February 3-I wasn't feeling too inspired...was cold and depressed with all the snow we were getting...and are still getting.

February 4-I was playing with the night setting on my camera. It didn't work like I wanted it to, I've gotten a bit of advice from a friend on how to use it to get better pictures since then though.

February 5-Playing with some angles with my computer keyboard since I am here so often...an important part of my day :)

February 6-The day of the funeral for one of our church's founders and grandfather type to many. I also had to practice as I was scheduled to sing a solo for special music the next day in church. A friend played piano for me...inspired me to get this shot of the inside of the grand piano.

February 7-A little relaxing with some coloring. I bought the bag with the crayons at the Awana store for the kids...I decided to pull it out and have a little fun.

February 8-A cowboy hat that was used for VBS a couple of years ago on the barrel of one of hubby's guns on the gun rack.



February 9-Playing with the light box again, and the star filter for some fun!

February 10-A Valentine friend on the Awana store :)

February 11-Back to basics I guess...black and white and some things that are very important to me. My Bible and something I really enjoy...some typing work for our Pastor. It was late when we got home and with the busy day we had I didn't have alot of time to shoot any pictures...this was the best I came up with then, even though it's not the greatest.

February 12-Frosted trees in the school parking lot after the last home basketball game. We lost again....

February 13-Valentines Roses...K had to be gone all day at an Elders and Deacons meeting for church so I got my gift early! We talked after he gave me the roses for my birthday....he hinted that he might get me roses for Valentines and I asked for pink for a little something different for pictures....he did very well!

February 14-Candle on the table at our youth group's Valentines Banquet. We had a great "Evening in Paris" even with my "lovely" sinus cold at its worst.

February 15-K with one of the icicles on the house. This was just before he tried to pull it down and it shattered into a hundred pieces. We couldn't believe how long it was! He's standing on the deck railing here.

Sorry that it has been so long since I have written. It's been a stressful couple of weeks and I will write more about that along with posting my Project 365 pictures tomorrow hopefully, and if not tomorrow very soon I promise!

I'm fighting a "lovely" sinus cold and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open so I'm off to bed for now.

Lots of love and hugs!

This is the lightbox that K set up for me. It's pretty simple but it works really well and it doubles as storage for everything that I use with it. He picked up a Rubbermaid type tote at the Dollar store, two brooding lights, and some tagboard. He cut the tagboard to size so it just fits from top to bottom (it curves in twoards the back of the tote). The only thing he really had to 'build" are the stands for the lights. He is still working on those, he said he wants to be able to adjust the height of the lights as well.



We went to our friend's quilt shop in town and bought a bunch of fabrics to use as backdrops and bought some other ones when we went to Wal Mart. I posted a picture of the fabrics earlier in the week. The tagboard can be used as a backdrop itself(keeps you from being able to see whatever is behind your lightbox) and also helps to hold the fabric that is being used as a backdrop.

We chose a frosted plastic because it helps to diffuse the light a little more, it's not such a direct light only look.

Pretty simple and cheap and more sturdy than a few ideas that he found out there. I like it, I've gotten some macro shots that I really like using it and I'm still thinking of new ideas to try!

January 28 Another shot of the roses :) I was playing with the macro lens that day.

January 29 K built me a lightbox and some fabrics to use as backdrops. We were playing with different fabric and light combinations that day.

January 30 The fabrics that we bought for backdrops. Lots of fun colors!

January 31 We had a potluck after church and then a group of us went sledding and ice skating at a local park! It was alot of fun! Here Tater is all bundled up and ready for some snow fun! He lasted about 15 minutes when he told his uncle..."I cold....I go home....hot chocolate!"

February 1 Playing with reflections in the light box. The subject here is a souvineir that one of my former daycare families brought back for me when they went to China. They told me that these are hand painted from the inside. Beautiful!

February 2 My Casey! Here he is in his favorite spot at night...right at my feet in bed! He may not be the brightest, but he is loving and loyal!!

January 26

January 27
K brought me roses for my birthday and I've been having alot of fun taking pictures with them! I had to laugh because as soon as I saw him with them he said look, time for pictures!

With January 26th picture I just learned how to use textures in Photoshop and I added a frosted window texture I got from Jo at Life's Perfect Pictures. I lowered the opacity and then added a solid red layer and a text layer and that was the result. I've never used textures before but seeing the pictures on i heart faces challenge for this week got me curious and wanting to try. It's not totally what I had in mind, but it's not bad for a first try I guess.

I had the morning off yesterday and edited a bunch of pictures and in the evening we went to the boys basketball game at the high school. JV won but the Varsity lost.

Today Mr. T and Tater were pretty tired and quiet so we didnt' do a whole lot, snuggled mostly. Mr. T liked being my assistant and plugging in and turning on the light on the piano to get my picture for today. He was pretty proud of himself, it was so cute!

