|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 4, 2021 3:02:35 GMT
Another one from the Pacific Northwest, but from the desert side of the mountains. The Cascades keep most of the rain in the western part of the states . . . I live in Central Oregon on 6 acres with my DH, DS15, 4 German Shepherds, one indoor kitty, and during the summer 2 steer. We just enjoyed some of the beef from the latest butcher 2 nights ago. I grew a huge garden this summer as my covid release, and have a new greenhouse that I have lettuce, peas, carrots, potatoes, and a few herbs trying to grow. No supplemental light, but I do heat it so on the really cold nights I don't lose everything. I also have a compost tumbler and a 35 gallon garbage can filled with water to keep the heat mass index higher.
I've been crafting all my life, my mom taught me well. I mostly do paper crafts, some home decor stuff etc. I've been scrapping since 1997 and making cards etc since 1994. I have a HUGE supply of stamps, dies, paper, mixed media and so on all in my own room. I primarily scrap 12 x 12, with the occasional mini album thrown in here and there. I make cards for special occasions and for the just for fun DT I've been a part of for over 6 years. I did the double page team for Stick It Down DT for about 2 years . . . but the summer really gave my mojo a dive. I've also been on the Imagine DT for two years, then Quick Quotes for one, now a guest designer for Imagine again for 2021.
I am essentially a retired science teacher . . . I've subbed and done long term jobs since I married my husband 16 years ago. But with the total shut down of schools in Oregon, I've not worked since March and I am fine with that. DH is an aerospace engineer, and in high demand for his expertise and consulting services. He has some really cool projects I would love to share, but we have NDAs. One is related to launching infrastructure telecommunication satellites, the other is using high speed drones to deliver emergency medical supplies to the scene of the emergency. With his work load and caring for DS15, I don't know that I will do much subbing when the schools do open!
Perhaps the most personal thing I need to share is that I am an adoptive mother of two boys from Russia who've been home for over 11 years. Both suffer from extreme developmental childhood trauma (think PTSD wired into their hind brain for a fight/fright/freeze mentality). Siblings 1 and 4, sibling 2 died at 6 months, sibling 3 died at age 4 before they spent 3 years in Russian orphanages. Older son intellectually is OK and graduated from HS in 2018 with a 3.6 and 9 varsity letters, so he has some skills. But substance abuse has way-laid him, his is currently on his 9th job in 30 months, living in a homeless shelter, and a drop-out from a substance abuse program. He is hoping to get back into Job Corps. My younger son is borderline Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, highly functioning and looks "normal", but it's like living with an 8 year old (emotionally/intellectually) with a 15 year old attitude. Substances are a huge issue (due to his brother's influence & poor friend choices) and our home is totally locked down. He is on a modified diploma plan for HS, which has been all virtual so far. He is a decent athlete and wrestler. We sent him to Wilderness Therapy at great expense for 80 days, and most of the gains have not stuck. Mostly because of his IQ and his verbal percentile is only at the 5th for his age level. When everything hit the fan in April, our family went into a tail spin, both boys in treatment. DS15 in on the cusp of functionality because of all the enrichment we provide, and my next hurdle is to get him qualified for the county and state programs for Intellectual/Development Disabilities. If you want to read more details there is a more in depth discussion on a GoFundMe page help Peter Cole. I'm not asking you to donate by any means, but just so you know if I disappear it's because things have gone south again.
The CARES act will help us out a great deal as we took retirement funds out due to Covid isolation and that Job Corps sent older DS home to which was a huge negative influence on younger DS. We may not have to pay the taxes on the the retirement funds we withdrew to allow us to send him to Wilderness Therapy. It was imperative that he go, as we actually feared he would commit suicide or accidentally overdose on something.
Hope that everyone had a fantastic beginning to the New Year of 2021, and may things improve from here!
