A Pirate's Life for Me

Well I made it safely to and survived Camp Crop-A-Lot without having to walk the plank! Am so grateful I headed to Rosholt on Thursday night because when we woke up Friday morning, our cars were covered with snow with a layer of thick ice underneath. Would not have been a fun morning commute!

My high school friend Julie also went up on Thursday so that was a fun little slumber party.

Every year at camp there is a theme. This year the confirmation letter simply said "Ahoy, Mateys" with some pirate-themed clipart and we all took it from there. Thanks to some friends at work and the dollar store, I had some gear for Julie, my twin sister Raylene, and me to wear.

For the most part it was for group pictures. Not all weekend. That be too much!

Raylene and I as smiling pirates with our plastic swords.

And giving our best "ARRRRGH!" impression. We're not that intimidating, are we?

This is our table group with Becky (scrapbook consultant on left) and Tami and Julie on far right. What a blood-thirsty lot!

As a group, we pretty much hit our capacity at 40+. How awesome! And most of these scoundrels have been coming for years like me!

Of course it was not all swash-buckling fun and games. There was more scrapbooking than sleeping, that's for sure. Always the case. And as usual, I overestimate how much I'll get done. 

My goal was to finish 2018 family  chronological album and start 2019. I did not finish 2018 and have several pages to go. In the end, I want to be happy with my pages, though. So if I spend too much time putzing, I won't feel bad. 

I captured a few random page pictures....

This is 100% Sylvester in love with Jim... crawling in his clothes, watching him mow the grass, and waiting for him to open his office door!

Our preparations for our trip to Scandinavia!

Just a glimpse of our scandi-hoovian sisters' trip to Norway and Sweden. I have a pretty thick digital scrapbook already done on this trip!

It just happened I was working on nephew Colin's win pages on the same day it was his birthday!

This might be my favorite. The page representing Carter and the boy os 465 (Division St.) moving into their first college house. Cheers!

Today it took a minute to brush off our cars, etc., in the blustery wind and then pack up and leave. But what a great weekend. I just have to figure out when it's legal to go to bed on a Sunday night!

Have a good week, everyone. Make some memories!

Productive Crop

It was such a nice 4-day weekend at the Wisconsin Lions Camp in Rosholt, where both the totem pole of creativity and...

Louis the Lion were the guardian of scrapbookers everywhere – but especially at Croptoberfest!

We had about 40 of us ladies for the weekend this year...

And of course my fave scrapper was my high school BFF who came up from Madison area to join me. Leave it to us to wait until day 3 and no showers to take our selfie. We know better. We will be better. But we still had a fabulous time catching up on life and fueling each other's creativity.

My first goal was to finish our 2017 "family memories" book, which included nephew Colin and Amy's wedding.

And family season-SKOL time, too! Some things just need to be documented!

Was thrilled to finish my slightly over-thick 2017 album before going to bed Saturday night.

So Sunday I got to see the 'Tober part of Croptoberfest and get my second half-hour massage. It's quite necessary actually. I also had to say goodbye to Julie. Then got a lot of 2018 pages done, including...

Family visiting central Wisconsin for junior high basketball tournament...

And a winter drive not far from our house! 

Thanks to horror movies, I had a bit of a stressful evening sleeping in a cabin by myself since the others weren't staying until Monday. Survived, for the record. Then when I got to my table I realized how one empty 8-foot table on Friday can explode into scrap overload during the weekend. We do require a lot. Don't ever question it.

Since I forgot to order additional 2018 pictures, the only thing I had to do this morning was shower (finally), pack up my cabin stuff and my scrap stuff. So I spent a few hours organizing (and tossing) some of the heap of stuff above. 

Overall I am happy with my progress for the weekend – into May of 2018 when I return for Camp Crop-A-Lot in February!

Will I ever catch up? Who knows? Though at one time this weekend hubby suggested I should do this monthly. No argument from me!

The Smiling Scrapbook Gods

 

It's always funny looking out at this totem pole at scrapbooking camp. It's like the scrapbooking gods are watching over us!

And they were this weekend. 

I had the treat of having my twin sister Raylene join me for the weekend! We think it's been about 15 years since the last time she did. It was just so nice to hang out, visit, be creative, and have a treat or 2. Of course! By the way, we did not tell each other what we were wearing. She just showed up Friday and we matched!

