July 29th, 2008 by Heidi

• You have to sit down in the shower to rest because you just don’t want to be awake yet.
• You realize you forgot to pay the cable bill when you can’t watch the morning news.
• Your hair has to ‘wing it’ [literally] because there is no hairspray coming out of the can.
• Your low fuel light comes on when driving to an appointment.
• You arrive at your appointment on time – only one day early. [hey, better than a day late!]
• You look at the clock and it’s only 8:30am. seriously.

The day can only get better, right? It’s supposed to be a hot scorcher all week long. We took the pool down last week to clean it and the kids were gone. I tihnk today [any minute now] we will get that set up again so it can warm throughout the day. My kids are spoiled in that I’m the mom that boils 4 large pots of water and dumps them in teh pool while it fills so that it doesn’t take SO long to be tolerable. But these kids, they can handle a lot more than I would. I don’t really care to swim in most cases since I’m as cold blooded as a gator and the water is never warm enough. If they made swimming pools like hot tubs, then I’d swim more often. Otherwise, you’ll find me on the sidelines, in the sun, soaking it all up.

Do Oreos for breakfast nix out all the not so fun things about my morning?

July 26th, 2008 by Heidi

They gave Kenny Chesney his own station! I’m getting my fill of album Kenny and live Kenny and interviews and covers and fun. And I get it for MONTHS! Seriously, this just made my whole year. It’s hard enough to try to decide which CD to put in and when to shuffle them around. Now I don’t have to, I can just turn on the XM and they do it for me! As long as I’m at my computer anyway. I’m a mooch and use Adam’s online account to get XM. I do need to get a unit in my Durango so I can have it with me all the time!

I only slightly feel a little bit better about missing Kenny at WEFest this year. I’m hearing him sing live right now. It’s not the same as BEING there, but it’s close.

When will XM get video?

For those interested, tune into XM 18 [online and radio] to No Shoes Radio. Perfectly titled.

July 24th, 2008 by Heidi

Today my niece turned 6 years old! It’s crazy to me how fast time flies. It wasn’t all that long ago that she was born – or so it seems. What a fun little thing she’s become!

The lucky girl, her softy parents bought her a brand new puppy for her birthday. He’s considered a ‘Borgi’. Half Border Collie, half Corgi. Most of us consider that a mutt, but hey, ‘designer dogs’ are trendy right now.  But we find it a little funny, considering Adam has a purebred Border Collie and we have purebred Corgis. He really is a good mix of both breeds and we’re anxious to see how he grows up.

Congratulations on your new puppy Ashley! Charlie is just the cutest! [only after my Ruby and Casey] Thank you for having us over for your party and hope your day was superb!

July 23rd, 2008 by Heidi

It’s gloomy outside and a bit gloomy inside too. I miss my kids. Isn’t that always how it is? There are those days that we are pushed to our parenting limit and look forward to bed time when the house is quiet and we can recharge. So many times I ask for a week of silence. Just make the noise stop and the busy-ness stop and the constant whining and begging just go away. But now that I have it, I’m sad. I am a parent, a darn good mama. But right now I have nobody to be mama to. yes, I have the dogs adn teh cats and even James, but none of them need me like my kids need me. And I miss them needing me. I know they’re off having fun times and probably not thinking much about how much they miss me. Though that will be evident when I see them again. I love the coming home hugs!

I had hoped that during this time I would have perfect daily gym attendence and that I’d work so diligently and get caught up on all my image processing. Sadly, I’ve failed both. I am making some headway in the images but not where I wanted to be by today. And since tomorrow is Ashley’s birthday, I’ll just have more images taken and to be processed on top of the thousand that I’m working on. It’s a bit overwhelming.

And I have some sessions coming up too. That is good – keeps me moving forward and staying creative and it means that business is going well.

And James and I are getting plenty of down time. Sometimes too much, we are lazy bums! But since we’re always on the go, it’s nice to just ahve nothing much to do. But now we both need the gym even more!

I think the sun is going to be pretty scarce the next few days. That’s good for letting things cool down some but not so good for my mood. It’s the subtle reminder that winter really isn’t allt hat far away. James keeps complaining about how hot it is. Granted his body temp has to be a good 5 degrees warmer than mine at all times – I have to keep reminding him that the sun will be gone before we know it and we shouldn’t be mad at it. Enjoy it while it’s here. This coming from the guy who’s typically in Florida every week year round.

At least maybe I can get the windows open some, let the fresh air in, and try to concentrate on getting things done so that in a few days when my kiddos are all home, we can just laugh and play and have a good time without distractions!

July 20th, 2008 by Heidi

She’s just so funny. The bugs are all outside and shes’ stuck on the inside but she stares at them and pounces at them as if they were on the inside too. She must have springs in her rear end – she can jump straight up and so high for a tiny kitty. She makes me giggle.

July 20th, 2008 by Heidi

It’s just me and James and all the furrbabies this week. Hannah is still with her dad for another week – they’re currentlyl in New York City but will be back in the midwest before long. Connor and Dillan just left with their dad for a week with a trip to Wisconsin Dells mixed in. While they’re all off having great fun, we’re going to hang out here and do a little bit of nothing. We spent yesterday evening on the couch watching movies after a few hours with mom at the Fargo Downtown Street Fair. It was nice to just do not much of anything – no kids whining or needing something every other minute. The dogs, they do some of that though. I even managed to sleep in until after 8am this morning! That’s not been done since before I had babies, I’m sure. And James, he’s still sleeping – it’s 11:30! I swear he can sleep for a whole day if he wants to! I’m getting caught up on some internet things and working on processing images from my Omaha trip.

