Girl Sprouts

And now the girl band has an official name. For today anyway. And they choose “girl sprouts” (which I happen to love actually).

They are rocking and playing and singing – each has a role and then they change to give each girl a turn on the new drums. They are singing, taking photos, playing drums, and playing guitar. I mean – really, could they be any cuter right now? I hope I never forget days like today when they are just being girls…  neighbors… friends…  and rock stars, too.   I am not getting nearly as much done as I had hoped upstairs because I cannot stop running down there to listen (from the stairs when they do not know I am listening) and taking photos of them. Just watching them be kids. Kids with really cool microphones, guitars, and a new electric drum set. Man, they do totally rock my world.

 

Kalli Rocks 

 Kaya Rocks

 

I told them I needed a cover shot for their new CD so they all gathered around Kaya. Man, I wish days like today could last forever.  

A lot louder than I imagined....

And a lot more fun, too.

 

  

These are photos of the girls and Neil - picking up their new (not pink) but ELECTRIC drums. Holy Moly are these things cool. It was a fantastic purchase from a new local music store Eddie's Guitars... (we love supporting the little guys whenever we can) and it will bring hours of crazy fun. My husband (the only boy in the house now that my dad moved back out) was so excited about this purchase because he is a musician (who thinks drums are WAY cooler than dolls). He played in orchestras when he was younger and worked at local music stores his whole life. He plays guitar and piano and it is our dream that the kids love music. Music brings so much joy into our lives...  And so much loudness. Between the instruments and all the toys my dad left behind (slot machine, pac man machine, slot machine, bowling game and pool table) our basement is going to end up being the noisy place the kids want to play! We love that!

The girls used the cash they had for their dolls to pay for their drums. They had counted it, collected it, and earned it - and they each handed over their money so there was no question about them choosing these over the dolls!

Here are some photos of their first home concert with the drums.  I am telling you - this was such a good choice they made. We would have probably spent the same on the dolls and the trip downtown to get them, and just hearing them all down there playing together is amazing.

surrounded by rock stars....

Last night our weekend plans changed because we went to have dinner with a neighbor, and they have a full drum set! Our plan was to take money the girls have saved (from their change jar, lemonade stand, tooth fairy and more) and go to Chicago to let them each pick an American Girl Doll. This has been the plan for weeks....  we have circled the AG catalog with what they like the best....  BUT, they LOVED the drums SO MUCH, the plan has been altered. They have decided to pool their money and get a (hopefully pink) real drum set.  They woke up still TOTALLY excited about the new plan....  and they got dressed like ROCK STARS (in outfits purchased with their wonderful Auntie Julie on our Colorado Journey) and we did hair and make up so they are ready to go DRUM shopping with their Dad! I love my life surrounded by rock stars.

 

Here is a photo from our adventure on the way to school on Friday (Kal and the neighbors ride their scooters and I pull Kaya in the wagon)  These neighbors have their house for sale which is breaking our hearts...  we hope another amazing family moves in there. We will miss them every single day.

 

I got this great photo of Kalli with Kaya in her class. 

  

I hope you are all taking lots of photos of simple things as they happen. Happy Labor Day weekend. 

One extra "25 Things We Love About Summer" kit available for sale...

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to capture what you loved most about this past summer, maybe this kit could help you. It is prepped and ready to go....  all you need to do it be the first to email me and let me know you want it - then think about it and email me a list of your 25 favorite things about summer and I will prep that part and get the kit in the mail to you  next Tuesday. The kit cost is $50 for the album and everything you need to create the album (you just add photos and adhesive to stick it together) and add $10 if I need to ship it to you. I think I can take Pay Pal (you all know I am not internet savy with things like that). This album can EASILY be created in about 90 minutes total - and you will have it forever. I accidentally created one extra one and maybe that could be a very good thing for your family??  :)  Here are a few photos from the inside of my album... the outside of the album is really need with four REAL SHELLS under mesh on the cover - I have never seen anything like that.

If you are looking for a more in-depth look at your summer, and you want to add in a bit of your own creativity...  Marty still has a few ONE SUMMER kits in his cart I think.  That was my first on-line class, and I have loved that process. If you pick up that kit, he will let me know, and I will forward you all handouts for that class.  Go here to see some sample pages from this kit. One person in the class told me "My kids and I have LOVED this album. We work on it together all the time." Now that sure makes my heart feel happy!  

Can you believe this summer is winding down???  Ugh - that means soon, I will have to shovel snow. I love summer and always hate to see it end.

Made a page tonight...

