I’m feeling a little more normal, as long as I don’t over do it and just don’t talk. Apparently I sound like an old lady when I do talk, plus it just hurts. So instead of talking, I’ve been playing with my new gadget:

Yes, it’s a Nikon D60. Go ahead and drool, cause I am.  I’ve been wanting to upgrade our camera for a while, partly to enhance my interest and skills in photography, but mostly so that we could have super quality memories to store of Savannah. However, if you’ve ever looked at camera’s, you’d know that SLR’s aren’t the cheapest camera’s around so we’ve held off.  But, I saw some refurbished ones on ebay that were cheaper than the store and had a coupon for some % off and I talked hubby into allowing me to buy it now instead of waiting until September for my birthday present.

Funny story: I got so excited after he told me YES I could buy one, I starting bidding without paying close attention. I ended up buying just the camera body without a lens!  Not just that, but I accidentally bought TWO of them!  The same company was selling the same item and they were the same price at the time and I thought I was bidding again on the same thing. Doh! I was so mad at myself and probably never will bid again on ebay. But, the company was understanding and canceled the second order. However, that still left me having to buy a lens and accessories instead of being smart and buying a whole package together. Note to ebayers: Don’t get click happy without realizing what you are buying.

It’s worked out though. I got a refurbished lens and was able to buy a better one than it normally comes with and a super GB memory card to store thousands of pictures (all on ebay but with Buy It Now option). So I guess that’s the silver lining of not buying a package deal, I got to pick out exactly what I wanted.

That said, here’s some pictures I’ve taken the past few days as I’m learning what I can do with it:

This one I cropped and enhanced the color

This one is straight out the camera. I love it.

Doughnut faces!

It seems like adoption has always been apart of my world, when I was a young child I had cousins and aunts adopted into our family so it was just a natural thing for me to grow up with. However, not until I became a birthmother at 16 did I truly take an interest and acquire a passion for adoption.  One thing I learned?  Dave Thomas, ya know the Wendy’s founder, was adopted as a child and later in his life set up an Adoption program for to help Foster Care children find forever homes.  But really, besides knowing that fact, I hadn’t given it much thought in how I could help.

But, this weekend we can all easily help these children find permanent homes with just a few clicks and a yummy treat. Father’s Day weekend is coming up very soon! And for the special Dad occasion on June 20th and June 21st Wendy’s will donate .50 cents for each frosty purchased to go toward the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.   And, for every Father’s Day Frosty card sent on their website they will donate .25 cents to the program.  How easy is that? Like I said, just a few clicks to send your favorite Dads a card and taking them out for a yummy Frosty treat not only to brightens their day and says thanks for all they do, but also helps these children.  It’s a win-win situation.

Thanks to Mom Central for sharing the information for this helpful cause!

This has been the longest week EVER.  2 more days until we know what’s going on in this womb of mine. I’m still feeling good physically (aside from nausea) and I’m hopeful for good things.  I’m choosing to be happy this weekend, for if I do find out bad news Monday, I will have enjoyed my last days before reality hits.

But until I know what’s going on, it’s made me so thankful for Savannah. I swear, it’s like she knows her momma needs support and lots of laughs because she has been pretty amazing this last week.  I’m loving this age!  She knows how to make us laugh with her silly faces and games. She’s got this new game where she talks to things, like our fingers or stuff animals or anything she wants.  But, my favorite thing she does is how she gets three stuff animals, three bottles, three anything and they suddenly are mommy, daddy, and baby. It’s adorable to watch her use her imagination now and we all have a role in it.

Happy Birthmother’s Day to my fellow birthmothers! And Happy Mother’s Day to my fellow Mommies (and birthmommies) tomorrow.  Like I said last year, I love having two days to celebrate my roles.

Sometimes, bad photos can turn into a beautiful thing. I love Picnik! And Adobe Photoshop.

Example:

Flash washed out our faces. Not exactly frame worthy, right?

After:

Playing with the saturation, exposure, etc. (in Picnik, makes it so easy!) now highlights the most beautiful feature of Savannah. Her Eyes. And, I think it just looks edgy and cool.

(But gosh, those eyes are killer. Aren’t they?)

Guess who finally got a new computer?

Of course, there is already an issue with it straight out of the box. But, hopefully my handy Dad can fix it when he comes down for Savannah’s birthday (How is it already birthday time again?!) as we’re afraid to tinker around inside like HP suggested.

So, with a new computer all set up, hopefully I can be around here more. My blog stats are the lowest ever (like 5 visits kinda low. Ouch.) and it’s almost depressing. So here’s to a new year and a new computer. I pray this peice of technology holds up better than my recent streak of luck.

Hurrah!

Did you notice something missing? Like…oh…my entire website? If you read via a reader my content was still all there and you probably didn’t notice but I promise, it was entirely gone. I didn’t realize until my family asked me, “uh Leah…what’s wrong with your website?”  And I flew to the computer knowing what happened and wrote frantic emails to support.  See, I decided to switch website hosts due to lower cost and better support and in the process something didn’t go as planned. When one account expired the whole thing was closed down.  But, we’re back as you can see. 

