tracking you now

Ok, I'm still not in bed yet, b/c I just took care of something that has been bugging me for a while. I finally put up a site counter here on the blog. I can now keep track of how many visitors (all of you wonderful people coming here to my little corner of the web world) are stopping by. I've been meaning to do this for a while now...pretty much since I first set up the blog, but just haven't gotten around to it. The count starts now...
:)

busy, busy, busy

hi everyone!

I hope you're all having a great week and are looking forward to a wonderful relaxing weekend. I wish I could say the same. Well, I'm looking forward to the weekend, but it's not going to be to relaxing that is. August has been a busy month for me, so I haven't been able to post as much as I'd liked to. I really shouldn't be posting now either, seeing as how it's almost 3am, but I wanted to stop by to say HI! I actually just stopped working on a simplifying scrapbook organization project that I've begun thanks to an idea and inspiration I got from here. Thanks Robyn! (I've also learned a lot about how to use my Cricut Exp. from the videos on her blog. I just can't wait to get the time to play.)

So, I'm in the process of transferring the storage of my clear stamps to clear CD jewel cases. I just started tonight (last night) and have only transferred 2 complete sets, and it only took me about 5 hours! One set had 44 individual stamp pieces to it, so that was a lot and took the longest. I'm stamping the image with black StazOn ink on the outside of the jewel case and then the stamp goes inside. I know that a few different companies manufacture their stamps that way, so I'm probably a little way behind with the idea. I don't have a whole lot of stamp sets...yet...so before I grow my stamp stash any further, I needed to come up with a way to easily store them in as little room as possible and be able to see them to know exactly what I have. (A few times now, I've almost purchased the same set again that I already had, but didn't realize.) I purchased one of those Sterilite CD/DVD storage crates @ W-M the other night to store my stamp CD cases in and it looks like it's going to hold a lot of stamp sets. I'm really excited about it, but it's soooo time consuming. I know that it's going to be worth it in the end though and in the future as I buy up a new set, I'll immediately transfer them. Once I've finished them all, I'll post a pic.

Ok, so I need to jump off of here and try to get a little sleep. To quote one of L's most used phrases lately "I'm not tired!", I still should at least try to get a little sleep before the kids wake up. We have a homeschool group meeting later today, plus I have to make a service call to W-M this evening after DH gets home from work. I'm hoping ***crossing my fingers*** to come back and update you with what's been going on. Lots of stuff! There've been school days, birthdays, and everything else in between.
Have a blessed day!
:)

to blog or to nap...what is the question?

One thing I'm noticing as I begin to get older is that now, unlike before, when I'm up really late into the wee early hours of the morning on just only one night, it takes practically the rest of the entire week for my body to really feel good and rested up again. Monday evening, I didn't get to work until 8pm instead of 5:30 or 6pm. To make matters worse, I ended up working 6 hours b/c the card dept. was totally trashed and I had 4 boxes to put out that came in earlier that day. By the time I cleaned up my mess, tossed my plastic, paper, and cardboard, and then found a member of management to sign my clipboard (just stating that I had been there), I didn't get home until sometime between 2 & 3 AM! By the time I got something to eat and entered my time on the website, it was around 3:30 AM!! Anyone ever notice how fast and yet still slow time goes by in the wee early morning hours? It's now been 2 days later and I'm really feeling the effects of that lost sleep. I'm fighting the urge to hit the couch for a quick snooze before L gets up from her nap for lunch and we get back to our school day. I desperately want to make a special announcement post and a catch-up of our last week, but I don't think I could do it without dropping my head on the table. I just put E down for his midday nap, and would give anything to get in 1/2 an hour.....aahhh....so much for that. L just answered the question....she's up now. After we finish our table work (desk work), we're heading out to the park down by the riverside, plus I have to go by & pay the water bill which is on our way.) We also have Wednesday night service at church this evening. Oh, if I can just make it through the rest of the day, I can go to bed at my normal bedtime. A good thing is that I saved my C-F-A sweet tea from last night. Maybe it'll help. I'm off to make some PB&J's for lunch. Have a blessed day!
:)