Headed off to get ready for Awana soon. Tonight is Talent Night. The kids can sing a song, play an instrument, recite a verse, read a poem, just use their talents for the Lord. It's also bonus points for bringing your Bible and wearing crazy socks...putting both together since we missed last week. We may have to fit in another talent night since we schedule two to fit everyone in. It just depends on how many still want to do their talents.

January 22
I had such a busy day on Friday. I had many things going on at once and this was my desk as a result. I got everything caught up and in the afternoon we got ready and headed over to our friends' place to pick them up for the basketball game only to get a call from the boys saying it was cancelled due to the fog. So as long as we were in the car we went out for supper and K worked on a bit of remodeling in their bathroom with him while his wife and I made some bananna bars and played a couple games of Sequence.

January 23 This was pretty much my view for all of Saturday. I slept in a bit and then had some typing work to do. I got that done and then we headed for a soup dinner/silent auction for a local 8th grader who has lukemia. We headed right from there to the basketball games where we watched the JV boys who lost, the Varsity girls who won, and the Varsity boys who lost. We had a short music practice and went over PowerPoint and then it was finally home to bed!

January 24 After church we went to my Mom and Dad's for lunch and hung out with them until it was time to leave for the evening service. We got to chat with my brother on Skype for a while. It was good to see him, he was planning to come home for Christmas, but between the weather and his car problems it didn't happen. He says hopefully in a couple weeks he will be able to make it though. This is a macro of my Mom's Christmas cactus....I had alot of fun playing with my macro and some of her flowering plants at the house.

January 25 Today started out well, the kids were on time for school and I got Mr. T sent off on the bus for afternoon preschool and a half hour later I got the text message that school was letting out two hours early. The bus kids actually had to stay at the school for an extra hour because they didn't want to send the buses out with the blowing snow and bad visibility. They have already called a two hour late start for tomorrow. Hopefully we can make it and have a basketball game tomorrow night! Tonight's game was postponed, and it was a makeup game from last week! Tomorrow night's game is a make up game as well! I've gotten almost everything checked off of my to do list today...the only thing that I haven't gotten done is write to my sister in law in Kuwait, but tomorrow is a slow day kid wise, and even more so now that I have had the evening to get more things checked off that to do list, so I'm sure I can get that letter written and out in the mail! This is a picture of some of the cds in our 101 disc changer. I love the mixture of colors of cds and rainbow effects on the back of the discs! I added a bit of a motion blur to this in Photoshop as well.

January 21
This isn't exactly the shot that I was going for, but I do sort of like it. I did some color correction in Photoshop and then converted it to black and white. Maybe I'll give the shot I was looking for a try again tomorrow....we'll see if I remember haha!


I woke up a bit later than I planned, but I've still gotten quite a bit done. I pulled all the bedding except for the electric blanket off our bed and have it going in the washer and dryer now. School started as two hours late and I was going to have R from next door at 8, but Dad called and said that he was staying at Grandma's for a while, maybe the whole day since there is no morning preschool with the two hour late start. He said he'd have her call, but so far nothing at 10:30.

I don't have the other boys today, Mom is done working for the week, and so I kind of hope that Grandma does keep R! I'm playing with some more pictures and if things go well I may post some more this afternoon!

No ball games tonight, but we will meet with our Pastor to record his radio message for the week.

Hope you all have a great day!

January 20

January 20
Originally uploaded by H3IdI

This is much later than I had originally planned to post this, but we've been having internet issues. This little star toy was tossed aside and sort of forgotten about while the kids played around it. I took all the color out in Photoshop except for the star and its shadow.

The kids got out of school at 11 this morning. It counts for a day, so that helps, but it does seem as if the worst of the storm has missed us. So far not even a mention of a late start, but we'll see.

I have an idea for a picture for tomorrow, but it requires me getting up with K about 5 am so it's dark in the house. Hopefully that will happen!

Ok you can tell how shocked I was at that award because I completely forgot to list 7 things about myself that the award asks for!

Lets see....1. I really do not like raw tomatoes...very rarely will I eat one on a sandwich or something, but most of the time I will pick it off. However I love big chunks of cooked tomatoes in chili or things like that!

2. I love "different" colors of nail polish...not just the plain old pinks and reds. I love the deep blues, purples, greens, oranges, right now I'm wearing a sparkly silver. At one point one of my favorites was sparkly with some glow in the dark shapes, but that has long since dried up and I haven't been able to find any more. Sigh. Brandi I had to write this after reading your list and seeing what you wrote about your nail polish!

3. I have never lived totally on my own. I was 19 when I got married (12 happy years of marriage for K and I in 2009) and so I moved from living with my parents to living with the husband.

