More time

Since the holidays I feel like I've been in a never ending grumpy slump.  I feel like I have normal days where I feel great- I'm patient with the kids, I am productive, optimistic and happy.  And then I have days on end where I feel antisocial, grumpy, short of temper, irritable and critical.  I can't really pinpoint what's going on... I feel like I'm having a setback, I'm falling back to old habits and not using skills I've worked so hard at building up.

I promise you the world again

Everything within my hands

All the riches one could dream

they will come from me

I've been decluttering and cleaning and I know, from past experience, that this is a coping mechanism.  I do this when I feel out of control.  It is something I can control and get instant gratification from when I feel like other things are beyond my control.  I can't pinpoint what, though, or what has set me off.

I know part of it has to do with the season.  It's winter.  We don't have any snow so its ugly, dead and grey out.

Cause I need more time

Just a few more months and we'll be fine

So say whats on your mind

Cause I can't figure out just what's inside. 

Business is slow.  Wait, no.  Non-existant.  Which stresses me out.  I refuse to give up, but I can't help but feel defeated at the moment.  We have big plans for this year and I'm uncertain as to how those plans will pan out if my hard work and effort into my business does not pan out.   Ryan is stressed.  I am stressed.

I hope that you could understand

That this is not what I had planned

Please don't worry now

It will turn around

And honestly, our house is cluttered.  Just a month past the holidays and my kid again were over-blessed with toys galore.  Everywhere I look there are piles and stacks and bags and boxes of things that need to go here or there.

I'm failing miserably at managing a daily schedule.  I find I don't have time for the things I NEED to do, and I'm spending time on things that aren't a necessity.  I'm not spreading my time out... its gung ho on one thing and one thing only.  I'm failing at micromanaging.  This stresses me out.

So say alright

Cause I know we can make it if we try

I need more time

Just a few more months and we'll be fine. 

Something I have begun recently is Digital Project Life.  So far, 3 weeks in, I am feeling very accomplished and in control of one area of my life that I am desperate to stay on top of.  In addition to feeling good about 2013, I've been able to catch up with multiple weeks from 2012 within the past 2 to 3 weeks.  Sure, these layouts aren't as great as traditional paper layouts with all the artifacts and dimensional goodies, but they're done and I can print and put them in my albums.  I am hoping I can stay on top of this and try to keep it simple.  My family's memories are so important to me and so important to have printed and in an album.  The kids adore looking at their albums, too.

Cause I need more time

Just a few more months and we'll be fine

So say whats on your mind

Cause I can't figure out just what's inside. 

Here are a few of my pages I've created.   And, if you're interested in Digital Scrapbooking or Digital Project Life, shoot me an email (nic073 a-t- yahoo d-o-t com) and I'd love to fill you in on how it works!

Ready, Set.... Weekend!

This weekend I flew solo, as Ryan had a guys weekend up north with 6 of his buddies. They were supposed to snowmobile, but with the lack of snow I think the weekend turned out to be a whole lot of drinking and card playing and just relaxing. Much deserved, though as much as glad as I was that he had a great weekend away, I was glad to have him home. I have not been feeling well (mainly pregnancy related) and am just plain achy, grumpy and exhausted for the most part.

The boys and I had a pretty low key weekend. We finally got a little snow on Friday (which meant terrible driving conditions for the guys, yet not enough for snowmobiling), and the boys played outside for a bit on Saturday morning. In the afternoon, Dave came over to babysit while I spent some time at the cottage scrapbooking with Jane and Jessica. I am so thankful for Such a great father in law who is willing to watch the kids on short notice. I woke up Sat morning sooo crabby and was definitely in need of some me time.

Sunday I woke up in a lot of pain and it was miserable just walking. I was supposed to work in Hudson's class at church but ended up calling in. I felt really bad about it but I knew I wasn't up to getting the boys around, getting myself ready and out the door, plus the bending and squatting and floor sitting I'd need to do with 3 and 4 year olds. Next week hopefully I'll be feeling better.

We ended up just lounging around at home and the boys went outside for a bit I play (and Porter shoveled the sidewalk and driveway for me again. Love that helpful boy!). We made Porters Valentines and addressed them all, and then we all rested for a bit.

Is it just me or does the weekends seem to be flying by faster than ever?! I guess in a way it's a good thing... Gets me closer to my due date! However, I'm pretty much living for my weekends and that (along with my weekday evening shows) is what gets me through the work week lately.

This month is going to fly by I am sure. My mom is in town again this Thursday, V-Day parties etc are Tuesday, we have Monday off of school for Presidents Day and Porters birthday is next Tuesday. That'll bring us up to the 21st.... Close to March!

