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Showing posts from 2012

My New Toy

I thought about writing a post highlighting our Christmas activities, but realized it would be incomplete if I did it now because we have one last party to attend.  For several years now it's been our tradition to celebrate Christmas with Ken's family on New Year's Day.  So, the comprehensive Christmas post will have to wait another few days. Instead, I thought I'd share some Nikon D5100 photos and, if Blogger will let me, maybe one of the first videos I shot with it.  We'll see.  Blogger doesn't always like me.  The camera has a bunch of "Effect" settings.  These are too fun.  I really like the "selective color" mode.  I can tell the camera to capture up to three separate colors.  In the first picture, I selected green only.  While the tree is quite obvious, you can also see the frames on the wall have green mats as well.   The red in the wreath is pretty.  I really liked this one.   Luckily, my wonderful hubby had bro

Day 9 - Decorated

Decorating the house for the holidays is both a pleasure and a pain.  I love the result.  The bright lights, the smell of the tree, the cutesy decorations scattered around the house.  What I don't love is the hassle of getting everything out of the attic.  (And let's not talk about clean up when Christmas has come and gone!) Our 2012 Christmas Tree Pictures with Santa

Day 8 - Shopping

I can't believe I'm about to type what you're about to read, but it's true!  I am done with my Christmas shopping!  There's only one major gift left to buy and Ken is in charge of getting that little bit of business taken care of... So, my days are once again filled with shopping the Kindle freebies list.... I tend to visit the website about every third day.  On average I think I "buy" 7-10 freebies each visit.  As I don't want to fill up my Kindle with all those files, I send the majority to my cloud reader where they wait in a queue until I decide to read them.  Once I've selected one to read, I send it to my device.  Works like a charm!

Day 5 - Someone I Love

Not a very fancy picture, is it?  Instead, I give you a snapshot of our daily lives.  After a long day's work and some dinner, Ken looks pretty relaxed sitting in his recliner.  As he's got football and basketball alternating on the TV, I'm fairly certain he won't be moving far from that position until it's time for bed. #iHeartFaces

Day 4 - Shadow Play

I had to recruit help for this daily challenge.  Luckily, the little man was up to the task. With a little help from Youtube, he was able to produce this poodle.  I think it's cute! #iHeartFaces

Day 3 - What I'm Reading

This collection of short stories has kept me entertained for the last week or so. Hoping to finish it tonight or tomorrow night. Although, with anew episode of Bones waiting on the DVR, it's more likely that tonight will not be the night I finish it. #iHeartFaces

Day 2 - Elves

So, I was supposed to take a picture of an elf today.  I thought I might be able to find a Christmas tree ornament on the tree, but it seems I'm not much of an elf collector.  So, I made my own little elves sit down and get their picture taken after they finished helping me with the holiday decorations. I think these elves are so much cuter than any ornament could ever be.  :-) #iHeartFaces

Day 1 - Me

I didn't forget to take a picture today. I was simply in a no cell phone coverage zone with maybe one bar and no wireless access. So...this is me. I took the picture at the extended family Christmas party. #iHeartFaces

Book(s) by Regina Sherman

I've gone back and forth on linking my real identity with my alter-ego's.  The reasons aren't complicated.  I'm afraid that my self-published titles could someday hinder my chances of selling to a traditional publisher. I'm also afraid that the types of books I've published under the pseudonym would be problematic when I get around to shopping out my fantasy novels; I fear being pigeon-holed.   Okay, and if I'm being really honest, in the beginning I might have been afraid that the self-published book would get terrible reviews (paranoid much...yes), and those terrible reviews would further damage my future publishing chances. This fear has been lessened.  While not everyone has raved about the book, the response has been favorable.  Small in scale, but favorable.  As I write this post, Amazon shows 4.5 out of 5 stars; granted only five reviews account for this.  Yet, through Amazon's KDP program I've sold quite a few copies and gave away over 30

Writing...It's What I'd Like to Update You On

As quite a few of my previous posts have been about homework, it will probably come as no surprise that I haven't been working on Book #2.  I want to, though!  I'm really happy with the opening chapter, not because it's perfect and I won't end up changing a single thing - that never happens - but because it really does set up my heroine for her defining moment . As I usually tend to start my stories too early, I may need to scrap this chapter in the future, but for now it serves a purpose: it has given me direction. I know what needs to happen next! I love this feeling.  I'm excited to get back to the writing.  First, though, I need to get through the last couple weeks of the semester.   The only other distraction I'm worried about is the holiday season itself.  It's crazy how busy we are this time of year.  This weekend we're going to try to pick out our Christmas tree on Saturday morning before we need to leave for my side of the family'

Willing to Play Along

Used with permission.   See #7.  I'm not usually known for my "sticking-to-it-ness" .  In fact, I'm usually out of the game by day three or four because I forget I'm participating.  Yes, I'm that scatterbrained!  Let's just call it what it is - ADD - and move along. In an effort to keep myself on task with this fun little photo challenge, I'm going to try something new.  A daily calendar reminder.  Here's Day 1. Don't know if anyone else wants to play along, but if you do, let me know.  I want to follow your pictures!

