From A to Z…and everything in between

I’ve recently had some time to get some more pages completed.  I’ve also organized the next 37 pages I need to scrap.  Yes, 37!  Actually some of those are 2-page layouts, so it might be more like 45.  I also moved my scanner down into the basement, where I scrapbook.  That way, I can start scanning them while I scrap.  You see, I am a woman and I have to multi-task. LOL  Idle hands never exist in this house. LOL

I really do enjoy scrapbooking.  It allows me to relive the moments as I scrap them and then as I look at the pictures again and again.  The only thing that I need is a place to display my scrapbooks.  I really want an entertainment center in my Family Room.  But at the moment, we are paying down bills and will not be getting anything else furniture-wise until we can pay cash.

So, for now, the scrapbooks are kept in the basement.  They get taken with me to my crops to show off my pages that I’ve finished.  Hoping to receive nice comments. 

BTW, if you’d like to take a look at my pages, please feel free to use this link… http://seemyscrap.com/cpg/index.php?cat=10188

So, I am not doing self-diagnosis.  I’m just saying.  LOL

I read an article in Newsweek yesterday “Welcome to Max’s World”.  http://www.newsweek.com/id/137517

In a nutshell, Max is bi-polar and was diagnosed at 3.  Amazing.  I truly feel for these parents.  It’s got to be very trying.  However, I have a problem with part of the article.  It is the part where the points in Max’s babyhood are highlighted and seen as a symptom.  Colic and irritability.  Then surpassing milestones and walking early.  Then the fear of grass.

This article was completely describing Zach as a baby.  I couldn’t believe it.  I started to get lulled in to the article and hear how I can “fix” my son.  LOL  You  know, he screams.  He’s broken. LOL

But I think that’s what the article wanted me to do.  To think something was wrong, so I’d go to the doctor and get him checked out.  Even though the article was also saying that childhood bi-polar disorder was highly misdiagnosed.  Overly diagnosed.

Anyways – I’m rambling today. Again, just one of those things I heard/read that made my mind think in circles.  All I have to say is – IF something is wrong, go to the doctor.  Don’t try to take care of the issue yourself.  ESPECIALLY in the mental arena! 

So I work in a very small office.  One day a week, I drive into the office to do the accounting stuff.  Payroll, retirement account stuff, insurance, bills, deposits.  All the money.  The rest of the time, I am working from home performing background checks on people moving into condominiums in the downtown area.  Fun fun.  I get lots of money flaunted in my face day after day.  I get to see millionaires with crap credit.  It’s pretty ironic.

Anyway, onto the secret part – my boss got sick about three months ago.  We were told that he fell on some ice at his cabin in Wisconsin.  He suffered head lacerations and contusions.  Cuts and bruises – big whoop.  So, why – after three months is he still confused at times, has lost about 40 pounds and his legs hurt.

I think there is more than what he is letting on.  There have been rumors that he had a heart attack or stroke.  And these rumors are going around in a 4-person office.  A friend of my boss called here and told us he had a heart attack.  Was it while in recovery?  Or was it the cause of the fall?  Or did he just have a heart attack and no fall?  Who knows.  My boss and his wife, oh and his kids, are very secretive about it.  It’s not like my boss is normally secretive either.  I know about his grandchildren.  I know about his children and things going on in their lives.  I’ve even been invited to the cabin. 

So, I’m still wondering – what is going on?  And why the secret??

My 14 1/2-month old son has taken to screaming.  I can’t stand it.  It makes me want to slap his mouth.  But he screams all the time.  He screams if he can’t get a toy inside of another toy.  He screams if he suddenly decides he wants to go outside.  He screams if he’s thirsty.  He screams if his brother is snacking and he wants some.

You don’t really realize how much you appreciate that your older children can speak until your baby starts the stage of wanting something, but doesn’t have the words for it.  He is probably as equally frustrated as I.  He can’t convey the idea of what he wants, so he points and screams.

Then you find yourself in that good ole place of wishing your child was older so they could get past this stage.  Then they go through an equally annoying stage and you wish he were even older.  And the cycle goes on and on and on…

You really need to “be in the now”.  Live your life as you live it.  Don’t be wishing and hoping so much for things that may be out of your reach that you become so frustrated that you give up.  Set realistic goals in your life to obtain them.  And don’t wish your children to grow up too fast.  Because then they’ve gone off to college without you living your life with them.

My most current active hobby is scrapbooking.  I enjoy it greatly.  I love the challenge to be creative time and time again.

