21 Weeks

Today I'm starting another blog and I hope you all will check it out. I came up with a plan which might help my husband, Ron, quit smoking. At first I wanted to wait to see if the plan worked for him before I started to blog about it, but then I thought that it's a pretty good idea and just may work for other people so why not talk about it. Ron has tried to quit at least a half dozen times that I can remember. The most successful of those attempts lasted for three months - he started smoking again because he said that the cravings weren't diminishing as time went on and his fuse was so short that he didn't feel like himself.
So check out the new blog (twentyoneweeks.blogspot.com), follow Ron's progress, and keep your fingers crossed!

Back on the Right Track

I took a photography class a few months ago at our local community college. The college offers extended learning classes, for no credit, in all kinds of subjects - photography, cooking, baking, business, all types of exercise, languages, arts, etc. We only had about 6 people in the class. There were a couple of retired guys who were really into photography and did some beautiful, professional looking work. Also in the class was a nurse, a FedEx pilot, a young newlywed who just moved here from South Carolina, and me. The assignments were pretty neat - we had to illustrate a song in photos, another assignment was simply titled "Abstract" and another "Windows". I loved seeing all the different interpretations of each assignment.

Watch a Show?

About eleven years ago, my water broke outside the grocery store. Let's do this thing, I thought. I packed the groceries and my son Henry into the car and headed for home. I made a few phone calls and Ron came home from work soon after I was ready to leave for the hospital. I'd been feeling contractions since we got home and remembered reading that a second labor usually progresses more rapidly than the first. After Grandma, Aunt Holly, and Uncle Sean came over to take care of Henry, Ron and I headed for the hospital.
The contractions were getting closer and closer together and more and more painful on the way there. I remember the nurses at the check-in desk didn't really believe I was in labor because I wasn't wailing in pain. I was silently petrified and really hoping we had enough time for an epidural. I think the pain was easier to take because I was standing up and could sway myself through the contractions, standing with my legs wider than usual.
A nurse took both Ron and I to a room and made me lie down and hooked me up to all the usual gadgets. Lying down was too much to bear so I stood up, swayed, and tried to remain calm. Luckily, the nurse said their was enough time for one of the best inventions in the world.
The epidural slowed the progress of the labor and also made it more comfortable for me to lie down in bed. Family members came in to visit. I was happy.
It took a good six more hours of lying around, feeling some pain, wondering if the epidural was wearing off, and fearing that it would at the wrong time. Contractions were consistent, progress was being made. The nurses thought it might be time to get the doctor.
Not more than a few pushes later and a baby emerged. Hid by the sheet draped over my legs, the doctor held it in his hands. Clearly he didn't know what it was like to wait nine months to find out if I was having a boy or a girl. What seemed like years later, he lifted the baby up and pronounced it to be a healthy baby girl!
Day one was sheer bliss. She slept and ate and slept and enjoyed her bath. On day two, after we were all settled in at home, Emmy showed us her true colors. She was born, she made it out and wanted everyone to know! - in the grocery store, in the neighborhood, at Henry's school - they all heard her! This was a girl with a lot of energy!
Eleven years later we all went to the beach. I noticed Emmy glowing in the sun as she played in the waves and took a picture of her essence. Emmy having a day her way.

Meep

Meredith

golden curly hair
smiling eyes

ovaltined popcorn
assorted toast
crusts removed

intelligent mind
instant friends
hugs for everyone

Thank You

I wanted to make a point of thanking everyone who's commented on my blog so far. I'm sorry I didn't respond to the comments right away (or at all). I do appreciate them and I have fun reading them. I am going to make a point of responding to any new comments asap. Thanks to the new comment from Margarida in Brazil! Very cool.

I've been super busy lately, unfortunately not busy taking photos. Ron has needed some help lately on a big job he is working on for a library in Troutdale, Oregon. He has five sliding doors to etch - all of them are 9'x5'. He's run into a lot of trouble throughout this job and has fallen behind and is worried about meeting the deadline. Actually, that's what I should be doing now. So I better get to it.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read my posts.

Mission Accomplished, Just About

Ron and I installed the Farm windows almost two weeks ago. They look great. By that I mean that they fit right into the style of the old house, like they've always been there. The next day I got a message from my boss, the owner of the Farm, saying she had a proposal for me. I thought, cool, maybe she wants Ron and I to do some stained glass for her house! When I got in to work she pulled me aside and proposed her proposal - would I want to take over her job as day manager? Totally unexpected. I told her I'd talk to Ron that night and get back to her the next day. Well, I start training with her this coming Monday. I'm SO excited! I'm going to learn so much from her, I'll be home every night for dinner, and I will have moved beyond waitressing. (Although I'll probably fill in once in awhile at night for extra money). Mission accomplished.

