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This video is really dark to watch. But it lets you in on the wonders that were playing werewolf during SXSW! Explains how to play too. Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Travel Story #9: Grace (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Grace Piper cooks pidgeons, and they taste really really good. (posted for 3/23/08)

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Travel Story #8: Jose (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Jose signed his life away, then drove this big, monstrous vehicle… (posted for 3/22/08)

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Travel Story #16: Bonny (Kitykity's Vlog)

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I heard my baby doll crying… Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Travel Story #15: Jared (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Jared loves to help others.

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Travel Story #14: Erin (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Do you know what a blowout? Erin had to deal with one, and on an airplane, of all places… Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Travel Story #13: Andy (Kitykity's Vlog)

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…and this guy had the biggest… Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Travel Story #12: Jonny (Kitykity's Vlog)

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I didn’t realize at the time I filmed this that the men’s room was right behind Jonny. Somehow, this makes the stories that much more funny! Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Travel Story #11: Charles (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Charles from blip.tv tells us a story that involves a little bit of snow… Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Travel Story #10: Susan (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Finally… thanks to Erin… I get to tell a story! (posted for 3/24/08)

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At SXSW, the Adobe party had some awesome music and a really cool skating ramp right in front of the stage! This video is especially for my son.

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Dirt Rocket (Kitykity's Vlog)

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The kids got a new electric dirt bike. It is AWESOME. It’s… speedy! Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv), MPEG-4 Video (.m4v)

Airplane Wars (Kitykity's Vlog)

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Rainlin let me in on the rules of airplane wars… which, interestingly enough, ends with swords. Formats available: Windows Media (.wmv), Flash Video (.flv)

What I want. (Susan's Journal)

It’s not good to be selfish. Sometimes, though, you have to tell people what you want. I haven’t always been good at that.

I want someone to call me… SMS me… email me… every day.
I want someone to put their hand on my lower back as we’re walking down the street, side by side.
I want someone who doesn’t hold doors all the time… but once in a while as a surprise is nice.
I want someone who picks up after themselves, and is neat–but not a neat freak.
I want someone who is good to their pets–I truly believe this is an excellent judge of a man.
I want someone who might not know anything about blogging or video blogging, but is interested in it, even if only because I am.
In line with that, I want someone who can cook… and is willing to teach me–someone I can’t do really well, but am willing to learn.
I want someone who encourages me to try new things, but isn’t pushy about it, and doesn’t ridicule when they learn how boring I have been in the past.
I want someone who loves to travel–fly away for just a day or two to a new place, or a foreign land.
I want my sentences finished. It’s not that hard. I’m pretty easy to figure out.
I want someone who likes to go out to a club, either for a drink or karaoke or pool or people-watching or whatever… but not every night.
I want someone with more than one pair of shoes.
I want someone who understands that the kids always come first. Always.
I want someone who will tell me what to do… not all the time, but on a regular basis.
I want someone who will tell me the truth, no matter the cost–meaning if it hurts my feelings, tuff.

I’m sure there’s more… but it’s a start. I’m not settling.

Wednesday night. (Susan's Journal)

As I sit here, rubbing the oncoming sleep from my eyes, the kids are up in their beds now, hollering back and forth about the title of a Fall Out Boy song. As Rain asks if she can borrow the CD from Dylan, I holler up that they need to go to sleep, and that she can borrow it in the morning. It’s half an hour past bedtime, but both kids are squeaky clean with their teeth and hair brushed. I won’t last much longer. I was awakened by two long nightmares last night and a battery dying in one of the smoke detectors–which sends out a loud “beep” every 60 seconds. Incredibly annoying. I am very lucky I have some 9 volt batteries in the house. I probably need to buy more for when the rest die en masse.

We are the champions! (Susan's Journal)

I know that every parent says their child is the best… but tonight, what happened was nothing short of incredible, miraculous, and completely awesome.

Tonight was Rainlin’s basketball team’s championship game. They had beaten this team two times before, and Rain went into it saying no problem; but I warned her, you can’t let your guard down, and things can always change. Tonight, things changed.

At the beginning of the game, we were up by four. Less than ten minutes later, it was 4 to 10–and we were losing. We got up to 10, then they got up to 11. Then a girl on our team got two free throws because of a foul, and she MADE both of them! There was only thirty seconds left in the game, and we ended up winning 13 to 11. All the parents went ballistic, screaming and throwing their arms up and jumping out of their seat. Our little nine-year-old girls had come back from behind and won the championship game. The coaches grabbed the box of trophies, and we all headed to Cici’s.

