Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 12

So another installment of something precious from the depths of my hope chest. And the last of Story Telling Sunday... really?  I SO hope not! I've enjoyed this meme so much and I really hope Sian has something wonderful up her sleeve for 2014. Because I need the nudge. And she is such a wonderful and gracious host!

My last Precious is this lovely stack of cards and letters from my husband and daughters over the years. They all think I'm not particularly sentimental. I doubt they even know that I've kept these. Some of the more recent cards I've received have ended up in my "Junque Journal" (like a smash album) or on scrapbook layouts. But I don't really get cards much any more. Card giving seems to be a dying art in this family. So I treasure these ones that I have - both home made and store bought, for Christmas, Mother's Day, My birthday, or just to say "I love you" ... for the memories, for the tangible proof that at some points in their lives they all honored card giving occasions with sentiments that meant so much to me. And still do. And always will.

Storytelling Sunday - My Precious 11

So what is in my beautiful hope chest?  One thing you will find in there are baby clothes, carefully wrapped in acid-free tissue...

Although all my girls are officially now "twenty-somethings," I still have these remnants of their newborn days. The outfits in which we brought each of them home from the hospital.

In the center is Sarah's outfit. Being born at the end of June, a summery little bubble suit was appropriate. Being a new mother, I thought "dress up" was required. Honestly, that was a woven, not a knit, so I can't imagine it was all that comfortable. But hey, in my defense, I didn't make her wear it all that long.

Here's Sarah in that outfit for her hospital picture at just three days old:

Rachel and Becca were born in September, at a time when the temperature in this area is quite variable. And as I was a more "experienced" mother, I was all about comfort and ease of dressing rather than "dress up" by then. Becca wore the little sleeper on the left, Rachel the one on the right. Since there is nothing in the photo to give you a size reference, let me tell you these two were little. Becca came home weighing 4 lbs, 11 oz and fitting only preemie size clothing. In fact, the only thing that fit her properly was a sleeper we took off a cabbage patch doll! For the first few weeks I called her "peanut" or "Little Roo." Thankfully neither of those nicknames stuck. Rachel was 5 lbs, 11 oz, but even that seemed tiny to me as Sarah had been just shy of 8 lbs at birth.  My girls were swimming in these outfits when we brought them home.

Here they are at just over two weeks old:

Rachel is on the left, Becca on the right, and the little sleepers are still a little too big on them. No worries. By the time they were about three months old, they had caught up to their peers in size and Rachel had put on enough baby fat to make those worried-old-lady-wrinkles on her forehead disappear. In fact, this picture isn't a good indicator of her personality as truthfully she was the happiest, most easy-going of my babies.

I have no idea why I'm still hanging onto the baby clothes or what I will ever do with them - I once had plans to scrapbook them but can no longer find the plastic "shadow box" style page protectors I was going to put them in. I know they were on the market once - 12x12, about 1/4" thick, front and back snapped together, with a binder edge with holes that would fit in a post-bound album. But I haven't seen them in years. So in the meantime, those outfits remain wrapped up in protective tissue in the hope chest, a poignant reminder of my life twenty-something years ago. 

This post is written as part of Sian's Storytelling Sunday. But before you hop over to see what everyone else is sharing, do tell me... have you saved baby clothing? What do you plan to do with it?

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 10

Okay, I know it isn't Sunday. And I know I have the wrong week and am hopelessly late to the party. But in the interest of finishing out my 12 posts this year, I need to sneak this one in...

Hope Chests were historically used by young unmarried women and/or their families to collect clothing and household linens that would be needed by the young woman in anticipation of marriage. In the United States a hope chest was a traditional coming-of-age gift back in the 1950's.  It is still somewhat of a tradition in the southern states, but mostly has died out everywhere else. These days young women get everything they need for marriage via bridal registries.

The Lane Company of Altavista, Virginia began producing and distributing hope chests in 1912.  It was their practice, beginning in approximately 1930 to distribute miniature 12" long  cedar keepsake boxes to graduating high school girls as advertising gifts. And yes, that is where my love of hope chests began, with this little box:

I got this in 1979 when I was graduating high school. This little box still sits on my dresser and houses things like my tassle from law school graduation.  It was distributed by Panosian Home World, which appears to have gone out of business. The Lane Company was purchased in 1987 by hostile takeover and the plant closed in 2001. I guess that now makes these little Lane keepsake boxes a thing of the past.

