Layout a day number 21. Woo hoo.
This uses photos from Mother’s Day and the journaling is about how getting these photos of my family was the best mother’s day present ever. I love love these photos.
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Journaling Reads: 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!
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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: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For:
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: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For: 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: 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: Three Things I’m Grateful For: Two Things David’s Grateful For: 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. |
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