Hands Free Pumping Bra Hack

I'm reviving this blog to use it to post this idea that I came up with for turning your nursing bra into a hands free pumping bra... The best part? You don't have to take the pumping hack off!

With our second child this last summer I found myself becoming an exclusive pumper (not by choice). Our little one couldn't figure out how to switch between nursing and the bottle so to get her to eat at daycare I had to exclusively bottle feed her. this added a lot of stress, but by having a pumping bra that I could always have on, it was a lot faster to start a pump session.

So here is the hack that saved my sanity :)

What you'll need:

6 hair ties

1 safety pin

1 nursing bra

Take 6 hair ties and loop them together to make a chain:

I doubled the last one to make it a little shorter, you can add or subtract as you need for to find what fits you.

On one side put the safety pin:

Now loop the chain around the nursing bra background strap on one side:

Next you need to thread the chain of hair ties around the middle of the bra making sure to cross it over itself (this step adds the stability needed for pumping):

Now safety pin the other side to the background strap on the other side:

When you are ready to pump simply unsnap the bra and insert the pumping flanges into the loops of the hair ties: (you can pump one side or both)

You can leave it on during the day which makes setting up for pumping so much faster.

as long as you aren't wearing tight shifts it isn't even noticeable through your clothing

Some tips:

If you need this to be longer or shorter you can add extra hair ties or fold some of the hair ties in half while you're making the chain.

you can even nurse and pump at the same time:

Honduras, you hold part of my heart

I apologize for the lack of updates while on our trip, it turned out to be more challenging to keep this blog up to date than I had expected. Now that I have returned home I find it hard to put my experience into words, so while I will try to give you a feel for what it was like know that for most of it you just had to be there.

Joy, frustration, love, despair, compassion, hopelessness, exhaustion and laughter were just some of the emotions that ran through me this last week.

We had an amazing trip and faced a lot of hard things. But let me tell you right now; it was ALL worth it.

"hairy eyeball" a fruit that we got to try... It was pretty good :)
All of the fresh fruit that we had was amazing

The Drilling

Despite working for four days on drilling a hole in the ground we were never able to get the hole to stay open past a 9’depth. We had gotten down to 30’ but when coming out of the hole the bit broke off and the rocks slid back into the hole creating a block at 9’… we lost three bits in the hole and wrecked two other bits by wearing the teeth right off of them. We were not able to move to a different location because the tires had been stolen off of the drill rig over the weekend before we arrived. The amazing thing was that the tires were returned to us and we were able to put them back on Thursday morning. (the back story to their return is that the police found out a man had tried to sell these unique tires to local tire shops and they retrieved his phone number… then… one of the teachers at the school called the neighboring drug lord who called the man and told him he had 24hours to return the tires… at which point they were returned to us – in Honduras the drug lords serve as a protector of the people in the villages that they live) we all are still laughing that our tires were returned to us because of a drug lord.

We were not able to get a well for the school which was heart breaking beyond what I can express… however, living waters will return to that site at a later date to attempt a well there in the future, so their still is hope for their future.

Teaching Hygiene

A portion of our group taught hygiene classes in the school that we were drilling the new well… It was amazing to watch them get the kids interacting with the concepts of washing cups, dishes and their hands before using the clean water. They also taught bible stories and shared Jesus with the children, many of them accepted Jesus into their hearts while we were there, which was one of the largest accomplishments that I can think of.

Well Repair

On Monday Andy and I were able to be on the well repair team and we had a blast… 

The wells need to be serviced anywhere from every 6 months to every couple years (depending on the water and minerals) we pulled the pump and its casing out of the wells, then shot air through a hose to the bottom of the well which pushes all the water out of the pump, this process cleans out the bottom of the pump from the minerals and dirt that have settled and built up down there over time. We then put a new pump and casing down the well and re-assembled the pumping mechanism. We could then pump clean water out of the pump again. 

