What's on my camera?

, originally uploaded by MonicaSmoot.

I haven't picked up my camera much lately. There's just too much going on. I better start picking it up, though, because the kids are growing up right before my eyes.

What was on my camera? A photo of Lili and seven pictures of cookies. I really need to get my priorities straight.

Potato Power!

Potato Power!, originally uploaded by MonicaSmoot.

Look! Potatoes! With wires and nails and pennies! It definitely looks like some kind of mad scientist's experiment. I learned that potatoes, whether russet or sweet, don't make very efficient batteries and probably wouldn't be a viable long-term solution to our energy crisis.

Time is still racing past me

No, I did not get a chance last night to even post a photo of potatoes with wires sticking out of them. So I think I'll just put down more words today so that you will know that I am still alive.

I don't want to wish failure upon my son, but I really hope his project isn't selected to go to the city-wide science fair. That would just suck. For both of us because he's not too keen on science fair projects either.

SF projects were the bane of my existence when I was a kid. Every year I would struggle to come up with an idea and every year I would still be working on it at the last minute. One year, I was so sick of doing stupid SF projects, that I wrote a very short report that basically defined citrus fruits, threw a grapefruit onto a small plastic stand and called it a day. I could tell my teacher was disappointed and I feel a little embarassment about that one to this day.

Now, of course, I could whip out a SF project with no problem, but I had to go to graduate school to learn how to do one. And that's part of the problem. The school teachers don't seem to do a very good job at teaching the kids how to do a SF project. And while I'm trying to teach my kids about the importance of background research, and how to draw logical conclusions, they are getting overwhelmed and frustrated and just want to throw a grapefruit on a plastic stand and call it a day.

I know just how they feel.

Where has the time gone?

I hear crickets. Boy, things sure have been dead around here lately. I have taken a few photos but haven't had the time to even get them off of the camera. Except for the giant potato battery my son built for his science fair project. If my brain didn't go completely dead the minute I walk into my house in the evening, I would post it. Soon. Tonight is the last night of the misery that is science fair. Have I mentioned how much I hate science fair? I'm already cringing at the thought of next year when I may have three kids with projects to do.

Last Saturday my cooking group catered a party. That took up quite a bit of my time for about 2 weeks. Now that it's done, I'm hoping I can find more time to take pictures and then actually get them on my computer.

Yeah, I know. Lame excuses. See you soon. Hopefully.

mystery woman

mystery woman, originally uploaded by MonicaSmoot.

I haven't disappeared. Well, I'm trying not to disappear but it's been very hard lately just to remember to breathe. Having three kids in school, with homework and stuff, is kicking my butt.

We had a fabulous Halloween but I didn't take many pictures this year. I haven't been taking many pictures in general lately and I am working on changing that. I'm eliminating a few commitments so that I can spend more time doing things for me (I know. What a concept.) and so I can make sure the kids have what they need in order to succeed.

Here's Teri, who won best costume in my opinion. I just couldn't stop looking at her. I wish I had managed to get a good full length of her. She was stunning.