29 Things

Tomorrow is my birthday! I'm going to be 30 years old. I'm excited about that. I love birthdays in fact. So here are 29 things I've learned in my 29 years....

1. Play nice with others. You never know if the person you bully in 7th grade will someday be the dentist working on your teeth!
2. The things you think are a big deal in your teens won't matter much when you're in your twenties.
3. Always keep an umbrella, jacket, and flashlight in your car.
4. No matter how good of a cook you become you can never make your food taste as good as your moms.
5. Travel as much as possible before you have kids!
6. Always keep $100 stashed away somewhere. You never know when that may be the last $100 you have.
7. Hugged your mama as much as you can. She won't be here forever.
8. No matter how old you are you still need your parents!
9. Being a mom is the most wonderful and most difficult job I've ever had.
10. What you own doesn't mean anything if you don't own yourself.
11. Take as many pictures as you can. Memories really do fade.
12. Hair grows back. Never cry over a bad haircut.
13. Get a yard boy!
14. Duct tape doesn't fix everything but it fixes a heck of a lot of things.
15. Life is much easier if I turn thing over to God and let go a little bit.
16. There are very few things in life that are permanent.
17. No matter how much money you make it is never enough.
18. Laughing about things is so much better than crying about it.
19. Manners really do matter. Being polite and graceful is an art that is fading fast.
20. Letting go is hard.... living on is harder...
21. Having a child was the best decision I ever made!
22. Never say never. Seriously NEVER say NEVER!
23. A man may be able to fix things around your house, but your girlfriends can fix things around your heart.
24. We all can make a difference in the world.
25. Sometimes even hard work doesn't get you what you want. But at least you have the satisfaction of trying.
26. Sleep must be a priority. Without it I feel like shit!
27. Asking for help can save a lot of time and embarrassment.
28. You can never have too many people to love you.
29. If you don't like yourself no one else will.

That's what I know folks. I'll post again when I'm 30.

How Did She Do It

How did my mom do it. How did she keep our house running so smoothly when I was a kid. Seriously our house was so clean and orderly. She cooked everyday except Sunday when we would eat lunch out and then have popcorn for dinner. She had beautiful flower beds and a nice yard. Our laundry wasn't just done but folded and put away. And she still had time to shuffle us around everywhere and have fun with us. How in the heck did she do it.

I feel like I'm running all the time and nothing is really getting done. Between work, the photography business, the kidlet, the yard, the housework, the remodel, etc it's chaos. Everything is just half done. The dishes are done but the floor is a mess. Or the laundry is done but not put away. Or the yard is mowed but the flower beds look like Jurassic park. I just can't seem to keep up with it all.

Advice? Any ideas? Does anyone know how to add hours to the day?

Painting

Yes indeed I'm painting this dang house yet again! The remodel is in full swing and almost done! That is a miracle. So I've gotten Hulk's old room repainted a pretty Thistle color for Heather. The painters actually painted his room for me and it looks wonderful. His new room is blue with one red wall. Then the accents are red and green and silver. Heather found new bedding for him that is adorable and airplanes to hang from the ceiling! I'm so excited to see it done.

Once the contractors are done in there then the new carpet will be laid and then we will be DONE! I can't wait. This has seriously drug on for so long. I'm ready to have my room and my bed back to myself. Neither one of us sleeps so good and we both need some space. It will be so nice to have separate rooms again. I'm hoping everything will be done in the next week. Let's all cross our fingers and toes and say a little prayer!

The focus for me for the next week is getting the hallway and living room painted. Then after little man and all his things are out of my room I'm going to paint in there. Heather also found some awesome new bedding for me and new decorations for my room. It will be nice to have a fresh new room to call my own. No toys will be allowed! And I think I'm going to post a sign that says you can't enter unless you are 18 or older. Yes I'm a mean mommy but I want my space back. The kid has the whole house. I just want my bedroom and bathroom to be toddler free. I don't think that is unrealistic.... Okay maybe a little unrealistic but seriously I am DONE sharing my room!

So that's the scoop around here. Fun times in paint land.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Dad. We sure miss you and love you. I hope you have a great day tomorrow.

One Reason We Love Summer

We love summer and one reason we love summer so much is flavored ice!

Flavored ice has so many benefits. It's a delicious (low calories, no fat, sugar free) treat on a very hot day! It can keep a two year old occupied for a good 10 minutes! And while painful for him seeing his brain freeze face cracks me up every single time! No matter how many times I tell him to slow down and not eat it so fast he still does and every time he gets a brain freeze. And every time I chuckle a little bit. Horrible! What a mean mommy I am. I don't know why it cracks me up but it does. What can I say other than flavored ice, kids love it and moms approve!!!

Really?

I'm all for saving a buck or two. In fact I'm getting pretty creative in my frugality. And I like that. It's a quality I actually admire in people. Show me how to save some money and you can become my best friend. (Actually that's not true, I love my Darbis to much to get a new best friend). So show me a way to save some money and you can be a good friend! That's better.

