because i said so

mouse

2008-05-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

hannah found a baby mouse i guess we're keeping it.....

when it doesn't work

2008-03-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

what happens when you try everything and nothing works?...... should you give up? keep trying.. what? how do you know when enough is enough.. when you've given/done as much as you possibly can?... when you need to accept the fact that that somethings ...even though they seem like they are in your control.. aren't. can we really control anything? or just try to minimize the effects of the unpleasant side effects and try to hold on to the joys??

i know.. way more philosophical that i need to be......

obsessed

2008-02-17T13:46:00.001-08:00

my son alex is having kids over today to celebrate his 16th birthday. a house full of teenagers.. i know they will be playing video games.. specifically guitar hero....

since i'm still on the mend from my kidney stone ordeal.. i've been laying low.. taking my meds and gaining energy back. that means... while no one is looking i've been practicing guitar hero :)

i know... obsession isn't pretty.

last night on my social distortion song i hit 99% on medium with a grand total score of 220,041!!!!!! ok.. for those of you who aren't video game savvy.. thats a decent score. good enough to have beat that bouncer who came in at the last minute last week and took my glory.

i've learned 2 other songs now.. i'm building my repertoire.

today will be the test... my nemesis.. people who sit around in their mother's basement in their underwear playing video games. (just for the record, every time i've played the video game i'm totally dressed and ready to run out the door in case anyone asks what i was doing) its a true obsession.. but i'm a closet video game player... and since my house is nearly always full of people.. it keeps my obsession at bay.

omg... i hear something right this minute.... its MY SONG>......... who is practicing..

i'm horrified.. its Bill! he is so competitive!!!! he just got booed off the stage ;)

i'm off to costco to buy pizza and snacks for the party.. i'll save my self for when it really matters.. when the boys are in the basement i'll walk down and say.. "hey can i try?"

i'll keep you updated.

obsessively yours,
b

heros

2008-02-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

i have 3 teenage boys in my house.. that means i have video games.. i have several different gaming systems often going on several different TVs at the same time. my house is the house where kids go after school.. i'm within walking distance of the high school so that means its a good place to hang out between the end of school and anything that might be happening at school that night. i have one daughter.. who really doesn't mind that our house is the place where there teenage boys enjoy hanging out.

at least once a week my husband and i go out to our local pub .. its a neighborhood place, close to home. they often have bands, DJs, or other events..

last thursday we went to the pub and there was a radio station there holding a contest.. .for Guitar Hero. i have never in my life even held the controller to guitar hero.. but i do understand the game.. (seeing as its often going on in multiple rooms of my house at once)

Bill decided it would be a good idea (after i'd had a few beers) to sign me up to play...

so there i was.. signed up with 6 other contestants to play guitar hero.. the grand prize - concert tickets to some bands that i thought were extinct.. Def Leppard, Styx and REO Speedwagon. whoo hoo anyway.. the other contestants consisted of one couple, - boyfriend/girlfriend, and 4 guys that were about 25 years old who all looked as if the main part of their day was spent sitting in their underwear in their mother's basement.. playing video games. i figured i'd be booed off stage..

a few other players played.. some did really well.. some did not... it was my turn. i got up.. was instructed on how to hold the "guitar" and the song began. i was booed off the stage.. not by the crowd in the bar.. but by the video game itself.. how EMBARRASSING. (i am a musician remember.. even though i'm a flute player, classically trained) i think it actually hurt me that i know how to play a little guitar...

i got home that night.. with a booby prize of a tshirt.. and a strong will to learn how to play that silly game.

i talked to my 16 year old son... he showed me the basics.. the next morning when the kids went to school.. i practiced.. for the next few days i practiced.. then i had my kidney stone and forgot about the guitar hero.

last night was thursday .. valentine's day.. i was just starting to feel like a human again after my kidney stone ordeal.. when bill suggested we go to the pub for a salad. (they have great food) the event at the pub last night was supposed to be a band starting at 9pm and buzz time trivia.. the radio station that did guitar hero last week was at another location.

when we got to the pub.. much to our surprise.. two scantily clad girls advertising Guiness Beer on their tiny tshirts were setting up .. yes.. you've guessed it.. GUITAR HERO.

apparently.. Guitar Hero competitions are popular now.. for all kinds of advertising campaigns. Guiness was giving away an electric guitar.. if you won this competition then there is round two at a different pub tonight...final winner gets the guitar.

last night.. contestants were.. 4 college boys.. and me.. 43 yr old mother of 4. scoring was on total points.. not percentage of correct notes... i made sure to clarify. first guy up played.. i was nervous.. he sounded pretty good... hitting all the notes.. but something was strange.. i realized he had the game on "easy" there are 4 settings.. "easy, medium, hard, expert" he finished his song with 93% of the notes correct.. but a score of only 28,400. the next 3 college kids got up to play.. all on easy... they all scored about the same, in the 90% range.. and 25,000-35,000 points... if you know guitar hero... you know thats a really really low score.

i believe these guys looked at the somewhat older crowd in the pub and decided that since they were already drunk anyway.. just play it easy and one of them would win.

i thought to myself.. hmmm i've never even tried a song on easy.. my own son set me up starting on medium... you get more points the harder the setting is. i have even played some songs on "hard".. should i play the song i know really well on easy and try to beat their measly scores?? i'm the last contestant. no...i'm not going to play it safe.. thats not me.. i'm a musician.. play what you practice.. (remember i've had 3 days of practice and then a kidney stone that kept me from doing anything for the next 3 days.. so up i go. i change the setting to medium and choose a song from Social Distortion.

it starts... damnit.. i miss the opening lick.. the boys figured they have it in the bag... then i get in my groove (refers to a previous blog) i'm hitting every note in a 50 note stretch... then i get the "star power" bonus.. my points are racking up... i'm over 50,000 now.. i know i've won it.. but still want to do my best.. the song is 3/4 finished when it comes to the bridge of the song... the hardest part... i flub a bit.. but don't totally fall apart.. then its the ending.. i nail it.. i even used the whammy bar a few times to increase my points even further.. i end up with a score of 110,228. :) see what a little practice can do??

i was very proud of myself.. the scantily clad girls were impressed... the college boys said nothing but went back to their drinking.. but i had my own personal victory. i was moving on to round 2... the next pub.. gonna win my son the electric guitar.. when.. all of a sudden... out of no where.. the bouncer in the bar walks up to the girls..

i didn't give it much thought.. i was still trying to not gloat too much about my win... then he took the guitar... and i saw it.. he moved the setting to "hard" i was in trouble.. this guy obviously spent the hours when he wasn't working as a bouncer at the bar.. playing video games in his underwear in his mother's basement!!!!!!! he finished his song with a score of 129,300... :( enough to blow me out of the water.

bill wanted to protest.. he didn't think employees should be allowed to participate.. but the bouncer wasn't an employee of the company holding the contest.. and besides.. its only a game.. right???

so i walked away with 2 tshirts.. the girls felt sorry for me... mr bouncer gets to go to round 2 .. and i'm on a mission.

learn more songs.. on harder settings and find another guitar hero contest for next thursday. at the very least i'm going to end up with a wardrobe of tshirts that advertise alcohol products.. (what every mom needs in her closet)

i'm feeling that tiny nag that tells me i'm a little obsessed... i know it will pass... AFTER I WIN!!!!!!!

12 months later

2008-02-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

another day in court

2007-12-19T08:20:00.000-08:00

i'm back in court today regarding my new alex's future. seems as though our department of human services is about the most disorganized, backwards, ludicrous organization on the planet.

the trial that was supposed to last 1/2 a day has turned into a 4 1/2 day event. each day filled with new drama..

the emotional toll its taking on everyone.. especially alex is enormous.

today the judge may make a ruling .. cross your fingers for a ruling of termination of mother's parental rights. that way alex can continue to focus on his future and eventually try to recover from his past.

in other news.. 3 more playing jobs til i'm done for christmas!!

my parents are arriving here this weekend.. although they said they are coming just for a short visit i wonder if my mother actually calculated how much time it would take to drive me insane before she left...... sorry to be to cynical during this holiday season.

bill's still traveling.... then again thats not new news.. is it?

sam loves basketball... his team is still undefeated

alex c (new alex) scored 1570/1600 on the SAT he's disappointed he didn't scored 1600 :/ and will be sitting for it again in the spring.

alex h. seems to have found his own way to make some money.. while continuing to sit on his rear end in front of a computer. a mom from the school asked him to look at her laptop computers.. neither of them were working correctly. alex was able to repair.. optimize and save her important work.... i told him he could charge her $20 she insisted on paying him 4x that amount and has started giving his name to people for computer repair... he's had several more jobs since then.. i'm flabbergasted.. i knew he understand all the ins and outs of computers.. but i had no idea he could do this. i suppose all those hours on the computer can be chalked up to training now ;)

i'm ready to put hannah in a small spaceship and shoot her to the moon. her attitude towards the world is really quite wonderful.. her attitude towards me .. well thats a different story.

thats it for now....
b

december...

2007-12-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

i know.. its already well into december.. but a good friend reminded me that it would be a nice idea to let people know how things are going..

as a musician december is always my busiest time of year.. i'm not complaining.. i'd rather play music that do just about anything else i can think of. when december 25 arrives i will have played 23 different engagements in 30 days.

as most everyone knows i've been dealing with the department of human services a lot lately. a friend that i met thru my new son Alex is a foster mother. she works mostly with babies.. although she did take alex in as foster child when he was 14. that was alex's 3rd stay in fostercare..

anyway.. my friend marion currently has two babies in her care.. both will most likely be available for adoption in the very near future. marion asked if i would come to her house and take pictures of the children in the foster care system.. and the ones that are up for adoption.. for the department of human services.

these precious angels have had a very hard start in life.. but hopefully they will have a permanent family to love them very soon. the sweet little girl in pink is 9 months old and the adorable baby boy is just 8 weeks old. he was taken to the hospital when he was 7 days old.. bruised head to toe.. he's been in foster care for 7 weeks and is developing normally.. i'm sure he will be a blessing to someone who has room in their hearts and home.

not all foster care stories are bad.. sometimes things work out very well. when i was shooting portraits i was able to meet a young mother. she had a baby when she was 16 and was unable to care for him... he was placed in fostercare and she was given counseling, finished her education, got a job and just married her son's father. the court reunited her with her now 2 year old son a short time ago. foster care allowed her to grow up a bit and understand the responsibility of being a mother... she had regular visits with her son.. and has a very strong bond with the boy's foster mother. its going to be a tough road for her and her young new family.. but things look good. she wanted a picture of her and her son to give to her new husband as a christmas gift...

besides the portraits and music jobs i have been trying desperately to settle things down within my own family. life has not been easy....

i know this is a temporary situation.... i wish i didn't feel like i have to hold my breath until it settles down...

life or something like it

2007-10-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

i've been quiet on here since my return from england...but it has nothing to do with my trip.

there is so much going on in my life.. that i haven't really felt comfortable sharing until now.

due to some really sad and horrible circumstances i've been blessed with a new child to my family. yes i'm a mom again :) and no.. i'm not pregnant.. good lord.. please parish the thought!

over the past year i've been aware of a situation with a friend of one my own kids. i knew the situation in his home was dismal, his biological mother is mentally ill and he has never known a father and doesn't have any relatives that he knows of.

over the past few weeks thing have come to the boiling point and without going into all the details... i decided to take the steps to stop it.

this child has fallen thru every single crack our social services has.. he has been overlooked and ignored. he has asked for help, even been removed from the home on several occasions but until now.. has been placed right back into the same unacceptable living situation.

the schools, the police, the local social services have all failed miserably at their responsibility to this child.. i'm sick over it. knowing that there are 1000s of kids that are probably falling thru the exact same cracks in the system.

anyway.. like i said...i'm not going into all the details.. i just wanted to let everyone know i'm now a mother of 4 :) looking at all our options to make sure that everything is legal....

my newest child is 16 years old and is named alex. for those of you who know my family already you're probably asking... how many children named alex that are 16 does she have??? :) the answer to that is two :P

well the actual ages are this.. hannah 16 (17 in 2 weeks) alex 16, alex 15 (soon to be 16), sam 12.

lets not forget the 3 aquariums, 3 cats and a dog...

considering ordering a sign for the door that says "enter as your own risk"

although this isn't the way i thought our lives would ever turn out... i couldn't be happier.

there will be a huge adjustment period, and i'm not sure how personal i'll get in my blogs.. but keep an eye out for some new pictures soon ... alex gets to meet his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents today at a family birthday celebration.

to anyone that reads this blog.. i beg you to be aware of the community around you. watch for things that don't look right, ask questions.. do not be afraid to say something... its ALWAYS better to be safe than sorry.

falling

2007-10-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

its happening already, some leaves are starting to fall... they haven't even properly changed colors yet, and they are falling ...

this is by far my most favorite time of the year... cool nights, clear blue skies, no humidity, apples.. kids all settled in school... its the most wonderful time of the year (some people think that is christmas time... not me!)

things have been a bit out of hand since i returned from england..in all honesty i wish i was still there. maybe its because of how overwhelming life can be sometimes.. when you aren't on a holiday... maybe its because it was really great being with such good friends.. maybe its because of my obsession with castles and cathedrals (still wish i could play my flute in one)... maybe its just because i love fish n chips so much :P

other pictures had to get moved to the top of my priority list... but i still have my UK pictures to work on and post.

