Life is a journey, wow that was about as cliche' as it gets.
Anyway, this weekend has been a crazy ride and along the way I have seen sides of my life and inside myself on a new level. I really need to get focused and simplify this journey or I'm not going to make it to the end.
I am slowly moving in a new direction as far as my business. I'm taking a break for a while. I need to find out what I am really doing and treading water and sinking fast in a business that take more time and energy than it reaps doesn't make sense. I love my hobby but see my other journey suffering desperately. I know I will always love the underlying aspects of the business and the people I have encountered because of the business but my other passions need me more.
I see so many projects laying around that are screaming for attention. I have stories in my head that need to be told. And, I feel like I need to give myself more deeply to my faith and family.
My writing and photography are things I can include in my faith and family. My hobby, while it does produce lasting outcomes, it seems to be conflicting with my faith and family right now. Someday, it may not, but now it is causing more of a strain than it is worth. I know that I can continue to inspire, but can not commit the money or the time that my customers deserve.
I also feel pulled toward my summer projects in faith so passionately that my business would only be a hinderance.
I will continue to post examples of my hobby as I am not quitting the art just the business.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Ground Breaking of sorts....
I broke ground, for lack of a better term, on my newest idea today.
I'm blogging my novel , well kind of... I am using curtainjourney as my novel's termporary home. This way I can write and save from anywhere. I'm hoping this will help me stay on task with it... I feel like so many things are shifting in my life right now, this just seemed like the thing to do.
She is pretty vague right now, but I hope to have a background design created this next week and some base line characters listed and introduced...
Stop by and say hi, and join the journey.
I'm blogging my novel , well kind of... I am using curtainjourney as my novel's termporary home. This way I can write and save from anywhere. I'm hoping this will help me stay on task with it... I feel like so many things are shifting in my life right now, this just seemed like the thing to do.
She is pretty vague right now, but I hope to have a background design created this next week and some base line characters listed and introduced...
Stop by and say hi, and join the journey.
Monday, March 3, 2008
DigiScrap and other Themes for the day
So I love Digital Scrapbooking, but I have been a traditional scrapper for a long time (almost 25 years) and have acquired a lot of scrap supplies... Today I decided to think outside the box a little and am going through my supplies and scanning pieces I really like (premade borders, stickers, papers, etc..) that I know I can use in my digiscrappin'. Some days you gotta love technology...
This weekend I hosted a crop locally and while the girls were busy on their projects, I worked on sorted and "journaling" photos in my Memory Manager Software. I have just about 10,000 photos stored in the program in various folders (people, events, holidays, places, and photo shoots to name a few) and was able to go for approximately 1600 unsorted to just about 500. So I am making progress getting my photos sorted... It makes it alot easier when I am working on a project and can't remember the date or the details of the event. I can go to MM and look up the photo. I can also share my photos and use them in my digital scrapbooking software...
I was also able to combine 2 photos into 1. I will be doing that more often and hope to share a combined photo I am working on with you later this week.
On the Sunday School front, I have to say I am loving watching these kids grow. We are on a rotation for teachers; at the end of the month I check with my 4 teachers and assign a week to teach the older kids, then depending on how many kids we have we can split the class and someone else takes the 2's & 3's... I am praying our young adult/ teen group grows as well, I would love to see a class for the teens at some point. Hopefully before the summer, I see such a need for a positive place for the teens to learn and grow in Christ.
I will be posting some more of my scripture cards this week. I am finishing up a set and hope to have them online by Wednesday.
I'll check back later...
This weekend I hosted a crop locally and while the girls were busy on their projects, I worked on sorted and "journaling" photos in my Memory Manager Software. I have just about 10,000 photos stored in the program in various folders (people, events, holidays, places, and photo shoots to name a few) and was able to go for approximately 1600 unsorted to just about 500. So I am making progress getting my photos sorted... It makes it alot easier when I am working on a project and can't remember the date or the details of the event. I can go to MM and look up the photo. I can also share my photos and use them in my digital scrapbooking software...
I was also able to combine 2 photos into 1. I will be doing that more often and hope to share a combined photo I am working on with you later this week.
On the Sunday School front, I have to say I am loving watching these kids grow. We are on a rotation for teachers; at the end of the month I check with my 4 teachers and assign a week to teach the older kids, then depending on how many kids we have we can split the class and someone else takes the 2's & 3's... I am praying our young adult/ teen group grows as well, I would love to see a class for the teens at some point. Hopefully before the summer, I see such a need for a positive place for the teens to learn and grow in Christ.
I will be posting some more of my scripture cards this week. I am finishing up a set and hope to have them online by Wednesday.
I'll check back later...
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
podcasting...
So I've been thinking about this whole idea of podcasting... I have found a couple free podcasting services and thought it might be a fun way to keep in touch with people beyond just the blogging...
We've thought about doing the Podcasting for church , as a way to save the service and share it with people that miss the service or so the person or people teaching children's church/ sunday school could listen later in the week.
Why not podcast, it seems like an idea.. Could be a way to share ideas and everyday stuff...
