Laura Vegas

took me an extra day or so … but here’s a few pictures of sarah from last sunday.

that’s about all she gave me. lol! oh yeah, and this one.

it’s friday … thank goodness! these past few weeks have taken their toll on me and i’m just pooped. i finished up my scrapping assignments just in time to turn in today … it’s a pretty big one and i’ll be able to share in about 2 weeks … so stay tuned. i cleaned up my entire studio tonight … always feel the need to regroup after working on stuff like this. got everything picked up and organized. worked on some photos … editing and uploading to get caught up again. also got a 2nd external hard-drive a few weeks ago with a gift card i had … so i need to copy all my photos from the past 2 years onto there. just to be safe … hard to imagine what would happen if anything went wrong with my original external hard-drive. so i’m backing up! and i did get a fun box of scrap goodies tonight that i want to play with some … get a few layouts going.

and this weekend? 3 soccer games tomorrow … and for once they don’t overlap … so we can all see the entire games of both girls without having to split up and race across town. not to excited that we start our day on the field at 7:30 again. lol! so we have a 8:00 game, a 11:30 game, and a 2:00 game … nice and spread out i guess. also doing 2 small photo shoots this weekend … hopefully the weather and sun will cooperate. also housework, tons of laundry, grocery shopping … and other random house stuff that i can’t get to during the week. the beauty of weekends, right?!?! and i definately have to make some time to relax and catch up on my tv shows. i havn’t watched a single bit of tv in 3 days. so i counted today … and i have 13 1-hour shows on my dvr that need to be watched. since by sunday night i’ll have more new episodes recording … so i’m feeling very behind.

i’ve been wanting to share this for months … and i think i can finally tell. i was asked to help out on some assignments for making memories back in august. have you ever checked out mm greetings? they have teamed up with smilebox to bring you scrapbooks that you can just click and make your own. kind of like a digital scrapbook i guess. you choose your designs … personalize them with your photos and journaling … and then you can print them, blog them, or email them to friends and family. there area also invitations, slideshows, postcards, etc.

i had so much fun making these books … and the first one is finally up on their site! so fun to see how they took my final design, scanned it all in piece by piece, and then turned it into a digital version. as soon as i have a little free time (whatever that is!) i’m going to find some pictures to add and then i’ll show you.

but go check it out … just click on the link above. my first one was kids sports. it’s called "play the game" … and you find it by clicking on the  "new" section or you can find it by clicking on the "kids" section and then looking under "sports".  i can’t wait to see the rest of the books … i’ll you know when they’re ready! thanks for letting me share!

i know i promised sarah’s pictures next … but i havn’t had time to resize them all. so if you came to see sarah’s cute face … you’re going to be really disappointed to find my regular old face instead. lol! remember the cute hate that alyssa wore for our photo shoot the other day? yes, it’s my hat … although it’s not as funky on me as it was on her!

i don’t usually willing share photos of myself … actually, there aren’t that many of me to be found. but i asked joe to take a quick picture of me tonight for an assignment i’m working on. i told him i just needed one good shot … which was pretty much what i ended up with. but i actually like this photo … it’s not bad. of course … some magical editing on my part made it look a whole lot better than it came out of the camera … but that’s a whole other story! lol!

i like that look semi-relaxed … even though i’m totally stressed (multiplied by the fact that today was early day at school … and it was a terrible early day!). i like that this was the one photo that my eyebrows didn’t make me look evil … because every other shot had my right eyebrow seriously arched. i like that you can’t see too many of my wrinkles under the brim of the hat … unless you were to really blow this up. i like that my eyes look seriously green … which they actually are. i like that my skin looks nice and smooth … even though it’s not … and even though i’m totally out of my mineral make-up as of today (hurry mail dude!). i like that you can’t see how flaky and dry my eyelids are … they get really bad every once in a while. i like that my hair looks cool … because with the hat you can’t really tell it’s falling out again … and what hair isn’t falling out has some serious straight/wavy/fine/coarse/funky textures going on.

i also like that after all my lessons about "filling the frame" … i think joe may finally be understanding. i took a pic of him as an example and showed it too him … told him exactly which part of me to get … and how to tilt it without over tilting. and i even tried to show him the "focus on the eyes and them recompose" trick … which worked on this one photo. the rest were all super blurry.

