Confessions Of A Scrapaholic

On To Happier Things

First, I wanted to say thank you to all of the sweet comments left for me. They really brightened my day. Thank you so much. Dad is recovering quite well and will hopefully be going home tomorrow.

Now for more happy news, I have been quite a busy little scrapper. I have finished seven layouts this month which I think is more than I have done in the last six months. Granted, they are quick pages but I am simplifying, so no guilt. Zoë is not going to care that I used a quick page when she is looking through her albums.

I also received my new album in the mail the other day along with some new page protectors. Today I am going to go through my "To Scrap" photos and select some to print off as 4x6 for our scrapbooks. I can't tell you the last time I printed off 4x6's to scrapbook. Don't for one second think that I am going back to the dark side. Hehehe. (Did you like that Tami?) I am kind of excited at the idea of just sliding the 4x6 photos into a page and calling it a day. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I checked and the 8.5x11 page protectors fit just fine in the 12x12 album. How cool is that?!

Ten Little Minutes

It is amazing how much your life can change in ten minutes. On Tuesday night I got a phone call from Victoria (my WSM) telling me that my Dad had had a heart attack and was in the hospital. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get a phone call like that. My Dad is the picture of health. The man weighs 180lbs. for Pete's sake. He watches what he eats. He takes vitamins every day. This is the not the man I would ever imagine having a heart attack. Dad had open heart surgery on Wednesday and had a 5 way bypass. FIVE! There isn't even a word for that. Thankfully, the doctors said that he did great in surgery and are expecting a full recovery. Amazingly, he is scheduled to go home on Monday. Isn't that wild? He had open heart surgery on Wednesday and is going home less than a week later.

As I was finishing my call with Victoria, another call was beeping in on call waiting. I clicked over and spoke to Kelly's Grandma Millie. She was calling to let us know that Kelly's other grandmother, Anne, had passed away that morning. It was not unexpected, but still sad. She had been suffering from Alzheimer's for the past few years. She was such a sweet lady. We are flying to Spokane next week for the funeral.

It is amazing what a difference ten minutes can make on your life. All is well and then WHAM!

Now go and call your Grandma and your Dad and tell them that you love them. :)

Taking the Plunge

This year I am recommitting myself to scrapbooking. During the last year my mojo seemed to have left the building, but no more! I am simplifying. I am going to remove the pressure. The pressure of being "caught up." The pressure of "is it good enough?" All that really matters is that my layouts share our story and make my family smile. It is as simple as that.

My sweet friend Tami gave me Ali Edwards new book, Life Artist, and it rocked my socks off. In the book Ali shared her life book. Not a scrapbook, a life book. It was a 12x12 three ring album which held layouts of all shapes and sizes...even sheets of of protectors with 4x6 photos inserted in them. Can you imagine? It completely opened my eyes to another way of scrapbooking. I don't have to scrap every single photo to share my story. I could insert some plain 4x6 photos in the mix. How freaking cool!

So this year, I am getting caught up. Oddly enough, that doesn't even remotely intimidate me. I am excited to try some 8.5x11 layouts and even toss in a couple sheets of plain 4x6 photos into my albums. Look at me go. I am a wild woman!

Along those same lines, tonight I signed up for Stacy Julian's: Library of Memories class. I read her book last year and found it so inspiring. So inspiring in fact that I reorganized all of my albums. My system could still use a bit of tweaking, but the class should help iron out the kinks. (I will admit, I am having a hard time letting go of the chronological thinking.) The class itself is a bit on the pricey side, but I think it will keep me focused and reinforce my commitment to scrapbooking.

So, wish me luck! I also plan on getting all of our home movies organized and made into yearly movies. I'm nothing if not optimistic. (Or crazy....)

My Little Shopper

I think that I may have created a monster. Well, not so much a monster as a shopping "enthusiast." I suppose it was inevitable really. In the winter time what is there to do besides stay at home or go shopping? (Seriously, what do you do? I need some ideas.)

Evidence #1:
Zoë opened up her My Little Pony Sing & Dance Pinkie Pie for Christmas and said, "Look, it's Pinkie Pie from Fred Meyer!"

Evidence #2:
Today Zoë asked me if I would like to play Princess Shoe Store with her. It went like this.

Me: Do you have any princess shoes in my size?

Zoë: No. They are out of stock.

Me: Will you be getting any more in?

Zoë: No.

(End of game)

We joined the YMCA on Monday to combat the winter boredom. We are seriously bored around here. So bored that I don't even care if all she wants to do is watch TV (terrible, I know). Zoë's little friend Lucy and her family are members at the Y, so I foresee many "play dates" in the future. Did you know that there is free daycare at the YMCA? (If you have a family membership). I can drop Zoë off to play in the gigantic play area for up to two hours while I go work out (or sit in the lobby with my laptop). You know what? I think I may actually try working out. I haven't done it in a couple years, I could give it a whirl. LOL!

