A Fathers Day To Remember

So, Don and I had decided that we weren't going to make a big deal about mothers day or fathers day this year because of our kitchen and bath reno and how it uncovered all these extra things we needed like ripping up the flooring completely, layers and layers of vinyl and ceramic through the years and warping subfloors.

We had a nice little budget worked out for these renovations and I was doing a ton of the work myself... especially since I'm a DIY pro after all the HGTV and DIY I watched this winter and spring when I had bronchitis and no voice. I took notes and everything. ;)

Well, mothers day was nice and quiet and Don kindly stuck to the rules and he and Katie got me great cards and fixed me a yummy breakfast in bed.

However, me feeling like Don is the most incredible father and husband and he's done SOOOO much this year during my struggles with depression and loosing Gran. He took WONDERFUL care of Katie... I didn't spend a lot of money but I wanted to make the day special.

So, I looked on Cafe Press and tried to find a couple of fun t-shirts (in black of course). I looked all through the Apple stuff and decided on one that said iDAD. Katie loved it. We also picked out a LOST tshirt for him.

Long story getting longer... Katie and I went shopping yesterday at bargain stores for little trinkets to finish off the kitchen. I found these beautiful lace place mats and even cuter napkin holders. They are a lovely white, which I intend to change to black to go with the kitchen. I'll have to spray the napkin holders and dye the place mats. More crafty type things I've learned lately watching HGTV. ;)

Well, last night when Katie and I were getting his tshirts ready in a gift bag and his cards ready... I got the idea to use one of the frilly pink gift bags that I had with pink tissue paper and I put the lace placemats, napkin holders and even some new dishtowels in the bag.

Katie and I giggled all night. First thing this morning (6:45 to be exact) she wakes me up and says "is it time to give dad his gift?" Man, I thought kids were only suppose to do that on Christmas morning.

Don had a long wedding yesterday and didn't get in til midnight so I told Katie we were just going to let him sleep. I had gotten all the stuff to make his favorite breakfast... scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, biscuits and hash browns. All those things I can cook just fine except for the dog gone hash browns. They were those shredded ones like you get at iHop and you have to cook them with oil. I hate cooking with oil. I avoid recipes like the plague that require oil in a skillet.

Well, we started getting breakfast going about 9:30 thinking the turkey bacon cooking would wake him up. That thinking was dead on. Katie made him sit outside the kitchen and brought him magazines and orange juice for his wait.

Everything was going fine with me fixing breakfast. I was getting use to the new stove and range. VERY DIFFERENT!! I had everything going at once and all of a sudden, I realized those $@*! hash browns were burning. By the time I realized, the smoke alarm (which is tied to ADT) started going off. Don immediately put in the code to stop it. Well, ADT started calling us but we wouldn't know this because our cell phones were in the bedroom.

So, about 3-4 minutes go by, we've opened windows and turned on the fan to clear out the smoky from the $#@! hash browns. In the distance we heard sirens that got closer and closer. Guess who came to visit Don for fathers day! The Rural Metro Fire Department.

Guess what else? It was their second visit this week. When Eddie was here Thursday helping Don with the electrical work, they accidentally set off the alarm. Don didn't think it lasted long enough to matter, his cell was in the office and he was with Eddie upstairs. I was at AC's and always have my phone on silent. Both these times, they called my best friend Lisa who in turned tried to call us to make sure everything was ok.

This morning, Don explained again what happened Thursday and what happened this morning and they were all laughing. He asked if we'd be charged for it and they said NO unless it started becoming a habit. I wont be cooking with oil anymore so it definitely wont be a habit.

Long story continuing to be even longer... we ate breakfast which was yummy except for the $#@! which were down the disposal. When we finished breakfast, Katie went and got Don the joke gift. He was all confused about the pink bag and then just figured I was saving $$$ recycling a gift bag. Then when he started pulling stuff out, his ears turned red and I know he was thinking..."$#@!, I know we said our gifts to each other were the kitchen reno but lace.... Seriously?!"

We all laughed hard and he finally picked up that it was a gag. Then we gave him the real gift and he was happy.

We've hung out at the pool and we are going to grill hamburgers for dinner.

I talked to my dad early this morning to wish him happy fathers day and my gift to him was a homemade CD of 30 of his favorite oldies songs and setting up a Facebook account for him so he can reconnect with old high school friends.

So except for the fire department making a visit... I think Don's had a nice fathers day.

