Project 365 x 2

So, I've totally slacked on posting for my Project 365 x 2 that I started this year.  I've been quite successful in keeping up with both doing projects each day as well as taking photos every day.  I just haven't had a chance to get on the computer to post them, so I'm going to get caught up in this post.  (If it gets a bit long, I might break it up into a few posts.)

January 1st
I cleaned around the edges of the kitchen floor and the front of all the appliances.  The little nooks and crannies like the edges under the kitchen cabinets and the grate on the bottom of the fridge always seem to get ignored because they're just not up in your face and obvious.  But it's amazing how much cleaner the kitchen looks when they've been cleaned.  I mean, really scrubbed, not just swept up, but scrubbed good with disinfectant wipes.  With two little ones, it's so hard to find time to do these little details, but they're so important.

As for the photos, Sometimes I've been finding it hard to decide on ONE single photo to post.  Especially when I've taken pics of my little guys.  But I'm going to try to narrow it down to only one.

I just love the hilarious expression on Mr. Giggles

January 2nd
Sent out Visiting Teaching cards for this month.

Saw this strange bug outside the bank one day.  Don't know
what kind it is, but he looked really cool.  I think he was hurt,
though.  I think one of his wings was damaged.  He's really
pretty, though!

January 3rd
Large dusting project where the Elders came over to help out.  I hate dusting.  It aggravates my allergies so badly, that I can't stand it.  But then, the dust accumulates so much, that my allergies are affected anyway.  I swear, sometimes I think I just need to live in a bubble.  Anyway, we got a good section done this day.

Buggaboo holding our kitty, Jasmine

January 4th
Started on an ABC book for the kids.  I've been wanting to make one of these for forever, and I finally got it started.  This day I got the letter "A" done.  I'm going to print each of these on a 4x6 photo page (the letter on one and the words on another) and put them in a small photo album.  I think these will be great to keep them occupied, particularly in church or when we go out to dinner.

Photo of the Day:

Mr. Giggles in his Bumbo seat

January 5th
Worked on stuff for Primary and finished the letter "B" since I was on a roll with the letters.  I'm really excited about getting this particular project completed.

 

Photo of the Day:

All three boys, all watching the tube

Ok, the kids are getting too rambunctious and it's time for lunch, so I'll post more later.  I'm hoping to get caught up with all my days (which is my project for today, by the way *wink*)

Project 365x2

So, this year has already started to fly by.  Here it is, the 10th already, and I have yet to follow up on here with my (two) Project 365(s).  It's not that I haven't been keeping up with it... surprisingly, I have been!  It's just that with my ambitions for the new year, I've been too busy to get onto the computer hardly at all.  I do plan to get on here and try to post each day (a very lofty goal) and stay updated with my goals.

On the subject of goals, at church the other week, we were all challenged in our goals.  We were asked to write down our top ten things we wanted to accomplish.  Then, from that list, we were to take the #1 item and list the steps it would take to accomplish that one goal.  Well, we did that for our Family Home Evening.

What I've come to realize is that in order to make any of my goals a reality, I need to accomplish one single goal and that is to GET ORGANIZED!  If I got organized (which was #4 on the first list) then ALL the other goals would fall into place.

Ironically, this fell right into my First Project 365 idea... do (at least) one project around the house every day.  It could be a big project that needs a few days, but most of them should only take one day (or less) to complete.  And some projects could be simple quiet tasks like sending out birthday cards for the month.

The Second Project 365 I wanted to do was take a photo every day.  This is something else that I've been able to do, with very little effort.  I'm a shutter-bug by nature, so I take pictures constantly.

The BIG issue that I've had with both of these endeavors has been to actually get on the computer to post about them.  Even as I type, my two year old is nagging/whining/crying about everything:

Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "We don't have any."
Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "They're all gone."
Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "We don't have any cookies, they're all gone, quit asking."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play a game."
Me: "No."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play outside."
Me: "In a minute."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play outside."
Daddy: "We'll go outside in a minute, please let your mother finish what she's doing first...."
Buggaboo then proceeded to occupy himself with something that belongs to the baby and now we're currently in tears, which started off real, but now are just fake because he's realizing no one's paying him any attention.

*Sigh*

Anyway... I'm planning on posting more on these two projects, but that task is turning out to be a major project in and of itself.

To Be Continued.............

Find Me Friday

Ok, so last Friday, I posted a photo of a doorway.  Did you guess where this doorway was from?

It's located at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of Islands of Adventure.  It's not an actual door to anywhere, it's just for aesthetics, but it just adds a nice touch to the atmosphere of the Harry Potter world.

We had such a fun time!  It was actually our first real family vacation with all four of us.

