This is just one of the ways I am trying to unclutter my life and the new house.  I also feel a little bit “greener” - the amount of paper used just gets to me sometimes (some of that may stem from my work life, too).  I will be getting rid off all of my scrapbooking supplies  now that I have transitioned into only doing digital scrapbooking. I’m not sad about it at all. I’ve been downsizing for almost a year and haven’t done any hands-on scrapbooking in a long time.  It’s not that I don’t love using my hands to create…I actually have other outlets that let me do that…it’s just that I want to create and store everything in one place.  I can still go to crops as long as I have an outlet for my laptop, so I’m not worried about having to craft alone   I also feel like I have been creating more now that I have it on my laptop!  And if anyone is wondering about what happened to everything that I had previously scrapped…you may actually cry out in shock.  I took digital pictures of everything, made sure they were good pics, and then…I recycled ALL of my past scrapbook pages.  I just don’t have the storage space. I can still look at them digitally, though!

The other way I started to unclutter is the Kindle. After waiting for a very long time, bothering Deb with questions and playing with her Kindle, and checking out the Nook…I finally decided to purchase one after the new year started.  I’m so in love with it!  I have some “real” books still on my shelf that definitely need to be read and passed on, but I’m making progress.

My next task is to go through every photo I have printed.  Scan the ones I don’t have digitally and decide what to do with the rest. 

After that it will be my music library.  I am going to go through all of my cds and cross check them with my iTunes library. After I know I have everything I want…I will decide what to do with the cds.

One thing at a time. Slow and steady. That’s the only way to make yourself feel accomplished!

Note: I always back my data up on an external hard drive. I will be doing it more often now that my laptop will be holding all of my precious memories and music.  I may even by a back up external hard drive. They always say, “back up your back up”!

1. Because the soundtrack for Alice in Wonderland is available today and I pre-ordered it…and have already downloaded it!!! So excited to hear the whole thing!!!  It’s called Almost Alice (and is very alternative heavy songs).

2. I got my four more little packages for my software via email from Shari today, so I HAD to download them.  Very fun. Still waiting for 2ish packages to come via snail mail. Also, I get to pick about $50 worth of goodies for free – so I’m super excited to browse the catalog, again.

3. I made my friend Krystal a couple business cards with my new software and decided to combine 2 of the mock ups, so I added that and sent it to her. Very cute. She just started the business of passion parties ;)

Well, done with all my business and the egg salad sandwich I made, so off to work for a few more hours! Happy Tuesday!!!

I bought the Creative Memories software and some of their digital stuff and it is fantastic. Didn’t know it would be so awesome!  Also, learned that I can download other digital media and I can convert it to use it with this software, so the possibilities are endless. Very happy and excited!!

People keep asking about the whole moving process – do we feel moved in, how’s it coming along, etc.  The answer is that James and I feel really happy and very comfortable in our new home even though we know that we haven’t made much progress on unpacking the things that didn’t initially get unpacked. We’ve decided not to worry about it and that we’ll probably wait until Spring to the rest of the unpacking…that way we can sell some stuff in a yard sale.  I know this seems really out of character for someone who is completely obsessive, like me, but the truth is – I’m just being obsessed about other things at the moment instead of the whole unpacking thing. Yes, occasionally I go berzerk about the boxes in the garage or under the stairs or in JPs “man room” – but, then I take a breath and realize that I am really happy and that it doesn’t matter right now.

So, what I’m I obsessing about in the mean time?  I’ve actually been having really good Book Karma.  I read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout for our book club selection, then read The Help by Kathryn Stockett (which incidentally will be the next book club pick) and now I am reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Although, this last selection is taking me longer to read because of the way it reads – I’m loving every minute of it. And just so you know – it’s actually in paperback, not on my Kindle. I still have a few books to read off my bookcase.

So, if you are looking for an obsession – I say start with one of these three books! You cannot go wrong!!

More later!!

Happy reading to all! I’ve now completed 4 books since January 1st…pretty good!

Across the Universe

I’ve decided to keep my goal for 2010, even though I read more than 12 books this year.  I’m doing that because my second goal is to read a bit more substance this year…see below:

I had an awesome year of reading, from a numbers standpoint, in 2009. I read one book about every two weeks (29 total). Unfortunately, not too much substance. I read mostly what I would call my “in between” reads instead of my substance reads and would also venture to call it the “finishing the series” year.  I actually didn’t get all of them completed, but did really good. I plan on finishing up the rest of them during the beginning of 2010, so I can start on a very long, but very worth it (so I’m told) series called Outlander.

Rachel’s Books Read for 2009:
• The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson 2): Rick Riordan
•The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson 1): Rick Riordan
  Lost (Magic Thief, #2): Sarah Prineas
• The Freedom Writers Diary: Erin Gruwell
• Loving Frank: Nancy Horan
• Finger Lickin’ Fifteen: Janet Evanovich
• City of Bones (Mortal Instruments, #1): Cassandra Clare
• City of Ashes (Mortal Instruments, #2): Cassandra Clare
• City of Glass (Mortal Instruments, #3): Cassandra Clare
• The Hundred Dresses: Eleanor Estes
• Godmother: The Secret Ciderella Story: Carolyn Turgeon
• High Voltage Tattoo: Kat VonD
• Stolen (Magic Thief, #1): Sarah Prineas
• Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen
• The Tortilla Curtain: T.C. Boyle
• Full Tilt Janet: Evanovich
• Full Speed Janet: Evanovich
• Full Blast Janet: Evanovich
• Full Bloom Janet: Evanovich
• Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse #1): Charlaine Harris
• Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2): Charlaine Harris
• The Friday Night Knitting Club: Kate Jacobs
• Bubbles Ablaze (Bubbles Yablonsky #3): Sarah Strohmeyer
• Bubbles A Broad (Bubbles Yablonsky #4): Sarah Strohmeyer
• Bubbles Betrothed (Bubbles Yablonsky #5): Sarah Strohmeyer
• Bubbles All The Way (Bubbles Yablonsky #6): Sarah Strohmeyer
• Plum Lucky: Janet Evanovich
• To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee
• Wish You Well: David Baldacci

We won’t mention the books I started, hated, and refused to complete!

Happy reading to all in 2010!!!!

I also added pictures of the 2wheatens. I just trimmed their feet, cut their nails, trimmed their butts and trimmed around their eyes. Bella was so happy to pose. Booker is always a struggle…

In other news…we had to take Bob to the emergency room last night for chest pains. They finally ruled out a heart attack, but he will have a stress test done tomorrow. We were so freaked out and none of us got much sleep last night, except the 2wheatens…

I hope everyone had a happy holiday!!