Thesis is DONE!

Greg snapped this picture of me editing his thesis over the weekend. Don't mind my frumpy outfit or my lack of neck. I got as comfortable as possible! We were both amazed at how tiring it was to just sit and read and edit and discuss and make changes. I did take little breaks and managed to clean a little, do some laundry, and stop for groceries after church. Overall I learned a LOT about low molecular weight gelators and now have a greater understanding of what Greg was doing all that time in the lab. I thought his thesis was very well organized and written. It just needed a few minor tweaks to get it just right.

During our editing process Greg found a handful of figures he had mis-drawn so on Monday he fixed those. On Tuesday I did another run through on the edited manuscript. Then today I read it a third time, printed, and bound it. He turns it in to his mentor in just a couple hours.

I wish this were the end but I am sure his mentor will have suggestions for revision. That is fine, it won't be nearly as much work to revise as it was to write and edit. I am just excited to have my husband back again. No more long nights in the lab, or hours in front of the computer. Hey, I can finally get some time on the computer again for scrapbooking!

Scrapbook Update - Baby Album

We are almost done editing the thesis so I will save that update for tomorrow. It was such a big job I didn't get any time this weekend to scrapbook so instead I will show you what I worked on the weekend before.

My friend Susan who now lives in Texas had a baby girl a couple years ago. For her baby shower I made a mini-scrapbook I like to call the "Months Album". It features layouts with blank photo mats where you can put 2 of your favorite photos each month of the baby.

Then at the end of the year you have a book that chronicals the growth of the child during his/her first year in one small cute little book.
Susan is expecting her second baby in March (Hi Susan!) and commissioned me to make another book for her new little girl. I happen to have images of the last book to use as a reference so I was able to put this one together pretty quickly. It is almost completed. What you see here are the individual month pages and then there are some additional pages that say things like "hospital stay" "our new family" "grandparents", etc.Last time she didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl so the book was sort of gender neutral. This time she knew so I got to use this really fun line of papers from KI memories in a pinks/greens/browns pallate with lots of flowers too.

So I guess this is a sneak preview. I don't know how often Susan checks this blog but I hope she likes it!

too busy to blog

Hello All

Alexis is much too busy to blog this weekend, I've tied the red pen to her hand to proof read my thesis. So far only one fight, which considering the way I respond to having people proof read my papers, is pretty good. I did want to drop a line to introduce her readers to sacred harp music. Last weekend alexis was good enough to go with me to a sacred harp "sing" in the city at St. Bart's. It is really hard to sum up sacred harp, but basically it is a tradition of community singing of hymns in a rather unique style that has roots in the south. In 4 parts the group sings slighly different melodies all together and create an amazing sound. The other major part of sacred harp is the singing of an intro to practice the melody with notes (fa,so,la,mi). All songs start out with just singing the notes, then you sing the words. You really have to hear it to understand so here is a link to a recent film documenting the movement it has several samples to check out:
www.awakemysoul.com
Well we went and we sang, it was our first time and it was really difficult without some musical training but even in a small group, the depth of sound is really haunting and it was a lot of fun. I can't believe how fast the TWO HOURS flew by, who would have thought I would want to sing hymns for two hours! Now I have to see if I can convince Alexis to come back next month, it was intense but the mentality seems to be learn through repetition, so to get it we need to go again.

Take care and thanks so much for all your prayers.
Greg

For Mom

When Greg's Grandma decided it was time to move into a retirement home her kids all went down to Eugene to help her pack up her house. Grammy Jane (as she is called) had amassed quite a bit of art over the years, much of it inherited from her deceased brothers and sisters. Most of it was sold but some smaller pieces were distributed among the family members. Greg's parents thought we might like this piece (and a couple other smaller ones) and so they brought it home to Seattle for us. Over our thanksgiving trip we finally got to see it in person and Greg crated it up to ship it out to NYC.

We don't know the name or artist. There is some very light pencil on the back that say The Virgin of --- we can't make out the name. It is about 2x3 feet and is currently hanging in our bedroom. We are pretty sure she is a martyr since there are so many weapons in the picture including the dagger pointed at her heart. We intend to have it framed but we have been too busy right now to investigate it. It could probably use a professional cleaning too.

This is for you mom since you asked for a photo so you could see it.

The Process

As I wrap up my 04-05 album and begin working on 05-06 I thought I would share with you my process for organizing my scrapbooking. Now this really only works for me because I am scrapbooking chronologically right now.

During the year, when I go to a play, take a trip, or have a birthday or something that generates memorabilia I dump it in a box labeled for the current year. When it is time to start a new album I take the corresponding box of memorabilia off the shelf. In this case 05-06. It is usually a huge jumbled pile of random stuff.

