Your room, picture 5 of 30

The next challenge is to take a picture of your bedroom.  This was a really difficult picture to take as our room is not large, and one whole wall is mirrored closet doors.  So I took a picture of me in my room instead. 

As adults, Jay and I have never been ones to spend much time in our bedroom.  It's where we sleep and get dressed.  We may read before bed, but we don't go to our room just to read.  If we want to read, we read on the couch.  Same for television.  The bedroom is just for sleeping.

Favorite Shoes, picture 4 of 30

Today's challenge is to take a picture of your favorite shoes and then explain why they are your favorite.  Hmmm, I'm not really a shoe person.  I don't have favorite shoes.  So, I decided that I would just take a picture of the most expensive shoes I have ever purchased.  I just happened to have purchased them two days ago, so all my feelings about the shoes and their price are still solid in my mind. 
Here they are:

Meet my new shoes, the Asics Gel Nimbus 12.  In the USA, these shoes retail for about $125.  At that price, they would still be (by far) the most expensive shoes that I have ever purchased.  Of course, good ol' Aussie prices have these shoes retailing for about $230!!  I got mine on sale for $184.
So, by now, you are probably wondering why I spent this much money on shoes.  I didn't really want to, but I didn't have much of a choice.  I am doing a running program and my current joggers are just plain worn out.  I purchased them about a month before we moved over here, so they are about a year old.  I want a good supportive shoe, and not a cheap shoe.  Joggers (as they call them here) are pricey if you want anything better than a $35 Payless shoe.  There's no middle ground.  It goes from the $20-$35 range at places like Kmart and Payless to $160 at a store similar to Footlocker.  I spent a while looking for shoes in that middle range- there just are none! 
Now, these shoes are probably the most comfortable, supportive jogger that I have ever owned, but I highly doubt they will be worth the money spent on them!

Night, picture 3 of 30

Picture 3 of 30 in the 30 pictures in 30 day challenge is a night picture. 
I have done a few night pictures before so I tried to do something different.  In this picture, the moon is shining bright and the sun is setting.

the houses are all facing the setting sun.  It turned out well. 

Chores, picture 2 of 30

Today's 30 pictures in 30 days challenge is to take a picture of chores not yet done and then write about it.
My picture:

This is no ordinary basket of laundry.  This is a basket full of size 3 clothes.  Size 3 clothes that Sammy has finally outgrown.  More than half of these clothes have been through at least 2 kids.  Many have been through all three of the boys, and some were even passed to us before my boys went through them.  That hood that's hanging out of the basket.  It's the first winter coat that I ever purchased for Joe.  My mom bought Joe's first coat, but I picked out his second.  Joe wore it, Tom wore it, and Sam wore it.  Now, someone else will wear it. 

This pajama shirt was also bought for Joe.  It's been a favorite for all three boys. 

It's a little hard to bag up these clothes.  It's saying goodbye to yet another milestone in our kids' lives.  Of course, with the three boys, I have this about every year as we get rid of clothes that get outgrown.  I, however, feel like I have more memories of the little kid clothes rather than the bigger boy clothes.  So, until I get around to bagging up the clothes, they will sit on the basket on the couch.   

Slice of life

This is our weather.  For the most part, it's been raining. A lot.  I mean, seriously, it's been pouring here.  We've missed some soccer practices; we've done some in the rain.  We go stir crazy.  And we play Monopoly Jr.

So, if you've ever wondered about the body of water that we can see from our house...

The water and beach we overlook is Bagnall Beach Reserve and Nelson Bay.  The beach there is a dog beach.  We tend to visit it on weekend mornings, if it's not raining.  All it takes is the time required to walk there, about 20 minutes one way.

All the black stuff on the beach...it is sea grass.  It covers the beach here during low tide.  During high tide, there is no beach.  This is probably the reason why this is a dog beach. 

Lacey got a new bed.  This one stays in the living room so that she has someplace to lay when she's not in the laundry.  I thinks she likes it. 

Joe has been trying for the last several months to get a friend over for a play.  It's been tough to schedule, but it finally happened.  This is the first time that Joe has had a friend over (just for him) to play.

They had a lot of fun bouncing on the trampoline and playing video games. 

This week, it was my turn to watch Joe and his team, the Raptors.  They played in Newcastle as the away team and lost, but they tried hard.  The Raptors are the ones in the yellow shirts.

Joe, center of screen, in bright blue shoes

Joe, center screen, bright blue shoes



Joe, getting ready to kick the ball



 It is amazing the view we have when it doesn't rain.

sunrise

Of course, when it's gone, we miss it.



pouring rain



Me, picture 1 of 30

So, I am working on a 30 pictures in 30 days challenge.  I take way more than 30 pictures a day, but these are supposed to help me improve my photography skills and hone my scrapbooking prowess.  I have way too much other scrapbooking to do so I thought I'd do the challenge and share it on the blog.

 Picture number 1: self portrait- a picture taken by me, of me and then write about what the picture makes me feel or think. 

So first, I did just the standard, hold your arms out, smile and snap.

Now, this is not a horrible picture.  However, what it makes me feel when I look at it is...old.  I'm not old.  I don't typically feel old.  However, the crows' feet in this picture...well, they make me feel old. 

So, I thought about trying again, but all I could think was old and oldness.  So, I decided to do a self portrait of my oldness.

There it is.  My gray hair.  It hides under a few brown hairs on the right side of my head.  It is the reason I gave up on trying to grow out my bangs.  When wearing a headband, all those carefully hidden grays are showing up, big time.

Now, I am sure that you are thinking that Clariol makes a great product to cover this old hairs.  Yes, they do and I use it, from time to time.  I use the temporary dyes that wash out in a month.  'Why don't you just visit a salon and have them gone?' you wonder.  Well, because Jay thinks they're beautiful.  Trust me, if your hubby gets all swoony and calls your gray hairs beautiful, you'd keep them too. 

I hope one day that I can feel like I rock my gray hairs, but I am not sure that I am much of a rocker. 

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your gray hair and get it in focus, etc?  It's pretty darn tough.  While I was trying, I managed to get this picture.

And I love it.

Mrs. Claus story

So, I meant to actually put this at the bottom of the last post, but I forgot.  For everyone who doesn't know the reference of the Mrs. Claus costume in the last post about sewing Tom's wings the night before the pary.

When I was in the fourth grade, I had a starring role in the Christmas play, A Cause for Mrs. Claus.  Our music teacher had told Mr. Claus that he had a costume, so I assumed that I had one too.  However, I didn't.  My music teacher called my mom two evenings before the play and asked about my costume.  Of course, my mother didn't know that I needed one.  Neither did I.  My mom had to take the next day off from work in order to got to the fabric store and then make me a costume.  The costume rocked, and I only made one mistake during the whole play (I was supposed to be on stage and wasn't). 

It teaches a lesson that one should not trust a fourth grader to relay messages to parents.  It also meant that my mom had something to hang over my head.  (Love ya, Mom!).