my life: 12 on 12.

i didn't really plan to join in..

but on monday morning i picked up my phone & it was 7:12am.

and that just set off the day.

so every hour after that, at 12 minutes past, i snapped a picture.

7:12 signing forms for the dude for a school conference about the gifted program.

8:12 washing dishes & cleaning up the kitchen.

9:12 putting the babe down for a nap.. a little earlier than normal, but he was ready.

10:12 editing pictures on picnik for my post that day on project life. 

11:12 trying out the new Zumba 2 for wii the hubs picked up for me.

(i took a 12:12 picture.. but decided against sharing it) 

1:12 dropping off a prescription for the dude.

2:12 sitting in carline to pick up the dude.

 rance sacked out because he didn't get a good nap earlier in the day. 

3:12 making beer bread & putting dinner in the crockpot.

4:12 watching glee & folding laundry.

(i apparently missed 5:12, likely because i was after mason to get dressed for soccer)

6:12 @ soccer practice. trying to keep rance entertained.

7:12 soccer practice over, and now i have to wait on the boys to decide they are finished goofing off!

8:12 dinner. buffalo chicken soup & beer bread.

ahh so interesting my life.

sometimes it seems as if i don't get much accomplished in a day..

but looking at this, i guess i get a little more done than i imagined.

i am thinking i may do this again next month.. maybe :)

xo-k

linking to:

daily dozen @ dear lizzy

project life: week two

annnnd week two.

(and my second post this week, can you believe it?)

i am really loving this one.

the colors & all the memorabilia... that's really why i started this method!

(but then i think i've said that before)

the week in review at the top corner

along with the date. (idea for the date from here.)

pieces from life: the print that came with my kal barteski 'love life' book. the lisa leonard gift card (both won from epiphanie camera bags)

i am in love with the martha stewart labels.

IN LOVE i tell you!

also addicted to my date stamp & my silhouette..

as you will see :)

this little card was one i redid.

i wanted to include journaling, and the first go round that was on the envelope the card came in.

it didn't fill the pocket & i just wasn't thrilled with it.

i had more to say then the space around the card permitted, so i just taped the top & made it a flip up card to hidden journaling.

(love that smash tape. SERIOUSLY love it.)

some feathers the dude collected while at nana's for the weekend.

stapled them right in & i love the way they look! 

you can see the corner of the new 31 catalog i chopped up to put in.

and then i used a smash card to fill in some blank space.

(loving those cards too!)

still working on week 3, but it's coming together much more easily than the first two..

i think mostly because i've tackled that week in review card!

i'm loving the documenting part almost as much as the scrapping.

i am much more compelled to capture the little moments that make up the right now.

and i think those are sometimes more important than the "BIG" moments i used to focus on in my scrapbooks..

that's where the living is after all.. the quiet every day moments.. :)

xo-k

supplies: papers; kraft cardstock, studio calico, my minds eye 6x6 paper packs. tools: ek asterisk punch, tim holtz tiny attacher, staples date stamp, 7 gypsies days of the week stamp, silhouette cameo, american crafts dear lizzy date stamp, joanns star punch. stickers: american crafts glitter thickers & black jfk stickers,  making memories aqua mini stickers, black mini alpha stickers, & blue fuzzy stickers. martha stewart for avery label stickers. masking tape. smash tape. star jewel. smash pad page. american crafts precision pen & slick writer.

project life: week one

i finally have my first TWO weeks of project life completed AND in an album.

can you believe it?

did you just fall out of your chair?!

i was pretty ecstatic myself last night to tell you the truth.

i've had pretty much ALL of week one & most of week two done for quite some time..

but i couldn't get the summary card right.

i didn't like the white i used first..

so i redid it.

then i didn't like the way i did the date...

so i redid it.

then i didn't like the embellishments...

so i redid it.

then it was my handwriting, the silhouette title, the stickers.

and then we finally got a new printer & i found a font i liked & just went with it.

i had to MAKE myself stop fixing it.

i hate when i keep fidgeting with stuff, makes me nuts.

SO..

once i let it go i..uhm..redid two of the 3x4 pockets.

i know.. i KNOW.

so counterproductive.

but finally last night it all just clicked for me.

and i got both weeks done & started working on week three.

i have my pictures edited & order up to date..

and notes & journaling all organized..

so it's just the actually doing that's been hard for me.

and i'm not scared of messing it up or something..

i just can't seem to get motivated.

but.. without further ado..

here it is. week one :)

(i know what your thinking.. all that fuss & this is it?! yep. this is it.. :)

i've had enough time to look at everyone's pages

&figure out what i'd like to pull together for myself.

i really wanted to include a page that was a date holder..

and i liked the idea that there was a 'week in review' summary for all the little things that didn't have a picture or spot of their own within the spread.

that's the card that gave me the most trouble,

because i wanted it to be pretty uniform through the book..

with just the title stickers/cut out/embellishments changing.