4. I LOVE music! Whether it's singing in church or one of the nursing homes when I am able, leading music in Awana or Sunday School, playing piano, or just listening to one of my cds music is a huge part of my life. Right now two favorites are Steven Curtis Chapman's Beauty Will Rise cd and Selah's You Deliver Me.

5. I had to wait until my 13th birthday to have my ears pierced the first time. Since then I've gone a little "crazy" and not only have my ears triple pierced on both sides, but I have an extra piercing above that on my right ear (partly for fun and partly to balance out the look since the trainee that did my first piercings got them a little crooked) and have the cartilege at the top of my right ear pierced. I used to have a second piercing up there as well but it has grown shut. K and I have discussed many times getting it repierced, but camera lenses and filters have since taken the place of that thought!

6. Our best friends inadvertantly started a collection of Precious Moments figurines for me....now I'm about as addicted to them as I am my pictures and camera!

7. And I admit it...I have lived a pretty sheltered Midwest life and have never seen the ocean! I really want to go at some point! I've had quite a few firsts in my life the last few years, including my first concert (Mercy Me, Aaron Shust, and Monk and Neagle) thanks to our best friends!

Well, there you go, seven random facts about me. And I pass this award along to the ladies that I mentioned alongside Brandi in my last post!

Wow! Brandi
at My Three Bubs gave me this award! I'm shocked! Thank you so much, Brandi! She wrote that she was enjoying my pictures...and that she had especially like this one....
(yep that's a macro shot of my eye...I just did some minimal lightening of shadows and things and then took out all the color except for the colored part of my eye in Photoshop)

I know I've written about it before, but just in case you have stopped over from Brandi's blog I'll write about it again. This year I have given myself a challenge. I want to learn more about my camera and taking pictures, composition and such, and also about Photoshop. My goal is to take at least one picture a day and in some of those try some new things, whether it be a new angle of the shot, using the little eye viewfinder instead of the larger digital screen, trying a different filter or something in Photoshop, but mostly just to get out there and use my camera! It's been alot of fun so far, and even help working through some things that have been going on in my life right now. Thank you so much Brandi, Jen, Dani, Steffi B., Rebecca Jo, Lisa, and anyone I may have missed unintentionally for all of your comments and encouragement with my pictures! I truly appreciate it and you all have helped me to keep picking up that camera on days when I've been discouraged with what I've shot and keep trying! I can't thank you enough for that!

Here is the picture for today...January 19
This plant sits on the railing of the deck in the back of our house. I love the contrast in colors and how soft the frost looks on the leaves.

School was cancelled today, not sure if it was foggier outside of town that had them concerned about buses and students coming in, but it really hasn't been too bad in town. It sounds like we may be in line for some freezing rain and mixed snow and ice the rest of the week so I don't know how much school we will get in. I really can't remember the last week that these kids have had a full week of school! We'll be going into June at this rate!

Still waiting to hear about the basketball game scheduled for tonight too. The last few they have played even with both schools being cancelled for the day so there is a chance we will play. If not we have been invited to a friend's surprise 50th birthday get together. She is a tax preparer and it is starting to get busy for her so it will be just a small gathering of friends, but it depends on the game and the weather if we will be going.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Hugs!

January 18 This is my "baby". He is a picture of unconditional love to me! I love seeing his wagging tail and him running off to find his favorite toy when I get home!

We were supposed to go to the Honor Choir/Band concert tonight, but when we got there they had a sign posted that said they had moved it up to 4 pm so the kids could get home before the fog. No one called to tell us :(....so we had the evening free and I cleared off my desk and organized some things and got a start on the cards that I have gotten behind in making. It worked out ok, I was able to be there for a friend who I haven't seen in a while now, who I had sort of lost contact with after she found out some bad news. Hopefully she and the family will be able to heal now and they can grow together as a family.

January 17

I forgot my camera at church yesterday after the morning service. We had gone out to lunch with some friends and had to run earlier than we normally do. Whe we came back to get it we noticed that someone had left their Bible on the library table. The worn pages caught my eye and I started shooting. This is my favorite to come out of that. I was thinking of adding a friend's favorite Bible verse along the bottom in white lettering and doing the same with another picture and adding his wife's favorite verse and giving it to them for their anniversary this year. What do you think...is it too dark? I was thinking that the white lettering would "brighten" it up some too.

I did some very basic editing to this in Photoshop, some color correction and lightening of shadows.

January 16

January 16
Originally uploaded by H3IdI

Hubby enabled my addiction to pictures this morning. He came home from work and told me to get ready, we HAD to go out for a drive and get some pictures! Of course you know I agreed! We had another frost overnight. The only editing I did to this was a smart fix and taking out some shadows in Photoshop. The sky really was that blue....I loved the contrast of the white snow and frost on the tree with the blue sky!

It's been a busy weekend! We lost the basketball game last night but won by two tonight. Too bad tonight's game wasn't a conference game!