Flushing out the dirty water

signing our names in the well cover

pulling the pump and casing on the second well

The group that was on the repair team on Monday

In total our team repaired 8 wells!

This trip was life changing and I honestly am still processing all that we saw and experienced. It was hard to see a country where 28% of people are unemployed and the average pay is $180 per month. It was hard to return to the states and walk through the grocery store, sit in my beautiful home and drive my nice car while thinking about the poverty that exists in Honduras.

Honduran people are so gracious and friendly and their children melted my heart. They were a joy to play jump rope with and I enjoyed learning some of their vocabulary just by asking “how do you say ____” and pointing to an object, they laughed if I would repeat incorrectly and loved it when I actually knew the word for something on my own (you are strong or you are beautiful were my two most common compliments that I was able to tell them)

One of the things that I will miss is the closeness that we felt to God, it is amazing how much closer God feels when you are depending on his help, when you are with a team that knows that God is the only reason that they are able to do what they do. And when you are singing worship songs at every supper, most breakfasts and lots in the van while you are traveling.

Also an update on the stolen passports – we were able to get those two team members on a flight (with one of the Honduran translators) to the capital city and they were able to get emergency passports that Monday and return to be back with the rest of the team Monday night. If their passports had been stolen any time after Sunday night we would not have been able to get them passports until the next week’s Monday (they would have been trapped in the country) – if a theft was going to happen we are so thankful that it happened when it did.

One of my highlights was the last day of drilling, as we prepared to leave there was a little boy who was hanging out with us, I had found a spot to sit a little ways away from the rest of the group and he was curious to know what was in the bottles that I was carrying. I was able to explain in a combination of broken Spanish and charades that one bottle was bug spray and one was sun screen… he was immediately excited about the bug spray and quickly found a fly for us to shoot with the spray, then he found ants and other critters… It was fun to play with him in such a natural way (all boys are so fascinated by bugs) to see his excitement and then to receive a great big hug as I said “adios” for the last time.

I also have to say how much I loved being in Honduras with my Husband, he was such a source of joy for me and out team (he can be pretty witty, and is constantly looking for the funny side of situations) more than once he was able to relieve the stress by getting us all to just laugh it off.

Blessings,

Kaitlin

P.S. if you are thinking about going on a trip with Living Waters feel free to ask me questions... I would highly recommend using them :) or you can check out their website at www.water.cc

Welcome to Honduras!

We have made it to our hotel in  after a 3 hr flight and the rest of the day traveling we all are so glad to see beds all ready for us.

Today has had its share of excitement ... We all made it though customs, got to meet our awesome living water team mates and then drove 20min to grab a quick lunch at a Burger King :) but after ordering and getting our food to-go we returned to our 20 passenger van to find one of the windows had been jimmied open and four bags were missing! While my bag was under a seat and managed to stay safe, the loss of items was still significant... Two members of the team lost their wallets (containing their drivers license, cash and credit cards) and, amongst other things, their PASSPORTS! Please pray for us as we will have to get them to the american embassy in the capital city by Monday morning so they can get new passports/documents for travel. The capital city is a 7hr bus drive away so we are hoping to get them on a flight tomorrow afternoon. (One of the Honduras team members will travel with them to ensure they get the needed documents)

Today has been quite an eye opener for all of us... The standard of living here is so drastically different from the states...

We saw children working in the streets to sell items like bottled water, car air fresheners an anything else that they could find to sell to cars passing by... They would weave between the traffic whenever they thought they could make a sale.

Traffic is aggressive and on more than one occasion motorcycles would wip past us between the traffic lanes... People pass going around corners and on a couple occasions just made it back into their lane as oncoming traffic whizzed by... 

We also saw a single peddle bike holding four people.

It is quite strange to be in a foreign country where you do not speak the language...

We are going to try to get a good nights sleep to be ready for church, lunch and more travel tomorrow...

