Drop-In Distractions: Grandpa and the Lens

Since I think in terms of lists, it's easy for me to get discouraged. Especially with a 5 month old in the house. I had huge dreams of how much I'd be able to accomplish this time since I have 'helpers' (my 12 and 10 year old kiddos) and I'm a 'seasoned pro' at parenting. Right? Don't we all make silly over-achieving generalities as homeschool moms... ??? Or is it just me?

I was just having a serious motivation problem today. There were lots of reasons:

1. The house isn't clean. The weekend left it looking like a war zone.
2. My desk is messier than the house.
3. The mail is in a pile of half-opened envelopes and late bills.
4. The books I'm selling are stacked in the hall-way cluttering the house.
5. The to do list was open in a spiral notebook on my desk - glaring at me.
6. My blogs were neglected and my email unanswered.
7. We aren't anywhere near our school-year groove and it's getting close to the time when we really have to get serious about sticking to the task.
8. The baby has been fussy after a recent bout with constipation or teething - which wears on my nerves when I can't help him or figure out what's wrong. He requires 50X more of me when he's hurting or upset - which throws our routines out the window.
9. It was looking like the day would be a complete wash when we weren't able to get much more than one subject covered.



Then Papa John called. He was stopping by after lunch. What a nice distraction. That improved my mood and gave us all a little incentive to get some house work done. We got the baby bathed just before he arrived (and just after his explosion - which was an answered prayer, even if it was smelly).

Not only did we have a visitor coming... but we had an unexpected arrival (the arrival of a much anticipated new Tamron lens for my camera). I was upset that the door bell rang during baby K's morning nap time, but not for long! The sour mood I was in melted away with the stroke of a signature. Who cares if the UPS lady saw me in my satin jammy pants and a spit-up covered T-shirt?

I did the happy dance all the way back upstairs with my package making squeaky noises I couldn't contain. The kids thought I was squeezing the cat. They giggled to see me bouncing up the stairs and gladly put down the mechanical pencils and their forgotten copy-work to help me cut open the box. We affixed my new lens to the Canon only seconds after it arrived.

My mountain of clean clothes needing to be folded was suddenly insignificant. I was giddy. It even came with a lens hood! Small stuff to most photographers, I know... but I'm still new at all this camera-gear and the girlish infatuation runs deep.



Outside on the porch, I sat on the swing and took a shot of the Vitex tree. I saw some bees buzzing up on the top branches. Without getting up, I zoomed in on a bee in the tree and caught the shot below (I couldn't even see that much detail with my eyes from that far away).



WOW! It's not photo art (and I didn't use Photoshop on any of these), but for some WYSIWYG snapping, I was impressed with the amount of light and distance I was getting. This lens is certainly an upgrade. Tamron rocks in my opinion. Can't wait to save up for a Macro next.



I also got a picture of one of our resident hummers... something that would have been harder to do with my other zoom lens. This one is a much better lens than the one I already had.

There were more important things to judge the day by than to-do lists and school assignment charts with a relative and a zoom lens in the house.



So we goofed off together. We took pictures. We tidied up the house a bit. We laughed. We visited. We walked around the block together. We ate together. We read together before bed.

We'll get to the to-do list tomorrow.




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