Let's play...

What the HECK is that?

If you can guess what this is you will win a little assortment of scrap stuff that I have created myself. Alphabet tags, journal spots... stuff like that.

And as a side note, as I was posting this Morgan looked over and said "what is that??" So if you want to have a go post a comment on this post. The prize will go to the first person who correctly guesses. Good luck!

a few more...

Aperture 1.7Aperture 3.5

Aperture 8.0

All with 50mm lens and custom set WB. The WB is a bit off though (the light hearts are silver) as I used the table to set it rather than a piece of cardstock. But it's actually pretty close to the lighting in the kitchen. I'm going to try and get outside today while Owen is napping and get some shots in natural light.

Advice...

I enjoy chocolate. Scratch that. I LOVE chocolate. Today I got a bag of Dove Smooth Milk Chocolate hearts while at Target. (Why do they say smooth? Does someone make rough milk chocolate??) And the wrappers always have a little something to say on the inside. I thought the one above was worth sharing. It reminded me of how Owen laughs with such abandon and as adults we just don't do that enough.

Have a great weekend! We are going ice skating with my sister and her BF. Owen will be spending some time with Grammie. Sunday we may take him to Rock the Cradle. It's a cool concert sort of thing put on by MPR at the Mpls Institute of Art. I love cultural events that are free!

Focus...

I taking a photography class over at 2P's called 12 weeks to better photos. I started a bit late but it was not difficult to catch up. Here are the assignments for the last three weeks.

The first week was working in aperture priority mode.

Aperture 1.7

Aperture 4.0

Aperture 7.1

Week 2 was working in Shutter priority mode and adjusting the ISO setting. Using this mode you can blur or freeze action.

Shutter speed 1/80

Shutter speed 1/320

Shutter speed 1/1000

Week 3 is light settings.

Auto White Balance Setting

Tungsten Setting

Custom Setting

The class has been very helpful for me thus far. While these are all concepts that I know I don't use them often and I haven't practiced them much. So to go about it in an organized way with assignments and notes is very helpful. I've read the manual for my camera throughly several times but it's not the same as having some walk you through it with visuals! If you are interested in the class or just checking it out you can go HERE. This will take you to week three as well as several articles. You will need to do a little searching for the previous two weeks. Oh, and it's free!

Since I had the camera out the other night Morgan had me do a few photos for a powerpoint presentation he's working on. He needed some jicama shots. So he set up his scene and I did the photos. This is the one he chose to go with.

If you've never tried jicama it's very refreshing. It's texture is similar to an apple but pairs well with citrus fruits. Hence the clementine!

Craft room peek...

Renee asked for a look-see of my shelf. So here are a few photos of my work table in my craft room.

The shelf above the table is 48" long and 8"deep. I bought a plain board at Lowe's and painted it with some light green paint and them mounted it with simple white brackets. The whole deal cost like $8. The hardest part was mounting it to the wall by myself while keeping it level!

This is the rod and cups I got at Ikea the other day. The rod was $1.99 and the cups were 99¢ each. I think it's about 15" long but I'm not sure. There was one that was double or so the length of this one too.

And here is Owen playing in his tent last night. I love it when I upload pictures and find that Morgan has actually taken some!

Morgan always talks about learning to use the camera. And I wish he would. But I wish he'd read some of the baby/child rearing books we have too. He's bringing home the bacon though so I can't complain. The funny thing about the camera is that before he was doing what he does now he was a newspaper reporter and photographer. At one paper he wrote, photographed, and edited. It's not like he can't take a picture!

Today's challenge...

Maureen posed this challenge over at 2P's:

If you keep your photos on your computer. How often do you put them on a disk to back them up?

