Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

 Today was the big day for decorating the three! I don't think we've ever been this late decorating before, except for maybe in 2013 when we decorated the tree on December 1st. The reason I remember that so well is because that's the day we had the house fire. Thank God it was just massive smoke damage and we didn't lose anything!

Anyway, back to the tree. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think this may be one of the largest trees we've ever had. It's around 8ft tall and I don't even know how much in girth. We have to squeeze past it to get out to the garage, which is no fun task when you have a booty as big as mine, lol.

We didn't go with a theme this year, mostly just random ornaments strewn about. We did add those new vintage glass ornaments that I got from that lady in Bonne Terre - they're so pretty! I'll have to take some pics of the ornaments in the coming days, but I didn't feel like messing with it today. Since this tree is so large, we ended up using way more garland than normal. I even bought extra red and green garland last year for the cabinets because the tree was so big. Well this guy takes the cake.

Unfortunately that means I have to buy a coupe more packs of garland now...

I would also like to add that we've done a horrible job Christmas shopping this year. Normally we have around 50% done by the time the tree is up - we're at like maybe 15% done. We do have a lot come small things coming from Amazon, but lord only knows when it will get here. We need to do some massive shopping next week. At least I hope we can. *fingers crossed*

Earlier today I went outside and took some pictures with the 105mm. It was really bright, but I wanted to test some stuff out on the camera. It's nothing special, but I do like how some of them turned out. I think once I unlock the true potential of this camera I'm going to lose my mind, lol.

I guess that's all for now. I'm tired and would like to try and watch some YouTube... if the stupid internet will allow.


Christmas Tree completely naked.
 
Christmas Tree with the lights.


Christmas Tree with the lights and ornaments. I also don't know how I managed side-by-side pics.


And lastly, Christmas Tree with the star. In love!

Here are the pics I took earlier today:

These are some old, dried up plants on the table. It was really, really bright here, but I'm pretty impressed with how this turned out.

The bokeh of the 105mm lens paired with the D750 is almost unreal. And these pics aren't even anything spectacular!

You know me, I love a good macro leaf.

It was almost too bright for pics.

But I mainly wanted to play with shadows.

Here are The Walking Dead pics, as LaVaughn says.

I get where she's coming from, they're very season 3.

Weekly iPhone Roundup - Holiday Edition {11.19 - 11.25}

 It's that time of the week again. This week is a smidge different, it's still photos from my phone, but it's mainly holiday related. I mean, I don't guess that makes things too different, but I guess some of this would get a dedicated post. Maybe... I don't know where I'm going with this.

We went to the tree farm earlier today and normally when we go to a tree farm I take my camera, but there was something SO off with today that I didn't even bother. I'm glad I didn't, because there were like 4-5 people there and they all worked there. It was a kind of smaller place to begin with, so bringing my camera would've made things hell awkward. They were very, very nice, don't get me wrong, but it felt like they were watching our every move. Not thinking we were going to steal, but wanting us to buy something. 

My aunt and uncle also went, but they rode in a separate vehicle this time. Well there were some very beautiful water lanterns for sale for the staggering price of $53! Probably 90% of their stuff was grossly overpriced, so I wasn't jumping at the opportunity to buy anything. Well my uncle locked onto the lanterns and was asking my aunt if she liked them and, of course, she did. We he ended up asking the lady how much they were and if they had more in the back, which they did. Then out of nowhere he shouts, "We'll take it!" Um...  excuse me? He didn't even ask my aunt if she wanted to get it, he just went for it.

Well my aunt was very obviously irritated at his $60 purchase. LaVaughn and I were equally shocked and surprised at the audacity. A little back story on my uncle real quick: he's been off work for like 8 weeks with his knee. He's gonna end up having a knee replacement, but his insurance isn't paying him as much as he would normally be making, so things are tight for them. I know this, LaVaughn knows this and my aunt damn sure knows it. So you can see where her anger comes from. 

This was kind of the mindset of the whole day, just a lot of irritation and uncomfortable situations.

And to top the tree farm experience off, their trees were like so ridiculously tiny and carried a price tag that weighed more than the tree. We headed to Lowes after, which was a total bust. Thankfully Menards saved the day and we were able to find a 7 1/2ft tree for the same price as the micro trees from the tree farm.

