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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

BYH-September


it’s high time i do one of these. do you remember the “rules”?

1. blog whatever is authentic. whatever is truly on your mind and in your heart.

2. it can be serious, silly, short, long. note:no one said it has to be serious. but it should be authentic.

3. no judging allowed no snarky comments, no making fun, no passive agressive
digs.if you are going to read the blogs linked below, don’t be
mean. nothing here is whining. it’s me honestly sharing my feelings. if you feel that it’s whining, then you don’t have to read. 🙂

4. if you BYH, link back here. i’ll add an inlinkz tool at the end of the post. i always read and comment on every single post.

5. feel free to use the graphic above. just make sure to link back to me.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

okay, here goes nothing. 🙂

1. i don’t like facebook anymore. the petty drama, the angry political b.s. (i can’t even believe i’m seeing some of the hatred that’s being spewed there), the complaining…i really think i’m over it. i like being able to easily connect with friends that are all over the globe, but i think i’m done posting there for the most part. you really see people’s true colors on FB, don’t you? i much prefer instagram and twitter anyway. i am just disappointed with some things i’ve seen on FB.

♥

2.every time we move there are pros and cons. for example, i might have a great church, but not like the girls school. or i might love the city we live in, but dislike the home we are in. here? i love the city, the house, the scenery, the girls schools…but i don’t have any friends. and i don’t see that changing.

it’s hard because i had the most AMAZING group of friends in sav. you know, you’ve heard me talk about them 93840238 times. i miss kerryellen. i miss all of the ladies that are still in savannah. it is different here because j is a student. no community of wives, no FRG. i feel very isolated.

it’s only a year, and j is home every day…so i’m just fine. but man, my heart misses girlfriends.

♥

3.i’m a little nervous about what the future will hold. we are having to make some big decisions right now. i have learned that the future doesn’t always go the way you think it will. or the way you want it to. sometimes you have to give up control…and i’m not great at that.

♥

4. i only ran a handful of times in the month of september. that makes me feel simultaneously crappy about myself…and determined to start again. i just feel like there is only time in the day for so many things.

i can’t keep our home clean, take care of all four girls, be involved at school, drive the girls around town, work from home, have a healthy marriage, have the kind of relationship i want with God,scrapbook,have a blog, AND exercise. so something’s got to give. and i’ll tell you, that some of the things in the list above are NOT going. still figuring out how to make it work.

♥

5. we need to find a church here. we had an amazing church home in savannah and i miss it so much. i feel like a part of me is missing…this needs to be a priority.now.

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6.i have really perfected the art of saying “no thank you” in the past year. and i feel so much happier because of it. recently i’ve started saying “yes,please” to things that are really a good fit for me. things i want to do. and it’s exciting. no more doing things because i’m supposed to. or because i feel like i have to. or because everyone else thinks they are the “in” things to do. what is this scrapbooking industry, junior high? of course it’s not. so silly and i don’t want to do that again.

♥

7.i am really happy to be doing project life again. it fulfills me in a way that i didn’t know i was needing to be fulfilled. i am still in a conundrum,though. it’s so MUCH. two albums a year? where the hell am i going to put all of them? that’s too much. still haven’t figured that one out either. but it’s something i love, so i’m doing it.

♥

8.i need to get better at just letting the girls play and be loud. heck, i need to get better at actually playing with them. 

♥

9.speaking of the girls, man do they FIGHT. from the moment they wake up they fight. i.cannot.take.it. i’m about to lose my everloving mind. i’ve never seen anything like it. but of course, i don’t have sisters. so i have no point of reference. even the babies fight! they pull each other’s hair and claw/slap. dear lord have mercy on my soul.

 

okay. there’s my random brain/heart dump for the month. i hope y’all will join in. just link through the inlinkz tool below.

love y’all!

xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. i know i’m not THERE, but you have friends who love you all over the place.
    and who WISH we were closer.
    and yes
    no matter the age difference
    sisters fight… it’s what we do. 😉
    LOVE YOU.
    xoxoxo.