Again... relying on my faith that there is a heaven

...and that it's amazingly wonderful. I did my best over the past 12 years to take care of Gran and Grandad. I loved them both dearly... they had done so much for me in my teens and early twenties.

I had a hard time, especially the past three years not getting frustrated with Gran. We had to take her car away from her three years ago because the doctors said she absolutely could not drive, I had to turn off her stove and get her on meals on wheels. I had to hire a neighbor to help give her daily medications through the week and we took care of Fri-Sun. We tried desperately to help her keep her house clean. Then we had to do something that was the hardest thing I've ever done... we had to move her out of her home that she shared with Grandad for almost 30 years and move her into an assisted living facility in Rockwood, TN. I hated taking her from her home, I hated that it had to be 50 minutes from Knoxville... but it was a facility that took VA benefits (which she qualified for because of Grandad) and their staff was phenomenal.

I could have never gotten through all this emotionally had it not been for Don. I know Don loved her but he was a rock for me and was always there to help.

I got so frustrated and exasperated with her over these last years. I always tried to think "How would I want to be treated if I make it to 87 and start outliving my mind"... I always tried to remind myself that the day would come when I would miss her terribly.

Well, that day came last Friday. I received a call from Patti Jo, the director at Victorian Square at 3:40am telling me she had a massive heart attack and had passed away.

Don and I last saw her the Friday before. She recognized me as being special family but had no recollection of Don and when we mentioned Katie... she didn't know her.

Katie was the light of her life the past 10 1/2 years. When we brought Katie home from Memphis, that was the last day she smoked a cigarette. I had said that no one would be around Katie that smoked... so she stopped cold turkey.

Katie was truly blessed to have had her in her life until she was 11. I know Katie will have great memories of her and to have memories of a great grandmother is very special.

I'm sure that even in the times I was frustrated, she knew how much I loved her.

I am confident that her and Grandad are together again and that all of us have one more guardian angel looking down on us.

I will miss you always Gran and I loved you!!

Mary Dobson Muecke

MUECKE, MARY DOBSON - 87 of Knoxville, TN, went to be with our Lord April 30, 2010. She was born in Rockwood, TN on December 14, 1922. She married Charles T. Muecke, Sr. on April 4, 1940 and they were married for 64 years until his death on October 4, 2004. She was retired from Robertshaw Fultons but also worked many years in retail. She was a member of The Lords Chapel and she did volunteer work for many years at Fort Sanders Hospital as well as the American Red Cross. The last two years, she resided at Victoria Square, in Rockwood, TN, where she received wonderful care. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Charles T. Muecke, Jr. & Marilyn Muecke of St. Augustine, FL; her granddaughter and her husband, Leeann M. Samples and Don H. Samples of Knoxville, TN. She had a great-grand-daughter, Katelyn Marie Samples, age 11 whom she adored. Also survived by brother & sister-in-law Jack & Sue Muecke of Kingston, TN. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and great grandmother and will be missed. She was full of humor, charm and had a love for the Lord. Receiving of friends and family will be Monday from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Highland Memorial Funeral Home. Chapel service will be on Tuesday at 10:00 am with the Internment to follow; Rev. Shirley Delap officiating. Highland Memorial Funeral Home 865-588-0567

I'm loving Lakota so much!!

I will always miss Belle! But, Lakota has turned out to be the absolute perfect horse for me. He is so sweet natured and he learns so well. He's almost 6 years old and my trainer, Arthur says that for him to be so great at such a young age, he's going to be a phenomenal horse.

I went two weeks without seeing him at all because of going to North Carolina and then getting bronchitis. That killed me... he does such wonders for my emotional health. I got to spend some time with him last night and it's just amazing how great I feel after being with him. There is something amazing about a 1200 pound animal coming running when he sees you pull up and then being affectionate!!

I'm such an animal lover... as evident in the fact that we have three dogs and two horses.

Arthur and I plan to enter several shows this year and I'm really looking forward to it. Lakota has such an awesome prancing rack... he will do great in the racking class.

The first show is May 8th and I will definitely be posting on how we do.

I'm also excited about some of the online classes I'm continuing to take at Jessica Sprague and Little Light Studio. They have been so fun and I'm loving digital scrapbooking.

I'm going to post a few more layouts in the next day or so.

More later!!

Working With A Wacom Tablet

One of the digital classes I took a couple of weeks ago was on working with a Wacom Tablet and since I've had my Wacom Intuos for almost a year, I thought it might be a good idea to finally try to start using it for more than handwriting... which stinks by the way. I hate using it for writing... it's like when you have to sign the credit card screen at Target or another store... you know how nice your signature always looks... same thing!

