Hello again...

Hi there. If you're still there.
It's been a while.
Again.

Much like the last post of this same nature, this is kind of an apology. To you my rocking and awesome readers. I don't mean to just go away with no explanation and leave you hanging. It just kind of happens.

"Oh, I'll post something tomorrow."
And tomorrow comes and goes.

"[Hilarious thing that happened to me] was so freaking funny! I have to post it. Maybe tomorrow."
And tomorrow becomes the next day. And the next day becomes next week.
And now a month and a half has gone by. And I'm sorry. Again.

Not to bore you with the details, not now anyway cause I'm just not ready, but I've been going through some things these last few months and I've kind of had my priorities all out of whack. But I've been trying to straighten them out. And this blog is really something that I love to do and for this reason and the next, it's just been pushed to the back burner. Even though I have a lot of great things planned for it and that I wanted to do, and will do, with it.

I kinda needed to get myself straight first.

But I promise to try better. To try and not leave you hanging again like I did before. Especially when I love you all so much. Really.

<3tprm

Up next:

*Winners from my last photo contest! (Thx again to Shannie from Wiz man'll never fit you like the wiz kid did for judging! She got her picks into me right away and it is in no way her fault that I'm posting the results so far out. She is wonderful and awesome and I highly suggest you go check out her blog right away!)

*A review!

*Some giveaways!

*And I know I said I would have 5 photo contests before putting up a poll to announce the grand prize winner, but since I obviously can't be trusted ;D I'm going to say that 4 contests are good enough for now. So if you have won or placed (1st - 4th places) in any of my contests, be on the look out for the grand prize poll I'll be putting up on my blog! You'll want to let your readers know to come here and vote for your picture! There will be some fabulous prizes for the winner! But more details on that soon...

*And of course some happenings in the life of this little punk rock mom...

Photo Challenge #4- Colors!

Hello my loveys! It's time for photo challenge #4- the next to last one in this series! We'll have one more after this one and then we'll have our vote off! :D

(Also, for the winners/ runners up of Challenges 2 and 3- I haven't forgotten about your features! Hopefully I will get them posted today! For more info on the prizes, go here!)

If you are new to my photo challenges, please go here to check out the rules and prizes! :)








</p><p><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-4-colors.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/tprmphotochallengebutton2.jpg" /></a></center></p><p>

So if you want to enter, grab the button above and link up! This contest and the Linky below will be open till next Thursday, October 7th at midnight PST. And all photographers of all skill levels are welcome. And you don't need a fancy camera either. :D And you can edit your photos if you want, but you definitely don't have to! I'm just looking for passion in the shot. :D

This week, I want to keep it simple but still fun.  I know you will all have fun with this challenge! I know I did. It does seem almost too simple, but really it pushes you to think outside the box of photographing a subject perfectly and instead concentrating on the gorgeous colors that make up said subject.  Kinda weird at first, but once you get in to it, you won't be able to stop taking pictures! (But remember to stop long enough to come back here and enter your gorgeous pix! :D)

This week's theme is:


Colors!...

This is a very broad category, and you can enter up to 3 pictures if you like. What I mean by colors is that I want color to be the dominating factor in the picture. It doesn't really matter so much what your subject is, but what color/ color combo make up the composition of your photo. As you will see below from my shots, you don't have to just take a picture of a blank wall or have the whole picture be one color. You can still have your subject be in the picture. But I want the colors to really speak. Blurry? That's fine! Fuzzy or noisy? Totally ok! Remember- not looking for perfection, I'm looking for passion and heart! Feel free to crop or edit as you'd like. 


Here are some examples I took recently with this theme in mind...

Reds

Oranges and Yellows

Greens, Teals and Blues

Pinks

Whites, Grays, and Blacks

So grab your camera and get clicking! Come back here and enter, and don't forget to link your entries to your blog post about this challenge! Invite your friends! Have fun and good luck!

Special announcement!!!

I am soooo psyched to announce that this week I will have a guest judge!

The guest judge will be... drumroll please...

Shannie from Wiz Man'll Never Fit You Like the Wiz Kid Did!!!

Please stop over to her blog and check out her AMAZING photography! She rocks!

love you!

<3

tprm

Photo Challenge Winners #3! :)

Here are the winners of my 3rd photo challenge!