In any event, the advertising worked because from the moment I got this little box, I longed for a real hope chest. Don't ask me why. I just know I wanted one. And eventually I got one - six years later, as a wedding gift from my mother:

This hope chest resides in my bedroom. It has never held household linens and clothing. Instead, it has been the repository for many keepsake items that I would never give up. And for the last two months of Story Telling Sunday, I'll be sharing with you some of the items tucked away in my hope chest.

By the way, the hope chest has also been a great bench for sitting on to tie shoes, or for stacking clean laundry until it gets puts away. It is unusual to be able to see the surface! :)

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 9

I used to collect Boyds Bears figurines. Until we decided to build a sun room, move our dining area into the sun room, and get rid of all of the dining room furniture we had at the time, including the big unit that housed my collection. As I was boxing them all up, it occurred to me that when the remodel was done I no longer wanted to display my Boyds Bears. In fact, I realized that I didn't really have any interest in owning them at all. The collection was more of an easy out for people who didn't know what else to gift me with to buy something than it was particularly meaningful to me.  So I boxed them all up and sent them off to Good Will for someone else to enjoy.  

Well, not quite ALL of them. I kept three.  Two are Christmas themed ones.  At least one of them belonged to my Mom and was given to me after she died. My memory is less certain on the second one. And the third one I kept? Was this one:

This one is finally being pulled out of storage and will be displayed in our recently remodeled basement. But why did this one survive the purge when so many others didn't? Why does this particular one tug at my heartstrings? Thanks for asking.  This figurine is very special to me because it reminds me of this:

Of a time when my husband still had a full head of dark hair. Of a time when my first born child wasn't off living in another state practicing at being a real adult. Of a time when my babies were really babies, not college students.  Of a time when my own journey into motherhood was still in its early phases, full of possibility and unknowns, at the outset of the life-long process of getting to know these little miracles that Jay and I had brought into this world.

That little red wagon played a prominent part of their outdoor lives for several years. When Rachel and Becca were a little older and more capable of keeping themselves upright, Sarah used to pull them up and down the sidewalk in it. This photo is a scan of the original which I cropped to get in closer to Jay and the girls and sharpened to improve the details. The original also has a digital date on it - April 24, 1994. So Sarah is not quite four in this photo and Rachel and Becca were only seven months old!  I've printed this out in 4x6 and plan to display it framed next to the figurine. 

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 8

The truth of the matter is that I've never truly been adopted as the "human" of choice by any pet. I grew up with dogs, then a cat, guinea pigs, fish.  And we've had cat(s) my entire adult life - but none of them have ever claimed ME as their human.  Tia, the first cat in my married life, clearly adopted Jay as her human.  When Tia went to kitty heaven at age 12, we got Ashley and Kira. And those two immediately adopted the girls (Becca and Rachel) as their humans.  Ashley and Kira are 12 now.  And times, they are a-changin'.

Kira remains true to herself - happy and purring one second, hissing and leaving a 3" long gash in your arm for daring to pet her the next second. BiPolar kitty.  

Ashley, on the other hand is struggling.  The Vet thinks it is a food allergy that has caused her to have lesions on her chin, eyes, and ears which she then scratches until she is furless, bloody, and covered in scabs. Eeew. I've taken her to the vet three times. She has had antibiotic and steroid injections and has been put on a new hydrolyzed protein food. She has been tested for mites, fleas, fungus, and I don't know what else. The vet seems to think all we can do now is wait to see if the new food does the trick.  Meanwhile, my poor kitty is bald on her chin and below both ears and she's starting on her whiskers now.  And I've suddenly become her new best friend.

