Making Custom Signature Stamps

I love Adobe Photoshop, as many people do, and I am constantly finding new uses for it. There are tools in Adobe that I know how to use well, and some I don't know how to use so well. Once in awhile I stumble across someone else's tutorial on how to create a special effect or use a tool I hadn't considered or understood, and I just love it.

Last year I finally figured out how to create my own brushes, which changed the way I do so many things. I will be explaining how to do this today, but as part of the lesson, I am going to explain how to create your own signature stamp. I am going to assume for times sake that you know how to do the basics in Photoshop, such as create a new project and entering text.

Open your new project, you can make the dimensions as big or large as you like, but I'd keep it within the screen so you can view it easily. Mine is 500 x 300 pixels. I am first going to do a simple "Signature". (I won't use my real signature as I don't want everyone on the world wide web to know how to sign my name.)

Type in the text you like, color doesn't matter, but font does. Choose the font and the size of the font you like and enter the appropriate size. Mine looks like this:


I used Ariel Rounded MT Bold and 36 for the font size. (If you make your signature too small it looks bad when you resize it, but you can make it smaller to some degree and it retains it's original look.)

Flatten your image and select the signature. (Keep the selection edges as close to the text as possible so as not to get too much background.) Then go to Edit> Define Brush Preset> and Type in a name for your new brush.

This will create a brush in the current brush set you are using. You can view the brush by open the paintbrush tool and scrolling to the bottom. I have a blank paintbrush tool set I use just for saving new brushes in.

You can create your own by deleting all the brushes in a set . Open the brush set and right click and tell it to delete, but make sure when you are finished you save it as a new brush set. Click the arrow at the top right hand corner of the Master Diameter tool and select Save Brushes. (see below)


Name it something new and easy to remember. I called mine "Dawn's Signature Set".

If you choose another brush set, you will not see the new signature set until you close and reopen Photoshop. If you do not save the new brush set before you close Photoshop you will lose your new signature brush.

I like to make an assortment of brushes for my signatures. Some plain, some fancy. Different sigs for different moods. One of my newer and more favorite signatures started with this:


You can copy and save that image if you'd like to create your own with it. I entered my own name and the year, with a little symbol in the center and I got this:



The font I used for this was Batik Regular, because I wanted that weathered look. (stamps don't have much crispness about them normally.) You can achieve the rotated font by a number of means, but I personally added each letter individually and used the Edit> Transform> Rotate tool to make each letter fit because I am picky that way.

Once saved you can do a number of things with your new brush or signature. I made a second stamp, this time with a postage stamp theme, and came up with this, that I intend on using as an email signature:
I don't know how clear this tutorial is, if you have questions, feel free to post them below and I'll try and make as much sense as possible. :) Hope you have fun with this!

When Dreams Come True

I am a dreamer, I admit it. I spent more than a small portion of my youth daydreaming about all the places I hoped to go, all the people I wanted to meet, who I hoped to grow up to be.

Most every child can tell you what they want to be when they grow up. My first dream , when I was about five years old, was to have a family. My step-father, Ray Hise, built me a playhouse for Christmas one year. It was beautiful, but icy cold in the winter months. That didn't deter me. I spent every waking hour in that playhouse, pretending to have a husband and children I was cooking for. It was never a popular dream when I was growing up in the late years of women liberation, the sixties and early seventies when modern woman embraced her right to be single and work. As I grew up I understood the equality issues, and womens rights issues, but I never stopped seeing being part of a family of my own as something to be embraced.

By the time I was eight I was considering jobs, and my new dream was to be a veterinarian. I have always loved animals, and I saw this as a way to be near my closest friends. I wasn't considering money, I was too young to think about income those days. I never really pursued this line of work, but I dreamed about it for years.

As a teen my interests moved toward art. I had discovered painting, sketching, and pottery. I had a wonderful teacher at Lumberton High School in North Carolina named Betty McKiethan. She took a hobby of mine and turned it into passion that consumed most of my waking hours. She encouraged me and a few other of her students to make art our living. I didn't have a lot of confidence however, and I joined the Navy instead, hoping to see a little bit of the world and find out a little more about myself.

