what I have learned about myself

This week I learned that no matter how much I have to do- no matter how stressed, how busy, overwhelmed or overbooked I am... I tend to create more chaos for myself.

I have a pretty full week. I am overwhelmed with house work.

So what do I start doing this afternoon?

I started rearranging furniture. Which of course, I try to prove that I can do all by myself. I mostly can. 95% of it anyways.

Until something breaks or I have gotten myself in over my head. Then I have to call RD and beg him to help. ANd then I hear the same old thing- I thought that we agreed not to move the furniture.

Yes, he is of the mindset that all furniture should become one with the house. In order for the furniture to meld with the house, the furniture must never ever move. Ever. Not even to sweep or vacuum.

And I am of the mindset that a little change is good. It brings the creativity out in you. Gives you something to talk about. Makes nightime walks through the house very interesting... especially when it is dark, the lights are out and you forget to flip the switch on. Ouch.
Anyway, I usually find something interesting that I forgot that I had or find something that has been missing for a few months... so I like to move the furniture around.


I am also an efficiency freak. Not to say that I am greatly efficient. I am only saying that I am always looking for ways to make it better, smaller, bigger, quicker, whatever with the smallest amount of effort. That doesn't make me lazy- because I actually do not know how to sit still... I am just constantly thinking of ways to make something better. And sometimes I come up with ideas in my dreams. I have no example to back up that last sentence, of course... but next time it happens I will let you know.

But back to my day- I started moving furniture around. Of course I picked the heaviest piece and didn't move the TV, VCR, DVD, 1000 movies, etc out of it first.... I just started pushing and pulling and 'walking' the furniture. I pushe a little too hard one time and the weight of the contents broke one of the claw feet on the armoire. ARGH. It started wobbling. I grabbed it, steadied it and caught my breath. Two seconds later RD came in and I had to beg for help.

"I thought that we agreed not to move the furniture." says RD.

"I never agreed to that." I responded.

"Why can't you just leave the furniture where it is!" he says- quite irritated.

Because it has a broken leg! I wanted to scream. Then I realized he meant why did I have to start moving furniture in the first place.

Well, it is mainly because I am overwhelmed and don't know where to start. What better way to start than to do something different!

So what are you? Is your house more like a museum where nothing moves and nothing is touched or more like the local grocery store shelves... you restock and rearrange constantly?

dang it

Why haven't I posted?

Well, other than the obvious ( I am incredibly busy) I keep getting pissed off at this thing- it won't let me post photos! dang it.



So it is Easter. And GBK loves Easter egg hunts. We have one every day around here it seems- with her little eggs and basket and goodies.
But it seems like every day is an Easter egg hunt for me- why can I not find anything? ever?
Certain pants, a certain pair of shoes, socks (where *have* they gone?)... but not just clothes... I have been missing a book, a set of photos, and the TV remote. Somedays I think that I am losing my mind.

I am gonna try to post a photo soon. I am really trying. It just doesn't seem to want to work and I don't have much time or patience to work with it!

jogging in place...

I feel like I am jogging in place. I am working really hard, putting forth a great effort... but not getting very far.

Our kitties still have no names... why can't you people come through for me and help me name my cats!!??
They are still labeled "friendly one" and "shy one". Ok. So maybe we will name them Friendly and Bashful. Creative, I know.

I will say that our mouse problem has improved immensley since adopting the cats. They are on the prowl 24/7. Every time that we see them they are crouched down ready to attack.

Friendly is so sweet to GBK. GBK lugs her all around the yard, pulls her tail and hugs her too tight. I keep warning her that Friendly isn't gonna like it and will scratch her one day but GBK just laughs at me like I am crazy. Friendly is really sweet to her though. Coolest cat I know.

The pups are the same way GBK's pup, Aggie, is so sweet and lets her lug her around the yard. Diezel is shy and timid. RD needs to work with him some.

My cousin tells me that his dog died of poisoning too. Seems that someone fed them poison- perhaps in a weinie dog or something. Perhaps they intended for a coyote to find it or perhaps they malicisously poisoned our dogs. Our dog never rambled the neighborhood or anything so I am not sure how he found it.

We rented Walk the Line and plan to watch it this weekend. I heard it was excellent. We also watched the Grizzly Man movie this week. Have you seen it? It was great. Weird, but good. I think I asked RD about 82 times- is this for real? Is he an actor or is that actual footage? I researched it online just to make sure that he was telling me the truth. The guy was a freak. But it was great to watch the bear footage... reminded me of our trip to Alaska 3 yrs ago. I think that if I had seen the movie before our trip I wouldn't have been so willing to get so close to those bears! And I don't think that I would have hiked into the mountain with the other girls to use the bathroom! You should have seen us carrying on... singing, clapping, making noise. What a sight. OK. Have a good weekend.

catching up...

How have I managed to go this long without posting?

I will tell you. GBK's Birthday. GBK's Birthday Party. My folks were in town for a week. I had a birthday. My birthday always lasts at least 2 weeks. And then we went camping. GBK got sick. I am full of excuses.

So this week I have been trying to simplify my life. It is harder than it sounds. I have so many little piles of stuff everywhere. Toys, books, papers, pictures, clothes, you name it, it has a pile.

The biggest pile of all is the scrapbook table that has taken over GBK's new bedroom. Yes, we moved her stuff into another bedroom. Mostly because she inherited some new furniture and that was the only way that I could get 'her' things to fit.

