Picture a Day (#? - No longer going to keep track)

Feb 1, Attitude at 10.

Feb 2, Photography assignment.

Feb 3, Dry erase on the windows. Suddenly, Sarah can draw!






Feb 4, Playing with editing






Feb 5, Isaac

Feb 6, Computer time

Feb 7, The first and only bird seen in Adam's awesome bird feeder.

Feb 8, Lynea on the webcam....eating. Told you I would post it!

Feb. 9, Daniel the moutainman. Love you hon!

Feb 10, More photography assignments...

Feb 11, LOVE having a girl.

Feb 11, Home sick from school.

Feb 12, Feeling better.

Feb 13, Birthday happiness

Feb 14, Mario save me!

Feb 15, Kaitlyn and Krystine (and boyfriend Nic). Kaitlyn pulled a face in EVERY picture. That is a dot-to-dot Krystine completed and colored.

Feb 15 (again), Pre-haircuts

Feb 16, Post-haircuts. It was time. Sarah wouldn't smile. :)

I Forget.

I forget sometimes to remember that my blog is public.

I forget that everyone has access to this if they wish.

I forget that my readers are diverse.

I forget that most don't know the thought process that leads up to a post.

I forget that words can be taken out-of-context.

I forget that our perspectives are all so different.

I forget that this blog is only a snippet of real life and can give misconceptions.

I forget that I wouldn't say everything to everyone in real life.

Excellence

1. A few mornings ago, Isaac requested I play a song for him. I had just gotten out of bed and dragged myself over to the piano. I attempted to play the song. I really did, but he wasn't too patient with my stumbling fingers. Then I had a horrible thought: "Is Isaac already passing me in skill with only 1 1/2 years of piano lessons?" This thought is most unwelcome when you studied piano for eight years more-or-less. The song had looked easy enough, except for all those darn flats. But luckily, I then noticed that it wasn't one of his books at all. It was a random Yanni book that he just wanted to hear how the song sounded. Phew. At least I wasn't struggling in a second year book. However, it did make me realize the amount I've lost. I haven't played much in the last 8 or so years, mostly due to a child that doesn't have a high level of tolerance for other people making music, but also in part to not really wanting to. And not playing for 8 years can make you lose what you had, which wasn't even that great to begin with.

2. So did you know that I love math? Doing math homework sounds fun to me. It was my major in college and I tutored up through Calculus in the math labs on campus. I was good. Although I've helped people a little over the last 10 years, it's been mostly Algebra and Geometry. Once again I've found that if you don't use something, you can lose it. I've thought a bit about getting a Masters at some point in my future, but I'm not sure I could study mathematics because it would be so difficult to spin-up.

These two areas used to be ways that I defined myself.

3. Last night I was looking at a blog I had already been to a few times. It's a blog of a mom that lives somewhere around here, has 5 sons and 1 daughter (the youngest), and takes some of the most amazing photos I've ever seen. Truly. Her photos are AMAZING. The post I'm going to link to here is of the birthday party she threw for her daughter. The party itself is incredible, but to be able to capture it like that baffles me. Plus she can write well. (I warn you not to look at the link if you don't want to see what appears as a charmed life.) There are a few other photographers that I would love to also emulate, but I get discouraged. My photography class is good, but it just helps me to know how much I don't know. (And even when I do learn new things, retaining it is so hard!) I've been frustrated about not being able to get my camera to do what I want it to do. I have a vision. Why can't I just reproduce it?!

All of this got me thinking about the areas that I dabble in. My sister commented that I've always got a ton of projects going at one time and she is right. The fact is: I'm good at a lot of things, but I'm not excellent at anything. The closest I come is probably in doing trim/molding. However, a neighbor of mine was looking to hire a trim carpenter to finish her basement and I wondered for a moment if I could do it. But do you know what it includes? Hanging doors. I don't hang doors and I have no desire to. Oh, and traditional crown molding that sits at 45 degrees? It's hard work and I'm not that great at it. This all makes me realize how many holes there are in my knowledge.

I like painting and drawing, but haven't done much with it lately. I sew a little and would like to sew more, but I don't ever plan on being an exceptional seamstress. I organize, but lose my drive. I cook a little, but nothing fancy. I've run, but I'm s.l.o.w. I sing, but lack training. I have good mothering moments, but the poor ones often outnumber them.


