Some stats from 2008

I'm a data geek and I like to keep lists so rather than attempt to dredge up details from my faulty memory & do one of the neat year end wrap up questionnaires I have seen, I'll throw out some statistics instead.

I planned 267 dinners.  52 of them were pizza-various and 52 others were pasta-various

I made approximately 220 of those planned meals.

I joined Library Thing and cataloged my library along with my booklist, which is a list of nearly every book I have read in the past 20 years.

There are 2176 books in my Library Thing library.

68 of them were read by me this year.

576 of them are tagged 'mystery'. This far outstrips the next closest tags 'history' (244), fantasy (219) and romance (197)

I acquired 49 audiobooks through audible or borrowed from the library.

I listened to about 34 of them - at the gym & driving to & from the kids school 2 hours a day 5 days a week for the first 5 months of the year.

I crocheted 12 things, mostly all amigurumi toys.

I completed 146 digi scrap pages.

I had a guest spot on 3 creative teams and a regular spot on 2.

I could look up on Paypal just how much I spent on digi scrap supplies this year, but there is some data best left unanalyzed.

I said "back away from the TV" to the boys 3,593,544,927 times.(approximately)

We borrowed Lyle the Kindly Viking from the library 9 times.

I can't even begin to guess how many Backyardigans episodes I have seen or overheard repeatedly.

I took 5687 photos (good god!) so far this year (still have the party tonight to go).

1273 are of the boys toys as part of my 365 Photo Project, my approach being 'take a dozen or so photos of the same thing & pick the best one'.

Approximately 1700 photo have been taken since I got my D40 on November 2nd (because taking photos with the d40 is JUST THAT EASY!).

I jumped from an average of 250 photos a month to 1210 photos so far in December!

I'm doing another 365 Project in 2009.  I'm going to need one of those 1TB drives to hold all my photos.

I made 203 posts to this blog and received 1475 comments.  Thank you all!

Not an end of year post

I'd like to do a year in retrospect type of post but I'm a bit deep into just recording December and what with my memory being what it is, I'd have to reread the whole year's worth of blog posts to be able to give any sort of honest and coherent account of the year and I'm not up for that. I have a blog because my memory for day to day stuff sucks.

Off the top of my head 2008 featured:

2 trips to Great Wolf Lodge

one trip to the National History Museum

one trip to Florida

Mayhem getting into pre-k despite being 6th on the wait list

Havoc going to kindergarten

one of the boys went to the ER I think....or was that last year?

Mayhem having his tonsils out

seeing DH's family for the first time in years

we got a Wii

a large amount of money was spent repairing my car

bunk beds and painting

lots of swimming

some impressive gas prices

That's all that is coming to me right now, besides random muffin memories.

One of the reasons I do Journal Your Christmas is because I'd like a record of events that slip my mind.  Here are some of my latest layouts & the cover to my Project 365 book.

Everything is from Sweet Shoppe except the 365 page which was done with things from CG Essentials

home again

and lots of stuff to do. We're having a NYE party in 2 days

Havoc and I are going to get hair cuts & then go grocery shopping while DH & Mayhem clean up outside & get the bonfire pile started with the various dead trees he cut down last month. We have wrap the gift for the kids coming to the party & assemble the gift bags for the adults for our gift exchanges.

We took over 500 photos over vacation! I need to go through those. I also scanned over 200 photos from my parents albums & those need to be dealt with.  I did manage to scrap a few layouts while in FL. I need to get them uploaded & linked & then figure out just where I am with my Journal Your Christmas album. Plus the 365 Project is nearing the end & I need to sort out the past 10 days worth of photos & retouch them.

I think I will probably end up putting all that off until the kids are back in school next week

The boys are playing Lego Star Wars (which honestly, is a bit beyond Mayhem, resulting in frustration on both their parts). I have laundry going.

I'll be back in a day or so with a recap of our holiday visit and the long long long trip home.

Happy new Year everyone if I don't see you before then!

Happy Holidays!

We're kicking back & relaxing from a 5:45am wake up call.

