Laura Vegas

here goes … another round of totally random "laura thoughts".

• have you ever tried the new mineral makeups? i have tried 2 different brands in the last year or so … and never had much luck. but then christy started talking about everyday minerals makeup. she has a couple of great posts with all sorts of info on it … you can read more HERE and HERE and maybe even HERE. i ordered the sample pack from the website … only paid shipping and got good sample sized jars. i will admit that in trying the foundation on it’s own … i wasn’t getting the coverage that i’m used to … i like a good, full coverage. i’m sure if i tried it more … i’d figure it out. but then christy was mentioning how well it held up throughout the day … so i had a thought. i put on my normal foundation (revlon) like i usually do … and then i used the mineral foundation on top (along with their blush). almost like using the pressed powder like i usually do. and i usually touch up with more powder a few times during the day … i have really oily skin. it held up so good … and looked so fresh all day long. even today … i was at a swim party and sat in the blazing hot sun for 5 hours straight  (why do i not have some sort of umbrella?). i was dripping in sweat … so disgusting. by the time i got home i may have felt like a sweaty pig … but my face looked amazing! lol! the past few days i’ve done this … and i can go a full 15 hours or so in makeup and not have to retouch anything. so check it out and try it … i already put in my order (and the price is really good).
• on a different note … i have some real tweakers as neighbors. they’re across the street and down a few houses … we’re on seperate corners. i swear i’m going to cause that lady some physical harm soon. they blast the stereo as loud as they can get it … morning, noon, and night. she’s a total druggie … i can tell. she’s the one that mows her lawn in the middle of the night … with a spotlight. tons of crazy stuff that i won’t waste my time talking about. i have yelled at her on several occasions about the music and noise … i’ve even called the police a few times. it’s really getting old … it’s too loud if i can hear what song you’re listening to while in my house with all the windows shut. but apparently i’m the only neighbor that will say anything … although i know for a fact that i’m not the only one that this bothers. last week she went balistic on me … threatening me and tossing profanity around at me left and right. last night she was up at 2am … stereo going and making tons of noise with some other tweaker friends of hers. i called the police and they came out. that was a first since normally they don’t even come out when i call. lol! she’s been going all day today too … i’m so sick of listening to it.
• i can’t even tell you how excited i am for this … high school musical 2!!! 39 days, 3 hours, and 45 minutes to go … that was the countdown as i typed that last sentence. lol! i’m not afraid to admit it … i loved the first one … and i know i’m going to love the second one. i love the music … love to dance to it. just such a cute movie. and even though zac efron is only like 18 years old … he is so dreamy! i remember watching him in summerland (which was really a cute show and i was sorry to see it end) … and he was such a skinny little thing (he’s actually not even in any pictures on the site … smaller part i guess). but he’s such a cutie. anyways …  you should see me every time a commercial or preview for the movie comes on … it’s as if time stands still. i just sit there taking it all in. lol!
• this friday we’re going to see aly & aj in concert … along with corbin bleu, drake bell, and bianca ryan. i just love aly & aj … went to see them last july and they were great. their new cd comes out this tuesday … quess i should see if they’ve changed their style or if it’s a lot of the same. and i admit listening to drake bell … that themed show from his show drake & josh is really a catchy tune. and yes … i watch the show … i find their sister hilarious. lol! should be a fun concert though … it’ll be me and the girls, deneen and her twins, and jenn and ashlen. whoohoo!
• i am totally starving right now … not sure why i didn’t eat that much today. i have had a frappacino, about 10 grapes, and 9 pizza rolls … and a couple bottles of water. i didn’t even have anything at the swim party … too many girls digging in … too many wet hands in the chips. lol! think i’m going to have a drumstick … or a bowl of ice cream. at this point … i may have both. lol!
• my new haircut is growing on me. the first few days i was freaked … it just seemed so short. it is short actually. but i’m figuring it out. still takes forever in the morning with the curling iron to make it look good. even though all the new growth is curly … it’s a crazy curly … so i still have to curl it into a good curl. but i did get a new curling iron … my other one was super old and just not working good anymore. funny how a $13 curling iron can totally change your hair. just imagine what could happen if i bought a good one … like a $50 one. lol! still need to take a new picture to put up … will try and get that done.
• at the swim party today (the soccer one, not amanda’s) … another gal had her digital camera with her taking some pictures. i’ve known her for a while through soccer. she really didn’t know much about the camera itself … she had the rebel xti … i have the rebel xt. so i was showing her a few things … a few easy settings you can play with … explaining that the canon camera’s are known for exposure problems and what you can do to help compensate for that. but i was taking a few pictures with her camera … and i felt like i knew what i was doing. sometimes i think my camera has some problem … because taking some basic photos really shouldn’t be that hard. i really need to look at my settings … i feel like i maybe have something goofy set the wrong way … and that’s affecting a ton of my photos. strange.
• the kids start their new school years on tuesday. alyssa keeps asking me if we can go get new school supplies. i keep thinking "what do you need that you didn’t have a week and a half ago" … which is when they finished their last school year. lol! i guess we could go get a few things. this year-round school makes that stuff harder … it’s not like you go get new things or new clothes … you just use what you were using the previous week. lol!
• had a gal at the shrimp/crab boil last night mention that she’s "behind" on her scrapbooks. i tried to explain that you can’t be behind … you don’t have to scrap every photo. she kept insisting that she was behind. she hadn’t done the vacation pictures from 3 vacations ago. i told her to take a few pictures from that vacation … make a one page layout using those … and then put the rest away in a box. i think she thought i was crazy. lol! i actually have something coming up in august about this very subject … i’ll let you know when i can share. i really wanted her to understand that she only had to scrap what she wanted to scrap.
• then again … i had my cousin’s wife (the girls were in their wedding almost a year ago) who mentioned the same type of thing. but she had read my blog post a while back talking about this … and she said it made sense to her. that she could do more "moments" … and not have to do all the "events". hey … if i can get through to one person in this life … my job is done. lol!
• i have gotten quite a few really nice emails this past weekend … and i really wanted to say "thank you" to everyone that took a few minutes to send me a note. i won’t lie … i definately like hearing that people like my work. lol! who doesn’t? but it really made me feel good about my designs and what i do. and thursday and friday were just sucky days … so it brightened things up a little!

