Lots of Random Nothings

I haven't been able to come up with anything to blog about for a couple days.  I haven't even been terribly vocal on Facebook either.  Here's some random stuff that's crossed my mind lately... but believe me, none of it is earth shattering.

*Two weeks ago, I missed Taylor's annual physical.  I had forgotten to write it in my calendar, and the pediatrician reminder call went to the old disconnected phone number.  I absolutely hate it when I do something like that.  Because of my goof, I had to reschedule with the doctor that isn't my favorite, but at least they didn't charge me a "no show" fee from the missed appt. 

*I was completely successful at cutting back to one can of Diet Coke a day... that is until allergy season hit me like a tidal wave.  Let's just say the last three weeks have been nothing but misery day in and day out.  I can't wear make-up for longer than an hour, because it gets rubbed off.  Most of the "non-drowsy" OTC antihistamines make me not only tired, but very "foggy-headed", so not only do I lack energy or motivation to do anything, but I lack the common sense to make a coherent decision about anything.  I finally "cried uncle" yesterday and went to the doctor.  She gave me a scrip for high powered eye-drops and Allegra.  Allegra is the only antihistamine that works for me without "negative" side effects.  Let's hope they haven't changed the formula recently and I will really see some relief!

*Project Runway is over.  I'm sad about that, but happy that Seth Aaron won.  (Sorry for the spoiler, if you haven't seen it yet.)  He's a quirky guy, but I love that he is married, has two kids, and just has AMAZING talent.  Not that I would ever really wear anything of his, but I always LOVE his creativity.  And his speed.  Holy Crap, he is fast!  And I loved the fact that he wasn't big on bashing other designers.  That kind of attitude goes a long way in my book.  For all you Emilio fans, I liked most of his work too, but those last few episodes where he was so arrogant and full of himself really bugged me.  Emilio finally got his slice of humble pie on the final runway when he didn't win.  Did you see his face?  He was sure, I mean SURE, that he won.  And honestly, his runway show was boring.  And that print he made with his name (again....) was hideous.  It looked better far away, but up close, I thought it was so freakin' ugly. 

*Our favorite Family Night activity is to watch Sunday's episode of Amazing Race together.  We are huge fans of the Cowboys.  I really hope they win.  They are awesome.  Again, not engaging in  cat-fights and slamming other teams goes a long ways in my book.  I love the team that runs a good clean race.  And the Dating Models?  Seriously.... I keep praying every week they will go home.  Newsflash Brent:  Wind happens.  Life isn't fair.  Get over it.  Whew... it feels good to say that. 

* I'm not sure what I will do tonight without Lost.  I guess it will be a warm-up for when it's all over.  But at least I will have answers and closure then.  Tonight?  Just more anxiety about how it's all going to end in a way that I can be happy about.  I could post blog after blog after blog about my thoughts on Lost, but I'm too lazy.  So, if you really want to get some good info, go to ew.com and read the Doc Jensen articles.  This guy knows his Lost.  Backwards and Forwards and Sideways.  Ha, ha, get it?

*Two weeks ago I had to bribe Brayden to take a bath... and we were lucky to get him bathed without a fight twice a week.  Lately, he wants to take two baths a day.  Where did this come from all of a sudden?  It's really weird, and quite annoying, because he always wants to take baths at the most inconvenient time for me.  Because you know, it's all about me, right?  I am so ready to send him off to Kindergarten. 

*Saturday is Taylor's Eagle Project.  I still can't believe it's here.  We'll be planting 40 trees at a local city park/sports complex.  A typical temperature for May 1st in the Phoenix suburbs could range anywhere for 90 to 100 degrees.  The forecast for this May 1st?  Right now they are saying 78 degrees with a chance of Thundershowers.  Seriously?  Instead of providing shade and water, I might have to provide umbrellas and hot chocolate.   At least we won't be having to treat anyone for Sunstroke!  If you live near by and want to volunteer, leave your email addy in the comment box and I'll email you a flier with all the details. 