Gosh, you have a lot on your plate! I hope 2021 brings lots of good things and fewer challenges. |
|
vexedangel
Full Member
Posts: 401
Nov 4, 2018 20:14:04 GMT
|
Post by vexedangel on Jan 4, 2021 15:15:22 GMT
I have a question, ladies, is a double page 12 x 12 worth the same as a single page 12x12 layout, pointswise? To get started, I'm just going easy peasy counting, and it says award it based on size, and anything 12x 12 = (somethig I can't remember). So is that points per page? Or points per layout? Thxx!
|
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 4, 2021 15:31:27 GMT
I have a question, ladies, is a double page 12 x 12 worth the same as a single page 12x12 layout, pointswise? To get started, I'm just going easy peasy counting, and it says award it based on size, and anything 12x 12 = (somethig I can't remember). So is that points per page? Or points per layout? Thxx! Each page/side of the layout counts! |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 23, 2024 23:25:11 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2021 17:04:10 GMT
My interests include minimalism and van life I just had to comment on this...we have a 1964 VW bus and I sooooo wanted to take off for a year and just travel but DH was just starting out in job he loved and he was adamant that it was a bad idea. This was 20 years ago. Then about a year or so ago we were watching Portlandia and saw this snip www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIH4ElBo4l0 and about died laughing. These were literally DH's fears personified in a tv show...  So now he says we can "try" it for a couple weeks after we retire. Oh dear...if he didn't think he wanted to travel around and road trip in his 20's, how will he manage it in his 60's... |
|
|
|
Post by slicksister on Jan 4, 2021 17:39:59 GMT
Hi all, I too live in the PNW in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. I love the farming communities in the area. We live in the country but near enough to a large town so we can get anything we need. I have been a scrapbooker and crafter all my life but got into scrapbooking as we know it now in 1998. If I scrapped everyday for the next 10 years I wouldn't have to buy anything except for adhesive!! I only make mini books and cards now. I used to make only 8.5 x 11 or smaller albums so I think that's why I like mini books so much. I have taught lots of classes on mini books and cards. I make hundreds of cards a year and donate them as well as sell a few. I only make the A2 size. I also quilt and crochet. The cowboy and I live fulltime in our 5th wheel RV named Lucille (Lucille the Fifth Wheel...) I have a LOT of my supplies in her but we also have a storage unit because well... fabric and paper. HA!
Our DD is 38 and a single mom with one daughter who is 8 and lives in Vancouver, B.C. and our DS 36 is married with 3 daughters 18, 16, 13. His wife just got her PHD and is doing her post doctoral work at Penn State.
I have a Disney album for my 8 year old GDD that I need to get finished as well a bunch of cards and a couple of Travelers Journals that I want to do for the other 3 GDD's.
|
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 4, 2021 19:08:20 GMT
The cowboy and I live fulltime in our 5th wheel RV named Lucille (Lucille the Fifth Wheel...) I have a LOT of my supplies in her but we also have a storage unit because well... fabric and paper. HA! Ooh, that sounds really interesting! I'd love a peek at/to hear more about your space and workflow. Limiting what formats and sizes you work in must help a lot. @kendramage I'm looking forward to watching that clip once I get my work done. We love the idea of van life while also knowing it's totally not for us, that we both like different things about it (hubby is all about the build, I'm all about the travel). He's a 6'2" homebody, so actually living in a van holds no appeal. I'm 5'2" with major wanderlust and no drivers license... 😂 Our favorite "hashtag van life YouTuber" (as he calls himself, his YT name is Foresty Forest, and he's very Canadian) makes jokes about how he needs to take some half naked selfies on the beach to fit in with the other vanlifers. I'm going to love seeing what Portlandia does with it - they're usually so spot on with making fun of all the cliched things I don't want to be but actually am... |
|
|
|
Post by slicksister on Jan 4, 2021 19:12:12 GMT
