Rachel's Ramblings

I am

2010-03-15T15:13:00.000-04:00

EDD: November 23, 2010.

CARBONSTONE Rocks!

2010-03-08T08:30:00.002-05:00

Last night, Neely's band CARBONSTONE was featured on 98Rock in Virginia's local music showcase. Corey & Josh gave a short interview and then three of CARBONSTONE's songs were played on air. It was really great to hear the band on the radio.

In honor of that, I'm going to be giving away a CD plus two tickets to CARBONSTONE's up coming show at Recher Theatre (opening for Evolver) in Towson, MD on March 19th to one of you. In addition, I'll be giving away 5 copies of CARBONSTONE's new EP, Strength in Silence, too. I know once you hear the band, you'll love them as much as I do!

Here's all you have to do to enter and win:

Go to CARBONSTONE's FaceBook or MySpace fan page and become a fan;
Comment on either page once you become a fan.
Go to the band's website and join the mailing list. Be sure to leave your myspace or facebook name in the comment section so we can track you.

On Monday, March 15th, I'll run a random number generator to pick the winners. And don't fret if you don't win the tickets. You can order your own on the band's website or by contacting me. Tickets are $10.

He has a girlfriend.

2010-03-07T14:05:00.000-05:00

Or at least a girl that he is interested in. James, that is. If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen this already.

James and his friends went to see Alice in Wonderland on Friday night. The only way my son would go see that movie is if a girl was involved. He would not have been caught dead seeing that movie and in fact would have probably teased his sister unmercifully for wanting to go. But because a girl wanted to go see it, he went. I don't know who the girl is though. James said that it's none of my business so he's not bringing her around or even telling me her name right now. I know he's doing that to torture me and not really because he doesn't want me to know. He's cruel like that. He knows that I want to know (and bad) so to get under my skin (it's working) he refuses to tell me anything and gets a little smirk on his face every time I ask him about.

One other thing about him being interested in a girl, is that he's dressing nicely, often and he's showering regularly.

And we have a winner!

2010-03-04T16:43:00.000-05:00

Just got an email with a screen shot of my blog at 10,000 visitors! Congrats Katie! I'll get the camera strap cover to you as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone!

Want to go to Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York?

2010-03-04T16:35:00.001-05:00

I know you do! Remember Debbie Wiener and the book I gave away not too long ago?

Well Debbie is celebrating the launch of her new Slobproof! with Crypton furniture line by giving away two tickets to the Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York, March 18-21st.

Debbie Wiener, interior designer to the slobs, is offering two free tickets for the 5 Minutes for Books readers to attend the Architectural Digest Home Design Show (N YC, March 18-21) in celebration of the debut of her new line of trendy pet and family furniture. The line made with Crypton super fabrics is eco-concious, made in the USA, and long-lasting. Crafted to be slobproof, it is stain-proof and perfect for those with kids, pets or slobs for husbands!

If you'd like to go, simply leave a comment here, by Wednesday, March 10, and I'll select a commenter at random for the tickets!

I am angry.

2010-03-03T20:02:00.001-05:00

Feels good to say it. I am angry. No, I take that back. I'm down right pissed off. I'll tell you why.

Will and Clayton have not seen their mom since January 30th. That's 30 days ago, if we're counting. She calls them maybe twice a week, if it's a good week; usually it's only one time. But that's not even why I'm angry. Will & Clayton have a little sister who is 3 years old. She's as cute as can be. Honest, she looks like Drew Barrymore, circa E.T. She too, is living with her father and not their mother. Not only are Will & Clayton separated from their mom, but they are also separated from their sister (and oldest brother, but that's another story for another day). And sometimes when they do see their mom, it's not at the same time that their sister does. They miss her, but they are also kids so it's not something that is constantly on their minds - at least not overtly. They go about their day, going to school, playing and what not. During one of their recent phone conversations with their mom, she gave them both a hard way to go about not calling their sister. I mean she laid in to them, big time, and really upset Clayton.

I just don't think it's fair to Will & Clayton to lay that on them. I mean, certainly they want to talk to their sister and will talk to her for hours when they do, but honest to God, their mom is the one that separated them and doesn't see them regularly and doesn't arrange for them to see each other. She's the common denominator. How is up to them, the children, to make sure they stay in contact with each other? And it's not even that I am discouraging them calling their sister or even their mom for that matter, it's just that they don't think about it but they certainly don't need a guilt trip from her about it. They have lived here for 7 months and 2 weeks and they have visited their mom for an overnight visit twice and four other times where they stayed for a few hours. That's less than one visit per month, you know if we're counting. How dare she be upset with them for something she created and continues to do almost nothing about?!

