A Full Life

Mitch & I keep asking each other "When will the calm come?" It seems as though since the new year we have been going non stop. We've even started using meeting invites to make sure all our family activities are scheduled on both our calendars. This is a first for our family!

While we are both exhausted, I feel like the chaos has brought us closer. The last month has shown me that we are truly a team; I think that is one of my favorite things about my marriage. We walk beside each other.

He is the reason that I am able to fill my life with so many things I love. I am excited to see how little bean's arrival will deepen our relationship further.

So, what have I been up to?

I think the most exciting thing is that Mitch took a guys trip to watch a practice round at the Masters. We missed him like crazy; our little family is rarely apart.

But, he has said that it was the most amazing experience. Garrett was intrigued that Daddy was going to watch golf and has asked if he can too. We plan, depending on little bean's arrival, on taking him to watch Mitch's childhood friend, Jimmy Walker play at the Byron this year.

This is already a tradition for Mitch & I and it's now time to add Garrett.


Before Mitch left we took a family day trip to Canton, Texas. Think massive flea market but nicer. I had some great finds & hope to do a found treasures post here within the month. However, I think we all were most excited about the food!


As soon as Mitch got home, we geared up for our garage sale. We walked away with a little bit of pocket change & a sizeable donation to Goodwill & the Salvation Army. While I was probably a crazy woman to tackle this considering how busy we've been it feels SO good to have my home that much lighter.

While Mitch & I were manning the garage sale Garrett was off at the Zoo having fun with Grandpa.


Garrett has no idea that we have been rushing from one day to the next. OK maybe he noticed when yesterday morning he had no chocolate milk, breakfast bar or "real" apple juice and his uniform wasn't clean.

BUT we still make time for bubbles in the front yard & goofy camera sessions after school. I'm teaching him how to work the remote. I would love to have another photographer in the house.

He is finishing up his Montessori life and I think he will miss the world he's known since he was 18 months. His teachers are already asking him to come visit them and he talks about when little bean will go to Montessori. I am so lucky that he's had such a wonderful experience.

While the amount of time I've had to be creative has been limited by both a full schedule both at home and at work I have been playing a little bit!

I'm still serving as a trainer & I recently updated my All About Us library album.

Next week I am going to try to participate in Ali Edwards's Week in the Life. I think if I get everything together this weekend I have a shot at actually following through. I am truly motivated because I would love to have a snapshot of our week before little bean joins us.

I am also sewing again! Little beans quilt is pieced together & armed with some fabulous tips from my Dallas Modern Quilt Guild at last week's meeting I am ready to quilt.

We have a Saturday Sew coming up next weekend I hope to have it quilted by then so I can get hands on guidance with the binding. Garrett's big brother version of this quilt is being cut & I would love to be able to piece it at the Saturday Sew.

By far the biggest thing that is happening to all of us is the pending arrival of little bean. Today marks 33 weeks. He has been given a name, Owen Charles McNeill and his room is full of his stuff.

A few weeks ago we were cleaning off the changing table & Garrett said to me "Mama, I like what is happening." I asked him what he meant and he told me "Owen is coming."

I was worried about their age difference but I am loving that Garrett is extremely aware of what is happening. He is my biggest helper in Owen's room & I am never in there without him.

We tried to peek at Owen this week but it looks like I have another strong willed child.

At first he was partially covering his face but we managed to see a grin. Then he decided to attempt to fit all his fingers in his mouth & we were able to see that he has long eye lashes. All of our effort to move him around only encouraged him to add his foot to his hands to cover his face.

Then, I saw five little toes and it hit me, he's really really coming! We were able to reschedule for next week & I plan on pumping him full of sugar so maybe, just maybe he will let us see his little face.

I hope that you are having a beautiful week!

lovemon

Are You Caught Up?

If you've been wondering if I've given up on blogging lately, I promise I haven't! I've just been juggling between my day job, growing little bean, focusing on my family, playing along with Ella Publishing, reconnecting with quilting and serving as a Trainer in the current Library of Memories session. I'm loving every minute of everything but my poor blog does seem to go neglected a bit! Hopefully I'll find a bit of routine before little bean appears.

Today I want to share with you, with encouragement from Stacy Julian, my original post from 2/24/2010 that appeared on the Library of Memories Trainers Blog. This is my second year in the classroom as a coach/trainer & I feel is one of the most important ways I spend my time. Please visit my LOM archives to learn more about my own personal journey.

