orange gearle

~ OLW March 1st Blog Hop ~

2012-02-29T23:22:00.002-06:00

Welcome my place! It's One Little Word March Blog Hop time. If you stopped here from Becky's place, you have arrived at your destination (for now). I hope you enjoy your visit! I have experienced many interactions with my word this month and I am excited to be able to share them with all interested parties! There is a full list of blog hop participants located at the bottom of this post.

{balance} Just seven little letters strung together, who knew they could hold so much power!?

{the prompt} This month Ali asked us to pick up the camera, rummage through magazines, explore Pinterest, or do anything else that might help us find visual representations of our one little word. I was excited for this opportunity to use more photos with this project, since it's a little hobby of mine. But, WOW, I really had to think about how to represent my word visually! I had some help along the way, though. My word kept popping up all over the place!

{invite} I went back to last month's prompts, specifically the "invitation" part of the prompt, to focus and think about what my word looks like. I thought about what it was that I really wanted to invite into my life as a result of this one little word. In order to achieve balance in my personal and professional life, and between my personal and professional life, I invite harmony, calm and stability into my life. I want to be present, in the moment, and focused on what really matters. I invite creativity into my life in all of it's forms. Then, I took steps, sometimes baby ones, toward that balance, harmony, creativity, and stability.

{steps} So what are the steps I have taken to connect with my word, and fully welcome those previously invited things into my life? Professionally I have begun to refocus the way I am doing my job. Since I began my position more than three years ago, I have yet to bring my vision to life. I've been doing some reading and online learning, as well as focused conversations with the professionals around me, all of which have been steps in the right direction. I'm headed there; the right place to make a difference in the lives of the children around me.

"I know exactly where I'm heading,

This is just a little stop I made on the way."

~ from In my Way by Stacey Earle

I know exactly what I need in my life to achieve balance personally; my journey is to figure out the how. So what little changes have I made so far?

{family} Being present and appreciating my soul mate, my daughters and my granddaughter, which requires "powering down" once in a while (still work to do here)! Visiting my mother, father, sister and brother more often (but not quite enough, yet).
{health} Started jogging again (yeah me!) and I'm reading this book (heard about from Elise Blaha's blog) -- trying to put some of it into practice (just keep swimming, just keep swimming...)
{creativity and fun} Reading for enjoyment, working with photographs, scrapbooking (not enough!), blogging (not enough!), going to live music (got to see TWO this month here, and here -- woot)!

{a little help from my friends} I can't end this post without mentioning this: all this focus on my word has contamintated those around me. :-) I am certain there are people in my life that are sick of hearing my word cross my lips! But also, there are some in my life that help me, and encourage me to connect with my word. One of many is my friend and co-worker, Kendra. When she saw that I was jogging again, she sent me a quote...and then another...connecting to jogging and my word. I so appreciate that! Even made it on the page.

{the prompt in action} So here we go....

Initially, I had decided that I would probably *not* do the full page photo included in the prompt, mostly because I didn't have a good way to print a photo in the 8.5x11 size. Then I decided that was a silly reason and went out and bought a new printer! Apparently, I'm all about trying new things this month! I also wrote on a photo for the first time. I tried a technique similar to one that Elise Blaha uses frequently in her work, specifically I've seen it pop up in her project life. I put the photo in photoshop and added some of the text, leaving out a few key words. Then I channelled my inner Elise and Ali and wrote directly on the photo. Fun! This photo was taken the day that I started jogging again. I knew I would eventually do it, I just needed to get to the right place to do it. So, I started, but snapped a quick photo of my feet first. :-)

february's whispers of balance

spending time with my extended family :: jogging::

watching B. sleep :: appreciating the moment ::

noticing :: laughing :: doing :: drinking wine :: 'powering

down' to listen :: taking photographs :: reading ::

going to shows :: snuggling B. :: enjoying

Here's a close up...

I used to jog, quite regularly for several years. And now, quite regularly for several years, I have NOT been jogging. :-) Calling what I did on this day 'jogging' is being very nice to myself. :-) I walked, I jogged a bit, but either way I started. I always listen to music when I jog, and this day I listened to The Jayhawks. But I couldn't help but think of this line from Bob Dylan's (the greatest poet/song writer of all time) Thunder on the Mountain : "Today's the day, gonna grab my trombone and blow". This day was the day I grabbed it (also the quote on the bottom of the photo). You'll notice two other elements on my page this month that have a connection to jogging.

Top row:
:: Date stamped on grey, Hambley overlay, and my old on a tag
:: I used two pockets for one photo. This photo was taken just before my father had surgery. Part of the balance that I need to find in my life is very related to spending as much time as possible with my parents. I still might write something on this photo, I haven't decided!

Middle row:

:: I've been trying to take a healthily lunch to work, based on my new learning from the book that I am reading.

:: My sweet B.

:: My word keeps popping up in the professional reading that I have been doing! Hello, balance!

Bottom row:

:: A photo taken at one of the two shows we went to this month.

:: This is a screen shot from my iPhone of my first "jog" (using the Nike app).

:: A quote that my friend Kendra found for me. Quote reads, " If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run." ~ John Bingham

This was fun and didn't take nearly as long (or require as much decision making) as last month! I am really enjoying this project and look forward to what March might bring!

{about the class} One little word is a class offered over at Big Picture Classes. Ali Edwards sends out an email once a month with a prompt to help you focus and experience your word. There is also an online community that welcomes you with open arms! One little word class is open all year! It's not to late to join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my little blog! Next up is Katrina! If you'd like to start from the beginning, here's Margie's place. Happy March!

Margie
Melissa S
Sharyn
Kimberlee
Jill
Cheri
Cindy
Jenn
Monica
Catherine
Naomi
Jamie
Coley
Melissa C
Donna
Monica B
Veronica
Heidi D
Lisa
Nikki
Devon
Amanda
Brooklyn
Kristina
Jen R
Kara
Eydie
Ruth
Missus W
Marilee
Cindy
Kaylea
Dawn G
Rebekah
Becky
orange gearle < You are here!
Katrina
Jo
Nicky
Beth
Kelly
Tere

~ five things ~

2012-02-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

1. I wrote on my first photo. Ali Edwards and Elise Blaha Cripe do it all the time, so I tried it. It worked. Here's a sneak peak:

2. I am participating in a One Little Word Blog Hop on March 1st. Please stop back to see where my word has taken me this month!

3. I've been loving instagram lately!!

4. I bought a new printer so that I can print photos in the sizes that I want (even those instagrams and hipstamatics from the iPhone). I will still get most of my photos at Walgreens or Snapfish, but this will be nice when I need something a little different than a 4x6, 5x7 or 8x10 -- and I don't want to take the time to make it work in photoshop!

5. I have a knack for not finishing things. Part of the problem is that I see the world through orange colored glasses, which is sometimes a bit too optimistic. ;-) I frequently bite off more than I can chew! On flickr alone I've failed a 365, two color groups and, most recently, a December in Photos group!! But I have officially completed something! Good or bad, it's done! I present to you, February's Alphabet Fun 2012:

Click on a title if you like to see a photo bigger. :-) 1. ~ a is for apples ~, 2. ~ b is for breakfast ~, 3. ~ c is for contagious ~, 4. ~ d is for drinks ~, 5. ~ e is for enjoying the iPad with elmo ~, 6. ~ f is for fork ~, 7. ~ lime light ~, 8. ~ h is for hearts ~, 9. ~ i is for instrument ~, 10. ~ j is for jazz ~, 11. ~ k is for king of hearts ~, 12. ~ l is for living ~, 13. ~ b. my baby ~, 14. n is for no valentine, 15. ~ o is for operation ~, 16. ~ p is for pre-performance shot ~, 17. ~ quaternary quarters ~, 18. ~ red rose ~, 19. ~ sneakers ~, 20. ~ textual textures ~, 21. ~ unfinished ~, 22. ~ volume at eleven ~, 23. ~ white winter (with a little red) ~, 24. x is for x-treme biking, 25. ~ y is for yawn ~, 26. ~ zero ground clearance ~ #thehereios

~ whispers of balance ~

2012-02-23T08:15:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure I will use all of these photos for my OLW project this month, but these are a just a few ways that my word has whispered to (and sometimes yelled at) me lately. I will post more about all of this on my blog for the March 1st OLW Blog Hop!

waiting for surgery

it just keeps popping up

asleep on the way to grandma and grandpa's

a few moments to stop and smell the roses

baby steps

~ a week in photos and words ~

2012-02-08T23:50:00.002-06:00

c is for contagious

d is for drinks

e is for enjoying the iPad with elmo

f is for fork

Friday, I got a call from daycare...fever and complaining of an owie in her ear. So I made an appointment, and after an hour and a half of various tests (none of which made her happy) we came home with nothing but a 102.9 fever and a diagnosis of virus.

