SQUEEKY CLEAN

The peas gallery has been ripe with squeeky clean and graphic layouts and projects lately...so much so that I've added some new people to my ever growing list of favorites. Thought I might share some with you:

STEPHPEA (had a LO of the day this week) She does some digital work that would translate into paper really well.

TERIISHERE I'm ga ga over her clean and funky style. This LO is one of my faves of hers. It's one that shows (again) how important it is to get the story behind the photo.

ROREE Her use of beutiful brilliant color is amazing and she uses Scenic Route often.

WINKS Her style is the ultimate in stark museum boldness, which I like very much. Very New Yorker in my mind.

NATUREMOMM I could copy everything in her gallery and be happy.

And finally This LO by bodil using chipboard scrolls as waves made me want to get out those cruise beach photos and try again with them. I love this idea. Totally. It's unexpected and resourceful.



In other news, I used some older Scenic Route on this layout yesterday. I'm loving these wallet photo sizes, too. (The background green is from K&Co Addison.) Mossy Oak is a brand of camo.

I hope you have a great weekend!

RESPECT

Respect
Author Unknown

The average age of the military man is 19 years.

He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country.

He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's; but he has never collected unemployment either. He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.

He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and 155mm Howitzers. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.

He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop or stop until he is told to march. He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient. He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death then he should have in his short lifetime. He has stood atop mountains of dead bodies, and helped to create them.

He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom.

Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years.

He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding.

Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

For our Military "Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen."

Amen.

FALL?

It's Fall? No not quite. At least not around these parts. Sure, school has started but unfortunately, school no longer signals the beginning of fall. It's still summer here but the pea prompt for today was to list some fall goals. Here are mine/ours:

--Spend time outside. We have been so shut up in the house due to the extreme heat that we are all in desperate need of some quality outside time the minute this heat breaks.

--School...for G and J--and possibly for me. I'm considering a creative writing class. I need something new.

--There may be a teaching opportunity on the horizon. If so, I'm going to embrace that for all I am worth. I have missed it.

Those are the new goals. There are always regular things I can do better--be a better mother, be more consistent with my Diabetic care (ugh), work on the house, stop procrastinating and stop being unfocused. Get a new attention span...LOL! Read more.

Did you see Tracie Claiborne's blog today? She used some of the lovely new Scenic Route papers! I'm trying to be patient

So I got an interesting piece of mail today that confirmed something I already knew but was trying to live in denial about--apparently I go to Kroger too often. The proof: Kroger sent me a little coupon book and on the cover it says "For one of our favorite customers..." Inside there are a bunch of coupons for things I buy most often and a $15 off coupon. Fifteen dollars. Now, that, my friends, is a coupon. :)

And finally, my honey visited the used CD store last week (like almost every week) and came home with a few new musical lovelies--one for me--Darryl Worley's 2004 CD called (get this) Darryl Worley. LOL! Every time I see his name I think about "my other brother Darryl" from Newhart. Anyway, it's the one that has "Aweful Beautiful Life". I do like that song. In a country girl sorta way. Let's face it--musical genius is not generously spread about in country music but I like it anyway. Sometimes. I digress. Sorry. There's a line in that song that speaks to me:

"You can't really smile until you shed some tears."

Happy Thursday.

SHARE & TELL ALBUMS

Have you seen this "new" product from Pebbles? It's the Share & Tell Album set. I say "new" because it's not a new concept...just a new offering from Pebbles in my Pocket. This concept, which I think is very smart, could be carried out with any photo album, of any size.

I love this concept. Photos go into an album followed by journaling and minimal embellishment as needed on 4x6 cards. The journaling slides right into the album, alongside the photos. Speaking of E-a-s-y! Think of it as "scrapbooking-lite".