the other pictures are photo shoots i did last week.. the first is for a music group. they wanted something fun, casual, inviting... for flyers and postcards for advertising.. the problem is there are 14 people in the group and they all have ideas of what "should" be done and how it "should" be done.. and it was nearly impossible to get a shot without someone talking :|

this is one of the ones they went with.. it was taken at the last minute as they were all complaining about the heat.. and walking back inside.. they were gathered in a group.. i was above them and said.. "Everyone look up here and shut your mouths" :)

i had 3 rehearsals last week.. still working out concert orders... and deciding on call times for the upcoming christmas season.

on friday i was able to drive up and see my friend robin. she has a son who is a senior and graduating for high school this year. he isn't what i would call a very traditional kid.. he seems to blaze his own trail in this world.. which i think is very cool.. especially for a 17 year old. he was very adamant that he didn't want any "formal" clothes or shots.. he wanted lots of different locations around his town.. and a few shots with studio lights.. but all shots that would express his personality... he is an artist and likes to meditate.. and has lived in the same small town his entire life. there is one main street in his town.. and its very popular with tourists... he had an artshow in the middle of town this past spring.. so taking shots of him around the town was very important.here are a few of his proofs... he seemed very happy with the results. it was the most unusual senior photo shoot i've ever done. i did at least get him to change into a few different outfits :P even tho they were all casual.. at least he has a few looks to choose from.

since i was already up at robin's.. and she does have 3 other kids... i spent some time shooting them as well. i even put robin in a picture or two.. now she has a new family picture to put in her new home :)

i have some more traditional senior portraits to process.. and a few more picture related projects to finish up.. but i'm really hoping to design my family album again this year .. and have it printed before the holidays.

every year i take a lot of pictures.. (are you surprised?) i pretty much document my kids lives... and my own.. in pictures.. and for the past couple of years i've designed an album that is like a year in review. this year will look a little weird... the moves.. all 3 of them...and everything else i've been thru... i want to make sure it all printed for history's sake.

castles, cathedrals, the north sea and more

2007-09-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

its been a long time.. as a friend politely reminded me .. since i've blogged.

i returned from my trip to england.. and i have to say it was one of the best holidays i can ever remember. it was great to see markus and malcolm again.. its been one full year since we've been together.

this time two new people joined us for some of the outings.. paul and jon. it was great meeting them.

malcolm made sure i saw some castles :) some in ruins and some that were nicely restored. markus documented every single second of our week.. even the parts where we weren't feeling very photogenic

paul put up with us for 3 days.. then went back to work to recover.. and met with us again on thursday night for curry night at the pub.. and friday night for an evening of touring the local pub scene in consett, and on saturday he cooked us an amazing meal in his home.

jon was able to stay the first 3 days.. and had to leave to go back to work.

i stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast called the knitsley mill. it was exactly what you'd expect from a quaint english bed and breakfast. the farmhouse i stayed in was over 100 years old and malcolm insisted that it was haunted. it may have been.. but i was so exhausted at the end of each day that even the ghosts couldn't wake me up.

the pictures in this blog were taken by markus... cuz he ALWAYS had his camera :) thanks markus. the images i took haven't even been sorted thru yet... but i will post them as i get to them

this picture was taken while driving to the lake district.... yes.. its me.. yes i'm sleeping .. apparently i didn't miss much scenery tho.. because markus found it more fun to take pictures of me sleeping than of the countryside ;)

the last time my friends saw me i looked a bit different than i do now.... but the greatest thing about good friends is that they like you no matter what you look like... thanks guys :)

i noticed a difference in the way i felt this time.. after losing some weight. the last time i went to durham (2 years ago) climbing the cathedral stairs to the top nearly killed me... approx 365 steps i think.. this time.. i was the first one up :) and never had to stop to rest. i couldn't believe how quickly i got to the top...

i still have a way to go before i'm fit enough to climb the mountains in austria.. but at least i think i will have a good chance making the summit next time :)

anyway.. just wanted everyone to know i'm alive and well.. and dreaming of england.

bye bye summer

2007-09-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

well..here we are.. the summer is officially over for all practical purposes. today was the first day of school. my kids, and i all had a restless night. you'd think after experiencing the first day of school as many times as someone my age has... i'd handle it better. remember just a few short months ago when i was impatient for school to end?????

i guess the reason the first day of school is so stressful is due to the unknowns.... for the kids and for me.

i wanted to post a few more pictures from my trip last week to the ocean.... one night i was there a storm blew in from the mainland.. it came up so quickly.. and it was fairly violent. the storm itself only lasted about an hour.. the view you see here is from the condo.. looking out over the atlantic ocean. (its actually looking directly towards england :D )

speaking of england.... only 4 nights left until i'm on a plane flying to see my friends!

this past weekend.. i took my boys fishing a couple of times. sam turned 12 last week, and although he ONLY wanted video games for his birthday.. i decided to get him a new fishing pole and a tackle box full of everything you could possibly need to catch anything that would bite. i even got him his very first real knife.... the count down on is now to when we head to the ER for stitches :|

anyway... so far we've only done catch and release.. mostly because 1) we haven't caught anything worth eating and 2) i really really don't want to clean any fish. if sam decides he wants to eat them.. i'm going to have to teach him how to clean his own fish with his nifty new knife.

we've had the best luck so far at a local lake. the biggest he's caught so far is a 2.2lb bass. mostly he keeps catching little perch and sunfish..... i'll have to do some research to figure out the best fishing holes near here.

alex is less than excited to go fishing. i suppose being a 15 year old boy is by definition a time when the only things that excites you are girls.. and computers. i actually caught him nearly smiling.. so i quickly took a shot.

hannah thought the entire idea of fishing.. or in her words "causing undo pain to innocent creatures) was barbaric.

she is still a vegetarian... but not quite as strict as before.. she used to be vegan (no animal products at all)

at some point i suspect she will outgrow this.. but i respect that she at least has something she believes in.

i have a ton of work to do so that i can be ready to enjoy an entire week in northern england. i just got word that markus arrived safely. i will leave here saturday, arrive sunday, and probably be walked to death by wednesday.

holidays ahead

2007-08-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

i made it home from south carolina realitively unscathed :) the trip there was more about tying up loose ends and making sure my life is heading in the right direction rather than your typical beach vacation. i tied up loose ends and confirmed my current direction in life ...

although it was an emotionally draining week, i did manage to enjoy myself ( you didn't think i was going to head to the coast and not have fun did you????)

every morning i made a point of taking a nice long walk... sometimes on the beach, sometimes near the marsh. i'm very familiar with the area... i've been visiting there since BEFORE i was born

i have a healthy respect for the ocean and for the wildlife that lives in the area.

alligators tend to live in fresh water, not salt water. they often settle for the water traps on local golf courses.

one of the place i love to go while i'm in south carolina has a salt water marsh on one side of a causeway, and a fresh water lake on the other. the only things that separates the two is a road. the area is in a federally protected park. when the tide is high the water from the marsh often seeps into the lake, and when the tide goes back out some of the fresh water from the lake goes into the marsh...

the variety of shore birds and raptors that call that place home is amazing. every time i go there i see new birds that i've never seen before.

one morning while walking along the causeway in the park.. i noticed something highly unusual. i was the only one around.. the sun had just risen above the horizon. there was a young-ish gator walking around the salt water marsh. the tide was out, so there was a lot of mud, and a few tide pools left ... but still the gator wasn't where he should be.

i followed the gator up and down the marsh has he marched back and forth .. i assume looking for a way back into the fresh water. my thought was that he must have crawled out of the lake and into the marsh while the water was very high... because there is a wall of sharp rocks that line the causeway. in 43 years of visiting this place i have never seen a gator climb over those rocks... i've seen them pull their bodies up on the edge of the rocks and sun themselves.. but never pull their entire body onto the rocks. i guess i assumed that they couldn't climb the wall....

anyway.. the gator was starting to get anxious because the tide was coming back in.. and he was beginning to get surrounded by the salt water... he went to the edge of the rocks.. and pulled his body up a bit on the bottom of the rocks... i kept myself safely at the top of the rockwall... at least i believed i was a safe distance.......

the gator was not happy i had been stalking him, but they aren't aggressive by nature. the way i could tell he wasn't happy was because he stopped moving every time he realized i was watching him.. and he would wait until i walked a few yards away to start moving again.

once he was pulled onto the bottom rock.. i decided to get a bit closer. i took several shots i was probably 5 feet from the front of the gator.. but remember.. he was at the bottom of the rock wall ....

after taking all the shots i wanted too... i started walking backwards to see if i could get a different perspective..... and in a blink of an eye.. that gator ran up the rock wall and onto the sidewalk where i had been standing just moments earlier :|

my heart nearly stopped..... but.. it was clear that gator wasn't interested in eating me, or attacking me.. he just really really wanted to get back to the fresh water.

after he darted up the wall.. he took a leisurely stroll across the road.. never even giving me a second look. you can see.. he is only about 4ft at the most. his 12 foot momma was sitting in the fresh water lake across the causeway.... and i will NEVER stand at the top of the rock wall when she is sunning herself below

it was a great morning, and i learned a thing or two about gators that day

now i'm home.. back in michigan just in time to get the kids prepared for the start of school next tuesday.

i have a real vacation planned for the week after they start school. i will be heading to the UK to visit with my friends and to see how many castles i can explore.

vacation

2007-08-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

va·ca·tion : [vey-key-shuhn, vuh-] –noun

1.	a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday

there needs to be a word to describe this situation

1. a period of time when emotions run high and there are too many people in too small of an area all with different expectations of who will do what work, and how time will be spent; total chaos

its in the mail

2007-08-14T13:13:00.001-07:00

i got a confirmation email from the passport agency.... my passport is being processed at the charleston processing center and should be mailed to me shortly. i'm gonna take that as a good sign .. i have 3 weeks before i travel to europe... i'm starting to feel like i need to hold my breath.

my publicity work is getting out of control. on one hand its going great! we've booked 14 gigs between oct and dec :) on the other hand... i have to make sure the venues have the proper materials to promote the concerts. last year was a hard year for us. it was my first year back after being gone for a year, and the concerts are usually booked 6months in advance. so... while i was gone nobody really took publicity seriously..... we didn't have enough bookings last year.

i don't think i'm particularly gifted in the area of promotion.. but at least i understand what needs to be done.

also in the past we got into some bad habits of negotiating our fee based on ticket sales. that was a really bad business deal. i was spending so much time promoting our concerts i didn't get to enjoy the rehearsals and performances.... now we get a flat fee, with an agreement to have a sales table and the venue is in charge of filling the house :D

anyway.. i'm trying to get all the publicity work for the first few concerts done this week.. because on thursday im driving to south carolina. i'll have enough on my plate there .. i don't really need to be worrying about stuff here.

hannah is ready to see her mom :) she called and asked if she could stay with me when i came to visit... she has been staying with my parents for the past several weeks. so hannah, the boys and i will be on the ocean and bill says that he isn't going to work at all that week....... i'll believe that when i see it ....

the zoo of animals will go to the vet for shots tomorrow then to the kennel on thursday morning. i'm not sure exaclty how i'm gonna get 3 cats and a dog into the vet......all at the same time. it reminds me of trying to take all 3 kids to the doctor when they were still in diapers... somehow i managed and i will tomorrow too.

all this work to go on vacation... hmmm something seems wrong about getting exhausted while preparing to travel for fun.......

passport woes

2007-08-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

i called the passport agency and actually got a live person on the phone. this person was so nice.. and compassionate... but i think she read the script that was put before her. it went like this...