But really, when it comes down to it, the below is why I choose to spend what limited free time I have on spreading this message.


Are You Caught Up?

I’m going to be honest, when I hear someone ask this question my heart breaks just a little bit.

We have entered a new era in my household; I have become a soccer mom the last two weeks. Being the shutter bug that I am, I had my camera with me at the first game of the season on Saturday. It’s hard for the other parents to not notice the 25 week pregnant lady on her knees at the goal with a zoom lens pointed at their children. Naturally, I was asked at practice this Monday if I was going to share the pictures.

I answered of course I would share the pictures as soon as I triaged them. I confessed to the other Mom’s that I had taken 397 pictures but I was down to 100 so far. I was met with bewildered looks so I explained that I’m keeping several good series of other’s children because only a mother knows which face is “the face”.

Our conversation turned to the fact that I am a scrapbooker & that is when one of the mother’s said “I am too! Except, I’m two years behind in both my kids books so I don’t really scrapbook anymore.” She then told me “that is why I don’t take pictures anymore, because then I feel like I have to scrapbook them.” This is when a piece of my heart broke.

As I do with strangers, I gently introduced the concept of Photo Freedom & have promised to loan her my book at the next game.

I wanted to tell her if I was worried about the guilt associated with how many pictures I take I would miss series of photos like this.

I am a shutter bug who prints more pictures from my highlight folders than I will scrapbook because I am emotionally attached to my pictures. Sometimes I print a series and only scrap a few but sometimes even after a year I’m still emotionally attached to the entire series. When I find myself inspired, not guilty, I tell the story.

I wanted to tell her that if I felt obligated to create a layout for every single day I took pictures I would bore myself.


As an eager first time mother I took pictures of every new food Garrett tried in the beginning. Before I implemented my Library of Memories, I would have scrapped each new food individually. I am so glad I hadn’t made it to this set of pictures before I took this class. This one layout impacts me so much more than four individual ones would have.

I wanted to tell her that if I stopped taking pictures because I felt like I had to scrapbook them all, in order that I wouldn’t be able to look with perspective at how my son has changed.


If I had been caught up, I would have never been able to see the trend in my son’s clothing. How quietly we shifted from him being a willing participant in dressing to a little boy developing his identity & expressing it in his clothing choices.

I wanted to tell her if I felt every picture had to have a purpose when I took it I wouldn’t be able to tell stories that don’t necessarily have a picture to go with them.


Pairing this random shot taken on an afternoon playing at the track field was the perfect little something where I had more words than pictures to tell my story.

I wanted to tell her that there is another way and I did, in a very gentle, seed planting sort of a way.

I wanted to tell her that a large group of brave scrapbookers breaking free of guilt & embracing freedom. I applaud YOU! My heart sings to know that you are embracing a Library of Memories because I know how this will change you. So, hang in there, keep up the hard work & I promise you will see the rewards.

*********************************************************

I am so honored to be working with Stacy to spread her message. Viewing my craft in this light has sincerely changed my life. I welcome any & all questions.

lovemon

I owe

you guys a post but instead I'll share a few pictures...

Two years have passed and this little guy is still laughing the same laugh. One of the things I've been doing this last week is spending time with my Library of Memories system. Working the system has me touching my pictures. While going through my storage binders and printing my current quarter pictures I stumbled on this happy connection.

I'll be honest; I've not been inspired to scrap the last few days but after seeing this I feel a layout coming on.

lovemon

So Many Stories

I've had intentions to tell for months now.

This week I was inspired into action by questions that have come to the Coaches Board in the Library of Memories class taught by Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking. A component of the system is looking at your pictures & contemplating which story is begging to be told.

Essentially your story will find its way to one of four places: All About Us, People We Love, Things We Love, or Places We Go. I think most scrappers are event based scrappers and so to redefine how we categorize the moments of our lives is HUGE. Naturally, it takes a bit to wrap ones mind around that.

The way I grasp new concepts is by seeing examples. So, I decided to take one set of pictures from a trip to the Zoo in 2006 and see what stories screamed at me. It was interesting when I went to work with this set of pictures and realized I had already worked with the set twice before!

