Even before she was pregnant with me my mom says she knew I was coming along because she kept hearing a baby cry. She'd check on my sister Elsha, who was still a baby, and she'd be completely peaceful, so my mom would go back to what she was doing. Then she'd hear a baby cry AGAIN so she'd check on Elsha, who was still peaceful. So she knew I was coming.
What she DIDN'T realize was that it was actually just mourning doves. Garrrrr! We have these doves around our house and they fool me no less than 10 times a day, ever single day. Birds outside when I am inside should sound pretty quiet so I am always surprised when I've been fooled twice already in one morning and then I hear some very loud cries - now I am 110% SURE that it's a kid and not a dove. But NO! It's the doves! At breakfast, doves. In the shower (I can hear them in the SHOWER! Of course, we have a window in our shower, which is right next to some branches of our big tree, so it's not *quite* so miraculous), DOVES. Reading a book, doves. Getting ready for bed, random dogs barking. Okay, NOT doves that time since the doves are quiet at night, but I always get caught thinking a small neighbor dog yowling is one of my kids. Does this happen to other people, or I am I just insanely easily to fool?
Don't answer that.
Please excuse the mess, we live here.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 15, 2013
ScrapGirl to the rescue!
Hold on, did I just call myself ScrapGirl? And I'm rescuing you? When did THIS frame of mind hit our dear deluded Kirsta?
Well, I was reading my SIL's blog (hey Amy!) and she was saying that getting into scrapbooking can be tough - it's so permanent! So personal! She WANTS to, but it's hard to get started. So I was thinking of things I might say on her comment space, a tip or a trick that I use when I'm stuck, and I realised that I had LOTS to say. I've been scrapbooking since I was 16 (oh, heavens, that's been 13 years now, this is embarrassing) so I've got *ahem* a few years under my belt, and I've made some mental notes during that time that help me out. So I whipped up an email to her with all these ideas and when I was done I was so pleased with myself that I took the entire email and first turned it into this blog post right here, and then gave myself a superhero alter ego named ScrapGirl.
Okaaaay, maybe I'm not good enough to have an alter-ego, but yay for scrapbooking! 13 years ago when I started, stamping was big (remember that trend?) and scrapbooking was nonexistent, so I've always viewed it as an artsy means of mass photo preservation; now I think mostly what you see is highly decorated pages designed around
1 or 2 photos with about $20 of flotsam on it... and those can look GREAT. I'm not knockin' the flotsam. But that's like a photography excuse to make an artsy page, all backwards for my way of thinking. So if that's not your style (or in your budget) you shouldn't kill yourself trying to recreate that! Lots of other people
choose scrapbooking as an upscale medium for preserving photos - LOTS of
photos, not so much flotsam. Like I said, I fall into this second category - I hate to
buy scrapbooking supplies (I love to SHOP for them, I just hate when it comes time to hand over a stack of Benjamins) but I LOVE to scrapbook; also, I have tons of photos
I need to squeeze in and I can't highlight every single one. SO. With that
in mind, here are some suggestions to help get your scrap on....
1. Start now... like, stuff from 2013
If you go back to when your first child was a newborn and try to scrap chronologically from that moment forward, the sheer volume of stuff you have to cover will be overwhelming. Instead of feeling fun, scrapbooking will feel like a chore, and who wants to do chores? Not me. It's much more inspirational to me to start with very recent things and then when I WANT to, when I have TIME and INSPIRATION, I go back and fill in the gaps. I scrap all the time and there's still plenty of
times when I fall woefully behind, so then I just jump ahead, start from NOW again, and go back and fill in later. Also, I'm much less attached to my recent photos, they're so easy to reprint if I completely mess up, and I can usually recreate them anyway (pictures of playing in the yard, dressed in funny getup, etc). Feeling more free in my scrapbooking approach by using recent photos can spark ideas for things I want to do on my more precious photos.
