…at least the house is ready. How can that be possible?  That is a totally new experience and I keep getting the feeling of a disaster waiting to happen. Can it be that I started the preparations way too early or did I jump a few steps? My biggest worries right now is that I might have to buy gifts. It may be weird to use the old excuse: I don`t have the time or energy.

Not only have I finished cleaning the house and put out the decorations – I also finished a few layouts for the family albums.

A hybrid version of Cathy Zielske`s template nr.7. The photos are from back in February when my youngest nephew had his parents visiting after his move to Trondheim. My brother came home complaining about the boy`s finance. She was no morning person and she was one of THOSE – girls with PMS. Yeah – my brother knows the signs, having to live with them all his adult life. Hopefully – he survived spending time with them this weekend?

Last Christmas. Baby Kristian was very focused on the musical instruments at the time and grandpa loves to help with that. Most children love to make noise – at least this one does.

Since I am weeks a head of plan I will make it an early night and try to catch up on some sleep. That could do wonders with my efforts at work tomorrow. May we have a good week with a lot of Christmas journaling and Christmas preparations.

And all this talk about turkey make me think about our turkey tradition. The first Christmas my brother and his wife lived together they found themselves in the company of a turkey. A dead one. And that is a story without a happy ending:)

Later it became a tradition to put a turkey in the oven on the evening December 23. As most young parents it was a struggle to get everything ready for the big celebration December 24. When the turkey was done the magic of Christmas had arrived. Only – they never were good with the timing. Some years the turkey wasn`t done before long into the night. And for years the only thing we got served was the turkey. Then there was cold potatoe from the day before. Then there were potatoe salad. And year by year a little something were added until it became a feast out serving the turkey.

When the boys were old enough to have steady girlfriends it became a tradition to invite the new “in-laws” to the turkey dinner on December 23. I am sure about one thing – not everyone was happy about that invitation – on the busiest day in the year:) And I can remember some Christmas Eve`s we have been tired after too much vine.

Template – Cathy Zielske. Paper – K.Pertiet – Joulenaika.

December 23 – 2007. Our “princess” helping grandma and grandpa getting the turkey ready. I still think this is an ugly animal. Not so with baby Elin. I have to remind myself about the fact that this little girl is raised in a kindergarten with a farm where they call the pig Bacon and after feeding and cuddling him – they eat him.

This year we will have our turkey feast the second day in Cristmas when everyone is home and can attend.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate!

…I can`t forget our boy.  Baby Kristian don`t have  girl power so he keeps going. Well – even boys stops when there is water near by…

A happy boy…

Of course he needs a page for his album…

…and in the end the weather turned better…

…Sunday morning baby Elin knocked on grandma`s door and proclaimed it was time for the breakfast club to go on new adventures. And this Sunday I was invited to go along. Who can say no to an invitation like that?

Even if it was raining…

This girl has a lot going for her and one thing is that she likes to take the lead…

Not the best of weather but we had a good walk along the coast…

And where it is photos there is a layout…

Template – Cathy Zielske.

Walking with baby Elin is a challenge. Walking the public trial is even more challenging. You always meet people walking their dogs and she stops and hug and talk with them all. Most of all she wants to take the dog home with her. Thank God she does not want to take the owner… And she find every mud hole there is. And if we don`t follow her lead she will do a “sit down”. That is why we always bring grandma. It`s her job to get her going again:)

…Elin and Kristian was invited to join grandma and grandpa for breakfast when they woke up Sunday morning.

These two belongs to grandma`s Sunday morning breakfast club and they would arrive with or without an invitation. But – today they were invited. They were invited to go along on a fieldtrip.

Life as a grandparent is a challenge. At least it is when you work full-time and also want to be a full-time grandparent. I think that  issuing an invite brings out the best behaviour in the kids.

And one more thing – food and hot chocolate to drink. Also a good choice.

Design – Cathy Zielske. Embellish – feistuff embrace.

Monday – it`s take-off for Shimelle`s new class : Blogging for scrapbookers. Looking forward to that. If I only could solve the mystery of blogging on WordPress using my own domain. The more I read and try the more mysterious it gets. I have almost given up. But, it is no big deal. I am happy blogging anyway.

And don`t forget to sign up for Jessica Sprague`s free class today. I will be doing my Christmas journal with Shimelle but JS always has something really good to offer and I do not want to miss out on that.

…my mother loved it when Halloween came to “town”. I think she enjoyed it more than the kids did and she was always prepared when the little ones knocked on the door. This custom is new in Norway and not everyone like it. I can understand that parents get pissed when the monster kids wake up their sleeping children and I surly understand the frustration when they find their house smeared with raw eggs in the cold weather. We may have adopted this american custom but we forgot to learn the rules. 