And that, my friends, is why I'm pissed.

Ouch! That hurt.

2010-03-02T16:10:00.001-05:00

Last night I borrowed Daniel's baby doll to practice some shots with my new backdrop and fake hardwood flooring. Today he wanted to do some too. He got his doll and a few of my props and posed his doll. At one point, I heard one of my props crack so I said "Daniel if you aren't careful and break that, I'm going to be very upset." He responded with "and then you won't love me anymore?"

Ouch.

I immediately explained to him that there is nothing in the world that could make me not love him, and that being angry or upset with someone is not the same as not loving them, but then I started to think about it. I know he's only 4 (and a half - whoa!), but I had to think if I ever gave him the impression that my love for him could wax and wane; come and go, depending on his behavior. I did a little self-reflection and I have to be honest, I didn't like it one little bit. I have always thought that I always showed my kids that I love them, despite how crazy they may make me, but perhaps I've dwelt a little too much on how crazy they make me and not enough on the love.

Ouch.

That really hurt a little bit.

Happy 90th Birthday

2010-03-01T20:00:00.000-05:00

Today my Grandmother would have been 90 years old. She wanted to live to see this birthday. She talked about it all the time, until she couldn't talk any longer. She always talked about her brother Paul, who lived to be 92. I often wonder if she still thought about it after she had her stroke and could no longer communicate. I wonder if she wished to be healed or if she wished to go home to be with her Savior. I know for me personally, I would not have wanted to live like she did for those 4 years.

I want to cry today because I miss her, but I am so blessed to have had her for so long so at the same time I want to rejoice that she is no longer suffering. I broke down the other day when I was playing around in my family tree on ancestry.com. My mom had logged in and updated my grandmother's date of death, but I had not logged in to see it. When I did log in, I saw that there was a leaf on my grandmother's name. It was just the Social Security Death Index, but it really hit me that she was gone. I don't think I really grieved when she died. I mean she died on Thanksgiving and I had friends from out of town visiting and then there was the whirlwind trip to North Carolina and back in 36 hours for her burial.

Recently, Neely's mother told me that I was wrong for taking Daniel to see my grandmother when she was in the nursing home after her stroke. She said it was wrong of me to take him and Will & Clayton to the viewing after she had died. She said that was horrible parenting to expose them to that. I don't honestly care what she thinks to be honest and I told her as much. But you see, I just wanted Daniel to know her like Sarah & James did. I wish she could have read to him like she did with Sarah, James, Alison & Lauren - book after book on her lap and she never got tired. I am so sad that he never got to experience that. I am so sad that she never sang him the duck song that she sang to me and later taught to Sarah & James. It breaks my hear that he doesn't know the "Great" that Sarah & James knew. I just wanted him to know her and know that she was important to us and a huge part of our family.

So she didn't quite make it to 90 like she wanted to, but she was a beautiful soul, with a loving, giving spirit and I will celebrate her 89 years, 8 months, and 25 days today. I will tell Daniel stories about her and hope he grows to love her as much as I did and still do.

Camera strap cover review & giveaway - CONTEST CLOSED

2010-03-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've just announced the winner of the strap cover. Thanks for all who played along.

One of my favorite things about JustMommies.com and my years being a member there is the friendships that I have been able to form and develop over the last five years. I have friends all over the world and I love it. Another great thing is that my friends love me and are talented and make things and send them to me.

Recently, my fellow photography loving, Canon Rebel owning, August 05 mommy decided to make herself a camera strap cover. She's crafty like that. If you own a digital SLR camera (or any camera for that matter), you know that the camera straps aren't that comfortable and if you worn one around your neck for any length of time, you know why I was so happy when Holly said she was going to make one for me and send it to me. Not only is it purdy, bit it's oh so much more comfortable than the plain old Canon strap.

Holly padded it so it's not just a fabric cover, it's a padded cover that makes wearing your camera so much more comfortable. I am just in love with it and definitely think you should venture over to Holly's new Etsy shop and order your very own.