The trials & tribulations of a good time

We love coming to visit my folks. Its a break from the cold weather, there are other adults to watch the kids and we are surrounded by numerous shrines to consumerism only minutes from the house (seriously!! 3 different bookstores within 8 minutes of the house!!! When you have to drive at least an hour to shop somewhere other than Target or WalMart this is almost surreal)

While my mom would be perfectly happy to make dinner all week, we like to help out. This is where the trials come in. I've mentioned before about all my foremothers fervently embracing agribusiness as soon as it was available, so what DH & I consider to be staples - flour, sugar, onions, eggs, baking soda, lemon juice, etc, do not exist in my parents' kitchen. Mom isn't going to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch when Toll House has premade & preformed ones in the refrigerator case. In fact, why not just buy Chips Ahoy & save the dirty tray? Mom doesn't bake. 

DH is making Chicken Florentine for dinner tonight. We had to buy everything but the chicken - including a whisk.  I'm going to make sugar cookies with the boys tomorrow. True to my upbringing I bought a couple rolls of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough.I didn't realize there was no rolling pin in the house.  My SIL made cookies last year, I can't recall if they were from scratch or not but still...she would have needed a rolling pin.  Maybe she used a wine bottle?

The boys are suffering tribulations. My parents have a couple of kiddy bikes with training wheels. The boys can ride bikes but get little practice at home where we have only a small porch sized flat paved surface & the rest is gravel or grass. So their ambition exceeds their ability. So far both have skinned elbows, Havoc has a scraped knee & Mayhem,by drifting backwards down a humpback bridge managed to fall off & despite wearing a helmet, managed to scrape his scalp up.

But a good time is still being had by all.

Weekly Winners - travel edition

We left for vacation Friday, with a stack of suitcases

And of course, these guys

We got lost in Virginia, as usual . Isn't Florida south?

Many movies were watched. This was somewhere in North Carolina

We stayed overnight in Orangeburg South Carolina

Waffle House in the pre-dawn hours (they were up at 4:30am!)

Stopped for a break in Georgia

Restaurant around Jacksonville

Traffic outside Orlando

It was pitch black out when we got lost AGAIN, this time around Immokolee, so no photos of that.

Swimming in the pool at 9am at Grandmas

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Soon it begins

In a couple hours we will begin the long, arduous drive to my parents' house.

Soon we will load the car with a week's worth of clothes, xmas presents, a DVD player, toys, 2 boys hyped up on sugar from their school holiday parties, one overworked & stressed out adult male, and my slightly claustrophobic, pessimistic self, dragging along a Zen loaded with audiobooks and a scarf I am crocheting.

16-19 hours in the car (depending on whether you believe AAA or Google) plus numerous potty breaks, snack stops, stretch our leg stints and a night in a random hotel. There will be DVDs for the boys and as I mentioned, plenty of audiobooks for DH & I. We're listening to SPQR I: The King's Gambit, today and The Story of English tomorrow (or maybe Holy Disorders, depends on our mood) Plus some obligatory Douglas Adams. We've been making this drive every year for 12 years now. Some Douglas Adams is a requirement either coming or going. Last year was Starship Titanic. This year will be the BBC radio version of Hitchhiker's Guide.

We're taking the creative way to Florida this year, rather than the direct shot down I95. The direct shot down I95 gets a bit tedious and boring. It just goes on and on and on... So we'll be cutting though mid Virginia and the smaller end of NC heading through SC and GA before hooking up with I4 & US 27 in FL and no doubt getting lost on some backroads as we make our way south. We'll probably get lost in Virginia just to start things off right, we usually do. AAA booked us this way this year (it's slightly different every year). Google wanted to send us down I95 and across to I75.  But Google can't get us from our house out to the main road without sending us in circles or down gravel roads when there are perfectly good paved roads an eighth of a mile away, so I never really quite trust Google.  AAA got us from our house to the main road correctly, so we are going with them this year.  AAA seems to think this will take us 16 hours of drive time, not include all the 'construction delay' warnings they gave.  Google, once I forced it to go the same way seems to think it will take us 18 hours and 45 minutes to drive & doesn't mention the construction delays.  Not sure who to believe but after about 12 hours in a car, even with a break for a night's sleep, it all sort of blurs into the mental belief that you will NEVER GET THERE. You cross into Florida and think WHOO HOO!!! We're in Florida!!

Just the whole length of the state still to go....

and Florida is a LONG state.

I'll be live tweeting today's drive, so if you follow me on twitter, you will be treated to random updates about my location and my mental & emotional state, assuming I manage to text anything at all. I suck at texting but I'll have hours & hours to try & get it to work.