The challenge was Story Time! See all the contest info and all of the entries here.

1st place goes to...

Sarah from Loving My Life!

Here is your button Sarah! Congrats!

</p> <p class="p1"><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-winners-3.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/iwonimagecopy.jpg"/></a></center></p> <p class="p1">

2nd place goes to:
Shannie from Wiz Man'll Never Fit You Like The Wiz Kid Did!

Here's your button Shannie! Congrats!

</p> <p class="p1"><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-winners-3.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/2ndplaceimagecopy.jpg"/></a></center></p> <p class="p1">

3rd place goes to:

Dina from 4 Lettre Words!

Congrats Dina! Here's your button!

</p> <p class="p1"><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-winners-3.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/3rdplaceimagecopy.jpg"/></a></center></p> <p class="p1">

4th place goes to:

Kimberly from Bugaboo, Mini, Mr and Me!

Congrats Kimberly! Here's your button!

</p> <p class="p1"><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-winners-3.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/4thplaceimagecopy.jpgL"/></a></center></p> <p class="p1">

Honorable mentions are...

Katie from Kaite's Clicks!

Caroline from Caroline Atelier! 

Angela from Just Me Photography!

Congrats ladies! Here's your button!

</p> <p class="p1"><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-winners-3.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/honorablementionimagecopy.jpg"/></a></center></p> <p class="p1">

And here are you TPRM favorites!

Natalie from The Franklins! 

Molly from Molly's Country Memories!

Anika from Pasando!

Darlene from Darlene Weber Photography!

Deanna Leigh from Deanna Leigh Photography!

Anna from Absolute Anna!

Congrats ladies! Here is your button!

</p> <p class="p1"><center><a href="http://thepunkrockmom.blogspot.com/2010/09/photo-challenge-winners-3.html"><img src="http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/littlepunk17/favoritepicimagecopy.jpg"/></a></center></p> <p class="p1">

Congrats to all of my beautiful winners! And thx to all of you that participated! You guys rock. 

Winners go here for your prize info. 

Coming up next- photo challenge #4- only one more to go before the vote off!

Love you guys.

<3tprm

hello again

Hi there. 

I haven't posted a blog in over 10 days. I've been meaning to. Plenty of blog worthy things have happened to me. Well funny things I think would entertain you. Or at least make you smile. Laugh maybe.

I just, well, theres no good excuse. I've just been, well, overwhelmed lately. 

I have my hands in too many pots I guess you could say.

Trying to make money from home. Trying to be creative. Trying to make money being creative. Trying to go to school. Trying to simplify my life. Trying to learn photography. Trying to learn photoshop. Trying to make this blog awesome. 

Trying to be a good wife. Trying to be a good mom. Trying to follow Jesus with all my heart. 

Some of these things are way more important than others. I find myself putting more time in to some less important things and less into the more important things. 

This is because I have no decent schedule. My time floats by all willy nilly. I need a daily schedule badly. I need to figure out how much time I should spend on each thing I want to do daily, and stick to it. 

I have more troubling problems that compound this.

I am lazy. 

I am a procrastinator.

I start many things and finish few.

I am easily overwhelmed. 

When I'm overwhelmed I tend to hide. From everything. Taking a break at first seems refreshing. Then as the says go by, I get more worried. I need to start again. But I'm starting to get overwhelmed cause I missed too many days. Then the days just add up and starting again at all seems harder than starting over. 

I'm not trying to whine. I've been blessed beyond recognition. Pretty much everything I've said is my fault. 

 I guess I'm just telling you why.

And I'm sorry. It's hard getting back in the habit. 

And I promise to try better. 

<3MaryAnne

ps- Thx to those that sent me messages of concern. I'm ok. Just a little lost right now. 

Photo contest winners coming up...

Sign Language in Early Education

*I was contacted by the lovely Emily from Primrose Schools. She asked if I would look over this article and to decide on whether or not I thought my readers would benefit. I read it over, and I really loved what they had to say. I have always been interested in sign language, and the integration of sign language into early childhood education seems like an awesome opportunity in my eyes. Read on to learn more... 

Early Childhood Education – Acquiring Sign Language

One of the keys to surviving in a tilted economic system in which opportunities to achieve a decent standard of living will be limited is versatility – and the ability to communicate articulately in a variety of ways with the widest possible audience. This includes bilingual ability as well as the ability to communicate in non-verbal ways for the benefit of the disabled – primarily the deaf.