During those years and the years following, my dreams kind of buried themselves. I gave myself up to the idea that I would waitress, or work as a cashier for the rest of my life. By the time I was 21 I had experienced a failed marriage and so much heartache that I wasn't sure I had too many dreams left.

Life has a funny way of surprising you.

I turned 42 this year, and recently I realized that in some sense most of my dreams have come true. I have a beautiful family, and more love than I could have ever hoped for. Though I have never become a veterinarian, I have many animals that I cherish and care for, and I have plans to volunteer for a wild animals rescue in the near future. And as far as art, it is still who I am.

I am a full time photographer these days, incorporating my artistic creativity into every apsect of the shoots, and I am due to have my first public gallery show in a few weeks here in Albuquerque. My family will be there, and one of my pets is in the show. :)

If that isn't a dream come true, what is?

Just My Luck :)

We drove out to the family reunion in Texas this weekend. Three cars, a total of twelve of us trudged 990 and something miles just southwest of Dallas to a lake near Comanche, Texas, where I was born and much of my family still resides. It is more beautiful than I remember out there. It was great fun seeing people, some who I haven't seen in one, two and even three decades.

I took some great photos... lovely kaes scenes, butterflies, wildflowers, bugs of all kinds, water doplets and clouded skies. And of course a ton of family pics.

I downloaded them to my sons laptop so I could reuse my digital card. and of course his computer crashed last night before I could save the images to my own files.

It was a great trip, with any luck I'll be back with the pics to show you soon. ;)

Good to smile :)

My sisters Birthday was last Friday, and we went to dinner together. It was nice, if you can get past the migraines I have been experiencing.

Anyway, she showed me a photo she keeps clipped to her sun visor:



Yeah, that she and me when I was about four and she was about two years old. I was a fairly happy kid, she was as tolerant of me as she could stand to be. We didn't become real friends until about four years ago. Now I'd venture to say we are best friends. She called me the other day and told me how much she loved me because of this picture and a few others she had come across. It seems she noticed I always had my arm or arms around her, laughing and looking as happy as I could be just to be in her presence, (which is not a far cry from the truth) and for years she just hated me touching her at all. Now she appreciates my love for her, returning it hardily.

Maybe the moral of the story here could be that if you love someone long enough they might love you back. But I prefer to think that the joy was just in loving at all.

I have been neglecting this blog in lieu of my Enchanted Ramblings. Posting pics and whatnot. It's so easy to get back into the groove of writing.

On the Edge of Relaxation

I love Fridays.

I probably shouldn't, because they not only signal the end of my work week, but they also highlight just how badly I manage my time during the five days I have to get things done. Yet, despite the fact that I have so much left to do and only hours left to do it in, I already am excited by the prospect of relaxing a little bit.

Okay, fine. Maybe the word "relaxing" for me is taking it too far. On a typical Saturday I wake at 7 am, leap out of bed, dress, brush my teeth, and start cleaning house. Somewhere around 1pm I garden an hour or so, and then I get ready for whatever real chores or other work I have set aside for the afternoon. My weekends stay busy, but usually with the things I have wanted to do all week and could not.
It's my own personal time, and I look forward to it.

(Pictured above is my son, Logan Mimna, doing a "stall" on his elbow.)

Good Things

It is only June, and so hot already. With Temperatures already in the 90's some days, I am dreading the coming "hotter" summer months. I have hoped to do some outdoor shoots, but the bright light and heat limits my shooting time to a couple of hours in the morning and a few in the evening. I prefer the late day tones, but the remaining heat makes it fairly miserable if the shoot is more than half an hour. I have set up a temporary studio in a warehouse, but it is not air conditioned, so I need to think up some alternate possibilities.

