Journaling Reads:
When I was in second grade, I took a routine test for vision at school and thought a huge E was an A. Starting that day and for the next twenty years, I wore glasses and then contact lenses and then back to glasses. I was practically blind; I couldn’t see anything without them. I remember when I was a little girl, I couldn’t get those glow-in-the-dark stars in my room because when I took off my glasses to go to bed, I couldn’t see them at all.
In 2000, I finally had laser eye surgery. It was a relatively fast decision without much research. I knew that if I read about it, discussed it, researched it, I wouldn’t go through with it.
And I am so glad I did.
It’s now been over ten years and two pregnancies later I can still see perfectly and it’s something I take for granted every single day. But I am so thankful for my eyes. So thankful that I did it. One of the first things I did after the surgery was to go and buy some glow-in-the-dark stars for my room and I still look at them every single night.
This week’s download is some love themed tickets. Here is what they look like:
You can download it here: Love tickets download.
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.
This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Thursday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. If you like my downloads, please click here and give me ideas/requests for 2010. I would like to continue this feature but I am not sure I can come up with enough ideas on my own.
Looks like I never posted this? Maybe I am losing my mind?
Title reads: I hope you Play and Laugh together and Love each other forever. May layout a day #20!
Details:
I can’t believe it’s May 20 already. This month has flown by, maybe cause I’m doing LOTD or maybe it’s cause time just passes too fast now. Either way this month is over and next thing you know we’re halfway through this year. My boy is going to finish preschool soon and it’s all too amazingly fast.
I am not one of those parents who runs from activity to activity with her kids. My kids spend most of their days at home playing. So many parents ask me what they do all they long and this is it.
They eat toys, they play with toys, they walk around, they watch movies, they play in the yard, and then they play more with legos. Sometimes we do workbooks. Sometimes we laugh and listen to music. But most of the time I’m quietly working away and so are they.
Sometimes this makes me feel like I must be a bad parent that I am not taking my kids to the park enough or giving them more opportunities to explore activities, socialize, etc.
But then I decide I don’t care. This is me. This is us. I have to work, I get to be home and more involved than some and less than others. This is the best I am able to be right now. (Here’s Nathaniel at today’s playgroup.)
We spent most of today working/playing. Then we briefly went to playgroup here and then at night we had dinner guests. Our neighbor with two kids same age as ours. Nathaniel was sleeping but David played with their girl and their little boy was a gem while we ate delicious food and chatted. It was quite nice company. And I am glad we did it. I am always too lazy, busy, tired to have friends over or make new friends. It’s good to do it occasionally.
Note to Self:
Last night I went to a book club meeting with a mom’s group. I didn’t know a soul there and even though I read all of the book, I really didn’t like it. So I was worried about showing up to a room full of strangers and talking about it. But of course I ended up talking and talking and talking. Cause that’s what I do. I am very talkative. Too talkative. I get excited, I talk more. Nervous. Talk more. Worried, talk even more. It won’t stop. And then on the way home, I worried the whole time about how I must have made such a bad impression since I talked and interrupted and was so emphatic. But then I chastised myself for belittling myself. Yes, I can and should do better but also this is me. I talk a lot. I get excited. I am not rude (at least I don’t think so) and I have a lot of good qualities so I need to cut myself slack. More specifically, this is something I do have control over. So I should either shut up or be ok with the fact that I talk so much. It’s stupid to do it and then get all sad about something I can’t change anymore. I need to let the past go, even when it’s immediate past. Ok to learn from it but not ok to harp on it.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. Grateful for some nice company and good friends for my boys.
2. Grateful for Nathaniel’s playtime. He’s such a good kid and had so much fun.
3. Grateful for a full but not overwhelming day.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. Grateful for getting to play with the neighbor’s little girl.
2. Grateful for coloring.
I am a big Nick Hornby fan so it was obvious that I was going to read Slam. I don’t usually read Young Adult books and this is categorized as such but I have to say it’s written in the typical Nick Hornby fashion and I absolutely loved it. It talks about important things without being preachy one bit. I’ve never been a teenage boy but I’m told it captures that well, too.
Can’t wait for another Hornby book!
Roses are….not always red.
Doing the diary early today as I am going out tonight as soon as the kids are in bed. Great day today so far. I did my layout, played with the kids, we even sat outside for a while, I did a whole bunch of work, and now I am doing bits and pieces of stuff before I go tackle my inbox again.
As we sat outside, I snapped photos of both of the boys. See all the food on his shirt? Everything always ends up on his shirt.