*this photo also counts for #6 (taking a nap) on Rinda's Summer Time Photo Scavenger Hunt

Yes, this feline who virtually ignored me for eleven years, now spends all day at my side. First it was in the studio on the sewing desk, the window bench, or the table. Then she moved into the office on the floor beneath my feet or under the side table. And this past week she's moved to my work desk - and claimed the vast majority of my work space as her domain, leaving me very little room to work on the computer or write. She tends to show up around 10:30 or so in the morning and stay until dinner time or later.  She likes to use the trackball mouse as a pillow.  She doesn't care what is on the desk, she'll happily lay on top of papers, calendar, pens, whatever might be in her space.  And I'm sort of getting used to this constant companion. And thinking about installing a keyboard tray under this table!

So this month I'm claiming Ashley as my Precious since it appears she has now claimed me as her human!

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 7

I was at a loss this month. Not in the mood to discuss another piece of jewelry with specific meaning and honestly couldn't think of a travel related "precious" having already shared my pin vest and my sea glass collection. I'm just not really into tchotchke type souvenirs.  So I waited and thought about it.  And thought some more. And wandered my home aimlessly, looking for inspiration.

Then I decided to just start reading other bloggers' Story Telling Sunday posts.  I got through the first six on the linky list and observed that "precious" really does come in all shapes and sizes and styles.  And that's when my idea came to me....

Today I'm celebrating something that is precious simply because it brings me pleasure.  It has no history, no back story, and isn't anything I would grab in the event of a fire. It is all easily replaceable.  My Precious this month is:

Tools of the Trade:

*warning - mildly racy tongue-in-cheek commentary follows! ;-)

If you follow my posts regularly, you won't be surprised to know I've been having a bit of a fling with these guys the past few weeks. I couldn't believe how much I really missed them until I started hooking up with them again on a regular basis. 

No, I don't have a favorite. Each one of them has a place in my life and meets my needs in their own unique way. So whether I'm rolling around with my brayer, turning up the heat with my Ranger gun, sticking to the sheets with my washi tape, or just spreading color love with random brushes and paints, you can be certain that I'm having a good time! 

But please don't think less of me.  I can assure you this is no tawdry affair, no one-night-stand, no short term thing. It's honest-to-goodness real L.O.V.E. love!  These guys just know how to make a girl happy... seems to be built into their DNA or something. And I intend to keep them around for a long time.

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 6

I know I'm horribly late this month and I'll spare you all the excuses about how busy I've been - just know it has been a good kind of busy!

I simply can't get through a year of documenting my most precious "things" without discussing my camera.

It's a Canon EOS 60D. The entry level professional camera. It was a birthday gift from Jay to me for my birthday in 2012, so I've had it just a year now. Jay had initially bought the newest version of the Rebel, but it didn't take much convincing at all to get him to upgrade me to the 60D. And it is crazy fun to play with! And I'm still learning all the ins and outs...

I learned that if I take the lens to maximum zoom and shoot things up close (like flowers) I can get a wonderfully short depth of field with great blur and/or bokeh in the background.  I've learned what the "drive" button is for. I've learned how to set the camera up on a tripod and use the remote trigger for selfies. I've learned how to change the white balance setting to deal with different light situations. I'll readily admit that I still don't truly understand aperture, f-stops, shutter priority and shutter speed, but I'm still learning and this camera should keep me busy for years! I pick up something new with every class I take.

What I love about learning with this camera is that it allows me to see the world through my artist's eye. I see the play of light and shadow, the saturation and depth of colors, the beauty in tiny details. And this camera has the inner workings necessary to actually capture what I see. So I'm getting better photos straight out of the camera and needing less post-processing to make them presentable!  And learning to play with my camera allows me to take shots like this:

showcasing my package from Alison in the Great Big Swaps of Very Small Things. Let your eye wander through this smorgasboard of fun stuff and note all the blue and green and pink and butterflies of all kinds! I think Alison definitely has my number!

For more precious stories, visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday post.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 5

Otherwise known as how "A Serious Case of Scrapper's Guilt" led to the discovery of my precious. 

So I told you here about how I had spent much of the month of April sorting and purging in my Studio, and more specifically trying to corral and organize a lot of memorabilia.  You were all suitably impressed with the progress I had made in pulling together piles, boxes, bags, and envelopes of  "stuff" to come up with a single organized file box of photos, memorabilia, and art work from the first five years of life for each of my daughters. And I certainly appreciated the pat on the back, needed it in fact, because...