The problem is that I don't want to just be good, but be really good at something. To be, in fact, excellent.

And that makes me wonder.....

Do I have excellence in me?

The Power of Post-Processing Photos or PPPP

You may have noticed that some pictures on my previous post were edited. I've recently been converted to Adobe Lightroom and could not help myself. So many of my pictures are mediocre at best, so doing something to make them better, or at least more interesting, makes sense.

I've put a lot of before/after photos in this post to show just how much of a difference editing can make. The majority of these are done with presets in Lightroom. (Befores are shown before afters with exception of the first set of photos.)

A way over exposed look, but great for hiding poor lighting, skin, and freckles. :)

An otherwise throw-away photo redeemed. The playground material looks awesome...along with the shiny shoes.

A decent beginning photo looks much different edited.

A photo barely worth keeping due mainly to poor exposure. (Note the bruising around her eyes and on her forehead.)

An interesting, but dim photo. Heavily tweaked just for fun.

Way more interesting after being edited.

Totally boring/bad photo - might as well us a cool effect on it, right?

Fuzzy taken out. Photo prettier overall.

It's amazing what the capabilites for post-processing a photo are (even without shooting in RAW). It's difficult to not get carried away...

Picture a Day #17-31

Jan 17, Sarah tripped on the stairs and hit the tile hard creating a large goose egg.

Jan 18, My sister Leslie's new banister.

Jan 19, Sarah on her bike in the back yard. Christmas dress, snow boots,...



Jan 20, An awesome Jewelry organizer I got at TJ Maxx (I think).

Jan 21, A sneak peek of my guest/craft room that will be finished before the end of the year. :)

Jan 22, Scrapbooking.

Jan 23, Dry erase markers on the windows = happy children.

Jan 24, How it usually is, though I wish it wasn't.

Jan 25, The previous injury bruising and draining into her eyes.

Jan 26, First night at my Photography class.

Jan 27, Cute hair.

Jan 28, The Pie Pizzeria.

Jan 30, Dinner.

Jan 31, A small part of a lego city.

White Chili to Die For

It was requested that I post this. It is quite possibly the best White Chicken Chili recipe ever created. It is from a cookbook I adore:

I met that lady at a boutique over a year ago and it changed my cooking life. There are lots of good useful recipes in the inspirational book. I've even had it spiral bound.

So I'm going to share one of my favorites here:

White Chili

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 small white onion, diced
6 to 8 small garlic cloves, minced
1 (7-ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, undrained
4 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons dried oregano
½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup sour cream, plus additional for topping
3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped tomatoes

1. Cook the chicken by the desired method. Cool and tear into pieces. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook and stir until the onion is translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chicken, chiles, beans, broth, chicken bouillon, cumin, oregano, and cayenne. Simmer 30 to 45 minutes. Chili can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated or frozen for serving later.
3. Add the 1 cup sour cream and cheese, and continue cooking until the cheese is melted. Keep warm until serving.
4. Serve in bowls and pass cilantro, tomatoes, and additional sour cream.

Serve with ciabatta bread. Broil it a couple of minutes until crisp. Let your family or guests tear the bread instead of serving it sliced. Pass the butter.

Variation: For a thinner chili, the consistency of soup, add more chicken broth, up to 6 cups total.
Steps 1 and 2 can be done ahead of time.

Go try it. You won't regret it.

Making Chocolates, This Saturday, 10-12 AM

It's true! We'll be making chocolates here at my house this Saturday, Jan. 30th from 10-12 am. We would love for YOU to come and join us...but without your children. :)

There will be fantastic little valentine boxes and tags, designed by Lora, for you to help make and take home full of chocolates! This is an awesome opportunity to have a handmade gift with so little effort.

Here's a sampling of the chocolates we'll be making:

Please come. The more the merrier.

Send me a message if you don't know where I live...

Picture a Day #13-16

Jan 16, The only picture I took the whole day. An awesome look into how a trip of a mom by herself with three kids went down.

Jan 15 (2), Jenny's Canyon (in Snow Canyon).

Jan 15, My awesome nephew Kamron and us just before his graduation cermony.

Jan 14, Taken while I was driving (don't try it) to Southern Utah with the boys. The sunrays were cool in real life...

Jan 13, At one of Isaac's many mini-recitals.