  2. Totally agree about Facebook-TOTALLY agree. Hurts me to see the way some “friends” post. This week I posted that I didn’t like it and “whatever happened to, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all?” 😉 We have two girls and they fought some when they were little, but are now the best of friends. It gets easier and better. When they did fight, we made them do a chore together that they didn’t like… I became the enemy and they linked together…and some chore we didn’t like got done. 😉 Running… I’ve been a runner forever, and when being a mom and wife come first, running waits. Once our girls were old enough to stay home alone, I started again and now I do it almost daily. Seasons. You will blink and these times with the girls will be few and far between. {sniffle ;)} You are an awesome, faithful example and you are doing such great things. 🙂 Many hugs to you!! 🙂

  3. Hell yeah girls fight!! lol 3 girls here ages 10,8 & 2 they fight from the minute they get out of bed till the minute they go back to bed.Lately it seems every conversation ends in some sort of argument/fight and with a 4week old baby(boy) I don’t have time to deal with it nor the patience really does my head in….I get told it gets better, so hang in there…i’ll hang with you!! 🙂

  4. oh, Steph…wish I lived nearby. I’d been your friend. Can I be a cyber friend instead?? Seems like my friends are dwindling away. I hate when that happens. Seasons of change. I despise FB. Did it for one month. I honestly think it’ll be the demise of our youth and society. Nothing is private anymore. Nothing. Brothers fight too, if that makes you feel any better?? My life is so missing a church, but I’m really working on my relationship with God! Running–can’t relate, but I’m a walker and three days without it, I’m insane.
    Gonna try to figure out how to “link back” and do a BYH. Just think, when you look back at these in 5 or 10 or 20 years….can u just imagine?

  6. you should just defriend the drama-ful people on facebook. that’s what i’ve done. but im not on twitter or instagram so that is my only connection. both twitter and instagram confuse me. im pretty technologically dumb 😉
    is there a scrap store in the area that you can find girlfriends at? or maybe when you find a church you love, you will find some. i know what you’re saying about all your girlfriends being so far away… mine are all back in new jersey still and it gets lonely. sometimes i just want someone to hang out with and it just doesn’t work out that way 🙁 i’ve been here 10 months and the meeting girlfriends thing doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. <3

  7. Love your BYH posts 🙂 A girlfriends suggestion- how about the girls’ school? While there certainly can be petty drama among the moms at schools, there is often a core group of wonderful moms, some of whom may also have toddlers at home too. Bonding over homework and manic schedules and toddler tantrums is good for the soul. Not all friendships may be deep and long lasting, but a smile and friendly conversation after drop-off is a great way to spend the day. Good luck to you and thank you for sharing yourselves with other moms out here that are muddling through too 🙂

  9. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one home during the day. We just moved to a better house, better town, better schools( you get the picture) and I guess what I thought was going to be this awesome “stay at home- play date” kind of life has really turned into nothing short of a challenge. Problem- it seems like everyone else works(sigh). You will meet friends. How could you not? I feel like we are friends just by me drinking my coffee and reading your blog every morning. YES- sisters fight!!! I am the baby of 3 girls. We STILL argue-even at the tender age of 36 😉 Hang in there. Things will fall into place and who knows? In 1 year you might be saying the same thing about leaving some ” besties’ back in Newport:) Hugs from CT

  10. Oh Sweetie, it will get better! I thought I would go out of my ever-lovin’ mind every day with kids fighting all the time. She is in my spot, has my pencil, took my toy, looked at me, ate my donut……….on and on and on and on. Screaming is an option……just go out in the yard and scream your lungs out. They follow as kids do ya know and they think this is the funniest thing they have ever seen and they may even join you. Guess what for that cathartic 5 minutes of screaming, they are not fighting! Relieves the pressure wonderfully. Now that my kids are adults they are the best of friends hanging out together on the weekends and checking in with each other daily. This too shall pass! Hugs!!!

  11. I really relate. Esp. the part about life changing, not being able to do everything, making choices and then there is project life…never started that, couldn’t see how I would ever have time…and I have all the scrapbooks of my parents too…my boys are not going to drag all these scrapbooks around the rest of their life. So, friends,well, it usually took me two years to make friends at every move and in some towns it was just easier. And your kids are at that age where it really is hard to socialize. But as they age, as you age, it does get easier. It is not permanent. And church…well, that was a problem in New England when we lived there. So different in other parts of the U.S. But it is not hopeless. It just depends how hard to are willing to look. I think you are just in a tough stage of life, but it will pass. And kids, well, they are kids. I use to just keep telling them that they are each others best friends for the rest of their life. And of course, they are reacting to this major change in their life…just reacting to the stress. Hang in there.

  12. Wish i could move up there, id be your friend. 🙂 my fav part is the girls fighting… love that. hang in there it will get better. hugs!!

