Backroads | NaBloPoMo day 11

I love driving. I have always enjoyed getting in the car, cranking up the radio and driving the back roads to my destination. The freeway holds it's own appeal - fast and no fuss, but the back roads, the back roads offer so much more when you have the time to spare.

Back roads provide a glimpse into the lives of the people who love nearby. I love seeing the old houses, cars and interesting things that people collect. I love going through the old towns that have been long forgotten; I love seeing the picture-book perfect barns and dilapidated old houses. I love the rows and rows and rows of trees and every twist, turn, rise and fall of the pavement.

Tonight I had the pleasure of travelling back roads with my friend, Kim.  I so enjoy traveling with good friends, and the always incredible conversations that come from being trapped in a small space. We are spending the weekend hiding out in a hotel in San Antonio so I can do some work on my business. I needed the time away from all the distractions of home so I could concentrate and focus on the lofty goals I have set for myself. I am hoping that in the short time that we have here we can be productive.

Thankfully, the hotel does not seem to have Food Network on the cable provider. ;-) Shew!

Until,
D :)

Under the Sea

I drove into Houston last night for some biz-nuss today and so I am writing this from my inlaw's kitchen. The week has been pretty busy. Hubby stayed home on Monday because he still felt bad, and he went back to work on Tuesday still feeling bad. The kids seem to be ok (finally) though both have felt warm at various times throughout the week. Port is dealing with some sort of wicked rash type thing - it's too complicated to explain.

I am so done. And I am still denying germs entry to my body. Nope. No way.

On Wednesday, Kiddo had his first baseball (t-ball) practice. Thanks to the generosity of G&H he will play baseball every week for the next couple of months. He is so ecstatic!  He did pretty well - he is one of the biggest players, and one of the oldest too, but definitely not one of the most skilled. Poor guy, he is just not a runner. But he tries and he has fun so I am happy with that.

Hubby is supposed to take Kiddo to practices but he had a photo session this week so Port and I took Kiddo instead. It was quite the chore trying to keep Port out of the way and off the field. He wanted to play too! And it's not set up like I had hoped with the kids on a field and the parents sitting on bleachers behind a fence. It is all open and there is no where to sit but on the ground.  The parents that had obviously been there before showed up with camp chairs - smart thinking.

Port did get a big kick out of watching Kiddo do the drills. And he shouted and cheered him on from the sidelines. It was the cutest thing ever! The mom sitting next to me thought it was sweet too. When Kiddo was moved way down the field where we couldn't see him, Port took to cheering for the other kids too. "Good Job! Yay! Keep it up! Good job, Guys!"

Like I said...I want to keep him in my pocket. ;-)

So, I am in Houston today and after doing the thing I needed to do I stopped off at Old Navy to see if I could pick up an item of clothing I forgot to bring with me.  They didn't have what I needed so I was leaving the shopping center parking lot when out of nowhere this lady ran a stop sign and plowed into me. Joy.

Thankfully no visible damage was done to me or my car. It was actually a very strange accident. I was in the CRV and she was driving this big honkin GMC suburban type thing.  And when she hit me, 1) I barely felt it 2) it barely made a noise - no typical car to car SMACK that usually happens and 3) her car basically did little more than pick my car up and set it back down a foot to the left. On the other hand, her bumper was crushed on one end, dented in about 3 inches and smeared with grey plastic from my bumper. The most bizarre thing ever.

We exchanged information, but I don't think anything was done to my car so I guess there really is nothing for me to do.  She said she had a friend with a body shop so she was going to be fine. Well, good for her. I wanted to ask her if she planned on actually stopping at stop signs from now on, but I was nice. This is the second time I have been in an accident (where I was driving) since we moved back to TX, and both times the accident has happened in Houston.  And, both times it was when someone was approaching a place where they should be stopping and they were looking in the other direction instead.

So that was the excitement for the day. I am looking forward to getting home tomorrow and diving back into work. So much is going on right now that I don't like being away from my office for too long.

Tonight G&H are at a church function and Port and I are at their house. Port fell asleep on the way to church so I just brought him back to their place. I am bored and now torturing my friends on Facebook with obscure quotes from old movies.

It's a party up in here. ;-)

Until,
D :)

Sunrise Sunset

Today was an absolutely splendid, gorgeous day. It was the kind of weather that draws you to the windows when you are inside, and once outside you can't do anything but smile. It was the perfect temperature, had the perfect amount of sun and clouds, and a very gentle and unobtrusive breeze every now and then to move things around as gently as possible.

My back started bothering me off and on a couple of days ago, and by this morning I was pretty much immobile for the better part of the morning.  The more I sat, the stiffer and more painful it got, but if I tried to stand, I couldn't straighten out enough to walk properly. What little movement I could do resembled something a bit like Tim Conway when he played the old man character from the Carol Burnett show.  Yeah, it was fun.  And of course, it was one of those days when Port won't leave me alone and constantly wants to either sit on the couch or play on the floor. Both locations hurt me way worse than sitting in a chair. When Hubby got home I snuck out and tried to get some shopping done without the kids. I shuffled into the first store and for a good 30 minutes walked around in a hunched over, hand on the small of my back, old lady walk.  The longer I walked, the straighter my back became. After about an hour and a half I was finally walking straight and the pain had decreased to almost nothing. 3 hours and 2 more stores later I returned home with nothing more than some Christmas gifts and that pesky burning sensation I get on the left side of my lower back when it's bothering me. That, I can deal with.

But the day - wow it was so nice to be out in such a beautiful climate. I just wanted to document it before the cold front comes in a couple of days from now and I am once again layered in cloths and jackets and shivering next to my space heater.

