Randomness...

What happens when you have children in daycare, even a "good" one? 453 colds a season, that's what. We're professional cold experts at this point. Both boys automatically open their mouth when I approach with a syringe and lean back when I grab a Kleenex. I think I may be on some DEA list due to the copious amounts of Sudafed I've bought the past few months. I bought some expensive immune system vitamins at Feelin' Great for babies...here's to hope!

There's a 62 year old retired schoolteacher in NY who says her cable was pirated and has supposedly ordered almost $1,000 worth of porn from her cable provider. I suppose schoolteachers probably get crazy just like anyone, but I seriously doubt she actually did this, mainly because she said the only other person in the house is her 81 year old mother. Nobody would order that much porn with Mom around. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1904517

This poor darling was just too enamored of her favorite writer. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1899496&page=1
"Author Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard University sophomore, had acknowledged that numerous passages in "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life" were lifted from another writer. Viswanathan, 19, has apologized repeatedly for lifting material from Megan McCafferty, whose books include "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," saying she had read McCafferty's books voraciously in high school and unintentionally mimicked them."
I can sorta see how that happens. You read someone long enough, repeatedly, and you sort of see things through their eyes. You admire their style of writing and you sometimes put events in your own life in "their" terms. Especially if you have a writers soul...only most people don't actually WRITE a book and then also not notice the similarities. Of course, her publisher could have caught it before press, so she's not solely to blame. I think it's their responsibility to know what is out there and, especially in books of the same genre, be able to see if works are plagiarized. Oh well.
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What a tangled web it is....the interweb, I mean. You think it's a big giant world out there, but the internet certainly shortens the gap considerably.
I was hanging out in Sandy's Scrapbook Corner one day a few months ago, and Sandy was talking to a woman named Joanna with two really adorable kids. She seemed vaguely familiar, but it's a small town. Everyone is familiar. After she left, Sandy began singing this woman's praises, telling me how great she was at scrapping and how she'd been published...and finally I knew. She was Joanna, my good friend Brandy's neighbor that she talked about extensively, and whose blog I'd been reading! How strange to meet someone from the 'net in real life! I only wish now I wouldn't have been so slow and had been able to talk to her more then!
Then, my cousin Missy linked from my blog to my friend Brandy's blog on to Joanna's blog and even emailed her about her pictures. She mentioned this to me, so of course, Nosy Nelly that I am, had to check out Joanna's latest pictures. When I clicked to comment, I almost fell out of my chair. There was a comment from a long lost friend from high school, Kimber-Leigh! It even had her picture on it so I was sure it was her. I babbled like an idiot to Reed about it, who thinks I'm a giant dork as it is for hanging on blogs so much, but look what happened! I really hope she emails me and we can catch up a bit. It was one of those weird things that, while we spent a ton of time together senior year and made wonderful plans to keep in touch, life just got in the way. I'd often wondered what happened to my sweet friend and how she was doing, particularly when I moved back up to NC. Right after Reed and I married our old friend Ty (whom I'd just re-met) showed me a marriage announcement for Kimber-Leigh, so I knew she was married. I figured she'd be teaching English or writing, so it looks like I was right there. I'm so excited to learn more!
Kimber-Leigh, Hello! A picture from the past...
You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. ~Winnie the pooh

Today was a good day. Reed and I putzed around, cruised Asheville Mall a bit and got some errands done. Our neighbor Mark came over for awhile and we sat on the porch and watched Trevor and Carson play in a mud puddle. Yep, hold us back! We're just full of excitement! There's no telling what we might do next!

I had to watch The Notebook the other day while doing laundry and was melancholy the rest of the day. I don't know why movies affect me so. I swear I'm not usually a blubbering fool at Hollywood productions...really.

I don't have a whole lot of wisdom tonight. It's been a long week...school, tests, scrapping in free time, running around with the boys...my mind is like mental jello. I'm so ready for the weekend. Bring it on...

One more little bit for the day: Janet Fish she is really one of my favorite female contemporary artists. I just love her stuff. It makes me feel happy. I'm doing a reproduction of her glass plates pieces and I'm loving those too. I was on a Georgia O'Keeffe kick, and I still really dig her but I think I might be moving on. Just thought I'd introduce a bit o' culture to your day.

Phone manners!

The person this is really directed at will never read this, but I'm still angry enough to tell y'all about it.
If you dare to call someone's home with demands that they take care of their stepdaughter at the last minute for 6 days (without even asking, mind you!) and I dare to regretfully say we cannot...do NOT hang up the phone on me! I was offering a partial solution to the person in question in order to accomodate her orders as much as I could, and CLICK! the nerve of some people...

word of the day: enthalpy. it's my chem vocab, and I just plain like the way it sounds.

and in case you haven't seen it yet...link of the day Post Secret. You should have seen it, because it was on my links previously, but I'm taking pity on you and linking it again. it's good stuff.