So, here's to another week. And here is to hoping it flies by!

halfway to the weekend

• The boys and I had dentist appointments yesterday.  It was Hudson's first time and he did great.  He was a bit squirrley in the chair but wasn't scared at all.  Porter went first and Hudson was SO curious about what was going on and he was watching so intently.
• 
  
• The hygienist found a loose tooth in Porter's mouth!  Yippee!  He's sooo excited.  So tell me, parents with toothless children... what is the going rate for a tooth?  I think I remember getting a few quarters.  The hygienist told Porter to request the $5 tooth fairy.  What?!
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• Ryan and I have plans to get away for our anniversary... 3 days and 2 nights up near Frankenmuth. I am SO excited for a few days away from the kids.  It will be nice to have some adult only time, go out to dinner without tantrums and shop without losing children.
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• I've already begun Christmas shopping.  I'm SOO excited to get this holiday going.  Poor Thanksgiving!  LOL!  We are still hosting our annual Thanksgiving dinner here (which we have not planned at.all. ooops!)
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• This past weekend was Girls Weekend at Duck Lake.  Because my mom was visiting (and staying with us that weekend), I missed out on Thursday and Friday night.  I was able to make it for the last evening and ended up staying until about 5pm on Sunday with Lori.  It was nice to get some scrapbook pages done- I haven't scrapped since... uhm... sometime this summer???  I miss it!  I need to SET ASIDE and PLAN a day each month to spend a few hours scrapping.  This is something so important to me and I hate that I've let it slide off my plate.
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• I am 15 weeks pregnant today.  This pregnancy is going by so fast but oh so slow!  I'm huge.  Totally huge belly (and butt and thighs and boobs...).  Yikes.   I'm going to see LeeAnn this weekend to have her scan me and see if she can determine the gender.  I'm still not 100% I want to find out, but then again I'm so excited to find out.  Isn't that so weird?  If she is able to tell, I'm having her put it in an envelope for Ryan and I to open alone at a later date. And, if we decide not to find out, we just leave the envelope sealed.
  
  Don't forget to vote in the ExpectNet poll in my sidebar.... the game name is BabyBarczak3.  I think I'm going to do a prize for the winner... maybe some kind of gift card? 

September Chapters

CHAPTER 1: School/Daycare Transitions
Porter is doing great with Kindergarten.  He is writing his name much neater than he did over the summer (speaking of writing... MUST get back into our Pen Pal writing with Saw-Man!  Sorry Heather....).  He thinks Hot Lunch is great (EWW). He's had some frustration with a friend in class (Gill... which he sometimes calls Finn by mistake... oops... different part of the fish!) calling him "Quarter".  Wow.  Its so funny because that was SO not on the "teasing" radar when we decided on his name.  Porker, sure.  But Quarter?  Okay, so Gill isn't really teasing him, but he can't seem to understand his name is "P"orter.  And he's not the first kid to do this.  So I told Porter... just keep correcting him.  And if he keeps calling you Quarter, well... just call him Fill.  Or Jill.  Or Will.  Porter thought that was hilarious.  So the other night we were talking after bedtime story and he told me Gill wasn't calling him Quarter anymore.  I asked what happened and he said he kept calling him Quarter so he said "My name is POR-ter, not QUAR-ter, okay, Fill?"  And Gill said "My name is Gill!"  And Porter tells him, well, MY name is PORTER!"  HAHAHHAA!  And so Gill gets it right now.

Hudson transitioning back to daycare... not going so hot.  I'm not sure if its just the transition thing, his love for Oma or what... but oh my... the past week has been terrible at drop offs.  He's been worse than he's ever been... crying BEFORE even getting to her driveway.  Mind you, he has fun at Miss Marleen's and she's so good to the kids.  I know for her he's (usually) a good boy (minus this past week)... so I'm not sure what is up with his attitude.  He's usually pissed off because its "Not an Oma Day" so I'm thinking that's the main problem and it usually escalates. Yesterday morning (hell of a morning... I'll write more later) he was crying and kicking and screaming from the driveway in and I had to leave him screaming and kicking.  I got at text saying he was dry heaving for 10min and was carrying on for almost an hour.  When I picked him up I asked if he had a rough morning and he said "I just wanted a hug and kiss, Mom."  AAWW.  I swear I gave him a hug and kiss... but maybe in his tantrum of not wanting to stay he didn't realize it and then it escalated because not only was he staying but he didn't get a hug and kiss (so he thought).  I dunno.  Hopefully Friday's drop off will be easier!

CHAPTER 2: Lunch Love
I'm totally loving packing Porter's lunches this year!  I love the idea of Bento Lunches and all the neat Bento/Laptop Lunch containers available but I wasn't about to shell out $20 for one lunch container and have to wash it every night (or spend $20 x's however many to always have one to use!).  I found Ziploc had a 3-section container that is sold in a 2-pack for under $3.  SCORE!  I really enjoy trying to be creative with his lunches and making sure he has lots of fresh fruit, veggies and good "unpackaged" foods for lunch.  He has recently began loving hardboiled eggs (YUMMM) so I often send him a hardboiled egg, a cutout sandwich, some fruit and a couple muffin wrappers in there with goldfish or a cookie.  Perfect!  I also found (on Pinterest) some great (and free!) printable lunch notes.  He can't really read yet, but I hope he enjoys the little notes!


CHAPTER 3: Septembers' Curse
As much as I love September... the lower temperatures, the fresh air, the leafy breeze.... September seems destined to be a downer month for our family.  Particularly this week. Tuesday was Cathy's Day.  And then yesterday morning...we woke up to no power and then found Ramsey had died in the night.  Let me tell you, telling your 3 and 5 year old their dog they've known since birth had died and went to Heaven is not something fun to do.  Ramsey deserves her own post, as she was our "first baby" and was with our family for 10 years.  I'll write more later. 

