Good grief…I am a complete and total slacker with my blog. Jen has inspired to get back out there and start journaling again…just write down my thoughts and musings. If nothing else, I can leave my mark and memories for my children (and anyone else that might be slightly interested in reading them).
I am going to think more about this and make a pledge to write more tonight…baby steps but I will at least update where I’m at and what’s going on in my life. Looking forward to it! See you soon! 
Here’s another name frame that I made for Bella’s adorable teacher, Ms Boggio (or “BOGO” as Bella lovingly calls her)…I feel so blessed that my children have such wonderful women in their lives for the four days a week that I kiss them goodbye. It really makes saying goodbye a lot easier when you know that they are not only in wonderful hands but also in warm hearts.
Here’s Ms BOGO’s name frame…
Incidentally, these frames that I used are only $3 at Walmart! What a steal! They are the perfect shape and size. I used chipboard for the letters and covered them with SU Doubled Sided Designer Paper (DSP) and then sanded them down around the edges. I absolutely LOVE the way the flower looks behind the “O” (from the SU Pretties Kit)! Precious, just like her!
Name frames are a really nice way to show someone that you care and they are very, very appreciated. They are not difficult but you should leave yourself about 2 hours just to play and create. They are really a fun, fun project!
On a different, non-stamping note, we went to my MIL’s house tonight for dinner and to meet the newest member of our ever-growing family…William Michael Nelson. Our newest nephew is a just a precious little peanut. It’s amazing how tiny newborns are…he makes my little Bella look like a monster! Here’s a picture of the little sweetheart.
As much as I love my perfect little family and don’t have much desire to have any more children (we all have our weak moments, right?!), there is really something so delicious about holding a newborn baby. The sounds they make, the faces they make, the way they seem to study your face so intently and my favority, the way their tiny little fingers curl around yours…just precious. I miss those days already but I will live vicariously through my sisters-in-law and many pregnant friends. As Mikey loves to say whenever someone welcomes a new baby into their family…
“Better them than us.” Sigh…
As you may or may not know about me, I am an avid stamper. It started about two years ago when my friend Michelle Schuler dragged me to a Stampin’ Up party…and I do mean DRAGGED. I had just started scrapbooking at that time and I absolutely did not think I liked stamping. I thought that it was too difficult to get the stamps straight and required way too much creativity. Hell, at that time it was taking me 2 hours to get just one scrapbook page finished!!! (Way before the days of digital scrapping for me but that’s another post for another day…)
In any case, I went to the SU party and was instantly intrigued. It was amazing the beautiful, crafty projects that the demonstrator showed and she made it look SO easy! When we broke out into small groups and did our own projects, my hands met rubber and ink and I was hooked immediately! There is just such a gratification in papercrafting and seeing your images and imagination come to life. After a round of Club with my future Upline and about $800 in stamps and ink, I decided to take the plunge and sign up as a Stampin’ Up demonstrator. I have not looked back since!
It has been more rewarding than I ever could have imagined. I have been able to fulfill my dream of teaching (and to adults, whom I have MUCH more patience with than my children!) and crafting. I have met more wonderful women than I ever dreamed possible and really look forward to our Club meetings every month. They inspire me to continue creating and learning so that I can pass the knowledge to them. That alone is one of the most rewarding parts of this “job” – the smile on someone’s face when they achieve pure bliss after it all comes together on paper. Ahh…sweet serendipity.
I’d like to show some of my most recent projects to you – Name Frames. These have been around forever but they are new to me. I had a class in November where each participant made one and they were all so unique and so gorgeous! That inspired me to make one for each of my kids’ preschool teachers (three total) for Christmas presents. My son’s teacher actually cried when I gave it to her…it was amazing. She said that no parent had ever done something so personal and so thoughtful for her and that she was truly so touched by the effort. That, my friends, is the reason I love stamping. There’s not many presents that will move a person to tears simply by the kind thought associated with it…it cost me much more time than money and it was worth every single second that I spent creating the perfect name frame for them. The director of the preschool even commissioned me to make one for another pregnant teacher at their school whose baby shower was coming up! What a compliment, right? I was thrilled and it has helped me get my name out there as one of the “crafty moms” in the school – I’m hoping I can help out much more around there as time allows!
Anyway, enough rambling…here are some pictures of the completed name frames. Feel free to comment and leave any questions you may have. I’ll be happy to share details with you.
Okay, this one took me a little bit longer b/c there were so many more pictures to edit, download and then play with! But here’s the photo montage for Trey’s 4th birthday party…better late than never, right?!?! I love how it turned out! The music is hilariously perfect for the party!
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/share_skin?work_id=5248717&type=embed
Let’s see if this works!
http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/share_skin?work_id=5240422&type=embed
Wow! I have linked my first video! I am very excited about this little find. What a cool website! www.onetruemedia.com Such fun. It only took me about 15 minutes to make the above little video…I will definitely be making more of these and having them made into DVD’s for my kids. I’ve been such a slacker with my scrapbooking and this is an easy way to get a little bit more caught up and be able to share our memories in multi-media with friends and family. The next one I’m going to work on will be Trey’s fourth birthday. I know he will love to watch it over and over again.
I must tell you – I have been a SLACKER with this blog. That is going to stop! The past 3 weeks have been ridiculously busy with work and life in general. I told Mikey today that I need to take more time to do the things that really matter to me and documenting my life and family and our photos in something that really matters to me. It really does. And I feel so much more blessed and appreciative when I take the time to stop and smell all the roses that I have in my life. And there are so many.
