OK, so it's a little giddy,

a little cutsie...but, the DIY dish is fast becoming one of my favorite go-to blogs for fun ideas. This cute little idea may very well end up somewhere in my house someday.

little girls....

These girls know love to have fun with their food.

then...

and now...

They're not little girls anymore, but they still play like little girls!

thoughts on photography

Do you love your camera? I mean L-O-V-E your camera? Do you know how to USE your camera?

When John and I were first dating and married, John introduced me to photography. As a teen he had been very interested in photography and had a wonderful old Konika camera that he tried to teach me how to use. I found it fascinating and scary all at the same time. We had so little money that I was careful about each shot I took and so it took me a while to learn how to use the camera...seeing as it is useful to SEE how your photos turned out in order to learn how to use it. Then, several years into our marriage I won a free camera at Johns company picnic. It was a simple little point and shoot camera and I loved it. This is when I fell in love with photography! However, you do not really need any "skills" to use a point and click so anything I had learned with Johns Konika evaporated. Then, came the day that John decided I needed a digital camera. I tried to talk him out of it. It was an expense we did not need and my point and click was fine....or was it? It died:( Oh, the grief! I had a darling little 5 year old girl to document and no camera!!!!!!! Fortunately my husband had gone behind my back and bought me a digital camera for my birthday and so he gave me the camera early... That first digital camera (an Olympus) brought back my original fascination with photography.
I could play with this camera in a way that I could not play with my point and shoot. I happily spent many hours experimenting with all of the different settings on my camera. I could shoot many pictures in a sequence quickly, I could switch to black and white, I could switch to manual and adjust the aperture. It was fun....until it started to die:( So, it was time for a new camera. Something smaller and less bulky. Another Olympus. This one had a much higher resolution and more bells and whistles, but it was smaller, making the bells and whistles harder to find. I found myself using the auto setting more often than not...the pictures were good, so why not? Then I had a horrible accident and my camera was killed...the grief was indescribable....time for a new camera-AGAIN- an Olympus- Again!! this one pocket sized, so cute! So many settings....And I discovered, I MISS MY BIGGER CAMERAS. I miss being able to play with all of the different settings and lenses. This one is so small that the buttons get easily stuck. It gets more beat up. This camera has probably had its shortest life span. I can not afford to replace it. When I do, I'm gonna get me a Cannon!!! Thems totally awesome cameras!!!
If you really want to get the most love out of your camera. Use it. Learn how to use it to its best advantage. on the net you can find so many fantastic tips and tricks to help you learn more about photography, like this one here @ tatertots and jello. Take your camera out. Here is my dare of the day. take your camera off AUTO and try out some of the other settings!! Now, this said. I am not a very good photographer. photography has interested me for a long time but I always detour away...but I always come back. 'Tis an artform that I admire!

PS...just a tip...don't give your camera to your teenagers, they delete pictures they do not like. for example, last night was one of peekaboos track meets. I took some darling pics of her and friends and then handed her the camera and asked her to get more photos. when she returned the camera it was sans photos. all of them. turns out they didn't make the grade according to the teens and got deleted.

I've been thinking a lot about adoption lately. Obviously it's an issue that's close to my heart. I feel that adoption is an often misrepresented and socially misunderstood. There is a very disturbing adoption 'incident' that is being played out publically. An adoptive mother put her recently adopted 7 year old son on an airplane and sent him back to Russia with a note that he was violent and that she wouldn't keep him. This incident has sparked vigorous national and international debate about adoption. Russia has threatened to temporarily halt international adoptions while they put new checks and balance systems in place. Words like Reactive Attachment disorder and fetal alcohol syndrome are being thrown around... thereapists, and laymen, adoptive parents and natural parents are weighing in on all aspects of adoption.

Here's what I have to say about adoption. Adoption is DELIBERATELY choosing to love a STRANGER. It is a deliberate act! I believe that once you choose to love, unconditionally then the adoption has taken hold and that child is to all intents and purposes YOURS. We do not have the right to treat a child like a defective radio that we wanted but has some crossed wires. In my mind and heart, that child who is probably struggling with some SERIOUS and potentially DANGEROUS issues was never truly adopted, otherwise that mother could not have done what she did. She would have called 100's of social workers, browsed the internet for help, knocked on doors, bullied their doctor until a solution was found. I'm not saying adoption is easy. It is not!!! the process of adoption is supremely flawed and so it's flaws cause problems. I will say that I do feel for this *mom*. I think it had to be hard to realize that she didn't love him and didn't know how. I know it's hard adopting a difficult child (been there, still doing that!). Society wants adoptive parents to feel happy and for adoptions to perform almost miracles in the lives of adoptive children. Society is NOT accepting of difficult adoptions. They're seen as failures on the parts of adoptive parents and a reason why Real (read: biological) parents should be actively parenting. But, that's not realistic seeing as how many times it's the biological parent who caused the issue to begin with...yet, as a society we are often obsessed with reunion, with 'blood is thicker than water', with placing innocent children into harmful situations over and over and over again, hoping this time the parents will behave like parents.

I don't think this blog entry makes any sense. I may or may not publish it, and if I do...I certainly hope no one takes my ramblings as anything more than what they are- ramblings.

I believe in families. I believe that strong family's make a strong society. I believe that God intends for us to live as families- both in this life and the one to come. I believe in adoption. I believe that God can place a child in our home through adoption that was truly always ours to start with. I believe that time and God can heal all wounds. I believe that if we want a stronger society we should be supporting Families.

sorry again for the ramblings.

How do you deal with your stress?

how do you deal with stress?

I make bread. (probably one of the reasons that I've stopped loosing weight). Today was one of those nasty, frustrating, no good days. So, I made bread. Naan to be precise. Naan is an Indian/Pakistani grilled bread. My recipe is not particularly accurate (I don't think...) has a little too much sugar and yeast...but, it's fun to make. When I have a bad day it's helpful to find something to pound on. Today while kneading the bread dough I kept hearing the Michale Jackson song "beat it" reverberating through my head. Maybe I should take up boxing? or kick boxing??

in 1 cup warm water dissolve 2 tsp. yeast and 4 tb. white sugar. Proof until frothy (about 10 minutes).
Mix together 1 beaten egg, 3 tbs. milk, 2 tsp. salt & yeast mixture. slowly mix by hand or mixer with a bread kneading thingy (descriptive, huh) 4 1/2 cups. flour, 1 cup at a time until all is blended together and dough is soft. Knead for 6-8 minutes (this is where the pounding comes in beautifully:). Allow to rise until dough has doubled in volume (about an hour). Punch down dough. At this stage if you like you can add 2 tsp. minced garlic. knead again. Pinch off small amounts of the dough and roll into golf ball sized balls. allow to rise again.

Pre-heat grill to high. brush grill with oil. flatten each 'ball' and place on the grill. cook about 10 minutes and then flip. brush with butter if you like and cook an additional 10 minutes. flatten the bread as you go so that it cooks evenly.

Yummy with soup.

Forget a boy and his dog....

forget the saying about a boy and his dog...in our house it's all about the girl and her dog. It's a very special relationship.

a family birthday

Christy brought the kids down to visit last week for Spring Break. It happened to be Aaron's 9th birthday so we had us a P-A-R-T-Y! It was so much fun to have a good ole' fashioned family shindig. He's such a sweet boy and so it was fun!