Time for change

January went by fast. Thankfully, because that means I get to change my blog template. I have to limit myself, or you would see a new one every day and my family would not have food to eat or clothes to wear. There are so many options out there for backgrounds that I could spend hours dreaming and scheming. It is like redecorating a room in my home for free. I wish redecorating out of the virtual world was free and fast. 

I decided to go with the blog background from The Cutest Blog On the Block with a pink and brown theme; pink for the inevitable tug toward all things lovey-dovey this month, and brown because we are still in the heart (hehe, I crack myself up) of winter.  I designed a blog header to go with the new look and am happy with how it turned out. I use Photoshop to design most everything and I am getting better and faster. Instead of spending an entire day playing around with this, I only spent an hour. I couldn't really do a tutorial on how I create a header like this because it changes about 50 million times before I am done. I move, insert layers patterns, download fonts (the cute curly one above is from DaFont -- another seriously addicting site), change colors, and redesign and redesign. I have loads of fun doing it and only a bit of chaos ensued while my children ran unsupervised around the house. I better run back into the non-virtual world while it is still standing...

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Facebook

A few months ago I started a profile on Facebook. It seemed like everyone I knew was on there and I felt left out. I didn't have the first clue what it was all about. It took some time to learn and appreciate, but I enjoy Facebook now. Even my mom and grandma are part of this new wave of friendship. I was trying to explain the benefits of joining FB to my uncle and he was totally not convinced. I thought there might be .02% of the population who is still in the dark about FB, so here are the basic details:

First you set up a profile which includes your full name and any information you want to share with your friends. The nice thing about FB, unlike a blog, is that no one can look at your information unless you accept each person as a friend -- this is done through email. You will also want to add a picture so that people can see who you are. Profiles without pictures really bug me. Strangers can see your name and picture, but nothing else unless you authorize it.

Once you set up your profile you can start finding friends. To do this you can search a person's name and then scroll through the profile pictures until you recognize a face. I was pretty nervous about asking people to be my friend, so I started with the basic family members who I was certain would not reject me. Let me tell you, it is sunshine to my introverted heart to get an email from FB saying, "So-n-so has accepted you as a friend," or "So-n-so wants to be your friend." You can accept or decline friendships because some people just want to amass the biggest friend groups known to mankind and they don't really know you (or want to). I once got a request from a Juan Ewert in Mexico. Sadly, I rejected Juan and I hope he wasn't too hurt, but I had no idea who he was. And that last name doesn't get you very far. There are great friend connections though too. Just today I connected with a friend from college who was such a blessing to me through my Greek studies and my disastrous year as an RA. It's great to catch up with people like that.

Once you have your basic friend group, from family to friends from childhood and current acquaintances, you can share information about yourself and hear about them. You can share random information like, "What are you doing right now?"

 Yesterday I was wishing for a vacation. I shared that with my friend group and they scrolled through the information along with updates on all their other friends. They may or may not care, but it takes a lot less time to get an update about a person on FB than it does on a blog where you have to click on each person's page and hope they updated. There are also games to play and share, polls to take, surveys to complete, instant messaging to do, and pictures to upload. You can also comment on your friends' status, pictures, or just write them a note (like a comment).

I still prefer my blog over FB, so don't worry that I am going to escape into my limited friend group and never post again. If you are here and want to be my friend on Facebook, go ahead and look me up. I will accept you as a friend, really truly. Unless you are Juan Ewert and then, I'm sorry. 

Do you participate in FB? If yes, why? And if you are still not among us, why not?

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Gratefully yours

I'm having one of those days where I would rather complain than be thankful. It comes easily enough. A bad attitude oozes into life and sours everything. This morning I couldn't find socks. I am wearing black yoga pants (because Yoga is my life) and all I could find were brown dress socks. Granted I probably will not see a living soul besides my family today, but I wanted some sporty white socks. I rustled through the inner berth of my messy and disorganized dresser and I finally found a white pair of socks and donned them. I came downstairs to pack a lunch for my hubby and Emma as they trucked off to PDX with the semi truck. I also needed to feed Mandy breakfast, not mention myself. As I bumbled around the kitchen, I found water on the floor with my last and only clean pair of white socks. I almost swore as the cold water soaked through the cotton, I was so mad. I hate wet socks.

