Camera Tips

Hi, just your friendly neighborhood camera person, here to give you a few tips on using your camera for the Christmas season.



1. Unless you want transparent children, turn on as many lights as possible.

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2. Remember that the fancy camera that you paid an arm and a leg for has settings for low light situations.



He can move fast, but not THAT fast.

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3. Remember that fancy camera? And that fancy 50mm f1.7 lens you have? Use it.



Getting better.

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4. Don't use the on camera flash. Whatever you do. Do. Not. Use. The. On. Camera. Flash. Oh, and don't forget that you actually do have a nice flash that hooks onto the camera and blinds everyone in the room when you use it. I did.




See what happens when you use the on camera flash? Don't make the same mistakes as me.

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5. Don't take pictures like this of your 14 year old daughter. She will not thank you later.


She doesn't really look like that. Really. It was the camera's fault.

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6. Do take pictures of the lights on the tree. They are so pretty.

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7. If you are still having trouble with low light (because you forgot all the other things except you have now changed the lens to the 50mm f1.7), don't worry about underexposing a little. Dark is better than blurry.

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8. Or, you could try changing the ISO setting (this should not take clear until the end of decorating the Christmas tree to figure out, especially if you have taken a photography class, by the way).



That didn't work very well.

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9. Lastly, maybe you should check your white balance at the beginning of taking the pictures, and not at the end. When you are done. That way, all the pictures will not turn out with a yellowish tint. That isn't very easily fixable in Photoshop. Obviously, I have a lot to learn.

Week 9

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min.
Thursday: Run 30 min.
Friday: Swim 40 min.
Saturday: Brick--bike 55min./run 20min.
Sunday: Run 35 min.

I may have to find something else to occupy my time on Saturday (like Christmas shopping) because I don't like the brick. It is HARD! The first, and only, time I did it I forgot to take off my bike helmet so I went running down the road wearing the stupid thing. Dork.

Finished

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Shelves

A while back we started on some shelves for the girls' room. We got as far as cutting everything out and painting it, but we never could seem to get a good time to put them up. So the girls waited. And waited and waited and waited. And dreamed about what they would put on their shelves. And waited some more.

The other week we woke up late and missed church, so, since the two oldest girls were at the grandparent's house for the weekend, we thought it would be fun to surprise them with new shelves. Besides, it was cold outside.



Drilling holes makes it easier to screw everything together without breaking it.




Up on the wall...





Of course the shelves are not quite so empty now. Oldest daughter has one little corner, youngest daughter has her piggy bank up there (which disturbs her to no end, but I feel it is safer now), and middle daughter has dominated one entire shelf and part of the other with her Breyer horses and some gymnastics trophies.

Week 8

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 40 min.
Thursday: Run 20 min.
Friday: Swim 30 min.
Saturday: Brick-bike 45 min. run 15 min. (not gonna happen, middle daughter has a gymnastics meet)
Sunday:Run 30 min.

Week 7

This week:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min. (unless it is STORMY!!)
Thursday: Run 25 min.
Friday: Swim 40 min.
Saturday: Brick (45 min. bike, 15 min. run)
Sunday: Run 20 min.

Last weekend was another busy one so I didn't get to go for the bike ride Saturday. Instead I worked concessions at the OSU/UO football game and stood on my feet for five hours in the freezing cold. That has to count for something. On top of that, I was halfway to my pick up spot when I realized that I had forgotten my bag with my drivers license in it so I ran ALL the way back from the Willamette River bridge to Autzen Stadium, up the looooong flight of stairs, to the concession booth, and all the way back to my ride. In my boots. With my 5 layers of shirts and 2 layers of pants. I was hot.

Sunday it was TOO STORMY to even venture outside so we stayed in and put up shelves in the girls room. I have my limits as to what kind of weather I will go out and exercise in, and high winds and torrential rain is definitely over my limit.

Project Progress

Finally.

Last weekend when I went to the coast I took my quilts and my cross stitch project with me. My mom has a nice wood floor in her dining room that is the perfect size for laying out quilts. We moved the dining room table and chairs and I sewed up the quilt backs and laid everything out: back, batting, quilt top. Then I basted the layers together.

Here is what they looked like before.

This is what they look like now:





Yep. They look the same. They do take up a bit more room, unfortunately.

I also worked quite a bit on the cross stitch:

Before:


Now:


There has been NO progress on the horse quilt project--I am completely stumped. Stymied. Kerflumuxed. Baffled. How does one go about drawing a picture of a horse suitable for paper piecing when one can't even draw a horse UNsuitable for paper piecing? And furthermore, I can't seem to find a good picture to copy. There is something wrong with every one I look at.

Even with all of the work going on I still had a fabulous, relaxing time with my mom. We got our toes done and walked on the beach and ate caramel corn and watched movies and talked and laughed and ate and watched the crashing waves.

