Before Smashbook-ing was Cool

Have you heard of Smashbook?  It’s a pretty fun concept and the funny thing is the books in the beginning of the video i linked {here} are just like the one I’m about to show you!

I started this book in high school.  I always had a bazillion cut-outs and ripped out pages from Magazines laying around my room.  I also had a whole drawer full of little scribbled notes, quotes, poems, and ideas.  I started compiling the two into a giant sketchbook as a way to clear away the clutter from my room.  And this fun collage-book was born.  

Of course, now Smash-booking is like a “thing” and gaining some real popularity in the crafting world.  I haven’t really done much with it since college, but here are some of my favorite pages from my “smash” book from way back. 

 If you're looking for some current and truly awesome Smash book inspiration just type in "smash book" into a Pinterest or Google Image Search and you will find some pretty inspiring stuff. 

I am a Mom

I am a mom.

Sometimes the world will look down on that title.

"What do you do?"
"I'm a mom"
"oh, that's nice"

I used to try and make it more impressive--like telling them all the things I do besides being just a mom.  "I like to dabble with graphic design" or "I like to blog" I would say.  I would try to tell them things that would keep them interested in talking to me in the conversation.  If I told them I was just a mom and that I stayed home with my kids, the conversation would quickly turn elsewhere.  That was frustrating for me since I like to be part of the conversation, too. 

For a long time I wanted to be more than just a mom.

I worked on making my blog better.  I worked on trying to sell things at boutiques and craft fairs.  I tried to freelance a little in the graphic design world.  Even got some small design jobs that I got paid for.  Mostly, I tried to come up with ideas to be fun and interesting to other people...and then blog about it so my blog would be cool too.   

And then I had Sam.

Now I struggle to do all the things I'd become an expert at.  I struggle to get all my errands done in a week, let alone one day.  I struggle to get the laundry done, the dishes done, the house kept picked up.  I struggle to remember the simplest things.  I can get off the phone and completely forget about something I was supposed to do right when I hung up!  I feel like I was losing my mind!!  It took me over a month to finish a wreath for my front door that I used to be able to get done in a day.  I feel like an Olympic gold medalist when I can get dinner ready by 6:30 or both the kids in bed by 8:00! The only thing I seem to get accomplished some days is getting Sam to take a good nap and actually taking a shower.

I still want to be cool, and interesting, and have a really fun blog for my friends to read.  But I worry about every post that I put up that is just more pictures of Sam...more pictures of my kids!  I worry that I would lose readers if I am not posting at least one new project a week.  I don't want to be someone that just posts about my kids and outings to the aquarium all the time.  I feel like I have more to offer than that.

Then one late late night, I realized that this is what my life just happens to be right now.

I am a mother.
and that is enough.

It is enough to try and be the best mom I can be for my kids.
They take up all my time now, and that is okay!
They need me...a lot!  And that is okay.
It may take me a whole month to do a project.  And that is okay.
I can put up nothing but pictures of my kids on my blog and that is okay.  They are my life right now. 

If Luke needs me to stop folding laundry to read him a book, then I will leave a pile of laundry on the couch to do just that.  He will only be with me for a few short years before I turn him over to the elementary schools during the day.  I know that I will miss having him around when that time comes.  I will miss finding toys in funny places and having him as my little buddy in the shopping cart at stores. 

If I need to spend thirty minutes rocking Sam in a dark room to get him to settle down for a nap, then I will do just that.  I will appreciate the quickly fleeting moments of peace with a snugly baby because I know that they will be gone all too soon.

 If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

Right now,
I am a mother.
Right now
I need to be a mother.

There will be time for everything else later.

why I don’t cook dinner anymore

he’s mad because I made him come inside the house from playing outside so I wouldn’t have to worry about where he is anymore.

and REALLY mad that I started taking pictures of him crying {& fake-crying}

and he’s just mad because he’s always mad between 5 and 9. 

it’s not colic, he just can’t seem to stay happy (or even content!) for more than 10 minutes at a time.  he’s not a great eater, and he’s a terrible day-sleeper.

needless to say, I’ve only made dinner a few times in the last 7 weeks.

And if it takes longer than 30 minutes to make—forget it! 

the end.

When I Grow Up

When I was younger, I wanted to move to Paris and be a fashion designer.