breaktime

The kids are busy watching Elmo's World on Sesame Street, so I'm taking a quick moment to post. Our first day of homeschool went really well. L says that she likes school so far. But wouldn't you know it that when I want to capture her first day of Pre-K, the camera battery is dead!! Just my luck I guess. I had forgotten to charge it after church Sunday evening. I did manage to snap a pic from our 2nd day of school. I know what you're probably thinking...but no, that didn't happen. She's still very alive and very well. :) In science yesterday, we were studying body parts (head, arms, legs, hands, feet, etc.) and the lesson was to make a puzzle person. I had her to lie down on some banner paper and I traced around her body. Today we're going to cut it apart & make it a puzzle. She already knows her body parts, but it's going to be a good learning tool for E who is still learning his. We're getting ready to start our 3rd day of school in about 4 minutes. Yes, it's actually 3 hours later than scheduled, but that's one of the beauties I'm learning about homeschooling-being able to do it at your own pace and when it's convenient for you. I ended up working 8 hours last night at W-M (from 7:30p-3:30a), so I needed this morning to sleep.

I can hear the closing music for SS, so I need to get E a snack and get started with our day. Seeing as how we're getting a late start today, there may or may not be a nap for L today, and we'll probably school all the way up until it's time to get ready for church this evening. We'll just see how things go. At some point today, I have to go to W-M for a meeting with one of the managers to discuss vendor bin space. That's a whole other story that I'll have to go into later.

Everyone have a blessed day!
:)

bad blogger again

Ugh!!! I can't believe that I let it happen again!! Is there anyone still out there? I apologize for what seems like abandoning my blog. I haven't really. There were many days and nights when I wanted to write up a post, put up a pic, or just say HI, I'M STILL HERE...but alas, never did b/c I either didn't have a free minute, or was just way too exhausted. Somehow among the course of things over the last year, I have let things in my life spiral a bit out of control. Some good, some not so good, but still blessings. Well NOT ANYMORE! I'm back to regain control of my life and this blog. I've made the first step and wrote myself up a little schedule. L has started homeschool this year, and I had to write up a schedule for her anyhow, so I thought I may as well do one for myself. The bell just rang and according to my schedule, computer time is over and it's time to start the crock-pot. Be back tomorrow with first day of school highlights.
Have a blessed day! :)

where in the world is...

no, not Carmen San Diego...not Matt Lauer (sp?)....not even Waldo....but ME?!?! I didn't realize that it has been almost 2 whole months since I last posted and paid the blog a visit. I have been extremely busy with the kids, baby shower planning (for my sister), pageant preparations, and trying to stay caught up on the laundry and housework. To which, I'm losing that battle with every minute. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the USS Alaska decided to "pop" in to say "hi!" and then right back out they went. I promise to come back and get you caught up on what's been going on. It may take a post or two, but I think I owe it to ya. Til then...have a great day!
:)

the Butler Bag

A little over 2 weeks ago as I was perusing updates on my favorite blogs, I ran upon this particular post that sparked my intrigue. It wasn't the product review that the author was originally posting about, but what she mentions at the end of her post about something called a Butler Bag.

I had been searching for months on end to find a replacement purse for the "black-hole" that I was carrying. I'd had it for at least 5 or 6 yrs now, and it was looking worn, and way overfilled. It was only supposed to be a cute little handbag used on Sundays only. Then my previous purse strap broke beyond repair and instead of buying another purse, I started using my little Sunday bag. It all went down hill from there. I had stuffed just about anything I could into that cute little bag, until one day I noticed that it had lost it's shape and was stretched out. My biggest problem was that receipts would accumulate and burry the things that were at the bottom of my purse. (I don't take the time to empty or even go through my purse on a regular basis.) The front pocket began to rip and although I managed to stitch up the tear to buy some more time and use out of the purse, it didn't hold very long. Thus began the search for a new purse. Everything I saw in the stores was either too small, too large, too expensive, to cheaply made, not the right color, another "black-hole" with no organization to it whatsoever, or simply just not my style. After starting to wonder if I was going to be stuck with the "black-hole" for life, I found Aby's post on her blog and what could possibly be the answer to my handbag dilemma.