Apparently Cici’s is the hot spot on a Friday night; there were no tables, and the line was out the door! Rain and I were the first ones in line, and Scott dropped Dylan off with us a few minutes later. The manager started passing out slices of pizza to the people waiting in line, and I said to him, “Hey, my daughter’s team just won the basketball championship, and they are all standing outside!” He smiled and brought them a couple pizzas too. The kids got such a huge kick out of getting “free pizza,” and it was impossible to explain to them that it wasn’t really free, it was kind of just like eating part of the buffet before we paid… kind of a hard concept to grasp.

Inside, Dylan and I sat with another mom and her son in a booth, and the dozen black-jerseyed basketball girls crowded around a couple tables in the middle of the restaurant. I told the other mom sitting with me that in the last couple minutes of the game, I had prayed. I said God, I know life isn’t all about winning, but it would be really nice right now. The other mom laughed out loud, and said she had been praying too. Whenever two or more of us are gathered in his name, I said to her…

They even had a cake for the girls! It was one of those cool cakes with a photo on it, and it was a photo of the basketball team. The girls all got a kick out of eating themselves The trophies they had won were huge… Rain was really thrilled about it. As we were leaving, the coach said to her… my son has been playing for years and years, and only has about two trophies this big… you should really cherish this one. I think that had a big impact on her too

What an excellent evening!

Turnaround. (Susan's Journal)

Today started so wonderful–I hooked up the doggies to the leashes and took them for a walk before work–and ended so terrible–with tears and gut-wrenching stress and emotions. I don’t feel like talking about it. It’s over now, though. At least for today. Today’s only got a half hour left.

Traffic. (Susan's Journal)

Another day, another long drive. Another night without the kids,another night with friends instead. Life carries on.

Sunday. (Susan's Journal)

Once again, I am awed by how good the iPhone pictures come out. Either
that or my kids are just that damned cute.

Today was cloudy, but really warm–like 60. Sorry to sound boring…
But it’s now 10pm and I’m in bed on my iPhone with a headache. Went to
church tonight, went to wal mart for milk and stuff, and the kids
brought everything inside. They have been very, very well behaved.

I need to go pass out now.

Snow. (Susan's Journal)

Today is the first day it’s snowed in about two or three years… at least that I can remember, at least that it might stick. It didn’t start snowing until dark, though, and the kids didn’t get to play in it–they just got to see flakes falling in the street light outside. Hopefully tomorrow morning I’ll be able to snap off a picture or two of the snow…

Puppy Power. (Susan's Journal)

Whenever anyone’s asked me via SMS what I’m up to today, I respond the same way…

“Puppy power.”

I’m sorry, but I just can’t stop talking about her. Last night, we gave her a bath with some flea shampoo, and we scrubbed and scrubbed, then soaked her down, then fluffed her up with a big towel… and the preciousness that came out of that bathroom might just make your head pop off.

Tonight, she had her first accident in the house in two days, and I think that’s pretty good. It’s my own fault, because it’s bedtime and I didn’t pick up her food and water. She squatted down, and I scooped her up mid-stream (lol), and I said, “outside! outside!” and carried her dangling out the backdoor. I’m sure she’ll figure it out soon.

Princess Leia comes home. (Susan's Journal)

I prayed for rain, so that the kids’ two soccer games could be cancelled, and we could spend all day with our new little girlfriend. God not only obliged–he brought it in abundance. I got to set up a doggy house, doggy run, doggy food and water bowls, and strap on a doggy harness with a light rain falling. She’s definitely worth it, though. She’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen.

Pajama party ending. (Susan's Journal)

Today has been 80% spectacular. The other 20% was spent on the six
hours of work I did, but you take the bad with the good, right?

Around that work time, we went to an 8am soccer game for Dylan. Then
we went to home depot for the free monthly kids project, which was a
race car. Then we had breakfast at macdonalds. Then we came home, and
the kids played while I worked. Then we took Leia to get her first
puppy shot. Then we got Rain’s neighbor buddy, and we got some movies
(for free) from blockbuster. Then we picked up a pizza and wings and
ate them. Then we watched a spongebob movie. Then we played with the
puppies. Then we watched prince and the pauper–some twin switcheroo
movie. Now here I am, making a blog post from my iPhone while the kids
snuggle on the hideabed.

Life is good.

Old frames. (Susan's Journal)

I made a post a couple days ago about starting to hang pictures in my house… about how, for some reason, I had just never put any up since we moved in.

This afternoon, I was picking through some things in the garage when a picture frame caught my eye. What’s that, I wondered… and when I pulled it out, I drew a little gasp and thought to myself, “yaay!” It was this framed picture of two goofy baseball/softball photos I had taken of the kids. It turned out I wouldn’t have to wait until Sunday to hang pictures after all.

