Happy Fall, y'all!

Did you notice that it's October? Yeah, half-way through, in fact. Tonight is our first real fall-feeling evening - today was rainy, but tonight, the air is cool and crisp, and the leaves crunch under your shoes. (No more flip flops!) Good night for a camp fire.

So, I was driving to Meijer to fetch milk. It was after 9pm, and as I was driving, I noticed the full moon, and these thick clouds moving in front of it. Very cool. Very Halloween-y. Unfortunately, the car is not the best place to be taking photos, especially night/moon photos, and I didn't have my little camera with me anyway. I didn't exactly hurry to get through Meijer (although I should have $$$), and the moon and clouds were still out there when I got home.

(A confession about that "car is not the best place to be taking photos" bit. If you saw my post about a month ago, where I was taking pictures through my rainy windshield, you'll know I have been trying to take pictures from my car. And I did it again the other day - the other morning, the sun was coming up and the bottoms of the clouds were a purpley-red. If you can tell through the blur and dirty windshield. So, aside from the whole "driving hazard" thing, my car pictures don't turn out as well anyway.)

When I got home from Meijer, I got out my little camera and my big tripod. (My other camera is a Canon Powershot S2 15, which is very fun, but the memory card slot is broken. It's on my list to have repaired in October.) My little camera is an Olympus FE-310, which I bought because it's got a small profile, but 8.0 megapixel resolution and a 5x optical zoom. Ooooh, aaaah. The intent was to have a little camera I could keep in my purse for pictures at school and at work and things, and it's really been a good camera.

My little pocket camera has some pre-set photo modes: action, portrait, through glass, sunset, candlelight and fireworks. I got a chance to try the fireworks mode at the 4th of July party this year - the photos turned out really nicely. (Here's the scene at the 4th of July - kids in lawn chairs taking it all in, husband in the field setting off the fireworks, and my Junior Camera Geek Self: on the driveway, little camera in hand, big camera mounted sideways on the tripod shooting video. Hah!) Tonight, I used candlelight mode and fireworks mode, and the pictures turned out pretty cool. Thank goodness for the tripod - the shutter on this one was open FOR-EVER. There'd be no amount of built-in image stabilization that would have covered me on this shot. Yikes!

Anyway, now I feel like I kind of know what I'm doing with these night photos. Not quite as Halloween-esque as the scene when I left for Meijer, but still pretty cool. And I NEED to get my other camera fixed, so I can play some more!

The Sofa Search

Our house is (and always has been) decorated in a theme I called Early Newlywed - a little bit of everything, mostly hand-me downs. Now, I'm not knocking the hand-me downs...most of them came from my parents' house on their move out west (they intended to downsize right about the same time I was getting a Real Job, so the timing worked out well...except for that whole downsizing thing, but that's another story...). But, the things that are really starting to show their age are the upholstered pieces. Oh, and I don't think I can still be considered a newlywed. ;-)

Exhibit A: 30+ Year Old Hide A Bed Sofa. This relic lived in our family room until I was in high school, and was then relegated to the basement (??) until our move to Iowa. In Iowa, this was the furniture I had in my room (I got the smaller room, since I was in college and only home for the summer and occasional long weekend). It made the move to my house, where it served as either living room furniture, or basement/guest quarters. This couch started life as an avocado-green tweed, then was recovered (by my parents!) in a tweedy brown, and is now sporting a third skin - off white flame stitch fabric. With cat hair. The hide-a-bed frame is steel, we've replaced parts of the innards and the mattress at least once each. It's in good condition, but not the best solution for our basement TV/movie watching needs. But, I guess I'm sentimental.

Exhibit B & C: Pair of 20-Something Love Seats. These were handed down from my grandmother, in another case of downsizing. She kept the full-size sofa, and we took the two love seats. Since coming into our possession, these have had a bit of a hard life - cats, kids, 'nuf said. They're covering the Family Room seating roles pretty well, and are awesome for napping on, but I'm ready for something new.

Aaah. "Something New." Yeah, that's a great concept, except when I have to actually try and pick something out. This upholstery purchase thing is something new to me. I can buy tables and bookcases and "hard" stuff all day long, but to pick out a couch, and colors and pillows and squishiness is new to me. And it seems like such a big decision - being that I've got upholstered pieces from my teenage years, I feel like whatever new couch/es I choose will be expected to last for a long time. Other problems - figuring out what the couches really need to do...this is something I think I got from the home makeover shows on TV - "What do you want to use this room for?"

