Just Telling Our Story

A little bit of chaos

The lower photo on this layout just makes me laugh.

It is a pretty clear representation of the chaos that ensues when you mix five young kids, two adults, four animals (at the time) and a small space. (This was last year. When we get together now, there are four kids and five animals!) I'll stop here and let the journaling tell the rest of the story.

Journaling: On the surface, this photo looks pretty imperfect. After all, nothing is in focus. But I love it. Why? Because it is a pretty clear picture of what our little house feels like when there are five kids, four adults, three cats and a dog sharing space. But despite the chaos, we absolutely love when our friends, Kevin and Kelly, and their three (and not long after this photo was taken, four!) kiddos come to visit. We love hanging out with our friends whenever we can. We’ll take the chaos any day.

Credits: Beige background - K Teague, The Basics, Beige. Loopy embellishments: JenAllyson, Adorn LoopyFrames, 2 Peas in a Bucket. Fonts: 2 Peas Renaissance (title) and Avenir. Blue background paper: Skrapper Digitals, Nighty kit. Small ring to right of photo (with date): Chipboard circle by Design by Dani, Cabana Boy kit; clipped paper: Nighty kit.

Sometimes my job takes me to the most unusual places

Like here:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday I was stomping the grounds (or, more accurately, being escorted around by a motorcoach/tour bus!) of the local landfill. Joy! It was actually fairly interesting to learn more about the place that has been somewhat annoying me lately, just due to the whiff we've been getting as we enter our town on cloudy, cool days. (I'm guessing the clouds are trapping the smell close to the ground? And thankfully we don't smell it throughout town or anywhere close to our house!) I learned that it will be around for 30 more years (likely eventually consuming our town golf course, Boy Scout cabin, soccer fields, police shooting range, archery range, skeet and trap shooting range and a state forest—all of which is owned by Waste Management—before it's done). But I also learned that it traps and converts enough methane gas to heat 5,000 homes. I don't know if that's per year or per month or what, but that's a lot of methane gas. And it is paying our town a chunk of its profits, which have helped build a new fire station and helps keep our property taxes relatively low. And I learned a little more about what happens to all of that trash that we put out on our curbside every Tuesday. Makes me want to recycle even more religiously!

Anyway, just wanted to share that from yesterday. That was actually only one stop of three that we made as part of an introduction to the Hendricks County Convention & Visitors Bureau's newest tour. I am not sure they're ready to officially announce the tour to the world, so I'll keep some of the other details hushed for now. But rest assured that the landfill is an educational stop along the way on this non-traditional tour, and the tour as a whole includes some fantastic stops at several other "prettier" stops along the way. Stay tuned to www.tourhendrickscounty.com for more details in the future!

OK, on to today. I started my day as I usually do, with a quick check on my friends' blogs. Two of them made me stop and say a little prayer for my dear friends this morning. One friend is facing some financial uncertainty as her husband lost his job and unemployment benefits have run out. Another is facing physical exhaustion from having just given birth to her fourth little one and having to care for three rambunctious and busy others at the same time. Another friend of mine just had a memorial service for her grandmother and lost her stepdad within a week or so. Just wanted to let them know that I'm thinking of them and keeping them in my prayers. You guys are strong women, and I admire your ability to keep moving forward. Hopefully things get better for all of you very soon.

Their experiences have made me stop and take a reality check this morning. I am so thankful for our family having two incomes, for having a home, for having our families, for having some energy and the ability to sleep a regular schedule. But it makes me sad that that's not true for everyone.

These are tough economic times for many Americans, but sometimes hearing that on the news every day doesn't bring the reality home. Having friends (and family members, too) facing economic uncertainty makes the reality of the situation too clear. My thoughts are with all of you facing your own challenges lately. Keep the faith. Hang on to hope. Things will get better eventually.

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PS The economic crunch hasn't skipped over us, either. I have lost two clients so far—two of what I have considered my five major clients—in the last month due to economic problems on their ends. It's a scary time. I'm trying to focus on the positive: I also gained two clients (including one national one!) and have another possibility yet to be confirmed. They might be short-term, one-time projects, but they're projects, and for that I am thankful.

Meet Sweet Little Ashley

Meet Ashley, the fourth child of our good friends Kevin and Kelly:

Is she not the sweetest little thing? I love, love, love the crazy baby hair!

