Friday, February 29, 2008

Greatest Best Friend Ever!

My best friend, Heidi got me the sweetest late B-Day gift ever! Concert tickets to see the Foo Fighters at Key Arena this July!! Wow! I'm floored that she'd do this because she isn't even a huge fan haha :)

Thanks Heidi! We're going to have a blast!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Final word...

Here's the letter I recieved from my contact at Borders. Looks like due to cutting costs, they won't be able to accept me as their event photographer... but at least he had some nice words to share. Here is his letter:

"Hi Christine, I work with Caroline and I know you and she have been talking about bringing you in for the GM Meeting in Orlando to have you take pictures.

Unfortunately I have bad news. Moreso than for any other GM Meeting I can remember, they are restricting the number of non-GMs attending in order to keep travel and hotel costs down. What that means is that I've been directed to hire a local Orlando-area photographer.

As a former professional photographer way-back-when, I want you to know that I am VERY impressed with your work and am very sorry I can't bring you in for this event to show everyone what you can do.

I'm always pushing to have one of these meetings in the Seattle area so maybe another time.

Thanks for understanding, take care, and good luck."

This also means that I have to return the mac... =(

Well, it's on to the next big thing, eh? :)

Friday, February 22, 2008

A reconsideration

A few things to note that I've learned...

The internet does not cause bad parenting.
Getting out of the house and playing makes being a parent more fun :)

The last few days that I've had off, we've been able to get out of the house and do stuff. While, it's exhusting and occasionally frustrating (especially when we're getting ready to leave -.-) it's been worthwhile. I know, it sounds like I don't take him places usually... I tend to be a homebody but now that spring is nearly here, it's much easier to get outside and play. It's also easier when you have a friend that comes along too with her own kid :)

Anyhow, I wanted to share that.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Maybe cold-turkey isn't my thing

Yeah, I'm not disciplined. :) But I have managed to control my time a little better. Yesterday, Heidi and I took the boys to the Children's Museum in Tacoma. This is the second time we've gone and Jamie absolutely loved climbing the wall! He worked up quite a sweat going up and jumping down. Afterwards, we picked up Parker from school and headed over to a park for more picture taking and swing time. All in all, it was a good day. :)

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Hi I'm Christine and I'm a internetaholic

Today was just one of those days where I felt like the naked truth just smacked me in the face. It's hard to describe except I feel I'm falling short. Like I can't keep up with all the things I feel are important. I set expectations for myself and I can't seem to even meet them. It's true, I don't list my most vunerable expectations for the world to see. Only I know how I want things. And I know I can't make them met. There's always...something. Something that stands in my way whether it be work, where I live, how much (or little) money I make, my own personality, my limited knowledge, and ultimately; my patience & dicipline.

My first let down I feel is probably is my skill as a mother. There's much room for improvement. First off, I know I can do better but what's standing in my way? Distractions; the internet, sleep, work, my own want to do things alone... I'm throwing all of my faults for the world to see here. I spent too much time on the internet. I turn on the computer almost as soon as I wake up, check my email/flickr and then I'll spend hours upon hours browsing photography blogs, family blogs, looking at meaningless things-really. Jamie will most likely spend more than a few hours watching Curious George or PBS Kids while playing with his legos and cars. He's generally pretty good about letting me do some stuff on the computer but I know I start to push my limits when the obnoxious behaviour starts. I'll find myself yelling at him to stop climbing on me or telling him to 'hold on a sec,' while I look/read something else. It's true... I think it's an addiction. Seriously. I find myself getting angry at myself because I'm not more like so-and-so's mom who's apparently superwoman and can do no wrong. Sure, her house is probably just as messy as mine but I'm more jealous about the things that she has that matter most to ME. I don't really care about a clean house that's tastefully decorated or elaborately cooked dinners that are healthy. I care about the fact that she has a bottomless compacity for patience, creativity, intelligence, TIME, and this boldness that gets her what she wants. I want to be more like that. But when the time comes and I should be busting out the preschool worksheets I end up in my computer chair; drooling over the latest photography toy that costs too much yet I really, really want it and hey- that's what credit cards are for....
The intention of my lastest post wasn't to rant about my downfalls as a mother, honestly. I really want to make an attempt to be better. I understand that I can't be "her", that other mother that I admire from afar, but I can try to be a better me. The idea of shelving the internet for a month seriously bothers me. Seriously! But I think that's what I want my next goal to be. I think this is probably one of the biggest things holding me back from being a better, more in-tuned mother for Jamie. So starting tomorrow, I'm not turning on my computer. I don't expect emails on the weekends anyway. The only email I'm waiting for is the one from Borders Corporate and that shall be my ONLY reason for firing up the PC. And checking my online banking for my balances. Once the check is through, I'll shall promptly shut things down and resume my quest for being on the road to a better person. Yeah... scary. This means no checking flickr, all those 20something blogs I frequent everyday, myspace (kind of a waste of time anyway and been thinking of quitting), blogger, and of course... instant messenger (another curse!).
So please, be advised... if you need to get ahold of me, call me or come over. You may leave me an email at pookiechristine@msn.com since that's the only email I'll be checking for a month.
Wish me luck!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Poor Jamie





