A New Driver

Today, my baby completed his Driver's Ed class. In the state of Louisiana, you can't even get your permit until you complete a class which includes so many hours in class and behind the wheel. Today, Benjamin came home from his last driving session with form in hand asking when he can get his permit. So, sometime next week, we will be headed to the DMV.

After the previous three children, you would think I am comfortable with him behind the wheel, but, no, I am not. This has been a real stress to me, as each of my four children have received the privilege to drive. For the most part, all of them are good drivers. I will have say my eldest son does have a bit of a lead foot. Anyway--here I go on my next adventure as my baby starts his driving career...I think not only him, but Mama needs a few prayers.

Photography

I have always loved to take pictures. Before digital or computers even were thought to be in the home, I took many pictures. I had a cheap 110 film camera. There was nothing cheap about buying film and getting it developed though. So...I had to be very selective as to what I took pictures of.

Now in the day of digital, you can take a boatload of photos and if they don't turn out, then you just delete them and try again. I will have to say, the picture taking is not that hard, but the editing, well, that is a whole other story. Once I figure out the computer and program, I don't have a problem, but it is the process in getting the pictures on a dic and copied that I have a problem with. There are many programs you can use to edit, and all say they are easy to use. But...that is not true, unless, of course, you are Bill Gates.

For several years, I have had an inexpensive digital point and shoot. I have found, that I am actually pretty good at taking photographs, and I really enjoy it. I also love to scrapbook, but that is a whole other blog.

I decided several months ago to upgrade my camera. I purchased a Canon Rebel XSI. So far, I love it. I have a lot to learn, though. Last week, I had a friend get married. I had heard they were going low budget. I asked her who she was using as their photographer. They said no one. I had a great idea. I proposed to her that I would take the photos, and put them on a disc and give her the right to copy them. She was very happy, and so, Saturday, I went to the wedding, camera in hand. I had done some internet investigation on how to photograph a wedding, so I had a little idea as to what to do.

After the wedding, I came home and downloaded the pictures on to my computer. The next day, I did some editing. I had taken about 279 pictures, but only edited about 90 of them. The unedited pictures came out fine, and I will be putting them on the same disc. Now I have a dilemma. I am trying to figure out how to put them on a disc so I can take them to have some copied, and then give her the dics. I am soooo computer dumb....! Hopefully, I WILL figure this out.

Bring Back The Fabric!

A few weeks ago, I was in the market for a piece of gold fabric for an activity with the young women at church. In our Parish, there are only two places to buy fabric. One place is a bit pricey, and so I headed to the other place--Wally World (WalMart). As I was searching for the perfect piece of fabric, I noticed everything was marked 50% off. I asked why, and was informed that they were getting rid of all their fabric, and that in a few days all left over fabric was going to be 75% off. I panicked! I could not believe my ears.

I changed my status on my Facebook to something like, "I can't believe WalMart is getting rid of all their fabric". Quickly, I received comments about this. Everyone was devastated. Some already knew about this, as their local WalMarts had already closed out all their fabric. I emailed WalMart about how disappointed we all were about this situation. The reply I got--they were sorry, but due to the fact most people are no longer interested in purchasing fabric, they felt that it was in the best interest of the customer to get rid of the fabric and replace it with something that the customer was more interested in. What are they talking about!? My sister can't even get fabric in her whole county. We are going to be down to one place in our parish, which is very pricey. I've lived in small towns where I actually would have to travel over an hour to get fabric. Sorry, WalMart, but I think you are doing an injustice to your customers. Believe it or not, there are still quite a few of us that purchase fabric on a regular basis.

PLEASE, WALMART, BRING BACK THE FABRIC!!!

I Love Chairs

As I have mentioned before, I walk with a group of ladies in our neighborhood. This morning on our daily walk, we came across these two wood and wicker chairs. They were in pretty good condition, except the wicker had seen better days. There were a few scratches but nothing I could not live with. The chairs were very sturdy. I have been needing two chairs to go into my front bedroom. This room had been my son's room for the past two plus years. It is the biggest bedroom in the house. My daughter, who is away at school has the back room. When she is not here (about 8 months out of the year) it just sits there. I decided to switch rooms with these two, and make the front room a craft room when she is gone. That way we have no wasted room just sitting there for months.

But, back to the chairs. I brought these two home and decided to try to upholster them. I bought some fabric at WalMart the other day (75% off--they are getting rid of all their fabric and not going to have it any longer :( but that is another blog). At the time, I had no idea what I was going to do with it, as it is a heavier fabric, more for draperies, pillows, etc. I thought it would be perfect for the chairs.

I did run into a problem, though. Since the chairs are wicker, a staple from a staple gun does not want to stay. My husband was pretty impressed with the chairs, and how well my upholstery skills were, and he said that he could just use the wicker as a pattern and cut a piece of wood to go in there. That is what we plan to do.

Not only did I find two good looking chairs, but I also found a black iron double bed frame--head and foot boards. I brought that home too. Boy, I sure got lucky today!

How Does Our Garden Grow?

This weekend, for the first time this year, I was able to harvest some of our vegetables. Boy were they yummy. I've made salsa (had to buy the tomatoes, as ours are not ready yet. It was really good). I also made some zucchini bread. Last night, I picked some yellow squash, zucchini, onions, banana peppers, cayenne peppers and jalapeno peppers. At first, I was just going to make some salsa, and saute the squash with some of the peppers and onions. As I put the salsa together and set aside for the flavors to blend, I started on the squash. I cut up the squash, and threw into the pan. I looked over to the salsa, and decided to dump it into the squash mixture. It looked like it would be really good over some whole wheat angle hair pasta I had. I then added a can of mushrooms and decided to make a cream sauce. Boy did it ever turn out good. Had quite a kick to it too (which is the way our family likes our stuff). Hope I can remember how I made it, because I'd like to make it again when our tomatoes are ready to harvest (which should be in a couple of weeks).