scrapulescence

Happy Birthday (and Thank You) Dr. Suess

Since March 2 is Dr. Suess's birthday, Christopher's class has been celebrating all of this week- Monday they wore t-shirts from places they had visited (Oh, The Places You'll Go), Tuesday they wore crazy socks (Fox in Socks), Wednesday everyone wore green (Green Eggs and Ham, of course!) and Thursday everyone wore red and white and a silly hat (The Cat in the Hat). 

We even celebrated at home with these.

 

 

 

And by the way, just how much fun is it for a seven-year-old to color his food this color?

All of this got me to thinking of how much I learned as a child from my friend Dr. Suess. Things that I actually still remember even when I've forgotten Algebra, sentence diagrams and the Elements chart. I'm glad that Christopher's books are around for a refresher course. So, that said I would like to thank Dr. Suess (Theodore Geisel) for teaching me:

"That a person is a person, no matter how small"
To try new things, because I just may like the taste of green eggs and ham.
That "when it is wet, and the sun is not sunny, you can still have good fun that is funny."
Babies come down The Hooberbloob highway.
That I am going to go exciting places.
"Everyone needs trees."
Christmas will come no matter what!
"Barbaloot" is just a fun word to say.
"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere."
"You oughta be thankful, A whole heaping lot, For the people and places, you're lucky you're not!"

Christopher mentioned to me recently that he may be getting "too old" for his Dr. Suess books, after all he is 7! I think I'm going to keep for a while longer, until I'm too old for them...whenever that may be. 

Oh, and remember-“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is You-er than You.”

Saying Yes...Bad Photos...priceless.

 
This is not a good photo.  It was taken with a phone camera and not even with properly made adjustments.  The lighting is poor, the subject is blurry....no prize winning photo here.  But I love it.

Why? 

While sitting in the afternoon car line at my son's school a few days ago, I began thinking of how many times a small child hears, "No we can do that later." or "How about we do that tomorrow."  It's not that as parents we want to say no to so many things, it's just that sometimes busy-ness gets in the way. Am I right?  I was thinking that it must be difficult at six years old to think that going to the bank, the post office or the grocery store can be as important as going to the park, Chuck E. Cheese's or the Build-A-Bear store.  Now don't get me wrong, we spend LOTS of time at all of those places and do many fun things as a family, I tend to think that we are a pretty cool threesome actually, but it's not always on my sons "terms".  Chris was performing out of the area, so it was just me and Christopher for the night so I decided it was up to him what we did. I decided to say "yes", to just about anything.  Long story short, it was McDOnald's for dinner (after almost an entire bag of Cheese Combos and Gatorade, by the way), followed by a bit of Christmas shopping. Once it was dark enough, and way past his normal bedtime we went to one of the local parks to see the Christmas light display.  Now normally this "light looking" trip would involve Mommy having the camera, at least one extra flash card and very possibly matching,if not at least Christmas-y attire.  Not this time. After a second trip to McDonald's for hot chocolate, we explored the light display.  I took a photo each time he asked with the only photo equipment I had, the aforementioned camera phone. No poses, no waiting for others to move out view...no flash.  We had a fantastic time! 

On the way home,  he remembered that had seen some Christmas themed pencils in the Dollar Spot at Target.  Why he thought of them at that moment, I will never know.  So, of course we had to stop and get them right then.  Then we had to peruse the Lego section of the Toy Department so he knew what to put on his list for Santa.  We won't even discuss how far past his normal bedtime it was by now, suffice to say that Target is open late for the holiday season.

When we did finally get home, over a late snack of PB&J, we watched a couple of Christmas shows and then he nodded offf the sleep.  

So back to the photo, I love it not because it's a perfect photo, but because it reminds me of a special time. A special night.  I think that as scrapbookers we often concentrate on the perfect photo, the perfect paper, the perfect embellishment and may sometimes forget why we are scrapbooking in the first place. I am guilty of that myself.

 So it this photo perfect?  Absolutely not.  Will it end up in a scrapbook? Absolutely!

 

Women Are Amazing

An Open Letter to All of My Girl Friends:

Amazing! Thought that would get your attention!  Seriously though, women are amazing. You are amazing.  Think of all that you do in one day...heck... in one hour! You are creative, organized, smart and sexy. So many people depend on you - family, friends, co-workers.  You were put on this Earth for a fantastic reason and you need to stay as long as you can. They all want you to be here for a long time.  So that said...in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month and my personal 1 year, 1 month and 28 day Survivor Anniversary....I'm asking you to please...