Well, a few weeks ago I spent three days sorting, deleting, and burning photos. I hadn't done it since the previous December. I had 4500 pictures to go through. I have to mention here that I take pictures of almost anything and everything. If I see a neat thing shopping, I take a picture of it. If I see some inspiration, I take a picture of it. I didn't do a very good job of editing out the bad pictures during the course of the year so I had to do it at the end of the year before burning them to disk. I also take pictures in RAW format a lot and this requires editing before printing. However, I discovered that when I burn photos to disk with iPhoto it will keep the original RAW file and also a modified file of the photo in jpeg format. So after I did all that burning I uploaded almost 400 pictures to snapfish to be printed and I didn't have to go through and edit the RAW ones because they were in jpeg too! (So there Morgan, my MAC is good for something!)

This year I've vowed to edit, delete, print, store and burn in a more efficient and timely manner. So I don't spend a week doing it at the end of the year. The majority of the 400 pictures I had printed are going to go in photo albums. When we were in Kansas for Thanksgiving at my SIL Morgan and I were looking through the photo albums she has. She isn't a scrapbooker but does a nice job of printing and storing her photos in albums. And I just really liked sitting there flipping through them and seeing how the kids have grown and decided I needed to do that. I've already decided not to scrap all the photos I take so it only makes sense to put some in an album. I loved looking through the albums my mom has when I was a child and I'm sure Owen will too. He already loves the first year album I made for him. It's been sitting on the dining room table since I finished it (I haven't decided where to keep it yet) and he climbs up on the chair and sits there and flips the pages saying "baby" "baby" "daiy" "daiy" (which is his word for me and Morgan).

I'd like to invest in an external hard drive so I can store pictures on there instead of always on the computer. A DVD CD can hold a lot of photos so I don't want to have to worry about losing them until I have enough to put on a disk. I don't like to waste space, even on a CD!

Lastly, Owen and I went to Ikea yesterday. It was a great trip. They have fun carts at Ikea. The wheels spin 360 degrees. And they have a small cart with a child seat that holds one of their reusable plastic bags. So we had fun perusing the store and spinning down the aisles. Then we had lunch in the restaurant (a little tricky with just me but we worked it out) and then finished up our shopping. I found a cute igloo tent for Owen. It was only $10! I also found a wall mount bar that holds plastic cup things for my craft room. After putting up my new shelf I tried to whittle down the drawer organizers on my table and this holds all my pens and some decorative scissors so they are within reach but not on the table.

This one's for you Mag!

Maybe some of you have seen this before. I received it once as an e-mail. But in light of recent events (my time of the month) I decided to find it on the internet and share it here on my blog.

ACTUAL LETTER TO PROCTOR AND GAMBLE (supposedly)

Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your Always maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core(tm) or Dri-Weave(tm) absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favourite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants. Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from "the curse"? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my ‘time of the month’ is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call "an inbred hillbilly with knife skills." Isn't the human body amazing? As Branch Manager in the Feminine-hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers' monthly visits from "Aunt Flo". Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying jags, and out-of-control behaviour. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps. Crazy! The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... which brings me to the reason for my letter.

Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: "Have a Happy Period".

"Are you f…..g kidding me?" What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness - is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James? FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything "happy" about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the local Walgreen's armed with a hunting rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like "Put Down the Hammer" or "Vehicular Manslaughter Is Wrong", or are you just picking on us? Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending bullshit. And that's a promise I will keep... Always.

Best,

Wendy Aarons

Austin TX

I told Morgan last night that no feminine hygiene product should EVER say "have a happy period". It will after all, just piss someone off. Obviously!

Stupid people...

shouldn't breed. And this is one of the reasons why.

Incidentally, I am reading a book titled Making Children Mind without Losing Yours by Kevin Leman. He also wrote an excellent book titled First Time Mommy. Anyway, I just finished a chapter where he talks about how experts have scared people into NOT parenting. His answer is this. STEP UP. When parents don't step up and be parents and do the hard work, their children run wild (and become people who shouldn't breed) and drive the rest of the population nuts.

I believe in raising children to be who they are meant to be and also be responsible, well mannered, self-disciplined members of society. Our job as parents is to raise our children to be adults. Not just manage them until the are 18 and not our responsibility anymore.

