Rocking My Camera

I started a photography course last week called Rocking Your Camera.  I'ts all about learning to shoot in manual mode.  I am LOVING it!  I got my DSLR almost 5 years ago and have been wanting to take a class.  I finally am.  I have learned so much in the past week. 

Here are my 4 pictures I submitted today for my first assignment.  They are straight out of the camera (SOOC) with absolutely no editing.  We had to keep our shutter speed at or over 1/125 for all of these and could only use natural light.  Oh, and we also had to use a prime lens, which Sveinn was sweet enough to let me purchase so I could take this class! 

1. Outside -  ss 1/1000,   f/2.5,  ISO 100  It's a tad underexposed because my camera was using the snow to meter.  We are learning this week how to fix that.  Woo hoo!

2. Window Light - ss 1/400,  f/2.0,  ISO 100 
The light was coming in a window directly in front of her and I was between her and the window. It was bright and she had a hard time not squinting.  I should have moved her back a bit and adjusted my settings to get my exposure right.

3. Inside (low light) - ss 1/125,  f/2.2,  ISO 1250
This was in our entry and there was a little bit of light coming in through a south facing sidelight, but for the most part it was pretty dark.  May be a tad underexposed and also shows a bit of noise because of the high ISO I had to use.

4.Choice - ss 1/125, f/2.0,  ISO 800
This was taken mid afternoon and the light was coming in the window from the left.  I love this one!

I'm pretty happy with how I did considering I have never shot in manual before.  Thanks for looking.

Dirty Rice w/ Smoked Sausage

I was watching Food Network last week and they were making dirty rice with smoked sausage. It looked really good and I have always wanted to try dirty rice. What better time to try it than now since I have to try a new recipe every month because of my NY Resolution #3 anyway. So I asked Sveinn to stop at the grocery store on his way home from work to pick up what I needed. However, I forgot to check my pantry for rice. I knew that the last time I made rice I had a couple of bags still, but I had forgotten that Babs had made rice awhile ago. First mistake.


So I go about sautéing the sausage and veggie mixture and things are smelling yummy! Then I go to make the rice and I find that I don't have nearly enough rice to feed this hungry family of 8 (-1 infant). Ugh! I do have brown rice and decide to make that instead. Not a good idea because I never make brown rice correctly. For some reason it always turns out pasty for me. This time was no exception. So 45 minutes later the brown rice is done and looking kind of gross. I mix in the sausage and veggies (minus the green peppers because my family hates green peppers) with the rice and viola, my dirty rice dish is complete.

I am looking at this dish and I realize that not only is the rice a big glop of starch, but their is not nearly enough sausage in it to feed this big family. I should have had Sveinn pick up two packages. Oh well. Everyone did try the dish and most of them liked it. Some of the kids liked it a lot! Unfortunately, I don't think I will be making it again. I might try it one more time to see if it is better with white rice maybe. We will see.

Anyway, I did fulfill my resolution #3 goal for the month. I made something I have never made before. So I will count it as a success overall. :)

BTW, everyone was STARVING for breakfast in the morning. ;)


Here is the recipe for anyone that might be interested.

1 Medium Onion
1 Green Pepper (I skipped the GP because my family doesn't like it)
1 Clove of Garlic
2 Stalks Celery
1 Package of Smoked Sausage (I used 1 package of Hillshire Farm and wished I would have used 2)
1 Tbs Oil (I used EVOO)
1 cup Chicken Stock plus enough Chicken Stock to Substitute for the Water in the Rice
2 cups Rice (I used 4 for my big Family, thus the reason I should have used more Sausage)


Slice the sausage and chop the onion, green pepper, garlic and celery. Sauté all five of these ingredients in 1 Tbs of oil until browned. Add 1 cup of chicken stock and simmer on low heat. Meanwhile prepare the rice according to the package directions eliminating any butter or salt and substituting chicken stock for water. Once rice is done cooking and the liquid is gone from the meat and veggies, mix all items together and serve.

Bon Appetit!
Danielle

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone!

So I decided to make 5 New Years Resolutions and keep track of them here on my blog.

Resolution #1 - Master a new foot on my sewing machine and/or serger each month. This month I am going to master my ruffler foot.

Resolution #2 - Read through the whole Old Testament.

Resolution #3 - Try one new recipe each month. I was going to try my mom's potato salad recipe for January, but I decided to make Dirty Rice w/ Smoked Sausage instead.

Resolution #4 - Take part in Project 365 for 2010. "Take a Photo a Day and See Your Life in a Whole New Way."
Resolution #5 - Destash the dozens of bins of kids clothes I have been holding onto. Goal to accomplish this: To create 10 listings a week in my eBay store.

