Twins, Again!

I'm pretty sure if they could talk they would say "Lady, get the camera out of our faces!"

Stairway to Heaven!

Kerry has holidays this week. Which means our stairs will finally get covered in hardwood. We had so much left over from the upstairs that we decided to do the stairs. The brown blob in the lower right corner is Linus's head. Kerry is removing each and every riser and replacing them with new ones. The dust of 38 yrs. is under those stairs and in my nose.

Kerry's got a bloody scratch on his head from trail work yesterday. I don't think he had a hat on. He might want to start doing that when he's doing trail work. I think it was a stick.
Both dogs were very interested in what Kerry was doing. The lighting is totally funky in these pictures.
Linus pouted because he was stuck at the top of the stairs. See that spot on the door with the paint removed, that's from Sally. She jumps up on the door and scratches it when we come home. My dad got her started, he sticks dog treats in the mail slot. One time he stuck his finger in and some dog bit it.

You can't tell from the pictures, but Kerry had some colourful words today. He swung the hammer and the claw part hit him in the shin, right next to his big ding from bike riding. He bled a lot. He was wise not to show me until after and even then it was soaking through the bandaid and I couldn't look.

Love this one. Oh, woe is Linus.

After this, the dogs were allowed dowstairs while Kerry pulled off the middle stairs. Then he went upstairs and we were stuck downstairs. And Sally decided to try to climb up and as she tentatively used her front paws to step on the framing, her back paws couldn't fit and she slipped through the staircase into the great beyond. Luckily it was only a few feet off the ground and not the top stairs. She landed on all fours and walked out the door and back again like nothing happened. I gave her a quick once over and Kerry replaced the wood and she ran up the stairs as fast as she could.

I'm hoping tomorrow means painting the back boards white. We're replacing the trim too and I figured why not paint the walls while we are at it. Kerry doesn't want to, the walls are about 16 feet high. But I'm totally going to push for it. I just have to pick a colour. I'm leaning towards greyish, but the flooring will be reddish and I don't like that together. I also like a nice spring green, but it might just be because it's spring. This will be the colour people will see when they come in the door. Right now it's tan, Martha Stewart's Mesa or something like that. But not her paint, just the colour.

Any colour ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to brighten it up.

Knee Slappin' funny to a photographer

If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph him...
What f-stop would you use?

Roller Derby and other things

I had the opportunity to shoot at today's roller derby practice in Prospera Place. It gave me a change to shoot in crappy lighting. I'm always up for practice.

I love watching these girls! Some of them are moms, some are younger, some are older, some are athletic, some are trying to be, but all of them are tough. The hit the ground, they get back up, there's no crying.

Now if it were me...one fall and I'd be done for. But first you'd have to get me up right in skates.

Birthday Boy

We like the same things! I love this!!!

This sweet kid just celebrated his 2nd birthday. All he wanted for his birthday was CAKE.

Bad MOM

I'm a baaaad mom.

I told Shaun I would make his favourite dinner tonight, lasagne. And then promptly forgot. I did my running around and came home and asked Emily what she wanted for dinner. Pizza. So I made pizza. We ate dinner. Shaun came home for dinner. "That's not lasagne!" He was pretty choked. Not only did I not make lasagne, but I forgot he was going to be home for dinner. I made him Lipton Creamy Bacon Carbonara instead. I did not make up for my bad momminess.

Drat!

watermark

My friend, Yolanda, stopped by today to make me a watermark for my photos. I wanted something very simple and that's exactly what she did for me. I love it.
This is one of baby K's outtakes. I love it, too.

2 babies Iin a week

3 if you count baby bear.We tried so hard to get baby K in the sling, but it just wasn't meant to be. I'm going to have to research a bit more.
Baby and his big brother. I like this one because L looks like he's contemplating. It was full sun which I know is not the best but I wanted them on the front steps.
As much as we tried we couldn't get him to hold his head up, he was so relaxed that his head kept rolling over. And he pooped on my blanket. Good thing everything is machine washable.
I'm going to have to find another bowl. This one is going to get over done. This is the top of his change table, love it.