And now I will climb down from my soapbox because my little man is awake, and needs some parenting!

Finished at last!

I got very behind in my DOM cards. I was finally able to finish them up today! The dates are not accurate on the cards but rather reflect when the card should have been done! My date stamp years end at 2007 so I couldn't do 2008 and didn't want to write it in. You can view the entire collection by clicking on the link in the side bar.

Week 45 Self-realization
Week 46 Rejuvenate

Week 47 Your happy place

Week 48 Ideas

Week 49 Time Flies

Week 50 The Greatest Gift

Week 51 Reminded me of you

Week 52 Art

I love when a project is complete. I enjoyed working on the cards each week and I will miss the little challenges but I love having the completed cards all on the book ring hanging in my craft room. I enjoy the creative process but I also really like to sit back and look at what I've accomplished. Now I need to finish up some last details on Owen's first year album and that will be complete too!

Tonight I have my book club meeting. It's always fun to get together and discuss a book and chat about whatever. I've also got a special little something for each of the girls and some articles to share that I found for each of them. Well, two articles. One for my friend who is looking into preschools and the other is for Maggie, Lori, and Nikki to read and then pass on to someone at school who may need it. It's about keeping this short and sweet!

Some creations...

Below is the blessings book I made for the year. The cover and back cover are packaging chipboard and the majority of the pages are scraps from my stash.

I cut scalloped circles with my cricut and then stamped the numbers with the CTMH playful numbers. One of my favorite alphabet/number sets.

This is the quote from Ali's blog that I posted a few posts ago. I put inside the front cover.

Here's another view of the inside pages.

This is the calendar I created for my girlfriends for Christmas. The months are by Jessica Sprague and I used brushes from various artists. All found on the internet and most were free for personal use. The pages measure about 3.5x4 and sit on a tiny easel from Dick Blick. I was so excited to find them again when Owen and I were there in November. I bought a bunch at the time not knowing what I would make the use them for but then I decided on a little calendar. The pages are printed on a shimmery cream colored cardstock that really work well with the designs. I think it looks rather elegant. The most painful part was rounding all those corners! My corner rounder doesn't seem to make a clean cut so there were fuzzy edges which I was not happy with.

Below are all of the pages of the calendar.

Today I am working on getting all the laundry done and put away. There have been piles of clean clothes sitting on my laundry room table for a couple of weeks and it just bugs me when they aren't put away. First, I can't easily fold new loads. And second, Morgan is always asking me if something is clean. If it's all put away then there aren't any questions or digging in the piles and creating not so neat piles! I also love the satisfaction of everything being clean and put away except for what's on my body. Owen even helped with the laundry by pushing his clothes basket into his room and putting his socks in the drawer. We also depilled a sweater vest together which he then put in his drawer! He loves to help.

The sun finally seems to making an appearance today. I was skeptical but there have been peeks of it on and off throughout the day. We are having a bit of a January thaw right now so I've stopped wearing my coat and switched to my down vest! I love vests. No bulky sleeves to deal with or bunchiness in the armpits!

Welcome to 2008...

It amazes me how quickly time passes when one is an adult. As a child time seemed to tick by very slowly but as an adult it moves with a swift and fierce pace.

Owen turned 20 months old on Saturday and it seems like just a few months ago he was a tiny baby. Everyday his thirst for toddler independence deepens and my mommy patience wanes! Just a few weeks ago he firmly grasped the meaning of "no" and employs it on many occasion throughout the day. He isn't yet saying "yes" but nods him head emphatically when he is in agreement. His expressions are priceless. I have to remind myself regularly that he is a little person in the same way I am a big person (figuratively!) with all the same dimensions of personality and character and I need to be respectful of our differences. And similarities for that matter!

