Just Telling Our Story

Weekend wrap-up

I know it's Tuesday, but I'm just getting around to wrapping up our weekend. It's been busy around here. Because I worked about every free moment I had over the weekend, I decided to take today off. For one thing, we had dentist appointments (four, back-to-back-to-back-to-back) this morning, so half of my day was shot anyway. For another, I wanted to keep G away from school if possible, since today was to have been another pool day for him. And we know how I feel about that. (If you don't, read these posts: first and second.) So it was a much-needed free day for me.

I've spent much of this afternoon working on our garage in preparation for a big garage sale we're having on Saturday. Yea! Our goal is to get at least one of our cars in the garage for the winter. We shall see. Anyone need a slightly-faded blue couch and love seat? I'll make you a really good deal.

But now, G's trying to get his nap, and he's bound to wander around the house if he knows I'm outside, so I am killing time inside avoiding work and trying to get some blogging done. I just got through some pics and thought I'd share.

Our friends, Kevin and Kelly, and their three and a half little ones came over on Friday night. They stayed late into the evening, so by the time we got around to trying to take a group picture of the kids (a tradition of sorts for us), it was way past bedtime, and it looked something like this:

Can you count all of them?! There were five kiddos, all moving in different directions! I love that picture!

We finally got some control, although, even with many different shots of the scene, we didn't get any with all of the kids looking at the camera and smiling. This is as good as it gets:

They're still pretty good-lookin' kids, I'd say.

Backing up a bit, we went back to the fair last Thursday night. The first time we had gone, the rides weren't open, so we had an excuse to go back. This was the first year G rode a big-boy ride. He picked one that would have made me sick, but he absolutely loved it: The Rock 'n' Roller. Loud music (E with her hands over her ears while we watched), lots of hills, fast speed...the whole bit. He even put his arms up in the air for their final circle. I didn't get a good shot of that, though. Bummer. Here he is in all his glory.

E picked a much more sane ride for her mommy. We took the ferris wheel—her first time up to the top of such a big ride. She loved it! I was reminded that I don't much care for heights. :o) And that's Chad's finger, in case you were wondering which car we were in on the way to the top! Clever, honey!

I also went scrapbooking all day on Saturday and got nine pages done. Yea! Not bad for slow-poke me. Meanwhile, Chad and the kids went all over town, including to two parks, Target, the bookstore, Grandma's house, McDonald's and Dairy Queen. They'll probably want Mommy to go away more often!

Random thoughts galore today!

My mind has been distracting me today. There are at least a hundred things on my mind. Thought I'd jot down a few, and then maybe I'll have a better chance at focusing on my work.

• The day care drama continues. My friend Michele sent me a note today about what she witnessed at the local park this morning. She was visiting with her kiddos, and G was there with his lovely day care. Let's just say there might as well have been no adult presence there. These kids are 6 years old. Get with it, people. I'll share her note with you all later. My gosh.

• We're looking forward to a fun evening with old friends tomorrow. Our friends Kevin and Kelly, and their three (and a half) cuties are coming into town for dinner and hanging out. We can't wait to see you and catch up, guys. Let's hope for some sunny weather!
  

• Somehow I need to find time between now and tomorrow to clean my house. (I know, Kelly! You say don't worry about it...but you know I have to at least try! I won't subject you to it as it is right at this moment. It's not pretty.)

• Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. I have too much on my plate this week. But I'm squeaking by. Staying productive (although my mind's been wandering as I've tried to write an article for a local magazine today).

• As much as my family stresses me out  (as everyone's family does, I think) sometimes, at least I have a family, and I didn't spend my childhood feeling like no one loved me or wanted me. That article I mentioned? The woman had NO family from age 7 to 21. Watched her parents have physical fights. Heard her mom ask her brother to load the shotgun so she could kill her father. Taken into custody of the court. Completely abandoned by her mother. Separated from her siblings. Father had no interest in taking her back. Became a child servant on a farm. (Interesting story. Find her book, I Was a Waif and Child Servant...No Regrets, by Joyce Robinson, online at www.authorhouse.com, or watch Mooresville Magazine for my story, out Sept. 1.) My life? Could have been much worse. Thanks, Mom and Dad (and everyone connected to them - steps, sibs, etc.), for wanting me (although I'm sure you questioned yourselves sometimes).

• Is a good preschool program more important than quality care for my child? Why should I have to choose between the two? Is it time to move back to our beloved old day care?

• Man, I really need to get some sun (and get rid of my farmer's-tan shirt lines) before my sister's wedding in four weeks. Could stand to lose a few pounds, too. But who am I kidding?

