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New Year's Day

Mamma Christine — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:05:00 +0000

I spent the first morning of my New Year at church. I was rewarded with some beautiful light. Incidentally, I am posting most of my photography over on Google Plus now. It's much more interactive and less formal than blogging. Perfect for a busy mamma.

If you'd like to see more of my stuff, you can find me at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108621807234552207222/posts

Half the Sky

Mamma Christine — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:46:00 +0000

I just finished this book. It's one every woman should read. And probably every man too. But DEFINITELY every woman. It can be a tough read, not because it's written poorly but because the things women endure throughout our world are heart wrenching, sickening, wrong, and just plain sad.

I had to take it slowly, but this is just the kind of book I would have written had I lived another life where I traveled the world instead of giving birth. It even ends with 2 pages of what you can do just like this blog! That made me smile.

It's full of stories of individual women and the terrible experiences that have been forced upon them and how they've miraculously been able to rise above them. It cover rape, trafficking, maternal mortality, infant mortality, abuse, and more. It covers just about every problem women endure throughout the world. And it tells stories of women who have come up with and implemented plans to help solve some of the world's most insolvable problems. My favorite story was about a woman who became a world class fistula surgeon without ever attending a day of school. If you have given birth and don't know what a fistula is, you should learn. As soon as you know what it is, you will want to help. Somehow. Someway. It's a tragic condition almost no one in America experiences but is found all over Africa. Women with it are modern day lepers and outcasts. We lament that our bodies are not the same after giving birth. After learning what some women go through, it will be hard to ever complain again.

This book will make you grateful for what you have and spark the desire to want to do more for women who have not been so blessed. You can buy it on amazon for about $10 or used for about $5. It could be a great Christmas gift.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Read this book.
Share this book with others.
Donate a copy to your library.
Ponder how you in your circumstances might be uniquely positioned to help.
Consider picking a problem from the book to support somehow. There are plenty of organizations listed in the back if you want to support one highlighted in the book too.

Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock

Mamma Christine — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:40:00 +0000

Those of you who are gluttons for punishment and want to see a visual chronology of our Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth Rock can do so HERE. Otherwise, you can just look at this picture of a replica of the Mayflower and imagine what our day might have been like.

Can't Close Bosch Dishwasher Door

Mamma Christine — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:28:00 +0000

When I woke up this morning I noticed my dishwasher full and open in the kitchen. "Dangit! I forgot to run the dishwasher last night," I thought. I put some soap in and pushed the door, only it wouldn't close. It felt like the door was ricocheting off something. I examined everything and finally concluded that the handle was stuck in the open (or maybe closed) position. In any case, it was stuck and blocking the latch from going in and locking the door closed.

The last thing I wanted to do was pay a technician to come out for something as dumb as a latch. So I googled and found this forum which was helpful, but not helpful enough. It gave me ideas, but not clear directions or PICTURES. I need PICTURES!! I ended up doing more than I needed to and I thought I'd add a few pictures to the conversation in case some other visual Mamma desperate to be able to wash her dishes before they pile up to the ceiling wanted a clearer explanation.

First, on the inside of the dishwasher door there is a little opening where the latch goes in. It was stuck To fix this problem, all you need to do is take a screw driver and push on that little black piece where the red arrow is pointing until it pops back into place. Holding onto the handle with one hand while you use the other push with the screwdriver will make it obvious when that it pops into place. That's it. That's all you need to do, problem solved.

However, if you, like me, decide to take the whole front panel off because someone on the forum suggested there was an easy fix inside, you may have trouble with two little black pieces. Taking the panel off my Bosch Dishwasher was easy, but these two little black pieces came off with it and I couldn't for the life of me figure out where they went back together. My owner's manual was no help. It didn't have any drawings. I finally called my appliance guy, who is wonderful, by the way. And he told me where they went without charging me a penny. Seriously, if you live near Danbury, CT, call Brookfield Appliance 203 775-5778. John is great.

Back to those two little black pieces that made me crazy. Here are pictures of where they go since Bosch apparently refuses to publish a diagram of the inside of the front panel. Again, it was an easy fix, all I needed was a PICTURE!!

Incidentally, the dishwasher will work fine without these pieces, they're basically in there for support to make the front panel harder to dent.

So here's a view of my dishwasher with the front panel off. That little black rectangle on the right next to the drawer is the offending party. If you look closely on your dishwasher, you will be able to see how it slides right in there.

This is a view of the left side annoying black piece from the top

And here is the inside of the front panel, you can see there's a spot cut out where the flat part of the black piece will fit right in.

And there you have it - an easy fix with pictures for a Bosch dishwasher that won't close as well as pictures showing where to fit the black hinge pieces inside the front panel. I'm guessing none of my regular readers will need this, but hopefully it will help some frustrated Mamma googling about her dishwasher some morning.

Picasa and I Do Not Get Along

Mamma Christine — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 09:55:00 +0000

But for some reason I keep coming back.

I love the simplicity of blogging from Picasa but a full 50% of the time, the pictures which looked fine when I posted them, don't work the next day.

Dumb.

5 Guys

Mamma Christine — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:22:00 +0000

I have this fear that I'm going to forget my life.

I love my life and the thought of living without memories of these years frightens me.

I'm on a mission to document more of the "mundane."

More of those moments that make my life my life.

Today we worked hard all day in the yard. Our final fall clean up.

We rewarded ourselves by going to 5 Guys for dinner.

I'm also finding myself in love with b&w right now.

So even though 5 guys begs for color, I liked these pics in b&w

.There's a color version on my family blog if you're interested.

Can you find Tater Tot waving?
Or the other crazy mom taking pictures in a fast food restaurant?

The Incredible Hulk

Mamma Christine — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:36:00 +0000

I took this picture way back in May and posted it on a Flickr group my sister and I were doing, but I LOVE it and decided to post it here. I love it most because it is so opposite of how this boy really is. I loved theater because it allowed me to take on other characters and be someone I wasn't. I love that my sweet boy could create this kind of a character with no direction from me!

It's obviously highly edited. If you want to see how I did it, you can see HERE.

A Day in My Life

Mamma Christine — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:17:00 +0000

More specifically, a morning in my life since two children are obviously missing.

Bathtime.
A ritual for babies who like to feed themselves.

Beating the tree with a large stick left from the storm. No, I haven't put away the skeleton yet.
Never mind that it's Thanksgiving next week.

We went fishing in the front room and caught lots of great stuff.

Including a telephone.

And then we decided cameras were NOT a part of the game!

Fortunately the camera came back out at the grocery store.
Thank goodness because this is one of my new favorite pictures.

Assignment: Water Droplets

Mamma Christine — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:40:00 +0000

Well, it was inevitable. While learning how to shoot with off camera flash, practicing on water droplets is a must. Here's what I came up with:

Alien Shadow

Royal Blue

And my favorite:

Jello Mold

If you want to see how I did it, you can look HERE.

Assignment: Blue

Mamma Christine — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:32:00 +0000

I like the sharpness and the softness and the stark contrasts, especially the long white stripe that seems to slice the image to the core. If you want to see how I did it, you can look HERE.

Blue Agony