Sometimes - I will pass you. Get over it.

Facebook is a funny place. In high school, I was kind of the middle of the road kid.  I wasn't popular but I wasn't some big skeezer everyone was scared of either.

Well, I don't think so anyway. lol.

But on facebook, I've been able to reconnect with most of my classmates (around 55 of them) and fb has pulled us all back together again.  We're that class that finds a way to get together about every single summer at least once if not more.  Most of my class feels more like cousins, than classmates.  After all, most of us spent 13 solid years together.

Shelly was a popular girl and while we didn't hate each other, we also didn't run in the same circles.  Funny thing was, way back when, Shelly was someone I always felt kind of connected to.  She's also one person I always seem to blurt out stuff to that I normally would keep private.

Reconnecting on fb, we kind of realized we have so much in common that it's bordering on ridiculous.  She's one of those people that I connect with in such a way, that I'll think about her randomly, and 4 minutes later I'll have an email from her.

Only Gene and I seem to do this.

Anyway, Shelly lives out in Oregon on the coast.  Like 1/2 mile from the ocean.  Yes, be jealous.  Well, except she hates the weather there so she comes home on a regular basis.  Over the weekend she had a reunion so she invited me and a few of our classmates to come hang out at the ONLY place in our home town to meet up - the local pub.

{Rhonda, Sydney (our music teacher), Shelly, Me, Angela}

We had a great time getting together and I was SO POPULAR after the cop came into the bar looking for me.

Oh, I think I forgot to tell you that part. ;)

I grew up in Iowa, and I live only 10 minutes from the Iowa/Missouri border.  If I wanted to visit friends, I was going to head north.  Between my house and the border, out in the flat part of the country, there was a car from Iowa in front of me.

In Missouri the speed limit on the highway is 60 and he was going 57 with no signs of speeding up.  I decided rather than ride his butt, I'd just pass him and get ahead of him a bit.  WELL, that plan infuriated this guy.  As I tried to pass him, he sped up going faster and faster until I had to go nearly 70 to get around him!  Then he rode my butt.  I knew I'd made him mad, and it seemed like he was trying to get my license number.

There's a small town right on the border where the speed limit goes way down.  I decided that I'd smoke him when we got there and try to lose the nutjob.  Unfortunately, that plan was temporarily foiled by another person from Iowa (they all drive soooo slloooooow.    About 3/4 of the way through town, I had the dotted line so I passed the second car so I could smoke the other guy that was now livid.

It worked and then I look up a couple miles later to see him also passing that car and flooring it to ride my butt AGAIN.  Guy's crazy.    We make it to the Iowa border and he calms down.  Iowa speed limit is 55, I decide to drive a little over the limit to get him away from me. 

In hindsight, I should have just pulled over and let him pass me and sat for a few minutes, but he was starting to freak me out a bit.

As I pulled into my home town a few minutes later (just on the other side of the border), there's a cop sitting right inside town.  I pull up main street, go into the bar and meet up with Shelly.  As we're talking, said cop comes in and and I hear him talking to Mike, the owner about a green jeep.

I actually went to school with Mike for the record.

I said "That green jeep is mine"... sighed, rolled my eyes to myself, and went outside with him.

Seems the guy that I pissed off called the police department and said I was speeding in Missouri.  I relay the story to the cop again, but kind of laughing.  And said "Well, I WAS speeding... *in Missouri*"  Knowing full well there's not a darn thing anyone can do about anything.

He reminded me to slow down, and "I don't think he's going to file a report".  To which I laughed... "and if he did, it's his word against mine."  The cop agrees.

I'm disappointed that I'm not getting a ticket that I can fight for entertainment value alone.

As he's walking away I say "Oh Hey Tyler, didn't you just have a baby?"
"uhhh.. yes?"

"You're sister in law, I shot her wedding.  I'm a photographer"
"oh YEAH!  Good thing I didn't give you a ticket.  I might need photos, that would be awkward"

Gotta love small towns.  His wife, sister in law, mother in law and MIL's sister are all my facebook friends.  And thus the circle of life facebook continues.

Never get attached to a stray cat

School's out for the summer.

Yay for kids!

Boo for parents!

