Keepin' cool...

One of the neighbor girls earned a prize from her parents for completing her summer reading goal, she selected a small inflatable pool (smart kid) and invited Evie to join her and her sister for a dip this afternoon.
Evie LOOOOVED it! She was so worn out by the time she was done, she almost fell asleep as her daddy carried her back across the street.

When nobody minds the store

Scene:
I have just returned with Evie from an hour-long walk and we have just finished lunch.

Upstairs, on our bedroom floor is an air mattress that we have yet to deflate; it is there from last weekend's house-guest extravaganza, Evie has been using it as her personal jungle gym.

Bryan is sitting downstairs in the living room, I'm in the kitchen on the phone with my neighbor. Evie is walking around downstairs.

I think Bryan is watching Evie, Bryan thinks I am watching Evie. In fact nobody is watching Evie.

Evie is doing her own thing.

We find her upstairs, she has closed the gate behind her. She is laying on the air mattress in our bedroom, thumb in her mouth. She is trying to take a nap.

This is the low point.

I hate Portia in the springtime...

....I hate Portia in the fall.

I hate Portia in the summer when it sizzles, I hate Portia in the winter, when it drizzles.

I hate Portia every moment.

Every moment of the year.

I hate Portia.

Oh, wow, how I hate Portia.

Because she barks all YEAR!

A curious connection...

Do you remember my post, "Do Not Feed the Animals" where I wrote a semi-serious, semi-sarcastic post about needing a "do not touch" sign for Evie's stroller when she was a tiny baby? I got a lot of attention on the internet for it especially in the blog world. Apparently I'm not the only one who thought of it:

Check it out, somebody has actually made a sign.


I find it curious that the article uses the same phrase I use to compare the sign, "don't feed the animals."

Very curious indeed.

Just getting a little Vitamin D

And then the heavens rejoiced

The closet is fixed! All I had to do was leave everything exactly as it was when it fell, and my husband was thus inspired to repair it. Thank you husband, you are truly wonderful.

An open letter to the Punk Skateboarder who Rides On My Street (PSWROMS)

Dear PSWROMS,

Every day, you ride your skateboard up my street. My street is a private road; it took me a long time to figure out exactly where you were going. My first concern however, was that it was the middle of the day and you should be in school. Once I determined you don’t attend school, at least not during normal school hours, I determined you were visiting our neighbor at the top of the road (NATOR,) who is also a non-traditional student, as in, she doesn’t go. She is rarely home, however. Oftentimes, you will just ride up and down my street until NATOR comes home. I find this annoying.

What I find curious however is that even when NATOR arrives, you rarely stay. She will pull in, and within two minutes of her arrival, you will leave. This phenomenon has lead me to believe that you are up to no good. I started coming up with all kinds of scenarios as to why you would hang around and then leave within two minutes of her arrival. My conclusions were, A) you were stalking her; B) you were making some kind of nefarious “exchange” with her when she arrived.

Then about two weeks ago, she picked you up, and you drove off into the sunset together, only to return 20 minutes later (yes, I have no life and watching the sordid activities of the teens on my street entertains me. Plus, NATOR drives like a bat out of hell, so it’s hard to miss her.) I thus concluded you weren’t stalking her, and option “B” was more likely.

I still haven’t seen what you do, exactly, only that you go back and forth several times a day and it annoys me. Why? Because every time you go up and down the street the dogs in the neighborhood go nutty. Also, you ride in the middle of the street as if you are in some kind of parade and everyone else can just wait for you. That is obnoxious, but I’m sure you don’t care, because you are a teen and thus the world obviously revolves around you.

Yesterday, your obnoxious behavior hit new heights and I almost killed you as a result. No I’m not kidding, you should know, you were there.

I was pulling down the road, slowly, because the little neighbor children were playing and I was being cautious. It is certainly a good thing, because had I been driving normal speed, as in, faster than the 10 miles an hour I was driving, you would be quite dead right now.

