Are we bullies or just pissed off?

I was catching up on my favorite big-time bloggers this weekend and one that I read was very interesting. I love this blog and I can't stay away from it no matter how much I try. Even when I get so aggravated that she has the perfect life yet can complain about it. I have been trying my hardest to walk away since she had her second child because I just cannot relate to this person and her complaining that she is sleep deprived and how she can't get posts out even though that is her only job, her husband is there on a daily basis and their older daughter goes to school during the day. Granted, she has to come up with something witty and perfect, but is it really that bad? I always think about you guys (and me) who have many children, other jobs too and no husband around during the day to do nothing but to help you with your business and kids, yet you post almost daily. You are awesome!
ANYWAY. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah. For once I agree with her and feel sorry for her. Her latest post has to do with buying a washer. An expensive washer, that almost instantly broke and the company wouldn't help her until she Twittered about it. Then, she was apparently called a bully by someone. A bully? I know that she gets hate mail for everything she writes and that would drive me crazy especially when I went through that myself when I first started my blog. I have to agree with her that if a large corporation doesn't want to stand behind their product and an expensive one at that, then they should be called on. Opinions are our freedom to give and when I thought about all the companies that I wanted to yell about, my post would probably be a mile long.
My point is, that she used her blogging power to get help and that maybe these companies better realize that more and more people might start doing this and I don't know if people were trying to tell her that she could be sued or not but I know that I do product reviews and so do a lot of you and we are going to be honest about the product and I think that that's basically what she did. She gave her opinion. So, you know what Ms. Famous Blogger, I stand behind you on this.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to bed because I am sleep deprived too.

The Hulk Baby

I thought you might want to see how funny my grandchild is. My mom took this while he was at her house with his mom. Don't blink though, because you'll miss it.

Posting on the back burner

I often include posts that state that I really need to stop and smell the roses, for I do tend to keep myself very busy. The problem is, if I ever actually took my own advice by the time I stopped to smell them, they'd be wilted and practically dead and I'd probably prick my finger on the thorns. So, I continue to act like an adult who has ADHD and keep myself on deadlines and open to new adventures. In the process of life, I have neglected my little blog a bit and I've been waiting for the emails to come in from family saying, Why haven't you posted? We need to know what's going on in your life!

And I know today is Wednesday and I haven't been doing the Words With A Blogger Wednesday very much and it's kind of something I'm doing on purpose. I've decided that it's too much hunting down bloggers and begging them to let me give them some free publicity-Is that the sound of a scorned writer? Yes.

So, I will post something about an amazing blog when I feel like it and that way you can wonder if you will learn about a new blogger on a Wednesday or just another boring day in my life.

Right now I'm sending off the next issue of Wedding Bliss Magazine and finishing up with the wedding I just shot to prepare to get my book ready. The month of September will be solely about my book so I can launch it finally in October. At least that's I'm praying to the publishing
Gods for.

I also wanted to thank everyone that have been giving me awards and I'm hoping to go back through my comments to find them and display them proudly. Thanks for still coming to visit and I have been visiting everyone's blogs but haven't been commenting though I will be starting today.

On a less boring note, yesterday while taking a walk to the park with Emily, I noticed alot of bikers (bikes, not motorcycles) on the path and we said hello to everyone that either nodded or said hello to us. After saying "hi" to about the tenth person or group to go by us, I happened to look down at Emily who was giving me an evil look with her eyes squinted and her arms crossed in front of her. I was all like, what?
She proceeded to give me the stare and slowly said, "I saw you saying "hi" that dad on the bike."
Confused, I was like, "Yeaaah. So?"
She took a deep breath and answered, "Well, I'm telling Daddy on you because you shouldn't talk to other dads."
I thought a moment and said, "Well, Daddy talks to other moms too."
Emily's mouth dropped to her ankles and then she loudly announced, "Oh, am I ever going to have a talk with him when he gets home!"

Bewitched

In recent post, I talked about our little shopping trip that we took in a nearby town. I had mentioned how they had a carousal and how Emily fell in love with it after she realized that she would not fly off of it and die a tragic death. I had also said how I dreaded facing her the day after when I knew that she would be dreaming of riding that dang thing and that unfortunately, we didn't have one. Not one in our whole city, unless it's fair time-WHICH, I do not go to for fear of cow pies flying at me at incredible speeds.

