My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

The polls are now closed.

I guess I was thinking there would be one predominate opinion amongst the polls with the answer being chanted from the rooftops out in blogland, echoing "Karen, the perfect answer is clearly option ___ !"

But alas, there was no chanting (and therefore, no echoing).

The last time I counted this evening (which could have since changed), option "A" was ahead by just 2 votes.  Hardly a landslide.

So that's what I'm going to do (option "A") for now.  If I find it's not working out perfectly, I'll make adjustments accordingly.

I'm working on a newsletter tonight with all the class details, but I'm a tired mess and therefore, may not get it out until the morning (I'm a pleaser, so the fact that the poll ran neck and neck all day without a stand-out winner has done nothing but stress me out).

Being a pleaser is exhausting work sometimes, eh?

Have a great night and thanks for all your comments and input today.

A quick poll.

My goal was to set up the shopping cart for my online photography classes so that students could pay a deposit to hold their spot in class and then pay the remainder of the balance two weeks prior to the class start date.

Sounds easy enough.

However, I spent the last couple of days going over the logistics of how to make this happen and it turns out it's not so easy after all.

And while I could make this decision on my own, I honestly have no preference, so I am going to leave it up to all of you who are planning on taking the class.

So here's the question I am polling (and I will go with whatever the general consensus is):

Option A

Would you rather have three different class dates available when you register so you can choose in advance the particular class date that works best for your schedule (knowing that you have to pay in full at the time of registration even if your class is 4 months away)?

For example, I would open registration on May 5th for the same class, taught three different times (class one beginning on June 2nd, class two beginning on July 28th and class three beginning on September 22).  Students would choose which class they would like to take and pay in full for that class on May 5th. 

or....

Option B

Would you rather have one class date available to register for at a time, with registration open approximately 4 weeks prior to the class start date (and payment due in full at registration), knowing that this option would not allow you to secure your spot in future classes.

For example, I would open registration on May 5th for the class that starts on June 2nd and would not begin registration for the July 28th class until 4 weeks prior to the class start date (June 28th).

Just leave me a comment in the comments section.  You can just say "Option A" or "Option B" (feel free to leave any additional comments or questions you have too).

Thanks a ton.

And a post just isn't a post without a picture, so here's a really old one of Courtney Lee (back in 2005, when her hair was still curly).

An email and an update (but not in that order).

Just wanted to share an email that I got the other day, but a quick announcement first:

Registration for the Photographers Workshop (my new online photography class) starts this coming Monday, May 5th at 9:00 am PST at Snapshotsofagoodlife.com (the site is not currently live).  Class is scheduled to start on Monday, June 2nd.

This registration date and time were changed per the recommendation of my web designer to a date/time he would be available in case any technical issues occur (and because there are so many students wanting to register there is unfortunately a high and unavoidable probability that technical issues will occur).

Anyhow, if you are would like to receive updates in regards to this class, please sign up for my newsletter in the top right hand column of my blog.  I will be sending out a newsletter regarding class updates this Wednesday (I will try to answer all the questions I've been receiving in this newsletter).

And on to the email (from a gal who ordered a couple of my kits)...

Karen,

I got my kits yesterday and they are great!  I love your stuff and have a hard time finding it around here.

I especially loved the M&Ms and have to tell you a funny story about them.  In church on Wednesday night we talked about being generous and how if you are generous it comes back to you 10 fold.  They showed a video of a man sitting on a bus and he had 2 bags of M&Ms.  He gave a bag to a little girl sitting across the aisle.  when he opened his remaining bag, they spilled all over the floor and he was really bummed.  The video showed him throughout the rest of the day.  He paid a parking toll and the gate keeper gave him a bag of M&Ms with his receipt.  He went to the bank and got a bag of M&Ms with his deposit slip.  He walked by an M&M vending machine and turned the knob and the machine spilled out all of the M&Ms.

When we left church that night our pastor gave us all a bag of M&Ms and told us we could eat them or we could be generous and give them away.  Thursday I gave my bag away and when I got home there was my package from you with a bag of M&Ms!!!  Coincidence???

Thanks again!

Sherry

I love stuff like that.

I've always put M&Ms in all of my kits...except the Interactive Scrapbooking kit because that little tiny sack of M&Ms made the weight of the box I was mailing the kit in exceed 2 pounds (which increased the postage by $4.00 per kit) so unfortunately, the M&Ms had to go.

And a couple of shots from the other day...

Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter.

Yesterday.

