300th Post!! And a Giveaway!

This is my 300th post!! I started blogging in June of 2005, after we'd moved here and half-way through our Summer of No Jobs. I was much more contemplative back then, when I had lots of time and God was humbling me with my inability to secure a job. Then involvement at church came, the job (and the cat!) came, and my busy life turned my blog into small (mostly silly) glimpses of my life. Despite that, my readership has grown from about six readers a day to about twenty-six readers a day, and I've actually made a few friends from blogging!

One of those friends is my sort-of cousin, Lorie. Following her blogaversary tradition, I'm arranging a giveaway! Post a comment here, and in one week (Thursday, Sept. 18th), I'll put all the names of the commenters in a hat and draw out one (or more!) winners. And what will you win, you ask??

Magnets!

Okay, if you're family, you probably already have some, but who couldn't use more magnets?? I happen to have a few left over from a certain entrepreneurial idea that Leanna and I had, so you just might win them! And if you have absolutely no desire for magnets, well, they make good stocking stuffers or gifts for coworkers. So leave a comment and have fun!

Thanks for reading!

Hair Experiment

Why is it that every hair cut is a much-weighed decision? Yesterday, Leanna was asking me what she should do with her hair this next cut, and for once, I stuck with the simple, "I think you should do what you did last time." She and I never do that! We usually start looking at books, going online, discussing face shape and hair color...and yes, pretty much for every cut. It could be because we're dramatic, but I think it's because we like change...at least with our hair.

In early August, I had no idea what to do with my hair. The plan was to let my hair grow out until early November, when I would get it cut short again, so it would feel new and cute when I was 9 mos pregnant. But then I realized that growing out my hair from August to November was not enough time for it to get past the awkward stage, and why go through three months of awkward just to cut it short again? So, then I thought maybe I should just keep growing it out, even after Caleb's born. I've had it short for awhile; it's time for something new. But then I realized (after a conversation with Karen, my source for all things new mom) that I don't want hair that needs to be fixed when I'm a brand new mom and people show up with dinner or just to see the baby. I need hair that I can wet down, run gel through, and it's done. That, my friends, is short hair. (The other low-maintenance option is hair long enough for a pony-tail, but I can't pull that off in three months.)

So, after that debate, I decided I would do short hair, but try to get the shape back to the first short cut I got with Lynn. Lynn was still my regular stylist, but every appointment my hair got shorter and shorter, so I decided to try someone new. Still being cheap, I went to Ogle School of Cosmetology, where I got a 6-buck haircut. Sweet! And the student did a great job, kept the length, but shaped it up very nicely. I really liked the way it turned out.

And then two weeks later, it was frumpy again. Ah...now I see why those short haircuts were so nice. I could go 6-8 weeks between cuts before. I put off the decision for a few more weeks, but yesterday, I was done. To make my hair presentable on Sunday, I had to gel, blowdry, curl, pomade, and spray my hair, and I was not going to do that again. Sure, it's cute, but way too much work! So yesterday I went back to Lynn, and pretty much had my head shaved. Back to its pixie glory. Someday I'll grow it long, but today is not that day.

In the midst of these length concerns, I also had color to worry about. I have been highlighting my hair for awhile now, and had ended up with a little bit of a highlighting mess: more highlights on one side of my head than the other, and roots over an inch long. (Why do I choose to do things that require maintenance when I obviously don't maintain them??) So, the plan was to dye my hair back to its original color, and then put new highlights in. I didn't know if the color would cover up the existing highlights enough, but I thought it was worth a try.

And it worked! The old highlights were mostly covered, with a slight color variation off of the brown I chose, but I like to think of that as added depth. And then the new highlights...well, I'm pretty sure I like them. I did them myself, so at some point I just gave up because my arms were getting tired, but I think I got them all in the right places.

So basically, my hair looks like it did about two months ago, and I like it. :) I especially liked fixing it this morning! Yep, I think it's the cut for me, at least until it's time to grow it out again. But until that time comes, I think I'll just take my own advice to Leanna. I'm gonna stick to the cut I have.

