Feb 28, 2008

He's THIS old.


Noticed this sign on Eli's door this evening. Please note, "No grils allowed!!!! (Mom and Dad yes.) (and boys yes.) (Faithy and Sarah NO!) (6 & up boys yes.) (6 & up girls yes.)

Not sure why, but the 6 and up girls really concerns me. He's so Rob's son. :)

Oh, and I love the excessive use of parenthesis and exclamation points. He gets that from me, punctuation is our friend.

Feb 26, 2008

a happy garage.



This is a sight that makes me happy today. Seeing those mad grocery game skills at work.

Today's Ramblings

Home today. Enjoying the space and the quiet. I'm kind of tired. I was up too late watching "Becoming Jane" and then Sarah was up with the sun of course.

Enjoying the new Leeland cd. I was happy to see it in our Interlink box this week. Happy to have it, but excited for the guys to be hooked up with Interlink, that's awesome. Good for them to get that kind of coverage.



Feeling restless. I'd like to scrapbook if my house wasn't so messy. As it is, I just feel guilty thinking about playing. It's weird, having a slow day. I never know what to do with myself when there isn't a schedule to keep too. I dealt with the bank and the car yesterday morning, and then a ton of paperwork at home.

I'm really thankful lately. God is so good. I see His blessing all over my life and it just amazes me. I've been really faithful to my bible study lately, and that's been intense. I can see where spending more time in the Word is deepening my relationship with Him, and that's ultimately what I really want in life. I'm trying to make my actions match that desire. I've been reading a book "Wild Things Happen When I Pray" and the author describes her personal bible study habits and that apparently was just the structure I needed. It's been very freeing, but holds me accountable simultaneously.

Toby has decided to be a somewhat normal cat. I caught him sitting in the window today, bathing in the sun. It's so cool to see him outside of my closet! He's lost a lot of weight since we brought him home, but I think he's adjusting. Every once in a while he slips and lets one of the kids pet him. :)

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm rambling. I have nothing important to say, I'm just putting off writing a skit for church. That's terrible. :) I need to just start it and it will come together and then I can check it off my to do list, wouldn't that be nice?

Feb 24, 2008

New Pictures







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So we have a lot of fog here in Baytown and every time I leave in the morning when it's foggy, I wish I had time to grab my camera and take a few shots. This morning it was probably some of the densest fog I've ever seen and Rob was totally willing to take a few moments to play.
Also, I drug the kids out in the afternoon to take a few pictures too. fun.

Feb 23, 2008

Special Request


So apparently a few of my unnamed blog readers would like to see more photos of the kids. And videos. :) Guess I will have to work on that. But this fun family pic was taken last weekend by one of our students. Will have to suffice for tonight, Jabronie A and Jabronie B are long asleep. I will make a point this weekend to take some more photos of them though, they are pretty stinking adorable. :)

Look What We Did


It's been a crazy day. We spent 4 1/2 hours at the Saturn dealership this morning and in to afternoon. We've test drove SEVEN Saturns in the past week. But this baby we decided to take home with us. We got it at 40% off the sticker price and traded in our ancient Dodge (goodbye Max!). Apparently we got such a good deal that the salesman couldn't even bring himself to say goodbye to me. He mumbled a thank you to Rob and shook his hand, but ran back into the dealership without thanking me. I guess I was just too hard-core frugal for him. I'm pretty sure he didn't make much commission on us. :) I was so into the process of buying the car, I wasn't really even excited about the car itself. I tried so hard to remove myself from the emotional attachment of the vehicle and focus solely on the numbers and driving a hard bargain. We left the dealership and I felt like I had won!! Very fun.
So Rob drove home. Our '07 Vue with 24,000 miles on it. But I drove it to my baby shower gig today and I was really happy with it. It's an awesome car, and it's still under warranty. yay! We both feel like we made a really good decision. And in only three trips to the dealership! Which is ok, I'm not really sure our Dodge could have made a fourth trip. I think we squeezed every last mile and dollar out of it. In fact, they traded us one and a half times what we originally paid for it, so essentially the Dodge paid for itself and then some in the past two and a half years. You can't beat that!
The shower went well. It posed a lot of lighting challenges, but it was really fun to shoot a variety of ages. Now I'm doing laundry and getting ready for tomorrow. It's our annual business meeting. good fun.

Feb 22, 2008

More On My Mind




Today has been a good day.