Saturday evening, my older daughter watched B. while we went out for supper to celebrate with friends. A close friend of mine turned 40 and her husband pulled off a surprise party. We almost didn't go because about a half hour before we left, B. vomited. I like this iPhone photo because the drink is the focus, but the party is still shown in the background. We came home after just a couple of hours to a kiddo with a 103.5 fever! Scary!

lime light (g is for green)

h is for hearts

Sunday was a little better. Still a fever, and stomach things, but times of "normal". I love this photo because1) B. set it up. She wanted the blankie on the floor (I helped) and then she set up the gorilla, and they played with the iPad. 2) The hair twirl. She twirls our hair and her own, especially when tired, or sick.

Monday, I was home with B all day. While still a bit pale and cranky, overall much better and no fever! Yay! Continuing with the alphabet theme...I chose a for, macro style for "macro monday".

Tuesday was my first night of class for this semester, so a quick shot of a lime for g is for green!

Wednesday I decided to try an idea that my older daughter, H. found on Pinterest! Fun shape bokeh. H is for heart, of course! (and I had to get a bit of orange in there somewhere)

I've been thinking a lot about my word; balance. Sometimes I think I even see it in the distance, but mostly it hasn't found me yet. :-) I need to go to a show or two I think! I miss music and spending time with C., just the two of us. Since B. has been sick I have gotten to spend more time with her, which is nice (the time, not the sick, of course). And I even had a minute or two to work on a layout (not quite finished, but will post soon). So maybe balance isn't so far away after all. Notice I haven't mentioned any sort of exercise though!

One thing is for sure, I have not been spending enough time with my parents. And even more important, B. hasn't been spending enough time with them. It doesn't help that she has spent the last two weekends with a fever!

Over the last few weeks my father has had several procedures to remove cancerous and pre cancerous cells on his skin. He worked outside most of his life, so it isn't surprising that it would be catching up with him at this point! This most recent procedure required quite a bit of tissue to be removed from his nose (dead center, of course), enough to necessitate skin grafting. This is something they will actually need to knock him out for and it makes me nervous! He suffered a stroke nearly 15 years ago, and we do believe that there have quite likely been other mini strokes in recent years (there are signs). Also since the kidney transplant, over four years ago, his health has deteriorated a bit due to the drugs that they have him on to keep him from rejecting my kidney. AND he has diabetes. So all of these health concerns are why I am a bit anxious about this upcoming event. It will be weighing heavy on my mind over the next week!

In my near future:
1. A show (or two). I have several on my calendar and I'm ready to go!
2. A night away with my soul mate. C. and I have several ideas about how to make this happen. It involves grandparent babysitters and reservations!
3. Finish that layout!

And I leave you with a B. story that makes this literacy coach very happy.

B. brings me a pile of books and says, "Mommy, talk these with your mouth." And that's what I'll focus my orange-colored-glasses-view on this week!

~ january reflections ~

2012-02-02T20:19:00.000-06:00

Wow. I am in too many projects right now!!! I'm not sure how I can find or maintain any sort of balance in my life with all this stuff going on! Unfortunately, you can see it in my photos, which doesn't make any of it fun. I should just embrace the fun that is creating and go with it, but I've been stressing over every. little. thing. I'm sure it's because I am spreading myself too thin!

Speaking of which, the month of February brings "February's Alphabet Fun" over on flickr. I'm doing it, of course. Feb. 1 = a is for.... Feb. 2 = b is for....you get the idea. I'm sure explore will not find me this month!

a is for apple

b is for breakfast

Both of these photos were also placed in the group We're Here!, and part of my 365. So three-fers, bonus.

I've noticed that this 365 attempt is quite different than my first failed one; both good and bad differences. I'm probably taking better photos overall. Like before, I am thinking about it often and looking at life through that lens, so to speak. I find myself, often, thinking, "Wow, that would be a great picture". Or thinking about the lighting, the composition of what's going on around me -- can what's going on around me have composition? I'm not sure how to word that! I think you get the idea. But a couple of differences: I'm caring too much about it. I am completely stressed out about the fact that my last few uploads have been...not so hot. Isn't that the silliest thing ever? I know it, but I can't seem to get past it. Also, I'm not taking nearly as many photos of my family. The whole purpose of buying the camera and getting back into creating scrap book layouts was to take better photos to document our lives. How did I stray!?

I enjoyed the OLW blog hop! As I'm looking around at all of the creative fun around me I'm wondering "How do these people do it??"! And I haven't even started back to class yet! Next, week I start a new graduate class, but it's OK because this time next year, I will be DONE (or close). Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is a good thing, but I'm not sure how I to balance it all between now and then; family, work, photos, OLW, scrapping. YIKES.

So, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed today. "Really?" you say, "I couldn't tell!" On the upside, look at all of the orange in the photos above! Whew! Awesomeness!

~ OLW blog hop ~

2012-02-01T09:55:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited (and a bit nervous) to be participating in my first blog hop ever! If you are visiting for the first time and you like what you see, please feel free to follow me by clicking over on the right!

As mentioned in previous posts, I am participating in a class over at Big Picture Classes called One Little Word with the fabulous Ali Edwards. This is my first attempt at this class and I am enjoying pretty much everything about it. I look forward to checking the gallery each day to see what my classmates have come up with. This month, I have enjoyed the prompts and feel like they have helped me get to know my word, balance. The one thing that has been difficult for me this round has been making decisions about the small stuff! As I shared in my last post, I'm sweating the small stuff and I don't like it!! :-) What I love most about this process though, is watching my word continue to pop up in my life everywhere!

But let's get to the photos and the process of putting it all together. I'll start with the final product and if you are interested in the details keep reading. Deal?

My word, balance. The title page is a photograph that I took on January 1st, the same day I announced my One Little Word in this post, which also explains why/how I chose it (or it chose me) and how the necklace in the photo is related to my word.

January page with title page

January 2012

The decision making part of this was the most difficult. Choosing the word was easy and picking out the album color wasn't at all a problem either, of course. I saw a scrapbook layout online a while back that used a grey and orange color scheme and loved it. I didn't pin it (I'm pretty sure I didn't even know about Pinterest at that time), so I couldn't find it again, but I remembered the colors and when this project came up I knew I wanted to use that palette. But then....white or grey prompt cards? type or handwrite? etc. To illustrate the difficulties that I had early on, I give you this photograph...

indecision

These were all for one quotation card! I love the quote, "Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving" by Albert Einstein. This was the first card I worked on, and I decided if they were all going to take as long as this one, I was in trouble! The real trouble was that I made six before I settled on this one...

I couldn't stop at just one quote! I also chose a quote by Henri Matisse, "What I dream of is an art of balance". I happen to love Matisse, so I was extra excited when I found it. I purchased a digital print of a Matisse painting online and printed it for my page. I chose this particular one because the people somehow remind me of my word -- and I like the colors. There are three layers, the base layer (the grey card stock is a bit of BazzillBasics (canvas) smoky goodness). The top layer is just the print, and I threw a bit of orange for good measure - a bit of an orange sandwich, if you will! I used this EK Success edger punch for some added fun, and wrote the quote going up the side. This one only took a couple of takes (headed in the right direction).

Probably my favorite card is the homemade chevron pattern, with the date. Inspired by this post by Katie Scott, I decided to add some chevron fun. First, I punched squares out of various paper. Next, I cut the squares in half and, finally, glued into a chevron pattern! Easy peasy! (Now we're getting somewhere)

And then, my word, Balance, written over two cards.

For this I inked, cricuited (heh, new word) and sewed.

This awesome embossed card stock, BazzillBasics' Tin Roof, was the base of these two cards. I cut them to fit and then I rounded the corners with my Creative Memories Corner Rounder. I lightly inked the raised parts with orange (of course) Stampabilities pigment and then ran the edges across the ink pad, too. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut out the letters on my Cricut. I was able to use several patterned papers from my stash. Finally, I got out my new(ish) sewing machine (read about my first adventure with that here) for a few, very imperfect finishing touches.

I had several mistakes that actually worked, which is always nice if you have to have mistakes! One is pictured below.

I had this great idea to use this awesome EK Success punch at the bottom of the thesaurus card (my first mistake was not spacing out the words to fill the card). I completely forgot that this punch doesn't really create a border, it detaches completely from the original paper! So I just stuck some patterned paper behind it, glued 'er down and called it a day.

Overall, I'm please with the final product and it was fun! I hope I didn't add too many boring details, but I happened to take a few photos while in the process and thought I'd share!

One more thing...looking for that self-portrait? I have taken a few, but been quite unhappy with all. So...I'll try again, soon.

Thanks for stopping by! Next up, Tere!