Tutu x2

I have wanted to make a tutu for a photography prop for awhile. Finding the tulle at 1/2 price was enough incentive for me to buy yards and yards of it to make 2 tutus today. Poor baby bear had to model them for me.

Sweet Baby Alina

I heard through the FB grapevine that Kerry's sister-in-law's nephew and his wife had a baby last Sunday. I wanted a chance to photograph a newborn so I contacted Kerry's niece, who called Kerry's SIL, who called her SIL who called her son and he texted her back and said to come over on Friday. I got to meet this sweet baby before most of her family.

I had to be quick, she didn't like to have her hands swaddled, but she didn't seem to mind napping in a bowl.
She had the wrinkliest little hands and feet. I controlled myself.
She really didn't like my blanket. I don't blame her, it's not the softest one around.
I saw another picture like this and wanted to try it. I think it's my favourite.

The rest are in my smugmug gallery, the link is over on the right.

I think photographing babies might suppress my need to have another.

Thrift Store Score

I wanted to find a wooden bowl to hold a newborn in for a prop. I have looked every where and today I walked into a tiny little thrift store on my way to Winners and found it! Yikes! $10 and it had about an inch of dust. The place only took cash so I had to find a bank machine. $2 in fees later, I was back for the bowl, a basket and a blanket. And by the time I got back, the woman at the till said she didn't think the bowl was worth $10 so I got all 3 items for $10.
Basket, blanket and baby bear.
I had to wash the blanket 2 times, it had a bit of moth ball scent to it. And I fixed any holes with invisible thread. Darn that invisible thread, I had a hard time tying knots in it.
I want to paint that chair but I'm not sure what colour to paint it. I like the green in the blanket I just bought. All photos are SOOC out of sheer laziness.

A clipboard

I felt a little creative today. I had found a clipboard in my stash the other day and thought I'd cover it and give it to the neighbour so that she can use it for wedding planning.

A funny

or at least, I thought it was funny.

I made these rice krispie bars that were supposed to have butterscotch chips in them, but I started making them, boiling the sugar and corn syrup and realized I didn't have butterscotch chips. Which shouldn't surprise me, they aren't a staple like chocolate chips are. I used those instead.

They are super sweet and chocolately, I had one and couldn't eat another. I took them to fight night. The guys loved them, one of them took a bite and declared "That puts the COKE in cocoa!" and then stuffed the rest in his mouth and said "I don't even know what that means!"

We all laughed but now in our house, we have a new saying.

The fights weren't that good, but the socializing is great. Kerry and I went for dinner beforehand with Misty-Rae. Funny story, my friend, Jenn, got me hooked on Stampin' Up. Shortly after I signed up to be a demo, she moved out of town and gave me her client list. M-R was on that list. After awhile we finally met and we've been friends ever since. She was going to fight night at my dad's long before I ever did.

Once we went for dinner at Boson Pizza and ran into a friend, she said she was having dinner with Mr. Right. I said jokingly "Where's your husband?" She replied "At home." I didn't know what to say. I thought she was with another guy. And then I ran into Misty-Rae, and she was with the other friend, and I was so relieved that I had heard "Mr. Right" instead of Misty-Rae and that our friend wasn't having an affair. Now when I call Misty-Rae, I sometimes call her Mr. Right.

