A Salute to Reality

People tell me they think I take great pictures. In reality I take lots and lots and lots of pictures and hope for 1 or 2 that are decent. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not. I guess that's one advantage of digital photography--no film to waste, all you have to do is delete. Today, the weather was nice, Katherine had just showered AND was wearing matching clothing--the trifecta of a good kid photo! I wanted to get a nice picture of her with her hair shorter (oh yeah, we cut about 3 inches off--her idea, not mine). The older she gets, the goofier her expressions are. Here's what I got:

Which if it looks a little grainy, it's because I cropped it down from this:

She wanted me to take a picture of her standing on one foot. Check.

Then there's this:

And this:

Really not sure what to say about this one.

And this:

Great smile, but what are you doing with your shirt? (still may end up on a scrapbook page!)

And this tilt her head to one side "look at me, how cute am I pose"

Also seen here:

AND here:

So that's a few of about 35 pictures taken in a few minutes outside this morning. There were a few more, but I had the camera on manual mode since the light was so good but I guess the shade from a tree was enough to challenge the shutter speed when you put an almost 5 year old into the equation--lesson learned!

Of course these can't equal the gems Katherine took:

(although the sky in this one does look awesome--and I didn't touch it in Photoshop!)

There was a lot of talk in blogland and scrapbooking in general about how we (as bloggers and scrapbookers) portray ourselves and only focus on the good, positive perfect lives we lead. When if that's all you see out there, you're naturally going to compare your own life and feel bad you're not measuring up. Instead we should be exposing our realities so we can support and encourage each other. Several bloggers I read regularly did a post about their real life so here's a few from mine:

• 
  
  I never make my bed. It only gets made when the sheets get changed. I'll never make Katherine make her bed either--I'd feel like a hypocrite making her do something I don't.
• 
  
  I donate at least monthly to the Harford County library. These little donations are my way of saying "thanks" for reminding me about my disorganization and/or absentmindedness when I'm overdue.
• 
  
  I question regularly my job performance as a mother and wonder if I put enough energy & time into it or if I spend too much time on my hobbies. Hence my latest two books checked out from the library: "Mitten Strings from God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry" and "Bringing up Girls."
• 
  
  It's a good week when the laundry gets put away before it gets pulled from the basket and worn again.
• 
  
  I compare the cleanliness and decorating of my house to houses on TV and even though logically I know it's a TV set, I still wish my house looked like theirs.
• 
  
  Sometimes I look at the clock and it's only 3pm, Charlie's at work and I wonder how in the world I'm going to entertain Katherine till bedtime.
• 
  
  I watch the Bachlorette--and I like it!

Pheww, that was a long one. Gotta get to bed so I can run 11 miles in the morning!