My Silly Things

Simple Scrapper May Blog Hop

2013-05-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the May edition of the Simple Scrapper Blog Hop!

I have a couple layouts to share with you. The first is using one of the templates available to the Simple Scrapper Premium Members this month.

Credits

The next is using one of the twelve May Story Starters included with the Premium Membership.

Credits

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter a giveaway for a one month trial membership at Simple Scrapper. There are three ways to enter and three winners will be selected. To be eligible, you must enter by 11:59pm CDT on Wednesday, May 8.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, go check out the amazing inspiration all the other Simple Scrapper Team Members have to share with you by clicking on the links below.

Simple Scrapper (Jennifer Wilson), Lisa Corbin-Polak, Ronnie Crowley, Margrethe Aas Johnsen, Amy Kingsford, Samantha Landay, Pam Lozano, Aimee Maddern, Jean Manis, Van Nguyen, Melissa Priest, Celeste Smith, & Sara Strickland

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping. Each month members receive a new collection of sketch templates and Story Starters, story-focused prompts for pages and projects. Want to work with our collections for FREE? Simple Scrapper is having a call for new team members.

The Winter Blahs

2013-03-11T14:44:00.001-05:00

I don't know what it is about February, but I get the "blahs" the same time every year. I just don't feel like doing anything. I crave sunlight, fresh fruit and sleep. It's very odd, but familiar. Now that it's March, we're getting closer to spring, but I'm still not over my "blahs."

So, to get myself through this time, I like to add little bits of happiness to my days. Like planning what to do with the children while they're home on Spring Break later this month or tackling small craft projects. I've also been opening up my blinds and letting what little sunlight has been shining into the house. I'm trying not to think about what a failure I feel like and focus on what I'm doing that's good. Sounds easier than it is.

I put together this cute planning book for our Spring Break using a notebook I picked up on clearance for $.98 from Target, some washi tape, Thickers and an Amy Tangerine date stamp. It's not perfect, but it's my first foray into covering something with washi tape. I think I might need to get some more solid colors or paint the notebook first next time. I didn't start with a solid colored base and it shows.

Another good thing I'm doing, is that I've managed to take a photograph every day this year. I didn't start the year intending to do a picture a day project, but here I am. I think I'll continue doing it as long as I can. Some days I only take one picture and it's not always of the most profound thing, but I think it's giving a little insight into how I spend my days. I also don't feel as if I need to have my camera glued to me all the time. There have been a lot of "photo opportunities" that I didn't take because I was caught up in the moment creating memories. So, I don't feel bad about it. Cutting down on mommy guilt is always a good thing. :)

What We've Been Up To

2013-02-18T12:39:00.001-06:00

   February has been full of the winter sickies around here. First, Boy Wonder got the Chicken Pox. Yes, he really did at 8 years old, even after having received the vaccine. Luckily, because he had the vaccine, it was a very mild case and didn't cause him much more than some itching and a little whining. The girls were spared, thankfully.

   Bug was sent home from school on Wednesday with a mild fever, 100.5, and a headache. She was not allowed back to school until she had been fever-free, without medicine, for 24 hours. I gave her medicine as soon as we got home, the fever went away and never came back. So, she had a free day at home on Thursday. We went to the craft store and baked cupcakes for Valentine's Day. She went back to school on Friday and was in the nurse's office with another headache, but no fever. I'm not quite sure why she gets headaches at school, but not at home. She had her eyes checked and got glasses in the Fall.

   Muffin has had her off days, but nothing serious, so far. She had her 4yo checkup at the end of January. She had a fever for a couple days afterwards, but has been doing well since then. I haven't been so lucky. Saturday evening, Andy and I were on a "date" when my face started hurting. I took some medicine and felt better, but Sunday I woke up feeling awful. I even took a nap in the afternoon and I never take naps. I'm not feeling much better today, to be honest. My face, throat and chest all hurt. I really hope it's just a small cold and not something more serious.

My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic title screen

Since we're all feeling so puny, we've been doing quiet things that don't require a lot of energy, like playing video games. We've all gotten a bit obsessed with the My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic app on our iPods. Yes, plural. I had to put it on both of them, so we could all play it.

My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic ball bounce game

It's one of those games where you build a town by moving ponies in and setting up shops for them to work in. You also play games with the ponies; one is a ball bouncing game, another is apple picking and there's a bonus game where even the non-Pegasus ponies get to fly. Nothing too difficult. It's good fun when you're not feeling well though.

My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic apple picking game

We're trying to save our hearts and gems to purchase special ponies, like Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. It's a "freemium" game which means it's free to download and play, but if you want special ponies, shops or decorations, you have to shell out real money to buy more gems to purchase the items faster. It will take a long time to save up enough gems to buy some of the specialty characters. Especially when your children decide to use the gems to buy something else and you have to start all over. Not that I would know anything about that...

My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic "Hearts and Hooves" title screen

There was an update to the app on Valentine's Day. The town is now celebrating Hearts and Hooves Day. It's all lovey-dovey in the store and there are new love themed challenges along with new ponies and decorations. I don't know how much longer it'll keep the kids' attention, but they're having fun with it. I know there are some games that we've purchased that haven't held their collective attention this long.

