the checkbook is under the gerbil

I have to tell a story.

Many moons ago, I owned a medium sized purse. not too huge but it had absolutely no divisions or seperations in it of any kind. it was one big pocket. I liked this purse. Easy to carry and easy to dump stuff in.

One evening I went to a crop with my friend Becky. I was thirsty and needed a drink, so I bought a soda in a bottle at a convience store. I had a lot of other much more imporant things to carry with me, so I dumped my soda in my purse. Becky had no idea it was in there until about an hour later when I pull this soda bottle out. She laughed, "are there small animals in there too? are you sure there's not a rabbit in that thing?"

I have never lived this moment down. Over time my purses have gotten smaller (I buy cheap ones, you remember, so I tend to change every couple of years) and they are always measured by how big of an animal I can carry.

I think this current one could fit two house mice. So what do you think, Becky, should I test it?

Stereotype Spotting

Sometimes, the stereotypes do work. My parents had friends over for dinner yesterday, an older couple and the gentleman wore a hat. Matty (who's been very friendly with adults lately) immediately recognized what that hat meant. "You're a farmer man! You're a farmer man!" he said, over and over until he was acknowledged. and you know what? He was a farmer. Matt also knew that this meant that his new friend would have animals, so he went into a long explanation of the animals that his friend would have on the farm and all the sounds they would make. "you have a cow, and chickens, and ducks, and pigs, and horses . . ." It's amazing what a boy can learn from "Old MacDonald."

oh and the lady offered to take Matt home with her so he could be her little boy. He was very disapointed to learn that I wasn't going to let him do that. After all, she has a cat.

The consequences of marrying a man who can sing

I do love listening to Steve sing. He has a wonderful voice and one of my favorite things is listening to him compose a new song in the next room. I love the soft mumble with the real lyrics drifting in and out as he works them into the melody. (He composes like Seal, with guitar and melody first, then lyrics.)

There is a price though. Everyone somehow thinks that because my husband can sing, I can sing. I don't know, maybe they think talent is somehow just sitting there on his lips waiting for me to catch it when I kiss him. Nevertheless, there is no excuse for my mother. The woman has heard me sing in public. Usually at her own insistance. (there are not enough rollyeyes in IMland for this.) I can carry a tune ok on my own, in my own house, when there is no one around. But I'm still far from someone you would go out of your way to listen to. you stick me in front of a group of people and I sound like Peter Brady singing "changes." not a lovely sound. So back to my mother. She's decided she wants me to sing. Well, she wants my family to sing. Since I have a husband and children with lovely voices, I get bundled in to it, too. Oh, and not only do we get to sing, we get to sing in Japanese. In church. In front of her Ward. 250 people. I'll bet you are all (all five of you, woohoo! numbers are going up!) wishing you were me today, huh? ;)

the fun way to learn photoshop

Today: invisible pot roast

I ought to be funnier.

I live a pretty crazy life. I have five kids who do very nutty things. They take after their father. (Yes, Steve, that would be you.) The lick dogs, they dump crayons down furnace vents, they sit on their siblings heads. They are all out funny. I should be able to tell their stories. Sometimes I manage it in my scrapbooks. Mostly I manage a nice paragraph using all my vast journalism experience from the eighth grade newspaper. I believe they let me do the lunch menu.

Instead, you, my dear blog readers, (all three of you,) get to be subjected to my personal angst, my musings on crazy stuff and my crazy compliment fishing expeditions. What’s on the lunch menu today? More posting of silly pictures that make me look like I’m trying out for a job with a commercial photographer? More discussion on laundry? (What a thrill!) More pointless essays on strange topics? NAFTA? (That’s for you, Steve.)

Actually, (I’m sure you’ve been waiting for a point here. I don’t have one.) today my angst is directed to my invisibility. I read several blogs. Many of them are written by people I’ve actually worked with in the past. I briefly was on the same design team with Donna Downey. (Alert! Alert! It’s a dropped name! Watch your toes!) There are a few others I worked with as well. They moved on a lot sooner than I did, and to much bigger things and I didn’t keep in touch. So I read their blogs in my voyeuristic style and never post. I’m too afraid they will look at my comment and say “who the heck is that?!” yup. Invisible.

Just wish it worked like that at home, ya know? Who’s going to do the laundry? Hmmmmm, no mom here. Guess someone else will have to pick up the slack.

Planning ahead

We have a Pottery Barn close to me now!  woohoo!!  can i just tell you how exciting this is?  I've been waiting for three years.  ok, so it's very small, but it's there and it has all the photo frames and albums.  These adorable little albums were on sale for $7 each.  i bought six.  i am hoping to finally get some photography clients and they will be my proofing albums (availble for purchase at a mark up, of course.)

