2009 Weekly

Oy. It's 2/3 into January, isn't it? Sorry. In any case, without further ado, here's my 2009 Weekly album that I'm going to keep up during this year:

I found this fun binder at an office supply store (I *think* it was Office Depot, but don't hold me to that). Love the acrylic covers and metal binding! For the title page, I just used some scraps and made a quick page. Now that I look at this picture, I'm thinking I may go back and add some rub-ons directly to the acrylic cover. The title page, itself, is actually in a normal page protector as the first page of the album.

Inside, I used many, many more scraps and 27 baseball card holder style page protectors (they're not the actual baseball card holder pages but are designed specifically for scrapbookers...made by Ultra Pro and purchased at Hobby Lobby at half off)...

I'm seriously so stoked about how many scraps I used up here!! (Yes, I've already gone through and filled each of these slots with patterned paper and/or journaling cards or other tags...part of the beauty of this is that it's ready to go, so it's not as overwhelming each week. That's also partly why this has taken so long to get ready to share, lol!)

For the record, on this first page, that calendar is by Teresa Collins, the number stickers are American Crafts, the number in the circle is from this Etsy shop, the little day of the week journaling spot is by Heidi Swapp, the journaling card is by October Afternoon (it's in the middle row on the far right), and the scalloped circle day of the week card is from this Etsy shop. Yay! (Okay, I'm not going to list out supplies every time, but wanted to give you a feel for what I'm using. I actually have a little baggie of odds and ends that I have dedicated just to this and will add things to it as I go.) Here's a shot of the next two weeks:

As you can see, I've added photos and other stuff and will continue to do so...might even add smaller pages between the page protectors with a photo or two. Again, I'm just so excited by how much of my stash is going to get used up on this project alone! :)

So. What do you think? For those of you tackling the photo a day dealio this year, how's that going? This, for me, is going to work easier than a photo a day. :) Process-wise, I've been jotting down thoughts through the week and then just taking a few minutes at the end of the week to put them all here.

And, just because, here's a photo from this afternoon:

It was stinkin' gorgeous outside! (Sunny and in the high 60s or 70s...though a cold front and possible snow is expected Friday, of course.) Obviously, then, we had to go out and take advantage of the nice weather. I love the look on Asher's face here as he "beats" Noah back to their starting point. (Incidentally, shortly after this photo was taken, I did insist that he take the sucker out of his mouth while riding, lol.) After bike riding, all three settled down for some sidewalk chalk action and a quick game of tag before we left the house for our late afternoon music class and errands. What a nice afternoon!

Taquito ice cream.

Just a quick Micah funny...

So, we were on our way to the mall where I'd promised the boys a stop at Dairy Queen if they behaved themselves while I got some shopping done (needed to use those Gymbucks, lol!). They did, and we headed to DQ for the promised ice cream. When I asked them what they wanted, Micah kept insisting that he wanted "taquito ice cream." Seriously. That's what he was saying. Asher and I were baffled, but Noah figured it out...Micah actually wanted COOKIE DOUGH ice cream! Ah. Why didn't I think of that? ;)

Lists of Me

So, a couple of weeks ago, I introduced the plan I had to make a Lists of Me album this year. At the same time, I also talked about wanting to do a 2009 Weekly album. And. I babbled a bit about my word of the year and trying to incorporate that into the 2009 Weekly album. :) Well, I ended up swapping that around and am now using the word "BE" in my Lists of Me album.

Yeah. I'll stop babbling again and just get to the point, lol. :) I decided to go with a 6x12 format for this, having not tried that size before. Here's the title page:

For the first week, then, I brought my word of the year (BE) into the picture:

(Note, this is a two page layout in my fun little album. Not all of my lists will be two pages, but apparently, at least to start, I just have a lot to say, LOL!) So, this first list is about using "BE" in conjunction with another word each week. I've made myself a list to help organize the year (52 words chosen to use this year). For my second week, I chose to use the "Be Driven" combination off my list and, from that, decided to make a list of vehicles in my life to date:

Fun, eh? (You'll notice, too, the first use of my new Silhouette for cutting out the car shape and the "driven" letters...yay! Oh, and this doesn't look as weird in the album, itself, since there's space between the pages when they're in page protectors.) Sorry you can't really read my remarks and thoughts about each vehicle, but that's what's there on the second page. :)

I'm working on my list for this week and will try to be more consistent and regular in posting them from here out. :) In the meantime, I'm just really happy with how this little album is coming along and am looking forward to the weeks ahead! Have you done any "lists" layouts lately?

(Stay tuned for pics of my 2009 Weekly album...probably this weekend-ish...)

Quick brain dump...

