I just want to give a shout-out to Staybridge Suites - Clear Lake. They have been nothing but good to us. Yah, we’ve had a few hiccups here and there, but what can you expect from a 4 week old hotel?? So what that we just moved from a room that was 8 feet from the back door to a room on the 4th floor and on the opposite end from the elevator, they have free breakfast buffet! So we haven’t had internet for the last 2 weeks - big deal! We have free dinner Tuesday - Thursday! The pool area is nice, the laundry is FREE, the rooms are wonderful (3 HDTVs!!!), and the staff is super-nice!! Did I mention that this is all on USAA’s dime? Doesn’t get much better than this! Of course, we were hoping that our contractor would send us on a nice vacation - isn’t that what they do with home remodels? Unfortunately, he’s not Mr. Pennington Ahh, oh well! Just wanted to brag about this place - I give it 4 thumbs up (mine and Mike’s) and highly recommend it to anyone in the area!! Here’s a peek at our new “home” and the life we have inside!

I typically hate self-portraits - see that triple chin? That is the BIGGEST reason! I was taking pictures tonight of our new “home” for the next several weeks and was letting Madeline depress the shutter. I chimped and realized that this would actually fit into this weeks theme. I didn’t participate last week - was feeling too sulky! So, here’s my self-portrait/reflection - that’s my ugly mug you see in the front of my 17-55mm - trust me, the lens is looking better today than me! If I had known this shot was happening, I would have at least put on some makeup

Click this button to check out the other great entries!!

I promised new pictures of my kids at Easter, but have been just a *bit* busy since then! My sweet friend Misty (MG Studios) took these & and as always, did an excellent job! She can work miracles with my kiddos - if I even look at my camera, they freak out! These are Miss Madeline’s 9 month pictures - only about a month late! Not bad considering I totally missed 6 months! I can’t imagine how many sessions I’ll skip if we ever have a #3!! So, without further ado - here are my sweet babes!! Oh yah, the dress that Miss MJ is wearing is the dress that I was christened in, at 4 months. She was a little over 10 months in these pictures - maybe that gives you an idea as to how small she really is!! (or how porky I was, haha)

PS - if you are a client still waiting on a gallery, rest assured that it is happening soon. We are moving rooms again tonight (our current room flooded with all the recent rain - hmpf) and hopefully this one will have internet connects that work and I can get the remaining galleries uploaded! All print credits will be extended accordingly!!! Thank you so much for your patience!!

So I’ve gotten a little behind on blogging, but I have good reason! If we had good luck, we wouldn’t know what to do with it! Saturday morning Mike got up and headed over to the house to texture the kitchen. I had been bugging him to do it for quiet some time now and figured this was as good as ever sice the house was empty and insurance was paying to have it painted! (hooray for no more purple kitchen!) Well, he was just wrapping it up when a transformer blow! He took the bucket of wall mud outside only to discover that there was water in the shed. The same shed floor that was holding his weedeater and mower! ugh. He got them up off the ground and decided that he’d better head back to the hotel. I was cooped up there with both kids as he had both car keys. He locked, up, got in his car, backed out, drove about a block and a half and then began to float. Yup, that’s right folks, my husband drowned a car for the second time in less than three years!! (the first time was July 07) Seriously, can this month get any worse? If May doesn’t get here soon and bring some better luck, I may be living at a looney farm soon! We are all still sick and I’m extra gumpy today - root canals don’t make for a happy mama! Not only was it super painful on my pocketbook, but my mouth is still hurting, bad, and it’s been 12 hours! The internet connection in our room is down-right aggravating. Connect one minute, and off the next! So, it’s 1am and I’m haning out down the hall in the business center trying to transfer a file that is <1g. Uh, think it’s been going about 2 hours now and has at least 2 left! I’ve about surfed all the net that I care to surf! BUT, with all that is bad and frustrating in my life right now, I know that it could be so much worse. Yes, it sucks that we’re living in a hotel, but hey, they have free breakfast, free laundry, housekeeping and free dinner 3 nights a week. Aiden doens’t mind the pool in the ‘backyard’ either. Yes, we may be down to one car now, but we had full coverage on Mike’s lemon, so Insurance will help us out. Yes, I had a root canal today and I’m in severe pain, but we have insurance and so while it was painful to write out the check this morning, I didn’t need to rob a bank to cover it Yes, Madeline may be sick and cutting another tooth, but she’s not in the hospital anymore. She’s gaining weight, learning how to crawl, and well on her way to becoming a normal baby! So, while we have hit some valleys, we do have so much to be thankful for!!! Praise God! (and yes, I am aware that God never gives me more than I can handle. I just don’t understand why He trusts me so much!!) Here’s my sweet family taking a swim yesterday after the weather cleared!!!