CHAPTER 4: Photography
I am completely booked for the rest of 2011 for photography. WOO HOO!  I decided to take on 16 mini sessions (8 in September and 8 in October) and 2 full sessions per month in September, October and November.  I'm booked!  I'm excited but oh my... I know I'm going to be busy.  Especially these past two weeks I've been teaching full time (and lesson planning... which I'm lucky I normally don't have to do w/my Lit Coach job) so I've been behind on photography stuff.  I do have Hudson at Marleen's on Friday's for Preschool (M-W-F) so I think after I go back to Lit Coaching/RTI work I'll continue to take him to Marleen's and use Friday's to work on photography stuff.  Fall is always super busy for me and I'm typically booked... but I'm hoping this year I didn't bite off more than I can chew.  I think by splitting up the mini sessions into two months will help!
 
CHAPTER 5: Scrap Weekend!
I am so so looking forward to our bi-annual Girls Weekend at Duck Lake.  We're going a little later this year so I'm really really anxious for the weekend to come!  I know it'll be here before we know it.  It feels like it has been so long since we've had our Scrap Weekend!  I have a ton to catch up on because, sadly, I rarely scrapped over the summer and I've gotten behind on Project Life.  Hopefully sometime this fall (maybe on my Friday's off?) I can make a little time to catch up.  

CHAPTER 6: School Sickness
Oh my... it is only the 2nd week of school and our family is already fighting off sickness.  We've all had stuffy heads, noses, coughs and on and off sore/scratchy throats.  UGH!  Every September for the past 2 years or so I've suffered awful sinus infections.  I'm pretty sure I'm on my way to one now. 

Dear Sophie

Have you seen this?  What an amazing idea!

Watch what you're thankful for...

Of course it backfires when I decide to be optimistic about the rain and be thankful that it has created such beautiful greenery around us.

It was cold and rainy all. stinkin. weekend. 

This was not good for our plans to put up 4' wood fencing around our yard.  Ryan got about 5 of the post holes dug and posts concreted in, and he also purchased all the fence panels but was unable to get anything else done.  Friday WAS beautiful, I can't complain about that.  Only.... I spent the day... the only gorgeous day of the weekend... doing a garage sale at my sisters.  I made a whopping $60 (ok, so its $60 more than I had before Friday and I didn't have any other plans but to sit around all day anyhow... which is what I did at the garage sale).  I hate garage sales.

Today is sunny but very chilly.  When will it warm up???

What else is new:

• Duncan got his hair lopped off on Friday.  I was so ready for it to be trimmed and ultimately decided to let her go shorter with his hair so we could go a little longer in between haircuts.  It had been 3 months since he was last groomed and that is TOO long.  We're going to try 8 weeks this time.  My word... I spend more on his hair than I do my own!  $55 every 8 weeks??? GAH!  I didn't' realize this when I decided to get a Goldendoodle.  We love him though.  

• Today started out just like a Monday...  I backed into the trailer that Ryan parked in the driveway full of fence panels.  I didn't see it on that side of the van and it is low so I didn't see it in the rearview.  Jacked up my bumper... made a hole in it .  GRR.   Then the vending machine in the lounge was out of water AND pop. And then I found out that while I had been hopeful at the prospect of 2, possibly 3, positions being open at my school next year... it isn't so.  Other people are filtering into those positions and its likely there aren't any openings at the other elementary schools either.  The next few weeks I'm going to get resumes ready and do my annual "turn in your resume to every school around" event.  Ugh.  I'm thinking of applying out of town as well... I hate to do that because of gas and I'd hate to have to commute and cut into my time with my kids. 
  
• I've decided to go back on Zoloft.  Target Pharmacy is filling my scrip as I type I'm sure.  While I've learned a lot of techniques to dealing with my stress/anxiety, I'm finding that the stressful things are piling up and I'm spending more time talking myself down from the stress and spending more time helping myself get through my anxiety than I am enjoying my life.  I think for the time begin I need a little helper and hopefully once life is a little more stable... I'm not working 2 jobs etc... then I'll try ditching them again. 
  
• There are only 4 weeks of school left.... this one being the only full week!  I can't wait for summer. Stressed though as we're about $1200 short  of having enough $$ to cover my checks throughout the summer.  I'll be picking up a few extra photography jobs this summer and trying to stay away from stores as much as possible.
  
• Last week Porter started t-ball.  He has 2 left hand mitts (so, for right hand throwing)... of course he's the opposite. He has practice tonight at 5 and I am not going to be able to get to the store to buy him a new mitt.  Hope he can muster one last practice being backwards HAHA!

And even older news:

• Our second follow-up with Dr. Bloom and Porter's ultrasound (May 2nd) was pretty much inconclusive.... everything looks a-okay inside and he hasn't been having his "episodes" lately so as of now we're doing nothing.  If things start acting up again Dr. Bloom said to call and make an appointment but for now he doesn't see the need to do anything else.
  
