New Camera

I recently bought a new camera (a Nikon D40) that I've been drooling over for a while. I got it on the 4th of July and have been playing with it as much as possible ever since. Here's a set of photos from the last couple days...I'm still learning, but given my complete lack of experience with anything but a point-and-shoot, they're not half-bad. I really like this camera.

New Camera Set on Flickr

We're leaving on Sunday for a week at Lake Havasu so I'll have plenty more opportunity to play around - and maybe even improve. I'll update when we return.

The Perfect Storm

Here's a few things you might not know about me:

1. I hate boiled okra.

2. I don't understand the whole Crocs phenomenon. They're ugly, ill-fitting, clunky, and also ugly. But, what about all those bright colors, you ask? Ugly. Even on cute little-kid feet? Ugly and sad. Like an ugly, sad little clown.

3. Photos of President Bush, especially the photos where he's smiling and waving, illicit a physical response in me. (I'm talking about a response so strong, so full of disgust and distaste, that I have to look away from the offending image or risk my feelings of intense hatred and anger toward him burning through my brain and disintegrating my retinas, rendering me blind and thus wasting the very useful laser eye-surgery I had last year.)

So, knowing these things, you can imagine how distraught I was when I stumbled across this gem of a photo:

I'll bet he just ate a big plate of boiled okra too!

And also, are those "Office of the President" socks? Doesn't that look like the logo that's on the carpet of the oval office?

The little theatre-goer leaving Annie with her souvenir backpack.

Overheard at Job Day

My Mom (an ER nurse who was visiting the 1st graders at Emily's school yesterday, and had just mentioned that in the summer they unfortunately see alot of kids in the ER who drown in swimming pools):

"So, what can you kids do to make sure that you don't drown in a swimming pool?"

Kid 1: "Wear a life jacket!"
Kid 2: "Learn to swim!"
Kid 3: "Wear floaties on your arms!"
Kid 4: "Wear a seat belt!"

I'm wondering if that kid blacked-out during the motorcycle cop's presentation?

The modern-day SoCal 4-year-old

"Mommy, can I wear a different dress?"

"But you've only worn that one for half the day. Let's not get another dress dirty."

"But mom, I spilled sushi (soosy) on this dress."

"Oh. Well, alright then."

If you've got 9 minutes, 28 seconds to spare, this is pretty entertaining:


100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

Out of the mouths of babes. Really. Bright. Babes...

The scene: I'm the lone adult in a living room of children. They are, my girls (Paige, 3 and Emily, 7) and our good friends' children; Rebekah, age 7 and Jack, age 5. The kids are being silly with each other and I'm sitting on the couch just watching and listening to them interact with each other.

Paige (to Jack): "I want us to get married."

Jack: "No way! You can marry Rebekah instead!"

Emily: "She can't marry a girl, Jack!"

Rebekah: "Yeah, that's against the law." (Looking in my direction expectantly, probably waiting for my nod of confirmation.)

So every now and again I've come across these moments of parenting where the natural progression of a conversation will allow me to plant a seed in the young minds of my children (and in this case my friends' children) without seeming overly preachy because, hey, I didn't bring it up in the first place, right? And so, sensing the opportunity for a lesson, I non-chalantly throw in to the conversation something along the lines of:

Me: "Well actually, if she wanted to marry a girl that would be okay. And if Jack wanted to marry a boy that would be okay too."

Emily: "But Mom, that's against the law!"

Me: "Well yeah, it's not really allowed for women to marry women or men to marry men, but that's something that there shouldn't really be laws about. Laws are supposed to protect people and keep things safe and fair for everyone. Do you think it would hurt anyone or be unfair if two people who loved each other very much got married - even though they're both boys or both girls?"

Emily: "No, that wouldn't hurt anyone." (After a short pause) "Then Mom, I think that's a dumb law."

Me: "Yeah, me too."

Enter the dads with take-out chinese.

Paige: "Mommy, I want to eat right here in the living room. Please? Can I? Please?"

Me: (we're at our friends' house by the way) "Nope. That's against the rules. We're all going to eat at the kitchen table."

Emily: "But Mom, is it really going to hurt anyone if she eats in the living room?"

I explode from the pride. End scene.

-----

Speaking of Emily...she's been pretty interested in the fact that Dave and I have been keeping these blogs. On Friday she asked me if she could have her own blog and I told her (because, frankly, I was having a beer and didn't feel like dealing with it) that we'd talk about it on Saturday. Well, yesterday morning we talked about it and I told her I would help her set up a blog. And so we did. And so she does.

As part of the process of setting up her blog I also had to set her up with her own email address. I researched the ultra-safe email programs designed for kids (this one and this one), but alas, they are not free and I wasn't ready to shell out the bucks just yet. I ended up getting her a gmail address and setting it up so that all of her incoming emails get copied to my gmail adress. That way I figure I can monitor what's going on in her account and that she's not being targeted by any creepy pedophiles, porn peddlers and the like. So, if you're family or a friend and want to send her an email, let me know and I'll send you the email address.

Note: If you're a pedophile, a pornographer, selling Viagra or Cialis, or have any other creepy intentions and you happen to get a hold of her email address, and you happen to solicit her, I will hunt you down and make your life a living hell.

So anyway, I felt a little strange setting up email and a blog for my seven year old. But, for the moment she loves it and it's encouraging her to write and be creative, so it cant be too bad, right? Right?