Slim Pickin's on Friday and a Peek at March

The morning started out grey and rainy - it was awesome, just me, my chocolate cherry coffee and the latest Midwest Living Magazine.  It has since rolled into ginormous flakes of snow, that if they weren't so wet would be piling up like crazy!  I still have to hit the store for dinner stuff tonight, so hopefully it's not freezing into ice, too.

I've been wanting to craft all week and I'd like to blame my to-do list being too long, but nothing on my to-do list is getting done.  I've been too tired to think.  Shoot, I can't even lean over the side of my chair to grab my knitting that is barely six inches from my fingertips.  Ever have this going on?  

The frazzle I'm in has reached other routines, too.  Like my menu planning.  Haven't done it since the week we left for the mountains.  For those without a score-card that would be two weeks.  Two weeks people.  Last night I literally stared in my pantry and 'fridge for 15 minutes without a thought crossing my mind.  We went out and got KFC.  It's getting desperate.

The only meal I think I actually made (note...didn't plan) was my go-to Chicken Pot Pie - which is really good!

If you're in the same frazzle/cabin fever/no mojo place I seem to be, then maybe a glance at the March kits will help kick start you into working on something.  Maybe start by planning what you want to create and then move into actually creating something.  That's my hope for me anyway!  

'Course it's more fun to plan if you're actually getting one of the kits.  Not a member yet?  What are you waiting for?  Go. Sign-up HERE.

Happy Friday,

We Are

We Are:

• Enjoying homemade pop tarts (with strawberry jam made last summer - with our garden's strawberries) on a cold weekend morning.
• We are excited for the state championship hockey game
• We are not sure which he (the little guy in the blue) enjoys more - being with the "big kids" (who think of him as a mascot) or the fact they gave him a punching bag for cheering with
• We are loving the celebration of the win almost as much as the game. . .mmmm, maybe more
• We are State Hockey Champs
• We are not so much enjoying the extra driving that comes with the whole one-car-down-thing
• We are getting fancy with the homemade pot pies
• We are looking for signs of Spring - even if they come with signs of Winter

Happy Thursday,

Head Spinning Days and a Layout

We've all had those days - at least I hope it's not just me - those head spinning with too many things to do, too many lists, too much of everything days.

Hello, welcome to my day.  So many things and no one thing is the focus.  Flitting from thought to thought, project to project, to-do to to-do.  Usually, to get me out of it I need either a good nap, or better yet, a bit of time to do something that is brain-function-light.

See this is where Apron Strings kits come in very handy.  Other than choosing the photos - and if you follow here you know most of my work has been Project Life® related so that's a no-brainer - all the thinking/choosing/coordinating is done in the kit for me.  I grab some photos and a kit and just plunk down and get to it.  Or if it's a really bad spin day, a card from the scraps on my table will suffice.

Like, I could totally crank out a PL page using Maria Swiatkowski's layout as inspiration.  She used the February Smaller than a Breadbox kit (the Pebbles line) to create this traditional page.  The grid totally translates to PL for me, but it's simplicity makes creating any type of layout a piece of brainless cake.

Then I just grab a sketch from my PageMaps Card Class (which I said was open to self-paced until the 19th.  I was wrong, the self-paced version opens the 19th.)  You can also opt for browsing all the Card Maps, too.  And just a note - I did sit down last night and open my first week's class email and printed off all the goodies.  So that's something.

Happy Wednesday,

True or No So Much and a Card

Which of the following is true?

• We have a new car, sitting all sparkly in the driveway
• We had a weekend with much crafty-time where layouts and cards ruled
• We have clean clothes and a tidy house
• We enjoyed a state championship win by the high school hockey team

Sadly, only the high school hockey team taking state champions is true.  Though that's not sad, it "rocks" if you're a student at the high school.  So my daughter, a self-described hockey-crazed fan, is over the moon.  We attended the final and it was a great game.  Plus it was two hours where thoughts of a car didn't cross my mind once!

So that means, nope, no car.  It's funny how quickly you get used to not having to drive people around, when those people can drive themselves.  And how much of a time-suck it is to have to be doing it again.  Oh, well, the car will make itself know when it makes itself known.  On the bright side we don't have soccer practices to drag people to.  :)

Crafty-time?  LOLOLOLOLOLOL.  Unless you call looking at my knitting bag crafting.  Or "liking" an Instagram photo of the knitting bag my sister made (which is totally cute, by the way.)  Or walking past my dark, lonely crafting table on the way to snag something else; seriously, I didn't even turn on a light.  If those count, then yes, I crafted.

The plus is that the majority of clothes are washed.  I'm sure they are no longer stacked on beds waiting for their "owners" to put them away - more like the stacks have been moved to the desk, floor or chair by said "owners."  Hey, at least they aren't just climbing in under the piles and going to sleep.

My house is more or less back in order.  The only dishes in the sink are from breakfast - rather than a day's worth.  Floors are swept or vacuumed.  Beds are made.  And the house, generally, no longer makes me want to pull my hair out or just flat out run away.

