My Own Space

For the last 3 years, my daughters have shared a bedroom. This has gone very smoothly but my oldest daughter declared this summer that she wanted her own bedroom. We consulted with her 4-year old little sister, who had no objection. So, over Labor Day Weekend, we moved her into our "guest room". All of this is fine, except besides being our guest room, it provided storage and a built-in desk, which served as my scrapbooking office and workstation. Was I ready to give this up?

The truth is, that built-in desk had become a place to collect "piles"... Piles of receipts, pictures, memorabilia, orders, etc. I wasn't really using it as it's intended purpose, a workstation. When did I have leisurely time to work on my scrapbooks, anyway? I found I was only working on my albums during workshops or weekend getaways. So giving up that space wasn't hard (especially when I realized my daughter would have a designated place to keep and complete her homework!)

Then on that first day of school, when I said to myself (well, honestly, anyone who would listen) "what am I going to do with my extra time?", my mom said to me "Think of all the scrapbooking you'll get done now!" Ooooh, that's a great idea!

...wait, I just gave up my desk! And this is the perfect time to have a space where I can spread my stuff out and leave it there - ready and waiting for the next day. I didn't really want to always leave it on the dining room table or in the play room... too tempting for little hands and appears cluttery. What I needed was my own space. So, I did the unthinkable. I asked for a corner in the "man-room".

My husband doesn't ask for much. In a house with a wife and two daughters, all he asked for when we moved a few years ago was one room that he could decorate and where he could put all his CDs, books, fishing memorabilia, musical instruments, etc. He has let me decorate everything else in the house - and even let me advise him on colors and curtains in the man-room. So I delicately stated my plight and asked for my little space... even showed him the project table I wanted to buy and put in my corner.

Like I so often do, I overreacted. He was happy to share the space and happy that I was ready to set up an area where I could work on this hobby that is so important to me. We're working on rearranging the furniture in the man-room to make space for my table. So although my own space is small, realizing that this endeavor is as important to my family as it is to me was worth asking for it. And honestly, I'll probably spend more time in the man-room than he does. He'll learn, like I did this last month, that you don't miss the space you have until it's gone!

Almost Complete

I recently thought of something I wanted to add to an album that was "finished". It's my family album that spans 2001-2003. In 2002, we moved to our new home and I made sure to chronicle the move and include pictures of the new house. But after I saw a friend's album where she had put pictures of their old house right along side those pages, I relized I had been remiss in not including those as well. My daughters were so young when we moved, they don't remember that house - and the pictures will be interesting for them someday. And it will be fun to see the decorating and trends that were popular.

So I opened that album to see how I would insert a page in the middle of the album and if I had enough pictures to make it work. I really didn't want to move any pictures/pages around, either, as I don't recommend doing that. I was surprised to discover that I had several pages that weren't finished in this album - and keep in mind, I had moved on to another family album in 2004! The unfinished pages vary... some needed journaling, some were missing pictures, some just had words I wanted to spell check before I wrote them down!

I was frustrated, because if I'm going to take the time to scrapbook, I don't want to go backwards and work on something I thought was already finished. So the moral of the story? Well, easy... just finish your pages. Now, I know a lot of people (myself included) scrapbook with a bunch of people and want to go back later - when it's quiet - to journal. Understandable, but use journaling cards (I can get you some, or just use scraps of paper) to bullet point what you'd like to journal about. That way, when you DO go back, the journaling will be quick. Then, mark the page with a bright sticky note that is visible (and ugly) so that it reminds you to go back and finish that album/page.

Does anyone have other ideas? How do you make sure your album is "done"? In the meantime, I almost have these 8 pages in this old album completed. I had to search out some old pictures and make some phone calls to finish the journaling/stories but at least it's almost done... again.

The Hope Chest

I have a hope chest in my bedroom, a gift from my parents when I graduated from high school. A few weeks ago I opened it up when my youngest daughter asked to see my childhood "blanket". I dug through the contents until I found the blanket, then we closed it up. When my oldest daughter got wind of this, she too wanted to look in the hope chest. So last week I sat down with both girls and we opened it up, this time to look much more thoroughly.

We all had such a great time, especially when the girls found things from when I was their age... special dolls and homemade items. I also showed them my cheerleader outfits (no laughing, please) some sorority memorabilia (nothing too sacred or inappropriate) and other school items.

They were mostly interested in my diaries and journals, my oldest wanted to read them. NO WAY! It's painful enough for me to read them... Ah, the angst of a junior high school girl! It was a good reminder of what girls go through at that age, something to look forward to, I guess... or not.

But the item in my hope chest that I wanted to mention was a report from 8th grade that I did entitled "My Life in Review". Which, is funny since I wrote it when I was 14, more than half my life ago. There were sections on The Past, The Present and The Future. The Future one is funny, the "goals" I set for myself included: Becoming taller than my sister (achieved), being a dancer on Broadway (nope), move to California to go to the School of Arts College (nah), marry a rich doctor (not unless he has a major career change) and so on. Then I had to write about "If my House were Burning". The text is as follows:

"If my house were burning down, and I had only a few minutes to get something out, I would take something that is special to my mom. I would take all the photo albums I could possibly carry. Mom loves them because they are memories that mean a lot to her. If they were gone they would be gone forever for they are irreplaceable. I agree with her because pictures are memories and you want to keep those forever."

I never would have thought at age 14 to put "become a Creative Memories Consultant" as one of my future goals, but of everything I wrote in this report, this page is the one that rings most true in my life now.

Well that, and I'm still taller than my sister.

The Healing Process

I was just watching the noon local news and, as all stations are doing, they were covering many aspects of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As a concerned citizen, I watch intently... I worry, I pray and wonder what I can do to help. And honestly, sometimes I turn it off - as it sometimes just hurts too much. Then I remember how lucky I am, as the victims of the hurricane can't "turn it off". Anyway, as I'm watching the news they present a story on scrapbooking as a means to cope with a tragedy. They featured a woman who lost her house in a tornado and how she scrapbooked pictures of every room of the house that was destroyed and then followed it with pictures of every room of her new house. She explained how it helped her healing process.

I'm dealing with my own little healing process today... the first day of school! I've really been dealing with this for about a week, dreading it more than I thought I would. In theory, I looked at this as an opportunity to do all the things I haven't done while I've been home taking care of my kids... maybe start back at work, exercise more, go grocery shopping in peace, read. I'm sure I will get a chance to do all these things, but today it was about losing what my life has been about for almost 7 years... taking care of my kids. Now my youngest just started pre-school today, so really she's only at school for 7-1/2 hours a week. I'm still with her most of the time. But as my first grader pointed out "Mommy, we'll only be together 5 hours a day!" Ugh, kick me in the gut.

So I did the obligatory first day of school pictures today and my husband was thoughtful enough to take one of me with the girls. That will make for some heavy-duty journaling. Should they know how hard today was for me? Sure! They might not care too much now, but as an adult wouldn't you love to know how your mom or dad felt on your first day of first grade? What they were dealing with when their youngest one finally started school?

And besides, it will help me heal from my own little hurricane.

(Pictures include my pre-schooler with her teacher... my 1st grader at her desk... me being sad but looking happy with my girls!!)