{Shhhhhh . . . All is quiet on the western front}

Can you even believe it is Friday already ? Where in the world did this week go. Well let me tell you my guilty pleasure this evening. My house is almost silent. It is simply beautiful. Don took Coleton and Logan to an overnight cubscout camp. It is called Camp Digalus and there theme is Return of the Frog Wars (it's a star wars knock off) My boys are gonna have so much fun. Karleigh has gone to spend the night at her friend Megan's House. Morgan has got herself set up in her room with movies all night and Dylan is hanging out at his friend Matt's house. So it is so quiet. Not that I do not LOVE my kids and hubby - but I LOVE the quiet every now and then also. While reading Heather's blog she shared something that her mom shared with her and I found it so incredibly relevant to my life right now -
A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'
He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. ' 'As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'
'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.'
So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.
Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be to kind to others.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well, just get up and dance.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. the more you have, the longer you live. (I am still having a hard time with the whole 40 thing)
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Just as Heather explained that she didn't want to refer to the things in her life as burdens (well maybe let me clarify - I will refer to insurance and medical bills as some sort of burden right now in my life) but everything else is just stuff I fill my plate with and it is basically all Good Stuff that I really enjoy, but many times I will allow my plate to get too full. So it is a reminder to me not to fill my plate too full or everything will get spoiled and I won't get to enjoy anything. But who says I can't have two plates. Like tonight - I have no family responsibilities (expect to keep an ear on Morgan - but she will be watching movies and chatting on the phone with her friends until she falls asleep) so I can put that plate down. I know this sounds almost silly, but I am so excited to just lay in my bed by MYSELF and have the remote and flip through whatever channels I want. I will think of Don and my little boys, but they love sleeping under the stars and what fun for a dad and his boys. Although - I will probably fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Okay now for more inspiration - I guess it has just been one of those days where I have been open for inspiration.

I am also so excited because I have talked a big talk for a very long time of my idea of the ideal way to scrapbook and it took my friend Kirsten (owner of About Memories and More in Flagstaff, AZ) to really start it. While going through the boxes and boxes, and cd after cd gather photos for Dylan's eagle scout project I finally said "ENOUGH is ENOUGH" get with it Kristan. How sad is it that I profess to be a scrapbooker for going on 14 years now and the majority of my photos are in photo boxes , on cd's or in my computer. I go all over the country teaching women the importance of preserving there story and yet I found pictures I haven't even seen in 14 years this past week. My little boys had so much fun seeing Dylan at their age. My kids spent hours looking at photos and reliving memories. My one sister in law, who is a photographer by degree and scrapbooker by family pressure has all of her photos neatly in Pioneer photo albums in 4x6 photo sleeves. They are all (probably 25-30 of them) on a shelf in her living room where her family can do what ? Look at them and enjoy them. So I have vowed to follow Kirtsen's example and get photo's into albums. I have also chosen to use the We R Memory Keepers albums and I am sticking with the Black Classic Leather 12x12 3 ring binders. This way I can add whatever size pages I want. I can add the 12x12 photo pages that hold 6 4x6 photos per page, 12x12 pages protectors, 8 1/2 X 11 and so on. I love the new freedom of mixing page sizes.

I have lifted the following from Kirsten's blog to share with you all :

I'd like to share a few things I've learned during this project:

It's ok to only have one set of photos printed. Duplicates are not necessary! You can reprint the ones you want to scrapbook, and save yourself some serious cash! I cannot tell you how many photos I threw, yes, threw away! What a waste of money!

Put your photos in a photo album for your family to enjoy. Don't rely on your computer to be your album. I cannot tell you how many people who have come in that had a hard drive crash & they lost them all.

If they're in a photo album, your family can enjoy them anytime they want! AMEN

You don't have to use separate albums for your photos and your scrapbooks. I chose the WeR albums because they were 12x12, they held photo pages AND scrapbook pages. And you can even use odd size protectors, like an 8 1/2 x11 protector to hold art work, report cards or other miscellaneous memorabilia that go with the photos.

You don't have to scrapbook everything. That mentality will just hold you back from scrapbooking the moments that you really want to scrapbook.

Don't forget to journal. You can slide a 4x6 piece of cardstock in the photo sleeve to leave your thoughts of those particular moments. It's really important. If you wait until you have time to scrapbook a whole layout you may forget the very essence you were trying to convey.

So I would like to challenge YOU. Yes, YOU to get those photo's in an album. I am going to think of an amazing incentive !!! But for now the incentive is to allow your children to remember the wonderful memories of their childhood. Thank you Kirsten for reminding me and for just doing it - it was the push I needed.

Are you with me ? Ready, Set, Go !!!!