ok … guess that’s enough for tonight. and just so you know how long it took me to type up this post (including all the interuptions, getting the girls dessert, taking a shower, etc) … the countdown for high school musical 2 is at 39 days, 2 hours, and 3 minutes! and in the process of putting in all these cool links for you (which you better click on every single one to make it worth my time. lol!) … i have a new wallpaper on my computer. yes … i’m sporting a high school musical 2 wallpaper. lol!

i don’t normally take pictures of food … but i had to take these today. this is what i had to eat today:

my brother and his wife had their 4th annual "shrimp and crab boil" today. it’s mainly close friends … we finally made "the cut" last year … so this is our second year. and no kids allowed … which the girls weren’t big on. lol! tons of munchies and stuff to snack on … veggies, fruit (my contribution this year), chips, dips, etc. and lots of drinks … lemon drop martinies, margaritas, beer, shots … who knows what all was going on. lol! although i’m strickly a water girl … i think i had 7 bottles of it today.

but then comes the main event. i don’t know all the secrets … but i know there is all kinds of good stuff going on in here that i don’t even know about. lol! but there were huge pots going … and this is what comes out of them in the end. it all gets dumped on the table together … and then a huge pot of butter is poured over the table … and then everyone digs in and fills their plates. unless you’re my brother … he’s the cook … so he just eats right off the table. lol!

look at all that food! crab … shrimp … artichokes … red potatoes … corn. and on the side there was also chicken … which i totally forgot about. add to it some garlic bread and little personal bowls of butter to dip everything in. yummo!

had a great time … a huge thanks to scott and kathy! they do such an awesome job with everything.

