A little rant about photos

I know a lot of sewing bloggers take photos of themselves on their own but I've always disliked doing that myself. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone to take photos for me on a regular basis, and I didn't win that mega millions lottery drawing last week to hire someone, so I'll just have to put up with self-portraits. Don't get me wrong, I don't always dislike self-portraits. I set up mini photo shoots for myself just for fun sometimes, but I don't want to have to put that level of effort into a shot of a mock-up or progress of a project.
Even though I have a remote for my camera, I never seem to have someplace I can set it up. This house doesn't have much I can use as backgrounds either. There's always too much furniture, other clutter, not enough light or backlight from windows. I'd go outside, but I don't trust my tripod on the uneven ground. It makes me miss my old living room (visible in the indoor shots of the wedding dress post). Even there I was never completely satisfied with photos, so I'm probably idealizing the place since I miss it, but at least I had a consistent spot to use. I've been in the new house about a year and a half now and I can't find a spot I'm satisfied with. Oh well, can't do much about it except keep looking for something that works. Some of my education focused on photography and part of me would like to work in that field, so it pains me a little to say this, but please forgive the sometimes poor photos. I know I'm capable of better, but things just aren't working out.