Week 1 of “School At Home”. My time available on both my computer and just time in general have decreased a little this week as we figure out this new routine however it is going smoothly for the most part. This week has been filled with wonderful weather and a slower pace that reminds me of my own childhood. Lots of fresh air, grilling and playing outside, crafts, games, baking, cleaning and everything we don’t usually have time for. It has been a wonderful break from our usual life which is filled with multiple sport practices, homework, rushed dinners and then off to bed. As great as it has been, I wonder how long until this new routine becomes boring and the kids start really missing their friends and regular routines and getting a little depressed. I also wonder how much of this simpler way of life we can carry back into our old way of life whenever that finally returns and hopefully find a happy medium.
Homeschool is going great! She always loved PJ Day. Now it’s EVERY day (Bedhead is optional). Also notice her “classmate” on the phone. 🙂The dog probably won’t eat your homework but he will definitely sleep on it.
If I were to list today’s events it would look like a pretty “normal” day.
School
Work
Groceries
Home
That’s the funny thing about life right now though. We are all desperately trying to do “normal” things in a world that is anything but normal. School today meant Marissa getting up and coming down to my office to start trying to make head or tails out of her online assignments sent to us by the middle school. For Chase it meant me heading to the elementary school to pick up his packet of school work for the next 30 days. It also meant me arriving to the school to find hundreds of other cars in line and teachers and staff wearing gloves running back and forth from car to the building and back again to deliver the packets.
Next was work. It was a pretty ordinary day there. I am blessed to have a part-time job doing office work for a trucking company. I thank God (and my boss) for the flexibility to adjust my hours as needed, especially now that I am also a “teacher”. I’m also glad that since it is considered an “essential business” I can still work during the “stay at home” order.
We needed bread which has been hard to find so I stopped in the store and was happy to discover the bread shelves weren’t bare and there was now a limit to 2 per customer so hopefully they will stay that way. The grocery store is just about the only place people go anymore though and every trip the reminder that nothing is normal grows harder to ignore. Social distancing signs, gloves, masks, and even goggles this trip.
Once home I started our dinner of canned soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (now that we had bread). In our “normal” life this was a meal that was made often when we had multiple practices to pick the kids up from and no time to make anything more complicated. Tonight it was simply making use of what we had on hand and what was available. After dinner the kids made cookies. I’ve noticed a lot of people baking more since this all started. It’s funny because this whole experience is a like strange combination of Christmas vacation and a horror movie all at once. Hallmark Channel has even brought back their Christmas movies to watch while stuck at home and some people have put their Christmas lights back up to “spread joy”. I’m all for spreading joy, but it’s spring and Christmas wasn’t long enough ago for me to miss it yet. I’m ready for sunshine, flowers, and most of all normalcy with a new appreciation for it.
I don’t know how many days we are into this craziness because there’s no real specific “start” date. Things are changing so much and so quickly from day to day and it feels like this has been going on forever in some ways. A lot of the time it all feels like a dream and I have no doubt someday, hopefully soon, when we look back on all of this it will be hard to believe it wasn’t. I want to remember all of the craziness though. I know it will make us all so much more grateful for the little things. Meeting a friend for lunch at a sit-down restaurant or taking the whole family out to a favorite pizza joint. Hugging people again. Watching your children practice or compete in their sports and activities. Waving goodbye to them as they get on the school bus. Going to the grocery store with a list and a plan instead of buying what’s available and making it work. A good workout at the gym. Toilet Paper.
I want to remember the good too. There have been so many “Happy Accidents” that have come out of all of this which has been almost as big of a shock as the craziness. Time. Everyone is so busy all the time that we have even started to foolishly think busy=successful. These last several days have reminded me of my own childhood when things were simpler. Slower. The days were long. My kids have played games, rode bikes, gone fishing, and still had time to fit in their beloved electronics. My house is getting clean…like really clean, not just quickly picked up and spot cleaned in a hurry. Cooking meals is no longer a burden, but instead a blessing. We eat together and not just dinner. Although church services are online, we don’t have sport events keeping us from them and watching in jammies with my favorite coffee cup isn’t terrible. People are reaching out to help each other and doing random acts of kindness like never before. We are learning not to waste or take for granted.
