I Nearly Lost My Life...

in prints. Like everyone else, I have my photographs stored in digital formats on a hard disk. A portable hard disk. And I had not got around to doing the back-up. And I carry the little black box wherever I go.



At the CHA Summer Show (Chicago), this little black box was nearly misplaced!!! That night, when we discovered that it was missing, I couldnt even speak a word. We had to wait til the next day to find out if anyone found it at one of the manufacturer's booths.

That night, as I laid in bed, I very worried and I felt this numb pain creeping up on me... as I envisioned the painful loss of my photos and memories... my sons' baby pictures, my family gatherings, makans with my friends, my own observations... all that had happened to me for the past many years... GONE!!??!!!

I tried to calm myself down... and I remembered my Photo-A-Day Calendar, and the scrapbook layouts, and the mini albums, that I have created over the years... yes, especially the PAD Calendar. I cannot describe how thankful I felt for the time and effort that I had put into creating the PAD Calendar... at least there was some form of snapshots captured of my life!!! I recalled reading a blog entry by Stacy Julian (but I cannot locate it now :( ... alamak!)... where she wrote about how 12 prints are treasured more than the 10,000 that are sitting in our hard disks... I totally agree!!!

Fortunately, the little black box was found the next day in safekeeping with the manufacturer rep. I sighed a huge sigh of relief, and gave thanks for the recovery. I promised myself that I will keep up with the PAD Calendar for the rest of my life. (Oh yes! And back-up my data!!!)

A couple of weeks after the Chicago trip, I received this wonderful message from Shimelle



She puts the right words to my philosophy for scrapbooking... this is sooooo relevant to me... I am truly humbled and touched.



I have so many stories to tell. I have so many thoughts to share. And It is important that I make time for this.

BE RESPONSIBLE...

Lei's teacher posted this message for the boys...

Dear boys,

I hope you can set your priorities right and manage your time properly with regards to homework. If you have difficulties in doing so, you will need to seek help from your parents. The teachers should not hear anyone giving us the excuse that you had tuition and therefore did not have the time to complete your homework, especially when your teachers did not assign you many pieces of work.

It only boils down to how responsible you have been for your own learning. If you had been paying attention in class, you would not be needing tuition. If you have been on task, you would not need a lot of time to complete your work. If you had not wasted time on other activities(such as play or TV), you would have more than enough time for both work and tuition.

BE RESPNOSIBLE at all time, not only for your own learning, but also for your own properties and action.

I have mixed reactions to what she wrote...

(a) I totally agreed that one has to be responsible for oneself... be it for one's own learning, one's own properties and actions, or one's own life.

(b) I totally agreed that one should set one's priorities right and manage one's time properly.

(c) I questioned whether it is really sufficient to pay attention in class, and be able do well in school today, without additional lessons outside.

(d) I questioned where is the balance between schoolwork and play (and even TV)... learning should be an enjoyable process, a joyful journey... and play is a learning process too... but with all these crazy demands and schedules, will the boys truly enjoy learning?

(e) I questioned whether it is really the boys' sole responsibilities to manage their own priorities and time... or it is the parents' fault??? Even as an adult, I have problems managing my priorities and time... how is a young child to know???

(f) I questioned myself as a mother what should I do to help my sons cope with the stress of schoolwork, and keep up with the crazy demands and schedules... and stil continue to enjoy learning???

I Need to Scrap...

Today, it suddenly struck me that I NEED to scrap... I NEED to keep up with my personal scrapbooking... I NEED to sit down every other day to cut and paste, and document my life stories.

Because when I do not get to do that, I feel miserable and bored... and grow resentful towards my work!!! I realised that I'd start to blame everything at work for taking up so much of my time, and keeping me away from scrapping!!!

I used to think that my Photo-A-Day Calendar is the project that will satisfy this need of mine... but I am beginning to sense that this is not enough to feed my soul. I still love the project, and am keeping up very well with the daily photo-takings and the monthly completion. But there is still a void inside when I do not get to create layouts that document interesting stuffs that are happening in my life, or exotic places that I visit, or amazing people who touched my life.

So I must make time for scrapping...

Photo-A-Day Calendar: Apr / May / Jun 2011

Three months whizzed past in a blink of an eye... and yet soooooo much has happened. Life really takes me on some twists and turns, and ups and downs... I am ever so thankful for all that I have now...

Yes, i still complain about stuffs... and secretly wish for an even better life... but I am counting my blessings and truly thankful to the people who had made things happened for me...

Random Act of Crafting

I chanced upon this idea on Generation T... and was totally excited by the activity... so I convinced 2 of my scrapper friends to take on this random exercise with me!

We gathered our materials and mediums, and got together on 8 Apr to prepare our Poetic Squares... though our creations did not turn out quite like squares!

I chose a poem by e.e.cummings... and used my alpha stamps with versafine ink pad... love the outcome!

Photo-A-Day Calendar 2011: Jan / Feb / Mar

Oooh! I am so excited about the new Photo-A-Day Calendar for Year 2011!!! I decided to use the DCWV Colorful Life collection, featuring the amazing artwork by Donna Estabrook!!! Love the colours and the mixed media artwork!!!

Though I wanted it to be an easy-to-assemble recurring project, I couldn't help myself for incorporating some hand stitching for the gridlines of the calendar... guess it will be a therapeutic session at the end of every month, to put everything together... to remember the days and moments, and to ponder over what has happened and what is to come in the forthcoming month...

It Was Easier...

... than I had imagined it to be.

Good.