A Bargained Story

Before I begin, there are two orders of congratulations due to members of this community.

Happy Birthday, Robin!

The second is a little more personal to me and goes out to one of our loyal lurkers. Happy Anniversary (a day late) to my mom and dad. They celebrated 28 years yesterday. Today's post and creative idea come from the basement of their house.
Before we get into the story about my mom and dad and the creative idea I will share today, I must first give some background as to how I decided to post about this topic today. About a week ago, I was over at Claudia's house and she was trying to bribe Matthew to brush her hair (let's face it- doesn't it feel great when someone else brushes your hair?!). In order to keep him motivated to brush her hair, I told him that if he kept brushing, I would tell him stories about my childhood, about my mom, my dad, and their house (the house I grew up in).

I was explaining to him that my mom and dad moved into their house a few months before I was born almost 23 years ago. They have not moved since then. For this reason, there is a lot of history in that house and our childhood is built within the walls of that home. I told Matthew about one of my favorite parts of my house. In the basement, my parents have a ledge that goes around most of the room. For as long as I can remember, that ledge has been full of picture frames. The frames hold pictures of my brothers and me, family friends, family members, and my parents. While that ledge has now become walls full of shelves- it still holds years of photos. I was telling Matthew about some of the frames on the ledge and that if you were to open the back of the frame, you would discover years worth of pictures behind the one that is showing in the frame. For example, each of my brothers and I have an 8' x 10' frame that holds our school pictures from Kindergarten to senior year of high school. While our senior picture is the one that you currently see through the glass in the frame, if you were to open them up, you'd find years worth of school pictures.

Looking back on it now, this is one bargain of a scrapbook for me and my family. There are no fancy stickers or layout of photos. Instead, it is simple and nostalgic. It's nothing fancy, but I think that's what makes it so special. Part of me feels sad that some of the magic of printing and framing pictures is being lost through the new digital age. Now, don't get me wrong, I love technology just as much as the next person, but in the same way I think snail mail has a special feeling to it, I also think printed photographs in a frame have a special feeling.

I can't wait to take my children to my parents' home and look through all the photos around the house. I can't wait to point out my "favorite" photos to them. I think that wall of frames is one simple touch that makes my parents' home extra special and significant in my life. So, today, consider going out and having a photo printed. Then, buy a frame to put it in. Next year, replace it with a new photo but keep the old one behind it in the frame. Begin your own bargain of a scrapbook.

Do you already have framed pictures around your home? What's your favorite picture? If you were to choose one photo that you wanted to be framed and hanging in your home right now, what would it be?

Announcement:

• After 'playing around' on Facebook for awhile last night, I discovered a feature on Robin's page where you can 'follow' blogs through a feature called 'Networked Blogs'. You can find a new widget on the right side of the blog, with a button that says 'Follow This Blog'. If you are on Facebook, please press this button and share the word about HLA with your Facebook friends!

Signing off until Monday with the song of the day...

K.I.S.S: Step Three of Four

Announcements at the end.  Important... especially if you are from, live near, or have enough frequent flier miles to get yourself to Pennsylvania.

So little to talk about, so much time.  That's the way it goes with a keep sake system as easy as mine.  I'd talk about equipment, but there isn't any.  No fancy quilling paper ($5.49 per package); paper cutters ($48.99); paper punch sets ($26.99); storage systems ($24.99); stencils and templates ($2.99 each); or scrap booking organizers (129.99).  So... other than the plastic storage box from target ($6.99), the plastic folder ($.59 cents), and a couple other items, there's no equipment to speak of.

Got any good jokes?  We've got some time to kill.  Here's one...

A bear walks into a bar and says, "I want a bourbon and................. coke."

The bartender asks "what's with the huge pause?"

The bear says, "I've had them all my life."

It's my delivery.  It's off.  I'll stick with preserving keepsakes for the time being.  

A quick review of yesterday.  To begin the Claudia Beeny approach to "keepsaking" you'll need one plastic container and one plastic envelope for each year you intend to collect items.  That is Step #1 and Step #2.  This system, by the way, works not just for your kids.  It also works for grand kids, newly married couples, or individuals who are committed to leaving behind a modest, yet organized, paper trail (which your family will undoubtedly appreciate!).

Today we address the issue of photographs.  Let me preface this by saying I know there are avid picture-takers in the audience.  Naturally there's a continuum of how people deal with photographs - with one end of the extreme being my neighbor who has over 40,000 photographs on her computer (and backed up in multiple locations) and others who can barely scrape together the two childhood photos with crinkled edges, found stuck at the bottom of a cigar box in your family's guest room.  I fall somewhere in the middle.

Just to earn a little bit of credibility, let me share that my nickname during college was "Captain Kodak" AND.... when I came home from college, no matter the holiday, I would spend hours at my kitchen table cutting and pasting them into photo albums.  Now that you know, I am not a cold, heartless, thoughtless person, with no sense of sentimentality... I'll keep going. 

To complete Step #3 you will need a $1.00 photo album typically containing enough sleeves to hold 60 pictures.  Don't be an over achiever and think if a $1.00 album holding 60 pictures is good, then a $10.00 album holding 200 pictures must be even better.  False.  The $1.00 album is what you need.  It will hold plenty of pictures for our purposes and it will fit nicely (even when chock full of 60 pictures) in your .59 cent plastic folder.... which in turn will go in your $6.99 plastic tub.

