scrapgeek blogspace

Moving on

2011-08-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm all done moving my posts from this blog to my photoblog. It was getting harder and harder to keep up two blogs, Facebook, Twitter, flickr, google+ (hey, if you'd like an invite, click this link), and a handful of other Social Networking sites (phew); so I decided to just combine the two. Please take a little trip and visit my photoblog and take a look around. Thanks for visiting me here and for your kind comments. Hope to see you at NKMphotos. xoxo

Don't Panic - You're not seeing things

2011-08-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a little maintenance, like fixing broken links, images, etc. So, if things look like they're moving around, you're not imagining things. I should be al done by the end of today.

Bite Sized Bits of Yummy Goodness

2011-07-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

I love coffee. A lot. Drink it daily. I am a Starbucks Gold Card holder (got mine before my husband--hehe, sorry sweetie, have to rub it in) Well, as we all know afternoon coffee must have some sort of treat, right? Right? I can't hear you! Just repeat after me: Why yes, yes it does. What kind of treat were you thinking?

I'm so glad you asked. Starbucks started to offer Cake Pops and the whole family loved them. Of course I immediately started to wonder how these were made (don't ask, I'm like that with a lot of stuff) and how I could make them myself (and cheaper, of course).
Enter Google Search (of course--how else can anyone find anything?), type in Cake Pops and the first thing that pops (hehe) up is the Bakerella site. Jackpot! So, for the next couple of hours I got sucked into the yummy world of mini cakey goodness in the form of Cake Pops, Cake Balls and Cupcake Balls. And it just so happened that the first post I see is the announcement for the release of the Cake Pops Book (yay). Off to Amazon to check it out.

I decided to get the Kindle version, so I could prop up the iPad in the kitchen and follow along. Of course getting all the supplies wasn't quite as easy as I thought (it never is, isn't it?). I ended up going to three different stores to get everything. Now, what to make...hmmm. oh, I know. Katie, my 6 Year old, loves pigs. I think that would work for a first attempt. Let's see, what do I need:

1 box of Cake Mix - check (I used Lemon)
1 can of frosting - check (I used whipped vanilla--yum)
Pink Candy Melt - check
Lollipop Sticks - check
Candy-covered Sunflower seeds (for the ears) - check
Pink M&M's for the snout - Uh Oh, hitting a snag here--no pink stuff anywhere. Note to self: stock up on pink candy next Valentines Day and/or Easter (and hide them so you don't accidentally eat them). After consulting with a very helpful World Market employee, we came up with Sweet Tarts. OK, that'll work - check
Edible Ink Pens for Eyes - check

OK, ready to go. First, the cake. If you don't have the book, you can get the basic instructions on the Bakerella site--and sooo many wonderful examples of all kinds of sweet stuff you can imagine. Be warned, though, you will be drooling! Here how I did it:

Prepare the cake mix as directed on the box and let it cool completely.
Crumble into a large bowl (make sure the little ones wash their hands for this if they're helping)
Add about 3/4 of the frosting and mix. This is the messy, sticky part, so you may want to use gloves.
Roll your cake balls. I'm not that good at estimating, so I used a small ice cream scoop. Plus, the kids were helping and this was easier for them. I had them do the scooping and I did the rolling.
Chill for a couple of hours. If your freezer is big enough, you can put them in there for about 15 minutes (according to the book)
Melt your candy dip either in the microwave or in a double-boiler. The microwave might sound easier, but I have yet to be able to get it right. The last time I tried to melt chocolate chips for a yummy strawberry dip desert, I couldn't get the stuff to melt, so I kept microwaving it until I ended up with a stinky/burnt/curdling mess (blargh). We don't mention this incident in this family. So, double-boiler it is.
Now comes the fun part. Dip the lollipop stick into the candy melt (just the tip) and gently push into a cake ball. While it's still wet, push two little pink sunflower seeds into the head for the piggy ears.
To dry (harden), push the sticks into a block of Styrofoam.
When the little piggies are dry we can add the snouts. Feel free to test or, you know, dispose of cracked or broken pops. Gotta make sure they, uhh, taste right, right? I just used one of the lollipop sticks to dip into the candy melt, spread some on the snout-candy and apply to pig face--tadaa, almost done.
All that's left is to add the eyes. Now, here's where I had problems. From what I'd read, you must use the edible ink pens, right? Well, I must have gotten different pens, because they were so hard that they started to dent the candy coating without leaving any ink--rats! Luckily, I had also bought some candy colors, just in case I couldn't get pink. I just used a toothpick dipped in candy color and lightly dab on the eyes (worked great for adding the mouth, too)

And that's it! You're done. Oh, don't forget to do some more testing. You never know--gotta make sure they're still good.
P.S.: Like the Frames? They are free from Isabelle Lafrance Photography. Check it out, there are lots of cool freebies, actions and textures.

Contest Time at iHeartFaces

2011-04-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't been entering contests over at iheartfaces lately; don't know why really. I think I've been doing way too much multi-tasking. I'm very impulsive when it comes to information. I see some new technique or inspiration for a picture and I'm off to try it; even if I'm in the middle of two or three other projects.

But, this week's challenge was wind and I knew I had a good picture. Here's a small version of it. You can click on the thumbnail and go over to my photoblog for the full post.

Katie singing in the wind

Mosaic January 2011

2011-02-04T11:28:00.001-08:00

Mosaic January 2011
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos
Yay, I finished the first Month of 2011 for the 365 Project--whoohoo!! If you'd like to see the individual pictures, head on over to my Photoblog. And while you're there, leave me some love (er, comments), would you?
Thanks.

2 days to catch up...