  
• During these trips to Mott's, I've really been enjoying my time with Porter.  I need to make more one on one time for each of the boys. They are such special little people and its amazing how their true personalities shine when they are my main focus.  These trips have also made me realize how incredibly lucky and blessed I am that we are only visiting Motts for a simple pee issue.  We have seen so many young children... and babies... with so many battles they are facing.  It makes me really count my blessings and be thankful that our visits here are for simple issues and that my children are healthy. 
  
  
• 3rd Annual Mega Meet/Archiver's trip (May 6th) was great.  This year it was me, Jane, LeeAnn, Jessica, Lori and Cristi that went.  I didn't get many pages done at Archiver's but I did get some great new product.  I was almost ready to back out of the the trip because of my crazy "missing my kids" feelings (oh, and Hudson also barfed Friday morning but we have a fabulous babysitter who said "GO! and I'll take care of it!" Bless you, Sam!).  I'm glad I went.
  
  
• Easter... boy I never blogged Easter.  Well, same as every year... we went to Lori and Don's, had dinner, egg hunt.  Kids played, I napped for a bit, everyone else played Phase 10, took some pictures outside of the monkeys in bunny ears.  Good times all around. 

Scrap Weekend v3.0

Scrapbook Weekend was a success again, as usual.  The normals were there (Jane, LeeAnn, me, Loris and Jessica) minus Katie, and Jane's college friend Meredith came as well.  We all had a great time! I got about 17 scrapbook pages done and I felt SO SO accomplished!  I also got 4 two-page spreads done for the boys' school albums (so I've got the layouts up to 2nd grade done!).  We had WAY too much junk food and did zero planning for meals (although Uncle Forrest did buy us dinner Saturday night!) but it was perfect for us! 

• Loris' aaaaaaaahhhhhh!  on FB:  I think you need more h's and less a's
• Jan!
• I love my box and everything fits perfectly in it!
• Lori being our news and weather reporter all weekend
• Crazy photo booth!
• Mere's tiny penis
• Box is pretty much the topic of the weekend
• Jane's perky ass boobs
• My voicemail to my mom... "The squirrel!!!! WHYYYY!!!!" in a fit of laughter
• Taking a shot... Mere says quietly "1,2,3"
• Nic's pain in the ass order to Applebees
• Stimulating the environment
• And as always... what happens at the cottage stays at the cottage!

Sunday Scraps

New blog fodder for all you scrappers out there.... Check out my creative blog for my Girls' Weekend scrapbook pages as well as a Scrap Challenge!

Mother's Day Weekend: Part 1

Saturday I spent the entire day with some of my favorite girls. We have had this day-trip planned for awhile: the Scrapbook Mega Meet and then an evening at the Mecca of scrapbook stores, Archiver's.

Its a running joke in our little circle that Jane excluded us from her first Mega Meet trip. When she started scrap booking with us we kept seeing really neat items and when we'd ask her where she got them her reply seemed to always be "Mega Meet." In her defense, she went to Mega Meet before she ever started scrapping with us but we like to give her a hard time.

We left bright and early, albeit a little later than planned (ahem ahem Leslie and Jane!) but we were on our way in the mini. We were slightly bummed that Katie decided to pass on the girls day trip and we didn't have our "Extra clean, low miles, nice van" to ride in for old times sake. However, my new mini fit the bill pretty well.

I was giddy with squeals as we walked up to the Mega Meet. It was like having a hundred scrapbook stores right there in one place! We all kind of split up and would meet up and split up again but we made it through all the booths and then went back to our favorites to make purchases. I'm pretty proud of myself as I didn't spend nearly as much as I had anticipated.

Then we went out to lunch at TGI Friday's. Of course there was lots of mom conversation, discussions about our kids, swearing habits, milestones, etc. We chowed some delicious Cobb Salads... of course mine was custom made and Leslie knows me well enough to roll her eyes when I started my order. :)

Archiver's was great... of course we oohed and aahed over all the new goods. We haven't been to Archiver's in forever... what, 7 or 8 months or so? I was pretty productive, unlike normal, and of course we had a ton of laughs and such a good time as always.

There is no other group of moms and friends I'd rather spend an entire day with during Mother's Day weekend. These girls are truly the best...

LeeAnn for being my saving grace and taking such good care of my little guys while I work. I can't repay her enough. I love the friendship we have formed, the marriage/parenting/pregnancy struggles we've confided to eachother and that she is a scrapbook obsessed as I am. She is such a dedicated friend... never lets me down. One of her strongest mom-qualities is her patience... which I am so envious of. I'm on drugs to be half as patient as she is :)

Leslie for being my longest friend of the group. She's my morning call on the way to work... every morning my phone rings around 8:30 and I know its her, calling to chat as I make my way (usually late) to work. We've grown up together and its amazing to have known her through so many stages of our lives. She's an amazingly organized person... and mom... Reyna completely takes after her!

