I know my time here on LJ has been severely limited this last year or so. I'm not around much to read posts or to write them. But I came back tonight to check my LJ calendar, to look up an entry I made several years ago. Four years ago, in fact, to the day.

Four years ago TODAY I had my tonsils taken out-and I've been strep-free ever since! Those who were around LJ at that time know (or knew) that the surgery was a very big deal for me because 1) I was 33 at the time and we all know what they say about having that sort of surgery when you're 'older' and 2) I'd been having ongoing, chronic problems with strep and was going out of my mind at that point. I was at the end of my proverbial rope.

Every year at this time, I think back to the surgery and reflect on how HAPPY I am to have had it done. I still have trouble with sinus infections and bronchitis several times a year, but that's always been me and I can handle those. The strep was something else. In the end, it wouldn't go away, and I was on antibiotics for *months* and *months* straight which, as you can imagine, is NOT the best thing for a person's body.

Going back through my LJ entries from that time four years ago, my heart is always warmed to reread all the good wishes and thoughts left there both before and after my surgery by everyone here. I can remember how important it was to me to try to keep in touch with people and to let everyone know what was going on. And to keep tabs on what everyone *here* was doing in my absence. :) It's nice to have a group of friends that you know will always be there, both to listen when you need it and to provide the distraction of their own stories (verbal *and* fic :) when needed. You guys have always been the BEST!

Also, as this yearly anniversary rolls around, it means that another school year is coming to an end. Tomorrow is the last day of school. Last year at this time, and especially the year before last, I was feeling teary and sentimental, thinking about some of the children I'd be 'losing' to second grade. Some years are like that. Does the question, "How many minutes are left until 3pm Thursday?" tell you anything about how this year has gone????? Oy. :)

One of my first graders came up to me during journal-writing time the other day. Said first grader is one of about four in my room who has a pretty serious speech problem. It's very difficult to understand much of what he says, though some things come out clear as a bell. Our conversation went like this:

C: How I spell "suck"?

Me: Um...tell me one more time what you want to spell.

C: SUCK.

Me: Um...hmmm...tell me the sentence you want to write, and I'll help you spell the word.

[At this point, I was desperately hoping that I'd understand some of the other words in the sentence, so I could figure out what he was trying to say. Because I was *fairly* sure he didn't really want to spell 'suck'...but then again you never know. :)]

The following is exactly what he replied, syllable for syllable...spelled by me here the way I heard it come out of his mouth...

C: "Suckin' a dick."

[And at *this* point, I was absolutely losing it. My mind was boggling, my brain was exploding, as I frantically prayed *not* to have to resort to asking him to draw a picture of whatever it was he was thinking about, so I could use that to interpret his sentence. Then, suddenly, came the dawn...]

Me: Ohhhhhh... 'STUCK in a DITCH'???????

C: Yeah!! Me and gampa went off the woad wast nigh.

OMG! I have NO IDEA where my brain came up with that, save the fact that I know this child spends a lot of time outdoors, with his grandpa, on a farm, doing all sorts of things with the tractors, combines, four-wheelers, etc, and that must have triggered something.

So, yeah...some days I feel like I'm three steps behind what my students are doing, but this made me feel like I'd taken one giant leap ahead. I mean, WHO could figure out 'stuck in a ditch' from THAT????? Again...still not sure how I came up with that, but I thank anyone who's around to listen that I didn't have to prolong *that* conversation... :) :) :)

I always like to do an LJ entry on what I'm thinking about each November, about what I'm thankful to have, or to be, or to have done. What I have to be thankful for this year was made abundantly clear to me a week ago Saturday.

It's a long story. But the quick version is that my mom and I were driving in my van (I was driving) home toward WI (on a state highway/toll road) from an afternoon/evening of shopping in IL with some friends of mine on Saturday when we hit a deer. A. Really. BIG. Deer. Well, he looked big when he suddenly appeared from apparently nowhere in the pitch darkness and was standing maybe a foot from the front of my van...but then we saw him later and he was big.