I love scrapbooking. I don't ever plan to be finished, not do I plan to scrapbook every photo. It's just not a realistic goal. I do, however, want to keep my pictures orgnized and safe. I want to be able to find a specific photo easily and all it's companions quickly, should I want to scrpbook it. This is the perfect plan for an alternative scrapbook. The boys love to look at all the pictures, not just the scrapped ones.

I'm really glad to see a scrapbook company like Pebbles embracing the concept of sb-lite. I think one of the aspects of this hobby that makes it un-appealing to new people is the myth that every photo has to be scrapbooked immaculately and that if you aren't "caught up" you are somehow less of a good scrapbooker.

Pebbles and I have a long history. (Read about Pebbles history here.) When we lived in Mississippi in 1995/1996 and I was just getting into scrapbooking, Pebbles in my Pocket was a small store in Utah that offered a mail order catalog. Oh man...what bliss that was. I was worse than a kid with the Sears Toybook when the quartely PIMP (snort) catalog came in the mail. (Remember, Mississippi = scrapbook no man's land.) They called is a magalog because it was part catalog and part magazine. Pebbles introduced me to my very first scrapbooking "crush"--Brenda Cosgrove.

One of my goals (since the beginning) has been to go to Utah (the sb Mecca) and take a class with Brenda Cosgrove at PIMP. For me, she has always been the mother of clean. Design-wise, she took a detour into cute but she's always embraced clean lines and lovely layouts. It's been cool to watch Pebbles grow from just a store to a mail-order business (now a web store), a manufacturer, and the home of quite a few extrememly talented designers, including some second generation women coming into their own--like Brenda's daughter, Courtney.

Pebbles Halloween Card Gallery
Pebbles Fall Gallery
Pebbles Weekly Make n Take Inspiration

So now you know.

It's OFFICIAL. I AM SPOILED.

I've been finding it difficult to cook lately. My stove is out of commission (top is fine), I'm taking a medication that inhibits absorption of food and appetite, so I am rarely hungry, and it's so dang hot. Who cooks when it's hot? Not I.

Boy, doesn't that sound like a laundry list of excuses.

Honestly, the stove have been OOC for a while now and I don't even care. We grill outside about every other day, so there's just no missing the stove.

Except that my honey loves roasted turkey. (Big sigh) The man loves "Thanksgiving Dinner" all thru the year. In fact, if I had to guess, I would say that his most favorite meal is "Thanksgiving Dinner" (or mahi mahi)--I think. Unfortunately, not having an operational oven has put the roasted turkey menu on indefinite hold. While I suppose I could grill turkey, like grilled chicken, it just hasn't been appealing.

Continuing on, yesterday I discovered that Kroger sells fresh roated turkey breasts in the deli (where the roasted chickens are). Why haven't I thought of this earlier? What a wonderful find! We had roasted turkey, rolls, veggies and salad for lunch today and I declare...I am a spoiled woman. I may never actually cook turkey again. No muss, no fuss, no mess. No oven needed. It was juicy and wonderful and, of course, there's enough leftover for dinner!

Spoiled, I tell you. :)

Gonna be a big week. The G-man braved getting 4 shots last week and is prepped to the 9s for school. The parent meeting is Tuesday night. Open house is Thursday. School opens the following Tuesday. He's so psyched. I, on the other hand, have all sorts of jitters. So it goes.

In other news, I am going to a crop in Hendersonville on (Sat) Sept 8 and there are (I think) a few spots still open. Anyone want to join me? I'll be packing a few page kits to keep me busy and I have some things for the yard sale table. I haven't been to a crop since ...January? That can't be right. Can it? (I don't know.)

Happy Sunday!

Crafty Assignment of the Day

Crafty Assignment of the Day:
Organize all the clear stamps (and a few unmountedred rubber ones too).

I had several new sets of Technique Tuesday stamps that had to be unpackaged, put into CD cases, and make the index print of them (photo copy at 50%).

I had to clean some well-loved ones and get them back into the right case. And my clear blocks were in need of some serious cleaning, soI was glad to get that done.