2011-01-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Yup, I'm still doing the 365! I'm hoping to catch up today, so wish me luck. If you'd like to see what I've got so far, head on over to my Photoblog and leave me some blog-love.

I'm doing a 365!

2011-01-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well, isn't this embarrassing! I haven't posted anything since November! Good thing you can't see me, because my face is pretty red I can tell you.

So, to make up for it--and to make myself be better at blogging--I'm starting a 365 project on my NKM photos blog. So far, so good. I've got two pictures done and posted and today's picked out. As soon as I get home, I'll finish it and off it goes. I figure if I tell people I'm doing it, I'll be more likely to follow through, or I'll have to explain myself :&

Well, wish me luck.

Children's Portrait Photography with Tamara Lackey - Last Day

2010-11-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready for day three of Children's Portrait Photography with Tamara Lackey | creativeLIVE.com. I Didn't catch all of day one, since it started on Friday and I had to work, but I was able to catch some good parts off and on while I had time. On Saturday, we connected my laptop to the 42" HD TV in the Living Room--wow, pretty sweet monitor!

I liked what they did for the studio audience (6 people I think), where they had a studio set up with lighting and backdrop and then they brought in different kids/models. Each audience member got their turn to do a short photo session with the child while Tamara stood by to give advice and assistance--and, of course, we got to watch as well.

Today, they plan to cover the business end of photography and a Post-Processing Walkthrough of the Family Photo Shoot we were able to observe. I'm looking forward to that part! Even if you don't want to know more about or specialize in Children's Photography, there were plenty of general photography tips and tricks from someone who clearly has a wealth of information to share and is happy to do so.

Organize and share your Bookmarks using Pearltrees

2010-08-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

I first heard of this new way to organize and share your bookmarks on the Shadowhouse Creations blog (thanks Jerry). It's called Pearltrees and after trying it out for a few days I really like it.

Like any blogger, I collect bookmarks--a LOT of bookmarks. So I save them in existing groups and create new groups, and so on, and so on... Of course, the next time I need to find a bookmark I thought I'd saved, it seems to have disappeared into a black hole; so I find the site and save it again. I know what you're thinking just organize your bookmarks into better groups, silly. I did that, but I'm still having problems finding stuff; plus I'm spending way too much time looking for new stuff. This is where, for me at least, Pearltrees comes in. It's also organizing your bookmarks (Pearls) into groups (Pearltrees), but it does it visually. Once you have a Pearltree, a small status bar stays on the bottom of your browser window and you can navigate through your pearls or pearltrees. You can pick other people's pearls to add to your trees and they can do the same. It's like Social Networking for Bookmarks--really cool. Check out this Pearltree video:

Here is my Pearltree. Check it out, won't you?

nkmphotos

Mmmmm, Cupcakes!

2010-07-18T23:38:00.000-07:00

Last February, we were invited to a friend's wedding reception. Katie was very exited that she got to wear her new pink dress. She was having a great time dancing and twirling and eating cupcakes, while her brother was off playing video games and watching TV with the other boys.
There was a beautiful display of a cupcake-tree Katie made several trips to and she actually sat still long enough to get some pictures (yay)
I bought the Finish It and Quickie Action Sets from MCP (love them) ad also used the free MCP Magic Blog It Board Action. I would love to buy the big version, but can't decide which one (Set 1 or 2). Ok, I'd really like both...and a couple others--boy my Wishlist is starting to get big!

Aaargh. Bugs!

2010-06-18T23:41:00.001-07:00

Yay, my Accidental Bee picture made it into Group 3 of The Pioneer Woman's Bug picture Photography Assignment (happy dance)!

That's the second time one of my pictures made a selection! The last assignment was Macros and I entered my Mosquito (or similar bug--wasn't sure, but it looked mosquito-like) on a Tulip (I'm sure about the tulip, they're my faves :D). I didn't make the finals, but I'm happy to just make the group of about 20 or so selections out of millions. OK, so I'm exaggerating about the millions but it's a bunch and I for one think it's pretty cool. Anyway, a finalist group will be selected from each group and then the winner from that group will get the prize. Hmmm, I don't even know what that'll be this time, I just heard bugs and thought, hey, I got some bugs I can enter. There are always tons of wonderful entries and really enjoy visiting everyone's photostream and/or website and checking out their stuff.
I wonder what the next challenge will be about...

Princess for a Day

2010-06-06T22:16:00.001-07:00

On Saturday morning, Katie announced that she wanted to dress up in last year's Halloween costume (a pink princess outfit complete with tiara) and have a Tea Party. She spent some time trying to decide which ones of her stuffed animals to invite, since she only has four chairs.
Well, you don't have to tell me twice, I know how to spot an opportunity to grab the camera to try to capture this event (emphasis on try :D). Of course, I only managed a couple of shots, mainly because her highness didn't want to hold still and the whole event lasted just about under 15 minutes before we declared the party over and is was decreed that we wanted to watch a video *sigh*. I so envy the professionals who used to come to Katie's daycare--Li'l Angels Photography. They always got the best, most natural smiles out of both my kids. I can't seem to get them to stop long enough to try to focus :P
I did, however have the perfect pages on hand--Quickpages (also known as Ploppers) at that. So, all the work of the Layout has already been done and all one has to do is plop pictures into the placeholders. These particular ones are freebies from Vera Lim (vlim_itsmydayqp6 and qp1_antje), so these came together pretty fast.

iHeartFaces - Week 22 - Barefoot Week

2010-06-02T23:18:00.001-07:00

This week is a non-competition week at iHeartFaces, but, unlike other weeks, we are able to post more than one photo. The photos can be anything around shoes and feet.

