4 bits of inspiration

Here's a bit of inspiration I have gleaned through my blog travels today:

1) From Liz Kartchner: "I confess. . ."
A little list of innocent confessions, good scrapbook page journaling

• I just took down my Christmas cards
• I finally cleaned my bathrooms this weekend after 2 weeks
• I still have my Valentine decorations up
• I add extra pasta and meat to Bertolli frozen (and overpriced) prepared dinners so that there's enough to feed my family of 5 (and I don't tell Perry it's not made from scratch!)
• I put a fistfull of Jelly Belly's in my pocket and pop a little bean of sweetness in my mouth throughout the day.

2) From A Foothill Companion: "In Real Life. . ."

Take pictures of everyday things that show your "real life" and write a brief blurb about each (another great scrapbook page inspiration).

3) From Small Fry & Co.: Place Mat Purse compliments of Kayla!

A tutorial on making an adorable purse from a single placemat. I feel like I always run into great placemats at Target, Pier One, and even Christmas Tree, but never buy them because they don't match my kitchen. Now I have an excuse to buy them! Speaking of matching my kitchen, Perry is soooo lucky the new Orla Kiely line at Target doesn't go with our cream and blue color scheme. . . sooooo lucky!

4) And one I came up with while ironing my outfit yesterday for my nephew's first communion: a page of "right now" versus "back then" to illustrate how my life has changed since having kids:

Right now I iron for Easter and Christmas and maybe one day in between; back then I ironed nearly every weekday for work. Right now I clean my house one room at a time and by the time I get to all of them it's time to start over again; back then I cleaned my house every Saturday morning in one fell sweep. Right now I wake to the sound of Maddox's sweet voice saying "I'm hungry for breakfast"; back then I woke to the buzz of the alarm clock, or whenever I felt like rolling out of bed.