Feeling pulled in a million directions...

Ok, I think I have the answer to your problems: first, give us more photos of Finnegan. That's the basis for the magic potion. 

I understand that you're missing your hobby but also loving your life. It'll fall back into place when things settle a little, I'm sure. Have you thought about doing a smaller project in the meantime to satisfy your scrappy needs? A TN about your puppy growing up? Something where you can craft out of a small box and start to get your pup used to seeing you use scissors and paper bits when he starts to wind down. 

To everything there is a season. This is just a season you're in. Enjoy it for what it is, and know that things will slow down eventually.

I understand how you feel craftymom101. We moved into our new house the end of February. I am slowly unpacking my scrap room. My work schedule is killing me( I own a tax preparation firm). All I want to do is get my room set up and spend an entire day in there scrapbooking!

That puppy stage seems to last longer than the toddler stage. Outside every 30 minutes to potty train. Four kids... that is a lot too. Bribe the kids that if they take care of the dog and there are no messes or destruction, you'll feed them. Not take them out for dinner... just feed them.

My kids also did a lot of chores. If the adults were both working full time, the kids had responsibilities. It also really helped when they moved out and already knew how to do most things well. They were well into elementary school before they realized that most kids didn't do their own laundry.

When that happens to me I try to at least keep up with taking photos and perhaps getting them edited when I'm sitting in an appointment or stuck in traffic.  Document the little things about your life now here and there.  Use your journal to jot down little things to remember when you do have time again.

Life for me and many waxes and wanes.  Busy for days and then nothing, with too many things to choose from in the down times. 

What I do is find a crop or retreat or something like that.  You can look forward to a planned uninterrupted crop time.

I don't know if this will help or not, but I saw this idea probably close to 20 years ago now and it stuck with me. It was from a scrapbooker who didn't have a space to leave her projects out where her young children wouldn't touch them and get jelly or yogurt or something on them. So she bought one of those clear acrylic poster frames in the largest size she could buy (like this) and she would keep her ongoing layout on the kitchen counter and put the shadow box over the top of it when she wanted it protected (open side down so there was a clear box over the top of her pieces), but didn't have time to work on it. Sometimes she covered it with some fabric so she could set things on top of it and not have it be too visually cluttered on her kitchen counter. But mostly she just left it out so she could rearrange the layout in brief moments. When she was happy with it she glued the layout together and started laying out pieces for the next one. It's a thought...

I understand! Not having a dedicated space makes it really hard.

We have our 7th grade grandson here for a month. I have to feed the eating machine 3 meals a day! He's an athlete, so he eats a lot. Yesterday breakfast was cereal, pancakes, sausage, kiwi fruit, and orange juice! Then we start the schoolwork. I love this guy with all my heart, but OMG, I am exhausted.

I figure a week to beat my house back in shape, then I can play.

We are also starting to look at townhomes. A dedicated space for my crafts is a must-have.

Finn is a gorgeous pupper! I love his big floppy ears.

Having a new dog in the house will be what's not giving you the free time to sit down and scrapbook. It doesn't matter whether they're a puppy, a teen, a senior, hyper or chill - it's a complete lifestyle change similar to having a baby. It will take you a little while to get into a new groove. It's another thing to think about on top of everything else that we deal with as humans.

We adopted a 3 year old dog in August and the first few weeks and months were time consuming. He still consumes a lot of my time now as we're doing lots of training with him but between that and my day job, I have been able to find pockets of time to scrapbook.

My suggestion would be to carve out dedicated time to scrap, even if that means you have to give up doing something else. I'd also try and make it as easy as possible for yourself to scrap when you get that time. Putting together kits will definitely help you start when you find the free time.

I have a nice chair that "houses" my girl when I scrap.  She likes to be tall enough to see what I am doing.  Eventually she crashes and I get a lot done.  As a puppy, she was into everything for 2.5 years.  She still likes to dig something out of my scrap trash and run.  Then she will bring it back and expect pets and a treat for returning it.  Our back door neighbors have a giant Great Dane and he is very well behaved and very goofy.  I would guess that four kids would tire him out quickly.  

Goodness me, Finn is such a beauty! His face spots are a piece of art. I just want to boop his adorable nose...   Thanks for posting the puppy pic update, craftymom101!

The good news is that Great Danes settle down big time once they're past the puppy stage. As long as you train them well when they're young, you'll have a lovely companion when adulthood hits. Until then, I feel you on the let's-not-destroy-the-house-please front. Those are big teefsies that'll leave big marks! 

Have you thought of starting to get him used to sitting in the kennel for a few minutes while you sit on a chair at the table (simulating craft time)? I think you have an amazing opportunity to train him to be quietly in your company while you craft. It'll be in increments, of course, and you may not get much more done than opening a new kit or sorting some embellishments in the first few weeks but you'll get there eventually through repeated exposure and positive reinforcement. 

Awww, that face! He's a cutie!

Not a whine at all, I totally understand how hard it is to find the time and juggle all the other household things. I worked from home during the height of the pandemic and thought I'd have so much more time to play with scrappy things. My dh decided that was the time to start looking at relocating (my retirement is getting closer and we're thinking about heading somewhere south) so we were knee-deep into some mostly cosmetic house repairs which then turned into a full remodel of some rooms and no time to scrap.

Now I'm back to a semi-fuller work schedule and still not finding the time. I get a bit stabby about it at times.