Practice

After we got home from Springfield this week I started really practicing editing techniques in Photoshop Elements 9. I actually watched/listened a 2 day Webinar about editing. It was live stream and very cool. When I couldn't take anymore I got up and walked around. I also got to practice while she talked. (I watched on one computer and played/worked on another. :D)

These are some of the edits I came up with. 

One of the most awesome things I learned was how to brighten eyes. Sometimes my eyes in photos are just too dark. I also learned about Actions. 

Actions are presets that someone else has made. All I have to do is load them on my computer and run them on a photo. The Action takes over and adds the layers. I can them go in and tweak them if I want. 

Textures was also covered. Textures are very cool too.

I will keep adding pix as I edit/play them.

Springfield Road Trip

Yesterday, DeWayne, Mom, Jim and I, took a short road trip to Springfield, IL. After viewing the Indiana state capital building, I felt very guilty for not seeing our own LOL! So we took off for the day.

These are a few of the pictures that I took while we were there. 

I was doing some experimenting with my camera all day. I am trying to use the Manual mode to take photos. This allows me to choose the light and the shutter speed myself. Some of it still overwhelms me but I am getting it.

While we were in Springfield, we saw the capital buildings (new and old) and toured the Lincoln museum. The Museum is really wonderful. A lot of information. I could probably do two or three more trips and still not take in all the info.!!!

We Skyped with Evan this morning. She was doing really well. She spoke a little Russian for us. I was glad to see her face. :)

On Evan Leaving...

Today is June the 3rd. It is the day after DeWayne and I dropped Evan in Indianapolis. Today she starts her training before heading off to the Ukraine for the summer.
All day yesterday I reflected on her growing up years (and Dane's too).
When Evan was about 2, Star Church held its first ever Baby Dedication service. Evan was older but she was still considered a baby. I remember the day well because the other children were still babies being held by their mommies and daddies. Evan was big enough to walk and talk. She DID NOT want to be held. She DID NOT want to stand by us. She laid in the floor and threw and fit. :) Just a little stressful for a mom who was trying to have the "perfect" Christian family. It wasn't until years later when I was a MOPS mentor at Little Chapel that I truly understood the words that we said that day. DeWayne and I are her parents but God is her true Father and the way we have pointed her her whole life. She has made so many decisions in her 21 years that have reflected that walk that I am beyond proud.
I did not cry when we dropped her off and prayed with her before we left. (Very unusual for me!) My thought all day was: I gave her back to God when she was two and have tried to be a good steward as her earthly parent since. Have I aways been perfect? Heck NO! That being said, I have placed my trust in God for this summer. He is in control and it's up to me to trust Him. Am I going to miss her? Oh, Yeah! Am I sad that I can't just call her and talk to her anytime I want. You bet! But, God has a greater plan for Evan in the Ukraine.
When Dane was 20, he went to Minnesotta for the summer to work at a church camp. Not that far and still in the US. It might as well have been the Ukraine! He had no cell phone service and only sketchy internet. We did see him for a couple of days that summer which helped. I would call his cell phone just to listen to his voicemail message and hang up. :D He went back to camp the next summer too. Not as hard the second time around but my heart ached for wanting to see and talk to him. I just missed him! I still Just  miss him and he only lives in Elizabethtown. LOL So I am kind of knowing what this summer will look like. :D
My sister, Marsha, who's daughter died when she was three, will sometimes with a heavy heart say: "I just miss her!" I am sure that heaviness will come for me and it will come at the least expected moment. Good thing there is email and Skype and Facebook and Twitter and Blogspot. :D
To keep up with Evan this summer you can check out her blog:
http://evansukrainiansummer.blogspot.com/

Evan & DeWayne at the Indianapolis Museum of Art

no pix today

Tomorrow is the last day of school for me. Tomorrow, DeWayne and I take Evan to Indianapolis to get ready for her trip. In just a few days, my baby is going to fly off to the other side of the world. The Ukraine. She has been called to missions this summer. I am so excited and proud. She is an amazing woman of God.
Saturday, my Jackie girl got married. This makes me happy, proud and sad all at the same time. She was BEAUTIFUL is her dress. The sad part of her getting married is that Evan and her friends are all grown up. :(
I have lost count of what day it is to post a picture. I guess I flunked the daily picture thing LOL!

