IIII'MMMMM BAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAACK!

No we're not dead. Just ridiculously and insanely busy. Sunup to sundown is spent working our tails off on "projects". Well actually, it's more Russ that is doing the "project-ing" and it's me that's running interference with smaller creatures of our house, furry and skinned. And by running interference I really mean cleaning up buckets of urine between the house-training puppy, the weak bladdered Chippy, and the four-year-old who often replies "Just a yiddle" to the question "did you pee?" Some day urine will no longer rule my life.

Here are a few things you may have missed whilst we were gone (and I say this as if anyone actually reads my blog and I have followers who are waiting with bated breath for me to post something, anything that would interest them. Just give me my fantasy people):

• Most obvious: We have a new address. It's awesome, or will BE awesome when the freezing cold winter and construction projects are all over and it's painted and pretty and done. Which were pretty much banking on that being July of 2014. Everyone has to have a goal. If you want to see the progress, Check HERE periodically. I have stupid rural internet, so pictures are not something that upload nicely. You can also see some of the "before" pictures HERE. Side note: We moved in on a random Tuesday, so finding help to move was not really simple. My mom took the WEEK off to help us pack and move...THE WEEK! And my brother so graciously took the day off work, and my future-brother-in-law stayed an extra day to help move. I came home and both boys (I say boys cause I am sure that I outweigh them both) had COMPLETELY emptied one truck and were starting on the other which they COMPLETELY emptied before Russ got back with appliances. They used getting Russ's approval to my advantage;) Nice.
• Christmas happened. That lead to a new furry family member which I documented in a previous post. Honestly...hands down...best puppy ever. Were still dealing with a few "puppy" issues, but he's been pretty awesome. He gains about a pound a day...a POUND A DAYYYY! Yikes. You can see how big he is getting and how fast he is getting that way HERE. That would be the mobile uploads album on facebook for those of you who are not my friend. Periodically I will also upload funny pictures of sheer randomness.
  
• New Years happened. And when that New Year happened, I gained a new soon-to-be-brother-in-law. Yeah! He called me on New Years Eve (while I was building a wardrobe insert and hadn't showered in what seemed like 12 years) and asked on a whim if I would give him some advice on ring shopping. I finished building said crappy Menards wardrobe, jumped in the shower, and rushed to meet him. He picked an insanely gorgeous and sparkly ring, tied it around Millie's neck and popped the question at midnight. Super cute. There are pictures documenting it all and it is pretty special. If you don't know who Millie is, that is Diana's cat (ironically who's real name is "Millenium" since SHE came around New year 2000) who also seems to love ham sandwiches.
• Menards owns us. Jerks. Single-handedly I think we are keeping their employees employed.
• Still struggling with the dizziness, and it seems to be a tad worse. I just have to push through it as time is not something I have to go and make attempts at figuring it out. I've done a good job of masking it, most people don't even know it's bothering me when it is. I figure if I pass out while in conversation with someone, at least they'll know I wasn't just faking it. And I can sue those hookers at Carle for passing the buck.
  
• My Grandma is trying to kill me. Seriously. She keeps giving me donuts and coffee cakes and bread and all the sugary, carb loaded crap she can find. She "says" it's for the kids so I don't have to worry about breakfast in the morning and it's quick and easy. I basically have a freezer full of cake people. Cake. I might as well have a freezer full of crack or heroine. If you cut me, I would bleed powdered sugar right this instant. Between that and the People magazines, she's trying her best to turn me into one of those poor people who have to be fork-lifted out of their homes just to go to the doctor, where I will be surrounded by empty boxes of Entemans products and People magazines from 1998. Don't get me wrong, she means well. The poor woman just doesn't understand. I mean, she gets "texting" and "tweeting" mixed up. Here is a conversation we had just not that long ago.
  

Gramma: Misty, tweet your mom and ask if she is stopping by.
Misty: I'm not on Twitter gramma. Do you mean text?
Gramma: No...tweet her, you know, send her a message?
Misty: Yeah...that's texting. Tweeting has to do with Twitter, which is basically
like Facebook and another way for the internet to rule people's lives.
Gramma: Oh, well don't do that. You guys spend to much time on that
internet anyway. Just call her and ask her. Nobody picks up
the phone to call people anymore.
Misty: Ok...I think she's in a meeting still, but I'll call her and leave a message.
Gramma: Oh don't do that...just tweet her. She'll get it later.
Misty: Sigh.....ok.