This is a photo of my memorabilia organization system (excluding the bit I just created as described above):

The box holds 12x12 hanging file folders and is eleven inches deep.  Believe me when I tell you that is room for a LOT of memorabilia!

At one time I had three of these boxes FULL. One and a half of the boxes contained a folder each for grades K through 12 times three girls - yes, 39 folders of school photos and memorabilia.  The rest were vacations and miscellaneous topics (weddings, newspaper clippings, scrapbooking events, etc.).  And I was very proud of the fact that I not only diligently collected and appropriately stored all this STUFF, but that I actually used it in my scrapbooking!  In fact, two full boxes worth have been moved into albums. Now admittedly, not all of the girls' school stuff has actually been scrapped, but it is in the albums ready to go when I have time to assemble pages.

So, as I was saying, I was busy cleaning and purging in my studio when I found a shopping bag FULL TO THE BRIM with memorabilia.  It included Rachel and Becca's third grade school photos (which I had thought perhaps we didn't purchase when I couldn't find them in their school folders). It included a handful of miscellaneous stuff. But most of all, it included all of the brochures, ticket stubs, and stuff from our 2002 trip to Orlando when we visited Discovery Cove, Sea World, Universal Studios, and Kennedy Space Center.  Do you see how thick that Orlando folder is now? (Rivaled only by Hawaii which I've avoided scrapping because I'm stuck in perfection mode where that one is concerned). And I was overcome with Scrapper's Guilt. Guilt that I hadn't ever properly filed these items. Guilt that since it wasn't properly filed, it obviously wasn't scrapped either! Ten years later and apparently that trip was never properly documented. Guilt that my girls' third grade photos almost never made it into their school albums!  And now I'm wondering what else I might have tucked away somewhere that I've completely forgotten about...

Among the stuff crammed into that bag was this:

A pin from our 2003 Cruise to Nassau, The Bahamas aboard Carnival's cruise ship "The Fascination" which I had earned for our family while I was a consultant for the now-defunct scrapbooking company "Scrap in a Snap".  And that pin brought me to...

My pin vest:

A now mostly forgotten treasure that lives in the far back of my closet.

I started collecting pins in the late 90's I think. I have the same vest (in child size) for each of my girls. The pins represent places we've been, things we've done, organizations to which we've belonged.  Accordingly, no two vests have all the same pins.  And much like Sian's scouting badges each and every pin on this vest has a story behind it.  Pin collecting went out of vogue for our family when the girls hit their teens.  We don't have pins for our trip to Hawaii (shame on me). I'm hoping years from now my girls will pull those vests out of their respective closets and be glad that they have a record (besides the scrapbooks) of so many memories from their young lives.  As for me, now that I've rediscovered this treasure, I think I need to start collecting pins again!

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 4

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 3

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious 2

When Sian first announced "My Precious" as the theme of Story Telling Sunday for this year, like many of you, I immediately thought of Gollum hiding away and cackling over his precious ring.  I knew that rings would definitely number among my "precious" items.  So today, here are two that are particularly meaningful to me.

Both of these rings belonged to my Mom. That alone would make them special. But each ring has a story of its own that makes it even more meaningful.

The one on the left is a mother's ring that my siblings and I bought Mom for a Mother's Day gift when I was in college. It was my idea and given the ages of my brothers and sisters, contributions varied greatly. As the oldest I paid the lion's share. The ring was ordered from the Sears Catalog.  Mom loved it and wore it a lot - so much so that when I inherited it the pearl stone (Deanna's birthstone) was missing and the gold prongs were worn down to nearly nothing. I replaced the pearl, had the ring repaired, and actually wore it for quite awhile. Until it stopped fitting. Hopefully I'll lose some weight and it will come back out of the jewelry box soon.

The ring on the right was a gift to Mom from her father when she graduated eighth grade. It is a beautiful aquamarine and I love the vintage setting. Mom loved this ring and wore it a lot. Deanna actually inherited this ring, but since we both love it, she has graciously allowed us to take turns having possession of it. Which is very sweet and generous of her, given that Mom left it to her. I wear this frequently and I love it. Someday I hope to own a ring of my own as beautiful as this one!

