Scrapbook Room Clean Up

Between the end of October and Christmas Eve, I pretty much live in the two room suite that serves as my crafting home. The scrapbook room and crop room receive a ton of abuse during this short sixty days. Over the years, I have overhauled the scrapbook room a couple of times in order to make myself more organized space for my crafting.

As January is Organization and Planning month, I took the time to clean up the scrapbook room and do a makeover of the scrapbook closet. I also moved scrapbooking supplies out of the crop room in preparation for this year's planned crop room redo. I plan on officially changing the crop room into my sewing room and redoing both the room and the closet in order to better organize my fabric and supplies. That means that completely separating out the two rooms is the first step I needed to take.

For as organized as my scrapbook room usually is, the end of the year always makes it look like a bomb went off. It was a pretty good disaster when I started working on the clean up last week. I promised to show off the ugly yesterday. So...here's what I started with.

Isn't it pretty?

I like an open concept since I work with the theory that I won't use my supplies unless I can see them. This means that any organizing I do has to either leave things out in the open or put them in labeled containers. Most of this has already been completed in prior reorganizations, but things needed put back in their homes.

I was almost too overwhelmed to get started. But...I fired up the Spotify and started mentally dividing the room.

My first stop was paper organization. I found a link to I Love My Three Sons a while back for organizing paper scraps into magazine holders. I loved the idea since it seemed a lot more manageable than  my scrap drawer.

Cramped drawer that was too small for any 12" scraps.

I had previously sorted my unbound patterned paper into Cropper Hoppers on a rolling cart. I decided that I could condense some of the colors together and use excess Cropper Hoppers to reorganize my scrap storage. Patterned paper was moved to the lower shelf and scraps took up a new home on the top shelf. 

Much better access to scrap paper.

Once I had the paper wrangled, it was time to start working one desk at a time.

With the computer desk, I used a previously empty plastic storage box to make a home for my loose vinyl. I also cleaned out the out of control photo paper drawer and stack my 4x6" photo paper above the printer for easier access.

The west side desk didn't need a lot of overhaul, mostly just a clean up. I did ditch my old homemade light box and instead moved all of my Project Life materials to the top of the plastic drawers. I plan on making a new, sturdier lightbox some time this year. I also emptied and put away my rolling cart, and purged some products that I know I won't use from the desk basket.

The east side desk was the easiest out of the whole room. I just had to clean up the detritus on the counter top. Most of it was projects in progress that got reorganized and relocated to the newly organized closet. I also hung my magnetic strip between the desk and the hanging cabinet for easier storage of some of the metal tins.

Just for fun...a low resolution panoramic photo of the finished scrap room.

The closet was a bit more work. In all honesty, it's still not quite done. I have some shopping to do during the year to streamline a few ideas.

By the way, nothing sucks more than trying to take pictures of a closet...except for maybe working in that closet. I got a bit claustrophobic a couple of times.

The closet has been full of odds and ends for the last few years. A lot of the things are pieces and parts from previous scrap room remodels. I have more plastic tackle boxes than any one person would know what to do with and a nearly equal number of stacking plastic shelves. I relocated all of that to the two top side shelves to get it out of my way.

My primary goal was to reorganize the closet to make storing photos and memorabilia easier. I needed to get it all out of the crop room so that I will have an easier time with that remodel down the line. 

I moved the boxes of my own personal memorabilia to the upper shelf at the west side wall (pictured above). I still need to go through my memorabilia boxes and get things organized within them, but this is a good start.

The east wall (pictured above) will still need some work, but it's on the right track. I plan on using the main shelf for memorabilia storage. I'll be getting more containers to stack in this area, but for now it's holding photo albums that need photos scanned. Once scanning is complete, these go back to my parents' house and the room on the shelf will be freed up for my memorabilia boxes.

The boxes and totes on the ground below the shelf are full of memorabilia. Those will get reorganized into the new boxes later this year as well. I'm excited for it to all look neat and tidy and matching.

The center shelving units took the most work. I cleaned out several random boxes and organized the user's manuals that remained. I relocated all of my empty albums to the right side shelving unit in order free up the left for photo storage. I plan to get more of the black boxes to unify the look. Photos will then be stored on the second through fourth shelves of the right side unit.