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

Last Saturday I woke extremely early and drove to Dallas to do a newborn photo session.  It was hard getting up so early, but it was a fun drive there and back.  I left before sunrise.  Going through the Starbuck's drive-thru when it was dark was nothing new, but usually my purchases occur at night, not in the wee hours of the morning. By the time I reached the freeway the sky was beginning to lighten.

The birds were awake.

I watched the sunrise as I drove; it was a beautiful site I hadn't seen in a long time.  I enjoyed the solitude and time to think, but I knew soon enough the initial rush of getting on the road would fade and the oh-my-goodness-I-had-to-get-up-at-5AM was going to catch up with me.

Because I was so tired, I needed things to keep me awake, thinking and alert.  I thought about taking pics of course, but at some point it also occurred to me that I could record video and post it to Facebook from my phone.

Genius!

Don't get me wrong, I did not think anyone would be interested in 30-60 second videos of me driving from Austin to Dallas, but it was still a fun thing for me to do.

I ran into a lot of fog on the way.

And then was blessed with a beautiful reminder of who is really in charge. Too bad I didn't get the best picture of it.

And eventually I arrived in Dallas. The session - well, it was difficult. That sweet baby girl did not want to rest for me.  She was far too excited and wanted to stretch and look around and be held by mommy instead of laying like a little super model in my cozy blankets and pretty wraps.  So, we tried all the tricks and I did what I could for 3 hours and then packed it up to head home. On the way out I stopped at a McDonalds just outside of town. It was brand new and beyond cool. Well, as cool as a McDonalds can be I guess.  It had a play area for the kids inside that basically was just a few tables and 3 or 4 big screen game centers (I guess they just decided to toss the whole, "pretending to be somewhat healthy" thing right out the window with the actual playscape). The kids can sit in front of the screen and play different games. There were also tall tables in the dining area with the same big screens for the adults to play with.  But I think the best thing about the restaurant was the sign at the door.

We totally need those in so many places! lol!

After being on the road for a while, the day started to wear on me. I tried singing, recording myself singing, videoing myself singing, running through the radio stations, anything I could think of and still the road was lulling me to sleep. Thankfully I received a few well times voice mails and phone calls and thanks to my friends I made it to the next Sonic I could find for a much needed Coca Cola pick-me-up. I recorded this last video, and decided to turn the camera on myself. Why? I have no idea. I had been up since before 5AM and had spent, at that point, about 6 hours in the car.  Please excuse how tired and awful I look.

Yeah I don't drink Dr. Pepper anymore. That is a story for another time I suppose.

Stopping at Sonic was enough of a refresher that I made it home safely.  It was just in time for sunset.

Until,
D

Bring Me To Life

 {beautiful sky, shot with my iPhone, somewhere outside of Crowley, Louisiana}

I am sitting here tonight eating some banana pudding. This is a fantastic recipe! I usually just make banana pudding with nilla wafers, bananas and well, pudding. I never would have thought to add anything to that. But holy moly, adding cream cheese?!?! Genius!

Anyway, we came home today after a very long 4 day trip and I am just flat out exhausted.  I had to make banana pudding tonight because I accidentally left a huge bunch of bananas here instead of taking them on the trip like I had planned. Port eats bananas a lot - they are one of the few things he will eat on a regular basis so I try to keep some in the house at all times. I left the bananas and the other fruit I bought for him (grapes and apples) here and when we got back today the whole bunch was on the verge of being too ripe.  My freezer is already full of over ripe bananas that I will someday use for banana bread, but I didn't want to toss these in there too so I made the pudding. So yummy!

It was fun visiting with the family but I am so glad to be home.  I don't much care for living out of a suitcase (or in this case a duffel bag. I don't own a suitcase!).  Tomorrow I get to spend the better part of my morning with a beautiful newborn boy as I am doing a newborn session. I am so excited! I also have another newborn session in Dallas coming up sometime in the next week or so.

Some day I will have a chance to sit down and breathe. I am thinking it will be sometime around February.

Until,
D :)

Mental Jukebox Selection today: Evanescence, Bring Me To Life. I can't get this one out of my head today.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today we took a 4+ hour drive to visit family in southern Louisiana.  Hubby rode in a car with my inlaws and my brother in law, and my sister in law, my boys and the dog rode with me. The drive over was nice - I got to spend some good quality time talking with my sis-in-law, and it was a refreshing change from traveling with the Hubby. I am sure the other car with the inlaws was alive with conversation as well. We arrived at our destination, and after a quick check in with our hosts, we ventured down the road to visit for a bit with Hubby's grandmother. She was in pretty good humor, but didn't want to come have lunch with the family.


While most of the adults were visiting, Happy (the kids' grandfather) and I took the boys out front to the pond to feed the ducks, turtles and fish that reside there.

(yes, Port's pants are way too big)

They went through half that box of Goldfish, though I suspect Happy ate his fare share too! ;-)

We made it back to our cousin's house for lunch. Of course, the food was great. After a few hours visit we got back on the road to come home. Hubby rode with the boys and I on the way back.  We actually drove into a cold front and at one point and watched the temperature gage drop 9 degrees instantly. Over the next 30 minutes it dropped continuously for a total of 27 degrees. It was crazy how quickly it dropped.

Overall I missed my mom's cooking and seeing that side of the family, but it was still a great day.

I hope you all had a wonderful, food and family filled day as well.

Until,
D :)

Marry Me

I can blog from my phone!!!

We are on our way home from Dallas. It's going to be a pretty long drive back. The wedding was so much fun! I have a ton to talk about, but it is very difficult to do this on the road. Have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D

Let Beauty Awake

Port woke me up this morning with his diaper in his hand. 