The cowboy and I live fulltime in our 5th wheel RV named Lucille (Lucille the Fifth Wheel...) I have a LOT of my supplies in her but we also have a storage unit because well... fabric and paper. HA! Ooh, that sounds really interesting! I'd love a peek at/to hear more about your space and workflow. Limiting what formats and sizes you work in must help a lot. @kendramage I'm looking forward to watching that clip once I get my work done. We love the idea of van life while also knowing it's totally not for us, that we both like different things about it (hubby is all about the build, I'm all about the travel). He's a 6'2" homebody, so actually living in a van holds no appeal. I'm 5'2" with major wanderlust and no drivers license... 😂 Our favorite "hashtag van life YouTuber" (as he calls himself, his YT name is Foresty Forest, and he's very Canadian) makes jokes about how he needs to take some half naked selfies on the beach to fit in with the other vanlifers. I'm going to love seeing what Portlandia does with it - they're usually so spot on with making fun of all the cliched things I don't want to be but actually am... I'm getting ready to work on some things this week. I'll take some pictures and post when I do. |
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 4, 2021 21:20:31 GMT
My interests include minimalism and van life I just had to comment on this...we have a 1964 VW bus and I sooooo wanted to take off for a year and just travel but DH was just starting out in job he loved and he was adamant that it was a bad idea. This was 20 years ago. Then about a year or so ago we were watching Portlandia and saw this snip www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIH4ElBo4l0 and about died laughing. These were literally DH's fears personified in a tv show... So now he says we can "try" it for a couple weeks after we retire. Oh dear...if he didn't think he wanted to travel around and road trip in his 20's, how will he manage it in his 60's... OMG IT'S ME! I have had all of these thoughts!  "I wanna chase the light" Maybe the better answer is a clean and sterile condo... How do they get inside my head so well?! My husband often reminds me that the rainy side of the PNW is no place to live in a van. Days and days (and months) of rain... It would be a short competition to see which of us became the incarcerated widow(er) as grammadee put it. |
|
angel97701
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,570
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:25 GMT
|
Post by angel97701 on Jan 6, 2021 5:09:38 GMT
What a couple of 48 hours for me! I did manage to organize my 7 misc solid color cardstocks sets into my overall ROYGBIV, reconciled 3 months worth of QuickBooks, did a clear liquid diet and colonoscopy prep, a 6 pm last night and 3:30 this morning and went for my colonoscopy. Thankfully my colonoscopy went just as expected and I came home for a very needed and restful 3+ hour nap afterwards. Done for another 10 years! DH was wonderful through it all. The Covid precautions were over the top, but reassuring. Had the same Dr. I did last time, and the anesthesia did not effect me with with nausea at all. Yeah! Last night I prepped 6 card sets for the class I am taking tomorrow through Heartfelt Creations, tonight I finished the other 7 or 8 tonight.
Tomorrow I have my DS's reveiw of his IEP (we totally revamped it in September as school started), and I have a few more questions. My biggest challenge right now is to find a psychologist who will give a definitive Fetal Alcohol Syndrome diagnosis so DS will qualify for state services, otherwise his IQ is 8 points too high . . . 
He's been OK the last few days, but over the holidays he was over the edge. When DH was traveling, I barely survived . . . but with lots of prayer support and I made it through.
|
|
vexedangel
Full Member
Posts: 401
Nov 4, 2018 20:14:04 GMT
|
Post by vexedangel on Jan 6, 2021 14:35:21 GMT
Good luck finding a psychologist for the diagnosis, angel97701. It's so frustrating when you know they need services but something stands in the way. I'm downing my coffee and really trying to clear the bleary-eyedness away. I may take a nap this afternoon, 2 nights of rotten sleep!  4 sessions and a lot of boring training modules and a lot of progress reports to write await me after I drop the kids off. But tonight my reward will be (hopefully) finishing my first ever Disney layout! |
|
|
|
Post by grammadee on Jan 6, 2021 16:20:12 GMT
Good Wednesday morning, Joyfuls! Glad your colonoscopy results were good, angel97701 , and that you survived the stressful holiday season with your ds. Hopefully the routine of back to school will help, and that he--and you--can get the support you need.
