It’s been fun to see what’s on your mind. I’ll take a handful of your questions at a time and try to answer some all week long. Here we go!

Q: Do you have any suggestions for people who don’t get their photo taken because they are always taking the photos. I have tried getting my husband to take some but he doesn’t get those in the moment shots (which I love more).

A: You could always hand the camera over to your kids. Sure, they won’t get the most amazing composition and you are guaranteed to get a handful of blurry shots. But they will love that Mom’s letting them use the camera and they will take a LOT of pictures. And you will be in front of the camera for once! Of course you could hire a photographer too. But my favorite idea is to trade real-life photography with a friend. I’ve actually been thinking about doing this for a long time. You would have a friend come to your house for a couple of hours when there’s a lot of activity and she clicks away while you and your family just do what you do. She captures you in the essence of your roles and duties at home. And then of course you would do the same for her. Think of the documentation that results from such an activity.

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Q: How do you keep track of everything going on in your life? Do you use a big paper calendar? On-line calendar, notepads, etc?

A: We use iCal. It comes on every Mac computer. It has become the key to our scheduling coordination success. Seriously. I love it. And it syncs with our other computers, iPhone, iPod Touch, etc. So I could add something to iCal right now and David would see it on the calendar at work almost immediately. I especially love the color coding for categories. So our family stuff is red, birthdays are blue, church stuff is purple, work stuff is green and so forth. I am experiencing one of the very busiest times of my life and organized calendaring has never been so important. I’d show you a screenshot of our iCal as it looks right now, but that’s a bit personal. So here’s a screenshot I found online. You can learn more about iCal here.

I also keep a small notebook by my computer and sometimes it even follows me to bed. This is my place for random notes, ideas, sketches, lists, etc. For all areas of my life. I have learned that whenever ideas pop into my head, writing them down is the BEST thing to do with the ideas. What this does is frees my mind for better ability to think creatively because I’m not always trying to remember stuff. If I write it down, I don’t have to work hard to remember something. If I have to work hard to remember stuff, I am not able to clearly think about stuff. Get it?

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Q: I wonder if you’ve considered, now that you are not affiliated with any company or entity, writing a book on organizing? People read your blog for so many different kinds of ideas, not just scrapbook-related. I’d sure buy a book with chapters on organizing for a party, organizing for crafting, organizing nightly dinners (recipes), organizing your home/chores, etc. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who feels this way.

A: You’re sweet. I’m not that organized. I have a long way to go before I would feel like I could write a whole book on organizing, although I do love the subject. So I will continue to share my organizational thoughts & ideas here on my blog. Free of charge.

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Q: I always use your sketch books for my layouts. Your sketches were the only thing that kept me buying Creating Keepsakes mag. Are you going to be doing anymore sketch books ???

A: It makes me happy to hear how my sketches have helped scrapbookers. Thank you for sharing that. I think I have exhausted my mental supply of sketch ideas. But that’s not to say that you’ve seen my very last sketch. Next time I come up with one for a layout I’m working on, I’ll be sure to share it with you here.

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Q: Has cancer affected anyone close to you?

A: My brother, my dad, my grandmother, several extended relatives. Close friends. So, yes. It has.

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Q: Do you scrapbook everyday? I work full time and have four boys and am really struggling to find time. I’ve been scheduling scrap nights once a month with friends but I miss my scrap time! How do you do it?

A: Heck no. I’m struggling to find time just like you. In fact, I haven’t scrapbooked in months. Months. But I’m itching to do some catching-up in our kids’ books and am hoping to do that in the next month or so.

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Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have about 5 or 6 things to check off my to-do list before I do what’s next up on iCal. Meeting some girlfriends for a quick lunch. So excited to see a friend I haven’t seen in a while. Be back tomorrow.

Tags: calendar, cancer, iCal, schedule, scrapbooking, sketches

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.