He hit the left part of my front end, took out my left light (it's not just broken, it's gone), part of the grill, dented the hood, and then they're guessing the momentum carried him around to the driver's side door, where he dented the door, took out the window there, and the door handle/touch pad.

As soon as I saw him, I held onto the steering wheel, put my foot on the brake, and shut my eyes, because I expected the glass from the windshield would be coming down. And if the deer was going to be coming in my front window, on top of me, I certainly didn't want to *see* it. But he broke just the side window and while the glass flew everywhere inside my car, Mom and I didn't get cut at all. I must say, though, that the glass chips all inside my shoes, down my back, imbedded in my hair, in my ear-and even in my underwear once I eventually stood up and got out of the car-weren't the highlight of the night. Once I slowed down enough (we hit hime going about 75 mph), I pulled off the road and we stopped.

After I heard the deer hit the front of the car, I felt a huge BANG to the side of my left arm. Later, we found a three or four inch slice in the fabric of my seat, down to the foam inside, right around where my shoulder would have been (you can see it in one of the pics). The workers who later came and found the deer said they thought it was probably made by his antler coming in the window as he hit and broke it...and that the big bruise on my arm was probably from his head. Um...glad I had my eyes shut for THAT. Even now I can't even imagine how Mom and I weren't turned over in a ditch somewhere and how if any part of the deer came INTO MY CAR-as close to me as to cut the seat and to HIT MY ARM-that no one was seriously hurt/gored/cut/whatever.

As we were waiting for my sister and her husband to drive the 2.5 hours down to retrieve us (as my car, minus the radiator, could not be driven and had to be towed), the highway workers came and found the deer somewhere on the opposite side of the tollway and they brought him over to show us. He *was* huge. He was a ten-point buck, and they estimated him to be at least 250 lbs. I'm so sorry he ended up in front of our car. He really was beautiful.

And, since I almost never go anywhere without a camera, I was able to take pics of the van and the deer. It was really, *really* dark out on the toll road (like you could barely see the damage to the car without someone shining a flashlight directly onto it...) but the pics turned out so well. Amazing.

So...I have my life to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. And my mom's life. And the fact that we didn't hit anyone else in the process, or cause an accident behind us because I hit the deer and slammed on my brakes. And wherever the deer went after it was in front of me, that it didn't cause any other accidents on the road as it made its way across the four lanes of traffic to the opposite side of the highway.

( Oh, deer... )

I know I'll always have something new to be thankful for each year, but when I'm still sitting here a week+ after the accident and wondering how it is that I *am* still here, I know this will top my lists for a long, long time.

My class has spent the week talking about the Pilgrims, the Natives, 'the ship', and the first 'Thanksgiving' feast. I haven't spent as much time on everything as I would have liked, but I think they've got the basic ideas in their heads.

The class next door, which comes into my room for social studies class three times a week, has missed several days of class recently. So it was just today that I got around to reading a story to them about the Pilgrims, et al.

When we finished, I asked, "Who remembers the name of the ship the pilgrims traveled on?" Usually they start naming all of Christopher Columbus's sailing ships-which, considering we talk about him at the beginning of October, is pretty good, I guess.

Child #1: The Daisy!

Me: Um...nooooooo...but...uh...good try.

Child #2: The Flower!

Me: Um...noooooo...but we're getting closer...

Child #3: The Navy Flower!

Me: Uh...hmmm...well...you've got a couple of the right letters in there, now. It does have an 'a' sound and a 'y' in it...

Child #4: The Mayflower!

Me: Yes! NOW, let's ALL say that name TOGETHER! MAYFLOWER! Be sure to go home and tell your family that you know the name of the Pilgrim's ship!

