Wow, a double-whammy!You'll have all that scrapbooking done, AND you'll have decluttered the tops of the tables!

I'm w/ you on the kitchen floor. I got sheet vinyl bcs I figure it won't get damaged w/ dirt sitting on it.

Congratulations! It'll be a nice feeling to have that all finished. Maybe, since the kids will be away at grandma's tonight (no school tomorrow), I'll drill the last 4 holes in the kitchen cabinets, and then my drill can dow DOWNSTAIRS!

That'll be a lot of decluttering, right there. And maybe I'll get out the power screwdriver and put the hooks in the bathroom back up, and put the new door on the cabinet....

Julie, good for you with the scrapbooking! I have flirted with the idea of scrapbooking for years but never started because I knew if I got into it, the house would slowly be buried in supplies and half-finished albums. I'd also probably spend a mint at JoAnn Fabric or someplace similar for supplies, since all that scrapbooking stuff is SO clever and adorable.

Right now I need to finish the quilt I started for my son two years ago, as well as three incomplete needlepoint projects, plus I want to learn how to knit so I've stockpiled some yarn ... luckily it all still fits inside the sewing box and can be tidied away. It'll all get done someday!

I'm like Sheri. I've never started because I can see myself buying tons of stuff and it being everywhere. The photos will just have to remain in their boxes for now.

When we moved into this house last year I finally have a "room of my own." We got rid of the formal dining room and family rooms and ended up with a bedroom for everyone and a separate office/den for my DH and one for me. The other house had the same basic amount of sq. footage, but such a different configuration that I had to haul things into the formal dining area or one of the family rooms.

I didn't have to share a room growing up and it is such a pleasure to have my own separate private space again to putter around however I wish.

Gloria

Gloria, I think you answered why I've been on such a rampage cleaning up my stuff. Two houses ago, I had my own room. While not everything was perfectly organized, I at least knew it was in there. Now that I don't have an office anymore, my stuff was in various parts of the house. I think this is what finally forced me to declutter it all so I'd never have to go from one room to another searching for something. Unfortunately, I chose that garage cabinet to put all my stuff into (besides one bin) and now it looks like I'll have to replace it because, to me at least, it looks like it's beyond repair. The furniture repairman is supposed to call me this evening to set up the appointment to look at it.

GOOD MORNING! It took a week but as of last night I am completely caught up with the 2004-2005 scrapbooking! What a great feeling!! All that's left is packing up the supplies, then those 2 old kitchen tables will be cleared off and the clutter GONE!

DH and the other 18 volunteers are coming back from Katrina clean-up tonight, so I need to spend the day crisis cleaning and doing laundry. And maybe the grocery store after church? We'll see.

P.S. I used to have my own room, then the kids came! LOL

Ohhh, good job. This is one of those things I really need to "jump in where you are." I could at least start with this year's school pictures and not let the piles build up in the future.

Gloria

Gloria,

Scrapbooking is DEFINITELY a "jump in where you are" project. When I first learned to do it, Rule Number One was to start with the most recent pictures and work forward. I was warned about the temptation to rip apart all the old photo albums... good thing since I would have never gotten around to them! I bought albums where you can rearrange the page order any time.

One thing that was easy to do was put all the 8x10's and 5x7's in my scrapbook, which cleaned out the stacks and stacks of studio photo envelopes in the dining room! LOL

Julie

One other scrapbooking rule I'd need to follow is, it's not about the stuff you buy at Michael's.

It's ONLY about the stuff you get from LIFE as you go through it. The program from the school play, the ticket stubs, the travel brochures, the photos.

It's the EXTRA stuff that would make it even worse. And that I believe detracts--distracts?--from the memories the scrapbook is supposed to preserve. I think scrapbook pages that have doo-dads on them are about the MAKER, not about the event, or the people in the pictures. it can easily become an ego thing, and not a record-keeping thing.

I too need to just jump right in, even if the old pictures never get in an album, maybe the new ones can.

Instead, I've just stopped taking any pictures.

Talley Sue, I know EXACTLY what you mean... and those people who agonize over 2 pictures on a page with a ton-o-stuff around the edges. I tried that, didn't enjoy it. Mine aren't like that! LOL Very simple pages, just like me!

Well, Talley, I wasn't going to admit it, but since you did, I'll join the "stop taking pics" group.

I feel bad. My first child has a picture of him doing every little thing and my last only got his picture taken for the first time at school last year.

I don't even buy much of the school photo packages anymore. Just one bigger one for me. Even the grandparents get wallet sized anymore.

Gloria

We stopped taking pictures as well. Part of the reason, I think, is due to the digital camera. We'll take pictures every so often and just send them to family via the internet. We might print a paper copy of these photos if I want a larger copy to look at. But I haven't taken a picture with a "real" camera in ages.

I still print all the digital pictures worth printing. I'm just a "paper" person and like holding them instead of just looking on the screen.

What a glorious discovery the digital camera was for me!!!!!!!! No more film, no more shoeboxes w/ pix waiting to be filed, and NO MORE negatives! You know, it makes me break out in sweat to throw away all those negatives of photos taken of folks I never knew back then and still don't know. Whew!!! What a relief!!!!!!!!

grins

Vicki

I'm a paper person but NOT a negatives person. I felt guilty about it (no idea why, but I did) but I threw them out.