It's taken a bit of time for my attitude change. I let the scripture I have posted above the sink soak in to my weary soul. And then reading horrible news reports about civil wars around the world and then a blog about a man losing his wife to breast cancer made me realize how silly my wet socks issue is. In honor of my life's little problems, I am going to write 5 things I am extremely grateful for today:

1) Peace in my home

2) The ability to do laundry and wash and dry more socks if I was so inclined

3) Mandy's infectious grin

4) The fact that Emma gets to be with her hard working daddy today

5) My wood stove on a cold and dreary day

Feeling better already...

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depth of field

Have you ever driven a Moped on the Autobon? Neither have I, but that illustration shows how I felt about my camera lens, the 18-55mm that I use normally on my Canon. The lens is adequate for most images, but I was outgrowing it. I would read tutorials like this one and be frustrated I couldn't do the things the pros were doing. For instance, I couldn't get the depth of field created by a wide open aperture that makes the background fuzzy (bocha) in portraits. If you want a very shallow depth of field (background blurry), you’d choose a very large aperture opening, which would be a very low number, like f2.8. My other lens didn't go anywhere near that. Needless to say I was ready for a new lens and easy prey for the friendly salesman at Focal Point when he said, "Everyone needs a fixed 50mm for their camera." It was a good price, so I bought it.

The thing about the "fixed" lenses is that they don't zoom in or out at all -- the photographer does all the walking. That might seem like a huge downside, but the benefit is that you can get a VERY high quality lens for a lot less. I wasn't quite ready to spend $3,000 on a lens, so I bought a Canon 50mm f/1.8 II, if anyone cares. I wanted to try it out desperately, so I asked Emma to be my model. Lucky girl. It is such a hardship for her when I say, "Do you want to dress up like a princess and let me take pictures of you?"

Emma is always eager. She is also always silly and goofing off for the camera. My main goal was to use my new lens, not to capture Emma looking perfect.

As you can see, always the silly girl. I asked her how Cinderella looks and she calmed down a little. 

On the technical side of things, I am really happy with the lens. It is very crisp and clear, lets in a lot of light, focuses fast on auto and easily on manual.

She calmed down just a little....

Here's a good example of the wide aperature. See how her shoulder is out of focus, but her eyes and nose and sharp? I would never be able to achieve this look with my other lens.

And another example of shallow depth of field. Princess chapstick. An essential for every lady in waiting.

Here's a sweet one of Emma. I call her "Beauty" sometimes and she just loves that she is like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She was showing me all her different princess faces for the pictures. I've never encouraged the princess thing, but Emma is quite taken with the lovely Disney princesses all on her own. Instead of discouraging it, I try and show her the characteristics that make someone beautiful like kindness and gentleness. A good punishment for her these days is having to take off her princess dress for bad behavior. I say, "That is not how a princess acts." I also try and make a coorilation with following Christ. I hope my method is working and I don't end up with a spoiled little girl who thinks she DESERVES the best because she is a princess! Heaven help me if my daughter is ever on "Sweet 16" that horrible MTV reality show where bratty kids have their dream birthday parties. Anyway, I regress. Back to pictures of my sweet 4 year old who will not get a new Mercedes for her 16th birthday.

Check out her crown. Grandma (my mom) gave her the headband and the dress for Christmas. We saw the dress second hand and it was a little much, $7 I think. Considering how much she wears it, it was a good deal.

She's sleeping beauty in case you couldn't tell. She has just a bit of a flare for the dramatic.