Ok, that was mean.  Tanner's a pretty good kid who is annoying only about 62% of the time.  Then he goes to bed. (love you Tanner! ;)

Anyway, one of the benefits to having Tanner out of school is he gets bored easily.  How is that a benefit?  Well, when he gets bored, he'll find a project to work on.   His first project of the summer was "Project Boo Gate".

Boo Gate is a gate, specifically to keep the chickens off the deck to:

A.) stop them from pooping where I set my groceries on my way in the door and

B.) stop them from eating all boo kitty's food.

Damn chickens every chance they would get would be on the deck eating his kibble, which explains why he was hungry all. the. time.  We had been blocking the deck off with a trash can and a cooler, but that was getting old.   So Tan got out some lumber from the shed and started building me a gate - he only had to cuss about it 19 times and redo it just once.

It looks sooo much nicer than it did before.  Now if I could just talk that ever so handsome child of mine into painting it for me.

Did I mention he's handsome?  And funny?  And cute?  And smart?  And handsome?

So, what does this have to do with Boo?

Well, the morning that Tanner worked on the gate, Gene fed Boo on the way out the door.  At noon when I went outside, there was no Boo kitty around.  Normally he's out begging for another bowl of food.

He didn't come back in the evening either.  I started to get a little worried about him.

Then he didn't come back the next day.

Or the next.

And now I'm really worried about him.  He'd come home a week earlier with a huge puncture in his neck where he'd tangled with something.  I'd been treating that.  He's a scrapper and it's nothing for him to come home with a new scrape or scratch.  He's not scared of anything apparently.

I'd also been hearing coyotes crossing along the back edge of the property at night.  But he'd disappeared during the day so I was hoping he wasn't coyote bait.

I'm going to confess that I was sure he was dead, and kept getting all teary-eyed when I thought about how he'd bit it.  I was just hoping that someone around here realized what a sweet cat he was and took him in as an indoor kitty.

I went up the road and asked the neighbors if they'd seen him - no luck.  They knew him though as he always heads that direction at night.  Sometimes we'd see him laying out in the middle of the field.  Just laying there doing nothing.

You know.. like cats do.

So I gave up.  Boo was gone.  I had a Boo kitty gate, and no Boo kitty.   I found myself going outside just to look around for him.

Then a few days ago we had a rain.  It started out as a sprinkle and ended up a gully washer.

I left the back door open so I could see out.  Shortly after the rain stops, I hear....

mewmewmew.

BOO KITTY!

I went out to check him out (and hug him, but he rejected my hugs as he was hungry).  Effing cat was DRY. 

All this time he's been very near by taunting me.

"Oh, I'll show her feeding me the cheap cat food."

"I'm sure she'll miss me."

"HA.. can you hear her calling me?"

"OK, going in."

Damn cat.

I'm pretty confident that Boo Kitty was up the road on furlough and found some Girl Boo Kitty lovin.  And for that, and for taunting me, Boo Kitty is going to visit the vet for a little snip snip.

That'll teach him.

Now if we could just do that for men that wander off. LOL.

In the meantime enjoy all the Boo kitty pics that you didn't get to see while he was gone.

{horrible photo of my big fat head, but it's boo snuggling with me in the grass}

Welcome home Boo Kitty.

The strangest hummingbird I've ever seen

A couple evenings ago, I was coming in the back door and something flitting around caught my eye.  It was a hummingbird!

But... wait.

That's the strangest "hummingbird" I've ever seen in my whole life.  I was mesmerized by how different it looked, and also how it didn't seem to be scared of me like most other hummingbirds seemed to be.

I ran to get my camera and get a couple shots.  Watching it closely, that's when I realized it wasn't a hummingbird after all - it was a hummingbird MOTH.  Quite possibly one of the more stranger creatures I've ever experienced.

Well, besides my husband.

Another cute couple

Probably my best engagement session I've ever shot.
See the entire set over on my business blog.

Hot fun in the summer time

Summer is here.

Bring. it. on.



Enjoy photos, pithy commentary on life and chicken wrangling?  Stick around.
You don't?!
get a rope.


.

All we need are some fuzzy dice and a disco ball

Easter Sunday, we decided to make a loop.

You know, make a loop... visit people in a big old circle roundabout.  We visited Gene's youngest granddaughter Bailey (a surprise visit), then off to visit Gene's parents, but we all decided to just meet at his brother's house instead and chat for a bit.

