What better thing to practice with a new camera on than an adorable sleeping puppy.
I think Mon Amour took like 100 pictures...and they are all adorable.
I think Mon Amour took like 100 pictures...and they are all adorable.
Too cute.
Reasons I love Farm Life: Sunsets
Despite not really being enthused by the idea when we first moved here, there are now many many reasons why I love living on a farm.
Not the least of which is the spectacular-ness of every single sunrise and sunset. When we first moved here, I would be inspired to take pictures of the sunrise/sunset every single day. They were all just so much more beautiful than the average ones I was used to. Eventually, however, I realized they were all going to be amazing (mostly because you can see for miles around here....so you get an excellent full view of things). So now we only take pictures when they are exceptionally gorgeous (or when testing out a new camera...which I think was the inspiration for the following pics)
Not the least of which is the spectacular-ness of every single sunrise and sunset. When we first moved here, I would be inspired to take pictures of the sunrise/sunset every single day. They were all just so much more beautiful than the average ones I was used to. Eventually, however, I realized they were all going to be amazing (mostly because you can see for miles around here....so you get an excellent full view of things). So now we only take pictures when they are exceptionally gorgeous (or when testing out a new camera...which I think was the inspiration for the following pics)
Yeah. I love it.
Part 2: Too Cute
Marge makes this face when she thinks you are being dumb.
Like when Mon Amour is testing out his new camera and keeps telling her to stop licking the lense.
It's too cute.
It's too cute.
Free Furniture! (almost)
Recently Mon Amour and I have been trying to make our home more homey and less like just a tiny box that we live in. The new curtains are part of this makeover. The paint samples are part of this makeover. And this fun re-paint-some-free-nightstands-project was kind of a spontaneous addition to this makeover.
Mon Amour found these nights stands next to a dumpster a few weeks ago. There are two of them, and they are structurally in fabulous condition. But the paint is all dinged up, and the hardware is hideous.
Mon Amour found these nights stands next to a dumpster a few weeks ago. There are two of them, and they are structurally in fabulous condition. But the paint is all dinged up, and the hardware is hideous.
With the help of my wonderful father and his sander, we got them this far.
Then with the help of some free paint from Mon Amour's parents(that is right, free paint! It was leftover from a project of theirs or something. We actually have a lot of free paint to use for future projects) we got this far:
(while we were at it, we also repainted a free end table that we got before we got married, and an old (free) piece of wood that we then hung as a fun and functional shelf, and a coat hanger thing that had some very ugly finish on it).Then, with the help of eight 98cent handles, we finished off the project:
The color is a bit off in the picture. They really are black. And they really do look quite nice. Also, we tried to get handles instead of knobs for the drawers, but unfortunately the really ugly hardware was apparently a custom size cause none of the handles available at Home Depot fit. So it was either - drill new holes for the handles, or use cute little knobs. We went with knobs.
Total cost of matching nightstands (to replace one really old table, and one TV tray that were previously being used for the purpose) about $8. Yay!
Marriage Conference
Mon Amour and I returned yesterday from a marriage conference.
It was very cold...
But we learned a lot and had a lot of fun despite the frigidness. There were some great speakers. Some fabulous fellowship, and some all around plain old good times.
However, while the speakers taught us a lot about trusting in God, and showing mercy to your spouse, etc etc, the most fabulous lesson that we learned came when we got to see God's faithfullness first hand....by way of a broken / fixed car.
Saturday morning, in the 4 degree weather, we headed out to our car to drive to the conference center. *click click click* was the only sound our car managed to make. We tried again........nothing. Not even the clicking.
Not time to panic we figured. Probably just needs to be jumped. So we summoned the wonderful friends with whom we were spending the weekend and hooked our car up to theirs.
Still nothing. And now we are out of theories (can you tell we are not mechanically minded?)
It was getting late - so we hopped in our friends car, leaving our poor dead car. The trip to the conference center was very quiet - I think we were both trying to think of what we would do - do we take it to a local mechanic and hope it is a cheap/quick fix? Do we bum a ride home, and just abandon our poor dead car?
I must confess I felt very stranded. We were 2.5 hours from home. With no car. And no plan. I was very very distracted through the entire morning session. I was trying to figure out who we could bum a ride home with...then trying to figure out why I thought that would help the situation, cause then we would be home, but with a dead car 2.5 hours away. I was also thinking to myself "Ok God, I am here being freshly reminded of your control over everything...and by everything I am including my broken down car. That was a conscious plan on your part. What in the world were you thinking???" I had some theories as to what He was thinking...but nothing really satisfying.
To make a long(ish) story short, the session ended and I picked up my phone to call my friend and see if the car had magically fixed itself. To my great surprise and relieft, she had already called me and left a message - the car was fixed!! Turns out it was a battery problem....our batter is waaaay beyond the healthy point. The connector thingys were frightfully corroded (thanks guys at the car place who we had look at the battery a mere 3 weeks ago and who told us it was absolutely fine). A little cleaning off of the corrodedness, a little jump start, and a prescription to get a new battery ASAP, and we were good to go.
