Holidays 2012

It's hard to believe that January is almost over and I'm just now writing about the holidays. I guess it's taken me this long to recover. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it at least. It took me several weeks to get all the pictures edited and ready for facebook after about two weeks of downtime with my back. It was worth every bit of back pain to have my grandbabies in my arms for a whole week.

This Mom was working overtime this holiday season with a smile plastered on her face because she had the entire family home together. I was determined that I would not give a single gift card this year but would instead shop for each person with intention and attention to what they like. I think I did pretty well since only one person needed to return some things. Out of 8 people that I shopped for that's not too bad.  I had all the shopping done and wrapped before Hannah and Dantrell arrived. Russ was traveling two weeks in December so I knew it would be up to me to do the santa job this year. (of course it's that way most years). We had a wonderful 29th anniversary. We had dinner at the Village Cafe and exchanged gifts there. He gave me a new watch and I replaced his bracelet from 25th anniversary that he lost.

Cory and Stephanie and the boys arrived on Christmas Eve and we had to go in two cars to pick them up. I had also rounded up car seats and beds and baby items before they got here so the boys would feel right at home. I made Pulled Pork BBQ for dinner and then we took Liam in the car to see the Christmas lights. It was so much fun watching the wonder in his eyes. He loved them. I gave everyone Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve. We slept in on Christmas Day and had to wait for everyone to get up to open presents. I made the traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  After presents were opened I spent the morning in the kitchen making Christmas dinner of Ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, mac and cheese, homemade rolls and corn. I taught Stephanie how to make homemade rolls and she made one batch herself.

We played all our Christmas games and Russ and the kids went to see the Hobbit. We had family portraits taken at JC Penneys as well as did some informal ones in the back yard. I enjoyed my morning breakfasts with Liam. He would chatter at me like a real conversation but I had no clue what he was saying. I would hear a lot of "so's" and "yeah's" mixed in there. We did a lot of singing together as well. I taught him the song "Twinkle Twinkle" and he loved the "up above the world so high" part and kept going around singing that. I gave him one of Cory's favorite books for Christmas...Over in the Meadow... and we read it almost every day and he loved it like his daddy did. We counted the animals and looked at all the pictures. They say they have to read it to him everyday now. He's a smart kid and eager to learn. Loved my snuggles with him, all the hugs he gave and even holding him while he slept.  Ryan was fun to hold and snuggle as well. I loved feeding and holding him and watching him sleep. He's starting to get more smiley now and seemed to enjoy looking at books with me too. It's always hard to say goodbye to them because I know they will change so much before our next visit.

I love my family and love having them near. It's something I resigned myself to when we started making so many moves that our kids will all probably live away from us. I cherish these times when we can all be together because I know that they will be fewer and farther apart. Having them home with laughter in the house brings a smile to my heart every time. So thankful for a wonderful holiday spent with family.

The Big 53 Challenge

Each year as I approach my birthday I set up a challenge for my year ahead. On my 52nd birthday I had a 52@52 challenge which consisted of a list of 52 things to do while I'm 52. I had fun trying to keep up with each item but as expected I didn't get everything completed.

In October I welcomed my 53rd birthday and with that started a new challenge for the year. This year I've decided to set challenges based on the numbers 5 and 3. I'm repeating a few of the challenges I did at 52 because they were quite fun and something I'd like to repeat. I plan to do five "53" lists and three bigger goals for the year. Each of the 53 lists have a five and three stipulation on them. First I will read 53 books this year; five of these have to be non-fiction and 3 have to have been written before I was born (anything written before 1959). As was my rule last year, 53 chapters from the bible will equal 1 book. I was glad to have that rule last year because it helped me form a good bible reading habit as well as took the guilt away from reading fiction if I am also spending equal time in bible reading. Second I will try 53 new recipes; five have to be soups and three have to be appetizers. I totally enjoyed all the new recipes I tried last year and so I am also repeating this challenge again. I picked soups and appetizers for my 5 and 3 because these areas are thinner in my cookbook. Third I will do 53 scrapbook pages. I have so many supplies and a ton of pictures to scrap and it's about time I get my focus back onto my favorite hobby and spend less time playing on the computer. Five of these pages have to be heritage pages and three have to be digital pages.  Fourth I plan to send 53 pieces of happy mail. I love getting letters and mail and so it will be my goal to start a letter writing habit again and concentrate on more fun packages for my grandsons and kids. Five of the 53 have to be packages and three have to be to someone local.  The fifth challenge is to try 53 new things; five have to be to new places and three have to challenge my comfort zone (like rock climbing did last year). This completes my list of five 53's.