Lori for being such a great sister and friend. I have known her for the past 11 years but its been just the past few years we've really become closer. And this past year and a half even moreso. I love our family get togethers and our "no kids" getaways to the resale shops or scrapbooking. She is such a strong woman and has juggled three little ones so well. Her job as a mom is way more than I could ever handle... at one point she had a newborn, one year old and 2 year old. AND she's a stay at home mom... that earns her kudos in my book :)

Jane for being the friend I never thought I'd have. I remember meeting Jane... as a client of mine... and thinking "Where has she been all of my mom-life?" I had a few close friends who were moms, and I'd started a mom's group in Jackson but the groupmembers were iffy... either ex-strippers or baby daddy drama or whatnot. Just not always the wholesome mom friends I wished to find. And somehow she's evolved into such a great friend and I am so lucky to have her! She is so funny, easygoing, humorous and we love to pick on eachother. She's an amazing mom too, and I love that she isn't afraid to admit that the potty mouths aren't always screened around Grace. Right, you flucking homo?

And the last girlies of the group, Kristin and Jessica. I just met Jessica, so I really can't say much about her... but I'm sure if she keeps hanging out with us crazy ladies she's sure to fit right in. And Kristen... she's not a mom yet but oh, she is going to make an amazing mom one day. She's an awesome preschool teacher and I love hearing her stories. Even though we aren't super close, we kind of go way back... I remember going to Leslie and her family picnic (they're cousins) and we were naughty girls and snuck beer and cigarettes in a backpack and took them up Cascades hill to drink and smoke. Ohhh the rebels we were!

Ok, enough of my sap. Happy Mother's Day to my bestest girlies and to all the other moms (and mom-to-be's) out there!


"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
~Elizabeth Stone

"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylum would be filled with mothers."
~Edgar Watson Howe

"It would seem that something which means poverty, disorder, and violence every single day should be avoided entirely. But the desire to beget children is a natural urge." — Phyllis Diller

Project 365

I have failed at this miserably two years in a row... but I thought I'd post this link to this AWESOME scrapbook kit I found.... its 10% off right now and the pictures look sooo cool! . Check out Becky's blog for more info and Q&A's.

Here is a sample from Maggie Holmes:

Scrap Night or Social Night?

As we enter the holiday season, we have quite a few dates that we're entertaining. We're hosting Thanksgiving and also dinner with Ryan's family on Christmas Eve. I'm also contemplating a New Years Eve pot-luck. I'd probably throw in a few more dates if I could afford it... I'm so excited to have a home that we can entertain in!

I've also been hosting scrapbook nights at our house... we have a full basement that we've been using. Tonight was the second scrapbook night and I spent the day getting the house ready (even though no one spent much time in the upstairs of the house) and preparing to have snacks and drinks while scrapping. It occurred to me, while I was stock piling ice cubes into Ziploc bags, that perhaps I'm into this whole "scrapbook night" as a way to just have girlfriends over and to socialize. And well, what's wrong with that? It fulfills my desire to entertain in small increments.

I always have a great time with the girls whenever we scrap. We always are laughing at something or another, we always have great conversation and we even manage to throw together a scrapbook page or two! I love this little "scrapbook group" we've molded into and I love that its made up of many friends from many different circles and we all mesh together so well.

Tonight our group consisted of Lori, LeeAnn, Jane and my friend/co-worker Gina. We had a great time listening to Dave, O.A.R, Hootie and the Blowshitfish and other Pandora picks, mopping up Gina's spilled margarita, stuffing our faces with leftover Halloween candy and chit chatting about tv, kids, husbands, friends, blogging, and life in general.

Thank you, ladies, for a great social tradition that I truly cherish!

Scrap Sunday...

Last night I got one measly page done. Too much gabbing from the 5 of us girls.

My mom stayed the night with me to ward off any boogymen LOL! I'm such a chicken.

This morning I woke up and got 4 scrapbook pages done! I uploaded them here (along with some pages from the last time I was at Archiver's...)

Hope you're having a great weekend! I'm still waiting for my boys to get home... we're going to Lukas' birthday party at 4.

Blogging and Scrapbooking: Relive your life through your words and pictures

Whenever I look back through my scrapbooks, whether it be pre-kids or from when Porter was a baby, I always thank God that I picked up this hobby. This art. This life record keeper. I feel the same way about blogging- as it really is just a quick-spur-of-the-moment-sans-creativity scrapbook. I absolutely love to read back on my life before Porter was born, and to read back on things that Porter did/said months and years ago. I love the art that goes along with scrapbooking- how you can make your picture and story come to life. I love that I am "publishing" these stories and events and pictures and moments and memories forever and ever. For me. For them. For my grandchildren and great great grandchildren.

After my children and husband, my scrapbooks and pictures are my absolute most valued items I have. I would be devastated if I lost either of them. Michelle Sauer just lost everything on their harddrive- including the last 3 years of pictures. I emailed her and she said "I've never been more thankful that I scrap and blog!" Because, although its sickening to think that all those moments are gone, at least she has a bulk of those memories in her scrapbooks and on her blog.

I always try to get new people to blog and scrapbook- and I often get the response "But I don't have anything to write about" or "But I'm not creative... I don't have anything good to scrap." Aww, baloney! You have your LIFE, is what I think. Your scrapbook, your blog, doesn't have to be super creative or super funny or super anything. Its your journal. Your story. Your life. A record of all that. And I know many people who have begun scrapping or blogging (Les!) and they now, months and months later, say that they are so thankful they did.