• Still on my photography hiatus, but BURSTING with excitement about starting up again. I have a couple sessions scheduled in Feburary, but I will probably not jump in full time until March. This property in the Spring so promises to bring some amazing shoots, I just cannot wait. I'm waiting and praying about the direction that I need to take this year. Last year was a constant game of catch up. I am going to have to do things different this year. It is no longer a hobby...it's a job. It's a business. It's how I'm feeding my family, or paying for my car insurance and quite frankly that is going to have to come with a price increase. Nothing drastic, but I can't hide behind the "I'm just starting out and want to build my portfolio" excuse anymore. I think if I figured it up, last year what I made and the hours put into it, I basically made $.50/hour. Half of a dollar. Ridiculous.

So....that pretty well sums up life right now. We have amazing family and friends that have been INSTRUMENTAL in helping us get to where we are. Without you guys, we would still have the moving trucks parked in the barn full of crap:)

Week of Lasts

I can't believe it's already been almost a week since my last post...man time is flying! Tonight....even though there is only like 20 minutes left in the day, starts the week of lasts in this house. Even typing that I got a little teary eyed. It's not that I'm not happy and thankful for all that has happened in the last couple months, and it's not that I am not excited, but this is the only home my kids have really known. Faith was 2 1/2 when we moved here, and Emmy was 2 weeks old. We had the house built. We've been THE only people who have lived here. Faith is handling it well....just a little sadness for the loss of nostalgia, but Emmy...well...she doesn't enjoy change. If you ask her if she's excited about moving, she will look at you with her "face" (those of you that KNOW Emmyrson KNOW the face:) and will point blank tell you no. She's excited for the things to come, but she doesn't weather change well. She will probably be the one that stays with us and takes care of us when we are old and gray. I am pretty sure the family buying our house isn't in need of an 8-year-old girl, and given the fact that we would probably start missing her after a week or so, I guess were going to have to figure it out.

I thought it would be fun to throw out some of my favorite memories (since this is basically my journal to my kids when they are older) of our times here. All our pictures are packed, and everything else is backed up on a hard drive, so words will have to do.

• Shortly after moving, going "puddle jumping" with Faith when the streets flooded due to backed up storm drains (we suspect all the construction material from the houses being built). The water was up to Faith's waste and my thighs.
• Sitting in a chair in the middle of the kitchen and barking orders to everyone as to where I wanted things when we moved in. I had just had a baby and was bed ridden for two weeks after, so I could do nothing. But bark orders.
  
• Researching, hunting, and shopping to find THE perfect red color for the kitchen and dining room. We found it...and it only took 6 coats of paint to get it perfect.
  
• Camping in the backyard with the kids.
• Hunter....sigh....Awe HUNTER (I totally cried re-reading that post)
• Decorating this house for all the various seasons.
  
• All the various LOST PARTIES. Yes I know we are freaks. No I don't care;) (click on both links for double the party fun)
  
• Making my kids all kinds of fun cakes for their birthdays. Of course I don't do that anymore...I don't have time and Walmart has become my bakery of choice. But I used to have time. And SKILLS.
• Many many MANY many days like THIS
• Many day's like THIS too:)
• Bringing my last little monkey home from the hospital. I was much more relaxed with her than the other two.
  
• Sitting in my jacuzzi tub. Really gonna miss that. Didn't realize how much til the other night when I was sitting in my jacuzzi tub.
• Watching Esther jump off the back deck like a flying squirrel. I will have to tape this before we leave.
  

I know I'm missing a gazillion things...I might add more as I think of them. It's now well past midnight, and I probably should try and get some sleep. There is just so much to do, I don't even know which end is up! Tomorrow (or today I should say) we go to the new house to clean and get everything good and sparkly and ready for us to move right on in. First thing on the agenda (after getting all the boxes in of course) is to go and buy a Christmas tree and get it put up. Second thing on the agenda is this:
Meet Moses....but SSHSHHHHHHH! He's a secret. He's part of the kids Christmas present. We will pick him up the weekend after we move. He's a mastiff....and he will be HUGE. What's a puppy on top of moving? Eh...we got it;) We made two promises when we told them we were moving. #1 was a puppy (we knew we needed a larger dog being out in the country than a 7-pound Chihuahua) and #2 is a kitten. The kitten may wait til Spring.

So....off to bed. I pray sleep will come to me easily.

Boring Ol Housewife.

I wish. I was reading the "About Me" section I filled out way back when I started this blog (my those were simpler times) and I described myself as a "boring ol' housewife". I then laughed and laughed and laughed until I felt like passing out so I stopped. I wish I was a boring 'ol housewife. But no...I gotta try and build an empire or something. Russ and I joke about how people just don't understand what "big deals" we are, I with my photography, he with his......whatever he seems to be overachieving at that particular day. I said we are like the JLo/Marc Anthony of St. Joe but without the amazing Latin heritage, or the creepy inexplicable skinniness (Marc A), or the pending divorce and twins and.....the...um...."junk in the trunk" (that would be me...I have no junk up in my trunk. This is an area that I am in agreement with the whole "spread the wealth" philosophy on. I would like to spread some wealth of my hips and thighs and belly to my trunk). So....maybe we really aren't like J/Marc, but they do have an fun new clothing line at Kohls and I gotta give them mad props for that.

