Hello again!

If you could hear my as you read this, you would know why I haven’t had much to say in the past week. I’ve had plenty going on and a cough that sounds like I’m on the edge of developing emphysema.

Since I last updated you, I shot pictures of Sarah Palin during her book signing in Noblesville.

I don’t need to tell you this was a huge thrill for me. I’ve told the story seventeen times to anyone who will listen, but I wound up in the front of the press line twice. It pays to have freckles. If you have freckles, people automatically assume you’re friendly and want to help you. It also pays to be naïve. It was an experience I wouldn’t have dreamed of having three weeks ago and one I won’t soon forget.

My new favorite person in the whole wide world is Maria, our cleaning lady. It’s not even fair to call her a “cleaning lady.” Miracle worker and brave soul are much more fitting. Not only did she not run screaming from our house, she even cleaned out the light fixtures in our bathrooms. I ♥ her!!!!! An hour and a half into her day, I asked her to come every other week instead of the budgeted once a month. I may have to stand on the corner with a sandwich board to drum up photography business to pay for her. I am willing.

We are 99% decorated for Christmas. All the trees are up and decorated, except the 12’ in the living room. I let the kids decorate it and it needs to be redone. In secret, of course. They put all the snowman ornaments on one branch, all the grill themed ornaments on another. Don't ask. Meredith’s tree tried to end its own life while we were away, so I have to re-decorate it today and pray that Gorilla Glue can hold Tinkerbell’s wings.

We spent Thanksgiving with my Mom’s side of the family in Carmi, Illinois. Friday morning, we went to Olney so I could re-shoot Jennifer’s Christmas card photos, after I pulled a Mary Lou Propes and lost her files. We visited my Grandpa & Grandma Berger and stayed until the kids started doing sommersaults in their living room. We grabbed lunch at Hovey’s and ran into my parents and half of Richland county. I was so miserable with this “cold” that I wasn’t very pleasant company.

After hitting CVS for Zicam, which come to find out is not at all safe for me to take, we went to Newton so I could re-shoot Jill’s Christmas card pictures which met the same fate as Jenn’s. Piece of cake. Brandon went to the restaurant with Gaspare, while I draped myself over Jill’s leather chair and drank hot tea. I love spending time at Jill’s house. It’s so warm and cozy and she is without question, the best hostess in the world.

Over the weekend, we decorated like fools. I think it helps Brandon feel connected to his mom. She was over the top with decorating, and he wants to do the same for our kids. Our house is dripping, dripping in garland, which the kids both call ‘garlic.’ Maria and I will be vacuuming fake pine needles for weeks.

I have photography orders to process, Christmas cards to mail, laundry to do, and tress to finish. Good thing I’m updating the blog, but I missed all of you! Hope your Christmas season is off to a great start!

This close to sanity...

As I’ve mentioned before I’ve become an undisciplined house keeper. I don’t want to be. I don’t like living in disorder. It makes me very grouchy.

My mother in law always gave me a hard time about the time I spent cleaning. She would tell me I just needed to relax and play with the kids. Time was fleeting and I would regret spending hours wiping down baseboards when I could have been playing UNO. In some ways she was right. Her time certainly proved to be limited, but she also wasn’t living with two mess generating machines.

It’s important to me that my kids remember growing up in a house of order. We always had a cleaning lady when I was growing up. If we hadn’t had the help of many saintly women, I have no doubt our home would have been in far worse shape. My mom always worked like a crazy person and she simply doesn’t like to clean.

I do actually like to clean. I would rather gouge out my eyes than pick up Legos and Barbie shoes all day, but the actual act of scrubbing down a room is something I strangely enjoy.

That is the reason I’ve been reluctant to hire anyone to help me with our constant mess. I reasoned that I could do the cleaning part, it was the picking up part I hated and who on earth could I possibly pay to pick up our stuff?! I wouldn’t subject Nancy Pelosi to that kind of torture. Well, maybe.

As I got busier and busier with writing and photography the situation with our house became more and more volatile. Any extra time I had during the day or early evening, I was spending on laundry and cleaning. The kids played in their playroom and didn’t seem to mind, but I did.

I finally decided we were either going to find room in the budget for a cleaning lady or a therapist. I can do other things while someone cleans my house. I don’t have time to sob on a couch, much as I’d like to. The cleaning lady won.

My neighbor has an immaculate house and a secret weapon named Maria. Maria is 4’ 11” of cleaning power. She doesn’t speak much English, but all I needed to hear from her was, “Yes! Leslie. I’m happy to be cleaning your house.”