Black Friday shopping was also a bust. I wanted to get this stupid little vacuum for like $20, but Farmington Walmart was out, as was Desoto's. I also wanted to get the $10 J-Lab ear buds, but they were sold out as well. We did, however, make out with 6 of the $1 wax melts and an awesome Blackstone set for my aunt and uncle. I take that back, we also got the 4 pack of mini cookers that Walmart had. Still... total suckfest. I also missed out on the 65in TV that Walmart had that I wanted to get my aunt and uncle for Christmas. Now I'm gonna have to swallow my pride and try to find a decently priced one that doesn't make me want to puke.

I guess I'll stop there. I hope your holiday week was less eventful, unless it was the good kind of eventful, of course. 


This is my moms youngest dog, Hyde. He came on a drive with my and my step dad, Jeff, to pick up some Chinese food.

He was very anxious after his papa left.

But he still wanted to cuddle me.

A pretty little golden tree from Dollar Tree.

I think this was from Tuesday, this is when we got the inflatable ornaments hung up. 

Messy Thanksgiving prep.

The coconut cream pie I made.

First time making these pumpkin bars. It's from a very old recipe... I also hate that it's sideways.

This is the iced pumpkin bars. They were So delicious!

Here are some of the Christmas trees from Bollinger Farms.

They were pretty, but they're like yard decor, not really big or full enough for Christmas Trees.

They had some very pretty wreaths.

They were crazy priced though, like $30-$50.

This is the only picture I took inside because it was kinda awkward and very quiet.

Here's the Bollinger Farms sign.

And here's the $60 church water lantern. It's beautiful, but not worth the price.

Happy Thanksgiving {2022}

 I want to apologize for my very winey and depressing post a couple days ago. I was just really down and getting into my feels, but I shouldn't have ranted like I did or complained about stupid stuff that has no relevance. I tend to overlook how blessed I am and really take some things for granted. Thank God I have what I have and am able to do what I do. 

I'm an anxious person and have a lot of issues with things like that. Unfortunately I'm predisposed to anxiety and depression - it runs deep in my family - plus I experienced a lot of psychological abuse when I was a child, so yay. I really didn't want to use my blog for complaining or wining, but I guess I just needed to vent. 

Anyways, Thanksgiving dinner prep was in full swing all day yesterday. I'm not going to go into great detail, but we were cooking from like 3pm until 9pm. Somewhere around in there, anyways. Today when I got up I made the dressing, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole. Then, of course, engorged way too much, but I'm thankful that I was able to. 

Earlier today I went out and took some pics around the yard. It was super hot in the house and the temperature was pretty mild outside. It was cloudy, so I didn't have to worry about harsh, early afternoon lighting. I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of this camera, because I really like a few of the pictures that I got today. 

Tomorrow we're headed to a new Tree Farm to hopefully get our Christmas Tree from. It's a place in Bonne Terre called Bollinger Farms. They're new this year, so I'm sure their prices are ridiculous. Hopefully not, but it would be nice. I really miss Beck's Tree Farm, but they've been closed down since like 2018 or something.

Anyways, I guess that all for now... Happy Thanksgiving!


Hung the Dollar Tree inflatable ornaments today... they're not even and it kills me.

I know it's probably hard to tell, but there is so much detail in this picture. I was amazed with how it looked once I saw it on the computer. There's no posting editing either, this is straight from the camera.

I'm still trying to work out my shutter and ISO on this camera, it's basically the same, but since this is an FX camera, it's a smidge different.

There's great detain in this photo of tree bark too.

The lighting on the bathroom wall.

Out Christmas Village at night.

The little Christmas Village always looks so nice all lit up.

I took these Christmas Village pics with my Tokina lens.

A nice macro shot of the bread cubes I made last night for homemade stuffing today.

I took a couple more, but they were super dark.

Dried and decayed basil leaves.

There's something so beautiful about fall leaves.

Some dried and dead flowers.

There's a lot of awesome detail in this picture too.

Raindrops on some parsley.

I love this waterdrop on the end of a tree branch. It turned out really good I think.

I'm clearly obsessed with raindrops, but check out the awesome bokeh of the 105mm lens.

This is a raindrop in one of the little pom pom weeds.

Beautiful pine branches.

Moss and a leaf on the roof of an old dog house.

The focal point is off a bit here, but I still like it. Mainly because I love leaves.

One more picture of the dead mammoth basil leaf for good measure.