Trying To Catch Up

Well, I noticed that it has been a bit since my last post.  Scrapbook room is still in a mess and I can't seem to make time to get it all sorted out.  I really need to get some projects finished and others started if I am going to finish in time for Christmas.  UGH!  I always seem to find time to do other things...cooking, cleaning and procrastinating mostly.  I am going to try to get Skyler to sit down and do some crafts this weekend for Christmas gifts.  We will see how that goes -lol.  
I did manage to finally get my front room redecorated.  I made a burlap and roses throw pillow for the sofa, refinished a wall shelf and made a mason jar candle for a candle holder.  I was crafty! 
I have a whole list of gift ideas that I need to sort out, pick which ones I can realistically complete by Christmas and get needed materials to complete.  I also need to transfer a whole mess of pictures to get printed so that I can complete some layouts and other projects.  BUSY BUSY BUSY!! 
Wish me luck :)

Scrapbook Room Redo

I am in the process of purging some of my stash of scrapbooking supplies to make room for new (of course). I am also going to rearrange my existing layout in the room to make room for a new shelving unit that my husband gave me for my birthday (Yay me!).  I have rearranged this room several times now but I still have not hit on the best layout for me.  I always find myself bumping into something or having to search for something that I know I have.  I usually give up and go buy another one - reason #1 for the purge.  I have searched the scrapbooking sites and Pinterest for storage tips and room layouts but nothing has really jumped out at me yet.  I am optimistically hopeful that this new arrangement will prove to be the one.  It's always a work in progress as new things come in.   Anyway,  this is my plan for the weekend - room makeover!  Maybe then I can get back to scrapbooking.  I am so far behind-lol.

Our Summer Mini Vacation

My husband and I took Skyler to Holiday World & Splashin' Safari this week.  It's about a 3.5 hour drive from our house to Santa Claus, Indiana.  We packed up the car with games, movies and books and headed out on Tuesday.  We arrived in the early afternoon and did the amusement park rides the first day.  Skyler's first roller coaster was The Voyage.  I rode in the car with him and Brent was behind us.  When we did that first drop I looked over at Skyler and thought he was going to pass out.  Climbing to the second drop, he looked at me and said "We are going again?" I told him to hang on thinking that he was scared.  Nope - he replied "This is AWESOME!"  After the initial drop on The Voyage, all bets were off.  He wanted to ride everything and was not afraid of anything.  Brent rode The Legend roller coaster with Skyler.  The first one beat me to death (still have the bruises to show for it).  When they came off the second coaster, Skyler came running over to me and said "Popaw screamed like a girl!"  It was too funny.  He tells everyone about that too.  I don't think my husband will live it down.
We spent the night in Jasper, Indiana which is about 30 minutes from the park. Skyler wanted Mexican food for dinner and we lucked out with a really nice restaurant right behind the hotel.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel and Skyler took advantage of the pool for a while.
On Wednesday we were headed to the water park area - Splashin' Safari. We stopped at a local store for some sunglasses for Skyler and right next door was a scrapbook store!  I couldn't believe it.  My husband (being the awesome husband) told me to go on in and he would take Skyler to get the sunglasses.  Yay me! Just walking in the door to a LSS is amazing.  There is no other smell like a scrapbook store with all of the paper.  Love it!  I ended up with a few things and a t-shirt (of course).  I checked out and went back out to the car but Brent sent me back in to get my friend a t-shirt too since we scrap together or shop together-lol. Then we were off to the water park.  I can't swim and I am not comfortable in the water so I carried the bag of dry clothes, towels and other items while following Brent and Skyler from ride to ride. My main job this day was taking pictures and relaxing in the sun.    The water park area has water roller coasters and lots of them.  They are a lot bigger than the typical water slide and you are usually in a raft type deal with 5 other people.  They rode just about everything in the water park area. They also did both wave pools and the lazy river.  By the time we were finished Skyler was exhausted.  He was asleep in the car after about 15 minutes of driving.  All in all - it was a really great mini vacation.  We could not have asked for better weather, the park was awesome, lines were short and we were together having a good time.  I am blessed.

