Week 2, Day 6

Taken Friday, these are some hosta leaves from out front. Again, the first shot is with our standard settings - and the auto focus sucks! I thought DH had turned it off, but apparently not. I'll have to look into that. The other two are with the macro setting. A little too blurry, unfortunately. If you look carefully on the bottom one, you can see that it was starting to rain - there are small droplets of water on the leaf!

Week 2, Day 5

FINALLY! It took me all afternoon to upload these for some strange reason! These are flowers (what I cannot remember) from our front flower garden - next to our porch. The top one is a shot with our standard camera settings. I believe both of the others were using the macro setting.

Week 2, Day 4

I attempted to use Natalie's feet for Wednesday's pics. This is the only shot that wasn't blurry! And, I think this was just the normal setting. Like I said before, I suck at this! LOL

Week 2, Day 3

Tuesday's subject was a flowery pen. The first shot is another standard shot, and the second is the macro setting (again, I think). This actually turned out OK, too.

Week 2, Day 2

These were taken Monday. The subject is one of our hydrangeas. Abby brought it in a few days before, and I decided that would be perfect. The first is just a standard shot, and the second I think is the macro setting. That turned out MUCH better than Sunday's pics. I've looked at my others, and it might be the best of my macro shots. You can judge in a bit, once I get everything uploaded.

Week 2, Day 1

This is from the first day of the second week, during which our focus was on depth of field. I'm not sure I really get what I'm doing, but it was fun trying new things. Unfortunately, the pics from last Sunday look horrible, at least in my opinion. I can't remember what setting was used for each, but I do know that I started with a normal setting, then tried the digital macro setting. Without further ado, here they are.

Sunday's subject was a feather on top of a pen.




I think the first two were using our normal setting, and the last was the macro setting. But, I'm not 100% sure. I'm not happy with how blurry it is. Unfortunately, I seem to SUCK with using the macro setting!

This week's pictures

Remember, the goal was just to work on a watermark. So, I just took pics of my kids - always attractive and VERY willing subjects - and added the watermark. So, they are below, in chronological order.


I couldn't decide on one from June 11, so I picked two. Natalie (above) and Grant (below) both hammed it up for the camera!


Here are all three of my sweeties! That's as close to all three smiling as I could get! LOL It was taken June 12.

Here is my sweet, sleepy princess, Abby - in her nightgown with her wand! I think that's a gorgeous smile! Taken June 13.

And taken this afternoon (June 14), Abby shows off part of her snack. She looks silly, so I decided it would be fun to share!

Males! Need I say more?

That sums it up perfectly! Doesn't matter what the penis is attached to. To hell with it! Anything - man, child, cat, dog, etc. - with a penis is on my shit list today! (Good thing my dentist is a woman, as I have an appointment today.)

I should've known that it wouldn't be a good morning - I got to sleep in after all! Can't have my cake and eat it, too, you know! Anyway, Grant got up shortly after 7 - it's a MIRACLE! LMAO

After DH left for work, I noticed he neglected to take the trash out - something he had promised to do LAST NIGHT. Am I surprised? Not really. While everyone else in the world seems to think he's wonderful, reliable, dependable, etc., I know better. He's rarely been any of those for me. Well, I take that back - he's good at being wonderful, if you ignore the fact that I can't depend on him for much of anything. He's NOT a man of his word - at least, not for me. I'm willing to bet that at work and elsewhere he is, but not here. Don't get me started. I'll save all of that for another time. Let's just say the trash STINKS to high heaven, and it irks me to no end that he neglected to take it out - especially when I see that he added some old food from our fridge to the mess! OK, onto the rest of my morning ...

Natalie woke about when I fed Grant, so I loaded him up with cereal, fruit, and milk and let him watch TV while eating so I could get - and nurse Natalie. And what do I come back downstairs to about 20 minutes later? Kix ALL OVER THE FLOOR. He must've dumped at least half of what I gave him over the side of his tray! This is NOT the first time this has happened, nor (I am sure) will it be the last. Thank God for the Dust Buster!