I am in the middle of planning a shoot with another local photographer who I like quite a bit, Mark White. I enjoy his work, and I think we might create something good together. We both have some good things to bring to the table, so I am excited to see the results.

I am going to be part of a gallery show in September through October of this year. It will be at the Downtown Contemporary Art Center, here in Albuquerque, and is called 1 x 20. A cool concept, one model photographed by 20 photographers. Twenty different styles, ideas. I am looking forward to the opening.

I also just started a new job as the photographer for Posh New Mexico Magazine. It's a great opportunity, and the publishers are great people. I get to use my creative eye in a setting I haven't tried before. I know I keep saying this... but I am excited!

So many good things happening all at once. I've worked hard, and expect to work harder yet, earn the good things that come to me.

(View from my backyard of a storm meeting a sunset, 2007)

Tuning In

Well, as predicted, I am not good at keeping up a journal. My focus has rotated almost totally toward photography and my design work, squished nicely in the middle of parenthood, and a few miscellaneous projects I have on the side.

I am a board member now for the New Mexico Art League, a very worth while organization, and I am excited to imagine what kind of things might lay in store in the coming year.

The past few months have been full of spring and sunshine, gardening, and making pottery, and several new photo shoots. One of the most recent was for an up and coming gallery show which I am excited to be a part of this next September. I'll hopefully get around to posting some of that information shortly. ;)

It's late, I languish, and so I am off to bed. Tune in again, if there is even anyone out there looking at this at all, and perhaps I'll throw in something of interest soon.

Notes and Love :)

Let's face it, I am not good at posting on a regular basis. I miss Poetry Dance, but my life is too mad and overwhelmed to maintain a project of that size, and nobody is up to lending a hand. However, despite my lack of ability to scribe here often, the need to do so strangely obsesses me now and again, so I suspect I'll keep the blog for when I feel the urge.

I recently purchased a new camera, the Canon 400d, otherwise known as the Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I love all incredible 10 megapixel's of the thing. I haven't had the opportunity to use it as prolifically as I would like, but that should be remedied shortly. I have upcoming gigs with three models and a weekend portrait session with a child. Happy day :)

The weather locally has been nippy, and strangely enough ... I love it. Bits of crusty snow are left in my front yard where it stormed last week. I am wishfully hoping it will bluster and blow before Christmas, but I suspect it will be warm and balmy as usual. That's okay, Christmas is celebrated with gusto whatever the weather or financial state may be at my home.

I have not written any poetry or stories lately, and I find myself itching madly to do so. Maybe I will surprise everyone with a treat in the next few days.

Other than that, it's all normal, which is simply peachy.

Hope all my buddies out there are happy and warm wherever you are.... hugs and kisses to you all. :)

Little Road Trip

I have a ton of news, but it'll have to wait. I 'm driving down to Roswell to drop off material and paychecks today.

I love driving!

Juggling

Like the average human my life is comprised of a number of activities, requirements, needs, callings, desires, and responsibilities which I juggle as best as I am able. I am not good at time management, nor organization, or objectivity for that matter. So I find myself with way too much to do and way too little time to do it in.

It's enough to make me crazy.

It would be easy enough to relieve the stress. I could take on less when people ask for help. I could let the housekeeping slide, or let go of some of my "projects" so I'd have more time to sleep. I could do any number of things that would be a good idea.

Instead I went ahead and installed DSL at home again so I could stay up all night and have more time in my day for other items.

I do so much of my work online. I create and send clients their designs, manage my photography, volunteer for an organization which restores damaged photos for Katrina victims, manage my stock photography, work as an approver for three photography sites, enjoy my blogs and several newsgroups, and so much more. It's at least two hours a day when I am in a hurry, six when I splurge. Some say I am addicted, but most people somehow see real-time in the office space as different than real-time on my workspace with the computer.

Bottom line... I needed more daytime hours, so I created the space.

I'd say it would make for less juggling, but I suspect I'll fill the extra minutes with new projects and commitments.

I'm nutz that way.