Polly Lund once had a patch that said "Scrapbooking is cheaper than therapy...  I think." I should have kept one of those patches!  I made this page tonight to try to capture today's memories before I forget them.  I just feel like I need to do little things to make sure I never forget our simple every day things we do. I felt lucky to take these photos this morning. And I am grateful I made time to make this simple page.
Never forget the power of scrapbooking for your own spirit and the other lives that connect with yours. I know having this page will matter one day to them. I cannot tell you what I would give to know how my Mom felt 30 years ago when she took me to first grade.

I feel lucky that I realized to stop making this all harder than it needed to be. I never would have made a super simple random page like this "back in the day" - but MAN, I love it. I kind of want to sleep with it under my pillow if it would not get all crushed.  My photos and my stories are all I really need. That has become more than enough for me, and for that, I am grateful.

I tried to cut and paste my rambling long winded text because I know there will be one of you who is like me and will SQUINT trying to read it. I have no clue why I like to read other people's journaling, but I really do. If you have any need to read this long journaling....  email me klsb@comcast.net and I will email it to you. I am SO BAD at getting things to work on the computer!

If you take time to read this blog - thanks. I hope it inspires you to simply make something once in a while. :)

Please tell me

That you guys are creating wonderful memories for your family.....  I hope you are. I am in SUCH a funk about Kalli going back to school that I cannot create anything without crying....  what is that???  I am simply printing photos of us on our Colorado Journey and tears are pouring down my face. I feel so lucky to have taken this trip with them....  but looking at the photos is making me sad.  Here are a few photos of the journal I created along our journey. My Uncle made fun of me the entire time, because as my Aunt drove the van, I journaled about what we just did and stuck in ticket stubs. I love it because it came home almost complete, and I just need to stick in photos (if I can stop crying as I print them). Ugh. I hope this is a weepy phase that goes away soon. Maybe I just need a nap! :)

So, I guess I made this on Monday, but posted on Tuesday....  still counts, right? :)  Remember - it is not always about how fancy you make it - just that you make it at all. I love these journals - messily written in a moving van and train and all....  not going to win any awards, but my girls will have them to relive our journey, and I think that really matters! :)

OK, I added a few more photos before I went to sleep. I sure do love these kids. Scrapbooking makes me happy.

I sure do love these little faces and feel lucky to have been with them on this journey. And I feel a little happier tonight knowing I have recorded how much I love them in this journal.

Is it just me??

Or do Moms get really sad taking their kids to first grade??  I mean, what is my deal? I want to cry about it.  Kal is so good about it this year (last year she cried until November at drop off) and I feel ill. I am not kidding. Ugh. I need to get over this and be OK with the fact that she is growing up, but I am struggling. Totally struggling. Here are a couple photos of us walking to school today. I pulled Kaya in the wagon and Kal scooted along side of us. It hurt my heart to watch her walk in.  She looked so small in that large sea of students. I pray life is kind to her tender little heart.

I will be back later with photos of what I am making this Monday - the plan is to simply print some photos of our Colorado journey and put them into our travel journal. I love that book and will post it later.
Hope you make a few minutes to create something that matters to you.

Blessed beyond measure....

That is how I feel tonight. Tired (even though I got a lot of sleep today), but grateful. Grateful for a fun & safe adventure to Colorado (and happy to have about 1200 photos of the journey)

and a very successful garage sale upon our return home.

And, I am MOST GRATEFUL for my husband getting the entire garage back in order and a local church for picking up things that did not sell, and my friend Lisa taking home all the excess scrapbooking stuff - so now - it looks like there never was a sale here! And our lives can get back on track. I also am grateful for the burden of stuff that has been lifted after finally making time to purge. Things got really backed up after my Mom's sudden death, and knowing I needed to do all that sorting a purging was a burden on my heart. Now that is done, and once I get things back into shape in our home - I know I will rest easier knowing that we have tried to only keep what we use and love. The sale was also a great success and my husband needs some car work done, and what we made will more than cover that. So, it was perfect timing after all.

Here are a few of the MANY photos I want to share with you guys.....

This is Kaya with fresh cookies Lisa baked that she was supposed to sell - but I think she ate them all!

Kalli with her Lemonade Stand (and chips and candy and hot dogs). She is trying to raise enough money to get her sister an American Girl doll. She has already saved enough for her doll - she is trying so hard to get one for Kaya!

Us on the train ride TO Colorado. It was an excellent trip and all four of us loved the train. (That is my Grandma - the girls Great Grandma that we got to take this journey with)

All four of us on the journey home. The girls are in their new Hannah Anderson Pajamas I was lucky enough to find ON SALE! (they never go on sale). They made the trip home more comfy for them. 

  

Us three girls in Estes park - amazing views. 

  

Where we live you pull the car off the road to show your kids one little deer - Well, coming down the mountain, we were lucky enough to be FIRST in line when the ranger stopped traffic to allow a herd of about 40 Elk to cross the road. It was unreal - like nothing I have ever seen. The mommy Elk had to nudge the babies down the drop to get to the other side. It was 20 amazing minutes. 

