documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 10...

That weekly date night I set with myself for every Tuesday night to do Project Life...well, I blew it off last night. Not going to beat myself up over it though--I wasn't feeling good so I chose to just crochet and watch some SVU on netflix instead. But I figured I'd better get on it this morning because I'm still worried that I'll give up if I let myself get behind.

I have found a few things that really help me speed up the process, so now it honestly doesn't take all that long to throw a week together.

1. I've accepted the fact that most weeks are going to be *extremely* simple as far as extras and embellishments and pretty little doodads go. Meaning there may be nothing extra added beyond the simple strip of pattern paper sewn to my date card. That's OKAY!

2. Maybe the best thing I did for myself this time around was make templates for my date card and weekly schedule card. I just need to pull up the date card and change the date to the new week's. In fact, I usually do that as soon as I've printed out the one for the current week. Same with the weekly schedule card--it sits on my desktop and I pull it up every day or so and type up the current info, thus it's always ready to just be printed and cut out at the end of the week as well.

3. I've learned to keep a folder for the week's pictures on my desktop as well. I try to load the pictures from the camera every day, but in reality it happens every few days. Every time I do, I put any of the pictures I think there's even the remotest possibility I'll use for Project Life into that folder on the desktop. (And in iPhoto I keep the photos arranged by week, so if I happen to need something extra, it's easy to get the appropriate pictures.) When I set about throwing the week's layout together, I open the folder and get a rough idea of what I've got to work with. That makes it easier for me to pick which style of page protector I'll be adding for the second half (the first half, of course, is already decided as its the back of the previous week).

I seem to do everything slow, from reading and writing to scrapbooking and crafting. I often wish that weren't the case, but it is. But these three simple things have allowed me to speed up my Project Life process immensely. When it's a bare-bones layout, I can usually complete the whole thing...from choosing and printing and cutting photos to sewing on the pattern paper...in less than an hour. And in the end, I figure it's an hour well-spent.

Week 10 spread:

 

Side one:


Side two:


An invoice from some seeds that arrived, with some handwritten notes about our week:


Notes on this week's layout:

*I love it when there's a fairly even distribution of the kids in a layout. But I totally don't sweat it when there's not. It all evens out in the end.

*I rather like using those 10x12 page protectors mixed in with the 12x12s.

*I may just take too many photos of the furry members of the family. Or not. :)

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 9...

Yep, I'm a day early this week. Quite the rebel with my blogging schedule this week--ha! I'm early because I really, really didn't feel like doing this week, so I forced myself to just get it over with. (Not wanting to do it has nothing to do with Project Life itself, but more with my overall state of mind--more on this shortly.)

Week 9 spread:


Side 1:

We didn't have much out of the ordinary going on this week, and I just hadn't taken many photos, so to fill in some space I snapped a handful of pics yesterday of little bits of our home. It was an idea I'd wanted to try to throw in a few times a year anyway, so this was the perfect week to start.

Side 2:


*****
Okay, that state of mind thing. I seem to have donned my grumpy pants lately. :( I'm not sure what the hell this funk is about, but I'm just plain cranky. It's bad enough being grumpy and having a reason why, but to be this out-of-sorts for no apparent reason, well that just sucks. Of course, maybe that just helps balance out those periods where I'm inexplicably happy for stretches, huh?

Anyway, I think I'm going to unplug for a bit. By a bit, I don't know if I mean a few days or a few weeks or even longer. (I'll probably still instagram and maybe twitter on my iPod, but if I find that I'm letting that become a time suck I'll just have to set that aside too.) There are just some things I sorely need to get done around here:

1. I'd love to have everything finished for this quarter of school before the end of the month when spring break rolls around, so I can spend spring break concentrating on the final quarter of the year.

2. Our house needs a major cleaning. I haven't even taken down the kids' Christmas trees yet. *sigh*

3. I had high hopes of making all my friends some sort of gift for their birthdays this year. I'm already in major fail here...and I'd really like to get caught back up.

4. It's nearly time to start planting all those hundreds of seeds. And I need to draw up some plans for what we want to try to accomplish in the garden expansion arena this year.

5. I'd so love to finally spend a little time on home improvement projects of the beautifying type, as opposed to the "OMFG-yet another damn emergency to deal with" type.

