Believe

I thought this was such a cute picture of my niece, Jordan, visiting Santa. My sister had emailed it to me, and I had to try to do a layout for it. I lowered the saturation on the picture because I thought it gave it a nice sorta artsy look to it. I also didn't want it to clash with the red on the paper I used. This layout didn't take me as long as some of my previous ones have. I'm sure that's partly or mostly because I'm not making the paper like I was doing over the summer. I still may at times, but I was doing that more to match my pictures better. Anyway, I'm pretty proud of this layout. The red paper was from a set that scrapgirls.com was offering if you made a $10 purchase. It was designed by Melanie Johnson. The two papers on the side are both from Brandy Murray's Christmas Chronicles set. The green edge was recolored from the original brown. The frame/mat was designed by Paula Wright, and the swirl on the top was also in the Scrap Girls bonus set, designed by Carrie Stephens. The word art that says "The wonder of the season" was designed by Ariadna Wiczling.

I knew that I wanted to title it Believe, just because the layout focuses on how Jordan is looking at Santa, and the whole childhood belief in Santa. I was excited, because Scrap Girls had another collection they were offering with a purchase, and I saw that they had a "believe" word art. However, when I got it, it looked too casual with the rest of the layout. I kept doing different things, like changing the colors, or adding paper as a clipping mask, but I didn't like the look of those either. I finally decided to go with a font, and to keep the color gold. This was another Christmas font from theholidayspot.com. I typed it in gold, then duplicated the layer and offset it some to give the letters more depth. The snowflakes looked funny, though, so I deleted them from one of the layers. I added some glow and gave it a dissolve blend, so it would shimmer some. I was finally satisfied with it, so it was done. Yay!

Christmas Card 2009

I wasn't planning to make our Christmas card because my layouts have usually taken me a long time to do. But, we wanted to use the picture of us at the ICE exhibit in Orlando, and none of the predesigned layouts looked good with it, so I decided to try it. I thought it went a lot quicker than I expected, which is good. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this more. I got all of the supplies from scrapgirls.com. I used the Rippled Paper paper template by Brandie Velasquez, the Holiday in Lights paper template by Brandy Murray, and the snowflake is from the Christmas Chronicles, also by Brandy Murray. I got the Merry Christmas font from theholidayspot.com/christmas/fonts. I was proud of this part, because the font did not contain the white, so I put typed Merry Christmas on a white background in Photoshop and then erased the background from between the letters, and anywhere that it wasn't supposed to look like there was snow. I've since discovered the magic wand and polygonal lasso tool, that might have made that part a little quicker, but it wasn't too bad.

Since these went out this week, this technically was the first layout I've printed, although I mentioned in a previous post another layout that I haven't shown yet because it's going to be a gift. But, I received the actual print of that layout in the mail today, and I cannot wait until Christmas so I can give it. It looks sooo good! Just wanted to share that part.

Ice, Ice, Baby.

I haven't written in a while. Thanksgiving was good. It was so nice to be off for the whole week, and I was able to get some things done with my scrapbooking, including organizing some of my files. Poor Jason had to work the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I just stayed in, which wasn't too bad since it was cold those days. I am not one of those who wake up when it's still dark to get in the crowded stores and malls. Sure, I may get some good deals out of it, but I like my sleep and don't love crowds. It was hard to go back to work, even though it's only for 3 weeks, and then I get another 2 weeks off. That's just going to make it even harder to go back, though!

We went to the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando last night with Jason's parents and his brother and his wife. It was fun and very cold! I didn't realize that they'd give us parkas, but it's a good thing they did, even though they weren't that attractive, because the temperature is only 9 degrees. You're not really in there very long, though. I thought there would be a little more to it, but after you go through the exhibit, they have free hot chocolate and there was a little Christmas show. It was a nice little deal to go to, and we got some good pictures from it. Our nephew, Judah, is so cute. He's just learned to walk, so that's fun to watch. It's hard to believe that he's almost 1. They had an ice slide that Jason and Justin slid down. The rest of us decided not to because at that point we were so cold and there was a good line.

This week is going to be a busy week, since I'm singing in Idlewild's Christmas presentations. I think it is fitting that this will be my last offiicial thing with Idlewild, seeing as that was what brought me there 22 years ago. I never look forward to the lack of time during this week, but really, I love the singing and I'll get to hang out with some of my friends :)

I usually have lots of topics to blog about running through my head, so I hope to get on here a little more in the upcoming weeks.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I was off all week for Thanksgiving, and I am happy to say that I feel like I got a lot done in the scrapbooking realm. I organized most of my files, even though I still have some more organizing to do. I also got to check out some of the scrapbooking websites more in-depth than I have. I also finished two layouts! One is this pictured one, of last year's Christmas. I had started it sometime over the summer, but hadn't finished it yet. I made my own photo collage, but it wasn't very straight, so I had to use a paintbrush to draw the grid so that it looked straighter. I used the Lights paper template from Brandy Murray, scrapgirls.com as well as the All You Need paper from the All You Need kit by Meredith Fenwick of twopeasinabucket.com. The journaling tag is from the Tied Tags Embellishment template by Paula Wright scrapgirls.com. I had to make three duplicate layers, all of the different colors, and then erase in order to create the multi-colored tag. The font I found on a website, http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/fonts/. I think I mentioned this in my last post, but I love that I have found embellishment templates and paper templates. I know there are a lot of tools out there still for me to discover, but I think that my layouts are already looking better.

I said I completed two layouts. I will not be posting the second one until after Christmas, as it is a gift for someone who sometimes sees this blog. I am very proud of that layout, and I can't wait to give it to the person, or to post it. I have posted it on a scrapping website, but I won't give the link for that either.

I have so many ideas running around in my head for layouts, pictures to scrap, and albums. There seems to be two main types of layouts that I see...one that is more focused on telling the story of an event, and one that is more focused on the artistry of the layout. Those kind usually just have one photo, and lots of fancy, artistic details. I'd like to make some layouts like that, but I haven't quite mastered the artistry of it. But I'm seeing others' layouts, that are inspiring me, so I think that I'll be doing it in no time. For now, it's back to work on Monday, so I won't have as much free time as I did this week, but in three weeks, we'll be off again!

