life goes on

as it always does. We are getting along.


One more week of school, then I get to try to keep them all entertained all day long. Lets hope for lots of good weather so they can be outside.

To post or not to post...

...that is the question. I'm SO angry right now. Shocked, disappointed, and astounded. It doesn't make sense. I was SO sure about this.

Back in December, Benson applied for a job with the federal reserve board. The job description was a perfect fit for his skill set. In fact, this is copy/pasted from the job description:

Qualifications

Individuals interested in a career as an analyst should have a degree in business administration with concentration in accounting or finance, and experience in financial analysis as it relates to banking. Knowledge of the laws and regulations governing banks and bank holding companies is preferred. A master’s degree is required for most higher-level positions.

check, check and check. He was applying for an entry level job, so the masters degree isn't really applicable. He had a former co-worker, and a good friend (2 people) who both work there vouching for him. He has such high integrity and is seriously the hardest worker I've ever met. That says alot. When he decides to do something, he gives it 150%. His co-worker and friend knew this, and recommended him to everyone they knew there.

The interview went perfectly. Perfect. No, "well, I wish I'd had a better answer to..." Everything was great. Conversations came easy, his past experience was a perfect fit to the questions they were asking about how he would fit in. No regrets. None.

So, to them I say:

where did things go wrong?! There were 15 positions and 30 candidates. How could you possibly give all those positions away? You had great references for him, he has exactly the experience you want, he's been on the bank side of these exams for 3 years! COME ON!! TWO of your employees have verified that he would be a good fit! What was so horrible that you could disregard that?

ITS NOT FAIR!!!!!!!! You read him a form letter about how his qualifications were not a good match. Thats bull. If anything, he is over-qualified, and if that is the case, you should tell him so. Not belittle him by saying it was a hard decision, but other candidates were better qualified. You've got it wrong. You made the wrong choice. You need to call him back.

%#$@#$.

dance in the "rain"

I laughed at myself for 10 minutes

after I saw this picture. Whew... laughter is good for the soul. Enjoy at my expense.

Creative inspiration

Check out these awesome ideas for decorating your walls! The creative juices are totally flowing! I'm thinking cut out vinyl for the girls shades... maybe with butterflys or swirl designs... hmm... maybe starched fabric to make fun fabric designs on the walls. The possibilities are endless.

... and we need a new giraffe made with vinyl or maybe fabric for my son's room. He does NOT want to give up the giraffe's but I don't want to paint them again only to paint over them in a few years when they are totally not cool anymore. (We have to paint the walls when the new windows go in...) Something that is semi-permanent is just what we need! I'm so excited! Now to save up some $.

Anyone want to buy a sandwich wrap or some cards? :) How about a print or two?

Its official

I know I said he was up on two a few months ago, but the boy is far too fast on all fours. He's been *able* to take several steps for at least 2 months, but just in the past 2 days, he has decided it is his preferred mode of transportation. Its so cute to see him walking around. He is SO proud of himself. :)

The uneventful ER trip.

Very strange evening around our home tonight. Around 7 pm, I was reading email... Benson was watching TV, Sweetie was playing the piano, Goose was doing homework and in all the quiet, I didn't notice Tank and Twister were playing on the stairs. I heard a thud and a scream and immediately ran to the scene.

The very creepy thing was that Twister fell silent after that initial scream. He sort of melted into the floor and his eyes rolled up. Horrifying scene. Never want to see that again. I screamed for Benson, and a few seconds later, he sort of came to... though a bit disoriented. Then he started crying again.

I turned my evil eye on Tank and sternly asked "WHAT HAPPENED!?" Apparantly, Twister was on the second or third stair up and was playing with Tank who was sitting a step above him. The game was try to get Tank's toes. When he "got" her toe, he bit down. She instinctively shoved him off of her toe, and straight back onto the ground 2 stairs below. Well, can't really be mad at her for that, can I?

Anyway, Twister came to just fine, and seemed to be acting just fine too, but I put a call into the doctor to see if "watching him" was appropriate under these circumstances. I explained that he was fine now, laughing, playing, no lethargy... eyes not dilated, no vomiting. The doc thought he still needed to be evaluated since he lost consciousness. I have no problems erring on the side of caution, so we packed up and went to the ER.