The boys have been getting up earlier since the time change - it's not as bad as some of my poor friends, but I certainly don't like being woken up before my alarm goes off.  I suppose it is pretty nice when I am greeted with a sweet smiling by and a gentle "good mownin mumma". But when the wake up is an open wet diaper tangled in a pair of pajama bottoms sitting on my chest, it doesn't exactly start my day off right.

I don't care to get up before my alarm either, because it leaves us too much time to get ready in the morning. And if there is downtime I get sleepy. I like to get up and keep moving until we are out the door. But anyway, I suppose it could be worse.

The other night when I was out with my girlies, I recalled a story I never blogged that you might be interested in reading.  It was from our vacation to Arizona a couple of years ago.  If you are new around here or don't remember, Hubby and I took the boys on a 2 week long trip to Flagstaff for our annual family vacation with the inlaws.  Kiddo was almost 4 and Port was only 4 months old.  I blogged the first few days of the trip but I am pretty sure I never finished it out. {on a side note, I titled almost all of them with the songs from Ralph Vaughan Williams' Songs of Travel. I thought it was pretty brilliant... ;-) }

To refresh your memory (or get you up to speed), we drove to Arizona, stayed in Flagstaff for about a week and then drove back.  We were packed into our little CRV and towed a trailer with the stuff that didn't fit in the car.  Port was still very new, and thankfully sleepy, and I was pumping 8xs a day to feed him. On the drive there and back, we traveled pretty unplanned; that is, we didn't really reserve hotel rooms or anything along the way. We basically landed where we did, found a hotel and would stay the night. We stayed in a few dumps and a few pretty cool places along the way. 

On the way back home we were in New Mexico (I think) and had come to the point that we were ready to stop for the night. We started looking for a hotel and it just happened to be time for me to pump again. I had no problem pumping in the car, but since we were so close to stopping I decided to hold off until we found a place to stay.  We found a seemingly ok Motel 6 (they are always a crap shoot - sometimes decent, sometimes awful) and decided it had the best rate that we were going to find in that area. Being the end of the trip, we were a little tapped out financially and really wanted to save some money. So we stopped, paid for the room and then towed the kids up to our room. As we walked through the hotel grounds, I was disturbed by one, the sheer volume of people staying there, and two, the overwhelming smell of pot coming from several of the rooms.

uh huh

We went in our room and it became very clear that we would never be comfortable there; with all of the loud ruckus in the pool and the doorways of other rooms, there was no way we could rest. So, Hubby went back down to get us out of the room (and get our money back) and we decided to try the Motel 8 across the street. It looked pretty nice; it had much newer construction and a very tall fence around the perimeter of the property.  The lobby looked like something out of a 5 star luxury hotel and when we walked into the room - AMAZING! It was so beautiful! I was so relieved to be somewhere comfortable, quiet and nice!

The room itself was set up in a pretty unusual way. When you walked in the door, the bathroom with toilet and shower was to the right. Walking in lead you straight through the vanity area; when walking in and opening the door to the right, there was a huge 6+ foot wide mirror on the left.  Looking in the mirror from the door you could see the bed room portion of the room in the reflection.  So you walk in, are immediately in the vanity area and then walk through to the bedroom. The beds were on the right, tv on the left and sitting area at the far end of the room next to a big window.

So if you followed that - that was the general layout of the room. Basically one big rectangle with the bathroom tucked off behind the front door.

We got the boys settled inside watching cartoons and since I was about to explode, I set myself up to pump while Hubby went back out to the car to get the rest of our things. I set up on the bed and did my thing.  And being that it was just my family, I didn't really care and I was so tired, I didn't bother with covering anything up (you know modesty flies all out the window when you become a mom; especially the second time around).  So the boys were watching TV and I was pumping and all was right with the world. After a few minutes I hear a key card in the door and it begins to open. I say to Hubby (who is coming in the door), "so did you get everything ok?"

I looked into the vanity area to the mirror which showed me a view of the door.  It cracked open and a head popped in and a man with a big smile on his face saw me...

and his expression immediately changed to horror.

As did mine, because the man was not my husband.

As I scrambled for something to cover myself, he mumbled a hasty, "oh my God I am so sorry!" and scurried out the door. I can only imagine what he thought I was doing, hooked up to some sort of medieval torture device.

I was too tired to be terribly alarmed. I figured it was the cleaning crew or something with the wrong room, and I was pretty sure they'd walked in on much worse.  But then, the phone rang. I answered it and the  concierge was on the other end. 

"WHO ARE YOU and WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS ROOM!?!?" the voice yelled at me. I calmly gave her my name and told her we just checked in a minute ago. I asked her what the problem was. She replied that someone else was assigned to that room and she gave it to us by mistake and that her horrified guest had just walked in on me. She realized she had messed up and quickly got off the phone with me without so much as an apology.

I wonder how long that poor man had nightmares...

