Waiting

Don't you just hate waiting? Waiting isn't so bad if you have something to keep you busy, but I HATE when I have to wait and don't know exactly "when" it is that I am waiting for.

My ex-husband is getting the kids this weekend to celebrate the holidays with them. This is a great thing and I have no problem with this. He is driving home from Chicago and will be somewhat close to here. Our plan is to have us meet him when he gets to our designated area. That is fine, sounds like a good enough plan, keeps me from having to drive all the way, which is about a two hour drive normally for me. What sucks is that I don't know exactly when this will be. He will call when he gets about 1 1/2 hours away to let us know. So here we all sit, ready to go, but not knowing when that might be. I hate to get into anything, because I don't want to stop in the middle of it to run out. Maybe I should catch up on those other 4 journal pages I need to do. You hate to stop in the middle of something like that though, so I sit here bored, typing this on my blog.

What the heck, I'll get busy on those pages. Who knows how much I can get accomplished, otherwise I am just wasting my precious time. I'll give it a try, and let you know later how it ends.

Christmas journal #16

I see I still have glitter on my scanner from Christmas journal page #2, but I'm not about to scan this page again. Sorry I am in a hurry, tons to do before our flight Monday morning.

Script reads:

What am I grateful for during
the holiday season?

• Time spent with family members that we don't get to see nearly enough.
• The beauty brought by fresh fallen snow.
• The excitement of holiday gift shopping.
• The chance to observe all of the wonderful displays of Christmas decorations
• Time off of work to enjoy the holidays.
• Delicious holiday feasts.
• The kindness expressed by strangers
• My job, which allows me to deliver gifts to everyone dear to me.
• The man I don't know, but was kind enough to just snow blow my sidewalks for me.
• Being able to spend this holiday with my children.
• Being alive.
  

Grandmother's Book

Well I have been so caught up in everything else, I can't forget to complete one of my most important things this holiday season. My present to my grandmother this year. An album of a collection of photos that she had stored away in a box at her place up here in Michigan. These photos are much too special to be stored away in boxes. The book will be simple, but special. I don't have all the stories to go behind the pictures, but hopefully she will share them with me when I see her.

Hope she enjoys it.

Christmas journal #15

Well I have not been the best at following directions with many of my pages, but I think that I did okay with this one. I tried to scan this one but because of the bow there was too much shadow on the page, so I had to take a picture instead.

The script read:

Company

The past two Christmases have been spent in
Florida visiting with family members. This includes
my parents, one of my nephews, and my 85 yr old
grandmother. Even though the holidays there don't
exactly capture my whole idea of Christmas spirit,
just being with these special family members makes
it worth giving up my traditional holiday
ideas to share special moments with them.
Especially my grandmother, since we never know
how many more she will be around for
Perfect Company!

I noticed a flaw as I was typing this. I didn't include my children in my company, but I just considered them included with myself. We, as a family visiting other family members.

Yes shimelle, simple and quite easy to make today. Thanks because I have TONS to do around here. Especially since I killed my dryer the other day, I let a sock slid into the lint trap and it died on me. Luckily I have another one, but I have to wait to get it because it isn't stored here. So this means trips to the laundromat to dry my clothes until then. Great fun!! Also in store for me today, is a holiday craft day at my boys' school. I volunteered to help out, no clue what I'll be doing, but it should be fun.

Hummer Time!

One of the items on the boys' Christmas list this year were these huge remote control Hummers. As I said earlier we would be opening our presents early this year because of our trip. Tonight was the night, with the exceptions of a few items tomorrow and one big present on Sunday. Kind of a weird way to celebrate Christmas, but I want them to be able to play with their stuff before we leave for our two weeks.

They were totally happy when they got them tonight. Even though it is snowing outside they couldn't wait to go outside and drive them through the snow. Jason insisted that I include this photo of the Hummer's tire tracks. Oh, Jason got the black/silver one and Joey got a red/silver one

Christmas journal #11 remake

Day #11 remake, not sure if this looks any better but what the heck, I tried.

Christmas journal #11

Well I am having a bit of trouble stitching my two photos together lately, so part of the writing is cut off. It reads:

"What do I hate most about having to decorate the Christmas tree? Lets just say that I need to get a prelit tree!"

