No Shots Today....

Another trip to the allergist, another visit by Dr. Kabisca.

Connor had his scheduled allergy shots today and because of his ear infection and because of the congestion sounds in his lungs they passed on his shots this week.

Connor was really happy about it, but really this just adds 2 weeks to this therapy because they have to redo last weeks dose and then make up this weeks. I swear these appointments are never going to end.

Oh well....it is better to be safe then sorry I guess.

I have been really feeling the "stress" of Connors schedule the last few weeks. I feel like all I do is go and just when I get back to the office to work it is time to pick him up again. Add his allergy appointments, working out, hockey, and everything else I need a vacation. As hard as it is to wish the time away when they are this age, selfishly I can't wait until he gets on that bus in September and I get some of my "life" back a bit. It will be nice to get my work done during the day so I don't have to work at night at all. That time will come.

.pond hockey.

It is one of the few joys of living in upstate NY in the winter...long cold days freeze ponds and create a natural ice rink. This pond is right across the street from our house and last weekend everyone in the neighborhood was out skating on it. The boys have been patiently waiting to be able to skate on it since we moved in and this year the cold temps have actually made it possible!

It is so nice to watch them play on the ice where the sport actually began....outside. They were out there for almost 3 hours and loved every minute of it!

Alive and Well....

Just waiting for my roof to blow off again! Really....what sucks is that now every time it is windy I am going to think about this.

Anyway...I have some pictures to post but to be honest I have been in computer hell all week. After taking some GREAT **sarcasm noted** advice from some WONDERFUL **sarcasm noted** Dell Customer Service reps I did a system restore on Sunday night to try to fix a ton of errors I was having. I know it warned me....I had a backup that I thought would include everything I had on my drive...and in my clouded state, I didn't think about the fact that I would lose all of my programs I had installed....all of my bookmarks....everything! I was able to recover all of my e-mails, all of the pictures on my hard drive (This is good news Brian and Linda, because I was almost done with your pictures!), but that was about it.

I lost all of my actions (thank God I had them saved as e-mails) for Photoshop, and even worse, I had ALL of my financial stuff for Kristin Williams Photography entered in Quick Books...and....lost it all. Hundreds of entries...every sale, every order, every purchase, everything. When the backup program says "financial data" and you select to backup everything on the C drive, wouldn't you think it would include this data? Even though the backup took almost a full day to finish, no QuickBooks files are in the backup. So....we start over. Chris is going to do all of this for me in 2008, so now is a great time to train him! :)

Training is still going awesome...I have been working my butt off and am down about 24 lbs now. I have not updated the ticker at the bottom because honestly, I walk/run so many miles I just can't keep up! Maybe I should switch it to a weigh loss one....it might be easier!

It has been a busy week with Christy's Crew stuff...we have been reserving hotels, buses, ordering t-shirts, planning fundraisers, and training!! It has all been so amazing though...you should see the transformations taking place with the crew! Everyone looks awesome!

Anyway....more later...need to get the boys breakfast and off on their days.

3.2

I need one of those obnoxious oval stickers that says "3.2" that you see all over peoples cars saying all sorts of different letters and people behind you spend their time sitting there trying to figure out what the letters stand for.

Anyway, today I did a 5K run. So I need a sticker that says 3.2. A 5K is 3.2 miles. There is one for a marathon (26.2) that I have seen. Anyway, it was supposed to be an off day, but I am on a mission and decided to enjoy a nice run since running is not included in our walk training. On January 1st I would have never been able to complete the run, today, I did 3.2 miles in 39:20. Don't get me wrong, 39:20 is not athlete status by any means, but it was my fastest time in a while and I did it without wanting to die right there on the treadmill.

Next week I want to get it down under 39 minutes and we will work on it from there. It amazes me how fast my body has reacted to all of these workouts. I feel great. I am finally wearing my own clothes (not Chris'!), and this morning I put on my favorite fleece that I have not been able to wear in over 2 years!

22 lbs down....about 60 to go. :)

.manicure {4 and 7 year old way}.

.manicure {4 and 7 year old way}., originally uploaded by .kristin W..

I had to drop something off at Shannon's house last night and little did I know I would be walking out with a amazing manicure too!