Just thinking outloud...
We've thought about doing the Podcasting for church , as a way to save the service and share it with people that miss the service or so the person or people teaching children's church/ sunday school could listen later in the week.
Why not podcast, it seems like an idea.. Could be a way to share ideas and everyday stuff...
Just thinking outloud...
Random thoughts...
random thoughts on nothing....
So here is another installment of randomness (is that a word???)
We took the boys to Chuck E Cheese's today as their reward for getting things cleaned up... Let me tell you as a Mom of 2 young boys it is WAY easier to enjoy the games and such on a weekday afternoon... We used a coupon of course and all 4 of us played games. It was fun and not at all the chaos of our last trip to the Cheese.
Take my advise , download the coupons from their website and go during the week!!!
Cameron and I worked on the Sunday School office ( think Mission Organization) today as well as several of the unused classrooms. Our little church now has 2 classes (I'll blog at blogspot about that blessing) and needs a little help in the organizational chaos department.. Monday, the pastor's wife and I worked in the office for about 30 minutes and managed to sort a lot of stuff. Today we managed to unload a lot of that stuff along with a lot of other stuff. I now have a better idea of what we actually have and what we need. Wish it was that easy to get ahold of my own office... of course that seems to be the never ending battle (but that is another blog all together)
Have you have palyed with Google Earth... It is kind of fun, and a little weird... Try it some time...
Any way, I guess that is enough ramblings....
So here is another installment of randomness (is that a word???)
We took the boys to Chuck E Cheese's today as their reward for getting things cleaned up... Let me tell you as a Mom of 2 young boys it is WAY easier to enjoy the games and such on a weekday afternoon... We used a coupon of course and all 4 of us played games. It was fun and not at all the chaos of our last trip to the Cheese.
Take my advise , download the coupons from their website and go during the week!!!
Cameron and I worked on the Sunday School office ( think Mission Organization) today as well as several of the unused classrooms. Our little church now has 2 classes (I'll blog at blogspot about that blessing) and needs a little help in the organizational chaos department.. Monday, the pastor's wife and I worked in the office for about 30 minutes and managed to sort a lot of stuff. Today we managed to unload a lot of that stuff along with a lot of other stuff. I now have a better idea of what we actually have and what we need. Wish it was that easy to get ahold of my own office... of course that seems to be the never ending battle (but that is another blog all together)
Have you have palyed with Google Earth... It is kind of fun, and a little weird... Try it some time...
Any way, I guess that is enough ramblings....
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Variety of Things...
Let me see... I have lots on my mind so I figure this blog will cover it all...
This morning at church I sang the special.. Thankfully my husband worked with me yesterday evening rehearsing to prepare, and he made me a wonderful cd split track so I had a little help in my moniter speaker to keep me on key. All in all I think it went pretty well, even Mike made mention of the performance quality versus the actually sound... Guess I turned on the performer in me... Oh , I did "You raise me Up" by Selah... if you don't know the song you should search it out... I really like the words and the message... I also added a reading to the instrumental interlude... Psalm 36: 5-7 (NIV)...
An answered prayer today!!! for the first time , we actually had 2 Sunday School classes and it looks like we will have 2 classes for a while... Might eventually end up with 3. It doesn't seem like a lot but for our little church , it is huge... So the younger class (2-4 years old) and the older class (5 and up...). What a blessing! I will be working on curriculm for the little ones this week (I have the curriculm selected for the the 5 and up as well as the next month's assignments for the teachers...) I'm so excited about this... I can hardly stand it...
Tomorrow the pastor's wife and I are meeting about Vacation Bible school, so I will have a better idea of direction as well as a theme for the event...
Bible study: I have been attending a women's bible study on Thursday evenings and this week's message really struck a cord with me... Go check out Lifeway.com/bethmoore We are using the Fruit of the Spirit study... Anyway, I was working on week 3 day 1 and 2 and am amazed at the little things we women do that can really mess with our relationships especially our marriage... Don't hold yourself back from your husband! share your love and emotions as well as the intimacy with him every chance you get... Don't use excuses, you know what I'm talking about...
Let me think.... on the child front... Thank goodness for the coupons in the paper... Cameron saw the Chuck E Cheese's coupons and wanted to know what he could do to earn another trip to CC's... Well , Mom was on the ball and replied... "Pick up all your toys and don't argue about it..." I try and keep it simple... if you get your toys all cleaned up this week , I'll take you to CC's after school... plain and simple..
Date Night: if you don't do this , I highly recommend it... Mike and I had date night last night... We watched "One Night with the King" (excellent movie by the way) and had a wonderful dinner... Also found a Merlot we both like... Eola Hills has a wonderful Merlot (2005 I believe was the bottle we opened) and I'm not usually a fan on red wines.
So that just about covers this week... Hopefully I'll get a chance to post a couple more "pages" this week for you..
