In a Funk? Let's chat... All right. It's just you and me here. Me typing on my end and you reading on your end. Let's ignore the other 9900 people on the SC list that read this at other times during the day and chat a minute. You and me being real. As the moderator you hear my little speeches and emails almost daily. I try to encourage everyone as a group every day to MOVE toward those goals that we have in common. Now, I am just talking to you. You may not know me in person. But I can tell you are waiting for something. You are waiting for some sort of a 'go' signal from the cosmos, from me, from the groups you belong to, or from yourself before you really kick start yourself and make a change. You might say you are waiting for the loved ones in your life to do x, y, or Z before you tidy up your life. You might be waiting for a raise before you can 'afford' to organize. You might be waiting for the kids to move out so you can have more space. There are lo...

From our discussions this am --and from other talks with friends lately-- I think we need a Halfsies (50%) Household Challenge. What is that? Is is an aggressive Spring Cleaning challenge for those of us who have waaaaayy too much stuff. A room or a whole household...it doesn't matter. If you can't walk through your home and say that it is pared down and perfect, join us! Do as much as you can. If you feel overwhelmed by your belongings and your household disarray, join us. If you feel like no one can come over because things are a wreck, join us. If you just want some focus and encouragement in each room, join us. If you can truly say with an objective eye that HALF the stuff you own (50%) has to go for you to get back to happy, let's do it! April will be HALFSIES month. We will go around the home room by room and cut in HALF our inventory inventory in all the places we can. You may not even realize yet that you have as much in each category as you will find.... Half the ...

I love when someone prominent in any field (especially scrapbooking) is a proponent of the same ideals that I hold. It's like saying, "YES! Someone else gets it!" This week I love Heidi Swapp's blog posts on gratitude and on reusing material items that are already around us. Here is Heidi's blog http://www.heidiswapp.typepad.com/ and here is the post I love today. http://heidiswapp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/10/fix-it-up-wear.html It highlights an old saying from the great depression era: "Fix it Up Wear it Out Make Do or Do Without" My great-grandmother Francis Meyer Gramlich was often known to say these four lines. I am so glad to hear they are resonating with a new generation in a new era. Americans do take up a very large footprint on the world of material goods. Perhaps we can minimize that impact --one home at a time. Let's use those Seven R's: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Refurbish. Redo. Repurpose and Renovate. I love it. If you need a...

"How can we find more time for our hobby?" I hear it all the time from scrappers of all types: "I need more hours in my day," "I can't find time to scrap," "If only I could have a whole week to myself to get organized," "I can't seem to get going on my books," "I haven't done a page in months," and "I shop more than I scrap!" Common complaints, right? Have you ever said similar things? I must admit I have often felt pressed for time and my hobby is the first thing to flex. But if it flexes too often, we don't get very far finishing pages do we? Let's figure out a way to have more TIME to scrapbook. The Problem: Our resources and time is limited. Not only by our busy schedules, but also by the unexpected aspects of life--like job stress, carpools, children's events, sickness, etc. Sometimes I hear scrappers joke about "never getting caught up" "working on my books from now to for...