I had my nails done by her two daughters, Paige who is 4 and Taylor who is 7.

It is so fun to go into houses with all girls because I can't say I have ever had my nails done by a child before! I have a funny feeling on my next visit I will also be getting my hair done as well. Anyway, don't they look amazing? I got "glitter" and all!

Thanks Taylor and Paige, I just LOVE them!!

Chris and I were laughing last night at this guy during the Sabres game in Dallas that was totally being the biggest loser and banging on the glass when the players were in front of him.

Chris and I have a running joke about 30-40 year old men who paint their faces and dress up in everything with their teams colors and logos on it to go to games. You know the ones with matching team shoes, pants, shirts, undies, wigs, tattoos. Seriously. Get a life. It just cracks us up....the old rule, "everything in moderation" applies to this too.

anyway, Chris and I both thought of this commercial and were laughing so hard. Check it out. It is one of the funniest commercials out there and totally describes what we are talking about.

.so proud.

This really deserved its own post....it really did.

Remember that little boy that used to give Chris and I such gray hairs? (Well, he still does sometimes). He was a challenge from the day we had him to the day he turned 4. I used to cry all of the time; he was THAT bad. Really. He was one of those kids that really made parenting so hard day in and day out to the point were you questioned how you could struggle in every way with something you loved so much.

Well, he got his first report card of the year sent home yesterday. I am just so proud of the little boy Connor has become. He got graded in three areas, Cognitive Development, Social and Emotional Development, and Physical Development. They highest grade you can get is ++ (Observed Frequently - Psychological 2008 Friendly way of saying you are doing really well, the + was Observed Occasionally which in 2008 means your kid sucks at this.).

Connor got ++'s in EVERY SINGLE THING IN EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY.

So proud. So, so, so proud. He has come so far.

The remarks were as follows, "Connor is a delightful little boy who has grown in so many areas this year. He enjoys and is eager to participate in carpet, centers and working on projects. He is strong academically and takes pride in his accomplishments. He is loved by his classmates and teachers too!"

It is funny how things in life have a way of changing so quickly. In August I debated if I should put him in this pre-school at all. I am SO glad I did. It has been so awesome for him, and he really has grown so much. Having him "home" this year has been so life changing for both of us. He needed this time with his Mom, and little did I know in just how much I needed it too.

You are one amazing "little" boy Connor! I am so proud of you!! Keep it up!

.full.

My nephew....and I am sure you are all sick of looking at my brothers kids because I have done nothing but post pictures of them since Christmas. But how could I not post this one??? Isn't he just the cutest thing in the world?

Really....I REALLY need to finish these pictures....I have been working on them here and there since New Years Day. Yes, 25 days. I am thankful I have a very patient brother and sister-in-law....who also check out flickr to see what I post there so that gives them somewhat of a fix.

The funny story about all of these pictures is that we took these right after lunch. At lunch the kids had sugar free Tang. Not good. I have spent a ton of time trying to get rid of the orange stain around his mouth in all of his pictures. The easiest way? Convert to black and white! :)

.life is not good.

.life is not good., originally uploaded by .kristin W..

blah blah blah blah.....blah.

***hands over ears because I don't want to hear it.***

I know. I have not blogged since Sunday. Do you know that even Chris gets on my ass now if I don't blog? Well...this is what I have been looking at for the last 3 days. I have been in computer hell.

Friday night I managed to totally mess up both of my work laptops, so Monday they were both overnighted to this awesome IT co-worker in Atlanta that hooked me up totally and got all of the old files off of the old one and onto the new one and got the new one back working again as well. So, I was without a computer Monday and Tuesday, so I cleaned my office, did what I could on web e-mail, and looked at this on my photography laptop.

I have been having problems with it for a while. I wanted to back it up before trying to fix it so I went out and got another external hard drive (1 TB!! All of my fellow computer geeks will appreciate that), and it took about 1 1/2 days to complete the backup.



Then I ran the chkdsk and that took about 16 hours. The entire time I was praying my computer would return to its "better days" when you could actually open a picture in Photoshop and edited it without your computer freezing, but no such luck. My next step is going to be more memory. Let's see if that helps.