Mortification

Mayhem.....

There are no words....

except maybe 'beat him with a stick'

Havoc had is kindergarten Christmas program last night. We all went to the school auditorium, sat around with about 70 other families (many with kids younger than Mayhem), waited for the show to start & then watched the 45 minute show.

Except Mayhem.

He climbed around on me & DH & on his seat. He crawled under the seat They were flip up seats so he played with that incessantly. He talked almost non stop. He jumped, he wandered back in forth (we had him in a seat between us).  In short he did everything he possibly could to make sure we were looking at him, rather than the stage.

Because it can't not be about Mayhem.

It was mortifying. Other kids his age & younger were sitting in their seats just fine. Only one child was removed by parent. What the hell is with my child? 

(We didn't remove him because he didn't actually appear to be disturbing anyone but us, not being loud, not kicking any seats, just rattling back & forth between us like a pinball, and just once I would like to see more than 4 minutes of Havoc in a school program. )

I don't get any comments from his teacher or the bus drivers about him not being able to sit still (though I do hear about whining) so he must save the special behavior for us. He sits through movies fairly well. I'm left assuming that this is some sort of display of jealousy that we are not focused on him. Tonight we tried the 'just ignore it approach'

He went straight to bed when we got home, without a snack or a story.  I don't know what to do about it anymore...

Some pictures from the program

 

Havoc is the number 7 

That period before things need to happen

I hate this part.

This sitting around waiting before you can do anything part. We leave in about 48 hours for Florida. There are a lot of things that need done, but none of them can really be done now.

I've talked to our house sitter & given her the keys, shown her how our entertainment system remote control works (it's one of those all in one jobs that you need a PhD to program). Changed the sheets on the guest bed, cleaned out the fridge & am doing laundry.

I still need to clean the house, pack the clothes, clean the car, pack the snacks, charge the electronics, pack the electronics, load the car, add the freon to the car a/c system, load up the DVD case with movies for the trip, and gate off and shut up all the rooms of the house I don't want the cats getting into while we are gone.

That's a lot of stuff to do, but none of it can be done today. Some of it can be done tomorrow and some will have to wait until right before we leave. I can't pack the clothes because we have no place to put a fully packed suitcase, except the middle of the living room, which would ensure it's unpacking as soon as the boys get home from school. Same with the rest of it. No point doing any of it because the boys will just undo it.

Thursday night I can pack the clothes & charge the electronics & load up the DVD case. Friday I can do the rest.

Which leaves me sitting here all antsy wanting to do things but knowing damn well there is no point in doing them because I'd just have to do them again.

Things to do

• make bookmarks for Dad
• assemble teacher gift bags
• back up HD to EHD
• find templates for bookmarks
• take buy.com return to UPS
• buy cider
• begin charging traveling electronics
• load audiobooks on Zen
• return library books
• buy car a/c coolant
• drop key off for house sitter
• find yarn & pattern for dino to work in in FL
• clean out car
• clean out fridge
• call hospital & insurance about unexplained bill
• make pizza dough
• make list for tomorrow

I love UPS

No really. I do. United Parcel Service is my most favorite company in all the world.

I call the UPS truck The Big Brown Truck of Joy because it's arrival never ever disappoints me.

Has anyone every really been less than happy to see a UPS truck arrive at your driveway? Unlike USPS they don't deliver junk mail & bills. I don't approach a UPS truck wondering what crap they are about to hand me now. I don't ignore the box on my porch because I know it's just bills & spurious 'you have already been approved' offers to refi my house. Anything legal that I'd rather not deal with but must be done immediately (like say, forms for last minute home owner's insurance renewal) comes by FedEx.

UPS only brings me things I *want* or surprises me with things I didn't know I was going get. It's the same thrill as getting birthday gifts even. It's the same feeling when UPS arrives unexpectedly bearing boxes addressed to me I know nothing about for no particular reason. Even when I know what is in the box because I myself placed that order 2 days ago at Amazon.com.

"OOHHHH! PRESENTS!"

Perhaps I am just easily pleased but I'm always happy to see the UPS truck. When I pass it on my road I wonder if it might be stopping at my house. Unexpected deliveries make my day. When I am expecting things I am hard pressed not to turn around & follow it back home.