Just a Few More Weeks..

I took next week off work, not so I could go on some fancy vacation, but to help me find the time to work on the last few major projects I need to complete before the end of December.  These projects don't fall in the home improvement or Christmas gifts categories.  Oh, no.  These projects are for school.  As the end of the semester winds ever closer, here's what I have left: Linguistics Class: Finish up the IPA translation of a recorded speech sample (this is 98% done, but I'm not confident in my translation abilities, which means I'll probably second guess myself a few dozen times before turning it in).  Write a 2000-word report of the interview process, which should include some scholarly references to help support my interpretation of the findings.  Compile the appendix and supporting documentation.  College Comp Class: Some reading (that's due by this Thursday) Refine my Teaching Statement.  Rework my Syllabus.  Okay, seeing the items l

Christmas Cards - Done!

Today we had our first real snow of the winter season. This, of course, meant that I forced my family to change out of their comfy clothes (sweatshirts and sweatpants) and into something a little more appropriate for a Christmas Card photo op. Boy, do they love me! I think the effort was well worth it, though.  Look how great our picture turned out! Stationery card View the entire collection of cards.

We Take A Break From Our Regular Programming

Don't tell my instructors, but I spent most of my weekend working on a photo book . I figured homework could wait until Monday Night Football.  While the guys are doing their thing (a.k.a. falling asleep in their chairs), I can work the homework I should have been focusing on Saturday and Sunday. Although, in my defense, this was a limited time offer!!

Stuff

If you're like me and you subscribe to more blogs than you possibly keep up with, you may not have noticed that I've been on hiatus.  Not intentionally, mind you.  I didn't plan to go a month or more between updates.  It just happened to work out that way. Nothing earth-shattering or life-altering has occurred.  I've just been busy out there in the land of Real Life.  School has started.  Not just for my kids, but for me, too.  This means most of my evenings are spent reading textbooks or articles, or working on assignments.  I have two classes this semester that require I pay close attention to due dates.   American English 10 response papers (3-5 pages on average). Create and administer a survey. Translate a recorded bit of speech into IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).  Major Project:  one-hour interview, analysis, and some translation (I think).   Details are supposed to be shared next week.  Teaching College Comp 10 annotated bibliograph

A Deal with the Universe

Near the beginning of last month I logged into my KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) account to check on my sales numbers.  Despite my complete lack of PR after my initial announcement, the book continues to sell in small quantities.  Small as in anywhere between 3-5 copies a month.  It doesn't sound like much, but every little sale makes my day and sends me scrambling to look for new reviews.  So, anyhow, I logged in and found that the month of August was doing extremely well with six sales.  Considering how the previous months had gone, I felt confident enough to make a deal with myself.  Or the universe.  I'm not sure which.  If I get seven sales before month end, I'll start writing the next book in the series. The universe called my bluff.  I sold ten. I'm not feeling book #2.  I'm not satisfied with what I've managed to come up with so far.  The whole thing feels off.   But I had made a deal.  So yesterday I sat down and wrote the opening

Are you ready for some...schooling?

Hey, it can't all be just about the football! We're mostly ready for the school year to begin.  The kids have their backpacks full of folders, notebook paper, and new pens and pencils.  New school apparel, including shoes, have been purchased and put away for the beginning of the school year.  We've attended the orientations and tested out the new locker combinations.  Heck, I've already ordered school pictures for the oldest child with the youngest child's soon to follow.   Can you believe that?  School picture order forms were circulated at the orientations.  Crazy!! So we're as ready as we can be in terms of physical preparedness, but mentally, I'm not so sure.  Unlike most parents, especially those who have been home all summer with the little darlings, I'm not ready for school to begin.  For us, life is so much easier when the kids are on summer break.  Once classes start the real work begins.  Monitoring grades and helping with homework

Renaissance Festival 2012

Well, we made it to the Renaissance Festival once again.  I'm not sure I'll find time in my hectic fall schedule to visit the grounds again, so this was most likely my only visit this year.  I was lucky enough to share the experience with these lovely ladies.. While most of us had been to the festival in years past, we had two newbies with us.  My Aunt Linda, pictured to the far left, and my former step-mom's new husband (not pictured).  The other ladies in the picture (you ma have noticed I colored my hair..red!) are my cousins, former step-mom, and my baby sister.    Considering the 90+ degree weather we were experiencing, I was amazed at the number of visitors who still elected to wear their costumes.  Our group was too wimpy for corsets, skirts, and boots.  We opted for a more casual and cottony approach.  The Planted Man Reminded me of the Ents from LOTR. There's really a man in there somewhere. These sights were the among the fir

It's a Win!