Over this last summer, I started working on scrapping my honeymoon. I only completed this 2-page layout of our wedding night. I did everything myself except for the date embellishment, which came from Jennifer Pebbles' free kit at Two Peas in a Bucket website. It's called the skinny date label. I made the paper myself by texturizing the one I chose for a background. I used the floral brush as a corner border. I think I got those from brusheezy.com. I wanted the pages to coordinate, but not necessarily be symmetrical. It was hard to put embellishments on before, because a lot of the freebies I had didn't go well. And I had no idea how to make my own. But now that I've discovered embellishment templates, I will probably put a lot more of them on my pages. And, looking at these, I'll probably tweak this one a bit, since it's the only honeymoon layout I've completed. When I do all of them, I'd like for it to be a book. So, we'll see if a future post contains a (hopefully improved) variation of this layout.

On our wedding night, we stayed at the Marriott Waterside hotel downtown. We had taken a few pictures of our hotel room, and we had a nice view out our balcony. The journaling piece talks about this, plus the fact that we ate the food that had been packed for us at our reception, since we did not get to eat during it. The next morning we were able to see our ship in port from our hotel room. We walked to the port, which was a little more than we had expected, with the suitcases, but it wasn't too bad.

Having been getting more scrapbooking items this week, I'm realizing that I definitely need to reorganize my computer files. I started to organize them with a folder for papers, one for embellishments, and just take them from the kits I downloaded. I did this because I figured that it would be easier to look through all of my papers at once. This may still be the easiest, but then I have to make sure I know about all of the kit information so I can give the proper credit to the designer. That still may be the way to go, but I have a lot of kits that I downloaded and haven't gone through yet. So, that will be helpful, too, in finding other elements to put on my pages. Anyone out there have some good tips for organizing digital files?

It's Christmas! (And Thanksgiving)

I've heard a lot of people complain about the time change and about hearing Christmas music in stores already. I have to say, I love it. Now, I don't particularly like that it gets dark so early, except for the fact that I associate it with the coming holidays, and have since my childhood. Once Christmas has passed, though, I'm ready for the longer day again, but until then, love it.

And hearing Christmas music so early...I'm fine with it. This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I know there's a lot of talk about the commercialism of Christmas, but for me, I just associate it with all the positives of Christmas, the true meaning of Christmas, so I don't mind even that. Now I don't want to skip right over Thanksgiving, either, just enjoy both at the same time, in a way. I guess for some people that seems ridiculous, but not me. I've heard it said before that Christmas time is probably a taste of what heaven will be like. So don't we want this feeling as long as possible? But, show me almost anything related to Christmas, and I love it. I have so many good childhood memories of Christmas, of the anticipation of it, the Christmas musicals I did in children's choir and at school...as I got older, the Christmas presentations at Idlewild became one of my favorite things to do. I actually find it fitting that this will be the last thing I'm officially involved with at Idlewild.

But, like I said, I don't want to skip over Thanksgiving. For the first time ever, Hillsborough County school district is off for the whole week of Thanksgiving. I remember when I was a kid, we just got Thanksgiving Day and the next day off. Some time while I was teaching, they added the day before as a conference day (which we worked on another night in exchange for that day off), so that was always nice. You just had a 2-day week. The last couple of years, I've known people who worked in other counties, and they had the whole week off. I thought it was odd, but I was a little jealous. Now, our county is doing that, and I am so excited! It's like another spring break, then we go back for 3 weeks and get 2 weeks off at Christmas.

I look forward to Thanksgiving day, not just my week off. Of course watching some of the Macy's parade, doing the family thing, and eating. A lot of people on facebook have been posting things that they are thankful for. It's a good practice, and I wouldn't want to ignore the whole purpose for the holiday. I am thankful for my husband, my family, my home, my job, and that God has provided what I need. What things are you thankful for? Make sure you take time out to think of this and thank God for what He's given you.

In The Meantime

I finally bit the bullet and actually spent some money on scrapbooking. Well, I've paid bought a magazine subscription and a couple of issues of a Photoshop magazine that includes a CD of brushes, gradients, textures, and fonts for Photoshop. But I actually have tried to download only free kits and elements from the different websites. There are really so many free things you can get. But the really good stuff, I think you have to pay for. So, I had some extra money (I get reimbursed for my mileage when I have to go to meetings and stuff, and that's mine to do what I want with), so I decided to buy some different digital kits. I just downloaded them all, so I haven't been able to play with them yet, but I plan to this week and next week when I'm off. So hopefully, I'll post some new layouts on here soon!

In the mean time, here are a couple of pictures that I played around with on Photoshop. I will probably use them in a layout one day, but I decided to go ahead and post them here. For this picture of me and  Jason, I applied a gradient, and I played around with the opacity until I liked it.

This other picture of me is one of those where only one element in the picture is colored. I've always liked those pictures. This won't be a technical how-to, but in Photoshop, you duplicate your layer, make the new layer black & white, then create a clipping mask. You then erase the part of the picture that you want colored. Again, I'll probably scrap this one day. I originally was going to use it in the template that I used for My Love (my first layout), but I didn't want the layout to focus only on me, so I chose a picture of me and Jason.

Just an extra tidbit...here are some of my favorite scrapbooking websites: scrapgirls.com, twopeasinabucket.com, and scrapbooksetc.com. I also go to peppermintcreative.com, but I sometimes forget about that one. The things I just bought were from scrapgirls.com. That site has a daily newsletter where they give a free download. They also have what they call a scrap club, with two options, paying either $7 or $10 each month, and getting a good amount of materials in return. I'm thinking about doing that, too. So, check it out if you haven't before. And stay tuned for a new layout soon.

Feed the Birds

When Jason and I got married, we scanned a lot of our pictures in the computer to use for a slideshow. This picture of him at the beach when he was a little kid is so precious. One day we were at Busch Gardens, and a bunch of sea gulls flew near, and he almost reenacted this. It was funny, but it reminded me of this picture and inspired me to scrap it. It was very simple, just lowering the opacity of the big picture so it blended with the background color I chose. I was experimenting with the different types of paintbrushes for the edge. I still may add something else to it. I see similar layouts in the magazines and websites, I just don't always know how to do them. So, maybe when I've figured it out, I'll add to this one. (I didn't flatten the image, so I'll be able to go back to the layers and change things if needed.) I finished this one in July 2009.

