Nestea plunge

For a while now, I’ve been going back and forth trying to decide. I have spent a significant amount of time trying to convince myself that a major purchase was okay. I received some insurance money from when my Dad passed away in January. The money has been sitting in an account, earning interest while my brain wavered back and forth. I went to a few brick and mortar stores and read literally hundreds of reviews.

Tuesday I decided. I decided it was okay to spend the money. I decided…

to purchase a new lens.

I couldn’t be happier with the results. I have been playing with it for a few hours and here are some of the pics…

You’ve got to go look at this on in large.

And finally, Hunter blowing me a kiss.

I couldn’t be happier.

a u-me

One of my great blogger friends Steph has sent me some interview questions. She had this meme (sort of, maybe it’s a u-me) on her site and I told her I would love to participate. The jist of it is that one of your readers sends you interview questions and you answer them on your blog. Sort of a twist the the “101 things about me” meme. Anyway, here are my questions and answers for your personal enjoyment.

Hey, while you’re at it, go ahead and stop by Darlene’s blog as well. She is the one who sent Steph her questions and she also has a great blog.

1. (Because I loved Darlene’s same question, I’ll keep this one for you) If I were to come to visit for a day, what would we do?

I’m a pretty simple kind of person. We would totally hang out on the deck sipping margaritas, chatting and swimming in the pool. Grill up some food, swim some more and just chill.(actually Kev could do the grilling). In the evening we would move the party down to the fire pit. It is very relaxing.

2. If you could meet any person throughout history, who would it be and why?

I’m sorry but I have to pick two: Albert Einstein and Mahatma Gandhi. I’ve got to believe there would be some incredible conversation.

3. If you were to win $10,000, what would you do with that money?

I would probably set 1/3 of it aside, you know in a rainy-day fund; put 1/3 in Bug’s bank account and just blow the remaining 1/3. If I know me… it would be on a bad-ass camera lens (Canon 100-400mm L with IS) and the rest on Bug and Hubby.

4. What are 2 of the most important qualities you look for in a good friend?

Number one, hands down is honesty – no question. The other would be respect. I think having respect for other people, animals, people’s possessions, the environment, etc. is such a strong personality trait. I see respect in people who are compassionate, not mean or evil or self-centered. So I think it’s key to finding a person I would be compatable with as a friend.

5. What personality quality do you love most about yourself? What physical quality to you love most?

The personality quality I love most about myself is honesty. How could I ask for that in a friend if I don’t possess it myself? Can I pick two?? I also love how intelligent I am – I really don’t mean for this to sound arrogant. I am just glad that I am able to use so much of my brain; both sides, creative (right side) and logical (left side). Luckily I also have common sense.

Now the physical quality – wow, this one is hard – and how sad is that? Love is a stretch. But I do think I have great hair – if it wasn’t so damn gray. I’m also glad that I have physical strength. I believe that I am stronger than the average woman. I can’t believe how hard the physical side of this question was to answer. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate my body per se… I just believe there is a skinny person inside that would love to be out and on some level that makes me un-happy.

Thanks Steph, those were great, thought provoking questions. Okay, if any of you that read this (all three of you) would like me to send you five interview questions, just let me know and I will send you some. Steph is right, this is a fund meme.

My new favorite photo…

Yep, this is my new favorite photo.

Oh yea, yesterday was Bug’s 1st birthday. I will post some pics later. Until then, feel free to enjoy this beautious picture of my favorite son.

June 12 of 12

It’s 12 of 12 time again. 12 of 12 is a project started by Chad Darnell. This link is to the post explaining the original concept. This link is to the current month’s entries. It is very cool to see how people go through their day, especially in other parts of the world. Do click over and go through some links – it’s quite cool.

June 12, 2007 was my 3rd wedding anniversary. Yay us! But here’s the rub: I had to work all day – ALL DAY! We are talking 14 hours. My husband had to be at work at 6AM and I had to work until what turned out to be 11:00 PM. So, as sad as it is, you will not see any pictures of me and my husband on our anniversary. In fact I didn’t even really see my husband, unless you count the goodbye kiss in my slumber when he left or the hello kiss in my husband’s slumber when I got home.

I hope you enjoy my 12 of 12 and don’t forget to stop by Chad’s site and see other folk’s 12 of 12’s.

6:40 AM – My new alarm clock. How funny is it that I caught him mid-yawn?

7:51 AM – My lunch is packed. I know it’s a lot, but it’s going to be a long day.

8:21 AM – Last romp outside until evening for the dogs. Yep, that’s Tyler playing catch (a 12 of 12 tradition).

8:25 AM – No matter how hectic, you have to stop and appreciate the beauty around you. These are some flowers (delphiniums) from my front garden. Don’t you love perinnials?!?

8:26 AM – Jake and Willow. The poor cats, they want to play outside so bad. Nice hole in the screen, eh? Big brown dog doesn’t know his own claw strength.

8:31 AM – Hunter all packed in the car seat and ready to go. He is finishing his breakfast in the car. Eeegads… I am raising a multi-tasker.

8:45 AM – Starbuck’s and me… ’nuff said.

8:51 AM – Hunter is a climber. Here he is standing backwards in his car seat as I am trying to get him out for Daycare. This is the last time I will see him today. :_ )

9:01 AM – I’m on my way to work and since I live in Michigan, even my short 3 mile drive to work is riddled with construction. Obviously you can see that giant blinking yellow arrow that indicates traffic needs to move right (squeeze right, for my Canadian friends). Why does the person in the blue mini-van think that he is so much more important than anyone else and that he can move to the front of the line. This really cheeses me off!

9:09 AM – In my very short commute there is a trucking company that teaches (I am using this word loosely) people how to drive semi-trucks. Unfortunately, they are teaching them on the roads that I take to work. This is a semi that the “Student Driver” staled out at a stop sign. Why am I always behind these people?