Story Telling Sunday - My Precious

When I was in the 10th grade (15 years old), I came down with a really bad case of pleurisy. I missed ten days of school. It was the only time in my life that I can honestly say the mere act of breathing caused excruciating pain.

At the time, our family of eight (two adults, six kids) lived in a home with only a single bathroom. I spent my two weeks of illness sleeping on the sofa in the living room so I would be closer to the bathroom and wouldn't have to navigate the stairs. Other than my pillow and blanket, my constant companions in the living room were this bear (purchased by my Mom to make me feel better):

and the book Trinity by Leon Uris (all nearly 900 pages of it!). So when I wasn't sleeping (I was on some decent pain meds), I was reading and this little guy (he's only 12" head to toe) kept me company.

Once I was better, he still hung around. A lot. He went with me to college. All four years. He traveled with me again when I moved away from home. He spent a lot of time on or near my bedside. And yes, he's a tad worse for the wear. Believe it or not, he's never had a proper name, just "bear".

Ultimately I grew up, got married, and started sharing a bed with someone who took up, well, a bit more space. Since then, this little guy has been consigned to my hope chest.

I've had several major purges of "stuff" from my home in an effort to reduce the clutter. Purges where I was absolutely brutal and got rid of many things which might have been considered to have sentimental value. When I am in de-clutter mode, I ask myself two questions - "Do I love this?" (not like, LOVE, as in does it make my heart sing?). If I LOVE it, it stays. If I don't love it, I follow up with "Do I use it?" Yes - it stays; No - it goes. Through every de-cluttering rampage, this little guy has survived. I guess he still makes my heart sing.

For more Precious Stories visit Sian's Story Telling Sunday.

Storytelling Sunday - One Dark Stormy Night

Journaling reads:


Hurricane Sandy arrived here Monday, October 29, 2012, bringing with her intermittent waves of rain (not nearly as much as Hurricane Irene brought) and high sustained winds. Right about the time that Sandy made landfall at the Jersey Shore, our power went out (approx. 5:50 p.m.). Power came back up at around 8:00 p.m. for about 40 minutes, long enough to get a news update, then went out again.

So what do you do on a dark and stormy night when the lights go out?  We were surprised to find that there is precious little you actually CAN do. We lit lots of candles so we could see, and gathered flashlights for trips to the bathroom and generally seeing to get around the house.

Luckily we had eaten dinner early, because one thing you can’t do when the power is out is cook. None of the appliances work.

Becca was able to type her chemistry lab paper using candles and the battery power on her laptop.  Without power, there is no internet access, so you can’t email, blog, do online shopping or surf the web!

Normally we watch television in the evening. Obviously no power = no television. I thought about doing some cleaning, but guess what? Without power you can’t run the vacuum cleaner or do the laundry. And it was too dark for dusting, sweeping or mopping.

Candles do not provide nearly enough illumination for reading - I used a flashlight to read a bit. Ultimately, we all went to bed early. Other than creaks and groans of the house from the force of the wind, it was eerily quiet - no hum from electrical appliances, no heat cycling on and off.

The power was still out in the morning. Which meant no hot showers. Roads and schools were closed, traffic lights were out, trees were downed everywhere we went. The few places that were open had long lines of people waiting to purchase their morning coffee! At least in the car we could listen to the radio for weather updates.

Our power finally came back on around 1:30 in the afternoon. We were among the fortunate ones. Many people in our area are still without power after six days. We learned just how dependent we are on electricity. And I now understand why so many babies are conceived during winter storms!


***This post is submitted in conjunction with Sian's Storytelling Sunday.  To read more stories, check out the links at Sian's blog.

Storytelling Sunday - Photography Love

Growing up, my Mom was always into photography. She would set up actual photo shoots with us kids, draping sheets for backdrops or trying to use natural light filtered through sheer curtains. I think she shot with a Nikon camera. In our apartment in Chicago, she even had a closet that she used as a dark room and she developed a lot of her own photos.