Fall Fun

This year, we sort of got into the festivities for Halloween by getting a costume for Desmond. We were at PetSmart at the beginning of September, and saw the cutest little dragon costume. We thought that would be so great, but we weren't sure how much he would grow by the end of October, so we didn't buy it. Of course, when we did go to buy something, it wasn't there in his size. So I picked a Tigger costume, which was the cutest thing they had left. It only cost $5 by that point, so that was good. We didn't take him anywhere with it on, because he didn't really love it, and the hood didn't stay on well. But we got cute pictures.

 I also put it on Benji, just for a picture. He looks thrilled. I thought it was cute, though.

We didn't make Desmond wear the costume for long, though. Maybe next year.

I also went to the pumpkin patch with my sister-in-law and my nephews. I probably take more pictures of my nieces and nephews than any other aunt. Kid pictures are just so cute, and since I don't have any of my own, that's what I have to do. Besides, I love my nephews and nieces so much--they're so cute!

So, this was the beginning of the fall festivities this year. I love this time of year. Especially once November gets here, and we have Thanksgiving and, of course, the Christmas season. Love it.

Easter Outtakes

I have a subscription to Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine, which I have found to be pretty inspiring for my layouts. Their website also has lots of digital downloads, like templates for collages and kits. In one of their issues, I saw a layout that had an idea for using the "outtakes" of pictures of kids that weren't usable for the project they were meant for. (Like Christmas cards or whatever). So, of course, I thought about all of these pictures that I have with me and Jason where he takes all these goofy pictures with me. I have them from a lot of different situations, but this one in particular was from Easter 2008, which also was my birthday. I remember I had sung on praise team, so I was singing the last service, and Jason had already gone to my parents' house. When I called, on my way over, he said my family had been taking pictures with the kids. When I said I wanted to take pictures, he said he had already changed. When I got there, he was persuaded to change clothes, even though he didn't really want to. So I think that's part of why we got all of these pictures. My sister, Amy, was taking them, and she kept laughing. I posted this on facebook and one of my friends was laughing that my expression was the same in all of these pictures, no matter what look Jason had. Anyway, we finally got a good one of the both of us.

This is another layout that was done before I thought to figure out how big the journaling print would look on the layouts when I do them. So I really could have fit more on there, but this is a good lesson for me to not be such a perfectionist. These papers were from the Scrapbooks, Etc. website (Graphic Pops and Cool Basics kits), and I recolored them to correlate with our pictures. The ribbons were from Mary Ann Wise's Party Hats kits, that I got on twopeasinabucket.com. I finished this layout also in February 2009.

As for a current update, I was able to work on a couple of layouts last week. One is from last Christmas, just family stuff, and the other is one from this last Halloween, since I dressed my dog in a Tigger costume. It was so cute! So, even though I'm working on blogging all of my completed layouts, hopefully I'll have new stuff up soon.

Aunt Claire

I started this layout about being an aunt in December 2008. This layout went through so many different changes, starting with the colors. I started with more primary colors, but I didn't like how the colors went together. My method right now is to put elements up, and if I'm not completely sure about how it looks, I'll hide it and try something else until I find what looks like I want. Which I guess contributes to how long my process is, and why I think I am perfectionistic about it.

When I first started, I also tried to use a lot of free material that I get from different websites. I tried to recolor a lot of elements so that they would match my pictures. Now, I make a lot of my own paper and create palettes based on my pictures. The website bighugelabs.com has a great color palette generator. That's how I chose which colors to use on this layout, which looked better than the direction I was originally going for. I did create the striped piece in the middle. This was before I realized that since I'm viewing everything at a low percentage on my monitor, I need to consider the size when it's actually printed, not just what I see on the monitor. I don't think I would make those stripes so big anymore. But, I can't change it, because I flattened the image and then saved it, and I don't know if I can work on it as layers again.

I thought of this layout because I had pictures of me holding each of my nephews and niece in the hospital when they were babies, and I liked that as the tie-in. Since I don't have my own children yet, I love taking pictures of them. So my journaling focused on how spending time with them makes me wonder what my future children will be like, but for now I love being known as Aunt Claire. I made their current pictures black and white, then applied a layer mask and erased the background around their faces with a soft paintbrush. I finished the journaling and finalized the layout in February 2009. Of course, since then, I have had another niece, but she was born in Germany, so I was not able to go to the hospital, so there will not be another layout exactly like that one, but that's okay.

My Love

This was my first completed layout, done in December 2008. I had the help of a template from the website twopeasinabucket.com. Templates are very easy to use. I really ought to use them more. I started the layout because it was a contest. You could submit a layout made with the template and win free stuff from the designer's website. So this layout begged for a great big picture, and what better one to use than one from our wedding? I made it black and white, but I wanted to use lavendar for the background. It looked funny to me unless I added a lavendar tint to the picture. (I think that's what I did, it's been so long that I forgot exactly how I did it). The journaling was just inspired by the thought that when you get married, you really don't know what lies ahead, good or tough times, but everything has a purpose. Anyway, it's probably the nicest looking layout that I've done, hence the reason I think I should use more templates.

The template is Scrap Canvas 8 from the Queen of Quirk at twopeasinabucket.com. My background paper is from Cherie Mask's All Twitterpated kit, also from twopeasinabucket. I just changed the color of the background paper.

Let's get this blog re-started

I originally intended this to be a blog where I could post my digital layouts. But, so far, I've written 1 post, only putting 2 of my layouts. I currently have done maybe 5 or 6 layouts, it was just tedious the day I was writing my post, so I stopped. Of course, I planned to come back to it, but obviously, that hasn't happened yet.

So, I know that a lot of people blog about scrapbooking, explaining how they do things, and so forth. I'm not quite at that point, yet, so my blog will not contain those types of posts. For now, I plan to do a mix of posting my own layouts, as well as just record my thoughts about the process, my frustrations, and my joys.

I actually haven't worked on a layout in a while. I was doing a lot of work on them over the summer, when I didn't have to work. Then I had a mishap with my computer--got a virus--and that kind of overtook my time. Since school has started, I haven't taken the time to do any layouts when I've had time to myself. Except, I did a little today when I was home sick from work.

