Monday, March 23, 2015

What a Long Month!!

March has kicked my butt. I have not posted in two weeks and this is not due to my lack of creativity. In fact, life has caught up with me. I have had to make a lot of choices and unfortunately, blogging has been on the back burner. 

My husband has traveled every week this month, making me the only parent at home. This would be easy if my fourteen-year-old was not being, well, a teen-age girl. I miss the little girl who LOVED to be with her mother and had the sweetest little giggle. In her place is a moody teen that does what she pleases and thinks I know NOTHING. Char's grades have not been stellar because of her lack of passing in her homework that I KNOW SHE HAS DONE. Who does that? This is when I wish my mother was still alive because I would be buying her presents like mad. She deserves an award for having had to put up with her four children. Each one of us gave her all the gray hairs that she dyed faithfully every month. I wish I could pick her brain right now for some ideas. Sigh. I know this stage will pass but it has been a tough.

To deal with stress I have chosen to get to the gym as much as I can. I hate to exercise but it really helps my brain. I recommend this to anyone that is dealing with a lot of stress. Endorphins rule!!

On top of that, my youngest sister broke her ankle and I have tried to be there for her. It isn't a heck of a lot because she lives twenty minutes away but I have done what I could. I feel bad that it has not been more. 

In between all this, I have been trying to keep up with all your lovely blogs using Bloglovin. Some days are better then others and I apologize if I have missed anything. 

I have been trying to get back into scrapbooking this month. It comes and goes for me. Right now we are without  a printer and it is killing me. I like to journal and though I can hand write some of it, often it is too lengthy for me to do so. I was able to do two pages about our trip to Europe this past summer. They are just a snapshot, literally, of two events. 

My daughter HATES this photo below but it sums up something we did while in London. Please do not judge my lovely (not!) printing.



I cannot believe I am even posting this second page. As a rule, I do not like having my photo taken. However, I have made a conscious effort throughout Charlotte's life to make sure that I do get in the photos. I often do not like them because I think I am fat, or my hair is messy, or I am just not feeling it but I do it so she will have them to look at when I am no longer around. 

I lost my mother at 23 and I have very few photos of her. My mother did not like to have her picture taken. Especially the last five years of her life after she lost her eye due to cancer. I do not want my daughter to go through her scrapbooks and only see photos of herself. 

On the page below, Charlotte took the photo with my I-phone. It is of Chris and I with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Is it the best? No. Sometimes it isn't perfection that counts.



That is all for today. I will not bore you any longer. I hope you have a great week!!