Water Of Love | NaBloPoMo day 9

Did you know that I co-host a weekly podcast? Well, I do! We have been podcasting for 2 years now and I truly enjoy it. For those of you who don't know what a podcast is, I guess the best way to describe it is this. It is like a radio show (ours is about an hour and comes out weekly) that is pre-recorded and can be found on the internet.  The recordings of our show can be accessed on our site, on Facebook or on iTunes.

On the show we talk about a lot of different things. We interview moms like us, moms not like us, entrepreneurs, authors, business owners, inventors, dads, and many other interesting people. We have shows about daily life, hot topics, cooking, controversial ideas, lifestyle and many more. Our show is fun! And the great thing about it is that Kim and I can give our honest opinion about the things we love and the things we don't love.

About a month ago, in my endless quest to find a dishwasher detergent that actually worked, I came across an AMAZING product called Lemi Shine. And without going into boring detail about it, let me just say that the Lemi Shine not only completely revitalized my dishes (I know, it sounds impossible, but everything looks like NEW) but it SAVED my dishwasher. I was honestly thinking we would have to replace it soon, and now it looks and cleans like brand new. So I was over-the-moon excited about Lemi Shine and I mentioned it on our podcast.

Well, through the awesomeness that is Google Alerts, the CMO at Lemi Shine found out about our podcast and within a day he had contacted us and within a couple of weeks we got to interview him on the show! BUT, that is not even the best part - the BEST part about it all is that not only is Lemi Shine an amazing, natural, environmentally friendly product that actually works, the company that makes Lemi Shine is a FANTASTIC, honest, trustworthy, earth conscious, and generous organization of great people. It was not only a joy to interview Dustin (he is a super fun and interesting guy in his own right), but it was an honor to be able to speak with and help promote such an amazing company.  And the reason I am telling you all of this is because Lemi Shine is doing an AMAZING thing right now in partnership with Living Water International. Now through December 31st, Lemi Shine is matching donations dollar for dollar up to $50,000 to help provide clean water to children in Ethiopia.

Please, I beg of you to click that beautiful blue button above or the one in my right sidebar, take a look at this project and give what you can. Even a small amount can make a life saving difference. And with this amazing program, your donation, no matter how small, is DOUBLED. Less than $10 will provide clean water, life SAVING water, to a child. The small sacrifice of that $4 latte or your $2 sonic drink for one day will save a life!

Until,
D :)

PS. If you would like to leave a comment for me below (and make me soooo happy!) and you found this post through Networked Blogs on Facebook, you have to click the x in the circle at the top right of the page so that your browser goes directly to my blog. It's some sort of programming glitch that I can't seem to fix, but once you do that the comment button should work perfectly. TY! <3

Slow Dancing In A Burning Room | NaBloPoMo day 5

I often feel like I am slow dancing in a burning room (a great song by John Mayer, by the way). But this song (it's John Mayer day!) has popped up on my Pandora station twice today - I absolutely love it. I can sooooo relate to this song too!


If you are a listener of the podcast I co-host, you know that I tend to talk my way through and then around things and say what I feel and then backtrack/justify a ton trying not to offend anyone. But so many times, when I finally get the nerve to say what I really feel, I just can't stop myself. It's like opening flood gates. The good thing is, that the people that are my close friends know that I never mean any harm or judgement in what I say, and that anything that is my opinion is just that, mine. You don't have to agree with me, and if you don't, I am ok with that. How I feel is how I feel. The bad thing is, I often misjudge the "closeness" of some of my friendships and feel comfortable saying what I feel when I shouldn't. The older I get, the less I like having to censor myself. 
And sometimes I just can't shut up. I have conversations in my head, long after the subject has been laid to rest or abandoned. It drives me nuts, but often in those conversations I find the truth I was trying to speak in the first place. That part is great, but unfortunately by then it is usually too late to speak it. That's the worst.
I am at such an odd place in life right now. This year has been so hard and it isn't getting better any time soon. I am eagerly awaiting the new year on a false hope that "starting fresh" will make things better, when I know the reality is that it won't. Turning the calendar over to January 1 isn't going to make my problems go away. So there is a hope and a dread all wrapped up in one pretty bow in my head. I am pretty sure that on top of all this, I am in full on mid-life crisis mode. It makes dealing with the day to day stuff pretty trying. While part of me is trying to be this confident adult that I should and can be right now, part of me is still clinging for dear life to the 18 year old in my head.  I want to just be able to be myself (the grownup) and say what I feel when I feel it (the 18 year old). Sadly, not everyone is comfortable with that.
I hope that I can soon find a peace about life that I am currently lacking. Or, if I can't, I hope I can find a way to make changes that will help me feel better about my life and find the contentment that I seek. And along the way, I would like to find at least one or two people that can handle me - all of me - the happy, the sad, the stupid and the funny, the moody, the foodie, the earthiness, the height of me and the skinniness and...the stupid mouth. 
Until,D :)

The Weekend

Even though it was a school holiday for the kiddos, I had to get up early and go to Kiddo's school at 8AM this morning. It is a teacher work day and so they hold all the parent teacher conferences on this day.  And I guess because Kiddo's name is the first on the roll, I had the pleasure of not only being up early, but dressed and made up as well.

Ugh.

Happy Monday!

Actually it wasn't all that bad. It's not like a pony tail, powder and mascara takes too long to do.  It was however, difficult for me to concentrate on the teacher knowing that my french vanilla laced coffee was waiting for me in the van.

Thankfully the meeting only took about 10 minutes.

Kiddo is doing great.  He gets along well with other kids, they all like him and his teacher is completely blown away by how well he reads.  She has tested him as best she can with the tools she has and she said her test maxes out at the 2nd grade level for reading. She says he is reading way above that and want's to know exactly where he is though, so she is going to try to set him up with the specialist at the school that can test him further. She said she is going to set up a special box for him with more challenging reading materials and that she has already been giving him books from the Magic Tree House series to read while the rest of the class is working on reading (he already owns and has read several from that series).  She said he writes really well and that he just needs to work on putting more space between words.  His math and social skills are "right where they need to be", and her only "issue" that she mentioned was that he gets his feelings hurt easily.  She said they've been working on all that as well.

She gave me a folder with a bunch of things for him to work on, and then admitted that he doesn't need to work on any of it because he has already mastered it. lol! I had to laugh at that - she had a stack of laminated sight words and said that since he already knew them, maybe I could start working with Port on them.