This post is not sponsored by My Little Pony or the app. I'm pretty sure they've never heard of me or my blog, but I thought I'd put that out there in case anyone thought I was making money off of this or got the app for free to promote it. I did get the app for free, but so can everyone else. It's available on iTunes and Google play.

Simple Scrapper February Blog Hop

2013-02-05T07:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Simple Scrapper Blog Hop! I hope you're having a wonderful day. This month, I've got a couple layouts to share with you. The first is using one of the new Premium Membership templates/sketches from the February collection added this month.

credits

The next is using one of the February Story Starters included in the Premium Membership and a template/sketch from the archives. I chose this prompt out of the 12 provided.

credits

Speaking of the Premium Membership, use this link to enter a giveaway for a one-month trial subscription to Simple Scrapper: http://ow.ly/ctrlx. Entries will be pooled and one winner will be selected at 11:59pm CST on Wednesday, February 6. You may enter from multiple blogs.

Make sure to check out all the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team members by clicking on the links to their blogs listed below.

Simple Scrapper (Jennifer Wilson)

Margrethe Aas Johnsen

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping. Each month members receive a new collection of sketch templates and Story Starters, story-focused prompts for pages and projects.

Experiencing Art

2013-01-29T17:16:00.001-06:00

This week, I have visited the local art museum twice. The first time, my husband and I took our older two while the youngest was with the grandparents. We walked the trails on the museum grounds and saw Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture before going inside the museum. Our 6yo giggled at all the people sculpted or painted without clothing, but really seemed to enjoy looking at the art. She even wants her hair cut like a girl in a painting from the mid-1800s. The 8yo had been there before and wasn't excited by much, but he also didn't complain while we were there either. That was a definite win.

The next day, the 6yo and 4yo were painting and the 6yo told her sister that her painting of multicolored dots was "art." No ifs, ands or buts about it, it was art. The 4yo was very intrigued. So, we took her to the museum while the other two were in school. We did a much shorter tour of the museum and started out in the Experience Art Studio where she could draw and create things before taking her to see some of the "pictures" as she called them. She kept telling us what she saw in the paintings, which I think is a lot of fun. One of the painting resembled a target to her. She kept pointing and asking, "that's art?" I think she finally understood why her sister was telling her that her painting was art. It was similar to the contemporary art we were looking at.

I had to show her my favorite piece - Homage to the Square: Joy by Josef Albers, which is pictured above. She was not impressed. Her sister hadn't been either. I don't know why, but I like it. Amazingly enough, Andy's favorite painting in the museum's collection is in the same gallery. He likes Snow on Alden Brook by Neil G. Welliver.

I don't know why it took us so long to take the kids to the museum. I think that as long as we don't drag them there every weekend, they'll still be excited about going. I'm just glad we have the opportunity to share something like this with them.

Custom Ponies

2013-01-22T17:11:00.001-06:00

The other day, I was reading a post on Epbot. Jen had created a super cute custom pony in the My Little Pony style. She linked up the generator by generalzoi on deviantART. I just got around to using it, but the kids and I had a lot of fun with it.

I did mine first. Just to see how it worked. You know, so I could help the kids later.

I named her Clara. I think it suits her. Not really MLP standard, but I don't really care.

Then, the 4yo had to make 2 ponies. The first one is her version of Pinkie Pie. We call her "Pinky Pi."

The second is her take of Princess Celestia. Modeled after the pink toy version she got for Christmas, of course. We're just calling her Princess.

Once the 6yo got home from school, she had to make her own. She calls her Chelsey.

Not to be outdone, the 8yo chose to create his own. With the help of an online name generator, he's calling his Wicked Shadow.

The kids like them so much, they've printed them and hung them on the walls of their bedrooms. Sometimes, it's something so simple that can bring a lot of joy. For an afternoon anyway. I have a feeling this won't be our last visit to the pony creator.

C25K

2013-01-15T20:26:00.002-06:00

How are all of you doing with your New Year's goals? I am still writing every day; even if it's just a little bit. I am also still doing my running; even if it's freezing outside! Oh, I didn't mention the running in my last post? Oh, that's right, my last post was about writing, not running.

I'm doing C25K with the help of the C25K free app for my phone. It breaks it down into sections, tells me when to run and lets me know when I'm halfway done. Very useful for me. I also used the RunKeeper app on my recent run to see how far I ran and how fast I ran. It was a little strange having two different voices talking to me, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Well, make that 3 voices talking to me, my 6yo runs with me. She likes to run and wants to be a better runner, so she joins me on my runs.

It's kinda nice not having to go out by myself and I have someone to talk to. I get to catch up on what's going on in her life. The first grade is very interesting. We don't often get to spend much one-on-one time together anymore. So, it's nice. I think she likes it too. Being the middle child is tough on her, she often feels like it's not fair that her older brother gets to do something and she doesn't because she's too little. Or her younger sister gets to do something, but she doesn't because she's too big. It's a tough spot to be in. And it's only going to get worse.

