I need to scrap!

Well, I see that I did not even finish the posts about the Family History Expo.  November turned into a very busy month!  The Expo put me on an "everything genealogy" path, and I have not scrapbooked in probably more than a month.  I did go in my room and clean up one day, but that's it.  Almost every day I think to myself, "I will go in my scrapbook room 'in the morning' or 'this afternoon' or 'tonight'" and it never happens.  I am too preoccupied with genealogy at the moment.  Genealogy requires a LOT of reading.  I was two months behind on genealogy newsletters and it seems that every one has at least 5+ links to follow and check out!  I try to print out the really important stuff to keep for when I really need it.  The rest I scan or save the link for later.  It's crazy.

I did have a couple of photo-taking opportunities in November.  (That's me... tons of photos taken, few scrapbooked!)  Mom had carpel tunnel surgery on her right hand on November 17th.  I went over the afternoon before and stayed with her for about 3 days.  It was actually a simple, straightforward surgery, and it makes it seem a lot more doable for myself - because I WILL have to have it some day.  That's inevitable.  But anyway, I did take a picture of her with her bandaged hand and her nurse, Yarko the cat, on the day of the surgery:

Isn't he sweet - looking over her like that?  Most likely, he was waiting for a treat...

I also took a few pictures of her rotten kitty-cats.  Aren't all pets spoiled rotten?  That's how it should be.  

Of course I took pictures at Thanksgiving.  We hosted this year, the first time in a long, long time.  Many years.  Tracy fried a turkey, I made black-eye peas, green bean casserole, rolls, and banana pudding (my first!).  Tracy's mother brought the dressing and a chocolate cake.  Mom brought cranberry sauce.  It was more than enough food for just the five us us.  I really went all out and used my grandmother's china with cloth napkins; Tracy made a beautiful centerpiece; and Zeus managed to stay off the dining room table!! 

I ordered some prints from York the other day.  I am still ordering prints from our Washington DC trip - which was a year and a half ago!  I used to tell people in my scrapbooking classes not to feel behind - this is a hobby.  Like anything else in our life - work projects, housecleaning duties, holiday preparations, volunteer duties, etc. - you can become so overwhelmed and bogged down that you get nothing done.  'Why go in there if I don't have the entire day to work?  I won't get anything done in just an hour.' Or 'By the time I get everything out, I'll just have to put it all back again!' Now I find myself falling into this same trap.  Yesterday, I had in the back of my mind that I would scrapbook for the day.  Well, we get up and find that there are several chores that need to be done.  So we start on that.  And I'm thinking that we'll finish by lunch and I'll have the afternoon in my scrapbook room.  Then I finish my chores before Tracy, and I find myself sitting down at my computer.  That is ALWAYS a mistake.  I end up being there until almost 3pm.  I look up, see the time, and think "Well, it's too late to go in the scrapbook room now.  By the time I start, it'll be time for dinner!"  Blah, blah, blah.  Same old excuses. So I took a nap instead.  And then after Tracy goes to bed, I go right back to my computer... no use starting scrapbooking that late at night!  It's a vicious cycle.

I need to take my own advice and stop thinking about how "behind" I am.  I am just not motivated to scrapbook right now.  The main reason is my current genealogy obsession.  I have always either worked on one or the other - one falls by the wayside while I concentrate on the other hobby for a time.  I guess the other reason boils down to maybe I don't self-motivate well.  I have that wonderful scrapbook room that Tracy worked so hard on, and yet I don't go in there by myself much.  I think most scrapbookers are the same; we would all rather scrap at our own house with our own stuff.  Let's face it - it's a pain to plan layouts and/or pack up all that stuff to take somewhere else.  And yet... we can't seem to get going without a "get-together" of scrapbookers to justify it.  Ahhh... do you see the Catch-22? 

So I'm working on a new plan.  I bought a webcam.  I can hook it up to my laptop right by my scrapbook table, make a video call to other scrapbook buddies with webcams, and we can all scrapbook in the comfort of our own rooms, and still have that camaraderie.  Others to bounce ideas off of and to look at what we're working on. To ooh and ahh at our efforts and give us an instant boost to our self-esteem that will mostly likely motivate us to keep going.  The plan has not actually come to fruition yet.  I have one scrapbooking friend who has gotten a webcam, and we have not tried the actual scrapbooking together yet.  I'm still talking to others.  But I'd sure like to give it a try - cause I am sooooo behind and I NEED to scrapbook!  LOL