You know it's been a while . . .

since your last blog post when you have to log into your Google account. Where on earth is the time going? I feel like I finally remembered to label my checks with October and we're already to Thanksgiving. Is this time flying phenomena yet another reminder that I'm getting old? Why yes, I believe it is.

Jenna went hunting last weekend with Bill. Yes, that's right, I allowed my five-year-old daughter out in the woods with firearms. It totally freaked me out. And yet Bill is a hunter and wants to share it with his daughter. I had to ask myself if she were a boy would I be less nervous? Answer, a little bit. He wasn't on state land, and she really wanted to go. I prepped Bill beforehand, saying she may freak out if he actually shot a deer. (Translation - I WILL FREAK OUT IF YOU SHOOT A DEER IN FRONT OF MY DAUGHTER). I am not anti-hunting, but have absofreakinglutely no desire to see one shot. Jenna is different. Bill said the minute she saw the buck she said, "Daddy, you HAVE to shoot it!" So Bill had earplugs on her, had her hold her ears, and as soon as he shot yelled, "He shoots, He Scores, High five, daddy!" Um, yeah. That would have been my reaction exactly. She is still excited. I predict she will be a fabulous hunter one day.

We also went out to dinner last weekend with my good friends Mark and Sally. Bill was a touch late trying to get out of the woods with Jenna's deer, but we had fun. Mark had been to the MHS football game, and is the #1 MHS football fan. So it was great to hear him describe the win that propelled our team to the state finals. This group of seniors were my first group of freshmen when I moved up to the high school, and I am so excited for them. They'll be playing a fantastic team, and yet they know they can overcome a 28-7 deficit to win a semifinal game. GO CHEMICS! We had a pep rally yesterday, and despite the behavior of a few, it was quite a feeling. We also had a swimmer who won first place at the state meet. Go Gessi!

Thanksgiving is hosted here this year, and everyone is bringing something. So I have very little stress. I'm looking forward to family time. I'm taking pictures of the grandkids since Billy will be home. I'm also taking family pictures for one of my student's families. I really need some time off. Em is already home and she and Hayley are making the pies today. It's best I won't be home to see the mess . . . hopefully it will be cleaned up by the time I get home from school.

In scrappy news, I got my copy of 601 Great Scrapbook Ideas yesterday. I had nine pages picked up for that book, and it was a kick looking through the book at those pages. Even Bill was impressed. (It may be because his picture is IN the book, LOL!) Jenna's sweet face appeared three times on the front and back covers, which was also a first. I need to make more time to scrap and submit. Maybe I'll get caught up over xmas vacation and get back on a regular schedule. We'll see! I posted two layouts I did last weekend JUST FOR ME. I actually go them done while Bill and Jenna were hunting. Go figure!

I'm sure this is my last blog post for a few. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have so very much to be thankful for . . .

Mondays can be a bummer.

Especially when your girl wakes up at 4:00 a.m. with a migraine. I can't believe she is starting them this early . . . her first was on our trip home from Disney last spring break. It's in the family, but no one started as young as the J-bird. The good news is once she finally got herself to sleep she woke up and it was gone. That was really the only way for me as well. Now Alleve takes the edge off for me and I don't always need to sleep, assuming I take it in time.

So J and I have been hanging out all day. It was rainy and dreary, but the sun is peeking out now, thank goodness. She's fine and I'm bored.

Here is the latest of my girls. Used my friend's studio lights. I think this needs to be my next investment. I'd love a new camera, but shooting with lights (and learning the process) may just get me through the winter without offing myself. Have I mentioned how much I hate winter? No? Well, 'tis true.

Have a fabulous Monday.

Layouts Galore

I finished eight, that's right, EIGHT layouts this weekend. It was scrapping like I haven't experienced for months. Reminded me why I like this hobby so much. Here's one of my girls using a cool new line from Sassafras Lass. Hope you like it!

A few layouts

from the September newsletter at Scrap Supply. Have I mentioned how much I love this team? I am such a slacker anymore about submitting or updating my online galleries. There just aren't enough minutes in a day for me to accomplish everything I would like.

By the way, have you checked out the November Newsletter from Scrap Supply? There are some fantastic articles and ideas. You won't be disappointed!

It's been a slow Saturday. I actually scrapped today. I had a wonderful, motivating surprise this a.m. which woke up my mojo. I looked at this thread at 2 Pea's. It totally made my day. So I emailed the person who mentioned me, and thanked them. I needed that. So I did some layouts today for the BHG idea book call. I'm not so great at lifting people, but I tried. At least I'm submitting something. It's been since last spring (or maybe even before that) since I've had the nerve to try to submit. Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Jennabean is coughing up a storm. Day 7 on an antibiotic, and sicker than ever. I tell you, this is bad. I feel awful for her. And Em's football team lost today. Sorry, hon!

