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.

You can see the "52" lists and blog I kept to record the year here

...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 Authors

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.

True Stories - Day Two

Okay so I'm a little behind in writing my second assignment but at least I'm working on it before the class has ended.  I just finished my Cathy Z class book and am so proud of it but that's where my focus has been the past two weeks.  Now I'm getting back to my True Stories assignments.  Today's assignment is a writing with numbers.  I am still working on finishing up my "50" scrapbook so I thought I'd use today's prompt to write a bit of journaling to go into that book.  So Here it is.....50 Things I did at 50.
Walked with Russ, lunches with Hannah, thanksgiving with all 6 of the family, San Antonio trip with Hollands, trip to Akron, Clarksville, TN, Jekyll Island in the Spring, Jekyll Island in the fall, Destin, FL, Dinner with Amber, Colorado Springs, Dave & Busters, Garden of the Gods, hiked the Sante Fe Trail, 1,000 Voices in NC, Chipotle with Cory and Stephanie, Tampa, Florida to pick up Hannah, Bowling Green apartment move, Ladies Bible class, Lunches with ladies from church, taught Ladies class, camping at Hunting Island, SC, sunrises on the beach, sunsets on the beach, sunsets at the lake, scrapbook expo with friends, overnight crop with Tiffany and friend, met my grandpuppy, learned I was going to be a grandma, photo shoot with Paula, photo shoot with Jared, Tybee Island, Monday night bible studies, monthly singings, potlucks and game nights with our church family, visits from Barb and mom, Visits with Hazel and Kathy, built a snowman, built a sand castle, flew a kite for the first time, walked in a 5K race, Mountain Voices, shopped in Gatlinburg and Sevierville, TN,  took some online scrapbook classes, read 40 books

True Stories Assignment-Day One

I've decided to use this banner to signify when I am doing a blog post for one of the  class assignments.  Today's assignment gave us four possible themes to write on.  I've chosen the question "What Advice Would you Give someone you would like to help."

TO MY GIRLS
"Just in case" are words that go through my mind everytime I work on a  new scrapbook page. When you two were growing up, I always worried that I might not get the opportunity to see you both grow up.  I've always known that life is not guaranteed for any of us and so I continue to write journal entries, produce scrapbook pages which express my love for you and prepare scrapbooks about who I am so that my future grandkids will at least know me if I develop alzheimers or meet an untimely death.  Morbid? maybe but I always have liked to be prepared for all things and one thing that I'm sure about is that when it is my time to leave you, I want to make sure you know how much I love you, how very much you have blessed my life and what I've learned along the way that might help you in your own lives.  I just spent a wonderful week at Jekyll Island with my two favorite girls in the whole world.  I love watching you two play and have fun.  Your laughter is music to my ears.  My wish for you has always been that you three would all be close and learn to rely on each other and share your lives with each other.  The bond of sisters is something to be nourished and cherished.  I hope you will each do your own part to keep up a close relationship with each other.  Call each other regularly.  Try to talk at least once a week.  Make sure that you visit each other at a minimum yearly....more often if you can.  Devote one week of your vacation time to the sisterhood.  Rent a condo on the beach or a cabin in the mountains and just take time to reconnect and share your lives.  My Mom just recently took a trip to visit her sister who is two years older than her.  They are now 86 and 88 and getting feebler with each year. They are both near the end of their lives but they have remained close through 86 years.   I cherish the pictures of them together so excited to see each other and visit and talk.  I wish that for you two as well.  I hope some day this will be you two anxious for a chance to be together and laugh about all your memories.  May you always cherish each other and maintain that bond of sisters no matter what you face in life.  Share your good times and your bad and always be there to help and support each other.  I cherish my time with you both.  I treasure every memory you've given me in my heart.  I'm so thankful that God blessed me with two of the most beautiful daughters I could ever hope for.  I love you both and am proud of the women you have become. 

