When it rains...

Cuteness

2009-10-04T23:52:00.001-05:00

RIP Teddy.

2009-08-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

Q-tips.. who would've thought....

2009-08-24T18:47:00.002-05:00

This is what I heard from the backseat of the car:

Blake: Why don't horses drink milk?

Cole: Well, a big horse, like a momma horse, when she has a baby, can make milk in her belly. Then her baby can stick his nose up there by her belly and drink the milk. I think it drinks from the horses Q-tips. Yeah.. that's what its called. Q-tips.

I was (quietly) CRACKING UP in the front seat.

Cole lost his first tooth!

2009-08-08T23:25:00.001-05:00

Cole lost his first tooth today. The tooth fairy made an appearance last night. This morning Cole told me he really didn't want the $3 that was left for him. He really wanted $7..."but I guess you have to lose a big-o-tooth for that!"

He was talking to his cousin Jenna and found out she got more money than he did from the tooth fairy. He wanted to know why. I told him Jenna lived in another state so they must have a different rate. LOL

Ryan's Grandma

2009-08-06T22:22:00.003-05:00

Ryan's grandmother passed away this evening. She was 74.

She smoked nearly her whole life and in recent years, been dealing with emphysema. That with heart issues eventually led us to this summer where there was basically nothing they could do for her. Any health issue that came up was not treatable because her body would not survive a surgery or being put under anesthetic. Last week her health took a nose dive and Ryan's mother and her sisters started caring for her round the clock. The Visiting Nurses helped some, but a majority of the care came from Pam.

We've used this whole experience as a teaching example to Cole as to what smoking cigarettes can do to a person. For whatever temporary high or release smoking can give a person, will catch up to them later. Like it did for Betty. To be brutally honest, she died a slow and painful death. Her lungs lacked the capacity to breath properly, thus adding strain on her heart, causing heart issues. You're pretty much suffocating. She wished for death. She was ready to go.

Ryan seems to be handling it fine. He mentally prepared himself for this long ago. We were even discussing everything with the kids this week preparing them for the funeral home and funeral ceremony. Cole is very smart about things like this and he has loads of questions. I answer them truthfully, and plainly.

I hope for peace for Ryan's mom. She took a majority of the care of Betty and had to see daily the slow death creeping in. She was afraid to walk in the house and find her mom lying on the floor (how she found her grandmother). She wasn't sure if she could handle it. She was there with her today, with her sister.

Tomorrow they'll make the funeral arrangements and then I'll learn more about the plans.

Yesterday Ryan asked if I thought his grandma would make it to Christmas. I told him I didn't think she'll last 2 weeks. Then last night I asked Ryan if he thinks he should go visit his grandma as sort of a last goodbye. He said "I don't know, what do you think, would you" and it cut through me so quickly I couldn't answer for the tears welling up in me. I just kept thinking if I had one chance.. JUST ONE CHANCE to talk to my grandma and grandpa Schwartz again or to have had the chance to say goodbye, I would take it in a heartbeat. I miss them so terribly much.

Brothers...

2009-07-27T10:46:00.000-05:00

Cole and Blake arguing... Blake tells Cole "Well Grow Up Cole!" this is a 3yr old talking to a 5 yr old. Classic.

Road trip to Chicago: Two podcasters meet best selling author

2009-07-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

By Brandi Hess

It was early Monday morning when I gathered up my MacBook Pro, two headset microphones, podcast notes and headed for the door to meet up with my good friend Luz Moskos. We had a long drive ahead of us as we took off for Chicago en route to a Borders bookstore. Why drive over 6 hrs to go to a bookstore that’s also located in Evansville? Simple. We wanted to meet our favorite writer, New York Times best selling author, Charlaine Harris.

It all started back in January. We just finished reading the famed “Twilight” books and I was trying to talk Luz into reading another series I really enjoyed. She reluctantly decided to give them a try and quickly fell under the same spell. We called each other, discussed book plots and details over lunch, traded books during our kids’ play dates. It was obviously clear--we couldn’t get enough of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse southern vampire series, we couldn’t stop talking about them, and we were completely drawn to a new genre of books called paranormal romance.

