{me}anderings . . .

thought provoking thursday . . .

some of my most favorite memories are the little snippets of conversation i have with (or overhear from) my own child.  kindergarten has of course brought a wealth of these little gems. 

last week there was apparently a minor accident on the playground.  a little girl fell of the jungle gym and hurt her back.  g told me that the "gladeville (his school) doctors" came to see her.  curious, i asked, "did they come in an ambulance."  no was his reply.  hmmm.  still curious, "well what did they look like?"  g says, "she was real skinny.  i think she must be on a diet."  aaaaaaaaah mystery solved . . . that would be the tiny school nurse who gets to wear scrubs to work.  of course i told her the story and she's been laughing about it all week.

yesterday (art day) in regards to the art teacher g tells me, "that man's not a real artist!"  (insert an oh dear here) "all we do is make DANG STINKIN' LETTERS!"  g would much rather be drawing creatures with lots and lots of teeth.

and last night . . . "mommy that poop felt like a rock coming out of my butt!!!"  fortunately (or unfortunately) he saves the serious business to do at home.

i'll leave you with a quote from the reader's digest my sister left behind . . . "when raising young kids, remember: the days are long, but the years are short."

do you have any amusing anecdotes or words of wisdom to share about the ways of children?

extremes

 

sugar and spice and everything nice.  that's what little girls are made of.

 

spiders and snails and scorpion tails.  that's what little boys are made of.  hee.

happy birthday supergirl!

happy birthday to you!

happy birthday to you!

happy birthday dear celeste!

happy birthday to you!

thanks for the paper!

thanks for sharing your google skills with me!

thanks for sharing your layouts with me!

thanks for letting me be a roomie!

and thanks so much for your friendship!

this year is sure to be the best ever!

p.s. we must race again soon!

thought provoking thursday brought to you on friday . . .

so sorry to be late!  work has me completely worn out.

today's thought is what inspires you when creating a page.  i'm most often inspired by the photo.  i'd say they almost speak to me.  this layout was photo inspired.

  

often my layouts are story inspired.  memories that i won't get out of my head till i put them on paper.

 

sometimes my layouts are product inpired like in this one.  that woman looking out to see just seemed to go with my own beach photos and gave me the idea for the title.

song lyrics and quotes inspire me lots.

and sometime technique even will.

i'd like to be inspired more by the world around me like becky novacek.  you can read more about her inspiration for this layout on the jbs inspiration blog (link to the left).

 

so my question for you today is, what inspires you to create?

meanderings . . .

 

the gman and i have been taking evening walks on the greenway here lately.  i took my camera along monday night because i'd seen a few places where i wanted to snag photos.  i'm a lot happier with my pics when i take them because i want to instead of because i feel i have to.  just sayin.

 

these are probably the main reason i felt that urge to bring the camera.  i love dried grasses.  love the last light shining through them.  love my boy.  see g thinks they look like maggots and wants to make lures with them.  "mommy, do fish like maggots?"  "yes, baby."

 

thank goodnesss he doesn't have such violent fish thoughts when he sees pretty swallowtails dancing amongst the flowers.  he's rather indifferent to them actually.

 

we didn't make it for our walk tonight.  i had some computery things that i really had to get done and well suddenly it was 6:30 and we still needed to go to the grocery and have dinner and and and . . . how does that keep happening anyway?  i miss summer vacation already.

the gman goes to kindergarden . . .

 

my little sweet potato started his educational career today.  when i picked him up this afternoon he shouted "mommy!  rest time was SO quick!  we barely even blinked and it was over!  it was like 3 seconds!  it was SO quick!"  i guess it is obvious he's not a big sleeper.  i was just so amused that that was the most outstanding detail of his day.  hee.

 

kindergarden shopping was rather boring.  so specific.  and then they put ME to work right away.  i had to put his name on 96 crayons, 8 glue sticks, 4 pencils, 2 erasers, a pair of scissors, a pencil case, a folder, a packpack, a lunchbox, and a restmat (the one that he will apparently only spend 3 seconds on each day).  many thanks to one of my sweet girls at the high school who had a few spare minutes at lunch and labeled all 96 crayons for me.  whew!

 

g's teacher is awesome!  she plays soccer and the guitar and knows how to moonwalk.  he's going to school in the same building where he went to daycare since he was 10 weeks old.  when i count my blessings my school system is way close to the top of the list.  i'm so thankful i work there and g gets to go to school there.  we're going to have a fabulous year.

jbs mercantile august . . .