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... :)

Sea Legs

Yesterday Port had another melt down of epic proportions as we were leaving the grocery store. He wanted a bag of M&Ms and I wouldn't let him have them (the last time we were there he snagged a bag on the way out and I had to go back and pay for them). He screamed and kicked and fought me getting into the car seat and then screamed the whole way home. When we got home he cried some more and eventually calmed down enough to ask for something to eat. Before I gave him what he wanted, I got down on his level and calmly told him that all that screaming and crying and fit was wrong and that it was not nice. I told him he needed to apologize to me, and I said "say 'I'm sorry Mommy'". He looked up at me, opened his mouth, turned his head to Kiddo and said "I saw-wy {Kiddo}."

stinker

The past week or so has just been full of extreme ups and downs. Getting sick last week put my already behind self REALLY behind, and now I am struggling to even keep an organized thought in my head. Kim and I got away for a very short trip to the beach. We left Saturday morning and got back Sunday afternoon. It was so worth it, but way too short. I wasn't feeling 100% either, and so some of the time there was spent just sitting still and trying to settle my stomach. We stayed in a hotel in Rockport right on the bay, but Saturday afternoon we drove out to Port Aransas to check out the beach. Kim got to experience her first ferry ride. Thankfully for me and my unending queasiness, it was a short one. (photos courtesy of Kim, except the ones of Kim, those are courtesy of, well, me.)Walking on the beach was so nice! I just loved listening to the surf and feeling the sand on my feet. We had some silly fun too - this is in Port A near one of the many gift shops. I know, I look amazing. It's ok to say it. ;-)

We had dinner that night at the Paradise Key Island Grill. I was a little queasy. It may have had something to do with the "pink lemonade" I drank on an empty stomach while we waited 45 minutes for a table. It was so good though! They had a whole selection of great sliders that is not on the website menu. Kim had the beef and I ordered the shrimp sliders. By the time the food came I was too queasy to eat, but they were excellent the next day! The shrimp sliders were served with a very yummy remoulade/aioli that was also great on the fries.We were seated at probably the worst table available on the patio, but it was still fun. They had live music and lots of excitement with the bar patrons. Two older ladies jumped up from their seats at the their table and busted out dancing during one of the songs. Fishermen who still had sea legs tripped over themselves and almost crashed into me. A youngish guy with too many beers in his belly sang obnoxiously loud to a couple of songs and made Kim and I thankful we were no longer that age.

BUT - being out, enjoying dinner, and not having to deal with high chairs or wipies or sippies or snack cups or mac-n-cheese or screaming kids made it soooooo worth it!

That night I slept very little. I had a hard time actually getting to sleep - between the group of people down at the pool laughing loudly until almost 1AM and my sad, pitiful brain thinking terribly irrational and scary thoughts, I didn't drift off to sleep until sometime after 2. Then I slept lightly; being woken every few minutes or so by the air conditioner coming on or cutting off. I am used to sleeping in a wind tunnel with constant noise all night long, so the loud to dead-silent fluctuations kept me in a very light, troubled sleep most of the night.

It was still nice not having to share blankets or space. ahhhh!

The next morning on the way out we stopped at a little bay side business and looked for a few more shells for the kids. We found much bigger ones here than the ones we found in Port A.

I wish I had just half of her hair - it is so crazy beautiful!

It was a great trip, but way too short. When we got back I was a bit disappointed that the house was trashed and I had to jump right back into cleaning and dinner duty before I had even had a chance to sit down. But, that's being a mom I guess; as soon as you are within 50 feet of the short people you have to get right back to work. ;)

At least I got about 30 hours of only having to take care of myself. It was a nice break.

The boys were pretty happy to see me when I got back, and Kiddo cried for a good 30 minutes at bed time because for some reason he wanted me to stay in the room when I put him to bed. I haven't done that in a couple of years now, so his crying was both bittersweet and slightly annoying. Port went to bed quite easily that night.

So since then I have been playing catch up and riding this bizarre roller coaster. I am tolerating the boys' antics better, but they are still pushing all my buttons. Yesterday was filled with such highs and lows. I am sort of coordinating a project with the local children's hospital here that provides photographic services to needy families with children in the ICU, critical care or hospice situations. We received our first call for a session yesterday, so I had to find a volunteer available to do the session. Just the thought of the service being needed put me in a funk. But then the boys would do something cute (like working out to Yoga Booty Ballet - oh yeah!) and my spirits would be lifted. Then my website went down (the host server crashed) and I was panicked. Then I got an awesome compliment on my work and I was giddy again. The boys would do something horrible, down I go. Another compliment on my work, right back up!

By bed time I was exhausted.

And since this is getting way long, I bet you are too. I will stop now.

Until,
D :)

Rest

After the most awesome night's sleep all week, Port woke me up at his "normal" 7AM this morning. I'm not sure if he was up in the night or not; I was so exhausted from the week that a freight train could have come through the room and I probably wouldn't have heard it. Kiddo did wake up coughing around 6AM, but a dose of benadryl put an end to that rather quickly.

I know it sounds like I give him benadryl a lot, but honestly, this week is the first time he's had any in months. Whatever is bothering his allergies is really doing a number on him this week.

Of course, it probably doesn't help that he has been sleeping on the floor everywhere we go. That can't be good for anybody for more than a day or two.

So today was just a lazy day. The bigger boys went to the autorama (car show) downtown and Grammy, Port and I just hung out most of the day. It was very nice not having an agenda, and it was even better knowing that I wouldn't have to pack everything up and drive for several hours.

Tonight my inlaws gave Hubby and I a chance at a date night. It was so great being able to get out and have dinner kidless, but it was by far one of the most bizarre night's I have ever had.

More on that, tomorrow.

Until,
D :)

Thanks That Was Fun

Well not long after last night's post, we went to bed, only to be woken up by the baby screaming at 3AM. Kiddo was still breathing erratically, and so neither one of us was sleeping very soundly to begin with.

So when the baby cranked up, I tried to comfort him and put him back down. No dice.

He was up, up. He didn't want to snooze in a chair or on the couch, he wanted to play and explore. My parent's house is extremely quiet and extremely well lit at night - the total opposite of the white noise blaring, pitch black house Port is used to. And just as I had given up and was about to put him back to bed, he spotted my mom's cat that had been hiding all day and all he wanted in this great big world was to pet that kitty.

