It's the day before moving day for my oldest. He is moving tomorrow to the dorms at the college he is attending. There is a lot to do and he is super excited, which makes it easier to do. He has already been at college for a couple of years, but then took a break to volunteer as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in the Mission Training Center, in the Referral Center. What a great experience! I am so proud of him for doing that!! He made a huge difference in people's lives.

Tomorrow will be bitter sweet, as we send him off to school again. He will be in the return missionary dorms, so there will be less that he has to take care of for this year. It's a great way to get back into socialization and study. 

This means that he will not be completely moving out (which is great) so there will be select items he will be taking. He will only be 20 minutes away, so he will come home for a monthly (or 3-weekly) hair cut. I am sure he will bring laundry home to do at that time as well. That's just the college way, when you live that close:)

He will also be attending Sunday dinner, when he can, as well as other family activities. So, it's basically like he is sort of moved out, but not really moved out...other than the cost for our grocery bill lowering by a very significant amount;)

We will miss him being at home, but we are super excited for him to jump back into his adventures at college, gaining new friends, renewing old friendships, and learning a lot of new information for his future career. College is such an exciting time! I hope he enjoys all of it.

continued from previous post...

First off, what had I learned to this point in my life story?

1. Treat your children with respect and they will respect you...Karma. I didn't really have respect for my father because he was so awful towards me. I understand now that my mother was also part of the equation, but she didn't make me feel as low, or as an outcast like my father did. Therefore, I had no respect left for my father. I just had pity, fear, and hatred for his actions.

2. Don't let others disrespect you in any way. When I was younger, I let people talk to me in ways they shouldn't (i.e.,my father telling me I was stupid and fat), touch me in ways they shouldn't, and etc. I learned that I was worth more than that. It was a disrespect that should never be tolerated. I learned that sticking up for myself and others was something that was necessary. No one should ever feel the lack of self-esteem that I felt. The only way to turn that around is to stick up for yourself.

3. Don't disrespect yourself. I didn't eat well, sleep well, and I let people walk all over me. I learned to stand up for myself and learned that I was important. In order to have a long life, I would have to change the way I treated my mind and my body. I didn't care whether I lived or died for a long time, which was evident in how I treated myself. The health of body and mind are paramount in order to have a long and prosperous life. Depression and anxiety are very real. So is PTSD. They need attention.

4. Friendship is a two way street. I didn't really know how to make friends or treat them after I had made them. I had superficial buddies. Pals. I had more acquaintances, and I just figured that relationships were fleeting, so I didn't stay in contact with people very well. Once I had a group of "friends", I would keep it all on the surface as a defense mechanism. The only friend I had that wasn't as superficial was my college roommate. However, these people didn't exactly knock down my door either. While I now have fond memories of times we had, I don't have much depth to remember.

Continued story.

I had the opportunity to do interior design, space planning, and selling office furniture to the big casino companies in Las Vegas. That was an awesome opportunity to mingle with the "Very Important People" of Las Vegas. These folks were Circus Circus, MGM and others. It was a lot of stress, but I loved it.

However, I got bored with my life. I had seen everything in Las Vegas, much like I had in Chicago. I had traveled. I had partied. I met important people. I witnessed impressive things. I needed more. What had I not yet done?

I was still living on the bottom floor of that same apartment complex when the people who were the original tenants above me moved out. Then, one day, there was a new tenant on the balcony, using his weights for a little workout, talking Spanish on the phone. 

Day by day I would see him out there at the same time...right when I was coming home from work. Who was this charismatic guy? Should I say "hi"? I didn't speak Spanish. Everything in my gut said don't interact. Everything else said 'absolutely'.

...to be continued...

In an effort to get some outside time and to get some weeding done at the same time, I decided to spend a little time in the garden. 