Margie

Sharyn

Lynn

Carmen

Kristina

Cheri

Amanda

Cindy

Brooke

Naomi

Melissa

Karen

Melissa S

Devon

Donna

Dawn

Katrina

Sam

Monica

Kimberlee

Missus W

Kaylea

Nikki

Erin

Coley

Beth

Veronica

Jamie

Monica B

Lisa

Rebekah

Jan

Cate

Stephanie

Orange Gearle <~~~~~ you are here! :-)

Tere

Junelle

Ruth

Becky

~ news ~

2012-01-30T00:03:00.003-06:00

As you may have noticed from my previous posts, my older daughter, H. and her daughter M. are staying with us for a while. This means I will be taking more and more photos of my grandbaby, M. and sharing them here. B. is a bit confused when I'm called "Grandma", and always says, "You're not Grandma!", but overall we are adjusting the the change. Aunt B. looks forward to the days that M. is here to see her when she gets home, and M. is always full of smiles when we walk in the door. Here they are playing with hats...

Both girls have been a bit under the weather lately, and B. learned how to take her own temperature...

I have completed more of my December Daily album, but it's status is still incomplete! I believe I've passed the halfway mark, and I'm needing to print (and/or reprint) some photos in order to finish. I will finish!! And when I complete it, I will share.

I am participating in a blog hop on Wednesday! My first. It's a One Little Word blog hop, and I will unveil my January page. But...it's not done! YIKES! I'm having a difficult time fitting it all in -- balancing it all, if you will. ;-) This 365 photo project is kicking my butt! Since I was explored (six times in one week!) I really dislike posting photos that are not very good, even more than I did before. Some sort of pressure that I am putting on myself (as usual) and it's really silly! Same with the OLW project. It should be quite easy. I'm having problems making decisions like...Should I hand write it, or type it up? Should I use a grey background for the assignment pieces, or white? Should I write in grey or orange ink? Etc. Just when I think I've made a decision, I change my mind again. I've done the same little 2.5x3.5 quote insert at least 8 times, and I'm still not sure it's right! I do have one of the quote inserts completed (I think there will be two). I have it basically planned out, but ~~I haven't found the proper amount of time to implement.~~ I haven't been able to make simple decisions -- pretty much about color, so it's holding me back. It's so unbelievably silly!!! I stayed up until 2 AM working on it Saturday night -- plenty of time for a person that can make decisions to complete it, but alas, not I! Maybe my word should have been decide! :-)

I do know these things:
Orange and grey will be the main colors.
I enjoy the project, just not the decisions.
Next month will be easier, because the basic color decisions will have been made.
I am excited about the blog hop! (So come back and visit Wednesday morning by 8 am)!

~ explored ~

2012-01-18T15:48:00.000-06:00

Busy, busy, busy around here! I've done a few of my December Daily pages, but I'm still not done! I will finish!! :-) The good weather that we were having when I last posted has left us, and we are experiencing full on winter! The girls have enjoyed playing outside on occasion. More snow predicted for later this week!

12/365

M & B on sled

M saying "cheese"

The last two days I've had photos "explored" on flickr. This is all new to me, and kinda silly, but also kinda fun! I find it interesting that I would consider both shots "over done" or a bit cliche. But, oh well, I'll take it! Here are the two photos.

~ minimal liquid ~ 16/365 and 2/52 weeks (theme "liquid") and "minimal" for We're Here! group

~ bright & colourful ~ 17/365 and "bright and colourful for We're Here! and 112 pictures in 2012

I cannot leave you without a B. story. She loves pistachios! I have photos of her eating them. She can even say the word, and it's quite cute! Last night, we were watching Pinocchio and B. looked up at us and said, "Can I have some Pitocchios?"

~ a walk ~

2012-01-08T22:41:00.004-06:00

Just a quick one tonight to share a few photos. My family and I went for a walk this evening. For one, to get the girls out -- they needed to run. :-) Also, I wanted to try to capture a sunset using one of the new lens filters that I received as a Christmas gift from my soul mate!

Bundled B.

Merry M.

going...

gone

For some reason the photo below has been getting a lot of love over on flickr. We had a few hours without a child yesterday so my man drove me around town to try to find a photo for theme 1 of my 52 weeks group (My Town). I took several photos, including this one, using my new lens hoods (also from my sweetie)!

~ alliant building ~ 7/365

Finally, I did do some work on my still unfinished December Daily album this weekend, as well as gathered a few items for my OLW project (yes that meant a trip to my LSS)! I will post photos of both projects sooner rather than later (I hope)!

~ mostly photos ~

2012-01-04T08:39:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post to share some photos that I like from the last week and a half or so. The first comes from Christmas Eve at my folks. This is my mother, B., and my granddaughter, M., waving out the door as SANTA left! Yes, my mother arranged for Santa to visit the girls on Christmas Eve!!! She's amazing! Shortly after this photo was taken, Bea yelled, "Bye Santa....hey...yook at the yights!" She really wanted Santa to see Grandma's outdoor Christmas lights!

The next three are from Christmas Day at the other grandma's house. The first is B. looking at her new dollhouse! She loves it! We are working on finding a way to get it to our house so that she can play with it more often (it's so big, we really don't have the space).

Did you know that the next Olympic sport is nearly-naked iPadding? ;-) This is a sight frequently seen in our home, however this shot was captured on Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Cousins, all on iPads, the younger brother more concerned with what his older brother is doing than with the iPad itself (as is usually the case).

Below you will find days 2 and 3 of my 365 adventure (I shared day one here). I must admit that I am already just taking random, unplanned shots that may or may not work! That's not a good start to the year! Day two was going to be me standing on my piano bench in brightly colored socks and PJ bottoms. However, B kept climbing onto the bench! So, for the first Bench Monday of the year (and photo 2/365), I submitted a black & white of B's tiny toes.

2/365

Tuesday was my first day back at work and it was long and busy (and the alarm clock was not welcome)! The three of us went grocery shopping after work and I snapped this "number" shot for the We're Here! flickr group that I am a member of. As it was my only shot of the day, it is also my day 3 of 365. There is something about this iPhone shot that I do like. It could be better, but the green and numbers make me happy in some way. :-)

3/365

OLW update. I decided to use the photo of my necklace as my title page for my One Little Word book. After going back and forth about using PSE for the word "balance" or printing it without the word and adding some sticker alphas, I (think I) settled on the PSE version. For some reason when I upload this photo it looks like the necklace is gold, but it is silver. Not really sure why. :-( Anyway, a funny story. I went to pick up my photos and Walgreens and they questioned if this was a photo that I took or if it was professional. It even had "pro release" written on the front of the envelope, questioning if I needed a release from the professional that took the photo. I know that it is just because of the overlay, but I still said, "Thank you" when he said that it looked professional!

In the same vain, a few weeks ago I received a flickr email from Getty Images, asking if I would like to license some of my photos (chosen by them through my flickr photostream) for commercial use. Getty Images is an "invitation-only service for Flickr members to license their photos for commercial use" (quote from the email). They found six photos in my my photostream that they thought I should license. I had to fill out a bunch of forms (W2-type stuff) and I still need to get releases for five of the photos (because they have people in them) before they can be placed on their website for sale. I didn't do much with it until the last week or so, but one of my photos (that didn't need a photo release because there are no people) is currently "for sale", which just cracks me up.

4/365

Finally, today is Gwamma's birthday. Among other things, Gwamma got soft pink jammies for her birthday and I got photo four for my 365 project.

~ balance ~

2012-01-01T20:26:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!

I've started many new projects today! Last year at this time I began my first 365 (photo a day) project on flickr. I failed in August. When I say "failed" I mean that I didn't complete the project, started missing days and gave up. However, I did (virtually) meet some wonderful people along the way! Many of them completed their 365's yesterday and are beginning a new one today. I, too, am beginning again, today! I am hopeful that I will succeed this year. Many of the people that I met through the 2011 project, are also doing a 52 week project (one photo per week). I'm doing that, too! The social aspect of these flickr groups are really powerful, encouraging, and helpful along the way. I'm very excited for these two projects! I will continue to participate in several other groups like 112 pictures in 2012 (I failed at that one last year, too) and one of my favorites, the group We're Here! I think both of those groups will help move the 365 project along and I will be less likely to get into a rut. I will overlap photos for these projects as needed. That should make it more manageable. Now that I know a bit more about myself and the groups and how it all works, I think I have an advantage as I begin this year. Overall, my goal is to have fun and learn a little more about photography along the way.

Another project that I started today is called One Little Word 2012. This is an online class, taught by Ali Edwards through Big Picture Classes. The basic idea is that you choose a word for the year (or let the word choose you). This is a word to "focus on, meditate on, and reflect upon" throughout the year. This year long class guides you through the year with your word by providing monthly prompts to help you get to know your word, focus or refocus around the word, and make your word more visible in your life. I'm super excited to begin this project!!

I had a difficult time choosing my word! If you know me at all you know that I have a difficult time making decisions or making up my mind sometimes! Well, this was no exception! I thought about the word "present" or "presence". I thought this might be a good word for me because sometimes I am not "present" with my family like I should be. Instead of being present, I will be thinking about work, photos, scrapbooking, you name it! I can't tell you how many times B has come over to me and shut my computer for me!!! But the word I kept coming back to was "balance".