Shortly after that, I get Grant down, hands washed, etc. And I go to let the dog in. I call for him. Whistle, etc. Nothing. I step farther outside and see him two yards over! So, I slip on my flip-flops, grab the leash, and head outside. And the dog is so excited to see his leash he comes no problem! LOL Stupid dog! I bring him inside, swearing to kill his sorry ass, only to find my sweet son has made his way upstairs into my bedroom. He LOVES to play with DH's alarm-clock radio! So, I get him back downstairs (crying all the way) and finally get him dressed. Kid pooped and - of course - wants to grab himself. Throws a fit because I won't let him. YOU HAVE SHIT ON YOUR BUTT, BOY! Oh, and he gets one of his feet in it. Thanks, kid! Thankfully, it was a tiny amount, and easily cleaned up. But, now he's whining for his boo-boo (more commonly known as a pacifier).

Oh, and our two cats are male - one pukes so much it's amazing he isn't emaciated and half dead! The other whines and complains constantly, despite having a bowl full of food and fresh water. Ingrate!

This just in: DH is going to have to work late AGAIN tonight. Damn flooding in Iowa! This is the third night in a row. *sigh*

Add to all of that, it's humid as heck here. So humid, I can feel my asthma acting up, and you probably could cut the air with a knife and take a bite out of it. So, I've closed all of the windows and cranked up the a/c. I don't DO humidity.

I don't particularly like how this post came out. I thought about it for a while before having an opportunity to sit and write it out. And, of course, it went much better as I rehearsed it in my head. It was much more witty and entertaining. But, of course, duty kept me from writing it out until now.

Tweaked the Watermark

I decided that I wanted the year in my Watermark, too. So, here's the same photo with the new watermark.

First Post

Our first assignment is to make our watermark for our pics. So, here is mine:

Oh, come on!

Oh for fuck's sake! Also from the Chicago Tribune:

Hillary Clinton's campaign is denying a report that the senator from New York is ready to concede the presidential nomination to Barack Obama tonight.

Clinton will concede that Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has the delegates needed to secure the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination, two campaign officials are telling the Associated Press anonymously.

The Clinton campaign, publicly, is denying the report.

"The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City'' tonight, the AP's Beth Fouhy reports. "She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, two senior officials said, the campaign is over.''

Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, according to the officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The Clinton campaign is disputing the report about her intentions.

Terry McAuliffe, the Clinton campaign chairman, interviewed on CNN today, called the report "100 percent incorrect.''

But he did say publicly on NBC's Today show this morning that once Obama has the number of delegates needed for the nomination Clinton will indeed congratulate him and "call him the nominee.''

So perhaps the operative term here is tonight -- or manana?

Seriously? GIVE IT UP, GIRL! This is ridiculous. As much as I fear what Obama winning could mean for Illinois, I would rather have that happen then see Billary back in the White House! I mean, talk about a dynasty! Here people (mostly Dems) have bitched and moaned about the Bush Dynasty - at least GW was never in the White House before being elected! How exactly would it work to have a FORMER PRESIDENT as the first man? (Can't call Bill a gentleman, can I?) As if he could be there and not have any sway on his wife's decision. I'm not an idiot - hopefully most Americans aren't, either!

It's about damn time!

From the Chicago Tribune:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York will concede tonight that Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has the delegates needed to secure the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential nomination, campaign officials are telling the Associated Press.

"The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City'' tonight, the AP's Beth Fouhy reports. "She will pledge to continue to speak out on issues like health care. But for all intents and purposes, two senior officials said, the campaign is over.''

Most campaign staff will be let go and will be paid through June 15, according to the officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Terry McAuliffe, the campaign chairman, interviewed on CNN today, called the report "100 percent incorrect.'' But he did say publicly on NBC's Today show this morning that once Obama has the number of delegates needed for the nomination Clinton will indeed congratulate him and "call him the nominee.''

And people made fun of Huckabee! LMAO

As much as I hate Hillary, this is a scary, scary thing for Illinois. If Obama wins, we will need to replace a Senator. And, according to the state's constitution, there is no election. Our governor gets to pick - and there's no stipulations (from what I've read) about WHO he can choose. Rod Blagojevich is a complete ass and should so NOT be in office. It scares me to think who he might appoint.

"D"H Strikes Again

Asshat. That's all I have to say. Well, no, really it's not. Where to start ...

Our son is an EARLY riser - most days is awake by 6:30. It doesn't matter what time he goes to bed. He's up EARLY. Occasionally - and this is EXTREMELY RARE - he will sleep to 7 or so. Fortunately, today was one of those rare days - both he and DD#1 woke around 7:30. On a typical day, that is HEAVEN. And it was nice today. But, I am the one getting up with DS 99% of the time. DH usually sleeps for another hour or so - EVERY SINGLE DAY, well, every week day at least PLUS at least one of the days over the weekend. So, needless to say, I'm a bit more tired than he is most of the time. He "let" me sleep in yesterday - only after I asked if he'd please get up with DS and let me sleep. DD#2, however, was up around 8. Figures. Not that 8 is bad, of course, but I was hoping it would be one of her 8:30-9 days.