Now I've got a new goal. I'm going to finish my photography course. Two more units to go and four months to finish them. I better get to work! The last unit I finished covered portraiture. One of the assignments was to take an indoor location portrait that expressed the personality of the subject by including objects in their home or work environment in the picture. I chose to photograph my neighbor. She collects stuff - rolling pins, over 150 of them, lighthouses, knickknack size, quilts, and dream-catchers. Even though she doesn't like to be photographed, she appears to be pretty relaxed in the photo. We chatted for a long while about all her collections beforehand, why she started collecting, where she finds the items, how many of each item she has, and almost ran out of time for photographing before I had to get the kids from school.

Inventor's Tea

The Farm windows had to be put on hold the past two weeks. Ron needed my help with a giant project for a library in Portland. Now that that is finished I can turn my attention back to the windows. Yay!

We went to an Inventor's Tea at my daughter's school last night. The whole 5th grade had the same assignment - invent something using only a wire coat hanger. (They were allowed to use two other materials also, not including glue or tape, etc.) I love this kind of thing. Seeing people's creative minds at work. One assignment, one hundred and twenty different ideas. No two inventions were alike. One of my favorite inventions was my daughter's silhouetted cat shaped candle holder. Coming in a close second was the rotating marshmallow roaster, which keeps your treat in constant motion for even browning!

While I was helping Ron out on the library job, I managed to take a few photos for a friend's school project. She's getting a sustainable design degree and had a project involving redesigning the interior of a home and wanted some non-specific photos to hang in her computer mock up. My photos, if she decides to use them, will be pretty tiny. This is good because I think this group of photos looks better the smaller they are!

I'm so excited - I finally went to the dentist! Well actually, I got to go to the dental hygienist program at the local community college. I'm getting my teeth cleaned - the first cleaning in well over twenty years! Also, full mouth x-rays and some fillings. All of this will cost less than $100. A bargain. The student who cleaned my teeth said that I'd pay at least $800-$1,000 for the kind of cleaning I needed in a regular dental office.

My latest passion - books on CD! I listen to them in the car. I've already gotten through my first book and am now listening to Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility! I'm very excited about this because it takes me forever to get through a book. The only time I read nowadays is in bed at night and I usually only get through a page if I'm lucky before the book falls on my face because I've fallen asleep.

Tomorrow, the Farm windows!

Art Therapy

I finally finished my mosaic. This was the first one I've ever done. When I first decided to make one, I thought it might take me a weekend at the most. Actually, I thought I'd finish two in that weekend. Huh, now that I know better I may never make one again. The project was pretty easy to do, just time consuming, but I couldn't have started it at a better time though. A few days before I began we got a call early Sunday morning. At that time of morning the call was either from my niece, Meredith, an early riser, calling to talk to my daughter, the late sleeper, or someone calling to deliver bad news. This time it wasn't Meredith calling, unfortunately. My brother in law died that morning. Ron flew down to Phoenix two days later and I stayed here with the kids and my mosaic project. After I got the kids to school, cleaned the house a little, I'd sit down at the kitchen table for a few hours to work on the rooster, cell phone next to me, busily waiting to hear any kind of news from Phoenix. I wanted so bad to go with Ron to Phoenix to help out. Working on the rooster made the week that Ron was gone go by fast. I was very happy I had that to work on.
Next project will be the five windows for the restaurant where I work.

Mosaic

I've felt very fragmented lately. As a mom and wife and homemaker and employee and student and lately, Santa, I'm being pulled in lots of different directions everyday. Now with Ron working at home, I can start to add glass craftsman to my list. Ron's work is piling up and I get to help him out. Tomorrow I'll be starting on a small mosaic project and in January I'll start building 5 stained glass windows for the restaurant where I work. I've had very little experience in stained glass and none in mosaics but I'm not too worried, Ron will be there to coach me along. I'm so excited to have Ron working at home for so many reasons, one of them being the opportunity I'll have to learn so many new things from him, things that will hopefully eventually help me move beyond waitressing.

Unit 4

For months I've needed to take this final shot to complete Unit 4. In this head and shoulders portrait, the assignment was to use a single umbrella light to one side of the face and a reflector board to the other, bouncing light back to open up the shadow side of the face. Luckily I had a small white umbrella that NYI sent after I paid for the course. For a light, I used a flash unit on a remote cable. The reflector board I used was a foam core poster board. I don't think it's any coincidence that this photo was the last one I had to take. Flash baffles me. I don't really know how to control its intensity other than bouncing it off the ceiling. The pamphlet that came with my flash is small and brief and not too helpful. Looks like I'd better put some time into this area. My daughter just set a timer and now I have four minutes to finish this up because she wants to play some fairy game online with a cousin in Phoenix! Thanks to my son, Henry, for letting me blind him with the flash so many times. Times up.

Updates

I helped my feet. I went to the Good Feet store and bought some arch supports. They seem to be helping. My feet still get tired by the end of my shift but they feel fine after I take off my shoes when I get home and they don't hurt the next day. The arch supports are guaranteed for life so I feel pretty good about my purchase.

