Seanna (n. shaw-nuh)

May is another Layout-A-Day Month!

First, don’t worry.  Neighbor Wars are coming.  I am testing out LiveWriter—had to reinstall it.  I can bear losing a post if it crashes on me but not a Neighbor Wars post.  I have to wrestle those to the ground and run over them a few times until they scream for mercy and submission so it’s a lot to lose in a crash. 

Want to see a photo of all the layouts I did for the Layout-A-Day (LOAD) in February?  Sure you do, plus where else am I ever going to use this photo?  It’s not like I am going to have it printed wallet-sized and carry it around with me.

Hey, cool polaroid photo effect!  That’s new. That’s also 28 days of a layout each day right there.  One of the best projects I’ve done so far all year.  So I’m in again for May. I am not sure I will make it with a layout each day for May because it’s going to be a busy month, but whatever I get done will be great.  Plus, things are much more organized now—I have gone through all my cardstock and other paper and reordered it all by color.  Pretty, and much more functional.  My fabulous husband also put up these cool Ikea racks for me, so my punches are hanging on the wall now.  I’ll take a photo of it soon. 

In other scrapbook-related news, Stacy Julian has revamped her Library of Memories class over at Big Picture Classes, and those of us who are alumni from past years have been invited to take the course again—for FREE!  That was a big surprise and very much appreciated.  When I got the email, I was actually in the middle of working on my LOM system—adding photos I’ve received in the last few months into my storage binders.  I let it get way behind so it’s taken a little while to get back up to speed but I’m just about there.  I started using her system/philosophy about 3 years ago and it’s still one of the best classes/things I have done. It’s not even just about scrapbooking, or even mostly about scrapbooking.  It sort of transcends that and becomes a life thing, too.  Highly recommended.  So that will be over the summer.  I’m relieved that I already have most or all of the stuff you need in order to start your own system.  It’s an investment, but most of it is a one-time investment, and all of my stuff is still serving me in just the way it is supposed to. 

It’s time for me to go make some to-do lists. I have quite a lot of things I need to get done in the next few days.  Life stuff, bills stuff, mailing stuff, cleaning stuff, paperwork stuff.  Ack.  When I start getting stressed out, I try to write it all down and then I feel a little more focused. Maybe that’s what was wrong with me this week.  Just distracted, unfocused, sort of floundering.  Not my favorite feeling. 

Oh, hey.  Yesterday I let you know that Barry Manilow is cool and not dorky.  Also cool and not dorky?  John Denver.  I had to contemplate which of his enduring masterpieces to put on my blog.  Not being either from the country or a boy, that one never really resonated with me….and Annie’s song mostly doesn’t do it for me.  This one always has, though, and much more so since visiting Colorado a few years ago.  It’s one of my very most favorite places on this planet:

He was born in the summer of his 27th year…did you know this took JD 9 months to write? A masterpiece.

One I had forgotten about until today and one of my very favorites is Calypso.  Soaring, happy and exhilarating, with lots of classical instruments. 

JD wrote this one for his friend, Jacques Cousteau.

Ahhhhh.  John Denver.  Great performer, gifted lyricist.  Gone too soon.

Guess what I am working on?

The Neighbor Wars.  Having a hard time with this part of it for some reason.  Haven't had a nightmare about it in a while, so that means I will probably have a really good one soon.  But that is okay. 

I have had such a weird week.  Things feel sort of unsettled, like there's a shoe up there waiting to drop on me.  Maybe it's just the weather. The two youngest children are coming home soon from their freshman year, though.  That's a fun and happy thing!

Hey, want to know what I learned on Facebook the other day?  Barry Manilow is cool!  This is a happy thing, too.  I see a greatest hits CD in my future, fired up on my little white car's sound system.  It's hard to get much cooler than that.  In honor of that, I shall post three of my favorite Barry Manilow tunes.  I mostly like the old ballads.  And listening to them after all this time makes me wonder if he had some kind of horribly sad youth or something. 

 

That one is not about what I thought it was about when I was 10.  What a sad song.

Here's another one:

 

I always loved that one.  Bore absolutely no relevance to my life, but I guess I was kind of a melancholy kid sometimes.

 

I did understand this one when I was a kid.  This one might be my favorite.  Or maybe it's the first one.  No, the second one.  I can't decide.  Some of the comments under the video are heartbreaking and sad.

I wanted to end on a happy Barry Manilow note, but I can't find a happy one that I can bear to put on my blog.  I must just like sad Barry? 

Anyway, Neighbor Wars.  Working on it.  I have to get my blog writing program working properly again (I'm composing in typepad at present and I hate the font) and then we're all set.