I had Will model it for me on my XTi. He said it was it felt much better than when I took the cover off and he even said he'd like one for his trombone. LOL

Be sure to check out Holly's shop. She's just opened it, but I'm sure she'll be adding more items and fabric choices soon.

Oh, I did mention a giveaway, didn't I? Well because Holly is so wonderful she is going to let me give one of these covers to one of you lucky readers! I'm sure you will love it as much as I do. How do you win, you say? Well, it's easy. My blog is coming up on getting 10,000 views. Right now it's at 9,663. All you have to do to win is be the 10,000 viewer of my blog (or closest to it). The first person to email me at rachelproctorphotography at gmail dot com with a screen capture of the counter at 10,000 (or closest to it) will win. Good luck!

Welcome to my world.

2010-02-28T16:18:00.000-05:00

I posted this picture on my 365 blog.

Here's a little taste of what it's like to live with these 3 boys.

The conversation went something like this:

William: You're getting big.

Clayton: Yeah, I know. I keep growing and growing.

William: I bet you can't fit through there. *points to space between the counter and the bread baskets*

Clayton: I bet I still could.

William: Bet you can't. Give it a try.

Clayton: OK *proceeds to move stuff out of the way and then climbs across counter under bread baskets*

William: Rachel, Clayton crawled across the counter. You know under the bread baskets.

Rachel: What on earth for? *note, I was not privy to the above conversation, yet.*

William: I dunno.

Rachel: Tell him to come here. *waits*

Rachel to Clayton: Did you climb across the counter?

Clayton: Yeah.

Rachel: Why?

Clayton: To show Will that I could.

Rachel: Go to your room till your dad gets home.

After about 20 minutes I called Neely and said "you'll never guess why Clayton is in his room". He couldn't guess, of course, so I told him. He said there is no way that Clayton thought of doing that on his own, so I should find out if William encouraged him. The following conversation ensued:

Rachel: Will, did you encourage Clayton to crawl across the counter? Did you bet him he couldn't or anything?

William: No. He just did it.

Rachel: He just decided to crawl across the counter for no reason.

William: Yeah.

Rachel to Clayton: Clayton, did Will encourage you to crawl across the counter?

Clayton: Yeah, he told me to "give it a try".

Rachel: Clayton can you tell me exactly what he said?

Clayton: yeah *recites first conversation*

Rachel to William: Will, why are you lying?

William: I'm not lying, he just did it. Clayton's lying.

Rachel: Go to your room till your dad gets here. You might end up spending the rest of the night in your room.

So, I just have one thing to say:

HELP!!!!

Breakfast casserole - it's what's for dinner.

2010-02-27T16:45:00.000-05:00

I have to give credit for this recipe to Sarah's high school foods teacher. It was one of the recipes that she taught the class to make and it is one of our family favorites. I have shared it with a few friends and they have all loved it too.

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb sausage roll - I double the recipe and use 1 lb of spice and 1 lb of maple or regular.
6-8 large eggs
1 cup of milk
2 cups of your choice of shredded cheese (cheddar is our family choice)
6-8 slices of bread
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350º.
Brown your sausage in a skillet. Cook it up like you would ground beef for tacos. If your family is up for it (mine is not) throw in a small diced onion with the sausage. Drain and set aside.

In a large bowl mix your eggs, milk, salt & pepper and half of the cheese and then add the cooked, drained and cooled sausage. Again, if your family will eat it, add mushrooms & peppers to the mix.

Spray a 9x12 pan with cooking spray and then lay your bread slices on the bottom. Don't worry if the bread doesn't cover the whole bottom. Slowly pour your egg, sausage, cheese, etc. mixture over the top.

Bake at 350º for 35-45 minutes or until your egg is cooked thoroughly. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and place back in the oven for 3-5 minutes to melt. Serve while it's hot.

My family loves this served at breakfast or dinner. I've even replaced the bread with tater tots a time or two and that's gone over really well, too. Hope you enjoy!

Maybe he did get a little bit from me.

2010-02-26T16:16:00.003-05:00

Daniel grabbed his Little Tykes Digital Camera last night and pretty much started imitating me.

It was so funny to watch that I had to grab my camera and capture him, capturing me.

After he took each picture he would look at the screen and say "nice shot" or "great job" or "yes, success". It was so cute!

