A Little Vacation

The blog was silent for a couple of weeks.  Husband and I both got a few days off of work, so we were out enjoying life, friends, and family.

We spent a day out at the beach. 
We saw a couple of movies.
We went up to Pennsylvania to see our oldest child.
We went into Washington DC for July 4th.  (Are you ever really too old for fireworks?)
We had friends over for dinner a couple of times.
We went down to Annapolis.

AND.... we cleaned some big stuff out the house.


Not only did we get another couple of boxes out to Goodwill, we got the other very large freezer that our in-laws left here out of the basement.  That freezer was over 30 years old.  Let me tell you, when we finally emptied that freezer and unplugged it earlier this year, we had $30/month come off of our electric bill.  We got 9 pieces of furniture out of the basement.  Yes, you read that right - NINE.  We're talking about  3 dressers that people gave to us and my very sweet husband couldn't say "no" to.  3 sets of the small 2 drawer metal filing cabinets.  One desk that one of the kids brought home from school and then decided that he didn't want to take it with him when he moved out.  AND - two twin beds left the premises.  Many thanks to the Habitat ReStore for taking everything.  While they don't pick up from out in the boondocks where we live, they were happy to take everything from us once we got it there.

And last but not least - we donated the old van.  Cancelled the insurance.  Returned the plates. 

It was a fantastic, relaxing, and productive staycation!  Now it's back to work!

Time on my Hands

Mom has been in the hospital for the last 6 weeks.  She's been in the ICU, the CCU, the surgical floor, and the regular floor.

I've spent a lot of time with her, but for much of that time, she's been sound asleep.

So, what have I been doing to help pass the time?

I've been a Girl Scout leader for years.  My girls are Seniors in High School this year.  Over the years, we, the parents, have been taking pictures of events that we have attended and uploading them to an online share site.  I had this great thought about a year ago.  Why not make scrapbooks for the girls to give to them when we have our end of scouting celebration in May of next year? 


I debated making this particular gem digitally, but I have a lot of memorabilia from the years that I wanted to put into their albums.  The only way to easily do that is to scrap the album "old school" style.

So, I've been ordering the prints from the share site over the past year.  I found a great deal on albums at my local chain craft store, and I began scrapping when the opportunity presented itself.

When Mom's hospital journey began, I really began putting time into those albums.  When I was home, I would sit on the floor, spread my mess all over, and do the cutting and the pasting.  I found the actual creative work to be cathartic.  It helped me deal with my anxieties over the fact that I can't be in two places at once. Honestly, let's face it - the rest of my world is spinning out of control, and this is one thing I can control.  I'm pretty sure a psychiatrist would have a field day with this chain of events.

This is the mess of scrap book stuff all over the floor!

I also added blank papers to the pages in the albums to go back and journal later.

Keep in mind - these are very simple albums.  The most cropping I did of the photos was with a slicer to cut out extra "fluff" that didn't belong so that I could fit more pictures on a page.  Think rectangles and squares.  There are no fancy shapes in these albums.  I had started this project over a year ago, but I honestly hadn't made a lot of progress on this in the last few months.  Within the first two weeks of Mom's admission, I finished the picture part of the albums.  (I do only have 5 girls in my troop, so don't be too impressed with this.  I don't think I would have undertaken a project like this for more than 5 girls.)

When I finished the albums, I put them all in a crate in the back of my van, along with some acid free pens.  When I arrived at the hospital, I would pull out one of the albums, and the pens.  When Mom was sleeping, I'd pull the pages out of their protective sleeves and journal on the blank squares.

A completed journaling box.

The nice thing about having that paper scrapbook with me is that I was able to work quietly and not disturb Mom while she slept.  When she was awake, I was able to share the pictures with her.  Actually, it's been a pretty big help in keeping her interested and engaged in the midst of all of the health issues and the chaos and uncertainty of the hospital.