Finally some pictures!

I'm a film gal. I have so much fun taking pictures with my film camera that I rarely even remember I have a digital. But there are times when digital is needed. Like when people were clamoring for pics of my newest grandchild. I had to call my mother in law and she's not the best photographer!

So here he is! Christopher James Kia Martin (Kia is prounounced Ki but I couldn't convince my daughter to do something sensible like spelling her kid's name logically or phonetically).

He's adorable but rarely has his eyes open. So far. He's only two days old!

Here's a shot of Chris and his cousin Lynn. She's not so happy about sharing the limelight!

Life is hectic at my house right now. Hubby is tickled pink to have babies in the house again. I love them, but sometimes I wish I could have a moment to myself. Maybe I'm just selfish. I am thankful that I have a chance to get to know them and to cement our relationships so that going to grandma's house will be the best thing ever when they're older!

Here he is!

I like to take film pictures. I had intended to take a couple of digital shots when Christopher was born so I could share but my batteries were dead. So I had to ask my mother-in-law to take a pic of him for me. I got a bonus. A shot of Christopher sleeping and my MIL's camera strap.

I hope that once I get my film developed (six rolls!) I'll have a good picture or two to share.

Well, now that I've got a little time...

I can share the story of Christopher's birth. Or Kit. I kinda like that nickname. I'll probably come up with something else, but it'll do for now.

About a week ago, my daughter thought she was going into labor. She went to the hospital, they said her water had broke and she had a bladder infection. Apparently, after some IV fluids and antibiotics, they sent her home telling her to come in if she developed a fever. The week drug on with her having contractions but not strong ones and with no regularity. Finally, the doctor told her to come in on Tuesday morning (yesterday) and if she hadn't gone into labor before that time, he'd induce her.

They started the pitocin at around 8 that morning and it took a couple of hours for the contractions to get hard enough for her to be unable to sit and talk through them. She didn't want to get up and walk around claiming she'd been walking for days before hand. Her version of walking, however, was more of a shuffle. Her contractions were still irregular after about 4 hours and she was only progressed to about a 4 so the doctor came in and broke her water. After that, things picked up.

Now I might have said earlier that this child of mine has no tolerance for pain. I am serious, folks. She can't tolerate pain at all. She went from 4 cm to 6 cm pretty quickly. Between 6 and 8, was faster - or so it seemed. She was cursing loudly with every contraction. She wasn't cursing at anyone, thankfully, just exercising every swear word she knows. It was awful. Then at about 8 cm, she decided that it didn't matter that her mother, sister, grandmother and aunt were in the room with her (along with attendant medical personnel). She threw off the sheet and was laying there, spread eagle, for the world to see. There are some sights a mother just isn't interested in. *shuddering with the memory*

When she was almost fully dilated, the doc said there was just a rim of cervix left but that the baby was "sunny side up" or not in the best birthing position. We got Alex to get onto her hands and knees but she sort of slumped into a knees/chest position. We seriously thought she was going to take a header off the bed. But finally the anesthesiologist arrived and got her epidural in. Of course, by that time, it was so late that it didn't really kick in until well after the birth.

After Christopher James Kia Martin was born - and oh my gosh he was blue for so long!! - his father came into the room and got to be the first to hold him. My in-laws were not happy about that. He broke up with our daughter apparently because he'd rather smoke dope than hold down a decent job. He wasn't there for her during any of the pregnancy or the birth. The girl he left Alex for is now pregnant too. Lots of awful drama that I frequently wish was just a bad dream.

For some reason, and I really do not know what it is, I don't feel as attached to this grandchild. I'm far more scared that this child will be abandoned by his mother or be removed from his mother's care at some point. I'm scared that in the time of our lives when we're finally close to an empty nest and couple-time we've never had, Mike and I might have to raise another baby. I'm scared that she'll take off with him and we'll never know WHAT happened to him.

But for now, I've got 5 rolls of film to get developed. Yes. I'm old-fashioned. I use film. I'll try to get a digital pic today so I can share with everyone!

It's a boy!!

I don't have pics to add yet, but I have a new grandchild, a boy!! I'm tired - though not as tired as his mother, my oldest daughter. We weren't sure he'd ever get here but he finally did at about 1:40 this afternoon. He weighed exactly what his cousin (our almost-10-month old granddaughter) weighed when she was born: 6 lbs 9 ozs. He was 20 and one quarter inches long and had a 13 inch head.

I'll get some pics soon, but trust me: he's the most beautiful baby boy ever.

Yak Tracks

They're not just a blog title! The company I work for provided Yak Tracks for everyone a year or so ago. They apparently work pretty well. I've never used mine but my 13 year old son says they make slogging back up the hill when sledding much easier.