@kendramage and joblackford, I never really wanted to live in a van, but I did once dream of a small motor home, not to live in like slicksister, but that I could drive around in, take to the kids' homes to stay a few days, drive to baseball tournaments with a supply of food and treats and drinks for the players. And then maybe stock it with some scrappy supplies and go visit scrappy friends. But since I have never won the lottery--or the World Hockey Juniors' 50/50 draw yesterday that netted the winner over 8 MILLION--it has remained just a dream. I have been enjoying putting pages together again, even though the photo printing at home is not the way I prefer to do it. And the 50 page challenge makes me feel that I "HAVE" to do this, so each page completion is satisfying. Have 6 posted and another one ready to go, but it won't be posted until Friday evening. It is my sample for this next Sketchy Saturday. I have the house to myself this morning: dh has a dr appointment in town. This is such a rare treat during Covid. Finished the page and now I am moving on to some January birthday cards. Going to play with some new slimline dies. Thought I might try out my Heidi Swapp toner stamp pad, but if I was going to do that I should have started earlier, because I have no idea what I am doing with that, and I think it is a lengthy process, including clean up and drying time. If dh is not back by the time I finish the cards, I may at least pull out the instructions. Of course I have not added up my points yet, but really need to get on that soon... |
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 23, 2024 23:25:11 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2021 17:57:57 GMT
but I did once dream of a small motor home, not to live in like slicksister, but that I could drive around in, take to the kids' homes to stay a few days, drive to baseball tournaments with a supply of food and treats and drinks for the players. And then maybe stock it with some scrappy supplies and go visit scrappy friends. That sounds lovely! angel97701, I am glad your medical stuff went ok. I think I would need more recovery time than 3 hrs though!  |
|
angel97701
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,570
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:25 GMT
|
Post by angel97701 on Jan 6, 2021 23:05:10 GMT
but I did once dream of a small motor home, not to live in like slicksister, but that I could drive around in, take to the kids' homes to stay a few days, drive to baseball tournaments with a supply of food and treats and drinks for the players. And then maybe stock it with some scrappy supplies and go visit scrappy friends. That sounds lovely! angel97701 , I am glad your medical stuff went ok. I think I would need more recovery time than 3 hrs though! grammadee, we do use our motorhome to go stay places, go to wrestling tournaments, tennis tournaments, cross country ski events, etc. We also supply with food and treats for us and the players. One tennis regional tournament it was so hot we turned on the AC (only drops the temp by about 15 degrees) but it allowed them to rest more easily in 85 degrees than over 100. I've also carried scrappy supplies early on, when DH went to sailboat races, and did a few containerized projects.
Thanks @kendramage Still a little sleep deprived, and tummy is not very happy today. Also have a headache. But I'm glad to know that the insides looked good.
Got all my card sizes cut, then just ended up watching the video class this morning because she went so fast! But learned a great deal and am excited that I can go back and do each card in my own timing. Need to take photos for a tutorial for my Imagine GDT gig, so next on the list.
Business guests are still coming, but take-out Mexican tonight. Only outdoor seating in 40 degree weather, not a good plan. At least DH is not expecting me to cook. They are also staying at local hotels. So that helps too.
IEP meeting went well, and case manager says kiddo is doing great despite the entire online social isolation lack of sports thing. The team also agreed that I only have to make sure he is at the computer when he should be in class, they will do the reminding on the assignments and take that off my plate.
Now to get ready for taxes now that I found a new accountant (ours passed away unexpectedly in November), one man office so we didn't even know until our financial planner told us 3 weeks ago!