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I can't

I can't because I'm not _________. It's easy to make excuses. Take it from me, I do it all the time. Like, "I can't keep my house clean because I'm not organized," or how about, "I can't encourage others because I don't feel valuable." Or another good one, "I can't consistently train my children because I'm not patient." Or this one is a common one, "I can't stick to a healthy eating routine because I'm not disciplined." I am currently working through a Bible study called Becoming a Noble Woman, by Anita Young. It looks at Proverbs 31 and the attribute this woman possesses. There is nothing like Proverbs 31 to make a common woman feel completely inadequate. The "I can't" excuses start flying for me at verse one. This woman is valuable, pure, trustworthy, beneficial, a teacher, talented, caring, thrifty, giving, organized, administrative, enterprising, strong, a hard worker, compassionate, wise, classy, supportive, has inward beauty, and honest humility. I don’t measure up presently and felt defeated as I read the list. Let me also add that this is my second time through this exact study and I still feel anywhere but “Noble.”

The author explains an important truth in this statement: "To begin being a Noble Woman, you must realize your power comes from Jesus Christ. You're dead to yourself and alive unto God. You may think you possess none of the qualities of a noble woman, but Jesus, within you, possesses them all." Therefore, my excuses for why I can't do anything are empty because I am relying on my own strength.

My assignment this week was to begin memorizing Romans chapter 6. I read the first 2 verses and was a little confused at why I should spend my time on these verses. What did this have to do with me becoming a noble woman? "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace my increase? By no mean! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Sin? Seriously. I began to look at all my "I can't" excuses in a new light. If God has equipped me I certainly can do everything through Christ who strengths me. Inspired I started memorizing and my inspiration stopped about 5 minutes later when I realized how hard it is for me to commit things to memory. I am terrible at it -- always have been. I went through 6 years on a Bible quiz team and still can't memorize worth beans. I was just about to say, “I can’t” when I realized this was the first of many tests.

When looking at the woman described in Proverbs 31, I realized she has a very balanced life. “She grew in wisdom by using her mental capabilities according to God’s natural and ethical laws. She administrated and organized her life wisely to be productive and submissive to God. She redeemed her time by using her talents and following God’s wise laws of giving. Physically, she kept up her appearance and worked hard. She developed qualities of compassion and fear of the Lord, which brought her favor with God. She didn’t neglect others. She grew in favor with her family and community as well.” (BANW, pg 14). These aren’t things that happened over night, they were characteristics she developed in herself by the power of God. Can’t I do the same? I believe I can. I can develop and do things that are not natural or easy for me. Gasp! This might take some hard work. It is much easier to say “I can’t.”

It’s a great study to work through, even on your own. I would highly recommend doing it if you are like me and need a kick in the seat of your pants occasionally, okay regularly, to becoming more like Christ. Life’s too busy, I have no time, my kids are obnoxious, I need to wash my hair, the inside of the toilet has gone from pink to green, I’d rather be shopping.... Oh, ya. I’ll give you a list of excuses for why you can’t join me in becoming a noble woman, but they won’t work. Because if you believe that all things are possible through Christ, then a list of characteristics exhibited by one single woman about her entire life shouldn’t be overwhelming -- it should be inspiring. Look what God can do through one woman! Read More.. Read More..

Buy it!

While at my parent's house last weekend, I noticed my mom's pictures of her grandkids were woefully out of date. My mom has lots of pictures everywhere and I know it makes her miss us just a little less seeing smiling faces of those she loves. She even had some empty picture frames waiting for updated pictures. As the family photographer (a position paid highly in compliments only), it is my responsibility to get current pictures to my mom. I upload them to the Oly  Costco and she and my dad have a hot date night and go pick them up. It works out great because then they pay for the printing on their end and they get to have a Polish hot dog for $1.50. What is it I get out of this deal? Not a Polish hot dog, but the satisfaction and pride of having my own private photo gallery on display in Oly, WA. So, I have plenty of pictures to send of my kids, but no recent ones of my nephews. I met up with my sister and her sons this week to capture some images for grandma.

Usually 4 year olds are pretty easy to photograph -- by easy I mean compared to a 16 month who runs off or a 2 year old who has tantrums every 3 minutes. Benton is great, but my camera was acting up and that was frustrating and freaking me out. I took about 20 pictures and then the camera refused to let me take more. It was like my worst nightmare coming true. The digital display would come on and off and then just stay on, but frozen. I have nightmares about photography sessions all the time. After fussing with it, I decided to charge the battery. It charged back up immediately, but the latch on the battery door seemed loose. The computer screen continued to act weird too.