About Soles 4 Souls: Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes free of charge to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 7 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently donating one pair every 9 seconds.) The shoes have been distributed to people in over 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States. Soles4Souls has been featured in Runner's World, Ladies’ Home Journal, National Geographic’s Green Guide, and The New York Times. It has appeared on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, BBC, CNN and thousands of regional news outlets across North America. Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages. Anyone can join our cause, and we need your help.

I am definitely not a foot-person. It's kind of like nude beaches--invariably, you only see the people who should really keep their clothes on!
I feel the same about feet, always have (usually, the people with the most gnarly looking toes wear the most revealing, open shoes) Summer is especially offensive; don't get me started!
I never thought that would change, until I had kids (of course, you probably say). I just love those chubby little feet with the even chubbier tiny toes. Ok, enough blubbering, here are my pictures of my favorite little people in the world--well, of course they are, they're mine :D

This is Katie's first time at the beach after we came back from our Adoption Trip to China

More to come here...

All done...I think

2010-05-27T20:02:00.001-07:00

Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I tried out the (relatively) new blogger in draft and picked a template I liked, shuffled a few gadgets around and presto--a new blog page.
OK, maybe it wasn't quite that fast. I did have a nice background I had picked for my NKMphotos blog, but I didn't want to use exactly the same one, so I just re-colored it and thought I'd just upload it back to the site and use it--NOT! I guess I'll have to put that request in the next version suggestion box :D
But with a little research I discovered that I just needed to add a CSS snippet to add my own background. Once that was accomplished, all was well again.

What's going on here?

2010-05-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

If you're wondering why everything looks kind of out of place, I'm cleaning up the blog page. I think it was a bit too cluttered, so I'm removing some and moving other items. Shouldn't take too long. Check back in a while and all will be well again :D

Smiles

2010-04-25T23:16:00.001-07:00

I've been waiting for an opportunity to use this picture of Nick and this week's i ♥ faces challenge is all about smiles!

We took this picture in 2003 when we drove from Washington State to Colorado to visit family. It was July and very hot. I don't remember what we were doing or saying to him when we took the picture, but it must have been funny :D I'm just glad we were able to get this great shot--anymore I have to take bunches of pictures to get one good one! The kids all but groan when Mommy breaks out the camera.

Aaargh, I missed it!

2010-03-30T22:01:00.001-07:00

I had the perfect shot for this week's iHeartFaces' Dramatic B&W...and missed it by an hour!!! groan

Well, I'll show it here, anyway :) I took this picture (and many others) this last Saturday at the playground. We had just finished the Science Fair at Nick's school, where he and his friend submitted an entry on the Lego MindStorm Robot. The weather was actually pretty good, so we stopped at a playground to let the kids run around a bit. I actually got several good shots of both Nick and Katie. They were unusually cooperative and held still for most of them :D

Nick is Ten!

2010-02-06T19:36:00.001-08:00

I saw this cool technique in the latest Photoshop User Magazine by Corey Barker (of Planet Photoshop) that I just had to try. It's called Light Beams Through Text and it uses TEN as the text. When I saw that, I immediately thought of Nick, who just turned ten! (OK, wasn't much of a stretch)
What a great excuse to try out a new technique. :D It was pretty easy, but looks really cool. I even had a picture of Nick I could use for the silhouette.
Now I just have to think of a Page Layout to put it on.

Chef Nick

2010-01-01T02:19:00.001-08:00

School's out for Winter break and I took off the week of Christmas to get the house ready, put up the rest of the decorations and bake cookies with the Kids. We had a great time and even made enough cookies for Mark to take some to the office. Of course nothing lasts long in cubeville :)

We made it through the Christmas morning gift-ripping extravaganza, the turkey cooking, the 'she got more than I did' squabbles, oh, and let's not forget the usual comment from Ms. Picky Eater Katie (she's 4) after everyone said how yummy the turkey was..."I don't like turkey" (groan!) We're lucky if we can get her to eat anything that's not chocolate or cookies or candy.

Hmm, where was I? Oh yea, school break. So, for the second week, we signed Nick up for a couple of 3-day classes at our Hands-on Museum. The morning class was CSI for 1st to 4th graders. He had a blast dusting for Fingerprints (with cocoa), identifying Hair and Fibers and solving small mysteries using their newly acquired skills.

After lunch, it was Easy as Pie, a cooking and baking class. They made empanadas, tarts and the final project was an apple pie. They kept a recipe book of all their creations and got to keep their chef's hat and apron--plus the pie!

So tonight, he had to demonstrate his new skill and prepare his apple pie for us--a great opportunity for me to try out some of my Christmas presents--a couple of popup flash lightscoops for my Nikon D60 and a hotshoe attachment for my external flash that makes it fit onto a regular tripod. I took both jpg and raw images, so I can post the jpg's right away (provided they don't look too crappy). Then I can spend more time tweaking them in ACR and PS.
The pie came out great and Nick was very proud he'd done it all by himself.

Good Night Sweet Prince

2009-12-11T00:15:00.001-08:00

After selecting a picture to use for the i ❤ faces "Sweet Dreams" Photo Challenge, I still had the other 6 pictures I had identified as candidates. The challenge is over, but I couldn't help it, I had to pick another one of my favorites. This is Nick at about 16 months taking a nap in his 'sling'. I loved that thing; once I had him in it, I could get so much work done and he'd just be happily snoozing along. I tried to schedule my trips to the grocery store around nap times and I remember getting the stink-eye from other mothers with screaming kids in the cart :O

Sweet Dreams

2009-12-06T23:05:00.001-08:00

i ❤ faces: "Sweet Dreams" Photo Challenge

I love this week's challenge, because it brought me back to those first few months after bringing ouradopted son, Nick, home in 2000. He's 8 months old in this picture and we'd just had him for 2 months. Naturally, we were taking pictures every chance we got. I have several of the falling asleep with the bottle pictures, but I had to pick just one (not an easy task). so here it is.