Yes, I am a sweaty mess in this picture, but I had to show you the zucchini I picked in relation to an adult. They are 22" long by about 5 inches in diameter and I have no idea how much they weigh, but they are heavy! They won't likely get used for anything, unless I just gut them for seeds and maybe some zucchini bread. Now maybe the little ones on that plant will actually grow. These babies were taking all of the energy, for sure!

continued from yesterday...

I worked and worked on myself. I started doing yoga regularly, meditating, and working on any self-help book I could find.

During that two years in Las Vegas, I dated a little bit. That part of things is pretty hard to do in a place like that. AND, I kept winding up with the wrong type...the type that was controlling and not a healthy relationship.

I had the same issue at work. My boss was a pig with a capital P. He started to ask employees (only female ones) where their tattoos were. When one of them said that theirs was in the small of her back, he asked to see it. This was all in a public setting, all in front of me and the other girls. I had had it. I was done with his childish and unprofessional treatment of us. I told him off, telling him that he had no right to ask that, that he as a pig. I cannot remember what else I said, but it was a big enough deal that he went and hid in his office.

The next day, one of the ladies who were older than me came and told me that she thought I would find a better work environment, working with her husband at his company. They did office furniture and design, as well as space planning. This was so similar to what I was already doing that it would be the perfect fit. I was an immediate hire.

The environment there was so much better. The boss was happily married and he had his niece working there, as the receptionist. He was from Henderson, a much more normal area (sans mini casinos in stores). He was respectful and patient. I would be more able to settle in (for a short while) with this company. 

​...continued in next post...

So, I made some tacos, as you can see in the picture above. I made them in the slow cooker, with a seasoning packet by ​http://www.spiceblends.com/ and IT WAS SO TASTY! 

To go with it, I made salsa fresca and cut up some olive, avocado, and lettuce. I used some tiny jalapenos from our garden in the salsa fresca, garden tomatoes, some red onion, and some sweet peppers. I also used lime juice and salt. Let me tell you, those little jalapenos pack a punch! Oh, but they made for spicy deliciousness. View more on how I made the meal in the video below.

Learn more about these spices by clicking on these pictures.

I am fighting through nausea and dizziness right now as I have some migraineous problems. Yes, I made up my own vocabulary word. My Botox for Migraine got cancelled and will have to be rescheduled after the insurance approves it, so it will get pushed out by quite a few weeks. That doesn't thrill me for some odd reason.

Because of how I feel, I will continue under the video with the story I have been telling, but it will not be a super long section of the story. I just don't have it in me today.

Continued from previous post...

Through the ladies at my office, I got involved in organizing galas for the United Way. Through that work, I was able to get to know some of the movers and shakers in Las Vegas. That is how I know that there is definitely so much corruption, that the mob is still alive and well and just working under the cover of various other organizations.

Those ladies were good for me. They knew that I was honest and that I had been through hell. We became pretty good friends...at least as far as ties in Las Vegas goes.

I used to go up to Red Rock and hike on various hikes around the loop. I would mostly go alone. That may have not been the most safe thing, but there were always people where I was hiking...plenty of them. It was my escape. It was my space to feel the energy of nature and to think. I was searching for who I really was and was really working hard on myself.

Self help books were my friends. I read everything I could get my hands on. I listened to audio books before work that helped with "working a room" and with better habits and working with people. They were motivational and helped me with coping mechanisms. This was an exploration and learning time for me. I realized that I didn't have great social skills in various situations, so I worked really hard on that area of my life. 

Some of my favorite books are by Deepak Chopra. I understand how energy works because of his books. I love The Seven Habits as well. Very good.

continued in next post.

Time is just flying so fast! Oh my gosh!!

I have been running since this morning from one thing to the other so that I will be able to go to a movie with my little tribe this afternoon for $5 Tuesday, and so that I can go to an appointment tonight. 

I've been doing photo shoots, follow ups, videos, proposals, and still have not even had time to do my walk, yoga, or other things. My son's train was going to be at least 20 minutes late this morning, so I drove him down to Orem. I was happy to do so, but have reshuffled everything so that I could make it work. Running out of time is not my preferred way of doing things. 

