A very Snuggie Christmas

Foto Friday

You Capture...Holiday Decor - Colonial Williamsburg Edition

What not to do in the carpool line...

BoyBoy's school has a double lane carpool line.  I spend a good deal of time in this line every afternoon waiting for him to get out of school.  There is a fine line between being too close to the front of the line and being stuck back in BFE.  If I am too close to the front of the line, BoyBoy might not get outside in time for me to get to the front of the line and I will be forced to circle the parking lot and end up at the back of the line like some disorderly kindergartner.  If I am too far back in BFE, BoyBoy will think that either I forgot to pick him up or panic that I have been in an accident and am bleeding on the side of the road (he comes by his worry gene naturally).  There is jockeying that goes on amongst the carpoolers.  Some will sit in the parking lot ready to pounce when the line gets just the right length.  Others will arrive up to 45 minutes early so that they are the first ones in line.   I am usually one of the former.  I will sit in my car in the parking lot until the line gets exactly the right length and then jump in.  This has given me plenty of time observing what people do in the carpool line while waiting for their children.  It is sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes disgusting, and often just plain weird.  I have compiled a list of things NOT to do in the carpool line.  Here they are in no particular order...

1.  Pick your nose
2.  Check out the enormous boogie that emerged from your nose
3.  Flick said boogie out the window at the next car
4.  Make your gyno appointment with your windows down, loudly explaining your symptoms to the nurse.
5.  Sing at the top of your voice to Air Supply
6.  Sing at the top of your voice to Pink
7.  Sing at the top of your voice to anyone...
8.  Have phone sex with your husband, boyfriend, or anyone else
9.  Get out of your car, go into the building and not emerge until after the carpool line has had to leapfrog your car a thousand times.
10.  Forget to turn off your blinker and sit there with it on
11.  Talk on the phone to someone about the boy in your child's class who stutters and who's mother should have taken him to the speech therapist weeks ago - that boy's mother might just be sitting next to you in carpool line.
12.  Talk on the phone to someone about the girl in your child's class who's skirts are always a bit too short and shirts a bit too revealing, question her mother's parenting skills, and cast dispersions on her father for allowing her out like that...see above.
13.  Read a book, magazine, paper, etc and forget to look up every now and then to see if the line has moved
14.  Honk at someone who is doing the above, they will move eventually
15.  Jump out of your car, grab your kid, and try to leapfrog the line.  If you are in such a hurry, park and go in a get your kid.

That's all I have at this point in the year.  I am sure there will be more...stay tuned.

Triptofan???

I am thankful...

I am thankful.  For lots of things, really.  I know it might be cliché to only mention it once a year, but it’s times like these that remind us to look around at the things we might take for granted the other 300+ days out of the year. 

I am thankful for my family.  For my parents who are both still young at heart and love each other with reckless abandon.  For my husband, who makes me laugh every day and loves me, warts and all.  For my son, the smartest, funniest, coolest 6^th grader on the planet, who never ceases to amaze me with his kindness, intelligence, and wit.  For my sister, an amazingly strong cancer survivor, who never stops moving, cleaning or loving her family.  I am thankful for my family.

I am thankful that my husband has a job that doesn’t take him into harm’s way anymore.  He served his country proudly and is now able to work for a company that values his service and rewards him for it.  He is able to explore new avenues and do things he has never done before and, while that is a challenge to him sometimes, it is also an exciting new horizon.  I am thankful for his job.

I am thankful for BoyBoy’s school.  After many years in schools that weren’t equipped to challenge his mind, he is flourishing in his new middle school.  They are pushing him and molding him, sometimes painfully, into a happier, more centered child.  He is learning more than what is in the books; he is learning to be a better student, a better friend, and a better citizen.  I am thankful for his school.

I am thankful for the opportunity to follow my passion.  I have always loved photography and finally decided to make it my career.  I am learning more with every picture I take and falling in love with photography all over again.  I am using my creative brain for the first time in a long time and it makes me feel refreshed.  I am grateful for my understanding, supportive and patient husband who is allowing me to chase this dream.  I am thankful for my passion.

I am thankful for my dog.  She greets me every day like I am her favorite person in the whole, wide world.  She never gets mad when I leave her home alone all day and she keeps our backyard squirrel free.  She is sweet and protective and loves to have her belly rubbed.  And I gladly rub it because she loves me unconditionally.  I am thankful for my dog. 

I know that there are more things for which I am thankful.  It is often in the little things that you find your treasures.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Foto Friday

Had a photo shoot with this cutie this week...

My New (but not my favorite) Commenters

I have some new commenters that I am none too fond of.  They go by names such as this:


救援部


and this:


裏バイト,


and this:


倶楽部


They have latched on to one post and keep commenting on it, ever-y sing-le d-ay.  I don't know how to make it stop.  What is most disturbing is, when I click on their comment to see where they are coming from, HOLY COW!!!  My sweet, pure, innocent eyes fall out of my head, roll down the hall and wash themselves out with soap!  I feel like I need to have my computer disinfected.  How did they find me?  How do I make it stop?  I tried to moderate comments for that post but now I have to check every one and delete it.  Does anyone have any ideas?  I don't know how much longer my beloved computer will last with these nasty commenters.  She's very sensitive to such things and gets her Southern sensibilities bruised easily.  What would the FBI think if they happened to stumble across my blog?  Or worse, my mother clicked one of those links?  (Mom, don't do it!)  Please, bloggy friends, help a blogger out - tell me how to make it stop!

