Just Beth

When answering "Scrapbook Memories" emails gets personal

My very part-time job these past few years has been answering email questions for the PBS show “Scrapbook Memories.” A couple of weeks ago I opened up this one:

comments_questions: Beth you realy need to loose weight, is just a comment  from a friend.  Love you! 

Wow~!  Love you?

Sure I’ve had critical emails before.  One woman wrote to say “that girl without the accent – get rid of her” as if her wish of a Soprano’s style execution was her choice.  Yikes.

I’ve had plenty of emails about my dominating conversation style, my obnoxious way of interrupting and how I could learn a thing or two from my gracious co-host, Julie.  Most days I take it with a grain of salt.  I also worked in daily TV news when the internet was just ramping up.  In other words, lots of emails crossed my path from anonymous people who just have something to say, send an email and not even think about the person receiving it.  Most often, I never replied.

Yes .. I do need to lose weight.

And this has been something that has reared its ugly head over and over again during the past few years.  Clothing not fitting like it used to, breaking into a sweat after climbing the stairs, eating more sweets and simple foods are just a few of the indicators that something needs to change.

But then I had an annual physical last week and my glucose and cholesterol numbers came back – they are abysmal. 

Somewhere between getting married and becoming a mom to my two kids I have put myself so far on the back burner I’m surprised I even get out of bed in the morning. Except that my kids are begging me to get up.  I’m told this is common in motherhood.  But it doesn’t have to be.  For me, there have been many missed opportunities to take care of myself.  Most important, missed opportunities to break into a sweat and get my life back – for me and my family.

This will not be a diet blog.   This is my blog to document my life with my family and friends.   But this is a part of my life.  And I feel like this is a big part of my 40^th year in this world – a year where 40 pounds need to go away. 

So I wrote "Jen" back.  That’s not her name.  In the interest of full disclosure – this is what I wrote.  Kind of snarky, I know.

Dear "Jen":

Thanks for writing, I think.  Yes ..  I know I need to LOSE (not loose)  weight.  Yes .. this has been  something that has been weighing me down  for years -- even when I  weighed less.  Yes .. your email .. hurts my  feelings.   Perhaps that was your intention.  I can't decide.  Needless   to say it's something I'm working on in my own life.  And it's  very  hard.  Maybe keeping slender at a perfect BMI is something  you work  hard at and can't appreciate others who don't always do the  same.

Sincerely,

Beth Madland 

And "Jen", with deep and humble kindness, wrote back.  

I am deeply sorry to know my comment did hurt your feelings, that was  definitely not my intention. I have never been a day thin in my life and I know how difficult it is to even drop an ounce. So please accept my true and honest  apology.

Regretfully,

"Jen"

P.S.  I love your show.

There is one thing I will always remember from her reply.  “I have never been a day thin in my life.”  She admitted what most don’t.  

Her judgement.  

I, like "Jen", have sat in judgement of others for their weight (when I am overweight), accent, poor grammar (when mine could use daily improvements) and other superficial qualities.  The only difference is that I never verbalized them or put them in a quick email just to pass along to some unsuspecting target.  But that doesn’t make me any better.  So my take home with this is that I need to be a lot kinder to myself as I take this journey to lose 40 pounds in my 40^th year.  But more importantly, I need to be kinder to others as well.  "Jen" and I are probably more alike than different.   

We have a winner~

I used RANDOM.ORG ... and #7 is the winner of Series 1500 of "Scrapbook Memories" on PBS.

Mary P. wrote the following:

Hey Beth, love your show. I try to watch it if I'm not at work. I want to do more scrapbooking, but I seem to do a lot of card making as I come from a large family and there is always a need for a card for someone. When I design a really nice card and I make several of them so I have a stash on hand.

My son gave me a slide and negative scanner for 
Christmas so I can put all of my old negatives on my computer. I'm so excited to finally get everything in one place. I'm sure I will find some great pictures hidden in those old negatives. Have you ever used one of these?

