A Great Weekend!

Turns out we had a pretty busy weekend, but what fun it turned out to be. Butch played golf on Saturday while I spent most of the day reading. The book, "Those Who Save Us" (sorry, can't get it underlined) kept me busy most of the day---finished it this afternoon. Saturday night, we had a black tie thing to go to for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center---Butch is the chairman of the board. We're pretty tired of these things, but it was all right. Darryl Hall was the entertainment---he's not so good without John Oates.  I guess he's tired of playing and singing the "old" songs in the traditional way, so he added about a 5 minute instrumental---sort of a blue-sy, jazzy thing---at the beginning and end of each song. I didn't really like it.

Sunday, we went geo-caching with Jack and Connie and then to lunch. We found 6 caches in about an hour and half. It was really their first time, so that was fun for all of us. Later in the day, we went to Best Buy to get a new television. Butch didn't make the deal he wanted as they would only come $50. off the sale price. I swear, he says you can always ask (and get) a better deal. I was impressed with the $50, but he said it wasn't enough, so we left. Sure enough, he later found the same tv online for $200 cheaper, plus no tax or shipping which saves nearly another $200. After Best Buy, we went to Sam's to get the non-perishables for the engagement party we're giving for a friend in May. Just a really nice day and we felt like we accomplished a lot.

And then today---he brought me flowers! That was a really nice surprise---it's been awhile!

Now for some food for thought (and the reason why I scrapbook)---think about this:

"If you don't write down your stories, they never really happened." I don't know who said it, but it's pretty profound, don't you think?

Family Observations

6 of the “original 7”  were in New Orleans together this week. Even though Matt was missing, Jim took his place without missing a beat---he even got on his own wife’s nerves!

Janice likes bowling shirts---and thank goodness she does! I was able to spot her a block away on Bourbon Street.

LOUD for our family is an understatement.

The “f” word is a part of every sentence and goes up exponentially with the alcohol consumption---ditto for the decibel level.

Jeanne looks good in turquoise even if the rest of the family said she looked like a matador.

Alcohol consumption was at an all time high.

Only 1 of 7 of us suffers hangovers---gee, I wonder who that would be---but I’ve learned my lesson and really “throttled back”! I had 3 glasses of wine, 1/3 of a hand grenade and a hurricane in a 5 hour period---I was happy, but didn’t get sick---compared to the last time I had a hand grenade and a hurricane in the same hour. Got sick, ruined my dinner, lost a bracelet AND was hung over. Never again.

All 5 of us girls have crappy hair. The boys are okay---maybe we should wear ours that short---oh wait, Janice does.

Some of them can’t dance OR ride Segways! Notice I said “them”---had I said “us”, that might have included me!

This was drilled into me from a young age: “Barbara, you are the oldest. You have to set a good example for your younger brothers and sisters.” What a burden to put on a little kid. Well ya’ know what, mom and dad, it didn’t work---and I’m still trying to set that example!

Two of my sisters had to do a lot of babysitting this week.

A couple siblings have a permanent scowl on their faces and one even growls.

I’m sad whenever I have to leave Mindy. I just want her to come home---not exactly home, but Nashville.

Some of us think food is the necessity and others think alcohol is.

We’re all know-it-alls.

Everyone wants to be the boss, but that’s my job---assigned by the folks.

And my favorite observation of all: There weren’t any fights! Maybe some of us have grown up after all!

Most Recent Project

I saw this idea in a magazine. And, since I'm the only one that comes up with ideas for my daytime group, we made it. I'm getting ready to make a couple more for two of my favorite people. If you don't get one, that doesn't mean you aren't a favorite---just means you don't have a scrapbook room to hang it in. 

It's funny, my room is so incredibly "junky", but when Steph was over the other night, she said she wanted her room to look like this too! If you've ever seen pictures of Mary Engelbreit's studio, it's pretty junky too.

Making the Most of My Memories Workshop

Nothing very exciting has been going on around here. I've spent a lot of time preparing for my "Making the Most of My Memories Workshop". So far, it's going pretty well. I have 6 friends taking it. Jeanne and Janet are trying to take it via email. It's kind of hard to explain it all, so I plan to work with them when I'm in town in a couple of weeks. 

I'll be teaching for a larger group at the scrapbook store in Greenbrier, TN this summer and later in Glasgow, KY. I'm glad I'm doing it with my friends first so I can work out all the kinks and see the areas they are having trouble with.

Here are a few photos of the process. 

I can never seem to get these photos right---I load them in order and they come up in reverse. Anyway, this is the last step of the organization process---the layout binders.

This is the "Page Planner" that I designed to help me organize layouts that I want to do. I know at a glance if the photos need to be printed, or if the journaling needs to be done. I use my blog entries for my journaling a lot of the time.
These are the storage binders. With my pictures sorted into these, I can access particular photos in seconds. They make it easy to see "connections". One of my favorites was a layout I did for Jackie's college graduation. When I went to my "people" binder to find pictures of her, I discovered a wallet size photo of her kindergarten graduation. What a darling addition to her college page that was. That's exactly what I love about this system.
This is all that's left of my chronological storage! What a satisfying feeling! Most of these photos are related to particular trips that we've taken over the years.

More Frustrations

Well, I decided to add my frustrations to Steph's list and to Jeanne's continuing mole problems. I'm not even going to mention our squirrels.

Here's the question: What is the big hole in our backyard that we have to continually throw money into? Yep, that big money-sucking hole would be the pool. We're having problems----again! Remember the whole reason I was considering moving was this darn pool? Well, if you saw it now---what a mess. It's downright disgusting. We have another pool leak (small), half the tile has fallen off (remember, that was replaced just 18 months ago), the water is a scummy yellow/green, the polaris is broken (resulting in the scummy yellow/green) and the pool decking is cracking up in too many places to count. Add to that, the storm yesterday tipped the glass patio table by the pool and broke tabletop #4! This time, the table itself is also broken, so the whole thing needs to be replaced. You can bet the next one will be plexiglass! 

As for the pool, I have an appointment to talk to the owner of the pool maintenance company that I use. My goal is to get it looking acceptable for the summer. Then in the fall, we're going to chop up the whole thing including the decking and re-do it. At that time, we're---(I need to say "I'm"--- as Butch doesn't know anything about my plan) going to replace all of the underground pipes so hopefully we can stop the leaks. And I don't care what it costs! 

I just want everything to run the way it's supposed to. Oh, and sort of pool related, the window treatment has fallen off the door to the pool bath! That would be the girls...