You were riding on your skateboard, but you were sitting on it, as if you were in the luge. Somehow, in your idiot teen brain, riding on a skateboard in a seated position is not only fun, but also a brilliant idea. And so you were riding, luge style and you came whipping around the corner, from the main road, the road where traffic drives at 50 miles per hour. You came whipping around the corner and crossed out in front of me; I slammed on my brakes and you missed my front left tire by less than a foot.

12 inches or less, and you would have been road meat. As in squashed, dead, no more.

I stopped, screamed threw my hands up in the air and looked at you with a “what in the hell?!?!” kind of face; you gave me a big smirk. Then you waved and continued down the road, seated.

You WAVED and you SMIRKED at me? You little $#!% head. It was all I could do not to jump out of my jeep, grab you by the shoulders and shake you a bit. You have no clue how close you just came to death. You think it’s all a joke, but it’s not a joke, it’s very serious and I almost ran over you, with my very big, very heavy SUV. You are lucky it was me driving and not your friend, because she drives like an idiot, she never slows down, and had it been her, you would be very, very dead.

I wanted to grab you and yell at you and shake you until you understood how serious it was. I wanted to make you afraid, I wanted to call your mother and explain the severity of the situation until everyone was so scared that she would drive down here and shake you herself, until you were crying you were so afraid.

But I didn’t do any of these things.

I didn't because you waved at me and when you waved, I realized that my yelling at you would do no good. You would look at me like a crazy person and you would joke with your friends about the crazy lady who live in the house down from NATOR, who jumped out and yelled at you that one time.

But rest assured you little punk; I’m not done with you. The next time I see you, I’m headed out of my house to have a nice, cordial little chat. I was shaking yesterday. I was shaking, and I was crying and I was upset, because I almost killed a kid on a skateboard and so I just drove on and left you alone.

But I’ve calmed down now, and now I’m going to calmly talk to you, because you need somebody to point out to you that you nearly ate it yesterday. You may still roll your eyes at me and that’s fine. But you’re not going to continue past this house without at least talking with me, knowing that somebody cares that you lived to tell the tale.

Thank you.

500 Posts!!!

Happy 500 posts to me!

To some it may seem insignificant, but I have hit the 500 posts, mark. If I were a sitcom, I'd be canceled by now.

When I started this blog I was student teaching to a bunch of eighth graders...now I'm a mom to a little girl who will be one year old in two weeks. Much has changed and yet much has stayed the same.

I'd love to say that for my 500th post I would have something really profound to say or share, but I fear that I am tired and it is late and thus all I can do is congratulate myself and go to bed.

The end.

An OCD nightmare

We heard a horrible thud upstairs, we went running up. Thankfully, it wasn't our child climbing out of her crib, she was still fast asleep.

Sadly, however, we found all my clothes crashing to the floor:


Everything was so pretty and organized, pants lined up by color and style, hanging below their matching category of shirts, each with a finger's width between each hanger. Sweaters and sweatshirts all folded neatly in stacks according to weight and use. A few special items from my childhood in their own basket on the shelf, it was every OCD person's dream.

Now it is all a big mess as I wait for a solution to the problem that has now occurred twice; the cheap wire rack has pulled right out of the wall, although anchored to the studs (I am told by my husband.)

Those of you who know me, know I don't have a large collection of clothes either, it's not like I have 50 pairs of pants weighing it down.

So cheaply this house was built.

Happy Father's Day!

A warm day, a baseball game and his baby girl. It doesn't get much better than that.

What I did yesterday

My new friend Julie graciously let me come over and play with her toys yesterday. I had bought a lens from her for my camera and we started talking and realized that we are in fact very similar.

Both former teachers, both mommies to young kids, both aspiring photographers. Actually, Julie is no longer aspiring, she's a real-life full-fledged pro. And so she graciously invited me to come hook my camera up to her lights and use her reflectors and backdrop and see what I thought, knowing that I am thinking about doing the same thing in my neck of the woods.

