.

New link!

2008-05-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the actual link for my new blog. www.christieprovostphotography.com/blog :)

Update your bookmarks...

2008-05-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

if you're still stopping by, that is. Here is my new Wordpress blog.

crud, i can't get this link to show up.www.christieprovostphotography.com/blog/

Whew, it's been a long time!

2008-04-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

First, thanks to all of you who have sent me such sweet emails. I didn't mean to drop off the face of the earth. I just don't have the time I had before to do blogging stuff. I'm going to switch this blog over to Wordpress shortly here and link to it from my website so I better actually keep that one up.

Homeschooling's been great. We're so happy living in the country again.

I've still been taking pictures and uploading them to flickr. Here are some to share over the last few months.

Here are a couple from a pb shoot in December. Gosh, it's been a long time.

Sisters indoors.

Got my Westcott softbox that month too and had fun with that.

I (er, I mean Clara) got her first pettiskirt in February.

My first real prop in March.

Some rescued Foster Farms chickens on seamless with the softbox again.

And my first complete stranger session at the end of March.

And pretty much only willing model anymore is Clara.

I will TRY to make time to catch up on everyone's blogs. I have read some the last few months but rarely made a comment.

My little sister

2007-11-02T23:04:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like blogging but I just can't take this sad music on here anymore. I'm feeling obsessed about coming online and looking at pictures of my dog but I can't stand it. I need to think about something else for a while and stop feeling so guilty about him.

Oh, and THANK YOU for all your kind, sweet comments. They REALLY did make me feel better.

This was a practice session with my little sis and the d200. We drove around trying to find somewhere we could get some good backlighting. The sun set faster than I expected and I ended up stopping in a cul de sac and lucky for me, she was happy to pose in the middle of this street and not care who was watching, lol.

Used some blue texture here.

Clara joined in the fun too.

More texture here and I should have turned her hands in so you only see their profile.

Look at the focus here! I LOVE this camera's accurate focus!!!

Clara with her AUntie again. Clara loves her so much, she has called her Happy Day for a long time. She couldn't say her real name so she called her Happy, which morphed into Happy Day, lol.

Saying goodbye

2007-10-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

I didn't think saying goodbye to Ziggy would be this hard. The whole family gathered around him at the vet. He thumped his tail twice when he saw Nicholas and he rested his head on Christopher's feet. He was such a good dog. He was the best running partner, for years he was the one who would accompany me at night on trips out to the garage when I was scared, he was always gentle with the kids and he was ever patient and grateful for any attention.

We rescued him from the local pound when he was very young and he has been a faithful companion ever since. The kids all cried themselves to sleep tonight.

This is the only other picture I can find of him on flickr.

Our old vet had this on his office wall and I always loved it.

A Dog's Prayer
Treat me kindly, my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between the blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.

When it is cold and wet, please take me inside... for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer used to bitter elements... and I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth... though had you no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in all the land... for you are my god... and I am your devoted worshiper.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

And, beloved master, should the Great Master see fit to deprive me of my health or sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of eternal rest...and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.

--Beth Norman Harris

I'll miss you, old boy. :(

My poor dog. :(

2007-10-28T23:56:00.000-07:00

My old black lab is very ill tonight. Since we've moved here, he's been treated at the emergency vet for internal bleeding, he ran away and was missing for TEN days and then was subsequently attacked on a hike with me by another dog. :( I'm so mad at myself for not taking him into the vet sooner but with money being tight, I was waiting for the symptoms to reappear so the vet could actually see them before I went back in.

I'm staying up with him tonight and we're heading to the vet first thing in the morning. I'm so sad and I feel so guilty. I really hope he's ok. He's been such a good, patient, loyal friend. He loves nothing more than his tennis ball and he's too weak to run for it anymore.

Here's a picture of him last year. He was, of course, waiting for me to throw the ball.

And another of him in healthier times.

Please think positive thoughts or pray for my Ziggy!

Good grief!

2007-10-13T01:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's been forever but I don't want every blog post to be me moaning about how long it's been and how bad I suck at blogging, LOL, so I'll just leave it. Thanks you guys for all your sweet comments. I do read them and appreciate them. I'll understand if you take me off your bloglines (sob) because I haven't really responded on anyone else's blogs either. We're getting ready for a camping trip on the beach so I may not even have time to catch up on that yet.

I have SO many pictures to share, just so many. At the risk of looking once again like I favor my youngest child (which I most certainly do NOT, she is the only one who will cooperate), I'll share several of Clara.

I took her and the rental d200 to a local park. There is an historic town jail and other fun buildings adjacent to the park so we hung out there and played.

Oh wait, this was one of the first handful of shots I took after the d200 arrived. She was in the shed, picking at some spilled cat food.

Now here we are at the park. You'll notice that the Italian hat has made another appearance, lol.

I just love this beautiful building.

My favorite! Capturing spontaneous moments like this is SO much easier with the awesome focal points on the d200.

This is the jail, it's so tiny!

Ok, look at this. I went back the next day and got a few of my boys too.

Phew, I'm feeling a little more caught up.

How do I keep falling so behind?

2007-09-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

Argh, I am obviously SO behind on blogging, answering questions on my blog, commenting on others' blogs. Ever since I got my business license, I've been working on my FlashPalette, planning a few portfolio building sessions, etc. Some days I wake up and think, forget this! I can't do it, I've changed my mind... then I will edit some pictures that I love and think NO, I've GOT to do this, I LOVE it!

ANyway, my husband took the 3 boys camping for the next 2 days so I'm alone with just Clara. I will try to catch up on blogging and commenting. I've gone through about 1/3 of my blogs so if I haven't commented on yours yet, I will soon!

I was tagged waaaaay back to list 8 interesting things about myself. I am such a loser that I don't even remember WHO tagged me, but here goes.

1. I speak near fluent Russian and I would LOVE to work as a translator. I just LOVE language.

2. I birthed 3 of my 4 children at home, underwater in a spa on the patio. When I had Nicholas, I refused to take my underwear off so at the last minute, my midwife cut them off. I have them saved in a box somewhere. lol

3. I once breastfed one of a good friend's twin babies when she had to have surgery on her leg.

4. I developed a strong craving for non food items during each pregnancy. I chewed on clay (I won't tell you what form the clay took, lol) and my midwife even brought me some cleaned dirt from Germany specifically made for pregnant women.

5. After years of hating most forms of exercise, I discovered I LOVE to run. Like really, really love it. Dream about it, read about it, long exhilirating runs.

6. My absolute favorite musician/singer is Prince. When I was younger, I used to think I was going to move to Minnesota and marry him.

7. I'm an animal rights activist. I used to be the loud, sign waving kind but now I've mellowed to a polite, not-in-your-face type. I have such empathy for all kinds of animals and I cannot bear to see or think about an animal feeling pain.

