November Project 12

Well, well, well, here we are nearing the end of 2011, and I somehow managed to pull off the second last installment of Project 12 for the year.

Don't ask me how I accomplished this, because my scrappy mojo left me somewhere back in October.

Not Sure if it was the new fall routine that caught up with me, my disorganized scrap space,  the 2 month bout with insomnia, or maybe dealing with some challenges in my home life but I haven't felt like scrapping at all.

Not one bit.  I get home from work and it is all I can do to keep my eyes open enough to eat and give the kids baths.

There have been several nights that I have fallen asleep, clothes and all, in the boys room.

I digress....Project 12 November...The sketch:

I'm not going to lie to you, I balked and panicked when I saw this sketch.  Not only was my mojo gone, but any one who knows my style, knows that I am a line `em up nice and neat, add a few embellishments type of girl.

I don't do random, I usually stick with 4x6 prints, and I took so few pictures in November, which on a side note is totally not like me either.

But I'm a good sport and committed to seeing this project through to the end, So this is what I came up with:

No word of a lie, it took me two weeks.....GACK!  I replaced allot of the photos with patterned paper, and lined up my photos more like a grid.  There are a whole slew of scrappbookers that do random picture placement so well.  When I attempt it it looks weird, so I stuck with what I was comfortable with, and I think that's okay right?

I'm happy it is done, but looking back at the month and seeing so few pictures that I took of my kids saddened me a little. I had a few more of Michael, then of Jack and I don't like to have uneven amounts, another weird quirk of mine.  I know my head wasn't screwed on straight, but hopefully I'm over that hump.

In the end I was happy to get this completed this morning.  Work will settle down soon just after year end, and we will all be settling in to winter days spent indoors.

There is also an impending purchase so near in my future.  I`m torn between the Nikon 3100 or the Canon rebel 2Ti.  ( I welcome opinions)  I have waited so long to buy my first DSLR that I can hardly contain my self and I think this mama might go a little mamma-parrazzi on her kids with her new toy.

So on that note I am going to see if the flyer's have arrived and peruse the Internet whilst the kids bathe.

Happy, Happy weekend to you all.  If you are out ringing in the New Year this weekend, please be safe.

Nighty night.

Charity begins where you start it.

Today, one of our local radio stations held a food drive to collect cans for our food bank. 

The goal was 8099 cans.

I was one of many who dropped off some cans, one from each member of our household.

Nothing major, yet all day long I fretted over how little I had done.

I drive by that radio station everyday on my way to work, and on my way home today, if the truck was still there, I was going to  buy some more non perishables and drop them off. 

As I was driving by on my way home, I saw the food bank truck leaving the parking lot and happily assumed that the goal had been met.

A whopping 17533 cans were collected for needy families in my city.

Nothing short of amazing if you ask me.

A similar food drive took place at my grocery store last weekend. 

My eldest and I dropped off some non perishables  for the food drive, as well as some cookies for the volunteers, in lieu of him sitting in the drivers seat of a city bus.

He was elated, I was happy to have helped in some small way, shape or form.

I shared these stories with my team today and we talked about how we could help someone in need this holiday season.

Our holiday gathering has come and gone, and there are some funds in our holiday fund that could be put to good use.

A goat for a third world family?  Sponsoring a local families holiday meal?

Both great ideas, but if I am being honest there is a slight motive to my giving.

I don't want my boys to grow up needing.

I am fortunate enough to have a job that pays for their needs as well as their wants.

But I really don't want to forget what it is like to need and want and know you can't have.

Because when you forget you take for granted, and I never want to be that person.

I always want to be the girl who cherished the second hand bike that her mother stayed up late nights repainting.

The girl who displays her homemade clothespin dolls somewhere safe every holiday season as a gentle reminder of Christmases past.

This season is never going to be about presents for me, nor do I want it to be that way for my children.

My boys will have lots under the tree, because I can and because I always will want to do that for them.


But more importantly, I want it to be about life, giving, presence, and love.


I want them to know that charity doesn't begin at home, but learning about it does.

I dont need my charity to be recognized, and I'm not looking for props.

But maybe if you find the time and can spare it, a donation to someone in need this season would mean the world to a Mom or Dad trying to make this holiday special for their family.

That is all