Monday, January 3, 2011

A New Perspective

Ok, y'all. All this talk about New Year's resolutions has really given me reason to pause and evaluate what in my life could use a little "tweaking". Here is what I have been tossing around in my brain. And if you agree, great. If not, that's ok too. And if you don't care, so be it :)
I LOVE to shop for scrapping supplies. I love love love it. I kinda get a weird...well, HIGH from it. I love the smell of paper, the feel of new stamps. The aroma of a new ink pad. The stiffness of a new Cricut cartridge handbook. I shop for scrap supplies when I have money, I shop for scrap supplies when I don't have money. I will ALWAYS find a way to get the new stuff. And I have bags, piles,stacks, and drawers full of brand new scrap supplies. Because let's face it, as a wife, mother, student, career gal, whatever I am at the moment, there will NEVER be enough time in the day to use it all. I have enough Christmas papers and embellies right now in my stash to scrapbook every Christmas I will ever have if I live to be 100. I could spray paint my not-so-mini van 10 times with all the different colors of glimmer mist I own. Paper...oh my. If all the tree huggers find out about my stash, I'll end up on their top 10 list of tree killers. But, I digress...here' the rub to all this.
I have a nice stash. A really nice stash. Not as nice as some of the famous youtubers or bloggers, but it's not that shabby. I could buy a nice new car with what I have invested in Provocraft. Seriously.
And up until two weeks ago, I had only two pairs of pants and four tops that fit me in my entire closet.
I have not taken care of my skin, nails, hair, anything that has to do with my physical appearance.
I have been hiding myself behind my scrap supplies.
Shopping for scrap supplies filled a little bit of a void. Let's face it. You can get popular on YouTube for your hauls.  Who doesn't want to be popular? People covet the stuff you show off. They either live vicariously through your haul vids, or you stimulate the ecomomy and feed their need for more stuff and they go buy it :) And there is absolutely nothing wrong with hauls and videos and indulging yourself. I am not saying that at all. All I am saying is that there is something wrong when my scraproom is better taken care of than I am, that I take more pride in how many stacks of Graphic 45 I own than how good I feel about myself and how attractive my husband finds me. And if I am not taking care of myself or my appearance, he may at some point wish I would die cut myself a new outfit out of all that beautiful paper I have so that he would feel some pride in taking me out in public. They have some really beautiful patterns of paper, ya know? That could make a cute dress. But the size that my butt has become would require two whole DCWV stacks instead of one. Better use a 40% off coupon. :)
So, to make a long post even longer-here's my plan.
Whenever I wander in to a scrap/craft store to pick up a few items, I will also wander into Dress Barn, Steinmart, Sephora, whatever, and spend half of whatever I was going to spend on craft supplies on something else that will help improve ME. And just like most of you, I am on a pretty tight budget. S0, even if I only end up spending $10 on myself, that's a few new nail polishes to make me feel pretty. That's something to make me smell good. That's something to soften my skin, improve my wrinkles. Fun earrings. Whatever. If its a pay day and I am really going big, $50 will buy me a new pair of jeans and a cute top.  Or a cute new purse. Instead of buying 4 new carts, I will only buy 2 and use the rest for something to make me as fantastic as my projects. You get it.
I love scrapping. I am not about to quit scrapping and blogging. I will continue to post new projects! More are in the works right now! BUT, I will also be sharing what I have done for myself in those posts too.
My New Year's resolution-stop hiding behind my obsession and start taking care of me too.

7 comments:

  1. You know, this makes total sense to me. It is amazing what we will choose to spend our hard earned cash on. And, I too love to wander the aisles of scrapbooking goodies. It is soothing and inspiring all at the same time.

    So I think this is a great plan! Good luck and have fun with it.
    StacyC

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  2. I am absolutely, positively with you. I came to this exact realization a few months ago and have been trying to be better about spending my money on ME instead of supplies. But it's hard when you don't like the size on the clothing tag and paper is one size fits all. So, that's why this year I am so focused on weight loss. I have to take care of ME and get to a point where I'm happy with how I look. That's why I started the weight loss group. I've hid behind food and fat for too long. I want to be happy again and I want to be proud of myself again. We can do it, Krista. I'll hold your hand if you'll hold mine and we'll finish out 2011 as winners! (or losers depending on how you want to look at it. lol)

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  3. ok, well i read ur whole entire post, and i love what you say. it makes sense. but you know when you have 2 people who are addicted to drugs and then one of them realizes its time to go to rehab. well by reading your post i see you realize you need to go to rehab. i am the other addicted one who refuses to go to rehab. but i do understand all of what you are saying. i wish you the best of luck w/ all of your purchases. as for me, for now, i have to spend my little pennies on my scrap supplies b/c i still need that "high" when i get something new from the scrapbook store. i get no high out of buying clothes or nail polish or a purse. i get a high from a huge bag of hand me down clothes and they actually fit. lol happy new year to you and God bless. I wish you the best on your journey. I dont wish for you to relapse, but if you do, come looking for me and we will go scrpabook shopping together. (((((hugs))))) to you hon. xoxo

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  4. I totally agree with you! This year it's all about Me! Liking myself...taking care of myself...losing weight. :)

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  5. KeeKee, I love your post. And like Sherry said, it's easier to head right to scrapbooking supplies when we are NOT the perfect size 10 or whatever you are aiming for...me I'd be happy w/12! HA! My craft room is also my "extra" room, so there's my husband's books, computer, fax machine, ect. and I HATE the mess. But don't even know how to start w/getting organized! So, it takes me a long time to "create" cause I have to hunt through stuff. I have a cabinet that a friend was getting rid of and gave to me, but it's not Organized like I would like. I would like baskets and make it CUTE aND FUNCTIONAL. I see posts of others that have it sorted, labeled, organized and I just look at my clutter and think...where do I start! But you are an encouragement and I really enjoy your projects and posts! Best of luck, and maybe I'll lose some too! But I do know that I've got to get in better health. Hugs~

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  6. I am sooo with you girlfriend! I have joined WW online, dusted off the Wii Fit and have felt better in the last 5 days then I have in 6 months..I don't need more craft/scrap supplies...I want new clothes......and to fit into my clothes..I want to feel comfortable in my skin - not like a stuffed sausage - I want my muffin top to flatten out like a pancake!

    XOXO
    Bea

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  7. OMGoodness KeeKee.. It's like I was typing all you typed... You know how I get down when I buy supplies,lol.. I need this.. and I think I needed to read this at this moment.. Keep in touch with me on this.. and I am right there beside you.. I don't need anything else scrap related because I have a basement that shows I have everything..

    I don't have anyone to tell me no and I think that is what the problem is.. well not that I need someone to tell me no.. I need to be able to tell myself no.. I probably have the same amount of clothes in my closet that you had except for the scrub uniforms that I wear to work..

    I am vowing to change that.. this year I'm going to be better about taking care of me.. We can do it!

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