The memorabilia currently stored in the baskets on the left side will be moved to the east wall shelf once I get the boxes for that area. The bottom shelf will be used to hold projects in progress. Right now they're kind of in a piled mess, but they too will be stored in memorabilia boxes while I'm putting them together.

Currently I have cards for the date night box that need cut, pet photo albums that need completing and three in progress Project Life albums.

In addition to the empty albums and album kits I'm storing on the right side, I relocated all of my magazines to this area. These are all of my back issues of Creating Keepsakes and other magazines that I use for layout ideas.

And there you have it. A much cleaner scrapbook room and closet. I'll be even happier when I get the storage boxes I need to organize and store the photos and memorabilia. That will be yet another fun organizing project. But...I have some good ideas on how to get started there.

How do you keep your craft supplies organized?

Blog Planner (with Free Printables)

Organization makes me happy. I love having everything all tidied up and pretty. So I knew that if I wanted to make my blog plans for 2014 happen, the first thing I'd have to do is get myself organized.

I started using the Blog Planner a little bit last year, but it didn't quite work the way I wanted it to. I hopped back into Publisher and busted out a new Month-at-a-Glance Sheet and redesigned the way the binder will be used. Let me take you for a tour. Along the way, I'll give you a few freebie files so you can make your own blog planning binder.

The first page in the binder is my To Do List. (We'll come back to the stuff in the pocket later.) I'm using my To Do List to keep track of my progress on blog projects that have been planned, but not scheduled to a specific day. That way I make sure I don't forget about them. Right now, I have designing a new cleaning schedule for our family and reorganizing my meal planning process among the items on that list.

After the to do list is a spiral notebook. I love me a spiral notebook. To be honest, I just love office supplies. Binders, folders, spirals, pens, paper...oh my. My two favorite stores in the world (other than scrapbook supply and fabric stores)? Staples and The Container Store. 

I know I'll end up using this spiral for quite a few plans, but right now it's my planning organizer for the items I want to get done in the house, sorted by room. These are projects that I want to complete and use for blog items. For instance, my list for the scrapbook room includes purging supplies, reorganizing my paper scraps, and sorting my memorabilia. This way I make sure to attack each specific item and document them while I get things completed.

After the spiral comes my favorite part of the binder, my new Month-at-a-Glance Planner.

Month-at-a-Glance Planner

The Month-at-a-Glance has the names of all the planned posts so that I don't forget anything I have specifically in mind for a particular month. It will also help me remember what day I'm planning on having a particular post published. This way I can start getting ahead on blog posts instead of feeling like I have to sit down and write them the day I am planning on putting them up. Much better, because right now I still have a small handful of drafts that have been forgotten along the way.

When I finish a post, I can mark it as scheduled in the bottom check box for that day. On the day of publishing, the planner reminds me to post to all of my social media sites in order to get the most traffic directed to each post as possible.

The Blog Post Planner is the meat of the Blog Planner. Without it, the rest wouldn't work nearly as well.

Blog Post Planner

The Blog Post Planner is a more detailed and individualized version of the Month-at-a-Glance. This is where I can make notes to myself about what I want to specifically include in each post, as well as where I got each idea (in case I used a project I pinned to Pinterest as inspiration).

I used this part of the binder last year, but without the Month-at-a-Glance to keep things organized by the month, all of my posts were jumbled and it made it difficult to find each one easily. Now they're kept in order by date that they will be published. I'll show you how I'm adding in unplanned posts a little later...

A lot of posts have a project and those projects take individual planning. The next item in the binder - the Project Planner - keeps me on track.

Project Planner

I can use the Project Planner to keep track of all the supplies I need to buy and what pictures I should be taking as I make each item. I've had a tendency to get finished with a craft project just to realize that the only picture I have is the end. That makes creating a blog tutorial a LOT more difficult. This way, I can track the fabrication of each project by individualized steps and check them off as I go. Again, I have a spot to note the source of my inspiration. I think it's very important to note your sources. Original creativity is great, but a lot of times the best products come from ideas that grew out of projects made by others. It's only fair to give them a little credit along the way.

Remember that stuff in the front pocket of the binder? Along with scrap paper I add when I write down project ideas without the binder handy, I have a series of pre-printed labels stored up front. These are for my unscheduled posts. Most of the time, these unscheduled posts fall into some particular categories, so I've made up labels to be ready to go for them.