So I clicked on the Butler Bag link. I watched the interactive demo, and the story of how the bag came to be. I was mesmerized! I was very excited about it until I saw the price of it. Now, I'm not a cheapskate, and I'm very willing to pay money for excellent or high quality as long as it's truly worth it. After a couple of days online reading one rave customer review after another I knew that I needed to try it out. In hopes of getting a good price, especially in this economy, off to e-bay I went in search of a Butler Bag for me. After measuring, re-measuring, comparing the dimensions for the different sized Butler Bags on the website to my "black-hole", and then re-measuring again, I decided on the best one for my needs. I decided to go with the Boutique Classic in Black Licorice. I found one, made my bid, and won the auction. Unfortunately, I did ultimately end up paying only $35 less than what it would've cost straight from the website. If it's truly as high quality as it's priced at, and with the way I hold onto things until they fall apart, I should get at LEAST 10 good years of use out of this handbag. Overall it comes out to be about $10.00 per year, so I thought it was affordable. My Butler came while I was at an FRG meeting.


Today while the kids were napping, I grabbed my new Butler Classic and the "black-hole" and began transferring everything over. Everything fit perfectly inside, and I can zip the bag closed with no trouble at all. My digital camera is a bit snug, but it fits in there! So, after all of that...this is my Butler Bag on the outside...

...and this is the inside...(sorry it's not a very good pic-I'll edit later with a better pic, b/c you've got to see this clearly)

At the top is: a 5x7 notebook & my checkbook, and on the bottom is my 2-yr pocket planner & the kids shot record books. Inside the middle section compartments working counter-clockwise are: my calculator, mini white-out tape, & jump drive with space for my cell phone (currently hooked up on the charger); a highlighter, pocket pack of Kleenex's, a smaller 4 1/2 x 3 1/4 notebook, pen and my wallet; the completely empty compartment to the far right is where my camera goes; lipstick, lip balm, lip gloss & peppermint candy; then some dental floss, and my 2 small samples of bareMinerals makeup & brush until I can order that (next) and get the compact. My keys are in one of the outside pockets on the sides. It's the right size, right color, and so stylish! I love that everything stands upright, I get a birds-eye view of everything inside, and can grab anything at the blink of an eye without having to hunt and dig and dump out my stuff. I love that it's all organized and will save me quite a bit of time standing in line to checkout at the register. The bottom is completely flat, so it will not tip over. I love that it's very well made and real genuine top grain leather. I'm already thinking about my next Butler Bag to use on road trips that will hold a book, magazine, and bottle of water in addition to everything else...the Hybrid: I'm telling you, you've got to check it out for yourself... Butler Bag. Their motto: "Every girl needs a Butler!" Let me know what you think if you get one! Oh, and in case you're wondering about handling my receipt debacle, I've asked Aby what she would suggest, after all she is a professional organizer. In the meantime, I plan to put a ziplock sandwich bag beside the larger notebook to hold all those receipts. I'm not letting those pesky pieces of paper take over my Butler.

anxiously awaiting...

for the delivery men! I ordered a few things last week online from 3 different sites, and they're ALL scheduled for delivery TODAY!! 2 of the items are coming UPS, and the other is coming FedEx. The strange thing is I'm not sure what I'm really looking forward to receiving the most...the ___________ or the _____________ or the new ___________ to replace a few old ones. Any guesses as to what goes in those blanks??? I'll be back later with pics to fill them in.

EDITED @ 12:21a (the next morning)

