Meet the Nelsons!

Here's the whole lot of us! This was taken by Chris Becerra of Becerra Photography. You can see the rest of the shots there. We are just behind my father-in-law. My son is in the blue shirt, sitting on my knee, my daughter behind me to the right, and my DH is holding my squirmy 3yo.

Smiles to all!

So I should be working but....

I'm overwhelmed and tired. I looked at the calendar, and in the 23 days of December we have had so far, I've been home in the evenings with nothing to do a total of 3 days. Yep, just three. The days have been packed with work and cleaning and cooking and planning and errand running and the gestalt of my daily life. So that now, when I finally have a bit of a free day (yes, we have somewhere to be tonight---we are having a Nelson Family Caroling night to cap off the 50th Event) I don't know where to start, and more importantly, I DON'T WANT TO! I just want to have a day to sit and breath and delete the 800 or so emails I've been ignoring for the past 23 days. I'm not ready for Christmas to be here. I need more time. This is why I don't even try to send out Christmas cards or to make any kind of meaningful Christmas gifts. There just isn't time.

On the flip side--we spent the day at OMSI yesterday seeing the huge Star Wars exhibit and it was SO FREEAKING COOL! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I'm not even a Star Wars Geek by any stretch of the imagination. This was a two-level, ginormous exhibit with actual costumes and props and models used in the movies, as well as interactive, hand-on science displays to explain and allow the kids to play with the science prinicples behind some of the movie's technology (like air scooters and maglev hover cars, etc) and an interactive movie showing what's being done with robotics today and big cut outs for pictures and a lot more. Even my three-year-old had a good time! (Just for further information, we took Joel's brother and family who were visiting from Utah for the Event). We also saw the new Planetarium show "Black Holes" If anyone reading this blog can get to the OMSI Star Wars event before it leaves in January, GO NOW!

Well, back to work. I have to make some treats for my girls at church tomorrow, as well as write each of them a Christmas card, make some bracelets for gifts, and get things cleaned up some more so we can go caroling. I also am singing for tomorrow's service, so I need to make sure I'm ready for that.

Take Care all....and may your Christmas, in your galaxy far, far away, be a Merry one!

I know, I know....

I have so many blog posts running around in my head! However, we are smack dab in the whirlwind of Joel's parents 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. I have to word it like that, because it's turning into a week long event. ALL of Joel's NINE siblings are in town, with their kids. We had a family evening last night with about 50 people. That's just the immediate family folks.

It's busy busy busy busy busy....!

Check out my Brother!

http://enchantment.bluesqstudios.com/jobs/eom/October%202006.htm


Props to him! WOOT WOOT!

Just a quickie....

Just wanted to say that I was still here! The craft bazaar went well, and I had a good time. I didn't sell as many bracelets as I expected to, but it was still good, and I met my sales goal. Plus I was able to barter for some fun stuff for me and some gifties for the boys. We've pretty much decided on bunk beds for the boys for Cmas. Not your most exciting gift, but when it'll free up lots of space for play and role-play, and make it easier to keep your room clean, it's a good thing. Plus all H really wants for Cmas is some gamecube games. He's pretty easy to please.

Today I was planning to attack the apples that are still waiting to be made into applesauce. I still may, but for the morning, I am reveling in the quiet. C slept in, so I had NO RESPONSIBILITIES for about an hour. That was very very very very nice! It's a good mental health break for me. I haven't decided if I will laze about all day or go run errands or attack the apples after all. All I know is that it's good to relax, good to not feel like I am neglecting something good for the something I have to take care of right then. I am reveling in the break.

Relaxation, it's a good thing. And that's the other side!

The Busy Season

I am smack-dab in the middle of my busy season. Everything seems to happen about this time of the year. I am rehearsing for the big Christmas concert our church puts on for the community (I also am the assistant director and usually I have a solo somewhere in the production), we have the usual family demands on our time, and I am also participating in a couple of Christmas Craft Bazaars in hopes of raising a little extra holiday cash. Last year, I finished my busy season and went "Whew! I survived!" but it was obvious that I needed to let something go for next year--I lucked out and didn't have to teach music at the elementary school this year, since they hired a music teacher and no longer needed the squadron of "Music Moms." Then my son turned eight and started the Scouting program at church.