I don't really like this page, I may redo it later, but for now it will have to work. I do love my tree though and all of my ornaments. My ornaments are collected over the years. I add a few each year. I like to have all white lights, but I dread putting them on every year. Okay, I don't have a prelit tree, but I do have a tree that comes with fake pine cones already attached.

My kids say that I overdo it with the ornaments, but oh well I like it. My ex-mother-in-law has a different style, which I think is nice also. She has a large tree, but somewhat bare like the one on the Charlie Brown Christmas special. The branches are spaced so far apart that you can put the ornaments inside the tree and have absolutely no problem seeing them. It is a lovely tree though, maybe I'll have the kids take a picture of it this weekend. She makes her own ornaments also, mine are all store bought.

Christmas journal #14

Topic: Christmas music

I have many Christmas songs that I enjoy listening to, and White Christmas is one of them.

On this page the color looks a bit funny in the scan. It looks yellow to me, but it is more of a tan (aged) color than yellow. Not sure if you can recognize it or not, but the paper under the lyrics actually has musical notes on it. Which I thought worked perfect with the theme. All of the Christmas scenes that I have used are from Christmas cards that I bought last year and of course never used. I doubt that you can really see it, but these are have glitter on the scenes. Which adds a nice touch to the page. Oh, and of course anyone that truly loves Christmas music like I do has to love Bing Crosby. I thought that was a nice photo of him to compliment my page.

As far as carolers go, I have never had any come to my door, NEVER! Which I am disappointed about because I think it would be a great addition to the holidays. I do recall years, many years ago, that my sister and I did some door to door caroling with some of the neighbors. I was probably less than ten years old, but I do remember enjoying it. Although I am not sure about the folks that had to listen to us. They seemed pleasant, but I am not one known to carry a tune very well.

Anyways, here is my day #14, hope you enjoy it, I did.

Christmas journal #13

Christmas Gift Giving

Gift giving this year will be done
sometime this week.
Our Christmas will be spent
with family in Florida and the
presents will have to stay
since we are flying.
Small gifts will be exchanged
in Florida that we can
travel with.

I love the fact that I will be spending the holidays with my family, but I really wish we were all spending it up here instead. It just doesn't feel the same.

I can go into our family tradition from years ago when I was younger. Of course before we know about Santa's "secret" we always opened presents on Christmas morning, but since learning the "secret" we started opining the presents together as a family on Christmas Eve instead. Nowadays I am lucky to open them even remotely close to Christmas day.

Note: I probably should have taken a picture of the page instead of scanning. Maybe then I could have avoided the big shadow in the middle of the page. For now it will do.

Christmas journal #12

Script reads:

"Christmas traditions in our family have changed so much over the years. This is a picture of my mother, her father & siblings one Christmas years ago. I long for holidays that resemble this one, but since my divorce I am usually alone for the holidays, or out of town. My past traditions have since been lost, but I hope to create some new ones in the years to come to pass on for generations. '05"

A Tinsel Christmas with Father

I love this old photo. It seems like such a perfect Christmas. Remember the days when Christmas trees were loaded with tinsel like the one in this photograph?

As I stated on the page any traditions that my family or I had in the past are long gone. We don't gather with aunts or uncles for Christmas Eve celebrations like we use to. We don't even open our presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas day anymore. It actually took me until I started making this journal to really realize how messed up my holidays are.

You see....about 7 years ago my parents moved to Florida. Also around that time I left my husband. For the first couple of years I did have the kids with me for the holidays for things have changed. I usually let my ex-husband have the kids whenever he wants because he lives out of state. This means that holidays are a good time for him to see them because it doesn't interrupt with their school schedules. This of course usually leaves me alone. I do have my sister here, but with just us it just doesn't seem very festive. This year though my ex decided that it would be a good idea if I had the kids this year, so I have them. Well this is a good thing, but we will be out of town visiting my parents and my grandmother in Florida so we won't be here to celebrate Christmas. Having Christmas in Florida just isn't the same as having it here in Michigan. It just isn't the same without the snow, major difference. Not only that but because we are flying we won't be able to bring our presents with us, so we will be opening them some time this week. I haven't decided exactly which day yet, but it has to be either tomorrow or the next, because Friday thru Sunday they will be with their father. Then first thing Monday morning is our flight.