• I'm only making $13 this month after paying for day care and all of its activities. Is working 128 hours worth $13? (That's 10.15 CENTS an hour. Thank goodness this is the worst month of the year for that. G will be out of day care very soon!)

• Only NINE more days of day care for my oldest child! Woo hoo! Six years of paying out the wazoo and dealing with occasional terror teachers, and it's almost over! Yea!

• Thank goodness for all-day kindergarten. By the time my daughter gets there, it should be standard for everyone. One less year of day care. My goodness.

• Can you tell day care is consuming my mind today?

• Get off the darn blog, Corie, and get back to work!

Gotta go. What's on your mind today?

Where have we been?

It's been another busy week! Wondering if we fell off the planet? We didn't. Here is a glimpse into what we've been up to.

First, while Chad was still on vacation, we visited my sister and her family. We must not have been interesting enough for this little guy. How sweet is he? (He's my nephew.)

We also made it to the good ol' Hendricks County Fair. It's a family tradition. My boy G got a new cowboy hat from Daddy when he came back from Colorado, so he fit right in. Of course, we had to have our corndogs and chocolate milk shakes. Yum!

I love the chocolate ice cream smudge on the nose!

E wasn't much for walking on this day, so we didn't get many shots of her "visiting" the animals. Strollers, animals in cages/pens and dark barns don't go well together for photos. BUT, I got at least one, and I love it!

She wasn't feeling much up for pictures, anyway, as you can see:

And that little treasure (the pic above) was shot by this little treasure (not bad, Bud!):

If we do anything interesting this week, I'll share later. But honestly, this week is more likely to be consumed by work, work, work! Deadlines galore! But I do have an all-day scrapbook day on Saturday. Can't wait!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

101 things I love and don't, part 1

One of the scrapbook page topics I have always thought would be fun to do is one highlighting 101 things I love on one half and 101 things that bug me on the other. I saw this idea in a magazine a long time ago, and occasionally I'll be enjoying something or not enjoying something, and I'll think, I need to add that to my list. Except that I haven't really had a formal list. So I'm starting one today. I won't get through it all of course (I don't have time to write that much, and you probably don't have time to read it), but I'll get started. So here goes. And when you reach the end, click on Comments (below the post) and tell me a few things that you love or that really bug you! Could be fun to see what you all are thinking. :o)

101 things that bug me (part 1, in no particular order)

1. Aggressive drivers
2. Grammatical, punctuation or spelling errors by news folks :-)
3. Whining
4. Inconsiderate people
5. Childless adults who give parenting advice when my kids are acting up, especially in a public place ("You know, you should really...")
6. Buying clothes you think look good in the store (even if you try them on) but finding out you don't really like them when you get them home
7. Paying for day care
8. Day care providers that don't care about my kids as much as I do
9. People being rude to their waiters/waitresses
10. When my house stinks (due to stinky trash in the kitchen, potent left-overs in the fridge, forgetting to run the garbage disposal, animals that decide the litter box isn't good enough for them today, etc. Yeah, it's lovely.)

101 things I love (part 1, in no particular order) Let's end on the happier note.

1. My family (immediate, extended and friends who are like family)
2. My friends
3. My animals
4. My job
5. A glass of chocolate milk (made with Nesquik) after the kids go to bed each night
6. Saturdays with nothing to do
7. Sleeping in
8. Scrapbooking
9. Capturing my kids' young lives on film (or, OK, on compact flash cards and CDs)
10. House windows open on a 75-degree, sunny day

What do you love? What bugs you? Please share! (See that "Comments" word right below this post, in green small print? Click on it. Thanks!)

More on my lists on another day. Have a good Wednesday! The week's half over, and Chad comes home tonight! Yea!

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Edit, 4 p.m.: Just found out from a reader that the "post a comment" feature isn't working! Sorry if you have trouble. Save those ideas, and come back and visit soon. I want to hear your comments! (Or e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll post them for you later!)

Edit, 4:09 p.m. It's working now! Comment away! (please...)

Where are the weekend kids?

I have four kids.

They might only go by only two different names, but trust me, they are not the same two people. There are the well-rested, get-along-and-be-happy, mostly-well-behaved, agreeable, weekend kids, and then there are the whiny, tired-and-grumpy, too-much-dealing-with-other-kids-and-teachers, argumentative, name-calling, can't-stay-out-of-time-out, weekday kids.

I miss the weekend kids. I can't wait until they come back.

Monday morning...already

Well, this post will be quick, because it's Monday morning, and already I'm feeling the press of the week's looming work. Why do I always feel like I need to accomplish everything on my to-do list right now?