The first story I saw this week was about the event; a trip to the Zoo in the Spring of 2006 with Garrett, Grace Ann, Aunt Pam & Mommy. Since I wanted to use a good number of pictures that were too many for a 2 page spread but not enough for a mini album I decided to borrow a concept taught by Tami while she was a guest instructor in Have More Fun. (This was a Big Picture Class I took in the Summer of 2008.)

The original concept was using a breath mint tin to hold a teeny tiny mini album. You can see my first project with this concept by revisiting the post Crafting Goodness. This time I used a gift card holder from Hobby Lobby and chained together two pieces of 12x12 patterned paper to add more photos of a larger size.



The second story I wanted to tell today was one of raising a child; this will live in All About Us.

Journaling: I daydream about who you will become as you grow into a man. I have no doubt you will have a beautiful spirit, you already do. I wonder what will drive you? Where will your passion lie? How much of what we do together influences that? All these questions but only time will tell. Perhaps you will be a Zoologist. You adore going to the Zoo & never tire of watching the animals. Only time will tell. 2006

The third story I told back in November 2008 was one of my friendship with my best friend; this lives in People We Love.

Journaling: The face of true friendship. Pam & Grace with Garrett.

The fourth story I told back in September 2008 was one of the interaction between our children; this lives in People We Love.

Journaling: Garrett & Grace Ann on their first trip to the zoo together. We tried to get you guys to sit for a photo op but Garrett decided to give Grace Ann a flower instead.

Each story is uniquely its own and tells you something about our life. I LOVE that by stepping out of the "Spring 2006 Trip to the Zoo" box I am able to share 3 additional tidbits.

Recently I spent time with my Grandmother and I took my Post Library of Memories 2008 layouts to share. My Cousin, whom I have not seen in years & do not keep in touch regulary with, said something to the fact of she was able to really see our life by looking at my layouts. Her comment verified to me that I am now my families journalist and anyone who picks up these albums after I'm gone will know our story.

Before I embraced the Library of Memories concept I would stand over people's shoulders while they looked at my layouts; constantly interjecting and telling them the "other" story.

There is no longer a need to do that anymore. My memories speak for themselves.

lovemon

LOAD 2/27

Journaling:

Have I told you that the night we brought you home I called the nursery because I thought I needed to take you back?

When we were leaving the hospital I bundled you up and put a cover on your car seat due to paranoia that you would be cold. In my defense it was the middle of winter in Kentucky and you were just a few days old. I instructed Grandma & Grandpa to keep the house warm for your arrival.

We walked into a toasty house and you started screaming. We thought you might be hot so we stripped you down. You kept screaming. I thought you were hungry so I tried to nurse you. You refused to eat; I started to panic.

We didn’t know what to do so I told your Daddy to call the hospital and I said to the nurse “I think I need to bring him back I don’t know what to do.” I wonder if they get a lot of those
calls because she didn’t seem very surprised.

Turns out you were screaming because you were trying to go potty. It wasn’t anything I was doing or not doing.

Four years later I still think of our first night together often.
The memory seems to surface when I question whether or
not I know what I’m doing. It helps me remember to trust
that we’ll work it out.

Sorry the scan is a little funny. It felt so good to get this story down. This picture was already scrapped preLOM but even though I scrapped the picture I did not tell my story. Yet another reason I adore my system.

lovemon

I Love

my Library of Memories.

Last night I was stuffing binders in Garrett's playroom while we were watching Justice League.

He saw my piles and picked up the one of his birthday party to look through. He started sorting the pictures into two piles, his and mine.

When I told him they were going to all go into Mommy's binder he was in tears because he wanted his own pile.

How I wished this picture had come out. Oh well.

I calmed him down by promising to make him a scrapbook this weekend of his pictures so he can look at them whenever he wants. He told me he was going to scrapbook just like Mommy and we were going to have to use lots of glue and tape.

BECAUSE of LOM we are living with our pictures. As a result, at four, my son is learning to value his memories and I am affirming him by celebrating his life.

I know I'm an alumni but LOM just keeps on giving. This is the best investment I've ever made. Thank you Stacy for sharing this system with us.

lovemon

Working the System: Digital Triage

If I kept & printed every picture I took my computer would crash and I would be broke. Not to mention the insanity that would come with looking at all those pictures to scrap.

Thanks to digital triage my computer has not crashed (as of yet), I am not broke & I still have my sanity. My husband would say the latter is debatable.