  

We stopped on the side of the road to enjoy a HUGE slide with the whole family. 

  

My cousin built the sets for Little Shop of Horrors and we were lucky to be there for closing night. Kaya was TERRIFIED of the plant, but Kalli loved seeing the little plant up close after the show. 

  

Auntie Julie took the girls on a wild girly shopping spree that ended with a fashion show and lipstick kisses. 

  

Kalli did SO WELL on her first day of first grade. She was amazing. I was so grateful that she has adjusted so well so far. 

  

Kalli all ready for day TWO of first grade (in some new fancy clothes from Auntie Julie).

  

Our amazing friends came in from Wisconsin to help me with the sale (thank goodness they were here) and Lisa brought her cash register which saved the day and kept the lines moving quickly. My kids love their family and we love them! 

  

One final train image - if you have not ever looked into it, price a train for your next vacation - my kids and 84 year old Busia loved it. It was an excellent journey. 

Will be back tomorrow with a few photos of the travel journal I made along the way. I missed you guys. 

Make Something Monday - Guest Artist

Here is a super cool, simple project from Shannon at Yellow Fence. She is ALL ABOUT making things systematically, so she can keep up with them from year to year.... I love her simple approach to all of it, and she makes things happen! I loved this album from the first page she made in it, and I asked her to share it with all of you.

This is her Characters Album. A simple 2 up photo album in which she will put photos of her super cute kid Cole (and any other future babies) posing with Characters. She lives in Florida, so there will be plenty of Mickey Mouse... but this album can also house photos of kids with Team Mascots (Go Gators), the Target Dog, and lots of other Character photos. How cool would it be to look back at you and your siblings with photos of you and Characters throughout the years? My Mom loved making us pose with everying in a costume - I so wish I had thought to create this album for her. I know it would have been one of her favorites of all times.

A simple format that includes a 4 x 6 journaling block as needed to seperate sections... 

And on some of them, she printed the titles right on the photo, but if you are graphically challenged like me, you could just use Rub Ons!

A close up of the title page so you can see what she typed - once you format this to fit - save it and reuse it over and over to create your journaling blocks faster.

This project is already a cherished family heirloom and Cole is only going to turn two! Can you imagine flipping through this is 20 years???  Totally an awesome idea. Simple, meaningful, and DONE up to this point. Please do not think it is cheating to use a photo album. Even if you are a professional designer on many design teams, this could work for you to help you get things done, take away pressure, and let you be super creative on a few pages. Too many of us pressure ourselves to make everything award winning. Remember, this is for YOU and your family - and you can do it anyway that works for you. Thank you Shannon for showing us a different way that works for YOU!

Did any of you make anything today? I honestly hope you did. When this posts, I will be in Colorado with the kids and Busia. I am willing to bet I at least wrote a little bit in our travel journal and probably stuck in some memorabilia, too. :)

Getting back on the train tomorrow night to come home. Cannot wait to post photos of our journey for you.

The Journey Begins....

I am leaving today to take my 84 year old Grandma (we call her Busia) and my 3 and 6 year old daughters on an 18 1/2 hour train trip to Colorado. It seems a bit insane, and I am not quite sure how I can carry everything we need with Kaya in the stroller and Busia with her walker... but I am sure we will manage.

I am very excited about this journey. Not so much the destination, but the thrill of experiencing something like this with all three of these people I love so much. When I was in College, me, my Mom, and Busia would drive to Colorado (to visit my uncle) on every spring break. We called it the generations trips! And we drove in the trusty station wagon with woodgrain on the sides!!  Oh the memories. We laughed until our faces hurt. I wish SO BADLY I knew then what I know now.

I have sadly learned how it all goes by so quickly. I have sadly  forgotten the details of all those things that made us laugh. Having SOMETHING would be so much better than nothing from all those incredible trips. I have switched my travel scrapbooking mentality to simply capturing the trips as they happen. I use a simple journal style notebook (I get them at Borders) and write in pen along the way.

We always have a space for everyone on the trip to write in "Their Favorite Part of the Day" at the end of every day of the journey. I always try to have someone with us write out some of their favorites so we have writing from our various family members. And we decide as a family on a "word of the day".

When we had an "incident" in an airplane a couple years ago in route to Disney....  the word for that day was PUKE. Another day caught in the rain and then swimming in a pool, the word was WATER....  just a little way at the end of a day for us to talk about what we did and select what we want to never forget about that day.

I carry the journal in a zipper pouch and take it with me everywhere.

Since I always have it with me, we had the characters sign their autographs right into pages of the journal in the back, and added in photos of that character later.