This I was not ready for. Now I have taekwondo on Mondays, preschool for C on Tuesdays and Thursdays (it's a county preschool to help him catch up w/his speech; he rides the bus home and arrives about 4:30 in the afternoon), church youth group on Wednesdays, Scouts on Thursdays (also at 4:30---that's interesting!) TKD on Fridays and Saturday mornings (when we remember to go). Everything happens in the afternoons. It's chaotic and requires a lot of juggling. At the same time, we are working on finishing homework, household chores (I believe that children need to learn the value of taking care of our home together), and instrument practice.

Here's what we did last Saturday:

8:45--leave for TKD school to prepare for the Veteran's Day parade (Albany has the largest in the nation...)
9:00--get J to school so she can go through their forms for the parade
9:30--get J to the TKD parade slot; get H to the Cub Scout parade float
10:00--realize that I'm parked in a parade float slot and need to move my car to the end of the parade, about two miles away.
10:15--get a decent parking spot, and find a corner to see the parade in. Of course, it's on the edges of a puddle.
10:30--still waiting for the parade to start---it's not long now! But it's raining hard--really hard. Hopefully the kids plastic ponchos are doing their job. I am now standing in a puddle. Good thing I brought my umbrella! Everything on me is pretty dry and warm. The more it rains, the more I tell myself, "After what our Veteran's went through so I could have my freedoms, the least I can do is stand in a puddle!" The parade is really great, and I am filled with emotion and gratitude.
12:00--saw both kids, and walked the six blocks or so to the end of the parade route to catch H (who was ahead of J) and wait for J to finish. Both kids are cold, tired, and wet. We realize that most of the cars that brought the TKD kids to the beginning of the route are still there, two miles away. I pick up a couple of extra kids, and drive to a nearby park to meet Joel w/C so that he can go work "guest services" at the OSU basketball games that day. Joel is late, traffic is weird because many streets are closed off, pedestrians are everywhere, and police are directing traffic. It's a bit stressful.
1:00pm--head back to the TKD school for pizza
1:45--go to the grocery store
2:15--back home. We are all exhausted. All but H head for short naps. We have to be in Corvallis for a nephew's baptism at 4pm.
3:30--everyone gets awakened and changed into church clothes.
4:08--we arrive in Corvallis, things have started, but we haven't missed the good parts. C thinks it's playtime and wants to run all around the church.
5:00--head to Aunt Kathy's for light supper and cousin playtime.
5:45--leave to go to Office Max to get labels for the newly planned 50th anniversary celebration invitation stuffing and mailing party planned for Sunday.
6:00--head back to Albany to pick up pizza for the missionaries. I signed up to feed the missionaries not realizing that no one would be home. Good thing they like pizza!
6:25--pick up pizza. Had to take a detour because the highway home was closed by the cops. Flashing lights and flares are everywhere. I still don't know what happened.
6:35--drop off pizza
6:45--go home and collapse. After about 30 minutes, I realize that nothing has been picked up for a couple of days. I change my clothes and start picking up, doing the dishes, etc., and wait for Aunt Kathy to call to tell me that it's time to meet her halfway to get H and J. I also start chicken and broth/stock for the crockpot potluck during the envelope/invitation stuffing for tomorrow.
8:00--Uncle Mike drops off the kids on his way back home to Vancouver. I put them to work picking up their piles I've made during my picking up.
9:40--Joel is home from working the games. He's been on his feet for the past 8 hours, and he's beat. The kids head for bed. Joel and I have a little couple time and watch the CSI we taped last week.
11:00--Joel heads to bed and to move H to his room. I stay up to finish dishes and stuff so we don't have to wake up Sunday morning to a huge mess.
11:30--I head to bed.

This is the busy season. This week I am pulling out all the stops to get a sizable amount of products to sell at the School Yule Craft Bazaar at the elementary school. Then it's Thanksgiving. Then another, much larger, county craft bazaar. That weekend is also J's 12th birthday. Then it's the church Christmas Concert. Then our anniversary and J's Cmas band concert. Then a Cmas party for the scouts. I still have church youth group each week as well. Then school gets out. Then we have the 50th Anniversary party for Joel's parents. This party will be HUGE. Then Christmas. Funny how you look forward to Christmas day because it's the first real break you get for months! We are thinking of going away and disappearing for about a week to catch our breath.