Whew. Had to really work for that one. Now the question is, will they remember it until we have class again next Tuesday? :)

Now that we're into November, the countdown is on for our annual 'gingerbread house decorating get-together.' Usually I don't give the project half a thought until the day my friends and I get together to *do* the houses...and then I panic because I can't think of a creative way to use the candy/pretzels/other decorations in a way that's different from the way I used them the year before.

THIS YEAR, however, is going to be different. I couldn't sleep the other night, so I was thinking in my head about all the different types of candy I could put on my house. For some reason, I got to thinking about M&Ms, and about the new dark pink (raspberry?) ones they've come out with. Which made me think of the special bags of light pink M&Ms I saw at the store last weekend. Which made me think of the light pink Tic Tacs I also saw at the store.

And then it came to me-I'll make an ALL PINK HOUSE! I love pink above any other color any day of the week as it is, so making a gingerbread house out of entirely pink candy really appeals to me. Plus, there's that whole breast cancer awareness campaign going on with everything being turned pink, so I love the idea of carrying that over to my gingerbread house for this year.

The problem is that now that I have this great idea, I've got to come up with enough different kinds of pink candies to be able to do the whole house, including the roof, the sides, the windows, the door, maybe a chimney and some yard decor. We'll be putting everything on using piping bags with icing, so there'll be some white where that shows through, and I'm willing to use maybe some different types/shapes of pretzels for window panes, the door structure, maybe a fence, or whatever. But I want all the candy/other food items to be pink.

I've already decided that I want the roof to be done in the M&Ms, going between the light and dark pink ones, and I'll figure out something for the Tic Tacs, because those are things that won't cost a whole lot in order to get a decent amount of them. Here's where your job comes in: What other sorts of candy/foodstuffs are there out there that have always come in pink or have just recently come out in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Even things like marshmallows, licorice, gum, etc. can be used, since they'll just harden after they're put on. And things like Good 'n Plenty and Starburst would work if I just picked out the pink ones.

Any good ideas? Please throw them my way! I have until about Thanksgiving to gather what I'll need, since we'll make the houses on the Sat. right after Thanksgiving. And if you have any ideas about *how* or *where* I can use the various candies, I'm all ears. I'm just so excited to have an idea THREE WEEKS in advance, instead of scrambling 'the morning of' and wanting to bang my head against the wall because I don't have any good ideas-again. Pre-planning...I hardly ever do it-with ANYTHING...but it sure feels good. :)

Thanks in advance! :)

Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or to scream...

Part of a conversation from my first grade classroom yesterday, at the end of a VERY LONG day (done, until the very end, in my quiet 'trying not to *sound* mad while actually *being* mad ' voice):

* * * * * * * * * *

Me: S (a girl), please get to work.

S: (sits and talks to her neighbor and does nothing.)

Me: S, it says "This is a picture of my teacher". You need to find a crayon and get going on your picture. P (a boy), you need to get your crayons out and start DRAWING. (P chews on his pencil eraser and stares into space.)

S: (continues talking)

Me: S! GET TO WORK!

S: But I can't draw all of you. Can I just do your face?

Me: YES. You may draw me any way you'd like. Just DRAW ME.

S: Do I have to do your earrings? They're hard to do.

Me: NO. You may make me wearing whatever you'd like. Just DRAW ME.

S: Do I have to draw your...

Me: S! You need to draw someone who looks like me. Your person needs to have yellow hair, blue eyes, and glasses. Do the best you can.

S: (give me THE LOOK, picks up a crayon, continues talking to the boy next to her, but starts to draw.)

Me: P, pick a crayon and start your picture, please. You're drawing a picture of me. Get a yellow for my hair or blue for my eyes and start drawing.

P: I need peach to do your skin.

Me: (gritting teeth, clenching fists, praying for patience) Then FIND your peach and START WORKING.

P: I don't have peach.

Me: Then ask a neighbor nicely if you can borrow theirs.

S: (from across room) YOU CAN BORROW MINE!!!! [because this girl, I SWEAR, has no voice other than LOUD.]