So maybe he does have a little bit of me in him too?

Five Things Friday

2010-02-26T08:30:00.000-05:00

Five things you might or might not know about me:

1. My dad is an evangelist and both my parents are graduates of Piedmont Bible (now Baptist) College. My mom taught 4th grade when I was in 1st grade and then she taught Typing and Home Economics. My mom later got her Masters in ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages). I have no college degree, although I have taken a bunch of classes.

2. Neely and I are not married. We have been together for six years and act like an old married couple, but we have yet to tie the knot. This has been a bone of contention between me and my parents, given what I've just mentioned in #1.

3. I have one brother, who is 15 months older than me. I am the baby and a total Daddy's girl. When Philip and I were kids and wanted to do something, he would always cajole me into asking my dad.

4. I can kill bugs with my bare hands, can build anything as long as there is an instruction manual, can replace a power supply in a computer, and can even snake a toilet, but I fall to pieces when I have car trouble. I just am not equipped to handle a flat tire or anything related to a car not working properly.

5. I have Fibromyalgia. There are days when my body aches so bad, I can hardly move. There are days when I feel so exhausted that I can hardly get out of bed. I fear that no one understands this and thinks I am being lazy. I feel that the pharmacy techs look at me funny when I fill my prescription for pain meds. I hate it, and often push myself harder than I should and don't take my meds when I need them.

There you have it. Five things you may or may not have known about me. Don't you feel more complete now?

My awesome new camera bag.

2010-02-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

I just got a great new camera bag. I've been wanting a new one for a while, but I had not been able to find just the right one for me. Until recently, that is. A fellow member of JustMommies' Photography board has been making diaper bags for a while and decided to try her hand at making a digital SLR camera bag. She made one for herself and posted pictures of it on the board and I knew immediately that I must have one.

Joanna agreed to start making them and even opened an Esty store (I'll provide a link soon) to sell them. I am really happy with the bag. I can fit my camera, my back up camera, my speed light and three extra lenses in it and it's not overfull either. It's got lots of extra pockets too for holding batteries, extra CF cards or whatever you might need to take with you. It's extra padded so I know my equipment is safe. And the strap is long enough to throw over my shoulder so I can shoot with everything I need right with me. Oh and the fabric, lovely! Here are a few pictures of it.

I have to apologize for the bad photos. I took these late at night in my kitchen, so the white balance is way off. But isn't it gorgeous?

See how neatly everything fits? And there's still room for the camera that I'm shooting with.

That's everything that I had in it. And I'm sure I could have gotten another lens or two in there, if I needed to. Joanna doesn't currently have anything listed in her Etsy store, but when she does, I will be sure to share the link so you can get in on this fabulous bag. In the meantime, if you want to contact her through JustMommies, let me know and I'll get you her screen name.

Gotta love boys!

2010-02-24T22:02:00.001-05:00

I have never felt more out-numbered in my life! I love having boys because I can tell you that the one girl I had was enough for me. Really, moms of girls, be warned. It gets worse. Much much worse. You're welcome.

Anyway ... we have a rule in our house - NO ROUGH HOUSING. William and Clayton are 6 and 4 years older than Daniel, respectively. Much too big to be horsing around with Daniel. Daniel always ends up getting hurt, but he will rough house with them, if given the opportunity. Sort of like me when I was a kid and my dad and brother always hurt me, but I kept going back for more. Ahem. Moving right along...

So we have this rule but, you know, boys are boys and we often having rough-housing going on on the down-low. Such was the case earlier this week. The boys had a little wrestling match with William pitted against Daniel and Clayton was giving the blow-by-blow. Neely and I had no idea that it had occurred at all. Until today, that is, when Neely was listening to the voice recordings on Clayton's MP3 player. He found this little gem:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/11/22/408037/VOICE033.mp3

You have to laugh. Go ahead. I did. Until the end when Daniel starts crying. Interestingly enough, that's also when the recording ends. Although, I do think Clayton may have found his calling as the next WWE announcer. What do you think?

Some days, this step-parent thing ain't easy.

2010-02-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

I love my kids. All of them. Whether they are mine by blood or mine by circumstance. There is no question about it in my mind and I hope there is no question about it their's either. But some days, raising someone else's child is not easy. Some days I feel like I do not have the patience for this. I have yet to hear "you can't tell me what to do, you're not my mother", but I know it's coming, eventually. I'll have to gloss over the fact that for all intents and purposes, I am, in fact, their mother.