ok … back to work. i’m seriously behind. i have a major assignment due on friday … and i have so much to do still. i do this every time … wait until the last minute. but it seems to work for me … i work best under pressure! i promise next time i’m back i’ll share sarah’s pictures!

i went through and edited a bunch of the photos i took yesterday of alyssa. i had a few that i wish were more in focus … but i still think they look good. i’m probably one of the few that would notice a little focusing issues! lol! hard to narrow down … but here’s my favorites.

i’ll have to share some of sarah’s tomorrow. she was quite miffed at me tonight because all i had up was pictures of alyssa. lol! i told her i was doing each of them seperately … because otherwise i get too confused as to what pictures i’ve edited and which i still need to do. so she’s up next!

me and the girls took a little time out today to take some photos … even though i had plenty of work to do. but i’m glad we did … because how cute are these?

this next one has some extremely serious focus issues … but it’s still a cute one, right?

we took these a few blocks down from our house. they built this new housing development quite a while back … and off the main road leading in they had this pretty entrance with a little bridge and a little pond running under it. i drive by this spot every single day … it’s one of the only ways out of our development. and every single time i think "wouldn’t that be a great picture spot". the water wasn’t as pretty up close though. i would love to have the girls sit in the waterfall … like actually where the water comes out and dangle their feet over the bricks. but i get wierd about doing stuff like that since there are cars driving by. lol!

and the girls were cooperative. we actually went there this morning to see what they lighting was like. but it was terrible overhead sun that i just couldn’t figure out … nothing but harsh shadows. so we waited until after dinner … about 30 minutes before the sun went down actually. i kept watching the sun get lower and lower … telling them to hurry. lol!

i’ll share more of each of the girls another day after i go through them. sarah had such a cute outfit on … but she just wasn’t into it much. she gives me these blank looks … you can see in her eyes that she’s totally spaced out. and she gets so stiff … doesn’t take any tips on posing either. but alyssa … she did great! i had her throw one of my hats on at the last minute … and i’m so glad i did! i think it just adds so much to pictures when you have that extra "something" that just makes the outfit fun. in fact … i have my friend shirley making me one of the cutest knit hats … tons of bright colored stripes.

and how’s that for an out-take photo?!?! sarah jumping into one of alyssa’s pictures … doing her best monkey impersonation!

did i ever tell you that getting the mail is a serious highlight of my day? and there is nothing worst than waiting all day long for that moment when the mailman comes … and then you find out there is nothing but crap in the mailbox. lol! or when you’re expecting something from the fedex dude … and he just taunts you by driving by about 12 times a day … and never stopping. but wednesday was a good day!

the fedex dude stopped by and brought me 2 goodie boxes from scrapbook trends. i had my september box … i had 1 layout in that issue. and an october box … i had 2 layouts and a card in paper trends also. so lots of goodies … new papers, ribbons, rubons, etc.

i also got my project kit from robyn … a fun halloween frame to make. i’m actually not much of a halloween person … but i though her project would be cute to display by my front door. and i love the frame … i think i’m going to switch out the inside for whatever holiday or season we’re in. i put it all together this afternoon … since i managed to get all 4 kids sleeping at the same time!

and i also got a check for a layout i have in an upcoming issue of one of the magazines! then there was other random junk mail … some bills … and lots of credit card offers of course! lol!

only problem with everything coming on one day? i have nothing good coming my way anymore … nothing to look forward too!

"it is what it is" … i heard that quote on a lifetime movie months ago and thought it was so fitting for my life. i feel like i spend half my time lately being irritated by things. some of these things have gone on for years … so why do i still waste my time stressing over them and getting all worked up? why do i feel like i keep coming here to complain? why do i feel like every time i talk to a freind on the phone or email a friend … that i vent about these frustrations? it’s not getting me anywhere … and i’m sure my friends get tired of hearing it. so i’ve been thinking about it … and remembered this quote. and i realized … my life is what it is … and i have to learn to accept that.