In my work, it is important to create the perfect balance when providing instruction for students. That's where I first met my word. I found myself, over the last year, using the word "balance" a lot when discussing professional books that I was reading, when coaching other teachers, or when working on other projects with my colleagues.

Then I had the miscarriage, another encounter with the word.

After I miscarried my mother gave me a necklace. The necklace had a gem on it and a round, silver charm with a symbol on it. My mom isn't really into zodiac signs, but the symbol on the charm is the libra "sign" (which happens to be my sign). I looked up more information on the symbol and it lead me to read about what a Libra "is". "Balance" kept coming up. Here is one example of what I saw when I searched:

Part of balance in my life is balancing work and play, creative times and family times, and realizing that balance doesn't always mean "equal". Another part is related to food and exercise, which includes a balance of good food and fun food! :-) And still another is related to my first encounter with the word, as it pertains to balanced instruction within my professional life. So, balance it is.

My first photo of the year, taken with my new macro lens, "balance" :

the necklace that inspired my OLW

I think I might be using this photo on the cover page of my OLW project as well. I will share my pages as I finalize them.

Oh, and by the way....I have NOT finished my Dec. Daily project! I've had an extra busy winter break that has put me a bit behind! I will not allow it to go onto the "failed in 2011" list! :-)

~ days 4 & 5 ~

2011-12-23T17:25:00.002-06:00

December 4th I had two "stories" so I used another cool Hambly Transparent Sheet that Ali Edwards is using! Attached to the Hambly Transparent Sheet, I used stickers from Memory Works- 25 Days of Christmas Cardstock "Count Down" Stickers for the number. Actually, I didn't like the original square number 4 from the sheet, so I used a different number sticker (can't remember which one), glued a 1 inch kraft circle on top, and then used a different (plain) number 4 from the same sheet!

day four spread

day 4 close up (right)

I decided to hide my journaling behind the photo on this page. I did this for a couple of reason. The biggest reason was because I wanted a bit of white (green) space. A bonus was that it helped to hide the number five on the next page (since it sticks out). I wouldn't have liked seeing the back of the number 5 and would've felt like I had to cover it up! Here's the hidden journal...

day four hidden journal

I was really happy when I saw that the book that I'm using from Elise Blaha's etsy shop, had a pink page! This was the perfect match to tell the story about B. loving (being obsessed with) pink! And the picture of her trimming her pink tree. I used a 4 x 6 piece of Hambly transparent sheet between the two pages to help protect the journal from the glitter (I usually use a 2 or 3 x 6 piece)!

day five spread

all about pink

The story is about trimming B's pink tree, and her love for the book Pinkalicous! So...I hand wrote "Pinkalicous" on the photo with glue (using my best copy of the font used on the book) and glittered it! It didn't turn out quite as good as in my head, so I haven't decided if I'm going to keep this, or reprint the photo and keep it plain. Overall, I do like day five's layout, though. It's probably one of my favorites so far because it's a fun story, fun colors and so very "B"!

pinkalicious

I hope to complete more this weekend, but with the holidays I may not get a chance. We are also having a few household changes, which may also impair my ability to "get things done." However, my goal is to complete the rest before the end of the year!

pink. check.
tassels. check.
bell. check.
assembly #1 complete
Now wine and pizza!

~ 20 weeks ~

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today I would be 20 weeks pregnant if I was still carrying the baby. C. and I would be watching our baby on the ultrasound and finding out if we needed to buy some blue clothes, or stick with pink. Part of our Christmas joy would be sharing the results with our families. I didn't think it would be this difficult.

I am thankful for my two beautiful daughters, my granddaughter, and my amazing, supportive, partner in life.

~ If you pin it, they will come.~

2011-12-19T23:41:00.000-06:00

Tonight, while putting B. to sleep...

Me: Do you know that I love you?
B: (big binkie smile, nods yes)

Me: Do you know that your daddy loves you?

B: (big binkie smile, nods yes)

Then, as if I forgot to mention it, B (through the binkie, whiletwirling my hair): AND Gwamma loves me!

It's probably important to the story that I also tell you, she was holding her {Pinkalicious} magic wand at the time (apparently, this is now required for sleeping).

Also, I learned that I've been scraplifted on the Scrapbook Circle Blog. Pretty cool.

One more thing...Pinterest is a powerful thing. Not only do you get sucked in for hours at a time and it really seems as if it's only been minutes (similar to the story line of many a sci fi novel), if something gets "pinned" that links back to your blog, you get people looking at your blog! Woah.

Why am I not sleeping? Oh, right, Pinterest! Sleeping now!

~ dec. daily - 1, 2, 3 ~

2011-12-19T06:59:00.000-06:00

I was finally able to complete a few pages of my December Daily album, at least enough to post. I think it is possible that some pages may continue to get tweaked here and there, but for now...let's go!

the cover page

I would like to do something fun with the left side, have a few ideas, but nothing is quite working at this point!

I'm finding myself using a lot of kraft (the book that I'm using from Elise Blaha's etsy shop has some, and I've added some with embellies, letters, etc.). But there is also some traditional red and green. I like it! The cover page lists some of the things I would like to do in December. Cricut for numbers, Martha Stewart letter punch for alphas.

day one spread

Day one -- Highlighting a new tradition in our house (the 25 wrapped books), and a trip with Daddy to Menards.

Thickers "one", EK punch on photo mat and more help from my Cricut for the tag!

One of the things I was waiting for in the mail was the cool Hambly Transparent Sheets that Ali Edwards is using. Although they came in a timely fashion, I was late to decide I wanted them, so I had to wait. They were worth it! Here is one dividing my two stories for day two (Bea taking pictures, and packages beginning to arrive on our doorstep)...

day two spread - left

day 2 spread - right

I added the paper on the right. The paper, along with the letter stickers on this spread are from Memory Works- 25 Days of Christmas 6x6 paper pad that I purchased at my local scrapbooking store.

Day three we decorated the Christmas Tree! For this one I had a bunch of photos (none of which were THE PERFECT PHOTO), so I created a collage in Picasa and printed it as a 5x7. Then, cut and adhered it across the two pages.

day three spread

t{h}ree -- get it???

Day four and five are half done, and day 7 only needs a spot of journaling and a number. I have photos printed out for all pages through day 13, and most of the rest are picked out, just not printed. This past weekend we had one family Christmas celebration, so I have many to choose from for that day -- and not so many on others. I am going to try to allow myself to not get hung up on exactly what day something occurred (at the encouragement of Ali Edwards).

On another note, I signed up to do One Little Word 2012 with Ali Edwards, through Big Picture Classes. Let's see, One Little Word, a 365 +1 group and a 52 weeks group on flickr, plus my family, job and other crafty fun...what am I thinking??? Oh, and this blog that no one reads! :-)

Geez, do I worship Ali Edwards? I've mentioned her a lot today!

One more thing...cool app...needed by all.

~ whew! ~

2011-12-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

Crazy days! My holiday book came on the 7th! So, I've been working on taking, uploading and printing photos...and a little bit of scrapping here and there. Unfortunately, I don't have even ONE day finished! I have several days almost completed, but none to show here yet.

I have been using Picasa lately and loving it! Since my December Daily book is only 4x6, I need photos in various (small) sizes -- and if I want to get more than a couple on a page, it seems that the collage feature in Picasa is necessary. If you haven't checked it out, you should -- it's handy. I like it better than the {free} version of Picnik for collages and I use PSE for anything I can't do in Picasa.

I've had to go to my local scrapbooking store as well as order a few items online as I'm working through this book. This has been part of the reason for the delay in a complete day or two to show, but I love it! It's fun! Here is a sneak peak at a few of the photos I've been working on. I still don't know for sure which ones will make the final cut, but here are a few from the last week or so (in random order).

~ all about pink ~

2011-12-05T21:45:00.000-06:00

Tonight after work I took B. to Menards while Daddy jogged. One of the items on my list to look for: pink Christmas lights. B. has been so unbelievably into pink these days -- even her favorite book is Pinkalicious. I have this skinny pencil tree that I haven't decorated for a few years. I thought it might be fun to decorate it this year and put it in B.'s toy area downstairs. So...it needs pink lights! We found them! And pink beads. And a few pink ornaments that are not supposed to shatter (since she has already broken at least three since Saturday)! ALL on sale at a good {cheap} price. It was a good idea! She loved it!

After Daddy got home we went out to eat. She was a talker the whole time! Man! Good thing it was a very casual place! When we got home we still needed to open up our book for the day, which she promptly did (Eve Bunting's Night Tree). She made some sort of moderately appreciative comment, then tossed it on the ground and with perfect timing said, "Let's read Pinkalicious". I will continue the 25 books project, but I don't think she is appreciating it as much as I am! :-)

STILL NO DECEMBER DAILY ALBUM IN THE MAIL! Argh!!

