Allow me to get a little something off my chest...

In regards to the photo of "the feet" that has been circulating around town - in the form of billboards, postcards, church bulletins, websites, blogs, etc., etc. - let's just get something straight:

THEY'RE FEET!!!!!!!!!

I have heard and read some of the absolute craziest complaints about those feet, and I have to say that it BLOWS MY MIND!! There are people (not many, just a few) who are expressing concerns that their children have "lost their innocence" as a result of seeing those billboards. This is where I begin speaking, not as a member of Granger Community Church, but as a mother of two young children.

If your children haven't seen the feet of you and your spouse in that very position, IN MY OPINION, there's something wrong. Wrong with your marriage, wrong with your perception of what marriage and family mean, or wrong with your idea of what is holy and good, I cannot say. But there's definitely something wrong. You and your spouse should be spending time in that very position, whether it be on the couch or on your bed, WITH YOUR SHOES AND SOCKS OFF!! Your kids need to see you relaxing together, spending time together, cuddling together... in fact - they should see MORE than that! They should see hugging and kissing and other playful gestures - IT'S GOOD FOR THEM!! Shocking, I know.

As far as not knowing how to answer their questions when they see "the feet," it's quite simple, really. "What's up with that picture, mom?" "They're feet, honey." "What are they doing up there, mom?" "Looks like they're laying down, sweetheart." "Why are they doing that?" "Maybe they're tired, or maybe they're resting together... what do you think?" Chances are that they will be more than satisfied with far less information than you are expecting to have to give. Offer them the minimum amount of information, and when the questions stop, you know you've answered to their satisfaction. There's no need to give more than that - any more would be inappropriate!

Young kids shouldn't have any problem seeing feet like that and thinking almost nothing of it. Older kids may be more curious, or they may be old enough to figure out what the sign says (mylamesexlife.com), in which case, they're old enough that YOU SHOULD BE ADDRESSING THAT ISSUE WITH THEM ANYWAY!! This is basic parenting, and if you find that you can't answer questions that arrise from seeing two pairs of naked feet on a billboard, how well equipped will you be when your child/ren ask you far more difficult questions, because THEY WILL!!

Latest DT assignment

A little different subject this time... My husband and his very best good friend, Corey Mann! My assignment this month is for the theme table, and this month's theme is "Friends." And because we wanted to mix things up a little bit, Karla is doing a page about her young sons and their friends, Jeri is doing a page about herself and a girlfriend, and I was to do a page about GUY-FRIENDS!! No challenge there! arg!

I obviously wanted to choose a very MANLY color-scheme and I also wanted the page to be somewhat funny or playful, because, really, who wants to see a page about two guys and their serious thoughts and feelings about their relationship??!? Yikes!! Fortunately for me, the guys made that pretty easy - I told them I needed a picture for a layout I was going to make about their friendship, and the middle photo is what I got. There was no chance I get a nicely posed, serious, meaningful photo - they HAD to ham it up! Perfect!

So, here's what you're looking at: Autumn Leaves patterned paper and epoxy stickers, Gin-X rub-on letters (the guys names), clear vellum on which I printed a definition for friendship that I made up (sounds real enough to me!), and some multi-colored brads. That's it!

Here's my latest contribution to the Pages In Time design team - a project of my own choosing that will soon hang over the section of food-related products in the store. I used a manufacturer that I LOVE for their unusual product lines (for example, they make a selection of papers about rainy days - rain puddles, hot chocolate, this soup paper that I used...). They also have some interesting embellishments that seem to stump people who come into the store, so I wanted to give them some ideas on how to use them (like the pin that goes through the above picture of Abby). So, here's what I used: Around the Block printed paper, epoxy stickers, and paper pin. I used the Quickutz Studio alphabet to make the "mmm, mmm, good!" title. There's also a tag stuck behind one of the pictures on the right with some hidden journaling on it, which reads: "I HATE TOMATOS! So how ironic is it that it's a main part of one of my kids' favorite meals?! I never would have known, either, if it weren't for Tammy, who made tomato soup for the at her house. I'm glad they like it, but...YUCK!" Enjoy!

