Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Okay so Jax 'tagged' me so I guess I have to tell 6 weird things about myself. Gee it's tough to come up with 6!!! (yeah right!!) Okay...
1- I rarely if ever wear make up. I have a "dog nose" and cant stand to smell make up all day.. it makes me crazy.
2- I am a terrible procrastinator adn am late almost everywhere I go... Marla time is about 5-10 minutes behind the rest of the world!!
3- I get nuts if my kitchen is not clean and will do NOTHING else until it is clean!
4-I am a muti-sensory eater! I have to see my food, smell it, touch it, taste it and hear it! If I dont have a crunch somehow I dont feel that I've eaten!
5- I have to have chocolate everyday (that one is probably not too weird is it? but it's definately me!)
6- I am a list fanatic... I must make lists of everything... things to do, places I need to go, dinners for the week, people to call, pictures to proof, on and on!
Okay so now to tag 6 people? How do I know if people have not already been tagged? I'll try
Kylie
Debbie
Frank
Karrie
it looks like everyone else has been tagged?
Well I wasnt in a very creative mood today! I was going to do a document my day again but just didnt have the energy!!! Here is just a snip of it! I pass this barn everyday on my way to work and actually have quite a few pictures of it in different phases..... in the spring, in the summer with cows, with one side falling off, with one side repaired and the nice bright wood contrasted with the old wood so today just for fun I shot it again! The sky is normally very colorful in the sunrise behind the barn but since it snowed here today the sunrise kind of lacked color! So here it is in color....
and then black and white!
On Wednesdays at work we get to go bowling, swimming, or horse back riding... today was our bowling day! Here is a snapshot of one of my guys!! I've had this "little" guy since he was 5... he's now 14!! It's a terrible picture cause I didnt take my flash and even forgot to put up the onboard flash cause it happened so quickly!! He got a spare and realized it!! Typically my kids dont even realize what they are trying to do and have to be told to watch their ball go down the lane, but he watched it and was thrilled that he got all the pins down!!!
Then another class that I do with my kids is vocational training. (hence the pictures from the other day of the completed cards and suckers) well here is another one of my guys making homemade paper to make a Valentines Day card!
so there's a tiny peek at my day!

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Abby is so excited today we got her ABC book in the mail!!! I made an ABC book of digital scrapping pictures of her over the years A-Z. She is so happy withit and I'm actually pretty impressed with the quality from my Publisher! Being a Costco member even saved us 20% so it was only like $30.00!!!


Monday, January 29, 2007

Well today is my day "off", so I got to sleep in a! woohoo!! Once were all up, showered fed and dressed the real day starts!

First stop is to drop the boys off at school. Today I just dropped Zachary off cause Andrew had an ortho appt.
Next here is a picture driving down Murlen to the ortho appt! Taken while driving by setting the camera on the dash adn just pushing the button!!


Then it's time for Andrew's orthodontist appointment. All good news here.. no braces yet, no teeth needing to be pulled, the seperators are doing their job so just recheck in 3 months!!!



Of course, Abby is drug along everywhere so she makes the best of it by practicing her funny faces in the mirror!!!


Next it's home to make brownies for a birthday party later in the day!!


Next we head to our next appointment! Taking Andrew to the dermatologist for his excema. Got a new cream and script and all is well!!



After all the fun thus far, we rushed through Culvers for lunch in the car! I hate eating in the car but today is just too scheduled!!! So here is my butter burger!!!! Yummy but I dont even want to know the calories!!! AGH!! I did skip the custard though!!


After lunch in the car, I dropped Andrew off at school and headed to work for the birthday party!! Our resource teacher turns 47 today!!!

Of course if we go to my work, Abby has to swing!! I have the best office in the world!! In my room I have balls, a swing, a treadmill, stair master, trampoline, Dance dance revolution, karaoke, on and on!!!! It's a very popular room!!!




And just to brag, here is a sample of the cards and suckers that my kids are selling for a Valentines promotion in the school!!! My kids make the homemade cards and selling them for a dollar each them selling the suckers for fifty cents! On Valentines Day we will help the kids deliver them throughout the school!! So far its a pretty lucrative business!!!
Okay now off to take Abby and myself to the doctor after picking the boys up from school!!! more later????
(Let me just clarify.... when I say "my kids" I am meaning my kids at school, not my biological kids!!! I have a classroom in a middle school with 6 kids with severe autism (2 are non verbal). I have had 3 of them their entire school career kindergarten to eighth grade so that's longer than my own biological children so they are my kids!!! Anyway, just wanted to clear that up!!)


