Her Space:My Space - Autumn

Her Space:My Space - Autumn

Autumn
The third season of the year. Show us 'Autumn' in your space today.

Living in southern California, we hardly see the seasonal changes like other states do. No fall foliage to relish. We know it's fall because temps are starting to dip a little and the sun is setting sooner. So it proved to be a challenge to find "autumn" in my space today. Fortunately, I have this welcome leaf hanging on my front door that I had just gotten last week. This is the only evidence of autumn I currently have in my home.
My friend, Liz, will be joining us at HSMS soon... that is if she hasn't posted yet.

Her Space:My Space - Blade

Her Space:My Space - Blade

Blade
A flat sharp cutting edge. Find 'blade' in your space today.

Oy...lookie here...I've managed to post while the sun's still up! LOL! Here's the blade in my space today - the razor hanging on my shower caddy.

Angela & Bobs, I'll get to your tag in a bit...gotta think of 7 facts about me. Since there were two of you who tagged me, does that mean I gotta think of 14 facts? Hope not! LOL! You think I can manage to find anyone who hasn't been tagged yet?

Her Space:My Space - Mesh

Her Space:My Space - Mesh

Mesh
A material made from a network of wire or threads. Show us 'mesh' in your space today.

It's another late one for me... I was busy today. I wasn't supposed to be busy but I had a deadline for a LO for ScrapArtist. It was due today and I had not started on it till this morning. It was supposed to be easy enough coz I had it planned in my mind already. But my Font Thing program would not install in my laptop. And you know how one small thing just throws you completely off? Well, that was me. My whole plan and schedule went out the window because of this little snag! Ugh! Hate it when that happens! Anyway, finally got it to work earlier tonight. Got my page done on time. So here I am, finally able to get to post here.
My mesh picture is the laundry bag where I keep all the orphan socks. Why do socks always seem to lose their pair? It's so frustrating! Feels like the dryer eats them up! LOL!

Her Space:My Space - Tray

Her Space:My Space - Tray

Tray
A flat , shallow container for carrying food, drin k and small items. Find a 'tray' in your space.

Here is my super late entry to today's prompt. I was all set to post it this morning. I had taken the photo and was all set for posting. But I got all distracted. DH was home today so I grabbed the chance to do some shopping without the kids. I went to get costumes for DS (pirate) and DD1(Cinderella)and came home with the costumes, some snacks, a dress and undergarments for me, hairbrush & bobby pins, and a fall welcome hanger. LOL. What was supposed to be a quick run turned out into a 2-hour shopping trip! Having no kids whining or complaining can make you forget about time apparently! LOL!

Her Space:My Space - Wheel and Card

Her Space:My Space - Wheel and Card

Looks like this is how it will be... posting on a Tuesday the photos for both Monday and Tuesday prompts. Now that kids are back in school, we really take the weekends off to be with each other, unless DH is working of course. So, I'm not able to do the Saturday self-portraits nor the Sunday show-off. When it's a busy Friday, I'm not able to do Friday's either. I was worrying about it in the beginning...but you know what? This is supposed to be fun, not something to stress over. No one's holding me down to the rules. This is self-imposed stress. LOL! So, while I truly enjoy doing the prompts and looking at other participants' takes on the word, I'll do it when I can. If I can't, well...there is always the next day.

Anyhoo, after that long intro... here are my photos!

Wheel
A circular object that revolves on an axle. Find a wheel in your space today.

Yup, it's a fallen wheel...DS is obsessed with cars and has a drawer full of them. I've even put a lot away already, particularly the broken ones. Coz even when they're broken, he like playing with them. Go figure. I suppose this is one of those wheels that has lost its home.

Card
A Piece of thick, stiff paper. Find 'card' in your space today.

This is a set of notecards given to me as a present from a friend who had vacationed in the Philippines during the summer. The image is of a man and a woman dressed in traditional Filipino attire. A piece of home to me. *Sigh*

Her Space: My Space - Stamp

Her Space: My Space - Stamp

Stamp
To make an impression.
A small token that ensures carriage of mail
To make a noise with ones foot.
Show us what Stamp is to you, in your space.

Aren't these postage stamps sooo pretty? DH had to ask me twice when he had to mail some stuff the other day if these were indeed stamps. I suppose he found them too pretty to use. LOL. Oh, and he was surprised too that the cost had gone up. It's now $0.41, up by 2 cents. Goes to show that it's been a while since he mailed anything using the postal system.
Actually, we don't use the post that often anymore. I pay many of our bills directly online so the only time we mail stuff is in mailing cards to family and friends. Admittedly, this isn't too often. Though I'd like to get back into the habit of letter writing, particularly since DS and DD1 love to write notes now. The house is littered with notepaper. I've given DD1 her own notepad to write her little notes and drawings in coz she was using up all the copy paper we use for printing.