I put it right at the bottom of the stairs, so whenever you walk out of the house, you walk right by it. I’ve found myself at the bottom of the stairs for no particular reason a couple times since I hung it. It’s so nice to have my beautiful kids’ faces there on the wall for everyone to see.

And on this day,
February 23, 2003… heh, yeah, I’m never going to do THAT again.

My Baby Rainlin. (Susan's Journal)

I love my baby Rainlin. She’s not a baby anymore; but you know how mothers are–their kids are always their babies. I sit here now, watching her lying helpless on the arm chair, praying my heart out that she can go to school tomorrow, since it’s her valentine’s party. She has cried quite a bit about it, and I can’t blame her. It’s her first valentine’s at her new school. I love her so much.

So let’s see… she has the flu. She has a steady 101 temperature. She has a cough, a sore throat, sniffles, and a fever. She has ringworm on her arm (though it’s almost gone). She has a wart on her foot (though it’s almost gone). She had athlete’s foot a month or two ago, but we got that licked. We thought we had the lice licked, that is until last night. The doctor today said I can treat her again, and I’m trying another brand this time. Let’s see… did I miss anything?

Nothing but the fact that I love her more than you could ever imagine.

And on this day,
February 13, 2004… It was SNOWING! Not going to snow this year probably.

Leia and Luke. (Susan's Journal)

Today was kind of a crazy day at church. I haven’t been sleeping much because I’ve been sick and haven’t been able to breathe out of my nose, so I started Sunday with very little sleep. After two stressful services of being on camera (stressful because one of our cameras is broken), I was definitely ready for an afternoon nap before the night service.

That wasn’t to be, though.

Scott came by to pick up a tool box, get Rain’s basketball shoes (I gave both kids a big big hug, I have missed them SO much the past couple days), and talk about some things. It was actually decent conversation, but it robbed me from an hour of that nap time.

After that, I just figured there wasn’t enough time for a nap, and with the weather incredibly beautiful, I would be a mean person if I didn’t take the doggies for a walk. So out we went. I planned on not taking longer than fifteen minutes or so, but that wasn’t to be either. Leia took a crap on one of the baseball fields (I’m smart enough now to carry a wal-mart bag around with me, Luke never poops when he walks so this is a new thing), and it seemed like every adult and child wanted to stop me to scratch Leia. The three-legged dog doesn’t get the attention he used to anymore, but I still love him the same.

Anyways, all that turned my fifteen minute walk into a half hour walk, and before I knew it–crap (in another context), I’m going to be late back for church! So I hopped in my car and zipped my way back two towns away.

Service went great–our nighttime service on Sundays is kind of designed for singles to meet up and hang out. I invited a friend, and he came and watched, and we went to a wing place after for dinner, then said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways.

At home, I kenneled up the doggies, put in pajamas, and collapsed in bed. It didn’t take me long at all to pass out. I was going to make a video blog post with some videos I took while walking the dogs, but I just didn’t get that far. Maybe tomorrow… maybe Tuesday…

Kids? Conference (Susan's Journal)

I can’t begin to express in words what a good time I had at church today. Yes, it is a Thursday, and I spent the day at church. I took a day off from my day job to volunteer at my church during a kids conference, running a camera. Kids’ church pastors from all over the world came down to see how our church teaches kids.

Now when I volunteered, I knew I’d be running a camera, but I didn’t really have the faintest idea what the whole presentation was going to be about. They had a band playing songs–but not just our usual church songs, but KIDS’ CHURCH SONGS! They came complete with the awesome graphics on the big screens, and I had a very hard time not dancing while the music was playing–that would of course make the camera bounce Then, when it came time for the crowd to learn how we operate, it wasn’t just a boring guy on stage with a microphone–it was a complete kids’ set, with characters on stage, some puppets, some electricians, some Tim-the-toolman-Taylor’s, some astronauts, and all kinds of other cool, awesome people. They taught their lessons, weaved within a skit, and it made it SO much fun. Here’s an example: when they talked about how important security for kids’ church was, they had a puppet in a guitar store. The puppet hired a shady guy to work there, and the puppet took in a guitar without giving the lady a claim check, and the wrong guy came up later and picked up the guitar, etc etc… so as an adult, you definitely got the analogies, and in the process the crowd was able to see all our costumes, props, and sets. It was nothing short of incredible.

Next year, instead of just one day, I’m going to take two days vacation for this. It was worth every single minute of it!

Kid Love. (Susan's Journal)

There’s nothing better than spending the evening with my kids–picking them up, stopping at Wal-Mart, fixing dinner, doing school projects together, tucking into bed, spending ten minutes talking to each one before I kiss them good-night. Nothing else in the world could be better than that.

