What Is In a Name?

Last year, I decided to branch out in photography and reach out to a different demographic and do glamour photography. I wanted something that wasn’t the typical ‘walk in a place in the mall’ for your photos.  I wanted to do vintage styled glamour. My goal was to do beautiful photos that were elegant and classy. There were some wonderful photographers in the 50s and 60s. John French and Lillian Bassmann are two you should check out. Because I have quite a few wonderful vintage pieces of clothing, lingerie and a fur, I wanted to use them to create the illusion of a different time.

 

I also thought pinups would be fun to do. I like setting the scene with props and thought this would be a good extension. It would also appeal to different women. Living in a military town, I hoped it would sort of go back to the pinups of the 40’s. It was all still going along the same theme of the vintage photos.

Because no one there seemed to understand the concept, but they did understand boudoir, it ended up going more that way. Boudoir was supposed to be more secondary and was never intended to be anything blatantly sexy.  I was thinking more along the lines of pretty lingerie, her man’s sport jersey, his dress shirt combined with her lingerie, that sort of thing.

 However, the word boudoir and that genre of photography have been twisted way out of softly romantic.  In the last year, a lot has come ‘out of the bedroom’ and not in such a good way. With the onslaught of books about sex making the best selling list and everyone talking about sex from soccer moms to grandmothers, it has twisted even more the thoughts related to the bedroom or the boudoir.

When I picked the name Pillow Talk Pics, I thought more along the lines of Doris Day and the 50’s. Even the log with the pillows and the stars had a more 50’s slumber party feel. Now people see the words Pillow talk and Doris Day is not what they are thinking.

I have gotten some really strange looks from people here when I say the name. I’ve even had a couple who seem to question the fact that I am a Christian and I take ‘those’ kinds of photos. Even though they haven’t seen my photos, they judge them by the name.

Because of that, I think I have to redesign and rebrand.

I have to make several decisions that will culminate in a new name.

Now, I need some input.

Should I do it as a separate business like it is now? My main thought on that is my pricing structure differs for the glamour section. I also advertise differently for that.  To me, adding it to the main site, looks like what I do is way too varied. Thoughts?

If I keep it separate, which is how I am leaning, I need a new name! One that speaks of vintage and glamour, but not focusing on bedrooms!

Then, I am open to suggestions on marketing – marketing for all of the business. I really need to business to pick up and soon.  I need to be contributing more than just cooking and cleaning.

And so, I am asking for help and input from my friends.

Thoughts?   Suggestions? You can make them in the comments or shot me a message on facebook.
Thanks!

Photography

In case you have missed this, photography is my passion. No, I don't mean above God or Dean or my family, but is is very important to me. It allows me to use the creativity that God blessed me with. It is a way to serve others. Does that mean I work for free? Well, no, not always. I have done things for my church at no cost. I am part of a group called Shoots for a Cure, however I have not yet been blessed to be able to actually do one of the sessions. I have volunteered for other organizations over the years.


For people who think photographers are part time, think again! You may only see us for a little while behind the camera, but that is not the whole story! We spend hours and hours preparing, processing photos, working on websites, ordering, taking classes and workshops, and taking care of so many little details. Every photo session means hours for the photographer - from preparation to final product.


Maybe we don't go 'into an office' but we work like we do. Yes, I can sit in my living room and listen to the television if I choose to do that. (Now that Dean has great hearing aids - hearing the tv is no longer mandatory!) I can take breaks and do a little housework or cook dinner. Maybe I do take the morning off to go to the gym, but I will be working in the evening while we are watching tv. I certainly hear more tv than I watch. Tonight, I spent four hours working on getting my sites listed in the search engines. It really is a job!

Since moving here, I have been researching photographers in the area. There are some really good ones, and I am proud to be part of that here. Moving somewhere new means adjusting to fit the market. Then, comes the question as to which market I am compatible with. The range of photography prices and offerings is staggering. It is very sad to see good photographers who undervalue their work. Craigslist and Facebook are overrun with photographers who are undervaluing themselves and in doing so, they are undervaluing our profession. I will confess to having been guilty of this myself. Part of it is no confidence in your skills and fear of rejection. Then, I got to thinking - if I am doing lots of sessions for a little money, am I actually being fair to myself? Am I valuing myself, my equipment and my skill by undercharging? Do people who are in 'regular' businesses undervalue themselves?

