Happy Leap Day!!!

Today I:

~got some help
~had breakfast with my Granny and my kids
~watched the kids go nuts on McDonald's playground
~took Little Man to and from preschool
~finished the last Harry Potter book (again)
~grocery shopped while the kids played in Playland
~had a great talk with my mom
~had another great talk with my husband
~served dessert first tonight in honor of Leap Day

It's been a pretty good once-every-four-years day!

How'd your day go? :)

Punky Sprouts & Crafter's Workshop

This month we Punky girls got to work with some fun Crafter's Workshop templates! I love these things and already had a few in my stash. My album is titled Goals 2012 and it's a visual reminder of some of the things I'd like to accomplish this year. I used a Rebel Sprout album along with some Lil Lacey Blooms and the new Punky Twine! The paper and chipboard are from Crate Paper's Paper Heart collection.

One of my most important goals is 12 dates with my husband. We had a rough year last year and it just brought home to me how he is truly the rock in my life. I used the Numerals template on the right page for my goal of completing the online 52 Weeks to Organize Your Home Challenge.

Next up is to clean out our shop. I've kind of taken it over the last year and I'm pretty sure Andrew wants it back. Hee! I'd also like to compete in a 10K race this year. And, what kind of a yearly resolution list would this be without a weight loss goal? 150 lbs is my goal and I'm hoping this is the year to get there. I paired it with a more important goal, just to keep things in perspective. This year I will continue to heal from PTSD.

I've also got some scrappy goals in here. One of which is Project Life. The everyday is so precious and so easily forgotten and this is a way for me to keep it close. I used my Circus Banners template to cut out the label shape on this page. I used the same template on the next page and cut out some actual banner shapes, covered them with Glossy Accents and added them to that page. I also used the Doodle Flower template I already owned as a mask on the corners of this canvas page. My goal is to get my scraproom cleaned up so I can create more!

Another household goal, I'd like to paint my kitchen. And finally, my last goal is to get both a layout and a mini album published.

On the back cover I'll revisit it in 2013 and write a bit about how I did.
Do you have any ongoing goals or resolutions for this year? Are you making progress or have you abanded or altered any of them? I have to admit, I'm doing much better on some than I am on others! LOL!

Project Life-Week 7!

Here it is, Week 7. And, I got it posted before Week 8 was over! Hee! I'm on a roll, folks!
Valentine's Day was a big part of this week. We had a special breakfast and then lunch with family and a trip to Dollar Tree with the Gran so she could get the kids a gift or two. Mickey and I also got started on his Valentines for class.

I used two inserts this week. The first, ala Ali Edwards, is a baseball card page protector for Little Man's Valentines that he got from his classmates.

Most of them fit really well and only the top row seems to want to escape so I sealed the top with washi tape and a few staples. Since I got my new Project Life stuff yesterday, I was able to use this new sized insert, Design G. In hopes that it would show up in time, I took quite a few vertically oriented shots. We've got Andrew's Valentine gift from us, scenes from Mickey's preschool party, Granny's house, some large Valentines that didn't fit in the baseball card sleeves and Mickey's completed Valentines.

On the backside we've got more preschool, Aud's self portrait, Mickey getting a snack at Costco, Aud and I at preschool, and the other reason that our week was so busy...Audrey's getting potty trained! She did such a good job that she earned her toy (new dolls for her dollhouse) right away!

On the last page we've got more preschool work jobs and the official news that the name we suggested for the donkey was the one that got the most votes! His name is Patches!!! Andrew came home sick from work one day and he and Aud fell asleep. Him on the bed and her in the living room. Hee! I got my first flower of the year from Little Man, a shot of our Valentine's decor and one more Valentines Day photo that didn't fit up front...popcorn and candy hearts for a special dessert. Yum!

I went through and switched out my page protectors for the Design A ones and I really like them. The inserts will all stay the same. Along with Design A and Design G, I also got a box of the plain grid cards. I tend to use those the most under my Instagram pics so I'll get lots of use out of them.

Project Life-Week 6!

Whew! What a week!
Mickey made me a trial run of a Valentine, Audrey got her first ear infection, and then of course, preschool.

This top piece was a sticker matching sheet that Mickey did all on his own. He and I also played a rousing game of Go Fish and Aud pretended to play along. She also got her very own Princess underwear this week!

Then, there was the big skunk debacle! We were all hanging out in the master bedroom, Andrew and Mickey were playing a game and Aud was still a sickie and resting on Andrew. I let Lilly out one last time before we put her up for the night and after a bit she came racing back into the house...along with an atrocious skunk smell! She ran once around the room and then into her crate before we were able to kick her out. A friend (thanks, Nicole!) hooked me up with a great skunk removal recipe(1 quart 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda and a tablespoon of dish soap). I mixed it up and Andrew cleaned the dog. Then I tried to get the smell out of the room. I wasn't able to that night and so we slept in the living room. Carpet powder, air freshener, candles and dryer sheets helped but it wasn't until I tried bowls of apple cider vinegar that the smell dissipated enough for us to comfortably enter our bedroom again.

