Something silly

Thought this might be fun.

Post your name and I will do each of the following:
1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll tell you which song or movie you remind me of.
3. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
4. I'll tell you my first memory of you.
5. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
6. I'll ask you something I've always wondered about you.
7. I'll tell you my favorite thing about you.
8. I'll tell you my least favorite thing about you.
9. If you play, you MUST post this on yours.

Life no longer sucks, now it is awesome

okay so Dan got a job! Yay! It was also about a month ago, so, my bad for not posting earlier. He loves his new job and finds it interesting each day. I love having money and find that interesting each day. :-) Any who, It is nice to be gainfully employed and fun to say "remember that time you didn't have a job?" to each other. On top of that my life is super busy right now, thus all the non-posting. The thing I am most updating is my illustration blog. If you haven't checked it out in a while, then I am sure you will see some new things. Be sure to post something so that I know you are a real person and it will also make me feel special. I will try to throw some pictures up here soon but life...actually I think I have some halloween ones ready right now!



why yes, that is He-Man and don't forget his wonderful sidekick Orko. If you do not recognize those characters than you failed the 80's. FAIL! I wish I had better pictures, like of how much Logan hates his costume...oh wait...I do...







and here is He-Man in all his glory.


I will admit to cheating. These are actually the same costumes from last year. But lucky me, the kids still fit them. Now the real trick is which pictures are from which year?

Sometimes life just sucks...

Well if anyone remembers my previous post about an evil man named Phong whom Dan worked with, Phong finally got his way and Dan was "allowed" to resign last Friday. On that same day we found out that Dans father had a heart attack and needs triple by-pass surgery. Hooray for Trials! So if any of you are in need of a good looking, hard working accountant that would be awesome. If any of you know of someone who needs some freelance design work that would be awesome. If any of you want to trade lives that would be awesome also.

Actually sarcasm aside. We feel pretty good about things. The great thing about Dan is that I know that if we ended up homeless in the wild (I refuse to live on the streets, so wild it is) he would be the first to hunt down some sort of animal to eat. He would dig up grubs, build a fire and carve a pot from the trunk of a tree. So I know that no matter what, we will be taken care of as a family. I also know that no matter what you are thrown in life, there is always a valuable lesson to be learned. So I actually am excited to go through this trial with my family and come out a better person on the other side. Hopefully the other side will involve a job and housing, preferably food, but either way we will have grown!

Memories...

Okay you have all probably seen this. The deal is to post a comment and leave a memory you have of me. Something we did together or you remember about me or whatever. At least I think that is how it works. I didn't read the instructions very carefully. Anyway I hope I get at least three posts on it, and Dan you better be one of them. *glare*

Hooray memories!!

Kinetic Typography makes me drool

I love this video enough that I have posted it on both of my blogs. Many of you wonder at my obsession with typography and why some make me cringe and throw up a little (papyrus, comic sans) and why others are so simple and beautiful I just want to cry (Gills Sans, Futura, Garamond...the list can go on). Anyway watch this video and tell me if maybe perhaps you too could come to love typography.

Click here to view the video

Postin just to post

I don't have much to say. So here are some awesome pictures of Laurisa and I being goofy. For those of you who don't know, she is living with me for the Summer and it has actually been pretty fun as you can see for yourself.

This is Laurisa wondering how she can possibly ever be as awesome as I am.


Then I show her how.




After that we decided to start a fight with the computer.First it gave us attitude...


Then Laurisa told it how it's going to be...


I backed her up...


Then...whatever!

Anyway, thanks for being my sister Laurisa! I am glad for the chance to live together as she doesn't even remember me at home, and now I have access to way more clothes as she is now older then 7.

My very first Tag!

I am so excited because I finally got tagged by someone. I never get tagged! Probably because everyone knows that it will take me about 6 months to get around to answering it (sorry Syl) and plus I think about three people consistently read this blog. And no, Dan is not one of them. So here it goes!