Summer Time

I can't believe that we are already into July.  There are so many things that I want to get done over the summer months and time is flying by.  I want to get our master bedroom painted.  We have lived in this house for seven years and our bedroom is the only one that we haven't touched.  I threw a wreath up on the wall along with a picture but that is is for decor. I really need my carpets cleaned and would like to do something with our kitchen cabinets (they are a hot mess from the 70's).  We are also planning a mini vacation with our grandson to an amusement/water park for a couple of days while school is out.  Then of course there are all of the crafty projects that I want to do. My Pinterest board is full of craft ideas that I want to try.  I also wanted to get at least one scrapbook finished that I am working on. Our sun porch has been rendered useless by all of the boxes of stuff that I keep putting in there for a yard sale that I also want to do over the summer. My friend Brenda is going to join me on this venture so she will push me to set the date and do this task.  I always need a push!  We will have a ton of stuff going out for this sale so hopefully I will make some cash for new scrapbook storage and flooring for my scraproom.  That would be awesome! Fingers crossed that we have a great sale and nothing is left back.  My list of to do's just keeps growing!  
  I have a  three day weekend for the holiday.  My husband has to work all weekend so I am going to take advantage of some alone time and try to check some of these things off of my list.  Notice that I said try...I am such the procrastinator!  I will get side tracked a half dozen times or more over the course of the weekend - I am sure!  Oh look squirrel! Yep, I am that person-lol.  

Dreaming of a Winning Ticket

I have been trying to get caught up on some much needed scrapbooking.  I did manage to complete two layouts last weekend and another one mapped out.  I have come to the conclusion that I really need to win the lottery so that I can retire and devote all my free time to crafting.  Wouldn't that be nice?    It seems like while I am at work all these layouts come to mind.  When I am home I am either too tired or busy with housework and never get the time to scrap.  If I am scrapping in the evening,  it seems like it's a struggle to get a layout to look the way I want it to.  I definitely scrap better during the morning or early afternoon.  That seems to be my most creative time of day.  Too bad it is also the same time that I am at work.  So, I guess I will continue to buy that lottery ticket each week and dream of retirement.  I always tell my husband that you can't win if you don't play and we are good people so our time is coming.

What's On Your Wish List?

I have a long list of things that I would love to have in my scraproom.  Of course, I am always adding to that list because some new paper line or tools that are always being introduced.  The first item on my list that has probably been on there the longest is the IKEA Expedite shelving system.  Dream storage solution.  The closest IKEA to me is in Ohio.  Yes, they will ship but wow that is costly!  I need to pull up the 70's red shag carpeting and put in flooring before I get wall shelving units.


http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/09064/

I also would love to have a Big Shot cutter and embosser.  The only cutting machine that I presently own is the SLICE.  While it is a great little product - I am limited.  I have seen so many projects that the Big Shot was used and always amazed at the results.  I would also like a Cricut or a Silhouette.  I am leaning more towards the Silhouette but I hear that the new Cricut will also allow you to create your own images for cutting so we will see.
I know there are lots of items that are probably on your list. If you could get anything for your craft or scraproom, what would you choose?

http://cdn.scrapbook.com/products/cache/SBC_sz-658300_0.jpg

My Weekend

Saturday was opening day for Little League and Skyler's first baseball game. He and his team still have a lot of work to do but they all had fun.  Skyler only got up to bat once and unfortunately struck out.  He needs to remember that he doesn't have to swing at everything.  He also needs to remember to pay attention when he is out on the field instead of horsing around.  It was his first game so I am sure that it will all come around to him in time.  All three of our boys played baseball growing up and I have a lot of happy memories being at the ballpark and watching them.  Now we are starting again with Skyler.  I am hoping that he will enjoy playing as much as his dad did.  Just making friends with the other players and some of those friendships will take him all the way through his school years and possibly beyond.
I wanted to get a little scrapbooking done this weekend but instead - I vegetated.   I did not get one thing accomplished that was on my list of to do's with exception of going to Skyler's ballgame.  I did get some reading and movie watching in but I don't really think that was on the list.  Oh well...

Just For A Day~

Have you ever heard a phrase and it immediately takes you back to another time and place?  I heard someone say "I suwanee I have never in all my life heard such a thing!" today.  My grandmother would say this all the time.  I have never heard anyone else use this phrase but her.  When I heard this today I was immediately taken back to the early 70's. I was sitting on my grandmother's front porch in Kentucky watching her peel potatoes and talking all the while.   I would give anything to go back just for a day.  To be able to spend time with loved ones that are gone from this earth but still in my heart.  To have the conversations that I didn't make time for when I was younger.  The Shaw quote that "youth is wasted on the young" is so true.  They have no idea how quickly time passes and when they do - it's too late.  You can't go back - not even just for a day.

Scrapbook.com

I recently posted updated pictures of my scraproom along with several projects that I have completed on the www.scrapbook.com site.  They have a great gallery and I love to look at everyone's layouts, cards, spaces and other projects.  I also decided to sign up for several challenges.  I really miss Crop Chocolate and that is one of the main things that I miss - the challenges.  What better motivation to get a project done than a challenge.  I really need motivation because I fly off in different directions and never end up finishing anything.  I have completed two of the challenges so this weekend I am going to finish the others.  Now just to get through the work week...ugh!