2. Get inspiration
Sometimes I'll sit for an hour debating over paper colors, possible accents, agonizing over what angle the pictures should be... and then I don't actually get anything down on the page. An easy way to skip that is to get a book about scrapbooking that you identify with. Like I said, people interpret scrapbooking lots of ways and there's plenty of reference books I look through and think "yeah RIGHT!" because it's not my style; then again, there are plenty that I look through and think "I want to recreate THAT PAGE (minus some expensive flotsam)." So hit Barnes and Noble or the library and find something to take home and get inspiration from. Then, as best you can, copy a favorite page. "Copy" sounds so ugly, like "plagiarism," but it's not - immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Now don't go crazy and drag yourself to Hobby Lobby to find the exact same materials or anything, but copy (or "be inspired by") the background color, photo layout, lettering style, etc with materials you already have and you'll be seriously surprised at how great YOURS looks. Ta-da! All the design flair, none of the wracking your brain!
3. KISS
You might not always feel the creative flair, even if you're copying, so I always say that less is more. Black and white? Perfect. Straight lines? So sleek and elegant. You don't have to cut your pictures into a collage, just keep them square with an accent square of paper behind it on a complimentary background, and you'll be pleased with how put-together it looks without feeling like you might regret it in the years to come. Ta-da! Upscale photo preservation in the guise of scrapbooking. I've never regretted a less-is-more page.
4. "Done is best"
I heard this saying about home projects - people tend to not finish them because of one or two small obstacles that they're not quite sure how to tackle, they know the project won't look or be perfect, so they leave it unfinished for years. Decades, even. Well, perfect or not, DONE is best. I tried to think of an exception to that saying and, well... I couldn't. Done IS best. Same with scrapbooking. I have plenty of un-favorite pages, color schemes that didn't quite pan out or pictures I wish I'd cut differently... but at least they're not stashed in a box where nobody can see them! (Not that you do that.) Some of those un-favorite pages I have gotten compliments on from other people, too, so it's not like they are AWFUL, they are just not MY favorites. And if I ever get really inspired and have loads of time on my hands and want to re-do them, I DO have them all digitally stored by year, separated into months, so I could easily find them again to reprint. But for now, DONE is best!
5. Digital Backup, baby
1. Start now... like, stuff from 2013
If you go back to when your first child was a newborn and try to scrap chronologically from that moment forward, the sheer volume of stuff you have to cover will be overwhelming. Instead of feeling fun, scrapbooking will feel like a chore, and who wants to do chores? Not me. It's much more inspirational to me to start with very recent things and then when I WANT to, when I have TIME and INSPIRATION, I go back and fill in the gaps. I scrap all the time and there's still plenty of
times when I fall woefully behind, so then I just jump ahead, start from NOW again, and go back and fill in later. Also, I'm much less attached to my recent photos, they're so easy to reprint if I completely mess up, and I can usually recreate them anyway (pictures of playing in the yard, dressed in funny getup, etc). Feeling more free in my scrapbooking approach by using recent photos can spark ideas for things I want to do on my more precious photos.
2. Get inspiration
Sometimes I'll sit for an hour debating over paper colors, possible accents, agonizing over what angle the pictures should be... and then I don't actually get anything down on the page. An easy way to skip that is to get a book about scrapbooking that you identify with. Like I said, people interpret scrapbooking lots of ways and there's plenty of reference books I look through and think "yeah RIGHT!" because it's not my style; then again, there are plenty that I look through and think "I want to recreate THAT PAGE (minus some expensive flotsam)." So hit Barnes and Noble or the library and find something to take home and get inspiration from. Then, as best you can, copy a favorite page. "Copy" sounds so ugly, like "plagiarism," but it's not - immitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Now don't go crazy and drag yourself to Hobby Lobby to find the exact same materials or anything, but copy (or "be inspired by") the background color, photo layout, lettering style, etc with materials you already have and you'll be seriously surprised at how great YOURS looks. Ta-da! All the design flair, none of the wracking your brain!
3. KISS
You might not always feel the creative flair, even if you're copying, so I always say that less is more. Black and white? Perfect. Straight lines? So sleek and elegant. You don't have to cut your pictures into a collage, just keep them square with an accent square of paper behind it on a complimentary background, and you'll be pleased with how put-together it looks without feeling like you might regret it in the years to come. Ta-da! Upscale photo preservation in the guise of scrapbooking. I've never regretted a less-is-more page.