Me: S!!!!! Just do your own work, please.

S: But...

Me: (in a LOUD voice that is NOT my usual quiet, 'I'm trying to be understanding' voice) DO. YOUR. OWN. WORK.

P: (looking at me as he FINALLY starts to make a peach circle on the paper) NOW I'm going to make you with a MAD face.

* * * * * * * * * *

OMG. I could have burst out lauging right then and there. I was so UPSET with S for her continued interruptions (which happen about 59 minutes out of every hour), and frazzled with trying to field P's constant questions and keep him on track (when he's off task probably 59 minutes out of every hour). But I *know* he didn't mean his comment beligerently. He was just letting me know that he'd finally gotten around to drawing me and, just my luck, NOW I was yelling...so, oh well, I'd be stuck being drawn with my mad face on. :) And true to his word, there I was on his paper, with a zig-zaggy mouth that looked like a scary face you'd find carved on a jack-o-lantern.

Sometimes it's laugh or scream, and I've just laughed myself silly about this one. It certainly puts ones moods into perspective. Especially when one has sixteen six year olds sitting and *watching* one's moods... The next time I have my 'mad face' on, I'll be thinking of P. :)

I've been putting off doing laundry. Now that the weather's in that in-between stage of hot-some-days then coolish then sort-of-warm, I can rotate between wearing dresses and pants and capris. That way I don't end up running out of any one thing and I can wash a lot less.

However...I just went to put together an outfit for tomorrow-only to discover I have NO CLEAN UNDERWEAR left to wear. Uh...guess my nights of putting off the laundry have just come to an abrupt halt. Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone runs out of underwear... :)

In other news, my class was OFF THE WALL today and I have a HUGE HEADACHE. Ow.

Well, I survived the first of two 'teacher prep' days back at school. The day started when I left my house at 6:05am, to pick up the woman I carpool with, and made the 20 minute drive to school for our first official Union Meeting of the year. They can't be held during school hours, thus the reason we were all in the band room at 6:45am. UGH.

The rest of the day was filled with staff meetings, informational meetings re: our insurance, and the usual arguments over crappy class schedules, too much recess duty, and not enough lockers. I got a few things done in my classroom, in the little time we had to ourselves, but as per my ADD self, I got totally hung up on trying to get the desks into an arrangement that I liked, and then I rearranged two bookshelves, two chairs, and a few other things that I SWORE were all set for the year when I arranged them LAST week. ::sigh::

And the desks are *still* not to my liking, because the 'design' I have them in isn't symmetrical and it's driving me nuts. Why? I have NO idea. WHY am I so anal about something like THAT when I could care less if my house is dusted, my garden is being overtaken by weeds, and I put laundry in the washer/dryer and forget it's there?? Just thinking about it gives me a headache. Well, actually, I already have a headache-caused by way too little sleep last night and way too much inane droning by our principal at this afternoon's staff meeting.

Anywho...I took pics of a couple things I've put up for the new school year. Click below to take a peek, if you're so moved. :)


( My 'Welcome' bulletin board just inside my room... )

AND

( The 'all-purpose-holds-something-new-every-year-palm-tree/coconut tree/banana tree outside my room... )

A cacophony of thanks and a hearty 'hi ho silver!' to aerynvala for helping me to edit these pics for posting! ::hugs::

Batten down the hatches and ready the ark...here it comes again!

And so, another night of rain begins. ::sigh::

On the upside, I did get in to see the doctor today and he agreed that this is, indeed, a sinus infection. Dandy. He put me on an antihistaimine, an antibiotic, and nose spray. Even better. Hopefully I'll be mostly symptom-free when teacher meetings start next Wednesday...and back to my usual jolly self by the time the children come on Sept. 4th. Yahoo.

...apparently it should have been MY summer project...in my garage...in my spare time...

Because they've just issued a flash flood warning for our area of Wisconsin...that is apparently to stay in effect from NOW until SATURDAY MORNING. Gee, think we're going to get some RAIN???? Well, you know, more rain to add to the scads of it we've already had...

