{ Project Mode!! }

This is not a good thing at all! I'm beginning to think that me being a "Project Person" is a huge curse! For my friends and family that I talk to on a regular basis, you all know what I'm talking about. I get completely obsessed and my project basically consumes my life. What I'm working on right now and have been for the last 2 months (I think) has been getting caught up on scrapbooking. I realized I really needed to do this when I switched to digital scrapbooking in January. I loved digital so much and wanted to go crazy diving right into it, but my organized "do everything in order" self, wouldn't let me. So, I decided to hold off on doing anymore digital pages until I got all my other scrapbook pages finished. I had to get to a good ending spot with the paper and a good starting spot with digital. It had been a REALLY long time since I had done any kind of scrapbooking with the move and unpacking and then decorating and everything else that goes along with that crazy time in my life, that I don't want to visit again anytime soon. I seriously hear the word "move" and my heart starts racing...not fun! Anyway, when I decided to put my enjoyment for digital pages on hold, I had NO IDEA how far behind I really was. I think I was in denial, really. I had to scrapbook a Christmas of 2006 (6 pages) - done. I was looking back to see what else I left unfinished and realized that I didn't scrapbook any baby pictures of Drew. He has two whole books for himself, but I didn't have any. I wouldn't have even thought twice about fixing this problem, but I looked even further back and realized that I had A TON of Kaylee and Jake's baby pictures in my books so I had to do some of Drew. That was 10 pages - done. Then I had about 3 scrapbooks that were complete that I needed to do the inside cover to - done. This next part is the killer to me. I do chronological scrapbooking for my family albums and those scrapbooks will stay with me. My kids baby books will go with them. I didn't want them to only have baby pictures when they leave home and I wasn't about to give up my family books, or rip them apart to give them pictures (that would be a waste) so I've been doing seasonal books for my kids. I do a layout (2 pages) for each season of the year. So, when they leave home they can take the important pictures with them and it will all be in about 3 books. I also include a birthday layout and a school year at a glance layout. So that is only about 6 layouts a year for each of my kids. I was 2 years behind on that and didn't even realize it! That would be 36 layouts x 2 is 72 pages!!! AHHHHH! How in the world did that happen!?! The only thing that made me still breathe when I realized this, is because I'm at a good breaking point with Kaylee's seasonal pages so I can catch up on hers digitally. Thank you, thank you. thank you! I have about half of that done. I think I have 24 pages left to do. Here's where I really lose my mind and wonder why in the world I feel the need to keep adding to my already nightmare of a project: I decide that I need to sort through all of Casey's growing up pictures and mine as well. What am I thinking!?! Maybe I just needed a break from scrapbooking and felt the urge to organize something and accomplish something in a hurry, who knows. So, I gathered up all of Casey's pictures and sorted through them and almost have them in a book and I just barely finished mine. I have a friend book and a family book of growing up - these books aren't scrapped, just organized. I wanted my kids to be able to pick a book up and see what Casey and I were all about when we were young, not dig through a box or worse, ask me for them and me not even know where the box is.

Anyway, I just needed to take a break and vent about what I've been up to. I haven't been the best blogger lately because I've been too consumed. I wish I could be more like you, Andrea, and enjoy making pages on your computer even though you know you have some unfinished business with your paper scrapping. Or like you, Stephanie Austin, who goes in no particular order when scrapping and never lets it bother you that you are behind in your pictures. I really admire both of you for that. Instead I am myself, who panics about being behind in things. I want to go on vacations this summer and play outside with my kids, watch movies with them after we are done at the pool and all those other fun summer activities that only last for 3 months of the year, without thinking in the back of my mind that I have all of this "work" to do at home. So that is my motivation, to get it done before we leave to go to Utah in July and then I can come home and relax with my kids and not have any unfinished projects to return to. My first goal was to have it done by June when the kids get out of school, but that's not going to happen. I still have to take time now to have fun with my family and clean the house and get myself ready. I stopped getting ready for a little while and then Casey started giving me looks, so now I'm getting ready again! ;)

That was a forever long vent, wasn't it? Sorry, thanks for listening!!

P.S. Casey - You are not allowed to comment on this post...you would have WAY too much to say! ;)