Fix-It Friday-and Some Bloggy Business

busy, busy day...aren't they all?

I decided to try my hand at the i heart faces challenge this morning because I got some new textures over at Oscraps. They are VERY affordable, even for a novice, like me. Check them out!

I am not sure I fix everything the "right" way yet, but I am learning.

Here is the fix I came up with using some Photoshop tweaking and a texture from Photology by Emily Powers. I wish I had a designer link for you, but I don't. :(

**edited to add: the frame is by House of 3**

What do you think? 

Too much texture on the skin? I am not a fan of "lizard skin" so I usually clean that all up, but I couldn't decide today, so I left it. Besides, I have one home sick today and between trips to the potty, she is pretty hyper happy and they were playing London Bridge under my legs, under my desk while I was trying to edit this, so I was really just happy to get it done if you know what I mean. (I add this in for those of you who have been there, so you don't feel alone. 'cause you aren't. I'm right here with you. A little CRAZY most some days. :)

I LOVED this picture. Hop on over to i heart faces and check out all the other fixes.

Have I ever told you how much I love TTV? 

OK, faux TTV. I still love it.

If you are not familiar with it, here is a link. I have not read all of this blog though, so don't come back and tell me he has naked pictures or something (I don't think he does). You have been warned.

:)

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I'm just in a bit of a mood today. I have so much to do, but first a bit of Bloggy Business:

I have decided NOT to participate in the link-up for the Friday Follows this week.

This is mostly because it is SO MUCH WORK. whew!

I have to spend some time here at home, with my family today. You understand. 

I am in the middle of painting a bathroom and some hat rack thingys for the boys' room. 

And she's home "sick".

I was supposed to be volunteering today and having coffee with some of my lady-friends girls.

dang it!

I'll stop whining now.

photo by Nevit Dilmen

The other piece is this: I have been {trying} to do some new and exciting stuff here behind the scenes. But there are only so many hours in the day! So this relatively random and un-thought-out post is just to say I may be M.I.A. this weekend. Hopefully, the blog will be WAY COOLER by Monday.

oh cr@p! now I'm on the hook!

and no. 

...to those of you who are asking...

I am not redesigning again.

Even though you know I am SO addicted to blog designs. If I weren't busy raising responsible citizens, I might just be tempted to... but I am. :)

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I do it all myself here. As most of you do.

So when I get to the part where I want to add some stuff and BLOGGER says : 

lady you have too many widgets already! OVERLOAD!!

I have to stop and figure some stuff out.

{code}

ugh!

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are you still here?

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:)

I know I am rambling today...

So, do you like the new fonts?

You know where I got them, right?

www.kevinandamanda.com

I am putting this in the biggest letters possible (and her little button) because I think Amanda is awesome and even though she really doesn't know me, I think we would get along like peas and carrots, so I want you to visit her and tell her I sent you. K Thanks.

One last thing:

I have my very first giveaway next week!!!!!

So check back.

It's SOOOO awesome.

I hope you like it.

Have a great weekend!

Parenting 101

If I wanted to write a blog entitled Parenting: What NOT To Do, I am often convinced that I could gather ALL of my material at the local mall play land.

Here's the deal: Our mall has a...hold on while I pull up merriam-webster... Tae Kwon Do... uh oh! It's not in there! Let's call it a SCHOOL. A place. Ok.


Ok. So there's a place where Sugar takes classes. As if the fact that is is located inside the climate-controlled, Diet Coke-stocked mall is not AWESOME enough, it was also strategically placed right next to the play land area. I love that because then I can take the Little Ones and wear them out while I watch Sugar practice. (It has a big window so you can watch, which is great 'cause you can make sure there is no funny stuff going on... not that I am paranoid, but...well... I am.)
Let me just say that I LOVE the play land! What I don't love is some of the parents in town who like to drop their kid off there so they can pretend they don't have kids while they do a little shopping.  Ugh!

If you are frequent flyer here, you may have noticed I am a rather big fan of children. (Some say too much.) Especially Little Ones...like the ones in play lands. I have a hard time when I see children who are seemingly ignored or unkempt. Don't even get me started on the 14 year olds running through there knocking down the 2 year olds!


As much as I try not to judge, I may as well wear the black robes to play land some days. I'll admit it. It bothers me. I judge. 



  (this all has a point... stay with me!)


