It's My Life

Simoney over at Greatfun4kids just keeps teaching me new things! She taught me how to make a photo collage for my blog! Thank you Thank you Thank you Simoney!! My collage...my hair growth journey. As most of you know, I am Cancer Survivor, although a new Survivor. I am 5 months into remission. My hair is growing out.  My best friend suggested that I should photograph my hair once a week. I have been taking photos since Christmas. Some days I get a little sad at how long it is taking for it to grow. On those days, I simply look back at photos of my hair and I am reminded that I have come a long way. I was pretty bald on Christmas Day. I stopped wearing a head wrap the second week in January. Today, my hair is curly, dark, and at times unruly. BUT, I have hair and I have never lost sight of the fact I am happy to once again have it. I no longer look sick. I have been told I look like one of those trendy girls who makes fashion statements with a bold hair cut. I like that. Let...

So many of you tell me that you read the blog but find it hard to leave comments. WELL, Simoney over at Greatfun4kids has the easiest explanation on how to leave comments without signing into any accounts. PLEASE, click on her link and read her. Then you can drop her a comment and say thank you and come back and comment away at my blog! Greatfun4kids: How to Leave a Comment (the Easy Way) : "Bloggers are a funny bunch. We may pretend not to care, but secretly we all love to get com ments . OK, maybe I'm just speaking for myself,..."

These are not my photos, I obtained them from the net. I am sure these images are all over the world. We would like to think if our community makes it on the national/world news it would be for something positive. In reality that is hardly ever the case. Joplin, Missouri was hit hard yesterday afternoon by a massive tornado. Joplin is about 4 hours south from where I live. But, I have family there. And I have co-workers there. Making contact with them has been extremely difficult. Thankfully, one of my Uncle's has a cell phone from Kansas City and is able to get calls. By God's Grace my family is healthy and safe. The tornado was headed straight for my Aunt and Uncle's home and it lifted three blocks north of them. It set back down several blocks south of them. My cousin lost her home and had to dig her way out of the debris. Thankfully all of her pets are safe too! These are not my photos, I obtained them from the net. My family maybe safe but so many people ar...

Friday night he was out with friends watching a movie. Not sure how much of the movie he watched, there were girls there. Saturday morning we had a baseball game. The other team failed to show up. So we had a practice instead. I totally misjudged the weather. It looked cold outside, it has been cold outside. I dressed in jeans, black t-shirt and a sweatshirt. I was so hot, I thought I was going to com bust. Saturday afternoon we attended cousin Katie's graduation party. She was honored as co-valedictorian of her class. Watch out world, Katie is coming! He enjoyed seeing his cousins. Saturday night, he had a friend spend the night. I have no idea what time he finally made it to bed. Sunday he washed cars for 4 hours at a baseball fund raiser. He came home sunburned....on his feet! He is a growing boy so he needs a lot of food. Today, he ate my husbands smoked chicken. He found out he can't eat corn on the cob with his new braces! But he has no problems eating ice crea...

I absolutely love bright colors. Which probably makes this choice so much harder! I have had the same dishes for nearly 15 years. I started off with services for 8 and I am down to service for 6, maybe! I am thinking it might be time to update. I am strongly considering Fiesta-wear. It is made right here in the USA, it is durable and quality stuff. And the colors! Oh how I love the colors. So, I am wondering, how many of you use Fiesta-wear? And what colors do you have? Did you pick a color scheme or just start collecting any and every color?

I did not particularly have a hard week. But it was a long one. And I am finding myself exhausted. Listening is hard work and I am finding myself empathic to all my friends who do therapy! One of my rejuvenate myself activities is to bake. (Big secret: this is probably one of the reasons I find weight loss so difficult!) As a child my mom made the most wonderful frosting. It was a simple 7 minute frosting that was made on the stove from egg whites and sugar. Yummy! Unfortunately, I have not had it in years! So when my mom was here visiting over Mother's Day weekend I asked her to make me some 7 minute frosting. She agreed but then we quickly realized, I do own a hand mixer. My awesome husband upgraded me to a stand mixer a few years ago and I have loved it! Not once have I missed a hand mixer. Until, the night my mom could not make me 7 minute frosting for the lack of one. That night we frosted the cake I made with old yucky tub frosting. (yes, I sound like a frosting snob and ...

