January 2015 goal A cleaner house (a little late!)

Time for a new calendar! Do people still have calendars on their walls with appointments and birthdays written on them? Or is it just me? Technology is great but I prefer being able to flip through and see whats coming up instead of scrolling and clicking. Anywhoo, thats not what I came to write about.

Let's be honest. My house isn't as clean as I'd like it to be. I don't think it ever will be and thats mostly ok. Mostly. I already have a system for cleaning but unless its clean the kitchen day the counters end up our dumping ground for everything. Mail, keys, Someone likes to leave their hats, gloves, phones, etc on the counter. Like I said it's a dumping ground.

The kitchen drives me nuts more than anything else. My goal for January was to deep clean that sucker and keep it clean. Organize the crap thats there and get someone to stop dumping everything on the counter and put their diet coke cans in the recycling!

Here's the messy truth!

In order to get this mess clean this is what I did. We started slow, weeks 1 and 2 we focuded on cleaning the counters and table before bed. Easy enough. Weeks 3 and 4 we made sure all the dishes were done and the floor was swept along with clean counters and table. It was pretty doable. I'll admit there was a few nights where I left dishes soaking in the sink. I did them first thing in the morning but thats not quite the same.

As for my deep cleaning goal, I took everything out of each cabinet, went through each item (toss, donate, keep), cleaned inside and out, moved shelves that needed moving and hopefully everything will stay mostly clean. Sorry Scribs, the rice cooker we haven't used in 4 years is getting donated! Aside from orangizing the kitchen needed a good washing. The ceiling, walls, baseboards, floor, outlets and light switches, trash can. Every surface is now clean! All the appliances needed a good scrubbing too! I hate cleaning ovens and mine was BAD! I didn't clean it when we moved in and oh boy, that was a project! It took 3 days! Here's the after, still not spotless but at least there is less crap everywhere! Oh yeah and I no longer have a red dining room (still not done painting the windows, ugh!).

February will be another room until this house is clean but with two kids under 4, a dog and a husband who knows how long it will last! I think the bathroom will be next, we have tons of junk in there that nobody uses or needs. I can't believe it's almost February already!

30 Day Photo Challenge Day 28

Flowers. 

I'm a few days behind, I know! I still have black and white and another self portrait to do, we'll see if they get done in the next few days. It's been so nice out lately, it's tough to spend time in front of the computer when I could be out in the sun. 

Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 21, 22, 24, 26

30 day photo challenge day 26

close up. Definitely something I like!

Next up is flowers. That's going to be a bit tricky in January!

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 21, 22 & 24)

30 day photo challenge day 24

Animal.
What to choose? Something wild, the dog? hmm…

What's next, lets see… Close up one of my favorites!

(Challenge days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 21, & 22)

30 day photo challenge day 22

Inspirational. This one I find to be very easy. My natural setting is unbelievable. How could I not be inspired!

Beautiful! Up next we've got patterns. It's going to rain all day, so we'll see what we get!


( Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 & 21)

30 Day Photo Challenge day 21

a portrait without a face.

I definitely blew it last week! Partially because I didn't really find the subjects interesting and partially because I got into cleaning/painting my kitchen like a crazy person. I'm going to try and make up for it this week but I still have to paint the trim in my dinning room and there will be a post about that later! 

So here it is, my faceless portrait, I took it last week while messing about with bubbles and reflections. 

If I do another photo challenge, I think I'll do one that more technique based. I really have no interest in taking pictures of what is in my bag or shoes. I would rather spend a week learning how to get bokeh or long exposures. 

Today as soon as I put my camera away of course 2 eagles were fighting for about 10 minutes. So it goes. What's next? Inspirational. Sounds good!

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 15)

The man in he high castle

Holy moly. Did you watching the man in the high castle? It's a pilot from Amazon, based on the novel by Phillip K. Dick and produced by Ridley Scott. You know it's going to be good!

It's about what could have happened if the Nazis had won world war 2. 

There's a few other Amazon pilots I'm looking forward to checking out! Here's the trailer of the new pilots.

The reviews seem really good, I'm hoping that The Man in the High Castle gets picked up. Scribs and I watched the first episode and were ready to watch the rest of the rest season.

Now I'm off to get the book and add it to my never ending books to read pile!

30 Day Photo Challenge day 15

Silhouette.

Our friend the Great Blue Heron paid us a visit while I was making dinner. I might has almost burnt it because of it.

Whats next? hmm…

Don't forget Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, & 13

30 day photo challenge day 13

Something you can't live without. These dirty little fingers!

Tomorrow is eyes. We'll see.

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 & 12)

Posting pictures of your kids online

The other day while reading one of the blogs I read regularly, there was a post about someone stealing photos of their children passing them off as their own (it has since been taken down). This just reaffirms my decision not post pictures of my kids and stick to it! Once my kids are old enough to make a decision as to what about them is online, thats their choice.

I have no idea what kind of person does that, tries to pass off someone else's kids as their own. Why? Is there so little going on in your life that you need attention online from strangers commenting on your fictional family?

I love reading family blogs with great pictures of their kids and I think I'm going to have to work extra hard to attract traffic here. Who doesn't love pictures of cute squishy babies and kids doing cute and hilarious things.

I'm certainly not saying theres anything wrong with posting pictures of your kids. It's hard not to! I know how sickened I felt just from reading about someone stealing photos I can't imagine how I'd feel if it were my own kids.

I don't consider myself to be easily shocked or offended but this seems crazy to me. You want to be a loser and catfish people with pictures you stole, go nuts but to do it with children and a fake family, that's messed up. This seems like the online equivalent baby snatching.