  13. Love your post! On item #7: Stephanie I started PL in 2012 and knew right away I wasn’t going to keep up with a double page for each week. So I do a single page and I keep it pretty simple. It works out great because at the end of the year I’ll have one album, which is much more manageable than 2. Just wanted to share!

  14. We moved lots when our girls were little and I agree with above comment, yes, girls fight but yours could be adding alittle extra in just because of the move and extra stress of a new place and starting school. It will probably get better as they settle in. My girls are adults now, married, and the best of friends so yes “this too will pass” is fairly apt in this case I would think. I too, noticed that some towns/cities were more difficult than others to make friends in, and I agree with above comment, try the school, it worked for me and I don’t think I was as outgoing and friendly as you seem to be. Good luck my dear. Screaming in the backyard might work, it would really make your girls stop what they are doing I am sure, for the moment anyway! They will probably have a “what’s wrong with mommy moment!” It would probably be very cathartic. Hang in there, I love your blog and your family like they were my own! And facebook, well, probably because all my friends on there are old and crotchety like me, we don’t have the drama that the young people do! I don’t have instagram and twitter, don’t imagine that I will even look at getting them but I have learned over the years to never say never. It just isn’t likely though. I would probably just unfriend the dramatic ones and keep the ones that are truely like friends. But then, I am old and crotchety! LOL

  15. I hide the posts/updates of people who are out of hand. That way I don’t have to feel bad about defriending them.
    Thanks for BYH! So many common struggles – trying to find balance, major decision, fighting kids. But so many good things too! I love that you seem to have found the balance between saying no and knowing what you don’t want to do, and yes please. I’m still working on that….

  16. Steph, Hugs and love sent your way. Girls do just fight, and it will get better and they do grow up so fast. Good luck on finding a church and figuring out what you can do. You are a lovely, loving person, a good mother and I know you will find some friends soon. And you always do what I’ve always done, and that is count your blessings and be grateful. You will be just fine. Love your blog, love your sweet family, love you. And you’re still my fave in scrapbooking.

  17. my family enjoys looking at Project Life scrapbooks the most so my focus is on them. My other layouts are “event based” so it keeps the numbers down so that it’s not overkill since most is included in project life as well.

  18. I’m with you, with regard to the political posts on Facebook. Facebook just isn’t the place for reasoned discourse. (Not that there’s much of that going on in general, anyway.) I “hid” some people’s updates from my News Feed because I didn’t want to read them. I find it’s hard to make real friends as an adult. I have a lot of acquaintances, but never get over the hump to true friendship. Wish I lived closer to RI — I think my only child daughter would love the chance to play with the Howell girls — and we could watch them and snap Instagram pictures. 🙂

  19. with the exception of #2 because i am not an army wife and don’t have that challenge, i am right there with you on each single thing..really.. i swear girl you speak to my <3 oh so very often on here.. (oh and it's not just a girl thing.. my boys are now 13 and 10 and they are ridiculous!)

  20. I have every faith you will make new friends. Between preschool (when you get to it), church (when you find one), and harper’s school (when you get a chance) you will meet some nice families. And I despair after listening to fight 3,628 of the day, too. I’m an only child, so sisterly dynamics are a mystery to me.

  22. Steph, I can relate to how you feel about where you live. I miss our old town. It was home to me. I “fit in” there. Here, I don’t. That petty drama you speak of, it is my town and my little neighborhood. Complete jr high drama. I have resorted to not talking to most the neighbors. It’s too much. And this town, it’s the “good old boys club” here. If you weren’t born and raised here generations back, you don’t belong. I had a great friend in my old neighborhood. We would get together after the kids got on the bus. We would walk once in awhile after dinner. Miss that!!! Now that little boy is in school all day, it is too quiet and lonely. So, I could use a friend too. Wish you lived closer. 🙂 My kids are 10 yrs apart each almost. They still fight! The two girls, it was terrible. Oldest moved out, back in and out a few times and is heading back out again. Put a kabosh on that one. It’s not a revolving door. Fighting isn’t as bad lately. But, I have friends who have girls close in age. Oh the fighting!!! They are so competitive with each other!!! I hope you find a church home where you feel comfortable. I know the uncertainty of the future can be scary. I hope that it all works out for you, Jimmy and the girls. {{{hugs}}}

  23. I feel your pain. We just left Jamestown where I had the most amazing group of friends and moved to Utah. I love my neighborhood and have great neighbors. Everyone has been so welcoming but I have no one to hang with and just chat. It makes my heart hurt sometimes. I am trying to focus on the fact that most of my family is happy and my husband is around to help with the kids more in this job. While he is still active duty, his job does not allow for getting to know other military spouses and that is a strange adjustment.
    I know that Jamestown has a weekly coffee at Slice of Heaven on Tuesdays ( I can get more information, if you are interested). And the spouses group has some neat activities.
    Thanks for being so honest about everything. Hang in there, it will get better.