BOTY Labels

I never know when I'll finish a good book that warrants a review. This way, I just write the book and the author down on the label along with the date the post is planned and then stick it into the Blog Post Planner portion of the binder in between the posts that proceed and follow. It helps me remember to schedule the publishing as well as track my social media.

Same goes for posts about food...

Recipe Labels

And scrapbooking posts...

Project Life Labels

Speaking of scrapbooking posts, I use a planner for my Project Life as well. It's stored in the same binder and helps me track what we did on specific days and aids me in pre-planning my layouts.

Want to see more of this and get a free printable to use yourself? Head on over to my post about my Project Life Planner and get yourself a little more organized.

And there you have it! All nice and tidy and ready to roll. I have my Month-at-a-Glance planners all filled out and ready to tackle the monthly themes for 2014. Now it's time to dive in and start planning those individual posts. It should be a good year.

All of the planners I've shown you on this page (with the exception of the Project Life Planner - which is featured on another post) can be printed for free by clicking the links by each corresponding picture. Enjoy!

The planning and organizing for January continues in a few days. I'll be working over the next couple of weeks to reorganize my craft supplies after the mess that came from December's crafting. I'll be sharing my progress with you soon. Happy planning!

It's Time for a Plan...

I've had a couple of down days from crafting and it's been kind of nice to just regroup. But...it's time to get back to work and get this blog back on track. In order to help me do that, I've decided that I need to get a little more organized and come up with a 2014 plan for EPJ.  New year, new EPJ!

First up...it's time for a new logo!

I needed something simpler and brighter. It seems to have more pep.

And now for other changes.

Last year, I didn't post nearly as much as I really wanted to. I let all the other little things that happen in day to day life get overwhelming and then spent a lot of time spinning in circles. My biggest obstacle to getting things up on the blog was often my photos. Typically one of two things happened with craft photos. A lot of the time I had photos of projects taken, but I had so many different things on the camera waiting to be uploaded to the computer and edited that I never got any of them ready to go. Other times, I'd get so caught up in the projects themselves that I forgot to take pictures along the way. When it came to recipes, I'd often be cooking after the sun went down, resulting in no natural light and photos that looked less appealing than I wanted them to. So...new plan.

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be editing all of the project photos I have stored and will start placing them into the blog as drafts. This will get them off of the camera and out of editing as well as help me figure out which projects need new photos and which crafts were made without photo documentation. For my food posts, I'll be focusing on making recipes for the blog on weekend days. This way I can start earlier in the day and take advantage of the light when it's available.

In 2014, I'll be pushing myself to get back into crafting...especially scrapbooking, which has fallen by the wayside over the last year. I'll be playing catch up so my scrapbook pages won't always be super current, but the memories will be getting put together - which is what counts.

I'm going to start out by aiming for 3 posts per week, including one Summary Sunday post each week (I've missed those). During the week, I'll be mixing it up a little. So what should you expect?

Books :  2014 Book of the Year is already underway! I have set a goal of 64 books for the year. I'll be posting reviews of books rating 4 or 5 stars and will occasionally give updates on where I am in the BOTY process. Darian will also be sharing occasional posts with reviews of his 4 and 5 star rated books. I'll be taking part in a couple of read-a-thons to keep myself working towards my BOTY reading goal.

Crafts : I have a bunch of projects to share from the past couple of years and I have some others in the planning stages that I'll be working on as the months go by. My Pinterest boards are bursting with things I want to try. I'll be sharing at least two finished crafts each month. I'll also be working on getting finished projects together to finally post things up on my Etsy shop. I've been stalling long enough. It's time to get some finished product out there.

Food : After a short hiatus, I'm getting back on the meal planning wagon. I'm going to be redesigning my meal planning process as well as sharing some great recipes, including both new and old favorites. I'm going to be working on our family cookbook throughout the year and hope to have some progress to show as the year continues.

Scrapbooking : I've kind of let scrapbooking fall by the wayside over the last year and I've decided that it's time for a revival of sorts. I'll be reorganizing my scrapbook room and then getting back to it, so I should have some finished pages to show for it. I'll be sharing both traditional scrapbook pages and completed pages for Project Life.


I've enjoyed doing some theme posting in the past, so I've decided to implement a focus for each month. Alongside the topics listed above, I'll be focusing on one item during each month and will have at least one post each week spotlighting that particular theme. Here's what's coming up...


