There is someone else out there!

From Richard... bless him. I would wonder if I was insane otherwise

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with more than 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude," with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

Enough Already!

It has been a leafy week here for me as I take the multiple versions of the decorative leaf for the Stammbam from the Auld Sodd.

Now, not only do I have to meld 6 different pictures together but it would be swell if I can show all the most important features of each individual. Oh, and do I mind splitting apart people who are in the SAME picture so that they can be moved to more appropriate places? Grrr

I have accomplished them all. But I swear I will freak if asked to do more. I am irritated at this point. Particularly as Fun Daddy is complaining about all the other things that I am NOT accomplishing.

I think leaf side 2 looks better over all. Not only for my improved photoshopping skills but also because most of the people in the picture do look like someone peed in their cornflakes that morning. (Christmas Eve, 1951 to be specific)

The first round of the second side of the leaf was met with complaint that it was too wide and my MIL was too far from the center. Can't I crunch people in together more?

Now I am hearing that I failed to show Uncle Carl's rank. When he was in the Army. During WWII. In the first half of the LAST CENTURY. Oh and when the engravers start their work they will probably be able to spread apart the people in the image right?

Because when you have melded 7 clips from 6 photos which include two brides, a soldier, a guy in sunglasses, two bedraggled children and two floating heads the main issue is to not cut a stripe off the soldiers sleeve from sixty years ago.

DONE!