...And a Good Time Was Had by All

It's been a busy couple of days! Ben is deep in the middle of his California Missions unit at school (every fourth grader in CA has some version of this) and his overachieving parents decided it would be fun (remember that word) to start in San Diego and trek up the coast, visiting all 18 missions on the way (there are three more north of us).

Well, in concept, it was a very good idea! But practice and plan are sometimes quite different, as anyone who has children knows.

So here are the stats on the past couple of days:

Miles driven: almost 1000 (all by my trooper of a husband!)
Missions visited: 6 (yes, we intended to visit all 18 but then we came to our senses... what were we THINKING?)
Hotels located near freeways, ambulance dispatch yards, etc.: 2 (out of two)
Awesome breakfasts with Linda and Dustin: One (never enough!)
Hours of whining in the car: Too many to count
Cost of back-of-the-seat dual screen DVD player: $175
Value of peace in the back seat: Priceless

I tell you, those padres were something else. I don't know how they traversed the rocky terrain on foot (or donkey) in sandals and robes. I was ready to pull my hair out after we hit Buena Ventura, and we still had 300 miles to go! Of course, the padres didn't have three kids in the back seat, complaining that one was breathing too loud and the other was picking her nose and the third was touching the others... So maybe our journey was a bit tougher, even though we had four wheels and a/c. There is something to be said for that vow of silence...

I did get a lot of knitting and reading time in. Finished a pair of socks for Kinsey (and Callie promptly said, "I don't know WHY you won't knit a pair for me!" -- like I've refused numerous times).

Here is a bit of a recap on other things happening chez Ehmann:
*The Get a LOAD of This Challenge is up and running and ready for registration at BPS. You can still join in the fun! If you can't do a layout a day, why not join us for the fun and games and PRIZES and do what you can? It's free!

Oh, and did I say PRIZES?

That, my friends, is a shot of my office with all 31 prize packages laid out on the floor. They are all in envelopes, ready to mail (perhaps to YOU????). Sometimes I am so organized I scare myself.

*I've completed two scrapbooks-for-hire in the last two days. This is the first time I've created a scrapbook for someone else for pay! It's a weird feeling. Usually I'm pretty confident in it all. But when someone else is paying me, the pressure is on! I keep asking myself, "Will they like this? Will they feel like they got their money's worth?" Here are a couple shots:

A six-by-six album for a friend's father:

I LOVE this We R Memory Keepers album I got at ScrapExpo. I had it on hand and am happy to put it to good use. The inside is a combo of blues and greens, with a couple of sheets of PP from a StoryTellers kit I got when I was in Utah. Embellishments were really simple -- a 1" strip of the PP on every page, plus brads and buttons and a few rub-ons.

Here's the other one I finished:

This was done with PaperSalon goodies on an 8x8" SEI album that I covered. It is also tres simple. My sister is giving it to a friend for her baby shower, so she wanted it to be "plug and play," so the new parents can just pop the 4x6 photos onto the page and be good to go with no trimming. I did throw in a couple 4x4 photo mats just to mix things up. Each page has three squares of PP and three flowers with brads. It's really cute, if I do say so myself.

Remind me (that's you, JenMcG!) to never again scrap for $ in the 8x8" size. It is totally un-economical. For a 10-spread album, I used 20 12x12" sheets of paper. That racks up the cost a lot! And because it's my sister, I can't ream her on the price. Hahaha. If she were my OLDER sister, perhaps. But she's the baby so I still have that gene that makes me want to take care of her (even though she is 4 inches taller and much cooler than I am).

I will leave you with this adorable shot:

Love those kids, even if they drive me batty. At least I will have someone (three someones, to be exact) to blame my grey hair on and to blackmail into going on Depends runs for me when I'm old and feeble.

Comments

[cathy]

OK, I just can't resist free stuff so I'm signed up and ready to go! Bring it on!

[Laura T.]

Looks like great prizes --- I am so ready for the layouts to begin.

[Leslie]

You SURVIVED!!! Glad you're back!

Leslie

[Robyn]

Happy New Year Lainie!

[Maria]

We live in So. CA and when we've made our boys go to the missions on our travels, they whine to high heaven.Doesn't help that I'm a teacher and try to make every vacation somewhat "educational" for them. LOL My sons live by the thought, "You've seen one mission, you've seen them all!" I love how you keep your blog so real!

[Maria]

Hi Lainie! Welcome back! Loved reading your entry! As always, your entries are an absolutely treat! Thanks for sharing your beautiful memories with us! Totally FIRED UP about the upcoming LOAD! I'm all signed up! :)

[bcre8uv]

Wow, that's a lot of prizes! Can't wait to get started...I'm almost done with the scraproom overhaul. I think I can see parts of my tabletop again.

~T.

P.S. Are you getting my emails? The one you sent last night sounded like maybe I'm still missing some of yours.

[Denise]

I did a couple of mini-albums for co-workers back in the day, and I got such great compliments. The gal I gave a baby book to (with a page for each monthly photo and instructions on taking a picture with the same stuffed animal or toy) mentioned again and again how much she appreciated it. Neither recipient was a scrapbooker, either, so it meant even more to me that they appreciated it so much.

[Christine]

I don't think I could ever do scrapping for hire..too much pressure! Glad you had a fun trip, aside from the whining. Ugh that whining can get old...we have to drive from Salt Lake City to Sacramento when we visit our family, and Nevada is sooooo boring..the kids whine a lot when we drive back and forth..heck I whine a bit too after too many hours of desert and nothing to look at.

[Nicole]

Thanks for the enteraining post Lain! Glad to hear that you all survived the big trip. I wondered at your family's stamina when you said you were going to visit all 18 missions.

Love both of those albums! Simply beautiful. I'm sure the recipients will cherish them.