Check out the other entries for this week's challenge.

26 shopping days 'till Christmas

2009-11-29T23:27:00.001-08:00

Well, Thanksgiving is over, the turkey carcass is resting comfortably in the trash (we got a little one this year--so not too many leftovers) and we brought the Christmas decorations up from the basement including the four pieces that make up the Christmas tree. Yea, I know, I used to be a purist too--only real trees; the smell, the atmosphere, yada, yada; but we decided to go green a couple of years ago. Ok, that and we didn't want to put up with the pine needles, watering, disposal--takes all the fun out of Christmas.
Although we didn't brave the elements for Black Friday (I am NOT a Morning Person), we managed to do some online shopping for Christmas gifts and by Saturday when we did go out, there were still plenty of good sales (so there).
We got Nick and Katie to do their Letters for Santa, although Nick, who is almost 10, titled his letter To Mom and Dad pretending to be Santa. I had to have a little talk with him to make sure he didn't let Katie hear him talk like that. At 4 (almost 5) she'll still want to do leave Cookies for Santa and we can still, hopefully, use the prospect of coal for bad behavior.
All in all, I think we're doing better than last year when we finally managed to get the tree up a week before Christmas. Who knows, maybe we'll even do Christmas Cards this year.

Pink Katie

2009-10-18T22:31:00.001-07:00

i ❤ faces: Pink Week Photo Challenge

This is my first entry for this site and I am honored to participate. I have (fortunately) not had anyone in my immediate family who was suffering from Breast Cancer.
Finding pictures for this theme was hardly challenging, as pink is Katie's favorite color. What was, and forever is, challenging was to find pictures where she was holding still long enough to not look like an eyewitness picture of proof of aliens or Sasquatch.
Although this isn't the sharpest picture, I really like Katie's expression. I was supposed to take a picture of Nestor (the bird), which I dutifully did. She wasn't so happy two minutes later, when I told her I had enough pictures of Nestor and wanted to take some pictures of other things. :)

Fantasy Layouts

2009-10-18T19:02:00.001-07:00

This month's Scrapper's Guide Premier Members Kit was all about Fall, Halloween and Fairies. I was already working on a Layout where I had a mini-Katie sliding out of a flower, when I remembered a Corey Barker tutorial from Planetphotoshop. The exercise was to create water and then place an object to appear as though it was splashing into the water. I used part of the tutorial, but then made the water look like it was coming out of the flower--like a water-slide. With the Premier Kit and tutorial, I added the fairy wings and sparkle to complete the layout.

Then I had another idea. I took one of the Kit's Quickpages and made a little fairy magic, where Katie (with wings again) turns her brother into a cat, an elf, and finally back to normal.

Adobe Support Question, Round 3

2009-09-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

I love dealing with Adobe's Support. I look at it as an exercise in restraint (i.E. no potty-mouth in front of the kids) as well as a typing refresher (I can type really, really fast when I get angry and am trying to make a point without forgetting what I was going to say before I can write it down)
I had a, relatively, simple question: I have Photoshop CS4 and would like to find out what to do (how much and how)to upgrade to CS4 extended. Simple question, right?
Unfortunately NOT. I contacted Adobe Support asking my relatively simple question and promptly got the standard answer you get from someone who obviously only read, oh, like every 3rd word or so. "Hmm, let me see, has Photoshop and wants to upgrade. Hey, I can answer that. Dear customer...blah blah blah...go to adobe.com and click on upgrade. There you will find your answer."
OK, the first time, I send an answer back thanking them for their answer, but they didn't give me what I asked for. So then I get almost the same answer, only longer and more patronizing (they actually repeated what I asked and STILL gave me the same answer--"Thank you for being a valued customer...blah blah blah...go to adobe.com, Photoshop extended, upgrade options and there you will find the information."
GRRRR. On top of that, they closed the case again. So, I get ready to re-open and fire off another response (hey, this is fun). I was really tempted to get a screenshot to go along with my comment--maybe if I get the same answer again, I will :) I started by asking whoever will be answering this to actually read my question before responding.
Well, I guess I'll see in a couple of days if I get another answer-bot response and either call or just give up. I really didn't think this would be so difficult to answer and I was just curious because more and more of the cool tutorials on planetphotoshop use the extended version. Stay tuned...

New Template

2009-09-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

FINALLY finished the new blog template. I found a nice one here that looked like it didn't need to much customizing. Of course, it looked much easier than it actually turned out to be. Mainly because I didn't like some parts of it, like the advertisement section. Ok, I did like it, but I couldn't get the widget to work properly. Leaving comments on the creator's website didn't work either. I guess we should just be grateful someone does these for free and not expect them to support them as well .
Anyway, I ended up doing a table and sticking my little ads in there. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this, but I just wanted to get it done. I think it looks good (at least until I get tired of it and see something else I like). Alrighty then, back to doing stuff I can actually blog about, like, oh, some Photoshop stuff perhaps...?