At the same time, a growing shortage of qualified interpreters fluent in American Sign Language has led to more career opportunities – and if current trends continue, it's likely that skilled ASL interpreters will have little problem securing lucrative employment in a society where such a commodity is destined to be in short supply.

Signing Before They Can Speak

A great deal of research has clearly demonstrated that the early years – ages 2 to five – are the best time to educate children in different modes of communication and language. This goes beyond the spoken word (though it is an optimal time for children to learn a second language); many young children have an aptitude for signing as well.

This is not as odd as you may think. As you know, many indigenous peoples around the world, including American Indian nations, have used sign language for centuries to facilitate communication with other tribes with whom they do not share a language. Some paleontologists and anthropologists theorize that Neanderthals – who apparently lacked the vocal mechanism to produce many spoken words – depended a great deal upon hand gestures to communicate.

In fact, recent research suggests that sign language is innate. An article published in the Boulder Daily Camera in 2003 presented strong evidence that babies as young as six months old communicate with their hands:

                        "...by 6 to 7 months, babies can remember a sign. At eight months, children

                        can begin to imitate gestures and sign single words. By 24 months, children

                        can sign compound words and full sentences. They say sign language reduces

                        frustration in young children by giving them a means to express themselves

                        before they know how to talk." (Glarion, 2003)

The author also cites study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development demonstrating that young children who are taught sign language at an early age actually develop better verbal skills as they get older. The ability to sign has also helped parents in communicating with autistic children; one parent reports that "using sign language allowed her to communicate with her [autistic] son and minimized his frustration...[he now] has an advanced vocabulary and excels in math, spelling and music" (Glarion, 2003).

The Best Time To Start

Not only does early childhood education in signing give pre-verbal youngsters a way to communicate, it can also strengthen the parent-child bond – in addition to giving children a solid foundation for learning a skill that will serve them well in the future. The evidence suggests that the best time to start learning ASL is before a child can even walk – and the implications for facilitating the parent-child relationship are amazing.

Co-written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas

Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Zionsville child care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of Indiana child care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.

*Disclosure statement: I, TPRM, have not been paid or compensated by the previous groups or individuals. I am posting this article freely because I believe my readers will benefit from this message and information. 

<3tprm

Oh I forgot to brag...

...So 2 of my pictures were finalists in 2 different challenges last week! I meant to put them up earlier, but I'm sure you've read about how much I procrastinate aka suck.

So anyway, here they are, and also my awards! Which I proudly accept and display! I'm so psyched to get them and you better believe I'm gonna show 'em off worse than some mama whose kid just made the honor roll!

I got into the Top 3

in the photo challenge by

Tiffany from They Call Me Mama

Here was my winning (ok, placing) pic!

(the description/ commentary is by Tiffany :))

"I love vintage from vintage clothes, pictures, decor I LOVE it! So I definitely loved this photo!"

I also received an honorable mention

in the photo challenge by

Natalie over @ The Franklins!

I was truly psyched to be picked in each challenge, and I proudly rock my awards buttons on my side bar! 

So if you are a photophile/ photo junkie like I am, head on over to these two lovely ladies' blogs and see what they have in store for you. Their photos are always amazing and they are always running contests, so get over there! I dare you. :D

Check out my guest post!

My friend Heather recently asked me to guest post for her blog. She wanted me to do so because she was going to be welcoming home her husband from his first deployment. I was more than happy to help her out.

Her blog is He Wears Combat Boots, I Wear Stilettos and I highly recommend it! She is a personal friend of mine and she is one of the sweetest people I know. She blogs about everything from her 30 day challenge, to her obsession with Army Wives :), and from her passion about current events that affect her life and the lives of many, to her playlist of songs for deployment.

So here is my guest post. It's full of drama and intrigue! Oh who am I kidding, it's just full of drama. Drama I can expand on if you're interested! Go check it out! :D Tell me what you think here! And tell Heather what you think there! She is such a beautiful sweetheart and I'm so glad she and her hubs and their little girl are back together again. Check out their super sweet reunion pic and tell me you can resist visting her blog. You can't! It's impossible! ;)

<3tprm