My Scrapbook Resume

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Becoming A Junior Ranger


This layout tells a long, complicated, inside joke, story. When describing one of those kind of jokes that has a long back story, there is always the chance that other people will read it and say, "Umm, I don't get it." Of course, the answer is that, "You had to be there."

As I usually do, I printed the photos first. After playing with the pictures and papers for a little while, I realized I better get all the writing done, because there will be a lot of words. Once I had written it all, I decided to just print it out on cardstock and work the photos and embellishments around the journaling. It was a little scary  to work in that order; once it's printed on the cardstock, it can't be moved around anymore. I had no problem committing to marriage at a young age, but committing to a design element before I am 100% sure where I want it to go, is a whole 'nother story.

 I think it's kind of cute, though.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

A Little More about Dave

This one is short and sweet.

He REALLY likes beer, and he REALLY has a thing for condiments:


Sunday, August 18, 2013

A Good Enough Mother

There is a scrapbook layout at the end of this post. Promise. Two of them even.

Over the years, I have read countless articles about the state of feminism, women in the work place, women  at home, women balancing work and home. I guess I read all those articles because pretty much my entire adult life has been spent married, working, and parenting. So, you know, they were articles that were related to me.

I also liked to read all those articles, because they allowed me to feel a little smug. All those articles often mentioned how even though women were earning more, and working more, they were still taking on more of the parenting and housework responsibilities. And, I was able to read those articles, smile, and say, "I don't fit into that category."

Because from the moment we were married, Dave has done the cooking. Sure, over the years, I eventually learned to fill in when he couldn't make dinner, or days where it just made sense for me to do it. But most of the time, I just come to  the table. I, in turn, have cleaned up Dave's messes, which have been  many. And just as I have learned to cook over the years, he has learned to clean up after himself a little better.

And, on the first night home from the hospital, with a scrawny, screaming, baby Max I really wanted to be the perfect, all knowing, ever calm, mother to soothe my crying newborn. But, while I knew that childbirth would be painful, I didn't know that for a good long while after childbirth, you still feel like you were hit by a truck, and kicked in the nuts, even though you don't have any nuts. Oh, and it turns out, I didn't really know what I was doing. And, I later learned, that even when you do know what you are doing, babies still cry, and sometimes that crying will make you wish that you were hit by a truck so that you can just lie in bed and recover. So, on that first night, after I fed Max, and changed him, and walked back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth,  and he still didn't stay asleep when I put him down, and everything hurt, Dave said, "You go to bed, I'll take over."  I felt like a failure, but I also didn't think I could stand up for one more second. I even apologized to Dave for being a bad mother, and that he had to get up in the middle of the night. And, he said, "I'm pretty sure I'm also responsible for taking care of him."

So on that night, though I didn't want to, I handed over my baby to his father, and I had to admit, that I was not the all knowing, ever calm, soothing mother. And that was the best thing I have ever done. I certainly have spent plenty of time in the last 15 years feeling guilty for my mothering skills, but I can also admit, that I am not as bad at it as I sometimes think. More importantly, I don't  have to be the perfect, because there is someone else to pick up my slack.  I'm pretty sure my kids are better off for it.

And, as promised, there is a layout to go with this:


In my 15 years as a parent, and slightly fewer years as a preschool teacher (during which all different kinds of families have walked through my classroom doors), I have come to appreciate that being a mother doesn't mean always being the one to provide care, comfort, and stability for children, but to help make sure that they are being cared for and comforted by someone who loves them. It could be a grandparent, sibling, nanny, partner...any combination of loving adult humans can work.

Which reminds me of this layout that I made last year:


Wednesday, August 14, 2013

And Then They Left For Camp

This is the first time, both Max and Sam have left home for summer camp. There was definitely a time when I would have slobbered at this opportunity for peace and quiet and alone time with Dave. It is nice, to be sure, but we had such a nice time together in the month of July, that I wasn't desperate for them to leave. But, leave they did.

First Max :

He had a few days with my parents before he went to camp in Israel. He was well fed during those 2 and a half days.


Then Sam:

So, it's been quiet and clean (I do like the clean) around here. It seems that everyone is having a good time, but I, for one, am ready for everyone to be back together under one roof.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

What We've Been Doing This Summer

Well, first, I can tell you what I haven't been doing, and that is blogging. 

So let's go back to June and July. For the first time, I think ever, neither Max nor Sam was signed up for camp until the end of July. And there were no trips or special events to break up the time until their respective camps started. 

So I needed a plan to keep these guys busy. I came up with a little schedule, for which I was greatly mocked at first, but it came in quite handy when summer finally rolled around. Pretty soon, they were saying things like, "Wait, is today a neighborhood walk day?"


We didn't follow this schedule too closely, but it made sure that we always had a project planned or somewhere to go. It was quite pleasant, actually.

We walked to Williamsburg: 


Took some photos:

Visited the City Reliquary:



We discovered a really cool community garden:


We baked:


And we made some cool projects:





There was also lots of time spent watching TV, swimming, getting ready for camp, and just doing nothing. It already seems like a long time ago. 


Friday, August 2, 2013

Write.Click.Scrapbook. August Layout

Here she is:

The theme this month is "go-to" designs. This grid, with 3 pictures, and one square for journaling and embellishment is something that I use over and over again. I have yet to see it fail. Another little item that I am using on layout after layout nowadays, is this Ali Edwards brush set. Usually I use them on my photos, but here I even used it on the journaling card.

I have found that in these lazy summer days, I am reusing designs over and over again. Sometimes, I think reusing designs is just working smart. Why reinvent the wheel every time? Lately, I've been doing so just because I have been in the awful state of the "creative rut." Ugh. But the repetition keeps me going, keeps me from getting too stuck, and it makes sure that the rut doesn't turn into days and weeks and months of non-creating. That would, like, totally bum me out, dude.