Anyway, there is so much more you can do with the tablet... design pattern paper with your own handwritten designs, add pretty edging to papers, etc.

Here are a few layouts I did using the tablet. You can click on the layouts to see them better.

I love learning new things and it seems and though Photoshop is like owning a horse... you'll never know it all! :)

This was a great game night we had with Lisa and Rick like two years ago!!! We should do that more often!!!

This was our Florida road trip. I couldn't really dot the line all the way from Knoxville because we flew to Ft. Lauderdale...

Here is an example of why I hate the handwriting aspect of the tablet. I think I'll just stick with the cool design aspects.

Isn't that cool how I was able to superimpose Brinkley's photo in the bottom of the layout? Photoshop is just too cool!!

More later!!

Digital Scrapbooking Junkie... I think

As I said in my "catch up" blog, I think I'm hooked on digi scrappin' but I wont know for sure until I get some pages back from the printer and put them in a book.  My scrapbooks sure will be a lot thinner.  Here are some of the pages I've done in the past couple of weeks.  At least it's been something to do to take my mind of the horrible weather we've been having.

Here are some of the first ones I did...























I'm having a lot of fun so I hope I like the final pages when I get them.

It's snowing again!  Katie's watching Scooby Doo and Don's working so I'm gonna do another page!!  :)

Don & I Just Celebrated 20 years

of knowing each other!!  It was 20 years ago on February 13th that we met on a blind date!!  I can't believe it!!

I think I did fall off the face of the earth...

Well, not really but blogging just hasn't been a priority to me for the past several months.  My last posting was back in September 2009 and at the beginning of October, we had to pull Katie out of school for almost 3 weeks.  We had experienced nothing but problems after she transferred schools last March and it ranged from her not getting her medicine or not getting the correct dosage on at least 15 different occasions to her getting slapped repeatedly by an aggressive student... and finally the last straw was her coming home with a black eye.  We hired an attorney, not to sue the school system, but to help us know what Katie's rights are because of her multiple special needs and complex situation.  It took 3 weeks to have her placed at a new school and she's now at Rocky Hill Elementary and things are back to normal.  It was difficult because Katie has been in the Knox County School system since she was 3.  She went to Ft. Sanders for 2 1/2 years before going to Kindergarten (through mid-year 3rd grade) at Cedar Bluff Elementary.  For all that time... preschool through half-way through the 3rd grade we NEVER had one complaint.  She had the BEST teachers, the best staff working with her and her school experiences were wonderful.  And  seemingly, that is how it is again.  We still miss Cedar Bluff but Rocky Hill is a good fit.  Now we have 1 1/2 year to dread middle school.

Also in October, we had to move Gran into Reflections, which is the Alzheimer's unit at Victorian Square.  That was very hard to do.  She made the move very well but until the past couple of visits, it was hard on us.  We have to enter and exit the unit strategically because there are residents who try to escape.  It just makes visits harder sometimes because the other residents are much more "involved" than they were when she was upstairs.  There have been visits in the past months where she didn't recognize me at first and she doesn't know my name anymore... or Katie's or Don's.  She remembers Dad's usually... but her memory from the 30's - 50's is usually pretty sharp.  She's been in and out of the hospital numerous times for pneumonia, pancreatitis, hallucinations, etc.  I guess that is just how it will be for the rest of her life now.  Thank goodness she gets such good care at Victorian Square and thank goodness for VA Benefits that help us to afford her living there.

Don has been very busy!!  I think after 2 years, I've finally learned to share the office.  That was an adjustment.  I couldn't imagine having been through the past several months without him.  He's such a rock!!!  It is nice to see him so happy and LOVE what he does.  He's made a lot of great friends and he loves working from home except when he's filming an event.  He's gotten so good at it.  He continues to donate time for STAR and he's also going to donate some time this Spring to The Wellness Community... which is a cancer survivor organization.  He's also started doing legal video depositions.  He stays really busy and I've been helping him with editing some.

My dad has been here numerous times with Marilyn.  Mainly because of Gran.  He has now had 3 PET scans that have come back clear.  He's had numerous growths and suspicious places removed that have come back benign.  He has truly been given a gift of time.  The odds that he would have survived 1 year when he got his diagnosis of Stage IV Metastatic Melanoma in March 2008 were less than 5%.  Even his oncologist tells him every visit that he needs to never take one day for granted!!

