Technical difficulties

Hi all, I'm asking for some help here because I am having technical difficulties with my blog....Please take a look at the following post and let me know if on your screen there is a sentence that just cuts off in the middle and/or under the pics at the bottom (the one of the 2 girls holding their awards) there is NO sentence at all....please let me know. On my computer everything looks fine, but on my friends (hi Nancy) and my sons laptop, things get cut off. Also, let me know if any of the photos overlap...they shouldn't. THANKS!

Awards and acheivements

Time to brag....avert your eyes if you think you can't handle it. Our kids came home with a bundle of plaques (no money, but lots of useless wood to hang on the wall) from the end of the year awards ceremonies (we sat thru 4 of these to get all this useless wood). Annie was one of the top 2 math students from the Junior High (she also got a PE award, but come on....really...PE?) . Wilson got the top Math spot for his freshman class (and MVP of the freshman baseball team), and Sam was the top math student for the High School (no baseball awards - he had a pretty sucky season).

So, unless our schools are following the national trend towards mediocrity...and there is always that possibility...we have a few pretty smart kids in our house. The funniest part was watching Sam and Wilson accept their awards (the one pic of Sam smiling is him getting his CSF life member cord - and he just loves those two teachers)...my daughter is up there practically ready to break into dance, smiling, posing....basically just being a girl...and the boys act like they're being led off to prison. Sam actually groaned at one point during the sports awards (he did get a memorial award for athletic participation). I guess I'd rather have them like this, I know several of their peers who have spent 4 years of high school working towards the end of the year awards....my kids sort of just fall into them.

And I am going to say, not withstanding the sucky baseball season, Sam was a close second for the Monarch of the Year award. It's a combination sports/academic award
given to a senior boy and girl each year, and Sam had the misfortune to be graduating with one of the best athletes Exeter has seen in a long time.... and smart....oh well.

End of the Line

Baseball season came to an end last Friday when Exeter lost to Kingsburg, 7-4. It was a tough loss, they always are, but it's especially hard when you have a great team of boys, a wonderful group of parents....and a pretty incredible coach.

...and this ump was just plain wrong...

Little girls

Just finishing up the CD for the tea and trying to find reasons to live...















....a bit melodramatic but you get my drift.

This is why I love photography...just wish I could find a way to make a living out of following kids around all day!

Tea and sympathy

Was asked to do pictures for the mother/daughter tea on Sat. No real pressure (except my own self-imposed) because they are just going to print them out as a thank-you to all the moms. It's my daughters dance studio that put on the tea (fund-raiser for dance camp) so it was fairly low-key. Went early to check out the lighting and it was abysmal, as were the backgrounds (dull cream). I don't do well with flash anyway and this was the worst, the flash produced huge shadows behind their heads and was terrible on skin tones. I made attractive women look bad (yeah, I should definitely be considering doing this for money).

The problem now is that no amount of Photoshopping is going to make these acceptable (at least not with my limited skills) and I will probably be ruining any chance I have to do future senior pics with this group....I can't imagine any of them being impressed......

Man, am I a fountain of joy today or what? I did get a good shot of this beautiful little girl....Candids are really my forte, but there's just no $ in that...boo hoo.

Sam and his kitty

I cannot get myself into writing these days, and nothing has pissed me off to the point of needing to rant

( there was that one phone call to Verizon )

...anyway, here's a shot of my 18yr. old and his 'friend'.

A Hit!

And here's our (Exeters') Mikee...first hit of the year and he's safe on first. Just look at that grin....what a neat kid!

Home Run!

Just had to brag on our son today. Friday the team played their last regular season game, a must-win to go into the playoffs. Sam has struggled all season with hitting, he can bunt better than anyone on the team and is a terrific outfielder, but can't seem to hit the ball hard (except during practice). It wasn't a close game but still.... Sam finally put the ball in the air - twice - one double and....ta da...a HomeRun...with 3 RBI's. That's his dad congratulating him coming around third base; it's his second home run EVER so he was quite happy (plus we got the ball). Now if he can just carry that confidence into the playoffs.....

.

... and that's his totally overjoyed little sister....she really just wants Mom to stop taking photos and get out of the dugout....hey, I didn't even get the camera out until Sam hit the home run.

baseball and the blahs...

Pretty bad when the dugout is where I find the most interesting shots these days....not sure if it's me or the team.

kids these days...

...are just WAY too good-looking....

Fun day...

More pics of my day at Dakota house...and don't let the 'tough guy' pose fool you...they were just mugging for the camera....young Cy in the background is showing their true nature.

Excuses excuses..

I warned my daughter as we were driving to the orthodontist yesterday that if we got into a rumble at the office, I expected her support to me - or at least to refrain from rolling her eyes in disgust. She got the brace re-glued (19hours and counting) and we had to listen, yet again, to another list (apparently over the weekend they thought up a few new ones) of reasons why the glue wasn't sticking (enamel too smooth, concave tooth so glue doesn't get a tight hold...etc.) I do admit these are a bit better that the impossible biting action but forgive me if I remain a bit skeptical....Are my DD's teeth that different from the general population, have you never run into this issue before, and here's a new one....JUST FIX IT!

The nurse actually did sort of apologize..."I know you don't want to have to keep coming here and we're doing the best we can" ....apparently we were the talk of the office after my tirade on Thurs. I did have to correct her tho, and say that my issue was not so much having to come back, but having my daughter go the weekend with a broken brace when they could have just waited the 15min. and taken care of it. She then looks at her and asks..."it's not that bad tho, next time it happens (?!?) you can just put some wax on it, it's no big deal?......... FOR YOU!

...I need cheesecake...