Sure enough, when she woke up the next day, she jumped out of bed with stars in her eyes and a big grin from ear to ear. As soon as she opened her mouth, I knew what was coming out-I want to ride the carousal, Mom! Can we? Can we? Can we go to the far away mall again TODAAAY???
I had to explain to her that no, we couldn't go there today but that we plan on going back again before it gets cold out.

"But, why don't we have one at our mall?" she asked as her grin quickly turned into a frown.

"Because they are clueless to what little girls need at malls," I answered.

"Well, you can make them put one there, couldn't you?" she asked.

"I don't think I could make them," I replied.

"Daddy says you have witch powers. Can you please use it to make one appear? Please?"

I laughed and then made a mental note to whip my husband's butt later. "Ok, I'll try to use my witch powers and try to make one appear, but I can't make any promises. I've used alot of it up trying to make a big green wart appear on your father's bottom."

I proceeded to pretend to use my "witch powers" to wish for a carousal in our mall and until she seemed satisfied and told her that next time we go to the mall we would check and see if one appeared.

A couple of days passed and I totally forgot all about the carousal when we decided to go to the mall. We were walking down the mall when Emily stopped dead in her tracks and screamed, "Look Mom! A carousal!"

Holy Toledo! There stood a carousal by the food court just like the one she rode at the other mall. I about peed my pants. I couldn't believe that they actually put one up.

Emily suddenly turned around and looked up at me all serious and wide eyed and quietly whispered, "You DO have witch powers."

Hmm, maybe I should check the hubby's butt...

Concentrate on the concentration.

I haven't written much lately about the hubby and that's probably because we haven't seen too much of each other in the last couple of weeks with both of our schedules. Does that mean that he hasn't been able to do "hubby stuff" that makes me roll my eyes? Of course not.

Let me tell you something about him. He has his typical male thinking when it comes to certain things. Don't get me wrong, I'll take the things that he's picked that shouts out, I'M AM A MAN, HEAR ME ROAR! over what could be worse. Like, he doesn't leave the toilet seat up, but he leaves his underwear on the bathroom floor. He doesn't oogle over big busted women (at least not in front of me) but he'll play computer games until 1 a.m. He doesn't read the directions on how to put something together, but he still puts it together backwards.

I can handle those, but there is one thing that drives me crazy. I like to buy things in the concentrated form. They are smaller bottles and supposed to last longer and I think cheaper. Well with our busy schedules, he has stepped up a bit to help with household tasks. This, I am grateful but I still want to kill the guy. Anyway, while I was away shooting a wedding, he decided to wash the dishes. We are one of those unfortunate souls who still don't have a dishwasher. I know, I hear you saying, That poor lady. How does she ever survive? So, that was all great except for when I went to wash the breakfast dishes the next day, the dish soap was gone. Gone. That bottle was almost full when I left.

I walked up to him with the empty bottle and asked, "Did you volunteer to do the neighbors dishes too or did you think it looked like green koolaid and drank it? Concentrated, Honey. Do you know what that means?"

The next day was laundry day and he actually likes to do his work clothes because I have a habit of shrinking clothes. It's a curse of mine that goes along with bleach stains which is strange because half the time we don't even have bleach in the house. So, he went first and got all his clothes done. I went later and when I lifted the bottle, it was light as a feather. Is this man trying to drive me mad? I screamed into the dirty clothes and marched upstairs and said to him, "Concentrated, Honey. Do you know what that means?"

Yesterday, I found out that he had given the dog a bath while I was gone at the wedding and I was shocked, but happy because she needed it, but when I went to clean the bathroom and picked up the bottle it was empty. I screamed again and with the empty bottle in my hand, I marched up to him and bopped him on the head with it.

He looked at me and slowly asked, "Concentrated?"
I replied, "No. This shampoo cost fifteen bucks!"
Men.

One to remember

To add to my busy life, I shot another wedding this weekend. Each wedding I add to my belt, gives me yet another interesting photography experience. This wedding was a very laid back one. The two kids getting married were very unstressed about anything, especially the bride. I think I stressed out more than she did about making sure their experience was one to remember. They didn't worry about bouquet throwing, or garter belt tossing, or if I didn't ride their butts, they wouldn't even of had any couple shots.

If I could have it my way, I would just come to a wedding and only take the bridal photos and the couple photos. Then, I would run away with my treasures and jump on my computer to see what artwork I produced. The rest of the wedding shots are boring and yucky to me. Formals? Please shoot me. Yes, I think all photographers should protest doing any other wedding shots. We would all be happier and live longer.