Anyway, here's a digital scrapbook layout I worked on late last week and over the weekend. I just looked at it again this morning and realized I failed to mention which professional baseball game this was (it was an Indianapolis Indians game), so I'll go back and add that later. Not now. Too much to do!

Enjoy! And have a good week!

{click for larger image}

All digital scrapbook elements: Aidan bundle, Retrodiva Designs, www.digitalfreebies.com. Fonts: Cooper Black (header), Quick Handle ("the story" and date) and Avenir (journaling).

Single mommyhood, day two

Day Two of Chad's trip to Colorado, and I'm surviving single mommyhood...so far. I tell ya, I have all the respect in the world for single moms. I know it's a tough job. As much as I love my kiddos—and they've actually been surprisingly good yesterday and today—there's just so much stuff to do. Never a moment to rest. (Today's a pleasant exception, however.)

With Chad gone to visit his brother, he's getting a vacation from the everyday hum of our lives. He needed it, I think. I have to admit that I wish I had gone with him. (I'd love to go out and visit my dad and stepmom out in Colorado. It's been a couple of years since we've been out there.) In some ways, though, we're getting a little vacation here, too.

We didn't have anything on the calendar today, we finished our errands before Chad left for vacation, and this morning was stormy and wet, so we've been home all day. Probably will be the rest of the day, too. It's kind of nice to not have to rush around a hundred different places on the weekend. This is the first weekend in a very long time that we haven't had anything going on. And if Chad were home, we'd probably come up with something to do, just to get the kids out of the house, if nothing else. I have fought the urge to go out today, though, because there's nothing we really need to do, the kids are getting along, and we'd only spend money if we went somewhere. So we're staying in and enjoying ourselves.

Don't believe me about the kids getting along? I know it's hard to believe. Here's proof. They were building a train track together, and E was checking off the pieces on the "map" as G put them into place. It was actually G's idea. What?! I know! Granted, it didn't last long (as soon as G got stuck looking for a piece, he was on to other things), but it was a sweet moment nonetheless.

They've been playing well all day—I can't express how unusual this is—and now they're even napping in the same room. We'll see how long that lasts, but I don't think they have ever wanted to spend so much time together! What is going on? I don't know, but I'm not complaining.

As happy as they seem to be, they're both missing their daddy. Yesterday, by 7:48 a.m., G was crying, wanting him back. This morning, it was E's turn, surprisingly, at 7:47 a.m. (I swear I didn't make that up.)  We miss you, hun. If you're checking in on us from Colorado, just wanted you to know.

And I have to say, that as much as today feels like a vacation, in some ways it's anything but. Chad does an awful lot around here, and it's that little stuff I miss the most: cooking dinner (I'm in charge of dishes), getting the kids dressed in the morning, bathing them at night, taking out the trash, cleaning out the litter boxes—all of that fun stuff, you know? So while I'm missing having him around to talk to and run around with, I'm missing everything he does for this family, too. Love ya, hun. Come home soon.

A new look for my little blog: perfect or not | tell your story

Did you notice something when you logged on today? There's a new look and feel to my little blog! Because I have slowly but surely migrated my blog toward an almost completely personal journal, rather than a work-related one, I thought it was fitting to change the header of the blog to reflect this. So, bye-bye, "Corie Communications: Tell Your Story" and hello, "perfect or not | tell your story."

 (Here's a shot of what the blog used to look like, in case you'd forgotten!)

Tell your story. It's a fitting tag line for my business, because I help not-for-profits, churches, health care organizations and businesses tell their stories through a variety of communications tactics, like writing for newsletters and media, graphic design, photography, Web site content, etc. And good public relations is based on telling your honest story.

It's also fitting for my personal obsession, scrapbooking, and my blogging hobby, too. These are a lot more fun for me than the work thing, of course (although I do love my job). Telling stories is what I enjoy. I love capturing photos, jotting down notes or the whole story behind them and putting them together into some type of package, preserving a memory or two in the process. I might share the end result with you blog readers, my family and maybe even someday my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, some of whom I might never know. Then again, I might hide the end result and save it for my eyes only. After all, my life isn't perfect, and some things I just don't want to share with the world...but I do find peace and enjoyment in telling the story on paper or on the screen in some way, shape or form. (Hence the "hide it" in my header above. In case you were wondering about that!)

So there's a short explanation of my new blog title and header. I'm still trying to work out some of the kinks, so bear with me. For example, for some reason, TypePad has decided to chop my header graphic off on the right side, and indent it on the left by about the same amount of space. What the heck? I don't know, and I've tried everything obvious to fix it. So it might just have to be.