I am taking some much needed time off over the winter to slow down my brain a little. I want to enjoy Christmas with my kids. I want to not be working their ENTIRE school break. I want to pain my kitchen a new color. I want to decorate my house for all the upcoming holidays. I just want to enjoy life again without all the crazy/business that seems to have taken over lately. I want to start next year off organized and ready to take on the year and not hold on for dear life like a roller coaster that's taken off without the safety bar being locked firmly in place. This year...I'm gonna do it!

PS: We really don't think we are "big deals". It's a joke. We aren't self absorbed jerks.

Today

Today, I woke with a sore throat. I thought, eh...allergies, no biggie. Coffee is usually the cure for such issues, but even that wasn't helping. Then Em woke up, surprisingly early for her (during the summer, anytime before 9:00 is early...today it was before before 7!). She had that look..the "I-dont-really-feel-well" look. She ended up eating half a poptart and crashing on the couch for another 2 hours. In the meantime, both other kids woke with similar issues. I hate this day already. Yesterday, Em came in to Russ and the following conversation arose:

Em: Hey dad!
Russ: Hey Sugs...
Em: *silence*...so...whatcha doin?
Russ: Just messing around on the computer. What are you doing?
Em: Well....something happened outside. It's not our fault, and we have NO idea how it happened.
Russ: What?

He went out to find a hole in the side of the pool. Yup. Our vinyl pool with a nice tear right in the side. Nice. So...on this day that I hate and would LOVE to ship kids outside to swim out some energy, they can't because a.) they are sick, and b.) there's a hole in the pool. I go to grab our cat and clean out his room (which is the downstairs half bath...commonly referred to as Vietnam since he's been staying in there)and feed and water him for the day. He is locked in his room for the moment due to his obsessive eating holes in carpets issues. Obsessive. He just chews and chews til you can see wood. What is with us and holes in stuff? Geez...anyway, Max is a clever cat and if I'm not Jonny-on-the-spot with his food, he will just help himself, climbing the shelves til he knocks it allover the place and he can feast on a grand buffet. He coincidentally also drinks from the toilet. And opens doors. And plays fetch on a whim. Well...he helped himself to his grand buffet and invited about a bajillion tiny little brown ants to join him. Yup. I hate this day. He doesn't groom himself, and he is a BEAST of a cat last time weighing in at 18 pounds, so I go to pick him up and notice that not only a.) does he have mats covering his entire body (maybe THIS is why he's eating carpet..he's ticked his hair is being pulled) and b.) that there are ants crawling all around in his hair. It was as if he was John the Baptists cat living in the dessert letting bugs crawl all up in his dreds. Yup. I hate this day. Called the groomer, $45 and an interesting cross between awesome and ridiculous, I have an almost hairless cat. She kept his main, and the tip of his tail, and his "boots". He's been fully manscaped and he loves it. The groomer tells me she's sure he has thyroid issues or has diabetes as he's "half the cat he was the last time he was there". I came home and weighed him just to be sure. He's 16 pounds...I'm positive the other 2 pounds was hair. Lord....that's the LAST thing I need is some cat I have to give shots to.

So, my kids start feeling better as they have been obnoxiously antsy due to laying around and being cooped up all day. The cat is clean and manscaped and apparently has to visit the vet to have his thyroid and diabetes checked. The dog is fine...for once. My house is still a complete wreck as apparently a tornado of clothes and toys and old shredded bills and junk are laying allover the place. I have an incredibly packed weekend/week and I still feel like complete junk. But on the upside...my husband took all of us sicky/sore throat girls to enjoy a nice dish of lemon ice cream from The Dairy Bar.....but that also meant I blew my diet. Again. I hate this day.

Lifeguards are awesome

Because I know that all anyone care's about is the new little guy in our lives, I will throw up a quick pick of his big self (taken with my phone...sorry for the quality) My sister in law is a tinsy little thing, so the fact that her hand looks gigantic next to his little monkey nugget shows how tinsy he is. He's so stinkin cute and it was everything I could do to not grab him out of that incubator thing and just snuggle him to pieces. But I've already been yelled at by one NICU nurse up there, I decided that I best not get in trouble again. Seriously...who WOULDN'T turn to look at a crying baby in a bed next to them? A heartless lump of coal...that's who. Apparently that's against the rules...I think from then on she gave me the stink eye. I will instruct Ethan to leave her a really nice surprise in his diaper the next time I'm up there.