8. I dreamed of having a sibling for my whole childhood. My 14 year old sister was born when I was nearly 20. :)

Now, if you're not asleep yet, I was also tagged by Jennifer to list 4 of everything! I hate to make this entry SO painfully long but I really just need to catch up on everything. Skip ahead to the pictures if you wish. :)

4 of Everything

4 Jobs I've Had
Volunteer Librarian at Animal Protection Institue, desk job at my dad's produce company and 2 very boring jobs at fast food joints

4 Places I've Lived
California and New York are it!

4 Fave TV Shows (keep in mind that we don't get tv reception here so I don't know anything very recent)
Seinfeld, X-Files, 80's version of the Twilight Zone and Sisters (does anyone else remember this show?)

4 Places I've Been on Vacation (using the term vacation loosely, haha)
Hawaii, New York, Minnesota, Ft. Bragg, CA

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again
The Shining, The Others, Silence of the Lambs and Cape Fear

4 Favorite Dishes
Alu Mattar and Samosas, Vegetarian Lemon "Chicken", Potato Knishes and plain old avocado sandwiches

4 Places I'd Like to Be
New York, Maine, Russia and Bali

So, these are some pictures from a park day couple weeks ago. I could photograph this girl forever. She is SO cute and photogenic.

There's some purple fringing in the water here but I really don't care unless I print it.

Here's Nicholas underneath the bridge. He was playing with a stick, excuse me, he was playing with a *sword*. haha

There is this really cool barn/building at the park.

Lastly, this is Benjamin, who detests having his picture taken.

Angela, the only homeschooling "advice" I can offer it to follow your heart. There are so many different routes to go and so many people that will gladly offer you advice. Homeschooling is really like parenting. Some kids like to sit down and do workbooks and others (like mine) can happily spend their days outside, chasing butterflies and riding their bikes. Learning comes in so many forms. In my opinion, math and reading are no important than art and nature. This is one fun website though. Lots of different articles to read and such. www.homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/index.htm

And Ellen, I don't go to MDC anymore. I used to spend a lot of time there but I burned out after a while. That place is SO big and I don't really like conflict, so... :)

Teach your children

2007-08-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

That's what I've been doing lately, teaching my children. Actually, we're more unschoolers than anything so not too much "teaching" goes on but we do learn a lot together. :) I haven't blogged for looks like 20 days. I haven't visited many blogs either, sorry about that. I've been really busy with homeschooling and working on the technical end of my photography.

Meghan asked if I use Portraiture and I'll just tell you here instead of going back into comments that no, I don't. I just use low level Noiseware on my RAWs. I do have a really nice Portraiture type action that I got for FREE at ILP. It's Jewelie's skin smoothing action.

I just have a few random shots that I took a couple weeks ago. I have SO much more to share but I will have to make those another entry.

Mr. Seventies boy here with his shag.

I discovered our shed has great light, or should I say great shadows. I burned the background a little here to make it completely dark.

This is a recent favorite of mine. I have really been working on bouncing flash and outdoor fill flash. Bounced the flash on the wall here.

I cannot say enough how much I love Nichole Van's vintage actions, seriously.

I used to LOVE to write poetry but don't make the time anymore. This one just came to me while looking at this picture. I don't really care how "good" it is. It just felt good to write something again, however imperfect.

my sweet, sweet dress-up girl
my ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies girl
my swinging, singing, laughing, dancer
my won't take no for an answer
so feminine but wild
my prissy, pink girl child

Down by the river

2007-08-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

We spent a day at the river last week with our homeschool group. I have a fear of the actual raging, moving water river. This was actually a little swimming pool area off the main river.

Just a quick snap of where we were. I am NO good at landscape shots. The little bridge way up high is the bridge we drive across to go in and out of our little town. It's the tallest bridge in California. Yikes!

I photographed almost exclusively boys all day, for some reason. My pictures are usually of pink, ruffly, snuggly, cutesy girls but man, the little BOYS that day were so cute and hilarious.

You've seen my son, Nicholas and on the right is his friend. We'll call his friend Mr.T because 1.his mom might not want me revealing his name online and 2.his name actually starts with the letter T. lol

Just a couple of cool dudes, right? Hanging out, getting some sun and checking out the waves.

They're cool as cucumbers until a girl arrives on the scene.

"I'm not looking at her".
"Neither am I".

"Hey, let's show her how tough we are!" Doesn't she look impressed?

"Aww, she's not so bad. She's kind of cute".

"And she's got a pretty cute swimsuit on".

"Um, I don't know about this. You guys are giving me the creeps!"

This is Mr. T. This kid was cracking me up with his goggles on.

Nicholas looking up at me.

Some days, he says "Mommy, you can never take a picture of me ever again". Then later he'll say, "I changed my mind. You can take my picture anytime you want".

This is the last one, sorry so many! This is actually my favorite. I shot it and love it for the dark shadows and interaction between the dog and him. This is the nearly adult son of a good friend of mine.

New hat and lens!

2007-08-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

My little sister recently got back from a trip as a student ambassador in Italy and France. She brought home a beautiful hat for Clara, the most well made hat I have ever seen.

I also have a new Nikkor 28-70mm 2.8 lens! I completely emptied out an old life insurance fund and promised my next born child to the camera store. Ha, I'm kidding about the next child but I did empty out the fund. Eh, who needs life insurance, right? :) Seriously, I wanted one professional quality, workhorse lens that I could count on for portraits, so this is it!

Hiding next to an old oak tree.

Here she is sitting all forlorn on our old rusty merry-go-round.

This is my favorite! I was actually considering sending this lens back. It's SO big and heavy and awkward. But to get this amount of sharpness and clarity with very little pping made me reconsider.

p.s. Am I the only one who remembers this song? I loved it way before I had my first Nikon. lol

30mm

2007-07-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's very late, 1 in the morning but I need to post this or I'm going to forget to update. I rented the Sigma 30mm 1.4 for a week and had so much fun with it. I hated to send it back.

My last and favorite! I thought of using this one for the free canvas offer but I think when the edges are cropped, it might be too overwhelming. What do you guys think?

Funky Teen

2007-07-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone for their responses. You guys are so sweet to leave such thoughtful messages. It is really nice to know that I'm not the only one who is so emotional about this! I wonder sometimes though, if photography is so tied to emotions, how do you perform professionally? I mean, say I started doing child portrait photography and I have a shoot and I just show up and say, "You know, I'm just not FEELING it today so we're going to have to reschedule"? That doesn't work! Lol

A realtor friend of mine has asked me to do some real estate photography for her so I think I will just do the basics like get my business license and figure out how to charge for sales tax so I'm legal and then go from there.

ANyway, these pictures are of the son of a good friend of mine. I LOVE this kid. He is sooo cool and funky but so approachable and friendly. He is wonderful to photograph but a little too cool to try the poses that I asked him to, lol.

Tried some cross processing here.

One of my first few tries with texture here.

Thanks for looking!

Coming out of my funk

2007-07-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

When I was living with my parents for that extended period, photography felt like my salvation. Every night, no matter how hard the day was living with my parents and worrying about when we would have a house, I could upload my pictures and play with them for hours. Creating pictures night after night was the best therapy ever!

I had great expectations for moving here and the reality was it was a BIG change. Our marriage was feeling rough, missing family and friends and caring for the kids... it was just too much and my zest for picture taking was gone... just like that, into thin air.