Day One:::Day Two, Three and Four

~ days 2, 3 and 4 ~

2011-12-05T01:59:00.000-06:00

December 2

Friday. That means pizza! Most Fridays we make it easy for ourselves and have pizza for supper -- cheap, Target, cheese pizza, and we add fresh garlic and green olives. Tonight we also had wine and beer!

My december 2011 in photos group asked us to take photos of trash today -- so the photo to the right is what I chose to upload to the group.

The rest of the books I ordered for our new family tradition came today! Yay! Now to wrap them and make the tags for them! Also in the box are the books that I ordered to give as Christmas presents for my daughters, son-in-law and our nieces and nephews. Also a yay! Three other packages came today, one for my soul mate and two for me. They are mostly gifts for the girls (M. and B.)! Lots of wrapping to do, and the tree isn't even up!

Tonight we spent some time downstairs. I was making tags for the books, C. was playing guitar, and we were both playing with our sweet B...multitasking. We had coffee and tea and eggs and cupcakes all prepared and delivered by B. She danced and used Daddy's electric guitar cables as a jump rope, or made 'snakes' with them. I took a few pics of the evening, most didn't turn out as well as I'd like -- not sure which photo from this day I will use in my December Daily -- but my book isn't here yet, so I guess I have time.

December 3
I REALLY thought the album that I am using for my December Daily would be here today!! How long does it take to ship from California??? Seriously, Elise did her job -- it was shipped Monday morning. Still not here. I'm anxious to get started...until then, just the stories.

Today is CHRISTMAS TREE DAY! It just so happens that another group I am in (called We're Here -- we call ourselves 'The Hereios'), had a "too much stuff" theme today. Totally fit my day!!!!

too much stuff

We put up the tree and hung the stockings. You'll have to wait for those pics, as I haven't had time to go through them much yet (and there are quite a few). (I like how I say "you'll have to wait" as if there are people waiting on pins and needles to read this stuff -- especially since I only have one follower -- well, two if you include me -- Hi Julie)! Here are the stories:

1. We had a light emergency! None of the strands we used last year worked!!! Luckily my mom just purchased a lighted tree and was trying to get rid of the lights she no longer needs so she ran them down to me! Whew! Thanks Mom!
2. After I got the lights the way I wanted them (I'm kinda picky about them), I noticed there was one burnt out. I had some extras, so I pulled it out to replace it. However, I think I wasn't supposed to do that because it didn't come out correctly. SO....I had to take that strand off (in the middle of the tree, not the top, not the bottom, the middle) and replace the whole strand with another. Bleh. Minor setback. We forged ahead.
3. When the lights were satisfactory, we opened the box of ornaments. B. noticed the two strands of beads and immediately decided we should jump rope with them! (She is on a jumping rope kick -- it's really NOT jumping rope -- it's jumping up and down and flinging something like a rope around, sometimes hitting things with it) After a few jumps and then tears when we put them on the tree, she was fine. Whew!
4. Next, the balls. Our tree has pink, lime green, blue, red and orange (of course) balls on it. The strand of beads is also lime green and so is the bow on the top! I used to have a more "tranditional, country" type tree, but the last couple of years I decide on this change! I like it, but may go back someday. It fits us now, and matches the furniture! LOL. B. was hilarious helping with the balls! She has been on this kick about colors, pink is her favorite, green is C.'s and orange, of course, is mine. So...she thinks EVERYTHING pink is hers. Likewise everything green is Daddy's and everything orange is Mommy's. So, with each ball she would say, "That's my ball", "That's, B's", "That's Daddy's", etc. AND, of course there were a zillion balls on the bottom third of the tree, multiple balls on each branch, and colors in bunches instead of spread across the tree. But, I was proud of myself. I'm usually pretty picky about that stuff, but I let them stay. C. couldn't stand it, though. He moved a few eventually. It's still quite full on the bottom third though. She has had a difficult time keeping her hands off them.
5. My photos didn't come out as well as I'd liked. C. took some that were better. At least I'll have some!
6. B. wore a cute little Elmo top with a hood that has white fur on it today. So...we decided the red balls on the tree were Elmo's.
7. More packages arrived -- but no december daily album (but I already said that).
8. While C. put B. down for bed, I made a quick run to Target for a few items. When I went through check out, the lady (that I apparently see often) said, "I was worried that you weren't going to be here today". I should probably go to Target less often!
9. I finished all the tags for the books -- and got them all wrapped. FUN! Our book today was called Santa Duck and his merry helpers. Also fun!

December 4
Today M. (my 20 month old granddaughter) was with us for about five hours while her daddy was working and her mommy was at a party watching the Vikings lose, again. We enjoyed her. The girls slept at the same time for nearly two hours, which was also good! A miracle even.

We opened B.'s book of the day while M. was here. I let her because I knew that today was actually four little board books with Elmo. They read them. I think I read Goodnight Moon nearly twenty times as well. When we were done reading it, M. picked up the book and started saying, "Night, Night" and flipping the pages! It was cute! She doesn't talk as much as B., what a difference seven months makes! But she is saying more words and phrases that I understand. B. was extra bossy, of course. When B. was eating supper tonight she said (unsolicited), "I had fun with M."

My favorite part of the day was probably when we watched part of a movie on the couch. I was laying down with M snuggled up beside me. Then B. had to be a part of it, so she laid kind of on me and on the pillows behind me, so she could still see, but also have access to my hair to play with it (wonder if she'll still be doing that when she goes to college)! C. grabbed the camera a took a few shots. Even though I have no make up on and look hideous, I may use it as my photo in my album (if it ever comes ;-)).

love those binkies

I decorated the house a bit more today, and now I am down to two boxes with Christmas stuff that I still need to decorate with. It will need to wait for another day though.

Today we Skyped with my mom and dad. B. loved showing off the Christmas tree to them and telling them about her day with M. Next time I hope I remember to take a photograph of the Skyping so that I can record that in my December Daily album (wait for it....wait for it....if it ever gets here). ;-)

The Hereios are all about candlelight today, so I lit a candle and placed it in front of the tree for a bit of bokeh.

But my favorite photo of the day is this one that I took with my iPhone. While we were trying to cook supper, B. insisted on putting just about every "pretty" that she owns in her hair at the same time. This isn't the first time she's done this, but it's been a while. Then she wanted to see herself in the mirror. I liked the way you could see two of each of us, at different angles, because the doors to the medicine cabinet were open slightly. So, I had to take this photo. Fun!

~ day 1 ~

2011-12-01T22:19:00.001-06:00

Last night, B and I made wrapping paper together! I'm thinking we will use it to wrap presents for daycare and maybe grandparents. I purchased some kraft wrapping paper at Target (which wasn't exactly easy to find, but I found it). Then she stripped down to her diaper and got busy! I showed her how to use her thumb to make holiday lights. After painting I drew lines to connect the lights. Although this was a December Eve activity, it just might make the December Daily album!

our work

B's work

A new tradition that we are starting in our house this year is one that I found around somewhere, but now I've seen it so much I have no idea who to give credit to! I purchased some fun wrapping paper at Target and have started making tags to match. I'm using a few traditional colors mixed with more contemporary "Christmas" colors like pink and maybe even a little orange for good measure. ;-) I am wrapping 25 picture books with a Christmas theme, adding a tag with the number on it, and each night leading up to Christmas we will unwrap a book and read it! Sounds like fun, right? She might be a little young for this, we'll see. I had some books already (imagine that) but I ordered some new ones too. They haven't arrived (I expect them tomorrow). So I just wrapped a few and tagged them to get us started. My plan is to finish them up this weekend and put them in a basket under our tree (which isn't up yet, also on the to do list)! I brought two tagged books upstairs, but left one on my desk downstairs because I still needed to make a tag for it. Tonight when I got home from class, I went downstairs to throw in a load of laundry and found this:

the evidence

B was downstairs by herself for all of five minutes or less while I was at class tonight. But in that time she managed to pull her chair over to my desk, find, and open the "present" without anyone knowing!

the method

I found this, of course, after we had already opened our first book, The Polar Express. She didn't seem all that interested in settling down much to read. Maybe it will go better tomorrow? I dunno, we'll see. I'm still glad I'm doing it!

day 1

As if December wasn't busy enough, I also joined a new flicker group -- december 2011 in photos. It's a theme a day for the month of December. Today's shot is supposed to be of my better half, but so far he isn't cooperating! I will be sure to update this post if I make that happen -- I have an hour!