More Blog decisions

2009-08-26T13:05:00.001-07:00

A little while ago I went through this whole exercise of switching our web host to mobileMe and deciding on which blog service to use. Initially, it looked like iWeb would do it all, but I found that the blog part didn't do all I wanted, namely categories.
So I went back to blogger and linked my personal domain to my blogger site and just linked back to my iWeb site, where I keep my photos and digi-scrap layouts. You'd think I'd be happy now, right?
Wrong! Of course, I can't leave well enough alone and soon got picky about the theme of my blog. I didn't really like the ones that come with blogger, so I tried to find others. A couple of Twitterers I follow helped and I found some nice ones to use.
Ahhh, so when I say use, you might think go into your dashboard, load the XML file, save and all your stuff is there in the new layout, right? Wrong, again. The themes I found were converted from WordPress to be blogger compatible, but you still had to find a place to copy image and/or javascript files. Then you had to edit the xml file to fix the file references.
Having done all that, I saved the template and went to view the blog. Hmmm, looks like the widgets I had on there before didn't make it to this new layout. Drat! Well, I guess I'll have to add them back in. Ok, no problem, I can do that...hmmm this widget doesn't display the same way it did in the other theme, and, uh, now I only have one area where I can add widgets--don't really like that (sigh)
Ok, at this point I'm starting to get into complaining mode (or perhaps whining depending on how far into it I am). This is why I switched from a PC to a MAC--I got tired of taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r to do anything on the computer. I have that at work--I don't need it at home. Also, I found that as you get older, your attention span gets shorter: "geez, can't I just change the Theme and have everything work?" Yea, I know, whaa, whaa, stop whining already! Hey, it's my blog and I can vent!
So I started looking at WordPress, because I read an online survey (via a Twitter link) on what blog platform is used most and thought hey, that sounds easy enough, I'll try it...
So right away, I found out that with WordPress.com you can only use the themes they supply (groan) unless you use the client app with WordPress.org and host your own. Ok, I can deal with that, I can find one that I 'mostly' like and maybe change the colors... It's not like I don't know how to change the CSS, I don't want to if I don't have to.
Oh yea, I can't add my Amazon widget either, because it's an iFrame (nervous tick starting) and those are evil and not allowed on WordPress.com.
I guess I'll go find my screaming pillow and practice a few colorful metaphors :)

The elusive CamelFrog

2009-08-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

I saw some cool animal compositions and thought I'd give it a try. I have some free Stock photos and found two that looked like they'd work for what I had in mind.
I think I got the overall alignment right, but I'm not quite happy with the transitions. I've tried clone stamping, smudging and patching followed by blending, but I'm still thinking I could do more. The green background is just so I can see better--I do have the CamelFrog on separate layers. Of course, I also have no idea what to do with it once I'm finished. Should I use it in a layout, create some appropriate background (CamelFrog environment--lush, yet dry :D)?
Anyone have any ideas?

Here it is without the background--still not quite there.

Mommy, can I have a Mac too?

2009-08-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

We are a pretty geeky family, as evidenced, I think, by the ratio of people to computers in our house. We have wireless coverage all over the house and into the garage and the garden out back. We've had computers as early as PC's were available for the masses to purchase (and more or less affordable--which means you only had to take out a small loan).
Anyway, after much deliberation (well, maybe more of "I'm tired of fighting Vista, I wanna Mac") we both got Macs (see previous blogs) and have been very happy with them. For example, at work when I get in, I start up my PC (XP) and wait for the login stuff to come up. Meanwhile, I take the MapBook Pro out of my bag, plug in the power cable, open the lid , wait, oh about 2 seconds, and I'm ready to go.
Not so on the PC side. While I'm putting my bag away and get out my notebook, the login screen finally comes up. I log in and wait another 5 or so minutes for everything to load. But wait, that's not all, I also need to open Outlook to check mail and calendar--which takes another 5-7 minutes. One reason to sync my calendar with my iPhone is that, if I have any early meetings, at least I get a reminder, 'cause I I'd be sure to miss anything waiting Outlook.
So, what has all this to do with the title of this blog, you ask? Well, nothing, really, I just wanted to get that off my chest. :D
So, back to the computer count. There's the two Macs, then Nick has my old Dell Inspiron 8600 and Katie has Mark's (really) old Dell Inspiron 3700. Then we have the server. We had another (really really) old Dell desktop, but we finally retired that.
Both of our Kids have been using computers since they were about two. Nick, who is 9, is getting pretty good at looking for games online, so we have to make sure he doesn't start downloading a bunch of junk. We used the IE parental controls for a while, but it got to be such a hassle when we have to approve every single page that pops up (that means you Disney!!). So we told him to let us know when he downloads something so we can check it out.
Anyway, it's been a while since we've checked his laptop and it had gotten slower and slower and he kept complaining about it. Then today he kept getting popup windows in IE, which I thought we had turned off. So we took a look at it and found that we had another default search setting, toolbar, etc, which had probably attached themselves to the last downloads. So, I went into the control panel and uninstalled them. Then I downloaded and set up FireFox for him, which we like better anyway.
So, Nick is happy and starts to go to his favorite Lego site when he keeps getting popups (in FireFox) with Windows Internet Explorer in the title bar--huh? At this point we decided it was time to just wipe everything out and re-install XP. Wen I first gave him the laptop it had all my apps uninstalled, but still had some utilities from when I used it, so we figured we might as well start over. For him, this would be like (almost) getting a new laptop.
Except of course we had forgotten how long and painful this whole 'new PC setup from scratch' was. That one of the reasons we got Macs. Well, long story short--ha! Too late, I guess. It took just about the whole day to re-install and set up the OS and we're still not done installing all the apps again. Nick, of course, is complaining how he can't do anything because all the cool websites use flash and we haven't installed it yet. This is when he says "Mommy, can't you just buy me a Mac, too?" Believe me, Kid, if I had the extra cash, I'd love to avoid wasting a weekend plus to get your OC back to where you had it, just to have the next Windows Update/Patch mess something up again!