What's been going on

I owe you a post here, for sure! I've been posting on my baby blog, and that seems to be just about life-consuming these days! I asked Jon this morning, "What can I post about that's not baby-related??" Well, I'm not really sure the answer to that question, but I'm going to try anyway. If baby topics come up, oh well! :)

Jon's started back to school. His last semester! It's very exciting, but also very challenging. This is his third and last semester of Hebrew, and I know he will be so glad when it's done. He's also taking a history class covering the Enlightenment, which has TONS of reading which isn't so fun, but he really enjoys the class itself. And then his last class is fairly easy, and they go over stuff like how to baptize, because I guess there's a trick to it! All in all it's a demanding schedule, but with few enough hours that it's doable.

He's also working on his resume and has a couple churches in mind where he'd like to apply. I'm sure he'll have applications all over the place before it's all said and done!

Bonnie & Clyde are our constant entertainment. They charm everyone who comes in the door. If you stay long enough, you'll get in on the game of musical chairs as the two go from lap to lap. Clyde loves to jump. He jumps from the couch to the computer chair, to the top of my monitor, then to the top of Jon's monitor, then to the printer, and then once he's made it he meows at the wall. Bonnie sticks to the ground, mostly, but loves to explore. Inside shelves, boxes, bags, she finds pens, paper clips, and her favorite: the Scrabble stickers from Subway. She's got a radar for those things.

I went to an Arbonne Mercedes event with my mom yesterday. A lady had made it to a certain level in the company where she is given a white Mercedes, and this event was to celebrate that. I admit that I went into it with a slightly jaded perspective. I mean, if you know me, you know I have no desire for a brand new white Mercedes. I wouldn't even have a white car myself, except that it was the best car I could find for $6,000. Buying new doesn't make sense to me, and having a Mercedes really doesn't make sense to me. So, to go to an event all about a Mercedes, with people packed in to ooh and ahh and be inspired by the Mercedes...meh... To top it off, everyone there was dressed professionally, and while I tried, I just felt quite pregnant.

Well, it turned out it wasn't so bad. It was definitely an atmosphere I'm not used to or like very much, but the ladies I spoke with were very genuine. The ladies were not so much there to be inspired by the Mercedes, but by the speakers and the success of other ladies just like them. The speaker, despite her multi-million Arbonne business, still shops at Target, which I can respect. And she also asked for a discount at a hotel (she was just there for a few hours to change, go over her notes, etc.), which I thought was funny. I guess, in a similar situation, I would have changed and gone over my notes at Starbucks or something, but I can grant her an extravagant pit stop since she did ask for a discount. And then, after heading to the event, she promptly forgot the name and location of the hotel where they left all their stuff. Oh, how I can relate! She did a really great speech, and it didn't focus on the white Mercedes at all. Instead, it focused on being able to have an overflow of money to give to others. That's something that's always been important to Jon and I--budget and stay out of debt so that God can use your finances when needed--so I appreciated the speech.

Overall, it was an exciting event, and I can't wait for the day when my mom is handed her own set of keys to a brand new, white Mercedes! Just remember, mom, the lady yesterday took her family to Cancun to celebrate! (wink!) Seriously, I know she can do it, and I know that Arbonne is giving her the financial freedom to do what she does best: gift-giving! Whether it's money to missions, clothes for a family in need, trips to visit family and adopted family, or diapers for her grandbabies, my mom has been given the gift of generosity, and Arbonne is allowing her to reach her full potential in that.

And speaking of gifts, my mom gave me a sea salt bath soak and lotion for attending, which I enjoyed thoroughly when I got home! Even today my skin feels very nice. I was hoping for a miracle, but no, my stretch marks did not disappear. Still, the sea salts are supposed to soothe sore muscles, which I'm sure I'll encounter more of as I make it through this last leg of pregnancy, so I'm thankful to have them!

And with that, I'm done with the post. I didn't go too overboard talking about pregnancy. Turns out there is other stuff going on after all!

Two more photo shoots!

I've gotten the other two photo shoots edited! Here are my favorites from each, and they link to their respective albums.

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/50 second
ISO: 400

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/50 second
ISO: 400

Lusk Photo Shoot

The first of three photo shoots are up! Click on the photo to get to the rest of the photos from the shoot.

Lens: 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Aperture: f/5.6
Speed: 1/200 second
ISO: 400

So busy

Three photo shoots in two days! Whew! I'm beat! But what a fun weekend!