It's the busy season. And it's not going anywhere. I just have to press on and go through it. And get to the other side.

It's Raining, It's pouring

It's a wet, wet day.

I realize that rain in Oregon, especially in the Willamette River Valley, isn't a big surprise. If anything, it's more surprising to find out that it really doesn't rain all the time. But this is what we soggy Oregonians call "real rain." Where you are gently pummeled with raindrops and soaked within seconds. Where it literally rains non-stop for more than twenty four hours. The ground cannot keep up with the deluge and gives up. Many of the drains on the intersections and roads also cannot keep up with the run-off, and they quit trying to pull it away, leaving mysterious looking bodies of water where there was none just a few hours before. Puddles become ponds, and ponds become lakes. People who normally bike to work decide that staying dry is more important than making a statement and crawl into the cars that they normally leave behind. Elementary kids pull on rubber boots instead of their normal shoes. By the end of the day, they've waded through puddles so deep that their boots collect as much water as they deflect, deafeating their purpose. College kids decide that their usual cargo shorts are fine because they'll dry faster, and head out into the constant sheet of water. Umbrellas are everywhere; coats are optional. When it rains this much, it gets very warm anyway, so no one is cold; we are just all wet.

Frogs come out when it's this wet and warm. Their chorus is an added complement to the constant tumbling sound of the rain. I always feel bad for the bugs and other fauna that come out to play in the warm rain because I know that the cold weather isn't too far off. In fact, we've already had our first frost. About ten days or so, we had temperatures that dipped into the 30's during the night. I had to scrape the windshield more than once. (How I long for the day when I can park the car in the garage.....especially when it's this wet outside...but that's another story). Bright and sunny and cold! That was the precursor to all of this wet but warm weather. Just as this warm, thick, wet rain is the precursor to the winter rains. Winter rains are cold, needle sharp and relentless. Worse than these warm rains, even if there is less water being dumped on our heads. No one go anywhere if they can help it. Often there is black ice on the roads. It's a dangerous time.

For now, I'll take the puddles and ponds. And the frogs.

And that's the other side.

BOO!

Hope all of you enjoy a Happy and safe Halloween today.

On a totally unrelated and somewhat funny note: My brother celebrated his 34th birthday yesterday, and I am officially 36 and a 1/2. We are exactly two and a half years apart to the day. For a long time, we'd get half-birthday presents on each other's birthday. Until the rest of the sibs came along and that wasn't really practical anymore. It was still a lot of fun, and makes each of our birthdays a little more special to us---like we are sharing a private joke or something like that.

Here's the funny part: Last year, when I designed my planners, I ended the month of October on the 30th. Left off Halloween completely. In my mind, my brother's birthday was the most important holiday in October. I must have made about 40 planners last year and never caught the mistake. AND NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT IT EITHER. I noticed it when I redid the planner master file for this year's planners. Now this may not be funny to you, but it made me laugh!

Happy Halloween! The pumpkin above was designed by H. and executed by Mom. This variety was grown by my in-laws, and is called "Big Mac." Easiest carving pumpkin I have EVER done. Start to finish, it took about 15 minutes. I totally saved seeds to grow our own next year. Most of the time I HATE pumpkin carving. This year it was quite pleasant. Here's J's:

Both pumpkins will be greeting any trick or treaters brave and bold enough to venture down to the end of our dark street where we have mostly retired couples who ignore Halloween. (Although our lovely widowed neighbor, Neighbor Jane, did get some special Halloween gifties specifically for our kids on our first Halloween in this house, since we were the only children on our street. Of course, that was the year Halloween fell on a Sunday, and we didn't go trick or treating. She was all ready for us, and we didn't show up. I felt a little bad about that, but also thought it was cool that she went to that much trouble for my kids. It worked itself out, and good feelings were shared by all)

Happy Halloween!

Retraining myself

So when I was younger and living at home, I did a lot of house work. Felt like I did all the housework, but I know that can't possibly be right. It's just my child-size memory. So when I lived away from home, I did as little as possible. Lived in cafeteria dorms, cleaned only when necessary--and often had roommates who would clean before I got there. When I got married, we were so busy with school and jobs and then children and school and jobs that the household tasks got put off for later. And then that became a habit.