While at the spa today (sigh…), I had the opportunity to read an excellent article that really sums up my feelings about blogging (or what I think my feelings are). It’s in the February 2008 issue of WonderTime and is written by Catherine Newman (who maintains a very entertaining blog on her experiences as a mother on http://www.wondertime.com/).
“Blogging is the underbelly of scrapbooking, its tantruming, scatalogical doppelganger. In the scrapbook version of summer vacation, I would paste together a sunny collage of sea and sand and smiling kids. In the blog version, I might be more inclined to mention the steaming beach Port-A-John, where the final quarter of Birdy’s sandwich ended up tumbling into the reeking blackness. If scrapbooking is the urge to put it all together, blogging might be the urge to take it all apart. Blogging might not make life tidier, but it keeps life in your memory, and keeps it real.”
“Writing helps me pay attention as the years fly by. I’m forever scrawling notes on Target receipts about things the kids say. I think blogging actually makes me a better parent because I feel like I’m being watched, even if the feeling is self-imposed. It’s like the way I’m a better parent when there are guests in the house. Maybe you could describe it as a feeling like there are guests in my psyche.”
“Writing gives me a way to step back from my life and really see it. To connect the dots so I can tell the story the way I feel it, even though, my God, there are a million true ways to tell any story.”
Thanks, Catherine…I couldn’t have said it any better myself. My sentiments exactly.
Off I go to bed…I have a splitting headache which I’ve been nursing all day, not to mention a husband who is limping around like a cripple. With both kids in bed and some peace, I think I need to take advantage of some Tylenol PM and say goodnight.
Until then…
I have really given this a lot of thought today b/c I want to make sure this blog has a “purpose” but one that is most useful to me! Here are the things I hope to accomplish with this blog…
So I guess that sums up the reasons why I’d like to blog.
I’ll have to give more thought to my Part Two of my Goals b/c I need to do some Parenting Goals and Work Goals. Perhaps some Marriage & Family Goals as well…those are the ones where I will give the most thought b/c they are the ones that I hold closest to my heart. Not to say Fitness is not close to my heart but…hell, who am I kidding! It’s not close to my heart at all! It’s just a necessary evil.
Anyway, off to a morning at the spa tomorrow with Linda & Jen to celebrate Baby Eli’s arrival any day now. Ahhh…life is tough. And Lord knows that I need a massage something awful. Congratulations to Candace on her baby’s arrival today as well! Can’t wait to see the pictures of the newest little ADPi legacy.
Until then…
And by exciting, I mean…EXHAUSTING!
Well, I’ve already broken my “healthy eating” goal today as I devoured a Nestle Crunch Crisp chocolate bar. Holy cow – that is the most amazing chocolate bar! I love it. Oh well, I figured I deserved it since I spent the better half of the night in the ER with Mikey yesterday. He pulled out his back and after hours of pain and waiting 5 hours in the ER waiting room, we found out that he has 2 fractures in his bottom lumbar bone and only has half the space he should have between it and the disc. Poor guy has been limping around, just doped on pain killers and muscle relaxers. The doctors expect a recovery from this injury in the next 2 days and he just has to be very careful with his exercise, activity, etc. now that he has “reinjured” his back.
Needless to say, I have not put much thought into my next round of Goals for the year but hope to do it tonight. Until then…
Okay, every year I get a little bit lofty with my exercise and fitness goals. I go overboard and then end up deserting them by the middle of the month. My intentions are good but my motivation just has not been there. Well, this year is going to be DIFFERENT! I am going to spend some time and money getting and keeping myself in shape. I want to be able to go out on our boat this summer and be proud of myself and not be embarrassed to wear a two-piece! I feel so vain sometimes caring about that but for the first time in my life, I am not happy with my body. It’s a really crappy feeling that I intend to change!
So…all that being said, here are my realistic (I think, I hope) fitness goals for this year:
1. Exercise 3 times a week for 3o minutes, minimum. Start out with cardio to lose some weight and then add in some strength training/Pilates by March.
2. Do some “Once A Month Cooking”/freezer meals. Make an effort to make them healthier but convenient so we eat out less and it’s easier to get dinner on the table during the week.
3. Keep Recipezaar account updated (www.recipezaar.com) – my favorite site for new recipes and to keep my cookbook organized! This place is awesome and I’ve gotten so many keepers there. But it’s important to stay on top of it so that I can do my menu planning more easily.
4. Eat out only two times per week – saves calories and money!!!
5. Add fruits to my diet (one piece in the morning for breakfast or for an afternoon snack) and have at least 2 servings of veggies per day. Eat vegetable soup for lunch more! Also, add beans to our diet more regularly.
6. Keep the pantry, fridge and freezer cleaned out. Use what we have! Once per month, take stock of what we have and plan menus around it.
I think that’s pretty good aspirations for now…I’ll edit if I think I’ve missed any. I really feel like these are attainable and are ones that I can commit to. Wish me luck!
I’m not really one for “New Year’s Resolutions” b/c I am such a goal-oriented person…at least I try to be. That’s why I am going to go ahead and post my goals for 2008 this year…once I actually decide them. I’m going to work on them tonight and tomorrow and then I am COMMITTING to getting them on to this blog by tomorrow night. I know one of my goals will be journal by blogging, since I will probably never manage to stay up to date with digital scrapping. I think it’s important I be honest with myself this year and set high goals, but realistic ones. Scrapbooking needs to be fun and not a chore so that’s where the blog comes in!
Off I go to start thinking and committing…I am excited about this journey! And about this new world to me.
