the house has some fun original details that we are going to work with, like some of the light fixtures. I actually really like these.
like these shutters too…
This long wall that separates the family room and living room will come out and also this stair-step wall. 
I love the front doors. They are so heavy and solid… and the design is darling - just need paint (like everything!)
Oh boy. I’m not sure about the kitchen yet. that will be a big project. Look how cute that original oven is. 
When I first saw the house I thought we would be getting rid of the fireplace first thing. I am kind of thinking about keeping it. I don’t want to change everything about the house. I would like to keep some of the elements that are true to the home. Not sure about that one. I’m thinking when the house gets a fresh coat of White paint that that stone is going to look a little different. I’ll see then.
It has been a long, stressful, crazy, and exciting process… We are finally moving. I am so excited about the house we found. This is our final home. We are never moving again. (Knock on Wood). We really wanted something that we could make our own. I love the idea of an older home with land, but it was hard to find that in a location we liked. It is a ranch style home on 2.25 acres. The house needs some love for sure… built in 78 and really everything is quite original to when it was built except the tile that I REALLY don’t like. The bones are awesome. We love the layout. Plenty of room for us and our dog and the future chickens and goats, and oh my gosh, I can’t even begin to say how excited I am to get my garden started here. The house came with beautiful horse stalls that are really well made. Unfortunately, we don’t have horses, and we really don’t have the kind of time it takes to take care of horses. We thought about it, and maybe we will rent out the stalls and board horses (not sure about that one yet). There is so much to do inside the house first. Since it is getting hot here, we will spend most of our time in the house remodeling and then get out in the fall and work on the landscaping. That is what I am the most excited about. We love the land. We have already met many of the neighbors and feel really blessed to have found our little gem.
We finally have our dog. My kids have been begging for a dog for SO long. We tried it once before but with Cozy and Rock being go small and The dog SO big, it just wasn’t working. we decided that when our youngest was 4 we would get a puppy. We love her. My husband even likes her which is the best part. Yes, the puppy stage is challenging, but she really is a cutie and very smart too.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
ok, this is kind of cheating because I am so annoyed that my dishwasher is broken. I am not thankful for that. Truthfully it has never worked very good. We bought it top of the line and it just has never cleaned very good. We have had so many guys try to “fix” it with no luck. So we hand wash everything now. My kids have gotten really good at it. Infact I think it is Cozy’s favorite thing to do with dad. She hates doing it with me because she says I “do it wrong”. (Whatever)
It does however make me thankful for the appliances I have that do work. I do have to say that I got a new washer and dryer a few months ago that wash HUGE loads. I am a happy girl. Instead of about 12 loads each week I do about 6. Laundry is my nemisis. I don’t really mind it anymore.
How on earth did women do it without dishwashers, clothes washers, disposals, refrigerators, microwaves, COMPUTERS etc. We are spoiled. I love it.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
WE don’t often get to go to lunch with Chad. It was such a treat to get to go and hang out with him for an hour today. The little kids were in their beds trying to fall asleep when he called to ask me to meet him. They couldn’t believe their ears when I told them they could get out of bed because we were going to lunch with dad. Cozy kept saying, “Seriously, I mean seriously?” It was so funny because the kids were all over him with their dirty little hands. He was trying so hard to keep his clothes clean to return to work in. Then, as we were leaving, CW spilled his whole pop on the ground. I got a little kick out of that one.
These were taken with my phone…. bad quality.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Your camera has a light meter which measures the light in the given shot and sets an ideal exposure automatically. Most people depend on the light meter (when your are shooting automatically) to expose, which is ok, and you may get some nice images once in a while mixed in with poorly exposed ones (too dark, too light). However, if you want to take it to the next level you MUST get comfortable with shutter speed and aperture. Oh and yes, ISO too. Don’t get overwhelmed. It’s not too difficult, however if you want to really take nice images I’d say check out this tutorial about Exposure. Getting Exposure down is key. It will take a little while but learning how to correctly expose your pictures is vital to good photography. You will be glad to took the time to learn.
This is one of my favorite websites to learn about Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I couldn’t explain it any better.
digital-photography-school.com
This is how I began…. I read my camera manual I think 10 times all the way through. Maybe more. Learn how to change the settings on your camera. Then go back and read the tutorial about exposure one more time.
Get that camera off auto and turn off the flash! I started with my camera on AV mode (which means you decide the aperture and the camera decides the shutter speed). I could set the f-stop and have the camera do the rest. Now PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!! It’s fun and with digital it’s free. When I was learning it was film and expensive. Then by the time I got my images back from the lab I would forget what I did to achieve the image. I learned to take notes while I was learning. With digital you can see the results right away.
The best way to get your head around aperture is to get your camera out and do some experimenting. Find a spot where you’ve got items close to you as well as far away and take a series of shots with different aperture settings from the smallest setting to the largest. You’ll quickly see the impact that it can have and the usefulness of being able to control aperture. If you can master aperture you put into your hands real creative control over your camera. I think that aperture is where a lot of the magic happens in photography.
Once I felt like I had a grasp of this then I moved to manual. Where I learned the relationship between Shutter speed and aperture and how to balance the two to get a correctly exposed image.
It’s fun. There is no reason anyone can’t learn how to take better photos today with all of the information out there on the web. When I first started I read every book I could get my hands on. Now when I have a question, google is my best friend. I can always find my answers.
here are some examples of knowing how to manually change your shutter speed. These were shot at a high shutter speed. These shots would have been lost on automatic…
here are some examples of a very shallow depth of field (small aperture). Do you see how Cozy’s eyes are in focus and here ears are not. Always with faces focus on the eyes. This was shot at f/1.4
Not as shallow of a depth of field in this next image as the previous image but still the background is soft and he is in focus. I shot at f/4
Thursday, February 4, 2010
I was going through my HUGE pile of things to sort and came across this poem that Piper (age 9) wrote. I think it is absolutely beautiful. She has such a creative mind and so much voice in her writing. She has to be painting, writing, coloring, gluing, or creating something at all times. Her imagination is something to behold. I’d love to step inside her mind and have a peak into her world at times.
GO HOUSEWIVES!!!
I had no idea how tired I’d be. We laid down anywhere and everywhere we could. At one point we were laying on the payment at Fashion Island Mall. It is all kind of a blur because of the level of exhaustion.
I loved all the support our team were to each other. Everyone was so encouraging and motivating. 
by admin
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