Studio Woes

Well, I went by the studio. I shouldn't have. ::sigh:: The sign below is what greeted me. Ack.

Slippage

In time
all friendships slip away
into the haze, into the gray
for reasons I don't understand
all friends soon slip
right through my hands
Perhaps because I don't take care
to keep close watch
when they are there
I've never had the chance to ask
why friends all slip right through my grasp.
(1985)

Photo © Christer Rønning Austad

Ailments and Joys

Ah, it's nice to feel well. Nicer yet when you've been sick for awhile.

I always appreciate good health, but never more than when I have experienced a bout of illness for an extended length of time. I don't still feel tip-top, as with many extended periods of sickness I am left with a feeling of continual tiredness. A kind of noodle-limb-listlessness that doesn't seem in any hurry to vacate my body.

Hmmph.

Well, I'm not complaining, because at least the nausea has taken leave. I can live, for the moment at least, with tiredness.

Part of my icky feelings, I am sure, come from the predominance of pollen in the New Mexico air. Take a little drive north of the Albuquerque and you will view flowers blooming in abundance as far as the eye can see. Yellows, purples, reds, oranges, blues.... the mesas and meadows are exploding in color, and it is simply gorgeous. Not good for my sinuses, but worth the pain, if you ask me.

We drove up to Wagon Mound yesterday to finish the float for the parade, (Which is on Monday) and the drive was breath taking. I took the back route, through Stanley, Galisteo, and Eldorado. From there it is a simple drive up I-25 past Pecos and Las Vegas. I only needed an hour to work on the float, and then we had lunch with Betty, Clint, and Fritz before doing a little local exploring. (We saw the owls again... four of them... stunning. I tried to get photos but I wasn't willing to encroach too closely and there wasn't enough light from afar.) By the time we were ready to go it was only 2pm and we still made it to the house before 5:00.

I bought a steak and some mushrooms, a little bottle of wine and kicked back for the rest of the night to watch a couple of old movies with my house windows thrown open wide. The air in the evenings is a cool 45 degrees, and makes for a relaxing atmosphere.

It was a good day. A good night as well. Hopefully I'll make it out to the plains area in the next few days for some more photos, but here are a few until then, from yesterday . :)

Guilt Trips and other Useless Vacations

My friend and I were having a discussion on relationships the other day, and he asked me for advice.

I'm not huge on giving out my personal opinions to the lovelorn. I don't have a great track record, having had two divorces and a slew of seriously messed up shorts. But I seemed to have figured a few things out on this one, (smooches to you Brian!) and the querry my friend posed I couldn't help but respond to.

I can't tell you how we got there, but the subject at question was guilt, and the effectiveness of it in motivating a loved one to do what we want them to do for us.

I'll tell you right up front, here and now, I am not a fan of guilt. It has it's place, I'll grant you that. I've tendered more than a few apologies, and moved myself to great lengths to right wrongs I have done because of the niggling feelings I couldn't ignore.

But the truth is that guilt is most effective when I wield it against myself. When someone else brandishes it against me, I find that the overwhelming sense I have isn't remorse, but distaste and resentment.

Consider the programs on television which ask you to donate "pennies a day" to help unfortunate children. And the articles and newsclips that show suffering starving people in other parts of the world. If guilt was an effective tool, there would be an overwhelming response and poverty would be at an end, or at least visably assuaged. But what I notice is that the worse the image, the deeper emotional response, the quicker people seem to be to turn the channel.

I've noticed the same thing in relationships. Guilt doesn't always encourage the "guilty" party to change thier ways. They usually just change the channel. Enough guilt, or any other bad feeling, can be grounds for terminating a relationship.

It's an understandable response.

First, the reaction to a great deal of guilt seems to be:"If I make you so unhappy... if I can do nothing but wrong everytime I turn around, then perhaps you'd be better off with someone else."