"your passport is nearing completion and i'd be surprised if you didn't have it within a week"

i'll keep you updated

tomorrow i'm having all of bill's family to this house.. for the first time. we've lived here about 8 months and no one from his family has ever even made an attempt to visit. all but one of his siblings and his parents, live within 20 miles of here.

anyway.. no i'm not moved in yet.. not totally anyway. no i haven't painted the rooms that were renovated. no the pool area and garden aren't in good shape. yes the house is cluttered, dusty and full of animal hair (i do have 3 cats and a dog you know!) but....

yes.. i have a great meal planned and lots of things for the kids to do

i suppose i'll see if they are coming to celebrate those who were born in august.. or if they are going to point out how human i am. (i already know the answer to the question of what they'll do, but i like to give the benefit of the doubt.. who knows.. maybe after 20 years of this.... someone will surpise me)

on the menu:
*salmon grilled on ceder planks
*grilled mushrooms and asparagus
*sliced tomatoes
*spinach salad with dried cherries, apples, red onions, toasted pecans and pureed raspberries mixed with balsamic vinegar (my own version of raspberry vinaigrette)
*fresh michigan sweet corn
*fresh melon (honey dew, watermelon, cantaloupe) all locally grown

beer (the kind i know my brother in law's prefer)
wine (the kind i know my mother in law drinks)
lemonade aid

someone else is bringing a traditional birthday cake and my mother in law will bring a veggie tray for snacking before we eat

of course i have plenty of hotdogs and hamburgers for the kids.. cuz i'm pretty sure a piece of grilled fish isn't what they call "party food"

we'll be eating outside around the pool, the weather is supposed to be nice. i have some nice paper plates and partyware.. considering i don't have plates to serve 28 people.. and wouldn't want to wash them anyway.

this is a hard crowd to please... i bet they would be much more happy if i served bratwurst and doritos, but that isn't gonna happen.

can you tell i have a wee bit of anxiety over this party? maybe i'll sample the wine before everyone gets here ;)

project complete

2007-08-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

ok.. so i'm not very good at blogging when my daily routine is tossed out the window.. but here is whats been going on :)

i've been traveling.. as you know. canada has become one of my most favorite places in the world. it isn't that far from me.. .the people are friendly, and its a beautiful country. i can see myself spending much more time there in the future.

i did finish the real estate pano project i was working on. i learned a lot in the process.... i learned that doing 360 panos indoors is HARDER than it seems. straight lines are a nightmare. outdoor panos are easier. also doing a 360 pano in a space that has a lot of blank walls makes it very difficult. i learned how to take the images and layer them together so that the view out the window was visible... i learned how to manipulate control points so that the "auto" part of my stitching program could do a lot of the work for me. i learned that i have wonderful friends who are willing to help me with technical things.. just cuz i asked them for help.

here are the links to the real estate panos.. i realize there are errors.. but overall it was the learning experience that made the project so valuable to me.

http://beth.imageination.co.uk/kitchen.mov
http://beth.imageination.co.uk/masterbedroom.mov
http://beth.imageination.co.uk/livingroom.mov
http://beth.imageination.co.uk/basementbedroom.mov
http://beth.imageination.co.uk/basementlargeroom.mov

i still need to come up with a way to market my photography....maybe the studio stuff is what i'm better suited for.. when it comes to making money. i enjoy studio work... i just don't have a place to work from... maybe thats where i should be concentrating my efforts.

i'm working towards exhibiting and hopefully selling some of my work at an artshow next summer. deciding which images to frame, mat or make into notecards. i'm glad i have several months before the first artshow...i think once i do one or two.. i'll know understand what people are interested in a bit better.

my passport was stolen about 10 weeks ago.. i've applied for anew one, but it still hasn't come. i should have expedited it... :( now i'm getting worried about my trip to europe in september... the US govt said my passport would arrive in 10 weeks..... i still have 4 weeks before i travel to europe. please keep your fingers crossed for me.. cuz when i call the government i get nothing but recorded voices.. when i track my passport online.. it says "being processed"

i have a family party here this saturday.. and then a trip scheduled to visit the ocean (near my parents).... you'll hear more on this subject i'm sure ;)

i woke up with one of the worst migraines i've had in a long time today.. the medicine is finally making some progress so i think i'll take my shower and start the day.

b

busy busy busy

2007-07-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

the above pictures are some that i took at my last photoshoot. the girl with the dogs is my friend's daughter. her name is Jen... she has been going thru a really hard time lately and she traveled across the country with her dogs to spend a few weeks visiting her mom and dad and collecting her thoughts. her dogs mean the world to her.. they have been her source of comfort during these horrible times.

i found that letting Jen and the dogs just play in the garden was the best way to take pictures of them. posing 2 HUGE dogs was never going to work.. besides that... i really like the spontaneity of the images i did end up taking. Jen is happy with them too... the collage above just shows a few of the pictures we took that day.

now i'm off on another adventure... not nearly as big as the last one ;) i'm going with a friend to canada for a few nights.. to a lake. its called lake simcoe. we wont be doing much hiking, just more laying around on the beach and reading :D and having a few nice dinners i hope.

i'll have my computer, and internet.. so again.. you may see me online

be back in 3 days!

monday

2007-07-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

ok... so i've lost track of the days... and thats a good thing :) its monday morning, but the only way i knew that was because i saw the date on a sign.

we've been hiking several times, and took one drive to see what we could see. all of us prefer hiking over driving. there is nothing like turning a corner and seeing a beautiful waterfall or an a wolf or coyote? i'm not sure what this creature is.. i'll have to look it up when i get the chance... but luckily he wasn't angry that we were there.

the weather here changes so fast its weird. we can be driving with perfectly sunny skies and within minutes a storm comes up out of nowhere... here is what one of those rain showers looks like from about 12k feet.

the same thing happens when we are hiking but we've been lucky so far and the rains haven't lasted more than about 15 minutes at the most.

this last image is of Mill Lake. we hiked there a couple of days ago. the hike was extremely challenging. the altitude and the steep climb sure helped us sleep well that night.

we're having a great time... actually we are on our way to hike one last time today before we pack up and start the drive home tomorrow.

i'm not sure of the route yet... maybe thru wyoming and on to south dakota and eventually back to michigan :)

i'll update you from the next stop!

days 3 and 4

2007-07-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

yesterday was kinda yucky weather wise.. rain cold.. wind.. lightening... but that didn't stop us!

we got in the car and drove up a dirt road that is only open for a couple of months in the summer the rest of the time its closed due to the snow. the boys ended up with headaches after we reached the alpine tundra (above the treeline) but they are doing fine now.

here is just a couple of shots from the rainy day on the mountains...

alex had my camera set on iso 800 :| but its fixed now.. so todays shots will be much better i hope!

also the sun is shining today.. .and we have a 4 mile hike around bear lake planned. (hope to see something other than a bear)

this picture is alex.. actually helping sam out of a sticky situation... see??? miracles can happen.

the clouds were so low most of the day it was hard to see the tops of the mountains.

malcolm.... .for google earth.. check rocky mountain national park... .bear lake :)

its just a bit north of estes park, co.

ok.. hopefully tomorrow i'll have internet again so i can actually spend time writing in my blog :)

bye for now!

bye bye DES MOINE + S

2007-07-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

i had to leave iowa because the people there were upset that i couldn't spell the name of the town i stayed in ;)

now i'm in colorado.. which i can spell.. and i'm on my way to the campground in just a few minutes

gemi.. now you can stop reading cuz its the same blog you've already seen *giggle*

the trip is going great!

although finding a hotel room in Ft. Morgan, CO (tiny town) turned out to be difficult. we continued down the road to Greely, CO where we were able to snag the very last hotel room available. apparently everyone gets tired after 700 miles of corn and looks for hotel rooms at the same time.

i was lucky to get the room i got. besides just being lucky.. my faith in human kindness was restored when the hotel clerk gave me the room for 50% off because i told him it was over my budget. he spent a few minutes talking to my boys about the trip.. asked them if they had been good on the trip.. and then told me that since it was after midnight he could cut the rate in half for me :)

now its morning.. my boys are grazing at the breakfast buffet and i'm about ready to hop in my last "clean" shower for the next 10 days. today the plan is to drive the last 90 minutes to the campground and stop before we get there to buy groceries and ice. the weather is GORGEOUS.

the mountain weather will be a lot cooler than what we've had in michigan. 40s at night and 70s during the day.

perfect for hiking ;) i made my boys buy some hiking shoes at a Cabellas in the middle of nebraska somewhere. although they are convinced that their skateboarding shoes are "perfect" for everything.. i know better

ok.. i'm off !

byeee

b

Des Moine

2007-07-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

well i'm on the road... des moine, iowa to be exact. the boys are still sleeping in the hotel room.. and i'm looking forward to another day of driving before we arrive at the rockies. (no i'm not joking.. i actually enjoy the driving part of our trips)

its me, alex, sam and a van of way more things than we will ever need.

hannah is staying home with her dad for the next two weeks... spending 10 nights in a tent with 2 "smelly" boys wasn't high on her list.

we got a later start than i had hoped yesterday.. but that wasn't a big deal. we ended up leaving monday late morning and it took us quite a while to actually get out of the detroit area .

once we were on the road and looking at our mapquest route (3 pages worth) we realized that we will be on one road, I-80, for more than 800 miles lol..... so i guess getting lost wont be a problem.

we started in michigan, pasted thru indiana into illinios (south of chicago) then into iowa. just as we were passing into iowa we came into an extremely nasty thunderstorm. this thing was HUGE.

the sky turned black/green. ... the winds were blowing sideways, and we were driving on a flat freeway with nothing but corn fields on each side of us. i have to admit... i was a bit nervous. the radio said it was 70mph wind gusts and 2 inches of rain per hour. some tornados were spotted just east of where we were. there was NO WHERE to go. i did find a small bridge to park under and wait out the storm. there was NO way i was going to get any pictures.. so i didn't even try.

after about an hour wait... the winds stopped blowing the rain sideways under the bridge.. and we started (slowly) to drive west. we finally saw the sky begin to lighten up a bit towards the west and saw the big black storm behind us in the rear view mirror.

there is probably an anology in there somewhere.....

the sky in front of us turned pink/purple/orange... it was perfect. soon after that we all realized we were exhausted and decided to find a place to sleep. Des Moine was the biggest city around so thats were we are.

our camping reservations don't start until wednesday. i have about 600 more miles to go until we are in estes park. depending on the drive today, we will spend 1 more night in a hotel before we start camping.

the boys are being good.. very little bickering or complaining. lets hope that continues ;)

thats all for now... :)
b

on the go

2007-07-03T07:26:00.001-07:00

i'm alive and well..even tho i haven't updated my blog. the kids are out of school, i've been travelling and working.

my current project is real estate photography. still working on finishing the panos i shot last week as practice for my new website (hopefully up and running by end of august)

i'll post links as they become available.. i've been given some really great suggestions on ways to improve the panos. now i'm just trying to figure out how to make it all work :)

also i've been camping in canada. mostly i stayed in an area just a bit north or niagara falls. i have some pictures from the trip, but it wasn't the most productive trip as far as photography goes. thats not to say that i didn't have an amazing time. i'm hopefully going to get a chance to return there before the summer is over.. there is so much more to see and do!

next week starts my across the USA adventure. i'll be keeping a daily log of our adventure and will update my blog as soon as i find a wireless connection each day.

the adventure will start in detroit (home) and take us..(the kids and me) to the rocky mountains. depending on time, and moods.. we will take several day trips from our campsite to see what we can see.

i have a concert on the 25 of july with 3 rehearsals beginning on the 22nd.. so that means i have to be back in town by then. if i had planned better i would have taken 3 weeks to drive from home to california and back again... i'll save that adventure for another time. i'm not sure the kids have that much adventure in them at this point anyway ;)

in other news... a few weeks ago i took my sister in laws kids to the park for a day of shooting. i put together a bunch of prints and this past weekend i saw her. i framed some of my favorites and gave them to her along with the loose prints. my sister in law's reaction was incredible.

i should explain... she and i are not very close, matter of fact i'm pretty sure she can't stand me. she is about 10 years younger than i am and when i married her brother she was just a kid. she has been extremely critical of just about everything i've ever done.. usually i just see her at family events and we don't really spend much time talking.

when i offered to take her kids to the park and do a photo shoot.. i'm pretty sure she was skeptical about my motives. i was very honest with her.. i explained that i understood how hard it was to find the time to get pictures of your kids when they are that little. her kids are adorable, and quite a handful. also i explained to her that i would appreciate her signing model releases so that i can use the images as stock. if i sold any of them or donated them to be used anywhere i would make sure she knew about it first... she agreed

when i saw her on sunday she had been having a very hard day with the kids. they weren't sleeping well, and the babies both have colds. she was exhausted. she saw the pictures and got very teary... her entire face turned red and tears started streaming down her face. she loved the pictures :)

then my mother in law came over and she also got very emotional. it made me feel really good.

i'm not saying they are the best pictures ever.. but i knew when i was shooting them that the kids were just being themselves. they were playing, fighting, crying, laughing... just being kids.

i prefer candid shots of kids.. ones that show the personalities. not shots where the kid has a huge fake smile trying to sit still in an uncomfortable environment. anyway.. for the first time EVER my in-laws took a moment to see what it is i do, and why i love to do it.

i doubt that anything in my relationship with my in-laws will change significantly because of this.. but it was still very satisfying to me.

father's day

2007-06-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

today was father's day. i'm not sure if it is all over the world... but it is here in america.

the day didn't start out very nice, unfortunately, but i think it ended up just fine. we actually did our big celebration of the day at my in-laws yesterday, and that was unexpectedly pleasant. often my inlaws can be a bit over bearing, but yesterday i held my own :)

tonight ended with a great meal of grilled shrimp, roasted veggies, and baked potatoes. after a nice meal and a bottle of his favorite beer, bill went to the basement to watch horrible movies, and i haven't heard from him since :) so i think he had a good day.

while it was quiet this afternoon, i decided to practice for my photo shoot tomorrow. i haven't done many inside 360 panos.. not nearly enough to feel totally comfortable with what i'm doing. that may not say much about my skills but more about my mindset. i do need more confidence. i think after i do a few more of them i'll be ok.

http://beth.imageination.co.uk/mykitchen.mov is a link that will work for a couple of days. its just my practice pano. i know the typing in the black dot is off center and the overall image quality isn't as high as it should be. i used reduce sized images just so it wouldn't take forever to render.

i'm expecting 2 photo orders back early this week, i'm excited to see them. one is a new book that i've put together using some of my nature images, and another is a bunch of candid portraits taken for my sister-in-law.

i talked to my dad the other day, he is traveling today.. so i didn't get a chance to wish him happy father's day. he is due to have surgery soon, to remove his gallbladder so hopefully he will get home safe and sound and get the surgery over with so he can start feeling better soon.