Of course, when she heard his squeal, she promptly went back to her hiding place. This action, of course, sent Port into a tailspin of epic proportions.

The screaming went on. all. night. long.

*yawn*

A little after 8 we hit the road to head down to southern Louisiana to have lunch with Hubby's family. We stopped to get gas on the way out, and after an altercation between a cranky store clerk and Hubby, we ended up only getting about half a tank of gas*. According to the clerk, they "do things differently here in Shreveport." Soooooo, one ticked off Hubby, $30 in gas and a giant coffee for me later we were on our way. We took an old highway for a while to avoid any traffic that might be headed the same direction, and enjoyed a nice, scenic drive.

About an hour into the trip Kiddo started complaining that his eyes were itching, then his nose, and then the coughing started. I didn't have my children's liquid benadryl handy, so we had him swallow one capsule. It was his first ever attempt at swallowing pills, and he did great. He passed out sound asleep about 15 minutes later! lol

It took that seriously huge coffee for me to stay awake.

We made it to the family lunch just as everyone was gathering around the table. The food was great, the conversation was lively, and it was all a blur to me. I was so sleepy, I'm not even sure I spoke to anyone. After lunch, we headed over to Hubby's grandma's house to spend some time with her. 5 minutes in one of her comfy chairs and I was out. I'm not sure how long my family let me sit there, eyes closed and drooling on myself, but when I woke I felt much better.

We hung out with her for a couple of hours and then had to get back on the road to go to Houston. Since we were once again out of gas, we stopped at the nearest station to fill our tank. 10 minutes later, only $8 of gas had pumped. We decided that since we actually wanted to get to Houston within the next 24 hours we should probably find a different station. We went to the big station near the freeway, and I left the boys to pump the gas while I went inside in search of coffee. (ok, so the little boys stayed in their seats and the big boy got out to pump gas. ;) ) Coffee fetched, I was surprised to find Hubby already back in the van.

The station didn't take the type of credit card we use for gas purchases. doh!

So, back on the road and up the block to the next station, and we finally are able to fill the tank. Mercy!

We finally hit the freeway and Port decides the ride to Houston is the perfect time to practice his spontaneous yelling skills. Other than that, the trip was pretty uneventful. We enjoyed a late dinner, more cheesecake from lunch and are about to crash for the night.

It was a great but tiring Thanksgiving. I look forward to a lazy couple of days here.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!

Until,
D :)

*So the whole story with the gas station clerk... My parents gave us a gift card for gas, but I forgot to ask how much it was for. The card is only good in Louisiana and eastern states (not Texas) so we needed to use it while we were there. We went to the gas station and Hubby tried to use it at the pump but it didn't work so he went inside. I guess the clerk was cranky (I would be too if I had to work on Thanksgiving, but there was still no reason for him to act like this toward my husband); he asked Hubby how much was on the card and when Hubby said he didn't know, the guy gave him attitude about having to look it up. So then, he asked Hubby how much we wanted to use. Hubby again didn't have an answer because we needed to fill up and he didn't know exactly what total $ amount that would be. There was some tension in the exchange and when Hubby asked the guy if he could just pump till the tank was full and take that amount out of the total, the clerk told him that "no, we do things differently here in Shreveport." {and my question in response to that snide remark would have been "as opposed to where??" but alas, I wasn't in the store.) If Hubby told him we were using the full amount, and then pumped less in gas, the balance would be lost. So Hubby needed to tell him exactly how much he was going to spend. Not knowing how much we needed, and getting quite frustrated with the situation, Hubby told him $30 and so that is all we were able to use. It takes a lot to get Hubby riled up, and when I saw the look on his face (and the words he mumbled - eek!) as he came out of the store, I knew things were bad.

That's the long of it; just in case you wanted to know. ;)

Rollin'

Morning came early today. Port woke me up just after 6. I should have let him fuss for a minute, but being in a foreign place (my SIL's house) I didn't want him to get freaked out when he woke up and didn't recognize his surroundings. I mindlessly went in the room he was staying in without listening first, and found him laying down to go back to sleep. Of course, that was the precise moment my ankle decided to pop, and the loud noise was enough to startle my baby back awake. Once he saw me, he was up for the day.

Aunt A took us all to breakfast this morning at this darling little hole-in-the-wall bagel & coffee shop near her house. If you are ever in that area, Iris Bagel and Coffee House is a must stop. The owners are so friendly, the service is great and the food is amazing.

We hit the road and headed for my parent's house. The kids did really well. Port slept most of the way and woke up cheerful. We made good time, hit no traffic and had no issues, except I kept trying to fall asleep (and I was driving). After a week+ of 6 hours or less of sleep a night, it was all finally catching up to me. We stopped at McDonald's so I could get something to drink and decided to get lunch while we were there. We ate in the car and not long after Kiddo alerted us that he needed to go to the bathroom.

Of course, we were in the middle of nowhere. And of course, he needed to go where he could sit down.

ugh

Thankfully, not long after we came upon a brand new road side rest stop. It was very nice, had lots of amenities and was very well kept.

Little did I know it was right outside of the town we were going to. lol! I didn't realize we were so close.

We made it to my parent's house, acquainted our dog with theirs and hung out in the back yard for a while so the boys and the dogs could play. We ate pecans right out of the yard and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Tonight we had our "Thanksgiving Dinner" at a semi-local Mexican food restaurant, Pasados. It was soooo good! That particular location has never been known for it's service, but we must have lucked out because we had a great time and the service was good. The boys enjoyed their dinner, and especially the complimentary ice cream afterward.