So here are some of my frustrations...I get so many ideas of things to scrap. I worked on scrapping my honeymoon over the summer. I decided to do them in 2-page layouts, with corresponding themes/layouts. I finished one 2-page layout, and started on another. And that's it. Either I am too much of a perfectionist, or I just am still on the learning curve, but it takes so long to do things sometimes, so then I feel like I haven't gotten as much done as I would like. Or I feel like I need all this time to do all of the themes I want to do. I thought about doing layouts from past Christmases, particularly the ones since my husband and I have been together. I would like to scrap the trip to Disney we took for our 1st anniversary. I want to scrap other times we were at Disney, when we had our annual passes. There are lots of birthday parties and other family get-togethers with my nephews and niece that I would like to do. So, again, I have all these things I'd like to do, but when I sit down to do them, I either don't know how to start or I get so bogged down with the details.

Another thing that frustrates me is that things don't look as good as I'd like. I think I am relatively creative, I've just never had much experience or training in art, so I think that I could be more creative. Maybe I'm being too hard on myself, which leads to the perfectionism that takes so much time. So, I'm realizing I just need to relax and enjoy this hobby. I do enjoy the creative process, and that's what it's about. I don't know if it's the holidays, but I've had a big urge to get back into scrapping lately. I think it will be a good thing, and maybe the learning curve will start to get smaller.

Car Trouble

I had a pretty scary experience the other day on my way to work--my car completely shut off while I was driving. Now, I had some warning signs, even though I didn't realize it. First, my battery light was on. Jason had said we'd take it to Autozone to check it out that afternoon. But as I was driving, I noticed the lights on my dashboard were dimmer than normal. I also ran the windshield wipers, and they went really slow. Then my radio started going in and out, and my airbag light and seatbelt lights started flashing. At that point, I should've known to pull over, but I called Jason. It seemed to be driving fine, but I figured I wouldn't be able to start it once I got to school. As I was talking to Jason, all of a sudden, I could feel that the car was starting to go slower, even though I was pushing the gas pedal. I said, "I think my car's about to die!" Jason urged me to pull over, but I was in the left lane and couldn't. I got to a left turn lane, planning to turn into an empty parking lot. Now, if I had had full power, I would've been able to make this turn in front of these cars. As I was starting to turn, I realized since I didn't have full power, I may stop right in the middle of the street, in front of these approaching cars. So I stopped my turn, and right then, dead. I was a little freaked out, and I couldn't even find my hazard lights for about 5 minutes. AAA came and towed my car, and Jason sent his father to take me to work since he couldn't and my parents are in Germany. It was just my alternator, and it was easily fixed. The funny thing is, I had missed the street I needed to turn on and didn't even realize it. Guess I was so preoccupied telling Jason and figuring out what was going on. I kept thinking, how did I pass Hanley and not even realize it? But, I figure if I had turned there, I would have been right in the intersection when my car died, and that would really have been bad. So, thank you, Jesus, that everything turned out OK.

October

It's been a while since I've been able to update my blog. This is mostly because I've been busy on my normal Tuesday/Thursday "free" night when Jason has class. When I last wrote, I had just met the music pastor at Grace, who is friends with Ron. A couple of weeks after that, I got an email about coming to choir practice on Tuesday nights. Now, the choir sings during the Sunday services. We've been going on Saturday nights, where they have a band with a couple of singers. So I wasn't sure what to do, because we liked the schedule of going on Saturdays, but I wanted to get involved somehow. So I knew it would all work out somehow. I went to choir practice, and it was good. But I was encouraged to also contact the guy who leads Saturday nights. So I figured I would, and just see what happened. He scheduled me for the Blend service, which is a lighter, acoustic service that also meets on Sundays. I sang with them this past Sunday. I was nervous, because it's not what I'm used to in being able to read and learn my part. I had to basically create my own harmony part. They post the songs as mp3s so I was able to listen to it all week. I had to call on my previous experience in the Metro band. Of course, there I had Scott and Wendy to help me come up with parts. But I have to say, it's not as hard to do as I was thinking...I've even found myself doing that more with any song I'm listening to. But yesterday, the guy emailed me and said for now he wants to put me on a regular rotation at the Blend...maybe 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. So Jason and I have decided to continue going on Saturdays, and I'll go back on the weeks I sing. Pretty cool!

I've been wanting to mention one of the great things about my new elementary school. There is a group of people who meet to pray every day before school starts. Of course, since I'm doing good to get there on time, I really have to work at getting there to pray. But, what a great way to start the day! And what a great way to get to know people.

Our pastor has been doing a series about loving others...truly loving with your actions. He's challenged us to share God's love with others in practical ways, meeting their needs. I hate to say it, but that hasn't been something that I've thought a lot about before. But now, I've been thinking about it a lot more. How can I show love in practical ways? That's one of the greatest things. "If you see your brother in need, but have no pity on him, how can the love of God be in you?"

The most exciting thing that has happened in the last few weeks is that I became an aunt again! Amy gave birth to Ava Grace on October 8 in Germany. In Germany (sniff). I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to see her, when we'll be able to make it to Germany, so this is the one thing that dampens my excitement about this. But she is adorable, and seeing pictures of my 4-year-old niece, Jordan, holding her is almost just as good as being there. But not quite. So maybe God will bless us with a trip to Germany. Of course, we want to be wise with our money, but I feel like we need to just go while they're there. I'm sure we will at some point in the 3 or more years that they'll be there, but will I be able to see Ava as a baby? I hope so, but I guess we'll see.

Aren't they cute?

Last for now, I'm so excited about the time of year that it is. It was really nice to have such cool weather this weekend. It really felt like fall (or winter for Florida)! But, we're into my favorite time of the year...Thanksgiving and into Christmas. I'm starting to feel ready to listen to Christmas music. It may sound early, but when you're in a choir learning Christmas music since September, there's nothing strange about putting your Christmas playlist on your iPod in October. I'm feeling the urge to scrapbook, too. I haven't done any layouts since the summer. I'm sure as the holidays get here, I'll get some done.

Stuff that's been going on...

Things are still going good at Grace Family Church. We've been going mostly on Saturday nights, which is their contemporary/rock service. We've discovered some great new songs that we didn't know...The Revelation Song (check it out on Youtube, it's great!), At The Cross, Sovereign Hands are just a few. We went to an orientation last Sunday for the technical ministry. It was mostly for Jason, but we got to meet the pastor who is over worship. And he's a friend of Pastor Ron's. When I met with Ron to tell him about our decision, he had told me that he was having lunch with his friend that week, and he would for sure tell him about me. Sure enough, when we said we were from Idlewild and knew Ron, he said, "I think he told me about you. You were in the choir and you're an alto?" Ha ha. So, he said they'll be in contact with how to get involved in the worship.