I may have to wrestle them away from him, however. The parking lot here is a solid two inches thick with ice. Not sheet ice like you'd get from freezing rain but more two packed inches of ice pellets like you get from sleet. It looks like snow but acts like ice! Such fun.

Ah well. I just like to remind myself that at least I still have job. Got a e-mail from the "powers that be" here a week or so ago saying that there was some good news that would be shared at an optional meeting. The good news? I asked a coworker who went and this is what she said: "We still have a job." I think the jury is out on whether that's good news or not!

I'm also having an exciting good time with taking pictures. I tried natural light with black and white film and got great results. This is one of my favorites from that shoot. It's a little dark but I like how it turned out.

I took all the good shots (from 5 rolls of film I got about 30 pictures that I really like) to my parents just to get the ooh's and ahh's that I crave. They have a different eye for photography than I have. I'm going to have to introduce them to the "rule of thirds." Maybe then they'll quit telling me that the picture would be better if the face of the subject was directly in the middle of the shot.

I favor an "artsy" look. And news photos. I really like pictures that tell a story.

And news from the frozen middle is...

dang it's cold!!!

That wind is like a knife. Not pleasant. I hate having to get out in weather like this. But I've got a three-day weekend ahead of me. Yea! One day of really sleeping in.

So it would seem that at my office, I've been voted one of two people who should never make the coffee. My coffee is great! It's just that my coffee is also strong. You could probably use a cold cup of my coffee to tar a roof if it needed a patch. But hey! someone let the pot get too low this morning when I went down for my morning cuppa. Now everyone will go around wired to the gills. heh heh heh

I've found a new blog that I just love. It's by Leadership magazine (a branch of Christianity Today's family of magazines) and it's by and for women in leadership in the christian community. For so long I have felt gifted and led into positions of leadership but at the same time I've felt this weight that I shouldn't be doing that.

Right now, I teach the middle and senior adult Sunday School (a type of Bible study). I also co-lead worship. Within the next several months, I'll be taking over leadership of that as well. I might have mentioned something about this in an earlier blog. It has just been nice to find a place where good godly women can be who and what God has called them to be.

Slogging through Hump Day

Somehow, what it looked like in my head did not translate really well to film. Ugh. I'm hoping my daughter will come over this weekend so I can try again. I want to try some shots with natural light. And I'm not sure I want to even go with the same processing lab anymore as I've been really unsatisfied with the results. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of options. I would love to develop the black and white film myself, but I don't have the stuff.

Work is going....well, just going. I'd like to say great, but that's not usually the case. The kids are just the same. Either great or awful. I don't know what we did differently with the girls that they should turn out so differently than the boys. One daughter seems not to care what happens to her brother, just so long as he doesn't get anything that she didn't get. She doesn't seem to care that he's 13 and she'll be 17 in a month. It breaks my heart. I remember getting in trouble at school once because of an assignment that I felt was unfairly handled. I bucked the system because I knew I had a sister coming right behind me the next year and I didn't want her to have to go through that. To think one of my kids doesn't care what happens to her siblings really bothers me.

I think the bottom line of my foul mood is that I was lied to. Hubby said he talked to our daughter and her boyfriend (yes, the same one as above). They arranged between themselves for the boyfriend to watch their daughter at our home while everyone was at work or school. WITHOUT running it by either of us. Not reasonable. I was not pleased and told hubby to make sure they didn't do that anymore. He said he did. Imagine my surprise when I got up this morning to find the boyfriend sleeping on the couch with no intention of leaving when I left for work. He claimed hubby hadn't talked to him. Someone lied to me.

Of all the things in life that hurt, that is the worst.

Things I love

The newest Pirates of the Carribean movie is due out in May. Yep. I'm excited. It's hokey and cheesy, but my God that man looks good in an overabundance of eyeliner!! I also understand that he's starring in the Tim Burton film version of Sweeny Todd. Can life get any better? Oh, yes. Apparently it can. I just watched a trailer for the new Harry Potter movie. Daniel Radcliffe has apparently gotten tired of that mop he's been wearing on top of his head and is sporting a sexy new 'do. I occasionally have twinges of ickiness at having such a special place in my heart for a KID, but he's cute!!

There's a new Shrek movie due out this year, too. Can't get enough of the big green guy. And of course all the naughty fairy tale references. My niece loves that movie. When my daughter was pregnant, she insisted that she was having a baby too (she's 3). When asked who the father of the baby was, she said "Shrek."

This is one of my favorite layouts ever. Mostly because it's subtle and simple and includes one of my favorite pictures of Lynn.