I have another smaller zipper pouch with Scissors (if I am not flying), pens, and adhesive. Super Simple, and it makes me SUPER HAPPY. I take notes on things we do, get the kids to draw in it while waiting for dinner sometimes, and I stick in ticket stubs, cut up brochures, and things like that along the way. I used to stuff these trip momentos into a ziplock bag so I could properly trim them and later create the most perfect vacation pages.....  you know what? I found so many bags of stuff that meant nothing to me anymore as I sorted out memorabilia from my life. In my need to make it perfect, I accidentally lost those memories in the process. I would give a LOT for even a journal entry from one simple day of our four amazing Colorado Generations trip with my Mom and Busia. I cannot get those memories back, and for that I am sorry - BUT, I am doing it now which I am grateful for. I love this process, too. My mind works like a memory - even as things are happening, I sometimes find myself feeling a little sad, like I will miss this when it is over. By taking a few moments throughout the day and about 15 minutes at night once the girls go to bed in the hotels....  I feel peaceful knowing I have not let these memories slip away. I enjoy every day of the trip a little as I re-live it at night taking small notes. I have captured SO MANY memories for them this way, and I feel this cool sense of peace, that what I am doing is more than enough to ensure they can look back at our lives and remember the moments.

I leave spaces while I write so when I get home, I can print some mini prints and add them into the day's journal pages....  I never know how much space I will need....  but that is OK - this is not about it being perfectly planned out - it is about it being almost DONE when I walk in my home from the journey. I can fancy it up and add it all my photos as I have time, but even without ever making time to do that, this journal comes home from the journey as an incredible memory.

I stuck in these photo booth photos almost immediately after we took them when we sat down for lunch! :)

So, what can you do a little differently to make it easier on yourself to capture moments from trips, family events, or everyday life. Please think about that question and take some small step towards simplifying your process. None of my travel journals are totally complete, but MAN, I am so glad I have them.  What would you give to stumble upon a journal your mom wrote about a random car trip you took as a family when you were small??? 

Added photos OVER the park map when I got home

Added in a photo of Kal coloring this later.

Letting Kalli write the title for our short weekend trip last summer (I used a smaller notebook style journal for this because it was only a couple of days) - tonight they picked the stickers for the Colorado trip journal cover. I try to always do that part together as it really gets them excited about the upcoming journey.  I hope us doing this as we go teaches the girls to remember and appreciate the little things along the way. I am a LONG TIME fan of Pebbles in my Pocket. I loved them before I ever had kids because I loved their concept. That scrapbooking and memory keeping is simply making notes on all those pebbles you find in your family's pockets....  years ago, Pebbles had a magazine I subscribed to called Along the Way....  again, what a strong concept - that this hobby is simply about capturing your journey ALONG THE WAY. That is what these travel journals mean to me - they are records of the pebbles we gather along the way. :) Nothing fancy, nothing that is going to win me any Hall of Fame awards, but I love them and they tell OUR STORY. No one but us can do that.

On the back cover of my journal from Argentina I purchsed various stickers in different places we visted and added them right onto the journal. I have loved doing this and now I frantically search stores for location stickers I can stick onto our travel journals.

Talk to you later next week as I have no room for my laptop with all the stuff I need to carry on the train! :) Enjoy whatever journeys you take this weekend.

See you at the monster garage sale on the 22nd from 6 - 8 PM if you are local. :)

Some more photos and organizational tips

Some people asked me for some more direct tips on organizing things. I cannot respond directly to that this week as I am getting that sale prepared and I leave with the girls and Busia for the train to Colorado on Friday....  but, if you need some basic info, go here and you will have an outline of some of the classes I used to teach for Cropper Hopper.   I think this is a great place to start. If you have specific questions about how I would organize something and the answer is not here, email me and I will get back to you after the garage sale!!

Here are a few photos that I will explain at another time.  Just wanted those of you who asked for more detail to get a peek behind the closed cabinet doors.... 

And, remember - while it is important to get your supplies organized enough so you can find them - it is MORE important that you scrapbook. Never stop scrapbooking your supplies are all perfect. If we all did that - no one would ever make a page. Work to get your supplies managable and keep what you love the most closest to your workspace - box up things you no longer love - and MAKE SOMETHING! :) A lot of waste too much time sorting, surfing and shopping (right???) It is TOTALLY COOL to do all those things, but make sure you scrap, too. :)

Mom of the year....

When do they come bring me my award for Mom-of-the-Year??? 

This is a photo of my girls eating Spagettios in strollers in the rain as I had a lady come early for the garage sale!!  They polished off the Spagettios with Skittles...  NICE. So proud.  No veggies or fruit (unless lemon flavored candy counts??) Ugh. Oh well, when they bring me my MOY award, I will post the photo for you.