With 2 attempts at photos, I did manage to get pictures of both Benton and Nathaniel that their grandmother will appreciate. But my camera was bothering me greatly. I called my business manager (my husband, the administrative brains of this operation) and I explained how the camera was acting. He suggested I call to get an estimate on getting it fixed and then depending on how much it was going to cost maybe we should just buy the new camera I've been drooling over.

She's a pretty thing isn't she? I'm referring to the Canon 50D and I really want this camera. It is not in the budget to buy such a luxury at this time, so I was shocked and very excited when my business manager said, "Buy it!" Okay, so he didn't actually say it like that, but that's what I chose to hear. I should have got it is writing though because when we got home I did a little research and discovered my camera was not on its last leg. The battery needs replacing and my business manager, also my camera repair man, fixed the faulty door for the battery that was causing a bad connection. Now I have no need to have nightmares about my camera suddenly not working during a photo shoot, especially since this malfunction happened with non-paying customers (Sure hope my sister doesn't give me a bad review). On the down side, I have to wait awhile longer for my dream camera. Sigh.

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Gotta love cousins

I was not properly thankful for my cousins growing up. I didn't realize that having cousins just my age was a real rarity and a blessing. I took for grated that I had friends at every family function. My dad's family had boys my sister and my age and they taught us the finer art of losing at Mario Brothers and how to stay away from the wayward spool stool in the basement. On my mom's side of the family we had girls our age and we enjoyed playing barbies with them and watching Goonies -- "Follow those size 5s!"

Now that I am grown I am so thankful for my cousins. Just check out my sidebar to see links to all of them. I have cousins coming out my ears! We've stayed close during the years and I still love seeing them at family functions and on our own. It's a great experience to know my cousins all grown up. No longer do the older boys pick on me and instead we have mature conversations -- okay, occasionally we have mature conversations. 

Seeing my children now interact with their cousins is great fun. The siblings in both of our families didn't sit down and try to plans births within months of each other, it just happened. Emma and Mandy have 6 cousins on one side (and one the way) and 2 on the other. The girls assume friendship because they are family. No questions asked. Well, there are a few questions, but mostly they just play.

Last week two of my nephews came over for the afternoon. As we drove to our house, I over- heard the following conversation between Josh and Emma:

E: I have lots of toys at my house!

J: Do you have army guys?

E: No. I have Barbies and princess dresses and a princess movie and Baby 1. (said in a sing-song-y voice sure to entice any girl, but not a macho boy)

J: Do you have legos?

E: Ya

J: Why don't you have army guys?

E: I have a boy Barbie you can play with.

J: It is a guy?

E: No, just a little boy.

J: I only play with guy ones like GI O.

(Later that day I found them playing with Barbies, then they hunted bad men while Emma wore her princess dress).

Like a good auntie, I let them watch a movie. Humpty Dumpty, Jack and the Bean Stock, or Clifford. Which would you choose? (Thanks Heidi for making their day by giving Emma these movies).

Oh, the joys of occational media entertainment... The kids get along so well it was a happy diversion for our afternoon.

Today we went to Bentonstown. That is the town where Benton lives and Emma and Mandy always enjoy going to see them and the Children's Museum too.

Mandy spots her cousins coming across the street. We love those guys!

It was such a beautiful day today. In the sunshine it felt warm and wonderful. Speaking of cousins, my little cousins Lisa (who went and grew up on me without asking my permission) wrote an amazing piece on sunny days. I really loved reading it. Check it out here.

I couldn't get these 4 to look at me at the same for anything. Oh, well. They are still cute and the Children's museum awaits. 

Just try and resist Mandy and Nathaniel in this next shot.... 

Can you feel the sunshine on your face? They were basking in the sunlight. Yes, their cheeks are just as pinchable and kissable as they appear.

This next picture has absolutely nothing to do with cousins, I just couldn't resist posting it. I love that I have a daughter who still lets me dress her.

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I'm sick...