But, in the mean time, Ron told my parents to let me know that I could be in the Christmas presentation, still, that you don't have to be a member. It was funny, because I had just had a dream that week that I was in the presentation. It was the first night, and I was saying, "I'm so glad I'm in it, and not just watching like I was going to, because I would cry if I wasn't in it." When I woke up, I was thinking, "Well, I'm not going to be in it..." But, now I think I will be :)

I really appreciate how supportive most people have been about our decision. Although, even if they weren't, it doesn't change the fact that this is what we know God wants us to do, and that's all that matters. I just talked to someone else who has recently begun attending Grace for similar reasons as ours. She was the one who said that all that mattered was her family and what they felt God was leading them to do. So that was a good reminder.

Let's see, we still have not started P90X like we were going to. I'm really not motivated to exercise that much, even though I can see how much weight I'm gaining. When Desmond gets a little older and has had all of his shots, I at least want to take him for walks and get some sort of exercise. It will be better than what I've been doing. I've also thought about at least doing the yoga workout from P90X, but that hasn't happened yet, either. It's hard to watch Biggest Loser knowing that I'm not doing ANYTHING like what they're doing. As for the diet, since we aren't doing the exercise, we haven't been that strict on that either. I'm not going crazy, but I'm not always making the best choices.

I'm trying a new recipe out tomorrow. I'm excited about this because I don't do this a lot. When we first got married, Jason said that he liked to cook. I like to cook, but I tend to follow recipes. Well, I've always said that, but in the last few years I've realized that I don't follow as well as I thought. I either go too fast or don't read carefully, and end up missing something important. So, since Jason liked to cook, I just let him take over on that usually. For the first 2 years of our marriage he was working from home anyway, and it wasn't that big of a deal. Now last year, when he started working as an electrician and having to go to school, I was supposed to start cooking more. But I got home later on Mondays and Tuesdays, so he still did a lot of it. Anyway, I was kind of getting that itch to find some recipes to try the other day. I guess I want to feel like I'm fulfilling the traditional role of planning and cooking meals. So, I'm looking forward to it.

My new school has been going well, too. For those who don't know, I work at a middle school for 2 days and at an elementary for 3 days. Last year I was at the middle school, but the elementary school is new to me this year. However, I have worked with the principal and the social worker before. I was very excited about this change specifically because of them. The school is a lot smaller than the school I was at last year, and that makes a big difference. I'm also hoping to do more this year than just evaluate students. I am looking into doing some group counseling for different things. One interesting thing at the school is that they have gender-specific classes. In fourth and fifth grade, they have a girls class and a boys class. They also still have co-ed class options. The premise is that boys and girls learn differently because their brains develop differently, and they should be given the opportunity to be taught in ways that are conducive to their learning. It's pretty interesting.

Final updates-currently reading Eclipse. I haven't got that far into it yet. I have not done any scrapbooking in a while. I need to get back on that pretty soon. That's what's going on with me.

The Bookworm Has Been Found

Lately I've been able to read a lot more. When I was a kid, I read all the time. Somewhere, I guess when I hit high school, I didn't get to do as much reading for pleasure. I mean, I still have read some throughout the years, but not like I used to. So it's been fun to get back into it. I read part of the blog called "Stuff White People Like." I guess it's from the book, I don't know, I haven't read it. I laughed, though, because it said white people won't admit to reading a book after having seen the movie. Now, half the time, I didn't even know the movie was from a book. That's out-of-touch I've been with what books are out there. So I will admit, I read The Devil Wears Prada and Nanny Diaries after I saw the movies. And way back when, I read The Firm and Pelican Brief after watching those movies. I recently finished The Time Traveler's Wife, so I will be ready to see the movie when it comes out on DVD. I'm just starting Eclipse. (I did read Twilight before I saw that movie.)

People often ask me if I miss teaching, and I usually tell them no. Overall, there's things about it that I enjoyed. But I've realized lately that the main thing I miss is reading aloud to my class. That was always enjoyable! I got to throw in my own childhood favorites, like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge (both by Judy Blume), and The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin). I also discovered other good ones, like There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (Louis Sachar). Most people have probably read the Judy Blume books. They're about Peter and his annoying little brother, Fudge. They're good reads. The Westing Game won the Newbery award. It's about this guy that dies and makes a big game for his heirs. The heirs all happen to live in the same building even though they previously didn't know each other (for the most part). The story is one big word puzzle. I love it. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom is about this kid who is not doing well in school. He's not well-liked by his classmates, basically he has no social skills. He starts to work with the counselor at school, and things begin to change. That one is great. It has funny situations, but delves into the emotions. I'm actually trying to think of a way to incorporate that in my counseling group. If you like reading children's literature and have never read those, you should check them out. Again, I haven't kept up that well with the newer children's books, but I hope to soon. Recently saw a series called The 39 Clues. I want to check that out.

All this reading has really made me think about writing something. I've always wanted to write a book. I have never decided if I'd want to write a nonfiction book, a novel, or a children's book. Who knows, maybe I'll get inspired one day.

Change Has Come

A few posts back I talked about worship styles and visiting a church with Jason. I alluded to the fact that I saw a possible change in my life as a result of that. Well...it has happened. Jason and I have decided to start attending Grace Family Church. Now, I am excited about this prospect, but it has been very hard to leave the church that I've belonged to for almost 22 years. And that's what I'm focusing on in this post.

In the month that Jason and I have been discussing this decision, I've thought a lot about my time at Idlewild. I was SO excited to start going there. I visited a couple of times with my friend, KayAnn, whose family had begun attending there. Then I went to the Christmas presentation in 1987. Back then, Idlewild was still meeting at the building on the corner of Hanna and Highland. The building seated roughly 500 people, and with the 2 Christmas "trees" on either side, there was hardly any room for a stage. But the presentation was so good! I liked it so much, I wanted my parents to see it, and my dad went with me a few days later. He said, "Yeah. That was good. I may want to go to this church." Yay! In January 1988 he and I went to a church service there. The rest of my family did not come with us, mostly because my mom worked at the church we had been attending, and felt weird about going. But after 2 weeks, my mom, Amy, and Kyle started going with us, too, and we joined that April. My grandparents also credit me with getting them to go to Idlewild. That's one thing that's been so ironic to me about my leaving. But I'll get to that later.