Surprisingly enough, my back didn't hurt AT ALL today. I can hardly believe it, considering how utterly sore it was yesterday.

Unfortunately, the day wasn't all glitch-free, as I'm pretty sure the nasty sinus/lung infection I had at the beginning of July is back. It's not as bad as it was then, because I haven't let it go for over two weeks like I did back in June/July, but it's bad enough.

I hate sinus infections. Right now I'm hot, I feel like I can hardly see out of my eyes, and my head is so heavy it feels like it's going to fall off. And I can't breathe. Yuck. I managed to get a dr. appt. for tomorrow at 10:40am, so hopefully that will help solve the problem. I don't want to go to our 'teacher meetings' next Wed./Thurs. to kick off the new school year...but I *certainly* don't want to have to sit through two days of speeches, meetings, lectures, power point presentations, etc. WHILE I'm sick.

The good...I managed to talk myself into going to school today to work for about three hours. I planned to go this past Monday, but neatly talked myself out of it at the last minute, in favor of staying in bed.

The bad...I spent probably two of those three hours pushing/carrying/hauling 'furniture' (desks, tables, book shelves, etc.) around the room-which my back is NOT thanking me for NOW. On the 'up' side of that, I had to chuckle as I was rearranging, thinking about my class last year, who would always ask, "Are we remodeling?" when I'd start moving the desks and such around.

The good...I put our 9'x12' rug going a different direction, and I *think* I might like it this way better. Either way it goes, it takes up a LOT of room; I love the rug, but the spacial difficulties it causes give me a headache. I also maybe got some other things in the room changed around to a way that I might like them. Possibly. And I got the desks into a formation that sort of like. Maybe. For the moment. I finally made myself leave everything alone and then LEAVE my classroom. I'll go back on a different day and see how it all strikes me then.

The bad...I'll probably HATE the new room layout and end up changing EVERYTHING around. Again. It makes my back ache just thinking about it. I'm very well-known for rearranging the kids' desks about once every other week. Sometimes more often. Teachers and parents always give me a hard time about it (although in my grouchier moments I wonder what business it is of *theirs* anyway...), but either the desk layout starts to bug me or the children start getting too chatty with whomever is sitting by them or someone is getting snarky with their neighbor...and then I do the old switch-a-roo to see if I can get better results from a new arrangement. The kids don't seem to mind. The find it exciting to be somewhere else in the room. And, too, it gives all the different children a chance to interact with each other.

The good...On the way home from school, I drove past a house that had two cardboard tables in the driveway, full of huge garden-picked tomatoes. So after I did the grocery shopping, I went back to the house and bought four bright red tomatoes and three bright yellows ones. I LOVE fresh garden tomatoes, and these were round and ripe and beautiful...and warm from sitting there in the sun. Mmmmm!!! So far, I've had five tomatoes from the two plants in my backyard, but they've been few and far between and the three growing there now are greener than grass atm. So...fresh tomatoes from someone else's garden it is!! Yum!! Should have bought some bacon and lettuce at the grocery store. Hmmm...might have to make a return trip tomorrow...

The bad...Did I mention that my back hates me right now?????

The good...I've already eaten one of the tomatoes and it was EVERY BIT as good as it looked. And I think the Advil is starting to kick in. Thank goodness. Ow.

THREE TIMES IN A ROW, just now, I did the meme that's been going around-the one where you put in how long you've been on LJ and whether you find Snape 'hot' or 'not'. And THREE TIMES IN A ROW, just after I hit 'paste' to paste the results into my LJ entry, a message came up saying that Netscape had 'encountered problems' and would be shutting down.

