You Can Call Me AL

Happy Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:02:00 +0000

In honor of all the mommies out there and soon to be mommies in my life, I am doing a little sewing today.

Bibs, bunting and a little paper piece quilting. All the patterns I'm using are free from Whitney over at whitneysews.com. I've been following her for a while on her YouTube channel. I'll give you a bit of an update when these projects look a bit more finished.

I hope you all enjoy this day, whether you are a mommy, planning to be a mommy or content without. We all deserve to enjoy these lovely Sundays.

Franklin Covey and Filofax

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

As much as I am loving Filofax, I still prefer the accessibility of FranklinCovey. You don't get any better than having a dedicated store just down the street. So I stopped in one day for lunch. I went in of the hole punch which is much cheaper than purchasing from Filofax and walked out with more than I bargained for.

I won't bore you by waxing poetically about all the goodies, but I will say that with the exception of the Swingpad, I love them all. The Swingpad is a little too big for my personal size Filofax. It fits but closing the snap become difficult. Not sure just yet what I will do about that. For now, I'm going to use what I can and try my best to stay out of the FranklinCovey store. If you are looking into the variety of refills and inserts available, look at FranklinCovey, just be aware that the sizing is slightly different.

I Shut Down

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sun, 05 May 2013 04:16:00 +0000

I'm spending a little time in bed tonight catching up on my online life and setting up my new A5 Filofax. There has been a lot of goings on here in casa Kansas, but none of it should have stopped me from blogging or writing or enjoying life. But it did. I am that person that completely shuts down when all is not right and it is driving me crazy. When one aspect of my life is going wrong, I shut down in all things and can't quite manage to keep going, at least not effectively. I still move, but I move without purpose and without fulfillment. Everything slows to a crawl until that out-of-place puzzle piece catches back up and gets in line.

But now that my life is not completely my own, I really have to work on changing this. I had a great week of wedding re-cap and a giveaway all planned and a life hiccup with my husband brought that to a halt. It is almost impossible for me to be upset about something in my marriage and try to write about how happy the wedding was. It feels disingenuous. So, I shut it down and took a little time to reset and repair.

In that time, I set some boundaries and made some positives steps forward to help me keep things together and moving. I also did a lot of comfort eating so you will be hearing about me and my new Fitbit a lot! Also in that time, I got a promotion at work which prompted the purchase of the new Filofax. I quickly realized I wouldn't be able to track my group in my personal size. I will continue to use the personal size for all things personal and blogging and as a wallet.

So, look for some changes from me soon. I am hoping to revamp the blog a bit as it's been a little while since we've refreshed. And I promise the wedding re-cap and giveaway are fast approaching.

Office Supply Love-Keyboard Notes

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

A friend sent me these little keyboard notes in an office supply care package. The have a little folding tab at the botton that allows you to sit them upright on a desk or slide into a keyboard as I have above. I just realized I can only use these at work since they wouldn't work on a laptop keyboard but they are useful none the less.

They are not very big so they are only for the smallest of notes but I found them to be perfect for to-do list items that could only be done when at the computer.

I looked around the internet for these but I can not find them. The closest I came were some little tree notes but they looked smaller than my little elephants. I will keep looking, but when I run out I'll just let my friend know. Japan has some really great office supplies and I'm thrilled to have someone there that understands my obsession. :)

50 Words-Volume

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

She tried to talk.
He tried to tune her out.
She continued to talk, hoping to get through.
He increased the volume.
She stopped talking, having seen this play out time and time again.
So concerned with only hearing the pleasant things, he missed her quietly say goodbye, with love.

Catching Up-Filofax

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:27:00 +0000

These are the pictures of the last three weeks in my Filofax. This past week has been tough so I took a little blogging break. I hate doing that but I can't write when things aren't going well in life. I had something really special planned for this past week, so I'll be shifting some things around and trying my best to get back on track.

I'm happy to say we managed to get our taxes done. That's was not the easiest thing to do this year. Marriage and living in multiple states was a bear to deal with. But it's done. Only a year to go until we do it again. Actually, I need to gather some paperwork to determine if I need to do an amendment this year so maybe my tax woes aren't quite done. Oy!

I'm still getting used to the smaller format of the Filofax compared to the Moleskine that I was using. Although I miss the extra room to write, I'm enjoying have rings again to be able to customize the sections.

Until next week, happy Filofaxing!

Labor of Love-Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

This is a continuation of the family album I am doing for my husband from the pictures we took from his mother's house.