When you have a child that you conceived, carried and birthed, unconditional love comes naturally. I don't even have to think about it. When you parent a child that is not of you, it's sometimes hard to give that unconditional love. At least for me. I'm just being honest here, so I really hope you don't think less of me after reading this. There are days when I think to myself that life would be so much easier for me if their mom still had custody. I have to remind myself that it is not about me and they are here because it is what is best for them. When Will & Clayton moved in, I knew my life would change. I knew that Neely and I would have to make sacrifices for them. I think the sacrifices were easier for Neely to make because they are his boys and having custody of them was what he's always wanted. While I always supported him in that decision, I can't honestly say I wanted custody of them. I knew in my heart that they would end up here and I accepted that and embraced them when it did happen, but truth be told, my life is different and in many respects harder now than it was before July 14, 2009. Add that they both have some emotional baggage related to their mom to the equation and it makes for some very trying days. It is a day to day struggle to change some of their habits and I have to remind myself daily that it is not their fault. I know where my anger should be directed and trust me, it is, but I can't say that it doesn't spill over onto them and it really shouldn't. I struggle with this and I'm working on it.

All of my adult life I have been surrounded by other people's children and I never had an issue. It's different now because I can't take Will & Clayton home. This is their home, and we're a family and I'm in this for the long haul. I don't question that. But it ain't always easy and I ain't always happy about it. And that's the naked truth.

Meet Clayton

2010-02-23T19:08:00.000-05:00

Clayton or Clay-b as he's sometimes called around here is Neely's second son. He'll be 9 years old in a few weeks and makes me giggle almost daily. He also exasperates me, but this is a happy post. ;)

Clayton is a sweet boy who loves mac & cheese. He could seriously eat a whole box of the cheep stuff, but don't ask him to eat beans. You'll be at the table ALL.DAY.LONG waiting for him to finish. Clayton is super silly almost all the time. He can turn anything into a joke. You also have to be really careful with Clayton when you give him instructions. At dinner on Christmas Eve with the family, I asked him not to double dip his chip in the cheese dip. I turned back to him a short time later, and saw him double dipping. When I asked him what he was doing he said "that was 4 times". How could you not laugh at that? If we tell him to pick up Legos, he'll pick up all around the one piece of K-Nex, because, well, it's not a Lego and we said Legos. He received a set of three body sprays from his mom at Christmas and we told him he was only allowed to spray it once when he used it. One night he came out of the shower smelling incredibly bad and I asked him how many times he sprayed his body spray and his response was "just one ... of each one". Oh Lordy!

Clayton is cute as can be and I can definitely see his dad's features when I look at him. He is really kind most of the time and I enjoy having him around.

Enjoy him while you can ...

2010-02-22T13:58:00.000-05:00

they grow up so fast.

That has been said to me more times than I can remember about Daniel. My usual response is "yep, I know how fast they grow up. His big sister is 21." And after that one or two things happen. I either get "wow, you don't look like you're old enough to have a 21 year old", to which I usually respond with "biologically, I am." Or I hear "wow, you must have been a young mom, then", to which I respond "yes, indeed I was." I am not embarrassed to say it. I am not ashamed.

I was a teen mommy. I am 37 years old and my daughter is 21. I got pregnant with Sarah 4 months and 2 days before my 16th birthday. However, Sarah was not an accident. Yes, I know what you're thinking. I understand the thought process too. I've seen young women on JustMommies wanting to conceive at that very age and I want to scream at them, shake them, hug them and make them see the light. I wish someone had done that for me. Let me take you back to the Winter of 1988. My best friend had recently had a baby. She is a year older than me, but Nicole was born before Cricket turned 16. Cricket made it look so cool and easy and even though I was her best friend, I didn't see the sleepless nights. I didn't see the dirty diapers (OK, OK, I saw some of them). I didn't see how hard it was and I had no idea what having a baby would mean to my life. But I didn't care. Sarah's dad wanted a baby and I just knew that if I could produce one, he would stay with me forever and we could be a happy little family. Can you say naive? That would be an understatement.