Please keep us in your prayers... It is very evident that there is some strong spiritual opposition to the work that we will be doing this week ...  

I can not wait to see what is in store for us this week!

Blessings,

Kaitlin, Andy and the team

Honduras

Hello Everyone,

Andy and I embark on a new journey on Friday; we are going to Honduras!
As I pondered about the best way to keep in touch with you all while we are away, I decided this abandoned blog would be as good a place as any.

We are joining our church, Cedarbrook of Menomonie, WI

who partners with Living Waters International

My heart has been aching to go on another short terms missions trip; and I was so excited when I heard there would be a trip going in the winter months, when farming is a little slower.

It was a nice bonus that Honduras is in central

america and will be in the 80's while we are there :D

The Team:
This team is a large group (compared to past Cedarbrook groups) we have 14 people in total. Some of the team members have missions trip experience and for several this is their first trip.
- Four for well repair (this is what Andy and I are signed up for) - This team will travel to different places during the day to repair broken wells (goal is to repair three wells while we are there)
- Five for the well digging - This team will be in one town and will spend four days to dig and dedicate the brand new well
- Five for teaching - This team will be in the same community as the new well and will teach the children and families hygiene and about Jesus

The Itinerary: 
Friday the 20th: We fly out of the twin cities Friday afternoon and land in Huston Texas at 10pm... we have a long layover so we will be spending the night in a hotel
Saturday the 21st: Rise early(ish) to catch a 9am flight from Texas to San Pedro Sula, Honduras! we should be in country around noon. I believe it is a several hour van drive from the airport to the hotel we are staying in (in La Ceiba). I believe we will settle into the hotel a little and have some time to hangout as a goup
Sunday the 22nd: have breakfast, then attend church in La Ceiba and have lunch with the pastors and possibly church community. We then will pack up our things and move to a different hotel closer to the work site.
Monday through Wednesday: Meet the community, drill the well and teach lessons, the repair team will be in neighboring villages fixing broken wells
Thursday the 26th: Complete pump installation and have a dedication ceremony and celebration
Friday the 27th: a tourist day to explore relax and buy any souvenirs, we will then travel to our third hotel which is close to the airport and have a team dinner.
Saturday the 28th: Have breakfast as a team and then catch an early afternoon flight back to Texas where we have a three hour delay before flying into MSP with an estimated arrival of 11pm.

We should have some internet access at the hotels that we are staying (though I'm told its spotty and may only work in the reception area)... I plan to keep you all up to date as we plunge into this awesome adventure.

I am so excited for this trip and am having a hard time believing that it is only four days away!
I covet your prayers as we travel outside our comfort zone into new culture, lifestyle and language. I would greatly appreciate prayers for sufficient energy, safety and for God to move through us in the people we encounter, and that he would transform our hearts.

Blessings,
Kaitlin

A Much Needed Update

Hello Everyone,

You're probably wondering if I've fallen off of the edge of the earth... well I am happy to announce that I have not. I apologize to those of you who have waited patiently for an update. I felt for a long time that I didn't have things worth sharing or, when I did, that I didn't have time to share them.

So lets catch you up on what has been happening in my life since October.

1. I just started an internship last week at Andersen Windows in Menomonie and I am loving it
2. I only have one semester left of College! (how crazy to see how fast these years have gone)
3. I joined the iphone world and its hard to believe I survived with a "dumb" phone before
4. I have taken up crocheting as a hobby (hopefully some tutorials to come soon)
5. Andy and I went to Mount Rushmore over my spring break and had a wonderful trip (my first time being out there)

You may notice that I've updated the look of my blog as well. I thought it was time for some change and I love how much cleaner this one looks. Also in the upper left had corner if you click on "Timeslide" you can change this page to read how you feel most comfortable.

This summer I'm hoping to be able to spend some of my free weekends and afternoons working with this little lady at the Burton's place. There are four fouls at their house this year and its hard to resist helping train such cuties.