We finally made it down to visit our good friends yesterday, two weeks after this sweet one made her grand entrance to the world, and it was so good to see them and meet little Ashley. And it was fun to take a few pictures, too. I just had to share them, because she has the sweetest little baby face. And I love baby faces! :o)

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Cute even when she cries...

Big sis Hailey is a big help for Mommy, I can tell!

Proud parents!

Thanks, Kevin and Kelly, for letting us come down and hang out with you guys last night! We had fun, and we loved meeting Ashley! You have a beautiful family and are very blessed! (Now Kelly, go get some sleep! :o)  )

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And if any of you are wondering why I don't share my own kids' names on my blog, but I did Kevin and Kelly's...Kelly's blog has all of her kids' names and photos. She keeps their last name private online, which in truth is what I'd rather do. But because my blog was originally intended for (and promoted to) my work clients, and because it is still linked to my business Web site (where my last name is plastered on every page), I keep my kids' first names private. You just can never be too safe, you know?

Adventures at the homecoming parade

Friday was our hometown homecoming parade, and it happened to be G's first chance to wear his new Cub Scouts uniform and his first time to be in a parade. A big day for our "little" boy!

E and I sat on the sidelines...

... with my friend Michele and her little girls. They were so cute waiting for candy!

Chad was such a sweetheart, taking care of his little girl and her friends. He put together these little Ziploc bags full of candy to toss at E and Michele's girls. After dozens of single pieces of candy coming at them one at a time for half an hour, when G's float came by, these big bags of candy came hurling their way. What a treat! Thanks, hon! (That's him on the far right.)

Chad and G had a good time throwing candy. (I'm sad this photo came out a little blurry!)

G looked so handsome in his uniform! (I finished getting the badges attached--most on the sleeve you can't see--about an hour before the parade! Nothing like getting things done...and not very well!...at the last minute!)

And that red mark on his chin? That day I got a phone call from the school nurse. He had stabbed himself in the chin with a newly sharpened pencil. The story from G was that someone was pretending like they were going to "shock" him, and he sat down really fast, while he was holding his pencil in his left hand, which was made into a fist and sitting on his desk at the time. Poor kid. We're not sure yet if there's still a piece of the pencil lead (which is actually graphite) in there. We'll find out soon enough, I guess. It's funny, because Chad and I both have permanent pencil pieces lodged into our skin -- mine in my forehead and Chad in two places in his hands.

But I digress. Back to the homecoming parade.

The girls ended up with lots of candy!

Not bad for a small-town parade! And this little girl found the chocolate in no time!

And you can't have a parade without the hands-over-the-ears shot. Poor E. Those firetrucks were LOUD!

I'm still here

Did you miss me? :o) It's been a while since I've blogged, I know. Bad Corie. I have been swamped like usual...both with work and with personal/family activities...and needed to put blogging on the back burner for a while. Just too many things on the to-do list. I'm sure you can all relate.

But I'm somewhat back to "normal" tonight, and my friend Michele and I are sitting at my kitchen table digital scrapbooking. Thought I'd share my page of the day:

Makes me miss summer a little, although I'm thoroughly enjoying being back in my jeans and long sleeves. I love fall.

Because I haven't been on in a while, I wanted to congratulate our good friends Kevin and Kelly on the birth of their fourth baby and third daughter, Ashley! She's a cutie patootie! And a big baby...9 lbs., 15 oz.! Congrats, guys! We're so happy for you and can't wait to meet her!

Hope to post again sometime in the next week or so...maybe this weekend if I don't just sleep my way through it! I'm pooped! Have a good weekend. It's going to be beautiful here in Indy!

By the way...congrats are in order!

My neighbor, Brooke, had her third baby on Monday at 11:56 a.m.! Welcome Kenzie Brielle (I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong)! Micah and Delaney are sure to be great at being Big Brother and Big Sister!

And because I have a sneaking suspicion that my friend Kelly is at the hospital right now, congrats to her and Kevin as well! She was due this past Monday, and I just have a feeling this baby girl (whose name is to be revealed upon birth) is coming today! Kelly hasn't updated her blog yet today, either, which makes me wonder... If you're not in labor yet, Kel, good luck!

(I need to get to feeling better so I can visit these new babies!)