After only a few months of attending Idlewild, they made this big announcement that we were going to be meeting at Chamberlain High School on Sundays. It's funny, because I can remember that for the first few months at Chamberlain, I missed the atmosphere of Hanna & Highland. But now, I have such good memories of Chamberlain. And how fitting that during preplanning this school year, I had a training at Chamberlain, so I was hit with all of these memories from that time period...Christmas presentations, choir tour home concerts, college group, July 4th presentations, and so forth.

Of course, after 5 years of being at Chamberlain, we were able to move to the Bearss Avenue campus. Lots of memories there, too. More Christmas, July 4th, and Easter presentations, great times with friends, Saturday night services...and of course moving to the current building, which is where I got married.

One of the hardest things about leaving, for me, is leaving my music pastor, Ron Upton. One of my first memories of him is on a Sunday morning when I was visiting with my friend, Jackie. We passed by Ron. She introduced me to him, and he said, "Claire, what do you sing, alto or soprano?" I said, "Alto." He had his hand on my shoulder, closed his eyes, and said, "Lord, we need Claire." Now, if you know Ron, you probably can see him saying this, in a quick sort of way. But little did I know how much singing in his music ministry would come to mean to me. He has deemed me "one of his all-time favorites" and I think the same way about him. I always knew I wanted him to perform my wedding whenever that time came, and of course, he did. I've sung in the various ensembles, Ecclesia when I was in high school. Then One Accord and One Voice. For the last almost 10 years, I have sung on the praise team. It started as the Saturday night praise team when we added the Saturday service in January 2000. Then, in 2003, Ron wanted to add a praise team, for vocal support, in all of the services. So we quickly began doing the Saturday night, 3 Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night services. I don't remember how long that was before we started rotating, but we did. New teams were formed when we moved to the current building. And Sunday was my last day to sing on the praise team. Thank you to Ron's wife, Miska, who told me there's always a place for me on the praise team.

Speaking of my last Sunday at Idlewild, I was of course finding myself very sentimental. Then, in his sermon, Ken mentions the pastor who preceded him, who was the pastor when I started going to Idlewild. I won't go into details about the story, because it's not important, but I was first crying because gosh, another old memory during my last days at Idlewild. Then, I was crying, because the story provided some closure about the pastor that I was really glad to have gotten. And I thought, "Wow, God. Thanks that I was able to hear that on my last Sunday there!" So, that was very cool.

Needless to say, I've been sentimental and emotional about leaving. I think that's understandable after 22 years of being some place. But please don't hear me say that I am not happy with our decision to go to Grace Family Church. At Idlewild, Ron has the very difficult job of planning worship services that many types of people attend. You've got the older generation, most of whom grew up on and love the old hymns. Then you've got the next generation, who grew up on the traditional, but like some of the softer praise songs. Each generation likes it a little more contemporary, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's just hard, or impossible, to please every generation. Right now, Jason and I are wanting a more contemporary style of worship. That's why I find it ironic that I first got my family to go to Idlewild, because now I'm the one leaving. But God has used it so much in my life, and I still love it.

I've felt the last few days that maybe I'd been finding a lot of my identity in "I sing in the choir/praise team at Idlewild." Of course, not completely, but now that I can't say that, I realized how much that meant to me. Not that it was about me when I was up there, because I truly wanted to worship God and prompt others to worship Him, but it's real easy to find some significance in that.

Ultimately, it's all about God anyway. He uses His churches to reach people in different ways. He doesn't favor one church over another. And because I believe that He orchestrates the details in my life for a purpose, I know that He will do great things in my life, and in my marriage, as Jason and I move to, and become involved, at Grace. And of course, more memories are to come.

I know this was a very long post. Thanks for reading it, and sorry for the jumbled up emotions. I've had a lot on my mind the last few days.

Welcome, Desmond

For a while, Jason has been saying that he wants a dog. I love dogs, but I had my cat, Deja, that I brought into the marriage. We didn't get a dog partly because of her, and partly because we were going to Disney a lot when we had our passes. Cats are easier to leave than dogs are. So then last year, when some coworkers at one of my schools found three kittens, Jason surprised me by telling me to bring one home. So I figured we had our 2 cats, and maybe one day, if we ever had a bigger place, we'd get a dog. But last week, through a combination of seeing my uncle with his dog, and talking to my cousin who has 5 dogs, Jason's desire for a dog returned. I told him we couldn't get a big dog (his favorite breed is the boxer) because our place is so small. He said a miniature schnauzer (my favorite breed) was fine. OK. We asked my cousin to look around for a rescue dog.

Well, on Friday, Jason decided to look on his own. He found an ad through tbo.com for a litter of 5 miniature schnauzer puppies. She didn't live too far, and was heading to Orlando to show them to someone that night, so we went right over. We found this cute little guy and loved him immediately! It took us a while to settle on a name. Since we named Benji after the Lost character, Benjamin Linus, we thought we wanted to do another Lost name. So we settled on Desmond. Haha!

Other than potty training, it has been a blast to have a dog again. The cats are handling it better than I figured they would. Deja stays away most of the time, and Benji hangs around, curious. Desmond seems to want to play with him, and Benji will, but he'll quickly bat his paw at Desmond if he gets too close for Benji's comfort.

On Saturday, my brother came over to help me with something on my computer. He had his two boys, so they had a good time playing with Desmond.

As you can see, Desmond loves Jason. He follows him everywhere. I guess now that Jason's class has started back up, he'll probably start following me like that, too.

One of the cutest things he does is when he sits down, but he can't hold himself still, or the floor is slick, so he slides back. I'm trying to catch that on video, because I know he won't be doing that long. If I get it, I'll post it on here.

Summer's over :(

I've been back to work for a week. Anytime I hit the change from work to summer, I always have this disbelief that I'll really be off. And then, whenever I am getting ready to go back to work from summer, I have the disbelief that I'll actually be working again, EVERY DAY. But, after only a week, I'm right back into the routine, almost forgetting that I even had time off. I've already mentioned what I had done for much of my summer, but I'm going to post some pictures now.

I spent 2 weeks watching my 6-year-old nephew, which was pretty fun. We hit Busch Gardens a couple of times, and went swimming at my parents' a few times.

I think he had more fun getting wet by the rides, then doing anything else!

