February 10

Remember when I said I wasn't a complete idiot? Well, I was wrong. Maybe the transformation just recently finished, but regardless, I proved it yesterday by once again getting in over my head and bottom line I wore myself out. Thus I'm typing this today instead of yesterday.

I didn't really feel like cleaning, or doing laundry, or anything really, and I had 2 new recipes I wanted to try for dinner. I still needed 2 ingredients so I grabbed Owen and after biking to the school and back home we got into the car and drove to two different stores. Never found either item so I got some substitutes and went back home. Still had a messy house and laundry to do. But HEY! The soup needs 'fresh linguine'. Never mind that I BOUGHT some Asian noodles to use, I'll just MAKE some pasta! Yeah! Much more fun that cleaning. Except that I made another insane decision to do the entire recipe instead of halving or quartering it (Hey! I'll have pasta left over for several other dishes!) and Owen getting tired and screaming and climbing up chairs etc etc, so it took forever. And then I had THAT mess to clean up.

Anyway, the day just went downhill b/c after I got Zach from school and did the paperwork shuffle, I had a buttload of veggies to 'chop finely' and phyllo dough to wrestle with and timing to get just.right. for the stuff to be good. But I did it, by golly. It was tasty. I just should have waited for a day when I was actually feeling good and had more time i.e. not a karate day. When I'm not feeling well I try to avoid things that I don't like in favor of more exciting/distracting activities. But more often than not that backfires b/c a new venture often takes more energy than the things you're used to, at least on a mental exhausting scale. So why do I do it? Selective memory, I suppose.

Beautiful skies

February 9 - it's a full moon! I don't know why I have this obsession with the moon, but every time I've seen a big, yellow full moon, I've wanted to capture that image. It's just so beautiful, and serene and magical. Especially when you are near the ocean, or even a river or lake, and you see the reflection in the ripples of the water. It just clears your mind and puts a sort of peaceful spell over you. I love it.

I could tell from last night's moon that tonight it would be full. I planned on getting a shot of it ASAP. If I remember correctly, I started shooting moon pics last night before 6:30 since it was up and visible, and the sky was light. So tonight I headed to the beach around 6 or so to catch it just as it was coming up over the horizon. Only...what? No moon! I was afraid that the clouds gathering to the north were also spread over the east. Bummer. I waited a while and still, no moon. However, I saw the most beautiful colors in the sky to the west. Amazing. Words can't describe. I was sad that all the 'civilization' was unavoidable in the shot, marring the perfection of nature. But c'est la vie. This is our life.












I kept going out to check in case the moon was suddenly visible, but no luck. Then Grammy and Grandaddy brought the boys back from karate (Owen went along for the ride) and OMG! There it was! Big and huge and yellow and just perfect. I left Owen screaming for me, but safe in dh's arms, grabbed the camera and rushed back to the beach. However, I don't yet know enough about this photography business and was not able to get a good shot. It was so nice, though, the moon showing through the clouds in bits and pieces, the reflection on the water, and the moon occasionally coming out of the clouds completely. But it was still low and dark in its immense golden glow and I couldn't figure out the right settings.

So I came home, cuddled Owen, and after he went to sleep I went out in the back yard and took this one. Hopefully by next month I'll have learned how to capture a moonrise.

February 8

Well, guess it's time to start gearing up for another week. I always wish the lazy weekend could last just one more day.

Today everyone was feeling a bit better, so we headed out to the nearby park on bike. Owen LOVES the bike trailer and doesn't mind a bit wearing his helmet or being buckled in. He even tries to do the lap buckle on his own. You should see him in the grocery cart...he gets frantic if you don't buckle him right away.

I played around with the camera and got a few decent shots. I didn't have it set quite right, too much light coming in from the bright sunlight. But it was still nice to get out and get some Vitamin D.

Zach was having fun jumping from the swing. I wasn't having as much fun trying to time his body while aloft LOL. Hard to do. But he liked this one.


















Now Kevin isn't actually TRYING to eat Owen. I did get one or two that weren't so over-lit (I don't know photography terminology) but I liked the feel of this one. It's truly how they are, daddy and his boy.












These seagulls are all over the place, I've given up bringing snacks for the birds because they go crazy flying all around, trying to get the bite before it even hits the ground. Which wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that they don't really have any qualms about taking a dump mid flight. With that many potential poo-bombs headed your way, you realize the fun of feeding the birds is slightly over-rated.












And lastly, I had to show Zach that mom can SO climb trees! Albeit not nearly as well as I did when I was 10 or 12. Sigh. So much more spry and nimble and not so HEAVY! Geez, when did I get to making such a thump when I hit the ground? I was a tiny kid. I've never gotten used to feeling like an adult.

February 7

Another blah day. Zach still has a fever, Owen is still playing his role as the green snot goblin and nothing else has really happened today. Although Zach and Owen had some fun zipping around the house in a box. Zach pushing, Owen sitting. Owen was none too pleased when Zach got tired, though. He did console himself briefly with his sippy cup before the water works started.














I also took a pic of Ozzy, finally. Poor bird :( He has been a good sport, though, and has not complained at all about the delays of his photo shoot.

Ok, so I AM an idiot.