Coming up with a pricing structure has been very difficult. After hours of research and comparison shopping, I have something that seems fair to me and to my potential clients. I want them to think of it as an investment and to value the photographs that will be a part of their family for years to come.

To meet the needs of a client who may not want a full session, I am going to start offering mini-sessions designed for children. These will be novelty sessions with seasonal themes. I decided as much as I enjoy dressing a set, I should do it for photographs. To start, I have a wonderful fall set featuring a tent that Dean and I made this weekend. I am looking forward to this new experience. I am thinking I might do it for pinups for Pillow Talk Pics, as well. I think it can be a lot of fun and allow women an opportunity to do an inexpensive session and enjoy the whole pinup experience.

A lot of people want digital files. I don't sell digital files. I will include at least one digital file that you can use in social networking such as Facebook.

There are several reasons, I don't sell digital files. The first reason is that photography is a creative business. As the artist, I want some control over how the finished product will look. If I gave you a cd of edit files, I turn over part of that creativity to you. Here is why:

This photo is from a recent session. This is the way it came out of the camera as to the size/crop. It is a nice image.I do not like the bright light on her hair. It is very distracting to me.

 The photo below is my choice of crop - I cropped it the same perspectives as the above. Notice the bright light is gone. Her eyes are in a good location to draw you in to the photo.

 Many people would have cropped it like the one below. I do not think it is nearly as strong or interesting as the one above. The distracting light is still there.

 8x10 photos are a completely different perspective than the original photo and the two crops above. Below is the way I would crop it for an 8x10.

 If you sent in the original file to a lab and ordered an 8x10, they would choose the crop for you. Because of the difference in perspectives, they chop off an even amount on the top and bottom. Below is what you would get. Not necessarily bad, but it just doesn't have the look that I would want for it to have.  If I had her head closer to the top, the lab would still chop off an even amount top and bottom. She could have lost her eyebrows!

 A 5x7 is even another perspective for a crop.Below is the one that would be the way a lab would naturally crop it. Both of these still have the distracting light.

None of these look horrible. For me, it is very important that I crop the photo where it looks the best. If you order a 5x7 and an 8x10 of the same file, I am going to crop each one of them separately, so that I can make sure your file looks the best it possibly can.

Another reason is so much depends on where you have a photo printed. I have no control of you taking it to a local drug or discount store to have it processed. My monitor is very close to the profile that my lab uses. This week, I did have an issue with a few prints from my lab. I think it was the fact that the gold walls in the house really caused a different cast to my monitor, so the photos didn't look right. I will know that I need to wait until after dark to check the colors. I will have those photos reprinted. I would not have that control if you get them done at a retail outlet. A good example of this is my cards. I have used the same design for a while on my cards. I have been having them printed at a chain drug store. I have the file on their online system. When I order from the one closest to my house, they look okay. When I order from the same file to be printed at the one closer to town, they are awful. The pinks are not even close. It is very important to me that you have a quality finished product. Be assured that when I have your photos printed, I do not have them done at a local drugstore or discount store. I will always have your photos shipped to me and I do the quality control before they ever delivered to you.

Maybe I am selfish, but it is my name on the finished product - even if I don't have the opportunity to actually finish it. If someone sees a photo that has an awkward crop or the color is off and asks you who the photographer was - I don't want you to tell them it was me! So much for word of mouth advertising - they will never ask me to photograph them. I wouldn't blame them!


Thanks for letting me get all that of my chest. Living next door to two very good photographers has made me realize we are all in the same boat where this is concerned. To practice our craft and still be able to run a business means walking a very thin line. I hope that potential clients will recognize that I am a creative photographer who values them and hopefully, they will value my services and product as well.