In a few weeks we should be welcoming a new bundle of grandparent joy into the world. Oldest daughter is due any time. I haven't been able to take many pregnancy pics of her because she never comes around. I'm hoping she'll come by tonight so we can take a couple of pictures. She's got a great pregnant belly. Big and no stretch marks!! I'm also hoping for some good quality picture taking time with her baby. I've got an entire album of Lynn starting with the first belly pic through the day of her birth. Then another album of her first three months. But Nina and Lynn were available for me to take those pictures. I fear that this grandchild will see fewer layouts/pictures and think he was less loved. As probably many "seconds" do. How do I explain "Your mother never came around"? I guess I'll just have to fight for it. For now, I'm googling images of infant photography to get ideas of what I might try with the little guy.

I got an article on using natural light in photography and I'm dying to experiment. After reading it and getting all psyched, I realized that I have precious few opportunities to try. I think I'm just going to have to take a day off of work. I do have one good window (a bay) that gives me great natural light, but only if I'm home with a subject who will allow me to take their picture. But the window itself is ugly (very old and not in a good way). I've found a couple of spots around town that would be great backdrops, but again...time during daylight to take pictures is needed!!! I don't get off work until after the sun goes down!!! And most of Saturday is spent on laundry. I'm going to give it a shot this weekend anyways.

Oh!! The worst news...the guy who's in charge of this sort of thing at work has allowed the sugar canister to become empty. I'm going to have to remember to bring sugar to work with me tomorrow or something very bad will happen. I have to have sugar in my coffee.

Stay tuned for developments as they occur.

latest pics

Here's our latest family portrait. I asked my mom to take the photos and I'm not as thrilled with the outcome as I have been with some of the ones I've taken lately. That's what I get for having to be IN the pics!!

But this is my brood, including our daughter's boyfriend. I debated having him in the pics, but decided that because he is our granddaughter's father, he will always be a part of our family.

Now, isn't this the most beautiful little girl you've ever seen? Never mind! She's the prettiest girl I've ever seen and that's all that matters to this grandma!!!

And here's the hubby and I. I'm hoping that this year will be the year I get studio lights for my little set up. When my younger daughter leaves home (hopefully in the next 6 months), I'm taking over her room. I've got it all planned out in my head. I know where all the stuff for scrapping is going and where the backdrops and my little photo studio will be! I'm dreamin', sister, and I'm dreamin' big!!

A shout out to the girls!

The first group of folks I've notified about my blog are.....*drum roll please* my scrappin' friends.

Hey girls!! And Rick :)

I have experienced a down turn in my scrapping out put lately due to computer and digital camera problems, but I still keep my hand in it. I go to my best friend's house as often as I can for some scrapping time and at home I make cards often. Our associate pastor's wife told me yesterday that not only does she love my cards, she looks forward to them. I'm going to have to make her one this week!

I've always been one of those craft-less people growing up. Well, that's how I viewed myself. I had many artistic desires but never an outlet. I can't draw to save my life. And decorating? Fuggitaboutit. My house usually looks like something out of Early Salvation Army plus a little A Dog Lives Here.

Then my best friend got hooked into scrapbooking. Then, with skills that would do a drug dealer proud, she lured me in. The together we hooked my mom and my sister. But I don't regret it. I do regret losing my dining room table, though. But let's not referr to it that way. It's called "the scrap table."

Scrapbooking, for me, is all about artistic expression. Not memory preservation. I know that many are gasping in shock right now, but that's just the way it is. I love finding creative ways to display a picture. And more and more, it's about the photography. Photography is quickly becoming my number one "If I could just quit my day job" dream. I love experimenting with different lighting and poses. My trouble is, of course, finding willing models. I can take only so many pics of my husband!

I used to dream about being published, but that was starting to take the joy of scrapping away so I dropped that dream. I've never regreted it.

Finally Friday!

No matter how short the week was, I am always so happy to see Friday! This week is no exception.

I belong to a few message boards and there's this one where the people there are very sincere, but seem to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Always fretting over the least little thing. Really. Making stuff up to worry about. One worried one day if it were a sin to act. Like in a movie. Isn't that lying, it was questioned.


There seems to be a complete lack of ability to think for ourselves, stand for what we believe or just have some common sense!

Probably the biggest problem is so many people either 1) subscribe to the cafeteria brand of religion and just pick and choose what they want to believe in or 2) simply don't know what they believe in the first place.

I know it might be going out on a limb to say this, but I have to respect the devout Muslim. I certainly don't agree with what they believe (being a devout Christian myself) but to accept the whole of one's faith is to be commended. I have no respect for those who claim one faith or another and then only observe the parts they like and claim the rest is "wrong" or "false" or whatever.

For instance, I believe that the Bible is the holy, inerrant, infallible Word of God. That means that when I don't understand something I have to acknowledge it. I can't just decide that part is wrong or shouldn't be there. I just have to accept that there are things I don't understand and try to work around it. Whether I like what it says or not.