And the big boy with his funny smiles.
This photo is terrible but I promised I would take more “doing things” photos so here is one. I’ll do better next time.
I am feeling happy today. For no reason. Well I guess cause I feel like I accomplished stuff and that always makes me feel good.
I’m listening to Paperclipping Roundtable right now. I like listening to it when I am doing things. If you haven’t ever heard it and are into scrapbooking, I recommend it.
Note to Self:
I haven’t had to drive David to school this morning cause he’s on vacation for two days and it’s amazing the difference this makes in my life. The 45 minutes it takes to drive him and come back and then the other 45 mins to go pick him up and back (only 2 hours later) really breaks up my morning. It makes me feel like the time goes from 8:30 to 12:30 in a matter of minutes and then the day is over. I’m sure it’s half psychological but it still makes a difference. Soon, school will be over and he’s going to be home all day in the summer. It also means I’ll have to think of some alternatives because I am guessing he will get bored out of his mind. The schedule change will be a blessing though as Nathaniel is going through nap confusions between two and one a day. It’s funny the impact these things have in my life. But they do. And I am working on reducing things that add craziness to my life. I think that’s an area I need to work on. Finding things that throw me off so I can try to alter them. (sorry for the rambling today!)
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I got a whole bunch of punches in the mail today. I am addicted to them lately and they make me so happy.
2. Grateful to have gotten some work done today. Some stuff I’d been putting off.
3. Grateful to be going out tonight. I hope it goes well!
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. Batman movies.
2. Daddy!
3. Legos.
And here’s number 19. Inspired by the amazing Susan Weinroth.
People often ask me how I can have both kids at home and still get work done and I’d like to say there are strict rules they follow but really I am just very very lucky. My kids love playing alone or together and are really wonderful to me.
Details:
This week’s catalyst is How has art saved you?.
Karen Says:
Art has saved me so many times. It has led me to create this wonderful place, creative therapy, where I get to be inspired by some of the most amazing artists and people I know. I criticize myself all the time. I worry about not being good enough, not creating pieces as beautiful as I see others create. Not being able to bring to life what I can see in my mind’s eye, what I can feel in my heart. Not being able to express all the emotions, all the colors. I put myself down and beat myself up all the time. I tell myself I will quit. I am not good enough. I cannot do this. I will never be good enough.
And yet, I don’t stop.
I keep making more and more art. I take pictures. I write my words. I touch the fabric. I scrap. I cannot stop myself. Good or not, art gives me joy. It gives me wings to fly. It helps me recreate my joys, capture the moments and the magic. It frees me from the world. From my worries. From my sorrows.
From myself.
Yum. Don’t you love these?
So I woke up this morning at 4:45 with Nathaniel screaming and I must have been so tired that my eyes were still closed and I banged right into the wall. So hard that I gave myself a nosebleed. My face is still hurting and it wasn’t the best way in which to start the day. But oh well…
The rest of the day went well. I did my layout, I did work, I spent time with the kids, David and I did a tiny crafty project and we even went to the doctor to get his kindergarten paperwork done. Wohoo.
I wasn’t so good about photos, though. I got one of Nathaniel playing.
One of the big boy.
One of the little boy.
And a funny face for good measure.
That’s it from here. It’s 8pm already and I am excited to watch Glee in one hour and then I am guessing I will snore quite well tonight with the aches and all. I can’t believe I have done 18 layouts in the last 18 days. I really didn’t think I’d last this long. Go me.
The rest of this week is a bit more stressful as I have plans for both tomorrow and Thursday night. This would ordinarily make me happy and I am excited about the plans but I also feel like I will get less sleep and less quiet time than usual. Then again, I do have meditation on Saturday so that will make up for it.
Note to Self:
I’ve been thinking lately about how good things are. Especially between Jake and me. We’ve had our ups and downs for sure. We’ve been together 16 years and next week is our 8th wedding anniversary. And right now, things are so good. We’re happy. We love each other. We really like each other and we’re both enjoying life a lot. And I want to remember this. Cause tough times will come and that’s just life but this way I’ll remember that good times will come back as they always do. Life is cyclical and it’s easy to lost perspective when things are rough. So it’s best to record both the good and the bad times. To remind myself that everything passes.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. Grateful for Glee of course. That show makes me happy.
2. Grateful for a really special Creative Therapy catalyst tomorrow.
3. Grateful for not having done more damage this morning. Thank God!
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I’m grateful for my Daddy.