Take care everyone as we get back into the swing of Covid 2021.
|
|
thwarth
Full Member
Posts: 152
Sept 15, 2018 0:33:00 GMT
|
Post by thwarth on Jan 8, 2021 15:12:55 GMT
Hi, I'm Andy from the great southwest. I've been a lurker on these boards for a while. I only post occasionally. I joined the challenges because I let last year get away from me. I have lived all over the country. I moved 13 times in the first 16 years of my marriage. In a few short months we will have lived on our current house for four years, the longest ever in one place, so that's an exciting milestone.
I am married to the most amazing man and he has put up with me and my moods for 21 years. He's super supportive of my scrapbooking and if I need him to type up some journalling he always cheerfully agrees. He likes to put my finished layouts away in the albums so he can look at them. I am well aware of my good fortune, plus he's hot.
I have 9 kiddos. 6 boys and 3 girls. My oldest graduates from high school this year and my youngest is 3. My goal is to be done with diapers this year, but my 6 year old girl has Down Syndrome and I've been trying to potty train her for 11 months. We aren't even close.
I got into scrapbooking in 2005 when my husband was in medical school and I couldn't watch TV or listen to music because he was studying and our apartment was so small that you could hear everything from any room. He would study at the table and I would sit next to him and scrapbook. We would stop in our work to quiz each other on physiology or pharmacology. I may not have attended the classes, but I could have passed all the tests. Scrapbooking kept me sane during those intense years. When we moved to residency I had more kids and only scrapbooked at a monthly crop held at a nearby church. When we moved to fellowship I stopped altogether. We had more kids and there was no money for anything extra. I kept my supplies boxed up for five years. When we moved here my husband insisted that I have my own space. Now I have a beautiful room and my husband gives me Thursday nights off so I and sit and get layouts done. It was a long road, but I am so grateful to be where I am.
This last year has been long and stressful, especially as my husband has been a Frontline worker with long shifts, but we are optimistic that 2021 is going to be amazing.
|
|
|
|
Post by slicksister on Jan 8, 2021 17:48:38 GMT
Wow thwarth just reading all that makes me exhausted! Good for the 2 of you supporting one another like you do. I commend you both. I've been getting ready to work on a Disney album/mini book for my grandgirlie that I started about 3 years ago. It is 80% done but when I went to put it together I realized I made the cover the wrong orientation and I got mad and threw it in a drawer! HA! So Now I'm ready to fix it but I've been worried that I didn't have enough paper and the 2 sets I used are hard to find now. Anyhow.... I went to Tuesday Morning yesterday and although they didn't have much at all they DID have a whole 12x12 paper pad that matches the papers I used! So now I'm excited to get this baby done. |
|
|
|
Post by natscraps on Jan 8, 2021 21:58:57 GMT
Finally have enough minutes and brainpower at the same time to introduce myself. I live in Ohio near Lake Erie with DH and DS who is 5. I teach 3 and 4 year olds part time and this school year also became administrator for our little preschool. Add in the pandemic and it’s been a crazy year at work.
I use the WRMK albums with photo pages and then go back and scrap 12 x 12 when I have time. My albums are mostly DS and Disney. I think I scrapped more pages in the past year than the past 5 years combined. DH is extremely supportive of my hobby and gives me a minimum of one Saturday a month to scrap with friends. My scrap group used to meet at a library but due to Covid we’ve been using zoom. So nice to have conversation but not have to haul my stuff anywhere. I do miss going away for weekend crops though.
Scrappy goal for this month is to get the second half of 2020 photos printed and in the album. Photo printing is my downfall. Also aiming for a minimum of 10 more pages in DS 2020 album.
|
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 9, 2021 3:27:55 GMT
It's nice to read about everyone and get to know you all a little bit. It sounds like a lot of you are very busy!
I've been working away at my blurb book which is the gift I give my family each New Year. I'm a bit behind this year but I've been powering through, averaging 6 spreads a day, working in the late afternoons. I've gotten more than 40 spreads done this week! I wish there was an easy way to share but I'm exhausted enough thinking about saving all the files as jpgs to import to blurb. The thought of uploading them all to flickr and here too is just too much.
