Jeremy knew I had been wanting to dust off the ‘ole Kmart clubs from days past, and on Sunday night he asked me if I could get an early start to Monday’s school day so we could play 9 holes the next afternoon. Um…yeah!

We couldn’t have asked for a prettier day to just be outside soaking up the warm autumn sun in Georgia. I think we were the only ones out there, with the exception of some deer on hole #5.

I could go on and on and on about the beautiful weather, colorful trees, and cute little squirrels we encountered that afternoon. That’s because I have pretty much nothing good to say about my game. Apparently my swing has swung. I knew that having children had adversely affected my brain and the shape of my body, but I had no idea that it had also killed my ability to drive a golf ball 200 yards down a straight fairway.

And you want to know the worst part? Walking out of the tee box and hearing my 4 year old say, “Hey Mom! You’re ball is next to mine!”

Nice.

I came home with my goodies and promptly took them upstairs to my cropping corner of the world. Laid them on top of the boxes I brought home from the scrapbooking retreat in March. The boxes I promised myself I would work on after I got home from said retreat.

Those boxes that haven’t been touched in 4 months. (sigh)

Thankfully I have another retreat coming up in September. Now, if I can just hold onto the excitement of yesterday until then. And to keep my creative juices going in the mean time, I’ll just play with Picasa.

We talked, we laughed, we watched movies until the wee hours of Sunday morning. We cut, we pasted, we stickered, we journaled. We made memories and we loved all 56 hours of it.

Personally, I finished 55 pages in Savannah and Emery’s books. I feel pretty good about having them both finished through the year 2007. I enjoy it so much when I get working on them, but it seems that once I get home and my supplies get put back, I never get them out again.

This year I have a goal. Instead of putting everything back right away, I’d like to leave a few things out. Sure, that’s not what the dining room table is for, but seriously, how often do we really eat in the dining room? It’s all I can do to force my family to eat in the kitchen for cryin’ out loud! I think my dining room table will be happy to be put to some sort of use. Give it a sense of purpose, ya know?

So wish me luck on tying up a few loose ends. A “Meo” page in Savannah’s 2005 book, a fixed picture on Emery’s mosaic page, and a search for some additional pictures for Savannah’s 2 year old album. Once I do that, I’d like to add a few pictures to my “Faith Book” and put the finishing touches on Jeremy’s homebuilding album. It doesn’t sound like much, but we all know how time can fly…

Enough of that pity party! I hauled everything up to the 2nd floor bonus room above the garage that we made into a guest room, and piled all my stuff on the bed. I was determined to make it work. And I vowed that I would do it inexpensively.

First, I had to clean out the closet because it looked like this:

It contained a bunch of out of season clothes that didn’t fit anymore and a few lingering baby items. I called a local consignment store resale boutique and they not only took most of it, they actually paid me MONEY for it! Woo-Hoo!!!

Now my closet looks like this:

It’s a walk in closet so there is still room on the right side to hang extra kids clothes. The bins on the floor are clothes for Emery that were given to me and are sizes 4-6. As he grows into those, the bins will be cleared out. See the stacks of white boxes on the middle shelf, left side? Those are so great! Wal-Mart sells them for $5 and I use them to keep my pictures sorted. For example, the box with Savannah’s pictures all over it contains stickers and embellishments I’ve bought for her. The one that says “Mickey Mouse” has Disney stuff in it, etc.

I love those little white boxes.

In the closet is also where I put the albums I have completed:

The kids albums I am currently working on (and I use the word “currently” very loosely), are in this black filing cabinet I stole from Jeremy’s office:

See it there behind the chair? The chair which still doesn’t have a seat cover. Anybody know how to make one of those things? Because the one I had before is bright red and it really doesn’t match anymore.

Also, inside the filing cabinet fit extra albums, refill pages, and power layout boxes (you Creative Memories gals know what I’m talking about, don’t ya?). And then on top, I was able to stack these 12×12 paper holders which I already had in the basement:

Turned out to be a nice place to put my magnetic photo frames too! Another “bonus” in the bonus room!

