Playing Catch-Up

Another one of those months where the work-life balance is out of whack and everything non-essential goes by the wayside. Apologies blog readers...if any of you are still out there! Perhaps someday I will figure out how to better balance all of this!

Let me get you caught up with what's happening; let's do this with bullet points:

• Sadie and Eli are busy kiddos. Sadie has Destination Imagination, choir, tennis, and Girl Scouts on her plate. Eli has Destination Imagination, Penny Harvest, tennis, skiing, and Hebrew school on his plate. Eli is also eagerly awaiting his school choice letter (as are we!), hoping that he gets a spot at our local international studies magnet 6-12 school. He wants to learn to speak Mandarin and is thrilled with the idea that he can do that and take two social studies classes each year instead of just one.

• Seth is still crazy busy adjusting to his new role as department chair. He keeps sane by skiing occasionally and going to his monthly book club meetings. He always comes back from his book club telling stories about the Star Wars and Star Trek conversations they've had. I think he has found his people. :)

• Work is going really well for me, which means, as a consultant, that I am putting in way more hours than originally planned. After past experience, I should know better than to do this, as when I work too much my body rebels. Last time that happened was in 2010-2011, when I had strep 8 times over a six-month period and then got my tonsils taken out. This time around I am writing this blog post as a way to distract myself from the shingles I am currently battling. Anyone who has this whole work-life balance thing figured out please let me know. I clearly need help on this front! 

• I made an attempt at regaining some work-life balance by leaving write.click.scrapbook. in January. That was a hard decision as I was over-the-moon excited to have been asked to join the team there after years and years of unsuccessful submissions to its predecessor, the magazine Simple Scrapbooks. I loved the team (still do), loved the website (still do), loved the philosophy (still do). I just couldn't continue with the commitments I had without reaching a breaking point, so something had to go. 

• This layout was the featured layout over a January weekend at Two Peas in a Bucket. It had close to 10,000 views, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Then Two Peas had a malfunction and view counts were lost. Given the current count since then it would be over 10,000. At least I know, right? (And now you do, too! :))

• Since I shared that layout, here are some more projects I've done for Pebbles since I last posted anything here:

•  And here are some projects I've done for October Afternoon since I last posted anything here:

 

• Having been on the couch for the better part of the last week, I am all caught up on various television and movie shows. Some of them I am not embarrassed to admit to watching (Downton Abbey, Skyfall, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Love It or List It, Touch), others I am embarrassed to admit watching but I'll admit it anyway...ahem...reality shows...ahem...(The Bachelor, Fix My Family).

I think that's it. You're now all caught up. Remember, any and all advice around that whole work-life balance thing is welcome!