So I packed up Evie and drove out to her place (about an hour and half from here) and proceeded to take pictures of Evie for Father's day. It was going to be a surprise, but Bryan has no interest in surprises and so after much prodding about what we did yesterday and many questions as to why I was so busy playing with my computer last night, I finally allowed him to see. This is what I did yesterday:








Julie also shot some picts. of Evie and of course, the pictures she took turned out far better than mine, because well, she's a pro, she's been at it a lot longer than me and she has fancier post-production software. Did I mention she's been doing this a lot longer, and she's a pro? If you want to see her AMAZING work, click here.

Thanks again Julie, you were very generous to let me try out your stuff!!! I had a great time and I learned a lot!

The 11-month photo, 1.5 weeks late

I am loving this camera

How to entertain a nearly one year-old

Supplies required: plastic cups

Directions: Give the cups to the child, hours of hilarity will ensue



Note: If plastic cups are not available, pots, pans and/or wooden spoons will also work. If you are really in a pinch, you can also use lint, dryer sheets or a spare sock.

She is actually afraid of something....

The vacuum...

Good call Evie, although don't try to pull this when you're ten.

Convalescing

It really was only a matter of time.

We went to the hospital yesterday. Not once, but twice. It wasn’t for Bryan. It wasn’t even for me. It was for Evie; she fell down the stairs, all of the stairs, and then landed on the cold hard tile at the bottom. And then I died.

So here’s what happened, Evie is 11 months old now. She’s been walking since she was nine months old. She’s been going up and down the stairs with ease for the last five weeks. She knows to only go on her belly, although she likes to test that rule at every opportunity. We keep the stairs blocked off unless we are right there with her.

I was in the front living room, Evie was doing laps around the house, (as she so often enjoys doing.) I turned, she was already half-way up the stairs. I looked at her, and with the most stern, low-tone voice I could muster, I said "Evie, nooooo, come back down!" She looked at me, smiled, giggled, and proceeded to go higher, double time. “Grrumph.” I thought.

I then double-timed it toward her to grab her myself. But she was now at the top, I was headed to the bottom, coming from the side, which I guess made her want to go even faster. So she stood up (which is a staircase violation) and she flipped backward, and did a backward somersault and then a cartwheel and then another somersault and then another cartwheel and her little body continued to flip and flop backward down the staircase, hitting each and every step on the way down, making a horrific “thud,” “smack,” “whap,” as she fell toward me, frozen in suspended animation, flying through the air.

As I lept toward the bottom of the stairs to catch her, I screamed and saw her fly to the tile, right between my hands, landing on her head. There was a horrible smacking sound, then silence. Nobody moved, I slapped my hand on her chest, holding her down, I was afraid she was seriously injured, I didn’t want her wriggling around, I had to figure out what we were going to do. My stomach was in my throat. She just stared at me with huge eyes, and for what seemed like hours, nothing happened (it was probably about a half of a second.)

Then, she screamed. And screamed, and continued screaming, she pushed my hand and sat bolt up, so I knew her neck wasn’t broken. I held her, but tried to keep her still, I grabbed the phone, “Who do I call? 911? Bryan? The doctor? I don’t know what to do! I decided to call the doctor's office, they told me she was probably fine, but to bring her in, just to be safe.

I took her to the pediatrician who gave her the once over. She definitely had some bumps. We let her walk around, she was definitely a little tipsy. She was listing to the left, listing to the right. Crashing in to the walls, falling down for no reason, tripping all over the place, stumbling, they decided she needed to get a CT, just to be sure she didn’t have a more serious head injury.

“She looks like a rose, but she walks like a drunk,” the doctor said.

(Let me say that although a new video hasn’t been posted since Evie’s first steps, she walks like a pro now, there is now more falling down unless there’s a reason to fall.)

And so we went to the hospital. But by the time we got there, she was walking much better, she was smiling again, she was charming and happy and aside from the bumps on her head, there was no evidence that she just did a back flip down 12 steps. So they sent us home to watch her.

