perfect illusion

Triston has a science project thats due this month, and the project he chose was "How to get an egg inside a bottle, without pushing it in"

It took several "dry runs" and I use that term loosly because there was liquid still left in the bottle aparently because the matches kept going out.... I finally had to use my hairdryer to get it dry...  It also took 2 trips to the store because the first bottle had too small of an opening...

Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science. ~Edwin Powell Hubble, The Nature of Science, 1954

Here we go now......

“A project is complete when it starts working for you, rather than you working for it.”

Here are the items that are going transform our kitchen, dining room, hallways and livingroom.

15 cases of tile and 25 cases of wood laminate flooring....

fun times are just around the corner! haha

Strive for the moon...

I love a full moon... (Sorry Robyn :)  ) I know this isnt quite a full moon, but on the way home tonight it was so close, and the sky was so blue and the tree's were so strikingly dark against the bluish night sky... I had to take a picture. So I took several... here are my 2 favorites!

If you strive for the moon, maybe you'll get over the fence.

I love the way a full (or even an almost full) moon casts light over a normally dark scene... So very cool!!!

Can you hear me now???

Its a good thing Ethan opted for the optional insurance on his cell phone, because the other day at school, he had it in his back pocket and sat on it & busted the display.... So today we took him to

To get it replaced.... After the clerk spent 15 minutes on the phone and Steve spent another 15, the lady at the insurance place said the phone wasnt covered because the sim card had been switched....  Well... It had, but we didnt do it, the lady at the At&t store had done it when Ethan used the upgrade from another phone on our plan ( grandma's) so he could get a new phone. The At&t lady even knew what we were doing, she was the one who switched them... We confirmed with her that the insurance would cover Ethans phone, and not the other number that the sim card was from....  well, to make this long story a little bit shorter, nobody that worked there had ever heard that policy. They couldn't believe it. So they brought out the manager, and he got on the phone, and after about 15 more minutes he was getting Ethan a new phone. He said it was their fault so they would switch the policy to the right phone and number and replace the phone, Ethan walked out of there with a brand new touch screen upgrade ( cuz they dont carry the phone he had broke anymore)

He was very pleased!

“There are no failures - just experiences and your reactions to them.”

Room for improvement....

We can all use a little excercize now and then right? What if it comes in the form of a 3ft x 6ft "Steal" of a deal?

Hmmm, now just the problem of trying to figure out where to put it..... maybe bye bye fish aquarium? Cant get rid of my work station, the couch or the breakfast bar.... It CANT stay where it is right now! We'll see what we can come up with, but $100 for a basically brand new (absolutely no sign of wear) fully loaded with all the bells and whistles Treadmill that sells for $900 at a store, who could possibly resist!!!

I can even read and exercize!!!!

“True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united”

(Didn't I just say that I can read and exercise at the same time on this thing??? :)  )

My Future's so bright..... I gotta wear Shades....

Yesterday Garrett wore his blue sunglasses to school, so today I took my camera in and we had some fun with them.

Everybody had to have a turn using them :)

Garrett

Ameriona

HAHA, Even me!

So.... I broke the rules again and posted 4 shots from today.... I took 138 pictures today, so you didnt really expect me to choose just one did you? I didnt think so..... :)

Pizzzzzaaazzz

We decided to go to

for their all you can eat Pizza, salad, soup and breadsticks for dinner.

Upon arrival we noticed the spread of Pizza was looking a little picked over and were reasured that they "always" have Pizza out for the all you can eat, not to worry...

There is just one other group of 4 people in Angelo's waiting for more Pizza...15 Minutes go by with no more pizza's brought out, and in the meantime, roughly 10-12 more people have ordered the all-you-can-eat bar after WE placed our order... Everyone is eyeing the counter getting hungrier by the second... I know that doesnt sound like much time to wait for Pizza, but when you order all-you-can-eat, & its supposed to be like a buffet style dinner, you kinda expect the food to be ready when you get your plate... Maybe Im being too picky....

Finally....... Pizza..... Its a mad dash for the food!!!

The Garlic Artichoke pizza was soooooo good. Almost worth having to wait all that time...

“Good things come to those who wait”

As the sun sets....

Dinner was taking a bit longer to cook in the rotiserie than we had expected, so we decided to take a walk to pass the time. The sun was just setting, but I grabbed my camera because I had yet to take my photo for the day. I snapped this one while we walked down the street...

And this one as we were heading home... I just couldnt resist a pic of this tree with the sun setting behind it

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; Remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

Enduring Friendships

Triston's has played 2 seasons of football with the Shasta Jr Wolves and for his first year, they only had 14 players so Triston played Ironman. I think he sat out once the entire season for like 5 minutes...  The friends he made that year have lasted, even though the following year ( this last season) Triston had to move up a division and most of his buddies stayed down at the Mighty Mite level. His best little buddy Nathan, is having a birthday sleepover today that started at Angelo's Pizza, then on to Need To Speed for some racing, then back to their home for video games galore Im sure...

"Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life." :)

An Upgrade is in Order.....

I am selling my D70 which was my very first DSLR camera and has been in my kit as kind of a back-up camera even though its only a 6.1 MP. It actually takes awesome photos! I did my first few weddings on this camera and blew images up to 11x14 with no image quality distortion! And Im picky about image quality...
I listed it on Craigslist ( Camera for sale link ) in hopes of getting at least $500 for it and all the items ( lenses, filters, spare parts and such) that Im including in the kit, so that I can upgrade my main camera to the D300s. Then my current D80 will become my back-up camera.

The whole set. Camera, two lenses(28-80mm and a wide angle/Macro glass), 3 mem cards w/ card reader, filter set, 2 batteries w/ charger, camera bag and tripod

A time for change..... :)

Flat out Fabulous

Spring is coming. I can feel it. See it. Sense it. Smell it. We are thawing out and little tree blossoms are starting to bud on the tree's. I stepped out on my lunch today and walked around the grounds of my workplace and saw many signs of the coming Spring. I love the rain, dont get me wrong, but I also love to be warm, and I am ready for the feeling you get when the sun is shining down and warming your skin...

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

~Anne Bradstreet

There's a hole in the wall, dear Liza, dear Liza

Hmmmm, our housse is springing leaks all over the place... This time it was a pipe in the wall behind the kitchen sink. We kept seeing water coming up between the slats in our wood flooring, but couldnt find where it was coming from.... Steve found it... Had to tear out the wall behind the sink to fix it. Now we can feel the cool breeze outside from our kitchen without even opening a window. Ethan was freaking out about the mosquitos....  I just cant wait to get everything off the counters and put back, drives me nuts.... Seems its one thing after another around here.... thats life though, huh?

Never start a fight with an inanimate object

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Haircut time for Ethan. He likes his hair on the longish side, but it was getting outta control lately. We broke out the scissors and got to work. I think it came out pretty good! I know its hard to really see it in this image, but do you know how hard it is to get a photo of this kid? And thats what he calls a "smile" haha!

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

 ~Erma Bombeck

Birthday bash for Grandma!

Today we celebrated my mother-in-laws birthday at Red Robin, which is pretty much the "birthday dinner" place for anyone in the family (except Emily, she prefers Chevy's) Once again, we rushed out of the house and I didnt take my camera. Robyn, I dont know HOW you remember to take yours everywhere. I am failing miserably... I know one of these days the most incredible thing is going to happen and I am going to be cameraless and that will be the all time Project 365 LOW!

Well, camera phone to the "rescue" if you can even call this thing on my phone a camera. Its a wannabe camera really....

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

When all else fails....

Shoot Dinner........ :)

Grilled Pesto Chicken Sandwich's

Natural Perfection

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

Today we headed up the 5 to the winter wonderland known as Mt Shasta with BJ, Christy & Jayden. We went to Snowman's hill which has always been less crowded and lacks the dangerous reputation that has plagued Eskimo hill for decades.... Well, seems everyone else decided to do the same, because it was PACKED! We all had so much fun though. It was beautiful, sunny, warm(ish) and powdery. The sun shining on the snow made for almost impossible photography, but I did my best.

Taking a break

Having some Cup-O-Noodles

HAHA Ethan!

Soooo needs a haircut.....!!!!

Just for fun

Todays shot is just a windchime on my back patio. The wind was still, the rain has stopped for now and the sun is setting just beyond the houses behind mine... I flipped on the patio light to cast a soft saturated glow to the area. The patio is one of my favorite places to be...

“I must learn to love the fool in me the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries”

The toys, they laugh at me...

So, this little guy is one of the babies favorite toys in the babyroom. They stare at his face, laugh at it showing that they can tell that it is a depiction of a face and that its smiling.....

I have to redraw the face about every month or so because the marker wears off. Sometimes I make him sad, sometimes surprised... Its always fun to see the reaction the babies have when I change his expression. I guess it may appear that I am amused by the little things, but when you are back in that room for hours on end by yourself, you have to find things to pass the time.

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"I laugh, I love, I hope, I try, I hurt, I need, I fear, I cry. And I know you do the same things too, So we're really not that different, me and you."

