What's New With Me

March is more than half over, already! And given that my last post here was February 20th, it looks like I'm posting about once a month, which is much less than I intended when I started this blog, but I suppose one post is better than no posts per month.

Right?

Once in awhile I like to do a post about what's been going on in my world and share some things I'm enjoying right now.

First: the weather, because who hasn't had a lot to talk about weather-wise this crazy year? Yesterday, was the first day of spring, and while my surroundings no longer look like that winter wonderland in the picture, there are still piles of half-melted refrozen snow nearby, and it was chilly enough to wear my winter coat most of the day. I used to live in Minnesota, and I don't think I've ever experienced a winter like the one we just survived. I am ready for some warm temperatures and sunny days. Bring on spring!

The month of March has been a bit turbulent as my family adjusts to my mother living in a nursing home. Trust me, it was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make, and it's been difficult to adjust as we transition to taking care of her in our home to sharing the caregiving with the staff where she lives. The good news? Mom is adjusting MUCH better than I could have imagined. The other day, which was a particularly difficult day for her, as we were walking her back to her room from dining, she said, "I love this place." That put a huge smile on my face and reassured me that, just maybe, everything will be okay with this new chapter in her life and in ours.

Last weekend, for the first time in a long, long time, my sweetheart and I got away. One night, nearby, at a lovely boutique hotel, just us two. A bit of heaven, complete with room service. If I hadn't had a cold, which I likely caught from Mom's sick roommate, it would have been perfect. Even sniffling, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful, restful atmosphere. We want to do that again. Soon!

I've had a little time for scrapbooking in March, and I'll be sharing more about that in posts to come. I'm taking two classes, one by May Flaum called Stamping for Scrapbookers that is packed full of ideas and tutorials and explanations about stamps and inks and how to use different types of stamps and May's process. Truly an awesome class that inspired this page:

(Details soon!)

And I'm taking a class at Big Picture called Scrapbooking Outside the Pocket, which is about making traditional scrapbook pages with pocket page cards. Here's a layout I made inspired by that class content:

(More details on this one soon, too!)

During my two sick days this week, I worked on planning pages since I didn't feel like doing anything else, and I'm hoping that the days ahead can be productive, that I can get lots of stories told and lots of pages made. Maybe I will do the 30 in 30 Scrapbooking Challenge next month...

As warmer temperatures hopefully arrive, I have plans to complete many items on a very long to-do list. It's time to clean out and organize and create more time and space for creating. Here's to sunshine days and warm breezes and all the hope and opportunities of spring.

So...what's new with you?