I got the house cleaned this morning while K was at work and got my PowerPoint all finished. We have to head to church to get the hymns set up and the announcements into the loop.

Might get some quilting time in tomorrow afternoon, depending on how both B and I feel. We're all set to put the batting on the quilt top. Can't wait to see it finished!

January 15

January 15
Originally uploaded by H3IdI

I grabbed the camera and just started shooting while the kids were playing. I was trying to use the eye piece rather than the digital screen and it ended up a bit blurry so I played with it a bit in Photoshop. It sort of made me think about surviving the curves in life and just staying on track. Not fully thought through, just sort of a glimmer of an idea.

January 14 This isn't one of my favorites...and not story behind it...but it's one I took today...I am keeping up with the picture a day...I took this one at church, it's a plastic poinsettia from one of the plants there. I took this with my macro lens and then played with it a bit in Photoshop. I have a few more pictures in mind...but it's been a busy day and I haven't had time to set them up.

B came over this morning and we worked on my quilt. I have the quilt top completely sewn together, the next step is the batting. I burnt myself on the iron just under the knuckle of my index finger on my right hand. It's kind of puffy looking and a little sore lol definately something that would happen to me haha!

R came at noon and left at 3 and soon after K came home we headed out for a Jr High basketball game. We got back home with enough time to eat and then headed out to church to record PM's radio message for the week.

I'm ready to head off to bed now, tomorrow brings a day full of kiddos and another varsity basketball game. Maybe even a stop at Wal Mart on the way home.

Ok...really off now, can't keep my eyes open any longer....hugs!

January 13

Anticipation! The boys were waiting for their Mom to come and pick them up. I loved watching them as they would practically stand on their tip toes and yell "That's not my Mom!!" as each car drove by. I thought about how excited they were to see her....how they knew she was coming even if they had to wait for a bit, they knew she would be here.

It made me think about how I anticipate feeling comfortable in my own skin, but more importantly how I anticipate the return of my Heavenly Father, how just like these boys knew that their Mom was coming, that she would not forget them, I know the same of my Heavenly Father. And how I should anticipate His arrival with such joy and excitement! It makes me think about how thankful I should be instead of being stuck on the negative and petty. I know I've said it many times before but this Project 365 is really turning out to be a good thing for me. Not only am I getting the camera out more and using it and trying new things but it is a wonderful way to work through my feelings instead of staying stuck and getting depressed!

And more than just snapping a picture, which is what I started out doing, but maybe finding a little more of a meaning or feeling in it and blogging about it has been so enjoyable!

Thank you to those who have stuck around and are reading these maybe odd feelings behind the photos and checking out my pictures and the wonderful comments I have gotten! I really appreciate it!

Hugs!

January 12 This is the picture of the day for today....

but this one was a very close second.
I had fun getting a few pictures with my macro lens before the kids came things morning. School was two hours late due to fog. I love the delicate lacy like patterns and how it looks so soft and almost fuzzy. It's another picture I can sort of relate to although I didn't mean for it to be at the time...it's something cold and something that most people take for granted and barely give a second glance to. But if you look carefully and closely you see something beautiful and delicate. It sort of fits how I feel again.

This photo project is actually helping alot! I can snap a picture that fits my mood for the day and write about it a bit and just getting it out and clearning my mind helps....venting it out and then I can move on with other things...like I'm not ignoring the feelings or just stuffing them away, but doing something and relating to them. Sounds odd I know!

I ended up with the boys today, their Mom called again and said that someone had gotten sick so she had to work a full shift after all. It's been a good day with them, only a couple minor misunderstandings between them. R has spent the morning with Grandma and she will be dropping him off soon.

I've caught up a bit on some laundry and hopefully while the kiddos are sleeping I will be able to make some cards and catch up on those...then I can focus on editing some more pictures!

Hugs!

January 11I have sort of informally titled this one look into my eyes....I am still doing alot of thinking...really wishing that I could just get someone to understand how I'm feeling but I really can't find the words to describe it myself. Pride;humbled;hurting;broken;sad;happy;confused; I'm just trying to sort out who I am. K and I joke that I am going through my "second childhood" now since when I was actually a child I was having to be more responsible/grown up since my Mom was sick. So I guess I am sorting out things that most people honestly would have sorted out by now...still trying to figure out where I really fit in....I don't really feel like I do belong right now, wishing I could just "fit in". I'm just confused. My emotions come in waves and right now I'm at a low. I know it will get better, it just feels kind of good to write it out....
I brightened the eye just a bit, it was darker than I liked with the way I got the picture...but didn't change the color at all...then I went and decolorized all of the picture except for the colored part of my eye.

We went to a Jr High basketball game this afternoon, and we have two more Varsity games this week and Awana. The work week is pretty slow, just got a phone call that I don't have the boys tomorrow, maybe I'll actually catch up on the things I was supposed to catch up on today and didn't get done!

