to pick that up, then we went to my Aunt's house and picked pears and apples because she has enough to feed a small army. I'm not exaggerating that at all. After I got home I got to thinking, that any man that owns a blossoming apple tree, will never go hungry.

You will also always have bees, birds and bird poop.

All Friday afternoon I spent cleaning out boxes in my storage unit. I would like for it to disappear soon and that is a possiblity - well, maybe a small one - once we get the motorcycle and stuff for the antique booth out of it. There were so many boxes in there that I hadn't even looked in for 3 years and I realized it was time to be honest with myself.... my old scrapbook business was not reviving itself so it was time to go. Most of it being raw materials to make my old products.

Friday night we sorted through boxes, laying everything out on tables, and then Tanner and I walked around scanning to see that everything was marked. We rolled home around 11:30 pm. Saturday morning, we get up early, put out the signs and prepare for the masses. Actually, there was not a crush of customers, but we did do pretty well, as well as Tanner did too - he's saving to buy a car.

Tanner ditched us and went to Omaha with upward bound, so that left Gene and I to clean up. Imagine how "excited" we were when we found out that the only place in town to take general donations, were not accepting anything. So back to the storage unit we went, all the while watching heavy thunderstorm clouds rolling in. After we got home, we both needed a good long nap.

Saturday night I met with a wonderful couple who are getting married next summer. My normal 1 hour consulation, took almost 2 because we were having such a good time chatting. I was pretty hungry when I got home.

Sunday morning I got up to clean the house. It was a disaster zone - after a garage sale. Our friends Debbie and Duane came by after going to the Omaha zoo. We wanted to go along, but stupid garage sale (!!!) kept us away. They stayed and visited a couple hours, and then Sunday afternoon we decided to go ito town and have lunch. Afterwards we gave in, and spent all our garage sale money, PLUS MORE on a utility trailer for the jeep. Oh, and we had to do the papework twice because the first trailer they gave us had tons of paint damage. It would have been nice to have had that trailer, oh, 24 hours earlier. Then that night, I had an engagement shoot where the weather could have played along a little better.

I slept in until 9:30 today. I really could have slept til noon.

There's a lot of catching up to do this week, including blogging, so you'll see more out of me. I have some making up to do.

TODAY: Laundry on the line, a trip to the bank, a shower, buying milk and cereal as it's my life blood, catching up on 93 emails and appreciating a 92 degree day in SEPTEMBER.

Go September! Kick October's ass!

Calgon take me away.
To tahiti...
for like $7.50.

You are so deer to me!

The other day, when I was taking Bekah's senior pictures, I forgot one little thing I needed.. the bottle for the girl in the bottle photo. Color me annoyed. It was sitting right on the kitchen island where I left it. So the next night, I had to drive all the way to the lake - which is about 15 miles one way, for ONE photo. To make myself not feel so bad, I took about 30 of that damn bottle.

On the way out, these precious little deer were toying with me along side the road. I slowly crept up they just watched me, then they'd bound off 10 feet, and turn and watch me as I rolled along slowly. Light was very low, so not very sharp photos, but it was kind of fun to interact with them.

Speaking of "precious little deer(s)", I noticed that I have hit 110 followers! (I'm sure many more with the rss feeders). I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for following, and all your comments. They really do mean a lot to me and I read every single comment. (Except for the spam - I don't get many of those after blogger put the kibosh on it.)

I read back many of you! I follow so many now it's hard to keep up with everyone.

I have set a goal for myself - before I go to San Diego, I want to hit 500 followers. Yep, that's FIVE TIMES what I have now.. in less than a year! So if you would be a "deer" and pass along this url to someone you think might be interested, I'll give you a big fat ear of field corn. I swear.

A grasshopper, a centipede and a praying mantis walk into a bar....

Yesterday I get a call from Gene informing me he'd captured a praying mantis somewhere along his day and had it in a coffee can for me.

Yes, he is 7, why do you ask?

So he stops by, and I release ms mantis back into the wild. The "wild" being our tree in the front yard.

She immediately went into a "cleaning" routine that I found really fascinating. She would lick her "paw" just like a cat and clean her head.

I'm sure she was resting because it was probably a heck of a ride.

Finally, after a while, we're just talking, laughing and sharing a few old jokes.

Sadly I still don't know the punchline. Probably something about chewing your mate's head off. We're tight like that.