In that one hour-ish time frame, the talk of grandma's car came up... again.  Gene's grandma's car had been in his parent's garage for a decade.  Grandma has long passed.  Basement needs to be shifted to fix some foundation work.  Grandma's car needs a new home.

voila.

Gene, never a man to turn down a freebie challenge, he got with his brother and crafted a plan to bring the car 2 hours north to our house.  Gene will fix it up and it'll be his back up commuter car.

A week or so later, in rolls Gene's brother Steve.  He's the Jewish brother.  You know, the one that doesn't eat pork.  (psst, he's really not Jewish)

Ever hear a tall tale about a guy that doesn't like bacon?

Hello everyone, meet Steve.  Short of his bacon deficiencies, he's a really nice guy and has been a wonderful brother in law.  In fact, all my BILs are pretty great.  I lucked out in that department.

Anyway, delivery payment was some t-bone steaks and big fat baked potatoes.

In return, Gene has yet one more summer project to work on.  I'm thinking orange flames.  Who's with me?

50k original miles.
the true "grandma car"

In the meantime, it's being put to great use!

It's like a nightclub for chickens. 

They call it "Studio LTD"

Garage sale haul!

A couple weekends ago, it was Maryville's (my town) city wide garage sale day. As a certified bargain shopper AND an antique dealer, this is more fun than Black Friday. (I had to capitalize "Black Friday" since it's a national holiday and all.)

You should have seen my jeep. (I drive a 2 door wrangler). I'm fairly confident that I looked like a Clampett with all my treasures.

I thought it'd be kind of fun to show you my goodies, and my plans for them.  P&L statement at the end of this post. ha!


1.  Blue jars.  I buy them every time I see them (if they are under a couple bucks).  I can turn them over hand over fist if I mark them a fair enough price - which is in the $4-5 range.
Paid -$4.00 for 4. 
Sell - $20.00

2. Decorative Candle holders - decorative pieces like this go well - again, got to mark them cheaper than what they'd ever get them for in the store.  These are new, but they look "old".
Paid -$.50
Sell - $5.00

3. Vintage pyrex refrigerator ware - becoming popular again.  History's answer to tupperware.  I keep thinking I should use this myself, but it's nice to spend the $ instead.
Paid - $3.00 for 3
Sell - $18.00

4. Glazed stoneware.  The one on the right I paid $1.00 for.  I love the look of glazed stoneware pottery like McCoy.  (I can't remember the name of this company though).  The planter on the left, I actually saw in an antique store and looked at it for the longest time.  I almost bought it on sale for $18.00.  I didn't buy it.  Good thing because I found this one for $.50
Paid - $1.50
Sell - $5.00 - because the planter stays here.



5.  Kitschy kissing fish from 1950's Japan.  I love this sort of stuff, I'm in love with kitsch but I try not to have too much of it around!
Paid - $.50
Sell - $6.00

6. Empty original fisher price box for a trailblazer set.  I used to have a friend into FP, so I knew it was highly collectible.  Findinging an original box, to go with someone's complete set will increase the value of their collectible quite a bit.  This will go on ebay.  They were wanting $1.00 but when I asked him if he'd take less, I ended up paying a quarter.
Paid - $.25
Sell - $10.00

7. Set of small Currier and Ives lithograph prints in an envelope.  Not something I normally would buy, but I see potential profit.
Buy - $.50
Sell - $5.00

8.  Brass Easel.  Nice deep easel, harder to find.  Marked korea - very pretty.  Probably should have marked it more, I already sold it.
Buy - .50
Sell - $4.00





9.  A quilt rack.  I original bought this to put in my booth, but then I remembered that my sister Amber had been looking for one a couple years ago.  I asked her if she still needed one and she said yes so it's now hers. 
Paid - $3.00
Sell - $0.00

10. Jewelry box.  Have you priced jewelry boxes lately?  They are RIDICULOUSLY expensive.  I know this because I wanted to buy one for each of Gene's granddaughters since they had no place to keep their jewelry.  Expect to spend $20 on a cardboard jewelrybox.  So imagine my excitement when I found this one for $2.00  It's in mint condition.  I'll be giving it to Gene's youngest granddaughter Bailey for either her birthday or Christmas.  Probably with a pretty piece of jewelry in it.
Paid - $2.00
Sell - $0.00

