TGIF!

yippee! its finally Friday...
got quite a bit to do today to get ready for the night out! Its rainy and yucky here.

No big update on Cynnder yet, still pg, still baggin up more...
Can you imagine being pg for 11 months 11 days? thats the average gestation for a horse..YUCK!.
so 11 months 11 days from her 1st breeding date will put her due tomorrow, and the last breeding date will put her due on the 13th( Thursday) I cant wait.. I was laying in bed tryin to think how I could put my webcam in her stall...LOL... dont have a lap top..so I do think I can do it ( sorry Kiley)
Im really hoping she doesnt try to foal tonight when we are gone! We got the MIL and FIL coming over to look after the kids and my horse respectively! LOL.

Got my first pair of contacts yesterday! I have astigmatism in both eyes, so no fancy colored ones for me yet..What a weird thing to stick something on your eye!...Sheesh! So far I'm really liking them!

havent been scrappin a whole lot the past few days, Elemental scraps went to an FTP type of thing for us CT members, and it took them a bit to get the kits up in our folders! Thanx to the hard work of Marisa and Jo for getting some in there finally last night..I was suffering from withdrawls!

OH YEAH!!! Tuesday was 15% off grocery day, total bill before reduction $453.76 after discounts and then % reduction.... $320.17 CAN YOU SAY COOL!!!!!!! I was so proud to save over 100 bucks on groceries! yipee!!!!

My DH is the sweetest, he was at Excess Cargo last night (discount store that has overstock items for CHEAP) and called and asked if I wanted a tripod!..I said sure!..so he came home with a half decent tripod with a 3 way tilt head on it...for get this $20!....now its not anything super sturdy or anything, but it rocks cuz now I can do portrait or landscape images on my tripod! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!

Lots of stuff today, My 5 in 1 reflector should be here soon, Probably next week! I cant wait!
OHHHHH more!..LOL I just finished my taxes looks like I sohuld be getting about 3000 back, so I am gonna save 2000, and spend the other 1000 onnnnnnnnnn..........



Im so excited! DH actually said...why dont you spend some on your photography?
SO of course I jumped on that baby... I'm planning on buying 2 of the beginner bee packages, but I wuold like to have them replace one of the umbrellas with a softbox, instead. Looks like my total including shipping should be just over 1000 CDN!...Im scared to death, but also really excited...My girls....ah my girls at Snap Happy Mama's....they RAWK!...I have intentions of trying to attempy some photography on the professional level say like in a year or so, and I am scared to put such an investment when Im not sure if I am going to the be good enough, but they were able to shake my head a bit, ( TREVA! LOL) and demand that I purchase the bees, see that way it gives me a year of practiing with them BEFORE I think about opening business. Im so glad that I met the ladies there...They offer me TONS of support and even more Inspiration! If your interested in photography and want to learn, while not being intimiadted at places like ILP I highly recommend following my link over there in the sidebar! you wont regret it!

Ok Chinese Lantern Info

This is what I am using..
Its the Ris Paper Lantern
available from IKEA
I got the biggest size available ( 60cm)
It cost 8.99 CDN..without cord. The cords at Ikea are rated only for like 65 watts...Not enough to do this safely. So I went to home Depot and bought a heavy duty light cord, they sell some that are good for 250 watts. Got me one of those.
Then I hit Vistek (CDN Photography store) and picked up 2 GE Incandescent Lamp bulbs, they are 250 watt, 120 volt, with a Kelvin temp of 3200K. These babies were like 6 bucks each, and last for 3 hours. That's why I picked up 2 of them.
**DOWNSIDE**
These bulbs get HOT...So I only ever use them for just a few minutes, while I'm shooting, and I never ever leave them unattended, TOO MUCH of a fire risk! Please be careful!

Now came the hard part..To figure out how to suspend this 60 cm ball. I ended up using my DH's old worklights (mostly b/c they were in the room). And I disassembled my son's old crib mobile and strapped it onto the top bar of the worklights. My DH is graciously building me a nice stand for this from copper tubing, but that may be awhile!