Anyway....I am back up and running today, but Connor had his allergy shots this morning and then I had my teeth cleaned. I have the BEST dentist in the world, Dr. Mary Jo Tobin, who I am also lucky enough to call a friend....but....sorry Mary Jo. I would much rather come visit you at your house!! :) Getting your teeth cleaned just sucks.

I have going crazy trying to finish up my packaging for 2008 and I am so excited about it. I just love the brown! My cousin's pictures came in today, so they will be the first ones to get the new goods! Here are some of the labels I had done and got back this week -



Anyway, training is going great. I am now down 22 lbs and have been totally busting my butt both in the gym and at home eating good things. I am still really enjoying all of it, and am so excited about what the next few months will bring! That reminds me, I need to update my ticker at the bottom.

Anyway, everything else is good.

.yoga.

.yoga., originally uploaded by .kristin W..

Holy kick in the ass this week. We had our meetings last Sunday, 3 miles Tuesday, 3 miles on Wednesday, cross training Thursday, I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine on Friday, a 7 mile walk on Saturday, a 3 mile walk today, and YOGA!!

Frank, our trainer, is such a great sport and really puts up with all of us very well. I will tell you what....yoga looks easy, but it will totally kick you in the ass. It is SO hard, but honestly I would have never thought I would enjoy it as much as I did. It was so awesome!! It really makes you look forward to next week to see what we are going to do!

Christy is back at the gym after having her double mastectomy at the beginning of December. She is just amazing, and looks as awesome as ever. Really, she kept right up with the rest of us today and didn't miss a beat after getting released on Friday to work her way back into workouts.

Anyway, I am still so excited about everything thing that is going on...what a life changing time for me and the entire crew!

7 Miles.

I would walk 500 hundred miles, and I would walk 500 more.....see.....if only I still had the song of the day!! This would be a perfect one!

The first week of training went awesome! I worked out every day this whole week and kept right on our training schedule, and them some. Today was our "long" walk day, so I was at the gym at 6:55 (already with 1 medium iced coffee in me!), to start my 7 miles. Yes. 7 miles. It was awesome.

It took me 1 hour and 48 minutes to complete and really the only thing that is really bothering me is my hips. No shock there...my hips are feeling old after all of that pitching I did when I was younger and on top of having two BIG kids. Tomorrow is our team training session and I am really excited about it.

I met with our trainer, Frank, this week and we did the whole heath assessment stuff which went great. One of the things that they do is test your RMR which is your Resting Metabolic Rate. Basically this is how many calories your body uses to basically sit around and do nothing all day long. If you want to lose weight and you are exercising you want to eat just at or under this number plus your calories that you burn exercising...because no one sits around everyday all day long. You do burn calories in your day to day activities. If you eat too little calories, you eat away muscle instead of fat. Well...this was my problem. I was eating around 1300 calories a day and my RMR was 2290. I was eating in the unsafe zone, and that is all great because I was losing weight, but it doesn't help my long term prognosis...especially if I want to avoid injuries. So somehow I need to find a way to increase my calorie intake with healthy foods, but seriously, how many grapefruits, apples, green beans, and bananas can you eat?? Frank really thinks this is why I had such a hard time keeping the weight off last time I lost it - my body was just totally messed up. So I will work on it. I keep thinking that if I keep working out like I am, and eating good like I have been, it HAS to come off. Time will tell.

Anyway, all is good! I walked 17 miles this week and am on a roll!

.growing up.

The boys have been reminding me for a few weeks that it was time to do their measurements on the inside of the pantry door. I kept thinking it was just yesterday when we did it the last time. I was wrong. Very wrong. The last time we did it was May 13th, 2007. It is amazing how you can have days that you never think are going to end, and then when you stop for an instant and look back on your life and realize just how fast it went. My "babies" are now young men. They are 4 foot 2 and 4 foot 4 now. When they stand next to me they are almost to my chest. Just yesterday they where in my arms. The strollers are still in the garage. The high chair is still in the basement.

I am really loving being a mom to them at the ages they are, but you can't help but get a little teary eyed when you look at this door. Even though we had may days with both of them (Connor especially!) that where so hard....I would give anything just to have a few of those days back. Connor was not even 2 when we moved into this house, now he is almost 5. Then he was making me wonder what I had done, now he is a little boy ready to run and get on that bus for the first time in September. It just doesn't seem possible.

