I'm a Paper Girl

My annual attempt at keeping myself organized. I am a paper girl, I love the smell of newly printed paper, the feel of it in my hands, thumbing through a brand new planner, it just doesn't get any better.

Try as I might, I just can't go digital with my planner. I'm not a techno girl. I don't function as well. That's not to say that my functioning with a paper planner is without fault. I struggle, more so at my current job than any other before. There's very little structure, way more e-mail than any one human being should ever receive, and constant interruptions are a way of life. But I try, I make lists, cross things off, go to meetings and make notes, and keep a phone log, but usually somewhere around June it all goes to hell, and I throw my hands up and give in to the chaos.

I've got my sights set on making it through July this year!

Taking back the House

This was supposed to post yesterday (1/4/09), but I'm guessing that I hit save when I thought I hit publish, so a day late and a dollar short, oh well.

So, the trees came down today. Well, two of the three anyway. The live ones had to go, their time had come. They were completely dry. Pete had decided on Christmas day to stop watering, so there wasn't any trace of moisture left in those babies by the time they came down.

I have a love-hate relationship with this part of the holidays, I Love getting my house back, and this is the earliest I can remember us taking the trees down. I was ready. Our tree this year, while beautiful, was huge. Tall, and really big around, we named it FATSO! It took up a ton of space. So, as I said, I was ready. This is where the Hate part comes in, I despise taking all the decorations down, individually wrapping each ornament, packing them up in the little boxes, putting those boxes in the Rubbermaid tubs, and then lugging the heavy tubs back upstairs to be put into storage for another year. It is such a pain in the rear. I know it didn't all go up in a day, and it by no means came down in a day, but I swear, if we win the lottery, I'm paying someone to come and do this for me!

So, (I've got to stop using "so" to start a paragraph) this is my house back to normal. The chair has been returned to it's rightful place, and there is (clean)laundry, on it, and all is right with the world.

My Space

Working on Day 3. Doin' good! Yeah, I know it's stupid to be proud that I've done something three days in a row, but for me, it's a BIG thing. I have trouble staying committed to things. I'm not afraid of commitment, I just suck at it. Maybe its the whole staying focused thing, or maybe I'm just lazy, but I really think it has more to do with not believing in myself enough. At least that's my guess.

Anyway........... This is my space, it brings me joy each time I look at it. My little vignettes, the pic of E and her friend, a scrapbook page she made! My dolls from the ill-fated Chocolate Crop, my jars, that make me remember great times with two really special people. And, let's not forget the stuff, lots of stuff, this could be part of the reason Pete put me on a spending freeze, but hey, this stuff is already here, and it brings me JOY!

Day 2

So, they say it takes 21 days to make something a habit, to affect a change, well, I'm here to tell you it feels damn good to have made it to Day 2! I took this photo tonight while making dinner, our traditional New Year's Day dinner, a day late, because time got away from us yesterday. It was quiet in the house. Erin was, as she has been since Christmas Day, attached to her DS, Pete was pouring drinks for dinner, and I was thinking of just how lucky I am.

I have to make an unrelated note about dinner, because I don't want to forget it. Pete and Erin rebelled and insisted we have some other lucky food, anything except sauerkraut. Well, they didn't want black eyed peas and collard greens either, but anything other than that. So we settled on water chestnuts. Now, I have no idea if they are considered lucky food anywhere in the world, but they were at our house tonight. Pork tenderloin, water chestnuts, corn and mashed potatoes, that's our lucky dinner for this year.

365

It's been a long time, and I know I'm not good at this type of thing, but I am going to give it a try again. I'm not going to pressure myself to write long posts or attempt to impart words of wisdom, just make a daily note, and keep record. A Photo and a few words.

I want to try this daily, document my life for me, and hopefully see some things with more clarity. So here's to 2009, and finding my way.

This was taken yesterday, January 1, 2009, and I can't think of better people to kick off a New Year with. I love these two!

Happiness

I did this for Ali's challenge from her newsletter, you can read it here, the basic idea is to pick a word and let it guide you for the coming year. Mine, was happiness. Not to say that I haven't been happy in the past, just that I want to find more of it in my life. I created my own little 7 Gypsies"ish" card to read "Make your own happiness; create it everyday, it lives with in you, in your home, your heart and your spirit. Find it" Mainly to remind myself not to depend on others, or outside things to make me happy. That I can find it right within the smiling faces of my family. And that is all I need.

Changes

Making changes, little ones, here and there. Signed up for the Big Picture Scrapbooking, Library of Memories class, and am really intent on staying caught up, and completing the tasks. So, our first one was to personalize our clipboard that we received in our Welcome Packet. Check, that baby is done, and surprise, surprise, I like it! Next task, well, that'll be a little tougher. Need to organize my photos. Not sure about just exactly how I want to go about that, but I guess the best thing is just to dive in and see what happens. I usually resit change, but this one I'm trying really hard to embrace for a couple of reasons. One, is I've paid out some cash for this class, and I want to get my $ worth, and two, and this is the bigger one, I want to get back to the place where scrapping was fun, enjoyable and creative for me. I've lost that and I want it back. I want to let go of the guilt, to make pages that I love, and that describe how I feel for the important people in my life, and I want to have fun! So, working on accepting change. Maybe I've made a resolution after all.

