R is for...

Rabbit, ribbit, roll, right, rivet, river, ride, really, read, rhyme...

Red, Ripe Raspberries!

Yummy luscious tasty juicy berries.

Do you like raspberries?
My memories of berries, both raspberries and blackberries involve picking them at my Aunt's house on the eastern shore of Maryland... staining my fingers with the juices and knocking Japanese beetles off of the bushes.

Q is for

Quiet
Quilt
Quit
Query
Quarry

.. just outside of Austin in Cedar Park there is going to be a new water park that sounds awesome, made in an old quarry. I cannot wait to take my girls there. They will have the spouts hidden in the natural looking rocks.

Quarrel
Quest
QWERTY
Quark

Questions

Time to be random and irrelevant
I found one of those old Myspace surveys and filled it out:

1. If you were to attend a costume party tonight, what or whom would you go as?

A fairy or a wench ;) sinc ei already have those costumes

2. What are your choice of toppings on a hamburger? And do you prefer gas or charcoal grilling?

Charcoal grilled with cheese and a little steak sauce

3. You are chosen to have lunch with the President. The condition is you only get to ask one question. What do you ask?

Something completely random I'm sure... I'm not very political

4. It's your first day of vacation, what are you doing?

Taking a long walk through the area to see what there is to explore

5. What is your concession stand must-have at the movies?

Gummi Bears

6. Which do you dislike most: pop-up ads or spam email?

Popups

7. What do you think Captain Hook's name was before he had a hook for a hand?

James

8. Rock, paper, or scissors?

Rock

9. How long was it from 'the first date' until the proposal of marriage? How long until the wedding?

There was never a real proposal... we decided to get married for insurance reasons

10. Which is worse, being in a place that is too loud, or too quiet?

Too loud

11. What is one quality that you really appreciate in a person?

Thoughtfulness

12. At the good old general store, what particular kind of candy would you expect to be in the big jar at the counter?

Jawbreakers

13. What is the most distinguishing landmark in your city?

The Texas state capital building

14. Everyone hears discussions that they consider boring. What topic can put you to sleep quicker than any other?

Economics

15. How many times did it take you to pass your drivers test?

Once

16. If you had to have the same topping on your vanilla ice cream for the rest of your life, what topping would you choose?

caramel

17. What food item would need to be removed from the market altogether in order for you to live a healthier, longer life?

Red Bull O.O

18. You are offered an envelope that you know contains $50. You are then told that you may either keep it or exchange it for another envelope that may contain $500 or may be empty. Do you keep the first envelope, or do you take your chances with the second?

Take my chances 

19. If you had to choose, which would you give up: cable TV, or DSL/cable internet?

We've already given up cable TV

20. What is your highest level of education? Bachelor's Degree

21. How much is a gallon of gas in your city? What was the highest it's been?

Something like $3.57. Yikes! Makes me glad I drive a little Protege 5

22. What kind of lunch box did you have as a kid?

Smurfs!

23. What would you rather have, a nanny, a housekeeper, a cook, or a chauffeur?

Easy--- a housekeeper! I'd rather have someone else clean up than someone else take care of the girls. 

24. Would you rather be trapped in an elevator, or stuck in traffic?

Stuck in traffic

25. Lets say a brick fell on your foot, and your kid is standing right next to you, what is your 'cleaned up' swear word?

MRRFFFUUUOOOWWWWWWW-- yeowch.  (yes really)

Was that enlightening? No? I didn't think so. Sorry guys... busy week isn't allowing as much photography exploration as I wanted. 

P is for...

Pregnancy and Poverty

Falling off my thread of happy for one post.

I read a lot of blogs about BIRTH. The options, and how the US system is doing it wrong. There's finger pointing everywhere.

How dare you have a hospital/home/birth center birth! Don't you know the baby is going to be stressed/induced/tortured/given unnecessary exams/shots/homeopathic remedies! You might need stitches/be induced/have a C section/tear/hemorrhage/be given a vaginal exam/be looked at  by more people that you'd like/only have one person there!

All over the world though, women have NO choice. No choice, and no education.

This video really touched me this morning.
In fact, it made me cry (I'm not a crying type). All with words and music. There are no photos at all in it.

O is for...

Orchid.

Is it just me that thinks orchids close up look a little creepy sometimes?

See those incisors?

What do you think?

N is for...

Nothing to see here. Nil. Nada.

oh....

except that...

M is for

Mommy.

That's all I've been today is a mommy. Mommy is losing her marbles, with two crazy kids.

The toddler has been telling me she has to climb on her baby sister "Because I'm a dolphin, mommy."

The baby hasn't been sleeping well, I'm blaming it on teething like I usually do.

In high school a friend handed me a marble and said to be  careful with it, because it was her last one. I promised I would. I think I still have that marble. I think I should go try to find it. I'll be needing it.

L is for...

Lorelei!

My beautiful firstborn daughter. A very abbreviated trip through the last few years.

 This is a very picture heavy post. Also, if you're curious about how I did my kaleidoscope pics from yesterday's post, the info on that is at the bottom of the page so if you're interested in that and don't care about pictures of my daughter.. just scroll on down.

Here she is, fresh and brand new-- taken with my camera phone while I was still stuck in bed postpartum.

Two or three months old--- we think the kitten is the same age as she is.

(the first two are pre-dSLR purchase)

Just scooting---

At the park, loving the swing

threatening other kids with sticks -- ok not really, she just loves sticks (13 months)

Digging in our neighbor's garden

Refusing to wear her swimsuit

and goofing off with dandelions

And as a follow up to yesterday's post-----

Since I've been asked how I did the kaleidoscope pictures... I used photoshop and this tutorial here: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-create-kaleidoscope-patterns-from-your-photos

Then, for the first one, I made three of the patterns and shrank one and put it in the middle (there was a ton of empty space in the middle) and blew one up to 200% and put it behind the middle one (to get the square shape)

The second one I blew a layer up to 200% and liked it enough that I left it at that

The third and fourth ones I did the layer at 200% behind the main image.

Let me know if you have any questions about that.