Jamie was sick from 2am till 6am last night, puking every 30 minutes =( I checked his temp and it was normal. We think he suffered food poisoning possibly from McDonalds since it seemed that his body was trying to get rid of whatever it was that was inside his body. As of now, he seems back to his old self. He's a little afraid to eat though... :)

Friday, February 8, 2008

Narbles

You know those toys you can buy at Target or Toys R' Us with the tunnels and slides meant for marbles? I used to have one that I shared with my brothers; hours of fun. We bought something similar to that (I say similar because it slightly different in the sense that you need a degree in rocket science to put together!!) about 6 months ago. Once you followed the intensive guide to sliding the pieces and creating a layout, you were assured hours of fun; just like when you were little. Now that months have passed, the marble set has been dismantled and the pieces are ... I have no clue where. Jamie's facination lies with the 'narbles'. In fact, we had a choking scare a few months back where we feared he swallowed one. Turns out he was probably feeding of excess excitment over the panic and said yes, indeed he ingested the 'narble.
As I sit here now, I'm hoping he'll forget about the 'narbles he asked for earlier. After the incident, Mike put the marbles away and now we don't know where they're at. Just understand, Jamie is a persistent child. And yes, I've tried to correct how he says marbles :P Ahh but it's too cute sometimes.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Lets build a beanstalk

Just bits and pieces of mine and Jamie's conversation on the way home from preschool...

"Mama, let's make a beanstalk,"
"Okay, how do you do that?" I asked, to prompt him to think.
"You use beans," then after a long pause, "and you put them in the dirt,"
"uh huh...you're right"
"like trees...and grass,"
"that's right, like trees and grass."
"and cars."
I turned and looked at his grinning face.
"No, I don't think you can grow cars from seeds..."
"A house? With the rain?"
"I wish."

Sunday, February 3, 2008

I got a date!

This weekend my mom offered to take Jamie with her while she visited my grandma. Mike and I decided it would be a good time to use up our gift certificates to Claim Jumpers and Regal Cinemas.
My boss only scheduled me until 3pm today so Mike and I agreed upon leaving as soon as I got home and started our long drive towards Tukwila. Claim Jumpers is a western style restaurant with steaks, ribs and rotessersori chicken... melt-in-your-mouth chicken, I might add. Once we were stuffed we headed out towards Fry's Electronics in Renton. I wanted to check out their prices for Microsoft Home Office software and pick up an extra battery charger for my camera. We also browsed through the aisles of video games; PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii's. I think Mike is still settled upon his PS3 but he was musing about the benefits of playing a wii with Jamie. At this point, we thought it would be wise if we left as soon as possible.
We decided to watch Juno and got to the theatre about a half hour early. This is really a cute film... I've heard it compared to Knocked Up but tamer. Mike even seemed to enjoy the clever dialogue between the charactors and funny/embarrassing moments. All and all, it was a fantastic date. :)