The theme this year was scrap-iversary since it was the 25th year of Camp Crop-A-Lot and my 20th year attending. Such a fun group!

This weekend I was working on my 2017 scrapbook. Got as far as October anyway. A few favorite pages....

I got home about 3 p.m. today. And it was such a warm welcome! 

I expected it since there was a meltdown starting at camp as the temperature reached 50-some. It was a gorgeous spring day!

And yes, after a well-timed chiropractic appointment, I did get in line at the car wash! It wasn't so bad since people have had several days to take advantage of mild temps. I'm glad to see they're continuing this week. Just one less thing to worry about when I'm headed back to work.

After a 4-day weekend, that's hard enough!

Between that challenge and lack of sleep this weekend, I'll be hitting the hay early tonight. Maybe not until after The Voice though. Priorities.

Have a good week!

Productive "Work" Day

To the average human, this photo means nothing. But to fellow scrapbookers, you'll see that 8 hours of work today means these 12x12 file folders hold all the photos and papers and embellishments I'll need for an entire album. In order!!!

And Camp Crop-a-Lot is still a month away!

Yup, hubby and I stayed in today so I decided I'd prep for camp. I ordered these pictures last weekend and today had to "fill in the missing gaps" for my 2017 album. 

Got those prints ordered and even stopped at Lighthouse Gifts for my rare papers I needed. I say that because I have a thousand pounds of scrapbook paper in my Scrap Cave – but sometimes you just need that certain piece! 

So came home from picking up the essentials and have my folders in scrapbook order and most of them have what they need. It's my version of what we call a "Power Layout." Tomorrow during the playoff games I can look through my admittedly extraneous paper packs and see if I can find some more perfect additions for the folders.

I have never been this ready for camp weeks ahead. Can it start tomorrow??

Honestly, if you want to join me, it's February 21-23 (or stay with me til the 24th) at the Wisconsin State Lions Camp in Rosholt. Don't worry, it's heated! My usual table mate and bestie since junior high is busy with a brand-new grandbaby so there is room for you. Let me know if you're interested. 

I'm excited to be so productive on a Saturday. But sad that it's because we're not quite up to venturing out as a couple. 

Stay warm. Stay healthy. And please come to scrap camp!

Spring It On!

Spring is in the air and I'll give you 4 hints how I can tell.

1. Last night the girls basketball playoff season began and our Lady Royals cruised to a Regional Round 1 win over Port Edwards, 70-8. Not a typo. Keep it rolling, girls.

2. We had near-record temps in Wisconsin today. 55 degrees in Rapids. Just what we needed to finally get that ice from last week off the roads. Yay!

3. I have to get my spring colors on. And by that, I mean hair...

Don't you love SnapChat filters? I would love to have wrinkles gone and look that glamorous.

Still, I love what my hair artist did in real life! She's got the magic touch!

4. I'm packing – as the top photo illustrates. Two trips actually. This weekend is my scrapbooking weekend at the Lions Camp in Rosholt. I'll leave for that at 8 a.m. Friday. Then, when I get home Sunday afternoon, I'll switch suitcases and head to the Madison airport where I'll be going somewhere where the "spring" temps will look like this next week...

I'll give you a clue: Not in the Midwest! It just happens that my oldest sister is cat sitting for a few weeks... in Florida! So she just happens to have a spare room. And the direct flights from Madison to Fort Myers just happen to be a screaming deal. I could not pass this up!

Thankfully this warmer weather is helping me to think spring. But trying on "summer" clothes is making me think I should've been starving myself – at least since New Year's. 

Oh well, I think scrapbooking with friends, followed by sunshine and a few fun activities will put all that right out of my mind.

Spring it on!

Camp Chop-A-Lot

Sleep deprived but survived scrapbooking weekend! Every year for Camp Crop-A-Lot we have a theme for dressing up, late-night games, and room decorations. This year was Camp Chop-A-Lot and the wardrobe of the weekend was Lumber Jill (aka Buffalo Plaid).

I didn't have a stitch of Buffalo Plaid in the house, but scored some deals at Goodwill. And I did have some Jamberries to do my nails appropriately!

You can tell by our group picture Saturday that we Lumber Jills –nearly 40 in number this year – took it seriously. Flannel abounds!