Last week my hubby had a bad cold. Although he still worked, he came home suffering each evening. The symptoms were miserable, as I discovered this weekend. Even now I am wiping my poor raw nose for the 3,000th time. We were in Oly visiting my parents and Jeff was concerned that my cold would keep us from making the trip. I reassured him that I could have fun even with a head cold because I have endured much worse. I'll spare you the long list of things I've suffered through including 2 puky pregnancies, many horrible cases of tonsillitis, and a bursting ear drum (just to name a few). This led me to a declaration that I believe women handle illness/pain better than men. Not surprisingly, my husband didn't agree. What do you think? 

This was an interesting discussion with 84% of those who voted agreeing that women handle illness better than men. 7% believe men are better at dealing with illness and 7% were not committed and believe we will never know who suffers more. Thanks for all who commented. I realized through reading through your thoughts that much of the "dealing with" of illness has to do with the devision of labor in a relationship. My husband works diligently at his job even when ill -- sometimes I get mad at him for not taking time off. I, on the other hand, have the job of taking care of the home. I wish that I could say that I work diligently even when sick, but it isn't true. I whine and complain my way through it, believing it is justified since there is not hope of "a sick day." It's something to think about, but for now, I am just thankful my sinuses are drained and I feel well.

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growing up

Mandy is 16 months old today. As usual, she has been busy growing. Lately, she is personifying the cliche, growing overnight. Shoes that fit her one day, don't the next. And a onesie that snapped with ease last week doesn't even come close the next time I go to put it on her. I finally got around to taking her measurements to compare then with her 12 month stats. Here they are:

             Height Weight

12 months 29" 19 lbs.

16 months 32" 23.5 lbs.

I had a creative idea to show you the dramatic change by taking pictures of a onesie that fit in December and one she wears now:

Ooh, ah. Dramatic. That girl is growing, you say. Now check out the shoes. She wore a size 3 at the beginning of December and was wearing size 5's by Christmas. I recently tried on a size 6 and it fit just a bit loose.

Mandy wanted to demonstrate her growth spirt a little differently.

See, she can't get this size 3 on at all. Very effective word picture, Mandy. Thanks.

Yes, there are the onesies that were so nicely portrayed in the first shot. She's so helpful.

And there are her shoes. She says, "ooz, ooz." She really loves shoes, no matter what the size.

Mandy talks constantly. Most of the time we can't understand a word of it. Here is a list of her current words:

child

little kid

big kid

baby

infant

baby crying

child crying

picture

picture of Emma

picture of Mandy

picture of anyone

*Our little linguist. All of the above words are synonymous with "Emma." Emma is her current catch-all word.

Other real words she says:

mom

dad

grandad

grandma (undocumented solo witness being grandma herself)

amen

Emma

what's that

this

more

baba (bottle)

momo (blanket)

Mandy is a sweet little child and time is really going fast as she grows each day. She's an extraverted performer (just like her mom. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, let me stop laughing). A few days ago she held her first impromptu performance with underwear on her head and shoes on her hands. She came into the kitchen crawling and singing. She loves to make people smile and has a terrific fake laugh. Her greatest loves include Daddy, Emma, the cat and Mom, in that order. I don't mind playing second fiddle to the cat because some day, after the cat is long ago been turned into road kill (sorry sensitive readers, it is the life of a farm cat; that we love deeply by the way; and we will be very sad when/if he were to be road kill), Mandy will arise and call me blessed (Prov. 31:27). Until that day...

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A rare moment

Mandy has fallen asleep in the car about 5 times in her life and this is one of them. She is just not a car sleeper. Oh, how I love babies who are instantly lulled to sleep in the car. Not our Mandy -- she defies convention. This moment was so rare because she actually stayed asleep as I opened the car door and grabbed the camera. 

What a beauty. Angelina Jolie has nothing on these perfect lips. Or Meg Ryan. What has happened to Meg Ryan's lips by the way? Botax went wrong in my opinion. Mandy's plump lips are all natural, not even any all-day shellack lip stick for her.

2 seconds later she had her eyes wide open smiling and laughing. I had almost forgotten the moment of perfect sleep existed until I saw these pictures uploading onto the computer. She has a cold today and has been screaming for the majority of the day. She wishes her nose was not plugged and I really wish that too.