Today was the big day. I’ve been picking up and wiping down bathrooms since Sunday. I know it sounds counter-productive to wipe down our bathrooms, but I didn’t want Maria to run away screaming. I had all the cleaning supplies laid out. I emptied all the trash and gave her a lesson on the steam mop. Then Maria broke my heart. She double booked herself for today. She will be back, but not until Monday. Sigh.

Now that my house is at least picked up, I should probably tackle the closets and drawers where I stuffed all the evidence.

Farm hand!

Meredith had her first “Imagination Destination” day at pre-school on Friday. It’s actually the second one of the year. The first was camping day and Meredith informed her teachers she wouldn’t be there because she “got a better offer.” We were in Chicago. I tend to agree, but I wouldn’t publically declare it.

Friday was “a day at the farm.” The classroom was completely transformed into a farm. The floor was covered in straw--and corn in the areas anywhere near sensory stations that included corn. There were sunflowers everywhere. Bales of straw dotted a wooden fence. Behind the fence was a pretend cow the kids could actually milk. There was a chicken coup, complete with roosting hens and their eggs.

There was a fruit and vegetable stand where the farmers could sell their crops. The produce was real. I know this because I kicked an errant onion half way across the room. One of the hazards of wearing a size 10 shoe...

The farm’s kitchen was stalked with fresh bread dough and rolling pins, making it smell just like I expect a kitchen that feeds farm hands to smell. The dough looked decidedly different between drop off and pick up.

Even after experiencing this class with Alex three years ago, I’m still in awe of what these women do. Next week is another imagination destination and where they find the energy to clean up the last one and move onto another is beyond me.

For movie night, Alex chose a Scooby Doo movie. Something about how the “gang” originally got together. I forgot Scooby Doo usually has a ghost or two. Meredith did fine, but Alex was a nervous wreck most of the movie. Meredith told me Saturday morning that she was scared in the night, but didn’t want to yell for me because I’m always “such a grouch” when she wakes me in the night. Wow!

Alex’s school had their first pancake breakfast Saturday. It was both a fundraiser and a kick-off for the book fair. I don’t really care what it was, it got my family up, dressed, and out of the house by 8:30 a.m. I used the momentum and finally put away six loads of laundry that lived on the island in the kitchen for two days. Brandon fiddled around with Christmas lights all day. I have no idea what he accomplished, but he claimed something about researching stuff on line so we don’t repeatedly trip the circuits this season.

Sunday morning, Jeremy and Amanda Williams came over for breakfast. They asked us to brunch, but Amanda wanted to show Jeremy some canvas prints I have. I thought it would be just as much fun to have waffles in our pj’s. Jeremy made “beermosas,” which I’d never been introduced to before and probably shouldn’t have been. Jill C., you would like them…Orangina mixed with a light beer! They sound terrible, but there not, I promise you. Sort of like a less sweet mimosa.

Brandon spent the rest of the weekend hanging Christmas lights. The sight of the lights, threw me into periholiday baking mode. The kids and I made a quick treat to have on hand for drop by company. The kind of company who always comes when my house is at its worst; I hope to distract them with baked goods.

Sunday night we watched the Colts game!!! I can’t say enough about the intensity of the game. That being said, I dozed off when it looked like we were tanking. I should know Peyton and Reggie better than that. Woo Hoo!!!! I try to be a good sport, so I root for my team and not against the other. Well, Bill Belichick is hard not to root against. When he took off his headset right after Indy scored in the final seconds and barely touched Jim Caldwell’s hand as he stormed off the field; I wanted to choke him with his cropped sweatshirt.

I have three sessions to work on today, a field trip, a client meeting, and a column due tomorrow. Thursday I have “New Moon” baking to do with Annie. Friday, I’m working the book fair at Alex’s school. Good thing I’m a stay at home mom. Ha!

Late to bed, early to rise, and I survived!

My plan to start going to bed earlier lasted a whopping two days.

A friend of mine, with whom I lost touch with about the time Meredith was born, found me on Facebook. We’ve been trying to plan a lunch since last March and decided Wednesday evening cocktails at my house would work much better.

When Brandon and I first moved here after college I had a hard time finding anyone my own age to hang out with. I had plenty of older friends from work and Linda, my mother-in-law, was always up for a craft show.

One day while on the phone with my mother, I mentioned I’d purchased a dried floral arrangement at a craft festival. She got really quiet and suggested it might be time to find some friends my own age. I told her I wasn’t into bar hopping and just where did she expect me to randomly meet women my own age?! She suggested the library. I said something to the tune of, “Oh yeah! That’s GREAT idea. I bet the library is brimming with fun 23 year olds!”