One thing I learned from my most recent run, I do not like running in the cold. My lungs burn, my thighs freeze, my nose runs and it's hard to carry on a conversation. I don't feel bad that I cut my run short by 10 minutes; at least I got out there and started running in the first place. We managed to run/walk 1.76km. I have to keep the positive self-talk up; no one else around here is very supportive, aside from the 6 year old. My husband was surprised I stuck with it for a whole week.

So, why am I running? Oh, that's easy, to get healthy, to be more active and to prove to myself that I can do something. I've set a goal. I'm hoping to do a 5k in April. I could go ahead and register for it now, but what if I give up next week? Better to wait a bit. I'm sure if the 5k I'm shooting for fills up, there will be another one around the same time. If there's one thing people in this area love, it's 5ks. They hold them all the time for a variety of different causes. I'm sure I'll be ready and able to make one of them this year. I'm still training for the April one though; that's my goal.

Here's hoping we all meet our goals this year! (Or get really close.)

One Little Word: Write

2013-01-07T11:42:00.002-06:00

For the past few years, I have been choosing a word to focus on. I first heard about this from Ali Edward's blog. She has a class and lots of posts about it, if you'd like to learn more.

This year, I've chosen the word write. I chose a verb, because I need a reminder to actually do something. I was going to choose do, but that seemed too vague. So, this year, I will write. I will write blog posts. I will write journaling. I will write letters. I will write notes. I will write whatever I feel like writing. I may even write a story. Or a book. Who knows where the year will lead me?

I've started by writing a line a day. Just one line about my day. Every day. I tried this last year, but it wasn't a priority, so I stopped about mid-February. Not this year. This year, I am going to write! I'm also taking pictures every day and writing down a little about them in my photo log. I'll need photographic evidence of the things I plan to write about.

I have many journals, notebooks and the like that I plan to put to good use this year. And I'd really like to do more than write a To Do list in them. Okay, so I may do some of my writing electronically, but that still counts. I'm looking forward to seeing how my writing evolves this year. And my penmanship. I may need to invest in some new writing instruments.

Simple Scrapper December Blog Hop

2012-12-03T07:00:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's already December! This year went by so quickly and had so many twists and turns. December is another busy month for me. My youngest turns 4. I am hosting my family for Christmas. The kids get the last week off from school and the first week of January. We're going to be busy, busy, busy this month!

Just because I'm busy doesn't mean I don't have time to scrap. I've got a couple layouts I created using this month's Simple Scrapper templates.

Credits

Be sure to check out the inspiration the other members of the Design Team are sharing on their blogs today. This list will help to keep you on track.

Margrethe Aas Johnsen

Don't forge to use this link to enter a giveaway for a one-month trial subscription to Simple Scrapper:
http://ow.ly/ctrlx. The winner will be selected at 11:59pm on Tuesday, December 4.

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

What I'm Watching

2012-11-16T17:59:00.001-06:00

photo of our Netflix queue - can you tell I share this with my children?

I've noticed that while the url for this blog includes the phrase "silly geek girl," I don't often talk about traditional geek things. I tend to geek out over scrapbooking stuff, notebooks and food. That doesn't mean I don't have a more traditional geek side, I just don't talk about it as much. I think that should change. So, today I'm going to talk about the geeky stuff I watch on TV. Boring? Maybe.

As a child, I watched whatever my parents watched. Which I think included a lot of cop shows, like Magnum PI, The Commish and Jake and the Fat Man, and the Friday lineup on ABC. I did watch some kids' shows in the afternoons when my parents weren't home; The Secret World of Alex Mack and Clarissa Explains It All on Nickelodeon.

The only sci-fi shows I remember watching are Seaquest DSV, Farscape and Voyager. I did not watch Star Trek: The Next Generation. I don't know if it was on after my bedtime, or if I just wasn't interested in it, or if my parents just didn't watch it. I was only 6 when it first aired. So, I never got into TNG.

As an adult, I kept thinking I've been missing out on something that everyone else as already seen. I do not like feeling left out. I added TNG to my Netflix instant queue to rectify this problem and then promptly forgot about it. After all, there are much more interesting shows to watch, or re-watch, like Supernatural, Eureka, Sherlock, Torchwood and Doctor Who.

Finally, after being a bit miffed by Eureka (yes, I got into the series really late, whatever), I decided to try something different. I tried to watch TNG again. I'm still trying to slog through season 1. I cannot figure out why it's so great, but I'm trying to make it through. I am giving it a chance. Just like I'll go back and finish Eureka when I get over the laziness of the writers and their playing Boggle with the characters. I'm on season 4, so you know, invested and all that.

The funny thing about Star Trek: The Next Generation is that my husband watched it as a kid. I had no idea. He's never mentioned it. I always wondered why he was so resistant to Star Wars, now I know. He was a Trekker. This is also why he got so excited by an Enterprise pizza slicer. That confused me until now. So, he willing watches some episodes with me. It's easier to be motivated to finish something when someone else is taking part with you.

My son, who is 8, has shown some recent interest in sci-fi shows. First in Doctor Who, then Eureka and now in TNG. He came home from school when I was finishing up an episode. I pointed at Wesley Crusher on the screen and told him that was Wil Wheaton from Tabletop. He did not believe me. We had to start another episode and he had to see the name in the opening credits. He got all excited and said, "That is Wil Wheaton!" He's such a goof. He also pointed at Geordi and asked what the actor's name was. I told him LeVar Burton and that I used to watch him on Reading Rainbow as a kid. This prompted him to start singing the Reading Rainbow theme and exclaiming, "I thought that was him!"

