Shopping Resale?

Christmas spending might be one of the big cuts in many family budgets acrossAmerica. That’s the case for my family. Yet I have never been more excited about Christmas. This year when we drew names, the rules changed. The spending limit is five bucks. Everyone must find their treasures at resale shops, flee markets, yard sales etc. We thought this would be a great example for our kids by teaching them the value of money and progressing our recycling attitudes. On Christmas Day everyone will put a buck in the kitty. After the gifts are unwrapped, everyone will vote on the best gift. No one can vote for the gift he/she purchased. The two gifts receiving the most votes split the kitty cash. We are driving to FL for Christmas. Winning the kitty equates to a few extra Starbucks stops between Orlando and Columbus. I’m off to the resale shops. Woo hoo!

One Fat Pumpkin

Hubby and I were driving on an Ohio Interstate last week and passed a very fat pumpkin. While this wasn't as funny as seeing a gas pump nozzle hanging out the side of one driver's vehicle a few months ago on the same Interstate highway, the pumkin was equally noticeable.

The things we see on the highway! We could publish a Coffe Table Book of photographs. 

Andrew Johnston

A fourteen year-old choirboy was "discovered" on Britain's Got Talent show. Wow. The boy appears to have a future. His first CD was released in September this year under Simon Cowell's label, SyCo Music. If you love classical music, you'll appreciate this young boy's voice. And perhaps even more you'll appreciate the story behind his success. He and his siblings lived in poverty with their single mom. He was bullied in school and "carried on" in spite of it. His audition had us in tears. Ultimately, he placed third on the British talent show. What an inspiration!  

Nice Buck

When I'm looking at a beauty like this, I'm not thinking about shooting it with anything except my camera. And I did, obviously. For my daughter -on the other hand, "point and shoot" is a different language.

My eldest daughter loves to hunt with a bow or gun. And she's getting better at field dressing, too. A couple winters ago, Hubby and I dropped in to visit her. The cars were in the drive, but no one answered the door. We honked our horn figuring she was in a barn or out for a walk. A few minutes later, we see movement at the edge of the woods. My daughter 7 months pregnant hobbled out of the trees, bow in hand. She was incredibly disappointed at having missed a big deer! Apparently our horn spooked it.

Needless to say, shortly thereafter doc told her she couldn't hunt any longer! Well until the baby was born. Now that's an avid hunter! I suppose I'm a little hypocritical. I would never shoot an animal, but I'll serve it on the table.

Michael Phelps: An ADHD Success Story

    We know that every day he ingests over 10,000 calories and practices about 5 hours. But did you know he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD)? A recent article in ADDitude magazine features Debbie Phelps, Michael Phelps' mom, candidly sharing an intimate look at Michael's struggles as a child. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 9 years old. Perhaps that's not so important to most people. But, for me as a parent of an ADHD son, it's incredibly inspiring.

    One monstrous challenge for ADHD kids is staying focused long enough to complete tasks. ADHD can be treated with or without medication. Even so, medication is not a cure-all. Many parents opt for a combined approach which may include, medication, behavior therapy, counseling, diet changes and more.  It takes a monumental effort - patience, discipline, and teamwork between home and school for kids to achieve educational success. Extra curricular activities like piano lessons, sports, church and social functions demand dedicated kids and parents, because often when ADHD kids get home from school, they aren't interested in working overtime on "focus" issues. They would prefer video games or playing, which is like a fix to a user.

    ADHD kids are good at hyper focusing on activities they love, i.e.sports. But sports programs require structure and discipline. Both of which are very good because they reinforce fixed boundaries. However, structure and discipline are not always easy to employ, because their brain tells them to switch gears too frequently. So even fun sports require a concerted effort.

    When I shared the Michael Phelps story about ADHD with my son, I saw more than a twinkle in the look he returned; I read a chapter on success in the hopeful eyes of a young boy who struggles to achieve it in all his endeavors. I felt his excitement and his bolstered confidence. And I felt proud to be his mom.

    Every day ADHD kids must fight a disorder that would plunder their hope of success, rob their positive attitude, self-esteem and focus, then hang them out to dry if not for diligence, determination, faith - and a lot of teamwork. My boy may not be a Michael Phelps one day, but the promise of success lingers a little closer within his reach.

Almost Got Wet

 "One day, you'll know exactly how I feel. When you kiss your youngest child before he steps on the bus to enter his first day of school, you'll remember this day. Perhaps my words will ring in your ears, ‘This is a big day. My youngest boy is starting junior high school - and I'm not old.' And maybe you will smile because you were thinking I was old." I explained it all to my 11 year-old son who sat at the bar dunking his cookies in a glass of milk like it was just another day. But, he looked at me as if he "got it". And he smiled at me. I know he was thinking I was old.

