Whacky Robins

In the family room, we have 5" tall windows that sit above the ground about 10".  In the spring, it's nice to have these open to the refreshing breeze.  This year, however, they have become ground zero for robins.  For several hours during the day, robins dive bomb the windows, often grabbing the screens for support.  Having never witnessed this before, it was like living through Hitchcock's bird scenes.  After watching closely one day, we realized the robins were feeding off the baby spiders hatching in the moulding around the screens.  Thanks to the robins voracious appetites, our family room will be spider-free this year.

Trusting Instincts

Creating digital scrapbook pages is my newest obsession.  The creation part isn't new, since I've been doing them for two years, but the obsession part is new.  I spend many hours at the computer researching kits, looking through photographs, learning how to use Photoshop, reading tutorials on techniques, and browsing through galleries of beautifully designed layouts by talented people.  The more I learn about design, techniques, and personal style, the more frustrated I get with my results.  Looking through earlier layouts, I actually like them better.  It's like I know instinctively when a page looks good, but the more I try to plan a page to look good, the worse it becomes.  Another lesson in trusting my instincts and learning to appreciate what I can do, not what I think I should do.  Here's one of my newest - and the kit I used "Snowfall" by Gettin' Scrappy with Britt.

 

Daylight Savings Time

According to my body, it is 5 a.m. and quiet time for me. Time to read emails, write in journals, download fun kits, create scrapbook layouts, or just stretch and listen as the day wakes up. Two hours of quiet time for me before lunches need to be made, smoothies need to be blended, rides need to be given, work needs to start. But the clock says it is 6 a.m. So only a precious hour, not two. Why not just get up when the clock says it is 5 a.m.? According to my body, that would be 4 a.m. My body does not believe in daylight savings time.

Spring Break

It's spring break in our neighborhood. When I was in school, we didn't have spring break. We did have a week off for Easter, however, something that would not be acceptable today. During our week off, the noise level outside increased significantly since the neighborhood kids spent as little time as possible indoors. Inpromtu baseball games, bike riding, hop scotch, rope skipping, tag, and hide-n-seek consumed the daylight and evening hours. Today, I'm sitting with the windows open, enjoying the unseasonably warm air. Bird song, an occasional car passing, the distant rumble and warning horn of the train by the river, drift into the open window. Did I mention that in our neighborhood live 27 kids under the age of 12? Where have all the children gone?