(43-7) Have No Fear

So apparently I'm doing it; I'm REALLY doing it!! I said that I was going to blog everyday, and so far I have. OK I'm only 7 days in, but still; I can' t remember the last time that I wrote 7 blogs in 7 weeks so I view this as a MAJOR accomplishment. I said that I wasn't going to sweat the small stuff; and when an opportunity arose, where previously I might have stressed a bit; I DIDN'T!! And last but certainly not least I am taking care of myself; and I'm not living in fear.

So let's go with the easy one first; THE SMALL STUFF.  The other night I saw a notice on my blog page saying that "something" had been removed, changed or relocated by Photobucket; and I had NO idea what this was.  After a while it dawned on me that my background was now grey and no longer the cute, lil shabby chic background that I loved.  I clicked on the Cutest Blog on the Block logo to see if I could find my background again; but I could not. Granted I didn't look for very long; but I looked everywhere that I thought it could be.  As time was of the essence I quickly chose the background that I have now because 1. I'd admired before and 2. It was almost a perfect match for the color settings that I had with the previous template.  I actually told myself  "just use this for now and when you have more time you can always change it again."  And for those of you who know me, you know this is TOTALLY contradictory to what I would have done before.  Oh no; BEFORE I would have looked at EVERY SINGLE TEMPLATE before deciding what to choose and then I would have changed my mind a couple of times.  So Brava for me!  I'm happy with my decision and I'm even happier that I was just able to go with the flow.

As if we hadn't been busy enough; yesterday in the midst of reorganizing, I had an appointment with my favorite Podiatrist.  OK, my ONLY Podiatrist, but I just think he's swell.  Anyway, last week I thought that I was starting to get an in-grown toe nail (YES, again;) but this time on my left foot.  Rather than trying to heal myself; as I've done in the past;  I promptly made an appointment to have it removed.  I decided that there was NO reason for me to live with pain and there was no reason for me to live with fear.  I rationalized that I'd had the procedure done before and I knew that I'd be fine.  I'd gotten the shots before and although it's not enjoyable it's something that I could get through and so I decided that I would be stronger than any fear I'd previously had and I would take care of myself; and I did.  I don't know why I used to let my fear get the better of me or why I would put up with pain; but WE don't have to.  So at the risk of sounding all Kumbaya-ish, let me just say that regardless of what type of pain you may be experiencing; you owe it to yourself to get any and all treatment possible as quickly as possible; because you never know how long you have and there's no need to suffer while you're here.  You have to be at your best so that you can enjoy every beautiful day that you're blessed with.  So with that said, I encourage you to face your fears no matter how scary they may seem and take care of yourselves.  I promise that YOU ARE WORTH IT!
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

(43-6) Holy Scrap!

Today I finished working at 1230; and I got back to the matter of re-organizing my scrapbook stash.  After 4 days of examining all of my goodies; I think that I can honestly say that I have way TOO MUCH stuff for a scrapbooker of my caliber.  Now when I say "of my caliber" it's not that I'm putting myself down; I merely mean for someone who scrapbooks as infrequently as I do.  While I was sorting through all of my supplies, I found that I had at least 4 different means of storage for brads (paper fasteners of all colors, shapes and sizes - for you non-scrapbookers;) and I don't think I've even used a brad since 2007.   I divided my alphabet stickers, my chipboard and my rub-ons; all into different organizers and yet, all will have to be further separated and categorized at a later date.   I realized that while I'm spending my time putting everything in it's neat and tidy place, the last thing I'm going to want to do is pack up my arsenal and take it to a crop (a get together, party or gathering where scrapbookers work on their layouts - for all you non-scrapbookers.)  I further acknowledge that not only does scrapbooking take up the time while your cropping; but it also requires time prior to the crop to figure out what you're going to work on, pull out paper and coordinating embellishments and pack it all up.  Since time is something that I don't have a lot of; I think this may be one of the MAJOR reasons that my scrapbooking has come to a halt.

While going through ALL of my gadgets, great deals and must haves; I came to a few realizations:
1.  If  I wouldn't buy something at full price; I don't NECESSARILY need to buy it when it's on sale.  I think I would be much better served to pass by the sale and ONLY purchase something  (even if, DARE I SAY, I have to pay full price,) at a time when I know for sure that I'm going to use it right away.  This is a HUGE statement for me considering that I am the Queen of The DISCOUNT; but nonetheless, I think these are words that I need to heed.
2.  I must commit to either USE it or LOSE it.  If I don't start scrapbooking on a more regular basis, I really will need to try and sell off what I have because it won't be doing me any good.
3.  While I was putting away some of the layouts that had yet to make it into my kids albums, I perused all of the pages that I'd done thus far  and I found that I was very proud of many of them.  I don't toot my own horn often when it comes to scrapbooking; but I think I've done a great job to date and I am assured that my kids love what I am passing down to them.
4. When I compared the pages that I'd completed to the photos that I still have hanging around in boxes and bags; it became apparent that I need to GET BUSY because what I can pass on in a scrapbook is so much more than the pictures themselves.
5. I need to take some advice recently offered to me by the very wise Julie Tucker; which was NOT to spend too much time stressing over designing a layout or  worrying about the placement of EVERY little embellishment; because my kids are NEVER going to turn back to me and say "This is great mom but you should have put this flower in the other corner."  By listening to Julie, I believe I will be able to be a lot more productive.

And so, by tomorrow night my guestroom / office / craft room will be renovated and I will actually have enough room in there to scrapbook with 1 or 2 friends at a time;,without feeling claustrophobic; so consider yourself invited.  Let me know when you want to come by and preserve some memories with me.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

(43-5) A Happy Tune

My guestroom / office / craft room was in need of a major overhaul as it had become the depository of ALL things that had no other place to go.  The eyesore of a room had been on our To-Do list for several weeks, but we finally tackled it this weekend; since my beloved friend Susie and her daughter Becky will be coming in from New York on Wednesday, to stay with us for a few days.
My entire family started cleaning and re-organizing on Friday and suffice it to say that we still have FAR to go; (which should come as no surprise for those of you who have actually had the displeasure of catching a glimpse of the room.  The rest of you will just have to picture the WORST.)  Once we're eventually done, my scrapbooking and bead supplies will be much more organized and everything that we're keeping should have its place; so I'm sincerely happy about this venture.  While we were toiling away I took the opportunity to pull up songs on YouTube and got to listen to a lot of great blasts from my past.  Since the computer is in the g/o/c room  I wasn't watching the videos; just listening to the tunes; and OK, dancing a bit; but my song selections made my day so much more enjoyable that I decided to blog about it.
Today I'm going to share 5 links for songs that made me smile.  I should remind you that my taste in music is EXTREMELY varied and although I make no apologies for my choices, I do understand that what I'm sharing may not be your cup of tea; but if even ONE of these songs puts a grin on your face, brings back a good memory or entices you to listen to something new; then I'll be truly gratified.
I made a list of ALL of the music that I listened to today and I may add this as a regular feature of  the blog, so that other points in time I can share more links with you; so let me know what you think.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

Xanadu - Olivia Newton-John & ELO
Move This - Technotronic
Love to Hate You - Erasure
Como te Deso - Mana
American Girl - Goo Goo Dolls