One Project Down, Many to Go

My "formal" living room has been the bane of my existance in my new house.  Which really isn't new now that we've lived in it five years.  Five years?  When did that happen?  Anyway....  a couple years ago I bought this sepia print to hang over my piano.  I knew it would awesome on the brown walls over the black piano.  (If anyone knows how to photoshop dust out of a photo, please let me know!)

Then I decided to make a collage of prints over the large sofa on the adjoining wall.  The frames would be black, and the prints would be sepia.  It took me six more months to find the frames on a good sale, and finally start to really plan this project out.  Then I discovered the "sepia" option in my camera, and had tons of fun converting pictures I'd taken over to sepia tone.  Finally, this week, I converted all the photos I wanted, took a few more that I needed and ordered them from Costco.  For 21 prints of varying sizes from 8x10 to 4x6, the cost was only $8! 

I dusted off my Cricut machine, which hasn't gotten enough use yet to justify the cost, and made this cool centerpiece frame.  I knew I wanted to do something with vinyl lettering, but I didn't find the right "saying" until just 2-3 weeks ago.  Once I found the "right" saying, I knew I just needed to get this project done!

Thank goodness for that blue sticky tak stuff.  All my frames were hanging funny on the wall, so I used the blue wall putty to hold them steady and level.  I did have to make some adjustments to my paper arrangement because I cut the pieces of paper out to match the size of the photo, but didn't account for the extra size of the frames.  But in the end, it all worked out, and there were only two nail holes made that were mistakes.  And I was able to cover them up with other photos, so it's all good, right?

 Now I just need to solve the problem of window treatments.  I just haven't found "the one" yet.  I'm so slow at this stuff.  I've been mulling over curtain/valance ideas for a couple years now and am no closer to knowing what I want to do.  Guess I'll have to stew on that one a bit more. 

Just 21 Days Left...

Only three weeks until Eric and I fly out to the most beautiful location I've ever visited.... Maui! This will be my third visit. First time was for our 10th anniversary 7 years ago. Then my parents went and bought a time share, so now we have more reasons to go back. We took the whole family back 4 years ago. This time, it's adults only. And I need a vacation like this more than ever.

When it's your third trip over, you don't feel pressured to see all the sights or visit every beach on the island. I already know where the cool stuff is worth visiting and what not to waste time on. For an entire week, we only have two scheduled "events". The first one is a boat trip out to Molokini so my brother can scuba dive in the famous crater. (Delia and I are passing on this excursion... neither of us get along well with boats and ocean waves.) The second is a Luau. You can't go to Maui and not go to a Luau. I've been to the Marriott and the Royal Lahaina, but this trip, we are hitting the best of the best, the Old Lahaina Luau. My dad even got us traditional mat seating right up front. Should be awesome!

I wasn't a blogger 4 years ago for our last trip. I hadn't even heard of blogging back then. So, I will take this opportunity to relive the memories and get me geared up for the next trip. This time, no kids, to expensive tours, no busy schedules, no worries. Just me, Eric, my parents, my brother and his wife, my two cameras and several novels. It's going to be heavenly.

And for the record... pictures of women wearing snorkel gear are NEVER flattering. I'm just sayin'...

Sneak Peek

Here's the "centerpiece" for a  collage project that I've wanted to do for at least a year now... maybe even longer.  I'll post pictures of the living room wall when it's all done.  My goal is to complete this project by the weekend.  My walls look very "mustardy" in this photo... they are really more beige in real life.  I think it's interesting how the color doesn't photograph well.  I was super excited to do this project with my Cricut.  Finally, I'm getting some use out of it!  Stay tuned for more to come.  :)

Special Delivery

The only question is:  Which Grandma do we mail him to first?  ;-)

Weekend Funnies

I love being a mom to boys.  I love that my one girl isn't a crazy intense "girly-girl".  I wouldn't be able to deal with that every single day.  I always considered myself a "tom-boy" growing up, and while I don't consider my daughter a tom-boy, she isn't girly-girl either.  She's a happy medium in between.  Just perfect.

