Three Corners– Up!
Posted on October 31, 2008
This months theme chosen by Jenty was Look Up! I loved this theme because I’m constantly looking up. I love the architecture here in Manchester and that draws my eye up. I tried to get all artsy fartsy on this theme but in the end I was drawn to these three photos. 
Did anyone join us this month? Go over and see what Jenty and Corey came up with this month. Also wanted to mention that the sky is almost always gray here which is why my photos look like they are blown out/over exposed. What little bit of blue sky there is when I take the photo just does not appear on my photos. If I could fix that I would! Sadly I live in the UK’s version of Seatle– gray and rainy but with crappy coffee (I got the coffee bit from Suburban Mum)
Tomorrow I’ll talk about how Squidge ended up on the cover of the Manchester Ikea catalogue.
Tantrumz, Antz in your Pantz & Ikea Rockz!!
Posted on October 30, 2008

Yesterday Squidge had a grade A choice cut prime quality tantrum! In the carpark/parking lot outside of ToysRus. It was soo much fun– I can’t even begin to describe how much fun it was. I had gone to Next to see if I could find some cheapy black shoes. I wanted to take our xmas card photo and she doesn’t own any black shoes. A waste of a trip. It was looking really gray and decided I would take photos some other day. Squidge needed to pee so off to Toys-R-Us. It’s some kind of cosmic joke that the only places with public toilets are TRU or Borders. I was on the wrong end for Borders so off to TRU we went. We spent some time there looking around and playing. All the while I was telling her she couldn’t have anything. She was OK with this. In the end I thought she was being really good so I’d buy her a little balloon. Nothing major just a little balloon. As we waited to pay she started to act up. I told her a couple of times to get up off the floor. She didn’t. I told her one more time to get up or we would leave without the balloon. You know where this is heading right. So I took the balloon off her, hauled her up over my shoulder and out we went. The entire time she was screaming NO MOMMY! PWEASE!!! NO MOMMY! NO MOMMY! MOMMY PWEASE!!! We spent about 10 minutes with me trying to get her in the car. She would stiffen up like a 2x4 whenever I tried putting her in the carseat. I would press down and she just would.not.bend. OHMAIGAWD!!! So I finally get my screaming, seething, foaming at the mouth making herself sick kid in the car. I explained to her why she didn’t get the balloon and that I was very sad. Then I turned up the radio as loud as it would go to drown out her screams. Oh yes a fun filled afternoon. When I pulled up to the house I was glad to see that the police were NOT at my house. I was certain some concerned shopper was going to called them on me.

This morning we headed out to a indoor softplay place/thingie/warehouse/hanger. It was very nice, the place was very clean the set up was good. We sat down at a table and watched them have a good time. Squidge is in a really cute stage right now. She just loves to hug and give me lots of kisses. It’s cute and exhausting at the same time. She’s always climbing and jumping on/over me. The other night she must have had a nightmare and she called out to me. She wouldn’t settle back down so I took her into bed with me. I woke up in the morning with her cradling my head and giving me kisses. AAAAAAWW!! It made me almost not want to kill her for waking me up at 6:30!!

I want to thank my Aunt Liliana for the adorable coat she sent Squidge. I’ve been trying to get a photo of it on but haven’t had a chance the weather has been horrible and when I finally think I’ll be able to get outside Squidge falls asleep!! Hopefully I’ll get a photo of it this weekend.
A big huge CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Byrney. She’s having a baby– woot!! I’m voting for 14th of May, my birthday. I think it would be funny as Squidge shares her birthday w/ Richard, Byrney’s husband.
*FOR SALE* Nikon 55-200mm f/4.-5.6 AFS DX VR Lens *FOR SALE*
Posted on October 28, 2008

It’s a fantastic little lens. I love it but rarely use it. I bought it in August so it really is brand new. I just find that I tend to use my 50mm almost exclusively and just don’t need this lens. I chose this lens over the 70-300mm because this one had much better reviews. When I have used it I have been very happy with the results. If you look on my flickr stream the photos from the Pumpkin Olympics were taken with this lens.
A high-quality compact 3.6x DX zoom designed specifically to work with Nikon’s D80 and D40/ D40x cameras. The 55-200mm lens is an affordable entry-level lens which features Nikon’s cutting edge Vibration Reduction stabilisation system and exclusive Silent Wave Motor for fast, quiet and precise auto focusing.
Considered to be the pioneer of innovative camera technology, Nikon is constantly seeking ways to make it possible for photographers with any level of experience to get striking results. With optics designed for the Nikon DX Format digital SLR cameras, this high-performance compact lens delivers a picture angle equivalent to that of a 35mm format, 82.5-300mm zoom lens, which enables users to get close to unapproachable subjects.
Nikon’s Vibration Reduction function compensates for camera shake to produce sharper, clearer pictures in unsteady or poorly-lit conditions.
reviews
Ken Rockwell says The Nikon 55-200mm VR is excellent and very inexpensive. It’s the lens bargain of 2007.
Amazon UK reviews gave it 4 stars.
I’m also selling my Nikon D40. It’s less than a year old, I got it for xmas last year. It comes with the kit lens, all of the software/manuals, a memory card, an additional D40 book and a camera bag.

Anyone interested please email me lindy[dot]simon[at]gmail[dot]com



