You may not have noticed, but I’ve been super quiet around here lately. Preparing and reminding myself about the topics I’m teaching in Biology and Chemistry has been absorbing all my mental energy. I’ve only done a little writing as well. I’ve had my project life album sitting on my desk for months, waiting for me to add journaling. In short, scrapbooking hasn’t been a big priority lately. Which is normal. You have to expect your scrapbooking output to vary depending on your circumstances.

So I was super pleased and grateful when Alice Boll asked me to be a featured scrapbooker for the first LOAD she’s running. Finally, an outside deadline for making pages! Hooray!

Today’s prompt was all about chores, and I’ve actually been keeping track of them this year.

Are there any chores you keep track of? It’s rather depressing and simultaneously empowering to realize how much stuff gets cleaned around here on a regular basis.

I’ll be back later this month, and share the other pages I’ve made for LOAD. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got more class prep to do. We’ve got to get them ready for their regents exams in mid-June!

Scrapbooking has fallen down on my priority list. Now, instead of being a big ole’ second in command, it’s fallen to fourth place in the list of things to do.

First place is still making sure my family is taken care of, but preparing for work, and writing, have jumped the line and budged in front of scrapbooking.

That makes me sad. I’m feeling the lack of scrapbooking blues.

Luckily, in just a couple days, the February Layout a Day challenge begins.

Cue an ecstatic happy dance!

Why am I so happy? Because I need this. I need to make telling family stories a priority. I need to play with pretty paper and shiny stuff. I need to treasure my photos.

I’ve got a whole list of things I can work on:

Catching up with Project Life. Although I am going to try to pump out lots of Project Life stuff this weekend, so I can do other styles of pages. I’m in the Project Life is not easy mind frame at the moment. That’s just because I haven’t been doing it consistently, so I may be feeling a little overwhelmed, or possibly even resentful. But this is a project I’ve chosen to do for good reasons, so I’m going to work through my silly issues, and keep going.

The exchange student living with us this year brought a photo book of the early years of his life, along with blank pages, which I can fill up with things we do while he’s here. We’ve done a few fun things that definitely deserve to be added to that.

I can work on pages for my sister. Her kids’ scrapbooks are pretty empty.

I can assemble my December Daily for 2015. I made sure to write every day, but I haven’t printed any photos yet. I don’t like printing at home.

And then there are a bunch of extra pictures that I printed when I ordered photos for Project Life. There are lots of little stories I can tell there.

What will be fun, is turning the prompts that Lain gives us, which this time will have an around the world theme, into stories that work with the photos and projects I have planned.

That’s always the fun part. Making my brain stretch and adapt prompts that may say one thing into something completely my own.

I love LOAD.

A word to the wise: This is the last Layout a Day challenge being headed by Lain Ehmann, who began the whole shebang. There will be future LOADs, but she won’t be running them. If you want to experience an original LOAD, this is your last chance to join up. Sign up here: LOAD 2016

Join us! Take the plunge. It’s not scary. It’s not judgmental. It’s not impossible.

LOAD is permission to scrapbook on a daily basis, in an inspiring, friendly and enthusiastic place. You won’t regret it. I certainly haven’t.