Friday, October 29, 2010

Z is for Zachary

Are you suprised?  Here are some shots from Thanksgiving weekend:  Isn't he wonderful?






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Thanks for joining me for Alphabet August!  For those who might consider doing something similar, please note that it will take you about THREE months, not one...

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Y is for Yes.

Yes, I went to a scrapbooking retreat on the weekend.

Yes, I made some layouts.  Twenty, in fact.

Yes, I'm going to share.

An 8x8 - I've got a smaller album for lots of M's stuff.

Some older pics - look how little she is!

Journaling taken from the blog...

Love these photos - their group did such a great job.

How fun, hey?  I like the way this page turned out.

Like the journaling says - what a wonderful addition to the family!

First of 4 South Dakota trip pages.

Part one of a two page spread...

...and part two.

Notice the stamped title - I also used the Cricut for titles, and the computer that was there, and sticker letters, and grungeboard, handwriting, and Suzanne's Sure Cuts A Lot (software that works with the Cricut).  No rut for me!

This was a scraplift from the latest Scrapbooks Etc. magazine.

Lots of golfing picture from this summer...

A mushy one with a bunch of random shots of M.  The journaling says 'You will carry my heart with you wherever you go, and I will always be home for you.'

Did I spell that right?  This was the funniest thing I saw when we were home at Thanksgiving.

This is one of my favorites.

And this is the other one.

Yes, I realize there are not 20 layouts there - I also worked on an Atlas album, made a whole Geocaching album that I'll share another day, and counted as 1/2 the ones I had half done before I got there.  A very complicated counting system.

Leave me some love!  Tell me what you think!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

X is for eXcavation eXperiences

Kitchen Renos.  It's actually kind of fun to be destructive instead of cleaning!  The floor tiles are not coming off as easily as I had hoped, but the baseboards and chair rail are all gone, and I discovered a new layer of wallpaper behind the fridge and stove.  A shiny blue eighties flower print. 

It was at that point that I imagined people being like this kitchen - we keep renovating ourselves and adding layers of identity, covering up the old with who we want to be next.  Trying to stay fresh and current, but not always doing a thorough job of it and doing a deep cleansing down to the core of the problem.  The last few remodels in this kitchen have added wallpaper over other wallpaper and over lino, a chair rail and some paint.  This time, though, we're taking down the walls right to the studs, making sure the insulation is adequate and vapor barrier is in place, then putting in fresh walls and new paint, and new floors (and probably new cabinets, which were not planned for; anyone want to finance that bit???).

We've been talking about restoration and becoming the 'Me I Want to Be' lately, and hard as it sounds, we need to put ourselves through this process too.  We need to let God strip away all the layers that we've accumulated, clean out the junk that has stuck where we can't see, and start to rebuild us from the inside out.  New and fresh and clean.  We will be more useful, but also will enjoy being who we are.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

W is for Work Blog

I blog at work.  Sometimes.  Usually I have more pressing work to do and the creative time it takes to think up and write isn't in the schedule.

I do think it should be a priority, though, for me and the others on our staff, because we want our website to be more than simply the place people can go for the details.  It is evolving, slowly; it is current and if you are looking for specific details, you should be able to find them.  Hopefully you'll find some content that is more than you were looking for, too.

I dream, though, of the day when people will find content that makes them think.  Find something that will challenge them in the same way we try to do when we meet together.  To know through our site that people care and can be trusted.  Too much to ask of a website?  Well, I believe it should be an extension of ourselves.  What we want the church to be is what it should be too.

So W is for my Work Blog.  I recently switched it over from Blogger to WordPress, so there's not a lot of content archived yet.  That would be here at the old site.

Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

V is for Vintage

We are doing some updating in our kitchen this month.  We've got plans for new flooring in the kitchen, hall and bathroom, we're taking down the wall paper and border and painting the walls, and probably give the cabinets a new coat of paint, inside and out.  We've also got a new top for the counters and a new sink and faucet, and will do a new back splash. 

Here's me taking a deep breath and hoping it doesn't end up much bigger than that.

This is the 'Before' shot.

The destruction begins.

Here's where the vintage comes in!  Any of you have wallpaper like this in your home?

Sunday, October 03, 2010

U is for Unicycling


Neil had a unicycle.
Silas had camp counselors this summer and last who rode unicycles.
Silas asked if he could buy our unicycle.
I said yes.
We all had some good laughs on this first time we had it out...


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Had the African Children's Choir here on Friday.  So great - amazing to see how this organization lifts so many children out of poverty.  If they come to your area, go see them.

Started small group on Saturday - seven couples - looks like it will be really good.  Nice to be a part of this, and hoping for some good new relationships for Sean, for me, and for us.

Went geocaching today - added two more to our total...

Reading Still Alice by Lisa Genova.  About Alzheimers.  Really well written, and so sad.  I`d recommend it.