Me and my family at Seuss Landing
From left to right:
Me, two Misc. Seuss Characters, my Hubby, Big Bubby
& Buggaboo in front

Have you ever been to Islands of Adventure?  Did you enjoy it?  What was your favorite part?

Find Me Friday

I took this photo a while back.  I thought it was a very interesting doorway and loved the feel of it... the way it was almost forgotten, hidden away, left unnoticed.

So, I thought I'd have a little fun and see if anyone can figure out where it is.  Take a guess, go on, do you know where this doorway is located?  I'll post the answer next Friday to give everyone a chance to try and guess.

Where am I?

TGIF - Explore Your World!

Well, this day, June 15th, 2012 brings about quite a few little-known holidays... At least, I had never heard of them, until now.

Magna Carta Day June 15, 1215 (I should remember this from school, but if I'm being honest, history was never my forte)
Nature Photography Day (my personal favorite, since I just LOVE nature photography)
National Flip Flop Day (3rd Friday in June, so the actual date changes every year)
as well as a few others.

I'm going to concentrate my blog post on the Nature Photography Day, since it is my favorite.  First thing to know is to head on over to NANPA.org's Facebook page and join up.  Participate in the contest and enjoy the great fun of getting out into nature.

There's something about finding a beautiful flower or watching a gorgeous sunrise/sunset, or even finding a strange yet unique bug/critter of some sort to take a picture of.

Anyway, these pics above were taken a while ago.  I'll be taking a fresh new picture for Nature Photography Day and posting it below, so be sure to come back and check it out.  Hopefully the weather will be cooperative.  We've had a LOT of rain lately.  Feel free to post a comment with a link to your picture, I'd love to see what everyone comes up with!

UPDATE:

Ok, as I said, lots of rain.  And this morning was no different.  But I got a couple really cool pics from out in the backyard, despite the rain that was coming down.

Rainy Morning Moss

Picture of the day...

Thoughts Upon Waking

I took yesterday's idea of handwriting my entry then taking a picture of it.  Here are some of my random thoughts upon waking this morning.

Wow, did I do that?!?!

Check out my new Photography/Wallpaper page.  It has some of my better photos that you can click on and be taken to a larger image that you can save and use as your wallpaper.  I'd love to hear what you think of it too.  Constructive criticism is always welcome. 

Memories Wiped Clean!

Came across an article this evening...

 Should It Be Illegal to Take Photos of Other Kids?

Well, I'm a huge shutter-bug, so this got me all kinds of upset.... I tried to post my thoughts on The Stir's blog, but my comments were "too long" so I decided to post them here.... And let me just start by saying Freedom is never free, but it shouldn't be at the price of our memories..................

This law is so utterly ridiculous, I can't imagine the reality of it. It's just like the taboo art of taking pics of your child in the tub with his hair all up in a mohawk, chewing on a squeek toy and playing with the bubbles (of which I've taken and so did my parents when I was a kid) and people think you're a creep when you're just taking a cutsie pic of your child for the photo album. Now this? How on earth could this ever pass?!?!

Now, I can understand maybe trying to regulate posting them on the internet (although I think that's nuts too, my son's all over my FB pages! and it's just too broad of a scope... we've got 7 billion people on this earth, ) but to make it illegal to even take the pics???? Like someone said, Disney, or any other theme park for that matter, would be impossible to take pics at. Too big of crowds. At the park? Puh-leeze, what do I care if some random mom takes a pic of her kid and mine just happens to be in the background?

Now, if I saw some lone person randomly taking pics of kids without having one of their own, I may be concerned, however, you still don't condemn someone just on looks. They may be doing a project for a college course, or they might be a reporter, who knows? I'm not defending the creeps, but I don't think an innocent person should be arrested or harrassed just for taking a freaking picture. I take my camera with me everywhere and I'm always taking pictures. I don't think I should have to defend myself when I'm just taking an innocent photo.

And another thing... if that law were to pass, there goes the news! Talk about shutting down freedom of speech! No news could be shown on tv nor their internet sites with people walking along in the background... GMA and The Today Show... and all those morning shows with the people in the background through the window (wanting to be on tv) well, what if someone's kid makes it past there? Nope, gotta shut down those shows, cuz some pedophile might be watching tv at that very moment on that very station.

Let's just all crawl underground and let the creepy pedophiles live free on the surface. That way, we won't be interfering with their rights (don't get me started on that crap!) and they'll never see us nor our families ever again.

Yeah, that's the ticket, let the minority of society dictate our lifestyle and restrict the innocent. Well, what's new?!
(meh, that's a whole other soap box to get up on)

Amazing Sunset

Pictures of the Satur-Day

The fountain at the Orlando Temple.  I love how the camera caught the water.

WAIT! You stopped and smelled WHAT?!

Yayyy, Faith Restored!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read my previous post, "STOP!  You want me to smell WHAT?!"  before reading any further.

