Me???? Scrapbook????

Through the years I have always been one to take pictures, save memorabilia and toss it all into a box.  My collection  of pics, etc. has no rhyme or reason.  Yet, deep inside I have always felt that these things were just too precious to toss.  Actually, quite a few of the pics have found their way into albums, yet drawers and boxes full of them still seem to abound in our home.

Recently, (and I fear it's due to the aging process) I find myself wanting to organize these items so that our children and grandchildren will not be clueless when they look at them in years to come.  And while I've never been particularly interested in family trees, (that's my sister's thing)  I do want my children and grandchildren to know who their ancestors are and how they lived.   This family has a rich heritage and fascinating history.  The stories are worthy of documenting in some form.

I am pretty much in awe of some of the scrapbookers I have encountered.  Some of the scrapbooks I've seen are literally works of art.  I would love to be so creative.  However, my scrapbooking is mostly functional with a little room to endulge my artsy side, such as it is.  I've found that I enjoy creating pretty pages with lots of meaning.  Going through the the pictures and scraps of paper I've collected over the years has brought back many fond memories.  I'm excited about sharing them with the younger generation of this family.

My grand-daughters are my frequent scraping  buddies.  When they come to visit we almost always end up creating a page or two.  Usually those pages will consist of pics, etc of their parents when they were young.  It's a great time for me to share funny little stories with them that add a bit of interest to the whole scraping session.  And I get one or two more pages completed in the process.  It's all good.

I have collected all loose pics, etc. into one tote, and my goal is to eventually have them all in scrapbooks.  No, my scraping style is not fancy like some I have seen.  I can't color coordinate an entire scrapbook.  I do well to manage a page at a time.  But someday I'll have the job completed, and I expect to have hours of enjoyment looking through them either alone or with someone else.  I know you can't live in the past, but the past has made me who I am presently.  So I embrace the past, relish the present and anticipate the future. 

To those who started young compiling scrapbooks of notable events in the lives of yourselves and your children, I commend you!  What a great past-time.  Wish I had had the foresight to do that.  But from my late start, I say, "carry on".  One day you will look back and be so glad that you did.  It's the story of your life dressed up in pretty paper, brads and ribbons.  What better way to present it to future generations!

Revisiting What Works

I confess..... I have been a major slacker.  I have lost ground in my fitness goals due to plain, outright laziness for the past 2 months.  Don't ask me why, but I seem to fall into this same rut every few months.  I am faithful to my low carb eating and exercising program for 2 or 3 months and then....Bam!!   I revert back to my old habits, telling myself that 'at my age it shouldn't matter' or 'this just isn't worth it' or some other lame excuse for my slackery.


After a few weeks of the old, bad habits, I begin to feel tired, listless, achy and in generally poor health.  Then I begin to relate very closely to the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:24.  Although I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about physical fitness, the concept still rings true.  I do what I know I should not do (eat junk, get lazy)  and I do not do what I know I should, (eat right, drink plenty of water, exercise).  It is, however, some consolation that Paul had struggles too.  Yep....Paul and I;   both wretched, both forgiven, and neither ready to chuck it all and give up.

So I am revisiting the things that have worked for me in the past.  As I chug my water and fire up my treadmill, I look forward to feeling like a million dollars in a week or so.  Granted, I will probably look no different, but I will embrace the feeling of well being that I know will come with this return to healthier habits.