Saturday, November 14, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Picture post (prompt 5)
(Layouts to follow shortly. I just got a lovely stack of photos back from ScrapbookPictures and it is time to play!)
Monday, November 09, 2009
Conversations with a 3 year old (prompt 4)
Since Max started kindergarten in August, Mason gets my company 24-7. And I get his =) Conversations with Mason run the gamut from perplexing to silly to downright hilarious. Consider this recent funny:
Mason - "Mom, we should get a dolphin at our house."
Me - "A dolphin? What would you do with it?"
Mason - "Mom! I would play with her."
Me - "Where would she live?"
Mason - "At our house."
Me - "The dolphin needs an ocean to live in. Where would we get one?"
Mason - "From the water, Mom! And we would put some mud around the house, too."
PSA - If you dress your three year old as a road sign for Halloween, be prepared to have a backseat driver for years to come. "S-T-O-P! That spells stop, Mom. You were supposed to stop!" or "Hey, Mom. You can't park here! N-O spells no. No parking!"
10 Things (I'm reading) Prompt 3
I love to read and I usually have an assortment of books, magazines, newspapers and other reading material all going at once. I wish I could speed read!
The latest pile on my bedside table looks a little like this
A haunting little book that I picked up at a bookstore in Seattle while visiting with my sisters. Fascinating look at the brutality of war juxtaposed with the healing powers of music. Doesn't hurt that I absolutely adore cello music and asked Michael for one for Christmas.
A great resource for any family that values tradition and creativity. Concepts will be familiar to anyone who espouses the Waldorf or Montessori traditions. The author has a great blog, which is where I discovered the book in the first place.
Picked this up at Powell's bookstore in Portland. HUGE bookstore - Michael and I could have stayed all day just browsing.
This is a bit of a return to an earlier passion. In middle school and high school, I devoured every book I could get my hands on that dealt with the Holocaust. It sounds...wrong...to say I am fascinated with the subject, but I can't really think of another way to say it. Excellent book!
This series is my guilty addiction. My mother-in-law first introduced me to Outlander several years ago and I have been in love with Jaime and Claire ever since.
Always trying to improve my photography!
A disturbing but incredibly fascinating look at the facts of the Columbine massacre. Debunked many of the media theories that most people probably still believe today. Very well researched and definitely a page turner.
Fantasy and science fiction - more guilty pleasures. This is an oldie but a goodie. Love Marion Zimmer Bradley!
4th or 5th time through. One of my favorite books ever!
My baby sister (hey Nyla!) got me hooked on Elizabethan historical fiction. This is a great one!
Do you have one of these? I have several. Possibly six =) Well, at least two anyway. Always reading and trying to improve my parenting skills. The somewhat (verbally) combative relationship I have with a certain child is distressing and I am constantly looking for ways to change that relationship for the better.
And with that, you can see why I am wishing for speed reading ability!
Saturday, November 07, 2009
365 layouts in 365 days
Signed on for a new little (ha ha) scrappy challenge. October counts, so I'm already 31 days in. I've got 12 for this week, but I'm banking a few since I know the holidays will be crazy.
More to follow after I play taxi driver for a bit =)
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
The Girlfriend (Prompt Two)
Her name is Julia.
It seems that we have entered the phase of life of being parents to teenagers. So much of it, I enjoy more than I ever dreamed. I always considered myself a baby lover and certainly one who adores the toddler years. As the kids approached 7, 8, 9...I felt like I lost a bit of that enjoyment. And I was petrified of the approaching onset of teen-hood. Teenagers were snarky, disrespectful, consumed-with-self creatures I really didn't think I would like.
But then I had a couple of my own. And despite some occasional snark, a smidgen of disrespect and being very much all-about-me, I found that they were actually quite delightful. Definitely lots more fun to take shopping (only applies to the girl) and much easier to understand than a toddler!
The one aspect of teenage-hood that I still look upon with some foreboding is the blossoming of hormones and the advent of the boy-girl exclusive relationship. Matt has "liked" girls before and had a traumatic, heart breaking two-week "relationship" with a young lady earlier this year, but Julia has now been a constant for a couple of months. First date, first major school dance (Homecoming, pictured above) and pretty much 24-7 texting, IMing, Facebooking or just a quick text to me saying he has not taken the bus home but is at Julia's.
While I delight that my sometimes awkward son has found such a wonderful friend and more, my very Mormon mother instincts shout BEWARE. Too much, too soon, too close before that all important mission I hope to send him on in less than three years.
I know of what I speak (type.) I always had a boyfriend. Middle school, high school, college. I started even earlier with the liking of boys (yikes!) and I know the dangers and pressures he will face, but that is a story for another day.
Julia is a sweetheart - I like her spunk and style very much, but I definitely have motherly reservations and concerns. They have followed the rules so far - no dating til 16, group dating only, group activities only. I just hope the lessons I have taught him are instilled deeply.
Monday, November 02, 2009
A new chapter in (blogging) life (Prompt One)
This blog has mostly been a spot to share completed scrapbook pages. A few pictures of the family here and there since I know my Grandma occasionally reads it (86 years old, reading blogs AND on Facebook. Love it!) A few memes that catch my eye and a random post thrown in for good measure. Not super interesting really, unless you're my Grandma and want to see what the great grandkids are up to. It doesn't really even do that much, unless you can read the journaling on my scrapbook pages.
Someone might find inspiration in a layout or two, but the actual verbal content leaves quite a lot to be desired. Then I saw an advertisement for an on-line course. I loved the class description of Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers. It was exactly what I needed to get more out of my blog and use it as a scrapbooking tool.
I went through Stacy Julian's Library of Memories class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and using her amazing system, I have been scrapbooking old photos along with my newer pictures. And I have found that telling the stories from those older pictures is sometimes really, really hard. I. Just. Don't. Remember! And it makes me really sad that so many of the stories from my older children's younger life are already gone. I've captured many, to be sure, and I have little notebooks of important stories and quotes all over my scrapbook room. But they're not super organized and all over the place and some memories are just lost. The stories are so much easier to tell and record when using photos fresh out of my camera.
And that, right there, is my only goal for this class. I want this blog to be a place that the very fresh, very new stories about the most recent photos are recorded so that I can come back tomorrow, next week, next year and find them to record them in my scrapbooks. This way, I will remember.
15 more Minutes of Fame
One of my favorite layouts was featured on the Studio Calico blog. Scroll down - mine is the 5th layout! I'm thrilled! The ladies at SC are incredibly talented; so much inspiration there. And their kits? Fabulous!
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