The First Day of Fall, No Autumn! What is the difference?

That is the discussion we have been having all week long! Last Saturday, we bought some fall flowers and really spiced up the yard. I kept saying it looks like fall. Dean swears fall is not until much later in the year - like November. Today is the first day of Autumn, but he swears it is not the same thing. <sigh> I think he just likes to argue with me :)

For years, we used the same old scarecrows to decorate the yard. They were made on old fence boards I found and clothes I scrounged from our closets. They finally were too worn our to scare crows or look decent in the yard. I wanted new ones for the yard. Dean offered his awful old overalls, but he would not give over the shirt Joy Anna and I wanted him to give up. Instead, he donated an old work shirt. I didn't have anything to donate as I got rid of everything old and that didn't fit when we left El Paso. Fortunately, I found a dress on clearance at the thrift store. You know if it is on clearance at the thrift store, it has to be a really wonderful piece of clothing!

With some raffia, a hat and some fabric scraps and a silk flower from the craft room, we have scarecrows!

I still need a wreath for the front door, but it looks like fall is here - or autumn - or at least it is September!

Peach Cobbler and a little Discussion over Dessert :)

Dean likes peach cobbler. His two favorite 'at home' desserts are peach cobbler and peanut butter cookies. I have one recipe that is quick and easy. He likes it, but I don't mind switching up. As most of my friends know, I hang out on Pinterest some. Any of you Pinterest people ever follow the directions exactly? I don't think I am the only one that makes changes. Maybe I don't have the right ingredient. Or, I look at it and say there is no way that is going to work.

So, anyway, I found another peach cobbler recipe. The last one I made from there was a peach pie and had cream cheese in the crust. It was okay, but probably not his favorite recipe. One problem with just the two of us is that we don't need a whole finished recipe. This one was for mini cobblers! http://www.alli-n-son.com/2011/06/02/mini-peach-cobblers/ is the original link.

Looking at the recipe, it looked like the old creeping crust cobblers I used to make from Bisquick. Instead of adding all the ingredients listed on the list, I used 1 cup of Bisquick and 1 cup of Splenda. I used the no sugar added peaches. The recipe calls for 1 whole stick of butter, but you don't need that. Start with 1/4 cup of butter. It is much easier to melt a little more instead of wasting so much.

My recipe -
1 Cup of Bisquick
2 Cup of Splenda
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 can of peaches, chopped

Mix the first two together and add the milk. Mix well. Melt the butter and put 1 teaspoon of butter in each muffin tin. Put 2 tablespoons of batter into each tin. Top with one tablespoon of chopped peaches. She said to sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top. I didn't, but I think I will next time.(oh, and I used the spoons from the silverware - not the measuring ones and it worked out perfectly.

Bake them at 350 for about 12 minutes. She said 12, but mine needed 15. Just watch them to make sure.

These were great with a little no sugar added Blue Bell! 

Now, that you have your cobbler and ice cream, I will fill you in on yesterday's job interview. It went really well. She is very nice and has a great store. I think I would have enjoyed it if it were not for the hours. This would be almost every Saturday. That will be a last resort. I met with the makeup artist again. Because she knows a lot more people, we are going to partner in some photo jobs that won't even have makeup. She and I both like props, sets and costumes, so we we are going to use that for some photo sessions for children. We are also going to set up some pinup sessions. I think it is going to be fun!

Watch for a post on Sunday for a sample of what we are going to do for children!

Am I Plan 'B'ing God?

This blog post is a little scattered- much like my thoughts. I started it last night:
Thursday is Bible Study Day for me. I started this post this afternoon and saved a space in this post for something about Bible Study. I didn't realize I was going to end up deleting the post and starting over. This week's lessons had been speaking to me all week long.  James 1 is an interesting chapter. It starts out talking about being joyful about your trials because it builds perseverance. James also talks about not being double minded.
One thing he says is that if you ask and don't believe you are double minded and can't expect God to do anything for you! Tonight, that was really brought home with something Debbie said about a Plan B. It sort of knocked me right between the eyes.

