I'm a mac!

So after years of wishing and wanting, coveting and hinting, my sweet husband bought me a Mac! I had to eat my words a bit but it was worth it.

You see when we were first married and living in Topeka we had a computer. It was Greg's that he had bought when he had started undergrad and it was a mac. It was way too old and it only had 8 mb of memory so we couldn't even buy software for it that would run so we needed a new computer. I stubbornly told Greg all about how Macs were a stupid plan and he needed to get a compaq laptop for us. Because he is the sweet man that he is and he always tries to find a way to get me anything I really want we bought a compaq laptop. It was terrible!! We then bought the HP desktop and then the Dell laptop. And then I realized just how much I liked Macs and how they did the things I wanted my computers to do and most importantly and terribly, that Greg was right and I was wrong.

Well this weekend we were down in Tucson to see the dentist and we went to the Apple store and Greg said let's just get it. Can I just say man I felt out of place in the mall there! I am a small town girl. I always have been, I like nice things as much as the next girl but I am so not a brand name high end retail kind of girl. I like restaurants that are chains so that I already know what to order. I like clothes that I don't worry about what the kids get on them. I am NOT a Louis Vuitton, Tiffany's (well maybe I COULD be a Tiffany's kind of girl), Prada kind of girl, I am kind of surprised they let me in that mall. LOL :)

Back the the Mac, I LOVE it. I will not ever go back to PC. I am still learning how it works but I love it's speed and how organized it is and just how flexible it is! So now I need my Mac friends out there to give me all of your hints, tricks, and advice so that I can get the most out of this new toy! :) And I think I should make Greg some Brownies! ;)

What color career would YOU like?

So I took this online color personality test and here are my results. I think I would love every job they suggested. :)

The Dewey Color System® is the world's first and only validated, color-based personality career testing instrument. Based on our experience and your interests, your best suited occupations are listed below.

*
Best Occupational Category
You're a CREATOR
Key Words:
Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional

These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

CREATOR OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.

CREATOR WORKPLACES
Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.

Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.
*
2nd Best Occupational Category
You're a PERSUADER
Key Words:
Witty, Competitive, Sociable, Talkative, Ambitious, Argumentative, and Aggressive

These enterprising types sell, persuade, and lead others. Positions of leadership, power, and status are usually their ultimate goal. Persuasive people like to take financial and interpersonal risks and to participate in competitive activities. They enjoy working with others inside organizations to accomplish goals and achieve economic success.

Funny Girl!!

So my Emma Jo is always coming up with these crazy thoughts that just crack me up so I thought I would share three from yesterday:



Emma (crying in the backseat): Ow my owie hurts so bad.
Mom: I'm sorry sweetie, when we get home I will get you a band-aid.
Emma: It looks really bad, I think it's swollen. I sure don't know what swollen means but I think it looks a lot bigger!

Later that drive we were on our way home from Holbrook and we stopped at Loves in Joe City to let Emma go potty. As we are walking in two elderly women are walking out the door and Emma stops and stares up at them exclaiming, "woah mom those are some REALLY REALLY OLD people!!" as I shushed her and tried to drag her into the store she shouts, "but mom this place is weird, they have so many OLD people!" I wanted to climb under a rock!

And then this one was good! In the back of the car, same trip, I hear Emma yell, "idiot!" this is not a word I like so I whip around and the following conversation ensues,
Mom: Emma we DO NOT say idiot! Don't call your sisters idiots!
Emma (wide eyed and honest): But mom, I was calling myself an idiot.
Mom: Emma that isn't good either, you are not an idiot, you are very smart!
Emma (thinks for a minute then with a huge smile): Yeah? Do you really think so mom?
Mom (hugs her and smiles): Yes Emma I KNOW you are really really smart!
Emma (shrugs): Huh, I thought I was an idiot.

I love that girl! She is so much like me she can be infuriating and frustrating but I wouldn't change her one bit! :)

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me!

So no it's isn't my birthday yet (I turn 30 on the 30th isn't that cool?) but I did get my present yesterday. I have really been wanting to get into photography for like, well pretty much my whole life. My dad had this great minolta 35mm slr while I was growing up and I always loved his pictures. He and I many times sat out on the porch and took pictures of the amazing lightning we would get during the monsoons.

When I was pretty young my parents bought me my first 35mm camera and I was so excited I used up about 5 rolls of film the first day. My film was rationed a little more after my dad took my film to get developed and realized he had paid for 5 rolls of film, with doubles, of my dog Tyler. LOL

When I was a junior in High School I ran over to cheer tryouts from track practice and didn't warm up. I ended up displacing my hip during the tryout and was unable to finish. I didn't think it would be a big deal since I had been on the squad the last two years but apparently there was a rule that if you didn't complete the tryout for any reason you could not be considered for the squad. I was devastated until my amazing friend Michelle who was the Head Student Manager of the Varsity Football team and the Editor of the yearbook offered me a spot doing the photography with the schools fancy camera of all of the Varsity games that year!! I loved it, I was still right there on the sidelines but I could be warm in jeans and a coat! So the obsession continued!