Garage Before and After

The key to a good After pic is a very bad Before pic! One might use this to their advantage and "stage" their first pic, but usually that's not necessary. It certainly wasn't in our case. Here's the before:

As you can see, the garage had become a maze of mess. What you can't see is that our attempt at organization--big plastic boxes stacked on top of each other in the back corners--had put our boxes to the test, and they had failed. One was crumpling completely in on itself from the weight of the others on top of it. Plus, every time we needed to put something in one box, it was inevitably the bottom box, which meant we just dropped the item in the garage "to put in the box later." Later never came. Until today!

Jon constructed three heavy-duty shelves that would house big boxes and paper office boxes alike, as well as allow for some room to stash odd-sized things like my photography backdrops. He also got rid of THREE boxes of books! (And if you know Jon, you know that was quite a sacrifice for him.) On my part, I parted with all my fall and spring decorations (because I only decorate for Christmas. anyway), and all but one of my beloved crafts. I also went through house decorations from my college days. AND (sigh...) the ghetto-fabulous cat tree is seeing its last days. It's going out with the next trash run.... It's in the house now for its last hurrah, though I must say these cats are not nearly as enthralled as Friday had been. Hmph. Spoiled on store-bought toys, I guess.

The one big thing left for me to cull through is fabric. I've collected quite a bit of it, and it's just so dang useful I can't see getting rid of it. I have a trunk full (that would make an excellent toy box for Caleb...), bags full, and even more stashed inside the house. However, several of my friends have picked up the sewing bug lately, so I might just bestow some fabric on them as a way to encourage their efforts. It would make me feel better about parting with it. Some of my fabric, however, I'll probably never part with!

Something else I feel like I'll never part with are my memory boxes. A tradition we started as kids, my parents would give us a box to hold the memories of our year: awards, drawings, stories, and many many many random things. I guess John did it, too, but I would also guess it the idea was for me, the pack rat with way too many memories. (Hey, when you're as forgetful as I am, you need physical things to remind you...and I just happen to want to remember everything.) So, sad to say, I have numerous memory boxes. Big blue bin, two large Rubbermaids...all housing memories from grade school up. It's embarassing, really, but that's one thing I cannot look at objectively.

And there are still some things in the garage that seem like I will never be able to get rid of them--namely, my darkroom photography equipment. I just can't seem to get motivated to put it up on Craig's list, and the sad truth is that I'm afraid most of it will go in the trash. However, I'm ALMOST ready to accept that truth, because I refuse to move it one more time. I have to get it up on Craig's list, and what doesn't sell, I'll leave at the front door of the local camera store in the middle of the night. :)

So, without further ado, the After!

As you can see, the darkroom equipment is in the front left, and that will hopefully be gone soon, which will clear up even more space. What you can also see is the floor! And the lawnmower! Where did that come from?? And almost every box (excepting a couple of book boxes) are accessible on the shelves, with no stacking and piling (and crumpling) to worry about.

What you can't tell is that one of the big blue bins is completely empty (all decorations relegated to the garage sale pile!), ready for stuff from our back storage closet, when my mom comes and helps me organize that area. And maybe she'll help me with my memory boxes?? (Pretty please with sweet smile and puppy dog eyes!)

All in all, I'm so proud of what we accomplished today. We made some organizational advances that will help us wherever we go, and we got a good start on our overall clean-out as we prepare for Caleb.

NOTE: Notice that Jon's accomplishment was to clean out some book boxes. For as much grief as I give him about collecting so many books, I obviously have the hoarding problem in our house! :) Hence, I've labeled this post "personality" because I think it speaks quite clearly to the type of person I am.

All in a word (Tag)

The Rules: Answer the questions using only one word. Then tag three others.