I worked hard at the office, trying to wrap my brain around new duties, and drawing the line in the sand between pastor's wife and secretary. It's harder than it sounds. I did massively struggle with a dinosaur PC, making me oh-so-grateful for Mac here at home. If I ever wondered if our $1500 apple purchase last year was worth it, one day in my office wrestling with a PC reminded me that my Mac is worth it's weight in gold. I will never ever go back to PC for personal use, it's ridiculous. I, truely, had to restart my computer at the office five times today. And by restart I mean, manually unplug the thing from the wall, plug it back in and then try all over again. fun-ness.

But it was a good day. I love the staff already, so that makes it easy. Rob was gone a lot today though, so I missed him. The phones are a little complicated, so I'm working on that. I did design a new cd label for Pastor's sermons, that was cool. It was funnish to be creative on the job. I have a feeling they will use me a bit that way.

We are going in to Houston tomorrow to look more closely at a Vue. We've really taken the past two days to pray about our car situation. We are pretty set on a specific vehicle, but I want to do a bit more research and see if we could find something a little newer with a warranty. We'll see what the morning brings.

Our 90's night was a big success. Everyone was having a blast from the moment they walked in, dressed in their 90's best (not all, but most). We had a 90's playlist going and that really got people talking. Then we played the trivia game I killed myself putting together late last night. "90 Questions About the 90's" It was good fun.

Overall good day. Tired. Ready to see what the morning brings. Pretty sure our car is on it's last legs. I'm almost convinced it's getting worse by the day.

90’s Trivia Game


1.) Which rap group was totally crossed out?


2.) What musical group wanted you to "Hold my hand?"


3.) What Disney movie showed us a ‘Whole New World”?


4.) How long were Jerry Seinfeld and his pals sentenced in the series finale?


5.) On Saved By The Bell, what was the name of the beach club that the gang worked at?


6.) What tv show made us think about the paranormal and wonder if there was anything out there?


7.) In Boy Meets World, what is the crazy older brother's name?


8.) On Beverly Hills 90210, where did the Walshes live before they moved to Beverly Hills?


9.) What 80s show is Frasier a spinoff of?


10.) What is the name of Mr.Krane's dog on Frasier?


11.) Name four Xmen.


12.) In Fresh Prince of Bel-Air what was the butlers name?


13.) In what city does Matlock take place?


14.) What doctor show – still on the air - premiered and made it big in the 90’s?


15.) What NBA star topped Mr. Blackwell's 1995 list of Worst-Dressed Women?


16.) What was the highest grossing movie of the 90s?


17.) How long did the Michael Jackson - Lisa Marie Presley marriage last?


18.) What getaway car did OJ Simpson drive?


19.) What artist lip synced at the Grammy’s?


20.) What is a pog?


21.) Describe a troll doll.


22.) Name the Ninja Turtles.


23.) Kriss Kross made a fashion statement. What was it?


24.) What shirt brand made this phrase famous? “He who dies with the most toys, still dies.”


25.) If I wanted to put my stuff in a bag, but not carry a purse, what non-gender specific fashion piece is perfect for day trips?


26.) What are Z-Cav’s?


27.) What is ‘the Rachel’?


28.) What little stuffed animal did everyone want to collect?


29.) Who said “To Infinity and Beyond”?


30.) What movie brought dinosaurs back to life?


31.) What novelist created ‘ER’?


32.) What’s special about a magic eye book?


33.) Three frogs advertised for what beveridge?


34.) Ray Charles sings ‘you’ve got the right one baby’ about what product?


35.) What commercials always featured twins?


36.) What is D.A.R.E.?


37.) What 70’s movie comes out with a prequel?


38.) What restuaraunt used a talking Chiwawa to promote itself?


39.) Who said “these pretzels are making me thirsty?”


40.) What is Central Perk?


41.) What famous singer killed himself at the height of his career?


42.) Who was the Pet Detective?


43.) Michael J Fox went back where? (three times)


44.) Who said “Ill be back” and meant it?


45.) He went on a totally excellent adventure in the beginning of the decade and learned to dodge bullets by the end of the decade. Who is he?


46.) Name the cousins on Perfect Strangers.


47.) Whose the annoying nerdy neighbor on Family Matters?


48.) What’s the Macarena?


49.) What show did Will Smith start out on?


50.) Patrick Duffy and Suzanne Summers brought their families together on which sitcom?


51.) What is a Walkman?


52.) Who was the Warrior Princess?


53.) What is a Super Soaker?


54.) What star claimed to be “King of the World”?


55.) Fran Drescher sported what unique quality?


56.) Sonic is what kind of animal?


57.) What animated birds had a rich uncle?


58.) What little boy accidently got left home by himself?


