Donna D

I had a really awesome time this weekend at Scrapbooks Too. Donna Downey visited for the weekend and was at the crop on Friday night as well as teaching 5 classes on Saturday.

I was at the crop on Friday night and it was fun to see a few folks I hadn't seen in a while (especially Wendy...it had been ages, girl!) As usual, cropping at the store isn't my favorite. It's so cramped and not as comfortable as my cozy spot at home. However, I did get 7 pages and a Cosmo Cricket lacing card kit done. So I was very productive. Cathy Zielske came along with Donna and was delightful as well. She even called up Alli in Albuquerque on Linda's phone. Left a message. Funny.


I has mixed feelings about attending a class with Donna. I had seen her last year, and it was a bit spendy, but I am SOOOO glad I went.

I attended the last class (Saturday evening at 8:30pm) and she had been teaching since 9am. I think because she was maybe a bit tired and the class was small (maybe 12 of us?) she ended up being very real. She helped me a bit with the design on the inner pages of my album. And she was full of encouragement and little tips. It was a fun three hours creating with Donna.

Here's the cover on the 12x12 album that I made.


The buttons were serendipity. I poured out the jar of buttons on the cover to pick one for the closure. I just loved the way they sat there and decided to embellish with them.

Here's the first page on the inside. We were supposed to pick 12 words...a theme for each page inside. I had picked 12 travel locations and had plans to do a travel album. Donna talked about having the words interplay between pages (because the 8 1/2 x 11 pages inside were staggered so you can see through to the next page or pages). I was wondering about how to interplay place names and Donna suggested adding generic travel words like Journey or Escape. I ended up really loving the results.



I ended up painting another 3 hours on Sunday to finish up all the inner pages. Now I need to add pictures and the plan is for lots of handwriting (journaling and doodling). That should take a bit more time. I will post when it's done, but don't look for it any time soon!

Hope

I was out on my back deck this morning a bit before 7am. I had loaded up my stuff for the crop tonight and was standing there quietly.

There was a symphony of birds. The apple tree and maple tree and lilac bush are starting to push buds. The neighbor's lawn actually looks green (not ours, however).

And I felt some hope. It's been a hard week to have hope. I am easily affected by the afflictions of others. Some days I just can't listen to the news, afraid of what it might bring. So this week I needed some hope.


Thank you birdies.

Found...Baby Stuff!

YES!!!



I knew the closet in which this stuff was housed. The scary closet. The one I haven't de-cluttered. Boxes of negatives. Boxes of memorabilia from my life and from Charlie's and for the girls and from my parents. Heritage photos. Geneology research. School papers. It's the closet I told my husband to save if we ever had a fire. (Like you could save a whole closet.)

I found the box I needed to "start" the baby books. Yes. I have made progress. I was able to work on the books without having the "cover page" done. Without ultrasound pictures or wrist bands or the hospital picture. Years ago I would have been paralyzed if I couldn't work in chronological order.

Perfectionism

I didn't think I was a perfectionist scrapper. I was embracing the "you are perfect just the way you create" mantra. I was whipping out pages left and right. A little crooked? OK. Not exactly the right shade of blue? OK. A mistake in my hand journaling? OK.


Then came the baby album. I just started working on Amelia's "Baby Album". And perfectionism has reared its ugly head. This is a special album. Somehow it needs to be better and perfect.

Or so says the little voice in my head every time I start a page. "Oh. This is her first bath. It needs to be special" "Oh. This is her first smile. It needs to be special." "Oh. This is the first time I took pictures of her with carrots on her face. It needs to be special." Blah Blah Blah.


OK. On to other things.


Normally I don't like to share bookclub pages until bookclub, but I wanted to share my first "old paper" page. I like it. I have one other old paper idea in my head. Hey! Maybe I'll do another!

(Note to Minda...ok, I hear ya'. Yeah, I did cut out the stem and leaf freehand.)




And in the interest of equal time. Here is a page from Margaret's "Baby Book". I did this at CJ's, but don't think I had posted it yet.



Back to struggle with the little voice in my head...

Old Paper

I have a scrapbooking challenge this month to find the oldest piece of scrapbook paper I have and scrap it. If it's just too ugly to scrap with, then I'm supposed to throw it away and use the next oldest.