Week 6

Urg, I keep forgetting. This is just a little record for me so it doesn't matter too much, but I still keep forgetting.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min.
Thursday: Run 25 min.
Friday: Swim 30 min.
Saturday: Bike 1 hr.
Sunday: Run 25 min.

Last week there was no swimming the day after Thanksgiving--I guess I should have checked that the pool was going to be open before getting up at 4:40am and driving there. I couldn't bike Saturday since I was at the coast so I ran instead. UP UP UP those enormous hills and down to the beach for a while. I had to walk a little on the way there but I made it up the big hill on the way back. Yay me!

Week 5

Whoops, I forgot yesterday. No workout Sunday because I did the turkeys so I was going to go running on Monday instead. Uh, yeah. I was a little tired and decided that butchering turkeys was enough of a workout. I took a rest Monday. So there.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 30 min.
Wednesday: Bike 45 min.
Thursday: Run 25 min. (Before the Thanksgiving feast!!)
Friday: Swim 30 min.
Saturday: Bike 1 hour
Sunday: Run 20 min.

Turkey Day...again, or, Cathy is the nicest person in the world

Yesterday we butchered the turkeys. I don't think we could have picked a more miserable, cold, rainy day. Cathy came to help in spite of the cold weather. Thank you, thank you!

I was hoping that this years turkeys were not going to be quite so large as the ones last year--remember this one?



Well, it was delicious, but entirely to big.

Last year the smallest turkey was 26lb 14oz, this year the largest one was 26lb 13oz. The smallest was 6lb 4oz, but she was a tiny Royal Palm of the not Thanksgiving variety, so that one doesn't count. The smallest white was 17lb 6oz, and most of the others fell within 20-24 pounds.

Our Family Thanksgiving table will be graced with the presence of one of my turkeys this year, so I hope everyone that eats turkey will love it, and everyone who doesn't eat turkey will wish they did. Ha!

Week 4

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 20 min.
Wednesday: Bike 30 min.
Thursday: Run 20 min.
Friday: Swim 20 min.
Saturday: Bike 30 min.
Sunday: Walk/Run 25 min.

This week is an easy week. Basically, I build for 3 weeks then back off a bit on the 4th. So this is week 4. Next week I will start pushing forward again.

The $120 Tooth

Here it is, in all its glory.

A few months ago we decided it was time for some of the kids to visit the dentist. Since then I have spent more time in the dentist office than I care to think about. Dental exams/cleaning on five kids (no cavities, by the way, so I guess we can be thankful for that) have led to appointments for sealants on 3 of the kids, and tooth removal on one. When the 2 oldest girls went in for their cleanings, the dentist pointed out that they both had adult teeth coming in when the baby tooth wasn't out yet. Oldest daughter's baby tooth was loose, but the adult tooth was coming in high out of her gum and the tooth needed to come out soon. Same with my younger daughter, but her tooth wasn't loose and her adult tooth isn't coming in quite so high. The dentist gave them both 2 months to get the baby tooth out on their own.

Well. Oldest daughter wiggled and wiggled and had the tooth out in about 2 weeks (typical overachiever). Since then she has been applying pressure to the tooth that was already in and it seems to be moving just a bit into the right position. Younger daughter, on the other hand, couldn't seem to even get her tooth loose. I couldn't either. That stupid thing would not budge.

So I made her an appointment to have it taken out. In retrospect, I guess we could have waited another few months--the tooth next to it was getting loose so I think it would have come out eventually.




Boy am I glad we got that tooth out. Gee, it surely wasn't ready to come out on its own. Good grief. Look at it. It is just a little shell of a tooth. No root to speak of, just a sharp jag, which may explain why it bled every time she tried to wiggle it.



The hole in the tooth had to have happened when they pulled it because it wasn't there before.

Ah, all is well. It couldn't have happened to a better kid, as far as pain goes. This is the same kid that can get slivers and ticks pulled out and never blink an eye. She claims she didn't even feel the numbing shot and nothing hurt at all. Beforehand, I tried to convince her that it probably wouldn't hurt much to just have the dentist yank the tooth out with no numbing, but she wouldn't go for it. Baby.

Picture Time

This Week

Only one day off this week.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 25 min.
Wednesday: Bike 35 min.
Thursday: Walk/Run 20 min.
Friday: Swim 25 min.
Saturday: Bike 40 min.
Sunday: Walk/Run 30 min.

My husband claims that he almost hit me on the road a few weeks back. At that time I was walking at about 6am, right about the time he would leave for work. Since it is dark, I wear a reflective vest. I also carry a flashlight and I cross the road when a car is coming--if there isn't one coming the other way. We live on a narrow country road with no shoulder and deep ditches on either side, so I have to be careful. Also, most of the traffic at 6 am is large semi-type trucks from the various businesses along the road.

So...no, he most certainly did not almost hit me, silly man. I am very careful. He just didn't see me until the last minute. Not good.

I finally decided that the little reflective vest has served its purpose and have retired it in favor of this:



Oh ho! Bet people will be able to see me now. Although I am still not going to chance riding my bike before daylight, even with my little blinky lights.