When I was a little older, I wanted to move to Italy instead (much better in my opinion) and have my own runway shows. I used to watch them on TV every Saturday morning.

I've always drawn girls and designed their clothes.
I've kept some of these drawings and here they are

Most of these were drawn between 2001-2003 when i was in High School, even though by the time I was in high school I was thinking of doing something other than fine art or fashion design.

Now I'd much rather stay out of that world.

I'd rather be a graphic designer. And i think it fits better.
But that is just a little about me, and i thought I'd share.

Published!!

As you've probably noticed, I took a blogging break.

But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to BRAG a little ;)

I've been published!!

A few months back, New Parent Magazine asked readers for their "best Mom tips" for the Spring/Summer edition of the magazine. Also, "The mom who submits the most original tip will be notified by the editors of New Parent magazine, and mailed one Arm & Hammer™ Diaper Pail by Munchkin."

So I scribbled my answer and sent it in not thinking too much about it. And then I forgot all about it completely like any good mom would do.



Last Friday, I got an email from New Parent Magazine and they told me that my mom tip was the BEST one and I WON the contest!!

"Hi Kathleen,

Thank you for submitting your tip to Newparent.com. It was selected for publication and was our favorite tip! You've won the Arm&Hammer Diaper Pail by Munchkin. Congratulations! Would you please confirm this shipping address and we'll have the Diaper Pail sent to you..."

I couldn't even remember what I wrote down! I seriously had to wait until they sent me an issue of the magazine so I could read what I wrote!

SO my tip was published amidst others in their Spring/Summer issue of the Magazine, and a few days later I got the diaper genie--which is awesome.

I already have a diaper genie, but this one is way better. It has a tight seal contraption on the lid, a door in front, and a cup that dispenses baking soda into the container every time you close the lid to reduce the smelly diapers inside.

They sent me a total of 3 copies of the issue.
They put a bookmark in the magazine on the page where I am in there.

It's awesome just getting put in a magazine--that's never happened to me before. And it's doubly awesome to get a prize out of the deal.

IN ADDITION to all that, I get to cross off something on my life list too--"Get Published" check!

Yay for me!

If you want it, Make it

I don't like to sew.

I pretend i do, but in all reality i hate it.

I love going to the fabric store, picking fabrics and buying patterns, I come up with all these grand ideas of things I could sew. I dream of all the possibilities...

I get home, shove all the supplies in the closet and don't touch them until I absolutely have nothing else better to do than sew something.

I have a box and a half of fabrics i got to make something. I can go through each fabric and tell you the idea I had or what I was going to do with it. And yet, they remain in the box until I decide to get ambitious.

I have a big stack of patterns of things i was going to sew or patterns I bought because I thought it was awesome--like making my own messenger bag. Most of them are still unopened.

Even the mending, something as simple as sewing the darn buttons on my favorite winter coat--I'd rather tough it out til spring and go without that coat than take the five minutes to sew the dumb button back on. I have a whole pile of need-to-fix clothes. *sigh*

Oh it's such a bad habit. I'm in love with the idea of sewing, but definitely not sewing itself. Whenever I start a project, if things are going quickly enough or I'm not understanding something, we're treading on dangerous waters...because If i don't figure it out I tend to throw it down and walk away....for months! I'm an impatient sewer. I like instant gratification. I need short simple projects so the likelihood of me actually completing them is greater. Unfortunately even the simplest of projects bug me if I mess something up or it's not looking the way I was thinking it should. When I lived at home, it was these projects I convinced my mom to finish for me because of my frustration and impatience. My mom is an excellent seamstress. and very patient with my sewing impatience.

It's really an unfortunate thing, because I have this thing that I won't buy something if I can make it myself. For a lot of things it works out just fine--like a lot of the crafts I see in the popular craft boutiques here. I see something and think, "I could make that" so I jot down the idea and don't buy the item. A lot of things that's just fine for...paper crafts, hair accessories, magnets...I often do come home and duplicate them at home. It's just those darn cute sewn projects I battle with. So easy, and yet so annoying that I rarely start the project simply because I'm overwhelmed by the lengthy sewing process itself.