Another New Class

As fall comes upon us, I've been settling down for a little more serious scrapping time.  I just finished my Cathy Z. class (Me the Abridged Version) which I am still finishing up the album for the class.  And my "Book of Stories" from Big Picture Classes.  I kept up with the reading and some of the exercises on this class but I still need to develop my story saving/sorting book.  I hope to be able to finish up the Cathy Z book this week and then concentrate on the Story sorting system as well as begin to work on the Jessica Sprague Heritage class.  Sometimes I sign up for these classes when things are quite busy so I try to push myself to go back and finish them up as soon as possible so I get my money's worth from the class.  I've got many projects to complete this winter.  Just waiting for the weather to turn colder so I can hibernate inside.  This week I'm starting yet another class developed by my UK scrapping buddy, Shimelle.  I try to support her in all her classes since she is a friend and I want to see her succeed in her business. (Plus, her projects are some of the favorite ones I've completed so far....love her ideas and style) She always inspires me.  Sometimes I follow right along with the class and sometimes I end up playing catch up later.  Some I still have yet to finish projects for.  Her latest class is called "True Stories" and it is a journaling class.  I may use my blog as a place to complete some of the assignments but I look forward to doing more writing this month.  I think I need to just spend a day and thoroughly clean my house so I can sit down guilt-free and have some solid scrapping time.  I can always convince myself of things I need to clean or do before I can sit and scrap.  I got the laundry done and bathrooms cleaned today so after ladies bible class in the morning, I hope to come home and get back to my class projects.  I am really loving my "Abridged Version" book.  I chose to do mine on Russ and I and call it "We" the Abridged Version.  Cathy made the project so easy to complete.  I just need to take an evening and write the rest of my entries and print out my pictures and I will get it done quickly.  Looking forward to yet another Shimelle class.  If I can keep up that's one less project I'll need to do later.

Surprise Package

We received a very special package yesterday from our son and daughter-in-law to announce that they are going to hopefully make us Grandparents in May of next year.  I opened the package and cried when I saw it.  Stephanie has had to go through some fertility treatments this summer in hopes that they would be able to conceive and it looks like it worked.  For as long as I've known her, she's told us all that this is her goal in life....to become a Mom.  I had the same goal and it was the most important thing I wanted to accomplish with my life.  I cried for her because it is a dream coming true for her and I cried for my son because he's going to be an awesome Daddy.  I am so very happy for them and will continue to pray that the pregnancy goes smoothly and our new baby will be healthy.  I'm still smiling today as I anticipate becoming a grandma.  I've been thinking about Grandma names because I really want something cooler than just grandma.  I'm thinking of Nana or MeMe or Nonnie.  I think I'm liking Nana the best though.  It seems to flow with my name.  If Russ decides to follow the Barnhart men tradition of "pop pop" then that will sound nice together....Nana and PopPop.  I'm ordering the "What to Expect When Expecting" book for Steph today and hope it will be as valuable to her as it was to me.  My prayers will be constant in the next 9 months for this little one to join our family in May.  I hope I can be a cool and fun nana for all my grandkids.  So happy for them and looking forward to being a Nana too.

Class Musings

Online classes are one of the ways that I am surviving the empty nest adjustments.  Currently I'm enrolled in four and am challenging myself to keep up with them as much as possible.  Basically at this point I am semi- keeping up with two of them and the other two I'm saving for later.  The first two are classes I've done before.  Shimelle's "learn something new everyday" has been quite a fun class when I've taken the time to do the assignments.  I have one book from several years ago done but I thought I would try to do it again this year.  So far it's not happening so I'm still hopeful for catching up later.  The second is Jessica Sprague's "Now we're Rockin" class which I also took several years ago.  She gave us the opportunity to sign up for the revised class for a lower rate so I did.  I've started my first layout but am finding it hard to find solid time to sit and work on it so far so it, too, is sitting in my to do later list.  The two NEW classes I'm taking that I'm attempting to stay up with are "Book of Stories" by Karen Grunberg and "Me-The Abridged Version" by Cathy Zielske.  In Karen's class I'm making a list of stories that I'd like to record or do pages on eventually.  She's given us several exercises to get us thinking so that we will have a huge list to work with once we start the organizing stage of the class.  I'm really excited about this class because I'm constantly dreaming up other ideas to do pages on and I write them down here and there but they are all mixed in various places from notebooks to pieces of paper, to index cards to receipts.  It will be nice to finally get them organized into one place.  In Cathy's class we are starting to write our entries for our pages.  I've decided to change the plan on her class just a bit.  Her class focuses on doing a book about ourselves and since I have several of those ongoing already, I decided to change it to a book of WE and focus on Russ and I together.  I'm hoping I can adapt all the writing to include both of us and at the end of the project I will have a good overview of "us".  Now the challenging thing is to find quiet time to just sit and write.  I have to be in a certain frame of mind to write well and once I'm there, I can let the words flow to the page.  If I try to write when I'm not in that mode, I struggle more.  So I'm trying to take a little bit of writing time each day to keep caught up.  I'm soooo enjoying this class.  I love a class where I feel like I'm inspired to do the project and Cathy is definitely good at doing that.  She has put in a lot of time on her class from the videos to the handouts to the time she spends on the message boards.  It's obvious why she IS so successful at what she does.  She puts out quality classes and work.  She inspires me.  I'm not sure if I'll finish everything by the end of these classes (they are six weeks) but I will certainly have made a dent in the homework and will challenge myself to finish within a reasonable time afterwards.  To end, I will share a few more of my digital layouts from some of my Jessica Sprague classes.  I've got enough catching up to do on her classes to keep me busy all winter long.  I think that will definitely be one of my goals for winter.

