Still

Still.
I still think of you every day. I wish you were here to see A and S grow up. I wish you would have had a chance to meet S - you would have loved her. She is full of spunk and personality; she would have made you laugh. A is still smart, funny, and sweet. I still hope that she will remember you, but I know all of her memories will be my memories shared with her. I still need you. I still miss you. I still love you.
There is no end to "still."

Still

#theidearoom Day 18 

On My Mind

This quarter has really been kicking my butt. I am only taking one class, but it is consuming almost every thought every day. There are so many readings, and some articles link to other articles linking to others ... Plus the discussions. The papers haven't been too frequent, but still take up even more time. I think this is the first week that I feel like I am maybe "ahead" at all (mainly because I am done with my readings for the week already). Most nights I do homework on the couch til I fall asleep, sleep for a couple hours, wake up and do a little more homework, and then FINALLY actually go to bed (usually around 1 or 2 AM). So, what is on my mind? Propaganda in the media.

On My Mind

#theidearoom Day 17

Different

Theses pictures were taken one day apart. I understand there are some obvious differences -- she did her own hair in the first one, and her hair was curled for the second one (albeit a bit flattened by the time this picture was taken), different poses, and so on. But, still, from one day to the next she looks so -- different. 

Different

#theidearoom Day 16

In My Hand ...

We went to a local mall the other day (I guess it was the 15th), and we were relaxing outside Teavana (we had just restocked our tea supply). While we were drinking the tea we got to-go, I remembered the day's theme: In My Hand. A and I decided to do a toast with our tea...

In My Hand ...

Cheers!

#theidearoom Day 15

Sweet

Sweet

Getting a "true love's kiss" from two of my true loves. 

#theidearoom Day 14 #AutoAwesome

Water

There are a few trails in our neighborhood. One of which connects to a conservation area with many more trails. For quite awhile now, I have been hoping to find the trail that leads to the conservation area. We found out from our neighbors in September which trail is the right one to take. "Go up to the trail that leads to the water tower, and it connects near there." Fast forward five months, and we finally went to the trail leading to the water tower! We were on a very short time constraint (nap trap), and the kids were getting tired (well, one of them was getting tired - and not the one needing the nap!), so we didn't make it much past the water tower -- but we finally made it to the water tower. Here's to next time ... 

Water

#theidearoom Day 13

Can't Go Without ...

Smartphones have changed the way many of us do so many things in life. I use mine for directions, traffic reports, a third camera, research tool, book, messenger, toy (play games), address book, planner, entertainment (movies/TV, etc), music, shopping, flight tracker, bus tracker, social media (including these posts sometimes), and probably so many more that I am forgetting. Oh, and an actual phone sometimes, too!

Can't Go Without

Reflection of my MotoX. 

#theidearoom Day 12

Two

The opportunities for this one are endless. . .

Two

Two girls in two pairs of matching pajamas.

Two beverages stacked upon each other. 

Two pairs of feet splashing in a lone puddle. 

#AutoAwesome #theidearoom Day 11

Shadows

Shadows

#theidearoom Day 10

Under

Under

Hello there, Hello Kitty!

Under the bike rack.

Under the bike rack.

#theidearoom Day 9

Frozen

I was going to do pictures of the girls singing to one of the many songs from the movie "Frozen" for this photo challenge. However, most of the pictures I have you can't tell that is what they are doing. I have video of them, but not many photos.

Luckily (for this purpose alone really), we had a cold spell. We had some beer in a cooler left out on the deck from Nathan's birthday party still. The ice that was originally in the cooler had melted, but with the cold it froze again. The water was deep enough that the bottles were pretty much stuck in the newly formed ice.

Frozen

#theidearoom Photo Challenge Day 8

Disorganized

Sometimes I feel like I am disorganized. Between school, family, and trying to maintain any resemblance of a social life I feel like I am split and pulled into pieces -- and I am trying to hang onto them all. I can't focus on any one thing as long as I would really like to.

I really wish I would have taken before pictures of my pantry. It was semi-organized, but not really - some shelves were overflowing and others sparse. I bought a spice rack organizer, and organized the spices. After creating more room I organized the rest of the pantry, and it is SO much better. I even might get a few more organizers for further organization. But, as I said, I did not take before pictures.