4. "Done is best"
I heard this saying about home projects - people tend to not finish them because of one or two small obstacles that they're not quite sure how to tackle, they know the project won't look or be perfect, so they leave it unfinished for years. Decades, even. Well, perfect or not, DONE is best. I tried to think of an exception to that saying and, well... I couldn't. Done IS best. Same with scrapbooking. I have plenty of un-favorite pages, color schemes that didn't quite pan out or pictures I wish I'd cut differently... but at least they're not stashed in a box where nobody can see them! (Not that you do that.) Some of those un-favorite pages I have gotten compliments on from other people, too, so it's not like they are AWFUL, they are just not MY favorites. And if I ever get really inspired and have loads of time on my hands and want to re-do them, I DO have them all digitally stored by year, separated into months, so I could easily find them again to reprint. But for now, DONE is best!
5. Digital Backup, baby
Final idea: burn
your organized photos to CDs and label them; there is often a cd sleeve
inside 12x12 scrapbook covers just WAITING for this. Then you have a record
of all the original pictures (even ones you didn't scrapbook), untrimmed and
un-glued down, that you can whip out and show an entire slide show of all the
awesome moments, without tying yourself to SCRAPBOOKING all those awesome
moments. It frees you up to scrapbook just your absolute
favorites. Hey, you might even be able to do a flotsam-filled single-photo highlight of your kid on their 3rd birthday if you have all the other boring ones (necessary, but boring after 3 years, like unwrapping gifts) burned on a CD that's rightthere, chillin' in the CD sleeve.
Take from this
what you will, and scrap happy!
Monday, March 11, 2013
Time Wastin'
I have 4 busy kids and a kitchen that's mid-paint-job, so I shouldn't have much time to waste, but I manage to carve out a few minutes each day to do something I shouldn't - nap, read, scrapbook - anything BUT work on the *actual* project. So the last 2 nights while Joe was at work I got busy scrapbooking, which I haven't done for MONTHS. Thank goodness for painting cabinets, otherwise scrapbooking would never get done! I've also been engrossed in not one but FOUR novels, finishing "The Paris Wife" and "Water for Elephants" and still in progress on "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Moveable Feast." I don't normally bake, but this week I "found time" to make homemade cinnamon rolls AND 2 loaves of homemade oatmeal bread - soooo yummy, and soooo time-consuming! And why not re-start my canning hobby? That's right, I bought a 25-lb bag of carrots and got busy canning. How about blogging? I've been pretty good, right? Playing the piano simply HAS to get done, since I've decided to get some friends (who won't judge me too harshly) and have a mini-concert in May. When I don't want to read or scrap or bake or work on food storage or practice piano or blog... you can find me organizing our bar/countertop area (ALWAYS a mess) or cleaning out our magazine stash - I find it impossible to throw away a magasine unless I I have fully reviewed it and torn out any articles/recipes/ideas I'd like to keep. Then you can find me filing away those articles/recipes/ideas in my various folder.
NONE of which helps the kitchen cabinets get painted. Go figure. Can't wait for Joe finish up his work "week" and get me back on task! I need a little (lot) of prodding sometimes.
NONE of which helps the kitchen cabinets get painted. Go figure. Can't wait for Joe finish up his work "week" and get me back on task! I need a little (lot) of prodding sometimes.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Practice makes perfect
My sister disagrees with the title; she always asserts (and rightly so) that "practice makes permanent." So let's make good habits permanent!
Patrick immediately wanted to take piano lessons when I got our piano; I wasn't so gung-ho. He was only 4, after all, and I think you need to be very motivated to be your child's teacher, otherwise your habits (*cough*laziness*cough*) will take over the motivation to keep up something new. Ethan was still so very new (it was, after all, gifted to me the week after he was born), so I certainly wasn't motivated. Now he's 5, Ethan's grown a bit, so I finally relented and he has had a few lessons, and though I enjoy giving him lessons I hate to nag about practicing! Nagging sucks. But there's no point in having lessons if you won't practice! As a step in the right direction I put together a practice log; it's based on the log I kept for my teacher when I took lessons, but much bigger for my early-reader and with stars instead of # of minutes (we aim for 10 a day, small and manageable).