Her Space: My Space - Jug

Her Space: My Space - Jug

Jug
A container from which eases the pouring of liquid. Show us your jugs! A-hem.

So weird. I was looking for water jugs for today's prompt but could not find anything. So here's my jug - a milk jug. Fresh milk is in demand in our home. It's gone down considerably since I stopped giving milk to DD1 in her sippy cup. I told her that she's a big girl now and needs to drink it from a real cup. Still, we go through about 2 gallons of milk every week and a half. I'm projecting that next year, we'll be up to 4 gallons a week once DD3 starts on whole milk instead of baby formula/breastmilk. That's where we were at last year.
Now, I'm not complaining about their milk consumption. In fact, I encourage it. Growing up, I was not much a milk drinker. Fresh milk was hard to come by in our place. We were given powdered milk mixed in water. I still recoil at the recollection of the taste and texture. Not something I enjoyed at all. I don't think my parents were milk drinkers either. They were, and still are big coffee drinkers, for sure. And nothing of the instant coffee types for them too. Only fresh-brewed coffee with bold robust flavor! I grew up loving coffee because I was exposed to it so much. Several years ago, some friends gifted my Dad with an espresso machine. He was very excited about that "toy" but I don't think they got it working at once because no one knew how to use it. LOL. It was too complicated I think. If I remember correctly, it was DH who got it working when we were there for a visit. DH is quite handy with gadgets and stuff. My Dad, not so much.

Her Space:My Space - Dog and Sponge

Her Space:My Space - Dog and Sponge

I feel so bad that I haven't been able to do these daily prompts well, daily. I did not realize that having 2 kids in school would make my life more hectic! I thought I'd have more time actually. The reverse has happened. I suppose it's because the school hours of the 2 are different. While DS is in school from 8 am - 3 pm, DD1 is only in school from 8:45 - 11:45. Then, there's homework to do and chores of course.
Anyway, in trying to get my sked back on track, I need to set my priorities. And honestly, I feel like my blogging is the first to go. And I don't want to feel like I have to blog every single day so I'll blog when I have time, like today. I think I'm writing this more to remind myself about this decision. It is so easy for me to try to do everything I want to do and forget about important stuff. So this is me, reminding myself to prioritize.

So, back to the prompts:
Here are my photos for today and yesterday:

Sponge
A natural (often man made!) material to soak up liquids. Show us a sponge in your space.

Here's the sponge by the kitchen sink. Nothing spectacular about it. Just an ordinary sponge. I used to have a different container for it but I noticed that though my container had holes to drain the water, the water did not drain very well because the container sat on the counter. Not very effective. So I bought this hanging thing. Much more effective I think. And my counter is less cluttered too.






Dog
Man's best friend. Have you got a lil pooch in your space?

Yes, this is the only type of furries around here. No real dogs. But if it were up to DS, we would have a dog. He's been asking for one. I won't budge. Maybe when he's old enough to take care of it himself. They also say they'll take care if their pets but guess who ends up doing all the work in the end? Yup, the mom! And no, I'm not willing to be that mom! So, so dogs are limited to the stuffed cuddly toys.

So, there you have my photos. Maybe I'll be here for tomorrow's prompt. Maybe I won't. But I hope you'll still come visit me for when I do have photos to share. Have a great day!

Her Space:My Space - Stare

Her Space:My Space - Stare

Stare
To look fixedly or vacantly at someone or something. Find ' stare' in your space today.

This is a major cheat because I had taken this photo way back in June. But it was just too irresistible to pass this up. I think it's just super perfect for today's prompt. I love this photo of DD3. She seems like she's staring at Pooh, wondering what they heck this guy is! LOL. Can you see the way she's looking at Pooh? We were playing that morning and this Pooh bear was left at the couch by her big sister. I started putting Pooh by DD3 and she kept pushing it away. Then, after a couple of times of this, she stopped and looked at Pooh intently. Fortunately, I had my camera by me and was able to snap this precious photo. It was really dark at first but I did some photo editing. It still isn't a technically sharp photo or anything but it'll do. In fact, I had scrapped this already. I have an ongoing project - DD3's baby book. I scrap her a page every month to document her growth. I used this photo for her June page.

HSMS: Quirky and Break

HSMS: Quirky and Break

I missed yesterday's prompt so I'm posting 2 photos today and they're related...

Quirky
Something characterised by the peculiar or unexpected. Find something 'quirky' today in your space.