Now I am basically a SAHM. My website is slow to nothing, so I don't have to worry about inventory or shipping very often. I teach classes at Stampin Cat once or twice a month, so while I do have to work creating and prepping the class, it's not nearly the workload graduate school while working while dealing with an infant is. Yet I still put everything off, and then try to do as much as I can in a mad rush before DH gets home.

I've been getting the Fly Lady emails for years now, and usually I just delete most of them 'cause I'm not really following her "zones" or "missions", just trying to come up with a daily routine I can stick to. One thing I have had success with is her use of a timer, with the mantra, "I can do anything for 15 minutes!" She feels like we can make ourselves do even the most distasteful tasks for 15 minutes and then we are at least that much more ahead. My average time unloading the dishwasher: 6 minutes. Loading it? Another 6 or so. Yet I can leave the sink full of dishes ALL DAY LONG!

So for now into the holidays, I am retraining myself. I've gotten pretty good at emptying the sink and running the dishwasher before I go to bed at night, and doing a couple of loads of laundry each day--leaving the washing machine empty and ready for a new load in the morning. And our bathrooms are being cleaned weekly. The kitchen floor is swept and swiffered regularly as well. And I do like my purple FlyLady feather duster and I use it weekly as well. The thing is, I'm still putting these chores off until the last minute. With the exception of the laundry, I usually do these things late at night right before I go to bed, and I fret all day about needing to get them done. My goal: do them first. Do the dishes right after we are done eating, if I can. Sweep and Dust and Vacuum in the mornings. Give myself play time w/o the guilt. Retraining those habits of putting it off until later.

Another thing I like about Flylady? Her belief that "you are never behind." You just keep going. Start right where you are, and don't beat yourself up over what you messed up on. So even if I am not successful at this right away, it doesn't matter if I keep trying and making the effort. At least things will be neater around here--improving my peace of mind.

And that's the other side.

Look what I've been up to!

I am doing two different craft bazaars this holiday season. And while I did pretty well selling cards and planners last year, this year, I wanted to expand my offerings a bit. So I decided to make a bunch of bracelets. I started doing this about a year ago, and have been learning so much about it! What kind of beads are best, where to buy good deals, and the pain of inferior crimp beads and crimping tools. I've also found this to be very therapeutic. And I can do it sitting on the couch--something I've yet to be successful at while scrapbooking! I'll be selling these for $15 each. If you see something you want, and don't live near enough to make it to the craft bazaar, let me know and we can work something out! There are a variety of materials--crystal beads from Austria, Swarovski crystals, sterling beads, pewter beads, glass beads, and the like. It's all mixed together. Some also have semi-precious stones like rose quartz, alexandrite, and tiger eye.

Enjoy the sparkles! I know I am!

YAY! An updated blog!

I know I've been away for awhile. It's been pretty hectic. First my Grandma died. Then we had family alight in our little spot of Oregon. Then we had the funeral. Then I found out it was my cousin's birthday the day after the funeral, and since he was staying with us, and wasn't heading home right away (he lives in Seattle) we just had to celebrate his birthday. Then it was Henry's birthday. Then he got baptized (in our church, children are baptized when they are eight years old, because at that point they should know right from wrong and can take responsibility for themselves). Then we had a surprise party for him. (we told him we weren't having a birthday party because Dad made a mistake with the budget. He totally bought the story, and then proceeded to tell EVERYONE that he wasn't having a birthday party because Dad "messed up our money." When he told the new principal {in my presence} I just about died of embarrassment. That'll teach me to tell lies!) And before I knew it, a month had flown by. I was in somewhat of a "high stress" mode, where anything NOT crucial to surviving the day and accomplishing the most basic and important of tasks didn't get done. My life ran me over, so to speak.

On top of all the business, I realized that I lived with or near my Grandmother for as long as I lived at home with my parents. I really miss her. I truly believe she's gone to a better place, and I don't really have any regrets about how I spent my time with her. She knew that I loved and cherished her. I got to serve her until the end of her life. I just wish we could hang out again, that she could be one of my grown up friends and we could talk and be as equals together. It's a good thing that I believe in the next life, because I fully plan on taking advantage of that. So along w/the chores of my life, I had to give myself time to really grieve for my grandmother--to do the grieving I didn't have time to do during the funeral preparations and the service.