But, can I just tell you…I’m about sick of technology right now. SICK. Everything I touch is breaking it seems.  My car and lap top, now Mark’s laptop is shot, a xbox 360, and today my website–all within a week!  Thankfully, most of these things can and are being fixed. But seriously? Technology, can I get a break please?

Notice something different around here?  A new layout!  I winter-fied it up in here, cause I’m sure the snow flakes on my header are the only ones I’ll see this winter.  My last layout wasn’t functioning correctly between the different browsers so I was ready for a change.  I’m still trying to figure out what the odd symbols are up top on the main page. Any one know?  So far technical support has been useless on the issue.

Not long before Christmas is here!  It’s insane how fast the days have gone by. I’ve been enjoying visiting family, relaxing, and finding out that my grades came out pretty great (always a good thing).  However, I did figure out that my adviser did not know what she was talking about and I will not graduate early as we thought. Bummer. Apparently there is some rule that says you have to have 120 credit hours. So, that means I will have my major and minor completed by next December as planned…but I won’t have enough random credit hours to graduate so I get to waste another semester taking random classes.  Hm.  I’m choosing to see it as a blessing in disguise because now I have time to take it more easy, have time to take cool classes like graphic design and creative writing, and I can take less classes at one time therefore allowing me to be with Savannah a little more.

Anyways, I hope you are enjoying the holidays!

Today was the last day of finals for Mark and I. That deserves a big woo hoo! Tomorrow begins a month’s worth of doing nothing but spending time with family. Ahhh…

However, this day has not been so good for the technology in my life. 

Exhibit A: My car.

I’m driving the 45 to school, on the high way, with a speedometer that is stuck on 20. So, I don’t know how fast I’m going, just going with the flow and praying I don’t get pulled over. This problem I’ve had for a while which is why I choose not to drive my car if possible, today I had to though.  It’s a gray day, extremely foggy and misty so I’ve got my windshield whippers on medium to keep a clear view. And suddenly, the windshield wipper FLIES OFF! On the high way!  The on the drivers side, of course. I laugh, cry, and thank God at the same time. Ya know, cause things could have really been bad if it was raining harder than it was.  So, I spend the rest of drive leaning over to the passenger side making sure I can see. It looks like an amputated little arm now, my poor car is literally falling aprart. Oh.

Exhibit B: My Computer

I get home for my long day of finals, check my email really quick and accept a blog comment, then go to give Savannah a bath. Then? I come back a few minutes later and it’s stuck on a black screen doing circles of commands.  I immedietely call my personal Geek Squad (aka, my Dad) and he tells me that it sounds like my hard drive is dying. Great. So all my picture, files, personal writings, important emails, past papers, scrapbooking supplies, etc. Gone.  And what I’m really kicking myself about? I had an external hard drive. If I would have taken the time to unwrap the box and use it, my stuff would still be alive.  *kicks self*

So, today I will muster up a “woo hoo” but my heart is really sinking way down to my shoes.  My baby, my lap top, is gone.  And I can’t afford a new one. Let’s have a moment of silence while I cry. No, seriously, I just might cry.

There is another giveaway over at the review blog!  It’s a SmartShopper, which is an electronic grocery and errand organizer. A great Christmas gift if you’re still looking for one!

And, the Real Beauty Books giveaway is still open as well. Both giveaways end tomorrow at midnight, so head on over before it’s too late.

(Off to study…2 more exams to go and I shall be free…)

Are you kidding me?! I decided to go with Blurb since that was what people most recommended and they had a $10 off promo code for flickr.com members.  Here is the link to the code, and an image of it:

Now, do you see anything that says a total amount that you have to spend before you get the $10 off? Nope. Do you seen an asterisk or a link (trust me, there isn’t) that explains further details of the offer? Nope. Do you see ANY find print? Nope? Me neither.

So, I spent ALL day. Procrastinating from my homework in order to create this cute little book for a Christmas present for some one special.  I finally get it done hours later and go to check out…only to find that the code doesn’t work.  “Sorry, this promotion cannot be applied to this dollar amount.”

WHAT?  So I email tech support about it and they email with this sloppy excuse:

“Thank you for contacting us at Blurb. I’m terribly sorry for the inconvenience, the fine print on that promo should read as follows. “Purchase $29.95, get $10.00 off your product total. Share this promotion among 100000 friends. Each customer can use this promotion 1 time. Offer valid between 2008-11-09 and 2008-12-06. Promotion only valid for books created by the customer.”

Some one PLEASE tell me where this fine print is located?  Am I being totally ridiculous by simply wanting want this coupon SAYS not what is SHOULD say?  Isn’t it faulty of Blurb to leave out important details of the promotion? Shouldn’t I still get what exactly what the promo SAYS, since it’s their fault they left out the details? (And did you notice that the date he gave me is a different date than the promo image?)

Are you kidding me?! This is now THREE photo sites that have wasted my time in trying to create a photobook. Why do I have such rotten luck in this area? Or really, why do these sites just suck?

Seriously, tell me if I’m being ridiculous about this. And what to would do about it. Do I keep fighting for “justice”? It’s just not right.