Well, it took ALL day, literally, but they finally got here! The FedEx guy came first and with him brought me this: One of my favorite scrap-lebrities is Becky Higgins. I just love her clean and simple style, her sketches, and the way she likes to incorporate as many pictures as possible on a layout or 2-page spread. Long story short-her pages are quick & easy to scraplift. I first purchased this little book of hers at Michael's about 2-3 weeks ago. Along with several other items that I purchased that night-let's just say that I felt a big pang of buyer's remorse and "oh no! I've spent WAY too much money". I'm sure you've been there, done that yourself. Then while surfing around online, I realized that it could get it at a less expensive price. I'm talking over $10.00 difference INCLUDING a shipping charge! The very next day, that adorable little book (and a couple of paper pads) went right back to Michael's. I had already waited this long to get it (it came out a year or 2 ago), another couple of weeks wouldn't hurt me. I also purchased a couple of packs of these:

to go into these: In hopes of simplifying my life a little, I have decided to switch over ALL of my postbound albums to 3-ring. So, inspired by BH, I'm going with these beautys. They are the We R Memory Keepers 12x12 3-ring Faux Classic Leather albums. BH uses these albums also, and raves about them. The yellow one will replace Lor's current baby album and the blue one will replace Little Man's baby album. What I love about this approach is that: 1.) They're not going to be just for baby pages, but the kids main albums starting from pregnancy and I can keep adding and adding to them as they keep growing and growing out of them. 2.) I don't scrapbook chronologically but that's how I have my pages so this is a LOT easier and less time-consuming to shift and shuffle pages around without having to take the whole album apart as with postbound. 3.) These albums are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! You just have to see them for yourself. There's a bookplate label on the spine for easy volumization (is that even a word?) They're just simply gorgeous! 4.) They regularly retail for $30 EACH but you can get them on sale here right now until the end of the month. Mr. UPS man also brought this:

These are some of the elements of the Sweet Baby Sept. '08 KOTM designed by none other than...who else, but the fabulous Becky Higgins. She already knows about it, so I can share without spoiling a surprise...the lucky recipient of this adorable baby kit is my sweet dear lil' sis, who is currently expecting & due in August. My sister and bro-in-law have been married just as long as DH and I have. After many years of trying and suffering the loss of 2 prior back-to-back miscarriages, so far, everything with this pregnancy is going as perfect as can be. Poor sis has had a REAL bad case of morning sickness (nightly), but I'm pretty sure she'll say that it's all worth it compared to what she's been through to get to this point. They both have boys from previous relationships-3 to be exact, so we're all hoping & praying for a girl. Another boy would just be WAY TOO MUCH TESTOSTERONE in that house! My sister also scrapbooks, but with working full-time, going to school part-time, the boys and her husband, she doesn't have a lot of time. She has even way less time than I do. So, as one of what I'm sure to be many baby gifts coming their way from Aunt Missa & Co., I'll be making up the baby's album with the contents of the Sweet Baby kit for her. Now...my sister has had to promise me that she will at least schedule one hour a month to keep it updated, b/c I can really use those pages myself seeing as how I'm still way behind on my own kids baby pages. Now that the promise is on here, it'll be easier to keep her "reminded" of it. We won't know if it's pink or blue for about another 5 weeks, but I can't wait to get started on this album. The goal is to give it to her at the shower which I also get to co-plan & co-throw. I've already got a jump start on it, just from taking everything out of the box and prefilling the page protectors. If you've never purchased a kit from CK, and you really should, they make it so very easy to pull pages together quickly. They seperate the pages & elements out for you individually. Simple, easy, love it! That's what I'm all about lately.

Now that my little "Christmas" today is over, everyone enjoy the rest of your week! :)

last 3 weeks and V-day

A recap of the last 3 weeks at our house:

One of the most trivial decisions that I've had to make in my life was choosing and purchasing a cake for my own birthday. After all a birthday without cake is just another day. Usually my DH provides (buys or makes) my cake, but this year he wasn't able to seeing as how he's several hundred miles away at the moment. I knew what I wanted as far as the flavor, but wasn't quite sure about size. I didn't want anything that was going to be too big and still around the house for more than a few days. I did want something big enough to last at least through the weekend, and that I could share with the kids and the babysitter. After about 20 minutes of looking at the premade cakes in the W-M bakery, I finally decided on this decadent fudge chocolate layer cake. Not too big, not too small, and completely gone in 3 days. It was soooooo yummy! I took some decorator icing that I had on hand and added the cute little dots of pink myself just to give it a little more color. Little Man gave me a birthday present that I didn't really care to receive nor could I return/exchange. He must've caught something that's been going around, b/c he was so sick that day and for most of the weekend. He couldn't keep anything down and then I pushed so much Pedialyte in him, that it gave him the runs when he was able to start eating again. Disgusting, I know! Sorry!! He seemed to be better by the following Monday, and then my daughter got sick. UGH!!! Then it was his turn again and for almost 2 weeks straight, they seemed to bounce whatever it was back and forth to each other. I didn't think it was ever going to end. Later on they both started feeling better and have been ever since. I thanked the good Lord above that I didn't catch it at the same time or we would've been in big trouble.