Still, practicing was sporadic at best, and he seemed to think if he had practiced once he had done his duty for the week. Uhhhh, no. Even twice isn't going to cut it (that's why I started at "3 days of practice"). So as an incentive to practice even more each week I came up with these jars:
He can either have instant gratification (candy), extended gratification (a toy) or long-term gratification (saving his money up for something of his choice). All prizes came from the dollar store, so $10 got me prizes to last the year and beyond - not a bad deal! I'm also planning on putting notes in each, prizes like "stay up 15 minutes extra at bedtime" or "mom drops everything and bakes a batch of cookies" or something. I'm interested to see which ones he chooses!
Finally, I should note that I fully accept that this is a bribe. "Wanna treat? Sit your butt down and practice." I don't do bribes for things I consider necessities, like picking up toys, going to bed without a fuss, being good while we're shopping, being nice to siblings, or even using the potty (you HAVE to do that eventually, and we don't all get candy because we pooped. Just doesn't happen). But playing the piano is an extracurricular that I would like my kids to do, but I want THEM to want to. And if it takes a bribe to WANT to... so be it.
Patrick immediately wanted to take piano lessons when I got our piano; I wasn't so gung-ho. He was only 4, after all, and I think you need to be very motivated to be your child's teacher, otherwise your habits (*cough*laziness*cough*) will take over the motivation to keep up something new. Ethan was still so very new (it was, after all, gifted to me the week after he was born), so I certainly wasn't motivated. Now he's 5, Ethan's grown a bit, so I finally relented and he has had a few lessons, and though I enjoy giving him lessons I hate to nag about practicing! Nagging sucks. But there's no point in having lessons if you won't practice! As a step in the right direction I put together a practice log; it's based on the log I kept for my teacher when I took lessons, but much bigger for my early-reader and with stars instead of # of minutes (we aim for 10 a day, small and manageable).
Still, practicing was sporadic at best, and he seemed to think if he had practiced once he had done his duty for the week. Uhhhh, no. Even twice isn't going to cut it (that's why I started at "3 days of practice"). So as an incentive to practice even more each week I came up with these jars:
Quart-size canning jars. GENIUS touch, I wrapped them in paper so the other kids don't get frantic for treats every time they look up on the piano, and I'm much less tempted to steal from the stash since I can't see it and there's a lid on it. They each hold "prizes" for practicing either 3, 4, 5, or 6 days each week. Got 5 stars on your practice chart? Pick a prize from the "5 days a week" jar! The prizes get progressively bigger and better, of course, the more you practice.
3 days: little army men, hard candy, or a penny
4 days: Bubble gum, Reeces minis, plastic insects (trust me, these are good incentive for Patrick!), or a nickel
5 days: Milk duds, plastic animals, Spiderman toys (a paddle ball, top, yo yo, or kaleidoscope), or a dime. The boys are very into action heroes, so hopefully he'll aim high for the sake of Spidey.
6 days: WAY COOL dragons, mini snickers bars (by far the biggest candy), or a quarter
He can either have instant gratification (candy), extended gratification (a toy) or long-term gratification (saving his money up for something of his choice). All prizes came from the dollar store, so $10 got me prizes to last the year and beyond - not a bad deal! I'm also planning on putting notes in each, prizes like "stay up 15 minutes extra at bedtime" or "mom drops everything and bakes a batch of cookies" or something. I'm interested to see which ones he chooses!
Finally, I should note that I fully accept that this is a bribe. "Wanna treat? Sit your butt down and practice." I don't do bribes for things I consider necessities, like picking up toys, going to bed without a fuss, being good while we're shopping, being nice to siblings, or even using the potty (you HAVE to do that eventually, and we don't all get candy because we pooped. Just doesn't happen). But playing the piano is an extracurricular that I would like my kids to do, but I want THEM to want to. And if it takes a bribe to WANT to... so be it.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Pinned there, done that
I try not to be a terrible hypocrite, so I figured I should show that some pinned projects have been completed!
