January Photo Challenge: Self-Portrait

This month's challenge over at Rock the Shot Forum is a self-portrait and this is my entry.  I am always complaining about the terrible lighting inside my house (it is pretty weak).  My neighbor came over, squinted at the window, and mentioned that it sure was bright for such a gloomy day.  She was right.  My house was not flooded with light but the windows were.  Dim house + bright windows = perfect opportunity for a silhouette shot!  It was nice to work with the light conditions in my house rather than fighting against them with crazy high ISOs and too low shutter speeds.

ISO 400 |  f 3.2 | SS 1/100
Instead of using the remote I just focused on a water bottle I set on the bed and then set the timer and stepped into place.

To join in on the challenge and see the other entries visit http://www.rocktheshotforum.com/2012/01/06/january-photo-challenge-self-portrait/ or click on the banner below.

www.rocktheshotforum.com

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

We have very cold weather and snow right now; which is bad.  I hate cold weather.

But the chickens hate the snow (though they are fine with freezing temps) and won't step outside on to the white stuff.  Which is good.  See that open gate on the left?  That's pure freedom to roam the neighborhood but they won't cross the snow. I don't have to chase down any escaped chickens.

Which is really good cause I'd rather the neighbors not see me sporting these beauties (the ugly):

Its good that I have them because I've been making lots of trips out to the coop... because the water keeps freezing, which is bad:

But my husband, who is good and totally not ugly, went and bought a heated pet bowl and saved the day(s)!  Though the chickens still peck at the ice block before realizing its ice and then go over to the water.  Chickens aren't the smartest.

Its a good thing I dug that 55 FOOT LONG TRENCH from the house to the coop. With my bare hands. And a pick axe, so we could have an electrical outlet there. That's all a bad memory now.

So we're staying inside a lot which is good because I'm catching up on some projects like this wine night light (for grown ups, not my kids):

(pretty, huh? you want a tutorial on this one? I'm really good at tutorials - hahaha)

However, now my dining room table looks like this:

Which is bad because I have company coming over; but its a good thing its just family.

However crafting sometimes results in the ugly:

(taken with my cell phone cause that's my right hand ya'll!  I can't even hardly lift my camera with my left hand.)

And it was really stuck.  I tried soaking it, which ruined the picture inside.  Then decided to go outside in the cold to make my fingers shrink (cold does that right?).  Going out in freezing temps with a recently soaked, wet hand stuck in a glass bottle is not a good idea.  You're welcome. Because I learned that lesson for you.

I knew this was a sit on the couch day the minute I sent my kid off to school without his backpack. Or lunch.

Ten on Ten {a new year}

Trying to start the year off right... Its the tenth of the month so one photo, every hour, for ten hours.

1| walking to the bus stop.    2| getting on the bus.

3| morning breakfast for the chickens  4| late morning breakfast for me

5| gathering eggs              6| playing with chapstick eggs

7| a drive across town       8| to bring home this little beauty

9| looking for daddy       10| helping out mommy

I missed an hour somewhere during the day.  I think it was during the hours spent in the car between preschool pickup and heading out to pick up the wagon (which will hopefully make a future appearance on the blog).  I filled in with an extra shot from the morning bus stop routine; I couldn't decide between the two anyway.

I haven't participated in Ten on Ten in almost a year... its always feels good to set a challenge for myself, especially when I complete it.  To find out more about Ten or Ten and/or to participate yourself just click on the link below or visit http://rebekahgough.blogspot.com/.

My First Lego Set

I spent a lot of time being frugal in 2011.  I didn't splurge much and certainly not on myself.  But when I saw the  LEGO set on the shelf with a dark hair girl that included a cup of coffee, a laptop, and a camera it only took two seconds for it to go from the shelf to my cart.  Her name is Emma and she also designs clothes and likes to have organized drawers.  Hello???  Like I wasn't already sold at the camera and coffee top.

As soon as the boys were asleep I ripped that box open and got to work.  I didn't bother with the instructions, I just went for the pieces I wanted.  Phil just had to take a picture; its kind of out of focus since he was laughing which shook the camera a bit.

We took some pictures of each other...

Then had a coffee break while getting some work done on the laptop...

 The other lego guys are pretty excited to have a female lego in the house

She's a little tall for a LEGO person.  Captain America was more her type.

After I had my fun I let the boys (and my neice) play with the LEGO set for a while.  They had a blast.  One of the best $10 I've ever spent.  Emma and her Design Studio can be found at stores around town or on Amazon at www.amazon.com.  I'm a little disappointed in her rather un-LEGO appearance but all of the other LEGO pieces and accessories are everything you would expect from LEGO.