Daily Diary – February 3 2011

I think I should go track the cycles I seem to have on my blog. I get the sense that I get depressed and tired and whiny every six weeks or so. I don’t know if it’s biological or just feeling worn out after living a go-go-go life for a while. Either way, I seem to be on the down spiral right now but I know from experience that the pendulum will swing the other way soon. I am trying to wait patiently while I still continue to live my life.

I got these photos of David today that I love.

Especially this one. My stunning, stunning, boy.

Nathaniel was watching TV.

He’s gotten really demanding lately and wants me to put on a specific thomas and then changes his mind and gets super cranky and I cannot deal with it since I am working so now he gets no TV.

Which of course means breakdowns. and weeping. Thankfully, my mother in law got him a Thomas book so they read that together.

And then he read it a bunch on his own.

And then he had several more breakdowns at which point I decided he was ready for bed and now he’s lying in his bed playing of course. Ugh. I have a long list of things to do tonight and I sent everyone out of the house. But my hunch is I will end up just lying on the couch, watching TV, drawing, and maybe doing some art. That’s about it.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I made it through my 2.7 miles today. It was even harder today. I truly didn’t think I’d make it. But deeply grateful that I did.
2. I am grateful it’s Friday tomorrow. I really really need some more downtime.
3. I am grateful that I finally started the big art journal I wanted to do a la Judy wise. It’s been fun so far and I will show pictures at the end of the week. I am just so happy to play with watercolor, stamps, and just have fun.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I get to be the star of the day for tomorrow which is 100th day {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played on papi’s computer.
3. I am grateful that i get to play legos in bed tonight

February 3, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | 4 comments

Exercising – What I am doing

Last week, my friend Kristen asked me what exactly I do when I exercise so I thought it might be a good idea to write it for all of you. Please bear in mind these important facts:

1. I am not a doctor. It is highly recommended that you go see a doctor before you start an exercise regimen.
2. You are not me and our bodies are not the same, nor are our schedules, backgrounds, fitness levels, etc. Please just make sure you’re doing what’s right for you.
3. It took me a while to find what works for me, and I am still open to changing it so know that it’s important to adjust as you go.
4. I’ve never done this before. I am no expert. I don’t secretly know what I’m doing or any of those things. I am just doing it and seeing how it goes.

Ok so with those caveats, we begin. I decided to start exercising on the evening of October 1, 2010. I had already bought nike plus many months before when I’d read about it on Cathy’s site and I’d bought the pouch too. So I just went outside and walked. For all of October, I walked outside, whatever time of day I could and I walked for as long as I could. I experimented with running and walking. I took Nathaniel along most of the time (sometimes Jake was home so I went by myself.) One or two days, Nathaniel was sick so I just walked in my tiny backyard back and forth about 65 times. There was no rhyme or reason. I just did as much as I could every day. The goal was to go out there daily even if for just 15 minutes a day. Here’s the chart from October, you can see I was totally inconsistent.

Towards the end of October, my mom bought me a treadmill, which was the greatest present. Since the day it arrived, I have used the treadmill every single day. I might choose to go out again when the weather is great but honestly I love the treadmill so I have no problem just using it every day. You can see that November was a hard month for me. Most days, I went as fast as I could. Some days I tried to go as far as I could. My knees hurt and I had to go to the doctor who told me I had runners’ knee. I bought a knee thing to wear on the treadmill but it didn’t help that much. Then I finally bought new sneakers and that made all the difference in the world. Happy sneakers meant no knee pain which meant happy Karen. Here’s the chart for November.

for some reason nike’s site won’t show November 30 when I show it in monthly mode. I tried using several browsers and many times so I just give up. In case you think I am hiding something, here’s the entry from November 30. You can also see here that I was pretty slow.

I was pretty frustrated by this point. I couldn’t decide if it was better to go longer or go faster (I still don’t know.) but I knew that I wanted and needed to be consistent. For me, consistency is continually the key to success. So I decided that for December I would walk 2.5 miles every day. That was 2 miles of walking and .5 miles of running. I generally do my walking at 3.8 which is pretty reasonable and my running at 4.5 which is slow. But I am still sweaty at the end and it’s a rate I can maintain day after day which is what matters to me. So for December there was one day when I couldn’t do more than 2.3 and I made up for it the next day by doing 2.7 but every other day, I just did my 2.5 miles.