Anyway, it has been a crazy week with babies and weddings and all, so us girls decided to just take the kids to the pool and have a nice float down the lazy river. Only....the lazy river was more like a congested and blocked colon due to the MASSIVE amounts of park district delinquents that decided to interfere with our relaxation time. I think I heard more whistles being blown by lifeguards than I ever did in my life. Relaxing it was not. I took Maebree up to the top of one of the intertube slides, and the poor cute little lifeguard girl up there was just doing her best to keep the chaos to a bare minimum. She was hoarse from yelling at kids all day. I asked her how many times she had to repeat the same threat/order and then I asked her how fun was it s to be able to do so. It was in that moment that it dawned on me....next year...I am going to become certified to become a lifeguard. It is their job...dare I say their DUTY to do nothing but yell at bratty kids all day long. They hold all the power with one blow of their whistle. They can take fun away from those dang kids with one little breath. "YOU! Delinquent splashing all the kids! OUTTA THE WATER!" "OH...wanna butt in line? Guess what buddy....YOUR DONE! No intertube for you!" "Wanna get lippy? MMMMk......banned from the pool for life!"

Sigh....lifeguards are awesome and I want to be one when I grow up.

Welcome back dear friends.....

Dear Lord...it's late. Like 10:30 at night, I'm exhausted, and I'm waiting on five little kids to fall asleep so that I can crash myself. That's right, I said five. My nephews are spending the night while their momma and daddy are staying at the hospital to ensure my new little nephew doesn't make an entrance into the world too soon. It's been way to long since I've blogged. I've wanted to for so long and have been so behind on editing that I feel guilty about not working on that. So I haven't. And I honestly have been grouchy about things and don't want to get on here and be nasty about life..cause I know people want funny...not crabby. Just to catch you all up on some bullet points of what's gone down in the last few months (for all five of you out there who still may read:)

• The house didn't sell. We took it off the market at the end of May. Just couldn't do it anymore. God shut SOOOOO many doors, it was ridiculously obvious we were not to continue with that sign in our yard at this point. Neither of us feel that release to go ahead and start ripping out floors and adding an addition, in fact...we both religiously check the Realtor sights for the newest house out there...and folks..there aint much out there. So....here we are. We will re-arrange some things so that we can have a family room...mainly because I want to be a part of my family when they are playing or watching a movie and I know longer want to be stuck in a little room all by myself alone with my computer. I can at least be stuck in a corner in the same area as all of them. And we are taking a trip to Florida...that was my contingency plan..house doesn't sell..Screw it...I'm goin' to Florida. I think I might make some t-shirts that say that. I'd make millions considering the current housing market.
  
• I turned 32. It was amazing..not really. I had to rush my sister to the ER due to her losing control and feeling of her left side...she was later diagnosed with MS...but she's awesome and is doing great. She regained her strength and is working on keeping it so it won't happen again.
  
• Emmy turned 8. She spent her birthday at the hospital with Aunt Didi....for my BIGGEST complainer...she never once had an attitude or was nasty about the fact that we canceled her party and still haven't done anything for it. She's awesome.
• Business.Is.Booming. At one point recently, I actually had 3 shoots scheduled in one day. It was pure insanity. I am sitting on five I need to edit right now. But...I'm sure they would appreciate that I am not editing at 11:00 at night. Those would NOT be good pics. I've booked almost all Saturdays through October as of right now. Yeah...wow...
• Dizziness is back. It's hits me at strange times. Considering everything that went down with Diana, I saw a neurologist. He was a complete jerk, and the only thing that saved him in that appointment was the fact that he looked like the tall creepy Asian dude from Lost that made all the orientation videos. That and that alone kept me from punching him in the face. The good news is, it is nothing "big" i.e. MS, cancer, tumor, etc. Bad news is....I have no idea what it is. It's purely frustrating and I should've left happy that it wasn't any of the bad things. But...I'll just keep attempting to rule out/in what I know causes it. Right now it seems to be caused by the following: Standing, sitting, walking, breathing, singing, taking a shower, swimming, exercising, eating, looking at the computer, going to church, grocery store, walking the dog, sitting on my porch, taking a drink, doing the dishes, hugging my kids, laying in bed, watching t.v, drinking a cup of coffee etc. So....guess I have my work cut out for me on the elimination front. So far I've been able to eliminate........baking?
  

Well....the kids seem to be sleeping...and given the fact that I believe my nephews are early risers, I might want to head to bed myself. Dear God in Heaven...please don't let them wake at 5:00....I am pretty sure I will be twitching in an corner by noon if that were the case! I promise to try and be a better blogger.