In other household events, I cooked up some beef (more on that in a bit) and made my third batch of laundry soap. I use the Duggar family recipe and love how cheap it is! It also works well for HE machines because it's low sudsing.

And, the beef! I bought 40 pounds of ground beef and picked it up on Friday. It's 93/7 lean for waaaaay cheaper than I can get at my local store. I make meatloaf with some of it and brown up the rest and then freeze it. It's a lot of work but it makes the next few months of dinners much easier. Mickey had someone from a dentist office come to his preschool and speak. When I picked him up I asked him about it and he said that she told them about things that are good and bad for his teeth. I asked him, "Oh, what's good for your teeth?". His response, "It's a long story.".

In other preschool news, the new donkey needed naming. We chose the name Patches and put it in the box with all the other names and then voted on it later in the week. I registered for the 5K Shamrock Run and Andrew mowed the lawn for the first time this year.

All in all, it was a super busy week and Week 7 was just as packed! I'm hoping to have it ready to post tomorrow because...I've got a Punky Sprouts project scheduled to post on Friday! Yay!!!

October Afternoon Card

Just popping by to share a quick card I made for A Walk Down Memory Lane.

I use their Farmhouse line to whip up this little card.

I'll be back tomorrow with Project Life Week 6 and 7 will come the day after that. They were busy ones!

Project Life-Week 5!

This week definitely had it's ups and downs for us. First, some ups. We had dinner with my dad on Tuesday, preschool work jobs for Mickey, Aud and the sand table at preschool, Mickey and the "bideo games" at the gym, and a shot of this week's flowers, daisies!


And, now the down. This week was a sad one for us. We had our 15 year old Whippet, Devo, put down. The kids were upset and it was especially hard on Andrew. Devo was his first real pet and Andrew had gotten him when he was just 8 weeks old. That was on Monday. I left the journaling card blank and hopefully, Andrew will write something on it. If not, I'll fill it in.
Andrew left on a business trip on Wednesday. To help keep the kids mind off of that and Devo, I had Lamont bring his two youngest over for dinner. They also came over on Sunday for Super Bowl. We had basketball, chalk drawing, and an impromptu performance by the kids. It was a good day.
Aud colored this heart at the gym and told the teacher what to write. "To Mom a Dad-I love kisses and color. A big hug. -Love Audrey." Hee! I found these 5x7 photo holders at a garage sale a few summers back and trimmed her coloring to fit. I then just had to punch holes with my crop-a-dile and it was a perfect fit!
On the back, there's a little info about how Aud's my little sidekick when Mickey's at preschool and the Costco receipt with her shape of choice for this week, a rectangle! Finally, more highlights from our week. Stamp sorting, outside time (!), a haircut, car washing, a trip to Goodwill and more preschool.

This kids just love this album! Whenever I finish a week, they want to look at the new week and then flip back through the rest of the album. Win!

I hope you had a great week with more ups than downs!

I Have PTSD

I was officially diagnosed in early January.

I started realizing how bad I was feeling in September. I had a two week period where I barely got out of bed. The minimum of groceries purchased, essential laundry done and Mickey taken to school was all I could accomplish. I'd had days like that before but that's all it was, a day. I still wasn't sleeping through the night and would wake up at least once and have to check on the kids before being able to get back to sleep. My sleeping finally got better when we got Lilly. Having her crate next to my side of the bed meant that I could finally sleep through the night.

In October, I worked hard on just trying to feel more like myself but realized it wasn't working. I joined our local gym in November to see if I could work out enough so that endorphins could counteract what I was starting to see as a real need for help.

I went almost every weekday. It didn't help.

In late December I had a yearly check up with my doctor and told him of my issues. Depression, extreme negative feelings, panic attacks while driving and multiple flashbacks to my son's accident everyday. I was really afraid to admit these problems to him. Because while I was struggling, I was also doing really well at hiding it from people. I felt like acknowledging my problems would make them real. That having these problems meant that I was a weak person.

My doctor was wonderful and very understanding and prescribed some anti-anxiety meds and recommended a therapist for me to see. I started the meds right away and told my husband and my mom about what was going on with me. A week or two later I also confided in a dear friend who helped me get up the courage to see the therapist.

I am so glad I did. She confirmed that I had PTSD and we worked on some strategies to help me deal with my flash backs. Most of my other symptoms had been helped by my medication but the flashbacks weren't.

It has felt so good to get help and get a handle on my issues. While I still think about Mickey's accident daily, it no longer traps me. I've only had one bad flashback since I started with my therapist and it happened the night we put our 15 year old dog, Devo, down. That flashback was awful. It made me realize that I'd been dealing with at least a half dozen of those horrific visions every day. It was no wonder I'd been struggling.

It's now been a month since my diagnosis and I'm doing so much better! Parts of my life that have just been neglected are getting some much needed attention. Important things like my relationship with my husband and unimportant things like the hot mess that my craft room has become.

I'm putting this out there just in case there is someone else who is struggling. Someone else who feels like they should be able to "just snap out of it". Someone else who feels worse just knowing that they haven't been able to.

Get help. Talk to a friend, a family member, your doctor...someone. You are not weak, you are not bad. You just need to get help.

Trust me. :)

Project Life-Week 4!

Yay! Finished up my last little bit of journaling on Week 4! This is my first week where I used all aqua colors and of course, I love it!

This week had Hungry Hungry Hippos, Pajama Day at preschool, flowers, a mini photo shoot for Aud and work jobs at preschool.

This week was the one I finally tackled my scrap room! It's quite literally been a disaster and I don't think that me having PTSD is unrelated. The room pretty much reflected my mind. A big mess that's hard to get out of and hard to get anything accomplished in. It feels good to start to get things in order!

The back side of the insert documents our trip to IKEA and the scraproom purchase we made there. The kids helped me put it together and Mickey wore his safety vest while doing it! Hee!

A trip to Costco, pizza with family, a much needed scrappy break with girlfriends, another preschool work job and getting in some last shots of our beloved Devo.

This week I had more big camera pics than iPhone shots. I've noticed that I tend to bounce back and forth between the two. Also, I really like having the insert have a theme if possible. Once it was a weather theme, this time a scrap room reorg theme. :)

I'm getting really excited for the Design A pages. They should be in stock around the middle of the month. That two day shipping is going to be awe...wait for it...some!!!

Valentine's Day Banner!

I've seen this cute little heart banner all over the internet and had to have a go at it. I made it the same way as everyone else but the way I adhered them together was a little different. Here's how I made mine!

First up, cut 20 1″x6″ strips from your chosen paper. I used the scrumptious Head Over Heels line by Lily Bee.


Next, put two of the strips face to face and staple them together on one end.

Now, fold the strips away from each other making a heart shape, and staple the other end.

Continue doing this with the rest of the strips until you have ten hearts. Now, staple them together on the backside of the hearts using the Tiny Attacher so that the staples don’t show as much.

And that’s it! Now your banner is ready to hang!

I hope you enjoyed this! Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life-Week 3!

Still lovin' PL! I especially love how easy it is to fit in my schedule. I got a little behind with putting my layouts together because of life but it was all right there ready for me to assemble.

A week with homemade mac-n-cheese, Battleship, self-enforced bedtimes and a huge scrappy prize!


This week got an insert as well. I used it to focus on our weather this week as it was crazy!

Lots of rain turned into to tons of flooding in our area! Our road even flooded!

Finally, we've got drawings from nieces, a new desk for Aud, snuggling with Lilly, a much appreciated helper, and more Battleship!
I've got week 4 all layed out just waiting to journal on.
Stay tuned! :)

Punky Sprouts Color Challenge!

Hey guys, Punky Sprouts is starting a monthly challenge on their blog!

On the 1st of each month, a new challenge will be posted and you will have until the end of the month to complete it! The Punky Sprouts DT will pick a winner and that person will receive an assortment of Punky Sprouts Embellishments! Who wouldn't love that?

The rules are simple...post your entry on your blog, with a link back to the Punky Sprouts blog. Then post your link in the comments section of this post! Until we get a website up where you can easily purchase Punky product, you do not have to use Punky Sprouts product in your entry, although you can if you have it! :) Entries are due by midnight PST on the last day of the month.

The first challenge is a color challenge! Use these four colors as the main colors on any kind of project you like!

I created this frame for Andrew for Valentine's Day. Hopefully it's not too mushy or girly for him! ;)

See the ruffle around the heart and the little hearts that the letter stickers are on? Those are all made with the new Punky Sprouts Lil' Lacy Blossoms. They are these gorgeous paper doilies!!! The centers aren't solid, they have a sheer design and they are just adorable!

I hope you play along! :)

AWDML February Featured Manufacturer!

It's February and that means, a new Featured Manufacturer at A Walk Down Memory Lane!

This month the scrapbooking Featured Manufacturer is Nikki Sivils! I haven't scrapped with her lines before and I had a lot of fun with it! I picked out a very Oregon themed line, It's Raining, It's Pouring! Hee!

Here are some of the goodies I made with it!

Remember, all Nikkis Sivils (and Inky Antics) are 25% off this month! Happy shopping!