Oy. It's been more than a week already (since I last posted) but feels much longer. ;) Lots continually going on here and at least two more posts that I'll do separately...hopefully tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a quick brain dump of stuff I felt somehow compelled to share:

ASHER ATE CHICKEN!! Okay, that may seem trivial or unexciting to some, but let me explain. Asher, now 6.5 years old, lives on dairy and carbs. The boy ate pretty much just yogurt and cheese and crackers from the time he started eating solids until a little over a year ago. Then he started, ever so slowly, adding a few other things to the mix...waffles, cheerios in milk, the occasional apple, toast with peanut butter. Other than a very few tentative, tiny bites (which he promptly threw up in almost every case), the boy has never eaten meat. In a family of lactose-intolerant carnivores, this has been interesting, to say the least.

Oh. You wanted to know why he suddenly decided to eat chicken (and I suppose I'll fess up here and say that they were chicken nuggets, but hey...I'll take what I can get! lol!)? Well, both his brothers still had some Christmas money to spend. True to his own history and fashion, Asher had spent all of his in short order. But yesterday we were out and the other two found these cool Hot Wheels cars that change color and were planning to buy one each. Asher so did not want to be left out that I took pity on him and told him, as a one time deal, I'd be willing to loan him the money...if he tried and ate three different, new foods that I asked him to over the course of the next few days. (Feeling pretty dang proud of myself for coming up with that one on the spot!) He agreed and, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity, I told him the first food would be chicken. He ate five nuggets. Five! (And I only said he had to finish two for it to count as one of the three foods.) Dude. You honestly have no idea how big that is. :)

SHOPPING. Yeah, I've been doing my share of post-holiday shopping, too. :) Three buys in particular make me so happy I'm going to tell you about them...

First, I finally joined the world of scrapbookers who own a die cut system! Strange but true, I've never owned any of the die cut tools. While I did lust after the cute dies and all, I just never caved before. Last week, though, I bought the Silhouette (by Quickutz). I've only used it a few times, but I can already see that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. :) Unlike some of the other systems, the Silhouette works with my existing fonts and such on my computer...doesn't rely on the dies that have to be purchased (though, of course, I can purchase them, lol). Totally better for my style of scrapping. I'm looking forward to using it more and will share as I can. (BTW, yes, I know that the Cricut with certain software does the same thing and some have argued in its favor. I'm not ruling that out, but the Silhouette will do...for now, lol.)

Second, I found some fan-flippin-tastic deals at Ann Taylor Loft last weekend! I was so excited just thinking about it still makes me smile. :) See, I was in search of a few things to wear for CHA (a scrapbooking/crafting industry trade show that happens twice a year that I'll be going to for the first time in a week and a half!!!) since I was told that attire in the booth would be business casual. Turns out, I pretty much just wear jeans. ;) Pretty much all of my dress pants and suits and such from my pre-kids years have since been sold or donated or just don't fit. Armed with this excuse to shop, you can imagine my delight when I found pants that actually fit (amazing in and of itself!) and that were on sale for $7!!! Yes, $7...regularly $70! I bought both colors and then found similarly great deals on a couple tops and am thrilled.

Third, you may remember my mounted rubber stamp storage find that I've posted about before and that is featured in this February's Creating Keepsakes as part of my scrap room. Well, I found another one at my local gently used kids store yesterday! Even though I wasn't particularly looking for another, I was just so amazed to find one again, I snatched it up right quick! Can't wait to fill it up...

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM. The boys had their belated holiday program for Options on Monday (the original date having been post-poned due to illness of the teacher and numerous student absences). I was so proud of them marching right up there on stage and singing with their classmates. Sniff. They're growing up on me again, aren't they? :) (I'd post a pic but I don't have any that don't have other kids in them and didn't ask permission from those parents...) Anyhow...yay!

FEBRUARY MBM CHALLENGE. Yes, it was just last week that I was posting about January's Month by Month challenge being up over at CK. Let's just say that January's was a bit late getting posted. Regardless, February's issue is now online, so February's challenge is there, too! Please check it out. And don't forget that you still have until January 31 to finish the January challenge...so plenty of time for both!

RESOLUTIONS. Technically I haven't written any official ones out for the year. But, I did post about the two albums I want to keep up weekly throughout 2009. And I have actually been doing that. But I still haven't shared any pics. I know. Honest. Tomorrow I'll try to post the first two weeks of my Lists of Me album, okay? Promise!

Whew. Okay, I need to go work on about three different assignments now...wish me luck! :)

January MBM challenge is up!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the January MBM challenge is now going on! Check out the online article here (there's another sneak peek at a layout in the book) and then go to the most recent post at my MBM Scrapbooking group at CK for more details, okay? Thanks and happy day to you all!

ETA: Sorry. I lose track of where I post what sometimes. :) MBM is short for "Month By Month"...as in, my book. Hee hee.