I am attempting to finish AJ’s first year.  It’s been a long process.  The first year is full of lots and lots of milestones.  Plus, with AJ being our first child, it seems we took pictures almost every day.  And you gotta scrap everything, right? LOL  I am trying to get out of that habit.  But I don’t want to dismiss the importance of the photos or of my other child(ren).  But you can’t scrapbook photos for the heck of it just to fill up a book when you have SOOOO MANY more important photos to scrapbook.  I mean, I have three years to catch up on.  It’s quite overwhelming.

So, I’ve subscribed to Scrapbooks, etc. magazine.  You can find them at www.bhgscrapbooksetc.com It’s a very inspirational magazine.  Not only do they show new tools and products, there are many layout ideas.  Usually I tear apart magazines, keeping the articles that interest me.  If I did that to this magazine, I’d tear the whole thing apart.  There are ideas on every page – even the ad pages!

Then I’ve also set up and account at See My Scrap.com, link here – http://seemyscrap.com/cpg/index.php?cat=10188  But then this becomes a monumental task on my to-do list.  To scan and merge with Photoshop merge my 12 x 12 scrapbook pages.  I’ve done 3 of the possible hundreds that will be in my books. Day by day, little by little – that’s how you handle that.  I do think it’s a great tool to archive your scrapbook.  I mean, it’s an off-site archive – safe if something were to ever happen to the house – like fire or flood.

I’m always looking for time and inspiration to actually sit down and scrapbook.  I want my family (here and now and those I will never get to meet) to enjoy my scrapbook and revel in the information that I can provide by journaling.  I was always a little disappointed that my chatty grandmother and my mother never sat down and wrote out the stories that they recite often.  And then it makes me think that I can write it down, or videotape them – but that would be yet another thing on my to-do list.  And there’s already tons on that list…

So, in speaking with my neighbors and my online friends, I’ve discovered something.  Most moms suffer the same lives. 

Being a mother is a thankless job.  It is 24/7.  It is quite lonely at times.  Most moms feel this way.  So, when we get together online, or at a Friday lunch, it’s inevitable that we end up becoming closer as friends because of the suffering we share.

 Yet it’s ironic that we feel that we are the only ones going through a situation.  There are hundreds of women going through the same situation.

The norm is that the fathers work.  And no matter if the mom is stay-at-home, work-at-home, or works out of the house, she is “stuck” with all of the household chores.  And rarely does she receive recognition for all this hard work.  Even when rewarded with a night off of childcare, by going out with friends, she comes home to a house that is messier than when she left it, and lucky that her child(ren) are fed and in bed.  But hey, at least they’re alive!  And most likely there was lots of one-on-one time playing and rough-housing with Daddy.

Now, it sounds as if I’m griping about this.  I’m not. It’s my life.  I know that it makes more sense that I do all the housework.  I would do it anyway, as it’s sort of compulsive for me.  BUT what I do want is some appreciation for it once in a while.  And not on a special day.  I would like a simple “Thank you”.  Or “I appreciate that I come home to a clean house.”  No need for a gift, no need for flowers.  I do realize that my husband works full-time and it’s hard work.  He must realize, though, that my job is tougher yet.  I get no lunch breaks, I don’t get to walk away from my work.  I am on the job always.  Even as I go to sleep, I may be called upon.  I also don’t get any promotions or raises to tell me I’m doing an awesome job.  Or even a decent job. I need for him to do that for me.

That’s where the friends come in.  To be able to blow off steam (and not have an argument about it. LOL) To be able to find out that I’m not alone and hear a friend say “Just last week, I had the same thing happen to me…”

Being a mom is the most awesome role in my life.  It is also the most trying.  And with my friends, my moms united, I feel like I can handle anything.

I am a whole-hearted follower of Pay it Forward.

You know the concept, don’t you?  You perform a good task and expect no pay back.  Well, sort of.  Not pay back from that person.  It’s the whole “Karma comes around” thing.

I belong to a forum of ladies and many, if not all of them practice this theory.  It’s amazing that we have a board of 111 or so women and it’s not catty.  It’s very supportive and I love it there. 

Anyway, the reason that this topic is at the top of my “list” – AJ was watching the cartoon “Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Garden” or something like that.  And the episode was about Paying it Forward.  I thought to myself that it was great to make this concept into a cartoon for the young kids to begin to understand so they can develop it into the daily lives.  Because, after all, if you practice something daily, it does become a habit.