I am sure some day they will be too tall to mark the door....but for now, I am going to enjoy every minute I can with them. The days go by too fast. So many people told me to enjoy them while they are young because soon they will teenagers....if only I had taken them seriously.

Christy's Crew Update!

Things with Christy’s Crew and our preparation for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in May have started to kick into high gear again so check my blog to hear more about our progress over the coming weeks! The big kick off started on Sunday at the Iron Butterfly Health Club here in Victor where we started our official training.

It feels so good to get moving again and get my butt back in gear and take off this weight that I have struggled with over the last few years. It is so interesting to me how being a part of a group like this can touch so many different aspects of your life.

This morning I was e-mailing a member of the crew talking about self image issues and the relation to our heath and why doing the walk means so much to me on that front. My family health history isn't pretty. Last fall I had all my blood work done by my primary care doctor and lets just say, I didn't escape the health issues my family has dealt with for years. My cholesterol just stinks...my weight stinks...my blood pressure is just okay. Over the holidays I returned to her and she got on my ass again. I told her I was doing the walk and I would lose some weight and try to make some of these issues right. She gave me the whole "yeah right, you told me that before." and said she would see me in February. I know what she was trying to do...and damit, I am going to prove her wrong. I am. I have seen too much and experienced too much since starting Christy's Crew in August that I am not going to let her be right. I have lost 17 lbs so far and hope to lose at least 30 more before walk weekend. Mark my words here....I WILL DO THIS.

You can see I added a ticker to the bottom of this blog. If I keep on the scheduled walk training program, not including the cross training Wednesday's which are times not distances, I will have walked 440 miles by walks end. Think about that. That is like walking from Rochester to Fort Wayne, Indiana. That is a long way to go, but I WILL DO THIS.

As I ran on the treadmill today thinking about our team meeting on Sunday while running my butt off I also realized how easy it is to forget what this whole experience is about. You get so caught up in fundraising, and transportation, and t-shirts, and training, that you forget the whole picture.

This isn't about who wants to do what fundraiser and who doesn't. This isn’t about the color of the t-shirts, or how many TV’s the bus will have on it on our way down.

This is about all the approximately 500 women that found out TODAY they had breast cancer. This is about all of the millions of people who have battled this disease before us...including Chris' Great Grandma who lost her battle, and survivors like my Aunt Debbie, Kathy Parisi a friend of one of our good friends that we have come to know over the last 3 years, and our friend Dave's Mom, Donna Pitts. This is about people like Christy, and all of the other current breast cancer patients we have met in the last 5 months. This is about my friend’s daughters, my nieces, my future daughter-in-laws, and hopefully someday granddaughters. This is about 4000 women (and some men too!) coming together in our nationals capital for 3 days with ONE goal...A CURE.

Christy's Crew will raise at least $30,600.00 by the time we hit DC in 110 days. All of that money will come from people and companies that united with us, who believed in us, who believed in our cause. It is about 17 women from the small city of Rochester going to our capital to make a difference....we have already done that in so many ways. We have touched so many lives along the way, and all of us on the crew have been touched in one way or another.

It is so easy to get so caught up in everyday "stuff" that we lose the big picture. I am thankful that today I came to this realization. For me. For my friends. For the crew. We will raise the money we need to...we will. We have always done so much more than we ever thought we would with everything the crew has set their mind on....we will do so with our fundraising too.

Life is too short to worry about small stuff. If only we could ask the approximately 110 people that died today of breast cancer what they thought about the small stuff in their short lives.

We all know what they would tell us.

We need a cure. Now.

***********************************************************************************

I didn't write this with the intentions of trying to get more donations, but since we could really use some help, I thought I would insert my shameless plea for donations anyway. Christy’s Crew needs to raise about $11,000 more dollars in the next 110 days (about $100.00 a day!), so we can use all of the help we can get!

If you are reading this and have made a donation to my walk fund already, THANK YOU. I can’t say thank you enough. If you are reading this and can make a donation, I thank you too. Please either mail a check made out to "Avon Walk for Breast Cancer" to Christy's Crew, PO Box 116, Victor, NY 14564, or go online to www.christyscrew.com and make a donation online through the Christy's Crew Avon Walk for Breast Cancer team page. Just remember if you make your donation online that all of the money all goes to the same place, and I have met my required $1800.00 goal to participate already, so please make your donation to a team member that has not raised their required $1800.00.

