2013 photography challenges

I always seem to be taking photos, especially of the kids, but never seem to *quite* get them to turn out the way I want.  Thus, more practice is required ... especially because I have a tendency to take photos in fits and spurts.  So this year, I'm doing a few things to improve my photography skills.

First off, I'm going to start taking one of my cameras everywhere, rather than letting them languish on my desk.  That means making sure I've got batteries charged for both, and I can see a trip to Costco for a supply of AAs (which is what my elderly Minolta uses).

Secondly, I'm participating in two separate photo challenges.  The first is Picaboo's The Places We'll Go:  A 52 week Project.  This promises to be an interesting project, and I'm hoping to learn a lot more about photography along the way.  I always find Picaboo's tutorials valuable, especially for this distracted photographer.

The second photo challenge is from Capture your 365.  Monthly challenges are listed, which include a list of prompts, and you can even receive daily inspiration via email.  I'm looking forward to this one a lot.  I use a similar process for writing, and have discovered a lot about myself in the process.  Who knows what photos this year will bring!

This year promises to be full of photos (and writing, of course!), and it'll certainly be nice to have a series of photos to add to my journal.  I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do this yet, but I'll figure it out as I go along.

Watch your office supplies like a hawk

We had an interesting highlighter episode the other day while I was doing some editing.  I'm not sure whether it was Thing 2 or Emmy who first got their hands on a yellow highlighter, but I spent the next day finding pieces of it all over the house.  Who knew a basic chubby highlighter had so many parts?

Thing 2 first coloured all over his face with it, apparently using it much like face paint.  He was rather proud of himself, and quite miffed at me that it had to come off.  A good scrub with waterproof mascara remover, and it was all off, which was a good thing as we were headed out the door shortly thereafter for the city.  I confiscated the pieces I found, but didn't have anywhere near a complete highlighter.

Later that day, I discovered that Thing 2 had coloured all over his jeans, too.  This in the time since I cleaned him up.  No idea when that happened, but he seems to be very artistic.  Oy vey!  Into the washer went the jeans, along with a bit of stain remover to boot.

Then, I happen to look at Emmy.  She's got a perfectly round, bright yellow patch on the white fur of her back.  Yikes!  Thing 2 gets lectured on why we don't colour on our pets.  Emmy now needs a bath, but with it -20 C outside, I think I'm going to have to resort to either dry shampoo or spot cleaning.

The escapade isn't over yet.  I discover the foam center of the highlighter upstairs in the TV room, and subsequently throw it out.  But I didn't do this fast enough, as the right arm of my glider rocker is now covered in yellow highlighter, too.  Ack!  At least it's washable.

Christmas Eve Chaos

I'm not feeling particularly poetic at the moment, having succumbed to hectic last-minute preparations.  I've managed a bit better this year than most, as the wrapping is done (aside from one gift that the eldest needs to help wrap), my shopping is finished, I picked the last of the packages up from the post office this morning, stocking gifts are wrapped (and sorted ... An important task that didn't happen last year, but which is story into itself), and I've even set aside all of the gifts that need to go to the inlaws’ house tomorrow evening.

I feel a bit guilty, taking a moment to write when my kitchen looks like a chef-related bomb went off, when there’s a mountain of laundry to be done, when the kitchen and living room floors need to be washed, when the sheets on all the beds need to be changed, and when the main floor bathroom needs to be cleaned.  But I need a minute to take a deep breath before I head back into the fray, and I need also to remember what’s most important about this time of year.  Twenty years from now, I doubt whether the kids will remember how clean the house is.  What they will remember, however, is the time we spent together as a family, baking cookies, playing board games (Mousetrap is super-popular at the moment), shopping for families in need in our community, taking meals to Mrs. Claus (who organizes our local Christmas charity, and often forgets to eat this time of year), and all the other myriad things we do together, as a family.

So I'm going to ignore what I can of the clutter and mess that comes from working and having small children, and will take the time to enjoy the holidays with my family, before they’re grown up and gone.  I look forward to the joy and wonder I know I'll see on their faces tomorrow morning, to the love and happiness they bring to our lives.

Now I'm off to mix up a batch of buns for tomorrow (the last of my “must-do tasks”), then once the boys are up from their naps, we’ll make a batch of ginger snaps and the gingerbread cake for tonight’s dessert, during which I'm sure I’ll be serenaded with off-key, oddly-worded Christmas carols (the latest being “deck the halls with macaroni” ... Who knew?).

Do not disturb

The boys have learned, over the last few years, that there are times Mommy absolutely cannot be interrupted, unless there's fire, poop, puke, or blood.  I don't invoke this very often, which means it's usually quite effective when I do.  Over the course of the four or so years I've been using it, though, the interruption criteria hadn't been met once.

Thing 1 came up to me yesterday and poked me, while in the midst of marking some particularly detailed term papers.  I looked at him, then asked, "Is there fire?"

"No, Mommy."

"Is there poop?"

"No, Mommy.  No poop."

"Is there puke?"

"Eww ... no, Mommy.  That's gross."

"Is there blood?" I asked, voice rising a bit, having gotten through the first three criteria without a positive answer.

"Right here, Mommy," he said, showing me his blood-covered finger, sliced open on one of his toys somehow.  I never did figure out exactly what happened.

Oops ... I cleaned him up, apologized for my tone of voice, then had a talk with him about what to do.  Now he knows that not only can he interrupt me, but that he can also tell me, right off the bat, *why* he's interrupting me.  Oy vey.  

Appallingly awful writing

It's almost end of term, and I'm up to my eyeballs in marking.  I don't want to see another paper for a very long time, but I have 11 of them that I need to get marked tonight, and another batch coming in on Thursday.

I'll admit that I've been procrastinating.  To get the worst of it over first, I've sorted out the worst three papers to mark first.  The problem?  The first one is so appallingly awful that I can't seem to make it through a paragraph without wanting to chuck it across the kitchen.  I'm beginning to wonder why I bother teaching at all, as everything I say seems to bounce off the sides of some students' heads, never mind going in one ear and out the other.  What's even more frustrating is that these are the second drafts I've seen, and the worst one doesn't seem to have made a *single* change from the last go around.

I'm tired, sick (damned bronchitis), and frustrated ... maybe it's not such a good plan to mark these now.  I'm going to take a deep breath, pack this stack back up, and try again tomorrow.  In the meantime:  Scotch, anyone?