Last night the JV football team played their first game of the year. I must admit the boys started out rough.  Halftime found them down 6-12.  Yet, after a few adjustments, the team began to show their true potential.  The final score 28-12. Now, you may be wondering why I'm rambling on about the JV team when my boy is a freshman.  Well, after some careful consideration, the school decided it was too risky to have two small teams and moved all the freshman up to the JV team.  That happened Monday. Luckily, our boys had been practicing together so they weren't completely unfamiliar with each other. My boy started out on kick-off. He's number 66. Then he moved to defensive end. That was just before he made his final move to the bench. See the bag of ice there?  The team's trainer was concerned he had broken his thumb.  I tried really hard not to be "that" mom, but it's hard not to ask what's wrong when you're right there on the s

Football Pre-Season

I'm conflicted.  I'm not one of those women who looks forward to football season.  In fact, I find football season to be highly annoying when it begins to take over my television.  Even though the real games haven't started my husband is already claiming his Monday Night privileges.  I've had to reorganize my DVR list and cancel some of my recordings in order to accommodate his football addiction. Considering how much I DVR and how often he's forced to watch my shows, I really shouldn't complain.   But that's not why I'm conflicted.  I'm conflicted because while I really find professional football to be a huge annoyance, I'm more than a little bit excited that it's football season!  I've two very good reasons to feel that sense of anticipation.   Here they are.. My little guy is in his second year of JV Youth football.  Strangely enough, he's one of the bigger kids on his team.  And he's not that big!    

Childhood Memories

Okay, so this post is 100% inspired by Wil Wheaton's " Summer memories never fade " post. The only house I really remember from my childhood is the one we moved into when I was three.  The trailer I lived in with my mom and dad prior to the house is kept alive in their memories, not mine.  I think I know what street our trailer was located on when we lived in Fostoria, but probably not.  No, the only house I called home during my formative years was the single story ranch with a full, unfinished basement.  The same house my dad still lives in.  Growing up on that back country road, where the dirt often raised a plume of dust whenever a car or truck would venture by, I spent most of my time with my siblings.  While there were other families with kids on our hilly little road, all the girls were older than me.  Old enough to be my babysitter when a babysitter was still necessary.  It wasn't until my aunt and uncle built a house on the property next to us - prope

Camping and Concerts

That pretty much sums up our summer so far.  It's been a lot of fun.    I guess I'll start with camping. We've got one more trip planned before football season really starts.  We'll be heading back to the very first place we visited this summer.  It's a small, gated, private campground situated on a very picturesque river in mid-Michigan.  Amenities include a camp store, an in-ground heated pool, a hot tub, a pond, and the river, of course.   Once again we'll be camping with friends and family.  We've camped with most of them in the past.  The only newbies to the camping group will be the friends who just purchased a new camper. The rest of the group includes my dad, our best friends and their two boys, and another family of friends (five kids!).  It should be fun.  Slightly chaotic at times, but fun.  The other notable experiences include concerts, all of which occurred at DTE Music Theate r. First, there was the Def Leppard, Poison and Leta Fo

Engagement Pictures

This was a first for me.  I've shot weddings and senior pictures, but never an engagement session.  I was, as you may suspect, a bit nervous.  I was unfamiliar with the location and not quite sure about how to pose a couple.  Oh, sure, I had looked at (stalked) a few professional photographer's websites looking for ideas, but asking a couple to indulge in some PG-rated PDA is, well, a bit awkward.  Lucky for me, Danielle and Shaun were fantastic! We started our shoot at the restaurant where they not only had their first date, but also where he asked her to marry him.  If I have any complaints, its only that I wish my parents had blessed me with longer legs because my angle from beyond the hedge was not ideal.  Just a few inches more would have changed the perspective.   This shot, on the other hand, is much better.  The color photo really didn't do anything for me, though, so I decided to apply some black and white filters. Much better!  I also think th