Media Monday - Social Networking Instagram Style

I'm in Chicago this week...one of my favorite cities even though I won't be seeing much of it this trip.

I'm doing some work for the U.S. Dept. of Ed, and they like to work our arses off when they get us together :/ 

Oy.

Anyhoo, a paper grading marathon kept me from posting much last week, so hopefully the time here will remedy that...I enjoy visiting and traveling, but if I'm not busy, I miss home.  A lot.  

I was fondly strolling through my Instagram pictures last night before I went to bed, and here are a few that made me feel all warm and cozy:  

The best alarm clock evah...The German Shepherd who would not be snoozed! :)  My morning routine is so full of these two that this picture makes me miss home for sure.

My little office friend who greets me each workday with promises of a good day, starting with a cup of steaming hot coffee...and a variety of flavor choices :) 

This beauty also provides me with a cup of mint tea when I finally finish classes each day...schedules this semester are intense, to say the least.

We have a Nutella war going on at our house...this particular night, Layla decided to get in on the action.  After I snapped this silly picture, my middle daughter reminded me that chocolate and hazlenuts (2 main ingredients in Nutella) were not exactly "user friendly" for dogs.   We spent the rest of the night on Google, trying to decide what to do next.  Thankfully, GSDs are very large dogs, and it would take a LOT of Nutella to hurt her :) Not to mention her very large "snoot," as we call it, that barely fits into the lid of the small container. 

Hello, Halloween...I love you...I really do.  I'm not all into the scary stuff...the world is scary enough as it is.  But, bring on the cool Fall days, the traditional Halloween fare, pumpkins, witches ghosts, goblins, black cats, the county fair here, trick or treating, etc. and I'm your gal.

Mums mark the beginning of what I call "Thanksgiving season."  Thanksgiving is HUGE to me...HUGE! 

I. love. it.

Do you use Instagram???  

I already follow a few of my book blogger friends there, but would love to follow more!! :) 

Fun times, these :):)

Thomas O'Malley Update :)

Remember this little fella?

Well, he's doing just fine :)

Thomas O'Malley joined our family on Memorial Day this year :)

He spends his days and nights roaming around with his squeaky little meow, his sleepy face, playing with Uh-Oh and Beneigt when they actually notice him, and slapping Layla or Hermione's tails as they walk by.

The Head of My Household makes fun of me for having 5 animals.  But, they make me happy...



How could this little face not make you happy?

TGIF

Nuff said...

;)

Football Season - Warning, Snarky Post ahead.

Today's pic is of my middle child.  Football is king in the South, the home of the every powerful Southeastern Conference :p Whatever, right?

I was a football wife for 15 years; the night my husband walked off that field for the last time was such a relief to me.  You see, I'm one of those people who HATES politics and grown people who act like spoiled brat children. There's a lot of politics in everything, yes, I know that too...but there's a buttload of it in football.

I still attend our high school football games but I very seldom watch the games...I'm too busy watching my babies...whether it's band, dance team, or cheerleading, my girls have done everything but kick a field goal...hey, wait, that's not a bad idea ;)

Not really.

This is the middle child's senior year and she is participating on the brand new dance team for her high school.  And guess what, politics has already reared its ugly head and soured the experience for the team. 

Can I ask you a question?

Why do parents have to act like children?

Why do some children act better than their parents?

Anybody else think kids would have better experiences if parents stayed the you know what out of things??

Whoops...that was 3 questions.

We could fight back.

We could raise a stink.

We could have words with the ugly people.

But, we are not.

You know why?

Because even though this post is snarky, I don't live my life that way.

I'm teaching my daughters that women especially would be so much better off if we would all work together instead of trying to tear each other down.  Where does that get us??  Women are so busy trying to keep the other woman down that the men slip right on by somehow and keep progressing in the spaces where a woman might have actually done a better job.

I'm not against men...don't get me wrong.  I happen to be deeply in love with the one I have at my house...

But, geez, ladies, step up and grow up, roll with the punches...or get the hell out of the rest of our way.

Thank you kindly.

:)

Keeping my head above the water...

I'm holding my own out in the world...but missing this community of bloggers that I've grown to know and love as friends.  

I began blogging as a way to stay sane in this chaotic world we live in...where things don't make any sense on a regular basis.

So, I'm gonna be here everyday from now on...even if it means I'm just posting a snapshot of what's going on in my life right now.  A friend and colleague of mine did this for a year...I'm not making any time commitments bc just as soon as I do, I'll break them.

For today I'll share this shot of Layla who's almost 6 months old, and our youngest who's 7, swimming in our pool.  

It's still warm enough in Mississippi to swim and will be probably through October...simple pleasures, my friends...they're what get me through...