I also spent some time watching the Terri Irwin/Ray Martin interview. (Google it if you want to see it--it's about an hour though, so be warned). I watched it about 3 times. I was struck by a couple of things she said. The first, when questioned about their "love at first site" between her and Steve, she agreed that it was corny, but that it was absolutely true. She also said that she had a fairy tale adventure life. And then she said the statement that will stay with me forever, "I knew it while I lived it." She elaborated that she wasn't just looking at the past through rose-colored glasses, but that she truly loved every day of her life with her Croc Hunter husband and her family, and that she understood the magic of it all as it happened around her. The other thing she said that will stay with me was "you have to be thankful for what you can." She told about how her family wasn't with Steve when he died because there wasn't room for both the film crew and the family on the boat and how grateful she was that the children didn't have to watch their father die. She also talked about how Steve always thought he'd die young--either in a car accident or falling out of a tree or something like that, and how she wished that he would have been around for ten more years--for the children's sake. And then she said how grateful she was that it wasn't ten less years. Be thankful for the things you can be thankful for. Recognize the magic while you live it. What a great lesson.

How many times have you been in the moment and missed the magic? I think that's why I blog and I scrapbook. I want to remeber the small magical fairy tale adventures you find in every day. And when I'm having a day covered in the less magical parental chores of diaper changing and cleaning up vomit, I tell myself how quickly this time with them will go. How quickly they will grow up. My daughter will be twelve in about six weeks. Joel and I realized that her time at home with us is growing shorter every day. Most of her time with us as a child is already spent. My baby is really more of a little boy--and we probably won't have another one. Usually by now in our family cycle we are "cooking" the next one. Not so this time.

It's time for the next phase in our family life. When the kids are a little older, a little more self-sufficient. Tall enough for the fun rides at Disneyland. Time to create our own fairy-tale adventure.

I'm ready to know it while I live it.

And that's the other side.

Draggin'

We've had a bit of a seasonal weather change here in the great Pacific Northwest (rainy and gray in the morning--well more just wet and drizzly than rainy--and warm and sunny in the afternoon, typical of fall weather here) and it has my butt draggin' on the ground. Seriously. I just want to curl up in my bed and nap all day long. Now if this wasn't the week of my Grandma's funeral, and if I wasn't the only family member who lives in this area, this wouldn't be so much of a problem. I'd just stay in my sweats and my favorite ratty sweater (which would be the first thing to go if I ever got on "What Not to Wear." Unless they keep it and make it the supreme example of What Not to EVER Wear, but I digress--and I love it anyway--!) and I'd go w/the flow. Let myself adjust to the change of seasons gradually. Nap a little, play w/youngest DS a bunch, just go with the draggin' and not beat myself up about it.

Except the funeral is Saturday, and my mother is coming to town and I want things to be nice when she is here. Better than our every day nice. So I can't go w/the flow.

I read a lot of FlyLady emails. I'm on the daily email list, even though I really only follow about half of what she says 'cause that's all I feel like I can handle right now. I'm really taking to heart her "you can do anything for fifteen minutes" mantra. I am forcing myself to clean and scrub all of the little messy corners of my life. You know, the ones your Swiffer leaves behind and most of the time you don't really care. I have given myself quite a list of things to do before Thursday evening.

So what am I doing here then? I'm on my fifteen minute break. And I feel like talking a bit. That's one of the things I've realized. When someone close to you dies, you suddenly feel the need to tell all the stories you can about them. To make them real to people who never knew them. Like the time I was living in my Grandma's basement and we got a LOT of nasty spiders moving in with me into my basement sanctuary. They REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY freaked me out, and would often startle me into a blood curdling scream. My Grandma figured out what this scream meant rather quickly, and would shuffle her way to the basement stairs and make her arthritically painful way down the stairs to kill the spider for me. Because I was frozen with fear. Literally. This was just one of the small ways my Grandma loved and served me. I paid her back by vacuuming the living room carpet in perfect vacuum cleaner lines and by walking around the perimeter of the room for the rest of the week so's not to disturb the aforementioned perfect vacuum cleaner lines. I felt it was the least I could do to repay her for her awesome spider killing abilities and for not deriding me for my spider phobia. We were good for each other.

Well, my time's up. Now on to another housecleaning job before I take C to preschool.

Time Passages

My Grandma passed away this morning.

