Well, it's a long weekend and we've got rain, rain and more rain. Yay!
So yesterday I decided to just hang around the house and take it easy. I got a few things done that I'd been working on but for the most part it was a pretty boring day. I like quiet rainy days - but for some reason I just found it depressing yesterday. I rambled around for most of the evening not knowing what to do with myself.
So this morning I thought that maybe I should go through my gallery here and do a little house keeping.
DA sure doesn't make it very easy to do that. Each time you delete a deviation, it kicks you back out to your home page! So then you have to go searching to find your spot again and it's very annoying time consuming. I posted to the forums about it and someone gave me the suggestion to open the dev you want to delete in a new window. Well, it's better- but still a PITA.
I would *think* that DA would want people to be able to easily clean up their galleries. Reduce garbage, less clutter on the site in general, etc. So why would they make deleting so difficult? I would hope that the powers that be might think about this issue a little and make some much needed changes to how this is handled.
So, a fellow deviant had an interesting photo that he took. It shows a tree that had some kick ass lens flare going on. We had joked around about it being a magical tree and how it needed a rainbow and a unicorn with it, so for kicks and giggles he sent me his file and I played with it for a while. I am not a photo manipulator. Never done it before. Let's just say that it was an interesting experience. Let me tell you - if you are planning on trying it for the first time, choosing a nekkid tree with a wonky lens flare is NOT what you should pick for your first project!! LOL! It about nearly drove me around the bend! I almost quit - but I REALLY wanted to make it work! I finally finished it - and it's pretty cheesy - but I gave it my best shot with the limited knowledge I have! LOL! I sent it off to my friend for his perusal, and we'll see if he thinks it's post worthy or not!! LOL! If he thinks so I may just post it so that everyone can tell me how I should stick to photography and stay away from manipulating!
So today I will tackle cleaning my house (wow! exciting, eh?) and I will hopefully find something to keep me interested. Maybe I will work on a drawing I started a few days ago - I haven't really drawn anything for a long time and I suddenly felt inspired, so I really should grab the feeling and run with it while it's still there.
BTW - my friends - you have all come to mean more to me than you know. Each day I come to DA I hope to find a message from you and I always feel very happy when I find one! It is you, who keep me coming back to DA and I thank you for your friendship!
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::Useful Links::
A List of Links for tutorials/info that I've found to be useful!
Basics of Pen Tool [link]
Making Photoshop Brushes [link]
Adding Borders in PS [link]
Depth of Field [link]
PS Borders [link]
The Pen Tool [link]
Watermarks [link]
Making Textures [link]
Layer Masks and Colour Gradients [link]
GavTrain Photo Training [link]
Manual HDR [link]
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::Special Works for Me!::
`anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
Sta.sh
Total prizes reach 1000 
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But of course there are always the rules......
Please please please fave the journal!
Make another journal about this giveaway and provide a link of that journal in the comments (this will help spread the word about this giveaway)
Rules
Should be about School Times!
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Content 
After a week of rain here, it turned out to be a pretty nice weekend. The pool is filled and ready to go, but when we turned on the pump it made a godawful noise and was so loud, we couldn't finish. It needs a new motor. UGH. Hopefully we can get it taken care of this week cuz I am ready to plant my ass in my floating chair while the pool boy serves refreshing drinks!
It rained ALLLL day yesterday but cleared up today. Stupid me - I decided to go out shooting on the back roads.... NOT a good idea. With all the rain we've had recently, and the moisture from the flooding spring the gravel roads are NOT good. Especially for a little Vibe....
I was worried for a while that I was going to get stuck and never get out of there!! Those section roads seem AWWWWWFULLY long when you are driving under those circumstances!! I won't be doing that again for a good while!!
We had all kinds of problems with our pool heater last year. We had the repair guy come out several times...... $400.00 worth of times and he still couldn't fix it. Pretty damn depressing!! I'm ready too........ SO damn ready.......
We opted not to get a pool heater since we are far enough south that it warms up pretty easily, but I imagine you guys really need one up there! They can get so expensive, it's crazy! I remember when I was little at my grandparents farm in Montana... we would swim in the big round horse trough! LOL
My princesses would never even consider doing that - they wont even get in the pool of there are any dead bugs in it
Yeah - we can go for a while without the heater on - usually about mid July to mid August - but otherwise we need the heat on. It is really expensive - but we don't use a gas heater which is REALLLY expensive - we have one that's kind of a like a reverse air conditioner. It works great....... WHEN it's working...
Hey - it it's hot enough - you can swim in ANYTHING! LOL!
Where I come from up North the water is reeeeaaaaally cold - so a cool pool doesn't bother me too much- but my kids are wimpy too. Too spoiled!
Finally scheduled the pump replacement today - around $650 including labor... not nearly as bad as I expected!
We decided to make our own solar cover with those giant sheets of bubble wrap a couple years ago. It was a bit tricky because our pool has such an odd shape. We were so pleased with ourselves when we finally finished - it fit perfectly! Too bad we didn't realize it was wrong side up before we cut it...
We just got a new cover last night but haven't had a chance to trim it yet - it's on but it's all lumpy! LOL! Thankfully our pool is just an oval shape so it's hard to cut it "upside down". Ah well....... I'm sure it's still working ok - but probably gets dirt trapped in it now?
It warms up pretty quickly down here.
I expect you got lost in time once you sketched too,hours seemed to simply fly by to me,happy days
Look forward to seeing your mainp,I use to design wallpapers for the Playboy forum site,many,well about that same 10-11 years ago now too
Enjoyable features Sandra,take it easy on the house
well, I "dabble" off and on - mostly off. Actually, that was the reason I joined DA in the first place - for the art - but then I got snagged by the photo bug and I pretty much just laid my pencil down. So you don't do it at all anymore? shame... do you still have any of your old stuff? Yes, when you get going on a drawing the time does seem to fly. It's really a wonderful exercise for your mind - it can really take your troubles and worries away for an hour or two if you get really absorbed in it. Kind of like taking photos I guess. Do you ever think about trying it again?
Well, well, well...... Playboy hey? You really are a Bad Boy Jonny.
My manip skills are pretty much non-existent! But it was fun to give it a try. It's always good to try new things. You certainly do learn stuff that way!
I submitted a few back in my early days (here they are still propping up my gallery [link] [link] [link] ) and that`s basically all I did for 4 years,just lurked and faved.
I still have all my gear but only very rarely dabble now if I`m drawing with my Nephews or a "commission" for my girl
Yes,Playboy past..kind of