I had recently learned about my cycles and ovulation and I knew roughly when I would ovulate. One night after Cricket and I returned from bowling (yes we were on a league; yes, we were dorks), I told her boyfriend (later husband) that I thought I was ovulating and would probably get pregnant if I had sex that night. And of course he rushed off and told his best friend, my boyfriend, who became Sarah's father and is now my ex-husband. Sarah was conceived in typical teenager style, on the floor of my best friend's living room. Classy, I know. I didn't care that I would have to face my parents with the news in a few weeks. Nothing mattered to me that night except keeping my boy happy. How dumb I was, right?

And I can't even tell you that I had a horrible childhood in a single parent home or loveless home or that I was desperately seeking unconditional love - none of that applies to me. I had/have great parents who love me no mater what I do. I was raised in a Christian home with Christian values. I knew right from wrong and I knew what God said about premarital sex. None of it mattered, though. I knew what I wanted and I was bound and determined to do it. No thought whatsoever was given to what I was going to do later; how I was going to support this child or what I would do about high school and college. When you're 15 years old, you think you've got it all figured out. You think you are smart enough, have seen enough, know it all and can handle anything. How wrong I was. Sitting here now thinking about that time in my life, I get really emotional. I don't want you to think for one minute that I regret having Sarah or marrying her dad and later having James. I would not change having those two wonderful kids in my life. It really is contradictory, it seems, to say that, but truth be told I wouldn't change my life because it made me who I am today. I just don't ever want anyone else to ever think it was easy and I don't want anyone else to have to learn the lessons that I learned in such a hard way.

Steven L. Miller giveaway winner!

2010-02-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

Here's what I did. I numbered each comment in order and then I started at the top again and gave each commenter who said they were becoming a fan on Facebook another number. Then I went to random.org to determine the winner. The winning number was 12.

Congrats to Nori! Stop by Steven L. Miller's gallery and let me know which photo you'd like to receive. Email me at rachelproctorphotography at gmail dot com with your address so I can get it to you! Thanks everyone for playing along!

I've got another contest in mind, so be on the lookout!

This is William.

2010-02-18T22:55:00.000-05:00

This is William. We usually call him Will, but he's also commonly called Woogga. He got that nickname before I knew him. Just sayin. Will is Neely's almost 11 year old, oldest son. He's tall and thin, but eats like he's a ... well, a growing boy. He loves ramen noodles and likes making them for himself. If given the choice to have anything he wants for lunch, ramen noodles is usually what he picks. Well, unless candy was an option. He has an insatiable sweet tooth, too.

I wrote a post recently about Will and our battle with him about honesty. That is still a constant battle, but I don't want anyone to think he's all bad. Quite the contrary. Will loves to cook or bake and is often volunteering to help me make dinner. When he is allowed to make his own lunch, he often makes his brothers' lunch as well. He is goofy and nerdy. He loves anything science related and would rather watch the Science channel than Nick (which can cause a problem for the other two, but we make it work).

He has a new best friend who he met at school and has recently discovered talking on the telephone. This can be a problem when you're on a conference call, by the way. He had his first ever sleepover a few weeks ago and has been talking of nothing else since. As you can see from his picture, he like to ham it up and make people laugh. Not to mention he's got that cute little dimple thing going on.

This girl

2010-02-17T17:35:00.002-05:00

... is my only daughter and my firstborn.
... is the mommy of an Angel.
... likes musicals and Broadway shows.
... loves her Converse All Stars and has several pair.
... is my only brown eyes child.
... is often mistaken for my sister instead of my daughter.
... has a very eclectic taste in music.
... likes Harry Potter and vampire movies.
... is sad that Pepperidge Farms is no longer making pot pies.
... loves Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream.
... has a goofy laugh.
... is pierced and tattooed.
... is more likable now than when she was in her awkward teen years.
... exasperates me and makes me laugh in the same 10 minutes.
... is completely totally unconditionally loved by her mommy. ♥

I love Photography!

2010-02-10T19:50:00.003-05:00

Comments closed! Look for a post with a winner shortly!

I'm pretty sure you know by now how much I love photography. But it's not just that I love taking pictures, I also love looking at other pictures. Recently I was introduced to photography by Steven L. Miller and let me just say, I am in love with his work. He has a way of capturing emotion, that I can only dream about. Here are a few samples of his art - yes art!