last weekend we had nothing going on … this weekend we have 4 parties. i had to skip a housewarming party today for a good friend of mine … so sorry we had to miss it (because i really want to see your new house barbara!). and tomorrow we have a birthday party for amanda … my daycare girlie that just turned 7! and alyssa’s soccer team is having a big swimming party … although i have yet to get any details about where it’s at or what i’m bringing (and it’s now 11:45pm saturday … party is supposed to be at 1:00 sunday). so looks like we’re headed in two different directions tomorrow.

i promise to come back tomorrow night and give you one of my good old "random stuff" postings. i havn’t done one in a while … and i have lots of random stuff to share. one of which is about make-up … i really want to share this one because i think you’ll like it. see you tomorrow!

i had the fun opportunity to do the guest designer challenge over on the making memories blog this week. actually i did this about a month ago … so i’ve been keeping it my little secret. lol! i thought this would be a fun idea for a challenge … and they liked my idea and asked me to come up with something new for it. here’s a peek:

so check it TAG CHALLENGE. would love to see some of you play along … and make sure to share it with me if you do!

just a quicky post. feeling quilty that i havn’t posted in a few days … and i actually have a few layouts to share. i’m headed out in a minute to get ready to watch fireworks … wanted to post now because i know later i’m going to be too tired. lol!

this layout was an accident waiting to happen. lol! i won’t even tell you how many parts of this were pieced together as total after-thoughts. i really should stop and think sometimes before i start cutting and pasting. but i think it worked out. and if you like the metal rimmed tag usage … check back tomorrow for something i’ve been patiently waiting to share. and yes … it’s related to the metal rimmed tags. lol!

and i have to admit … i never had any intention of scrapping these pics of the girls. but i did. and i never had any intention to use these products. but i did. it actually looks much better in person. there is a part of this layout that is pieced together too. i had put my rubon letters on … and i kept looking at the title because it just didn’t look right. after 2 days i realized i had put "grooy" … totally forgot the "v". lol! i asked the girls why they didn’t tell me … guess they didn’t notice it either. but i fixed it ok … with a little patching of pattern paper. and yes … i’m still using that magic mesh. lol! used some white on black cardstock to punch out the flowers. fun stuff i tell you … i’m thinking i need some more. lol!

well … not a totally exciting 4th of july here. joe worked last night and got home this morning and went to bed for the day. the girls swam at my moms for a bit while i took a nap … i have felt terrible these last few days. then i picked up the girls and made them lunch and we chilled for a bit. joe got up around 4:00 and we headed out to alyssa’s soccer game. they were playing at a new indoor stadium that opened up here in town … it was fun to watch them play indoors … such a different ballgame. but the place was stinkin hot. just imagine 105 degree weather … sweat literally dripping down your back … and the sweet smell of cow poop to complete the moment. i know … you’re wishing you were here. lol! after that … alyssa went with her dad for the night. sarah took off with my parents to cool off in the pool again. joe got ready and headed back out to work. i started a couple loads of laundry and picked up all the misc stuff the girls have laying around the house.

and it’s starting to get dark … so the fireworks should be starting within an hour. hope you had a good holiday!

edited to add: we ended up watching fireworks in my parents court for 2 hours. i really should have paid more attention to what time it was … because i’m seriously going to pay for this in the morning. lol! guess that’s what happens when you sit in a chair and veg while watching fireworks that you didn’t have to pay a cent for … and your kid runs around with the neighbor girl doing sparklers. lol!

so i told you last night to stay tuned for what i decided to do with my "fabulous" layout. here it is:

i added the photos and the journaling today. everything else i did last night. i had no idea where i was going with this … or even if i was going to add photos. lol! i know the photos don’t look that sharp in these pictures … they look better on the layout. this is a 9×9 layout … so the entire photo collage is only about 3.5×5 inches. fun to get 4 pics on such a small, compact size print.