Yes Mary!  I have a scanner from Epson that I gave my husband for Christmas four years ago.  Will has a lot of slides from his childhood.  Our goal is to get those slides printed or at least stored on a disk.

Mary I will be in contact with you about your DVD set.  Enjoy

And now .. I'm going to go lie on the couch.  I think I have some sort of 24 hour bug.  Yuck!

Let's Do A GiveAWAY!

 

I'm giving away our latest series of "Scrapbook Memories" on PBS.  That's 13 half-hour episodes.  That's series 1500 -- for those of you who keep track of this sort of thing. 

Please leave a comment on MY BLOG and I will pick (random.org) a winner by Wednesday at 5PM.  

If you want -- leave a comment about what you want to see next on our show.  The sky is the limit.  Reach for the stars .... we are taping again next month.

See you Wednesday!

Sincerely,

Beth Madland

On My Mind Lately

Now that I've started to blog -- I find myself coming up with lists (in my head) of ideas to write about.  I used to write everyday for a living (television news.)  I had to come up with story ideas every day.  Lots of them.  Now I come up with blog ideas -- and no one is paying me!  

One of my favorite bloggers is Elizabeth Dillow.  She's a mom, a scrapbooker and I like the way she writes.  Every once in a while she does a 10 on Tuesday.  I don't want to steal her great idea.  However I do want to write some of these thoughts down.  

1.  Haiti.  It's on my mind.  Seeing a baby pulled out of the rubble.  Seeing orphanages destroyed.  I visited Haiti on a cruise with my family and some friends.  We "stopped over" in Haiti for some beach time.  I haven't thought much of my time there since.  Now I can't get Haiti off my brain.  I don't want to.

2. Thank goodness party lines can be crossed to help others.  

 

(Photo courtesy: AP/www.newyorktimes.com)
But why can't this happen in other areas as well.  I mean all of these politicians campaign because they want to "help the American People."  Aren't there tons of things that need help now?  Where is Mitt Romney?  We need you to help with the economy.   Sara Palin?  Really?  A Fox News Contributor?  Don't you have better things to do?  John Edwards .. ok .. not him.  He needs to stay home for a LONG while.  I feel the same way about former presidents.  You've done the job -- don't go golfing now.  We NEED YOU!

3. On a lighter note.  This pairs ice skating team is rocking the ice.  I have a good feeling about these two in Vancouver.  How about you?

(photo courtesy: Ap/www.newyorktimes.com)

She has more spunk and energy at age 16 than most.   On slightly critical note -- can we whip together some better, streamlined (fewer bugle beads/sequins please) costumes?  Really.  That can't be hard. Vera Wang -- where are you?  

4. Enjoyed watching my husband watch the Vikings beat the Cowboys yesterday.  I made a Texas Sheet Cake in honor of the loss.  Actually -- it's my excuse to bake.  I love to bake. And these guys like to help.

5. Since we moved to a new city/state/house -- we've decided to take a much more simple approach to our office.  We are not doing built-ins.  Or at least not until the kids are out of college.  Here's what my area looks like.  There's a method to my madness and I will share it with you soon.

7. Coleman is really into Legos.  Right now he is re-building his Christmas present lego set.  Thank goodness he got  "age-appropriate" Legos.  The  9 -12 year old Star Wars Legos he requested had "mom and dad doing all the work" written all over it!

8. I'm so excited about Becky Higgins Digital version of her new Picture of the Day album series.  Do I really need to give a link to BH?  Ok .. might as well.   Go Here 

9.  I'm often late to the latest craze.  Sometimes I show up after the craze has peaked.  So in the past month I've stepped it up on Facebook.   I totally get Facebook.  I didn't before.  I'll post more on my Facebook LOVE later.  Meanwhile I'm also now into the Pioneer Woman blog.  In fact, last night we made her Roast Beef and Vegetables.  Ok, I made it.  Will loved it.  So did I.  The kids -- Coleman thought the meat tasted better with catsup.  Oh well.

COMING UP THIS WEEK

* More on my Sunday's with Ella album features on Scrapbook Memories a couple of years ago.

