A LIFE IN FOCUS PHOTOGRAPHY...

less is more....in photography and life.

2012-01-24T18:56:00.000-05:00

Less is more....wish i was less complicated and simpler by nature...

through the window

2012-01-19T13:56:00.001-05:00

i shoot this little chickadee through my den window. i have a camera next to my fave chair and a feeder is attached to the glass for my viewing pleasure (and to keep the squirrels off) so while i was drinking coffee this morning i shared my breakfast with these tiny black-capped creatures. they are endlessly charming and have satisfied my desire to have caged birds...we have had a number of parakeets, one lived to be 13!)
I am staying close to home today because i am expecting the delivery of a new lens!!! a beautiful portrait lens, so if anyone is thinking of getting some portrait work done...i can do that! also if anyone wants to come over to my house one morning to let me practice on your child shoot me a mail or facebook me to see if i can work it in.
have a great afternoon...i need coffee!

why i love my house...

2012-01-13T18:45:00.001-05:00

today was cold and windy and i was up early for an appt. the morning sun was poured like syrup over our wood floors and our den felt snug and warm. and i thought...i love this house and decided to list my reasons for loving it.

it was built by my family and the good people of Holly Grove Mennonite Church in an old fashioned house raising..the framing that is.

it is a warm house....with a fireplace we use often, a gas parlor stove in the living room and a good heating system, i am rarely cold here. in the summer, i am shaded by trees and have central air.

it has lots of windows. as a photographer, i love that.

all my holidays for the last 33 years have been celebrated with family and friends here. this house is soaked in good vibes.

i have 4 acres of field and woods to walk in...and take photos of leaves, flowers, pets, skies...

the seasons are beautiful here. snow on the evergreens, piles of fall leaves, trees haloed by the mist of new red buds in spring, pumpkins on the steps, flags flying on the 4th and lights in the windows at Christmas.

my pets love it here and gladly call it home...they add so much to my life.

room for family (too much to clean but i can put them up for the night)

our kids leave close by...and stop by frequently.

i have roots here now. i remember when i planted a tree in the front yard and it was no bigger than a switch. now it shades the yard and shelters the birds.

i feel safe here. i like my neighborhood.

the kids school and our church is within walking distance...should we chose to. now our grandson attends that school.

i have stood on the sidewalk on many nights to gaze at the full moon before locking up and going to bed. it never gets old...the "man in the moon" is both faraway and familiar and catches and holds my eye whenever he is riding high...our house bathed in his silver light....

now...there have been and will be struggles here. we have moles and mildew, rooms that seemed dated, high electric bills, drought and dying flowers, grass that won't grow except for in the driveway, squirrels that raid the feeders, windows that need replacing, iron-y water and ants. but it is Home. so we forgive it its shortcomings, get out the paint brushes, lawnmowers and ladders, clean the gutters, polish the floors, plan parties and share dinner with family.

Home is where the heart is and mine is here.

simple bench

2012-01-06T09:24:00.001-05:00

Leonardo da Vinci – “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

winter day ramblings

2012-01-05T11:02:00.000-05:00

...sort of settling in to a winter routine after all the frenzy of the holidays. the recent cold weather has forced me fireside, but my knitting lies lonely in the corner of the den. i received a new lens this week and i am afraid it has trumped all my other duties. i slapped that honey on my 5d and shot until dark...and i love it. can't wait to try it on some folks...it is a lovely portrait lens. our house has that sort of limp and unloved look after the Christmas decorations come down...but i have opened wide the curtains and cleaned up the tabletops for a cleaner, lighter look. i have plans to paint our living room a dark mushroom, much like our den, but haven't found the energy for a painting project....since i loathe painting. in fact i drew up a list of things to do around the house before next year ends and i am sure i will be working right up to Christmas if i want to get it all done....taking into consideration working and lying on the beach in July!

i am part of a group which shares a photo a day for a year...i have tried many times and didn't quite make it. mainly because if i miss a day or two i want to give up. but this year i plan on staying in even if i don't make it every day. so far using my cell phone it has been easy, but it is just day 4 so might be a little soon to brag!

so...what inspirational thought can i share today....how about the privacy of winter....