The thing I had the hardest time with was my computer. Once I got the desk upstairs, it was bigger than I realized. The TV stand and all that was already in the guest room and I just didnt’ like the look of setting the computer up right next to it. But I really didn’t have a choice and it’s sort of growing on me.

See the black metal basket that sits between the two on the floor? That was on the clearance rack at Target and fits the kids movies perfectly. Putting the movies there freed up shelf space next to the DVD player under the TV for another album, an idea book and my neg-care boxes (again, CM people will be the only ones who know what I am talking about here). More idea magazines are to the right of the TV and my “to crop or die trying” file is on the left.

The big black thing under the computer is my Crop in Style carry all. I thought I might have to keep stuff in it on a regular basis, but not once I found this on clearance at Target as well:

All my embellishments, scissors, stamps, ribbon, markers, tape runners, chalk, punches, and brads fit on there, just to name a few. You can’t see the bottom from this picture, but it sits on 2 drawers that also have Cricut supplies and trimmers of every shape and size. The drawers and shelves were 2 separate pieces that I had to put together. And as much as I like the way they look, they were buggers to put together. Wouldn’t want to do it again!

Hanging next to the shelving is this:

I’ve had this thing for years. It used to hang in my bathroom with Jeremy’s fishing magazines in it. Now I’ve got some of my favorite idea books right at my fingertips.

Here is where my creative juices flow:

Jeremy’s dad gave us this table several years ago. He was moving and didn’t want it, we were without a kitchen table, so viola…it worked for all of us. My dad had to repair parts of the table when we first got it, but he did a wonderful job and it’s held up nicely. The flowers on the table were an engagement gift from my mother in law. I put them in that vase last year and had them in the guest bedroom in our basement (which was also nixed in the recent move). The only thing I really don’t like is that lamp shade. I got the light online knowing I would need more light in that corner to work. On the computer the shade looked gray colored. But it’s definitely brown. Blah! I’ll be shopping around for that real soon.

I think my only spluge during this whole ordeal was on this cutie:

I picked it up and put it down about a million times. I finally ended up buying it because I loved it so much and knew I could use it for so many things. Right now it has Scrapbooking magazines in it and I just love it sitting there. Did I mention how much I love that little basket???

How about one final before and after shot? Here is the room about midway through. I had already removed the red/white/blue patriotic themed quilt and navy tab curtains. This is the bedspread and curtains from the basement guest bedroom. And I had already moved the table into the corner:

Now here it is completed:

I don’t know why the paint is showing up so dark blue. It’s really not that dark in real life. More of a blue/slate gray color that matches the flowers on the bedspread. This black furniture is still one of my favorite sets in the house. I almost gave it to Emery for his room, but decided against it. I like it in here and I like it with the blue. As it turns out, I like everything about it. Now, if I could just find as much time to scrapbook as it took me to re-do this room. THAT would be nice!!!

1. Having no parental responsibilities for 3 days?
2. Getting Emery and Savannah’s books caught up through 2006 and all my 2007 pictures organized?
3. Sleeping in one morning until 10:30…Yes, you read that right…TEN THIRTY??? (I have witnesses!)
4. Girl Time?

Oh, I dunno. It was all fabulous. I came home with something between a cold and the flu which has left me feeling cruddy today, but oh well. It’s not like I wanted to jump right into all the housework I missed over the weekend. And as a matter of fact, we started the morning with a visit from the Magtag repair man. Well, not exactly Maytag. Jenn Air. But Maytag makes Jenn Air. Oh wait, actually Whirpool makes Maytag which makes Jenn Air.

Just a bit of information I picked up when our refrigerator died last week. It stopped working, someone came out and “fixed” it. It quit again and now, hopefully it’s good to go. Thank God for the spare fridge in the basement! Tomorrow I will be hauling all the food back upstairs. That ought to be fun!

I also need to get back on track with homeschooling this week. I haven’t worked with Savannah in 2 weeks. Let’s just call it our own personal spring break, m’kay? She’s doing great with reading, but I want to work on more math stuff. I found a neat book that I’m excited about starting with all kinds of number things to do.