  26. I hear you on a few different points 🙂 although my husband is not a military man, he is often gone and works long hours. We live in a new town too and I haven’t made any friends. For this social butterfly, it’s been tough! Also, my kids fight the same way– pinching and hitting (though thankfully no biting yet–hopefully not at all!) annnd, I’m loving doing project 365, but it is a challenge! Good luck! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  27. I’ll be your friend! 🙂 But seriously, I live relatively close, like 45 min away. Have you made it over to Right at Home yet? Maybe we can meet for lunch sometime and do some scrap shopping! They also have crops coming up. And the former owners of another scrap store that closed 2 years ago host all day crops at a church up this way about 6 times a year.
    PS I also have a 4yo girl who has Sadie’s sass and Harper’s love for “ashion.” Getting dressed in the AM is halfway between torture and hilarious.

  28. Hi Stephaine,
    Sorry about not having new friends yet, hopefully it will come in time. Laughing and sorry for the kids fighting, loved how you described it. I hate to say it but my kids never fought, like never. They would play for hours and hours and actually would leave me out of their playing, kinda sad actually. When I had my son they would insist on him being by them all the time. Fast forward to now at tween & teens THEY DRIVE ME CRAZY, I SWEAR SOME DAYS I’M KICKING THEM OUT OR I’M GOING TO LEAVE, HAHA (not really). That’s what I get for all the good years I guess, wish they were little again. Good luck and hope they sort it out and start being best friends more often.
    Hope you will find a church soon and that it’s everything you want. I have never done the FB thing because of that and glad I haven’t still after reading what you said.
    HAPPY DANCE ABOUT YOUR PROJECT LIFE, I LOOOOVE PL AND CAN’T IMAGINE NOT DOING ONE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS OF IT. GOOD FOR YOU!!!
    Sending you hugs and smiles for happy days and prayers for positive, good things to happen and for the big changes you have to make. Thanks always for sharing this little bit of you with us.
    Oh and I would for sure hang out and be friends if we livd closer, as much as my kids fight with each other they love little kids and would entertain yours for hours so we could scrap and chat or just chat and drink something warm.
    My biggest complaint/upset today is that I spent an hour making some yummy muffins only to find out that I didn’t put in the baking soda and they didn’t come out. I was so looking forward to having them today, still ate them but not so yummy.
    Wishing for sunny sky’s so I can take a little nature/fall trip around town and get pictures. NO MORE RAIN, PLEASE!

  29. once i got a firm scolding from a STRANGER!!!! (well friend of a fb friend) for commenting ‘buzz kill’ under his political rant. i could not believe it! who does that? i soooo get what you’re saying. and my 2.5 year old is being a 2.5 year old from sunrise to sunset. misery loves company… we’re in it together 🙂

  30. Totally relate to #7 about PL. I’m going to be at 3! albums this year. I love that it feeds my creative side and is immediate. I never was good at scrapping recent pictures with my traditional scrapbooks. Yet, I need to figure out how to slim it down.

  31. I’m really feeling for you on the “missing girlfriends” part. We spent 5 years a state away from friends/family and I don’t think I made a single deep, personal friend while I was there. :/ Thankfully we’ve been back “home” the past year and I’m more open and forming more friendships. Facebook: I hear ya! I post only every once in a great while–I’m not interested in the drama and I’m sure everyone gets tired of seeing my constant pics of my kids! And with my kids, they’re either best buds or tearing each other up… wish their relationship wasn’t so bipolar!
    I wish I could open my heart better, so I am grateful every time you post a new BYH! I will be linking up later!

  32. Things are so different when your husband’s a student. I’m not sure what yours is like, but mine’s in med school and that means he has to study a lot. So while he’s home, sometimes, he just can’t be available to help out the way I want him to and that was hard for me to deal with. But it is what it is. If we want him to be a doctor, this is what we’ll have to put up with for now. Harper’s in school now, right? Have you met any moms from school? That’s how I found my circle of girlfriends when I first moved. It takes a while to develop friendships when our children are our “common interest” but I’ve found that playdates and park outings have been great times to catch up with other moms.