Let me give you a little background:
Today I had a headache most of the day. A friend asked if I was under stress. Um, let me think about that...yes! Things here are so tight financially. Not only is Dean making a lot less money, but it is more expensive to live here. Right now, I don't feel like I am contributing anything at all. This is an odd feeling. Since this blog is about rockin' the empty nest, I do understand the importance of making the house a home for the two of us. I also know that I can and should be contributing financially - especially when things are so hard.

When the kids were home and I didn't work outside the home, I still felt like I was contributing. Except for the time in El Paso at the church, I haven't had a full-time job since before Eric was born- and that was more then 25 years ago! I was still contributing because I was mom. As much as the dogs like having me home, they don't need mothering. Most of the time, I had part-time jobs that brought in a little money. For the last several years, I have had income from photography. Here, that isn't happening. It is not from lack of trying. I have passed out several hundred cards and made tons of contacts. Nothing is coming from it.

Now for the tie-in with the Bible Study and Plan B.
I mentioned above that it James says in chapter one says to believe and not doubt when you ask God. I keep asking - asking for wisdom to know how to increase the business, wisdom to know who to talk to, wisdom to find the right niche for this area. I ask and then what do I do? I make a Plan B - I start sending out resumes for jobs that have nothing to do with photography. Today, I talked with someone about, I guess, a Plan C. That plan could possible offer me a good amount of money doing something I have absolutely no desire to do. By making a Plan B and a Plan C am I being double minded? Am I not trusting God?

After thinking about this all the way home, after I started writing, I started doubting again.

All of the above was written last night.

When I got into bed last night, I talked to Dean. He says whatever you want to do it fine - just not plan C. Well that still leaves plan A where I wait on God and just focus on photography. Or Plan B, where I apply for some part time jobs to supplement until such a time that photography picks up.

This morning I went to the gym for water aerobics. I have one more class left on my membership. To be honest, I just can't afford to pay for the next quarter. Anyway, while I was there I received a call back from one of the places where I had applied. It is a part time job in retail - some sales, some planning events for the store. Both things I enjoy. I am going to an interview. There is no guarantee I will get a job offer, so it may be a non-issue. Please pray for me/with me that I will make the right decision - that I will trust God and not doubt.

His Needs, Her Needs

Before Joy Anna was born, Dean and I got involved with our church's marriage retreat ministry.We went first as a participant and got so much out of it, we went back several times as hosts. We even went to Belize to host a marriage retreat for pastors and their wives there.

These were based on a wonderful book called His Needs, Her Needs by Dr. Willard Harley.  I highly recommend it to every married couple - from newlywed (or about to be wed) to empty nest - this book is an awesome book. Don't let the subtitle of "Building an Affair Proof Marriage" scare you away. Most people don't want to even think about an affair being part of their marriage. Don't bury your head in the sand and say it can't ever happen to you - it effects so many relationships. A lot of these are not affairs where there is sexual contact, but they are still things that come between the husband and wife. You don't want that.

This book talks about the ten major needs - There are the top five for women and the top five for men.
This article The Most Important Emotional Needs discusses the concepts in the book as well as linking to the basic needs. Check it out!

One of the needs is "Sexual Fulfillment" Any guesses on whether it is the man or woman who has that in their top 5?

Today, I was catching up on my favorite shows on my DVR. Parenthood is one I really enjoy. All the relationships are in different life stages. One of the couples has a new baby, a son with Asperger's, and a daughter that just left for college. Not exactly empty nest, but they are on the journey to the empty nest just as we were a few years ago. Part of the discussion was they schedule time for sex - they call it "Going to Funkytown" To his younger brother who is a newlywed, this seems silly. To those of us who have been busy with kids and other things, sometimes scheduling is a good thing. If you aren't making time for sex, then maybe you need to get out your calendar and schedule that.

I have been thinking about this post for a few days. I am doing Beth Moore's study of James, and it is taking a lot of time. Part of the series is to memorize the book of James. In fact, it may slow down the blog for a few weeks. But, I digress.