Now, I think I have to finish the series, just because there are so many other people watching it with me. This is the first time I've found something that a majority of my family will watch together. The almost 4 year old prefers to watch Doctor Who, but she's giving Star Trek a chance. The 6 year old has no interest in these sorts of things and would rather raid my notebook stash, which is fine by me. I don't expect her to like everything I do.

I guess this wasn't so much what I'm watching on TV, as it is what I'm currently trying to make myself watch on TV. Sometimes I wonder how much of a geek I really am and then I remember that I was an Xbox Live Beta tester and that makes me pretty damn geeky. No, I didn't play D&D growing up. No, I didn't read comic books. No, I didn't watch TNG when it first aired. But I did play video games, got wrapped up in Pokemon, had a serious Powerpuff Girls collection, had a favorite Star Wars movie and read everything in sight. I guess I've always been geeky in a different way.

A post of random thoughts.

2012-10-04T10:21:00.001-05:00

My first grader is home sick today. She’s got some congestion that upset her stomach. Her 3-year-old sister really wants some sister bonding time, but she’s really not up to doing much. So, they’re both sitting on the couch coloring while watching Strawberry Shortcake. It’s working for now, but I better plan some activities for the little one this afternoon. I know my sick girl will want to nap at some point and I’ll need to keep her sister quiet. The 3-year-old doesn’t normally take a nap and I don’t expect her to today.

The boy has football practice tonight, if he finishes his homework. If not, then he gets to sit on the sidelines and watch his team practice without him. It’s been a real struggle to get him to take responsibility for his homework and his reading. We can’t do it for him and he thinks he can wait until the day before it’s due to read for an hour, complete 3 worksheets and take a spelling pretest. Oh, and the day before it’s due is football practice night.

No matter how much I encourage or threaten him to do his homework, nothing works. He throws a temper tantrum that shows how immature he really is and I’m tired of it. If he fails third grade, it’ll be his own fault. I’ve done everything I can to encourage him to do his homework, to make it easier for him to be able to do his homework, to make it beneficial for him to complete his homework earlier in the week. We’ve tried incentives. As soon as he finishes his homework, he can play video games and go outside. The earlier in the week he completes it, the more fun time he has. Instead, he lies on his bed, or on the couch, not doing anything and complaining that he’s bored. It's so frustrating.

My husband recently learned that a close friend of his from high school has been living one street over for the past 2.5 years. The funny thing is that he and his wife are moving out of the neighborhood at the end of this month. The guys are supposed to meet for lunch soon and maybe a friendship will be rekindled. Which would be nice, because you can never have too many friends, right?

I’ve been working on my scrapbooks. I managed to make 5 layouts yesterday. I’m hoping to get a few more done this week. I have so many stories I want to preserve and it’s getting harder to remember them all. Yes, I do jot down little notes when I pull my pictures, but it’s still hard to remember something from 6 months ago with only a little snippet as a reminder.

I’ve printed a couple photo books recently from Shutterfly. It’s always fun to get those in the mail and look through the layouts with the kids. They love to see their layouts in books. I also printed some Instagram pictures as a 2013 calendar poster for my wall. Sadly, I haven’t had the opportunity to hang it up yet. (But you can see it at the top of this post.)

I also need to get my Halloween decorations put up. They were pulled out of the attic, but I’ve only managed to move them into the living room. I’m not quite sure how I want to arrange them this year. My wall art is a bit different from last year and I’m not sure what I’m doing with any of the decorations in my living room. Also, I kinda overlooked Halloween and have been too busy looking at Christmas decoration ideas since we’ll be hosting this year. It’s the first time I’ve ever hosted a holiday and I’m a little freaked out about it.

So, yeah, that’s a little of what’s going on around here this week. If anyone has any Halloween or Christmas decorating ideas, I’m all ears. Or, if you have some words of wisdom to share about how to get a stubborn 3rd grader to do his homework, I am more than interested in listening!

Simple Scrapper September Blog Hop

2012-09-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to be participating in this month's Simple Scrapper Blog Hop! September's sketch templates are so inspiring. I have an example layout I created using one. You can click on it to see the credits in the Two Peas gallery.

I hope you check out the inspiration from the rest of the Simple Scrapper Design Team by clicking on their names below. Don't forget to use this link to enter a giveaway for a one-month trial subscription to Simple Scrapper!

Margrethe Aas Johnsen

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping.

Little Pieces of Art

2012-06-27T10:32:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, my husband, Andy, decided to gift me with a "day off." He took the kids with him to his parents' house and left me at home all alone. We're a one car family, so I was limited to activities around the house. I was instructed not to do the housework, because that's not really a day off. So, not really having a plan, I opened PS and decided to work on some wall art.

I'm not very good to sticking with ideas. Instead, I made little pieces of art. They're too big to be ATCs, but too small to be real wall art. I started the first one by using the art journaling prompt in Tangie Baxter's Explorations in Art Journaling zine.