January 10

This is my Project 365 photo for the day....we went for a drive and I took a few...I had a difficult time choosing between this one and the next one....

We had two great services at church today and then after the evening service we went on a "double date" with our best friends to see The Blindside! It was a really good movie! The only bad part was the theater was so full we sat up in the balcony and the seats there were so tight I lost feeling in my leg for a little while. It was worth it though!

I have tomorrow morning off and I will hopefully be able to catch up on my last few things around the house to finally be caught up and then I can relax! I'll have one kiddo in the afternoon but he'll be ready for some lunch and a nap when he gets here, and his Dad picks him up about 3, which should be just after he wakes up if he's still on schedule. Have to love a day of work like that!

January 9 It's not the greatest of pictures but this shows my day today. This was taken with my camera phone...it's Tater as Super Shaggy running off to save the day! K was helping PM and his son A put in a new bathtub and surround and I was hanging out with C, A, L, Mr. T, and Tater. They were almost finished when the drain broke. It sounds like they are going to try to finish it up tomorrow. We had alot of fun spending the day together and alot of laughs. Hope you all had a great day!

January 8-The sunset on our way to the basketball game tonight. It's been soooo cold, but this was beautiful!

Another winter storm has found us. We got another three or so inches of snow but the real concern is that it is so light that it is blowing...and the below zero temps. The kids didn't have school today and they cancelled for tomorrow at about five this afternoon. It was a bit interesting to keep the kids busy today, but no kiddos tomorrow so I can enjoy the snowday with the kids haha!
Otherwise not a whole lot of excitement going on around here...hoping to catch up on some typing work, editing some pictures, and card making tomorrow.
Hope you all have a great day tomorrow!

January 7 the view of our front steps/walk this morning. More snow. No school for the kids today or tomorrow.

January 6-An Awana game...the kids had to hit the balloons with their batons and get the balloon into the tub.

January 5 Yeah today has been one of those days. I wasn't even working and it was one of those days. The picture above is one of my Christmas gifts. I hadn't even worn it yet. I just threw it in the wash and this is how it came out. We went and returned it tonight. I got another one just like it, it's in the wash now. Hoping for the best.
It sounds like we are in for some more snow. I have heard anywhere from another 5-7 inches. I am already so tired of snow and winter!
Got a few more of the Precious Moments I won in the mail today. I won another auction this evening and have about fifteen dollars left to spend to buy maybe one more. I like to find those cheap auctions...the figurine for five dollars and maybe five dollars shipping, or even better free shipping! The hunt is part of the fun!
Hope you all had a better day than I did and tomorrow is a great one too!

January 4
This is how I am spending my evening...and at least some of my day tomorrow. And you can see that we still haven't gotten the Christmas decorations put away...it was the plan for tonight, but K was called away to work on another project. And with K's new netbook I can actually blog, watch YouTube videos, email, etc from right here....I think I'll like this!

December 25-

December 26-My brother in law's dog, Daisy.

December 27-My gift from the boys...I had a little help opening it before I even got it haha...Tateer was in the spirit!

December 28-A little window shopping with a gift certificate

December 29-Wanted this one to be a little different so I played with it a bit more in Photoshop. I used one of Harry's Filters...old film

December 30-Christmas Cheer

December 31-Basketball scrimmage

January 1-I know it's dark but I didn't want to show Tater's face on the blog....he was enjoying his play with these brass rings...not sure what they go to but he found alot of uses for them!

January 2-New cds and my Precious Moments book I look up the figurines in and record what I have...

January 3-K's new toy...Slimey

We had an excellent service in church this morning...Pastor spoke about having a pure heart. Looked at a few things a little differently this morning and it encouraged me to continue on with my "new start" for the new year!
Afterwards we went out to eat for a friend's 18th birthday with her family! We fully embarassed her by singing Happy Birthday in the middle of Pizza Hut!! We all had a great time!
We talked about taking the Christmas tree down and the lights that we have in the house, but K is napping so I don't know if that will happen....there's always tomorrow.
I also planned to download my pictures so I could share with you my week in pictures...so far so good in taking at least one a day...but I forgot my camera at church. (We're working on a new website for our church so I always take my camera along just in case we have the opportunity to grab some pictures for that!) I should be able to get that done tonight after our evening service though....maybe I'll make that a scheduled blog post on Fridays or Saturdays...my week in pictures...another way to keep me accountable in my goal with my pictures!