We got back and put the kids to bed. Kiddo woke up a little while ago coughing a lot. He was having a full on asthma attack. When he breathed, it sounded like someone was crumpling up tissue paper in his throat. After he's exhaled, this long wheeze comes out. It is slightly disturbing, especially since I have never heard something so bad, and both my husband and my best friend have asthma. It really scared me. I gave him a big dose of benadryl, and the coughing has stopped enough for him to sleep. We have decided to put him in bed with us so we can monitor him tonight.

Tomorrow, we shall hop in the car once again and head down state to southern Louisiana.

Until,
D :)

Gotta Travel On

Last night Hubby and I were up until the wee hours, trying to do productive things for our trip this week, but sadly only made it through folding several thousand loads of laundry. The morning came early and we were dragging, trying to get out the door at a decent hour for the drive to my sister-in-law's house up near Dallas. We ended up leaving about 3 hours later than planned, but managed to hit very little traffic on the way. There was one place that had the freeway narrowed down to 1 lane, and that had traffic backed up for about a mile.

And seriously, why on earth would the highway department choose Thanksgiving week to patch a small section of the freeway?? Surely it could wait until after the busiest travel days of the year??

Anyway, the boys traveled well for the first half of the trip (re: the baby was sleeping) but then the ride got ugly as my 1 yr old launched into his favorite rendition of his very own original one man show, Scream (no, not the movie).

But, despite the screaming, we made it there safely and were greeted by my cute, bubbly sister in law. We spent some time at a local park so the boys could play. They climbed, slid and played on the swings while Hubby, Sister In Law (SIL) and I tried not to freeze to death. The wind was icy cold coming off the lake - it was chilling us to the bone.

At one point, Kiddo was talking to a little girl there that was probably a somewhere between 2 and 3, and I overheard him say to her, "don't worry, Jesus is with you always."

Oh mercy!

Back at the SIL's house, Kiddo played video games and we hung out. Then SIL made some yummy homemade pizza for dinner. Tonight we are going to hang out next to the fire pit out side for a bit and visit with them while we can. In the morning, we are off to my parent's house in Louisiana.

Until,
D :)

Accident Prone

We made it back home safe and sound. It was a wonderful weekend! I shot a couple of sessions and Hubby did as well.

Of course, it wouldn't be a road trip with the Fry's if everything had gone smoothly. During Hubby's photo shoot on Friday, he backed my van into a pole. We now have to replace the tail light. The bumper has some dents and a lovely smear of blue paint, and the fender is messed up a bit as well. Hubby seems to think he can buff out the majority of the scratches and straighten out the dent, but we shall see.

Port broke his car seat while we were there too. I had taken off the cover to wash it because he flooded it on the way to Houston. The bare seat was sitting on the floor in my inlaw's kitchen, and Port walked up to it and ripped a big section of the styrofoam right off the frame. *sigh*

The whole weekend was full of ups and downs, and I am now so exhausted that I can't even think straight. I will blog about it when I have had a good night's sleep and a couple cups of coffee.

Until,
D :)

3 AM

Oh good grief I haven't blogged all week!!! Mercy! Well, actually, I started a couple of posts, but never finished them. Perhaps I shall get to that today.

Welcome Company Girls and Beloved Regulars! Today I will be serving hot coffee all day long - if you happened to check out the post at Musing Mommies, you'll know that I have been up since 3:53am, thanks to a cranky baby who decided that was the perfect time to get up. ugh. It is only 1:30 now and I am ready for bed. The baby is napping - I know, I should be too, but I drank too much caffeine to sleep now - though I am in kind of a frantic haze (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

Anywho - things around here, despite the early rising (2 Fridays in a ROW!!!), are actually going great! I am almost completely booked for the holiday season, and this week, a fabulous opportunity to possibly assist in shooting 2 destination weddings dropped in my lap. Can I get a woo-hoo?!? It is not definite yet, but I could possibly be shooting in Fredricksburg and Marathon this month with my fabulous wedding photographer friend Allen. I am stoked! It is such a great opportunity - lots of time in the car to pick his brain -haha! And, I am shooting another wedding with him in a couple of weeks. I am so excited about that too!

I even have a Houston weekend of sessions booked this season as well. Business is AWESOME.

So, I am still working on those adorable twin newborn images and planting my fall garden and chasing after the boys...the house may never look decent again (sorry Hubby). But it is all good, right?

In some sad news, I found out this week that one of my past clients had a tragedy in her family. Her 21 year old son was in a terrible car accident. Even though the doctors said he most likely wouldn't survive, he managed to make it despite a multitude of complications from his injuries for over a month. However, last week he succumbed to a blood clot in his brain. It is such a sad, terrible thing and my heart is just breaking for this family. A friend of the family (and a mutual friend of ours) contacted me regarding the portraits I took of them 3 years ago. I was thankfully able to find their images (thank goodness I saved them!) and make some prints for her to give to the family. Please keep them in your prayers during this trying time.

I hope you all are having a great Fall so far - he holidays are right around the corner! Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Too Much Food

Happy Friday!
Come in, poor yourself a cup and have a seat (if you can find one - just shove those blocks out of the way). Ahhhh!

How was your week? The usual stuff over here; still super busy, still got lots on the "to do" list and still have a trashed house. Oh well. I did take the time on Monday (or was it Tuesday) to just get the kitchen clean. My goal was to do a room a day, but the rest of the week has gotten away from me and well.... at least I had a clean kitchen for a couple of days.

So this weekend should be busy, and sometime between Sunday and Wednesday I hope to travel to Houston to do a newborn session for my friend's twin baby girls! I am so very excited!