thats it for now
b

do what you love, love what you do

2007-06-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

8 nights to go until i'm in canada :)

today was extremely stressful but also very exciting.

it started off like it often does this time of year. dragging 3 tired kids out of bed to attend the last couple of days of school is just about one of my least favorite things to do. they are grumpy, and rude, and demanding. its a horrible way to start the day.. everyone at their very worst. one day more day of this and then its officially summer holiday.

the kids have exams all this week.. which makes things even worse, they can't concentrate. alex is just now realizing the expectations i have for his grades aren't going to change, no matter what he actually achieved this year. alex is a chronic under achiever. he has the capability of acing every class with very little effort. it might actually take great effort to do badly in his classes. most of the classes he had this year were not new to him. its not the academics that gives him fits.. its following rules.

i have a rule in my house. you have to achieve a 80% or better.. bare minimum or... give it a 100% effort and then we can worry about the grades as they come. there is no mercy for slacking off on school work and then bringing home crappy grades.

growing up.. my parents didn't voice any expectations for my academic achievement. matter of fact i can't even remember them ever attending a parent/teacher conference, or commenting on a report card that i got. i was blessed with a talent in music that helped me get into a college.. and then the grades mattered to me, so i did what i needed to do to be proud of myself.

i know that ultimately the grades aren't what matters in life. its your effort and rewards for your efforts, and consequences for your lack of effort that will probably shape your life much more than what a silly report card says.

that all being said... alex will probably have a very long summer of having to answer to me much more than he would if he would have taken responsibility for his own behavior.

alex has made great strides in the social arena tho.. he has the sweetest girlfriend and has a group of loyal friends that are in the band with him (gotta love those musicians!) in the past, i always thought alex would be struggling socially for the rest of his life. academics came so easily to him.... he never ceases to surprise me. he is so very talented in music.. and seems to realize it. maybe thats the direction he'll take in life.

hannah has worked her butt off this school year. she had a very hard transition from kansas to michigan. she didn't fit in with a group of friends right away (for a teenage girl that could be the worst fate of all) so, hannah did concentrate on her school work. she also made a huge effort to get involved in the community volunteering her time. about 3 months ago she stared a journalism class, and then was put on the staff of the high school yearbook.

this has turned out to be the very best turn of events for her. she really excels in journalism. she gets so excited about stories and writing them that her enthusiasm is contagious. she was made financial manager of the yearbook next year, which is a huge honor for someone who isn't even a senior yet :)

sam did great in school this year. 6th grade is the first year where the kids typically get letter grades and he really likes to see tangible evidence of his efforts. so he was very motivated for grades. he earned a 4.0 or all perfect grades this year *mom smiles proudly*

he will be so happy when he is able to be on the basketball team next year. they didn't have a 6th grade team. basketball is HIS sport. sam and i love to go to our local professional team's games as well. thats something that we share a lot. even if we can't get tickets for the game he and i will sit, glued to the tv and cheer the Pistons on :P

oh.. darn.. now i remember why i started this blog :/ i got a very exciting phone call today. i've been trying really hard to figure out a way to earn money doing the things i love to do. music and photography. music is a hard business to earn a living at. i love to teach, but building a teaching studio takes time, and the best advertisement is word of mouth. before we moved to kansas i was teaching 25 students a week. now i'm just working on building that up again. i play jobs, but often they are for the church and even if they are paid jobs... they just aren't steady enough to depend on at this point.

that means turning my efforts to photography. portraits always sell, i mean.. who wont by a picture of their kids ;) but.. i don't actually have studio space. i have all the studio equipment i need, and its fairly portable (with a small army of helpers) again.. just working out of my living room booking friends and friends of friends for portraits just isn't steady work. the occasional wedding or party helps, but doesn't really come along that often.

i've been working on some new photography skills. my friend markus from austria is a real whiz with the camera. i swear he knows more about my cameras than i do.. and he doesn't even own the same camera! markus got interested in doing panoramas and then going one step further doing 360 degree panos just for a hobby.

i thought it was so cool that i just wanted to learn out to do it too. i bought a nodal ninja ... no its not a fighting guy.. its an attachment for my tripod that helps the camera stay in the right place to reduce the distortion when i take the pano images. anyway.. after doing a few panos i realized that this could really be a marketable thing.

because i have moved so many times, i know how important it is to weed out the unsuitable houses before you ever take a trip to see it in person. seeing a house on the inside, by way of a virtual tour, or 360 pano is a great way to see whats going on behind those 4 walls and a roof.

i've been milling this idea around in my head for a while now, but today i actually did something about it. i got a call from a sister of a friend that is selling her house on her own. she was looking for a better way to market her house, and then she was told about my photography.

i agreed to go to her house on monday and shoot 4 rooms 360 style, and then give her the links to the panos.. and she is going to use them for advertising.

i wont make a lot of money on this particular job, but its a foot in the door. once i get a few of these under my belt, then i can take my services to the larger real estate companies and show them what i have to offer.

i have a temporary hosting site, thanks izz ;) but will eventually get my own domain name and website to host the images. i'm still figuring out how it should look and how it will work, but i'm pretty excited about it.

markus agreed to be my technical support although he swears i don't need it. i think its all in his plan to eventually come to the united states and visit his friend in colorado

this is something i've wanted to do for a long time, and i really think there is a need for it. its only a tiny foot in the door.. but i have big plans :)

a very dear friend gave me just the moral support i needed to take the steps to get started with this. i'm not sure this will be the thing that makes my life more financially secure, but at least i'll love it while i'm working on it.

"do what you love, love what you do" (its not just a company kippy, its a way of life!)

for anyone that hasn't tried a brand of clothing called "life is good" you should.

sorry for the long rambling blog.. without pictures :| soon you'll see at least a few 360 panos here tho

one day after school

2007-06-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have 3 beautiful and healthy children, i'm so blessed. Even though they are growing up, they still need their mom. Everyday they find little ways to show their love to me. Today was no exception.

My middle son, Alex, is 15. He went thru a huge growth spurt just recently and is over 6'2 now.. and still growing. He can put on a tough act.. but as a mother, i know his true heart ;)

We live approx. one mile from the local high school, the school district will only send school buses if you live more than a mile away. That means the kids either have to ride their bikes, walk, or get a ride to and from school.

Because i'm often teaching or busy when school is out, i expect the kids to walk home after school. They always get a ride in the morning, because its just so early.

2 of my kids have come to accept the fact that after school, they will just gather their things and walk home..... but Alex always has other expectations.

Nearly every single day at 2:30 in the afternoon i get a text or a call from Alex saying "are you going to be here after school today?"

now.. you may think he is just being lazy.. but i had a sneaking suspicion he just wanted to see him mom ASAP! Some days i was able to grant his request and show up after school with a big smile to tell him hi.. and ask about his day. but there were many many days where i had to say... i'm sorry alex, i just need you to walk today. the disappointment in his voice was always heart breaking.

well, today i thought i'd surprise my dear son :) soooo.... knowing that he'd be expecting to see mom at 2:30, i went ahead and walked up to school to surprise him as soon as class was over!

now... my daughter hannah, 16 1/2, saw me arrive by foot .. she was still in class but managed to send me this text "what are you doing here????" and i replied "why are you watching me?????" she was obviously horrified that her mom appeared at the school door eagerly waiting to surprise her brother. hannah never responded to my text and apparently escaped out the back door of the school and walked home.

i sent my dear son a text "if you don't want to walk home alone today, i'll be here at 2:30" he received it.. but because he is sooo clever he knew something was up.. but just couldn't put his finger on what was going on.

i walked into the school and smiled at all his friends.. they all greeted me... "hi mrs henson" i could tell by their faces they were feeling so happy that alex's mom showed up to meet him after school :)

then... i saw my sweet son.. and said "hi.. i'm here to meet you after school" he had this look on his face that was nearly indescribable.. but if i had to put it into words i'd say it was a "wtf" look

he said.."what are you doing here" i said.."everyday you ask me the same question... will you be here after school.. and i just know that it has nothing to do with getting a ride for a short mile walk.. and that you really miss your mom.. so, today i thought i'd surprise you and walk you home" again.. the look on his face... just priceless.

here is a pictorial guide to our walk home....
1. alex, filled with joy at seeing his mom in front of all his friends
2. alex collecting his things... so that we can walk the entire mile together and talk about his day
3. alex looking lovingly at his mom on the walk
4. alex threatening to throw himself into traffic if i ever did this again
5. alex looking longingly at a school bus as it passes, but then he remembered how fun this walk was
6. alex and his mom.. just as we arrived home... can't you just feel the joy and the love???

i'm the luckiest mom in the world to have such thoughtful kids :)

school daze....

2007-06-12T08:31:00.001-07:00

its nearly holiday time for my kids (and me) the last few weeks of school are always so hard. school in michigan goes until the middle of june.. when the kids are out of school my life gets much less complicated. no getting up at 5:45 to make sure everyone is up with lunches made and breakfast in their tummies. no fighting 3 kids to get them in bed by a decent hour, and NO worries about teachers calling home....

my middle son just can't seem to keep it together at the end of the school year... every year since he started any type of schooling, the end of the year has been the same. he is very smart, but tends to give his teachers fits. this year is no different... i've already received calls and emails regarding his behavior... i think he alone causes me more stress than anything else in my life at the moment. i keep telling myself, he wont be 15 forever or 16 or 17 or... then its college :) (if he survives that long)

i went shooting yesterday.. but forgot i had set my iso high on my 5d, so that i could shoot the babies at my mother in laws house with no flash.. so pretty much i hate every shot.

i have been able to make some summer plans, all camping so far. in about 10 days i'll go to canada to go camping and shooting near niagara falls. actually i'll be camping on a lake called lake niagara, and from what i can tell online it looks a lot like northern michigan. i'm very excited.

this trip will be without my family, just me, my cameras and a group of people who love shooting as much as i do :D i'm very excited.

i've also made reservations for a camp ground in estes park, colorado. i have to play a job on july 8th, so i'll head out after that. i think sam, and hannah want to go for sure. Alex CAN NOT stay here alone all day while his dad works.. he'll surely get into trouble. so if he decides not to go, then i'll have to find someone to take him in for a week or so.

driving to colorado will be a real adventure. we'll stop probably 2x along the way, and will probably stay in hotels when we stop over night. its just too much trouble to set up camp and tear it down again for an overnight stay.

once in colorado i'll be staying at the same camp ground i did last year. its a small family owned piece of land... i really liked it. it was a great home base for all the hiking and day trips the boys and i took. i have to be back in michigan by july 21 because i have another job, with 3 rehearsals prior to it. so... maybe i'll take a few extra days on the way home from colorado and see wyoming or even the grand tetons. i'll just play it by ear as i go.

i really really wanted to drive all the way to california this july, but this playing job came up, and if i didn't do it, the entire group would have missed out. we normally don't take summer jobs, but this one will be good publicity.

august is up in the air at the moment.. kids have commitments to band camp and journalism camp... so maybe i'll just hang around home and try to keep my garden going until the first freeze.

in september i have a great trip planned for europe. i'm meeting with markus and malcolm again, but this time in england. i was hoping to conquer a mountain ... but will settle for some cathedral steps instead :)

malcolm assures me the lake district is hilly and beautiful.. i can't wait to see it.

i sure wish i could take my flute and just play one sonata in one of those cathedrals. i bet the sound is incredible.

ok.. sorry for the rambling.. my brain is scattered lately... i need school to END!

babies

2007-06-08T04:55:00.000-07:00

yesterday was a very very busy day for me. first an appointment with my neurologist, just a check up about my migraines. nothing has changed, i still get them, and he still prescribes the meds to help me try to get rid of them.

then i stopped by my mother in laws house on the way home. her house is only 1 mile from my doctor, and i rarely go on that side of town. i stopped because earlier in the week my mother in law and my sister in law were in a terrible car accident. they are both fine, just bruised and shaken up. i have 4 sisters in laws on that side of the family and they are all very tight knight. i'm kinda the outsider.

anyway.. laura, the one in the accident is waiting on word about a baby that she is trying to adopt from Guatemala. there will be more posts about that subject later.

yesterday my other sister in law, kristina, was visiting her mom at the same time i stopped by. actually kristina was staying there for a few days with her 4 kids. ben,3, besty, 2 and the twins jamie and tommy, 9 weeks. kristina is having a hard time doing anything these days.... as you would probably guess. so i invited her to the park which is very close by, just to take some pictures of the older kids while they were playing. i haven't had a chance to shoot her kids yet.

when we returned from the park, the twins were awake, so i was able to shoot a few shots of them as well. tommy, the bigger of the twins weighs about 13lbs and jamie who seems very healthy now, is about 9lbs. there was a scare during the pregnancy that the babies might not be ok... but as you can see from the pictures... they are as sweet as can be.

my own kids had a chance to hang out with their cousins, which they don't get to do nearly enough. it was fun seeing my kids interact with such young babies.

i took over 600 images yesterday, and have only begun to look at them. i'm planning on making a book for my sister in law, and another one for her mom. here is just a sneak peek of what i saw yesterday.

home

2007-06-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well... this is where i live. We've been in this house about 7 months... you'd think i'd be totally moved in.. but yet i'm not.