I am 99% sure I found the oldest patterned paper in my stash.



Whaddya' think? Is that it? I'll bet YOU have some paper just like it in your stash. I DARE you to use it. It comes in 10" X 12". Maybe that will help you remember where it came from (if it doesn't haunt you every time you look at your first album already).


Oh, and I found these other "vintage" pieces. Many of these might look good in my baby album.




Or, maybe not.

The San Francisco Zoo

On our first day in San Francisco, we went to the Zoo. They have a wonderful zoo. They are doing a lot of renovation, and it has changed quite a bit in the 18 years since we lived there (imagine that! Change over 18 years)

Charlie's sister and her granddaughter came along with us. My girls loved their little cousin.


My favorite exhibit is their gorilla exhibit. The gorillas live together in a family setting. We got to see antics, including this pose by the large male of the family.






We had fun watching these grizzly bears fight. It's always fun when the animals are active.




Here are some miscellaneous animal photos. Gotta love the 300 lens (that is actually like a 450 on my digital). I wish I had taken my tripod with me.








Of course we found the park at the end. LenaRose is a swing monster. It was fun to watch her.



Some beautiful flower displays, also.


I would love to spend a week of days at that zoo with my camera and tripod and time to sit and sit and sit and watch the animals. It is fun to watch the girls react to the animals, but sometimes it is fun to move at MY pace.

Because of all the renovation, we missed seeing elephants, sea lions, and we couldn't see much at the chimpanzee exhibit (another place I could sit and watch for hours). I am looking forward to going back again to see all the new great things they have done!

Miscellaneous

Taxes are done. I just like to have them sit overnight before submitting. I'll likely get them in tomorrow. (Busy night tonight!)


And remember my post about my losing things? Well... I hvae found a bunch of stuff lately.


The work badge? Found in my second purse. I swear I had looked in it four or five times. Found it the day after getting my new badge.


The make-up? A victim of clutter and decluttering in my bedroom. I found it in a box next to my dresser where I had some old clothes collecting to give away. Found it four days after buying new make-up (Hey. I have two sets now!)


The gloves? I lost a nice pair of Land's End gloves my mom sent for Christmas. They were warm and lightweight. Perfect for cold April mornings. I lost them in the middle of March and was really bummed because I loved the color and the warmth and the good quality. I found them Thursday in a zippered pocket of my nice coat. I didn't even realize the pocket existed.


The gift certificate? I had a gift certificate to a nice meat market in Linden Hills. We meant to redeem it for various special occasions. Never could find it when I wanted it. I found it Friday in among my tax stuff. (taxes = money = gift certificates. I'm sure it made sense when I put it there). Charlie bought us some delicious, tender steaks for our easter dinner. (The certificate expired April 17, so I found it just in time!)


I really am trying to de-clutter, and the house is much, much better than it was a few years ago, but I still struggle with paper clutter. One of my daughters is a collector (you know what I mean if you have one), and it is hard to keep her collections from intertangling with mine. Which makes for an even more tangled mess.
20 minutes at a time (ala' Fly Lady) it is getting tamed. But I suspect it is just something I'll have to deal with forever.

In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone
Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend.
(You need to find the Music to this if you don't know it. This is an awesome hymn!
And read the fourth verse several times. Powerful, powerful words!)


In Christ alone, my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song;
this cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when stivings cease,
My comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand.


In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless Babe!
This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save.
'Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid; here in the death of Christ I stand.

There in the ground, His body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain,
then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me
for I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the pow'r of Christ in me;
from life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no schemes of man,
can ever pluck me from His hand;
'til He returns or calls me home, here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.


A Blessed Easter to all of you!

Let's all Procrastinate!

My list of items to do this weekend is very short. Now that Charlie is off buying items for our simple Easter Dinner, all I have left to do that REALLY needs to be done is taxes. I kind of wish some of the other items that need to be done around the house had deadlines like that. Once a year.So you really can't put them off.


The taxes are almost done; i just need to review our charitable deductions an check the whole thing.


So what have I done instead? Clean the kitchen. Including cleaning out the refrigerator and washing the shelves in there, and cleaning out the bread door.


Now I'm going to blog.

