Just for fun! Meme

Well, a very dear friend asked hinted for me and Elisabeth to give this a try, so here we go... :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My middle name, Lynne, is my mom's middle name...but Erin was just a name that my parents liked!

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last week, when my cat, Elmo, died. :(

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No way! That's why I'm such a big fan of typing everything up on the computer.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No, but I have lots of siblings...five to be exact. :D

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Um, I think so...

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Yes, but it's in a nice way! lol Mom says I have a dry sense of humor and sarcasm is part of that humor.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes!

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Actually, it kind of looks like fun! :D So maybe...

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Raisin Bran

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I don't normally wear shoes with laces as I'm a big fan of slide-ons and sandals!

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Well, the arm I use to carry Alexander around (he's heavy!) is pretty strong, I think. ;)

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Give me vanilla any day! And Oreo is good too.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

15. RED OR PINK? Pink!!

16.. What do you like the least about yourself? I forget things ALL THE TIME! I wish I had a better memory!

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Aunt Ethel...she passed away years ago, but I still miss her.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Everyone's invited!

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Actually, I'm wearing pajamas right now and no shoes...hey, it's morning and it's also summer vacation! But I'm going to go get dressed right now! :)

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Toast!

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? "Small Town Southern Man" by Alan Jackson

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Turquoise

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? The smell of a new car (hey, the inside of a new car smells nice!), and the sweet smell of early morning. :)

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Aunt Brenda

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Oh yes (to quote Lillie, Sis. Beth), I looove the person who asked me to do this! :D

26. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Football and golf...and baseball is fun to watch, too. Just don't ask me to watch Nascar, blech! ;)

27. HAIR COLOR? Brown

28. EYE COLOR? Brown

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, don't need 'em.

30. FAVORITE FOOD? Meatloaf, pizza, chicken enchilada.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings!! The only scary movie I've seen in my life was a "scary" comedy with Don Knotts and even then, I couldn't handle it! LOL And Scooby Doo used to scare me too...

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Uh, Curious George: The Movie? Little brothers, people! :)

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Red.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? I have lots of favorite desserts, but peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream is good.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I don't know

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Mom :OD

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I just finished one up, so now it's time to start looking for another to get my hands on! :)

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSEPAD? It reads Alltel and that's it...kinda boring.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Nothing

42. FAVORITE SOUND? I like listening to nighttime noises, crickets, cicadas, etc.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Neither

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Ohio

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Well, I like photography.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Well, all of my friends are invited to try this out! :D

The Story Behind the Shot..:)

As you may know from my previous post, the photo above placed 1st in the Georgia 4-H "Focus on Agriculture" Photography Contest...what you might not know is the work, the hardship, and the threat of being trampled it took to get this shot! :)

Me: "Hi there! I'm Erin! I live in the gray house just beyond this field!"
Cows: *Blank stares*

Me: "Okayyy...well, even if you don't recognize me, we are neighbors, so I think that entitles me to doing a li'l photo shoot of you guys!" :)

Cows: *Turning heads*

Me: "See, there's this photo contest coming up and the theme is agriculture...and how "ag-ish" would some shots of cows be? (Smiles a winning smile)
Cows: *Appear totally immune to my charm*

Me: "Alright, would everyone mind looking towards this camera? And hey, have you ever heard of make-up...I really think some of you could use it at this moment!"
Cows: *Chewing grass*

Me: "Hmmm, now what would an interesting angle be? Aha! I'll just lay on the ground like this to take the pictures ...perfect!"
Cows: *Staring at this obviously insane individual*

Me: "Oooh, that was a good one! Now, I'm not exactly crazy with the way you guys are staring at my head like it might make a good soccer ball, so let me remind you that there is an electric fence between us...and believe me, I know from experience that an electric fence hurts! "
Cows: *Grouping together*

Me: "You guys must believe that there is safety in numbers *chuckles*, have no fear, I pose no threat to you!" :OD
Cows: *Not buying it*

Me: "Seriously! Hey, #481 that's close enough...I mean it! Why are you all given names like #481, #468, #452,etc. anyway? Couldn't you have been named something a little more original? Like Hamburger 1, Hamburger 2..."(I pause to titter at my clever joke)
Cows: *Silence*

Me: "Come on...I deserve at least a few laughs for that joke! What IS your problem, #481? Are you trying to intimidate me or something?? Well, it's not working!"