To make a long story really short.... i've moved an awful lot in the past few years. This time we decided to choose a home in a community that would allow everyone to get involved in something if they wanted too. I'm within walking distance of our small downtown area. The schools are less than one mile away, and the city is packed with green areas, parks and trails.

The house you see in the picture was horribly neglected when we bought it, so was the garden and yard. upon moving in there were tons of renovations that had to be made.. just to make the house livable. The major renovations on the inside of the house are finished, but thats not to say i can sit back and relax now. the house still needs a lot of work but... at least its livable now.

the family that lived here before us had college age kids that were wild. the mom and dad moved on to california for a new job about 2 years ago.. and left the college kids in this house. So that may explain the extreme state of this house...

now that the weather has warmed up... i've moved to the outside garden. it is also a mess. lots of weeds... and a swimming pool that could use a ton of work... but... i love gardening.. so it will be fun to things how i'd like them out there.

the very back of the yard has a long flower bed that lines the fence.... nothing but weeds are growing there... so i've converted that garden into a vegetable garden. Its not pretty back there.. but.. there will be fresh veggies in about 6 weeks. next summer i plan to clean up those flower beds and make them into a proper vegetable garden.

the kids believe the best thing about this house is by far the swimming pool. its been open for about a week now, and there is rarely a time when its not full of kids. even in the rain :P

the pictures of the pool here.. show sam swimming during an absolute downpour.. and the kip, the dog, wishing he were swimming too. as long as there isn't any thunder, i don't care if the kids swim in the rain.. i mean... whats going to happen? they are already wet :)

i started pulling the jungle of weeds near the bird bath this week.. only to discover that wild strawberries were growing amongst all the weeds. there are a ton of little berries on the plants.... what a pleasant surprise :)

i decided to do a lot of container flowers ... just so i could start enjoying my flowers, and not worry about pulling something that i thought was a weed.. only to discover it was actually a treasure. after this summer i'll have a much better idea of what i want to stay out there.. and what is an actual weed.

anyway.. as soon as the rain passes, i'll be out there with my macro lens and you'll see all the bugs that live in my garden too ;)

hot hot hot

2007-05-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

its thursday.. and unusally warm and humid for this time of year.

the good news is.. we actually got the swimming pool full of water :D the bad news.. the heater needed work.. but that was done today.. so although the kids swam yesterday (55 degrees F) brrrrrr today the water should be in the mid 70s ... much more civilized

this morning alex was getting ready for school.. and just fainted. very strange. he had another episode about 2 weeks ago where something similar happened.. although then he did not actually hit the floor. today he was standing at the sink one minute.. and laying on the floor the next.

i was very worried.. but after he rested a bit.. he felt fine. i took him to the hospital today for testing, and the doctor can find nothing at all wrong with him which is such a huge relief. i have low blood pressure and always have to be careful of standing up too quickly.

the doctor explained that sometimes, especially when your body has changed a lot in a short period of time, that your veins may just not respond quick enough to get the proper blood flow when you change positions... ie sitting to standing.. bending over and standing straight up. alex had his head in the sink getting a drink of water from the faucet...(i hate when he does that) instead of using a glass like normal people. when he stood up, that's when he fainted.

alex has grown another 4 inches since november, and actually has lost about 10lbs. he is still very sturdy ;) but his body has definitely been thru a lot of changes just recently.

for now i'm not going to be like a mother hen. and worry over every little thing.... i promise.

teaching tonight, and tomorrow i'll walk the paint creek trail again. this weekend i have a wedding party to attend. but nothing else exciting planned. i'm ready for summer to be here (school to be out)

the kids get so stir crazy this time of year.... just wanting school to be out. i'd love to not wake up at 5:45 everyday to get them up.

working on camping reservations in colorado, wyoming and maybe even the dakotas this summer... i'll keep you updated!

paint creek trail

2007-05-29T06:02:00.001-07:00

as i've said in the past.. i've been walking a lot lately. in the new town where i live there is a beautiful trail called the paint creek trail. it used to be a railroad line, but now the tracks have been removed and its a beautiful walking trail. you can bike, walk or take your horse on it. since i don't have a horse.... i like to walk on it.

the trail actually begins in my town and ends in a town 10 miles away. one day it will be my goal to walk the entire thing. i'll probably bike it first.. cuz biking 20 miles doesn't seem quite as severe as walking it.

i walk with a friend most days.. and we've talked about parking a car at one end.. so that we only have to walk one way.

anyway.... yesterday morning was pretty stressful. grumpy people in my house, and arguments.. make for perfect fuel for walking. the grumpy people in my family (bill and hannah) actually came with me to the walking trail. they aren't accustomed to walking as far or as fast as i do.. so we actually walked separately.

i took my camera this time.. i rarely do. its hard enough to keep pace without gear hanging off my back. anyway.. the pictures here aren't great.. just snap shots as i walked the trail.

this time of the year the trail is gorgeous.. if you had any doubts that spring had arrived.. a quick walk on the paint creek trail will dispel those doubts.

i saw every spring wild flower you can imagine.. wild geraniums, honey suckle, violets, may apples, ferns, and a billion tiny purple flowers that i must look up one day.

i saw baby geese, baby ducks, and baby deer. all of the baby animals seemed very used to people..

the smells of fresh foliage and sweet flowers fill the air and my lungs as i walked. i walked a total of 2 hours yesterday, not sure exactly how far i went. but i know that when i returned the grumpiness had left my body... (probably with the buckets of sweat)

bill and hannah walked a slower pace, but it also seemed to get rid of most of their grumpiness.

even though a lot of bad things seem to have happened since i've moved to rochester.. i still love this community. i just always have to remind myself as much as it looks like a pleasant peaceful little town.. it is actually a suburb of detroit. being a suburb of detroit (a city that is in financial ruins) and the economy being the way it is.. and times just being so hard .... some people do stupid and desperate things. its sad.. the state of the world.. but a nice walk thru the woods seems to help me remember there are more things to life than just the troubles that are just completely overwhelming at times.

i promise to take a shorter walk on the trail this week.. with my camera in tow... and take some pictures that will convey the peaceful beauty that is there.

new page element

2007-05-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

ok.. i'm trying something new on this blog... i've been taught how to add all kinds of different page elements to my blog... links to friends blogs, polls, even pictures and things.

i'm starting slow :P i did create a poll, and add a couple of links to blogs. i'd like to link more of my friends blogs here.. but wanted to make sure it was ok with them before i did it.

this week has been a roller coaster. starting one week ago when my purse was stolen and my car broken into.. then recollecting myself, and dealing with the fears and worries that come along with being robbed.

on wednesday i hit a new fitness goal i've been working for... i'm not giving numbers anymore.. cuz they really aren't mile markers that i'm working towards. my goal is not to be a certain size or see a certain number on a scale, but those things are indicators to my success so that are very tangible.

one thing i've realized thru this whole process is that each and every day the changes are so minor that they are easy to over look. losing a pound, walking an extra mile, going to a certain number on the scale... all along my body is adjusting, so it just doesn't feel that significant. through my eyes, i look very much the same as i did 8 months ago... until someone shows me a picture and i can put it directly next to a picture taken recently.

well on thursday of last week i walked 8 miles... in just under 2 hours. typically 3 miles an hour is a pretty good clip.. gets my heart pounding and keeps the sweat trickling down my face. i have a friend who does a 15 minute mile.. while walking (i don't jog or run) so she kept the pace and we had a blast.

to some people this may not sound like anything remarkable, but then again...you have no idea how much of a change this is in my life.

on thursday after the walk, i had a chance to get away. i do love my family... they are everything to me.. even if i want to shoot my kids to the moon sometimes... BUT it feels SOOOOOOOO GOOOD to get away without them sometimes. i spent thursday doing things that i love, and being with people who i wanted to be with.... friday we did a bit more.. and then were able to have dinner together one last night before everyone had to return home.

so after a wonderful few days away.... i came home to a phone call that one of my dearest friends is very ill. her husband recently passed away, as did her mother and her sister.. and now she is left to deal with this illness... she is one of the most wonderful people i've ever met. she has a very positive attitude and with the love and support of her friends will hopefully overcome this.

on to the roller coaster again.. this morning i had a music thing.. and after playing... my only thought was... this is the feeling that led me to become a musician. knowing i've played well.. and that people who heard me felt something..... because of the music.. its just an indescribable feeling.

now its sunday afternoon... i'm about to head to the gym... yes the same place at the same time where i was robbed last week. i haven't been back to the gym since then. i almost went several times this week, but i got weirded out and ended up walking, or riding my bike instead.

enough is enough...

swimming is one of the very best ways i've stayed on my fitness program and i'm not letting some asshole crooks take that away too.. so... i'm off to the gym ;)

wednesday night

2007-05-23T20:02:00.001-07:00

well.. i haven't blogged much this week because i've been sitting in various government offices trying to re create my documented life. what a hassle. if i would not have had my passport in my purse things would have been MUCH easier.

the driver's license office wanted picture id to prove who i was.. but since all my id was stolen they accepted a birth certificate, and a marriage certificate to verify my name change. now i have a paper license until the picture one comes in the mail (anywhere from 7-30 days)

the passport office has forms.. lots and lots of forms to be filled out. the first form was to report a stolen, but valid passport. when you submit that form you also have to - a: apply for a new passport, or b: be terminated in the system.

being terminated in a government system is NEVER EVER a good thing.. unless you are dead.

so.. i filled out the two forms... report stolen, and apply for new. they wanted a valid picture id.. of course i had the same issue as at the drivers license office... no picture id yet. the passport office wouldn't accept a birth certificate or marriage license as proof of who i am. they weren't interested in seeing my paper (temp) drivers license either. they said to come back after i get a valid government issued picture id.

here is the problem.. you can not fill out a stolen passport application without filling out one of the other two forms (termination or renew) what a mess. i DO NOT want to be terminated in the system.. something tells me that would be hard if not impossible to correct.

so at this moment whoever robbed me also has all my valid identification.... they can prove they are me better than i can prove i'm me :(

i HATE government bureaucracy.

hopefully the picture id wont take 30 days to arrive.. and i can clear up this mess before an even bigger mess is made.

tomorrow i'm going out of town for a couple of days. the trip was planned before all this happened and i really really need a break right now anyway.. so it turned out to be good timing.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS

you didn't think i'd let the crooks ruin everything did ya????

i've been working on getting a small chamber group together to play a few jobs this summer. i really love playing in a small ensemble... especially a woodwind ensemble. but i wanted something a bit unique and i wanted to work with people who i knew were excellent musicians and who wouldn't be so uptight about how much we were getting paid.

well..i have a friend who i've worked with in the past. she plays flute, but also has a bass flute. her daughter just graduated from college with a degree in music, and also plays the flute.

now a flute trio isn't terribly unique although you rarely hear one playing. but... a flute trio using 2 C flutes and one bass flutes is far less common.

we got together for the first time today just to see how we sounded. we sight read for a while.. talked about what kind of jobs we were willing to take, and came up with a plan.

i have to say... and i don't mean to brag.. but we really sounded good together. i'm playing first flute, carolbeth is playing second flute, and jill is playing bass flute.

there isn't a lot of music (maybe none) written for that instrumentation so we'll have to do some arranging and we can also use some flute trios just lowering the 3rd part and playing it on the bass.

carolbeth is getting married june 23rd (i'm shooting her wedding) and then at the end of the summer she will be moving about 6 hours away with her new husband. so.. we have this summer to work together.

i've already booked us one job on july 8th ;)

carolbeth said that she will be willing to keep practicing and come back for jobs throughout the year.. but she also said if we needed to find another flute player to replace her she would understand. i'm not sure what we're going to do yet.. i guess it depend on how much work i can book for us.

so... now i need to come up with a unique and great name for our little trio. any suggestions????

its late... and i have a huge day tomorrow and a big one on friday too, so i better go to sleep. i just wanted to let everyone know that i'm slowly getting my world put back together after the robbery.

bb4n

shitty day

2007-05-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

today didn't start out shitty.. it actually started nice. the weather sucked, but that was ok cuz i had a lot of work to do inside anyway.

we went to breakfast... i even made good choices and stayed healthy.. went by the fruit market and bought the foods i need for the first part of the week.. rushed home, iron my dress for my concert and made my call time of 1:50pm

i sat thru rehearsal.. and because i was just one of the people on the the concert for today... i only got 5 minutes to warm up and do a sound check. the concert started at 4pm so i sat there for 2:05 listening to people waste time...

so.. the concert begin it went fine. nothing really exciting. it was a concert series for a big cathedral in detroit and i had 2 numbers on it. when i finished playing.. i didn't even stay to hear the rest of the musicians.. i just left to come home.

i was rushing home because my daughter hannah had really wanted to go to the gym with me today, but i knew that i'd be exhausted if we didn't get there until after dinner.

i decided that arriving at the gym before dinner would be a great idea... its still light, most people are home fixing dinner, 5pm is rarely busy at the gym on sundays.

when i got ready to go to the gym.. hannah told me she was too tired to go... so i nearly decided not to go myself, but thought.... what the hell...i'll just swim for 45 minutes and get it over with.

when i got to the gym i locked my purse in my trunk because the gym had posted a note in the locker rooms not to leave anything valuable in your locker. i figured my trunk is secure.. especially since i parked not 50 feet away from the front door of the gym and it was still daylight.

i swam.. showered and was finished in less than an hour.

i went to my car.. opened my trunk... and my purse was gone.

i went to the drivers door and found the door ripped up... the locked removed.. and the window smashed

my passport, license, money, credit cards, pictures, phone... medicine .. my wallet, my purse.. everything i need to live my life day by day.. gone

i went to the gym.. to have them call the police.. and found out there had been 3 other break ins just between yesterday and today.. and probably 40 or more in the last 6 months. no one at the gym bothered to warn people to not lock things in their trunk.

the gym idiot didn't even want to put a sign up on the front door warning people after it happened to my car.. so i made a big stink.. a really big stink.

as i was waiting for the police to come.. i made sure to stand by the front door of the gym and warn people to not leave ANYTHING in their car... everyone i told turned back around and got something from their car..... everyone was in the habit of doing what i did.. because of the locker situation.

i hold the gym responsible for not warning people that this has been going on... but.. blaming them doesn't get my pictures of my kids back.. or my passport back.. or make my life any easier.

i don't have a cell phone now... or a purse, or wallet. my insurance will cover the damage to the car, less 1000 which is my deductible... the damange estimate is proably right around 1000 :| so i'll just have to pay it out of pocket.

i'm pissed and i hate everyone right now.

bill has zero compassion.. the kids are annoyed with me because i can't buy gas, because i can't get money out of the bank because i had to cancel my debit card, and my credit cards.

bill is traveling tomorrow.. and needs his car.. i'm stuck either driving him 65 miles thru traffic at 5am to the airport.. or going without a car for the next several days or even a week. oh..he needs to be there at 5am that means leaving here at 4 :(

i wish i didn't give a damn about things.. but i do..

i will probably loose my gym membership now.. because the gym is very angry that i stood there and warned people not to leave valuables in their car.

i think the gym should have security in the parking lot.. especially if they KNOW this has been an ongoing problem.
fuck.. i'm angry

pistons move ahead!

