Really cool and not so cool...

I can't believe I haven't posted about this before...I entered some photos I took in a "contest" of sorts to be on display at an area hospital and had two of them chosen!

Here are the pics that were chosen:




Here is he email I received telling me mine were chosen:

Dear Renay Valiant,



Congratulations! Your photo has been selected to be displayed at Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Your participation in Photos for Health will help to create a healing and welcoming environment for patients, families, health care professionals, and the community Clarian Health serves. Thank you for taking the time to submit your photography, it will be appreciated for many years to come.

To view your selected photo, click here.

You are invited to a preview tour of Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Many of the photos will be displayed in non-public areas of the IU Simon Cancer Center. This is your opportunity to go behind the scenes and view your framed photography. We will also have a special gift for you.

When: Saturday, July 26, 2008 3-5 p.m.
Where: Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center
535 Barnhill Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46202

We are interested in learning more about your experience with Photos for Health. When you RSVP, please let us know if you are interested in sharing your story with us.

RSVP to Tara Henderson with the number of people in your party so we can prepare for your arrival:
(317) 938-9026 or email thenderson@jacquelineanderson.com

Thank you again for your beautiful submissions!

Sincerely,

The Photos for Health Team


Isn't that really cool? I was pretty excited as the sunflowers really do have a "story". TJ and I planted them back when we lived on the South side and we watched them grow and develop and become beautiful. Sunflowers are really cool flowers! I am honored that my pics may be seen by those who are in some of the deepest waters of their lives-facing cancer.



Now for the not-so cool:

Owen.

Need I say more? I mean really-Kara can vouch for me-he was a lunatic this morning. It all started out just fine. He sweetly ate breakfast-even used is manners by saying "eat" and "please". But, when I went to wash him off, it all went down hill from there. His PT was coming and I just knew he was not going to come out of this "fit" easily. So, we worked with him and worked with him. We discussed that maybe it was gas or something. He literally SCREAMED for an hour solid. She finally said, have you talked with his physician about these behavioral issues? BEHAVIORAL ISSUES...what? You can't be serious!!! What behavioral issues...this is just how Owen is. He can get frustrated sometimes because he's a baby and can't communicate his needs in a way in which we understand!

So, I thought-I'll show her behavioral issues...Owen, does your belly hurt? And the kid shook his head YES!!! I gave him some mylicon and told her it seemed like we should cut things short today-hhmmmph! Then when she left, I was rubbing his back and such and thought-he feels a little warm...101.5 temp! Behavioral issues...???

Walgreens, Chick-fil-A, and much more!

Walgreens Grand Opening:



It's finally here! Today was the GRAND OPENING of Tim's new Creasy Lane/Pavillions Location Walgreens-here in good ole Lafayette! Yay! It's been a lot of work (I say that as if I know;-), but well worth it.




Me and the boys arrived at the store this morning just before 8am to be the "first customers". TJ had his heart set on it...he had his two bucks and lemonheads in hand ready to purchase as the clock was striking 8am...

We were greeted by the FABULOUS Beauty Adviser Kara...


See? He really was ready with his lemonheads in hand...

Oh and here's some happy photo specialists ready to print your pictures with love and care;-)




...but here we are at 10 after 8 or so and uh-oh...


the registers are not working. This put a damper on the shopping;-( They couldn't open the doors, since there was no way to ring up orders so we waited...and I took some pictures:










...and we waited...and I took some more pictures...









...and finally, we left empty handed.

Tim was handling it all very well and had all the tech guys you can imagine working to fix the situation.

A call came around noon, so we rushed back to the store...



...still hoping to be the first customers... As we arrived he was turning on the automatic doors and taking down the "opening soon" signs;-)










TJ rushed in and ended up with over $7 worth of loot (thanks dad-that two bucks turned into a twenty!). Zach, the front cashier, cheerfully rang him up. We quickly noted that "Zach" reminded us of my baby bro Zach with his same name, baby face and BIG hair;-)

All in all, it was a fun, but LONG morning. FYI Milk is pretty cheap there and there are also coupons at the registers for free film developing.

I'm so glad to have Tim so close to home and a Walgreens so close to us!

Another fun fact, I was the first RX filled in the pharmacy...easy pay rocks!;-) He, he.