First of all, don't be sad. This is a good thing. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll know she had advanced dementia. She's been going for a long time. I'm fine.

In fact, I'd almost say I'm better than fine. We got the word on Saturday that she was beginning her journey home. I was able to spend about three hours with her. I called people important to her to come and say "good-bye." I held her hand. I called my Dad (her son) and held the phone to his ear so he could also say "good-bye." She'd called me "Sweetie" several times before that, and a bit after I hung up the phone, she grabbed my hand, pulled me close and said "I love you." I don't know if she was talking to me or my Dad or both of us, but it was still nice to hear. That was pretty much the last thing she said before she slipped into the space you go just before you die. I sang hymns to her for about an hour and a half. I also went back Sunday night to hold her hand and sing to her some more. I was there yesterday as well. It really felt like yesterday that her body was holding on to her spirit, and her spirit was nearly gone. Everytime she'd stop breathing I would tell her to "go home."

All in all, this has been a really choice experience. Although I don't blog about it here, I am a deeply religious person. This has been a very spiritual experience for me. I have loved this opportunity to serve my Grandma on this level. She has served me nearly all my life--until she couldn't physically and mentally serve me any longer. Many of the things I count as blessings in my life today are because of her. I firmly believe there is a level of love and charity you don't get to learn until you are in a position like this. I have truly enjoyed it.

I'm sure I'll have more to say later. This will probably consume me for a little bit. Thanks for understanding.

Will you Still Love Me...When I'm 64?

It has occurred to me over and over recently that one day I will be old.

Why this hasn't occurred to me before, I don't know. I mean, I knew I would "grow up" and stuff, but I hadn't realized the actual realities of growing old. It used to be that I would read that you didn't need to worry about mammograms until you are over 35. "No Problem!" I thought, "Doesn't apply to me!" Well now it does.

Gray hairs? Other people had them, not me. Well, since I chose to stop coloring my hair when I became pregnant with my third child more so that I could remember what my natural hair color was than from a fear of birth defects, I have discovered that I too, have gray hairs. Or in my case, silver white platinum hairs that are curly where the rest of my hair is straight. I've also found out that you can have silver eyebrow hairs as well.

I used to see little old ladies doing their shopping (and really, they probably weren't THAT old, most likely in their late 50's) and think to myself "What a sweet looking grandma!" I now realize that sooner than I am ready for, I will BE that sweet looking grandma! Because I don't see my parents regularly, it surprises me to see the changes in them as well. I think of the Bonnie Raitt song "Nick of Time" where it talks about the child/parent relationship and seeing those physical changes as we grow up and it suddenly makes a lot of sense to me. I am going to be old someday, and that day is a lot closer than it used to be.

I saw a Crankshaft comic strip this summer that sums up my feelings well (and I wish I had a copy of it!): Crankshaft was talking with his daughter at the high school graduation party for his grandson. His daughter was talking about how she never thought that day would come. Crankshaft responded that he knew that his children and grandchildren would grow up, he just didn't think it would happen so quickly. I knew that I would grow up and be older; I just didn't realized how quickly it would come.

So what's the lesson here? For me, it's to start taking care of myself physically NOW so that I can enjoy my life when I'm old. Eat healthy, get enough sleep, drink enough water, exercise, blah, blah, blah and yadda yadda yadda. All of those platitudes make a lot more sense now that I'm on the road to old.

And that's the other side

*sigh*

Maybe I'll have more time to blog when school starts on Tuesday.....

A sort of Catch-Up Post and a Clearance Sale

I've been busy! I've been cleaning/rearranging my house, dealing with back to school stuff, helping my daughter get her red belt in Tae Kwon Do, driving for family outings and mini-reunions, hanging out with Karen Burniston, and so on.

I'll write a more detailed post later, but I wanted to say that I've decided to revitalize my online store. Lots of stuff on clearance, and lots more coming. Check out the link on the right to The Cardstock Queen!

Thanks!

Some Sneak Peeks...