2007-05-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

my basketball team, the pistons have won this round of the playoffs and now we move up to the eastern conference finals! we don't know if we will play new york or cleveland.. but either way it will be a good series.

our hockey team is doing well too... hopefully we will finally put the mighty ducks in their place.. and head to the stanley cup :P

tomorrow will be spent working in my garden.. its supposed to be sunny and warm. so of course there will be more pictures coming soon!

hannah is doing well on her new fitness program.. but she is finding the challenges to be more difficult that she thought. apparently she thought i made it look easy :P i'm still working very hard.. but.. it just has to be the way i live my life now.. i can't think of it as something i'm doing "For now"

i have a concert this sunday, i don't know how well it will be attended... with the weather turning so beautiful even i don't want to be stuck inside listening to music on a sunday afternoon. i'm glad things are winding down.

oh.... i nearly forgot.. my youngest, sam went to his first dance today... and even danced with a girl. apparently she is very sweet on him. how quickly they grow up.. its like it was just yesterday when he was falling down and scrapping his knee crying.......... WAIT!!!! that was yesterday ;)

have a great weekend!

thursday 17th

2007-05-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

i know.. i've missed a couple of days.. things just get so crazy this time of year.

awards nights, band concerts.. end of the year events..

i had my annual meeting with one of my performance groups on monday. i'm in charge of marketing and publicity for this group and when i took over this job the promotion of the group had hit an all time low. i should explain :|

i was in this group for 4 years.. then i moved to kansas. the 4 years i was in the group, i was just part of the publicity committee, so the entire task didn't fall on my shoulders. we were always very well booked throughout the concert season. the only thing i did was take pictures and put together press releases.

the year i was in kansas.. the job was handed over to someone that just wasn't very interested in doing it.. and thats all it took. one year of low visiblity and the group was struggling for jobs. i'd say the musicality of the group wasn't were it should have been either when i returned, but by christmas time we were playing as well as we ever have.

so.. it has been a huge task to take over publicity. we usually are booked several months.. or even a year in advance, so the concerts that should be in the fall are usually booked the fall before.

on monday i had to present a marketing plan to the committee that does a lot of our funding. i think it went well.

now.. i'm off to watch the pistons game, we are still ahead in the series 3 games to 2, but we need to win one more to advance to the next round.

i'll keep you updated on our progress!

mothers day +1

2007-05-14T19:56:00.001-07:00

mother's day was yesterday.. and it turned out to be just a beautiful day. i had tea and berries in bed.. thanks to my kids and i got a new lens for my camera :D

the lens isn't an expensive one.. but.. its fun. 50mm 1.8

i took a few shots while eating my berries and drinking my tea... this picture is of tally.... one of the twin kitties i have.

she likes to burrow under the covers.

i spent the day at an art fair.. and didn't buy much. there were tons of photographers showing work, some of it was really wonderful. the weather was nice, so it was very very crowded.

after the art fair we ate at one of my favorite restaurants... its really just a family diner. nothing fancy at all, but they make the BEST greek salad.

after dinner we went to my mother in laws. most everyone was there.. lots of kids, and grand kids. it turned out fine. they haven't seen me much since i started working out. they had lots of cakes and sweets.. but i was good.. well, mostly good.. i did enjoy a glass of wine.

hannah had a hard time avoiding all the sweets, but she managed to make some good choices and realizes now how much you have to plan ahead when you go to a party like that. (unless you want to eat brownies, cookies, 2 different cakes, and chips and candy)

we got home rather late, and then i had to be up early to go to my annual meeting for one of my performance groups. since i'm in charge of publicity and marketing.. i had to present a report that talked about what we did this past year.. and what we hope to accomplish.. and how we will accomplish it for next year. it was a lot of work... but my presentation went fine.

i'm meeting with joseph.. the other guy on my committee tomorrow over lunch to work on some of the things we talked about. we have 7 concerts set up for next concert season. but we really need 15-20 to make things very comfortable. booking another 10 concerts will be a huge task.

still saturday

2007-05-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

took hannah and her friend alex to the concert tonight.. the band was hello goodby... i hate to sound so old, but i've never heard of them. i did listen to some of their music before hannah bought the tickets... thats when i decided i'd rather be doing anything tonight other than hearing that band ;)

dropped the kids off and then drove around detroit for a while... i should explain how this city is. detroit is the major city in the area, but around it the suburbs have grown to massive proportions... nearly everybody lives in a suburb, there are a very few nice areas in the actual city limits of detroit, and the rest of the city is in horrible disrepair and actually quite dangerous. its poverty stricken, and such a shame.

in the 1960s there were some riots on detroit.. riots between the races.. black/white... and the city has never really recovered. we've had corrupt politicians.. and many companies have moved out of the actual city. i have some photography books that show detroit back before the riots.. when henry ford was first making cars, and then some more images from the 50s. there was wonderful public transportation, and parks.. and people really loved living in the city back then.

i have a friend who really enjoys taking pictures of the "death and destruction" in detroit.. i think he likes photographing it so much because he remembers what it was like before things got so bad there.

even in the early 80s there were still lots of neighborhoods where you could raise a family in detroit.. i went to college with several people who lived in the city.

i have a lot of images from detroit that show just how bad things have become there.. this blog has reminded me of them. i promise to put a folder on my flickr site to show some of the more telling images of my poor city.

but.. back to tonight...the picture above is of hannah and her friend alex.. at the concert theater.. and then on the way home from the concert we saw a little fair that was set up close to my own city (in the suburbs) so.. you get another picture of me and hannah, at the fair. the weather actually turned colder tonight so we didn't stay at the fair long.. (just long enough to take a few pictures :P)

saturday afternoon

2007-05-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

ok.. its saturday afternoon.. so sunny outside that it seems to be a sin to sit in. i've spent the morning in a class with my daughter. :| she decided she really wanted to get fit and start an eating plan (inspired by her mom :P) and the class for teens has the orientation on saturday mornings...

she will meet with the nutritionist on her own.. and then also have her own exercise program. i'm so proud of her for making this choice.. but i know how hard its going to be. the peer pressure at school will be hard. its the end of the year.. there are pizza parties, receptions full of cookies, bbqs with hamburgers and chips... so many things to have to plan for. i know she can do it.. she needs to plan ahead. anyway... thats where we spent the morning.. inside on this glorious gorgeous day!

now.. hannah has a concert to go to this afternoon.. in downtown detroit ..... she is just too young to go to a rock concert on her own (even with friends) but... i really really really don't wanna see this particular band. i've seen several of her bands with her and her friends... i can't do it today :|

this concert has 3 bands... and its in a theater that will be very well secured.. soooooo i'm dropping her and a friend off at the theater, and then we'll hang out in downtown detroit for a few hours before picking them back up. i mean.. she is nearly 17 :| i shouldn't hover so much.

here' the problem.. there really isn't a lot to do in downtown detroit.. its a dying city. very industrial, and not many places to hang out (unless you want to sit in a bar)

i'm gonna take my cameras... see if there is anything to shoot.. but its not even safe enough to walk around with my cameras, so i'll have to drive and shoot out of the window... or stop for a short bit and then right back in the car.

there are some casinos in detroit.... i've never even once been in one.. that probably wont change today. if i had money to throw away.. i'd be throwing it away in someplace other than the casino.

ok... time to go....

tomorrow is mother's day ;)

b

lazy day

2007-05-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

i'm supposed to be working.... i have a picture order that needs to be at the lab.. yesterday. its wasn't a great job.. i was just hired to shoot this even for a local music event (a convention).. so the shots are candids, and less than exciting.

the sun is shining and i'd rather be outside getting dirty in my garden..

i was just asked to play at least 2 more times this summer at Christ Church Cranbrook. yay! its a very prestigious venue... one of the oldest cathedrals in our area.

i agreed to play.. (of course) but also suggested that instead of just hearing me as a soloist.. that they might enjoy a chamber group.. duet or trio.. or maybe even a quartet.

the music director was excited by that idea.. even offered to pay us each separately instead of my usual fee being split among a group.

i called my friend Jill (another flute player/teacher) and she suggested doing a trio using 2 flutes, and a bass flute. (jill plays bass flute as well) we'll have to get together a few mornings in the next couple of weeks to work out some repertoire.

just when i thought my performing schedule was coming to an end for the summer.. i got this :) and this is really cool. i mean i'm ready for a break from my normal rehearsal schedule.. but this is totally different. 3 of us (who really enjoy each other's company) actually making a little money together... i could get used to this :P

ok.. back to my picture order, then out to the garden to play in the dirt :D

beautiful tuesday

2007-05-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

it was a glorious day... the weather was ideal.

i got up early, drove the two older kids to school and then had to take sam to the dentist. we arrived at the dentist office a little early (8:10 for a 8:30 appt.) and sat in the car with the windows down for a few minutes to wait for the office to open. it was already warm.. probably 70ish.. and there was a slight breeze... the breeze brought with it the aroma of lilacs. its the first time i've smelled it this year.. and the scent filled the car.

i did buy 2 lilac bushes for my new garden, but they are only saplings... i don't know how many years it will take before they flower enough to fill the backdeck with that sweet smell.

i dropped sam at school and headed for the gym. it was kinda annoying at the gym today. i just wanted to swim my laps and get on with my day. it started out just fine... only a few little kids in the lesson pool and the lap pool was completely empty :D

i started swimming and it didn't take long before a VERY annoying man showed up. he chose the lane directly next to me. when i swim laps.. i don't go fast, just a steady pace, and my goal is to swim between 30-50 minutes.. depending on how much time i have. Mr. annoying showed up after i had already been swimming for 15 minutes and my pace was already set. the first annoying thing he did was stop me when i got to the end of my lane to turn around.. :| so there went my pace.. and then he asked me "how long is one lap in this pool?" clearly annoyed i said "i don't know... i swim according to time, not how many laps i go..."

i then tried to regain my pace... get my heart rate to a steady 140 or so.. and continue... when all of a sudden Mr annoying decided to attempt somesort of butterfly stroke.... and with all of his flailing about he ended up spalshing me right in the face as i turned to take a breath..... ugh. i inhailed the water (that never feels good) and had to stop again to cough up the water

there was still several lanes free.. so i decided to move down and try to continue my workout. about 30 minutes into my swim... another guy jumped into the pool.. of course he chose a lane directly next to mine. when i got to the end of the lane... this guy would start swimming.. really fast.. like we were racing :| and then when he would get to the other end of the pool before me, he would just sit and wait until i got there.. and i would turn... and he would do it again. i've experienced this same thing in the pool before.. always with men... they like to feel like we are racing.. and they are always winning :| it usually lasts about 10 minutes then they get tired and leave. guys do the same thing on the freeway i've noticed.. if you pull up next to them.. they just can't stand it.. they have to go faster than you. ok.. i'm not bashing guys.. just making an observation ;)

i stopped at the garden shop and bought a few things for my yard... i still don't know what is already planted here, things are just starting to bud and pop up out of the ground. i'm fairly sure there isn't a single thing planted in the flower bed that borders my back fence, so i'm going to make that into a vegetable garden.

i also got 2 planters to put on the railing of my back deck.... i think i'll enjoy this house a lot more once i get some beatiful things growing in the back garden.

i called a pool company to come and do some minor repairs and open the swimming pool for the season but they can't get here until the last week in may. i don't think it will be warm enough to swim before then anyway.. but i'm having a party on june4 (end of the year party for one of my music groups) i hope the pool is ready by then.