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I am not an organized person. Don't tell anyone.

I am organizing today. I spoke in front of a group of women yesterday and endorsed the book and its methods, The House That Cleans Itself, by Minday Starns Clark. I was on a panel with other women who talked about how they keep their homes organized, tidy, and clean. Kellie talked about the Fly Lady, Kelsey talked about her own organization method as a reformed hoarder, Kelly talked about Managers of Their Home a scheduling guide for busy Christian families, and Jill talked about how she keeps her home and life organized with 4 kids and a home business. I felt like a complete fraud. I WANT to be organized, but I am not naturally so. I find myself stuffing and stacking rather than putting things neatly away. I was hoping none of the women in the audience ever came over and inspected my basement or the clutter in my kitchen cupboards. And that is why I was organizing today. 

I love the book, The House That Cleans Itself because the author is not a born neat freak -- like some of my friends on the panel; my friend Jill gets excited to clean when she smells bleach, bless her heart. Like me, Minday Starns Clark, found herself overwhelmed. She developed her methods out of frustration when she found herself wading through clutter just hours after a big cleaning attempt. I've implemented many of the ideas like keeping my sight zones clear and organizing for the way I live instead of trying to change my habits to fit the organization. I also pray more as I face the mess in my house. It's very therapeutic and prayer always reminds me that the mess on my floor is not as important as my 2 (and sometimes Daddy makes 3) mess makers.

Over the last year and a half, since first reading the book, I've organized several areas in my home according to The House That Cleans Itself. The ideas work really well and it takes little effort to maintain tidiness after the organization is complete.  I recently organized my very cluttered mess at the back primary entry. We still need shelves built and a few more pegs on the wall, but already the organization methods is working. No longer as shoes and rugs and gloves and coats piled so high that the back door won't open. I love that my husband comes into a picked up area when he is through working.

Today my project was the TV cabinet with our TV that will be obsolete except for DVD and VHS viewing. Underneath was stored board games on one side and DVDs and Videos on the other. I toyed with the idea of taking a picture to show you, but it was gruesome and I wanted you to get some sleep tonight. Imagine at least 8 decks of playing cards mixed with 2 decks of Uno, Taboo, Bible Flash cards, Bible Memory, Old Maid, Dutch Blitz, Addition and Subtraction flash Cards, the Prophets game, and a few random scrabble pieces, Chinese Checker balls, Candy Land pieces and cards, a Twister turn table, and Logus Sr. (a word game that challenges your brain and your agility) letter tiles. Even though that game cupboard was off limits, Emma and Mandy got into it occasionally and I was always too irritated at the time to help them clean up the mess properly. So, I always stuffed the mess back in the cupboard because who really wants to spend their morning playing 15, 346 card pick-up?

I am happy to report that the games are organized and put else ware. Up really, really high and you have to be 19 years old in order to get them out without supervision. That's the new house rule. 19 years old. The videos are across the room in a drawer with the kid's movies easily accessible. The cupboard is now empty and my hubby asked me at lunch what I have planned to put in there. I am thinking toys, so I no longer have to reprimand little hands from opening those eye level cupboards. Toy's in labeled bins. Oh, that would be lovely. For now, I am just relishing the fact that I completed my organization project and maybe someday I will not be embarrassed to let people see the dark corners of my home. That would be my goal, to have every area in my home neat and tidy. And everything will clean itself, just like the books says. That brings me to the question, what are do you have the hardest time keeping tidy?

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newsy

I have quite a newsy post and it would have been more interesting to the common man if I could have uploaded the pictures I wanted to. Instead, blogger blocked me coming and going. It is not feasible for me to spend an hour posting; even for you, my loyal blog readers.

Last week it rained and rained some more. Combined with the snow melt from December, the waters rose and there was a lot of flooding in the PNW. I have pictures, but blogger didn't like them, so just imagine fields covered in water. It was actually pretty to look at, imagining we lived amongst the lakes. I5 being closed and people losing their homes in nearby areas isn't worth it though.

