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September 17, 2009
Pearl is addicted to chocolate... chocolate milk, chocolate chips, and chocolate Creamies. I fully admit that I'm to blame for fueling the fire. When she wouldn't take a bottle or stop nursing at 14 months of age, we gave her flavored milk to try and wean her with (it worked, but a bit too well I'm afraid). Then I let her help bake chocolate chip cookies and taught her the finer art of freezing your chocolate chips for a cold, sweet treat. And once summer hit and Jeff needed some way to stay cool, well out came the popsicles. I know, it's only succumbing to our society's crazed hunger for sweets, fats, and artificial flavors but hey, if it keeps Pearl happy what's the harm in a sweet treat once in awhile?
September 16, 2009
I never thought the day would come when Jeff would convince his mom to let him take her treadle foot Singer sewing machine, at least in this lifetime! We've had our eyes on it for some time now - after all what goes better in a 100 year old house than a vintage sewing machine - and joked that the only way we would get it would be to pull it out of her cold, dead hands someday. I'm sure there was more kicking and screaming on my mother-in-law's part than I know, but last Saturday while I was in my photography class I got a phone call from Jeff asking if I wanted it. Uh, DUH!!! I was shocked he even had to ask. We have no clue how old it really is but after some scrubbing and four or five rounds of Pledge, it looks beautiful, even with it's missing side drawers and broken belt. Jeff's mom says it sews better than any machine she has ever used and with a good tune up - and a whole lot of brushing up on my part - I could start sewing with it again. But seeing as how that probably won't happen anytime soon, I'm content to argue with Jeff about the perfect spot for it in our house.
September 15, 2009
I'm a bit discouraged with My 365 Project after learning the lens I wanted to get to really take good pictures with won't work on my camera. So instead of chasing Pearl around, yelling at her to hold still, smile, or even look at me long enough to try and figure out my settings, I opted for a more obedient subject... a raindrop from earlier in the day.
September 14, 2009
This is a horrible picture (Pearl is into biting her hair lately and that's what she is doing here) - it's blurry, grainy, and terrible lighting - but sadly the best of the bunch tonight in manual. Urghhh... I can't seem to figure out how to shoot in our terrible, low light inside! Or get Pearl to hold still for five seconds so I can focus and adjust my settings. Any tips???? I tried upping the ISO, lowering the aperture, and messing with the shutter speed, but to no avail. I tried and tried and tried and still couldn't get the camera to take it fast enough to not make Pearl blurry on top of not having enough light. And to make matters worse, I just found out the 50 mm lens I wanted to buy so I could lower my aperture even more and be zoomed in where I normally would shoot when I used the automatic settings won't work on my Nikon D60. Apparently the D60 doesn't allow automatic focus for all lenses, including this one. So... for those few who actually look at this blog I'm sorry for the next few months worth of pictures until I can scrounge up enough money to upgrade cameras. (Any takers? If you want to shoot great pictures in automatic the D60 is a great camera!) I admit that I am really, really tempted to bag this whole shooting in manual thing and go back to automatic, at least when taking pictures of Pearl, or I'm afraid Pearl will think she was one grainy, blurry, low-light kid when she gets older.
September 13, 2009
I have no idea who "K" and "S" are but they were the only subjects that would hold still long enough tonight to practice some of the photography tricks I learned yesterday in my workshop - and I still had to darken the shadows in Photoshop to get the look I thought I had taken. My other option, a wiggly toddler whose least favorite thing to do is ham it up for the camera, didn't cooperate very well with my fidgeting of the aperture, shutter speed, and dealing with the low light and limitations of my camera (not being able to zoom in if I want a low aperture). I really worry that I'm not going to be able to keep up with Pearl and other moving subjects in manual. The old saying "practice makes perfect" better ring true, eventually.
September 12, 2009
So I realize I'm not applying ANY of the photography principles I have just learned in the previous three hours of my photography basics workshop with this photo but I had to get one picture of our great mentor, Brooke Snow! I actually went to high school with Brooke, stumbled upon her photography website and blog, really loved her style, and decided to finally learn how to really take pictures with my camera using only the manual settings. Between setting my apertures, ISO, and shutter speed I was just lucky to capture a picture of Brooke as she was flying through one of her demonstrations. I actually made it the entire day in manual and feel more empowered to keep it that way. Of course after a full day of photography tips, I am totally overwhelmed, slightly frightened to be turned lose to document my life in manual, and hoping I can convince Jeff to fork out some more money to buy me a new lens - a 50 mm prime lens that will let me set my aperture to as low as 1.4 - since my camera lens now won't let me do everything I want to. The best part of the workshop though? I actually know what that last sentence means!
September 11, 2009
Pearl didn't understand the point of going to Kurtis' soccer game and actually cheering for Kurtis. Instead she decided her Aggie tee-shirt (or as she calls it her "Logan" shirt) looked better on backwards and cheered for the Aggies instead of Kurt's CV Vikings team. I guess all that indoctrination by Jeff about USU has made an impact on her because all she did was yell "Go Aggies! Go Aggies! Go Aggies! Hey! Hey! Hey!" Boy is she going to be disappointed to learn she doesn't have a season ticket to the games this year.
September 10, 2009
Kimmy came over tonight to help finish up our Mom's birthday present (no one better spill the beans here because she does check this thing once in awhile) and Pearl couldn't have been happier. It's hard waiting your turn to have Kimmy's undivided attention but the results of "patiently" asking your favorite Aunt to play with you over and over again are well worth wait. The next thing I know, those two have a game of hide-and-go-seek going on. After counting to 10 - yeah right Pearl counts like this 1, 2, 3, 6, here I come - Kimmy found a couple of good hiding spots under the table and in a closet. Then it was my turn to join in the game. I found those two giggling in the spare bedroom closet. It's pretty easy to find Pearl, all you have to do is yell out "Is Pearl under the bed?" and listen for her to yell "NO!" until you find her. Hilarious! It was all fun and games though until Kimmy had to go home... Pearl freaked out! She begged us to let her have a sleepover at Aunt Kimberly's house and even got her sleeping bag out. It was pretty dramatic being left behind but honestly, I'm not sure who felt worse - Pearl for getting left with her fuddy-duddy parents or Kimmy trying to get out the door with a screaming toddler attached to her legs.
September 17, 2009