Now of course is the time to examine all that I want to change about myself and my life and make a big long list of those changes. Not that I haven't been doing it regularly throughout the last 15 or so years. That is in fact one thing I'd like to change. The constant examination of my own faults and flaws. I was watching one of my favorite shows the other night, Las Vegas, and there was a convention for big people in town. Along with the convention came the people affectionately known as "chubby chasers", those who are attracted to larger people. As I was watching it occurred to me that I have never considered giving up my quest to be skinny and just accept how I am. Perhaps it's the knowledge that I do not eat well or exercise much on a regular basis, and this is not healthy. I think I could consider the possibility of acceptance if I were doing all that I could to be healthy. And there also remains the fact that I am not comfortable with my body how it is. I guess that comes with acceptance. A chicken or the egg dilemma.

So I decided to try and create a positive spin on my goals for the year and tie them to my birthday rather than the New Year. Too much pressure. So there are just things I want to accomplish before my next birthday. Or Owen's birthday, namely the weight loss!

On the creative front one of the collages I created a couple months ago is being included in a non-profit calendar raising money for One Laptop Per Child. I will be receiving a copy of it soon so I can post a picture!

Life around here is not all that exciting. While that can sometimes be boring I prefer it to the constant drama that other people often live with. Boring can be a blessing. Oh, which is another of my focuses for the year. I made a Blessings Book to record my blessings and things I'm grateful for. I used a bunch of scrap paper, my Cricut and my Bind-it-All (Christmas gift from Morgan) to make it. I have not taken pictures yet but will post when I do.

Merry Christmas!

It has been 12 days since I last wrote anything on my little blog! Those days have passed quickly and slowly at the same time. It's amazing how our perception of time can be.

My shopping is done. The gifts are wrapped and stashed downstairs where little hands and peeking eyes (Morgan's) can't get to them. Perhaps later I will bring them up and put them under the tree. I love seeing all the gifts gathered under the tree.

My sister and I were talking about how Christmas is more fun for children. And in a way I agree. The anticipation of gifts at Christmas was so much bigger as a child. It's also a beautiful holiday celebrating a baby's birth and all the significance his life has had for people for two thousand years. I've been listening to Go Fish's CD Snow for several weeks. It's my favorite collection of Christmas songs. Very powerful. If you've never heard it I encourage you to check it out. I love their version of the Little Drummer Boy. So today I'm anticipating the celebration we will have at church this evening, and with my family and watching Owen unwrap his gifts. He's really in need of some new stimulation! He's very busy and very into Elmo! I've also got a batch of chocolate chip cookies to bake and some cleaning to do.

I wanted to share this quote that I read on Ali Edward's blog:

Mary Lee Bonasera Matthews : Worry is not necessary. Spend an equal amount of time counting blessings. Start with your childhood. Take the time to remember to really appreciate each blessing, absorb it and think of all the good effects it has had on you and others. Don't overlook the ordinary. There are a thousand blessings in every moment, if you look. Each breath and heartbeat, every color, texture, taste, smell. A lifetime of blessings, beauty, love. Thankfulness is like water. Allow yourself the release, the cleansing, the quenching that gratefulness brings.

Sometimes we lose sight of all that we have to be thankful and grateful for. I think today and in the coming year I will keep this quote close to my heart and focus not on my worries and concerns but on the abundance of gifts I have been blessed with.

Merry Christmas!

Hump day...

This seems to be a long week. Maybe it's the detox or just my general apathy about life lately. Morgan has been very busy at work and a volunteer gig this week and that makes for long days for me. Owen hadn't seen him for almost two whole days until yesterday evening. He had been asleep when Morgan went to work and when he came home on Monday and Tuesday. Although we went and had dinner with him last night. This morning he went in to peek at Owen before he left. Morgan is not a quiet person so he basically woke Owen up. I was a bit irritated because we don't wake sleeping babies here unless it's absolutely necessary. And in my opinion it wasn't. But he gave him breakfast and changed his diaper and got to spend a little time with him. He will be home with him tonight too. I think Owen will be happy about that. We are pretty regular and consistent around here in terms of routine and schedules so when things are off a bit Owen notices. He's been a little clingy the last few days. Monday my mom and sister took care of him while I worked and he was very happy to see me when I got home. Which is a little unusual.

