Week 8: Baby Toes

Abram has been sick this week. So he's a tad clingy. Well, when he woke up from his nap, the other kids were playing outside and he wanted to join them. He would NOT let me go back in to get some socks and shoes (thankfully, I grabbed his coat on the way out the door the first time...), so his sweet little chubby toes just tried to warm themselves on my leg. And I just happened to have my camera in hand. (Please no bad mother jokes--I can remember the camera but not the socks... yuk, yuk, yuk.) The point is: what would we do without baby toes?

Week 7: Spring has Sprung!

For the second time this year, I hung my laundry outside today! It will probably snow tomorrow, but for now it's nice to get the kids out in the fresh air, sweep out the gutters (who knew that one could look forward to this chore!?), and have the possibility of dry clothes in a matter of hours, rather than days! :D Happy (almost) Spring!

Week 6: Waiting...

So, despite the fact that I have actually been making a concerted effort to photograph more of my life, I seem to have less of it to share. :? Technology escapes yet again, and so I resort to unfair methods. This photograph is one that I recently added to my shop (though I actually took it months ago), and I'm posting it as a tribute to the update on my blog. (About time. Perhaps my camera's refusal to upload has something to do with it's unclassy destination. Hopefully, this will encourage it some.) I've called the photo "Page Turner". And for those wondering, the book is a lovely 1921 edition of Scaramouche, by Rafael Sabatini, that was in a book lot we purchased from a school district's discard auction. Loved the book and love its decrepitly used appearance. It even has a mysteriously handwritten dedication in the front cover. But maybe that's for another post.)

Week 5: Cheating

So, since I've had some technical difficulties this week, I've been unable to upload anything from my camera. :( Instead, I have decided to post one of the altered art photographs my sister and I completed this week. Even though it's totally cheating, I give you Snow White:



And, if you'd like to see more of the ones we did, go here. (Oh, and as there has been some query about this project, this IS a photograph I took. During this past summer, my older sister and I went a little nuts and hosted a "fairy tale" photo shoot. The perfect Snow White you see here is, in fact, my niece. And, truthfully, we didn't have to do that much to get her to look like this--the photo was originally desaturated so that we could pull back from the green of the grass some; but she really is almost that fair. Add a black wig and some red lipstick and presto: Snow White reincarnated.)

Week 4: Progression of Family Pictures

We decided to take an official and glorious photograph of the royal family in all their regal splendour, and this is how things progressed:


Isabel poses our family for their pictures.



The Royal Family



A helper intervenes without invitation. (Seeing a trend?)



A few more helpers jump in.



Chaos ensues.



Somehow the royal family is forgotten. And somehow, no one really seems to mind.

Week 3c: Helpful

And, while I was taking the shot of the frames, a little helper came along to see how he could assist. So, here, too, is my baby, who is best viewed as is: dimpled, chatty, and always slightly out of focus.

Week 3b: Before.

This is another shot of something in the works. These gorgeous frames were all found at a second-hand store. I probably spent about $15 and three hours (sanding, painting, taping, RE-painting for the orange/yellow insets) to get an assorted set of frames I love. And someday they will no longer be sitting on the kitchen floor and will actually be put to their intended use. But that is for another post...

Week 3: Out of Chaos...

Thought I ought to post a tribute to the madness that overtakes our kitchen whenever we get the mask-making bug. While last week's foray into the unknown is mostly over, the remnants, well, remain. This little cardtable is shoved into a corner of the kitchen and still covered with inspiration. If you've ever wondered what goes into one of our masks, now you know what goes into at least three or four.

Week 2: Double Duty

Perhaps it is the curse of all women to never be able to do only ONE thing at a time. But I find that propping a good book up in the window works wonders on motivating me to work on that pile of dishes. (It's Madeleine L'Engle's "A Circle of Quiet" today, if you are wondering.)

Also, I reserve the right now to post more than one picture a week. Not that I really expect that to happen a lot, but I figure I should have an out, just in case. :D

Week 1: Resolute

A new friend through fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy) had the brilliant goal to expand her photography and record a year of her life by starting a 52-Week Project: taking and uploading one picture each week. It was too good an idea (and too opportune!) to pass up. (Be sure to check out HER blog, too!)