Then I pull out my pocket calendar and a sheet of paper and I jot down events that happened that year. Holidays, parties, events, anything significant that I may have noted on the calendar.Then I start organizing the memorabilia and any pictures I have into a photo box according to category or event. I write the topic on a file card and place it in front of the memorabilia for that area. I also make extra cards for things that may not have any photos but they act as reminders for me. An example of this is the card that says "Title Page". I have no photos for it but it reminds me to make a page for the front of the album.

Since it is the digital age my next step is to go to the computer. I look through my photo files which I also organize and save by year. I look through the folder at the photos for 05-06. I add items to my list that may not have been written in my calendar but that I have photos for. This is the point when I usually order prints for all the photos on my computer for that year. Then when the prints arrive at my house I file them into the photo box with the memorabilia.

Usually there are some topics that I want to scrapbook but I have no photos or memorabilia for. My Grandma's death was an example for 04-05. I had it on my calendar but I didn't have any photos of the event. I usually make a list of those things that still need to be documented and I call someone who might have the photo I need or I may take some current photos that could tell the story. I make a place holder for the photo box to remind me that I need to work on the layout even though I am waiting for some photos or information.

Then when it is time to work on a layout, I just go to my photo box or look at my list which I keep on the bulletin board above my scrap table and I choose an event that I am in the mood to work on. I can look in the box or at the list to see at a glance how much more I have to do and how I am progressing. It is a system that has worked really well for me so far.

Greg Update 2

Here is a photo of Greg's thesis. Well not really but he is studying low molecular weight gelators and here is a time lapse of one of his compounds "gelling". I thought it was pretty cool to see. First he mixes the compound with water and as it dissolves the gelling starts from the bottom up. Anyway, he took these photos for his thesis.

We were discussing it last night and we realized that the deadline is really just around the corner. He has to finish writing the whole thing by this Thursday night. That will give me the weekend to edit it and for him to make corrections in time to turn it in on Wednesday the 31st. This is a big deal for him so if you are so inclined please pray that he can meet this goal and that I will have wisdom in editing his 50+ page thesis.

I can hardly fathom how awesome it will be for him to have this project completed. It has been a year in the making when you include the lab work and now the writing. Greg has had to pretty much give up all his personal time and interests to do this so I know he is excited for it to be over too. With the Thesis done he will just have a class or 2 to take but that is much less labor intensive.

Greg Update

We see a lot of this type of thing right now in our house. Greg's New Year's Resolution was to complete writing his thesis by Jan 31st. Each night after work he puts in 3 or so hours of writing and it has been coming along steadily.

Writing isn't his favorite activity so I am very proud of him for keeping at it and keeping the procrastination to a minimum! He should be able to graduate in no time.

Scrapbook Update 2

It is a new year so it was time for a new goal. My 2006 scrapbook goal was to do a layout a week totaling 52 layouts during the year. If you count the theme albums I did I far exceeded that goal in 2006 (which is AWESOME!).

For 2007 I have 2 goals. To scrapbook 52 more layouts and to eliminate a large portion of my supplies to cut down my scrapbook area. That will allow me to re-organize and free up some space for other things. I have lots of supplies I never use and probably never will so I need to get rid of stuff. A new year called for a new tally sheet. I put together this little brown/blue/polka dot one over the weekend.

And here is my first layout of 2007. I was almost done with my 2004-2005 album when the holidays came and I got totally sidetracked and didn't have time to scrapbook for myself. This is one of the last 2 layouts for that album which features misc events that happened that year. It uses a sheet of patterned paper, cardstock, some die cut letters, paper flowers, and brads. Pretty simple stuff really.

I am almost done with my Grandma's memorial layout. I just need to get some statistics from my mom for the journalling.

Scrapbook Update 1

Over the Christmas break I took an on-line class through Big Picture Scrapbooking. This is a website founded by Stacey Julian who started Simple Scrapbooks Magazine. The site features online scrapbook classes. Since I don't live by a scrapbook store I had wanted to try one of their classes. Around Christmas time they had a class called "Ornamental Memories" that involved making a mini album that highlights the stories behind your favorite Christmas ornaments. This was right up my alley because I have often thought about doing a layout about my ornaments.

While in Seattle I went to a scrapbook store and bought all my supplies (the supply list was given before the class started). When I got home the classroom had opened and I was able to look at the actual project and download the instructions. I put together the basic pages after Christmas but didn't get around to taking my photos of my ornaments until the day I took my tree down in January. Then last week the photos came in the mail from scrapbookpictures.com and I was able to put them into the album (they were pre-sized and cut to 4x4) and add the journalling last weekend.

It is a pretty simple little 6x6 book using one color scheme and design but I think it turned out really cute and I have 5-6 blank layouts in the back to add to as I acquire more meaningful ornaments!