I really feared that my "talent" was just a stress-induced fluke, that I wasn't meant to take pictures anymore. Sense any self pity in that statement? Yeah, there was plenty of that too. lol I can't take a picture if don't "feel" the picture, does that make sense? If someone asks me to take a quick snapshot, I just don't want to do it.

So, after finally giving up and saying to myself FINE, if it's not meant to be, then fine, I felt free again... free to try and fail and have FUN with it again. I don't need to worry about the possibilities of starting a business like I was before. I'm going to just enjoy it for now.

So, here are just a few from our last park day.

this little girl has such light eyes, i can't do a thing to them in ps. they are so sparkly already.

this one cracks me up and i just LOVE it. they are totally sharing an inside joke.

i almost tossed this one. i came *this* close but i'm so glad i gave it some time.

Black and White Beauty

2007-06-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

Now that we're back in the country and hanging out with our okie friends (lol), we don't just have park days or educational field trips. These are backwoods country people! They have pellet gun parties! I admit, I don't like guns but after living here for a while, I caved and bought my boys not true pellet guns, but air-soft guns, which are about as safe as they get. The kids were decked out in full camo gear (some of them), they had all kinds of elaborate safety gear and they had a BLAST.

After setting that scene, I will say that I didn't take any pictures of the wild boys, lol. The adults stayed in the house or supervised the little ones near the trampoline and kiddie pool so I didn't venture out and risk losing an eye.

I was, however, captivated by a little cutie and her mom.

Here is the little chub in the kiddie pool.

This one was my absolute favorite. I love the light and her pensive expression. I burned the shadows around her for a dramatic look. I learned that little trick here. http://crunchyphotoblog.blogsome.com/

New Friend

2007-06-23T13:24:00.001-07:00

Quick post before I forget to do it again. Clara got invited over for a swim day at M's house.

Here is M, contemplating me and my camera. I love how she tilts her head. her little face is just so expressive. She cracks me up.

Watering flowers

Lazy burning job here

What do you think? Color...

or black and white?

Together

You can see Clara's new pixie cut here. She has cut her hair so much and it has finally evened out. Now, we can start growing it out again. Yay!

There was a time

2007-06-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

when I wondered if my 12 year old would EVER read! We homeschool and for us that doesn't mean we do "school" at home. We are VERY relaxed and prefer to learn when the kids are interested in something instead of forcing it on them when they could care less. We go on plenty of field trips, do science experiments, read aloud, lots and lots of things but we didn't push the reading. So, when my son went from reading 3 letter words to reading decent sized novels in just a few months, I was beyond ecstatic.

So, when our power unexpectedly went out a few nights ago, and all of my kids piled into the recliner for my oldest to read to them by candle and flashlight, I was delighted once again. Not only for the reading aspect of it, but they were squished TOGETHER in a chair, enjoying each other's company. To say that my kids don't usually get along is an understatement. Squabbling, screaming, hitting and crying are the norm around here.

These pictures are so far from being technically "good". I took them for ME and I'm ok with that.

When I was editing these, the song He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother was in my head. lol

We made it.

2007-06-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

We are here. We've actually moved. This has been such an emotional time for me. After all the waiting and hoping to get here, I feel so lonely and homesick. As much as I needed my own space, I miss my mom and dad and sister. I miss having someone to cook dinner with and the kids always having an available adult to attend to them. I don't do well with change and I guess this is nothing different...

I've spent many days crying and moping, not even wanting to pick up my camera. I didn't capture any of our moving or settling in, I was just too down. I'm feeling a little better now.

I know that I was tagged by a few people, sorry that I let it sit for so long. The question was list 5 reasons why I blog.

1. I started blogging to document our land clearing and homebuilding process but you all know how that turned out...

2. Share my photographs and watch my progress.

3. I used to think that anyone who said they had online friends was delusional but it's true... I actually care about my blogging friends and love reading your updates.

4. It feeds my narcissistic side. J/K

I can't think of a fifth reason.

So I have a few recent shots to share.

Clara turned 3 since I have blogged last.

Here is a new friend, M, of hers. She's a close neighbor and Clara wails to see her every time we walk by in the stroller.

and in bw, can't decide which one is better.

Lounging around in the doorway. The light was so nice here.

This white hat has a story. My little sister has had a few birthday parties at a local bowling alley. The girls all wear these terrible, ugly, hip hop hats. Clara somehow managed to snag one from the last party and she wears it all the time.

Here she is with her favorite kitty and the hat.

I promise I will check everyone's blogs later today! I've missed everybody. :)

Hike at Sunset

2007-05-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to catch up on blogging my flickr pics. I start getting upset when my pictures are stacking up and I haven't blogged them. :)

We went to feed the chickens over the weekend and then took a short hike down the street. There was a historic stone building at the beginning point.

Look! I actually do have more than one child. Rare occasion that anyone other than Clara would sit for me. He was happy here. I told him to look bored. lol

You can see the unfortunate spot where she cut her own hair. (sigh)

I was so happy to finally not be in full sun. The setting sun cast a warm light everywhere. I loved it!

piggyback ride

Um, could you stop taking pictures for a second so we can get this show on the road? See how bored they look?

Taking a rest on the bench.

I did NOT tell her to do this! Do you believe me?

Tossing rose petals

My absolute most favorite of all! I love how the setting sun is right between them and how her little rear end is shimmying and shaking as she runs to catch up. lol

Now I've got to get myself going. We're running a small load of stuff up to the new house. :)

A Shoot in the Park

2007-05-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

First things first: We are meeting our realtor at the new house tomorrow to get the KEY!!!!!! I have been SO depressed just waiting the last week. The bank kept stalling and stalling and we were beginning to wonder. I have been too down to really take many pictures and just feeling blah... I'm SO EXCITED!!!

Now... we had a playdate arranged at a park so that Clara could meet and play with a 2 yr old cousin she has never met.

My favorite Aunt mentioned that the parents of little cousin might want to visit Sears for little cousin's portraits while they came up to visit. I stopped her right away. "No, don't go to Sears! I can do better than Sears. Let's just meet at the park and I'll do her portraits!"

After I got off the phone, I thought, WTH,did I just say that? So I was really nervous at the park since I haven't seen my cousin (the father of 2 yr. old cousin, LOL, is that too confusing?) in years and never met his wife...

The little girl was so cute and Clara just loved playing with her but man, was it hard! Full sun (of course, that's all I ever get!), shadows, raccoon eyes and a little girl who didn't want to look at me. She briefly glanced at me a couple times so I had to be fast.

On the playground

Last one down the slide is a ...

Rotten egg!

The Old Grey Mare

2007-05-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

she ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be. Remember that song? It was one of the first songs I learned to play on the piano. We went riding on an old brown mare when we went to feed our chickens and the kids had a blast. Dh's whole family are country folk; farmers and used to be ranchers. It's only been visiting our chickens at his aunt's house that we've spent so much time with horses.

The boys were pretty confident riding bareback but my Clara was so cutely nervous about it.

She's watching the horse get his pad and halter put on in the barn.