I begin my year with the goal not to necessarily lose weight (though that would be nice), but to BE healthier! The first part of this: drink more water. Guess I'll be seeing lots more of that amber glass...

Trading Up.

So, I just sort of wanted to upload some pictures, and thought, what better thing to upload than a couple of shots of some of the gorgeous things I've managed to trade for in the last little bit? (Yeah, sorry, guys, I just don't have pictures of my kids. At least not in a digital format. You'll have to make do with "stuff".)

These very cute felt crowns from choochmagooz.blogspot.com:



Some spectacular magnets from JaneDean.etsy.com:



An awesome bracelet by yjja123.etsy.com:



This gorgeous hand-stitched, leather bound journal from DancingGreyStudio.etsy.com:



And even this super cute little tea service from SueSueGonzalas.etsy.com:



Woot!

Going Green

Okay, so any of you that know me AT ALL are no doubt laughing your heads off at the title of this post. Is it, after all, possible for me to go MORE green? I am more "hippie" than any of my close friends, and most of my family (with the noted occasional exception of my sister, Sarah; cousin, Susan; and Aunt Cherie). But I have recently pondered ways that even I can improve upon my tree-hugging:

1 Waste less. Based on my favorite old adage, "Use it up; Wear it out; Make it do, or do without" (now, you KNOW you're a hippie when you have a "favorite" old adage...), I have renewed my determination to throw less away. Now, I don't want to have a pile of junk lying around at all times forever-after, so for me, it just means to stop mindlessly chucking something in the trash because it's "broken". Or even just because I no longer have a use for it. Want a few examples? Check out these links on my etsy site, and I think you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about: http://www.etsy.com/listing/55396063/natural-quill-beads-set-of-20; http://www.etsy.com/listing/55917701/bundle-of-dried-lavender-stalks; and http://www.etsy.com/listing/54890153/big-ball-of-stripped-sheet-yarn-in-sage Just because I don't have a use for it, doesn't make it useless.

2 Buy responsibly. This does not mean that I will only buy things that are in tan and green packaging and that have big labels proclaiming them to be "green," "eco-," or "natural." Again, for me, it's just become a matter of taking a moment to think it through. For example, I no longer intend to shop at WalMart or Motherhood Maternity. Not because they are horrible "big" corporations, or have not taken pains enough to save the earth. Because I simply HATE shopping there. Why support a business I hate? It just seems silly. Now, Target and Macey's (the local grocery store), on the other hand, are two businesses that I enjoy. I actually ENJOY spending time in their stores! Their employees are helpful, their layout makes sense, they have good prices, AND I ACTUALLY LIKE BEING THERE! Why wouldn't I put my money toward supporting businesses I actually like? To take a product example, Ivan and I recently discussed bar soap. I am not cool enough to make my own soap, and while I really like the homemade soap that other people have given me, it is just not practical for me to buy handmade soap! It's too expensive. So I buy Ivory. It's free of a lot of extra chemicals, and it's cheap. Ivan laughed at me for putting so much thought into a bar of soap, but I pointed out to him that I really don't buy THAT many products, and so I figure it's worth a little brain-power to support those products that are both "earth friendly", and also practical for a cheapskate, like me. :D Why waste time and money on products that I don't even like or that simply don't work for my family situation? It's a no-brainer, really.

3 Slow down. Living at a frenetic pace makes absolutely no one happy. I'm not talking about being in that positive, busy zone, where you seem to get a miraculous amount of stuff done in record time. I'm talking about the rushing around senselessly, accomplishing nothing worthwhile, because your every movement is hindered by the gigantic mental pile of the other things you are NOT getting done. (And I know you all know what I'm talking about here.) If I'm spending so much of my time taking care of all the "stuff" in my life, it is past time to get rid of some of that stuff. So I am determined to do so. And spend more time playing with my kids and dating my husband.

