Well that was fun

I sure did enjoy my few fleeting moments of peace, rest and happiness this weekend. I'm so angry that I even said something stupid like "I'm feeling pretty good". In my world that is a sure to turn things in the opposite direction. I totally jinxed myself.
I cursed at myself at 1am. Then again at 2am. Then 3am. By 4am, I was ready to hurt someone. By 5am, I said fuck it and got up. A day that starts by seeing every hour of the "night", is bound to be ultra fab. Le sigh...

Things on the other blog wrapped up today. After talking with Jay'me on Friday and Scott this afternoon it became apparent that things needed to end. Everyone just has too much on their plates, myself included. I'm sad. The idea was my brain child. I gave it a lot of love early but just couldn't maintain what it needed to be successful. And when things stopped being fun and started feeling like a job, it was time to throw in the towel. I guess I'll just have to share all of my creative genius (stop laughing) over here instead.

I tried all day long to amend the craptastic mood. I even made a trip to get ice cream with Kate. An ice cream trip where I almost took Kate's chocolate ice cream cone and shoved the gross, drippy, melty mess back at the pimply faced teenager that handed it to me. Seriously. It's 95 degrees please don't make the ice cream cone ahead of time. Handing a cone to someone in the drive thru window that melts, drips and leaves a mess on the ground before they can even get it in the car is just STUPID.

My grandmothers, and mother taught me that if you didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I guess I've already broken the rule but I'll stop now. Bitching about stupid, non-important crap, just isn't going to do anyone any good.
None of it matters anyways.

Grumpy Bitch - out

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And I'm spent.

It was my turn on the other blog. Making the post today about killed me. I haven't figured out how to talk about Scott. Is he my husband, my late husband, my... I don't freaking know. How the hell am I supposed to know that? That's something you start thinking about when you're in your 60's or 70's. You don't think about that in your 30's. You just don't.

Sorry, end rant.

I had another moment today where I didn't know what to do or what to say.

Kate wants to know who plays every song on the radio and she wants to know what the song says. She stumped me on Captain Jack. Go ahead and pitch me your best, kid friendly, meanings for Captain Jack.

Time for this mama to play Easter Bunny. We won't go into the bitter, angry feelings I have right now about having to do this alone. Nor will we go into the bitter, angry, feelings I have that Kate will not remember a single Easter with her father. Nope, not talking about it. Not now at least. Time to swallow it and give Kate a wonderful, fun, loving Easter. She deserves it and so does Scott.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. We will.

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Rescue

Thank you everyone for coming to my rescue with great ideas, website links, offers of assistance, etc. for Kate's birthday. I've got a few more ideas floating around my head. Nothing totally evolved just yet but it's moving forward. You all continue to support us even in the smallest of ways.

Kate and I are battling what seems like Round 12 of this cold bug. She's about as miserable as she was (health wise) the day before Scott died. Poor Junior Miss has a bright red nose again and sleeping... well, it's been a nightmare.
Such is life. Must work hard to get some extra sleep early.
Working on something fun for a cousin. Hopefully, I'll get to share it with everyone tomorrow.
Oh and I posted tonight over on the other blog. I'm so loving my new camera. Every time it's in my hands I think of Scott. I can hear his excitement and words of encouragement in my head. It makes me happy.

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Back in the saddle again

The song that inspired the blog title.

Today seemed to be a day of returns. While I haven't felt that I've been missing out on life, there have been things that I haven't been doing. Some it has been circumstantial. Some it has been because it's been too difficult.
Tonight, I made dinner for the first time since Scott died. It was just Kate and I at home and until today the idea of making dinner for just her and I seemed stupid. I just couldn't wrap my brain around making something that she would eat one bite of and turn up her nose at.
I also couldn't figure out how to make something just for myself. I don't do leftovers and I've never really had to cook for just one person before. Making dinner was just too much.
Tonight that all changed. It felt so good to get back in action. The planning, the chopping, the stirring... felt so good.

My return to 3Chicks1Dude also happened tonight. Click here to check it out. I wasn't expecting to return tonight but it just seemed to come together organically. It felt right.