I am proud of my boy and glad that his teacher has recognized his strengths. I was a bit worried that he would be bored while the other children are working on reading and writing, so it is comforting to know he will have more challenging work to keep him occupied.

This weekend was great! I had a senior session on Friday evening and on Saturday I shot a maternity session in a beautiful location in Dallas.  I drove up there with my friend Jen, who is also a photographer and who consequently had her own session to shoot there as well. We brought along 2 other friends to assist us on our shoots and it was such a blast having them there.  We left town a little before noon, stopped at Sonic on the way out and headed out for adventure.  Along the way we talked, laughed and even called 911! (more on that in a minute)  We arrived earlier than expected and had plenty of time to walk around and scope out the area we would be shooting in.

It was the most amazing place.  I am so glad my client suggested we shoot at the Mandalay Canal at Las Colinas! The Thursday night before we left, Jen discovered that we had to pay a fee and needed a permit to shoot there. It was a huge scramble to get the permit notarized and the payment made in time, but I am so thankful we did because it was sooooo worth it!  That place was absolutely crawling with photographers! We spent the whole time jockeying for position in the different spots along the canal; it was comical to watch each photographer and their clients do an almost choreographed dance between the prime spots. Everyone was very cordial and did their best to stay out of the way of other photographers. I was very impressed. I have had sessions at certain locations in Austin that are popular with photographers, and things have not been so polite. ;)

I had parked my van up at the street level close to, but no where near the front of an Italian restaurant. The street parking was not designated specifically for any one business in the area, so I knew it was ok to park there for the duration of the shoot. However, the restaurant has valet parking in the evenings, and when I came back to the van at one point to grab a shirt out of the back, I noticed that the valet service had set neon green caution cones (with the word "valet" written in black marker) up along the side of the street. They were positioned for at least 100 feet in either direction of the restaurant.  There were several cars besides mine parked along the strip, and I know many of them were from the photographer and clients in the canal below.  I got my shirt and was locking up the van when I heard the valet call out to me.

I turned the opposite direction, ignored him and hastily ran down the stairs to get back to my assistant and gear down below. The valet actually chased me into the stair well and told me I needed to move my van. I knew he had no authority to make me do that. I was legally parked on a city street and had parked there LONG before he put out his Sharpie inscribed "caution" cones (neon green??? really??).  So I turned and said, "ok, in just a minute." and continued down the stairs.

We didn't finish up until almost 2 hours later. ooops...

Jen ran up sometime in there too and retrieved a gift for her client from the back of the van and was also yelled at - she just ignored the "Valet Nazi".

After we wrapped it all up and got back to the van, we debated on where to have dinner. That quest began a wild goose chase that took us all the way to downtown Dallas and then back in the van for another 30+ minutes before we finally found a Cracker Barrel on the side of the highway.

Dinner was late, but it was good. :)

We got back home sometime after 1:30AM.  The drive went by relatively fast thanks to late night giddiness and great conversation.  It is a trip I will remember for a very, very long time.

Until,
D :)

Oh and the 911 call....well for the full story you could listen to this week's episode (due out Tuesday or Wednesday) of Musing Mommies... :)

Trials and Troubles

It has been a crazy couple of days.

I took Kiddo to his first ever school friend birthday party on Saturday afternoon.  I really didn't want to go. It was yet another one of those situations where my social awkwardness really gets in my way.  He wanted to go so badly though, and I really wanted him to go, both because I knew he would have fun and because I knew it would be good for him. But the thought of hanging out with a bunch of people I didn't know just didn't sound appealing at. all.

Thankfully though, the little girl who was having the party also has a brother who is in kindergarten too. They are Irish twins and are the same age for about 2 weeks each year.

{Is it offensive to use that term, "Irish twin"? I've never heard it used in a derogatory way, but all of my research on it suggests that it is a negative term. For the record, I don't mean it negatively; I'm just using it to point out that the kids were born less than a year apart. Hope I didn't offend anyone.}

I think it's really neat that even though they are about a year apart in age, their mom decided to start them in school at the same time. Anyway, they were having a joint party, and it just so happens that Kiddo's newest little friend (and consequently our neighbor - YAY!) is in the little boy's kinder class. So, I had someone to talk to at the party! Yay!

I love our neighbors - we have lived across the street from them for about 6 years now, and I have always enjoyed a polite wave and chit chat with the dad, but up until school started I had never even seen the mom. Turns out, she works nights so I guess I missed all of her coming and going from their house all these years.  I finally got to meet her though, and she, like her husband, is really great.  The even cooler thing is, they go to the same church that we do and they use the same pediatrician. It amazes me that we've lived so close and walked such parallel paths for so long and have never come in contact with each other. Now our boys are in kindergarten together and they are great friends. It is such a blessing to have them so close.

So the party was fun, but I was exhausted after.  The boys were too. Port had melt down after melt down that evening and finally getting them to bed that night was such a relief.  Sunday morning, my BFF happened to be in town and she blessed me so much by stopping by with coffee and some time to chat.  We got to hang out for a little while before the boys and I left for church. It was so awesome to see her.

I took the boys to church by myself.  Normally I would never even think to do that because I feel like church should be a family thing. But Kiddo really wanted to go so he could show off his new bible and also tell his teacher about praying the prayer.  In as much as I didn't want to take them there by myself, I knew it was important to reinforce Kiddo's decision and so I made myself go. I was so glad I did - of course it was a great blessing. I didn't get to hear all of the sermon because I had to leave the sanctuary several times to cough up a lung or to breathe.  But I did get to see a ton of baptisms and hear some great stories of salvation.  And of course the music was awesome as always.  Miraculously I was able to sing during the worship, even though I have not had a singing voice for weeks (and still don't).


Sunday night, in lieu of our regular Musing Mommies Starbucks meeting, I convinced Kim to come with me to the Apple store so I could get my phone fixed without having to drag the kids with me.  Thankfully she was able to get away, so we went out there first, and they fixed my beloved iPhone. It was so nice to have access to everything again - I am very thankful that I had the Musing Mommies Blackberry Torch to use in the interim, but I missed my baby. (props to Kim for getting us hooked up to the AT&T Share Brand Ambassador program - free phone for a year, yes please!) We had a dinner meeting at a local mexican food restaurant, and then Kim thankfully convinced me to go with her out to a local steakhouse to hear some live music by Drew Womack out on the patio.

