Creative Memories- Business? **now with pictures**

Me thinks when you spend more money than you make your business is not such a good idea! I need some self control! I want everything I see. The good news is I've bought just about every tool there is, so I should start making more money because now all I need for myself is paper...oh, and stickers...and maybe some vellum titles. Well, it should still be a lot cheaper now:-) I'm loving this. I made some pages yesterday and it feels so good. It's fun and I feel accomplished. There is not too much concrete stuff I do as a stay-at-home mom that really makes me feel accomplished. I do the dishes and there are more five minutes later; laundry, well the clothes I'm wearing will have to go in even if I get to the bottom of the laundry mountain; pick up toys...yea right, that will last; make dinner, well at least people are fed for now...until they want dessert; vacuum...lunchtime, dinner time, snack time...did I really vacuum or was that in my imagination? Do you see where I'm going with this? Don't get me wrong because I LOVE staying home with my kids and over all I know it is an important thing to do. I love all the time I get to spend with them. I love taking them to gymnastics or the playground. I love doing projects with them. I love the "I love you"s I get all day. The thing I love about the scrapbooking is I can do something and there it is right there in front of me. It looks pretty or cute depending on what I've done and I can show it to people. It won't go away or get ruined within minutes (unless I leave it out for the kids to get into, but that's another story). It feels good and I enjoy the process of making the pages and I enjoy helping other people figure out what they want to do. I love that I can make my own schedule and my kids are always with daddy when they are not with me. I love to hear the stories of all the fun Jay had with them while I was gone. If this gets cheaper and less time consuming as I get more time under my belt I think everything will be good. I'm happy to have something to put my creative energy towards and something for me, something I think is important and meaningful.

***Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them.***

Here is a spread I did of Easter a few weeks ago.

This one is from our trip to Belgium. Notice my parents being all lovey dovey under that bridge. Aren't they cute? Well I think it's cute now.

I did this spread for a workshop I'm planning on how to use papers in layouts. I have not done all the journaling yet because I can't remember the name of the place. Mom, do you?

PS I'm so excited! I got my shipment today and it has my new wavy cutting tool(technically the 12" decorative trimmer). I can't wait to use it. I think I'll be doing some more pages tonight after the kids go to bed.

Deep Breath In...and phooooooooooooooooo

Gosh it feels like that's the first time I've gotten to stop and breath in a week! The phrase "Be careful what you wish for" leaps to mind. Remember when I was distraught over my utter failure of a start to being a consultant? Well, this month I have 4 events planned. I will grant you that one is not a business thing at all, but a family get together where I won't even do a presentation and one is self hosted, but I'm going to be really busy. Busy is good sometimes. I hope I can handle it and still be a good mommy. I feel like I've already been obsessing too much making sure I'm not missing anything. I think when I have actual stuff to do and I'm not worrying as much I'll actually do better. I hope anyway. I feel like once I get going I will be able to settle into a groove. Once I've done everything a few times and I feel confident in what I'm doing I'll be able to relax a little bit. Right now stressed doesn't begin to describe how I'm feeling. Hmm...just writing that makes me feel better. I think that the fact that all three kids are asleep right now helps too;-) I'm gonna go enjoy watching some dancing on TV and eat some chocolate now.

Almost 2 Weeks- In Bullets

-Ben's party was fun.
-I need to get another extra battery (since my old one is useless) so I don't end up carrying a 3 pound brick around all day.
-It's spring! Woohoo
-It's April! Double WooHoo!
-Lily is saying some things that resemble words now. Today I swear she said "brother" for Ryan.
-Ryan has been really excited to have "Jacknjees" for breakfast this week. To the rest of us that is a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. I'll say it slowly for him and he repeats it, but then calls it "jack 'n' jees" again. It took me a few minutes to figure out what he meant when he was dancing around the kitchen singing, "Yay, jacknjees!" over and over when I got home from the grocery store.
-Ryan is "playing" the piano and singing right now and it is so cute.
-Lily had her first gymnastics class. She had a lot of fun, but I felt a bit aimless with little direction as to what to do with her. Mostly she just climbed around the equipment.
-I became a Creative Memories consultant. I'm excited, nervous, happy and unsure about it all at the same time. Does this make me a work at home mom? Hmm. I guess I'd rather think of myself as a stay at home mom with a little side stuff going on. At least I'll never have to get a babysitter since I can plan events for when Jay will be home and do all the other stuff at nap time.
-We decided to put an addition on our house. The contractor has already been here twice. This too is exciting, but a little scary. I have all sorts of plans for the addition rolling around in my head.
-Our whole family is sick...even Jay. It's just a cold, but it is still really annoying. It is especially annoying because it seems to be the reason Lily has been up half the night crying for the past 3 nights. No, we don't leave her to cry on her own, but she is often inconsolable. This means that at least one of the adults is severely sleep deprived the whole day. Usually both of us. This does not make me look forward to a whole day of holiday celebration. I really hope everyone is better by Sunday and we all manage to get a decent night's sleep before then.
-I am so taking a nap when Lily does today.
-I let Jay guess what his birthday present would be because I didn't think he would guess in a million years. He did. On the first try. So much for surprise. He seems to like it though, so I guess that makes it okay.