Back Online!

I'm back! We have had a week of sporadic internet outages and server problems so my access to the web and email has been limited. Having an IT guy for a hubbie is great, but because the problems were with our provider there was not much he could do! He usually was able to get me online once a day so I could post my daily LO to LOAD, so thanks to him I haven't missed a day yet! Now that it seems everything is working fine again, hopefully I can catch up on email and posting in the next day or two. (*If I haven't responded yet to your emails, I'm sorry!)

First up: Menu Plan Monday. I have to say I am really getting into the groove of menu planning now. Having been back at it for a month or so, I now have a selection of weekly menus I can choose from without having to reinvent the wheel. I write up each menu plan on a pre-made sheet I got in the dollar bin at Michael's, and then I write all the ingredients needed for all the recipes on the back. Once the week is done I put it in my household notebook for future use. That way whether I use the plan for the first time or the fourth time, I can quickly make up my grocery list by just adding the other things we need such as breakfast and lunch items and staples.

I also feel like I am getting good at tweaking menu plans to work more efficiently - for example we had a ham on Sunday and I knew I would have leftovers for later in the week so I figured I would make a Jambalaya. I need chicken for Jambalaya as well, so I planned to have chicken & rice on Monday and to make a couple extra chicken breasts to use. That way, I have everything I need, it speeds up the cooking time on the Jambalaya and saves time and energy! I also plan for a couple of regular nights - Thursday is usually Pasta night because it's quick and I know Grayson will eat lots of pasta which gives him energy for Soccer practice, and Friday night is usually Pizza night - I bake a fresh-frozen pizza and toss together a bagged Ceasar salad kit. SO easy! So...here is this weeks plan:

Sunday: Baked ham, Schwartzies potato casserole (I make only half the recipe and it is SO YUMMY!), mixed veg and buns (*I didn't bake the ham I had last week so I'm doing it this week)

Monday: Chicken fingers (slice chicken breasts into strips, coat with Shake & Bake, bake in oven) wild rice, broccoli.

Tuesday: Jambalaya (I use Zatarains mix and add leftover chicken and ham cubes), mixed salad
Wednesday: Meatballs with rice and broccoli

Thursday: (Soccer practice) Fast Tortellini Alfredo, veggies and dip

Friday: Pizza and Caesar Salad

Saturday: BBQ steaks, baked potatoes, corn on the cob

Done, planned and shopped for! I am loving this! I also enjoy looking out all the menu plans on orgjunkie, which I have linked to. Check it out for inspiration.

Next: Project updates. I am happy to report that I am still keeping up to date with Project 365, LayOutA Day (LOAD) and Library of Memories. It keeps me busy, but it is very satisfying to take photos of my family and complete lots of scrapbook layouts. I have moved my Project 365 photos to a Shutterfly Share Site as I was running out of (free) space on Flickr, and I am working on another Shutterfly site to showcase scrapbook layouts and other crafty projects. If you haven't seen these free Shutterfly sites you can create, check them out. They are a nice alternative to a blog or website and give you lots of options for posting lots of pics.

I have also been working on a new version of my Sharing Memories Scrapbooking website! My old site expired and since I wasn't happy with my web host I got a new domain name (http://www.sharingmemoriesscrapbooking.com/) and a new webhost (Dreamhost). I have transferred all of the content over and am playing with the new format, look & feel. I will be starting to post new entries, page plans and projects very soon. I am also planning a re-launch complete with prizes and contests soon and I will keep you up to date.

Finally on the homefront, Sam has recovered from the attempted escape from his crib, but managed to fall off a bed and give himself another fat lip. He has now been confined to a playpen with high sides for safety purposes!! LOL!! We have also been working on getting him to sleep without being rocked, and I have just finished weaning him (a bittersweet experience). He is close to walking although he has never offically crawled. And he will be one year old in just three weeks and I am planning his party. Where has the year gone? Sigh...

Anyway, enough for now! If all stays well with our internet I'll post again in a couple of days!

Happy Scrapping
Noreen

Where's Noreen?

Wow...I have been MIA for 2 weeks. Inexcusable. That's just bad form in the blog-o-sphere. My apologies.

All I can offer as an explanatnion is that I have been thinking about what purpose this blog vs. my website has and where I want to go with each of those entities. A couple of weeks ago I spent a lot of time changing my blog. And although I liked the end result, it really is a duplication of the website in a lot of ways. SO I took a step back and have been thinking about the Sharing Memories "brand" and what I want it to be. I want Sharing Memories to be an educational site where people can come for ideas and information, as well as a portal to the other aspects of my business...selling products and services. But I want my blog to be a personal place...a place where I get to share my funny stories about my boys or post the odd layout or photo or craft that I complete. I don't want or need to have the same tone, content or information as the website has.