Instill Peace

I love candles... I love the smells, the flickering, the peaceful feeling they generate, the glow and the implied heat source (even though its merely implied, as they really don't give off much warmth) If I didn't have 5 animals and kids running around the house, I would have them everywhere... Coffee table, counter, entertainment center, window sills... My favorite scents are fall candles like cinnamon apple, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, etc... It helps that my favorite colors to decorate with are reds, browns, avocado greens and oranges. WOW, that sounds like a 1970's flashback if I ever did think so... SO the colors may be back for decorating but the styles have changed, right? Well, I have seen some new furniture in the retro range that mildly reminds me of that era... Just please tell me that the avocado shag carpet or the orange bedspreads are not on the way back in....

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

Just an average ordinary everyday day

Not a whole lot going on this day, so when I bring my camera to work, there is bound to be some photos taken of my little kiddos in my care.... Garrett has the most beautiful eyes, just like his sissy. I did a photograph of her when she was a baby in my room, where I left only her pink tank and her blue eyes in color and the rest of the image was black and white. It came out awesome. Below is another little one that I take care of. She wanted her photo taken as well, so I decided to include it.

"There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million"

. ~Walt Streightiff

Keeping it REEL

Yikes, just because the sun peaks out for one day in the middle of winter's fury, doesnt mean its time to hit the lake.... Unless aparently you are my family.... "Boo really wants to go fishing" I read as I am about to get off work...  I grab some food and we head to Shasta with the boat. I have on 2 shirts, a sweatshirt and my winter jacket, gloves, and Tristons sweatshirt draped over my legs and I am freezing.... Im wishing I had grabbed one of the blankets out of the back of my truck to bring along. By the time we are heading back Triston is in a tee shirt. Crazy kid. I always say that he shoulda been an Eskimo! The fish eluded them, but Triston doesnt care, he will sit and fish for hours, even if nothing is happening. If only that Patience carried over into the rest of his life :)

Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.

Are we ready for some Football???

"It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog." Archie Griffen, two-time Heisman winner

The big day! House is clean, cake is made

 Food is cooking, sun is shining, Steve won $100 for the first quarter score in the football pool, Colts are winning.... Oh wait...  Fast forward an hour or so...scratch that... Colts are loosing,  house is messy, cake is demolished, food is kaput, sun is still shining, Jose and my boss won the next quarter scores, people are laughing, cheering, and High-fiving,

Ethan is pouting, and Garrett has won himself the prize of the day! Way to go Garrett!

(I forgot to change my f-stop so my depth of field is VERY shallow in this pic and thats why Garrett is out of focus. Sometimes you kick yourself after the fact, thats just a part of photography I guess....)

An award???? Why thank you SO much Robyn!!!

  I recieved this award last week, from my good friend Robyn over at http://alikeleestory.blogspot.com/ and am just getting around to posting about it. Its been a busy week. :)

This award is all about recognizing friendships that have been made while blogging.

The Rules:

1. List 6 things you are a master in.

2. Pass it on to 6 bloggers you think are masters at friendship, and make blogging so awesome.

Six things I'm a master at:

1. I'm a master at organizing. I can get any amount of items to fit nicely, neatly and perfectly into any area. OK, that may be an exaggeration, but when others say "nothing else will fit" I can find a way. I am the master organizer at work. I like everything to have its place and space :)

2. I'm a master at Photoshop. Ok, maybe not a master, but I'm pretty good at it. I am self taught in the sense that I've never taken a photoshop class, but anytime I want to learn how to do something new in the program, I just google a tutorial for it, and learn how to do it and ive googled hundreds so I'd say I know quite a bit.

3. At making babies laugh. I've worked with babies for about 12 years now, minus a few times in the School-age class, so I'd say I know what I'm doing when it comes to the under 2 yr old crowd :)

4. I'm a master under pressure. I procrastinate until the last minute. Then I can juggle ten things at one time.

5. I'm a master bargain shopper. If its on sale and its a good deal, I can and will find it. I frequently find deals like shirts for a buck or two and shoes for $5 or $10. If it has a coupon, I can guarantee I have it as well.

6. And finally.. I'm a master reader. I can finish a book in no time flat. I read a 500 page James Patterson book in 2 days. Not weekend days either. I read quite fast and it helps that I have a very good memory when it comes to printed material. If its written down and I read it, I remember it... now if someone tells me something, or I have a random thought.... ask me in 5 and I likely wont have a clue... Weird, I know...

 

Ok, so the rules about passing this on, dont really apply to me, because none of my followers blog, except for the awesome friend who gave me this award, and so she already received it.

Should we start laying out the plans for an ark?

"There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them" ~Andre Gide

So I think we are going on like day 13 or so of rain... Ok, that might be an exageration, but I dont think im too far off. We had one gorgeous day in there somewhere... Today was spent cleaning the house for the superbowl party tomorrow, but I really didnt want to take a photo of that, so I decided to take a photo of something that is causing our Luna pup some very sleepless nights... She is affraid of almost everything, she never would have made a good police dog... Here she is hiding in the tub, where she has spent many a sleepless nights...