But, on a truly proud note - I had two people come by today to shop my sale because they are not around next week....  and we made $199 off just two people!!!  HOLY MOLY! We are thrilled. Kalli also picked up some chips and cups for her Lemonade stand for the sale next week.....  so it was a super productive day. Is that reason enough to feed your kids fake dinner and candy in strollers????  Please do not forward this post to social services. Please???  :)

These are the FOUR boxes of girl clothes a lady came and bought today for her granddaughter. I have all kids clothes priced at 25 cents, so she totally stocked up. I LOVED that it went to a good home, got out of my home, and we made some money, too!!  The girls helped her carry eveything to the car - and she said they are so well behaved (which made me feel a little better about the canned dinner in the strollers....).

Have a great today!

Make Something Monday

OK, I am going to make this easy on you today. I received some kind assistance from Karen this weekend who took time to comment on my blog and then email me back and forth to help me learn what the heck I am doing on Blogger. When I asked her why she took the time to help me - she said:

"i took a class once that talked about how helping others is one of the best ways to feel good about oneself and to get energy and i believe it wholeheartedly. many people have helped me in my life (including you) and if i can pay back by helping them and others in small ways that I know how, it makes me that much happier."

It really made me think. So, my Make Something Monday challenge for you today is simple. Instead of making a page - MAKE SOMEONE's DAY. Do something and make them happy. Post a helpful comment on a blog you read, have your kids make a compassion basket of some kind and put it on the door of a neighbor who needs a pick-me-up, call your MOM if you are lucky enough to have her still here with you on earth, send a care package to a soilder, order a special book and have it send to them as a surprise, donate $5 to save three lives with Sweat for Nets....  just do one little thing and MAKE SOMEONE's DAY!  If you do it, please take a minute to let me know what you did.  

Happy Monday.

And, since I never like to post without a photo....  here is a photo of Kalli modeling one of the coolest sweatshirts I have ever seen. I got her the blue one and we got the white one for her very best friend for her birthday. You unzip the sweatshirt, and it comes into two pieces - you are supposed to trade 1/2 of it with your best friend. Now they both have one that looks like this (well, Maggie's is opposite of this one). I would have TOTALLY loved this when I was a kid! All we had was that BFF heart necklace that you split and each wore half - remember those??  How much cooler is this sweatshirt (from Justice)? Her friend thought it was a great birthday gift! I wish they had it in Mommy sizes because I really really like it! :)

A couple shots of stuff priced and ready for the garage sale...

I am 36 years old and I have never had a garage sale, and I sooooooooooo hope I never have to have one again. Just the getting ready for it could kill a girl! BUT, I do feel like I am getting close. Sorting baby clothes by size tomorrow, and then there is light at the end of the tunnel. I already cannot wait for it to be over. :)
Here are just a couple shots of just a bit of the stuff the girls and I priced today - Kalli is a total helper - pricing, labeling, sorting...  Kaya just wants to take anything she can get her hands on back into our house. She is very troubled by the entire garage sale concept.

Idea books and magazines.... 

The 25 cent scrap bin, raffia and fiber, ribbon rolls and some stamps....

Salvation Army is set to come a couple days after the sale to pick up anything left behind.

On another note...  in just over 96 hours I board a train for an 18 1/2 hour ride to Colorado with my 84 year old Busia, a 6 year old, and a 3 year old.  This is either going to be an incredible memory for all of us or an unimaginable nightmare. The jury is still out on what it will be!

A few shots of my scrapbook space

I think I know how to do this now so you can read comments under each photo. I know some of you asked me to post photos of my space, and I did not want to do that until I could tell you under each photo what that photo was. I hope this works. Let me know of any questions.

This is an overall photo of my scrapspace/home office on the right side

This is the left side.

These are my ribbons, flowers, Extra Adhesive and Heidi stuff (organized like this by my friend Shannon and it was a GREAT idea because now I use this stuff ALL THE TIME. She is the most organized person I have ever met).

Dumping out the flowers into a photo case was an idea I took from Lagina in Iowa. I used to keep them all in the bottles and I never bothered to use them - now, I use them a lot more! :) I love sorting through them and digging a bit to find exactly what I need.

My IKEA rail that I love - with my most used Clear Stamps, Wooden stamps, pencil sharpener, inks, and paints. I love that this rail holds all this stuff up off my desk.

This is a cabinet of stuff I share when friends come over to scrap. Patterened paper, stickers, and embellishments.

The stuff on the left is stuff I do not share! :) My total favorites or brand new stuff!!

Also you can see my Stacy J binders (Things we do, All About Us, People we love and Places we go). I love this system of scrapping because I can make a page on anything I want and have an immediate home for it. This system gives me such freedom and peace to all of this. Upper left are my birthday and school day books for both girls (will explain this some other time), my travel journals, and my letter boxes for each kid.