9:09 AM – Geez, at this rate I am never going to get to work – yes, that says 12 MPH!!

10:17 AM – My messy-ass office.

2:45 PM – Bonus Pic - I went to lunch late today because I knew I had to work late. I ran home for a quick second and I found this SURPRISE hanging on the door handle. Lucky for me the bonus pic of the month is “surprise”. It was an anniversary present from my Mom. I still don’t know what it is because Kev and I decided to postpone our anniversary to a day that we would actually see each other. We will open this gift when we are together.

11:16 PM – Living room clock. I am finally home from work. Looooonnnnng day.

Why I blog… and some bad-ass links.

As promised, the Meme:

Laurie has tagged me for a Meme to name the five reasons why I blog. So without further ado…

1. I first started a blog while I was on vacation and bored. Everyone (at the WD) was doing it and it intregued me. Several months later (seven to be exact) I was so fascinated with Annika’s and Meghan’s tales of pending birth; I thought that my blog would be a great place to document my own birthing experience. And so it started.

2. Sometimes I crack myself up with my internal observations about life and people – I try to share that, but it gets lost in translation a lot of the time.

3. I enjoy keeping up with the community of friends I have developed in blog-land. I really dig the stories I have read and the insights I get from others. It makes me feel compelled to keep those people up on what’s going on in my life and hopefully spread a bit of insight myself.

4. I have read some really interesting, thought-provoking, funny and cool posts. I hope that I can share the same things with anyone who may happen across my blog.

5. It makes me feel a part of the cool crowd.

Now I am supposed to tag 5 people… hmm? I know if I don’t tag anyone the Internet as we know it will stop functioning; or not. Ok, so here’s the deal, I ma going to “tag” some people but for different reasons than having them do the Meme. If they do, cool; if they don’t, cool! Either way you should go and check a few of them out.

Here’s the tags:

Herb - you haven’t posted in a while – I miss you. (yea, look who’s talking).

That chick over there - I love this blog; here is a chick that is the real-deal!

Rhonda - another very humorous blog.

Gina - go congratulate this fertile Myrtle.

Mary P - this is one of my new favorite blogs. The insight about raising children that comes from this woman is amazing. Every parent should read… now go read! Go!

Finally… a post!

In some ways, I find it so hard to believe it’s been almost 3 weeks since I have updated my blog. It’s so strange the way life interferes with life. I have been tagged for a meme on why I blog and I want to send you all to blog entry over at the wonderful blog It’s not all Mary Poppins. The entry is about busy lives. Ironic, isn’t it?

I am going to defer the meme, I will post something soon. But I really want to share some thoughts about busy-busy-busy.

I told my husband about this article in the Washington Post. I told him it made me cry. Especially this part, which Mary P also quoted in her blog:

A couple of minutes into it, something revealing happens. A woman and her preschooler emerge from the escalator. The woman is walking briskly and, therefore, so is the child. She’s got his hand.

“I had a time crunch,” recalls Sheron Parker, an IT director for a federal agency. “I had an 8:30 training class, and first I had to rush Evvie off to his teacher, then rush back to work, then to the training facility in the basement.”

Evvie is her son, Evan. Evan is 3.

You can see Evan clearly on the video. He’s the cute black kid in the parka who keeps twisting around to look at Joshua Bell, as he is being propelled toward the door.

“There was a musician,” Parker says, “and my son was intrigued. He wanted to pull over and listen, but I was rushed for time.”

So Parker does what she has to do. She deftly moves her body between Evan’s and Bell’s, cutting off her son’s line of sight. As they exit the arcade, Evan can still be seen craning to look. When Parker is told what she walked out on, she laughs.

“Evan is very smart!”

The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother’s heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music, too.

There was no ethnic or demographic pattern to distinguish the people who stayed to watch Bell, or the ones who gave money, from that vast majority who hurried on past, unheeding. Whites, blacks and Asians, young and old, men and women, were represented in all three groups. But the behavior of one demographic remained absolutely consistent. Every single time a child walked past, he or she tried to stop and watch. And every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.

“…every single time, a parent scooted the kid away.” This is what brought tears to my eyes.

Bug LOVES music and he wiggles his little body in an attempt to dance a lot of the time. Of course we encourage him, wiggling too. We sing too loud and out of key to the radio while he laughs at us. We think it’s too cool how he shows such an interest in music and dancing. We love to see that look on his face. The one that shows he is soaking up every note. We enjoy watching him play on his little plastic piano, or just banging to objects together to hear what noise it will make. I have got to believe that I would have been late later to work, if Bug and I happened across a violinist. But honestly, I just don’t know.

I have felt very busy lately. A May 31st deadline at work, kept me late several days last week. So late, in fact, Bug was in bed before I got home. Boy, if that doesn’t take the wind out of your sails!

It’s funny how things happen. A couple weeks ago I received a job offer. It’s a project based gig for now and we discussed me working a couple of hours in the evening, a couple of days a week. After last week, I’m not sure I’m up for it. Anyone who really knows me can tell you this is a bizarre statement for me. “Busy, busy, busy” used to be my mantra. Before I got married, I was working 60 to 70 hours a week and I spent much of my time in school part-time. When ever anyone asked me how I was, I usually replied “busy”. I always thought it was a good thing, and perhaps at that point in my life’s journey, it was a good thing. But not any more.

My work and my career, no longer define who I am. And holy shit, is this a change for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being able to bring something to the table of my employer. I enjoy being told someone has a lot of respect for me and who I am at work (this actually happened last week – oh what a feeling).

But being Hunter’s Mom is more important to me now. Making sure Hunter grows up to be a respectful, well-rounded, loving human being is now my most important goal.