 

 

 

i finally finished my jbs august layouts.  although i hate to say i'm finished because i'm dying to play with the vintage lovelies that came in the project kit.  maybe i'll sneak in just one more this week . . .

thought provoking thursdays . . .

so i mentioned yesterday that i was participating in the free blog challenge series over at get it scrapped!  every thursday this month i'll be here with a post to get you thinking.  today's post is about coming up with journaling to go with your photos.  there are just so many approaches you can use.  photos are my primary source of inspiration!  take this photo for example . . .

event focused:  i could easily journal about how my dad made the boys hooks our of straight pins so they could fish for rain minnows in my brother's pond.  and how we had to scavenge for the ones from china out of my sister's sewing box which once belonged to my grandmother.  the pins had to be from china because those are made from a more maleable steel than the ones from the u.s. which just break when you try to bend them.  and of course he made the fishing hooks from pins because real hooks have barbs which are a bit more dangerous for little boys.  you follow?

relationship focused:  i could also journal about the relationship these three boys have.  even though we only get to visit three times a year they are fast friends.  having boy cousins is something special.

your own perspective:  if i were to write the journaling from my own current point of view it would be to wish that we were close enough to just go visit on the weekends so my dad and brothers and nephews could feed g's fishing obsession and i wouldn't have to be bothered with it.  gah.

historical perspective:  this photo would go so well with one of my dad's memories that i want to record.  he grew up during the depression and he actually fished for minnows in much the same way.  only he would fish for them in order to sell them for a few cents as bait fish.  he said every little bit helped back then.

my challenge to you is to flip through some of your own recent photos.  find one that speaks to you and try to think of more than one angle you could use with your journaling.  if you play along, please leave me a link here!  i'd love to read your thoughts too!

in the news . . .

the new american crafts design team has been announced!  another awesome group!  congratulations everyone!  (and especially sweet amber ulmer!  yay local talent!)  so glad i get to stick around another year with these rocking scrappers!

i also have a new layout posted over there.  can't post it here, sorry guys, but you can see it there!  plus lots more fabulous stuff including a delightful guest spot by my buddy gluestickgirl!

another fabulous scrapper and photographer needs our help!  becky novacek is in the running for the #1 photographer spot in omaha.  you don't have to live in omaha to vote for her, so run vote HERE quick!

the brilliant amanda johnson has her very own vintage mini-album kit going on sale tonight at midnight.  believe me, these babies are going to go fast and you don't want to miss out!

the jbs mercantile august gallery is loaded!  it's another marvelous month.  kendra mccracken is the august guest designer.  i could so start gushing.  she's so so so SO so wow.  i'm ashamed to be the only slacker with an unfinished gallery, but i intend to remedy that tomorrow night.

this month at get it scrapped! we're hosting a free daily blog challenge!  it's great fun so far and thursdays are my days!  tune in tomorrow for my first post in the series!

saturday night.  finally.  the icarly special "i fight shelby marx" premiers.  i'll be there.  will you?  (or do you have a life)?

check out this vimeo on jessica sprauge's blog.  love it.  LOVE it.  (and i type the word "vimeo" like i know what i'm talking about.  bwa.).

the gman starts kindergarden friday!!!!!!!

july photo a day: final installment

 

7/21:  ok.  does anybody know where my kid can take fishing classes?  seriously.  i really want to know.  does such a thing even exist?  i'm desperate.  he's obsessed.  and to be quite honest, fishing bores me.  (i'm a commercial fisherman's daughter.  i should be ashamed).

 

7/22:  dinner at shirley's.  mmm.  pretty flowers in her garden.  and don't you just love the gorgeous weather we've been having?  80's in july!  amazing!

 

7/23:  august jbs mercantile kit.  i had to set up and retake this shot 3 different times because i kept forgetting things.  painful.  very painful.

 

7/24:  the gman and i went to see g-force.  "poop in the hand!  poop in the hand!"  movie theater popcorn for dinner.  niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.  and yes.  this is a drive-by make-up shot that i had to go take the day after.  oh the pressure of a photo a day.

 

7/25:  got invited to a last minute bouncy birthday.  fun times!

 

7/26:  another g and me day.  tried to finish up the summer productivity list.  lotsa housework.  lotsa errands.  g's really into vienna sausages right now.  the snack of (bass pro) champions!  finally found the video baitshop.  g says it wasn't that great.  not enough fishing.  i scored all three martha punches that i was wanting.  and got all three at 40% off at michaels thanks to bridgette.  it's that barcode thing again.  one barcode from the paper coupon, one from the printed from online coupon, and a joann's coupons because they take competitors' coupons.  score.  score.  and score.

 

7/27:  back to school day.  me to teacher work days and inservices.  g to his old daycare class for 2 more weeks (kinder starts this friday).  yea buddy.  i felt exactly the same way.  painful.  very VERY painful.

 

7/28:  g and pepito.  best buddies.  i think pepito was a dog in a previous life.

7/29:  g is so into babies right now.  he had more fun playing with treyton at dq than he did playing with the twins.

 

7/30:  see.  constantly with the fishing.  constantly.  here he is making fishing lures.  pink worms this day.  normally he refuses to be contaminated by anything remotely resembling pink (i must tell you about the kinder restmat story one of these days), but this day he decided worms were pink and therefore the pink beads were acceptable.

 

7/31:  another last minute bouncy birthday invite.  fun times!  and g has finally conquered his early summer fear of tall slides (no thanks to his father).  and i am done.  and don't look for me to be doing another photo a day month anytime soon because i did not enjoy it.  at all.