Katie – Page 39 – A Blonde and 3 Boys

The Struggle…

Hello!

I have been struggling with my memory keeping. I love memory keeping and everything about it: the paper, the embellishments, the creating, the finished project.

And I have tried it all:
~12×12 pages
~mini books (lots)
~birthday albums
~Project Life
~Travel albums
~8×6 Albums
~4×4 Albums
~Week in the Life with Alli Edwards
~December Daily

If I have tried so many different ways to capture our memories, then why do I still have boxes after boxes of pictures that aren’t in albums??? I start out strong…all excited about a new project…“I will complete this album this time until the bloody end!” And I get about 7 days in and…well…that’s it. Hence the numerous boxes!

I am an Instagram junkie and a trend that I am seeing in the planner community (love) and the scrapbooking community (love) is memory keeping in your planner (love). While scrolling through instagram, I have noticed several planner gals posting pictures of using their planner as memory keepers. I have been playing with this idea (with absolutely no real road to follow) but, needless to say, it intrigued me, so I started digging for information, which wasn’t hard to find…there’s a lot out there!

I found a gal, Amanda Rose Zamp, who actually offers a class focusing on memory keeping in a Happy Planner. Go to find out, she is the gal that has inspired the other planner gals to memory keep in their planners! (Small world!) I signed up for the class and I am super excited (imagine that) about the process! I really think it will be doable for me! (fingers and toes crossed)

So I am going to share with you the process I have been doing to memory keep and journal in my happy planner, for the month of January. New year, new memory keeping plan. Keep in mind, you could do this with any planner.

After loading the pictures (there are plenty to load) onto my computer, I cut and paste them onto a word document. Next, I size each picture to fit in the weekly or monthly box of my planer and print them off on photo paper. It actually creates a composite sheet.

After cutting out the pictures, I arrange them onto the weekly page. These are the pictures I have done for this week so far.

I then go in and add stickers and embellishments to empty square and the photos. In doing so, I am using my planner information (more on that to come) to help me fill in the blanks, so to say. This is last weeks COMPLETED layout or spread! (Did you see that I used the word COMPLETED!)

Here is a closer look at my days. I love quotes and take screen shots of many on Instagram, but never go them off of my phone. Now, each week I print them off and have been adding them to the left margin. For the daily layout, I place information that happens in the morning in the first square, afternoon happenings in the middle square and evening things in the last square. Does that always work…no.

I am still playing around with the monthly layout. At this time, I have used pictures of events as more of an overview. But, I find myself wanting to use the same pictures for my weekly spreads So, I will continue to work with this concept.

How do I keep track of what is happening through the week? I happened across this blank calendar pack at The Container Store and couldn’t pass it up…paper pack and calendar?! Yes, please!

You will think I am crazy, but I fill this out for the week (and can’t help myself) but I decorate it too. This calendar goes on the fridge for the entire family to see and add to when needed~though that has yet to happen~anyone else putting something on the calendar. Some weeks I go all out with decorating, such as the week of Christmas.

Other weeks, there’s not much going on or I have no decorating mojo.

As you can see, I add information/happenings to the calendar since it is right there handy on the fridge. In doing so, I can use this calendar to help plan out my Happy Planner pages. I also keep this calendar pages (imagine that) I think it would be fun to look back on them someday…

Overall, I really enjoy this process and look forward to a little “scrapbooking” every week. Also, it doesn’t take too long, which I need at this time of my life. I think it will be even quicker once I get a routine set. And amazingly, I two of the three weeks in January done. In my book that is considered caught up! The planner piece and calendar piece may seem redundant to some, but so far it works for me and I really think that is what it is all about. Finding something that works for you! looking forward to sharing more COMPLETED weeks with all of you!

January Wrap Up

Hello!

For my January planner class the gals enjoy always enjoy a “Month in Review” sheet where they can place pictures, doodles, notes, memorabilia or anything that they would like. I like an end of the month review and looking back at what took place in our lives and around the world.

This is the sheet that I created for my planner gals. It measures 8.5 x 6 and can be punched to keep in their planners.

Here is my completed wrap-up for the first two weeks in January! As you can see, I used all pictures and stickers. I just resized the pictures, to fit the squares, on a word document.

I really enjoyed the process of this! I included a picture of Sam with his friends on New Year’s Eve and one of the three of us at home! I printed off the pictures of the two book I had finished and my new favorite TV show. We started to remodel our sun room and I cleaned up and rearranged my craft room! At least 3 of our 5 week nights are spent at basketball games, so I thought it’d be appropriate to include a picture of Sam at his game and a couple of our tickets. Quick, easy and done!! That is the best part…I have a mini-scrapbook page of the first two week in January! Yippie!

Check back tomorrow…I am going to share how I am memory keeping in my Happy Planner!!

Today…

Hello…this is all for today.

Image result for love trumps hate

A Conversation…

True Story

I have a mole (or two) on my face and noticed one may or may not have had a little hair growing from it. (DO NOT GAG!) Sam was watching TV with me when I discovered, or not discovered, this little intruder, so I turned to him and asked, “When I get old, will you pluck the hair out of my moles? Especially the ones on my face.”