I've got my kids convinced that UPS drivers are Santa's elves in disguise, spreading joy & happiness by bringing people things they want & need.

UPS and I have had a relationship since we moved her in 1997. Back then, if it wasn't at Food Lion or WalMart, you had to order it online.  I kept Amazon in business from 1997-2003 & UPS right along with them. I see less of them these days, which makes their visit all the more special.

The last deliveries arrived today & I missed them. I was going to give the driver some cookies as a present.

Merry Christmas UPS and I hope to do business with you in the coming year

Weekly Winners

What do you get when you mix this

With this?

This!

I don't know if these guys are in awe or just hungry

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Journal Your Christmas - week 2

In which I am even farther behind than I had been.

Today is of course Day 13. I have done layouts this week for days 5, 6 & 8.  I had every intention of getting 9 & 10 done Thursday and Friday evenings but was felled by the head cold from hell. You know the one. It's where you are fairly certain your cheekbones & nose are about to explode right off your face because of the pressure behind them. Add to that chest congestion, which has settled into a nasty cough, and a mysterious pain in my side where my appendix would be if I still had an appendix and you end up with me spending 36 hours miserably in bed.

Today I just have the cough & side pain so I am up and scrapping while I can. The boys have occupied themselves outside 'trimming bushes Mama' so I have some peace & quiet. Now you may be wondering why I am not more concerned that my 4 & 6 year old are wandering outside unsupervised doing god knows what to god knows which plants used god knows what sharp objects.

Did I mention I have some peace & quiet?

There are no bushes out there I care that much about and the sharp cutting implements are locked in the shed. They bring a wagon load of branches up the hill every so often & the branches look to be snapped off. It appears they are in the copse of weedy tree bushes the electric company feels compelled to butcher every year for fear of them growing up into the power lines. So no harm done there.

Here are the 3 layouts I have done this week. I'm going to try & get 10 & 11 done today. 7 is going to have to wait & be swapped out with the 18th and I haven't decided what tradition to use on 9, since we don't have many except decorating the tree and the tree already gets it's own day.

I think everything in these layouts are from Sweet Shoppe Designs

The last gifts

The only gifts I need to get are for the boys' teachers and their helpers. I have cards for them and the bus drivers. But I need to get the gifts. I'd like to be the sort of person that gives meaningful handmade whatsits all done up in pretty bags with elaborate bows. The gift that says "she put a lot of thought & effort into this"

But I'm the sort of person who drops a gift card in a plain white envelope & maybe adds a small Whitman's sampler. The gift that says "oh she stopped at Wal Mart on her way here"

I don't mind being that person really. I think a gift card is appreciated by nearly everyone &  I know plenty of people who find meaningful handmade whatsits to be a bit of a burden (especially if they are not really to their taste. You have to keep them, they are handmade, but you don't really want them so you feel guilty)

Food used to be easy to give but now everyone is on a diet or allergic or only eating organic & locally produced things or avoiding certain things for a variety of ethical or moral reasons so you never know how it will be received. The only safe food to give is fresh spinach from your own backyard and darn it, I forgot to plant any in October.

I used to do 'movie night' bags for adults I don't know well. A movie rental card, some microwave popcorn & a big box of Goobers or M&Ms. Obviously the food is out. Our local, to the school, movie rental place is Movie Gallery but they are closing many of their stores & the next closest is over an hour from the school. Blockbuster is 40 minutes from the school in any direction, which is a bit inconvenient for borrowing & returning. If I knew where the teachers lived I'd feel better about giving the cards.

After considering all my options I think a Visa gift card is what is likely. Maybe I'll get all crafty & sew some bags out of Xmas fabric and put holiday wrapped candy in them.

Wait...the sewing machine is currently buried under a stack of papers & things and my craft table has various random electronic parts piled on it.

Maybe I'll buy some bags and put holiday wrapped candy in them.

Next year I'll remember to plant the spinach.

Well, that was painful

But not 'get me valium and an epidural' painful, so that is something.

First there was the "you are going to feel a pinch"part. It was a pinch, if you consider something like getting a tetnus shot in your eye a pinch, for comparison purposes. Only unlike the shot, this pinch lasted for a bit longer than 5 minutes.

Then there was "you are going to feel a cramp" and I most certainly DID feel the cramp (while the pinch was still going on) & had to breathe slowly during it, because it was that sort of cramp.

