Category Archives: Hobbies

I love photography, crocheting baby hats, playing “Fools Rush In” on my guitar, singing hymns and WRITING.

How Did You Find Me?

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I need to address something. You see, WordPress stats shows me what phrases people searched for to find my blog, and some of the same phrases keep popping up. One of them is particularly embarrassing, can you tell me which one it is?

34 weeks pregnant 5
30 weeks pregnant 3
39 weeks pregnant 3
croissant pizza 2
pregnant belly pictures 2
17 weeks pregnant 2
9 weeks pregnant belly 1
pregnant big butt 1
16 weeks pregnant belly pictures 1

I’ll give you a hint… it’s “pregnant big butt.” Now really, when I was pregnant, I did not have a big butt, so why is this coming up so often? I need to google this phrase myself and see…

And here it is:

9 Months + 9 Months | Kimmama

Jan 4, 2010 … We were definitely trying to get pregnant, but that month I was sure it didn’t happen. … On a Monday night, Micah made his big debut: Just born! … and just today he learned how to plop down on his butt from standing. …

kimmama.com/2010/01/04/9-months-9-months/ - Cached

 

 

That explains it.

Let’s “Like” Each Other

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Are you on Facebook as much as I am? Recently I created a page for my blog on Facebook so I could update my friends, family and readers whenever I update. Check out the side bar here on my blog and click “like” or visit my page @ Facebook.com/Kimmama

And while we’re at it, won’t you link to your Facebook page if you have one for your blog? Leave a comment with your link if you have one.

Bookmarked!

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I still love Fridays, despite the fact that they don’t have the same significance that they did when I was working full time. Still, I look forward to having Eric home all weekend and I usually have something fun planned for the weekend. Tomorrow I’ll be meeting with a senior (as in “student”) and her mom to talk about senior pictures, so that should be fun! Seniors are great because they always have so many creative ideas to incorporate their interests and personality into their photos. I’m also hoping to squeeze in a hair appointment…. I procrastinated about calling though, so we will see…

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I’ve found on the web this week. I am an avid Googler, and I love finding new blogs and shtuff.

Blogs:

A Bit of Sunshine
I am loving the photography on this blog – and all the creative ideas. Seriously, if I had the extra funds, the projects on my blog would be never-ending! But, I’ve decided to devote my extra income to paying off debt and saving up for gear upgrades.  In the meantime, I’ll drool over this blog. Hehe.

Kidnapped by Suburbia
Keli’s latest post about babymeat has me cracking up. She is an iHeartFaces contributor and her blog is lots of fun.

Recipe:

Easy Pork Ragu
I have made this twice and plan to make it again this week. It is seriously so good. Micah loves it, too. I buy the Bourbon Maple flavored pork loin at Walmart. I love the sweetness. I have been finding lots of favorite recipes on that site and it’s great because I don’t have to worry about Micah’s allergies.

Project:

DIY Show Off (craft room in a closet)
I love the DIY Show Off blog, and two different posts recently have shown what people can do with a closet…. and it’s amazing! One of these days I am going to turn one of my closets into a craft room.

And it’s not really a link, but I wanted to say that I have started using the Google Chrome browser this week. It took me a few days to get used to the different interface, but once I adjusted, I fell in love. It really is faster and more efficient. I don’t know… there are just so many little details that make it better. For example, I like how it puts downloads in a discreet bar at the bottom instead of popping up an annoying downloads window.

How to Use Clipping Masks to Make Fun Blog Templates

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Sometimes I like to frame my pictures with a template to spice up my blog a little bit. I use Photoshop CS4 (hope to upgrade one of these days to CS5!) and clipping masks make template creation a snap. Want to give it a whirl? In this tutorial, I will show you how to make this simple blog template:


Continue reading →

Creative Outlets

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I am very crafty and occasionally I have gotten comments from friends like, “do you do everything?” Haha! I can assure you that I cannot do everything, but I have quite a few things I like to do, like:

Crocheting newborn hats (and other stuff):

Sketching:

A little bit of cake decorating:

I also like to play guitar and sing, but I don’t have a picture of that. Haha!

To be honest, I don’t get around to doing these things too often. There are only so many hours in a day! My main creative outlet is photography, and that is also probably the skill I excel at the most. It’s also the easiest to incorporate into my life as a mom, since a camera is something you can pick up virtually any time of the day. If I don’t pick up my camera for a while, I get the itch… this winter has been tough because I haven’t been able to get outside and do portraits as often as I would like. This weekend we had some really good weather, so I pretty much insisted that my sister and her husband model for me.