Have a great Saturday. We get to "fall back" tonight for daylight savings time. An extra hour of sleep . . . life is good.

Don't you love my new song? I think it's my fave right now. Peace out, peeps!

Glorious Fall

We skipped dance class tonight. I'm tired, the weather is amazing, and I wanted to go outside and play for a while. So we raked leaves and took in one of the last decent weather days, I'm sure. That's the bad thing about Michigan. You know your nice days are numbered.

Headed to MSU to take Em to lunch yesterday. She survived truning 21. And I can sleep again.

Have a terrific Monday!

A Saturday of . . .

taking Jenna to the Dr. for her double ear infection, teaching Photoshop Elements, napping (glorious), editing and delivering pictures, going to the Nature Center (brrrr.....), then visiting family, playing with a kitty, and having pizza. Ah, Saturday. Busy, yet fun.

Happy Birthday to my baby at midnight tonight. She'll be 21. I love you, my girl. Be smart!!!

Photos on Thursday

And uploaded by Grey's Anatomy! God, I'm good!

Head over to my photo blog to see more.

It's Fall!

Here are a few photos from a quick shoot after school. I LOVE FALL. It was a little cold, and you can still see Miss J's black eye. But we went searching for colors and found quite a few. Last year I saw swans at this location and was hoping to see them again. All photos using my 85 mm 1.8 lens. I'm still learning it . . . sometimes I am truly disappointed in my pics but I was happy today. Practice, practice, practice, right? Worked a little with backlighting and loved the yellow glow.

Is this thing on?

It's been another marathon week for me. I swear, I am so busy it hurts. Let's see.

Monday? School, Dr.'s office then to x-ray since Jen's eye swelled up again. (No fracture, but the Dr. felt that she probably shouldn't have played soccer on Saturday. OOPS!) Then off to dance.

Tuesday? School, then out to dinner with the ladies from Central. I miss teaching with them, but I'm grateful we keep in touch.

Wednesday? School, then shopping for birthday presents, for the Lia Sophia Party, and for party supplies for the weekend. Also spent 3 hours learning the new version of Photoshop Elements 5.0 for my class on Saturday.

Thursday? School, then hosted a Lia Sophia party for Em. Had quite a few guests, and had fun. In the middle of the party got a call from the owner of the camera shop saying he had puchased Elements 6 for the class rather than version 5.0. Guess what? I don't know it! Finished my handouts for my Saturday class.

Friday? School, then off to a Friday night crop where I needed to finish my 3 PC projects that were due on Tuesday. I've never been late in two years, and I had to ask for an extension. Got them done, and worked on two November layouts for SS.

Saturday? Taught Elements from 9-12, then home to get ready to host a birthday party for Em, Jami and Scott. It was easy and we had fun overall.

Today? Exhausted. Went grocery shopping, did laundry, and took the girls to the Nature Center for a few pics. It was the perfect fall day, and to be honest, I was too tired to enjoy it. Feel guilty for that! Now it's preparing for the week. I need a vacation from my life, for sure.

Have a great week! I know it's another busy one for me. My goal is to get out and shoot some great pics and enjoy the fall colors. I haven't done enough of that, and I'm already feeling guilty.

Homecoming

for my niece today. Got to the dinner at her house a little late, and it was getting dark, but got some cool shots of her and her friends. They had so much fun together and laughed constantly. It was a mix of boys and girls, some with dates and some just going as friends. We were talking about how "back in the day" if you weren't asked to the dance you didn't go. Groups of friends weren't allowed. We've come a long way, baby!

Another week o' fun

It was another busy week, but a good one overall. Let's see. Last weekend started with a trip to the Dr. for Jenna. Thank goodness they have Saturday a.m. hours because she was starting another ear infection. The problem was her allergies, and they were flaring because of the abnormally hot fall we were having. She missed her soccer game, which she was really upset about. She asked me, "mom, how am I going to score goals if I'm not at the game?" True dat, my competitive one. She perked up quickly once on the meds.

I had promised Chris that I would take some senior pictures. So my sister and I walked around downtown Saturday (in the sweltering heat, drinking hot coffee of course) and tried to scope out some outdoor settings that had the look of a city, or urban setting. Chris wanted solid-color or textured backgrounds. So I met him late afternoon with Jami and Maggi and we did the shoot. I think we got some really good shots, and I am learning with every session I do. Sunday I proofed some of the photos and spent some time with Bill and Jenna at a pumpkin farm. It was so hot though that is wasn't much fun. Plus she wasn't feeling all that well still. The weekend went SO FAST!

