More LeakyCon

The rest of the first day (and the second, third, and fourth days) was packed and exhausting.  Sooo much awesomeness that I just cannot write about it all.  We'd get up, get to the convention center and then go to as many lecture sessions/classes/group discussions/meetups as we could fit, then stumble home to crash and then get up and do it again the next day.

Carus posed with as many costumed people as possible.  The opening ceremony was brilliantly written, performed, and funny.  I took video of the final number of the opening ceremony.  Again, the quality of my video skills is lacking and it's also crooked (didn't look crooked when I was filming) but hey, I have video.  See it here.  (They uploaded a MUCH better quality video, here.)

We met up with friends (me, Carus, Bethany, and Jen)


Met the author of Eleanor and Park, an awesome book (and was too starstruck to ask for a picture or autograph, but did get this button).


Got more button bling.  Fangirl is Rainbow Rowell's third book that I'm excitedly waiting for the release of, as well as a Hufflepuff pin and Doctor Who 10 and a Doctor Who 11 "Bow Ties are Cool" pins.


We met another awesome person, a friend of Bethany's, and posed with Vladimir Snape (I told you about him yesterday). And then went to more discussions/sessions/etc.


Carus and I were part of the attempt to break the World Record of most people in one room wearing fake moustaches.  Prelim numbers were that 2,225 people participating and that breaks the previous number of 1500.


Carus playing Quidditch.  She played two rounds - one where she was a chaser (the one that throws the ball through the hoops) and one where she was the seeker (who catches the snitch) and she caught the snitch (and I got it on video, which is here).  (Rules/how to play the game can be found here with the International Quidditch Association ("Yes, that's a thing.  No, we cannot fly. Yet."))


I'll continue uploading pictures (I'm about halfway through now) to this set on Flickr. And here is the slideshow:



Anyone want to sponsor me going to LeakyCon next year?  It's in Orlando, FL and I would LOVE to go! I might even take the rest of the family along.  You know, if they're nice.

Mismatch day

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It was mismatch day at school.  I love wacky days at the school and I think this one might be my new favorite after crazy hair day.

Sad bumper car

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Bumper car is sad because he isn't being used anymore.

Carus came with me today when I went to Oaks Park with the 8th graders I'm mentoring with my camera club for a photography outing...thing.  It was cold, but thankfully dry.  This bumper car was in a shed with a few benches and chairs waiting for amusement park season. It didn't look like the bumper cars would be brought out and used, maybe they were just removed and will be replaced by newer ones or something else this year. I'm not sure, I've never been before.  But maybe I'll take the kids this "season" and have some fun.

insert title here

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Good-bye 2012

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We had a few snow flurries throughout the day, but unfortunately it didn't stick.  One of the flurries was during my lunch break so I went out and tried to get a few macro shots of the snow flakes.  Unfortunately they were NOTHING like my inspiration photos by Russian photographer Andrew Osokin which I read about on PetaPixel.  Though, he does have a really nice macro lens and I just have a little macro attachment for my lens.



If we get any more snow, I'll try again.

I was hoping to go to bed and wake up to a few feet of snow, but that didn't happen.

We spent the evening playing Pictionary with the kids and then pulling the Christmas decorations down and putting them away.  Leia didn't handle the fireworks and gun shots too well, but they weren't as bad as we were expecting...so there's that.

I'll write about today later when I decide what I'm doing.

Did you stay up to ring in the New Year?

THE SUN!

The SUN came out this weekend. It was GLORIOUS!

Carus had her birthday sleepover party Saturday night.  We didn't do anything super special, just a sleepover with a couple friends.  There was lasagna and root beer floats and they watched a movie.  There is giggling and some squeaking, but at lights out, it stops.

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Movie time with some puggy cuddles.



366:366 (Not the last of the year, explanation here.)

We drove one of Carus's friends home today and while driving into Aloha we got to see Mount Hood. I took a pic with my cell phone and went back to soaking up the sun and enjoying the blue skies.  Later, I went with Geneva out to the barn. (My hip is still sore (STILL! Grrr!) but I think it's time to stop babying it and start working it more.  And eventually I will get back on that horse. Hahaha. So anyways, I went out to the barn because it's easier to do something you don't want to do when doing something you enjoy.)  On the way out to the barn, we got a really good view of Mount Hood.