I'm taking a photography course. It's called The Complete Course in Professional Photography offered by The New York Institute of Photography. Sounds kinda fancy and serious. The course is broken up into six units and I'm almost done with unit four. Do I think I'll be a professional when I finish the course? Well, I don't think so. It's a great course, but I need to try harder. I need to take more photos more often, and I need to be as comfortable with the functions of my camera as I am with pulling weeds or vacuuming. In a way, this course is perfect for learning photography. I'm the one responsible for reading the material, taking the assigned photos, and mailing them in. Most photographers are freelancers, responsible for getting, managing, and completing jobs.

Friday's gone. Remember our cat who broke his leg on my birthday? We had to have him put to sleep. It was a very sad day for us. Ron said Friday was pure love. He was the gift with purchase when we bought our home. He was here both times we came to view the house. Two days after we moved in, Friday came home to stay. Most of the two years we've lived here, he pretty much stayed outside, but the last few months he was getting very comfortable with us - barging in first thing in the morning and waiting in the kitchen until we gave him a special treat - tuna juice or a dish of half and half or a slice of pepperoni - then jumping up on our bed for a nap that usually lasted until the kids got home from school. Ron buried him out back of his favorite home.

On a lighter note, I have a new favorite treat. Whipped cream in a can. I bought it as a treat for my daughter who asks for it almost every time we go to the grocery store. Surprise! I said. And then Surprise! again - the can's more than half gone!

If I Were Invisible

I took some photos this week! I asked some friends of ours, a family we know from my daughter's school, if I could photograph their kids for a school project. We met at a park not very far from our homes and while the weather was not the greatest - windy, chilly and overcast - we still managed to make a few nice photos for their parents. I think I got the shot I needed for my assignment and I learned a ton. I learned that I need to check my camera's settings - picture quality, ISO, white balance, aperture - before I start shooting. I also learned that I'm seriously lacking in the posing department - even though I prefer candid shots. I need to learn how to gracefully and naturally pose people so they appear relaxed and comfortable and almost unaware of the camera. I'd love to take photos of people being themselves, doing what they do best, spending time around the people they are most comfortable with. One of the easiest ways there is to make people uncomfortable is to take out a camera and start taking photos. Short of being invisible, I need to figure out how to make people comfortable around me and my camera.

Ron

Ron is my husband and one of the best things that ever happened to me. He has helped me work through my baggage, encourages me in my creative endeavors, treats me with kindness and respect, and teaches me new things - like how to use a nail gun and how to run electrical wiring.
Ron is a sandblaster by trade. He was laid off in August and since then he has been turning our free standing garage into his workshop with a little bit of help from me. He'll be working from home now.
Last week I helped him disassemble his sandblasting booth at the studio were he worked for two years. We brought home a lot of the materials and he started to build another booth in his workshop that would be able to accommodate large sheets of glass.
I love working with Ron. He's generous with his knowledge, gives clear directions, hands me the proper tools, explains how to safely use them, and then steps back to let me do the job myself. I love the fact that he'll be working at home and that I can help him out and pick up a lot of information and skills along the way.

Epsom Salts

I'm soaking my feet right now. I worked last night and will work the next three nights. I think I need a new pair of shoes. My feet are throbbing. The other day at Target I was checking out some of the employee's shoes while I waited for my son to finish in the dressing room. One lady had on a pair of those shoes with springs for heels. They look awful but I'll bet they're really comfortable. I could probably get away with wearing those if I worked at Denny's or maybe IHOP, but what would happen if I showed up at my restaurant wearing shoes with springs? It's a pretty hip place. Probably the only reason I got the job was because I was friends with the owners years ago. My little family and I moved into town two years ago, I called up my old friends to say Hi and they asked if I needed a job. If I were to have walked in off the street, resume in hand, I doubt I would've got the job. Not for lack of experience but maybe for lack of hipness. I'm the oldest one there. I'm even older than my friends, the owners. Maybe this week I'll go shopping for a new pair of shoes. Maybe a comfortable pair of black mary janes. I'll spare my coworkers the horror of me showing up in spring shoes for now.

Octopus!

This week I photographed some artwork for Edward Arnot. He's a local glass artist who's exceptional at glass painting and stained glass. He works out of his backyard in a small studio that smells wonderfully of wood, his light table sits in a corner, a small kiln under a window next to it, and stained glass organized in vertical shelves on the opposite wall.

Let's Do This Thing

For my 44th birthday, my high school son found lunchtime friends to replace his lone lunchtime read with, my 5th grade daughter actually waved to me when I picked her up after school, and my husband started this blog for me. Also, our cat Friday broke his leg, we bought an old kick pottery wheel and I went to work that night. I'm a waitress. With a BA in Studio Art. This blog will chronicle my journey towards a more creative life and ultimately a new career. I'm moving beyond waitressing.