Something for me

here's a few new things that are making me happy.  I bought myself a new purse.  I didn't settle for whatever walmart purse was the the least ugly.  I saved my money and went to a real department store.  I paid over $20 (it was on sale, too.)  I like it.  it's probably a bit on the small side, but then my purse tends to just get stuffed with receipts when it's big anyway. 

Good Day

It was a good day today. Busy but good. This morning, I drove a friend to Boise to visit her baby. He’s in the NICU of one of the hospitals there. She gave birth three months early and today was only the second time she has gotten to see her baby. She barely got a glance of him the day he was born before they wisked him off on Life Flight to a different hospital. When I visited with her Saturday evening, she was excited to tell me that she got to touch him. He was three days old and she was excited to get to let his tiny hand curl halfway around her finger for a few minutes. Today she was so happy when she told me the hospital practices skin on skin therapy when the babies are strong enough. So happy to have those moments that I take for granted with my own baby.

I got to have some fun on my own while she was at the hospital. I bought a few things for myself and found some fun deals. That was nothing. I got to help my friend. She got to visit her son. That’s what made it a good day.

what else i've been up to

i forgot to mention in my previous post that i also got to photograph a wedding recently. it was a wonderful experience and very good for my confidence as a photographer. it was a very relaxed affair with fifteen guests in a tiny little church called the Cowboy Angel Church out on a ranch in the Idaho mountains. this of course explains the groom in black wranglers ;) we do that up here in Idaho.

another favorite picture from the wedding

back on the bandwagon

Thanks to !Ali I have a new desktop image. A very cool Veer walpaper image that tickled me.

I haven't written much lately because life got busy. that's very unusual for me. we pretty much have a routine. In the last week and half my husband managed to total the van (thank goodness for air bags is all I'm saying about that. too scary to think about.) We got a new (to us) van. a nice one with double sliders. (yea!) my children had end of the school year concerts and activities. Sarah won second place and $50 in the community talent contest. This week has had it's ups and downs.

my baby is almost crawling. my computer time is going to shrink drastically in the coming week

in which Amy pretends she's cool

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

i think i prefer the visited states map to the visited country map. after all, the visited country map looks really lame with only one red country on it. yes, folks, i haven't even managed to see Canada or Mexico. I have however, spent a lot of time in Hawaii, so now intead of thinking i'm a loser you can all be jealous now.

don't worry, this is one of those self deluding posts. it would help if you kept your eye rolling to when my back is turned. thanks.

Ordinary Household Magic

They say it really does exist, that it is out there somewhere; you just have to find it. I’ve been looking for over a decade and I still haven’t found it. It’s very elusive, that bottom of the laundry hamper.

I try to do two batches of laundry a day. I still very seldom see the bottom of the hamper. There will be this brief glimpse as I transfer the clothes out to the basket, but when I come back in the bathroom, the bottom is gone again. It’s like the widow’s cruse of oil Elijah gave her, never empty.

My laundry also seems to have a magic power of spreading itself all over. (as I wax into simile again) like gas in a confined space, it spreads to fill the volume it’s given. Socks appear in corners, ironing (that really doesn’t get ironed, I just pretend) drapes itself across the couch. I do try to keep it contained, never happens though.

I keep looking forward to someday when I have a laundry room in the basement and a family room to fold the clothes in. My living room will stay clothing free. Except for the socks. Socks never seem to be where they belong. Oh, and even with a pretty laundry room, I fully expect to never find the bottom of the hamper.

now this is freedom

this.  she felt like having flowers in her dress, so she put them there.  She didn't stop to see if the neighbors were looking.  She didn't consider if it was cool.  To be honest, I doubt if she stopped to think of what her mother would say.  She thought they were beautiful. 

When we laughed in delight at her escapade, she laughed with us, completely free to be herself without the fetters of "style" tying her down. 

And she is stylin'.  This is true style.  This is freedom.

Just have to add that

. . . I’ve got an inferiority complex. The latest issue of Paperkuts came yesterday with my article on page 22. so I looked through the whole magazine and then came back again to my article. Yuck. Seriously. The rest was better. Sadly, the part of the mag I liked least was my part. Makes me want to write an apology to the readers of PK. Sorry ladies. If I ever get another chance I’ll try to do better.

. . . . Matt’s latest thing when he’s sad is to say “not again!” I don’t know what repeated thing he’s protesting but he says it in the most despondent voice. This morning he seemed to be sad that he woke up again. I am an evil mommy and I think it’s cute.

. . . . my parents are coming over this afternoon so I can help them with a computer program. They have a laptop so they are portable. I have a crappy van that I can’t leave town in, so I am not. I’m hoping they don’t notice what a mess my house is.

. . . I am going to start a new diet. It will be called the “Full Length Mirror” diet. Just the sight of myself in the mirror should turn my appetite. Now I just need to buy the mirror.

They are home. 

we had a huge party and the party is over and we left mom the mess.  aren't we good kids?