bills traveling again.. new york city this time.. i swear he travels 2 or 3 days each week, and most of the time he is flying somewhere for a one hour meeting.. seems like a waste of money to me. with phone conferencing and video conferencing.. i would think flying across the country to have a one hour meeting would be a thing of the past.

although.. i have to say.. i wouldn't my flying to manhattan for a day ;)

tomorrow i have class... and then if the weather holds up.. i'll be in the garden again

bye for now!

home again

2007-05-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

i'm home from my camping trip. it ended up being me, sam and hannah. hannah has only been camping a few times... even she had a good time. Sam and i often go by ourselves, so he is a pro ;)

we got a late start on thursday, so we ended up getting there after dark. as we headed north from here the temperature started dropped dramatically. by the time we were 20 miles from our destination it was about 40 degrees. Thats when sam informed me he only brought shorts :|

we took a detour and found a shop with sweatpants and sweat shirts... only $6 each (deep discount end of the season sale) i bought him a set.. shirt and pants, and decided the price was so great that i couldn't pass it up and i bought me a set and hannah a set too. then we were on our way again.

we got to the camp at about 10:30pm... pitch black. the camp ranger had gone home for the night and there was NOBODY in sight. only a sign telling us to leave our name and payment and slip the envelope in the door.

we then drove around the park road searching for a campsite in total darkness. we heard the lake, and hannah found a small clearing. it wasn't far from the bath house so we decided to set up there.

hannah was surprised at how fast we got the tent up.. especially with only the headlights from the car. we were all ffffrrrrreeezing. so we put on our new sweats..after we all got into our new sweats.. we realized they looked like prison issued clothing.. :| we then climbed into sleeping bags.. and went to sleep by the sound of the lake waves hitting the shore.

in the morning i woke up early.. the sky was turning pink and the sun was going to rise soon.. and the moon was setting .. it was a beautiful full moon.

i took a couple of shots.. i haven't looked thru them all, but here is one of the moon setting on our first morning.

it was so peaceful and quiet.. and cold.. i crawled back into my sleeping bag and we slept for several more hours. waking later to the sound of some canadian geese honking as they swam in the lake.

we cooked over the campfire.. biscuits, hamburgers, baked potatoes, baked apples, corn, hotdogs, roasted veggies, even cinnamon rolls ;)... i'm pretty creative when it comes to cooking over the campfire.

we hiked a little... the days warmed up nicely, but in the evenings it cooled to the lower 30s again. actually once i figured out that i actually could put every single item of clothing i brought with me.. on at the same time.. i was warm at night :)

on the second day we took a short drive to a light house, and on the third day we had to pack up and come home. i had a music thing this morning that i had to be back for.

this is a sunset from the 2nd day.... i know there is some glare, but just wanted you to see.

i love camping.

tomorrow i'll be in the recording studio all day, it might end up being a very long session. i just got an email telling me there are 3 more pieces that we haven't even seen yet.

i'm going to take pictures in the studio so you can see the inside of the recording booth.

now.. i have a mountain of laundry to do from camping..

camping...

2007-05-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

well.. i'm finally packed up and we are heading out camping. alex isn't going, cuz he doesn't feel well... its ok, he can stay home and watch the dog. bill will travel tomorrow.. so alex wont have to stay home alone tonight.

i'll have pictures when i get back! be home saturday afternoon :)

backyard before

2007-05-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

ok... most everyone knows i moved from michigan, to kansas and back to michigan all within the last year. each time selling a home, and buying a new one... what a huge hassle.

i should give a little history.. i've moved about 8 billion times since i've been born.. so moving itself isn't new to me. but some moves have definitely been better than others. i almost always find cool and interesting things about the new places i live.. but no matter how many times i move, michigan and south carolina seem like my two homes. i went to high school and college in michigan. i was born in south carolina, and for every summer i can remember i've visited there.. my parents have retired there.

the last 3 moves went like this. we lived in michigan for a few years.. bought a house that was nice with a huge yard and garden. before living in that house, i had never really had a chance to work on a garden and get it the way i wanted it .. before we moved again. that garden was gorgeous. i had an apple tree, several lilac bushes and created a large shade perennial garden as well as a vegetable garden.

we moved to kansas..... flat.. desolate... empty. but.... i decided that since i got so much enjoyment from my garden in michigan that i would make that a priority in my new house in kansas. so after the home was finished being built.. i hired a landscape architect to help me design a nice garden and yard... and a lot of time and expense went into making the yard an oasis in the middle of the prairie. if i would have stayed in kansas like originally planned, i have no doubt that i would have enjoyed that garden.

now... jump to the present... down sized our home..., and our garden. also bought an older neglected home... with a sorely neglected garden. :( when we decided to buy this home the yard was already dormant for the winter.. so i had no idea what, if anything was alive out there.

now its spring... everyones grass in this neighborhood was turning green... not ours :| everyones spring flowers blooming... not ours. everyones sprinklers starting up... mine needs repair. even the shrubs and trees in this yard look like they have lived a hard life.

there is a swimming pool here... it is in need to total renovations.. but there just isn't money for that this year.. luckily i know it does work.. even if it isn't beautiful.... someone will come out and take the cover off and fill it in the next few weeks.

There is good news in all of this....... its like having a clean slate to start with. there is very little planted on our little plot of land. even the grass needs to be reseeded. so, its like i'm starting from square 1.

the pictures here show just what kind of shape out garden is in... these will be the before images... later in the summer after i've got some things planted and there is life back there.. i'll show the after images.

also.. there is a picture of my dinner from last night :P over the last 6 months.... i've totally changed the way i eat. i now eat mostly fruits and vegetables. last night was a typical meal for us. i grilled skinless chicken with fajita spices, peppers and onions.. and then also grilled a bunch of asparagus after putting a little lemon juice and some oil on them. the kids put all the veggies and meat into tortillas with a bit of cheese... i think just about everything tastes better when its cooked on a grill. :)
this picture is of all the seeds we planted about a month ago... these are summer annual flowers.. everything from sunflowers to morning glories. i also have some beautiful azalea bushes that i'll plant as soon as the danger of frost is over.

you can see.. even though the backyard is pretty sorry looking now.. i still love it :) i would rather cook out there than in a kitchen anyday.. and i'll make sure that my outside kitchen looks like paradise before this summer is over ;)

ducks

2007-05-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

This morning after getting everyone out the door... i got a phone call. it was bill and the kids in the car telling me to go outside and see our new neighbors.... i didn't know someone had moved in, and i was still in my jammies.. so i just peeked outside and saw a family of ducks that has decided to set up camp at the edge of the road.

this isn't a quiet spot.. cars drive past here all day long.. 25mph and they are just inches from the road. i watched them for a few minutes.. and even as cars went by they didn't budge.. one even tucked his head behind his wing for a nap.

there are lots of quiet, cozy places near here where these ducks could enjoy a rest, or build a nest. there are several ponds, and lakes just blocks away.

my theory is... they are waiting for me to take the cover off my swimming pool :|

they are either extremely stubborn, or not very smart.

its wednesday... i have class today. i haven't had the best week... i was feeling yucky for most of it.. and didn't get to the gym on my usual schedule. it seems to be a cycle tho.. when i don't feel well, i don't exercise, and when i don't exercise, i don't feel well.

i'm not running a fever.. this bug just seems to be hanging on and sucking the life out of me.

i'm starting back on my regular schedule today.. so i'll swim my laps after my class and hopefully things will get back to normal.

bill got home from chicago late last night.. but will leave again tomorrow to travel somewhere (i'm not sure where) the kids don't have school on friday.. and i really wanted to take a few days to go camping.. now i'm not sure that i can do it. :(

i suppose i could just take the dog with me.. since it wont be hot.. he can stay in the car if we need to drive anywhere... i usually avoid taking kip with us when we camp because he thinks that its his job to chase every squirrel within a 10 mile radius. that gets really annoying.

the lakes are still too cold for swimming.. so we will just hike, and cook, and hang out... so maybe i wont cancel the trip after all :)

i do need to think about a destination tho.. and see if i can make a campsite reservation tonight. its about 3 hours to lake michigan..thats the west side of my state. maybe i'll stay a bit closer to home this time, and just take a drive up the eastern side of the state to the tip of the thumb area. my state, michigan, is shaped like a huge mitten. we tend to hold up our hands and point out places where we have been.. or intend to go... :P its like having a map all the time.

on the map below.. the closet city listed to where i live is Pontiac. the tip of the thumb area is really beautiful. there wont be many boats in the lakes yet.. i believe there are probably still chunks of ice in the northern lakes. but there will be light houses, and forests to explore.

ok... i'm off to get ready for my class. wish me luck, i'm not as prepared as i usually am.

and now i can rest.

2007-04-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

ok.. its monday night, 11:20pm. i don't know why this blog posts my time wrong all the time, i'll have to figure that out.

anyway... i have been awake and on the go since 5:45am this morning.

my rehearsal was long, but good. our group will go on hiatus soon... and then we wont meet again until we have a concert in july, and wont start actual practice again until next september.

i'm always glad for the holiday, but also miss all the people, the practices and the performances.

the end of the year party is at my house this year :P so..... that gives me a definate date to have this house completely put together.

yes i moved in here in november, and no.. i'm not totally unpacked and haven't even hung one picture on the wall yet.

but, to my defense i should say... the house has been under going renovations for the better part of the last 5 months.

anyway, i need to call a pool company to come and open up swimming pool, and figure out a nice design for my back garden.

the family that lived here before us didn't have anything planted... i suppose the good thing about that is i mostly have a clean slate to start from.

JUNE 4th is the party.. its a monday. actually we are doing it here because i'm the photographer for the group.. and we need a new set of publicity photos to use for the next concert season. if i have everyone over here i can set up my studio and make sure all my lights are properly positioned and metered before anyone arrives. it saves me from having to haul everything to some random location and set up under time constraints.

besides all that.... its the first time i'll actually have my friends over to my new house :)

tonight i was hired to play at a big cathedral in downtown detroit. i had no idea what the event was before i got there.. its not my own church.

i was told to bring my flute and a lot of classic music... handel, bach, telemann, shubert, mozart..

when i arrived at 5:45 .. i started to realize what a big event this was. it turns out that the episcopal church was installing a new biship and some new canons.. (i apologize for not knowing exactly who they are... but there were obviously very important people in the episcopal church)

there were over 4000 clergy from around the world.. and photographers, and tv cameras.. and lots and lots of formalities. the service was to start at 7pm so they had me begin playing at 6:45. since its a proper cathedral.. it made it impossible for me to see the congregation from where i was playing.. after i played the prelude, and was able to peek around the massive organ i saw the crowd.

i had no idea this event was such a HUGE ordeal.

anyway.. i also played during communion.... at my church communion takes about 7 minutes.... tonight, it took nearly 40 minutes to complete communion :| i played at least something from every single book of music i took there. it felt like a marathon.

the music minister at this church sure had a lot of confidence in me, to just have me show up and basically play 40 minutes of unrehearsed music. (i've played for him once before, so at least he had heard me before) this is when the last 25 years of practicing comes in handy :D

the service lasted 2:40 minutes :|

i'm thankful that i'm presbyterian, and not episcopalian :P

it would have felt really funny to take payment for tonights job... so i didn't. i'm so honored that i was asked to play. besides.. now i have more than 4000 people who know where to get a flute player if they need one for a wedding or something :) you can't even buy better advertising than that. what? you maybe thought i was totally altruistic????? ;)

it turned out to be a good day.. bill made it to chicago alright, and when i arrived home after not seeing the kids all day... everyone was still alive and even fed themselves. i suppose there is hope for this family yet :)

didn't get a chance to call my dad for his bday today :( he goes to bed so early that by the time i was able to call.. i knew i'd wake him up. i sent him an email, and hopefully he got the cards we mailed last week. i'll call him tomorrow to apologize. he is now 71.

now.... off to bed for my beauty sleep!

hectic monday

2007-04-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

well... the week begins. mondays are usually one of my favorite days of the week, because its a day i have music stuff ALL day.

rehearsal from 8:30-2:30 (preparations for the recording studio next monday) we actually got the music early this time.. and have had time to work on it. this recording session is a bit different from what i normally do. we have 10 demo songs to do.. and a commercial for Rock Financial. i'll just have about a 10 second spot in that.. so its not that exciting... but.. i got to meet the singer last night.. which was pretty cool. she is from my area, but has worked in the recording business a LONG time. she has done voice overs for movies, and even was the voice in one of the disney movies (small part). she travels between california, detroit, and memphis doing recording work.. the cool thing is... she and i were talking during a break last night, and she knows an old boyfriend of mine (who still works in the recording industry)

this guy (stephen) that we both know has his own recording studio now. He lives with his wife, and twins just a few hours away from me. we did exchange family pictures and emails about 5 years ago.. but really haven't kept in touch. although things didn't work out for us when we were dating (in college) i've always considered him to be a good guy and a friend.

the singer is going to record in stephen's studio in june, and will let him know i'm back in town. so... hopefully if he needs a flute player for future projects he will call me...its really a small world we live in.

after rehearsal this morning.. i have a doctor appointment and then a playing job tonight. bill just told me that he is traveling this week, gone today thru wednesday night. i hate it when he doesn't tell me until the day he is traveling. he isn't traveling as much with this job... most of it domestic, but still... a couple days notice would be nice.

btw, i delivered my two picture projects to my friends last night. the one with the 50 yr old picture i restored... next to the new picture... she loved the project. she has given me 4 more photos to restore for her :P

the other lady... the one when i converted the pictures to b/w then tinted them for her... is extremely picky. (which is odd because the pictures she gave me to work with weren't very good. just out of focus snapshots) anyway.. she liked 2 out of the 3 images i fixed for her, but has requested that do some different things to the last image.. so i'll work on that as soon as i get time.

ok, i'm gonna be late for rehearsal.. i gotta go!