THANK YOU!!!

Bob Steve Williams....born 1/14....is HOME!!

Yes, to all of those who have called and laughed at the fact that I named my van Bob, I am pleased to announce that Bob also has a middle name. His middle name is Steve after our good friend Steve Hersh who's advice really made this van possible. Anyway, Bob Steve Williams, came home yesterday and I can't tell you how awesome he is!! I am just amazed really how different the entire feel for the car is. Having brakes that actually brake when you step on them is something I guess I am going to get used to. Pushing the gas petal and having the car actually GO is amazing. Having a CD player that works is awesome too. The first CD in there was High School Musical, and the boys just are loving that - it actually has been quiet in the car! Really...I am just in love with it. It is by FAR the best car I have ever had, and I can't tell you how excited I am about it!!

And other good news to report on my roof. So far I have heard so many different things about my roof that I don't even know what to report to you on it, but I can tell you that yesterday afternoon, Chuck from Besroi Roofing (254-3800) came out to look at my roof yesterday afternoon. As you know, my good friend Erin's family owns B&L Wholesale Supply and they sell roofing, siding, etc. This was the roofer that they recommended to me and honestly, I was waiting for them to come and tell me what they thought before I made any decisions and before anyone fixed anything. Anyway, Chuck was at B&L yesterday morning, so Erin gave him the shingles needed (same color and all!) to fix the missing shingles. I really didn't expect it to be fixed yesterday, but Chuck went right up on the roof and looked at everything, fixed the missing shingles, and re-tared the ones that where curling up. He also took pictures and was going to contact the manufacturers of the singles and file a claim against them, because he really thought the shingles where defective the way they curled up. He said the fact that they only did it on the front of the house says a lot, so he took pictures and is going to file the whole claim for us, and he hopes that GAF will fix the front of the house so I don't have to file a claim. We will see, but keep your fingers crossed.

Anyway, I went to pay Chuck when he left, and he wouldn't take a dime. I seriously almost cried....there are so many good people out there and I didn't have Erin make the recommendation to get anything for free, I just wanted someone I could trust, and I know a roofer B&L recommended would be one. So, thank you....to B&L, to Erin's Dad for giving me the missing shingles I needed, and to Besroi Roofing and all of your staff I spoke with this week for being so incredible. THANK YOU!!!

Life is good. :)

Oh...and I forgot to say, I started training on Saturday for my walk!! It is so exciting and I will keep you posted on my progress! :)

Meet my new baby Bob! It has been quite a crazy week here as you know, and the exciting news I mentioned before but didn't want to talk about was me in process adopting Bob, my new 2005 Honda Odyssey!! Well...I know. It isn't new, but it is very NEW to me and all of my friends know really...this is my DREAM car!!! When I tell you this car has EVERYTHING (other then the DVD, which really, we just couldn't afford.) it does!! The back doors open with a push of the button. Push another button on the remote and you can open ALL of the windows to let air in in the summer as you are walking up to the car. The back windows OPEN!! The boys are thrilled. What the boys liked best is that the car will beep at you until you put your seatbelt on...Daddy needs that reminder. Can you can cup holders??? 6 CD CD player??? Oh my...I am so excited.

Anyway, my 2003 Dodge Caravan had 105,000 miles on it and really wasn't reacting too well to the Rochester winter. When I tell you it needed a lot of work, it is an understatement. It needed brakes, new belts, the transmission was starting to sluggishly change gears, when you looked at the van from the back it was lower on the right side than it was on the left. The CD player has not worked in years. When you turn on a blinker - it doesn't turn off. The power steering tubes where filled with black crap, so every time you went around a corner it made this horrible sound (ask my brother about this!). I had them flushed a few times, it didn't help. They told me they needed a whole new power steering system. Really, it was bad.

I was trying to make it till spring, but I just didn't think I would make it and I wasn't interested in throwing $1000.00's of dollars into it. So, I started looking a couple of weeks ago for something else. I was really thinking I was going to get a new Dodge Caravan, but really, I didn't want a $27,000 car payment only to drive off the lot and already you car isn't worth $22,000. My van wouldn't be paid off until August, and honestly, it sucks having a car that you own more then it is worth on and I didn't want to go down that path again.