Created using Free As A Bird by Jenn Barrette and DJB Mandy R

Once I was done with that, I thought I'd make something for Andy. Since I was in a good mood and thinking positive thoughts about him, I came up with this cute PB&J piece. (Which my almost 6 year old daughter claimed for herself when she saw it.)

Created using You and Me Baby 2 by Lauren Grier & Shawna Clingerman and The Chuck Wearer by Heather Hess

I glanced up at my corkboard and realized that football would be starting up soon. We've got signups and camp next month, so I created this for my son. Maybe it'll inspire him to do his best. Or, maybe not.

Created using Sports: Football by Sahlin Studio and And I Quote...Athletes by mandabean

Having created something for the boy, I moved onto making something for the girls. They share a room and I thought I could make something for them to display in there. I also thought they could use a little reminding that they're not that different.

Created using Inner Beauty and And I Quote...Sisters by Mandabean

Four examples of what I do when I have nothing to do. Have you ever sat down and just created something to create something? Something with no purpose? Something that wasn't an assignment or a gift or planned at all? I don't get to often, which is probably why it took me an hour to come up with an idea. I have books and notebooks and magazine full of ideas and inspiration that I want to follow up on, but when I actually have a few hours to do something, I don't know where to start. But, once I jump that first hurdle, I just go wherever the creativity takes me. And, sometimes, I make something fun to share with my family.

For the Love of Notebooks

2012-05-31T16:36:00.001-05:00

I love notebooks. This is a small collection of the ones I haven't used yet. Really. These are just sitting on my shelf waiting for me to put them to good use.

As you can see, there is a variety of styles and sizes. I use them all for different things. The little ones are good for my weekly to do lists or grocery lists. The big ones are good for planning out scrapbook layouts, logging photos and making lists. I like making lists for everything.

If you'll notice, there's also a journal type book up there. A real journal type book. I got that one for my birthday yesterday. It's a Doctor Who inspired journal and I'm thinking about using it as a travel journal. I think it's only fitting. Although, knowing me, I'll try to cram stuff into it and it'll turn into a scrapbook. I think that would be okay too.

Isn't that whale memo notebook the cutest? I found it in the dollar spot at Target. A cute little notebook with a little pen would be perfect for a child who also has a love of notebooks. I would've bought it for my own little notebook lover, but she chose a couple other notebooks - a Hello Kitty one and a Little Miss Princess one. (All from the dollar spot at Target.) She's already put hers to work!

I even documented my love of notebooks on a scrapbook layout in 2010!

layout by me using the kit "She'll be Apples" by Fee Jardine

I can't be the only one who loves to open up a brand new notebook and think of all the possible uses for it. All the things it could hold. All the things I can write or draw within it's covers. There are so many things I want to do, no wonder I'm constantly adding more to my collection!

Getting Real In My Memory Keeping

2012-05-14T15:15:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday! I took last week off from blogging because I was in a funk and I didn’t want that to spill out here. Instead, it found its way into my scrapbooking.

I posted a layout over the weekend that most people probably wouldn’t have posted in public. (Especially if that person has created 70 layouts so far this year and has only shared 28 of them publicly!) I have started doing the challenges at The Lilypad; this month the One Word Challenge is Mother. So, what do I do first? I check Merriam-Webster for a definition. This leads me to find that one of the definitions is “sometimes vulgar.” Not that mothers are vulgar, but that the word can be used in a vulgar fashion; think how Samuel L. Jackson might use the word. Yeah, well, it still got me thinking about my own language and my parenting abilities.

So, I opened a blank page in Photoshop and started typing. I do this often when scrapbooking; it’s very therapeutic. I think of my layouts as pretty journal pages. So, I type and I type and I type. Then, I save it because I can’t find the creative energy to finish the page.

The next day, while enjoying a quiet Mother’s Day at home, I decide to finish my layout. I open it up, hide the journaling, find a picture from our dinner the night before and make a pretty page showcasing my kids. Then I unhide the journaling, format it to fit the page and save it as it is.

I didn’t edit the journaling. I left it how it was, because it was a true reflection of what I was feeling when I wrote it. The page looks happy enough, but the words aren’t nearly as pleasant. I find that this is often the case. I don’t censor myself when I’m journaling. I use my scrapbooking as a creative release. Will my kids be offended that I referred to them as on their way to being narcissistic sociopaths? Probably not. Why? Because they’re my kids; they know me and know that I’m often prone to exaggeration. They’ll also know that I was frustrated with them. A lot has been going on in our lives and no one is perfect, let alone their mother.

I don’t worry about what other people are going to think about my layouts when I’m creating them. I really don’t care. They’re for me. They’re how I deal with things. I used to journal in notebooks, but I like journaling on layouts better, because I get to add stuff to it. My own doodles just aren’t as much fun as digital paint splatters, paper flowers and bits of patterned papers. When I find a challenge that allows me to create something meaningful, I’m ecstatic! I also don’t feel the need to create a new page, if the first one is “too real.”

If you happened upon my layout this weekend, thanks for looking at it! I know that when there’s a large chunk of journaling on a layout, it tends to get more views, because more people want to read what it says. If you didn’t leave a comment (which most did not), thanks for looking anyway! I know that sometimes, it’s hard to find words to leave a comment when the journaling is not what you would expect from the design of the page.If you didn't see it in the galleries, here it is.