Of course this morning's picture featured lack of sleep for all of us and I was the only one wearing team colors. Hey, I gotta get my money's worth before I donate them back!

As far as productivity... I finished the Shutterfly cruise album – 80 pages! – and ordered one for both my sister Rayna and me. So glad they had that unlimited free pages deal going until midnight tonight! 

I was home by midafternoon today. Just like Friday when my internet connection was sketchy and I lost pages. Today was like that. I was 10 pages into another vacation album – Colorado 2014, ha – and I decided to quit while I was ahead. But turns out I wasn't.

It said it had been saving, but when I got home, none of my work had saved. Grrr. Am so not tackling that again any time soon.

Mainly I needed to shower, do my laundry, eat Italia's pizza for dinner with hubby, and count down to when it's "not too early" to go to bed in my super comfy king bed with a mattress that doesn't make crinkly noises when I turn over and is far deeper than 2 inches thick!

Just like any good Lumber Jill, I'll be sawing logs in my sleep tonight. That's for sure.

It Should Be Epic

Actually got up and was out of the house before 8:30 to head to Camp Crop-A-Lot. Helps when I just have to pack clothes, goodies, and grab my desktop computer – instead of all kinds of heavy totes of heavy paper, photos, etc.

Roads were thankfully plowed to the state Lions Camp in Rosholt. And it was subzero, so I guess I'll literally be chilling with Louie the camp lion this weekend. 

Which is why there were several space heaters going in our scrapping area. And why it blew a fuse. And why I lost hours of work on my computer – which would never happen if I was doing "normal" scrapbooking this weekend. I blame the sketchy internet more than anything. I thought my project was saving but it wasn't.

Trust me, I'm saving every 2 minutes now, whether I see the computer saving our not! I am through Wednesday of our cruise on the Norwegian EPIC, so if I keep cruising (pun intended), I should get this book done this weekend.

Of course, power outages aren't the only distractions. When I say our Lady Royals were down at halftime, I had to watch the livestream of the second half to be sure they're continuing on in the playoffs. It was an EPIC turnaround there, too, and they beat Pacelli by 20 in the end. Probably should plan to just take a break from scrapping Saturday night at 7 p.m. to watch the Regional Championship. 

Might require EPIC concentration!

And an EPIC night's sleep on the 2-inch mattress. Scrapbooking ain't for sissies!

No Rest for the Wicked

You know it's going to be an interesting weekend at Camp Crop-a-Lot when the first sight that greets you is the outline of a dead body.

Oh yes. Like they say: What happens at scrap camp stays at scrap camp!

Just kidding. No way 2 dozen women can keep a secret! Not this group anyway! In truth, every year, the two organizers have a theme. This year it revolved around the game CLUE. Which I am clueless about. Never played it. Never saw any of the movies based on the game either.

But of course I solved the crime because I'm competitive that way! It was a fun little distraction but mostly I just scrapbooked pages for my 2016 album. I realized sometime Friday that I made a rookie mistake and forgot to print out some pictures. So I put an order into Walgreens and ran into Stevens Point Saturday morning to pick up pictures for myself and two other veterans who made the same rookie mistake!

It happens to the best of us. I still got plenty of pages done – including lots of kayaking ones from that first summer of paddling! 

I also managed to watch the Assumption girls in the regional championship game Saturday night. It was a stressful nail-biter to have to watch on my phone and try to see the tiny score! In the end – the very end – they won by 1 point and are regional champions for the second year in a row. Well done, Lady Royals! I'll miss their sectional game this week but hope they make it to the final on Saturday.

If you wonder why I talk about "packing" for scrap camp for so long, it's because we all bring a lot of NECESSARY stuff! This is my work station for the weekend.

Pretty much all look like that, as you can see from my friend at the facing table. It's a sign of a creative mind.

And a tired one. Very low on sleep but managed the 50-minute drive home with a much-needed pit stop in Plover.

Yup. King Cone is open there! What a nice treat for a hard-working weekend! Got home and unpacked. And then packed again.

Leaving tomorrow for Arizona. Will be staying with my sister Rayna this week. My mom is there visiting, too, so I'll fly back with her to Minneapolis on Friday. It just happened that this is back to back. For once, I may actually sleep on the plane! 

Or on her Mr. Deck Chair. That's one thing I have a clue about!