Tomorrow is the start of another round of LOAD. I am glad it is starting again, but I expect this month to be much more stressful than past LOADS have been.
In no particular order, here’s a brief list of the things that May will bring:

• Simon’s birthday
• Jonathan’s birthday
• Jason’s birthday
• PTA meeting
• make PTA schedule for next year
• figure out how to fit in a school board budget presentation for our parents
• run another round of RIF (reading is fundamental–I love this program!)
• teach 3 more classes of a beginning scrapbooking class. Also something I love and look forward to.
• Open house at JoAnn’s to try to get more students to sign up for classes
• Scrapbook Social the last Monday of the month. Another thing I love.
• Coordinate roofers, painters, and basement waterproofers to finally get done the work we’ve been wanting to do on the house for years.
• Interior painting, cleaning and decluttering. While I love my orange hall, I know most people won’t really appreciate the color. And I have more books than most people want to look at as well.
• All so I can try to put the house on the market by the first of June.

Doesn’t look like too bad a list right? LOAD’s totally doable, right?

That’s what I keep telling myself. But I’ve already given myself permission to NOT do a page every day this month. Because, in the end I want to make pages that my kids and I want to read. Not just because I’ve set a goal for myself. So if I have no stories to tell on a really difficult day, I am NOT going to make a page. Because after a day of painting or cleaning or packing, I may not have any words left to add to my pages, and I find that words are one of the most important pieces of scrapbooking for me.

Not the “go for it!” attitude you’re accustomed to hearing from me? Au contraire. I am going to try. But I am giving myself permission to keep it fun. If LOAD becomes a chore rather than a reward this month, I am going to take my own advice and remind myself there is no “should” in scrapbooking. I love LOAD, and I want to keep it that way.