Tuesday, March 22, 2011

apple. mac. helpful 411...

if your new to mac or been an apple for long while there are some tricks I love, 
so thought I'd share.

first. 
did you know you can take a picture of your screen.
yup. 
or part of it. 

hit control/shift/3
yahoo!

to take a picture of part of it hit control/shift/4 
a little crosshair will pop up move it to where you want to start, drag that over & it "snaps" a pic
love it!

btw, I thought of how to demo that with pictures, and well. 
that just doesn't work. ha!

this is for the "whoa I have LOTS of windows open on my screen"
and especially good if your going between a couple. 
You merge windows.
Go to the too,
WINDOW
MERGE ALL WINDOWS
done.
simple, right? 


tabs with all the windows right there
below all my book marks. Kinda looks like gray folder tabs
ok, next. 
I love that when I move my cursor (either touch pad or mouse) to bottom left corner is swishes all the things on my screen away...
not getting me?
or when I move it to  top right I see all my open screens at once. 
Like this
Which helps if your working in different apps
Like when I go between iphoto & photoshop or
my blog page & internet for copying stuff. 

Here's where you make these settings
Find your Mac APPLICATIONS
Then find 
SYSTEM PREFERENCES

 under SYSTEM PREFERENCES
go to 
EXPOSE' & SPACES
looks like a square with 4 squares in it
top middle of the screen below

  go to EXPOSE & then just choose what you'd like each corner to do.
They only go to it when the cursor goes to that spot & it is SO helpful!!

You can see that the bottom right is 
DASHBOARD

this is super quick spot for  a calculator
dictionary! 
weather
etc etc....

hope that helps someone the way these quick references 
help me...and make me LOVE my mac!

Let me know if something needs clarifying
and if you'd like more tips....





Sunday, March 20, 2011

take note. first time. ever.

for the first time ever. 
we are all sick. 
at the same time. 
this really isn't a proclamation or a good thing...it means no one feels like fetching you a glass of water. nights are restless. its hard to hear over all the coughing & sneezing.
 how I've kept this from happening before is beyond me but I wish I knew! Last week spend the whole week with little guy home & on the couch, Thursday I went down with Kenzie. By Saturday everyone had it. Not a good thing. 
I actually felt like a bad momma after getting everyone into bed walking around dispensing drugs to everyone! BUT I know its vital that they all get their rest. I just never need to do it! And I'm grateful for that!!
After today.
We are going to need groceries & a very good house cleaning.
and maybe a health miracle!!

Friday, March 18, 2011

smile.

just took this the other day. 
in fact, this was the night we went to visit my Chef & his new job 
and also the last time my camera worked. :(
She's @ Canon now getting fixed (I HOPE) no diagnostic yet.
{more on that later}

but i just love this picture of B.
here's the thing taking pictures of kids, you can't ask them to sit still, pose, fiddle with your camera and then yell at em. Nope, you'll never get things like this grin.
They wanted to run the hill, ok.
He wanted to climb on the rocks, ok. 
I loved the green hills because, look what it does in a pic with a background like that!
So, I moved, I put my lens where it needed to be & waited til he was laughing & showing off. 
Then. Snap.
He's so cute I wanta eat him up.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

comforts.

I find oatmeal comforting..
not the pot of slop my chef thinks it is.
I love sending the kids out with warm bellies which the character of "cereal" 
{although fine} 
does not satisfy. 

For them, I add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon...sometimes I dice up an apple saute it first in the butter before adding the water & oats. YUM. 

For me, I try to make it a bit healthier...although I love the indulgent float of butter! 
Sometimes vanilla makes it just a bit nicer. 
That pinch of salt it suggest, take it. It does help. 
Or I might add a splash of Orgeat Syrup. Its the type you add to coffee drinks. 
Orgeat is Almond Flavor & I keep it around because my kids love the warm steamer drinks at Starbucks, this $5.00 bottle lasts me for EVER.

A touch of that or if you have Almond Extract, just a drop will take a bowl of oats to another level. 
a spoon full of olallieberry jam is my favorite. 
But we've eaten it all...til June.
                                        




My anthro latte bowls steaming with porridge, shouldn't that come from a cottage full of kids on their way down the block to school.....
comforts of home.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

joy comes in funny ways

Hi, my name is Ada & I'm a photoholic.
Its been a week and 2 days since I've had my camera.
And I think about it like a man thinks about....well. I think about it a lot.
For whatever reason, on my way to a fabulously fun birthday party & it started taking black pictures.
I was so bummed! Armed with only me iphone with me I snagged a few, um grainy in desperate need of flash or ISO photos...but still managed to have fabulous time.
Then the dreaded walk into my camera shop.
not good. 
in his "40 years" of experience
I should be outraged that my Canon 50D seems to have a "shot" sensor. And its 1 year & 6 months young!
all I could see was 
:( $$$$$$$$

But I sent it off & its there now. 
Booohooohoo. 
I miss her so.
And it makes my PictureOfTheDay project
"Project Life"
especially difficult. ie-armed with only my iphone camera
I spent a week taking lousy pics trying to be ok with it.
UNTIL 
I discovered that my oldest had her camera!!
Oh the joy of snapping a couple pictures! 
Really, it made me giddy with joy. 

BUT back to a couple ideas with pictures...
 I save $$ by giving haircuts whenever I can. Yes, I know this could go south at any time. 
BUT it saves us so much when you count heads & how often it comes up...although this little guy tried really hard to convince me "I don't need haircut"! 
 OH really, surfer.
 who needs a barrette? Good grief. No more
There's those lovely eyes!

much much better!!!

recently
the Chef took a new position with a company. 
His new gig isn't a bad location..
Coastal
Lovely
Conte Naste' Top 10. 
looks a little like this

more to come....