I have a couple more spreads to finish. I want to somehow represent all the stuff we've sold for my in laws. I've included some photos of the piles of stuff but I want to do a collage of some of the fancy photoshoot images of the cooler stuff. The only problem is that I took 2700 of those photos last year. Ugh! On average there are 10 photos per item/bundle of items so yeah, we listed and sold about 270 items...? Somehow I need to pick a dozen or two photos. I have a plan for how to quickly collage them in blurb. I just keep getting overwhelmed by the idea of starting.
Really hoping I can get that done tomorrow and get the book ready to order this weekend.
|
|
joyfulnana
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,049 
|
Post by joyfulnana on Jan 9, 2021 14:32:09 GMT
Good Morning! Sounds like everyone has a lot going on right on! Here's to some calm and time for creating! So good to get to know you all! I love hearing about you. slicksister I work in the RV industry and would love to see your workspace! This week has been a little crazy at work so there has been no crafting going on at all. We have a pretty good size Covid outbreak at our main location. Which means more work for those of us that are not out. I've never been so glad to have already been working remotely. I've decided carving out time in the morning may be what works best for me. My mind is fried by evening. I've been vegging on the sofa with The Queen's Gambit and the cat lol. I have 4 projects in the works and just look at them longingly every day as I head into the office lol. I have cleaning, laundry, etc to get done today, as well as some errands. Then DGS wants to sleep over. So I probably won't get to those pages until tomorrow during the virtual crop. I love having company and not packing things up to go anywhere! |
|
joyfulnana
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,049
|
Post by joyfulnana on Jan 9, 2021 14:33:44 GMT
I have a question, ladies, is a double page 12 x 12 worth the same as a single page 12x12 layout, pointswise? To get started, I'm just going easy peasy counting, and it says award it based on size, and anything 12x 12 = (somethig I can't remember). So is that points per page? Or points per layout? Thxx! Definitely points per page. A two page spread gets all the points for each page! |
|
angel97701
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,570
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:25 GMT
|
Post by angel97701 on Jan 10, 2021 15:50:57 GMT
It's nice to read about everyone and get to know you all a little bit. It sounds like a lot of you are very busy! I've been working away at my blurb book which is the gift I give my family each New Year. I'm a bit behind this year but I've been powering through, averaging 6 spreads a day, working in the late afternoons. I've gotten more than 40 spreads done this week! I wish there was an easy way to share but I'm exhausted enough thinking about saving all the files as jpgs to import to blurb. The thought of uploading them all to flickr and here too is just too much. I have a couple more spreads to finish. I want to somehow represent all the stuff we've sold for my in laws. I've included some photos of the piles of stuff but I want to do a collage of some of the fancy photoshoot images of the cooler stuff. The only problem is that I took 2700 of those photos last year. Ugh! On average there are 10 photos per item/bundle of items so yeah, we listed and sold about 270 items...? Somehow I need to pick a dozen or two photos. I have a plan for how to quickly collage them in blurb. I just keep getting overwhelmed by the idea of starting. Really hoping I can get that done tomorrow and get the book ready to order this weekend. I so get this! I have TON OF PAGES I've done for 2Peas but haven't shared on my blog. If and when DS goes back to school hybrid, I might try and get more of those up. Right now my focus is on actually creating, and organizing/cleaning. During the worst of our trials with DS my craft room suffered the "big dump", and got really dusty. I containerize EVERYTHING, but now those containers need to be cleaned. (Dirt road, 6 acres, 4 dogs just creates a ton of dust even with good filters in our HVAC system.)
