wanna win a wii?

Here is a chance to win a WII! Wheee.
This is a blog i read about Personal Finance. Kind of ironic since we dont really have any mony but anyway it's celebrating a two year birthday or is it a blog-aversary.

In August this blog will be 6 years old.
I will not be giving away a Wii.
But bob is so you might as well stop holding your breath over here and just go there

Fix-it-friday with bonus randomness

yup, I'm an addict.

I'm also a borring and predictable photo editor.  But i have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. And a 63 GIG video file to compress.

and I'm in Slovakia which is why you might think I was up at 2AM playing in photoshop. Not that that has never happened. Just not today.

Spell Check would like me to spell borring with one 'R'. I politely decline. It is more emphatic with 2

I am in charge of feeding and opening and closing the door for the goose-ducks and chickens. I will post pictures and more details later this weekend

married life

Micah: Look here's that rash (it looks like poison ivy or oak or something he's been putting aloe on it and that helps)
Stasi: Isn't it going away? Be sure and keep that clean
Like that's going to happen
do you want me to run and get some gauze and tape to cover that.
No we already have milk
milk?
Yes for the hot chocolate. Do you think we can have a bonfire tonight?
What? No
Are you going to call the FBI?

Rolling Stones

Image from http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/

So, I was serious about the "rolling stone gathers no moss" I need to know your thoughts about what it means.
Is it a good thing to be a rolling stone? Or is it a good thing to gather moss. I MUST KNOW

Also, I'm collecting Questions this week for a FAQ newsletter. Comment or e-mail your questions about what you want to know about Slovakia and our work here. No question to big or small.

Or does no one care? leave a comment for that too.

I ♥ Faces - Silhouettes

Micah and I went hiking this weekend. We were looking for a thermal pool. We did not find it. I got this nice shot. I over edited it in PhotoShop.


Check out more Silhouettes at:

HUH?!

Today, if I understood correctly, a "Mutant Goose Duck" will arrive at the Ranch with the Chickens. 

I can think of nothing to add to that. 

A MUTANT GOOSE DUCK!! AAAHHHH!!!! Be afraid, be very afraid!!

fix-it-friday

I'm starting my day off with a little playing here. I could very easily become a fix-it friday addict.

Cropped to get rid of the headroom
PW's Bring on the eyes - Flatten
PW's Boost action with the zing layer at 50%
Copy Background layer blend mode to multiply at 32%
Flatten
MCP Touch of light Touch of Dark
Masked Light onto her face - 51% Opacity 33% Fill
Masked dark onto the background - 100%
Flatten
PW Quick edge burn and additionally masked out the center some with a medium grey

I think it's still a little orange or green or somehting but i need to get to work :)


I played some with de-saturation and selective color that I didn't keep track of what the settings or steps were because I didn't expect it to turn out so darn cute!

CHAINSAWS!!! (and the RSS)

*I'm cross posting from my other blog because I know more folks read here and i wanted to share this with y'all, sorry to those who get to see these twice. I also appologise for the fact that these pictures are 2 weeks old.*

Sometimes, pictures just speak for themselves. Like this story of how Micah put a hole in the side of our house with a chainsaw and how now our downstairs is full of sawdust and light!

it toatlly does not look like this at all anymore....justa  teaser to make you come back :)

As a completely urelated aside, I added e-mail subscriptions to the other blog. and I have TEN subscribers to my RSS feed here! Double Digits! i feel so special. I hae no clue who you are but HI RSS FEED READERS!! (come and comment. i'm jsut currious)
(and i can't spell and rarely care)

plus it cracks me up that RSS Stands for "Real(ly?) Simple Subscription" It's like Martha Stewart got hold of the internet! And that is a good thing!

I ♥ Faces – Week 19 – “Blurb Photo Book Contest”

I love this shot. Stevo & Ada didn't liek this becaise you can't see Stevo's face very well, but I think that His face his focus and the part of it that you can see are the best part of the shot. Of course it doesn't hurt that Ada is beautiful.

Check out more "best faces" at
I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

while posting this i had the weirdest sense of Deja Vu. And then I had deja vu of having deja vu. life is weird.