Ian got his Bear badge a couple weeks ago at Pack Meeting.  I wanted to blog about it right when it happened, but I didn't get to it.  I thought about blogging about it just now when he said the funniest thing.  He was on the couch watching a DVR'd episode of Top Gear (arguably Ian's favorite TV show ever), when I walked into the room.  The main host, Jeremy, was laying on a race track writhing in agony when I looked at the screen.  I asked Ian what happened.  He said, "Oh, Jeremy got hit in the Gentleman's Area with a paintball." 

I didn't teach him that phrase, but I like it a lot better than other's ones I've heard.  Maybe watching all this British TV is rubbing off on him.... in a positve way. 

Broken Record

I think I might be blogging too much about Photography.  It's just that whenever I have a free moment, I am either out taking some pictures, or playing around in Photoshop, trying to get comfortable with things and remember how to do simple things without having to look it up in the book every single time I do it.

Over the last week, I've been thinking a lot about how I want to write my Grandpa's life history for his 90th birthday.  Which, frankly, isn't going to happen.  At least, not by his birthday, which is May 2.  It's too big of a job to fit into the time that I have left, and my free time is so limited as it is.  But last weekend, I was looking at the pedigree information that my dad has provided on my grandpa's side.  He dutifully did his 4 generation chart and no more.  There is so much out there, and the man who knows it all is about to turn 90!  My dad and his siblings all have stories they remember from growing up, but as far as I know, nothing is recorded on paper, or in any kind of organized way.  Last weekend I googled the name of my great-great-grandpa, and the city he was born in.  I came up with the coolest article about women photographers in the late 1800's in Iowa.  And guess what, my great-great-grandpa and his wife (and his sisters) were all photographers!  How freakin' cool is that?

And in other family history news, there may be a breakthrough in the great-great-grandpa of Eric's that was left on a doorstep in Scotland.  Everyone on his side of the family knows that this is a big deal... this line has been at a dead end for decades.  He'll be in Oregon for business this coming week, so I'm sure he plans to investigate the lead. 

So now I will have to split my non-existent free time between my photography habit and the geneology habit.  Or I will just have to sleep less.  Or I will need to clone myself.  Maybe I could make a clone of myself that likes to do housework, and then that would free the real me up for the fun stuff.  What do you think?

The Things I Said I Would NEVER Do...

When Taylor was about this age, (just turning 5), he had a couple good friends that had older siblings.  I saw how different his friends were because of the influence of much older children in the home.  I swore I would never let that happen in my home. 

Ten years later I am eating my words.  My almost 5 year old is way to socially "knowledgeable" for his age! 

Case in point... Brayden's favorite song is "A New Divide" by Linkin Park.  When that songs comes on the radio he sings along at the top of his lungs.

This morning, I started the car to head to the gym, and  his song  was half way through it's course. 

"Turn it up!!!" he yelled.  Then he began to sing the chorus along with Linkin Park:  "Give me reason, to prove me wrong, to wash this memory clean..."

Except, Brayden was singing it a bit differently:

"Give me reason... to move this song... to wash my family clean...."

I guess Brayden's version is pretty good too.

I Spy

Well, for now, my fight with Windows has been resolved.   Photoshop Elements (also known as PSE) is working again, and I am happy.  But, I told Eric in no uncertain terms that my next computer will be a Mac.  I have wanted a Mac for years, and every time we are computer shopping, our frugal side wins out and we never end up buying a Mac.  I don't care how long I have to wait, my next computer will be a Mac. 

I slept in workout sweats last night so I could do any early morning photo shoot after I dropped off Taylor at school today.  I will have to be up way earlier if I want to attempt any more photos of Sunrise... missed that boat over Spring Break.  I don't care... sleeping in for two weeks was worth the cost.  I wanted to get some photos of the rustic trains at our local Railway Museum, but wouldn't you know it, at 6:30 a.m. the gates were locked.  How rude!  So I headed over to my trusty standby location, a very large park close to our house.  There's tennis courts, a huge play area, cool rocks and plenty of places to take pictures.

