Since You Won't Look There, According To Sitemeter...

I put up new pics from last weekend's wedding on my photoblog. You can click on the "My Business Website" link over there >>>>>> (isn't that cool?) or you can just click on this link.

Happy looking!

All Stones, All The Time

Hi everyone. So how long has it been? 2 weeks? I know, I'm pathetic, but it's been all I have just to keep up with the daily stuff lately and be in bed (or at least sitting down with a glass of wine) by 9:30 or so. You see, I have a whole laundry list of excuses as to why I just can't keep up with the blog here... I'll start with reason #1 and reason #2.


So we woke up this morning and Vincent asked for something that I wouldn't give him. When I told him "no" he went over to the couch to pout as Jade broke out in song...

"You can't always get what you want. You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you just might find, you get what you need. Yah, oh baby."
It was hilarious.

So other than the constant child induced headache and high blood pressure, I'm also training (we'll use that term lightly) for the triathlon in Valpo in July, and trying to get 2 horses ready for a horse show the first weekend in May. I had a rehearsal Friday and my first wedding of the season last night, and I'm still doing Body Safety - but we're just about done with it this year, thank God. Other than that, things are quiet :)

Brian stained the deck this weekend with the nice weather, and got a bunch of other stuff done around here. I haven't cleaned in a week and we have no food. My mom just came and got the kids (yay) and I think we need to hit a few places in town. I'm uploading the wedding pics as I'm typing this... hopefully I'll have some time tonight to whittle through them and pick out some of my faves. I'll get them posted asap on my photo blog - check it out if you haven't yet! Especially with the photo season officially started, I'll have a lot of cool stuff to look at there!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. I should probably go get dressed. After all, it is 12:30 already...

Fabulous

I spent the weekend with a very very good, very very old friend of mine. I reacquainted with her this year on Facebook, and this is the second time we've been able to get together since then. The first time, the kids and I traveled to Dayton to visit her and her family. This time, she's come to NWI to visit us (oh yeah, and her family, too :)). It was totally weird traveling 4 hours to meet up and stay with someone you haven't talked to, nevermind SEEN for roughly 18 years. No joke. She and I were BEST friends growing up. We were virtually inseparable and most of my most vivid childhood memories include her and/or her family. In fact, I think her parents were so much my "second set" they were the only people who had full permission to treat me as one of their own, in good times and bad.

Seriously. I hadn't even spoken to her for so long, I was totally unsure of what to expect when I arrived in Dayton, bag in hand, like "Here we are!" And it couldn't have gone any better. Even after 18 whole years, it was like we hadn't missed a day, we jumped into conversation, and were up till 2am reminiscing. It made me realize why we were such good friends in the first place... there were so many parallels in our lives it was almost scary, and we were still so similar in thought in our adult lives that it is hard to believe we ever lost touch for so long. Even our kids match. Don't they say that a mother knows her child's cry? Well, not in this case...in fact, the word "MOOOOMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIIEEEE" is indiscernible whether it's coming from hers or mine... no joke. Neither of us can tell the difference.

Her husband is in the Army, and it's quite likely that she'll be moving further south in the next few years. This totally bums me out, as I feel I have rekindled a true, lifelong friendship that I don't even mind the thought of driving 4 hours one way just to hang out. Anyway, she is here for this week, and I'm so excited to get to spend more time with her. As most know, I don't have many true "girlfriends" with a few exceptions (Amy, Allisa...) and I am so stoked to have found her.

I'm hoping that at some point this week we can stop talking and actually get a pic of the two of us and of our families together. I know I've posted about this before, I'm just so excited that she's here! Here's to a fun week!

Taxes

I. Hate. Taxes. Especially. When. They're. Not. My. Own.

No, I Didn't Get Lost

I haven’t gone on vacation or anything cool like that. I’ve just been totally ignoring this blog. Sorry. I know that’s a GREAT way to keep people clicking in regularly, too. Post randomly, maybe once a month or so. Pretty soon people will just say, to hell with her, and delete me from their favorites. So anyway. Here’s what we’ve been up to!

My corned beef dinner went off without a hitch. A few of my yearly “regulars” couldn’t make it this year, so we had a few new people over. The menu was the same – 12 pounds of corned beef brisket (yum!), cabbage, onions, carrots, and red potatoes slow cooked for ever in Guinness, cheddar bread (that I finally got right this year – put a glaze of butter, garlic powder, and sugar over the top), and the standard “grasshopper parfait” that I make every year. It was good and I had report that the next days gaseous emissions were indicative of – well – enough cabbage (sorry, TMI). Gee, I wonder who that came from…

We rocked out to Guitar Hero for a while, had a few beers, and enjoyed each other’s company. Speaking of Guitar Hero… I finally got the new Wii hooked up to the internet (stupid easy – I don’t know what I was waiting for) and realized that you can battle other players or play along with them “band style” via your online connection. This is a devastating discovery. Truly. It is So. Much. Fun. And remember, this is coming from someone who on a 1-10 scale of Video Game Tolerance is at a like 2 or 3. Really. Typically, I really don’t understand people who play these things addictively. Well, maybe now I do. At least if it’s Guitar Hero. Going back to the online connection… I played someone who was playing the same song I was on expert (I was on medium) and he/she totally kicked my butt at it. By like 10,000 points. I felt very puny after that – clearly I need more practice.