Because my eyelashes were so blonde, she would often put mascara on me just so they would show up in photos. And she would try to pose Deanna and I - only Deanna was a toddler and not much for posing or sitting still, so we have shot after shot of her squirming or frowning, obviously not into being a model for Mom.  But we also have shots like this:

Shots where you can clearly see how blonde I was, contrasted with Deanna's fiery copper red hair. Hair that I was so jealous of growing up! Her hair would hold a curl and could be styled in so many ways that my stick straight mane just couldn't... but I digress.  Here I am probably six years old and Deanna is two.  And I love that we have this shot of us (and several more) because our Mom was into photography as a hobby.

My own love for photography started as a teen. I'm pretty sure it was a natural offshoot of growing up around good cameras.  I don't know that I'll ever be much of a "people" photographer, but I love taking nature shots! And I'm finally playing with that Canon 60D that I got for my birthday. And I just wanted to take this opportunity on Storytelling Sunday to acknowledge the part my Mom played in my current obsession. Thanks Mom!  I just wish she were still around to teach me a thing or three.

This post is submitted in conjunction with Sian's Storytelling Sunday.  To read more stories, check out the links at Sian's blog.

Dream Big

One of my dreams came true. 

A dream I didn't even know I had until two weeks ago. 

You all know that I digi scrap. Not exclusively, but it is a major part of my scrapping life.

I've made no secret about the fact that I have some favorite designers out there.  

The Creative Team call went live on August 17th at 6:00 a.m.  I saw it via Facebook. I didn't even know I wanted to be on a Creative Team.  I'd never considered it before.  I mean, sure, I love recognition when I do work that is worthy, who doesn't???  But to be on a team?  The thought had never crossed my mind.  

Until I saw HER call. When a designer who is on your top five GO-TO list (arguably even your favorite designer of all time) puts out a Creative Team call, well, what's a girl to do?  

By 2:00 p.m. that same day, my application was completed and emailed.  

That is, of course, when I started second guessing myself. Would my skills be good enough? What was my competition like? How many applications would she get?  Was I crazy to think I had a snowball's chance in hell????  And so it went, for twelve excruciatingly anxious days.  And life was still happening all around me. Nothing had slowed down while I was pondering what her very polite rejection letter would say.

As it turns out, I wasn't crazy.  

On Wednesday, August 29th at 12:25 p.m. an email came into my in box. I saw it almost immediately.

After a quick perusal, I was wearing an idiot grin the size of Texas. Yes me. Grinning from ear to ear. Well, at least as far as my small mouth will grin anyway.

The email said (in pertinent part):   "I think you'd be a terrific addition to my creative team. I hope you'll accept this enthusiastic invitation to join me."   

Hell, yes!

The email also said:  "Please keep this news to yourself until I've officially made the announcement on September 1."  

Say WHAAAAAT???  

But I want to go shout it from the stinkin' mountain tops! 

Thankfully, I didn't have to keep my big mouth shut for too long.

And here is my first Creative Team layout:
  

Created from the "Lovers, Dreamers, Me" collab kit by Krystal Hartley and Traci Reed.

available here

This post is submitted in conjunction with Sian's Storytelling Sunday.  To read more stories, check out the links at Sian's blog.

Storytelling Sunday - the LOAD 5 & 6 edition

I am participating in Layout A Day again during the month of May (LOAD512).  My layout for today (LOAD 6) tells my story for this month's Storytelling Sunday .  

 The story is about one of the best Mother's Day gifts I ever received - a photo collage with pictures of my girls taken by Jay - pictures that I knew nothing about until I received the framed collage.  How he got the girls to cooperate, I don't know.  He got some wonderful photos!  Template by Katie Pertiet.

This is my LOAD5 entry and the photo, from the same photo shoot, is my favorite of the entire group.

The prompt for LOAD5 was to enter our name in ebay and then use whatever came up as inspiration for a layout.  When I put my name into ebay, this is what came up:

Apparently someone else with my name is a published author of a Young Adult novel about a mermaid...  but I digress....

Looking back at that Mother's Day gift 9 years ago, I'm wondering what they'll come up with this year.  My guess is that it'll be a big fat nothing because that is the same day that Sarah graduates from college.  The day is pretty much spoken for.

To read more stories, check out the links at Sian's blog.

One Little Word Blog Hop - April Edition on Storytelling Sunday

Hello! Whether you arrived here from Kara's blog as part of the One Little Word Blog Hop, or from a linky from Sian's blog as part of Storytelling Sunday, or you are here because you love me and drop by regularly... Welcome! I love visitors!

