WITL-Update

OMG I am in paper trimming HELL..................this is a project with a major learning curve...already have learned that if I manage to commit again to this next year it will be a MUCH simpler layout then what I did this time around (and believe me the whole thing isn't looking intricate by any means just lots of trimming paper to fit different sized pockets that is getting me all in a tizzy!).

That is all....hopefully pictures to come tonight or tomorrow

Edited to add pics of progress....This is my progress I have done for every day of the week (except the 4 collage pics that are still missing due to lack of funds to order right now)

Ok so I am obviously lacking journaling(going in the little rectangle pockets) still but what the heck can I put in some of those other pockets where I have patterned paper? I could try to find a couple pics I suppose do they look that awful just with the patterned paper in them? I think they look a bit empty....a couple of the days I was lucky enough to have a receipt to tuck into one of the pockets. I was also thinking I could maybe print out some headlines that happened on each day.....

Small Progress

These took FOREVER.... and are far from perfect! The square outline does not go around each one nicely so I plan to take some ink and distress around the edges of them all....I know I am going to love this album when it's done but gosh I feel like it will time to start the next one before this gets close to being finished!

Really need to order pics as well but with no money to spare that makes it kinda difficult. 

I have however been doing some organizing and am sorting through my closet area which also houses Gabby's clothes she has grown out of that I will keep for Lainey.....let's say Lainey is gonna be hooked up come age 4 or 5 haha! Don't really have anything smaller than that as I had given it to my niece. I also need to now take on daunting task of trying on all my pants and jeans to guage at what weight I may be able to fit in them....sigh. 

I also really need to work on my attitude and get over the fact that we don't have spare money right now because of our upcoming trip to England. I am not excited at all. I am staying with my mother in law whom I met once and only for a few minutes....not to mention having an 8 year old and a baby in tow. I know it is my husbands family and he wants us to meet them and them us etc...but it is hard to not be bitter when ALL our spare money is going towards it and the fact I have such anxiety about the whole trip. :(  Oh and I lived there 3 years already so the excitement of it being England is lost on me LOL. Did I mention that the house we are staying in has been heavily smoked in for YEARS (mother in law is going to smoke outside while we are there but like that really matters when everything is going to smell like smoke already....UGH) and they only have a bathe which means 5 people sharing a bath to get ready (Have I mentioned I take 2 showers a day usually?!)....I know I am prob being a huge brat about all of this but no matter how much I try to change my thinking on it all I just cannot make that change happen! I keep telling myself all will be ok and such but yeah several more months of dread until it is done and over with! Don't take me wrong I DO want to meet Bear's family and have them meet us I just wish we could afford to stay at a hotel at least. I know that would make me loads more comfortable. It will only be 2 weeks of my life I keep saying......

Week in the Life-Rest of the Week Pics

Ok since I changed format to take some photo finding stress off myself I am only doing one 5x7 per day now along with the mini pics and collage. So here they are for the rest of the week...

Wednesday

Daily Opener

The mini pics

the collage

Thursday

Daily opener

mini pics

the collage

Friday

Daily opener

mini pics

collage

Completion.... at least for now.... YAY! Now these collages and mini pics are not laid out exactly to how they will be in final project, I just put them up to share so I stay focused on this project :)

Week in the Life-Friday (LAST day!!!)

OMG I made it the whole week! Granted we had a couple days where we didn't get as many pics but this was such a great project and I cannot wait to see it come together! My album and page protectors are due to arrive Monday which works for me since no time this weekend to really work on it. Our good friend arrives from England next weekend so this weekend is all about tidying up and that includes my craft area since he is staying in our basement LOL! YIKES for me....

So for the last day....
Thoughts and To Do's

• Me worked 7:30 to 4
• Gabby got to go to a friend of a friends pool today bummed we don't have pics of that! 
• Lainey had a rough whiney day Gareth said so we are def suspecting teething is starting....
• Woke up to wind and thunder! It then cleared up and was muggy and sunny ALL day until I got out of work....go figure
• I went grocery shopping after work I stayed under 100 bucks but jeesh it adds up so quick!
• I bought sunscreen for me and Gabby! Need to get some baby safe stuff still

What we watched

• Chelsea Lately 
• 3 episodes of season one of True Blood (we have watched the first 6 I think now and they follow the books almost to a tee so far!)