Well, imagine that my real question was, “Sam, would you be willing to jump into a bowl of green, squishy peas and swim.” (Remember, at one point, Sam would not eat, look or come near any food that was green or squishy.) He looked at me with horror in his eyes and stated, “OH LORD, MOM!! I think I can call Angie’s List and hire someone to do that for you. I am sure they’re people for that under hair removal! Gross.”

It’s just a good thing that I have a sense of humor and started to laugh until I was in tears! He didn’t crack a smile! Then I quieted down and started to think, hmmm…what am I going to do when I get old and have facial hair the length of an arm shooting out of a mole and no one to pluck it?

Hey, Jack!!!!!!!

Cleaning Out…

Hello!

I took advantage of our day off yesterday to corner Jack in his room so he could clean it out!

It always takes about 2x as long because Jack tinkers, checks out and plays with all the cool things he has and has forgotten about!

For example:
He got a VR for his phone and thought he would change it up a bit.

By the time I looked, he had electrical taped a 9 volt battery to the side of his VR and wired up strip of lights. There are many times I just need to hold my tongue and let him do his thing.

After some tinkering, he looked up and says, “Now don’t tell me this strip isn’t the coolest addition!”

Well, I must admit, I was a bit impressed! Though the wires on the side make me giggle a little. And the lights are really bright!

De-Icer!

Hello!

Sharing a helpful hint that I have seen floating around on Facebook and sounds like it may come in handy this weekend! This homemade windshield de-icer recipe is one of those recipes that is so simple and takes about 20 seconds to make and it works GREAT! (so i have read and watched on you-tube since we have not yet had the need for deicing)

All you need to water and rubbing alcohol!
Here’s the recipe (one that I can even do!)
1/3 cup of water
2/3 cup of rubbing alcohol
Pour both into a spray bottle.
Use!
(I find the best spray bottles at the pet store.)

Suggestions:
Windows that have a thin film of ice takes about 1 minute to dissolve, so if you have a thick sheet of ice, use a little more and let it sit for 5 minutes or so. You may need a second application is it’s REALLY thick. Again, spraying the homemade window de-icer on the night before makes it much easier in the morning. Don’t forget, you can spray this on locks, door handles, doors, or the bottom of garage doors to help loosen the ice. You can also keep the spray bottle in the car~it won’t freeze due to the alcohol in the mixture!

Happy deicing!

Redoing…

Hello, Everyone and Welcome Back!

We are taking on another remodeling/updating project in our sunroom, (more on that later) so we needed to put a few pieces into new areas! One lucky area that scored some new items was my craft room! So, I spent most of Sunday and Monday rearranging and decluttering my happy place!

I knew we were going to need to put large furniture pieces in new areas, so on Sunday morning I started moving thing around to make room for “new/old” furniture!

First, we moved one of my all time favorite pieces, an old library catalog. It has been in the sun room for the last 7 years and honestly did not serve a purpose except to collect odds and ends. We have moved it outside the door of my scraproom. I cleaned out all the drawers of “old” stuff and now we are using it for home items such as “inside” hammers and nails, markers and color pencils for the boys, batteries, folders, notebooks and office supplies. In doing so, I could clear out all of those things from my craft room!!

Here’s a view of my room from the door before moving things around. I had our old kitchen table in here, which was a catch all and never used for anything specific. I also would put things under the table!

As you can seem my craft table is placed under the windows. I love the 9 shelf unit, but honestly, I didn’t use it much because I couldn’t really reach the items that were stored in it! (blame it on my short legs!) All that “stuff” on the wall is actually two bulletin broads. At this time, I sat on the right side and never used the left side. Notice how close the desk is to the wall on the left side? Hate to squeeze through there and not be able to see the TV! Yes, I could have moved the table, but then I would have less space on the right side. This set up also made me a lazy scrapper (none of my own doing!) All my other products and tools are located in the closet behind me, so I all have to do to get something is scoot my chair!!

This is a photo of my room on Monday, after two days of working!! I know it doesn’t seem like it’s cleaned up, because it’s not. This is a 3/4 of the way done picture. At this time, I have thrown away two large black trash bags of junk and have a large box ready for the store garage sale. (My mom will be so proud!)

As you walk into my craft room, you now see my desk, which is up against the windows. When I first decorated this space, my plan was to put the desk here, but at that time I didn’t have the right “second” table to put under the windows. Now I do! I fell in love with this old wood table about a year ago. It’s actually an old door on large spindle legs. (Swoon) Now it is under my windows…perfect piece! I can even reach the shelving unit and it’s a great little storage area for small buckets of stickles, small ink pads, date stamps and specific planner items.

I love having my desk right up to the window. during a sunny day, the light is amazing! I also sit on the other side and have used the white table. Three areas to work…Yippie!! I am wintering a plant for mom and it is HUGE and now sits on my desk, which I love. She may not get it back!

Next step, continue to organize the closet and get rid of stuff!! Also, I am going to remove all my decorating items, even those on the wall, and start fresh with placement.

Stop back for more detailed pictures and how I am using my new areas for crafting!