This morning, as I mentioned, the older two got up around 7:30. Very nice, and I'm not complaining. DH, of course, made no move to get up. So, out of a feeling of fairness, I got up, despite being so tired I could barely muster the effort to do so. He finally saunters downstairs after #3 gets up - after 8:30. I nurse DD2 and then bring her downstairs. I told him what solids to give her for breakfast, and brought down a change of clothes for DS, who was still in his PJs. I start heading back upstairs when DH asks where I'm going. I told him back to sleep, which he says "oh, no you're not!" WTF? I could take a nap instead. OK - notice the time I'm posting this. Shortly after 2:30 in the afternoon - nap time. No, he's not sleeping. He's outside crossing one more thing off his self-written (and not at all shared with me) to-do list. SOB. So friggin' selfish - JUST LIKE HIS MOTHER. Thanks, you jackass! Anyway, I don't know why, but I listened - maybe because as a Christian I've been taught to submit. (No, he doesn't generally boss me around like that.) Or maybe it was the Holy Spirit within me or something. All I know is I'm DEAD TIRED and not really wanting to nap on the couch. So, here I sit. Knowing that the moment I lie down, one of the kids will be up and since DH is outside, I have to deal with it. (I would drop off the baby monitors outside, but he acts like I'm asking him to emasculate himself when I suggest he take sole responsibility for all three kids. SOB.)

Subscribe!

Thanks to Kelly, I now have e-mail subscriptions available. So, if you want to receive an e-mail when there's new stuff to read, sign up! :-)

(Thanks, Kelly, for posting it on your blog so I could find it! LOL Love ya!)

Life sucks sometimes

I just posted a huge long post about my childhood over on Vox. So, if you're on Vox and you have access, check it out. If not, I guess you're just SOL!

And now I've forgotten what I wanted to say here. Darn kids! ;-)

Oh, yeah. The title. For once I'm glad I have to make a title! LMAO

DH is a prick. A fucking prick. At times like these, I hate him. I know, awful - and probably indicative of how immature I am. But, hey, too damn bad. That said, he's just a know-it-all prick.

We have a Roomba (love that thing) - well, two, actually. The first one never charged properly, and we thought we got a dud. I sometimes wondered if the outlet it was plugged into had something to do with it. Sometime later, we acquired our newest Roomba. We had it plugged in elsewhere and it worked great. Recently, we plugged it into the outlet we had the first one plugged into. And now, the battery won't hold a charge - same problem as the first one. I suggested to DH that the outlet might have something to do with it, and he IMMEDIATELY shoots me down. He says no, the battery's just spent. They have a limited number of charge cycles, etc. Blah, blah, blah. OK, I don't deny that could be part of it, but what about the outlet? TWO Roombas met an untimely death after being plugged into that same outlet. Sure, we have had this Roomba for a couple of years now, but it just seems too coincidental, kwim? If this happened while it was plugged into any other outlet, I'd take what DH's explanation is and agree 100%. But, I see a pattern. Sure, we've only had two Roombas, but both were plugged into that outlet. Now, the first one we never plugged in anywhere else, so it is possible that it was a dud. But, you still can't deny the similarities here. This whole thing resulted in a HUGE fight. Funny, huh?

No, it's NOT about a stupid vacuuming robot. Not at all. It's about him ALWAYS dismissing my opinions. He does this more often than not. Won't even consider my thoughts on stuff like that. Apparently he knows EVERYTHING and I'm just a stupid idiot who knows nothing. Stupid jackass! So, I'm mad - well, mad because I'm hurt. He won't even consider my thoughts b/c I haven't tested 50 Roombas to see if it really is a pattern or whatever. Stupid fucking prick. Jackass jerk. And, of course, when I try to talk to him about this, he focuses on the Roomba, not what I'm trying to explain to him. I'm trying to tell him it's not about the Roomba. It's about him making me feel like my opinions and ideas about things are nothing worth considering - like he thinks I'm stupid or something. While it's not meant to be, it's VERY hurtful. (And, yes, I'm like an injured animal - I say all sorts of things, hence what you're reading here. Better here than hurling shit at him, right?)

