A Simple Comparison

This "professional" photograph was taken at Picture Me Studio located in Walmart.

The employee taking the photo (I refuse to call her a photographer) was rude and was on the verge of losing her patience with my toddler, Hayden. She kept shaking a horrid, noisy metal box in the baby Deanna's face to get her attention, and though it did get her attention, Deanna is not likely to smile for such noise.

The camera was located on a bar and was limited in movement by the limitations of the bar; however, the employee did not move the camera. The children are situated on a dangerously high table. My hand is underneath the rug, holding onto Deanna's clothes to keep her from moving too much; however Hayden is completely free and sitting dangerously close to the edge. The children are not posed well; there is a big gap in between the children. The centering of the subjects in the photo is off. There are no props used in the photo, though there were a limited supply located in the studio.

Six poses were shot for me to select from and the next pose was slightly better; however, I was not informed that I would not be able to select the pose if I wanted to purchase the least expensive $7 package (plus tax and additional child sitting fee) and would instead be stuck with the first pose shot, no matter how poor that photo was. The photo color quality is poor, dull and faded looking.

I felt obligated to purchase a package, though I should have refused to buy any portraits and just paid the sitting fee. I purchased the least expensive package (unable to select which pose I wanted) that included one 8 x 10, two 5 x 7, four 3.5 x 5, 8 wallets, and 16 portrait petites for $7.99 plus $5.00 additional child sitting fee and tax.

This professional photograph was taken at Portrait Innovations.

The photographer taking the photo was patient with the children and worked well with Hayden, who thought we were there to run around and play. She talked to Deanna with a warm and welcoming voice.

The camera is hand held and can go wherever the photographer holds it. The children were posed on the floor with no danger of falling. Props were used without my suggestion, though my opinion of usage was asked.

The photographer took numerous shots, close to 100, of my children using two different backgrounds with props. When the time come to select what photos I wanted to purchase, the photographer helped me select by showing a few photos at a time and asking me which I liked best. There was no one "perfect" photo, but that was not expected by me knowing my children. The color quality of this photo is clear, crisp, no faded out colors.

I purchased the least expensive package of one pose of my selection. The package included one 10 x 13, Two 8 x 10, Four 5 x 7, Four 3 x 5, 32 wallets, and six cards for $9.95 plus tax. No sitting fee.

In the end I spent less money for more, better quality photos and a happier experience at Portrait Innovations. There is no question who will be taking portraits for me next time.

The Thermostat Wars

In our quest to be debt free, we are trying to cut back anyway possible. Sometimes even the smallest thing that only saves pennies at a time can really add up in the long run. According to the Department of Energy: “Households that lower their thermostats by 1 degree Fahrenheit (1° F) during the current winter heating season may realize average savings of $15 to $40 or more” and this is based off of data from 1997; I bet those figures are higher, now. I also think it is safe to assume that this can be applied to cooling in the summer season.

Some months ago we replaced our faulty manual thermostat with a programmable digital one. It is designed so that we program temperatures into it and it will provide either heat or air depending on which way the actual temperature moves. The thermostat will turn on the system when the actual temperature is 2 degrees above or below the setting; so if the setting is 78 degrees, when the actual temperature reaches 80 the AC turns on and when the actual temperature drops to 76 the heat turns on. Now the big question came, to what temperature do we set it at? This is a huge debate in our home; if I am comfortable, DJ is roasting; if DJ is comfortable, I am freezing!

What is a comfortable temperature, anyway? Have you ever noticed that in the winter you are comfortable at higher temperatures, but in the summer those same temperatures feel too hot? We initially set the thermostat to 78 in the day and 76 at night. This was in the spring and I quickly discovered that 78 left me feeling cold. After talking with DJ and discussing the potential cost savings, we adjusted the thermostat to 80 by day and 78 at night.

Spring quickly became summer and our comfort zone altered accordingly. DJ found his sleep disrupted and changed the thermostat to 75 at night, leaving the day temperature at 80. This made me curious and after a quick Google query I found a page that stated that at 78 degrees sleep is disrupted. This means that DJ has a viable argument and so this has remained our current temperature settings for some time.

Of course, now summer is here in full force and I am finding the once comfortable 80 degrees is too hot, though still freeze my butt off at night. The thermostat wars are never ending.

Notable Websites Series – Simple Mom

I thought that I would start on a website review mini series. I will write one post per my favorite websites. These are websites that I frequent or have found useful and may be of use to you.

The first website I want to review is Simple Mom. This is a blog that is on its own domain. The blog is updated with a new post frequently. The author of Simple Mom is known in the blogosphere as Toblerone. In her words, the blog “is a cross between a mom blog and a productivity blog.”


It is the Simple Mom site that first introduced me to Dave Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover. However, this site is not solely dedicated to finance. The focus of the blog “is for the mom who needs that extra nudge of motivation to manage her home in a productive and balanced way.” Topics to look forward to on Simple Mom include: managing the household, budgeting and family finances, healthy cooking, quality entertainment, organizing, sewing, gardening, and living greener.

Meal Planning

I would like to start meal planning. I know that if I plan meals and write out a grocery list according to those planned meals, we would likely save some money and answer the nightly question, "what's for dinner?"

Photo by secret.genius

Grocery shopping may also be more of a pleasure if I have a list and know what to buy before I go into the store. It’s not that grocery shopping is an uncomfortable experience, but it often goes something like this:

DJ: "Do we have chicken?"
Me: "Yep, we have plenty. Do we need mayo?"
DJ: "I can’t remember, we better get some."
Of course, when we come home we discover that we have plenty of mayo.

I have an idea of what to do, but I don’t know where to start. Do you do meal planning? Do you know of a great blog about meal planning that I should read? Have you posted a blog about meal planning? How about any useful (free) sites on the topic?

I look forward to your comments…