For January, I upped it to 2.6 miles. 2 miles of walking and .6 miles of running. I did it every single day. Even during CHA, I woke up at went to the treadmill at the hotel. It sucked but I did it. That’s the thing with doing it every day, it makes it that much harder to give up.

And here’s February. Now I’m doing 2.7 miles a day. 2 walking .7 running. I didn’t change my speed at all. Just the distance.

And my plan is to increase it monthly until 3.12 (which will be June going at this rate) at which point, I will be doing a 5k daily. The plan for the second half of the year is to increase the walk to run ratio slowly. In June I will be doing 2+1.1 so I will do 1.9+1.2 in July etc. until the end of the year. I might even just do 2+1.1 for two months. We’ll see when I get there.

So here’s the chart so far:

124 consecutive days so far. 58 hours and 40 minutes. About 258 miles. I don’t care about the calories cause it’s almost always wrong since it means I have to adjust my weight constantly.

You should know:
1. I do this every single day because I know that if I stop, I will just stop. I hate exercising and I am doing it so I will not let myself stop. Even if I am tired. Even if I don’t feel like it (I never feel like it!). I am lucky that I haven’t been injured or really ill so far. If I do get there, we’ll figure it out. Until there’s a really really important reason, every single day it shall be.

2. I don’t work out too hard. I am not trying to push my body so that it doesn’t need too much time to heal so that I can do it every single day.

3. I do it around 11-12 most days. It’s the only time that seems to work well for me. I am awake and it’s early enough in the day that I feel a sense of accomplishment for the rest of the day. It’s also officially lunch hour so I don’t feel bad about work.

4. I generally read on my ipad while I walk which is the only time I read in my day and then put my ipod on for the running part. I listen to one song over twice right now and then the running part is over.

5. I’ve been doing this for 124 days and it’s still really really hard. Really hard. It’s hard to get myself to get up and do it. It’s hard to do it. It’s hard to make sure I am reaching my daily goal (2.7 right now). It’s just all hard. But I do it anyway. I just do it. I don’t give myself permission not to. That’s the only way it works for me.

That’s it. I hope that was clear and it helps with any questions you might have had (probably more than you ever wanted to know.) Feel free to ask more.

Please remember this is something I made up for me. Do what’s right for you. (Also, I kindly ask that you do not tell me to not do it daily. I appreciate your kindness and respect your knowledge, but I am not going to consider this option and it doesn’t help me to keep hearing it. So I respectfully ask you to please not say it.)

February 3, 2011 | Health | 8 comments

Six Portraits a Week – 5

I must admit that I am enjoying drawing these way more now that I am not painting.

I am quite surprised with how different each of them are.

And how each time I think I took a step forward, I also see that I took two steps backward. I spose that’s how it feels to learn.

But I am still enjoying the process. I am still trusting that things will get better, even if slowly. I am trying to take my time. Give myself permission to mess up. My other journal is on its last page so I bought a new journal for February and cannot wait to fill it all up with faces.

Six Portraits a Week is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

February 3, 2011 | Art, Six Portraits a Week | Leave a comment

Daily Diary – February 2 2011

I woke up in a better mood today thankfully. Things are still a bit fragile but I feel like doing some art last night really helped a lot. I got up and did pages of journaling, I exercised, Nathaniel didn’t nap and then napped and then was cranky. I worked, I read to David. So I did most of what I do in a day. I feel a little frazzled and disorganized still but I am feeling less depressed and less fragile which is wonderful.

Little boy having fun while watching choo-choo.

A good smile from my big boy.

And one from my little boy.

That’s all I got today. I still have to feed dinner, do some more work, post two more posts, draw my portrait and get ready to go out to date night so I will say good night and let you know that I will respond to comments ASAP and I am not ignoring you and I am deeply grateful for all your kind comments and thank you for visiting me day after day. thank you thank you thank you.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I made it through my 2.7 miles today. It was really hard and I didn’t think I was going to make it but I did.
2. I am grateful for another date night.
3. I am grateful that I journaled and made some art. Each time I journal more and more issues come up and get resolved, it’s truly like magic lately.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that it’s groundhog day {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played star wars with julian at school.
3. I am grateful that i started my dalmatian (named spot!)

February 2, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | 4 comments

The Adventure of Being a Little Boy is All about Appreciating the Simple Joys

Now that CHA is passed, I wanted to share some of my The Girls’ Paperie work I made for the show.

