Procrastination 101

Considering I'm very goal oriented, I can still be a procrastinator. I hate leaving projects unfinished---I'm one of those types that finishes anything I start---I most times won't let myself start something else until the first thing is finished.

Not true when it comes to my scrapbooking. I scrapbook randomly. I wait until the pages pile up before I put them in albums. Here's what I was dealing with:

These piles might not look like much, but they represent about a hundred layouts. It was time to get my table cleared off.

First comes sorting---putting the layouts in piles based on the albums they will go in.
Second---pull out the albums one at a time and put pages in.
Third---label albums.

Seems like this should be done in a flash doesn't it? Not so. It took me SIX hours!!! I used 3 tape runners and completed 3 albums while starting about 4 more. I even had title and end pages done in advance of this process (but it seems I never have enough).

One thing I ALWAYS do is add a "table of contents" to the front of each book. Also, I'm sure to sign the back cover and date it.

This is a heritage album. I've found that by adding the "table of contents" it makes it easier for me to find a particular layout---mostly for class purposes. But recently, my niece sent me a cute photo of Evie and told me how she is pulling things out of drawers and putting things in. It reminded me of a layout I did years ago that I titled "Toddler Rules." It's about: "if something is empty, I must fill it; if something is on, I must take it off, etc."

There are a couple of reasons I like to sign and date each album. One, for posterity---my great, great, great grandchildren will have a bit of my handwriting (which is also throughout the album), but also know when it was made and by who. Even if it winds up in an antique shop someday (gasp), it will have more value if it's signed and dated.

This is what I ended up with:

There are 14 albums in progress. I actually have two more on another shelf. This is what allows me to scrapbook anything, any time I want. Way more interesting this way.

I still have about 20 layouts that I didn't put in an album yet. They are all of the Zimmermann family. I hate that they won't all fit in one album and can't quite decide how I want to divide them up. Enough for now---at least I tackled the biggest part of the job.

It always takes longer than you think. Maybe that's why I procrastinate.

Project Life

I'm finally caught up on Project Life. Thank goodness I decided to do the monthly approach.

 Just little snippets of our month. Of course, I always have stories to tell.

I probably make this harder than it needs to be, but just like my scrapbooking, I want to have a lot of photos to represent the month.

Next up...The Mega Page Gathering.

It's ALL About Elizabeth!

Not surprising since she's the reason we went to Charlotte. She looked so cute in her First Communion Dress.

She is so darn sweet!! First Communion is one of the most important events for a little Catholic girl. She was really excited.

After the Communion Mass, we went to Elizabeth's favorite restaurant---she loves the red velvet waffles. When we got home, we played games, rested, had dinner, played more games and watched a little tv.

 Elizabeth helped with the parmesan puffs.

 After dinner, Victoria started cleaning up without being asked. She's really grown in to a lovely young lady.

It's hard to let her get lost in the shuffle---she's so quiet. We're going to have a little one-on-one time when they visit in June. I'm having one-on-one time with E too.

All in all, it was a great weekend.

"I'm Good With Spacial Relationships"

or so Mitchell tells me when I ask him about how he could cram all that stuff in his drawers.

He was hunting for something and his clothes were popping out all over.

 Still, he was able to smush it all back inside.

Now he's hunting for his loafers in the bottom of his closet.

 Elizabeth took time out from her preparations to help him look. He sort of sat back and let her take over.

I had to laugh when she said, in an exasperated voice, "Mitchell, your closet is a mess." He couldn't argue with that! The shoes never did turn up. He had to settle for his Sperry's.

Talk about spacial relationships...

I swear, he's grown another 2 inches since Christmas. We had such a good time over the weekend.

Off to Charlotte

We're visiting Sandy, Greg, Mitchell, Victoria and Elizabeth. It was grandparent's day today and Elizabeth's First Communion tomorrow. We arrived to this:

 The arbor to the backyard is covered in these beautiful blooms. I've never seen this plant before.

Then, up close, these cute little yellow beauties were peeking through. Sandy said the yellow flowers were first and covered the arbor. The peachy-pink ones came after. She said it's been a lot of fun to discover all kinds of new blooming things in their yard. They moved in the fall, so had no idea what the spring would bring.

