My Life as it Should Be

Two New Digital Scrapbook Pages

This past weekend Tony was away in California so the kids and I had fun on a beautiful Saturday afternoon washing the car!  Of course they like using the hose to spray the car and helping to wash, but what they really like is to play with the bucket an in the bucket!  I don't know why anyone would intentionally sit in dirty, soapy water but they love it!  I got a couple cute shots of them and picked the best one of them together to highlight on this scrapbook page.         I started with a template by Katie Pertiet (new this weekend at Designer Digitals), altered it slightly and added a couple other elements to finish it off. Pretty simple!  Full credits are here.

Here are a few more pictures of the fun time they had!

And one more layout from this past week. Journaling reads: "Alex’s class was releasing lady bugs when I arrived at school. There were still a lot of lady bugs in the grass around where they had let them go and Alex captured about five before we left. Her plan was to keep them in her hand until we got home, but we were stopping at Target so she stashed them in an empty water bottle for a while. She was concerned because the bugs were getting stuck in the leftover water, but they all survived. She kept them for a couple hours and then let all but two go free"  And... "Alex has such a pretty smile when it is a “real” smile which it is here! It was my idea to try to get a picture with the lady bug on her nose, but the lady bug was not cooperating with us at all!"  Full credits can be found here.

 

A Funny Thing About Cleaning

When I had my Miche Bag party several weeks ago I spent most of the day prior to the party cleaning the house. I guess this is a normal activity to do before having guests in your home. I cleaned off the kitchen island, picked up all the kids' toys (downstairs at least), swept the floor, made sure all the dishes were clean and out of the sink, and cleaned the downstairs bathroom. But I did spend ALL DAY getting this done. When I was talking to Tony about it later he confessed that he thought he would come home that evening and have to help me get the house tidy... and then (the funny thing) he said "It's amazing what you can do when you apply yourself." Well of course if I spend all day cleaning, getting nothing else done, then YES, I can get a lot done. But this is no way to spend the day on a normal basis.

What frustrates me about cleaning is that even when you do a good job at it, the dirt and dishes and toys and clutter all come back! And you just have to do it all again. I know if I had a better system then this would all go a little more smoothly, but I don't yet. The other frustrating thing is that there is more to do in the house then just the normal cleaning... there is the clutter clearing and organizing I would like to get done when I have the time. But when I do find time for cleaning it is always the "normal" things that must get done first - like the laundry and the bathrooms and the floors/vacuuming!  By the time that is finished I am usually either too tired to do more or I am out of time! Now I realize I am not the first woman to realize these issues with cleaning, but it is upsetting none-the-less.

And then the kids are awful about helping... which I know is partly a lack of discipline on our part. At the start of last summer I gave the kids an ultimatum... clean the playroom or no TV. Well it was an entire week before they cleaned it and then they had gotten so used to not watching TV they just didn't ask anymore. So they went an entire month without watching TV. Glorious. But that still didn't really solve the cleaning issue.  

I declared today a cleaning day and the kids have done next to nothing to help. They like spraying the cleaner so they cleaned all the mirrors in the bathrooms and Brandon got out the disinfectant and sprayed all the door knobs and light switches but what I really need them to do is pick up their toys and clean their rooms which they will not do. I can't spend all my time overseeing them or I won't get anything done myself so I have told them what they need to do and now I am ignoring them until they do it. I have mentioned if it doesn't get done today then we will try again tomorrow after school, and the next day and the next until it gets done. No TV, no playing with their neighbor friends and no reading until they help out and do their part. As far as the downstairs (where we all have to live), after I am done with the bathrooms and laundry I will be going around with a trash bag and picking up for them. I have already mentioned this as well so it should be no surprise when I do it, although that won't change the screaming and crying that will ensue. 

There is definitely a "My Life as it Should Be" post coming on this topic, but I am not ready to tackle it yet.  Maybe a chore chart, or an allowance system... I just don't know what will motivate the kids.  I wish I had it all figured out.  Any suggestions are welcome! :-)

My Life as it Should Be: My Purse!