The Short Chic is taking swimming lessons with her BFF, Miss Thing. They are tearing up the pool at the local YMCA! Both girls love their swim teacher, Miss Sam. They love to bob around in the water but neither are big fans of getting splashed in the face. The Short Chic and Miss Thing The girls have been working on floating. I think they both are doing super well! Of course, The Short Chic wants to know, "Why do we put our ears in the water?" Last night, we put our ears in the water! She also wants to know why Miss Sam wears the same swimsuit every class! I told her not everyone has a Nana who buys them several swimsuits a year.  The Short Chic learning to float.  Miss Thing learning to float. Of course, now she wonders, "When will our pool get water in it Mommy!" I think Daddy should have enrolled Mommy in swim lessons! Just watching her stick her head in the water freaks me out!

We did not ask to be roommates. I had requested to room with someone who did not return to school. She was a transfer student. She was conservative, I was not. She was a business major and I was a social work major. Despite our differences, friends we became. It has been years since I last saw my college roommate. She left school and moved to Atlanta. I moved to Denver. I moved back to Kansas City and she moved to Virginia. We both have children, we are both busy mom's. Thanks to Facebook we catch up as much as possible. This weekend was our mutual friends bridal shower. We got to chat and hang out. It was great to see you Jenny! But, Jenny was not the only college friend I got to see once again. Besides Jenny Nelson Hicks, I was able to see Christi Cromer Lohman. Krista, Christi and I all graduated with the same degree in 1991. And our gathering was all because Krista is finally getting married!! Congratulations to Cody and Krista!

The Boy had to be at the school today at 5:30 a.m.! His choir traveled to the opposite side of the state to compete in a music competition. I am sure that it was payback once again for the numerous trips my mother use to make with us. When we pulled into the school parking lot and I saw that they were not taking school buses but rather large charter buses, I realized just how much school has changed!

I guess Blogger has been out of commission for the past several hours, almost an entire day. It drove me crazy! I mean really crazy! I feel disconnected from my blogger world. What is everyone doing? What are you cooking? What are you sewing? What are you making? I myself have not had time to post because I have been busy with the kids. Just to illustrate this further, please by all means check out my week!       Monday: The Short Chic started swim lessons. The Boy had to be at the high school for sports physical night. Husband took the girl. I took the boy.    Tuesday: The Boy had a baseball game and a choir concert. He tried to ditch the choir concert until he found out it was required for his grade. We had to miss baseball. The Boy is still mad about it. Wednesday:   The Short Chic again had swim lessons and The Boy had baseball practice. I took the boy, Husband took the girl. Then we swapped. ...

Happy Mother's Day! Last year I started a tradition for myself. I started participating in the Mother's Day 5K in Overland Park, Kansas. Last year, it was just my friend Krista and I who earned our Mother's Day tiara (a tradition at the Mother's Day 5K). But this year, we had 6 of us walking, including my three year old daughter. Nearly 4,000 women registered for today's event. Last year I wore a hat because it was so cool. But this year I wore sunglasses because it was so sunny! My race time was a little slower than last year, but I finished in okay time. As we started the race, Meeghan said good bye to us walkers and decided to run. I think the last time she ran a 5K was two years ago. I am not sure what happened to my friend Krista, maybe she was not wearing her bib, but I could not find her time anywhere! Place  Bib                     Gun Time          Net Time/Pace 1042  2108 Meeghan ...