And there you have a very long rant, summing up the majority of a stay-at-home-Mom's thoughts from the last couple of weeks. Woah.

An Inconvenient Truth (that is, surprisingly, both true and inconvenient)

Ready for it?

....................

Growing up, I NEVER had to mow the lawn. No, not "seldom," not "rarely." Never.

Now. I'm sure that there are lots of other adults out there who've never mown a lawn. But I am equally sure that those other adults didn't: ONE-grow up in Utah where EVERYONE has a lawn and EVERYONE makes their kids mow it, and TWO-graduate with a four-year degree in HORTICULTURE. Yeah. You begin to see the level of my pathetic-ness.

No, it wasn't until I was a real adult, with my own house and a lawn to mow, that I finally realized that at some point in my life I was probably going to have to mow a lawn. So, I did what any other self-respecting Luddite would do: I went out and bought a reel mower. (You know, those silly looking mowers with no motor that you probably thought were extinct? Yep. One of those.) I was feeling pretty good about my choice. It's earth-conscious, quiet, smells lovely (like fresh-mown grass--go fig!), and best of all, totally self-propelled, so that I can do it with the kids around without worrying about injuring one of them in a freak accident. Unfortunately, it also doesn't work when your grass is more that six inches long. Which ours is. All the time.

And that brings me to today. I decided to spare my busy husband a little and mow the lawn for him, so that on the one night he isn't at meetings, he didn't have to mow AND trim the lawn. (I know, nice, right?) Except for that whole, "I've never mown the lawn" thing. Yeah...

Let's just skip to the morals of this story:

1. It is far better to be humiliated at age 12--when you are far less likely to remember it--than age 28. And, yes, I did hear the neighbours guffaw at my 20 failed attempts at getting the thing started. Okay, that's a lie. I didn't hear them. But that doesn't mean they didn't.

2. Some of us were just meant for another era. When people used reel mowers (of whom, I am the only one left that I know) and hung their laundry outside (which a FEW other people still do--thanks, Grandma!).

3. It is ASTOUNDING how good you can feel about a really crappy "job well-done."

new post!?!?

Now, I know that you are all thinking, "My computer must be malfunctioning. Amanda can't POSSIBLY have added a new post!" But, no. Your computer's are not broken; I really am posting a brief note. I was looking over some lovely family blogs, and became inspired. (If nothing else, I really needed to add something since that last post seven months ago, especially since Patina market is no longer around...) Just wanted to thank all those of you that make the blogging world a fun and interesting place to visit! I sure love that I can find out what my loved ones have been up to --with pictures to prove it!--even when we are unable to spend a great deal of time catching up.

As for me, I've recently discovered the joys of trading! I've sold a few photographs on etsy for some interesting finds: vintage jewelry, antique brass buttons, and soon to be some hanging onion baskets! My photography has taken on a whole new light now!

patina

So, I've been invited to display/sell some of my photography at a new place opening up in Pleasant Grove the week before Thanksgiving. It's called the Patina Market (patinamarket.com) and is a very cool idea. They provide a space for local artists and artisans to set up shop for a week and then rotate through different artists every week. I haven't done any photography for a while, so I'm a little nervous about being up to par with the other awesome participants. :D If you have a chance in your Christmas shopping to go check it out, you really should stop by! (This next week, if possible... ;) )

etsy

So, I've had up a site on etsy for a very long time, and figured it was about time I add a post directing people to it! On amandajphotos.etsy.com you can find a sampling of my landscape/still-life pictures for sale. Even if you don't buy any, let me know what you think!

the orullians (p)

I know it's been an appallingly long time since I've posted anything new, but my cousin Stephanie is far more on top of the web than I, so I decided to steal a few pictures from her online album to put up here. Just because I wasn't the first to have them up, doesn't mean I didn't take them!

The Orullian's children, with their gorgeously long eyelashes and flawless freckles, are unbelievably photogenic.

asher (and isabel) (p)

abby (p)

Sometimes Abby has a bit of a tendency to look angry...

annie (p)

This beautiful little girl belongs to some friends of my brother's and her parents were kind enough to allow me to post her up here. :D