I mentioned that I've picked up crocheting... well here is a picture of my favorite (so far) pot holder

This one is made with two strands of yarn and using the basket weave

(I may do tutorials on these in the future - let me know if your interested)



More tutorials on the DIY things I've been up to will be coming soon

Time Management

" We live and die by our habits"

This last weekend I spent some wonderful time in Milwaukee with my family :) As I spent time with my sister Kim and some of her friends I began to wonder if I work hard enough because they have part time jobs and I don't (yes I'm laughing at that that thought now). But it caused a conversation with the lovely Miss Cassandra and we decided I should make a list of the activities that I feel waste my time and a list of things that I long to do but don't have time for. This is what we came up with:

Wasted Time

      Television

      Facebook

      Pinterest

Things I long for

      More Bible time

      Time to skype with siblings

      Violin Practice time

      Time for a one on one Bible study with a friend

      A Clean house - lets add some time to cleaning

      

As I looked at the wasted time category I calculated the amount of time I'd be willing to cut out of those things. 

 - TV only when Andy and I are relaxing together and 1 show on a lazy afternoon by myself per week

 - Pinterest only 10 minuets 3 times a week

 - Facebook - No more aimless looking - be purposeful, check what you need to check and get off.

Fallowing these things I'll be able to add 4 hours a week of the things that I long for.

I'm excited to see how much of that wasted time I can redistribute to better uses.

One thing about making new habits is that you need to make them easily accessible until they have have become a habit.... SO I did a little decorating that I think will help me pick up my Violin a little more often. (So excited about this one!!!)

Blessings,

Kaitlin 

Fall is already here!!!

Hello Everyone!

I hope your fall is starting out well. (I can't believe its already fall!) I'm loving being back in school instead of being an intern... I feel more at home in this routine that I know so well then I did at my internship where everything was new and unknown to me. As some of you may know this last spring I had decided to add a semester onto my schooling to earn a minor in Quality Engineering. But this summer at my internship I realized that I am not built for that field and thus have no need to add that extra semester... this means that I only have 3 semesters left (counting this one!) While I felt like 2 years was still a long time to be in school somehow only having a year and a half left is feeling so short! So I'm trying to soak up as much of this wonderful, stressful, thing called college.

Hanna at the lake in Monticello at the Fall Retreat with by Bible Study

I am the student president of my bible study this year and we are trying to become a student organization on campus. Over the summer I completed the necessarily paper work to apply, and now we are waiting to see what the student board and another board thinks. It has been fun to be the student president and get things organized and scheduled and to be the contact person for everyone. This year Gary Gilbertson who taught last year is feeling the call to delegate his ministry to more people which is hard and good all at the same time. We don't get to see Gary or have him teach as much but we also have found a wonderful couple, Jon and Janet Chara, that have opened their beautiful house for us and Jan is doing the majority of the teachings this year. Jon is amazing at explaining the old testament and how it speaks to our lives right now and he is also really good at seeing where things tie together in the bible. I'm excited to see what this year will bring if we are able to get onto campus and open our doors to more people.

Last weekend we had a 24 hour fall retreat with my bible study. The retreat was for all of the campuses of Prepare. It was fun to meet more college Christians who share such similar beliefs  Me and 2 girls from my group went to Monticello, and it was such a good time of relaxation and spiritual rejuvenation. 

Next week there is a Career conference at stout so I'll be once again putting myself out there to find a internship. It seems like I shouldn't be already trying to find one but this is when I found the one at SMC last year. I spent a few hours today trying to figure out which of the 54 companies present at the Career fair are within a reasonable driving distance for me which was easier said than done :p

Last night I got out my camera and did some more photos for a time laps movie... the stars pull me in in a way that I can not express... I am always amazed by their beauty and I hope that never changes. To think that God made those just to show off and to give us something to see him by is amazing! I hope you enjoy the short video.

For some reason this video is not very clear.... here is a link to where I uploaded it on facebook. In the lower right hand corner click the HD button to see the stars more clearly.

