Falling in Love with Scrapbooking Again!

It's been a while since I have been feeling inspired to scrapbook. Lately I get my stuff together and nothing comes to me. I have made a few cards for people but no pages. I think sometimes we just need a break.

During my scrapbooking hiatus, I kept thinking about why I didn't feel the urge to scrapbook. Finally I realized what it was. My old way of scrapbooking just doesn't appeal to me anymore. Many times I would make a page just to make something. Now I have stacks of pages that are basically decorated photos. Please, don't get me wrong, I am not knocking anyone else's scrapbooking. I am still a firm believer in people creating the way it works for them. I am just so glad I have found a way that works better for me now and makes me feel more fullfilled as a scrapbooker.

I think taking a break from the online scrapbooking community has helped me find this new way of scrapbooking (although I do miss the conversations and laughs!). I think being online and seeing other's work all the time was overload for me. I never did find a style that "fit" me because I was always overwhelmed by all the ideas I saw and wanted to work into my pages.

Also, before this I could tell you exactly what was the newest product and latest trend. If I saw a piece of paper I could tell you the company who makes it and the line it is from. Not today. Please understand part of this is because the nifty little pay cut from my husband's company (see a couple posts below) and part of it is because I just don't care about the latest and greatest anymore. It's freeing. I am using more found items and non-scrapbooking stuff than ever before. I am using actual items from restaurants we visit, tags from things, and other memento from our lives.

I am documenting our lives with real items from our lives! I think this has made my scrapbooking more meaningful to me, more inspiring and yes, less expensive. Each page I create now is a real story from our lives. Each page is a story that started with that little voice in my head saying, "Oh, I gotta write that down so I remember it." I don't ever feel behind anymore, or like I have to run out and buy something. Everything I need to create a page is right here in my ridiculously over stashed scrapbook room (ugh! the money I spent)! LOL! I am determined to use up what I have, BTW!

Budgets, Happiness, and Kindergarten!

As many people around the world worry about the global economy, we are also. This http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tues_pay_cuts0217feb17,0,3374713.story is my husband's company. He was one of the people affected by this temporary pay cut. So, we have decided to see how much we can stick in the bank despite the temporary pay cut rather than flush money down the toilet for things we really don't need. In many ways, this has become something that I am thankful for. In other ways, it is frustrating. Last week I put my mind to cutting the grocery bill as much as possible. I was able to cut the cost by $40 for one week. Percentage wise, it was about 40% of our grocery bill. When I realized I had saved that much, I was a little frustrated I had not been doing it all along. Just think of the vacations we could have gone on (my husband and I love to travel)! I have been doing all the cooking also. We use to be rather reliant on going out for a few meals a week. I am proud to say that in the last 21 days we have only eaten out 2 times and both times we did it on a budget. Thank you Steak and Shake!!! P.S. Steak and Shake has "Kids Eat Free on Weekends". It was very inexpensive for us to eat there! I'd be lying if I didn't say that being frugal takes a lot of planning and a lot more time, but honestly, I have been feeling happier lately. It feels like we have returned to a more simple time in our lives. Did I mention that right now we basically have no TV?? I have one TV that is working but the antenna is not very good. It seems silly to me to have TV we pay for when I can watch all the shows I want from my computer when it is convenient for me. It's only been about five days with no TV though, so ask me about in about a month. I might not say the same thing!

We went to kindergarten orientation last week! I have one five year old who is very excited to go to school! I can't believe it is almost time for him to start school. I remember when G was about 4 months old and I took him out for a walk one afternoon. He and I were strolling along when I saw a women outside with her little bitty baby. I asked her how old her baby was and it turns out she was born in the same month as G was. I distinctly remember saying to the mom "They will be in kindergarten together." When I was at the orientation I turned around and saw that mom and her little girl. I could not believe that much time had past since I said that to her.

My most recent passion has been photography. I have been following along with a new blog called http://sarahbowen.typepad.com/photography/ last week she asked us to find some pictures we were inspired by and go take a picture to recreate whatever it was that inspired us. Here are a few pictures I took:

This was my second photo outing shooting fully in manual. I had resisted for so long because I could not make sense of it. One day I walked out the door and decided that I was going to put the camera in the manual mode and figure it out. After that outing it finally all started to make sense. I am still very wet behind the ears as the saying goes but I am going to keep working and learning about photography and hopefully I will get good at it someday!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.