my health … that’s a big one. yes, i have fibromyalgia … a chronic pain disease (meaning there is no cure). yes, it came out of no where about 16 months ago … i was totally fine before that. yes, i have all-over body pain 24/7 … muscles, tendons, joints. yes, it’s in my feet, my knees, my legs, my hands, my arms, my shoulders, my back, my chest … everywhere. yes, it’s some serious pain … as in it hurts to just move or even breathe. yes, i hurt all the time … and i mean ALL the time. yes, i have memory loss and lack of concentration. yes, i have sensitivities to light and noise at times … i get so overwhelmed when so much is going on at once. yes, some people just don’t see it on me … or understand just how bad it is. yes, i do think people forget that i have it. yes, i come off like i’m ok and like i’m holding it all together … i still do everything i used to do. yes, i do all that same stuff … i’m just in constant pain while i do it. yes, i suck it up and work through the pain … and that’s why some people do forget. yes, i don’t think some people realize just how much it takes out of me to do the stuff i do. yes, people don’t see me flat on the couch at night from being in so much pain … and it taking everything i have in me to get myself up and to bed. but you know what … "it is what it is".

my job … the one i’ve been doing for almost 6 years now. yes, it’s fun to spend time with all these kids and enjoy them. yes, they are funny and keep me entertained. yes, they frustrate me to no end at the same time. yes, i enjoy all our talks … i get some good stories and info out of them. yes, it’s a hard job. yes, it’s a dirty job … my house shows that. yes, it’s a big responsibility … taking care of and raising other people’s kids. yes, it’s tedious … day after day of the same diapers, bottles, sippy cups, lunches, etc. yes, it’s a lonely job sometimes … no adult interaction all day is hard. yes, it’s a thankless job. yes, i know parents really do appreciate me … but sometimes i don’t feel it so much. yes, it’s hard being trapped at home all day … while everyone is out doing their things. yes, i do feel taken advantage of at times … not intentionally, but still happens. yes, there’s not a whole lot i can do about that. yes, i’m at the beck and call of children and parents for about 11 hours a day … 5 days a week. yes, it’s stressful and draining and just plain exhausting. yes, i’m usually tired and cranky when it gets to the end of the day. yes, i often take that out on my own family. yes, at the end of the day i don’t want to be around kids asking me for stuff … and yet i have 2 kids of my own that i want and need to do things for. yes, i find myself sometimes just needing to escape and get away … and yet i’m leaving my own family who deserves to have my attention for part of the day too. yes, this is my job … and i’m certainly not going anywhere else anytime soon. yes, i have to accept that … and learn to be ok with it. and so … "it is what it is".

these are 2 of the biggest things in my life that i worry about … and stress about. and yet i can’t change either one. i can’t make my disease go away … so i have to learn to accept it and deal with it. i can’t change my job … not right now anyways. and i can’t change the stuff that comes with my job … so i have to accept that and deal with that. so i’m going to work on that. work on not complaining about it so much. i’m sure i’ll vent still … but hopefully not in such a depressing way.

after all … "my life is what it is". and i still have so much to be thankful for.

edited to add: i always feel the need after writing something like this to say once more that "i love all these kids". i may not love the job … but i love the kids. and i’m not one of those people who, because i’m not loving my job right now, does a half-ass job. i don’t. i take care of these kids in the best way i can just like all the other kids before them. and i do it all with love and plenty of attention.

i thought about deleting this post a while after i wrote it. but these are my thoughts … and i don’t want to feel like i have to censor them … just because i’m worried someone might read this and take it the wrong way. these are general thoughts … nothing defined to any particular moment or event or person. so i’m leaving my post here. but i am also closing the comments for this post. i appreciate all the supportive comments i have gotten when i have griped about things before … always makes me feel a little better to know it’s not just me and that i’m not alone. but i’m also not begging for sympathy or a pat on the back. so if you wanted to leave me a comment … just know that the thought would be totally appreciated … but totally not necessary on this one. just one of those days where you have to get it all out … free up your mind for more important stuff!

wanted to share a few pics of the new baby boy that is keeping us company during our days. this is nikolas … and he’s about 3 months old. is he not just the cutest thing? those big bright eyes? and that hair … crazy how much hair the boy has!

someone commented a while back about how i always got such cute daycare babies … sorry, can’t remember who that was. want to know my secret? i only accept the cute ones! just kidding … but i have been lucky with the cuteness!