My husband who is kind enough to support me in all of my crazy plans just furthered the sickness. He bought me my first Digital SLR Wednesday and I got it in the mail yesterday! I am sure he will read this and exclaim FIRST?!?!?! LOL He bought me a beautiful Canon EOS Rebel Xti and and 18-55mm lens. I can't wait to learn all about it and start getting some good shots. Maybe next monsoon storm that rolls through me and Ethan can sit outside and get some good lightning shots! :)



Isn't it beautiful? :D

Tagged!!

I have been tagged by Crystal. I have to list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current goals, 3 current obsessions, and 3 random facts about myself. Then I tag 5 more people. This sounds fun, so here I go! ;)

3 JOYS
1. Family and Friends
2. Date Night
3. My Calling

3 FEARS
1. Lizards, Snakes, Crickets, Grasshoppers
2. Something happening to my kids
3. Losing family

3 CURRENT GOALS
1. Getting Bailey potty trained and ditching diapers for good!!
2. Getting out of debt
3. Patience!!!!

3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. Date Night!!
2. My new camera
3. working on the yard.

3 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT MYSELF
1. I have had labor with an epidural, labor with NO drugs at all, and a c-section
2. I learned to hit the ball in co-ed softball this year (I am almost thirty)
3. Sometimes when I see something kind of funny I like make up this little movie in my head of how it would be even funnier if this or that happened and I laugh out loud and nobody but my little brother Jesse is ever thinking the same thing and he always laughs with me.

The people I tag are Ashby, Brooke, Jenn B., Monique, Lynsie, Amanda, and Jennie L. (I know that's more than 5 but I want to hear what they all would say). Have Fun!

These are the days!

I love this quote:
“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”
-Anna Quindlen

Awhile back I posted this on a myspace blog I had, (these are so much better) and I read it again today and I realized how much more I mean it now that it has been over nine years.

So I just went to Shauna's myspace page and I heard her song and I got to thinking. Her song is "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney. It talks about how fast life passes and that if you blink you will miss a lot.

Now with all four kids quietly sleeping in their beds the song makes me all choked up. It is so true, they change so quickly, life changes so quickly. It has been eight years that I have been married to Greg. I have finished college, watched Greg go through Law School, moved to Kansas and back, seen Greg as a prosecutor, and as a defender, bought a law firm, bought a house, sold a house, built a house, and most importantly been pregnant three times with four beautiful children. I have seen the first day of kindergarten, been called into the principal's office because my kid was in trouble, learned how to deal with ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome, attended Parent Teacher Conferences that have left me so depressed and down I couldn't stop crying and ones that have left me so proud and happy that I couldn't stop hugging that poor kid. I have taken kids for stitches, been to countless soccer and tee ball games, sat through tumbling class and Kung-fu classes so that when they ask "mom did you see me?" I can say yes and mean it. I have carried babies so small through the store that people have stopped me to tell me that they "thought that was a real baby." I have potty trained two kids and am working on two more. I have been a substitute teacher which has made me contemplate being an actual teacher. I have given up on my dream of Med. School thousands of times only to pick it up again a thousand more. I have kissed more owies, rocked more sick babies to sleep all night long, cleaned up more play-doh, broken up more fights and been thrown up on more times than I can count. So yeah, a lot has happened in those eight years and sometimes when I have three toddlers screaming at me all day it is hard to remember that these are the times that when I am old I will look back on and say "those were the days, I miss those times."

I go back to having the four kids all sleeping quietly in their beds and if I don't look around at the mess that is my house I can feel that these are the days.

So my point is that I am making a resolution to try harder to remember that these are the days when my kids are awake and rowdy and messy so that when they are grown they will look back and think, "those were the days, I miss those days" and they will come home to me, because as Emma told me today "even when I am a grown up you will still be my mommy and daddy and I will be your baby girl."

YARD SALE!!!! (Part 2)

OUCH!!! So yay we had our yard sale and did we ever sell some junk! We sold 2 couches, 1 chair, 1 loveseat, and dining set, a queen sized bed, 2 cribs (ya gotta love the twinners), a tv, lamps, ugly brass candlesticks, a washer and dryer set, tons of little toys, a camera and a few more small things I can't remember. We took the few little things that didn't sell to Alice's Attic, a thrift store here in town whose proceeds go to support Alice's Place which is a center for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. I figured I had already decided that I didn't need any of those things so why bring them back in my house right? We made some good money too! :D Ethan has had a couch in his bedroom since we moved in and he loved it! I think he felt really grown up having "furniture" in his room. We have an old desktop computer that we have been telling Ethan he could have when we get him a desk to put it on. Well we made a deal that if he would sell his couch we would buy a desk. He was more than willing to see it go after that deal! :D So now Ethan got his desk, the girls bought new Polly Pockets and mom is getting a digital SLR! Greg just doesn't have to worry about paying for any of it! LOL Now to the OUCH comment. 6:15 AM before the Yard Sale I bent down to help move the couch outside for the yard sale. Mind you this is the couch I have moved to vacuum under every two weeks for a year! But this time my back was not having it!!! Before I could even start to lift I heard a nasty *snap* and I couldn't stand up or go down to the floor. So we had to call my poor dad at 6:30 AM to come help Greg move all of our crap, I mean priceless items, out for the yard sale. But I am doing a little better now, I can at least walk around somewhat normally and I am getting a camera baby so that makes it all feel a lot better!