This week was busy as well. Monday dance, Tuesday grocery store, Wednesday to wait in line for computers for my sister and niece, Thursday soccer and photo club, and last night the homecoming parade, then to the coffee shop with my sisters, Emily who was in town for the day, and my niece, then off to a local pub with my math girls. WHEW. I went to bed last night at 9:00. How sad is that? I was hoping the triple espresso after school would keep me awake, but no go.

Did you notice Jen's shiner? It's a good one. She went on a field trip at school on Wednesday and a student ran into her in a corn maze. I about threw up when I saw it. I don't take seeing my girls in pain well AT ALL. I remember when Emily needed stitches on her chin when she was about the same age as Jenna and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown in the ER. I called my SIL who worked in the ER to drive over to help. Yep, I'm a strong one! The picture is one where Alison and I were trying out her studio lights. Wow, do I have a lot to learn. But we're getting there!

I just finished the book The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Wow. Surprising. There were so many things that sort of bugged me about the premise of the book, like a connection between now and characters of the book The Great Gatsby which I thought was a stretch. But the way it turned out was really unexpected. I don't know if I loved it. But it was different and surprised me, which can be hard to do.

Another busy weekend planned. More later!

Some more pictures of Chris

Chris wanted another photo shoot for a portfolio, and yesterday we walked around downtown and I got some pics. Check out my photo blog for more!

What Up?

So under duress, I'm blogging tonight. One of my two faithful blog readers pressured me into posting, even though my life is extremely small and boring right now and I have nothing to say. I have GOT to get a life. Seriously.

Let's see. My uncle Hank died last week. He's actually my dad's uncle, but was like a grandpa to me. He and my Aunt Edith were my Godparents. The showing was Thursday, and the funeral on Friday. He was 97 years old. Can you believe it? And in really good health up until the last few years. They were married for 71 years. That's a lifetime! It was more like a celebration of life, but still sad. I'm not one of those accepting people that finds solace in death. I hate goodbyes. Really hate them. Em came home for the funeral and showing so we got to hang out. And it's nice to see family, even under these circumstances.

Slow weekend. Bill took off to a conference so I was single-momming it until yesterday. It is seriously warm outside so Jen and I have been exploring outdoors. The pic is from the Nature Center on Sunday. She gets so sassy in those boots, I tell ya! She's sassy anyways . . . who am I kidding?

Allergies are kicking my butt, but I've found a temporary solution. I'm taking a double dose of Allegra, on the diagnosis of Dr. Kay. As Elaine knows, I'm a fan of the medication. And I am feeling better.

OK, off to watch Private Practice. I'm digging the new fall shows! (Did I mention I'm in desperate need of a life?) In scrapping news, I made the October Newsletter at PageMaps. It is such a cool site, with awesome sketches. Perfect for the time/creatively impaired. Also, had my first article at ScrapSupply. It's such a cool team! I'm having a blast.

OK, signing off.

Peace out!

A busy one!

Em came home for the Bill's birthday, and we've been going nonstop since yesterday morning. We had coffee at mom's yesterday a.m., came home and edited photos from my last shoot, headed to soccer (and Jen scored another goal!), to Community Day at Bill's school, to dinner at the casino with Bill's aunt and uncle Fred and Max. We got home at midnight. And no, I didn't win the big bucks and I won't be quitting my day job. Woke up and made pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast, shot some pics of the girls, did a quick edit on them, and now I'm preparing for the family to arrive for Bill's bday, round 2. Check out more of the girls on my photo blog. Hope you had a good weekend!

More photos!

This time all boys.Could they be any dang cuter? They are all unedited, but I knew the moms would want to see something. Head on over to my photo blog and check them out!

I shot some seniors today!

With my camera, of course! Click the link to my photography blog and tell me what you think. Thanks!

She shoots, and she

SCORES! Jenna made her first goal, and her team's ONLY goal, at her soccer game yesterday morning. Safe to say, she was thrilled! I was so excited, I got a really crappy picture of the shot, mainly because I was crying. She will only have one "first goal," and it brought tears to my eyes. But the celebration continued throughout the rest of the game, so I got some of those shots. And so it begins. Mia Hamm, watch out!

Went to a fun engagement party last night. The picture is from the party. Yikes, do I really look like this? I swear I don't. I handed off my camera to the bride's niece to take the pics, and she did an amazing job. Except for this picture of me, of course. It's not her fault I look like this, I guess.

Have a wonderful week!

WHEW. I made it.

First week of school, DONE. All of the stressing, and mourning the end of summer is over. I can settle back into a routine and just deal. It's time.