Here are some bridal shots...

This is how informal and laid back they were.

The bridal party didn't even wear shoes the whole day.

Of course the couple did not want to see each other before the wedding and they were getting married in the evening, so I specifically told them that after the ceremony, they would have to hurry and catch the end of the light outdoors. They whole heartily agreed-until after the ceremony. It was over at 7pm and they wanted to dismiss each row out of the church. No problem, right? WRONG. 7:15... 7:30...8:00... 8:30. Oh my gosh, my blood pressure was climbing. Luckily, they were serving food already, so I shoved fruit and meatballs in my mouth so I didn't go into the church and yell, LOOK, GUYS. THE SUNLIGHT IS LEAVING. CAN WE PLEASE GO, NOW?!

After pacing back and forth about a million times, I decided to go in and pull them out. They apologized and we ran outside at 8:45 to get the car shots, the couple shots and a couple of group shots.

Can this be done, you ask? Well, if you believe in miracles it does. And some pretty good lenses help too.

Here are some shots we got done. Can you tell it was almost nine at night?

Whew! This was the last shot. You can see the end of the sunlight on the bride's face.

They were a cute little couple, but if a couple ever does this to me again, I will have to put them in the corner with their noses to the wall.

More scars from our trip

While at that mall on Sunday, I also encountered another "lovely" experience. Let me start by telling you that I'm a big Twilight fan. I loved the books, I loved the movie and I love the actors. I love it so much, that I've acquired some Twilight merchandise. My hubby got me a tshirt that I like to wear-is this childish?

I wore it on our trip and while I was thinking it was a pretty cool shirt, apparently I must be too old to wear it. At least according to a check out girl at Target. We went to check out a Barbie item for Emily, and when it was our turn, the girl looks at my shirt and then at me and then at my kids. She smiled at me and says, You are the first mom I've seen wear a Twilight shirt. I was all like, huh? A mom. Wearing a Twilight shirt. Is this not right? I made some comment like, Uh, yeah. I'm a cool mom. She proceeded to laugh and say, Yeah.

I finished checking out and then I started getting all paranoid. Is that young couple over there pointing and laughing at me? Wait. Did those college kids just say something about my shirt? Oh my. Get me to the nearest JcPenney so I can buy a polo shirt, or a flowered shirt, or whatever the hell a MOM is supposed to wear.

I'm not sure if I will wear my cool Twilight shirt again unless it's around the house. But even then, if the mailman sees me with my favorite shirt on, he might laugh at me. I guess I'll just have to start wearing a robe and curlers in my hair and leave the "coolness" to the kids.

Blissfully mine

I received the first run of my new magazine, Wedding Bliss Magazine yesterday.

It was so awesome to see it in print and I envisioned it in stores and at wedding shows and I got all goose bumpy.

Now that I have a hard copy in my hands to show potential advertisers, I get to go pound the pavement and convince businesses that this is indeed the coolest wedding magazine ever.

Smell the aroma

This weekend, we decided to go on a little trip-a shopping trip to be exact-to a mall in Coralville, Iowa which is an hour away from us. It had been awhile since I've been there and they really don't have any different stores then our mall, but it's still nice to go to a different mall for a change. I went with my two daughters and my mom. Wasn't a trip that the boys wanted to go on, so they stayed home.

(This is what happens when your kids have a camera in the back seat with them.)

We finally made it to the mall.

When we went inside, we saw that they had a carousal at their food court and at first my youngest, who had never been on one was all like, I'm NOT going on that. Then, she decided that she would go on it but we would have to sit on the bench. I was all like, you are NOT sitting on the bench. The bench is no fun. Just try one of the horses-one time. Of course she said NO WAY! but, after we got on and I showed her how the little girl behind us was brave enough to go on the horse, she finally agreed.

After it started, she was totally in love with the carousal and we then spent $40,000 in carousal rides before we left. I fear that I've created a carousal monster and unfortunately, we don't have any in our dang town. So, I think I will have to hide when she wakes up and says, I WANT TO GO ON THE CAROUSAL AGAIN, MOM!!!

They also had a play area that was filled with a bunch of kids. As I watched her get bounced around amongst the crowd of kids, all I could think of was the game Pong from my Atari days.