Last Sunday I was in church. I went alone with just my Turkey (yeah, you read that right!), so I sat in the CRYROOM OF DOOM (just kidding! sort of.) There was a little boy in there who is like 5. He was with his mom. Just him and mom. As Mass went on, he began to wander. He knows me because I am the Room Mother x 2 and Daisy Scout Leader (a.k.a. school busy body) So he ended up at my feet playing with Turkey and a too-loud-for-church-toy that someone had generously donated to the CRYROOM. (notice it is not called a PLAYROOM, but that is another story...) Since the boy knows me, I had no qualms about putting my finger to my lips to indicate we should at least try to be quiet and listen. It didn't faze him at all. And he quieted down every time I did it.... Every time I did it.... Every time I did it...  you get the point...




Meanwhile, "Momma" has no idea he is gone. None. She has not even noticed. This goes on for a while. (like 15-20 minutes) I was not at all annoyed cause frankly, this kid is pretty darned cute. ( for once I am really not being sarcastic!) and it's sort of what you expect from the PLAYROOM CRYROOM.


Suddenly, Momma gets up, looks around, comes back to my row... to say she stormed back would be an exaggeration, but there was purpose in her step and a SERIOUS look on her face. She was not panicked. I actually thought she was mad at me for "shushing" her kid.


we interrupt this story to note:
This is a mom I see all the time. And I have tried to smile at her, or say hello, but she completely acts like she can't see me. I have never seen her with a man, husband, father type person.... I do not know her name.

now back to the program:
So I tried to catch her glance. Was she mad at the boy? Mad at me?
What I saw stopped me in my tracks.

There, my dear friends, is the reason why I will not be writing an entire blog called Parenting 101.

In that instant, in that one look I saw the frustration and yearning of a younger version of myself. I remember feeling like I just needed a minute when someone would sit still, when I could offer up a prayer, go to the restroom...whatever ALONE. Without someone NEEDING something from me.

I still have those days.


That one look changed it all.



We do not know why people do the things they do. Act the way they act.

As much as I hate it that every child is not raised in a warm loving home with plenty of food to eat, they aren't. And some parents are just trying to survive. To drop the kid off at play land so they can catch their breath and get through one more day without taking it out on the kids; without getting to the end of their rope. The frustration of a single parent... The fear of a sick parent... The exhaustion of a parent whose spouse works too much, travels too much, spends too much, drinks too much... You might think that is extreme but this is what I found in that woman's eyes, in the CRYROOM that I loathe, in the church that I love, in the town where I grew up.

I think they call it CLARITY.

***edited to add, if you know me in real life, do not even ask***

The "Not-Its"

Now that the contest has closed, I had to share the pictures that did not make it. Not ALL the ones I took, but the ones I considered using, but did not.

Have a great day and as always, tell those you love that you do!

i heart faces...and hands!

I am pretty bad about remembering to enter the i heart faces challenges. I had some pretty great shots of little hands, but I wanted to enter something that showed "fun". 

So here it is: two boys having some fun with hands!

Post-it Note Tuesday

Today I have compiled a list of things you should never say to a woman.

Unfortunately, I have actually heard these very phrases being uttered...either to myself or to one of my friends.

Don't make this mistake.
You have been warned!

To Random Pregnant-looking Lady:

Never, never ask this, UNLESS she, herself has told you she is pregnant (now).

To Young Married Lady:

I cringe every time I hear some numskull ask this. 

It's none of your business!

To Pregnant Lady:

While I am sure people mean well (?) when they say this...

(could there be that many cruel people in the world?) 

it's just rude. 

Nobody wants to hear they are huge. Not even if they are having triplets.

To Chubby Gal toting a tot:

Again, rude! 

I wish I could say I made this up and have never heard it spoken aloud. 

But I have. 

And without prompting too. Some people have no manners!

To Random Lady, dragging 6 kids through Wal-Mart:

I don't care if she has 26. Is it really any of your business?

To Dark Skinned Baby in White Lady's cart:

I have nothing to say about this one except: RUDE!

To Pregnant Lady who's toddler is throwing a tantrum:

This one was fired right at yours truly when I was about 9 months pregnant and was forced to take my older 3 kiddos on an errand. If you ever wonder why I have a voodoo doll in my closet, now you know.

:)

Thanks for letting me vent. Now "git" on over to Supah's blog to read some of the other posts!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

On Valentine's Day, Tidymom posted a recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. This happens to be one of my favorites, so I gave it a shot last week.

I had only 2 {ripe bananas} that needed to be used, so I decreased the flour a bit. I also decreased the cinnamon a little because I am not a fan of strong cinnamon. Since I didn't have any semi-sweet chocolate chips, I use milk chocolate, but only on the top.