Burning my candle at both ends

That's how I feel right now. I am completely overwhelmed with all that there is to do in one simple day. Like today for example...I have a trash-pit house to clean, about 1,000 images to go through and choose for editing (only 2 families! I have GOT to stop taking so dang many pictures!), groceries to buy, homework to help with, chauffeuring to do, lunches and dinners to make, bills to pay before we end up with a bad credit score, and quite frankly, all I want to do is crawl back in bed on this crisp fall morning and fall asleep.

I am sure most of that won't get done, but if you think if me today, prayer is wonderful and nice thing. At some point, this house needs to sell so that life can go back to some sense of normal. Well......is it ever really "normal" for me? No....but at least it will be a start.

First Day of School

Thursday was the first two-hours of school (lame...I can't believe they make us do that!) and Friday was the first OFFICIAL DAY of school. I snapped a quick pick of the girls before we walked out the door.

Please note the incredible excitement all over Emmy's face. Thrilled.

Mae had to wear her Dora backpack, but she informed me that she was "too yiddo to stay. I not big yet momma...I too yiddo to be at school. Maybe in two weeks". I was also informed that Tinney Bear as well was too "yiddo to stay".

Officially official

It's done! The house is ready....complete with that new-carpet smell! Besides a few odds and ends that need to be finished up (some trim work, ceiling fan scrubbing, small pool removal, etc) the HOUSE is complete and ready for your offer:) The small child pictured is not included.....unless it is a REALLY good offer.

I went to bed last night feeling a little nostalgic. I had that moment of sheer panic that I was going to have to leave this house that I love so much. We had it built. We picked the cabinets, fixtures (thank YOU Gullifords!), flooring that ended up all being replaced due to crappy installation. We picked all the paint colors. We spent two weeks and six coats painting the kitchen and dining room to get JUST the right color red. I really do love this house. I brought two of my babies home to this house. If it had a basement, we wouldn't move. Oh, do I wish we would've just spent the extra $10-15,000 and put a stinking basement in when it was built! We haven't outgrown it yet, but soon we will have. Can you imagine THREE teenage girls fighting over who gets their own room and who gets the sink and whose turn it is to shower? Ug. Not to mention, I know God has given me this photography gift. I know he is growing my business, and I know I want to be able to bless others with it. So change is in order.

We have a house picked out. It's massive. It's got a studio ready made for me. It has three massive bedrooms for the girls, a MASSIVE bathroom with TWO sinks and a completely separate shower space for their teenage years. It is literally one of our houses on level one, and one MORE of our houses on level two. So I have in my mind moved us in there. I know where the Christmas tree is supposed to go. I know where I'm going to store all that extra "stuff" I just can't get rid of. It has room to grow. All of that said, if it sells before we can get to it, I can't wait to see the even BETTER house God has for us. Cause that one just seems perfect.

So prayers are in order for us. Pray that I can keep my sanity while trying to keep a house picked up and ready for a showing at any moment. Pray I can keep on top of the already intense schedule I already keep on a daily basis. Pray that ours sells quick and that bandaid can be ripped off super fast! Pray that the other house stays where it's at so that I can put my Christmas tree where I want it.

Times....they are a changin!

It's been a whirlwind of activity in our house lately. The things that have gone on would make even the strongest person in the world hide and twitch uncontrollably in a corner. The biggest and the catalyst for everything that has happened since is that we decided to put our house on the market. We just feel the need for more space. We aren't bumping into each other or killing each other due to the close quarters, but our kids are only getting bigger (stinkin' things gotta eat three times a day.....growing being the after affect of such) and we want something that we are going to be able to grown into comfortably. I also need space for my business. I need an office with an area for a studio or a possible area for a future possible studio. So the look is on! It's been nuts, but we really feel this is the right decision for us at the time. The shame is that we are getting our house looking so good, I don't really want to leave. I've found that there is nothing in our area with as cool of stuff as we have, but compromise may be in our future on that.

So...here are a few things that have gone on the last month or so:

• Had a massive, 4-family garage sale. Threw it together in less than a week. Our profit reflected that. Most of it went to the garbage or to Goodwill.
  
• Painted every area of the house that had not been painted. Including the hallways and stairwell. If you've never seen the stairwell.......it's about 483 feet tall. Maybe not QUITE that tall...but....tall.
  
• Painted our room which also is 483 feet tall.
  
• Scrubbed every piece of trim in this house. I hate trim. If it's possible to not have trim in the next house, I would be ok with that.
  
• Looked at 6 houses. Haven't found one that I am in love with. Found one I really like, but will have to replace all the carpet.
  