I'm freezing!!!! It is so cold outside that it physically hurts to be out there! K said that a neighboring town has the temperature listed as -4. I am definately thankful for my electric blanket that I will curl up with tonight!
We had a great day yesterday...we went to PM and C's place and ate and watched some football with PM, C, Big C, M, A&A, L, Mr. T, and Tater, and J showed up a bit later too! I LOVED spending the afternoon with the boys...I haven't seen them all week! PM laughed and said that he could tell I was enjoying myself playing with the boys! K said he didn't know who missed who more as he watched Tater and I playing around!
After we left we headed to Wal Mart to use a gift certificate that A & A gave me for Christmas. I wasn't sure what I was going to buy...but I found a good deal on an external hard drive for all my pictures and I also picked up an Iowa long sleeved shirt, Selah's You Deliver Me cd, John Waller's While I'm Waiting cd that also came with a sampler cd from the movie Fireproof, Steven Curtis Chapman's Beauty Will Rise cd, and Relient K's Let it Snow Baby....Let it Reindeer cd.
I've also had some money to shop for some Precious Moments figurines. I've found some really good deals on ebay. Looking for what I want at the right price is half the fun too!
How was your Christmas? I hope that you had a wonderful time with friends and family and that you got some good gifts as well.
We went to a 50th Anniversary party this afternoon at the church and we were able to do PowerPoint early...I think finding that electric blanket and a good book sounds like a very good idea now! Much love and blessings for the new year!!!

I see that the special is still on...go to this site and get your 8x10 canvas of one of your pictures!

I got one of my Precious Moments in the mail today...and I'm still shopping for more! Ebay is alot of fun!
Not sure what our big plans are for the evening...maybe just finding a movie on demand and popping some popcorn.
K got home an hour earlier than we thought he would but I haven't seen much of him...he's been trying to get the laptop to connect to the wireless router. No luck so far.
Yup pretty boring around here....hope 2010 is a great year for you all filled with many blessings!

I almost forgot!!! I believe this offer runs through Thursday, but if you go to this site you can get a free 8x10 canvas made from one of your pictures! I sent for mine tonight! I have heard from a few people that it's really good quality and I can't wait to see mine!

Today was a good day. I finally caught up with the laundry and went out to lunch and ran some errands with a friend. I haven't gotten as many pictures edited as I would like, but I still have tomorrow and Friday and the weekend.
I also won three of the Precious Moments figurines that I was bidding on...most people gave me money/gift certificates for Christmas so I have had some fun shopping.
Hopefully I will have some more pictures of Christmas to share with you tomorrow. I've almost finished editing the pictures of the play that we had at church.
Well, I think the electric blanket is calling my name upstairs...time to curl up with a good book :)

I know I know you've heard it before, but I'm here to say it again, I know I've been terrible at posting....but here I am again.
Christmas was kind of hard this year, and I don't mean this to be a woe is me kind of post because I know that I have a very blessed life...but I was in a sort of a funk and the visit from the inlaws sure didn't help. I have no idea what I did, but I just have to say that I am so tired of feeling like I don't matter and I'm really not important.....
I have this week off work. I've been doing some laundry and catching up on some emails and cards that need to be made and of course editing pictures!
I've been thinking alot of what I want to change in the new year and I've come up with a few things. 1. Take a picture everyday...I joined a Project 365 group on flickr. 2. Read my Bible every day. I'm not going to say a chapter, or so many verses, just to be reading and in God's Word every day. 3. To post more regularly here. I have gotten to know a few of you better this year and I have enjoyed keeping up with you on your blogs...and it really does help for me to come here and just write things out sometimes. I don't think I should say that these are New Year's Resolutions...I never seem to follow through with them....but New Year's Goals maybe. Anyway....hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings you many blessings!

Can I go back to bed yet?! Please!

Ugh I really want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head! Yesterday I got a call from the bank asking if we had spent 700 dollars at the Microsoft Store. Ummm NO! Then there were four charges from ITunes which I did not make. I have in the past, but not for at least six months or so. I asked them if the charges were going through, no because they had put a block on our card. Great no problem, they would issue us new debit cards and numbers. Then about twenty minutes or so later I get a call saying umm yes it is going through you need to call this number and ask them how they got your information and tell them they need to stop the transaction today. So K calls the Microsoft Store and they tell him no we can't stop that transaction it's already in progress. Joy. So he has to go to the bank this afternoon and fill out papers and all sorts of "fun" things. The Microsoft Store did give him the name and address of the joker that used our information and what he bought. So evidetnly we just bought a 32 inch plasma tv for some joker in New York. Yay. As if Christmas wasn't tight enough money wise.
And we had to deal with all this a half hour before the bank closed and we had to pick up PM and C to go to a basketball game in CC. Sooo hopefully K can get it all sorted out at the bank and Mr Joker can't get anymore money out of our account.
Awana Christmas store is tonight!! We're actually trying to fit two nights into one sort of. We will have Christmas store and backwards night as well as our birthday party for Jesus and hand out the clubbers Christmas gifts. The only thing we won't be doing is going caroling to the nursing homes/some of the elderly of our congregation. A group of us from church thought about doing that since the Awana kids aren't able to go. We'll see time wise and weather wise!
I have been busy making up the clubbers gifts...we filled 80 Christmas cups with candy and small flaslights with our Awana logo on them, put them in bags, tied them with ribbon, printed 80 star gift tags with "Merry Christmas from your Awana Leader" on them, cut them out, punched a hole, and tied them with more ribbon and curled the ribbon. It was like an assembly line in our dining room! It really helped to have yesterday off so I could just focus on those. I also got some typing done for our Pastor and now I just have to catch up on some card making, laundry, and a few emails for church.
Well...I better get to it or I won't get it done since I have to be at church a bit early to finish up some things for the Christmas store tonight yet too. Hope you all have a better day than I've had haha!

