Anyone who has ever been to my home knows that I love pictures. I have picture walls. Most of the subjects are my two lovely daughters who, when they were young, were quite adorable. They are very close in age and I took great pleasure in dressing them alike which caused people to constantly ask if they were twins. During their baby, toddler and early elementary school years, I would take them to have their photograph taken every month. Back then, they had such cute girly-girl outfits and that was one way to show off those adorable garments.

Of course, as the years have passed, they have grown up and don’t look anything like each other nor do they dress alike. One is very conservative and the other is a bit trendy. Then of course, there are the teenage facial blemishes and the bad hair days that accompany the process of growing up which no one wants to see in a photograph.

I was recently asked if I could provide some pictures of the girls when they were little for a family member. Since this person lost all of the photographs they had in a fire, it would be quite a job for me to gather together all of the pictures I had and get copies made. I decided it would be just as easy to scan in all the pictures on my computer and then place them on a USB drive and give them the drive. That way, they would have all the pictures and there would not be any time constraint on them to file them away. They could print off what they wanted easily by taking the flash drive to the local photo shop and have them print it off.

This turned out to be a big hit. They loved the flash drive idea. It was so convenient for them and they got to print off as many as they wanted of what they wanted. In fact, it was such a nice gesture, they asked me for permission to reproduce that flash drive to give away as Christmas presents to other family members. The idea caught hold and other family members decided to do the same thing and passed out custom flash drives with family photos on it. I now have a family photo file on my computer that has tons of pictures of my nephews. Perhaps someday my sister will wise up and produce a niece or two so that the balance between male and female can be reestablished.

I’ve set my screen saver on my computer to slide show all the family photos. I’m hoping to get one of those electronic picture frames that you load pictures on and have that resting on my entry-way table.

As for those two adorable little girls, they’re still picture perfect in my eyes. I just wish they hadn’t grown up so quickly. Thankfully, I have all those pictures on my walls to remind me of what the early days were like and I look forward to completely filling all the empty spots with my granddaughters.

My husband and two older boys went out visiting some folks we know this morning and then made a little visit to the market.  The Markets at Shrewsbury have some great little shops.  I actually sell some items at the Pretty Pickins stand so of course I’m a little partial to that particular spot.

My husband, on the other hand, really likes the Stoltzfus Bakery.  They have really yummy pies, cookies, and just about anything else you can think of.  My husband (okay, me too - but don’t tell anyone!) really likes the Strawberry Cheesecake!  It’s nice because you can go there and buy a full, half or even a quarter cheesecake.  That makes it a little more reasonable on the diet you know!

Today when “the boys” went to the bakery the gentleman who owns it gave them some extra little goodies to bring home.  We thought at first that it was some slices of peach pie.  After trying it though, I’m thinking maybe it’s made with apricots.  I’ve never heard of apricot pie though.  The “peaches” were just too dark for peaches and the taste and texture just wasn’t right for peach.  The only thing I could come up with apricot.  Now don’t get me wrong, just because I don’t know what it was, that certainly doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy it.   It was very yummy!  Those people know how to make their pies!

Trying that pie makes me think about how often we make assumptions based on the first glance at something.  First glance said that pie was peach so that’s what my taste buds expected.  First glance at an article of clothing is often a deciding factor on whether we’re going to give it a chance for trying it on or just going to keep going.  Sometimes the first glance at a website is the determining factor for whether we’ll surf through the various pages the site has to offer.  We determine so much based on the first little glance we give it.

There is a website I know of that may not seem like much on the first glance but it has a lot of really neat stuff to check out.  It’s The Home Automation Store.  The site isn’t very fancy but the X10 products that they offer will make your home appear very fancy.  With their various gadgets like wireless remotes to control your homes lights and X10 Switches that allow you dim lights that don’t normally dim, these gadgets are great for moving your home decor up a notch! This site might not be real fancy, but the products it provides for your home make you look fancy!

I’m going to have to head to the market soon myself.  While I’m there, I’m going to try to find out what kind of pie that was.  It wasn’t what it seemed and now I need to find out what it was for real!  I guess it never hurts to delve into things just a little deeper and see what they’re really all about.