Journaling Reads:
One of the greatest things about having a little boy is seeing the joy that spreads over his face at the simplest things. I made this fabric ball in about five minutes and Nathaniel has gotten hours and hours of joy out of it. What more can I ask for in life?

All products are from The Girls’ Paperie Jubilee or Mix and Match lines.

Details:

February 2, 2011 | Layouts, Scrapbooking, The Girls' Paperie | 6 comments

A Book a Week – Flying Lessons

I’m a huge Kelly Rae Roberts fan. Not only do I love her art but I also love her words, her spirit and the way she shares herself so much. I’ve never met her in person but she comes off like a kind, generous soul who is full of life. When she taught a class last year, I was too busy and knew I wouldn’t be able to dedicate my time to it. Not to mention I had no intention of starting a creative business.

The class came and went and I was a little sad but overall I knew I wasn’t the audience for it.

But then she went off and created an ebook called Flying Lessons. All about how to make your creative business dreams soar. I really really really wanted to get it.

Except I had no creative business dreams.

I did have some creative dreams but none that I planned to start a business around. So I couldn’t justify the cost of this book.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it anyway.

So I asked for it for Christmas. And my dad was kind enough to get it for me. I read it cover to cover and I plan to read it a few more times. I still don’t have creative dreams but I love reading Kelly Rae’s words. I think she’s wise, talented, hard working and fully obsessed with art. In the most beautiful way. I can completely see why she’s so successful. And she totally deserves all of it. And more.

If you happen to have any creative business dreams (especially arts and crafts related and/or ones that might involve etsy, licensing etc.) this book is very very worthwhile. It’s detailed, inspirational and very specific.

I loved reading it.

And who knows maybe next year I will have creative business ambitions….

February 2, 2011 | Books Read in 2011, Literature | 2 comments

Daily Diary – February 1 2011

I’ll start by telling you that I am still in a really grouchy mood. I can’t seem to snap out of it so I am just going to let myself off the hook and just let it get better when it needs to and in the meantime i will try to minimize the damage around me. Thankfully the boys are being amazing for the most part.

Excited when toys make noise.

David told me could he smile while he played please?

I explained that I needed a full on smile with the eyes.

And Nathaniel laughing while watching choo-choo.

Tonight’s plans are a bit in the air. I don’t want to do anything but have seventeen things to do. So let’s see which one I end up with. My inlaws just arrived so we have more options than usual for our evening.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had a new lesson in four of my classes. Despite feeling overwhelmed, I love getting the new lessons and feeling inspired.
2. I am grateful that I got a lot of sleep in the last two nights. I needed the rest badly.
3. I am grateful that I was able to do my increased exercise today. More coming about this soon.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that meme and papi are coming to visit {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I read my book box at school.
3. I am grateful that mommy and I read our book

February 1, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | Leave a comment

Weekly Art Journal – The Two Karens

Today’s page was week three’s homework for the Soul Restoration class.

This week’s theme is about the strong and weak selves. I don’t want to talk a lot about the details of the content since it’s Melody and Kathy’s content but I’ll talk some about my personal thoughts and things that came up for me.

The art is a two-pager in my album. Just fabric I cut up and then the images and text on the right side are by Melody and the text on the left is also by her. The image on the left is a norman rockwell painting which I cut up. Nothing extraordinary.

I have always believed that the things that make me strong and weak are one and the same. The same traits help me succeed and excel and they also cause me to fail and to break. For example, I tend to be loyal to a fault. When it comes to positive people and situations, loyalty is a great trait. It makes you a great employee, a wonderful wife, and a desirable friend. But in the wrong hands, this can easily crush you. I follow through and work hard and do not give up easily. This, too, is wonderful when it comes to solid jobs and relationships. But when I am in a situation like TFA where I was drowning and I still wouldn’t let go, well it’s just stupid. This great trait doesn’t serve me well. I love deeply and endlessly and this causes me to be paranoid during the weak times. My self-doubt makes me work harder and try more and be grateful more often and feel less entitlement. All of which are good. And yet self-doubt is not so great.

The self doubt also makes me want to say yes to everyone and everything because who am I to turn anything down? And yet then I get stressed and frustrated and I don’t treat the people I love as kindly as I should. So I am learning to say no. Even when it hurts. Even as I am scared the person will hate me, will think i am a diva, will never offer me any other opportunities. Even with that, I am learning to turn down things that will stress me out or set me up to fail.