Believe it or not; my mother was right.

I was headed up the stairs when I noticed someone my own age coming down. She was wearing a Sigma Kappa jacket and she looked completely normal and fun. To put it delicately, the Sigma Kappa chapters at most Indiana schools were significantly different from Bradley’s chapter. (Not that they weren’t wonderful women and that was incredibly shallow of me, but I was 23. Cut me some slack.)

So, I took a chance and said, “Hey, are you a Sigma Kappa?”

Knowing her now, I’m surprised she didn’t retort back with, “No. I stole this jacket.”

Knowing her now, I’m surprised she was wearing an SK pull over. She’s not a pull over kind of gal. I’ve always been really thankful she was because I needed a friend and she dropped out of the sky. If it weren’t for those lavender letters I probably would have brushed by her without a second thought. It wasn’t an accident.

Before kids and her marriage we had all kinds of fun together. Brandon was traveling, so my evenings were free and lonely. We took yoga classes, went out to dinner afterwards, and occupied the leather couches at Starbucks, before they were on every corner.

We did THIS to Alex:

April tried earnestly to save me from myself and always made sure I had great haircuts and better shoes. The woman knows styling products like no other and is the closest thing to a female Tim Gunn that I know. We had a great time and then life got in the way and we got busy and lost touch.

Cue Facebook.

I was thrilled she found me. I was excited to catch up with her to see where life had taken her. She’s had a very interesting few years and has emerged a completely different person. She’s still wickedly funny, incredibly intelligent, and more stylish than ever. I’m glad to have her back.

We talked until midnight, which did nothing for my new sleep routine, but I woke up feeling just fine this morning. Completely worth it.

Neither Sick nor Tired...

My friend Robyn just about broke my heart with her comment on my last post. It honestly never occurs to me that anyone reads this, let alone misses it when I don’t write. So Robyn, at least for you, I promise to make a concerted effort with the blog.

I’m just about to wrap up shooting for the year. After Thanksgiving, things slow down considerably. Unless a new baby arrives, no one is very interested in having portraits taken in the dead of winter. This works well for me and my Christmas-crazed family. Aside from “my column” and shooting feature stories for “the paper,” my life is about to get a lot less complicated.

In couldn’t come at a better time. The last couple of weeks I’ve woken feeling terrible. I’ve had a headache, was nauseous, and felt as though I had a fever, when the thermometer I stuck in my ear every hour on the hour told me otherwise. I was whining about it to my friend Dawn who reminded me I’m not getting any younger and maybe it was part of the aging process. Dawn also mentioned I might just need more sleep.

I’ve been able to function well on seven hours for years. In fact, my body usually wakes up once I’ve hit the seven hour mark. My routine lately has been to serve dinner, clean up the kitchen, give Meredith a bath, read to each child, tuck them in, and come downstairs to start editing and writing. I had no problem staying alert until about 11:00 p.m. and then going to bed.

At least once or twice in the night, someone will wake up with an odd request. Normally it’s Meredith, but when Brandon is home he mumbles in his sleep and snores subliminal messages. Really, I’m not kidding. So, I probably don’t get a full night’s rest on any given night, but who does?

The night before last, I decided to try something different. After I put the kids to bed, I didn’t come downstairs to “work.” Instead, I climbed into bed at 8:15 p.m., watched a couple of hours of TV, and went to sleep at 10:00 p.m. Guess what? I woke up without feeling the slightest bit puny.

The scary part? Meredith told me yesterday that she came into my room in the middle of the night and asked me several times if she could use some lotion. She tried to rouse me, but I slept through the entire episode. Evidently she also took a trip downstairs to get new underwear out of the dryer and I didn’t hear a peep. Yikes! I’m a light sleeper and thought I heard every peep my children make, but I was horrified to realize that isn’t the case. I told Meredith that scared me and she said, “Oh geez, if I really needed you, I would have wiggled you OR done a cannon ball on your bed!” Good to know.

I’m chipping away at processing my sessions and writing a few stories here and there. They want me to shoot every cheerleader, artist, and ballerina in Hamilton county at 5:00 p.m. on the other side of town. When Sarah Palin comes to town at 2:00 p.m. on a Thursday, do they need me? Nope. I’m learning to say “No,” when I need to and so far I still have nearly all my hair.

Drowning in Fulfillment...

You might be wondering where I was. Or more likely, you’re busy and don’t give a second thought to why I haven’t updated in over a week. Regardless, following is an explanation of my absence.

“I’VE BITTEN OFF MORE THAN I CAN CHEW!”