Here's the trick.  Twelve months... 365 days... 60 picture sleeves.  That, my friends, is an average of a picture every 6.1 days.  That's plenty.  Really.  I know you think you need 47 pictures of your child in last year's Halloween costume, but really, ten years from now... heck, even three years from now, you will be perfectly satisfied with the one or two CHOICE pictures you decided to keep.  This is the beauty of a digital camera.  Embrace it.  I have a good friend and valued colleague who once made this very wise comment.  He said, "The average person takes far too few pictures, but keeps far too many pictures."  Darn.  I wish it was I who said that, because it is SO true.  We might like - and feel secure - with the 78 pictures we took of Christmas morning, but in the end it is really three or four of those pictures that perfectly encapsulates that year's festivities.

So here's what I do.  One 60 sleeve photo album per child, each with a label bearing his name and year on the cover.  I take pictures regularly.  Once a week I print the pictures I want and they go immediately into the boys' $1.00 albums.  Example... I take a picture of the three boys wrestling on the living room floor.  I think, "oohh, that's cute.  They'll like having that when they're older."  Print three copies.  One for each album.  Take a picture of Jack getting his first hair cut.  While Matthew and Ricky love him, they don't want or need that picture.  Print one copy.  In it goes to Jack's album.  No, not two copies... one for Jack and one for me 'cause, "I might want it one day."  One copy.  If I really want to see it, I'll visit his $1.00 album. 

When I find a picture I really like, I calculate in my head... one for each of the boy's albums; one for Grandma and Grandpa New York; one for Grandma and Grandpa Beeny; one for Dawn who I haven't written in a while; and on the list goes.  I only print pictures when I know EXACTLY where they are going to go (a family member, a frame, or the $1.00 album).  Few to no exceptions.  This eliminates those stacks of random pictures we consider too sacrilege to throw away, but for which we have no real need or plan.   

A few final notes.  I keep small white mailing labels in my drawer.  Before I put the photos in their $1.00 albums, I try to jot a note or two including date, names of people in the pic, etc....  That way, when the boys look at the pictures years from now, they will know who all the kids were huddled around their birthday cake ready to pounce.  Second.  I'm archaic.  To get prints of my pictures, I still take my digital card, get in the car, drive to Cosco, walk up to the machine, put my card in, select my pictures, and then do my shopping while they are being developed (ALWAYS in less than an hour).  There are readers looming the site at this very moment who use a much more streamlined and efficient process.  I will let them share their methods in the comment section.

This is doable.... even if your child is nine years old and you're thinking... "too late for me."  Wrong.  When it comes to preserving childhood memories... ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING.  Start now.  Do it until he or she is 18 and still you're presenting them with nine well organized years!  What a priceless gift.

Two announcements:  

• Taste of USA:  Cheryl and I are trying to begin making plans.  In order to do so, we need those of you trying to attend to weigh in on a few things.  First, we cannot hold the event on Saturday, September 20.  Instead we are looking at September 6, or September 13.  Ideally the 6th.  Please let us know which weekend works best for you.  Second item related to our Taste of USA trip.  Viewers from THIRTY-FOUR cities have frequented the site in the last month, coming from all over the state.  We are considering trying to decide between a central PA location (ie. Lewisburg) or a major city (ie. Philly).  Tell us what you think.
  
• Highlowaha Projects:  As you may know from last week... two sets of people volunteered to coordinate the projects suggested by our readers (I LOVE the emergent leadership!).  Here's what you need to know.  Book Club: Julie and Melanie will coordinate our Book Club.  In upcoming days/weeks they will communicate with the readers via the comment section to get an idea of what kind of book viewers might like to read... and other details.  Holiday Service Project: Sue, Maureen, and Brian will work on this.  Sue will serve as the primary coordinator (meaning we will communicate back and forth).  In the next few weeks you will hear more from them as they seek feedback from you and lay out a time line.
  

Enough.  Signing off until tomorrow...

One, Two, Three...Cheese!

I’ve spoken to creative friends and relatives of mine all over the map and together we have concluded that a way to measure your “fun factor” is by the number of times you have been asked to host Flat Stanley. I would have to say, I am moderately fun. I certainly haven’t been asked to host hundreds of these fellows, but I’ve hosted enough to be able to provide you with this fun idea…

Elementary kids all over the country (usually around the second grade) are challenged to send a Flat Stanley to friends and family around the globe who, in turn, escort and photograph Stanley on adventures - then passing him along to someone else with a comparably high “fun factor.” I personally have been responsible for getting Flat Stanley’s to places such as Arizona, Time Square, between the hedges at the University of Georgia, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, the farm fields of Iowa, and more.

If the idea is this contagious in a classroom setting, imagine how much it can be for you and your family or you and your friends. Find a fun family heirloom, a favorite stuffed animal, a t-shirt with some nostalgia, or anything else easy to pack. Next time you go on a vacation, or just embark on an outing in town, bring it along with you. Snap a family picture somehow showcasing the item. Imagine the lifetime of fun and challenge you could have filling a family photo album with pictures of your family mascot on a countless number of adventures. A bonus to this idea is it can persist long after your kids have left the house - for wherever they go, there’s a photo to be had!