Wordless Wednesday ~ Sunrise

This Made Me Laugh!

My daughter showed me this video today and let me tell you, I laughed so hard! In fact, I watched it like 6 times and just cracked up. I love the very end where Charlie tries to take one last bite out of his brother's hand under the blanket. If you haven't seen this before and you need a good laugh, at someone else's expense, you just have to see it!
***(Please remember to pause my music player before watching the video)!

Wordless Wednesday ~ EEEK....SNAKE!

Which One Is The Best?

Which one of the first 4 pics is the best? (Sorry they're not numbered in order!) Tonight I was playing around with photoshop, trying some different things with this photo that I took of Kasey last January and I'm not sure which one is the best, so I'm hoping maybe some of you can help me decide. I'm not concerned about the frames because I can always change those. I haven't taken the photo editing class yet, so I still don't really know what I'm doing, and I'm not really sure what looks the best. Please help!!!

#1
#4

#2

#3

I like this next one, but does her face look too light or maybe too bright? I'm not sure.

My Blog Has Been Morphing...

My blog has been doing some morphing yesterday and today! I suspect you probably noticed if you stopped by and saw it changing, from one background color to another, followed by an array of changing font colors. So sorry, if you had to see my blog in such disarray, I just couldn't settle on a background color that I liked.

I finally did settle with this one though......it's not my favorite color, but at least it's a warm color. Those of you who know me well, know how I love warm colors! I am pleased with how well, the colors in my header pictures, go with it. I just wish I could figure out how to change the background color on my header from white to a dark color. Ugh! So much still to learn in Photoshop Elements.

Honey, I'm Lost Without You!

My honey is gone camping with almost 30 of the men in our church, plus some of their boys, on their MEN'S EXCURSION! Although I am happy that he gets to go and rough it with a bunch of guys, playing paintball etc., is it too sappy for me to say, that I'm lost without him? I know, I know, some of you are thinking, "OH PLEASE!"

Seriously though, we are coming up on our 25th wedding anniversary on the 18th and when you've spent that much time together, it feels like a part of you is missing, when they're gone. I just love spending time with him, but don't you worry, I am quite capable of using my time alone, very unwisely.

I decided to stay in my pajamas all day today.......play on the computer with my photoshop program.......print out some pictures.......talk on the phone for an hour with a friend who is hurting.......lay in my bed snuggled up in my down comforter for a little time of rest (since I haven't slept a wink in days).......replaced the water in the fish tank after accidentally splattering soap bubbles in it........talk to my friend Michelle for a minute to discuss something with Photoshop.......catch up on some blog reading.......watch the So You Think You Can Dance finale......eat more than I should have........load the dishwasher and then write this blog post. WHEW! IT'S BEEN A VERY HARD DAY! I think I will finish it off with a long hot bath, write in my prayer journal and then go to bed. I REALLY MUST LEARN TO TAKE IT EASY, DON'T YA THINK?

Collages Are Cool!

I'm finally finished with my last project.......WOO HOO! Now maybe I can take a breath before starting the next class. I ran into a couple of problems with this project, which means it took me way longer to do it, than it should have. It's always something really simple too and then I just feel stupid, when I figure it out! I guess maybe I should have thought about taking a basic beginners class first......nawww! LOL

I'm Lovin' This Dragonfly!

I finally finished Lesson 10 that I skipped and I'm lovin' this dragonfly! I was suppose to use two textures in this project, but I took them out because they made it hard to see the detail of the dragonfly. I may go back later and play with some different textures to see if I can find one that looks good. Anyway, I'm just glad I'm finished with this one and now I only have one more to go. Woo hoo!

Almost Finished...

I'm almost finished with my Photoshop class! I have two more lessons to do and then hopefully I can find the time to play around with the different techniques. I should have been done a week and a half ago, but I haven't even had a chance to work on anything. I will be starting a photo editing class, as soon as I finish this one and then I will start a 6 week intensive photography class in September, then after that I will take a 4 week intensive Portrait Photography class, so I think I will be pretty busy, to say the least! I will be sharing my work on my blog as I go. Just to warn all of you......I probably won't be doing a lot of my regular blogging for awhile because I really want to focus on my classes, but I will be sure to blog, once in awhile. I am so excited to learn as much about photography as I can and in the meantime, you can be sure that I'll be taking tons of pictures!

Lesson 11: Selective/Spot Recoloring

This is one of my favorite hummingbird pics, but I prefer the whole pic in color, so I think I will do this technique with a pic I took of a yellow rose bud. I know it will look better! This was the easiest lesson so far.....seriously, I couldn't believe how easy it was!