Weather

• As I said thunderstorms in the area but then lots of sun and mugginess....high was around 80 today! 

Tomorrow I may have time to sort through rest of pics to post but not promising with everything else I need to get done....

• touch up paint in bathroom
• find art to get printed and frame for bathroom
• organize scrap stuff
• get a few boxes ready to donate and actually load them into car and go donate!
• throw away random stuff such as some boxes, glass from an old table etc we have in basement
• find Gabby a swimsuit and Lainey sun umbrella or tent for the beach
• farmers market tomorrow morning? Supposed to be storming so we shall see....
• make photo copies of recipes from some library weight watcher cookbooks

Yup overwhelmed.............

Week in the Life-Thursday

Thoughts and To Do's

• Me worked as usual
• Gabby had brownies from 4 to 5:30 where she earned a new patch and they started their journey books for the summer
• Gabby actually cleaned playroom after much protest, we let her know only way she could have her friend spend the night on Friday would be to get the playroom looking half way clean!
• I went out and began the fun chore of digging up a corner area in back yard to get ready for planting
• Planted (very quickly since Lainey of course started screaming her head off and Bear was busy doing dishes) a bunch of hostas that my aunt so generously dug up for me to have! 
• Fluff mail! I received 4 pocket diapers from CowPatty Diapers along with a pair of yellow and white baby legs for Miss Lainey. This was a special free package to make up for a package I had ordered of misc diapers that I was really disappointed with. These seem LOADS better but still don't look quite up to par with another Mama made brand called CutiePoops that we have. Still excellent customer service which will get her far especially if she keeps improving upon her design! These ones also have all bamboo fleece liners and inserts which is great!
• Ordered Lainey an amber teething necklace from an online shop called Inspired by Finn. Rumor has it that amber has soothing powers when it warms up against the skin...we shall see how it does for little Miss as she seems to be getting droolier by the day!

What we watched on tv

• rest of Hells Kitchen episode
• a couple Man Vs. Food episodes
• Chelsea Lately

Weather

• Sunny and high of 81...perfect for the beach and I was at work, sigh

Week in the Life-Wednesday

Daily Thoughts and to-do’s

• Went to go purchase Ludacris tickets (hey this white girl likes some booty music from time to time what can I say?!) but the woman forgot so I am getting them next week when she comes to our office (concert will be at our yearly summer celebration where we have a weeks worth of concerts and carnival, art show, etc…)
• Thankful for not having to cook dinner tonight since we are going to my Grandparents for my Uncle Brad’s belated 50th birthday bbq
• Thankful for all that my husband does! Been hearing about a lot of unhappy marriages lately and I am so happy with all Bear does for me and for the girls and around the house. Today he not only dusted and wiped down our blinds in our bedroom but also washed our sheets and re-made the bed up.
• Longing to go to the beach! Need to get Lainey some sort of sun coverage though and Gabby a new swimsuit (I will be sitting this summer out in a sundress thank you very much!)
• Really thinking about the backyard and how I want to get it at least more presentable this summer even though I most likely won’t plant much until next spring
• Popped into library to pick up 3 books for Gabby to read and got her signed up for their summer reading program where she can win prizes (she was really excited!) I love that I have passed on my love of reading to her :)

What we watched on tv

• Nothing really since we were at grandparents house! I watched a couple episodes of Losing It with Jillian Michaels (tearjerkers!)

What we ate for dinner:

• Cook out at Grams! Hamburgers, potato salad, fresh fruit, corn on the cob, baked beans (I skipped the dessert in order to have more potato salad haha…Gareth and Gabby both had chocolate cake)
• Who was there: Dad, Uncle Greg, Uncle Brad, Aunt Lori and Uncle Steve, Grandma and Grandpa, cousins:Rachel and her boyfriend Michael, Tyler, Jacob for a short while, and our family

Weather:

• Sunny and high was 72

Week in the Life-Tuesday

Since I came to my visual realization last night I don't have my pics prepared to share yet but will post a couple of my faves....

and of course give a guy a camera and you end up with shots like these....

