Soliciting Advice

Occasionally I will scroll through the hundreds of pictures I have saved on my computer. Cute pictures like this one:


Or this one:










Or this one:










These pictures are hidden away in my computer and not admired nearly often enough. I have printed a small fraction of the pictures saved on my computer, and I've placed an even smaller fraction of those in scrapbooks. I am not a crafty person, and I am known to be afraid of colorful things; nevertheless, I've tried to keep current on scrapbooking. I'm losing in that effort. Aside from Xiao Mei's baby book, my most recent scrapbook contains pictures from 2003.

So, as my digital memories get larger and larger, and my corresponding actual memories get fuzzier and fuzzier, I am considering digital scrapbooking.

On to my request: do you scrapbook digitally? If so, what program do you recommend? How do you publish your scrapbooks?

Thanks in advance for recommendations.

New Nie

Stephanie Nielson is back to blogging. If you are not familiar with her story, I encourage you to look into it. She and her sister cjane are amazing examples of kindness, strength and love.

Welcome back Nie Nie. May God continue to bless you as you heal.

Simon is evil and other random observations

American Idol is back. While I don’t watch it as religiously as I used to, I try to keep tabs on each season. I used to be a Simon Cowell apologist. He is harsh, yes, but his honesty is refreshing and often spot-on. Last night a lady (girl) auditioned in a bikini, and she had a great body. Her voice was not terrible, but it wasn’t good enough to move to the next round. Simon sent her to Hollywood anyway. He was so smug about it, and he was clearly trying to send a message. It made me sick. I’m surprised he didn’t just turn to the camera and say “hey, girls, you can use your body to get recognition you don’t deserve, so bikini-up.” Ugh. Maybe I see things differently now that I have a daughter, but I was furious. I am now, officially, a Simon Cowell hater.

Xiao Mei is 11 months. She is less like a baby and more like a toddler each day. She can walk now, albeit unsteadily, and she has an impressive vocabulary. (Hi, dada, mama, pretty, and hmmm (as in this food is good or I want some of whatever you are eating)). She loves music, and last Sunday she stumbled to the front of the relief society room and started leading the hymn.

My friend, G, told me that every time he watches Biggest Loser he craves doughnuts. Ironic, right? Well, last week CMT had a Nanny 911 marathon. I ignored XM for about 2 hours while I watched a few episodes. Sadly ironic.

I made Freya a few sweaters out of old shirts. She loves them.

I was 650 pages into Brisingr (the third book in the inheritance trilogy) before I realized there is going to be a fourth book. I’m very annoyed.