I can not believe how much snow we are getting this year!  Today when I picked the kids up from school it was still coming down and as I type this at almost 9pm it is still coming down.  My son is praying for a snow day (not sure why because we live close enough that we walk and he still goes) but I am hopeful it will stop soon and the roads will be cleaned up by morning.

Did I mention that I am going to Florida in about 2 weeks - I will see about bringing some nice weather back with me

Happy Snow Day to all who get one tomorrow!

I grew up in the Ottawa Valley and when I was a kid we had snow - lots of it. My mom has a photo of the three of us kids (myself, my brother and sister) sitting on top of the swing-set in the backyard with our legs out straight. Yes, a real swing-set!   I am sure that was one of those record setting years but the point is that when I was a kid there was snow in the winter!

Now that I am grown I remember the winter fun we had and feel a bit like my kids have missed out a bit. Up until a few years ago our area of Ontario didn’t really get much in the way of a winter - a bit of snow but not enough to really have fun (we don’t ski) just playing in the backyard. Of course this all seems to be changing - is it global warming? I don’t know but it seems in the past two years we have had more snow than my kids have seen their entire lives. And I hear we are getting more!

So, to celebrate more snow my photo of the day today was…. a big pile of snow! When I asked the kids to jump in the photo they did with excitement. In fact my son had to get to the top of the pile! Now, this pile is not like the one from my childhood, I believe a big truck played a part in the height, even still we will always remember the fun of lots of snow.

I have to start off by saying - it is COLD outside!  I am doing a Becky Higgins project called Project 365 which is basically taking a photo each day of the year to capture life for your family in 2009.  Today’s photos - the temperature!  The radio has said it is going to get colder and with the wind chill today it is close to minus 30!

Last night’s scrapbooking organization went well - I didn’t get as much done as I wanted but know that next Tuesday will come and I can tackle some more then.  I was happy to get to the card portion of the closet as we love to use blank note cards when sending thank you notes and hello notes.  I keep a package of stamps in my dayplanner along with our addresses so it is easy to send them out.

I found a cute box at Walmart that is intended for CDs but the size was perfect for our collection of cardstock cards. One side fit the square format and the other was perfect for the more traditional size.  When I was done I found a spot on the shelf for the box and put my printed cards with it so our cards are now all in one spot.  Embellishments for the homemade cards can be found in my scrapbooking supplies so the box of cards is really just that.  Clean and simple.  One thing done!

Keeping with my plan to have a creative to-do list this year - Wednesdays is Project Day.  This is the day of the week that a project left undone or something that needs to be done (and can be tackled in an evening or a series of evenings) gets done!  My project for today is to finish Christmas.  Yes - I still have some Christmas stuff to put away along with the wrapping supplies.  I know I can get this done tonight after the kids go to bed.

Have a happy Wednesday!

Helen

Before Christmas we did a countdown that was really just a creative to-do list. I put all of the things we always want to do into a countdown activity and it helped us to focus each day on something we could do together to celebrate the holidays. I kind of think having a bit of a set schedule can do the same thing for us busy moms - in a way it is a creative to-do list!

Recently, I sat down and made a list of all of the things that need to be done each week and added in some time for ME and my favourite pastime, scrapbooking. I don’t’ always get to go out to scrapbook with friends so I have decided to make Tuesdays my scrapbooking day. I love to take photos and I love to scrapbook but I just don’t take the time. By making today my scrapbooking day - my ME day, it means that I don’t schedule other things on this day (other than the must dos with the kids). My weekly creative to-do list allows me to take that time on Tuesdays and not worry about it on other days - kind of like my laundry day!

I recently moved my office to a new room in the house. We haven’t painted yet but I have reorganized things a little. Tonight my scrapbook plans are more related to finishing my organizing as stuff everywhere tends to get in the way or me being creative! Besides wanting to get this done, I need to get it done!  In just about a month I will begin an Alumni class at Big Picture Scrapbooking (if you can get in to take this class - do it! It is the most amazing class you will ever take. ) The Library of Memories class is part scrapbooking, part organizing and part celebrating life and the reason behind my love for this favourite pasttime.

So as I say goodbye and get on with my day I leave you with a few photos of my partially organized scrapbooking stuff - I will add the finished photos when the day is through.

This is part of my problem - stuff piled into the closet where I keep my supplies.  The bottom is just a filing cabinet but the 4 drawers are part of my Library of Memories way of scrapbooking.  On top of that is more photo organizing and all of my tools which as you can see, I can’t even move for fear of it all falling down!

We love to make cards but often don’t because the stuff is not easy to get to.  The baskets and piles are going and hopefully being transformed in a way that makes it easier to grab, create and send!

If you read my wish list before Christmas you will know that I was wishing for some Ikea wooden boxes.  The group of 8 were a gift from my Mom a few years ago and I have been using them to sort my scrapbooking supplies by color.  The only problem is I didn’t have enough drawers.  So, I was lucky enough to get two more sets, the 4 you see below.  My job now is to separate the mixed colours and get them in order.  Right now it is a big mess behind the ‘closed’ drawers!  By the way - if you haven’t organized by colour you should try it.  It makes finding things so much easier.  Oh and the binders beside the boxes - another tool I have created from the Library of Memories class.  You know all the memorabilia you save for pages - these pages in progress books make it easy for me to tuck things away in a more organized fashion so coming back and scrapbooking about an event is so easy (of course, you have to take the time - my problem!)