While mulling this over, I read an article by Tim Challies. It is certainly worth your time to read it.
 Compromising God's Standards for Sexuality.
His blog posts always make me think. This one was no different, and it went right along with this subject.

Now for you married women who are no longer interested in sex, let me encourage you to go see your doctor. There could be a physical problem. Hormones play a huge part in the the marriage bed. If yours are off, this can really cause a problem. Talk to your doctor. If they are not willing to help you, find another one.

It may not be physical, but it is better to rule that out. There are lots of books and articles on sex withing marriage. Not all of them are written by Christians and often suggest things that we know to be out of God's plan for sexual intimacy in marriage. This is a great book to read - Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Lehman. It's subtitle is "Uncovering the Sexual Intimacy in Marriage."

Sexual intimacy in marriage was designed by God. What a wonderful Creator to plan something that would be such a wonderful thing for His children! I hope if this is something you have an issue with, you'll talk to your spouse and your doctor. If you need to see a professional counselor, look for one who is a Christian and understands God's plan for sexual intimacy.  Let's not mess up the beauty of that with all the world is throwing at us.

It is okay to miss them!

Just because we are enjoying our 'empty nest' doesn't mean we don't miss our children. Today was one of those days where I missed them. This morning, we had breakfast at Le Madeline. This has always been a favorite of our children. When my picky eater Eric would only eat veggies if they were fried -okra and zucchini (not typical kid far, I know) - he would eat the tomato-basil soup at Le Madeline. Joy Anna has always loved their strawberries with brandy cream sauce. Sure, I still like to eat there, but man it made me a little homesick for the kids. For dinner tonight, we had chicken fried steak. Another favorite of our kids.

Now, we didn't spend the whole day sitting around moping and missing the kids. Nope. After breakfast, we stopped by the nursery for some mums. I like the bronzey-burgandy-ish ones. You know the ones I mean. :) Just beautiful! After setting them in the yard where we thought they needed to go, we realized we needed a little extra color in the large bed. The house was landscaped just before we moved in. I don't know the landscaper, but I can tell you they didn't do anything we would have picked out on our own. The main elements are several large rosemary plants and two tall and very skinny cedars. There is a really interesting palm-like plant, but it is sort of buried amongst the rosemary. We headed down to Lowes to look for some more color. We ended up with another shrub that will certainly add some color withe vibrant yellow, green and orange leaves. Dean and his mom both picked out a hanging basket that is a blooming moss. We bought hooks to hang them from the front of the house. I think as the seasons change, we will find lanterns to go there.

The yard is looking great! I was waiting until I made a wreath for the front door to take a photo, but after pricing supplies at hobby lobby tonight, we will be going a different direction with seasonal decor. I will be deciding what to refurbish and/or repurpose to make something interesting for the door.

I see a lot of future blog posts with some of those projects!

I will photograph the yard tomorrow if it is not raining. We are going to visit a young lady who grew up around the corner from Dean. She lives here now and is the mommy of a little girl. Tomorrow should be a fun day.

Every Empty Nest Has to Start Somewhere

With school having just started back, there is a lot of talk about the empty nest. Everyone knows the empty nest begins when the last little chick leaves the nest. A few months before that child leaves, they start worrying about it and focusing on what in their world it is going to be like when they are all alone with just their spouse.

Have you ever noticed how many marriages seem to fall apart when the last child leaves? Have you thought about why that happens?

Many, many years ago, I attended a women's conference. One of the sessions talked about this - at least I guess that was the subject. That is certainly what I got out of it! I wish I could remember the speaker, so I could credit her here. She reminded us that you started out as a couple and you would hopefully end up as a couple.

She cautioned us about putting the children in such a prominent place in the relationship that the couple relationship suffered. Have you ever seen couple who are so wrapped up with their children and their children's activities that they don't seem to have a relationship anymore? Mom goes one way and Dad goes another. They might back up late at night when they are tired from work, housework, and playing taxi driver, coach, sponsor . . . and the list goes on.

