Star of the Week

Lily is the Star of the Week in her kindergarten class. She's been excited about it for a long time because it's the only time you get to bring show & tell. She brought her dog Babs yesterday. Babs has been Lily's favorite snuggle friend since she got her on her fourth birthday from Nana & Papa.

We made a poster for Lily to take to school that tells all about her. We were working on the book part and she said, "Mama, this is fun. We get to spend time together." Boy, was I chagrined that it's something that seems out of the ordinary.

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Lily loves
Riding her bike
Playing with friends
Dancing
Going to the Library
Swimming
Snow
Dogs & Horses & Cats
Going to McDonald’s
Her sister Amelia
School & Reading
Singing with Mama
Biking with Daddy
Cheese Pizza
Milk
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Coloring & Drawing
Practicing her letters
Tea Parties
Going to the Park
Perler Beads
Chocolate M&M’s
Riding her Scooter
Babs & Snuggle Blankie

Lily’s Favorite Books
Up in Heaven by Emma Chichester Clark
Bad Dog Marley by John Grogan & Richard Cowdrey
Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
Arthur books by Marc Brown
Books about horses
Scripture Stories

I'm so domestic

Working from home, I generally slack in the housekeeping department. There are always other demands that seem more urgent. But I want you to know that I mopped the kitchen floor last Wednesday. This is a major accomplishment for me. The two types of housework I hate the most are cleaning the shower and mopping floors. On Halloween I decided that I had been disgusted with the floor long enough, that I'd had enough of black feet after walking around the kitchen barefoot. It had been so long since I'd cleaned the floor that just mopping was not sufficient. I had to get down on my hands and knees, Cinderella style, and scrub for (gulp) over an hour to get the floor looking good.

What's your most dreaded house chore?

As if overtaken by some alter-ego, I also cooked today. I'm usually only good for about one meal a week, at best, otherwise it's cereal or burritos for dinner. After sending Dan on a late-night Walmart run last night to get poster board for Lily's Star of the Week poster, I called and asked him to pick up a roast. I cooked it in the crock-pot with potatoes, carrots, and onions and topped it with a mixture of 1-can cream of mushroom soup, 1-can cream of celery soup, and 1-can beef broth (or 2 bullion cubes dissolved in 1 3/4 cups water). I have to say that it was about the best roast I've ever made. Amelia wolfed it down and Lily even ate hers!

If you see a lady around town tomorrow wearing a big gold star, it's just me, gloating...

Stroke it!

I recently posted a California wedding on my photoblog. Becky asked if I wanted family to comment there, or just reserve it for clients. By all means, comment away. I need all the ego stroking I can get!

Today is a new day

'Scuse my crankiness yesterday. Dan and I went to the movies last night and it was just what I needed. To check out, mentally, and just enjoy some good laughs. We saw Dan in Real Life and it was hilarious! At one point I had tears running down my face I was laughing so hard. It's a must see! The poor guy had three daughters, two of them teenagers, and Dan and I had a glimpse of our future. If you think the drama's bad now, just give it another 6 or 7 years. Dan said the main reason he's not sure he wants to have another kid is because he's afraid it'll be a girl. Know any tricks to get a boy?

Bleh!

That's how I feel today. Still in a bad mood, or rather, in a bad mood again. Becky sent me a threatening email saying the pitchforks were getting wrestless for a new blog post, so I thought I could just get online and bit*@ and moan for a minute.

• Wasted the whole morning trying to download a video I took last night of Lily reading to her cousin Avelyn. Finally got it on my hard drive, but there was no sound. Kind of defeats the purpose of showing you how well Lily reads.
• So behind on editing.
• More behind on orders and wedding albums.
• Some hooey going down with one of my loved ones, bringing back bad memories of growing up in a home with pornography. The stuff is just sh*% and thinking that it only affects the offender and the spouse is just crap.
• Client still hasn't Paypal'ed me their sitting fee after cancelling on me four times (one of them just an hour before the shoot) then showing up 45 minutes late for their appointment after the sun had already set, afterwhich they pulled "oh my gosh, I'm out of checks!"
• Whiny kids.
• The U.S. Justice System sucks and is nowhere near having the best interests of children in mind.
• Wanna just send everyone away and lay in my bed all day.
  

Totally unproductive, shouldn't even be blogging, but there it is. I don't even have the energy to tell you all about Halloween, so you'll just have to be satisfied with a few pictures of the girls. Please comment if you want to add to the cranky party and B&M with me. No cheerfulness allowed.

2 Cuties

Watch out, I'm on a tirade

I've had to do a lot of deep breathing today. And it's not because of my children this time.

