Cathy Zielske's Blog

Best of 2008

I know that this year-end recap thing is either a) done WAY better than I could do it, or b) lame, but I thought I'd share my favorite posts of 2008 with you, the ones you had to:  a) enjoy,  b) think about, or c) endure, scratching your head and wondering why in God's name you read this blog.

All of my love, blog readers. And I really do mean that. You let me share my voice, however strange and idiosyncratic it may be at times, and you comment. It means a lot.

Without further adieu, the Best of 2008 as voted by a panel of me:

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The Scrapbooking Indoctrination Video They Didn't Want You to See
This truly was the high point for me, in terms of a) making an ass of myself and b) making an ass of myself.

Teaching Aidan an Important Life Lesson
It just feels so right when you KNOW you are passing along information that's this good.

The Tag Book Post
This was probably the only relevant scrapbook related thing of 2008 with great value. You can search my blog using the Google search for all relevant "tag book" posts. Enjoy!

Six Word Memoirs 
Didn't come  up with this, but I loved the book, and now there's even a deluxe edition. The video still makes me weepy.

Proof My Husband Likes Me
Just a simple story that I shared with a lot of people throughout the year. It later became a scrapbook page.

Why I like to use "dick weed" in my everyday conversations
Self explanatory, really.

King of the World
Cole as the St. Paul Saints Mini Super Fan. Sniff. It will be his last year as Super Fan has moved away.

Stand Up to Cancer
Because I hate cancer and if this moves you to make a donation, do it again. And again.

White&Nerdy
Because this got more non-giveaway related comments than anything I have ever posted. Ever.

And there you  have it.

One thing this tells me: i need to write more often and better. But hey, at least I worked "dick weed" into my faves for 2008.

Happy New Year's Eve and thank you so much for spending a wee bit of your internet browsing time with me.

Me 'n Oprah… thick as thieves

There's not a lot I have in common with Oprah. Technically.

Most of you have probably seen the cover of the January 2009 issue of “O” magazine, and if you haven’t, I’ll refresh your memory.

One of the things I’ve always loved about Oprah is that she definitely keeps it real. Even with the billions of dollars that must just float in the air around her, she’s always trying her best to be a good human. I think many times she succeeds. And seeing this latest chapter in her weight loss journey kind of struck home. Real close like. I present my own January 2009 issue, which will highlight some of why it’s hitting so close to where I live:

(click on the image to see it larger in a separate window)

Aside from the obvious point here (graphic designers are nutty and have a lot of FUN!), I present to you the start of my challenge for 2009. To be puffy, or to not be puffy.

I am not one to ask, with luminous doe-eyes, "How'd THIS happen?" Because I know how it happened. It happened when I stepped off the treadmill, canceled my Weight Watchers online membership, and began to eat nearly everything I saw. For months on end.

Sigh.

Oprah's cover says, "How did I let this happen again?" And although she too knows full well (and writes about it at length) how it happened, I know the feeling. It's a feeling that you've somehow let yourself down, again. It's a feeling that likes to make you feel like, pardon my French, shit. That somehow, you're a failure because you didn't keep control.

I get that. And I struggle between wanting to immerse myself in a vat of self-loathing to trying to rise above and take the highest road possible in order to achieve optimum health.

In other words, I like to say, "I'm going to get into shape for my health and longevity," but in reality, I just want to wear a pair of size 10 jeans and feel hot again.

Keep in mind, these are MY issues. I think women and men have to decide where they are most comfortable. I know that right now, my chest is getting in the way of my arms, and when I bend over to tie my shoes, so is my stomach. It's not comfortable for me, and so… I  have to make a choice.

Now part of me is sad. Just like when I knew I had to quit smoking. And then, I wasn't just sad. I was devastated. Just ask Tara Whitney, who was on the receiving end of a handful of the most distraught phone calls a person could ever hope to receive during the first week I had quit.

It is hard to say goodbye to something that you not only love, but helps you function every day.

Right now, whole bags of potato chips and chocolate and boxes of grape popsicles are helping me to function every day. Because I have let them. Because I have now officially replaced smoking with food. It only took just under three years. Surprisingly.

The thing about food though, that differs from smoking, unless you're on Fear Factor or Survivor, it's usually not considered gross. You actually NEED it to live. Therein lies the rub. You have to learn to make good and healthful choices for your body. You can't just NOT do it. For all or nothing people, that can be an extreme challenge.

For me, it means getting re-acquainted with one of the scariest words in the English language, and one I have very little experience with: moderation. I'm shuddering as I type that.

So there it is. I am simply announcing my intention to get back on the horse and ride in 2009. I will post once a month on this subject, and no more. It's not really a New Year's resolution. I'm just sort of anal and like doing things that start on the first of any given month.

