GOODNESS!

You know...sometimes a change, no matter what kind, is JUST the thing you need to make your life a bit better. Even when you don't WANT a change, even when you resist it.

I did. I resisted. I did NOT want to change scrapbooking message boards. I was in a comfort zone. Women that I had known for years were there.
Then I got my feelings hurt and I sounded off about it. Got myself banned from that board. BUT! Before that happened, Mikki had told me about another board that she thought looked pretty cool. A board called Tally Scrappers.

I went and looked around for a couple of days. Looked cool. Looked friendly. Looked like somewhere I could be happy....BUT!
You know how you go to a new message board...you post your intro, and while everyone says "Welcome"...no one talks to you after that? You just sorta drift away, feeling a bit like an intruder. (Kind like in high school when the "group" that you'd LIKE to belong to says "hi" when you walk up to them, and then turns their back and talks about the party you are NOT invited to...yeah...I might still have an issue or two about that!)
THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENS AT TALLYSCRAPPERS!!!

From the get-go, the women of Tally have been warm and welcoming. They've let me know on no uncertain terms that I'm welcome to hang with them...that my work, whether I feel it's up to par with theirs or not, is worthy of comments and "Tally Points". They laugh with me...they cry with me...they pray for me.... A community doesn't get any better than that! This is a community that decides for themselves who the design team will be each quarter...because the owner, Christine thinks that the members should elect their leaders. Let me tell you, the three DTs that I've seen there have all been ROCKIN' scrappers that I've learned a lot from!

One of the women there, Robin (TQMNurse) made me a featured artist on her blog. I've won prizes. I've made new friends, and I even met an OLD friend again! Ok...so Leah's not old, but I've "known" her for years, met her in person once, and when I joined Tally, guess who sent me a private message, thinking that it was too coincidental that I was Charlee, married to William, that we'd been truckers...just like the people she met at a truckstop several years prior, and asking me if it was just possible that I was that same "Charlee". I was thrilled to hear from her!

Now...what I consider to be one of the greatest honors. Not long ago, Rachel (Tally HO) sent me a message and asked me to be the guest DT for April! I was FLOORED!! And I was incredibly EXCITED! I can recall squealing and calling for William to come read the invitation. He claimed to not be surprised, he loves what I do...then he asked if I needed a plain paper bag to breathe into...~laffin~ (Smart a$$! There are days when he's SO up for adoption!)

Now I ask you...can you think of greater honors than the ones I've been presented with by Robin and by Christine and Rachel? I can't...at least not in my scrappy world!

Thank you Ladies! Thank you Tally Scrappers! For giving me a new home on the net, for making me feel like I belong, for making me a happy scrapper and inspiring me to scrap more than I ever have in the past! :) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!