Oh it was soooo wonderful!!! What an amazing end to a roller coaster week! I felt like I was back in Scottsdale working at the restaurant again. And I wanted to get up there and sing with him so badly!! It was torture and pleasure all at the same time.

And then Monday hit.

You know, some people believe that when a person accepts Christ, there will be a period of trials and weird or bad things that happen immediately after. And sure enough, we get a newly cleaned soul in our home and on Monday morning things started happening. haha! Our clothes dryer has been on the blink for a while now. It usually takes 2-3 cycles to get a load dry. And if you open the door in the middle of the cycle, the dryer does not stop anymore. But I deal with it. We obviously don't have the money for a new dryer right now. But on Monday, I put a load of clothes in the washer and started it up.  Everything went well until the cycle got to the end of the agitation phase.

You know, to the part where the murky, disgusting, dirty water is supposed to drain and the clothes are to be rinsed and spun? Well, the washer had other ideas and decided to just stop with the tub of dirty water.

Broken clothes washer. Joy.

We think it might be a relatively simple fix - it has a sensor that will stop the washer after the agitation portion if you accidentally leave the lid open.  And I guess that sensor went kaput and the washer thinks the lid is up.  So now it won't do anything past filling up and agitating. But it does require taking the thing apart, testing the sensor and replacing it. And of course, it is impossible to move with a tub full of water. I need to find out how to drain it and get the top off of it so we can test it. Taking the clothes out of it yesterday was so hard. Wet clothes are heavy.

Then Monday afternoon I was sitting in the car line to pick up Kiddo and when it was time to move the van wouldn't start. Actually, it started and then when I put it in gear it died.  It took about 10 tries to get it to run again (it would turn over fine but would die immediately after) and then I rolled a few feet and it died again. Another 4 or 5 tries later it finally kept running and it chugged all the way home. Of course, it was fine after that - not sure what the problem was. Either the fuel pump is about to go out on me or there was some trash in the gas line.  That is about all we can figure would have been wrong. It was so embarrassing though sitting in that line trying to get my car to start. Ugh.

Those two things themselves would have normally been enough to get me completely down in the dumps.  I am pretty upset about the washer/dryer situation because there is no way we could replace them and of course the van thing is frightening because we really don't have a good solution there either. If something happens to the van, we are just out of luck for a while.

But I made a conscious decision to keep praising my God on Monday; to not let those trials distract me from the glory that is my son's salvation.  It was a nice change from the wallowing, complaining road I usually take.

That's not to say I won't go down that road again - I know myself better than that. But I am trying to be stronger. And now the van seems to miraculously be running better. And the washer is still broken, but it doesn't really bother me too much.  And that is a good thing.

Until,
D :)

Still Alright

I am here, I promise. I am just currently buried under about 5 feet of tax paperwork. All my utility bills, all my receipts, logs, client folders, order invoices, etc. I will hopefully find my way out tomorrow.

Things are looking up from my last posting. Port's issues have subsided, the weather was once again gorgeous today and this weekend is shaping up to be fantastically busy. Friday night, the Musing Mommies Podcast is celebrating our 1 year anniversary with a live show on Ustream. We will be answering listener's questions and comments in real time, giving away prizes and having a great time. So if you are a MuMo listener, or if you just want to log in to watch and listen to us record a live show, click on that link above sometime after 8:30PM tomorrow night. We would love to have you! I can't wait!

I have some important business stuff to take care of tomorrow as well, and I am hoping the boys behave for me. On Saturday I am going out again to scout for locations for some upcoming sessions and afterward I am hoping to stop by the new farmer's market opening in Cedar Park. I am so excited to have something like this close by, finally! I can't wait to check it out.

So anyway, I just wanted to check in. Hopefully I can find some time to post some this weekend.

Until,
D

What Time Is It?

Ok so the first day after the spring forward, daylight savings, change your clock fiasco that most of the country still does (another reason to miss AZ) went fairly...ok. The boys woke at a reasonable hour. Port fought nap time a little more than usual, but it wasn't too bad. Bed time was a different story though. According to Hubby (I was at my weekly Starbuck's meeting) Port went to bed ok, but about 30 minutes later he woke up and started screaming.

It lasted for a while, I was told, but it wasn't too bad.

This morning, at about 3:30AM, the screaming started again.

Port's pajamas were soaked, though the diaper wasn't by any means full. He must have been lying just right to make everything leak the way it did. I changed his diaper and put him back to bed and he then screamed for about 2 hours.

We shut the door to our room so we didn't have to listen. I hate doing that.

This morning everyone slept a little late, but not too bad.

Nap time however... colossal FAIL.

He screamed and screamed and wouldn't lie down for anything, so I eventually took him out of the crib. So, he hasn't napped today and I am anticipating a ginormous fight come bed time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So yes, bed time was quite the experience. He was pretty good about putting on jammies, but he did NOT want to go to bed. He screamed angry, violent screams for a good 30 minutes before going completely silent. No wind down, nothing. It was a bit nerve wracking.

Hopefully he can make it through the night without waking. I dressed him a little lighter so he'll stay cool - the last time we had a lot of trouble with night waking it was when we had a couple of warmer nights. If I get hot in the middle of the night, it has GOT to be hot in the house. I am always so cold that it really takes a lot to get me out from under the covers. However, the in last week or so I have woken up several times at night a little warm. So I can imagine Port has been warmer than usual.

We shall see how this works out.


It is Gratitude Monday! Today I am thankful for...

1. My business. Even with it's ups and downs (and this past week has really been a roller coaster week. ugh) I still love it. And if I never make a cent in real profit, I will still be thankful for the joy it has brought me.
2. The Musing Mommies Podcast. How can something be so much fun? We get to meet new, exciting people, talk about whatever we want, and people listen and tune in every week. It's been almost a year since we started and I can't imagine going a week without it. Also, we got some great news today from one of our past interviewees and I can't wait to share it with you!
3. My friends - I am so thankful that I have managed to make some pretty awesome friends here in the Austin area. We lived in AZ for 3 years and I can honestly say I did not make any friends while we were there. I am so glad to be surrounded by wonderful, supportive, hilarious and intelligent women to lift my spirits and keep me sane. I thank God for all of you!

And you. My readers. I am thankful and grateful for you. Thank you for coming by my little corner of the web and reading my ramblings. I so very much appreciate it!

