ebb and flow

You know how a whole bunch of good things usually happen all at once, then a whole bunch of bad things as well? Like, when I was in high school, within five days both of my grandmothers died and my boyfriend broke up with me.

This isn't nearly as dramatic, but it's been an off week. I was hormonal all week, so naturally Lauren and I have been bickering (if not worse) most of the week. Thursday morning he and I got into before work, then my car broke down on the way to work. Work has been busy the past few days, and I've been up late at night working on pictures. So, I was ready to go to bed last night around 7. Seriously. I could barely keep my eyes open. Lauren and the boys wanted to do a bonfire and camp in the back yard, so we did. We all turned in around 9, and everyone was exhausted. Ben woke up around 11:30 vomiting, so he was up sick until about 4 this morning. I was up the entire time - I can't sleep when I know what's coming. He's feeling better today... I'm just hoping the rest of us don't get this. Poor guy. So, now we're all stuck at home because 1. Ben is sick and 2. I have no car... so I am blogging and working on pictures while the boys hang around here.

Four years ago, right around the time my dad died, I had to replace the wheel bearings and hub on my car. It sounded terrible, and it's the same noise my car started making the other morning. I was on 465 and it started making this quiet kind of noise, and it just kept getting louder. By the time I got to my mom's to drop off Evan it sounded like my car was about to fall apart. It's still sitting in her driveway; someone is coming to look at it on Monday. Last time it was $900 to fix. Plus, I just poured $600 into it for a new radiator in June. I may just end up buying a new car, which I was hoping I wouldn't have to do. Mine is paid off, and the insurance and plates are cheap. Oh well. Atleast I'm in a position that I can do it if I need to.

wanted: man with brain

Evan has been sick the past few days. He had a high fever Thursday night through Saturday night, and slept pretty much Thursday through Sunday. We gave him milk again today and it didn't agree with him.

So... what does Lauren want to do? Take him out for Mexican tonight.

No.

Take him out for pizza?

No.

I make the boys sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. I'm a mom. I'm smart.

What does Lauren do? Gives the boys ice cream sandwiches in the bathtub. THE BATHTUB! I walk in the bathroom, and it looks like someone has had diarrhea in the tub (he's had it twice today)... it's not fecal matter, it's effing ice cream sandwich. Dissolved, in the water. The water is brown. I'm making Lauren re-run the bathwater and give them ANOTHER bath.

Seriously... common sense? Anyone?

Who gives a three-year-old ice cream (or any food, for that matter) in the bathtub?

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

that's what she said

I'm way excited about The Office starting again next week. My friend Amanda posted this on facebook... it was too good not to share. It's a compilation of many of the times that Steve Carell has pitched his favorite joke... that's what she said.

from the mouths of babes

We have a "pet" kitten - I'm pretty sure it's a stray in the neighborhood, and I'm a softy. Sometimes. We may have two - one larger black cat that likes to sleep on our porch chairs, and a new cat on the block, the kitten.

I just thought it was funny - I asked Evan what the cat's name was, and he called him 'Kittysaurus.' Pretty good for a three-year-old, especially since the kitten is tiny and thin.

Then, here's the profound statement of the weekend... from my son Benjamin, the prophet. We came out of the grocery store the other day - when we entered, it was just windy. When we came out, it had started to rain. So what does Ben say (at full volume)?

"Mommy, it's windy AND rainy? At the same time? That's like when I poop and pee at the same time!"

You can't imagine my pride.

Here's a picture of Ben. He fell asleep way early after school one night last week, before we could even get him ready for bed. :)

underwhelmed

I guess it's better than being overwhelmed.

This is the first time I've been caught up on photo work since probably May... I don't know what to do with my time! Today I took the boys to Goodwill, and on the way home we spontaneously stopped at the playground for about an hour. Evan had A LOT of energy that needed to be expended. We came home, had lunch, took a little nap, and watched Purdue lose in double overtime. Lauren called from work, asked what I was going to make for dinner, and I made dinner. As soon as I finished, Lauren walked in with dinner as well. Pet peeve. Oh well.