Stars Time Laps

Blessings and love,

Kaitlin

Baby Fallon

Yesterday at 11:15am Fallon Noel was born to Holly and Nat Bremer :) Fallon is the third of girls for Nat and Holly and my third niece :D I was able to see her last night and my goodness is she cute :) such tiny hands, eyes, nose and well everything! This weekend Holly and Nat are coming up to visit so I'm sure I'll have some more pictures of her soon :)

School is almost here again and I finished my summer internship last week (which went really well) so it has been really nice to have a week off before I get back into the swing of class :) Today I'll be helping my sister Kim move into the Eau Claire dorms :D I'm very excited that she is going to be so much closer to me :)  My mom and sister Kalli are also coming up and will be spending the night at my place :)

I got my books for school :p nine books for five classes.... I guess its just nice that I won't have to carry them all to class everyday :)

O and I could use your help in a photo contest... If you would click HERE and vote for my picture that would be great! :D you can vote once a day but the contest ends tomorrow... My picture is called Falling Snow... and it shows heifers with falling snow :)

Yummy Bars

Here's what you'll need:

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

12oz chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups)

Mix the cake mix, butter and egg together and spread in a greased 9x13 pan. leave 1/2 cup out for latter.

Melt the chocolate and sweetened condensed milk together and spread over the cake mix

Use the 1/2 cup cake mix and place drops of cake mix over the chocolate

Bake at 350 for 20-25 min (until edges of drops are golden brown) allow to cool for 5-10 min.

  

Work Life and God

God, Work, Husband, Cleaning, Cooking,Sleeping... how does one go about fitting all of these things into each day?

Work has been good but so busy. I get up at 6 to be at work by 8 and get home around 5:45... Now while I had thought that I would have so much more free time since I don't have to do homework when I get home it almost feels like I have less free time. I think that is mostly because I don't know what i'm doing at work quite often. I mean really I'm not done with school yet...(i guess that's the point) And not knowing what i'm doing really drains all my energy so by the time i'm home all I want to do is veg on the couch.
Work has been good but very taxing. It is a little stressful to know that things are taking you three times as long as everyone else. And to not know if you are even doing them right. I am starting to enjoy the work and I really enjoy the people that I work with. I am working with one Engineer named Bill on a project for a company and it has been interesting to see just what ME's (Manufacturing Engineer) do. It is much different than what I had expected (not really sure what I expected) and i THINK i like it :p I still have SO much more to learn!
This last week I feel like i have learned just how important it is to keep my house clean. While it is so tempting to get home and watch TV and go to bed i'm learning (a little slowly) that if I keep moving when I get home I can get some things done and that that is what my dear husband really needs. He needs me to work hard for him to keep the house livable. To cook healthy meals instead of pizza and hamburgers all the time. So now I am trying to balance work sleep and a clean house :P

I'm ashamed to say it but I've never been one to have regular quite times. Sure I pray on a daily basis (most of the time) and at one point I listened to my audio Bible every day but to have a time to talk WITH God everyday would be so amazing. I don't know how i'm going to fit it in but i know that i need to that without Him I am nothing and that without connecting with him I will have nothing. He is such a Huge part of our lives and sadly such an easy thing to ignore. We don't see him but that doesn't mean he isn't there waiting for you to talk to him. So go ahead... right now.... say hello to the Lord. Tell him what is on your mind let him know what things you are struggling with what things make you mad at him. What things should be different in the world and what things you are so thankful for. He knows you and he wants you to be honest with Him. He wants you to trust in him.


I hope and pray that you're relationship with him will grow deeper. Tell him what keeps you from him and ask Him to help you overcome that barrier. He wants to help but he needs an invitation so invite Him in today!