Kate and I spent the day cleaning, organizing, baking, cooking, painting, and snuggling. Bags of Scott's clothes are finding new homes. I did pick my favorite shirts to turn into a memory quilt. The idea of Scott's clothes just sitting, un-used, un-loved, just doesn't work. He gave. He gave everything. I can't stop that now.

I know that this process will continue. I know I'm not "all better". I'll never be "all better".

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Lil' dis lil' dat

We had a wonderful time at Mark and Jay'me's for the Super Bowl game. Seeing as how Mark's family is from Pittsburgh, the results weren't quite what they were hoping for. We had a wonderful time regardless. The kids got along well, there was minimal drama, great friends and great food. What more could you ask for?

Scott is exhausted from the celebration, even though he had the king seat in the theater room for a front row view of the game. He spent the day resting and I think tomorrow will be more of the same.

I swear Kate has grown 3'' in the last two day. Seriously, is this kid ever going to stop growing? She and I were up most of the night battling her growing pains. Poor kid. I've done some research and called the pediatrician but haven't found a good way to help alleviate the pain. Anyone have any ideas?

She's all about the rhyme game right now. In between 3,000 rounds of "does dog rhyme with fog?" she asked me today if I remembered going to the "show and tell and the sign say no diving because it was not enough water and you hit your head and the men will have to come help you and clean up the mess"? I assured her I remembered the hotel and the no diving in the pool rules. Then we discussed sentance structure.

Scott's buddy Josh is coming over tomorrow for dinner. He's bringing along a marinated venison roast loin thing. My husband has assured Josh that I know exactly how to cook it and it will be divine. Hmmm... Thank you husband for the faith but I have never cooked deer and have no idea what I'm doing. Oh, I'm sure I'll figure it out and you all know I'll be calling my resident chef on call, Grams. Wish me luck.
What does one serve with a marinated hunk of deer meat? Who's got a great side-dish recipe?
Oh and yes, I will give deer to Kate. Yes, I will tell her it's chicken. Yes, she will wrinkle her nose, smell it once, touch her tongue to it and declare that "it's too sweet (or spicy depending on her mood)" and she doesn't like it. She will then try an entire piece when I explain to her that the awesome dessert will not find it's way to her tummy without it. I'm mean like that.

I got my haircut on Saturday. Cut off about 8''. It was my first haircut since last March. My hair stylist about died when I told her I had been naming my split ends. I probably went too far when I whimpered "good bye Suzie" when she cut my overly shaggy side bangs.
What you don't name your split ends? Don't answer that.

It was my turn to post on the other blog. There is a song clip in the post. It's Kate's current favorite song. She wanders around the house singing it, when she's not singing Liberty Valence.

Lastly, I had a hot dog for dinner. It didn't like me.

That's all.
Brandi out.

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Start Guessing

Thank you to those that commented in last nights post. I would love for others to keep sharing. I got quite a few emails that expressed what a few people said in comments, it's nice to hear you're not alone.

I had a very sad day. I had to give back the beautiful Nikon D300. Mr. L wanted to take pictures of Snowmeggedon. Can't say I blame him. I started taking photos this morning of the same spot out our back door. Expect to see the series tomorrow.

As I type, I'm waiting for my bedroom windows to break. They are making a noise like I've never heard. Don't worry, I've got it protected so if it should break nobody would be hurt.
The walls of our house are literally shaking. A strong steady vibration at all times with intermittent earthquake vibrations sprinkled in. It's fun.

Kate and I were out in the mess from 3:30pm until 6pm tonight.
This was taken from my cell phone around 4pm. Not bad compared to how it was at 6pm.

You're crazy! What were we doing out? It was really, really important.

I was the second to the last coffee served at my Starbucks today. They closed at 4pm.

That wasn't why we were really out.

My trusty snowblower, that I have done nothing to maintain in the 6 years it's been part of my life, decided it didn't want to play with the Snowmaggedon and died. I was getting some help trying to revive it.
It was unsuccessful. As soon as I can get to an open hardware store, I will be back in business. That will be about the time it stops snowing and I won't need the stupid thing anymore. Sigh...
Thank goodness for good friends. A few calls and we've got a plow coming to dig out the drive in the am. YEAH!