A day on the couch

2009-07-21T22:15:00.001-07:00

Monday started out as a normal day, except that Mark told me at the last minute that he was staying home to finish some work uninterrupted. So right away I’m rushing to get the kids and me out the door more or less on time.
Nick’s drop-off was first. We went to the school where the Lights-Camera-Action summer camp is held and, since there was just one adult for this trip, everybody got out to drop Nick off (even though it’s just in front of the door and takes only 2 minutes, I never leave Katie alone in the car. So, off we went inside. So far so good; I bend down to sign him in, I get up, turn to Nick to say good-bye and --whammo-- MY BACK IS OUT OF WHACK. No warning, no pop, no nothing.
So, I slink back into the car with Katie and manage to drop her off at Daycare. At least she’s getting old enough to unbuckle herself and climb out of the car without my having to lift her. I spent the rest of the day at work sitting in my chair without moving too much. Boy, was I glad when it was time to go home. I retired to the couch and stuck one of those heat-pillows on my lower back.
The next morning I woke up and did a fish-flop maneuver to try to get out of bed, which I managed to do, but the way I was slinking around, there was no way I would make it to work. So it was back to the couch with the laptop and everything else within reach and off to work (virtually speaking).
Man, it sure sucks getting old--one false move and you’re out of commission for a couple of days.

To Blogo or not to Blogo

2009-07-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

I was trying to find an offline blog editor so I can create blogs while we commute to work and not connected to the internet. Mark found a product called ecto which looks like a nice basic editor, but had a few quirks which had to be configured. I did a google search for blog editor mac and found one called Blogo. So far, I like what I see. I downloaded a 21 day trial and set it up to work with my blogspot account, which it imported without problems. I can also add my twitter account. I'll try that next to see how good it works. I want to post this blog as my first test.

How to make a Sandbox in a day (and a half)

2009-07-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

With the weather as great as it was for the 4th of July holiday, we wanted to spend some time outside this year. That and trying to get the kids away from the computers, DSs, Vtechs, Leapsters, etc. So, of course, there had to be something to do outside, or we’d never hear the end of “I’m sooooo bored, what can we do,” etc. etc.

We figured we could whip up a sandbox in a day--how hard can it be? Actually, not very, it turns out. Better yet, when we added on to the house a few years back, I elected to dismantle the old deck (instead of letting the contractor demolish it). All that wood was just in a pile next to the toolshed. So in the spirit of “we better use it or throw it out”, which we adopted this year, we went through it all and found enough material to build the box--all that was left to buy was the boards for the seat and the sand of course.

With a general idea--and I mean general, as in “let’s make it about 5x7 feet, it’s just a box after all”, we measured (twice of course) and cut and deck-screwed (I had left-overs) the box together in just about a day. We dug down a bit to even the ground and put down some landscape-fabric to keep the weeds out, and put the box in place. Then we added the sand. We had to get bags--all the other places that had sand on bulk were closed for the holiday--the nerve of these people :)

When I say ‘we added the sand’ it sounds pretty easy, right? Well, it is, except for the schlepping 40 bags of 50 lbs sand from the truck to the sandbox! Good exercise though.

So we finished about a half hour before it got dark and the kids got to play in it for a bit before we covered it up with a tarp. We’ll have to build a cover next, ‘cause we don’t plan to provide a nice kitty-outhouse for the neighborhood.

Even though the kids went to bed around 10 that night, they were still up early the next morning to get back in the box. It only took us about an hour or so to add the seat. I’ll still have to do some sanding around the edges, but it’s pretty much done and looks mahhvellous, if I do say so myself.

Time for a quick tutorial

2009-06-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

It’s Saturday and that usually means cleanup time -- blech. But all work and no play...you know? So, in-between laundry and dishes I took some time to work on a cool movie-poster tutorial from the NAPP site (http://www.photoshopuser.com/members/?page=view&id=kung-fu-poster - accessible for NAPP members) which turns a picture (preferably with a kung-fu pose) into a movie poster. The tutorial used a stock image, but I had just taken a picture of Nick a couple of weeks ago that I thought was perfect. I even thought of a way to finish the project faster than the tutorial by using a brush for the sunburst in the background rather than creating it from scratch, so it took only about 20 minutes. I think it came out quite well, so I uploaded it to my Scrapbook album.

The pros and cons of Blog Apps

2009-06-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

So, since I switched from the PC to the MAC world, I decided to give iWeb a try--hey it comes with the laptop, so no new purchase necessary. The only drawback to using iWeb for your blog (and this is a pretty big one, i think) is that you can’t organize your ramblings (and let’s face it--most blogs are, mine included, just the musings of one individual’s view of things) into categories like home, work, tips, family, travel, etc.

Also, there are the included templates. At first glance it appears as though there are quite a few, however I found myself rapidly switching through the themes and never quite finding the right one. Ok, I thought, I’ll make my own--how hard can it be?

Fast forward several hours of surfing the various resources. I’ll start with the Apple forum; hmmm, lots of unanswered questions here including the one I have. On to google and the tons of links my search parameter brings forth (does someone offer a class on how to keep your search parameters short and to the point?). Not too many free iWeb templates out there--really only one or two I could find. And I’m talking templates that do not resemble fuzzy bunnies, bears, or otherwise whimsical subjects. I also found a few how-to’s, but really those were just the type where you copy an existing theme file, changing, perhaps the colors or images, and rename the proper references.

But what if I don’t like the base font, or the position of the pictures, or the types of picture frames for my Theme? Well, I found some references for that, but it involved editing the xml and css files, and altough I could do that, the point it that I don’t want to do that kind of stuff at home! I do enough of that at work and just want to use my computer and software and not repair, update and modify--hey, that’s one of the main reasons I switched from a PC to a MAC for crying out loud!