This is one of 3 handmade clay figures I have at the family room. I think it's something quirky because it does not really match any of our other decor. But I fell in love with them, and they were on sale at that! I just had to buy them. And even though they do not really match any of my current decor, I think they fit perfectly on my corner table in the family room.







Break
To seperate into pieces. Show us 'break' in your space today.

And of course, one cannot expect breakable clay figures to go untouched in a house full of kids now, did you? Yes, sadly one of my clay musicians has fallen victim to DD2's heavy hands! LOL!

HSMS: Hang

HSMS: Hang

Hang
To suspend, be suspended or dangle. Show us 'hang' in your space today.
This is a cheat as I did not take this photo today. This is DD2 and believe it or not, she has fallen fast asleep here. LOL. That girl amazes me - she can just doze off anywhere in any position! I keep telling people that she has no slow down button, only on and off. When she's on, she's like a storm zooming through the day. But once she is tired, she just stops and turns off.

HSMS: Us

HSMS: Us

Us
you and me!

We woke up today to a somewhat chilly morning. So after we dropped off DS in school, we all hopped back into bed and had some cuddle time. This is us - me, DD1 and DD2. I was away from HSMS for all of last week. There were just so many things I had to do and sadly, hobbies take a back seat to real life must-do's. I would take a look at the prompt and have several ideas in my head on what to photograph but never get the chance to actually do it. In fact, as we were driving home from MIL one night, I peeked at the kids and there was DD3, all wide-eyed and I immediately thought, "Hey, that would have been perfect for the "curious" prompt!"

Anyway, on a somewhat related photography note...can you believe I took a total of 594 photos in August?!?! And that does not even count the shots I took for HSMS that did not turn out like I wanted. At the end of every month, I upload my photos to Costco as a back-up, just in case, my computer crashes or something. I only remembered to do my August photos today so here I am still uploading the photos. It's been over an hour and it's only 63% done. LOL! It's a lot of photos!!! And all thanks to the new camera. The Nikon D40x is just so quick that I find myself just pressing that shutter over and over again. LOL!

HSMS: Show off Sunday #3

HSMS: Show off Sunday #3

It's another Sunday - time to show off those photos at Her Space:My Space.

I had my picture chosen for this Sunday already. But last Friday afternoon, as we were waiting for DH to be ready (we were heading out to dinner), I grabbed the camera and asked the kids to play with me outside. I got a couple of goofy shots, some posed shots and this cute photo. When I saw it, it just grabbed me. I quickly showed it to DH who looked at it, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, it's cute!" I was not satisfied with his response. So I knew I HAD to show it off to you. LOL! Please tell me you won't shrug your shoulders and simply say, "Yeah, it's cute!" Or I'd be thinking I'm just a wee bit biased being the mother of this darling little girl. I'm not just biased am I?

HSMS: SPS#3

HSMS: SPS#3

It's time for another Saturday Self Portrait! Join us at Her Space:My space.

There really are not so many self-portrait shots you can take while holding the camera at arm's length. While I really should take out the tripod to get me a proper self-portrait, I still am too lazy to do so. LOL. So, I started thinking of other angles to take my photo from while holding the camera. This one is my looking down at the camera with my unkept hair obscuring my face. It turned out interesting, I think. So, that's just me experimenting. *smile*
My laptop will be out for repair this coming week. The internal speakers are broken. No sound is coming off them. DH took it to Circuit City(where he bought it) last weekend and they tested it. Since, it is still under warranty, HP sent us a box to send in the unit so they can repair it. I hope it does not take long to get repaired. We still have DH's laptop to use but I'll have to use it while he's in school. Once he gets home, no more computer time for me. He needs to log in his reports and stuff. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to get some chores done then! LOL!

HSMS: Talk

HSMS: Talk

Talk
To converse or communicate. Show us 'talk' in your space today. Join us at Her Space:My Space.

Here's DD2 with our friend's daughter, M. We gave birth within weeks of each other so these two girls are practically the same age. It would have been awesome if they lived nearby. They'd have fun playing together, I'm sure.
I did not get to do yesterday's prompt over at HSMS which was "feast". I had an idea in my mind for it too. Maybe I will post a catch-up for it one of these days. Anyway, back to yesterday...time just flew by. I was busy making a mini-album for a friend of mine. It was her bday last Monday but we're having dinner with 2 more couples tonight. I had heard about the Encyclopedia of an ordinary life album class by Cathy Zielske and decided to adapt the concept to make a mini album for my friend. All three of us (the ones having dinner with her tonight) took several letters each and thought of something that started with that letter. I put everything together and did the album. It turned out real nice, if I could say so myself. Here's the "R" page. {Credits: The Story of Us kit by Michelle Coleman, alpha from Graph Paper Alpha-stitched by Lisa Whitney} I've been wanting to use that kit by Michelle for so long. The orange/brown combo is too yummy. Found it in my stash as I was trying to decide what color combo to use for the album. We're excited to give it to her tonight. Hope she likes it!