:)

Wordless (Almost) Wednesday which is really Thursday :)

My youngest was so proud of her big sister on graduation day that she couldn't stop kissing her :)  This is not a phenomenon that happens on a daily, monthly or even yearly basis at our house, hence the specialness of the situation.

Can you tell by the look on my firstborn's face that she's had enough "sugar" from baby sister?

:)

Saturday Snapshot - Marching on...

Satuday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books. 

Graduation accomplished...let the next step begin!!

My firstborn is the next to last person on the right of the standing row...her new soccer coach is the redhead standing beside her :)

I took these photos on Soccer Media Day...the group of signees this year are a smart, independent, hard working group of gals...but I'm not biased at all ;)

The beautiful young woman sitting in front of my firstborn is her new roommate beginning in August.  They've played soccer together since the 2nd grade but graduated from different high schools.

While change and endings are difficult, new beginnings and possibilities are exciting!!

Have a great weekend!

Saturday Snapshot - That's What Little Girls are Made Of

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce over @ At Home with Books

This past week immediately following the game during which this snapshot was taken (by me), my firstborn officially committed to play soccer in college next year.

It was a tough decision with several offers to consider...We are proud of her final choice, and I personally am relieved that she'll still be close enough for me to continue getting pictures like this to add to my collection :)

Whoever made up all that Sugar and Spice nonsense obviously didn't know my kid (the one in the white jersey)

She's a little like her mama :)

Wordless (Almost) Wednesday - Senior Night

My middle child took this of me and my firstborn during the Senior/Parents ceremonies between games.

It is official.

My firstborn child is getting ready to leave my nest :(

Saturday Snapshot - New Mommy and Baby

My brother is 11 years younger than I am, so we have always been a generation apart as we pass through life stages.

My oldest child will graduate from high school this year, and his firstborn is a newborn.

I have never ever in my life wished to return to some previous stage in my life.

I really cannot even explain it.  I just enjoy all the grown-up roles I get to play ever year that I get older :)

This past weekend I got to play the role of older, more experienced mom.

I got to hold, sing, bounce and take care of the little high maintenence bundle while his mommy got some much needed sleep.

When the snapshot above was taken (by me) she had just come downstairs from several straight hours of sleep.  She had color in her cheeks and love in her eyes again.

I remember vividly those days.

I remember wondering how I might take my next step...much less ever live normal life again :)

I couldn't help thinking last weekend as I just finished reading Little Women that in past generations this is why the women of the family surrounded the new mother and helped take care of the baby around the clock.  Even in the infancy of medicine, women knew that a new mother must be allowed to rest and heal if she was to be able to take care of her child.

Interesting that we think we know so much today...but maybe, just maybe they knew more then.

Imagine that ;)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books

Wordless Wednesday

Do you think Uh-Oh is trying to tell me something??

Wordless Wednesday - Squeakers the Academic Squirrel

Yes, I have a squirrel in my house...orphaned baby and all that.

No, he did not chew my copy of Garland of Girls.

His little squirreley butt would no longer  be in my house if he had.

His favorite place to perch is on top of my copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

No, this post is not wordless as it should be ;)

I told you I would have a difficult time being wordless.

Photoshop Elements 7 for Dummy Beginners

As I've mentioned before, I've been taking pictures of all kinds for as long as I can remember.

My mom gave me my first "big time" film camera, the Canon Rebel, one Christmas many moons ago, replaced it with the digital version a few Christmases later and then upgraded me to a Canon Rebel XTi, Christmas 2007.

Thanks, Mom!

Um, Mom, the next Canon Rebel upgrade is called the T2i
:):)

I'm a hands on learner.  I learn best by trial and error.  Sometimes error after error after error :)

My photography has certainly progressed during the time that I've been actually taking pictures and publishing them in family books each year.  I can look back to the first family book I produced and almost cringe at some of the things I would do differently today that I simply didn't know then. 
Sounds like life, doesn't it?

I've never been a Photoshopper for a very simple reason.

I believe that a great photo starts out with a great photo. Period.

Somewhere along the line I picked up that mantra and have been preaching it ever since.

I also know some folks who photoshop the mess out of their photos...changing colors...painting on different backgrounds, etc....so much that you can tell the photo is photoshopped. Bleh!

Photoshop is like make-up to me.

What's underneath is the most impotant thing.

Photoshop should be used to enhance photos...not change them.

When I started blogging in January, I was introduced to some photo bloggers who do just that.

I'm blown away with PW's actions that turn great photos into pieces of art.  The ethereal feel of Country Girl's photos and the way her actions make me want to reach out and touch her Border Collie George are what made me go back and think about Photoshop again.

The final kicker for me was in January when my oldest was in the Junior Miss scholarship program.

I took an incredible picture of my firstborn on stage.

