A little bit of craftiness

So, I did it. I made a dress for my daughter. It's been washed and worn more than once and is still in one piece. I don't own a sewing machine so I had to use fusible web stuff and then I sewed over the top of that. It did take a while but I think it turned out pretty well.
Not too bad for not having a clue...

Wordless Wednesday - We All Fall Down

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Self

I'm trying to work on a project about SELF. Presumably, my SELF. I keep trying to figure out where to begin. I suppose the beginning is the best place.
I was born a poor black child... Oh wait, that's Steve Martin in the Jerk...
I was born in 1970. To 2 NON hippie parents. Both Mom and Dad grew up on farms. My mom in North Ridgeville, OH and my dad in Levant, ME.



Erv and Rita chose to raise their brood in Elyria, OH. I have four younger siblings, 2 brothers and 2 sisters, who all grew up together in a big house in a nice, middle class neighborhood.


We fought a lot as kids but were always together. We all had our own friends and were all involved in school activities. I was on the newspaper and in Drama Club. I was a Girl Scout all through high school. Yep, I'm pretty sure I was the only one in my district with blue hair and combat boots.
I was very fortunate to have parents who encouraged our individuality and yet instilled the fear of their wrath upon me. I've heard people say that parents should treat all of their children the same. I think they got it wrong. What I learned from my mom and dad is that you treat them all EQUALLY but not necessarily the SAME.
My parents are a ginormous part of who I am.
They are the ones who taught me to be myself and how to argue my point. They even taught me that it's ok for 'old' married couples to show affection to one another (no matter how embarrassing it was to me at the age of 14).
My husband likes to say that my family's biggest DYSFUNCTION is that we're overly functional.
I hope that that runs over into my adult life (even if it does require medication to smooth the process along).
So thanks Mom and Dad!

You can go to http://www.creativeeverday.com to see and find out more.

Wordless Wednesday - Rapunzel

While I was away...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I took the kiddos to Ohio to visit BOTH families. These are a couple of my favorite shots from the trip.

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera? It's a Canon EOS DSLR. I'm trying to get my 'eye' back. Any thoughts, hints, suggestions, crazy antecdotes... would be greatly welcomed!

Sound

I'm trying something different. I'm taking part in a monthly challenge put out by the lovely folks at http://creativeeveryday.com This months theme is 'SOUND'. This was kind of tough for me since I'm so visual but here goes...

I could write about all of the sounds I love. I considered it but it was just to cliche. I could write about the sounds I hate but a lot of those gave me the heebie jeebies just thinking about them. SO I thought hmmm... What about the lack of sound? Silence?
Silence can be both peaceful and yet disturbing. I love when everyone has gone to sleep and I can sit and read or just veg out. I always know I need to check when the kids are in a room together and there is no sound. When I'm home alone I hear the smallest noise when all should be quiet; ticking of the clock, the ice maker, the breathing of the axe murderer that I just know is standing right behind me...


Sometimes the most frustrating thing for me is MY silence. The times I should have spoken up but kept my mouth shut. Not offering a kind word to the homeless guy counting his change for coffee. Not stepping in when an adult manhandles a child. Not telling the loud mouth racist at a party that they're a complete idiot. Not shouting at the woman in the car next to me with an infant on her lap that babies don't work that well as airbags.
There was a time when I didn't think twice about that. I would speak my mind and no one ever had to guess what I was thinking. That was before I had the kids in tow. Their safety often stifles my inner smart-ass. I just hope that they grow up brave enough to stand-up for what they believe in and yet smart enough to know when they need to back down... Just a little.

New camera

Woo Hoo! I got a new camera; a Cannon Rebel EOS. It was a painful purchase. It's so hard for me to spend that kind of money on myself. I went to Target, found the camera, picked up a memory card, called my parents. I needed some one to talk me into it and my husband was at work. My dad tried, sort of. I bought it. Of course I didn't open the box right away. It's still returnable if unopened.
Eventually I did open it and boy am I glad I did. I LOVE it! I'm still learning about all of the bells and whistles. I was a photo major at Ohio State almost 20 years ago and seemed to have forgotten a whole bunch of stuff. I'm hoping it will come back.

Here are a few of my first shots.

Clyde is almost always willing to Ham it up.

Claudia, bloody nose and all

Can't go wrong with subjects this cute!

An architectural cruise in Chicago got the old juices flowing.

At a park in Chicago.

I realize that these are pretty basic 'photo student shots' but I was just having too much fun shooting EVERYTHING! I had forgotten how much more I see when I have a real camera in tow.
Stick with me. It will come back... I hope!