Let me just say this. A person ought to be able to expect a few basic things from their spouse. There are a lot of shortcomings one can fixate on in their partner, but most things are annoyances rather than major flaws. But a lack of commitment, loyalty, and fidelity is just unacceptable. And to be indignant that your spouse won't tolerate your lack of loyalty, well, just go back to high school where you belong and don't come back until you freakin' grow up. It's one thing to recognize your weakness or failing or at the very least, own up to it. But tearing the innocent party down to try to justify your behavior is...I can't even come up with a word to express the loathing I feel.

And while I'm at it, when you marry someone, you should have their happiness as your greatest concern, not your sense of justification or self-righteousness. You may get offended or otherwise dislike someone in your spouse's family, but it is their family, their roots, their comfort, where they came from. And you have no right to try and manipulate them into discontinuing or restricting access to those that have loved them since long before you came around. If you put your money where your mouth is, if you want to do more than give a little lip service to "I just have your/our little family's best interests at heart" then you need to open the door to let your spouse seek solace in the ones who know and love them well. I'm not talking about blabbing your own, personal family problems to your siblings or parents or whoever else. Generally it's much wiser to keep your greivances with your spouse between the two of you. But to restrict, especially by manipulation, your spouse from talking to and receiving love and good cheer and encouragement and just the sense of comfort and safety that can be received from their own family is just wrong. Selfish and warped and wrong.

'Nuff said.

I like a man who makes his expectations clear

While Dan was working late one night last week he sent me an email entitled "My fortune from Panda Express."

Reminded me of one of our favorite movie lines, I think it's from that movie with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson (or maybe it's Eddie Murphy and Jackie Chan) where Eddie Murphy goes, "What is that? Some kinda innuendo?" (pronounced in-you-in-doh). What movie is that?

That Dan sure is funny! If you haven't read my sister Becky's blog tribute to her funny brother-in-law, you should check it out!

Happy Birthday Bin!

In honor of Dan's 37th (yes, this blog is called Um, Thanks for Sharing!) birthday today, I thought I'd take you all down memory lane.

Approx. 8 months old. Check out the shag carpet they used for a backdrop. So 70's!

We affectionately refer to this picture as "White Trash Baby", sitting in the dirt in his diaper. Age 9 months.

Kindergarten or First Grade. Dan says he remembers missing all 4 front teeth at once and he couldn't bite into anything.

Dan (in blue) and his brother David. Dan started Mighty Mites in first grade and played football every year through the end of high school.

Dan and his Dad. Nice mustache, Dave!

7th grade football. What a good looking kid! Man, we need to have a son!

15th birthday. He looks about 12, doesn't he? Poor guy was a late bloomer, he finally hit 5 feet and 100 pounds when he was a freshman in high school!

Dan and his sister Dianna at Mema and Pepa's house, 1986 or 1987. Is that the quintessential 80's outfit or what?! Nice work, Di!

Family picture 1988. Can you believe he showed up for a photo shoot in his Metallica t-shirt? I'm certain the photographer was like, "You gotta be kidding me!" However, I'm sure his mother was just glad that he showed up! L to R: brother David, step-brother Mike, step-dad Larry (divorced from Paddy around the time that Dan and I got married), step-brother Darrin, Dan, mom Paddy, and sister Dianna.

This photo really deserves a closer look. Remember the "groups" in high school? The preps, the jocks, the rappers, the rockers, the geeks. Well, if you had asked me back then, I never would have imagined that I would marry a rocker! Check out that long hair. But wait, it gets better...

1990. Nothing quite like crazy rocker hair, a Metallica t-shirt, and bike shorts. The love affair with spandex began quite a long time ago!

The would-be Mrs. Richardson and her shaggy dog. Ah, well, her loss is my gain!

1991. This is Lily's favorite picture from Dan's mission "I wanna see the one of Daddy dancing with the giant doggy!" This is in rural Maryland at the beginning of Dan's mission. The amazing thing about this picture is that they are on a hill and Dan is standing about 6 inches higher than the Great Dane. That is one huge dog!

1993. This was a sign at the exit of a Baptist church in Alexandria or Arlington, Virginia. This was towards the end of his mission. Notice the suit? Yes, it's the same one you see below.

March 23, 1996 Washington D.C. Temple. Got married in the mission suit. He did at least get a new shirt, tie, and pair of shoes, though.

Look at those two children! (well, me mostly!)

Spring 2001, Graduation with Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah.

March 2007, Defending his thesis. He's smiling big because he's getting the hell out of there! I'm not sure if his smile or my smile was bigger as we walked out of the building.

2007, still riding the crazy jumps after age 35. So Sexy!

Make mine a double!

Why only have one blog when you can have two and waste twice as much time?!

I started a blog for my photography business. http://www.suerichardsonphotography.blogspot.com/

I'm hoping it will generate some more business for me and give me a chance to show off all the fun stuff I am doing. Blogger is having some issues with new accounts and image uploads right now, so you can't click on the images to see them bigger, but hopefully that will be resolved soon.

Check it out!