The ER here has a separate pediatric ER, and they were able to get him in immediately. The nurse came in within 5 minutes and got the history. The doctor came in about 2 minutes after that. She checked him out, got the history again... said he seemed to be acting ok. Yea, I know that... She didn't think a CT or x-ray was necessary, they'd just keep an eye on him for alittle bit. Well, she wasn't kidding about it being for "a little bit". It was less than 10 minutes later that the nurse came in with discharge instructions. Check on him through the night, and watch him for strange behavior, continuous vomiting, or obvious lethargy . Hmm.. sounds familiar.

From the time I left to the time I got home was about an hour. I'm glad I'm somewhat medically inclined and feel confident in my ability to watch him. It seemed a little pre-mature to send him home that quickly, but I'm glad to have the opinion of a doctor behind me in thinking he is ok. I get to check on him every 2-4 hours tonight, but I'm not worried. I'm sure he is just fine.

What a night.

hair cut

The before


(before devouring his birthday cake last month)
playing wii boxing with his brother last week. (It was HILARIOUS, he was bouncing up and down and doing decently. Soo funny!) oh, but notice the hair!

And after...It still stands up completely straight, but at least its not 3 inches long anymore. :)

Snippet about my artwork.

Question:

"I have an art question--is all of your art made out of flowers and plants? Do you paint ANY of it?"

Answer:

My art is *mostly* made out of flowers and plants. So, for example, on the temple pictures I've done, the background sky and grass are painted and the lines to define walls are painted... other than that, everything is flowers and leaves. For the dragon picture I recently posted, the only thing painted is the whites of his eyes. His scaly skin was the perfect spotty leaf, the fire and scales on his back are a colorful maple leaf I picked up last fall. The marshmallows are baby's breath flowers. His webby wings are made from skeleton leaves I found in my backyard. The background was created digitally.


Sometimes I embellish with glitter or other scrapbooking supplies to add interest. Its hard to see, but this fairy is sparkly as is her wand and the center of the flower she's passed.

I guess my philosophy is that anything goes as long as I like how it turns out in the end. I love using leaves and flowers because I think they add more interest than my imagination could come up with. :) The colors and imperfections add to the uniqueness.

(As an FYI, my designs-in-floral website is down due to a tornado hitting the building where the server resides (no where near me by the way). It may be down for a while, so I'm working on redirecting traffic to go to my Etsy shop in the mean time. Hopefully it won't be too long until its up and running again.)

before and after.

As of Tuesday, ‎November ‎04, ‎2008... My driveway has looked like this. We did shovel away some of the rock pile so that a car could squeeze in, but it's been a tight fit for the past 6 months!

Today. ahhh... room to move. amazing. The junk pile has been cut in half, with promises of the rest being gone with the next garbage day. And below, the latest progress on the front porch area...
All I can say is its about time. Lets keep it moving!

A deal for my readers and a busy day.

Hey all, thanks so much for the compliments on my dragon picture! I sure needed the positive reinforcement. :) So, for you guys, I'm making a deal. I usually charge $20 for my fine art prints. They are printed on cotton rag, fine art papers and printed with pigment inks so that your print will last more than your lifetime. For my blog readers only, I'm offering the prints for $16 with free shipping! To get this deal, go to my etsy site and purchase the listing. What usually happens is they link you to paypal to pay right away. What you need to do is "buy" it on Etsy, then wait for me to send you a invoice, so I can correct your price. You can then click the link in the email to pay. You can go here to buy my print on etsy. Offer ends May 21.

As for life, it was a busy day today. We finally are making some visible progress again on the house!!!! Its been a LONG wait, with a long story to explain it all, so I won't bore you with the details. I will, however, post pictures very soon!

We also said goodbye to our racoon today. Turns out it was a SHE racoon and she had her babies up in the attic. Now we have to get a bid to see how much it will cost to repair the roof and clean the place out. It STINKS up there, the insulation is torn to bits and peed and pooped on all over. We still have to check the stuff we had stored up there. I think things like our luggage are going to need to be replaced.. along with anything that was not in a plastic bin. What a joke. The irony is that I was relieved that she will be relocated with her babies instead of killed. *sigh* Just make sure its FAR FAR away. (He said he drives an hour away to relocate the animals he collects).

Anyway, that's a day in the life for today...

um. dragons have wings.

oh yea, dragon's have wings. Any ideas for a name for this pic? They're roasting marshmallows together in case you can't see the detail.

What do you think?