My oldest is in need of practicing a presentation with me before the movie, for a job interview he is having tomorrow. I think the rest of this week is probably going to be a race. Not only am I driving one son to and from the train station (and if need be school), but I will be getting the other to and from a specialist doctor appointment that is about an hour away tomorrow, cutting his hair, shopping to get him set up for his dorm room, getting ready for a garage sale and for my oldest to move into his dorms on Saturday. 

I hope I can do it all. I'll find the energy and the time. My family always comes first. Exciting times. 

I got this new pillow today. It's the most interesting and comfortable pillow I think I have ever seen. The outside has a nice texture that will not only be comfortable, but will also help to keep the pillow case on. It has a zipper so that you can remove filling if you need to, to make it so that you can customize the pillow to your needs, to your comfort level. Also, at 18 months, Infinite Moon will send you a pound of fill if you request it. That is just plain awesome! That way, if the fill gets smooshed too much, you can build it back up with some fresh stuff. I am so excited to sleep tonight!

I got the curved version of the pillow because of the way I sleep. I figured it would be nice for sleeping on my side. Again, I cannot wait to go to sleep. I am feeling drowsy just thinking of it. 

It's been a tough time for the past year or so regarding sleeping comfort. It's all due to lack of a good pillow, because we just got our mattress replaced and it rocks!

I tried a bunch of different pillows, but none of them have been this comfortable, even from the beginning. I even tried trial periods of a pillow that you might say is the competitor for EverPillow, but does not even closely compare. I had to take that pillow back after just a night. 

Sleep is where you recharge your batteries, so to speak. It's something that people cannot live without. When you don't get the right amount of solid sleep, you can have anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions, or existing conditions can become worse.

You can also age in worse ways if you don't sleep well, or at least you will look really tired, makes your appearance older.

Sleep may sometimes be inconvenient, but it is necessary and we should all take better care to get enough so that we can better perform throughout our daily lives.

Now on with my day, so that I can at least get some yoga in. I think I do better at everything if I have my daily yoga. It should be something that everyone learns...I truly believe that.

Have a great day!

Continued from prior post...

So, I had to race a moving truck to get to Las Vegas before they did, since I didn't have a place to live there yet. I drove straight from Illinois to Nebraska, slept for about three hours and then drove to the Salt Lake Area. My mother was happy to go with me to Las Vegas to help me find an apartment. 

While down in Vegas, we stayed at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino. If you know Vegas, you know that was an old hotel, even in the '90s. Thus, it smelled like stale and fresh smoking tobacco and you know there were many secrets that were kept buried there. 

We stayed in the biggest bed I have ever seen. It took up most of the room. Luckily, we didn't stay there for long. We were there just long enough for me to find an apartment. My mother probably thought that the smell was worse that I thought it was. After all, I was used to hanging out at bars and clubs.

It was sure nice of my mother to come with me so that I didn't have to race to find a place to live on my own.

We found an apartment that was brand new and on Tropicana Blvd. Yes, only a block from The Strip. At that time, things were just beginning to get built outside of town. It was close to work and had everything I needed. Things were booming at that point in Vegas. It seemed like the roads were new, the homes and apartments were new, and there were new portions of the city popping up everywhere, along with a plethora of dirt.

I started to work at my new job. It was with one of the top companies for convention booths in the country. They had offices in multiple states. This office was a rather small one in comparison, but in a great city for conventions.

The ladies I worked with were very nice. However, I didn't really fit in the same age and experience category as the receptionist gals, who were just graduated from high school. AND I didn't fit with the gals I was account executives with, who were in their thirties and fourties.

My boss wound up being a total pig. I had learned over the years not to take that crap and to say something when others were given the crap that a guy like that dealt as well. This place would be no different. 