So here’s to remembering today. Even though it was cool, the sun was shining. I stopped in the grocery store to grab some chocolate milk. That’s something new. I used to buy chocolate milk often when the kids were littler but rarely do anymore. I have found myself looking at everyday things like “milk” though and wondering how I can make them more fun. When your stuck in the house that’s important I think. Also, the more options we have the longer the regular milk lasts for things like cooking and cereal. I was surprised that the shelves were stocked better than I had seen in a long time. There was some meat, a little bread and most of the aisles, although not exactly full, weren’t completely empty. Except the toilet paper aisle of course. I brought my camera. Not my just my phone, my BIG camera. This was something I worked up the courage to do the year that I kept a 365 day photo blog but that courage has faded and it felt weird. A man caught me photographing the toilet paper aisle and stared at me as if that’s the strangest thing going on in the grocery store these days. Not. Even. Close. I wanted to capture more but… baby steps.
I came home and started cleaning. I learned that our gray stools that the kids sit in at the kitchen counter are actually white. I put my favorite Contemporary Christian playlist on shuffle and the first song that played was “Stand In Your Love” which felt like a comforting message. (My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love!).
The kids hung out on electronics for a little while and then went outside. I ran. I am signed up for a 5k the beginning of May and have been working up the bravery to see what I could really do outside where there are hills and wind and I can’t just stop when I want (cause I have to get back home). The gym is closed now so ready or not. I ran 2.72 miles. Just half a mile short of a 5k and it was easy. I got home just in time to learn that starting Tuesday, my county will be under a “Stay At Home Order” for at least 30 days. I thought I at least knew what those days would look like, now I’m not sure.
I came in and did my sit ups on one of those giant balls with a handle that kids bounce around on because I don’t own a yoga ball. I used a dumb bell instead of a med ball for Russian Twists. I’m learning to be flexible and improvise. Tacos for dinner made out of beef patties that were on sale because there was no packaged beef or turkey the day I got groceries. I wanted a Diet Pepsi. I earned it. We have a CVS right down the road so I headed out for my reward. Yeah, I know…artificial sweeteners are bad, blah, blah, blah but it’s more important to be kind to ourselves right now I think (in moderation). CVS turned out to be one of those moments where everything is feeling kinda normal and then it hits you like a brick wall and you feel like you are in a freaky movie. Somehow I missed it all until I got to the check out. The first thing I noticed was there was a man who seemed to be randomly standing in the middle of the store about halfway between myself and the checkout. I then realized he was actually practicing social distancing, like the whole 6 feet away from the line so I stood 6 feet behind him and the two of us managed to create a line across half of the store. Then there were the crates. They were heavy duty plastic crates stacked two rows deep between the cashier/counter and where the customers stand to pay. There were signs on top asking customers to comply with social distancing (as if we had a choice). Handing them my cash was tricky because I could barely reach them and considered tossing it at them. They had gloves and masks on. That was today.
This past week was Spring Break for our schools so we have one more “day off” and then Monday we start homeschooling. The next day we start “Stay At Home Order”. More change. More unknowns.
Things around the house are taking on a whole new meaning. She makes me smile!🙂Marissa cheats a little.
A few days ago I was searching for a particular photo from a long time ago which led me to stumble across an old blog that I used to keep. Within the blog was a 365 photo project. For one year I tried to take at least one photo every day and blog a little about it. Only now, years later do I realize what a treasure that was. Most of these photos were just of everyday activities and moments, many of them we wouldn’t have even remembered if it wasn’t for that blog and those photos. It truly inspired me to get back into capturing these moments more often.
It also has occurred to me that we are currently living in not only uncertain and scary times, but what will no doubt be a huge moment in history. Our children will remember bits and pieces and our grandchildren and great grandchildren will probably read about the Coronovirus Disease 2019.
There are also a lot of thoughts and emotions going on in my mind and heart and I have considered that writing about everything that is going on in the world would not only be interesting to look back on in the years to come, but therapeutic.
But today, the sun was shining. It is spring and in true spring fashion in the mid-west, it has been rainy and gray. Not ideal when everything is shut down, you are “social distancing” and essentially under quarantine. It was supposed to be in the 70’s but stormy again. But today, the rain cleared and little by little the sun broke through the clouds and the sky turned blue. I was planning on going back to work after coming home to make lunch for my kids. But today, I stayed home instead and pulled weeds in the sunshine while my son played roller hockey and then I played a game of basketball with him…he won. The grocery store shelves are growing more empty every day. But today, we will have burgers on the grill just like an ordinary spring evening. I sit at my desk writing this and glance over at a calendar full of events that will never happen and empty of the normal spring photo sessions that help support my family and pay the bills. But today, the windows in my office are open, the curtains gently blowing in the breeze and outside there is a constant stream of couples walking together, neighbors blowing bubbles with their toddlers or older kids playing basketball in the driveway. No one really knows what tomorrow, next week or even next month will look like. But today, it was a good day.