It feels nice to have this little project accomplished.

Happy Saturday.

WHAT's THAT NOISE?

What's that noise? Outside, eminating from the sky? Booming? Seems familiar...but it's been so long. Could it be thunder? (Here's hoping...) Yes, I'm blogging about the weather again. Sorry.

In other news, yes, that layout you see in the opening of my post has--yes, count them--six photos!! SIX! Don't anyone get hurt falling in the floor!

Six wallet prints...what a neat way to sumarize all (or much) of what we did this summer. Hand-written journaling, too. This is a piece of the Scenic Route background collection...it makes handwriting right on the layout so easy. And the sun, in the upper left corner is a punch that just happened to be the perfect size to fit inside the stamped image. I love that kind of lucky. The stamp is from Danielle Johnson's Art Warehouse line, which I really like. (Old news.) It's obviously not a sun, per se, but I thought it made a nice one anyway. If it didn't look like a sun to you, you don't have to tell me. Don't shatter my delusion, please.

Wanna hear something funny? We had to have our new Jeep serviced this week and have some AC work done. There was a weird smell coming from the AC vents when it was on. Verdict: a "varmin" died in there. "A while back". I made him stop before he told me exactly what the "varmin" was...I could have lived my whole life without that knowledge. First off, it's just gross. And second, I would think of said "varmin" everytime I use the AC...and I use the AC year round. That would be this month's re-do, if I had one. A certain husband would have kept that bit of info to himself. And I would have cried if he had said it was "Chippie", the local baby chipmunk, who lives under our house. So, yes, I'm choosing to remain in the dark.

May all your stamps do double duty and may your AC always smell un-Varmin-like. :)

PS Those felt letters on the layout are by KI Memories. I don't recommend paying full price for them, as cute as they are. The "adhesive" on them does not work. Sadness. You would think that an industry that has every conceivable adhesive at it's fingertips, could manage to use adhesives that actually work on products that need to be stuck. Or here's a clue: no adehsive necessary. I will still buy them and use my own adhesive--my favorite adhesive that I know works.

Oh my, it's raining!!

ANDY'S MUG

These were taken in April when he was home, before deploying to AFG.

LITTLE THINGS ARE REALLY BIG THINGS

Would you indulge me in a little PSA about something that I care deeply about right now?

My little (term used loosely) brother is currently serving in the most remote area of Afghanistan in the US Army. He called home tonight for the first time in 2 weeks and one of the things he said was to thank my mom profusely for sending a large box of the Crystal Light To Go packets for bottled water. He said those little packets were worth gold right now because it's so indescribably hot there (it get up past 115 regularly) and they have to consume so much water to survive. He was so grateful and of course he's sharing them with his buddies so they are going fast. He wasn't going to ask her to send more--he never asks for stuff from home, he is just happy with whatever we send--but she assured him we would send more ASAP.

It's not really like my brother to gush unless it's a really big deal. He's a soldier in the truest sense of the word. He is a little too proud for his own good sometimes.

I have to tell you, I take those little packets for granted. We have been buying one or two a week for convenience since they came out. It's $4 for 14 and each one flavors one bottled water. Spoiled. I know. But not anymore.

So here's the PSA. If you know a soldier, please consider sending a box or two (or ten) of these little refreshments to him or her, especially if he or she is deployed to a hot zone. It's a very simple process to mail things and this small token from home will mean a whole lot. If you don't know a soldier, I can point you to a couple of projects that collect items for soldiers, or you can send it to me and I will send it to him for his section.

This is not a solicitation. It's a call to action. Let's not forget in our day-to-day rush that there are husband and wives and brothers and sisters serving and protecting the call of freedom in lands far and near--in lands much hotter than the 99 degrees that it got to in Tennessee today and with far less of the luxuries that we so easily take for granted. It's a simple thing that anyone can do. Please. Take the time to make a difference in just this simple, easy-to-accomplish way.

