Sunday Afternoon Project: A DIY Light Box for Macro Photography

I haven't really shared this with you guys before, but while we were travelling (see Harris Adventures for that) I discovered a few tricks on my digital camera. In fact, I fell so in love with its macro setting that I would wander the streets of Caloundra/Nambucca Heads/wherever and take loads of snaps of people's flowers.

Since we've been back in Brisbane I've been itching to do some more photography but haven't had much of a chance. Whenever we're driving around I find myself spotting something special and thinking "That would make a great photograph!". I've even been frequenting places like VistaPrint and CafePress and wondering "What could I do with these shots???".

Anyway, today while the Goo was asleep on her afternoon nap, I put together a little Macro Photography Studio using the instructions at Strobist. The lilac flower image and the little yellow duck are shots taken from my little studio. The flower has the whole funky focus thing going on, the flower at the front is in sharp focus while the foliage and bud at the back are slightly blurred. It makes the flower at the front stand out more, almost as if it's floating above the plant. I love that!

As for Ducky, well he's got warm light coming from his left hand side and cool light coming from his right. It was a lesson in lighting for me. I love how Ducky's fur looks in the photo. The camera seems to really pick up the texture of it and the black background makes his white hair stand out more. Cute.

Hope you like my pics. I went a little crazy and took about 80 shots, but I didn't want to post all those here! There are probably four or five out of all the shots that I really like. Thank God for digital cameras, eh? I wouldn't be doing this if I had to cough up for film. As if.

A recent online discovery - Instructables

I have to introduce y'all to Instructables, a great new site I discovered as I was reading all about people who buy Ikea products and hack them into something different. Instructables is basically a technical site with lots of tips on how to wire up cool stuff,... but thrown in are a few pearlers and a bit of useful stuff.

Firstly, here's my favourite Ikea-based instructable - Universal lamp shade polygon building kit. I LOVE these lights in store, but now that I know what shape they're using I can see all kinds of potential for it. Christmas tree baubles, gift wrapping, toys for Grace to play with,...

We have a Christmas tradition where I make everyone a Christmas bauble which involves a game or a puzzle. Sometimes it's a toy wrapped and wrapped in strips of crepe paper (which become streamers when the toy is unwrapped), and like a pass-the-parcel, it has lots of other things to discover along the way. Sometimes the centre's a Kinder Surprise. I usually print jokes, trivia, scriptures and stuff like that on long strips of paper for people to share during Christmas dinner.

Using the polygon shape, I could put all that trivia and stuff on the back of a polygon and give everyone their own colour-coded bundle tied with a ribbon. Then, the challenge could be to build a Christmas bauble using their polygon pieces. It would give them all something nice to hang on the tree. I could see some of my relatives having a great time building interesting shapes. They could use the ribbon to hang their baubles on the tree. Nice!

You could also make your own designer Christmas lights using these instructions. Make smaller polygons and attach them to a string of Christmas fairy lights. No one in your neighbourhood will have a set like yours. (-:



Here's an instructable on how to make longer handles for your baby stroller. This is amazingly useful when you realise that most strollers are too low and hurt your back when you push them for more than ten minutes.


How to kiss! While this is actually painful to read now, I can imagine a time in my teen years when I would have earnestly studied such an article. The thought of watching the video of the guy practising kissing in the mirror just makes me cringe. This is pretty funny.


Here's yet another useful article - How to clean your sinuses using a Neti Pot. This is one of the most useful ways of managing everything nasal, from the average cold through to chronic sinusitus. Scott and I both have one and we use it almost daily. Read it. Use it. But make sure you get pure salt (eg. from a health food store) with no iodine and no anti-caking agent added. The last thing you need is to be absorbing these chemicals through your mucus membranes!

Go and check out Instructables and be inspired. It's worth signing up so that you can print out the instructions. I'm sure you'll find something fun to make this weekend.

PS: Yes, I know this sounds like an ad, but frankly, I'm just enjoying it so much that I had to share it with everyone. No payments (of the cash variety) have been made!

Great foodie sites and Peanut OMG Surprise Cookies

Yeah, I know it sounds stupid to post foodie sites when you're trying to lose weight etc, however these are sites that feature some pretty healthy recipes (in amongst the unctious chocolately gooey stuff).

Fresh for Kids is a site produced by the Sydney Fruit and Vegetable Markets. It has some wonderful and nutritious recipes and not just for kids either. I think there are some that sound awesome. I'm going to try the little sweetcorn and bacon frittatas as soon as I unpack my muffin tray!

The Cook and The Chef is my absolute favourite show on TV at the moment. I love Maggie and Simon. They're lovely and their recipes always sound delicious. I've tried two - Simon's mushroom paste and Maggie's Sticky Banana and French Toast. Both were yummmeee. They also do a background story on one of the ingredients they're using. This is often the most interesting part of the show - I always learn something new.