Just not completely. I took some photos of the moon tonight on the old camera, using the same and then similar settings as last night. The results were not quite as sharp. HOWEVER, I think the larger resolution/whatever did make the bigger difference. Being able to take up twice as much space/be twice as large on the computer screen meant more room for details, or at least details that were easier to see. So I still think the camera is better, but largely b/c of the increased resolution. Also, I think it meters its shots/flash, which is a huge bonus, but I need to double check that.

Today we stayed in our jammies all day. Well, mostly. Zach decided to start running a fever around 4am, Owen still has his cold and I've just felt off. My eyes feel weird, sort of blurry. Maybe they are dry. But I did get outside (in my jammies!) and took some pics of Owen playing (in his jammies!) while Zach was playing video games and watching cartoons. And then the moon came up, dh put Owen to bed and I took more moon pics. Fin.

Feb. 5 - Shoot the moon! Again!

I got my new camera! Finally! *doing happy dance* I was a little nervous about buying it, thinking that I was only upgrading the memory/resolution, not affecting the photos per se, since it's the same camera, just a newer model. But either I'm a complete idiot or this camera DOES take better pics. Well, maybe a mild combination of the two. But check it out.

Here's the moon like I was trying to shoot last time. Same lens, new camera. Perhaps I just never hit on this combo of aperture/shutter speed. Maybe the larger moon made it easier. I don't know. But I didn't even use the tripod, I just went out and took a few shots to see what I got. And voila! I got a moon with texture! YEEHAW!















And here it is again, a little bit later, with slightly different settings (I think. I'm tired, I can't remember all the details. Yawn.)

February 4

Nothing crazy today, the insanity has abated somewhat. Now I have the hiccups.

For my photo, I revisited the candle. Knowing a little more about light and shutter speed and aperture, I figured I could get a better shot. It's not stellar, but it IS better than the last one. Hurrah!
*hiccup*

ARRGGGGGGHHH

I hate PMS. I hate PMS. I HATE MOTHER *&#@%!!! PMS!!!!!

Yeah, I'm not a fan of PMS. I used to think it was an excuse that women made up to make people sympathetic to their whiny-assed selves. I had cramps, I dealt. Geez, buck up and move on. Then I got older and I GOT pms. Holy crap. I should be locked away a few days on the bad months. It's really miserable. Being angry and wanting to cry and cry and hate life and want to rip someone's head off for no reason. And knowing it's irrational? That's the worst.

Anway, I'm not really in a happy photo taking mood. But I did get this pic. And I'm not happy with it (surprised?). I had to keep the aperture at a low number (large opening) b/c I was INDOORS again, I was too busy AGAIN to get outside for good light before the sun went down so AGAIN I had a very shallow depth of field. Which I like, dont' get me wrong. Just not in every damn photo. Especially one where it looks totally EFFFFED UP!

I made bread today. I also made some lobster bisque from the lobster we had left from my birthday lunch. And spaghetti with some frozen sauce left over from a few weeks ago. Haha. Lobster Bisque and spaghetti? Now there's a meeting of opposites.

Here's the bread. The front crust isn't blurry in real life. I actually tried to sneak in some whole grain by adding 'white whole wheat' flour to the mix. I prefer the good old white (unbleached!) flour for French bread, I must say. But if the boys eat it, then so be it. Better for them.

February 2

Happy 18 months, Owen! When I was a kid, I heard so many parents refer to their child as 6, or 5 1/2, or 8 or 3 1/2. That 1/2 was always so specified. Once I asked my mom how old I was and after she gave the the number (4?) I said "Am I 4? Or 4 and 1/2?" When she replied that I had achieved the 1/2 status I promptly burst into tears, because I hadn't had a PARTY. To me, it was like a new age marking. Grownups always made it sound so important. So Happy 1 and 1/2, Owen! Sorry you didn't get a party.

Today poor Owen had a cold and thus his nap was not an easy affair. In fact, it was more like a non-existent affair. Then add to that my PMS and finding out from a Google search that one of my online friends (whom I'd actually flown to and met when she was having a rough time w/her preemie baby) was no longer alive. She died last July. I was not prepared to find an obituary, I was hoping for an email b/c it had been a few years since we last had contact. That was rough. I did finally get a brief nap for Owen after 3pm, but I tell you, I am pretty fried.

However, I have my photo. Zach is playing with his Lego 'motion' set, a Klutz book that he was coveting and my aunt and uncle bought it for him for Christmas. He made a sort of zip-line contraption and was zipping these wheel thingamajigs down it. I had to move the camera along to capture them, not easy. The shutter was at 50 and 60 max, not enough speed for a moving object. Lighting was sucky, I had to open the aperture to 2.5. But we got a decent one.

I hope Feb. 2 is better next year.

Happy Birthday! February 1

I didn't post this yesterday b/c I was too busy celebrating my aging process. 37 now...and I still need coffee in the morning. Haven't outgrown that. In fact, I think I need more. Or maybe it's just the recuperation process from my husband's attempts at plying me with beer and wine LOL.

I didn't take any real photos yesterday from an experiment/learning/trying to figure out the camera perspective. I did get one of Zach giving me a goofy 'happy birthday' face. And the other one is actually from the day before, but it applies here--I got out of the shower and caught dh and Owen making me a birthday card. He even washed up all the paint! Gotta love a man who makes an effort, right :)

Ok, I'm out...I think I need some greasy fast food.