Kid's Craft area - for all their stuff. Shannon set this up for me, and it rocks! It is the best. They love it. My ribbon jars (for small pieces) and a cool storage box for mini albums sits on top.

Kaya at the kid's craft area in my space. She simply pulls out the entire container of stuff she wants to use, and then I put it back when she is done. Don't even ask about my sweatshirt on her head! :)

These are my office supplies and 12 x 12 paper holders for on-going scrapbook projects - stuff I work on a lot little by little. I used to stack projects like this up on my desk which drove me insane. Now, they have a nice little place to go, and I have a place to stick in supplies I pick up specifically for one of those projects. This cabinet is right above my laptop where I do most of my work from home stuff..... It love this cabinet!

How I store embellishments - I love these Cropper Hopper Embellishment Cases. I toss out all packaging as soon as I can and put them where they go to avoid cluttering up my containters. This was hard to start, but I love it and it totally works for the way I scrap.

Idea books, inspriational books, and binders. Shannon got me to get rid of a lot of idea books. Now I only keep the ones I love the most and I put them in this space - if I get a new one I love, one has to go. :) Also my binders.... this is where I put articles and pages I love from Magazines. I rip them out immediately and eventually file them into the correct binder. I used to hold onto magaiznes forever (as you will see if you come to my sale). Now, I am able to recycle it almost immediately after reading it because I have taken out anything I think I will reference again. MUCH easier to find ideas that inspire me now.

This is one shelf in my closet. I have lots of empty journals, and now I can find them all. I love how this let me know exactly what I have, and it is so easy to find what I need.

OK, more photos some other time. Have a ton to do - just wanted those of you worried that I was scrapping in a dumspter to see that I am OK, and that I have not left Cropper Hopper and developed a serious hording problem.... I just had a really messy attic and basement corner. Those are so close to being finished, too. :)

Remember, this system works for me - it might not work for you. Getting organized is personal. If you are in the process - look at as many people's spaces as you can, and take what you love from each one. There is no right or wrong way to get your space functional. Remember that and also know that you should never punish yourself and stop scrapping until your space is perfect. That is like not scrapping until your photos are pefectly organized. Just pick one thing (like paper, embellishments, stickers) and start there - choose a system and little by little work all your paper into that new system. Then move on to stickers or embellishments. You can do it. Take baby steps! Sorry for another huge long post. I am so glad I figured out how to post copy under photos so I could post these for all of you who emailed me to ask to see my space. Enjoy your Sunday!

another test post in Blogger in Draft

OK, I am trying this again.

Holy Moly - I think it worked?? 

Kalli when she was little.

Oh My Goodness. I think I am getting somewhere!!

Thanks for your helpful comment Karen.

KLSB

test post

I am trying to learn how to put photos in the middle of text instead of always at the top (I know that is annoying and i do not know how to insert them into text)

This is a photo of the clock I made with our photos

So I went to help and am trying this. So bascially, ignore this post! :) Unless you know how to set up your blogger account to do text, photos, then text under the photos... if you know how to do that, I totally need your help!

5 hours and one headache induced nap later...

Kaya finally has an organized closet. She is the one that really does not care, so sadly, I left her room for last. It might not look like this for long, but it sure looks nice now. She is all about dressing herself, so I grouped clothes into sets and put it on the bottom for her to grab. Organized it by color to make the big one happy (she TOTALLY would have pointed it out as an error if I did not have her t-shirts in color order). A lot more small clothes for the garage sale came out of here.... Got her drawers back in order too..... need to get some money at the garage sale so I can go get her some drawer dividers at Lowes! I love those things, but they are not cheap!

Hope you feel just great about something you cleaned today or created today or a memory you made with your family today. If you made the memory, take a second right now and write it down.

It's a BARBIE day!

I love when the neighbors come over because the kids play together so nicely.

I am cleaning out the little one's closet today. She has outgrown so many cute things.

We also had a little fashion show as Kaya tried on things to see if we were keeping them or selling them. The other three girls were so cute "ohhhhing" and "ahhing" at Ky in the clothes. She even told me, "Hey mom, they think I am so cute!" Never boring around here!

We love Corn!

The Corn Roast was tonight and I am in the Rotary so I chopped corn all day and I also set up our Rotary booth for my new Sweat for Nets program I am bringing to our community. The booth looked really nice thanks to the amazingly large Mosquito net sent to me by Children for Children. I was stunned that you could buy this net and save up to three children's lives for only $5. I also set up Malaria Trivia for the kids to teach them a little about a different part of their world. I was really excited to give teachers and local families incentive to raise money for a global cause. The CFC programs are incredible and the people there are super to deal with. The Sweat for Net program guide is INCREDIBLE and if you are a teacher, it gives you full lesson plans by grade that you can do with your glass. I believe that teaching children to volunteer is one of the best gifts you will ever give them. I hope our town has success with this program. I felt lucky to be a part of it.