It took a bit of time, but I was finally able to rescue all the photos from the albums they were in. If you have some old family photos that are mounted in those old sticky/magnetic albums, now is a good time to liberate them. You don't have to intend to scrapbook them as I am, but if you want them to last longer, get them out as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I damaged a few photos getting them out of the albums. Couldn't be avoided. Even white school glue doesn't hold as viciously a the glue in those albums.

I had no idea how many photos I was really dealing with until I got them all out. I may be in for a bigger challenge than I originally thought.

The hubby and I hit the local Michaels craft store for supplies and he chose this large black album with an embossed, leather-like cover. Very pretty just enough masculine for him. He is a lover of all things black, so the color scheme will be black, white and cream.

It's a large album with 12 x 12 black pages, but since those refills are a little more difficult to find (none in stock in Michael's that day), I purchased two 8 1/2 x 11 white refill pages. I think the alternating size of the pages will accomodate the varying sizes of the pictures perfectly. I want to avoid cutting as much as possible.

Now that all my supplies are gathered, its time to start working on the layout.

50 Words-Advice

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I have no advice to give but I have plenty of lessons you should learn.
Everyone is not your friend.
Every lover is not worth keeping around.
Work to live rather than live to work.
God is always in you even when no one sees Him working on you. Always.

Lack of Diversity?-Product Review

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you should just use a product for what it is intended. I bought these "sticky" flags that are branded for Smash Books. I don't have a Smash Book but I love the look of their products. I have bought some washi tape in their line and when I saw these flags, I just wanted them.

But I'm trying to use them in my filofax. Let me first say that if something is branded as a sticky note, it should have enough adhesive on it or actually stick. The adhesive section is so small that the flags curls extremely when you remove one. This curling, in combination with the small section of sticky, cause the note not to stick well at all.

You can see in the photo how the edge is curling. I thought I would use these in my blogging calendar to be able to schedule blog topics but this won't work. I'll have to tape them down when I figure out where they will go and that defeats the purpose of buying sticky notes.

I think I'll be staying away from the Smash Books branded products if I'm not going to invest in the Smash Book itself or some other "smash" substitute or use it scrapbooking.

Green Smoothie Love

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

These smoothies have really become a big part of my life. I didn't have time to make them the past two months because of my work schedule so I was over the moon to get back to it. This particular batch contains spinach, cucumber, pineapple, apple and banana.

If you are a smoothie lover, green or not, here are two things I have learned from my concoctions.

1. If you want something fresh and frothy, cucumber is your friend. Cucumber has the ability to take a sweet drink and make it almost ice cream like. It's amazing.

2. If you want something creamy, banana is the ingredient you need to add. When I first started making green smoothies, I hesitated adding banana to spinach. I don't know why considering I was loving the spinach/pineapple combination. When I finally did it, I was blown away.

As I learn tips, I will share them here. In the meantime, if you have any tips, please comment below.

More Office Supply Love

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I just had to take a moment to talk about these Avery Note Tabs. I bought these two+ years ago and have moved them through 3 planners and they still stick well. I haven't had problems out of any of them. That is quite impressive in my book. Even though we treat these little tabs as quite disposable, its nice to know they will last through several years and several projects if you need them to.

Finally Finishing - Thank You

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Now that my temporary work assignment has finished and I'm back to working a normal 40 hour workweek, I'm picking up a few things that should have been done some time ago. Right now, I'm working on my thank you cards from the wedding. Finally!

I also want to finish out my wedding talk by doing a blog recap of the festivities. I learned a lot of gathered a lot of ideas by following blogs and vlogs related to wedding stuff. I want to make sure I leave some info in that pool of knowledge.

So, I will be hosting what I am calling wedding week here on the blog. We will start on the dreaded tax day, April 15, and end with a very fabulous Giveaway. Yes, I'm trying the giveaway thing again. I'm collaborating with one of my favorite small businesses to bring something really special to the table. Stay tuned!

50 Words-We Could Be Happy

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I was recently introduced to the concept of mini sagas. These 50 word stories, thoughts, rants have become addictive to me so I thought I'd share them from time to time.

I'm plagued by the memories of who we used to be.
We used to be friends.
We used to be lovers.
We used to be happy with each other.
Is it possible to be what we once were?
We could be happy.
We could be all God intended us be.

Fat Filofax

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I never thought I would use a planner this small but it's the perfect form factor for my needs right now.

This little leather beauty (Filofax Holborn) has become my planner and wallet and I find myself wishing I had done this year's ago. But moving down to a planner this size was a journey for me. When my planner obsession started, the Franklin Covey classic size was hardly enough. I wrote down everything and carted everything around with me. When I stated traveling, my classic planner become a heavy albatross. It had to go.