• Have to replace all the carpet in our house. I'm calling Carpet Weaver's out on this one. They suck. Sorry.....they do. Our house is 7 years old, they "fixed" it twice before we even moved in (literally....there was JUNK under the carpet from their laziness in not sweeping up construction crap before they laid it!!). They stretched it once then. It looks like amber-waves-of-grain do to the mounds in it. Plus....our girls lived hard in it. Nail polish, make-up, you name it, its on it. So we are replacing it. Hence the reason I don't want to have to replace it in another house we are looking at.
  
• Taken, edited, and ordered about a billion pictures.
  
• Worked VBS all week this week.
  
• Re-arranged our living room, de-cluttered the kitchen, got rid of unnecessary toys, and on and on and on!
  

It's craziness. Literal and utter craziness. So if you know of any great houses going on the market in this area soon...let me know! And if you are in the market for a great house....LET ME KNOW!!

The First Cut is the Deepest

Saturday was a really busy day. My husband decided that he wanted to do the pool area up right this year, so he decided to finish the area in patio form so in the fall, we can plop a fire-pit up and have a little gathering area when the pool is taken down. Friday was packed full of that job as well as games in the evening. Russ was pretty burnt and didn't feel well from all the work done Friday (who loses 8 pounds in one day? Yeah...the incredible growing and shrinking man...my husband!), and we had various things planned as it was: Em had a b-day party for a friend, a graduation party, and I had a photo shoot scheduled for the evening. Due to the rain, all I could do was return the compactor we rented and run a few errands then head back home. I stopped at Walmart on the way home for some food for dinner (grill-able food), a present for the friend, and decided to get myself a handy-dandy mandolin slicer to make some grill-able sweet potato chips. (If you don't know what a mandolin slicer is....google it). I got my $11 slicer, the rest of the stuff, and headed home. We hit the various parties necessary then came home to make up some quick dinner before my shoot. I rinsed of my new slicer, cut a potato in half, stuck in (or so I thought) the guard and proceeded to make up some slices......four slices in, the guard slipped.....and my thumb went on through the slicer.

My first words uttered were "Crap. I totally just cut my thumb. Hmmm...." No emotion, no freaking out, I said it just like that. It didn't hurt, I just knew it felt deep. So I stuck it under the water in the sink......then it hit me....crap....that is deep...and it is seriously bleeding. Faith was there, and she asked if she should go get dad....I told her it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Now, I've been in this situation before...I was washing dishes and the glass broke, had to go and have about 5 stitches put in. That was about 10 years ago. My initial thought was "Can I just wrap it and go about my shoot? I DON'T have time for this!" Russ took one look, smiled and asked what the deal with my family and knives was, and informed me he was taking me in. A quick call to the BFF to take the girls and we were on our way.......

We had a relatively easy and quick visit to the ER this time. I hate the ER...hate it. I would almost rather bleed to death then go. But in retrospect....I guess it was good we went. I almost kicked the nurse (? maybe she was a doc or a nurse practitioner...I am not really sure) when she made me bend it.....and the tears were flowing when she jabbed that numbing needle RIGHT into the cut (or flap....it's really more of a flap) after the initial numbing didn't work. Then I knew nothing else of what they were doing because this time I chose not to watch as they cleaned and stitched that sucker up. Twelve stitches later, the side of my thumb was replaced to it's rightful location, and I was on my way! Russ took pictures...but I will spare you. It's nasty...looks like a horror film. If it weren't for my thumbnail that stopped it, I would've taken the whole side of my thumb off. Thank you Lord that when you were creating the human body, some thousands of years later, you knew I would buy a mandolin slicer and use it incorrectly. ****sigh****

So I have a gimpy thumb. I have three shoots to edit, a disgusting house to clean, a shower to throw for a friend, and softball games to attend all week. I really didn't need that $11 slicer that turned into a $136 slicer after the ER copay.

Ironically, as I was being checked into the ER, Sheryl Crowe's song "The First Cut Is The Deepest" was on the receptionist's radio......I had to smile and have a good laugh about that one.

Cakes, cookies, and pie.....GOODBYE!

We are starting something new today. My husband is a bit of a fitness "guru". I call him the incredible growing and shrinking man. He can gain 50 pounds and drop it in less than a month. It's not fair and often times I want to beat the crap out of him because it's so easy. I say easy because it SEEMS easy, but he does put in a lot of hard work and self-control into it.

He is now on this P90X kick. He really thinks that we should both do it (I think he is sick of hearing me complain about how I feel "fat" all the time). We are going to Florida in September and we want to look good in swimming suits, and since this is a 90-day program...the timing works out great. A friend of ours is letting us "rent-to-own" his copy (Thanks BK!!) in case it's not something we want to stick to and then we don't have to fork over the money to buy the whole program. Needless to say about the WHOLE thing....I.am not.excited. I love my treats and foods, and it's a super busy time coming up and I just really want quick and easy stuff. But I am also sick of complaining about my body and not doing something about it. And this is really not a bad deal. The recipes look yummy, and the exercise stuff is all based on what you can do, so I'm gonna go for it.