Also, I have a headache and a husband with a hammer. I need to focus on the fact that the door will shut easier now.

Fix-it-friday

This is totally escapism. 

I want a white sundress.

I just noticed that i made her left eye too light so she looks like one of those really cool kids with different colored eyes. Oops. Sorry

Here's what I did. In Photoshop CS3 

Image>Adjustments>Exposure:  exposure +1.3, offset -0.16, Gamma 0.84

Added a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer with a layer mask and de-saturated her dress.

Used the MCP Touch of Light Touch of Dark action. Twice.  Lightener her face and hair and darkened her dress and arms and the highlights in her hair.(I can't remember what opacity, but it wasn't 100!)

Cropped it somewhere around in here....

Added a Color balance adjustment layer and warmed it up. (by this point I really started just playing and stopped keeping track of the numbers :)) 

Flattened the image and Ran the MCP High def shaprening action masked out her face and hair. only 26% opacity

PW2 Sunshine action at 12%

Resized to make easier to upload.

Wow that was really a lot.

I tried one with a bleach action, but I liked it before better.

you can check out all the other cool edits here:

Also, I just had this conversation with Micah:

 

M- Look!! Nutella!

S- Are you eating that OFF A NAIL?!

-Yup, MMM, Klince! (slovak for "nail")

-Ew!

-Peace out. God be with you.

-You're a nut

-You're supposed to say "you too"

-and with you. 

-bye.

I have to disagree. Or, the post where I overuse the bold and italic buttons.

"Authorities said Zinkhan arrived while the Town and Gown event was under way and got into a disagreement with Bruce."
~from CNN.com (Article about the UGA Prof who shot his wife and 2 other guys and then killed himself. I already closed the article so I cant link. )

Can you get into a disagreement? I was under the impression that you have a disagreement. One could get into an argument, or even have an argument. But I don't think that disagreement is as versatile a word.

...

Of course, I said "arm-sleeves" until I was 14... And I thought that "the car needs washed" was proper English until I was a Senior. in College.

Your thoughts?

Anyone? 

Anyone?

I ♥ Faces - Laughter

Another having-a-bad-internet-week oldie but goodie for "laughter". I love these two this is right after they made it back down the aisle last October.

See more laughing faces at:

Curtains, Feedback needed

One of the first things I did when we arrived was borrow Angie’s sewing machine and make some curtains for our bedroom window out of a white sheet.

I am pretty proud of them, but they seem a bit plain. So I’m taking suggestions for what to do with them. I have a ton of ideas but am limited in resources (mostly because I don’t know the words to ask for most things).
They have to be able to close and open easily, because our bedroom window faces the parking lot but it is our only window and I like to have the light.
Maybe I should paint something on them, or find some colored thread and stitch some pattern or other on them. I just can’t get an idea that works for me. The best I’ve got is making a series of multi colored button holes and threading the ties through them instead of around. What do you think? Should I just leave them plain?

I ♥ Faces - Hats

I was so excited last week to get picked in the honorable mention (and by Nate from the image is found! I blog stalk him! and He LIKED my shot!!)
I wanted really to make a good showing this week. But, the internet is slow. And there is a large hole in my downstairs wall. So, I can't upload the really cute shot I have of Zoe in her hat on Sunday. Or the funny one I took of micah in the old fedora that we found on top of the wardrobe. And I can't even try and fix the colors and re-upload this old one from my flickr archives.... But honestly, I still love this shot. Bad white balance and all. These two are so cute!

Kilts....I'm Just Sayin'

I just wanted to share these pictures from about a month back. These were taken out of our apartment window in Grove City. Not the sort of place you usually run into a group of people in kilts.

Earlier in the morning Micah and I saw a single man in a kilt walking into the side door of the church. We figured it was an anomaly, and I was quite sad that my cameras were both inside with dead batteries. (I am my mother’s daughter)
But later in the afternoon we discovered that kilt man was not an anomaly. One is an anomaly, two is a coincidence but more that is definitely a Trend. A Kilt Trend. in Grove City. who knew!

And I think that 8 kilts (in formation no less) defies definition! Although I guess one was a girl so it was merely a plaid skirt...but STILL! I'm just sayin'