Here is a layout that I finished yesterday at my one-woman crop.
Katie and Mickey were kind enough to let me take some photos of them to play with. The did a whole "friend to enemy" scene. This is the friend part.

Is she Mad?

I have me a little "mad" on today. You know, the kind that makes you just want to burst out into tears because of the frustration of it all? The kind that makes you want to just throw in the towel and give in to every negative emotion, no matter how hard you've tried to remain positive? The kind that makes you want to run away to a deserted island to do everything your own way, and screw anyone that tries to make you do it their way?

Yeah, that's the kind of "mad" I have on today.

I went to church still all pissed off. Got into the building and knew that my mood didn't fit the place, so I prayed. I let it go. I let all of the anger take a break. And you know what? It worked. I felt better and less angry. I know that things are tough everywhere. I just need to chill and be who I am and not change for someone else. I am who I am - anger and all.

Waylen Visited Us.

Here's something that makes me laugh..... I went to my blog to see it again after a very long time and I realized that the last time I posted on it was January 2008!!!!! I can't believe I've had it this long and I can't believe that it's been so long since I posted. So, here's to the 4th of July.

Just dropped Waylen off at the airport to fly home to his family. What a fun guy! He kept us highly entertained the entire week. Through his competitive nature, we were able to reminisce about Jeanette - it was like her in boy form. The train ride "word tennis" game had not just us laughing, but the entire train car as Waylen would squeeze his water bottle as he tried to come up with a word to fit the category. And when he didn't win, he'd declare victory anyway. The category was State Capitals. It was Katie Rose's turn. She says "Springfield". He says "Milwaukee". I'm like, "I think Madison is the capital of Wisconsin." He's like, "Yeah, but what's up with Springfield. What's Springfield the capital of?" Of course we are all hysterical laughing because the kid next to Waylen says, "It's the capital of Illinois."

Fun times.

The minute I tell someone I have a blog...

What is the point of having a blog if you aren't going to do anything with it.....like....say.....write in it? I know. I know. What starts out as a energizing "I'm gonna post every day" turns into a more sane "I'll just post once a week" which then turns into a "twice a month post" and then goes to a "Well, maybe I can do it once a month". Hopefully it won't turn into a "once-a-year" deal, because I would hate to think that my Dad who wants to keep up with the happenings in his daughter's life - who lives clear across the country from him - is checking each day for an update and being disappointed.

So this one's for you, Dad, and don't get all "You are doing too much" on me. This blog is a list of things that I am a) in charge of or b) very involved in and c) fun stuff that I want to spend more time doing. Okay, here goes:
- working at school from 7:30am to 3:00pm
- directing two children's choirs - 1 for school and 1 for church
- running the family framing business (we are getting very busy these days)
- doing the framing for the family framing business
- directing the 8th grade play from now until performance time in May
- keeping up with the laundry
- cantoring at church
- trying to keep the house in some kind of order
- sitting down with kids each day to help them with their homework
- encouraging husband who is turning out to be a great artist
- being a fashionista on scrapinstyletv.com
- worrying about 17 year old son who is on a long drive to Michigan today with his friend
- scrapbooking, scrapbooking, scrapbooking - which I love!
- grocery shopping when the kids collectively lose 20 pounds within two days. :)
- thinking about stepping up my involvement in running the enrichment program at school
- teaching a scrapbooking class to 8th graders.
- keeping up with this blog.
- running "Trivia Night" with my friend Mary which takes place Feb. 9

I read a series of words this morning in my email - "vineyards that bear fruit". I pray that each of these things that I am involved in or are in charge of or have fun doing bears fruit that is nutritious. Happy January 12th!

Diane

It's Gone!

Mickey is my youngest son. He's 8. From the day he was born, he's had this one spot of cradle cap on his head. Now, I have been known to be like a mamma monkey when it comes to picking at my kids. I get a sort of maternal thrill out of doing things like cleaning their ears, cutting their tonails, licking my thumb to remove that smudge of chocolate on their face and of course, picking the stuff off of the cradle capped spot on Mickey's head each night as I tuck him in. Sure it hurts sometimes, and sometimes he's not in the mood and sometimes I even have to bribe him to let me do it. (I'll let you sleep in an extra ten minutes tomorrow morning if you just let me get this one last part).

Well....last night as I was tucking Mickey in, I went to fluff his tuft of hair where the cradle cap spot is and horror of all horrors.....it was gone. Gone - just plain gone. The child has had this spot on his head for 8 years and now it's gone? I struggled with the thought of this and made a big deal out of how gone it was - hope I didn't scare the little guy too much. :) As I said, "Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite.", I left the room.