I have always used PhotoShop Elements (PSE) and adore it. Not everyone shares this opinion and I get that but it works for me. So, what I will walk you through is PSE6 which is not the latest since 7 just came out. I would be lost in PSE if I didn't have this book. LOVE the book.

Here are the different ways to see your pictures in PSE6.

Screen Shot: Thumbnail View

This is what I see everytime I open the Organizer. It shows me my pictures in one big lump in date order according to the camera.

Screen Shot: Import View
This shows me my pictures in the groups I've imported together. I find this especially helpful when I'm uploading Garrett's pictures that he's taken because his camera's date stamp is really, really wrong.

Screen Shot: Folder View

This is where I go when I realize I've been uploading all my pictures from Q1 into January instead of their respective months. This happens alot actually.

Important Tip: Once you have imported pictures into PSE you will NOT want to reorganize your harddrive folders outside of PSE. Why you ask? Because the link will be broken to the picture and PSE will tell you its missing. You will have to reconnect the link. I've done this - its not fun. So, if you are going to reorganize do it in this view.

Screen Shot: Date View
This is my favorite view when I want to work in small chunks of triaging pictures in the past.

Before LOM I did not have any of my digital pictures printed. I am extremely proud to say I have all of 2008 printed and in storage binders. THANK YOU Stacy.

So, I'm still working on going back and printing my 2006 & 2007 pictures. The way I take pictures this is an expensive process. So, I wait for print sales and I'm taking my time. Long story short - I have need to go back and work on August 2007 and when I do I like to see it in this view. Makes it feel manageable. I can do just a day at a time.

Here are the ways I use tags in PSE.

Main Categories: Year, People, Places, Things We Do, Digital

What is a tag? Basically I think of it as a way to sort your pictures. Normally when I'm in the Thumbnail View I'll want to see groups of my pictures. I click on tag and it pulls up all the pictures I assigned to that group. You are able to assign multiple tags to one picture. Exciting huh?

I've been asked if I create my category drawers in PSE and I don't. But I do try to duplicate my library albums.

The reason I don't recreate my category drawers is that I plan on going back and printing my triaged pictures. So, I'd rather spend my time triaging chronologically because I scrap what is in my binders & drawers more than I pull pictures off my computer. Make sense? I have tags loosely based on my albums because these are pictures I want to share or keep together. The examples will help explain this better.

Year: Fairly simple I just organize by year, by quarter, by month. This is where I print my pictures from. All pictures in this keyword tag get printed.

People: These are pictures I've been asked to take for people or just a series of shots of a friends child that will be shared. This way I send my friends pictures of her children without having to sort through all of mine :) Not all pictures in this keyword tag get printed. If they are printed it is because they have a Year tag associated with them and are printed from there.

Places: This is where I want to keep pictures of the same place we go to year after year together. I suppose I'm tagging them for the possibility of a project later on. Not all pictures in this keyword tag get printed. If they are printed it is because they have a Year tag associated with them and are printed from there.

Digital: I have just begun attempting to tag digital templates I've created and digital elements I've bought. This is a tag where nothing gets printed.

Things: This is probably the tag that gets the second most action after the Year tag. I use this to not only tag things we do like Driving Range but also the different ways I'm using my pictures. Note: Not all pictures under this tag are printed and in my storage binders. For example, I am not printing my 365 pictures because I plan to make a coffee table book. The other tags that don't get printed are blogged, scrapbooking, altered, etc. If they are printed it is because they have a Year tag associated with them and are printed from there.

Here is how I go from the camera to the printer.

In PSE I had 553 items that were imported in the month of November.

The very first thing I do is delete the BAD pictures. Right after that I tag my digital elements, templates, layouts, blogged pictures, etc.

Then, I start to attack series of pictures. I've been asked how many pictures do I take to get the ones I scrap or blog. Well, here is a peek. Here is my little rocker with 104 pictures of him jamming.

Once I removed the duplicate shots or just bad I ended up with 32 shots.

Then I really looked at my pictures and tagged the pictures I wanted to print which means scrap or use in a project. This got me down to 15 pictures that are now sitting in my storage binders.

One of those 15 is a bad picture that got printed for its sentimental worth. LOVE this face and I don't care that is not entirely in focus. It captures him and that is what this is all about.

Out of my 553 imported items in November I triaged & printed 71. One of my goals this year is to get better at triaging so I'm not printing all my pictures. In 2008 I probably printed more pictures than I will ever scrap but this is new to me & I see that as part of conquering the learning curve.