This is the same horse my dh rode when he was a child. He's telling Clara it's ok, Natoma won't hurt her. Clara LOVES to brush and feed Natoma every week but getting on her was a different story.

Clara sitting alone on Natoma before they went out riding. Every time the horse made a move, Clara would say, "Daddy? Daddy?"

We are signing our closing paperwork Monday at 9am. The bank still has not sent us the necessary paperwork but our realtor is hoping this will force them into a corner. All they need to send us is one piece of paper and the houes will be ours!

Homeschool Field Trip

2007-05-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

I'm so tired of complaining about this homebuying process, but... I'm SO angry right now. We are ready to sign the paperwork and close. The banks, on the other hand, are stalling. It's long and boring and complicated so I won't go into it. I'm just done living here, I'M DONE! Doesn't the universe hear me? I AM DONE!

I can only handle so much. This guest house was only supposed to be a PITSTOP while we closed on the acreage and then we were going to start building our house. Oh, how could we have been so naive!!! Enough already! I go back and forth between feeling furious and spitting mad and crying... I'm just done.

May 10th is the date the bank says they will foreclose on the seller's loans and then we will lose the house. That means we have to sign the closing paperwork May 8th, which is next Tuesday. This has to come through.

Ok, now that that's out of my system. We joined friends for a trip to the Sacramento Train Museum.

Playing peekaboo outside

By the river, waiting for our museum tour to start

Vintage signs inside the museum

That's my son in the middle, doing the unmentionable. I feel such unspeakable pride looking at this picture. ;)

Clara, trying to catch up to her buddies

I guess since this was a train museum, I should show one picture of a train.

Another Park Day

2007-04-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

I have been so behind on blogging. I've been on an emotional roller coaster with this darn house! We've had a lot of little setbacks but the worst one was dh stopping by the house to find a notice on the front door that the county was going to auction the house off next week!!! Apparently, the sellers were not completely honest about how far behind on their house payments they were. :(

Right now, we're planning on doing the final walk through in the next couple of days and signing the closing paperwork by the end of the week. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I have felt that my photography is really stagnating recently. Maybe it's just the depression over the moving stuff...

ANyway, we joined friends for a park day last week.

Getting a drink.

These little felons were picking poppies! (Here in California, it's illegal to pick the state flower, LOL)

Ahem, still more illegal activity

This little girl is so shy. She makes for some of the best pictures with her serious expressions.

Leaning on Mommy's legs.

This little girl makes it so easy for me. :)

Vintage Coca Cola Girl

2007-04-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

My dad has an antique Coke machine and I snapped a few quickly while my dd stepped in front of it. After some cc and encouragement at ILP, I used the idea to have her drink out of an old Coke bottle too. :)

First, the black and whites.

Gee, this one doesn't look posed at ALL, does it? LOL

Some vintage color

My teen sister, my "assistant" was making her laugh.

The only one I did in full on color.

The little problem with our house has been ironed out. Everything is going well and we should close next Friday!!! I'm THRILLED about the house but it's very bittersweet. My very first friends as a mother are all down here, my parents, my sister. It has truly been a blessing to be down here again... just not something that is good for us long term.

I really need my own house. I'm looking forward to having the TV OFF all the time, to stock the cupboards with vegan only food and to have my animals and children running around outside.

Easter

2007-04-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

We've had just a minor setback with the house. Apparently, an easement wasn't recorded by the county so we can't close escrow until the sellers take care of that. Aaarrrgh, I can't wait anymore! I'm just hoping and praying that things come together smoothly.

Anyway, I got some really fun, colorful pictures on Easter. Here is my Clara, showing me her basket. Can you tell she's really happy?

searching for eggs

and searching...

and searching

clara got a fairy costume in her easter basket. she needed a little help putting it on.

what are you eating, clara?

fairy wings

lastly, i finally figured out how to make a storyboard!

Random pictures

2007-04-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

I don't even feel like writing this. I just got done reading all my other blogs in our little group and I feel drained. So much emotion and heartfelt words and of course, great pictures on top of it.

I don't feel particularly excited with these shots. I think it's because my camera is full of Easter pictures and I still have to finish editing images from earlier in the week and I'm geting bored of them, lol. I will start on Easter editing tomorrow. Can't wait!

here is my little ballerina in my parents' old-fashioned bathroom. This is a vintage conversion with a little bit of texture.

My Nicholas

My little sister, A.

As always, a few from the park

Forgot to mention, shot all of these in RAW. :)

One week into escrow...

2007-04-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

and things are going great! Our loan is moving along fine, the home inspection is tomorrow morning. I called the county this week to find out our zoning and we are allowed to have our chickens! We can also have horses, goats, donkeys, etc. I told Benjamin that we could have a couple of goats to eat the poison oak and he said, "I would rather have a dirtbike."

I feel giggly when I think of what it's going to be like to have our own house again. Here is just a quick snap of the house from the long driveway. I will take some more of the property tomorrow.

You can just barely see the wraparound deck on the right.

I just started week 4 of the MLK course and here are a few I took for week 3 at the park.

They're holding hands here. :)

R in Vintage

Sometimes I just love backlighting.

She's very seriously showing me this flower.

Lastly, I think these 3 would make a great storyboard. What do you think? And can anyone offer me any tips on making one? I've tried and tried but never figured it out. :)

Hurray!!!!!

2007-03-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

As you probably guessed, we got the house! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I can't wait to pick up our chickens from dh's aunt, who is keeping them, and let the dogs out of the tiny run they're staying in. Oh, I am so happy.

The funny thing is, after all this stress of living with my parents, I'm going to miss them so much. My kids have gotten accustomed to always having an available ear to listen to them or shoulder to cry on. I think living with extended family is a wonderful, beneficial thing. I would love to buy property with my parents and each build our own house but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Now, we're making appointments for home and pest inspections, loan stuff and moving our money around. My days are already a whirlwind of to-do's but I'm NOT complaining.

Here are just a few from our last park day.

ok, this one was on the way to the park,lol.

bottom left hand corner, you can see her mommy trying to take a picture of her cute sour face.

i like the colors in this one. looks dreamy and the trees look painted.

pulling up some saggy pants.

my favorite- father and son

I started the MLK photography course recently so that's keeping me busy with some pretty boring assignments. It's exciting to learn though.

Windy Day

2007-03-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the pics... we made an offer on a house in the town we are dying to get back to.

The pros on this house are:
*1 full acre so we will have no problem keeping our chickens and may need a couple pygmy goats to eat all the overgrown blackberries.
*mostly FLAT but some nice gentle slopes that the kids can ride their bikes down
*really long, private driveway and completely private house
*clean, updated house
*good neighborhood that will have good resale value in a few years
*only 1 mile from a very good friend
*close to my favorite running trails

now, the cons:
*we will be seriously strapped for cash while we juggle 2 mortgages until our acreage across the river sells
*only 1 bathroom (with 4 childred)
*old deck that is essentially 2 stories up so if the kids think they can play up on the rail, it could be really dangerous
*neighbors have a pond... mosquitoes may be a problem and we would need a sturdy fence so the kids never made it down there

i can't wait until tomorrow to find out if our offer has been accepted. i want to be in this house sooooooo bad. i want to cook in my own kitchen. i don't want to share a room with 5 other people anymore.

so, i went to help a friend do some cleaning up on a house that she's trying to sell. the kids played outside while we worked.

she has 4 year old twin girls. here's one of them.

searching for ladybugs

here's the other twin. these girls are so cute.

this is actually my very favorite image of the day. judging from the comments and favorites on my flickr, it's not the most popular but something about this one. i think this is more my style. i prefer the moody, dark black and whites over the fluffy, beautiful and fun pictures. she's standing in a doorway with the other windblown, dusty little girls and it looks like little orphans to me, lol.

waiting in line.

i hope to be posting tomorrow that we are in escrow for this house!!!!!!!

