Day 102

Mom got her promised delivery today! For some of you it may not be that exciting, but some will understand how wonderful this bargain is! Mom has been looking for a small, round, sturdy table for her little dining area for almost a year. This week she found the very table and chair (and 2 leaves) at her favorite second-hand furniture store. Not only did she find just what she needed, but she found it for a price that made her ask, "What's wrong with it?" The answer was that they had gotten it at a great price, so they passed the deal on. So here's Mom's long-awaited, perfect dining set!

She also got another really wonderful thing today...
 

And here's a view of this treasure with the lid open...

Caleb will be so thrilled with this trunk! He loves to play with all these toys, and he also likes to put them away. I predict that he will pull them out and put them back just to enjoy the wonderful toy trunk!

Day 101

Well, this wasn't much of a photo day. I kept meaning to get downstairs and practice with my lights, but it just kept not happening. I did take a shot or two (15) of my female cat. She seems to believe that she is in charge around here. We often have disagreements about that, but I think we've decided now to agree to disagree. She did allow me to get a picture of her though - I'm assuming it's so she can have a portrait hung on the wall in true royal fashion.

Queen Cheerio...

(focus was on her nose - not her eyes. ergh. do you think she'll notice?)

Day 100

I've made it 100 days!! (Well, I've had a couple misses, but I made them up right away.) These 100 days have gone so quickly!

My mom and I had a full day today! We went to lunch, went into a couple shops, went to "town" (Kmart - whoohoo!), stopped in Mom's favorite second-hand furniture store...whew! We also took my little lady to therapies in there somewhere. While we were at Kmart Mom found some adorable little girl boots on sale...

Mom loved them, so Kristi got them. :-) (yes, these are backwards because she was dancing for me in my studio)

Caleb actually needed new shoes, so his loving Grandma bought him some new ones too...

When we got home Kristi was talking to her Daddy about her new Chap Stick...I said, "Chap Stick? Where did she get Chap Stick?" Kristi's sweet answer, "Kmart." That makes sense...but Grandma didn't buy her Chap Stick, and Mom didn't have any money...so...hmmm...that sounds a lot like stealing to me. Argh.

Maybe on Thursday I'll get to show you what Mom found at her favorite second-hand furniture store. It was such a great deal!! (But it won't be in its new home until Thursday.)

Day 99

I'm having camera troubles today! The 20d is still not working right, although it's better after taking Eric's suggestion to clean around the shutter button. The Rebel XT's battery is dead, and I don't know where the charger is right off hand. Oops. So today you get photos I took a couple weeks ago, and edited today.

This was from a trip to the grocery store - if we can't have fresh, pretty, bright colors outside, at least we can find them in the store.

This one was taken near my in-laws house. These are the Bitterroot Mountains. I live in such a pretty place!

Day 98

What a Super Bowl!! The last few minutes of the game were exciting - even to a non-football fan! Our family enjoyed the game at the church Super Bowl party. We had a lot of good food...

(My stuffed wheat bread)

(Brandi's fabulous, best ever, have everything, softer than anything cookies)

And when I wasn't chatting or watching the game, I was making goofy faces at this precious little man. This is just a snapshot, and a blurry one at that, but I love his expression!

(This little man showed up in one of my blogs a couple months ago as a newborn. He's a chunk of cuddly baby now!)

On to sad, frustrating, irritating news... My 20d is having problems. It won't shoot when I press the shutter button. Well, it will, but not immediately, and not every time. This showed up a few days ago, but I thought it was the non-Canon battery. I put the Canon battery in, and it seemed better, but then it got progressively worse. Am I going to have to send it in to Canon? Or is there some magic pill I don't know about? Anyway, I have rediscovered how bad the focus problems were with the XT. Out of the 67 shots I took today, there were only a handful that were even worth keeping because of the focus problems. At least now I know for sure that it was always the camera, and not just me.

Thanks for following my rambles... After all that fun and frivolity, I'm ready for bed!

Late addition:

WHOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! We didn't check our mail yesterday, so Ken picked it up this evening. In the mail there was a letter from the hospital that did my ERCP's saying they'd reviewed our application for assistance, and had adjusted my bill by the whole amount!! We don't owe that hospital ANYTHING!!! WHOOHOOOOOO!!! Thank you, Lord!!

Day 97

I finally got downstairs to practice a different setup with my lights. This time I had my key light up high, above my head at 12 o'clock to my subject, and my fill light down low (as low as the tripod would go) at about 1 o'clock. The fill (it's a flash) was set at 1/16th because it got rid of all shadows if it was on full power.

All poses were Caleb's choice. I did ask him to do a few things, but he had his own agenda, so here he is. (I was going to use a different kid, but they were all busy outside.)

I took a few other photos today too, so you get a few extras. We had some serious wind all night last night, and my mom's house suffered some damage...you didn't really need those shingles, did you, Mom?

Shingles blew across the yard and even down the street. I think the neighbor is lucky that this shed thing didn't come down!

And then a shot of my mom's prized possession...

In case you can't figure it out, it's supposed to be a flamingo that splatted on a windshield. Mom has him prominently displayed on her front door. It's very easy to find her house.   

Day 96

I didn't take many shots today...but when I was trying for more natural light shots my little man kept telling me no more. But I'm persistent. I took several shots of him while he was watching Dora the Explorer. I really need to get back downstairs in my studio - I have some things I want to try with my lights, but I just haven't gotten down there to do it. I haven't gotten on my treadmill either. Ergh. Well, anyway...here's Caleb again.