So I found this van on the Ontario Honda web site. My father bought is first Honda there in the 1980's. I think it finally died around 250,000 miles after my brother called it the "Honda Hilton" during college and the years after. I really think he might have lived in it for sometime....anyway....this van came off a lease and has about 35,000 miles on it. That would have scared me for an American car - not for a Honda. That is only the beginning. The thought of actually being able to trade in a car at the end of your payments and actually get something for it is just awesome. You won't do that these days with an American car - sorry.

Anyway, I got $1500.00 off the price of the van, and taking our friend Steve's advice and looking up on Edmonds what my van was worth got us another $500.00 for my van!! At first they wanted to give us $3500.00 for my van, and when I pulled out the paper I printed off of Edmonds showing the van was worth $4000.00 and they gave it to me. The sales manager came out and said my van was not in good condition and needed a lot of work. :) Really? I can't tell you how thrilled I am with $4000.00 for that piece of crap. I owed less then that, so actually made some money in my trade in! Thanks Steve for all of your advice this week...I took all of it other than waiting until spring. :) Sorry!

And the best news...the promotion was 4.9% financing. ESL offered 7.5% and Summit FCU offered 8.0%. We qualified for the 4.9% and saved us a TON of money in the long run financing right through Honda. The difference in rates is just amazing. :) It amazes me what I traded in what I did, got a Honda and my monthy payment went up only like $25.00!! Oh, and we have a 100,000 bumper to bumper warranty with a $0 deductible. Did I also tell you free oil changes for life as long as we keep up with the maintenance?

Okay...so really the best news.....

We pick it up on Monday.

I am so excited. I probably won't sleep for the next two nights and will spend Monday night sleeping in it. :)

Really....if you need a Honda go see Bob at Ontario Honda. It was seriously the best car buying experience I have had so far. All of the people there where so nice. We where there for 3 hours, and the boys even had a blast!!

Other than the roof we had such a great week...web site...van...and BOTH boys scored goals today in their games! Connor scored his first EVER in a game! We are so proud!!

LIVE!!!

LIVE!!!, originally uploaded by .kristin W..

I have never been this excited about something with my business in so long...sure....I picked up my camera and did my first shoot just 18 months ago, but for for the first time I am proud to show off all that I have done in a web site that I really think reflects "my story".

My new web site officially went "LIVE" today, and everything (blog, web site, ordering system) is now all up and running!!

Anyway, THANK YOU to everyone who made this possible!!!!! Enjoy the new "Kristin Williams Photography."

www.kristinwilliamsphotography.com

Puke.

Should I puke now or later.

My house is three years old.

We moved in on November 17th, 2004. Just barely 3 years ago.

Today I was told I need a new roof.

Puke.

$3500.00.

Puke.

Homeowners will cover all but $1000.00 of it.

Puke.

I have Ryan Homes coming out here at 1:00 pm today to look at it. I am literally sick to my stomach over it. The roofing company that looked at it this morning, All-Pro Roofing, was next door fixing damage on my neighbors house so I had them come over and take a look at mine. He said it was one of the worst roofs he has seen and attributed the damage to poor workmanship, poor quality product, and the high winds. The roofing that was up there was good up to 65 mph winds. We had 75 mph winds. Puke.

Why is it in life EVERY SINGLE time you start to get ahead with bills, etc. something like this happens????

I have another roofing company that a friend recommended coming out here on Monday to also give me another estimate. Puke.

So proud!!

Once in a while you get calls home from school like we did yesterday about your child not behaving. Connor. Yes. Threw a pillow at a little boy in class (not sure why there are pillows in class, but hey.). His teacher called home on her way home, not because of the behavior, but how Connor reacted. I guess he got all upset and went and hid in his cubby and cried (that can't be easy for someone his size). Anyway, Connor went to bed after dinner last night at 6:30 pm. I thought his listening ears may need some rejuvenation rest. It worked. He had a better day today.