(If you need help with the process, email me. I'll be glad to walk you through it.)
Thank you for indulging me.

Sarah <--- a proud and prayerful PFC Army Airborne Medic's sister!

G GETS IT.

Board and stuck inside due to the extreme heat, my 4 year old G-man came downstairs to my space today and said "Can you get out my baby trap-book so I can look at my baby again?"

Trap book.

Hmm. While that's just his funky 4-year-old way to pronounce it, I kinda like it. It's accurate, after all. It is a book of things that I managed to trap. Moments, memories, tidbits of life. Trapped in a book.

I think I like that.

In other news, I am the super-happy owner of Quickutz Frankie Skinni Mini alpha now, bought at a steal of a price second-hand. I have been allowed to play with Leigh Ann's set way too much--she's a gracious friend who shares her toys--so there's no doubt that I will love it often. Frankie is one of the retired sets. Can I just take this opportunity to say how much I don't like that they retire alphabets? Especially because many of my personal favorites are retirees. Why is that?

Have you ever noticed how completely fabulous black-and-white microcheck ribbon is? I've been working on a big project lately (the excuse for the recent severe lack of art on my blog) and it seems like I can't put that roll of ribbon down. It's the universal ribbon--it goes with everything! Next time you get stumped, try the black and white checked ribbon. Might be just what you need.

Finally, a commercial/endorsement/testimony. Remember back in the spring when I did that big ol' cruise scrapbook for NWYC--my husband's company? I used a beautiful Close to My Heart tan leather album for this project. It travelled all over the United States, to all the regional company meetings, being shipped back and forth between them for 6(?) appearances. I expected that by the time it got back to the office it might be a bit roughed up. Afterall, it endured lots of shipping and "handling"--more than most books and by people who may or may not have treated it with the care that I would have liked (I'm a little over-protective).

Fast-forward to last week, J talked to his former boss (the man who ordered the book) and R mentioned that it had "sustained some damage". When I heard this, I began invisioning my poor baby scuffed and bent, album sullied, pages askew and smudged, wrinkled or ripped. I was having nightmares.

So as it happened J had to make a surprise trip to the big D yesterday and he brought the man-handled bundle home to me this evening. As it turned out, the cover, spine and back are in remarkable shape. Good shape. Great shape, in fact. No problems. No scratches, no scars, no visible wear. I was shocked. The "sustained damage" was that apparently the book got dropped (by someone or possibly during shipping) because the top hole on each page protector ripped-out from the post. It's a uniform tear in the same place and same manner on each one, which leads me to think it came from a drop. (I've seen this happen before.) That's all. New page protectors are all that is needed. I am elated. Crisis averted.

Deep clensing breath.

I can not abide the thought that *my* book was wandering out there in a mangled state. I saw an advertisement the other day for some new-fangled techno gadgetry on new cars that when the car needs some regular maintainance, it generates an email to it's owner. Can you imagine this showing up in your email?

"Buy me new tires and give me fresh oil today or I'm going to leave you stranded in rush-hour traffic on a bridge! Signed. Your Loving Volvo.

LOL! So I'm wondering if I could attach said techno gadgetry to albums I have out there to phone home when they get in distress? Ya think?

Dear Mom. This person you made me for left me in the car for 6 days in the middle of the summer and then when he finally did take me inside where I could cool off and be comfortable, he stacked stuff on top of me. Heavy stuff. There's a permanent indention in the shape of a hammer and 2 screws on my cover. Someone spilled coffee on two of my pages. One of my screws is loose. Please rescue me. Signed, the XYZ Scrapbook.

I would be there in a flash, rescue badge in hand.

Oh yeah, all that to say, I am still highly impressed with the CTMH album set. It takes an extra-ordinary beating and still looks awesome!

So now you know.

May your days be super-cool soon and
may you successfully trap that which matters.

