Born in the Wrong Era

I have a sneaking suspicion I was born a generation late. I would have fit in perfectly with the thrifty, make the most out of everything, stretch a dollar generation. I love cooking/baking things from scratch. I love the idea of canning [all sorts of things and especially fruits and vegetables] I like making my own jam. [My strawberry rhubarb jam is absolutely de-lish, if I may say so myself] I like to plant things in my garden in the spring/summer to hopefully be consumed and created in my kitchen when it's harvested. [At this point in time it's only tomatoes and herbs] I love the idea of making my own bread, though it's not something I've done an awful lot of, but when I have done it, it's been good.

Don't be misled here, there are many things I love about where I live, RIGHT NOW. I would be absolutely lost without my Washer and Dryer. I have absolutely NO desire to wash/ring/rinse/hang things to dry. No thank you. I can't imagine not having a microwave. No, it's my very best friend in the event I have forgotten to defrost our dinner. I don't even want to be without my electronics. However,  I love the idea of getting back to the basics.

In fact, I just feel, deep down, the need to get back to the basics. In fact, the other day I made my own pumpkin puree. That's right. I cooked a pumpkin, then scooped out all the lovely pumpkin flesh, then put it in my food processor and pureed it. I now have 2 cups of pumpkin puree, that's going to be made into something delicious in the next few days. It was a lot more work, than simply opening up a can of pumpkin, but in the end, I find such a satisfaction knowing that I made it happen!

 

The toughest part about my living, a generation too late, is that Barry doesn't always understand my reasoning behind things. He thinks I'm crazy to buy a little sugar pumpkin, to bake, scoop and puree, only to turn around and put it into a muffin recipe, when all I have to do is take the lid off a can. He just can't understand why I want to go to so much work to make jam, or can stuff... The time it takes, compared to picking up a jar of jam or pickles. 

I guess I just like knowing, what I'm eating. What I'm feeding my family. Now having said that, my family is pretty particular, and Barry doesn't even like things that are pickled for heavens sake... 

I imagine using my canner like a pro [though I've still never attempted this] making bread on a weekly basis, that the kids adore, and being a master at clean eating [tag word for 2013]

That's all I wanted to say. I"ll let you know what I make with the pumpkin!

Behind Already

I don't know where the days go. I have good intentions... All of a sudden it's past the middle of the month. Remember when I said I wanted to be a better blogger? This isn't quite what I had in mind. I marvel at how so many gals out there, use their blogs as a tool for their lives. Maintaining a blog, is a serious time sucker... I intend to add something small, and 2 hours later, I'm still sitting in my jammies, doing a spell check.

I do have my first week of my 2013 Project Life book done. Yippee for me! I still haven't finished my title page... Have an idea in mind, and just haven't been able to execute it yet. It involves all of us, a camera and my self timer...

For now, here are my pages for week one:

My goal this year, is going to be to have a more 'hand done' feel to it. I love the look of the hand done stuff on all the other blogs I check out. This will definitely have a mixture of digital elements, and old fashioned scrapbooking [with taping, stamping, cutting, pasting, sewing, etc.] I'm also going to round corners for this book. It's another element I'm always drawn to in other people's project life books. I'm planning on using different page protectors this year, and mix them up on a regular basis.

I don't know what day I'll set aside to work on my mini layouts. Last year worked perfectly, because the weeks ran from Sunday through Saturday. This year, January 1st was on a Tuesday... I've started off the week, or 7 days, to run Tuesday through Monday... I think that will be okay. Last year I tried to put some time aside on Sundays to work on the book, perhaps I'll plan to do that this year also. 

I have week 2 ready to be sent off to be printed [the picture part] and the way I'm doing my weeks, week 3 is officially over at the end of today, and tomorrow starts week 4... Ouch... See... HOW does that happen? I'm not totally behind... Yet.

I was just going through my 'week in review' which is an idea I copied from Cathy Zielske. [Created my very own card... Have I mentioned how much I love Photoshop Elements?] Any way, I see that I have a typo tucked away in there... I HATE typos. I also hate when my darling husband points them out to me... Cause I'm only human. I make mistakes. I usually spell check what I've typed, but not always... He also loves to point out to me, that if I did my typing at normal hours and instead of at 3:00 AM, that typing errors might be less likely to happen... Nah... Doubt it. I'm a night owl... What can I say?

I heart faces - January Photo Challenge

So, as part of my word for 2013 [action] I am trying to get a little bit more involved. I thought I would enter this months Photo Challenge on I Heart Faces. They're looking for the best face of 2012. I did a little impromptu photo shoot in the back yard in October, before all the leaves had fallen off the trees and been raked up. I love this picture of my girl. It's my favourite to date. 
 

Final Project Life Pages of 2012

I'm so pleased that this album is done. [In it's entirety]
 
I've already got pictures being printed, for the first week of 2013. In fact, I just received an email that they are ready for pick up. Yay, me!

Here's a look at the last 2 weeks of 2012:

 

 

I added several  6x12 page protectors, that hold 6x4 sized photos in them, to document Christmas a little bit more. These page protectors are the perfect size, and believe it or not, I think I found them at Superstore way back when...

I cut this page protector down and then sealed it closed with SMASH Washi tape, to fit the flyer we got from Mason's hockey Tournament. 

For 2013, I am going to attempt to streamline things a little bit... I have pinned so many layouts that appeal to me, and I'm going to try to take a mixture of what I love and make it my own. I think it will make the process a little more simple. Fingers crossed, any way. I love doing this, but I would love to simplify a little bit more. Every once and awhile, when you get behind a week or two, it's awfully daunting... And let's be honest, that happens. Life happens. I'm still as excited about this project as I was last January. I can't wait to see how it all comes together! I would also like to try and include more memorabilia. For some reason, I seem to struggle with that one. I see other people's examples, and it's great, but when it comes to me, I don't seem to have it sorted out. I'm going to try to include more of the kids personal art work and notes, etc. Looking back through last years PL book, I love that I've jotted down quotes of things the kids have said. That's another thing I'll attempt to do. 

I hope to share stuff on a weekly basis. I hope to be organized enough to!

Ta Daaaa!

Here is the new look of my blog! I think I love it! It's plain and simple.

I finished off my Project Life book last night. As in, it's completely FINISHED... I'm over the moon. I need to take some pictures, so I can post them. Stay tuned! I'll attempt to get that done today!

Hello Twenty Thirteen

There are going to be some changes coming this way. On this blog. I feel like I need to re-vamp/re-style/re-do. I want to simplify. I want to make things easier, not daunting. I need to sort it out in my head a little bit first, and then it'll make it's way here, to this space. 

I feel like I didn't blog totally the way I wanted to in 2012. There were too many days between posts. There were too many things left unsaid. There was too much that happened, that didn't get touched  on. Now having said that, I COMPLETED MY PROJECT LIFE BOOK! [I just sent weeks 51 & 52 off to be printed tonight. I send my pictures to Costco, it's cheap and there's a quick turn around. I see a lot of the Project Lifer's out there that a majority of them print their pictures at home. I would like to, but when I print pictures at home, the quality just never seems quite as nice as an actual photograph, like the ones I get from Costco] I went sideways there, sorry. As I was saying, I have captured many things in my Project Life album, little snippets here and there, but I do like to have my blog as a place to 'record' stuff.

I sometimes think I'm a little over the top... With all this documenting life stuff. Tonight, after his hockey game, Mason told me that I was always embarrassing him... To 'stop with all the pictures already'. And I want to respect his wishes, but I just don't think I can. I don't go ANYWHERE without my camera or iphone/camera. I don't let a minute slip past without snapping a picture... I explained to him that I'm capturing the moments that he enjoys sitting on the couch and flipping through. He got very quiet [because this kid goes through my scrap book albums, ALL THE TIME. He knows pictures are an important part of the process] I hope he comes around, and will continue not to be bothered by my incessant need to take photos. [Fingers crossed]

In my last blog post, I touched on the fact that I was going to continue on with Project Life and planned to carry on into 2013. I am so excited to do so. I am working on my title page now. I've already got 2 days under my belt.

I plan on sharing my layouts a little bit better this year.

I have also chosen a word for 2013. It is: ACTiON

My word for 2012 was completely insignificant last year. I realized that, when I couldn't remember the word I had chosen [which ended up being Renew] I think I thought about it fleetingly last December, picked it and promptly forgot about it.

This is a word that gets me excited about what twenty thirteen has in store for me. I need to step up and out of my comfortable little place. This word fits with every aspect of my life right now, and I hope that come this time next year, I don't have to go back to the archives and look up what this years word was. 

Here's a picture from the hockey game tonight, of Madelyn and Baba [my Dad] Madelyn hasn't got onto the 'taking pictures embarrasses me' kick yet, but it's only a matter of time. She is a little monkey do after all...

Thank you to my devoted Mum and Dad, who have come to nearly every. single. game. Back in September and October, you came to more practices than you should ever have had to... It's so great that you come and support Mason like you do. It's so neat to be able to watch how far Mason has come since he first started in the fall, with you. It's nice to have a warm bodies to sit close to, since his Dad is on the bench with the kids. It's nice that Ama's purse is full of never-ending things, for bored Madelyn. It's even fun to threaten kids from the other teams [under our breath of course] together. You guys are awesome.