Wish me luck.

Whew…all is calm

And so Christmas has come and gone.

Unlike last year, when I would have offered to put its gloves and hat on and send it on its way right after the gift opening, this year… I really wouldn't have minded if it had stuck around a bit longer.

Maybe it was a purposefully slower pace. Or the fact that I did most of my shopping in September. Or the fact that my children's wish list included things like: a multipack of Sharpies, a My Chemical Romance t-shirt, and a miniature model of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Maybe it was because I knew I wasn't going back to work until January 5th. Or maybe it was just simply the fact that I'm a very lucky and blessed human with so very much to be happy for.

Like Coleman's eagerness to get up early on Christmas Eve day and start making cookies.

He made the first two batches completely by himself. I was seriously impressed.

And Aidan's complete shock to get something she wasn't expecting.

But something I think she's pretty much going to love.

Do you remember your first camera? I do. Oh sure, it wasn't no high tech digi camera. It looked a lot like this.

And then there was Cole's reaction to getting just about anything this year.

I only took about 10 pictures on Christmas morning. You're seeing 25 percent of them in this blog post. It just feels good to snap a few and forget about it.

My favorite gift? A pair of North Face gloves. Seriously. And NO one in this house is allowed to borrow them, Aidan.

And my favorite little moment was down at my inlaws, where we spend Christmas day most years. My retired Lutheran pastor father-in-law gave a very impassioned speech about hope and service in the new year before our Christmas dinner. Then, he gave each of his grandchildren an Obama story book. Dan snapped this shot of Aidan and Cole. And I'm sure these shots are going to become increasingly rare as time moves on.

No, I'm not making a political statement here. I'm sharing a shot of my kids, who still sit this closely together, and won't for long, and who are two of the people I love most in this entire world of ours.

P.S. Mom an Dan, don't worry. I'll make sure they received a copy of this, too. You know, just keepin' it fair and balanced.

I hope you all had a happy and memorable Christmas as well.

Season's Greetings

How time does fly (also known as "Why We Really Don't Go for Buying the Packages Offered from Church Directory Portrait Sessions"

It was 12 years ago, that this lovely photographic nugget was taken:

I know. Right?

I present to your 1996 St. Paul Reformation Lutheran Church Directory family photo.

Dan looks like he's just waking up from one SERIOUS night of partying. I'm wearing black to camouflage the fact that of the 100 pounds I gained during my pregnancy, minus the 8.2 that Aidan accounted for, I still had roughly 65 more to lose, yet she was clearly not a newborn.

And speaking of that little imp, she was definitely the high point of this shot, in her adorable little pink Baby Gap jumper dress.

And little Coleman? Well, he was just a gleam in my eye (and would also never see a Baby Gap label against his little body. 2nd kids get Old Navy. EVERYONE knows that.)

I share the lovely photo with you today and tell you this: it is not on display anywhere in my home. It resides in a box, in my basement, where we keep our liquor and the monsters. It rarely sees the light of day, however, it came out recently because after 12 years, we finally decided to get another Church Directory family photo taken.

Why it has taken so long to get all four of us in there together for a family picture has very little to do with the fact that when I step into the sanctuary there are small but easily managed fires that spontaneously erupt in various corners of the church. Really. Very little to do with that at all. It's just been timing.

So several weeks ago, we showed up and got this:

Notice the differences? No? Okay, i'll point them out to you:

• Dan has a giant vein running down the left side of his head. And his skull has been surgically elongated since the last photo.
• I have roughly 15 less pounds and have also learned to pluck my eyebrows.
• Aidan has added roughly 11-1/2 years and braces.
• There is a nine-year-old boy.

I don't want to offend anyone, but I'm not a fan of the studio family shot. It's just not us. And with all my crazy talented scrapbooker photog friends, I can usually get something that's a bit more interesting. That said, the dude who took the shot was really savvy, and convinced me I needed one of these for my  home. He sat me down and we agreed on two canvas wrapped 5 x 7s. Just as I was about to sign on the dotted line, he said, "And that will be $86 plus tax and shipping."

Because I was raised to be polite (and I really can't deal with confrontations, and I want everyone to like me) I couldn't NOT go through with it, though every cell in my body was screaming, "YOU WILL NEVER DISPLAY THIS SHOT IN YOUR HOME, IDIOT!" And so, we placed the order.

What I didn't know was this: we were entitled to get a free one just for showing up.

Long story short: I called LifeTouch and cancelled the order, and 8 weeks later, got a refund check. Buyer's remorse overcome. Hallelujah!

