Winning Bet

I just won a bet with Billy, when the Steelers took the Super Bowl. It was the first time we've been supporting opposing teams, and it was fun.

Highlight of the game was the 100-yd return for a TD by Harrison. Way cool. Usually, I don't enjoy pro as much as college football, but the Super Bowl is an exception, and this game was good.

So, for this whole week, Billy will be doing the dishes after dinner, picking up and cleaning up the family room each night before bed, and taking the trash out EVERY DAY.

I have a crazy busy week, so winning the bet will be a big help.

Backtrack to Christmas

Posting a few photos from our Christmas trip that never got posted. I'm trying to clear some photo space on the laptop. (It's too cold to do much today, but I have a ton I need to be doing. Trying to do something that doesn't take a lot of brain power right now, because I'm really, really sleepy and also helping Nat with school.)

Pray that I get a lot of business stuff and household stuff done this week. I'm overwhelmed and feeling like it's never going to all get done. I just can't do it all myself.


My training starts tonight, and it's freezing. Yay! I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Now, some random shots from our trip:

The underground cave.

Natalie and Parker loved the cave.

I didn't get to go all the way down to the bottom. Olivia was scared the whole time, and about 70% of the way down, she said she had to go "poopy". I had to take her all the way back up (lots of stairs) and miss the rest of the tour. Another lady followed us back up, because she was having trouble traveling the stairs. Olivia didn't go "poopy" when we went to the bathroom.

The traditional gingerbread house Daddy and the kids made.



In The Butterfly Palace. See the butterflies flying around them?

Living angel. They do this for their White Christmas special thing.

2009 Logo is Finalized

The first image, which is the actual logo, is the one that goes on all the marketing materials and client info. stuff. The second image is the one you see on the website and on packaging.

(The color change happened, because the draperies and other stuff I want to use in the new studio are blues and browns. That was what I wanted originally, anyway.)

Kick Start

I received my first donation for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Thanks, Dad!

I'm starting my official marathon training on Monday.

I'm thinking about having a certain amount from each client session fee (from now until October 1st) serve as a donation. I just haven't decided what amount, and if I want it to come from the session fee or from the portrait order.

Yesterday, I had a big chunk of the day to myself, with big plans. Olivia was at school until 3:00, Natalie was at Gigi and Grandpa's doing school, and Parker had school until 2:30.

Before I even got out the door in the morning with Olivia and Parker, to take Olivia to school, I received a call from an ad. rep. asking if I would accept the position as the only photographer on the front cover of the new Ada-area phone book. This costs me an additional fee, besides the big amount I'm already paying for my ad inside the book. I accepted, because I did see the results of my phone book advertising last year, and the advertising (expensive as it is) does pay for itself with just a few good clients (especially senior sessions).

Then, as soon as I got home and started on one of my business tasks that had to get done yesterday, I received a call from another ad. rep. with another phone book company that I turned down last year. I worked a good deal for the book ad and online, so it cost me less than what they wanted for just the online last year.

Anyway, both of the ad. rep. calls took a long time. Plus, I had to send some files with the logo, etc. Then, I received a call from a woman I met last weekend (by chance). She is a small business owner (massage), and she wants to do some dual marketing and also for me to display in her shop. Her call was about an opportunity with a commercial project for another local small business. The massage lady is part of a barter group, and the job was being offered/requested through that group. I said I would be interested, and she gave me the contact info. for the guy who runs the group. I called him and we scheduled a coffee shop meeting for 1:30.

I knew the guy who runs the group, because Jeremy used to live with him a long time ago. I hadn't seen him in a long time, except for his photo in advertising, because he's in real estate and several other businesses. Anyway, the meeting went well, and I said I would join. Now, I'm sort of doubting that I will get enough offers for my service for it to be worth my monthly membership fee for the group. I'll just give it a 3-month trial and see if it's worth it to me.

After our meeting, I picked up Parker. He was asleep on the carpet when I went in to get him. The teachers apologized and said they wore him out and they had been playing outside. I was worried he might be sick, because he would never fall asleep at school like that. When I woke him up to carry him out, he said, "Mommy, I'm sick." He was. He was really, really hot by the time we got home after picking up Olivia, and he said he was going to throw up.

I didn't get much sleep last night, and I'm trying to catch up on the priorities that didn't get handled yesterday because of the interruptions to my plans by ad. reps. and other new opportunities.

So, lots going on for me with the business, and I need to wrap things up so I can kick start client sessions for the year and start making money again!

Dallas 3-Day Walk

I registered for the Breast Cancer 3-Day in Dallas this November. It's something out of my comfort zone, since we will be sleeping in a two-person tent two nights in a row!

Anyway, I started a team, Pink Princess Parade, and my sister, Laura, said she will join me. Another sister and niece may join us, as well. It gives us something to look forward to, and we have a lot of months to prepare. (60 miles over the 3 days!)

I have to raise a minimum of $2,300 myself, so if you want to help, please donate under my name. You can use the link posted on the blog to the right, just above my other links, or you can do a search for my name when you go to the website to donate, http://www.the3day.org/.

We've Been Robbed

Sometime between midnight (when I went to bed) and probably a little before 5:00 a.m. (when Billy got up for duck hunting), someone got into Billy's truck and stole his favorite handgun ($900+) and his friend's dog-training collar ($350). Billy will have to buy his friend a new training collar. Our homeowners' insurance covers all of Billy's guns.

*Edited: We have a $1000 deductible, so Billy is not going to mess with it, since it would only be for a few hundred dollars and would then probably raise our rates.

Billy (or possibly something else) interrupted the thieves, because they were unable to finish taking his shotgun, his wallet which they didn't have time to notice stuck in the visor, and anything else. They had turned the floor-mounted display screen for the back-up camera, so they were probably trying to get that off of there when they were interrupted. There may be a few more things missing that we can't tell yet.

I think Billy has figured out that he should have installed the new security light over the garage a long, long time ago. We'll be getting video surveillance, too, for sure.

The sheriff said that the DA officer guy that lives at the end of the dead-end part of our neighborhood was robbed recently, as well, and they cleaned out his gun collection completely, including a State-issued suppressed rifle (with a silencer). The sheriff also commented that we never had break-in trouble in our neighborhood area until the newest housing addition went in less than a mile past the entrance to our neighborhood.

It's been about 5 years since we had that creepy casing incident, while Billy was out of town on business, and I was home alone pregnant and with a baby (Natalie) in the house with me. We should have added the outdoor cameras to our security system at that time.

Anyway, we are both sick to our stomachs.

Anna and Isaac

Not finished editing these, but you get the idea of what we captured. It was cold and a little chaotic with my wild Indians there, too, but we still got some cute ones.

Weekend Update

My best friend's baby arrived safely by C-section. She's adorable and looks like her brother more than her sister (so far). Steph and the baby are both well.

We had a good time yesterday with two of my sisters and Anna and Isaac (my niece, Leah's, two cuties). I'll post photos of Anna and Isaac later today or tomorrow.

Here are a few "behind-the-scenes" shots from yesterday while we were waiting for the aunts and cousins to make it to our little photo session with Anna and Isaac (as a surprise for their mom).

Metering for the graffiti wall. This is Natalie's favorite spot on the wall.

Parker bringing me some more gear. What a good assistant.

Always the model.