Even with all the tweaks, they turned out great! My kids ate them so fast I DID NOT EVEN GET A WHOLE ONE! I'd say that is a good sign.  LOL

I am putting bananas and semi-sweet chips on my shopping list this week just so I can make more of these. This time I might hide some just for me!

Here is a shot of my muffins:

I linking up to Cheryl so you, too can try this recipe. You will find it here:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Have a great Monday.

Awards

I am SO behind in posting these. Please forgive me.

I was awarded the Beautiful Blogger Award by 

Tia at Stoic

and by

Erin at Yes, Our Hands Are Full! 

and by 

Busymom3 of Adventures in Mommyville

and by

Danielle at Humes, Party of Three

Thank you so much!

I am supposed to tell you 7 random things about myself.

OK. Here we go:

1. I am a natural red-head.

2. I drive a mini-van (shocker, huh!)

3. I used to be allergic to cats, but now one sleeps at the foot of my bed.

4. I am wildly unorganized.

5. The only TV I watch is Food Network's Cake Decorating Challenge on DVR.

6. Despite my fascination with cake decorating, I am not very good at it.

7. I am not athletic. At all. Not even a little bit.

Miss Angie at My So-Called Chaos sent me the Beautiful Heart Award.

Thank you, Miss Angie!

Here' s what I am supposed to do:

1. List 4 things that keep your inner self beautiful.

~ice-cream, coffee and chocolate keep me calm and happy.

~some of your inspiring stories make me appreciate my blessings and try to be a better person.

~being creative. Painting, designing...whatever. For me, it's food for the soul.

~I love fiction. I try to read a little every day.

2. List 4 things that keep you physically beautiful.

I wish I could say running 20 miles a day or something cool like that but here's the real deal:

~Highlight/Lowlight: cover those grays!

~Sun Screen: even though I was raised in the era when you were supposed to bake like leather!

~Moisturizer: Can't live without it. I should use more on my face, hands and feet than I do.

~Hair Products. Lots of hair products. I used to think great hair was genetic. Now I know better.

3. Tell us about a precious memory you keep close to your heart. [Optional]

~ I would have to say the sight of Superman catching our children as they were born. Amazing! 

and lastly... (I told you I was running behind!)

Mayra of My Life in High Heels awarded me this award. 

I am supposed to say where I'd like to be in 10 years.

Hmmmm... This is a tough one for me...how about, um....Texas!

L.O.L.

Never fear, Texans, I'm not moving, but I will come down and shake things up a bit! :)

Thank you for the awards. Please check out these beautiful blogs when you have a chance.

New Followers on Friday

I am linking up with Friday Follow and Follow Me Friday again because it has truly helped me meet so many great new bloggers. Please leave a comment below if you like my blog and want to follow along. I will do my best to keep up with all the links, but I do try to read the blogs before I Follow, so please be patient. 

I'm old fashioned that way ;) I can't wait to meet you!

Princess's New Hat

The next time 

I take her picture

in a new hat

I will make sure 

to wipe the spaghetti off her face first!

Photoshop can only do so much, Princess!

I {LOVE} Photo Editing

Continuing my February {LOVE} series, I had to do a little post on photo editing. (or editing photos, depending on your preference. LOL)

For some photographers, the joy is in taking the perfect picture: one that does not require cropping or other tweaks. For me, however, my artistic nature has always lent itself to a bit of playing. I love to re-crop, re-color, zoom-in, twist, turn, cut, paste.... you get the idea. I have been known to do crazy things with photos, like create image transfers for canvases and iron-ons for clothing. 

I just love the possibilities!

I have had Photoshop for a while, but I was so intimidated by it that it took me a LONG time to give it much of a try. In the past few years, I have gotten better and better at using it. I use an old, ancient, wrinkled up version of it. Version 7. But I can just feel CS4 coming my way in the near future!

Still, sometimes I just want a quick fix. For that, I have been learning to use a FREE program called Picnik. (free is always good in my book!) 

Here are a few things I love about Picnik:

1) It saves right to a jpeg. You can rename if you want, but you don't have to.

2) It has some really quick "auto fix" buttons.

3) Did I mention it is free?

4) It is very user-friendly.

5) It includes some fun stuff like stickers, frames and some effects that do not require layers or serious photo editing knowledge.

In fact, I had been using it so much that I felt a little guilty...so I upgraded to the Premium Membership. At $2.08 a month, I figured there wasn't too much of a risk! :)

seriously, I should get a kick-back, huh? 

I thought I'd have a little fun playing in Picnik and Photoshop to show you what each one has to offer.