Chick-fil-A:

You all know how much I LOVE chick-fil-A, right? I do-I love them. I could eat there daily- I think;-) Anyway, last week while prepping for the garage sale and working on the boys rooms (see below), my sis Heather and I decided to get drive-thru from there for dinner. I had our whole order for the 2 of us and our 5 kiddos and when I got to the drive-thru register, they rang the bell and informed me I was the 100th customer-wa-whoooO!!! It was like $30 worth of food ALL FREE!!!

I felt like I had won the lottery! It was very cool and so not my "luck".

On the note of free food, for those of you who live in the area, tomorrow (Thursday) they have a promo again where you should save your receipt and return ANY day in August for the same value-it's like a buy one get one deal! I'm thinking breakfast, lunch, and dinner;-)



Not-so patriotic pictures of the boys:

I tried to get the boys professionally photographed weeks ago and ran out of time to recap the experience for you. Here, this about sums it up...









Notice my couch? Yep, that's about as professional as we got as Owen was having no part of it and might I add, I felt less than patriotic that day! It was miserable! Owen is definitely ANTI photos right now. Need less to say, I got pretty much zilcho (except a big ole headache and one less vote for mom of the year) out of the morning-ugh!


Room Make-overs:

I am (actually my sis Heather is) doing the boys separate rooms with fun themes. TJ is now in the former play-room and has a cool beach/nautical theme. Jake is in the former office and has a FUN Jungle/monkey theme. When they are all done, I'll post pics...I wish I'd taken before pictures;-( Owen is still in his old room and it has no theme. Currently, a theme that would work well would be naughty or monsters;-)



Failed cookies:

I made cookies yesterday. I used Tim's recipe (which is like bakery quality cookies) and followed it exactly. I was about to dump in some chocolate chips when I thought to check the package ingredient list...did you know many chocolate chips are processed in facilities were nuts are present, thus they are not peanut allergen friendly? This holds true for m&m's too. So, I had to use mini hershey's kisses for a portion of the cookies to make them nut allergy free. I had the butter sitting out while I went to the store and whipped them up when I got back-apparently, too soft of butter is a very bad thing as they just didn't hold their form well. But, they tasted fine;-).



Sleepy head:

Here's a couple of pics of my "not-so photogenic lately" sleepy head baby...




Ian Ziering watch out (only true 90210 lovers have a clue here;-)






New Stroller #2:

Here are pics of attempt #2 at a stroller that works. If I was working out right now, I'd know if it was going to work out or not;-) Owen liked it ok (the one tie he was in it).





Cheesy Potatoes:

Jacob loves a good ole baked potato with butter and cheese melted on it. Well, when we were at the store he BEGGED for some over priced russets and I gave in as I like myself a good ole baked potato every now and then too. It's a good thing I give in every now and then, as he sved me from making a meal that was supposed to be chicken and noodles AND mashed potatoes...I forgot to add the potatoes to the grocery list ans thus would've been sadly without the potatoes had he not insisted we get them. Thanks Jake!

Random pics:









Whew...that was a lot. Maybe I should update more than once per week, eh?

Observations from a garage sale...

It's Saturday morning...it's 8:27am. It's raining...make that POURING. My foreclosure neighbor has her garage door open and things EVERYWHERE. I would so take a picture if it wouldn't get me punched. Stuff all over the driveway-junk. It seriously appears that a tornado blew through her garage. Yet people are stopping...in the rain. I'm slow...as in my garage sale business is slow;-( But, in all fairness, I have been CRAZY blessed with sales the past few days and we got rid of tons, TONS of stuff. We have just a little more I would *LOVE* to get rid of...but, it doesn't appear to be in the cards. Oh well.

So, I was up at 6:30 due to my dreaded alarm-ugh. Also my hubby's alarm:-( Double ugh. He said something to me as he was leaving-but in my sleepy stupor, I don't know what t was-anyway, point is, it made me get up and I looked outside because I thought I heard thunder. The sky was crazy weird. The sun was trying to peak through the clouds (it was 6:45am at this point) and the phone rings...what? Who calls at this hour? It was Tim and he told me to look out the window for a beautiful rainbow-it really was and how strange so early in the am. I went to the front windows to see insane shoppers out already-triple ugh! Crazy...seriously insane. Who gets up at 6am to shop at garage sales that don't open until 8am???

So, I rushed down to open mine but it was not worth my effort, nor lack of shower...uh, on second thought,-maybe that's why no one is shopping here;-) He, he.

So, I've noticed a few things from these garage sale days...

1) If it's marked 50 cents, people will ask if you'll take a quarter-so annoying. Sometimes, if you say no, they will still buy it.