I am now using one of the free templates from Jumsoft after I purchased one that looked good in their demo; it was using categories and tags on the blog page, which turned out to be the demo for the RapidWeaver and not the iWeb template. I sent an email to the vendor after that discovery, but haven’t heard anything yet. Oh well, there goes $12.95 for a pretty basic (lame) template I might not use.

I did check out the RapidWeaver trial and it was fairly easy to use (not as easy as iWeb though). Given I bit more time to play around and getting used to the menus and ways of doing things, I’m sure after a period of time I’d be comfortable with it; except that the trial version only lets you save 3 (THREE) pages, which doesn’t make for any decent test in my book. I much prefer a time-limited trial over a crippled version.

So here’s my conclusion. At this time, I’m just too busy (lazy) to put my stuff (such as it is) into yet another app. I know, it’s not really that much, but since there’s no easy import, I’m getting tired of my own blog content (gasp). I decided to stick with iWeb and hope that we users can make enough noise to have the category/tag feature (among other things) in the next version--or a patch perhaps? </wishful thinking>

Ahhh, technology

2009-06-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just noticed that is has been a while since I added something to the blog, so here goes.
Well, it's Saturday and that means cleanup time in our house, since we both work and by the time we get home from work, had dinner, got the kids to bed, etc. we're usually too pooped to do much in the way of housework. Ok, except for maybe the dishes--we gotta eat, ya know; and that, of course, requires clean dishes, silverware, etc.
Anyway, back to Saturday. As I'm cleaning the kitchen and as I pick up stuff and toss it into the trash, it reminds me that I really should take out the trash, 'cause the can is kinda full and it IS getting a bit stinky! Which also reminds me that I saw an ad from Costco for one of those tall metal trashcans that open and close when you wave your hand in front of it and I really wanted to check it out next time I went to Costco; but, of course, last time I was in there I was, as usual, in a hurry to just get what I need and get back home (I normally get to shopping after work, which is around 6:30 PM!).
Anyway, long story short (ha, too late I think), as I was telling my son Nick about the trashcan, his eyes get really wide and he says "Wow, Mom, technology is great, isn't it?"
I had to laugh at that and thought, hey, I should really write this stuff down; I'm always trying to remember some cute, funny, interesting thing one of the kids is uttering, which might lend itself to a blog entry or even a nice scrapbook layout. But by the time I get ready to do those things, I usually can't think of one (geez, I must be getting old), which brings me back to today's blog entry. Wow I managed to tie that all in, didn't I? :)

Saturday @ Home

2009-05-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Wow, we didn't have anything planned for this weekend! Usually, there is at least some birthday, cubscout event, or something else going on. And, to top it off, the sun was out, which doesn't happen too often on weekends here in Washington after all! So, we went outside and the kids did some swinging and digging and then they found an old plastic basketball hoop stand which we bought for Nick when he was 2 or 3. After a few hoops (more or less), Nick started coughing again and I started to get a headache--darn allergies! Well, back inside, where Katie decided that it was Mommy Pig's Birthday and she proceded to organize a tea-party.
Invited guests included Max and Ruby, Blue, Magenta and Marlin--not Nemo, since this particular fish does not have the lucky fin.

Good Weekend

2009-05-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

We bought a MacBook Pro for Mark this weekend (same one I have). I'd been raving about mine since I bought it last November, when I finally made the switch after years of complaining about my PC. Not that I'm a noob at PCs--I've been working with them for a long time--my first computer was a TRS-80 :)
I use PCs at work and when I come home I'd like to do something fun, like edit my photos, update my blog, twitter, play in photoshop. What I DONT want to do is figure out why the latest update or service pack screwed up one or more of my programs.
Since our lease for our two laptops was up and we weren't having a good experience with the leasing company, we figured that, since we had to pay a certain amount to pay of the lease, we may as well put the money into something better and send the laptops back from whence they came.
It took less than two days for Mark to get all his stuff transferred and the MacBook pro set up--sweet!

Moving In

2009-04-30T09:36:00.001-07:00

OK, now I have to get my old blogs into this one (not that there's that many), but I'd like to have everything in once place. Initial search indicates that this may not be an easy process--probably some copy/paste action will be required.

Off I go...

2009-04-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Since having sooo many problems with our current Web Hosting Service, I thought I'd give this a try. Now, if I can just remember to post regularly and keep track of my facebook and twitter stuff...

On the other hand...

2009-03-31T15:38:00.000-07:00

Unlike the battle with Adobe, the experience I had with Corel was very refreshing. I was bracing myself for a lengthy email chain explaining, as I had for PhotoShop, that I purchased the software (Painter Essentials) when I owned a PC, now I have a MAC and would they have a cross-platform upgrade and how much, and so on...
A day after I sent the email, I got an answer telling me that I just needed to log into my account, find my order record and download the MAC version, since the purchase covered both MAC and PC. How's that for customer service?

Where's my Software?!