Title smitle

Sometimes titles for blog posts come to me easily, but more often they don't and I resort to using similar ones or just using the number of my 365/366. I feel like I'm lacking in the creativity department there....

Anyhoo...

This evening Robert was tossing a cardboard ring for Leia, and she was jumping and catching it.  She loves to play catch/fetch and will play for hours and hours and long past the point that you are done throwing for her. It looks like she is dancing.



Robert got me a flash for my camera for Christmas (Nikon SB400).  It helped with getting Leia in action.

So, I'm on 364 of my 366 and if you do the math you'll notice that's not right; it's supposed to be 363 and because of it, I'll finish the year with 367 numbered photos.  When I realized my numbering was off a little over a week ago I went back over my photos and I found where I made a mistake.  It is all the waaaayyyy back in May.  I took two photos on one day and numbered both consecutively.

I don't want to go back and renumber all of the photos following it, or the coinciding blog posts so I'm going to leave it alone.

One (missed) mistake over the year (I made more, but caught them before "damage" was done) is a lot better than last years many, many mistakes.  I think I ended last year being nearly a week off in numbers.  That is embarrassing.  I mean, how hard is it to number photos and keep it all in order.  Gah! Surprisingly, hard enough.

This also brings me to next year.

Do I want to continue with a 365 (no leap year) or do I want to try something else?  Maybe a weekly photo?  Or themed based photos?  My original intent of starting the 365 was not only to document our lives throughout the year, but also learn to use my camera better so I could take better photos.  This year, when using my camera(s), I've shot EXCLUSIVELY in manual mode where I had control over every setting and I'm pretty proud of that.  I've learnt a lot about my camera.  But, now what....  I want to continue to challenge myself and to continue to improve, but I'm not sure how I want to go about it...

What do you think?  Comment here or contact me via e-mail, text message, or phone call and let me know.

Do you want to see another 365 in 2013?
Do you want a weekly photo?

Or, maybe a 365 with a theme photoshoot thing once a month?  Hmm, I kind of like that idea...

Good-bye 7 days....

...until spring run!

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day 7

I think I need a hair cut (post shower, uncombed, very wet hair).

Happy birthday Carus!

Carus picked the restaurant for her birthday dinner - Mazatlan, a local Mexican restaurant.  And I had them sing happy birthday to her.  If you can't view the video below, click here.



A slideshow of snapshots from Carus opening birthday gifts today.  We got her a gift card for her Kindle Fire (which she got for Christmas) so she could get some apps, books, and/or TV shows/movies on it...she's bought a few apps already.  If you play Draw Something and want to play against her, let me know.

Her sleepover party this weekend with her friends will be added to this set on Flickr later. (If you can't see the slideshow below, click here.)



* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And less importantly, my 366 and day 6 of 7 days.

362:366 - Hot salsa from dinner tonight.

Happy Christmas!

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Happy Christmas!


Christmas day family photo.

Us with my in-laws, my father-in-laws parents and grandmother.  Pretty good company to have on holidays.




And because I have to show off my creative a bit more today (Carus helped too), behold my veggie Christmas tree!

Christmas Eve

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Annual Christmas Eve family photo.

This is the best shot we got.  I thought it would be cute to get the dogs included, but Leia was having a silly puppy moment and didn't understand which direction we wanted her to face and that we wanted her to lie down.  I was going to call at least one of the (3) cats over as well, but the only one visible was giving me a look that said he wasn't going to go anywhere near the bouncing puppy.

So here we are - Carus hiding Robert (which he doesn't mind), Leia sniffing for treat crumbs (she got the treat for laying down) and Yoda trying to jump off my lap.

Happy Christmas!

7 days, day 3

We went to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum today and Carus and I had lots of fun playing around with all the shiny, prime 7 days surfaces.



Can you find us in all the pictures?  Carus and I are in each one.

7 days has returned!

7 Days Winter run has started.

7 Days is a group of people on Flickr that get together and post self portraits for a week about 4 times a year. We comment on each other's photos and get to know people, not only from all over the country, but all over the world. Here are my posts from previous runs.

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Friday

7 Days, day 1

Watching TV by Christmas tree lights.