I only had a few minutes before I had to be home to get kids ready for school, but I took some pictures of this fence. And then I came home and really gave PSE a good trial run.   See if you can spot the changes I made from the first picture to the second:

Fence Photo #2 from a different angle:  what did I change here?  I will give you a hint - there are two changes.  One of them I am super pleased with.  The other one, I will need to practice, or try a different tool/technique.  It didn't really come out the way I wanted it, but again, I was pressed for time this morning.

We are having one of the best Springs ever in Phoenix this year.  It's been cool and rainy.  Accordingly, allergies are horrific, but I think the blessings of good weather are worth the cost.   It was so cool this morning, I was regretting flip flops and short sleeves.  Next time I bring the camera for an early morning photo shoot, I will definitely have tennis shoes on, and bring a sweater in the car, just in case. 

Windows, Schmindows

It's not Easter without tulips.  Tulips are my favorite flower. 

We had a wonderful Easter here in AZ.  It was sunny and warm, but not hot.  (We've had years where the "hunt" had to be in the house because it's so warm outside that the chocolate had no hope of surviving.)  

We didn't get dressed up, watched church in our PJ's, (click here for an explanation), and had a delicious ham for dinner.  I love making hams... so easy and no pressure to make sure it's fully cooked, because it comes that way!  I just wish my kids were more excited about ham.  And I dusted off the scrapbooking supplies and worked on finishing my album from our last Maui trip... in October 2006.  Yeah, I know I'm a bit behind...

The biggest news of the day was feeling an Earthquake!  It was little for us, but came from the 7.2 quake in Baja yesterday.  It was the kind that rocks and sways... almost like being on a boat.  And I did get just a touch of queasiness for a minute there.  I always think earthquakes are "cool", but that's because I've never been near the epicenter of one.  I know I shouldn't think they are cool.  I will repent tonight.

I want to upload pictures from Easter, but I'm having difficulties on multiple fronts. 

First, I can't seem to transfer pictures from my camera to the computer without it being a major production.

Second, not all my pictures from Easter even got uploaded, and some of them got dumped into the wrong folder.

Third, Photoshop isn't working right.  My Organizer is a total mess, and un-installing the program last night didn't help at all.... because thanks to my trusty "Missing Manual", when you un-install PSE, you also have to "deactivate" it and erase the "catalog".  Those geniuses over at Adobe are almost too freakin' smart for their own good.  And I'm sure if I have to stoop to calling tech support, I will be routed to India, which will involve a lot of "can you say that again?"s...

Fourth, Blogger, in all it's newness and glory won't upload my pictures directly from my hard drive.  I don't like this at all.  The only way I can get my photos into my blog is by uploading them into an album in Picassa and then transferring them over from there. 

And Fifth, the stickie note program in Windows 7 is cool, but was totally making my speed tank, which in turn caused other programs to freeze up repeatedly.  So no more long-term stickie notes on the desktop for me.

And if one person comments how these problems would NEVER happen with a Mac, I will punch your lights out.

Dawn in the Desert

Now that I'm getting up at 6 a.m. each morning, I really have no excuse not to get some great early morning shots.  I took all these photos from the comfort of my car while wearing my PJ's... maybe next week, I'll get dressed, wear real shoes, and actually get out of the car for a minute to get some better stuff.

This was the last picture I took, and it was my favorite.  I really love the silhouette of the palm tree in front of the sky.  But the colors in the photo weren't as vibrant as they were in real life, so I decided to give Photoshop a whirl and see what it could do.  This is the original.

Photoshop step #1:  crop.  Done... much better... now you can't see the bank in the parking lot.

Photoshop step #2:  tweak the colors... blue is more blue, yellow is more yellow.  Love it!

Things I want to learn how to do?  Get rid of pesky things in my photos like stop signs and power lines.  I know it can be done... but that's a couple hundred pages into my "how to" book, and I'm only on page 33. 

On a side note... it took me FOREVER to get these photos from my camera into my blog.  First, photoshop isn't "auto downloading" anything, so I had to do the process manually.  Second, Blogger won't upload any new photos from my hard drive unless I upload them to picassa first.  Am I the only one who is having this problem?  Am I the only one who doesn't upload all their photos into picassa?  I'm finding the new format in the blog window a bit difficult to work with.  Is it just me?