Lesson 12: Storyboards

Ok, I didn't think about changing the background to a different color until it was too late, so I'm stuck with white, unless I redo it. To make it look better I added a border around the pictures, as well as the whole storyboard. I resized it for the web and now it looks so small that you can't see the pictures very well.......but you get the idea, I guess. This would look really cool framed and on the wall! (actually, I just remembered, you can click on the picture to see a closeup!)

Check Out These Online Photoshop Classes...

Just want to let everyone know about a couple of online photoshop classes that will start pretty soon. Go to jessicasprague.com to check them out. The Photoshop Brush Abilities class is very reasonably priced, at only $ 25.00 and it is self paced, which is really great for me. If you're wanting to learn how to create your own header for your blog, this is the class for you.

Another class that I am interested in taking is the Photo editing: Good-to-Great Workflow. Check out all of the other classes that are available too because there are some great ones to choose from.

Once you register for the class, you will have access to the forum, where you can ask questions if you need help with a lesson. You will also be able to upload your pictures to the gallery where you can receive feedback on your work.

Oh and one more thing.....check out the Free tutorials!
This is an awesome website and Jessica is an awesome teacher, so I just had to share! (I'd like to say a big thank you to my niece, Maryanne for sharing it with me)

More Photoshop Fun!

Lesson 6: TTV "Through the Viewfinder"
Before

This is an old photo of mother with her catch of the day!
After
Lesson 8: Type
Before Timber jumping off a hill!
After
Lesson 9: Edge Burn
Before
Tucker picking up sticks!
After

I think I should have made the edges a little bit darker, but I still think this looks good! I'm really enjoying these lessons, but I can't wait until the two weeks are up, so I can just play with the different techniques.

Oh My Goodness...I'm Hooked On Photoshop!

Lesson 5: Textures

I love this picture! I just finished today's lesson and the techniques were so cool! This was my favorite lesson so far.

I like this pic too....it really looks old and worn.

Ok, this one is boring, but I just wanted to see what flowers would look like and now I know! I can't wait to see what we will be doing tomorrow!!!

Photoshop Progress

Just thought I would post some of my progress from my online Adobe Photoshop class that I'm taking. This has been so fun and yet frustrating sometimes, when I can't figure something simple out. You won't see my project from lesson 2 because I didn't like it and will have to redo it.


Lesson 1: PNG Frames and Word Art (Ryah and Kaylie)


Lesson 3: Create a Vintage, Hand Tinted Look (This is my daughter Kasey)

(Kasey)

I had a hard time with this because I kept feeling like I was taking too much color out of the photo and making her skin too white, so I did it over 3 or 4 times. (Kasey)

In this one I didn't take quite as much color out, so she doesn't look as pale, but I think I tinted her cheeks a little too dark. Ugh!

I used the techniques from lesson 3 for this adorable pic of (Owen Hillard)! I took this pic of him while we were out at the beach with our church family.

Lesson 4: Clipping Masks

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! I took these pics off of my back deck tonight......the neighbors put on a good show for us! These pics aren't the greatest quality because I wasn't prepared and I had no idea what setting to use, but that's ok, I had fun taking them anyway. Hopefully by next year I will be a better photographer and I can take some awesome photos of the spectacular fireworks!

Worship and Praise Sunday ~ Amazed

***(don't forget to pause my music player in the right sidebar, before playing the video)



Today I'm sharing Amazed by Phillips, Craig, and Dean

This is a beautiful song....just listen to the words! I AM amazed at how He loves me!

Please hop on over to my friend Brittany's blog at SweetNothings, where she is hosting Worship and Praise Sunday and you can listen to more great songs. There you will also find instructions, if you would like to link up, to add your song/video.


If you would like to listen to all of the Worship and Praise videos I have shared thus far......scroll down to LABELS in my right sidebar and simply click on Worship and Praise Sunday.

www.kidsinmind.com........Check it Out!

Have you ever gone to the movies and had to walk out, or rented a movie and have been so shocked by the content, that you had to take it back to the video store, immediately? Well, those days are over because now there are websites that actually go through the work of reviewing movies for us, and give us detailed description on the content of the movie.

This is so helpful to me because another person may recommend a movie and say it is appropriate to see, but I have found that their idea of appropriate, rarely matches up to my idea of appropriate. I rented a movie one time that was highly recommended and just let me tell you.....a scene came on and I could not work the buttons on that remote fast enough, for nothing. I finally got it turned off and then I took it back to the store.