Can't believe how much work it must be to sell stuff for your in laws. Such a job for someone who truly wants to be a minimalist!
|
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 10, 2021 16:49:48 GMT
Can't believe how much work it must be to sell stuff for your in laws. Such a job for someone who truly wants to be a minimalist! In some ways it's perfect - I've always wanted them to get rid of stuff, and now I'm getting to see just how much work that is! It's also like my friend the control freak who ended up with the most headstrong dog, the most independent daughter, etc etc like she was being tested and challenged. It's been a good wake up call to us that we also have stuff sitting in storage that we should be passing on. We've sold quite a few things of our own. The biggest frustration right now is not being able to donate things. If I could donate the stuff I can't sell I would have a lot more peace. Stupid pandemic! |
|
|
|
Post by slicksister on Jan 11, 2021 17:24:03 GMT
Can't believe how much work it must be to sell stuff for your in laws. Such a job for someone who truly wants to be a minimalist! In some ways it's perfect - I've always wanted them to get rid of stuff, and now I'm getting to see just how much work that is! It's also like my friend the control freak who ended up with the most headstrong dog, the most independent daughter, etc etc like she was being tested and challenged. It's been a good wake up call to us that we also have stuff sitting in storage that we should be passing on. We've sold quite a few things of our own. The biggest frustration right now is not being able to donate things. If I could donate the stuff I can't sell I would have a lot more peace. Stupid pandemic! You can't donate anything in your state? What a giant bummer. Our thrift stores etc were closed for weeks but have been back open since the beginning of summer. Not be able to donate was awful. I hope it opens up soon for you. |
|
|
|
Post by grammadee on Jan 11, 2021 17:34:27 GMT
Good morning, @joyfuls!
Everyone is so busy. I am lucky enough to have the time to play with paper. And this month I have also had the mojo to go with it. I have been scrapping and posting, but so far not adding up any points. Decided to start on that this morning.
Trust me: it really works better if you do this when you share!
|
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 11, 2021 19:57:25 GMT
In some ways it's perfect - I've always wanted them to get rid of stuff, and now I'm getting to see just how much work that is! It's also like my friend the control freak who ended up with the most headstrong dog, the most independent daughter, etc etc like she was being tested and challenged. It's been a good wake up call to us that we also have stuff sitting in storage that we should be passing on. We've sold quite a few things of our own. The biggest frustration right now is not being able to donate things. If I could donate the stuff I can't sell I would have a lot more peace. Stupid pandemic! You can't donate anything in your state? What a giant bummer. Our thrift stores etc were closed for weeks but have been back open since the beginning of summer. Not be able to donate was awful. I hope it opens up soon for you. I believe they are all currently open, but they have very bad staffing shortages and no one is really shopping/buying. So I'm thinking that there's a high likelihood of anything that isn't really desirable ending up in their dumpster. My favorite St Vinnie's was only accepting certain items, specific furniture pieces, when I checked in December. They just can't handle the volume of small stuff. And with everyone doing their New Year's clean-outs it's only going to be worse now. So yes, I can donate things, at least to the big Goodwill. But I'm choosing not to until people really start shopping again. I sold some milk glass pieces that are a dime a dozen this weekend! Yay! When I share what I'm selling so many times my friends tell me, "Oh yeah, my mom has tons of those!" or "we have that exact same ~" sigh... Or the item is so obscure that no one knows what to do with it. Cape Cod fire starter, anyone? |
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 11, 2021 19:58:57 GMT
Good morning, @joyfuls! Everyone is so busy. I am lucky enough to have the time to play with paper. And this month I have also had the mojo to go with it. I have been scrapping and posting, but so far not adding up any points. Decided to start on that this morning. Trust me: it really works better if you do this when you share! Yes! even for easy peasy! I have been keeping a list of the pages I'm making as I go and even getting a couple of days behind was a big old pain. Glad you have the mojo and the time |
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 11, 2021 23:32:56 GMT
Oops, my end of year book is 200 pages (100 7x7" spreads) long. I usually build it in blurb or Lightroom's blurb plugin and it's closer to 60 pages. This time I did it story by story in Photoshop and even though we didn't go anywhere it turned out massive. I'm going to have to wait for a really good coupon!
