My attempt to do imitation-studio shots. . . among other things

Little Rhoda. . . Six months old.  How time flies.

If I re-did it, I would make this a bonnet instead of a hat.

This dress is so lovely in person.  It is fluffy and oh-so-pretty.  By far, it's my best one.

Okay, these others are obviously not studio-style, just random pictures.

I spent a morning putting these together, and it has been the best thing ever for scatterbrained me.  It only took nine months of thinking about it to make it happen.

Enlarged to show texture. 

Oh, this one's exciting:

We finally purchased a piano-- a Roland digital player piano.  It feels and sounds so much like the real thing.   We used to have a big organ, but it died about two weeks before our anniversary.  The missionaries came over and helped him dismantle the organ so we wouldn't have to pay dump fees, then he went and picked this up (we'd already spent some time to pick it out).  It is truly a treasure.

Mmmmm. . . Little Caesar's breadsticks.

Sword fighting with Daddy.

There's nothing like falling asleep to the dryer.

This little guy is sooooooo much fun.  Seriously.   He's funny, sweet, clever, and just a blast to be around.

I broke up with Facebook

I've inactivated my account on Facebook.  I've gone through withdrawals, and I even felt rather lonely one night when Captain was away, but I don't miss it. (I am glad I had it during his deployment, because it did help stave off loneliness.)

For months, the Network has been a heavy weight on my shoulders.  I deleted about 50 friends, but still I felt a weight. I tried to limit my time on it, but that didn't remove the weight. I've spent hours of my days not only perusing the stuff on FB (including branching articles or things other people have posted) and posting things myself.  And now that I've left it, I notice that I've developed a habit of always trying to come up with witty stories or ways to share stuff online-- something I no longer feel pressure to do.

Now that I don't have FB, I am free to get off the computer-- there's no longer the excuse to check things one last time.  I've gone through withdrawals, but this is my fourth day now, and, in the words of Catwoman, "I feel so much yummier."  Okay, maybe not yummier, but you get the idea.

There are things to miss, to be sure, but while I find myself missing many of my online friends, I also find myself more eager to connect-- truly connect-- with the friends I have around me in RL (real life).

Speaking of real life, here is a random picture of our family:

That stroller had a flat.  Luckily, Captain Fisher was pushing it.

I haven't decided whether or not to pop back on once in a while.  I probably will in order to refer people here, gather email addresses, and what not, but for now I'm really happy with my decision to leave it behind.

Here are a few of my reasons I decided to leave:

1. I had too many friends, and yet I couldn't bring myself to delete some of them. (Stupid, I know.)
2. FB encouraged my passive-aggressive behavior (or so I was recently told).
3. I got really, really tired of always hearing about FB's privacy issues/changes/violations in the news.  I don't want to worry about it anymore.
4. I have lots and lots of other things to do, like vision and occupational therapy with my oldest, not to mention homeschooling stuff, singing nursery rhymes, or just plain old playing with my kids.
5. I really wanted more time to really connect with people.
6. And probably most importantly, I've been feeling prompted by the Spirit to give it up for now.

Here are some things I will miss (because, let's be honest, there are a lot of good things about FB):

1.  Keeping up with cousins, brothers, and distant friends.
2. Showing cool things to my siblings.
3. . . . I'm really trying to think here.  Oh.  Having an easy way within my immediate community to share things.  For example, "I'm so sick but I'm out of chicken noodle soup.  Help!!"  Or, "I have a bassinet to get rid of.  Any takers?"  This is a big reason that is almost, almost enough to nudge me back. 
4. FB encourages my inner narcissist.  Oh wait, that's a bad thing. Nevermind.

So there you have it.  What do you think?

PS.  I've had a friend ask if I left because I got in a fight with someone.  The answer is that I did not.  However, I was upset when I left.  The momentum for me to walk away has been building up, and one little thing irked me enough to walk away.