I guess there's no real reason for this post- I just was thinking today how much I treasure my scrapbooks and my blogs and that I'm so thankful to have those memories crisp and vivid and written down and documented. I guess maybe if this post convinces just one person to blog/journal/scrapbook it'll have a purpose, right?

Breaking up is hard to do

Or not, in this case.

Last night some of us scrappers went to Archiver's in Novi. I'd been to Archivers in St. Louis and loved it, so it was no surprise that I loved their crop.

We were totally pampered. The crop was $15 and it included a yummy Chicken Pita dinner from a local restaurant and a little scrap kit. We had our own 'hostess' and she was super nice and helpful. She let us try out some products we had questions about, she kept the fridge filled with pop and the counter filled with snacks. When we went on break, she even let us know and told us who was "covering" for her. How awesome is that? It was like our very own scrapbook waitress!

The store was amazing, which is probably the main reason we all loved it. We felt like deprived little scrappers- oohing and aahing at all this "new" product we'd never seen.

See, the scrapbook store in Chelsea is nice and all, mostly because its large and nearby. However, the staff isn't all that friendly or ambitious to help you out with new product. They actually crop during that time themselves. And they rarely have new product. While the lack of new product does keep our checkout bills in check, it'd be nice to have new product to spark some new ideas rather than seeing the same stuff on the shelves month after month.

So... I think its time to break up with Scrapbook Memories. Or at least add more visits to Novi into our montly scrapping rotation. I wish there was a nice way to inform SM how they could "step it up" and stay competitive and keep their customers happy.

*** ETA... I do have pictures... but I forgot my card reader at my mom's house (we're staying at Ry's parents until we close on our house on Monday- they're out of town for the weekend). I'll add those later, I promise. We took a picture with the Archiver's sign! For now... Kristin posted a few pics.

And... I forgot the BIG excitement of the night. Oh boy. Oh boy!

Here we go.... now, we're getting ready to leave. We pile in Jane's Mariner and Leslie (who parked her new van behind Jane in the driveway) asked if she should move her van so Adam (Jane's husband) could park in the driveway. Jane said no and after we all piled in and got buckled, she began to back out of the driveway.

I started to think "Hey.... did Leslie move her van?" (I had been chatting with Maria about my frazzled day) and then I thought... 'No, she didn't move her van... hmm... maybe Jane is backing up so she can pull forward and back up around the van' I turned around to look behind us, and just as I was able to crane my neck around our piled up bags of scrapbook stuff we heard it. CRUNCH! Jane had backed into Leslie's new van!

We were all shocked and couldn't believe it. Maria and I were laughing (not at either of them) because we've done the same thing or similar a time or two ourselves. So, needless to say, we didn't get out of Jackson quite as early as we thought we would! Luckily, though, neither the van or Jane's car was hurt all that bad... just a little scratched/cracked bumpers.

I hate titles.

I hate coming up with a title. Especially when I really have nothing much to say but a rundown of my day.

I'm sitting here procrastinating putting Porter down for a nap. I had a doctor's appointment today and then we ran to Target to pick up a few baby items. Then my brain started to overflow with the amount of gifts we need to purchase (Mother's Day, birthdays etc...). I've put things off this year, and now its the last minute and quite honestly I forgot Mother's Day was even this weekend... until someone in the lounge mentioned it and I realized I needed to get my ass in gear and get my class' Mother's Day projects done to be sent home Thursday. GAH!

My grandma is coming over at 1:30 to sit with Porter until Ryan comes home. Tonight I'm going to my last scrapbook night before Hudson is born. I honestly really have no ambition to scrapbook but I really, really just need a night out of the house and away from Porter and our clutter here. I feel like Ryan hasn't been home much in the past few weeks... he is taking classes 3 nights a week (although he recently dropped one last week in the middle of the semester... not smart) and he also joined a golf league on Thursday nights. He needs down time too, but then the more I think about it I think oooh.. that'd be like me planning a once a week scrapbook night and I'd personally feel so guilty about being gone on a "me" night every single week.

Anyhow... I guess my gist is that I've been home and lonely for four nights a week, on top of being 9 months pregnant and freaking tired and achy as hell, chasing after an in-the-middle-of-terrible-twos-toddler, and stressed about if our house is really, truly going to sell and if the house we want will still be available and trying to keep our house clean and somewhat organized. So, even though I really don't have any ambition to scrapbook, I'm going anyway. I need to just get away and de-stress. I might have to re-think the once a week scrapbook night if Ryan keeps up with his golf every week. If he can be gone, why can't I?

Were you wondering?

I've been MIA for a bit, huh?

You can always tell when I have drama in my life... I tend to back off the blogging if its an issue I can't really blog about. I'm in the process of "renting a secret pink apartment" and becoming an anonymous blogger so I can vent about issues that I don't care for anyone who knows me to read about. Blogging/journaling is so very therapeutic for me, and I just need a place that I can have people empathize and respond who don't know me personally.