On the bright side though here are some things that I would like to incorporate into my Christmas holiday.

1. There are two movies that I think are a most for Christmas. I have purchased both of them of dvd and watching them will be a tradition for our family.

"It's a Wonderful Life"
&
"Miracle on 34th Street"

2. Every year I collect at least one new ornament & one new Santa Claus.

3. Every year we take a new picture in front of our Christmas tree.

Well that is a start.

My scrapbooking start

I started scrapbooking approximately 2 years ago. I can't remember exactly how I started, but I remember what prompted me to start. What makes it so important to me.


So this is my story...


I've never met her before, but she has still managed to make an impact on my life. She died at the age of 36, my current age. So much life left for her to be taken so quickly. So beautiful, with I am sure, so much to give to her children. Unfortunately she couldn't be there for her children, my mother. My mother was just 12 years old, and left to help raise her four siblings. She has just a few of these beautiful photographs of her mother, and it seems even fewer memories. Just the thought of that brings tears to my eyes. It forces me to think of the possibily that I might not be around for my children. How do I want them to remember me, or who will be around to share all of my precious memories of them? The little things, like the funny stories they tell me, or the accomplishments that they have over the years. Thank God, my mom is still here to share them with me, because she wasn't one to document, but at least she can remember some. She has some really funny stories of when my sister and I were children and the trouble we seemed to get into to.

Another part to this was years ago when I had to face the possibility of my own demise. I was in Desert Storm, and with the possibility of chemical warfare and the fatalities that were expected I had to face a gruesome possibility that I just might not make it. Before that I had never REALLY thought about dying. When you really do think about dying, you realize how important it is to get your things in order. This is part of me getting my things in order for my family.

I am grateful for these two things and the introduction of scrapbooking into my life. They have given me the opportunity to put my life into perspective.

Another quick story about my girlfriend, the same one with the nephew. Her sister has recently passed within the last year. We spoke recently about her sister and how her sister felt in the end. She died from cancer, and in the end she spent her time making amends for her regrets in life. She felt that her life was spent chasing her career, and becoming successful in life, which she was. She failed to use her time on things that really mattered, friends and family. Luckily she did have some time in the end to straighten out some of those things that really mattered to her, but a few months is not nearly enough time. Imagine how you would feel if you didn't have that time, what would you have left out of your life?

Makes you think doesn't it? After all of that how could you not want to start documenting/sharing your life?

My second snowflake

My snowflake

SNOWFLAKES

Are you setting a positive example?

I was having a conversation with one of my girlfriends the other day. She was telling me about one of her nephews. His mother had sent him to his room and told him to clean it. The mother actually told my girlfriend the story, it went something like this....

Mother: "go to your room and don't come out until it is clean."

Son leaves and comes back after some serious thinking. When he returns he says to his mother...

Son: "Mom, aren't you suppose to set an example for us children?"

Mother: "Yes son, why do you ask?"

Son: "Well, then how come YOUR room isn't clean?"

It is a simple story, but it makes you think. Think about the things that we do or don't do and how much our children pay attention to us when we don't really think that they are. This eight year old little boy was exactly right. How can we ask our children to do things that we don't even bother to do ourselves? What kind of example is that? Trust me I am sure that I could come up with similar stories myself about my parenting flaws. I'm far from perfect, so the best I can do is make a conscious effort to change my bad habits and create positive new ones. Not an easy task I might add, but one well worth the effort.

Making snowflakes

I was just browsing through some of my emails from my scrapbook class and I came across something pretty cool. It is a site that lets you make digital snowflakes, very cool and very fun. Actually I wanted to give credit to the site that I found it on, but I can't seem to find her blog again. The woman is in the Christmas journal class, but there are SO MANY women in it that I am finding it impossible to find her again. If anyone has come across her blog and knows her blog address please let me know so that I can list it here on this post. She does wonderful digital scrapbooking.

Anyways, check out the site, great for the kids to play with.

Let It Snow!!