So these are the sketches I created for my Scrap 1o1 Beginning Scrapbooking class for Stampin' Cat last month. I am teaching that class again, as well as a Scrap 201 Intermediate Scrapbooking class in September. I wanted to use the same sketches again...sort of to ease the beginners into a more advanced style of scrapbooking. This time though, to make it (still) interesting, I am using different patterened paper. This was kind of a challenge for me--to use the same sketch but in a different way. I really love how my Scrap 201 layout turned out--really a bit different for me, and growth in the way I want to go. And after fussing w/my pictures for a bit (I had pics I wanted to use, but couldn't for different reasons) I am pleased with my next Scrap 101 layout as well. I'm also teaching my Inspiration Bookmark class as well as my Planner class. I'm really enjoying teaching these classes and learning how to work with a deadline. Definitely skills I'm going to need should I ever get my dream job working for a scrapbooking magazine!

Enjoy!

Could you BE any cuter?

'nuff said!

The Power is in DOING!

So I've been looking a bit at my life and how I spend my time. I admit it, I am an Internet junky. I LOVE looking things up on the Internet, reading news and entertainment gossip, looking for new art and scrapbooking inspiration, learning about new hobbies like photography and collage/mixed media art, and reading blogs. I love reading people's stories! I actually have to set a timer to remind me of the passage of time so I don't spend all day reading about things on the Internet. (And if my mother is reading this, yes, I know this is not the best use of my time. Keep reading for my realizations. Love you Mom! MWAH! Big Kiss and Hug)

I've also been a bit frustrated by my desire to create pages and sew for myself and other things, but feel like I have no time left after caring for my home and doing my essential daily household tasks. (I'm sure you can see where I am going with this...)

The other day, I realized that I was tired of looking for new ideas and inspirations. I need to actually be DOING something. When we stop thinking, planning, dreaming, wondering, wanting, wishing, learning. visualizing, thinking, planning some more, and start DOING we claim our power. The power is in the actual doing, not the thinking about doing. No matter how small that first step is, it's still movement, not sitting there just thinking about moving. I wrote a blurb once that started with this sentence: The pursuit of a dream requires action. The key words there are pursuit and action.

Have you thought about your dreams lately? Have you forgotten them in the mad rush of daily life? Have you set them aside for a time, so you can focus on what needs your attention right at that moment? Or are you learning, thinking, planning, preparing for the day you put action behind your pursuit of your dream. Take that first step.

My moral of the story? I closed the laptop and started doing. I scrapped a little. Baked some cookies and muffins. Played games with my kids. Worked in the yard a little. I started moving.

No one can get your dreams but you. The power is in doing.

And that's the other side.

A Dream I Had the Other Night

So this is a real dream I had. If anyone reading this blog likes to interpret dreams, I'm all for it!

It was EAAARRRLY in the morning (sometime before 7am) and I was doing my best friend a favor by dropping her kids off at the preschool for a preschool field trip. As I was closing the doors of my van, getting ready to go home to my own kids, other parents and adults kept getting in the van. I shooed them out, explaining that I wasn't driving for the field trip, just dropping off my friend's children. But as quickly as I got one set of adults out of the van, another got in.

The dream morphed a little bit here, and instead of parents wanting rides to the field trip destination, it was adults wanting rides to work, as if I was their carpool leader. I explained again that I wanted to go home, that my kids were at home waiting for me (my oldest daughter babysitting) and that I wasn't driving anywhere else that morning. Blank faces stared at me as if I wasn't speaking english and they couldn't understand why I didn't want to drive them all to work. I explained again. More blank faces. Then I lost it and threw a bit of a temper tantrum, with foot stamping and everything. I AM NOT DRIVING YOU TO WORK!!! I AM GOING HOME!!! More blank faces staring back at me.

I then yelled "Fine! It'll be a hundred bucks CASH ONLY from EACH of you before we go ANYWHERE! And that's only for the first thirty miles. After that, it's another hundred. CASH ONLY!" At that point, they all nodded and understood exactly what I was saying and started passing cash up to me. I had no choice then but to drive them to work.

The dream morphed again, to me in the kitchen visiting with some friends and my husband as I told them the story of how I started driving people to their office buildings. I ended the story talking about how I was now pulling in between 12 and 15 THOUSAND dollars cash each month, and how grateful we were because now we were able to get out of debt and make some headway towards financial freedom, and all I had to do was drive grown-ups to work each day for about an hour. (a little "editor's note" here: I didn't drive them home...I'm not sure how they got home. I only drove them in the mornings...the bottom line was: I was glad to have the money) Then I woke up.

Any ideas on what this means?