The Great Monsturkey!

I must say first of all that I am thankful that husband bought the Big Green Egg and that I never complained about how much it cost. That being said I will now sing the ballad of the Carroll Thanksgiving.

aahh hemm (throat clearing)



Okay maybe not sing.. maybe I'll just write it.


I baked Wednesday night until about 1am. Apple Cake from a New York Times recipe. A pecan pie from Southern Living cookbook. Pecan pies make me nervous because my mom always made them so well. My first pecan pie ended up a huge mess in the oven because it had not cooked all the way and I took it out too quickly. SLOSH a sugary mess all over the hot oven. I have gotten better since. One year I made a chocolate pecan pie that was very sinful. But Wednesday night, I just made a down and dirty quick, normal pecan pie.

I woke husband up at 1am when I was finished so he could light the smoker and dress the turkey. All 27 pounds of it.

Since I am going to get teased for years about the size of this, I should explain that when I went to pick up my organic, newly dead, medium sized turkey last Saturday, the farm had run out of mediums. I told them I would be happy to settle for a small. We could fill up on sides. No smalls left. OH-KAY? Kim Alexander, in his matter of fact way, talked me into at large. He assured me it would fit in the smoker. He weighed it - 27.2 pounds. Kiddo weights 12 more pounds than the turkey.

Husband got the turkey on at 4am and went back to sleep. I woke up at 6:30 am, checked the smoker temp, got kiddo some milk and went back to bed. Husband was not in bed. He had gotten up to also check on the monsturkey.

I went for a walk, then he went for a run. While he was gone I put together the stuffing, while I was gone, he put together the sweet potatoes. By 12:30 we were ready to simply pop the food in the oven and go.

Then the power went out. We called the neighbors who were coming to eat with us. Their power was out as well but she had made her sides already (mostly). My other neighbor called. Her turkey was in the oven. She was drinking wine, waiting for the power to come back on. I invited her over if we didn't get power, figuring our monsturkey could feed the neighborhood.


About 2:15 the lights popped on. I turned on the oven. Threw in the stuffing and the sweet potatoes and got the water boiling for mashed potatoes. We were in business. I had secretly been hoping the power would not go on because I had visions of just noshing on turkey, bean salad from the neighbors and desserts.

Everyone came over. We prepared the rest of the dinner together. That was fun. Everyone had a job to do and we laughed and talked just like family. Kiddo had to use 2 hands to pick up his drumstick. We laughed quite a bit at that. We all ate way too much and had no room for dessert. We ate that later. We had a nice day and thanks to the Big Green Egg, a wonderful turkey. Anyone for leftovers? We'll be eating it until Christmas.

Smoking, Driving with a Rant

Okay Mr. Nissan Maxima who would not let me pass this morning on my way to work. I appreciate how you like to smoke on your way into work, but I do not. I cannot get away from your smoke as it filters in through my AC. Did you happen to notice that area along the road that was burnt to a crisp recently? Have you noticed that we have not had rain in the last month or so? Whatever would possess you to toss your still ignited butt out the window without a care in the world. The way your hand flicked the butt out the sliver in the window as it obviously had many time before. I watched the lit butt, glowing orange, throwing sparks as it hit the air. It bounced on the pavement and perhaps was driven over to be put out but maybe not. I honestly wish people would think about what happens when they throw lit butts out the window.

This morning was smokier than most, no sooner would I get away from one smoker, when I would be passed or pass another. I seemed to be surrounded in the morning commute by smokers. It would not be bad if it not come through the air conditioning, even it I have it on recycle interior air, it stills seems to worm its way into the car. If the but gets tossed at a light, and you happen to stop on it unknowingly? forget it, the smell is there the rest of the day.

I stil suspect that a pissed of mechanic worked on my truck and hid a butt in the engine somewhere. My truck smells like stale cigarette smoke at times and no one that I know who smokes has been in it.

Maybe my truck is haunted by the Marlboro Man.

Funky night things

The full moon the other night was beautiful but still more beautiful was the way it bounced off the clouds. I only had my point and shoot with me to capture it. I balanced the camera carefully on the roof of the car, held my breath and pressed the button. While it is grainy, I captured basically what I was seeing. I think I could have sat in an Adirondack chair on the front lawn and just watched the clouds moving for hours. Not possible in my world yet, but someday.

Then last night as I let the dogs in, I saw this brown blob moving across the front step on the porch. I saw it as I closed the door but then opened the door again to get a closer look. From far away, it looked like a moth or butterfly had a spider stuck to the back of its wing. On closer inspection, I saw that the back of the wing looked shredded. I am not sure if it supposed to be that way or not. Oh to have an entomologist at my disposal.

Holiday Photos

I decided that ripping on intern prospects more was not good karma so no more of that.