Pictures!!!

A few more pictures to share with you today. The first is the measurement K got after our big snowstorm on Wednesday. We got 14 inches of snow in 24 hours! We also had 40 mph winds creating blizzard conditions. The kids didn't have school on Thursday but were back to a regular schedule on Friday. I kept thinking it was Friday on Thursday and Friday felt like a Monday...I've been so confused!!

I have had alot of time to take and edit pictures though!! The second picture is of our Christmas tree. I had alot of fun pulling out the star filter for my camera and snapping away Tuesday night during the worst of the storm! The third is of one of the Christmas trees at church I took Wednesday night. It was really beautiful how the snow had piled in the windows but the original pictures I took just didn't look right. I started playing in Photoshop and I liked the black and white look and K asked me if I could leave the ornament in color. I didn't like the original color so I played a bit and found the red. I have another burgundy color as well, but I still don't like it as much as this one. I put alot more on my flickr page if you want to go and check them out...there is a badge over on the side of my blog for you to go and see them if you like.

Thursday even though there was no school there was a basketball game. After the kiddos left we went and picked up PM and C and headed off on the hour drive. We agreed to drive in case the roads weren't so good and we have 4 wheel drive. The boys lost both games but we had fun.

Last night we just hung around the house and I was editing pictures again. We took a quick trip to church to work on a song I had to type into the computer for communion on Sunday. We went to bed around midnight and I was up about 7:30 working on PowerPoint this morning.

Madrigal is tonight...time for more pictures yay! Usually C and I go by ourselves...but since J is a senior this year K and PM are going with. PM's brother was supposed to come in from Milwaukee to go along with us, but he went to the hospital yesterday with chest pains. Drs said it was not a heart attack, but they are still doing some testing. Praying that he is ok. I have just recently been getting to know him and he has been my mentor in photography.

I'm excited but nervous about the next few weeks...C and I are planning our baking and I really enjoy that but I have not finished my shopping and of course Christmas brings K's family up from Missouri and more stress for me. I'm really trying and praying hard but I do internalize things and I will apologize in advance if I come here and complain about it all while they are here.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Snow!!!

We now have about 14 inches of snow. Joy. Sense any sarcasm there??? It wouldn't be so bad, but it came all at once. The kids got out of school early on Tuesday. They announced a 12:30 dismissal right at 8am. No school today due to more snow and blizzard conditions and at 4 this afternoon they announced no school for tomorrow. No travel is advised through most of the state.
I only had one daycare family today. Mom works at a hospital an hour away and Dad works for the cable company. They had him driving his route for part of the day today...people desperate for cable???!!! He came home about three hours early because they were told that the snowplows were being pulled from the roads in our county and the neighboring county.
We had to make a stop at the post office and checked our church's parking lot (no Awana tonight but we may do some recording for our Pastor's radio messages and we were checking it out to see if we needed to bring our snow blower to make a path to the front door) and I got a few pictures. I've been working on editing a bunch since I've been snowed in the last couple days and hopefully I will get to those as well as some of our indoor Christmas lights and playing with my star filters and share those soon!
The basketball game that was supposed to be last night was rescheduled for tomorrow night...we'll see if that happens. There is another ball game Friday night and Madrigal is Saturday night. I still have my normal typing to do for the week too, a slow start to the week could mean a busy busy end!
Hope you all are having a great day and are dry and warm!

Ok so I did something really stupid yesterday....or should I say today. I stayed up working until 2:30 this morning!! Then I had to get up about seven to get my shower and head out to church to decorate for Christmas! I was SO tired!! I thought we were going to go over PowerPoint then too, but PM had a change of plans so I got to go out for lunch with a great group of ladies and then I came home and slept for two hours while K was finishing up with the Christmas lights!! I rarely take naps, and especially not for two hours! He came up and checked on me a couple of times, I think he was a bit worried haha!
After the nap and some supper I finally got rid of the nagging headache that I had as well.
We finished putting some lights up in the house and put some laundry away and we've just been listening to some Christmas music and watching the fireplace dvd K bought on one of our Wal Mart trips with the lights out. It's been a good day.
Oh, I almost forgot, if you like Mercy Me go check out their blog for a little Christmas gift!