The final assignment for The Opposite Photography Class is to post our favorite photo. Ever. It can be a photo we have already taken or a new one we just snapped. I have mentally gone through a lot of my photos, trying to decide if I even have a favorite. I love the photos of The Short Chic at her Fairy Tea Party, with her face painted and fairy costume on. I love a few of the photos of The Boy pitching. I have several photos I really like of scenery I have seen. I even have a favorite or two of my niece.  But a favorite? That seems like such a huge daunting task. I thought about pulling the Mommy card tomorrow and requiring my family to pose for photos. But then as we were sitting outside enjoying an evening meal in the warm spring weather, I remember these photos I took last August when I was first diagnosed. It took all summer, but we finally got hummingbirds to visit our feeder last year. I took some photos of the hummingbirds visiting our feeder on our deck. They truly are...

ISO 200, 1/60, f: 13.0 My son was born in the great state of Colorado. I loved living in Colorado. Even though I could no longer live there, I brought part of Colorado home to Missouri with me. Columbine. The state flower. We have three varieties in our yard. The traditional blue/purple flowers are my favorite. I used the Columbine as my subject for the black and white photo.

I will admit, I had  never heard the word Juxtaposition before Monday evening. I quickly learned it is a contradiction. I get it. The thirteenth assignment was to photograph a juxtaposition. Well, I am out of town this week, and my usual subjects are back home. Far from me. My first reaction was to photograph a person fully clothed in a swimming pool. I may not have access to my subjects, but hey I have access to a pool at my hotel.  So after racking my brain, I came up with my photo. ISO: 1600, 1/10, f: 10 with a black backdrop ISO: 1600, 1/10, f: 10.0 No black backdrop  So, my photo. One of my favorite foods.  A cheeseburger. Fries. Chocolate Milkshake. With a Weight Watcher Journal. Believe it or not, but I am lifetime member of Weight Watcher. No rejoicing please, I am not at goal weight. Probably too many cheeseburgers!

It is past my bedtime for a work night. But there is no way I am going to bed any time soon. Can it be?  Is it true? Have we really finally achieved some level of justice? I find it hard to sit and cheer for any one's death, but I still remember the fear I felt the day I watched my country under attack. I still have no words to describe what it felt like the moment I realized the planes that were crashing into the World Trade Center were full of our own people and that a Terrorist was using our own planes, full of our own people to kill many more people. We had no idea how many planes had been hijacked, or what the targets were. The entire country was in fear. Now, as I am watching the cheering that is occurring on my Facebook, I recognize that we had maybe given up hope of justice.  Years passed, nearly a decade, with false hope and minimal efforts. We have lots loved ones in the military. But tonight! Tonight, we have news that ...

Little Tucker turns 1 year old tomorrow and we celebrated today. His momma wanted to have a Tonka Truck party and it was the cutest! Tucker is destined to be the life of any party; he enjoyed eating, singing and most of all dancing at his party. Here are some photos from his cute party! Meg's made a cute pennant banner that said Tonka Truck. She also cut out various big trucks and used them too. I love how one letter is a circle and the next is a square! How cute are these sugar cookies! Almost too cute to eat...Almost! The big people's birthday cake.  Both cakes, Tucker's individual cake pan  is in the foreground and the bigger cake in the background.  Dumpcake served in a dump truck. At the last minute, the party was moved to the garage. Uncle Gary Lee opened the garage door and how cool did the pennant banner look hanging like that! The birthday boy himself! He is sporting a handmade shirt by his Momma. Made out of the same material as the...

ISO 1600, 5, f: 16 The latest assignment in the Opposites Photography class is to slow down the shutter speed and play.  The Boy and I played one night. We used glow sticks. Unfortunately, all I had was skinny bracelet sized glow sticks. So, we put several together and played spelling out MOM. The Boy got pretty good at the M. As a side note, we also tried sparklers but they produced too much light. I am still surprised they did not set the fire alarms off inside the house. I have since been grounded, my husband says no more fireworks in the house. (party pooper!) ISO 400, 20, f: 8.0 My husband and I played last night. We drug the Short Chic's play house out away from the real house and set candles inside it. It felt all warm and cozy. The Short Chic on the other hand did not like her Momma and Daddy playing outside and her in the house. She cried, "but who is going to watch me, I am just a little girl!" So we bundled her up and took her outside, even though sh...