We really hit a rough spell in December with Katie.  She had a huge growth spurt and her meds got completely out of whack.  She is now 4'6" and weighs 104 pounds.  She wears a ladies size 7 1/2-8 shoe (we can share now) and she wears a juniors size 7.  I had to take her shopping last weekend for a training bra!  SHE'S 10 YEARS OLD, y'all!!  Crazy!  But, we took her off the Adderall ADHD medicine because of the stimulant in it... she had been on it for several years and it finally got to the point where it was causing her to have violent, long lasting rage episodes.  She's now on a new ADHD medication, Intuniv and she's been on it since December 17 and I feel like we have Katie back!!  The change over was hard... her sleep, or lack there of, became worse than ever... but in the past week, she has finally been sleeping almost through the night.  Fingers crossed... mood is stable and sleep is better so hopefully we are almost there.

I continue to love spending time with my precious Lakota.  The horrible weather the past couple of months has limited that time.  I went to go see him this past Saturday.  The sun came out, it was 37 degrees and I thought I'd at least get to spend more than an hour with him.  What I didn't check before heading out to the farm was the wind chill... I didn't get to stay very long.  He's so smart and such a good horse.  He's fully grown now and about 16.3.  That's big!!  I never would have gotten him had I known he was going to get that big... so I'm glad I didn't know.  Belle was only 14.2... so it's a huge difference.

Last week was the year anniversary of me loosing Belle.  I don't think I really realized how much of an impact loosing her had on me until last week.  I love Lakota and he's been great... and is great!  But, he's not Belle.  Lakota is a "mud lover"... he's a gelding and he's strong and self-assured.  He rolls in the mud and gets filthy.  Belle was a "foofy horse"... I think because she was skittish and always low horse on the totem pole... she never rolled or laid on the ground so she never was filthy.  I guess I will always miss her.  I had such a connection with her.  But, I have also developed quite a connection with Lakota.  I can do ground work with him and he totally responds to my body language and energy.  It's an amazing feeling to control a 1200 pound animal... or at least direct him and him respond.  He's a horse... I never have complete control over him.

That's about it I guess.  At least, it's enough for this catch up.  Oh, except I've really gotten into Digital Scrapbooking.  I've take a few online classes at Little Light Studio and Jessica Sprague and that coupled with the Photoshop CS classes I've taken at UT, I really have gotten into it.  The cool thing about it is, I can do it anywhere.  I can sit and watch a movie with Katie and do two pages.  I had resisted it for so long because of the fact that I'm always on my computer for work and scrapbooking with "real" supplies got me off my computer... but it had gotten to where I wasn't scrapbooking hardly ever.  I'm going to upload some pages that I'm fixing to send to a printer.  We will see when I get the pages back and they are all flat and not three dimensional with embellishments if I like it as much!

More later... and hopefully it wont be 4 months.  Oh, and in my next posting, I'll talk about Boomer!

Travel Trauma

Whew!! We just got back from Florida and boy, what a trip!! Don has been planning it for months - we went down for the WEVA Expo 2009. WEVA is Wedding & Event Videographer's Association. We went down Friday night and spent Saturday and Sunday with Dad and Marilyn in St. Augustine and then Katie stayed with them Sunday night - Wednesday afternoon. I took classes with Don. He mainly did editing and composition type classes and I mainly did business management and marketing... especially focused on Social Media Marketing since I've gotten completely hooked on Facebook, Twitter and blogs... I wanted to help Don understand how he could best utilize Social Media.

I've said this two or three times in the past month and it's starting to worry me a little... but I really am starting to feel older!!

We always travel GREAT together as a family but this trip was just HARD! The trip down was fairly uneventful except we didn't get in to Dad's until after midnight.

We had a great time with Dad and Marilyn over the weekend... even though there were typical Florida showers, we got in some great ocean time!! It was great seeing my dad so much stronger than he was last year at this time. Last year, the waves knocked him over and he could barely stand 5 minutes in the ocean. He was much better this year!

Don and I were excited about WEVA but we were also excited about having a few nights - just us!! We get that occasionally when we are at Mom's - Katie will stay with Mom and MomMom and we stay in a hotel but it's usually just one or two nights. This was going to be THREE nights! :)

WEVA was great, we got a lot out of most all the classes and both of us have come home with our minds spinning with ideas. Katie did great with Dad and Marilyn and we met close to Daytona on Wednesday, which was half way and picked Katie up and had lunch.



We did enjoy the first two nights of it being just us but by Tuesday night, we were looking forward to having Katie back.