This simple little card finishes up the goodies I made with the Lily Bee line found in the January Bigger kit.  Like I mentioned HERE, I'm sure there's more paper and a bit more embellies, but I'll have to decide whether I'll get anymore out of this kit or if I'll just sort the embellies into my stash and donate the rest of the paper to the Kindergarten.

I signed up for this PageMaps class and have yet to crack open the first email - and, shamefully, we're in week three.  I know you can still sign-up for the self-paced version until the 19th.  I've got some higher priority stuff on my list to deal with today, but I'm thinking I can sit and look at the class later tonight and maybe, maybe make something later.  Hope springs eternal, eh?

Happy Tuesday,

Friday, Cooking...not so much and a Traditional Layout

Yeah, it's Friday night, instead of day.  What can I say - between the trying to get back on track since coming home, you know like doing dishes, cooking (I cooked one meal this week.  ONE.), or even the laundry (which made it no further into the house than the laundry room - almost a week ago) and car shopping, I'm struggling with the household scene.  

So I took this morning to get my house under control, or more get myself back into my routines.  Started laundry - I'm pretty sure there are people in the house in need of underwear.  We made a jaunt out to a dealership to have a lookie at another car.  And dinner was moved up to 4:30, which was Papa Murphy's (another no cook night) so various hockey-crazed family members could hit the High School State Semi-finals.  Go Mustangs!

I'm happy to say the washer and dryer are happily working away.  Leftovers are cleared away, which means there's actually something in the 'fridge.  Bedrooms are mostly set to rights.  Luggage is empty and awaiting transport back to the store room.  And the various "drop-points" in the house are almost clutter-less.

It is with high hopes that I can play a little over the weekend.  I'm in need it of it.  I created this traditional layout two weekends ago using the We R Family line from Lily Bee found in the January Bigger than a Breadbox kit.

So from this line I created one Project Life® 2013 page, this traditional layout and then a couple cards.  I can't remember exactly what's left of the kit, but probably a bit of paper and and a couple embellies.  I still have the Fancy Pants line from this kit, but I'm holding it for PL pages, unless I can dig out or print some winter photos for a traditional page.  We'll see which comes up first.  But I'm wanting to move on to February kits.

I said I cooked only once this week - which if you follow you know how that is not how we roll.  It was not the best of weeks for food here with no menu plan, an empty 'fridge and not a lot of staples in the pantry.  I did manage to have the ingredients for Cheesy Sausage Tortellini.  It's become a quick-to-fix staple which means I've probably posted about it before.  But it's good enough to repeat.

Mountains of laundry that rival those in my own backyard are calling my name, as are several other must-do's, including some time with something crafty.

Happy Friday,

We Are

We are annoyed with our photo up-loader not working on the day it needs to be!!!

• We are not sure which he is more annoyed with - the breathing treatment, or his mother taking his photo.
• We are awaiting chest x-rays.  Again.
• We are not rejoicing in a second child with pneumonia
• We are enjoying time away from the kids in a ginormous villa.
• We are soaking up the Colorado scenery
• We are snowmobiling - a first for both of us.
• We are loving the deep snow and winter wonderland views
• We are enjoying a little nip to warm the toes - which isn't that why we go out and freeze, for the aperitif?
• We are visiting the Breckenridge Ice Castle - during the day really see it, and at night to enjoy the magic of it
• We are two gondola rides, and some deep back country, away from dinner on the mountain top.  Coming back in the dark was. . .eerie.
• We are entertained by the "Oompah" band and a chicken dance
• We are dipping our way through a delish fondue meal and trying to keep room for dessert.
• We are hitting the distillery for hubby and picking up the chocolate bourbon sauce for me.
• We are coming home to the reality that we need to car shop and fast; I don't like it when we have time.
• We are amazed at the utter destruction and damage done to our car.  I'm not sorry to say a tear or 100 was shed over the whole "event." 

Happy Thursday,

Home Again and Project Life® 2013 Week 25

You know what sucks about coming home from vacation?  Coming home.  Especially when you've been out of parent mode for five days and being dumped back into it (knowing your kids are in good hands relieves you of worrying about them much.)  Laundry, luggage, schedules, mail, school paperwork, lunches, breakfasts, getting people up and moving, upcoming doctor appointments, dinners. . .blah.

Last night, with the clutter of our unloading piled around me, I sat on the couch and thought of the list of things that needed doing and decided to spend the rest of the evening on the couch doing none of it.  Just the thought of having to get up to make lunches was more than I wanted to think about.  So I didn't.  Add to that the mess with the car, the sick kids and making sure we're good with the work missed (my mom helped the 13 y.o. study for multiple tests and made sure he completed the missing work to turn in - Awesome!  Thanks mom!!)

Snow is moving in and I'd much rather be playing with papers, than the things that are waiting for me.

This page is from a couple weekends ago when I was being quite crafty.  This is another catch-up in my 2013 Project Life® and I used more of the January Bigger than a Breadbox kit, the Lily Bee We R Family line.  This is week 25, which means I'm basically half-way caught up on 2013.  I think I may start printing my 2014 and work on them in tandem.

Time to get back into the swing of it and make up my to-do list, complete with craft projects on it!

Happy Tuesday,