Welcome to My Life!

First, if you are a client, rest assured that I am working on your gallery/order. I do have my computer set up in the hotel room but as amazing as this place is, they have lousy internet. I’m having to go back and forth between computers. It’s a frustrating process and takes a while to do with a sick kiddo. So, just hang tight a bit longer and I’ll be caught back up. As I type this, I’m downloading the ordering software for my lab so I can resubmit orders. Seems that the packers did a really good job and packed about 5 completed orders! Yikes!! Madeline is taking a quick cat nap so I’m trying to upload some pictures of the house. The tile expert decided to have our salito tile ripped out of the kitchen. He only gave a 50/50 chance of getting the gunk out, so they decided to get rid of the tile. I wasn’t exactly attached to it, but I’m not looking forward to trying to pick out new stuff! All the walls have been sheetrocked and re-textured. Right now, Mike is over at the house doing some hand texture in the kitchen. We’ve been wanting to do that for a while so now’s as good as ever! I think the painters will be around some time next week. Our contractor ordered a box of our existing floor as the adjuster is insisting that we just “feather it in”. Believe me, that’s not going over so well! They’re going to do a test patch in the next few weeks and if we don’t approve of it, then they’ll rip out the bedroom as well. I can already tell youthat I won’t approve of it - the movers scratched the bedroom floor up since we were originally told that it would be coming out as well. What a mess!! I understand that USAA is a business and they have to take care of themselves, but I am the homeowner and I will be responsible for selling the house in the future and dang it! I want it to look nice! Not funky mixed wood because our adjuster is a total PITA! Okay, enough ranting. I hear Madeline stirring so I’m going to attach a few pictures and run! There’s lots more on flickr Click here to see them!!

Wow, I feel rusty already.  I finally have my computer set up in our hotel room and I was anxious to download this week’s Fix-it Friday picture and get to work! I surprised that I even remember how to open photoshop. Okay, so maybe I’ve being a tad melodramatic, but it has been a long, stressful week and a half!!  Lets see, from the 7th, we’ve had our home flooded, been packed up, moved out, floors torn out, argued with insurance - repeatedly, had sick kids, missed Easter Sunday, cracked a tooth, moved to 3 hotels, visited the dentist, told that I needed a root canal - asap, now have 2 sick kiddos, argued with insurance again, now I’m sick, had to reschedule root canal because I’m sick, and I think that’s about it. I am wiped! And I still have hours and hours and hours of editing ahead of me! But first, I have to do the fix-it Friday post! It’s always fun to work on someone else’s picture!! So here it is!

I did very little to this image. To be honest, I still don’t feel well and computer time isn’t much fun when you’re constantly sneezing and blowing your nose!!

1. Crop
2. USM on eyes - 100, 3, 0
3. Color me in by Childs Play
4. Vignette by Childs Play
5. Sharpen for web.

Yup, that’s it. Took me maybe 4 minutes?? Easy peasy with Childs Play - by far some of my favorite actions!

I’m not going to lie. It has been a very rough week and my biggest prayer is that I don’t kill my kids and divorce my husband in the next two months. The packers have packed and the movers have moved. Our home is 99.99% empty. It’s a very strange feeling. We are still trying to work out living arrangements though. I am so blessed and very thankful that we have very minimal personal property loss. My heart aches for people who are suffering so much more than us. My heart is also heavy for our nation and our world.  It seems that you can’t listen to the radio, turn on the televison or surf the net without being bombarded with such tragedy. It is so comfortating to know that my Savior lives! He Lives! He Live! Christ Jesus Lives Today!! Today the tomb was empty! He rose to save you and I. He rose so that we can have enternal peace ,and that peace is the only thing that is helping me as I sleep each night.  I hope that each and everyone of you have a Blessed day! I’m leaving you with an Easter Greeting from my very own miracles….

Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (NIV)

(I’ve been wanting to show these pictures off for a week, but after the flood, it just hasn’t happened. I am so incredibly blessed to have a friend who is not only very dear to my heart, but is also a great photographer! In fact, she’s the only one who photgraphs my kiddos! I don’t understand why it is so hard to take a simple picture of your own kids! But it is, so Misty does it for me! She works miracles with my sweet babies! I just have a minute to write this, so only showing three. But you better believe that when my life starts to resemble “normal” in the next few weeks, I’ll share more!! Thanks MG, I love you!!)

So, we’re just wrapping up day 1 of what I’m calling our “Toilet Paper Remodel.” All the flooring in the hall and Aiden’s room is out & huge chunks are missing from Madeline’s room & the living room. 1.5″ sections of all walls were gone as well. Tomorrow we will meet with the adjuster from USAA to find out if the cabinets & tile go as well. My parents spoke to their contractor today and he suggested that Mike & I stand firm on having them rip out the tile as well. First, water could be underneath & that’s nastly toilet water. 2nd, if we have a contractor come and replace grout only, he will likely not guarantee the work since he didn’t put the tile in. It isn’t your normal porcelin tile, it’s very porous and already discolored and funky smelling. They tell us it can be cleaned, but I really don’t like the idea of chemicals seeping in to it… hello! I have babies around here!!! After the meeting with USAA tomorrow, a crew will come and pack us up. We don’t know exactly how long we’ll be out, but likely around 4-6 weeks. Uhmmm, did I mention that I begin my final year of school on June 9?? I so. do. not. have. time. for. this. I also have several shoots that need to be edited, shoots to do, & a wedding coming up, among other things! This was not in my plan!!! I think the worst part of today was watching them tear into the floors. My computer is already torn down so I cant show any pictures, but my husband laid the floors all by himself. He would come over here at night when he got off work or out of class and burn the midnight oil while I stayed at the apartment with Aiden. I know things could be much much worse, but it’s still hard to see someone come in and attack your blood, sweat & tears with a hammer & claw! It was really hard to see them cut into Aiden’s wall! My mom worked hard on the faux finish and it was cute! Even harder was Madeline’s wall. We JUST repainted! Like last month repainted! Ugh. But this is life. We are excited about some improvements that will come out of this. Like the t-moulding transistion pieces between the tile & wood, we’d never finised that because of the silly expensive pieces (like, really really expensive) Okay, I’m done talking about it now. To dang frustrating! For now, we are hanging out at Comfort Suites and are praying for a good night sleep as Madeline doesn’t travel well. At least they have an indoor pool and jucuzzie - that’s Aiden’s silver lining. I’m still searching for mine…. I’m sharing just a few pictures for now, but if you want to see more, I have a flickr set just for this whole adventure! Click here to see them!!

So, I decided to lay down with Aiden to nap this morning and we ended up sleeping 3 hours! Talk about exhausted! Well, Madeline woke us up over the intercom and when I went to get her, I discovered all of the floors in the front part of our house UNDER WATER! The toilet had overflowed. Gross. And from the looks of it, it had been flowing for the entire 3 hours!! We called our insurance and began cleaning. They sent over a water restoration crew to take a look at it has to be gutted. Since it was ‘grey water’, everything’s gotta come out. The really bad part? Our house is hardwood floors on top of a plywood sub floor… that subfloor is soaked. The water ran from the bathroom, across the hallway, thru the kitchen and out the garage. Talk about sucky. It looks like we’ll be hanging out in a hotel for a few days, or longer. All baseboards have to come out. That means that the tile grout will be damaged. The kick boards on the kitchen cabinets are soaked. Great. Can I just say that it’s a mess. Yah, I know it could be a WHOLE lot worse, but this was not in my plans! So, if you are waiting on gallery to open, you may be waiting just a bit longer. I’ll try to get some uploaded quickly before we leave. I’ll update my blog when I back!

-Sarah-