Now... a little quiz of sorts. This quiz is mainly for my non-photographer friends out there.
There are going to be 3 photos below.
One of them was taken with the borrowed bad ass, knock your socks off, Nikon D300 with it's equally bad ass Speed Light. Two of them were taken with the very nice, great photos, Nikon D40, my trusty steed. One of the D40 pictures is taken without flash and one with.
I'm curious to see if a lay person can see the difference between them. The one sans flash should be pretty easy.
So make a guess. Tell me which is which. Maybe, I'll even turn it into a contest. We haven't had one of those in a while.

Without further adieu... Scott and Kate playing playdoh last night.
#1

#2

#3



There has been some ridicuous cuteness on the other blog. Go over and check it out. Just click on the chicks and elephant icon over there --->

To all my family, friends and lurkers that are part of this storm, stay safe.

xoxo,
B

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What's your malfunction?

There comes a time in a photographers life that she (or he) simply must bite the bullet and delete some photos. My computer has been SCREAMING at me for months to delete. My parents heard it's cries (or maybe they were mine...whatever) and got me a 1TB external hard drive to move photos onto so I wouldn't have to delete too much.
While attempting to make room on my computer for the Christmas photos I somehow managed to royally mess things up. I spent the better part of nap time and a little bit of time tonight working on it.
I've got things fixed and I'm rocking again. I've got to be honest I'm so sick of computers and photos you all are going to have to wait a little longer for the Christmas footage.
This photo of Kate from Christmas morning sums up my current mood.



What? Why are we seeing it twice?

You're not seeing it twice. It's just your imagination.
Kidding, I'm testing something out. Can you tell the difference between the two photos? Does one look better than the other? If so which one.

Thanks for the help. If you want to see what else I did today the other blog has a little something from me.

Rush tomorrow. More fever for Scott tonight. Looking forward to hearing Dr. Jacobs thoughts on the situation but not expecting any real information.

Brandi.Out

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It's on the way.

Christmas is coming. I'm feeling the holiday spirit full throttle now. Kate and I started listening to Christmas music yesterday in the hopes of inspiring me to get our holiday cards done.
It was successful, well partially. I've got an idea, an image, a project, in my head. I took the first rough layout shots today. I'm hoping it will work, I love being able to take something out of my brain and make it real.

I also got a chance to play on some train tracks today while Kate was in school.



Look for another one of these shots on the other blog tomorrow. But tonight go there and see my new friend Amanda's awesome work.
Seeking out inspiration, every where I go. Where do you look for your inspiration?

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It takes a village

I talk a lot about family. Some of it is family by blood, some of it is family by choice and some of it is family by internet. I'm not one to get stuck on the idea that someone has to be of blood relation to be a piece of your heart.


You've seen Scott's brothers and you've seen my parents and brothers over and over again. To me there is no difference between these groups.
Once you're a part of the family, you are family for life. I'm not a fair weather friend. Good, bad, ugly, beautiful, fat, skinny, rich, poor...I'll love you know matter what. It's just how I am made. I may not always agree or like what you're doing but you're family regardless.


Maybe it's because my Dad isn't really my Dad. We share no direct DNA. You wouldn't know that though. I have some of his mannerisms, his music ear, and I married a guy just like him. I love him the way every little girl loves her daddy and he loves me right back. Even if he wouldn't stop picking his nose when I was in junior high.

My point is we have a big family. A support group, that grows with each passing day. As I've said time and time before, if you're reading these words you are, in your own way, a part of that family.
I believe that you cannot get through life alone. You simply must share life with the people around you. It's just the only way to go.


All that said, Scott wanted to do something special for me for our anniversary, my birthday and Christmas. For Scott to do so much as get a card takes a small army.
He wanted to give me something that I've been coveting since before it's release a few weeks ago.