Go get a mammogram.

Yes, I know it's a pain in the neck. (among other places.)         Yes, I know it hurts.   Yes, I know it's hard to "just find the time".

And yes, I know it can be scary.   (I saw a t-shirt the other day that said "Think getting a mammogram is scary? Try finding a lump.")

Believe me, I had all of the excuses too.  Until a friend of mine was diagnosed. That's what made me go. Then I was diagnosed.

You know what?  Cancer is crappy.  Much more crappy than a mammogram.

However, I'm not going to tell you to just "buck up, be brave and go."  "Brave" is no fun.

Oh,no...I have a much better idea.

And, I've got a little plan for you.  Listen to this....(she says in a low whispering tone.)

There is absolutely no good reason why you should not go through the "yuck" that is a mammogram and not reward yourself.  Yes, you heard me...REWARD yourself.  Immediately afterward is best, but soon after is certainly acceptable.  And don't even think of rewarding yourself with something practical. This is a no-hold-bar reward. Trip to the local Scrapbook Store anyone??  How about visiting one of the craft stores and shopping without that 40% coupon? I know there is something wonderful on your wish list!

How about checking out a fabulous ice cream parlor and throwing that "non-fat, no-sugar" thing to the wind. Frozen yogurt is not permissable. You just had a mammogram...you deserve a mountain of of Moose Tracks and bucket of hot fudge!

Get the idea?  If you're more the "jewelry store/car dealership" type, knock yourself out too! Just don't blame me if you're still paying for this little reward a year from now!

Now, I'm not trying to become the star cancer survivor here...I am so lucky to be healthy now and I thank God for that every day.  Just think about doing this okay? We are so lucky these days that so much can be done with early diagnosis. And don't forget to reward yourself afterward!  What's your reward?

The Zen of Lemon Furniture Polish

It's amazing the things that can trigger a memory.  So that I have time to scrapbook over the weekend, I like to do a little tidying up on Friday evening.  I decide to do a little dusting tonight.  I spray the furniture polish and Wham! I am instantly taken back to my childhood.  My Mom used to use that lemony polish when she did her dusting on Saturday morning.  I remember the entire house would smell like that for a few hours after she finished.  That was one of the smells of home.  Comforting. Happy. Warm.                                                                                                                                      When I first went away to college and lived on my own, I remember that Lemon Pledge was always on my shopping list.  It was just something you were "supposed" to have in your pantry.  I don't know why, you just did.                                                                                                                                           I must admit that although I did not help my Mom much with the cleaning as a young person (okay almost never.), dusting is one of my very favorite things to do (as far as cleaningis concerned I mean... I'm not totally nuts!) when I tidy up.  I gotta say I love spraying that lemony polish and wiping away yesterday's dust. For a short time I am Super Mom - I may not be able to change everything negative in the world, but I can make the dust go away and leave a fragrant trail behind."  Maybe it's therapeutic.  Maybe it's zen. Maybe it's Mommy hormones. Or maybe it's just cleaning.  Whatever it is, a happy, warm and comforting home is something I want Christopher to remember when he grows up. Today we went and looked at a 4yr old pre-school for him and I realized just how fast he is growing up. I can't even imagine (yet) sending him off to college. Think I'll start stocking up on Lemon Furniture Polish to pack in his suitcases. Thanks Mom. 

Totally a Mommy Afternoon

Just a quiet Sunday. Chris took Christopher to Adventure Island today and I stayed home to scrapbook (haven't actually done that yet though.), fiddle around on the computer and oh yea, get the blog up finally!! woo-hoo, it's alive.  In my head however, not so quiet.  Did you ever has a day when there was just so much going on your head (creatively I mean, not like "voices in your head".... that's another story. hee-hee!)  I saw a Fiskars ad a few months ago that had a tag line about "your head working on so much creatively that your hands can't keep up!"  That's how I've been feeling lately...so many ideas for albums and pages and just 'how to get it all done?" Hmmmm.  I'm working an a couple of theme-y albums about Christopher - one is "In Your Own Words" documenting the nutty things he says at 3.5 years old and one is a kind of "Blessings" albums I've been percolating on for a while now... and then there's a Toddler album to work on.

Chris and I have been working on a "special" scrapbook project that we're very excited about - more on that soon.