Here are a few more answers to some more questions about my infamous dupmster.....

1) It is gone (sniff, sniff). I mean, it was SO EASY to throw out anything with a dumpster on your driveway. And sort of fun, too. It was NOT close to full - but it did have all the extra wood from our deck project, a broken deck umbrella that we just replaced, and my grandma's broken chair, so it had some nice LARGE items. I loved the comment about I should leave it there and alter it! Not a bad idea. :)

2) I was not cleaning my scrapbook room for this project. That is already in pretty good shape thanks to a major clean out of that last year (I did not need a dumpster for that project, but I did make the kid's teachers VERY happy with my large donations to their classes). My desk top gets messy in the rush of life, but the cabinets and closets look pretty darn good and are filled mostly with stuff I use and love.... I was cleaning my attic and this nasty little unfinished corner of my basement. We quickly tossed EVERYTHING in my basement into my attic after the accident to allow us to finish the basement for my dad. This resulted in boxes of hand-me-downs, tons of older scrapbooking product, random files of bills and other life paperwork, and lots of our family memories being shoved away with limited access. I had some old stuff from our old house and from closing my parent's house as well.... it just became one of those things you like to shut the door and forget about..... And I am SO EXCITED to finally fix that problem. I love to throw things out, I just had such limited access to even know what was in these boxes.... so it became a major undertaking to get it all OUT and sort it. I am so happy that we are close to getting done..... The dumpster being here made it happen much quicker than is tolerable for most people (it was a lot of work and we worked very fast and hard), but I am glad we did it that way or this project could have drug out forever.... Our friend let us borrow her 12 year old daughter to play with the girls for a few days while Neil and I just took off work and totally focused on getting this all settled. I wish I could do things little by little... but I tend to do all or nothing when it comes to projects like this!

3) THE SALE - I am definately having that preview night some of you asked about on Thursday, August 21 from 6 - 8 PM. I will be in Colorado from the 15th to the 20th so I cannot do preview night any sooner. I live in Schererville Indiana. About 60 miles from O'Hare airport in Chicago - so the North East Corner of Indiana. I have tons of back issues of CK, Memory Makers, Rubber Stamp Madness and other magazines. Lots of idea books. Boxes of older 12 x 12 and 8.5 x 11 cardstock and printed papers. A few albums. Some stamps and other crafting supplies. A lot of storage and organizers, too. Non Scrapbooking stuff includes SO MUCH girl clothes (and I price things SUPER CHEAP because I just want it gone), Franklin Covey Planner systems, TONS of photo frames, baby stuff, books and more. It would really not be worth it to drive a long way, but if you are from around here, you might find some cool things. I already have Salvation Army set to come pick up ANYTHING left from the sale right after it. I cannot wait until all that is over. :)

My last thought on this garbage topic is this.... please do not be afraid to toss stuff out. I know it took us a lot of time to take on this massive project.... but you can also do it little by little. I know you all have stuff in your drawers (especially in your kitchen) that you do not love or use. Think about WHY you are keeping it. If you do not use or love it RIGHT NOW - Toss it out or give it away. I struggled getting rid of some things that were from my Mom. Other than that, it felt GREAT to lighten our load. You do NOT need to drop a dumpster and spend four days sorting stuff... that is just totally the best way I saw my family accomplishing this project. Do it little by little. If you have areas of your home or your scrapbooking space that bother you, decide to fix it rather than ignore it. It is not going to go away on its own. You can really make yourself feel better by even just tackling one little thing like your pantry or junk drawer and creating peace and order in that one place.

Sorry for the totally longest post ever. Have a great weekend.

You guys CRACK me up!

Ok, I have got to tell you, I really thought only 4 people read this blog. And, there were so many comments yesterday and none of them were from the 4 people I know read it! I cannot believe it was the DUMPSTER that made you comment. It just made my day. I received a kind email thanking me for being "real" and she said that she appreciated knowing that I was real back when I taught at CKU and I am real now as well. It made my day. I am sooooooo real it might shock you all!!

Here are a few answers to questions I have been asked....

1) The dumpster was FREE because I work in construction for my dad now (since my parent's accident, I left the industry full time and help my dad in building new homes - my Mom used to run his office, now I do it for him) and we are sadly SO SLOW in home building that we had that extra dumpster just sitting in our lot. It seemed so much more efficient to toss stuff into it rather than bag it all and store it until garbage day.

2) If there is a rule against having a dumspter on your driveway, I guess no one has turned me in (yet)!!