Lighting a Candle

This is Keanu and he is one of the amazing kids I met yesterday at Dakota House in Fresno. It's a ministry specifically for kids and teenagers with an emphasis on keeping them off the streets and providing a Christian home environment where they will be loved and witnessed to.













They provide after school activities, bible studies, camping trips and a food pantry for the neighborhood. This is one of the most Christlike endeavors I have ever had the privilege to witness.... WOW.











.... whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me......
Matthew 18:5

Good friends

My friend Nancy (she LIKES my hair) reminded me today (in her blog) of the importance of friendship. While I was whining over my orthodontist fiasco, she wrote of the wonderful afternoon we spent together shopping and running errands (and dissing the relatives).

Thanks Nanc for helping me get my priorities straight.

And while were on the subject of my good friend Nancy (did I mention that she LIKES my hair) I should also tell you that she is an amazing seamstress (and all -around great gal)....check out her blog....encue creations

What's my Beef?

When did personal responsibility get thrown out the window? (yah, I know, somewhere around the late 80’s) When I make a mistake (and am aware of it) I apologize…it’s not the easiest thing in the world to admit you are wrong, but it’s the right thing. My own children know when to say, “my bad” and apologize. So why is it acceptable for seemingly reasonable adults to try to weasel out of carrying their share of the responsibility load?

.

Here’s my story (prepare to be incensed). DD (darling daughter) saw the orthodontist today - got a broken (unglued) brace fixed (for the 2nd time in 3 weeks). We left the office and headed off to the nursery (half hour away) and after finishing our plant shopping, headed home. We hadn’t gone a block from the nursery when aforementioned daughter yelled, “it’s broken again!”…..Crap! (my contribution, not hers) I immediately had her dial the office…figured we could head straight there on our way back home. It’s now 4:15 and I get the receptionist who tells me that they close at 4:30 so I need to be there by then. I inform her that I am half an hour away and ask if they can wait for us. No, she says, the office closes at 4:30 so we would need to be there by that time. I am tempted to tell her that unless she believes we can tele-transport ala Star Trek, we aint gonna make it. I resist the urge towards sarcasm and with a heavy sigh I ask her, "what time can you see us in the morning?"......

“Oh, no," she replies, "we’re closed on Fridays; it’ll have to wait until Monday.”

At this point I think you can literally see steam rising from my face. I grit my teeth and ask her if the office didn’t feel the least bit compelled to take some responsibility for a brace THEY just glued on?!?! She replied that there were ALL kinds of reasons a brace could come unglued that would not reflect poorly on the office staff. What would those ‘reasons’ be? “She could have been grinding her teeth or the top teeth could’ve bitten down over the bottom and caused it to pop off (coincidentally just the one that they had worked on came unglued, this biting action somehow missed the other braces)

Now, my daughter is wearing braces because she has crooked teeth NOT because she has an overbite. I defy anyone reading this (all 2 of you) to get your upper jaw to overlap your bottom teeth in such a way. I’m thinking it’s pretty much physically impossible to do this, under ANY circumstances….. I tell her that in the HOUR since we left the office, my daughter has done nothing other than swallow (and breathe) and since this is now the 3rd time that this same brace has had issues, maybe it wasn’t HER that was the problem. In the 2 years my son wore braces, he never once had a brace come loose. The kid was hit by a car and dag nabbit, those braces held. But my bigger frustration here was with this gal’s attitude. During the entire conversation, this woman never ONCE offered an apology, not once did she offer my daughter any consideration on her -now chronic- condition and merely tells me that, unless she is in pain….(the urge to lie is almost overwhelming)… they could not consider this an emergency and therefore it would have to wait.

If it were not for a contract that I’m fairly certain would be binding in a court of law, I wouldn’t step foot in this guys office ever again…in my life! As it is, I’m planning my revenge as we speak. I’m sure I can arrange some ‘unfortunate accident’ to be visited upon the office staff…..I’m thinking toilet paper and trolls….

Ps. If anyone in law enforcement or the FBI is reading this….it’s a JOKE….I’m just kidding….honest….I have no idea where I can get ahold of a troll...

Winners !

With all my whining over perceived hurts visited upon me by my 'friends', I forgot to mention that the COS swim team won the conference title swim meet this weekend. .....Yea!

Friends?

Maybe I really do need to find new friends. Took senior pics for my son and a friend’s son, no charge. I’m not a professional (yet) and I figured it would be good practice. Mom seemed very excited about it, came along for the shoot and they turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself). I worked on post-processing (for hours) and emailed them to Mom and she replied… “We love them all”. Over the next few weeks we talked a few times about which labs to use and about getting some wallets made to send with the graduation invite......You gotta send ‘em to plenty of people to really rake in the cash! ......Anyway, today she called me to let me know that they needed the CD (now) as they were going to Walmart (whole other post there- be patient) to have the wallets made. When I warned her about the differences in computer/printer calibration and that the colors might not end up the same as on the original, she told me…."it’s just the wallets, so it doesn’t really matter, we ordered the ‘real’ ones from Joe Smuck photography (not his real name) who takes for the yearbook. We figured those would be the ‘formal’ senior pictures."

Is it just me, or is that an incredibly callous way of telling me I’m a no talent hack? When I took the pics there was no mention of the possibility that they were gonna order from the geezer here in town. And just so you don’t think that I’m being arrogant here; we live in a small town and this guy took my husband’s senior picture (CRIMONY!). We actually have another local photographer who has a storefront on Main St. and who is incredibly talented. I am very respectful of her work and to be honest….intimidated by her stuff. But to LOSE to the gomer who’s pictures are the photographic equivalent of a powder blue tux !?!
That really hurts...