Because I can

I made these. Think biscuits rolled up like cinnamon buns, but instead of sugar and cinnamon, they have beef and cheese and spices.
Then I went out to do yard work with Kerry and the dogs. By yard work, I meant documenting what is growing/still alive in the yard. Linus saw I had some interest in the daffodil so he killed it.
I got down low, as in laid on the ground, and used my exposure techniques to get this one. Kerry's is raking in the back ground.
I got down low and took a picture of my parsley. Surprised it's not dead.
This is my peony. I could watch this plant grow, it's growing so fast!
Took a picture of my weeds. Then Linus at the flower.
Took a picture of my Sally, while laying on the ground. I don't do much of this out front for fear Karla will see me and bug me about what I am doing.
Took a picture of what protects Kerry's noggin when he falls of his bike, not that he falls off his bike.
Took another picture from above. Check out the weed growing in the rocks.
Took a picture of Kerry's wet bike wheel.

All that yard work has caused my allergies to act up. I'll probably have to have a rest before UFC tonight.

Finding my lost mojo

When I don't feel very crafty, I like to pull out my magazines and get ideas from them. Sometimes I copy things, sometimes I change things. Today I did a bit of both. I used the current Stampin' Success, and mini catalogue for inspiration.





This single butterfly card was my own creation.


There were so many great things in the new Stampin' Success magazine.

And there's some great news about new colours. Very excited about that!

Copied Right By Kelli

I knew that if I found a neoprene laptop carrier, I could figure out how to make it into a "shootsac". I would love an original shootsac but can't afford the $180 plus price tag. To buy a piece of neoprene would have cost an arm and a leg and you can't get it locally. So I ran around town to at least 5 places looking for a carrier. I had seem them at Walmart for about $14 but they didn't have them anymore and it was just as well, they were bright blue. Zellers had a yellow Winnie-the-Pooh one, but it was $40. So I ended up at Office Depot. They didn't have any either but then I remember my neighbour, Karla, said I should check the deals in the Clearance section and low and behold there was a laptop carrier on the top shelf. But it wasn't labeled and didn't have any tags attached, they were ripped off and stuffed in the bag. The cashier asked the manager, and he looked it up, he came back and said he couldn't find a price, just give me $10. So I did. Best thing, the bag come with 3 different coloured straps, grey, green, and orange. It would have cost me at least $10 for the wide strapping and the buckles.

Here is the before picture with the grey strap...

I ran into Fabricland, picked up the velcro, and there was a scrap piece of foam on the table and it was 1/2 a meter, and it was on for 1/2 price, so for under $5 I got the rest of the stuff to make my bag. I had Amy Butler fabric at home to match my camera strap.

This is the inside, not the best picture. I made padded inserts, removable, for my lenses.

This is the outside with green strap. I made the cover, added a large velcro strip to it and the pocket and it's removable too, so I can wash it or make a new one when I get sick of this one.
So there it is, for under $20. It took me less than 2 hours to make it. I'm pretty impressed with myself, if I do say so!

Easter Antics

First off, how old is too old for the Easter bunny?

20 and almost 14?

I am happy the kids still want to participate in the whole Santa/Easter bunny/Tooth Fairy thing because it means they still want to be around us. Although this morning when I demanded they get dressed because pajamas are not hunting attire, I got a few gro

ans. And the ears were mandatory but Shaun threw his in a bush about 1/2 way through the hunt.

We did make them wait for the hunt until after breakfast with Grandma W.

This is what I get when I said "Stand closer together for a photo".

And when I said "Turn around" they turned around and around until I threatened them.And then they did this. I don't know what they are doing and I won't pretend to. But I do remember seeing it before. Last August. At least they are consistent. Notice they aren't really touching.And both of them have this thing for walking in front of the camera while I try to take a picture of the other. Then they run over and say "Let me see the picture". I guess I should be happy they are interested in my photography.

She wanted to wear my red and black 'winner' jacket from the rally. I said no, that's not an official egg hunting outfit and so she complained about how nice it was and that it should be and still I said NO and then she put on a scarf. She also checked the dog poop bucket for Easter treats.

This 'basket' was made before Emily was born. We made one for her too, but we didn't know if she was a boy or a girl, so it's more neutral than Shaun's basket. They are getting kind of ratty, but they still use them.

Maybe when the basket kicks the bucket, the bunny will stop visiting.