So my strengths and my weaknesses come from the same core and the same traits. When I am in a bad place, they come out in extremes and spiral downward. When I am in a good place, they help me get better and excel more. So the lesson here is to:

1. embrace who i am. the good and the bad since one cannot exist without the other
2. try to keep myself in a good place for as long as i can since success and good mood definitely builds on itself

Since this is true of me, it’s also true of everyone around me. My husband, children, parents, friends…The things that make them the people I love are the same things that cause their weaknesses. David’s carefreeness and laughter are why he sometimes doesn’t pay attention or focus as much as I’d like him to. Yes, I wish he could be better at that but if I force him to focus better, will I lose the carefreeness too? Am I willing to give up the good, just to not have to put up with the bad? I ask myself this all the time and the answer is no for all of my personal traits. And the answer is no for the people I love. So each time they “mess up” I remind myself that it’s the other side of the token I love and I will endure it because I love this person and this is how they are.

Knowing how I am in a spiral and how my traits manifest themselves in a weak spot is beneficial for me so I can recognize the signs. So I can tell the people I love to watch out for them and so I can ask for help when they’re coming. Also so I can do some preventative work to try to keep myself in the “good” place more often. But things happen. Life’s very cyclical. So there will be bad days. That’s inevitable.

And there we are. There’s more of course. About not comparing, setting achievable goals, being ok at being mediocre, looking for supportive people, shedding the bad. Learning to walk away. I can go on and on.

Details:

Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

February 1, 2011 | Weekly Art Journal | 5 comments

Book of Colors

A new month means a new write.click.scrapbook gallery. This month’s challenge is to make a minibook.

I don’t really make minibooks anymore. So when I got this month’s theme, I wanted to do something purely for fun. Play with my stash and not worry. So I took some office tags and decided to make one for each color. I painted them all different colors and then decorated them so they had only shades of that color. I used white to accent as needed. I listed one word with each color, they were the first words that came to my mind when I thought of the color. The words are:
white – pure
yellow – fun
orange – happy
pink – sweet
red – love
green – nature
blue – peace
purple – elegant
brown – earth
black – dreams (as in night time, sleeping and dreaming)




here’s all of them together.

February 1, 2011 | Scrapbooking, WriteClickScrapbook | 5 comments

2011 Priority List and Goals – January Check-in

I thought it might be a good idea to review my goals at the end of each month and see if I am still making sure to prioritize them. I also thought this would be a good time to shift, adjust, add, take away as needed. So here we go. This is the list I posted on January 1.

Family
1. Read and do workbooks with David daily (Project A Book A Week with David).
We’re doing well on the reading and have done it every single day except for the two days when I was in Los Angeles. I tend to read to him when he’s eating or when we’re waiting for the bus. We read longer on the weekends and then we’re generally just sitting on the couch. We haven’t done as well with the workbooks but that’s partly because I haven’t created a schedule for them. When he’s at school tomorrow, I’ll pull out the 3-4 new ones and put them on a rotating schedule which should make us stay more focused.

2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Us Right Now).
This is going wonderfully. I make a point of taking photos of all of us each day we’re all home. I am so glad I decided to do this project and so thankful that my family is being super-accommodating about it.

3. Write a daily diary of us + gratitude (Project Daily Diary)
This, too, is going well and I am making sure to do it each day. This is one of my favorite things to do so I take the time and prioritize it.

4. Start a family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights 6pm)
We started this and have had one every Sunday except yesterday because I was out of town. All of us have come to love it and look forward to it each week.

5. Sign up for a mommy/me class with Nathaniel (this still needs to be scheduled)
I haven’t done this. I will prioritize it for February. I still think it’s a great idea.

6. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
We’ve gone out on two date nights in January and have some coming up in the next few days as well. So far, so good.

Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Do a combination of walking and running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
So far, so good on this one, too. I’ve exercised at least 2.6 miles every single day in January for a total of 81.06 miles.

2. Complete the 100 pushups schedule
I had started this and was doing relatively well but then it caused a huge TMJ problem so the doctor told me I wasn’t allowed to do it anymore. Hence this item will have to be stricken off.

3. Do strength exercises 3x a week
I haven’t started this. I am thinking I might change this to stomach exercises. Not sure yet. I will figure this out in February as well.