So, how am I doing so far?

#1 - I pulled out my ruffler foot, printed off an e-Book that will help me learn how to use it, played around with it for a bit, but I haven't mastered it yet. I do plan on spending a lot more time on it this next week.  I have a dress I want to make for Wile E. Coyote that has loads of ruffles on it.  So that is motivation to figure this thing out.  I need to have the dress made by the end of the month for a contest I would like to enter. Fun fun fun!

#2 - I am still on Genesis. But hey, I am working at it. :)

#3 - Like I said above, I was going to make my mom's potato salad, but then I watched food network and someone made dirty rice with smoked sausage. It looked really good and sounded easy. I wish I would have tired my mom's potato salad instead. :(

#4 - I've taken a picture each day and am having a blast. I just need to get them all downloaded and posted on my Project 365 Blog.

#5 - I've pulled out and set up my backdrop and lights for taking pictures. I also went through CC's closet and drawers, pulling out things she has grown out of. I pulled out bins of boy clothing that Turtle B. has grown out of also. I haven't actually found the time to start listing things, but I am working towards it and making progress.
One week down and 51 more to go.  So far I feel pretty good about what I have accomplished.  Especially considering last week being our first week back at home schooling after the break and also having 3 birthday's (Sveinn's, mine and Dinty Moore's) and our anniversary last week.

Thanks visiting.
Danielle

Happy Birthday Brenton!

Dinty Moore turned 10 years old on January 6th.  It is so hard for me to believe that he is already 10 years old.  We didn't do anything special.  Dinty wanted to just stay home.  I think he knew that he was getting video games for presents. (Turtle B?  I knew I shouldn't have let him go to the store with me when I went shopping for presents!)  Anyway, the birthday boy wanted to be able to just hang out at home and play video games all night.  Sveinn stopped and picked up some Papa Murphy's pizzas on his way home for us to bake for dinner.  We all had a nice, relaxing evening in.  Dinty said it was the best birthday he ever had. 

Turtle B and Dinty Moore

More Games

Babs decorated the cake according to Dinty's directions.  She did pretty well for her first time.

Coyote, Dinty and Turtle.  Check out those expressions.  LOL

Thanks for visiting.

Danielle

Check Out These Adorable Buttons!

Tessa Ann of The Button Shop is giving away a set of her buttons on Amy Priddy's Blog (Priddy Creations).  These buttons are amazing.  They took my breath away.  Today is the last day to enter the contest, so hurry.

These are my favorites and below is the set she is giving away.  Arn't they beautiful!

Danielle

Sydney says, "Yummy Rice Cereal!"

Sydney started sleeping though the night shortly after she was 1 month old. It's been a huge blessing. At times I have felt like she is spoiling me. She has consistently slept 8 to 10 hours at night for the past 2 months. Then about a week ago, right when she turned 4 months old, she started waking up at night. It's only gotten worse. Last night she didn't sleep more than 3 hours without waking up and at one point it was less then 2 hours between feedings. Ugh! So tonight we tried rice cereal for the first time. Mommy is really not ready for this. I don't want her to grow up this fast.

Sydney did amazingly well. She really liked it. She choked a couple of times, but I think that was only because she started talking just as I was putting the spoon into her mouth. She was trying to talk to me the whole time. It was so funny. She kept smacking, then talking, smacking, then talking. I think she is going to be a lot like her oldest sister. ;)

Now, lets hope she sleeps though the night.

I had to include this picture because it was just too funny! My silly girl!

Thanks for visiting our blog.

Danielle

All Dressed Up

Wow, I can't believe it has been 8 months since I last posted. I made a vow to myself this past week that I am going to try to post at least once a week from now on. Anyway, here are some pictures from trick or treating last night. We had fun dressing up in a Little Red Riding Hood theme. I made Reilly's cape, Spencer's wolf hat, and Sydney's embroidered onsie. Sydney got quite a few laughs, giggles and snickers.

Here is the whole gang.

Maddisen dressed up as Little Red's Grandmother.

Michael and Brenton dressed up as Woodsmen.


Reilly dressed up as Little Red.

She was so into the candy I could hardly get her to look at me. Imagine that. ROTFLOL

Spencer dressed up as the Wolf in Grandmother's clothing.

Sydney in her tee I made for her. She wouldn't stop eating her hand and drooling all over herself. Notice the drool covered neckline.

Sydney and Mommy

Thanks for looking and check back often. I really am going to try hard to post weekly.

Danielle