Then there are other days that good things come home. Today we got a letter home from Doug Schmidt, the "Enrichment Teacher" at the Victor Primary School. CJ has been selected to participate in an enrichment reading class!!! They will meet for 40 minutes 2 times in the 6 day rainbow cycle (days) in the Inquiry Center of the school. The group will read books and take part in activities related to those books. I swear, I cry when I get these things. CJ loves to read, he amazes me with his abilities, and it is awesome he has been selected to participate in this group. I can't wait to see what he does!!

Way to go CJ! We are so proud of you!!

Thomas Vanek Published

Thomas Vanek Published, originally uploaded by .kristin W..

A couple of months ago I was contacted by a newspaper in Austria regarding a picture that I took at a game last year of Thomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabres. They asked permission to use the picture in a newspaper interview with him.

I released the rights of the picture to them, but asked that they send me a copy so I can have it,. Yesterday I got my copy. Of course I can't read any of it because it is in the Austrian language, but it is great to see my name next to the picture in print.

If only we could get Thomas Vanek to score more goals!

Ramblings....

Who am I kidding? Really. Forget the song of the day. I don't have time to even post here let along search for a song, update the code, and play everyday. Sorry for all of those who enjoyed it. Just turn on your iPod when you read my blog...then you will actually like the music. :)

Anyway....it was another busy day. More roof stuff. I went over to speak to these two contractors that are working on a house in the circle about possibly fixing my roof. Of course I walk over and tell him where I live and he tells me that he noticed my roof was "messed up". I hate that. He said there is some buckling at the seams (tabs?) that all need to be put back down or else the whole roof will come off. Nice. Our house is 3 years and 2 months old and our roof is coming off?

So, I got even more pissed and called Ryan Homes and asked to speak with the service manager. He will be here tomorrow at 1:00 pm to have a look for himself. Keep your fingers crossed that they are willing to fix it. I am not getting my hopes up, but it doesn't hurt to try. Ryan homes isn't known for being the best quality, and they back that up with a 10 year warranty, that doesn't cover anything I guess. They say it is structural, but is a roof NOT structural???

A very special thank you to B&L Wholesale Supply, my friend Erin's family business, for giving me 2 bundles of shingles to repair the missing ones. You are the best!

If Ryan Homes won't fix it, these contractors will for $300.00. I don't think that is horrible, but man, it just sucks.

I also am here to tell you that the state of NY actually DOES have some nice people working for them in their tax department. I just applied for my sales tax collectors whatever (permit?) in September. I was issued my certificate and number on September 26th. The end of one of the collection quarters was September 20th. They fined me 100.00 for not sending in my claim for 9/20 on time even though they didn't issue my permit until 9/26. I called last Friday on I got a message that their computers were down until Monday. Right. So I called again today, and I actually spoke to 2 different people who where both super nice and took care of the problem.

It just goes to show that you have to follow up with EVERYTHING. Don't ever just pay bills...look at them!

Anyway...more exciting stuff going on today, but I don't want to post it until it is totally done. Maybe I will post again later tonight.

Song 365 - Day 2 "Up on the Roof" by the Drifters

Up on my roof you will see some missing shingles.

I don't know about all of you, but I can't imagine what it must sound like when a tornado actually hits your house, but last night had to feel close. I have NEVER heard or seen anything like it. 5:30 am this morning it sounded like a train was rolling over our house.

This morning we woke up to shingles all over the yard and prayed they where not ours. Our roof is 3 years old there is NO reason the shingles should be coming off of it. I went in the backyard and looked and the back look good. The front was another story. We are missing about 2 rows in a 3-4 foot section. Damn.

I called Ryan Homes, they said we are past the 1 year mark. Nice. I called State Farm, our deductible is $1000.00. It better not cost that much!!

Anyway, the basketball hoop also blew over and it has about 300 lbs of weight in the base of it. The newspaper this morning said they where 75 mile hour winds. It was just NUTS I tell you.

Anyway, anyone know any roofers?

Then I go to check my e-mail and my computer had crashed. It took me about 10 minutes to get Windows to start and I almost cried while it was trying to get going. All of my new logo stuff was on there, all my my bothers kids pictures where on there, neither was backed up. I finally get my computer back up and try to transfer the files to my external hard drive...it is full. 250 GB. Full. So I delete my old RAW files to make room and pray. I got them all saved.