So after that horrible day I decided to clean out my purse, I had to come up with a plan to keep the clutter out!  I did a little research the same evening I wrote the blog post and thought I would go with a new purse and one of the organizing systems I found on-line. That next weekend I went to Fred Meyer and looked at purses but didn't find anything I really liked. Then I remembered the purse a friend of mine had showed me except I wasn't sure of the name... but it just so happened I saw a lady in the store with the same type of purse so I stopped her to get the name and ask her opinion of the product. She said it was a little small for her but that is exactly what I needed... smaller! The name was Miche Bag. These purses come in two sizes and are sold though home-based distributorships. I liked what I saw on-line and sent off an e-mail to have someone contact me.  Within a couple days they had responded that my information was passed on and then a very nice lady contacted me to set up a Miche Bag party just one week later.  Great turn-around time!  She suggested a later date but I was in a hurry!  I had already ditched my big wallet for a smaller one and that was all I was carrying around - I needed a purse!  The party was a success and I was able to get a base, two shells (the Ashley and Christa) and a purse organizer (over $90 worth of product) for just over $20 with my party credit and discounts!  

 

Great!  I got what I needed, other ladies were able to purchase this fun bag, and we all supported a local woman in business for herself! I will say I am not too sure about the organizer yet, as the only thing I am organizing so far is a pen! But the purse has been working great the past couple weeks and I have not felt the need to stuff anything in there! Receipts go in the bag at the store and then are either disposed of or saved when I get home. Kids items are given back to the kids for them to put away... as it should be for heaven's sake!

I think the best change so far is my wallet. My old wallet was big and bulky, and the perfect place to put all those troublesome receipts!  Look at the difference!

First of all I found eleven cards I was able to simply get rid of: seven old insurance cards, one old NV state drivers license, one grocery store rewards card (no Smith's in WA), one old Costco card, and one old 24 hour fitness card!  I also took out cards that I can use by giving a phone number, making sure the phone number method works before removing the card! I was able to take out two grocery store cards and several other store cards - whoo hooo!  Getting lighter and lighter!  And of course just managing my receipts better probably cuts out about half the weight of my old wallet! I don't have room in the new wallet to store receipts so they either go in the bag or in my pocket, but either way they will be dealt with when I get home. I finally returned an item I was saving a receipt for and when I got home all the receipts were shredded... instead of them sitting in my wallet until the next big clean out!

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

We don't really do much for Mother's Day here. Sometimes I will get breakfast in bed, but this morning we headed off to church early where the Knights of Columbus were hosting a free breakfast. Brandon liked the bright napkins they had out and wanted me to save one to put in his lunch on Hawaiian Day at school. Last night we went out to dinner at Red Robin, mainly because I wanted a milkshake... and it was really yummy!  Brandon couldn't wait to give me all the presents he made at school so I opened them at dinner. He made a pouch with a pretty watercolor picture on the outside that held all the presents. 

The petals read:

• Second Grade. 8 years old.
• At school I am good at reading and taking A.R. tests.
• I am happy when I help someone.
• I would like to be an explorer when I grow up.  (Brandon has asked me to change this one to an author.)
• My favorite food is Coco Puffs and milk. (This is not something he gets at home - must be from the school breakfast!)
• My best friend is Lleyton.
• In my spare time I like to read.   

There were a couple other items in the pouch. One was a Mother's Day Creative Writing sheet with the instructions: Write a word, poem or sentence using each letter in the word M-O-T-H-E-R.

• M - made me 
• O - owns me
• T - teaches me
• H - helps me
• E - explains things to me
• R - respects me

And another where they were practicing paragraph techniques...

      "Mommy you are the best mom. First, you make a lot of home made things like chocolate sauce and smoothies.  They are very yummy. Second, you and Daddy bought a house to eat, sleep and play. Third, when I am sick, you give me medicine and if I have a fever, you take me to the doctor. You are the best mommy because you make home made things, bought us a home, and take care of me when I am sick.  Thank you for being my mommy."

Alex had a present for me as well, but couldn't wait and gave it to me on Friday... hand print art made in her kindergarten class. Brandon remembered making his and ran upstairs to get it from my room so they could compare the size of the hand prints!

There is a poem that goes with the hand print:

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small.
And always leave my fingerprints
On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing
I'll be grown-up some day.
And all those little hand prints
Will surely fade away.

So here's a final hand print, 
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked 
When I was very small.

I am amazed at how fast time has passed, and how fast the kids are growing. Alex will be in first grade in September and I will be without kids from 8am to 3pm every weekday. Unbelievable!  While I already know I will have plenty of activities to fill my days, it is bitter sweet to think about how much time the kids will be away from me. The days of taking them to morning play group or story time at the library are gone. Now the afternoons/evenings will be forever filled with homework and rushing from one activity to the next, usually with little time for dinner. I must remember this sure fact and try to savor the time with them over the summer... give more of myself during the long lazy days because I know I will have my time come the 1st day of the next school year!