(don't ask why that was important.. i just wanted it matchy-matchy kay?!)



the 'she believed she could so she did' is a piece of card stock cut out with the silhouette

& then i cut a piece of cellophane out & filled it with glitter

(more on that tomorrow)

the white baggie has pieces of the everyday in it.

a tag off a new pair of pjs for the dude.

a wrapper from a new bar of soap i used to make laundry detergent.

(i'm kinda an advertising/logo lover and i'm soo happy to be able to justify keeping these things now!)



so, i realized during the putting together of this that there was ALOT about food.

it seems i didn't really pick up my camera during the little moments..

and i felt the need to document so much of what we were eating.

(i think that's in part because i am calorie counting, blah)

i've since lightened up on the food photos

&focused on kiddo photos.. even if they are blurry & surrounded by mess!



mason always cracks me up when we eat at the japanese steakhouse.

he insists on eating with chopsticks

(and to be honest, he does better than me!!)

and what i really should have gotten a picture of is him attempting to eat his cheerios the next morning with chopsticks!!

we were working on teaching rance a new sign, this one for 'eat' appropriate right?!

a piece of that divider grass they put in your sushi take-out.

i put my cousin's invite for her wedding in a separate sleeve

& sandwiched in this week as an insert.

i didn't get a photo of it...

mostly because i'm speeding through this while the babe is napping

& i didn't want to spend time blurring all the details :)

(lazy you say? nah. just have good time management!)

are you doing project life?

i'm always looking for more inspiration.. link up where you post your stuff :)

i'd love to see.

xo-k

supplies used: project life: design A page protectors, binder. tools: tim holtz tiny attacher, silhouette cameo, american crafts precision pens & slick writer, black staz on, staples office date stamp, scotch dot adhesive roller, ek success small heart punch, 7 gypsies days of the week roller stamp. paper: studio calico patterned paper, kraft cardstock, white cardstock. other: making memories brads, martha stewart labels, heidi swapp ghost butterfly, scotch brand masking tape, smash black dotted tape, american crafts thickers (black & amy tangerine gray), ek success black alphabet stickers, basic grey red alpha stickers, making memories silver glitter @, american crafts JFK black stickers, smash pad journaling entertainment.

i tried to list everything, there is no way i can link everything up, as LOTS of it is older stuff. if you have a specific question, feel free to ask, i'll do my best to answer! :)



life: i'm the worrier

i'm most definitely the worrier in the family.
i stress about things that haven't even come to pass.
i worry about outcomes that sometimes aren't even plausible.
it's compulsive, and i can't help it.
i get this pinching feeling in the top of my neck where it meets my shoulders...
and shortly after that comes the migraines.
if the anxiety about whatever the problem wasn't enough, the neck pain & headache usually do me in.
then i'm grouchy & quiet (which is probably good cause i'm grouchy).
i pull away from things i enjoy & i go into survival mode.
carrying out the mundane tasks that make up day to day life.

i've been in this state for about a month.
i haven't talked much about it, here or out loud..
haven't posted one of those mysterious 'stuff sucks right now, but i'm not going to tell you what' status updates on facebook...
because those things are really, REALLY annoying.
.............plus i'm not one to ask for prayers
but i'll tell you i've done a whole lot of hoping in the last month...
and in my head, if those can be called prayers, then i've been going at it non-stop for that long too.

about a month ago my oma (my dad's mother) went to the emergency room.
she has a pacemaker & had been complaining of chest pain for a few days.
almost a week in the hospital, stress tests & i'm sure a battery of other tests left them with no clear source of the pain.
but she was losing weight rapidly, and not eating well.
she kept complaining of pain in her chest.
they decided to do some sort of swallow test.. i think.
whatever the test was, it resulted in her being diagnosed with a syndrome called Barrett's esophagus.