It's also my responsibility, after I've grown spiritually, to make sure I am educated in spiritual matters. I can't blame everyone else for any lack thereof.

Looking around the universe and questioning

Every wonder why you're here?

Okay, I indulge in navel gazing from time to time. It's only occasionally productive. So today, I'm wrestling with a new step in life.

About a year and a half ago, I took on the job of leading worship at my church. I already teach the adult Bible Study class (middle and senior - basically everyone my age and up). That is rewarding. I love it. But, while I love singing and all that music stuff, I feel wholy unqualified to lead worship. But, with our pastor leaving and no one else able to do the job, I agreed to do it.

Then we got a new pastor. He has a great voice and has actually been a music minister before. He asked if I wanted to stay on as worship leader. I declined and gave my reasons (basically that I felt I was filling in and that this wasn't my calling). He asked if I'd stay on as the start to a worship team with him. I agreed. It's actually been fun to sing with him. He's got a great voice and an awesome sense of humor. All I really do is sing the songs.

Well, a few weeks ago at choir practice, he announced a new direction the music ministry of the church would be going. He announced to the choir that I would be taking over leadership of the worship team...WITHOUT TALKING TO ME FIRST.

Now, I ask you: would you have been flumoxed? I certainly was. So I stared wrestling with it. Then, when he asked for committment from me and the others he was asking to be a part of the team, I was able to affirm that I was ready to take a new step. Maybe I should say I was willing to take a new step in faith!

So, here I am. Almost 40 years old. Sunday School teacher who wrestles with her own demons now embarking on a whole new ministry. It makes Sunday a VERY busy day. I thought that the first thing I should do is study what the Bible has to say about worship. Why we do it. How it should be done. That sort of thing.

The very first site I find tells me that I am grossly sinning. Women should not teach men. Women should not lead men. I attended a Southern Baptist church most of my adult life (we go to a Nazarene church right now). Although I believe to the depths of my soul that God has placed within me the specific gift and desire to teach adults, I still question it. Even though He seems to be leading me into this role of worship leader, I still question it.

A wise man once told me that church leaders supported slavery with the scriptures for centuries. I look at those same scriptures and just can't figure out how they did it. This wise man then suggested that some day, many years hence, we'll look back and wonder how church leaders were able to support keeping women out of ministry using those same scriptures.

I would guess many of you don't rightly care about this sort of thing. But it really keeps me up at night.

The pretty people

Okay. I'm just having fun with this today. I just read an article about how "the beautiful people" earn more than average Joes and Janes. Does that suck or what?? Assuming you're like me and just an average Joe or Jane!

So I'm trying to become a better photographer. My style is evolving and what I want to shoot is changing as well. Wouldn't you know it...what really trips my trigger are news photographs and pin ups. Finding a model is going to be tough!

Well, isn't this nice?

I've been blogging for a while now but this will be the first "I'm just going to blog" blog.

About me...let's see: I'm the Empress of the Known Universe. Or at least that's what I'm trying to convince my kids of. So far, they're not impressed. My son has gone so far as to call me Empress of Absolutely Nothing.

I'm having him clapped in irons.

Okay, cliche time. Where has the time gone??? How can it be 2007 already? It was just like the late 80's just YESTERDAY!! Yeah. My 20th high school reunion is this year. I think I'm the first in my class to become a grandparent. Looking at it, I have to say that while I love my granddaughter (and the grandson on the way by my other daughter), I so wish my daughters had waited to start their families. Not for my sake - but it would have been nice had they consulted me - but for their own.

About me. Just think about your generic Jane Doe type and that's me. Pretty run of the mill. I just want to rule the universe. Doesn't everyone? :)

I have a husband whom I have not yet killed. Not that I intend to, but I want to keep my options open. I can't imagine divorcing him (been there, done that, got the stint in poverty to show for it) but my best friend has lots of land out in the country...

I have four kids. All teenagers right now. The oldest is out on her own and expecting a baby in about a month. Next down the line is in college. Next is in high school and already has a baby. Youngest is in middle school and still likes to snuggle with his mom and watch movies. Just not as often. I have a dog that I adore. She's regal. As the pet of a universal monarch should be.

I read avidly. I am an amature photographer. I scrapbook and make cards for my loved ones. I like to write. I also have opinions on everything.

Today's opinion: Sadaam's execution. Well, it had to happen. You just can't expect to be a horrible despot for as long as he was without making a few enemies. They caught up to him. But despite that, I am sorry that humanity has sunk to the place where people act that way and have to be executed.

Opinion extra: make a resolution. Call it whatever you want, but make one. That's the first step in reaching your goals: identifying them. But make them reachable. I'm working on getting active. I'd like to loose weight like every other woman on the planet but I should probably start small.