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout

Every winter,
When the great sun has turned his face away,
The earth goes down into a vale of grief,
And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,
Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay -
Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses.
~Charles Kingsley

have a great day...you will never be younger than you are today!

portrait of my grandson

2012-01-03T09:18:00.002-05:00

this is his "intense" look...

love my job...

2012-01-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

this is from a retirement party at the Palette....great time for the photographer and the guests!

“At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely”
William Somerset Maugham

Good reading for the new year AND some cheer

2011-12-31T15:41:00.000-05:00

HEY! jump start your success in the New year by reading this book by Malcolm Gladwell....it is called Outliers....and an amazing read. I am going to re read it on my Kindle fire, again.... In fact all his books are great. but i love the idea here that genius is just not enough. hard work and practice are at least half of the success equation. so lazy persons need not apply for star status...put your shoulder to the grindstone and push through to make your dreams come true.

and remember: "If you love what you do, you never need to work a day in your life.” I stole this quote from Rick Sammon's website, which all photographers need to check out....http://www.ricksammon.info/

anyways...CHEERS!

your life is waiting...

2011-12-27T10:39:00.000-05:00

We must be willing to get rid of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us...

_Joseph Campbell

a new year is upon us....

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

If you're still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday, laying flowers on its grave by the hour, you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today. Joyce Chapman

so it is time to plant the seeds of some new dreams....give hope wings to soar over the coming months as your plans unfold. one gift we can give ourselves at Christmas is the gift of a year well spent. having accomplished some of the plans and resolutions that we recklessly made last year gives us the fortitude to plan new dreams at this years' end... and to finish something you started is better than money (spoken from one who knows).

so in this Season of giving...give yourself some new dreams....dare to hope for the impossible, if you don't do it someone else will. stretch yourself to the limit to see what you are made of, pray every step of the way....look for God's help (it is all around you) and then share the love, the love you will feel when you realize how wonderfully, beautifully you were made. say "i will" to the great "I AM" become unstoppable.

early this morning

2011-12-22T08:34:00.003-05:00

good morning....

2011-12-21T09:06:00.001-05:00

did a little last minute shopping last evening...Marshalls for stocking stuffer type gifts for the kids and their spouses. small gifts piling up in a cart are more exciting than the big important gift that you hope you got right...

rudolph

2011-12-20T20:11:00.004-05:00

red for Christmas

2011-12-18T19:42:00.000-05:00

Christmas program tonight

2011-12-18T10:00:00.001-05:00

hello Thursday....

2011-12-15T11:05:00.003-05:00

MAYA ANGELOU QUOTE

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

— Maya Angelou

cheer!

2011-12-14T08:56:00.000-05:00

pine...

2011-12-13T23:16:00.002-05:00

last winter

2011-12-13T17:13:00.001-05:00

heart-breakers....

2011-12-12T11:20:00.001-05:00

christmas kitty

2011-12-11T18:05:00.001-05:00

the Christmas shirt

2011-12-11T17:21:00.001-05:00

sunday morning.

2011-12-11T08:29:00.001-05:00

shots from the woods and fields around our place......

Write it down, when I have perished:
Here is everything I've cherished;
That these walls should glow with beauty
Spurred my lagging soul to duty;
That there should be gladness here
Kept me toiling, year by year . . .
Every thought and every act
Were to keep this home intact.
Edgar A. Guest

hope we get more this year

2011-12-10T11:36:00.001-05:00

hello kitty

2011-12-10T11:32:00.001-05:00

blooming

2011-12-08T15:57:00.001-05:00

vintage tea cup

2011-12-08T13:22:00.001-05:00

"Ain't love grand"?

2011-12-07T11:10:00.001-05:00

My chair....

2011-12-07T10:10:00.001-05:00

i do must everything from this spot....watch birds, pay bills, have coffee and surf the web....it is soft white leather and i got it cheap as it was a floor model....

three

2011-12-06T21:22:00.001-05:00

a child...

2011-12-06T18:12:00.001-05:00

a family....

2011-12-06T18:01:00.001-05:00

shared my morning with my grandson

2011-12-05T16:54:00.001-05:00

another bloom!

