I'm Back - Sort Of!

Ok, so I finally did get my scrap corner cleaned up. The last page I scrapped would have been sometime around April of 2008. Yep, over a year ago! Wowza, where do I begin? I do want to thank my IRL scrapping pal GayleV, who also participates in the AMR forum, for nagging me once in a while about getting going.
Here's what happened:

1. Most importantly, I have come to realize that I allowed myself to lost the joy and creativity of scrapping. I became so focused on getting published (never happened, btw) that I no longer was doing any project for the simple joy of doing it. In the July CK, someone wrote, "Stop overthinking, and start creating." That's what I'm going to do. While entering every contest was good for me because it challenged me to try new techniques, etc., it put too much stress on me as well. No more. I'm not saying I won't submit anything (I'm too competitive not to try), but my intention of scrapping will be for the joy, creativity, and for leaving something for my children.
   
2. After having baby #3 last fall, all bets were off. Anyone with three or more kids will tell you, having a third changes everything. It does not seem like it would be so much more than having two, but our household changed.
   
3. As my scrapping seemed to stop, my scrap area because sort of a dumping ground for everything that I didn't want to deal with. When it turned in to the staging area for a partial remodel of my kitchen, I knew I had to take a stand.
   
4. I subscribe to five different scrapping magazines (plus a couple of parenting, a household mag or two, lifestyle mags, etc.). I have not read one since Travis was born in September. My goal was to read them this summer as the kids swam during the day. That goal got shot all to hell when I lost almost every magazine to a flood in the basement. Ugh. All those magazines were totaled!
   
5. Finally, my husband deployed to Afghanistan again last February leaving me with even less time to get things organized.

So, I finally got my scrap area, cleaned up enough for me to say that I can start again. Here is the next problem:

• I won't be home for most of the summer. The kids and I stay with my parents when they're not in school because they give me a lot of help in Allen's absence.
  

Here are some immediate goals that I'm going to set:

• Get reacquainted with some of the online forums that I used to frequent. I want to see who is there, and what they are doing.
• See what techniques are hot, what are not and what the newest stuff might be.
• Check out online galleries and read the new magazines that arrive in the mail.
• When I do make it home, I want to start page kits. I'll have to go through all my stuff and re-familiarize myself with what I have first though.
• Check out contests, page calls and challenges to get my juices flowing. Maybe I'll make some sketches based on these things.
  
• Eventually, I want to bring the page kits to my parents' house and maybe get a page or two done to get me back in the swing of things.

I think doing those things should get me ready to hit the ground running once the kids and I move back home for the coming school year.

So now, if you are still reading this, please tell me where you think I should start or just give me some words of wisdom. I'd love to hear from you!