Being the die-hard fisherman that they are, Josh & Coley were up at 4:30 am to go fishing yesterday.

I was on the phone with Josh while they were out on the boat and asked him if he was having fun catching fish, he said "No, but I'm having fun watching Cole catch some".

It's become a bit of a sore subject with Josh but, he seems to do more "fishing" than "catching".  However, when I jokingly said that he wasn't that great of a fisherman awhile back, he quickly replied "You can't say that, that's like me saying you're a bad cook." to which I replied, "Did you just say I'm a bad cook?"...

Coley caught a couple of fish though.

Sorry (maybe I should have warned you that picture was coming).

Ah, there's the fisherman.

And then we had a fish fry at Josh's parents house.

Where Annie made her rounds from Papa...

to Grandma Jo...

to Great Grandpa (who got her a new teddy-bear that is now appropriately named "teddy" and says nice things like "It's always good to share" and "You should always say please & thank you")...

to G.G. (Great Grandma) also affectionately known as "Grandma Cracker" by Annie for her never-ending cracker supply.

Annie's animal cracker lion was "growling" at Great Grandpa.

Dillon came with us (Ross & Dillon haven't been able to hang out together in a really long time because they've both been grounded for bad grades).

We've all missed Dillon.

Josh's parents run and live on a mill (Josh grew up here). 

Every time Annie sees a mill, she starts hollering "Papa!".

Ross & Dillon and Coley ran around the mill for hours last night.

Coley banged up his forehead playing chase.

And Annie started a rock collection...

which she was quite proud of.

She brought them back to show everyone.

But she wasn't quite sure she could trust her Dad with her new collection.

I think this had to have been the coolest place in the world for a boy to grow up.

Oh, and on our way home we ran into Dillon's Dad (he's a cop).

Truth Serum.

The flu has been like a truth serum for Coley.

He's laid in bed for the last four days periodically saying "Mom, I have something to tell you..." and would then begin spilling his dishonesties.

"Mom, one time I spit on the floor in my bedroom."

"Mom, one time Dad asked me if I had brushed my teeth and I said yes even though it wasn't true."

"Mom, one time I peed in the bathtub."

"Mom, one time I took some playdough home from school even though the teacher said not to."

It went on for days, until yesterday when the stomach ache and the trips to the bathroom stopped.

And the whole-hearted honesty stopped along with it.

And the Best Mom award goes to...

Ross thinks that award belongs to me.

He even got me a trophy while he was in Disneyland to prove it (or perhaps he got it to make up for the fact that he never called me back after the bus accident).

In any case, Josh is out of town and I've been feeling like a failure of a Mom all week (the house is a mess, the laundry is piling up, I haven't cooked a single meal, etc.).

But, I've decided that they don't just give out awards like that for no reason...so I really must be the "Best Mom" regardless of...

The sink full of dirty dishes.

The piles of laundry.

The mess on my desk (yes, that's all paperwork for my online photography classes).

Or the fact that Annie has eaten mandarin oranges and almond butter sandwiches for dinner every night the last three days in a row.

However, when I refused to drive Ross down to Subway to get a sandwich the other night he (temporarily) stripped me of my trophy.

By the way, Ross had a blast in Disneyland (and thankfully no one was seriously hurt in the bus accident).

I love these guys.

She said she got a "tweety" (birdie) in Wii golf the other day.

She snaps the elastic straps on my white sandals every time she sees me wearing them and then takes off running (and giggling).

When I told him that I loved him because he is such an emotional guy, he replied "I'm not emotional...I haven't cried in like 2 days."

He came into my office with his guitar the other night when I was mad at him and said "If I sang you a little song, might you forgive me?"

She asked for "more butter" tonight  (butterfly kisses).

Her favorite new word is "What?", only she says it with a German accent, so it sounds like "Vhwot?"

He winks at me when no one else is looking and without saying a word, I know it means "I love you" (and whether or not it's  true, I'd like to think that I'm the only person in the world he does it to).

He was telling me about a little girl at school who said he's cute.  When I asked him what he told her, he said "I told her O.M.G., that's gross!"

The whirlwind weekend.

I left for Salem last Friday.

Josh and I decided that he would stay home with the kids (because Annie had the stomach flu) and if everyone was healthy come Saturday morning, they would drive up to meet me.

I taught class Friday night at Scrapbook Fever.  That store is always one of my favorite stops.  Some of the gals there have never missed a class of mine, so it's always like hanging out with a bunch of girlfriends.