Well, two things made me feel pretty old this past week. First, like overnight, I need bi-focals. All of a sudden, I can't read close up with my glasses. It was so frustrating being in these big classes and taking notes and using my laptop but also needing to see the screen at the front. So, I need to call Monday morning and make an appointment.

The other thing that made me feel old... coming home!! First of all, as great as the trip was, I was SO READY to come home! I missed our bed, even though we were in a brand new Hilton with a nice cushy bed. I missed Hogan and Brinkley! I missed Lakota! I missed my friends! I just missed home!

Second, the trip home was hard! We got to the airport, returned our rental car and when we were checking our luggage, somehow, even though I had not done ONE BIT of shopping, my suitcase gained 10 pounds!! How is that possible? So, Allegiant Air was nice enough to not turn me and my suitcase away but they did charge us $50 for taking my now marked "HEAVY" suitcase.

We got through security with no problem, boarded the plane with no problem... seemed like a typical trip home... until we sat, and sat, and sat.... the plane started getting warmer and warmer. The stewardesses kept trying to get people on the right side of the plane to keep their shades down on their windows.... hotter and hotter. Maintenance men coming on and off the plane... the pilot announcing that there were discrepancies and that they were trying to get an air conditioner hose out to the plane. Hotter and hotter... we were just about to make them let us off the plane because of the fact that Katie can't handle extreme heat when the air conditioner hose arrived.

After almost an hour of this, the pilot finally announces that they can't fix the discrepancies and the plane wasn't worthy of flight and so we were going to have deplane and board a spare. Like my Facebook and Twitter friends pointed out, basically the plane was broken... but at least they realized it before we were airborne.

Well, all of this put us getting home 2 1/2 hours late... which compared to stories you hear on the news is really not that big of a deal. But, Don had a rehearsal to get to and we get to baggage claim and again... it's a waiting game. We waited for over 30 minutes before our luggage ever started coming down the baggage thingy.

We finally get our luggage and we head to the parking garage and something is wrong with the elevators. The sensor that normally senses when a person or object is in the elevator doorway was broken. People and luggage were almost getting eaten by the elevators.

I turn to Don and say "What else could possibly go wrong"... :) Don't ever say that.

We get to the exit, Don inserts the ticket to the un-manned machine to pay for our parking by credit card and the machine eats our ticket. Meanwhile... a line of cars has developed behind us.

We finally got an attendant who fixed us up and we were on our way and my lips were sealed. Don literally dropped Katie and I off at home and kept going and made it to his rehearsal in a ball cap and jean shorts. Something, he never would ordinarily do... but at least he made it.

The good news in all of that... the staff at Allegiant, the passengers, the people at the airport... everyone was very pleasant. I never got frustrated but man... all the travel trauma wore me out!!

So proud of my little horse gal!

Katie has been practicing all summer for the STAR Horse Show Party... It wasn't a party but she kept calling it that.  Well, it finally arrived today and she was so excited.  She found out yesterday that she wasn't going to get to ride RB, her normal horse but that she'd be riding a horse named Breeze.  She was a little frazzled by that at first because Katie is a lot like me... she connects with horses and doesn't just hop on their backs.



But, she got all dressed up in her pink cowgirl boots, braids with pink ribbons (thank you so much Lisa!) and we set off for the show.  Lisa went with us and I'm so glad she did!  It was a special day and I've not gotten to spend much time with her in the past couple of months so it was great for her to be a part of today!!

We got there and it was hot... not terribly but Katie doesn't have a normal "temp gauge" and she was in jeans, boots and a helmet... but she seemed to do really well.  And, there was a lot of waiting and Katie was very patient.  So grown up!!

Anyway, she won three ribbons. She won 2nd place in the obstacle course, 3rd place in futures and 3rd place in equitation.

She was so excited!!  I think the photo says it all!!

This particular volunteer had never worked with Katie before but she was just fantastic!!  Such a vibrant personality and just thrilled for Katie!!

Katie has already had me show her on the calendar approximately when the next horse show will be so we could count down how many weeks she has to practice for the next show.

She actually decided that she really liked Breeze, even though she she's sad to learn that RB is 24 years old and probably fixin' to retire.  Wish we had that farm already for him to retire to... he's an incredibly sweet horse.

Don had a wedding today... well it actually just turned out to be a wedding reception because the venue wouldn't allow videography.  So, he was able to go after all... we'd been worried he would miss it!!

Such a happy day!!  Hope everyone had a happy Saturday as well!!