If you think about the last great relationship you experienced (in love or friendship, the premise applies to both) I suspect you'll find that the other person made you feel good about yourself. You smiled, laughed, and in general enjoyed your time with this other person a great deal. We are most often in relationships with others, whether we know it or not, because of the way they make us feel. We're often drawn to those who can create for us a sense that we are worthwhile, fun, intelligent, sexy .... whatever. (We all have something in particular we are looking for, the bottom line is that it makes us feel good.)

So where does that take me with the guilt issue? Well, obviously, guilt doesn't make someone feel good. Rather the opposite. So it seems to me that the best way to get somone to do what you want them to do isn't to guilt them into it.

Make them feel good instead.

Make them feel so good they want to make you feel good.

It's a never ending reciprocation that has nothing but positive outcomes. If that's manipulation, then manipulate me.

It's beats the hell out of guilt any day.

Whining Loudly

Okay. If you read my blog, (and you probably don't, I don't think anyone does... but's that's okay) you know all about my studio. Either way, there's been an "issue" with my beloved space, and I hafta share.

For those of you who don't read the blog, about two months ago I was excited because my assistant and I decided to go out on a limb and get a studio. My mother owns some apartments and she let me one for a very reasonable rate. That gives me two large rooms for studios, a dressing room, storage space, a full bath, a kitchen, and on top of it all it is in an area of town considered to be "prime commercial" so I have easy access to customers. First thing I did was to insure my equipment, my studio, and my belongings there.

Next I went all out and bought lights, and assorted other items I needed for my studio. I haven't finished it altogether, but it's been a working studio and I have appointments and more. I have been so thrilled.

Yesterday the city had contractors work on a sewer line near the house, the the sewer backed up and flooded the entire studio with disgusting waste. Anything touching the floor or near it was soaked, and is a total loss. The city recommends a hazardous waste team come in and do a clean and destroy mission. :(

I did not carry a flood damage policy, nor did my mother. We live in the desert, and you simply don't expect floods here. The city isn't liable, and we have to prove the contractors to be at fault, which could prove tricky. I am soooo bummed.

My camera and laptop were safe, thank God. But I still feel a need to mope.

So, here I am ... whining with the best of them.

Unexpected Discoveries

Have you ever found a website by accident?

I used to more than I do these days. When I first started browsing the web I would start out looking for something specific, and end up getting distracted by all the cool sidelines. Before I knew it I had found all sorts of wonderful pages, and totally forgotten where I had wanted to go in the first place. (I'm sure my ADD was a huge help in each explorative adventure.)

I've grown a little more disciplined since then. I can generally ignore those tiny offshoots and keep my eye on the prize. But every once in awhile I stumble on something that catches my attention and "poof" I'm off again. It's not a bad thing, I enjoy my finds. It goes with my whole spontaneous thing.

Today I went to check my mail at Gmail. (Which, btw, I could write a whole entry on, I love this product. I couldn't live without it.) In my hurried self-assured way of typing I had made a mistake and typed in 'gamil" instead. (Is there such thing as "Typing Dyslexic"?) I found this very cool site: Gamil

I almost ignored the site, the primal urge to know who might have sent me an email is overpowering sometimes. But there is a small disclaimer at the bottom of the page that somehow caught my eye: "You may have arrived here by misspelling Gmail. We understand. Typing fast is not our strongest skill. We have met a lot of new friends online though and our web traffic is through the roof from visitors from all over the world. So we're putting ads here to help us pay for all the bandwidth. "

I like humor. Dry humor, sarcastic and acidic suits my tastes just fine. So I obliged them and checked out their ads. But while I was there I had a look at the site, and the company, itself.

These are cool peeps. I was there five minutes and I decided I had to own their tea infuser called the TeaStick. I love innovative people. And Gamil has impressed me on three levels.

First, they took what could be potentially devastating traffic and made humor out of it. They took the problem of too much traffic and asked visitors to click on ads to generate money to help with the extra bandwidth, and didn't whine. (Oh I hate whiners.)

Second, they have a nice, clean website that is easy to navigate, and they clearly have talent. And that talent extends to a few very cool inventions, among them the TeaStick.

