paying for my "week of lazy"

I just made myself do the dreaded deed...click the "mark as read" button. I tried so hard to catch up, but it was keeping me from getting all the things I need to be doing done. Seriously, you people are as addictive as any drug known to humankind! So, while I thoroughly enjoyed my "week of lazy," I am definitely now paying the price.

And because I have so many other things demanding my attention, I'll make today's book babble short and sweet. One of the books I managed to read last week a scrapbooking book. I used to buy just about every scrapbooking book printed, but I've been a bit better lately. Rich bought me a few for Christmas, and I thought last week was the perfect time to sit down and indulge myself with one.

That's Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday by Nic Howard.

To be perfectly honest, I was a little disappointed with this book. But not because it was a bad book or anything. Instead, it was just that Nic Howard's philosophy of what memories are worth saving is pretty much identical to mine. We both seem to be firm believers in the idea that while it's great to record the big events (holidays, birthdays, etc.) in scrapbooks, what's really even more meaningful is the everyday. Recording the personalities, the quirks, the passions, the frustrations of those we love. So like I said, it's really not that I didn't like the book, it's just that she was preaching to the choir here.

All that said, I believe this would be a great book for anyone somewhat new to scrapbooking. It would certainly be perfect for someone who tends to be an events-only scrapper, but would like to spread their wings a bit. And this book does include a lot of gorgeous layouts. And one can never have too many layouts to look at, can one?

And hey, guess what! I've got a spare copy to give away! I really shouldn't embarrass Rich by mentioning this, but he accidentally bought me two copies of this book for Christmas. And he wrapped both and put them under the tree, never realizing. :) Anyway, if you're interested, just say so. If more than one person speaks up, I'll draw a winner over the weekend. (Well, over the weekend, if I remember...hopefully shortly thereafter if I don't.)

let me apologize up front

Not sure what's wrong with me lately. I'd say I'm in a bit of funk, but that's not quite it. Nothing is really wrong, and I certainly have nothing to complain about. Just been feeling disjointed and out of whack, if that makes sense. Can't seem to keep things organized, despite my compulsive list making. Anyway, I'm betting this post will reflect my general feelings of disorganization. So, I don't blame you one iota if you decide not to trudge your way through this one...seriously. (But I do hope you'll read the next paragraph.)

I just want to thank everyone for their incredibly sweet comments on the last post. You were all so very kind to one sappy old mom! And I so very much appreciated that. :) And I should tell you that this sappy old mom felt so much better when she talked to her daughter on the phone after her class. My goodness, the pure excitement in Annie's voice when she told me about how her class had gone knocked all those selfish "you can't grow up" thoughts right from my head. Her enthusiasm truly was priceless! And by the way, I'm sorry if I misled anyone. Annie hasn't started college full time or anything like that. She's just taking one class at the community college. Though it is an Honors Level Advanced Composition course that I think would kick my butt. Just hope it doesn't kick hers! She showed me the writing assignment they had to do in class that first day, and whew...all I can say is "better her than me!" I'll be anxious to see what her professor had to say about it (I think they're supposed to get them back today). I really hope she did okay, as I'd hate to see her get discouraged right off the bat.

*****

And what about my sweet little guys? I didn't have any back-to-school photos to post yesterday morning, because they wouldn't let me take their pictures. No, my little guys definitely do not have their sister's outgoing, try anything personality. Two very shy little boys who hate the unknown. They were extremely anxious yesterday morning, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause them any more stress by insisting they have their pictures taken. I even had to carry poor little Maxidoodle onto the bus, just as I did on the first day of kindergarten last year.

But their faces were lit by smiles when they arrived home. They'd both had a good first day. As Gray said, "It was good; it wasn't wonderful." Believe me, that's high praise coming from him! And they both allowed me to take their pictures after school, so technically we've still got those obligatory "first day of school" photos to be scrapbooked.