I am really excited for the Family Fun Night each month. They make dinner and you and your family get to enjoy the facilities. I am really really excited for Parent's Night Out. The second Friday of each month they will watch Zoë for three hours (for $15) while Kelly and I go on a date. At a grown-up restaurant. And maybe even a movie. Sa-weet.

* * * * *

Now for a bit of silliness for you all. I was blog surfing today and stopped by to see what Cathy Z. was up to. I read her little blurb about Tom Cruise being crazy and thought, "What the heck, I'll click the link." If Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10.

OK, so click the crazy link, then watch this. Cathy's Scrapbooking Indoctrination Video they tried to suppress. LOL! She is so damn funny. (Make sure to watch Tom's Scientology Indoctrination first or you won't get it.)

Hey, Snow's Not So Bad!

I forgot that snow can actually be fun. When I hear snow, the first things that normally pop into mind are: cold, wet, bad driving conditions and slush. Oh, and did I mention cold?

Well, today I got a refresher course in Snow Fun: 101. It snowed buckets last night. (I think Zoë must have been praying extra hard). She wanted to play in the snow so badly. We did play in the snow on Friday, but that was all hard and crusty, not fresh powdering fun snow.

Today we went sledding in fun snow. I honestly can't remember the last time I went sledding. I am thinking junior year of high school, but I'm not positive on that one. I won't bother you with the math, let's just say it was a few years ago. Hehehe. Zoë had an absolute blast sledding. The girl loves going "super fast" so it didn't surprise me at all. I think her very favorite part though was sledding all by herself. If the sun hadn't been going down we would have let her sled until she dropped, but alas it gets dark around noon in the winter. (OK, I may be exaggerating slightly on that, but not by much).

I think that I may have to break down and take Zoë skiing soon. Here is a random tidbit for you: I have never been skiing in my life. You would think that I would have been at least once, but no. My brother was a ski instructor in Tahoe for Pete's sake, and still no. What can I say? I am more of a read in the lodge and drink hot cocoa kind of girl. But, like I said, I may just have to break down and do it. Heaven help me.

Greetings from the Melting North

We arrived safely in Spokane last night. I will say this, flying is soooo much nicer than driving. It is true that after you get to the airport two hours early, fly, then wait for your baggage and pick up the rental car it takes about the same amount of time BUT it is still lovely. And much less boring than a four hour drive (and that is in dry conditions, which we do not have right now). It still amazes me the amount of luggage it takes to travel. I hope who ever invented those little luggage carts made lots and lots of money. And look, luggage and kid transportation. Who knew?

We got to Spokane all excited for snow (because we didn't have to drive over in it) only to find out that everything is melting. It is slushy and wet and just bleck! Lovely. Zoë didn't care though, she was ready to go sledding today come snow or slushy water. Hehehe.

Guess what else? I actually scrapped! Shocking, I know. This layout has been sitting unfinished on my desktop since Zoë's birthday (in June). It was stuck in no-mojo limbo. I've got about ten like that. Hopefully I can get those finished up soon.

Happy New Year!

We started a new tradition at our house this year. Instead of celebrating New Year's at midnight on New Year's Eve (which Kelly and I stayed awake for...barely) we TIVO'd the ball dropping and Space Needle fireworks to watch on New Year's night with Zoë. It's not like she knows the difference anyway. We dressed fancy and I made brownies. Good times! Zoë insisted that we toast with blue margarita glasses (blue being her favorite color and all) so that is what we did. Classy. Hehehe.

Have you noticed that there is pretty much nothing to do on New Year's Day? Unless you like football, which I don't. Instead of lying around like lumps we decided to take Zoë ice skating for the first time. She LOVED it. Of course, she couldn't stand up at all, so I held her up and skated around the rink.

Note to any parents: Three may be a bit too young to take someone ice skating.

Another note to parents: It is probably a good idea to brush up your "sliding around on ice wearing sharp metal shoes" skills before taking a whirl whilst holding up your child. And trying not to cause concussion for either of you...

You laugh, but my brother got a knarly concussion while ice skating when we were younger. One of about twenty or so. (Not all ice skating mind you). Thankfully, ice skating is a bit like riding a bike. I will say though, for the first minute or two I was quite convinced Zoë and I were both going down. LOL! Growing up my mom used to make ice rinks in the backyard in the winter for Ryan and I to skate on. Pretty awesome. No chance of that in Seattle, so to the ice arena (or downtown park) we will go.

I made the video of our ice skating adventure using iMovie '08. I can't say enough great things about iMovie. It is extremely user friendly. I was making movies, photo slide shows and DVDs in minutes without reading any manuals. (And no swearing). For Christmas I made all the grandparents "2007 in Review" DVDs complete with music and everything. The finished product looks so professional you would almost think I knew what I was doing. Now Kelly is digitizing all of our old tapes for me to play with as well. We found the most darling video of Zoë last night. I don't think she was even a year old yet and she was just laughing up a storm. It was hilarious. I will post that soon. You can't help but giggle along.