I love you all! Have a blessed Saturday evening

First day on the Job

           Today marks my first day as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern at SMC in Somerset. The morning was spent on teachings of safety rules/procedures fallowed by verbal quizzes. Then off to finally meet up with my Boss and see my Cubical... yes I did just say that I have my own cubicle... never thought I would be excited about that one but as I was expecting to be sharing a desk with another Engineer I was VERY excited. I have my own space and my own computer. It was now time for lunch and since the lunch room is on the completely opposite side of the building I had my lunch in my cubicle. After lunch Joel (my boss) took me on a tour of the plant. It was fun to see all the different areas that I'll spend time in this summer and also to fail miserably at remembering everyone's names. After that Joel paired me up with a woman who keeps all the operators on their toes, She inspects things after they have inspected to make sure they are completing their job correctly. It was interesting to fallow her around and learn how all the operators know what is acceptable flaws in a part and what needs to be thrown out.

         While today was very exciting and thrilling I kept of thinking that soon they will realize that they have hired someone who knows absolutely nothing about manufacturing and that I don't belong there. But the best part is that they know that I don't know very much and they are willing to teach me as I go along. I feel like I'm going to learn SOOO much this summer! Returning to school in the fall will be strange.

O and one more perk about this job..... lol the fact that it is to the west of my house..... meaning that the sun is behind me both in the morning and on the way home... the opposite of what it is when I'm going to school

Transitions

Well I'm not very good at transition times so I'm thankful that I only have a few more days until I start my Internship (3 days!!!). Transitions make me sad for the part that I'm leaving and anxious for the future. I'm really excited to start my summer internship but also, of course, a little anxious. What will it be like? Will I make friends? Will I like the work? Will my managers and co-workers like me? Will I be over my head? I know that these are things that will only be answered in time but sometimes it is hard not to wonder what it really will be like. - I'll let you know how it goes next week :p
        School was really great this semester. While I haven't gotten all of my grades back yet I think I did well in my classes. It is easy to tell which class I loved... I got a 99.9% in my photography class! wow! I'm sad to see that class be done. I had a lot of fun learning new ways to take pictures, how to set up my camera to have higher quality photos (lower ISO) and to really look at what is in each photo before I hit the button.
        Even though I was taking 18 credits this semester it didn't feel like that heavy of a load. None of my classes were work heavy which was so good. I was able to participate in my Wednesday night Bible study group and I'm proud to announce that I have made the decision to be the student leader next year. Mostly this means organizing the study. Getting a student organizations started so we can meet on campus, scheduling the use of a room on campus, letting everyone now where we are meeting and things like that. While Gary, or other teachers come to bring us a new message. If there is a night when a teacher isn't able to come I may teach occasionally but not every week. Setting up the student organization is taking a little more time than I had expected but that's alright since I don't have to have it done till fall when we start.

This week since I had some time off and was home during the day I was able to get pictures of my father in law planting a corn field. I hope you enjoy my second ever time-laps photography movie.

(Pictures were taken every 8 seconds for about an hour and a half)

Finals week

Well this coming week marks the start of finals for me. Monday and Tuesday are class days, Wednesday is a study day and then Thursday through Tuesday is finals. I have 5 final exams (one is a take home, Yeah!!!), 3 photo assignments, and a very time consuming Solidworks project.

In fact yesterday I didn't have class but i went to school to work on my Solidworks modeling project.... and I was there for 8 hours...  and all I got done was an animation. I drew each part (except the pins and screw) and then mated them together and then began the very tedious process of animating it. The most frustrating thing about the animation was that it wouldn't show you errors until you decided to save. And once you had saved it was very difficult to fix anything. The video that I shared with you isn't perfect and I hope that I am able to fix it but am not sure if I will have the time this weekend. Here is the video. If you would like to see it larger click on the title to open it in a new window.