1. Where is your cell phone? TABLE
2. Your significant other? FUNNY
3. Your hair? SHORT
4. Your mother? GO-GETTER
5. Your father? ENCOURAGING
6. Your favorite thing? CUDDLING
7. Your dream last night? WEIRD
8 Your favorite drink? SONIC
9. Your dream/goal? ENTREPRENEUR
10. The room you’re in? BRIGHT
11. Your hobby? PHOTOGRAPHY
12. Your fear? STAGNATION
13. What do you want to be in 6 years? PEACEFUL
14. What you’re not? CONFRONTATIONAL
15. Muffins? BLUEBERRY
16. One of your wish list items? MASSAGE
17. Where you grew up? TEXAS
18. The last thing you did? SHOWER
19. What are you wearing? COMFY-NESS
20. Favorite gadget? CAMERA
21. Your pets? FUZZY
22. Your computer? MAC
23. Your mood? QUESTIONABLE
24. Missing someone? NO
25. Your car? MARSHMALLOW
26. Something you’re not wearing? MAKEUP
27. Favorite store? TARGET
28. Like someone? YEP!
29. Your favorite color? GREEN
30. When is the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY
31. Last time you cried? 7/1/08

I tag: KarenD, KarenN, Carolyn (keepin' it in the family!)

The Big Snip

Yesterday, Bonnie & Clyde went to the vet for the Big Snip. We tried to warn them about it, but I don't think they were prepared. Neither were we!

The cats still waltz straight into the cat carrier when we bring it out. At some point, they'll start associating it with the vet, but for some reason they still do not. (Even after yesterday, they've gone in it several times.) So, there they go into the carrier, and off we go to the vet. We drop them off and feel very guilty about the pain we've left them to.

By 2:30pm, I was ready to know how the cats were doing. Poor kitties. After our own doctor's appointment (about 5:00), we called to see if we could come by and pick them up. No, we had to wait until 6:00 for a consult with the vet. Oh, okay, we didn't know about that. So we went home for 30 minutes, then back to the vet, where we waited.

Finally, someone brought B&C into the exam room. They were in the carrier and pretty frantic. They pushed their noses into the wires and would never settle down, which made the wait for the vet that much longer. Jon even broke into his own rendition of "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" hoping to remind the people outside our room that we were still there! He always makes me laugh!

The vet finally came in, and his first words were, "Well, Clyde really had a hard time of it, so he'll be pretty groggy, and for longer than Bonnie."

The (slightly funny) truth is that Clyde has a condition called cryptorchidism. Crypto: Where is it? and Orchid: testicles. (I just lost my G-rating right there.) That's right, Clyde has a missing ball. It never descended like it should have, which meant that his surgery would be as extensive as Bonnie's. The vet would have to make an incision in Clyde's abdomen to go searching for the missing...orchid. Well, as it turns out, it was quite a hunt, and Clyde's incision ended up being about 4 inches long, compared to Bonnie's half-inch incision. Poor guy!

When we made it home, we had two ravenous kittens, with the disadvantage of still being slighty drugged. They swayed and wobbled their way to the food bowls, and proceeded to make a huge mess of everything! Food and water were everywhere as the cats pushed their noses into the bowls and snarfed away! Most people would probably laugh at their antics, but I just can't. Maybe I'm too sensitive. I've never found drunk people to be funny, or people doing crazy stuff under the influence of something other than themselves. It's just sad to me. I do, however, recognize that I'm the exception, so if you find yourself giggling over my sad story, I'll forgive you. :)

Then Bonnie would not settle down. She carried her jingle ball around for about 30 minutes with no stopping. She never put the ball down, and she never actually played with it; she just did circles around the house. Now we know Bonnie does not handle drugs well! :) We tried to hold her to get her to settle down, but she would have none of it!

Clyde was fastidiously cleaning himself. Thankfully, he was staying mostly away from his incision, but it did start to bleed again for a short while.

Needless to say, Jon and I were basket cases. Coming out of surgery is one of the hardest things to see, I think. You think the hard part is surgery, so you expect things to be right back to normal afterwards, and it's always a shock to see that they're not.

Today, things are much better. Both cats have slept the entire day. Bonnie expressed slight interest in a string, and Clyde tried to pick on his sister once, but otherwise, they've just traded off who got to sleep in my lap (and at one point they were both in my lap!). I finally moved to the bed to work, to let them both cuddle up to me and still enable me to get stuff done.

I must say, in the past I've only had male cats with no shy orchids, and that surgery is a breeze. They usually come home a little wobbly, but are running and playing by the end of the day. This has been no walk in the park, and it's been as hard on Jon and I as on the cats, I think! We take them back on Thursday for their checkup, and I'm sure they'll be back to their crazy selves before then!