And this society is missing consideration and respect.  I hope that my children do not become the ignorant teens that some of my neighbors have raised.  I try to teach my children to be aware of their surroundings and respect the feelings of others.

And that’s actually a huge “Pay it Forward”, isn’t it?  To instill beliefs and habits in my children that will help society, instead of harming it?  And then hopefully my children will do the same to their children. And so on.

So, I dare you to do a nice thing for/to someone today.  As small as a short email to tell someone they’re great, or a phone call to a friend.  Just because. Maybe they’ll pass it on.

I had a clingy child with a fever today.  Makes you wanna scream and then makes you cry.  My baby’s sick and he came up to me on the couch and layed on my shoulder and almost fell asleep.  He NEVER does that.  Very routine guy. Poor thing.

Among my interests is camping.  I adore nature and love getting out and about.  We bought a trailer last year.  Three days before the due date of my second son.  I don’t remember much of the paper-signing – I was pretty worried about giving birth at the dealership.

Needless to say, we’ve quite enjoyed our trailer.  It is a new brand from Keystone called Passport.  It’s an Ultra-lite.  We have a model 240QS.  It means it’s about 26 feet and has a queen bed slide out (the rear).  In the beginning, we thought this was going to be our “step” trailer.  We would use this for a while and step up to another one.  But this one really suits our needs.  It sleeps 8 or 9.  Pretty comfortably.  Not to mention, it has some great “accommodations” as in the toilet, the shower, the fridge, the furnace, the air conditioning, and storage. 

Ok, so back to this weekend.  We had a difficult time following the directions provided by the State’s website.  Lesson learned – mapquest everything! Then they completely melted down as it was bedtime – but the camper wasn’t set up.  It was quite chaotic.

Zach was our main problem.  He enjoys his habits.  He loves routines.  He hated adjusting to a new place to sleep and a new way to go to sleep.  It worked, but we had quite the arguments about it.  And it also involved me sleeping with him in my bed the first night and getting about 4 hours of good sleep.  For the both of us.  I was very tired.  AJ slept like a perfect child.  And he wanted to do all the cool things that a kid likes to do when in a forest.  Go hiking, throwing rocks in the river, going to the playground, more walking.  Oh, did I mention walking?? LOL

We did a lot of walking.  The first day, I had Zach on my back.  He’s a pretty heavy duty kid.  About 26 pounds.  And he had no interest in being in the backpack contraption.  He wanted to walk like his big brother.  But the river was very high and the pathways were pretty slippery.

BUT – it was a great day.  No yelling at the kids to stop hitting each other, no refereeing.  I loved that part of it.  I really was ready to pull my hair out Thursday.  I had to go pick up the trailer and pack and all this other stuff and the boys were on extra-BAD behavior.  You know how it goes -if you have to get something done, the kids DON’T cooperate!!

The second day was just as much walking.  Zach slept better the night before and he was getting used to the drill. 

And then you have to take into consideration our luck on neighbors.  We always get the worst of them.  So, it only comes natural that it applies to our campsites, too.  We had the couple that drank (even though there was an alcohol ban) and chose to play their very bad music very loudly. This is our luck all the time.  We have yet to camp when people are actually respectful of each other.  Most people are – but it’s always the few that ruin the peace of the many.

Then we came home this morning and I had to take AJ to his first child’s birthday party that he was invited to.  He had a blast.  And I did, too.  It was the first time that I had AJ to myself without Zach. I enjoyed paying attention to AJ.  Although he told me he wished Daddy was there.  Broke my heart.  But I’m the mommy – I’ll get over it.

This is a term I heard in a recent commercial on the radio.  Planned obsolescence. Interesting term.  It applies to almost anything.  It certainly applies to Microsoft’s software.  Quickbooks and Quicken.  TVs.  DVD players.  CD players.  There’s lots of other things as well.  The plan to make a product…and the plan to discontinue supporting it, or manufacturing parts to repair it.

I say it’s not earth friendly.  You fill the garbage dumps with the products that do not work.  And then you fill the garbage dumps with the excessive packaging around the new product, that once again will fail or not be supported anymore in about 4 years.

I miss the old days when you could buy a product and rely on it to last for years.  Or you can take it to a repair shop and the repair wouldn’t cost more than a new product.  It seems so very wasteful.  We have come into a society where we have disposable appliances.  You don’t repair your washer, dryer or refrigerator – you replace it.  It makes no sense financially to repair the old appliance.

Just another one of those terms that I heard and made my brain think in circles…