February 27, 2006 at 3:16pm
K…finally have something funny. At least I think it is. Not fall-down laughing funny, but maybe a little smile, perhaps even a tiny snort funny. But maybe you had to be there. Either way, I want to remember it, so I’m writing it down.
So Franklin really loves to twist his hair when he’s relaxing. Always in the same spot, at the back of his head where the little swirly thing is. (No idea what that swirly thing is called…) He’s so cute when he does it. In this pic, he’s doing the double-handed hair twist. But usually he’s content with one-handed hair twisting.
Dave noticed yesterday that his hair is a little thinner there because of the constant pulling. (Not totally thin, he still looks fine, but still…)
According to Dave:
"Well, at least he has enough hair for a comb-over." 
February 26, 2006 at 4:22pm
I have a "condition." Dave recently diagnosed it. And I must agree with his expert opinion. I have a major case of Saturday Sickness.
Symptoms include: well, mostly just grumpiness. I have noticed that it pretty much always takes the same course.
Saturday starts out with a bit of excitement. "TODAY is going to be different. Today is going to be really fun. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but it’s going to be fun. We’re going to hang out together and this is going to be pretty much the best day ever."
And as the day goes on, just turning out to be a normal day, or heaven forbid, BORING day, I begin to feel the sickness. I try to deny that it’s coming. Pretend like I’m cool sitting around the house while Dave works on another remodeling project. Try to be a good sport keeping the kids out of the way. Telling myself that I’m a team player, that this house is OUR house and he’s improving it and that I’m so happy and proud of him and excited to be one step closer to a lovely house. But with each whine and increase in mess, my resolve chips away. And by Saturday evening, if I’m cooking dinner instead of ordering it, I’m practically in tears.
Not sure what to do about it. And yesterday was a very mild case that ended up in falling asleep on the couch at 9 o’clock instead of crying. Could’ve been because the birthday party next door and the all-day bounce house babysitter that did the trick. Or the cupcakes. It was a good day. And I staved off the Saturday sickness for once. Since the diagnosis, I’ve been more able to treat the symptoms before they get out of hand. The real reason behind it is a bit of spoiled brat. And I’m trying to teach her a lesson, give her some discipline. And remind her that she’s going out of town BY HERSELF in a couple weeks. So that’s some pretty good medicine.
February 23, 2006 at 10:02am
I need to write something funny today. Because I’ve gotten too serious. Boring.
Um…
You know…it’s really hard to be funny on command. It has to be a spontaneous kind of thing. Ok…well…never mind.
Have a great day today. We’re headed to the park. I’ll try to think of something funny. And when I do, I’ll let you know.
February 21, 2006 at 9:22am
So last night we were eating dinner, some nasty concoction that I had whipped up, when I remembered a radio ad I’d heard. "Hey Dave…did you know Western Appliance is having a big sale today? Maybe we should go check it out." So we did. 7 o’clock at night, we head over with all the kidlings in tow, to see if we could find some good deals on appliances we were going to have to buy anyway. Because our kitchen is in major need of remodel… See for yourself.
Original cabinets. And counters. And this house isn’t new…it’s 58 years old. 58 years of people touching them. And it wasn’t MY people touching them. I scrubbed and disinfected them when we moved in, but I still can barely stand the thought of my kitchen. I’m just biding my time until we can fix it. Oh yeah…did you notice the mirror behind the stove? No wonder I burn stuff…I get too busy checking myself out. And the fancy copper tiles? Yeah…talk about cool. And impossible to get grease off of. The dishwasher makes so much noise we scare people by turning it on. People outside. Sounds like a tank. In a blender. Over a stadium sound system. It’s bad. Really bad.
So anyway…we went to the appliance store and bought ourselves a stove, dishwasher, microwave and hood. We already had the fridge, bought it when we moved in. And we have the wood for the floor. Currently so handily used as a magazine rack, using up, um… a tiny bit of space in our lovely kitchen. I do clean this up when we have company, by the way. Move or at least stack the magazines and shine the boxes to a glimmering sheen.
You thought it was hard to keep countertops clean, try keeping boxes of wood clean. They absorb all sorts of stuff.
So. One step closer to having MY kitchen. Getting excited. And more than a little scared. Because for it to get better, it’s going to get much much much worse.
February 19, 2006 at 4:32pm
Thanks for all the canker advise! I was hoping I’d get some when I wrote that post.
I’ve been away from the bloggy for six days, apparently. Probably because I didn’t want to come on and post another complainy post. Because the day after the canker post I totally pinched a nerve in my neck and it laid me out for a couple days (talk about a happy Valentine’s day…). I could barely move. It was not fun. But then again, it was. Because it was a great excuse to lay on the couch with a heating pad and a good book. It gave me (and everyone else in the family) an appreciation of how much I do around here and how quickly things fall apart when I’m not trying desperately to hold things together.
But I’m feeling much better now. And the cankers are slowly improving. And I’ve got some stuff to try from now on. So thank you, internet, for all the good advice.
February 13, 2006 at 1:54pm
I have five cankers. Just on my tongue. And another one on my lip. What the heck?
I can barely talk or eat. It stinks (so does my breath). I don’t know why I get these. Could be food. Could be hormones.
I’ve changed my toothpaste, that seems to help. Or at least I live to HOPE it does.
I’ve always gotten them. But THIS…this is bad.
I like to think of it as forced dieting and quiet reflection…seeing the silver lining.