2) People will *lie* to get things...weird things. Like some dude buys a skimmer and pays the measly $3 and then as he's walking out says "Will ya throw in this fire truck for my God-son?"...I was baffled and grinned and he walked off with it and said, I don't even have a God-son... weird.

3) Smokers can be "polite"...I had one fella that walked up (but I didn't see him walk up) and then when he walked out, he picked up his lit cig (yes, from in the rain and wet grass) and puffed his heart out as he walked away. Now, you may not get what I'm saying here, but the point is, I find many smokers don't try to be super polite around non-smokers and I'm a VERY NON-SMOKER...it was refreshing that he went to such lengths to NOT smoke near my home;-) Thanks smoker dude;-) I really appreciate it!

4) People (me included) think their junk is worth a lot ... way more than junk is worth. I know, I know-one mans junk is another mans treasure-but it's the diamond in the rough principle-for the most part.

5) Apparently, people can look at my garage, from a good 30 feet away (while driving by) and decide whether or not I'm worth shopping at Others can walk up to the edge of my garage, glance and be done shopping. Here's a tip: come on in, you may find something you want-especially since you got up at 6am and came out in the rain!;-)

6) Toddlers don't like to garage sale in the rain. Enough said.

7) Why do people come to sales, find something marked 50 cents, ask if you'll take 25 cents, and then pay for their entire 25 cent total with a $20-seriously? Why?

8) If it's in sight, it might be for sale...example: my garage has bikes and such visible-it's incredible the number of people who ask if the things that I would have to break my neck to get out are for sale.

9) It's surprising how many people come back 2 or 3 times.

10) It's nearly impossible to keep price tags on things. I had a very creative method this time to attempt to insure no "switcheroos" but even with my ingenuity, people managed to mysteriously not find price tags. On my pampered chef stuff this was no problem as I had a terrific excel spread sheet ready for price quotes (in the event a tag was MIA).

All in all, in closing. Garage sales are a ton of work and stress and time. But, it was well worth it and I'm glad I did it (and that so many of you supported the cause;-).

Hope you enjoyed this silly post;-)

*Shameless Plug*

I'm nearly ready for the sale of all sales...

Are you ready?

GOOD! Then PLEASE come and check out my sale! I'll be available starting at 10am Thursday, and 8am Friday and Saturday.

I'm in Saddlebrook and it's our subdivisions annual sale (but only on Saturday for the entire SubD).

The amount of PC items I have is ludicrous...seriously-it's just wrong. Please come help make it right;-)

Oh my!

Here it is 3am on day 3 of my crazy 5 day work stretch and I've just realized I forgot to "blog" Owen's 20 month "entry"!!!

He's such a cutie (in a Jekyll and Hyde kinda way;-)... At the MD's office he weighed in at a hefty 18 pounds 12 ounces-or was it 14 ounces...whateva;-). He was somewhere in the 29 inch range. Unfortunately, he was being his beastly self and would NOT hold still to be measured properly. After 3 attempts and 3 diff numbers, we threw in the towel. None-the-less he is growing-albeit slowly.

He's into saying "No" in the cutest whiny voice. Here's an example... "Owen, will you give me a kiss?" says his wishful momma. "Noooooo" in the sweetest whiny voice you can imagine.

Here's a huge prayer request: Owen's legs have been bowing worse and worse for sometime...he wears orthotics to help with his toe walking and pronation issues (arches roll in)...anyway, I'm concerned and his PT concurred that it is time to call on the specialist. So, his pedi saw him Thursday when he was weighed and measured and while I *think* he was trying to make me feel better, he confused me. He said he believes Owen should see an Orthopedic MD in Indy, but that his issues are CNS (central nervous system) related vs musculoskeletal...whatever. So, it's not something easy to fix is what I gathered and more therapy is in our futures.

So, I'm trying to not worry, yet I have natural mommy uneasiness, ya know?

Anyway, Owen has now cut 11 teeth (6 on top, 5 on bottom). He is saying more words. And that's really about it in Owen's busy baby life.

Now, for an announcement about me: I have decided to take a position at a NEW hospital opening up in our area (one mile from our house) in the fall. I have everything all worked out-all the boys will be taken care of through our Church Ministry for childcare/after school programs and I am very excited about this opportunity. I will work days and be more than PRN, which is what I am now. This is very exciting so please also pray that all works out with the transition of the hospital opening/and the boys acclimating to not having momma around every moment.

