Scrapbooking

So I recently had an excuse to enter the world of scrapbooking. Now let me be perfectly clear. I am not interested in scrapbooking. Never have been, and after this episode I can definitely say I never will be. This is not to say anything against those who enjoy this past time. To each his own, right? It's just not my thing. So why did I scrapbook you ask? Well, my friend is getting married. And she is really into scrapbooking. And so for her bridal shower we decided to ask all the guests to do a scrapbook page of their memories of the bride, and bring to the shower to be presented in a book as a gift. It seemed like a good idea at the time...So I dutifully made my way to the dollar store to pick up some supplies, as obviously never having done this before, I don't have so much as a sticker or a pair of fancy scissors in my possession. I found myself in an entire aisle of doohickeys for the art of scrapbooking, and realized very quickly that I just might be in over my head a bit. Actually I realized that I was most likely about to drown, but I took some deep breaths and plunged in anyway, because I love my friend, and I figured oh come oh, how hard could this really be? Dear god, if I had only known. I wandered up and down the aisle and found myself starting to just randomly pull items off the shelves and pegs and throwing them in my basket. I had no idea it was so complicated, that so much STUFF was required. Suddenly I started to feel really pressured, I mean, we're talking about me presenting a page as a special gift to someone who is REALLY good at this kind of thing, and I really didn't want mine to look like it came from a complete loser. Anyway. I finally figured I had enough stuff, and headed home. Then I put it all away in the corner of my room and tried not to think about it for a day or so. But since it didn't seem to magically be getting itself done, I hauled it all out on Friday, which was a professional day for the kids so no school, and got started. I would normally not try to to a task like this that requires me to concentrate when the kids are home, but I suspected that I might end up needing them to take over and finish it for me if I got too desperate. I labored - and I mean labored - all day, sweating, hunched over, getting glue in all the wrong places, paper cuts, and a huge headache. Finally I was done, or at least as done as I was going to ever be. And really, I thought it didn't look too bad. Certainly not like something that I had exerted that much effort into, but pretty decent nonetheless. I proudly took it downstairs to show it off to my family, feeling like I had physically actually run a marathon, and they were all suitably impressed. My husband even said it was better than he had expected from me...I know there's an insult in there somewhere but I'm not going to think too hard about it. Then the next morning the girls asked if they could make a page for the scrapbook too. So I said sure, and handed off the bag of stuff to them, found a picture they could use, and sent them downstairs to create. However, a few minutes later my husband announced that he was going off to do some work at a friends house and was going to take the kids with him, since I was heading out to some shopping of my own. I went downstairs to break the news that they would have to work on their scrapbook page later in the day, only to discover that they were nearly finished. I mean it, they were all but done. Just some words to write on one last piece of paper, and that was it. And it looked GOOD. In fact, they had probably twice as much stuff on the page as I had on mine, all nicely mounted on card stock with appropriately placed stickers beside them in all the right places. Well, I thought, so much for my plan of telling everyone that the kids had done my page for me, isn't that SWEET? They had just kicked my scrapbooking butt. Oh well. It's not like I was ever planning to do this again anyway. Not mention that my friend that we were all making these pages for knows me all too well, and therefore will totally appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that went into the page that I created for her. Which is what it's all about after all. So I pack up the pages, and the next day I take them to the shower where they are placed in a book with everyone else's. And when my friend gets to my page, she oohs and ahhs and laughs and then reads the little blurb I wrote and when she gets to the end, her voice cracks and she gets teary, and I feel totally content with my efforts, it was all worth it. And next time a scrapbooking duty of any kind is required of me, I will not hesitate for a moment to hand it off to the much more capable hands of my daughters. This was definitely a once in a lifetime thing for my once in a lifetime friend!

friends

I'm back. Survived spring break more or less intact. Trying to get my head around the real world again - oops, got bills to pay, need groceries, when exactly is soccer practice? Spent Monday doing laundry in a daze, it was all I could handle. After some industrious housework Tuesday morning however, I organized some lunch and prepared for a visit from an old friend. Sorry L, let me clarify - old as in we've been friends for a long time, not old as in old! The past couple of years have been very up and down for both of us, lots happening in our personal lives, more than the usual you could definitely say. And so time passed, and it had suddenly been a really long time since we had spent time together. But me with kids in school, and her with a massage appointment close by to my place, we had the perfect excuse to play catch up. Now there are friends, and then there are friends. Do you know what I mean? There are people you get together with after a long time apart and you fuss and you worry - does my house look okay, do I look okay?? - and then there are people who you know your house could be a disaster and so could you, but it wouldn't matter in the least. L is that kind of friend - it never feels like any time has passed at all when I talk to her. Sure, we've both gotten a couple of years older - that's code for a couple of years wrinklier, saggier, etc etc! - but honestly I realized that as we sat and visited she looked to me just the same as she always had. L is a beautiful girl, very tall, gorgeous dark hair, blue eyes and a great big laugh - she has always made me feel warm when I'm with her, warm as in cozy, comfy. I'm sure I'm like most women my age, getting hyper critical of my looks, as time is starting to definitely stamp it's mark upon my face and body, sigh, and I know my friend feels the same way, so it was weird when I suddenly caught myself looking at her and just seeing HER, the way she has always looked to me - warm, beautiful, vivacious. Funny huh? Maybe that's when you know you're really friends with someone - you pick up just where you left off, and when you part you feel younger again yourself. I hope she felt the same way. Anyway, in case I don't get around to telling you this L - we have great intentions of getting together but time does get away on us - I hope you read this and you get what I mean. It's just a reminder to me of what I said to myself earlier this year about cleaning house - as in my personal house. My promise to surround myself with people who make me feel GOOD, not stressed out or stuffed full of negativity and anger. Hey, maybe I'll get really lucky and if I clean out my mind, my body will follow. Or something like that. Although that kind of sounds like an ad for Alzheimer's, or perhaps a cult of some sort. Whatever, I'll take it if it makes me happy!

Shameless on Showtime

Shameless on Showtime
If I ever had (or have) any doubts about my parenting skills, thank you to Frank Gallagher for dispelling them - nay, for driving them into the ground. I feel so much better about myself after watching the first season of Shameless, the best thing to hit TV in a long long long time.