Now we're cookin'!

2007-03-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

With solar cookers, that is. :) We had a homeschool solar cooker making day with friends last week. Interestingly enough, I didn't manage to take a single picture of the kids making or even using their solar cookers. Hmm, why is that, you're asking? Because I was too busy snapping the super photogenic toddlers around me. Then, why did I even title this Now we're cookin', you may further be wondering? Because it's the only title I could come up with and I like this one, so...

L, with her Great Dane guardian.

A truly "rocking" silhouette!

Surrounded in a pink glittery scarf

In BW

Striking a pose

In BW

Glaring, lol.

Dh and I have officially ditched the idea of a FirstDay Cottage. They're sending our deposit back and now we're looking hard at repo'd houses on property. Sitting in the lender's office earlier this week, I started crying *3 times* when I realized just how tight our financial situation is. I was so embarrassed. I really don't want to wait until our acreage sells before we buy our next home/land. It's just too hard here. The realtor called with a new repo today so dh and I will discuss possibilities tonight.

Whoopee- new actions!

2007-03-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

I got paid for a petsitting job and bought 2 new sets of actions.

This is my Nicholas using Childish David's black and white.

Here he is using Nichole Van's color pop action. I think I'm in love! I don't usually like to go so bright but I love it here.

This is my own conversion but I love his eyes and I've been wanting to stick it in here.

I took some pictures at my good friend's birthday party over the weekend and sadly, the outdoor ones didn't turn out too great but I loved this one of her 2 sons playing pool together.

Little Girls

2007-03-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

At the park again

Showing Mommy her dirty hands

If we had a house right now, I would have this one framed.

And speaking of houses, we've been talking about the property. We've both realized that our property could easily go a year before it sells. The fact is it's in a very remote area, not an easy commute, etc. I can't live here with my parents much longer though. I don't feel like I'm LIVING here, it's more like I'm WAITING. Waiting for the realtor to call, waiting for someone to make an offer, waiting for something to happen but it's not going to happen!

We're going to look into buying now and making double payments until the property sells. Dh is so financially conservative so this is a scary thing for him to consider. Our realtor is sending us a list of foreclosures and we're meeting with a mortgage person. We're going to be very careful not to make a rash decision.

I'm trying to put forth a lot of positive energy into this. I'm picturing us buying in our old town and building the FirstDay or finding a little fixer on some property. I know this is going to work out, and SOON!

Friends at the Park

2007-03-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

Met a friend at the park yesterday. Her kids are so great in front of the camera while mine scamper away.

S, looking so cool with his toothpick. I love how these kids pose for me. The sun was SO harsh but this was the best I could do.

My friend, K, kissing her son. :)

I call this one 'Standoff', lol. At first I thought I couldn't see any emotion from the girl whose back is to the camera, but then I saw her clenched fist. Too cute.

Sillies on the wall. I love how the little girl, Q, has her hair covering half her face. She is a real beauty.

Gosh, I guess I really prefer black and whites. I find myself tossing the colors to the side lately.

Ok, this one turned out ok in color. The sun really was too harsh for color but I like this one. Her eyes are brilliant. Love her color coordination, lol.

Red blog, blue blog, old blog, NEW blog!

2007-03-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, what an undertaking. I told myself I would switch everything over from Livejournal in the next week or two. Once I got started, I couldn't stop. I imported every post from LJ tonight using this really cool tool I got here. http://linuxlore.blogspot.com/2006/12/livejournal-to-blogger.html

While doing this, the song 'Starting Over' by John Lennon kept popping into my head.

No one's to blame why time flies so quickly...
But when I see you, darling
It's like we both are falling in love again
It'll be just like starting over... over
Starting oveaaaaaaaah

Only someone as sentimental and sensitive as me would feel wistful and pangs of sadness from switching blog sites. I'll miss you, Livejournal.

I have just one new picture for now, a few different conversions for it because like usual, I couldn't decide.

Earmuffs aren't just for outdoors anymore.

Black and white

Vintage

snow day

2007-03-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

went to the property twice this week so the kids could play in the snow. this is the first thing they saw when we arrived.

we went up the steep hill check out daddy's almost completed fence.

i love this one because while the other 3 are playing, my youngest ds is eating snowflakes, oblivious to everything else.

watching her brothers

i was so happy to catch this right as he threw the snowball at me, lol.

concentrating really hard on a snowball.

this moss and snow on this tree caught my eye as we were leaving.

we got stranded on the way home in the snow. i couldn't figure out how to work the 4w drive so we stopped at this taco bell to wait for dh to come. this tree was illuminated by several outdoor lights that turned it pink!

frames

2007-02-26T23:18:00.000-08:00

playing around with frames in photoshop tonight. it's addicting. i have to tear myself away from the computer after this.

this is an old picture, playing around with it again.

this is recent, my clara on the merry go round.

now, if i could just figure out how to keep the frame even on both sides using the marquee tool.

Flash!

2007-02-25T23:57:00.000-08:00

dh bought me an external flash for valentine's day. i got some practice while watching a friend's animals.

this girl is such a goofball! she is rowdy and crazy with the other 2 dogs but if she's alone with me, she falls to the floor.

this one has some blur but it cracks me up because the dog whose face is in the bottom corner is always at the bottom of roughousing/play fighting between these dogs.

after the kids went to bed, i practiced some more on my mom's cats. this is jigs. she was rescued after her owner died.

i'm loving this flash!

homeschool park day

2007-02-23T23:33:00.000-08:00

park days are so much fun because there's more than just my kids to photograph!

brothers. these two are so sweet together.

comparing cell phones. these are some of the teens in our group. they are such sweet, well adjusted kids.

2 little girls running together. i used aly's black and color action on this one. i think it looks dreamy and old-fashioned. also playing around with a watermark here.

more practice

2007-02-21T23:44:00.000-08:00

i have been having SO much fun with my camera. i've been dreaming of photoshop settings and pictures all night and just waiting for the kids to leave me alone long enough so i can practice some more.

yes,she is eating the flowers here.

i really liked the moody lighting here.

i used aly's memory lane actions on these last two. i love that old-fashioned look it gives them.

no interest in our property just yet BUT i did find an oregon engineer with a license in CA who is willing to engineer our FirstDay if we can ever sell this darn land. i am SO excited!!!

Moving Day...

2007-02-15T00:42:00.000-08:00

not for us, for the chickens!