2011-12-05T14:37:00.001-05:00

one more ornament

2011-12-04T13:48:00.001-05:00

we got the tree!

2011-12-04T07:53:00.001-05:00

last night we picked our tree, as did our son and his wife....didn't take me long, saw the one destined to brighten our living room in seconds. though i love all kinds, we most often have gotten a Frazier Fir...simply because the branches are so sturdy and they seem the iconic Christmas tree. ours was purchased through our local Christian school in our neighborhood, so we had no trouble parting with our money. this afternoon after church and before a Carols service the kids and their spouses will decorate it and i will fix a new pork dish and some glazed Brussel sprouts...from my Pinterest board. ...a few presents have are nestled under the tree and piquing interest! have a great Sunday!

"There is only one real deprivation...and that is not to be able to give one's gifts to those one loves most." May Sarton

cheap thrills...ornaments

2011-12-03T11:15:00.001-05:00

even the Dollar Store will offer some pretty ornaments for a buck...so there is no reason to cheat yourself of some of the glitz and glamour of Christmas. pinecones found out of doors and a tube of glitter makes your feel like a 6th grader again and is too much fun. such small, cheap joys should not be ignored when the holiday of all holidays requires sooo much of our time, talents and pocketbooks...so pop open a tube of the glitter and sprinkle on some Joy...i will know you when i see you...you will be the one with the fairy dust on her face...!

" Gloom we will always have with us, a rank and sturdy weed, but Joy requires tending"...Barbara Holland

2011-12-02T09:23:00.000-05:00

we have great holly this year!

2011-12-01T09:23:00.001-05:00

December is here!

2011-12-01T07:49:00.001-05:00

"i open the door. the gorgeous guest from afar sweeps in. in her hands are her gifts-the gifts of hours and far seeing moments, the gift of mornings and evenings, the gift of spring and summer, the gift of autumn and winter. she must have searched the heavens for boons so rare." Abbie Graham via the book

Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach

blooming!

2011-11-30T17:16:00.001-05:00

feminine Em...

2011-11-29T18:34:00.001-05:00

look at those faces

2011-11-26T16:45:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving means family fun!

2011-11-26T16:34:00.001-05:00

love this group!

a broom is a simple but effective tool

2011-11-18T08:25:00.001-05:00

late afternoon on a rainy day

2011-11-17T21:36:00.001-05:00

i love my sofa...

2011-11-16T20:38:00.001-05:00

i have had it for about 12 years...still a keeper.

nature's bounty

2011-11-15T08:45:00.001-05:00

love the natural elements in my yard...pine cones, gum balls, branches, leaves...well until i have to mow and then we have to sweep, rakes and pick up.

a scattering....

2011-11-13T20:11:00.001-05:00

a leaf....

2011-11-09T18:25:00.002-05:00

Good lookin'....

2011-11-05T15:38:00.001-04:00

there is a Mystery to Faith

2011-11-01T12:15:00.003-04:00

there is a Mystery to Faith, and though at times I am totally baffled by it....I would be completely lost without it....

these folks feel like friends AND family...

2011-10-26T20:18:00.000-04:00

pretty bride to be...

2011-10-19T08:55:00.001-04:00

Friends...

2011-10-15T12:27:00.000-04:00

Old friends are often your best friends. They know you well and after knowing you that well, they still like you, obviously, since they have hung around all these years (or they are too lame to make new friends...?) But that is not the case with me. My friends have been hanging around for about 30 years and we can still hit the right note when we hang out. And even better, my old friends bring along their new friends and chances are I will like them too, since we have similar tastes! But I don't want to discount the pleasure and excitement of making new friends. It brings a fresh energy to your life in places where you may have become routine... new ideas, exciting places to explore, hobbies to share and and a reason to take a new path be it the back road or the super highway) In my opinion to have a well rounded life, you need family and friends. And one person you might want to spend some quality time with...is yourself. It is not always possible or desirable to be with those we cherish, and that is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy your own company. Take stock of who you are, your dreams, plans for the future. We ourselves and our circumstances are changing all the time , but often we don't notice the shift. So spending some time in our own company brings us up to speed on the state of our souls and what needs our attention. To drift and dream, plan and pursue....these are worthwhile activites and helps to keep us in touch with ourselves. So enjoy your old friends, be open to new ones and spend some time alone with yourself...you will be a better companion to all who spend time in your company.

fall arrangement

2011-10-12T12:18:00.001-04:00

leaves are better than roses.....

flight

2011-10-07T23:19:00.000-04:00

late bloomer

2011-10-07T23:03:00.001-04:00

Darkling...