6. Although all the above seem to negate this one, I'd love to just take some down time to try to get some decent sleep and some physical and mental rest in hopes of getting this fibro under some semblance of control again.

It goes without saying, but I will so miss you all!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful March!!!

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...weeks 7 and 8...

Before I provide that photographic proof that I am indeed still plugging away at Project Life, I want to thank Kelly and Trish. After pestering the ever-living crap out of them about doing Project Life with me, they've become my unknowing watchdogs. I can't possible give up if they're sticking with it, right? Yep, for once guilt is working for me. :P

With winter break last week, I did get a little behind. So I had to do two weeks this time instead of just one. But yay me--I still managed.

Week 7 spread:


A closer look at side 1:


And at side 2:

There was a lot going on that week, so I ended up needing two slots for the weekly "what we did" cards. This was actually a good thing as I just didn't take a ton of photos that week.

Close up of the journaling, in case anyone actually wants to read it:


Week 8 spread:

A closer look at side 1:


And an even closer look at this photo...just because it cracks me up every time I see it:


Inserts:

I got some lovely postcards from some lovely friends this month and really wanted to include them, but at the same time didn't want to cut them down to fit in the 4X6 pockets. Solution: Add a couple of 5x7 inserts and simply stick them in. Gotta love easy, right?

Side 2:


Again I needed more than one slot for the "what we did" cards:


And finally, it was time for another family favorite recipe (the recipe is inside the tabbed card):


So YAY--8 weeks in and all caught up! Only 44 more weeks to go. Sheesh...all of sudden, 8 weeks doesn't sound all the impressive.

*****
Okay, I know this is already a really long post, but I just *have* to add some good stuff. It's just been such a fabulous morning, not life-changing or anything, but just plain chocked full of awesomeness:

*My inbox was filled with wonderful! An unbelievably special birthday gift from an unbelievably special friend. I wish I could say more, but it's one of those things where it's just not my place to talk about it, if you know what I mean.

*More wonderfulness in the inbox--incredibly good news from another friend I love dearly. (And I really don't even want to say who, because I don't want to invade her privacy.) But it's the kind of news where I feel like going around and hugging everyone I see.

*Big beautiful snowflakes falling.

*Maybe my most exciting glimpse of wildlife on our little swamp yet--I saw a mink running across the frozen pond. So cool.

*Getting Gray out of bed in the morning is usually one of the low-lights of my day. He just can't sleep at night (never has been able to), and it's not till early morning when he finally zonks. Homeschooling lets me cater to his natural rhythms somewhat, but I also have to keep in mind the window of time in my day that I'm feeling my best with the fibro. Anyway, this morning's "wake up" went so so so well. And for that I am exceedingly grateful.

*The geese. There were seven of them out on the frozen pond. They came walking in single file, but then sort of broke up and spread out. And then they started shifting positions and whatnot. It looked so much like they were working out choreography for some big dance number or something, and I just could not stop giggling. Okay, maybe I am too easily amused, but frankly, I like it that way. :P

Here's wishing you all a day filled loads and loads of good stuff too!!!

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 6...

Yay! I've now officially tied my record for the longest I've kept up with Project Life. :P I have to admit making myself post the pages here every Wednesday has kept me motivated.

Super super simple week. But that's okay...I'm just looking for done, not beautiful here.

The spread:


Left side:


Right side:


The end.

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 5...

I really did not want to keep my "Project Life date" with myself last night--I just wanted to curl up with my heating pads and read graphic novels. But I forced myself to get started, and once I did I was having so much fun that I followed through and finished up the week. Yay me. (Seriously, I am so terrified of letting myself get behind, as getting behind has been my downfall every other time I've tried Project Life.)

The opening spread:

As you can tell (or maybe you can't from the photo), there's an extra insert again this week.

Left side:

I love the picture of Gray because it captures a big piece of his personality. Rich and Max went to do a practice trail run; Gray went along...but with drawing supplies. I think he might perish if he ever had to go a day without drawing.
The three pictures of the squirrel at the bottom are probably overkill, but that little fellow just amused the heck out of me that day. :)

Side one of insert:

One thing I planned to do this year was keep track of all the books we each finished and all the shows we each watched during a week. I want to do this 4 or 5 times spread throughout the year. So at the beginning of the week, I asked everyone to just keep me a list. I love this insert, but it seems sort of misleading, as neither Annie nor I usually get that many books read during a week. But I guess that will become apparent when there's more of these inserts spread throughout the year.