One other high item for the weekend is to get pictures from California printed. It will take a lot of time to upload them, so I want to get it started and just let it run while I do something else. (Other than taxes, of course)
I suppose I'll print between 100 and 200. (At least). Plus some enlargements for the grandparents

The other item high on my list for the weekend is scrapping. I am trying to save that as a reward for completing taxes. My topic for the weekend is baby albums. Yep. I've never done baby albums for the girls. My Pine Cone Press Bookclub book this month is Babies, so I decided to jump in.

I found the albums I had purchased for baby albums. First I had some Creative Memories albums, then these K&Co.


Part of me says...just use the K&Co albums. They are pretty, even if they are a bit dated. Part of me wants to get rid of every post bound album I have. I just don't like the way they lay and sit on shelves. Still contemplating and welcoming your advice.


I also plan to scrap kits over the next month. I have a few kits leftover from bookclub and some that I've purchased (Coordinate Collections and Jenni Bowlin). I thought I would just pull them out one and at time and use them for as many pages as I can and then move on to the next kit.






So... on to take a shower and take the girls to the library (our new Saturday morning tradition). Then I think I'll do a scrapbook page. And THEN do the taxes.


Yeah. Right...

Internet Withdrawal

So on my vacation, I learned that not every household has a fast computer with a fast internet connection. My dear SIL is a case in point. They have a home computer, but it is of the slower variety and their DSL is not blazing either.

It ended up being too much of a pain to get to the internet.

So I went FIVE days without e-mail and blogs. I felt disconnected and disoriented. I am still catching up on blogs. (Thank goodness I could count on Sue's blog to not have been updated during that time period. One less blog to catch up on.)

I'm not sure I like the fact that I am addicted to the internet. And I'm sure I won't be giving it up for Lent anytime soon. (especially since Lent is almost over for this year :-) )

Santa Cruz

On Monday (April 2) we didn't have firm plans. We thought about going into the city to ride cable cars, but decided to go to Santa Cruz, instead. I am so glad we did.




The boardwalk was open, but not busy.

Here are Margaret and Amelia "measuring up" to see what rides they could go on.



Here's a view of the old wooden roller coaster, The Giant Dipper, I think.



Here's a view of the beach from the sky ride.



The beach was sunny (cool breeze and cold water for sure).



We drove back on Highway 1 north to Half Moon Bay and then across to the San Mateo Bridge.

Pictures don't do this scenery justice, but here is a nice one.


Here are some Sea Lions we found lounging in the sun off of Pescadero Point.



Lovely day.

The snow is flying in Minneapolis

We arrived back safely from San Francisco an hour ago or so.

Yesterday I was getting sunburned on the beach in Santa Cruz.

Today in Minneapolis it is snowing.


It was absolutely gorgeous the entire time we were in San Francisco. I have a lot of pictures to sort through; I will likely get a few posted tomorrow.

I have been without internet since last Wednesday. Can anyone say withdrawal?

The sky is blue in San Francisco

I just talked to Charlie and told him that I hoped the weather holds out here until he and the girls show up. I said "It would be great for them to see the city like this".

His reply..."Why? They wouldn't be seeing San Francisco the way it really is, then."

Spoken like a true San Franciscan. They're so proud of their fog.

When we lived out here 20 years ago, I would tease Charlie that he was making the whole fog thing up. It seemed that most times we came into the city is was clear and beautiful.

I don't care if it's not real. I love the blue sky and being able to see the GG Bridge from far away. Some of these pics were taken from the room (25th floor) where I had a seminar all morning. Some were taken at lunch hour during a 20 minute stroll I had to Union Square and back.

Yep. The hard life here.







Obligatory hill and cable car shots.




Tree in bloom at Union Square.



Cool colors and Texture.

Luxury Living

It has been raining here in SF. Everything is so green and the ornamental fruit trees are blossoming.

I am living in the Hotel Nikko for 3 nights. Wow. Seven Big pillows on the bed. Large flat screen TV. Shrimp and chocolate covered strawberries for supper. A Starbucks right off the lobby. I'll have to take some pictures of the lobby tomorrow. Cool art and awesome decorating. I guess we are getting the cut rate deal of $155 per night. Definitely not my usual lifestyle.



It is almost 11pm Minnesota time and I can tell. I am beat.

Tomorrow should be a great day. Most of you won't appreciate this, but we get to tour the NUMMI automobile plant in Milpitas. It's a joint venture between Toyota and GM and I am really looking forward to it.