2011-10-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

i love this shot

2011-10-03T19:54:00.000-04:00

local beauty

2011-10-03T19:05:00.000-04:00

ocean nymph

2011-09-28T13:08:00.000-04:00

this is a re edit of a photo i took a few years ago. the girl and her dad (friends) stopped to chat with us on the beach. the girl was sitting up on her dad's shoulders and i noticed how charming she was still wet from a romp in the ocean. i really love her face, she had a quiet delicate beauty and seemed not to care if i took her photo...she just ignored me. but i think her patient disregard of me give her a lovely distant focus...

my neighbor...under the lamp light

2011-09-27T19:40:00.000-04:00

I have a great neighbor...she is going through a rough patch right now, so i visited her last evening to talk and cheer her up bit. never shy in front of my camera, she patiently sits and lets me take photos of her while we visit. sometimes i think she forgets i am even photographing her, but in any case what you see is what you get with E. she is actually doing pretty good considering...she fell and cut her leg requiring lots of stitches and broke her toe on the other foot. she is alone, but has good neighbors,friends and extended family. Getty, the stock photography giant has been quite interested in Miss Ethel's pictures. I don't think she understands about her portrait possibly being represented by Getty, so we have left that option open for the future. anyway, she is not as sad as she looks here, she is just doing what she always does for me and my camera...just being herself. and that is what i love about this portrait.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. ~Douglas MacArthur

old mason jar...makes a great vase.

2011-09-26T19:43:00.003-04:00

“But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees” C.S. Lewis quotes (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.” santiz Faith Baldwin quotes (American author 1893-1978)A week ago-- I grieved for the dying summer. I wondered how I could possibly bear the waiting--the eight long months till May. In vain to comfort myself with the thought that I could get through more work in the winter undistracted by thoughts of cricket grounds and country houses. In vain, equally, to tell myself that I could stay in bed later in the mornings. Even the thought of after-breakfast pipes in front of the fire left me cold. But now, suddenly, I am reconciled to autumn. I see quite clearly that all good things must come to an end. The summer has been splendid, but it has lasted long enough. This morning I welcomed the chill in the air; this morning I viewed the falling leaves with cheerfulness; and this morning I said to myself, "Why, of course, I'll have celery for lunch." ("More bread, waiter.")A.A.Milne

color.

2011-09-26T11:41:00.000-04:00

spot of color after such damp gray skies...rained all week.

2011-09-18T18:49:00.002-04:00

2011-09-18T09:28:00.002-04:00

"Think of a car driving through the night. The headlights only go a hundred or two hundred feet forward, and you can make it all the way from California to New York driving through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet. And that’s how life tends to unfold before us. If we just trust that the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, and the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, your life will keep unfolding."

The Secret

backyard birds

2011-09-14T12:13:00.001-04:00

In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence - Robert Lynd

Use the talents you possess - for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best. ~Henry Van Dyke

There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before. ~Robert Lynd, The Blue Lion and Other Essays

The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for faith is necessary to have wings.
- James M. Barrie

a tiny charmer....

2011-09-12T12:13:00.001-04:00

"A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot."

Author: Alan Beck

a beautiful poem and a couple of beautiful children

2011-09-07T13:43:00.000-04:00

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things --
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
Landscape plotted & pieced -- fold, fallow, & plough;
And áll trades, their gear & tackle & trim.
All things counter, original, spáre, strange;
Whatever is fickle, frecklèd, (who knows how?)
With swíft, slów; sweet, sóur; adázzle, dím;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is pást change:
Práise hím.

I believe it's by Gerard Manley Hopkins.

new season approaching...