These photos of Kate that you've been looking at were all taken this morning. Kate chose this outfit right down to her rockstar shoes. She looks pretty cute doesn't she. And old, she looks really, really old.

We were having a fun time running and playing for a few minutes this morning.

So what do you all see when you look at these photos? Maybe you're saying what a beautiful little girl, or Brandi is a crazy mom that photographs everything. Heck maybe you're looking at that gray Chicago day.

When I look at the photos I see soft focus. I see distortion. I see grain. I see a slow shutter. I see cloudy images. **
I didn't always see these things. In fact, there was a time that I would have died with excitement over the quality of these photos. Those days have passed. I've grown, I've evolved, I've learned. I now have a better eye than my camera can keep up with.
I've been longing for, drooling over and obsessing about this beauty.

This is what I've been dreaming of since I first heard the rumor of it's existence. It's the Nikon D7000 (for more specific sexy info go here).
She's beautiful. She can take 6 frames per second, handle high ISO, has 16.2MP, can take HD video and has 39 glorious focal points (my current camera has 3).

The D7000 is exactly what this photo nerd desires.

Scott wanted to get me this.
His words to me were "I know you'll get this eventually, I want to be here to see you enjoy it."
Because Scott is a smart man, he knew I would balk. So, he went around me. He went to my parents, my siblings, my Grams, asking all of them if they wanted to help make my photo geek dream come true. They all did, they are super fabulous like that.

Then Scott took it to the next level and started talking to S12 (the Scott of other blog fame). Scott wanted to make sure that the D7000 was really the right choice so he went to the best resource for camera gear that he knows. In discussions between the Scott's, S12 said that he had some benefactors (that are unknown to me at this time) that wanted to help as well. S12 had shared our story with these unknown people, he shared the blog and told them how far I had come with my photography and what the pictures I was taken of were for.
I'm overwhelmed to say that these people, wanted to help too. S12 began getting donations for the "Brandi needs a D7000 fund".
I knew nothing of this, Scott knew nothing of this. It's something that S12 did alone out of the goodness of his heart because he cares. Or maybe because he is sick of listening to me complain about the camera I have now. Whatever his intentions were, I am beyond grateful.

Grateful for my husband for wanting this for me. Grateful to my family for supporting Scott and wanting to make my dreams come true. Grateful to S12 for going above and beyond and helping make this happen. Lastly, to the anonymous donors, in this time of financial hardship for almost everyone to have people want to contribute and make this happen for me... well... I'm at a loss. I'm humbled, overwhelmed, elated and awe struck.

Here again my family, rallies. Finding a way to rise above and let love shine. My family, some of whom I may have never even met.

My pretty new playmate has not been ordered yet. Soon enough she'll be on here way here and I will be able to share the D7000 love with all of you.

From the bottom of my previously hardened heart.... thank you. There simply are no words.



**All these photos were taken straight out of camera (SOOC for us photo geeks) no alterations of any kind except for some cropping so they fit on the webpage properly.
The Nikon D40 is a truly fantastic camera. I am honored to have it and if it's all I ever had I would be one lucky girl.**

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And I'm out.

I'm sorry to report kids, all my creative juices got sucked out of me. I left them over at the other blog. I didn't mean to let you down. I know you came here to hear the big announcement, see the big unveiling. It will have to wait another day. It's that important to me.

I will tell you all about our trip to Rush. Saw Dr. Jacobs and PA Jen, and PA Nicole and Dr. Ben. Oh and we met a second year med student that asked me questions like I was the surgeon. Silly kid, I'm just a stay at home mom that can explain AVMs, AV fistulas and talk you through the proper way to dress a wound like Scott's.
I love med students. They are so much fun to mess with.
It was like one big family reunion. It was lovely.

Scott had a wonderful check up. We don't have to go back for three months, assuming Scott doesn't do anything creative between now and then. It was nice to leave there and really see how far Scott's come.
Scott still has his issues. His fatigue, weight loss, general overall well being is a lot worse than before. There is no doubt he's sick. He can't fake it for even a minute anymore.
But for the first time in ten months I don't feel like when the next aneurysm blows it will be fatal. I feel like the healing in his leg and the very recent increased appetite (thank you marinol) has given him a head start. It's given him a little bit of fight.