Okay well I will tell you that when I came home to put these up, I was finishing as the dismissal bell was ringing so I ran off without my camera!! OOPS! To end our day, I picked up the boys, took Abby and myself to the doctor (both of us have sinus infections...yuck!) then went to get our prescriptions, drop of letters and get bread for lunches tomorrow, back to pick up the prescriptions, home for dinner then for fun we went to the Y to go swimming, home for some homework, reading a book and now it's 9:15 and everyone is in bed!!! It's mom time now!!! So I'll check emails, look through blogs and the forum and get myself to bed! Well there you have it a day in the life of Marla! Tomorrow is my busy day!!! Should I take the camera along tomorrow too?!!









Sunday, January 28, 2007

Well after yesterday I was totally lazy and unmotivated to take any pictures so here is the view of my desk from where I sit now!! I did wait for the screen saver to come on so I could at least have something interesting!! Gotta go see what the DD needs now... she is supposed to be sleeping but keeps crying because she put on Hello Kitty lotion and has now decided that she doesnt like the smell!!! We washed her hands and arms but she "can still smell it!!" She obviously inherited my "dog nose" as my friends affectionately say!!!



Saturday, January 27, 2007

So today I did not get to post as early as yesterday! Today was a busy day with 2 pinewood derby races, two basketball games, a birthday party and then two cousins spending the night!! Finally the day is ending!!! Here are 3 pictures of the 107 that I took today! The pinewood derby race was not as good as any of us had hoped. The boys cars were not the fastest and apparently the flashes from camera's was throwing off the timer on the track so we were told we couldnt use a flash!!! I only got this one fair picture of the races but in this one the boys were racing each other!! Zach's car is the blue and white one and Andrew's is the black with flames and the engine! Then onto basketball games... both boys won their games!!







Friday, January 26, 2007

Well my idea today is a combination of something I did a while back and the pictures that Heidi did a few days ago of her daughter oin an etch a sketch. First, here is the one that I did today. Abby was drawing on her Magna Doodle and wanted me to take a picture of her drawing so I did. Then I got the idea to put a pencil drawing of her into it instead! So here is my picture for today of the magna doodle with a picture of her from a few weeks ago but redone today to be a pencil drawing!
Next, just for fun I am including one that I did a while back for a scrapbook page. I obviously took more time on it and I reallly liked the final product so I thought I'd share even though it was not done in the challenge!! Here it is...



Thursday, January 25, 2007

well today's is just a quick snapshot to get my picture done for today!! I snapped a quick picture as Abby was helping me cut the peppers for dinner. Tomorrow my creative hat will get back on!! Today, it was lost!!! But hey, we're 1/3 of the way to the end and I'm still in the game!!!! Woohoo!!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Today I thought I would take things into a new perspective!! My middle son is awesome at posing and can do many things such as jumping or heelying or even handstands all while maintaining eye contact with the camera and smiling! I suppose some of it is because he really has no fears of being hurt so he doesnt care if he can watch where he's going!!! I did a shot like this for his birthday poster but decided that I liked it so much I'd do it again. This one turned out even a little better because his back is straighter! Honest, no photoshop here except to put some more white above his toes where I got the ceiling look at the eye contact and smile!!!! You cant tell it here but there are even catchlights!! His face is a little dark but I will lighten that before I print it!!!





Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Tuesday's are our busy day when I work my regular job from 7:30 to 3:30, get the kids home and do homework and fix dinner then go to my job at church from 5-9 so there's not a whole lot of time in between for pictures! But today I quickly caught Abby playing with her new bear in her room so I snapped a few quick snapshots of her! The lighting in her room is terrible! She has 3 bulbs on her fan and they are each a different type of bulb and one is a 100 watt and the others are 60.... hence the wall that looks half pink behind her (that's the direction the 100 watt bulb points!!) She is so happy with her new build a bear! She got money for Christmas and I told her she could pick anything she wanted. She desperately wanted a build a bear so yesterday I took her to fulfill her wish! $37.00 later she is one happy girl who so loves her bear!!!!

