Reggae Love

I am totally in love with this picture. G feelin' the vibe at the Reggae Festival...

Oprah

And now I'm watching Oprah and it's literally making me cry to see the video: actor behind bakery counter berating actress for being Muslim. Almost everyone did nothing. Lots of people agreed with the man, giving him a "Right on!" or a "Good for you!" when he told her to get on her camel and go home. A few people did stand up to him, but I will tell you that it breaks my heart to watch all those people stand there and ignore it. AND OF COURSE IT WAS IN TEXAS!! Damn it, people! This is probably not the best thing to watch when I'm having a losing faith in humanity kind of day. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

P.S. And yes, I am expecting my period this week. Like you couldn't tell.

Come On

Why are people do stinking selfish? When presented with the opportunity to be a part of something really cool with the purpose of teaching our kids PHILANTHROPY the only things they can think of are themselves. What's in it for us? What will we get if we do this? Not if my kid doesn't get to do it! Also my proposal for a character education program was rejected and that doesn't help my pessimistic attitude. Just not worth it, I guess. When I see answers to the question "What would you do if you had a million dollars?" that overwhelmingly list all the things they would buy (some even go so far as to say they would enslave other people), I feel very very sad. I know they are only kids, but why can't we talk to them about thinking about how they could give up just a few of those things to help other people. Why can't we care more about teaching these kiddos what is important in life? Maybe we could plant something in them that just whispers in the back of their minds. Most of us are more privileged than most, and we and our children are/will be in a better position to help others. I am so frustrated by the attitude that if it does not IMMEDIATELY pay off for us it's not worth doing. I get so upset about it that I can barely keep it in. I just don't even know what to say.

Random

...that's the thing about blind prostitutes, sometimes you just have to hand it to them...

HA!

Logo and Business Card - wootwoot!

Ta-da!

Hopefully the site will be up and running soon, too...

The business card is ready, too, but the colors looked totally funky on here, so it's on my Flickr

:)

Not So Cool

Two reasons why I was not cool at the library conference:
1. At the first general session I went to, I spilled a full water directly into my crotch and had to walk around like that FOREVER before it dried.
2. Cried in front of an author.
Sadly, my dorkiness is now confirmed.

On the Flip Side

Awesome morning at the farmer's market. Greyson just fell asleep in my arms which he has not done since he was a very very little baby (pre-sitting, I think). Reggae festival to look forward to this evening. All is right with the world.

Anticlimactic

Well, I'm back. I have tons of stories to tell about the conference but alas, no pics. I have skin rubbed off on both shoulders from carrying two bags stuffed to the gills with books every day for three days. Awesome.
I was SO ready to see Greyson and Tim. I was really excited and jumped straight into the car without so much as going to the bathroom when I got home. G was totally unimpressed. No running to me or even hugging me extra long. I was bummed.
Then Tim gets home and the first thing he does is lots of sighing about the fact that I put all my bags on the couch to play with G right away. Something along the lines of how oh no I'm home so now the house will get messy in no time.
I go into the bedroom and Tim has rearranged the whole room without discussing it with me. He even changed my side of the bed (???). I'm a little ticked about this because he has now done that in every room in the house and he gets mad if I want to change it.
Then Greyson screams bloody murder forever and more sighing from Tim. Of course he tells me that G didn't cry or fuss at all while I was gone.
So now I feel bummed and sort of melancholy. I guess I thought we would have some kind of happy evening together as a family since this was the first time I've been away. So totally not like that.

I'm Off!

I'll be off at a library conference in Dallas from a few minutes from now until Friday. I am really pretty excited b/c free hotel! Free food! Sleeping late! I have spent the night away from G once, but that was one night and we were back in the morning. I am a little nervous because he's been super fussy and Tim will be doing it all alone. But I'm going to try not to worry about that too much (yeah, right).
Should be a fun week. It's nice to actually feel cool for a few days. And trust me, in this crowd I am. Talk to you soon!

Sammy the Model

So here are a few of my favs from our Sammy shoot. I like them way overexposed against the white background. I am so interested to see the difference between mine and Bonnie's post-processing. The rest I did are on my Flickr.

Sammy is so stinking cute and the most expressive baby I have ever met.

Since we both used Bonnie's camera and no one was keeping track, these are a "joint effort." :)

I just want to bite on him!!

Yuck

Blech. I just got done crying like an idiot at lunch in front of.... let's see...6 colleagues including the principal. People were talking about debt and I was starting to feel panicky and then they started in about the house. I normally don't mind people asking me how it's going, but this just seemed to go on and on until I finally lost it and started crying. Then came the awkwardness while I tried to pull it back together. And STILL they were asking about it. I know everyone was trying to help, which is maybe what made me go over the edge. I thought I'd vent here since I'm done crying but not done feeling like an ass. Totally embarrassing.