January : Well...the month's not over yet! January has been a lot about regrouping for me and it's about new plans and resolutions for a lot of others, so the remainder of January will be focusing on organization. Among the things in store, I'll be getting my blog planner ready, updating my meal plan, reorganizing the scrapbook room, making plans for my family recipe book, and drawing up the plans for the redecoration of my sewing/craft room. Organizing and planning is bound to run over into February, but I'll get a big jump start before month's end.

February : February is the month of love. My parents will be celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary and Collin and I will be celebrating our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. I'll be sharing some of my favorite memories of my parents and my family, our engagement and wedding photos, our love story - including the story of our wedding day, and some of the DIY crafts I completed for our wedding.

March : March is all things spring. It will be time for spring break and spring cleaning. I'll be undertaking the sewing/craft room reorganization and tackle some other house projects to share. I'll also be doing some spring themed crafts to help balance out our holiday decor stash and keep it all from being just Halloween and Christmas.

April : April is the A-to-Z Challenge. It's "26 posts on 26 days of April, with Sundays off for good behavior". I'll still be posting Summary Sundays during the month, but the rest of the days will be posts themed by sequential letters of the alphabet. It could get a little crazy.

May : May is the first of two book months. Bout-of-Books 10 Read-a-Thon runs from May 12th to May 18th. I'll be doing some serious reading, posting some book reviews, undertaking reading challenges, and seeing if I can keep up with my 2014 BOTY goals. I'll do my best to get Darian involved since he seemed to have a good time with it last year.

June : June is my Pinterest challenge month. I'll be picking projects from my Pinterest boards and actually accomplishing them! Recipes made for the blog and books read for reviews will come from things I've pinned.

July : In July, it's time for vacation! We'll be talking all things travel. I'll be sharing some favorite family vacation memories and showing you how I organize my vacation memorabilia, as well as posting some complete vacation scrapbooking from over the years.

August : August is reading month number 2! The month will be filled with book reviews and updates on my 2014 BOTY goals. Bout-of-Books 11 Read-a-Thon runs from August 18th to August 24th. It's back to reading for a solid week with daily updates and challenges.

September : September is all about scrapbooking. It's time to hit the books...scrapbooks, that is. I'll be sharing how I organize my supplies and photos, what products I like best, where I like to shop for my scrap stash, and of course showing off some scrapbook pages (including Project Life). I'll be working a lot on mini-albums during the year and hope to have a couple to share.

October : If you've been around the blog long enough, you know that October is our favorite month of the year around here. I'll be posting our Halloween Pumpkin Project plans, sharing pumpkin carving progress and debuting the final results on Halloween night.

November : It's time for NaNoWriMo. November is National Novel Writing Month. I'll be working on writing something every day and showcasing a few tidbits here and there on the blog. I'll also be starting the 2014 Christmas Present Project Countdown and checking off those presents as I finish.

December : I'll be crafting up a storm in preparation for Christmas, but there will still be blogging! It will be time for some year end wrap up posts, including how things went for my goals this year and how the bracket is looking for the 2014 Book of the Year. I'll be sharing some ideas for the following year as well as keeping up with the Christmas Present Project Countdown.


Well...that should be enough to keep me busy! I may be adding a few challenges to the schedule here and there to keep things interesting, but it's good to have some goals set out. I'm looking to a fun and productive 2014 here at Erratic Project Junkie. I hope you'll join me!

Family Monogram Board

This weekend Collin & I went to the wedding for my new hygienist and her husband. (For those of you who don't know...I'm a dentist. It's not like she's just the girl who cleans my teeth every six months. She's an employee.) It was a nice and very cute outdoor ceremony and reception. We had a great time and then had some good fun afterwards with the other girls from my office, just hanging out at Brewforia. Not from the area? Brewforia is AWESOME. It's like a mini-mart of beer. That's it. Just walls upon walls of different kinds, primarily microbrews...which is fantastic!

Anyway...diverging from my topic a little there...I decided that I was going to make Annie's present. I was torn between two items that I'd seen on Pinterest, but ended up making the decision that I didn't feel like sewing. So instead, I made her a family monogram board. I got the idea from a Pinterest link that is now apparently defunct, so I can't tell you what blog the idea originally came from. I'm certain that the gal who made that one (or guy...) used some adhesive vinyl. But...I don't have any vinyl of current, so I decided to paint it instead.