A Wedding Photographer I'm Not

So you know I photographed Mary's wedding a few weeks ago.  Mary is a good friend, she was my first horse trainer and it was her farm that we had Sunny for over two years and Belle for a year.  I so enjoyed being a part of her special day and trying to capture it.

However, there was so much I wanted to do - artistic shots with the rings, her boots, the dress and I didn't get any of that.  Things moved too fast and I was shooting by myself.  I was disappointed... I felt like all I really got were "snapshot" type photographs but it was my gift to her and she wasn't even going to hire a photographer so hopefully, she will be happy with the photos.

I think I'll stick to horses, children and location family portraits.



Mary and Shay make a wonderful couple and seem to really be in tune with one another!!  I'm wishing them MANY years that are full of laughter, love, fun and joy!!

Very Low Key 4th & More Bookings

We were suppose to go to NC this past weekend and we were all looking forward to it so much! My cousin is home for good from Kuwait and I was looking forward to some time with her and Katie couldn't wait to see Sarah!

Well, of course, Katie got sick on Wednesday night! We were suppose to go on Friday. So, we've postponed until the end of the month... only we will have to go mid-week because Don's got weddings and I've got horse shows.

So, since we stayed home, we had a very low key 4th. Katie felt yucky most of the weekend so Don and I just used this weekend to try and get caught up. Don had five weddings, a recital and a training video and I had to finish up my last horse show and Mary's wedding.

I truly don't know how Don does what he does and enjoys it. I have so much more respect for the hard work he puts into a wedding after photographing Mary's. I care greatly for Mary and I very much enjoyed being a part of her special day... but a wedding photographer I'm not!! It's a lot of stress and you can't get a shot a second time. I should have had someone help me... most "wedding photographers" do have several photographers. I did the best I could.

I've gotten several more bookings for photographing more horse shows. I booked four on Friday and another today. I'm loving it so much!!



Hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th!!

Happy 4th!!

It's my favorite holiday!!  There is usually no "pressure" with gifts and cooking huge meals!  There is sun, swimming, fireworks, usually relaxed time with family and friends... Maybe Christmas and Thanksgiving WOULD be better in Florida by the ocean or pool....

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. (July 4th, 1776)

Good Times & What To Do?

Don and I went out with Rick and Lisa on Saturday night!!  It was a much needed break!!  We hadn't been out with them in a while and we had dinner and went to Side Splitters... a local comedy club!!  We had too much fun!!!  So glad to have such good friends!!!I had so much fun photographing the horse show this weekend... even though I got scorched!  I got sunburned almost under my arms... how does that happen?  I have over 5000 photos to go through and narrow down to a few hundred.  But, I love it!

Now I have a dilemma.

I've been referred to shoot a dressage show on July 11th, which I am so excited about!!  But, Arthur told me this morning he wanted to enter Lakota and I into racking show on July 11th.

I guess I will shoot the dressage show.  Don has an "India"n wedding on July 11th that will have him tied up from 8am til midnight.  So, he would not be able to go and that would be my first show.

I guess that's my answer....?

Heading Back Out & Please Don't Bother

I'm heading back to Friendsville this morning to the beautiful farm Westwind Etc to shoot jumpers!  Hopefully today isn't going to be as hot as yesterday!!  It was BLAZIN hot yesterday but still so much fun!!  Don is heading out to do a wedding this afternoon.  It's just the ceremony so it wont be a long day for him.  Katie had an absolute blast at Lucy's 9th birthday party yesterday, which happened to a pool party!!

We had a great evening out last night with our best friends!!  We had some much needed laughter and such fun!!  We went out to dinner, then headed to a comedy club and then back to their house and played cards!!

Just a little note: to whoever is in Kingsport, TN with charter cable that doesn't enjoy reading my blog.... please don't bother and stop reading it!  It's simple... you don't have to try and post nasty comments!

Have a happy, hot Sunday!!

So excited - I have to share!!!

I have had so much fun with my photography lately!!!  I enjoyed every minute of shooting the Coytee Farm ETHJA show back on June 6th and I am so excited about the Westwind Farm ETHJA show this Saturday and Sunday.... not thrilled about the heat forecast but excited about the show, nevertheless!!  I also enjoyed shooting my good friend Mary's wedding this past Saturday, even though it made me realize that weddings are probably never going to be my thing.  I love Mary and shooting her wedding was fun, I loved hanging out with the girls that afternoon while she was getting ready but once the ceremony started, it was stressful and one person CAN NOT shoot a wedding successfully... you just can't cover it all!!  So I should have had a second shooter.  But, hopefully she will be happy with the photos I provide.  I was disappointed that I didn't get to do more artistic things but there again... it was just me and there just wasn't time.