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Saturday
7 Days, day 2


Making cinnamon rolls.  I used Pioneer Woman's recipe for the rolls (with less butter and a combination of brown sugar and regular sugar for the filling) and browned butter frosting recipe from Michele, a friend I made through 7 Days, with orange extract added.

The recipe makes A LOT.  Some are for us for Christmas morning breakfast, and some are being given to neighbors who are awesome.



Now I'm off to catch up on commenting on 7 days photos and relax for a bit - it's been a long week!

Finishing up the week....finally

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Wednesday

The camera club I belong to was asked to mentor some 8th grade students interested in photography this year, and I was one of those that volunteered.  We meet with 3 girls each Wednesday for an hour or two and go over how to use the cameras and photography techniques.  I'm learning as much as I'm teaching.  Carus has decided she wants to learn too so she is tagging along and standing in as a model occasionally.




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Thursday

I've signed up to start working at the hospital about twice a month or so.  I'll get to train on some projects that I've been wanting to work on, and I'll get out of the house occasionally.  I enjoy my lack of commute and the fact that I can work in my sweats, but sometimes it's nice to dress up and feel professional.  This was my first week.  When I went to lunch, I noticed this mural painted in the stairwell, which made me smile. It's very pretty.

Carus's first band concert

This evening was Carus's first band concert.  She was in the back so we couldn't see her too well.  Yay for my zoom lens. She is playing the trumpet now, and enjoying it.  The beginner band is doing pretty good.



We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow that quickly melted only for it to start snowing about the time for the kids to head to school.

All day today, it would snow until there was a light covering and it would stop, melt, and start snowing again.



Drip drip drip

Little puddle in the yard.



The neighborhood little birdies were very active with the snow. I tossed some bird seed out for them and they distracted me from work a bit.



Yum! This photo cracks me up.



During one of the melts, the little birds took a bath in the little puddle.



Cute and distracting little birds.

A Night With No Power

If you're going to lose power, it's best to lose it at night.  Right?

I mean, you don't have to worry about how you are going to make meals, entertain children or yourself, nor about making sure people don't open the fridge too often letting all the cold air out.


We have a light in our room hooked up to a remote from which we can dim the lights or turn them off once we're already in bed so I can read for a bit before lights out.  Because we have that remote, the switch stays on.  The first time the power went out last night, that switch was still in the on position so when the power came back, the lights created a wake up call.  It only lasted a few minutes though before power went out again.

And then the beeping started.

Our computers (and the server we store pictures and music on) have battery back-ups in case the computers are on when we lose power to keep us from having fried computer paperweights.  When the power goes out, those battery back-ups beep.  Loudly.

There is a street lamp in front of our house and at night some of that light filters through the blinds into the living room; Leia sleeps on the couch in the living room and this light is like her night light, but last night . . .

My dog...is afraid...of the dark.

All of this was not helping The Chicken Dog who, when the power went out, had run into our room and wedged herself between me and Robert where she was shaking.  She is not a small dog.  With each beep from the server's battery back-up she would try to squirm closer to me. There was no closer for her to squirm to.

We clicked the switch into the off position, turned off the battery back-ups to stop the beeping, and I escorted the dog outside to potty for the first of three (THREE!) times last night.  It was cold and rainy, and during each trip the wind (we had gusts up to 45 mph) blew the rain into my face, no matter which direction I turned.  

Leia would curl up with us while the power was out and when it came back on she would wander back out to the living room, only to rush back in and put her cold nose in my face to get me up to take her out (nervous bladder) and then get back in bed with us again.  The last cycle of no power created more beeping - apparently the batteries in one of our smoke detectors is low.  And the alarm (I set a backup alarm on my phone in case our bedside alarm clock was out of commission) came all too soon.

Thankfully, the Nyquil I took before bed allowed me to sleep so deeply that even though I spent too much time awake last night I'm still able to function today.  Barely function, and with a LOT of coffee (two cups in and counting) but still. . . I can function.

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Leia sleeping off her (read: our) sleepless night.  I'm so jealous....and tired. 

Weekend

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We were surprised Saturday morning when it started snowing.  We didn't get any more than this dusting, and it quickly melted.  The news usually makes a HUGE deal when we are expecting any kind of storm, especially a snow storm, but not this time - or at least we missed it.  It's good that it didn't last though because I had friends over for a crafting day.  I worked on my mystery quilt and got half of the top put together.