4. Track exercise+food+sleep+water using the fitbit
I am definitely tracking sleep and exercise. The rest not so much. Too much work for not necessarily equivalent reward.

5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
I am doing relatively well on this. If not 7, I definitely get at least 6.5 most nights. Actually I’d even say I get 7 most nights.

6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables daily and chicken/fish 3 times a week
Doing well on this too. Almost 5 days out of 7 I eat my veggies and I am still buying and eating the chicken throughout the week.

7. Walk at least 8500 steps a day and work your way up to 10,000
According to the fitbit, my January average is probably around 8,000. Actually closer to 8500 if I count CHA which was considerably higher of course. Still, this is an area I’d like to focus on some more.

8. Walk/Run a 10K
This is more like a November goal 🙂

9. I also want to work on the coffee+graham crackers intake but not sure of the plan here yet.
I bought some lemons so that if I am really craving more than the 3 cups of coffee, I can drink lemon water. But ideally I’d like to go down to 2 coffees at least. Not ready for this one, yet.

Art + Photography
1. Draw and paint a portrait six days a week (Project Six Portraits a Week)
Changed this one so it’s drawing only. But going great so far.

2. Art journal weekly (Project Weekly Art Journal)
This, too, is going great so far.

3. Sketch something small daily (15-30mins)
This is not happening at all. I have a sketch class coming up really soon and I am hoping that will do the trick to get me started here. I am still really really interested in doing this.

4. Go on a Monthly photo excursion alone or with a photo buddy
Sadly, I didn’t do this at all. I actually haven’t gone photographing in a long time. I will try to schedule one in the next two weeks.

5. Write weekly extended photo articles on my blog
This, too, hasn’t happened. I will brainstorm some ideas so I can get this going to at least once a week.

6. Figure out for once an all if I want an etsy shop and what will go in it
no ideas here yet.

Scrapbooking
1. Create one layout a week just for me
Well I must admit CHA sort of put a damper on that. However, I did make layouts for Little Yellow Bicycle and Maya Road, neither of which is existing design team work so I’m going to say that they count!

2. Do monthly The Girls’ Paperie layouts
Ahem I made 8 layouts and 3 projects this month using the new products.

3. Do monthly Pink Paislee layouts
And three layouts here.

4. Do monthly Creative Therapy layout
Did a canvas but I’m going to count that. And did two layouts for upcoming prompts as well.

5. Do monthly Write.Click.Scrapbook layout + write one more week during 2011
Did all of them up until May.

6. Successfully teach all four scheduled 2011 classes at Big Picture Classes and the one I am a part of in Masterful Scrapbook Design
So far, so good. The BPC classes start in the middle of February. I hope to see you there!

7. Aim to do 5-6 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
Doing well on this so far. I have 4 classes total at BPC, 2 with DebbieHodge, I have guested for Little Yellow Bicycle and sort of for Maya Road, and have one more opportunity coming up. So far, so good.

8. Submit to one magazine a month (maybe, I can’t decide if I want to do this just yet.)
Well I am submitting. I’m going to. Soon.

Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read one book with David each week (Project A Book a Week with David)
3. Regularly attend both book clubs
All three of these are going great and right on schedule.

Writing
1. Write at least one long thought/idea oriented blog post a week
I’ve sort of been combining this with art journaling a bit and I wrote so much in the beginning of the month that I didn’t want to write after that. I have a long list of ideas here, though, just need to sit and write.

2. Write one new class (if you have requests, please share)
3. Write one downloadable pdf for my site or etsy (if you have requests, please share)
I haven’t done either of these yet. I will reserve some time in February to focus on them.

4. Write+email a newsletter each month
Doing this so far! Next one goes out in a few hours 🙂

5. Possibly do NaNoWriMo (not sure of this one…)
We still have quite some time till November thankfully!!

I decided to add one more here mostly because it’s been so beneficial during January.
6. Journal at least 5 times a day. Even if just for 15 minutes a day.
I definitely did this in January and hope to continue as my classes come to an end and my daily encouragement goes away.

Learning
1. Learn to draw and paint portraits (Project Six Portraits a Week)
Working on this one, see above.