Jason also had surgery to repair his hernia and was home for 2 weeks. He was being a goofball before the surgery, so he wanted me to take pictures. He wanted to roll down the hall and act like he was crazy. Sometimes I think he really is.

I also was able to go the American Idol concert, last minute, which was nice. Most of these pictures were taken by my friend Krystal, who has a much better camera than I do. My favorite of the night was Matt Giraud, although I always have liked Danny and Kris. And of course, Adam sang "Starlight" by Muse, one of my favorite bands.

We stayed after to get pictures and autographs. That was a lot of fun. Sad to say, I hadn't stayed out that late in a while. Then, when I got home, Jason was getting up to go to work at 2 AM. Since my sister is 6 hours ahead in Germany, I got to talk to her on the phone for the first time since she had left a month before.

I also caught up some on reading. I read the books Flashforward and New Moon. I wanted to get the pictures off Amazon, but then I thought that it may be breaking copyright laws. I don't know. I am looking forward to getting Eclipse next. I also am waiting for The Time Traveler's Wife and The Right Address. So, these will not be summer readings, but reading when I can since Jason starts back to class 2 nights a week.

I did a little bit more scrapbooking, but not nearly as much as I wanted to. I have realized that I'm very perfectionistic about these things. Hopefully that's just part of my learning curve of the whole process, but I'm not too sure. I only finished 3 layouts. I've started on 3 others over the summer, but those will also have to be finished as I can. I'm wanting to work on my honeymoon, so that's what the first 2 pictures are of. I guess you can't really read the journaling from this, but I basically say that we stayed at the Marriott Waterside on our wedding night. Cool view, then we were able to walk to the port to get on our cruise ship. The 3rd one is this cute picture of Jason when he was little, that I wanted to scrap.

Overall, I had a fun summer. I've also put a long blog up, with pictures, so I'm proud of myself for that!

P90X

Sometime last week I wrote about the ways I chose to spend my time this summer. After I wrote it, I realized I forgot to mention exercise. Not that I exercised, because I didn't. But it was something that I could have mentioned when I was talking about the ways I could spend my time. And I realized that the fact that I didn't even think to mention it shows how far from my mind that has been recently. When I realized this, I was going to write about how I need to start exercising again. I'm definitely seeing the results of no exercise and my daily chocolate, or occasional Cold Stone cupcakes (yum!) It's really bad that I didn't take advantage of not working for two months to get myself into shape. I've found that it's really hard for me to stick to a good eating plan unless Jason is doing it, too.

And just on Saturday, he mentioned that he's ready to get back into our P90X eating plan and workout. We decided to start with the eating for a couple of weeks and then dive back into the exercise after that. He's had to wait a few weeks since his hernia surgery to be able to do any serious exercising. And let me say, P90X is serious exercising. If you've ever seen the infomercial, then you probably have a pretty good idea. We started it back in April 2008. We saw changes almost immediately, just in how our clothes fit, and slimming up our midsection. Other people were noticing a difference as well. Unfortunately, we did not continue the 90 days, just from getting sick, then craving a good Cracker Barrel breakfast, so we just sort of got off track and never back on. That's also when Jason stopped working from home and had less time to do it. We "started" again sometime in January, but that lasted maybe a week. Then we tried to start again in May, but again, less than a week. Part of that is also because it was before Jason's hernia was repaired, so doing the ab workout was really painful for him.

So, our plan is to start again in a couple of weeks. We're not sure yet of our schedule because Jason's classes will start again, and he won't plan to work out on those days. I think I still will, but we'll have to see. Now, I go through phases of consistent working out. Once I'm doing it consistently, I am motivated to continue, but it does become easy to deter me at times. I love the results. I don't always love the work I have to do. But I don't want to be lazy, and I really want to lose a little bit of weight. So, going back to what I said in my Priority post, how I choose to spend my time shows what is a priority for me. If I'm really serious about getting healthier and losing weight, then this is how I'll have to choose to spend my time. I definitely found that it helped me relieve my stress when we did it before.

We spent a good 45 minutes yesterday making salads for our lunches this week. Wow. But, I guess it's better to have them all done then to spend the time preparing them each day. I just want to really stick to it this time. I'll update as to how we're doing with it. And maybe I'll post before and after pics at some point.

Change is Coming

Jason and I have talked a lot about worship styles since we've been married, because we grew up in different denominations that worship a bit differently. These conversations, along with some good music, have influenced my worship by broadening my comfort level with a style from which I had shied away when I was younger. It also seems to be leading to a change for us, which has been hard for me to think about. Last night we attended a church service at a church we had never been to before. There was a violin solo playing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," then the congregation began to sing the song. It was very moving, and I started thinking about the fact that God is unchanging. However, styles of worship change, and He is OK with that. Throughout the centuries people have praised Him with the style of music that was popular or "contemporary" for that time period. There seems to be such resistance by some people that you can worship with a contemporary sound or style. It's not just the sound or style, but the energy and enthusiasm about what you're singing that we are considering. People just aren't seeming to get it.

I've been trying to contemplate what exactly about the probable change we're looking at is hard for me. I think it's comfort, overall. I'm comfortable where I am, and I don't want to make a change, even if that change could ultimately be for the better. I'm scared of the unknown, and what the ramifications of making the change could be. And that just leads to the norm when it comes to worrying about something--I am trying to figure it all out now, rather than let God be in control and see how things fall into place. My emotions just get in the way and cause me to forget that this is what I believe God is bringing in my life. But, thankfully, He is unchanging, and that means that He is faithful and more than enough to meet my needs.

Priority

About once a month, my friend Rachel and I hang out at Barnes & Noble in order to get some girl time, and look at the magazines. I love going to B&N and seeing the books. I always think, Wow, I wish I had more time to read. The last time we went, I thought this, but then I realized--I've been off all summer and how much reading did I do?

I did read two books. But I also spent a lot of time working on my scrapping/photoshop, blogging, facebook, and whatever else I enjoy doing when I have my free time. So, if I'm doing one of those things, then I'm not reading, and vice versa. So, I can't complain that I didn't have the time. I just didn't choose to use it to read like I could have.

