Angel’s Weblog

I got a new webcam. After Matt installed it,
the children and I played with it for about 15 min,
but then I got tired of playing around and left.
The children, however, continued to play with the
new webcam for another 45 min. This is a photo
that the children took while goofing off with the webcam.
17 January 2010

Shelrie and I made our first podcast. I don’t know how much fun it is to listen to, but it was a lot of fun to make.

Our Five Favorite Movies Right Now

Lily and Damian being silly while I was taking pictures.
08 January 2010

So I’m trying to keep two blogs at once. With this one, I’m trying to write about family and friends, and with Benign Chaos, I’m trying to write about my journey through life. But the two are inseparable, aren’t they? One’s journey through life is all about family and friends. People and connections are at the very heart of being alive.

I probably would just combine the two blogs back into one except that I’m doing Benign Chaos with Shelrie, and she is really keen on podcasting. I’m excited and intimidated by the idea. I tried podcasting once already and found it very hard to act natural. But, the thing with Shelrie is: almost any activity you do with her turns out to be a fun adventure. So I’m jumping into my second podcasting attempt with a trusted and delightful friend.

I’m excited about the New Year; 2010 seems very very hopeful to me.

And a big hug and thank you to my extended family in England. We all had a wonderful Christmas. ♥

I have said it before and I will say it again: I am amazingly lucky in my in-laws. I married into an awesome family. This includes a really nice, very thoughtful father-in-law who is always planning and executing events for the family.

And to this very nice father-in-law I have lied about four times over the summer. He has continually asked for pictures of the children, and my reply has repeatedly been, “I’ll post those tonight!” but then I would never deliver on my promise. So to Dad-in-law, first a public apology for not being reliable and then the promised photos… finally.

We visited my grandmother in Tennessee in May.
We tried to wrangle the great-grandkids together
for a photo with Great Grandma. I’ll let you decide
whether we were successful or not.
16 May 2009

This is me and my siblings
with the paternal side of our family.
16 May 2009

The next day, while we were still all together in Nashville,
was Matt’s birthday. All the nieces and nephews wished him
a happy birthday in their own special way.
17 May 2009

Before everyone went home from Nashville,
we took a picture of Nana and Granddad with all the grandkids.
17 May 2009

Damian enjoys watching his cousin Cody play videogames.
03 July 2009

Damian fell asleep on the couch.
27 July 2009

I’m sorry that there aren’t more pictures. Besides not blogging, I also have not been taking many pictures. The summer of 2009 was extremely oppressive in Texas, and I got depressed with the drought and the triple-digit heat, as I think many Texans did. But, with the arrival of autumn and cooler temperatures and rain, my mood is starting to lift. It’s nice not being stuck in recycled air.

Grandpa Damian snuggles baby Damian as he wakes up from his nap.
13 April 2009

So I started a blog site with Shelrie and Shelly. Why, you ask. Because, like so many things I choose to do, it’s fun!!

So now my blogging time is split between this personal blog and the femme naturel blog I’m doing with my girlfriends. Here’s the link, if you’re curious: Benign Chaos.

Matt and I at Casey’s Birthday Party.
18 February 2009

I always tease Matt that the children are a product of our lovemaking — basically that from the power of sex comes a new human. But, as I watched the children sleeping in the bed this morning and gently stroked Lily’s hair, I realized that they are actually the product of our love, from conception to adulthood.

And that’s pretty cool… the power and magic of an honest and deep love between two people. With sex, one can create a new human, but with love, one can create life.

Damian playing in the sprinklers.
04 March 2009

Faith (or trust or belief or whatever word you use to signify following your heart — your inner calling — but being afraid of where it might lead or what you might become, or being afraid that it will, in fact, lead nowhere and that you are, in fact, completely full of shit and all of your inner dialogue is ridiculous fantasy) is not easy. It is very very hard at times.

The children playing computer games together.
05 December 2008

Recently Tab uploaded a couple of really beautiful pictures on her blog. She was experimenting with color, and there is also a lot of texture in the photos. The photos are beautiful. Here are the links:

Colorful pictures
A tunnel of trees

There isn’t anywhere to post comments on Tab’s blog, so I’ll post them here: Those photos rock, Tab! I like them very much.

For the family Christmas present this year,
we bought a new piano. Matt plays all the
time, and it’s really nice having live music
playing in the house.
14 December 2008

I’ve been keeping a food journal since starting this mostly raw diet. I thought Tuesday’s entry was significant, so I decided to share it on my blog:

————————–

Day Twelve

17 February 2009 

Mood:

Today was the worst I have eaten since starting this diet. I had a Starbucks toffee almond bar with lemonade/tea for breakfast, and then an apple oatmeal pancake with lots of syrup and molasses for lunch.

I felt crap all day, but about an hour after lunch, I went from feeling crap to feeling sick. Then I switched into hyper-ultimate-bitch mode. I started yelling at the kids and bitching at my husband. I knew what it was — my body and my spirit felt like shit and it was exploding out of me.

Yeah. This diet is not about losing weight, although that is an excellent bonus. Nutrition is about feeling good on the inside and outside, and being a kind, stable person. Poisonous food creates a poisonous spirit.

————————–

I know a lot of people think that the New Age folks are a bunch of fruit cakes, but after my experimentation with this diet and how I felt before and how I feel now, I have to say, they have — by far — the best information on nutrition, and we would all do well to listen to them. By eating more raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts, I am consistently in a better mood and have more energy. I just feel so much better. And I’m not even being strict about the diet… just a lot more raw fruits and vegetables than I ever used to eat.

Damian
13 February 2009

Though you may not know
     where your gifts may lead,
and it may not show at the start.

When you live your dream
     you’ll find destiny
is written in your heart.

“Gosh, Angel, where did that sage little quote come from?”

That would be, ahem, Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper.

I sent this photo of Nana and the grandkids
to one of my mom’s friends. My mom liked it
very much and asked for a copy for herself.
It is really cute. (The photographers out
there can probably see the experimentation
that I’m doing right now Photoshop’s
brightness adjustment layers. It adds a
dodge/burn look, but, by using layers, I have
more control than using the dodge/burn tool.)

Conroe, Texas
06 July 2008

Eds3 keeps posting very interesting blog entries, and therefore, he is making my blog updating easy. All I have to do now is link you guys over there, and voila! I have an interesting blog post by association.

Heh heh.