Home from school. (Susan's Journal)

The kids were out of school today for President’s Day. They were so well behaved–playing the Wii, playing with the puppy, playing with Legos, playing with Littlest Pets, playing outside with neighbor friends. It wasn’t warm, but it was sunny and bearable, and I shoved them outside as much as I could.

Leia has really been wonderful. We tumble around the living room floor with her. Luke and Leia seem to gravitate towards each other’s bowls, but I tell them no; I’m trying to get them to finish a bag then maybe get them both eating the same thing. Leia plays fetch–a new and welcomed game in our home! Luke is an awesome dog, but he doesn’t do the whole fetch-thing. I’m so, so happy we brought her home. I prayed about it, and I bet the kids did too, and it was definitely the right decision. Man, look at the size of those paws…

Friday. (Susan's Journal)

Click here and watch this video to put a smile in your Friday.
Working from home.
Cloudy outside.
Going to be cold and rainy this weekend.
Maybe miss a soccer game or two.
If not, we have four total games to go to.
Two soccer, and the two last basketball.
I will use a tank of gas in my car.
Then there’s the puppy.
That’s supposed to be tomorrow morning.
I’m not ready.
The Police are coming back to Dallas in May…
with Elvis.
I really want to go.
I don’t really have the money.
Can I go home now?
No wait…

Frameless. (Susan's Journal)

It has been about a year and a half I have lived in the new house now. When we moved, I packed up all the framed photos that were all over the walls in our old house two towns away. Dylan helped me wrap them, one by one, in newspaper, and put them into Rubbermaid containers. They are now in my attic.

I never put those pictures on the walls. Now, after everything has happened, I don’t have a huge desire to dig them out, either. Most of them are family photos, and we aren’t a four-member family anymore.

So what I am doing is making a promise to myself. My church is right near Costco, where I usually go for photo prints. Every Saturday, I will sit down and pick out a photo, either one of the kids I already have framed, or one I have taken digitally. I’ll either find a place and hang it up, or I’ll order a print and pick it up after church on Sunday.

Rainlin calls me “the camera freak.” It just seems foolish that I have such a wonderful nickname and not one single photo hanging in my house. I will correct that. I will surround myself with happiness, putting smiling faces of my beautiful children on every wall.

Forgotten. (Susan's Journal)

I can have a bad day, have all kinds of little rinky dink things go wrong, be all down in the dumps. Then I pick up my kids from school, and we head home, and all is forgotten. I know she’s all I’ve talked about for days now, but she’s absolutely wonderful. In just a few short days, we’ve watched her become part of our family. She’s comfortable enough with us all now to chew on us. She plays catch, and tumbles over herself, and the kids break out in peals of giggles. I drive to work in the morning, and I smell like puppy. All the crappy things, all the bad things–they’re forgotten. I like it that way.

We had to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home for a few things, and we ended up coming home with four soda-type 24-pack cardboard bottom thingys. Rainlin acquired them from the back of car and added them to the “robot collection,” which also includes styrofoam cups/plates/bowls, plastic spoons/forks/knives, tin foil, and straws. She headed straight upstairs and created a “pool party”–a patio-covered area with a pool and a hot tub. She’s incredibly creative, and not just with dragons.

I get tired so easy nowadays. Right after the kids go to bed, and often even before they do, I am ready to collapse. I tuck each of them in, kiss them goodnight, then fall down in my own bed. Dylan freaked me out about an hour after bedtime by coming in my room and doing that kid-at-the-edge-of-the-bed thing, just standing there, and I wook up BBAAAAAHHH! started, and he started talking jibberish. That didn’t help. He apparently had some kind of nightmare; but I held him for a few minutes, then repeated the tucking-in process. No more nightmares.

No more nightmares.

Can?t breathe through my nose. (Susan's Journal)

I guess it started Thursday afternoon. I became stuffed up. Do you know how frustrating it is to try to sleep, when you can only breathe through your mouth? Of course you do–we’ve all been through that.

Tonight I was supposed to go out with a friend of mine and have a good time, but it was just a lost cause. I came home from work and flopped on the couch, slept off and on for a few hours, and finally just said screw it, I’m staying home.

I also broke one of my own rules and let Leia up on the couch. I had told the kids to let the couch be Luke’s territory, but he’s been better and better about having her around, and I felt like crap, so I just cuddled up with her in my arms, and we both snoozed a tiny bit.

I don’t feel sick to my stomach, I don’t feel achey, I don’t feel feverish–I just can’t friggin breathe. I hope this goes away soon.

See the "Airplane Wars" video

Rainlin let me in on the rules of airplane wars... which, interestingly enough, ends with swords.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by kitykity with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

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