Tongue Tied

So, what's been going on around here in my writing absence? 1. It has gotten colder, which for me, is good news. I tend to be better at housekeeping in the colder months. Well, technically, I'm the best in fall and spring, when it's cool enough to be busy and sunny enough to motivate me. When it gets super cold, I tend to want to hibernate under a blanket, but I'm at least better than I am in the summer, when heat sucks the life out of me. I hate being hot. 2. In sad news, we had to say goodbye to our dog, George, a few weeks ago. His health had been declining with age, but then suddenly over the course of a month or so, he got really bad, really fast. We knew it was time, and even though we'd been preparing ourselves for awhile, it was so hard to actually go through with it. Our regular vet was forced into sudden retirement because of his health, so we had to go to strangers. That made things a lot harder. We have never treated George like our baby, but over th...

I don't usually write much anymore unless I have something specific to say--something I'm going through or irritated with or learning. It's not like my life is absent of those things right now, quite the opposite in fact. This year has been full of things that fall into those categories--so full it's just overflowing. Maybe that's the problem. There's too much to write about, so it becomes overwhelming and I decide to process it some other way, usually by music or photography. Some people process and thrive through doing and being busy. To be honest, I'm a little jealous of them. I mean, how nice would it be if your stress meant you had a spotless house? I'm kind of the opposite. When things get heavy, I slow down or stop completely. I ponder. I withdraw. I don't exactly wallow because I'm not depressed or hopeless. I just literally have to think quietly about stuff to make the trials useful. And let's face it, there's not a lot of time...

So, apparently it's driving my mother crazy that I haven't posted my last three photos. There has been nagging, so at least I know I come by it honestly. Here ya go, mom. You can calm down now. Day Twenty Eight: Celebration Seth had to work on his birthday, so we made a cake and took it to his station. If you ever visit a fire station, bring food. It's the language of their people. Day Twenty Nine: Backlit For part of our anniversary date, Seth and I revisited one of my favorite haunts, Greenlawn Cemetery (see what I did there?). Day Thirty: Hidden Face This one's especially for you, mom. Your beautiful morning glories smiling at you. While this project got a little hard to keep up with, I still really enjoyed the challenge and I shot more photos in September than I probably ever have in a month. It also gave me lots of ideas for other photo projects I can pursue. So, I'm sure there's more to come. But just so you don't get to...

Day Twenty Three: Indoor Still Life   Day Twenty Four: Words Day Twenty Five: Close Up Day Twenty Six: Art Day Twenty Seven: Books

Day Nineteen: Childhood Day Twenty: From a Distance Day Twenty One: Play Day Twenty Two: Structure

Day Seventeen: Angle One of my favorite angles to shoot is from low to the ground and into the sunset. Magic happens. Day Eighteen: Weathered I absolutely love barns. I could shoot a whole book of barns. The look of weathered wood is so endearing.

Day Sixteen: Eyes It seems sorta wrong to have this photo in black and white, because my idea was to capture their stunning blue eyes. But sometimes photos don't go the way you tell them to, and this one ended up feeling better in B&W. It became more about brotherhood than eyes.

Day 11: Something blue Blue agate that kinda looks like a face. Day 12: Technology This is my phone. For the first year I had it, I loved it. Phone perfection. Then they updated it, and now I hate it. There's nothing like a glitchy phone to test your patience. Also, I wish there was an app for fingernail growing. Day 13: Pattern Sunset through a rainy window. Day 14: Cannot live without It's getting to that point. Ya know, where I always have my camera with me. And now that I have two, the need is only getting bigger. I even searched high and low for a purse big enough to fit one in so I don't have to lug a camera bag all the time. Even if I don't use it every day, it's there. Ready. Day 15: Routine Today is Monday, so that means lesson plan day. Only last month, lesson plan day would have been Friday after school or sometime over the weekend. How quickly I start to slack. And I still forget sometimes and use pen. And then instantly re...

Slowly, but surely, I'm catching up. Day Eight: Clouds Our trip to Florida provided me with quite a few cloud pictures, but this monster of a storm on Clearwater beach was the most impressive. Day Nine: Sunset Day Ten: Flowers

We're on vacation and my internet/blogging opportunities are limited. But rest assured, I am shooting and you will  get your money's worth with 30 photos this month. Okay, mom? Okay? I promise. Day five: Animal These little guys are everywhere down here in the Sunshine State. Day Six: Something Green Day Seven: After Dark

I'm cheating today. On my list, today's photo was supposed to be "Routine". But we're packing up for vacation, and absolutely nothing about my day today was routine. So, I decided to switch with a later theme. Day Four: Love This is my dear friend Amy and her new little miracle, Lucy.