We've had a great weekend here. I'll do a little recap:

Friday: April's Girls Night Scrapbooking. We always seem to have bad weather on our scrapbook nights, and Friday we were under a Tornado Warning. Didn't faze us much... we just joked about how we'd all be dodging for cover and attempting to protect our hundreds and thousands of dollars of scrapbook product. There were 10 of us there Friday... the group is getting bigger and bigger! I was lacking mojo and only finished 5 pages, but over the weekend I completed 2 more, so that's a bonus. I love how our scrapbook nights kind of kick me into gear and I'm on a scrapbook high for a few days. Makes for some productivity, at least.

Saturday: I had my last maternity session in Ann Arbor. It went really well. She's pregnant with twins, and her newborn session will be my first twin session. I'm super excited about that.

After my session I headed to the Children's Orchard to check out their summer clothes for Porter and Hudson. I found a few cute one piece short outfits for Hudson and scored a Kidorable Frog Raincoat (new: $30) for $6.99 for Porter.

Today we took Porter to see the Bee Movie. It was his first time going to the theater and he was really excited. All morning he kept saying "I going to the Bee Movie! Hey, Ramsey Kate, you wanna go see Bee Movie with me?" (Ramsey Kate is the dog, btw... yeah, she has a middle name that Porter has just picked up on LOL!). We followed LeeAnn's advice on how to time getting the tickets and it worked beautifully.

We got there at 9:45 and as I entered they called that the were sold out of the 10:00 showing. I picked up our tickets for the 11:00 show and we headed to Target to get snacks. We went back at 10:40, got some great seats, let Porter wander around and people watch, got our popcorn/pop and we were all set for the show! He did great up until the intermission, and once we returned from intermission his attention span was fading quickly. I don't blame him... that was the part of the movie where the Bee was taking the Humans to court... how boring for a 2 year old. No action! So, we left probably 25 minutes before the show ended.

Ryan and I were wanting to go see Juno at the Michigan Theatre at 1:00, but by the time we got home I was exhausted and hadn't been feeling well all morning (having weird/sharp stomach pains) and I crashed on the couch once we got home.

It was sunny out today, although chilly, and after dinner the three of us took the "durls" for a walk. Poor dogs haven't been out on a walk in forever... they didn't know what to do with themselves. Since the weather is getting nicer, we're going to try to start going on family walks on Sunday and Thursday evenings (Ry has class M,Tu,Wed) and take the dogs with us.

Anyhow... I have about an hour before I go watch Desperate Housewives (we DVR it and Ry calls me up at 9:30 so we can start watching it and skip all the commercials), so I'm going to try to bust out another scrapbook page tonight and then go watch my show! I'm so excited its back on!

Weekend Update

So I left you hanging with my day from hell. Only, I never really filled in the rest just that SH (today it can be Special Husband as its his birthday... but we'll dig in more on the SH thing later...) was being less than nice.

Porter and I never made it to his doctor's appt at 9:30 Friday. I called at 9:28 and told them "I have an appt in 2 minutes. I can come late or do you want me to reschedule." They rescheduled me for next week. Hopefully next Friday will be a better day.

Then Porter and I ran into town to the bank. I have the Durango (as the Santa Fe is still in the shop being possessed) and we'd had a dump of snow Thursday so I put it in 4WD. I'm not used to driving a rear-wheel drive vehicle so 4WD is easier for me to handle when the roads are bad. Anyhow, I'm driving and whenever I try to go over 25mph the RPM's shoot up to over 4... almost to the red mark. That can't be good. So I pull into a neighborhood and at this point I notice Porter had fallen asleep less than 5 minutes into our trip. Nice. He was *supposed* to nap for my grandma in the afternoon so I could leave at 1:30 to scrapbook.

Back to the truck... I try to take it OUT of 4WD and its stuck. I can NOT get it to budge. I also realize I can't really drive 20mph all day and I had no idea what to do. I called Ry's work and one of the guys answered and was a bit rude and said Ry "probably wasn't around since he didn't answer teh phone himself". UGH. So I hung up and started BAWLING. I could barely bend my pregnant belly over to try to push the 4WD gear, and I had no idea what to do or how to get anywhere. Ry called back and talked me out of my hysteria and helped me get into the right gear (turns out I was in 4 low and I needed to be in 4 high... go figure).

Anyhow, I then went to Ry's work because I couldn't get it out of 4high and into 2wd. He hopped in the Durango, moved the gear and gave me the death stare because "It slid right into gear! What was the problem!?" So, again I'm bawling because he's being rude about something that I HONESTLY could not get the gear to move. Ugh.

Then... my albums from 2Peas arrive, which was great... only one of my albums has a box cutter slash on the cover. And I called them to get it replaced and got a machine saying their hours were from 8:30am to 4:30pm Central time. Well... it was 1:30pm Eastern time, and they SHOULD have been open.

Oh well.

LeeAnn picked me up and I vented to her the whole way to Chelsea (thank you for listing to my ranting!) and then we all had a great afternoon/evening cropping. There were 9 of us there: Me, LeeAnn, Lori, Zoe, Leslie, Kristin, Coleen, Maria and Maria. I ended up getting 7 pages done and I also won a $5 gift card in the drawing that night. YAY!