We picked up our FREE print two Sundays ago, and I've tried to find ways to make me want to put it up in my home somewhere other than in the basement. Thanks to an array of Photoshop actions, I may have created several potential keepers in the following examples:

First, i tried a few actions from Kevin Kubota's Artistic Actions Vol. 2.  First up: Lord of the Rings II:

Hmmmm. A little too freaky glowy. Dan IS that orange in real life. The rest of us? Not so much.

Then I tried the Modern Antique with Glow:

I suppose it's nice if we're going for that Cullen family vibe.

But it wasn't quite there, so next up: Totally Rad Actions.

First, I tried Super Old Skool Fast, from The Totally Rad Original set.

Reminds me of the old west shots from the mall. All that's missing are the cowboy hats and assless chaps.

Then I tried one from Totally Rad Actions—The Revenge, called "Dirty and Used Up":

Yeah. That's an improvement.

And while all of these were well and good, I decided to just hit my old standby favorite action from Ree, the Pioneer Woman, called PW's Black & White (and it's free!)

I don't know if it's going to be better than one of the Totally Rad Revenge actions called "Beer Goggles," but it might just find a place higher in the house than the basement.

Just a little something to help with your weekend wrapping

And no, I'm not talking about personalized lessons from LL Cool J, though wouldn't THAT be a giveaway?

No, I'm talking about gift tags. I did some major wrapping last night, but first had to design a quick and simple tagger for my packages. (I don't use bows on my gifts. Just tags. It's... cleaner somehow.)

Anyhoo, these couldn't be easier. Just print and trim.

Download gift_tags.pdf

If you don't like the colors, you can open the PDF in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop  (File > Open), and change the color quite easily.

Enjoy!

I like good type, and I cannot lie [we have a winner!]

The winner of the book is:

Oh goodness, I may be too late but I'm going to enter my name in anyway...That book looks awesome!

Andrea F.

Andrea, email me at czielske@ckmedia.com and i will get you hooked up!

Get Creative with Type is the newest book from Creating Keepsakes, and type guru and CK Editor in Chief Brian Tippetts. And I'm here to tell you this: it's veddy veddy GOOD.

From concrete basic type education to some truly creative and innovative type explorations, the book is full of typographic goodness, and ways to make type look GOOD on your pages. Check out the sneak peek here. Plus, it comes with a bonus CD that has fonts, type templates and other goodies to play with.

Because I love type and love to give things away, I have one with your name on it. (Of course, by "you" well... you know what I mean. I mean exactly that: YOU, blog reader!)

Leave your name in the comments and I will draw a winner around 8 p.m. CST.

Good luck!

[comments are now closed. Got a little side tracked last night. Whoops! will draw a winner this morning!}

getting merry with it

This past weekend was the Zielske's time to get with the holiday action. And get with the holiday action we did.

Cole performed his dramatic and scene-stealing turn in our church's Christmas Pageant, "The Last Resort Inn." And even though he felt, in his words, "demeaned" by having to dress in a one-piece jump suit that made him look "like a toddler," he still gave it his very best effort.

(Look all the way to the far left, front row.) Cole had one killer line. Actually, it was more of a line, delivered with a pose, that the longer he held it, the funnier it got. And he worked it for a good 60 seconds. And me, with the poo poo slow lens, only got this:

But I think it's pretty clear the boy has mad acting skillz.

Then it was onto picking up our tree on an unseasonably warm saturday afternoon. I have no pictures of the tree getting festivities, because guess what I did? Purposefully LEFT my camera home. Can I get a "what what!"?

Another twist on tradition… this year, I told Dan with my sucky wrists/pinched radial nerve resulting in referred-pain issue, he'd have to handle the lights on the tree. And all the bloody pitch that comes with it.

The great thing about Dan (well, there is more than ONE thing) is that tangled lights cause him NO consternation. At all. I can't even function when faced with a too tightly tied shoe knot. He's so patient. And cute, when he's all lit up.

The kids busted out the ornaments and got to work.

Cole really had the Christmas spirit. He said, no less than four separate times, "I love putting up the Christmas decorations. It just brings back so many good memories."

Keep in mind, 9-and-a-half years can breed a goodly amount of things to recall.

After all was said and done, we made Ned Flanders' Hot Cocoa and sat back, admiring our tree.

Yep. The Christmas spirit is alive and well at the Zielskes. Happy holidays from us to you.

p.s. To everyone on my holiday card list. You won't be receiving a holiday card from me this year. It's not that I don't care and it's not that you got cut. It's just that this year, I decided to take one more obligation from my list o' plenty off. And quite honestly? It even feels better than going bra-less.

Seasons Greetings!

Cathy

The Twilight Before Christmas

Thanks, Christine, for the link!

perfect pop

Many of you remember this song. Maybe not. If yes, enjoy. If not, enjoy. It's a perfect little song.

Have a great weekend.