Emery is still my biggest challenge during homeschool time. Although he is showing an interest in writing his letters. So far all he can do is an “E”. He writes it and then says proudly, “E spells Emery.” Today Savannah tried to teach him an “R” and he wrote it backwards. But we all jumped up and down saying “YAY…Good Job!!!” I’m sure the repair man thought we were a little wacko.

When I heard the familiar hum coming from the corner of my kitchen I figured it was safe to leave the house for a little while. Mom has been asking me to bring the kids over to take some pictures in her flower garden which is always beautiful in the spring with the azalea’s in full bloom. So we headed to Nanny and Grampa’s. I’ll try to get those pictures downloaded for your viewing pleasure tomorrow.

Well, my to do list keeps growing so I should probably get to bed. Lord knows there will be no sleeping until 10:30 again anytime soon for me.

Inside I found a cute little note card and a letter. In the letter she explained that she would like to give me “the gift of time”. Is there a better gift to give a stay at home mom of 2 tots??? I think not. She went on to say that she would like to come over one evening and after the kids go to bed, we could work on our scrapbooks together. The next morning she would get up with the youngsters and I could either sleep in or get right back to work on my cropping. She offered to stay THE ENTIRE DAY, taking care of the kids and even cooking dinner for my family, before going home to my Dad.

I know…are you speechless too?

Well, yesterday was my day. And let me tell you…it was fantastic!!! I’ve had a stack of albums sitting next to my computer for months, yes MONTHS, that only needed the finishing touches. Mostly journalling, but some just needed a photo cropped in or I had to print an extra picture to complete the page. All that got done yesterday.

Plus I was able to work on Jeremy’s work albums. I am so glad I have kept up with those. It was really fun looking back through them, beginning when we first went into business in 2001. This week I had taken some more pictures of subdivision entrances and new house plans we tried this year. I downloaded those yesterday too, and will be able to put them in the book quickly after I pick ‘em up from Target.

But the project I wanted to finish up the most was the one for my housekeeper, Marina. Do you remember her story from last fall? If not, you should read it now. It’s very touching. Go ahead…I’ll wait…

Okay, now that you know how precious she is, you know why I really wanted to get this done for her. She let me have those pictures she brought to my house that day in hopes that I could put them in a frame for her with the note her daughter wrote. Since that time I have been racking my brain trying to come up with something special. Something more than just photo’s mounted behind a frame.

Over the past few months I have probed her for information about Priscilla and also asked her if she had any more of her daughter’s items. She found a locket of hair, a rosary, and a soft, small pouch with an angel on the front. When I opened it up and saw the contents, it made me cry.

Inside were several little note cards. On each card was a prayer. All of them were handwritten and signed by family and friends, apparently while Priscilla was in intensive care. They were so heartfelt. So sincere.

I ended up doing a shadow box. I cropped the photos and mounted them to cardstock, along with Priscilla’s note to her Mom. I mounted the rosary and angel pouch directly to the backing, then wrote her stats on vellum and attached the locket of hair with a bow to the top. Finally I added a bible verse and heart stickers. I think she’s really going to love it.

Dee is not only great at her job, she is a wonderful person. She has 2 adorable dogs (of which she has numerous funny stories) and is an Aunt to 4 beautiful children, that she loves as her own. She is one of my brother-in-laws’ closest friends and she has been on several family vacations with the York’s. As a matter of fact, she joined us on our recent trip to New York city in December. (Remember how much fun we had??? Ahhh…good times!)

Now Dee is spreading the love some more and adopting a baby girl from Vietnam. She began the process about 2 years ago and didn’t expect to have a little one until next summer. But they called her a few weeks ago and asked if she could come as soon as 3 weeks!

It was totally unexpected and when I talked to her she said she is soooo unprepared! I said, “Welcome to Motherhood!” I carried mine for 9 months and I still felt unprepared!!! Hee Hee!

Today there is a baby shower for her and this past weekend I made her this scrapbook:

There is 16 more pages to it, but those we a couple of my favorites. I thoroughly enjoyed working on it and thinking about what a great mom she will be to baby Addison. We are so happy for her!!!! Congratulations Dee!