Packed and ready

These ungrateful little buggers had NO idea the labor of love we were performing for them. It was quite a lot of work to pack up and haul out all their stuff, nevermind the new coop dh built for them. They are SO much happier now. They have a bigger space, more sun and higher ground so they can stay dry. I'm so happy for them.

Checking out their new digs

The kids love coming to care for the chickens here because dh's aunt has *horses*, trails and a pond.

Showing the horses that she can fly

I tried to give this one a dreamy feel. Nicholas wanted to pet her but was afraid to touch her and this sweet old horse was just dying for him to do it. I can see the pleasure on her face here. She just loved the attention.

Hard to say goodbye. He tried to eat my camera after I took this one. lol

goth girl aka my sister

2007-02-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

My sister is a typical teenager; sarcastic, eye-rolling, the whole bit but when I turn the camera on her, she's very agreeable and comfortable.lol

The joke was on me here! They poked at fun at me while I took these, which was fine, because it got them laughing.

Forest fun

2007-02-08T00:19:00.000-08:00

another weekend at the property. it is so beautiful, it looks like spring is coming already but i'm sure it will snow some before then. here are some of my favorites.

i thought she looked so *small* here.

this one would have looked so much better if she had been facing me. i like it anyway because dh looks like he is in a protective stance and the size difference is cute.

Clara and Mia running down the driveway

i followed them up the driveway here, thinking look at me, just look at me! and she did.

Park... take 3!

2007-02-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Looking at my blog, it looks like we live at the park lately. lol

I was *trying* (operative word here) to put the kids to bed the other night and thinking how it would really make my life easier to not have electricity. That way, when it got dark and cold, what else is there to do but go to bed? There would be no other option. I try to "set the mood" by lowering lights after dinner and then slowly turning each room's light off to turn them towards bed but they are wise to me.

Only the 2 year old believes me when I answer her question, "Why do we have to go to bed now, Mommy?" Because it's dark and time to sleep. It's that simple. I also discovered that when the house is COLD after dinner, they're a little more eager to hop in their warm beds. lol

ANyway, here is our latest trip to the park.

this little guy is newly walking and SO cute! i missed so many opportunities with him because i was chasing someone else around.

Black and white at the park

2007-01-28T00:03:00.000-08:00

I started getting nitpicky with these pictures, spending a really long time in Photoshop, working on them, making them look "right". I finally gave up and just did whatever I wanted to them and even left the blowouts. The sunlight was really harsh in some of these.

My little swinger

Just taking a moment to regroup

Ugh, you can really see where my dd gave herself several punk rock haircuts. I can't wait for her hair to grow out!

I love her little hands and her expression in this one

Sly Park

2007-01-26T00:27:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me to take pictures of her rental cabin in Pollock Pines this week. We went to the lake at Sly Park so the kids could play and feed the ducks.

The kids all pretended to fish with old, broken fishing poles. Here my friend is showing them how to do it.

There were so many ducks. After this trip, I realized that I just do not enjoy photographing wildlife. It bores me to death. I actually took back my new 70-300mm lens after this trip because I just won't use it. Then why am I including this picture here if I don't like it? I don't know. Maybe because it's almost 1 in the morning and I don't care anymore. lol

I love my wide-angle lens for pictures like this. Can't decide if I like the color or b&w better thought.

Views

2007-01-26T00:19:00.000-08:00

We spent last weekend at the property. Dh worked on the fence while I, uh, worked. All right, I didn't work but I had fun taking pictures. We discovered by accident one night that we can see the city lights at night! Hopefully, this will make the property sell faster and for a higher price.

The Sutter Buttes are the lower mountains with the coastal range behind them.

And here are the lights of Sacramento at night. This is not really a good picture but it was such a thrill to discover this that I'm including it anyway.

Park

2007-01-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

The park used to be something we took for granted. We would go for playdates or homeschool outings. I even turned my nose up at parks after we moved to the country, thinking I didn't need them anymore.

Since living with my parents, the park has become my escape. It's exhausting always being on someone else's "turf". The park feels like mine, or at least as much mine as the next family that shows up.

I'm free!!!

Tea Party!

2007-01-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

One of my homeschool groups had a little bread baking day. I don't believe I helped one bit. I had too much fun taking pictures of the kids playing.

Playing dress up:

Admiring their shoes

I LOVE this picture! Clara was covered in jewelry and you can see her eye in the hole of the fairy wand.

Friends sharing tea

Sweet smile

Nobody appreciates the work I do around here!

Making tea is *hard* work

Peekaboo from inside her dollhouse

There was such nice light near the window as the sun went down. Not a lot of it but it was pretty.

Phew, it's been a long day...

Cats and dogs!

2007-01-03T00:06:00.000-08:00

I've neglected my kit lens, thinking that I wanted to trade it in until I realized that since it's 18-70, I can play around with the wide angle end of it. I'm still not totally sure when to use it besides landscapes. I'm trying to understand exactly what it does, how it distorts thing. I took it outside while the kids played and used it mostly on the animals.

This one needs to be bigger to appreciate the color and how clear it is. I LOVE the unsharp mask!!!

I didn't understand that the background would be visible when I took this. I guess that's what a wide angle does. I love how the cat just looks like I can reach out and touch him though.

This one wasn't wide angle. I played around with this picture for a long time and when it was done, I was sure I'd done something wrong because it just looked too sharp or something. I posted it on a photography board expecting criticism but I think instead this may be on the right track. Now, I wish I could go back and change all the older black and white pictures. Oh, well. It looks much better bigger to see the details but then my writing gets stretched out and hard to read.

Day trip- San Francisco

2007-01-01T01:13:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying that I don't enjoy going to SF. I've been afraid of the Bay Bridge before it even collapsed. I think all the driving on narrow country roads has done me good. I made it across the bridge with no shaking/sweating, panic attacks!

My kids aren't the art museum type to begin with but I really wanted to spend the day with friends and I had high hopes for the museum experience.
Here we are in the parking garage. It was an ugly, ugly green but I kind of like it here as the backdrop, looks interesting.

Obviously the shutter speed was too slow but I like how a few of them are motionless but you can see the motion of the other two. It was fun to try something a little different.

Going up the museum stairs. Again, I don't think that it's technically a "good" picture but I had fun with these.

This was the first quilt in the exhibit. There was no photography allowed in here but I took this one before I realized that this was a special exhibit that had this rule. I like the silhouette of the woman with a hat but I wish that she was looking at the quilt.

We left the museum after only an hour. The baby peed on my shirt and jacket, she was screaming and my 5 yr old was touching the exhibits while the middle two were bickering. I just couldn't handle it. Turns out 2 of them had fevers by the time we arrived home that night so that explains the crabby behavior.

We ate at the Rainforest Cafe an hour and a half later. (I got a little lost) Here is dd looking at the aquarium. This place was so cool. I couldn't even capture an image that could do this place justice. It was so fun with animals on the wall that seemed alive and every 30 minutes, the lights would dim and we would have a "storm".

At the wax museum

These boats were docked outside of the aquarium and they were so pretty with Christmas lights. I needed a tripod to really get a good picture. This one turned out the best.