Baby Got Back...
Okay, so I should have warned you about the gratuitous nudity, but I figure you're fine with it.
Since everyone has been so nice about all the braggy kid shots, I figure I'm going to start putting a bit more on my blog of greater interest to, well, more than just me. How's that for a change?

I just love his eyes! they're a super crystal clear blue, but even without color they seem to sparkle. I'm working on lowlights in my pics and am almost there. 

I took a bunch of black and whites of the boys last week on the porch. I am really starting to like black and whites more than colors. They seem more...pure or something. Anyway, a few turned out really cute. I'm going to do a wall of B&W pics and am going to blow some of these up a bit. If you have any tips, pass them on! I'd love to learn more so that I get more good ones! 

Pretty girl!

 

Relaxing on the porch...

 

 

Granny comes to visit...

 

Reed Smith, Action Hero

Does anyone remember the Chuck Norris action show? There are action figures of the characters, and apparently there was a "Reed Smith" character. (this was before my time ;) Reed got his doll, which actually is blond and looks quite similar to him, and he still. has. it.
It cracks me up. I used it as a prop at our 80's party and people thought it was hysterical. My girlfriends love it, and have made this my avatar on a message board. Dorky, I know. But, who wouldn't want a hubby who came complete with karate chop action and their own numchucks? (sp?) He can save my day anytime...

Can you believe this?

Someone stumbled across my old website not too long ago, and apparently had uploaded a pic of a room sign I had done and saved it. They just ordered one for their daughter! It figures, I finally take the site down and get business. Anyway, the sign is this one "Kirby". Very Girly.





Reed wants me to do this one again for sale. I did this for Bon Bebe, but they didn't pay diddly. He refused to let me sell it. He doesn't realise that this is absolutely the easiest thing to do, ever. It requires no thinking. Well, very little. But at least he is looking out for me. The picture doesn't do it justice because the colors are much better in person, and it's pretty big, 11 X 14. Carson likes it, and that's who I had in mind in the first place.

Sick AGAIN?

it's just neverending around here. I thought we were finally back on track, the kids went to school on Monday, but lo and behold, daycare called while I was in class (they must have my cell number on speed dial!), the boys both had fevers. ENOUGH! I went to a new doc, and they were diagnosed with bronchitis and a sinus infection for Trevor. SHEW. But we finally got a diagnosis I like and good meds, and I really think this is the end. *praying the power of positive thought extends to toddlers health*

School is still going really well, despite the fact that I'm getting a bit behind because of all the missed days. We had to do a presentation for Art today, and the teacher seemed to like it. He asked me to join a group of students who are doing a mural this summer. You get some class credit, which I'm not sure I need, but if I need to stay full time that will help me get basic hours without killing my homework schedule for the other classes, so I may do it. I know I would enjoy it. I was pleased because I know my art is generally good for a total amateur, but it was nice to get some feedback from someone who knows what they are talking about. He gave me some constructive criticism as well, which I was badly in need of. I will post my pieces in a bit.
We just watched Lord of War with Nicholas Cage, and it was disturbing. You're meant to sympathise in some places with his character, who is a drug runner. I found that hard to do despite the fact that I really like Nic Cage. I think choosing him for the part was pretty deliberate, as he's generally liked in his movies but has that dark side that helped you believe it. What it did was make me pissed off and feeling impotent...which I guess is pretty powerful for a 2 hour Hollywood creation. Watch it, you'll see. The message at the end is also pretty bleak in that "This is how it is, everyone does it, you can't change it". I'm not so sure, but it would take a lot. And people would lose money, which they are loathe to do. It all comes down to weighing your soul against your wallet, which leaves me glad I'm just a little peon who doesn't have to use those scales.
I'm reading Trinity by Leon Uris right now, on reccomendation from Reed's Uncle Lou, in his blog. It's just mentioned as a great book, and so far it is. It took awhile to get deep into it, and there is a lot of history that would bore some, but Ireland has always fascinated me. It started with Gone with the Wind, was compounded in Scarlett (girly, I know!), and took off from there. Reed and I would really like to visit there as our next "big" trip. I've been all over Europe but never made it past Scotland. Anyway, it's a really great read and the librarian at school almost cried when she told me about reading it, which I assume means it really moved her, rather than something negative.

Fun Time at Harrah's

"We're going to win big money! Uh, how do you play craps again?"