2. Grateful for the lego batman movies with my daddy!
This is may layout a day number 18.
The journaling reads: There’s nothing I love more than seeing the two of you together. Playing, happy. Laughing. I hope it lasts forever and ever. I love you with all my heart.
Details:
And, look, not a butterfly in sight!!!
I wanted to talk a little about time today. I am a firm believer that time is our greatest asset and how you spend your time is how you spend your life.
This is such a big topic for me that, last year, I prepared and taught a class on this subject at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It was a series of exercises that allowed you to see where your time went and see how well it aligned with the things you want to do with your life. This is not about accomplishments (though those too) but about living your moments with mindfulness. Actively choosing to do the things you love.
I am often flabbergasted at the amount of time I waste in a day. The amount of time I spend checking my mail. Reading mail from advertisers or other crap that I decide to put in the trash as opposed to actual, valuable email. Refreshing the sites I visit or checking Google Reader. Facebook. Twitter. I am not even talking about the time I spend reading these sites (that time is valuable often) but the time I spend refreshing or going to the window to see if there’s anything “new.” The amount of times I walk up and down the stairs to put something in the wash, or cleaning up dirty dishes or vacuuming the crumbs my little one generates like nobody’s business. I can go on and on.
I’ve noticed that if I am having a challenging day, I waste even more time than usual. If I am tired, I waste more time. If I am angry, I waste time.
I know a lot about being busy. I have two kids, a full time job, and several ongoing commitments. So when people tell me how full their life is and how they have absolutely no time to do the things they really love to do, I know they are not telling the truth. Who doesn’t have 20 minutes in their day to take a walk, to read 10 pages of a book, to add an embellishment to a piece of art? (if you think you don’t, make sure to read this article by one of my favorite authors.)
When I created the class, it was eye-opening for me. Just to see where my time went. How I used all those bits and pieces of empty moments. It was also wonderful to make my list of wishes and hopes of how to spend my time. It helped me be more mindful and that’s something I’m constantly striving for.
So here’s my challenge for you. If you’ve been playing along with us for all these weeks, look back through your art, your words, your gratitude and pick one or two things you’re grateful for: things, people, places, etc. If you haven’t been playing along, just make a list of ten things, people or places that you think would make you happy. And then find a way to spend a little bit more time on those things this week. Go to the places that make you happy. Laugh with the people you’re grateful for. Choose an activity that brings you gratitude and vow to do it three times this week.
Just for a week. Just for twenty minutes.
I think seeing that you can make time for the things that make you feel grateful will end up making you feel even more grateful. Time is really our biggest asset and we each get a limited amount of it everyday and at least a few minutes of it should be spent doing something you love.
Something just for you.
I like the subtle linen texture on this.
Nathaniel’s been practicing putting the headphones on. He doesn’t really have it down yet but he’s working on it.
He’s figuring out more of his toys, discovering new parts.
He also smiles around 400 times a day.
And so does his brother. (albeit his looks a bit more fake.)
And they both like to play. And they’re both really into the legos lately. I love legos!
I woke up feeling down today. Then I made my layout which I hated which got me in an even worse mood and I was grouchy and frustrated and that’s how most of the day went. I gave myself a pep talk sometime in the middle of the day so it was better than it could have gone but not really the best day. Oh well, it happens.
Thank you for your kind words on my layouts, I really really appreciate them and I do get up and make them each morning. I don’t ever do a bunch in a row either. Just one every day. I wanted to know if I could so I am trying. Let’s see how it goes. So far, so good.
Note to Self:
David and I started a new thing where we made a schedule and each day of the week we practice one thing. Mondays is math, Tuesdays is craft time, Wednesdays is Writing, Thursdays is Workbooks and Fridays is Reading. We do it right at 4pm which is the beginning of my stressful time. This forces me to take a little bit of time out and spend it with David. I generally give Nathaniel a snack if he’s not playing or otherwise busy. It’s David and Mommy time for a little bit. We’ve only been doing it for a week but so far so good. I am hoping it keeps working. I love being able to spend some time with just me. I think it’s important to spend 1-1 time with each member of my family and hope to do more of it. This is a mental note to make time for it.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for my confort food: coffee and graham crackers (and some chocolate.)
2. Grateful for my little tulip plant that’s blooming like crazy (thank you Ty for watering it!)
3. Grateful for good friends and long phone conversations.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I’m grateful for my whole family.
2. and the toys they bought me!
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projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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