So while I love saving money there are some areas I draw the line at. There are some situations that I'm just willing to spend a little more money. One of those situations would be my method of transportation. I gave up the big SUV long ago for something more practical. But today I saw a man driving a golf cart down one of the busier streets in our town. In the golf cart were his two children. Granted he had them in car seats but it just bothered me. I know this man and know that he is doing this to save money but really your children in a golf cart on a busy street just doesn't seem worth it. So I won't be hauling the kidlet around in a golf cart anytime soon.

I also won't be buying generic toilet paper or generic dishwasher tablets. And I for sure won't be buying my underwear at a garage sale. Those are a few of the other things I just can't do. I'll spend a little extra for soft toilet paper, good dishwasher soap, and panties no one else has worn. Call me crazy but a girl has to splurge every now and then.

Food For Thought

I've been thinking a lot about food lately. About where it comes from, who is growing it, why I'm eating it, what it means to me. I've been thinking about what is on it, how expensive it is, and what I want food to do for me and my boy. I've been reading a lot of books about food. I've been watching documentaries about food. I'm really trying to learn about our food.

And while I'm learning I'm making changes. Since last Friday we have had no meat and no dairy for me. Hulk still gets limited milk but no other dairy. The first few days I felt pretty yucky but now I'm feeling wonderful! We are eating lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, etc. Stuff Hulk is already pretty used to. I've been considering this for several months but couldn't quite make up my mind. So I decided it was time to just jump in and see if we could do it. It's been pretty easy and I'm excited to see where this journey takes us.

Now I have lots of learning to do regarding vegitarian recipes, etc. Any suggestions????

That Boy

 

My baby is turning into such a big boy! I'm not sure how time moves so quickly but it does. I think of how long I waited for him and how time seemed to drag on and on. Now it flies by and in the blink of an eye the little baby that I used to rock to sleep will now say clearly "Rock a baby" when he wants me to snuggle him. Oh how they change!

Making the change from daycare to a preschool type setting was a great decision. His speech has improved so so much! He is saying words clearer and is doing better with forming 3-5 word sentances. He also counts to 10 now which blew my mind! I knew he could count to 3 and then one day he just kept going all the way to 10. Today he went to 14 and then said 8, 9, 10 and clapped for himself. Crazy boy.

I've noticed his motor skills have really improved lately too. He jumps higher and runs faster than he did last month and falls down less often. However, he has managed to somehow get that big wound on the front of his head. Seriously he did that in his sleep! I think he must have rubbed it on his blanket or the headboard or something. And now he has a small spot on the back of the head that he cracked open when he attempted to fly off a bookshelf. So while he physically can do more he obviously hasn't gotten any smarter about safety. :-)

Of course we still have the temper tantrums, saying no and mine and why, throwing of food, and arguments over why we don't hit our mom with sticks. All the things that seem to go with being a 2 year old. But overall that boy is pretty darn sweet and loving and funny! Lord he makes me laugh. I'm a pretty lucky mama!

Fired

I'm so firing myself from this blog! Seriously I'm a horrible blogger lately. How in the world has this happened. I used to get so excited about blogging and think throughout the day "oh I have to blog that". And now I find that days have gone by and I haven't posted a darn thing. I don't know what the deal is but I'm sorry!

Things are of course crazy busy and chaotic around here. What with remodeling still underway, little boys attempting to fly and then cracking their little heads open, trying to create a new diet for the both of us, and picture editing. Wild, crazy, wonderful, tiring life.

I promise I'm going to try to better about posting again. Sorry Aunts! I know you read this thing to know what's up with us. I promise I'll do better!

The Winds Of Change

Do you hear that? That wonderful sound? It's the winds of change my friends. Yes things are changing around here. Well things are changing for Wagoner Photography. I've decided to really step it up a notch as far as my business goes. Now that some of the stress in my life is calming down I am really wanting to grow my business and improve my photography at the same time. So I'm taking some fun and exciting steps to do so.

First I'm really focusing on branding. I needed a look or design to attach to all my marketing materials, watermarks, and packaging. And luckily I knew a gal that could do it. My pal April helped me design what I think is a great design for me. You will see it often as my new watermark rather than the boring print of the past.

See it right here on my beautiful sister. I took these pictures of her last weekend and love them almost as much as I love her!





The next step is really advertising or marketing my business. I've never really done much of this other than word of mouth and facebook. But I'm now working with a couple doctor's offices on providing my information to pregnant patients about maternity and newborn photography. And I'm also working with a couple local businesses on drawings and promotions featuring my work. So I think that is a good thing. I'm excited to see what it does to drum up business.

And the most important step for me is I have decided to start studying and preparing for the certified professional photographer's exam. This is a great opportunity for me to increase my knowledge about photography and improve my skills. Right now there are only about 2000 certified professional photographer's in the country. My hope is that by this time next year I can be included in that group. It will take a lot of studying and I also have to submit 20 images to be judged but I think I can do it.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I started a blog just for my business. It can be found by clicking here.