Tim also is starting at a new Walgreens location come Monday morning and that is very exciting too. He'll be all of 5 minutes from our home as well! It should be a great store and everything is looking up for the Valiant's!

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!!!

This and that...

That's what I've been up to-a little of this and a little of that. I had tons of stories to share and tales to tell...but I'm drawing a bit of a blank.

Let's see-first I 'll mention that things have been very busy for me and will only get busier. I work a bunch this week (like seriously tomorrow thru next Monday 60 hours) and have a couple projects I'm working on (we split the boys up-they shared one room and now each has their own and I'm doing TJ's in a cute beach theme and Jake's in a cute jungle theme -no ideas for Owen yet). Lastly, as if all this wasn't enough I am preparing for the biggest garage sale ever. Since I have cooled my Pampered Chef business and am doing all this purging around the house I have a garage full of stuff to sell.

On this note, here's the details of the BIG sale! For you local readers: PLEASE tell everyone you know! My subdivision (Saddlebrook) is having our annual sale Saturday July 12th 7-2. Since I have so much stuff and so much if it is new in the box PC, I am having a presale for friends, etc on Friday. I don't know when yet but I'm flexible (I hope) if you want to get in on the deals before the general public. I literally have hundreds of Pampered Chef products ALL new (and some used only for demos, etc). I also have tons of general consultant and director materials which would be good for anyone in any home based sales line-especially directors! I obviously don't have all the pricing done (actually, none of it;-) but I'm thinking most everything will be at least 40% off retail and lots of stuff even 75% off or more. I have an entire office to purge-a whole big room worth of stuff! Plus, lots and lots of baby and kid stuff too!

If you have anything you need, let me know and I'll check to see if I have it on hand and can always set it aside for ya;-)

Ok, that was a shameless plug but whatever;-)

I didn't tell you all how my trash man yelled at me a couple weeks ago. I wrote a blog post/letter to him but didn't post it because I didn't think it was the best witness to him. Anyway, the gist is, he did not take all of our garbage one week so the next week we had more than the allotted amount (whatever). So I called him (twice) to warn him and ask if it was ok. He never returned my call. So on trash day I hear the truck and run to the window. A man is at my curb (literally) thrashing my trash around. He dumped only one can and left the rest...as he was about to pull away, I mustered up the courage to ask why he wouldn't take it. HE YELLED "I'm in the trash business, not landscaping business! I've been doing you a favor for weeks by hauling your (landscaping)trash around and I'm not making money on you!" Blah, blah, blah. I try to sheepishly explain that I was confused and didn't know what he was talking about and how I had called his boss to ask him to take this larger load this week, etc. He says he didn't get any calls. Light bulb moment-this fella yelling at me, also who wears no shirt week, after week, is the OWNER! You really must be kidding me. Is this how one acts when they are the owner of a small business (or dresses?). So I fired him on the spot and he said "Good"...

Well, good riddens too, I say Mr ***** to bad rubbish! Fooey on you!

I had to find someone who would come later that day and take what Mr ***** wouldn't.

Thanks to ASAP hauling for their terrific service and taking care of us. He even gave me $10 off since I told him what happened with the trashy, I mean "trash man". I'd recommend ASAP hauling any day-the other guy-not so much.

On a good customer service note, I would like to tell you about my great find of the STROLLOMETER. Remember I've been on this health kick (or was;-) and was also looking for a new stroller. You may remember, I got a new stroller recently (which I actually had to return because it had major alignment issues-so sad;-( anyway while researching strollers I happened across this strollometer info and thought it looked worth trying. So, unfortunately there was a small magnet the item came with (which is how it knew how far/fast I went) but since I had to return it I didn't know what I should do (ie take the magnet off and try to reapply to the new stroller or purchase some more somehow-BTW, it actually came with 3 magnets and even though I used only 1, the boys are to blame for the MIA status on the extras). Ok so I'm getting to the point: I emailed the company and within minutes I rec'vd a reply email asking for my address so the OWNER (who I bet wears a shirt while working;-) could send me replacements. I replied with my address and my appreciation and she replied once more to ask if I wanted help with choosing the location for the new stroller (I'd need to reply again with the brand I bought). She replied with diagrams and other details and I was so impressed I am telling you all. It's a tremendous product and a mom designed it. I've received my replacement magnets and am just waiting on my new stroller. Thanks STROLLOMETER! You rock!

