Touches of Retouching

I wish that Jessica and I were professional enough photographers to take picture-perfect photos right from the camera, but until then, photo editors work wonders. After refinements in Photoshop, images that once looked ready for scrapping become worthy of scrapbooking:

Do you want some cards?

My cute neighbor from back in the day is having a contest on her blog. Check it out. You could be the winner of some gorgeous handmade cards. Here's the link...
http://craftynat.blogspot.com

"The Horsies"

The view from the back of our house. Living in the country has its advantages. Lots of love from the backwoods of Missouri!

Good Stuff From Japan

When I was a little I loved looking at a photo we had taken at Disneyland. I must have been about Luke's age. It was one of those old-time photos where you dress up in the vintage costumes and this great picture come out all sepia and old looking and you imagine you just stepped out of the 1800s or something. I ran across this cool program from another blog. You upload your own photo and by the magic power of computers it turns all faded, wrinkled and old. Check it out!
(IF YOU CANNOT READ IT-Click English on the upper-right area of the site.)
Emi-This probably won't be a problem for you.

Pictures Only

Do you have what it takes to WIN?

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by either Jessica or Jared. What we make will be our choice, but it will be made just for you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. We make no guarantees that you will like what we make!
2. What we create will be a Jessica or Jared original and it will be made just for you.
3. It'll be done this year (might be December 31st, but you WILL get something) and we will post all of our original creations as they are completed.
4- You will get no clues what it's going to be. Heck, we don't even know what it will be. We might paint or draw something. We might compose a jingle or short song. We might even write a short play just for you. Who knows? Whatever it is, it will be a surprise!
5- We reserve the right to do something extremely strange :)

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Happy commenting (AND posting!)

There are Few Sounds Hungrier Than a Vacuum

In case any of you are still doubting my literacy from reading my last post, I'd like to share a poem from a couple nights ago. After vacuuming in preparation for a baby shower that Jessica was hosting, listening to a grating excerpt of Schnittke viola music on public radio, and trying to feed an uncooperative baby, I wrote:

There are few sounds hungrier than a vacuum,
Its gaping maw muffled just slightly by carpet,
Except maybe a baby, who also sucks but is very soon satiated,
Subsiding to sleep in arms
Lulled softly from anxious to tranquil.
But some voids will never be plugged
Or vacated, except perhaps by a flip of the switch or power outage.
Funny how in space
You can’t even hear a vacuum scream.