Go to check my e-mail. Internet was down. Go to call Shannon to see if she knows a roofer. Phone does not work. I have my phone through TimeWarner now.

It has not been a good day.

Kristin's Song of the Day 365.

Thank you to Shannon for the "Get rid of the obnoxious music" vote, and the idea to do a song of the day for 365 days!! Really, I am not sure that she really did put that vote in, but I remind everyone that you can turn the music off by pushing the "pause" button (two vertical lines for those who don't know what I am talking about) on the player on the right.

Anyway, a really popular thing among photographers is to take part in a 365 days of self-portraits. Arkworld, AKA Pete, on flickr did this any it was amazing. Honestly, I give Pete SO much credit, because not only do I hate taking pictures of myself, I couldn't do it for 365 days in a row, and I could never do it with the creativity that Pete did. Really, take a minute to look at his 365 collection. You will love them, your kids will love them. CJ and Connor always would ask what "Arkworld" did all of the time.

Anyway...so I am going to try the song of the day for 365 days...I hope they bring back some memories and make you laugh some days.

Day 1 is "Start of Something New" from High School Musical. First of all we love High School Musical here (Chris is getting the High School Musical on Ice tickets at BCA tomorrow), and being that it was the first day of my blog, I thought it worked. I have to admit, I went running this morning and my workout playlist on my ipod has a couple of High School Musical songs on it.

Setback with Connor's Allergy Shots

Yeah, this is an old picture, but it is from her first allergy shots, so I thought I would use it again. Last week Connor had a bit of a set back with his allergy shots. As I mentioned before, he started with 2 shots every 30 minutes for 3 rounds. Each week they increase the amount of the venom in the shots, but when they start they really start with hardly nothing.

Well, we made it past all of the 6 shot weeks, and where down to 4 shots. He did great the week before last. Just a lot of itching on his arms for a couple of days and a bit of redness, but overall it was fine.

Then last week he had a reaction to the first set of shots and the nurse had to call Dr. Kabisica in to take a look at him. Really it was just really red, hot, swollen, and itchy, but it was enough of a reaction for them not to administer the second set of shots.

So now we take a step back, because he had 3 more weeks of 4 shots per week before we went down to 2 and now they are going to do the 2 shots a week. So what would have taken 3 weeks will now take 6. We hope. We will see what happens on Thursday.

A lot of the venom allergies are cumulative, even over long periods of time. Once they hit that magical threshold the kids react. I guess even in the super low doses, Connor hit that threshold last week.

Keep your fingers crossed that nothing happens this week. If it does, I guess I am in the right place.

Another year....another blog link.

I know...another link to update. But really, I thought it was a perfect time to make the switch over from Typepad to Blogger. Why?

• My business blog is now on blogger because blogger offers a bunch of security abilities that Typepad doesn't offer. Try right clicking on a picture now to save it and see what happens. I wish features like that where not necessary, but last year I learned a couple of times that they are.
• Using one blog company for both blogs is easier.
  
• Music. I love the fact that I can add my favorite songs to my blog. If you get sick of them, just hit the pause button on the player on the right. You will love my first choice...get it..."Start of Something New"?
• The ability to add a picture to the header. Everyone needs a few more pictures in their life.
• I just loved my new business colors so much that I wanted to put them on my personal blog.
  
• Blogger is free!
  

Anyway, welcome to my new blog, and Happy New Year to all of you!! I know I have not posted in a few days, but I have been in catch up mode from the holiday rush and getting my business web site ready to go live this week. I can't tell you how excited I am about it, and the feedback coming from everyone who was able to "beta test" it for me is coming back awesome! Look for a post in the next couple of days about going "LIVE"!

Anyway, the boys are both good. They are still loving their Wii, and to be totally honest with all of you, Chris and I are too. It is great family time! Everyone should have one.

Hockey is great. I am not sure if I posted it here before, but I am the manager for CJ's team and we just have the best set of parents on his team. I have been playing a bit of catch up with everything surrounding managing a team, but I finally feel like I am getting organized again. Connor continues to improve daily. Last night we had them both on the ice together for Connor's practice and really you can't tell the difference. It is amazing that Connor is still only 4.

Anyway, I am still processing Christmas pictures, and I have a huge shoot of my brothers kids to process so I better get moving. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new look!