And if you have something to be grateful for and you would like to share, grab a button on my sidebar and participate. Leave me a comment letting me know so I can come visit. :) Have a wonderful week!

Until,
D :)

Warm Me Up

Happy Friday Company Girls!
Sorry I skipped out on you last week. Friday got away from me and I just completely forgot about blogging.

How are you? Until about an hour ago, it has been a cold, rainy, dreary mess for the past few days. I am so tired of the dark and damp and cold - blech. I am ready to move back to Arizona! Thankfully the sun just peeked it's head out from behind the clouds. I hope it stays out long enough to dry us out a little. The weather man keeps talking about some arctic blast that is coming in next week, but I see little indication of that on weather.com. Thank goodness! I don't know how much more I can take of the cold. I am ready for spring!!!

I planted some seed in my garden last week and the day after we got a huge rain storm complete with buckets of hail. I am fairly certain everything I planted got washed out, but we will see. If it dries up some I may go plant more seed on top of what I already planted, just to insure something grows! My mom sent me a $50 gift card to an online gardener's site - I am so excited to get the fertilizer, compost and row covers I ordered. Thanks Mom!!

The bees are starting to come back, despite the cold. We have a terrible problem with honey bees at my house. I don't know where their hive is, but it has got to be close because every time I open the back door I have to deal with them coming in. It's funny because I don't really see them much in the yard or even in the garden, but that back door has some sort of draw for them because most days, if the door is open for any length of time while the boys are outside, I have to kill at least 5 or 6 bees. Last week, little Port got stung on his finger when he found one in the living room on the rug. Poor guy! The boys were arguing and I thought at first that Kiddo had done something to him. He came running to me holding his hand; and I was screaming at Kiddo to tell me what he had done. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the bee dead on the floor (thank goodness for a white rug for once!). I opened up Port's hand and sure enough there was the stinger in his little index finger. Thankfully I was able (and brave enough) to pull it out really fast. I gave him a dose of benadryl just in case (we have a family history of bee allergies) and watched him close for a while. He was fine after about 2 minutes, but he licked and sucked on his finger all day. It swelled up pretty good, but by the next day it was fine.

I felt so bad about it. Usually the hair on the back of my neck stands right up when one flies into the room (I am terrified of them). But I guess this one snuck by me. How it ended up on the floor where Port could pick it up I will never know. I am just thankful we can mark that off the allergy list for him.

Beyond all that, I am working hard at my business - getting some marketing materials done and some new programs set in place. This week I hope to release my spring specials and some fun stuff I am doing with that. Right now my focus is newborns and Austin area high school juniors and seniors.

And, if you listen to our Musing Mommies podcast, we are having a very exciting giveaway right now!! A beautiful necklace is the prize. Click on over there if you are interested; we would love to have you for a visit. :)

I hope you all have a glorious weekend. May the clouds depart, the sun rise and it's rays warm your soul. I know I will be soaking it up when and where I can.

Until,
D :)

Sign Your Name

OMGosh I haven't been this excited in such a long time!

Last night

I got to meet

PIONEER WOMAN!

eeeeeee!!

Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, came to a local bookstore here in Austin for a book signing. Her cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, went to #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List, and she has been on a whirlwind book tour for the past few months.

I have had the date on my calendar ever since it was announced, but I honestly didn't think I would make it out.

Well I did, and I am so glad! The bookstore started passing out wrist bands at 4pm. I was able to make it there by 4:30, and they were already on the 3rd color group. My guess is there were approximately 100 bands per color group?? The first two groups, red and orange, were invited to a 6pm signing while the rest of us came back at the advertised time of 7pm.

After picking up my wristband, I sat in the parking lot waiting for Kim (my friend and Musing Mommies podcast co-host) and when she got there, we picked up a wrist band for her and then headed out for dinner.

We drove over to another local Austin joint, Shady Grove, and enjoyed a great dinner inside next to a huge fireplace. In all my visits to Shady Grove, I had never actually been inside. It is a really cute little place! Everything was cozy, dark and somewhat romantic, and the fire in the fireplace was absolutely perfect for the chilly evening. The food was great as always; I had a delicious turkey sandwich and salad with jalapeno lime ranch dressing, and Kim had a turkey club and fries.

Kim borrowed her hubby's iPhone so that we could record some snippets of the evening for our show. It was fun to be able to update facebook and twitter while we were there. Maybe someday I will have such awesome technology at my fingertips. It was kind of funny though, while she was a whiz at using all the cool iPhone apps, making a simple phone call on the thing was a bit of a challenge! lol ;)

We returned to the book store just before 7, and pushed our way through the crowd to a spot on the side in the back. It was standing room only on the second floor of the book store. As we were making our way back a group was making their way forward; 4 country kids and an icy blue-eyed cowboy. {wink} I yanked at Kim's arm as they passed, and when she looked at me like I had lost my mind I made the face. You know, the one that says "omg, look it's someone you should be looking at!". It was Marboro Man and the Punks, walking right past us!

At about 20 after 7, Ree finally made her entrance!

{See MM with the camera? I may end up in that picture! ;) }

She was super sweet and funny during the brief Q&A session. I had fun watching her kids, who were off to the side behind a rack of books, playing and sword fighting. It was kind of hard to hear from where we were standing, but for the most part the questions people asked were somewhat thoughtful. PW handled every question with grace.

After the Q&A she disappeared back upstairs, and the store employees began calling wrist band colors. Since I was in the yellow group, and Kim in the next group, green, we had a little wait before getting in line. Lucky for us, Marlboro Man was signing books at the podium area, so we hopped in that line first.

MM was super sweet too; soft spoken not very talkative, just like I imagined. Of course, I couldn't think of anything to say. I mean, how do you talk to someone you know so much about but who doesn't even know you exist? It is quite awkward.

{with Miss Kim...}

I made it into the official line as the last "yellow" person and Kim snuck in behind me just before they called green. It worked out perfectly! You would not believe the people cutting in line though. And amazingly enough, it was the older women in the group doing most of the cutting. I couldn't believe it! It's not like the lines were obnoxiously long or anything...

Once in the official line we only had to wait for maybe an hour or so. It was moving pretty steady so it wasn't bad at all. It seemed like PW's entire family was there; we saw her hubby and kids of course, her mom, and her sister and brother in law. Everyone was just as sweet as they could be, and you could tell they all enjoyed being there and being with each other.