THREE TIMES. IN A ROW. That CANNOT be a coincidence, can it???? The first time it happened, I thought it was just some stupid internet glitch. Or my stupid computer. Either would be plausible. But then it happened again...and again. So I guess I *won't* be posting the results of the meme here. Even though the 'crime' part of it was pretty funny-something about 'for writing a Gimli/Legolas story in which Legolas was only 103 years old...' Teehee. :)

I would still like to know what Netscape has against the meme, though. Or against me. Possibly Netscape is in cahoots *with* LJ...and trying to shut me down any way they can... The meme did, after all, saying I only had '2 hours' before I would be thrown off LJ. :)

...but it's tearing me apart. And in this case I don't think that 'a problem shared is a problem halved', but I can't just sit here and cry night after night. Well, I can, and I am, but I keep thinking that talking to someone might help make it hurt less-or help things make sense. Although I dont hold much hope in that, in this case.

It's long-ish, but this really *is* the abbreviated, watered-down version of events, because I just can't go through everything that's happened in the last month with all the details...again. Just going to use 'he' and 'she' in telling the story, to make things go a little faster; I'm sure you'll catch on. :)

( The story of my sister's recent marriage...and the decline thereof )

If you're still here after ALL that, thank you reading/listening. In some ways, I suppose it all sounds so surreal and soap opera-ish. In most ways, it's really a huge nightmare that, just when you think you might finally be waking up from it, takes another horrifying turn and goes on and on and on...

After my dad died last July (the one-year anniversary of *that* was two days before my sister's wedding), I didn't think anything could rival that for 'most stressed out way to spend my summer vacation'. Boy, was I wrong. And if *I'm* stressed out, I keep thinking over and over, I absolutely can't imagine how my (usually pretty high-strung and does-not-handle-unexpected-things-well) sister is holding it together at all. Which, some days, she's not. I just don't know how to make this better for her...or simpler...or easier to fathom. ::sigh::

...could be said about my first LJ post in nearly four months OR about this haiku that just suddenly came at me out of nowhere tonight. I blame it on the rain that's been coming down for ten hours straight...and not having written anything since shirebound's birthday.

I was thinking of the non-stop rain of a certain LotR scene when I wrote this. But it could be about a lot of things, I guess...

( Click for 17 syllables )

And now that I've totally depressed myself, I'll be heading to bed, to dream of happier fic...

I wrote in another LJ entry that I was planning to paint and decorate a recipe card box to give to my sister at her wedding shower next month. I asked for food/friend quotes, hoping to find something I could use on the front or back of the box, and two people stepped forward with wonderful ideas.

So...big THANK YOUs go out to shirebound and asphodel_ale for ALL their help!! The quote on the front of the box and the back of the box came from asphodel_ale's suggestions and the quote on the inside cover came from the link posted by shirebound. (I used that one in particular because my sister's fiance is from Mexico...)

There were SO many great and funny quotes that I've decided to pick one from each 'major group' that will make up the 'headers' between the recipes inside the box ("Desserts"..."Soups"..."Sides"...etc.) and to put that related quote on a neon colored recipe card at the front of each section, just for fun. I figure it'll give my sister and her soon-to-be-husband a laugh to see the silly sayings as they go through the box looking for something to make. :)

If you'd like to see how the box turned out, you can go to

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whimsy_crafts/

I can put up many more views and angles of the box if I have the pictures there, instead of picking just one or two here in my LJ.

Again, my HUGE thanks to my trusty LJ helpers, who came through yet again with their good ideas!! ::hugs::

I'm having a wedding shower for my sister next month. I'm asking everyone to bring a recipe for her, which we'll put into a wooden recipe box that I'm going to be painting and decorating.

I'd like to put a short phrase or quote or something on the top or front of the box, but I'm not sure what to write. I'm thinking in terms of something like 'Good food...good friends...good fun' or some such. In that sort of vein, anyway. Because the recipes will be from friends and it's all about food, so...

Does anyone have an idea for a phrase I can use? I'm up for any and all suggestions.

First, the explanation...

