Saturday, October 30, 2010

Gravestones Just for Jenny

OK so my amazing cousin Jenn has asked to see what the gravestones looked like before I spooked them up so for those who may not want to see this go ahead stop reading this blog now... hey I will even give you a chance to do this before you see anything.
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Now that those people are gone we can carry one to the good stuff. Yep these are the gravestones before the fun I had with my kids began. They had a blast changing their faces and making fun pictures, but this is where the idea all started... so please enjoy. I did! I even laid down on the cold wet grass to get some of these shots.















Friday, October 29, 2010

Graveyard 4

Ok here you guys go... I know you have been waiting, and I have tortured you all day as I took care of doctors and such this morning instead of posting the last of my graveyard pictures for you. So here you go.. Sam and Matt's Super spooky Graves




So on a Happy part of Halloween I received great news at the doctors. This stupid lump that has been causing me such amazing pain turns out to be a deep root tooth infection that has spread to my sinus'. Yep that's it.. all this pain and some medication could of fixed it ages ago! Now I am on some pretty aggressive stuff since this has just had the past 2 months to spread it's party all over my head, but I should start feeling better soon and by this time next week I should be back to being the crazy mom I love to be. Here's wishing all my friends and Amazing Halloween this year and may you also have tons of treats in one form or another.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Graveyard 3

So I was going to post the last 3 pictures here today but after I did the work on them I decided to just post one of them today and the other 2 tomorrow. You see I love that the kids all want these super scary pictures done but I just couldn't do that to Tommy and Cloe. My heart could not handle turning them into to ghouls, so I made them into true ghosts and set this picture to a more sad theme that I think really hit home to me yesterday. You see my idea was to have two ghost babies, (because there is this amazing double tombstone for two babies from 1918 that I took a picture of) who were looking for their mom but unable to leave the stone while mom sat nearby waiting for them but to ill to really get up and find them. And while working on it I realized that this is how I feel. There are days like yesterday when my head hurts so bad that I can barely move and I can't be the Mom I want to be or the kids deserve so I have to wait for them. It makes me sad and I can't wait to be rid of this and get back to feeling like me again. Anyways, that made this picture in a class of it's own so I will post it alone, but don't worry, Sam and Matt have amazing scary graveyard pictures coming tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Graveyard 2

So here is the second batch of pictures in the trilogy post I am doing with them. It is more pictures from the graveyard that I have had some Halloween fun with, only now I have taken pictures of the kids and I am using them in the photos. They have been ghouled up and a few special effects added and Mwahahaha I have my new creations!!! *insert lighting flash and thunder here* So enjoy the first 3 photos that include some kids. Ben's friend Nick, Jordan and Ben are here to scare you today.



Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Graveyard 1

So I went on Saturday and took some picture is a graveyard while my friend Candi made a leaf angel. That picture is yet to come as this week is HALLOWEEN WEEK! So here is my picture for Day 2! It is the first of the graveyard pictures I took and then had some All Hallows fun with. Enjoy!



On another scary note, today is the day for my CT Scan and I am nervous.
Wish me luck and something simple to fix.

Monday, October 25, 2010

First day of the week of Halloween!

Ok everyone knows how much I LOVE Halloween... okay maybe not everyone, but if you didn't before you do now. So in the spirit of this being the week of Halloween and All it's spooky goodness I thought I would share a picture of the pet we have in our upstairs bathroom. He eats our flies and we leave his webs along so we don't have flies. He is huge and wonderful and we will be sad when he moves on. So Please enjoy these pictures of our Spider!!
P.S. Doesn't he make the most impressive web?


Friday, October 22, 2010

Bens New favorite Homework snack.

So Ben has been spending alot of time doing homework these days.
He brings his friend Nick over because they are in the same class and have the same homework.
He fell behind quite a bit as I mentioned in a previous post and we have been working hard to keep motivated and get back on track. He went from being 11 assignments behind to finishing up his last one today as well as keeping his other ones up to date.