Scrapbook Room

Just thought I would do an update post on my scrapbook room update.  My scrapbook room was located on our sun porch originally.  Not the best location when you are trying to avoid sun exposure to supplies.   When my stepson moved out, my husband & I decided that I would convert his room into my scrapbooking room.  There are still a lot of things that I want to do in the space but for now- it works.  I would love to rip out the 70's red shag carpeting and do bamboo flooring or something similar.  I also would like to take a trip to Ohio to IKEA and get some shelving units.  Storage seems to always be an issue.  Right now I have a floor cabinet that was actually designed for a garage.  The shelves are supposed to be heavy duty but evidently paper weighs more than tools :)  The shelves are bowing in the middle from the weight of all the supplies that I store in there.  New solution will have to be found and soon before it all goes crashing down.

I decided to post a few pictures of the before, during and after.  Again, not quite where I want it be but a lot better than the sun porch.

Brock's old room.  He is a BRS fan.

Moving out and cleaning up.

Patching and getting ready for paint.

Moving it all in.

What a mess!

Still trying to figure out where I am going to put everything.  I am getting there though!

Procrastination

Of all of my bad habits, procrastination is probably in the top three.  I am the worst!  I even have a t-shirt that says "Queen of Unfinished Projects"!  I set about with the best of intentions but distraction always rears its ugly head.  I like to call those my squirrel moments-lol.  I will be in the scrapbook room working on a project and see something else and start working on it instead.  When I am cleaning the house, I can be dusting and see something on the floor and I will stop dusting and go get the vacuum.  I will be in the living room picking up and go to put something away in the bedroom and end up cleaning in there instead.  Crazy- just need to finish SOMETHING!  
I have been working on a memory tray for my son and daughter-in-law since before Christmas.  At first it was going to be part of their Christmas gift.  Well, Christmas came and went.  Then it was going to be for Valentine's Day.  Well, you guessed it... it came and went.  Finally, for my daughter-in-law's birthday and (drum roll please) I finished it!  Finished with three days to spare even!  Now maybe I can finish some of the other projects that are scattered throughout my scrapbook room.  I need to focus on one thing and finish it but that is easier said than done.  Oh look! Squirrel!

TGIF!

This has been a really long week and I am thankful that today is finally Friday.  I have a stack of supplies in my scrapbook room that need to be put away.  I have three projects spread across my work space that need to be completed and a couple of new projects that I want to get started.  Yes, my entire weekend will be spent in my scrapbook room.  I would love to go in there a do a major reorganization effort but I know that if I started that the whole weekend would be consumed by just that.  Projects completed first and then maybe some rearranging.  It is a constant struggle trying to find the best way to store stickers, stamps, patterned paper and etc. I have stacks of paper sitting all around the room because I haven't put it away or I think I may need it for a project and I don't want to dig it all out.  I am a messy scrapper for sure-lol.  I will post pictures of the completed projects later.  Fingers crossed that I finish what is already on my table this weekend!

Caribbean Cove

We took Skyler to an indoor water park in Indianapolis over the weekend.  It was our first trip to Caribbean Cove and he loved it.  Lots of water slides, fountains to splash in and most of all the Lazy River.  He loved laying back on the tube and floating down the "river".
I am not a swimmer and I do not like being pools at all.  So, I brought my Kindle and sat on a beach chair and read and people watched.  Skyler and Popaw (my DH) swam and floated the day away and are ready to go back again.  I know that we will go back again but the next time my son (Skyler's dad) will be going too.  He can run after him a lot easier than the grandparents can - lol.

Trying This Again

I really suck at keeping up with this blog.  I am going to give it a shot again though. I am thinking even if I only post a little bit each week it would be better than nothing at all.  So here goes...
Skyler is now 7 years old.  It is hard to believe.  He is hopelessly addicted to Minecraft and everything that goes along with it.  He is having some problems in school right now so he has been grounded from any computer or video games until his attitude and grades get better.  He just had his first baseball tryouts this past weekend and unfortunately I was not able to be there to take pictures.  I am hoping that the other grandparents were able to get a few for me though.  Busy week ahead and Skyler this coming weekend.  I am currently working on a memory tray and also a wreath for the front door.  I have been working on the memory tray since before Christmas!  I am such a procrastinator!  I had every intention of finishing it this weekend but it just didn't get done.  I did mange to complete one block though. That's something, right?
I will post pictures when they are both finished.  Till later~