Hello blog-land! I've been a little distracted/confused/busy/busy procrastinating/overwhelmed/exercising/dieting...um, pick one...
So much going on, so much to blog about!! I guess I will do a few catch-up type posts:
***but first a plug to vote for the blawg! I am in the running for Circle of Moms top 25 Homeschooling moms. I am in the middle of a blogging slump, as you can probably tell...so I haven't mentioned it here on the blog, but somehow, I went from like 18 votes to 100+ {wow! someone loves me!} So...if you could click over, scroll down and vote for me, I would so {heart} you. You can vote once a day until June 27th -only 8 days left!
~1~
Meg went to Prom and I had a great "ah-ha" moment for a photography session. We keep driving by this set of railroad tracks next to the freeway with these colorful empty train cars just sitting there. I thought it would be fun, Meg agreed, so we drove around till we found it. This was a Jenn-sort of adventure, I had no idea what street would come close to the cars, or if we could even get close. It all worked out, though. I got some great photos, a few that could have been better. It's such a learning process with me. She had a great time at prom :)
~2~
I attended a small photography workshop here in Orange County at Crescendoh art gallery. I have been wishing/looking for a local class only a day or weekend in length, but could only find semester-long community college classes. I just don't have that kind of time to commit, this class was perfect- one full day of photography/blogger bliss. I got to hang out with other bloggers *AND* have lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, which was just down the street. This class was taught by Cynthia Shaffer and she physically took hold of my Nikon D80 and helped me change/find all the menu settings on it. Finally!! My photography horizons were expanded- I can now do so much more with my camera! She taught us about settings, aperture, lighting- gave us lots of tips and hands-on help and then we went outside for an outside photo lesson, urban style. It was an amazing day!
~3~
Our homeschool year came to a close- and not soon enough for me! This has probably been my most lack-luster homeschool year, I was really overwhelmed & uninspired and we didn't do many creative things at all- just kind of survived the year. I crashed and burned spectacularly with end-year stuff for Meg and Josie. My charter school ES- a saint. She's still talking to me...a miracle. It was this weird situation where I actually had extra time to complete stuff, but I kept procrastinating and dragging my feet anyway. I think in my brain, I was just done/bored/over it. I keep mentioning A.D.D. in a joking way here on the blog, but it's kind of not a joke. I am thinking maybe I have it. Last week I grabbed a few books on A.D.D. at the bookstore and started looking through them, I started to read some of it out loud to Sky and we both laughed at how so much of it sounds like me. It's funny that Sky can be so patient with me, he is so linear and logical and organized- I know just my way of being must drive him crazy, but he tolerates it /looks past it all very well. I like to think that I add the flavor to his life, linear would probably be kind of boring...
~4~
So, in light of #3- I am dedicating this Summer to getting organized/my house clean/and doing some major planning for homeschooling in the Fall. But first! - I am in the middle of serious exercising/weight-loss.
Did I mention I seem to only be able to concentrate on one thing at a time? Right now, it seems to be P90x.
refer to #3 again.
~5~
My baby-girl had her 17th birthday. I can't believe she is 17! She is finally driving, she has her own car now. My life has changed so much just by having her driving! She is my most busy child, I call her my Renaissance kid- if she could dabble in almost every activity/sport/art -she would. Now, she does her various activities, like violin/Irish dance/ high school classes/ her job- on her own. It's like magic! I was kind of in a daze at first, having a day or two where I didn't have to drive anywhere was kind of surreal. Sky has been emphatic that I need to decide what I want to dive into and make this my time to shine. [love that man <3 ]
~6~
First up on Jenn-time is p90x. It's an intense exercise dvd set. So far I have lost a bit over 9 lbs (it keeps bouncing up and down). I am going to do a blog series on it. I have been watching what I eat and counting calories on My Fitness Pal. In the past, when I needed to lose weight, I have done Jenny Craig- but I just couldn't afford it this time and I just couldn't stand the thought of eating the pre-packaged food again. With My Fitness Pal, I can plan to eat the things I like, I just need to pick healthy/ healthier things. More later....