I'll let you know in a week if I've quit or not.

A story in pictures

The "Characters.......

"I"

"Chuck"

"Tater"

Chuck: I think I will mow this lawn. It's just shy of ridiculous.

I: Dude. I got this. Let me take over and show you how it's done. I am the king of "bacooming". It can't be that different.

I: It's simple really, all you do is walk and pull, walk and pull.

Tater: Guys!! Wow! You haven't even complimented me on my amazing outfit yet. I mean, seriously!

I: Hmmm.....maybe he had something to that walking behind it thing.

Chuck: It's all good dude..........I make walking look good. I mean, have you SEEN my arms?

Chuck: Besides. Just wait 'til she's not looking. Mwah-ah-ah-ah!

I might have taken some creative liberty with their conversation....but I think it's pretty spot on:)

Naughty kids

I implemented a new discipline technique today. Maybe I will actually get something done.

Ok, I'm totally kidding. Caleb moved Essie's (who was outside at the time) food and water bowls out and climbed in himself. Mae was jealous I was taking pictures of him and climbed in with him. Isaiah wanted nothing to do with either and kept saying "come-out kids!" to both:)

But maybe it's not such a bad idea;) And maybe I'm watching too much Lost. At least I'm not feeding them fish biscuits left over from the polar bears.

Hello Spring Break

Do you want to know what happens when you let kids clean their rooms/closets?

Welcome to my spring break. It 'aint Palm Beach, that's for sure! What is not pictured is the pile that is already folded sitting on our couch waiting to be put away.

Please. Try to contain your jealousy. I know it's hard, but come on. I mean, between taking care of five kids in my house all day this week, two kids softball practices, lunches, church, editing, switching over closets, and all the 1 million other things that need done, I would be jealous of me to.

Living room remodel

We moved into our house almost 7 years ago this June. I had just had Emmy two weeks prior. And it had been the WORST two weeks a girl could have. Debilitating colon infection, two ER visits, tests that shall remain nameless that made me scream for drugs when birthing a child had not......Needless to say, rough was an understatement. We had the house built and had picked everything out in it. I was 7-9 months pregnant when doing this, so pretty much, I was useless. I didn't care, I just wanted in my house. I have regretted MANY decisions since then, and the living room carpet was a-number-one on the list. First of all....it was too light of a carpet in a SUPER high traffic area. Secondly, I have 3 kids. Thirdly, I babysit, and this is the main room for the kiddos. We TRIED to make sure people removed their shoes before entering the house, but that's not always been the case. So the carpet had to go......

We picked out some stuff from Menards and had bought it a couple weeks prior (since it was going off sale). Our awesome friend BK came over and helped my husband (and our wallet since he had all the toys necessary to do the job!) install it over two days. Those boys worked like DOGS for two straight days, and I am so happy, I am literally giddy! If I had not been in a neck collar (another story for another blog), I am pretty sure I would've done cartwheels!

I didn't really have a great "before" shot, but I have taken PLENTY of pictures in that living room. Just check the archives. The afters are.amazing.period.

Thanks BK for two LONG days of help, and thanks E for letting us have him for a weekend when I am SURE you have a "few things" going in your life you could've used him for:)

Little by Little

Today was a good day. I only had a couple dizzy spells, and one was when I had to go to Wal-Mart to get the kids's valentines. Quite frankly, I don't even know if I can count that one because as much as I love to go to Wal-Mart, I hate going there just as equally. Especially when there are 2,586,000 people in there buying the same things you are.

So I am hopeful I'm on the mend. I finished my cousin's baby pictures (finally), and I just had to share a few. Beware....you will want to eat this child. He is chock-full of chunkaliciousness.

That last one is my absolute favorite....if I were their parents, I would probably order the biggest dang size I could fine:) Heck...I just might for my office.

Update

First and foremost, thank you-thank you-thank you, to ALL of you who have been praying for me. I am so blessed to have so many friends who are willing to step in and intercede for me at a moments notice. So much has happened since my last post, I don't even know where to begin. Basically, an ER visit, MRI, and a couple different blood tests later, I am still dizzy. I still have weird lumps in my neck (the ER doc says it is indeed a lymph node), I have this really obnoxious headache thing going on, I can't sit at the computer for longer than 15 minutes without seeing double and getting that strange vertigo thing, and I have no answers. None. Nada. Zilch. Zero. I have good insurance, GREAT insurance in fact, and it seems like I have not one doctor who is remotely interested in figuring out what is going on. Yeah, and the government thinks they can come in and make it better? HA! That's for another blog.......