Thank you.

Thank you to my Bubba and to all the American Veterans!

You Capture...Photographer's Choice

Beth has the flu and so does her daughter, so this week's theme is photographer's choice.  I chose to highlight my beautiful niece, P, this week.  I took these at the nearby school playground and pier with a wide angle lens I borrowed from borrowlenses.com.  That place is the bomb!!!  Anyhoo, she is a great subject and I think these capture her true personality.  Isn't she beautiful?

For more photographer's choice photos, visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Achoo!!

So, BoyBoy's school is closed tomorrow for swine flu.  Okay, I get it.  They are closing so that they can give the school a good old fashioned deep clean in the hopes of kicking the swine flu's butt.  Only problem is...Friday's are always MY day.  Why didn't they ask me?  I have a few things I wanted to do on Friday.  I am busy!  I need my toes done, I am getting a massage to try and remove my shoulders from my ears, and I have a mentoring session with a local photographer.  How am I supposed to do that with a BoyBoy hanging around?  Don't get me wrong, I love me some BoyBoy time, snuggling on the sofa, watching movies together, etc, but I adore ME time almost as much.  I have been looking forward to this mentoring session for a while and was hoping to gain insight into how to market my new business and find some ways to grow my little seedling.  This photographer has graciously offered to sit down with me and answer my questions, hand out advise, and basically just nosh about the local photography business.  She is a great photographer and I love her work and I know she will be a wealth of information for me.  Why didn't the school consult with me first?  Plus, I really need my toes done...

Happy Halloween!!!

The long awaited, much postponed, annual pumpkin carving party finally happened Friday night. I believe a good time was had by all. Pumpkins were carved, and then carved some more. Stew and mummy wraps were eaten. Some candy might have been consumed and, all-in-all, Halloween was celebrated beautifully.

(My mother's pumpkin in honor of her beloved Yankees - GO, YANKEES!!!)

Forgiveness

I read on MckMama's blog, the other day when she poured out her heart, a very wise comment. Her post was bravely about the struggles in her marriage and the steps she and Prince Charming are going through to get through the rough patches. She has always been honest and forthcoming about their ups and downs and I admire their faith and love of one another. What she said that caught me cold was:

As it relates to human forgiveness, forgiveness is for the forgiver, not for the forgiven.

I have had her statement rolling around in my head for a few days, can't stop thinking about it really. Made it my Facebook status, Twitter status, and it is on the chalkboard in the kitchen where I usually write my grocery list. I, like MckMama, thought that forgiveness was a gift to be bestowed on others, something you could withhold as a sort of punishment to let the guilty party know that they were still in trouble. You are not off the hook with me until I have forgiven you, so you better keep sucking up. This practice only works if the person who you think needs your forgiveness truly desires your forgiveness. And that is what I have been doing all wrong. The more I think about it, the more I realize how right she is. Looking back, I have always felt better when I have forgiven someone wholly and for the right reason and not just to "let them off the hook." How, when I forgive someone who I believe has wronged me simply because it is the right thing to do, I have often felt empty and bitter. Does this fall into the category of being the better person? Am I the better person if I forgive someone just to make myself feel better? When I forgive someone with my whole heart, aren't we both healed? Maybe forgiveness isn't what that person was seeking, but by giving it to them, I have found something in myself. Forgiveness in this way, with your whole heart and only for you is harder than doing it the other way. But, if I can do it right, it can be so much better.

There is a reason God has kept this in my head this week. I believe He thinks I may need to work on my forgiveness skills. At this time in my life, I have few things that I need to forgive for myself and maybe why it was sent to me now. I can work on forgiving for me when it is a bit easier and when the hard stuff comes along, I will be a pro. I can forgive myself for getting angry when the toothpaste top is left off or when the socks are on the floor. I can forgive myself for getting my feelings hurt when someone doesn't return my call or criticizes my choices. I can practice my forgiveness until it becomes second nature. And then I will be able to forgive others for myself.

Thanks, MckMama and God...sometimes I need a nudge.

***Continue to pray for sweet Stellan, his SVT is back with a vengence.

Stellan...

Pray for this sweet baby, he is not doing well...

Oink, oink...

Today would have been the perfect day for the Cheezes' annual Pumpkin Carving Party.

Beautiful, blustery autumn day,

huge pumpkins with cool stems at the pumpkin patch,

perfect weather for eating soup,

and mummy wraps.

However, this is how we are spending our day...

(Poor Bubba)

Don't worry...the carving will go on. Just a little later than expected. Feel better soon, Bubba! (not Sneezer!)