Total Immersion Swimming

The first day I went to the swimming pool a few weeks ago, the plan was to swim 10-50 yard lengths. In the pool that I go to that means 20 laps since it is a 25 yard pool. Well, I got confused in the midst of my swimming and only swam 5-50s, or 10 laps. 250 yards. When I got out of the pool, my legs were jelly and I thought I was going to DIE I was so tired out. So I went home, picked up my book, Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier, and reread it. I had used it a few years back when I was swimming on a regular basis in the bathtub that the fitness center I went to called a pool, but apparently I had forgotten EVERYTHING. Because I was dead tired after a mere 10 laps in the pool. Not to mention that swimming in a regular sized pool is much different that swimming in a tiny pool.

The book itself is full of author testimony (boring) and kind of reads like an infomercial in others (annoying) but with that aside, there is some very valuable information.

I have gleaned 3 main concepts from the book:
1. Swimming downhill: If you push your head/chest slightly down when swimming, it will cause your hips to rise, reducing the drag your legs create.

2. Lengthen your stroke: Reach for the wall with each stroke, turning your body to the side to make the reach even longer.

3. Turning your body: When turning your body, roll head, torso, and hips all together, with a little snap in your hips.

There is quite a bit more to it than that, and there are some drills in the book to help break each skill down into easy to learn pieces. In 5 swim sessions, I have gone from 250 yards and exhaustion, to 500, 750, then 800 yards with no shaky legs when I climbed from the pool. Between this book and the workouts from swimplan.com I have been getting in some pretty good swimming time.

This Week

This week's schedule:

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 20 min
Wednesday: Walk/Run 20 min
Thursday: Off
Friday: Swim 20 min
Saturday: Bike 30 min
Sunday: Walk/Run 20 min


Times/Distances: Swim: I can swim about 700 yards in 24 minutes or so...this includes drills and rests. My 100 yard time is 2:50 which is extremely slow. Oh well, I will get better. Bike: I go about 6 miles in the 30 minutes. This is on completely flat ground since there are no hills around here. Must be why the airport is nearby. Running: I can run 5-6 minutes at a time with a 1 min walk between. I must be going 1.25-1.5 miles in the 20 minutes. Big deal. But if I don't start slow though I will regret it when my knee starts hurting.

Corn Maze

Swim, Bike, Run

I am going to enter a triathlon next spring. I was going to do this a few years ago, but I think I just wanted to get in shape and didn't really have any intention of competing. Then I got pregnant and the swimming pool water made me throw up and my belly got too big to ride a bicycle. So I gave up on that idea.

I have been thinking on the idea again the last month or so and this week I officially start my training schedule. I have a goal in mind...at the end of April there is a triathlon in a town north of us. I don't have the exact date yet because the 2008 schedule isn't out yet.

There is no deep, meaningful reason I am doing this. I'm not trying to prove anything to myself or anyone else. I like to exercise, that's all. It seems like a no brainer to me--I LOVE to swim, love riding my bike, and tolerate running if I have to--why not do all three? It lends a little variety to my workout time, if nothing else. I wouldn't mention it at all, except maybe if I record my "journey to the triathlon" here then I will actually have to DO IT!

Oh, one more thing. I'm not talking about an Ironman Triathlon here. Just a little sprint triathlon. 650m swim (the distance varies, but that seems about the average), 12 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run. If I like it well enough I might work my way up to a half ironman, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

This week's workout schedule:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Swim 20 min
Wednesday: Bike 30 min
Thursday: Off
Friday: Swim 20 min
Saturday: Walk/Run 20 min
Sunday: Bike 30 min

Obviously, the plan is to start out slowly so as to not overdo it. I walk almost every day, but every time I step things up I go too fast and end up getting injured. So I am taking it VERY slowly this time.

Last week I was feeling particularly pathetic--I couldn't find my swim cap and goggles (I JUST SAW THEM WHERE ARE THEY), my bike was broken, and my stinkin' ITB was acting up. For those not in the know, ITB stands for iliotibial band. Say that five times fast, I dare you. Anyway, it is a very painful knee problem. Want to know more? Click here.

This week I have a new cap and goggles, my knee feels fine, thanks to all the stretching I have been doing, and my bike is fixed. So what if it is a mountain bike that is on its last legs. It takes me where I want to go.

A Few Favorite Pictures

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the past few months...









...and one taken by one of my girls...

Muddy Pigs

Former pig pen:


Moved the pigs yesterday--the other pen area was getting so muddy they were up to their bellies in mud. They didn't seem to mind too much, but when they were moved to fresh grass they ran around like mad and acted so happy.

Happy pigs rooting in the grass:






Also, the chuckar has now adopted the chicken coop out in the field as his new home.




Every morning when I go in to feed the chickens (if it is still before full daylight) he is in there roosting right along with the chickens. He is still very skittish though. The chickens don't seem to mind him too much unless he gets too close to the feed pan. Water...no problem. Food...No Way.