Last there was "you are going to feel a bigger cramp" and that was no lie either (and the pinch was still there). That part really hurt, but only for about 60 seconds.

Once the pinch was done I had a few cramps but they went away. There were occasional twinges in the evening. I took an Advil last night, had some cramps this morning but it seems to be over now.

The actual procedure was painful. But the cramping agony I was expecting after it never happened.

Now I just have to get around the mental issue I have of being afraid to bend over for fear the IUD will rip through my uterus.

Yes, I know that can't really happen, but it'll take a few days to sink it.

It's going to hurt how much?

This is TMI but I am going to the OB/GYN for a IUD today.

They said to take 3 Advil an hour before my appointment.

This worries me a GREAT deal.

In my not at all limited experience with medical practitioners, they tend to downplay just how much pain you will be in.

"Just a slight pinch"

"You might feel some momentary discomfort"

"There might be some tenderness"

I'm not sure how they define 'pinch', 'discomfort' and 'tenderness' but in no way do their definitions match up with mine. It always ends up with me in agony doing my damnedest not to start shrieking and frightening off the other patients.

I know they no doubt have very good reasons for minimizing the amount of pain you might be in. After all, the injection or probe or whatever they are about to do to you, needs to be done. It will be done, and a worried patient is a tense patient, which makes the injection or the probe harder to do. So they say "a quick pinch" instead of "A sharp jab lasting about 10 seconds followed by 24 hours of soreness around the injection site" in the hopes you will believe them and relax.

So, given my inclination to believe I am being deceived if not actually lied to about how bad something is going to hurt, you can imagine my reaction to being told to take 3 Advils before the visit, is not one of sweetness and light.

3 ADVILS??  3???

I've never been told to take more than one Advil at a time. The idea of taking 3 at once is somewhat alarming. I'm supposed to take them because I might experience 'some slight cramping' after the IUD is installed.

"Slight cramping"

Given past experience with medical understatement I am guessing I am going to have the sort of pain that will make me want several Valium and and epidural.

Week 1 Journal Your Christmas

I'm a week into my prompts and I wanted to share my progress

Journal Your Christmas is a class taught by Shimelle Lane & it runs for 37 days, from Dec 1 to Jan 6. You create a scrapbook page a day based on the prompts she sends out and in the end you have a memory book of your Christmas.  I did this last year and loved it (the cost of the class includes free enrollment every year after that). The nice thing about this class is that while you get a prompt every day, there is no requirement to actually DO the prompt that day.  You can do it daily if you want, or if you just aren't feeling it that day, do a couple at once another day, or wait until the weekend to get caught up. I'm a few days behind at the moment, which I expected. I cannot scrap daily, but I do take 10 minutes every day to think about the prompt and how I want to scrap it. I have finished days 1-4 and I have photos & notes for days 5 and 7 and hope to get at least one of them done today but I currently do not know what I want to do for day 6, which is a comparison of 2 prior Christmases. 

These are my layouts so far. Everything is from Sweet Shoppe Designs, except the template for layout 1. It is by Kim Hill at Elemental Scraps.

   

If you like the idea but want less structure you might want to try Ali Edwards December Daily Album.  A bunch of us at Sweet Shoppe Designs are doing one or the other or combinations of both, come check it out if you want some inspiration & encouragement.

Weekly Winners Nov 30 - Dec6

It's starting to look like Christmas around here.

Decorations

Frosty mornings

Deliveries

These photos edited with the help of my nearly constant companion this week

Technosaurus

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New Layouts

I've done days 1-3 for Journal Your Christmas so far

Its not the first day back

at Body Pump after a 2 week absence that is the problem.

Oh, it is uncomfortable. You feel a bit wussy because your really working to lift what you were doing just fine 2 weeks ago & how slack are you anyway? You've been doing the machines during this time, not just sitting around stuffing your face with pie. you *thought* you were working hard on the machines. You thought you were keeping your strength up, but NO.

Loser.

Can't even make yourself make the effort to maintain your level, because it *hurts* with the extra weight on the leg press.

Whimp!

You finally get your butt back to class and lift that bar, do those squats, nearly collapse during the lunges and think "I'll be feeling that tomorrow."

Well, think again.

The first day back is NOTHING compared to the SECOND day back.