How is it that we manage to accumulate so much stuff? I swear that we have at least 2 trashbags of trash per day- so how it is that we are bringing that much more in the house? (RD would swear that it is more like 5 bags/day as much as I am asking him to take it out of the house already!!!)


Let me tell you what else I have been doing. Fighting mice. What is it about my house that is so much better than that big field next door to romp around in? I mean, it has a pond for water, food in the field, and plenty of space. Why do they have to come into my house and eat everything in site including the weather stripping around the door?

Finally, last week GBK and some of our neighbor friends went on a mission- to find some kitties. We found two and we hope that they will start finding and eating these mice.

How can you help you ask?

Well, we have these two kitties (girls, we think) with no names...
so I will have a name the kitties contest. What is the prize you ask? Good question. What do you want the prize to be if you win? Let me know.

I will tell you one more thing before I go.

RD's dog G DAWG died last Saturday. Actually 2 Saturdays ago. So we went that night and found 2 puppies that needed a good home. RD got a bigger puppy and named him Diezel- he is hoping that he will be a good guard dog for the shop. GBK got a cute tan puppy and named her Maggie. I shortened it to Aggie. She chases her and hugs her and loves her and calls her to "come 'ere Aggie". I hope that Aggie grows to be a good dog for GBK and sticks around for a while. I will never forget getting my Sophie dog 10 years ago and how much I loved her and how excited I would get to see her. I hope Aggie does the same for GBK.

You would think...

You would think that my house would be more clean than it is.

GBK is a little OCD at times.

I caught her yesterday cleaning the clean toilet. With the toilet brush. With water flying everywhere.

An hour later I sat down on the toilet only to have a huge wet ring on my butt from where she failed to complete the job.

G R O S S

HARey

GBK got a fish for her birthday. It is a male beta. He has a beautiful fish tank. I hope it isn't too girly for him.
We were supposed to get her a dog for her birthday but she ended up with this fish. We named him Harey. I named him after the Curious George author- H.A. Rey

She loves to watch him swim. I just hope that she doesn't tip his bowl over or try to scoop him out.

She was very confused this other day when I cooked salmon. I told her it was fish. She screwed her face up and looked at me like I was crazy.

Happy Birthday!

GBK turned two yesterday.

We had a crazy day filled with activity.

She had her photo session and then RD and I took her to the Curious George movie. She loved every minute of it!

Photos to come.

Last Year/This Year III- Valentine's Day

This was last year just before our Mommy n Me Valentine Party. She had a little bit of hair... starting to walk better... babbling and saying a few words. We also had a little birthday celebration for her at the same time.

Yes, she has no socks. She pulls them off as quick as she can. She did this yesterday and it was 30 degrees outside. She is a little country gal like her mama.

photography

I am in a photography class under the direction of a retired professor/photojournalist.

I have been interested in photography for a long, long time. I was a photographer in high school for yearbook and loved hauling my big camera bag around with me, waiting for any possible shot. Sometimes I would take up to 4 rolls of film a day!

Over Christmas break, while out of town, our vehicle was burgularized. A lot of things were taken but my beloved 35mm camera with complete lens set was taken. So once I got my insurance reimbursement money, I ordered a new camera.

I got a Nikon N80 and love it. I have only taken about 4 rolls so far so I am still really trying to figure it out. Last night my mentor gave my photos a critique and showed me what was good, what was bad and what was horrible. HAHA

I have to make sure not to take it all personally. He encourages me so I am ready to get out and take some more photos!

self portrait

I don't get my picture taken often. Mostly because I am usually the one with the camera.

When I was a little bitty thing, about knee-high to a duck, I decided that I hated to have my picture taken. I really really hated it. I would run when I saw a camera. There are many-a-picture that was supposed to be a family photo and I have my head buried in my Dad's shoulder or behind my Mom's leg. I was just so embarrassed.

I will tell you what made me change my mind.

The Texas Dept. of Transportation.

I went in when I was about 18 or so to get my license and they took my picture. It turned out better than any picture of me I had ever seen. I am not kidding you. I wish I still had it. After that I had no problem with it.

Now that we have a child, I feel like the camera is a part of me- not even glued or stitched to my hand- it is really just a part of me. A growth or disease that I contracted somewhere. Hopefully the only growth or disease that I will contract in this lifetime.

RD asked me today- how many pictures do you think that you have taken of Madison? I thought about it. Possibly thousands? I dunno. Six Thousand? If I have only taken 10 pictures of her a day since birth that would be roughly 7300. I bet I have taken more.

But back to the story- he asked me this question as if it was a bad thing... like I was an addict. Like it was worse than smoking or drinking.

So I asked him- how many times do you think you have farted since she was born?
he said- A BUNCH!
I said- more times than I have taken pictures of her?
he said- Oh YEAH!

I said- how may times do you fart a day?
He said- Probably five.

I laughed out loud.

Then I asked- why in the world do you save all of those farts for me then? I mean, you can spread em around and fart when I am not around! Don't feel like you have to save them for me! My picture takin' problem is no worse than your fartin' problem and it doesn't stink near as bad.

I hate fart stories and can't believe I just wrote about one.

******
So the picture I posted was taken by me- it is my reflection in the car window. The growth on my head is GBK hanging on tight as she can. It was taken with my new Nikon N80 that I am in love with. It is my replacement camera for the Canon that was stolen out of our car over Christmas. This picture was on my first roll of film with this camera.