Day 98 of 350

UGH!!! I have just let this blog slide! Sorry again!
It's Good Friday. We have no school today. We actually got out of school at 11:30 yesterday (the kids did anyway, we had to work until 2). That brings me to those parents/grownups who don't look at the school calendar, don't read any note that comes home from the teacher and who just don't pay any attention to what's going on at their child's school. At 11:30 yesterday I had two tables full of children. No problem, the buses were crazy out of order and the pick up parents had to circle the block. At 11:45, I still had ALOT of children left. Probably 10 or so. By 12:00, I was down to 5 children who's parents our secretary called to remind. At 12:15, when I finally left the last one with her and went to eat my lunch there was only 1 child left. How hard is it to read the calendar and write down ALL important facts on it. How hard is it to read the notes that come home from school. Oh and the biggy, how hard is it to READ the sign in front of our school???? The ones that were left over yesterday were actually children that I really like. They are sweet natured and not alot of trouble. Hope they have a good long weekend and don't get left anywhere because their grownup wasn't paying any attention to them! :D
Good Friday...
Easter...
Wow, with the busyness of school this week and not being on Spring Break, it was hard to just settle down and think about Thursday being the day Jesus carried his cross to Cavalry. Every sin I ever committed was in the stripes that they layed on his back. His burden is my own that he carries still for me (if I let Him). Jesus, you are Amazing!!!! Thank you for trading your life for mine. Thank you for suffering for my sin and forgiving me and interceding for me with the Father. THANK YOU!!!
Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Evan is home for the weekend. She only has a few more days left and then she is officially finished with her third year of college. Wow, how time has flown! She will be home the whole month of May before heading to the Ukraine. She's excited about her trip. I am excited for her too. I am just going to miss her. Skype better work over there!!!!
How about a picture:

This is the hail that was outside our backdoor last Friday evening. It really stormed hard for about 15 minutes. Then the sun came out and it was beautiful!!!

This was the beautiful rainbow after the storm. The sky was blue/gray the sun came out and it was doing the "golden time" thing over the top of the woods. It was very pretty. I grabbed my camera and just started shooting out the front door and the back door. (That's what I have been wanting to do!!!)
Guess I better make some muffins and wake DeWayne and Evan up

Day 86 of 350

Happy Anniversary to my sister Marsha and her husband Randy! They got married during my senior year of high school. 1981! Wow! 30 years ago!

This is me, Marsha and Debbie Scott

The little girls were friends of Marsha and Randy's from Olney. I can't remember their names!

I wore that same dress to my senior prom! It was all lace and satin. The head things were pretty and different. I kept mine for a long time in my cedar chest. I think I threw it away the last time I cleaned it out! LOL

It has turned in to feeling like summer. The mid-80's and high humidity. Welcome to southern Illinois!!!

I like cool spring weather better. :D

My mom and dad got home this week from Florida. They are all brown and fit! I am glad they like Florida so much but I am glad they are home too!!!

DeWayne and I went to Evansville Friday evening and spent the night. We explored Newburgh on Saturday morning. It is a very pretty town. I didn't get my camera out because it was trying to rain and then we were away from the car. Oh well, That just means I will have to go back. It's a town that would be better explored with a bunch of ladies. Lots of antiques, little specialty shops, and cafes. DeWayne was a good sport but he would rather have been at Bass Pro I'm sure! :)

Evan's Student Christian Fellowship group had their spring banquet last night. So we stayed in Evansville and ate with her and her group. It was an enjoyable meeting. The kids and adults are a good group and I am glad Evan has a base group to hang out with. She is the president of this group until December. She really likes what she does. 

The countdown is on!!! Less that 50 days until the wedding. A little over that until Evan leaves for the Ukraine. And about the same for days left of my school year. 