We'll take it and we'll make the most of it.

Never squandering the sunshine, never saying no to a few minutes of baseball, never forgetting to embrace life.

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Ouch

Everyone was right, it hurts worse the next day.
So glad my parents were here to help ease the physical burdens. And really thankful that Mom played chauffeur for me all day. I can hardly move at this point. As I told Scott tonight "I have bruises on body parts that I didn't know existed."

We had Scott's MRI/MRA. It took an hour longer than expected, they needed additional scans. That's never what you want to hear but he's home so that's all that matters. Expecting the initial results tomorrow.

Went to get a few things from our car today. Being the picture taker that I am I took these.

The fireman were so nice and put the rear under carriage and the front fender in the back seat. Super awesome.
You know what is super awesome, for real? That car seat you see. Sure it's got cute butterflies but that car seat is why Kate is still here and why she has minimal physical injury. The fire Marshall told me that had I not had one of the best seats money can buy properly installed and had Kate sitting in it properly she would have gotten tossed and would either have serious injury or ... I can't even imagine. Thank you butterflies.

Airbags hurt. Seriously. Glad I had it, but my arm is tore up and the one spot on my head that hit it is bruised. Thanks airbag. Seriously, I love you.

I didn't get pictures of the rear end, under carriage damage. It hurt too much to get that low and take photos. It hurt so much that I didn't even take my photo for the other blog today. A first for me.

This is the cervical collar they put on Kate in the ambulance when they strapped her down. I'm glad I brought it home. It's sparked a few conversations with Kate that have allowed me to see that she's got no permanent emotional damage from the event.

The last time K and I had matching hospital wrist bands it was the day she was born. That event was much better than this one. But both times I brought home with me the most beautiful little girl. While seeing this makes me sad it also makes me feel immense gratitude.

This little face, scratches and all, is safe at home where she belongs.

There is nothing more precious or perfect than that.

*note, the scratch on Kate's forehead is from playing on Sunday. The scratch on her shoulder/neck area is from the accident. She has those marks on both sides and some bruising on her sternum.

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Outtakes

Wanna see some outtakes from my Friday Faces post over on the other blog?

Good...
Dad wanted me to check for boogers.

Mom humored me nicely

Even when she doubted my sanity

Scott has a bad side

and his good side faced him the wrong direction.


On Saturday Mom, Auntie Blue (Kara), Katie and I went to a Beauty and the Best sing-a-long at a local movie theater. Basically they play the movie and during songs they show the words and encouraged everyone to sing along.
We had a great time. Kate wasn't feeling the camera love but I did manage to get one shot of her tutu and boots.

Yep, my kid rocked the pink cowboy boots at a movie theater.

I started today thinking I would quit my Starbucks habit. I went most of the day without caffeine until my parents showed up for dinner with a McDonalds sweet tea in hand. I about mauled them. I hate to admit it but I'm a junky. The sweat tea helped ease the headache and improve my mood but there is just something about a coffee that calms me and replenishes my soul. So tomorrow I will be back at Starbucks. I figure my Monday is going to suck enough without having withdrawals to contend with.
Scott's hearing is no better so I shall begin the quest for answers. Wish us luck.

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Huh... What....

Sigh... another day, another cluster fuck. Looking forward to having the weekend to re-group somewhat.
Had Scott at the doctor today. She found no obvious signs for what could be causing Scott's hearing problems. His ears look clear, no signs of sinus issues, everything appears to be normal.
For this weekend we're going to treat him for middle ear congestion. He's got a nose spray and some Sudafed. If things aren't starting to improve by Monday we'll go to Rush and have an MRI-MRA done to rule out an aneurysm and a few other really yucky things.
I'm hoping things start to improve but honestly, I'm prepared to take him to Rush this weekend. Being prepared to handle the worst case scenario at any given moment is the only way I can get through from one day to the next.