Credits

When have you let yourself go and just gotten “real” on a layout? Doesn’t it feel good to get it out?

Day In The Life

2012-04-30T20:15:00.001-05:00

I haven't been so great about taking a photo a day. I've missed a few days, but I'm not going to let it get me down. At least I'm taking more photos than I was this time last year!

If you've been online at all this past week, you might've seen mention of "Week In The Life." I think it was started by Ali Edwards and lots of scrapbookers, photographers and bloggers participate in this personal memory keeping project. I am not very good about following through on something that takes such a big commitment. What can I say? I'm a slacker. So, instead, I did what I've done every other year and completed "Day In The Life." Yep, one day.

I decided to use Instagram for my project this year. So, lots of little square pictures. Okay, not really "lots." More like 29. Seeing how I like to keep things simple, I put all 29 photos on 1 layout. I kept the journaling minimal using only a time stamp and a few words about each picture. There's also a little title, which is the date. Did I mention I used only a background paper and typewriter font for this layout? Yeah, super simple. I wanted to keep the emphasis on the photos that made up my day. I could've split it up into multiple pages all about the different aspects of my day, but I wanted it to be one big representation of my day as a whole.

Thursday, April 26, 2012, was supposed to be a normal day. That's why I picked it. Little did I know that Andy would come home early and mess up my whole day! I didn't mind that he was here, it just showed a different day than the one I thought I was going to document. That's just how life is though!

Have any of you done a week in the life or day in the life project? How did it turn out? I'd love to see some other takes on these kinds of projects. Maybe next year I'll have the stamina to do more than just one day. Maybe I'll do a "weekend in the life."

Meal Planning

2012-04-24T13:49:00.000-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a lot more of the cooking. While I was working, that job fell to Andy. Mostly because our oven was broken for a good chunk of that time and I’m not much of a stove-top cook. I’m more of a throw it in the oven kind of cook. I like to think of myself as a baker. I like to make sweets, breads and meatloaf. If I did help with dinner, it would be to start something in the crockpot or to take something out of the freezer to thaw.

I had tried to take over some of the cooking duties when I felt bored by the same offerings every week. I’d find a recipe that I thought looked good, buy the ingredients and then, if I remembered to make it, no one would eat it. It’s a little hard to want to cook for your family when they hate everything you make for them. So, I let Andy do it. He seemed to know what they would eat and had perfected throwing a meal together in a short amount of time. Granted, we ate a lot of tacos and pizza.

Thankfully, our oven is now fixed and I’ve got time to plan our meals. I’ve decided to bring back some old favorites that we haven’t had in a while, mixing in some standards and some new things. I’m trying to expand their palates without forcing them to eat an entire meal of unknown foods. On Monday, I roasted some fresh asparagus and my 7-year-old actually liked it! The other two, not so much, but they did try it and were perfectly content to eat the other dinner offerings I had fixed. Definitely a win!

Last week, I made Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas, Meatloaf, Hamburgers, Spaghetti with Meatballs and Chili. Andy made hot dogs and chicken tenders on two of the nights. We managed to avoid pizza all week! This week, our menu consists of tacos, Chicken Noodles, chicken tenders, Tortellini, Breakfast and Make-Your-Own Pizzas. It looks similar to last week, but the rest of my family seems to thrive on routine. I’m hoping to add some new dishes slowly. Maybe find some similar to ones we already eat, but a little different.

Is there a dish your family loves? Any suggestions of what I can add to our rotation? It doesn’t have to be an entree. I’ve been branching out a bit more with our sides, like asparagus, fruit salad, bacon cheddar potatoes and fried zucchini. It appears that if I make a few sides, my children will try a little bit of each one and eat what they like. If I manage to get them to eat a wider variety of vegetables, I’ll be happy.

Attitude Adjustment

2012-04-16T20:40:00.001-05:00

In the last week, I've noticed a shift in my mood and attitude. I printed some motivational art and hung it on my refrigerator. My 5-year-old daughter wanted to know what it was and why it was in her usual art spot. I told her it was a reminder that everything will be okay. She smiled and said that was good. She doesn't seem to mind it taking the place of her latest drawing. She's a good kid like that.
I've decided to just "go with the flow." This is not something I am accustomed to doing, but I'm giving it a shot. My version includes eating a lot of sugar, I'm not sure if that's a good thing though.
I've also decided to try doing P365+1, or whatever it's called. I recently added Instagram to my phone and have been trying to take 1 picture a day with it. If you're one of the few people who follow me, I apologize for my randomness, but that's just me. We're still moving right along with our fence building, which is probably why half of my pics are fence related. (see pics above)
My children have even noticed a change in me. This weekend, my 7-year-old son asked me why I wasn't so "RAWR!" anymore. Yes, he really did ask me that, complete with claws. I guess I had been more stressed than I thought. Tonight, after I had cooked a full dinner, complete with a vegetable not dumped out of a can, my son told me I was his "favorite parent" and my daughter agreed and said, "Daddy is the worst!" If you had been here a month ago, you would know how unreal this all seems to me. The 3-year-old is the only one who acted as if she even liked me and that was just because she was with me all the time and had no choice. I'm not sure I want to take over the role of "fun parent," but it might be nice to have some goodwill going into summer vacation. After all, it looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time together.
I've been jotting down ideas of things to do this summer. Keeping 3 children occupied every day is going to be a challenge. I've seen a few Pinterest lists and have been thinking about copying some of their ideas. I think it might do us all some good to have some kind of "schedule,"so we're not all at a loss and totally bored every day. I'm trying to incorporate all the things they like to do. You know, some video games, some science experiments, some reading, a lot of playing outside, some crafty stuff, etc. Hopefully, I'll remember to take lots of pictures and squeeze in some scrapping time.
I want them to have a fun summer like the ones I remember having. I liked spending a lot of time outside and reading. I might have been kind of boring though. I don't want my kids to dread summer vacation. Any ideas of fun things to do with an almost 8-year-old, almost 6-year-old and a 3-year old? What did you like to do when you were a kid on summer break? I could really use some ideas.