The snow is really coming down tonight. It just started about an hour ago and this is what we have so far. It is suppose to snow all night long. I heard 4-8 inches by morning.

Of course the boys saw this as an opportunity to have some fun. They put on some clothes and ran out as quickly as they could. Shortly after they came back and and requested that I go out with them. I looked at them like they were crazy, "are you kidding, it is freezing out there!" So Joey started begging me to go out, "Please there is something out there we want to show you." So of course I grab my shoes and go out. They had written in the snow using shovels. The street read, "Mom, we love you...Jason Joey." Awww, how sweet. I was trying to take a picture of the writing but it was too large, I couldn't get a good picture of it. Jason tried to get out of the picture when he slid on some ice and landed right in the middle of the road. We couldn't help but laugh, and of course I had to take a picture.

Thank goodness I bought them their new snowpants last weekend. One good thing about having boys is that they love to shovel the snow. Of course that will probably end about the time they become teenagers right? They will be the ones looking at me like I am crazy when I ask them to go outside.

Anyways, time for me to get ready for bed. I have to get up about 4:30 am for work, I am giving myself two hours drive time to get into work in the morning. I work about an hour away from my house, so that will give me an extra hour for the weather. Hopefully the roads are good, if they are I will make sure to bring in some of my scrapbook magazines to keep me busy if I get there earlier than I expect.

Well the boys may be saying "LET IT SNOW" but I am saying "LET IT STOP SNOWING."

Christmas Art Journal Day #6 Christmas Past

I haven't actually gotten around to finishing this yet, but I am posting it anyways. Under the card "LOVE Christmas" will be two sheets that I will use to tell the two memories of my Christmas past. I have not yet decided what to write about. I'll try to post them when I figure it out.

Farmhouse Christmas

As usual my boyfriend, Todd, has managed to take me somewhere interesting on our dates. Actually we decided to stay in that night to have pizza and a movie, but before that we had to make a stop.

Down the street from his house is a special kind of place. An old renovated farm house that was donated to the city. As you walk into the house you are taken away by the delicious aroma of freshly baked cookies. The house and the smiling faces that greet you are so inviting. On this night a girl scout troop was there, and a few of the girls gave us a tour of the house. Every room is inviting and decorated with the spirit of Christmas. There is at least one tree in every room of the house, such as the one above.

That is not all, attached to the side of the house was an extra room with glass walls. As you drive by the house you see Santa sitting there in his sleigh, all dressed in his usual Christmas attire. Could this be?? Santa in a sleigh for me to see?? In the house we went, to find an inviting Santa waiting there for us to take a seat along with him in his wonderful red sleigh. We introduce ourselves, but we know that he already knows us, since we have both been on the "nice" list all year long. He lets us take our photos and Todd and I are off to enjoy the rest of our evening together. What a nice way to start a relaxing evening with someone special.

Why can't I make my pages a bit more disorganized????

Do you know what I would like to change with my scrapbooking technique? I would love to be able to vary my style a bit more. I feel like everything in my pages are too structured. I want to be more free with my style, like a collage, just to throw some things on the page and let it be, even mix up several different styles of paper. It is funny that I feel this way, because if you could see my desk you would see that I have no problem being messy at times. I'll try to work on it a bit more. I have to do that book for my grandmother for Christmas, I think that will be a good project to do it with. Lots of vintage designs and papers to work with. Many old photographs to go through, I love it.

Anyways, right now I am gonna try to get some stuff accomplished around here, maybe even try to find the top of my desk again.

Wish me luck.

Christmas Art Journal Day #5

Now I am caught up, bummer. Why do I say bummer? I say bummer because now I am ready to do another page and I don't have the next prompt.

I have really been inspired by this class. I was having a bit of a scrapper's block there for a while. I had no problem running to the store to get new scrapbooking supplies, but I have not accomplished many pages lately. Of course, not until this past weekend. Thanks Shimelle for creating this class, and making it so much fun.

I just found out that the kids and I are flying to Florida come December 19-January2nd. My dad gave me instructions not to pack the kitchen sink with me (boy does he know me). Well, I might not actually bring the kitchen sink, but I WILL l have a suitcase full of scrapbooking supplies.