What I Know For Sure....Now.

I like to think that I am a fairly intelligent individual.
I admit that my brain holds on to alot of information.
Even if it is useless.
Like who was voted off of Dancing with the Stars and what is new with Charlie Sheen.
Yay me.

There was something I did not know on our recent trip to Cuba. Or maybe I was told and conveniently forgot.
But now I know for sure that Cubans will not allow anything for free.
And if you attempt to take photographs without paying them $$$$, look out.
Smile.
Give them some money.
And walk away without looking like you just pooped your pants.

Yes, I was wrong to take this photograph of this friendly gentleman with my honkin lens while others were paying him.
I know now (for sure) that next time I should give him a few pesos.



I was completely wrong to walk by this unique gal and snap away {inconspicuously) without giving her money.  I was also wrong to smile and continue walking while she cursed at me.
I know now (for sure) to never behave in that manner again and to hand her a few pesos before taking her picture.
I also know for sure that I will ask to be in the picture with her...holding her cigar.


Annnd......it was stupid of me to take this picture of this door.
Why? 
Because I know now that when I snapped this picture from our tour bus window, there was a woman openly breastfeeding her baby beside it and thought I was taking a picture of her exposed breast.
I know for sure that I wasn't.
I know for sure that I never saw her.  Honest.
I swear to God I never saw her.
Until she started yelling at me and making gestures at me.
And then following our bus as it parked close by.



Moral of the story.
I don't really know that much after all.But I do know to take more money to Cuba.




Mama Kat wouldn't have behaved so stupidly.

Vibrance

I love the word "vibrant".
Vibrance.
Vibrating.

I just like the sound that a "V" makes.  Luckily my name starts with a "V" so I can say it all of the time if I so choose.

But anyways.

Taking pictures representing vibrance isnt so easy.  It appears that my life is not full of vibrant "stuff".  Vibrating stuff, maybe. 

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyways.
Vibrant blue ball....I guess

Vibrant dress


Vibrant colours...and movement

Vibrant personality

That's all I've got this week.Hopefully next weeks theme will be "children fighting".I could take a million pics of that subject.

Go here for more

Go here for more

Differences between Man and Wife

So this morning I peed out of my bum.
Twice.

But that isnt what this post is about.

I just like to share.

Youre welcome.

This post is about my husband and myself.
And how we are different.

It doesnt matter that we have known eachother since we were practically newborns (ok, 8 years old actually) and that we were best friends growing up.
It also doesnt matter that we have been married for almost 11 years and made three babies together.

This is is what is on my husband's mind right now.
*preparing the barn for Ike and Duke, the horses
*finishing the fence he has been working on for one year
*buying stone for our patio
*designing our patio
*finishing the garage
*what kind of carriage/sleigh....expensive accessories he needs for Ike and Duke
*getting our taxes done
*planning a trip to a horse thing in a few weeks
*his university assignment due on Wednesday
*working at his "real" job

This is what is on my mind right now
*"Holy Mother of Gawwwd, I am crampy"

Told you.

Saturday, lets make out

I enjoy Saturdays.  So much so that I would make out with them if I could and not look weird.
The sunshine.
The kids playing with friends.
The daughter napping.
Laundry in the machines.
Week-old clean laundry finally put away.
Floors vacuumed.
Stereo blaring.
Dishes cleaned.

Heavenly, I tell you.

Saturday, lets make out.

I live in a Zoo

Not because my children are wild and crazy.
Not because Studley lives here with three wild children.
Not because we have two rabbits, Studley and three wild children.
Not because we have Duke the horse, two rabbits, 1 dog and three children.
But now we have Ike the horse.
Ike, the very large Percheron gelding.
He is a beauty isnt he?The picture..umm....not so beautiful.
Donations being taken to help pay for the animals at our home.
Farm tour?
Anyone?




Go see more PSF here

Boys are weird.

It was a rough Wednesday afternoon in this house.
Fighting.
Screaming.
Cursing.
Even some biting.
And eventually alot of crying.

The crying was me.

I was all like "Boys, cant we all just get along?"
And they were all like *punch* *kick* "You stupid arse hole!"
Fun times.
Joy.
Bliss.

Boys fascinate me. Probably because I am a female and in no way will I ever understand how beating the crap out of someone...let alone my own brother ever makes things better.

What confuses me even more is that 5 minutes after an all out "Ihateyouyoustupidfrickinaresholefrickinstupidhead" wrestling match, boys can then sit beside one another and play games on the computer.
Together.
Nicely.
While Momma rocks back and forth in the corner with her fist in her mouth.

The male species is very perplexing.
Odd.
The relationship between brothers is one that I will research for the next 52 years because watching my two beauties bite, punch, kick, scratch, push, slap and curse one another until they are both black and blue must have some sort of deep meaning.

{Photos in this post were taken in 2005/06. I posted them to remind myself what my kids look like without bruises and scratches. Sigh}

Youth. In Pictures.

Flowery rubbery boots full of mud and regularly worn on the wrong feet.

Lotions and creams.
To grasp on to those last few youthful qualities.
Although laughter, happiness and surgery help too.


Spending time riding your bike through puddles and in ditches.
Up hills.
Down mountains.
With rubber boots and "holey" jeans.


Bare feet and Tinkerbell nighties.

Pure Innocent Beauty

My Little Pony, Fisher Price Toddler and Strawberry Shortcake dolls playing together harmoniously in the dollhouse.



Youth is a wonderful thing.
I never want to get old.


Inspiration here


WW here

Random Tuesday...on a Monday

It's been awhile.
Not since I have had random thoughts, but since I actually wrote about them.

*I have a zit. The kind that is under the skin and on my jawbone. The kind that looks like I have a tumour growing out of my face. I want to squeeze it so bad.
But I wont.
Because apparently it is bad for you.
But I just cant help but wonder how it is good to allow the pus to stay inside of your body instead of releasing the toxins and allowing your skin to be free of it all.
Just sayin'.

Don't say you haven't thought of it too.

*Reason #587 why I will not have any more children


*In my mind, I still feel like a young kid. But then I look at a recent picture and wonder when the heck I got so old and my skin started to wrinkle. Why hasn't anyone told me this?


*I am thinking about doing weekly "What I am Wearing" posts but am afraid people will call the "What Not to Wear" people because I am clearly out of style.

*Dear Charlie Sheen.  Get help.

*My favourite thing to watch.


Happy Randomness!

Go see Unmom for more Random Thoughtsand because she was voted one of the most humorous blogs.I knew that a long time ago.

Why I exercise

Sometimes certain "crap" comes into my life when I am trying to better myself.
I finally get on the road to living a healthy lifestyle and putting my well-being at the top of my list, and then something shows up.

Like these.


So, now I basically exercise to burn these suckers off of my ass.
Because I just cannot say no when I see the {very large} bags looking at me in the aisle at Costco.

Damn you willpower!


Confession time.
I hide the bag in the laundry room cupboard and grab handfuls....shove those handfuls into the pocket on my hoodie and eat them secretly so my children wont eat them.

My children haven't caught on...yet.

Preserving Your Precious Memories

OK...I had this brilliant idea back in the fall to get all of you to do something with your pictures.
Then life got in the way.
And I forgot.
So sue me.

Like I said, there is nothing worse than people taking fabulous pictures of cherished moments and never doing anything with them.

They take the pictures.
Then lose their photo card.
Or delete them.
Or upload them to their computer only to have their computer die and the memories destroyed with it.

It makes me want to drink.
So does listening to my kids argue.

But anyways, we left off at uploading your pictures from your camera to your computer.  I forgot to tell you that you could upload these pictures right into a photo editing program on your computer but if you have an editing program, you probably already knew that.

Please tell me you have gotten that far.
You have uploaded them and saved them into a special file titled "whateveryouwanttonameyourfile"
Right?

Now, if you have a photo editing program you need to transfer these pictures from your file into your program.

I use Memory Manager. Because it is easy, fast, cheap and...well....what other reason do you need?
I tried Photoshop and learned that I need to go back to school to figure it out, so I stuck to MM and it is working for me.

You can also use Picnik. It is free...or you can pay a yearly fee to do more advanced editing.

Move the pictures you want to your editing program and go nuts.
The most important editing feature is cropping.
This is where you remove all of the unwanted stuff in your picture so it allows you to just focus on the important parts....not Aunt Bertha in the background eating chips.

Change your pics to black and white or sepia.
Play around until you are happy with the changes you have made.
Make sure you save them.

And let me know when you're ready to go to the next step.

Snapshots from Havana, Cuba

I know I know.
I am taking too long to finish posting pictures and talking about my trip to Cuba.
I don't get away often.
So I am going to milk it as long as I can.
So there.
Anyways, I went to Cuba.
*snicker*

And I want to move there.
*giggle*
We took a day trip to the capital city Havana.
I decided that the next time we go, I want to spend more time in this beautiful city.
The buildings are stunning.
The vehicles are interesting.
The people are friendly.
The colours are vibrant.
And the smells are...umm..different.
But that is what makes it fun.

So I put on my complete tourist personality and went nuts taking in every single second.
I told my brain to take in these moments and scenes so I will never forget them.
I smiled at the many people who asked for money because I knew that we were in their country and this is how they "earn a living".
I soaked it all in.
And played the part of tourist as well as I could.













Check out PSF here and come back here again for more Cuba pictures and stories about people yelling at me in Spanish.  Fun times.

Black and White Emotions

emotion
a (strong) feeling of any kind

When picking up our camera and snapping pictures, I think we all are trying to capture the emotion of that moment. We see something that we feel needs to be captured and remembered.

And we hope the photograph creates an emotion when others see it.

That is how I feel anyways.

Happiness

Love/Happiness

Sympathy

Amazement

Sadness/Love/Sympathy/Neglect

Lust/PassionI mean shock


More B&W Emotions here

Check out WW here