Problem was there was another pesky child standing in the background.  How dare she???

My friend Rebecca who runs our journalism program at school took the picture and completely removed the extraneous teenager from the photo.  Holy Smokes!!!!!!!

Since then I've been on a search...books, websites, blogs, anything and everything about Photoshop Elements.  I've skimmed etc. looking for that magic potion that would help me figure all this out.

This is a friend of mine's child, Sophie.

Don't you just love the name??

I took this picture at the dance recital a week or so ago.

I think it's a pretty good picture; you have to know this child...she is very serious.

How bout those curls??

They're natural.

:)

Notice also the pesky little precious darling in the background.

She's someone's baby, I know, but I'd rather this be a picture of Sophie.

Here's what I was able to do with Photoshop:

No more pesky random kid!

Yay, me!!

Sophie's mom happens to be one of my firstborn's favorite teachers, so I showed this picture to my firstborn.

She said, "Mom, it's on a black background; how easy was that?"

Well, excuse me!!

I'm still proud!!

Here's another cute shot of Sophie with yet another extraneous on stage kid.

I used the Clone Stamp tool in Photoshop Elements 7.

And...

Wallah!!

Little Sophie in all her glory!

With the Clone Stamp tool, you are really "cloning" an area to copy and then "stamping" that area over the part of the photograph that you want gone...kinda like painting the kid (or whatever) out.  Obviously, as my firstborn was quick to point out, this task is easier when there's a simple background and would be much more tedious in a busier background.

I'm in no way ready to teach anyone else how to do this, but I will say that there are some fabulous tutorials on YouTube of all places.  I found these tutorials to be much more beginner friendly than any other resource that I could find.

I have tons of pictures to play with now that I've learned how to do this one thing with Photoshop Elements 7!

Next I want to learn how to change backgrounds and apply all those nifty actions the blogger professionals show off all the time.

Happiness

As I've mentioned before, I absolutely love it when PW hosts a photography assignment.

I've been taking pictures of things for as long as I can remember...but I am not a professional.

I enjoy the warmth and emotion and especially the memories elicited by my photos...that's about it.

PW's current assignment is "Happiness."

Yep, right up my touchy feely, smushy, mushy, try to act all tough but really am a pushover when it comes to certain things alley.

I browsed through the photos on my laptop to see which ones stood out to me as "Happiness" and here are a few:

First day of school for both ...Kindergarten for the little one and 11th grade for her big sister.

My "Wild Redneck Woman Child" riding her Dora Big Wheel around our cement pond...sunglasses, fishing pole and all :)

This picure was taken on one of the first sunny days in the Spring...it was probably only 60 degrees outside!

My little tiger...

This was her hand-me-down Halloween costume when she was two and had absolutely no hair...She wore this costume year round for almost 3 years and even slept in it!  My youngest has just recently grown too much to get her tiger costume off her head.  We hung it in her closet for safekeepng; I will never be able to give this costume away.

Sisters.

The youngest's birthday...surely I don't have to explain this one.

My firstborn and her first love.

1st Day of School again...my middle child and youngest.

Winter Snow 2010

My middle child and her famous dimples.

 

Mississippi kid with mismatched socks for gloves riding a Mississippi sled, a.k.a. a garbage can top.

Destin...nuff said.

 

Children = Joy

Here I go!!  Mommy, are you watching?!

My middle child and her aunt walking the dogs.

Easter 2010, annual picture gone awry.

Wonderful memories.

Easter 2010  - deliriousness sets in.

My girls, my heart, my life.

The things that I've noticed about all of the absolutely stunning photos that have been submitted so far on PW's site are the genuine features on the subjects' faces.  I LIVE for that kind of picture.  A photo that captures "happiness" is truly a "capture," one that can not be posed, and one that brings about a warm feeling from the viewer, whether or not he/she actually took the picture.

Of course if the viewer did take the picture, then watch out...because pictures that evoke happiness are sure to bring about even stronger emotions for the person who actually lived those priceless moments in time.

I've scrolled down the ones I used in this post several times; I don't want to stop looking at them :)

Landscapes

PW is having a Landscape Photo Contest over on her blog.

I love to participate in her photo contests...if for no other reason than to see all of the submissions from around the country from real people just like moi :)

The last photo contest was "macro"
I know nothing about macro so I just enjoyed everyone else's work.
Another thing I don't know anything about is Photoshop.
I'm a SOOTC kind of gal (I learned just recently that means straight out of the camera) ;)

The only thing I have experimented with is saturation.
I like the way it makes the photos "pop."

 These are the pictures I'm submitting for PW's Landscape Photo Contest:

I took these photos in New Mexico last Spring Break.

I LOVE New Mexico.

How much I love New Mexico probably has something to do with the fact that the Head of My Household and I went there on a skiing trip during Spring Break last year.

