Movie Making Advice

Does anyone know of a program for PCs (preferably free) where I can add video clips together to make a short "movie"? I tried Windows Movie Maker, which I've used in the past for putting pictures into a video, but it doesn't seem to allow putting video clips together. I try to add the video clip, and it gets added like it's just a picture, therefore it won't play. Maybe I'm doing it wrong? I have a bunch of clips from Indonesia that I'd like to put together. Any advice is welcomed!

Frugal Blog

My friend from Biola has this great blog about being frugal. It's called Tips for Being Frugal When Life is Busy. She posts a lot of good deals and freebies. I just bought McAfee 2009 for $40 and will send off for my $40 rebate today! If you're slow in the math area, that means I got it for free! ; ) I thought I'd pass along her good finds for other frugal friends like myself.

Booties and Gardens

Things are going well in our new area over all. I had a fun time at a new friend's baby shower on Friday night and got to meet many nice women. I have joined a women's bible study at a calvary chapel and am enjoying the women in that group, many of whom were at the shower. I made these really cute Ugg-like booties for the shower. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of the ones that I did before I gave them away, but here is the picture from the pattern to give you an idea.

Ryan went to a men's conference at the church and enjoyed the speakers there very much. He came home encouraged and refreshed. It's been interesting the last few weeks as I have been revisiting the idea of whether or not the "sign gifts", such as speaking in tongues, are for today. I didn't realize that the church we have been attending does believe so. Even though I've studied this many times in the past, I want to always be open to learning if I've had the wrong view, or to confirm whether I still hold to the same belief or not. I'm still researching and praying at this point. Either way, it's not an issue that would keep us from fellowshipping there as long as people have the right hearts and are committed to loving and following Jesus. This church does seem to follow the biblical model and "rules" for tongues and interpretation. The question is more whether or not they are for today.I'm looking forward to starting a garden soon. Now that we have a yard, we're excited to grow flowers and organic veggies. We've got a lot to learn about gardening. I didn't think I'd like it, but last week on a sunny day, I was really enjoying planting the few pansies and primroses that I'd bought. This coming Saturday there are some free classes on starting a vegetable garden at the community college where I work. I've heard that more and more people are doing this with our current economy. I got seed packets 40% off at Fred Meyers yesterday.

I have other random thoughts to share, but for now I should probably do some homework.

Then vs. Than

Classic "Chingrish"

Non-native English speakers aren't the only ones who botch the English language. I hear English misused so often. I know that I, as an English teacher, make many mistakes too. There are some things that I come across more than others and have finally come to a head where I must blog about them.

There is a lot that I think of writing about these days, things that are much more important than (take note of how I used that word) what this post is about, but I seem to put them off when I think of the time that it will take to really cover the topic. I'll still try to get to those sometime.

One quick grammar error that I see a lot of people doing--and I'm sure that I do at times--is mixing up 'than' and 'then'. They have different uses.

Than is used when comparing things such as in my example above. Comparing would be things such as more important than ______, less painful than _______, stickier than ______, etc. Another example would be, "I'd rather have dark chocolate than milk chocolate."

Then is used in regards to time: I need to get some groceries, then I will go to the post office.

It is also used in "if...then" statements: If you study hard in high school, then you can get into a good college.

In addition: She wanted $100 and then interest too.

As a consequence: If you want to play with your friends, then you need to clean your room first.

There a are couple of other rules, but the biggest reminder that I think of is if I am comparing things, then I'll use 'than'. If not, then it's probably 'then'.

Adapted from http://hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__Then_vs_Than

The End of the 20's

On Jan.15th, I turned 29. Strangely, this year wasn't as impacting as turning 28. Ryan had school all day on my birthday, and I had to work. Ryan brought me home a red rose and a slice of German chocolate cake for my birthday evening. The next day, we headed to the Wallingford and Ballard parts of Seattle to do a little exploring. We went to this fun, cheap sushi place in the University district called Musashi's.



Afterwards, we went to the Ballard Locks to watch some boats go through. I'd like to go back during Salmon season to watch the salmon go up the ladders.


We then drove through Discovery Park and decided not to go for a walk since we were so cold from being out at the Locks. It was a nice Friday out together. Today, Saturday, Ryan is doing homework while I've been cleaning and unpacking. We took a little break together and got a few flowers to plant from a nursery. Our house needs some color on the outside.

We visited a church a few times that we like, but we will probably visit another tomorrow. We're praying for where God would like us to be. We're getting more settled in. I just have some decorating yet to do.

I guess that's all for now...short and to the point. : ) I appreciate some of you who are much more eloquent bloggers.

We Moved!!

Boy has it been awhile since I last posted!! I've been procrastinating blogging. : P We moved to Lynnwood, WA on Jan. 2. We are thankful to be able to have a house to rent to try to limit noise through walls from neighbors in other rental situations. We were looking in the Lynnwood, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace area for a place since those would be sort of the mid-point between my job in Lake Stevens (east of Everett) and Ryan going to Seattle. We had a really hard time deciding on where to live when we had a few options. There were pros and cons of each place from location, to costs, to size, etc. I always seem to struggle with new commitments and have been re-questioning whether or not we heard God correctly about this house. It's hard for me because the other, smaller house, we now realize is in a much nicer neighborhood (you can't always tell that on the first visit). It's quieter there and you have ocean views in a couple minutes walk. The house we chose is larger, but we've learned it isn't the best location as we saw painted over graffiti on our fence, some trash on the ground, and I don't like how the cars waiting at the four-way stop out front can see me sitting in our living room.

We believe that God lead us here since it is a little larger than the other house, and we want a place where we can invite people over and practice more hospitality than we have in the past. We are looking forward to doing this once I finish unpacking a few more boxes! It's a simple place that needs a little fixing up, and it's just 1100 square feet, but that's plenty for us and enough for a few guests in the living room. : ) Come visit!

We have visited a Calvary Chapel church that we liked. We really like that they have marriage groups on Friday nights. It seems that many churches have children's, women's, divorced, etc. ministries, but we 'forget' the marriages. We are planning to get more involved and already met another young couple that has invited us over for dinner. We are thankful for that since we have been praying for some Christian friends our age for here.

My birthday is on Thursday, but I'll be working that day. I'm desperately looking forward to some sun in the forecast for this weekend as Ryan and I take a day to celebrate my 29th and explore some more of the surrounding areas. Maybe I'll even take some pictures. : P I haven't taken any in awhile. I've been really craving to be somewhere warm and sunny. I see that it's in the low 80's right now where I used to live in CA. That's sounds wonderful to be able to wear a t-shirt and flip flops and feel warm sun on my skin!! Oh well, I have many blessings and try to remember those at times like this!

That's probably enough writing for now since I don't know if anyone is reading this far. : P I'll try to post a little more often, but no promises. : )