... funny things are everywhere

addictions, past and present...

So the boys came home yesterday... and James stepped onto the tennis court for the first time in almost two weeks... and I spent the day at work in an office setting where 60% of my coworkers are on holidays this week.

Jamesie's take on his return to tennis? It was good to be back, but he said his timing was off, and he shanked a LOT of balls during his first twenty minutes of hitting. After that, he did settle in and started hitting better. More importantly, though, his shoulder felt good... a great relief to him, his coach... and to his dad and me.

Speaking of tennis, the US Open started today. :)

Mike and I dropped by on Steph and Hoa in their new house yesterday. I made a card. First bit of crafting in months. Every time I haul out my paper trimmer and tape runner, I realize how much I miss it.

The card I made (see first photo below) looks pretty much like the cards I made all the time back then... I am so out of touch with current trends. I used to be bugged by stuff like that. Not so much any more.

Meanwhile, I find myself now twenty years into my running addiction. I remember getting hooked on running during my lunch hours when I was a grad student, working at a lab not too far from my current office. Today, I went out and braved the humid summer heat for a fast-paced 5k... I managed to avoid being run over by an inattentive driver... and, while I was out, I snapped the second photo down by the river, all while lamenting the end of summer just around the corner.

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This past week...

So life is unpredictable much of the time, and many days I feel like I'm in over my head... and the past week has been a bit both and then some.

Mike's father has been in the hospital. He's better than he was but not completely better. The boys have been worried about their grandpa, as have we adults. Our family has been in and out of the hospital to visit, but we're hoping the next visit will be at his home. Soon.

Work was insane this week. Again. I suspect I will be able to day this every Friday between now and October.

*sigh*

Last weekend, Jamesie and I had breakfast with Steph's family-- and then we had a fun side trip to Chapters. The baby, Jackson, slept in his stroller the entire time, but at least I got to see him. Soooooo cute and tiny.

Card for baby. Madi at Chapters.

Monday, Monday

Some Mondays are more difficult than others. Today was one of those Mondays.

I woke up with what felt like a workout hangover. My quads were beyond sore and I felt a twinge in my right shoulder and forearm from hitting on Saturday. Add that to my usual early morning Achilles pain, and you've got a gal who wasn't so sure the dog would actually get her morning walk.

But walk we did.

It's amazing how the body bounces back. Physically, anyway.

I think my brain took an extended weekend break. Or maybe I caught whatever James was suffering from. No matter... I had a tough time keeping on task at the office today but managed to cross one key thing off my to do list for today.

.....

So this evening, I took Lemon out on a doggy playdate with her good bud, Sammy. Lots of good running and wrestling and sniffing and... eating things she shouldn't be eating. Ah, the joys of being a dog owner.

(Sorry, no pics of crazy dogs. It's dark after dinner... but it won't be long before the daylight lasts well into the evening. Spring is only a month away!)

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One last share: a card I made on the weekend. It's funny... that's all I did when I took my prolonged break from scrapping... I made cards. It's not something I love, but it provides a quick creative fix, and I have something *useful* at the end of the process.

Now... who should I send this to? ;)

another page... and other stuff too...

I find it hard to believe how many pages I've made lately. I think I've done more scrapping in the first two months of 2013 than I did in all of 2012!

I'm glad to be back in the game. I'm really trying to keep it simple so that I don't waste what little time I have to scrap... and so I don't get discouraged. Eventually I'm gonna get bored though. Each page ends up looking pretty much the same as the last one!

.....

So yesterday, I played tennis for the fourth time this year. I can't believe how little I'm playing these days, but I have this persistent injury that is aggravated by all the running, stopping and starting on the hard surface. I have to say that I miss it terribly.

Last spring, I took some lessons from a different coach than the one I started with, and he told me a few things that really helped my game a lot. I think my biggest problem is that I don't watch the ball come off my opponent's racquet, so I don't start moving early enough. My anticipation and set up need work. My fitness, agility and even my groundstrokes are decent enough... I don't always see the ball well. But I'm aware of it now, so it's getting better.

If only my achilles injury would go away...

** stretching at the end of the tennis social at the OAC last night :)

 

more photos & words

... and not much more. That's my new recipe for story-telling. 

Do I miss the creative, hands-on side of scrapbooking? Trying new techniques. Doing artsy things. Folding and gluing and playing with stamps and inks. I thought I would, but as it turns out, I'm happy to stick photos to paper and write a few words... and use up a few supplies in the process.

Never thought it'd come to this.

It's not such a bad thing, is it?

photos and words

The best part about scrapbooking? Let me see...

• using up all the supplies I've been collecting for all these years
• playing with pretty papers and colourful trinkets
• looking through my photos and remembering good times
• telling everyday stories that I might otherwise forget
• finding a way to be optimistic when faced with challenges

I love this picture of the boys with Mike's mom. Mike was busy with his marking, so I took the boys over to Grandma's place for lunch. We had a really nice time just chatting and goofing around after we finished eating. Sometimes these last-minute things work out way better than the most well-planned out gatherings.

.....

More scrapbooking.

Must make time for more scrapbooking.

it's never easy, is it?

Thankful for scrapbooking as an outlet for my angst. Happy for a creative outlet.

I've lost my touch!

It's just as I was afraid of... the old "use it or lose it" adage is true.

I've lost that scrappy feeling... ah-oh, that scrappy feeling...

It was such a struggle to put this together. I went through a few sheets of background cardstock, trying to get the journalling to look right. I tried other papers. I tried different embellishments. Took it apart and put it back together again. Tried tying some twine around something or another. Etc. Etc.

So I finally settled on this... I'm still not crazy about the final result, but I ran out of time and had to go to bed.

.....

Despite my struggles to get back in the scrappin' game, I still love that I'm scrapping again. I am not going to give up this time.

I can't. I have too many supplies to use up!

and exactly where did January go?!

Okay... so it's now almost the end of the first month of the new year, and honestly, it feels like just the other day when we were ringing in the new year...

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So now we've had two full weeks back at school, with tennis and squash lessons back in full swing... and then there's me, trying to make lunches the night before so I can get out the door on time the next morning and get to work on time so I can put in a full day before rushing home to get the boys to their lessons...

.....

It's not as bad as it sounds. Really. So what if there are days and weeks that just blur into the next? We are happy. Or so it would seem.

This is what I miss about scrapbooking.

The days and weeks don't really seem to change much, but if I don't stop to appreciate the life I have right now, at this very moment, things will change, and I won't remember the little things that make my boys who they are.

.....

After two years of trying to get back into it, I'm once again going to try scrapbooking on a regular basis. How regular? We shall see. But for now, I'm going to stick with the most basic of basics. Photos and words and not much more.

Oh, and a belated happy new year to you! :)

Welcome to December!

So refresh my memory... where exactly did the first eleven months of the year go?!

Seriously, how did it get to be three weeks from Christmas? And while we're answering the unanswerable, how did I get to be the mom of a seventh grader? One who refuses to let me take any pictures of him most days. As in, if you were to look at my facebook photo albums, you'd think I only have one son.

Today, as we were tidying up his room, I got him to put this on and let me take a picture.

(Oh, and I made a card that I'm pretty happy with, so I wanted to share that too...)