*****

And speaking of scrapbooking, I'm pretty darn sure I have the best husband on the planet. He's definitely the best husband for me! :) Anyway, he took over all kid duties on Saturday so I could spend the entire day scrapbooking. It's been a long time since I've spent any real time scrapping, so it was quite a treat. Maybe one of these days I'll even get my finished layouts posted on my craft blog.

*****

On the book front, I did something I rarely do...I gave up on a book. It was a book (Fiscal Pear and Shimmer in the Call of the River Whale) that I was reading to the boys. It started out okay. In fact, Gray was really loving it, in part due to the fact that he is a true fan of the pear (seriously, I think they rate above Smarties on his list of favorite treats) and having a book with a pear as a main character is definitely unique. But as we continued, we just found the story extremely hard to follow. Gray, Max, and I all eventually agreed that we just didn't want to stick with it. I honestly can't recommend reading it or avoiding it, because we didn't finish it and therefore don't have the full picture.

We didn't want to end our reading last night on a down note though, so we started a new book, The Witches by Roald Dahl. Oh my, and are we ever in love with this one!

I'm still working my way through The Stand: Complete and Uncut. Have finally passed the 1,000 page mark. Not sure why it's taking me so long to read it...just too little time to read lately, I guess. But hopefully I'll finish soon so I can jump into some of my RIP reads!

*****

Well, this is quite a day for me...for the first time since Annie was born, all my munchkins are off in school. (Actually, that's not quite true...Annie went to preschool 2 mornings a week during part of the time I was pregnant with Gray, but I was too sick to enjoy the alone time.) Anyway, it shall be that way every Tuesday and Thursday for the next few months. Maybe I can now get a bit caught up on lesson planning, and maybe my poor family won't have to live in such pig sty anymore. :) But on slate for today is painting the boys' bedroom. Ugh...I hate painting. They've decided that they want to share a room again, so we're going to turn Max's room into their bedroom and turn Gray's room into a playroom. We already went out and found some bunk beds that we could sort of afford. Heck, any price would be worth it if they'll actually sleep in them and aren't both sleeping on the floor of our room anymore. :)

*****

And thus concludes this even-more-rambling-than-usual post.

Geeking...Week 5

This week's Geek Assignment:

This week’s theme is once again one you could approach several ways. You might want to tell about the forms of storytelling (aside from books) you love. Maybe you enjoy TV shows, movies, music, narrative poetry, or Renay’s favorite, fanfiction. You could give us an overview of a type of storytelling, such as listing your favorite movies. Or you might pick a more specific story, one particular favorite. I just finished watching an episode of Lost, for example, so I could tell why I enjoy that series, or I could get more specific and focus on one character’s personal story. Some people might post youtubes of the songs whose stories they find brilliant, or some might share family bedtime stories. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!

I was all set to skip this week. I just couldn't think of what I might possibly post about. I watch next to no TV. Though I enjoy movies, I rarely have time to watch them, and sure as heck couldn't talk intelligibly about them. I just didn't think I had anything to add.

But then it hit me...maybe I could talk about how I tell stories. Our family's stories. I realize that my family's stories will be of no interest to others, but I think they will be of immense value to my children. I am, of course, talking about scrapbooking. I don't have nearly as much time for scrapbooking as I did before I started homeschooling, but even so, I continue to write down "our stories" in journals and even here on my blog. And someday, when I do have more free time, I'll turn those stories into layouts.

Most of the stories I record are small ones. Sure, we have Christmas layouts and vacation layouts and birthday layouts, but the real treasures in my mind are the everyday stories. The "this is you now" type of stories. Like this one...



Or this one...



Or this one...



And yes, we even have a bookcase just to house "our stories"...

men bearing gifts...

O.K., that's a bit misleading. The men in question are the postman and the UPS guy. And the gifts are from myself.

Yep, some of my fun QVC scrapbooking goodies arrived. Including this big 8,000 piece kit. Whoa. What a pile of loot! There's practically a little of everything in this baby!

Did you get yours yet Chele? I just want to run off and play, play, play!