By the time we got home, she was bushed, so we put her down for a nap and she slept until I physically woke her at 6:45pm. Again, she was stumbling around, listing and crashing into the furniture. She was also moaning, pulling at her hair and rubbing her head. We gave her some baby Tylenol and assumed that she probably had a pretty bad headache.

At 9:30, she was still awake, moaning. The doctor from the hospital called and wanted a report, we told her about the stumbling and falling down and the moaning, she asked that we bring Evie back to the hospital right away. So we packed her back up, drove back across the bridge and went back to the Children’s hospital.

Of course, she walked just fine, other than some limping and a weird shoulder slump thing she had been doing since she fell. She did stumble a little, and was listing some, but not nearly as bad as she was right after she got up from her nap.

They decided just to be on the safe side, they would do a CT of her brain this time.

A brain CT of an 11-month old requires sedation, just in case you didn’t know. Sedation requires an IV. That requires putting a needle into the hand of a very cranky, very stubborn little girl. It took two nurses holding her down, and two different attempts to get the IV in. The first worked, but she threw such a fit and was so mad, she blew it out. So they had to do another. “She was so sweet and happy, and now she’s SOOO MAD,” said the nurse. Yes, that would be my daughter; those would be my genes. We don’t take things lying down.

The CT scan came back fine, no brain bleed (thank God.) Evie had a hard time waking up from the sedation however, they had to use cold cans of juice under her arms, twice, to get her to rouse, and this was after being poked and prodded for 10 minutes under bright lights.

They determined she probably has a mild concussion and the stumbling around is being caused by vertigo, which is worse after she wakes up because she’s been lying down so the fluid in her ears has shifted.

We didn’t get home until after 1:00am, so today we’ll be laying very low.

How about this?

Did some more minor tweaking in Aperture, worked on the white balance a little and pulled out some of the shadows a bit, came up with this...

Hooked

After our whirlwind Scott Family Road Trip, I started doing some serious thinking about how much I really love this photography stuff. So much in fact that I'm giving a really long, hard look at possibly, maybe, hopefully trying to do something more seriously with it. As in, trying to become maybe, somehow, professional...some day. Sooner than later. Hopefully.

While in Yellowstone I spent about four hours chatting it up with the pros and heeded their advice regarding outdoor photography vs. indoor portrait shooting etc. I also met with another pro once back here in the PNW.

I've signed up for some advanced classes this summer. I've also joined a couple different photography forums where tips, advice and questions can be asked and answered, and pictures can be shared and critiqued. The pros in those forums have been giving me some great advice and pointers on what to do etc. Once of the biggest pieces of advice I've been getting from just about everyone I've spoken to is that I need to start by building a portfolio and to do that I need really honed photos. My photos are OK (the picture of the raindrops in the title of this post, I took in my front yard) but some need some post production, as in, I need software.

And so, this weekend after much careful consideration (and some more of my Craigslist selling prowess) we purchased some mid-level photography post-production software, and I am hooked. While I'm not a fan of the cutting out a person and pasting them in another picture kind of business, I am a fan of being able to boost saturation, tone etc in a picture that needs a little help.

And so I give you my first before and after, and please know that I am light-years from being happy with this, but I spent about 30 minutes with the software, playing around, and this is what I came up with.

Before:


After:


And now that I see them...I think the after shot is a little too light.

Yes? No?

So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

I mean, I intend to say goodbye, but not until a specified date and time later in the week.

Unless you are living in a place devoid of access to news media, you have seen the hoopla over the Democratic nominee. Obama has clinched the nomination and Clinton is done.

She, however, is uh, taking her time to bow out.

Let me begin by saying I think she has had a rough go in the media, and frankly there has been some inequity and some crap things said about her, that I think frankly would not be said if it were any other person, specifically one who had different anatomy, but that's neither here nor there. It's over and now it's time to be done.