5k, baseball

2007-04-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

i'm alive! which may not be such a surprise to any of you, but i had the 5k to do today.. and i've been under the weather.. and really feeling draggy lately. i did not run today, but i did walk it, briskley, and everything was fine.

the day started with my alarm waking me up at 4:50am... let me just say this upfront - 4:50 am is not morning.. its still dead of night in my book. i woke hannah up and took my shower, by 5:30 i was set to go and went to get in the car only to realize that hannah had never gotten out of bed.

now, let me explain. hannah is an activist. she is on a constant search for a cause to get involved in, it drives her. she is the one that found this asthma benefit put on by the American Lung Assoc. and the one that signed up to volunteer, and then made sure to sign me up to do the 5k. then she told me about it :|. well, her intentions were very good, and i love the fact she wants to help change the world, helping in anyway she can..BUT.. she can go overboard sometimes.

i mean.. this was a very good cause and all, but its not something i would have done on my own, i did this because she was so excited about it. i already volunteer several hours each week for a few different organizations, as well as offer my time and talents to several churches. there is barely a weekend that goes by when i'm not playing in some church in metro detroit.

her volunteer job at this event was to work at registration. because she isn't 18 yet, and doesn't drive herself, i had to agree to drive her, and be at the event so that she could work at it.

we arrived a little late, they wanted all volunteers there at 6am.. but we arrived about 20 minutes late.. BUT we were still the first ones at the zoo. it was pouring rain and probably 40 degrees, miserable... even the zoo workers were not there yet. after about 15 minutes the lady in charge of all the volunteers arrived and told us what she needed hannah to do... of course, i ended up helping hannah with her job, and staying at the registration until every walker/runner had checked in.

the actual even started at 8:30. by 10am we were finished with the registration and i started by walk, hannah decided to do it with me. we walked, 5k isn't far anyway.. only about 3 miles :P but.... my plan was to run it (which was a big deal to me) hannah was sweet for walking it with me, especially knowing i didn't feel very well... we ending up having a lovely morning.

the event raised somewhere around 10,000US so.. hopefully it will help.

after leaving the zoo, i had to go by the lab and pick up my picture projects that i did for my friends. i was pleased with the results :) hopefully my friends will be as well.

then, onto the Detroit Tigers baseball game in downtown. the sun came out just as we arrived at the ball park, it was actually hot in the stands. the sun was beating down on us. bill, the boys, and i, had decent seats, and the game was fun. we lost really bad, but had a good time anyway.

all in all its been a great day. i just have to keep reminding hannah that until she is able take the responsiblity of participating in events and getting herself there.. that she HAS to make sure its ok with me first.

Pistons took the first round of the playoffs today :D now they are heading to the second round.. yay! we don't know if they will play chicago or miami next... if its miami it will be a rematch of last years playoffs (which we lost) if its chicago then we get to play against ben wallace (former pistons starter who left this year) either will be exciting GO PISTONS!

tonight i have to send off proofs from a teaching seminar and music festival that i worked at last weekend.

hope everyones weekend is going well.

fri/sat

2007-04-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

ok.. i just finished the projects for my two friends.. now have it sent to the lab, but can't pick them up until tomorrow am after i do the 5k run.. thanks to izz for helping me figure out an easier way to tint the baby pictures.

that doesn't leave much time to edit or make changes if i need too. but..... thats what i get for procrastinating i suppose :|

Detroit Tigers baseball game tomorrow at 1:30... and the weather is supposed to be absolutely beautiful :)

sunday.. morning job, afternoon meeting, night rehearsal... so i better enjoy tomorrow while i have a bit of time off.

i still haven't looked at my images from the pistons basketball game earlier in the week, it was a preplayoff game, but still...... i think i got at least a few decent shots so that i can make sam a nice poster for his room. you know.. they say no lenses over 4 inches long without a pass at those silly games. doesn't even matter the MM... ridicules. i stuck my 70-200 2.8 in the bottom of my purse.. and no one said a thing after it was on my camera.

i'm exhausted... a house full of kids all day.. and i still feel under the weather. i just gotta get better before tomorrow's run. they have posted a big reward for information leading to an arrest of whoever keeps calling in the bomb threats.. the reward would be enough to buy a very nice used car.. which should be enticing to kids in high school... hopefully someone will realize a car is worth more than missing a day of school.

the school will be on lock down from now until the end of the year. kids packs and lockers will be searched everyday, and you have to be off school grounds by 3pm. this is just so sad.. because that means all the after school activities.. even the school sponsored ones are done for this year. its gonna make for a long last 6 weeks of school. i hope this has all been just a prank, and the idiot that did it gets caught.

if i don't die in the morning doing the 5k, i'll post again tomorrow

friday

2007-04-27T07:22:00.001-07:00

ok.. so i've already missed a day in my daily blog ......

well i do have a good excuse.

i woke up yesterday and just felt a bit off (more off than usual). i was tired, achy, and felt .. blah. there were some people at rehearsal on monday that mentioned being sick over the weekend, and one lady got sick at rehearsal.. so i figured i was next in line.

i tried to take it easy yesterday morning.. going back to bed after getting the kids to school, but didn't really sleep. finally decided to get up and take a shower..i always feel better after a shower. i decided to go out and run some errands that i had been putting off, and to meet bill for lunch. as i drove out of the driveway, i pressed the garage door opener button to close the door.. and then i heard "BOOM!!!!!"

i couldn't figure out what had happened... i was still in the driveway.. and looked at my house.. and then i realized that my garage door was all bent up.. crumpled :( something had happened, and it fell instead of lowering slowly like it was supposed to. i knew it was going to be a hassle, but i didn't want to be late for lunch, so i just left it and went on.

from lunch i went straight to pick the kids up after school.. because the weather was just plain dreary and nasty. we then went to the card store to by my dad a birthday card, his birthday (71) is on monday. nobody could agree on one card, so we each got one.... so he'll have a bunch of cards to open on monday :)

anyway.. back home to check the damage to the door..... its a very very heavy door... double wide made of reinforced steal. its guided thru the tracks by wheels, and springs, and the electric door opener is connected to it. i realized after looking at it, that the spring had snapped. this isn't a tiny spring, its HUGE... i'm so glad no one was in the garage when it happened and that it happened when the door was closing .. not opening.

if it had occured while i was pulling into the garage, the door would have fallen on the car.. and probably crushed it :|

i'm starting to think maybe its this car that is cursed.. a few weeks ago the hit and run accident, then during repairs at the shop.. more mysterious damage to the opposite side of the car.. now the garage door nearly missing it......

anyway.... the garage door will have to be jacked up and removed..and replaced. i'm waiting right now for the garage door guy, he said he'd be here between 8-12... so that means i'll see him around 12:30 ;)

my estimate for this repair is 1300 ... ugh... lets hope i'm wrong. i keep thinking there is nothing else that could possibly go wrong with this house.....

3 toilets replaced, new laundry tub, new kitchen, new master bathroom, new electrical throughout, new telephone lines, new cable.... could all this hassle really be worth the amount we saved on this house?????

so.. on with my day yesterday... by the time i got in after shopping... and feeding everyone, i was still feeling quite crappy and decided to put on my jammies, and just watch the Pistons playoff game. game 3 against the orlando magic (we won!! yay!) now we have one more game in florida.. if we lose that one then its back home next week. this is just the first round of the playoffs, but the pistons look great.

last night after watching the game.. alex got a call from his g/f just at bedtime. her mom is good friends with the secretary at the high school. natalie told alex that there has been yet another bomb threat at their school, and its closed today while the police do a sweep. this is the second bomb threat in 2 weeks, and just 3 weeks ago at the middle school there was a false call about a student with a gun that closed down the entire area for several hours.

in total, 4 schools in our district are closed this morning due to the threat.. thats about 6500 students out of school for another day. this is getting really upsetting.

they caught the person who phoned in the phoney gun call at sam's school.. it was a 6th grader :| a new kid to the school, 11 years old calling from the payphone at school ... how sad. he has been suspended and failed 6th grade.

they have a suspect in the bomb threat 2 weeks ago that shut down the same 4 schools that are shut down this morning... a 16 yr old boy, they are charging him for the costs of the search... estimated 700,000US, plus failing him, and charging him as an adult. there is also talk of charging his parents :|

i just don't understand that.. i mean.. at 16 years old, i believe if you hurt someone or threaten to hurt someone.. you are responsible for yourself. i don't know the parents, or what kind of family this kid comes from... maybe i'm just looking at it from my point of view. if one of my kids ever did something like this...... i just can't imagine.

to the kids at the schools now its becoming a big joke... days off. this latest threat apparently referenced the virgina tech mess and threaten to make that look like "childs play" as a parent that creeps me out beyond words. i asked my 2 high schoolers if they talked about what they would do if someone was actually shooting up their school.. and they said.. yeah.. everyone agrees they would play dead :| i hate that they even have had to think about that. its just so sad.

garage door guy just called, he is on his way.. so we'll see what the damage is in a few minutes.

i'm expecting a housefull of kids here in a little while... since they don't have school, our house seems to be the gathering place. i don't mind that.. at least i know what they're doing.

i'm supposed to do a 5k run in the morning, the way i feel right now.. i'll be walking very slow and come in last for sure .. but i'm still planning on doing it.

i guess if i'm going to do this blogging thing, i need to become more efficent with saying more using less words.

c ya all for now.

its gotta start somewhere

2007-04-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

ok.. so this is what i'm gonna do.

i never get to see my friends online anymore. i have great friends that i enjoy chatting with, and visiting, and sharing all kinds of things with.. but lately i just seem to be offline when they are on or not home when they call.

to prove that
1. i have not dropped off the face of the earth
2. i am not in the witness protection program
3. i actually do know how to work the computer

i am going to start a daily (mostly daily) blog.

today is wednesday... my typical wednesdays go like this..
up at 6:30 get kids to school
class at 10
home by 1:30
grocery shop, laundry, other menial tasks... then in the evenings either teach or collapse, it varies by week.

i'm going to remind anyone that doesn't already know, i'm a horrible speller, and i refuse to take time to look up words while i'm blogging... it will just give me another excuse to avoid blogging.

i'm going to bare all here... because i suspect anyone reading this is either a real life friend, or knows me very well from online.

today i had a doctor's appointment reguarding my weightloss and fitness program i've been following. the news is good, i've lost a total of 26% of my body weight.. which seems insane, but needed to be done.

no i'm not skinny and never will be, but things are getting closer to normal for me than they have ever been before.

i'm swimming a total of about 4 hours a week, and working out another 4-5 hours in the gym. i have a personal trainer now that is helping me fine tune my program.

one thing i've noticed is.. the last time i weighed this amount, my body looked really different that it does now :| ok.. the last time i weighed what i do now... i was just in college.. so that might explain the reason.

anyway, enough about being fat..

its spring here.. we've had some amazing days so far, today is NOT one of them. its cold and rainy and windy.

bill is in toledo, ohio again today.. so that means me and the kids alone for dinner. sam has been begging for lentle soup (had it at a vegan dinner the other night that hannah made us go to) so..... i'm cooking lentle soup, it smells soooo good. i had to search for the proper spices to put in it, but i think its gonna be good.

i have two projects that i'm working on for my friends in one of my music groups.. picture projects. they are both dear friends, and i didn't think it would be a big deal at all. melonie has 3 pictures of her daughter (blurry/bad quality) that she wanted converted to b/w and colorized pink in certain places. these pictures are to go in a frame that is part of a mirror or something and put in her little girls room. i'm nearly done with that project.

my other friend, kay, has asked me to repair a picture of her and her cousins taken 50 years ago, and make a print that will fit into a frame with another picture of the same people taken just this year. the old photo is a wierd size.. square.. and the new one is of course 4x6, so i'm working on figuring out how to make them both fit into a double frame that will look good. i've done most of the repairs, and scanned the new photo... so that project is nearly done as well. i'll see them both on sunday, so i need to have them done by then.

i really don't mind doing the work for friends.. i just hope the quality is what they expected. it helps me with my photoshop skills anyway... and you all know i need the practice.

i haven't seen my friend malcolm for a while, but i did get my plane tickets all set for my visit in a few months.. markus has already got his tickets too.. so this year will be the 3rd year that we've all been able to get together for photography. its gonna be a great time.

malcolm is going to help me rent a car.... :| so watch out england, i'll be driving (hopefully on the right side of the road) in september.

my dad is feeling much better after his episodes last week, of course my mother will not keep me informed about his health, but i was able to talk to him directly. i will make a point to call him again tomorrow.

i forgot about alex's orthodonist appointment :| so now i have to reschedule it.

ok, thats about it for the post.. see? i'm alive and mostly well :P hope to talk to you all soon.