I will enjoy looking at it each year during the holidays!

No Photos to share

I was out sick most of last week and wasn't in much of a blogging mood but I am feeling much better now and actually had lots of photos to share from last weekend. Unfortunately Greg stole the memory stick this morning for school stuff and when I tried to email the photos to myself from home the Internet connection was really slow and then the computer crashed.

That means no photos or updates today but I will definitely post some tomorrow so thanks for your patience!

We had a very quiet holiday weekend at home which was just what we needed. I missed a lot of work last week so I am working late tonight trying to catch up. I hope you all had a nice MLK weekend.

More tomorrow!

Weekend projects

Over the weekend I whipped up a few Thank You cards to send out to the family for all the thoughtful gifts we received. I used my new crop-o-dile tool to set the little flower eyelets that adorn each tag. The word "thanks" was a rub-on (easy and nicer than my hand writing) and the green paper was left over from my Christmas Ornaments mini-album I worked on over the Christmas holiday. I am still waiting for the photos for that project to come from the printer so more on that later.

Of course the cards are still sitting on my table waiting to go in the mail!

New favorite tool

My mom sent me this little tool as a gift for Christmas. I shouldn't say it is little because it is actually big and heavy (each square on that mat is 1 inch!). It is called a Crop-o-Dile and it is a silent hole punch and eyelet/snap setter. This thing is a little on the pricey side so I was relunctant to buy it for myself not knowing if it would work. Well my mom asked some scrapbook owners what they thought and they raved about it so it ended up under my tree.

I had the chance to try this baby out and WOW, it is great. First of all you have to remember that to set eyelets and snaps traditionally you use a hammer so it is really loud. If you are like me it seems that you always need to set an eyelet at night. Greg was always yelling at me that it was too late at night to hammer and that the neighbors would complain. Not a problem with this tool. I tried it out on a variety of my eyelets and snaps (below). It set them all silently and easily. Some of these eyelets I never use because they never set right (the metal was so hard they wouldn't set) but this little tool set them like butter!
In the past when I set my snaps they end up with a dimple in the middle. Sort of a side effect of the process. The Crop-o-Dile sets them without damaging them. The larger eyelets (flower and heart) often times would bow or bend when being set with a hammer and again this tool set them flawlessly. If you are scrapbooker who loves eyelets and snaps I would highly recommend this tool. The only draw back is that it is built like a hole punch so it can only reach a couple inchs into a page. You would still need to have an anywhere setter to put a snap in the middle of a page but this will work great for cards, accents, and edge work.

I love it! Thanks mom!

Winning Photo

As promised, the winning Christmas photo.

Happy New Year!

I am sorry I didn't wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year sooner!

We had a really wonderful and relaxing holiday at home. On Christmas Eve we hung out at home, took a walk around the neighborhood to look at decorations, went to church, made homemade pizzas and did a puzzle while watching Logan's Run on DVD (remember that one?!). It was THE perfect day.
Christmas morning brought lots of wonderful gifts sent by our families which we opened in front of the Yule Log on TV. Then we cooked a big tofu-turkey dinner with all the fixings and worked some more on the puzzle which was a really hard one. I had a migraine in the evening but it wasn't too bad.

The rest of the week I lounged at home doing nothing. Greg was worried at one point that I was going to regret not getting anything done during my vacation but my main goal was to rest and relax so I was perfectly content. I did manage to do a few small projects around the house and worked on a mini-scrapbook featuring my favorite ornaments. More on that later.

We spent new years eve having dinner at our favorite Afghanistan restaurant and then joined some friends in Queens to play games and watching the ball drop on TV. New Years Day we enjoyed another long walk through the neighborhood and then we settled in for our "goals session". In pre-marital counselling our minister had suggested setting goals each year for our marriage, finances, business/education, household, etc. We have done that each year on New Years Day since our wedding. We usual set some 5 and 10 year goals as well. This was our 5th year of goal setting so we pulled out our 5 year goals from 2002 to see how we had done. Sure enough we had been realistic in our goal setting so we were pleased to discover that we had met each of our 5 year goals. That was really cool. One of our many goals for this year is to turn off the TV by 10pm each night so we have been working on that all week. So far so good.

On my last day of vacation I took down all the Christmas decor and stocked the fridge with food for this week. Whenever the Christmas decor comes down the living room seems so bare and empty but this year I really liked the starkness of the room. We have been in a decluttering mode for the last few weeks so it is nice to see some empty spaces.

I am back into the groove at work again and BSF starts up tomorrow so hopefully I will be a better blogger in 2007. I am looking forward to making some blog changes in the near future so be on the lookout!

I hope that as you looked back on 2006 it was a good year for you and that you are as excited for 2007 as I am. Happy New Year!