We went to Harrah's Casino last weekend and had a pretty good time. At least we didn't lose too much. It was so smoky, though! It was really disgusting. I'm not really a smoke nazi (okay, I am) but this was ridiculous. As soon as you walked in, your eyes were clouded by the haze of Marlboros. Slot machines are fairly close together, so you inevitably had to sit next to a chain smoker who held their Lucky Strike 4 inches from your face and then blew in your direction at every spin. No fun for the rest of us! They had a tiny No Smoking room, but unfortunately, it was dull city. The games in there weren't as fun, the few games they had were mostly occupied, and we were just tired (and bleary eyed) by the time we found it. Reed ended up snoring so loud because of the smoke accumulation, he kept the rest of us up all night long. Every 10 minutes I'd hear Bret yell "REED!!!!", who would partially awake and stop snoring for about 10 minutes. At one point he yelled "Reed, the room's on fire!!!" which made no sense but I definitely didn't dream because Hayley heard it too. LOL We were all exhausted.
"Uncle Bret" and Hayley
Trevor is finally on the road to recovery. It was a long week. He had the Super Titanic Strength Bubonic Flu, which means we were all miserable. He lost 3 pounds in as many weeks, which is freaky for a baby that size. But I know he'll chunk back up, especially given the way he's been eating the past 2 days.
this was the face I saw every day the past few weeks. Poor thing was miserable! It's kind of a funny face, though.

To keep Marie from being bored...

I figured I had a few minutes and could add something so she has something to do, besides actually work. :)~ If you're bored with the NY Times crossword, or just a masochist, check out this site Sodoku Online. You can do these math puzzles online or print them out. My mother in law loves 'em.

And here is your daily dose of cute...Carson and Trevor and I painted finger paintings the other day, and well, more paint ended up on them than on the paper.

Oh what a weekend!

Thank goodness it's over. Trevor had the beginnings of strep (from kissing girls at day care, I'm sure) and went to the doctor on Friday with a 104 fever. As I was leaving the doctor, daycare called and said Carson had a fever of 103. UGH. I raced over and got him, got them some medicines, and we spent the rest of the day in hibernation. Savannah was with us since last wednesday while her mom was out of state, and was also in a mood. We've never had many problems with her but this weekend was just one after the other. I don't know how non custodial parents do it! You can't change too many ingrained habits because you have them for such a short time before they go home, but you can't allow bad behavior to go on in front of your other children for fear they will learn from them. It's just exasperating. Maybe there are some books out there that have some ideas on how to deal with this--if anyone knows any, let me know!
My boys are going to my dad and Jaime's this weekend so I can take a class, and Reed and I plan to go to Cherokee on Saturday night. I think it will be really fun. We need a bit of a break. Bret and Hayley are going with us, and I think we'll get a room.
School is going really well, despite my stress. I've so far got perfect A's in each one. :) I really have to have perfect grades since I have no nursing work experience. We get points for each thing we do that's related, and the more points you have, the higher you are ranked. So the better my grades are...the higher my rank.
I'm in love with this stuff right now. Naked Juice it sounds really naughty and it is! it's sinfully good. It feels like eating ice cream. Well, okay, yogurt from TCBY, but that's pretty good itself, right? I have it for breakfast now instead of bad carbs like bread. The promo is this: "Naked Juice is a line of delicious, all-natural 100% juices, 100% juice smoothies and protein smoothies made from the best bare-naked fruits. Naked Juice never adds sugar, preservatives, artificial colors or flavors." and the truth is that it's just plain yummy, and keeps me away from McD's in the morning. And I've lost a pound or two by doing so. ;)

New Job for Reed!

This week Reed accepted a position at a new/old dealership, Hunter Chevrolet. I say old because he worked there briefly just before we moved to Florida. They liked him and when the Finance Manager position opened up, they contacted him, and he started right away! His old company was happy he had the opportunity and everyone is happy. He's already very busy at work, and very tired when he comes home because he's still learning the ropes, but he's excited about this opportunity and is happy with his choice to accept it. We are so proud of him!

Because of his new position, he can no longer be available to help watch the kids during my classes, so sadly...the boys are starting day care. I am the only sad one about it though. The boys went today to check things out and did not want to leave! The director is Miss Amanda, who was the director of the Morning Preschool in Charlotte that Carson attended, and he was "her boy", so they have a bond. And she'll be his teacher! Trevor actually cried when we left. I can see that I won't be missed. I'm only a little bittersweet, I know this will be better for everyone, and they will learn alot and get to interact more with other kids. It will take a huge load off Reed and I, also, and I can spend more time on schoolwork instead of rushing through things at night when they are in bed. Wish us luck!

the other side of the birthday page from earlier. he's just a pretty boy. 

another uber simple layout by me. huh huh. I don't think you call them layouts at this stage. but I love the feet and it took me forever to take a good "feet" picture. Trevor was a few months old and would NOT lay still next to Carson. I had it sienna toned for some reason, which was hard to match with paper. I think it turned out alright.