She encouraged us to keep the couple relationship first after your relationship with God. I have a question for all of you married couples with kids still at home. Do you go out on dates with your spouse? Do you talk about things other than your children on those dates? This is one thing we tried to do regularly. When our church offered childcare, we took advantage of that to date. If that was not an option, we often bartered babysitting with our friends. While on these dates, we made a conscious effort not to talk about the kids. Maybe this is something you need to implement - a date night to focus on just the two of you. Count these dates as good practice for the empty nest.

Maintaining your marriage relationship as a priority is beneficial to your children. I hope that it will help our children build stronger marriages as they follow in our footsteps. I think it teaches them to be less selfish - to know that your world doesn't revolve around them.

As the blog continues, I hope to offer some sound guidance for those who are on the journey to the empty nest as well as for those are experiencing it as we are. I hope you are Rocking' Your Empty Nest, too!

Here is a little history about our nest and the journey to being empty.

Dean and I met at church in 1979. The first time I saw him, I told my mom he was who I was going to marry (even though we had yet to be introduced.)  I was the newbie in the crowd. He was already at college, so he wasn't around a whole lot. When he was, he was dating someone else from the church ;)   I just patiently waited. Those that know me, know I am not always patient. In November of 1980, he was home for the weekend, and we met up at a Friday night skating party. We had our first date in December. That was 32 years ago.

 This is us sometime before we got married - notice the senior ring on the necklace and the high wasted jeans. And yes, we both have our names on our belts :)


We married on June 5, 1982.

We lived in 5 different houses over the next year until he graduated from Louisiana Tech. After he graduated, we moved to Tyler, TX. We were in the Tyler area for about ten years.

While we were there, we had Eric in 1987

and Joy Anna in 1992.

Ten years after the wedding, our nest was officially full - at least the way the world sees it.

Stick around for more on the journey!

I Remember

I think everyone over the age of 18 remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. I had taken Joy Anna to school and was back home. I didn't have the television or radio because I was having my quiet time and praying. This was when the kids were exceptionally busy, and I prayed over our calendar every morning along with my quiet time.

Dean called and told me to turn on the television. Something had come across on the internet.  I sat stunned with the rest of the world as the 2nd plane hit the tower, the Pentagon was hit, and the plane crashed in PA.

Just as the song says, it seemed the world had stopped turning.

Of course as a mother, one of the first things we worry about is our children. Eric was in high school. They were watching the coverage in their classes. I knew he was aware of what was going on. I called Joy Anna's elementary. The teachers knew what was going on, but the children did not. Her elementary had a great deal of parent involvement. Any day you chose to go visit at lunch, there would be several parents there having lunch with their student. No lunch day was like this one. Parents were everywhere, yet it was eerily quiet. Every conversation was hushed. Even Joy Anna remembers all of the parents being there and how nothing seemed normal.

Of course once we picked them up from school there was a lot of explaining to do. I am so thankful that the school allowed the parents the opportunity to tell our own children.

I remember that night at church. So many people. So many of them I had never seen at Mobberly before, but everyone was joined together in prayer. I am thankful to live in a country where we are free to meet and worship and pray together.

This morning Louie Giglio tweeted the phrase "Out of the ashes we rise"  How true - we did rise out of the ashes. It seemed at the time, we were all joined together as a country that was proud of our country, proud of our legacy. It seemed that Believers joined together in a way that we had not recently been. We were rising together out of the ashes.

Here are the words to Chris Tomlin's "Our God" It really fits today as we remember.

Water You turned into wine
Open the eyes of the blind
There's no one like You
None like You

Into the darkness You shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There's no one like You
None like You

CHORUS
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God...

Into the darkness you shine
Out of the ashes we Rise
There's no One like You
None like You.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God...
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God...
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

A Stranger in the House

I don't know who wrote this, so I can't give credit. It wasn't me. My father-in-law sent it to me in an email. I think it is well worth reading. 


A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his plac

e in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger... He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet.
(I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any visitors. After our long time visitor stayed longer he became more daring however, and even got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing..

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?....