Home Depot Craft

The first Saturday of every month we try to get the kids to the Home Depot Kids Workshop.  This is available at every Home Depot and you can attend anytime between 9am-12pm.  The kids get a Home Depot apron (the first time they are there) and a certificate of completion with a pin after finishing their project. This past Saturday Tony took the kids and each of them made a Picket Fence Planter.  

They get to assemble the pieces right there with glue and a hammer and nails, with adult supervision of course!  The kids enjoy the hands-on activity and it is free!  Well, mostly.  I wasn't with them this week but apparently they were handing out marigolds to go in the pot.  Tony wasn't aware of this so they headed over to the nursery area of the store where Alex saw the cactuses and had to have one.  Brandon also said he wanted a cactus but took a good 20 minutes (not sure if Tony is exaggerating here) looking for one and then said he wanted one of the marigolds that were being handed out instead.  So back over to the other side of the store they went and then they still had to wait in line for the (free) marigold.  All this put them 20 minutes late to Alex's gymnastics practice.  Oh well, here is a picture of the cactus... the flowers are fake, glued on rather sloppily.  Alex loved how soft the needles were, but not that soft as they still stuck right into her hand!

 

"All About Me" Challenges

It was kind of funny that right after I dumped my purse and took the pictures of "my mess" and wrote this blog post there was a request for pages for the next "All About Me" challenge from the CT at Designer Digitals. The topic: What's in Your Purse! LOL!  Since I already had the pictures, I though why not!  Here is the result of that page.

The "All About Me" challenges are great, and a fun way to document yourself... especially if you are usually the one wielding the camera!  As the main picture-taker the journaling is often about another member of the family or the family as a whole and rarely about you.  Completing these challenges is a great way to have a completed book and amazing keepsake to pass down to the next generation!  If you head over to Designer Digitals  you can find the first seven challenges, and join in the fun!  

Here are the first seven:

1. Me Now
2. How Did I Get Here?
3. What Makes Me Smile?
4. When I Was Your Age.
5. A Day in the Life.
6. I am so Good.
7. What's in Your Purse?

There will be more to come throughout the year - I can't wait to see what the next topic will be and it is always fun to read about the other members of the forum family!  I am a bit behind myself - I have only completed three of the seven, but plan to catch up soon!

Clutter: Photography Business

My photography business has been closed for over a year now.  But it still has a strong presence in several areas of the house!  My office was the home to numerous photography magazines, a large pile of papers related to the business, and a file drawer full of files that no longer need to be at my finger tips.  Our very large walk-in pantry has my studio lighting, and a few props and marketing aids.  I still use some of the backdrops and my lights from time-to-time, but a lot of the other things can be packed up and stored or simply purged.  The first thing I did was move the large pile of papers to a bankers box as this contained a lot of my tax-related paperwork.  That will have to be stored for a while, but not right next to me creating clutter!  The business files will also be moved to a bankers box and stored.  This will make room for the files I can use now like contracts for my published scrapbooking work and MOMS Club treasury paperwork... all which now take up residency on my desk!  A place for everything and everything in its place, right?  

The magazines I gave to a man I met at the park.  We started talking about photography and then he was interested in possibly buying one of my lenses.  We met up a couple weeks later so he could try out the lens and I dumped all the photography magazines from my office in his car!  The only one I kept was a "Professional Photographer" issue with an article sub-titled "Find the recipe for balance in work and life" highlighted on the front.  Hmmmm, I wonder why I kept that one?  And if anyone is interested, I highly recommend "Professional Photographer" to any photographers serious about creating a successful business. It has great articles ranging from the artistic side, to the post-processing and technical side, to the business side of "the business."  It really is a great magazine. 

Purge, baby, purge!  Now all the scrapbook magazines that were accumulating on my desk have been moved to a shelf above my desk which previously held these dust-collectors pictured above!  Three years worth!  The scrapbook magazines I refer to regularly for inspiration and it is nice to have them a little more organized!  

Now go find something that no longer needs to be out in-plain-sight and put it away!  Maybe it is a craft you have decided to put on the back burner for a while, or maybe it is a book you started to read and never could get into... Whatever it may be go find its proper place, out-of-site until needed again,     and start clearing the clutter!