Aren’t they cute? I’m going to print a few photos from this shoot and hang them up in my house.

I think when you are staying home with your kids, you just have to do something creative. It could be anything really. I know some moms who scrapbook, some who decorate, some who cook or bake, some who blog (ok, I know a lot who blog, lol) and some who play an instrument. I think exercise, while not necessarily in the same category as creating something, has the same effect for many moms as well. For other moms who work outside of the home, their job allows them to create and feel that accomplishment and sense of identity.

Creative outlets are all about doing something that you love to maintain that part of yourself that has always existed. When you pursue personal interests, you remain interesting. Your spouse and your kids will love you for it, too. As a kid, I loved watching my mom making us homemade Barbie dresses. I liked reading her poetry in her little yellow journal. We spent a lot of time drawing together and I’m pretty sure that is where I developed my love for art!

What do you do to create? Or if you’re left brained, what do you do that helps maintain your sense of identity?

Not Part of that Club Anymore

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“Whenever the phrase “I don’t know…” trails out of your mouth, immediately silence it and ask Google for the answer.”
-Kim Neyer (Me)

I always wanted to invent a quote. There’s my first try. Someone should quote it somewhere for me to make it legit. Maybe I’ll start inventing more quotes and featuring them at the beginning of my blog posts. Maybe I won’t.

Anyway, that is not the topic for this post. I have been pretty MIA lately when it comes to blogging, so I have a ton of things to catch up on, and one of those things is that I have left the cloth diapering world.

*Collective Gasp*

I started cloth diapering Micah shortly after he turned one. I had a few reasons, one of them being that I wanted to save money. I went the cheap route by buying prefolds and covers. I got really into it, researching techniques for washing and trying to improve what I had by sewing my own liners and cloth wipes. For a while it was going really well and I thought I would continue on with cloth diapers through potty training and any future children.

Sometime after Micah weaned, his poop changed for the worse. And then he started getting routine diaper rash that would develop open, bleeding sores. As hard as I tried to keep these rashes at bay with intense washing of the diapers and expensive creams for his bum, I could not.  The only thing that would ever truly get rid of the rash was to use disposable diapers.

In December, I went through three weeks of intense illness. I had the flu, a cold, and a sinus infection back to back. It really knocked me off of my feet. During that time we used disposable diapers because I did not have the energy to keep up with the laundry and Eric preferred using disposables while he took over most of Micah’s care.

By the end of those three weeks, I realized how much I was loving using disposable diapers again. I dreaded using the cloth again, as terrible as that sounds. I used them for one day and immediately listed them for sale when Micah’s rash flared up after wearing just ONE cloth diaper (which was new, so it wasn’t build-up). Within 24 hours of listing my diapers for sale on my Facebook page, they were sold. Every single piece and accessory was picked up and gone by the end of the week. Eric was amazed. I sold my entire stash for exactly half of what I bought it for. I had used it for just 8 months.  Essentially, if you consider what I would have spent on disposables during that time, I was able to diaper for free during those eight months because the cloth diapers more than paid for themselves. So it definitely wasn’t a waste.

Every time one of Micah’s diapers leaks, I miss my cloth, but I would rather deal with occasional leaks than severe diaper rash any day. I just hated the sound of Micah’s cries and screams when I would try to clean his very sore bottom. I just couldn’t justify saving money when it was causing him so much pain.

So when I redid my blog layout, I removed the cloth diapering buttons, because I’m not part of that club anymore. Honestly, I hope to be out of the diaper club soon altogether. This mama is looking forward to potty training! I didn’t mind changing diapers when Micah was little, but toddler poop is so nasty!! He can sure clear a room!

My PC Is Evil

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I am getting super frustrated with my laptop. For one, it has not been loading Windows properly and sometimes it just won’t start up. Eric should be able to fix that, so hopefully it won’t be a lasting problem, but it’s been driving me crazy! I’m afraid to turn off my computer for fear that I won’t be able to turn it on again. I recently backed up all of my photos to another hard drive, just to be safe, but I can only back up so often due to the fact that it takes almost a whole day… as in 24 hours! I’m hoping to buy an external hard drive for back up, which will be a lot faster than backing up over the network. Overall, I think these issues are fixable, they’re just a pain in the butt until then.