Just Finished…

Hello!

Yesterday I finally finished a book that I have been reading for some time, I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes.

The book Jacket:
A breakneck race against time…and an implacable enemy.
An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid.
A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square.
A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard.
Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan.
A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity.
One path links them all, and only one man can make the journey.
Pilgrim

From Good Reads:
The man who calls himself Pilgrim has a long history in secret operations. He is pressed into service to apprehend a Saudi Arabian dude who has manufactured a “homemade apocalypse”. All by his little old self he made it. No secret terrorist cells or Al-Qaeda. Just one way too brilliant guy who has been planning for many years to destroy America.. There’s a whole lot of other stuff going on, including an investigation of a murder in NYC, but it’s all incorporated into the main story arc.

I Am Pilgrim has got it all. It starts off with an expertly described ghastly murder scene of a young woman found dead in a bath of acid in a dingy hotel called The Eastside Inn. I couldn’t believe where this beginning took me. Hayes has managed to weave a plot that includes the beheading of a man in a Saudi Arabian public square, an adopted child who becomes an agent in an organization that doesn’t exist, a NY city hero cop, a boy with Downs Syndrome, the death of a wealthy playboy, religion, love, honor, and a terrorist plot that will eradicate millions in the US and that’s only the half of it. He pulls this off in a hair raising adventure all over the Mideast and back which at times pushes the limits but doesn’t spoil the ride. Just thank heavens someone’s on our side.

If you look at the reviews to this book, people either love it or hate it. I can see why. It is a 600 page book and at times I thought…where is this even going and what about this part of the story line. Well, all the different stories do come together and are nicely wrapped up. The first 150 pages are amazing and the last 150 pages are amazing. The in-between tells the story and can get rather draw out, but sometimes I love a book with lots of detail! This book falls into that category…lots of detail and I I enjoyed it all! Other reviewers couldn’t stand all the detail and stopped half way through.

Other things that people did not like about the book was that every woman he met was curvy, big chested and very beautiful. Well, two were models and the other was a “decoy” so to say. I guess I never picked up on all that.

Reviewers were also turned off by how the Muslim characters were portrayed in the story, especially with everything going on in the world. Understandable. Though the main character is one Muslim man, going after America with no affiliations with any organization. He is often referred to as a “first timer” with no records due to being a loner. How this man goes about years and years of planning to carry off his plan is terrifying. With everything going on in the world, I think this book lays out how “easy” it is to do “illegal” things, how patient people can be, how witty people can be and the lengths people will go to carry out their ultimate plan. That is where the author lays out such detail an makes it very believable and terrifying. The author makes it seem and I believed, this plan could be carried out tomorrow.

It is definitely a spy book and while he goes on to share how intelligent he is, but (thankfully) there isn’t scene after scene of him going against enemies, gun fights, knife fights and wining each time. Also (thankfully) there is not a love story or interest or save the damsel in distress. It is a story…a long one at that, with lots of details, but one that I really enjoyed with a satisfying ending!

I would give this a 4.5 out of 5
(though I do know some will throw the book across the room and say that i am crazy!)

Welcome Back!

Why Hello!

I hope you had a great Christmas and are on your way to a Happy New Year. I am ready to put 2016 behind us and look forward to a Happy 2017!

Friends and I were laughing about how you can take 20 photos of a group and only one or two are actually usable due to eyes shut, people not looking or something else going on. So, I thought I would share the adventure of our family trying to get a few pictures together at Christmas!

For starters, Jack looked like this most of the day! He couldn’t wait to start opening presents!

For this picture I suggested to show the face on how you were really feeling. As you can see, Jason and I weren’t feeling the spirit of Christmas right at that moment. Keeping it real!

Don’t worry, we got it together for the traditional “all is good” Christmas photo! (And Jason and I did get into the Christmas Spirit pretty quickly!)

Aunt Megan got a Zoolander pose with Sam.

Sam’s inspiration:

Here are the unedited versions of trying to get a picture of me, my mom and my sister…

Jack kept putting up his hand in front of the camera…this is me saying “STOOOOOP! Jack!” UGH!!

We are almost there…well, I just needed to stop talking to Jack between my teeth!

There we go!!

One last set. My parents with the boys.
Good job, Jack! He doesn’t change a bit in all the photos!

Look at the camera, dad!

I have no idea what he is pointing at.

Not only is my dad looking out into the distance, but my mom and Sam decided to smile with their eyes shut!

I think mom just tasted something bitter. Ew!

And we got a keeper!

Hope you were able to get a few memories caught on camera this holiday season!

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back!

The holiday season was busy and something had to give. Unfortunately, my poor blog was the thing that got put on the back burner. But I am back for the new year!

So this happened yesterday…I thought I should wake up Jack a bit earlier then his usual 10 am rise and shine hour, due to the fact that he had to get up at 6:15 today! It took me three times to get him to move. Finally, I turned on the light, thinking that would keep him awake. He was not pleased. When I went down…AGAIN…he had taken care of the bothersome light in a manner that only Jack would think of… fullsizerender

Hope your day back to work was smoother than Jack’s morning yesterday!