It was during one of our lunch chats I brought up the idea of podcasting our discussions on the Harris series to share with other fans. Podcasts are similar to radio shows, in digital audio or video format and are recorded, then stored and syndicated on the Internet. Podcast listeners can search by topics using directories like iTunes to subscribe and download episodes.

Luz was ready to give it a try and we launched our first “Wake the Dead Podcast” episode in March.

Fast forward to July. Charlaine Harris was scheduled for a book signing at a Borders store located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, IL and we knew this was our chance to meet the author, snap a picture and have her sign our books with all the other fans in tow. Luz thought I was aiming too high when I told her I contacted Harris’ publicist and requested a recorded interview for our podcast. She ate her words the day I got the confirmation email back from the publicist and our interview was scheduled before the event.

Harris’ popularity has risen quite high within the last year especially with the help of the television adaptation of the Sookie series on HBO. “True Blood” is now in it’s second season and is gaining ground as HBO’s most popular show since “The Sopranos”.

With all this heightened celebrity, Luz and I were very honored to have the opportunity to meet Charlaine Harris privately, interview her for our podcast, and have her personalize and sign our books. The event turned out to be the largest book signing she’s ever had with over 630 people in attendance.

We finished up the podcast in the hotel room the next day, packed up our gear and left Chicago even bigger fans of Charlaine Harris (if that’s even possible) because of her down-to-earth personality, humble attitude, and gracious love of her fans.

Since it’s launch, our podcast episode of Charlaine Harris’ interview is one of our most popular podcasts to date. We have subscribers and website visitors from all over the United States and other countries ranging from Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada. Our website, www.wakethedeadpodcast.com, has had the honor of being added to HBO’s “True Blood” website, and our podcast has been ranked in the top 100 literature podcasts on iTunes.

On the way home to Cannelton, Luz and I were dreaming up ideas for our next road trip to feed our passion for paranormal romance literature. Who knows, maybe it’ll be San Diego’s Comic Con in 2010? One can dream.
______________________________
Brandi Hess and Luz Moskos are both from Cannelton and record their Wake the Dead Podcast roughly every 2 weeks. Their website is at www.wakethedeadpodcast.com and can be found on iTunes, Twitter and Facebook.

It's been ages

2009-06-22T11:34:00.002-05:00

But life goes on over at Facebook. Seriously.

The Boys.
A couple of weeks ago I was folding clothes and the boys were outside playing. I hear one of them crying. (no big deal) then it gets louder as I hear them walking closer to the door. I glace toward the door and I can see Cole telling Blake to be quiet, calm down, don't tell mom.

Blake comes in, bawling, and walks over to me. I ask what's wrong. Cole says something.. sounds like "he smashed his fingers" and so I start looking over his hands. And Cole says no, his head. and I look and found blood gushing from the back of Blake's head all down his back. So I pick him up and rush to the bathroom yelling for Ryan to come take a look. (He just laid down to sleep since coming in from the night shift.)

We start cleaning it up a bit to see how bad it is. He has a small, but DEEP, cut. I know immediately it'll require stitches. Blake stops crying. He has a really high tolerance for pain.

Anyway, during this whole scene Ryan and I are trying to find out what happened to Blake. Who did it? Did he fall? What happened? Here's a few things Cole said: "I don't know", "Blake was holding a rock above his head, then let go and it hit him in the head.", "Blake threw a rock straight up in the air, and it landed on his head."

None of this added up, obviously. The cut wasn't on the top of his head (consistent with him dropping a rock on his head). You could tell Cole knew what happened but he wasn't talking. He has certain expressions when he's lying. He knew he was in DEEP TROUBLE. On the way to the doctors office (kinda like an urgent care facility) because it was, of course, Saturday morning, when all the major kid related crisis's occur, I told Cole I must know what happened so I could explain it to the doctor so he could fix Blake's head. -- No matter what, I wasn't going to yell at him, or he wouldn't be in trouble. I need to know! So he caved. He said "I don't want you to be mad".... "I told Blake to move, and he wouldn't move, so I tried to throw the rock OVER his head." .... "but it didn't make it and it hit him in the head"

Nice.