And there she is...

The May 2003 issue of CK is one of my all-time favorites. It's the issue with Becky's baby page for her then-new son Porter on the cover. It's full of Cathy and Julie Turner and Becky H. It's--in my opinion--one of the very best issues they've ever produced.



I read and re-read all the issues from 2003 periodically. I'm kinda stuck in 2003. It was an excellent scrapbooking year. :) There was lots of paper tearing going on that year. And brads. And ribbon. See, I told you, very good year.



The other reason I like May 03? It has Julie's ad for Sakura in it. I always forget and it sneaks up on me and then *BOOM*. There's Mattie Grace and Julie, smiling back at me on page 112. It's so nice to see the face of a friend.





In other news, the cover of Scrapbook Etc (Aug/Sept 07) is bugging me. Not the layout but the journaling. The journaling reads: "At almost 4 years old, JonPaul is famous for his nose-wrinkling, belly-clutching fits of laughter. During our annual family picnic, he entertained us all with his antics." But when you look at the picture, you don't see a wrinkled nose nor is he clutching his belly. Can you say creative license?



For what it's worth, I've heard that the artists doing cover layouts are given the photo and the journaling to work with, so I'm certainly not blaming the design talent of Ms Cathy Blackstone. Who knows? It just seemed odd to me. The photographer, Anita Matejka was quoted as saying he was laughing at a puppy in the yard.

I have always said I hate it when bloggers blog about the weather...but it's 104 here today and for 2 weeks straight has been over 100. I'm tired of this. School has started. It's time for fall. Fall. Fall. I want fall.

Closed Circut to Heather: Did you see the big article in Sunday's paper about Bloomington?

Happy Wednesday all!

BLOG A DEE DEE

Happy Sunday!


Tried this recipe today for lunch...it earned a 7 on the 1-10 scale of easy meals. The guys gobbled it up...but that can't really be considered an endorsement--they pretty much like whatever I cook. I doubled the sausage and omitted the hot peppers. I also added a half can of whole kernal corn (drained).

I could use some time here: http://media.playa.info/webcam-beach.html Wanna join me?



I have updated the *Scrapbook Stores in TN* list yet again. You can find it at http://scrapbookchannel.com/tenn.html



I turned in my swap cards for LSS Card Swap yesterday! The theme was "Mising you". Here's a pic:






Anyone like to guess where my red Jenni Bowlin journaling cards have run off too? Because it's driving me up the wall...I'm all ready to use them and they are no where to be found.





Joal finished my kitchen window seat yesterday. I love how it looks like it's floating there. (It's not actually floating, but the supports are out-of-sight. Isn't my brother the best?) My goal for this week is to do the cushion and find baskets and pillows.

Now for my little parenting rant of the day: When are we going to study the effects of a television-free lifestyle on our children?
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-babyeinstein7aug07,0,3226267.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntottext What about children who read books or listen to music instead of watching television at all? How does their vocabulary development rank? One wonders. Oh. And what about the parents who are also subjected to the Baby Einstein videos...do their vocabularies decrease as well? (I know, now I'm just being smart.)

May your kitchen creations be enjoyed by those you love and
may your children all have extensive vocabularial development!

IT'S THE WEEKEND

There can be downsides to being married to a man who is an independent contractor and who is paid on a "straight-commission" plan. There is no paid vacation time or sick days. There are tax implications. There are no traditional job benefits (althought his company has an end-run plan for offering retirement benifits...just don't ask me to explain it.). When one gets in a slump or gets sick, there's no salary to back you up. It's truly a "leave-the-cave-kill-something-drag-it-home" mentality.


However, my honey is a very talented and smart man and he believes in what he does very much and he knows how to sell it. He works very diligently, he doesn't slack off and take three-hour lunches and his brain is fully enguaged in working smart when he's in the field. So, because of his diligence, I rarely ever think about those "downsides". He's as consistant as the sun and barring sickness, has never missed getting paycheck of some size on any week in 9 years. If he's worked, he's gotten a paycheck. You can't imagine how unusual that is in his line of work, but God blesses and Joal's that good.