I'm taking a break so I can see mistakes with fresh eyes but it's basically done.
|
|
joyfulnana
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,049
|
Post by joyfulnana on Jan 12, 2021 15:07:09 GMT
Wow joblackford that's a big book! I sometimes do digital PL and haven't even attempted to have a book printing. I'm afraid it would somehow (because of me) end up with things out of order and lots of mistakes. So I print the pages and put them in an album that way. You have so much more patience than I do. I could never try to sell all that stuff. I donate, donate, donate. The trunk of my car is full right now. I believe donation drop offs are open here but I haven't made the drive. I probably would have given up on your FIL's stuff. You have more patience! |
|
|
|
Post by grammadee on Jan 12, 2021 15:26:41 GMT
2joblackford, that book represents a tremendous amount of both creativity and organizational skills. Bet the recipients will love their books: your journaling is so insightful, and the pages you have shared here show great design and amazing coordination between words and pictures.
I am excited to be getting a chance to print some photos today! Have a couple of pages laid out on my counter, but they will have to wait until tomorrow to be glued down and have finishing touches.
|
|
|
|
Post by joblackford on Jan 12, 2021 22:01:54 GMT
Wow joblackford that's a big book! I sometimes do digital PL and haven't even attempted to have a book printing. I'm afraid it would somehow (because of me) end up with things out of order and lots of mistakes. So I print the pages and put them in an album that way. You have so much more patience than I do. I could never try to sell all that stuff. I donate, donate, donate. The trunk of my car is full right now. I believe donation drop offs are open here but I haven't made the drive. I probably would have given up on your FIL's stuff. You have more patience! I try not to think about big picture stuff. If I think about the whole project I'm paralyzed with overwhelm. This past year has been a very good lesson in breaking things down into "what one thing can I do right now?" I do get some pleasure in seeing things go to new homes, and there's also part of me that would rather deal with this bit by bit now than have us deal with it when he dies, even though calling in an estate company might be easier. I think we'll have to do that at some point anyway. But for now it's making him happy and it doesn't make me too unhappy! As for the blurb book, well yeah, again, bit by bit, page by page. It's not perfect. Far from it. But it's good enough. I sent my family the pdf to look at (and proofread for me). Lots of pretty pictures distract from the mistakes anyway. And having something is always better than nothing. If I didn't need multiple copies I might just print as I go. Thank you for the faith in my abilities grammadee. I might be able to share the pdf through a google drive link. I'll check in with folks on the sharing thread and see if anyone cares, or if I should just share a screenshot of the layout or something. |
|
angel97701
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,570
Jun 26, 2014 2:04:25 GMT
|
Post by angel97701 on Jan 14, 2021 5:34:16 GMT
Sat down and finished my sheetload of cards tonight. Sending them to my prayer partners who lift our family and boys up in prayer as they deal with their issues.
Lots of good news lately, all my tests (pap and colonoscopy) came back normal, check that off for a few years!
DS15 unbelievably was selected as STUDENT OF THE WEEK for his HIGH SCHOOL! His SpEd case manage said his students rarely as in Never get selected, but DS was for this week. He is very proud, and it is a shot in the arm for us as a family. He is on a modified diploma and has severe childhood trauma and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. He is high functioning, but still developmentally about 8-10.
AND the automatic lifts for my greenhouse were installed this afternoon. I've only been waiting since July when the greenhouse was assembled. Now I don't have to worry if the temps are soaring to 100 (like today) inside when the sun is shining for a few hours. I have peas, lettuce, carrots, spinach, and potatoes growing that all prefer cooler temps. I do heat it at night especially the frosty nights! Plus my tumbler composter and 35 gal garbage can filled with water help keep the heat mass up. Plus then I have water when the water hose is frozen . . . the joys of gardening in zone 6B.
|
|