11. Rattan chair.  Remember senior photos from 1983?  Yeah, rattan was the shit back then.  Ironically, it's still kind of shit now.  A year ago I declared that I would find a rattan chair and rock it out on my next senior girl.  Took me a whole year to find one.  I'll use it a few times and then resell it.
Paid - $5.00
Sell - $0.00 (for now)

12.  Lead crystal decanter.  Bought this because I thought Gene might like it.  He loves crystal and we have a really pretty bar we built.  We already have a couple decanters on it (including one I surprised him with for Christmas) so he turned it down.  Quick trip through the dishwasher and it was ready to sell.
Paid - $2.50
Sell  - $17.50



13.  I ran into my mom at a garage sale, she told me of one that she was waiting on in a nicer part of town.  About 15 min before they opened, I showed up there and there was a line outside of people waiting.  Since I'm not THAT dedicated, I sat in my car and waited for the rush after the doors opened.  When I made it inside, I found my lawyer lived there.  I also found this lamp.  It needs a tiny bit of work to make it happen, but what a bargain.  I texted my mom (who wasn't there) and told her what she missed out on.  She loves dragonflies and stained glass.  booyah.  The grasshopper passes the baton.
Paid $5.00 - I will invest about $10 more to fix the broken bit.
Sell - $50.00

14. Basket.  I don't just buy any old basket.  I want cute baskets that are more wooden and less rattan.  Better quality.
Paid $.50
Sell $3.75

15. Sail boat stain glassed piece.  Very pretty, pretty specific genre but the right person will love it.  Sometimes it pays off to show up too early to a garage sale.  I was 20 minutes early - it was a mad house.  I missed out on a bunch of good stuff not being aggressive enough.  Note to self: more elbows... less eye contact.
Paid $7.50
Sell $33.00

16. Cross stitched kitchen piece.  A little harder to sell, but very well done, and professionally framed.  I want this piece to move quickly so I priced it to sell.
Paid $1.00
Sell $13.00



17. A crate of old pepsi and diet pepsi bottles.  He was using them to bottle his own beer.  He had a bunch more he offered up, but I didn't know how well they would sell.  I love how they look sitting in the blue crate.  At the moment, they are sitting on my deck under my blue bench.
Paid - $5.00
Sell - $23.75 ($1.25 ea)

18. Canoe shelf.  There are always a lot of unlisted garage sales skyping off the neighbor's listing.  Sketchy if you ask me, but you do what you gotta do.  After I bought the lamp from the lawyer, I saw another garage sale across the yard.  I walked in, and before I even got to it, I said "I'm taking that".  Canoe shelves are pretty cool.  This is a reproduction obviously, but a bargain at $5.00  Original intention was to sell, but it will probably end up in my own bathroom holding towels as it kind of goes with the "theme" I have going on in my house, which is "rustic boaty cowboy meets renaissance art" 

Haven't you heard? it's all the rage.
Paid $5.00
Sell $0.00


Total investment?  $42.75
Potential profit? $214.00

Plus I get a bunch of stuff for essentially free after I sell a few pieces.

Sometimes I know this makes people angry, so I never say I'm buying to resell.  Why, I'll never understand.  You DO understand that Wal-mart makes a profit right?  Buy low, sell high... kind of what America is all about.

But also keep in mind I have expenses like booth rent, and commissions, so even if I sold every single one of those things, I'd still be in the hole for the month!  Yikes.

We recently moved stores (by force, our store moved and didn't have room for all of us).  I've decided that this is the LAST TIME I'm moving.  If I don't make a go of it there, I'm out for good.

Which means... a kick ASS garage sale at my house next year.
(underwhelming "yay")

Time for a little fun in the sun!

So, I'm not the only one excited about the prospect of swimming. Swimming pool goes up this weekend.

Hoping for less turtles and geese though.

9 minutes of yoga saved my life

Sounds like an infomercial no?

Let me explain a little bit.

{these photos have nothing to do with this post, I just like them, and they seemed appropriate}

About a month ago I shot a wedding.  Like most weddings I shoot, my back is killing me by the end of the night.  The worst part is during the ceremony, waiting for the kiss with the camera up to my face.  FYI, that camera with a long lens and a battery grip is heavy.  Hold it up to your face for 5 min solid and it's like doing some torturous forced exercise.