When we finally got into the room my nervousness went into high gear. I know they are just regular people, but man, I really couldn't think of anything to say! I mean, the woman has the Midas touch! She has a ground breaking, blog world changing website, a #1 best selling book, a phenomenal family life, she home schools, runs a ranching household (oh the laundry!), she has successful dinner parties with other blogging super stars, she is interviewed by magazines and day time talk show hosts and she comes all this way...I get to see her in person and I can't come up with anything even remotely interesting to say!

Thankfully, I am a red head. Now.

lol

She said to me, "you know I used to be a red head."

And I should have said "well I used to be a blond!" but it got stuck in my head and I am pretty sure nothing but a grunt came out.

I do remember asking her if she was going to change her hair back to red. Beyond that, the conversation was a blur.

I just couldn't believe she was talking to me!

Thankfully, Kim tossed the iPhone up on the table and I think she recorded the whole conversation!

We also had her sign a book for a "Musing Mommy" - woo hoo! Giveaway time! ;-)

{Me and Ree. I luv her so much! I wanna be just like her when I grow up! ;) }

{Kim and Ree. Super cute!}

We scored a couple of cool PW t-shirts and had a nice little chat with her sister Betsy about the show. Betsy signed our books too, and she was so incredibly sweet about all our questions. We made our way out just before 10pm, and they had just called the last of the wrist band colors.

I don't know how they do it all with the signing for hours - my hands would have been nothing more than shriveled claws after just a couple of hours.

It was a wonderful experience and I hope she comes back in 2011 with her next book, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. Woo hoo!!

Maybe by then I can think of something interesting to say to her. ;)

Until,
D :)

PS. I had made a few of my mother's coconut balls to take to PW, but the boys didn't let me make very many and I didn't have time to package them up nicely so I ended up not giving them to her. They are so good though, so I want to share the recipe. My mom sent me the original recipe and I think, as with a lot of recipes, something got lost in translation over the years. So, I kind of had to wing it, but here is what I *think* it should be.

Coconut Balls

1 32oz bag powdered sugar
1 14oz bag shredded coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk (the regular size can - 10 oz??)
1 stick of butter (just for you PW!)
1 qt Pecans chipped small (optional)
dipping chocolate or
melted chocolate chips mixed with a square of paraffin or a tbls (more or less) of crisco

Mix powdered sugar, coconut, condensed milk, melted butter and nuts (if desired) in a LARGE bowl. You may have to get your hands in it to really get it mixed up. You want the mixture to be moist enough to hold it's shape in the balls, but still slightly crumbly. (If it's too dry, add more condensed milk, if it's too wet, add more powdered sugar.)

Form into balls and dip each one in melted dipping chocolate or melted chips/paraffin or crisco mixture. Set on wax paper to harden or place in the refrigerator to set. Before setting, if desired, you can sprinkle some toasted coconut, sprinkles or little silve candy balls on top to gussy them up a bit.

Balls can be stored on wax paper in an air tight container and a cool place.

Enjoy!
~D


PPS. Hey there Company Girls! I didn't forget about you! Have a great weekend!

In One Ear

This isn't going to be much of a post. But in the spirit of NaBloPoMo I have to publish something.

It's been a long day. Little Port woke up running a fever and pulling on his right ear. The poor guy is a mess.

Hubby took Kiddo to church without us and we've spent the day being miserable. This is his first ear infection that I know of. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night.

Thankfully I have my weekly Musing Mommies meeting at Starbucks tonight. This week we will be talking about the second book in the Twilight series, New Moon. I am excited about having some guests recording with us. We should have a great time.

And in the interest of entertainment, I will leave you with this amazing video. Enjoy!


Until,
D :)

New Girl In Town

{photo by D Sharon Pruitt}

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday, so I just wanted to wish her a Happy Happy!

In lieu of a hefty post today (since yesterday's was a little late and pretty heavy), because I also posted over at Musing Mommies, I am directing you all to my photography blog today. Please head on over and take a look at one of the most beautiful babies I've ever had the pleasure of photographing (aside from my babies, and well, all the other babies I've photographed! They are all beautiful!!). Thanks!

Until,
D :)

Busy Being Fabulous

Ok so I am going to try to get a post out today if it kills me! I have been so busy - blogging has just been so far down the list I haven't even had a chance to think about it. And things are only going to get worse as we head into August.

It's so funny because with my business, I have always been completely dead in the summer. Usually between mid June and September I can pretty much count on not having anything to do. This year though, mercy! I am so busy with sessions and extra things - it is WONDERFUL!! I praise God for these small favors, because it is truly a blessing.

So in all that business I have to remind myself that it is good, and try to not get too bogged down in the stress of it all. I am thrilled to have had the past few weeks go as they have, and I look forward to the next month and a half of constant going. I just hope I can figure out how to balance it all. Some days though I kinda feel like my little guy here in this picture.

Of course, he was just upset because he had climbed in the chair and wanted me to get him out. And being the good mommy I am I ignored his cries and pulled out my camera instead....well just look at that hair?!? How could I not take a picture of that?!?

Anyway, I hope to get back to a regular bloggy schedule soon. But for now things may be a little sparse. I can't believe I've missed 2 Friday Company Girl Coffee chats already. Mercy. I'll try not to let that happen again.

So here is a song by Trisha Yearwood that I absolutely adore. I was reunited with it this week when preparing for the latest episode of Musing Mommies, and I can't get it out of my head. Unfortunately YouTube didn't have a video of Trisha singing it that I could embed in my blog, so I snagged this one of some Elvis tribute instead. Oh well, at least you can watch a little of classic King while listening to a beautiful country song. Enjoy!

I just love, love that song. The words feel like they came straight from my head...

Hang in there, I'll be posting more regularly soon. I've still got lots of catching up to do!

Until,
D :)

Picture Me Rollin

Good Evening Company Girls and Beloved Regulars (and my Newbies too! Hi!)!

So it is Friday again, please come in, pull up a chair and relax. I will put a pot of decaf on since it is late.

I am really late getting to this post this week because I just got back from Houston a couple of hours ago. I was there for a couple of days to do a photo shoot - a maternity/family combo that was so much fun! The momma is pregnant with twin girls! I am very excited because she has also hired me to do a newborn session for her when the twins arrive. yeeeee!!!

So in the past week I have had a family session, a wedding and the maternity shoot. Next week is a newborn and hopefully my senior rep session. I am waiting for the word to come and possibly shoot a birth session as well. I LOVE being this busy with my photography biz. Lord knows we need it!