    One of the worst things about getting old is that the days grow shorter. It's not enough that every time I look into the mirror another wrinkle appears or another gray patch of hair shows up. Now every time I look at the clock the hands are spinning faster. Wait, I guess that's the second hand moving. My eyes are getting worse. Okay, so now every year I need new glasses to keep up with my aging eyes.

    For crying out loud, I'm acting as though I'm old! And like the first day of a new school year, this 25^th day of the month of August 2008, is about me. Yikes! How on earth did I let myself get so self-centered?

Wow, that was scary - getting pummeled by a random cloudburst of fake reality. I might have a few gray hairs, fortyish wrinkles, a creaking back and puffy eyes (only in the morning), but I still know to come in out of the rain. Now where was I?

Is There An Angel in the Image? You Decide.

As photographers, hubby and I frequently (re)inspect our image library. Recently when I was reviewing an image he shot over a year ago, I saw something I had never before noticed. In the lower left hand corner, look at the reflection. If you draw back from the image several feet, you will see a figure that appears to be clothed in a white robe with the hands and arms draped down the front. The image is completely untouched. It was taken with a Nikon D200. I am not loading it onto the PNN website because prints of it are on sale in our gallery. To view it, you'll have to click here, our Inkhounds site. I'm not a superstitious person nor do I buy into paranormal mumble jumble, but on occasion there are flukes in art and this is one of them. Hope you enjoy the image.

Angels in Our Midst?

My sister says they are ghosts ;). My husband says it's a mere coincidence and he's right. I shared an image on PNN in September that I had stumbled on in our Inkhounds image library, which was taken almost 2 years ago. Upon closer inspection of the image, I discovered an ethereal-like figure in the lower left quadrant.

Today we were in Hocking Hills, Ohio, to shoot some of the landscapes of fall foliage. Color is at its peak in the area right now. We couldn't resist going back to the small lake where we shot the image of the "figure". I walked up and down the banks inspecting the reflections in the water, looking for an ethereal figure to appear. Nothing. But, Ed and I took several shots each with our own cameras.

When we arrived home, we dashed to our desks and uploaded our images. Wow. In one shot, there appears to be several figures. It's been 2 years almost to the day since we snapped the other image. I should also add that I had 2 similar shots of the single figure and Ed also had a couple others. Weird. This brings all new meaning to how I will look at reflection in the water and probably how we shoot whenever we are near water.

HUBRIS

     I take pride in often dancing to the beat of my own drum. Not everyone watching (if you get that lucky) would recognize my smooth steps because I likely made them up. And you should hear me sing. I have a set of pipes, but already I digress. There's a point here nonetheless. I happen to like and trust me well enough to engage in life relying on my style. Speaking of style, my wardrobe is anything but haute couture. I've never owned anything that comes close unless having designed it from fabric off the rack at Joanne's and tailored it with my very own ten little digits counts as haute couture.  And when I flip a room in my humble abode, it's not a duplicate from a page in Better Homes or Country Homes. Every week at church I see a few more women with their hair cut like this.

     But it seems the nature of masses to follow. It's worse than a virus. Someone suggests a standard - and then masses march. I did that when I was kid. We went around in circles and then we all fell down. I learned my lesson.

     The strange phenomenon even pervades our language. We all have to be on the same page, to circumvent a wrinkle or a freckle or a hiccup. Does that make sense? Anyway, the new word I'm hearing is hubris. And it wasn't just in the Palin interview with Gibson. It's been seen around town before, popping up in various media outlets. And that's my occasional rant. Man, could we just escape the puppet song and dance in at least our conversation already? With that, I'm 5000. 

What Is Your Cell Phone Taboo?

Several weeks ago during worship service, I was enjoying the pastor deliver an intriguing sermon when I was interrupted.

"Where you at?" The man beside me asked.

I looked at him feeling dumbfounded and wondered if he was addressing me. Then I saw the cell phone attached to his other ear and was nearly embarrassed thinking I was voyeurish for overhearing his private conversation - not that I could avoid it.

"Yeah?" he continued, "well I'm towards the back. Like over in the middle."

I tried to ignore him and refocused on the minister, but it was a challenge. You know what it's like hearing two conversations at once.

Last Sunday during worship service I heard a cell phone blare, then I saw a woman jump up, run past us and exit with a cell phone clamped on her head. I wondered if there was an emergency and considered following her out to be sure she was okay. But, before I could make a decision she returned to her seat. Thirty minutes later I heard another cell phone blare. A few seconds later the same woman jumped up, ran past us again and exited the sanctuary. A few minutes later she returned, sat down and remained until the end of the service.

We don't take cell phones into the sanctuary. The way I see it, If there's an emergency we're in the best possible place we could hope to be anyway.

What do you think?