30 photo challenge day 12

Sunset.

I picked sunrise instead because this was happening. It wasn't today but it was awesome!

This was the western sky

And this was the eastern sky.

Tomorrow is Cannot live without. I'm not getting literal, so it should be don't want to live without.

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 & 11)

DIY Mirror update

This mirror came with a second hand dresser we bought. The mirror alone was worth the price of the dresser!

It finally warmed up enough to spray paint it out in the barn. This project was super simple. The most time consuming part was taping and sliding the cardboard between the frame and glass.


Before

Please ignore all the mess on the dresser!

Here's what I did. 

I scuffed up the wood with sandpaper, wiped off the dust. This took a total of 5 minutes. 

Next is getting the cardboard between the frame and glass. I used diet coke boxes. They're thin enough to slide in and sturdy enough to be pushed in without bending. I carefully slide some tape between the glass and frame where I couldn't fit the cardboard, covered the rest, taped it up and was ready to go!

Next was painting. I did 3 coats I think, I wanted to make sure all sides were covered and there was one high spot that just didn't want to be black! I let it dry for at least 30 minutes between coats.

There was a little bleed through onto that glass. My dear friend Google informed me that acetone would fix that. It sure did! Who knew?

Here's what I used
Krylon Fusion Black gloss
a tiny strip of sandpaper
a few diet coke boxes
frog tape

30 day photo challenge day 11

something blue

Up next is sunset


(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 & 10)

30 day photo challenge day 10

Childhood memory. I don't live anywhere near where I grew up, have very few things from my childhood and what I do have is in a box somewhere. This one was was a bit of challenge.

and one with my phone.

Up next is something blue

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 & 9)

30 day challenge day 9

Someone you love. Pretty hard to do without using portraits.

Oh, those kids and their dog!

Up next childhood memory

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, & 7)

30 day photo challenge day 7

Changes to come. Spring seems like the most obvious choice. I could have easily taken pictures of my in-progess DIYs. It's a beautiful day so out I went.

Up next should be routine, but I'm not taking pictures of that! So we'll skip 8. Day 9 is someone you love. Looks like I'll be taking some portraits. 

(Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6)

30 photo challenge day 6

Obsession. Not mine, but A's. All things truck! Especially garbage trucks! He knows every part of a garbage truck and what they do. 

I'm pretty into macro and super close ups. And as always my barn.

Up next is changes to come. I'm not sure what I'm going to pick and how to present it. I'm not going to lie, I'm not thrilled about this one.
(Don't forget days 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5  )

30 Day Photo Challenge day 5

after dark. I was going to go out last night and take some long exposures but with the threat of flooding I was a bit preoccupied.We went from no threat yesterday morning to a flood warning yesterday afternoon. Thankfully the river and floodway didn't flow over their banks. At least not here.

I know the third is blurry I just think it looks cool! Since taking these pictures of the moon, the fog has rolled in and I can no longer see the trees. 

Tomorrow is Obsession. Perhaps I'll make a trek to the river since I'm obsessed with the water levels.

(Days 1, 2, 3 & 4)

2015 goal Finish under the sea blanket

This blanket  I started a million years ago in September 2013. That doesn't seem right, maybe it is? anyways! I put this down when we moved and just picked it up again last night. I pulled it out and certain 3 year old said "WHOA! That's cool! Is it for me?"
"Yes dear."
"THATS AWESOME! Will it be done by morning time?"
"No Bud, it won't be finished for a long time!"
That's encouraging!
I have finished 3 of the 8 stripe repeats, it seems never ending! Maybe I'll be able to finish this year!

I thought the charts were going to be too small for me to read while working, but the repeats are so simple that I only look at it to see which rows are the color switches. I use a row counter but this could easily be done by counting stitches. Easily.
I bought this as a kit when I first saw it in the knitpicks catalogue. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days! I ordered it and couldn't wait for it to be delivered. I'm using size 8 (5mm) interchangeable needles with a 60" cable and the Brava Worsted provided in the kit and I will say I'm impressed! I thought I hated acrylic yarn but this Brava is so soft! Very smooth on the needles and nice in the hands.

My advice for this pattern is definitely weave your ends as you go! I couldn't imagine weaving all the ends after casting off.

Everyday that 3 year old asks me if it's finished yet! Thats motivation enough to keep working.

30 day photo challenge day 4

Green. There's so much green around that I didn't think this one would be tough!

I love love love shooting at the river! Today we got our first real snow! It only snowed for a few hours and then turned to rain. The ground is wet and icy and generally not great for going out. 

Tomorrow is after dark. I'm looking forward to experimenting with long exposures and long shutter times! I might get crazy and use bulb!

(Days 1, 2, & 3)

30 day photo challenge day 3

Clouds. Oh clouds, not so easy when the sky is a mass of rain clouds. Here we go.

I didn't even know that bird was in there! It's probably a hawk. Bonus!

Day 4's photo is green. I would say this won't be too hard, even thing is covered in moss but it will be raining and snowing all day. Let's see what happens! 

(Day 1, & 2)

30 day photo challenge day 2

what you wore. I had a much better idea for this one, unfortunately the weather did not co-operate. Perhaps I'll revisit this one another day.

Up next is clouds. It's raining. Getting something interesting might be a challenge, we'll see what happens!

(Day 1)

30 day photo challenge day 1

Self portrait. Oh how I hate self portraits and that awful abbreviated word that I refuse to use. This one was a challenge for me, so I copped out with a beautiful background.

Maybe for the next self portrait I'll challenge myself a little more.

Tomorrows subject is what I wore. Don't get too excited I haven't bought anything new since the kids were born.