he’s doing good and we’re all getting adjusted. ady and haley are still fascinated by him … they both like to poke at his eyes. lol! and i’m trying to remember what to do with a newborn. seems we always have one around … so i’m not sure why i always need to refresh myself. i was trying to do the math in my head and figure it all out. but back when i had like 5 boys here under the age of 3 (which by the way is NOT a good idea!) … and then baby wesley came along. then when wesley was about 8 mths old … baby adyson came along. then when adyson was about 12 mths … baby haley came along. now haley is 11 mths … and baby nikolas is here. now wonder these last 6 yrs of daycare have exhausted me. lol! i think the hardest thing is having 2 little ones that take bottles … i should keep track of how many bottles i make each day. so glad haley will be on regular milk soon … girlie’s birthday is coming up really quick. i won’t even get into the diapers. lol!

and this following picture is one of those "don’t show the dad" pictures. since i have 2 girls … i do have more girl toys than boy toys. and let’s face it … the boys really do love all the dress-up shoes, beads, and pink sunglasses. i have pictures of all my previous "boys" doing girlie things … and i don’t think any of them have suffered for it. but you know you always want to hide those things from the dads. lol!

he was innocently hanging out in the bouncer seat while i was taking pictures of the other kids last week … and i turned and took this one of him. i laughed so hard when i pulled this one up on the computer that night. nice bright blue outfit … and a baseball outfit no less. and i just had to stick him in the pink, flowery bouncer seat. lol! and ariana kept telling me yesterday … "you can’t put him in there … that’s for girls". next time i’ll cover it with a blanket!

not sure these photos are a ton more spectacular than the ones yesterday … but i’m thinking they’re a little better. not as many shadows … and didn’t need the flash at all.

i had actually forgot all about re-taking pictures. we were just finishing dinner (which i amazingly had done at 5:30) … and sarah was saying something about how i was late for "our thing". i had no clue what she was talking about. i guess i had said that the sun in the front yard would be good about 5:30 … and it was 5:45. lol! within minutes i had the girls changed, cleaned up, and outside for pics.

although alyssa was not thrilled in the least to have to do this again. all i ask for is 5 minutes of her time … but apparently that is too much. she got all upset about her hair because i wanted it put up a little. sarah’s hangs good when it’s down because she has a natural side-part. but alyssa’s hair parts in the middle … and she likes to put water on it and make it really flat. so i made her pin it up some. then she puts on this cheesy smile … i think i got it in just about every photo. even when i told her NOT too smile … she still had it. lol!

then to be fair … i let the girls take a few pictures of me. this was the best one … all the rest were really blurry. i tried to explain how to focus on the eyes, hold the button half-way down, then recompose the shot, and then finish pressing the button down. but they weren’t getting it. lol! i actually like how they managed to get the orange flowers in there … picked up nicely on my shirt. and how cool is that hat?!?! now i just need some shirts to match. lol! and you can’t see it in this picture … but i wore another new pair of jeans today. i didn’t think they were going to work out because they felt like they were way too much of a "lowrise" jean. but they were perfect … and i felt good in them. 2 great pairs of jeans … what more could i ask for really? 

and the first thing i thought of when i saw the pictures of myself? did you ever hear about the slimming cameras? i saw these a few months ago in some magazine ad. imagine being able to take off 10 pounds … with the click of a button. lol! i could use one of those!

so last night i got absolutely nothing done. i never touched any of my scrap stuff that i wanted to get started on. and i didn’t do anything today either. seriously … i’m kicking myself for not working on it. however i did get some other stuff done. the thing with weekends is that … that’s my time to get out and get stuff done. errands and stuff that i just can’t do during the week. i’m so trapped here during the week with all the kids … so i really feel like i have to take advantage of the weekend to get things done.

guess what the highlight of my day was? new knobs for the cabinets downstairs. i’ve been wanting to get new knobs for months now … i’ve even talked about this to my neighbor quite a few times. and about a month ago joe won some home depot gift cards at a golf tournament. normally i’d think "what do i possibly need at home depot". lol! but not this time … i knew i would use them for new knobs. amazing how something so simple can make such a huge difference in the look of your home. here’s the old knobs and the new knobs:

and just to clarify in case you’re wondering about my taste … the big, chunky, shiny gold knobs were the old ones. and the brushed silver knobs are the new ones. now if you have these same gold ones … i’m not trying to say they’re ugly. lol! they’re just not me. i hated those things. i did go with the cheapest silver ones i could find … since i needed 54 of them to do the downstairs (bathroom, entertainment center, laudry room, and kitchen). i would love to do the upstairs too … but that will need 19 more. i have them all changed out already and i just love them. so i only had to put out about $20 out of my own cash … the rest was on the gift cards. i told joe he needs to win some more so that i can change out all the gold shiny doorknobs now. lol!