One of the best parts of being an inde contractor, is that he sets his own hours. For some people, this spells disaster, but for Joal, it means he has alot of freedom when it's needed, but he is responsible with the use of it. For example, when I was put on bed rest and subsequently put in the hospital while pregnant with Grey, Joal was off for a total of some 60+ days, sprinkled throughout those last few months. I had the worst pregnancy problems and he was able to be there with me, which I will forever be so grateful for. Joal is my rock and he made those days survivable.

Lately, he's been doing really well (thanks be to God) and we've been seeing him around the house on Fridays quite often. Can I tell you how much I love this? It's like having a holiday weekend, without the holiday! His company operates on a points system for sales and when X number of points are reached, Joal is happy. Of course, Joal's personal X is significantly higher than most people's X. :) With a great week under his belt by 1 PM today, (X+23) he came home! For the weekend! He'll be off tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday! I can so dig a 4-day work week schedule.


I am constantly amazed by this man. He is so wonderful to me. I believe that God honors his diligence and his commitment to us and to God and allows him to be successful. Certianly, we are not promised success in all things but in this God has allowed his hard work and faithfullness to return to us as success in this and it's an amazing gift for which we are grateful.


So now I've gotten all flubbery about my husband and I've forgotten where I was going with this. Oh yeah. Long weekend. Love them--I may even crop tomorrow evening if the store still has room.

In other news, I was at the grocery tonight and got to thinking about my brother in Afghanistan. His batallion suffered a loss last week of two of their soldiers and I ache for him. So, I did what I do when I'm thinking about him, I started packing a box. The USPS has a flat rate Priority $9 box that works perfectly for care packages and I can assure they lose money on every one I pack (not that I care). Leaving the grocery, I called Daniel to see if he had heard from Andy lately. Turns out Daniel had talked to him at the end of last week and gotten a pack of letters to distribute from him just today. (Andy sends all his letters to Daniel and Daniel passes them out.) That made me feel better. Then I got home and started prepping the box and an email appeared in my inbox from Andy. What perfect timing...for me anyway, he said it's 3am there. :) He takes computer time whenever he can get it, apparently. I replied ASAP but apparently he had logged off. That's OK. I'm grateful to know he's safe and sound for tonight. Godspeed little brother. Be safe and strong.

There's a slim chance I may get to see him in January. I'd be grateful for just a few hours. (Ahem. Enough for one night.)

In other news, I have discovered two new items that are life-altering good.


The first is Crystal Light Fruit Punch. I don't know if it's a new flavor or if I just never noticed it before but OH MAN...that is some good stuff. One little pouch in a bottle of water...give it a crazy shaking and poof, Fruit Punch! It's even better when it sits in the freezer for a few minutes. Or on special occasions I mix it with Diet Sprite and add lots of crushed ice. This is as close as I get to a "mixed drink"...but it is mighty fine. :) Did I mention it was 101 degrees here today? You can read more about the flavors here.



The second is a new razor--the Gillette Venus Breeze. Now ordinarily you know I'm not one to discuss personal hygiene matters but this is remarkable. It's a razor with 2 built-in shave gel bars, right on the razor. No need to apply any kind of shaving cream or soap before shaving. It's built-in.
Granted, at $10 a pop it's expensive. I probably never would have tried it but for the free sample I received in the mail but now I have 6 $4 off coupons. (If you would like one, drop me an email.) It works really well and while I don't see myself buying one every week, (I'm insanely cheap on this kind of stuff) it would be nice for trips, not to have to pack gel and multiple razors. Just thought you should know.


May all your weekends be long and
your legs be smooth. LOL!