59.) What sixteen year old doctor could fix you up?


60.) Finish this line… “the best part of waking up..”


61.) Name the couple from ‘Mad About You’.


62.) What song is Friend’s Pheobe famous for?


63.) Who sang “Stairway to Heaven”?


64.) What fellow ice skater attacked Nancy Kerrigan?


65.) What late night talk show hosts were in a fued?


66.) Who won the 1991 Superbowl?


67.) What is a brick phone?


68.) Can you sing the fast food song?


69.) Name the two soft drinks that battled it out in the 90’s.


70.) I want to see through my soda. What 90’s soda would I drink?


71.) Finish the line “I’d like to buy the world…”


72.) What car company introduced no hassle pricing?


73.) What color was Prince’s girl’s beret?


74.) Name the 1992 presidential candidates.


75.) What was the Operation called before it was Desert Storm?


76.) Name three movies that came directly from SNL skits.


77.) Complete the Jack Handy prhase “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and…”


78.) Who saw the sign and had a beautiful life?


79.) Who broke out with her flaming red hair in “My So-called Life”?


80.) What lollipop could you easily put away and save for later?


81.) What artist changed his name to a symbol?


82.) What does NKOTB stand for?


83.) What color were the screens and type of early DOS systems?


84.) Name all five friends.


85.) What’s the zip code of Beverly Hills?


86.) What tv show featured one entire episode waiting to be seated at a Chinese resturaunt?


87.) What was Blossom’s Joey’s favorite line?


88.) From the tv show Full House, act out Joey’s favorite phrase.


89.) What twins got their tv debut on Full House?


90.) Name the show about nothing.


91.) Name three uses for an AOL cd.

Feb 21, 2008

4000 Things On My Mind

Do you ever feel like your brain is spinning in so many directions it's dizzying? Lately, our life has been so.... full... that it's hard to slow down and process things. kwim? So I'm going to have a little verbal diarrhea here, so pardon my mess.

1.) I start work tomorrow. Yep, you heard me. I'm diving back into the career world. Well, sort of. Not really. I'm helping out in the church office one day a week. I've been a little quiet about it because I didn't want it to get out and hurt everyone's feelings. But anyone who stops in the office tomorrow is going to know it anyway, so I'm outing myself. :) Pretty excited to work again, that's a big deal.

2.) I have another photography shoot on Saturday. That, my dear, is exciting! It's a baby shower, so that's kind of an unusual genre. And it will be mostly indoors, so that's definitely more difficult. I need to brush up on the 2Peas Shooting Indoors PDF before then.

3.) Rob installed a cat door today. I'm pretty much convinced that he is a rock star and can do anything. We wanted Toby to be able to have his litter box and food out in the garage, but obviously can't leave the door open all the time. So that was a good solution. Of course, he's too terrified to go check it out yet. :) Silly kitty.

4.) LOST comes on in 3 minutes. I'm excited, of course, but sad to watch without Rob. It doesn't seem right. He's finishing up worship practice about now and I'm sure will be racing home any minute.

5.) We test drove vehicles today. Which is always terrifying and exciting simultaneously for me. Right up there with having dental work done. Our beloved 1997 Dodge Intrepid complete with massive sun rot and minus the air conditioning is really starting to have some issues and we have been wondering for quite some time when it will be time to replace dear Ole Max. Please pray for us in this decision, car purchasing has always been an ordeal for us, and I don't really know why.

6.) I am so thankful for Lori and her ongoing mentoring/listening/processing to me. She's a true friend.

7.) Tomorrow night we celebrate all things 90's in our twenty-something group. Rob and I got some rad outfits from the Goodwill today and we are pretty psyched to go retro on everyone tomorrow night. :) Should be fun.

8.) Our kids are enjoying their first sleep over with their friends tomorrow night. We are trading kids with the Cannos and it should be a ton of fun.

9.) I love that 'Sync' commercial where the chick with coffee says "Door. Open" and walks smack into the class door. classic. It just came on tv.

10.) I'm really enjoying most of the Juno soundtrack. There are a few songs that could have been left off the cd, but overall, it's pretty fun.

11.) So that's only 11 things, but it seems like a lot.

12) Yep, I thought of a twelfth. I totally overuse the word excited. I'm sorry. It's just who I am. :)

Feb 20, 2008

Catching Up





It's been an interesting day thus far. I ran errands this morning, and took this cute photo of Rob in his office. Then I came home and did 30 some expo videos, that was fun! I'm currently working on the process of uploading them. I still need to find a game for this evening.