  33. Maybe once you find a church, you will find fellowship. I am not in your shoes, but have many friends with fulltime jobs, kids, obligations and too much to do. I don’t know how you all do it all, to be honest. You have so much more than a full time job, especially with 4 kiddos. I for one believe that no one can do it all. Nor should you be expected to. I think in life, every day is different, even though they feel the same, some circumstances change day by day. Instead of putting pressure on yourself to do it all, maybe you could decide each day, what is important for you to do that day, or possible for you to do that day, depending on that particular day. You are managing wonderfully! Deep breaths. Thinking of you, and as always enjoying pictures of your 4 sweeties! Love and Light!

  35. I love your BYH posts. They reassure me that life does indeed happen to everyone. I can relate to a lot of what you said. A lot. FB is out of control these days. I’ve had to hide people, too.
    I’ve recently begun re-reading Joyce Meyer’s Battlefield of the Mind to help me through this season in my life. And I took the plunge and signed myself up for a women’s group at church that will meet weekly for about 2 months. Paid the $15 for childcare and everything. I’m trying to work on the “no excuses” for things I say really matter to me. Trying to walk the talk.
    Take care. And know that you have tons of blog readers who care about you.

  36. Steph, hugs from Australia and I so agree with the many things you spoke about from Facebook ( I got off and miss pics of my family badly but just didn’t want to waste my time with the rest of it anymore)to needing girlfriends even when you are happily married to having a little girl who just pushes my buttons all.day.long. Hope you find that church soon, I miss mine too, although it is right here in town I have to go without my husband due to the hours he works in our business and with the kids I just spend the whole time feeling frustrated so at this stage of my life a peaceful 5 minutes thinking about Him seems like a much better fit for me. xx

  37. I love these posts. I totally agree about FB. No need to invite that kind of nonsense into your life. I hope that you find a church and friends soon. Maybe you’ll meet some new people from your area at CKU! Hugs…

  38. Thank you for this post! I REALLY needed it! I haven’t been blogging lately and I was just whining to my husband that I really miss my blogging, then I get on your blog and see this post from you, it’s a good start again!
    Thank you!

  39. i love these posts steph. and i’m praying for you about the friend thing. i feel like i’m in the same boat here with brent as a “student”…without a normal squadron for support/friends. i have made two sweet friends (one from TX also who understands that DrPepper tastes better there!!!) both from our church here…so I’ll be praying that you will find a church home soon. big hugs to you.

  40. Thank you for putting real life out there. Many times I look at blogs to escape my own life – my kids fighting (2 boys and 1 girl and they do get into it!), my house that I can’t keep clean (I’m looking at 3 days worth of dishes and 5 loads of laundry in various stages right now), trying to adjust to teaching 8th grade again after being all high school for the last 9 years (oh, the drama of 8th grade girls), my own creative pursuits, working on my marriage, my own personal relationship with Jesus, making friends not acquaintances is challenging. Anyway, I so appreciate your honesty and feel like I’m not the only one that feels that way. Thanks for the lift every time I check in.

  41. We moved a lot when my husband was in the service. Does J’s class have a wives group? When you find a church it might be a source of friends. Book clubs ata library might offer a source of friends (of course then there’s the books to fit in and the sometimes drama that accpanies book clubs). Are there any early childhood classes for your title ones? Those usually offer classes for the kids and gathering time for the moms. It is important for you (and your family) to find some girlfriends!
    Good luck–and enjoy this special year.

  42. I haven’t done this yet…but I will. I just wanted to comment on #4. I’m at a point in my life where I can go running every. single. morning. It is ridiculously luxurious to me and one of my favorite parts about my life right now. But oh, I have been where you are. Well, not quite as intense (3 kids super close, not 4, and no twins!), but still there, frustrated at not having the time to fit it in. There WILL come a time in your life when your kids’ demands are less intense and some minutes will open up. It is SOOOO hard to have to be patient but it will come! And there is always a trade off. I can run in the mornings but my “baby” is a busy 7-year-old and there is no baby sweetness to be found in this house anymore. Slip the running in when you can and know it will fall in place eventually!