HSMS:Hold

HSMS:Hold

Hold
To grasp, carry or support with your hands. Find 'hold' in your space. Join us at Her Space:My Space.

Just a teeny bit of a cheat as I took this shot yesterday. But when I saw the prompt, I knew exactly what shot I wanted to use. I love this photo. I think it captures so well DD1's nurturing nature (now that's a tongue twister LOL). And she really is so nurturing and loving to her younger sisters. She just loves DD3. And you know what, DD3 simply adores her. DD3 squeals with delight at the sight of DD1. I suppose she knows and feels her older sister's love for her. Do you see the tenderness with which DD1 looks at her baby sister? Is it just me? I could really look at this photo for ages and not get tired of it.

HSMS:Thoughtful

HSMS:Thoughtful

Thoughful
Absorbed in or involving thought. Show us 'thoughtful' in your space today. Join us at Her Space:My Space.
Today's prompt really got me thinking. I should've asked someone to take a picture of me as I sat pondering what pic to take for "thoughtful". I was hoping to catch one of the kids during one of their reflective poses. It happens sometimes...but not today. We were out and about and there wasn't really much time to sit and ponder. Then, after lunch, DD2 heard me say I was hungry. I had not had lunch yet, only the kids. She came up to me to offer me an orange. Awww...how sweet and thoughtful, I mused. *lightbulb* Did I just think thoughtful? So, I asked her to recreate the scene and give me another orange so I could take a pic. LOL! So, here she is - my thoughful DD2.

HSMS: Show off Sunday

HSMS: Show off Sunday

The photo I'm showing off today at Her Space:My Space is this one of DD2 taken in January. I think this one appeals to me so much because I see her a little girl trying to be more independent. She has grown so much since this photo was taken and has been asserting her independence more and more. Would you expect nothing less from a toddler? This is actually one of my must-scrap photos but I haven't gotten around to doing a page yet. My stack of must-scrap photos seem to be growing each day! LOL!

HSMS: Self-portrait Saturday#2

HSMS: Self-portrait Saturday#2

Join us at Her Space:My Space.

Here I am trying to be kinda artsy with my shots. I don't like close-ups because they reveal my bad skin but I had no choice today because I could not find the tripod to use. So, this will do. It's going to be a lazy day today. DH is on call so he's out till tomorrow. That means the kids and I will be staying home and lounge around. We slept in - sooo nice to sleep in! There isn't much to do here. It is so warm that I really don't feel like doing much, kwim? It isn't even warm - it's plain ole HOT! Our A/C has been on for several days now and I'm afraid of the coming electric bill! In fact, I've upped the thermostat to 80 already and turned on the fans, hoping that the A/C will turn off but nooooo, it's still on! I'm just glad we have A/C because I cannot imagine having to bear this type of heat. We reached 105 yesterday. Where DH was at(Riverside), it reached 111! Yikes!!!

HSMS:Chew

HSMS:Chew

To bite and grind with the teeth. Find 'chew' in your space today. Join us at Her Space:My Space.

Here are photos or my messy DD2 chewing on a cookie with the following dialogue:

ME: Go bite on your cookie so I can take a picture of you chewing.
DD2: Like this? (then bites into the cookie)
ME: Perfect! Thanks sweetie.
DD2: Look my mouth!(opens her mouth so I can take a picture of it)
DD2: Yummy cookie!

So there's my story of the chew photoshoot. LOL!

I wasn't able to do the past 2 days' prompts I've been quite busy. First, last Wednesday's prompt was "cloud" and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! I waited and waited - NADA! The sky was blue as can be that whole morning! I did notice clouds later in the afternoon but did not have my camera on hand. Besides, I was on my way to the PTG mtg at DS' school - and I was running late.
Then yesterday's prompt was dish. Surely I had a variety of choices here at home. However, I was busy working on the previews for the upcoming collab kit of ScrapArtist. I had volunteered to do it and did not realize how difficult it was to do! LOL! The elements preview was head-splitting! There were so many elements that I did not know how to put them all in the preview without it looking like I sneezed on the page and elements just blew over. It still was a busy preview but I hope it turned out okay. The collab kit comes out tomorrow, I believe.