I had done so much research the past few months on shooting horse shows and the common theme I was finding was that in order to get really good shots, you had to have a love of horses and a love of the sport.  Well, everyone knows how horse crazy I am so that definitely was/is in my favor.

But I've gotten some really nice feedback from the riders who ordered prints from the Coytee show earlier this month and tonight I got the sweetest email telling me how much she loved her prints and how much fun I was to have around that day shooting pictures.  She is recommending me for a whole new branch of horse shows and I am walking on air!!

Also, I've just been contacted to do my first Equine Portrait session!!  YAY!!

Today was a very stressfull day so it was nice for it to have such a nice ending.  Nothing really in particular other than encountering other people ALL DAY LONG that were having bad days and it was very difficult not to let it rub off on me.

I even got a brand new Canon 50D that shoots 6.3 frames per second and getting that camera was a fiasco at a local camera shop... wont name names but it's named after an animal!!  It was a nightmare trying to buy that camera from that store and I was dealing with the 40ish year old manager!!  So finally, I said FORGET IT and went to Best Buy, which I normally don't like going to... and I had the nicest 18-20 year old kid help me.  Go figure!  There were many other stressers, things beyond my control... but one thing that was odd...

Took Katie to STAR and maybe it was the heat but several encounters there with grumpy people and normally STAR is one of the happiest highlights of our week!!  So that was like the straw that broke the camels back... ALMOST!

But, instead, as a family, we tried to end the day on a happy note.  Even before I got my emails that got me so happy....

Katie and I stopped at Outback on the way home and got Katie's and Don's favorite dinner and came home and surprised him with a belated Father's Day dinner.  We were all so tired and I didn't feel good on Father's Day... we didn't really do anything special.  So, we ate dinner outside with the tiki torches lit and then jumped in the pool and swam and played and ended it all by chilling in the hot tub.

Katie was asleep before her head hit the pillow!!

Keep your fingers crossed for me that this weekend's show proves to go as well as the one earlier this month because I love, love, love doing it!!!

OH, OH, OH... and I almost forgot!!!  Such great, happy, wonderful news!!!  My cousin Kim and her daughter Sarah and son Jacob are HOME!!!  Home to stay!!  They've been in Kuwait City, Kuwait (well, right outside of the city) for almost THREE LONG years and Katie and I are ecstatic to see them next week!!  Katie and Sarah already have their multi-evening slumber party planned!!  So happy they are home!!!  I've missed them so much!!

What stressful day?  What grumpy people!!?  Too many things to be happy about!!!

So Very Thankful

My dad got his PET scan results a few days ago and things have just been crazy busy and I haven't posted... but it came back clear.  His wonderfully thorough and aggressive surgical oncologist even removed a few new places and one lymph node he was concerned about and biopsied them and they came back negative.  So, big sigh of relief and my dad gets a 3 month reprieve.  He's still not okay, he still has cancer and according to his doctor, it's not a matter of "if" but a matter of "when" another tumor will appear and treatments options will again be up for discussion.

But, when you are 67 (almost) and have Stage IV Metatstatic Melanoma and have already beat the odds of surviving more than a year and you are given the all clear for three more months... that's truly a gift and a blessing!!

I think Dad and Marilyn are doing their best to enjoy every day to the fullest!!

Thanks for your prayers and love!

Family, Fun & Photography

The past several days have been hectic but wonderful!!  On Saturday, I shot my first horse show in Greenback, TN at a beautiful farm and I loved every minute of it!!  It was hot and my scalp got scorched but other than that - it was great!!  Considering that it was my first show, I think I got some pretty good shots.  I've done a low resolution you tube video but if you want to see higher resolution better quality photos, you can at my website... Dragonfly Photography.



Don had a crazy busy weekend too.  He had a wedding rehearsal on Thursday night in Greenback, a wedding Friday in Greenback, a recital on Saturday in Lafollette, a rehearsal Saturday night and then another wedding Sunday in Maryville.

My dad got here Saturday night and it was so good to see him.  He had his PET scan last Friday and gets his results tomorrow.  Prayers please!!  He is in good spirits and his attitude is wonderful!!  Sunday, Dad, Katie and I headed to Rockwood and Kingston and we spent with Gran and Jack & Sue.  Minus a heated political discussion with my second cousin - it was a great day!!

Politics, religion and family just don't mix!!  :)

Monday my dad just needed to take it easy and I had 3,800 photos to weed through to get that number down to >600.  So my dad hung out with me while I worked on photos.