Day 78 of 350

Day 78 of 350
Happy Anniversary to DeWayne and LaDonna
This is a picture of us either right before or right our wedding. April 2, 1983.
(I love my boat shoes. I wish I still had them!)
We were babies. Not even 20 years old.

So yesterday, instead of celebrating our anniversary we held Jackie's bridal shower. 

These are the bridesmaids and Jackie.

Evan, Cacy, April, Brea, Sam, Jackie, Erin, Cassidy, and Angela

The only one missing is Beka.

It was a wonderful shower and she got LOTS of wonderful gifts. 

I spent the day in the kitchen, prep and clean up!!!

DeWayne and I are celebrating our anniversary next weekend. He has the whole weekend off. We have to make a plan this week.

Day 75 of 350

Well, today I spent the day at John A. Logan College at the Tech  Showcase. It is a conference that is held every Spring for educators in this area. There seemed to be more people there this year than in years past. The day started with a keynote speaker and then was divided in to 5 break out sessions and lunch.
The keynote speaker was very good and very engaging. He spoke about native learners (in the new digital, computer, etc. age) as opposed to the people like me and everyone over 30 who has to learn all this knowledge. He talked about the way children learn and what is working now. I saw and got several of his points but getting everyone to see this point of view and keeping track of who's online where...HEADACHES!! for the tech people!!!
I sat through 4 sessions about the iPad and it's use in the classroom. Only one of them was awful. The guys presenting were from a district that is not Mac friendly so they had only a few nice things to say about the device. I actually got up and left it was so Mac-bashing. (my husband calls me a Mac snob so I was completely offended :D)
I did learn some new things and they always share new sites. There are so many Apps for the iPad for education. It's an amazing tool. I know it's not perfect and has its shortfalls but the good far outweighs the bad!

LaDonna & Marsha

I spent the day with Marsha yesterday. Their house is "sale-pending". So they are gearing up for a move somewhere. I chose this picture because she and I took a few walks down memory lane yesterday. We found a lot of "treasures" that had been tucked away in her basement for awhile. Good times and much laughter!

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment. Can't wait! :) Shouldn't be too bad. I am just getting my permanent crown. YAY!

Day 70 of 350

Well, I was able to miss days again!
It was a crazy week of school. The book fair, the art show, and the start of spring break Friday.
No excuse really. I just did other things.
I have book group this week. I must finish my book. It is really easy and really hard all at the same time. I can't decide if I really like it or nit. I think I like some of the parts so far and some are just bizarre. The book is "The Divine Romance" by Gene Edwards. He also wrote a Tale of Two Kings. It was different too but it seemed to make more sense. :)
I was hoping to have a photo job this week. So far I don't.
Monday I plan on cleaning the basement some.
Tuesday I will finish up what I started Monday. And I have book group.
Wednesday I am going to Marsha's to catch up and regroup with her!!!
Thursday is the tech showcase at JALC. Geeks unite!!!
Friday I have a dentist appointment and then general goofing off on my last day of spring break. (not really because Jackie's shower is Saturday and I have to help the girls get stuff ready.
Saturday is Jackie's shower at 11 am.
So my week off is completely planned!!!

Day 66 of 350

Spring Week! It has been a run of beautiful days. The sun is shining and the temperatures are warm. The wind is blowing. It's really March and it's really Spring! We are going to revisit Winter this weekend though, but that's ok. Maybe it will keep at least some of the Easter flowers from all blooming.

I finished editing Aaron's pictures and got them posted. I'm ready for my next project! 

Good news!!! The tech support people of the software that was continually crashing was able to help me with my problem and now it runs like a dream! YAY!!! I can use it here at home and on my school computer!

Examples:

Love being able to add frames to my images. And I love to be able to make the collages! I really think it adds some pop!

Our spring book fair and art show are going on this week. Thursday night is our late night with the parents invited to view the art and shop at the book fair. Everyone is crazy right now trying to get everything decorated beautifully! It really does look amazing at West Side!

Evan has three pieces of her art in the UE spring art show! She also won a couple of awards last night for two of her pieces! I'm going to let her toot her horn on her blog but I am very proud of her! 