I'm not complaining. I'm used to it.  I know how to deal with it, and that involves rest and sometimes advil.

But this time it was different.

You see, I've had issues with my back since around the time I graduated from high school.  I remember the first time I realized it, was when my ex touched a spot on my lower back and I thought I would come unhinged.  We weren't even married yet, so I was probably only 18 years old.

It's something after a while you just learn to live with, sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse.

When I was pregnant with Tanner, I lost the feeling in my left thigh.  It was weird, but I just figured it was from the pressure of that big headed kid kicking his way out.  After I had him, it went away.

Fast forward a few years.  I was having some problems and switched chiropractors out of necessity one day (same 2 drs in one office).  My regular Dr was out so I went to his new partner.

I'd made a point of saying how I hadn't been able to sit "indian style" (I think the proper term is criss cross now) for years.  I hadn't thought about it, but something else that was going on, was that I also couldn't lay on my stomach without my bottom half literally feeling paralyzed.  I could move my bottom half, but it was really difficult.

New chiro took that as a challenge and adjusted me and pointed out I had a large amount of inflammation in my back.  He showed me where it was and by golly, he was right.  There's a mound there that I always assumed was fat. sigh.  But when it hurts more, it gets bigger.  When it hurts less, it gets smaller.

In fact, the Dr says there's noone that comes to his office that has a more sensitive lower back than I do. (It can hardly be touched).

I've lived with it for many years and it's just my normal so I don't think much of it anymore. 

So back to that wedding in April.  I got home and things felt "different".
My back was really aching and I noticed over the next week, that when I stood my left thigh was going numb just like it had done years ago.  If I stood long enough, it felt like it was burning.

Then it got worse.... I couldn't sleep on my back, which is an absolute nightmare to a back sleeper.  My sleep patterns got really bad.  I had to sleep on my right side and when I did that, my hands would go numb because I couldn't change positions.

I went back to the chiro and announced I had a pinched nerve.
*because I'm positive I do*

He looked at me funny and adjusted me, sent me home and nothing really changed.  I had some relief for a day or so, but back it would come.  I went several times and the outlook was always the same.

On May 5, when I was shooting Tanner and Katrina's prom photos, I was so into it I didn't notice that my leg was on fire.  Literally from hip to knee was numb and it burned for hours. 

That shoot was 1/2 hour... that scared me.
What happens at the next wedding which is TEN HOURS?

Right around this time, my friend Laurie Ann posted something on her wall on facebook.  I've known LA for around 15 years now.  I knew her when she weighed 340 lbs.  She now runs on a regular basis and has lost a BUNCH of weight.  Read her story.  Anyway, she posts this video on her wall and I decided to watch...




The story is about Arthur, a disabled vet who is told he'll never walk on his own again.  He was a paratrooper and jumped too much, too hard.  He couldn't walk without canes.  Couldn't exercise.  No one would help him.

He found yoga and it changed his life.

And that got me to thinking, what would happen if I tried it out?

I did a little more youtube research and found this video:



It's a simple video. It's not fancy in any way, just a basic video for beginners.  I decided to give it a shot.  I made a fool of myself right in front of the cats.  They were definitely very much "wtf?"

It was worth a laugh....
for them.

But something happened about mid-way through.  My lower back popped loudly.  It felt different from any other pop before.  It kind of scared me as the rest of the day my leg hurt no matter what I did, standing, sitting, laying down. 

BUT....
The next day, after a good night's sleep, I felt good.  The tingling in my leg wasn't gone completely, but much better.  I started to sleep in my back again (leg propped up on a pillow).  I could stand for more than 5 minutes.

It was kind of like a lightning bolt.  9 minutes?  All those years of pain, and it was something fixable in NINE MINUTES.
Makes me kind of angry thinking about it.  But that gets me nowhere so I'll move on.

Anyway, so yoga is now going to be part of my new routine.

I think this was a wake up call for me.  It was something that really scared the crap out of me.  Reminded me of my mortality.  I think about my father working his whole life, and then he died.  He died right at the time when most people will retire and enjoy their later years.

Instead... he died.

I don't want to be like my father, although we're following some of the same paths.  I don't want to die at almost 68 years old.  That's only 26 years from now.  In fact, if I lived the exact same length of time as my father, I'd have 9527 days left.

