My new blog site is:
So, Anyway, As I Was Saying
Just a reminder.
My New Space
I remember when I left Blogspot and came over to WordPress. I was so excited for the cleaner look, the streamlined feel of WP.
I had been blogging on Blogspot for just over 2 years and the new space felt exciting and fun. I had no emotional attachment to Blogspot.
This time, now that I’m moving back to blogspot, I feel so much more invested in my blog, and it’s harder, sadder to be moving away again. It was on blogspot that we went through our House-Building, Caleb and Hannah getting engaged, and then Caleb and Hannah getting married.
7 Months later, right after our second trip to Hawaii, I made the switch to WordPress. (Also, looking back at those blog posts, I did a dismal job of posting our Hawaii trip with Rick’s family. Lucky I still have about 1000 pictures to share…)
Making the change back to Blogspot has been harder for me. I have a lot of history on WordPress.
Abbie finished beauty school,
We learned that Nora was on her way,
Mom hadOpen heart surgery,
We entered a new phase in life when Nora was born,
A year later THIS GIRL came along, another girl we could count as ‘daughter’,
We celebrated life and love and happiness when Josh and Abby married,
We sat back in awe when Evelyn arrived,
and CHEERED when THESE TWO finally agreed it was time to make it official!
The next big events In the This Life of Ours, Josh and Abby’s next baby, Abbie’s bridal showers, and Joey and Abbie’s wedding, and all the other noteworthy times, and even the not so noteworthy, will be well photographed and well documented over at my new blog space, So, Anyway, As I was saying….
Please come find me there and don’t miss out on any of the fun!
Is It Better Like This? Or Like This?
A few days ago I created this new blog space.
I’d been wanting to change up my blog, the one I’ve been using for 4 or 5 years, and no theme was grabbing my attention. Well, a couple WP themes interested me, but I’m not spending money on a new blog theme.
Abbie hated the idea of me changing blogs, which I find funny. It’s a blog. It’s not like I’m moving to Arizona.
Then a good friend of mine commented that she thought pictures look better on WordPress than on Blogspot. She also assured me she’d still read my blog if I switched. So, that got me thinking. I’ll put the same post on both blogs and see if anyone can tell the difference in the photos.
I haven’t gotten my camera out since Sheila’s wedding, but I have been working on older photos, from 2008, from before I knew how to use photoshop. I had also never saved these pictures to flickr, so while I’ve been laid up with an injured back (aren’t you impressed I haven’t whined about that?) I’ve been editing and uploading. I found some old faves of mine that I’ve shared before, but S.O.O.C.
This was one night in October, 4 years ago. I was coming home from a meeting, up over Alabama Hill and saw the moon coming up over the lake.
See the lights of the boat in the water?
Nice hazy moon.
The boat again.
A little foreground action…
A few cemetery shots:
These leaves remind me of jack-o-lanterns!
Lupine:
Marina:
I realized going through these photos that I used to take my camera everywhere I went, and planned long outings by myself to just practice taking pictures.
I’ve gotten out of that habit.
But I’m inspired to get back in that habit!
To compare how these pictures look on the other blog, CLICK HERE.
Change is so Hard
So, I’ve started a new blog over at Blogspot.
I showed it to Abbie tonight. She is experiencing the stages of grief that go with change. She threatened to never look at my new blog.
So my first post is about her.
I have my ways.
Besides, she’s too young to be so set in her ways!
A List
1. Since joining Bellingham Athletic Club in July, I have lost 10 pounds, have gained strength, and increased stamina. My goal and target right now is May, Abbie’s wedding, and by then I think I’ll be back in condition to start half-marathoning. I’ll need a new goal after the wedding to keep moving forward.
2. I finished Mick and Sheila’s wedding photos today and found some fun ones of Rick and Abbie at the reception I’ll be sharing later today. Or, I might share them on…
3. Blogger. Again, I’m thinking about moving my blog back to blogspot. I’m getting reacquainted with their platform and then I’ll decide. I’ll keep you posted. So to speak.
4. last night I received this text from my uncle Jack:
Jack: are you ready to concede defeat already? Oregon is going to win!
Me: Ummm…I think you mistake me for a football fan.
He then kept up a one-sided text message conversation until 10:24 when he said, “OH NO!” and I assumed the game had ended that that someone had let the dawgs out.
But, I’m not a fan, so I wouldn’t really know.
World Series, 1982
1982. It was the first game of the world series.
Milwaukee and St. Louis. I don’t remember who won. I don’t remember a single play.
I only remember that I met this guy.
And I thought he was cute and sweet and kind. His eyes captivated me.
And I ran just fast enough for him to catch me.