Finally, congrats to my friend Stacey, who just got a new job! She starts on Monday...her first full-time job after being a stay-at-home mommy to her two boys for five years. Good luck, Stacey! Hope you love it!

OK, now back to work..

Feeling crummy & tired of lying around

I hate being sick. Yesterday I woke up with a bit of a sore throat but didn't think too much about it. Then at the kids' nap time, I was trying to work and only made it about an hour into it before I had to go lie down myself. And sure enough, by the time nap time was over, I was sick as could be. Weak legs, aches and pains, headache, earache, sore throat. Lovely. The rest of the day was spent lying on the couch or in bed, and today it continues. This is the first time I have felt like I could sit up and do something semi-productive in more than 24 hours. And it's not going to last. Just the way it goes, I suppose. I was planning on getting about six hours of work (or more) in this weekend, and it's just not happening. Of course this is another crazy-busy week, and I know I will feel the wrath of not working bright and early tomorrow. But what can I do? I just hope my sore throat subsides enough to be able to talk for my seven phone interviews I am supposed to have tomorrow. Yes, that's right...seven. Perfect timing, I know.

I'm feeling a little bummed that we didn't get out today like we had planned. We were going to go shopping for baby gifts for my two friends having baby girls this week. Brooke is scheduled for delivery tomorrow, and Kelly is actually due tomorrow. So we won't have gifts ready for them, and I might be in no shape to visit them...which makes me very sad. But good luck, ladies. I can't wait to meet those precious baby girls! :o)

Life in a barn...just too much fun

It's something we don't do often enough—visit my good old friend (and college roomie) Carrie and her family—but we were fortunate enough to get out there to visit them this weekend. And we had so much fun!

Carrie and her hubby and two kiddos live in a barn that has been fully finished into very nice living space (on the second level). But what made this visit so much fun, especially for our kiddos, was what was outside the barn. Their 50 acres includes a pond (maybe two?), creek, fields, woods ... and lots of animals! They have chickens, turkeys, several cats, some kind of baby birds/fowl (can't remember what they're called!)—and even a baby deer.

Even though we were tired before we got there after our big garage sale on Saturday (which went well, by the way), and we stayed well past the kids' bedtime, we could have stayed there much longer. The kids, especially G, just couldn't get enough of the animals. It also helps that Carrie's son is the same age as G, so they were having a great time!

Here are some of my favorite pics from the day.

 

G got pretty good at catching the chickens! It was just too cute to see him chasing them around the pen. A (Carrie's daughter) was an expert at it. Apparently she spends every day out there and has done a heck of a job taming the critters!

 

E never got quite to the point of completely comfortable with holding the chickens, but for her to get this close was a huge deal. She's just not generally fond of animals running wild. She usually wants to be held (and Chad and I did a fair amount of holding her before she got to this point). But she got two hands on the little things a couple of times, so that's pretty cool. She just didn't want us to let go!

That's Carrie's son, W (she's like me and likes to keep the kiddos' names under wraps). He, like his big sister, had no fear and even picked up the chatty ducks! They were generally pretty quick to wriggle free, but we did get this shot. I love his expression!

A couple more of G's catches:

He worked so hard to catch all seven of these smaller chickens and line them up on the tree branch. It's funny, but each one stayed perched up there for quite a while.

   

He even caught one of the ducks for a short time!

This little girl had a powerful sucker! She may be small, but she's mighty! Her name was Beauty, I believe.

Doug got a new toy this day, so we got to go for a ride in it. The kids loved this! Like a little roller coaster in the country, taking rides through the field. A little off-road rumblin'...fun stuff. (Doug wasn't thrilled about having his picture taken! Neither was W!)

I don't think they wanted their picture taken, but I'm glad I got this shot! Sorry for all the camera-in-the-face shots, guys! But thanks for humoring me a little! :o)

Oh, and before I forget. Our evening was topped off with this:

Doug and Chad kept hearing something and couldn't figure out what it was. Then it caught Doug's eye - they were hearing the bursts of heat from the hot-air balloon that was landing in the field next to their house, right over our shoulders and over a small hill, not 100 yards away from us. We jumped into Doug's new toy and took off to get a little closer. I've never been this close to a hot-air balloon before. It was pretty cool.

Thanks, Carrie and Doug, for a fun evening! Hope to see you guys again soon.

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Edit: Oops! Posted one pic twice!