The cut only required 2 stitches. It was so deep the doctor could see his SKULL when examining the wound. Since Blake didn't lose consciousness and was acting fine, he didn't need a head scan. But we had to monitor him the rest of the day to make sure he was acting okay. (high alert for head wounds since Natasha Richardson's death)

All is fine.

No more rock throwing for Cole.

Now Blake tells everyone.. in a cute little pouty voice. "Cole threw a rock and hit me in the head and I had to go to the hospital and I had to get stitches."

And he's such a trooper. He didn't cry or anything after that first initial shock of the injury and coming in the house. Even when the doc gave him the numbing shots to prep for stitches. He even poked an area that wasn't numb and Blake just winced. that's all.

Again.. high tolerance for pain.

That was brilliant.

2009-04-13T01:34:00.002-05:00

Easter.

Since the boys were already egg-hunt out and they visited with Ryan's parents on Saturday, I planned to spend the day with my parents on Sunday.

Mom calls me first thing in the morning to see when I was coming over. Then mentions that I could help her figure out where to plant flowers and I could help dad stain his wine racks. The main word here: HELP.

We get there and Dad's in the process of bottling homemade wine. His patience was wearing so I jumped in to help out. We ended up bottling 30 bottles of two different kinds of wine. Then it was time to help mom with her flowers. Every place and arrangement I suggested didn't work for her. She put things where she wanted them and I did all the planting. She didn't touch a single plant. Then on to helping dad stain his wine racks... which turned out to him helping me carry the racks outside and then me and Cole staining them.

So in all, I bottled wine, planted flowers and stained the wine racks all while my parents watched. It was that moment... as I was driving home... that I realized they were brilliant. They managed to keep me there the entire day while I did their chores for them, without me clearly realizing it until later.

Brilliant.

Neat-o

2009-04-03T21:55:00.001-05:00

My friend Luz and I have created a podcast to discuss our favorite books:

http://www.wakethedeadpodcast.com/

What's up with that?

2009-03-11T10:03:00.003-05:00

I forgot about blogger, quite honestly. I was blinded by the joy that is Facebook. So if you really want to keep up to date with me, join be over there.

Otherwise.. I don't know how often I'll update.

Here's what's been going on...

January: Inauguration of Barack Obama. woo hoo!

February: Pretty much a blur. Had an intense week and a half of work in there. Passed the 4th anniversary of my grandparent's death. I still think about them everyday. We went to the Farm and Tractor show in Louisville since the kids love farm equipment. Then we went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for dinner. It was fun.

March: So far this month has been busy. I've been laid off. I'm co-organizing a new organization called Perry County United for Change. It's a service organization (non-partisan) to do things on a local level, but in coordination with Indiana for Change and Obama for America. It will range from doing one-day service projects like cleaning up a playground or painting a school, to hosting workshops/forums on healthcare, economy, energy, etc.

I designed a website for St. Michael Church in Cannelton. It's a pro-bono type of project since it was my Grandmother's church and she was a devout Catholic. This is the church's 150th anniversary. They've been undergoing a massive restoration process and the results are fantastic. Even though I'm not catholic, I appreciate historic buildings and fine craftsmenship. The church is definitely a hidden gem of this area.

I'm going to start podcasting. I'm pretty excited about it. I ordered the equipment last night. I read several techie articles on what I needed, how to get the software to work, etc. I'll be podcasting with a friend and we'll be starting in two weeks. We'll need to decide on the title and format. Basically it's about books. We've both have forged a very good friendship over Twilight and then Charlaine Harris' Stackhouse series. I'd like to have a podcast focused solely on Stackhouse. And then a second on books in that genre. We'll see how it goes. We're planning a road trip to one of Harris' appearances. The one that sounds most appealing is in Shreveport, LA. But secretly I could totally do DragonCon in Atlanta. It's more of a sci-fi pop culture conference and I'll be around my Jedi friends of The Force ;)

...and the Mother of the Year award goes to---

2006-12-02T07:59:00.000-06:00

Friday morning. 6 a.m.

