I hope it won't take THAT many pastors to bury me!

The "news" this a.m. is focused on the laying to rest of Teddy Kennedy, something like seven priests officiating....yeah, that is all I will say about that.... The good news might be the TV Guide Preview Channel might run stuff about Teddy's life, legacy, and antics instead of the insipid Michael Jackson stuff or the horrid "Punk'd". Replacing one show full of "bleeps" with another, I guess!

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Dreams, again, this early morning. Bad dreams this time, waking up crying, seeing things I do not want to see any longer in my dreams, crying "that" cry, ugh, rough start to the morning. I guess it should be expected since I met some new ladies at scrapbooking last night and I shared with them just how I got involved in this passion of mine....thanking Anne Hoyer for this! I recall her telling me that every other check in her register was written to "Creative Memories", which Phil confirmed!

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It all started in October of 2001 at the Reformation Service dinner at Good Shepherd. Anne asked me how I was doing and I told her I wondered what to do with all Timmy's pictures and such. Boy, did I open a door with that! Anne and her friend, Nancy, were just on the way back from the Scrapbook convention in Orlando that weekend so were still fired up from all they saw and did, and the rest is history! The next week, Judy C. brought her scrapbook she made about her trip to Thailand, and I loved it, thinking, "I can do this!!"

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Jennifer R. got on board with me and we caught a few others in the web with us, setting up a work station in the game room upstairs at The Preserve, later moving it down to Mom's room so Jen would not have to climb the stairs. We would pack all our materials and supplies plus four or five ladies into the relatively small work space, but I do not think anyone minded. At the lake house we used the enclosed porch for our hobbies and then at The Palace we originally used the river room. Now we are not set up permanently but haul out what we need each time, whether it be our painting supplies or scrapbooking stuff. The "Timmy" album was not the first one I did because I had real problems with getting started---cutting the pictures and quite simply, facing it. Once begun, however, it flowed right along. I recall Judy C. coming up to me at church when we were cropping there, saw what I was working on, and squeezing my shoulder, knowing what a big deal this was for me.

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I also remember going to buy the supplies and buying wwaayy too many things, not even knowing what they are used for. Like a man in a hardware store buying tools for which they have no use, this was me! I bought the fluted edged scissors in every pattern, the markers and color pencils, cutting devices...My pages have totally evolved to being much more simple, mainly because my albums are more about places than people. The photos often speak for themselves, not so much journaling required. Eventually my "extra" supplies were shared with others and my paper stacks are gradually declining, although I have a long way to go before I will run out. There is plenty to share with Maggie when she is ready to begin her trip into the world of scrapbooking. She wants to do albums about the plays and theatrical productions she was involved in, and hopefully, they will not cause her to wake up crying.......