Just the two of us.

Our kids were MAD!!!

The Head of My Household tricked me into riding on this thing.

I had to talk myself out of having a panic attack the entire ride.

I'm not afraid of heights.

It was the fact that the little carrier thingie swung around as it made its way up and down the mountain.

There were also these little kids who kept jumping around!!

Hooligans!

I so enjoyed the rugged natural enviornment in New Mexico.

The artistic culture is everywhere and took my breath away at everything from landscaping, architecture, folkart, and even our hotel bungalow.

This is the house we bought while we were there.

We plan to retire here.

Ha!! Yeah, right!!!!

In my dreams ;)

The Big Apple

I am here:

After a grueling day of travel that began at 2 a.m....and I do mean grueling...we arrived in NYCity by about 11 a.m.

The reason we left at such an ungodly hour was to be able to have an extra day in the city by getting started on the same day we arrived.

Do you think it worked out that way??

Of course not!

It seems as if some silly underground electrical something or another had caught on fire in one of the hotels not far from ours.

These poor folks had to be evacuated from their hotel...

Guess where they were evacuated to???

You guessed it!!!

OUR HOTEL!

Which, of course, meant that our rooms were not ready...

Please imagine standing on the sidewalk in the middle of Times Square with your suitcases.

You can't check in...there's not even enough places to sit down.

You're starving to death because you started this trip at 2 a.m.

You rode for 2 1/2 hours on a chartered bus to the nearest airport bc you live in such a small town that there are no airports any closer than that.

Please also imagine that your bus driver is 87.

I don't mean his ID number was 87 either.

Mr. 87 had trouble staying on the road all the way to the airport.

So much trouble, in fact, that other cars kept honking at him to wake him up and warn him that he was about to run over them.

Close your eyes and imagine as vividly as possible that your group consists of approximately 125 human beings (no animals on this trip)... including a majority of teenagers (ok, maybe a few animals)...

Which means that checking in baggage, retrieving boarding passes and security lines were absolutely ridiculous.

Which means that you had to run to get on your plane before they closed the doors!

Which means that you did not have time to stop and eat breakfast in the airport nor go to the bathroom nor, most importantly, have that first cup of coffee!

You've already experienced all of this by the time you arrive in NYCity only to find out that your rooms are not ready.

And, that they won't be ready at least for another several hours.

Oy!

Please imagine that on top of everything else you've experienced today, that NY City is HOT!

Could have even been 90 degrees in the direct sunshine...which you were standing in at high noon with your suitcases because you arrived early to get an extra day.

Now, I feel the need to tell you that this is not my 1st trip to NY. 

I heart NY.

But, Lord have mercy on my soul if today was not a direct challenge to my love for NY.

It seemed as if every tourist in America got together and decided that today of all days would be the very best day to visit Times Square.

And, on a WEDNESDAY!

They were EVERYWHERE!

(Notice how I'm pretending I'm not a tourist)

It's my firstborn and middle daughters' first trip to NY and I really want it to be special.

It seemed as if all day long though, the forces of the universe were working against me.

After some much needed rest, we do have a great trip planned.

My mom, my firstborn and middle daughters and I are seeing "In the Heights," "Wicked," "Phantom of the Opera" and "West Side Story" while we are here.

Here's hoping that Scarlett was right...and that "tomorrow is another day"...

Even in NY City.

Easter Sunday

Every Easter Sunday I have the responsibility of taking "family" photos.

It is really the only Sunday of the year that we are all dressed and ready at the same time.

I love this, as you can imagine, but it ain't always easy. 

I took 179 photos this morning.

Everybody was on their best behavior for the first few photos:

My firstborn and my mom.

My youngest.

My brother and his wife.

See, very nice calm photos...

It's wasn't long though before this kind of behavior began to rear its ugly head:

Yes, my brother is eating the limb of the Dogwood Tree under which he and his lovely wife are standing.

There's always an instigator...but once the laughter begins,

it's quite the challenge to snap a controlled photo of any kind.

My youngest tried to gain control of the situation...

Even my brother's sweet wife tried to help.

This is her dog Nook.

After we dismissed the extended family, I took my children to the backyard...

You can never tell what will happen when all three of my daughters are in the same picture.

Things were looking good at first:

My firstborn.

The youngest.

My middle child.

And, then this shot...which may be one of my favorites in a long time.

Notice the middle child sending the youngest the silly signals...even my firstborn knows what's inevitable now...

My middle child knows that if she can ever get the youngest off track...chaos will ensue.

I also accidently encouraged chaos by suggesting they pretend they could see squirrels in the woods facing them...

My youngest is a squirrel fan.

All semblance of calm was lost forever.

They were delirious!

Sisters :):)

Happy Easter!