Hey, a photo of mine got published.  Check it out at this site.

Tattoo Parlor

Why do they call it a parlor anyway?  So, we went to eat on the east side of town on 080808.  I wanted to get some pictures.  Across the street from the restaurant was this place.  I wanted to take a picture of the outside but there were folks hanging out outside.  I was  too self conscious or embarrassed to take a picture with them there.  My husband asked me to ask them to show me their ink.  So hip, he is.  They couldn't hear or understand me, so I had to walk over to talk to them and we - including my 2 young kids, ended up in the place.  They could not have been nicer.  The lady above is also on a roller derby team.  They gave albums of their work to the kids to look at.  Great.  When we left, my son said, "I can't believe you took us to a tattoo place."  I couldn't either.  The photos are blurry because of the light.  I try not to use the flash.  I guess I should have.  I have to do some research on what the name of the place was.  I'll get back to you.

Elementary school open house tonight.  School starts Monday.  Not a day too soon, let me tell you.

Update:  It is called Telepathic Tattoo.  They couldn't tell me why.  Anybody know?

Avatar

I finally succomed and got an avatar.  Not sure about the boobs...although they are the most accurate part of it.

Out Visiting

N. Lamar, Ausin TX
Originally uploaded by helen clark

H accompanied me to visit with my CASA family last night. On the way I took pictures of some abandoned buildings. I love old and neglected buildings.

Blogging is harder than I thought

Can't even remember what my last post was about. I saw Heather on the Today Show and got inspired. Her segment was on mommy bloggers, but I really don't think of her as a mommy blogger. I think she is more of a life blogger.

My CASA case is going nuts. The mom is a crack addict, who goes from drug rehab to drug rehab, either getting kicked out of or quitting each of them for various reasons. I don't think she has told me the truth once. She recently announced that she was pregnant. Do I even believe that? It takes up a lot of my time.

H and I are also on the board of our kids' swim team. Sounds so impressive. We do the computers. Have you ever been involved in a swim team? The computer job is a big deal. You enter in all the kids in their events and print out stuff to run the race. I really don't know what I am doing 100%. Our first meet is Friday and I should be pretty clear on it all by then.

My sister in law was in line to adopt a baby through an agency. She got a call that a mother had picked her and her husband to adopt her baby. Yeah! Less than a week later, the birth mom went in to early labor in Austin, where we live. They do not live here. She had the baby and the adoption went through. However, although the baby is a very healthy premature baby, it is still in the neonatal intensive care unit. To top things off, her H is in the coast guard and had to leave for a tour (is that what it is called?) and won't be back for a month. My sister in law is a bit overwhelmed. I am thrilled to have another nephew. He is almost 4 pounds and is of hispanic descent. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo in his honor this year.

Ball Dropper

I am a ball dropper.  I am a little worried that I am going to drop one soon.  I volunteer in a lot of places.  I shouldn't really.  I recently became a CASA.  That's a court appointed special advocate for children that have been taken away from home, or are being monitored by, Children's Protective Services.  My first case involves a family with 4 children, the youngest is one and the oldest almost seventeen.  The mother abuses drugs.  There are so many people involved, I hope I can do the case justice.

I notice a theme on these blogs written by mothers - they are often tired.  So, I hesitate to even mention how tired I am.  I think that's the main reason why I don't sit down and write a post.  Being tired leads me to the conclusion that our family is boring.  I just can't remember the funny stuff.  So here are some of the highlights from the week or so, that I don't think I've shared.

My daughter was in a school play.  She did a great job.  H was almost late to the first performance because I told him the wrong time.  As a result, he didn't have time to get flowers.  We knew we had to get flowers. But really, wasn't it more important for him to see the play?  Afterwards, she was upset that we didn't get her flowers.   I totally laid the blame on myself, but she wouldn't let it go.  There were only 2 performances, so I told her probably, not as many people would get flowers the next day.  In addition, we thought that we should go out to eat afterwards.  The cool places close to our house would probably be really crowded, with a wait, so my husband and I decided on Wendy's (and because it's cheap).  When we got there, she was incredulous.  In the parking lot, she was all, I can't believe that we are eating at Wendy's after my play.  The last time she was in a play we went to a fancy reservation restaurant.  With my parents.  I emphasized the last part.  H and I laughed.  That's the breaks.  She didn't want my parents coming.  I guess my daughter is a drama queen.  She wouldn't let it go.  When we got into Wendy's, one of our neighbor families (whose daughter was in the play too) was there.  I said look, we are not the only ones eating here.  I was glad we weren't too out of line with our cheapness.

It doesn't end there.  The next day I brought flowers, but they weren't good enough, or rather I should say, there weren't enough of them.  Some of the girls had lots of bouquets.  I pointed out that they had lots of relatives there, and some of them had divorced parents.  But by this day, I was ignoring her behavior pretty well.  She eventually thanked me for the flowers.  Oh- she even complained that we hadn't put well wishes into the program for her - but we had.  She was almost a caricature of a demanding diva!

My son's birthday was this weekend and we had a sleepover party.  They were supposed to sleep in a tent outside, but they thought that they heard a snake and slept inside - starting after 1 am.  Then they woke up early.  My daughter was home and was just as tired as everybody.  By that evening, close to bedtime, she was freaking out, yelling and crying about a TV misunderstanding.  I usually do a pretty good job of containing my amusement at her overreaction in these types of circumstances, but perhaps because I was so tired too, I burst out laughing.  I tried to cover my mouth but I just thought it was sooo funny.  I think her hormones are partly to blame for her meltdowns nowadays.  It was a horrible display of parenting.

My son is getting just a little better at getting his homework done, what with my new restrictions in place.  It still could be a lot better.  I hope someday I will laugh at this too.

Oh, I almost forgot, H was featured on Bitstrips.com.  We were very excited.  He has been getting a lot of followers on Twitter and we think that is why.  It's funny that we would wonder why people would be interested in him.  The link is not working.  I'll check on it later.   I think I've said enough for today.  Don't get me started, I guess.

Pattern/Repetition

Here is my submission for the photography assignment over at Miriam Lovell Photography.  We went bowling this week.  I love patterns and repetition in photography.