as for the product. it all started with the rhinestone stars and title that i’ve had forever. i just decided that i wanted to use them. then i dug around and found some bright, older pattern papers. i love this color scheme … i remembered seeing this color combo on a layout by my scrappin idol friend in a recent idea book (it’s downstairs somewhere, but i totally remember it). then for fun … i dug out my "magic mesh". gosh … that stuff is so old. still a fun product … i just mean that it’s been around for ages. i remember 2 years ago when i won paperkuts power team … we all got our goodie boxes and we had tons and tons of magic mesh. we thought … "the pk power team is totally bringing back the magic mesh!!!". then the magazine went under and we lost our chance. lol! anyways … i just put the magic mesh on cardstock and then punched circles. covered some chipboard stars with pattern paper, sanded down the edges, and then adhered the rhinestone star stickers. and of course … some buttons.

and of course … a card to use up my scraps. actually i don’t think this card used to much of my scraps. but i did stamp out that extra "imagine" when i had out the stamp from the previous layout i shared … along with the other card i shared. i figure if i’m actually going to get a stamp all dirty and then have to clean it … i might as well get some extra use out of it. lol!

and in case you missed my post from yesterday … i still have some idea books that i’m looking to pass on to a good home. i know a few of you put in your requests already. once i finalize anyone’s request i’ll scratch them off the list. but if i don’t hear back … they’re still up for grabs. so check out the list from the previous post and let me know if you’re interested in any.  edited to add: i just added a few new idea books to the list.

first … the layout i did last night.

i just love this layout for a few reasons. first, the bright colors of these fun autumn leaves papers and stickers … love them against the black and white. second, i stamped … i’m not a stamper … but i love these word stamps by heidi swapp. third, the embellishments that seemed to match perfectly. forth, i just love that this layout is about something … and yet about nothing at the same time. lol! i had absolutely no idea where i was going with this when i started. but i picked out that "imagine" stamp that fit and that i’ve been wanting to use. then i found the chipboard numbers and they seemed like fun. so i literally walked around this morning thinking of "what do i imagine … what 3 things do i want to imagine". lol! i need to do more layouts like this. just playing and having fun. in fact i started another one tonight and ended up using something i’ve had for ages and never got around to using … in involves the word "fabulous". so stay tuned to find out what i find "fabulous". lol!

edited to add this card … mainly because it matched the layout … and it totally clashes with the layout and card i’m going to post in a few hours. lol!

i’ve been cleaning out my idea books this past week. i’m an idea book fanatic … but i really felt the need to purge some of my collection. so i paged through each of these books looking for anything i wanted to keep. and now i’m ready to pass them on. i thought about ebaying them … i’ve done that successfully with tons of idea books. but that seemed like a lot of work. lol! so i thought i’d check with everyone here and see if any of you might need or want any of these … although aren’t "need" and "want" basically the same thing when it comes to scrapbooking. lol! here’s a list of what i have:

• ck "scrapbooking school memories"
• ck "can-do techniques for scrapbooking"
• ck "easy patterns for scrapbooking"  just added
• ck "scrapbook idea book volume 9"
• ck "scrapbook idea book volume 10"
• ck "hall of fame volume 7"
• ck "hall of fame volume 8"
• ss "slice of life scrapbooking"
• ss "album shortcuts"  just added
• st "party time"
• st "tis the season"
• st "trendsetters"
• st "june 2007"
• pc "the joy of cardmaking"
• pc "the joy of cardmaking, a second helping"
• pc "card creations volume 3"
• junkitz "unzipped"
• "scrapbooks on the go"
• pinecone press "circle journals"

all of my books are in excellent condition. although most of them are probably missing a few pages. i usually tear out anything that catches my eye and that i really want to remember. but most of these are missing maybe 5-8 pages at most. and some of them aren’t missing anything. not to say that they’re not good books … i’m just very selective nowdays as to what i tear out. lol! so please let me know if you have any interest in any of these. i’ll make you a awesome deal, i promise. just leave me a comment or shoot me an email. doesn’t really matter which … since any time you comment it sends me an email. lol!

first a few pictures because i hate to post without pics. just a couple that i took this week. first one of alyssa … second is ashlen.

we had a nice, quiet friday here. seemed strange after having so many kids yesterday. alyssa was at her dad’s house … so it was just sarah and amanda. joe took them to the movies while i ran a few errands. then i made them lunch and we hung out for a bit. then i took them over to my mom’s house to swim for a bit. had some dinner. played some "scene-it" game with sarah … she insisted on that game even though we don’t know any of the answers. lol!

