Something New

Carlsbad Caverns: Photos in the Dark

December 28, 2011 by Diana 10 Comments

The day before Christmas Eve we headed up to Carlsbad, NM and in the blinding snow and cold decided to head to the Caverns. I’d been when I was little before, Sam had never been. There are no bats this time of year but we thought just going would be neat.

Riding the 700 feet down in the elevator (the walk is too much for kids), I clutched my DSLR and hoped that I’d be able to figure out a way to take some shots that actually looked like the cavern. Not the cavern on flash steroids.

And then we discovered how very dark it was. I had no idea how to get a realistic looking picture, froze up, and used the flash to get extra light since my camera was making the angry noise when I tried it in the dark.

So I got some of this ultra lit mess:

Meh. :/

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Filed Under: Family, Fun Times · Tagged With: Look what I found, Something New

Bella, the Carousel, and first attempts at Manual

December 17, 2011 by Diana 8 Comments

This was my very first time attempting total manual (no AV or TV) so it’s not perfect, but I love the shots of Bella and the Disney carousel her great grandma gave her. I’m not a big fan of Disney, (whole other blog post for another day) but this is too cute. She calls is, “Dis?” and points because “carousel” is just too much for her. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Photography · Tagged With: Something New, Things that make me smile

I gave birth today. And a little announcement.

December 8, 2011 by Diana 43 Comments

And by giving birth, I mean to a small, blue, evil Mirena.

If you want to stop reading now I’ll understand. And family members – you might want to. Don’t blame me if you read something you didn’t want to know about – or did but wanted it to be a surprise.

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Filed Under: Babies, Family, Fun Times · Tagged With: Something New

Full Feeds and Posts via Email

December 2, 2011 by Diana 8 Comments

Yesterday, I was emphatically told on Facebook that most of you dislike partial feeds in your reader and in your email.

I understand. I do. I dislike them as well, although I do have several bloggers that do it, and I love them so much I go over any way. But there isn’t anything nicer than curling up with a cup of (decaf ::sad face::) tea and reading The Pioneer Woman in the evenings on my phone.

As gorgeous as her site is to go to.

I think the hard part is, I love having people come over and stay for a while. I felt as if a full post in a reader would mean you’d never come back. Never see my site, the changes, the updates, or be part of the community we’ve formed. You’d read and delete.

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Filed Under: Blogging · Tagged With: Blogging, Changes, New and Improved, Something New

Bounce Bar Review and Giveaway (with a $50 Visa card!)

November 8, 2011 by Diana 128 Comments

This is a paid review sponsored by BlogHer and Bounce. All opinions are my own.

As a busy mom with a husband who requires a neat, clean, pet-hair-free appearance for work, I find that dyer sheets have become the bane of my existence. While Sam does his own laundry (many years ago we just agreed to let him do it since he’s rather anal), I am the one continually picking up random dryer sheets from everywhere.

So when Bounce sent me their new, unscented Bounce Dryer Bar, I was thrilled. It’s like having 3 months worth of dryer sheets in a tidy little package – that sticks to the inside of your dryer. So simple, so convenient. Just stick it and forget it. I got to work doing laundry that day and was impressed at how it worked.

I chose unscented because we tend to be a little more sensitive to things we wear. I love that it repels pet hair from clothes, while controlling static and leaving everything so soft. We have cats, but we’re not fans of leaving the house with hair clinging to us. This changes that.

I’ve never been a fan of dryer sheets before because I found that on certain clothes they actually caused more static. But with the Bounce Dryer Bar, the static is controlled. Sam loves that, his clothes have to be almost perfect in the Army and clingy, fuzzy clothes could actually get him in trouble. I love the fact that we are now a dryer-sheet-free household. For cloth diapers and Bella’s night clothes (the Bounce Dryer Bar warns not to use it on pajamas because it reduces the flame retardant) you can simply unsnap it out of the dryer, and then snap it back in for the next load.

The best part is when the bar is done, you can purchase a refill to snap into the shell again. No fuss. This is great as dryer sheets used to get hidden in the dryer, and I’d do a load of diapers or night clothes without seeing it was in there. Waiting for me. :/ And now I’m free of them. See more about the bar on Bounce’s Facebook page.

One of you is going to win the Bounce Dryer Bar as well as a $50 Visa gift card from BlogHer and Bounce! Leave me a comment, or answer this question to enter:

How many loads of laundry do you do a week?

(I do like 10 but I have cloth diapers.)

Rules: No duplicate comments, but leave a separate comment for each you do. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open until 12/6 at 5:00 PST to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.

For more opportunities to win, visit the Bounce round-up page on BlogHer.com to read other bloggers’ reviews!

Filed Under: Giveaways, Home, Stylin' · Tagged With: Daily Life, Something New, Worth every penny

Things that go bump in the nap.

October 6, 2011 by Diana 29 Comments

Yesterday around 2 I finished up all my work to hear Bella (who is almost 23 months) in the other room, waking up from nap. While she usually plays happily for a few minutes before starting to call for me, this time I heard sobs and, “Uh oh, uh oh!”

I walked down the hall, remembering how I thought she sounded quite loud, and pushed open the door only to bump into something. A thought quickly raced through my head of, “Did her cloth diaper pail tip, and how on earth?” Then I heard an even louder wail and pushing the door wider I saw her little face poke around it, tears streaming down, a diaper half off as she said, “Uh oh, diaper? Uh oh.”

In complete shock, I just stood there for a second, sputtering out, “Wha… how did you get out, did you climb out of your crib? Wait, how did you do that?!” [Read more...]