It's New Year's Day. I see that this year, based on Mickey's cradle cap loss, I will be entering a new phase in my life. No more the mother of toddlers who need every moment of attention you can give them. Johnny is 17! for goodness sake. In less than a year he's going to be a legal adult! Gracie turned 13 in November. She'll probably have her first period this year. (I hope she doesn't read this because she'd be mortified). Katie Rose will be one decade old in a month. She is such a beautiful little replica of me - both the good and the not so good parts. And then there's Mickey with his clear scalp.

I embrace this new phase as it has the potential for so many wonderful growth opportunities. My husband, John, and I will be able to focus more on each other as the children become independent. I'll be able to do things that I've had to put off because of needing a babysitter - like scrapbooking crops and lunches with friends.

It's a New Year.

It's Not New Year's Day Yet

It's not New Year's Day Yet, but I am certainly anticipating the New Year. I work at an elementary school and so my vacation time is the same as my children's. I have taken this time off from work to organize. If I could stay away from my computer for a long enough time, I may be able to accomplish my goal.
So far, I've worked on the kitchen and the scrap studio. Although I have made a great deal of progress, we are eight days into my vacation and neither room is complete as of yet. Okay, okay, Christmas was thrown in there, but still, I don't know that I'm making the progress I'd like to make.
The thing is that I spend so much time organizing that the Life that I want in so badly is passing me by. Okay, that's not so depressing as it sounds.....As I clear out clutter and make sure every single thing has a place, I re-purpose it, or I remember what its purpose is. That smoothie maker that has been sitting on my counter for a year is great to have out in the summer, but its just taking up valuable counter space in the winter. I don't remember the last time someone in this house made a smoothie.....so, the smoothie maker has moved to a new home, BUT I sort of now have a hankerin' to make a fresh smoothie. As I get my scrap studio put together, I've had to go through boxes of stuff that I forgot I had and now I have bunches of new ideas on how to use it. And I organized everything by color, which works for how I work.
Last night two of my four kiddos were sleeping over at someone else's house. Husband John took the two left over to his mom's house to visit with out of town cousins. I all of a sudden had my house to myself with my music in my room with my pen and my calendar and my lists of things to do. I felt such peace. I took out some boxes of old photos.....I put on some of my favorite Point of Grace music and just went through photos to see which ones I was inspired to take to the 12 hour crop tomorrow. You know when you see a photo that you haven't seen in a very long time and had forgotten about? You know how your stomache just gets all butterfly-ey as you remember and embrace the life that was yours 20 years ago? You know when you see yourself without that huge wrinkle running down the middle of your forhead and think, "Wow, I sure looked good then." That's what I experienced for 2 hours all by myself. What a great retreat!
Here's to hoping that the New Year will bring a new Life Moment each time you need one.

Takin' the Photo

Seeing as this is a new blog, I have no idea where the picture that I just uploaded will end up on my actual blog page, so be sure and look for it because it's meaningful. Part of "Life - I want in" is about finding life all around you - I'm not talkin' about the cheesy "wow, look at that lone leaf still hanging around on that tree" kind of life. I'm talkin' about the kind that you have to actually stop moving around so much to even notice - okay, maybe it's sort of like the lone leaf on the tree.

We are a busy family as so many these days are. I have four children - two of whom are teenagers. I have a husband who is an artist and I have me who is involved in every volunteer opportunity under the sun. We try always to have dinner together, as a family, on Sundays, but even that has become a "hurry up and eat so that you can finish your homework before school tomorrow" kind of family time. Well......when it comes time to take the Photo for the Christmas card each year, something magical happens - and this year was no exception. In years past, I've made my poor children do some goofy things for our annual card - one year we all dressed up as Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, angels and of course baby Jesus. The children were less than thrilled that year and their faces on the card show it. The next year, I raided the choir closet at church and made everyone wear choir robes with big music held out in front of them with their mouths in a big "O" formation. Again, they were thrilled, as you can imagine. Last year, I wrapped huge boxes and cut head holes in the top. I wrapped them all with wrapping paper and ribbon. I made each kid put on a box and stick their head out of the hole where I then placed a huge bow that I think I found at target. John dressed up as Santa and I, of course, was Mrs. Clause. The kids are sort of getting used to my card ideas and so this year, it was less painful for them than in years past. I tried to get the two girls' hair to stick up (like JJ in her webisode announcing the zing boom purchase). I was going for a sort of Cindy Who from Whoville look. Well, their dang hair is so thick and long that we had to put wooden spoons and pencils and all kinds of stuff to keep it in place and it still didn't work out so well. Finally my husband, John, knelt behind the sofa and held the girls' hair up while I tried to take the photo. Needless to say, there was just way too much laughter for me to get a good pic, so I settled for a more normal photo on a non-traditional card. You can see it at Sistv.

I guess what this is all about is that I HAD to take time to take the photo.....the entire family HAD to be there for it.....It turned out to be an awesome, tears-of-joy, laughing kind of memory as one of the children tooted while the photo was being taken and the other three children ran for their lives. Love Life when I'm in it.