Well it's hard to concentrate on your work with an empty stomach and so I try to keep some snacks for the kids. We have veggies and other thing but being a preteen (almost teen) and he likes his chips.
So instead of heading to the store and paying $4 for a bag of chips I came up with these Potato sticks.
They are kind of like my old favorite, Hickory Sticks, but since He doesn't like hickory flavor so we usually just use Seasoning Salt. So I thought I would share the process I use to make these goodies.

First you take a potato and slice it really thin... the thicker the slices the more we are getting into french fry territory and that isn't what we are looking for.

Next you stack those slices up and slice them into thin sticks. Again the thinner the better for that nice crispy texture we are looking for later on.

This next couple of steps are little tricks I have learned over the years for making french fries that really help with making the potato sticks as well. You take your stack of sticks and place them in a bowl of cold water. It is going to get yucky looking but don't worry, you want that. It means any left over dirt you may have missed from scrubbing the potato , if your like me and like the skins, is off but it also means that the starch from the potato is coming out. This is a great thing for making any fried potato.

You are then going to drain that water out and run fresh cold water into the bowl and let the sticks sit in it for about 30 minutes to 2 hours. I have also gone as far as preparing these the night before and just have them sitting in the fridge. This makes the sticks nice and crisp as well as closes the pores of the, so that you are not getting a ton of grease soaking into them as they cook. This is also a great tip for making homemade french fries as well.

When you are ready to get cooking, get your pot, or deep fryer heating up with your choice of oils. I like to use Canola Oil personally but everyone is different. I also use my wok for frying foods even though I have a deep fryer. I like the better control I have over everything.
Then your going to take you bowl of water and potato sticks out of the fridge. You will need a towel laying on your counter for this part as we are going to take the sticks from the water and put them on the towel and pat them dry. This is mostly for your safety as when the water hits the oil you will get a not so friendly outcome. This is the part Cloe like to help with because she likes playing in water and it is one of the few steps that is safe for her.

When your oil gets hot enough ( around the 350degree mark) you will carefully put your sticks into the oil. I like to put them into a bowl and then carefully pour them in as one potato makes a lot of sticks  and it is easier. ( I took this picture as My Hubby poured them in.. a little faster than I like, but it made for a cool picture)

Now comes the next patient part. You are going to stir them every once in a while but unlike fries, you are not going to take them out right away for a resting period. We are just going to leave them in because we want extra crispy like chips.

when the sticks start looking golden I pay really close attention to them and I get a bowl lined in newspaper ready. Most people use paper towel but my aunt taught me ages ago, plus the English do it too, that newspaper is amazing for absorbing oil from your fried foods and it is safe to use as well. Plus I like feeling like I am in an old style fish and chips place back in the 50's ;) DON'T take the sticks out yet though or you will have french fries instead, and not very crispy ones.

So with a few more minutes patience This is what your Potato sticks now look like and you can take them out. Try and have as much of the oil drip off as you can, one it will save you money because the oil can be used a few more time for making more batches or other foods, like battered fish.
And two it make it less oil you are trying to get off of the sticks before you season them.

Next you leave the sticks sitting in the newspaper bowl for a few minutes while they cool down just a touch and the excess oil drains off.

Now if you are just making the one batch because you don't have 6 kids like me all trying to get some of these goodies you can pull the paper out of the bowl, sprinkle on your seasoning and enjoy. Or if your like me and have kids like Sam who like these so much he eats a whole batch just to himself I transfer the sticks to another bowl and then season them. You can use any seasoning you like. the popcorn powders you can get make for great flavor, but most of the tie we enjoy just a simple seasoning salt on ours. But that is it.
It may seem like the time isn't worth it and you can just take 10 minutes and run down to the store and buy a bag, but I promise these taste WAY better and are healthier for you, not to mention 1 potato costs you maybe 25cents so you have just saved yourself $3.75 for every batch of sticks you make. and when you make 6 like me that $22.50 I have just saved is the cost of one meal. Good savings I think.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

This Little Girl of Mine...

... Is such an independent, fun loving, creative, loving, with the right mix of attitude joy to have around.