Continuing with my September photo challenge.... Day Three: A Good Habit Besides regular hygiene activities, this may be the only good habit I have. Things like biting my nails and staying up too late don't really seem like smart things to do. And to be honest, there are times when this particular habit isn't so habitual and it gets put shamefully far down the list of things to do. But whenever I get back into it, I wonder why I ever let it get away from me. There is nothing quite so personal as your own copy of the Bible.

See Day One for explanations. Day Two: Changes to Come My home is in a constant state of change. I'm rarely satisfied with how things look, and if I am, it usually only lasts a few months at most. It's like a continual process of reinventing my spaces as I reinvent myself. I actually kind of like most changes in life, even big ones. I can thank  my short attention span for my ability to adapt.

For the month of September, I'm going to be doing a little personal photo challenge. I tweaked one I found on Pinterest and I'll be posting a photo each day with a different theme. Just something to amuse myself really and keep me shooting. Enjoy and feel free to copy! Day One: Self Portrait  Self portraits are my least favorite kind of shot to take. I generally steer clear of any kind of selfie, as I have inherited my grandmother's severe photo-of-self allergy (which I get is ironic, considering I expect everyone else to happily pose for my camera). I love looking at creative and artistic self portraits on flickr, but those photos take a lot of time and practice to create. So, today is not the day I get really artsy with my self portrait, but I thought I'd start simple and work from there. Besides, this one sums me up well.

Pretending to sleep Praise Band Orphans Baby Ian Junior Highers Transformation Handprint Octoball Playing at the Park Tetherball Great Blue Heron

There's a lot of buzz out there about women, especially mothers, comparing and judging each other. I don't think anyone is immune from giving or receiving it. I've been feeling shoved under the microscope of popular opinion lately, which isn't pleasant. I'm not the kind of person to care in the sense that I'll let judgment change my mind, but at the same time, it still gets tiring to have to defend yourself all the time, even if it is just mental responses and reasoning without actual verbalization. But I feel like being honest, so, here you go. My mom confessions. Judge away. I let my kids play with electronics. Too much sometimes. We eat sugar. GASP! We also eat out at least once every week. We're talking Happy Meals and carbonated beverages here.  I give my kids Tylenol when they're sick. I don't force them to eat foods they can't stomach. My house is often messy. Strike that. Nearly always messy. I let them stay up pretty l...

Today marks my first Father's Day without a father. Well, that's certainly a melancholy sentence. I wasn't sure how I'd feel this month. June marks a lot of things--his birthday, three months since he died, Father's Day...And while I knew I wouldn't be a total wreck (that's just not Parsons style), I've also learned that grief can return out of nowhere. Maybe it's tears, maybe it's stress, maybe it's a need to read or write constantly, but it will manifest itself somehow. And that can be a good thing. It gets it out where I have to confront it and pour it into something productive. Today, I may shed a few tears or at the very least swallow away the burning lump in my throat. I may feel a bit sad that I can't give my dad a sarcastic greeting card and a meal at a buffet. I'll definitely think about him all day long and feel his absence acutely. But, more than the sadness, I am just so happy. I've found you can be happy...

Hello! I'm Kathy, and I'm a registered, certified skeptic with extensive experience in avoiding bandwagons. I'd love to be your personal skepticism consultant and show you how to avoid marketing schemes in a way that will enrich your family's life! But seriously, what is with all the bandwagoning lately?  ("Bandwagoning" is owned solely by Sethswife of Tongue Tied Inc. All rights reserved.) Fads aren't new. There have been millions of them throughout the ages. Seances in the Victorian Era. Bell bottom pants. Justin Bieber. But it seems that with the age of social media they have gotten out of control. I can't open  Facebook without feeling like I've been sucked into an infomercial, and I'm not talking about the paid-by-FB ads. Today's fads, like many diets that have faded into the annals of history, seem to center around health. If you just try this product, your life will change! Dramatically! And you'll use more exclamation poin...

It was a dark, rainy, perfect day. The kind of day where the rumbles of thunder and the patter of rain just make the couch even more inviting than usual. A day for introverts everywhere to put on their sweatpants and watch a documentary while enjoying leftover birthday cake. It doesn't get much better than that. (Unless, like my husband, you are an extrovert. Then you'd probably prefer something more action packed.) Anyway, here are my ten: Saturday morning Minecraft A chocolate thief Leftover Ham & Cheese Potatoes and reading about Iceland Watching the rain A birthday treat from a sweet friend May flowers Sibling silliness Fun at Daddy's fire station Why brothers shouldn't do hair Kids are in bed. Mom time.