For many, it is confusing how someone (Clinton) can win more states, more votes and still not get the delegates and thus the nomination? Well, the Democrats, not wanting to be like the Republicans (whatever) decided to allow each state to decide how to elect their nominees, so some states have primaries and some states have caucuses, and some states have both.

Then instead of giving the winner ALL the delegates (as the Republicans do,) they give points for every event...like figure skating. A caucus is worth (for example) more than a primary. And even if you lose the primary, you still get some delegates. Because we in the Democratic party are just like little league baseball, and we want to give points to everyone for playing, so nobody gets their feelings hurt.

And so, even though Clinton did win more primaries, in bigger states, Obama won more caucuses, and still got points in all the primaries, and thus had more delegate in the end. And with Michigan and Florida deciding not to play by rules (click here on Bossy's site for an excellent explanation of that debacle) Clinton lost half those delegates as well and thus lost.

Except, she's taking her time to concede, which is causing all sorts of wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Obama people. Clinton supporters claim she should have automatic rights to the VP position, and have gone so far as to say they will refuse to vote entirely if she doesn't get the nod.

So now I'm going to get up on my soap box and say that if you refuse to vote in November, you are wasting your citizenship.

We have the honor to vote in this country, people have fought, marched, bled and died so that we could have the right to make our voices heard...you not voting is not making your voice heard, it's making yourself mute and to me, that is nonsensical.

And so, we are told Clinton will bow out on Friday, give her full support to Obama on Saturday. So long Hillary, you fought the good fight, and I'm sad to see it end this way.

Now it's down to the two guys and then the real mud slinging will begin. All the commercials will come out of the woodwork all the real debates will commence, complete with promises that have no chance of being fulfilled.

As the real political season commences, it should be very, very interesting.

Just make sure that come November, you show up and vote...if you don't, you will waste the hard work, blood, sweat and tears of those who came before you. And you will waste your democratic freedom, something many other people in many other parts of the world don't enjoy.

Deliciouso!

11 months old and we've finally made it past the baby food, cheerios and puffs! Apparently, all we needed to do was give the kid something with some kick- vegetable fusilli with homemade pasta sauce (including lots of minced garlic and onion.) She could not get enough! Next stop, daddy's spicy Texas Chili. After that, maybe we'll give her some enchiladas with green sauce (just kidding, of course.)

Sad news

We've been out of the loop, so we only heard this today, but the youngest daughter of Christian singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman was killed tragically on May 21st when one of their sons driving down the driveway, hit her on accident.

I cannot imagine what tremendous loss and grief the entire family must be feeling, both for the loss of their young daughter and for the emotional turmoil they must work through as a family with their young son.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Chapman family during this difficult time. To lose a child must be the most cruel of things that can happen in a human life. To lose one child by accident at the hands of another, that is unimaginable.

Scott Family Road Trip...final thoughts:

On this road trip, our family traveled over 3000 miles.

Evie and I were away from home 19 days. Bryan was away from home 10 days.

We met two newborn babies and visited with over 25 friends and family members across the West.

We went to five states and three national parks.

We saw a multitude of Antelope, Bison, Deer and Elk. We saw a mama Moose and two other Males; A mama Grizzly and a male Grizzly. We saw a couple of bald eagles, include one up close, eating.

Things we now know:

1) They don't play music in fast food restaurants in Montana or Wyoming, so it is VERY quiet, which is unnerving when everyone sees you pull up in the car from California with the liberal bumper stickers (which were quickly removed for safety) and everyone stares at you while you eat.

2) Old Faithful needs some Metamucil.

3) Jackson is much further away from Yellowstone than you might think...especially at night.

4) Both Grand Teton National Parl and Yellowstone are destinations on their own, there is too much to see in both places to try to combine the two...at least not in three days.

5) The best place in Yellowstone for animals is the Northeastern part by the Lamar valley, and the best place to stay is Mammoth (this according to the professional photographers.)

6) The best time to go to both Grand Teton and Yellowstone for animal sighting and crowd avoidance is early spring, late fall.