Still here

I have been away just b/c I'm so dang busy. I know - I do it to myself. I'm an owner of a Web site, and a co-admin on another. Then I joined yet ANOTHER board (as if I needed it) recently and have been spending a ton of time there, too. I'm considering leaving Mommy Zone, as it's really not the same since Kelly left. I can't decide, though. Most of my friends have met up elsewhere, but there are a couple of women I still like talking to. But, it reminds me of when Mommy-Talk was taken over by Gail, and I couldn't stay. I couldn't respect the leadership, and knew that meant I couldn't remain there, either. And I had CLOSER friends - women who I'd known since I was pg with Abby - that didn't follow me anywhere! :-( Makes me so sad. And some won't even return my e-mails! :-( Oh, well. I do think that I will have to leave MZ, but I'm going to wait. They're going to be changing the name/url, etc. So, that'll be the perfect opportunity.

Well, I need to get to bed, so I'm gonna go. I'll try to be back soon.

I hate titles

I've never been good at titles - or writing headlines, for that matter. (I've written countless headlines, despite my lack of skill!) Unless I'm setting out with something specific I want to say, the titles always stump me.

So, I haven't been feeling well. I was dead tired over the weekend, and Monday started getting a sore throat. Yesterday I had a headache (which is still here), chills, etc. Surprisingly, no fever - but I'm not complaining! ;-) DH came home early so I could get some extra rest, which I REALLY appreciate. I got a short nap in, and that made a huge difference. Now, I still have an icky throat, and I can feel something in my lungs. Fun, fun!

Me again

I hadn't intended to be away this long. Sorry. Although, I don't think anyone's even reading this so perhaps I'm only letting myself down! LOL Still, this can be therapeutic, so I really should do it more. Now to explain my absence.

It's been a helluva couple of weeks. This past week I've been spending most of my time (when the kids allow, of course) helping a dear friend of mine launch a new Web site. It's phpBB based like mine is, so I've done most of the modifications and stuff. That has been fun - I like doing stuff like that. (Yes, I know, I'm a nerd! LOL) I've even taken a bit of a hiatus from my own site in my efforts to help her get things up and running. I let my Staff know, as I felt they should be aware of my whereabouts. The good thing is I have good people on my site, and me being gone (or in much less than usual) for a while isn't going to cause it to fall apart. I tried to get on a minimum of once per day. I must've done pretty well, as no one seemed to notice my absence.

I have since been made one of four Admin on my friend's site. I haven't let anyone on my site know that yet. Do I have to? I don't think it's a conflict of interests. My site is for Christian women; the new site is for moms. We aren't what some would call "competitors" or anything. Plus, I'm one of FOUR Admin there, all of which can do techie stuff. I might say something at least to my staff. But, I don't want to cause any drama. I know one of my staff members is on the new site, and so far she hasn't said anything about it to me. (If anyone DOES read this and you happen to be on my site, please comment here to let me know your thoughts.)

Well, laundry beckons. So, I must go for now.

I'm still here

Sorry to be so quiet for so long. I haven't intended to be away. I was hoping I'd actually be able to write at least once per day. But, well, I got caught up. I've installed an arcade on my site, and it's taking up my time. No, I'm not spending all of my time playing the games! LOL (Although, I do have to test each one to make sure it works and then properly submits the score.) It's time-consuming to find the games then install them. After that, it's organization and actually activating them on the site. Finally, test. I have one - Marvin's Lucky 13 Solitaire (or something like that) - that works fine, until you go to submit the score. Then I get an error - GAAH! Can't a girl get a break? Then, I took a LOOOOONG time tracking down a couple of my favorites: Sandwich Stacker and Traffic Control. Neither was formatted for this particular arcade, but I was able to get someone to do SS for me. Now to just get TC converted. I wish I knew coding better! :-( I am proud of myself, though, for what I am able to do on my site. I'm learning a little bit of html and php coding. I would love to be able to create awesome Web pages and/or forums. Maybe someday I'll look into some courses on Web design or something.

Before I forget - check out my new Meez! :-)

Well, it's late - I'm off to bed. Hopefully I'll write tomorrow! ;-)

Phew!

I saw my allergist yesterday, and he said it doesn't sound like an allergy to food! :-) PHEW! I'm relieved - I don't want food allergies, thanks anyway! ;-) Since I'd posted that last bit, I thought I'd make sure to update.