Oh, and I am no longer a protogapher, but just a simple photographer again. One little trip to the county clerk's straightened up that ordeal. whew.

Oops.


So I guess I was too busy chatting with the gal at the County Clerk's office that day last week when I got my business license. She looked over my license and I looked it over and we both missed the mistake. Of course, dear hubby caught it first thing. We've come a long way in ten years though. At the beginning of our marriage he would have been upset for me and probably a little bit at me. Instead he just laughed and said "that's so you!". :) That didn't hurt my feelings one eensy teensy bit. And if you know me, yep, it really is me, to mess up one tiny (but crucial) detail on a very important document. Oh well, the mistake is kind of humorous. Rob is having a good hard laugh about "Anna Thoreson Protography". It's kind of an ongoing joke now. :) But I'm going to go back to the Clerk today to see if I can get her to change it. Maybe I should bring her some homemade cookies to persuade her? maybe that's illegal. ;)

Oh, and I registered last Wednesday, and this was my pile of business junk mail yesterday. Whoa baby. My frugal little mind looks at that pile and thinks "what a waste of paper and ink and money!"

Feb 18, 2008

Being Productive









So part of my scrapbooking problem has been that my cupboards was a mess. Today I decided to tackle it, and it worked out nicely. I'm feeling a lot better about my scrapbooking stuff, and I'd really like to play now. But Rob and I have been talking about the possibility of painting the living room, so we'll see. Anyhoo, here are some before and after pictures of my cabinet, and a few pages from the past month or so - random chances I've had to scrapbook.

Feb 16, 2008

Church Work Day

















We worked hard today. It was a lot of fun though. :) I did pause to take quite a few photos, just because no one else was! Some of the highlights were painting the children's church, pulling a stump (Texas Style) and lunch. Ok, and as I'm loading these, I'm realizing I took a ton of pictures, but it really was a fun day.

Feb 15, 2008

The Not-So-Valentine's Day


So for all our big plans, V-day was kind of a wash. Eli woke up sick in the night, running a high fever. We wound up shuttling Sarah to school and running Eli to the doctor. He has a severe ear infection and the doctor didn't really say what else, I'm wondering if it's not this flu going around. We then went to Baybrook Mall, being terrible bad parents, because Rob absolutely needed a cord for children's church on Sunday. It's a nice drive, so it was a good quiet time for Eli. We parked closest to the Apple store as we could get and walked in for a quick lunch with Eli (the mall was deserted, it was so nice) and the cord and then we were back on our way home. We did stop at my scrapbook store for 5 minutes, that was fun. We picked up Sarah and took the kids home, then I called around to fill Eli's scripts, all three of them. Let's just say it was an expensive day. Rob played video games the rest of the afternoon while Eli watched. I cleaned up Sarah's room and just generally felt rotten myself. We got the kids to bed early and watched LOST by candlelight while eating our Valentine's dinner, Outback to go. We split the Alice Springs Chicken and Aussie Fries and we were sooo full. I had also made a cheesecake, it was yummy. Then not one, but both of our kids were up during the night. Sarah was just being Sarah, and she messed around for about an hour at three am, then Eli threw up at 5am, and we get up for work and school at 6:30am, so it was a short fitful night, to say the least. So I'm home today, with both kids, utterly exhausted. I've got a big to do list, but it's not sounding too fun.
Not sure why we even try with Valentine's Day. It never seems to work out for us. Even when we have big plans, they usually fall through. Goes all the way back to when we were dating, but that's another post in itself.
(in lei of our traditional Valentine's day photo, here's one of me and E at the Dr's office.)

Feb 13, 2008

Remember this girl?



Yeah, me neither. So I'm going to spend some serious quality time with her today. We are running errands, getting my DBA (yay!), taking a good chunk of time with God, and scrapbooking with Lori today. Pretty darn exciting!! See you later, when I'm all refreshed-like.

Feb 9, 2008

Exciting News

I'm for sure taking the plunge and starting my own photography biz. It's kind of happening on it's own, and I've decided to give it a little push. On Tuesday I'll go and get my DBA (license to do business) and I just launched a sister blog, totally devoted to my photographic exploits. Very exciting stuff people, very exciting.

Check it out.

Feb 8, 2008

I Got Crabs








At Sartins. I consumed more seafood in one night than I think I have in my whole life. :) We had a special evening for our church, caravaning to Seabrook for a crab bash. It was definitely an experience, but we all had a great time. I ate a crab ball (?) that had jalepeno's in it, and up until that point I was stomaching everything alright. After that we had a little rumble in the bronx, but it was still a cool authentic Texan evening.