7) We need to go to the National Parks more often

8) Animals sleep during the day...the best time to see them is in the morning or early evening

9) I want a bigger zoom lens

10) A car DVD player makes traveling with kids much more friendly

11) Always remember to bring socks and a coat...regardless of the forecast or the season

12) The mountains are deceivingly dry....water, water, water.

13) Missoula, Montana is not as advertised in the AAA guide book.

14) SUVs are better than all-wheel drive cars in National parks because they have ground clearance...(see Bryan, I was right)

15) Even though it will be June in 24 hours, there is still six feet of snow on the ground and the high will be in the 40s, low 50s in the mountains, even though www.weatherchannel.com says otherwise when you plan your trip.

16) Every adult says they hate Elmo before they have kids. They swear that when they have kids, Elmo will be verboden. Then they drive 3000 miles with their toddler...soon, Elmo becomes that adult's best friend.

17) Never say never. Especially when it comes to parenting. ESPECIALLY, when it comes to parenting on a road trip.

18) The drive from Spokane to Seattle (specifically from Spokane to Ellensburg) is the longest, most annoying leg of the entire journey.

Where in the World is the Scott Family- the Drive Home

Friday night, we stayed in a hotel in Missoula. The hotel was payed for with Hilton honors points from Bryan's many travels and as it was in the Hilton chain of hotels, we assumed it would be a clean and updated hotel with basic amenities like running water and matching towels.
Oh, how sadly we were mistaken.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the local color of drunken patrons smoking in the parking lot. Walking through the hall, we noticed a large vending machine, circa 1882, chained to the wall with large anchor chains...the kind of chains you would find on a large ship.

The decor was 1970s bowling alley and you were immediately assaulted with the smell of body odor, cigarette smoke and fish.
We got to our door, which was deep brown, (a color and texture not seen since the Reagan administration,) with matching silver medal hardware. We walked in to the room to see an asbestos ceiling and yellow wall paper peeling off the walls. It was about 40 degrees in the room.

I went in to the bathroom (as I needed desperately to piddle) and turned on the light to find a harvest gold shower with a black granite bathroom counter; the counter hadn't been attached to the wall so there were rough, sharp edges sticking off the wall and a big gap between the back splash and the counter. None of the towels matched each other, the towel rack hung crooked and the toilet was on a slant, so you felt like you were going to fall off.
But the biggest problem was that the bathroom hadn't been cleaned. The shower had black curly hairs in it, and there was (what could only be determined to be) blood on the wall by the light switch.

It was at this point that I began to have a minor stroke. I was trying to be nice and not be a snob, but blood and hair put me over the edge.
Plus, right outside the door was another drunken patron, trying to yell obscenities, but he was so drunk everything he said was just gibberish.
Bryan went to the desk to tell them about the cleanliness issues and was told that this is "one of the nicest hotels in the area," the guy didn't know why we might think this wasn't that great of a hotel, or why it didn't compare to other hotels in the Hilton chain.

They gave us another room, which was a bit cleaner, although I immediately pulled the bedspread back off the bed to discover more little curly hairs. I threw that off the bed never to be used or touched.
The towels didn't match in this room either and we had neither hot water or water pressure, so we couldn't get the shampoo out of our hair, try as we might.
We left as soon as we could, only to find in the parking lot that our Yakima box on top of our car had been moved on the racks, like someone was trying to get in it or just messing with it and my "women who behave seldom make history" sticker had been removed. Whatever.


After Missoula, we made a stop in Plains, MT to visit my childhood friend Cori and her family. We ate lunch together and the boys played with Evie. It was great to see each other again, and to see her beautiful family.










We have known each other pretty much all our lives...


When you feel like you look horrible, just hide behind the cute kids...

After lunch, we headed back through Spokane to pick up my car,


And then, we made it back home.

Except the Friday night hotel debacle we had a wonderful time on our vacation and are happy to do our part stimulating the economy. And now, we are very glad to be home.