I went through several planners before finding the moleskine weekly format and getting it to work for me. By then, my travel lifestyle had mandated that I pare down.

Now, I still carry too much as you can tell from my little fat friend. It's completely stuffed but everything fits and there doesn't seem to be any strain on the rings. I still need to cut a couple of things down or out but for now, it totally works.

This is how I have it laid out.

-ID, insurance and debit cards, check book, coupons in front cover
-Fly sheet Cover and info pages
-clear envelopes for gift cards and other things
-Information section
-Projects section
-Section for writing ideas
-Emergency information section
-Week on one page with notes calendar for main calendar
-Week on two pages calendar for tracking blog posts and writing projects
-Book section to record recommendations and write reviews
-I have a subsection for a friend's baby gifts that I need to get started on. She's not pregnant yet but I'm praying for it.
-I have a section for designing the perfect planner. This is a dream project that I've been thinking about for years.
-Financial - I have all my health savings and debt related cards here with a copy of my monthly budget. It includes a check register and savings tracker. I also have a separate section that outlines my debts so I can have a visual reminded of my payoff goals
-Stamp log for recording instances of using my professional stamp.

I'm still playing around with the sections and the layout but I am loving it so far.

Organized Chaos-Week13

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:54:00 +0000

Sorry I missed posting my planner shot last week. It was quite busy as I was finishing out my six month temporary assignment. I am hoping to be settled and rested for quite some time before hitting the road again but I think that might be asking for too much. I am still using separate calendars for life and blog/writing, but I didn't think to snap a shot of the blogging calendar. I don't think its as interesting as this one anyway.

One By One

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

There is one word that I love to see when I'm looking at my budget each month. PAID!

I have never liked the idea of owing anyone anything so it bothers me to have so many sticky notes in this section of my planner.

But I do love having this section in my planner because it is a visual reminder of what I am working to pay off. One by one, I will get them all knocked off.

How are you doing on your financial goals? The start of spring signifies so many things to so many people. Above all, let's also make it a time of getting our financial houses in order. That is the best spring cleaning of all.

Missing Monday

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I was really in love with my braid out this day.

I have the found the braid-out to be a style that I love, but it's not a style that works well for me at every length of hair. The day I took this picture, my braid-out was perfect and it landed just right to frame my face.

I so wish I could get this look today, but my hair has gotten longer and it's at a length that is just not working for most styles that I try. I'll continue loving it and playing in it and hopefully I can get back to having to-die-for braid outs again.

Bunnies and Lent

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

This post is a stop on the Hershey’s Bunny Trail. Thank you for hopping by.

We are getting to the end of Lent season and I wanted to do a little review of how things went for me.

Going into Lent, there were a few things I wanted to work/meditate on. There were also a few things I picked up along that way that needed to be tackled.

My marriage—I am a new wife, struggling at times to understand and please me husband. The husband doesn’t know that I’ve been working on this but I hope he has enjoyed our extra dates and outings.
My job—I am an engineer that is trying to find that happy medium that will keep me motivated and productive without getting burned out. This is an ongoing battle. I’m in the process of determining what my next career step will be. I’ve learned a lot through the years and I really want to take all those lessons and apply them to my next phase of career life.
My blog—This has become my outlet for all of the creative things in my life and I am hoping to put more time and effort into it and see what opportunities it can bring my way. I love to write. I love to craft and I love sharing it with you all, mostly because my immediate family and friends could care less. Sharing with you brings a little more fun back into it.
Prayer—I do pray quite often, but I need to focus my prayers more and really learn to ask for what is needed and stop doing drive by prayers that don’t hit the heart of the issue. I am also journaling my prayers to focus myself. Writing them down forces me to take time and block out everything else.
Gratitude—There are some beautiful people in my life that have really been helpful in getting through the last year. Some are still helping in various ways as the hubby and I continue our relocation. And I really do have to say thank you to all of you who post comments or sent messages through Facebook during my unemployment. It was nice to hear from you.
Minimizing distractions—I am a procrastinator and I have too many things (thinking of all my electronics!) that are distracting me to the point of self-destruction. I’m getting better, but getting rid of the smart phone is up for consideration at this point. This is serious, people!
Controlling my language—I stress out and I get potty mouth. This is so not lady-like and my husband is less than thrilled with it. My best solution in the past has been to shut up and keep away from people when I’m stressed, but my current work situation is making that tough. And when I do manage to keep it bottled in, I find it slipping out when I’m alone with the hubby. Not good. No intervention needed. I’m on it.
Debt—I would love to snap my fingers and have all the debt from unemployment and wedding and moving just disappear, but it takes work and I need a solid plan. I am fortunate to have been working a lot of overtime in February and March, which has helped me get a very good start on debt reduction, but I have a long way to go. Wish me luck and discipline.
Food—Despite my efforts to increase my fruit and veggie intake and eat healthier overall, I still manage to shove some atrocious calories into my mouth. My recent hypertension wake up call has helped me to drastically cut the salt in my diet, but there are many cuts still to come.