February 10, 2006 at 2:52pm
I waited to post these until Layne and Jami got the proof book, but wanted to share a couple pics of my adorable nephew Trenton. 
But this one is my favorite. (I’m so bad…)
He looks so innocent…yet….
February 9, 2006 at 3:22pm
Getting the car detailed. Wow. Feels so nice and clean and beautiful. Especially since it hasn’t been done in…I don’t know how long. At least before Christmas, when all six of us spent a lovely 26 or so hours driving to Utah and back. So I’ve been living with the aftermath of a roadtrip for a month and a half…it’s nice to finally get that off my back. Standing Ovation to having a clean car and not having to break my back doing it!!!
February 7, 2006 at 7:50pm
Today I spent some more time wandering aimlessly around the internet. Again. This time I was on a bunch of artist’s blogs. It made me so inspired. Not on any certain project in particular, but as a whole. Several of them talked about how art is just letting go and expressing yourself. Not worrying about how it will be percieved but about how well it portrays the emotion or message. One in particular (I don’t remember who it was, as the aimless path I took would probably be impossible to navigate again) said she had a goal to have the confidence to proclaim herself an artist. And believe it. That is exactly how I feel about photography. I want to just accept myself and encourage myself and nurture my creative self.
I realized that in recent months I’ve been really backing away from photography. Out of fear. And I couldn’t figure out why. I realize now that it was because of the business side of the whole deal. The selling of prints, the ordering and assembling of proof books, but most of all, the delivering of the proof book and waiting there as customers decide. Now, I know it’s better business to have a proof book. And to have an appointment for customers to decide on pictures. But I hate waiting to see how they perceive it and feel like pressuring them to order. I know. It’s business. That’s how it’s done. But I really just don’t have energy for a business on top of all of my more important responsibilities.
Then it occured to me today. I’m really not in this for the money. I’m not in it to maximize profits. I need to charge enough to be taken seriously, to make it worth my time, but that isn’t my motivation. I can drop the sales experience, the appointments, the pressure. I still want to take pictures. I still love providing the product. But I’m going to just do online proofing and ordering. Even if it means sales go down. The whole idea of just doing it my own way has been really freeing to me. And I can even sell the digital negatives if I want. Even if it’s not that good for "business". I’ve been hiding. Trying to avoid the monster that is a small business. I don’t want it to grow bigger than I can handle. But I’m feeling better about it now. I know I can take good pictures. I enjoyed updating my portfolio a bit. Feeling more confident in this thing I started but didn’t want to finish, this business I gave birth to but wanted to starve and let die. I can handle this. My way.
February 3, 2006 at 2:16pm
So this morning as I was wandering aimlessly around the internet, I happened upon a couple essays where first, someone was saying what they missed about their pre-kid life and then someone saying what they don’t miss about the pre-kid life.
That got me thinking. I don’t think there is really much I miss. It seems like anything I could look back on and miss is something I didn’t appreciate when I had it before. For example, trips to the grocery store alone. Now, a total luxury and an enjoyable time. Before, it was just a chore. Sunday naps. I enjoyed them before, but not to the extent I do now. What I guess I’m getting at, is that having kids has made everything seem sweeter and more precious than it was when I only had myself to worry about. I appreciate things now in a way I didn’t then.
Since I got married and had kids young, I keep wrapped up in a secret place in my heart, the other path. The one I would be on right now had I not taken the path I did. The one where I went to Europe with my dance group. The one where I started a career. The one where I had enough money to buy fancy clothes and buy nice furniture because I only had to spend money on myself. I pull out the other path to admire it once in a while, to use it as a little break from my reality. But truth is, that other path probably wouldn’t have been as lovely as I like to imagine. I know for a fact had I gone to Europe with the dance group, I would’ve been stuck wearing matching clothes. That is NOT the way I want to see Europe, parading around like kindergartners on a field trip. And the career I had planned was teaching. Something I now realize I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed. And as far as the money and clothing…let’s see…as a teacher I wouldn’t have a lot to begin with, and we all know how teachers tend to dress…and that’s worse than I dress now. (No offense, teachers, but you know what I’m talking about…fruit-themed clothing…)
So the cool thing is, kids have helped me appreciate the little things. The cute little karate chop action, the quiet time during naps, the candy I successfully snuck behind their backs so I wouldn’t have to share. All really great things. A nap on Sunday went from being a luxury to being a miracle worthy of tears and hallelujahs. Of course, along with this are a lot of difficult things, but somehow the joy I get from the other things overshadows the ugly parts. Usually.
And one more thing. People keep telling me that because I had my kids young I can be done sooner and have my life to myself again at a younger age. That I can then travel the world with my husband while we’re still young enough to walk unassisted. That never really did it for me. It didn’t really seem that cool, like a good enough reason to forgo the other path sooner rather than later. But the best reason of all occurred to me recently. I’ll get MORE TIME. More time to spend with my kids. I’ll get more time to spend with my grandkids. I’ll most likely even get to know my great-grandkids. I’d way rather trade my twenties living alone and doing things selfishly for my seventies filled with family. For the opportunity to get to know people that I wouldn’t meet if my life-span reached an end before theirs began. That I could watch a little family member grow for 10 years longer than I might’ve if I’d started later in life. That’s just really really cool to me.
So Franklin really loves to twist his hair when he’s relaxing. Always in the same spot, at the back of his head where the little swirly thing is. (No idea what that swirly thing is called…) He’s so cute when he does it. In this pic, he’s doing the double-handed hair twist. But usually he’s content with one-handed hair twisting.
by Shannon Montez
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