Embracing my destiny

I am not a scrapbooker. I did try to be, back in high school and then in college when I lived with fellow scrapbookers who inspired me to record my life with pictures, really expensive paper, and stickers. My pack-rat tendencies just looooooved the idea of scrapbooking. Tickets, receipts, scraps of fabric, out-and-out trash, oh yeah. Now there was a reason to hang on to those things. I was going to stick them into a book where they would be elevated to not only art but also to Personal History which would one day very much bless my family and give me righteousness points. ("A scrap of fabric from your prom dress, Mom? Now I feel way close to Jesus!")

Except . . . I became less of a pack rat. And I bought a digital camera. And I became less of a scrapbooker. I did not want to spend eighty bazillion dollars on paper and stickers, and I did not want to spend the time needed to actually put those things together. This is why I currently possess seven years' worth of digital photos that have never been printed, much less arranged in something I could actually show to people whom I have tied down onto my couch. I did buy a small photo album and slip some wedding pictures in it, two years after the wedding. Massive triumph, right there.

The thing is? You can run from your Mormon record-keeping, brag-book-creating, check-out-our-superfun-life heritage, but you can't hide. The addition of little Lord Voldemort has nudged away the final barrier and now OH MY GOSH I MUST RECORD HIS LIFE AND POSSIBLY MAKE CALENDARS FOR ALL THE GRANDPARENTS AND I KNOW NOT WHAT ELSE.

Sigh.

Luckily for me, Groupon is going to help me out today. Their deal is $10 for a hardcover, 20-page, 8 x 8 inch photo book from Shutterfly (normally priced around $30). I pick the photos and the layout and the text, they make the book and send it to me. I doubt I'll find an easier way to appease these strange stirrings within, so I'm going to give it a go and we'll see. If this endeavor agrees with me, then mayhaps I will do it again. Something like a yearly family book with pictures and highlights seems doable, right? If anyone out there has recommendations or good experiences to share about such things, share away!

Because come on. Stuff like this?



This needs to be in a book. If only so that there is proof that I finally finished knitting something for him. And also as a record that this onesie existed, because I'm pretty sure I will never be able to wash out the gallon of crap that currently resides in its fibers.

Posted in: being a Mormon