UPDATE: meet my better half

~ paper craftiness ~

2011-11-27T13:53:00.001-06:00

Woot! Two posts in one day. LOL

I haven't really been doing much with new layouts lately, but I have created a couple of things that I've been wanting to do for a while. First, I made a "Reader's Notebook". I will use this with students as I travel from class to class and meet them in the library and hallways! Most students in my building have some sort of a reader's notebook. They keep lists of books they have read, lists of books they want to read, and there is also room for reflection (among other things, all teachers use these a bit differently). I will use it mostly to write down book recommendations from others (professional, YA fiction, and my own "reading for enjoyment" books) and use in my conversations with kids. I also have a space in there to write down anything I think is important about what I have read -- to recommend to others, to jog my memory when working with students, etc. Like the kids, I will keep track of what I have read, too. Most students in my building have a "book requirement", a goal to read a certain amount of books in all genres, etc. I am working with a classroom and sharing my progress as well, so this is where I will also keep track of the books that I have read.

I used the same papers to personalize my iPad cover! I saw this idea on Stacy Julian's website and "pinned it". I've been dying to do it since!

~ last one ~

2011-11-27T08:40:00.001-06:00

Last night I purchased the VERY LAST of these at Elise Blaha's shop on etsy:

holiday books! from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I hope to try something similar to Ali Edwards December Daily, using Elise Blaha's cute little 4x6 book of mixed holiday papers. It might be a bit much to tackle during this already busy holiday season, but if I don't stress about it too much it just might be fun! Plus it will help me get into the groove of taking photos every day again in preparation for my 365 project in 2012 (actually, 366)!

UPDATE: looks like Elise has added more of the holiday books to her esty shop!

~boggle boggle boggle~

2011-11-25T21:40:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we visited both sets of grandparents and ate two Thanksgiving feasts! My parents had a bit of a full house, but not quite all of us at the same time. My brother and his family were leaving as we arrived -- off to his in-laws. My nephew, Seth, and his wife stayed just barely long enough to eat and then they were off to two more celebrations! My nephew Rich and his two kiddos were there longer than we were, and my older daughter Hollyanne and her family were there for quite a bit as well. It was good to see them all. After supper, my sister Jeanne, my mom, B. and her Daddy, Rich and his two kiddos, and I walked up to the school a few blocks away to play on the playground. I didn't need to wear a coat! Amazing weather! I took a few photos, of course. I uploaded about 32 to facebook and flickr, but I'll try to keep it down to just a few here. :-)

After my folks we went to Grandma and Grandpa B's house. Grandma B. really wanted a photo of B with her poinsettias. I tried...but it was B's "run" time right before bed, so I mostly got blurry photos of her not looking at the camera. This is what I'm left with:

More photos of the day on flickr.

We pretty much did NOTHING today, which was NICE!!!! I did try to do a bit of work on my scrapbook space. I wanted to fix up the bulletin board area so that it looked a bit nicer -- it was all cluttered up with a bunch of stuff I ripped out of magazines for inspiration. So, I took all the magazine pages and put them in a clear envelope, used the Cricut to cut out the letters for the word "inspiration" and attached the word to the envelope with colorful paper clips. I was going to glue them on, and I still might, I haven't decided if I like it or not.

B. "helped" me, and her daddy snapped this photo with his iPhone:

I don't like the way I blend in with the chair, making my butt look extra large...but overall, I like the photo and you can see the space a bit better. The clear envelope is just under the bulletin board, hanging from it with a ribbon. Now the bulletin board is ready for other bits of inspiration and photos!

B. made this turkey at daycare on Wednesday:

Here's the conversation...
Me: B, what does a turkey say?
B: Boggle! Boggle! Boggle!

Hilarious.

~i won (+ some pics)~

2011-11-06T13:43:00.000-06:00

I won!! I entered a challenge over at the Scrapbook Circle Blog -- Challenge #18 In Stitches. My "imagine" layout was the winner! It didn't win because it was awesome or anything -- only because it was the number that some random number generator on the internet picked! :-) But, I don't really care why I won, it's just cool that I get the "Hallow's Eve" Scrapbook Circle kit out of the deal!

I had my granddaughter, M., on Friday and finally got a few pictures of her that actually turned out!!!

~ november first ~

2011-11-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

When we got home from work today, it was in the 70s and it's November! I changed B's pants (after an EEEnormous poop -- her words) and she didn't want her jeans back on. Before I knew it, she had put on her shoes and was outside with Daddy. The sun was out, but beginning to lower in the sky, which made the lighting delicious. So I grabbed my camera, loaded with my birthday lens, and took a few photos of the silly girl, outside, in November, without pants.

Bea, What happened to your pants?

Oh no! I forgot my pants!

Rats! I forgot my pants!

But I remembered my shoes!

~small girl, big thoughts~

2011-10-29T15:09:00.000-05:00

This photo was taken on our trip to Northern Iowa one week before B. turned two. I took the photo because I thought she looked sooo tiny on the big steps of the farmhouse. She was coming out of the house, and I'm pretty sure she was looking for the two of us. We were at a family reunion and so there were many, many new people and most of our trip she stayed pretty close to us, or Grandma and Grandpa. When I saw this week's sketch over at Sketchy Thursdays, I chose this photo as my focus. Thank you to my Club CK friends for helping with the title!

I used hidden journaling for the first time on this layout!! Here is the hidden story and then the reveal.

Many of the materials are from the October Scrapbook Circle Kit -- Fresh Picked, with a few additions from my personal stash.

~ imagine ~

2011-10-26T15:24:00.000-05:00

I'm still home from work. I wish that I had gotten a D and C instead of trying to let my body take care of it a bit more naturally. It's been a long and painful process. I've missed too much work and I'm fairly unmotivated to do anything. Besides, I can't really do much other than sit around anyway. Leaves way too much time for thinking...and I'm not even really thinking clearly. Work and studying is pretty much out. My brain isn't working properly.

I'm not sure what I would do without my mother right now. She has been amazingly helpful. On Monday, she just showed up at my house thinking I shouldn't be alone, and she was right! I had no idea what I was in for, and I even blacked out on her at one point, falling gracefully at her feet. Scared her to death!

I'm also not sure what I would do without my soul mate. I know he is trying his best to heal as well, and at the same time he has been supportive of me and understanding when I don't get out of my pajamas. And work hasn't stopped for him, in fact it's been extra busy the last few weeks. I am so thankful that he is in my life.

Yesterday I stepped outside for a minute or two because I saw that this flower on our deck was blooming and I wanted to try to capture it.

I have been eyeing a few scrapbooking layouts and each day I have gone downstairs to try to do something and most days I've failed - uninspired and my head just isn't there. I decided to try one that I knew would be fairly easy to scraplift, and I wouldn't have to think too much. I picked a layout that I discovered through pinterest. Actually, I believe I repinned this Allie Hamblin layout from my friend Kirsten who found it originally on Studio Calico's website! Here's my take on it.

Everything except the flower is from the most recent Scrapbook Circle Kit called Fresh Picked, including the Pink Paislee Sawdust Wood Alphabet that I inked with orange and brown stamping pads. The background paper is called Timeclock from the Memorandum collection by Lillybee Designs. My favorite paper is the one behind the flower and letter B, it's the Cross Stitch Paper - Farmhouse by Crate Paper. Right beside it is Random - Textile also by Crate Paper, and the last square in the upper right corner is Simple Joys from the Fresh Goods collection by Pebbles Inc. (And yes, I actually stitched with the sewing machine around the edges. I had to change the bobbin and everything)! Overall, I'm not very happy with how this turned out. The photo was too dark for the papers I chose, and the stitching didn't go as well as planned, but it was something -- way better than having a pity party!

I used a Picasso quote, "Everything you can imagine is real" for several reasons. Partly, imagining fits this photo of my daughter in her butterfly wings, but also imagining is hopeful.

~ sad day ~

2011-10-22T13:56:00.000-05:00

Friday was supposed to be an exciting, happy day for us. I had my first doctor's appointment with the OB and I was looking forward to hearing a healthy heartbeat. When the doctor did the exam she couldn't find a heartbeat, so she sent me for an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed that, although I was supposed to be a little over eleven weeks pregnant, our baby didn't make it past week seven. No heartbeat. It was devastating, but that doesn't really explain my feelings about it. I can't really put it into words.

The medical facts are that our baby died around the seventh week but my body wasn't showing any signs of miscarriage. I had two options: Surgery or take a medication that would help my body miscarry. I chose the medication. I took one dose last night, and the process started within about four hours (about 3:30 this morning). There is, of course, both physical and emotional pain, but overall, I think I'm doing as well as can be expected.

I go back to the OB doctor on Monday so they can check my progress and give me a RhoGAM shot (I'm RH-negative). I need to continue with the gestational diabetes regimen until the placenta has exited my body because the placenta is what causes a pregnant person's body to become insulin resistant. I will also check in with the GD doctor on Monday.

Our lights went out last night, so we filled the room with candles. This candle lit up a picture frame that I got for my birthday from a friend. I thought it fit the day, so I snapped a photo of it.

This morning, B. sat on my tummy and said, "Baby in there? Mommy's got a baby in her tummy?" I paused and then just said "No." Then she said, "It's gone?".