This was our last stop, the aquarium.

It was a very small aquarium but they loved walking underneath the sharks and petting the starfish and skates in the touch tide pool. I always have mixed feelings at these places because I really don't believe in keeping animals in captivity.

Holiday party

2006-12-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

i can't believe christmas is over. i love christmas music and i get so caught up in holiday preparations. it's a real letdown when it's over.

this is my favorite picture from our holiday party.

this was my first time figuring out how to choose a black spot and a white spot in levels. i was very excited!

i had such a bad day yesterday. i'm having parenting struggles with B. We were having a rough day and then went grocery shopping, which always guarantees a good time! then i met this husband and wife who were shopping with their grandbaby. their baby's name was clara too so we talked about that.

it turns out they were catholic too, were supportive of homeschooling and large families. they were so sweet. they talked lovingly about their 11 children and when they turned to leave, i felt like shouting "NO! Come and save me. I can't be a mom anymore. Tell me what your secret is, please!!!" I feel that way a lot when I meet older women especially whose children are grown and they've LIVED through it. I want to be rescued. Parenting is so hard.

Cats!

2006-12-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

I downloaded some noiseware yesterday and the difference is noticeable. I LOVE it!

I have been trying to get the perfect picture of my sister's stuck-up cat to blow up into an 8x10 for her. I took a couple hundred of this cat and these two are my favorite. I will blow up the selective color.

I titled this "When you wish upon a star..." Can't you just see that he's gazing into the night sky, wishing for something? lol

I think my sister will love it. When I decided to do selective color, I didn't realize it would take me 3 HOURS to finish! It was a nightmare, trying to color in the leaves and thorns without coloring his fur.

Happy 70th!

2006-12-19T23:34:00.000-08:00

Things are so messy right now. Meeting with our realtor so she can price the property, definitely cannot afford to keep and build on it. Looking at other counties and actually considering buying a repo'd manufactured home to save money. NOT happy about that but oh, well. Dh also brought up leaving the state again. I don't think I could leave my friends and family but we've lost so much money that we are really in a jam.

My Grandma Grace had her 70th birthday party this weekend. As I have done since I got my new camera, I documented the *entire* thing, much to the delight (and annoyance) of my relatives.

This is my Grandma being held by *her* Grandma, the only baby picture she has.

Here is the food table. The theme was pink!

Grandma and sis Ashleigh look at old photo albums.

Grandma's baby nightie that was worn by *her* mother with the rosary she got in Rome.

Our toast!

A heart to heart with Clara.

Grandma's baby shoes with the champagne we were drinking.

Some of these are just snapshots but I love them anyway. My grandma loves pictures and worries that we don't take enough so she's very happy with them.

Blackout!

2006-12-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

We lost power late the other night.

Unfortunately, I realized it was a great photo op *after* she got over her fascination with the flashlight. By the time i had my camera ready, she was shining it all over the room and it was HARD to get a correct exposure.

Dh has suggested we consider selling our property and using the profits to buy a new piece of property. I'm in shock. The expenses are really adding up fast and even if our FirstDay is approved, we may have to sell it as soon as we're finished. We didn't give ourselves enough cushion. Also, with the driveway winding up the flat portions of the property, most of what was supposed to be my garden/orchard area is used up. :(

2006-12-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Update on the property: Our site plan is almost finished, then we will do the septic. I need to start making calls and get quotes on a well pump and storage system. Still waiting to hear if the engineer can work with our FirstDay plans.

The logger has finished all of our tree removal/dirt work and even gravelled our driveway. Dh says the view across the canyon is much better now.

I've been reading a ton and working on my focus. I've discovered that if I trust my instinct on when to click, the pictures come out better compared to when I hem and haw and fret about when my focus is right.

Clara started playing with the cat and I ran for the camera. The light was easy because she was in the shade.

and in b&w

the focus landed on the cat here but i kept because i like the catchlights in the cat's eyes lol.

in the house, clara practically climbed in the sink to do grandma's dishes.

and showing me her bubbles

practice makes... er, mediocre

2006-12-03T00:06:00.000-08:00

practicing and practicing focus, reading about pentamirror vs. pentaprism. i finally had to stop reading and just start playing with the camera again.

i got her lollipop in focus here and her face is out of focus like i wanted but i don't like the light. we have really poor light out here in the guest house.

i like her expression here, there are catchlights and i *think* the eyes are in focus! i wish the lollipop wasn't right in front of her face.

this was my first try at panning. it was hard.

things at home are hard. it's tough living here in my parents' guest house. one of the kids is really difficult right now. i need to commit to going to bed earlier, as i sit here typing after midnight. i feel much more in control of our day when i'm the first one up. i do not like waking up to kids already running through the house. sigh...

Ahoy!

2006-11-29T23:56:00.000-08:00

In between our two bouts with the flu, my middle son took a homeschool trip on a sailboat. The captain and his crew dressed the part and it was a great day. Unfortunately, I couldn't actually get him *in* a picture but I got lots of others. :)

This is one of the crew.

I believe this is called an environmental picture, not a portrait, since there is more of the background included. I felt awkward when he looked at me and saw I was taking his picture.

The ship leaving:

Standing underneath the Tower Bridge:

Walking around old town while we waited for the ship to come back, we went into a candy store. The focus is bad here but I'm in love with the colors.

My es's daughter is so cute. Her expression is so honest. Her eyes were a little too dark so I dodged them, which didn't come out quite right. Need to play around with that more.

And here comes the sailboat. The sun came out just as the boat came into view.

Our latest home update is that we can NOT build small and add on to save money. It will be just the same cost as if we build the entire house at once. Our engineer has called FirstDay Cottage and she is hopeful that we can build it. We're waiting for the calcs from New York and Florida to come in. These are 2 difficult states to build in so she wants to see how they engineer them there. Kind of boring but hopeful information for us!

A trip to Apple Hill!

2006-11-21T09:04:00.000-08:00

We went to Apple Hill last week with another homeschooling family. I've never been good at browsing, sightseeing kind of thing but this was the most fun I've had up there. This is where we ate lunch.

A few of the kids:

I wanted to crop this one but I cannot figure out how to crop with the Gimp for the life of me. I know, both the little girls are looking away but the oldest has such a sweet expression.

I took about 100 pictures while we were there but trashed most of them. Can you say perfectionist? Here is where the kids played (and fought) before we left.

On a different note, dh thinks we will not be able to afford to build the FirstDay Cottage because of the $35,000 county fees. Apparently, the new plan is to build a 600 sq ft. cottage and add on a second story when we're done. I guess it's cheaper to do a small addition than it is to build the whole house all at once. I'm really hating California. Building your own house is supposed to *save* you money. And it does, I suppose but the fees are outrageous! grrr

Property progress!

2006-11-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

The logging is finished and I finally made it up to the property to look! It looks completely different. Much prettier but it was hard to take it all in. Here is the new driveway view.

Here is our house pad, which used to just be a jumble of overgrown trees.

This picture really doesn't do it justice. It's huge in person! The driveway winds up steeper than I like. I don't think non 4WD will make it up in the winter. I'm unsure where to put a garden now. There's not much area that's completely clear and some of what is clear will be used up by the septic system and drainage for the rain.