For right now though Scott is happily hanging with some of his boys. Playing cards, drinking beer and whiskey*, eating sub sandwiches and the homemade apple pie I prepared for them.

I had Friday Faces over on the other blog. Wait until you see some of the outtakes. I'll be sharing them tomorrow. For now, I'm going to take advantage of having other able bodied people in the house while K is sleep. I'm off to take a few nighttime pictures while I still have some decent weather. I'll be staying close by, Kate has still been waking up with leg cramps so I need to be close just in case.


*Scott is not drinking. The beer and whiskey are for others.

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Rejects

It was my post day over on the other blog. I had a hard time trying to decide what to do.

A cute picture of Kate with a worm


my downspout waterfall, following the storm tonight


my idiotic jump in the rain puddle

Seriously, have I mentioned that I twisted my knee recently. I'm such a moron sometimes.
Not to mention I had to do this to take the photo.


Or should it be a picture of Kate playing in the puddles.


Too many choices.
In the end I didn't choose any of these and I didn't get around to taking the pictures I had planned in my head at the start of the day. But you know what, I like the picture I decided upon best of all.

Rush Patient Advisory Council meeting tomorrow afternoon. Scott and I are planning on going. Crossing my fingers that Scott can make it that long. To all of our Rush family, please don't be upset if you don't see us while were there. Trips down there just keep getting harder.

Life just keeps getting harder. But as long as I can take the time to enjoy experiences with those that matter the most to me, I'll be just fine.

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Crash

Thud, clunk, groan, screech, tick, tick, grrralll, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

That was a re-enactment of the sound my computer made when I tried to get to my photos from the ice show. There was smoke but thankfully no actual flames.

What I'm trying to say here is I don't have those photos for you just yet. I added a few to many photos to the hard drive today taking my photo for the other blog and caused a serious malfunction.

We live, we learn, we get external hard drives.

Another sunny Monday. School, life, plenty of play time and even a hot apple pie. What more can you ask for? Oh wait, an external hard drive, apparently.

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Wordless Wednesday - You Stink

Over on the other blog (where there is a contest going on) it was my turn to post. Not a big deal, except today is Wordless Wednesday. Meaning, I couldn't drone on and on about what my photo meant, or how I went about getting it.

Do you know how hard it is for me to not "talk"? Seriously, tragically painful. Luckily (for me, not you) I get to come here and share my thoughts.

Kate and I started our day off with some light work duties, a coffee with a dear friend that I've been missing, and then a quick stop at the store. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted to take a photo of today.
This truck is behind a closed gate at a local driving range, batting cages, mini-golf place.

This morning the gates were locked and there were no signs posted with the hours of operation. Thinking my plans for the "perfect" photo were thwarted, we came home and worked on plan B.
I took about 100 shots, including a few candids of Kate that were quite cute. During naptime, I took the SD photo card out of my camera and put it in to my computer and got the following message.

Reader Failed. SD card corrupt.

What?
Some curse words later, I gave up and moved onto other things.

After nap, Kate and I went out to get a new SD card and a much needed coffee. Driving home, I noticed the gates to the driving range were open.

SCORE!

Total redemption. Thankfully, I had everything I needed in the car.

Junior Miss, just loves "helping". I just love having her with me.



I think she knows if she "helps" then she gets a turn with the camera.

She's a smart one.

Scott spent the day recovering from the boys night he had on Tuesday. Thanks Josh, Mark, Rob and Dan for coming over and entertaining Scotty for awhile. An even bigger thank you for cleaning up after yourselves. So nice to not come down to a trashed house. A trashed husband I can deal with but dishes... dishes kill me.

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So What Did You Do Today?

Gee guys, thanks for asking.
I'll share with you.

Today I made these fabulous cookies.

My "friend" Vanessa over at More is More Mom posted them yesterday and I HAD to have them. Like immediately, had to have them.
I gathered my ingredients and started right away. Through an unfortunate accident with an egg and a moving Kitchen Aid mixer I needed to remake the butter sugar mixture.
I realized that I no longer had enough brown sugar to complete my dough. Since this is dough that needs to refrigerate over night my epic fail in the kitchen meant I was going to have to wait until Saturday for a cookie.
Um... hell no! That wasn't happening. A quick Google search and I made my own brown sugar. Yep, that's me culinary genius. Or well, maybe not.

