Wow, has it really been 11 days?

Good thing I didn't gripe at my friends who haven't updated their blogs this week! (you know who you are!!!)

Let's see...

{she remembers why she hasn't updated her blog this week}

Being a SAHM, you would think a weekend day without a DH would feel like any other day. But for some reason it doesn't. I don't feel the same pressure to do housework, make food that doesn't come from the freezer, pry the kids away from the TV, etc. I think it's because I feel like it *should* be a day off, even if it isn't. The funny thing is, my Saturdays are usually far more productive than the rest of the week.

So I'll probably head to the store tonight and pick up some frozen food, some diet coke, a new LeapPad pen, and anything else that I can find that's cheap and could provide some entertainment for me or them, and then settle in for a day of scrapping, snacking, tuning out kid noise, and praying for Dan. He'll be at the Emerald City ComiCon showing his work and networking. I'm hoping for an enjoyable and productive weekend for him.

Reflections on a great day....

Normally there is nothing in the world that makes me happy to be awake for 20 hours straight. Yesterday, however, was an exception. I had the opportunity to attend the CK Convention in Portland, and I'll spare you the blow-by-blow, but there were a few highlights that I'm still smiling about today...

• Taking scrapbooking classes isn't really my thing, but as a new teacher I thought it would be really helpful to participate in at least one and watch an experienced teacher work. The class I took, taught by my friend Courtney, was very well done! I picked up a few teaching tricks and now have a beautiful Christmas present for my sister!
• Winning 2nd place in the Simple Scrapbooks page accent layout contest!! SO FUN!! Here is a picture of the winning layout (I'm hoping it's ok to post it!!). It really does look much better IRL--the ribbons and stuff don't look so, well, FLAT.
• Even better than that, though, was getting together with the other Pubsters. It was a truly amazing thing to be congratulated so warmly by other people who get it, some of whom had entered the contest themselves. The way people cheer each other on, celebrate each other's victories, and support each other in the hard times is really, really cool, and I'm blessed to be a part of it.
• Got to have dinner with these ladies, and it was like being with old friends, even though some I'd met for the first time that day. It was great to be able to put a face, a voice, and to some degree a personality with the names and thoughts I'm so familiar with.
• Seeing Gina deserves it's own bullet point!! I've so enjoyed getting to know her better through planning the dinner together, and had a great time hanging out beforehand (win both of our wins were announced!).

Anyway, I'm feeling the aftereffects of the missed sleep, so I'll be on my way!

Happy Friday!!

Today is a great day! I have lots to do to get myself ready for the CK Convention tomorrow and Pub dinner tomorrow night. Also, lots to do to get my family ready for a day of not having Mom around! But it's early, my house is (mostly) clean, my to do list is full of fun things, the kids are parked in front of PBS and will be for a good while...

I have to be careful in moments like this to just enjoy. It's easy when things are calm and going well to feel like I need to go do something unpleasant, or to start thinking about whichever issue is plaguing me (or if there isn't one, to make something up!). So today I think before I get on with my day, I'm going to sit down w/a landscaping book I got from the library and my 3rd cup of coffee, and just enjoy a few quiet moments. :)

You never can tell in the PNW, but its looking like this crazy snow/hail stuff we've had off and on is coming to an end, and spring is on the way! And I'm *totally* excited to do some work in my front yard. And I know myself, that I have until about mid-July before I burn out. Which means I've got 4 months to plan, dig, transplant, amend, fertilize, plant, weed, water and watch. Last year my veggies sprouted and diet, so this year I'm buying starts instead of seeds.

Anyway, better get to doing nothing before one of the kids needs me again. Have a great weekend!

On any given day...