Since then, I haven't rented a movie by recommendation alone.......I will go to www.kidsinmind.com and look up any movie we are interested in. I love this site because it lists every detail of nudity, violence, and profanity, so you know up front whether it is going to be a movie that is appropriate to rent or go see. They give you ratings from 1 to 10 on sex and nudity.......violence and gore.......and profanity. 1 being really good and 10 being really bad and inappropriate.

It's a great site, so I hope you all will start checking it out, so you will know in advance what you're getting your self into when you go to watch a new movie. All I have to do is look at the number ratings and that tells me whether I should see it or not. It's great, so check it out!

Out of Practice! Gotta Get Back Into My Groove!

Ok, so after taking this time off from blogging....now I'm OUT OF PRACTICE and struggling to get back into it. Can you believe that? I've got to get back into my groove...and honey believe me when I say, I can get my groove thang ON! Does that make me groovy? Nooo, that just means I have lots of rhythm and I can dance! LOL

Let's see where do I begin...

Well, after my doctor suggested I go to a dry hot climate to help heal up my lungs, Andy and I hopped in the truck and took a road trip to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. We were gone for 3 weeks and let me just tell you how awesome it was.....IT WAS AWESOME! Our friend's dad owns a house there and he offered for us to go and stay in it. He has become such a wonderful friend to us and is a huge blessing! This is the same guy that helped us build our house, by the way. Anyway, each day my lungs got better and better and I felt like a million bucks. I know if we could have stayed just 2 more weeks my lungs prob would have been completely healed, but I'm not complaining, the time we had there worked wonders!

Get this....while there I became a morning person and got up around 5:00 a.m., so we could go for our morning 2 hour walk down at the London Bridge and around the lake. The mornings were beautiful.....by 6:00 a.m. it was 85 degrees....by 8:00 it was 102 and the rest of the day was usually 106, but one day it got up to 110 degrees. Most days we went for another hour walk in the evenings too. We were told that the heat was rather mild while we were there and that it actually gets much hotter. I took so many pictures that it's a little overwhelming to try and choose which ones to share on here. I prob have almost 2000 pics., so I guess I went a little overboard huh? I'm in the process of going through them and deleting some.

I took this pic. just as we had arrived and were looking for the house.




I loved the mountains and the palm trees!

There was every kind of cactus imaginable, but this was my favorite! I've never really liked cactus until I saw this one. I guess I like it because of the purple color.

I really wanted to keep on my early morning routine, but sad to say I haven't done very well since, we've been home. I had to recuperate from the traveling, so I've been getting up around 8:00 and I even slept in til 10:00 on Monday, but I think that's because I was running a fever and didn't feel well. I haven't exercised in 4 days, but I'm getting back to it in a few minutes, when I get out in my hot tub and do some rowing and leg exercises and I plan on getting back on my treadmill tomorrow. Gotta keep in shape and keep my lungs exercised!

Had an upper GI done this morning and hey that Barium swallow was mighty tasty! NOT! I had to swallow these crystals that felt sort of like pop rocks, but trust me they didn't taste like pop rocks! They were supposed to get the wrinkles out of my stomach, so the doc could see inside my stomach better. Weird huh? Who would have thought that we would have wrinkles in our stomach? The doc told me the crystals would make me want to burp, but he instructed me to not do so. I'd like to know how to stop it....it just happened and it was a little embarrassing. It was like drinking a coke as fast as you can and then trying not to burp. I don't drink sodas or anything carbonated, so I guess I'm out of practice. I just kept apologizing to the doctor. LOL We're trying to get to the bottom of the acid reflux thing, so I can't wait to get the results. Well, that's my update that I promised, so bye for now. I'll be stoppin' by to read up on your blogs, so I can catch up. It's good to be back! :)

It's My Honey's Birthday!

Today is my honey's birthday.....he is a young 46 years old and he lights up my world more and more every day! Andy, I love growing old with you. Happy Birthday!

Andy was 11 months old in this picture. Oh honey, you are so cute!

Andy, you looked so cool in your funky sunglasses and flip flops, on your furious set of wheels! Now that's the way to impress the girls!!!

Oh my goodness! Isn't he adorable? Andy, if I would have known you then, you sooo would have been my boyfriend!!! And all my friends would have been singing.....Andy and Debra sittin' in a tree, k i s s i n g, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage! lol

Aww........cute boy and cute pajamas! Yee haw!

Ok, so he hasn't changed that much......he still does this!

7th grade football picture!

Senior football pic. Love the hair babe!