Getting Organized

Ian's out and I'm home alone with the kids.  Ever since being in Ontario, bed time with Spencer has been H, E double-hockey-sticks.  He gets out of bed and screams and yells at his door.  When you go in to check on him, all he wants is cuddles.  Which is really sweet and all, but for his whole life until most recently (returning from our trip to Ontario), he would just get in bed and stay there.  Sometimes talk until 9pm, sometimes whine, but never get out of bed and scream at the door.  At first we would spend 2hrs following Nanny 9-1-1 advise, and go in and put him back to bed every time he got out.  That got tiring and he learned to be quiet and lay on the floor at the door anyway.  So now when I go to bed, I go to his room first and put him back in his bed.  Going back in the room repeatedly works fine for bed time, but when he was up in the middle of the night, he was worse than ever when we didn't come to him.  So that's when we decided to just let him cry it out.  He's not playing or anything, just laying there crying.  And now when he starts up in the middle of the night, it doesn't last long. If this continues much longer, I may have to try the Nanny 9-1-1 thing again.  So frustrating.  I know we were lucky before about how good he was going to bed, but not right now!!  (Oh, and we tried a playpen, but he's since learned out to get out.)

Ok so I titled this ORGANIZED because I usually consider myself to fit in that description.  But I feel myself falling out of it.  My scrapbooking supplies are EVERYWHERE.  Ok well, they are all in one area of the house, and they are organized - it just doesn't look like it.  So that is my task tonight.  Get it organized.  The next task is to be sure I have what I need for scrapbooking tomorrow, and then to put everything back in it's place in the spare room downstairs.  But then when I walk into that room, I realize there is oh-so-much-more to be organized, especially since the in-laws are coming soon.  I'm good at making it look good - organized or not - but it's not so much what they think as it is how I feel.  I feel like it's not a priority anymore - until I can't find something - then I just get mad at myself for letting it get so bad.  Ugh.  A vicious cycle I suppose.  Funny enough, a friend just asked for help organizing her place to get ready for a move and I'd rather go there and help her than stay here and clean my own mess up! LOL.

And it's not just scrapbooking stuff, it's laundry.  Ugh.  Laundry.  I LOATHE laundry.  I will seriously consider a maid when I go back to work.  It's clean, it's sorted into piles according to ownership, but it is not put away.  I'm also forgetting things.  Play dates, appointments, and camp.  And not so much that I actually miss them, but that I will have to cancel one thing to do another because I've double-booked myself.  I need to get organized. 

Part of the problem might be my schedule.  Everyone says I'm too busy. I am, and it keeps me sane.  CariAnn's been in camp every-other-week this summer, and it's been wonderful having Spencer time.  This week we are even in swimming lessons together! But play dates are harder to book and since morning is my most productive time of day - production has slowed.  Things get done as they need to be, but it's not as nice around here as I'd like it to be.  Next week we have plans to get out and go on some "field trips" to the Zoo and the Corn Maze.  Two things we haven't done yet this summer.  (So work with me weatherman!)

By the way, the Trade Show on Sunday was great.  I didn't sell a single thing, but came home with 35 contacts to follow-up on, and this month we are offering double host rewards!  So hopefully I can get some people to commit to some sales and a party.  Regardless I thoroughly enjoyed it and have already booked for November!

For now I must go and do that cleaning I've been talking about.  Then I need to get ready for Mom's 60th birthday bash on Saturday!  FUN! (And TOTALLY looking forward to the family shots JoAnne will be doing for us!)

Not just scrapbooking... random thoughts.