I don't go into the ER for nothing. I went in one other time in my life, and that was because two days after giving birth to my second, I literally felt like my guts were burning up on the inside of me. I was in more pain then I have EVER been in in my whole entire life before or since, and that is AFTER birthing three kids naturally, as in no drugs, felt-every-inch-of-those-little-suckers! In the end, it was a severe colon infection that presented as ischemic colitis. Look it up, that will be a fun two minutes of your life trying to figure out how a 24-year-old woman could have something usually only 75-year-old men bound to wheelchairs get. But I digress. The fact in this case is that I would rather have a colonoscopy than go to the ER. Actually, scratch that. The prep is "rough", but in the end, you get a pretty darn good nap out of the deal. I would rather give birth, have a colonoscopy, eat peas, AND ban cake from my life for 6 months than go into the ER . The thought of going into the ER makes me crazy. I am reminded of that story in the bible where Jesus casts the demons out of the crazy naked dude into the pigs who then run off a cliff. I don't know who I identify with, the crazy screaming naked dude or the pigs, but either way, it's not a good feeling.

I guess I am just glad that I don't HAVE to get answers. I don't have to HAVE a name (although my crazy brain feels the need to have one) in order to pray and receive healing. I am thankful to have friends and family intercede for me when all I want to do is sleep. I am thankful for a husband who spends his sick time on me to make sure I'm ok and has a job that allows him to do so. I'm thankful to have great friends who bring me dinners and desserts (brownies, puppy chow...mmmmm......) and come and watch Lost with me, even with threat of a gross and messy house and a scary looking chick (and thankful to have a husband who understands my needs to have a clean house when company is over!). I'm thankful for a sister who comes and spends the weekend with me so my husband doesn't have to take any more sick time, makes me cupcakes, and watches a Pushing Daisies marathon with me. But mostly I am SO thankful that I don't have to count on doctors or ER's or anyone else to figure out what's wrong with me. I have a Savior and a Healer, and it doesn't really matter what the "name" of something is, He has it under control.

Lumps in the road

It's been a crappy week. I have been dieting and exercising regularly for 3 weeks and have actually GAINED 2 pounds. That in and of itself makes me want to just buy the biggest freakin' cake I can find and eat the whole dang thing in two minutes. Then on top of that, we have had to deal with double ear infections with Mae last week, and I've been dealing with crazy headaches this week. It seems like someone has been or had something strange since before Christmas. Stinkin' Spring CANNOT come soon enough for me!

Thursday afternoon, I noticed I had some weird lump in the side of my neck. It grew to eventually look like someone cut a golf ball in half and stuck it right inside my neck. I thought it was probably just a swollen lymph node or something since we've been fighting junk off. Accompanied with the headaches and strange feelings I've been feeling while working out, I decided to have it checked out yesterday. I have a good doctor. She's solid, knows her stuff, not the greatest bedside manner, but like I said, I don't need a best friend, I need a doctor. She follows up and get's stuff done. It was rather disconcerting to hear her say "I don't really know what that lump is. It's not a lymph node, could be a salivary gland, lets wait two weeks and see". Nice. I also informed her of some symptoms I've been having while working out which seemed to worry her more (my heart rate has jumped to over 200 several times, and I get the general feeling that the veins in my neck are closing to the point of passing out), so she had me do an EKG and next week I get to have one of those treadmill stress tests done. I'm sure it's all a moot point and everything is fine, but still, not my idea of fun.

So in the meantime, I will wait. The lump shrunk to the size of a quarter now, so I am praying it just keeps going down. It's annoying in the fact that it's their and I can feel it whenever I swallow or even breath. I will continue to work out as I feel like it and hopefully will see some results soon. Maybe I'm just that out of shape that I have to work on getting my heart rate regular........

A light at the end of the tunnel? Or just a train.....

Exhaustion......complete and total exhaustion. That is what my body feels these days. I shot my last photo session of the season, and I would like to just say I'm going to take it easy but I won't. I have 1800 (I am not exaggerating!) wedding pictures to go through to edit (not all of them of course!), a new baby joining the family any minute (Yeah Caden!) and still have three sessions that need to be completed. And I can only do all this stuff in the evenings, during naps or on the weekends...but it is fine. Taking a break from the computer to hang with some cool dudes and one hilarious 2-year-old is worth it.

So....check out my flickr site at www.flickr.com/myhousephotography/sets if you want to see what I've been up to, but in the meantime....here are some cute girls that will soon be hanging on my walls....

By the way....Maebree says she can't wait for "Piss-mas" this year....That is a daily event for me it seems these days:)