So, please excuse me for a few days more as I re-do (or perhaps UN-DO?) the blog design to better reflect me personally.

In the meantime, I am heading over to the website right now to post two long overdue page plans. And check out my post on a new WAHMsPage blog, featuring 100 WAHM bloggers.

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

PS...I can't wait to share more about my LOM class, the status of my Project 365 and some other layouts I have been working on! Soon, I promise!

Back at it

I know, I know, I was MIA for a few days. So sorry - chalk it up to Christmas preparations! But I am back and have some exciting, fun and yummy things to share!

First off...I am so excited to have been asked to join the Design Team for Christmas Cards All Year Long! I have been following this site since it's inception and I love what Deanne and her team did this fall. When I saw the Design Team call, I sat on it for a while and debated about entering. I entered at the last minute figuring I would get a "Thanks but no thanks" email, so was I ever thrilled to get a "Welcome to the team" email from Deanne instead! Here is the card I created using elements from Shabby Princess Holiday Magic Kit. (Although it is a digital kit, I printed off some of the elements and then cut and pasted them onto my card.)

This is the first Design Team I have been on, and I will be creating cards for the site from January through March! Make sure to bookmark the site and check back often, or use the link on my sidebar.

Next up...many sites and blogs are giving away free things leading to Christmas. Yesterday I got an email from Big Picture Scrapbooking saying that they are giving away a class called "Glimpses". Of course I immediately signed up! While I was there I saw the schedule for the new year has been posted! They are offering classes from scrappy stars like Wendy Smedley, Ali Edwards, Kolette Hall and Jenni Bowlin among others, but the class I have been waiting for is "Library of Memories" by Stacy Julian. I first came across Stacy's system in her books, and I have implemented some of her strategies, but I am looking forward to taking the three month long class with her and finally get my photo/scrapbooking system working! (The class starts in February) Then today I got another email from BPS with free downloadable and cute Christmas gift tags! Better get over there and sign up so you can get fun emails like this too!

As for our dailly baking of Christmas treats, that got a little behind as well! We haven't actually made our Chinese noodle cookies (as mentioned in Dec 5 blog!!!)yet, but we did make Nanaimo bars. Here are the recipes (sorry no pics) for both:

Nanaimo Bars For those of you who are reading from outside of Canada...these are named for a city on Vancouver Island, BC. Apparently they were a winning entry in a recipe contest, but the modest baker named them after her town as opposed to herself! Whatever the name, these are so yummy! The recipe is a bit involved (not hard though) so when I am in a pinch I use a boxed mix from Robin Hood, but when I have enough time, here is the recipe I use:

Bottom layer-
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 tbsp. Cocoa
1 egg beaten
1 1/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/2 c. finely chopped almonds
1 cup coconut
Melt first 3 ingredients on top of a double boiler. Add egg. Stir constantly until cooked and thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut, and nuts. Press into square (8x8 or 9x9) pan and refrigerate while you are making the middle layer.

Middle Layer -
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. + 2 Tsp. cream (ie: whipping cream)
2 Tbsp. vanilla custard powder
2 cups icing sugar
Cream all ingredients together in a large bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Spread over bottom layer.

Third Layer -
4 squares 1 oz each) semi-sweet chocolate
2 Tbsp. butter
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave, stirring until completely melted. Cool for a few minutes, then pour over second layer (spreading if needed to cover entire layer). Refrigerate. Cut into bars, squares or triangles. Freezes well.

Chinese Noodle Cookies When I was growing up mom and I made these every Christmas. Another very easy, delicious, chocolately, no-bake treat that freezes well.
1 12 oz. package chocolate chips
1 12 oz. package butterscotch chips
1 10 oz. can Chinese noodles (I use China Lily brand)
1 12 oz. can peanuts
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in large bowl in the microwave. Stir until smooth and glossy. Add Chinese noodles and peanuts. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls on parchment or wax paper. Let cool until hardened. Makes about 30 cookies.

Now I have to do some updating on my website (watch for this week's page plan a little later on) and get the Christmas cards in the mail. Then there's still wrapping, cleaning, shopping...yikes! Gotta go!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

100 things

This list has been floating around a few blogs I read. I saw it on Lain's blog and decided to copy it and see what I have done and what I want to do - sort of like a bucket list ( although I think I could still add to that one!)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Girl Guide)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

(* A lot of the places are US based...had anyone seen a similar list using Canadian places?)

I have done 54/100 of these things...now how about you????

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

PS...I was busy working on the website today...check out the latest additions on the What's New page!