Now that I've triaged its time to print. I use Walgreens and love them because they frequently run 10cent specials (about once a month) and I can pick them up the same day most times. If not, then next day. This means I don't pay for shipping and my 10cent prints are really 10cents. I've been very pleased with the quality of Walgreens but have heard that this may depend on your local store.

Since PSE & Walgreens don't talk to each other here is how I upload to their site. I take my triaged pictures, select all, copy and then paste in a folder that sits on my desktop called To Upload. When Walgreens asks me where my pictures are I point them to that folder and I'm done.

Now, if you've been storing your pictures on your hard drive in chronological order you may be thinking much of this is redundant. I ask you only one question. Are the pictures in those folders the ones you want to scrap? If you can't say yes to all those pictures then I think its a good idea to go through this process triaging the ones that yes you want to scrap. Please pat yourself on the back while you are at it because my hard drive is a mess.

I didn't have them chronological in the early days and now have to go back through that mess. Don't even get me started on pictures that I scanned in!

I have to say that without Photo Freedom & Library of Memories I probably would still not have one single picture printed. The 2009LOM class is now closed but the book is also a great resource.

Hope this was helpful! Feel free to leave your questions in the comments.

lovemon

LOAD 2/1

Here is my first layout of the month for the LOAD challenge. It is also a great example of something that will go into my Things We Do/Love Album.

My weekend got away from me due to picture triaging and printing so my many of my posts are still in draft. The best intentions huh? Have a great Monday!

lovemon

Playing with Pictures

Today I'm frantically uploading to Walgreens to take advantage of 10cent prints on orders of 50 or more 4x6 prints that ends today. (Code is JAN50)

I'm hoping to maybe get some pictures & a video of my craft room to share with you guys. I really like my new setup. Then hoping to actually use the craft room and get my Things We Do layout done to share.

Posts coming soon regarding LOM are going to look at the photo organization software I use and talking about some questions I think may be out there. If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment. Friendly reminder registration closes February 5th. I am very excited that I have wrangled both my mother & best friend to sign up. I'm still working on one of my very good scrapping friends, you know who you are! I am so excited to see everyone in class in a few weeks.

Another thing that has me excited is that LOAD, the LayOut A Day Challenge, with Lain Ehman starts tomorrow. You can get all the details over at ScrapHappy but basically I am going to attempt creating a layout a day in February. Bless my dear husband; the look on his face when I told him was priceless but he is absolutely supportive. To aid success I'm going to pull pictures today for each day and hope one of my sets inspires me. If not, I'll be going to my storage binders instead.

(picture taken by Garrett this week)

OK lots to do today so I'm signing off but hope to be back tomorrow or maybe even tonight!

lovemon

Stocking Up on Inspiration

As soon as the shock of Simple ceasing publication faded a bit, I went out to the Creating Keepsakes website to order any special issue I had missed out on and could get my hands on.

The layout I created this morning was inspired by this special issue, Scrapbook Shortcuts.

One evening this week while Garrett was playing in the bathtub I asked him a few questions from one of the quizes. I wasn't sure he was old enough to do this little exercise but I was pleasantly surprised.

I didn't feel the need to go and grab my camera because I already knew I had the perfect shot. The picture used in the layout has been living in my storage albums in 2008 Q3. Yet another perk of my storage albums is that everytime I flip through them I am mentally taking inventory.

So, instead of forcing the moment because I needed a picture to go with this memory I just sat there, listened to my little guy and scribbled like crazy. He kept saying "Tell Me Something Else." Now, he thinks this is a game to play. Just LOVE my Library of Memories!



Journaling:

What's the funniest thing Mommy does? Forgets something
What's Mommy's favorite TV Show? Justice League
How tall is Mommy? 100
What is Mommy's favorite thing to do? Crafting
What makes Mommy sad? I take away your kisses
What makes Mommy laugh? Scrapbooking
How much time does Mommy spend on the phone? 15 15
Is Mommy a better driver than Daddy? (Laughs) Yeah
What does Mommy do while you are at school? Working
What should Mommy be famous for? Scrapbooking

I swear I did not coach him at all! This tickled me so much.....

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before but I use Pioneer Albums for my storage albums. I have been extremely pleased with them and found a great deal at Costco. You don't have to be a member to order they just add a 5% surcharge to the price. Unfortunately, they are only available online.

lovemon