On one of the rainy days, we drove to the big city and went to OMSI (For those who are curious: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry -- a kid friendly science museum in Portland). For Christmas, my parents gave us a year's membership to the Gilbert House, a scientific play house for kids. The membership also gives us free admission to OMSI, so we were quite pleased to go for free! It was a lot of fun for all of us. The girls loved the kids play room complete with water and sand and balls and air and costumes. They played all afternoon and then we headed to Burger King. I turned around to tell them we were at the restaurant and found both girls zonked out, fast asleep. We drove most of the way home before we finally woke them up to eat.

Mandy loved every moment of the trip.

Emma loved the water. I don't think her eco system is taking very good care of the wild life since they are all drowning in the creak.

Last week I also got to see my friend Janelle and Mandy's twin, Adalyne. The girls are still about the same height, but my sweat girl has a little, shall we say, girth compared to Ada.

It was fun to see the girls play. Janelle's husband just took a job that will have them moving south. It is sad when friends move away. I've really enjoyed having Janelle close.

On Saturday I was in Salem celebrating my cousin Lisa's birthday at my sisters with my grandma. After lunch, I went over to the capitol to take pictures of my friend Jenni. She emailed me earlier in the week and said she was looking for an excuse for me to take pictures for her. She's recently lost over 30 pounds, so I called this a "celebrating your skinny self" photo shoot. I really wanted to take pictures anyway and try out some new techniques. I am working on my light balance. It was really fun to take pictures of a confident, happy adult. I wish there was more of a market for this kind of photography. I posted a few more pictures on my photography blog.

The picture below is straight out of the camera. I edited the picture below it with the help of Pioneer Woman. She finally showed us Elements users how to duplicate her actions on Photoshop. You can see for yourself here.

Do you see the differences in the edited photo? The second photo has more contrast and is warmer. I love a simple fix. I also added an edge burn, whitened her teeth a little, and sharpened her eyes. 

We had a fun day in spite of it being a dark, overcast day that at 40 degrees. Man, it was cold. And Mandy, my less than lovely assistant, was being a so horrible. She is starting to throw more fits these days and she was pretty much crying and throwing herself around in anger through the whole shoot. Talk about messing with my creative genius. Next time, she is not invited.

Enough news for now...

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Healthful Carrot Cake

I'm eating healthier these days in an effort to shake the pesky extra pounds I acquired through gluttonous eating during the holidays. And that means baking more healthful snacks for my family. You know the drill, if there is a pan of fresh brownies sitting on the counter all day, nibbling a bite here and there is too tempting. Pretty soon the pan is gone and your husband comes home and asks where the brownies are. It's embarrassing and downright sinful. So, I was in the mood for a moist cake today to nibble on throughout the afternoon, so I searched allrecipes.com for a carrot cake recipe (much healthier than brownies, I am sure). All the recipes I found were anything but healthy; chocked full of butter and/or oil, white sugar and white flour. 

One recipe had 1,406 five star reviews, so I decided to make it with a few adaptations. I cut the oil almost completely and substituted apple sauce, used whole wheat flour for most of the white, added wheat germ for good measure and flax seed meal as a nutty taste since I didn't add any other nuts. I baked the cake in muffin tins and we devoured them as our dessert at lunch today. The cake stayed moist even without the oil (although didn't have enough rise to look good as a muffin without frosting), and they were full of flavor and, best of all, guilt free.

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup apple sauce

1 cup brown sugar (the original recipe calls for double)

3 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup flax meal

2 tsp soda

2 tsp baking pdr.

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional, I didn't use it)

3 cups carrots grated

1 cup raisins

You know what to do: add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Don't over mix. Add all to a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. For muffin cups, 20 minutes.

To completely void all your healthy attempts, frost with cream cheese frosting. I obstained, but this looks so good:

1/2 cups butter, softened

8 ounces ceam cheese, softened

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

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Reaching perfect hair...

A little girl's first pig-tails are a monumental milestone. Those two little ponies celebrate the fact she has enough hair to gather and ushers her into a new world of primping and preparation for going out. I was thrilled with her new look!

She was so cute that I couldn't resist an impromptu photo shoot.