Yesterday, I packed up my laptop so I could still work and went to Chattanooga with him because he had eight business calls to make.  We had such a great day together... but several times, we'd be laughing and having a great time and it'd get quiet and I'd get a lump in my throat and my stomach would flip and I'd think "Gosh, I'm so blessed he's still here but each day is a gift... he's already exceeded the odds".

I'm always aware that there are many things that I take for granted in this life.  I try not to... but I get so wrapped up in things that I know I do.  Yesterday was just another reminder to slow down and enjoy the things that really matter in life!!

Please pray for my dad that his PET scan comes back clear tomorrow!!

I hope that I can really build on the horse show photography!!  Don has truly found his passion and loves every minute of what he does - whether it's wedding, commercials or corporate training videos.  He LOVES editing!

What's that old saying...."find something you love doing and figure out a way to earn a living doing it..."

Well, I haven't figured out a way to get paid riding horses or scrapbooking... so photographing horses and people who love horses is pretty darn fun for me!!

My next schedule show is June 27th & 28th in Friendsville.  I can't wait!!

I also have Mary's wedding on June 20th.  That will be fun too... I hope!  My first wedding with more than 25 guests...

Humor Truly Is The Best Medicine

My Uncle Ronnie had to have his prostrate removed on Monday due to trace cancer findings. He wasn't looking forward to it at all BUT he has a high pain tolerance and therefore... I don't think the hospital staff still understands what happened...

He had EVERYONE who even came close to him laughing.

I've always loved Uncle Ronnie but growing up, I always remembered him being so serious. I'm sure he's always had a sense of humor but now... LOOKOUT!!

When they were wheeling him up from recovery, my mom heard the elevator bing and thought "Oh, maybe this is Ron".... then she heard all the laughter and sure enough... it was!!

When he called MomMom that night from the hospital... he had her laughing!!

I said "That's IT! No more anesthesthia for Uncle Ronnie... I'm cutting him off"!!

I'm glad I made the trip over. I stayed with MomMom while he was having the surgery. She's 86 and was so worried. I kept her busy all day talking about stories from back when her and Grandad were first married!! There was a lot of laughter and happiness so I'm sure she enjoyed it too!!

I had some nice time with Mom in the evenings when everyone was sleeping!! We caught up on stuff and laughed and it was just very nice!! Who would have ever thought mom and I would both love The Gilmore Girls? It's fun to share simple stuff in common.

But, it's nice to be home!! And it's wonderful he came through the surgery so well.

Future blog post will cover Ronnie's (my cousin) very scary encounter with the bull he USE to own.

Happy Thursday!!

Living Life In Balance

For a few days over the Memorial Day holiday, I tried to step away from my normal daily life a little. No blog posting or reading, no emails, very little Twitter and Facebook... and cleared my mind a little!!

I some great quality time with Katie and Don. We were lazy when it was cloudy and raining watching movies and LOST repeats on Apple TV and we spent some time with Lakota and did some summer shopping, read some books... it was a simple but wonderful long weekend.

And I came to a conclusion through some reading... to be a happy cowgirl, a true cowgirl, we all need balance. Balance in the saddle, balance in parenting, balance in relationships, balance in business and work and basically all the amazing aspects that make our lives what they are including nutrition and health.

Through balance, we can find ourselves content. We also find ourselves inspired.

So whether you find peace in long rides through a pasture, going on an adventurous trail ride, playing with your kiddos and animals or even by shopping, remember to sprinkle in some home cooked dinners, some Twitter and texting with friends... or pick up the phone and give a loved one a call, paint your nails, get down on the floor and play a board game with your family or watch an old movie and imagine what it was like to live in that time...

Cowgirls are the perfect combo of glamor and hard workers. We work along side the boys on the farm, bond with our fellow cowgirls and friends, and have an appreciation for something not seen to often in today’s society, SIMPLICITY... or at least for me - an extreme desire for it!!

The past few days has made me more focused than ever to honor the life I love and be inspired by all of you who support my many projects and endeavors... ie: my upcoming ETJHA Show Photo Shoots... WAAHOOO!! Can't wait... nervous but excited!

My first shoot is this Saturday and I've been working hard to get ready for it! I'm excited and can't wait! I also have my first wedding on June 20th. It's a friends wedding... but it's on a farm and there will be horses, boots and glamor and love... what a perfect combination!!

Stay happy and blessed!!

I Love That Having A 10 Year Old

makes it okay to think that this is cool...