We don’t really have anything planned for us for the week. We both have a little bit of work to do. Maybe we’ll see a movie. Maybe we’ll go out to eat. But since it’s rare that we get much time to ourselves, we’re going to enjoy the time to ourseves, even if it’s doing nothing – which of course, is something we both enjoy doing, especially together.

I won’t pay much attention to my house needing some cleaning attention or that I’ve been saying that I’ll get us to the gym every day. Both need doing so maybe I’ll accomplish those, but maybe not.

I do plan to get out and take some pictures just for fun, just for me. I’m not quite sure of what yet, but I’ll come up with something.

But even with all the quiet and the enjoyment of non parenting for awhile, I miss my kids. This is a nice change of pace, everyone needs a little break, but really I’d rather have them here. I miss their giggles and their funny jokes and their gorgeous blue eyes.

For now, I’ll enjoy the relaxing and use this time to recharge and get ready for a busy month of August when the kids get busy and school starts at the end of the month.

July 18th, 2008 by Heidi

Finally, Connor gets to play tennis. Ever since we moved into the house and drive by the middle school with the tennis courts right there, he has been begging to play tennis. This is a sport that I have never had an interest in – unless you count watching Andre Agassi back in the 1990’s. I kept telling Connor that one of these days we’d get some rackets and give it a try. But I found myself telling him that over and over and recently I could see his disappointment.  I realized I had been putting him off almost 2 years. Hooray, Mother of the Year! I knew the boy was dead serious when I gave him the choice between a new bike or the tennis rackets. He opted for the rackets. He picked out one for himself and one for me so I could play with im – he was beaming!

Today we went down to the courts to hit some balls and see if we could get a feel for it. I have no idea about rules or scoring or anything – we just went out to have a good time.

Connor has a bit of a natural talent. He was able to ease up a bit when he hit too hard and was getting quite good at serving – well, getting it over the net anyway – I don’t know if he was doing it right otherwise! He had a good time and I’m sure we’ll be playing quite a bit more this summer. I told him that if he continues to enjoy it then when the weather turns chilly, we’ll take lessons at the gym. I’m pretty sure that’s what we’ll be doing!

*edit – I have removed these images from view. It’s so sad that my webstats have been filling up with searches with inappropriate terms and my blog shows up because my sons were shirtless in the hot summer son. Disgusting and pathetic. I want to show off my photography and my sons and it’s really unfair that I feel like I can’t do that because there are perverts in this world. I certainly will not put my children at risk. So, images removed, some text has changed, my freedom of speech has been altered, adn if you are one of those perverts out there that have still found this entry and read this far – YOU DISGUST ME! SHAME ON YOU! And yes, I said webstats – which means I have your IP address and location.

July 18th, 2008 by Heidi

Today we were playing tennis just down the road from our house at the middle school. Most of the time the grass at the school is well manicured. I suppose that since school is out for the summer, the groundscrew has a little vacation too. And I don’t mind one bit. The flowers growing ther eare taking over and they make the drive down that road so pleasant. I love the natural splash of color everywhere.

July 17th, 2008 by Heidi

This is my new project. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple weeks now – trying to decide if it could be interesting enough or if it would really capture my vision and if it would be worth the extra time when I already have myself spread so thin. I’m going for it. If it doesn’t work out, I can bail on it but I’m going to give it a try. As much as I’d like to say it would be an every day kind of thing – I can’t put that kind of pressure on myself. And I think that would get tedious and mundane because really, my life is not all that exciting, especially in the rearview.

So what is the project? Well, it’s pictures in the rearview of course!

When I drive, I notice how different the things look behind me than when I’m looking at them head on. That sometimes, what we have just passed is a little insight into where we’ve been or what we’ve been doing and sometimes even where we are going.  Everyone talks about hindsight and this is sortof like that. Not necessarily wishing you’d done something differently but more like seeing something after the fact and seeing it differently than you saw it before.

It’s not about living in the past or wanting things differently – it’s about seeing a new perspective and being open to the possibilities.

And I’m going to take this a bit literal. I will use my side and rearview mirrors of my vehicle – whether I’m driving or riding – and capture something of interest or significance in them. Most likely you’ll see the rim of the mirror in each one.

The project isn’t fancy, it’s just something different. Something else to spur my creativity and keep me motivated. I hope to do it several times a week and will tag the entries for easy browsing. I hope it turns out to be what I’m hoping for it.

Here was my sample image. Dillan and I went to the grocery – what I thought would be our one big event for the day. Nothing exciting but it’s something we did together. I was trying out different angles and shooting without looking through the viewfinder since I don’t want to be causing accidents and may need to shoot quickly at a stoplight or at a slow speed or without being noticed. Here’s what I came up with.

July 16th, 2008 by Heidi

Being the youngest, Dillan gets the most hand-me-downs. Connor rode the heck out of his small bike and Dillan was glad to take it when Connor got a bigger one. But they both kept riding it because ‘it’s fun!’. So after a few years, that bike is very used, been through a few tires, and ready to move on to the bike graveyard. Here’s the new bike Dillan picked out. He says it’s ‘a racing bike!’. The mag wheels and rear pegs make it extra spiffy!

And then he let me take a few of him with his cool new helmet too! He really has the bluest eyes of all my kids.