Fast forward to this afternoon and this is a terrible picture from the crime scene.

All is right again in the world.

Scott had his last therapy day today. He's not graduating because he's doing so great, he's leaving because insurance companies are blood sucking, big business, only care about themselves, assholes. I wish I could properly express my true feelings on the subject.

As with most days, I found some inspiration in some beautiful yellow aster that was growing wild in the ditches. So I played for a little bit while K was in school.

Looks like a painting doesn't it. This photo was taken directly out of my camera. There has been no editing at all.

While I'm talking photos, S12 posted a fantastic shot this evening. He even gave this little blog a shout out. So head over to the other blog and leave S12 a comment. Tell him he's great but I'm still your favorite.
I've got to somehow come up with something to follow that photo. I'm hoping the parade and carnival we're going to tomorrow give me some inspiration.

And again, if it's not to much to ask. Send a little love to "Grandma" Alice. Kate and I visited her along with my parents and Bonnie this evening. While things were looking up while we were there, as the night wore on she started getting worse. At 92 that woman is one hell of a fighter. It's that tough Brooklyn spirit.

Sleepy times for Brandi.

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2 for 1

Two posts one day you lucky dogs.

This post will be short and sweet. I just wanted to ask for some well wishes, prayers, love, whatever you would like to share, for one of my oldest and dearest friends Sere.
If you've checked out the other blog you're familiar with her. If you really know me you know her, we've been best-ies since freshman year in high school (circa 1991). She was the matron of honor in my wedding and I happily stood by her when she married in Hawaii a few years ago.
She now lives in rural southern Illinois where tonight their farm suffered a devastating fire in the machine shop right next door to their home. Everyone is fine but the building is a loss, as are all the tools and equipment.
As a farming family these items are critical to their livelihood. It's unclear how the fire started as of yet (it's only been a few hours). Everyone is just thankful that nobody was hurt.
So please, send some extra love their way. Sere, Jonny, Colton and the rest of the family could use some of the special love that the blog readers here have.

Finally, here's a teaser photo for some of the ones that will be forthcoming tomorrow.

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Sunday, Sunday...

It's been a strange couple of days around the WWW.

Scott has been having some trouble with his breathing. I'm hoping that he's just got a touch of a bug that's making things a little yucky. We ended up needing to suction his lungs yesterday afternoon, something we've only done a handful of time since he got the trach in 2008.
This was the first time Kate has seen it done. She was such a great helper. She held her Daddy's hand telling him "It's ok Daddy. Shhh... It will be ok." She asked good questions and knew the answers to the questions I asked her. She stayed calm and followed directions with precision. Her career as a surgeon will be outstanding. I realize it's going to be hard for her to be President of the United States and cure all the diseases in the world but she's special and can handle it :)

Josh came by for a visit on Friday afternoon after Scott got home from therapy. I'm afraid Scott wasn't very good company, he was quite tired.
Kate and I played in the front yard, in the rain with the S12 boys. Enjoying the last fleeting moments of summer, even if that means getting a little wet.
Kate and Ethan had a little too much fun in the backseat of the car.
"I'm watching you Ethan... I'm watching you...."

Saturday was haircut day for Scott. Thank goodness. He was looking a little shaggy. The quick haircut trip exhausted him and he spent the remainder of the day resting. In keeping up with the theme of extending summer Kate and I made a trip to the farmers market and got BLT fixin's and some more of the summers sweetest corn. It won't be much longer before it's juicy, sweet goodness is gone and we're stuck with flat, dull, "mealy" corn that must be slathered Elotes style to be edible.
Sigh... I'm such an Iowa farm girl.

Some more playtime with the S12 family this morning. My eyeball was requested by S12 for possible use in his post for the other blog. So the kids played and well... so did S12 and I.









Heading to the parents house for a little time on the back deck.
More summer moments... keep them coming....

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