I'm having some issues right now...my issues are with animals...specifically RABBITS and CATS/possibly dogs. The latter is leaving a calling card in my kids gravel play area and the rabbits (evil creatures) are eating my beautiful flowers. I wonder if God is trying to tell me I'm too prideful about my landscaping.

Anyway, I found a product (Liquid fence) that is supposed to be da'bomb at keeping these critters away. I gleefully went around spraying all the foliage and the perimeter of the gravel area. I quickly noticed WHY animals would avoid the areas...STINKY! And when I say stinky, I really can not possibly convey to you how bad it was. The cat/dog spray wreaked of putrid rotten garlic-AND SO DID I...and so did the gravel...How on earth would the kids play there and not wreak as well. It was awful and the garage carried the stench (since the bottle is stored there) for days. I seriously couldn't deal with it. Even Tim couldn't stand it.

As for the rabbit spray-those (expletive omitted) rabbits ate the flowers I sprayed down to the ground like it was candy. I need to take pictures but honestly, I'm just too lazy. This stuff isn't cheap either so I'm returning both kinds and I'm on the search to keep these rude creatures away from my property. Any ideas (trusted tried and true) are welcome. Please no liquid fence advice as I just can't handle it;-)

Lastly, I have a new love affair. It's with Vera Bradley. If you aren't familiar with her, she makes LOVELY purses, wallets and luggage. I got a fabulous "Betsy" style "Daisy daisy" design purse and Daisy Daisy wallet with strap (thanks to Kristy's advice). I LOVE them and got compliments on them each the first time I used them. Even the gruff employee health nurse I mentioned over at my journey blog complimented my new Betsy! I highly recommend VERA! I'll even let her cheat on me with you;-)

Ok, that's really probably enough of this and that for now;-) If you don't see posts from me for a while, don't worry. I'll be back in a couple weeks if I must take a sabbatical.

Hugs!

All that I can say...

I had a fun post planned to share with you all today but I just don't have it in me...later hopefully.

Owen was up early...too early and I just wanted-needed more sleep. I've had bad news come my way so I'm just sad.

If you feel led, please listen to the words of the song I added to my playlist called "All that I can say" by The David Crowder Band.

I am mourning the loss of a childhood friends mother in a tragic car accident and the loss of a patient's twin infants.

I am so grateful that Owen was just wanting to cuddle with his momma this morning. At one point he looked up at me and kissed me on the lips. It was the sweetest thing and I believe he knew I needed extra love.

Storms, sleeping, and major cutie!

I have bunched of pictures that tell a good story (or at least A story) so I think I'll post in that manor this morning.

I woke up this morning to the gentle sounds of thunder off in the distance. Being that it was about 8:30 (I know, it's rough, but I try to manage), I just tried to lie there and enjoy the sounds. We haven't had much "gentle-rain" lately...all storms and craziness, so this was a very welcome sound. I thought to myself, that it really sounded like the Lord was having a heck of a game of bowling up in heaven;-).

So, I got up and got Owen out of bed and while sitting in the kitchen, the storm worsened (by the way, to save you any unnecessary excitement, this really isn't going anywhere great;-). Owen had the look of concern on his face as the sky grew dark and the winds and lightening strikes picked up. We even heard a little bit of hail on the windows. I, being the prudent mommy I am, got online to the Weather report. Hmmmm...no warnings, nothing. The main page for my zipcode said light rain and thunder (a bit of old news I thought to myself). I decided to take a peek at the radar...bingo!



Yeah, I think this could go on for a bit. So, to end a boring story, we woke up to some much needed rain. From the pics you can see the difference in how dark it was outside during the storm (same lighting and everything) to when it was over.



So, I have a friend, April, who is the queen of capturing her boys asleep with pictures. I am wanting to give her a run for her money with some recent sleeping boys pictures I have taken:






And the grand daddy of them all:







Yes, this is Owen sitting up sound ASLEEP! He loves to bunch his blankies up in his lap and sit and wait for me (while calling "Mom"). I had heard him, but was busy as it took me a few mintes to get to him and this is what I found-he had fallen back alseep cuddling his blankie;-) So sweet!

I got him a cute tee at Old Navy recently and he was so cute in it so I decided to try to get his picture-a feat in and of itself lately. Here's how I fared:





So, I'm striking out at home...hmmm...I'll try again at the t-ball game:








And finally...


I got the shot...no, you can't even read the shirt-but I declare, he's still Mom's Major Cutie!