I am sooooo ready for Friday and the start of Spring break! 

Day 63 of 350

OK, I had to look and make sure that was right because I am so far behind in the posting.
I took Aaron's senior pictures last Saturday. So every evening this week I have been editing pictures. I jsut finished up and got them uploaded to zenfolio.
Preview:

He is a kayaking buddy of DeWayne's too. I love the way this one turned out. DeWayne thought of this pose. It's actually at the loading dock of the old IGA in Harrisburg. ( I love that this background was free on OnOne's website!)
I've received some new software that includes backgrounds and borders this week. BIG problem! It crashes every time I open it and try to edit a picture. I've been emailing back and forth with technical support. It runs on my school computer so I brought it home for the weekend. (Of course, I will be bringing it home next week too because spring break starts!!!!)
I was so ready for this week to be over. The time change kicked my butt!
I slept til 7:30 this morning!

Day 53 of 350

I skipped yesterday. Oh well! Seems to be a trend! :D

This is what DeWayne and Evan did yesterday together.  They went exploring and decided to give Superman a visit in Metropolis. I am envious because I have not ever explored the downtown of Metropolis to see this museum and the big statue of Superman.
Today they went to St. Louis to the zoo and to the art museum. They had a great time yesterday and today. Good dad and daughter time!
We all at supper together tonight. Even Jackie is home and I cooked! I don't get to do that very often. Salmon cakes! Yum!

Day 51 of 350

Wow! I can't believe that it's been 50 days since I started doing this thing of counting the days of the year! I also can't believe that is't only about 80 days until Jackie and Austin's wedding! WOW!

Day 50 of 350

I really like this picture that I took of our Christmas tree. I was practicing with the light and the lens and the just stuff on my camera. I also needed to see JOY great big today!

Church was wonderful. Jeff was talking about love again today. I need to hear what he is saying. I like what he is saying. I get what he's saying. Loving some people is hard. Loving no matter what happens is hard. BUT, if I do not have love, I am a clanging symbol. Just making noise and not being very effective as a witness for Christ. So I do not want to fail this. I do not want my feelings to get in the way of love. UGH!!! Why does it have to be so hard!?!?!

Enough of that.

Evan's friend from school, Beka, was here overnight. She's from Texas and didn't want to go home for Spring break. She is very sweet and I like her. I'm glad she is friends with my daughter!

Evan and Angela took a few minutes this morning at church and spoke to the people about what they are doing this summer. I was very proud of both of them. They both have a heart for missions and seeing people come to Jesus! That's exciting!!!

More tomorrow!

Days 47, 48, & 49 of 350

ok i'm a loser! I can't even keep up with my blog! I did better last week when I was sick :D

Evan is home for spring break. She got yesterday afternoon. She surprised me at school! It is so good to see her face! I miss her and don't realize it until I see her. I worked out and she overnight mailed her passport to  the mission office. She went to eat with friends and I came home. She and DeWayne got home at about the same time and we layed on the bed and talked. Good times!
I need to post a picture.

LaDonna & Marsha

Wow a wonderful blast from the past. I wish I still had that little chair Marsha is sitting on! This is at the house in Broughton. My Griswold grandparents lived there. Now my mom and  dad live there. (And the TV is in the same place only it's newer! ) Love the tree and the tinsel. I don't remember that scary doll sitting next to me! Good thing! It probably gave me nightmares. LOL 

I'm glad that I somehow ended up with most of the old pictures. I have scanned most of them and they just are everywhere. In my Picassa albums online, on my external hard drive, on disks, and on my desktop in folders. Gotta do something with them! I have some ideas! 

Evan needs some things for her trip so we are going to Carbondale to shop a little bit today! (I would rather go to Paducah, so we'll see)

DeWayne is fixing us a wonderful breakfast so I better get going!