  43. so far i have not encountered much negativity on FB, but then i am older and very choosy about who i FB with. (i graduated in 1973, seems easier to put it that way than my age! LOL!)
    as for trying to do it all, you can’t , hire someone to help you with the cleaning
    i am doing PL just to keep putting the pics in an album and not in a box…i might have one week with just the pics from the weekend..taking a pic a day does not work with me.
    oh, ya, i had 4 kids and they always fought! you will miss this one day, oh, ya, i see you rolling your eyes! LOL! hang in there! love your blog!

  44. The facebook thing breaks my heart. I’ve been known to take things a little (a little???) too personally and so when I see some of those hateful comments I can imagine that person standing in front of me saying it directly to me. And that makes me very sad.
    I’m sorry about the lack of friends (Random: I’ve started watching Army Wives and I like to imagine that was what your life was like in Savannah.) Maybe finding a great church home will help on the home front? Is there a MOPS group you could join with the twinkies?
    And the girls fighting? I didn’t have sisters, but I can imagine. Maybe you lock them all in a room together and they can’t come out until they love eachother again 🙂

  45. This was so TRUE and REAL and I loved reading it. I know what you mean about the friends lady, but know how many virtual friends you have!! AND around the country. I’m dealing with the no friends thing, and it’s rough. But I’m trying and that’s what matters right?

  47. Ha – your comment about where the heck you are going to put all your albums made me laugh out loud – I feel the same way….I love scrapping but it’s like kids toys – always seems like so much stuff and not enough space for it all to fit 😉

  48. I agree about the friends thing. *sigh* We were stationed there for four years, and there are THREE families we still keep in touch with. To me, that’s horrible. LOL. Okay, I guess there are three other friends, in addition to those three families, but still. Six friends in four years?! Not cool. Just not cool at all. I guess it’s the way of New England though… people are kinda closed-off and uptight, in general. 🙁 But you’re so awesome. I’m sure you’ll find some friends! And if not… I can introduce you to the Charbonneau family, and their “Chica Chicks” circle of girlfriends. LOL. They’re a group of crafting, card-making, stamping, scrapbooking ladies, who are just SO nice and wonderful. Yes, they’re all older in their 40s and 50s, but I hung with them the most, and they are fabulous. 🙂
    And church. Jeremy hated that we church-shopped there a few times, and we found one we liked, but it was kinda far from us in North Kingstown. We attended while we lived on the island. 🙂 I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but the people and pastors were very sweet at this one. Pastor Barr and his wife Ruth are SO sweet! 🙂
    http://newportcommunitychurch.org/index.html
    Hang in there! Thanks for this post. It’s really encouraging and inspiring when you share your heart with us. 🙂

  49. So glad to hear that my kids aren’t the only ones who fight! I feel like its all my fault. Man your words really stuck with me. Keep doing what you are doing. you are an amazing mama!

  50. oh my gosh – I have 2 girls and they are fighting like crazy right now! I remember the same things with my sisters but now we are the best of friends! About to do a blog post. Thanks for sharing and the reminder. It’s been a while. Take care

  51. i couldn’t agree with you more about FB. i made a choice back in March after a few comments from my husbands cousins were a little tasteless to take my life events over to Instagram, and i couldn’t be more happy! however, i’m seriously confused by other peoples interest/questions of why i’m not on there anymore. maybe we’re the only people who notice the petty actions that get displayed on there. who knows, but i surly don’t care enough to ask. i truly love this idea of having a monthly round-up about current concerns/issues on your mind, so i hope this is a monthly feature for you. i can’t wait to post mine this coming monday and will of course link back to you. oh, and thanks for the lovely image.

  52. Stephanie, Hello from Cumberland, RI (Northeast corner of state). There is a great scrapbook store in North Attleboro, MA called Right at Home Scrapbooking (not sure if you have looked any up yet, or even been there). They do lots of crops, classes, and weekend retreats. It is maybe 50 minutes from you I am guessing. I also have 4 kids and know how hard to find the time to do all that you “want to” fit in, let alone all that you “have to” fit in to the day. I long for more time, or any for that matter, to scrapbook.
    As far as making friends, a lot of towns in RI have “Mom’s Clubs” so maybe check into that. Join the PTO!!!!! Also, baby classes at Gymboree, the local YMCA, or Little Gym can be a great way to meet other moms. Don’t forget that Newport is a tourist town, so it may take awhile to break into the local community. I am sure you will in time. Good luck!

  53. maggie-thanks so much for your encouragement! yes, i am wanting to teach/do a crop at RAH, but im waiting to hear back from sharon. hope youll be able to come!