Found: Scrapping Mojo

2012-04-09T14:33:00.001-05:00

In the 2 weeks since I lost my job, I've made 15 layouts! Considering I'm still working my way through pictures from November 2011, you can tell that I didn't make a lot of time for working on my scrapbooks when I had a job. Any spare time I had, I spent it with my family. So, lots of memories being made, but not a lot of memory keeping being done.

I thought it might be fun to show you the variety of layouts I've been making these past couple of weeks. I don't post most of my layouts in galleries any more. All the layouts I create for the Simple Scrapper team are online, but the rest are just shared with my family. If you're a Simple Scrapper premium member, you'll have seen a couple of these layouts in this month's inspiration document.

I'm not going to post a list of credits (because it would be a mile long, I'm sure), but if you want to know about a certain product on any of these layouts, feel free to send me an email and I'll get the info to you.

I'm really enjoying being able to scrap when inspiration hits and am having a lot of fun going through my pictures to find the stories in them. I don't expect to keep this pace up for very long though. I know if I try, I'll just get burnt out and I don't want that to happen!

I'm so thankful to have a hobby that allows me to free my mind of my troubles and let me be creative for a bit. Although, I'm thinking I may want to branch out and try some other crafty fun. Anyone have any suggestions? I've never been good at knitting or crocheting, but I'm up for just about anything else!

Trying Times

2012-04-02T09:15:00.001-05:00

It's been a week and I think I can finally talk about this without getting upset.

I found out last Monday, after returning from a week long vacation visiting family over spring break, that I no longer had a job. I had already gone through my hundreds of emails, talked with a teammate about the changes made to my duties while I was away and was working on getting everything caught up. I had been working for 3 hours when my boss called me, with his boss on the line, to give me the news.

To say it came out of nowhere is an understatement. I mean, in this economy, most people find that hard to believe, but I got that job in this economy. I had only been working for 9 months. Also, it was totally not my fault. I was just one of the many people caught up in a second round of layoffs. That's right, they had just gotten done letting people go 2 months earlier, so I thought I was in the clear for at least another 4 months. I knew it was a possibility at some point, but didn't think it would happen so soon.

I'm sure I'm having the same reaction most people do. I've been sad, anxious and angry. I've also been relieved, excited and optimistic. I can finally do all that stuff I was putting off because I didn't have time because I was working all day! I can spend more time with my 3 year old playing games and being Mommy! I will have no money to buy any of the fun things I wanted to do with my kids or purchase anymore cute scrapbook kits or pay the registration fee for online classes I wanted to take, but didn't have the time while I was working. Are we going to be able to pay the bills each month? Will we be able to buy the kids new shoes or clothes? Will the bills get behind again? Like I said, probably the same reaction most people have in this situation.

So, what to do with myself? I guess I've got time to make sure the dishes and laundry are caught up, to run the vacuum once a day, to take my daughter outside to play for more than 15 minutes at a time, to look for another job, to scrapbook the last 5 months of photos in my backlog, to brainstorm summer activities to entertain all 3 of my children... The list can go on forever. There's a lot of things I can be doing. I need to focus on that and not on the fact that our monthly income has been cut by more than half and send myself into another panic attack. At least I wasn't carrying the family's health insurance; that's one plus, right?

So, I ask you, dear readers, what would you do in my situation? If you've been here before, what did you do to get through? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My husband tells me "we'll figure it out; we always do." So, I guess I gotta have faith, huh?

Beginning Sewing

2012-02-14T20:12:00.002-06:00

I like to think I'm crafty. This doesn't necessarily mean that I am though. My husband bought me a sewing machine for Christmas. I had previously been taught how to use a sewing machine by my Grandmother. I think. I'm not sure if she taught me, or if I just started playing with it. Either way, I don't remember anything about them. Not that mine is anything like hers.

So, I have a sewing machine. What am I going to do with it? I started with a simple project. I followed this tutorial at Simple Crafter for a Ribbon Headband. I had bought some ribbon and a package of hair ties. After reading my manual and figuring out how to thread a bobbin, I got to work. The first end went pretty smoothly, but while sewing the second end of the ribbon, my thread kept getting jammed. Turns out, my bobbin had a rough spot on the edge that was catching the thread. Eventually, I got it fixed and finished my headband. It's not perfect, but it's good enough for me.