i was wanting to scrap today. i havn’t scrapped hardly at all these past 2 weeks. i did stop by the lss in the next town today … i like to go every other month or so to see what new stuff they had. i picked up 2 idea books and a small stack of pattern paper. i finally got something started tonight … and i’m loving how it’s looking. bright, primary colors … red, yellow, and turquoise. will share tomorrow.

i also got my august issue of creating keepsakes magazine today. you remember back in march when i was mentioned in their little box of  "10 scrapbookers that also caught my eye this month"? well … i made the list again. i have to admit … when i saw my name there i was laughing so hard. lol! i hate to even say this in case anyone from CK actually came across my blog (i’m totally jinxing myself with this too) … but if i caught their eye, why do they never ask for any of my layouts? don’t want to seem ungrateful for getting noticed. just curious you know! lol!

and tomorrow i’m vowing to clean as little as possible. it seems like we spend every weekend cleaning the same things over and over. which i guess is just the way having a house goes. but it gets old … and seems like such a waste of my time … and joes, since he does tons of it too. we do have to do all the floors … with 8 kids around, you know my floors are dirty. lol! and i do have some laundry … can’t let that pile up or you can’t catch up.

be back to share my layout tomorrow! have a good one!

i don’t think i have any right to ever complain about a bad hair day again … not after seeing what came knocking on my door this morning.

let me add my normal "i know this isn’t a techically good picture, but it’s super funny". don’t know why i always feel i have to say that. just don’t want anyone thinking that i’m thinking that these pictures are awesome … or a true reflection on what i can do with a camera. lol! more to come on my photo frustrations in a future post.

poor ady has got some hair on her! although really it’s kindof cute … when she was in the right light, it looked like she had a golden halo on top of her head. which i think we know that she doesn’t have after everything she’s been getting into this week. lol! jenn didn’t even want to comb it … wanted me to get a picture of it. it was the most hilarious thing. but she can definately pull off the look … don’t you think?

and speaking of hair … i got mine cut off tonight. i finally got around to going in to see the gal i went to about a year and a half ago. she told me exactly what i’ve been telling myself … that it would be best to just cut my hair shorter and work with all the pieces that are growing in. i’ve got all these crazy hairs that are about 3 inches long. i just let her do her thing. it is short … i havn’t had it this short in about 10 years. also decided it’s best to just go curly … i can’t pull off straight right now. which is fine … because most of my life i’ve had curly hair. and all the new hair is growing in super thick and super curly. i’m sure it will look different when i do it … i’m not as good with the curling iron. lol! i’ll try and get a decent picture to share later. this was late tonight … so i just wanted to share a preview.

i have a few things on my mind … so i’ll be around this weekend to post more. lol … i just realized it’s only thursday. got confused there. some stuff about indoor pictures … some stuff about idea books that i’m getting rid of … and maybe even a layout or two if i can get to actually scrapping!

today was the last day of school for these girls!

moving left to right in case you don’t know their faces. lol! sarah is moving on to 3rd grade … ashlen to 4th grade … alyssa to 6th grade … and amanda to 2nd grade. i’m so proud of all of them. i’ve seen them do hours of homework at my kitchen table. they’ve had questions they needed my help on … and questions that i couldn’t figure out answers to. i’ve heard them all read their fluency stories and see how much they can read in 60 seconds. i’ve watched their writing get better and better … and they know how to spell so many more words now. i’ve also listened to them complain about school … and gripe about homework. but they did it … they finished another year of school.

first my girls.

alyssa has done such an awesome job. school has always come pretty easy for her … she doesn’t have to work that hard at it. but 5th grade was a little tougher. more reports, oral presentations, big art projects. but she did it all so well. she has also been in the gifted program for a few years now and attends extra classes usually once a month. she is one of only 5 kids in the 5th grade that got a 4.0 all year (i’m pretty sure, that’s what they said at the last awards thing). she’s still the tiniest thing in her class … but that doesn’t stop her from standing out for something … and being a great student is one of those things.