I started with a piece of wood that was actually a leftover shelf from my desk at the office. I've owned that desk for nearly 10 years and it was still in the plastic wrap! I painted it black with regular ol' acryllic paint. I used Asphalt from Making Memories.

Source

I LOVE this paint! I originally got it at CKU in a class with Ali Edwards. The class was just as amazing as the paint...okay...maybe more amazing than the paint. Side note - I would LOVE to take more classes with her. She's my favorite.

Me (apparently flushed from excitement) with scrapbook queen Ali Edwards.

Ok...back to the project. Wow. That was a tangent. So... After I got the board all painted black and dried, I cut myself out a large monogram "P" and traced it onto the board (I'll explain how I cut it out in a minute...no...I didn't use scissors.) And FYI...it took me FOREVER to pick the fonts I ended up using in the project. I don't recall the font for the "P" monogram, but I'll share the others with you as we go.

After that, I consulted my paint swatches and decided on a Delta Ceramcoat Rain Grey. I decided that monotone colors would probably be best so that matching to her decor would not be difficult. I'll admit...the painting took me a little bit and there may have been some cursing. I learned about halfway through that using the negative aspect of the cutout as a mask actually worked better. Then I just painted over the top of it and let it dry.

The next day it was down to business. From here forward, I could not have managed this project without my Pazzle. I've talked about it before, but it is just about the love of my life. So we're going to take a slight detour for me to sing its praises.

Why yes...that IS my photo rag quilt in the back ground...

I got the Pazzle for Christmas back in 2009 from Collin's awesome mom, Carole. I had been wanting one for just about forever. The Pazzle is a die cutting machine manufactured just a few miles away in Kuna, Idaho. It's a tiny little company, but man do they make an awesome product. It's like a Cricut on steroids.

The Pazzle can cut out words using any font on your computer as well as the built in fonts. You can pull clip art from your files or from the internet and it will cut that too. You can pretty much cut just about anything. They do have additional software that you can buy to expand your home library of clip art, but I've never had to add anything to mine. It's been fantastic.

The most common question I get about it is...can it cut vinyl? Yep. By darned, it sure can. I've ran cardstock, regular paper, vellum and transparency through this as well. I love it.

So...back to the project, again...I opened my Pazzles software and busted out a plan. I used Scriptina font for their last name, Enchanted Prairie Dog for their first names, Bamberg for the date, and Honey Script for the phrase. I am a font junkie. I literally have a binder with all of my fonts individually listed along with "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." That way, I just flip through and find the one I want. I know...neurotic. Welcome to the way I operate.

Once I had it all lined up, I slid some cardstock into the Pazzle and let it do it's thing. I popped out all the positive lettering and ditched it. I then used some K & Company WackyTac Repositionable Adhesive to turn the entire negative into a Post-It note. Seriously. That stuff is awesome. I got it from QVC a few years back. I'd love to tell you where you could buy it, but apparently they don't make it in the liquid anymore. Incredibly sad.

I took my uber awesome sticky note and lined it up over the board. Once it was adhered, I started painting. There were a few spots where the Pazzle had a little trouble, or I hadn't punched out the positive very well, but I just kept on going. I filled everything in with a total of 2-3 coats. After that, I walked away and let it dry over night.

The next morning I peeled off my sticky note and was pleasantly surprised at how well everything turned out. I had to touch up a few spots and freehand a couple of letters, but overall...awesome. It worked extremely well. 

I liked this project so much that I just might have to make one for my own house. (By the way, Annie says she likes it too.)

This post is part of a series on Creative Crafting...see the other posts and projects here.

Project Life Week 3: This Year Needs to Stop Going By So Fast

I have been in a serious funk lately. Scrapbooking has totally not been my thing. I've been avoiding Project Life for weeks. The only thing I have done is I've kept up on my Project Life Planner. Thank goodness.

So we're going to take a little trip down (recent) memory lane. Yup. That's right. Moving right along, here comes week 3 of Project Life 2012. I am seriously rolling my eyes at this right now. Just pathetic. January? Really? Embarrassing.

Anyway...

It was a dry, dry winter around here. The temperatures were really warm and we weren't getting any snow. In fact, our first snow of the season fell in the 3rd week of January. It was strange.

And...of course it snowed while Collin was out of town at the mine, leaving me with the little 2WD Ranger. I had to move the heavy sandbags into the back of the truck to try and get some weight for traction. It doesn't do so hot on icy roads.

On the upside, I got some pictures of the snow before it quickly melted the next day. And that was it...our brief glimpse of winter. Not much snow after that.

We celebrated Miss K's second birthday and I took the pictures at the party so that Patti could actually enjoy herself. Collin was his usual goofy self, wearing the Minnie ears like a good sport.It was really fun. K is so cute with her little friends.  It's been really fun watching her grow up. She's getting to be such a big girl. She calls me Auntie now...asking Patti if it's me on the phone when I send her a text. So cute. I love it.

My fancy recumbent bike showed up and Collin put it together for me. The rheumatologist told me to get one and suggested that I bike at least 10 minutes (preferably 15-20) per day five days a week. She says that it will get the neurotransmitters flowing and may help me get more energy and feel less pain. I honestly thought it was bunk...but guess what? It really does work. I can tell that I do better when I bike. Less fatigue, less pain. It's kind of nice.

I've taken to going downstairs with my iPhone or latest book and reading or playing games for 10-15 minutes while I bike (I do occasionally do 20 minutes). I need to be better about it though...I typically only get it accomplished around three times a week. It's a work in progress. Maybe it can help me get out of this funk. I need to be productive again. All of these partially finished projects floating around are driving me crazy!

Summary Sunday: Sawdust Edition

I need more weekend days. I love them. Don't you? I can lay around for a few hours and still feel like I get a ton of stuff done in a day. It's fantastic.

So this week had some pretty decent ups and downs. Collin's birthday was Thursday and we had a nice sushi dinner and beer with friends on Friday night. But the best thing of the week? You're going to be so jealous... Look what showed up in the mail!!

I am really, really excited. You'd think I was going to Disneyland. Not only do I have this autographed bookplate, my copy of Jenny Lawson's (AKA The Bloggess) book should be arriving next week. I can't WAIT!

Unfortunately...the entire week wasn't all sunshine and unicorns. Darian is still being an issue. His teacher sends the students home every day with an "agenda" that tells what they did during the day and what work needs to be done. Since we'd been having issues with him selectively writing things down, he has been having his agenda checked and signed by the teacher daily. 

I had noticed some erasing earlier this week and questioned him on it...to which he replied, "Oh, I just wrote it down wrong." I let it pass (because I am obviously a gullible idiot). Friday however, I noticed more of this erasing. I was already suspicious since he had miraculously only had one homework assignment all week. I chalked some of it up to his ISAT testing on Monday and an outdoors all-day project "Wagons Ho!" on Wednesday. This time though...I could see "Assignment 83" through the erasing in the math section. Funny...he did Assignment 81 earlier in the week... 

Yup, you guessed it. He was writing everything down as instructed, getting the signature of his teacher and then erasing what needed to be done. The only reason he did his earlier math assignment is because she had drawn an arrow with "make sure this is finished" next to the line. He was smart enough to know he couldn't fudge that one. Even better...I opened his math notebook to find that he had completed nearly half the assignment and then erased it. Seriously?!!? When I asked him how many problems he would've had left if he used that erasing time to do the assignment instead his answer was, "One or Two." Ugh. *facepalm*

So...I took him back over to the school on Friday and had the office staff open the classroom so that we could retrieve the work he "didn't feel like doing". Nice try, kiddo.

I'm going in to talk to his teacher in the morning. From now on he will be writing his agenda in pen. Oh...and what has he been doing in school instead of his work? Reading, of course. I'm glad that he enjoys reading, but this is getting ridiculous. I found three library books in his desk and one in his backpack. So...I will also be visiting the librarian to strip him of his library privileges. Reading for coursework. That's it. 

Adventures in parenting are so fun...

Okay...let's get back to the happy stuff...I'd like to keep some hair attached to my head rather than pulling it all out.

Posts I Posted: Apparently Darian isn't the only one who likes reading. I managed to put out a slew of book review posts this week. I talked about my two newest Goodreads wins: A Gift for My Sister and Elza's Kitchen. I also hijacked one of Patti's Goodreads wins and reviewed the YA novel, Eight Keys. And...lest you think reading is all I do as well...I was oh so kind as to give you Week 2 of Project Life.

Books I Read: With all those reviews you'd think I'd be caught up. Nope. I am currently one book behind my goal on Goodreads and I have two books that I've finished that I still need to review. Those finished books? Both excellent reads : Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Projects I Finished: Because I am SOOO behind on Project Life, I finally sat down and completed two weeks' worth of journaling. Yup...that's right...two. So now I'm only six weeks behind. Oy. I see a lot of journaling in my future. 

Since I've been avoiding journaling for about the last 36 hours, I've been spending time working on the Big Secret Project of the year. I have to call it that because I'm totally going to blow it here in the next couple of weeks and show you what I'm making. I'm a braggart like that. But I have managed to dismantle some pieces that needed removal and I'm nearly done with sanding. That's right, sanding. I'm using some serious power tools for this project. (I'm a little scared...) I am covered in a fine layer of dust and learned that sometimes safety rules are helpful...like say wearing glasses and a mask while sanding. Sawdust under contacts and in the lungs is not so fun...

Recipes I Tried: I made Easter dinner last weekend and I was totally not wanting to go buy a ham. Instead, I busted out some pork tenderloin from the freezer and made my very own "Crack Bacon" tenderloin. It was quite yummy. A little infusing of the brown sugar/honey/pepper mixture and I think we'll have a very strong winner.

Phew! Not bad for bouncing back from inactivity! I think the rest of this afternoon might be spent reading and otherwise avoiding journaling...I'm getting so good at it.

Project Life Week 2 - Because I'm Always a Few Steps Behind

Because I'm just that awesome, you're getting a nice pile of posts this week. (Really I'm just trying to make up for the fact that I totally crapped out for the last two weeks.)

So...I think I'm going to post some Project Life. Hey...it's April...maybe we should get on with it and post week two. Ugh. I'm seriously lame at keeping up with posting this stuff. Humor me.

I just can't tell you how much I love this system. It makes it really easy to just slide things in and move on. Realistically, I could probably get away with doing a lot less journaling than I do, but as usual...I really like to make sure that someone from the outside would be able to understand why I have chosen the pictures I use and what they mean. So...the downside is that I do a lot of journaling...which you know I hate. Hence the reason I am now currently two months behind on my journaling...ouch. I need to step on it. I guess I know what I'm doing when I finish this post.

Collin began working as an on-scene medic up at a mine about five hours from home last November. He was pulling one seven day shift a month. This was a big change for our family - we're used to being able to see each other every day. Even when Collin is on a 24 hour ambulance shift we usually meet up for a meal or to say hi. At very least we have a phone call. But...the mine is different. There is no cell reception up there and the crazy snow storms make their internet connection very iffy. We typically manage a 10 minute conversation per day at most. At this point in the year we were using Skype, but with our new(ish) iPhones we're now able to use FaceTime as well.

If you've been reading my posts for the past few months then you know I've been dealing with pain of an unknown origin. During the second week in January, I managed to grab an open slot at the rheumatologist's office by luck. I was originally scheduled for the middle of March, but I was having an intense amount of pain and called to see if there was anything earlier. I got in three days later. Crazy enough, I got diagnosed one week after my original appointment date. If I had waited until that date it would've been summer by the time I had any answers. I'm very grateful that I was able to speed up the process.

Oh, how I miss the good old days. Darian came home with his first B on a report card in January. We were hoping that it would help him realize the implications of being lazy and not doing his homework...of course, that hope was dashed this last quarter. Instead, he came home with a B and two C's. Ugh. Patience is a virtue...right?

Darian was also sick this week...an oddity for the kid who had perfect attendance last year. Lucky me...I ended up catching it from him the next week...

And Saturday was my reward for the long week without Collin. Darian was with his mom so I spent some time with Owen & Patti. We went out to take pictures for K's 2nd birthday. She is always so darned cute. She has a cheese face that is hilarious. Afterwards, Patti treated me to a pedicure. It was awesome. And look how pretty my icky toes turned out. Patti gave me crap for picking a "safe" color. Apparently I need to be more adventurous.

And there you have it. Week two. Yay! I am so embarrassed that I am still working on February. Back to work I go...