Sammy

Bonnie and I did some OneLight practice...trying to remember what we learned a month ago. Sammy was our awesome and surprisingly compliant model. I'm too tired to go through them all right now (and there are TONS of cute ones), so here's just one to give you a taste of the cute overload to come...

(S)poon

Tonight at dinner Greyson saw that I had a spoon and started screaming, "Poon! Need poon! Need poon!" Do I need to tell you how funny this was to me? I got a wicked case of the giggles (Tim was busy rolling his eyes) and when I finally calmed down, I remembered this post from Bonnie about Ben asking for a fork. Needless to say I started up again - Tim is used to me laughing randomly without explaining why. Let's just imagine the two of them together:

G: Need poon!
B: I need a f*ck!
G: Need poon!

Sadly, they may end up having this conversation - but let's hope it's not for many MANY years.

That Kind of Party

So this morning there was a fifth grade boy in the library hanging out on the couch. There was also my friend, the autistic first grade boy (let's call him Al) (haha). So my assistant asked the fifth grader how his party was this weekend and he starts talking about how it was a private party. Al asks what "private party" means and so the boy explains how it was not public, etc. Al says (loudly of course)(and I wish I were saying this to you in person - imagine a very loud robotic voice), "Ohhhhh! I know what a private party is. It's when everybody goes to a party and gets nekkid!" And I think, "No, that's a privates party."

Joie de Vivre

On Saturday we went to my friend Andrea's house for her daughter Sophia's second birthday. They had a crawfish boil and it was one of the most laid-back, relaxing, fun parties I've been to. It doesn't hurt that Andrea has the perfect back yard for kids. I barely even saw G, he was way too busy for the likes of us. It also doesn't hurt that I can be so comfortable with the people there. It's nice to just be able to hang.

On to the crawfish - so, I don't really eat seafood. I don't like fish or shrimp or lobster, etc., etc. (I think I maybe do like crab - in a crab cake!) But guess what? I LIKED IT! I was really surprised. Now, I was not ready to be sucking any heads or doing the actual dirty work, but the meat tasted good! Must have been the spices...now I can never never eat it again unless Mike cooks it. I don't want to ruin it for myself.

I finally got back into the groove taking pictures and I took TONS. Since I think I put up over 50 (you can see them on Flickr here), I had a hard time choosing just a few for this post, but here we go...

Not funny

So a first grade kid comes on the (school) news this morning to do the pledge. We ask him what class he's in and he says, "Stupid f'ing Miss _____." He didn't say the word, just "effing." I barely held it together. Thank goodness someone else was there to reprimand him. Not supposed to be funny, I know.

Doghouse

So Tim got home at like 9am on Sunday with broken glasses, a black eye, scratches on his face, and a skinned knee. He fell. What an idiot. It did make me feel marginally better, though. Except the stupid glasses - now we have to pay for new ones.

2am and Pissed

Up at 2:00 in the morning (again). Why? Because I'm so pissed off I can't lay in bed anymore. Let's go through the evening:
At a 2 year old's birthday, you drink 5 beers out of the six-pack we are supposedly splitting. I get mildly pissed because I find it rude and because you so obviously can't be done at 3 like a normal person.
Midnight - I get a phone call from a college friend of yours saying he will be driving you home soon and not to worry. I lay in bed fuming for awhile and then finally go back to sleep.
2 am - I get another call from said friend saying he will be bringing you home soon but has to wait for you to stop puking. He sounds tired.
I hope you are embarrassed that you get together with friends - some of whom you have not seen for years- and everyone talks about their kids and their pregnant wives and thier jobs and how they've grown up - and you drink so much that you puke and your friends have to stay up all night babysitting you.
Because it embarrasses the shit out of me.
And really pisses me off.

Tanya and Bonnie

Sorry but it's FUNNY

I apologize in advance for finding this funny but it really REALLY made me laugh. I so want to talk about my fav parts but I don't want to ruin it for you.

Please don't hate me for laughing at someone with Tourette's - he had WAY more going on than just that including being an alcoholic. Okay, yes it's sad for the family etc. etc. but just LET THAT ALL GO and watch the video!

Don't hate! Admit it - it's funny!!

Oh crap - P.S. LOTS of cursing so beware...



bwahahaha!