How I know there's a bug in my house

That Can't Be Comfortable!

Where is my cat's head??!!
Oh, there it is!

Roomie Reunion 2008

Last week, three other girls and I got together for Roomie Reunion! We were all roommates or friends during college, and we try to get together once a year. Here are the photos!

My favorite is our "stages" progression. We are in four different stages of life: single, married, married & pregnant, and married w/baby. So, we set up a shot (okay, a ton of shots) with that theme. Here is my favorite:

We had a blast, and I can't wait to do it again!

Silly Sophie

Today I went to lunch with Holly, Sophie, and Holly's mom, Sue. Sophie had a song in her head. You probably all know it:

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart

(Where?)

Down in my heart!

(Where?)

Down in my heart!

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart

(Where?)

Down in my heart to stay!!

Well, it took a bit to figure out that the "joy joy joy joy down stay...." coming from the back seat was actually a song, but once we did figure it out, Sophie thought it was great fun for us all to sing together. Which we did.

When we were enjoying our Endless Soup & Salad at Olive Garden, Sophie would break out in her hearty rendition of the joyous song. "JOY JOY JOY JOY DOWN STAY......" Some things you just can't sing quietly, you know?

Well, on our drive home, we were all singing. We came to the end of the song, and Sophie said to Holly, "Do it!" (As in, start singing again, Mom!)

Holly replied, "You do it!"

This went on four or five times, until finally Sophie said, "No, YiYi do it!!" (That's me, by the way.)

It was so funny! It might have been the first time she put 4 words together in a sentence, too! She's potty training and starting to look more and more like a little girl and not the baby I've known for two years. I'm so blessed to have her (and Holly!) in my life!

What's going on with us? Pt. 2

After our discussion the day of the church planting meeting, I did my best to not be so impatient. I waited on Jon, and he waited on God. We have all experienced God's timing, and know how different it is from our own. Usually, I'm okay with that, but having so much come to fruition in November and December (baby, graduation, job, move?) has shaken my faith a little.

So a few weeks ago, I requested a coffee date where Jon and I could sit down and discuss our options. Put everything on the table and see what we might find. The purpose wasn't to make any decisions, but to figure out what we were each thinking.

Armed with our Starbucks frappuccinos, we started talking about options. It quickly became apparent that our possibilities are wide open. We could still be here and going to school, or we could be in South Dakota planting a church (that's for you, Cliff!). However, as odd as it may sound, it had not occurred to me that we might still be here. I figured, whatever we did would require a move. In fact, I was preparing myself to move, and looking forward to going somewhere where summers never saw 100 degrees (or 90 degrees!). So to think that we could stay here was a revelation to me.

Jon has had a dream of teaching military history in a military academy or a university. To do that, he needs his doctorate of history. So, he might still be in school for awhile, though probably working full-time as well. He is going to be doing some research to see how feasible that is, and what steps he needs to take.

My dream is to be a stay-at-home mom. Jon and I would like to switch our incomes, basically, so he would bring home the full-time check, and I would bring home part-time pay, hopefully through photography.

However, these two dreams of ours are surpassed by God's dreams for us. We don't know what those are, yet, or if He has given us these desires for His purpose. We don't know if church planting will come back on the table, or some other sort of bivocational ministry, or perhaps Jon will be a light in the dark world of liberal academics.

Our coffee date ended when we both hit the realization that we could talk about our plans all night, but we can't actually make any plans until Jon's closer to graduation. Unless we have clearer direction from God, in September, Jon will start sending out applications and resumes to universities to continue his education, to public schools to teach, and to churches and BSMs looking for ministers. We'll just see where that leads us!

So, to end this tw0-part series of where we're headed in life, the answer is that we don't know. We're back to square one and waiting on God's timing. Please pray for patience, peace and openness as we wait!

What's going on with us?

This post is long overdue, as I'd given my faithful readers a glimpse of where we were headed a few months ago, and then never followed up on it. I've spoken to many of you about it, but, for posterity's sake, here it is in writing.