Spread with insert turned:

Side two of the insert:

I really wanted to use a picture from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, but I figured since it was my graphic novels on the other side, I should be a little more representative. :p

And the final page:

Yep, we actually had something going on this week--Annie had her first test in Aikido, and she earned her orange belt! Gotta admit it was pretty fun watching Ms. Annie flipping and throwing these big men around. :p

So yay! Five weeks down, forty-seven to go.

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 4...

Before I show my proof that I am actually keeping up with Project Life this year, I want to apologize...for all the emails I haven't sent, for all the comments I haven't written, and for all the other ways I've failed in the friendship department lately. I don't want to complain, and I don't want to make excuses, but the only way I know how to explain is to just tell the truth--fibro has just been kicking my ass the past few weeks. I haven't had a flare that has been this bad or lasted this long before. Fingers crossed that it is a fluke and not a sign of things to come. Anyway, it has left me with little energy to do much, and for that I apologize.

But I have pushed myself to keep up with Project Life, be it in very simplified form. Keeping up is a good thing for me--I know from past experience that if I let myself get behind, I get very discouraged, and when I get too discouraged I end up quitting.

Okay, week 4. (Clicking on the pictures should make them bigger.)

Week 4 spread:

The left side:

Simple, simple, simple. The date card in the same style I've chosen for the year. The "what we did" card--and as we didn't have much going on, I was able to sew on a strip of matching paper. Included Annie's MCC class schedule since the spring semester started that week.

The right side:

Just a bunch of seasonal pictures. For the four bottom right slots, I just printed out a picture of frost on the window at 8x10 size and cut it into pieces before adding the chipboard letters. Think I'd like to do a page like this for every season this year, because our four distinct seasons are one of the things I love most about living where we do. Now if I can only remember to actually do it...

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 3...

Not much in the way of stories or "extras" this week. Excuses for this:

1. Stupid fibro won't let up.

2. I feel on the complete verge of brain-deadness...I have near zero ability to focus or concentrate.

3. What little creative energy I've been able to muster has gone into making February treats for my little family (and luckily, my surprise for them really takes little effort.)

As much as I hate throwing out excuses, it does again point out how awesome this project, Project Life, really is. I had little to give it this week, and yet it still got done. It got done with the bare basics, but it got done. Pictures printed and a few words added about our week is better than nothing at all, right? And nothing at all is what we would have had without Project Life.

And there we have week 3.

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 2...

I was almost late with this week. Yeah, only two weeks into the year. :/ But I think I'm entering another flare, and it was not a matter of "babying" myself, it was a matter of only being able to do so much with this much pain. But, ahhh, this brings up one of the pluses of documenting life the Project Life way--it allows you to choose the amount of effort you want/can put into it any said week (if you even choose to do it week-by-week, and goodness knows there's no reason you have to).

So, yeah, not a lot of extra effort this week. Mostly just stuck in pics. But hey, isn't that better than nothing?

The opening spread (and yes, there's an extra insert again this week...so bad at weeding stuff out):

Last week, I'd made a text box for the weekly date card, as well as for the "what we did this week" card. I saved on the computer so now I don't have to re-figure sizing and whatnot every week, but can just type in the new week's info.

The opening page:

Yep, like I said, a picture-heavy week.

Side one of insert:

And the spread with the insert flipped:

I love how adding inserts never really distracts from the overall look.

Side two of insert:

I'll probably have inserts of homeschool happenings quite often as it's such a big part of our life.

One thing I'd like to do this year include one of our favorite family recipes every few weeks. (Yes, despite the fact that I suck at food photos.) Anyway, the little "a family favorite recipe" card slides out, and contains the recipe inside.

My layouts lack the "WOW" that many Project Lifers pages have, I know that. But you know that Teddy Roosevelt quote--"Comparison is the thief of joy"--I think that's very true for me. So I'm not going to compare...I'm going to be blissfully happy that I'm saving these moments and memories in whatever form they take.

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 1...

YAY! Week 1 done! 1/52 of the way through the year, and I'm not behind yet! :P

As often seemed to be the case when I attempted Project Life in the past, I had more stuff to include than would fit in a single spread, (I'm apparently not as good as I'd like to think at weeding stuff out) but that's an easy problem to solve--just add inserts.