 Elizabeth made this cross as part of her First Communion prep. I asked Butch what it reminded him of and he immediately said, "Santorini!" After nearly 42 years of marriage, we can read each other's minds!! Truly, it reminded us of this:

This is one of the beautiful homes built in to the side of the cliffs overlooking the Adriatic Sea.

Elizabeth made these potholders for me to match my green and blue kitchen. I made Victoria "model" them since the matched her shirt so well.

Sandy told us about the letter she received from the Catholic Gestapo reminding her that the First Communion would NOT fulfill your Sunday Mass obligation. They have to go every week to put their offering envelope in the collection basket. That acts as their attendance record. I've never heard of such a thing---keeping track of how many times you go to Church. Auto checks are not an option. I feel bad for them. It takes the joy out of going to Church.

Then, she told us horror stories about Mitchell and his smelly, sports clothes and athletic shoes. He even admitted that he had forgotten and left his basketball shoes in his car over night. He could barely drive to school the next day for the stench!! It's a whole different ball game with boys!!

 Here we are visiting E's class room. We did a craft project together---we decorated a napkin to be used as a bread basket liner. It's really cute. I'll have to get a picture of it.

Sandy is so little that she can share a child's chair with Elizabeth.

And now, for you entertainment---I taught E one of my hidden talents:

Now This is a Problem!

Recently, there was a news report about a guy that was killed when he was sleeping because half of his house---which included his bedroom---was sucked in to a sink hole. I think it was here in Nashville.

Well, my next door neighbor called yesterday to tell me that he had a geologist coming to check out the huge sink hole that was on the property line. He called back today to say that calling it a sink hole was a little more dramatic than it really is. Basically, there's an underground stream that has eroded the soil.

In order to fix it properly, it's going to take a backhoe, gravel, fill dirt and then sod. My neighbor is getting bids. As it turns out, the biggest part of the hole is on our property.

 There's really no way to tell how big this is. It's about 4ft in diameter and about 5 ft.deep. The pipe running through it is the neighbor's sprinkler pipe.

This close up shows the endless tunnel that reaches far under our yard. Even with a flashlight, I couldn't see the end of it. My neighbor did warn me to walk around to his side of the yard to see it. Our side of the yard is seriously in danger of collapsing. Luckily, it's no where near the house. But, depending on how far it reaches, it could go under the driveway. I hope not. Then it will be even more expensive.

Keep your fingers crossed that it's an inexpensive fix.

We leave for Charlotte tomorrow for Elizabeth's First Communion. We're looking forward to a fun weekend with the kids. We'll be home on Sunday.

A Month's Worth of Layouts

 I'm finally getting around to scrapbooking about our trip to England in the fall of 2011. I realized a long time ago that I do not want to scrapbook an entire album about each trip we take---especially since Butch is retired and we are traveling so much. Instead, I do one double-page spread that is a fold out.

 By opening up, it gives me 6 pages to work with. I use a "timeline" format. It's just how my organized mind thinks. I used a zig zag stitch straight across the pages to make the line.

 Mindy goes to NOLA every year for Mardi Gras. This layout will go in to her album.

 This page is in honor of my dad who died at the age of 36 from a heart attack. On the right side, is a page out of the family phone log. I picked this page because my dad was writing a statement for a radio program that he appeared on. I'm happy to have this sampling of his handwriting.

 Morgan and her Nathional Honor Society induction.

 "Get away Girls" about our Eads family retreat that we have every year. The flower on the left is a great way to use bits from scraps that you just can't bear to throw away.

 "Some Things Will Never Change" is a layout about---no matter what changes come in the future, the trees will continue to change. I purposely showed some gorgeous trees amidst some power lines. Most likely, the power lines will disappear, but those trees will keep changing colors.

 I did a little close-up here so you could see that I used a dimensional paint on top of the die cut letters to make them stand out a bit more.

 Here's another double page fold-out about our trip through New England. I had so many photos, that I used them to cut the title "Meandering Through New England."

 Here's that page opened up.

 On this layout, I used scraps and punched squares. I then rounded the corners and sewed them down. I did that at the farm. I'm ashamed to admit that my bobbin thread ran out last fall. I haven't taken the time to get out the book to figure out how to refill it. Can you tell that I don't really know how to sew?

This is my layout for AYM. I used old phone book pages, tore them in to strips, pleated them and sewed them with a red zig zag stitch.

I have the rest of the AYM layouts posted on the AYM Blog.