Monday, January 22, 2007

Here is an old building/ house? that I passed on the way home from shooting with Patti. I've driven by it several times and have wanted to stop so today I finally did. I would still like to shoot it from the other side but tredging through the snow while leaving Abby in the car on the side of the street just didnt sound like a good plan! Then I drove a little further out of my way to let Abby go to sleep and found this barn!!








Well if you see Patti's blog, you will think you are seeing double!! Patti and I went out to Cedar Creek today to get some pictures of the frozen falls! Pretty cool (hint hint) for all you Kansas folks!!! Anyway here is today's challenge photo!

Sunday, January 21, 2007


Alrighty well like others have said.... theres snow here! We got 4 inches last nigh and today it is great! It's perfect 'packy snow' so every house in the neighborhood with kids has a snowman guarding their snow!!Ours could be no exception! So here are my challenge pic's for the day... I'm calling them "fire and ice"!! Okay so it's really a fire hydrant, fire station ruler and snow but that doesnt sound as cool!!! So here they are..... FIRE AND ICE.....
















Saturday, January 20, 2007


Well here is my first post of the day... my younger son's game was this morning at 8:00 so here is his jump! I'll post more after my other son's game this afternoon!

Friday, January 19, 2007





























Well thanks to Patti's post with the shells yesterday I actually took some reverse lens shots today that I feel like I can share with people! Not that I think they're great but they are at least showable that I tried!!! With Patti's post she also took a picture of the shells at regular size and by a dime so I realized that the things I was shooting were way too big! Today I tried much smaller things and it worked better! The pictures are... my prayer box on my bracelet( it will sit easily on a dime), my sons micro machine truck (it is one inch long) and letters for a bracelet (it takes 3 side by side to make an inch!) I used these to try to see really how narrow the DOF is!! It is very very narrow! Finally just for kicks I thought I would try the same process using my Tamron 28-75 lens!!! Those pictures are the a.)tire only of the micromachine adn b.) the A bead... yes there were fuzzy's on the bead and my desk!! It's almost of microscope porportions wouldnt you say!!! It's very very hard to get it into focus though!!! Okay there's day 5!! I'm still in!!!!






Thursday, January 18, 2007


Well I decided to break the pattern I had going and go back to more fun pictures that are more like "me"!!! Here's my little "Abigirl" modeling her new cheap outfit from Old Navy!!! We spent a total of $11.00 for this outfit, including the cute boots!!!! What a deal!!! She likes it cause she looks "like she's going to kindergarten" ha ha, sillly girl!! So there, I'm done with day 4!!! woohoo!!!!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007


Well staying on the path of trying new things... I did try the reverse lens thing that Jax posted about but was sadly disappointed with the attempts as the focus was really bad!! So I went for a more abstract/texture feel and came up with this marble picture. Not sure whats with the moods of my pictures so far with the lonely bare tree, the solitary icicle and now the one different marble? I think maybe this cold weather is getting to me!! I need some sunshine and outside time!!! Margie, I think I need to come visit you and shoot some of your warm colorful photo's!!! Take care all!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007


Okay, well day 2 did not turn out like I wanted!! I was really wanting a macro shot of an icicle but I guess it's still too cold around here.. there are very few icicles because it's still too cold to have the ice melt, then the ones I found were on the roof so kind of hard to do a macro!! I did find this one on the grill so I tried it. Not really what I wanted but it's a one of about 10 that I wasnt happy with so it's a picture!!! No one said they had to be good right, the point is to get better right? Maybe by the end of my 30 days I can post a great one!!!

Monday, January 15, 2007




okay seeing if this works... day one of the challenge! We are going sledding in a minute so I will post a picture from that soon!

Well were back from sledding I an took several action shots however I also took one of this frozen tree! Since the point of this challenge is to improve photography skills I thought I would step out of my box of taking shots of my kids... I'm sure I'll have plenty of those throughout the challenge so I decided to start with a landscape photo!

Okay, day one is complete! Yea, me!!!

Sunday, January 14, 2007


okay, here is my first attempt at a post! I am brand new to this blogging thing and just got the final push from peer pressure from friends at LDPT to do the 30 day challenge to improve photography skills! Lets see if it helps!