Time away

This weekend I went away with some of my DT friends from the store: Jamie, Greta, Michelle Burry, Karla, Freida, Keisha and Jen to a Bed & Breakfast-type place called Crop-A-Doodle-Do (don't ask me - I didn't name the place!) to do some serious scrapbooking and, mainly, to just relax and have a good time. We left on Friday morning and drove down to the Indy area, stopping first at a nice little scrapbooking store in Noblesville, Scrapbook Corner. From there we went directly to the B&B to get checked in and get to work. They had a great room attached to the house all set up just for scrapbookers, complete with tons of different tools we could use, etc. Of course, we all brought enough with us that we never had to touch any of their stuff - in fact we could have opened a small store in there by the time we were done!

We spent Friday night hanging out, scrapbooking and EATING (we did a LOT of that throughout the weekend!). Saturday, more of the same and a massage on top of it. Nothing better than that!! Sunday, we did a little work in the morning, but then packed up and got ready to head out to do a little eating and shopping in Indy. We ate at P.F. Chang's - YUM!! and the visited another little scrapbook store, Scrapbook Xanadu, and then headed over to the Fasion Mall in Keystone. For the record, I can't afford to shop there! Once we were finished, we headed for home.

All in all, I got 12.5 pages done (!!) in my Disney book (yes, that trip was almost 2 years ago) which is a HUGE accomplishment for me. It was nice to sit and work on something that wasn't meant for display in the store. Less pressure maybe. Anyway, we all had a blast and would do it again in a heartbeat. I think the girls already started to discuss dates for our next visit...

This is a picture of a billboard in the parking lot of the business next to where I work. The business next to where I work happens to be Hooters. The billboard happens to be for the next series that we'll be doing at church. You may remember me mentioning that I got to write a drama about sex? Yeah, that series - as if you couldn't guess from the billboard. In fact, click on the billboard. Go ahead, do it now. I'll wait.

Not bad, huh? That video you just watched was created by one of my best friends - the husband of my very best friend - Daryl McMullen. He rocks. Of course, he's part of a team of people who brainstormed the whole idea and made all sorts of group decisions about how the video should look and what it should say and whether or not there should be background music... But he made the video, because he rocks.

Anyway, the reason I bring all of this up is because I want to take yet another opportunity to tell ya'll how much I love being a part of a church that is willing to do what it takes to reach the lost and the broken and the hurting people out there. There are a lot of them. A lot of whom don't like church. They don't like Christians. They think we're hypocritical or pious or judgmental or lousy tippers or all of the above. And some of us are. But we're also human, and human Christians have SEX!! I know, you're shocked. I'll give you a minute...

As I was saying, some people (some who don't know Christ, and some who do) aren't really attracted to the idea of church, but they need help with the hurt and the pain they are experiencing because of choices they've made - some of those choices regarding their sex lives. And Granger isn't afraid to acknowlege those decisions and to help people work through them. In fact, a lot of the people who go to Granger know about those decisions from first-hand experience - which is why we all feel so strongly about the topic and why we are so passionate about getting the message to them, whatever it takes.

So, the billboards are getting a little attention. And that's understandable. It's not everyday, apparently, that people see bare feet. Maybe it's the sheer size of the feet that people find "appalling" or maybe it's the fact that they're NAKED feet. I don't know. I guess I'm just glad that they're clean feet.

And ranking a very close second

to Grey's Anatomy in my list of current obsessions would be the SIMPLY STRATEGIC SHOW with Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan. It's a podcast - until a couple of days ago I didn't understand how a podcast worked...Now, I can't get enough!! I've downloaded every episode they've done so far, and I'm more than halfway through them, and I can't wait to hear the rest!! I am so happy to know both of those guys, (and their beautiful wives, and their wonderful kids...one of whom will marry my daughter someday, if I have anything to say about it!) and that I get to be a part of what they are talking about on their show...because all they do is talk about Granger and why we do the things we do the way we do them. Ok, that's not all they talk about. They talk about a few other things occassionally, like that Tim didn't see his first movie in a theatre until he was TWENTY SIX years old, and that Tony LOVES to be hugged (yeah, right - guess what he's getting next time I see him!!) and that Tim once rode in an elevator with Duran Duran (all of them - and he had no idea who they were!) and that Tony has important people in the speed dial of his Nextel phone... Oh, and that Dustin Maust is single, available and very good-looking. See - I'm learning a lot!! Those guys are so stinkin' smart!!