Week One:

A closer look at the first page:

Mostly deals with Gray being sick and Baker becoming a legal beagle, with a few other photos we like from the week thrown in as filler. Used the pharmacy bag as a base to hold Gray's prescription thingies. Stuck in Baker's proof that he's licensed. Wee bit of sewing. And yes, I'm a corner rounder.

First side of insert:

The pictures aren't fantastic or anything, but I wanted our little ice cream sundae party documented. I'm using the computer to do most of my journaling this time around. I don't despise my handwriting, but I don't really like it either. I'll be sure to include bits of all of our handwriting as we go throughout the year though. (I'm pretty sure you can read the journaling by clicking on the photos, just in case you're interested.)

The spread with the insert flipped:

And a closer look at the back of the insert:

Just printed an enlargement of a picture taken out our bedroom window, then cut it into pieces. And see, already a wee bit of my handwriting.












And the last page:

A couple pictures of Annie and her girlfriend, a picture of Annie after her haircut, a receipt from the kids trip to the dentist (ugh!), and a short round-up of our week. I find that keeping a little journal to very briefly jot down each day's happenings helps me immensely in writing up the round-up. I've found in the past if I didn't do this, I tended to forget lots of little things that actually make up our lives.

Okay, now do you believe me, Trish??? You can do this!!!! And I can't wait to see the results! :D

documenting our life PL style...title page...

Okay, so one of my "sort of" goals for this year is to restart Project Life. For the umpteenth time. And to actually stick with it. I'm trying to convince myself that by planning on posting each week's layout here on the blog on Wednesdays, it will keep me motivated to actually make those layouts on the Tuesday date-night I have planned with myself. (I've rewritten that last sentence four times now, and am still not sure it makes sense outside my own brain. Oh well.) I still don't have myself convinced, but I figure it's worth a try anyway.

Here's the title page. Nothing fancy, but then it wouldn't be me if it was. Honestly, I'm just loving the fact that we got a family picture of us (thank you Dani!)--it's sort of a rare beast around here thanks to the two uncooperative young men in our midst. :P

(Hey, Trish!!!! You know you really want to join me, right???? :D )

end of week hodge-podgey wrap-up #2

Project Life:

Week Two complete! :D

*****
New-to-me words:

*sigil-a sign or image supposedly having magic powers (from Epic by Conor Kostick

*allogrooming-another term for social grooming among animals (from Guide to the Planet by Matthew Murrie and Steve Murrie)

*****
Music from Ana:

This past week's song from Ana's list from my happiness project was Edward is Dedward by Emmy the Great. My thoughts jotted down throughout the week:

*Already knew I loved her voice. Just more confirmation.

*This is one of those love-at-first-listen songs. And one which I suspect will only become more loved with more listenings.

*Okay. This song is breaking my heart. It's beautiful. Just feels so fucking real. So real. So sad. So beautiful.

*I think the lack of "sentimental" makes it more loving than anything else could ever be. (That probably makes no sense outside of my head.)

*Does it sound weird to say that I think this is one of the most beautifully written songs ever?

*I know this sort of thing changes an a weekly/daily/hourly basis, but right now, Edward is Dedward is my favorite song.

*Another day, and it's again my favorite song.

*Note: I wasn't able to find this song to download, but instead repeatedly listened to it through this youtube video:



(Project progress: Happiness project, Ana's list of songs, Item 2-Edward is Dedward by Emmy the Great)

*****
This week's mini reads:

Essay-
"Rendezvous 8: Lemurs, Bushbabies and Their Kin" and "The Aye-Aye's Tale" from The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. I enjoyed this one profusely. And not just because he quoted from Last Chance to See, one of my favorite books ever. :P (And I must thank you again, dear Ana for introducing me to it!) Anyway, this is where we meet Concestor 8, the grand ancestor of all primates. Mostly what we get a look at is the uniqueness of Madagascar. As Dawkins puts it "The Aye-Aye's Tale is about Madagascar, textbook showcase of biogeographical natural experiments...."

