Friday, August 19, 2005

Giving scrapbookers a bad name


Yesterday Liam and I took a little field trip to Park's Blueberries, a short drive out of town. I try to get out there every year, and yesterday was overcast (important consideration with the babe in tow) so it seemed like a good time to go. Initially I had Liam in the Snugli, but I'm (slowly) coming to the realization that while he may be a snuggly baby, he is not a Snugli baby. So that soon came off, and he was quite happy to roll around on a blanket on the grass while I picked. Unfortunately, I really messed up the timing - this week is the end of blueberry season, so it was slim pickings... literally.

Anyway, after we'd been there for a while, another party wandered into our 'aisle' - two women with four kids between them. The kids were dressed in blue from head to toe and the women were toting cameras. They spent about ten minutes posing the kids for various pictures - standing beside the bushes, berries in hand, dropping them in the buckets, etc. Of course I had my camera too - don't leave home without it - so I asked one of them to take a picture of Liam and I together. Immediately she said, "Oh, are you a scrapbooker too?"

This wouldn't have been so bad, except that they then rounded up the kids (against the kids' collective will, mind you) and left. By then Liam and I had been out for a while and were ready to call it quits, so we were behind these people in line to pay. They paid for their berries - all $2.06 worth - and left. Now, I don't have a problem with people scrapbooking the things they do - obviously, since I do it myself - but it's another story entirely to dress your kids up and take them out and fake an activity just to scrapbook it. No wonder people think scrapbookers are nutty. I was a bit hesitant to tell Chad this story, but I told him anyway. He just gave me the I-told-you-so eye roll.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

so where is the picture of you and Liam that the fake berry pickers took?

Carrie said...

It didn't turn out! It's a lovely, crisp picture of a berry bush... with a couple of fuzzy, out of focus people in front of it...

Anonymous said...

OK...I also am trying to put Sydney's childhood memories into a scrapbook...but my point for doing it is so that she can look back with fondness at all the fun things we did (that hopefully she will remember and enjoy). The scrapbook is for her...I hardly want her looking at the book in the future saying..."I remember when you took us blueberry picking Mom. No wait, I didn't get to pick any blueberries because God forbid I get my blue outfit dirty and ruin YOUR picture!!!!"
I am trying to decide if I will share your scrapbook story with Brad. He already complains about the cost of the supplies and that since I don't have very much done our cost/page is around $100. He is wrong of course...but the more I do the less funny his little joke is so he pretends I am not getting anything done.