Digital Scrap Love

I got these lovely papers from Tiffany Tillman at Design House Digitals. They are having an awesome $1 a day sale - and each day's offering is up the rest of the month! 

Now, I normally never, ever scrap with orange. But this kit convinced me. So much so that I had to immediately make a tribute page to digital scrapbooking. <3

Discovery

My discovery is this: I really, really like having my morning free. I actually was able to get some housework done today, along with some lesson planning, and time to read, all before it was time to teach. I'm going to have to think hard about this for next year's schedule, which has to be decided in March so I can start pre-registering returning students.

I am going to need this extra time since I have a bunch of online classes going on. Scrapbook classes, plus several for my business. 

CAbi

Isn't this a lovely catalog cover? It's for a line of clothing that I love, Carol Anderson by invitation. Great designer clothes at a reasonable cost, lots of cute styles. I always spend too much money, but I wear them all the time. For years. Check it out if you aren't familiar with CAbi.

Here are some of my picks:

I also got a pair of grey jeans (I love! CAbi jeans) and a pair of cargo pants, a skirt and a pair of shorts. Which go with all of the above. Which, combined with the basics of black pants and leggins, grey pants and black skirts, and sweaters I already own combine to make about 50 different outfits for spring. Works for me!

Thoughts for the day

Twenty-three years ago today, Washington's birthday, my youngest child was born. All 10 1/2 lbs. and 24 inches of him. Yes, I felt like I was having twins. When I was seven months pregnant people were saying "Any day now?" It was a huge relief when I went into labor!

He was my only child (out of 5) born in a hospital. I had been lucky before finding midwives who delivered uncomplicated pregnancies at home. But we had moved, and I didn't know a midwife here I trusted, and my midwife friend in Alaska was already booked, so even a free trip to Hawaii wasn't going to get her here.

I found the next-best-thing, a doctor who had worked at a birthing center and was happy to let me do things my way. Of course the hospital had their way of doing things, but I managed to get around some of them. The nurse on duty that night had also had worked at the birthing center, and she pretty much took care of me like she would have there.

A good friend was at my side, as well as our oldest daughter, a teenager, who had requested to be at the birth. and my husband brought the older kids to see their new brother shortly after he was born.

I think the strangest thing about being in the hospital was not being able to just take the baby and go home afterwards. It was the middle of the night, and we had to stay there until the next afternoon so the pediatrician could check him out. I just wanted to be home.

Some things seem like yesterday! But here he is, a young adult.

Happy Birthday!

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Courage and Creativity

Just a link to a post today:

Creativity Takes Courage


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Garden

I'm supervising a massive trimming in the garden.

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Wonderful, interesting photography

I just found a photographer who does amazing art photography. She also happens to be autistic. She has a very interesting way of viewing the world around her and noticing things that often go unnoticed.

Here's just one of the many images I love:

Luna's Photo Stream

“The purpose of the task is to strengthen the relationship.”

Good blog post on this here:


Becky Higgins' Blog

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A lovely poem

Today I met Autism

I silently watched today

Hoping it was a dream

I sat and I stared

As I prepared myself to see

The world was going to crash down

Around those surrounding me

I felt out of orbit, like I was about to fly

I sat there and did nothing, and listened for a cry

 I patiently waited

For the mom to break down

At the very least, I expected a deep frown

But the mother took every piece 

Of advice that was offered

And as she sat there

She got much stronger

Today I saw Autism 

She is not more than three

And when I smiled at Autism 

She smiled back at me

Today I talked to Autism

She said that she loved me

And tomorrow when I see her

I will look at her and think

Autism is a diagnosis

But she will always be my niece

Her name is not Autism

Because that's a label, you see?

Her name is Princess Katie

And a princess she will always be

(c) Lynda M. Wilson

Found here: Butterfly Dreams

A great idea

I love to read good stories out loud to children. There's something wonderful about them snuggling up to you, sitting still (sometimes) to listen with eager anticipation. I read and read to my children as they grew up. Now I have grandchildren to read to. But only two of the four enjoy sitting with me for a story.

The two year old loves to look at books and talk about them, but she is a little young to sit for a whole story, and she lives too far away. I do get to enjoy her enjoying her books with her daddy via Facetime.

The six year old is autistic and verbal communication is not the way to keep her attention for more than a second.

The ten year old is our suspected Aspie and isn't interested in stories unless they have to do with trains, and even then it's iffy.

But the eight year old is a book lover. Like me. Like her mom and dad. She will almost always accept the offer of a story, and if you've gone too long without offering, she will freely suggest that it's time for one.

Our current reading list is the Narnia series. We've just started the last book, The Last Battle. She's hearing them for the first time, and I love to introduce her to good stories. It takes us awhile because some weeks we only get a chapter or two read on sleep over nights.

I stumbled on this post by Karen Grunberg and am now inspired to log our reading list in a similar fashion. Hopefully writing about it here will help me actually do it!



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What I've been up to

I managed to catch my grandkid's virus (of course) so I've been lying low for a few days. The older two have been living at my house so the younger one can be still and not have such convulsing coughing fits. They're going to see how it is with them at home today.

So while I've been sick but not too sick, I've gotten a few scrap booking tasks done, along with a few minor business related tasks.

* Backed up all my 2008-2010 photos to DVD
* Culled everything that wasn't starred from my iPhoto library for 2010 - still have 2008 & 2009 to do before I archive years further back
* Did layout for next week's Log Your Memory challenge
* Ordered 50 prints from my trip to Canada last summer to make a mini book

Business related:

* Acquired my domain name for my music studio (finally)
* Transferred my projects and actions back to OmniFocus, which I have finally decided is the best place for me to keep these things

I need to make sure that I keep my to-do lists in perspective. I tend to think of them as things that are hanging over my head rather than a list of ideas I have put down because of what I want to accomplish. This is especially true of my business related tasks. Scrap booking tasks I could do all day long and be happy.


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Graciousness

Here's an interesting article from CNN on graciousness and also the lack of it. Goes right along with my focus on Grace this year.

Thoughts for the day

Received: I got the letter and bracelet from Tom's Shoes. I love that company. And I love their shoes. I'm a minimalist when it comes to shoes. It's a luxury I have, living in Hawaii. I'm mostly barefoot. So when I have to wear shoes, I want them to feel as close to barefoot as possible. Tom's fits the bill for me, plus I feel good wearing them knowing that somewhere in the world there is a child who is also wearing a pair of Tom's, maybe their only pair of shoes ever.

Thinking: I'm also thinking about how absolutely blessed I am living here, and my heart is going out to all the people in the world who are suffering right now because of the weather. Whether it's the storm on the mainland, or the cyclone in Australia. Big, big storms.

Celebrating: I'm also celebrating today because I did my January Monthly pages, using Cathy Zielske's wonderful The Monthly templates at Designer Digitals. I'm an unabashed fan of all of all 3.

Wondering: I'm wondering where the turmoil in Egypt is going to end up taking that country and the Middle East along with it, which therefore means the world at large. Nothing that happens over there is inconsequential, I think.

Procrastinating: I'm procrastinating doing the work that needs to be done today. I'm spending part of that time video conferencing with my gorgeous granddaughter in Texas. I think that's a good thing to do while I procrastinate. They're cold there. With the chill factor it was 2° F. this morning!

Enjoying: I've been enjoying the videos from Paperclipping with the goodies they are seeing at CHA.