2009-01-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, so far I have not experienced any of the problems I had with my old Vista Laptop, except for one thing!
What should have been a fairly simple process has now taken a month and is not yet resolved! Before switching to the MAC OS, I contacted Adobe Customer Support to find out if I would need to purchase a new copy of Photoshop for MAC. I was told that, no this was not necessary. All I needed to do was request a cross-platform swap, sign a Software destruction agreement and pay for shipping--simple, right?
WRONG!
It has now taken over a MONTH of emailing and faxing a "Software Destruction" agreement, whereby I promise to get rid of my PC version so they can give me the MAC version. No problem, I thought, I can do that. Unfortunately it seemed to be more difficult to fax and/or email this blasted document. Every time I thought I had it, I got a confirmation email that something was submitted, I waited and waited and got nothing. I'd then call Tech Support and, after telling my tale all over again, was told that they received it and are processing it.
So, I'd wait and when nothing happened I'd send another email. After a confirmation email I got another email telling me they DIDN'T receive the document and I would have to send it again! Aargh!!
This went on for over a month. I send another 2 emails--this time pretty curt--asking them what the $%^ was going on and how many times do I have to send the darn document and where the &^%& is my software!
Then, FINALLY, I got home after work and there was a little package at the door with my long awaited software--geez, I'd just about given up on it.
Anyway, all is well. CS4 is installed on my MAC and working very well. I haven't noticed ANY of the problems I'd had on my old pc! YEAH!

Buh-bye Vista!

2008-11-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

After much thought and frustration (mostly frustration), I bought a brand-spankin' new Macbook Pro. I got tired of running low on resources, Photoshop crashing, etc., etc.--and those MAC/PC ads sure are funny (and painfully true on the PC side). Well, I'm transferring files and getting new SW (had to upgrade Quicken anyway, so I just got the MAC version). Some programs didn't have a MAC version, but I found that the functionality was already included on the MAC (sweet!). I just need to get Photoshop switched. I checked with Support and was told it was no problem switching the version--just a small handling fee. I'll call them in the morning, unfortunately they weren't open on Sunday (rats!) Well, I guess I can wait one more day. I also ordered more memory. It came with 2 GHz, but I wanted 4 and I found a good deal online.

We're ba-ack!

2008-08-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we're on the road after landing at Portland Airport at about 1:30 PM. We had a little trouble remembering which airport parking service we had used, but managed to get it in the end. First thing I did was call my mom to let her know we landed. Then we got gas and stopped at the first Starbucks. We'll see how we'll handle the time shift over the weekend. Nick goes back to school on Tuesday and we're off to work again. That means we may have to take two vehicles again, or figure out another way to handle school pickups and work.

I discovered that it was fairly difficult to keep up the blog entries. First, because my mom doesn't have internet access, and second, that, even though my sister does, she also has a very large dog, which Katie was deathly afraid of. So, every time we went over there, one of us had to carry her around.

Heidelberg

2008-08-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

We´re off to Heidelberg. Still looking for the elusive power converter... We almost had one in Frankfurt, but we couldn't find a parking space--my sister rented a mini-bus (seats 9) and now we're having a hard time parking anywhere. Most parking garages have a maximum height of 2 meters and the bus is just a bit over. In the meantime, we'll keep charging it in the car. We're doing enough driving, anyway. And we thought they drove weird in China! They are just as crazy here--except here they yell a lot more.

Sunshine

2008-08-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was cloudy and rainy. Today, the sun came out again. We´re off to a Lego show in Darmstadt--Nick will like that. We´re still looking for a power converter/extension, so until we get one, I`m going to charge the laptop batteries in the car.

We're Here!

2008-08-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

We´re still looking for power converters--my batteries are out. We did bring some, but the outlets are recessed, so the converters don´t fit. We all had enough sleep now and are planning our trips. Still need to upload some pics. We went to Francesco´s yesterday. It´s a pizza place that was there when I left (1980). We talked to the owner and took some pictures and he invited us into the kitchen area where the brick oven is for more pictures with Nick and Katie making their pizza.

Last night

2008-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Everything is packed and in the car. I printed a few 12x12 layouts to take with me, cause nobody has a large printer at home. The kids are in bed and asleep. After this post, I'll shut down my laptop and charge the batteries for tomorrow. All we have to do tomorrow is load our carry-on, pack some snacks for the drive to the airport and GO!

Down to 1 Day

2008-08-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Packing is pretty much done. We just need to finish our carry-on's, clean up the house, and we're ready to go!

2 days and counting...

2008-08-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to pack. Just checked the Lufthansa web site to make sure we're not filling up the suitcases to capacity and have them end up too heavy. I'll have to break out the scales to double-check.

Getting closer...

2008-08-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

OK, everyone got their clothes together, so tomorrow I'll cram everything in as few suitcases as I can--we ARE planning to travel light...:D

I bought a new camera/laptop bag today, which will be my carry-on.

Ready for Vacation!

2008-08-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

We're getting excited. Next Wednesday it's off to Germany for almost 3 weeks. We finally managed to get the suitcases in from the garage. This weekend we will be packing everything but the carry-on.

Nick had a tummyache this morning, so I stayed home and tele-worked. Went pretty well, I got quite a bit of work done--yea!

29 Seconds

2008-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

I used a template from an Ad Challenge by Kellie Mieze at www.DesignerDigitals.com.
The Quote is also from a Designer Digitals Challenge by Jackie Eckles.

Template Challenge

2008-05-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

I had been looking for something to use this picture with, when this template came along. I used another photo I took from the ferris wheel at the bottom of the Spaceneedle and applied some sketch filters, then I removed some of the color, erased some edges and painted some color back in to make it look like a work in progress sketch.
Picture Template: Kellie Mize-Ad Challenge Freebie (at DesignerDigitals),
Papers: KPertiet_NotebookNo2-12, Angela_Barton_One_paper8, Carousel_BG9_juliemead, MRE_SSPaper_Downtown_Special; applied various blending modes; Edges: NRJ_FREEBIE_INKEDEDGES, SG_bonus_grunge_overlay.

After I saw the Neon at Night podcast from the Russell Brown Show, this looked like the perfect candidate LO to try it out.