Christmas Countdown

I really wanted to post yesterday, but between working, grocery shopping, prepping dinner and having a volleyball match at 7:15 PM, then rushing back to the grocery store for forgotten items and rushing home to finish preparing dinner I didn't get a break. So I managed to feed everyone, have a shower and collapse into bed at 11 something, too tired to even read a few pages of my book.

So how many days till Christmas? I've officially decided that there isn't enough time, no matter when I start with my shopping, writing cards or making gifts. I never get it all done. So this year I am stressing a lot less, I wish I could say I wasn't stressing at all, but that would be a lie. LOL

Off to make my list and check it twice...

Wow, it's been over two weeks again...

I can't believe how time flies when you're busy. It's been a rough couple of weeks, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?
Martin's been working long, long days and is so stressed it's not even funny. I've been trying to keep my head down and ride out the storm.
Last night we finally settled down after he had worked all day plumbing the new house with Adam at a reasonable hour to watch a new movie I had picked up. If you haven't watched it yet, go out and rent "The Prestige", can't go wrong with Hugh Jackman. **sigh** Love those abs. A great suspenseful show. Also loved "The Illusionist" with Edward Norton we watched a few weeks ago, another show in the same genre.
Grace has been fighting this yucky cold where she wakes up in the morning with her eyes completely glued shut by mucus and gunk. Gross! She doesn't seem to mind, until you try to clean it off, but it sure looks painful. Needless to say her coughing all night and Martin tossing and turning has not made for restful nights these last few weeks.
I did go to the Spring 27-Hour crop here in Bellingham last weekend. Got a little bit done, but not as much as I would have liked. Isn't that always the case? Most of the problem lies in the fact that I don't know how to pack effectively for a crop. I always want to take all my supplies including the kitchen sink. But then I don't end up using half of them so that is a waste of time loading and unloading my junk. If I just take a couple of things to work on I usually forget a part of the project and halfway through get stuck. Then I get frustrated and put the whole thing away unfinished, which isn't' really the point of the whole thing.
I have another crop coming up in April. It's the Treasury of Memories sponsored "Mighty Max" crop. The fee is $100 and all monies go to the Mighty Maxwell Guild, to support Children's Hospital Uncompensated Care Fund so that EVERY child in the Pacific Northwest has access to quality medical care. So open your checkbooks and help me out here... Anything will be appreciated, we are trying to raise $10, 000 for the fund. It's a great cause and I can't wait to see all the wonderful ladies that participate in this fundraiser.

Coming Up For Air!

Finally feel like I'm digging myself out of this hole I've fallen into. What a life changing even this whole job thing has been for my family. First I'm away from home every day for three weeks, which sets my almost two-year old into fits of separation anxiety, then I have scheduling stress with the airline, then the company (that I thought I was working for, but really wasn't!?!?!?!)shuts down operations overnight without notifying any of us. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? After all that I was sent a schedule by my scheduling department that had me leaving tomorrow for a week long trip to Fort Lauderdale. Wait a minute!!!! That's a long way from Bellingham, WA and being home every night. Add to that the terrible twos, a house that is half finished, money that is running out and a husband that is stressed to MAX as well. Needless to say I've been stressing more than usual lately.
So with flight suspension since the beginning of the month, (my last flight was on the 5th), I've spent some time getting back into a weekly routine of housekeeping, going to the gym and cleaning up our home. My goal is to have our place de-cluttered by the time we move into our new home come July.
As part of my catch-up strategy I've been working on getting up to date on the BIG Picture Scrapbooking classes that I am taking online. One of them is the "Library of Memories" by Stacy Julian, my scrapbook Idol. It is supposed to help me sort through and organize all my mounds and heaps of photos. Yeah right. Well, I started sorting yesterday, (I'm only 6 weeks behind the class!), and I already feel the relief. Her class is all about keeping it simple so that you can enjoy your time scrapping. The other course is an all year round class with Heidi Swapp the organizer of the Creative Escape Scrapbook retreat I went to last September and will be at again this summer. Her class is "A Year To Remember" a weekly thing where each week you get a certain challenge to complete and each month you finish a page for the calendar provided with the class. Here is my January page, which I finally completed this past week. I really love how it turned out. Part of the challenge was to use a target, a goal and some patterned paper outside of your comfort zone.
So I went all out. What do you think?
On Friday I will be going to a local scrapbook event called the 27-Hour Crop. Some gals host it at their church and we have a bunch of us from the Bellingham Scrapbook Fanatics attending. It should be great to get some uninterrupted time for scrapping and spending it with my friend. Looking forward to that. Now I better get back to packing some stuff to take, or else I won't have anything to work on.