On any given day I wake up to kid noise.
On any given day I check my e-mail, some blogs and a couple message boards while I eat a bowl of cereal and drink (at least) two cups of coffee.
On any given day I sweep the floor, wipe down the dining table and pick up toys and clothes.
On any given day I pray to be the kind of wife and mom God wants me to be.
On any given day I drink at least two glasses of Diet Coke.
On any given day I don't drink enough water.
On any given day I answer a hundred questions from Shiloh, try to get Elijah to calm down, sing the Dora song or the Barney song to Mariah, and rub Eucerin cream all over Esther's body.
On any given day I wonder if my kids are eating well enough, watching too much TV, learning enough, getting away with too much and not being kind enough to each other.
On any given day I change at least 5 diapers.
On any given day I think about scrapbooking, things to do for Ben Franklin, new products to try or techniques to learn, and hope that I get a chance to do more scrap-related stuff than just clean my scrap area.

This post idea was brought to you today by sara*w's blog.

Friday randomness

• Still on my spring cleaning rampage. I don't think I've ever been this into cleaning my house. The cool thing about organizing, though, is that everything *stays* clean longer! Dan is loving it.
• Only 3 days until the next episode of 24! I think I mentioned before that I don't watch TV? All bets were off when Season 5 started. We had just finished Season 4 earlier that week, and I don't think the adrenaline had time to leave our system. We're hooked. We even watch the reruns on Saturday night. Anyway, the previews for this week sounded like they were going to kill off another main character??? It took me all day Tuesday to recover from Edgar's departure.
• Dental work isn't a big deal to me. Paying for it sucks though. A lot.
• PBS buys me at least an hour of peace and quiet every morning.
• Waking up early for dental work also sucks. I can't grasp the fact that it's 10:11am on Friday morning. The whole day just feels kind of off.
• 8 days until the CK Convention in Portland OR! Totally excited to see old and new friends, do some shopping, hit Powell's, etc.

Have a great weekend! I trust that my brain will return to it's normal, semi-functioning state by Monday.

A collaborative effort

Many of you know that my husband Dan is a graphic designer (an excellent one at that!). So I often will ask for his feedback on my pages, and then brace myself for his honest feedback. Unfortunately for me, he's pretty much always right, and unfortunately for him, I'm not working in Photoshop and can't always change what needs changing.

Saturday night I showed him a page I'd been working on. He didn't like the title. I loved the concept though, and couldn't redo the title, so I finished the page. I showed him again and asked him what he thought of the *rest* of the page. Of course he couldn't leave the title alone, and came up with some ideas he was sure would work, and offered to help.

This is what we came up with:

Organization update

Since starting the HGTV challenge, I've:

• analyzed my paper habits (mail, newspapers, catalogs, documents, etc.)
• purged some paper from the filing cabinet
• dealt with a couple piles on the computer table
• copied a bunch of our CDs to the computer and boxed them up to go to the shed
• reorganized our toy area and most of the homeschool area
• purged some old dishes and some toys
• bought a tie and belt hanger, so Dan has some place to put his ties other than 0ur shoe holder thingie (the times he's worn a tie since I've known him I can count on one hand)

I'm feeling pretty good about it, but there's a lot more to do, and of course the problem of keeping everything from returning to it's usual condition...

Ok, off to bed. :)

ORGANIZATION MONTH!!!! at my house

I signed up for the HGTV Get Organized challenge and I am *so there*!!! Every chance I get to get rid of some of the disarray in my life makes me so happy. Because there's so much disarray and because I love looking at a surface with nothing on it.

So I just recycled two inches of paper from my filing cabinet this afternoon, and identified my problem areas and am thinking about how to solve them. I have an envelope for receipts, a goal to go through my inbox before it threatens to topple over every month-and-a-half (thus paying some bills late), and a plan to get one of those message center things with the little trough thingie and hooks for our keys. Which brings me to an important realization...I've never liked those from a decorative standpoint, but I'm realizing I like it better than having Dan's wallet, cell phone, keys and iPod on the counter! (I love you honey!!) Seriously, though, I don't live in a decorating magazine. I have 4 kids and we stay home all day and we homeschool and we have 1100 sq. ft. to do it in. We need something that works, that works for us, and that isn't chaotic.

In short, I'm finding that organization, even at its ugliest, is prettier than clutter.