2011-08-23T13:15:00.001-04:00

Pug Love...a rescue story

2011-08-19T09:44:00.001-04:00

my daughter in law rescued this love little girl...a pug mix, from the animal hsp where she works. she is a sweet little girl and already stares at Kel with such love in her big brown eyes...

2011-08-14T10:02:00.001-04:00

my daughter in law...always a willing model and so at home in front of the camera. she will be here for lunch today, so i will have my camera charged....

2011-07-18T20:55:00.000-04:00

2011-07-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

Wow. What a weekend...the girls and I shot Lance and Kristen's wedding and it was a blast! From makeup sessions to golf carts this couple have stolen my heart. Here are a few quick looks the day...more to follow through out the week.

Lance and Kristen...Married!

2011-07-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday my team and I were privileged to be a part of the wedding of Lance and Kristen Thomas! A long and rewarding day, we shot lots of photos and captured many moments of love, between the bride and groom, the couple and their family and between friends and family... A truly epic experience. Thanks to Stef and Kellie for backing me up (I simply could not have done it without you) and thank you Lance and Kristen for choosing A Life In Focus to capture one of the most important days of your lives. God Bless you both in your new life...more to come in the weeks ahead...

doggie in the window

2011-07-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

blondie....

2011-07-05T14:58:00.000-04:00

daughter and grandson...

2011-06-22T22:20:00.000-04:00

we went boating on Sat and the weather was really fine...at least until the end of our ride when were chased in by a storm. but the weather made for some great pics...

“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi quotes (Hungarian Biochemist, 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine, 1893-1986)

kellie

2011-06-04T21:15:00.000-04:00

end of the session

2011-06-02T21:47:00.000-04:00

kelllie

2011-05-30T21:49:00.000-04:00

neighbor

2011-05-21T17:08:00.000-04:00

All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.
John Calvin

2011-05-16T12:40:00.001-04:00

Utata: Tribal Photography

Her future is bright!!! My niece Em...

2011-05-16T09:40:00.000-04:00

“Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-raising, they are unemployed.”

Erma Bombeck quotes (U.S. humorist, 1927-1996)

Our kids are gone before we know it. But this girl is well prepared...15th in her class of over 500,a black belt, and has met the boy of her dreams. Her mom (my sis) and dad are struggling with tears at her leaving in the Fall for college, but we couldn't be prouder. Way to go Em!!!

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes (American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882)

yellow

2011-05-10T20:55:00.000-04:00

monday photo posts

2011-05-09T11:34:00.000-04:00

Just a few shots from around the house this morning. Errands to do in town and a house to clean. Have a good one...

Quote for Today: "Leap and the net will appear." - Julie Cameron

mother's day

2011-05-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

Today is Mother's Day...so I am sharing some inspirational words...

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving

My mother is a poem
I'll never be able to write,
though everything I write
is a poem to my mother.
~Sharon Doubiago

balloons

2011-04-21T16:47:00.000-04:00

angel...twice

2011-04-14T22:27:00.000-04:00

newborns are new for me

2011-04-14T13:09:00.000-04:00

Shooting newborns are a new experience for me. But I have to say, this little guy made it easy! Looking over the photos I am pleased, just need some props and some mad posing skills. I was intimidated by his tiny helpless self! It has been a long time since mine were that small. His lovely mom was a great lighting assistant...great work with the reflector Bobbi!

2011-04-06T11:14:00.000-04:00

anemone...

2011-04-05T18:18:00.000-04:00

i loved the late day sun on this red flower...

senior Sam

2011-04-03T00:02:00.000-04:00

a couple engaged

2011-03-18T08:19:00.002-04:00

“Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep... wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky his is to have you.... The one who turns to his friends and says, 'that's her.'”

samwilson213

Good morning Friday!

