Castle in the Clouds

My computer, that is. Last night I wanted to back up some photos to a DVD. After much cursing and praying, I ended up having to reboot the system. What happened next does not bode well for my computer's continual well-being. Black screen. White blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner. This lasted for several minutes. In fact, I was beginning to think it had truly died when the Windows logo reappeared and the start-up processes started to run. Whew! Although most of my data is saved on an external harddrive, there are a few things that automatically save to the desktop, like the Itunes music I buy. I should probably transfer those files over to the external harddrive first instead of backing up the photos... Wish me luck!

I don't homeschool my children. Both boys attend the public schools in our hometown for a number of reasons. The most obvious and insurmountable fact is that both my husband and I work full-time outside the home. Doing homework in the evenings is a challenge; fitting in several constructive hours of schooling in the evenings would be impossible. Neither of us would have the patience for it. What if I didn't work full-time, though? Would I join the ranks of homeschooling parents everywhere? This is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately. A few years ago the answer would have been a resounding "No", but times have changed and so have I. Homeschooling no longer seems quite the tragic prison it once represented in my mind. Suddenly the benefits appear to outweigh the risks. As you likely know if you've been around here for any length of time, my oldest boy has a hard time in school. A very, very hard time. Although he's well-liked and seems well adjus...

DSC_0199 Originally uploaded by Krheiser Here I am with my men, big and little, after my graduation ceremony on Sunday afternoon. I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to walk across that stage and know my undergraduate studies are behind me! I just hope my boys took something away from this, too. Hopefully watching mom earn her degree will plant the seed in their little brains that they can - and should - do the same thing. Oh, and if you're wondering...the red sash represents my recent induction into the Chi Omega chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta Honors Society. I consider this quite an honor as it required the recommendation of a faculty member in order to even be considered.

Instead of giving you an excerpt from the current WIP, I'm going to do something a little different by pulling something old and nearly forgotten off my harddrive. Okay, so it's not my harddrive. It's my flashdrive. Same thing. You know the gig...it's probably neck-deep in typos, errors of all sorts, faulty logic, and whatnot, but here it is in all its glory. Muck stuck to the bottom and sides of her boots, inching its way up the black leather. The slurpy suction of the black mud caused her to stumble, her balance lost for a precious moment before her equilibrium righted itself. Straining to pull her entrapped feet from the grasping soil again and again was becoming tiresome. Her muscles screamed in protest, demanding a respite. Each raggedly indrawn breath burned her lungs. Her hands, trembling with exhaustion, brushed away wet, dangling strands of her dark hair from her rain-washed face. She ignored her body’s traitorous symptoms and pressed on. The river beside her w...

I like to watch television while I eat. Always have. I remember eating dinner and watching Three's Company many an afternoon during my teens. My brother and I would claim our favorite spots on the floor (feet next to the base of the television, bodies sprawled out toward the center of the living room, with our weight balanced on the elbow of choice). We'd spoon goulash or chili into our mouths and watch Jack, Chrissy, and Janet stumble through another funny episode. Strange how we remember the oddest, most insignificant things sometimes, isn't it? Even though I now prefer to sit on the couch or in a recliner while I spoon my dinner into my mouth these days, I still enjoy watching television while I eat. If it weren't for my hubby, we'd probably never have a family dinner at the dining room table. Yes, this all has a point! Last night the hubby had to help a friend fix his truck, so the boys and I were home alone. Yep, you guessed it, dinner in front of the televisio...

I know I haven't said anything recently about the WIP. There's a reason for that. I haven't touched the thing in a couple weeks. I just haven't had time. I've also decided I'm afraid of finishing it. Yep, afraid. I'm afraid it will suck and I'll realize only after I finish the thing that it came unravelled right at the end. At this stage in the game, the threads are winding nicely around each other, but I can so easily see the knot tying them all together slipping free. The logical part of me knows this is unlikely. The insecure child that lives inside my skull is not so sure. Of course, even as I say this, I've been considering actually trying to find an agent/publisher. I know! I'm surprised, too. It's just the thought of waiting for months, possibly even years, for anything to happen that makes me shy away from this idea. Not to mention I have NO IDEA where to market this. One part of me feels as if it might - if we stretch things far enou...