What drives me really crazy, though, is something that I’m not sure I can fix. I spend a lot of time trying to get the colors in my photos to be just perfect. It’s essential that the colors on my monitor match my prints, otherwise there is no point in spending all that time trying to make them perfect.  If my monitor is wrong, my pictures could come out too bright, too dark, too yellow, or too magenta, etc. I have been using a color calibration device to make my monitor color perfect, and it does do a great job, but my stupid laptop won’t retain the new settings!!  Just about every time my laptop screen is turned off, regardless of whether it’s because the computer restarted, went to sleep or the display just turned off, the color calibration disappears when the screen comes back on. It drives me crazy!! I can’t leave my screen on 24/7, so I end up spending 15 minutes recalibrating every single time I want to edit photos. That gets old fast!!

I’m working on a Lenovo ideapad and running Windows 7. All I know for sure is that the graphics card is overriding my calibration with its own settings and the result is a very cool, blue looking screen that is way too bright and the gamma is all wrong. It drives me crazy! I’ve been trying to find a solution to make my graphics card “shut up” when it comes to color, but I have not found it yet. There are tons of suggestions, but most of them either didn’t work or only solved it temporarily (ie. until the next time my screen turned off.)

If I could afford to buy the iMac that I want, this wouldn’t be a problem. Macs are so much better for photo editing, but it’s also a pretty expensive piece of equipment. I’m saving up, but I know it’s going to be a while and I’m just cringing at the thought of calibrating every day for the next several months, if not longer. Ayeee!!

Dear Apple, please sell me your 27″ iMac with lots of RAM and hard drive space and CS5 for $1. Thank you! :) hehe!

Tying Up Loose Ends

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One more week and my list is long! I’ve got a lot of things on my t0-do list; some of them having to do with Christmas (like shopping for the men in my life, so hard!) and some of them have to do with preparing for 2011, particularly with my business.  I’ve been rewriting contracts, designing my new logo and watermark, etc. I’m trying to create a unified brand that will be recognizable and consistent throughout my website, Facebook, packaging, etc.  I also need to wrap up my bookkeeping so it will be ready for taxes. That is not fun at all!

I’m pretty sure that the only thing I got done this morning so far has been changing that monumentally stinky diaper which conveniently overflowed into Micah’s pajamas.  What would babies do without their mothers? They are so helpless and cute (and stinky).

Here’s a cute photo from this past week. I also entered it into Pioneer Woman’s Photography Assignment this week. (You can see the new watermark I’ve been working on, too)

Here is a sneak preview of my new logo:

Duck-eeee

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When Micah was born, my grandma (on my dad’s side) made him a little yellow sweater with a row of ducks on the front and a zipper up the back. He wore it a few times last year, but he was swimming in it. This year it fits him perfectly! I figured, why not put him in it and take some pictures? It’s only going to fit him for so long. He is growing like a weed!

(All images taken with a Nikon D3000 & a 50mm 1.4)

I was also getting buggy from staying inside all week (we were sick last week). Plus, it was 69 degrees outside! When it gets that warm in November, especially in the midwest, you have to take advantage of it. I know that it will only be a matter of weeks before the air becomes frigid and bitter. Autumn has got to be the shortest season around here. It always feels like there are two weeks of fall weather in between the sweltering heat and numbing cold.

We had fun. The only bad part was I had to keep blocking him from running into the road, and every time he would be running so fast that when I put my arm in front of him, it ended up knocking him clear to the ground. I felt so mean, but you know, he was giggling so I think he was falling on purpose. He does that  lot lately, actually. He is a little stuntman. Don’t be deceived by the ducky sweater. He is a tough guy.

I am loving my new 50mm lens. I have been making a point of practicing with it as much as I can. It is more difficult to focus because the depth of field is so shallow, but I am getting the hang of it. It helps that this is a fast focusing lens. I turned off the 3D tracking though, because I really don’t want my point of focus moving around with this lens. That was a great feature with my kit lens, but I am not a fan of it with this one. I want to have a set focus point, center it right on the eyes, focus, and then recompose my shot without the focus jumping to Micah’s hand or something.

I have been working so hard lately at my new photography business. There is so much to learn and I will be changing a lot at the new year in terms of pricing and policy. It is a little nerve-wracking, and yet, I am glad that I am doing this because by the time Micah (and any other kids we might have) are in school and I am ready to make this a 40 hour/week adventure, hopefully the kinks will already have been smoothed out and it will be an easy transition to “full time.” I always remind myself that the reason I am going into business (rather than remaining a serious hobbyist) is so I never have to work for someone else, ever again! That goal makes it all worth it.

Speaking of my photography business, I got my shiny new business cards today. What do you think?

On the other side there are three more pictures and my contact information in place of the logo. I ordered 1000, so if you want some to pass out to your friends, you can! (Shameless plug!)