Here's a little one just because the sky was so beautiful yesterday. We could barely see the sky before with all the trees.

I've been really disappointed with the pictures I've been taking lately. I think I took a few really good ones (by accident, probably) and now nothing seems to measure up. I think I'm being too hard on myself. Ok, I know I am. I'm expecting too much and I need to just relax. I think I might switch to auto-focus for a while. It's frustrating to have so many out of focus pictures. It's really difficult to get the focus right on. Here's one I liked of a hook that hangs down off the tractor.

This was shot at 1.8 and I think I might have used a higher (or is it lower) f-stop.

2006-11-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

Trip to the property cancelled. Dh is up there, stuck in the mud. Apparently, the logging really tore up the road so I decided to stay home with the kids.

This is my first attempt at hand-coloring here. It took me hours because it's the most complicated thing I've used the Gimp for so far but I'm thrilled! All I want to do now is sit and play with my pictures.

I was very lucky with the exposure. If I had used slower ss, the ladybug would have blurred. It looks like her hand is in focus but the ladybug isn't quite as much. Oh, well. Can't have everything.

here is clara riding her bike. she was riding in shade and there was very bright sunlight just past her. i think it looks alright but i wonder if it's too bright.

playing at the park

his eyes look so blue next to his shirt. i'm looking for catchlights in eyes now. i think i see them in this one.

2006-11-10T19:48:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this picture of my sister's cat, Baby. It was shot at iso 1600, f1.8. It's not perfect, like you can see my sister's shoe in the foreground but I just love the contrast between his fur and the red background. This is one snooty, arrogant cat!

This is my sleeping ballerina baby. There's a something a little off about this picture and I can't put my finger on it. I like it anyway.

This is a close up of Nicholas. He's usually hamming it up for the camera but he sees his brothers refusing pictures and now he's starting to run from the camera too. Don't know what to do about that.

Actually, looking at this again, I think it may be too dark. I've spent way too many hours at the I love photography site, reading the critiques and I'm starting to see what's wrong with my own pictures.

That's all I have for today. Tomorrow, we visit the property and dh will begin setting fence posts. Yippee! The logging has been done and the house pad may be finished also so I will hopefully come home with some great pictures.

2006-11-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

I finally took my camera with me to the property. We pulled off the road here because 2 of the kids were fighting over water bottles. This is not the most scenic place to take a picture but one of the few safe spots to pull over. This part of hwy 49 is narrow, windy and lots of major drop offs.

This is on our street, about halfway up to our property. You can see a small farmhouse in the distance and the moon is just coming up.

This is the entrance, our driveway. It's so narrow that the brush scrapes the car as we drive in.

Here we are parked on the road that leads to the well, the only area we have cleared so far. I love the big oak behind my car. I hope it doesn't come down in the logging.

Tree marked to come down.

And, finally- this is where we will put the house. It's hard to see through the trees but when they are gone, we will have a long-range canyon view!

More delays...

2006-10-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

I knew this would be hard. I prepared myself for this.

Our land is still waiting to be cleared, which is holding up the site planner and obviously the house pad and slab to be poured.

Bigger problem is our house plans. Met with a few engineers last week and no one wants to work with us. I'm hearing things about wind shear, snow load and vaguely understanding it.

I called John at First Day this morning and he said he will help us however he can. This whole thing is so frustrating. From what I understand, a FirstDay Cottage will be a stronger, more beautiful, well built house than a typical California home yet it may not pass code here. John explained to me that there are two ways to meet a code:

the prescriptive method- do what the code says, use 1 1/2" plywood when it tells you to, was his example.

OR

the performance method- prove that the house exceeds written specs.

The second is the one we need to go for. It doesn't make any sense to spend more money on crappier materials just to please the codes here. Apparently everyone who ever told us that 'California is a whole different animal' was right.

On a different note, I have been having so much fun with my camera. I've spent hours and hours the last week playing with it. I'm starting to understand a little more every day about depth of field. I am already halfway through my allowed amount of pictures on flickr. Not sure if it's worth it to upgrade to the pro version for unlimited storage. I took some great pictures of my parents' Halloween party over the weekend. Hopefully, I will figure out the flickr thing soon and post some pictures here.

We have closed!

2006-10-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! It's our land now!!! :) I feel like sending the boys up there to pee on all four corners to mark our property. I suddenly feel very territorial about it.

I found a great engineer today and I will give her our plans on Monday. I hope she can make them work. Also talked to FirstDay today and David Howard said they will reimburse us for the engineering costs.

Dh and I will meet the forester and logger at OUR property on Saturday and start marking trees and discussing payment. What we are planning on is to only remove enough trees to firesafe the yard and cover the costs of moving dirt and building a driveway and pad.

I will remember to bring my camera so I can take some "before" pictures.

We're almost landowners!

2006-10-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Ugh, this is so exhausting!

We signed our final closing paperwork tonight. Our seller is a complete jerk and there is a chance he will try to stop it from closing. He tried to slide in an addendum at the last minute and we're concerned that he will not allow us to close without it.

I would love to use his name here and warn other nor cal buyers but our realtor says that would be slander.

Tomorrow morning, the kids and I will meet with the forester and the logger he works with. Just saying the word logger makes me feel sick to my stomach. Rationally, I know that it's not a safe place to live without some serious clearing and tree removal. In addition, the 1/2 acre we will clear for an orchard and huge garden will not only benefit our family but will also mean less driving, packaging, etc. than when we buy our produce from someone else. I'm trying to talk myself into this.

I also need to find a structural engineer to stamp our house plans from FirstDay Cottage. I wish we were on the East Coast and had more control over what and how we build. I'm disgusted with California's fees for building. What is the incentive for people of modest means to build their own homes when the fees alone cost $30k and up EASILY?!?!?

2006-10-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my homeschoolin', homebuildin', homesteadin' blog! Ok, we're not quite homesteaders *yet*! But that is the plan.

We (my dh, 4 kids and I) are in escrow for 4.2819(to be exact) acres in the lower Sierra Nevadas. The plan is to build a FirstDay Cottage, plant a large organic garden/orchard, and eventually add some goats, peacocks,assorted farm animals to the mix.

We already have 3 dogs, 2 cats and 8 chickens. The cats are with us while we live here with my parents and the rest of the bunch are staying with dh's dad.

I have a new dslr camera that I hope to take pictures of our property as we progress through the clearing, building process. I am so excited about all of this. Sometimes it doesn't feel real.

Dh and I used to spend hours looking through glossy real estate magazines and say, oh, I wish we could just pick up and move here and live out in the forest. So, one day we did. We sold our in town home and moved into the forest on 1 acre with a manufactured home and a nice greenhouse. The cost of living wasn't as cheap as we had hoped so we sold that house and are now living with my parents in their little guest house. The area we will be building in is much cheaper, most likely due to the fact that the drive there is very steep, windy and in my opinion, scary. Oh, well. I will deal with my fear of heights and falling off cliffs later. lol

Well, better head to bed. The kids have dentist appointments in the morning.