LOL

What we did and thoughts:

• Me-worked 7:30 to 4:00
• Family...hung out around the house, did laundry,went on a walk, went to the park, Gabby met up with friends
• Really wanted to be home organizing scrapbook stuff-truly hate that I have so much motivation and so many ideas when I am stuck at work then I go home and motivation is GONE!

What we had for dinner:

• a homemade layered mexican casserole comprised of lean ground turkey taco meat,fat free refried beans, fresh chopped tomatoes and onions. Layered between corn tortillas baked with cheese layered on top and finished off with some guacamole and black olives for me YUM (leftovers for lunch too!)

What we watched:

• Chelsea Lately
• Hells Kitchen
• Bachelorette

Weather: 

• a bit hazier today and some sprinkles on and off and the high was 75

Visualization Error...

Well I just realized that I have been formatting pics wrongly for my Week in the Life album, I kinda forgot the fact that the page protectors the scrap pages will go into are double sided....DOH! I thought it through for the page that houses the opener and pic of the day but completely forgot to think that the 9 page pocket page and big page that will house the collage are both double sided!!!!

I freaked a bit but then realized that was just silly since it is not like I have ordered any prints yet and the problem is easily remedied. I plan to do of course a few more wallet sized pics for the pocket page and then a second collage with bigger pics (collage with less pics!) for the other side of the collage page....ahhhhh problem solved!

My husband the photographer!

I am so beyond proud of my Bear! I left my little sony cybershot home today for him to capture pictures of the day since my day at work is only so interesting each day....well he took over 150 pics and captured SO many good ones I have no idea how I am going to narrow them down for the day (might have to cheat and move some of the house ones to another day where I am lacking pics (like yesterday haha).

Week in the Life-Monday

Ok this is getting harder! Especially on days where we don't do anything and I am stuck at work all day! There is only so many pics I feel comfortable taking at work LOL Think I will leave the camera with Bear today and let him snap pics of the days events. Will be neat to see what he takes pics of as well! Woke with a headache since we stayed up too late. ACK. Here we go....and I only took like 39 pics total! After deleting a bunch sure didn't leave me with barely any decent shots!

Daily Collage

Daily wallets (not many!)

Daily Opener

Pic of the Day

building where I work Monday-Friday...sigh

What we did:

• I went to work 7:30 to 4:00
• Gabby played with her friends
• Gareth and Lainey did some dishes and hung out
• Made dinner when I got home which I did not like (I have a hard time eating chicken when I have to make it myself unless it is IN casseroles and such dunno why I am weird)
• took a nap with Lainey

What we ate:

• I came home and basically binged today as I was really sleepy and hungry....not lots of food but just bites of lots of food! Need to start having a cup of tea or something when I get home to help tie me over until dinner is done! Anyway made some chicken breasts in the oven with bbq sauce but I just didn't like the taste. Served up healthy baked fries with it haha....

What we watched:

• First 3 episodes of season one of True Blood (If I hadn't read the books I don't think I could get into the show as a bit too many creepy vampires, call me naive but I like my Twilight vamps better haha!)

Weather:

• Again high was around 70 to 72 and sunny but hazy

Hopefully will have lots more pics to choose from each day for rest of the week! This project can be hard if you don't go out and do stuff on a daily basis LOL!

At work and Realized that not only do I not match at all today (at least 3 shades of brown and then black shoes LOL) but I also forgot to take anything for my headache I woke with and also forgot to put breast pads in my bra today….might be interesting! Will def make sure to get in and pump before it gets messy! I did bring my Canon Sx10is to play with a bit I really need to learn to use that thing off of auto mode anyway! Left the little point and shoot sony with Bear so hopefully between the two of us we get over 100 pics today to choose from :)

Week in the Life-Sunday

Not as many pics on a day where I didn't leave the house....shoot I didn't even get dressed or showered until after 8pm which is when I showered then changed into fresh pajamas haha! But hey that is what this project about...showing every day life! So here are the pics....

