Update

I know I have been very quiet. Mainly due to the photo editing class. Most of my computer time was dedicated to completing the course. So today I will do a little catch up. The picture of Jamie is my favorite recent picture. It illustrates the abilities of my couch potato son. He climbed this rock wall with ease. I was quite happily surprised by this. He is doing very well in 9th grade. Somehow he seems to do better every year. A warning to other good parents of teens. Check their cell phone records for texting information. You may find they have been texting when you thought they were sleeping. The really scary thing here is this is my quiet child. I will have to confiscate Sarah's phone. The second picture is just cute.

Sarah informed me this weekend she was going to start eating breakfast at the school. Apparently they serve hot food complete with milk AND juice. Clearly she has had enough Trix.

This first full week of school was tough. I spent a lot of time in the evenings at church. We had to prep for the new Sunday school year. Two theme rooms had to be redone. One is Sarah's new class. It went from a desert/archaeology theme to a Covenant Castle/ Knights of the Cross. I did lots of painting. It wore me out. Many people spent way more time on the project than I. The other room was transformed from a space ship to a wooden ship with sails. People worked some late hours trying to have everything ready by Sunday morning. I will definitely be taking pictures and posting them soon. The results were incredible! Interestingly, the power at the church went completely out Sunday morning about 9am. You know you did a good job when the opposition is that obvious.

I worked my first sub day Friday at the Alternative Learning Center. I spent the day in the isolation room. One of the kids was in for a firearm violation. There is never a dull moment around that place. Many faces I recognized from last year and some were new. Some will be there until they graduate. The staff knows they will simply drop out otherwise.

Open House

We met Mrs. Cason last night at the open house. She seems wonderful. I know Sarah is going to have a great year. Sarah and I hung out and visited with her friends. We saw Mrs. Beggs who was our teacher last year. Sarah is ready for 4th grade. She loves everything about school and thrives there. Her only complaint was about the boys in her class. She says they are just irritating. Yes dear, they really can be.

Sweet 16

Today we celebrated Caty's sweet 16 birthday. The family enjoyed cake and ice cream while we ooohed and aaahhhed over her gift. Here she is modeling for me beside her new toy. It is a very nice Camry. Wow is all I can say. It's pretty hard to take a bad picture of Caty. There were so many good ones to show I had a hard time picking my favorites. So what did we give her? Money of course, for gas or the mall. Jamie can almost taste it now. I am beginning to feel nervous. Lots of prayers will be going up for both of them. Happy birthday to you Caty!

Before and After

This is another photo from my editing class. The lesson objective was to make the colors pop. The main idea is to increase the saturation with out making it all look crazy. It definitely looks better but I still have room to improve. Halle is fun to photograph. She is quite happy to pose for the camera. This was taken on July 4th. We were all sitting around waiting for the sun to go down. Who can resist taking pictures of Dora pjs with matching sandals?

He Passed

I have to spread the good news, well, depending on your perspective that is. Jamie took the written part of the driving test today. He passed with flying colors on his first try. The ink is barely dry in this photo. He is quite proud. We are too. Now we actually have to let him practice driving. Oh my. His first attempts have been in the woods with Mike. Definitely a good place to start. The good news is he has lots of time to practice before he goes it alone. Many of his friends are already driving their parents all around town and beyond. He and Mike are looking at older cars as possible modes of transportation. The current favorite is a '68 Chevy Impala. I have not been able to talk him out of that one yet. I took the kids shopping for school clothes today. Jamie informed me of several state laws and guidelines I have apparently forgotten. He is now a walking manual. I learned a lot.

I included a picture of Dean just for fun. He was calm for one whole minute. Don't be fooled, he's a killer.

Photo Editing

I have been doing some online photo editing courses. This is one of my favorites. The subject here was eye emphasis. This little girl has some of the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. They are truly gorgeous. I am posting the before and after. The first one is just a quick snapshot on the front porch. The class teaches subtle and believable edits.

Summer is winding down here. The kids go back to school on the 19th. No one here is ready for that. We are scheduling hair cuts and dentist visits. Jamie is studying to take the written part of his driving test. I am going to blink and he will be graduating. Mike is working in St. Louis this week. I tried to talk him into taking us with him but no such luck.

Garage Sale Math

I am amazed every single year. One week + lots of junk= $1,000.00. I finally got around to my big sale. As I was setting up, I was thinking there is noooo way I will make more than a few hundred if I'm lucky. Once again the people showed up with cash in hand. I really lucked out because it rained all week long. Friday was beautiful and breezy. Thank you God!

Garage sales should be studied by sociologist for human behavior. Shoppers come in every size, shape and color. Each one is on a treasure hunt. The serious ones strategically map out a plan. These are the ones who ring my doorbell the night before. This year I posted invitations early on facebook. I sold over $100 to them alone before the doors opened. I begin the sale at 7am knowing my first customer will arrive about 6:30. I did not even have time to drink my Pepsi One this year. I literally roll out of bed and open the garage door. This of course means my morning workout is sacrificed. The customers come in and quickly scan for that certain item. If you don't talk to them they will breeze on out the door. Unless there is a crowd, then they will carefully examine each table. I engage them in conversation as long as possible. I swear people have bought things just to be nice. Lots of lonely older people come to these things.

The things I think are great deals are still sitting on the table or argued about. The stuff I think is junk flies out the door with no comments. I can't give away my fitness stuff. Jamie's video games are the most sought after items. I have to pry these from his hands. One person interested in an item often stirs up a frenzy. Suddenly everybody wants that one item. They haul their purchases away any possible way they can. This year a lawnmower left with the hatchback of a car open. The new owner held on tight hopefully all the way home. One very nice bonus of my garage sales, they make Mike really happy. He now has a super clean garage and money to put in the bank.