We were married 7 months later.
The World Series, first game.
We celebrate every year.
30 years and counting.
Why I won’t Be Reading 50 Shades of Grey
Before starting this post I pulled up google because I wasn’t sure if Grey was spelled Gray or Grey. I only got as far as “50” when the complete title, 50 Shades of Grey was the first result that auto-filled, followed by 50 Most Popular Women, and 50 States… I assume google searches populate by popular searches which tells me this book and movie are getting more attention than I thought.
I’ve avoided talking about this book. I’ve avoided it, somewhat for the same reasons I don’t bring up politics on my blog or on facebook. Facebook, for me is a place for fun, mostly shallow communication with friends near and far. And my blog is mostly about family. More and more, I’m finding sadly, that politics, or rather, which side of politics you stand on, can cost you your friendships. I’ll vote my convictions but I don’t feel the need to push my convictions on my friends.
Back to 50 Shades…
I am a prolific reader. I am always (ALWAYS) in a book. I love all kinds of literature, classics, fiction, non-fiction, inspirational, thrillers…I struggle with sci-fi, but a few I’ve read have been classified as such (The Hunger Games), and I guess I manage. My interest in World War II was piqued in the third grade (I’ll save the reason for my obsession for another blog post) and I read everything I can get my hands on having to do with the Holocaust. The stories of valor, courage, endurance, redemption and reconciliation inspire and intrigue me. I admit that within these stories, and to get to all the good parts, I’ve had to wade through many disturbing facts and details, revolting things that people have done to other people, and many of these events, I sometimes wish I didn’t know. Some of the grotesque acts that I’ve read…well, I’ve regretted reading. But, at least, at the VERY least, the violence and atrocities are part of the bigger story, parts of the stories that lead us to examples of incredible bravery and acts of courage.
From what I know about 50 Shades of Grey, (a book I hesitate to draw even more attention to, hesitate to pique anyone’s interest to the point of wanting to read it), I know beyond a doubt that I would regret the images I could never get out of my mind. I would wish I hadn’t known. Not only that, but the acts played out in the pages do not even lead to a greater story, where men and women show incredible bravery and show us examples of being created in God’s image.
The pastor at the church we went to this morning (yet another blog post, stay tuned), talked about a land fill in Spokane that after 50 years of accumulating trash has become a waste land, not good for anything, not homes, not a golf course; it can never be used for anything but a garbage dump, rotting and leeching into the ground below and above, because garbage is always going to be garbage. He talked about how garbage doesn’t go away like the flu or a cold. It has to be removed. And even then, it is still garbage. We can take our trash out to the curb for the sanitation truck to pick up, but it will still be garbage. And it will be garbage still, when it is dumped into a landfill.
Having already read many books with ‘scenes’ of atrocious violence I wish I could remove from my mind, it was not even a decision I had to weigh, knowing I would not ever read the 50 Shades books (apparently there are more than one), nor will I watch the movie. Please know, though I say this with conviction, it does not come from a place of self-righteousness or judgement. I have seen and read and done things that I deeply regret, and if I could take that trash and remove it from my brain I would. For this reason alone I will not willingly add to the garbage pile.
I can’t control who wins the upcoming elections, and I can’t control any of the evils going on out there in the world around me, but I can control what I choose to put into my mind.
…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:7-9
I guess I’ve said all that to say, I won’t be reading 50 Shades of Grey because I know I’ll regret it.
De Ja Vu
We may have created a monster a couple years ago when we let Nora “play billiards” on our table once she could crawl and roll balls around.
She loved it
and asks to play every time she comes to our house.
So last night when she was here and asked to play,
Evie got to join in!
She loved it!
Ev was in heaven with Nora there who she adores, the colorful balls rolling back and forth…
I’m afraid we’ve created another monster!
Guess What!
“I’m going to be a big sister!”
Unexpected.
Surprising.
Exciting.
Life.
Grandchildren:
It’s just as amazing the third time as it was the first. We can’t wait to meet Josh and Abby’s new bundle in the spring!
(just in time for Auntie’s wedding!)
I’m in Trouble
I’ve spent an hour or two each evening this week editing Mick and Sheila’s wedding photos.
I already have my favorites, the ones that will stand out in my mind as the icons of the day,
and as I work on the pictures I find myself with a lump in my throat.
What worries me is that this is Sheila. Yes, we joke that she’s my adopted daughter and she calls me her Bellingham Mom, and we are good friends, but if I get choked up looking at her pictures and remembering her wedding last week, how on earth am I going to get through Abbie’s in May!?
I’m in big, big trouble.
The Atkins: In This Life of Ours 