Anyway, "If you want it, Make it" came to mind this week. Every night Scott likes to read before bed. Even if we go to bed a lot later than usual, he still wants to read a chapter. I'm so tired, i just want to go straight to sleep. However, the lamp light keeps me from doing so--even at its measly 40 watts. I'm very sensitive to lighting. SO, to save our marriage, I decided to make an eye mask. I came up with the idea, decided it would be easy enough to attempt and create my own pattern, and I probably already had the materials to make one. And i did, and it was. I thought it would take me 1 hour TOPS. ha. I ended up making the first one, hating it because it was a little too small, and shabbily sewn together, and so I attempted another one. After several days and several times putting it down and walking away, the project was completed. It was highly motivating to get it done because of the actual NEED for it at night. It's by no means perfect looking, but it will get the job done.

*Whew* another sewing project checked off, I'm still alive, and my sewing machine is still intact.

the end of my sewing shpeal...at least until later this week because I'm teaching a basic sewing skills class for my Relief Society activity on Thursday night. oh the irony.

CLeaning MachiNe

Not like you care about my cleaning routine, but hey I'm blogging every day here...YOU try and think of 28 different things to blog about!!

So i have things I do everyday or weekly, and then I have things that I do once a month (hopefully) and then I have things I put off until I absolutely cannot put them off any more!! Having a toddler has definitely made my list grow.

DaiLy:

1. I do the dishes every day. I try to keep the dishwasher dirty so I can load dishes in immediately and I try to keep the kitchen sink as empty as possible. I run the fully loaded dishwasher at night using the delay start feature so it goes on around 11 or 12 and isn't too loud while we watch our nightly TV show before bed. In the morning, I unload the clean dishwasher while Luke is eating breakfast. Pots & Pans get done every couple of days because I hate doing them and so I let them stack up usually. Bad habit. Some days are better than others and I wash them all after dinner.

2. Wiping down the cupboards and sweeping the floor. After doing all the dishes, I usually clean off the kitchen counters and then sweep the floor so the whole kitchen looks nice. When the kitchen is clean it makes a BIG difference on the rest of the house.

3. Picking up TOYS. I straighten up and pick up all the toys from the whole day because Luke plays better when it isn't just a HUGE messy pile of toys. If things are on shelves and in baskets he's more likely to pull something out and play with it. Interesting, but true. so so true. Sometimes this means picking up an entire cup of coins he's dumped out 3 times in one day because he'll keep going back to it only if the cup is full--I'd rather do that then have him whining for my attention every 2 seconds because he can't find something to keep him busy.

Thats it for Daily stuff. I trie to do those 3 things every day and it makes a big difference.

Weekly:

1. Laundry. I'm pretty lucky that I'm still at the point of only needing to do 3-4 loads once a week. Folding it is a different story entirely. I hate hate hate folding laundry--so i'm guilty of leaving it in a laundry basket on occasion ;)

2. Vacuuming. Sometimes this is a daily thing--again because of the toddler--but usually once a week will do. I actually enjoy vacuuming above all other chores. Something about sucking up a mess and watching it disappear is quite enjoyable for me. Not to mention it's a good way to burn some extra calories in a day.

3. Making the Bed. I have to laugh because I probably really DO only make our bed once or twice a week. If I had a nicer bed maybe I would do it more.

Thats it!!

Monthly:

1. Mopping. Actually It's hard to get this done EVERY month, but it really needs to be done like every other week because of the toddler (man kids are messy) Sometimes I just spot mop and scrub off the stuck on gunk that's most obvious.

2. I should seriously do it more, but I really only clean our bathrooms about once every 2 weeks. Gross, I know. They don't get that bad, but if they do I'll do it more often. Or if someone is coming over or staying with us. Our bathroom is the worst because it's the most used. The sink gets all cluttered (mostly with my stuff) and then I just put it off.

Avoid whenever possible:
1. Scrubbing the tubs and our shower. Hate it Hate it Hate it.
2. Dusting--rare.
3. Washing Windows. I hate looking out dirty windows, but it's such a pain to go outside and clean them (cuz they are dirty outside not inside)--Our windows are high and I need a ladder-just a pain. At least I discovered that vinegar and warm water is AWESOME at cleaning windows and doesn't leave streaks.
4. Cleaning out the Microwave, Fridge & Oven. All a pain.
5. Anything else I probably should do but rarely or never do...also goes on this list :)