1. What was I doing ten years ago.

First of all I can't believe I am old enough to have a "ten years ago" let alone to have actually have been doing anything. But alas ten years ago...what year was that...Ah yes 1998. Yea the 90's I still miss grunge, Nirvana and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was hanging out at the Austin Institute going to ACC trying to figure out what to do with my life. Dan was still on his mission, but I did have fun writing him. I was dating a fun guy named Michael. I believe the 10th book in Wheel of Time came out that year. I was also on the Institute Council - which, side note here, there is a facebook group with tons of pictures of my friends from the good 'ol days at the activities that I helped organize yet no pictures of me. This kind of bums me out. -moving on...I drove a Volkswagon Passat and worked at Old Navy in Westlake with my friend Ruth Williams who called me Louie. I am not sure why, but I liked it.

2. Five things on my to do list.

1. Put wood floors in my house
2. Finish landscaping the backyard completely
3. Go back to Jiu Jitsu and possibly start Kung Fu
4. Go back to school for illustration and animation.
5. Pay off my ridiculous student loans

3. If I were a billionaire I would...

Pay off my ridiculous student loans.
Build my dream house
pay off my families debt and travel a lot.
Help my dad start his construction company, software company and chocolate shop
Help Trent open his own restaurant
Pay cash for everything
Get a manicure and pedicure
Visit family a lot
smile a lot, cuz hey, I have a billion dollars!

4. What are your bad habits.

Crackers, I love crackers.
Reading too much and staying up late.

5. Five places you have lived.

California, Utah, New Mexico, Texas. That is all. Although I have lived three of those places twice. Can you guess which?

So this is the part where I tag people. How about this. If you actually read this blog, then you are tagged.

Soccer is king!

As most of you know Dan is slightly over the top obsessed with soccer. Since day one of Austin's life he has been gradually brainwashed into have a similar obsession. When he was an infant I was not allowed to dress him in any clothing that had sports logos other than soccer. Dan has let up a little on Logan, but not much. So now after four years of careful cultivation Dan finally gets to start living vicariously through his children. Austin is the smallest kid on his team, but I think he puts forth the biggest effort. He plays the whole game, refusing to sit out at his turn, which is fine since a couple kids on the team refuse to come in. It also will not surprise you that Austin is actually pretty good. So here are some pictures and highlights of the next Beckham.


In this picture Austin is actually teaching his teammates about Air Bending (if you watch Avatar then you know what I am talking about). The video below is of Austin and his best soccer buddy.

Creation is a challenge

So I have been really searching for great art out there on "the nets" and rediscovered an old friend. In the rediscovery of that friend and following links to other amazing artists, I find that I really miss doing the illustration and fine art I used to do. I have become so involved in graphic design that I think I am starting to lose that side of me. So in an effort to redevelop lost talent, and from inspiration of old and new friends I am setting up a new blog to showcase that art. Just a chance to make me keep going. I figure if I have somewhere to show it, then I guess I better create it. Also since no one will pay me for it, I might as well do it for myself. So go to www.tanniesmith.blogspot.com to check it out. Tell all your friends too! (this is in a desperate attempt to gain clients of course.) :-)

And the winner is...

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback. The winner was a pretty close shave between Russell and Trent. I did go with Trent, just for the fact that he made me remember a term from my childhood that I had completely forgotten. So thanks again and whenever we meet a jerk we can all just call him/her a "Stupid Idiotic Dumb Retarded Clutzoid Headed Nong nong."