Isn't J just the sweetest? Look at that cutie. Notice how far away she is in the second picture? That's because she was running up to the school. I thought it was eagerness to start. Instead, sadly, it was because she didn't want to be seen with me. It started the night before, when Bill and I were talking about her first day. He was telling her that we would both be dropping her off to school. She replied, "It's OK! I'll just ride my bike!" I don't think so, my girl. Didn't think anything about it until we walked into school (or should I say I was running to catch up with her), and we were standing outside the office waiting for Bill to arrive from work. Out of the corner of my eye I see her slowly, sneakily, taking steps away from me. SERIOUSLY. I looked over at her and said, "Um, Jen, am I crowding you or something?" She gave me a sneer, and an eyeroll. It speaks volumes about the teenage years. Yikes.

But she's happy when she goes to school, and when the daycare provider picks her up at lunch, (although she's really tired), and she's happy when she gets home. Her teacher is AMAZING. It's such a relief to know she's happy and confident. Emily had a really hard time going to school, so it's a big change. Fall soccer has started too, and dance starts up again next week. Busy, busy, busy.

I have the most amazing students this year. Every year I think about going back to school, but I picture having the students from the year before. And I get a little sad that I'm not going to have them. That is until I meet the new crowd. A lot of them (the juniors and seniors) I have had before, and it's so much fun to hear what they've been up to all summer, and see how they are evolving into young adults. As a bonus, my freshmen are so cool! And to top it all off, I'm coteaching with Elaine who keeps me laughing. The best part of this week though was having my former students stop in before school, at lunch, and after school just to say hi. They have no idea how much that means to me. And it's the perfect motivator to be the best teacher I can possibly be so this batch takes the time to come in and say hello next year. I have the best job in the world. Seriously.

Have a great weekend!

Labor Day Sharing

Here are my projects for the awesome Sept. kit from A Million Memories. It was mostly from Fancy Pants, one of my all-time faves! Add to that fall colors, which I adore, and you know I had fun with this one. I have fun with kits, trying to find a way to make each layout look a little different in style and color scheme. It's a little challenge I issue myself, and it keeps me working on my scrapping skills.

I'm watching a lot of tennis now. For me, it's the best thing about the Labor Day weekend. (I know, how many ways can you spell nerd?) Tennis and hockey are my sports . . . mainly because they are SO SIMILAR, right? I can't explain it, but it's true!

Hey, if you have a minute, there is still the "So You Think You Can Scrap?" contest going on through Scrapper's Bliss. It was so fun being a part of it, but it's down to the last two people, the fabulous Amy Coose and Dena Coe. I love these ladies, and their talent will knock your socks off. They could use your votes. So please visit here to vote!

OK, I'm off to cook a big breakfast for the fams. I don't do that often . . . but it's fun every once in a while. I'm hoping to get in a little scrappy time on this Labor Day, but highly doubt it will happen. Tomorrow is Jenna's first day of kindergarten, and my first day with kids. Summer is OVER, baby!

Happy Labor Day!

It's been a while!

I've been holding on to the last days of summer. Had two teacher workdays on Wednesday and Thursday, and start with kids on Tuesday. I love my job, and the people I work with. I was glad to see everyone. And the reality is Jenna is ready to move on. She needs more structure and activity, and school will be perfect for that. I'm not gonna lie, I love my summers. But the excitement of fall, and starting another year . . . that's cool too!

Speaking of cool, I finally get to announce that I made the design team of Scrap Supply. I am so excited! The current team is AMAZING, and I can't wait to work with everyone. You can see the announcement here, and check out the picture Jenna took of me yesterday. She did pretty well, no? I had the camera on the tripod to start, but she rotated it and focused and shot. A budding photog, that one!

Speaking of the picture, does anyone else freak out when they see themselves in a picture? These are the things that went through my head. "What up with that haircut? Maybe Elaine was right, and I do have a "Jane Fonda" look, whatever the hell THAT means! And did I not read the memo that women of a certain age should stay out of the sun? The fact that the crows feet are white stripes from squinting while playing outdoors . . . NICE. And isn't my nose fatter at the end, a la Jimmy Durante? It sure looks like it to me!" Thankfully my roots had been colored, or I would have had a field day on the totally grey look I've got going on. You see, I don't color my hair to make it lighter, I color it DARKER to hide the grey, mainly because I don't want to be mistaken for Jenna's grandma. After I photoshopped the picture to death, I think it turned out like an Olan Mills glamour shot. Ridiculous. But if you have the technology, why not use it? WINK.

Other news . . . Jenna is back in spring soccer, and will start dance again next week. Emily has a really hard schedule this fall, but is looking forward to attending the football games. She may even visit us soon! I'm still in the process of redoing the living room/scrap area. The furniture came yesterday, and a whole posse helped me decide where everything should go. Today the job is to hang the frames. I will try and post pictures this weekend. It ROCKS. That's all I'm sayin! And have I finished prepping the hallway for paint by scrubbing the wallpaper residue? Well, no I have not. Maybe that's a Sunday job. (or maybe not.)

Peace out, and enjoy your Labor Day!