I can't believe that we are going to Dave and Busters for supper tomorrow. I think it's like Chuck E. Cheese for adults. (It's called team building.) We're in the most beautiful city in the world and we're having supper at Dave and Busters in San Jose. sigh. I guess they had to pay for the hotel, eh?


Oh. And here's one of Amelia I found on the camera when downloading pictures. Look at all that snow!!!

Open Up that Golden Gate!

California Here I Come!

On doodling

I used to be a manager at work. I used to go to a lot of meetings. I got used to it. I would actually pay attention and take notes.


I attend a lot fewer meetings now, and have gotten out of shape on the whole meeting routine. Now when I go to meetings this happens:



I still pay attention. However, my notes get embellished. Please note that this is a compilation from five different meetings. A corner here, a margin there, etc.

BTW...we have the greatest pens here at work. Zebra Jimmie Gel Rollerball. Nice writing. Nice smooth doodling.

On whining

A friend posted a blog entry that she characterized as being whiny.

I was just going to post a comment to her, but what I have to say may be kind of long.

You see, I am a whiner. I have a daughter with somewhat significant health issues. I whine and whine about how unfair it is to me as a "full time working outside the home mom" that I also have to deal with the extra time it takes to have a "special" daughter. Extra doctors' appointments. Extra medications that cost extra money. Extra meetings at school. Extra struggles with homework. Struggling with things most parents don't have to deal with. Having to give her a shot every night. I whine about how unfair it is to her that she has to work so hard to so some things that are so simple for most of us.

Those of you who have "normal" kids (as I would call them), might not see my complaints as whining. You might think, "You have a right to be angry!", "You did have bad luck in getting a special child." "I'm glad I'm not in your shoes."



Then I go to Children's Hospital for an appointment. I see kids who have had open heart surgeries. I see kids who will never walk or have control of bodily functions. I see kids who may not live another year. Then I wonder why I was whining. Who gave me the right to whine when so many other parents have tougher issues? I have a job. I have health insurance. I have a spouse who really helps out more than 50-50 in getting issues resolved. I have a car to get to appointments.


It's all relative. To some, our venting will seem like whining, to others it is fully justified. If we heard Paris Hilton complaining about not being able to find the right shade of pink for a purse to match her gazillion dollar outfit, we would call it whining. To those in her social circle, not finding the right color purse seems a valid thing to gripe about.


Oh...I've made my point. As long as you keep your whining in perspective, an occasional vent is ok. And keep in mind who you are whining to. (that should be "to whom you are whining"... but proper English just doesn't seem proper with the word whine.)

And remember to be grateful.

Losing it! (again)

I believe my last post on losing it was talking about weight. That was a good thing.


The last two weeks I have been on a rash of losing THINGS, however. It started with my work badge. Lost it for 3 days. Found it in an unusual place. Can't remember where I put it after that. Now it's lost again. For 4 more days. That's $7.

I also lost my make-up bag. I am not a make-up person, but I have a small bag with foundation, blush, shadow, liner and mascara that I keep with me at all times. I know I was wearing make-up on Saturday. Couldn't find the bag Sunday morning. Still can't find it. That's about $25 (I just use Cover Girl or other cheap makeup...nothing fancy there!)

I lost my nice Land's End fleece gloves. Perfect for this time of year...keeps the hands on the cold steering wheel from freezing. Crud! I really liked those.



This is all a little secret that, heretofore, only my husband knew. I am a scatterbrain. A smart scatterbrain, but scatterbrained to be sure. I blame my children. (ie pregnancy and childbirth) I am usually saved by my organizational and planning skills. Have a place for everything and have a calendar and you can counteract that knack for losing and forgetting things. We all learn to compensate for our weaknesses. Flylady helps a lot with keeping the clutter down, but I'm sure these items have fallen prey to the clutter that creeps in. sigh.

I have had a $5 reward on the table for two of these items (in case the kids had taken them and were playing with them), but they still haven't shown up. It just makes me MAD!!!!

On the other hand, I did find a gift certificate to Clancy's Meat Market that I had lost. That is worth $15. So I guess I'm only down about $17 now.

Yin and Yang

Have I commented on how different my two girls are?


Example from last evening.