Catching Up

While I have been pretty good at getting my daily pages scrapbooked for my "30 Days Hath September"album for my Have More Fun class, I have been terrible at posting them...both to this blog and to the class gallery! I blame it on breastfeeding! About two weeks ago I decided to try Sam on a bottle so Shane could feed him if I ever had to be away from home. So, I started expressing after I gave him his last feeding of the night (usually around 10:00 pm). By the time I was finished, it was inevitably late and I was exhausted so I was going straight to bed. This USED to be my free quiet time when I would surf and blog and post, so that is why nothing has happened lately!

But tonight I had a little time and thought I would catch up. But when I tried to post the photos of the layouts, I could not for the life of me get them oriented correctly...they would always post on the page sideways. Does anyone have any tips? Once I figure it out I will post, post, post!

Regular photos seem to work fine, so here are a couple of recent ones.

Here's Grayson "testing" a Halloween chocolate lollipop! (Can you believe I'm thinking about Halloween? Yes, the stores are full of it already...G.wants to be a pumpkin.)

100% trouble? 100% cute! Sam is weighing in at 17 lbs at only 14 weeks! Sheesh!

Sammy and I. What a little dear. I had to take this myself holding the camera out in front of us...pretty bad, eh?

Speaking of photos, I was getting really disappointed in the quality of home-printed photos I was getting with our all-in-one printer. So I sweet talked Shane into a new wide format Epson R1400 photo printer!!! YAY!!! I am so excited! Not only will it print out photos that are archival and higher quality than drugstore or big box processing, but I can now print my 12x12 digital scrapbook pages! I can't wait! And, Shane's little perk is that it prints on CD's/DVD's. Hopefully if my photos look better, my pages will look better.

Otherwise, we really seem to be getting into a routine finally. We have been able to get out to the stores and play dates, and life is a little more normal. I have time to get organized and clean the house and even fit in a little scrapbooking. I have been working on my website and have updated my free weekly page plans, which I really enjoy creating. Julie and I had a Creative Memories booth at the Baby Show last weekend and are planning Christmas trade fairs and a couple of all day crops. Things are going well!!! I guess it's true that the first three months with a newborn are a real write off in terms of having a "normal" life, but now that we have passed that milestone I think we are getting BACK to normal, and I like normal!!!

Happy scrapping!

Noreen

Sleep, blessed sleep

We seem to be on the upswing around here! Sam has slept 7 hours through the night now for three nights in a row! I actually feel a bit more alive again, not just "functioning"!

From my previous posts you know that Sam had been very "colicy" and was having some unusual colored...ahem...poops. So Shane did a bit of online research and we figured out that I was having an issue with and oversupply of breast milk, or more accurately foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. When Sam would eat he would be bombarded with the sheer amount of milk (which is why feedings were so stressful for him and me) and then he would fill up on the foremilk (like skim milk) because there was so much. He never got to the fattier hindmilk. This caused 2 problems - because there is so much lactose in the foremilk, he would get painfully gassy (what we thought to be colic) AND he would never be satisfied...he would be hungry for more in 1.5 to 2 hours. Then I would compound the problem by feeding him on the opposite side where he would get MORE foremilk again!

We found the info on the La Leche League website, and the solution was pretty simple...feed on the same side until the breast is completely empty...that way he is sure to get the satisfying rich hindmilk. Voila...we are now at 3 hours between feedings during the day, Sam is WAY less fussy and he has slept 7 hours (11:00 pm - 6:00 am) 3 nights in a row! WOW! Do I feel great or what! I think we are on course for a decent, liveable schedule that will make all of us feel a lot better! Hopefully I'll be able to cook and clean my house and maybe even be able to do a little scrapbooking!


How could someone so cute cause so many little problems,eh? It looks like he's sticking his tongue out at me...heaven help me when he gets older!!!



Sammy clearly already adores his big brother!


Our back yard is 75% complete as well...the patio stones are down and the fence posts are up and our landscaper thinks they will be done by midweek! It will be great to be able to sit outside, BBQ and have a place for G. to play again. It has been hot here (31 degrees celsius) and would be nice to be outside where at least there is a breeze, but we'll look ahead to next weekend for our inaugural backyard BBQ party!

We did get down to the Bow River today though...Sam slept in his stroller and Grayson "rode" his Big Wheel bike as much as he could. Hot, but fun to be out and about.

I did make a slide show of some of my favoritre layouts, but I haven't figured out how to add it to my blog's sidebar yet! Watch for it soon.

AND...my new business website is finally live! I am still writing pages as fast as I can, but it IS up and growing everyday! Visit it at http://www.sharing-memories-scrapbooking.com/

I would love to hear your comments about the quality of info, what other topics you might like to see posted and general stuff like that. The plan is for it to become an online scrapbooking reference centre with tutorials, how-to articles, product reviews and eventually project and page kits for sale. But that is a ways off yet! Anyway, drop me a comment via my site and I will get back to you!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen