My Mother's Day birthday present this year was my very own digital camera. I've been using the digital cameras that belong to my employer for the last eight years.
Kev helped me choose one - he has a Nikon S10 and loves it. We looked on Costco together and right away he thought I should get the Nikon S550. It was $229 with a 2GB card free. There was another camera that I thought would work just as well for $150 but in the end the purple S550 won me over.
Especially when it went on sale for $199 with the free 2GB card! I ordered it on the 23rd and it arrived on the 28th.
I went outside today and took a few pictures, just experimenting with it.
On Pioneer Woman's Photography blog one of her guest bloggers told us about Bokeh. I had never heard of it, but decided to see if I could capture some similar photos. These first two came out pretty good. You can click on them to see a larger image.
Bokeh with the camera shooting in sepia.
This was an attempt at Bokeh, but there isn't much in the background to blur.
I was really amazed at how clear these came out, as I was using macro mode and the wind kept blowing the pieces of grass back and forth.
I am excited to learn more about this camera.
Until next time.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
My New Camera - Nikon S550
Labels: Holiday Banter, Musing
Sunday, May 25, 2008
My 45th Birthday
Labels: Our Happy Family
Today I turned 45.
I told my menfolk I would like them to do better for my birthday than they did for Mother's Day. Well, I actually threatened to forget what Father's Day was, and also their September and October birthdays if they didn't do something for me for my birthday.
Living with men. Never a dull moment.
They went shopping yesterday and today Kev wrapped presents while dh took a bale of hay to one of our neighbors and got a load of water.
Soon after dh arrived back home, Kev was done, and they asked me to come open my presents. First my cards... one from Kev...
And one from my dear hubby...
Some dark chocolate.
New clippers for my LJ.
More dark chocolate.
I think this is Shrek's wife, Fiona. I'm not sure what the clip on her head is all about.
Ow, ow, my head suddenly started hurting. Oh, now I understand. It's a voodoo doll.
More chocolate.
This is a lovely beach towel. This will come in handy at church camp this summer!
And two gardening hats!
And last but not least, my toy truck for playing in the sand. Oh happy day.
We had cheese enchiladas for dinner.
Thanks guys. I love you all and had a great birthday. You done good.
Until next time.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
Labels: Just Stuff
Do you remember Boy George?
Whatever happened to poor Boy George? Was he dressed as a clown on purpose here? Or is his idea of wearing makeup just really bizarre?
Until next time.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Saving Dinner
Labels: Body Acceptance, FlyLady
I fell off the FlyLady wagon, oh I don't know, about a year ago? I am trying to get back on again.
I keep seeing the testimonials from the FlyLady list for Leanne Ely's Saving Dinner. I decided to check out the site a couple of weeks ago and have been debating joining. I finally decided to try it out, and luckily for me when I joined the menu mailers for three months were on sale for $6.95.
You can try a free sample menu without signing up. It was a little confusing when I joined. First off, I used PayPal and the money had to move from my checking account, so there was a delay on my subscription. Secondly, you only get access to a sample menu mailer until the first Tuesday after you subscribe. They don't make that clear, at least I didn't grasp it, and was unsure as to why I wasn't able to get to "my menus".
Saturday night we had our first meal from the sample menu mailer. I am very picky about how things taste, and this meal was truly delicious. It was chicken breasts with lemon slices, olive oil and zucchini squash, topped with the feta cheese I started earlier in the day, which Kev finished making so I could leave to go to Home Depot with dh.
I decided to start with the "Body Clutter" menu mailer. The neat thing about this service is Leanne not only gives you six days worth of dinner meals, with the recipe, but she also makes a shopping list which shows what you'll need to make all the meals. You just go through the shopping list and check your fridge and pantry and cupboards and cross off anything you already have "in stock", leaving you with a list of what you need to buy.
Oh, and I guess a new feature is she used to subscribe you to just one menu mailer, if you signed up for Body Clutter, that's all you could access. But now she allows you to subscribe to one, and have access to all. The others are Regular, Heart Healthy and Low Carb. The Body Clutter menu seems to be quite Low Carb. I hate to admit it, but I am so sensitive to carbs that I feel much better when I avoid them. 
For our family, the shopping list caused a little bit of a problem because well, it is becoming obvious to me that we eat too much food. The menu creates meals to serve four people, and there is no way we could get by with preparing that small amount of food. I have food issues, it is becoming more and more obious that my dh has food issues, and on and on. Anyway, if Kev or I dared cook only four servings there would be mass hysteria and rebellion.
So we'll have to take it slow. What I decided we'd do is make double the menu. This also offers the option for me to have lunch for leftovers the next day. We were supposed to make a vegetable to go along with the meal, and a salad. But we only got the dinner part cooked.
I am also trying to incorporate some FlyLady routines. I've never really got them started, and it is so difficult for me to get to work on time for all I have to do in the morning. I am trying to get a weekend routine put together, which would include getting my clothes ready for work for the entire week. Last Thursday morning, it was 4:50am and I was trying to find a shirt to wear that wasn't wrinkled or stained. I ended up wearing one of ds1's shirts that was very huge on me, had cat hair on it, and I'm sure I just looked like a mess. I've also been having a problem deciding what to wear for church on Sunday.
So if I get my clothes ready on the weekend, including what I'll wear to church, I can eliminate that stress.
I have also started having scrambled eggs for breakfast for me and dh, and I really like that little bit of time we have together in the morning. It only takes about 15 minutes, but it has been making me late for work. We switched milking to mornings, because it's too hot in the afternoon now, and the flies bother us. That takes up at least 30 minutes. And I need to figure out something for my lunch for the day, plus 2 to 3 snacks so I'm not tempted to stop for something from a convenience store, or fast food. I also have to get my vitamins together. So I'm hoping to move these things to the evening prior, as well as looking at the Saving Dinner menu to see what's for dinner the next evening and taking the meat from the freezer so it can start to thaw.
Until next time.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
May Your Mother's Day Be Bright
Labels: Holiday Banter
Mine sure will.
We haven't jumped on board the mercury containing, expensive lightbulbs and when we saw these on sale for $0.23 a package, we decided to stock up. 70 boxes of 4 comes to 280 bulbs, at a cost of $16.10.
Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.
Until next time.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Muenster Cheese Day 2
I took the Muenster from its cheesecloth wrapping this morning and here it is.
Kev suggested that using 40 pounds worth of weights was not correct for such a small block of cheese.
Anyway, here it is as I'm unwrapping the cheesecloth.
On the plate, ready for salting.
We only have coarse ground sea salt so I crushed a tablespoon or so with a rolling pin and here's what it looks like. I think I might have put too much salt on it.
I'm off to milk.
Related Posts:
Muenster Cheese (Day 1)
10AM: I'm adding this picture a few hours after my post this morning - we've sampled some of the cheese. It is so delicious, I don't know if it is going to get a chance to age unless I hide it!!
Friday, May 09, 2008
Muenster Cheese
I'm trying my hand at making a hard cheese. Muenster. One of my friends who raises goats has tried making it twice. It is incredibly simple to make! There are only three ingredients. Milk, rennet and salt. I usually get flustered about making cheese because they want you to use certain cultures, which I do have some on hand, but I am not sure how to use them correctly. It's like when the recipe calls for 1/2 tablet of rennet, but we have liquid rennet. Then I have to go see how much liquid rennet to use in place of the tablet.
I brought the milk in and strained it and found I had 3 quarts. When I brought the milk in it was almost at the required temperature of 88°F. I added a quart from yesterday and heated the milk back up.
After it reaches 88°F you let it set for 5 minutes. Then you take your 1/4 teaspoon of liquid rennet, mixed with 1/4 cup of water, and pour it into the milk. Use a whisk to make sure you get the rennet mixed in well. I also used bottled water, to make sure I wasn't adding any funky bacteria from our well water. Not that our water is bad, but sometimes it's best to use "clean" water so as to not add to the mix.
Cover and let set for one hour.
After one hour, test for a clean break in your curds. Cut with a sharp knife into 1 inch cubes. Heat the curds while mixing carefully.
Remove the curds and let the whey drain for 20 minutes. Then put the curds into a cheese press.
Cheese press?
Oops. I don't have a cheese press. So I set about looking on the Internet for how to make one of my own.
I found one by Mr. Fankhauser (quite a famous cheese maker on the Internet) and one by Ms. Molly from Fias Co Farms.
Between the two of those sites, I got the gist of what needed to be done to press the whey out of my cheese, so I went for a walk out on our property to see what I could come up with.
First I found two of these - 3" Black PVC Couplers, commonly used for septic lines. I was actually looking for 6" diameter, which is what Mr. Fankhauser recommends, but we didn't have any, at least not that I could locate.
Next, I found these 10# weights.
And finally, I found this old racquetball racquet.
After I drained my curds for 20 minutes, I molded them into a shape which would fit into the PVC coupler. First I put in a layer of cheesecloth.
Next I used a can of green chiles as the follower. I peeled the label off after I took this photograph.
Next, I placed a can of tuna on top. Now these couplers have an inner lip inside and the tuna can is too wide to go past that point, so you can only use the tuna can for pushing on the top half.
After an hour or so had passed, I discovered that my can of green chiles was too narrow and was allowing the cheese to squish up around the sides. So I found a lid that fit perfectly, and would still move down past the inner lip of the coupler.
The inner lip is shown here, and pointed out with arrows.
This lid is a much better follower than the can of green chiles.
Lionel gives his seal of approval. I realized my set up was too precarious just sitting on the counter, so I put it in a milk crate on the floor.
My forty pound "weight" at top, which is sitting on the can inside the PVC couplers, and the couplers are sitting on the racquetball racquet. The whole thing sits on a cake pan. For the sake of taking this photo, I placed the weights flush onto the PVC couplers. But after I put my setup back into the milk crate I put a tuna can inside so the weights are actually pressing on the can.
As the cheese presses down, I've had to use different size cans to make sure the weights are not sitting flush on top of the PVC couplers.
After the cheese has been pressed for 12 hours, I have to turn it upside down and press it in the other direction for another 12 hours. Then I am supposed to give it a fine coating of cheese salt, and cover with a plate so it doesn't dry out, and let it just set for at least one week before trying it.
I'll try to post more photos when I flip the curd for the second pressing.
Until next time.
Related Posts:
Muenster Cheese Day Two
Friday, April 25, 2008
Selling Aluminum Cans
We were poor when I was growing up, and I remember a couple times we were so bad off that my mom drove us way down to the south side of town where all the wrecking yards were located and as she drove along slowly - I don't remember if it was just me, or my other siblings as well - but we picked up cans we found alongside the road. We stopped at each establishment and asked the men inside if we could collect their aluminum cans.
It was a nasty, messy job. I remember at the end of the road when we were done, no matter how careful I'd been, my hands and legs would be filthy. Many of the cans were beer cans, with cigarette butts inside. So the dripping stench was really bad. My legs were streaked with dried drips of tobacco-stained beer. The bathrooms were typically as filthy as I was, but I washed my hands and arms and legs as best as I could, and we went on our way.
I've tried to collect our aluminum cans since we've lived out here, but I don't get much cooperation. According to the Container Recycling Institute, in 2004, it took 33.5 cans to make one pound. Aluminum cans have gotten lighter, back in 1980 it only took 25 cans to make a pound.
My job collects soda cans. We sell cans of soda to our clients and staff, and collect those cans. I don't know how often they turn them in, but last week my boss noticed the price per pound was up to $0.85 with the coupon she'd cut out of her Sunday paper. She asked if my dh could stop by and take them to the can place, since he has a truck. We took them after I got off work one day, but the place was closed for remodeling. That was on a Thursday afternoon and by the time we got them back to my job the next week, the coupon had expired. The new one my boss brought in was only worth $0.80. The collection company has a website and puts up coupons, so I decided to see what that one was worth, and was happy to find the Internet coupon was still at $0.85.
I ended up taking the cans myself yesterday. When I got to the place, the price had actually gone up a nickel, to $0.90/lb! I had to empty all the cans into a giant rolling basket, take the basket to the scale and they would give me a ticket, then go back to the lady at the window and get the cash.
Thank goodness the cans had only held soda previously, so the smell was a bit sour but nothing like old stinky beer and cigarette butts. There were five large garbage bags full of cans (see Kev Gets Pulled Over By Five Police Cars for pictures).
Five full bags of smashed cans completely filled this large rolling basket. The cans weighed 69 pounds. We got back $62.10.
Thankfully I had a bottle of water with me so I could rinse off my hands as they were sticky after dumping all the bags of cans into the basket.
So at the rate of $0.90 per pound, and 33.5 cans make a pound, the going rate for aluminum cans is $0.027 cents each. Not quite 3 cents each.
Until next time.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Cottage Cheese
Labels: goats
Today I'm making cottage cheese.
It's a very simple recipe. My recipe says to heat the milk to 86°F. It's a bit warmer than that straight from the goat, so I brought the milk into the house, strained it and let it cool down a bit.
I've added four drops of rennet, and now I'm letting it set for one hour at room temperature.
When an hour has passed, the milk should be formed into a curd. I will then cut the curd with a knife, into 1/2 inch cubes. I will stir very gently and cut big pieces into smaller ones.
Next I'll warm the curds to 110°F, very slowly and gently. According to my recipe, the longer it takes to get to this temperature, the firmer the curds will be.
Once the temperature rises to 110°F, I'll pour the curds and whey into a colander lined with cheesecloth and drain for a few minutes.
I'll then run cold water over the curds to rinse off the whey.
The whey is very nutritious, but I am not quite sure how to use it, so I usually give it to the chickens. They love it.
And that's how you make cottage cheese.
Here is a page with some cheesemaking recipes from Mary Jane Toth.
Until next time.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Revolution Money Exchange - Get $25 today!
Labels: Just Stuff
If you're part of a couple, you can easily make $60.
I signed myself up and got $25, then referred DH. I got $10 when he signed up, and he made $25. I moved his $25 into my account, and moved $50 of it into our bank account. It was there within two days.
If you've been on the Internet for any length of time, you will remember that this is how PayPal got started, and look where it's at today.
Click on my button and you'll make $25 and I'll earn $10 for the referral. Thanks!
Until next time.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
How To Tell You're Old Enough To Be A Grandmother
Visit your local guitar shop.
Today Kev asked me to stop by a guitar shop and buy him a dozen picks. Was I in for culture shock.
As I walked in the door, a young man appeared to be greeting me, but I wasn't sure because of the prominently loud screeching guitar noises. I spoke to the young man, telling him I may as well ask him right off for what I'm looking for, as I'd knew I'd never find it. He asked me to repeat myself. I asked him where I could find picks. He pointed to the other side of a glass window and said I would find what I needed over there. I headed in that direction, but before I could get too far, another employee walked quickly toward the narrow opening leading to that direction. Being the customer in the establishment, naturally I politely stood aside to let him get by. Never mind that I'm a woman, he was a man, and I'm the customer, while he worked there. Obviously guitar stores don't get customer service either.
I finally got over to where the picks were. There were three young men behind a counter that spanned about 30 feet. One was talking on the phone, one was doing something busily at a cash register (with no customer) and the third was talking to a customer. Behind that customer was another young man. I asked him if this was the line? He said he wasn't sure, but was assuming that it was.
Two young men were looking at magazines behind me. Another young man walked over to the busy cash register guy and asked him a question. I walked that direction, thinking maybe he could help me. But cash register guy left the counter with the young man. By now phone guy is off the phone, helping the young man I'd asked about the line.
Loud screeching music is blaring all around me, and there is a television way up above my head, with a rock star guitaring frenetically. No one makes eye contact with me. I feel invisible. Finally I call Kev and make him promise to never make me come into this place EVER AGAIN. I tell him now he has to stay on the phone with me and help me get through this. I feel like running out. It's akin to sitting in the dentist chair when you know he's about to use the drill.
I see a man sitting with an electric guitar, strumming happily. Another man is sitting in another section, equally happily strumming. I note that I'm the only woman present in this store.
Now phone guy looks toward me. I tell Kev I can go now and close my phone, latching it to my belt loop.
Phone guy's name is Victor, but when he answers the phone twice while helping me, he introduces himself as Vic.
I explain to Vic that I feel like my grandmother, because this place is too loud and I just want to get out of here. He smiles kindly, as if I look to be an eighty year old gray-haired grandmother. I attempt to lean over the counter as he is looking for the picks I've asked him for, but the front of the counter has pegboard attached to it, with lots of pegs sticking out. My belt gets stuck to the pegs and I have to untangle myself. I've already told him twice what Kev asked me to get, and he's looking in a pile of boxes on the floor. I can see on the shelf behind him that the 12 pack of picks is on the pegboard, but Kev told me "box" and so he's looking for a box. I already told him 12 picks, but he's looking for a box. He is squatted down on the floor, looking through a bunch of boxes. I try again to lean over the counter, and get hung up on the pegs again. Finally he stands up and announces they are all out of that size in the box. I speak loudly and point to the 12 pack of picks and ask if those aren't packs of 12. He says they are 12 in a pack and gives me a pack.
I move over to the other side of his cash register, thinking it will be easier to pay for my items, if I'm not getting hung up in the pegs on the pegboard. But as I move toward the other side of the counter, I notice that the first twelve inches on the floor in front of the counter on this side, has a bunch of electronic something or others, maybe some type of keyboards or something with buttons. I take care to not step on anything, standing a safe distance from the counter. An especially loud screech comes from the speakers in the ceiling. I cringe, and ask Vic if he has an assortment pack of picks.
Oh darn. He just sold the last pack of assorted picks. But he can sell me these 20 year anniversary special picks, which end up costing $9.99.
I wait to pay for my purchase, but the credit card machine doesn't work. Vic explains it has been "acting up" all day long, and unplugs it, then plugs it back in. We wait for it to initialize. Vic tells me to try inserting my card. It won't work for me, so he has to do it for me. Amazingly, I'm actually able to enter my own PIN, which processes my purchase.
Finally, mercifully, I've got Kev's picks and I can leave.
As I wind my way back to the exit, two men are standing right in the doorway, talking. They see me walking in their direction, but continue standing there for a moment, until I stop and finally they each take one step backwards, so I can get by. I am pushing my way out the door, when the first young man I saw asks me if he can see my receipt, and explains they "have a Costco thang going on". Costco has to check your receipt before you leave, you know for your own good, just to make sure you weren't overcharged for anything. Right. Like they know the price of every single thing in the store.
Finally, I'm allowed to exit. And my husband calls the Internet Satan's airwave playhouse. He should try going to that guitar store.
Until next time.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Trying Out Blogger Draft
So apparently we're supposed to be able to create posts and have them automatically post at a later time. I'm trying that out now. That would definitely be a nice feature to be implemented. I'm scheduling this post to show up on my blog at 3pm.
We'll see what happens.
Until next time.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Warping Words with Kev
Labels: geek-stuff
You know how some parents are less computer-literate than their children? I grew up without computers but was always fascinated by them.
I took a course for data entry in 1984 or 1985. My first data entry job was my first exposure to one of those room-sized computers. I worked for the department of revenue. You can imagine the records they had to keep.
I owned by first computer, bought it on time for $1800 from the company I was working for in 1988. Home data entry. My first computer actually had a hard drive, at a time when most computers had two floppy disk drives. And the floppy disks were really floppy.
My computer ran on DOS, and I had WordPerfect 5.0.
I remember upgrading to Windows 3.0.
All through the years, I've been more computer savvy than my children.
I earned the right to call myself "Techmama". I even had a license plate once upon a time that proudly proclaimed my talent.
But last night, I had to concede to my youngest son, Kev.
I had been struggling to figure out how to warp some words in a graphic. Granted, my programs are all elderly, so they don't do some things easily. I have Dreamweaver 4.0 and Fireworks 4.0, and Photoshop 5.0. All very elderly programs. But they still work flawlessly.
So... I was really struggling to figure out how to warp words. Like this:
It's unknown whether any of my readership uses Fireworks. But for my own second brain purposes, here's how I did that.
Open Fireworks and go to File > New and let's make the image 300 pixels wide by 300 pixels wide with a resolution of 200 pixels/inch. Canvas color: white.
Go over to your Tools, which should be at the right side of your screen. Well, that's where I keep *my* tools. If you don't see yours on the screen, go to Window at the top and make sure Tools is checkmarked.
You're looking for your ellipse tool. It's on the left column, fifth row down. Standard settings will show a square at that position, so you may have to hold your cursor onto the button and then you will see the ellipse tool. Move the mouse over to select it.
Go over to your screen and hold down the mouse and pull a circle.
Mine filled with blue color when I let go of the mouse because my Tool bar is set to fill with color. Look at the Tools image above, under the header "Colors" see where it shows a little bucket pouring and the color is blue? That's why mine turned blue. I didn't want it to, so I had to start over and make just a white circle, like the first one above.
Next, click on the Text tool. Click in a blank space at the top of your circle. Type anything you want. Here's what I typed:
Click Apply, click OK. It might seem as if your circle has now gone away.
It hasn't. Simply wave your mouse over the screen and you'll see it pop up in red outline. Move the mouse away, it will disappear again. But it's still there. It's called a path. See how the words have a blue box around them? Click your mouse one time, directly onto the circle's path.
Now the focus is off the words, and on the circle.
To highlight both at the same time, hold your SHIFT key (either one) while clicking the words. You will see now that both have a blue line around them. This indicates that both are selected.
While they are both selected, go to Text, then Attach to Path. Click on that.
You did it! Now you can move the positioning of the words by going to Modify > Transform > Free Transform. You can spin those words around to the top, or the side, or wherever you want them to be. Once you get them in place, hit your Enter (we used to call that the Return key) key.
Just for fun, I dragged the words over onto my blue circle, and then went to Modify > Transform > Skew.
How we figured it out. Kev and I both started searching Google for ways to warp words. He found Inkscape, the program I used to make the wedding guestbook (which by the way I have still not bound into a book!) He mentioned Dia to me when he had it halfway downloaded, so I opened my version and he told me the steps to take to warp words. It involved path, so once I did it in Inkscape, I was able to figure out how to do it in Fireworks. Whooo!!
This has opened a world of new opportunities for me and graphic design.
I was just thinking. Maybe that's what I want to be when I grow up. A graphic designer.
Thanks, Kev.
Until next time.