Here is another LOM concept  - these boxes hold the supplies I use in the albums I update annually.  I have a Christmas album, school of life albums, disney album etc… and I can easily grab the box and sit down and get the page completed in a short amount of time.  The boxes contain paper, embellishments, and stickers too.

This is the only part of my office where you can actually see scrapbook supplies.  I like a clean space to keep my head clear but I didn’t have anywhere to put this stuff so it is ontop of my desk.  The black boxes are my alphabet boxes - I keep my letters stored together (another idea from Stacy Julian!) and the clear boxes are for stamps and other supplies.  They are not very organized and don’t look great so my goal here is to make them organized and pretty!

There you go - I will share some photos of what I accomplish.  I am sure I won’t get it all done but I am going to put on a movie and get to work.

I am actually happy about the fact that it is laundry day today because I know by the end of the day I will have the laundry done (except for swimming stuff on Thursday) for the week.  Yes - done!  If you haven’t listened to Kathy Buckworth’s podcast - go listen now!  I had always thought doing a few loads a day was the way to go but have dreaded laundry as a result.  Everyday I would either forget because I got busy or have loads waiting to be folded or dried or put away.  I felt like I was “always” doing laundry!

Since the big switch to ONE DAY LAUNDRY life is so much easier - who would have thought!  The kids have clothes clean that are ready for them everyday.  I feel less stress in the morning and I feel like I am not doing laundry everyday!

So, if you are tired of doing laundry consider a ONE DAY LAUNDRY day in your house.  Even if you have to do part early in the day and the rest at the end of the day (I am lucky that I work from home and can run back and forth) you can accomplish so much!

As for ironing - I try to buy clothes that don’t need it and I hang a lot of tops and shirts so they don’t get wrinkled - so that leaves just a few items which can be done while watching a favourite TV show before heading to bed on Monday night

Happy Monday!

Helen

While I can’t believe it is 2009 already I am happy to have the opportunity for a fresh start. 2008 was a challenging year as I had too many balls in the air and tried to take on more than I could handle, saying yes more often than I should have. My goal to have Christmas wrapped up early failed as LIFE got in the way.

One of my favourite quotes, A GOAL without a PLAN is just a DREAM, has become my mantra as I realize most of my ideas are floating in my head and I don’t have a SOLID - DO-ABLE plan in place. So, with that in mind I am moving forward in 2009 with one thing on my mind: BALANCE.

My father passed away just before Christmas and since his passing I have reflected on what he taught me. My father, a simple man, was one of the kindest people I have ever met. He said what he meant and meant what he said and looking back at my childhood I can honestly say that he didn’t go on and on about anything. When something happened he dealt with it and moved on. I admire that in a person as spending your time in the past or worrying about things that are DONE or are out of your control is time wasted. My father taught me to listen more than I talked and to focus on the things that brought me joy. Dad had a garden every year, he built boats and he enjoyed a beer from time to time. When I would say goodnight, see you in the morning he would say “you might” because he took each day as it came and tried to make the best of it, like it was a gift. And sadly, the one lesson I learned from my father is that if you don’t take care of yourself - if you smoke and don’t get checkups - you may spend some of your final days not enjoying them like you had intended. This lesson will stay with me and my family forever as we strive to be a healthier family, not to “look good” but to live in a way that we are able to do the things we love to do - to have a great quality of life. Our new family mantra is - What tastes better CHIPS or LIFE!

I hope you will join me as I continue my quest to find BALANCE in my life - it won’t be easy but it will be worth it! Like you, each part of my life is important, my family, my kids, my husband, myself, my friends and my work. All of these things bring me great joy but when I spend too much time in one area I feel depleted. I hope you will share some of your strategies along the way!

So what is my PLAN? This year I PLAN to say NO a lot more. I will only take on things that bring joy to my life, simplifying life as much as I can so I have more time for what really matters. I PLAN to learn from others and look forward to the year long MomTalk Series on Work from Home Moms. And most importantly I PLAN to use a calendar/day planner to insure I am dividing my time accordingly. I think when you plan your day you are more likely to accomplish more. Of course that time planning has to be realistic! Incremental planning might seem over-the top but it helps you to see how long it really takes you to do a task. Putting more on your to-do list than you can possibly accomplish leaves you with a failed outcome.

I use to thing “multi-tasking” was the way to go, and to a certain extend you have to bounce between the important things in your life in order to get things done, but there are some tasks that can be accomplished more when you focus on them. I recently listened to a MomTalk podcast with Supermom Kathy Buckworth and discovered the benefits of having a laundry day. If piles of laundry are making you crazy I encourage you to listen too!

Stay tuned as I discover new and interesting ways to find balance in my life!

Happy New Year

Helen