I’ve been running still in preparation for the Valpo Triathlon in July. What I really need to do at this point is get my bike tuned up and get on that, too. I enjoy biking so much more than I do running. I should probably find a swimmable body of water, too. Needless to say, I have a lot of training to do before July. I’ve made a commitment to riding the horses more this spring than I did (or didn’t) this winter. Show season is approaching rapidly (my first is May2nd) and I’m too fat to fit into my show clothes, and the horse is too out of sorts to even think about being competitive. So it’s crunch time.

The kids are on spring break. It was actually pretty warm here yesterday but super windy (that always ruins things). Today it’s sunny and calm but not as warm. I think the kids are spending the night at the in-laws Thursday night. It’ll be so weird to get up in the morning and get off to work without kids to feed/dress/or run somewhere… and Brian will be at work already, too, so I’ll have the whole house to myself when I get up. Weird.

We have two trips planned in June. We’re going to Brown County with the horses and the kids are going to Arizona. A few weeks later we are planning on heading out to Colorado for about a week together. It’ll be the kids’ first trip out there, so I’m excited to share something I love so much with them. We have plans to visit some old friends while we’re there, too, so it’s a bonus. It’ll be the beginning of the spring season there so it should be really pretty with all the wildflowers blooming and endless mountain sunshine and blue skies. Hmmm. Remind me again why I live here…

Well, that’s my update. Be sure to check out my photo blog if you have any interest in some other stuff I’ve been up to…

My First 5K This Year

Today was my first 5K race for the year. It's a race I ran back in '02, just after Vincent was born. It was a really cool race, called Runnin With the Irish. It had a cool St. Patty's day theme, and was definitely more healthy way to celebrate St. Pats than green beer. I ran my best 5K time yet, too; 31:twenty-something (the results aren't up yet). That's not blazing fast, actually, it's really not even kind of fast, but it's an accomplishment for me.

I ran with two great friends; Sarah and Allisa. It was the first 5K for the both of them, so that was cool too. So this is all in preparation for the sprint triathlon I am planning on running in July. It's the Valparaiso Triathlon, and I ran it in it's maiden year in 2005.

I actually feel pretty good today. It was a sunny day and the scenery was great. The couse went through the Dunes State Park, and up to the beach and around the big pavilion there. It was a little chilly at first, but once we got going, we were fine. I imagine all the cookies and brownies at the end cancelled out all the calories I burned during the run, but oh well. We had a good time and it was good to go back to the run that was the first 5K I ever completed. Hooray!

An Interview With Vincent...

I put this on my Facebook page, too. I thought it was pretty cute, and I'm not feeling very creative today...

A conversation with Vincent, age 6.5

1. What is something mom always says to you?
“Don't be wild.”

2. What makes mom happy?
“When I follow directions.”

3. What makes mom sad?
“When I say I don't love you.” (That is, when HE says I don't love you to ME...)

4. How does your mom do to make you laugh?
“Scratch my back."

5. What was your mom like as a child?
“I don't know.”

6.How old is mom?
“48." (Uhhh...)

7. How tall is your mom?
“17." (After touching random points on my body)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
“Sit and do the computer.”

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
“Go to the barn”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
“For taking me out to dinner."

11. What is your mom really good at?
“Building things and being a police officer."

12. What is your mom not very good at?
"That one's hard. You're not good at building showers."

13. What does your mom do for her job?
“You catch bad guys”

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
“Pizza."

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
“When you help me clean my room up."

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
“Tom the cat."

17. What do you and your mom do together?
“We go to the park sometimes."

18. How are you and your mom the same?
“We both have the same colored hair.”

19. How are you and your mom different?
“We have different colored eyes.”

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
“Just because."

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
“To Burger King." (What? I hate Burger King...)

The Coma Cometh

Despite the fact that it's beautiful outside, the fact that I've been VERY VERY good about running and eating right, the fact that I've successfully de-cluttered about 40% of my house, and the fact that I've even gotten a reasonable amount of sleep in the past few nights (all you need, ladies, is a husband that has to get up before o'dark thirty, and you get to go to bed by 9:30!!) - I feel like total dog crap.

My symptoms are mild at worst, I just have a general malaise today. And I'm SOOO not in the mood for it...

So tonight after the customary hot tub soak (yay!) I took a shot of NyQuil, a melatonin, and a Leingenkeugels Honey Weiss...

"NyQuil, NyQuil, NyQuil we love you, you giant f-ing Q..."

If you don't know what that last thing is about, you can no longer be my friend. Just kidding.

I'll see you when I come out of the coma... probably Saturday...

The Auto Assistance Ownership Amendment, As It Applies To Your's Truly...

Can someone with more patience please answer me this question? In the typical fashion that I tend to get HOSED out of all things good, in Obama’s new stimulus package it was my understanding that under the Auto Assistance Ownership Amendment that taxpayers would be allowed to deduct sales tax paid on a new vehicle purchase between November 12, 2008 and December 31, 2009. I think one can actually read the bill itself at readthestimulus.org - yeah, not even the lawmakers VOTING on this read it. I can assure you that I will not either.