I'll tell you what... I need to get off of Ebay! Extra time translates to STUPID searches on ebay... and ridiculous bids. I'll be in the shower (where I do my best thinking) and wonder, I wonder if they sell that on ebay. Like fabric softener (since I've forgotten to pick it up the last trips to the store). I typed in boyfriend one time. You can bid on a boyfriend on ebay. I'll put that on the back burner. I love holiday shopping year round (it makes things much easier in December and I can justify my spending during the year!); ebay is not making it any less tempting.

Ooh, here's an unfunny story. I colored my hair at the beginning of August. It was this really pretty golden brown. So, since my roots are nasty, I decided to try it again (stupid move #1) on Thursday night (stupid move #2). Lauren and the boys were watching a movie downstairs, so I headed up to work on the mop. I colored it, rinsed it out and threw a towel on it. Done.

Remember that scene in Grease when someone takes the towel off of Didi's head (Didi, right?) and her hair is purple? Ding ding ding!... except mine was black. Witch black. Goth princess black. BLACK. I didn't realize it (it was in the towel) until Lauren came in and asked what the hell happened to my hair. I figured he was being himself, then I looked in the mirror to discover my fate.

I'm not usually one to panic. I started to panic.

Logic says that even the permanent stuff fades after a few days, so my next move was to wash my hair. I washed it no less than SEVEN times between 9:00 Thursday night and 6:30 Friday morning. It took the edge off (you can see hints of brown now), but it's still way dark. If I could have worn a ball cap Friday to work, that would have been the day.

I don't like to keep my hair the same for long. I've had my fair share of bad haircuts and weird colors, and I can always tell when I find a bad one. When I got to work, people will stare and be like, "you colored your hair." No "it looks nice" or "I like it," just "you colored your hair." There were a few kind people who said they liked it, but one guy was like, "You colored your hair. Are you having some kind of a crisis?"

One of the moms at daycare is a beautician. She said to mix shampoo with dawn detergent, and that will help strip the color. I've done it twice now, but it hasn't helped much. I guess I'm just getting ready for Halloween early.

in the heights!

I'm in love. With a musical. Roll your eyes.

I just got the 'In the Heights' CD from the library. I'm seriously about 2 minutes into it and I'm loving it already.

I know I'm the biggest dork you all know. I needed new music to listen to at work, and I've wanted to check this out for a while.

Life is so not exciting right now - I have nothing of note to report. Ben is doing well in school - but he's really quiet! For those of you who know him, you know how much of an anomaly that is. It seems his incessant talking skills have transferred to his younger brother, who decided last night that he really, really needed to talk to me (non-stop) until 11:30. PM. Seriously. Lights off, TV off, music off, mouth on.

As a result, I got up late for work today and I'm still way tired. So... I'll write more later.

clarification and annoyance

I just read my last entry, and feel like I need to clarify something... the pictures I did the other day were PG or PG-13.. not X or NC-17 or anything. I'm not into the other stuff. I realize I don't have a squeaky clean image... but I'm not shooting porn out there people!

Now that that's off my chest...

I'm annoyed with one of my photo moms. She'll just call and be like, this is Ashley's mom. (I'm working with THREE Ashley's right now.) I've told her before I prefer to work over email so there's no misunderstanding about orders and I have things in writing, yet she still calls me all the time. She even just stopped by our house once. Um, hello. I wasn't home, and she invited herself in when Lauren answered the door. She's high maintenance and obnoxious, and now I'm working with her sister (who was cut from the same mold). Argh.

And - AND - her sister (who is old enough to have an eighteen-year-old daughter) emails in text. Seriously, a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Like, you graduated from high school, USE PROPER GRAMMAR!!

Seriously - read this email and tell me if you are also annoyed. Mind you, I already told her I wouldn't travel outside of Indianapolis.

hi its Stephanie just wanting to know if u got all the info abt prices together and if gave it anymore thought abt going to white rock in ST Paul and the cost. Also i need to know how many outfits she can bring etc. please let me know something thxs

Like, are you 40 or 14??

Sorry, I'm seriously PMSing and I'm annoyed at the world today. I'll write more when I have something nice to say.