Right as they were feeling better so we could get out of the house a bit, the wonderful weather of God greeted us with this one morning along with a cold snap that lasted for a few days. This was the view of my front yard from the front door. It's FROST! It was simply beautiful glistening in the morning sun as it was beginning to melt. The sun rises behind my house, so it's covered by a huge shadow cast off the house. It was bitter cold for a few nights and mornings with temps down in the teens, but it would warm up for a brief period during the day, which also happened to be during naptime, so I let sleeping babes lie.
In the greeting card industry, the 1st most profitable time of the year is none other than Valentine's Day. I had to work a LOT of hours during the week leading up to V-day and over V-day weekend. For those of you who don't know, I work as a vendor for American Greetings (AG) as a part-time merchandiser. One of the stores that I service is our local W-M. Well, I made a not-so-wise decision that Wednesday prior and worked a couple of hours before church service and after church service. Long story short, I ended up losing my babysitter for the following night, and had to take the kids to work with me. I can take them with me b/c it just looks like I'm shopping for cards, when I'm really not. So, we got some food and I let them eat it in the shopping cart while I straightened up cards. By the end of the night they were tired and ready to go. LM is beginning to develop what I call Osaka Syndrome. (Before we had our own kids, we would go out with some friends of ours who had a 1 yr old little boy to Osaka Japanese Steakhouse where they cook your food on the grill in front of you. The chefs do these little tricks and put on a "show" as they're cooking and they light the oil on the hibachi to where the flames from the fire rise up high and you can feel the heat from it. Well, the poor child became terrified of the fire and would cry. Over a few years the more & more we would go there and he knew it, the worse it became and his parents would have to take him out of the room away from the fire for a minute. THEN it got to the point where if he even saw the building from the parking lot, he would get upset and not want to go in at all. That's what I refer to now as the Osaka Syndrome.)
I've had to take them with me several times before, and I really try not to b/c they get bored really fast and I can't get a lot done, which is why I normally have a regular babysitter who we pick up from school and then bring her back to our house. As I said earlier, LM is beginning to develop the Osaka Syndrome when he sees the greeting card section at W-M. He's OK if it's just a brief stop or we keep going on by past the cabinets, but when Mommy stops & starts to straighten and pull cards out from underneath and restocks what needs to be, he starts to fuss and cry and it's not a pretty picture. I did manage to snap this quick shot of what I plan to be the last time that I have to take them along with me to work. We took a couple of blankets to spread out in the bottom of the cart along with our coats, so it was a bit more comfy, and they either sat up or would lie down as they are in the pic. I was just finishing up and we were getting ready to leave b/c as you can see on LM's face, it was definitely past their bedtime. Since then, I now have my babysitter back during the week again, so they shouldn't have to go with me anymore.