I am always very relieved when a car problem gets fixed. However I am not always (i.e. rarely ever) inspired to give God the glory for my car repairs. This time I was though. Perhaps that was the lesson I was being taught....to praise Him for everything, even mechanical things that seem so far beneath the realm of spirituality.
It was very cold...
But we learned a lot and had a lot of fun despite the frigidness. There were some great speakers. Some fabulous fellowship, and some all around plain old good times.
However, while the speakers taught us a lot about trusting in God, and showing mercy to your spouse, etc etc, the most fabulous lesson that we learned came when we got to see God's faithfullness first hand....by way of a broken / fixed car.
Saturday morning, in the 4 degree weather, we headed out to our car to drive to the conference center. *click click click* was the only sound our car managed to make. We tried again........nothing. Not even the clicking.
Not time to panic we figured. Probably just needs to be jumped. So we summoned the wonderful friends with whom we were spending the weekend and hooked our car up to theirs.
Still nothing. And now we are out of theories (can you tell we are not mechanically minded?)
It was getting late - so we hopped in our friends car, leaving our poor dead car. The trip to the conference center was very quiet - I think we were both trying to think of what we would do - do we take it to a local mechanic and hope it is a cheap/quick fix? Do we bum a ride home, and just abandon our poor dead car?
I must confess I felt very stranded. We were 2.5 hours from home. With no car. And no plan. I was very very distracted through the entire morning session. I was trying to figure out who we could bum a ride home with...then trying to figure out why I thought that would help the situation, cause then we would be home, but with a dead car 2.5 hours away. I was also thinking to myself "Ok God, I am here being freshly reminded of your control over everything...and by everything I am including my broken down car. That was a conscious plan on your part. What in the world were you thinking???" I had some theories as to what He was thinking...but nothing really satisfying.
To make a long(ish) story short, the session ended and I picked up my phone to call my friend and see if the car had magically fixed itself. To my great surprise and relieft, she had already called me and left a message - the car was fixed!! Turns out it was a battery problem....our batter is waaaay beyond the healthy point. The connector thingys were frightfully corroded (thanks guys at the car place who we had look at the battery a mere 3 weeks ago and who told us it was absolutely fine). A little cleaning off of the corrodedness, a little jump start, and a prescription to get a new battery ASAP, and we were good to go.
I am always very relieved when a car problem gets fixed. However I am not always (i.e. rarely ever) inspired to give God the glory for my car repairs. This time I was though. Perhaps that was the lesson I was being taught....to praise Him for everything, even mechanical things that seem so far beneath the realm of spirituality.
Beautiful Baby
Today I visited some friends at the hospital and got to meet this beautiful baby. 
She almost shares my name.
She has her daddy's hair. 
And she loves her mommy. 
Congratulations!
She almost shares my name.
She has her daddy's hair. 
And she loves her mommy. 
Congratulations! A New Toy
This year for Christmas, Mon Amour asked for just one thing - a REALLY nice digital camera. We currently owned a sufficiently nice digital camera that my wonderful parents got for us as a wedding present. (Ironically enough, we promptly left the camera at home when we went on our honeymoon...that's right...no pictures of the honeymoon. Oh well, right? Most folks on their honeymoon just take pictures of each other in front of lovely scenery. Which we can recreate at any point if we wanted. )
Anyway, it was time to move on to a bigger and more expensive camera. Fortunately Mon Amour's birthday comes a mere week after Christmas - and he is used to getting presents that "count for both Christmas and Birthday". This, combined with a group effort from a couple of family members, resulted in me being able to purchase him this camera.
Sadly, because it was both a present from his parents as well as me, Mon Amour was not able to open it until we visited his parents for his Birthday last weekend. The wait was worth it I believe. The camera is absolutely fabulous. It is not an SLR - but it is by no means lacking any features. I have read the owners manual front to back and am still not sure what it all means. But, even on the most basic "Auto" setting, it has lovely perks like 10 megapixels, and 20x optical zoom!!
Some of the features we do understand are the continuous shooting function - which will hopefully allow us to get some decent pictures of our ever-mobile dog. The color accent function which is pretty standard for Canon cameras. And the Stitching function which will allow us to piece together some pretty sweet panoramics.
Eventually we will embrace some of the cooler, more high tech functions of the camera. But until then we will just have great auto-pictures, and a few color accent ones just for fun.
Thanks to everyone who chipped in on this present!
Sadly, because it was both a present from his parents as well as me, Mon Amour was not able to open it until we visited his parents for his Birthday last weekend. The wait was worth it I believe. The camera is absolutely fabulous. It is not an SLR - but it is by no means lacking any features. I have read the owners manual front to back and am still not sure what it all means. But, even on the most basic "Auto" setting, it has lovely perks like 10 megapixels, and 20x optical zoom!!
Some of the features we do understand are the continuous shooting function - which will hopefully allow us to get some decent pictures of our ever-mobile dog. The color accent function which is pretty standard for Canon cameras. And the Stitching function which will allow us to piece together some pretty sweet panoramics.
Eventually we will embrace some of the cooler, more high tech functions of the camera. But until then we will just have great auto-pictures, and a few color accent ones just for fun.
Thanks to everyone who chipped in on this present!
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