Well, its time for me to go out and take some pictures for class. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Time laps photography

Today I did my first time laps photography :) I was able to program my calculator and plug it into my camera so it told my camera how often to take the shots and how many shots to take. It was a little frustrating at first to sit there doing homework with a loud click every few seconds from my camera but I just turned up the music and worked on homework while getting these shots that make for a good first time laps video :) I hope you enjoy :)

Photography Portfolio and one busy week

I'm proud to announce that I've made a website just for my photos. You can click in the tab above to get to my photography website. While I don't have many pictures up just yet I plan to add more as I have time.


I've been able to take Bahama out twice since she moved in on Sunday :) today we went on an hour and a half ride around the 4 wheeler trails. She has quite the stamina, we might have been running half the time which I LOVE :D I don't really know the trails very well so its been fun to learn where they all are and explore them

As the semester is coming to an end it is almost amazing how much I have to get done. Lots of projects, a few papers and lots and lots of tests :( But soon it will be summer and I'll be just as busy at work :D I'm very excited to start my internship. I know that I am going to learn such a large amount of things that they can't teach me in school.

As some of you know I am in a bible study on Wednesday nights called Prepare. It has seriously changed my life and I am so thankful for our teacher Gary Gilbertson who drives from the twin cities to teach us each week. Well the current student leader (Tim) is going to seminary this fall and won't be able to lead the group which leaves us without a leader.... or maybe not.... I started to think about the possibility of leading it myself. I feel like the Lord has shown me that it is what he wants me to do this fall and I'm excited about the possibility. Thought I do feel like I need a little more confirmation from him before I really commit to what could be a very big time commitment. But the possibility is really getting me excited. I have felt more and more this semester that I've been made to teach just as much as I've been made to be an Engineer. So this would be a great way to share that talent with others.


Here is a Photo that i'm working on for my class :) its 3 pictures combined into one using photoshop :D

A horse for the Summer

I have a horse for the summer :D 

Some good friends of ours who have quite a few horses are letting me borrow their 16 year old Missouri Fox Trotter for the summer. Since we only live a few miles apart I rode Bahama home to my place for the summer today. This horse is great :) she loves to go and is easy to turn, she listens to your voice and will stop and start to verbal signals. But you never want to kick her or you'll both be half way across the field before you can say a word.

I am so excited to go riding with her around the farm. We have 4 wheeler trails that we'll be able to explore together.

Andy's Birthday & Pinhole Photography

It has been a busy week :D Andy's birthday was on Tuesday so with cleaning, decorating and cooking for our meal together I feel like this week flew by! I don't have any more Friday classes for the rest of the semester which is awesome and means that today will be a get all that homework done, work in the yard and possibly horse-back ridding type of day :)

The semester is quickly coming to an end, I only have 10 class days left and then finals.... for a while if felt like this semester wasn't going to end and now i'm wondering where the time went. With the semester ending that means summer is coming!!! :D I am so excited for the warm weather and no homework season. I also am very excited about my internship. I will start work on the 21st of May and work through the summer as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern at SMC in Somerset... I feel so blessed to have received this position and I can not wait to learn how the real world of engineering works. And while I can't deny that I'm starting to get a little nervous about starting something new I know that it will be worth it.

In my photography class we have been doing pin hole photography for the last month, we have a paint can that has a pin size hole in one side and we put photographic paper on the other side. A piece of black electrical tape is used to keep the hole closed. To take a picture you set your can somewhere it won't move and then remove the tape for 30-60 seconds (depending on the lighting). The tape acts as a camera's shutter and the paper as film. We then have to go into the dark room at school, open the paint can, remove the paper and put it through a series of chemical baths to develop the picture. While it was fun to see how the process works it was frustrating when you hadn't guessed the time right and you turned out with all white or all black photos, or when the can moved just a little bit and the whole picture turned out blurry or when you thought you were getting a picture of just the door of the building and instead you got the whole building. But as frustrating and time consuming as this project was I was able to get a few good shots so here they are :D
I put the negative (what I got out of the camera) first and then the positive :)

I hope that you all have a blessed weekend.
-Kaitlin