Since this one turned out okay, I think I'm going to make some for the girls. Their heads are smaller, so I won't have to use as much ribbon. I've got some pretty cute ribbon in my stash already and lots of leftover hair ties. I have a feeling I'm going to be making lots of these in the next few months.

I'd like to learn how to sew some other things as well. If anyone has any tutorials, websites or blogs that you could suggest for a beginner sewer, I would greatly appreciate it if you left a comment linking me up to them!

Anniversary Tradition

2012-01-24T10:50:00.000-06:00

Do you have any anniversary traditions? We have one. For the last 9 years, we've eaten at Taco Bell on our anniversary. Pretty crazy, huh? Definitely not the type of place most people go for their anniversary.

It all started the day of our wedding. We had a small reception with finger foods, but, like most couples at their receptions, we didn't get much time to actually eat. After the wedding, we were starving so we stopped at Taco Bell for dinner. It has now become a tradition. We may go for lunch or dinner, we may have the kids or not, we may go the day before, but we go to Taco Bell every year for our anniversary.

This is one of the few traditions we have. I didn't grow up in a house full of tradition and Andy's not overly sentimental about stuff like this. The fact that we've been doing this for 9 years is just one of those quirky things I love about us.

Does your family have new traditions like this? Or do they have traditions that have been shared through generations? I always love to hear what other families do that are special to them. I've tried to start new traditions with my kids, but some of them just don't take. I'd love to have ideas of more things to try. Although, I'm starting to think that most traditions aren't planned, but happen by accident, like our Taco Bell tradition.

Christmas Memories

2011-12-30T13:58:00.005-06:00

The kids and I spent our Christmas break making memories. Our oven is still broken, so I bought this Gingerbread Village kit instead of baking our own gingerbread houses. I might just do this every year. My gingerbread always turns out too puffy.

We started out by picking who was going to build which house in the village. There were 5 buildings, so we all got to make one. I think the picture I posted is actually the backside of the houses, but we decorated them all the way around. We leave no wall uncovered!

I put all the candies in a mini-muffin tin. I got this idea from Pinterest. I have no idea who came up with the idea. But, I've seen candies, beads and all kinds of other crafty stuff stored in these tins and I thought it would be a good idea to keep the kids from fighting over the bags of goodies and spilling them all over the floor.

I think our village turned out pretty cute. Not that I would want to eat it, but it was a fun craft project. It's hard to get all 3 kids to do one activity without screaming and fighting, so it was a success from my point of view. The cookie decorating didn't go as well, but I guess you can't expect every food craft to be drama free. :]

2011-10-10T15:10:00.000-05:00


Photo by me - copyright © 2011 Mandy Ross

This past week has been a busy one. But, aren't they all? Some changes were made at work concerning my responsibilities. My Grandfather passed away and we had his funeral on Thursday. The kids had football, a field trip, a homecoming parade and the usual homework stuff. My family was up for the funeral, so we got to spend time with them. The kids love it when they come to town. They left Sunday morning, so there wasn't a lot of time for them to spoil my children.

I spent Sunday afternoon shopping and decorating for Halloween. Does that seem slightly morbid? The girls already have their costumes - a witch and Cinderella. The boy won't decide what he wants to be. If he doesn't decide soon, he's going to be whatever I throw together for him. I'm leaning towards Charlie Brown as a ghost from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Maybe he'll get a lot of rocks and maybe he won't take so long to decide next year.

My Halloween tableau (see photo above) seems a little lacking. This is the first year I've really decided to decorate for Halloween, so I'm starting from scratch. I've been browsing Pinterest and blogs looking for ideas. I'm hoping to stumble onto something that's perfect for what I'm trying to do. At this point, I really want to make something to go with it, but I don't know what. Don't you hate it when that happens?

Back to School

2011-08-14T21:30:00.004-05:00

photo by Piotr Lewandowski available at http://www.sxc.hu

It's that time of year. Time for children to go back to school and summer vacation to be over. This year is hard for me. This year, my middle child starts Kindergarten. This year, I will have two children at school. This year, I will only have one child home with me during the day. This year will be different.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for this. It doesn't really matter if I'm ready though. As long as she's ready. She's been wanting to go to school for a year now. She didn't understand why we couldn't let her go at age 4. Why did she have to wait until she was 5?

Now, she doesn't want to go. Now, she tells us she's not ready. Now, she wants to wait. It's so hard, but she' s enrolled. Her school supplies have been bought. She's met her teacher. Seen her classroom. Knows her bus number. I just hope she's prepared.

Her big brother will be there to help her, if she needs him. He'll make sure she gets off the bus at the right stop, unlike his first year when he got off a stop early and had to run home by himself. He'll keep her from getting ran over, like he almost did his first year of school because he didn't look both ways and the car didn't see the bus had stopped. I hope that what he's learned over the past two years will help him help her find her way.

I know she's ready. I know she's just unsure of change. I know it's going to be different. I know we've prepared her for this. I know we'll all need to take some time to adjust. At least I've got 3 more years before I have to do the first day of Kindergarten again.