Another place I swear I organize every single day is the drawer of our coffee table. The kids like to draw and color, so we use the drawer for storing papers, crayons, and pencils. There are also some sticker books and other small arts and crafts supplies. I straighten this drawer out all the time, yet no matter what I do -- this is how it ends up anyway:

#theidearoom Day 7

Pattern

A loves learning about patterns. She will make patterns out of just about anything! Here is her latest:

Pattern

Two of one color, one of a different one, two of another color, one of a different one, two of another color. 

#theidearoom

On My Nightstand

On My nightstand

A wedding picture, a Nook, a tablet, a book ("Four White Horses And A Brass Band" by Violet McNeal), a valet box, a book light, and a coaster. 

(Day Five #theidearoom)

A Convenience

There are so many things in life that can really be considered a convenience. We are spoiled with an overwhelming number of conveniences. I decided to go with one I use most days - every time I leave the house. The back-up camera. It really does make backing out of our driveway (and many other spots) so much easier -- and faster. 

A Convenience

Day Four #theidearoom

If I Could Just Blink To Take A Picture How Awesome Would That Be?

I have wished for years to be able to simply blink to take a picture. I mean at least 8-10 years. I mean, how cool would it be to just be in the moment and think "Man, this is so cool - I need a picture!" and then just blink and bam! you have a picture? There are so many instances that this would come in handy. I know I have had countless times that I wish I could take a picture, but didn't have a camera accessible (or taking out a camera would ruin or break the moment I was hoping to capture). It isn't usually because I don't have a camera on me (I always have either my phone, my point-and-shoot, and/or my SLR on me at all times). It is usually because breaking away to grab said device would end the moment I want to capture.

Introduce Google Glass. This is the closest thing I know of that can get me to this dream of being able to take a picture with a blinking ease. And -- we are now proud owners of Glass! I am beyond excited, though I haven't played with it too much yet. There are multiple ways to take a picture with Google Glass: a button on the side, saying "OK Glass, take a picture," and winking. Winking. So close to blinking. It really is my dream, or at least you would think. See, here is the kicker. I can't wink. At all. I can kind of wink closing my left eye, but I can't at all when trying to close my right eye. I just distort my face into all kinds of convoluted shapes in my sad attempts to wink. To be able to use the wink feature with Glass you have to close the right eye. I've tried tricking it, but it is calibrated to Nathan's wink so it doesn't believe my hopeless attempts to fool it. I am this close to my dream, yet a lack of facial control holds me back. I guess I will need to practice winking more.

Day Three: Metal

#theidearoom

The Best $3.33 I Have Ever Spent

OK, so maybe not the best I have ever spent, but pretty darn close. The girls and I recently went to the local Dollar Tree to look for some gems for a project. While we were there we passed a bin of flashlights. They always want to play with our flashlight, but we don't often let them. I decided that I would get them a cheap flashlight (and some cheap batteries) so they could have their own flashlights. They have spent hours over the course of days playing with these flashlights! They have used them to make patterns, to make shadow puppets, to make a "campfire," to play chase games, and to go on an adventure through the dark of the house.

Dark

#theidearoom

OK - so maybe I wasn't quite ready for a photo-a-day challenge ...

It is already February 13th, and I haven't even posted a single photo challenge yet. I have tried to get a picture each day, but I barely feel like I have had time to even take a snapshot, let alone a well-thought out photo. It is what it is I suppose. It is just funny that I thought I might have an opportunity to play around with my camera a little bit this time. There's still time, I guess. But, for now, let's break out of the slump and get day one in the books!

Light

The morning sunlight on our ride home from preschool drop-off. This is unedited. I was playing around with some of the auto-filters in G+, and I may post (or add to this post) some of those, but for now it is just the original. 

#theidearoom

February Photo Challenge

I decided to go with the inspiration list I found at www.theidearoom.net for my February photo challenge. As with November, most of the pictures will probably be snapshots taken hastily with my phone. I am hoping to use the good 'ol SLR more this round though (I purposefully didn't last time, but I am going to use whatever is easiest or appealing to me at the time). #theidearoom