However, before I get to that, let me just say that Las Vegas is as sleazy as you would think it is. We would go to the convention center to meet our clients and would be met by guys outside who were carrying piles of leaflets with pictures of strippers, advertising strip clubs in town. The flyers would be blowing in the wind so that the same ones you saw at the convention center, you would also find near the office. Of course, now they advertise electronically, which is just as dirty but in another type of way.

It was really hard to get used to places being open 24 hours a day, as well as mini casinos in every store and gas station. As I later learned, the city was still being run by criminals who just did good deeds to cover up their crimes. Just like Chicago, Las Vegas was born from murder and under-the-table dealings. 

​continued in next post...

As all Mondays go, this one has been super busy.

I spend Mondays cleaning sheets and towels, cleaning my house, and taking care of errands. As I do everyday, I also did yoga. I wasn't able to take my walk outside because the air quality was so bad today. The smoke is still blowing in from California and settling in our valleys. My inhaler has been my best friend over the past few months. Even though it will get colder, I am looking forward to fire season being over so that I can start to have more vigorous outside activity. I hope that indeed happens.

I went and got the back of my hair trimmed. The neck part, to be specific. I look forward to not needing to have that done. Once my hair gets long enough, I'll likely need quite a lot less hair cuts. The maintenance of short hair is a pain in the cheeks. I'm much better with less maintenance in that area. 

Being a thinker is a lot of work. It makes sense that people are overwhelmed these days, with everything that we have going on. Keeping up on it all can be a lot of work. Thinking about keeping up on it all can be a lot of work. 

If we choose to live in the now, we open ourselves up to opportunity. We see things differently, most often more optimistically. We realize that our reality is something that we personally build, and that by slowing down, we can build a better reality. That choice is our own. We may not have control over everything that goes on around us, but we do have control of ourselves. We choose how we act, react, think, and how we spend our time.

Being able to teach my kids through doing has been an important part of my parenting. Teaching them that I don't have one set of standards for them and one for me is extremely important. The reason I choose that is that I want my reality to be as positive as possible, while their reality is reflecting mine. They are both young men now, but still rely on us for opinion and nurturing. So, this will continue, as will my practice to try to get better at living in the now.

This is my youngest's second week of college, and things are going so great! I am so thrilled for him and how he is thriving!!

Also this week, my oldest is moving into the dorms at his college. He has already attended for two years, has done an LDS mission, and is now returning. He will move in on Saturday. 

I cannot believe I am old enough to have two kids in college! Wow!

I typed a whole bunch as a continued post from my last post, but lost it when my computer suddenly turned off. So, I will wait until next post to continue the story. Thanks for reading.

I love having time with my husband on Fridays. He now gets to work from home on Fridays, so we get to take a walk together, eat lunch together, and enjoy each other's company from time to time throughout the day.

'The first week of college for my youngest went well this week. There has been a marked change in him. He is thriving, when I thought that he would be having overwhelming anxiety. He has had a lot of homework, but that is what you would expect from 16 credit hours.

One more week and my oldest moves to school. He will be staying in return LDS missionary dorms, so the kids will be a bit older and more experienced than when he was in the freshman dorms. There was a lot of mischief that went on in the freshmen dorms, which made his grades less than great. He managed to turn that around and he should be able to continue to move up that GPA ladder as this year takes off.

Once my oldest gets moved in, my youngest will be able to use the older truck that my oldest has been driving to and from work each day. He will be able to drive himself to and from the train each day so that I won't have to be making those trips. That will save me about 1.5 hours and plenty of gas money.

Each day, I am grateful for the little bit of time we all (my little tribe) get to spend together. We enjoy each other's company and I am so grateful for that.

Continued from previous post....

When I lost that job, I became really depressed. I was frozen and unable to think of working for anyone again. I felt betrayed and stopped in my tracks.

I thought of working for myself doing the same thing, so I tried making calls from home to sell the same medical books as I was at the business where I had worked. It didn't work. I was miserable.

So, I got some temp work and each place said that I was so overqualified to work with them and have them pay me enough that they wouldn't hire me on full time. 

