2011 is off to a fantastic start

And I mean that seriously. I just found out yesterday that as of January 23rd I am going to full-time nights at work, in my regular house, for the next year, and I couldn't be happier. Perhaps it seems anti-climactic considering how excited my cryptic Facebook update was yesterday, a level of celebration women normally reserve for announcing their newly discovered pregnancy or recent lottery win, but this is a big change for me in the right direction. Granted I was already happy at work with my part-time rotation and frequent on-call shiftwork, but this will bring consistency into my life, not to mention weekends. I love my regular house and am happy that for the next year my shifts will be all there. Except for the days I get moved (and I'm sure it'll happen. That's what I get for being feeding tube and diabetic trained).

So now the biggest challenge is re-booking my vacation time with only 2 months before Disneyworld. Hopefully they'll be able to work something for me, considering I had my original vacation time booked way in advance, but my hours are a wee bit different now and I'll need more of them off. But like Don always says, this is a high class problem. If my new awesome job conflicting with my Disneyworld vacation is the biggest of my worries, I really have nothing to complain about in the grand scheme.

Many scrapbookers adopt a new "word of the year" in January. I like to see where the year goes before choosing a "theme" word...some of mine have been Create, Inspire, Balance and Harmony. Last year's was definitely Gratitude...and I would like to start out this year with a lot of it. I have been praying about this position ever since I heard the regular person was thinking about leaving, but didn't want to make it one of those "give me what I want" prayers. I knew I would be a great fit but am always uncomfortable acknowledging that I'm the best at anything even when I actually might be...it feels like setting myself up to be proven a phony. So I prayed that things would unfold they way they're supposed to and for no anxiety regardless of what happens. It's just so nice when God's plan works out they way you were hoping your own would.

If anyone is out there, thanks for listening and letting me share some of my joy with you. Have a blessed 2011 and may your hopes and wishes be made possible in it.

Christmas Memories: let's wrap up the old millenium

96: Christmas Eve church service


97: The year I met Don


98: First Christmas as a married couple


99: I never did find that picture I was looking for....

Christmas Memories...catching up on the early 90s

Yep, missed a few days again. Yep, night shifts.

So today I will cover 3 years at once. Though there is no shortage of memories, they were all of the teenage variety and involve ex-boyfriends and other such drama which I didn't really wish to include in a decade-spanning Christmas memory album. Which created a nice opportunity to do a few of those fun-to-make design-based pages where the focus is more on the style and doesn't require much journalling if any.



1993. Here's my brother and me, who had enjoyed for many years getting up in the middle of the night to see what Santa had left. This year was no different, nor was getting up early on Christmas morning, but it was around this year that it actually started making me tired. As far as I can recall. I do know this was the first year I consciously opted to take an afternoon nap on Christmas day. I guess the drive to Toronto had been helpful in that respect, when we were younger.



I'm happy with how this one came together so easily yet so effectively. It was a happier year all round, but most of the festivities took place at my ex-boyfriend's house (where this picture was taken) so for future-friendliness I made it simple.



1995 was a peaceful Christmas. My mum and I had started going to church shortly before, and had joined the choir, and the spiritual inspiration was still young and fresh in my heart after years of teenage blues. Maybe that's why this page is mostly blue. I love how the sun shines through the window...makes you wanna sing Joy To The World or something. Actually, this was the only picture I had of Christmas 1995. But I still like it.

Christmas Memories: 1992

I love using my title as my journalling.

I also love not having an 80s haircut anymore.

Christmas Memories: 1991

Grade 8. My family had this tradition for a few years of eating dinner out on Christmas Eve, and in 1991 they booked us at an overpriced and overrated Chinese buffet because there was karaoke there, and I liked to sing. It would have been my first time at karaoke, and then when Christmas Eve rolled around I got a cold and had totally lost my voice. Very heartbreaking for a 14-year-old, made worse by having iceberg lettuce and saltines for dinner, which appeared to my then discriminating tastes as the only edible-looking food the buffet had to offer.

Christmas Day was enjoyable enough, with a few surprise gifts and a lot of delicious goodies. There were a few pictures, but my cold had left me looking pretty lousy in all of them, to say nothing of the hideous 80s haircut I was still growing out.

So I opted for a Christmas tree/gift shot, colour-reversed on the computer for effect, and a story that happened a few days before Christmas when we were picking up my dad from the airport. Though my mum might think otherwise, my memories of that night are actually good in hindsight and don't remind me of how crummy I felt on Christmas Eve, so that's what I chose to journal for 1991. There's always a good way to look back on things.

Christmas Memories: 1990

One of my favourite pages in this entire album. The colours and patterns aren't exactly traditional for Christmas, yet in every way remind me of this exact day. It has a feel very different from the rest of the pages but fits in perfectly somehow.

After a lovely Saturday out with my favourite boy, we're going to snuggle in and watch Return of the Jedi in our PJ's. Sweet dreams!

Christmas Memories: 1989

This was our first Christmas in BC. It was also my year as the crazy cat girl, and most of my gifts were cat-related...stuffed kitties, porcelain kitties, a kitty calendar, and various other things with kitties on them. I believe the paper is from My Mind's Eye, and the rub-ons from Fancy Pants.

I'm working on a new scrappy project right now called December Daily from which the inspiration was again taken from Ali Edwards' blog via a Skrap N' Chat link. It's been longer than I can remember since I scrapped and Christmas always puts me in the mood again. Right now I'm just focusing on getting pictures and journalling though, I'll put it all together in January sometime. My goal is to have each day represent a different activity, theme or idea. Doing the Week In The Life project back in April really inspired me to make the most of my days and my hope is this December Daily will do the same...with a festive twist.

Here's how it goes so far:


December 1: Trimming the tree


December 2: Our sent gifts have arrived safely in BC


December 3: Snow!