Day 45 & 46 of 350

I just realized that I forgot to post yesterday.
We had home group last night and didn't get home until almost 9. I got may hair cut and colored right after school so I didn't get home until right before group time. (Just enough time to run in and run out :D )
Sooooo, that being said, I have nothing. LOL
I went to Curves today and worked out. I hadn't been since the first of February. UGH! I feel a lot better and have more energy. I know it's good for me and I know it helps keep my weight down. It's just hard to make the time when my job and my life get in the way of working out. So, now I have to get with it again., I must go at least 3 times a week and keep it up!
I will post a picture tomorrow and get back on track!

Day 44 of 350

Jackson Falls

Ok, don't get shook up. This was taken February 12 at Jackson Falls. While I was taking pictures at the girls retreat, DeWayne took the D40 and went to Jackson Falls. It was the first day off he had had in several weeks and he just wanted to be outside. It had snowed and iced during that week so he saw some   wonderful ice and water. I love this picture. He's standing under an overhang of rocks. The sky is so blue and the ice is so white. Just a wonderful picture.

He got to go kayaking today. Not just to the St. Francis in MO like he wanted to. The water level was dangerously too high. They ended up kayaking at Lusk Creek down by Eddyville. They had a good time but he would rather go somewhere big. There will be other days! 

I worked today. I got very tired by 2:40. I didn't sleep all that well last night either. I hope tonight that I sleep soundly and deeply.

I have formulated a plan for Prom pictures. I will using a house and yard in Harrisburg. My friend Julie made a couple of texts and set it up and made arrangements. YAY!!! I am going to schedule appointments for every 30 to 45 minutes. I don't want to get rich but I want to take lots of pictures. Prom is May 7 (the day before Evan's 21st birthday!). If I book right I should be able to make about $250 in 3 hours or so. :D

I found out today that if Mr. Smith gives our PTO permission. They are taking the whole school to see a Miner's game May 11. EVERYONE!!! Pre-K through 2nd grade at a baseball game. It will either be fun or pure torture! The big kids will love it. The little ones, maybe.
Evan's spring break starts Friday. I am ready for her to be home for awhile. Her friend Beka is coming Saturday to spend a couple of days. 

More tomorrow!

Day 43 of 350

The many faces of Elias

This is an awesome template that I downloaded from a free site. All I had to do was place the pictures where I wanted them and attach them to the layer and Ta-da, it's done. Love, love, love free stuff!

I finished editing the pictures and even posted them to zenfolio already. All I have to do is burn Casey's disk and I am finished. 

I am thinking about taking pictures of prom kids this year. That didn't convey what I am talking about really. Several people have asked me to take their kids pictures for prom and I have been rolling around some ideas in my mind. The plan I have come up with is to use someone's house (& yard) in Harrisburg, schedule times for every 45 minutes, and have the couples/groups come to me. And charge them $40 per couple. I could make money and not have to stress over several locations, just have one location set up. I think it will work. (as long as everyone is on time and courteous to others :D )

It's supposed to rain - ALOT- tonight. DeWayne is so excited. He's going kayaking tomorrow in MO. The river is supposed to be way up!

Hopefully I'll have pictures of his runs tomorrow!

Day 42 of 350

Elias 1 year

Well, here's my little man Elias. We finally got our photo shoot in and it was COLD! The weather was promising me 55 degrees and it barely broke 40. Factor in the wind chill and it was still in the high thirty's. BRRR! is all I can say. He was a trooper though. Let me just say that 1 year olds have the attention span of a  flea. And props were a joke! One year olds are just cute! He smiled, he laughed, he cried. He ran, he sat, and he walked and climbed. I snapped almost 1000 pictures (between my camera and DeWayne's) and I have edited it down to 185. Not bad I guess. 

It's been a good day! I will finish up editing and get the pictures to Casey by early next week. Yay!

Day 41 of 350

Elias - 9 months

This is Elias at 9 months. He is now a year old and I am taking his pictures tomorrow. I am excited to be taking pictures again! I am ready to take a little person's pictures. He is so cute. 

I took a sick day today and just rested. I slept late and did absolutely nothing all day. I feel a lot better. I think if I had gone to work I would have felt horrible by this evening. Better to take a day and recover than to keep pushing and still be feeling nasty!

Time to gather my gear and my props and make sure I have everything!