Sometimes we need more words

Sometimes I feel limited by my words. I really do not swear or try to use strong language, but what if calling someone a poo-poo face just doesn't cut it? Dan had a lunch with this (poo-poo face) guy he has the pleasure of working under. At this lunch he was basically told that Dan needs to stop being lazy and start working more hours. Now here is the funny part. Dan has been working consistently from January, 9am - 2 or 3am sometimes at late as 4:30am. This is 17 hours on the low side which averages out to 102 hours a week (So actually it is probably closer to 150.). So he told Dan that he needs to be there by 7 in the morning (which by the company standards, work doesn't start till 9am, so Dan was not coming in late, just so you know) and then to not leave until 10 or 11pm. So that is about 16 hours a day which makes 96 hours a week. So in other words this ***moron head*** forgot to look at the facts and just wanted someone to blame his own lateness on. He told Dan we wasn't working enough hours to get the job done, and then gave him less hours to work. Then he told Dan he had to stay after everyone else has left. Which is funny because he already does that. However dummy head, leaves early everyday, turns in projects late, and comes into work late. Hmmmmm. I suggest to this worm of a man, that the next time you want to blame your own laziness on someone else, you get the facts straight. Dan of course is so angry, but can't do much about it (except secretly start recording this dorko-hickos hours and Dans and turn them into the managing partner at the end of busy season) so I am ranting for him. That way he can know that he can read my rant and yell silently in his head in agreement. So to get back to my "not enough words" I sure would love some posts on some great alternatives to call this booger brain. Something that would just feel right, yet still be clean and follow the standards of clean vocabulary. Then Dan can read them and feel better. Here is my own special contribution. Thpppppppppppppppppp.

Dan who???

Well it IS that time again. Right smack in the middle of tax season, which means no more Dan. I keep expecting to just eventually grow numb to his absence. Letting it just seep into my daily routine, but then he shows up for Sunday and is so much fun, I have to start all over with realizing that he is literally only there on Sunday. I wake up Monday and it's like "who was that mystery man?" I don't know if any of you noticed in the video of Austin in the previous blog, I ask Austin if he wants to say anything to his dad and he looks up and says "who?" and I have to repeat "you know, your DAD." So that about sums it up. "Oh where, oh where has my little Dan gone?"

Climbing Monkeys and Daredevils

Since I am once again the dreaded accountants widow, I have been trying to take pity on the poor man who is stuck in an office instead of spending time with his family in the beautiful weather we have been having. One way of accomplishing this is by being better at taking pictures and video of some of the activities we have been doing. I have noticed a consistency with these videos, and that is my boys are B-O-Y-S. In the first video Austin has just learned how to climb the monkey bars. Litteraly at the moment of this video and takes to it like a natural. The second video is Logan thinking that he is a professional stunt man and jumping off a car with all the grace associated. Unfortunately he has yet learned how to actually jump. So with that said, please enjoy a peek at my life and hopefully Dan will be able to see these someday too.

It's never the same

Just when I think I have a handle on the whole motherhood thing, something happens to show me I know nothing. I am not sure why we like to put our kids in the same mold. It would be nice if what worked for the first kid, worked for every kid afterwards. Without going into details I recently had a situation where Logan had a literal melt down. I tried all my tricks as a mother. Everything I learned from Austin and four years of experienced mothering, and nothing worked. I just looked at him with all the same feelings of helplessness and insecurity that I felt when Austin was a newborn. It was so weird feeling that way. I was under the delusion that I "got it." I knew how to be a good mom now, because I already did it. Just like riding a bike. Unfortunately I have learned that Logan is NOT Austin. He is actually his own little person with his own, and very different, needs. It is like a trick. I feel like someone is pointing at me and saying "ha ha you thought you could ride, but you have to relearn that bike each time you get on!" So now it is time to let go of all my old tricks, learn some new ones, and really get to know the uniqueness and wonderfulness that is Logan Zachary Smith.

Oh where oh where has my posting gone

Each new year seems to bring the same resolution of being better at connecting, writing in journals, posting, etc. I read other peoples blogs (ex: my friends blog, My Many Colored Days) and am impressed with what they do for others just with the use of the internet. I know I have complained about it being a tool to take closeness and connection from relationships, but I also think it can be a great way to reach out to people that you may never meet on a day to day basis. I see people who talk about things that matter to them and then read comments from complete strangers to that person, yet what they said touched them in some way. So once again I would like to be better. Time is always a great thing to blame, there is never enough. Actually there is plenty if I just use it wisely. So here is to you 2008. You are giving me 12 months to get my act together, which if you think about it, is plenty of time!