Barrett's esophagus is a disorder in which the lining of the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach) is damaged by stomach acid and changed to a lining similar to that of the stomach.

from what i can gather, my grandmother has MULTIPLE lesions along the lining of her throat.
what was scary about that, other than the amount of pain she was in..
is that they biopsied the lesions, because often times this Barrett's crap can lead to cancer.

and i don't care who you are,
when the word 'cancer' enters the conversation, it walks in hand & hand, with worry.

so during the LOOONG wait to get the results..
it was also found her oxygen saturation was low..
so.... she was put on oxygen & released to go home.
only to end up BACK in the er the following day for leg pain.

the leg pain turned out to be nothing serious (no clots, etc)
& she was again sent home.

and then my dad & aunts made the tough decision to put her in a nursing home temporarily.
she was in need of physical therapy & more assistance than she would have gotten living at home, alone.

she went in last week right before the wedding...
and then when we came home with a bug, i figured it best to wait a little to go see her.
today, with some hesitation, i went in to see her.

the hesitation... i HATE nursing homes.
they are sad places to me.
full of forgotten people, lost to themselves & time.
(and after reading 'water for elephants' it's a place that makes me even more sad, if it's possible)
the whole place breaks my heart alone..
i just want to visit with every single person & then take them home with me.
but the last time i was in this very home, was the last time i saw my great-grandmother.
my nana. (my oma's mother)
that was almost 13 years ago, and the memory still haunts me, because the person i visited was just a shell of who my nana was.

but, today was good & oma was more vibrant than i've seen in quite some time.
we chatted & rance wandered the room & flirted with more girls than i can count.
it was a good visit. a great visit.
and i'm so happy to know that after all my worrying, she's cancer-free.

CANCER FREE.

words that bring with them a breath you didn't know you were holding.

and while i'm reveling in that news..
other parts of my heart are breaking.

the same day my oma went into the er..
up in north carolina, my nonnie (my father's step-mom) went in as well.
she's been back in since, and to the best of my knowledge, she's suffered from a stroke & lost vision in one eye.

my best friend lost her grandmother earlier this week..
another friend lost her grandmother a few weeks ago..
a month ago a good friend of my husband's family passed away..
and yesterday his twenty-something year old pregnant daughter started bleeding, they had to take the baby, who is now on life-support & the daughter died. died! i can't wrap my head around the sorrow that family is experiencing right now. and the three children she left behind, my heart breaks for them.

and today would have been the 50th anniversary for my husband's grandparents.
his grandfather passed away in august, after a long long fight with diabetes & dialysis.
it's a day that i know is difficult for any widow the first year after their spouse passes...
and that pain is only ratcheted up for his grandmother, because they had intended to renew their vows this year in a full ceremony.
the excitement his grandfather had for this day was kinda beautiful to see..


so ya. i'm a worrier.
and sometimes i let it get the best of me.
my brain spins off & without me knowing it, robs me of the enjoyment of the moment.

my heart is simultaneously breaking, swelling, & being warmed.
if that's possible.

and still in the background is a change i haven't been willing to face.
a time passed i don't want to acknowledge.
a rift increasing daily, though i want to grab hold & close the gap.

i'm just gonna say it. sometimes.... life, it's a bitch.
but picking up the pieces & trying to move forward is part of the grand scheme i suppose.

sheesh.

xo-k

ps. can i just end with this? the new 'footloose'... i wanted to hate it, just because of my utter devotion to the bacon version (harhar) but..i didn't... as much as i loved! chris penn, this miles kid nailed willard home. but bacon was SUCH a better ren... and hello bad song remakes! the only acceptable one was blake shelton's version of the theme song!

my life: embracing the camera

i don't often get myself in the picture..
especially when we are traveling, i'm not much for 'CHEESE' type photos..
i like more candid, in the moment stuff..
and i rarely like to step out from behind the camera..
but i'm joining in emily anderson's embrace the camera this week,
because i actually have something to share!

it was SO sunny last friday as we set out to explore the 'castillo de san marcos' in st. augustine.
it kind of snuck up on me.. resulting in sun-burnt shoulders for me...
& a set of sun-kissed cheeks & nose for the babe.
(in walks the joke about me being the white-est person in florida)
but the big guy, mason that is, wouldn't quit complaining about the sun in  his eyes..
and would NOT let me get a picture of him that didn't involve scrunched up eyes
& wailing on his part he was going blind!

so... we dropped the $5 in the most tourist-y shop in town, and bought him some shades.
and i had the lightbulb moment when i tried to snap his picture
& realized i could see my reflection in the lenses...
sort of inspired by this picture our pediatrician, my old boss, has in her office..
her hubs snapped a picture of her looking at the eiffel tower, only you see the tower in the reflection of her sunglass lenses.
very cool. VERY cool.

so here's my not-as-cool, but proof-i-was-there-despite-lack-of-pictures version! :)

xo-k

linking up:
the andersons