If you visited the Musing Mommies, you read that I suddenly have little veggies in my fall garden! I can't wait to start harvesting! I planted a lot of beans this time in the hopes of growing something that my little Port will eat. He is 17 months old now, and by far the pickiest eater I've seen. We got so lucky with Kiddo (5yrs). He would try anything and he still, to this day, eats just about anything I serve him (except tomatoes, onion and rice). Kiddo loves green veggies and will usually choose them over french fries at a restaurant. He loves all kinds of fruit too - that kid is awesome when it comes to eating.

Port on the other hand, well dang. I am having the hardest time with him! He will eat chicken nuggets (I know, bad Mommy), mac-n-cheese (sometimes), string cheese, hot dogs, corn, beans (red only), bread, apples, pears, blueberries (sometimes) and almost any kind of muffin you feed him. NOTHING else! He used to eat pasta with both cream sauces or tomato sauces, and now it's hit and miss. Don't even THINK about putting something green in front of him. This week I made spaghetti with some tri colored pasta and he ate it all except for the green pasta. Stinker!

So I guess I am going to be baking a lot of muffins for him. I made some banana pumpkin muffins a couple of weeks ago that he loves. I keep them in the freezer and just pull one out for him when he won't eat the dinner I make. I am thinking zucchini, blueberry, apple, maybe sweet potato or carrot - I need to start searching for recipes. Oh and he will eat some crackers and the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms cereal, but I don't really count that as proper nutrition. ;)

And before you even suggest it - I refuse to mess up the holy brownie by putting beans or spinach in them. I will not do that to a brownie! lol!

So, as the experts advise, I continue to offer and offer and offer and hope that one day he will eat a piece of broccoli... any other ideas as to what might work?

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. :)

Until,
D :)

Saint Of Circumstance

Happy Friday Company Girls and Beloved Readers!!

So come on in, grab yourself a cup. How are you? I have missed you all so much! I am looking forward to having coffee with you all this weekend as I peruse your blogs. It has been so long since I have had time to comment - I am making it a point this week to comment on as many as I can.

I have been very busy lately - I know I have said it before but it's true! After months of absolute nothing aside from the regular day to day, my photography business suddenly took off! I hope the momentum carries on through the holidays! God has blessed me so much lately - I just have to tell you all how faithful He has been.

So yesterday I drove to Houston so that I could do a photo shoot this morning. One of my sweet friends had a baby girl a few weeks ago, and she asked me to come out to do some newborn photos for her.

The baby is absolutely precious! She is such a beauty and I enjoyed hanging out with her and her momma (and one of her brothers) this morning. She totally made me work for the photos though - she would not sleep! lol! It was so cute - Momma would get her nice and asleep and then set her down and I could get maybe 2 or 3 shots before she woke up. She made us WORK for sure. That's ok though, because I know I still got some great shots of her.

So after the shoot I loaded up the boys (my inlaws were watching them for me while I had the session) and we headed back to Austin. I just couldn't afford to stay for very long because I am so behind on my work. We got about 45 minutes from home (and we were out in the middle of NOWHERE) when one of my tires blew. I managed to get the car off the road at the next opportunity (there weren't any immediate roads to choose from nor was there a shoulder so I had to drive for about a mile) and had to unload everything, all of our luggage and all of my photo session gear, onto the dirt road to get to the jack and wrench.

The boys were sweltering in the car even with all the windows rolled down, but they did really well. Port only screamed a few times, but I was able to sooth him with a container of Goldfish crackers and turning the DVD player back on.

And I am proud to say I changed the tire on that dusty road all by myself!
.
.
.
except I didn't. ;-)

Thankfully, after yanking and tugging on the lug nuts for a few minutes, a very nice gentleman in a very large pickup truck pulled over to help me.

And then I stood there completely useless on the side of the road while he changed my tire in 100 degree heat.

Did you know there are still saints roaming the earth? Oh yes!

He was so nice - he didn't really say much, but he struggled with those dang lug nuts too so I felt better about being such a wimpy girl! lol!

So if you've read my blog for a while you might know that I am a socially awkward person. Completely. And in situations like this I never really know what to do. Do I try to pay him? I didn't have any cash on me. Would that be insulting to a good Samaritan anyway? Do I offer him water - oops I didn't have any with me. I had no idea what to do so I just thanked him profusely. I didn't even offer him a wipey for his hands - gracious knows I had plenty of those! Ugh. And of course I thought of the perfect thing after we were already back on the road and he was long gone.

Mr. Good Samaritan Dwight or Dwayne (I am so sorry I am terrible with names, but I remember it started with a D) - thank you so much for stopping on a very lonely stretch of FM 112 to help a crazy woman and 2 cranky kids with a completely blown tire. People like you are so rare and wonderful and I am so thankful that you stopped to help. You mentioned you have kids so if by some strange chance you or someone you know comes across my blog and identifies you as my guardian angel today, please know that if you ever want it, I would love to offer you a free photo session for your family and a credit for prints. Please contact me through my site and we will set something up.

I should have offered him my business card. I could have thanked him with a session and prints. It's really all I can afford - at least it would be something. People like him don't come along every day and I am just so thankful he stopped.

If any of you reading have ever stopped to help someone change a tire - THANK YOU!!! You have no idea how nice and wonderful a gift that really is. Hubby and I have had our fair share of flats in odd/difficult situations and each and every time someone has stopped to lend aid. It is such a blessing!

I hope that you have the opportunity to bless someone this week. I certainly intend to pay this blessing forward.

Thanks for stopping by!
Until,
D :)

Going Home

Happy Friday Company Girls!! (and other Beloved Readers!) I tried to publish this post 3 times before Blogger quit eating it...

