Monday, March 23, 2015

What a Long Month!!

March has kicked my butt. I have not posted in two weeks and this is not due to my lack of creativity. In fact, life has caught up with me. I have had to make a lot of choices and unfortunately, blogging has been on the back burner. 

My husband has traveled every week this month, making me the only parent at home. This would be easy if my fourteen-year-old was not being, well, a teen-age girl. I miss the little girl who LOVED to be with her mother and had the sweetest little giggle. In her place is a moody teen that does what she pleases and thinks I know NOTHING. Char's grades have not been stellar because of her lack of passing in her homework that I KNOW SHE HAS DONE. Who does that? This is when I wish my mother was still alive because I would be buying her presents like mad. She deserves an award for having had to put up with her four children. Each one of us gave her all the gray hairs that she dyed faithfully every month. I wish I could pick her brain right now for some ideas. Sigh. I know this stage will pass but it has been a tough.

To deal with stress I have chosen to get to the gym as much as I can. I hate to exercise but it really helps my brain. I recommend this to anyone that is dealing with a lot of stress. Endorphins rule!!

On top of that, my youngest sister broke her ankle and I have tried to be there for her. It isn't a heck of a lot because she lives twenty minutes away but I have done what I could. I feel bad that it has not been more. 

In between all this, I have been trying to keep up with all your lovely blogs using Bloglovin. Some days are better then others and I apologize if I have missed anything. 

I have been trying to get back into scrapbooking this month. It comes and goes for me. Right now we are without  a printer and it is killing me. I like to journal and though I can hand write some of it, often it is too lengthy for me to do so. I was able to do two pages about our trip to Europe this past summer. They are just a snapshot, literally, of two events. 

My daughter HATES this photo below but it sums up something we did while in London. Please do not judge my lovely (not!) printing.



I cannot believe I am even posting this second page. As a rule, I do not like having my photo taken. However, I have made a conscious effort throughout Charlotte's life to make sure that I do get in the photos. I often do not like them because I think I am fat, or my hair is messy, or I am just not feeling it but I do it so she will have them to look at when I am no longer around. 

I lost my mother at 23 and I have very few photos of her. My mother did not like to have her picture taken. Especially the last five years of her life after she lost her eye due to cancer. I do not want my daughter to go through her scrapbooks and only see photos of herself. 

On the page below, Charlotte took the photo with my I-phone. It is of Chris and I with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Is it the best? No. Sometimes it isn't perfection that counts.



That is all for today. I will not bore you any longer. I hope you have a great week!!


8 comments:

Miriam Prantner said...

Great layouts! I just love the photo on the first, what a priceless moment to capture!

Taunya Butler said...

NOra - my darling and beautiful friend!! What fun to see that picture of you and your sweetheart!! I think you are right about the photograph thing!! My dad was the big picture taker in my family and now that he is gone - I am seeing the lack of him in the pictures we have!! You are a trooper - sorry about the teenage daughter - I have one too and I know what you mean!! Love and a million hugs to you and great job for getting some scrappin' done!!!

Happy Dance said...

Sweet Nora. In a few short years, Char will come 'round. And she'll be a great friend as well as a daughter. Remind her that her hormones are raging, and that she needs to be aware of them. Works to some effect, I've found. Love that you scrapped these two photos. Life isn't about the perfect photos, it's about living. That's what I'm seeing here. And someday, when she shares her 'sour face' photo with her own kids, she'll laugh. It's all good. Bev

Becca Cruger said...

Dearest Nora - I love that you are capturing and crafting your memories in such a meaningful way! The layering in the first design is divine!

You my dear are NOT fat. Your hair is NOT a mess. You are a gorgeous creature and I wish you would tell yourself that on the daily.

Sending lots and lots of happy thoughts and hugs your way. I hope life gets a little easier soon.

Marika said...

Nora, it was such a pleasure to read this post. Thank you for sharing a bit of your life here with us. Both of your lay-outs are beautiful and your daughter will love to see you both in it.

I have two girls, the older turned 4 in January and she has gone to the phase that she gets angry every other second and goes to her room to scowl. She also loves to make me angry by doing things that she certainly knows that should not be done. The younger is almost two years and she has the phase of "I-don't-want-to" and "I-will-do-it-by-myself". Those two phases doesn't fit together -at all! For the most parts of my day I count to ten that I don't loose my temper because I would like to be the adult here. Almost every day I wish that my girls would be older since I have this odd illusion that life would be easier then. Thank you for reminding me that these times are precious and I should enjoy them. Apart of all this, I know for them I am their mother and that is a huge deal! I know that there will be a day that I am not as cool as I am now. I should remember it. :)

By the way, I loved the picture of your girl with weird candy in her mouth. Was is salmiakki? A Finnish candy, sort of sour black licorice?

Hugs,
Marika

Inkyfingers said...

I love your layouts Nora and the photos look fine to me. This is going to bring back some great memories and your daughter will be so pleased to have this record. I remember how hard the teen years were with my kids and the best advice I had was to think of the kids as having had an alien invasion for a few years! Once the invaders had left, I got my thoughtful kids back as decent human beings again.
Hugs
Carol x

Inkyfingers said...

I love your layouts Nora and the photos look fine to me. This is going to bring back some great memories and your daughter will be so pleased to have this record. I remember how hard the teen years were with my kids and the best advice I had was to think of the kids as having had an alien invasion for a few years! Once the invaders had left, I got my thoughtful kids back as decent human beings again.
Hugs
Carol x

Kim S said...

If it helps at all - I have two teenage sons who went through the same thing. I watched them doing the homework - often I helped them do the homework - then it wouldn't get turned in. One of the teachers that I talked to said they actually passed the homework from the back of the room forward and my son still wouldn't get it turned in. So you are not alone. That son was later diagnosed with ADD and he's doing great now that he understands how to manage the problem. My second son had the same homework problem and his situation was simply that he's a social butterfly and just too busy chatting to get homework turned in! We're still working on him!

And I love your perspective on photos. I am terrible at getting me in the photo. I lost my father when I was a teenager and I have virtually nothing to remember him - and I do regret that. You've inspired me to make more of an effort (even though I also hate photos of myself!)