We had fun and with all the walking we did, I probably burned about a zillion calories so I didn't feel guilty about the scoop of mint chocolate meltaway ice cream, cotton candy, and a Subway sandwich during our stay there.

Speaking of walking, I have to warn you that if you don't like tailgators while driving your car, you probably do not want to shop at this mall. What does that have to do with walking, you ask? Well the people that live there, or at least the ones at the mall, are tailgator walkers. Yes, there is such a thing. It was really freaking me out and then it started to piss me off. How dare these people invade my space? Don't they know that everyone has their safety zone and that they aren't allow to invade that? My oldest daughter was getting pretty annoyed too and it happened so much to us that it became the main topic of conversation. I felt like we were in a New York subway station at rush hour. You could literally feel their hot breath on your neck. Jessica actually had someone step on her heel. I don't know about you but I HATE THAT.
So, we kept saying that we were just going to stop dead in our tracks and let them run right into us. But with my luck, they would be holding a hot cup of coffee or if these people are rude enough to walk up your bleep bleep, they'd probably sue us for damages to their Prada bag or something.

Am I ever going to go back? Why of course I will. But I'm going to eat a big ole' can of baked beans first and walk real slow...

It's here! It's here!

After waiting and waiting, I finally received my new lens. I have to say, this is a most awesome lens. It's a f 1.4 50mm lens and I have been wanting one for some time now. Now, I can die with a smile on my face. Not really. I would also need to win the lottery, buy a big huge house and write four best selling novels first.

Anyway, I love it and I have been practising with it ever since I got it.

Here are some pics I took:

Normally, I would use my telephoto lens for this effect and have to stand about a mile away. But, not anymore.

Love the background blur without any effort.

I love the fact that you don't need flash to use it indoors, which will help me with photo shoots.

Emily was about done with having me stick the camera in her face, so I moved on to other subjects.

Like Zach.

He too, eventually told me that I gotta go, so I moved on...

Even Barbie's toilet seat made a cool photo...

Ok, maybe I was running out of subjects after awhile.

Words with a Blogger Wednesday

I'm back!!!!

Just in time forrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

Words with a Blogger Wednesday!

This week's blogger is a very cool one. Of course, I love those foodie blogs!

Meet Shaina from

Food for My Family

Tell us about you and your wonderful blog:

I'm a work-at-home mom to four. I am a home cook and wannabe photographer, and I share recipes, tips, opinions and my philosophy on food as I wade through the process of feeding my family, her friends and anyone else who will let me at Food for My Family.

I grew up eating my Yugoslavian-born grandma's made-from-scratch cooking and baking, which is where my interest in all things food began. I married my husband, Ole, and he shares in my interest.

When did you start blogging?
I first started blogging for my job with two of my virtual coworkers, Tara from Deal Seeking Mom and Mandi from Organizing Your Way, a year and a half ago. I finally got around to starting my own personal blog in March of 2009.

Do you make money from your blog?
I make next to nothing at this point. I don't run ads or have sponsors, but I have some income through Amazon sales. I would like to have my blog be profitable at some point, but right now I'm focused on figuring out my niche and where I'm going with it.

How frequently do you post?
I have generally been posting three times a week this summer, but I'll be ramping up to four with school starting soon.

Do you have a favorite blogger(s) that you just can't live without reading?
I have so many I can't even begin to list them, but I love the photo tips at Digital Photography School, and I'm also a big fan of The Pioneer Woman (for her love of food and photography, of course). On the kitchen front alone, Deb at Smitten Kitchen and then, you know, there's Steamy Kitchen, David Lebovitz, Noble Pig and so many more that it really isn't fair that I haven't mentioned all of them as well.

Have your readers influenced you in any way?
If my readers comment on particular recipes, then I try to offer more in a similar vein. My friends and relatives will also mention what they like or don't like, and I try to take their constructive criticism and figure out what, if anything, needs to be different.

What do you do when you get writer's block?
I read other blogs or I read a book. Reading helps me figure out where my voice is by hearing other people's voices. I try to read people I know have engaging writing where you just can't put the book down to navigate away from their blog page.

Any other advice you might have for newbie bloggers?
I don't know that I'm qualified to answer that question, but I say just start writing. The most important part about a blog – and the hardest – is getting good content up. Get in the habit of making your blog a priority and not just something you do when you have the time or get around to it.

Sour face

The grandbaby just learned how to make a kissing face.

All I can think of is the bitter beer face commercial-maybe he has a future in commercials after all.