Anyways that's what I'm using..No ambient light, I have covered my one big window with my navy denim drape, and I turn off the room light. I do a CWB with a big piece of white foamboard, set my WB to that, then shoot away. I have another white foam board on the opposite side of the light, trying to act as a reflector, sometimes it works really good, but lots of times not so well.


SO I just snagged this! off of eBay for half price what they are in the stores here! I'm so pumped! Its 42" and a 5 in one relfector...Should be here next week!
Anyways back to the setup.. I have the light suspended only about 18 inches off the floor, because most of my pics my kids are sitting down for, I just adjust the height of it based on the catchlight in their eyes. An the light is just forward and off to the side some, so I get the same catchlight in each eye. Often I am crouching just below, or laying on the floor really close to it. I have not figured this out completely yet, I still tweak things each time I set up, but it is getting closer!

Hope this helps some!..If you have any questions just ask I will try to answer what I can..Again I am no pro at this set up..I'm still in the learning process too!

Bad blogger...

Ack things have been busy here...I havent got time to take the pics of the chinese lantern setup yet, I promise I will ASAP. Today is 15% off grocery Tuesday, so this AM I will be off doing that! Hoping to start stocking the new motorhome. Im so excited to use it this weekend. Copp's Pile Driving (our business) is the major sponsor for a local Bullriding event on Friday so we are gonna take the motorhome, and leave the kids with Gramma, and Grandpa. Well actually they are coming to our house, gramma is watching the kids, and grandpa is watching Cynnder...still no foal...should be 11 months 11 days...so that puts her right around the 9th-13th of april...getting closer!

I have been working hard to finish my scraps from our trip to AZ..and as of last night I am done! Im so excited!..holiday photos are hard to scrap...so many pics, and so much to tell KWIM? anyways here are the rest The first one is Fountain Hills, AZ..just outside of Scottsdale...NICE PLACE!.wow, we drove around checked out the huge fancy homes, and equestrian estates there...super nice! Went for lunch at a little diner, and we ate outside, then the water lines started shaking and the whole building seemed like it was gonna explode, they came and opened up the fire hydrant, and shot water out for about 25 minutes, before the lines started to stop shaking!...never a dull moment!

#2 is quite self explanatory...2 crazy christmas light homes!...INSANE!






#3 & #4 are of my meeting with Amanda and Joedee. Being that we were in Phoenix, I had stopped in before to meet JO and her family, and hadnt yet met Amanda. Im so glad she convinced her DH to drive to Phoenix to meet us! WE let the kids all play, and we rode the carousel, and the little train. Then we cooked up some burgers, and had a yummy picnic! It was so nice to get to see and hug the people you spend so much time with on the phone! I have known Jo since I was ttc rylee...so that would be like april of 2002, and Amanda I have known since the fall of 2003, CRAZY! Incase some of you dont know, we run Women2Women, its a super nice message board, I can brag cuz its mine! LOL..we have over 400 members, and 100 faithful members that are super active and post every day! and we all RAWK!. Stop in if you want! You won't regret it!


#5 LO of us freaky Canadians swimming outside in December..We were the only ones ever in that pool! Jo would always bug me about when I came to visit that they would all think we are freaks for swimming in December...but hey to us the weather was warm, not any hint of winter! LOL







#6 is a neat little sign we saw in a cool little shop in Tombstone AZ. We got there late in the day, so didnt get to see much, and the light was fading fast. Tombstone is on our list of MUST GO BACK TO SEE list



I forgot to say that during all this Driving around Tombstone was like 3-4 hours from Chandler where we were staying, My DD potty trained herself! NOT ONE ACCIDENT the entire time, Lots of really quick stops at creepy gas stations along the side of the interstates, but not one accident EVER! I am so proud of her for that!


#7 is all I got of Tombstone...I ran to the county jail, took a photo of that, sneaked a neat one of the prison yard. Took a peek thru the fence at OK Corral,
Then headed to Main ST. We saw the Boot Hill Cemetary, but both kids were sleeping in the Durango, so we didnt want to wake them. Tombstone is super neat! I cant wait to go back!