PS A great photog-blog resource at http://www.goldengod.net/2007/08/05/9-photoblogs-that-will-inspire-you-to-take-better-photos/ Check it out.

LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN

Well, we don't actually have a cat, but you get the idea. I'm rescuing LOs again. Thought I would work on this one:

"Walking with Daddy" aka fancy scissor overload. And there is so much journaling to be done here. Where's the story? Like even though Daddy was working three jobs and going to college full time at Belhaven for his second degree, he still found time on Saturday mornings to take Julian for walks around our scenic old neighborhood. Sometimes Julian rode in the stroller, sometimes he walked and occasionally he rode on Daddy's shoulders. It must have seemed like he was on top of the world to ride on Daddy's shoulders.

The days when Julian walked on his own were a celebration of his accomplishments. He didn't start walking until he was 19 months old--just a month before these pictures were taken. Note the special black shoes. He wore those for the first 4 years of his life.

Oh and look at that hair! Joal grew his hair out for his role as a pirate in Pirates of Penzance just before Julian was born. And then he kept it. I don't have any really good pictures of his mane, so I have to be happy with the few I do have. I love the man with long hair.

Definately an excellent candidate for a do-over!

{Miss you Dubbie. Wanna go on a date to Home Depot?}

DOES THIS STRIKE ANYONE ELSE AS NOT QUITE RIGHT?

So there's this church in my neighborhood and they have one of those message signs and last week I noticed that the sign said:

"Join the fastest-growing church in Nashville."

I should have stopped and taken a picture.
Should a church really be that far into the self-promoting business?
And who keeps up with the "fastest-growing" churches?
Is this really the criteria by which church visitors and new people select a church to attend?
Is that really going to make a new visitor feel special?
Is God honored by blatant bragging?
Is church a competition?

Color me confused.

ISN'T SHE LOVELY!

It took driving clear down to Tullahoma to get it, but yes, I'm driving a delightful silver Jeep again.

I found her online Monday night and Joal took Tuesday off and we went down to get it, leaving at 6 am, so the whole day wouldn't be lost. It was worth it.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when this car is out of the picture. I've driven three Jeeps in a row now (all from the late nineties) and I think I would be happy to continue driving them until the end of time. Maybe one of my sons will grow up to be a mechanic. :)

Speaking of sons growing up, G is counting the days until pre-K at the end of the month. We have acquired the mandatory backpack and lunch box and he thinks he is hot stuff. He learned to write his name last week (wiping sweat from my brow...I was so worried). I'm excited for him. This time around is so different.

I did something boldly frightening on Sunday. I ordered a new bathing suit online for the Feb 2008 cruise. (No, that's not the frightening part. LOL!) I ordered it in a full 5 sizes smaller than I am currently wearing. How's that for inspiration and motivation! Cross your fingers for me! The treadmill is calling.

It's election day in Middle TN. We will be getting a new mayor and our district is electing a council person. It's been interesting to see the impact that local political and community bloggers have made on this election.

In other news, a recent thread on 2peas has got me thinking about honesty in scrapbooking. The thread was a nasty one (in my opinion, gossippy and lacking in compassion) about a certain famous personality who has recently acknowledged that she is getting a divorce. More than one pea said something like "they always looked so happy in her layouts". Well, duh. When was the last time we saw a layout titled "I wish you would fall off the planet!" or "What Was I Thinking When I Married You?"

I've considered this before. How honest should a scrapbook be? I tend to think it should be pretty honest but not hurtful. Everyone knows that life is not all "Live Laugh Love" right. There are no perfect angel children. There are no all-knowing, mistake-free parents. There are no perfect marriages. Are we portraing these things and passing out these dishonest unrealistic images of lives of perfection? I hope not. However, it does occur to me that if I had layouts that illustrate the imperfection of my life, I probably wouldn't post them online. Does that make me guilty of perpetuating the "our life is perfect" myth simply by editing what I put out there?

More to think about.

Happy Thursday.