~ 11 weeks ~

2011-10-19T14:43:00.000-05:00

I was going to wait until week 12 to do my first belly shot (I like even numbers), but The Hereios, a group I'm in over at flickr, had "Reflected Restroom Selfie" as it's theme for today -- so I took it today instead! The shirt I'm wearing is stretchy. I'm going to try to wear it for as many of the belly shots as I can. And, since I did this one in the restroom, I may try to do the others that way as well. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, and I'm hot happy with the actual photo, so maybe not!

I'm growing more quickly than my last pregnancy! I'm sure this has much to do with the fact that I have no stomach muscles left -- from babies, the kidney donation, as well as the incisional hernia from my last pregnancy. There's nothing left to hold it all in, so I popped quite quickly even though I've actually lost a little weight. I think I'm going to have to break down and buy maternity clothes earlier rather than later. Until then, I have the bellaband to help out (I would die without it).

The GD is still kicking my butt. I continue to be over emotional and distracted by what to eat, when to eat and how to get exercise in. Bleh. But on Friday, I should get to hear the heartbeat!

What about craftiness, you ask? What have I been up to in that area? I'm not sure what I am thinking, but I ordered some PUL fabric and a book about how to make really cool cloth diapers. I am not finding time to do anything crafty, I'm barely taking photos, and I'm not a person that sews. I had to look up PUL fabric online so I would even know what it was. So..uhh...what was I thinking? I guess I wasn't.

I did get this awesome selection of doodle twine (doodlebug design inc.) in the mail the other day, and I cannot wait to use it! It has been busy around here with birthdays and stuff, but I'm hoping that I'll find time this weekend to reacquaint myself with the scrapbook area!

But, not before I clean it up.....

My soul mate: (hollering up the stairs) Uh, was B. downstairs by herself at all yesterday?
Me: (as I'm walking down the stairs) Um, I'm not sure, I think she was recently, but I'm not sure....
My soul mate: Look...

This is the floor!

At least she finished the task, right? Her daddy says this means that she will probably finish college.

~ senior photos ~

2011-10-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

Steve Jobs died. A few hours before his death, I purchased an iPad 2. I will never forget that. The world has lost something special.

It's been busy 'round here. Class, work, B., and family all taking up time. But, unfortunately, most of my time is spent counting carbs, meal planning, grocery shopping and worrying! Argh! I wish I could get over the worrying part. When I was pregnant with B. I had gestational diabetes. I ended up having to be on insulin for most of the summer leading up to her birth in August. Like typical GD, it went away as soon as she was born. Also typical, I have to be watched carefully during this pregnancy because it will be back. So, after my first visit to the GD doctor, she put me on the carb-counting diet (with 3 meals, 3 snacks a day) and I started checking my blood sugar before breakfast and after each meal. It only took a week. As soon as I sent them my numbers I was put on insulin in the evenings (before bed). It's the long-lasting kind not the quick acting kind. (I was on both before, and probably will be again, eventually) The reason they started me so early is because my fasting blood sugars (right when I wake up, before breakfast) were a little high. Another thing I learned, if I have to sit in meetings all day or something like that, my other blood sugars are higher than we'd like. So, this means I'm counting my carbs carefully, eating every 3 hours (I set a timer on my phone), pricking my finger 4 times a day, injecting insulin at 9pm each night, and I walk about a mile after every meal. It takes a lot of time to plan for all of that! It's frustrating, time consuming, and takes up too much space in my brain. And I really hate being on the insulin because then I sometimes have low blood sugars as a result, which make me feel dizzy and icky. Bleh. But in about 30 weeks or less, I will have a baby.

This weekend I took photos of my niece, Simonne. She is a senior and needed some senior shots. My one true love helped me immensely (AND is doing the photoshopping for me)! He also gave me an early birthday present -- a new lens for my camera!! (Can I get a woot woot)? It was the perfect gift and just in time for the photo shoot (he planned it that way). I took over 200 photos and we got a few that work. Photoshop is our friend, especially since Simi got her wisdom teeth out the day before! But she was a trooper. We couldn't have had a better weekend -- beautiful, warm, with lovely fall colors all around us. Here are a few....more on flickr.

~ big sis ~

2011-09-26T14:20:00.000-05:00

B. has an announcement. Read and think about it. :-)

~ on a walk with mommy and daddy ~

2011-09-21T13:53:00.000-05:00

A rough transcript (of just B.'s part):

Happy birthday to you Mommy, Saddy, Bea, and you and youand Princess and Fiona Princess.

I watch shrek, I watch shrek? I sing happy birthday to you princess Fiona

No. I no sing again.

No.

La la la Elmo's song.

La la Elmo's song.

Music.

Song.

Go on. Go on. Do it.

Song.

La la song

(some think about a necklace I think)

(Something about) daddy do it...Elmo's song

No no Elmo'ssong

No no Elmo's song

No Elmo's song

I got I got I got my clipclops

I gotta put on my clip clops

And my ring And my ring (but puts hernecklace on)

Huh?

My crown

Hey where's my ring

I want...look lookover there

Over here. Over here.

~ things i want to remember ~

2011-09-20T16:06:00.000-05:00

I want to remember that yesterday you lined up some of your crayons to count them.
I want to remember that you did this while we were trying to get you out the door to stay at Grandma's house over night.
I want to remember how much I missed you when we woke up this morning and you were still at Grandma's house.
I want to remember how I smiled when I saw the crayons this morning, still all lined up, waiting to be counted.

I took a photo of your crayons so I wouldn't forget these moments.

~ camping ~

2011-09-15T15:57:00.000-05:00

Charlie is on his second round of antibiotics, steroids, cough medicine and now and inhaler. I'm feeling much better, but this cold has been nasty! We've pretty much had the plague at our place since school started! Luckily, the worst of it has stayed away from B. She has a little cough and a slightly runny nose, but mostly it seems like allergies for her. This is how cute she looked on Friday, Sept 9, in her Pink Hawkeye cheerleading outfit! Isn't she big???!!!

Immediately after this photo was taken we headed to Pleasant Creek State Park to get away from it all and camp for the weekend. Pleasant Creek isn't a creek, it's a lake...but it is quite pleasant!

One of the reasons that I like this camping area so much is because you are surrounded by natural prairie everywhere you go. The yellows are very active this time of year.

We saw a deer the first night we were there. Then over the next two days we had encounters with a snake and bullfrog. B. loved them all!!

Another great thing about this camping spot is the playground. When B would get bored, we would take a little walk and play on the toys. Once again, these photos remind me of how unbelievable big she has gotten!

Believe it or not, some of the noodles did get into her belly! The smiling is partly because of the "yummy in her tummy", but mostly because Daddy is making faces!

We took our hand-me-down scooter with us. She didn't do too bad! We should get out that helmet, though! Daddy helped push, but she was also able to scoot herself a long a bit. Steering is still an issue!

All that playing did make for a tired two year old!

~ two vids and a pic ~

2011-08-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

Today B. and I went on a short walk. Although we live in town, there is a family farm across the street that must be grandfathered in because they have a couple horses. We don't often see them out and about, but today was an exception.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, lately the things she says just cracks me up! This video is of her eating yogurt and blackberries....

When she says "huge" then asks "Where did enormous go?" she is talking about the sunflower that used to be on the deck. It was cut down recently because it had seen better days!

~ happy birthday (a week late) ~

2011-08-27T14:53:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday our baby turned two! And boy is she two! It has been so much fun watching her grow and change over the last two years. I can't believe the leaps and bounds in language development over the last few months. The latest funny is that she is adding "honey" to everything. We first noticed it Thursday night when she was telling us she was thirsty, "More milk, Honey."!

Kids started back to school on the 18th, and we also didn't have our regular daycare provider on that day and several days following because she was out of town. We knew in advance, but the lack of a regular routine and schedule does tend to throw everything off. My mom was able to babysit her 3 of the 4 days (thanks Mom!), and Charlie stayed home the first day. Friday, the 19th my mom (thanks, again) took her to the doctor -- pink eye. But she seemed fine on her birthday. Here are a few picks from the day, more on flickr.

The loot:
I made a presonalized Elmo birthday banner with my Cricut!
B.'s first look at the presents!
Shock and awe over the whole thing.
We probably could've just purchased balloons for the kids. We had a hard time getting her to open her presents!

The Elmo cake!

Never leave home without it...

Eating like all princesses, right?
And then she licked rocks for dessert!
Sunday we recovered. Monday night she threw up all night (I'm sure it wasn't related to the rock eating). Then Charlie and I got it. We are still recovering!!

~ butter and butter ~

2011-08-12T20:22:00.001-05:00

B. loves butter! When at Grandma B's house, she sometimes get to eat it right out of the tub! Not at home though. However she has started something new...it goes something like this:

B: Butter and butter. I want butter and butter
(butter and butter = bread and butter)
Me: You want bread and butter? OK!
B: My help! My help! B. help!
Me: You want to help?