and sarah … she has done a great job once again. i secretly thought she was going to have problems when she started school. she is so active and hardly sits still for anything at home. but i don’t know if it’s wanting to compete with her big sister … or wanting to please us … or maybe a little bit that she’s real quiet in the classroom (her teachers never belive me that she’s so incredibly noisy at home. lol!). but she has done so well. she gets awesome grades and is such a helper to her teacher. she is such a good reader and loves chapter books. she is learning cursive writing. i’m sure that the 3rd grade will bring lots more work. but as long as i can get her to sit still and focus … i know she can do it.

ashlen … or should i say "roberta". lol! apparently that was an inside joke with her teacher this year … i just got the story today. i know school is a little more work for ashlen. like sarah … the girl has lots of energy. and she definately likes to socialize … and sometimes that carries over to the classroom. but she tries really hard and does her best. i can’t believe 4th grade … seems like just yesterday when i met her for the first time and she was in 1st grade. lol!

and amanda. when i picked them up at school today i was asking the girls if they all passed their grades. i asked amanda and she told me the same thing she tells me for most of my questions i ask her … "i don’t know" … with a shrug of the shoulders. lol! as if she didn’t know. she is usually the first one to sit down after school and get right to work on her homework. and she’s always digging in her backpack looking at her papers from the day. amanda has been part of our daycare family for almost 5 years now … and is now a big 2nd grader!

and this little boy. i’ve been thinking about him all day. i went to the school this morning for an awards ceremony … and i saw him with his mom and dad. i actually pretended i didn’t see him for a while … because it kind of upset me. see … i took care of him for almost 2.5 years. and then last december he just disappeared. he left one day and never came back. i know they had some family stuff going on at the time … some serious medical stuff. and his mom had mentioned maybe going to part-time. but they never gave notice … never said he was leaving. so for the last 7 months i have only seen them in passing in the parking lot at school … but he was always in the car. so this was the first time i really saw him up close.

part way through the awards ceremony he got up with his mom to leave. and i finally looked over at him. i felt him looking at me a few times during the ceremony … he was only about 10 feet away. he was just watching me … so i smiled and waved. he gave me a little smile and i waved some more. another daycare lady was sitting close by and said it looked like he wanted to stay with me. i’ve always wondered what he thinks happened … or what they said to him. does he think i just left. after all … i had a new little boy next to me today that sometimes reminds me of him. lol! i feel bad that i never got to say good-bye to him. he was my buddy … even when we didn’t get along. the 2nd to last day he was here … we had such an awesome day together. he was so sweet and loving to me … and he was always good for some fun conversations. but the last day he was here … we had a bad day. and i hate that he might remember me that way.

i guess i’ve been lucky that i havn’t had a high turn-over rate with my daycare kids. most of the kids i’ve had have all stayed for about 2 years on average. and i keep in touch with about 75% of the kids i’ve had … and i still see them from time to time. they all still give me hugs and it’s like old times. sure … i’ve had a couple of kids that have left on wierd terms. not knowing what happened … or something just not feeling right when they left. and then there are the ones that just moved on to other things … whether a move to another city or just moving on to preschool or kindergarten. these kids become such a huge part of our lives … they mean everything to us.

so anyways … just feeling a little sad over seeing him. nice to see him … he looks so grown up now. that picture up there is exactly 1 year old … so he’s definatly a big boy now. i hope he’s doing good in whatever he’s doing these days. miss seeing his blanket, bunny, and "didi" (pacifier) laying around the house. lol!