Well as many of you know, I had the most amazing weekend last weekend. After getting my hair colored and cut (always a treat - thanks Kim!!) I waited for the Hubby to get home from work. As soon as he was home, I kissed him and the kiddos goodbye and drove my little happy self up to Dallas to spend a couple of days with our very own Rachel Anne!
We met up to work on her very special book project, Company Girl. It was so fun sifting through all the amazing photo entries. We narrowed it down to a little over 100, and then took to task placing the perfect photo with each line of the text. Sometimes, it was so hard to choose!
Rachel is so fun to work with, and thankfully we agreed on most of the selections. We were very fortunate to have her daughter there as well to help us choose. I just love her office - it is so open and inviting, with lots of room to spread out.
I know ya'll are dying to know, so I am going to spill. lol! Her home really is a Sanctuary!! Yes, really! (not that I ever doubted you Rachel, but you know some internet folk can be kinda dicey... hee hee!) Her home is so nice and comfortable! It's beautifully furnished and inviting. I felt completely comfortable in every room. She has little touches all around the house that make it special - well placed books or an antique lamp, beautiful lace on an end table or a cute little potted plant. And it's all placed so perfectly and makes each area look just right. I so wish I had that kind of eye for things.

Like I said before, we did lots of talking and visiting. This is Rachel talking to her daughter just after we ate breakfast.
We did lots of laughing too!
I just fell in love with this guy. He is soooo sweet! And when he wants to talk to you he moans. lol!
This is only part of the long, twisty dirt road drive to Rachel's house. It was a good thing she met me at the end of the driveway when I arrived on Friday night, or I never would have found the house.
I can totally see myself having coffee and spending some peaceful time here in the mornings.


This of course is the amazing Flash!!
He has the coolest black stripe running down the middle of his back and tracing around his shoulders.

Flash is so sweet, like a big ol dog. He would approach me, but then back away when my shutter clicked. I think the camera kinda freaked him out a little.
He loooooves Rachel - I think he would crawl into her lap if she let him!
I had so much fun on my trip! We made great progress on the book, and developed a wonderful friendship. It was a weekend I will never, ever forget!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D ;)

Hanging Around

Ah well it is Sunday morning now, just before nine, and I have to say I can't recall having a more pleasant weekend in recent months. I am still here in Dallas visiting with Rachel Anne, and am just overwhelmed at her sweetness and hospitality.

We got a lot of good work done yesterday; we started first thing in the morning and worked on the book pretty much solid right up until I had to get ready for my photo session. I think we accomplished more than expected, and while there is still some work to do I think our progress was great! It is just amazing to see the book take shape; to see the wonderful reader submitted images match up with each line in the text - flipping through the pages brought us all smiles and laughter and many, many "awwww" moments! I am looking forward to seeing the finished product and having it all come together so perfectly is such a blessing.

I am also so thrilled to have met Rachel's daughter Meghan. She is a beautiful girl and such a sweet person. Her kindness radiates from her like a light, and it was so nice to see what a close bond she has with her mom. I hope that my kids grow up to be so loving and sweet.

My session yesterday was a blast! Rachel volunteered to be my loverly assistant! We met the family (the mom is one of my oldest and dearest friends) at an amazing hotel/resort in Grapevine. The property was so huge that there were more than enough areas to use for photographs. The kiddos did fantastic - only at the very end did complaints of the heat start, and really it was all my fault for taking them down into a little terrace area that had no breeze. I am so proud of them for hanging in the way they did. I can't wait to see what I captured!! On our way out, we weaved through the enormous atrium area, marvelling at the thousands of people that were there from around the world. The resort was hosting some sort of "world" convention - bringing out folks in all sorts of native costumes and clothing. It was quite the site to behold. We walked past one area that appeared to be hosting a smaller banquet, full of what looked like regular American business folk. It reminded me of the parties I used to plan when I worked for the country club. At the entrance to that banquet area, I noticed in passing a sign welcoming the group - and recognized it as the same company that my aunt owns and operates in Louisiana. A quick call to my mom (Happy Birthday mom!) confirmed that my aunt was indeed in Dallas, so I leaned over the big stone railings and located her at a table down below. I think she was a bit shocked when I walked up and asked if I could crash her party! It is such a small world!

Rachel and I left the hotel and went for a delicious dinner at a local Mexican food restaurant, and spent an enjoyable evening talking and talking and talking! I think we could probably spend a week together and not run out of things to discuss! On the way home we were detoured by a closed down road and had even more time to talk.

We made it home very late but it was so much fun. I have loved my time here and am sad to see it end. When I get home I will upload some photos to share.

Until,
D :)

This Road

Happy Friday Company Girls!! I know, long time no see, right? Well today I will have to make my post quick - I am headed out the door to get on the road to see our very own Rachel Anne!!! This weekend we will be working on her book, Company Girl. I am so excited to finally get to meet her in person and check out the "barn house" we've all heard so much about! I may even get to see the famous Flash! lol

So wish me well tonight as I will be on the road for a few hours and then searching for her house in the dark - eek!! I may have to call in the rescue team.

I am looking so forward to my time with Mrs. Ridge this weekend. I am also looking forward to a little break from the kiddos and getting to see some old friends too. I even scheduled in a photo shoot while I'm there. Hey, a girl has got to make money where she can, right?! I am very excited and hope to get lots of good pictures to share with all of you. And I am thrilled at the opportunity to work on this project.

Well, I just pulled out some homemade cheesecake sopapillas - help yourself to a couple. They are divine!

I will try to update this weekend as it progresses, so check back when you can.

Have a great weekend!

Until,
D :)