Me: "Now THAT is wayyy too close! You're getting my lens dirty! Are you mad at me about that hamburger joke or something? HA! I can say it just as much as I want...you're just one little cow and I'm not afraid of you...I'll prove it! HAMBURGER 1, HAMBURGER 2, HAMBURGER 3!"

Me: "HAMBURGER 4- (breaks off abruptly) Um, you know what, I think I'll be leaving now!" (Beats a hasty retreat)

LOL And that's just the way it happened...sorta! ;D

More Good News!! :)

Just received an exciting email this morning...in the several state-wide 4-H photography contests that I entered a few weeks ago, I placed in every one! Yay! :)

General 4-H Photography-"Li'l Red Boots" 9th place


General 4-H Photography-"What Great Abs You Have!" Finalist


Focus on 4-H Photography-"Winners!" Finalist


Focus on Agriculture-"Hi There!" Finalist


Focus on Agriculture-"Eat More Chicken or Else!" 1st place!

And here are some other of my photos that were entered but didn't place...thought I'd share them anyway! :OD

"Magnificent Magnification"


"Posin' at Rock Eagle"


"Somewhere Under the Rainbow-Irrigating the Peanut Field"


"I Don't Know About This..."


"Nosy"

Well, that's all, folks! :OD

What I Found Today...

So I was cruisin' through Bro. Charlie's (a thrift store) today and THIS is what I found:

A CANON EOS REBEL 2000!!!!

I just stared at it....anddd, didn't see a price tag. So Mrs. Sabrina (I spent the day with her and had an AWESOME time! :) anyway, she asked the cashier how much it was and the cashier said, "Oh, three dollars." THREE DOLLARS?!!! Needless to say, I bought it! Sure, it has some wear (the picture above is a stock photo that I found of the same camera model) but appears to be in great working order...I was sooo excited! :OD If you know me, I'm a camera nut and have been longing for a Canon EOS...this one is a 35mm and that will take some getting used to but I'm still extremely thrilled with my find!

Blog Design

How do you like my new July blog template that I designed? It took me some time to complete (which is actually pretty silly since I'm only going to be using it for the month of July) but I like it and thought that it turned out nice! :) I just love, LOVE, LOVE designing blog templates, and I think that I'm about to drive Elisabeth crazy asking if I can re-design her blog template again. LOL ;)
I've been asked questions lately about good sites to learn more about blog designing. :) Some places that I've found helpful are:

http://www.blogdesignblog.com/blog-design/how-to-blog-design-style-guide/

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/jennifer/blog-templates.html

http://www.splitdecisionz.com/search/label/Tutorials

http://help.blogger.com/bin/topic.py?topic=12488

http://tutorialblog.org/

While we're on the subject, I'd like to share some information for Blogger users that I learned awhile back that is so simple yet soooo helpful when redesigning your blog...creating a new background! For starters, upload the image that you want for your background to Flickr or Google Page Creator (or someplace similar) and copy the url. Pull up your blog page (be sure you're signed in) and click at the top of the page on Customize. Next, click on Edit Html. Now scroll down until you reach the part that looks something like this:

/* Primary layout */

body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
text-align: center;
color: $mainTextColor;
background: url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2567506427_691db480fd_b.jpg") repeat;
font-size: small;
}

See the part that says: background url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2567506427_691db480fd_b.jpg")? Erase the current url and paste in the url from your new image...voila! A nice new background for your blog! :OD

Well, tomorrow my family and I are off to stay at the beach for several days...hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July! :)