**This blog contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
You found the perfect photographer. Picked a date for your session. Changed the date for your session because you realized someone had a baseball/volleyball/soccer game that day. Ran all over place finding the perfect outfits for everyone. Got haircuts. You arrive at your session excited to get some great new photos of your family. You survive repeatedly herding that one child that keeps wandering off and pleading with the other one to “JUST SMILE PLEASE”!
You receive your gallery and are pleasantly surprised to see that your wonderful photographer somehow worked a miracle and captured a lot of great images. You look at your gallery several times, show your family, your friends, post some on social media and enjoy reading all of the “great photo!” comments. And then….nothing.
Today, most clients prefer receiving digital images with printing rights from their photographer rather than purchasing prints. The benefits of receiving digital images include being able to order what you want, when you want and at what price point works best for you. If something comes up and you need a photo printed quickly for a gift or party, you can upload it to a 1 hour lab (Walmart, Costco, Walgreens). If it’s quality you want, many pro photo labs have public versions available online for anyone to use (Mpix) but without the pressure of making a decision right away. So what’s the catch? Not having to make a decision right away means- not making a decision right away….or for weeks, months, or sometimes ever! Time slips away and the images still sit on the flash drive or computer and suddenly those “updated” photos you wanted aren’t so updated anymore. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your digital images and enjoy them for years to come!
Make a list
Prior to your session, walk around your house. Look at the frames you have and decide if there are some that need fresh, updated photos. Write down both the size of the photos needed for the frames and whether they are vertical or horizontal layout. The layout is something people often don’t think about but it’s important to determine this and then let your photographer know if you have a certain layout need before or at the beginning of the session. Photographers usually decide this in the moment and you will often get more of one layout than another so for instance if you have a frame that you want to fill with vertical photos, tell your photographer you will need a good selection of that layout to choose from.
Look for blank spaces on walls. Maybe you need a canvas to fill a bare spot or for over the fireplace. Canvases are one of my favorite ways to display images around my home. They look great alone, combined with other canvases or other wall decor. I used to include canvases in my products available for my clients to purchase, however the cost of them from my professional lab was out of the price range that some of them wanted to stay in. For my personal use, I had been using a company called Canvas On Demand. Their canvases are extremely affordable and great quality. I have many that are several years old and still look beautiful! I now recommend my clients get more bang for their buck and order their own canvases from them!
Decide where you will order your prints from
Now that you have a list of your printing needs, it’s a smart idea to think about where you will be purchasing your prints. This may be multiple places depending on your needs. For instance, if you are ordering some large portraits and frame fillers to display around your home, or gifts for others, the quality may be the most important factor to you. Your photographer will most likely have a professional lab that they work with and that you can order from. These prints will usually be the most accurate as far as color and often have protective and/or UV coating so that they will stay beautiful for years to come. If you are wanting a canvas you may want to order that separately from Canvas On Demand (link above) or another company.
Many of my High School Senior Portrait clients like to have a bunch of wallets to hand out and trade at their graduation parties. It can get pricey to order the amount needed and usually the absolute best quality isn’t a priority in this situation so they often use a cheaper local lab that can deliver quickly (this sometimes gets forgotten about until the last minute so speed is definitely a bonus). There are many local options that offer quick turn-around or even 1 hour printing including Target, Walmart, Costco, Walgreens, CVS and more. The quality and color using these labs can vary but for small prints and wallets where time and cost is the priority this can often be the best option.
Think Gifts!
Prints, canvases and other photo products make the BEST gifts! Think about holidays and birthdays coming up and who might love a print or canvas from your recent photo session. Grandparents LOVE family portraits or senior photos. Maybe order an image on a coffee mug or make a blanket or calendar using images from your session. There are several online companies that offer a huge variety of photo gifts.
Treat yourself
If you don’t know exactly what you want to do with your images or if you just aren’t ready to order everything right away, it is still a good idea to do SOMETHING with your images as soon as your gallery is delivered to you. Companies like Shutterfly offer several products that you can personalize using your images. You will be most excited about your images while they are still new so now is the time to show them off. Order yourself a calendar for work, a phone case or a photo book! The possibilities are almost endless. No matter how you decide to enjoy your images, timing is key. Hopefully you now have the tips and advice needed to prevent your cherished photos from sitting on your computer or flash drive and instead enjoy them for years to come.
From Book Reviews and Favorite Recipes to Hobbies, Sports and Saving Money. My Favorite Things.
