Thursday, January 28, 2010

Fly Me to the Moon

Remember how I said I would like to take up astrophotography? Well, since the moon is just about full I decided to get to know my camera a little more intimately and take some pictures of it.
Well, after trying many different settings and a lot of time spent sitting on my cold porch I finally came up with this picture:


I'm pretty happy with it. I was starting to think that my camera wasn't capable of such a shot. Thankfully, I was wrong.

I'm thinking I'll try Mars next. It's really the only planet in the sky right now. But for that I'll need my telescope and I'm not sure how that will work out. I can't wait to give it a try though.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Little Homemaking

So lately I've been trying to beautify and make improvements to our home. As some of you know, we have a large empty wall in the front room because of the vaulted ceiling. I had been debating in my mind what to put there since we moved in and I finally decided on shelves. So I found the ones I wanted and started working on getting them on the wall. It turns out that it was no easy task. The anchors for the screws that came with the shelves were difficult to work with and after trying a few options we ended up with some big holes in the wall. We let it sit for a while not sure how to proceed and with Christmas, it just got left behind. So I finally decided to do something about it. I patched up the small holes and had my dad help me with the bigger holes that required more sophisticated solutions. Finally, I thought I had it all wrapped up, I would be decorating my new shelves within a day. Not so, unfortunately. The original anchors were at it again and I found myself with four new holes in the wall. Once again, my dad came to help with some better anchors he had on hand. He patched up the new holes and helped me hang my final shelf. So much trouble for silly shelves! But look how beautiful they look!


I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I think I'd like to find something to put on top of the middle one. Something to the effect of "Live Laugh Love" or something about families. Also I need to find something small to fit in the upper right one. Oh, and the little star candle holder isn't my favorite but I had to put something there. All the things on the shelves might not match or anything, but they all mean something to me.

Another thing we did was actually a long time ago but it's such a wonderful improvement that I think about how wonderful it is every time I use it.


Our drawers are meant to be the kind that you just grab the edge to open it up. Unfortunately, they don't roll smoothly enough for that to really work. I'd broken so many nails trying to open those stupid drawers with one hand(how many times do you really have both hands available when you're in the kitchen) that I had Jaaromy put these handles on. I may put them on the rest of the drawers and things eventually but these are the drawers I use the most and I just couldn't abide it any longer.

I hope this post isn't too boring. I know it had been a while since my last post and now that Christmas is over, there isn't much to talk about. Luckily, American Idol is starting up and I'm sure it will give me something to talk about. For example? Ellen, really? I think she's funny and all, but a judge? I really wish they had gone with Kirsten Chenoweth, at least she actually has vocal training and could give them advice on how to do better. We'll see how it goes.