We just call him 'TV.'
Note: This should be required reading for every household!)
He has a wife now....we call her 'Computer.'
Their first child is "Cell Phone".
Second child "I Pod "

OH MY----HOW TRUE THIS IS!!!

Central Texas Market Days

The weather today was glorious! Thank you, God, for cooling breezes!

To celebrate the beautiful day, we loaded up Razzle & Dazzle and headed to Market Day in Georgetown. We enjoyed walking around the square and looking the products. The weather was perfect. The dogs behaved. If you have ever been anywhere with us with them, you'll know what I mean. They aren't bad - just vocal! Very vocal. Not a bark, but this really loud, really high, really irritating sound.

It didn't take long to get by all the booths. I came up with some possibilities for Christmas gifts for my girls - Joy Anna & Ashley - not the dogs. It is just so much easier to come up with good ideas for the girls instead of the boys. After Georgetown, we went for an icee and then went to Hutto for their Market Day. We like these Central Texas Festivals. Hutto's was rather disappointing. We still had fun walking around. I got one photo for the day.

This might be a hand-made Christmas. I like those. Pinterst is motivating me to make more things. As I make Christmas gifts,  I won't be able to post them here. I guess I will have some major posting to do after Christmas!

Tomorrow we have a big day. We are going to officially join First Baptist in Pflugerville. Tomorrow night, we get to meet our good friends Rick and Suzy for dinner and not at Texas Road House. They are in San Antonio, so we get to see them! If you look at our facebook check-ins, you would see that the four of us have had many, many dinners together in El Paso. We had a few favorites - Texas Road House, Carino's, AJ's Diner and Kiki's.  Today I was checking www.meetways.com for a half way place for us to meet for dinner. I couldn't stop laughing - #1 on the half way point was Texas Road House! #2? You guessed it - Carino's! There was no AJ's or Kiki's, but it did make me laugh. We wouldn't even need a menu!

Looking forward to a wonderful day tomorrow!

My old Bible

I started the Beth Moore Bible study on James last night. Mercy Triumphs is the name of the study. I have been using a beautiful Bible my sister gave me. It is pretty - all the way to text on the page which is a pale teal. As I have gotten older, it is harder to see the teal. The room we were in last night was a little dark during the video (makes the video much easier to see, so no complaint) making it even harder to see. Also it is not NIV. It seems she uses NIV for a a lot of her quotes. I pulled out the trusty iPhone and clicked into Blue Letter Bible - really like that app! I use it on Sunday mornings to take notes when Bro. Steve is preaching. I like having ny notes where I don't lose them. I am awful about taking notes, sticking them in my Bible, and then losing them. I do like having a notebook to keep my notes in. My handwriting is just sloppy. But, I really digressed there :)

For some reason flipping through the scriptures in the iPhone just doesn't have the same feeling as flipping the pages in the Bible. I was pretty sure my old NIV was upstairs in the shelves. I went up to get it to today. It surely is worn. It is my 2nd one just like this. I got the first on in high school. I remember getting it. I felt like such a rebel getting an NIV instead of a King James! Goodness, that was in 1978! Can it really have been that long ago?

I used that Bible through high school and up until we got married and Dean gave me a King James for Christmas the year before - in fact, I carried that Bible in my wedding. Do people do that anymore?

I confess to not using the KJV much and went back to my NIV. I used it until it was so tattered, it was not hardly useable. I'm not sure what happened - maybe I blocked it out, but it got wet. Soaked. Ruined. I was so sad. years and years of notes, quotes, and memories were in there.

After that, I bought a new one. Just like the first one. It was even the same color leather. I used it until Carolyn gifted me the new one a few years ago. I went upstairs and pulled it out. It just feels right in my hands. The leather isn't quite as supple, but it still feels right.  It reads right, too. As I flip through the familiar scriptures, the way I memorized so many verses is right there. It felt like sitting down with an old friend. Flipping through it surely did bring back memories of that one that was ruined. Maybe I will go back to this one, take notes in the margins like I used to. Fill the flypages with notes. Make more memories.