I swear the drive to Houston the other day was by far one of the most memorable. Of course, there was a full moon that day so I shouldn't be surprised, but man, people on the road were downright nutty! One woman in a Lexus SUV seemed to get irritated every time I passed her on the freeway. I was using my cruise control so I was maintaining a constant speed, but she kept speeding up and slowing down. When she'd slow, I would pass. She would then stomp on the gas and aggressively pass me and get in front of me. Then she would slow and I would pass her again. This went on for miles and when I passed her for the last time I finally got a good look at her - she was reading a magazine while she drove. It was spread out over the steering wheel and she was flipping the pages....while driving between 65 and 75 miles per hour!!

As soon as I got rid of her then I managed to get behind a guy driving about 60 in a 55 zone on a long, curvy two lane road. I watched as he drove completely off the road into the ditch 6 times and into the on coming traffic lane 4 times. He drove for about 2 miles with two wheels on the road and two in the ditch. He weaved from side to side the entire time, and at every red light he would stop in the middle of the intersection. Every time someone turned in front of him I thought for sure he would rear end them. He scared me to death. When the road finally opened up to 4 lanes I floored it to pass him. Looking in the car I see a little old man; the top of his head barely level with the top of the steering wheel. His mouth was wide open and his knuckles were white. I don't know how he managed to not kill somebody or himself, but strangely his car didn't have a scratch on it.

We managed to make it there safe and sound. On Thursday I was able to meet up with one of my best girl friends and share some time at Sonic. I never get to see her so it was a welcome treat. The photo session was at sunset that night (fabulous!! and so much fun!) and then this morning I met up with another friend and her daughter at a Chick-fil-a. After a wild goose chase trying to find the place (you would think I would know where I was going, considering I grew up in the area, but sadly, no) we were surprised to find out today was cow day. The restaurant was all decked out in cow balloons and fun stuff, and if you wore a cow costume you could get your meal for free (darn! I left my udders at home!). The kids had fun playing together. Even little Port enjoyed his chicken and biscuit breakfast (or should I say my chicken and biscuit breakfast) and play time in the kids play area.

After our breakfast playdate I delivered Kiddo back to Grammy and Happy for an official sleep over and Port and I headed back home. G&H will bring Kiddo back to us tomorrow - I am sure he will be terribly upset that he won't get to stay longer.

[this is the attitude I get when I ask him to model for me so I can test my equipment. *sigh*]

I did manage to get a good photo of G&H and the boys. Grammy wanted it for her Facebook page. lol!
Well, I should go enjoy the quiet evening and head to bed. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D :)

PS. For all of you new readers (HI!), I just wanted to let you know that I also co-host a podcast called Musing Mommies. We record a new show every week, talk about all things mom related and we have a ton of fun. Please stop over at our site and give us a listen. I would love to know what you think! Thanks!

Hello It's Me

Gosh, I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged! I am so sorry! I have been so busy with all my projects - there just hasn't been a moment for me to sit and reflect on the day. Of course, I should be doing about a million things right now too, but I just couldn't let another day go by without putting something out here.

Of course, our podcast, Musing Mommies is going so well!! We have so many listeners - it is fantastic! Thanks to all of you who listen and comment on our site; we really, really love our fans!

Then there is the way cool Company Girl project! We are getting tons of submissions for the images! I just love looking through them every day and posting them to the site. And this week, Rachel Anne is giving a fantastic prize to a random submitter - a $30.00 gift card to Sam Moon Trading Company!! She has extended this week's contest till Sunday, so get your submissions in! There is still one more week for submissions for the book, and I know we are going to get some great images!

As for the fam, we are doing just fine. The boys are growing so fast - I just can't keep up. Port has been on a 2 day nap strike and I am praying that today we will be back to our old routine. I can't handle no nap days, it is just too much.

Kiddo has been with me this week in allergy hell. We have both been sneezing and itching - poor Kiddo may eventually rub the nose off his face. Two nights this week he has been plagued with terrible nose bleeds - gushers. Hubby is now an expert at getting blood out of the carpet. ick! We have installed a humidifier in his room and each night now I have to swab his nose with a saline gel. Kiddo has been pretty good about the whole thing, though he does get a tad freaked out when it happens in the middle of the night and he isn't quite awake. I had to spend some time with him late Tuesday night talking about things that make us happy, just to get him to calm down and go back to sleep. He doesn't remember the conversation at all. He also got a nose bleed the other day while swinging on the swing set. That one concerned me because he hadn't been rubbing his nose at all; he was just having fun and his heart rate was really up. I wonder if he has a blood vessel pretty close to the surface in his nose. Most of the bleeds are only on one side. I read online that sometimes Dr.s will go in and cauterize the blood vessel to stop the frequent bleeds. That may be something we have to look in to.

Wednesday I took the kids with our mom's group on a tour of our local HEB (grocery store). The kids had an absolute blast, and for a free event it was a cool thing to do. Kim and I wrote more about it over at the Musing Mommies blog if you want to check out the details.

Yesterday I was supposed to take the kids to tour a dairy farm (shhh, don't tell Kiddo), but it didn't happen due to another late night nose bleed. Instead, I took the kids to Garden Ridge. I know, how does that make up for a missed farm trip?? lol! It probably doesn't, but we hadn't been for a while so I really wanted to go check things out.

That store changes every time I go. From the outside it looks like it could go out of business any minute, but on the inside, they recently put in a whole new check out area with new registers and almost all of the merchandise is price marked with new fancy stickers with bar codes (before it was just the old fashioned stamp and slap price stickers and the amounts had to manually keyed into the register). They had tons of patio furniture this time - chair after chair after set after table after rocker, chaise, etc. It went on for ever. Their kitchen/dining department has dwindled to make way for the patio furniture and the millions of pots and outdoor decor.

What really struck me though was this time they had an absolute ton of weird, irregular merchandise - things like suitcases and purses to totes and even socks and underwear. They even had a couple of tables of medical scrubs. But what caught my attention was an entire section of BOOKS!

Table after table after table - classics to modern, fiction to non fiction, children's to tweens to self help to cooking and gardening; there was so much to look at! They even had coloring books and children's workbooks, audio books and some dvds as well. The dvds included a bunch of lesser known movies, but also children's titles including The Wiggles, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends, Big Comfy Couch, Rollie Pollie Ollie and the like. And the dvd's were $5.99 and LESS. I could have spent hours just looking through all the books. I picked up a couple of organic gardening books for less than $4 each.

