Category: Uncategorized

Kitty Photo Shoot

So I was uploading some photos that have been on my camera for a while, when I look over to my left, and my cats are all gazing out the window to a beautiful sunny day.  I couldn’t help myself.  I had to start snapping pictures with my Sigma 30mm lens.  Love that lens!  It takes the best pictures ever!  I don’t use it as often as I should because it has no zoom, so it’s really only good for photos where you can move your body quickly to zoom in and out as needed.  Which, for me, means that I mainly only use it for portraits or close ups of objects or food.  That being said, here are some of the photos I took of our kitties today.  Hope you like them!

Oh, and if you like what you see……I’m available to take pictures for you too!  Well, as long as you’re in the Nashville area that is. 🙂  Or in CA when I happen to be visiting.  Since I’m just starting out, I can offer you beautiful pictures at next to nothing!

Lacey has such beautiful eyes.

I love this one because the green from the grass is reflecting off of her blue eyes, so it looks like her eyes are green toward the top and blue at the bottom.  Such an awesome effect.

Lacey is my little poser.  The other two kitties don’t cooperate with me very well and get annoyed if I have my camera in their faces for too long.

Finally got Lazarus to look at me.  I had my aperture set so low that only his nose is in focus and the rest is out of focus.  For those of you who don’t know many photography terms, aperture has to do with how much of the picture you want in focus.  The higher the aperture, the more in focus the entire picture will be.  As you can see with this photo, I had my aperture set very low so even though his eyes are only a fraction of an inch further back than his nose, they are still slightly out of focus.  If I had focused on his eyes, then his nose would slightly be out of focus.  Hope that makes sense.

BIG yawn!  See how Lazarus’ upper canine tooth is not very sharp?  I’ve always wondered how that happened.

Such a handsome boy.

Fancy wanted to get in on the picture taking action…..or so I like to believe.  She is the least photogenic out of all three cats.  She hates having her picture taken, and never looks at me when I want her to, but I find ways to make her do it anyway. 🙂

All three kitties looking out the window.  Of course Lazarus has to ruin the picture by turning his back to me.

Fancy is beautiful when she finally lets me take her picture!  She has such pretty eyes, and they reflect the green grass so well.

Hello pretty girl.

It’s like she knows she’s having her picture taken.  “Here, Mom.  This is my good side, and I’ll even gaze upwards for you so that my eyes are looking into the light.”

Seriously.  Have you ever seen a more photogenic cat?  Of course, I’m a little biased since I’ve raised her since she was 8 weeks old.  And now she’s already 4 years old!  Where has the time gone?

When my parents were here, my dad was playing with the kitties by shining the light that was reflecting off his watch onto the walls.  The above and following pictures were captured during that time.

What are you looking at?

Oh, you’ve got your camera out?  Okay!  Let me just lay right here and pose for you!

Fancy is staring at the light on the wall across the room.  She pounced right after I took this photo.

Here’s Lacey, copying Fancy’s last pose.  And oh look, my parents made it into the photo!  Ironic since they were actually in the room while I was taking these pictures. 🙂

Ok, I’m open for business!!!  Great photography at a very cheap price, or maybe even free if you’re lucky!  I need to expand my portfolio!  I can only take so many pictures of animals before it starts getting redundant.

 

Mexican Beef Stew

I don’t think there is a more easy meal to prepare than one that is cooked in a Crock Pot.  All you have to do is toss the ingredients in the pot, set the timer, and fahgettaboudit.  This Mexican Beef Stew was one such meal!  I love that I can have dinner waiting for us when we get home, instead of having to go through the ordeal of deciding what to make and making sure that I have all the ingredients I need.  Steve and I bought ingredients for a weeks worth of Crock Pot dinners.  Oh, and did I mention that since we had spent over $500 at Kroger last month, we got 60 cents off per gallon when we filled up the gas tank this morning!  We ended up paying only $2.75 per gallon!!!  Oh yes….that’s right!!!

Now, back to the stew.  Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 1/2 lbs beef for stew, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, mostly drained
  • 1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 can Campbell’s® Condensed Beef Consomme´
  • 1 cup chunky salsa (I used Pace® Chunky Salsa)
  • 2 tbsp chili powder 
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic, minced

Start by cutting the beef into 1 inch cubes.  You can also buy stew meat that is already cubed if your grocery store provides that.

Thoroughly coat the meat in flour….no we’re not making chicken fried steak!

Throw the flour-coated meat into a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook until browned.

Chop up your onion.  I only used half an onion, but you can use a whole one if it would make you happier.  I’ve never been a real onion fan.  Unless of course it’s in the form of an onion ring!

Once your meat is browned, throw it into your Crock Pot (or slow cooker if you prefer).

Toss in the onion.

Next comes the beans!  I drained almost all of the liquid out of the can before dumping it in.

Drain the canned corn, and add it to the pot.  It looks like a lot, but once it all gets mixed around it will look more evenly distributed.

I had never cooked with Beef Consomme´ before this recipe, and didn’t really even know what it was.  It looks and smells like a very concentrated beef broth, in case you’re like me and have never cooked with it before.

Pour the beef consomme´ into the pot.

Next, pour a cup of chunky salsa into the pot.  I used Pace® Chunky Salsa, but you can use whatever brand you want.  I don’t know if fresh salsa would work well in this recipe, but if you want to try it out with fresh salsa, let me know how it turns out!

Finally, add the chili powder, ground cumin, and garlic powder (or minced garlic if you decided to use that).

Give it all a good stir, and set your temperature to low, and cook for 8-10 hours.  If you don’t have 8-10 hours to wait, you can also cook it on high for 4-5 hours.

Here’s what the stew will look like after 8 hours of cooking.  Yum! Yum!  I love that the house smells so good when we walk through the door after a long day at work.  So nice to come home and have dinner ready!

Pour several big ladle fulls of stew into your favorite bowl and enjoy!  I know this isn’t exactly a “summer” dinner, but crank that A/C up and you’ll be in the mood for hot stew in no time! 🙂

 

Stay Tuned (Updated)

I know I haven’t posted something new in at least a week, and I’m very sorry about that!  We’ve been crazy busy this past week with Elizabeth and Rustin’s wedding festivities, and I have been editing photos in all my spare time so that I will have a ton to share with you, and I’m almost done with all the photos.  If you’re my friend on facebook, you’ve probably already seen some of the photos, but I’ll give you more of a narrative than what is on facebook.  I gave one of our friends my camera during the wedding, and he definitely did not disappoint.  When I got home and started uploading there were over 600 pictures on my camera from that day!  Luckily I have a memory card that can hold that many photos!!

Overall, the wedding was a huge success and there were a few surprises along the way which you will see in my next post.  So stay tuned, and know that I haven’t forgotten about you, my blog family!!!

P.S. Only 44 43 36 days until our wedding!

Update:  I’m sorry I didn’t have time to post something last night.  I had Bible Study and it ran a little over, so by the time I got home I needed to spend some quality time with Steve instead of ditching him for the computer all night.  I uploaded a bunch of photos onto my blog (or so I thought) this morning so that I could post them while I am at work, but when I went to finish the post, they were all gone.  Lovely.  But don’t worry!  I WILL post them tonight!  I know, my blog is what you live for every day, and every day that there isn’t a new post you die a little inside, but never fear!  Joanna is here!  And I will not disappoint you!