I kept applying to places and wound up working at a place that sold educational books and products for homeschooling families. I learned dead Latin, which helped me immensely with my vocabulary. However, the job got old fast because it was so slow.

Finally, I found a job at a company who designed, set-up and tore down, as well as stored convention booths. These were the size of a couple of houses and were set up around the country and the world. It gave me the opportunity to earn a little more and to learn a little more. It also gave me the opportunity to travel.

At the time, I had been in a relationship with the same guy for around 3 years. I was settling, but he did care for me and I him. This was when I took up smoking and continued drinking. His father was so mean to his mother, so I wondered how he would treat me if we got hitched. Also, when we did discuss marriage and family, he was sure that I would have to work for the whole marriage and have someone else take care of our children. Of course, his working for a beer company, driving a beer truck didn't help the situation. It didn't help the situation with his drinking all of the time either. He was drunk all day and night. I got sick and tired of it. It was growing old.

What was also getting old was the temperatures in the winter. My last year there, the temperature was down to -85 degrees wind chill and my furnace broke. That was really the last straw. 

I decided to apply for jobs in states that were warmer. I sent out my resume to places that did the convention booths, but whose offices were in warmer areas of the country. I interviewed for one in Phoenix and they sent me to an interview to an office of theirs in Las Vegas. That was where I was hired.

I broke up with my boyfriend and two weeks later I moved to Las Vegas. This was a new adventure. I needed new. I needed to start over and get somewhere that I could reinvent myself again. I needed to push myself out of depression and needed to get away from a boyfriend that was not going to be good for me long term. I needed to have new opportunities and things to be excited for.

I needed to be closer to family, but still needed a buffer. They had moved to Utah from Arizona and that was only a 6 hour drive. I felt confident and excited.

...to be continued...

Everything looks so green and glorious today. So luscious in color and smell. The rain has done wonders.

I went to Inlet Park, after dropping Nathan off at the train station, so that I could get some pictures done for Instagram. It was a beautiful morning! I saw some ducks crossing the road, some deer crossing the road, and so many geese flying over. I am so grateful to be where I can see and hear so much nature.

I was able to take a walk today too. The air is pretty good right now, for which I am so grateful.

After I blog, I'll be making raspberry jam. It's a freezer jam recipe that you can find in the CERTO box. It's delicious! I'm making enough to last the year. It's pretty expensive though. The raspberries are over the price they were last year by a lot, lemons are $.67 each, and sugar is $3.38 for 10 lbs this year...generic sugar. Prices on everything have gotten out of control. Wages have not increased, so that puts a strain on everyone's family. Crazy times.

We were thinking about selling our house because our neighborhood is such a pain to get in and out of with traffic now (we built in 2006), and we are not happy with the way the city has been managed and has been making decisions. Plus, our utilities are amazingly high. 

Now, we are just going to stick it out because the people that have been selling recently in our neighborhood are not having as easy of time selling, and the price of houses (we would need a place to live) has gone up so much that we would get a crappy house with no land for around $400K, and there are not even very many of those in that low of price.  

So, now we need to fix some things and just fix them so that we can enjoy them, not so that we can sell. That changes how we fix some of these things. As anyone who has lived in a house for this many years knows, things need fixing after this long. However, since we built at the height of the busy building boom, there are things that didn't get done well, so they need much more help than if it was built at other times. 

Just about everyone who built during the time we built (in our neighborhood) has had their showers and tubs become unusable without major overhauls. The tiles began just kinda falling off the walls. So, that is one of the first things we will take care of. There is a laundry list, however. 

Again, how grateful I am to have a home for myself and my family to live in. We are some of the blessed ones. There are so many people out there without the things that we take for granted. I am so grateful to have everything I have.

...continued from last post...

I continued to work for the same place for quite a while. I was there from the time they opened their doors (at least the office in Illinois). I was one of the first to be hired.