Blake is crying, ready to get up. I pick him up, carry him down the steps. On the last two steps my feet flew out from under me, I land flat on my back -- on the stairs...while I'm holding Blake. I was carrying him on my hip and while I took the brunt of the fall, his leg was behind me.

I was able to protect his head and upper body, but I just couldn't do anything about his little leg. He started crying I screamed for Ryan because I couldn't move and Ryan runs down the steps and picks up Blake.

He cries for awhile and some of it seems like cranky-morningness. Plus the night before he acted like he didn't feel good so it was hard to tell what the source of the crying was from. He fell back to sleep, then woke up an hour or so later. We noticed he wouldn't put pressure on his foot when he would stand and when he was in a sitting position and tried to take off crawling, he would start crying. It was obvious his leg bothered him. He let us feel around and we couldn't find any obvious breaks or anything. His knee didn't bother him, just his ankle area.

We decide to call the doctor just in case. I tried the pediatrician's office twice but got a busy signal. Ryan suggested we just take him to a family practicioner in TC instead of driving all the way to O'boro. Since I didn't think it was broken, I agreed. So there, the doctor feels around, moves his foot and decides to have x-rays taken just in case. X-rays are done and yes, he has a fracture. Since he's only 9 mos, he wanted to refer him to an orthopedic specialist for pediatrics. We found one, in his office, on a Friday afternoon in E'ville. I took him there and the specialist confirmed a fracture, showed it to me on the films, and said since it's not broke all the way through, and nothing has moved in there, then Blake can get by with a splint and an ace bandage.

He is to not put pressure on his foot for 2 weeks and it should be healed in 4 weeks. Give him Tylenol as needed.

Wow.

He's in pretty good spirits now. He's frustrated he can't stand on it. This will set back his walking progress. We were sure he'd be walking by Christmas.

I feel like I've been in a wreck. I ache all over and I have bruises on my back from where I landed.

Sidenote: The TC doctor showed me the films and the fracture. Said it was on the Fibula. When I got to the specialist, he told me it was actually the Tibula and showed me a different area than the TC doc. o-k I couldn't find the place on the films that the TC doc pointed out the first time. I took the specialist's word for it. We go back in 2 wks. and will get new new x-rays to see the healing progression. Note to self: this is why I don't go to PC physicians.

My new favorite politician!

2007-02-11T08:05:00.000-06:00

This is my t-shirt design. I saw someone with a poster that said Barack the vote and I thought that was so clever! 'Rack on!

Football Fun

2007-02-12T15:44:00.000-06:00

Blake and Cole sporting their Raiders gear.

This is Cole in his "first" Raider's outfit.

This is Blake in that same outfit.

I think Cole is older in his picture, but they have the same shaped heads. Blake definitely wins for having the most hair. The boy has two haircuts under his belt before his first b-day. Cole was a little over a year before he had his first. It's amazing how time goes by so fast!

Yesterday's Birthday BOY!

2007-02-23T06:17:00.000-06:00

This was at our Spanish playgroup meeting last night. The kids sang Feliz Cumpleaños to Blake.

Party Time

2007-02-25T21:47:00.000-06:00

It's Birthday Party Time!
What the heck is this thing on my head??

AHH! Got Presents?

My very own VACUME! Woo Hoo! Now if I can only keep big bro away from it!

Ok.. I'm going to touch this cake.. anyone watching me? You see me right? I'm going to smash this cake... why isn't anyone stopping me? Hello? Do you care?

This is pretty tasty! Much better than jar food!

Even Cole is feedin me some icing goodness :)

I own this cake.

I came, I saw, I conquered CAKE.

Happy Birthday Blake!

House Concert

2007-03-06T10:21:00.000-06:00

This should be fun! Lucy went to a house concert a few weeks ago and had a great time. Basically it's musicians who are in town performing at the regular concert venue's and as an extra income and free accommodations, they book private concerts at people's homes.

They're artists touring the country and there's a network of names and addresses of people interested in hosting house parties in a sorts of towns along their tour. You charge $10 a person (goes to the performers) and everyone brings a covered dish. You get to eat, drink and be merry for just $10.

By the way.. I designed the above postcard for Lucy to mail out. It's this Saturday. I can't wait!

