day 41...2/10/09 in the trenches & on the battlefield...

Earlier today, I told Goozy (oldest nephew) & MiddleE that they could set up today's pic. I had pics of snow that I complained about on facebook and my cousin said "it's better than mud" so I decided to get pics of the rain/mud we are dealing with now that the snow has mostly melted.... oh yes, even after 4 days of 50*+ weather there is still some snow lingering in corners and on street sides!
So the boys (both 10) set out with their bucket of military men (they are no longer army men, they represent all of the armed forces lol) in search of the perfect dirty battlefield. These are the photos that resulted ;).
The one is of a lone soldier in the trenches, perhaps covering a scouting commerade. The 2nd is of a surrounded enemy (you can barely see him in the background, he is the tan figurine). You can see the mud and sludge thrown up on the barricade, possibly from a recent mortar round exploding nearby?.... You would absolutely understand my descriptions if you would have heard those boys setting these scenes up ;) (complete with sound effects, I might add).

day 40...2/9/09 signs of spring....

Here in the land of odd, our weather is crazy madness from week to week and day to day.... -8*F as a low one morning, 2 mornings later 41*F was the low, and highs hitting 60*+..... So our pre-spring spring has come to the land of odd and there are some definite evidences of it, an open upstairs window adorned with a sun-loving smelly cat, and a discovery that the spring sprites have decided to knock a hole in our fence to better travel from one part of odd to the other (without having to go around). I know it was the spring sprites that caused this mischief because none of my kids did it, just ask them..... they are completely innocent ....darn sprites....

day 39...2/8/09

Remember these friendly li'l monkeyish critters? The Monchichies? I had several of the figurines when I was little. Mom would go every few weeks and splurge on a new one for me and a new smurf for my sister (early 80's) from Hallmark. I only have one of my original collection, but a couple years ago I bought a small lot of the figurines off of ebay. Among them was this lil cutie. She was one of my favorites when I was little because I discovered that I could use her tail and lil pony tail hair as a crayon lol (if you rubbed them on white paper the paint would rub off lol so mine was tail and pony tail "bald"...this one is not ;) ). Do you remember the rhyme/hand jive with the surprise ending?!
something along the lines of
Monchichi Monchichi I'm so soft & cuddly,
Monchichi Monchichi I can play atari,
Monchichi Monchichi I can do "the fonzy",
Monchichi Monchichi OOPS I'm sorry!

(you hugged yourself for cuddly, you did the joystick move on your hand for atari, you did the slick "ehhhhh" hand move by your head for "the fonzy" then it was a dash to see who had the quicker hand to smack your "friend" on the cheek for the oops I'm sorry)....sheesh we were such suh-weet kids!

day 38...2/7/09

The economy is so bad that even the little birds have turned to thievery to keep warm... They stole a long yarn thread out of our snowman's scarf, but the bumbling li'l tweeters that they are, they got their loot stuck on the front perch of their home. Li'l T wants them evicted for their behavior... I told her that they were cold and needed warmed up too and that they only took as much as they needed lol...she is still mad.

day 37...2/6/09

Don't ask...just know that this is the ONLY pic that was on my camera for Feb. 6th, so I was forced to use it....and that IS a defensive position on the cat's part....

day 36...2/5/09

There is so much to say about today's pic, I just don't know how to say it.... I love it, but it hurts my heart to see my Ldest so grown looking....ouch....

day 35...2/4/09

Personally, I think that the Snow Meiser needs to be shot.....I am having nightmares about this stuff now....seriously....

day 34...2/3/09

Needless to say, I was very surprised with this photo. Keep in mind that I do not have a "big girl" camera yet so this was shot with a point and shoot! I was surprised at the detail! This was yet MORE snow here in our town. In the 20 minutes it took me to pick up Li'l T from pre-k, a nice little pile had accumulated on the side mirror of the truck and I thought "hm ok might try that for a pic" and this was the result! Now I can't wait for a big girl camera to see how much better shots like this come out! The only thing I tweaked was the contrast just a little! No matter how much I am sick of snow, I think that each little flake is a minor miracle unto itself!

day 33...groundhog day

I was so upset yesterday because I drew an absolute blank when I was trying to decide on what to take a pic of for the day... Of course there is always the fall back of Li'l T, but honestly sometimes I just want to show off my other 2 or I want to take a dramatic pic... SOMETHING other than my cutie pa tootie 4 yr old lol.
I put my problem in my tagline on facebook and a friend from high school said "why not do something with shadows? It IS Groundhog Day."












So I thought and thought, then it hit me! I had seen a photo on myspace or somewhere, then I had seen a version a friend did for a wedding she photographed and LOVED it .... soooooooo I decided to try it....
I did it with 2 different lightsources and got 2 totally different effects :). The spotlight effect turned out really neat though because the light itself made a heart shape too!... This was really fun and really easy to do and has pretty cool effects. I am really trying to think of some other shadow photos to take... could be interesting!

day 32...

Ah yes, finally the snow was packable (as it got up to 45*F on Sunday). Hubba & the boys had a good old fashioned snowball fight while Li'l T and I made a snowman. I love this pic because it shows how their snowball fights usually go....Hubba obliterates the boys (note Middle E laid out in the background), boys exact revenge (note cocked back hand of L-dest), Hubba runs for safety (directly behind me because the boys know better than to chuck a snowball anywhere near my camera)...and this repeats itself over and over lol.

day 31....

Not much to say about this pic except that it was late and I suddenly realized I had not gotten a pic for the day...Ranch flavored sunflower seeds are my weakness so there is always a bag nearby so that is what I took a pic of ....