* A Blog Giveaway -- the whole 13 episode series 1500 on DVD.  Stay tuned

* and When Answering Email for Scrapbook Memories Can Go Wrong and get a little too personal.  

I answer the emails for Scrapbook Memories and, well, let's just say one viewer had something to say about my weight.  That's all I'm saying FOR NOW!~

  

Scrapbook Memories Questions

This week we've been getting a lot of questions about Series 1000.  Somewhere in America a PBS station is showing this series.  YEAH!

Often we get questions about the projects viewers see on our show but they don't catch the show number. At the end of each program an announcer gives the show number of the program you just watched. THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.  You can take that number, go to our show website www.scrapbookmemoriestv.com, click on the PROJECTS key on our website, then choose the correct series, then scroll down to the show number.

Recently we've had a lot of questions about two different projects!  First this coat rack/key holder:

This is from show 1011.  You can go here for project instructions.

Another project that has brought on some emails is this one:

You can find this project, scrapbook style centerpieces, on show 1009.  Here's a link.

We taped the shows featuring those projects more than three years ago.  WOW!  

Les Wreckages des Gateaux (Cake Wrecks)

I'm digging deep in to my school french for that title.  

Have you been lucky enough to see the website Cake Wrecks?  It's a must-see.

The last date-nite we went on was in November.  We were wandering around Barnes and Noble and I spied this book. 

 Oh what a delight.  Yes, that was me laughing so hard -- by myself -- with tears running down my cheeks. 

I beg of you on this cold January Wednesday (is it warm anywhere) to find this book or visit the website.

Don't be too embarrassed if you are overhead giving a very public display of laughter!

Yep .. this one has been sick!

I know, it's hard to believe. We haven't had a lot of sleep in the Madland house.

 

Coleman and Ella don't have the best sleep track record.  So add a constant lingering cough since Christmas and it's been tough to get a full nights rest for anyone.  Especially the parents.  For some reason they prefer to cough in chorus in our ears from the middle of our bed.  Coleman is better (but still not an all-night sleeper yet ;) and Ella is on the mend.  They both have intermittent asthma that tends to rear its ugly head whenever there's a sniffle.  Grab the nebulizer treatments.  Quick go get the inhalers. That's the only thing that seems to help.  Bless their little pea-pod hearts.  

Reason # 5667 that I shouldn't buy a dining room table

We're looking for a new dining room table.  My responsible side says get a used one and call it good until they go to college!   They being my budding artists -- ages almost six and almost 4.  Witness a creation by Coleman and Dad (dad outlined -- Coleman colored).  For now, our plastic banquet table from SuperWalmart (circa 2001) will have to do.

Recently I went into one of THOSE stores in my quaint city.  You know, all of the jewelry looks like it was handmade by an Etsy artist.  The artwork, blown glass and furniture caught my eye.  If you've ever been to Lexington, KY -- imagine Artique.  I miss that store!  Sniff.

Anyhow -- my neighborhood store has tables like THIS ONE!  

 

The color.  The beauty.  The expense.  It's the kind of table that you couldn't eat on -- everyone just hold your plates a few inches above the table -- and admire the artwork.

These tables and other things are made by Sticks.  
 

 

At this point I only have enough money to buy 1 candlestick.  A girl can dream.  I'm not asking for pity.  Our art/dinner table suits where we are right now.  However .. if you want a little inspiration check out Sticks.   And it's fair to say one piece is all you'll ever need.  Too much Sticks just might hurt your eyes.

Friday Morning Hike (or short jaunt -- I was with a 3 year old)

Ella is now going to pre-school just three mornings a week.  A change we think will slow things down around here -- just a little bit!  So on our first morning we dropped Coleman off at school and headed to the sandhill near our house.

It's a steep hill that gets you going in the morning.  But at the top -- it's beautiful.

And at 18-degrees this morning -- it was certainly cold.    

A Trip to the Dentist with SPRINKLES

Ella's first trip to the dentist.  All was well until the chair started to move.  Then we decided we would just count teeth on this visit.

So we came home and had yogurt with sprinkles!