Heeps of Peeps

2007-04-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

This was this morning when the boys got up and found their baskets.

We got them a swing set this year. Of course it's extremely cold right now and there's no way we could put it together.

I'm proud that I didn't buy them candy! I knew they'd get a boat-load from Mom and Ryan's mom... plus the egg hunt at church was full of candy too. The eggs I brought for church were full of bracelets and erasers. In their baskets from home they found movies, books, bath toys, and some other small things.

PC Junior Women

2007-04-21T22:45:00.000-05:00

Outstanding Young Woman of the Year Award

goes to....

Me!

I was so surprised and honored! They keep it top secret right up til the moment they announce it. Since Lucy won the same award last year, she got to present it this year. She started in listing some of the activities I had on my resume and she looked at me and smiled, I knew then it was me! She also said some kind and thoughtful things that wasn't scripted and I almost started crying! She's so sweet and I'm lucky she's my friend!

RFL: 2007

2007-06-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

Our Relay for Life team raised $5,100! And we won the Rookie Award and Best Campsite award. We were so excited! Perry County raised $55,000 and their goal was only $48,000!

The Luminary program was so moving, humbling, depressing. Just to see so many names of people who died and are fighting/surviving cancer.

In Honor Of:
Doug Mathena
Tim Sandage
Alice Bennett
Cindia Ress

In Memory Of:
Irvin Hess
Roy Maxey
Donna Fenn
Frances Sandage

The End.

2007-06-11T18:31:00.000-05:00

Last night was the finale of an awesome series. I know it's hugely offensive to some people, but I loved it. I'm in mourning today.

GO BABY GO!

2007-06-18T09:22:00.000-05:00

Saturday was our annual summer trip to the races. We had a great time! I really enjoy watching the horses. I ended up $20 down, but that's okay. My biggest win was $16.

We were on Millionaires Row level 6. I found out the Queen was on the level 4 suites, which apparently has better views because it's closer to the track. The wait staff said they (I guess management or security) put up a black curtain along her path so no one could see her. -- I realize she's a queen and all, but is that necessary?! "eh! don't look at me you filthy peasants!" Considering the area she was walking through were full of millionaires anyway..

Pictures of the kids

2007-09-10T15:42:00.001-05:00

Our local paper puts out a special "Baby Issue" for ages 4 and under. People clip ballots from several weeks issue for the cutest baby or whatever. This is Blakes's entry. and below is Cole's.

Also, last week marked the first day of PRE-SCHOOL for Cole. Very traumatic lol. He was all geared up to go, but then didn't want me to leave. Today was the same way. He'll eventually get over it. Below is the picture from his first day. He did that to his socks --not me. He insisted they be pulled up as much as they could. What's crazy is that this picture looks like the same kind of styles when I started school.

Huber Winery

2007-09-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday we went to Huber Winery and ate at Joe Huber Farm. This was for Ryan's Mom's birthday. The whole Hess gang went. The weather was awesome and it was a fun day for the kids. Here's some highlights..

Ryan and Blake feeding the fish.

Cole and his cousin Kloyi

This is Ryan's family: His dad, mom, brother Neil, nephew Ty and niece Kloyi, and of course Blake and Cole.

From the other side of 30.

2007-10-01T14:29:00.001-05:00

My party Saturday was great. The food was good and the weather was wonderful! The last guests left at 2 a.m. I got some really cool gifts too.. like WINE! .. candles.. a really cool frame (below), and a "vintage" costume jewelry-like broach. That's from my friend Beth who loves auctions and old stuff. She's the one that got me hooked on auctions :) That's a special gift.

This is the cool picture Lucy and Adam got me. It's modern art. They're 4x6 photos of architecture elements that make your name. The "H" is a bridge, you can't tell it here, but it has all the support cables on it. The E looks like it's from the side of a barn, the S is from a lit old style Vegas sign, and the other S is like a decorative iron-like support type thing you see on a lot of old buildings to support brick walls. It's really neat! You can get it framed for however long your last name is, but apparently it can be pricey. Lucky me my last name is shorter than my maiden name Schwartz!

All in all it was a good birthday. :)