As some of you may have noticed, I've not been around and about LJ much in the last many months. I've also not been writing much in the last many months. Actually, I've not been writing at all. In fact, I don't think I've written/posted anything since I wrote my birthday mathom in mid-August.

I was out of the writing loop for so long that I was beginning to fear I would never be able to get back into it. Being away from the fics and fandom makes it hard to 'become one' with the frame of mind and 'voice' it takes to write the stories-at least for me.

Just lately, though, I've been really longing to write
*something*, but I had no idea *what* I should attempt, or *if* I'd be able to do it even if I tried. So while I was making dinner tonight, I finally decided that I'd post to LJ, asking if anyone had any story-starter ideas for me, to see if that would strike a chord to get me going.

Then, lo and behold, I went into LJ and discovered-to my great delight-that Janet was having a birthday!!! It was exactly what I needed for inspiration, and unbelievably the wheels that I thought were long rusted-over began turning. The following will hopefully help mark the birthday of a wonderful friend, writer, and editor, as well as the slightly less auspicious return of my writing to the fandom. I hope the wheels will keep on turning.

* * *

Title: Out the Front Door
Rating: G
Category: Mostly fluffy stuff, with a small bit of angst (like I could ever write a fic without *that*...) and a happy ending. Also consider this A/U, as I took liberties with imagining certain characters' backgrounds, experiences, and such.

Summary: Young Merry is swept off his feet by something he finds on his doorstep

Notes: This was written all in one evening, after a seven-month dry spell of non-writing, for shirebound's birthday. I hope your day was wonderful, my friend!

Secondary note: Just as fair warning, the person I would usually consult re: character names, backgrounds, ages, final editing etc. is shirebound...and since this was FOR her, it wasn't like I could consult her... :) So any glaring errors are my own and if you see anything I may have missed during my 3am self-edit, please feel free to leave a note here. :)

( CLICK for FIC! )

I've been looking around at digital cameras, wondering about getting a better one than I have. I found one that looks very intriguing, but there's one thing I'm not sure about. The camera has no 'viewfinder' to look through.

My current camera has a viewfinder along with the screen on the back, and I never take a picture using the screen. I rely solely on the viewfinder, mostly because it's what I'm used to because it's most like an 'old-style' camera, but somewhat because in bright sun it's really hard to see anything on the screen. I use the screen avidly, for viewing the pictures I've already taken, but I don't like the 'delay' that seems to happen between looking through the viewfinder and taking the picture, if it's a subject that's in motion.

I'm almost sold on this new camera, but I'm wondering if I'd miss having a viewfinder horribly. Just because I'm not used to using it, doesn't mean I can't *learn* to use it and like it. It's just not something I currently do, and I'm not sure if I'd freak out with only having a screen to take pictures with.

Maybe I'm the odd one, using a viewfinder to take pictures like an old camera, when I have a digital camera with a screen. I think a friend of mine told me, when I was choosing my current camera, that I should never get one without a viewfinder. And that thought nags at me. The one thing that would probably be a big help in actually using/relying on solely the screen is that my old screen is 1.25 inches across and this new camera's screen is 2.5 inches across. So that would make a big difference when using it to take pictures...I would assume.

Anyone have any opinions re: the use of a viewfinder VS a screen? I'm wondering if there are people who use just the screen, always, and don't give a fig about the viewfinder. My sister told me she takes all her pictures via the screen. "Why have it on the camera, otherwise?" she asked. Well...*I'm* happy to have it to review the pics I've taken. Only my current screen is extremely small and makes it very difficult to see the pictures well.

Anyone?

I'm watching 'Lingo' on the game show channel, for lack of anything else being on TV atm. This is the game where the players get one letter to start with and then have to guess what five-letter word it will help spell.

One girl just guessed 'snap', but when she spelled it out, she said "S-N-A-P-E". The buzzer sounded and she was told, "Sorry, that word isn't in our dictionary."

I bet it's in the Hogwarts Dictionary... :) :) :)