What's Really Important?

 I enjoy listening to the Paperclipping Roundtable podcasts when I go on my daily walks.  It always feels like I'm right there in the room discussing my favorite topic with them.  One particular discussion has made me stop to think.  A lady wrote in saying that her husband and kids have no interest in her scrapbooks and so she scrapbooks for herself without the intention of them ever being preserved for future generations.  That made me sad to hear but it also got me thinking.  Which of my layouts will be the important ones to my family.  Will they fight over who gets my books in a good way or a bad way (like who gets stuck with them)  I think I probably changed my focus about five or so years ago with my scrapping.  I no longer feel a need to scrap every picture and every event.  I think it was Rebecca Sower's "Life's Little Treasures" book that started to change my thinking and then Stacy Julian with "The Big Picture" and "Photo Freedom", and I then started to evaluate "What's really important?"  I know how to scrapbook artsy and perfectly designed scrapbooks.  I keep up with the latest trends of papers and tools.  I read the blogs and the message boards and educate myself on all things scrapbook related, but when you get right down to it?  Will they ever look at my layouts and say..."I love the embellishments she used on this" or "That's last year's Basic Grey line."  They look at them now and have no clue if I have a visual triangle or odd numbers of elements on the page.  What they care about is the memory.  The pictures and the story are what are important in the big scheme of things.  So lately, I've been taking a new approach and not trying to see how many volumes of beautiful pages I can create about our lives because, let's face it, would I like to have to store 40+ scrapbooks from my Mom plus my own pictures and memories?  Probably not.  What would mean more to me than anything is to have a few books that tell me about her life and the pictures and stories from our lives with her that meant the most.  I would love to hear about my grandparents and what they loved and how they spent their days and how much things cost for them in comparison to what we pay now.  It's really kind of freeing to let go of the guilt of how far behind I am with scrapping every story.  So I'm taking Stacy's approach from Photo Freedom and have rearranged my layouts into themes of "What we Love to Do",  People we love,  Places We Go, etc etc.  I have an album for each kid with all the highlights from their lives and an album or two on Russ and I and things we do together.  My focus at this point is on my heritage book so my kids can identify who my aunts and uncles and grandparents were when they receive the older pictures.  I'm also focused on my "me at 50" album and plan to do another one in ten years and will continue to work on my overall Book of Me and tell my stories from childhood that my kids won't know unless I record them.  I will always have little projects to keep me busy but I no longer feel the need to see how many pages I can kick out in a year.  I'm just taking my time, enjoying my hobby and keeping my focus on what really matters.

Awesome Things

Jekyll Island, GA 2010

A few weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast online and during the show one of the panel members mentioned a website called 1,000 Awesome things. www.1000awesomethings.com There is a published book called "The Book of Awesome" on which this website is based.  The idea is that they will add each day another item to their list of awesome things until they reach 1,000. I, of course, had to check it out and I so enjoyed reading through the ones posted so far.  I then started my own little journal of awesome things.  Many I'm picking and choosing from the lists on the website but I'm only writing down the ones that I would consider in the awesome category.  I thought it might be fun to keep this as an ongoing post that I add to now and then and start my own list of awesome things.  These are things that make me smile, give me peace or were just "aha" moments where I learned from someone else. So here we go with my list of awesome things:
1.  The laughter of my children
2.  My husband's smile
3. Sunsets and Sunrises on the beach
4.  The first snow on the mountain tops
5.  The smell of rain on a hot sidewalk
6.  A room full of Christians singing praises in harmony to God with enthusiasm
7.  A glass of iced tea with lemon on a hot summer's day
8.  Walking through a wooded trail to the music of the birds
9.  Letters in the mail from friends
10.  A new scrapbook store to explore
11.  Puppies and kittens
12. A clean house
13.  Freshly washed fabric softened sheets
14.  Walking at the edge of the ocean.
15.  Looking at the view from the top of a high mountain
16.  Phone calls from my kids just to talk
17.  My husband's arm around me when we're sitting together
18.  Watching the groom as he first sees the bride in a wedding.
19.  Sleeping during a thunderstorm knowing that God is in control and watching over you.
20.  Chocolate Chip Cookies Fresh from the oven.