I got back to the hotel around 11pm and went straight to bed (because I had to be up at 5am).

At 1:45 am I was still wide-awake, doing some quick math in my head (If I fall asleep right now, I can still get 3 hours and 15 minutes of sleep)...

Got up to Portland around 7am to set up for class at Scrapbook Attack.

My 7 hour photography class ran for 8 hours (no matter how many times I extend this class...it is never enough).  I loved every minute of it though (lots of gals who were at the class last year and lots of new faces too).

Took a quick dinner break with one of my friends who drove in from Bend and then headed back to the store for the evening class.

I'd like to say that the evening class went off without a hitch...but I get kind of rummy when I'm running on 3 hours of sleep (lucky for me, some of the gals who had been in class with me all day were just as rummy).  Lots of laughs, lots of stories and a little booty shakin'...

Got on the road around 10:30 pm and drove back down to Salem (got to the hotel around midnight).

Josh and all the kids had spent the evening in the pool and everyone had crashed for the night.

Josh forgot Annie's playpen, so she was sleeping in a makeshift bed (two chairs pushed together) and Cole & Courtney were sharing a bed.

I had just started to fall asleep when Annie woke up crying.

Got her settled back in bed just in time for Coley to start hollering about Courtney being on his side of the bed.

I just laid in bed for the next several hours, trying to fall asleep to the sounds of Josh snoring, Cole complaining and Annie crying intermittently.

At approximately 3:45 am, the sounds and smells of the stomach flu filled our hotel room (poor Coley).

Courtney Lee slept through it all (she can sleep through anything).

Josh had a full day of military stuff on Sunday, so (instead of meeting my friend Tanya and her kids at the Portland Zoo like we had planned) I headed home with a car full of kiddos at 7am.

We had to make several stops on the way home.  At one of those stops, I was standing in the snow, changing Annie (who was still having some flu related problems of her own) on the seat of my car while Coley was heaving into the plastic ice bucket that we took from the hotel, thinking to myself just how grossly comical it is to be a mom sometimes.

Home now and still (crossing my fingers) flu-free.

Disney.

Ross raised enough money to go with his choir class to Disneyland (he's been giddy-excited about the whole things for weeks now). 

They headed out on four buses Wednesday night and were going to drive all night to Anaheim.

He called me from his friends cell phone at 7am yesterday to tell me that the buses got in an accident.  One girl and a bus driver had to go to the hospital (Josh read online last night that they are ok though).

He didn't know what they were going to do next or if the buses were ok to drive, so I made him promise to call me back to let me know what was going on.

No call.

How can a kid just forget to call his mom like that?

I tried to call back the cell number he called from, but no one picked up. 

Maybe I need to finally cave in and buy him a cell phone (I've always been very much opposed to the idea though).

Just glad he's ok and hoping that he's have a blast right now in Disneyland (even if he doesn't care enough to call and ease my mind).

I'm heading out of town this afternoon.

The whole family was supposed to come with me, but Annie ended up with the stomach flu yesterday which has kind of put a damper on our whole plan.

I'm teaching my Interactive Scrapbooking class tonight (April 18th) at Scrapbook Fever in Salem, OR (503 763 3501).  I think they are just taking a waiting list now though.

If you couldn't get in the class in Salem though, Portland is only and hour drive - I'll be at Scrapbook Attack in Portland, OR all day on Saturday (April 19th), teaching both my Interactive Scrapbooking class and the Photographer's Workshop (which is a 7 hour workshop now).  And there's still a couple of spots available (503 641 3554).

Just praying that I have escaped the stomach flu.

I updated my (very small) teaching schedule in the left hand column of my blog.  I'm still not booking too many teaching gigs right now (sorry) but, will keep you posted of any changes.

Have a great weekend.

Time-out and mangos.

Took this one of Annie in the time-out chair the other day (funny thing, she's in the time-out chair again right now for hitting her Mommy).

Hard to believe that anything so cute could ever be naughty.

Prior to going in the time-out chair though, she was sitting on my lap looking at pictures from Wildlife safari.

We came to a picture of the zebras and she said "zebas".

We came to a picture of the giraffes and she said "graff".

We came to a picture of the flamingos and she said "mangos".

We came to picture of the ostrich and she shrieked, dug her head into my chest and yelled "Oh my gooness Mommy, dat shared me!"

Poor thing.

ETA:  She just saw this picture and said "Uh-oh, Yannie taking time-out."