Back at it in the New Year

Well, it's a new year, and I'm not making any resolutions, I just want to try and live my life as honestly and openly as possible. That in and of itself is going to be a huge challenge! So, to kick it off, I'm back at the You Think Journal and am working on pages. Don't think I'll do them all in order, will probably work as the mood strikes, but I am hoping to complete it by years end.

Today's page is Angry. Wanted this to be stark, and the colors of red and black are what I see when I am angry so that is what I used. Probably lots more things that get my temper to flare (it's not hard to do), but I think for now, this will suffice.

Just for Fun

Something just for fun, and to remind myself of good times!!

Christmas Meme
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? hot chocolate, and as E would say "With Lots of Sprinkles!"
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? both! One big thing is unwrapped, and everything else get wrapped
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white on the outside, colored on the trees inside
4. Do you hang mistletoe? yep
5. When do you put your decorations up? Pete always wants to do it the day after Thanksgiving, but usually it's the first weekend in December
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? crab bisque
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: the anticipation of Christmas Eve and the sheer joy of Christmas Morning
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? what truth?
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? sometimes we did as a kid, it was always new, (and matching) pjs, now Mrs. Claus leaves new jammies for E under her pillow Christmas Eve
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? with a mix of ornaments, spanning my entire lifetime, not to mention any ornament I ever made, my Mom saved it all!
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! Wish we had some
12. Can you ice skate? Um, well, I can stand without falling, and can move around the rink, but I'm not sure I'd really call it skating.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? yes, and no, so much of it runs together in my mind now!
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being with my family
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? either my Moms peanut butter fudge, or her homemade coffee cakes YUMMY!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Being together, Silent Night and candle lighting at church on Christmas Eve, going downstairs Christmas morning, oldest to youngest, opening presents one by one
17. What tops your tree? a white dove
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Now seriously, who's going to say receiving?? I love to give, especially when I know I've found just the right thing, but honestly I love receiving just the right thing too!
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Hark the Herald Angels or Joy to the World
20. Candy canes: at least one a year
21. Favorite Christmas movie? The Year Without A Santa Claus
22. What do you leave for Santa? cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer!

Warning!!!

Boat load of posts ahead, as I attempt to get all of my pics for the day uploaded. Who am I warning you ask? AS no one but me reads this blog, well, then I'm warning me, when I come back in a year to remind my feeble old brain of what we did in December 2006!

Fruits of our labor 12/13

So, we spent all night last night getting the outside decorations up. Hanging sparkly silver snowflakes, pine garland with white lights, new solar lights (which we aren't so sure about) to shine up on the sparkly snowflakes, wreaths on the doors, a new lighted, animated moose up in the woods as a surprise for E, and arrangements in the urns. And this is the only photo I could take, you see it was pretty dark at 1 am, and I wasn't venturing too far off the front porch. Still gotta' make nine new bows for the garland/railing, and new bows for the wreaths, and I"m not so much looking forward to that because my bow maker is still MIA. Can't find it anywhere, and I totally suck at making bows freehand!

Tonight's task? Getting the nativity set out, putting up the garland on the steps inside, decorating the dining room, (which means moving all the crap that's taken up residence in there), and changing out the everyday dishes for the Christmas ones! Slowly but surely we're getting it all done. Hopefully by the time E and my parents get here all that will be left is some fun baking for everyone!

It's getting there! 12/12

Almost done! Presents have started arriving in the mail, stuff came from Pete's sisters and his Mom, so under the tree they went. The tree looks like it's missing something, I think I'm going to add some garland, it just looks a little naked. For that matter this whole corner of the room looks naked! Needs something on the wall, not sure what, but something. Not lovin' this picture, but I have yet to figure out how to take a good picture of a Christmas tree with out the flash, may have to do some reading up on that! Or maybe I just need a new camera, hint hint!

Pic of the day 12/11

This is the result of shopping with my hubby! These amazing glittered deer for my mantle, plus some sparkly trees, and snowflakes for outside! I would NEVER buy something like this on my own. I wouldn't spend that kind of money, but with him along, all it took was a little bit of encouragement, and wa la a whole new look to my mantle!

Happy Pic 12/10

Just a quick happy picture of one of my most favorite ornaments. This dates back to my childhood, she's a troll angel, and my entire family makes fun of me for loving this little lady, but she makes me happy and I'm keepin' her!

Pic of the day 12/09

Prezzies under the tree, but none for me!! Oh well, just happy to get something wrapped up and put under there!

Still Standing 12/08

We took E ice skating Friday night, and had a blast. She loved it!!! Took her off guard a bit, she was doing just fine until we hit the ice, and then, look out, all sense of balance was gone, and she just kept moving her feet, but didn't get anywhere. We made it around a few times, and then, the ballet started on stage, and being totally enamoured with all things frilly, E wanted to be up close, she took off across that rink like nobody's business. Skated right across, not problems. I'll tell you what, when that girl puts her mind to something, you'd better just get out of her way!

E's Contributions (12/07)

to pic of the day, plus, her idea of things to sell in the store. In case you can't read her writing, it says

"Ribbons for sale. Free! Woo Hoo! Free Pictures too!"

Fun at the Store 12/06

E's idea of fun while she's stuck at the store during track out. Find something, climb on top of it, and then jump as high as you can, preferably with Mom taking pictures, with the old camera, which has such horrible shutter lag, that you have to do it over and over and over again, before she gets on picture of you actually in the air!

Warm days 12/05

in December, mean you can ride your bike in the parking lot at your Mom's store, while you stuck there, and say "Look Mom, No Hands!"