Steven L. Miller is a Washington DC based cultural portrait artist with nine images in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian Museum (did ya'll hear the roof collapsed at the Smithsonian Warehouse today from all the snow? Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled program). Spending most of his life leading non profit organizations in six states, Miller left his executive position in 2002 to make and market fine art black and white images that reflect- and impact- the human condition. Miller also teaches photography classes in the Washington DC and Philadelphia areas. Married with two children, he has visited 33 foreign countries in search of images that are “compelling and memorable.” I certainly think he's found compelling and memorable. Just take a look at his gallery, and I'm sure you'll agree. And for those of you on facebook, be sure to become a fan; I sure am!

And finally, I did mention a giveaway in my last post, didn't I? Well since I know so many of you love photography just as much as I do, I'm going to give away one of Steven's photos to one of you. You'll get an 8x10 matted image of one of the photo's in Steven's gallery! To win, all you need to do is comment this post. I'll give another entry if you become a fan of Steven's on Facebook and one if you Tweet this post (be sure to @rajohns72 me in your tweet so that I know you've done it). On next Friday, February 19, 2010, I'll choose one lucky reader to get one of Steven's wonderful images. Ready? Go!

New giveaway tomorrow! Be on the look out!

2010-02-08T23:04:00.000-05:00

I would have posted the new giveaway today, but I had computer issues and had to reinstall Windows on my desktop and all of my programs. I'll be back tomorrow with a fabulous giveaway and to wet your appetite, here's a little sneak peak at what's up for grabs.

So don't miss your chance. Check back tomorrow!

Winner!

2010-02-07T02:15:00.000-05:00

The winner of Debbie Wiener's book, Slob Proof! Real-Life Design Solutions, is commentator number:

One! Congrats Adi! Send me an email with your address and I'll get it out to you. Once I dig out of this snow, of course.

Banging my head against the wall.

2010-02-06T19:56:00.000-05:00

I just don't understand Will some days. Will is almost 11 and I don't know if what he is going through is your typical preteen angst or what, but some days I could shake him. I don't, but I want to. Here's just an example of what we're dealing with:

Will to me: Daniel just punched me.
Me: Why did he do that?
Will: *shrugs* I dunno.
Me: So you're telling me Daniel got up from his chair and walked over to you and punched you for no reason? Just out of the blue? [I'm not doubting that Daniel punched him at this point and did plan to talk with Daniel about hitting, I just knew that Daniel had been provoked in some way.]
Will: Well, no. I was telling him to stop and he got mad and hit me.
Me: Will, I'm not buying it. You didn't do anything to him?
Will: No.
Me: Go get him and Clayton come back to me.

*waits for them to come back*

Me to Daniel: Daniel did you hit Will?
Daniel: Yeah, but it was because he was doing this. *puts his fist in my face, an inch from my nose*

Me to Clayton: Is that what happened Clayton?

Clayton: Yes

Me to Daniel: Daniel, we don't hit our brothers. If he's doing something mean to you, you need to tell me or dad.
*looks at Will*
Will: I was just messing with him.
Me: I asked you what you did to provoke Daniel to hit you and you said all you did was tell him to stop, you didn't tell me anything about messing with him or putting your fist in his face. You lied.
Will: *stares at me blankly*
Neely to Will: Will, you can go to bed after dinner for lying, how about that?
Will to Neely: fine

Now, honestly. Had he just told me that he was messing with Daniel, I would probably have told him to leave Daniel alone and got onto Daniel about hitting. But now he's spending his night, starting at 6:30, in his room, alone, without tv or any games. I just really don't get it. I've raised a boy before, so I'm not new to this. But usually when confronted James was honest about things. Hey may not have been remorseful all the time, but he would usually cop to what he did. Will, on the other hand, would rather lie than tell the truth. I can't tell if it's a pathological thing where he doesn't think about what he's saying before he says it, or if it's premeditated, in a way to keep himself from getting in trouble.

We have told him, repeatedly, that it's the lying that we hate most of all, and usually it's the lying that gets him in hot water, but it's just not getting through. He's not a bad kid. He has been really good in school this year, after his initial adjustment to the new school and new living situation. Pretty much the only problem we have with him, is the lying. I mean, he is a typical boy. He does fight with his brothers and does get in trouble for other things, but not nearly as often as lying.

We just don't know what to do at this point. We're willing to try anything. But right now, banging my head against the wall is what I'll settle for.