The photoshop actions I am using here are freebies from 

CoffeeShop Actions and Presets!

Let's see what they can do:

Here is the shot I started with.

Here is a cropped, Red-Eye fix in Picnik.

Here is the original, with Red-Eye Fix in Photoshop.

I did not use an action for the Red-Eye.

I will from now on. It took waaay too long, comparatively.

In Photoshop, I applied Memories of Sunshine Action by Johnna. (Coffee Shop) + Texture.

nice.

Here is what happened when I ran the TeaParty Action by Johnna. (Coffee Shop)

You are supposed to adjust the levels, etc.

Actually, I am not even sure now if this is the original product or after I tried some tweaking.

I CLEARLY had a hard time with this one.

Sometimes I think my ancient copy of Photoshop doesn't run the actions right.

No matter what adjustments I made, I didn't like it.

This reminds me of one of the faded photos from the 70's.

My mom has a bunch in our old albums.

:)

My limited Photoshop knowledge wore me out.

I just couldn't get it where I wanted it. So, I popped it (that pink copy) into Picnik and went to town.

This one, I like much better. It is kind of charming, really.

I kept playing.

This one is pretty similar to the Memories of Sunshine.
(again using that pinky-pink picture in Picnik.)

This could have gone on for days...were it not for laundry calling my name...

I really {LOVE} it! Someday I want a HUGE screen to edit on. And CS4.

And one of these days I will take a class in editing, so I can sharpen my skills and learn to do stuff the right way. 

I am 100% self-taught.

There are still some things I can't do.

I am not a good cropper.

Practice, right.

I have never sliced.

True Confession.

But I can do a lot of other cool stuff.

I am a pretty good scrapper when I set my mind to it. I even do a little designing here and there. 

(note: cowboy boots)

other sources for cool stuff:

Picnik is a free online editing service. Even if you upgrade it is like $2 a month! 

The Pioneer Woman is a great resource! She has some free action sets for Photoshop and some nice do-able tutorials.

Coffee Shop is a great resource for tutorials, actions, textures, brushes...all free!

You can find tutorials for pretty much anything you want to do. Google it, baby!

Join some groups or blogs.

They will tell you where to go!

I use Lost and Taken a lot for textures.

There are lots of other too.

Check out some of the texture groups on Flickr.

I also love Jessica Sprague. If you are a mom-tog or a digi scrapper, you could get lost in there!

  In a good way!

If you have any other great resources, please let me know! Which programs do you use?

I will leave you with the best tip I ever got: Save a copy of your original FIRST!

(in case you screw up!)

I'm linking up to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family

***NOTE***

for heaven's sake! you know i'm not getting paid to review any of this stuff, right? Not that I would turn down the money...hint, hint!

Sticky Note Tuesday!

I took last week off, but this week, I decided to leave some notes around for the cartoons the kids watch. After all, I am talking to the TV but they don't seem to be hearing me! (surprise!)

Have a wonderful day!!!!
xo

President's Day: Proceed with Caution

i will warn you.

i'm in a mood.

it's presidents day today.

no school.

i should be thrilled because we got snow last night.

we could play outside.

maybe.

i could take pictures.

*eyebrows raise*

i wanted to write a post this morning showing off all the pics i took at princess's kindergarten tea party and dance.

i wanted to rave about all the fun we had and the sweets we consumed for valentine's day.

but...

do you ever have a day when..

...you cannot type an entire sentence without being interrupted

...your html code will not cooperate with you

...the dishes seem to have piled up over night

...your floor looks like somebody had a cracker smashing party in the night

...you have to find a way to keep 4 kids silent because someone is sleeping but you are snowed in and cannot leave  nevermind. that would be absurd!

Let's just say:

...you get frustrated

that's me 

today

on president's day

a day off of school

when i want to enjoy my children but find it difficult to NOT focus on the fact that they are in the way of me accomplishing MY goals for the day.

that sucks

and here, you will find the very core of my parenting philosophy. 

like it or lump it.

(you have my permission to leave now. stop reading. close the tab.)

i am not sure the best way to put it but it goes something like this:

when we try to squeeze kids into our lives, there will always be conflict, stress, anxiety and even resentment.

it is in becoming a part of their lives: their growing, learning and living life that we find harmony and rhythm. that's where we can get the most done, make the most progress,and ultimately be most effective as parents.

and with that i am signing off  for the day because i have a more pressing commitment.


oh geesh!

i think i just became a bold blogger!

lord help me!

My New "Baby"

I feel good

I knew that I would now














I feel good!

I knew that I would now 

So good, so good, I got you!