Pumpkins 2011

M and I really love carving pumpkins but we had to force ourselves to keep it simple this year because we just have too much on our plate.

Kate chose Hello Kitty, of course:

 

(There were definitely some moments when I had to laugh that THIS was "simple.")

Scott wanted something from Wild Kratts (big surprise...) so we talked him into the simple paw print symbol from their creature power discs:

 (This was quick and easy.  Gotta love hole saw attachments for the drill!)

Claire chose a soccer ball:

(Again with this one, we need to rethink our definition of "easy.")

Photography Challenge Day #4 - Something Green

Green is my favorite color!  It was so hard to settle on something because I liked so many ideas!  In the end though, I'm going to highlight the pumpkin I carved for Kate:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

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I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this 30 Day Photography Challenge even though the "official" challenge is over.  Posts may or may not be daily.

My rules for my self are:
1 - Take everything in manual mode
2 - No post-processing, only SOOC

Photography Challenge Day #3 - Clouds

Is it me, or were the clouds were being copy-cats?

This one was good because it forced me to notice these clouds.  And seeing these clouds reminded me that there are at least some perks to getting up, taking my kids to school, and getting back home all before the sun has risen.

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I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this 30 Day Photography Challenge even though the "official" challenge is over.  Posts may or may not be daily.

My rules for my self are:
1 - Take everything in manual mode
2 - No post-processing, only SOOC

Photography Challenge Day #2 - What I Wore Today

This one was hard for me.  I tried a few things and don't love any.  Since I'm struggling to pick one, I'm just gonna post two:

Halloween toes and PANTS!  (This was a few days ago.  Even though Halloween is in a few days, today was still WAY too hot for pants.  I miss pants.)

I love the back on this shirt.

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I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this 30 Day Photography Challege even though the "official" challenge is over.  Posts may or may not be daily.

My rules for my self are:
1 - Take everything in manual mode
2 - No post-processing, only SOOC

Photography Challenge Day #1 - Self-Portrait

 

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I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this Photography Challenge here on my blog to help myself be a little accountable!

I saw a 30 Day Photography Challege on Pinterest and even though the "official" challenge is over, I thought I would use the list as an excuse to practice a little.  Especially on something besides just my kids.  I don't promise the photos will be daily and I don't promise the photos will be great, but I do intend to plug along through the list in order and try to learn something along the way!

My rules for my self are:
1 - Take everything in manual mode   (I normally rely too heavily on Aperture Priority mode so I want to force myself to practice setting ISO, aperture, and shutter speed)
2 - No post-processing, only SOOC (I have a tendency to tell myself I can just fix things later in Photoshop - especially color)

Turns Out, You NEED Those Numbers at the End

My kids all have their own Gmail accounts.  Actually, two accounts apiece.  One user name is respectable and the other is more playful.  I sign them up for them shortly after they are born because I'm crazy like that.  As Claire has gotten old enough, she has occasionally used hers to email grandparents and such.  I'm pretty sure my kids are going to thank me someday for getting them addresses ASAP so they aren't stuck with some user name that is followed by twelve impossible to remember numbers to make it unique.

But speaking of numbers at the end of an email address making it hard to remember, lately I'm having a problem.  The kids' accounts all forward to my email and I'm getting email for some other Claire with the same last name.  She is apparently some sucker whose mother DIDN'T sign her up for an address soon enough, so hers must have some numbers after it.  But apparently she doesn't remember this.  She thinks she owns the address with no numbers after it.  How do you not know your own email address? I can understand one or two mistakes, but how exactly do you not notice that you haven't received things you're expecting?  Important things!

She appears to now be a senior in high school considering various colleges. She lives in Georgia and attends Baylife Church.  She is not getting her church newsletter.  Nor is she getting messages from her chemistry study group.  She is not getting her J.Crew ads.  Or several other store ads.  But worst of all, she is not getting info about deadlines for online registration to Duke University, Vanderbilt, and Georgia Tech.

I am also now in possession of her login names for these online registrations and, since OBVIOUSLY I know her first and last name, I'm pretty sure I could reset the password on most of her accounts.  But I'm not going to.  She's lucky I'm a nice person.  I really do hope she's not missing all these deadlines that I keep getting emailed about.

Also, I hope none of these universities find out about all of this. Do you really think someone will believe you are Duke material if you can't figure out your own email address???

-2 lbs

Still sewing...