The ride home was hell... we drove 25mph the whole way as the roads were TERRIBLE. A complete glossy sheet of ice and the snow was coming down so hard you couldn't see the side of the road or anything. Luckily we all made it home safely.

We're going back in 2 weeks and I can't wait. Then two weeks later it'll be Chicago. I'm soo looking forward to those weekends.

SATURDAY
Saturday we spent the day home. Porter was running a fever between 102* and 103* all day and he was miserable and cranky and not feeling well. He coughed non stop all day. I felt so bad for him.

TODAY is Ryan's birthday... Happy 27th! He's still lounging around and we're all in our pj's and just relaxing. I want to tackle Hudson's room and attempt to get that a little more organized. Laundry is almost done. Yesterday I rented three movies for Porter (Land Before Time, Ice Age and Home on the Range). Home on the Range is annoying and ridiculous. P liked Land Before Time a lot, and Ice Age... ehh that was so-so. We'll probably keep the movies going today and just lounge around and relax and try to get the little guy feeling better.

I'll post some other posts today... hopefully more interesting stuff than my boring, uneventful weekend.

Album decision

Not much to write today... I was a slacker all day on the mom front... the tv and Monsters Inc entertained Porter for most of the day. We did manage to play play-doh and have lunch together but he was so whiny and I'm so irritable that I just wanted to be away.

So, I thought instead of griping about my neverending crankiness that I'd write about my album decision. I've decided that each of the boys will get a First Year album (consisting of significant layouts and monthly growth/development layouts from their first year) as well as a Birthday Album (consisting of a collage layout from each birthday as well as a page or two or three from each birthday of significant pictures). I ordered two of these albums for Porter and two of these albums for Hudson.

I will be using the 4 or 5 black spine American Crafts Modern Albums that I have for my "yearly" family albums, in which all other layouts will go into in chronological order. I'll probably need to stock up on more of those as I think each year will end up being split into two albums.

I also have decided to start a Christmas Album. Each Christmas (starting from last year) I do a collage of pictures from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and any other family get together. So, those will go in the Christmas Album as well as the kids pictures with Santa Clause. Maybe a few others if I feel inclined, but those may just go in the Family Albums.

So... thats the verdict so far. Hopefully I will find that this works out well. I now need to go through P's first year layouts and sort them into "Family" and "First Year".... his first year takes up 2.5 albums and I still have a ton of pics I *could* scrap from his first year. My oh my! I'll just have to be selective as to what goes into his first year album... the monthly layouts and maybe a few from each month. The rest I'll put into the annual family albums. I guess....

Scrapbook Book Dilemma

I'm so confused about what to do with my scrapbooks... as far as organizing them. See, before kids (BK), I just kept them in albums by the year. Meaning, 2003, 2004 etc etc. When Porter was born, in 2006, he dominated 99% of my layouts so I just kept them in an album (err...actually 2). My 2006 album: really tiny. Porter's albums for 2006: overflowing.

I then thought I'd do this: Porter gets a "First Year" album (actually 2) and then after that all pages go into chronological albums... ie... by the year- 2007, 2008 etc.

Now, that would work fine, only we have another baby coming into the picture. So, I could do just a 1st year album for BBB#2 (that's Baby Boy Barczak #2... don't go thinking we named him B___ B____ Barczak LOL!), and then after his first year continue on the chronological ordering.

However.... during each of their first years, the "family/chronological" album dwindles... how do I separate what goes into the "family/chronological" album and what goes in just their first year album?

Then, I came up with idea #2, which is somewhat how Ryan thinks I should do it....
-Both boys get their own albums, in which all pages that relate to them go in there
-We have a family album that is for pages that document family gatherings/holidays etc

This would be a good idea, but then what about pages that have BOTH boys in the picture? What about pictures of the 4 of us... do the boys' albums just not have those pictures in it? Do I print doubles of family pics and do duplicate pages? What about holidays... the boys' albums would just not have holiday/family pics in it as those would go in the family album?

Ugh. I just don't know how to keep this all organized.

So, let me recap:

Idea #1: All albums are organized by year, all pictures go in corresponding year album. Each child will get a "First Year" album in which it includes layouts from their first year.
Cons: How do I decide what layouts during their first year to include in the family/year album so that the family/year album isn't void of that child's pictures during his first year?

Idea #2: Keep albums separated: Each child gets their own albums and the family gets another album.
Cons: How do I separate family layouts from kid layouts.... what if the layout includes pics of dad and Porter... does that constitute family or Porter book? What about pics with both boys? What about holidays... how do the boys' books not end up void of holiday/special event layouts?

The pages

The first 6 pages here are the ones I completed last night. I'm pretty happy with most of them, although I wish I had access to a computer and printer at crops so I could do some computer journaling and print it off that way.

Some of the colors are way off, and I took pictures of these so not all of them appear exactly straight like they are. Some look like they're uneven. Oh well.







The rest of these are from the past 3 months or so. I'm not sure if I have uploaded any of these so far or not.