For the basement, some home theatre seating would be ideal, but, by my rough estimates, we can only fit three seats across the seating area, and we have four people in our family. Plus, this is also the space that serves as our guest room, and home theatre seating does not come with hide-a-beds. So, that's the first dilemma.

For the family room, I'd like an l-shaped sectional, maybe with a chaise on one side, so it keeps the room open visually. But, after seeing this type of couch in the store, I'm afraid it's going to be too big for the room. My rough measurements here have not helped...I need someone to hold the other end of the tape measure, and I think the last set of dimensions I got on the sofa actually measured length as "all the way around the back edge of the sofa," to include around the corner. Hmmm.

I've got time; the furniture is serving us well for right now, and I need a chance to figure out design schemes and paint colors and such. But, I'm also diligently entering in the Bassett Furniture Sofa Giveaway . Maybe winning a sofa and being forced into a decision won't be a bad thing. ;-)

On the Road Again

Hello from the road! I'm in Boston for work. I came out on Saturday to see my sister - we had a good time! Today, in discussing tomorrow's schedule, we realized I didn't allow myself enough time to fininsh my training session and get to the airport. The training sessions here are going really well, and we don't want to reschedule the last session and lose momentum. It's been a while since I traveled through an airport of any real size, so, on the advice of my team, I changed my flight home. Since I haven't blogged since the last time I was on the road, I figured it was probably time to check in!

Steph and I ran through Target on Sunday, picking up a few things for my stay in town, and some stuff for Steph's house. I ended up at a different Target last night with some of the team from work, picking up a couple more things for the trip (and a book to read on the plane home). Good Old Target!

Other Boston Observations:

• The local newscasters don't have the local accent!
• The 99 Restaurant has pretty good food!
• There are more hills here than I expected (not sure why...)

That's it for now!

The Midwest Hurricane

This past Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through our area. Between about noon and 3pm, the wind was whipping around like crazy - 70+ mph...it was still a Tropical Storm! But by 3:30, the wind died down, the leaves settled, and we came out to assess the damage.

We never lost power at the house, but my inlaws did, and are still out of power. Most of the rest of the city is also out of power, so school is cancelled, street lights are out, stores aren't open...

And I'm getting this all second hand. I'm out of town!

When I left for the airport on Sunday, I got an idea of how much of a mess Ike left behind - a HUGE tree had fallen across a road outside our neighborhood, all the traffic lights were out on the way to the interstate, leaves and limbs all over. I believe some areas are getting their power back, but the schools have been closed all week. I was at the airport when I saw the message from school that said they didn't have any power. As it turns out, this may actually be working out better for my husband, in that his sister is also out of school, and has been watching our girls at her house all this week. So, he doesn't have to drive all the way through town to drop off and pick up the girls.

Having deserted my husband and children at home in this mess, I'm anxious to see what state everything is in when I get home. I'm thankful that we have power at the house, and that everyone is safe and sound, even if they are having to hang out in the dark. ;-)

Fall is on the way

You would think I could tell this just by looking at the calendar. Well, yes, the calendar is a helpful indicator, but being that the weather is what we normally associate with Fall, the weather lately is also indicating that Fall is coming. And in my area, Fall is marked with rain just as much as cool, crisp air, the need for long sleeves in the evenings, and earlier sunsets. We were out at a friends' house last night, and sat on the porch after dinner, enjoying the lack of humidity, and after about an hour, I realized I needed some sleeves. Aah, Fall.



So, anyway, back to our First Fall-ish Friday. The morning was foggy, but warm (so Summer isn't giving up the ghost just yet!). The whole day was gray and drizzly, but not enough to warrant an umbrella, just like you were walking through a mister. All day. Not the formula for a Good Hair Day.

As I drove to work, the fog had settled in just at the tops of the buildings downtown. Since I've been carrying my new pocket-sized camera just about everywhere, I thought I'd try to capture the fog. Don't tell Mom...I was driving while I was taking these pictures. Isn't that the point of a point-and-shoot camera? It only takes one hand? Well, anyway, I'm sure if I'd pulled over and stood at the side of the road, these pictures would've turned out better (and the camera wouldn't be focused on the raindrops on the windshield). But, I didn't sit and review all the pictures while I was snapping away. I was totally focused on the traffic. Totally.

At some point, I guess I realized my camera was focusing on the raindrops on the windshield. I hit a traffic backup, and tried to capitalize on the artsiness while crawling along at 10 mph. Kinda cool.