Ready Steady Cook is one of my favourites. I have a theory: if they can cook five meals in twenty minutes, I can probably cook one. My favourite chefs are Damien Heads, Janelle Bloom and Alastair McLeod. I have taken Janelle's peanut butter cookie recipe and tweaked it sufficiently that it deserves a new name. Here's the recipe:



Peanut OMG Surprise Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Kraft Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchie but don't get the reduced salt version! Urk!)
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon plain flour (give or take according to consistency of dough)
1 Snickers bar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

In a bowl mix peanut butter, caster sugar and egg together with a wooden spoon.

Mixture should form a fairly soft cookie dough, if it's too soft (This can happen if you've used a particularly oily brand of peanut butter) add up to a tablespoon of plain flour.

Chop your Snickers bar in half lengthwise down the centre and then in small slices (around half a centimetre thick).

Roll teaspoons of cookie dough between your hands, poke a hole with your thumb (as you would when making a jam drop) and push a piece of Snickers into the centre of the dough. Push the dough over the Snickers and roll back into a ball.

This mix is enough to make 24 decent-sized cookies. Spread them evenly over two greased/lined cookie trays. Bake one tray at a time in the preheated oven for approximately 17 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool on tray for 5 minutes before removing but don't leave them any longer. The heat of the tray continues the cooking process and you'll end up with burnt bottoms. )-:

The Snickers Bar melts inside the cookie to create a delicious sweet caramelly surprise in the centre. The outside looks plain so it takes people by surprise. These are OMG when eaten warm with vanilla ice cream, but they also keep well. For some reason the lack of flour seems to keep them crisp a lot longer than your traditional peanut butter cookie made with flour.

"Yum Tummy" As my gorgeous little Gracey says while patting her cute little belly.

My new strategy: Exercise

I have given up on diets. I have decided to try another approach. I'm going to exercise once, maybe twice, a day and not worry a toss about the food. Exercise alone can significantly improve insulin resistance at the cell level and when this occurs, hopefully, my eating habits will naturally improve.

Over the years I have struggled with food. I tend to binge when I'm sad. I tend to obsess about food as soon as I sense the deprivation of a diet. I have had some serious counselling about it all and the outcome was that I need to learn to lean towards a particular way of eating, rather than undertake any kind of strict regimes.

Recently, I discovered something about myself. I learned that I am stuck in a breakfast rut of marmalade on toast (with real butter) and that's OK. In fact, if I never have anything else for breakfast ever, it's OK. That was the lesson I learned - it's OK. So I decided that if I can't change my breakfast of champions to some kind of healthier breakfast, I would revel in my marmalade on toast rut and try to tweak it. My tweak involved using a low GI bread like Helga's wholemeal wholegrain bread. Occasionally my marmalade toast treat is supplemented by an apple or a tub of yoghurt. I don't feel bad about this. There's nothing wrong with toast,... it's just that it's a meal that is entirely based on carbs. Not so good.

We'll see how the exercise thing pans out.

How to stay focused

This is what I was looking for when I found the article on how to be a happier mum. Yes, I got distracted,... but this is a good simple article on how to focus on something enough to see it through to completion.

Now I just need something to help me with those distracting thoughts.

My old blog, Destination Digest, is still online

If you have the strange desire to catch up on my back story, go to http://destinationdigest.tripod.com. I was surprised to find it still online. I haven't logged on to tripod in many many years. I wouldn't have a clue what my password is or even how to get it updated. But my old blog remains there like an old friend, a reminder of all the angst and struggle of infertility and missing my wonderful friends (and great times) in Melbourne.

Check it out some time. Marvel at how far I've come,... cry with me on my tragic pursuit of motherhood. Rejoice now, as I do (when I'm not moping) in being a mum and all of its joys and challenges.

This afternoon my daughter told me I was mean because I wouldn't let her eat chocolate for lunch. It cut me to the core. She got heaps of chocolate for dessert after she ate her lunch of reheated mince and vegies. I gave more than she really should have because I didn't want her to think I was mean. She's called me mean a couple of times lately. I'm surprised how much it hurts me. She says "love you" to Scott before bed, but she doesn't tell me that. I just get told I'm mean. It hurts.

I know she loves me. I'm the one she clings to for cuddles and safety,... I just don't want to be called "mean".

[sigh]

Tired of the plod?

I love being a mum. I love motherhood,... but sometimes my mood is pretty low. Dangerously low. It does turn into a plod more often than not. Today it's freezing cold, we're housebound because of the pooring rain. We don't have a car so we can't go and try and find something interesting to do. After weeks of rain, I'm over this. I'm pretty sure Grace is over it too. Let's go watch Play School. [sigh]

I found a great article about how to be a happier mum - http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/02/15/par.happier.mom/index.html. It's worth a read if you're struggling to find the joy in the day to day trials of toddler taming.