During Tess’s nap time I moved everything around in my living room. I first tried the piano on this wall.

Under the chalkboard and photos. I lived with it there for one week. The problem was the loveseat had to go in front of the French doors and the table behind it went in front of the fireplace. Both bugged me in this awkward new place.

I woke up from a nap one evening about a week later, very grouchy, and could not live with the living room that way one more minute. Apparently irritability drives me to rearrange.

The loveseat went back to its happy place over by the chalkboard and the piano went here, beside the French doors. I didn’t try it here earlier because if you walk in front of the piano

<——————–this way, you’ll exit down a short hallway to the carport. I thought the piano would block the entry just as annoyingly as it did in the front entry.

It did not.

In fact, I kind of liked it there.

I liked the way that it didn’t interfere with the rest of the furniture placement. We could still have our ratty old recliner positioned in the perfect place for watching television.

I still had room for one of my favorite chairs right next to it.

And, best of all, my entry way was free to welcome people without having to shove the bench under the piano before you opened the door.

Sometimes you just have to push some things around to find out what works.

I met the lovely Karin Katherine from Mommy Matters at Blissdom (pictured here with Marsha). She got tricked into guest posting while I am away. Hop over to her blog this week to find out more.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Canon 40D, lens: 50mm, f/stop: 1.8, iso: 1240, flash: off. This was taken in my bathroom at night with no natural light which is why I cranked up the ISO. And it’s also why there’s so much noise in the picture which you can see if you zoom in close.

Makes me wonder what it would have looked like had I used the flash. Maybe someday I’ll remember to use it.

The sounds of a violin from Emeline.

And a bursting vocabulary from Tess. I hear new words every day.

“It’s hot!” When I give her food to eat.

Brother and sister’s names, and finally Mama!

She’s a little parrot now. Repeating what she hears. And it’s so darn cute.

It was a necklace. Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of yourself wearing a necklace. Here’s what it looks like up close.

It says, “I shoot people” and has a picture of a camera on it. It reminds me of all the signage at my dad’s house. Like this one:

The necklace kind of has that sarcastic edge that suits me well. Ruthanne knows me pretty well.

Take a look back up at that first picture and let me tell you a story. A few weeks ago my Canon Rebel started giving me the error 99 message. I took it in and they told me it would have to be sent off to Canon to be repaired (at no cost to me, I had a warranty) and it would take 6 to 8 weeks.

I came home and decided I needed a second camera. 6 to 8 weeks was far too long to be without a camera.

I mulled over what I wanted to do and looked at all the Canon cameras out there. I finally decided on the 40d. I got a used one off Ebay with three batteries and a grip and was able to pay with it from money I made “shooting people.”

I’m having a lot of fun getting to know my new camera. It did not come with a user’s manual. I always read the manual, cover to cover, whenever I get any new gadget. I like to know what all it can do. So, this is frustrating for me. I spent about an hour after I got the camera in the mail just looking at it confused. Though it works a lot like the Rebel, for me, reading always comes before using.

Yesterday evening, I finally picked it up and started practicing. I still feel like I’m missing a huge piece of the camera. I will probably have to find a manual online and order one. I need it in my hands.

Here are some of my practice shots.

And you know there will be more to come.