One day, I came to work excited (as usual) to spend another day with my work family. I drove into the parking lot and, while looking for a parking space, I noticed that there were a bunch of moving boxes stacked outside the door of the office building back entrance. That was another door to our office. I kinda got a sinking feeling, but didn't really know why...that is, until I entered our office.

Word got to me right away that our office was being closed. Was our boss aware? Why wouldn't we get warned so that we could get a job? What was I going to do for work? How was I going to pay my bills? Things just started to collapse around me. I felt like I was just having another bad nightmare.

When it was my turn to get called into the conference room, I was told that they were closing the doors and I was given my severance check for two weeks of pay. I didn't have nice things to say to the 'corporate' people who delivered the news. They said that my boss was on a plane flight to SLC (to their offices) when they went out to ours, but that he did know.

I felt betrayed. I trusted my boss and his wife like they were my parents. Maybe that was my mistake. I was too trusting. Why wouldn't they have told me? Didn't they even care? I couldn't breathe. I felt the walls closing in on me. It didn't seem real.

My work family and I all went to the unemployment offices that day. All of us were there together and then went out to drink together that afternoon. It was a tough time for everyone, but for some of us, it was like it was the end of our world.

I still miss the times with my work family. We had fun in the office and out of the office. It was the best job I ever had for that very reason. They became family and I have never stopped thinking of them as family since.

...to be continued...

Today is a day to dance in the rain, not to take a nap because of the storms. 

With how poetic that sounds, it's very real. We have needed this rain for so long. The air has been scrubbed. The plants have been watered. There has been some relief for the firefighters and all who are affected by the fires.

The smell of rain is so rich and fresh. The feel of the rain is so cool and makes everything so green and richly colorful.

​What a blessed day!

I wrote a whole bunch in the my last post, but half of it didn't publish. So, I will continue from a few posts ago from here...

So, back to when I had mono for the 3rd time. I wasn't good at taking care of myself. That is something I would have to learn. It was natural for me to take care of everyone else's needs above my own. I was a nurturer, and still am.

To back up a little...

I always wanted to be a model. From the time I was a young girl. I dreamed of modeling and singing. However, my anxiety always stopped me. I tried out for cheer leading, and that really stretched me. I tried out for some musicals when I was a junior in high school, but even though I made it on as a cast member, my father wouldn't let me be part of the musical because I got a C on my report card. I think it would have been really good for me to be part of something like that, to be able to use my talents for that. 

I wanted to BE SOMEBODY. I wanted to put my mark on this planet. How was I going to do that if I was told that I couldn’t for everything I wanted to try?


I would be good at so many things but decided not to even ask again. I learned that in Junior High. 


So, I made choir one of my courses. That way, I at least got to do something I loved. Music. Singing. Junior year, I made it into madrigals and was able to go to other schools to perform and had other huge performance experiences. I made a ton of friends in madrigals that I will always cherish.


Senior year, we moved closer to Wisconsin. It was a fresh start at school and my confidence was pretty good. I was able to be in three choirs as actual classes my senior year and loved it.


My social life was great! But, I didn’t have really close friends because I didn’t feel comfortable having them come to my house. I had one friend that came over once and was astonished that we had to ask for snacks or to do anything in our own home. The snack? We were given bananas. Not really teen snack material. She said that it was like we were visitors in our own home, and she never came over again.


Anyway, I had an opportunity to try out as one of the leads in Under The Apple Tree. I was getting a 4.0, so I didn’t ask. I just said I was trying out.


I nailed the tryout and became a lead in The Lady and The Tiger story of Under The Apple Tree. I would attend practices regularly, doing everything I could to be great at my part, even though I had so much anxiety.


It was dress rehearsal time and the director had me wearing some see through genie pants (other than the attached panties, a fancy bra top, and a sheer cover/robe. Even though we practiced and practiced the choreography, he insisted that I was supposed to take off the robe/cover during the scene. I argued with him on it, but went through with dress rehearsal.