I cannot lie like the 40 days of Lent are a cakewalk. If you are serious about your goals, it should not be. I try to really challenge myself during Lent and this Lent was especially important to me. I am (I hope) on the tail end of what has been a very stressful year. Layoff, six months of unemployment, a new job in a new state, a marriage and so many other smaller things have put me through the ringer this past year and I needed a refresh and a reset.

Although I am off to a good start, this list has become not simply a Lent checklist, but a list of goals that I will be tackling throughout the year.

But, just so I don’t loose sight of the fun that hops along this time of year, Hershey’s was kind of enough to invite me to the bunny trail with a basket o’ goodies!

As much as I love chocolate bunnies, I still have to say jellybeans are the best part of Easter.

Leave a comment below and let me know how your Lent season went this year. Even if you are not a Lent participator, what goals will you be following up on throughout the year? And which candy, chocolate goodness is your Easter weakness?

And if you want to see the other bloggers participating in the trail this year, hop over to the site and take a look around.

Organized Chaos-Week 12

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

This week, I have two planner views.

Moleskine Planner

Currently, I am using the week with notes format from Moleskine but I am moving over to my new Filofax Holborn.

Filofax Personal Holborn

Currently, I have the week on two pages layout but only as my blog organizer. I have ordered a Filofax week with notes to become my new daily calendar.

The challenge will be fitting both calendars in the binder. This thing is small compared to what I've used before so we'll see how this goes. Full review coming soon.

Martha Home and Office

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I was finally able to get my hand on a pack of the tear drop shaped color coding dots from the Avery Martha Stewart office supply line. They were on clearance for a dollar so I couldn't pass them up. I probably won't use them much in my planner itself but I am finding them useful in my project/to do tracking notebook.

I needed a quick reference page for charge codes when I'm doing my time sheets and that gives me an easy visual listing that is pleasing and truly a quick reference.

I just wish it could improve my ability to get my time sheets done on time.

Missing Monday

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

This is a catalog of the things I miss having in my life so I can strive to add them back in.

My lovely, lovely sewing machine.

Filofax Madness

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

I have finally given in to the Filofax madness and placed an order.

This was a consolation gift to myself for not being able to attend Blissdom. There is nothing to soothe a little grief like some responsible retail therapy. And honestly there is nothing responsible about this since I didn't need it at all. I'm quite happy with the Moleskine planner that I have been using. But there are some other planning needs that the Moleskine is just not suited for. So here we go. I'll be figuring out a way to use the Moleskine planner from the Filofax binder.

I'm geeking out, I'm so happy about this purchase.

Week In Review

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

This was a tough week, but I so happy to finally start the count down on this temporary assignment that I am on. I have 16 days left.

I am ending this week with a financial review of things. I'm still recovering from being laid off for so long last year, but I'm trying to take things so slow and not get upset with the recovery efforts.

My Lent focus for the week was rest, support for family and language! Gotta get my stressed out potty mouth under control.

How'd your week go?

A Labor of Love

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I started a new project and I’m so thrilled and nervous about it. After getting married in November, my husband and I took a trip over to his mother’s house in North Carolina. She was not there. Unfortunately, due to health issues, she may never return to her home. One of things she asked us to do was take whatever family photos from the home that we wanted.

At first, my husband only wanted a few of his mom and siblings, but after spending more than an hour going through the albums and framed photos, he decided to take a few more.

My task over the next few weeks/months/hopefully not a year will be to get them all into a new scrapbook type album. Because there are a lot of pictures of people and events that my husband may not remember, I am not going for a standard scrapbook with journaling. I more want to end up with a family album that leaves space for someone to add names and details to later. Hopefully his mother and siblings will get to see it and help us get it all labeled out.

This is just the beginning!

Week In Review

noreply@blogger.com (April Dorris) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

I took me so long to figure out how to post this week in review. More planner shots to come for those of you that like looking into the lives of others. I am fully willing to admit that I have an addiction to Flickr planner pictures and YouTube Filofax videos. I don't even use a Filofax but those are the people that post the most videos.

Be careful following those links! They are addictive.