I Scream

G has been screaming since 10:00 and it is 12:30 now. Maybe that's not that long in real time, but it feels like it has been going on forf*ckingever. I have been in and out of there, tried bringing him to bed with us...everything I can think of. I can't sleep because there's not a single place in this entire house where I cannot hear him. And Tim is actually SNORING which makes me want to put the pillow over his face. Oops, he just went in there, so maybe I typed too soon. All this because this evening I declared that I had not been so tired in a long time and I was looking forward to going to bed early??

If I could cry right now I would, but I'm just too tired.

My friend Bonnie hosted a OneLight Workshop in her home last month. It was totally insane how much I learned and how excited I was the whole day. This is the first opportunity I've had to look at some of the pics I took there. These are the favorites of my grid spot shots. The thing that really blew my mind is that these photos were taken in Bonnie's entryway with regular tungsten light all around us. The room was not dark. The effect was created by the grid spot - which can apparently be made with a bunch of straws?? Cool.

Cellulitous

I am so out of shape that it is pathetic. I have just started attempting to train for the Muddy Buddy and it is a sad sight to see. I can't even do half of the things on the training plan. Push-ups 'til your muscles fail? Hmm...that equals 15 girlie push-ups. 25 pull-ups? Can't even hang for more than 10 seconds. I really am trying but it is f-ing embarrassing. I try to exercise with other people to push myself, but I am breathing so hard they ask me if I'm okay. I try to nod but my goddamn beeping heart rate monitor clues them into the fact that my heart is about to explode. Oh well, I guess there is only one way to change all that. Suck it up.

You Big Disgrace

This is one of my new favs. Taken at Hey Cupcake in Austin.

Greyson seems to always have something on his face. And frankly, I like it. It drives Tim absolutely bonkers because he doesn't like to get dirty. I, on the other hand, like to have dirty feet if at all possible...

Evidence of My Mad Parenting Skills #1

Austism: The Musical

Less than 5 minutes into Autism: The Musical and already bawling like a baby.

Since I'm (finally) in a laughing kind of mood..

From Entertainment Weekly's Hit List:

5. Miley Cyrus dedicates Web video to Jesus And Jesus, a huge fan of "Lazy Sunday," says He'll peek at it over lunch, when "the boss" is off His back.


HAHAHA!

I'm so easily amused, I know.

It makes me CRAZY when athletes, actors, etc. thank Jesus for how they did or the fact that they won. As if Jesus is up there playing a sort of holy fantasy league in the sky...**eye roll**

Why is this so funny to me?

I am dying laughing over here! Can't wait to see more!

States That Matter

I feel like this is turning into a complaining blog, so here's a little story:
The science question of the week for K-2 was to list the states of matter. So I go to look in the box at the answers and I see:
The states that matter: Texas, Idaho, and Turkey

??

Take This Job??

I do not want to be at work (which I already am). I have a million things to do and can't bring myself to do any of them! Tim keeps asking me if I am done with the library thing and wanting to do something else. I don't think it's that (God - it can't be that - Greyson has 16 years until he graduates), but something is going on. Maybe it's just that time of year in education. Blech.

Greyson's Party

I have been not wanting to do anything with pictures at all for weeks now. It's been weird - it's the first time that's happened to me. Anyway, maybe I can break out of it now that I got busy tonight (heehee). Here are some of my favs from G's big 0-2 (with the exception of the pic of G on my previous post). I had lots of fun and I am so grateful to have made these friends in Austin. Maybe I just need to bail on work and hang out with them more.

Martyr May I?

It makes me completely insane when my husband plays the martyr. Yes, he does more than most husbands do around the house, but every stupid thing has to be met with a heavy sigh and eye rolling. You would think that I never contributed anything to the household. He would rather stand at the sink and do the dishes while sighing and stomping around than to let me do them in half an hour (can I sit down for ONE second first?). It lets him be the poor husband who has the lazy wife who does nothing. It makes me SO mad.
So someone called and left a message from our mortgage company. They want us to call back. We are going through a messy situation and possible foreclosure. I do NOT want to call. I have been the one dealing with them this entire time and frankly I can't do it anymore. I do not feel like asking him to make one phone call is the end of the world. But you would certainly think so by the huge argument we had to have over it. I am alwaysalways the one to back down but I was too pissed off to do it this time. So big fight and not talking to each other over one phone call. And who will eventually have to be the one to make peace? You got it. Because I'm the only one who worries about it. This is so stupid but I swear we fight about crap like this more and more lately.
Our evenings consist of him playing video games and me taking a bath and going to bed. Romantic, huh? I am annoyed and depressed about the whole domestic scene.