With DH not being here, I planned to try to make Valentine's Day special this year. The kids woke up to this.I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast and we were going to make some sugar cookies with hearts on them, but we didn't get a chance too. I had to work at 2 different stores that day, and with their naptime, it didn't leave us a lot of time to do as much as I'd wanted to. We're still planning to make those cookies today before we leave for church this evening. They each got a new outfit or shirt, and a ton of candy and sweets. I didn't want to get them any little trinkets or toys until we sort & containerize what they already have. My mom, step-dad, & uncle had come down from NC the night before to visit a few days, so I think that made it special for them. My mom gave us all bears that play music &/or move and we went out for dinner later in the evening. Lil' Princess got a cute teddy bear, and LM got a bee bear. Here are the very few pics that I was able to snap.
I didn't get any pics of the kids in their new V-day duds before they got dirty, so once they've been washed, I'll get pics then. LP's outfit was really adorable with flowers on it, with hearts as the petals (scrapbook page inspiration), that said "Daddy Loves Me" and "Mommy Loves Me" on it. LM had a red T-shirt that said "Handsome Little Devil" on it with a pair of jeans. It was a long and exhausting weekend and I'm glad it's over, so I could enjoy a little break. V-day cards are now down and St. Patty's & Easter cards are up, so things have slowed down for me workwise. Monday we're starting a pre-school Bible curriculum to finish out the school year with. I'm changing things up a bit and diverting from the curriculum that we started with at the beginning of the school year, and will start it back up again in August. With the kids being sick, I wasn't able to re-start my "taking a pic a day" right after my birthday. Who really wants to take pics of sick kids or "tossed cookies", so to speak? Amongst all of the cleaning up, grabbing the camera to document that moment of time in our lives was the last thing on my mind. Believe me, if you're a mom, that's one memory you never lose. I'm just going to commit to doing my best to take as many pics as I can for the next year whether it's every day, or every other day. If it happens, great! If it doesn't, oh well.

Sorry for such a long post, but I think I have you all caught up now. I'd love to hear about the last 3 weeks in your lives. Until later...everyone have a blessed day! :)

P365 Info Links

To find out more info about Project 365, click here and here. If you're interested in doing your own P365, you'll also find some FREEBIES on BH's blog to download, print and cut out along with some instructions on how to manipulate them in Photoshop (if you have that & are into digital scrappin'). Be sure to check out her post from January 10th. Actually, if you have the time, I encourage reading all of her posts in January so far. There are some great photo taking ideas and some ideas of other items to use instead of the kit that she created. As of this post, there are currently 3 full NEW kits, and a couple of partial kits on eBay up for auction, so if you're feeling lucky and wanna give it a try to get one, then click here.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Project 365

As you all know I am an avid scrapbooker who, like many other scrapbookers out there, just doesn’t have enough time in my life right now to do as much scrapbooking as I’d like to. I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with Project 365. Just in case you’ve been hiding out in a cave-driven there by our current state of affairs-basically it’s Becky Higgins’ new perspective on documenting and preserving her family’s daily life. What you do is take a photo, journal a note, collect a piece of memorabilia, or whatever you want to do, for every day of the week, every month of the year, for an entire year. As you go along you take what you’ve gathered and arrange it in an album or book, and it becomes your family’s documented record of life for that given year. The concept is for EVERYONE to put to use: scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers alike.

I’m very excited about this and have not jumped on the bandwagon yet myself for a reason. I tried to convince myself on New Year’s Day that I was going to take at least one photo every single day from that day on until Dec. 31st. About 4 or 5 days later, I miserably failed to keep up. (Which is why I say every year that I’m NOT going to make any resolutions for that year, b/c I can NEVER keep them up past the first week!) In reading more about Project 365, I realized that I could start at any time of the week, month or year. How cool is that??

2 years ago, I was a lucky winner of a birthday contest that Lisa Bearnson was doing on her blog. One of my prizes (out of the big box of goodies that she sent) was the All About Me album that she had previously sold on QVC that I wasn’t able to afford to purchase at that time.I couldn’t wait to get it all put together and fill it out. 2 years later, I still have yet to put any pics, or journaling in it. At that time I was planning to use it as an album about my life at age 30 (seeing as how turning 30 is a major milestone in a woman’s life). Life on the other hand had other plans for my time. I was pregnant with Little Man and really tired those first 3 months, we had a LOT going on with our house making repairs, replacements, and upgrades, AND to top the year off, my DH made CPO (which put me in early labor & delivery). I never got around to completing that album. Now, when I look at it sitting on top of my album cube knowing it’s STILL empty, I don’t really like the way it makes me feel. I beat myself up inside for not being more organized with my time management over the last 2 years to not have it done. I SHOULD have already had it done by now. IT SHOULD’VE BEEN DONE ALREADY! I could probably try to go back and remember to the best of my ability (after having prego brain) and do it for that year, OR I could just jump right in where I am. (Something I’m learning from FlyLady.) So, here is my Project 365 plan:

Since my birthday is coming up in a few days, for me it’s the start of a brand new year, and technically it is. It’s the start of a new year of another age in my life. I plan to finally use that wonderful album from LB for my Project 365 and call it: “All About Me at 30+2”. I plan to have it stuffed to the max with as many notes, memorabilia, and pics, which by the way I will also start over with taking at least one pic a day as of Day 1-Saturday, the day after my birthday-all the way through January 30th of 2010. I’m very excited to be able to myself another chance to not only put that album to good use, but to also commit myself once again to daily photography & documentation. Most importantly, I’m excited to be able to give myself the wonderful gift of loving myself again by not beating myself up over what should’ve been. 2 years is way too long for an emotional self-beating, and it stops here this weekend!! As far as finding the time to work on my P365, I will also be scheduling it into my day as an important appointment that I must keep with myself, just like all of those other appointments we busy moms flit & flutter to on a daily basis.

I’m also expecting you wonderful people who read this blog to hold me accountable for keeping you updated on how my P365 is going by posting here more frequently than I have been in the past, & sharing some of those pics that will make it into my album. I also encourage you to consider starting your own P365. You can find more details about it this month on Becky Higgins’ blog (see the link on the right under “Friends & Faves”). Becky has also created a fabulous kit just for this specific purpose, as seen above, and unfortunately, it SOLD OUT, but you don’t have to necessarily use that specific kit to do your own. You can find some fabulous tips on Becky’s blog that some of her readers have provided (mostly in the comments section) on how they’ve created their own albums. Again, you can start at ANY time of the month or year, and you don’t even have to be a scrapbooker! We ALL take pictures, and now it’s time to actually do something with them. For those of you who don’t scrapbook, you too can do Project 365! Personally, I feel that it’s very important to leave a part of our legacy to our future generations and this is the absolute PERFECT way to do it.

Have a blessed day! :)

I have a confession to make.

::CAUTION:: LONG POST::

I have been absent from here for a reason. A lazy reason, I'm ashamed to say, but a reason. When I first set up this blog with the blogpak that I purchased, I had to get my hands a little dirty in some HTML. Now, if you know NOTHING about HTML, as I do, then it can be a little confusing and frustrating to figure out how to get a webpage to look EXACTLY the way you envisioned it in your head. Well, it was for me at least. I had to change the template, adjust the margins, column widths, and add & remove elements. Finally, after many, many, MANY hours of working on it, I finally got it to look as fabulous as it does! However, there was one small problem....the archives. I can't remember exactly what I'd done, or didn't do, but whenever I would make a new post from month to month, or even within that particular month, the archives section was not automatically updating as it was supposed to. I was having to go back in to my dashboard and MANUALLY update the archives with EVERY SINGLE post. Then after that was done, I had to adjust the collapsed months (the months that had more than 1 post for that month) to get it to just show the number of posts for that month and the name of the month. Needless to say, it was very tedious, time-consuming work that involved more HTML. So, for the past few months, I just didn't post at all. Even though I really wanted to quite a bit amidst the election, all of the holiday preparations, family visits, and starting a new job. I just didn't want to take the time to have to do al of that work. Lazy, yes?

So, today, as I ask for your forgiveness, I'm very excited to say that change has come to this here blog. (Did you think I was going to say America?) I went in on the dashboard (blogger's layout & settings) and added a new blog archives section and now I no longer have to update that manually myself. What does that mean?? That means that I will be blogging on a more regular basis from this day foreward. YAY!!! I noticed that it looks a little "off" because of the line break and "blog archives" title that show up after my tag button that I created that says the same thing, but you know what, if you can live with it, then so can I. It's just a minor detail in the overall appearance, and it's a small thing, and there's just no time in life to sweat the small stuff, right?

So, with that being said, check back on a regular basis for new posts, pics, and whatever else tickles my fancy. I'll be posting later tonight, or tomorrow about something that I'm going to be doing this year that has me very excited. There's actually 2 big things, so I'll share them one at a time. Yes, I will be back later with another post, I really will! I PROMISE!! Check back to see what it is.

Until then....ttfn~
:)