Show time came and I didn’t take off the top. I figured he couldn’t fire me. It was a high school musical. 


My parents had a total meltdown though. They had no idea that I was wearing this kind of costume. What they were worried about though was there reputation. They said something like ‘we told our friends to attend and you embarrassed us with our friends ‘.


They didn’t say how well I performed. They didn’t compliment me on my dancing. Nothing. Nothing but how they were embarrassed.


For senior talent show, where the whole school attended, I sang REO Speed Wagon, I can’t fight this feeling any longer’. I rocked it. Everyone had their lighters out and they were waving them back and forth. It was awesome! I had so much anxiety but still did what I set out to do!!


So, back to trying to ‘be somebody.’


I was living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming when I finally had the opportunity to model. I was invited to model in a runway show for shoes. It was at Snow King and it was terrifying. I had other opportunities to finally do more work like that and it got easier with each one.


When I moved back home to help my mother during her divorce, I got into modeling for an agency. The work started shortly after she moved away. It was fun work, photo shoots that were practice, at various locations. 


Nearly 6 months went by and no jobs had come of it. So I asked and the people would not get back with me. The photographer was not getting any gigs aside from the practice ones either. Frustrating!


What we found out was that this was a fly-by-night kind of place. They would so collapse. End of that contract for sure.


I was determined to be part of the fashion industry. So, I got an appointment with one of the big agencies in Chicago.


I took time off work and went downtown (which was brave with my anxiety). Entering the offices, I felt under dressed and overweight. I also felt like a little person.


I was not fat at all. I was also pretty tall for a girl, at 5’10” tall. I felt like I was at a convention for anorexic giants. It was crazy. 


I got called into the office of an agency rep and he liked me up and down and asked what I wanted to visit about. I told him that I wanted to model. He looked at me like I was an alien. He had me stand up and turn around a few times. They took my measurements and weight. They sized me up. 


The agent said I was too short, not skinny enough and that my face was not symmetrical. He also said that my lips were too full. 


So, then this representative sits me down and says that he could get me some jobs if I had a good portfolio. Hmm. Tell me I suck but you want to find me work?


I didn’t know what a portfolio looked like at the time. I had pictures that the photographer I had been working with had given me. I figured that I was supposed to show those. So, not knowing any better, I handed the guy a pile of 4 x 6 pictures. Not exactly a portfolio, and he told me so.


From there, he offered me their services and said that, if I pay $10,000 for them to create a portfolio, that he was sure that he could get me jobs. That after telling me that I was too short, too fat, and etc. Hmmm. Interesting type of sales tactics?!


Well, I was smart enough to see that this was a pawn, a sham, and a shame. I decided that I would not model if I had to go through a seedy agent. Instead, I would only model when I found the jobs myself, or on the occasion that I was given the opportunity.


I would find the opportunity on occasion and was fine with that. I think I would have been eaten alive if I had gotten into that business as a full time gig.


...Continued in upcoming posts...

Today's second day of college went well, except for the bus ride back to the train. Evidently, my son got on a bus that was headed to the Provo train station, instead of the Orem train station. Luckily my husband was able to help him figure out what bus he was on and what train to catch. So, I obviously adjusted my plans to pick him up from the train station until a little bit later. It all worked out to be a great learning experience for him.

My migraines are coming back earlier this time. I took some generic Imitrex last night, but wound up being sick from the migraine anyway, partially from the Immitrex itself. Oh well. I still went to the family function and enjoyed holding a one month old little fella named Felix. So cute! Such a full head of hair! So tiny! It's amazing how tiny babies look, now that my kids are both young men.

News. I am no longer blogging on Saturday & Sunday. I'm getting burned out and need a break from the routine on those days, like most people get, as well as time with the family that is not interrupted by work. 

The awesome thing about what I am doing is that I get to do it from anywhere and at any time. However, that also means that I am working all of the time and everywhere. This is not glamorous either. I am doing all of it, from pictures to captions to everything. I am blessed to be able to do so.