Move Along People, Nothing to See Here

Alright, so here I sit at work again, with all these thoughts flying around in my head (remember, this is how I get myself into trouble), and I just need to get some stuff down and sort through it. It's gonna be long and boring, so if ya don't wanna know what's going on in my head, stop reading here..

So first of all, July 2nd approaches rapidly. July 2nd is significant because it's when the layoffs take affect here at my job. When I came back to work after I had Zion, I did so on the condition that I would only have to be away from home for no more than 3 days per week. There's no way around this, though - we're all stuck working five days as of July 2nd. That's five days a week that I don't tuck Zion in. That's also five days a week that I don't go to bed with my husband. We've only been married two years! We still like each other most of the time! I shouldn't be away from him five nights a week! And I'm the one that rocks Zion, and cuddles with him and reads to him before I tuck him in at night. Sure, Mike's capable, but IT'S MY JOB. I'm his mom! I *want* to be there to tuck him in at night.

So that leaves me with a decision. Do I stick it out here and deal with these things? Do I go find another full time job elsewhere? If so, do I continue to work nights? Cause if I don't work nights, I have to put Zion in daycare, which, lemme tell ya, is just not a good option for me.

Do I just go find two part-time jobs and work when I can? Should I cut out extra-curriculars (cough*scrapbooking*cough*) altogether and go back to school?

I have a hard enough time with all of this, because I'm such a grump about working anyway. I feel like my one and only job should be to take care of Mike and Zion, and HEY - that's a full-time job and a half alone. But we can't afford for me to not work AND scrapbook still. It just couldn't happen. Well, and then there's gas, electricity, the house payment...

But really, scrapbooking's the biggie there. Gotta have scraps.

I have a lot of decisions to make.

For Those of You Following Along at Home...

I have now managed to free an entire album of my family heritage from its bindings. They still have tape on them, but I'm working on that too. They are now out of the old yellow pages and in an acid-free shoebox-type container. Tomorrow, I will go buy a million pages of black cardstock and begin adhering them to the cardstock and putting them into page protectors. Next week, I have an appointment with my grandmother to journal underneath the pictures - she's going to sit down and tell me what they are, who they are, when they are, and any other useful information she can think of.

I AM SO EXCITED. This, seriously, is a dream come true for me. Just wanted to update you, in case you cared. =)

Blog Challenge from Kris

1. Last 3 books you borrowed from the library or bought at the store that we should read: "Flyte" by Angie Sage, "The Black Jewels Trilogy," by Anne Bishop and "Cottage Witchery," by Ellen Dugan.

2. Preferred time to wake up and start the day and what you would PREFER to be doing.
We wake up around 9:30 or 10:00, which is exactly when I like it. I prefer to have a cup of coffee and cook breakfast; then, we sit and watch tv for an hour or so before nap time. At nap time, I get my computer groove on. =)

3. Name 4 songs that have special memories attached to them, and what those memories are:
- "Cooling" by Tori Amos - got me through my big break-up.
- "East Bound & Down" by Jerry Reed - HELLO! Smokey & the Bandit, baby - my sister and I watch this movie all the time. It's our favorite.
- "Me & Bobby McGee" by Kris Kristofferson/Janis Joplin/Big Brother & the Holding Co. - my dad used to play this on his guitar while my grandma sang.. good memories.
- "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" by David Allen Coe - my mother told me when I was 3 that she was going to put me up for adoption for not knowing the words to this song. I learned them within a week cause I thought she was serious.

4. Tell me about one dream you seem to have over and over and remember. OR, tell me about the last dream you remember:
I started having a recurring dream when Matt and I broke up. The dream is that I don't graduate from high school. It comes in different forms - you failed math class, you missed a gym credit, etc. But it always ends with me not graduating. I think I have this dream when I feel like I'm not where I'm supposed to be in life.. like I'm still playing catch-up. When I started having it, I felt like I had wasted 5 years of my life, and now I was starting over again, so it makes sense..

5. Whose is your favorite blog (or 2 or 3...) out there at this time and why? (I know my choice changes with the wind.) :
I love the effer's blog (http://fortheloveofeffers.blogspot.com)
And there aren't really any others that I read except the ones on my sidebar here - my scrappin' friends. I don't have a favorite - I love reading ALL of them. I've learned so much about all of you!

6. Share a favorite picture you’ve taken. Why is it a favorite?
I'll have to do this one later.. I don't have any good ones on my work computer.

7. Write a Haiku about any subject you choose. Most common ones have 5 syllables in 1st line, 7 syllables in 2nd & 5 syllables in 3rd line. Have fun!

I am tired of
working in this hell hole of
a job. Time to go.

8. Your ‘last supper’… What would be your most favorite drink, appetizer, salad, dinner & dessert if you could have anything in the world?
Drink: Vodka/Tonic, Pepsi, or a Vanilla Latte - whichever was closest and most readily available.
Appetizer: Spinach/Artichoke dip w/pita chips
Salad: Caesar
Dinner: Fried Chicken
Desert: Heath Crunch Pie from Perkins OR Creme Brulee, but only if we have a torch.

9. What are you looking forward to most, this summer? Going somewhere? Buying something exciting? Seeing a movie or play you love? Share!
I'm looking forward to it ending. I hate summer.