in other exciting news (exciting for me anyways) … i wore one of my new pair of jeans today. and i love everything about them. they fit perfect, didn’t sag in the crotch area, didn’t need to be pulled up at all, were the perfect lowrise without being too low. usually i buy jeans that seem to fit good … but you know that after wearing them for a few hours they start to loosen up and then they just feel too big. these were great. and they were the ones i got that were the smaller size than i usually wear. i know … the size on womens clothes are never the same. i can wear a small in one item … and need an extra large in something similiar. but still nice to see a smaller number on my jeans. lol!

i also conned the girls into taking some pictures today. winkflash has all their poster prints on sale right now and i want to get some more printed to hang around the house. i just had this photo of sarah and this photo of alyssa both enlarged to 16×20 (before the sale of course) … and used them to change out the black and white photos i had in our archway in the downstairs. i still need to get a 18×24 photo of each of them to replace the ones above the couch in the family room. and then i want to get a few to hang on the one wall in the playroom that doesn’t have anything on it. so i need some new, good photos.

these are 2 of the photos i took today. but i had to give them the bad news that we may do a re-take tomorrow afternoon. i took these in the middle of the day … in full sun … and even used my external flash. that’s something i havn’t done in ages. so i think i was a little rusty … had a hard time trying to figure out the shadows and all. i’m all about the open shade nowdays … and i havn’t used my external flash outdoors in forever. so while these are good photos (as alyssa informed me) … they’re not technically good enough that i want to blow them up that big and hang on my walls. so i hope to try again tomorrow … late afternoon should give some cleaner results.

and lastly … i’m going to leave you with my most favorite recipe. i don’t cook much lately. between soccer 2 nights and the kids night at the church and just being to tired overall from working … i just don’t seem to have many good nights to cook anymore. but tonight i made "cowboy spaghetti" … love this stuff! this was my first "rachael ray 30 minute meal" that i ever made … first part of the year. this stuff is so good. and to think that i used to use spaghetti sauce from a jar all the time. i couldn’t find this recipe online … so i’m hoping it’s ok with rachael ray if i pass this along. lol! and i’m typing this up as i would make it … sorry no ingredient list or anything. and i don’t measure anymore … just eyeball it. i’m a terrible recipe writer … so bear with me.

• fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil … when ready add 1 pound of thin spaghetti and cook according to package (time this with the sauce)
• cut up 1/2 package of bacon into small strips and cook up in a skillet with some EVOO. after the bacon crisps up, put aside on a paper towel lined plate
• add 1 pound of ground beef to skillet with some EVOO and break up really good … allow to brown and get some really good color on it (just use the same skillet from the bacon that way you get the good flavors)
• add in 1 medium chopped onion and 4-5 cloves of chopped garlic to skillet along with the meat … and cook over medium heat
• add plenty of salt and pepper
• after onions and garlic cook up … add some worchester sauce (about 2-3 tablespoons) and allow the mixture to really brown up
• optional: add 1 can of beer for flavor (i got this recipe from her cookbook and that wasn’t on there … but then i saw the 30-minute meal show where she made it and she added the beer)
• add in a 14 ounce can of chopped tomatoes and an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
• when noodles are done, drain and add to the sauce mixture
• toss in crisped bacon and mix everything together
• optional: add some shredded cheddar cheese on top (we don’t do this … we just add some parmesan cheese)
• make sure to have some yummy breadsticks or bread of some sort … great for scooping up the extra sauce

this is seriously some good stuff. this is actually 2 whole meals for us. and everyone i have shared my leftovers with loves it. my neighbor, ruth, requested it from me once … so i made it that night and we both had full meals for our family. i think i even gave her bread for it. lol! and this can totally be done in 30 minutes once you have it down. so quick and easy. and my house smells so crazy good right now! enjoy!