All those things you thought you would feel tomorrow? Your still feeling them today - 2 days later. Only today you HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN! Use those achy muscles to lift that bar, do those squats and try to remain standing for those lunges.

Oh you'll be feeling THAT tomorrow!

How I spend my evenings

Place your bets!

I took a day off yesterday for the first time in 31 days.

Did you miss me?

Today I am starting a betting pool.  The subject of the betting pool is this:

That is the toilet from our main bathroom. It has been leaking since since mid 2007 and was finally replaced last night. (and the new one is leaking in the exact same spot, so the problem has just become exponentially more difficult and expensive. This one here has an actual tank leak, which apparently confused the issue of the floor level leak)

The betting pool is for

How Long Will Stacey's Old Toilet Remain On Her Porch?

Will it be gone this weekend? By Christmas? By Spring? Or will this toilet be on my porch so long that it in fact replaces the dinosaurs as a regular feature in my Weekly Winners throughout the summer ?

Some things to keep in mind when choosing your dates:

1. The toilet had been leaking for OVER A YEAR before it was replaced.

2. Our dump is open from 9-3 M-F but accepts only commercial waste trucks from 11-2, residents must drop off their wast from 9-11 or 2-3. It is open from 6:45am to 7:15 am on Saturdays and on the Sunday following the second full moon in a month.

3. It gets below freezing at night here and that is porcelain and it is sitting on a part of the porch that only gets direct sunlight for about an hour this time of year. Imagine picking up really heavy ice cold porcelain.

4. We are originally from West Virginia..... and the idea that we fill it with dirt and plant flowers in it has already been suggested .... and enthusiastically endorsed by Mayhem.

5. DH thinks he knows someone who might be able to use the base at their campsite.

So, place your bets in the comments. The person who comes closes to the actual date of the toilets removal (assuming I don't smash it to bits in sheer frustration in late spring) will win a special handmade by me crocheted whatsit to be determined later.

How can you resist the lure of betting on a toilet AND the chance to win a crocheted whatsis to be determined later?

Place your bets everyone!  I'll have a poll up eventually as well.

Procrastination

These are the Christmas cards I haven't mailed.

I'm sure most of you are thinking "So what? It's the 3rd of December, just go to the post office tomorrow & it'll be fine" Those of you who know me in real life might be wondering about the fact that it is only December 3rd and I yet I have cards in envelopes..... you are probably thinking to yourselves "Wait a minute! I'll bet those are LAST YEAR's cards that you never got in the mail!"

Well, you would be wrong.

They are cards from 2005.

Yes, that is right. I am now entering my 4th year of card mailing procrastination.

These are the cards I bought in 2006 but never got around to putting in envelopes.

These are the cards I bought in 2007 but never even opened the box.

This year I'm not even going to bother buying the cards in the first place.

The problem is one of stamps.

I never have any, or if I do they are 4 cents less than current stamps, so I'd have to put a bunch of 1 cent stamps on the envelopes because I am not about to waste $5 worth of stamps just because they are underfunded.  But given that I never got the stamps on the envelopes when I only had one stamp at time to deal with, the odds of my getting 5 stamps on an envelope are quite low indeed.

Then there is the problem of getting them in the mail. Because remembering to put them in my mailbox is asking way too much of me.

I'm rather surprised I don't have stamped, yet still unmailed cards lying around from 2004. But I think I did manage to get those sent out in early January 2005.

More pages for the calendar

I finished the calendar today, uploaded it and ordered it from Cafe Press. I like their design better.

It's day 2 of Journal Your Christmas. It was a weather related prompt so I was out bright & early taking photos of the frost. I also spend about an hour taking pictures of the ornaments that don't fit on our tree, the paper, boxes and bags I use to wrap gifts and a stack of the gifts that I wrapped today. I guessing they will be a topic down the road & I will be out of town for 10 days at the end of the month so I'm taking tons of photos of things now in anticipation. If there is not wrapping related prompt I'll just add an additional page.

Now that I have started the project again this year I can see where I may end up with a few extra pages because of including the travel, the Solstice and photos I have taken of things that didn't end up as a prompt.

Here are the last calendar pages

I made these pages with Kim Hill's Storyboard set and her Companion Phrases sets, both available at Scrapbook-Elements. I also used a few kits by Eve Kipler, Zoe Pearn, Melissa Bennett & Kristin Cronin Barrow at Sweet Shoppe Designs