2011-03-04T09:28:00.000-05:00

I woke up early this morning and just headed outside with my camera and my companions (kitty and Harley). It was beautiful but colder than I expected. That is the thing about early Spring. It builds up your expectations with the occasional warm and balmy day, then knocks you for a loop with temps in the teens at night. Yet we always are sure Winter is over and Spring has now arrived. I guess it hones our appreciation for the warmer months...which we lose about late July. In any case the air was fresh and crystalline and made breathing a pure pleasure. I looked around for seasonal signs and wonders and saw a few red maple buds and our lone daffodil trying to swell and bloom, but mostly the woods around our house are still brown with last year's old leaves (which were so beautiful in the Fall). But the light is different and changing each day. I notice that because I love photography and the light is so important. It can be a bit harsh with no leaves to soften or shade but after winter's low light, I don't mind squinting. Anyhow here is Kitty in her favorite tree just after sun up...

Emily Dickinson

A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here

A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.

It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.

Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —

A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.

Following through on my resolutions

2011-03-03T18:35:00.000-05:00

One of the items on my huge to do list for the year was, to really take a look at my monthly bills and cut out the fat. Then use that money to invest in my future or enhance my present day moments in a real and satisfying way. So, today I spent about and hour or so negotiating with Direct TV and Verizon to lower my monthly costs. I had to slash my Direct TV package but my bill is half the orginal amount, and I used Netflix anyway for most of my viewing (streaming movies). My Verizon bill was basic, but I was paying for an extra line no one was using, so that was about $19 back in my pocket. I am going to carefully watch my credit card bill when it comes in, as I had charges from someone in Luxembourg...thank you Master Card for catching that and sending an alert. Of course I had to get a new card and number, which was a hassle but no where near the one it could have been. I also found a cool site for deals and coupons: www.wisebread.com. Maybe a bit radical but I am not turning my nose up at the wisdom there...Tomorrow my goal is to work on my grocery list. I don't cook as much as I did when the kids where home and the convenience foods are showing up on my hips and cleaning out my purse. Thankfully we have a big garden every summer (planting peas on Sat) so we eat better, cheaper and greener in the warmer months. One food discovery that was a pleasant surprise: Almond Silk (deep chocolate). This is an amazing dairy alternative. More like dark chocolate milk for grownups and with a half banana, some peanut butter blended...a great meal in a glass for morning. This decadent choco-indulgence has more of everything than milk, except calories and already on my list again this week. And if you have been really good this week, or just need some comfort food therapy, squirt a little real whipped cream on top, better than a milkshake!

But sometimes you get what you pay for and the smart gals know when that is. Cheaper is not always better. I have found with my photography gear the more expensive lens and camera bodies have been worth every penny, and I don't regret one dollar spent. I do look for good used when I can find it, but the opportunities have been rare. My Mac computers are awesome, but I have yet to buy an iPad or iPhone. I am not presently web connected with my cell phone and I don't know if it is worth $40 more dollars a month to shoot and send cell phone photos and Lord knows I am on Facebook enough already! The iPad...maybe, if I could justify the money for some other reason than novelty. I do love a gadget! I believe Apple's Time capsule would be a wise buy, so that is on my list...And speaking of list, I am a great list maker and have discovered a simple on line app called TaDa. I keep mine in my toolbar and add or substract items for all my list,whether personal, work, home, holidays, whatever. Okay enough talking about how I am changing for the better, I need to shut down and do my exercise dvd. Success weight loss would be worth writing home about!

Good looking Wednesday

2011-03-02T14:32:00.000-05:00

Wow. Today is just beautiful! I just came in from outside and our lone daffodil is about to burst its bloom. The hosta are sending fresh green shoots through the leaves and birds are singing the Hallelujah Chorus! Each season has its own charms so I find Spring to be the most enchanting now. On the flip side have you ever noticed now sad and dirty you house can look in early Spring...that revealing light pouring in through winter streaked windows highlighting every cobwebby nook and cranny, sad winter accents that looked so cozy around the holiday now just look tired and old hat. I feel I can't wait to put the screens up!...after I wash the windows. I think of Easter as the grand dame of Spring. Makes me want to buy a new outfit in pink or green, plant herbs, fill Easter baskets, bake a ham with deviled eggs, drink iced tea and buy the lilies in Walmart in the purple foil covered pots....Time changes soon, so we will have late day light to grill a bit, rake the yard for planting, take a walk after supper and linger over the first star of the evening. Did tell you Spring is my favorite season....

senior

2011-03-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

grandson

2011-02-25T10:49:00.000-05:00