The entire One Little Word blog hop goes live at 8:00 a.m. Pacific (11:00 my time) so if you are early, just check back later to catch everyone!

Today I'm going to tell you something you don't know about me, but you have to promise not to laugh first. 

Promise? 

Because this is kind of embarrassing. 

I mean really, PROMISE??? 

okay, here goes...

...

...

I'm afraid of technology.

There, I said it. I'm afraid of technology. I can't pick up a device and just start playing like my kids do. Yes, you'd never know it seeing as I have a blog and obviously know how to create a post. And I digi-scrap and clearly have learned my way around (at least parts of) Photoshop Elements. But really and truly, technology scares the beejeebers out of me. All those buttons. How do you know which ones to push and what they do? And why oh why does nothing these days come with an owner's manual or written instructions??? ... really, it's terrifying.

This is terrifying:

THREE remotes. At our house it takes THREE different remotes just to operate the DVD player. I had never learned which buttons to push for what because someone else was always around to start the movies.

Apparently, the silver one powers up the television. The long one is used to change the "input" so that it is pointed to the DVD player instead of to the Comcast box. The last one actually operates the DVD player.

I got these exercise DVD's for Christmas:

I tried to use them in January when I was away at a scrapbooking retreat - tried to play them on my laptop. And couldn't get either one to work. No surprise... the laptop doesn't come with instructions either. Bleh.

But I really did want to incorporate these into my "movement" routine.

As the March assignment for One Little Word, Ali asked us to commit to "one little thing" - one action related to our word. My word is FOCUS - and for March I was focusing on MOVEMENT. And I wanted to start using these videos.

So I committed to getting Jay to teach me how to use the DVD player. And then to actually use those DVD's at least three times each.

(Note: I still have plenty of the page protectors from last year, so I'm doing the March assignment with those, not how Ali has it set up this year).

I made that commitment back on March 2nd or 3rd. And then ignored it. For half the month I did nothing to honor that commitment. Not only was I skipping out on moving a lot of days, but I had also gone hog-wild (pun intended) eating every kind of bad carb imaginable. I couldn't get enough sweets.

And by mid-March I was ready to write off the entire month as a failure of epic proportions.

But as you can see, I didn't! 

On the 18th, I finally prevailed upon my dear spouse to teach me how to use the DVD player. I learned what all THREE remotes are for and which buttons to push. And I wrote it down in a notebook because I knew I would forget!

Of course, I did forget. I had to refer to those notes the next three days in a row as I started using the DVD's. But I finally got it! I no longer need the notes, I know how to operate the DVD player, and I have put the DVDs to good use.

I have conquered my fear of the DVD player and the stack of remotes that go with it.

Now if someone could teach me the finer points of using my Blackberry...

If you want to read more stories, visit Sian's blog for all the links. If you are following along for the One Little Word Blog Hop, your next stop is Catherine's blog. If you get lost or a link is broken, you can come back here or go to Margie's blog to find your way.

Margie   http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/one-little-word

Monica   http://scrapinspired.com/

Jill    http://jillconyers.com/

Jenn     www.studiojenn.blogspot.com

Kara     http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com

Cheri    http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com

Catherine  http://myview-catherine.blogspot.com

Nikki    www.inkyart.com.au

Cindy    http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com/

Lisa     http://backtoallen.com/category/one-little-word/

Donna    http://holimess.blogspot.com/

Coley    www.coleybelle.blogspot.com

Naomi    http://poeticaperture.com

Stephanie http://playinghouseinmaryland.blogspot.com

Ruth     http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com

Eydie    www.whatwecreate.net

Janet    http://lifeinsideascrapbookroom.blogspot.com

Orange Gearle    http://orangegearle.blogspot.com

Amanda     http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com

Jen      www.jenritchie.com

Melissa S  http://blog.mshanhun.com

Kaylea    www.myscrappylife.com

Missus Wookie    http://www.mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.co.uk/

Cindy    http://seriousplay.typepad.com

Beth    www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com 

Tere     http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Kelly    http://mindingmynest.com

Heidi    http://mommy.heidimdavis.com

Storytelling Sunday - On Motherhood

As any of you who are mothers know, the job comes with a unique set of joys and heartbreaks that is unlike any other occupation or avocation known to humankind.