Third, they used used the gmail/gamil problem to give them an opportunity to market said products. This, it seems to me is an example of the difference between getting by and becoming successful. Opportunity knocks, but not everyone hears the knocking. These guys not only opened the door, they gave opportunity the grand tour of their house.

A lot of things come to us by accident. Being prepared to take advantage of the accident is a matter of vision. I only typed badly, and I found an item I will most certainly purchase. Gamil had more than earned the business.

Makes ya rethink think marketing a little, doesn't it?

Making Magic

I love to smile.... enthusiasm powers me. While I have a fairly ordered life, spontanaity is still a part of me left over from my youth which I treasure beyond words. Nothing like an impromtu picnic, a drive to some surprise destination at the last moment with a friend or family member, or giving into an urge to do something unexpected for a dear one.

So imagine how happy I am when the love of my life, Brian, brings me little tidbits of affection from wherever he may be working for the week. I never know when to expect these things, and there is no guessing what he might present me with. he knows me well, and his gifts are as much designed to please me as to make me laugh.

He's brought me crawfish for my fish tank, seedlings for my garden, and unusual pottery because he knows the patterns will set off my imagination. A box of empty thread spools because I might like them for crafts, sweets and chocolates and a t-shirt. For Valentines day he gave me a 9mm automatic because he knows that while I don't like hnting, I love to go to a shooting range. (Let me tell you the grief he got from his friends over that one!) He brought me little snakes and scorpions, (I'm a tomboy... he knows me well) a quilt, a camera bag and a tripod he found at a garage sale. For the most part, it's not the money he's spent... the items are usually found somewhere and he just knows me well enough to know what will make me smile.

That's real magic. Real love. Better than money or any superficial show of affection. It's caring enough to get to know someone, and taking the time to think of them when it isn't always convenient.

I wouldn't trade him for the world.

Breath of Enchantment ©2006, Dawn Allynn

Studio Work

My new studio is coming along. I still have some equipment to buy and a piece of furniture or two I am yearning for. But over all it works nicely. Two studio rooms, a bathroom, a changing room, a costume closet, a kitchen, and a ton of storage and in the Nob Hill District. Not bad at all. ;)

When I have it the way I want it I will run an ad and rent it to other photographers by the day or hour. Help cover some overhead costs.

I have tried to do as many shoots as possible, but I need to step it up. I have some goals I want to meet and I need to work in a variety of shoots before fall.

Right now I have been focusing on models and fashion photography. It doesn't pay much, (yet) but it's fun and I learn a great deal as I go.

I hope to do some infant and maternity shots this month, and I have to work on my stock galleries.

Anyway, it's the end of the day and I thought I'd post a few photos I really like from this past week. Then it's home for me and some blessed sleep.


Stacy © 2006


Megan © 2006


Amy © 2006


Amy © 2006

Floating Away

I have a reputation among my family and friends for being able to solve problems and come up with creative ideas. Frequently someone will call me for advice or help with something that has stumped them. Sometimes I deserve this show of confidence, but often as not I am stumped as to why they would call me. Regardless of the reason, I find myself complimented by the show of confidence, and I all too often over-commit myself out of some sense of responsibilty.

The most recent example of this happened last month when my Unlce Fritz gave me a call.

Fritz has lived in Albuquerque since I was a small child, but he grew up in a small village called Wagon Mound.

Named Wagon Mound because the top of the butte
resembles the very top of a covered wagon as seen here:


Every year on Labor Day Wagon Mound residents celebrate Bean Day, when many of those who grew up in this diminishing village and moved away come home to enjoy comraderie, a free fare of beans and barbeque, and a small parade which is delightful in the way it is reminicent of times which otherwise seem long gone. Last year Fritz invited me to attend Bean Day with him, and I was caught up in the smiles, home town friendliness, buildings which reminded me of western towns from some old movie, and - of course - the parade. That was the best part.