This morning at church I sang the special.. Thankfully my husband worked with me yesterday evening rehearsing to prepare, and he made me a wonderful cd split track so I had a little help in my moniter speaker to keep me on key. All in all I think it went pretty well, even Mike made mention of the performance quality versus the actually sound... Guess I turned on the performer in me... Oh , I did "You raise me Up" by Selah... if you don't know the song you should search it out... I really like the words and the message... I also added a reading to the instrumental interlude... Psalm 36: 5-7 (NIV)...
An answered prayer today!!! for the first time , we actually had 2 Sunday School classes and it looks like we will have 2 classes for a while... Might eventually end up with 3. It doesn't seem like a lot but for our little church , it is huge... So the younger class (2-4 years old) and the older class (5 and up...). What a blessing! I will be working on curriculm for the little ones this week (I have the curriculm selected for the the 5 and up as well as the next month's assignments for the teachers...) I'm so excited about this... I can hardly stand it...
Tomorrow the pastor's wife and I are meeting about Vacation Bible school, so I will have a better idea of direction as well as a theme for the event...
Bible study: I have been attending a women's bible study on Thursday evenings and this week's message really struck a cord with me... Go check out Lifeway.com/bethmoore We are using the Fruit of the Spirit study... Anyway, I was working on week 3 day 1 and 2 and am amazed at the little things we women do that can really mess with our relationships especially our marriage... Don't hold yourself back from your husband! share your love and emotions as well as the intimacy with him every chance you get... Don't use excuses, you know what I'm talking about...
Let me think.... on the child front... Thank goodness for the coupons in the paper... Cameron saw the Chuck E Cheese's coupons and wanted to know what he could do to earn another trip to CC's... Well , Mom was on the ball and replied... "Pick up all your toys and don't argue about it..." I try and keep it simple... if you get your toys all cleaned up this week , I'll take you to CC's after school... plain and simple..
Date Night: if you don't do this , I highly recommend it... Mike and I had date night last night... We watched "One Night with the King" (excellent movie by the way) and had a wonderful dinner... Also found a Merlot we both like... Eola Hills has a wonderful Merlot (2005 I believe was the bottle we opened) and I'm not usually a fan on red wines.
So that just about covers this week... Hopefully I'll get a chance to post a couple more "pages" this week for you..
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Computer Joys and Woes
It is crazy!
I love working with them, but some days I just hate these dang machines... I've been working with computers for a long time (since age 10 to be exact), from my first machine.... a Vic20 (yes I had one, and I think it is still in my parents' garage somewhere) to my current XP machines (all are at least 4 years old...) I enjoy the challenge I guess, but at the same time the frustration with the simple stuff can really drive a girl nuts!
Of course my husband loves the fact that I can take a machine that most people would throw out and resurect it and make it go and better yet, I seem to find the best components at goodwill... Last week is the perfect example... My laptop is almost 8 years old (we have a history....ha ha) and I was complaining about the networking issues I seem to be having... well at goodwill I found a brand new in the box PCMCIA card with ethernet connector.... (I had been eyeing one at Staples for $34.00) anyway, the card was only $4.99...!! yippee, I got it home and mazingly enough it works... (I'm on the laptop connected to the home network now...). Also found an older zip drive (parallel port) and an HP scanner that just need a plug (which I happen to have)... how exciting... so with my awesome deals found at Goodwill I was able to restore some digital files I had saved on zip disks (lost my old zip drive) and scan some scrapbook pieces (die cuts and stickers) that I want to use in my digital scrapbooking... all in all those were the computer joys...
And so far the Woes have been working themselves out... Now just need to find a couple of odds and ends to add to my desktop computer (needs a little more life and spunk) and we will be ready to go... Of course I still need to try and fix the older computer that was smoking so the boys have their game back....
I love working with them, but some days I just hate these dang machines... I've been working with computers for a long time (since age 10 to be exact), from my first machine.... a Vic20 (yes I had one, and I think it is still in my parents' garage somewhere) to my current XP machines (all are at least 4 years old...) I enjoy the challenge I guess, but at the same time the frustration with the simple stuff can really drive a girl nuts!
Of course my husband loves the fact that I can take a machine that most people would throw out and resurect it and make it go and better yet, I seem to find the best components at goodwill... Last week is the perfect example... My laptop is almost 8 years old (we have a history....ha ha) and I was complaining about the networking issues I seem to be having... well at goodwill I found a brand new in the box PCMCIA card with ethernet connector.... (I had been eyeing one at Staples for $34.00) anyway, the card was only $4.99...!! yippee, I got it home and mazingly enough it works... (I'm on the laptop connected to the home network now...). Also found an older zip drive (parallel port) and an HP scanner that just need a plug (which I happen to have)... how exciting... so with my awesome deals found at Goodwill I was able to restore some digital files I had saved on zip disks (lost my old zip drive) and scan some scrapbook pieces (die cuts and stickers) that I want to use in my digital scrapbooking... all in all those were the computer joys...
And so far the Woes have been working themselves out... Now just need to find a couple of odds and ends to add to my desktop computer (needs a little more life and spunk) and we will be ready to go... Of course I still need to try and fix the older computer that was smoking so the boys have their game back....
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