Sometimes you are amazed by how the tiniest thing your sweet child says or does can just melt your heart and fill you with the most profound sense of joy.

Other times you may wonder what ever possessed you to procreate in the first place.  I have, on more than one occasion, been overheard asking Jay "whose idea was it to have kids anyway"???  Yes, sometimes the little munchkins can be exasperating.

In the past few months, I have experienced an entirely new phase of motherhood - that of sitting on the sidelines while my daughter gets her heart broken into pieces and then wading neck deep into the muck to deal with the emotional aftermath. Peter, Becca's boyfriend of three years, broke up with her two days before Christmas.  They are back to texting "as friends" but still not back to being "a couple" and it has been over a month since they have seen each other face to face.

Becca is still holding out hope, still waiting on a miracle.  Her emotions are all over the map.  And I've been on the wacky ride with her... which lead to this layout:

The photo is me.

All papers and elements from Sue Cunningham's 2010 52 Inspirations collection, week 40, over at OScraps.com.  And I have to admit, I copied her layout almost identically.

The layout will include this bit of hidden journaling, via a pull out tab behind the layout:

Template is Ali Edwards "Long Journalers" available at Designer Digitals.

I wouldn't trade my job as her mother for anything in the world.  But I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm having a bit of trouble dealing with this particular phase of life.  I'll be relieved when it finally resolves, one way or the other...


*This post is part of Storytelling Sunday.  For more great stories, visit Sian over at From High In The Sky and click on the links!

Storytelling Sunday - Party Like It's 1999

This is my entry for Sian's Storytelling Sunday. And yes, I'm a day late. Because yesterday was the One Little Word Blog Hop. For more stories check here.

Do you remember New Year's Eve 1999?  The big Y2K scare? How everyone thought the Internet and our personal computers were set to self-destruct at midnight?

New Year's Eve 1999 was the first year that we allowed our girls to stay up until midnight - to usher in the new millennium.  They amused themselves with television and drawing and board games.  They drank soda and ate popcorn and chips.  We watched the ball drop on Times Square on television.  And miraculously the computer still worked the next morning!

The twelve years since then have flown by.  On New Year's Eve 2011 Rachel was working at the Piper Tavern, Sarah was at a party with friends, and Becca was home, watching television alone and lamenting spending the evening without the boyfriend who broke up with her two days before Christmas. I had a lot of opportunity to practice patience and empathy and my listening skills!  Jay and I waited up until everyone was safely home and then trudged our weary selves off to bed at 12:30 in the morning.

2012 promises to be a year of big changes in our household.  All three girls graduate - two from high school, one from college.  I have no idea what New Year's Eve 2012 will look like here.  I'm ready. But I'm suddenly feeling very nostalgic for 1999...

Storytelling Sunday - on Grandparents

This really isn't much of a story - more just an acknowledgement.  I think that grandparents play a very important role in a child's life. So I was grateful to have these people in my life:

Grandma and Grandpa Rice were not actually my grandparents. They were an elderly couple that happened to live in the downstairs apartment of a two-flat in Chicago. We lived in the upstairs apartment. At the time of these photos, I was 6 1/2, Deanna (the little red head in the center photo) was 2 1/2, and Jerry was just turning 1.  The other boy in the photos is my cousin Geoff.

But back to the Rice's... other than occupying the same apartment building, this couple had no ties to our family.  Yet they chose to informally adopt our young family and fill in as grandparents in a home where all the biological grandparents had either died or lived far away in other states.

I honestly know nothing about the Rice's, other than the last name. And that they were wonderful loving people who fulfilled a needed role in the lives of three young children for a time.

Seeing these photos reminded me of the saying "People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime... Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy."  


The Rice's were definitely in my life for a season and gave me the opportunity to experience the kind of love that only grandparents are capable of offering. When I came across these photos recently, I knew I needed to document these special people who were an important part of my life for a season. 


For more of Storytelling Sunday, visit Sian's Blog From High in the Sky.  There's already 27 other bloggers with stories to share!