10. Tell me a couple habits that you had as a child that you now continue to repeat, and possibly see your children (if you have them) copying as well? ( I personally lick all the inside of an Oreo before I eat the cookies, so do my DDs.)
I bite my fingernails - horribly. Thank God Zion hasn't done it yet..

Fun challenge, Kris! Thank you!

I Figured it Out

I'm working my 9th day in a row, with no day off coming until Monday.

Since last Wednesday, I've worked 66 hours. I still have 48 to go.

I am TIRED.

'Nother Layout

Tag on page 1 says "Congratulations! Mike, Sara & Zion Mabin."

Tags on page 2:

a. "More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse." - Doug Larson

b. "In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The truck is to find, and continue to find, the grounds for marriage." - Robert Anderson

c. "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." - Mignon McLaughlin

d. "Happy people just don't kill their husbands, they just don't!" - Elle Woods

Maricar's Book

Mini-book that I made for Queen Maricar for the pink swap:













The first picture is huge cause I forgot to resize it, and I'm just too lazy tonight.. Hope you enjoy it, Maricar!

A Note to my Fellow Preservationists

I have just been given permission to revamp the family albums in the aforementioned posts.

I FEEL LIKE THE WORLD HAS BEEN LIFTED OFF OF MY SHOULDERS. Acid-free pages, here I come. Anyone know a good photograph restoration place?

Like I didn't have ENOUGH projects, right? This means I'll be spending the next several months removing tape, prying pictures off of decades-old magnetic pages, and trying to figure out who exactly that was in that picture in Hawaii...

Whirlwind Scrapbooking Weekend

I've heard that when people start working on something like a heritage album, the problem is generally too many pictures and not enough stories. Where was this picture taken? Who were these people standing next to my grandfather? How come they look so sad?

I have the exact opposite problem. It's funny to see pictures of the people and situations I've been hearing about my entire life, and realizing that it's in print in front of me.

For example, my grandmother was borderline scandalous. She had a funny life - she was the perfect June Cleaver mother, but she was always pushing the envelope. She was the president of the PTA while my mom and aunt were in school. She was also the first woman to wear slacks to a PTA meeting - SCANDALOUS.

She always had short hair, when all of the other mothers were wearing bobs and shoulder-length styles. She was from the east coast (Philadelphia), so she was accustomed to being a trend-setter, and she just didn't seem to care. Remember that song "The Harper Valley PTA?" That was one of her favorite songs.

At the same time, their home life was less-than-ordeal. I know that my grandfather was very unhappy in his marriage for a long time, and ended up eventually just picking up and leaving one day. I can see traces of that in their pictures - perfect family, perfect clothes, perfect smiles; but when you realize what's really going on, you can see the darkness underneath the facade.

It's a very melancholy feeling to realize that this seemingly happy family is, unbeknownst to them, on the verge of falling apart.

Taking a Break

A couple of weeks ago, I took Lisa's "People We Miss" album workshop. First, let me just say that WHOA that girl is talented. I mean really. If you haven't already, you should go check out her links on her blog and drool over her talent.

Anyway, I took the class and realized that this album would be perfect for my aunt for her birthday. Brief family history lesson - my grandmother was married to her first husband for a year and had my mom. Then she married another guy, whom she had known since she was 13 and had my aunt. Said guy (my Grandpa John) adopted my mom. He died when I was in 3rd grade.

So I'm thinking I'll do an album about my Grandpa John for my Aunt Sherry - her birthday's in June. Let me start by saying I had no idea what an undertaking, or what an extreme emotional roller coaster ride this would take me on.

Now, every scrapbooker's dream (hehe.. no pun intended) is to be handed a book full of their family history, right? Here ya go.. the last 75 years of the such-and-such clan. Well, I have that sitting right in front of me. Let me tell you, this was no small feat. A year ago, my grandmother would have laughed in my face had I asked her for any of these pictures. She's decided now, though, that since I'm a mom, I'm responsible enough to handle her pictures for a week.

Another brief jaunt through my memoirs - my grandmother is the woman who would disown me for forgetting to iron my shirt, or not wearing lipstick. But, EVERY FREAKING CHRISTMAS AND THANKSGIVING SHE PUTS MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHER'S GOLD PLATED WEDDING CHINA IN THE DISHWASHER. The dishwasher, people.

Apparently, no different from her photo albums. This woman - YES I CALLED HER "THIS WOMAN" - has scotch-taped these pictures to magnetic album pages. No, my fellow history-preservers, these are not acid-free magnetic pages. Not only has she scotch-taped the pictures to the pages, she has scotch-taped them to EACH OTHER - OVER THE PICTURE PART. I'm not talking about a loop of tape on the back - there is tape OVER THE PICTURES.

I have no way of removing the tape without completely destroying the pictures, so here I sit with my exacto knife, painstakingly cutting around the edges of each picture to dislodge them from their destructive captors and I JUST WANT TO CRY.

I am trying to pry my grandmother's wedding picture off right now, and just needed to take a moment to sit back and freak out. There.

Freak out completed. Now I'm going to find some TRANQUILIZERS and see if I can finish this ridiculous task.