For someone that's used to taking pictures of kids and people and using them to tell a story, I'm not sure what I'll do with these rainy pictures of my commute. Other than to share them on my blog! ;-)

From Behind the Camera

I found out at work today that our newest customer has requested bios and pictures of the project team. "Well, bummer," I thought, because we'd just had family pictures taken the night before for the church photo directory, and the photographer asked if we wanted individual photos of all of us, or just group shots. I thought, "school pictures are just around the corner, and I don't need a new picture of my husband for my desk..."

"Oh, we don't need any individual pictures," I said. "Not even of you and your husband?" asked the Helpful Photographer-slash-Sales Guy. "Oh, no. We'll be OK," I said, trying to be a little price-conscious. And self-conscious. Whoops. Is it a coincidence that the offer of a photo of myself and the need for a photo of myself are a day apart? I really need to start paying better attention to these signals.

Back at work, mulling over the idea of a head shot that's appropriate to share with a business prospect (even a customer!), I realized, I don't have any! At my first "real" job, the company put together a Who's Who book for employees - you received a book on your first day, with photos and trivial information about the other employees. New employees showed up at the photo studio a couple weeks after they started work, posed for a headshot, and a half-sheet photo/bio page was handed out to everyone about every quarter. A sizable expense, I'm sure, but a real nicety, especially for a new employee. I believe we'd talked about updating that photo book at some point during my tenure at that job, and even thought about putting it on the company Intranet. I believe we were hard-up for some content.

So, my last (first, and only) head shots are from 1994. It's one of my favorite pictures of me, but I don't match it anymore. Probably not a real option.

Back at my desk, I mentally flipped through recent pictures we'd taken - our trip to the Kennedy Space Center, the beach, DisneyWorld...what kind of impression would that give to this customer? I take a lot of vacations? I did toy with the idea of cropping the rest of the crew out of this picture and submitting this version of me. "I am out of this world!!" ;-)

But, this is also probably not appropriate for the customer. Other photos are of me making silly faces (those always seem to turn out better), or wearing silly hats. Again, probably not the right message to send to a business prospect. And really, to tell the truth, because I'm always behind the camera taking pictures of everyone else, there aren't that many pictures of me to pick from. Sigh.

So, this photo thing needs to go on my to-do list for the weekend. I'd do it tomorrow at work, but it's Wear Your Colors Day, so I'll be sporting my new UW shirt (a souvenir from the trip to Racine). I'll take in my camera. Maybe I can make it work. Go Big Red!

I'll keep you all posted with my progress.

Saturday Spring Cleaning

Well, I guess I can't call it Spring cleaning, because it's August. But, "August Cleaning" just doesn't roll off the tounge. ;-)

Today's cleaning was inspired by a) the fact that the house needs it and b) the impending visit from my parents and sister over Labor Day weekend. Plus, Kim's been asking if she can use the mop. This, mind you, is not a real mop she's interested in, but the Pledge floor care system - bottle of solution, absorbant scrubby pad that attaches to the bottom of their stick mop. Kind of the disposable razor version of a mop. So, she was asking about it, and I figured I'd let her try it out.

First off, of course, was all the pre-mopping stuff - sweeping, moving chairs, and so on. And while I was doing that, Kim was out investigating the mop and all its parts, chomping at the bit to start mopping. I finally swept up as much cat hair and cereal crumbles as I could, and got Kim set up to start mopping. Her favorite thing, the trigger on the mop handle that sprays the cleaning solution onto the floor. I've never had enough solution on the floor to make suds, but Kim got us there! Kate evidently got wind of the cleaning frenzy going on downstairs, and came down to check it out - she got a turn with the mop as well.

Here's the Bad Mommy part: I figured the kids had the mopping under control, and didn't want to stand over them making sure they got the whole floor. I figured I'd have to re-mop some parts anyway, especially after I saw Kim and the mop and the suds. So, I snuck off to work on the computer. (As part of last week's software search, I found my camera utilities, so I wanted to install them and fiddle. More on that in a minute...)

Next thing I know, Kim's in asking if we have any more stuff for the mop. "No," I said, "today we'll just mop the kitchen and back hall."

"No, Mom," she says. "We need more of the spray."

Yeah, that bottle was about half full, and the two girls managed to mop with all of it. I knew it would end this way. I was just hoping to get another 10 minutes out of it. Sigh.

Now, as promised, some of the results of my Bad Mommy Moments on the computer. On our trip to the Kennedy Space Center in May, I fiddled with the panorama setting on my camera. I couldn't ever put the panoramas together, because the software got eaten the last time we overhauled my computer. But, after finding the software CD, this is what I was able to put together:


Launch pad with Shuttle on the left, Vehicle Assembly Building on the right. And trees.




This shot shows both launch pads. And the tour bus. And Paul. Hi, Paul!