After and Before, playing with photo editing.

 

After and before. Aperture does some really cool things.

 

This is the result that looked like this before:

 

I have some favourite changes and adjustments that I go to first and I am still exploring the colour wheel and how to change individual colors. Photography, as I am learning, is not only about the initial capture of the moment. 

A Day This Week, Up and Down

 

 Growing up is hard. Sometimes it hurts in ways that are new, physically and emotionally.

No worries. The sisters decided to create valentines and tape them all over the house. I went upstairs to get a sweater and came down to the creative juices flowing. Lil'Bug had set up her sister with crayons and paper before getting her own project out. It was so sweet. It is hard to believe that the hour before that was full of screaming and sisters hitting each other and jealousies and more screaming with Mama just blown away by the emotions and severity of the kids' feelings.

I want more of the good times please. Or at least some sunshine. Sunshine would be nice. We're getting through the mess though and we'll all be better for it at the end.

Dreaming of Greens

 

Last years garden was a mixed bag of success and failures. This year will likely be the same. I am drooling for some fresh spinach though and this week will attempt to make haybale cold frames just to be able to grow my own right now now now! :) 

I just spent a lovely evening working on various things with my lovely friend Abby from Sugar Creek. We've been expanding the Simply Food site and such with a yahoo group and message board soon to be unveiled. So exciting! 

Then we went through what seed packets I have left over from last year- I know I have more somewhere and I'll have to dig deeper tomorrow. Soon I will place our seed order. Very exciting stuff. 

I am more excited for our tree order. That will have to wait for income tax returns though. This winter has been rough and we have no extras to spend on anything, let alone my orchard. I am still praying that our Des Moines house sells so we can start really building the farm the way we want to. On that front I am giving a talk to a local group of rehabbers in March and hopefull that will get foot traffic through the house which hopefully will lead to the perfect person for the house walking through.....oh please God. 

So that's where I am at this lovely Saturday evening. Also preparing for the next wave of snow. 8 inches expected on Monday! Whoo hoo! The more snow we have the taller the summer grains will be, that's the old tale. :)

Little Acts of Love......

This week I am making a fabulous dinner every night of the week, ready just as Dearest walks in the door. I am making sure he has some quiet time before bed to read. I am trying not to say anything harsh. Yes, I should strive to do these things everyday but life with kids on a farm doesn't make that possible. This week I am going to put some extra effort into it because he is attending an IT training thing that is Microsoft and it is exhausting and boring and all day long.

I am also trying to put into action some of the strategies from Siblings Without Rivalry. So far it is slow going, but we are seeing results. Some basics are: regarding sharing, respect property rights- don't force sharing, encourage it. This, above all, has really helped the sister fighting. But it is still happening and with increasing force as the baby gets her own ideas about play and rules and ownership. She is growing up so fast!