GREY'S ANATOMY - My new obsession

I have a new passion. Forget for a moment that what I'm about to refer to is TV and not actual reality. Forget that there are many, many more important things in life than a TV show. Forget that some of what you might see on this TV show goes against many of the morals and standards that I hold dear (afterall, it is TV, and let's not ignore the fact that we all enjoy the occassional entertainment endulgence that doesn't exactly portray how you would personally choose to live your life). Forget all of that.

What I want you to focus on, just for a moment, is the most incredible show to hit TV since Alias, since 24, since...I don't know, but just trust me when I say that Grey's Anatomy is the best show on TV right now. Keep in mind that I'm a huge fan of 24 - love it. Very exciting, very original with that whole real-time thing and the different camera angles and all of that. Very cool show.

But what makes Grey's Anatomy better is the writing. It's edgy, real, thoughtful and purposeful. It's unbelieveable. I've heard it compared to ER, back when it was in it's prime. But Grey's Anatomy is different - it's not really about the medical stuff. From ER I learned medical terminology that I have no right to know. What is a chem 7 anyway?? Grey's Anatomy, on the other hand, is almost strictly relational - it just happens to be set in a hospital.

This will be a series that I actually buy on DVD. I have a season pass on TIVO. I read a blog by the writers of the show. I know the characters' first and last names. I'm in. I'm hooked. Don't call my house on Sunday nights between 10 and 11pm. I won't answer. I'll turn off the ringer.

So now you know. I'm a sick, sick person. Deal with it.

My latest finished page - one that's not even for the DT! I used a Fiskars rotary cutter (free-hand) to cut the curves in the paper and then stitched them together with a sewing machine (which isn't easy with the garage-sale-piece- of- crap that I have!). I hand drew and cut the pumpkin, and the title is Quickutz Studio alpha and the punctuation die set. Nothing too special about this one, but I do really like the color combination with the Chatterbox printed paper. Thanks for looking!

What I didn't tell you...

is that, thanks to Corey Mann and his 3 year "stalking" of him, we got to meet and talk with Louie Giglio after the concert! I can remember first seeing him speak at a youth event WAY back in the day, and I liked what he had to say from that very first time. We didn't get to hang out with him as long as we'd hoped, but even in that short amount of time, he said some pretty thought-provoking, inspiring, significant things. So, what I'm trying to say is that I got to reap some of the benefits of Corey's outstanding gift of stalking. Thanks Mann.

Indescribable

Louie Giglio

Chris Tomlin

Matt Redman

I'm baa-aaaack!!

Ah, Vegas... what can I say? We arrived Sunday night, around 3am our time, checked into the Hilton and didn't see the outside again until Thursday afternoon! Ok, not literally...every morning when we walked to the convention center, we had to go out a set of doors from the hotel, cross the alley, and go into another set of doors on the convention center. We got to do the exact opposite every night after the show closed, but it was dark by then, so I probably saw daylight a total of 20 seconds each day!

CLICK THE PICTURE!!

Trip highlights (and lowlights):

• Saw a bunch of really cool new stuff that I can't wait to get my hands on, including the new Basic Grey, Autumn Leaves, Heidi Grace, K&Co., Sweetwater, etc., etc. In fact, I have TONS of pictures that you can see by clicking on the picture above!
• Tried a slot machine for the very first time in my life...and I still don't get it!
• Got to visit with all of my friends at the Quickutz booth, including SPENCER LIVINGSTON! Those guys are a bunch of fun!
• Tried sushi for the very first time Wednesday night at Beni-Hana (that ended up being a lowlight a little later...)
• Threw dice at a craps table - just like in the movies! And in the process, realized what a small-town Indiana girl I really am!
• Refunded the Sushi...
• Dragged my sick and tired butt around the show Thursday after being up all night Wednesday.
• Cheesecake Factory!!
• The red-eye home from Vegas - flight out at midnight, 2 hour layover in Cincinnati from 6:30-8:30am, delayed arrival into South Bend (nearly a re-routing to Kalamazoo!) because of fog...finally hitting the ground around 10:15 or so.
• Sleep from 11:30-3:30, uninterrupted, in my very own bed! It's good to be home!!!