I am having a hard time finding balance right now.  I need to get things done for Sunday - and things always seem to be going on with scrapbooking whether it's tradeshows, meetings, workshops, personal projects and gifts.  Something is always going on, and I like it that way.  It gives me something to focus on other than children, money, laundry, toilets, and play dates.  I love that stuff (ok maybe not toilets) but it's important to me.  It's all important.  Then, there's my weight.  I need to lose weight.  About 100lbs.  (105 to be exact) I need to make time for me and make wise use of it.
See what I mean?  Balance.  Of course, family comes first.  But I need to make myself and my own health a priority too. I just made some displays for my trade show and found myself hot and uncomfortable from sitting in weird positions so long trying to assemble display cubes.
My next task tonight is to go downstairs and get some more things put together for Sunday.  I'm dreading going downstairs and seeing the big mess of toys the kids have made.  I'm dreading even more of going into the spare room to find the mess I created myself.  I consider myself a fairly organized person, but the past few months seem to have flown by with event after event (both personally and professionally) - but lately I seem to have lost it.  Again, priorities.  Is the spare room a priority?  No.  Not unless someone's coming for a weekend!  But the way I've 'let it go' has affected me in more ways than one.

So I should stop talking about it and boring you with the details but I wanted to share them anyway. I'm just going to do the usual and focus on what needs focussing right now.  The rest will come later. 
Basement, here I come! (Eeek!)
Crystal

Getting Pumped

I always seem to hit some sort of brick wall when prepping for something big.  I've never done a trade show this big before and wonder what I ever got myself into.  LOL.  It's going to be fun, the networking will be worthwhile, and there's nothing like sharing my enthusiasm for memories.  Only problem is, I start wandering around seeing what everyone else has to sell and start spending my money before I make any!  (Just ask my Uppercase Living consultant and new friend!) 

Scrapbooking is something I've always wanted to do and until about 5 years ago, I'd never done it before.  Well...not officially.  I met another teacher who was a Creative Memories consultant and she got me hooked.  Not on purpose.  I was pretty resilient.  I had purchased a scrapbook at a store and brought it to my first workshop.  She probably thought I was crazy.  Then I thought all these products were so expensive - but after using them, I understand why.  They are worth every penny.  They last forever and if they don't, they'll do something about it.  My friend often 'criticizes' me for my contraband scrapbook materials - even as a consultant - but I'm a scrapbooker at heart and where I have a vision, I need to find a way to fulfill it.  Right down to the last brad. (I was often criticized for having a cricut and guess what!  Cricut and Creative Memories have now joined 'forces' and are creating products just for creative memories!) See my website for all the new products being offered now and in the fall! (Including sbcStudio for Macs - that'd Storybook Creator Plus just for you!) www.mycmsite.com/mrsjones

I chose to become a consultant when my children were just 2 and 4mos, and we had lived in our new town for only 3mos.  It was a crazy year, but I still think it was a good decision.  I'm enjoying my hobby at a discount!  I get to share ideas and excitement, and most importantly, help others preserve legacies in their work.  As I kept doing my own thing, I came to realize how much people enjoyed hand-made gifts.  So now I make gifts and cards for family instead of going out and buying things.  And it's not always cheaper, but it's definitely more meaningful.  It's a great way to share my enthusiasm.


Look at me rambling on when I have work to do!  I'm trying to plan my display.  But I can't even visualize it!  I don't know how big my table is or if I have a backdrop or what the situation is.  I have some research to do before I get too carried away with displays.  Perhaps I should go and read my emails from Mommylicious to learn more about the event and what I have to work with. :)  (www.mommylicious.ca for a complete list of vendors - event is on Sunday, August 8th 10am-4pm - it's free and you get lots of free stuff just for showing up!!)

Ok back to work.  More interesting blogs to follow, I promise!

My First Blog

My husband just came upstairs and asked me what I'm doing.  I told him I am wasting time.  It's not true, it's just that there are many other things I should be doing with my time instead.  Like sleeping.  And preparing for my first-ever tradeshow - Mommylicious.  It cost a lot of money to get a table and I've never even done one before, so I hope it goes well! I have had some "bad luck" with people not showing up to events, so I'm a tad nervous.  Advertising for this one has been huge so I expect to see some results and at least get in return what I invested in it.
My most exciting news of the week is that Creative Memories has partnered with ProvoCraft and now has some exclusive Cricut Cartridges available. They're cheaper than most and I get my consultant discount.  How sweet is that? 
Well, I suppose I should really get things done before heading to bed.  I look forward to this blogging business and having a dedicated space to share my thoughts and enthusiasm about scrapbooking, photos and card-making.
Hope you enjoy it too!
Crystal