Fall is when folks start calling me for holiday portraits. I really love doing these. It gives me a chance to meet up with folks I see once a year. Although now I wonder why we see each other just once a year. I am going to have play dates with some of my clients and their kids this year.

Patience is key when doing family and kid portraits. Making toddlers do anything is like herding cats. You just need to let it flow. Get them started in an activity and then they forget they are being photographed. Bubbles are a favorite with me. Parents try to get their kids to smile, pose etc but that just makes kids grumpier. I also know that children usually last 30 min to an our for a shoot.

I know I should be charging more. I have gradually increased my rates. I will raise them next year but I think folks will understand. I make beautiful pictures and am worth it!

Intern Letters

We have a paid internship at the paper for a photographer. We are splitting up the portfolios and choosing the best of the 10 or so we are reviewing.

I made the mistake of actually reading the cover letters and autobiographies. Why they were asked (or maybe not asked) to sent an autobiography, I will never know. I am sure it must have said a SHORT autobiography. After all, when you are just out of college or about to be, how could you even have a long biography?

Here are some excerpts from some of them.

"Photojournalism requires passion (sometimes just talent). It is a challenging profession that demands nothing but the best from every assignment with constant critique and editing (which will get you defensive and pissed off). Workdays are long and often start and end when the rest of the town is asleep. (where did you work?) The stories that are told pull at your heartstrings causing an array of emotions: sadness, anger, frustration, elation, love, grief and hope. (until you get burnt out and really just to get some time off) It can be physically taxing balancing heavy equipment while lying in awkward positions to get the best angles and the best shots. (what?) Assignments can be dangerous, uncomfortable and dirty. I've only had a taste of this as a student, and I want more." (no really, if you want more of that you should become a cop)

" The INSERT PAPER NAME HERE'S commitment to excellence in journalism,the reputation of its photography/video department and the unrivaled work (we have no competitor) your publication produces are the reasons I want to work in your newsroom."

couple of paragraphs about experience here.

" Whether it's the compelling visual journalism of the photography and video department or the cutting edge multimedia projects for the website, The INSERT PAPER NAME HERE is doing the type of journalism I want to be a part of."

I know B.S. when I read it. REALLY.


More later when my eyes relax from all the rolling.

Burbling Stream of Thought

7am leave the house deliver the rest of the food drive flyers in my section. Stop at gas station to get a doughnut for kiddo because he got in the car on time this morning. Make good time to daycare. Back on the road at 7:50 to go into work, but the road is already crowded with veteran's day parade traffic.

work, work, work

Hour of P.T. stretching with Suzy. Pushed, pulled in an attempt to loosen up. I guess yoga would help but who has time? I love what she does and made another appt. for this Friday to work on the upper body. Goal? Loosen up so I can ride in comfort. Get rid of all the sore muscles from the accident.

Get to class and am thankful for the leftover salad in the journalism office. Ignore the pizza and make a big plate of salad. I sit on the floor in the hall outside of the classroom with one of my students eating my salad. The rest of the class shows up but the class before is not done yet. We hang out and talk. Class goes well. We end a bit early and I have 6 stragglers who want to stay and talk and hang out. These kids are great. They make me smile. I am glad that I have this class as my last.

Get to Central Market to meet Katie, Will and kiddo. Chat a bit and hit the road.

Got to bake a cake for the work bake sale. Apple cake. I remember this in the morning and pray that I remember it again when we get home. I do, but I am not sure if we have all the ingredients. I found everything, good. Plop kiddo in front of Noggin and get crackin. Cake in oven. Good.

Kiddo takes a quick bath, talks to Daddy on speaker phone in the tub. Then wants to hang out in our bed for awhile. We play. I finally get him to bed, put on Al Stewart for him (or me) and hang some more with him in his bed.

Back downstairs to get cake out of the oven. I decide not to make cookies too. Too much. Was I overscheduled as a child? Is this a carry over? Or do I just like to keep this insane pace. I am going to crawl into bed now.

Another Trip to Home Depot

I must admit, I am going to be very happy when Lowe's opens near our house. I liked it even before my dad worked there. I always find what I need and staff is easier to find as well. I suspect that McCoy's is going to go out of business with it being next door but maybe the builders will keep going there.

So the other day I noticed our toilet seat was coming off. It was broken from where it swings up and down. I course I am suspect that it comes from the men of the house slamming the seat down after they use it. Then I think to myself that only the little one does that, the big one leaves it up. I decide I will do nothing and keep an eye on it. It is in the only bathroom downstairs so it does get a fair amount of use. I really didn't think it would break after only 8 years though.

Then Ludim and her sister came to clean last week. I was close by and I heard the lid go up. Then shortly after, I heard a clatter that I thought must be the seat falling off completely. I didn't run in to see because I did not want to embarrass Ludim and her sister. I sat there listening to see if I could hear anything in Spanish that would indicate broken or toilet. I did not, they really are not in my Spanish vocabulary, although they should be. After awhile I passed through the kitchen and Ludim told me the seat broke. Ah yes, I acknowledged, it was on the way out. I think I'll go to Home Depot now.