I don't know how many of my readers actually watch American Idol, but I never miss an episode thanks to TIVO. Last night we watched the final 7 battle it out with songs written and/or sang by Mariah Carey. They each did a decent job, but David Cooke stole the show! After he was done singing I looked at my husband and said, "He's a genius." I mean it! To take a song that a woman sang and sang well, and still manage to make it his own in every sense of the word takes some amazing talent. I hope this guy goes all the way to the top.

Soccer season has officially started. The boys had their first practices tonight. It was sunny, but cold. That wind was wicked! What's that? Did I take any pictures, did you ask? Why, yes! I did! And because I know you're just dying to see them, I'll share just a few. I still need to work on composition, but I'm pretty happy with these. The top two pictures are of my boys. This last one is of my sister and her little guy. I used the pre-programmed sports setting on the soccer pics and the portrait pre-settings on my sister and nephew. If tomorrow is nice, I might get some better shots. Tonight I couldn't stop shaking, which really couldn't have helped the autofocus mechanism. Not to mention I didn't get a chance to play with any of the settings in the P, A, S, or M modes. What's the fun of having a SLR if you're just going to use the presets?!?!

While doing some research for a workshop I'm leading on Friday, I ran across this video on TeacherTube .

 

I need practice. Check out my Flickr account to see some of the first action shots we tried to capture with the D40. Not pretty. P.S. I didn't post the good photos, mainly because I was seeking help. The portrait shots were fine.

I got my camera! It's bea-u-ti-ful! After opening the box and getting the lens attached and the straps put in place, we had to give the battery time to charge. Lucky for me, I had an errand to run after work, so the battery charged while I took the boys out to eat and then soccer shoe shopping. I'm happy to report the kids each got a new pair for under $20. Gotta love the Outlet mall! Although I should note that the oldest was a bit bummed when I wouldn't let him get turf shoes and forced him to buy the ones with no toe cleat that are made for outdoor soccer. For him, it's all about appearance right now. Unlike the outdoor shoes that would fit his size 5.5 foot, the turf shoes came in a wider variety of colors and styles. This might not have been the case if we had done our shopping a bit earlier, but things were pretty well picked over by last night. After we got home the boys had to have baths. Stinky creatures! It was finally at bedtime that I was able to ...

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While I'd really like my camcorder back, I'm really more depressed over the fact that you took my family videos when you grabbed that camera bag off my bookshelf this weekend. You didn't just take a piece of equipment you could pawn off, you also nabbed video of my kids playing soccer and basketball. You took the footage of our last family vacation as well as random clips of friends and family. God, you suck. Sincerely, ME

I can admit it. I am spoiled. Rotten even. Yesterday I placed an order for a digital SLR. I'm so excited. Hell, I can't even stand myself right now. I am positively gushing. And just wait until the shipment arrives. I can't even imagine how annoying I'll be then! I bet you want to know what camera I'm getting. My heart was set on a Canon Rebel for so long that it will probably come as a surprise that I ordered a Nikon. The price was right and the camera has some features that I think are really going to help me as a beginner in the world of D-SLRs. I read a bunch of reviews and, after a couple hours of agonizing, I finally bought the thing. I'm really excited by the "newbie" features. There are graphic representations that will instruct me on the impact of any given change to aperture, ISO, and all that good stuff. I think this is really important because most of the time I'm not going to be leafing through the instruction manual or other instr...

If you have five minutes, please fill out this survey for a co-worker/friend of mine who needs it for his Master's class. https://www.umflint.edu/formassembly/forms/view/84

Four jobs I’ve had in my life: 1. Babysitting - I did this throughout most of my teens. 2. Pizza Girl - I can still smell the cheese and hear the radio playing Love in an Elevator... 3. Receptionist - at a few places, some I'd rather not remember! 4. Administrative Assistant / Student / Mom/ Wife = The current job(s) Four movies I’ve watched more than once: 1. Star Wars (4-6) 2. Tombstone 3. Dirty Dancing 4. A Knight's Tale Four favorite places I’ve lived: 1. My childhood home in the middle of nowhere 2. The first house my husband and I bought just because it was ours and we were together! Couldn't wait to move to a better neighborhood, though. 3. My current home int he middle of nowhere 4. Four favorite places I’ve travelled: 1. Bahamas 2. Maine 3. Las Vegas 4. Colorado Four places I most want to see before I die: 1. Egypt 2. British Isles 3. Greece 4. Italy Four of my favorite foods: 1. chocolate 2. ice cream 3. lasagne 4. goulash (my hubby refers to it as chili-lash)