Oh, yes, that gigantic mess will be lovely some day soon, we just got all the doors off and primed last night. Tonight we'll do the drawers. Then it's up to me to convince Joe that two-toned cabinets are the way to go instead of all white.
And I pinned this, too, and made it for my parents for Christmas, but I never took a picture of it. Ours was different colors and said "Special Days" instead of "Family Birthdays" because it also included marriage anniversaries and dates people were sealed in the temple.
Hooray! Pinterest CAN be fun and inspiring, not just a maddening mess of over-the-top ideas!
Pinned there...
Done that...
Pinned there...
Done that...
Pinned there...
WORKING ON that...
And I pinned this, too, and made it for my parents for Christmas, but I never took a picture of it. Ours was different colors and said "Special Days" instead of "Family Birthdays" because it also included marriage anniversaries and dates people were sealed in the temple.
Hooray! Pinterest CAN be fun and inspiring, not just a maddening mess of over-the-top ideas!
Friday, March 1, 2013
You pinned THAT?
Let's talk Pinterest for a second here. I thoroughly enjoy Pinterest. Enjoy, not love. Let me tell you why: people are OUT OF THEIR CRAZY MINDS when they pin stuff sometimes.
I think you should "pin" things you are seriously interested in, projects you might ACTUALLY do, recipes you have the time (and skill and ingredients) for, rooms in houses you could possibly afford to LIVE in, etc. Who creates an entire board dedicated to shoes, though? Oh... wait, I know about 4,000 girls who did. But who of those 4,000 has the cash flow for those SHOES?! Aren't we adults? Don't we have some bills? (No, just me? Oh, okay.) How about you pin one or two pairs of cute shoes you might actually purchase from your local Kohls (with your Kohls cash and coupons, I know you're not spending serious cash on shoes [because of those BILLS]) and NOT those designer spike heels/sky-high wedges you would never wear and can never afford. Why are people pinning things they will never buy? Or how about the low-calorie meals? I'm sure they are delicious, but you're never gonna make rice with peanut sauce wrapped in lettuce ("only 158 calories in 3 rolls!") because you're husband is NEVER gonna accept that as an actual meal. And neither are you, sister - you will DIE OF STARVATION on 158 calories for your dinner. I SAW the 8-layer chocolate/cookie dough/ice cream cake you pinned, so who do you think you're kidding? You're not on a diet. You would immediately scarf the 8 layer cake after dying of starvation on those crazy peanut rolls. (Well, maybe not, since you'll probably never make either). Unless, of course, you plan to negate the cake by following through and doing some of those crazy excercise routines you pinned - 1) run for 5 minutes, speed 300. 2) do 65 squats with hand-weights (60 lbs). 3) Get your 8-layer cake-butt back on the treadmill, run for 5 minutes, speed 300. 4) 250 crunches. GO. Then.... TA-DA! You will look like that INCREDIBLE (and incredibly underdressed) body you just pinned! You know, the one that has washboard abs, tones arms, lean and tan, big boobs, no freckles, no moles, no stretch marks, no hair, no cell..u..lite... wait a second. Good heavens, that picture has been photoshopped! Turns out, you actually canNOT look like that picture, in spite of the peanut wraps and the crazy workouts, and your legs would not look that incredible even if you DID drop $890 on Christian Leboutin heels (but they had hand-beaded deeeetaaaails!). Besides, you'd fall on your cake-butt if you tried to walk down the street in your overpriced footwear (that you wil nevereverever buy).
STOP THE MADNESS!
And stop pinning guys you think are so hot, I would be totally offended if I were your significant other. Would you put that poster up in your bedroom? No, it's in bad taste (like so many other ridiculous things you have pinned - bwahahaha!). And YOU would be totally offended if your significant other started pinning hot girls. In fact, you might even go on a rant about how they're all photoshopped and all that... "and don't get me started on the overpriced fashions that hot girl wears and what a crazy diet she must be on"...