Speaking of the garden, it is doing well. We are still getting a couple of zucchini and a hand full of green beans a day. The cucumbers are starting to appear and we have a couple ear of corn growing as well. The tomatoes are blooming like crazy, but I haven't seen any fruit yet. The transplant tomatoes are perking back up finally and should be ok. I can't say the same for the sprouts I planted in the new garden - most everything appears to have died, except for 2 jalapeno pepper plants and maybe one lima bean. I think I will stick to "from seed" growing, since I seem to have better luck with that. So, I poked a few more lima beans in the ground and sowed some black beans as well. Hopefully I'll see some sprouts in a couple of weeks.

I was cleaning off the little snap shot camera the other day and came across a bunch of pictures from Kiddo. I also found a bunch of pictures of drawings he's done recently. I thought I would share. Kiddo came to me with this one and said, "Mommy, I drew a car with a spoiler and a super charger." I had no idea he even knew what those things were, but here is the proof!

And of course, more of the Wall-E cast of characters. I spy Wall-E, Eve, M-O and PR-T!I have more drawings to show, but I haven't had a chance to edit them yet. Meanwhile, here are some of the pics Kiddo took. Of course there are a ton of self portraits; up the nose mostly, but I thought this one was interesting. He appears to be standing belly to the wall shooting down into his mouth?!?I thought this was a cool shot of the fan.And of course there are a lot of images of the cutie patootie!Here he figured out how to take 16 images in a matter of a second and this was the result.I thought this was a way cool self portrait with sun flare!So there are tons more, but that is all I have for now. It's time for me to go to bed.

Until,
D :)

Superman

my poor dog! she puts up with so much!

Happy Friday Company Girls!! (and other beloved regulars)

Wow, what a week it has been! Have you all seen the entries for the Company Girl Photo Contest?!? Amazing! It is going to be soooo tough to narrow it down. There are so many great moments captured. If you haven't checked it out, stop on by and scroll through. And please submit something if you have a great image to share as well. We are loving seeing all of your memories!

Miss Rachel Anne blessed me this week with not only allowing me to help her in the Book Project and Photo Contest, but she also granted myself and my podcast co-host Kim an interview for our Musing Mommies Podcast!! It was so fun talking to her via Skype, seeing her face and expressions - it felt like she was right there with us! Her interview will be featured in next week's show, which will air sometime mid week.

Things have been pretty hectic here this week. I managed to take the boys to 2 play dates (a record for Miss Homebody me! Lol!) Wednesday we went to a really nice park to play with some friends. Kiddo had a rough go of it. One of his little buddies was not in the mood to play with him and the rejection was a bit too much for Kiddo to take. It broke my heart to see him crying on the playground. For the past couple of weeks, I have really been questioning our decision to not send him to Kindergarten this year, but after seeing him unable to emotionally handle the social aspect of a play date, I now think we have made the right decision. While he is academically more than ready to go, and while he has a very very strong desire to start school, I just don't feel that he is ready emotionally . He just couldn't grasp why anyone wouldn't want to play with him. To him, everyone is still a friend. He doesn't really understand when someone is being unfriendly to him. Just today we were at the sprinkler park and another boy his age was chasing him around and beating him upside the head with a bucket. He just kept running and running away and telling the kid to stop and even though I could tell it wasn't pleasant, he still wanted to play with the kid (even after a big fall, sliding on the concrete, serious road rash on his chest and his own bucket getting broken because of it). When I asked him why he didn't tell the kid to stop or why he didn't come get me he said "Mommy I was handling it all by myself." Such a big kid.

And speaking of big - he is right in the midst of another huge growth spurt. I had to pull out half of his pants and put them away because they were all suddenly too small. He put on his Mr. Incredible costume today, and even though just a few weeks ago it fit him perfectly, it now looks like I shrank it in the wash! (I didn't) I don't know what we are going to do about clothes for him. I guess I need to start hitting garage sales or something. Shoes are a whole other issue. *sigh*

{random photo: jammies, superhero mask, one black glove. the dinosaur was attacking me.}rawr!

Little Port is getting to be such a big boy too. He is growing like a weed. When it is time for naps or bed time, he practically dives into the crib. The boy likes his bed and he likes to sleep. Though, he's been waking me up around 6 AM pretty much every day for the past 2 weeks now. I am not too happy about that. I have about determined that the 8-10 hours of broken sleep I was getting when he was waking me up 20 times a night was way more manageable than the 6 hours of solid sleep I am now getting. I think I probably need to start going to bed earlier. Hubby and I are really enjoying our time alone in the evenings though. We've never had that before (well I guess we had it before kids, but not since).

But back to Port, he finally has learned how to clap (he's 13 months old). Sort of. hee hee! I never really tried to teach him before because, well, I just kinda forgot. I am not a "clapper" so it never really occurred to me. But about a month ago I was watching a little boy in church that was probably about 6-8 months old and he was clapping away! So I tried to see if Port could do it - nope! For about a week after I started trying to teach him, he would slap my hand or pat his legs, but he just couldn't figure out how to put his hands together. Then a few days ago, he got up off the floor, walked over to me and looked right at me and clapped! It was so funny, like it had just clicked in his head! Now he will only do it once or twice, but at least I know he can.

This week he also started climbing up on the couch all by himself. Thankfully he could already get down unassisted, but the climbing up is totally new. Now he tries to climb everything. And counter tops are also no longer out of reach. Back we go to putting everything on the back of the counter top. ugh.

So last night at about 9:30 Hubby and I were sitting in the office working when we heard 3 gunshots very close to our house. Apparently some individuals in a pick up truck fired out the window as they were driving past our street! I was seriously freaked out. Thankfully no one was hurt. Our neighborhood has been very quiet the past few years so I was kinda shocked. The theory is that some kids were goofing off, but I'm not sure. It sure did wake up our street though - everyone was outside for a long time talking to the cops. I think every house on the street called them!

In more gardening news, we are harvesting 2-3 zucchini a day now. It seems the more we pick, the faster the others grow! I did discover another plant that had been bored by that beastly squash bug. UGH! I am so tired of those things! I can't find the larva on that plant either, but I cut into it pretty good so hopefully I skewered it in the process. Hopefully the plant survives too because it has several large zucchs on it already. A few days ago we transplanted the tomatoes to the new bed and today I planted the jalapeno peppers, the lima beans, the peas, carrots and transplanted the bell peppers as well. Everything in the original garden is blooming and exploding - the corn looks so cool and the cucumbers are about to produce too. Even the poor little onions that have been smothered by the zucchini plants are doing ok. Tomorrow I will plant the black beans, more onions, the broccoli (though I don't think they will make it) and some parsley.