3) I think it is leaving today or tomorrow. (So, if you live nearby and want to toss anything into it, or take a photo of your kids hanging off of it - you better come by quickly)

4) As of now, I do not plan on shipping anything that is in the garage sale (way too much effort on my part) or listing it on ebay. If it does not sell, it is being donated to the first charity that will come get it all.

Thanks for making me laugh, for reading this blog, too. I hope to post something NOT about garbage soon. Enjoy your day.

And, this photo was a joke.... Kal said something so my dad and husband pretended to toss her into the dumpster.... well, my three year old super sensitive daughter started SOBBING and screaming "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo do not toss my sissy in the dumpster!!!" She was a wreck. I took the photo THEN quickly put down the camera and comforted her in case you were wondering.

"those neighbors..."

Have you ever had "those neighbors"? The ones that just seem a little odd??? Just not quite like everyone else? Well, I think I just realized that my family is actually "those neighbors" in this nice neighborhood. I mean, I guess sitting in your garage (in the intense heat) for days sorting stuff and throwing a lot of it into the LARGE dumpster on my driveway just sort of seems normal to me. But, it seems that it really might NOT be considered normal by others... who knew? Oh well, there is light at the end of the tunnel - still TONS to do, but we are pricing, stacking, still sorting and organizing what we are keeping. AND, I am trying to arrange a charity to come immediately after the sale to pick up ANYTHING that does not sell. I am totally not keeping ONE single thing. I mean, really, if I had it in a box to sell for a nickel or a quarter, there is no good reason to ever touch any if it again, right?? Am I known as a freak to those of you who read this, too??? Oh well. I love it. I love it all being sorted and gone - heck, my 84 year old Grandma even is having Neil and Dad come by tonight (while I have the dumpster) to pick up and FINALLY get rid of an old chair she has had forever. Just seeing a dumpster sort of makes people want to throw stuff away. I hope it inspires you to purge a little - if only to make it easier to locate what you use and love in your memory keeping.

Making Signs Today....

For our upcoming garage sale (August 22 & 23 with a Scrapbookers Preview Night on the 21st I think). I have never had a garage sale before if you can believe that!! I want it all to be SUPER cheap and pretty organized! We are so close to seeing the light at the end of our attic! It was SO HOT up there today. I am happy to finally be back inside and I am SO GRATEFUL for air conditioning. Hope you are all having a productive week. I cannot wait until all this frantic cleaning is over. I need a break. It stuns me how much stuff you simply accumuate in places that no one really sees. I feel SO GOOD digging through it finally and letting almost all of it go! Since my parent's accident and we quickly finished our full basement, I have been bothered by all the stuff that got shoved into the attic or the one unfinished corner of the basement. Now that Dad is moved out, we were able to take EVERY SINGLE THING out of the storage room, sort through it all and only put back in things we need, use, or love. We are doing the same thing with our attic. It all makes me nervous because everything feels disorganized right now... but I know it will be incredible once it is done, and it gives me peace knowing that if anything ever happens to me, Kalli and Kaya will have so much less to sort through one day.

Make Something Monday

Today I really just made a MESS - but that is SOMETHING, right?? :) When I taught organizing classes for Cropper Hopper, I always said to REALLY get something organized you have to make it MUCH worse before it honestly gets any better... well, we are in the middle of the WAY WORSE phase of a major cleaning project. I even have a dumpster on my driveway if you can believe that!

We have a friend's 12 year old daughter helping us watch the girls while Neil and I (we are both off work today and tomorrow) work like CRAZY cleaning out our basement and attic. It is AMAZING how much stuff you amass with over 10 years in this industry. My workspace is pretty darn organized (thanks to a cleaning visit from my best friend Shannon) but my attic still stored lots of stuff I would never need!! So, we have spent the past three days working on it. We are preparing for a garage sale on August 22 & 23rd here in Schererville. If you live close-by and want to come, email me klsb@comcast.net and I will get you more info. There will be amazing deals on tons of back issues on magazines, storage products (lots of them), paper, rubber stamps, and even some albums - there is a lot of stuff, and my goal is to price it so well I have nothing left! Anway, I also "made" a newsletter. You can link to it here in case you are not on the list.

I hope some of you made something more fun than me!!! Happy Monday.

The Yellow Fence Winner Is...

Congrats to Cora Lynn! Email Shannon over at Yellow Fence (shannon@yellowfence.com) with your address and shirt size and she'll send you a little something in the mail. Thanks for everyone who stopped by to check out my blog. I hope that you come back to visit for a little inspiration every now and then!

Yellow Fence Giveaway

Our friends over at Yellow Fence are hosting their weekly giveaway on our blog this week. Post a comment about anything and you'll be entered to win a fabulous Yellow Fence prize. I'll randomly select a winner on Sunday night. Good luck!