The Collage

The wallet sized ones (only 8 this time but will use the other pocket for journaling or whatever)

The daily opener

The pic of the day

Our dailies

What we did:

• loaded pictures and sorted from day before
• made a photo slideshow to share with my March 2010 mommy board
• updated my blog
• soaked our shower organizer in vinegar to get rid of soap scum
• Gareth vacuumed and cleaned bathroom
• I organized Lainey's clothes in her drawers
• laundry
• started sorting through Gabby's school stuff to put into her school years scrapbook (I have way too much and need to majorly narrow down!)
• gave Lainey a bath using her new bath seat
• watched a whole lot of Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel

What we ate:

Just going to put dinner now as I cannot keep track of what we all eat during the day since we all eat different things for the other meals. So dinner tonight was beef patties with onion gravy over mashed potatoes with green beans

What we watched:

Gareth watched World Cup game Germany vs Australia then he plated some xbox and then watched Grand Prix. Later we watched a marathon of Man vs Food 

Weather: once again sunny and the high was 72 so again a gorgeous day where we sat inside LOL.....we need to get to the beach!

Week in the Life-Saturday

Ok yesterday was the first official day doing this project and it worked out nicely since I also had to do a day in my life to make a photo slideshow for my mommy board :)

First things first if you take on this project here is a word of warning: BE CAREFUL taking pics while driving! I came quite close to rear ending an old man who decided to stop at a yellow light (thankfully I was slowing down to stop but not paying attention that much while taking a picture as I thought he was going through the light!) YIKES.

I have came up with a way to sort to make it easy when it comes time to order my prints. I made 3 folders designated wallet pics, collage pic, and big pics aka the 4x6's. So without further ado here are the pics that made it for day one! (Click on pics to see them larger)

The Collage

The wallet sized ones

The daily opener

The pic of the day

OK I LMAO every time I look at this picture so I had to make it a featured picture. My oldest decided she wanted to hold her baby sister while I made us a special bedtime snack of cinnamon rolls...all of a sudden I hear her yell out that Lainey puked and then came out to her crying which then made poor Miss Pukester start crying as well LOL. Lainey got not only her sister pretty good but the couch as well! YUCK

And in Genevieve's fashion our dailies

What we did

• I went and waited in line for Project Fresh where I got some coupon vouchers to use at the farmers market to get free local produce
• I met one of my friends for lunch at Applebees
• I went to Target (got a bathroom rug and 2 new handtowels), Hobby Lobby and Joanns (got some scrap goodies)
• Realized that the bathroom being orange has now made me very attracted to all things orange!
• Came home and noticed puddle under fridge (praying it is not going out as it's pain to get landlord to do anything for us!)
• Gabby played all day with her friends Zach and Kaylynn
• Made eggsalad for Gareth
• Gareth finished painting in bathroom

What we ate

• Me:banana,chocolate pb protein bar, diet coke for breakfast, at applebees I had honey bbq boneless chicken wings and a side salad with ranch lots of water to drink, snack lite string cheese, can of mountain dew typhoon and more water, dinner whole wheat rotini with homemade "angry pasta" sauce, more water, cinnamon rolls for bedtime snack OOPS!
• Gareth:pb toast for breakfast,bean and cheese microwave burritos for lunch, whole wheat rotini with "angry pasta" sauce for dinner, beer coors lite, and I am sure several cans of diet coke and mountain dew 
• Gabby who the heck knows what this girl eats half the time! What I do know cheerios, waffles with just butter,popcorn,freezepops,lays potato chips, cinnamon rolls (that is prob about it and same she will eat prob most days!)

What we Watched

• Gareth:World Cup game England vs U.S. and then he played Xbox later in the evening
• Me: Big Love Season 3 episodes 9 and 10 (onto season 4 next yay!)
• Both:Scrubs 

Weather

Muggy and Sunny and it got to a high of 77 so all in all a gorgeous day! 

Week in the Life

Today I started Week in the Life a project by Ali Edwards. I was going to post pics tonight but I am also doing an all day photo challenge for a mommy message board I go on. So pictures from today will be posted tomorrow...I am already over 160 pics so this may be interesting to cut down!

I shopped today and got this paper to use on the project

and then solid cardstock in pink,orange,and green because I wanted a nice summery feel to it all! I had to order the album and page protectors as it seems they don't want to sell 8.5x11 albums anymore in the stores! So I ordered this album

I am so excited to see this project completed!!!