I am excited about the garden and look forward to tending it every evening. After Port goes down for the night Kiddo and I go out and "work" in the garden (well, I work and he smells flowers! Lol!). It is really relaxing and I find I want to keep working it long after the light is gone. I wish I had more time to tend it during the day, but I have to pretty much stick to nap times for that.

Anyway, this weekend we will no doubt be finding new ways to cook zucchini - I am thinking about maybe grilling some on Monday! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

First Fruits

Happy Friday Company Girls (and Beloved Regulars)!

Come on in, I have coffee ready for you. Personally my coffee is coming to me via IV, because my darling baby decided to rise before the chickens this morning. As I cradled him the best I could (he has gotten so BIG) in the darkness, I breathed in the scent of his hair and enjoyed the warmth of his squishy baby-ness...and in the dark with only the sound of the fan and our synchronized, rhythmic breathing, I thought to myself how even though it was so early and I was still so tired, the moment was just too good to miss.

And then, he tooted.
And he giggled in the way only a boy who just tooted would. And thus began our day.

*sigh*

I have to keep him in either a cloth diaper or a sposie with shorts these days or this is what I find when I turn back around. (Pardon our kitchen floor. It was partially ripped up when we started our new floor project, and after finding out how hard it was going to be to get the linoleum up off the concrete, the project got put on hold for a bit.)

Port's hair was a bit long, so just before our trip to Houston last week I (with the help of my good friend Kim) gave him his first official haircut. Here he is before...and after...
Port also experienced his first whole apple the other day. He very much enjoyed it.
Here he is after getting his first big taste.
I was able to harvest the "first fruits" from my garden this week. I have two little spinach plants struggling to stay alive out there, so I decided to go ahead and pick some spinach while I could, before the worms eat everything.I picked these beauties a few days ago, washed them and stored them in the fridge.Aren't they lovely? Even after a few days in the fridge they were still nice and healthy looking.
They were mighty tasty in my salad. But, what is that??!?
Ewwww!

Would you believe that even after several days in the fridge he was still alive??

Thankfully he didn't end up in my salad. ACK!

Well now that I've totally grossed you all out, I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D ;)

PS. If you are a fan of PODCASTS and you are a mom, you will love Musing Mommies! Episode 8 is ready for listening and this week we talk about all things *Beauty*. We would so love it if you would check us out!

On With The Show

So I hate to be one to hawk my wares all the time, but I just had to let you all know the next episode of Musing Mommies is available! This week we talk about going green - being more environmentally friendly, not only to Mother Earth, but to ourselves and in our households.

In case you missed it, we now have a website/blog at Musingmommies.com. Kim and I will try to post every day with something new, so check back often!

And this week - we are doing our first ever Giveaway!! I am so excited! All you have to do is leave us a comment in the giveaway post and you are automatically entered. A random number will be selected next Monday night just before we record, and we will announce the winner on our next show. The prize? Well, the prize is a box of little things we think any mom would love, and we will be shipping it out to the winner just in time for Mother's Day.

So hope over there and leave your comment! Everyone loves to win something, right?

Until,
D :)

Good Clean Fun

Happy Friday Company Girls (and other Beloved Readers)!

It is a dreary day here in Casa Fry, with lots of rain and dark skies, but we are trying to make the most of it by watching lots of tv, lounging in our jammies and driving each other crazy. Good times! Come on in and cozy up with a hot cuppa joe.

Little Port has been teething big time this week (it seems like I say that a lot, no?) and has been waking up several times a night screaming. I can usually get him back down pretty easy, but it is really taking a toll on me having to get up several times a night. I am just not used to it anymore!

So last week I mentioned that I was taking on something new in my photography business... I have recently connected with a local wedding photographer and am now working with him as a second shooter in some weddings. I have been wanting to get into weddings for some time now, but I didn't want to take on the full responsibility of documenting someone's special day without first getting some serious experience under my belt. Anyway, my first shoot was a total blast and I am working with him again tomorrow at another fabulous wedding. I am so excited!!

So I know our challenge today is to share a tip on Shoestring Living. Well let me tell you, when you are like me and a shoestring is about all you've got - you learn to do a lot of things frugally. lol!

So let's see... well, I do most of my cleaning with a water and vinegar solution. I keep a squirt bottle of it in the kitchen and use it for most everything. It works really well, and for pennies a bottle it is quite the bargain. Plus we don't have to deal with chemicals, fumes and worrying about rinsing off the highchair tray after I wipe it down.

I could give lots more examples, but it is now very late and I am soooo very tired. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D :)

As usual, the next episode of Musing Mommies is ready for listening! I have to say, this one is pretty funny. We discuss finding a pediatrician and planning your summer - and if you listen to the end, you get to hear a funny clip of our "pre-recording prep". My co-host, Kim, slipped that in there just to surprise me! :P OH! And, we now have a blog on our site, musingmommies.com. We would love for you to check it out!

What Is This Feeling?

Today we have sniffles galore, snot a flowing and sneezing punctuating the air as we three fight something wicked. I still think for Kiddo and I it is allergy related. The entire inside of my head itches. I wish I could unhinge my jaw and get in there good with my nails and scratch it all. The roof of my mouth, the back of my throat and all inside my ears need a good clawing.

Port has had a runny nose and I am pretty sure he has been running a fever on and off today as well. I'm going to attribute all of that to teething.

Because it makes me feel better. ;)

My brain is pretty fried tonight. I have been trying to plan menus for the weekend and figure out how everything is going to go - and sadly I still haven't really figured anything out. lol!

Easy, fabulous looking cake decoration ideas?? Anyone? Anyone?

I may get brave and try my hand at fondant. Am I being over ambitious?

*crickets*

You're right, you're right. I know you're right.


In better news, the next episode of Musing Mommies is up and ready for a listen! This week's topics are photography and mom to mom relationships! I still sound like I am in a can, but my new headset should be here some time this week. So next week should be even better!

Please let me know what you think! This episode is a bit longer - but I think it is worth it. :) And if you have any cake ideas, seriously, I need them.

Until,
D :)