So I went out this morning to catch the sunrise... slept in, dang it!... and only was able to make it to my favorite spot by the marsh.  Anyway, I got out of the car and started taking some nice pics.  Not what I wanted, but still nice.  Then, when I was done and ready to leave, I look back at the bridge and there's a van pulled over and a hand with a camera pokes out of the passenger window!  My faith is restored!  I'm not the only "nut-job" out there taking pictures of beautiful landscapes and the like! 

I'm glad someone else took the time to stop and smell the roses.  It really is beautiful out there, isn't it?





These were all taken this morning throughout the morning sunrise, hence the changes in color.  I just love this spot.  It's not too far from my home and it has such a mystique to it with the mist and the marsh.

STOP! You want me to smell what?!?!

So, I'll drive around (if I have a spare moment) and I'll see something beautiful that I want to take a picture of... sometimes it's some flowers, maybe a tree or group of trees, a sunrise or sunset, an interesting formation of clouds... any number of things out in nature.  So, I'll pull over, roll down my window (or sometimes get out of the car) and start snapping away.  Inevitably people will drive by and more often than not, give me the weirdest look.  Sometimes even a nasty one.  Now, once in a while, I'll get the good Sameritan who stops and asks if I'm ok.  I let them know that I'm fine and thank them for stopping.  But as they drive off, they give me that infamous weird look as if I'm a freak for being ok and pulled over for nothing.  I have a camera in my hand, obviously I'm taking a picture of something... so I'm not pulled over for no reason.  I see it in their eyes, though.... What the heck is she doing?!  She's stopped on the side of the road for no good reason and is taking a picture of what?!  There's nothing there but grass and trees.  She must be doing something wrong. 

Maybe it's just me, but that's what I envision going through their minds as they drive off with that raised eyebrow and pursed lips.  How dare you, lady... you made me care and I stopped for nothing!  People!  I'm just taking a picture of NATURE.  You know, that thing that's all around us?!  You remember hearing the old saying, "Stop and smell the roses" don't you?  Well, I stop and take pictures of them.  I'm not doing anything wrong and I certainly don't mean to make you go out of your way.  You shold be thankful that I'm ok and you don't have to get your hands dirty with some problem that's not yours.  Unless you just wanted glory for being the hero, in which case, you're not stopping for me, you're stopping for you, so quit wasting both of our time and get over yourself.

And when you think that I'm taking pictures of "nothing", here's the "nothing" that I see:



This was such an interesting looking tree,
simple beauty seeming to be growing
in the middle of overgrown crap.
(close-up below)



This is a close-up of the tree above



These are just a sample of my most recent photography.  I hope you enjoy and I would love to hear what you think about them.  (constructive criticism only please)

Don't forget to stop and smell the roses once in a while.  Smell them, take a picture of them, sketch them, but don't pick them... leave them where they grow in order to share them with others who come along the same path. 

Look around you.  There's beauty everywhere!

Project 365 (Day Five)

I've officially given my family the Project 365 to do as well.  I'm hoping to have a good journal of our year to show for it and to increase their awareness of the world around them, particularly our son.  I'm hoping that he'll gain a new outlook on life after seeing it through a camera lens.

So, here goes nothing....

This is my contribution.  This is off of our coffee table.

I liked the texture of the leather and the gold leaf design.

This is my son's first picture of Mommy holding Monkey Toes.

I'm sorry, but I had to tweak it in Photoshop and blur my body out.

This is such a terrible picture of me. 

Actually, he did well with taking the picture,

I just look terrible, I can't believe I'm actually posting it!  LOL

My husband still hasn't given me his contribution as of yet.  He's still working, but has agreed to participate.  But I'll post his as soon as he gets it to me.

So, there it is, Project 365 Day Five and The Mad Hatters are officially a photography journal family!  I'm very excited and can't wait to see what comes next!

Project 365 (Day One)

Project 365 is a project that I came across for blogging and photography.  The goal is to take a picture and post it every day for an entire year.  You can start any time, so I'm starting now.  I think it's a fun idea and I hope to be up for the challenge.  This also means that some days I'll be posting more than one post, due to the Writer's Workshop and other such things that I tend to sign up for.

Anyway, I hope it helps me to better my photography skills and the way I see the world around me.

So, here's my first pic/post:

Monkey Toes and I are still trying to get the hang of this baby food thing.  LOL

I had to include this 2nd pic, to kick off the project right.

Monkey Toes was getting really upset that I was taking pictures

and not feeding him non-stop.

I tried to catch him smiling, but my trigger finger wasn't fast enough on the old camera.  And he's not one to hold still for pics anyway.  And how dare I stop feeding for 2 seconds to snap a picture!  I think I got more on his face than in his mouth!  LOL