Excitement!

I sat down and started to write this about five times now and something always happens and I don't even get three words typed!!!
It's been a busy couple of days. Wednesday night was crazy hair night at Awana and the kids did GREAT!! We even had one who shaved parts of his head...he said he was going to shave it all off anyway so this was the perfect opportunity to do something fun!
Last night we went to M's Holiday Music Concert at the High School. We were all very happy with the songs that the choir director had chosen, not a single mention of Santa Claus...it was all about the real meaning of Christmas! K and I graduated with the choir director and I recently found her on facebook so I left her a little note complimenting her on her music choices.
Tonight was the second basketball game of the season....the JV boys lost. They started out great, ahead by ten or so, but they just couldn't hold it. They are a young team and the team we played is really agressive and to be honest, I know everyone complains about them, but the refs really didn't help either side...they were a little odd. We called one the happy friendly ref...he seemed to like to pull players aside and chat with them and smack them on the bum when they were done talking. One really didn't make too many calls at all, he just seemed to like to stand in front of us making it a bit difficult to see the game. The other one was really picky about some stupid little fouls while some of the bigger more obvious things like one of their players shoving one of ours down to the floor went unnoticed.....they were ahead by 10 or 15 and the Varsity pulled even with them and with a last second buzzer beater basket WE WON!!!!! What a game!!! Unfortunately J was hurt during the game, sounds like he may have rolled the ankle that he sprained earlier. I believe that they were going to take him in for x-rays just to be safe.
In other news I have found two new things that have made me happy lately....one is Christmas music. I wrote in an earlier post about how much I LOVE Christmas music...music in general really and that I love finding new music. Well, Amazon has a special, 25 free Christmas songs, one each day from the 1st of December up until the 25th. Check it out! I say this with the disclaimer that I don't know what they will choose I have already deleted one that I refuse to have on a cd of Christmas music (Slower Than Christmas- by The Boxmasters) but hopefully they will make some better choices.
The other is Swaptree. A friend emailed me the site and I have already initiated my first trade. I can get rid of a dvd that K and I really didn't like so much and get a cd that I will love! It's a win/win situation!
Hopefully this has all made sense...it's almost one am and I should be in bed because I have to get up fairly early tomorrow, make that this morning. The men are meeting to have a men's breakfast at church and while they are doing that the ladies are getting together to decorate the auditorium for Christmas and after that we are going to go over PowerPoint, but I just can't seem to relax and get ready to head to bed!! That game has me all energized and ready to go haha! I have a little typing to do for the radio message PM did for this week and hopefully after I get that done I will be ready for dreamland.
Hope you have a great day!

Basketball, movies, and Awana

The boys basketball season started last night. It was a bit of a process but we finally got to the game (it was about an hour drive to get there). We rode with L, Mr. T, Tater, and their Dad...Tater had no nap yesterday and he stayed awake for the whole drive, the whole game, and the whole drive back! The only time he got mad is when we got into town and Dad turned his movie off!
The boys won both the JV and Varsity games, although neither were the prettiest of games. We have a young varsity team, only one senior and he is the only one who has seen any varsity play. They just need to get used to playing as a team and get used to the plays.
Today the movie theater is playing a free movie for the kids. It's Polar Express. It works out nicely since the kids get out of school three hours early. Mom just picked up Mr. T and Tater, R should be picked up by his aunt soon, and that leaves me with Miss A. I think I may take her, especially after hearing that her two brothers are going with her big sister.
Tonight is crazy hair night at Awana...the kids will be learning about Samson. K is giving the lesson for the 3-6th graders. K and I both have wigs we bought around Halloween to wear and we are taking one for our Commander to wear. Should be lots of fun looks from the kids too!

Edited....R's Aunt came to get him and take him to the movie and by that time Miss A had already fallen asleep. Soooo no movie for us, maybe I'll get a nap with her instead. Haha!

December 1st!

Here I am again!! How is the first of December treating everyone? Tater and Mr T are here this morning and they are contentedly watching Diego. Just tried to turn it off and Tater got upset telling me that Iego not ova! I love those boys!
I entered a GREAT Christmas giveaway on We Are THAT Family's blog...go check it out!!! I know you will love it as much as I do!!!
Speaking of Christmas, Little C, Slow Mo, and Miss A got soooo excited when K plugged the outside Christmas lights in last night! They watched them blink and change colors for the longest time! I love watching the excitement of Christmas in the kiddos eyes! Too bad they will be moving about Christmas time. Miss A thinks it's so cool that they even get to take the Christmas tree with them!!!
Well, Tater is upset with me because I'm not getting him juice fast enough so I guess that's my cue to close for now.
Hope you all have a great day!