Meet Me On Monday: Mini Mindy Monday Madness Round 3

Meet Me On Monday:

This Monday, and random Mondays here after, my blog will reveal something about me. 

All Meet Me On Monday blogs will be clearly labeled.

Warning: Mini Mindy Monday Madness will ensue further into this posting! Please proceed with caution and be careful not to step on the pixies!

 

 

Welcome to Mini Mindy Monday Madness (aka M4), Round 3. I previously took my typical "Meet Me On Monday" topic to a new level with M4 Round 1 & Round 2.  On Mini Mindy Monday Madness days, I give 5 random facts and/or photos that showcase a little bit of who I am.  As you learned some very serious information about me on Friday, thank you for your support & comments through Blogger and off of Blogger by the way, I thought I would keep today's post very light and fun!  These tid bits are from days that have long since gone by.  I will pick up where I left off with #11 on the list. Enjoy!

 

11.  I am the 2nd born of 4 children and the oldest daughter.  All of my siblings, and myself, have names that begin with the letter M.  Our birth order goes boy, girl, girl, boy.  We range from 32 to 26 at this current date.

 

12.  I have been published on a local level in the past.  While in high school, I wrote and took pictures for a couple of local papers as a student volunteer reporter.  On one occasion, I was even paid for my work.  I was active on the school newspaper as well.

 

13.  As you know, I love memory keeping.  I fell in love with layouts in high school as an editor of the school yearbook, I was able to help create a "scrapbook" of memories for my school mates.  Around this time in my life is also when I started my first simple scrapbook.

14.  I've got spirit, yes I do!  I've got spirit! How about you?  I wore my school colors proudly as a cheerleader!  If you've ever seen a football or basketball game, did you notice the cheerleaders?  As the smallest girl on the squad, although I had a friend who wasn't much bigger than I am, you would often find me being thrown into the air as a "flyer."  Go team!

15.   Just call me book nerd, smarty pants, and goody-two-shoes (yes, a classmate did call me this) as I was a National Honor Society member and graduated with Highest Honors (no, not the Valedictorian) from high school.  Since I have given birth to my children, I believe some of my brain power has been drained.  *wink to all the moms*

What number were you in your family?  Do you have any fun facts from those high school days?  What do you want to know about me?  Feel free to ask and I'll be happy to hit on that topic in one of my future "Meet Me On Monday" or "Mini Mindy Monday Madness" days.

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Did you notice the new button on my page?  Take a moment to look for a special hidden Mickey.  What do you think of the Autumn leaves?  Tinkerbell got tired and needed a rest, so here she sits on a jack-o-lantern watching over CMOMProductions.  I wonder what she'll do when it's Thanksgiving time...

Simple Scrapbooking

Before getting into today's topic, I must first apologize. My updated blog design will not post today. The details are still being worked out before it can make it's debut. I can't promise, but I sincerely hope it will be unveiled on Monday. That should be just perfect for a "Meet Me On Monday" blog I'd say!

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A little over a month ago, I spotted a book in Hobby Lobby that I considered buying. Before I did however, I wanted to check it out from the local library so I could look more closely at the book before making the purchase. This seemed to be the best choice for a lady who doesn't like to spend money. A few days later, I logged on to the library's website, and placed a hold on "Real. Life. Scrapbooking." by Rebecca Cooper. It didn't take long before it was in my hands.

We made a library stop, while on our way to get groceries, just so I could pick up the book. Sadly, I get carsick when I'm not keeping my eyes on the road so I tried very very hard not to peruse the book that was on my lap and singing to me. Alas, I could not resist skimming the siren song full of words, photos, & layouts. By the time we got from the library to the store, I was feeling slightly ill. That was all the looking I would be able to do for days, due to a busy weekend.

Just a little bit of perusing pictures and layouts of this book brought me an epiphany. You see, it's all about scrapbooking your real life simply, hence the title. My idea was sparked when I spotted a page showcasing a notebook with paper removed and photos placed into it. How much fun would it be to take a regular journal and turn it into a personal scrapbook? However, my idea was not really to scrap it in the traditional sense, but to use it to record "a year in the life" through the eyes of my kids. Evan & Jaron, a brother singing duo, recently did a project called "52 Sundays." Each Sunday, they released a new song to be downloaded. Remembering that inspired me to set this "scrapbook" up in that same way.

The Scrapbook Journal Project:

*What you need- a journal or notebook of your choice, pen or pencil, & photos/drawings/mementos collected throughout the year.

*Personalize your cover page, or the inside cover of your journal, to include your name and the date you start your journal scrapbook, you can include the end date or add it later.

*Use your first solo page as an "about me" page. Include your likes, dislikes, favorites, etc. This will be repeated at the end of the year on the final solo page of your journal. It's nice to compare and see how you've changed over the course of the year. When you get older you may have many laughs over these, along with comment such as, "I can't believe I loved that movie so much!"

*Once a week (52 Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, or any day of the week- try to stick with the same day) write about the week you've just experienced. Use the paper on the right hand side of your notebook for journaling. Maybe it's just a simple week, or maybe you had a big event, record it just the same. The page on the left hand side should be used to place a photo, drawing, or memento (ticket stubs, postcard, etc) from the week. Be sure to record the date on one of the pages as well.

*This can be done as a "year in the life" or "my year of school: grade X 2009-2010." You can start the project in January, on a birthday, beginning of the school year, or Summer vacation. It can be changed into a daily account of your road trip or Christmas break. The possibilities are endless.

*Encourage your children to keep this kind of scrapbooking journal. If you have a child that cannot write, record what they have to say about the week (or day) in their words or let them draw a picture. For kids too young to express themselves with words, try to capture their reactions or funny faces.

I truly believe these types of things will be precious to our children when they grow up. That's one of the reasons I scrapbook. My children will also be starting a journal like this when school starts in a few weeks, starting with the open house and meeting the new teacher. My hope is that my children will continue this as they grow up and in the process learn to appreciate the little things in life.

For the record, I finally had time to sit down and go through "Real. Life. Scrapbooking." and loved it! I even discovered a few more alternatives to the project that I came up with. Rebecca Cooper captures great ways to keep your scrapbooking simple and remembering that it's about the memories rather than fancy embellishments. Her ideas and layouts were exactly what I was looking for. A brand new copy of her book now resides in my scrapbooking center.

As I said, Rebecca Cooper has variations of this idea in her book. If you are considering tackling some simple scrapbooking, head to the library like I did. You will be able to find her book, as well as many other books with the same theme.

How do you capture your memories? Your child's memories? If you scrapbook, do you journal your pages? Do you include the point of view of different family members or just your own? If you don't scrapbook, is it because it's too overwhelming or you don't feel you have the time? Do you think the scrapbook journal project would solve that problem?