Short story-
"The Protectionist" by Meg Cabot. Again, from What You Wish For. And again, a first-time-for-me author. Okay, I have to say that I ended up really liking this one. And it was one of those times when I didn't realize it until the end. I mean, I was enjoying it as I read, but it wasn't until I'd shut the book that it hit me how much I enjoyed this story. That seldom happens, but when it does it's just the neatest little gift. Does this ever happen to anyone else?
I don't want to say too much about the story in case anyone goes on to read these book, but suffice it to say that the main character is...well, quirky. His heroes are an early 20th century economist and a BMX extreme athlete. And he's a bully target. But it turns out he's not immune from making surface judgments of his own...

Poem-
"The Herbalist's Nightshade Song" by Katrina Vandenberg (from Atlas). It took a few readings for this one to grow on me...but grow on me it did. In fact, it's one of my favorites from the collection, and believe me, that's saying something...

(Project progress: Misc. Projects--Read one short story a week, Read one essay a week, and Read one poem a week)

end of week hodge-podgey wrap-up #1

Project Life:

Week one of our 2012 Project Life. I am determined to follow through for the entire year this go round. Determined. And I've accepted that that means most weeks will look much like this. As in very plain, very simple, little or no eye candy. That's okay. Sure, I wish I had time to beautify and play, but that's not in the cards right now.

*****
New-to-me words:

*vorpal-deadly (from Epic by Conor Kostick)

*polymorphism-the simultaneous existence, in a population, of two or more alternative versions of a gene, where neither is rare enough to be just a recent mutant (from The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins)

*augury-an omen or portent (from Epic by Conor Kostick)

*****
Music from Ana:

I love, positively love, every single one of the lists I asked my friends to make me for my happiness project. But the list of songs from Ana is just so incredibly special to me. I can't really even put into words why. For one thing, you'd all think me utterly sappy and sentimental if I tried to explain.

Anyway, I am utterly unqualified to talk about music. I don't even have the vocabulary for it. So when I talk about the song I spent the week experiencing, it will not be in any polished or knowledgeable way. It will simply be the random notes I jotted down during the week. Interesting to no one but myself, I'm sure. And maybe Ana.

So...this week's song was "Vesuvius" by Sufjan Stevens.

*Whoa. This is so different from what I was expecting. Not different as in "bad." But different. I'm not quite sure if I like this or not. Am eager to spend more time with it finding out.

*Decided to pull up the lyrics and read along while I listened this time. Glad I did. After reading through with this song once, I'm no longer catching myself just trying to understand a word here or there. I hate being jarred out of a song's flow when I do that.

*Love that I now know how to pronounce his name! (The living in a cave thing rears its ugly head yet again.)

*This song is definitely growing on me. More and more with every listening.

*I can't believe I've gone from not even knowing if I liked this song to totally loving it. Makes me wonder how many songs I've written off without even giving them a fair shot.

(Project progress: Happiness Project, Ana's list of songs, Item 1-Vesuvius by Sufjan Stevens)

*****
This week's mini reads:

Short story-
"Pearl's Fateful Wish" by Jeanne DuPrau. As with last week's story, this one came from What You Wish For: Stories and Poems for Darfur. And like last week's story, I'm just sort of meh about it. It's not that I dislike it by any means...but it definitely didn't wow me in any way, shape, or form. I'm wondering if part of my problem so far with this book is a matter of my own faulty expectations. This book was displayed in the teen section of the bookstore, and yet these first two stories read much more like stories aimed at younger kids. Don't get me wrong, I love middle grade fiction! But I think in this case I was just caught off guard because I was mistakenly expecting something else. I've still got high hopes for the rest of the collection though--both because of adjusting my outlook and because there are some pretty amazing authors still to come.

Poem-
"Wishes" by Jane Yolen. Also from What You Wish For. It wasn't my plan to read this this week, but when I saw that the next selection in the book was a poem instead of a short story, I just couldn't stop myself. And I'm glad I didn't. I've actually read "Wishes" a number of times now...I love it. I really really love it. I'd hoped to be able to find it online so I could share it here, but I didn't have any luck. :(

Essay-
"Rendezvous 7: Tarsiers" from The Ancestor's Tale. This one was much shorter than last week's, and for me, much easier to read. We meet up with Concestor 7, and we learn about the tarsiers and their very large eyes.

(Project progress: Misc. Projects--Read one short story a week, Read one essay a week, and Read one poem a week)