Yeah, Write

After Bleep Day

On Leap Day, my frustrations runneth over. But I'm already laughing about it--and not in the half-crazy way I was cry-laughing about it yesterday.

Leap Day did get better from there, despite a late afternoon blizzard, but I still didn't complete my quadrennial Leap Day time capsule due to overwhelming exhaustion. (Check out my time capsule idea on the Ella blog.)

But that's okay. I feel fine about gathering things from all of "Leap Week" for this year's time capsule, to be opened in 2016 when (gasp!) I will turn 40. Think about trying it yourself. It's a fun tradition that you'll love to revisit every four years!

And here's a tip: don't avoid making a time capsule just because your life isn't perfect right now. It never will be, you know. I'm telling you this because I'm also telling myself this.

There are great joys in my life, like the feel of my tiny daughter snuggled against me in her pajamas. She'll be much less tiny four years from now.

And there are great challenges, like life with a teenager who has figured out (a lot later than most) how to work the "divorced parents" system to his advantage. He'll be much less teenagery four years from now.

The ups and the downs, this is real life. And it's so very fleeting. So take a minute to box some of it up.

Time. It does fly.

Leap Day? Bleep Day!

It seems that this "extra" day, this February 29th that only comes around every four years, is cosmically cursed. Everything was going along swimmingly until 12:30 last night (technically this morning, I suppose, when we crossed into this tacked-on day that shouldn't really exist, apparently ;).

Here's what happened:

So for the last month, we've been building up to the release of an exciting new Stamping Secrets eBook at Ella Publishing Co.! The entire month has been leading up to this day and the release of this new eBook:

So, at 12:30 last night, I finished writing the big announcement email, and prepared to fall blissfully asleep a full hour or two earlier than I had for the last three nights.  I was exhausted; my body was SO ready for rest.

And then Bleep Day happens, in the following order:

* I meant to schedule the email for several hours later—early this morning—but accidentally sent it right away. #$*#%!

* Then some scheduled site maintenance for ellapublishing.com went awry at 1:00 a.m., causing the site to go down RIGHT AFTER I EMAILED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, INVITING THEM TO COME OVER. #$*#%!!!

* I was able to wake up one of my website developers and get him working on the problem, while I lay on my sofa, not sleeping, debating whether to send a retraction email saying: NEVER MIND, DON'T COME OVER YET. NOBODY'S HOME!

* I fall asleep for exactly one hour, all the while dreaming that my site is back up, but everything I've added to it in the last week has disappeared. #$*#%!!!!

* As morning on the East Coast approaches (when people will awake and actually see the invitation to come over to the deserted party) the developer throws up his hands. He's tried everything he can think of. We need to try the other guy, whom we can't reach until after 7. #$*#%!!!!!

* I decide to send the DON'T COME OVER email to the 8,000 people I mistakenly emailed earlier and just go to sleep. And I instantly get an error message saying I've exceeded my allowable number of business emails for the month. And if I want to send this one, I'm going to have to PAY through the nose. Or, I could wait until March 1, and then the email would be part of my regular plan. (I wanted to scream that in any other year,  today WOULD BE be March 1st, but somebody had to go and tack on that extra day.) #$*#%!!!!!

* I fall asleep again for exactly one hour, knowing that while my website may still be down, at least I've warned people not to come over. And at 7 :15 a.m., I finally hear from the other guy, who had the site back up in 2.2 seconds! And none of my recent work was lost! It was just a weird little thing only he knew how to do. Hooray!

* And then I send the IT'S OKAY, YOU CAN COME OVER NOW email (again paying through the nose because it is still not March 1st, although I think it definitely SHOULD be). 

* I then proceed to have similar, gremlin-like issues with two other completely unrelated online services that I depend upon for my business. #$*#%!!!!!

* And then Keira awakes, and my day begins. She smears her entire head with peanut butter at breakfast, and then feeds my credit card to the dog, who chomps right through it in one bite as if it were made of fruit leather. :)

It's okay, I can do this. I've survived on 120 minutes of sleep before, I'm sure.

I'd like to turn off every machine in my house and pretend like it's 1906. But it's freezing, windy, and gray outside today (of course) and we'll need the furnace at least. Wish me luck.

Sorry about my language.

(And thanks to my friend and marketing guru, Yvette, for coining the term "Bleep Day.")

 

Anniversary, Interrupted

Our plans for an anniversary getaway were interrupted by a sick little baby, who, when the 24-hours-in-advance deadline arrived to either cancel or keep our reservation, was the sickest she had ever been. Fever, cough, lethargy, near constant whimpering. It was heartbreaking, really. So we called the doctor, cancelled our plans and cocooned in our house, passing her back and forth every few hours, trying to catch naps on our "off" shifts.

But the next morning after her very worst day, Keira awoke happy and rested. She had even slept through almost the whole night and had eaten a hearty breakfast. And so, we improvised. Grandma was called, Keira was in great hands, and we headed to downtown Salt Lake City for a little day trip.

We had a perfect day, after all. We didn't have a plan. We just wandered and talked. We had lunch (German fare), shopped for watches and shoes, went to an afternoon movie, and then had sushi for dinner. Travis joked that we had eaten only "Axis food" that day, apart from the Scottish chocolate, and that this particular day would never have happened if it were 1947. :)

As we walked around downtown, going in and out of shops and up and down the quiet Saturday streets, I set the goal to photograph all the letters in "E-I-G-H-T  Y-E-A-R-S" as we spotted them on signs, on tiled floors, on the side of a truck, and even in a railing that was shaped like a "T." Travis humored me, and often even helped.

As I look at my collection of letters, I remember exactly where we were when each picture was taken. And since I looked for the letters in order, it outlines the trajectory of our day, from "E" (found on a compass in a watch shop) to "S" (on the sign of a little bistro next to The Oxford Shop). 

Some of the best memories happen when our carefully laid plans go awry. I think this day will always remind me of that.

Eight years down. A lifetime to go. I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

 

A Take Twelve Family Adventure: February

Of the four family members I roped into the Take Twelve photography challenge, just two of us have completed our pages so far. And that's okay! The important part is to take the photos. Pages can always be made later, if life gets in the way of your scrapbooking. But photo opportunities don't keep.

Here's my scrapbook page this month, in traditional Valentine's colors:

 

I used some stamping and embossing techniques, in honor of it being Stamping Month at Ella Publishing Co.! (New stamping-related eBook coming at the end of the month!)

 

And here is my sister, Michele's, who is creating one page at a time for a photo book she'll print at the end of the year.

I'll add Suzanne's when I get them!

In the meantime, go check out what Ella's Take Twelve Team  created this month and/or revisit my family's January pages!

 

*UPDATE* 11:28 a.m.
Breaking news! Becky just sent me her page. :)

My sis-in-law, Becky, chose a fun angle for this month. Her son, Payton, turns 6 this month, so the photos were all about him. He got to take pictures himself, and choose who got to be IN the pictures. How fun to see the Take Twelve project from a 6-year-old's perspective!

Click on images to see them larger and/or read the journaling.

We're Wearing Red

It's National Wear Red Day for women's heart health! And we've got fun giveaways on the Ella blog today: http://www.ellapublishing.com/blog/rachel-gainer/are-you-wearing-red-today

Here's my family wearing red! I'm still in California for the Craft & Hobby Association winter tradeshow, of course staying extra to visit my sister. My mom's here, too (wearing red polka dots). A great way to spend a birthday.

Are you wearing red today?