Three A Day

I loved all of the layouts I did last weekend on my retreat. There's something about being in a room full of creative women that sparks my artistic side. I promised friends that I would post layouts when I got back, but there's so many of them that I'll give you a break and only post three a day. Like little well-balanced meals.

Our family at Easter. Scenic Route is one of my very favorite paper companies and you'll see a lot of their stuff on my pages.

Ben and Claire playing on the boat on our cruise to Alaska. The title letters are acrylic paint on my Heidi Swapp lemonade stand foam letter stamps.

Some shots I got of the kids last spring when we were out flying kites. And yes, I punched all those holes for brads, and it wasn't even that big of a deal!

If you know me at all, you know that I hate it when things aren't perfect. For some reason, this blog is not accepting my spacing on my posts. Sometimes the text will be right under the picture and sometimes it will give me line breaks. And I tried to break this paragraph, but it's having none of it. So I've got this really nice run-on paragraph. Ugh! But I'm going with it.

Happy Tuesday!

Home Again, Home Again

I'm back from my scrapbooking retreat in the wilds of Idaho. I met so many fun new people and really enjoyed a full weekend of no responsibilities. I completed 24 12x12 layouts, 4 9x9 layouts, and an 8x8 alphabet book of Ben's baby pictures. Plus I got to hang with my friend Erin for the weekend. And I suffered not one paper cut or glue misfortune. Thanks to the gals at Crop Paper Scissors for putting on this fantastic event and putting up with all 60 of us!

Here's the Palouse Divide Lodge, formerly known as North/South Ski Bowl. The ski area closed in 1995 and the new owners have done a great job in creating this retreat and conference center.

Here's all 60 of us girls posed for our group shot in front of the pond.

These are the gals from our cabin. I got to know them fairly well this weekend and I've never laughed so much in my life. Great people!

And my friend Erin and me. She's really special to me and so amazingly creative!

I am looking forward to posting my layouts over the next few weeks, but today I'm concentrating on getting my brownie troop to Sunnyside Park this afternoon to make s'mores.

Retreating

I am leaving with my friend Erin today for 72 hours of creative fun at the Palouse Divide Lodge in the Clearwater National Forest of Idaho. I have planned forty layouts plus a mini-book, and I packed some other fun projects to play with while I'm there. I am so looking forward to this time away. Thanks to Crop Paper Scissors in Lewiston for planning this shindig.

The reason I get to leave my home and family for four days is because of Mark. He works so hard to support me in my creative madness and this time is no exception. He'll be taking care of the kids this weekend in lieu of going on a week-long backpacking trip with his friends. So I want to take this opportunity to praise him a little and thank him for all the hard work he does to make life easier for me and the kids.

So here's to my bee sprayin', wood haulin', log splittin', roof nailin', gutter cleanin', tree trimmin', lawn mowin', antennae reparin', dish washin', roto-tillin', swingset buildin', kid bathin', wife lovin' man. I love you. My life would not be fun without you in it. Thank you.

Poetry For Your Wednesday

The yellow jackets and paper wasps are incessant on our farm. Mark has spent many hours hunting and spraying them and even with all of his effort it is sometimes impossible to sit on our porch in the heat of the day. Ben is terrified of being stung, so in an effort to give his some control we got this bug zapper for him before we went camping this summer. I must say I'm a little ashamed of the pleasure I have derived from killing them.

As much as I'm a lover

of nature, I cannot abide

the attention of this yellow jacket.

The incessant humming drowns out

the song of the birds

and I do not want to share

my coffee with anyone.

I am here looking for solitude.

But who is the intruder really?

Me, with my decadently scented

beverage, my cork-soled shoes full of smells

of faraway. I am enticing.

I have learned to live

with bees this summer. I give them

a wide berth and a flick of my hand.

I soothe my terrified children.

I put bubbles in my bird bath and hope

for death. Just because I fear the sting.

Happy Birthday(s)

Today is my brother Ray's birthday (he's the one on the right). He's turning the ripe old age of 22 today. Happy Birthday Ray!

It is also the birthday of my brother-in-law John. I won't tell you how old he's turning, but suffice it to say he's even riper. Happy Birthday John!

I woke up thinking about these two and then I turned on NPR and was immediately reminded that this is our country's sixth anniversary since 9/11. Claire was 2 years old, Ben wasn't around yet, we were living in a different house where we had satellite television and I could watch the horror unfold right before my very eyes. Mark and I both got very choked up this morning trying to explain to Claire what had happened on that day. You have to be very careful when you're talking to the kids about "bad" people because it can lead to a lot of apprehension, but I think it's an important historical fact of our life as Americans of which she should certainly be aware.

So I'll be mourning along with the rest of the country today, but I'll also be thinking about these two great guys who are luckily still in my life. Happy Birthday Ray and John!

Coincidences

They've been on my mind because some really "coincidental" things have been happening to me in an almost Truman-esque way lately. For example, I'm driving down the road and a song is playing that I like. I'm thinking how I downloaded that song recently and that leads me to think about the other songs on that CD. I'm thinking I really haven't heard U2's "Beautiful Day" in a while and it would be oh so nice. Then it comes on the radio next. No shit. Gave me goose bumps.

Then, last March Mark was honored as a patent recipient at a WSU banquet. We sat at a table with some other folks and met a couple who had just moved here from Kansas. Had a great time and went on our merry way. Last week as I was going through some of my art stuff, I found the pictures and ephemera from that event and decided to scrapbook it. I spent some time looking at the seating cards and Mark's name in the brochure and about the people we met and what we ate. The very next day I met the woman from Kansas again at an impromtu women's meeting I had just that morning decided to attend!!

I am a fairly grounded person. Religion and the metaphysical world don't do much for me. But stuff like that sure makes me think. About life. And what's out there that we know nothing about. Either I am an extremely powerful and important person in this universe, or it's all just a coincidence.

A little brain fodder for the Monday morning.

Good Time Being Had By All

We've been having some fun around here for the last week or so. I just spent a good portion of the weekend cleaning up from an amazing dust storm that hit us recently. We were all so excited to watch the storm coming in we didn't realize we'd left all the windows open. What's more, we had just shampooed the carpet a couple of hours before! Nice mess, lots of wiping down and sweeping up, but Mark got some great photos.

And the kids headed back to school. (Here she breathes a big sigh of relief and sheds a tear of sadness.)

Claire is starting grade 3. I love this picture because of her bicycle in the foreground. It's like she's leaving the fun and carefree summer behind and heading out for new adventures.

Here's Ben checking out his cubby at preschool. Of the eight students in his class, six of them are boys and four of those are age 5. Looks like it's gonna be a good year.

Each Labor Day weekend my inlaws host what has become fondly referred to by family members as "Water World" at their house on the Columbia River. We float and boat and swim and ski and eat and drink for many days.

Nephew Brian is rockin' on his wakeboard these days.

Nephew Kevin spent a lot of time and effort perfecting his skiing technique.

Claire and Brian and Ben had a blast behind towed behind the boat, and althoug Claire at first pouted and screamed that we were going too fast, I think she relaxed and enjoyed the ride after Mark ignored her!

Looking forward to the new routine and some much-awaited creative time.