Since I last wrote I became a “columnist,” (at least temporarily), we spent Fall Break in Chicago, I became a “staff photographer,” (maybe even more temporary) and I’ve been photographing more children than I knew existed. ‘Tis the season, and it’s not even THE season.

Several (three people) asked how the whole columnist thing came about. The short version is, I got annoyed with the lifestyle columnist in our weekly community paper. “The paper” comes in everyone’s mail; so in essence, we’re all forced to subscribe. It isn’t exactly the WSJ. ANYWAY…I threw caution to the wind, e-mailed the editor, and sheepishly directed him to this blog. Viola, 48 hours later they went to press with my first column.

At some point during those 48 hours we left for Chicago. (An hour and a half late, because I was writing a column and waiting for the dryer to churn out enough clean socks for our family.) We met some friends from college and their kids at LegoLand and then went out to dinner. We stayed in Schaumburg that night…The kids were fascinated by the indoor pool…I was repeatedly admonished for forgetting to bring their goggles…I had to share a bed with Meredith…long story.

Saturday we drove into the city and went to the Shedd Aquarium. Great visit until Meredith fell in love with a stuffed beluga whale and followed us around sobbing for the next 45 minutes. We waited all day to see their new animal encounters show. We went a half an hour early to get seats. At the start of the show, they informed us they were having technical difficulties and the show was cancelled. They offered to bring out the dolphins, whales, penguins and birds anyway. The animals all revolted, missed their marks, and perched in artificial trees that couldn’t support their weight.

When we left the aquarium, it was pouring down rain and we were parked a long way away. Everyone but me changed clothes in a parking garage and we went out for pizza in the middle of the afternoon. After stuffing ourselves, the boys went to the Lego Store on Michigan Ave. Alex eats, sleeps, and drinks around his Lego building schedule. Meredith and I walked to The American Girls Store.

According to Meredith, “Kit forgot to pack her shoes.” We couldn’t have Kit padding around the dirty streets barefoot. (I’m expected to ignore the fact that Kit’s plastic legs lack skeletal muscles.) Kit NEEDED shoes.

I was prepared for another beluga whale incident. I have a hard time controlling myself in that store, so I really don’t expect a four year old not to go bananas with want. Meredith couldn’t have been better. I told her we would be getting one outfit and for the most part, she stuck to it, much to my surprise.

As we were walking to the store she said, “I think I might get Kit an outfit AND a nightgown. She needs pajamas.” I explained that Daddy would get mad. We could only buy ONE outfit. She looked at me, wrinkled her nose and said, “We can keep a secret,” while gesturing between us. Brandon closed three accounts when I recounted the story.

We took the kids to Orange for brunch before leaving town. I had eaten there one other time and it was good and most importantly, kid friendly. I’m an Ann Sather’s loyalist, so it’s hard for me to break away. (You’re shocked I skipped cinnamon rolls aren’t you Beckman?!) However, Orange his “fruishi,” which is “sushi” made out of fruit. If you added a side of blue cheese, you would mesh all of Alex’s favorite foods into one treat. I didn’t want him to miss it.

We left town after brunch and made it home well in time to carve pumpkins and trick or treat. I’m going to annoy a lot of people, but we didn’t hit ANY traffic the entire trip. We did not sit idle on any freeway at any time. It was amazing and somewhat eerie. I kept knocking on the faux wood of the dash every time I mentioned how minimal the traffic was.

We trick or treated with the Staperts. The kids raked in the candy. Someone had a full bar set up on their driveway! I had a rum and Coke and a renewed enthusiasm for Halloween. Afterwards, we built a fire in the driveway, made s’mores, and drank cider with the neighbors. The plan was to come back to our house and let the kids trick or treat on our street, but they all decided they’d rather play football!

This week has just been crazy. I’ve written another column and photographed several events and people for “the paper.” I’m not sure it’s going to work out very well with my schedule. They also want me to write about actual news, and I’m not sure that’s my strong suit. I told the editor I’m much closer to Bombeck than Woodward and that may not be what the paper needs. We’ll see…I’m not going to hire a cleaning lady just yet. Although I NEED to!

In between unpacking, laundry, shuffling kids, writing, and editing, I’ve crammed in several photo sessions. Everyone wants Christmas card photos. It’s great for business, but not my sanity. I’ve never been this backed up with editing and I don’t like making clients wait for their images. It’s a good problem to have, I just need to manage my time better and keep the bowl of M&M’s out of arm’s reach.

This coming week promises to be more of the same, so updates might be few and far between, but I’m working on it, I promise! Bear with me!