I don’t know why some of the pictures look so dark. They don’t look like that in real life. I guess it has to do with the lighting in here. But it is my favorite because I like the shots of the kids and colors of the paper. I am also very proud of my “Squirt” (from Miss Spiders Sunny Patch) sprinkler. It was the last creation of the weekend and I was up until 4 am Sunday morning getting him finished. And in case you are wondering, the empty pink box is where I will eventually journal about that fun day in the sun.

This next picture is just one of my all time favorite pages I created:

I did this one last year. Again I love the pictures most of all. Catching a moment on film where Savannah just plopped down in a clover patch and then Papa Jim pulled up in his truck and joined her. I think the mosaic layout really sets it all off. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the flash on my camera off, so it glared on the page, but still…it’s my favorite! :)

On Friday, I got myself and the kids together as early in the day as humanly possible so I could be one of the first to arrive at the conference center. Not only to get to work ASAP, but also to get the best lighting spot! I will get out my pictures and supplies and work until the wee hours of Saturday morning (which says a lot for me because I am usually in bed by 10:00)!

I’ll get some sleep, then be up bright and early Saturday to work and work, and cut and paste, and stick and journal. It’s so much fun and the time flies by! Every so often I’ll take a break and grab a snack. Maybe watch a little TV and check out all the awesome layouts the other girls are working on. Then, in the wee hours of Sunday, I’ll crash in the bed, only to get up in a few hours to get some last minute pictures cropped before packing my belongings back in the car to head home.

If there are any croppers out there who have never attended a retreat, I gotta tell ya…You’ve GOT to try it sometime! The fact that you can work without interruption for 2.5 days is wonderful in and of itself, but even better than that for me is the inspiration I get from the other women who go. I am not very creative by myself, but surround me with some artsy fartsy gals and I can do some pretty amazing layouts. I’ll show you my favorite one when I get back home!

Until then, click below to see some of the photos from 2006 I’ll be working with while I’m gone. Enjoy the show:

She verified that yes, even though the prep work of going out of town and leaving little ones behind can be somewhat of a hassle, the 3 days of girl time will totally be worth it!

I sure hope so. I have not packed one thing for myself yet. My scrapbooks and accessories are scattered all over the basement. I still need to print some pictures. And do a load of laundry. And pack my overnight bag. It’s 3:00 already.

So far I have gone to the grocery store and made a list for Jeremy for possible dinner options for the weekend, complete with recipes. I have packed Savananh’s overnight bag for her Nana’s and started on Emery’s (they are spending Friday night with her). I brought the food I am taking with me down to the basement where the cooler was supposed to be, noticed that it was not here, and added “Look for cooler” to my growing list of things to do.

I helped with a major crisis at work regarding health insurance, but still need to call our CPA and our preferred lender. I did manage to call the mortgage company regarding one of our rental properties and after being on hold for almost 15 minutes, they told me they could not speak to me about the account because it is in my husband’s name only! Oh really? Well take a look at who signs the checks, Chickie!

I have fed the kids 2 meals and cleaned the kitchen (thanks to the 15 mintue hold time). There are still 3 things on my to do list for this week that I will just have to transfer over to next week (sorry Kerrie, I’ll get you those links on Monday!). Tonight from 6-8 I am going to a preview for a consignment sale, and of course, at 8:00 I HAVE TO tune in to see who gets kicked off American Idol this week (a girl has to have priorities, ya know!).

So all that said and here I sit at my computer. I just had to take a minute to write it all down. Someday I may forget that in this season of my life, taking a 3 day weekend to myself requires much more effort than simply packing a bag, putting it in the car, and filling my tank with gas. My thoughts are everywhere today and that’s probably part of the problem.

Tomorrow is also the beginning of The Ultimate Blog Party, so I have some things in store for my readers, even while I’m out of town. Thankfully, I didn’t wait until the last minute to take care of that! It would have never happened with the week I’ve had! So y’all enjoy and I’ll be back Monday! :)