There were plenty of choices there and of course no one to help. I knew we have round bowls because the oblong ones make me feel like I am in an institution of some sort. Round toilet seats seem homier somehow. I look at the wooden seats, the hard plastic seats and THEN...I see it....A seat the somehow will not slam. I test the lid. It gently falls to the seat. I test the seat. It too falls quietly. It IS plastic and might be flimsy. I notice it does have a lifetime guarantee. Yeah, who really saves the Home Depot receipt for a toilet seat but it does get me to buy it.

It takes me a few days to have time to install it. I figured the boys cold deal with no seat. I managed. I installed it with little trouble. Tried it out and decided it was a good buy. Comfy, quiet and it can be taken off easily for cleaning! Bonus!

Toddler invasion!!

This was my weekend of paybacks. Paybacks for all the wonderful friends who watch kiddo when I am working, injured or relaxing.

Saturday morning Mitchell came over. He is three, a year younger than kiddo. He will will be good for Kiddo to know as they grow older. Mitchell is a tough kid who is fearless. Being afraid just never seems to cross his mind. He came over with his parents, who where looking at family pictures I took of them last weekend. They were amazed at how sweet and good he looked in the photos. He got into the shoot because he got some attention and he got to be with Mom and Dad at the same time.

Saturday afternoon kiddo and I went to Michael's house. They played there while Michael's mom and I did horse stuff. They have a huge pile of sand that the boys love to drive truck in. I think they could stay there for hours. I need to get one before he grows out of that stage. (When he does, I'll put compost on it and have a raised bed garden with good drainage.)

The plan was for the boys to play and then come to our house to eat dinner and have a sleep over. The boys decided they were starving so Michael's dad made them dinner. I loaded them up in the car and we began the night.

Kiddo wanted to watch a movie and of course M agreed. however, M was not really interested in watching a movie so he dumped out the blocks and began to build. Kiddo joined in and the movie was forgotten. They got into the Halloween candy (my mistake) and got a little crazy. I decided to calm them down by giving them a bath. They had fun playing in the tub. They seemed calm enough when they came out. In fact Kiddo was ready for bed. M wanted to sleep in Kiddo's Thomas the Tank engine bed, unfortunately so did kiddo. We popped up the Thomas tent and made a bed in there. Well, then M wanted to sleep in there with kiddo. Tight squeeze for two big boys. They battle for awhile until I took the tent bed down. Trying to get them to sleep together in the double bed was not going well. I created a bed of sorts with an egg crate foam pad and a down comforter. Each boy got his own pillow and blanket. That seemed to be working so I went to watch TV.

I heard a yell, a blood curling "oh crap what happened" yell. It sounded like my kid, which was better than it being our guest. M was out of the room with the double bed apologizing over and over. Kiddo was crying on the bed with a big old knot under his eye. Best I could tell there was jumping on the bed and wrestling. M's knee connected with Kiddo's eye. I got the ice pack as M told me he got hurt too and wanted to go home. I told him it was okay and just wait one minute while I get the injured party settled down.

Ice pack in place, I turned my attention to M who was downstairs asking me to call his mommy. I tried to calm him down to get him to stay but in the end called his mom. She came over laughing. She told me how she would do this to her mom all the time growing up except it was usually more like 12am or so. I told her what happened and she took it in stride.

I went up to check on kiddo and he was fast asleep with his ice pack on his face. I forgot to take a picture. It was cute. IT had been his second ice pack for the night, the first was his foot when he dropped the book he wanted to share with M on it. I got a fresh pack and sat with it gently on his face, careful not to wake him.

The next morning kiddo was very sad that M had gone home. He wanted to have blueberry muffins with him. We went down later in the day and M's parents marveled at kiddo's shiner. M was still insisting that he go hurt too. I think it was more painful for him to see kiddo get all the attention than kiddo's shiner was to him. They are still best friends and kiddo cannot wait to have a sleepover at M's house as soon as possible. EDITOR"S NOTE: The red on his face is strawberry fruit pop NOT an injury

Promotion!

Thanks to my terminal addiction to Facebook, everyone already knows that I got promoted today to Assistant Director of Photography at the Austin American-Statesman. I honestly never thought I would get this far because of the slow turnover rate in our department. We have a talented staff and it makes you want to stick around. My duties will not be any different because I have been doing the job without the title for 9 months now anyway.

I am touched by how many well wishes I have gotten. Working somewhere you are appreciated by your peers makes a difference. The promotion says to me that the bosses are aware of what I am doing as well. Naively, I always thought I was a worker who flew under the radar, just doing my job without causing a fuss.