There are conflicting reports, however on the dates of eligibility for this deduction. Some reports say it begins on February 14th (or thereabouts, not sure on the specific date) and some say it’s retroactive to the date above. Naturally, this matters to me because of course, we bought our new truck smack dab in the middle of the “grey area” in the dates. January 23, 2009, to be exact. I am not linking to any information I have found on this, because, again, they all contradict each other.

Rest assured, we did NOT buy a vehicle costing more than $49,500 and we do NOT make over $250,000 per year… so no problems there. It’s just a matter of the dates.

A big hug to anyone who can definitively answer this question – if I do qualify, maybe I’ll cut you a check for $5 when I get my tax refund from 2009!

What's Up With the Ears In This Family?

What the hell? Vincent woke up last night screaming, “Mommy! Mom!” (and so on and on and on) around 4:30 this morning. I was in the middle of a dream, and Brian came to before me so he actually went up and checked up on him. He said his head hurt, so Brian gave him an ibuprofen, and we all went back to sleep. So today, at work, I get a phone call from home. It’s Brian asking me where the ear drops from Vincent’s last ear infection are. Apparently, now, Vincent is complaining of ANOTHER earache, in the same ear as before.

This kid has never had problems with his ears before. I wish I knew what was going on…

Three Cheers for a Springlike Day!!!

It’s going to be in the 60’s today!!! I know this is just a “spring teaser” but after this weather we’ve had this winter, that started in NOVEMBER, I’m ready for a taste, even if it’s just that, of spring.

It’s supposed to snow again on Thursday, so I’m sure this will be short lived; as in like, less than 24 hours. None the less, it’s exciting. I got to go for a jog outside yesterday afternoon, and I’ll probably go de-mud the horses tonight after we get the kids. Speaking of horses, they’re actually starting to shed – which in the horse world means that the worst part of winter is probably over. I remember being a kid and knowing that when the horses started to shed out, we were on the downward slope of winter. Yay!

I’ve got that spring cleaning fever, too. I just can’t wait to open up the house, move all the furniture and dust and vacuum under and around things… and to turn the DAMN FURNACE off for a few minutes! Geez! I’m not kidding to say that the gas company owes me a steak dinner after this winter! That thing has been running non stop.

Well, enjoy the nice weather, if you’re getting any of it wherever you are…

Schnauzer! Schnauzer!

If you're wondering why I have a picture of a Schnauzer on my blog with no further explanation, call me. It's a pretty funny story...

A New Adventure in Blogging

I've decided to expand my business footprint and add a blog link to discuss business happenings. Subscribe to me! Help me be more visible in cyberworld - all the cool people are doing it! Here's a link: http://www.jenniferlynneventphotography.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping to discuss photo related topics there. If you have any general photography questions, or have an idea for something for me to discuss, feel free to make your suggestions!

Random Thoughts

Well, the Super Bowl dessert was a hit… I decided to wing it and made my own creation. I came up with this: Pressed a ginger snap crust (like a graham cracker crust, only with ginger snaps) into a casserole dish. Mixed light cream cheese with cool whip and added pear juice till it was fluffy and put it in the crust. Sliced pears and put those on top of the whipped stuff. Chopped up some more ginger snaps and sprinkled them on the top, with just a dash of cinnamon and VOILA. It was really good!

It worked out especially well that someone else brought dirt pudding, so it complemented that well. Same idea, totally different taste. The only thing about the Super Bowl that kind of sucked was that Arizona didn’t win. Not that I really root for either team, but I tend to shoot for the underdog in these situations. Oh well. It’s true (statistically, that is) that if I’m A) Watching a game, B) Wearing a team jersey, or C) Rooting for someone specific, that team is guaranteed to lose. I’m not kidding. I’ve quit wearing my Bronco’s jersey because of this (not that it mattered this year… but anyway…). Seriously.

In other news. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I have a general feeling of malaise lately. Kind of like you feel a day or two before you get sick, but I haven’t gotten sick and I’ve felt this way for a week. This morning, my stomach hurt. Not like nauseous or anything – like someone punched me. I can’t recall a time that my stomach actually hurt. When I was running, it felt like a sore muscle or something. But my stomach. Weird. I’ve also had a moderate to severe headache just about every morning for the past week, too. Maybe I’m dying. I can’t think of any other logical explanation. No one else in the family is reporting symptoms…

Anyway, I hope every one has a good week. I’ll catch up soon, if I’m not dead by then…

Help! I'm Not Creative!

I'm going to a super bowl party this weekend (big surprise!) and have been asked to bring a dessert. Usually, I'm really good at desserts - but I want to take something that is super bowl-esque. I googled "super bowl dessert" and got a bunch of suggestions for cupcakes decorated like each team, 7 layer bars and other standards. I'm thinking something a little more original, and also something that's easy to grab (or scoop) and go. I'm thinking... cute. What was your biggest superbowl dessert hit?