Daughter 1: "Aww. Do I have to do homework? Can't I just do it tomorrow? It's not due until Friday." (We had been having this conversation for three days, slowly extracting bits and pieces of work from her.)

Daugther 2: "Can we stay up late and finish my homework tonight so I can hand it in tomorrow? I like to be ahead." (She just got it today and it's not due until next WEDNESDAY!)


One is my artiste/non-conformist daugther. One is my "rules were made to make me look good" daughter.

I know. Labels are not pretty. I see me in both of them. (OK, more one than the other.) It's tough to parent two totally different kids when one of your goals is to make sure they have some level of happiness and success as adults. They will have two very different paths to that place.

Here's hoping that awareness that they are two different kids will help us in guiding them down those different paths. Paths we have not trod ourselves, but are yet vaugely familiar with in spots.

And my favorite layout from the weekend.

Rick Rack (or is that ricrac?) border inspired by Jenni Bowlin site from last month. (Emily Falconbridge layout, I believe)

Cosmo Cricket paper and punch outs (swirls and frame). Sweetwater letters. Creative Imaginations shaped patterned paper. Metal bookplate came in Jenni Bowlin kit last month. Not sure if it is Junkitz, or not. Heidi Swapp Journaling spot under the bookplate.

Love the Scallops. (See them everywhere? I didn't consciously do this, but just noted in this picture that in addition to the scallop feel of the ricrac, there are scallops on the bookplate, paper, frame and the swirls. No wonder it feels like a good layout. Some coherency there.) Love the nekkid baby pictures.



And this is post 200!

Theme one: Circles and curves

Circles and Curves were a big theme this weekend. Here's a few examples.


Here's a two page spread with Rusty Pickle's new "Chocolate Bunnies" line. Used the Cricut for the font on 1st page. Heidi Swapp rub-ons on the second.

A big curve one page layout. The idea came from Ali Edwards "Designing with Patterned Paper". Phoebe paper by BasicGrey. (Love this!!!) American Crafts Letter Rub-Ons.

A circle and lots of rub-ons. American Crafts brackets and swirls with Making Memories alphabets. The blue paper is Everyday Tango (I think) and the paper with dots and words is a Creative Imaginations paper (I think)


A frame from My Mind's Eye and Fancy Pants Rub-Ons. And another Circle. Everyday Tango and KI memories papers. Are you seeing the circle theme?


I think this is also "Everyday Tango" paper by My Mind's Eye. (I used every page from this collection that I had. It really is great to scrap with) With some sticker words from Minda's "leftovers" bin. Putting the circle and swirl together. An idea from a Memory Works catalog.

Seventy!!!

And the magic number is...70. Yes. Somehow I got 70 scrapbook pages done this weekend at a group crop up at CJs. And a lot of them were actually good.

The paper lines available these days are so beautiful they don't need a lot of reinforcement. I did all hand journaling and used stickers, rub-ons, or the Cricut for my titles. I only sewed on one page. I did some stamping and inking, but not a lot. I didn't touch my 3 boxes of ribbon.

So they were simple and went quickly.

And the weekend was perfect. Lots of scrapping. Naps and walks. Meals all planned and only had to "cook" once. Great company. I missed my family a bit, but it is also good to get a break from them. I'm looking forward to next year already. I wonder if I can get 70 more pages done before next year's weekend?

I will get around to posting some pictures of my favorites sometime this week.

She's starting to read my stuff

That would be my eldest daughter I am talking about. Not only has she added several bookmarks to my toolbar (the school website and a cool program called word viper), but now she is reading my blog. She comments on it often (to me...not within the blog) and is always asking when I take a picture "is this going to be on your blog?"

I guess I need to start thinking a little bit more about what I write. The privacy issue will just get more and more sensitive as she gets older. sigh.

I suppose I need to show her how to make comments on my blog. It might be funny if you all could read what she's telling me.

Re-Lamping in progress

Gotta love the English language. Like how you can create words.

I was driving up France Avenue and they are replacing street lights. The light-up warning sign said, "Re-lamping in progress". I found this amusing for some reason.

More Snow...More Snow pictures

In interest of equal air time, here is Margaret sliding down the snowpile.


And can you tell what kind of "wildlife" made these prints? Yes. I found the six year-old outside in her bare feet. What's that about?