In the meantime, don't be surprised if you see a completely snarky comment from me on Pinterest if you've pinned something I deem RIDICULOUS. Well, somebody had to call you ot on it, and today that somebody is ME.
You know what I do love? Craftfail.com (see it over on my sidebar? Yeah, over there to the right?) - it calls outprojects (primarily from Pinterest) and shows how they REALLY turn out at home. Not pretty, folks! Funny! But not pretty.
I think you should "pin" things you are seriously interested in, projects you might ACTUALLY do, recipes you have the time (and skill and ingredients) for, rooms in houses you could possibly afford to LIVE in, etc. Who creates an entire board dedicated to shoes, though? Oh... wait, I know about 4,000 girls who did. But who of those 4,000 has the cash flow for those SHOES?! Aren't we adults? Don't we have some bills? (No, just me? Oh, okay.) How about you pin one or two pairs of cute shoes you might actually purchase from your local Kohls (with your Kohls cash and coupons, I know you're not spending serious cash on shoes [because of those BILLS]) and NOT those designer spike heels/sky-high wedges you would never wear and can never afford. Why are people pinning things they will never buy? Or how about the low-calorie meals? I'm sure they are delicious, but you're never gonna make rice with peanut sauce wrapped in lettuce ("only 158 calories in 3 rolls!") because you're husband is NEVER gonna accept that as an actual meal. And neither are you, sister - you will DIE OF STARVATION on 158 calories for your dinner. I SAW the 8-layer chocolate/cookie dough/ice cream cake you pinned, so who do you think you're kidding? You're not on a diet. You would immediately scarf the 8 layer cake after dying of starvation on those crazy peanut rolls. (Well, maybe not, since you'll probably never make either). Unless, of course, you plan to negate the cake by following through and doing some of those crazy excercise routines you pinned - 1) run for 5 minutes, speed 300. 2) do 65 squats with hand-weights (60 lbs). 3) Get your 8-layer cake-butt back on the treadmill, run for 5 minutes, speed 300. 4) 250 crunches. GO. Then.... TA-DA! You will look like that INCREDIBLE (and incredibly underdressed) body you just pinned! You know, the one that has washboard abs, tones arms, lean and tan, big boobs, no freckles, no moles, no stretch marks, no hair, no cell..u..lite... wait a second. Good heavens, that picture has been photoshopped! Turns out, you actually canNOT look like that picture, in spite of the peanut wraps and the crazy workouts, and your legs would not look that incredible even if you DID drop $890 on Christian Leboutin heels (but they had hand-beaded deeeetaaaails!). Besides, you'd fall on your cake-butt if you tried to walk down the street in your overpriced footwear (that you wil nevereverever buy).
STOP THE MADNESS!
And stop pinning guys you think are so hot, I would be totally offended if I were your significant other. Would you put that poster up in your bedroom? No, it's in bad taste (like so many other ridiculous things you have pinned - bwahahaha!). And YOU would be totally offended if your significant other started pinning hot girls. In fact, you might even go on a rant about how they're all photoshopped and all that... "and don't get me started on the overpriced fashions that hot girl wears and what a crazy diet she must be on"...
In the meantime, don't be surprised if you see a completely snarky comment from me on Pinterest if you've pinned something I deem RIDICULOUS. Well, somebody had to call you ot on it, and today that somebody is ME.
You know what I do love? Craftfail.com (see it over on my sidebar? Yeah, over there to the right?) - it calls outprojects (primarily from Pinterest) and shows how they REALLY turn out at home. Not pretty, folks! Funny! But not pretty.
Battle of the old(er) men
Grandpa versus Santa
On Christmas the kids got up a bit earlier than usual, about 6:30, to see if Santa had come and bring presents.
This morning the boys got up at 4:45, SO EXCITED, to see if Grandpa had come (he should get here around lunchtime).
And the winner is.... GRANDPA!
On Christmas the kids got up a bit earlier than usual, about 6:30, to see if Santa had come and bring presents.
This morning the boys got up at 4:45, SO EXCITED, to see if Grandpa had come (he should get here around lunchtime).
And the winner is.... GRANDPA!
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