I give her the knife with butter on it and a piece of bread. She sorta pretends to spread it. Then she licks the butter off the knife!

On this day, I was able to get the butter on the bread. But then, as usual, instead of biting the bread, she licked the butter off.

Notice the hole in the bread? That's from biting it while licking the butter off...not from the side, from the middle!

School is about to begin for real (I've been back for more than a week now). Monday all the teachers join us, then students on Thursday. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be able to take more planned, purposeful, and fun photos. Until then, I'm going through the motions.

~ my black eyed-b ~

2011-08-10T16:41:00.000-05:00

Wow! What a couple of weeks! School's getting ready to start, which means my life is extra busy 1. trying to get ready for school and 2. trying to fit some fun stuff in before it starts!!!

Quick recap:

Monday (Aug. 1st) drove B. and my mom to Des Moines to visit my nephew and his two kids E and L.
Tuesday back in Des Moines for a conference.
Wednesday @work with other coaches planning facilitation for New Teacher Induction next week.
Thursday @ work doing lots of stuff including meeting with the teacher that I am mentoring.
Friday @ work coaching/developing consensus maps with teachers k-12.
Monday (Aug. 8) New teachers first day of school -- called induction week. My role on this day was mostly a mentor.
Tuesday -- continuation of New Teacher Induction -- today was literacy day, so heavy facilitation by me, and then more time with my mentee.

No daycare this week because the daycare provider's father died suddenly. I feel so sad for her and hope she is doing well. I can't imagine losing a parent so young. This resulted in a week that was full of scrambling to get B. hooked up with Grandma H. or Grandma B. She loved it though.

B. was extra tired from getting up so early for the Des Moines trip, and having her schedule all whack-a-do!

My favorite non-kid photo of the week was probably this one, taken the last weekend in July at the in-laws. Larry had just watered his garden, the sun was headed downward, and there were drops of water on the dill...

Did I mention that B. also had a way-too-close-encounter with the swing? Bob Dylan (well, Jimmie Rodgers) has his blue-eyed Jane, I have a black-eyed B.

My Zoot Daze continues to be a wonderful partner, I am very lucky to have him in my life. A simple, recent, example was on Aug. 2nd. He could be annoyed with my 365 project. It takes time and I get obsessed, etc. However, knowing I was tired from the travel and extra stress in our lives, he went out of his way to call me outside and say -- "I think I have your picture for today". And he did, indeed.
This subject also allowed me to practice my recent photography obsession -- "freelensing". For my use, it involves detaching the lens from the camera to be able to take a poor man's "macro" shot, but it can also be used to create a tilt-shift effect (which I haven't become obsessed with, yet). More information on freelensing, here.

I WON!!! Cristy over at the blog TheArthurz was giving away the new sketchbook, Sketches for Scrapbooking Volume 8, and I won it! It arrived in the mail on Friday. I've taken a look, but there's no time for creativity this week -- or maybe for a bit -- I need to pour all that energy into work right now. Another week and I'll get a bit of a breather!

Until then, I'll keep my orange colored glasses on...

~ pools and photos ~

2011-07-28T22:07:00.000-05:00

I pretty much completely ripped off this layout from Laura Vegas!

I managed to find two journal spots, and get thirteen photos on this two page layout. This is a good thing because these photos tell several stories (pool, storm, blue nails).

Journaling reads:
July in Iowa requires a pool! We bought a $25, 10x6 pool for us all to cool off in (and a neighbor kid or two). Two days later, it blew away in an unpredicted, early morning storm. We never found it! It only took a few days of 110 + heat index before we replaced it!

For this journaling I really should put some brads to dot the bullet points or something. I should also add some embellishments to jazz it up a bit. I might at some point. The reality is, I'm back at work and I wanted to get the page finished (I started it on Monday)! The second page journaling reads:
You learned:
to splash and be splashed
to blow bubbles
to front crawl (never mind it was standing)
to kick, kick, kick
that Daddy will do just about anything
~for you~
even paint his toenails blue!

This shows a close up of the toenails. More fun pool photos are here.

Yesterday I attended the first of eight days of 21st Century Learning, a class offered by Grant Wood, but housed on our campus. It was interesting and a little fun. One thing that we did was a photography scavenger hunt! We were given guidelines and asked to roam around for a bit to take pictures based on the guidelines. This worked out well for me because I could use the photos for my 365 project! My two favorites...

Assimilate This! (photo of at least three of something with a focus on the first item)

But I think I'll use Cat's Eye View for my photo of the day (if I ever get a chance to upload).

This was the bottom shelf -- what the cat would see.

Today I got a package in the mail! I ordered photos from Snapfish for the first time. I often use Snapfish because they are connected to flickr, but I pick up photos from Walgreens. This time, I took advantage of their 200 photos for $2 special (if you have them sent to you via mail). Two things: The shipping and handling is outrageous! However, it was still cheaper than if I'd picked them up -- but it wasn't only $2! Also, I'm not impressed with the quality. The color seems a bit off and the paper they use is flimsy. I think I'll stick with Walgreens from now on. This is what 200 photos (actually 202) look like:

PS Only a little over a week and a half before the recall elections in Wisconsin!

~ welcome ~

2011-07-21T10:24:00.000-05:00

I've blogged before. I was most active 2006-2007, blogging about music, politics, donating my kidney to my dad, and everyday life stuff. Then when I was pregnant I started a blog for the baby, but that fizzled out. I'm usually good at starting things, but not always good with the follow through. Most of the time it's because I set goals that are way to lofty, then I "get behind" and can't get out!!! So I quit. Probably not a good attribute to have or thing to admit. However, I'm getting better!

For example, I started a 365 project over at flickr.com (photo a day), and I'm still going. Today is day 202. There have been moments and I've almost quit, but I'm still going! So maybe I'll be able to keep this blog up, too! I did enjoy it when I did it before.

So, what will this blog include? I have no idea. I'm starting it today with the idea that I can share my creations (photos and scrap booking) and our everyday life.

I'll start here by posting a few of the projects that I've worked on this week. Keep in mind this is my week off, I (sort of) start back to work next week (three days next week, three the next week, and then back-to-school-we-go the following week). Since I've been home this week, I've had an opportunity to work on some pages. After this, I will be lucky to get one layout a week completed (and that might be too lofty a goal)!

These first two contain photos that were taken the same day (4.2.11). They are two separate layouts because they tell two different stories. One tells about when we purchased the hat! The other tells about B's discovery of bugs. I may still have 1-2 pages to go with photos from this day, not sure.

~ bugs ~
photos: 4.2.11
scrapped: 7.15.11
materials: Most items are from Echo Park's Springtime collection. I added a little blue, some ribbon, and some K & Company stickers.
journaling reads: "On a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Braun's house, much to your delight, you found them, you captured them, and you let them go (a few didn't make it)." The other section says, "Springtime. Warmer temperatures, lighter, brighter clothes, sun and sun hats."

~ the sun hat ~
photos: 4.2.11 (the big photo was day 92 of my 365 project)

scrapped: 7.18.11
materials: mostly Echo Park Springtime collection
journaling reads: Grandma Howe and I took you shopping at the Coral Ridge Mall. It was your first time in a big mall without the stroller. You were amazed by all the sights and sounds. We walked into a children's store and way in the back you found this sun hat! You wouldn't let it out of your hands! Your persistence led to its purchase. These photos were taken a day or two later, outside, at Grandma and Grandpa Braun's house.

I've become involved in several online scrap booking communities as well as flickr. One of the scrap booking blogs that I follow is Sketchy Thursdays. This site posts a new sketch (every Thursday, of course) and the challenge is to use the sketch as inspiration, create and submit a page, and wait. ;-) On the following Wednesday they pick a random number and that person wins some goodies (scrap book materials). They also pick some of their "faves" and post them to the page. I entered for the first time yesterday and I didn't win the goodies, but my page was picked as one of the faves! Pretty cool. They may have just picked mine because they knew I was a first timer, who knows, but I'll take it! :-) It's kinda funny because I wasn't really happy with the page, and I still think something is missing. This is the the Sketchy Thursday sketch that I used:

This is my take on it (and did I mention it was one of their faves?):

~ milk moiselle ~
photo: 3.16.11 (day 75 of my 365 project)
scrapped: 7.20.11
materials: This is my first time using a kit from Scrapbook Circle (Grandma's Attic).
journaling reads: you love to play dress up! but, after this very fancy moment no more boa! too itchy!

Here are a few close ups of this one:

Please notice the first ever machine stitching in the above photo! I purchased a sewing machine this week, and had quite the adventure trying to figure out how to use the darn thing.

OK, it's nearly noon and I haven't started a new layout! I had better get busy, my "free" days are slowing slipping away...

Welcome to my view - through orange colored glasses.