The last time I mentioned "our future," it was in the context of church planting. We had started to take steps toward gathering a team and heading to the northwest to plant a church and make a difference. A few things happened in quick succession after that. The day came when those who were willing to commit would be meeting at our house. We did the typical frantic house cleanup, and a few hours before the meeting, Jon confessed, "I don't think this is where God is calling me."

What?? After all this? Well, it turns out I was partly to blame. In my eagerness (or fear?) for the future, I wanted to DO something. I didn't wait for Jon to step up as the spiritual leader, and he let me lead the way down this path. By the time we'd gotten to this point, he'd realized that it really wasn't where God wanted him right now.

The time for the meeting came, and no one showed up, which was further confirmation that our timing was not right. We came away from that day with a better understanding of our roles...and a clean house.

--More in the next installment!--

Domain Worth

I just checked out a new site today when I was looking around for my work site. Domain Crawler lets you type in a web address, and it tells you information about it: ranking and estimated value, etc.

I typed in lmnovations.com--my photo site--and I think it was worth $96 or so. Whoopee. But I typed in my blog address, and it's worth $7605!! So, if anyone out there wants this blog address, just let me know...I'll even lower the price to $6500 for you.

I looked up google.com, but there must be some kind of fluke because it's only worth $625. Or maybe my blog is that much better than Google. Heehee.

Look up your favorite addresses and tell me what you find!

Cleaning Out

Yesterday, I canceled all my magazine subscriptions. No more Real Simple organization tips, no more Martha Stewart Christmas ideas, and no more (tear!) Country Living. Country Living holds a special place in my heart, because I've been taking it since freshman year in college when I just wanted mail. But no more! I'm too much of a hoarder to have three hefty magazines coming to me every month. Plus, I haven't had the time to read them, and I've been a couple months behind for awhile.

As the straw that broke the camel's back, I've had some ethical issues with a couple of the magazines: Real Simple is so careful not to make any judgments on anyone's lifestyle, but in an article on budgeting, the first thing they suggested be eliminated was a person's tithe. Sure, it's okay to spend money on a feng shui specialist to come to your home, but heaven forbid we tithe. Anyway, that kind of ticked me off. And Country Living has always been a proponent of the homosexual lifestyle. They showcase a home almost every month that someone and "his partner" built together, and it's finally gotten on my nerves enough to cancel.

So that's that. In one day, I feel like I've significantly decluttered my life. Next to tackle: my piles of papers that reside in the house.

Still crazy kittens...just bigger!

Today I came home from an impromptu lunch with Holly (aka Sunshine in the blogging world) with many things in my hands: keys, drink, purse, etc. I made it in the door, but couldn't take my sunglasses off. So, I slowly made my way in the dark to the table, so I could set my drink down and free a hand. Drink down, I pulled my shades off, only to find before me two cats watching with disinterest at the blind lady in their home. They must have thought I was blind, because they were sharing a placemat on the table for a little catnap. Sheesh! Not even a bit of fear that they might be caught! Granted, they usually aren't able to get up to the table because we keep chairs pushed in tight and they're too small to jump all the way up, yet. So they usually don't get on the table to even get punished, which is probably why they didn't think they would be today when they found my chair at just the right spot for them to make it to the table. What a surprise for them when they both got a good squirt from the water bottle!

Anyway, that was just my adventure for today. Every day is entertaining with these two! They certainly live up to their names! Here is a pic of my hoodlums that I took today. Taking pics of one cat is hard enough, but I don't think I'll ever get both of these guys in focus in the same shot! I'm surprised they're even both looking at the camera!

Bonnie (l), Clyde (r)

Azariah at 6 months

Lens: 50mm f/1.8

Aperture: f/5.0
Speed: 1/320 second
ISO: 400

Bekah's Cakes

I just thought I'd give a plug for one of my good friends, Bekah. I've been chowing down on quite a bit of her cake, lately, and realized the world needs to know about Bekah's Cakes!! Pictured here are all the cakes I've had from her, ranging from chocolate to checkerboard to vanilla and even to mint! Every one of them are beautiful and delicious. And I have two more on the way in the next couple of weeks. Woohoo! So, if you're in my area and are looking for a way to give a personalized cake, I would highly recommend Bekah. Check out her site for all her cake designs (and she'll customize for you, as well!), and scroll to the bottom for her contact info.