With the Boys all in school now I get to spend my days with just her. I think this must be why she decided to come last to our family. We get alone time every weekday now.
She has an infective laugh that you can't help but laugh too.
Her latest things she loves to say are "Me do it myself", "Noffing Mommy, Noffing"
Those 2 statements usually make me cringe on the inside but proud of her too. Okay really not proud of the "Noffing" one but it reminds me that some things are small things and just to breath.
She spends most of her days with a dirty face because she has to do it herself.
Most of the time those noffings and the dirty face involve the same thing. Her favorite it trying to make her own juice but usually ends up with juice crystals everywhere and sticky hands and multi colored facial features. But she always says "I clean it Mommy" and then I sneak in after she is done and actually clean it.

She still loves to look pretty and be a princess, but it isn't so strict now in her mind. She doesn't have to have her hair done up every time she goes out because she likes to comb it herself now.
She dresses herself and has a very interesting style some days,
and most days she changes her clothes 15-20 times.

She has just developed the thing that all kids go through where she sticks her tongue out at you if she doesn't like what you are doing or saying.
It is amazing how many things can make this little girl cranky.
There are days when she is more of a handful than all 5 boys put together!

But then she will turn around 5 seconds later and pretend to take your "Noke" (nose combined with Honk) and giggle and put it on her face. It melts your heart and you forget why you were annoyed 2 seconds ago.

What really touches my heart though are in those quiet moments of the day she will pick up one of her babies and start singing to them.
She has such a sweet compassion and gentleness to her that it reminds you that she is this amazing girl that will someday be a mother herself.

The cats may not agree with me on this as she Loves to "Over Love" them no matter how many times you may suggest or even forcibly tell her that they don't want hugs anymore.
And I am sure she is the cause of the disappearing food from the cat dish because this is the site I came across the other day.

How can you not love a little precious girl like that?
I am one lucky Mom.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Trying to fix some Photos..

Okay So if you are trying to decide if the cost of getting a wedding photographer is worth it, please take a look at this before saying no.

My Mom has a lovely friend who, back in the 70's, got married to her wonderful husband and thought they would save the $135 for a professional wedding photographer and just have their friends take their pictures. Now I am not saying I am pro at this point, I still have a lot to learn, but maybe even looking into the local collage, or University would be a cheaper option than taking a risk like this. She has regretted it since she got them developed and I feel for her. I hope to one day be able to go down and maybe take some pictures of her and her husband now as a gift. Until then check out the before picture that she has had to live with for almost 30 years!


I am sure you all can understand her heartbreak. So I have been spending days fixing up some of these photos that my Mom scanned and sent to me. I can't tell you exactly what I did because I am still learning all the ins and outs of Photoshop Elements 8 but after some time and trial and error this is what I have done for her so she can scrapbook her wedding pictures...


It isn't perfect, but I am sure she likes them better. What I suggest though is save yourself the heart ache and the waiting of finding someone or some program that can make it better and go Pro or Student. There are some memories worth the little bit of extra money.

P.S. if you have any tips that could make this better, please feel free to post them :)


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

"That's How the Light Gets In"

I have to admit in a way I am borrowing a brilliant blog post from one of my favorite Clutter Busting sites called "Cutter Busting with Brooks Palmer" I read his post and the song he shared from Leonard Cohen called Anthem meant so much more to me than how getting rid of clutter can let the light in. Especially right now as I struggle with just making it through everyday it is an amazing song for getting through the tough times. So for all my friends who are also struggling enjoy a little uplift from one of Canada's great singers.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Photo Walk in Cottonwood Park

My friend Candi came over on Saturday and helped me take some quiet time away from the house, kids, life. She drove me over to Cottonwood Island Park here in PG and we took a photo walk. Now I have not taken very many pictures since mt head started hurting because 1. I don't think of it before it's too late and I don't have my camera with me, and 2. my eye sight has started to get a little blurry with the pain and so I didn't think I could still take good pictures. I didn't even tell Candi at the time but I was scared all my pictures would look like crap, but I just really wanted to do it anyway. It was fun! It was a nice escape without too much noise, just a calm breeze a few other people and dogs walking through and reconnecting with my camera which has probably felt useless since I bought it back in September. So I thought for today's Blog post I would share some of the pictures I took and maybe you can feel the peace I felt for that brief time on Saturday.