2. Take 5-6 online classes this year (already signed up for one with: Misty, Stephanie, Ali, and Melody so maybe I should aim for more)
I loved, adored and cherished each one of these classes. I have already signed up for two more: sketchbook delight which is all of February and Recycled Journal Pages by Pam Carriker who I am a huge fan of and her class was January 1 but you can join anytime and it’s free so go check it out. There are two more Strathmore free classes there and I signed up for those, too. I haven’t just yet, but I know that I will also be taking Christy’s class because it looks irresistible. After they are all done, I will likely sign up for this mixed media class sometime in the spring. Yes, I have a problem. All this while I am teaching two classes in February (three actually) and another in May and one more in September.

3. Learn to write an iPhone/iPad application (sort of out there but achievable – let me know if you have an app you want)
Sort of working on this one. Chasing down some ideas. Nothing started yet.

4. Learn how to make a stop-motion movie
No progress here.

I meant to add more here. I haven’t been able to yet. But I am trying to learn to sketch, paint, draw, art journal so there’s a lot going on there. I might try something in the spring when I am a little less busy.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Reach out to people I admire more often (leave more comments/send emails)
2. Invite one book club member out to breakfast/lunch once a month
3. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a week (to work or elsewhere)
4. Ask one of the moms in David’s class out to lunch/coffee once a month
5. Do a weekly-open house for Nathaniel’s moms group
6. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
7. Stretch: Do a get-together or attend one

I am embarrassed to say I’ve failed almost all of these. I have been reaching out to people but mostly to offer help. I have a long post I plan to write about this but I want to reach out more and offer help more in 2011. But I haven’t been leaving comments or sending emails for just praise. No breakfasts or lunches this month so far for any of the ones in 2-4. No open house yet but this will start next week. I have inlaws here this week. We have had two guests this month for dinner, so that’s the only one we have been doing. I really need to either reset expectations here or do more of these.

And that’s it for January. Overall, I think I did pretty well especially considering I had CHA to prepare for. Let’s hope February is productive as well.

January 31, 2011 | Personal | 3 comments

Daily Diary – January 31 2011

I woke up this morning and it didn’t take me long that I had somehow gotten up from the wrong side of the bed. I felt off. I think fragile is sort of the best word for it because I was weepy for a while and then tired and worn out and ended up the day grouchy. All day long, I literally did nothing. I finished my book, read to david, and exercised. I had the day off work so I could have accomplished a million things but I just didn’t feel up to doing anything at all.

At some point in the day, I just gave myself permission to waste this day away. My body and mind and soul needed the rest I guess. I am thinking it’s likely from having been away from home. When you meet me in person you can see that I talk nonstop. I mean a LOT and really fast. I am talk talk talk talk. I tend to come off really extroverted. But the fact is I am not. I much prefer quiet, introspective time. So when I am in a social situation nonstop like I was this weekend, I really need to wind down and go back to my comfort place which is always home. What I didn’t do today, which I should have, is journaling. I think writing would have helped but I didn’t even feel up for that. Maybe a few hours from now, I’d be up for it. I also hope I feel up to drawing my portrait which I also haven’t done yet. Let’s see.

The little one was very accommodating for most of the day and played quietly.

Here’s David, thinking of what to write in his gratitude journal.

And then writing it.

And then here’s Nathaniel trying to figure out which toy to play with while Choo-choo is in the background.

And then he asks for some grapes while he’s playing and he immediately spills juices of it all over everywhere so I tell him he can’t have anymore. And this is what I get:

Ah the joys of being a mom. And the plans for tonight are plenty but realistically I am guessing maybe one more thing will get done and that’s it before I head to bed. I will try to do my monthly review since January is now finished. By the way, newsletter goes out very early tomorrow so if you want the exclusive digital downloads, make sure to subscribe on the right top corner of the blog.

Happy Monday!

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had the day off, I really really needed it.
2. I am grateful that I didn’t have anything that was super time-sensitive so I was able to do nothing without too much worry about letting someone down.
3. I am grateful that new lessons in my classes go up tomorrow. Can’t wait.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got to show the class my 100th day collection {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I finished my snowman album at school.
3. I am grateful that mommy and nathaniel came to school today (I volunteered in his class this morning)

January 31, 2011 | Daily Diary - 2011, DPGallery | 6 comments

Digital Downloads – Good to Remember Overlays and Spots

Here’s the last of what I’ve already posted at Write.Click.Scrapbook. Some overlays and journaling spots:

You can download it by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy them! You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you’d like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don’t have to but I’d appreciate a link back if you do use them.

These were originally posted at writeclickscrapbook.com

January 31, 2011 | Digital Downloads | 21 comments

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