and then there is ady. lol! this picture didn’t turn out great … but i thought it was the funniest thing. first off … the girl stole my flipflops. of course she had her cup … gets mad when i try and put it in the fridge. and notice the toys. i think it’s so funny what kids will latch onto. out of all the toy baskets in the playroom … out of all the happy meal toys to choose from. she has a handful of  select toys that she digs out every day. that keychain is one of them … it’s "doug" from that cartoon that i can’t remember the name of (actually i think it was called "doug" if i’m not mistaken). he’s holding a flashlight … not sure what that’s about. and in the other hand along with the cup … one of the happy meal "polly pocket" dolls. it’s the boy one … she tends to pick out the boy over all the girls in there. i have to get a picture of her with all her phones … i swear the girls got about 20 phones in this house. some pretend … and some just old cell phones that we’ve collected from who knows where. and i love how she holds the phones on her shoulder under her chin. today she was walking around with the phone on her shoulder … and she was yapping away … and then she would just giggle adn giggle. it was as if she was really talking to someone. lol!

guess that’s it for today. that turned out longer than i planned. lol! and thanks for everyones thoughts on my last post. i havn’t gotten back to anyone yet. but i will!    

i’ve been thinking a lot about photo storage lately. not really how to store them … just coming up with a system for organizing them i guess. i have tons of pictures. i have tons of pictures that i’m never going to scrap. i have tons of pictures that i want to scrap. and i have tons of pictures on my hard drive that need to be somewhere. but my anal self is having a hard time getting a good system planned in my head.

if you look back at my scrapbook albums from my first 8 year of scrapbooking … i’d say almost 90% of my pictures are on my scrapbook pages. now the last 3 years are a little different. i do have some pictures that i’ve never got around to scrapping. and i’m realizing that i don’t have to scrap every photo i’ve ever taken. but i still feel the need to put these pictures somewhere.

a few months ago i went through all the older pictures i had in my photo boxes (with the exception of this years) … and i sorted out any pictures that i didn’t think i’d scrap. everyday pictures without a story. all the extra event pictures that didn’t make the main page. and i had picked up some regular photo albums … the ones where you just slide your pictures in, 3 on a page. i figured i could just add these photos in there … and that could be the spot for all those misc pictures. if i ever want to scrap them … i can pull them out and it’s not a big deal. sure … it bugged me that maybe 2 of the pictures on a page were going one direction and one pictures was going the opposite way. lol! but i just slid them all in and tried not to be too anal about it.

so now i’m left with a small assortment of pictures that i really do want to scrap. thing is that now i’m so addicted to printing my own photos my way … borders and all different sizes. so do i really need all those 4×6 prints? and what about when i do our little "photo shoots" … and i have about 14 different poses of alyssa and 14 different poses of sarah? i’m certainly not going to scrap all 14. but what if i scrap 4 of each of the girls … do i really need to have 10 of each in the other regular album? they’re not dud pictures … they’re good pictures. so i really do feel like i need to have all the pictures in an album … be in a regular album or a scrapbook album.

i think i’m doing better on the daycare kids pictures than on our family’s pictures. lol! i’ve really changed my thinking on the daycare kids. for instance … i had taken some pictures of ady one day in her booster seat while she was eating lunch. i had about 5 cute pictures. but then again … way too much color between the booster seat (does anyone know where to get a cute olive green or deep red booster seat that would match my kitchen better then the primary red/blue/yellow one i have now. lol!), the crazy multi-colored bib (i can never find nice, big, pretty bibs), her bright sippy cup, and all the food on the tray. so i honestly don’t think i’ll ever scrap them … and i don’t know that i really need to scrap them … although i could totally scrap about her throwing all her food on the floor when she doesn’t want it. lol! but do i need 5 pictures in the regular photo album? no i don’t. so i picked just one and ordered it … although i did order the others for her mom.

but you see where i’m going with this? or maybe not … maybe this thinking out loud thing doesn’t make much sense. lol! i just feel like i have pictures coming out of every corner i turn. i want them organized and stored in appropiate places. but i want it to have a system to it … so that it makes sense. and i don’t want it to be something that i turn around and decide isn’t good a few months from now. so it needs to be thought out.

i know i’ll come up with something. i was the same way with my digital images off my camera. took me quite a while to figure out a good organizational method for sorting, editing, and all that. but i have a system … and it has been working now for about 6 months. i know where to put my images … i know where to find them … and i know where to put them when i’m done editing. just ask me for any digital image and i can totally find it for you within minutes. lol!

but if you have any great ideas on this … i’d love to hear them. please share!