Mandy was not happy about the pig-tails. Actually, she was very unhappy.

Very, very unhappy.

She tried to voice her opinion and I tried, failing miserably, to convince her that she should suffer for the sake of beauty.

Maybe she is a little young to understand that looking good isn't always easy. I'm sure she'll get it when she's 16 months old. For now, does anyone have a suggestion for how you get a baby to leave accessories in her hair? These pig-tails lasted as long as our horrible photo-shoot. As soon as I took out the rubber-bands she instantly stopped crying and I felt like the worst mom in the whole wide world. Throw me in with the Chinese women who forced their babies feet into itty-bitty shoes. At least they didn't take pictures of it and post it on their blog though. I've really stooped low this time.

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Water Therapy

While struggling through Emma's defiant 2 year old (and beyond) years, I purchased a book, at full price in desperation, called Raising your Spirited Child, by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. It has some great ideas and includes a few personality tests, helping the parent to understand where a child's spirited behavior comes from (Emma's exactly like her mother I discovered). The "terrible twos" were a difficult time in my life as a mom and I was thankful the author portrayed spiritedness in a positive light. 

One of the author's recommendations was water therapy as a way to calm a child. Essentially the therapy is just letting a child play in water. The water is calming, is a great teacher of cause and effect, and is pretty easy to clean up. Emma loves playing in water to this day and uses her imagination to mix extravagant meals and desserts. Yesterday I walked into the kitchen to find Mandy included in the at least daily water therapy ritual. It was precious.

Emma actually lost interest in the water long before Mandy.

She filled her little container over and over again. And over again, watching the water fall, sometimes over the edge. Thanks to Emma's difficult stage, I know that cleaning up a little water and changing a wet baby is far easier than the trouble a defiant child causes.

"Do I look like someone who needs water therapy?"

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Ambitious painting project #243

I really wanted to do some accent painting in Emma's room. The boring blue was kind of, well, boring me. Having done some pretty ambitious painting in this old house, I know that I tend to think a bit more grandiose that my time, budget, and abilities can handle (think plaid wall mistake of 2002). My idea was a simple flower on Emma's blue wall with a few curlicues here and there, maybe in white -- not much contrast, just a little feminine touch. But then I thought maybe I should have some contrast since I was going to all the work and didn't want it to blend in making the result less than dramatic. So I procured an over-head projector, made a transparency (.75c at the copy shop) from a couple of pretty clip art pieces I found on Microsoft Office online, and set to work sketching my design on the wall. It looked so cool in the dark room on the over-head projector that I sketched and sketches away until there was art on all 4 walls of her room. I used left over dark blue paint from the stairs and the results are anything but subtle. More grandious, in my opinion.

Emma's room is also the guest room, so she has a double bed. (She gets booted out into the little bed upstairs when we have company and she doesn't mind one bit -- the guests sleeping in a little girl's room have more of an issue). The quilt is a wedding gift from Jeff's aunts. Don't tell anyone, but it doesn't have a single blue dot in the whole thing. I'm no decorating genius, so don't ask me why it works. It just does. Jeff made the head board for me from a picture I found in a magazine. I like it for the cutsie, country theme of her room.

It took a lot of time to fill in the lines I had made on the wall with the dark blue paint. I spent about 8 hours all together, sketching, painting, and touching up. If I were to give any suggestions for other would-be artists, I would say to keep the design even simpler with less area to fill in. I might even do the whole design with a just a sharpie next time and skip filling in the lines. It would be much faster. Next time? Who am I kidding? Give me a week or two.

(Cross stitch art by Hillary. Isn't is beautiful? This is one of my favorite things I've ever received as a gift -- very thoughtful and meaningful).

Here's a good shot of Emma's kitchen. I am so happy that my dad painted it to match Emma's room. Pottery Barn Kids has nothing compared to this. Both Emma and Mandy love playing with the kitchen. For some reason, Mandy microwaves the heck out of everything before she eats it. Nothing like a home cooked meal.

Emma's room is as eclectic as she is. From boots and cow figurines, to elephants and princess dresses, we've got it all covered.

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