Me? I love Halloween. The fall colours, the pumpkins and the kids having fun. I am so happy that the kids got a taste of the fun.

Template – Cathy Zielske. Paper – The Sei Company.

I bet someone was scared under those masks.

Have you made plans for your Christmas Album. There are many options to consider. Shimelle does her Christmas journaling class in December. Loved doing that last Christmas. Ali Edwards have set up a flicr group. I will join  Jessica Sprague`s free class. Registration starts Monday.

I haven`t decided yet how I want to do my album. Last year I premade a 6 x 12 AC album and that worked well for me. You can see the album her: Christmas album 2008.  The only thing I am sure of is that I will love getting Shimelle`s prompt in my mail every morning and I can`t wait to get started.

…they call it…

…but it`s more like rolling over and give up. I woke up way to early this morning. Three hours sleep is not enough even for me. I had so much I wanted to do when I came home but there were no energy left after six days of work and to little sleep.

At Stacy Julian.com I found a new colour inspiration I wanted to try.

I am not good with colours but for some reason I love Stacy`s colour inspirations. The digi template is made by Karen Cole and is a download from Shimelle.com. The paper are made by Carina Gardner and is a free download from 2Peas.

The journaling is me raving about the feeling of exhaustion after working six days a week. Sometime soon I have to stop doing that. Tonight I am most grateful for the extra hour of sleep we get in the upcoming night because we move from summertime to wintertime this weekend. For that I am thankful.

…There are many great teachers at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

I knew I was in for a treat when I signed up for Ali Edwards class. Of course it would be a great class – it is Ali E. Just like Cathy Zielske`s classes I expected it to be pro. And it was. It is better than great. Do you want to know what the best part is? We are only in week 4 and we have 8 weeks to go.

I have to admit that I had my doubts about how much content she could spread out on 12 weeks. When you start out with an almost one hour-long video presentation in week one… one more hour in week two…and follow up with one more in week three…surly she couldn`t dig up more content for week 4? She could. Boy! She could.

This class will not produce an album for me. I have not made my list of 12 stories. But I love what she is teaching me and she is inspiring me to tell stories. She inspires me to tell my story as I remember it and she says that it is okay to put my feelings into the mix. Just tell the truth as I know it.

This is my childhood home. I moved out in 1979 when my brother moved back in with his family. It was not okay to be asked to remove my last belongings from my room around 1985 because my brother needed the space. Hey – that was my room. My last connection. It took a long time before I was totally okay with that. About the truth…  My mother`s plans for transferring the house to my brother and his wife back in 1996 did not make me happy. It took some time to be okay with the fact  that my childhood home was not my home anymore.

I never really lost my childhood home since I have always felt welcome in my brother`s home. We grow and move forward, and I was totally okay when my brother told me that the house was too big for the two of them and they wanted to put it out on the market.

Still – I have to admit that I cried happy tears when I was told that my nephew wanted to make the house his home. His three children will be the fifth generation living there and that makes me feel really good.

…back in 1983 – you reach out to your grandfather and called him mother. You were the sweetest baby boy I have ever met and you and your grandfather was the best of friends.

 Before you could walk you came downstairs early in the morning. Hours before the rest of the family was up – you two had breakfast together, and together you were building boats.

In 1986 my boat was finished and already you made plans for how you could make it yours…

Now – you are still sweet…but the real reason I am walking down the memory lane is because you bought your first home yesterday and I just want to tell you that I am proud of you – as your grandfather would have been. The best of luck with your new home.

Since it is October and the Load challenge is still going strong I  had to make a layout. Digital today. Free download from Shimelle.com.

I am easy to entertain so I was tempted to do a test at Ophra.com.

“When you feel threatened, or others refuse to go along with your agenda, you can become confrontational and domineering, sometimes to the point of being dictatorial.”

Not so sure I liked the conclusion…

…Lain Ehmann knows how to give away prizes. Everyone who uploaded a digital layout on Friday won a free download from Pixel Gypsy designs . It is hard to say no thank you to a free download, even if I try to. Mixed up with yesterday`s cute photos of Kristian and Cathy Zielske`s template number 2:

Kristian wanted to go home after dinner. He had no time to waste. He wanted to go home with his daddy. Because his daddy had promised him that he could help him working outside. At two – he is already eager to spend time with his dad.

I had no inspiration when I started working on today`s layout for Load. We are half way there and the energy level is hitting rock bottom. I surfed for inspiration and found a sketch at Ella Publishing. It is a page call, so you might want to start working on it. It is one of my favourites. I made mine with only cardstock – a first time for me. The scanner killed it but it looks good in real life.

Tomorrow is the big dayat Ella. They are publishing their new e-book written by Lain Ehmann and Stacy Julian. Can`t wait to read that e-book. With the two of them together it is bound to be a lot of happy and colourful content.