For my three bigger goals I plan to read the bible through from where I left off last year and complete the New Testament again. Second I plan to complete one theme scrapbook from start to finish. I'm thinking either a Japan album or our New England trip. And the third goal is to make five things with a needle....either crochet, knit, embroider or sew and fill three journals with writing or artwork (art journal).  I also plan to complete one smash book to commemorate the year. The plan is more doable than last years was so I hope I can complete it all. I've already bought yarn to start an afghan with and have a few cross-stitch kits to start working on. Reading is always a part of my life as is cooking so those 53 lists should fill up quickly. Setting goals for myself helps to keep me focused on my year ahead and it keeps me busy. I highly recommend the birthday goal plan for all. The years start meshing together and if you're not careful you'll forget to enjoy your time here. Make a plan and get to work. Having fun in my 50's is the way to go.

Reflections on 52 Things

My 53rd year is coming to a close and my 53rd birthday will arrive in October. As I hit the 52nd birthday I made a list of 52 things to accomplish at 52. I knew that I would most likely not finish all of them because life tends to get in the way sometimes with the best laid plans.....but.....I wanted to challenge myself to have a plan...something to do....to be focused on the year rather than watching it rush by like many others and wondering what I did. I decided to start the challenge on October 1 of 2011 and go until my birthday in October of 2012 so I've almost hit the full year mark.

I started with a journal that I recorded all the items that had "52" in them and did a page for each numbering the pages to 52. Some of them I recorded faithfully like the books I was reading and others I quit writing down. This was partly due to the fact that as I started writing them, it felt like I was forcing them more just to write them down such as "do 52 things to show love to Russ and the kids".  Some of them were such random things which in my mind counted but looked rather contrived when recorded. So I quit recording those. Others like "watch 52 sunrises" were hit and miss because I wouldn't always write down every time I saw a sunrise or sunset. So in looking at my journal it may seem empty on some pages where I actually did a lot. It was quite fun though on the ones that I have been recording to see the pages fill up. I've completely finished reading the 52 books and writing the 52 journal entries. I'm almost done with 52 new recipes. It was motivating to see those lists fill up.

What have I learned? For one thing, having goals keeps me moving forward. There were times when I could have very easily last days of mindlessness on the computer but I would tell myself that I needed to finish my book so I didn't get behind.  Another thing I learned was that new habits can be formed by setting goals. I started the challenge with the goal to read 52 books. I made a rule along with that goal that 52 chapters in the bible would count as 1 book. I wanted to be reading my bible more and I knew that with a goal of 52 books I would end up putting casual reading over my bible reading. I decided that every morning with my breakfast, I would read my bible with a goal to read it entirely all the way through. I kept a pen with me while reading to find verses to underline that stood out to me in the chapters. I was amazed at how fast I was making my way through the bible. I would sometimes sit and read 10 chapters at a time. I gradually started seeing a habit forming to where I wanted to make sure I had my bible on trips with me so I wouldn't miss any days of reading. Now, I feel incomplete if I start my day without reading.

I've gone for an entire year without a cola and I really haven't missed them at all. I will probably allow myself to have them occasionally after my birthday but I think I will be fine without them. I went rock climbing with the kids and had a great time doing it. I hosted a Japanese dinner, visited two new states, and found many new recipes that will be family favorites for many years ahead.  I've written more letters, blogged more, journaled more and took more pictures. All have been items on which I needed to put more focus. I concentrated on learning new things and trying new things and forming good habits for things I really want to do more of.

I'm not sure yet what I will do for my 54th year. I'm leaning towards just a life at 53 smashbook in which I will post pictures, ticket stubs and record all the little things in life. I may set a small list of goals and continue pursuing the goals I accomplished this year with more writing, reading and focus on others. I'd highly recommend giving yourself a birthday goal once in awhile and see what you can accomplish. Who knows, I might just try again at 62.

...Another Little Man in My Life

Our lives were blessed with a second grandson, Mr. Ryan Clinton Barnhart on August 9, 2012. Cory woke me up with a phone call that they had gone to the hospital because Stephanie was in labor. We talked briefly and then he texted me about an hour later that she was progressing quickly. I barely had time to get dressed and he was here.  He didn't want to waste any time getting here. Her labor ended up being about 5 hours and she had a very quick recovery time. I didn't get to meet my newest love until he was two weeks old.  I made a ten day trip to Colorado on August 21 and stayed with them to help out with both boys and help to ease her into parenting two little guys. Everyone ended up sick the first week I was there and Liam was cutting his two upper front teeth so I had a busy week trying to keep noses wiped and everyone eating well.

Ryan is such a good baby.  Very calm and content. Rarely cries and has no problem burping after meals.  The first week went pretty smoothly and then he began throwing up with just about every feeding.  We tried everything we could to help him keep his food down from feeding smaller amounts at a time, burping more frequently and changing formulas. Nothing seemed to work and each day he was vomiting more frequently. I had to leave them on September 1 but they gave me regular reports that he wasn't urinating or having bowel movements. They finally took him to the emergency room early this morning and they found that he had a condition called Pyloric Stenosis. It's basically a blockage in the stomach flap that leads to the intestines (or something like that). He had to have surgery yesterday afternoon and is spending the night in the hospital recovering. I know it was a rough day for Cory and Stephanie watching their little man with IV's and wheeled off to surgery. I am thankful to God for his watchful care over Ryan and am happy to report that the surgery was a success and he will be back to normal soon. Big brother Liam isn't sure what to think of his new baby brother who is capturing some of Mom and Dad's attention away.  He's doing well with the adjustment though and I'm sure before too long they will be good buddies.  Welcome to our world Baby Ryan and may your recovery from surgery be speedy and painfree.

Catching Up Once Again

Wow, it's hard to believe it's been 8 months since I've updated this blog. I've been trying to concentrate on journal writing this year so my blogs have suffered as a result of that.

This year has been a very eventful year and so I will try to do a quick update with pictures.  Just last week my grandson turned one and decided to start walking the evening before his birthday.  Liam is such a beautiful baby.  I love his blue eyes and dimples.  He makes me smile everytime I see him because it is like looking at a carbon copy of his daddy when he was a baby.  I wasn't able to be there for his birthday party because of a business trip with my husband but we plan to celebrate his 14 month birthday with him in July. We will have our own little party when we arrive.  I did get to skype with him the day after his birthday and watch him walk around with all his new skills.  He's at such a cute stage right now with all the learning he is doing.

In the first of the year I was in full wedding planning mode.  Hannah got engaged the first week of January when we went to Dantrell's boot camp graduation. Because the military has their own time schedules, we had to wait for them to tell us when we could hold the wedding so that gave me about a month to plan the whole event.  We found her dress at the $99 David's Bridal sale and were very excited about that.  I did all the flowers for the wedding and did her invitations myself as well.  We held the wedding at a place called Pristine Chapel.  It was an all-inclusive place and we could select the services we wanted to pay for.  This picture was taken by their resident photographer, Joanna Henderson. We paid her to take the ceremony pictures and we had about five other cameras there taking pictures of everything else.  The wedding turned out beautifully and I shed a few tears as I watched her daddy walk her down the aisle.  He was brave until he got seated and then he broke down with a few tears as well.  She is our baby girl and it was hard to let her go but I think she found a good man who will cherish her and take good care of her.  A week after the wedding we were packing up their furniture into a Ryder truck and watched them drive away to their new home in Goldsboro, North Carolina.  I didn't think it would hit me so hard to have her move away but I sure do miss my little girl coming in for late night talks and leaving me little messes to clean up in the kitchen.

In April Russ and I took our annual trip to Jekyll Island...one of our favorite beaches in Georgia.  We always rent a cottage and Russ takes his bike along to do some riding.  I enjoy the time on the beach to read and write and just relax. We also took a long weekend trip to Jacksonville, Florida to enjoy some of our free hotel points.  We took another trip to Jacksonville this month for a 10 day contract negotiation conference Russ had to attend.  We leave this week for another business trip to Kentucky and then I will make my first visit to Hannah's new home in North Carolina so I can do a car exchange.  I've been driving her lime green VW bug and they've had my car until they could get another vehicle.  She didn't want to ruin his "man-points" on his first days at the new job by making him drive a lime green beetle to work.  They have purchased a car for him now and I will soon be heading that way to make the exchange.

Goodbye Summer

Another summer has come and gone and I've neglected my blog once again. I can't believe the last post was in June. What was I thinkin'? For some unknown reason I forgot to record our trip to Ohio, our visit from Neal and Emily and the many trips to Bowling Green to move Amber back home. I didn't record how super excited I was to have her back in the house for awhile after missing her all these years while she finished her degree. I didn't tell you about her new boyfriend and his visit or all the times that Hannah's boyfriend came to visit and hang out with us. Somehow I missed recording how much fun we had at the Braves baseball game with the Bacas and Mathesons or the movies we saw and the things we did. I didn't tell you about our road trip to Asheville, NC to look at apartments for Amber, Hannah and Maggie which was a wasted trip since they weren't ready to move yet but at the same time a fun road trip with my girls. Didn't mention picking strawberries and blackberries at Adam's farm or attending the Scrapbook Expo in Duluth, GA with Nicki and Tiffany.  And I guess you don't know that Russ became a deacon at church and that we adopted a second grandson here in Georgia named Micah  because he's such a sweet little guy that makes me smile. And then how we heard the sad/glad news that James Finney passed away. Sad because we will miss him but glad because he is in a better place than we are. I neglected to tell you about my great nephews coming by to have dinner with me or the frustrations I felt over my computer virus attack.  And how did I forget to tell you about getting to see my favorite baby in the whole world Mr. Liam as he turned three months old. His smiles and laughter made August a pretty special month.  I read a bunch of books, walked a lot of walks and did a little scrapping.  But I guess you didn't know that because for some reason I haven't posted in this blog since June.  It's a good thing I did a scrapbook about this summer or you might have missed out on a lot of the details of what a great summer 2011 was.  But now it's fall and the leaves are starting to change so I'm thinkin' I'd better try to be a better blogger for fall or who knows what you'll miss out on.  I just started my birthday challenge of 52@52 with a list of 52 things to accomplish this year.  Maybe I'll tell you all about it in my next post but if you're curious in the meantime, you can read all about it here:  http://scrappyru-52at52.blogspot.com .

Scrapbook Room

 I was looking back over my earlier blog entries and realized that I'd shared my scrapping room at our previous house but had never posted any pictures from my current scraproom so here it is.  It is packed full of supplies that will last me a lifetime.  This first picture is my computer area.  I have a bulletin board on the back wall where I post inspirational quotes etc.

 Here's a close-up of the desk where I spend all my time either working on digital pages, browsing facebook or pinning on pinterest.  Although you can't hear it, I've usually got a little piano music courtesy of my pianist husband serenading me while I work in the evenings. 

 This shelf houses my albums I'm working on and my big shot and zutter.  I filled the rest of the shelf with pictures and things that inspire me.

 This next picture shows the area where I scrapbook.  I got the table from my daughter's apt.  They were discarding it and it was perfect for my room so I snagged it.  It's usually scattered with paper and embellishments.  I work better once I get messy. 

 I really want to paint the room in a color I love but I put this quote up when we first moved in and hate to lose it when I paint.  I may just have to tape it off and make a frame around it. 

 As you can see I've got quite a big collection of scrapbook inspirational books.  Whenever I'm stuck for an idea I just start browsing my books and something inspires me.

 I got this pie safe at a yard sale a friend was having and I was so excited to get it for my room.  It houses many of my stamps.  My cats have a little window seat to sleep in while I scrap.  They like hanging out with me in the scrapping den.

 Another yard sale find was my paint holder.  I think the girl holding the sale used to be a store owner because she was selling many of her racks for supplies.  I was thrilled to get this and have a place to organize all my paints.

 One more close up of my hobby lobby shelf.  My Mom gave me a bunch of old cameras that she had throughout her house last time I was home visiting so they are scattered throughout my room too. 

A Little Digi Sharing

Here are a few of my pages from some of the Jessica Sprague Classes I've taken.  I have many more classes saved to complete but thought I'd try out the movie uploading option for my blog and see how this goes.

Organizing Pictures is an Endless Job

For the past three or so years I've been watching as the Library of Memories class comes to Big Picture Classes and thinking that I'd really like to take the class.  The price was always a little higher than I wanted to pay.  I think it was over $100 or so.  Stacy Julian has always inspired me anytime I hear her speak.  She and I think a lot alike so I've been drawn to this class for awhile.  Several years ago I bought her book "Photo Freedom" to learn a little about her system of organizing photos and began to rearrange the way I scrapbooked.  Still I've never quite been satisfied with my system of organizing and have become more intrigued by Stacy's after hearing others talk about it.  Last month she became advertising a revised version of her Library of Memories class and has called it "Photo Freedom".  She lowered the price quite a bit and has also added in more information on storing digital photos and how she works her organizing system with those.  So for my summer class I FINALLY took the plunge and registered for "Photo Freedom".  I was amazed by the amount of information she has compiled for the class, the time she's put into videos and handouts make the cost of the class well worth it.  I'm gradually working my way through the process and trying to keep up.  I'm already feeling a little more organized as I've started purging photos that are blurred or just plain ol' bad shots from my computer.  I can see already how this can shorten the amount of time I spend looking for just the right photo for a project or deciding what to scrap next.  I'm only on the third week of the class but I am so glad I signed up.  Looking forward to organizing yet another part of my life.  Thanks to Stacy Julian for another inspiring class.

It's official.....I'm a Nana

Meet the new little man of my life.  I think I fell in love at first sight.  Mr. Liam Wellington Barnhart made his appearance in this world on May 22 weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz.  Thankfully, Russ and I were able to be in town for the festivities of his first few weeks of life.  We arrived in Colorado on the 19th, attended Cory's graduation on the 20th and spent the 21st at the hospital with them for 22 hours of labor.  I certainly don't feel old enough to be a Nana but I guess those years kind of snuck up on me.  He is a handsome little one and I can't help but look at him and see his Daddy.  They really do look a lot alike.  I did a few comparison photos of the two of them and posted them on facebook. I especially like this yawn comparison because it was cute how both were posed at the same angle.  It was like deja vu watching all of Liam's facial expressions as he slept.  I think I took about 1000 pictures on our trip and probably 900 of them were of Liam.  I'm sure I'll find many uses for them within my scrapbooks.  It was VERY hard leaving him when it was time to come home.  I don't think we'll get to see him again for several months so he will have grown a lot by then.  I hope to at least make quarterly trips for the first year so I can see him growing.  His other grandma is living down the street from them this year so she will get to enjoy his first year up close.  I'm hoping I will get to watch him grow via skype and weekly pictures of him from Stephanie.  It's going to be rough being a long distance Nana.  Cory is already showing signs of being an excellent Dad.  He is mesmerized by his little man and I was so thankful I got to watch his face as he saw his son for the first time.  It was a treasured moment for sure.  This Nana has had a beaming smile since I got to meet Liam.  I'm counting the days until I can hold him in my arms again. 

New Favorite Author

I haven't quite embraced the e-reader concept yet.  I still love holding a good book in my hands and turning pages.  Since I spend so much time on the computer, it's nice to switch to reading a "real" book.  Today I was reading through my facebook news and saw a post for one of my favorite authors, Francine Rivers.  I read several of her books last year for the first time and fell in love with her writing style.  I'm always on the lookout for knew authors and she quickly became one of my favorites.  I loved her books "Her Mother's Hope" and "Her Daughter's Dream".  I shared them with several of my reading friends and they too enjoyed reading them.  I think they really spoke to me at this time in my life as I look the the ever-changing relationship with my mother, sister and my daughters.  Karen White is another one of my favorites.  I found one of her books about a year ago and loved it.  When I love an author's writing style I tend to go and check out all I can find written by them.  I eventually read everything she wrote and now own all but one of them.  I've shared these among my reading friends and they too have added her books to their list of favorites.  Her books always have a bit of a mystery the main character is trying to solve based on an old scrapbook, old letters, old artwork or old houses.  She is writing the types of books I would love to write someday.  This past winter while browsing in a bookstore, I found a book called "Keys to the Castle" by Donna Ball.  I always read the first few pages of a book before buying it to see if it grabs my interest at the start and this one definitely did so I bought it.  Loved the book so as usual, I looked her up in the library and found her LadyBug Farm series as well.  The interesting thing about her is that she writes under several pseudonyms and one of them is "Donna Boyd" which is my maiden name.  I felt connected just from that little tidbit in the author preview page.  I stumbled upon a book "Life is a Verb" after listening to a Paperclipping Podcast.  This is another book that grabbed me from the beginning and is one whose style connected to the scrapbooker in me.  Loved this book too.  It's by Patti Digh and was a nice change of pace from fiction.  I found several quotes I loved in this one too.  I immediately ordered several of her other books and am working my way through those too.  I'm always looking for new great authors to follow.  There's nothing like a good book to enjoy while soaking in some sunshine. So if you're looking for a few good books to read this summer, check some of these out of your library.