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My Christmas carolers (from Granny) and Christmas tree light reflections.


It looks like it might be my turn to get sick. I woke up with a sore throat, my head has been pounding all day and I'm so exhausted and cold. I don't have a fever (yet) and I hope it ends tonight with the Nyquil I'll be taking before bed.  And hopefully it ends with me and doesn't try to make the rounds again (or get Carus fully sick instead of just feeling a bit poorly).

We have a storm coming in tonight and into tomorrow.  In fact, it's already here.  Lots of rain and high wind expected. I've had to escort the dog out to go potty (freaking chicken dog) and I got quite wet, though I had an umbrella.  We've lost power once this evening already, just for a few minutes, and I was thankful it came back on because dinner was about 20 minutes (pork chops and scalloped potatoes and the raw pork needed that 20 minutes) away from being done.  As soon as it came back on, I turned the oven up another 50 degrees hoping that I could get it done before it went out again (if it goes out again).

I just took it out of the oven so as soon as our cell phones are all charged up (just in case) and the house is warmed up more (just in case), the power can go out again. I'm not sure if I want it to be back on in time for work tomorrow or not . . .

Dance class

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Twirling in dance class.



After dance class, Carus and I went grocery shopping.  I need to remember that 8 pm at Costco on a Friday night is so quiet and lovely to shop in.  With barely anyone there we were able to move through the store getting what we needed so quickly.  Much better then midday on Saturday or Sunday.

Happy Hot Chocolate day!

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I read somewhere earlier today that it was National Hot Chocolate day.  I'm not sure who decided that hot chocolate needed a holiday, or that it should be today, but I'm okay with having an excuse to have some hot chocolate just because.  The kids were okay with it too.  I made some for all of us, but was the only one that had marshmallows   Apparently my family is weird.



Robert stayed home sick today, but he looks like he is doing better.  Carus woke with a stuffed up nose, but no fever and still insisted on going to school and I let her.  Adam is not sick, or stuffy.  All those times he was sick as a baby has given him one hell of an immune system.

I'm not feeling 100%, but I don't feel sick either.  I might just be bummed from the lack of sunshine lately and the fact that there are a million things I need to do, a billion things I want to do, and not enough time to do either.  This week/month/year is going too fast.

'tis the season

'tis the season for for colds.

Robert is sick-y (head cold) and Carus complained of feeling icky this morning too.  Though I suspect it was because she didn't want to get out of her comfortable, warm bed and go to school.  She didn't have a fever and wasn't actively vomiting so I sent her to school with instructions to call me if she needed to come home.

She didn't.

Robert says that EVERYONE at work has the plague, so he's not really surprised he came down with something.  He'll be going to bed early and maybe I'll make him stay home tomorrow...

Hopefully my headache is unrelated to a cold and I'm not getting sick too.  I've been taking Emergen-C daily and will be taking some Nyquil tonight to knock myself out - my go-to plan to stop a cold from fully manifesting.  It works pretty well too.

It's good luck that the menu had homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight.  Another really good cold treatment, in my opinion.  I use plenty of fresh garlic and even sneak in a little ginger, which are both good for colds.

In other news, before I forget to share AGAIN!

Carus has fully transferred to the trumpet in band after having too much trouble getting sound out of a flute and some problems when trying the clarinet.  She says she is loving the trumpet.  Her first band concert is next Tuesday.  I'm excited to watch and hear her play.  Because she is borrowing the instrument from the school and the particular instrument has a stuck on mouthpiece (if she sticks with it we'll buy her one of her own, but they're too expensive to buy if she isn't going to play for awhile) she hasn't been able to bring it home yet.

Adam is doing great in band himself.  Last month a special permission slip was sent home asking if it was okay if he was considered for Honor's Band.  We gave permission and he tried for it....and got it!  In January, he'll get to miss a full day of classes as he goes practice and learn with the rest of the Honor Band.  That is on a Friday.  He'll then go back to practice on Saturday and then Saturday evening there will be a concert. I'm excited for that too.  If I understand correctly, Adam is the ONLY middle school trombone player... or something.  It boils down to - he is really good.

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Playing with my tea - trying to capture a drip and resulting ripples.