When the kids and I arrived home on Sunday, Laddie was making weird whimpering noises. Sarah let him out of his cage, and he bolted for the stove. He was absolutely obsessed. After about 5 minutes watching Laddie’s frantic sniffing and digging, I figured it out. We had a mouse.

I saw said mouse about three hours later while talking to The Spousal Unit about his (TSU’s) discovery of a mouse in the house. Yes, I screamed into the phone. No, I did not jump on any chairs.

Laddie has been absolutely nuts on mouse patrol. It’s clear only he (and sometimes Sydney) know what is going on. They are running on pure instinct — doing what Scottish Terriers do naturally: hunt vermin. It is both funny and interesting to watch my beloved pet turn into the small Scottish wolf with a mission.

There has been talk on the Smack blog that basically boils down to this: why don’t we do what creatively comes naturally to us. Why do some people need to follow the Scrapbook divas? Why do some people do all they can to become divas, but fail to be chosen time and again. Why scrap what some “authority” tells you to do, or in the style they deem “correct”?

I once submitted pages to a design contest — then, immediately after mailing my package, realized that it was a total waste of my time and postage money. Never did it again.

I once applied to a design team. When I saw who was chosen and their style (throw everything from a particular manufacturer on a page – a.k.a. product vomit), I realized my style was not one that would sell tons of product. It’s all about sales, not about good design or technique. I never did that again.

So, I stick to what I like. I pull together some pretty nice layouts and cards, if I say so myself. I share my work with a non-competitive and very creative bunch of paper artists when I’m in the mood — or I have time to post a photo.

But it’s all on my terms, and no one else’s. Because in the end, the one who really cares the most about what I’ve created is me. Like Laddie, I am going to keep digging, and searching, and doing what comes naturally to me.

Went out of town for 24 hours to spend some time at the Club Scrap Headquarters in Appleton and spend some money at their warehouse sale. I purchased a number of project kits that I should be able to turn into quick and nice Christmas presents.

I really should sit down and look at all the things I have purchased in the last 6 months. I have a feeling that I have all the Christmas presents purchased, except for The Spousal Unit and the Kids. Maybe I should do that Tuesday night after supper. Then I could start wrapping, and be WAY ahead of the program. Wouldn’t that be nice!

As this is my birthday month, I’ve started to receive birthday greetings from my fellow Club Scrappers. I’m starting the scanning to my Flickr gallery for this year’s card shower. You can click here, or click on the link in the side bar. I’ll keep updating it throughout the month.

This is my reward for making cards the past 11 months — a parade of creativity in my mailbox almost every day. It’s great!

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I will be purging and rearranging my work area.

My husband is appalled. Not because I am purging, but because I will be moving furniture. He seems to have this idea that I can’t redecorate or rearrange furniture without his minute by minute instruction.

As you may recall, I had to wait until he went out of town for a week to get rid of the crappy carpet on the stairs, and fix them up. (project link here)

I also had to take the bull by the horns to paint my work area (painting over some really ugly paneling ) a nice lavender, and get new flooring. When I told him I would have a friend help me install the flooring after I painted, he freaked. He freaked even more when I presented all the research on how to paint over paneling, and showed him the cans of paint and primer.

He did wind up helping, but he was a pain-in-the-ass. Even my friend said so. But the room turned out great. Just the way I wanted it. Still looks great two years later.

After these two incident, I decided to get the objective opinion from a professional — handyman. I explained to this guy my husband’s reactions, how I am completely capable of handling power tools and cleaning them up, painting, demolition, etc.

The handyman listened carefully to my story, then made this diagnosis: I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s my husband. I scare the heck out of him because I am capable. I’m competition. That’s why he nags, and criticizes, and is a general pain-in-the-ass. And that I should continue doing what I am, and continue to do as much of it behind his back so I don’t have to put up with his crap.

I have a license to do what I want to do, in my space. Even though my husband is flipping over my latest plans, they are my plans. It’s my workroom and I’ll move what I want to.

I have a very small work area. It’s an alcove off our bedroom upstairs. The light could be better, it could be warmer/cooler (depending on the season), but it is all mine.

Lately I haven’t been satisfied with my space. I had two problems:
— clutter
— things weren’t in a logical location.

I have piles of clutter, some of it neatly hidden, other not so neatly hidden. As soon as I get rid of a bunch of clutter, more moves in. I’m not sure how that happens, as I don’t buy that much stuff anymore. Maybe it’s all the Here Mama’s I get from the kids (Here Mama, this is for you. Here Mama, I drew these twelve pictures during free time for you.).

My scrapbooking supplies are housed in three different locations in my workspace. My stamps are also in three locations. I have computer software and manuals everywhere. And I have computer peripherals everywhere. I look like the biggest techie in the world (but really, most of my computer stuff is pure crap!), wires everywhere.

After a lot of thinking and some measuring, I have come up with a plan to rearrange my workspace. It will start with a major purge of sewing and scrapbooking items, putting some stuff into deep storage, and moving things around.