Anyway, let me know what you think about the new look. I feel better about posting all things personal here already. No more worries about looking "professional" when talking about real-life family stuff. You'll find the real thing here, for better or worse. I kind of enjoy the fact that my life's not perfect. And I want to be free to express that. So if you're looking for perfect and proper, I'm afraid you've landed in a bad spot. If you're looking for the real us, you've come to the right place. Enjoy.

Photo ShaZAM - you have to try this!

OK, Photoshop lovers! This post is for you. (And if you're not a Photoshop lover, at least you get a pic of my boy.) I have been reading Jessica Sprague's blog for a while now, and I have to share her post from today. It's a little Photoshop trick for adding some extra punch to your photos. Here's what I mean.

My before picture, taken this morning, straight out of camera (SOOC):

Not too bad.

But, wait. Here's her trick at work.

Notice the punchier colors? The better skin tone? I love it.

If you want to learn more about this trick, visit her blog and check it out. She has a better example of  before-and-after pics on her blog. It's a wonderful trick. I've been dying to know how photographers get that extra punch. Now I know. How cool of Jessica to share her tricks for free. I think that's awesome. (Thanks, Jessica!) And this is so simple!

And here's one more version, just because I love using layer masks.

Even with the little flakes of leftover milk around his mouth (evidence of his favorite breakfast, donuts, this morning), I still think he's one of the most beautiful children I've ever seen (along with his lovely sister, of course!). Don't you? :-) (Yeah, that sounds a little, um, braggish and conceited, I guess, but a mom can be proud, can't she?)

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Edited: OK, now that I've posted it, the top two don't look too different from each other. In fact, the second's a little more blown-out. I need a better example. Back in a minute.

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Edited again: OK, try this example. My daughter, straight from the camera (natural light, underexposed, on my old camera, so it's grainy)

It's a bit underexposed, so I edited curves first. Here's what I got.

And with Jessica's Photo ShaZAM trick:

Love it. And there's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby (or big girl).

A happy post

I've been bogged down by sad blog posts lately. So here's a happier one for you. (OK, who am I kidding? It's really happier for me. :-)  )

I got a new camera over the weekend, just in time for the Fourth. My other one, a Nikon D70, was a wonderful thing, but it was getting old, had more than 15,000 photos logged on it (in three years) and was a little lacking in today's file-quality standards. It was a 5 MP. My new beast is 12! And believe it or not, this makes a difference when you're shooting photos for printing on press—especially when they're printed full-page and in color.

I needed to replace my old lens, as I discovered—after shooting 375 photos of a golf outing for a client—that there is some serious debris on the INSIDE of the lens. This requires losing the lens for six weeks as I ship it off to Nikon to be cleaned. Not only is it costly in terms of dollars, but it's costly in terms of time, too. I couldn't afford to wait six weeks; I have another shoot scheduled for Tuesday (tomorrow)! So, that and the fact that my external flash lost a part during that same golf outing (just wasn't my day for my camera, I guess)—coupled with the fact that I want to make a good impression on my new client for her shoot tomorrow—was enough to convince me to make the plunge and upgrade. My new camera has such an awesome tolerance for low light that the external flash might be a thing of the past! Yea! I love this thing. And I love that it's a business expense. :-)

Anyway, here are some pics from over the weekend to share. And if you are tempted to say, "Wow, that new camera takes good pictures," just remember that you wouldn't tell a chef she has fantastic pots and pans if she cooked up a splendid supper. :-) I can't take all of the credit (it is a darned good camera, after all), but I like to think I can take some! :-)

Enjoy!

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My sisters and my charming little nephew. Gotta love that face!

My boy and a sparkler. A must-have shot every Fourth.

A portrait of me, I believe. Yes, I know he's WAY off-center, but when you're shooting from the front seat and trying to get the person directly behind you—while buckled in—this is as good as it gets!

My older sis and my older child. Love it. That's my mom and her new boyfriend, Bill, in the background. Nice guy.

Time for some picks of my darling daughter. On Daddy's shoulder—the best view of the parade! There were a million people there. The parade's in Carmel.

(Below, left) She just did not care for the fire engine noises! We were too far away from the action, it was raining, and I was limited to my perch under the umbrella, so I didn't get her in the same shot as the culprit fire engines. The one on the right is her making herself happy completely entertaining herself in our front yard while her daddy and big brother played soccer later in the weekend. She is such a good self-entertainer!

Back to the parade. Erin's fiance, Eric, riding the 10-person bike for Rotary. He was SOAKED by the end of the parade. It wasn't raining too hard here.

That's him in the white shirt, waving.

I don't have another vertical shot to balance this out, but I love this pic of my nephew devouring a plastic cup. Had to include it.

Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth as well.