I will still continue to shoot on the side. Come Spring, I will have more time because of no class. I really want to start shooting more Senior portraits for high school kids. They are fun and excited. I think it would be a good direction to go as I get older. I think husband should get into it a bit because he could charge more because of his photographic reputation. What boy would not want his senior picture shot by a Sports Illustrated photographer!!

History is made

Wow.

We witnessed history. We did not let our son watch Noggin last night so he could see the tallies coming in. He will not have a strong memory of this but there may be a vague one. As they drove home from day care last night, Kiddo asked Daddy what a Barack Obama was. Talk radio was on and Daddy explained that he may be the next president.

I watched McCain give a very gracious speech, conceding the election. He is a good man. I watched Obama give a speech filled with "WE" instead of "I". The emotion in the crowd was intense. I was happy to be watching from home because I am sure if I was with the crowd, I would be crying. Can we as a country get closer because of this election? I hope so.

My wish for Obama would be that he keeps his value system and his morals. He is a smart man who seems like he is not quick to react without getting the facts. I hope he will listen to the country. I pray that he will make it through all four years safely and keep our country safe and prosperous.

Election day!!!!!!!! finally.

It has always been tough for me to vote on election day proper. I try in the morning and there are big lines. I cannot go at lunch because my polling place is too far from work. By the time I get off work, I may or may not make it to my polling place after picking up kiddo from daycare.

The only sensible option for me this year was to early vote. I chose my time thoughtfully. Early voting was open Saturday in my county. The University of Texas/Okla State game was that afternoon. Hmmmmm, Saturdays I tend to plan my travel and errands around the game, meaning I go out when the game is on.

Kiddo and I headed to the early vote location in Bastrop. He did not want to go. I grabbed on of his Highlights game magazines and bribed him. We were greeted warmly and the folks at the check in were ready to give my son as many "I voted" stickers as he wanted. I voted, he played quietly with his book.

When I finished, he did not want to leave. As we walked out of the building he said "Mommy, I'm sad."

"Why are you sad, honeybear?"

"I am sad because we are done voting."

A man walking in heard out exchange and I heard him chuckle as we left.

We have gotten many calls for last minute campaigning. It was my pleasure to say that I had already voted. When I told one caller this, he had the nerve to ask if I had voted for his candidate! I replied, slightly shocked, that it was personal information, thank you very much!

This morning kiddo informed Daddy that he had already voted.

"Oh yeah?" said Daddy, "Who did you vote for?"

"I don't know," kiddo replied, without a care.

Country Ghouls and Goblins

Our neighborhood has a Halloween celebration every year. We all have long driveways ,no sidewalks and frankly it is tough for a kid to Trick-or-Treat. We got together and decided to make an organized affair. We would do a hayride. Tractors could pull flatbed trails filled with hay. Kids, with their parents, could ride. The tractors have one route down the main street of our neighborhood. People come to the ends of their driveways, sit in lawn chairs and give candy when the kids unload from the hayride.

This year was our third year of the hayride. We have evolved to 3 hayrides which leave 15 minutes apart. Neighbors have created insta-parties at street intersections instead of driveways. Everyone socializes. The kids have a fun ride, get candy and are safe!

We usually take the last hayride because I cannot get home from work any sooner. This usually involves flying home from work, running into the house, grabbing the candy and a pumpkin to put on the top of the mailbox. I throw them in the car, change kiddo into his Spiderman costume in the driveway. Drive to the end, put the candy and pumpkin on the mailbox, and ask a neighbor to light it when it gets dark. We then wave to the full hayrides we pass on the way to the start. Kiddo sees all of his friends on the earlier rides, I pray for no meltdown.

The last tractor is waiting for us. I quickly put on my Spidermom costume. We are on the ride with a dad and his little girl, dressed as a green M&M. She does not want momma to leave. After some waiting for stragglers, we go. Two kids, five adults. We lose two adults at one party stop but gain a mom and dad with their son. they are not from the neighborhood but heard about us through friends in the 'Hood. That is fine with us!

The trick about the last hayride is that there is plenty of candy left over, so much that people are jamming skittles and butterfingers into my son's pumpkin. About halfway into the ride, I beg a neighbor giving out candy for an overflow bag. She is resourceful and finds a grocery back in the car. I need to remember this for next year. I empty Spiderman's pumpkin into the big bag and we are ready to continue.

One of the stop is scary with a couple of monsters with scary faces and light up eyes. They sway zombie-like. Kiddo is scared but still gets his candy and scampers back to the safety of the trailer. He is starting to understand the concept of Halloween but is not very loud on the "Trick or Treat!" Maybe next year.

We finish the ride and it is dark. Everyone has packed up and gone home to count candy and make sure there are no scary things in the take. Kiddo has had a lollipop and some chocolate but no real dinner. I am not going to push it. If he wants to eat candy for dinner, this would be the night to let him.