Every year when I go back to work after my relaxing summer, I always pray that I will find a way to keep balance and do the things I enjoy, even while working. It's even more difficult now that I'm married, because I have a tendency to get obsessed with my hobbies, which causes me to neglect my responsibilities. I can't even fathom what it will be like when I ever have kids. I think it's going to become a matter of priority. I mean, that's what I do now. Whatever I choose to do, is my priority. I don't usually think of it that way. I would never say that someone else is more of a priority than Jason, but when I'm choosing to catch up on people's facebook status rather than clean the house, which is something that makes Jason feel good, then I guess that is what I'm saying.

Not that I'm saying it's not good to have some down time where you just do whatever, but I just want to be conscious of what I'm saying with how I spend my time. Especially as it will be so much more limited than it has in the last few weeks.

Joy in Relating

A few years back, I had a big realization about myself. I had always known that I placed a lot of importance on friendships and relationships, but through a series of events, I really saw that I was looking for these relationships to meet a need in my life that they weren't designed to. I was making them too important, and letting them overshadow God's importance in my life. More recently, I've noticed that I was having this struggle again. I was really frustrated with myself, because I know better. I was looking at different interactions, weighing what I was getting from one person or another. Then I realized that was the key, I was looking at what I was getting. I felt God impressing me that to have a friend, you must be a friend. So I started thinking about how I can be a friend to others. I mean, I like when someone takes an interest in me, when they take the time to email me or call me about something, so wouldn't that make someone else feel good? So for the last couple of days, I've been making the decision to think of others first. And it's felt so much better than worrying about what I'm getting from others. Of course, I want to make sure I practice that in my home as well. Sometimes we're more inclined to put a good face on for others outside our home than we are for our own family. I know that is something I haven't been good at, but I am making a conscious effort to be better at that. I am so thankful that God has given me Jason, so I definitely want to live like that! It was cool, though, because part of our Bible fellowship class lesson yesterday was about loving others and putting their needs first. That's where joy comes from--the acrostic Jesus, Others, then You shows that. So that's what I want to focus on right now.

An Orchestrated Life

I think I'm changing the name of my blog now. An orchestrated life...notes about how God is in control of things in my life. One of my favorite movies is Serendipity. If you haven't seen it, two people meet randomly at a store and have a connection even though they're both dating other people. The guy wants the girl's phone number, and she writes it in a book, which she promptly sells to a used bookstore. He writes his number on a $5 bill. She states that if they are supposed to be together, then these items will cross their paths again. Of course, because it's a predictable chick flick (which is why we love them), they do eventually find the items, and each other, again. Even though the characters attribute it to fate, I believe that God works that specifically in my life. I've always loved the concept that God orchestrates things in our lives. It gives me this picture of His hand behind the things that happen to me. Just like in an orchestra, where you have different instruments playing different things that, together, make gorgeous music, so in life, the different circumstances I encounter contributes to the gorgeous music of my life.

It's really helpful to remember that God is in control of the details of my life. I don't always live like that in my daily circumstances--letting little things bother me too much, or worrying about situations that I don't need to. This has been on my mind lately because I realize that I've been looking for God to do something big in my life. He has in the past, so I think if it's not something big, then He's not doing anything. But sometimes, a lot of times, you just have to wait. Wait and see what happens. I've just been struggling with contentment lately. In lots of areas. I think my discontentment comes from a lack of belief that God IS truly controlling the details of my life.

It has helped me to remember past situations. One of my favorites is when I had just completed my thesis for grad school. I was on leave from a teaching position, and I finished my thesis 2 weeks before school started. At that time, I had not looked for a school psychologist position, which is what my schooling was for. There were no positions available when I did submit my resume, so I figured I was going to go back to teaching. Now, this was not what I wanted to do, since I had spent the last 4 years of my life getting little to no pay and having little to no social life so that I could become a school psychologist. My journal from that time is filled with pleading prayers for direction and for something to open up, with declarations that I really did not want to go back to teaching and requests to change my attitude, and acknowledgement that whatever God had purposed for me for that year was OK. Then I got "the curve ball." The day before teachers reported back to school, I got a call to come in for an interview. Now, I thought they were doing this so that when a position came open in the middle of the year they could place me then. But when I got in, I found out that someone had resigned so she could move closer to her elderly parents. So they offered me the position right then. It was SUCH a blessing, and God even worked it out that I was able to work with the leaving psychologist for a week, so she was able to help acclimate me to the school. And in terms of the people I worked with, that school was the best position I've had thus far. That's been 6 years now, but that was such a great blessing to see God at work in the details of my life like that. It's good to remember God's works, isn't it?

Now, I think I'm going to watch Serendipity :)

It's Summer!

I thought I would have written more since my last post, but I really haven't had a chance. I'm already halfway into my summer, and this is the first time that I've sat down here to write. I LOVE the summer. I could absolutely never work again if I didn't have to. I easily find things to do to fill my time. Of course, many people would probably find these things boring or unproductive, but that's okay. I think it's relaxing.

In the 4 weeks I've been off thus far, I was watching my 6-year-old nephew for 1 week, then my husband, Jason had his surgery and has been off for 2 weeks. Today was his first day back to work. I've also had to say bye to my sister, Amy, as her family moved to Germany for at least 3 years. It was very sad, but hopefully I'll be able to visit her next year. I am sad that I don't know when I'll see her baby, Ava, who is supposed to be born in October. Needless to say, so far this summer has not been what I'm used to, but it's still been relaxing.

For the rest of the summer, I look forward to spending time with friends, working on my new favorite hobby--digital scrapbooking, reading, and maybe even writing. I'll also do other random things like facebook, twitter, scanning old photos, and finding new songs for my iPod. I also have some professional reading to do before I go back to work in the middle of August. I find that I have so many things that I want to do, but I never have enough time to do it. I guess it's that way for a lot of people. So it becomes a matter of picking and choosing, because I don't want to neglect Jason. :)

I am excited that I will be working at a different school this year. I was getting so overwhelmed at my previous school, and the opportunity was available for me to change, so I did. I have worked with the principal previously, as an assistant principal, and we had a great working relationship. I also have worked with the social worker at another school, and we also get along great, so I am glad to already know some people.

I guess this is all I have to say right now, but I'm glad that I finally was able to blog again. Hopefully, it'll be sooner than 6 months until my next post.

First Blog

So I've been thinking about doing a blog. I'm very much a journaler, have kept one since I was 12. But that's typically just for me to read, so this will be interesting writing knowing others can read. So, I'm checking this out, and writing my first blog. Of course, it's just one more thing to add to my list of things to do when I have free time.