Attitude is Everything

David Kiefer aka Ol' Buddy Dave

I love to be inspired by other people's lives and attitudes towards their trials.  I've seen this video posted on facebook several times and it still touches me when I watch it.  We all are faced with some kind of imperfection in our bodies that can either consume us with self-pity or teach us strength and tolerance. Even those who seem to be the most perfect people in either appearance or life story have their own challenges to overcome.  We sometimes put ourselves in a "me pity party" as if no one else has ever had to face things as rough as we do but when you see videos such as this one, it always makes me feel ashamed for ever complaining about any trivial flaw in my own life.  I'm so very impressed with the attitude of this man.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE   He is making the most of what he has been given in life and not wasting his time with feeling sorry for himself for what he doesn't have.  I love it.  I'm putting it here so that I can find it again the next time I feel a little worthless.  This video will kick me in the bum everytime.  I had a friend that I met in college with whom I spent quite a bit of time with in my single years.  His name was Dave and he had lost a leg in a motorcycle accident at about 18 years old.  He chose not to use a prosthesis because it limited him too much so he used crutches to get around and hopped the rest of the time.  He made it a point to put people at ease with his handicap upon meeting them.  I remember introducing him to a friend I worked with who was skiing.  We had stopped by the local ski resort to buy his lift tickets and I had tagged along.  As we came out of the lodge we saw my co-worker Julie who had just come down the run and I introduced her to Dave.  He looked at her and asked her if she ever had problems with her skiis crossing over.  She said, "yes, all the time".   He just smiled and said...."I don't".  She told me later that she didn't know how to respond to that but from that time forward she never felt uncomfortable joking with him about his handicap.  Another time we were traveling home from college and he would stop at every IHOP restaurant we passed and go in and ask if they had a tee shirt with the restaurant label on it.  Finally one waitress got bold and asked him why he wanted one of their tee shirts so badly.  He just flipped his one leg up while balancing on his crutches and said "Because I Hop."  Once again, he stunned her and left her with no reply.  I learned a lot from my dear friend, Dave.  You have two choices when life hits you with something rough...you can let it defeat you, or you can face it head on and let it strengthen you to be a better person.  I'm thankful for people like Dave and Nick who inspire me to find my strengths and focus on those rather than my weaknesses.

Fall Classes- More Inspiration Comin' My Way.

I'm taking a new class at Big Picture Scrapbooking in September with Cathy Zielske that I'm kind of looking forward to. I've seen it offered before and have talked myself out of it several times but this month they were giving a 10% off code for any class so I decided to try it this time. I'm already planning what I want to do and hope to change it up a bit. The class is called "me- the abridged version" and is based on the book "Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life". I just got the book out of the library and have been enjoying reading through it. It's giving me many ideas to use in my own book. I think the change I'm going to make is to change the "me" to "us" and do the book on Russ and I. I've already done several "me" books so I don't want to do another one on me just yet so I thought the "us" book would be more fun. It will basically be a little alphabetical book about us, encyclopedia style. I still haven't decided if I will do it digitally or traditional but at this point am leaning more towards traditional. I need to get to Archivers for an 8.5 by 11 album soon. In addition to this class I'm also going to try to keep up with Shimelle's "Learn Something New Everyday" class. I've taken it several years ago (2006 i think) but as a past student we can still participate again each year for free. I'm thinking I may try to blog my entries this time just to get in the habit of blogging more. Then, if I choose I might still make it into an album or add it to my other album. I'm looking forward to September and a few new challenges to keep me inspired to record our lives one scrapbook at a time.

It's Something That We Do

(Click here to hear the song)

A friend just shared this song by Clint Black on facebook and it really spoke to me. I love a song that speaks some words of wisdom or speaks of something I've learned along the way. The chorus of the song says: "Love's not just something that we're in...it's something that we do." and "Love isn't something that we find...it's something that we do." and "Love isn't something that we have, it's something that we do." Love isn't just those words we said, it's something that we do and not just someplace that we fall. It's something that we do. As I sit here contemplating my almost 27 years of marriage while watching friends young and old, marry and divorce all around me, the song really expresses well something I've tried to tell others. About a year or so ago, Russ and I were at Chimney Rock in North Carolina and had climbed the trail to the top. While there a young couple asked us to take their picture and told us that they were on their honeymoon. We told them we were about to celebrate 26 years. The girl asked as I handed her camera back to her. "What's your secret?" I didn't have a ready made answer and I can't remember what we told them but it really wasn't the reply I would have given if given the chance to think about it more. This song expressed it all so well. Many Many people live with the notion that you fall in and out of love and that saying I love you is all that matters. It's not something that we say, find, fall into or we're "in"....it's something that you do. I think I will have to keep that response in my memory banks for the next time that I hear that question..."what's your secret to a long marriage?" Just always remember, Love's not something that you're in...it's something that you do. LOVE THAT! When you stop working at it and putting it before anything else, that's when marriages fail. I think that same sentiment goes for other aspects of our lives as well. We can say "we love God" but when we don't do anything for God, it's really just words. Maintaining a long-term relationship with our God is something that we do. Friendships are the same. Friendships die out when one or both of the friends neglect "to do" anything to keep the friendship alive. Yep, love isn't something that we say, it's something that we do.