10/365 Naples Pier

10/365 Naples Pier, originally uploaded by Sassygeogirl.

So I inform my family I'm going to the pier for sunset photos and they want to go too. I almost didn't go, there was so much bickering and fussing in the car on the way there I wanted to go home. >/ But, cooler heads prevailed and got there in plenty of time to set up. The kid went fishing and caught a lot of fish - he was a happy camper.

I hooked up with a seasoned photographer who was also there and he helped me with my exposure settings - I'm still learning... Took about 130 photos - but liked this one the best. I'm thinking now I may have cropped it weird. I *did* set up the thirds grid in PS and it looked good on there. Oh well. Any suggestions would be helpful. I want to improve!

The weather was clear today and I was happy to see some clouds as the sun set. This was about 20 minutes after the sun went down.

Nothing like going to the beach in January!

The hub was waiting for me in the car and said "what were you doing for so long?" Sigh....

We stopped for ice cream on the way home and picked up a movie from Blockbuster... "Hancock." After the grumpiness today, we needed something happy and funny!

Visit to Dr. Needle

Visit to Dr. Needle, originally uploaded by Sassygeogirl.

And no, I'm not joking, the doctor's name IS Dr. Needle - FOR REAL! LOL! Now can you just imagine, here's a guy who goes through all the medical training to become a doctor with a name like that, and then, to top it all off, he specializes as a pediatrician =o Seriously, what was he thinking? That kids are just going to be so excited to go see "Dr. Needle?" I have to believe that at some point in his career, someone has pointed out the irony of it all.

The Kid had to get a flu shot today. He's a big boy, but of course, is milking the sore arm for all it's worth! They gave him a Snoopy bandage, which isn't really "cool" at his age, but he didn't complain all that much.

He talked me into getting him a "special snack." Can you guess what it was?

Just paint...

Just paint... 7/365, originally uploaded by Sassygeogirl.

A random shot for my Day 7 of the Project 365. I had another shot in mind to take for today, I brought in a big tin of home made fudge to share with everyone at our dojo since we made so darn much over the holidays. My hope was to shoot the tin with a bunch of little hands in it, the timing of catching them eating it didn't work today. Oh well, life doesn't always go as planned, and, in my case of late, never does. At least my photo is a bit more cheery today!

Not Giving In...

Not Giving In..., originally uploaded by Sassygeogirl.

Well, here it is, my first self portrait.

We've been dealing with unemployment for 8 months now and can no longer pay our mortgage. We saved and saved for 8 years for retirement and now it's just about gone...

We learned yesterday that our mortgage is not owned by our bank, but Freddie Mac, the bank just manages the account. Even though the government has a "mortgage assistance program" we were told that you must be employed and making close to what you were in order to get assistance. If you don't have a job, you're out of luck. Freddie Mac received a trillion dollars from the government for a bail-out, but they won't provide assistance to those who need it.

So, unless a miracle occurs, ya know, it's raining money, or somebody gives us the winning lottery numbers, we're going to lose our house. Soon.

We moved to this part of the state for a job promotion and it's been downhill from the day we moved here.

It's depressing. Everything we've worked so hard for, for so long, is going to be gone. All of it.

I'm determined to not let this situation bring me down and drag me into the pit of depression. I'm going to fight it. The demons are at me... I can't sleep, I'm hyper-emotional, and very blue. But no, I will NOT let them win. I will survive somehow...

I'm reminded of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind" ... "What will I do? Where will I go?"

And the government says... "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

Eye See You!

Eye See You!, originally uploaded by Sassygeogirl.

I was playing around with my 50 mm lens which I never use and decided to photograph the dogs. I got some cool shots, but this one was just different. It's my Day 4 photo for my Project 365.

Eli has been out of sorts ever since Devo died in February 2008. He turned nasty and bit poor Shiraz a few times and just became quite difficult and destructive. He really missed Devo. He didn't accept our new puppy at all and Shiraz took to having to guard the puppy and it just caused so many problems. We had to find another home for the puppy. I was afraid she wasn't going to survive if left alone with Eli.

As long as there isn't a thunderstorm nearby (and no puppies in the house) he's okay. Whatever happened to him in his puppyhood really has messed him up. He's come SO far since we adopted him almost 7 years ago, but still has the scars emotionally.

All we can do is love him and love him we do.

Project 365

Yipee - it's the new year! Rather than setting out a list of resolutions that may or may not be kept, I've decided to try ONE major goal for this year. It's called Project 365. It's taking one photo each and every day of the year. The goal is to see your life in a different way and a new perspective. The upside will be to record life's every day comforts that we take for granted, as well as the ones more memorable, and maybe just help me broaden how I see my "own little Idaho." It will definitely make me a better photographer and push my creativity to it's limits.


Why do it? Well, imagine being able to look back on any given day in the year and see what I was doing - or just remembering that fabulous winter day hiking while we're waiting out a hurricane in the summer... I'll be able to recall who I've met, or what I've learned, what I had for dinner last week, or just a funny moment lost in my vast brain files of memory.


I'm not the only crazy to take on this challenge, oh no, I'm not THAT clever... If you want to join in the fun, you can check out the Flickr 365-1 group pool (479 members and rising) and sign up to stay motivated, or just look through all those participating and showing their photos. Either way, it will be a fun and interesting project! Won't you join me in this challenge? I think it would be great fun to share our pictures with each other!


I'm hoping that I'll be able to create at least one scrapbook page a week documenting the highlight photos and that way, I'll at least keep up with my scrapbooking instead of always being behind.

And so, I'm off to upload my first photo - you can follow my Project 365 photos by clicking

www.flickr.com Have a blessed day!

Good Bye 2008!

A year that has caused so many people in this country heartache, pain, fear and unexpected change. That was 2008. Some will look upon it favorably - the ones who won an election, won the lottery, or just plain won in some form or fashion. History has been made, once again. Although I probably won't make this blog about politics, I have to say that I'm worried about the incoming administration's policies and what it means to America. Having said that, I think it's really cool and, well, way overdue for an African-American to be elected President. I wish him the best of luck and hope he proves his naysayers (myself included) wrong. But just in case things go south, I've discovered a little clock that will give me some hope from time to time... maybe you'll keep it too... Search for the Obama Clock... I sure hope the government is keeping track on where the bail-out money is truly going because it appears to have already been funneled to those who don't need it. Then again, they haven't been able to manage Social Security right, what makes us think they'll get the bail-out right? Or any other governement run program for that matter? Ah well, don't get me started on politics yet - It's only the first hours of the new year!


2009 will be a year of major change for this country and for so many of us. I know we personally have a future in store like no other we imagined. I'm hoping we can get through it with grace. I hope to look back a year from now and say "it wasn't so bad!" All prayers of support for us and our situation (and for our many friends as well) are most welcome.


We're going to have a little bit of everything here on the blog - lots of interesting trivia, videos of our ballistic science projects, homeschooling info, recipes, make-up reviews and tutorials, music recommendations and reviews , digital scrapbooking and other cool things to do besides sit and watch tv! I hope you'll check in from time to time to see what we're doing! I'm hoping that this will be our "family blog" with contributions from the Big Cheese and also the Kid. If you have any special requests or something you'd like to see on here, drop us a line!

Best wishes to each and every one of you and your loved ones that 2009 will be an uplifing and faith-building, propsperous journey.

Blessings,

Stacey