So, when Uncle Fritz called me up and asked if I could help him build a float for Bean Day, more specifically, a float in the shape of the Wagon Mound itself, how could I say no?

My friend Crystal and I packed our bags Friday morning of last week and drove up to Wagon Mound the back way from my house (through the beautiful area which runs through Gallisteo) we pulled into Wagon Mound and arrived at the beautiful home of Clinton Ballard and his wife Betty Medina. Betty is a gracious hostess and was so sweet to open her home to us. We made ourselves at home in the rooms she provided, changed our clothes and had a bite to eat, and proceeded to the garage where the frame I had designed for the float waited for us.
The garage belongs to Felipe Garcia, and he opened it up for us.

Clinton had built the frame before we arrived, and had plenty of stucco wire available. Fritz had purchased the paint, the plaster, and there was a ton of paper in piles nearby. In the following five hours or so we wrapped the frame in wire, stuffed it with crumpled paper and pushed and manipulated it it into it's basic shape, and then began the process of covering it with a plaster papier mâchè. We covered it about one sixth of the way before retiring for the evening.









Back at Betty and Clinton's home we enjoyed a traditional New Mexican meal of pasole, beans, papitas and tortillas before ending our evening exhausted.

The next morning Crystal and I popped up at 6 am and went out on a photography spree (more of that later .. those pics deserve an entry of thier own) and returned by 8:45 in time for a quick breakfast and then it was back to work.

This time the group from the day before was joined by Adonilia Menzor, Edna Mae and Amadeo Gallegos, and Raquel Encinias. The extra hands upped the pace and the float began to take on the shape and form of the Wagon Mound. By 3:30 we were worn out, but had pretty much finished the papier mâchè part and were applying the last coat of plaster. Betty and some of the others agreed to work on the final plastering and perhaps some of the basic paint coating before I return in about two weeks to do the actual detail paintwork which will finish the float.












It was a long two days, but rewarding. :)

Crystal and I went home by way of a long drive up into Mora and down through Las Vegas (the NM version) and back home the way we had come. It took me two days to get over the aches and pains of the weekend, but the satisfaction is palpable.

So, one more trip to finish the float, and then it's back for Bean Day to see our creation waddle down the streets of Wagon Mound. :)

Floating Away :)

Cooking up alternatives...

So, time have been hard lately. Nothing new, times are always hard financially, and when you have a family of seven that comes as no surprise. We thought that having Logan and Keri, our two oldest, go to work would change the burden, but it didn't really. Between the cost of skyrocketing fuel and the long 45 minute drive to work daily, and other prices rising we seem to be falling behaind rather than catching up.

This is life.

But I found it funny this past Saturday because of something I caught myself saying.

You see, we haven't had propane since last February, because we just can't afford it. (We have a large tank, and it is several bundred dollars to fill it up.) We managed the chill of the house fairly well until summer came, so now we don't need it for heat anymore. And we have an electric water heater and a microwave, so we've been doing okay.

Most days I eat in town, usually salads because the the heat (salads are so refreashing in the swealtering heat) and the cost of fast food. But the other day I was at the grocery store and I decided to spring for a TV dinner, and I caught myself refering to it as "real food". What I meant was that I wanted meat and veggies, and I wanted them hot. Real food has come to mean a complete meal that can't be classifed as a side dish. Once upon a time, real food was stuff that wasn't pre-made or frozen. Healthy foods that take time and effort to create. Dinners that bring everyone to the table in excitement, where we can have family time.

Don't get me wrong, I still make meals. I have an assortment of kitchen wonders that enable me to cook "better" food. It's just not as easy to whip up a fantastic meal with a electric skillet, a toaster over, and a microwave.

So, in a sense, because of the price of fuel, TV dinners have become a replacement ... and we seem to have grown distant as a family in many ways as well. Funny how things have a chain reaction.

We've got plans to fill the tank in a couple of weeks. So I'll have a stove again, for awhile at least. But it's been an eye opener.