What could be causing this dog so much stress that she cannot even sleep at night?

Earthquakes? Well, we have had a few of those lately and they have caused her distress, but thats not it. Could it be an intruder? A gunshot, fireworks, thunder? Any of the things that normally set dogs into alert mode? hmmm.... No thats not it. its:

The rain tapping its way down the rain gutters... That sound makes her go absolutely crazy. She shakes and cries and runs to the bathtub, which is her "safe zone".

I guess I need to put a sponge or old towel in the bottom of it, to soften the sound of the drips, maybe that will help her get some sleep...

Painting the day away

Today at work I didnt have any babies show up, so I was able to work on the project of decorating the babyroom. I spent the day painting ladybugs all along the border of the room to match the curtains. Once this is all done, its going to look like a whole new room. I still have some more painting to do, and we want to paint a mural on the open wall. Maybe a garden or something to go along with the ladybugs. I think its coming together really well. It was fun to spend the day back in my room, working on improving the way it looks.

Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change

Go ahead and stick your neck out!

Today was February's Shasta Photo club meeting. The Print competition was on Street photography/Grafitti.

Now, I know what Street photography is, where you photograph random people on the street who either look interesting or are doing something interesting. Wikipedia describes it as :

"Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding up a mirror to society. Street photography often tends to be ironic and can be distanced from its subject matter, and often concentrates on a single human moment, caught at a decisive or poignant moment. On the other hand, much street photography takes the opposite approach and provides a very literal and extremely personal rendering of the subject matter, giving the audience a more visceral experience of walks of life they might only be passingly familiar with."

    Ron pointed out at the meeting that it is not posed photography. He mentioned this because the topic also listed Grafitti and a lot of photographers here in town know of this great little place to get some nice edgy shots in front of several grafitti walls painted along the old Johnny Rad's building here in town and I believe there were 3 or 4 (including mine) prints in the competition, featuring subjects somewhat "posed" in front of these walls... :)

My photo shows Marian Morgan-Hunt (http://www.marianmorgan-huntphotography.com/ ) looking over the prints. She was the guest judge for the print competition tonight. My photo is the bottom right image in the black mat. This was my first entry into the competition.

~ Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid. ~

New adventures???

Today I got off work early to attend the first Shasta County Co-op meeting. Its a really neat idea if it works out. We get together a handful of photographers who are interested in having access to a studio, and split the cost of everything equally and then divide up the time slots between the members. A lot of photographers would like to be able to shoot studio shots as well as outdoors, especially when the rain continues for 40 days and 40 nights like I do believe its doing right now. But the idea of maintaining and affording an entire studio by themselves is just not feasible. So that's where this idea fits. We will see where it goes, its definitely an interesting enough idea to peak my interest.

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”

Its all fun and games until its time to do some laundry

So meet the Laundry couch...




Its the relaxing couch's evil brother.... It looks innocent for the most part, but when its time to do laundry, it transforms into this mass of clean clothes that look like they are lost, but they are actually very organized stacks... Everyone in the family knows which stacks contain their items so it makes putting everything away a breeze... The problem is, with our busy schedule sometimes it take several days to get all the laundry done, so the laundry couch remains full for longer than I'd like, but some days are like that, and the laundry can wait... Not all days are photo worthy...This blog isn't only about the good and beautiful things in my life, its about the day to day things as well... And that's why today, you get a photo of the Laundry Couch... :)

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“There's no way to really ration dirty laundry. It's there every week, and it has to be done. It's not like you can stockpile your laundry and wait for prices to come down.”
Brian Wallace

Who doesnt love free food???

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity." ~Voltaire

When we went to Red Robin for Tristons birthday a few weeks ago, i wound up having a hair in my burger... So gross.... They replaced my burger, but it took about 20 minutes, and by the time I got it, the rest of the family had already finished eating and were ready to go. I got a "were sorry" from the waiter, but that was it...Anyways, my mom took one of those "did you like our service" cards because she thought they should have comp'ed something, anything for my trauma (yes, it was somewhat traumatic, dont tease me!) They sent her a gift card for $25. I offered for her to keep it, since she is the one who did the dirty work of calling, but she insisted they would never use it.... The next day we recieved a "free Burger" coupon for Emily, so we decided to head there tonight for some free food... Thanks mom for being a Go-Getter! I just cant believe I forgot my camera for the SECOND night in a row!!! Camera phones are just hideous!!!


I LOVE this photo, Ethan was messing with Emily and she was pointing at his hand above her head in warning and the look on her face is just too cute :)