The detox is going well. I've actually lost 6 pounds. I'm not bloated or puffy at all. A bit tired though. I've not had any headaches either. That is a huge deal for me. And I'm halfway through the week! I've had to be creative with my vegetables which is difficult since I'm not a good cook. I woke up yesterday morning in a panic from a dream where I was eating the best mashed potatoes ever! I was so upset in the dream because I realized I wasn't supposed to be eating them and I'd ruined my detox! It figures I'd have a dream about potatoes. I love them regardless of how they are prepared!

And now I must go because the daycare lady behind us has her screaming herd outside and they have woken Owen up! Somedays I just want to yell at her "THANKS! THANKS ALOT!" And who takes kids outside at 10am when it's only 9˚ anyway?!?

Some faves...

Tonight after we put O to bed Morgan and I decorated the tree. Hopefully we've placed things strategically enough so Owen won't be pulling breakable ones down. I think we left 1/3 of them in the boxes! These are some of my favorites. Some of my other favorites just didn't light well so I couldn't get good shots of them.

This has to be the oldest ornament I have. I made this in preschool!
This star is also rather old. I remember picking this out somewhere when I was a kid. I still love it's uniqueness.

I have two of these little mushrooms. I don't recall where they came from but I love them. I bought a couple for my SIL too. I love sparkly glass/glittered ornaments!

Every year when I get this bus out it just makes me smile. I don't really know why. It's just a cute little bus. Reminds me of kids and teaching and such. And it's made of tin and sort of looks old.

500 Lights!

On just a 6 1/2" tree! Yesterday I spent 2 hours putting the lights on the tree. We've had it up for a week but didn't have a chance to do lights or decorations. Which was fine since Owen had time to adjust to it being there.
Owen was very interested in all of the boxes and totes of Christmas stuff. He kept coming back to check out the boxes. Luckily there were a few things he could play with that weren't breakable. Including his Santa hat from last year which fits better now! I couldn't get him to sit still for a picture though!

Today I started a cleansing detox. The plan consists of consuming only fruits and vegetables prepared various ways, or raw, without fats. Also water and herbal tea. It's almost noon and I'm doing okay. It's a seven day detox. I'll keep you posted on my progress! It's a low activity week so I thought I would be okay doing this. I just really need to get off the sugar and junk food and I thought this would be a good way to start. I'm not good with moderation. I'm more all or nothing. And as long as I go one day at a time and know it's only for 7 days I think I can do it.

I've got a bunch of projects going on right now. An advent journal, starting a Christmas album late, gift projects and I'm behind on my Deck of Me cards by about 4 weeks! I also want to get the rest of my Christmas decorations up!

A little something to share...

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-Aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because, WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a
few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nitendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat r0oms.......

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up gam e s with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of inovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them...CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Thanks to Maggie for sending this to me!

Hello December!

Friday night Morgan and I went to a Minnesota Wild Hockey game with my sister and her BF. It was the first professional game we'd ever been to (except for Morgan)! We had excellent seats. 8th row! The first picture shows how close we were!

This is the lighthouse tower thing that goes off when the Wild score a goal. Very cool! We were sitting just below it.

Here is the picture Miranda took of us.

After the game we went over to the Great Waters Brewing Company for some beers and apps. We walked through Rice Park in St. Paul. It's lovely in the winter.

This is a big angel statue.

Here is the really big tree they cut down and moved in from the front yard of a St. Paul home. It's okay, the people wanted it to go. They were afraid it was going to fall on the house during a storm!

Sunday we put up the Christmas tree. We have an artificial. I decided we would leave the tree up for a few days so Owen could adjust to it being there before I put lights and ornaments on it. But Morgan wanted to see if these rope lights would go around the front window. He and Owen had a good time playing with them. They did not get up in the window!

In this picture you can see the great hairstyle Owen has going on right now. He's got that babyfine hair that just goes crazy in the dry winter air. So much static!