*that's not enough*

So to do that, things have to change.  And they have.
Eat better.
exercise more.
lose weight.

Check. Check. Check.

I'll keep you posted on the progress and the things I'm doing.  Like a few other problems in my life recently, I decided to just throw some money at it and see if that fixes it.  I'm going to give nutrisystem a go for a few months so I can get some pounds off, and get the pressure of my back.

*I want to weight train again*

My first goal is to hit 50 pounds and when I do, Gene and I are buying Kayaks.  He's actually going to go out on the water with me.  This shall be a comedy of errors.  I'm sure they'll be video.

Stay tuned for the hilarity.

ETA:
Maybe yoga didn't "save my life" - but it sure made me feel for a few days that it did.

I rule the world!

I'm pretty sure, if I said I wanted what was in that little box, I could have that too.
bwhahaha.

How you get a corn field

1. You're doing dishes when you hear something really loud.  You rush to look out the window and you see a planter!

Oh wait.  It's not a planter.  It's just tilling.  *sad face*

2. But wait!  Several hours later there's another noise, and you rush to the window again and you see this!  A planter.  Is it beans? (boo!) or is it corn? (yay!)

Oh the anticipation.

3. Wait for the farmers to leave, and the rain they anticipated yet you did not.   Take out one of your good table spoons and trek out to a muddy field with boo kitty.  Pet boo while he rolls in the mud.  Dig around aimlessly.  Find nothing.

Trek to another spot.  Pet boo kitty some more.  Get muddy hands.  Dig more.

Eureka!

4. We have corn!  I swear that's corn.  Be excited about your free 8 foot privacy fence, wind reduction, a haven for critters that's not my back deck, wind rustling through the leaves.

Corn party at my house!

OK, so maybe I'm a tiny bit proud

My wee little nugget isn't a little boy anymore.  This is my youngest son Tanner and his girlfriend/prom date, Katrina.

Tonight was Tan's prom, and I confess I was more than excited.  Seth totally wasn't in to prom, and only went when a girl (friend) asked HIM to go.

So when I talked Tanner into actually going, and explained that he had a girlfriend and she was EXPECTING IT, he got a little more into it.  Then we started talking suits vs. tuxes (suit is a good investment and I think it looks nicer).  We shopped for suits together, I did the hemming, he wore my grandfather's tie pin, he picked out a new watch.  I even took him around at the last possible second to try to get a new snazzy hair style but that was a stupid move because everyone was booked solid.

After all the getting ready parts, we met up for a mini shoot at the college.  MUCH better than your boring standard prom portraits.  Well, I think so anyway.  I might do these for other people next year.

If you'd like to see the rest of the pics, of course I've posted them on my Cease Fire Studios blog before like... he's even home from prom.

I need to get out more.

It's official.. I'm THAT lady in the neighborhood

So for a couple weeks now, I've been seeing this pretty little siamese kitty darting about, on the deck eating Boo Kitty's food, shooting out from under the deck and then out under the shed where there must be some sort of party pad.

Pretty skittish, and won't even come close - until today.

I had picked up Boo Kitty, because once a day he lets me pick him up and love on him, when out of nowhere little thai boo kitty (she's siamese you see) comes out and starts meowing.

A little coaxing, and I had Thai boo kitty up on the deck and letting me give a few rubbins.  Thai boo kitty was HUNGRY.  Big gulps of food that were barely chewed.

It was all a ploy of course, I wanted to see if this kitty was a boy, or a girl. 
Verdict is in - it's a girl. 

Wondering how long it will be before Boo Kitty is a baby daddy.

FREE KITTENS
(probably, in about 3 months, with my luck - yikes)


(For real, if you want a beautiful siamese cat, I'm looking for a good home for her.  I don't think she's PG to be honest)

Good evening and good morning

It's not uncommon for me to share one of my Missouri sunsets.  In fact, I'm starting to think I have front row seats to some of the most beautiful nightly shows in the country.  However, being a night owl, I'm rarely up early enough to see the sun rise.

Until a couple weeks ago.....

I had to get up early for Fershop (I had a 3 hour drive ahead of me).  With a camera in my hand as I went out the door, I got a little reminder that Missouri's got it going on a couple times a day.

Good Morning Missouri (and everyone else around the world).  It's gonna be a good month, it's starting out on a high already.